December // A Winter Soldier Story

31

ｊａｎｕａｒｙ １ｓｔ， ２０１４

２０°

ℒℯ𝒶

Lea wakes up in a different year.

She doesn't know this at the time, though, of course. When she finally wakes up she can hardly remember her name, let alone have any way of knowing what day, month, or year it is.

She hovers in and out of consciousness. Every time she tries to open her eyes, they roll into the back of her head. Every time she tries to breathe deeper than she is now, a fiery pain rips through her chest and sends her into a coughing fit that only increases her agony.

Lea is freezing. She has little concept of where in space her body is right now, but it feels like she has her arms wrapped around herself and she is shivering. Her muscles clench of their own volition. If she is not mistaken, there is water clinging to her skin.

It takes her several moments longer than it should to recall why she is feeling these things. An image comes roaring back into her mind of her looking up at the surface of water from beneath it, an eerie silence filling her head. They let her think they were going to drown her. She almost wished they had.

Until she remembers that Bucky still needs saving.

This thought is what gets her to finally peel open her eyes. Still struggling to concentrate, she slowly takes in her surroundings. She sees that she is back in her cell from before, sprawled across the cold concrete floor. The halls are strangely silent; the only noises she can make out are faint scratching noises, soft whimpers, and the sound of something dripping.

Lea rolls over to try and get herself on all fours. She thinks if she can start on her hands and knees, it will be easier for her to crawl to her feet - but she is mistaken. The lack of food and water has taken a stronger toll than she imagined, and her limbs, already shaky with cold, are also incredibly weak from being starved. She tries to stand and falls back on her hands and knees, trembling from the effort. Lea is shocked at her lack of strength. It's only been a few days, or at least she thinks it's only been a few days, and she can already barely stand. What naive part of her had ever believed she would make it out of this? There is no way she'll be able to save Bucky. She can't even save herself.

She blinks back the tears that threaten to fall and takes in a ragged breath. youhavetobestrongyouhavetobestrong, she tells herself. dontbreakdontbreakdontbreak. keepittogether.

After a moment of rest, she tries to get up again, this time taking it much more slowly. One foot up, one hand up, one foot up, other hand up. Eventually she is standing on her two rickety legs - wobbling, but standing. She takes another deep breath before moving forward. Three steps later, she is at the bars to her cell, grabbing on and looking out. For a brief moment she is struck by the realization of how cliche this scene is in movies, the prisoner looking through the bars with desperation in their eyes. But she guesses cliches must start somewhere, and since she is for the first time in her life a prisoner, she now understands why this is how they are depicted. She can feel her own desperation clawing its way up her throat. She forces it back down with a swallow.

It's only after a few more minutes of standing at the bars that it occurs to her that she really has no clue why she even got up to stand here. It's not like she can cry out for help - no one is coming to help her, and even if someone was, they certainly wouldn't be within earshot - and it's not like begging for food or water will help her get some. Lea is completely at the will of her captors, and her already-wobbly knees give out again, this time in hopelessness as it hits her for what feels like the hundredth time that she is out of options.

Without even realizing it, she quickly slips into a deep sleep the instant she hits the floor. She dreams that she is staring up at the surface of the water again, slowly suffocating.