Recollection ★ Bucky Barnes

You're A Strong One

"Prodigy?" Bucky asked, his brow raised.

"That's what Rumlow called me," she answered simply.

The four of them exchanged confused glances, and they sat in silence for several seconds until Natasha spoke up.

"Well, do you think you're down to talk about what happened to you back there?" she questioned, catching Marlena's attention. "I mean, not many people are lucky enough to get away from Hydra."

Marlena let out a shaky breath and nodded before beginning her tale about her grueling endeavor with the Hydra organization.

She knew that recalling everything she went through with Hydra would overwhelm her with emotions, but she felt that she needed to talk about it in order to find some sort of closure in regards to the endless amount of physical and emotional torture she was subject to during the few months she was imprisoned in the facility. A simple conversation would never be able to completely take away the pain she had felt every single day for nearly three months—nothing would—but she hoped talking about it with people she knew and people she trusted would at least bury the pain to the point of it not being so unbearable, and it did. . .to an extent. She would always carry some part of it with her, just as Bucky would, but she definitely would not allow that to rule her life. Now that she had been liberated, she was going to focus on the things in her life that made her happy, the things that helped bury the pain deeper: her family, her friends, and Bucky.

It took close to fifteen minutes for Marlena to finish telling the tale of her time at Hydra. Natasha, Steve, and Sam looked at Marlena with expressions of shock and admiration on their faces, while Bucky seemed to be torn over how he should feel. He hated listening to Marlena talk about how much pain Hydra had put her through, yet he also admired her for never giving up while she was there, as he remembered wanting to do countless times during his imprisonment with Hydra.

"You're a strong one, I'll give you that," Natasha chimed as she leaned back into her chair.

"Well," Marlena started as she grabbed a hold of Bucky's hand, twirling it around in her own. "I had something to fight for."

Bucky squeezed her hand as lightly as possible and pulled her close to him, pressing a kiss to her temple. Marlena sighed in content and wrapped her arms around his torso, nestling herself into his body. She never wanted to leave his side, ever. If it was up to her she would stay wrapped up in Bucky's arms forever. He was her safe haven, her home, the one person she knew she wouldn't be able to live without. She loved him unconditionally and would for the remainder of her time on Earth, no matter how long or short that time may be.

Natasha and Sam watched the couple with a smile on their faces, although Sam's was more along the lines of a snide smirk. Steve, however, sat in his chair with furrowed eyebrows, still contemplating the details of the story Marlena had just uttered to the four of them. Something wasn't right with it, something wasn't right with her, and it was gnawing dangerously at the very edges of Steve's mind. All he wanted was to understand how it was possible, why it was possible. . .

"Marlena?" Steve spoke.

Marlena looked over at him, her hold on Bucky remaining. "Yeah, Steve?"

"You said they brainwashed you," he started nervously. "But you show no signs of memory loss whatsoever. How were you able to resist but Bucky wasn't?"

Marlena furrowed her eyebrows. She, too, had been wondering the same thing for the past few months, though she never really asked herself the question. She always assumed it was because of her determination not to let go of her family or Bucky, not to let go of her life; she assumed it was because of her refusal to be made into what Hydra wanted her to be, but now that she began to think about it she knew that couldn't possibly be the reasoning for the failed brainwash attempt. If Bucky was not able to resist the excruciating process of memory deterioration, then Marlena highly doubted she would be able to either. She had no clue what was responsible for her resistance, but she wasn't complaining about it at all.