Test Subject 13

I do not own any marvel characters, plots or ideas. Unedited

Light before a film of pink, and the high pitched sound of white noise were all I could decern when I regained the slightest bit of consciousness. Then there was a feeling of wheightlessness, wind rushing through the branches of trees, leaves and twigs breaking underfoot, long even breaths, and something tickling my Cheek's.

I tried to open my eyes but the light caused a pain that shot to the back of my head and then seemed to bounce around, reverberating off the walls of my skull. My mouth felt as though it was full of cotten wool, when I groaned it was almost agonising.

The feeling of being in motion ceased and I was placed on the ground. I chanced a peak at my surroundings, this time the pain wasn't so bad. That was mainly due to the large shadowy figure leaning over me. "I told you to keep your eyes on the road."

Bucky's crouched form came into focus as he said this and brushed a stray lock of hair off of my forehead. "I was keeping my eyes on the road, it was just the road behind us." Bucks chest vibrated as he laughed silently, turning his face away to hide a small smile.

"Where are we going to go now?" I rasped. Bucky shrugged. "We need to find shelter before nightfall, and unfortunately I think we may have to rough it."

I nodded, "I suppose friends must be thin on the ground when you're a fugitive."
"Usually the friends worth having are running with you anyway." In true Bucky fashion, he avoided eye contact and kept his voice neutral.

I was quickly learning that for Bucky, openly expressing any feelings was no easy feat. Thinking better than dwelling on the sentiment, I tried sitting up, although a struggle, it wasn't impossible. "Do you want to help me walk, I don't think I'll manage on my own."

Bucky nodded and pulled me up slinging my arm around his shoulder's and limping forward. It didn't take long for Bucky to become irritated with my slow progress, he held his tounge for a long time, but eventually he caved. "Can I just carry you? It'd be so much faster." Willow scowled up at him. "No you cannot."

"Why not? Are you worried about your dignity? Cause you can be dam sure I don't care about it."
"Well what if I do?" I stopped trudging, refusing to take another step. Bucky bent down so that he could look her directly in the and spoke with a gentleness that Bucky himself wouldn't believe himself capable of.

"I don't want to rob you of your dignity. I do want to keep you alive. I need you Willow, and I think you need me to." The air seemed to still, and I couldn't believe that a man like James Buchanan Barnes needed me.

Reality came crashing in when I realised that our relationship was merely a means to an end. Bucky most likely meant that my freaky mind powered were handy to have in a pinch, his killer instinct was handy for me too I suppose.

My mouth set in a grim line as I nodded and Bucky lifted me throwing me over his shoulder. 'No romance in that gesture' I thought glumly.

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Just before dusk we came across an abandoned cottage. Many of the slates from the roof were missing and the wooden window frames had disintegrated long ago, depositing uneven shards of glass on the overgrown grass around the door. As soon as Bucky set me on the ground, he turned and exited the door, returning ten minutes later with firewood and two rabbits.

He dumped the fire wood at my feet and asked " think you can handle lighting a fire?" I shrugged "Got any flint?" Bucky shook his head while pulling a knife from his leg and gutting the rabbit. Sighing heavily I pilled the smaller twigs in the old fireplace.

I first tried using one twig to try and spark a fire by placing it atop a Flatt piece with some dry grass, Turing the wig in my hands. I continued for ten minutes without success and nearly screamed with frustration as I got a splinter in the palm in my hand.

"How's the fire coming?" Bucky inquired from behind me.
"It's not." I growled, " the wood is too damp."
"Well try again."

I scowled in his direction before consentraiting on the heap of useless kindling. I tried just imaging that the wood would burst into flames but nothing happened. My mood darkened further and I stared at the fireplace, looking past the brick walls and into the past.

I saw the face of the man who had made me what I am. The men who came after me in the woods when I escapes. I saw the smug look on his face. The twigs began to smoke but it didn't even register. I saw the man who tried to kill me in Falsworth manor.

Then I saw them all again, surrounded by flames, pleading for mercy. Flames licked up the twigs, spreading slowly. I imagined Bucky's faceless torturers in the flames too. Now they were screaming in agony and an inferno raged in my mind.

The fire in front of me exploded out in a wave of heat and flames soaring towards the ceiling, engulfing me. Bucky roared my name diving into the flames to pull me out. When I felt his arms around me my concentration snapped and the flames died back.

Bucky was braced above me, in an attempt to protect me from the flames. He sat up straight when he realised the inferno was gone, looking from the fireplace to me, and back again. All I could think was how I missed the sensation of Bucky's body protecting mind. I was so distracted I didn't here him speaking to me.

"Willow? WILLOW?"
"Huh?"
"I said that's one way to start a fire."

I nodded asbsentmindely as Bucky added more wood to the now low burning fire. I was prettified at what had just transpired. I had pyrotechnics. I could make fire, with practice I would probably be able to contoll is. I had sat ingulfed in it without so much as singeing a hair.

Bucky moved his real arm slowly. The sleve of his shirt was burnt and his skin looked red. "I'm sorry I hurt you." Bucky stopped turning the rabbits he had on spits. Looking over his shoulder.

"You didn't."
"Yes I did, I can see your arm."
He pouted shaking his head, "can't even feel it."

He was lieing. He was using that hand as little as possible, shaking it every now and then. After we had eaten, we lay back to back for heat. I didn't fall sleep for a long time, haunted by the sound of the crackling fire. Guilt twisting in my gut.