Leave Me Behind [Winter Soldier] III

Love [Chapter 13]

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up."

Neil Gaiman

"Hello, Miss Ophelia," Shuri said as Bucky and O walked in with one of the Dora Milaj guiding them. "Sergeant Barnes. You were supposed to come days ago."

"We needed some time," Bucky said. But he looked concerned, it was plastered on his face through creased brows and tired eyes. "I didn't realize how serious things were with her until today."

"Go on." Shuri cocked her head to the side, then opened one of her Kimoyo beads. It began to record their conversation, though perhaps prematurely. Shuri needed to know the details, but it was not what she got from Bucky and Ophelia.

"It's my fault," Bucky started, instantly taking the blame as he did everything.

Ophelia cut him off. "It's my fault, Bucky, I knew the risks."

"You should have told me... Ophelia, you started seizing." Bucky's paranoia continued through his voice. Both Shuri and Ophelia picked up on it.

"I needed to know what was going on in your head, Bucky," Ophelia countered.

Shuri chuckled. "You two are like a married couple. Sergeant Barnes, if you could step out, I can take it from here."

"Please, call me Bucky," he said, then glanced at Ophelia. "Hey, I love you."

She kissed his cheek. "I love you too, Sergeant Barnes."

Bucky rolled his eyes, the nodded once at Shuri, and left the two women on their own. When the doors closed behind him, Shuri smiled at Ophelia, then ushered her through the medical lab. Music pumped through the speakers, though quietly -it was unlike anything Ophelia had ever heard before. It made her want to sway her shoulders and hips, but she remained composed.

"So, what happened?" Shuri asked, patting the table that Ophelia then hopped up onto.

"When Steve brought me back, the price of the Soul Stone giving me up was that... I think... That I feel too much when I look inside someone's head. I hadn't told Bucky yet, I didn't think it would matter. Then he asked me to look inside his head and I felt... I felt everything he felt when I died... When Thanos tricked him into thinking I was alive again. He can't differentiate between real life, and the false reality Thanos gave him. I don't think he truly believes I'm here."

"I meant you, not Bucky," Shuri said with a hearty chuckle. "You clearly care more about his well being than your own."

Ophelia smiled. "Isn't that what love is?"

Shuri, who was quite young, shrugged. Then she handed Ophelia a hospital gown. "Change into this – I need to look inside your head, but if you want, I can also check up on your body as a whole."

"Okay," Ophelia agreed. After a few minutes she was on the hospital bed again, this time in a gown. Shuri did all sorts of tests, prodding and poking at her muscles, her head. After doing a head to toe check, Shuri said to Ophelia, "I don't know how to tell you, but, uhm... You probably already know..."

"I know," Ophelia helped. "HYDRA did that when I was about fifteen."

Shuri looked horrified for a flash of a second.

"Bucky knows too, but don't worry, I wouldn't want children anyways," Ophelia consoled her. She quickly changed the topic. "So, doc, other than that, is my body okay?"

"Yes," Shuri responded, pulling herself out of her shock. "I'm going to look inside your head now."

"Feels wrong to have it happen that way, usually I'm the one looking into other's heads." Ophelia chuckled. Then she watched as Shuri popped another Kimoyo bead and it scanned Ophelia's head, then projected the image of her brain above her. She looked up in surprise as her own brain materialized before her, watching as neurons fired. One part of her brain was throbbing, perfectly in tune to the pain in her mind.

"Oh, my Bast," Shuri whispered to herself. "I have never seen anything like this."

"Like what?" Ophelia asked.

"Your Amygdala is twice the size of normal... which would explain your enhancement. You process emotion differently than us," Shuri explained, then began to tap at the hologram above, moving things like she was picking apart Ophelia's brain before her. "Your Limbic Lobe... Ophelia, what I am seeing in your head has only ever been observed in one species before, Orcas."

"What does that mean?"

"You have a deeper emotional range than anyone else, that is what allows you to empathize, to get inside of people's heads and feel around in there, to manipulate and bring forth memories. This is absolutely fascinating."

"Why is it throbbing?" Ophelia asked. "When I looked inside Steve and Bucky's heads, the pain was overwhelming."

"It looks like your Cerebral Cortex is overly sensitive, every flash of feeling you have, it is processing too quickly. Because of your brains build, your emotional capacity is constantly being overwhelmed, and instead of filing it like the rest of us do, your body only knows to put it out as physical pain. Has this always been the outcome?"

Ophelia shook her head. "No, back when I was used for HYDRA and I used my pathfinding, I could feel the pain a person was in. When I found Bucky, his arm had been severed in the fall and I could feel it. But it was never like this. It's different. I'm different this time."

Shuri placed her hand on her chin, then swiped away the Kimoyo bead projection of Ophelia's head. "I will need to think about this, how I can help you. But for now, do not use your powers..."

"I always feel the pain," Ophelia said as she sat upright, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Is there anything for that?"

"I do not want to administer any drugs yet," Shuri said. "Might I suggest taking up a calming hobby? Perhaps hiking or meditating? We have many guides here who can show you around or teach you how to meditate."

Ophelia smiled. "Hiking sounds nice, I never got to see much of the landscapes in my life. From Siberian basements, to big cities... But here in Wakanda, I feel like I could walk for hours every day and still not see all of its beauty."

"I've lived here my whole life and I feel the same," Shuri replied. "I have one more suggestion."

Ophelia cocked her head to the side.

"I can tell you have a passion for learning, from what Bucky had told us about you, it was quite clear. I would like to teach you a few things about Wakanda, perhaps even teach you some of our language."

Ophelia beamed. "I would love that, thank you, Shuri."