Respect | S. Rogers [1]

05 | THE LECTURE

November 1943
Hydra's Headquarters, Swiss Alps

"What happened, kochanie?" (sweetheart) Agata mumbled as she cupped her daughter's cheek with her skinny hand.

Weeks had passed since Azzano, she knew something troubled her child ever since. Agata had been trying for weeks to get her to open up but so far Rosemary had been talking nonsense nonstop. The disturbance hidden behind Rosemary's expression didn't go unnoticed by her. She could see that even though her daughter was with her, her mind was elsewhere.

For anyone else, Rosemary would've appeared to be having a casual conversation, but Agata knew her daughter, she didn't speak much. This was her way of avoiding her mother asking questions.

The daughter looked at her mother; both shared similar features. Most of Rosemary's face resembled her mother, except parts like her jawline and eyes that she inherited from her father.

However, despite their similar features, the ones of her mother transmitted comfort and warmth whereas hers transmitted wariness and hostility.

Rosemary's favourite part of her mother was her eyes, they were the complete opposite of her father's. No matter how distraught she was she would always find serenity in her mother's eyes.

She held her gaze for a moment and then glared at the door, responding to her previous question without masking her bitterness. "I had orders, I followed."

Agata looked at her with understanding. "It's not your fault, Rosie."

"I still did it, mama."

"Rosemary, you cannot hold yourself responsible for something they did," she held her face between her hands forcing her to look at her, so her words would sink in. "This is them," she paused. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Not being able to look at her mother, Rosemary directed her eyes to her hands. "A hundred men are captured in Hydra's factory in Italy because of me."

"Rosie," Agata sighed. "You did what you had to do so they wouldn't hurt you."

I did what I had to so they wouldn't hurt you, mama.

"And now those men are held captive, possibly being tortured," she replied stubbornly.

They both made good arguments. Despite whatever brainwash Hydra had attempted to do on Rosemary only did so much to her emotions. She acted as if she were a machine, she followed orders with a cold mind, but, deep down, Rosemary cared, she cared a lot.

She only lived with herself through the gnawing guilt after hurting so many people because of her mom. It didn't matter how much acceptance Agata showed towards her, she would never accept herself after committing such actions even though she did them with good intentions trying to save her mother's life. For her, that only proved how selfish she was.