My Forever and Always (Soulmate Aus)

Dream sequence- Winterwidow

James Barnes never dreamed- at least, not in his time. Natasha Romanoff rarely ever dreamed. But when the two did dream, the dreams were excruciatingly painful. James dreamed of a redheaded ballerina that had killed people because that was what she was trained to do; Natasha dreamed of a World War Two solider who was forced to murder and went through immense pain to retain the lack of memory. Neither of them enjoyed sleeping but, despite their best wishes, they had to eventually.

Everyone knew of the soulmate tale: you would dream of what your soulmate had went through, sometimes what they're doing currently, and what they look like. This way you wouldn't have to search that hard to find them and you would feel an even stronger connection to them because you knew what they went through. However, they never mentioned just how terrible this connection could be.

Some nights, when James wasn't stuck in the cyro-chamber, he would wake up screaming for a Russian redhead that was stuck in the Red Room. She seemed so young! She didn't deserve to go through all of that, no one deserved that. James wished he could remember her face so he could save her but HYDRA would wipe his memory of her; they didn't need their best soldier to be worrying about some girl.

Little Natasha would refuse to go to sleep when they forced her to. She didn't want to hear the screams of all the people he'd killed- not to mention his own screams. When the workers finally got her to go to sleep, Natasha would dream about the same thing and would wake up crying for the poor brunette that had to go through so much torture. But she was quickly told that love was a weakness leading to her giving up her feelings for him.

The two ran into each other once. Surprisingly, Natasha and James remembered each other from their dreams. James had come to the Red Room to train the girls. Natasha was about 17. When the two were paired together they didn't fight like they were supposed to, no, they stared at each other in amazement. James moved closer to her and held his hand up, hesitantly running his non-metal arm through her hair.

"Солдат? (Soldier?)" She asked, her eyebrows knit. She didn't understand why her trainer was stroking her hair instead of training her. 

"Не притворяйся, будто не узнаешь меня. (Don't pretend like you don't recognize me.)" His hand moved from her hair to her cheek, cupping it. Natasha warmed into the touch and relaxed a little. "Так много боли. . . Как вы с этим справились? (So much pain. . . How have you dealt with it?)"

"Я научился скрыть это. (I've learned to hide it.)" Natasha remarked. James swept her hair out of the way before kissing her forehead. Years of brainwashing were coming undone by one girl. Touching her, he wasn't The Winter Soldier but Bucky Barnes, the man that lost his life fighting beside his best friend. 

"Ни одному ребенку не придется проходить через это. (No child should have to go through that.)" He told her. "Никто не должен пройти через это. (No one should have to go through that.)" He corrected himself. She smirked at the soldier.

"Вы бы знали. (You would know.)" She countered. Bucky cracked a smile. "Вещи, через которые вы прошли. . . (The things you've been through. . .)" He pressed his forehead to hers and laughed. 

"Просто заткнись и поцелуй меня. (Just shut up and kiss me.)" Natasha's smirk grew, leaning up to kiss him. He smirked, lifting her up and twirling her around. She wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the physical contact. In fact, they both were over the moon from the physical contact. Their encounter was forced to a stop soon after; both being dragged back to their endless torment.  

The second encounter the two shared happened when they were both out in the field. But the two put their missions on hold to go on a date. Black Widow and The Winter Soldier, the two most frightening people if you ever ran into them, went out to enjoy ice cream. 

"Вы были заняты. (You've been busy.)" Natasha noted, smirking behind her strawberry ice cream. Her dreams had been very action packed. Bucky hung his head, smiling lightheartedly. Natasha laughed, crossing her legs under the table. 

"И ты расслаблялся. (And you've been slacking.)" He countered, mumbling it into his lap. The two laughed a little as they ate their ice cream. Bucky looked up, concern painting his face. "Как твои дела? (How have you been?)" She raised an eyebrow. 

"Хорошо, я полагаю. (Alright, I suppose.)" Her eyes narrowed in on him. "Вы? (You?)" He shrugged.

"Насколько я могу быть. Вы видели то, что я пережил. (As fine as I can be. You've seen the things I've been through.)" He muttered, finding more interest in his ice cream than the girl in front of him. Reaching across the table, Natasha rested her hand on top of his. 

"У меня есть. Но то же самое можно сказать и в обратном. (I have. But the same can be said in reverse.)" Bucky smiled at his ice cream before licking it. Natasha smirked before taking a bite of Bucky's ice cream. Bucky frowned at her but Natasha wiped it off by kissing him. "Я люблю тебя, Джеймс. (I love you, James.)"

"Я тоже тебя люблю, Наталья. (I love you too, Natalia.)"

The two have had multiple encounters ever since. Some of which have had Natasha and Bucky pinned against each other, some have had them sitting back and going on dates. The most recent one left Natasha with a nasty scar, but Natasha didn't know who it was. After all of their encounters, they only knew each other's names. Their actual names; not their code name. They didn't want work to interfere with love. It had already interfered countless of times before.

Right now Steve, Natasha, and Sam were running down the street to where The Winter Soldier was recently seen. There were cop cars surrounding the street but they let the three superheroes past. The Winter Soldier was on the bridge shooting down while Natasha ran in a zig-zagging pattern.

When they reached the bridge, two of the three superheroes were shocked to see who it was. Natasha and Steve saw two different sides of the same person on that bridge. Steve saw an old friend, someone who protected him when everything in the world seemed upside down. Natasha saw a loved one, someone who she had shared so much with. The redhead saw her soulmate one that bridge.

"Джеймс. (James.)" Natasha whispered before running over to get on the bridge.

"Natasha!" Steve yelled after he, trying to stop her, but she didn't respond. She just kept running.

When she got to the top of the bridge, she slowly approached The Winter Soldier. He turned around, aiming his gun at her but she didn't back down. The Winter Soldier let her get as close as standing inches apart, though he couldn't figure out why. There was something in the back of his mind that told him to let her get close.

Natasha hesitantly reached her hand up to run her fingers through his hair like he did all those years ago. Bucky let her for some reason but he still couldn't figure out why. After the last encounter the two had that Bucky still remembered her, HYDRA decided to completely wipe his memory of her. He was softening too much and they couldn't have it. Natasha moved her hand from his hair to his cheek, cupping it the same way he did to her so long ago.

"Джеймс, пожалуйста, помни меня. (James, please remember me.)" She whispered- pleaded- as though he would disappear before her again. Something in his mind snapped, sending all of those memories he had of the redheaded ballerina flooding back.

"Наталья. (Natalia.)" He mumbled as he dropped his gun. The gun clattered to the ground but didn't go off. Bucky wrapped his arms around the spy and held her tight. "Наталья." He repeated into her hair.

"Я думал, что я потерял вас. (I thought I lost you.)" Bucky didn't reply, he just held her closer. Steve and Sam watched from the street.

"Who's he?" Sam asked, eyebrow raised. Steve turned to him, slowly removing his gaze from his best friend and his teammate. 

"Bucky? He's an old friend of mine." He responded. "He fought in the war with me. I thought I lost him."

"How does Natasha know him?" Steve shook his head and shrugged.

"No clue."