Reveries of Spring│Bucky Barnes

━ 𝟎𝟐

MARTINA AWOKE IN A SLUGGISH STATE.

She stretched her tan arms over her head as she mumbled sleepily into her pillow, smiling into the fabric as she felt her unusually sore joints pop.

Martina always enjoyed those brief seconds after waking, when everything was bliss and she felt happily nestled within a cloud of sweet oblivion.

No responsibilities, no anxieties, and absolutely no worries.

However, those fleeting moments never lasted as long as she wished, and she was forced to reconcile with the fact that as a graduate student, peace would not be found until she had her diploma in her hand.

She had a paper to write on the foundations of ontological arguments and a literature review on stoicism and its application in the Middle Ages- both of which she had regrettably left to the last second after deciding she'd rather spend the long weekend in Lyon rather than in the library she had taken permanent residence in. She grumbled as she reached over to her nightstand to text her French tutor about the fact that she would not be able to make it to their daily morning sessions.

When her hand groped the air beside her, it did not settle on her scratched iPhone or brush against her thrift-store nightstand. She furrowed her eyebrows as she groaned and raised her head, but then gasped when she realized where she was.

She was not in her ancient studio flat in Paris that smelled slightly like an ash tray.

Her pipe clothing rack was not resting awkwardly beside the kitchen that had too many dishes in the sink.

The worn-out leather sofa with too many dirty aprons piled on top was not quietly pleading with her to clean it.

Instead, she was in a padded white room devoid of all the homey touches she had grown used to.

It was such a hostile environment- cold and cruel- seemingly meant to keep her devoid of any stimuli.

For a moment, she was so confused- and slightly terrified- as to why she was locked in such a place until it clicked.

Martina shrieked as everything came rushing back to her; her capture by a Greek goddess and a funny-looking man, the padded room and the voice that reminded her of what she had done, the bruising of her cracked knuckles.

The fires.

She shot out of bed with a cry and threw herself at each corner of the room. She felt like a feral clawing at every corner of her cage. She started to hyperventilate and dropped her head into her hands. It felt as though her mind had been dunked in a vat of acid- doing simply nothing but thinking sent curdling shots through her brain and she could practically feel every particle of air coming in contact with her skin.

She had no idea what was happening to her, or why her heart could not keep a steady beat. She tried to relax- to reel in her fear- but her emotions would not be dampened.

She had so many questions flooding her mind and although she could hardly think straight, she did have the answer to at least one.

After everything she had done, they were never going to let her out of her cell.

Right?

Before her mind could further spiral into a panic, she heard a click from right behind her and the unmistakable sound of a heavy door booming open.

Martina spun around and watched as the woman she had met the day before- Artemis- strolled in the room wearing a tank top and dark jeans and holding out a dinner plate.