RESURRECTION OVERTURE ▹ barnes-romanoff

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"I wish I could say I am

A light that never goes out.

But I flicker

From time to time."

Bucky and Svetlana sit together on the large seat that sits within the now abandoned lounge within their secluded wing of the laboratory. The Wakandan man who is nearly king was kind enough to section off a portion of the place for the trio of Svet, Bucky, and Steve to sit in before the brunette man steps back into the cold. They're only an hour away.

Just one more hour and then Bucky is leaving Svet all over again.

But the girl is trying her hardest not to think about that.

No, she must be strong for him.

He needs her to be okay.

Svetlana has her knees pulled up to her chest and she tries to avoid pressing on her ribs as she leans into Bucky. The man keeps his only remaining arm around her shoulders and she holds onto his hand, yawning quietly as the fog rolls in through the jungle outside the large window nearby. Bucky rests the side of his chin into the top of her head and gently kisses her hair as they try to soak in these last few moments of togetherness. They just talk about rather pointless things, nothing of much consequence for the most part.

They talk about the sunset they saw yesterday, the delicious breakfast they ate with Steve, about how Svet's shoes are completely covered in mud and how she should really get them cleaned, and then they talk about how T'Challa's little sister has promised to fix Svet's lungs and, hopefully, her ears as well.

When Bucky wakes up, Svetlana will be able to breathe again, run easily again, laugh effortlessly again.

She's always wanted to hear the voice of the first human being who was ever kind to her.

And maybe, just maybe, she will.

"Actually, Lana, before I forget..." Bucky softly taps her shoulder, making her look up at him curiously, "I have something for you."

"Really?" Her blue eyes widen in excitement as she turns fully to face him, sliding her knees underneath her and practically bouncing, "For me?"

With a faint smile and a quiet laugh at her eagerness, Bucky silently nods. He slowly reaches into his pocket and glances up at Svetlana's smile that grows even wider under his attention before he laughs once more and pulls a silver chain out of his pocket. He takes one of Svetlana's little hands and places the silver chain within her palm before drawing his own hand back.

Svet's red brows crease slightly as she carefully fingers the necklace that has a metal finger-sized circle slung around the chain. The circle is simple, certainly not anything close to being dazzling or even pretty. It is simply a piece of what appears to be barbed wire with its barbs pushed down and its metal wiring shaped around into, well, a ring.

"Um, Papa..." Her voice is soft as she runs her fingers along the ring's ridges and gnaws onto her lip, trying really hard to not sound ungrateful, "Well... What is it, um, exactly?"

Bucky smiles a little at her hesitant question, nodding his head off to the side in understanding. She's focused so intently upon the ring that Bucky has to put his two fingers underneath her chin and lift her face so she can see his lips move.

"I didn't remember for a long time." He starts off quietly, speaking for only his daughter, "I always had the ring with me, but I could never make sense of what it was, of its importance. They must have put it in my pocket when they separated us to taunt me."