Us, Forever

The Offer

Luna opened her eyes, her vision still blurry. She tried to remember what happened as she woke up. She groaned softly as she began to shift, realizing she was laying in a bed. A bed? Why was she in a bed? She opened her eyes again, looking around, trying to focus her vision, realizing it was dark. She saw a figure beside her bed. Pushing herself to a sitting position, Luna pushed her legs to dangle over the side of the bed, knocking over a tray that had been placed beside her. 

"Shit.." She whispered.

"Luna.." Bucky spoke, sleep heavy in his voice.

"Bucky?" She asked, her eyes beginning to focus. "Where.. are we?"

"Safe." Steve spoke from the corner of the room.

Luna jumped at the unfamiliar voice. "Safe? Am I to be sedated again?" Luna asked, feeling the anger rise in her as she spoke.

"That was never supposed to happen." Bucky responded. "You were supposed to come with us on your own. I'm sorry, Luna."

Luna looked down as she stood off the bed, not realizing that the sedative was still in her system. Bucky quickly reacted, grabbing her before she could fall. Luna narrowed her eyes. All she felt currently was betrayed. The boys sounded sincere, but she couldn't move past the fact she'd been stabbed in the neck while staring at what she'd thought was a friendly face. She pushed away from Bucky, finding her balance.

"Luna.." She could hear the hurt in his voice.

"I'm fine." She responded.

"Then do you wanna tell me how you managed to become a super soldier like Rogers and I?" Bucky asked.

"Rogers?" She spoke, confused.

"That's me." Steve spoke up from his corner again. 

Luna looked at him, "You're.. like him?" She pointed to Bucky. Steve nodded. "How? I thought Hydra-"

"Long story." Steve cut her off. "I can tell you it at another time. Right now we need to know about you so we can help you." His voice was soft. 

"How did you become like me, Doll?" 

"Not by choice. After you disappeared on Hydra the first time, they.. strapped me down and injected me, hoping that I wouldn't die like the others. They injected 15 people.. only 6 of us survived."

"6?! Where are the other 5? Bucky asked.

"After the altercations they were frozen in the cryo chambers. I was the most obedient so I was left awake. Then Hydra began to fall. They moved me from location to location. Finally I escaped. I've only been free for roughly 3 weeks." She turned to Bucky "Hydra has finally fallen. They're no longer going to harm us." She smiled. "But you.. you left me, Bucky."

"I'm so sorry I left you Luna.. I didn't want to, but I wasn't given a choice." There was pain in his voice.

"You didn't have a choice?" Luna asked, her voice raising. "You left Bucky, you had a damn choice!"

"Luna, really I-"

Luna shoved him off of her which resulted in him slamming into the wall behind him. "Don't lie to me." She spoke, feeling betrayed by him.

Bucky winced as he hit the wall, but not because it hurt. "Luna, honestly-"

"I didn't give him a choice, Luna." Steve cut him off, stepping closer to them.

"What?" Luna turned to Steve.

"We had a short window when we rescued Bucky. I didn't know anything about you. As far as we were concerned, everyone in the Hydra post was an enemy. I went for my friend and I succeeded." Steve explained.

Luna wanted to be angry, but she understood. Steve didn't owe her anything. He probably didn't know anything of her until now. She looked to Bucky, seeing the dent he made from her pushing him. Her breath caught and she stepped away from them both, looking at wall behind Bucky still. Bucky reached towards her and she shied away from his touch.

"Please, let me help you like you helped me Luna." Bucky pleaded.

"Help me? How the hell can you help me?" She spat, turning from him. She was torn between feeling betrayed and alone and the feeling of familiarity. 

"We can train you to control your strength and your outbursts from your emotions. It can be hard at first and without help it can be a lot for someone." Steve spoke up, smiling warmly at Luna.

"I.. I don't know." Her voice dropped. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Then let us help you, Doll." 

Luna looked up to Bucky, then to Steve. Their friendly faces made it hard to say no or stay upset. Part of her wanted to punch Bucky over and over until she got all of her anger and hurt out from the feelings of betrayal, but the other part of her knew and understood, knowing she probably would have done the same had she been in his shoes.

"Well..?" Steve asked.

"Why help someone not worth saving?" Luna spoke, a broken laugh escaping. "All I'll do is hurt people. I've hurt those two cops, I threw Bucky into a wall. Before any of us know it I'll be throwing you all out windows." 

"Luna, you're not a bad person." Bucky responded.

"Aren't I? I worked for Hydra, Bucky. I did things for Hydra. Unspeakable things.. I just.." Her voice trailed off as she looked at the ground, turning away from them. 

"Who cares? I did too. Does that make me bad?" Bucky asked, raising his voice.

"Not the same thing, Buck. You were controlled." She spat back.

"And you weren't?" Steve asked.

"Not quite like he was, no." She shook her head. "They played on my emotions, manipulated me and everything to do with the situations. They took the thing I loved the most and had me under their thumb."

"Doesn't make you a bad person." Steve spoke.

"Do you mean-" 

"Yes, I do, Bucky." Luna cut him off, tears filling her eyes as she clenched her fists.

"I'm sorry.. Please let us help you." Bucky pleaded.

"I'm not worth helping.. Now please, leave me alone." her voice broke.

"Luna-"

"GO!" She screamed at the boys, cutting Steve off. 

She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. Bucky placed a hand on Steve's shoulder, shaking his head before he could say anything more. They retreated to the door. Bucky lingered behind, looking over his shoulder at her, feeling helpless and lost on how to help her. He knew exactly how she felt. He was in her spot when Steve rescued him. He wanted nothing more than to make her see now she was worthy, but he knew she needed time, just like he did. He took his gaze off of her, closing the door behind him as he left the room, leaving her alone.