Hurt // Marvel [2]

11

"Bucky, I'm sorry." I apologize for what must be the millionth time at this point.

I got even less sleep than usual last night because I was worrying about the possibility of everyone finding me. I'm sure Tony has alerts set up in case anyone finds my location, and if that girl posted anything about seeing me, Tony is sure to know about it.

At this point, them finding me wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but I'd prefer to go a few more weeks. Bucky and I can continue training and I can get more control before seeing everyone again.

"You don't have to keep apologizing," Bucky states. "It's not that big of a deal. It was only one person, and we should be getting ready to change locations now anyway." I look into his blue eyes and nod my head. He's been reassuring me that my mess up wasn't too horrible all night.

"I'm gonna go arrange travel," He picks up his backpack as he takes a step towards the door. "I shouldn't be gone long. I'm just going to look for cheap tickets that'll get us out of here today." I nod my head and silently watch him as he leaves.

I turn around as the door closes and stare at all the clutter around the apartment. I'm going to need to pack all of our stuff.

I open the door to the closet and pull out the suitcase I had used months ago to bring everything to Bucharest. There were still quite a few items of clothing in it because Bucky and I didn't have a whole lot of storage, but it wasn't the neatest, and I had random items scattered around the apartment.

I open the suitcase and pull everything out of it, leaving just the manila folder at the bottom that I still haven't read. I reach down to touch it and my fingers glide across the cover. It's just a plain folder. No markings, no title, just a folder. I'm consciously aware of the paper sitting inside as I pick it up. It isn't especially large, but there's enough information inside to give me answers to many of my unanswered questions.

I take a deep breath before slowly opening the folder. My eyes land on a picture of myself from around five years ago at this point. My hair was much shorter than it is now, my eyes brighter, and I looked all-around more innocent. I was still young and naïve. I didn't know what the world held for me. I run my fingers across the photograph, wondering where that girl disappeared to. The person I am now, sitting in this run-down apartment that I share with a fugitive in a city I don't know, is not anything like the sixteen year-old in the picture in this folder.

I look up from the photo once more and close the folder, placing it back into the bottom of the suitcase before covering it with all the clothes I had just taken out. I take my time folding each item of clothing, my mind distracted by that girl in the photo. I don't feel anything like that girl, and I don't think about her very often. The closest glimpse of her I get are from the memories I get from my time with HYDRA. The only way I can tell the approximate time of the memory is by my actions. Was I frightened? Confident? Weak?

In the later memories, I was closer with Pietro, but I was confused. I didn't understand what HYDRA was doing or the changes that were being made to my body. At the beginning of my stay, I was more witty and confident. I was frightened, yes, but also confident that my parents were looking for me, that they'd get me out and I wouldn't have anything to worry about anything.

I close the suitcase once it gets full and move on to my backpack. I gather each of the notebooks, some more worn out than others, and place each of them into the large pocket. Sunglasses get placed in the front pocket and I quickly check for the cell phone and charger I've been carrying around since I left.

I involuntarily flinch as the door opens and feel relieved when Bucky comes into view. I haven't been able to drop my paranoia.

"I couldn't get us on the same flight, but it's probably better that way." He hands me one of the plane tickets before going over to the kitchen counter. "You fly out tonight. It's a late flight but it's the only one I could get. I'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon. Just worry about getting your own stuff packed and I'll bring the rest with me."