The Soldier and his Widow

8

~~|2017|~~

Shuri glanced at the pair of ex-assassins that gave her blank stares. "Did it work? Do you remember anything new? Any old memories get clearer?"

"This is unnatural," Natasha whispered.

"This is unhuman," Bucky mumbled.

Neither seemed to be looking at anything in particular. Shuri moved to stand between their chairs. "What? Did I do it wrong? Did I hurt you?"

Natasha was smiling suddenly, tears threatening to fall. "No," she said, still in that same whisper, "nothing is wrong."

Shuri glanced at Bucky, whose eyes glistened, but he didn't smile.

"What do you see?" Shuri asked a moment later, realising that they really weren't looking at anything she could see.

"Everything. I see all of them. Every single memory I ever made."

"Bucky?"

"I see memories I didn't even know I had."

Shuri made mental note about that. "Talk to me. What else? Anything specific? What sticks out most to you? Focus on something."

As one, they both spoke. "Hydra."

Shuri winced. "Maybe not that something?"

"We first met on the night of the crash," Natasha said, "you didn't know my name or what I looked like. I gave you a device that I would track to find the Hydra base."

"I waited two days before you showed up. I learnt that you were the Black Widow that everyone wanted -- either to recruit or to eliminate."

Shuri pulled a chair over and sat down. "What else? Sift through your memories. Give me a random fact that you shouldn't ordinarily be able to remember."

"You had a tiny scar on your shoulder," Natasha said, "it looked like it was from scraping against a wall or something. Tiny, meaningless, harmless."

"Bucky?" Shuri asked.

"When you first entered the base, the ends of your hair were black. You were growing out a disguise."

"Incredible," Shuri murmured. "What do you feel? Any pain? Any . . . lack of feeling?"

"It's a hell of a lot of emotions," Natasha said, "nothing like I've ever felt before."

And then she blinked. Just like that, whatever trance Natasha had slipped into, it was broken with a mere blink. Natasha turned to Bucky as he slowly came back to reality.

"I remember everything," Bucky said.

Shuri stood up. "I'll leave you two to gather your thoughts. You can leave whenever you're ready."

"Shuri," Bucky called.

"Thank you," Natasha said when the princess turned around.

Shuri smiled. "You're welcome."

Bucky stood up first and pulled Natasha up from her chair. "You remember everything?"

"Mm. I remember Hydra, I remember before Hydra, and after Hydra. The Red Room. Shield -- or Hydra, whatever -- feeding me lies about my age and the things I'd done. Everything."

"It's . . . unnerving, to say the least."

Natasha smiled. "But it's better than having all those questions, hm?"

"I suppose. We don't have to let Steve know we're okay, do we?" Bucky asked, settling his hand on her lower back, pulling her close.

"Why?" His question confused Natasha, but the gesture felt familiar in ways that she could not even begin to describe. She felt as if she had never ever been any safer.