LIGHTNING ▷ BUCKY BARNES [UNDER EDITING]

8| HISTORY

Her brown eyes slowly fluttered open and when the light above her flashed down on her she quickly squinted them closed. She took a big breath and focused herself on her breathing. It was and it calmed her down. She opened her eyes once again, her brown orbs trying to focus on one point but her sight kept being blurry. "Good morning." a voice mumbled from a close distance from her. She slowly tilted her head sideways only to see Steve leaning against the doorframe. She sighed before looking away from him, scanning the room only to recognize it as her own bedroom in the tower.

"James Buchanan Barnes..." she murmured, her voice raspy because her throat was as dry as sand. She reached for her bottle of water on her nightstand but retreated her hand quickly back when a sharp pain stung her in her stomach. She remembered what happened as if it happened just a second ago. It felt like the knife being held against her throat was just a second ago, how the blade went through her stomach and how she felt her warm tears roll down her cheek... it really felt like just a second ago. But she knew it wasn't.

Steve walked up to her which gave her the opportunity to scan his face. He looked like a mix between sad and distracted, his eyes were always staring wholes into one point. "Behind sealed walls," he stated as he grabbed the water bottle off her nightstand and handed it over to her before sitting down on her bed, his eyes trained on the doorknob.

"Although he doesn't want to admit it, he knows me. He just doesn't remember the history between us."

Valerie gave Steve an appreciating nod when he handed her her water bottle. Silence took over the room and the only thing you could hear was the water bottle lid opening and Valerie swallowing her water fast. The bottle was empty quickly and she softly smiled in satisfaction as she felt her body being less dehydrated than when she woke up. She felt the energy returning to her body and she sat upright, ignoring the pain in her abdomen that was gone as soon as she sat up straight. She threw her her feet off the bed despite Steve trying to stop her and sighed deeply. "How long..." her voice cracked when asking the one thing she didn't want to ask. But she had to know if there was still time or if she got stabbed for no purpose. She slowly turned her head towards Steve who changed his attention from the doorknob towards Valerie's brown eyes. He thought they looked darker than usual, more somber as if there was no grain of hope and happiness left in her. He knew how it looked like, he used to see it in the mirror every day.

Steve swallowed thickly and parted his lips, "You've been unconscious for two days."

Her heart stop, her brain went silent and her body froze at the news. Deep inside she had a feeling she was too late but she held onto the slight hope she still had stored in her heart. It felt like her wound opened up again and the blood just streamed out of it even when it wasn't. She felt her world crash and burn because the last person she loved and cared about died. And it was because of her.

She room around her spun wildly and she laid back down in silence. Steve, knowing she needed time alone to think nod before standing up and leaving the room. The door shut behind him with a thud which made her open her eyes again. She jumped out of her bed and for the first time in two days she was standing. The floor beneath her uncovered feet was cold just as her bare legs that were covered by nothing but a dress that reached her thigh. In general, she felt cold. She reached for her closet and once she opened she grabbed the first thing she saw, put it on and made her way to the elevator outside her room at the end of the hall.

She impatiently tapped her foot against the silver floor in the elevator, chewing her lower lip as she waited for the doors to open. Steve told her James Barnes was locked up 'between sealed walls' and which other walls are to be trusted more than the ones from the tower? She saw the blueprints of the tower, she knew where everything was. Every single room, secret or not, she saw them and memorized them and now she was on the way to one of the secret rooms in the basement.

The doors pinged open and her eyes scanned the dark hall. As soon as she stepped foot out of the elevator the lights flashed on but the hallway was still chilly to her. The hairs on her body stood up and a chill went down her spine. She heard the elevator behind her close its door and now she felt all alone but she knew she wasn't because behind the double doors she was standing in front of was a man who killed her best friend.

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