Time Capsule ~Bucky Barnes~

Survive

The girl was dedicated, stronger than him, stronger than anyone they brought in over the years and the girl was who he admired and would forever admire no matter what he was going through or doing.

"They tortured you too?" Aurora questioned, watching him nod, the girl stared at her arm and then looked back at Bucky who was staring at her softly. Aurora wished she could be in the same cell as Bucky, wished she could just be with him instead of having glass keeping them apart.

"What did they do to you?" Bucky whispered, watching as the girl fiddled with her blanket, watching as she stared at her lap.

"Shot me, broke my arm, threw me in a box, doused me with ice cold water and boiling hot water. Threw spiders in the box I was in, and threw them in during the resting period between cold water and hot water. You?" The bitterness in the brunette's voice shocked him but it was expected and she had every right to be bitter. 

"Mind torture, electric shock, the fun stuff." 

"Oh, lucky you." They both dryly chuckled at their own sarcasm, Aurora smiled at Bucky, he watched as she fiddled with the blanket some more and glanced to his door as his dinner was shoved in. 

"Jessie looks like you, she's got a good sister, she's lucky to have you." The girl nodded at his words, smiling to hear that someone believed she was a good sister, Aurora jumped up as a door opened between the two rooms, Bucky walked over and glanced into her room before stepping in. Aurora went to get out of bed but Bucky held out a hand in her direction to stop, Aurora slowly got a little comfier and focused her eyes in his direction. Bucky turned back into his room, grabbed the tray of dinner and walked back to her. 

Bucky walked over to the girl and examined her form before carefully repositioning her arm to be more secure for healing and lessen her pain. He cupped her face with his 'good' hand, watching her smile lightly and lean into his touch. The man sat next to her, holding the tray of food in his hand and grabbed the spoon, feeding the girl the soup and handing her the bread to eat. 

The brunette man placed the tray to the side, grabbed the drink bottle, and examined it before handing it to the girl. He watched as she chugged it down, placing it to the side and staring back at him. 

"Despite being in that death trap, I haven't drunk anything in three days." 

"You're gonna have to pee soon then." He joked, laughing with her as she snickered at his comment. 

"Worth the embarrassment." Bucky turned away once the girl needed to use the toilet, it was the drill for both of them, and there was no privacy for the two. The glass wall separating their room was the only thing they had to look at something else besides the other three walls. 

Aurora rested on the bed, biting the inside of her cheek nervously as Bucky tucked her in and rested the slightest of pecks onto her forehead. Bucky sat down on the ground by her head, he raised his knees to his chest and rested his head back, he glanced at Aurora and watched as she stared at the ceiling. Taking a breath, focusing on counting back from a random number, Bucky didn't want to leave her alone and didn't want to leave her vulnerable.

He froze as she started running her hand through his hair, he had to admit that it did feel nice, comforting even and didn't tell her to stop more because he believed that it was comforting for her and didn't want to take that awake from her. Aurora froze as he grabbed her hand, she glanced down at him and smirked slightly as he just held her hand. 

As she fell asleep, Bucky kept watch of her, wondering why they kept him in her room, wondering why they hadn't taken her away from him again. All these questions came to him, all this worry that he knew he hadn't felt in years came back and it was all because of the girl. All because of the girl that he wanted back in his life, only not in this world they were both stuck in. 

He stayed by her side all night, stayed by her side to make sure that he knew nothing would hurt her, he listened to the screams that escaped her lips too often and he knew what the men that he worked with were like and knew that she hadn't become numb to the pain yet. He knew that she wanted to feel numb, but due to who she was and the person she is, he lost that instinct to protect due to what he has gone through and so relied on how he used to protect her back in the 40s and it seemed to work. 

Bucky didn't know how to describe it but with Aurora, he felt the effects of the memory wiping and torture get taken off of him he could feel himself becoming human again but with everyone else the real him, the man that he was watched from the inside while the bastard of a killer did the dirty work of horrible men and he saw it all, he watched all of it happen and watched so many bad things happen to undeserving people. 

As the brunette slept, he could feel her shaking and turning in her sleep, he turned to see what was happening, saw the distress on her face and watched the nightmares plague her drastically. 

"Aurora, wake up, it's just a bad dream... you gotta wake up." He grabbed her arm, jumping as he felt a jolt and glanced around to see his surroundings alter. Bucky searched wherever he was for a sign of what Aurora had taken him into and where she was. 

He turned around after he heard a sob, he watched the nightmare Aurora was having, the nightmare she dragged him into and he was horrified to see the memory she was reliving and the desperation of trying to escape the horrors. All the details were too specific to be something her mind created out of fear, he knew this was a memory everything felt too detailed to not be a memory. 

"Stop it, stop it! Please, I can't take it anymore... stop it! I'm begging you!" Her cries made his skin crawl, he walked over to the girl, unsure of how to handle being in her nightmare or how the reality worked. The man that was torturing her faded away as he appeared, Bucky glanced at the brunette and undid the bounds holding her to the table. He saw the relief in her eyes, he pulled her up and cupped her face to help comfort her. 

"I've got you, you're okay. I'm trying to keep you safe, I need you to wake up to get out of this." He tried telling her, he knew that the blood that left her body wasn't real, he did his best not to react and keep her as calm as possible. 

"It hurts so much, Bucky, it hurts." 

"I know but you've already lived it, don't live it again. You need to wake up, Aurora, wake up." The brunette man jumped as Aurora jumped into his arms, he took a breath as he realised they were back in the cell, he crouched onto the bed and held her in his arms. He rubbed her back, making sure she knew that she was okay, he did what he could but he didn't know if it was enough.