Bucky Barnes' Daughter

Chapter Sixty-Eight

I force myself to take a deep breath as I enter the gym.  It's been weeks since I was here last and so much has changed between now and then.  Part of me wonders what Yuri thinks of me now that he's seen me in action.  I know he's watched the news closely and Ryan didn't need to tell me that for me to know.  Everyone who knows me has followed every new development very closely.  Now what they did with that information was up to them and I think that's what scares me the most.

I leave my shoes at the edge of the mat as I soundlessly make my way to the center of the room.  Yuri is no where in sight, which gives me a few moments of silence before I'm thrown head first into the questioning.

I grip the edge of the sink tightly as I fight to get my emotions under control.  Survive now, cry later.  That's all I need to do right now. 

Winter is waiting for me right outside that door and I know once I step through it, I won't ever be the same person again.

"Come on!"  He calls to me, which only makes my heart beat that much faster.

I open the door before he can bust it down.  Fear grips my heart but my face was void of any emotion.  The cold gun is pressed into my hands as he practically drags me into the courtyard.

"You know what to do."  He growls as I stare at the people in front of.

They weren't people I knew but as I stared at each of their faces, I started to realize that it didn't matter whether I knew them personally or not.  Their deaths would still haunt me every day.

"Now, soldier." 

A door opening behind me, causes me to snap out of the flashback immediately.  I whip around and see Yuri studying me. 

"I've been standing here for a few minutes, Serenity." He informs me as he makes his way over to me. 

"I'm sorry, I was..."  I don't know whether I should admit to the fact, I was in a flashback.

"I know where you were and it wasn't here."  He circles me as he studies every inch of my body.  Despite the cold outside, I had picked a pair of shorts and a tank top.  Most of my scars were visible to anyone who took the time to study me. 

"Partial or full replacement?"  

"Full."  I reply once I realize what he was asking.  It didn't take him long to notice the fresh scar.

"And everything's healed?"

"Of course.  I wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

"No, you would be."  He replies with a smile.  "Don't lie, you would have trained through the pain."  I don't respond because we both knew the answer already.  

I waited for him to ask about the videos circulating--to accuse me of being some monster.  But as we stood there for a few minutes in silence, I realized he wasn't going to ask questions he already knew the answers to.  

"Why did you agree to train me?"  My voice echoed off the walls, making it sound louder than it really was.

"Because Ryan asked me to." 

"That's not an answer."

"It is, but it's not the one you were after."  Yuri stops in front of me and I immediately tense as I prepare for an attack.  "You want to know why I would train someone with your background."  It wasn't phrased like a question so I didn't respond.  "When he first approached me, I told him no.  I didn't want to train someone who had the potential to turn against me."  

"So what changed?"

"He brought me that video of you being interrogated."  No emotion leaked into his words, almost as if he didn't feel anything after admitting he saw me like that.  "Then the one where you were raped."  

"He had no right to show you that."  I couldn't control my outburst.  I was never told there was footage of my assualt and now I'm hearing about it months later.

"He didn't and that's why I never watched it.  I didn't need to see what those monsters did to you in that room to know you would never join their fight.  That's when I called him back and had him bring you in that day."  

"Are you regretting your decision?" 

"No." 

"Not after everything that they've shown me doing?" 

"We both have skeletons in our closets.  Yours have just been aired out.  There will come a time when the media moves on to the next news story and you'll fade from their view.  I'm not saying it will get easier, but you'll be able to hold your head up high because you're a survivor."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My fist connects squarely with Yuri's jaw as we finish our sparing match.  I don't even register the pain that shoots down my arm as I manage to flip him over my body and quickly make my escape.

"Good punch."  Ryan calls as I collapse tiredly. 

This is the hardest I've trained in years.  We fought hard last time I was here but not to the point, I can't stand up, and it wasn't the pain that kept me on the ground. 

"Serenity?"  Yuri offers me a hand up even though I should have made the effort to make sure my teacher was okay.  I willingly accept his help since the adrenaline has completely drained me of energy.

"Is your face okay?"  I ask as I notice the bruise that was starting to form.  

"I'll be fine."  He replies without so much as a moment's hesitation.

Something compelled me to touch his face gently and I feel the warmth that was usually associated with my healing abilities.  The bruise fades immediately as I become light headed.  I quickly pull back me hand, realizing too late that I had finally showed this ability to an outsider.

"You healed him?!"  Ryan quickly glances between Yuri and myself. 

"Ryan come back later."  Yuri's voice left no room for argument.  Ryan immediately complies leaving me alone with my instructor again.  "How long have you had this ability?" 

"Since I was a child."  I couldn't make eye contact with him as I thought about all the ways this could go south for me. 

"Does anyone else know?"  He was starting to sound more worried than angry with me.   

In all honesty, I'm not sure who could possibly know.  There's only been three occasions where I've used my healing abilities.  It's physically taxing on my body so I'm not usually in a place where I can take the time to recover after an episode.

"I don't know."  I reply quietly as he leads me into his office.

"You're not to tell anyone about this.  I know from the videos circulating that they would turn this against you and I don't want to see you hurt...not after I've decided to take you on as a student.  I'm going to get you back to where you were almost eighty years ago and well, after that you can decide whether you want to continue."

"I'll want to continue."  I quickly respond without even a moment's consideration.  "That is if you'll want to teach me after all this is said and done." 

"Kid, I'm way too invested to leave now.  Plus, I don't want to see a heart like yours hurt again."  

I can't find the words to express how much this means to me.  I have the avengers who are determined to keep me safe along with SHIELD although their motives aren't clear as of late.  However, Yuri says this out of concern for me without expecting anything in exchange. 

"When can we start the more intense training?"  I joke which only seems to make Yuri relax more around me.

"Tomorrow morning."