Remember Me

Chapter 22

Her chest feels hollow, like something is ripped from her ribcage and has left behind a huge hole. All she can hear is her heartbeat echo from the walls of the void. She slowly rocks back and forth trying to calm herself down.

Muffled footsteps come closer and closer. She's too busy thinking about Bucky to pay attention to her surroundings. Did he really just leave her? It came out of nowhere.

Pull yourself together.

That was wrong. That was wrong in so many ways. Did he really compare their relationship with Steve and Lilly's? Did he compare her to Lilly...??

Bullshit.

He was definitely influenced by her somehow. But she has no time to think about him, she needs to do something about her.

"Natasha!"

She looks up at the person running towards her. So she didn't imagine the footsteps after all.

"Sam?"

He comes to a full stop, bends down and lifts Natasha up on her feet. She feels light-headed. Not sure if it's because of what happened just now with Bucky, or because Sam helped her up a little bit too fast.

"You were right. You were right all along." He scans the hallway. "Where's Barnes?"

Natasha signs, she really doesn't want to think about what happened between them literally seconds ago. She wipes away a tear from her eye. "He left. What do you mean Sam?"

"He left? Shit! Not what we need right now. I just caught Lilly practicing some kind of witchcraft on Steve! He needs our help."

"She's doing what??" She straightens her back. It's like waking up from a nightmare. Her mind is alert and her body in fight or flight mode. Right now, it's definitely fight mode. She wants to punch the shit out of that bitch.

"Where did Barnes go?"

Natasha points in the direction where she saw him last. Sam grabs her and pulls her along. They end up in the garage where Bucky just kickstarts his bike and drives out the door.

"Barnes! Wait."

"You're too late Sam. He's gone." His silhouette gets smaller every second and her anger for Lilly grows. She didn't think she could hate her even more then she already did. She hiccups her tears away because she knows she can deal with Bucky later. He can't hide from her. She'll find him.

"She must have had control over him too."

"Definitely, I saw some purple glow in his eyes. We can find him later. Come on Sam. Let's get that little bitch."

As they sneak back to the place Sam saw them together, they find Steve. Alone. he's just standing there; his arms hang besides his broad body and his fists clenched so hard his knuckles have turned white.

"He's just standing there." Sam whispers.

Natasha grips the gun she wears on her ankle tight in her hand. She keeps it cradled in her hand, ready to shoot.

"Steve?" She asks, keeping an eye on her surroundings. "Are you okay?"

He doesn't respond, he's just standing there. It's like he's waiting for something. From behind him Lilly appears. She's smiling like crazy. Her hands roam Steves upper body. The atmosphere is thick, you could cut it with a knife.

"Back already? He dumped you really fast. Ha-ha!" She covers her mouth with her hand and giggles. "I'll kill him later." She whispers to herself.

"Who are you? What do you want from us?" Natasha snaps at her.