RAISON D'ÊTRE ( bucky barnes ) 一 under editing

TWELFTH

RAISON D'ÊTRE
TWELFTH

PUSHING OPEN THE DOOR of the motel room, Rome reached over and quickly flicked the light on. "The room is just for the night," she said in a hushed tone, slowly walking into the room and inspecting it. It looked like any other standard motel room, with two beds, a bathroom, and a small kitchenette on the other side of the room. "I know it's not much, but at least it's something."

It hadn't been very difficult to hack into a number of ATMs and gather some money, just enough to buy them all the essentials and hopefully, it'd be enough to get them out of the country. There was no way either of them could stay, knowing full well that the government would be hunting both of them down for their crimes 一 her soldier for assassinating a number of people over the many decades, and Rome for her role in many missions. While she was thankful to have funds, she didn't like that the only way they could get them was to steal. But Rome had forgiven him quickly, since they both didn't technically exist and would have no way to get it.

On their way to the motel, he had explained to her that HYDRA was gone, taken down as a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. So they were free, forever off of HYDRA's radar, but the revelation still made her feel on edge. Rome had to go back to the base just to be sure, and seeing the abandoned halls and hearing the sirens above ring made her feel almost ill. This had been the place she spent so long in; it had never been a home to her, but at least it'd been familiar. From there, Rome had gathered all her grimoires and books and made sure to shut the door on that chapter of her life. HYDRA had taken many things from her, but it won't ever again.

They placed their bags on the ground, just by the foot of the beds, and Rome sat on one of them, already reaching to take off her shoes. "We should leave here as soon as possible," she said, unlacing the boots slowly. The moment it came off, she took her sock off as well and cringed at the feeling of the wet sock coming off with a wet snap. They were still wet from the river. "I don't want to remain in this city any longer than we should." Once both shoes and socks were off, she picked up her back and unzipped it, reaching around to fish out one of her grimoires. Rome set it on the bed, flipping through the thin pages.

"What are you doing?" her soldier asked. Looking up, she spotted him standing by the door, taking off his jacket.

"Protection and cloaking spells," Rome replied, leafing through the contents. "Anything to hide our presence, just enough to keep us hidden as we leave. I don't want to risk people like HYDRA finding us again." She looked back up at him. "I won't let them."

He stepped forward. "Rome 一"

The witch shook her head, brows furrowing in frustration. "I know I marked one of these pages," she muttered to herself, rubbing her eye and starting to play with her necklace. She let out a small yawn and continued to look through the pages. Rome tossed an uninterested glance into the bag at the rest of the grimoires; unfortunately, HYDRA had taken out most of the pages that included offensive spells but there had been plenty to help with cloaking. "Maybe it was in a different 一"

"Rome." His voice was stronger, firmer than before, and Rome looked up to meet his gaze. His jacket was folded over the back of the lounge chair by the door, and his hat had been placed beside it. "You should rest."

She shook her head, looking down at the spell book with a determined stare. "I can't," she said.

"You'll overexert yourself," he said. He walked towards her, sitting right beside her grimoire and peered up at her tired face. Seeing her now, he could see the exhaustion in her worried green eyes and he suppressed the urge to smile. Even now he thought she looked lovely. "You need to rest."