RESURRECTION OVERTURE ▹ barnes-romanoff

десять.

How can I say goodbye when I've hardly had time to say hello?

"Did it hurt?"

    Bucky glanced down at the still so very small redhead that was tucked in his arms. Their flashlight that was supposed to illuminate their faces was dim and flickering which meant that father and daughter would have to buy new batteries that coming Thursday. The yellow beam was quivering in the surrounding cold night air that made the girl shiver from more than just the fear of her latest nightmare. Svetlana lifted her icy and pale hand and pressed it to her father's metal one, measuring her small fingers to his.

    "When you got your metal arm..." Svet finished softly, staring at their hands as his was practically twice the size.

Bucky shifted her at his side, replying in a voice that sounded heavy with sleepy disuse, "Eto bylo davno, Sveta." It was a long time ago, Sveta.

    "The museum said you fell from a train." Svet kept her other hand to his chest so she could feel the words, "Do you remember the fall?"

    "The man." Her father didn't go on for a moment, "I remember the man."

There was another small pause as Svetlana thought about the last time she saw "the man" and all of the pain that came with remembering such things. Her mind still ached when she tried to think about things from before the wipe. Being so small and so young made the wipe worse, sometimes leaving her dazed or confused about some things in her childhood. Shaking all of that off with a quiet puff of air, Svet intertwined her short fingers with her father's and leaned further into him.

    "I dream that the Superior's found us again."

    Bucky slightly winced and he grit his teeth at the mentioned of the disgusting man.

    "It's so real sometimes. It's as if it's happening. It's as if we are taken back and I am in my cell again. I can smell it, even feel it." Bucky rested his chin atop her red head when her voice grew frail, "I dream about the dancing, about the book..."

    A small crystal tear slid down her cheek and she hurriedly wiped it away, unwilling to let herself be so terribly affected by all of it.

    "Papa?"

    "Yeah?"

"Will you sing for me?"

Bucky looked down at her with a frown.

"I would ask for a story, but I think we both know you are not so good at such things." 

    She looked up at him with a teasing smile as a bitter smirk of his own tugged at the corner of his lips. He gave her a quick jab in her side, making her giggle and eventually scoot closer to him. Svet once again tucked her head under his chin and threw her boney legs over his lap. She closed her sky blue eyes and tried her best to shut out the painful memories, waiting for her father to start.

"Oh! Papa, can you sing that one that my grandmother used to sing?" Bucky's throat grew tight at the mention of his mother as Svet finished softly with, "The song you told me about?"

    With a small huff and a reluctant shake of the head, the man began to sing for her as he always would if she only ever asked.

    "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

    You make me happy when skies are gray.

    You'll never know, Dear, how much I love you."