Author's Note: PLEASE COMMENT!! I live for them. I want to know what you all think. Both good and bad. My only request is if it is negative please make it constructive so I can improve!!
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The soldier watched the woman curiously as she assessed her surroundings. He had known the second she awoke, but had not wanted to frighten her by moving. He wasn't sure why it was so important that he didn't scare her, just that it was. He didn't bother trying to decipher the emotion. That always led to a headache, and very occasionally flashbacks. The flashbacks, however, were usually blurry, and unhelpful, just leaving the soldier drained and with more questions than answers.
He slowly sat up, catching the woman's attention as she backed up, pressing herself against the opposite side of the vehicle. She said something, but it took the soldier a second to click in on actually listening and understanding what she was saying.
"Who are you?" she had asked. The soldier didn't have an answer for her, so he just shrugged his shoulders at her.
"Where are we?" that one was easier.
"Somewhere in rural northern Louisiana." His voice came out scratchy from lack of use. He didn't talk to people very often. He found it much simpler to communicate through actions, rather than words.
"What are we doing here?"
The soldier thought about that one for a minute before answering. "Staying safe."
"How long are we staying here? I want to go home." She seemed to be getting more and more upset with each question.
"Not long. You can't go home. Home is not safe." He was growling now. She would be in danger if she went home. He couldn't allow that. He needed to keep her safe.
She was silent for a few minutes staring down at the blankets wrapped around her.
"Where are we going?" She finally asked in a weak voice.
"New York."
"Why? What's in New York?" She looked up at him, meeting his eyes.
"Answers," he replied gruffly before getting out of the car and hopping into the driver's seat.
He could just see the light of dawn sneaking in; meaning they needed to get back on the road. He started the engine with her still huddled in the back, covered in blankets. He turned on the heat and aimed vents her way, hoping to help warm her up. She needed clothes and a fake I.D.
He would stop somewhere in Mississippi at a Target or Walmart. But for now, he was itching to get moving again. Being in one place like this, after last night, made him nervous.
He made his way onto Interstate 20 headed east. It wasn't as safe as being on the back roads, but he wanted to put some miles between them and Dallas, while being as inconspicuous as possible. It was much easier to go 80 miles-per-hour on the interstate than on a back road highway.
She stayed silent and in the back for the first two hours. The soldier didn't mind. He liked the quiet. It gave him time to plan. The group was just amateur enough that they probably had a good day or two's head start from them. The soldier's main concern was Hydra picking up on where he was. Once they reached Georgia, they could disappear for a few days and check to see if anyone had picked up on their trail.
He heard her clear her throat from behind him. He looked in his rearview mirror to meet her eyes.
"I need to use the bathroom." she practically whimpered. He looked more closely to see her fidgeting uncomfortably.
He nodded his head, to show he had heard her. He pulled off the interstate around Delhi Louisiana. He spotted a dollar general and pulled in.
"Stay here. I'm going to get you some shoes." She nodded still squirming.
"I wear size 7s."
He nodded, grabbed a ball cap and a pair of sunglasses from his glove compartment. Made sure most of his weapons were hidden and made his way inside. He found some flip flops for a dollar, paid for them and quickly returned. He tossed them to her before pulling out and stopped at the Chevron just down the street, that had an outdoor bathroom. He parked the car, and before he could move, she was out the door and sprinting for the bathroom. He moved almost as quickly to flank her. She was in the bathroom, closing and locking the door in a blink. He waited patiently outside while she used the necessary.
He clocked the area with his sweeping gaze. It was around nine thirty in the morning, so it was relatively busy with commuters stopping for gas on their way to work. He saw a few families leave, while a few more pulled up. He heard the tell-tale sign of the door unlocking behind him, and he turned to meet the woman's eyes. He led her back to the car, which still had three-quarters of a tank. She climbed into the passenger seat closing the door behind her.
"Thanks." She mumbled.
He nodded his head in response. He pulled back onto the interstate headed east towards Georgia. He saw her in the corner of his eye snatching glances at him.
"My name's Lucy, by the way," she said.
A shiver ran down the soldier's spine at the sound of her name. His eyes lost focus, the only thing that kept him from running the car off the road was his inhuman reflexes and his need to keep her safe. He would probably be able to walk away from an eighty mile-per-hour crash, but she wouldn't.
The name Lucy jarred something in him, and he staved off the flashback by shoving back all his emotions and focusing on just being a soldier. He had done it enough times over the last 70 years. It helped keep him away from the chair. Every time he tried to remember they would shove him in the chair, so he stopped bothering to remember.
He pulled off at the next exit and drove blindly down the road until he found a pull off point where he could stop the car without putting the woman, Lucy, at risk. He shoved the door open and bent over his knees, breathing hard. He finally allowed himself to feel all those emotions in a relatively safe place. He let his mind be dragged back:
"Hey, Bucky you gonna show me or what?"
A small boy stood in front of him with brilliant blue eyes and blond hair. He looked like a single strong gust could send him keeling over backward. He heard himself chuckle.
"Cool it, Punk. It's in a personal place I don't show off all that much." He said to the boy.
"Jerk. Come on Buck. You got yours before mine. I wanna see." There was a whining note that had entered the kid's tone.
He heard himself sigh then looked down to lift his shirt and pull his pants down ever so slightly to reveal a mark. A name. It was right above his penis between his obleques and could be hidden mostly by the waistband of his pants. He couldn't make out what it said just that it was there and he knew it was a name.
He looked up to see the kid staring at it in awe. The kid opened his mouth to speak-
Bucky was jerked back to the present by a hand on his right shoulder. From his bent over position, he looked up to see Lucy staring at him with worry in her eyes. He stumbled to the left away from her touch. He frantically lifted his shirt and pushed down his pants enough to stare at where the mark had been in his flashback. Where the mark had been, there was now a jagged scar cut into his flesh that obscured it. He could see the dark smudges that hinted at a name but were now unreadable. They had stolen his mark. Ripped the name of his soul mate from him and buried it in pain and scars. He was broken.
He heard a gasp and looked up to see Lucy covering her mouth with shock.
"How... how did this happen?" She almost whispered.
The soldier just shook his head and re-covered his skin. He had forgotten that they had stolen his soul mate's mark from him, and then they had tortured him with the chair until he forgot his soul mate's name. They had destroyed not just his mind and body but also his soul.
He couldn't take all these emotions he had to shut them off. He flipped the switch in his brain and allowed the soldier to take full control of his mind once more, burying the man he once was back down. It was too painful.
He focused back on the crucial things. They needed to get out of here. He had to protect Lucy. Answers could wait until they reached New York.
He looked over at Lucy and gestured for her to get back in the car so they could get back on the road. She climbed in, and he got them back on the interstate. About ten minutes after they had gotten on the interstate, Lucy reached over and fiddled with the radio.
Soon he could hear the sounds of music filling the car. He grunted in surprise when she started to sing along.
"But this ain't my first rodeo someone's gonna get hurt-"
