𝔹𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕋𝕠 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕝𝕪𝕟 | Bucky Barnes⁽¹⁾

15 | What Am I Now?

February 1943 - Austria

Ella closed her eyes as a needle was gently jabbed into the inside of her elbow, taking a second sample of blood from her aching body. She sat on a cot in a tent with only one sleeping space, which had been emptied by Agent Carter, who had insisted Ella call her Peggy. Despite her discomfort, Ella did feel a little better in the camp knowing that there was at least one other woman apart from the nurses.

While the nurse finished up with the tests, Ella caught her own gaze in a small round mirror that sat on a crate beside her. There should have been so many bruises on her face after the weeks of beatings. But there was nothing more than a meek little scar on her left eyebrow, the cut narrowly missing the outer corner of her eye.

She looked different, though her face was the same. She was 25 years old but felt like she looked so much older now. The pain, the fear, the suffering she'd endured was still weighing down on her, even now that she was free.

It made her scared. Scared that she'd never look like she did. Scared that she would always have to carry around the trauma of what she went through at the hands of those people. 

No... Not people. Devils.

"All done," the nurse said politely. "As I mentioned before, I'll take these vials straight to Mr Stark, and he'll take a look right away."

Howard Stark was more than willing to help Ella figure out what exactly HYDRA had injected into her body, but he was also curious. He'd read over the file Steve had found in the base and seen the pages about the blue light emitting from Ella's body. He had dropped all his other projects for the time being, working on figuring out exactly what had been done to Ella.

"Miss Madison?"

Ella jumped when the nurse said her name, having not realised she'd been silent the whole time.

"Can I get you anything, ma'am? Maybe some water?"

Opening her mouth to talk, Ella still couldn't find words. She shook her head, pressing her lips together in a thin line. The nurse tapped Ella's shoulder sympathetically before collecting her things and making her way out of the tent, leaving Ella alone.

She stood up, hiding her face in her hands, feeling her tears from earlier still lingering on her skin. She was desperate for a proper shower, but had only been able to wash with water and a cloth before the nurse came in. It was something about getting the tests done as fast as possible, which Ella could understand, but that didn't make it any better.

The flap of the tent was pulled open, and the sudden noise made Ella gasp. She spun around in fear, her body immediately relaxing when she saw Bucky coming over to her.

"Hey," he greeted softly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Ella tried her best to smile, shaking her head to say it was okay. Still, she couldn't find words. Her eyes scanned over Bucky's face, still in total disbelief that she was actually stood with him, and he was real.

There were a couple of butterfly tapes on his forehead where he'd cut himself, and his clothes were fresh. His skin was still patchy with ash and dirt from the fire in the base. When he was told he wasn't allowed into the tent whilst Ella was with the nurse, he took less than a minute to go and change his clothes before coming back, waiting right outside for her to be done.

"How did things go with the nurse?" Bucky asked. Ella just shrugged a shoulder, tears glossing over her eyes. "El," Bucky whispered, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Please talk to me. Say something. Anything."