The cube was a bizarre little thing. It took him some time to figure out that it could be twisted, which changed the strange colour pattern on most sides immediately.

The goal was to separate all colours? How curious. What would happen if he succeeded? Would it trigger a bomb? Would it open and reveal something? Was it a secret weapon of sorts?

Once he heard the familiar sound of squeaky shoes, he stuffed it under a pillow, hiding it from the white coat. He did not want to share anything with her.

The man had visited as well, but each time he sat in the same spot, not uttering a word. William realized that when he neared the cell, he started stomping just a bit louder as if he wanted to let him know he was there. It was quite a weird habit of his. Will couldn't complain since he would rather sit in silence with the strange man than listen to her.

The woman had not taken any hints. She did not care about a curled lip, heavy glares or balled fists.

And her damn questions got on his nerves.

Every day she came, though William couldn't really tell when one day began and other ended. Unlike the man, she never sat down again after the incident in the glass cage.

She always wore that damn white coat, that bugged him the most. He always studied her for fast movements, weapons or any other signs of hostile behaviour.

Or mistakes. He wished she'd make the mistake of entering his space again. But no one had, they had even given him a change of bandages, letting him change them instead of allowing another white coat do it.

It had been another unknown day when the memories had came back with a full force this time.

His back arched, eyes darting left and right behind closed lids as sweat trickled down his neck onto the white floor. His breathing was irregular, sometimes small gasps left his parted lips, other times it was a whimper or a mumbled word. He was often trying to keep the people in his memories away, telling them no, or to go back. Or to leave.

The amount of different languages he used would give even the most bilingual person a whiplash by how many times he changed them.

He saw then things that would leave him with more questions.

He saw young John, he saw mud, he saw the lifeless eyes of someone named Michael Carter and then he felt guilty. In another place, he saw cookies on the palms of his hands. His hands looked smaller and softer.

"Leave some for your brother!"

He saw someone running towards him through a very hazy morning. A young man with big blue, fearful eyes.

"Fire!"

He was holding a rifle as he ran towards William. Williams own eyes shining with the exact same terror as he pressed down on the trigger. The young German boy fell into mud to be trampled by his comrades. His eyes wide and forever seeing the battlefield and the fearful eyes of his murderer.

He had been Williams first kill.

"Stop following me."

And then he saw the man. Tiny and fragile. His baby blues were always so sad but determined. He wanted to change, but his body wouldn't let him as it was always deagging him down with sickness.

Steve looked so different back then, so serious and small. And the man behind the glass wall was there as well, always picking up after bullies.

"You have to stop getting into fights."

William knew them both, they had been... Friends? Family?

He'd been shadowing them for a long time, but they just shrugged him off. Told him to go home. Other times they'd scold him for some things. Like getting into the water. Why was William in the river?

"William, don't!"

But then it was all cut off with dark walls, the sound of rats scurrying in the tunnels and eating the corpses left there. The mumbling of different languages as he was stripped of his clothes and dignity, his name, his past and confidence. He was to be turned into a breathing, living nightmare.

"Keep him still."

He heard the sound of saws, screams of terrified children and men, felt the scent of blood that that trickled down his chin and nose after the first time they had injected him with something.

"Experiment X 051 is alive."

He'd been a failure, they had klicked they tongues, shaken their heads and looked at him with disappointed once he had finished his first shift years later.

"Not fully formed shifting abilities. Pity. Tell the germans we need more doses."

He was supposed to be shot, to be crossed off as just another failure. So why had they changed their mind?

Knives, they had placed knives under his skin.

He screamed for them to stop, but they never listened.

William was clutching his head, gripping his greasy hair and pulling it in distress as he sat in the corner and swayed back and forth. He was mumbling incoherently, not caring about the slobber and snot that coated half of his face.

"S-stop. aufhören! Didn't do it. I didn't. Come back. Don't leave me here! "

His eyes were wide but completely blind to the real world around him. He didn't acknowledge the almost silent hiss of the door as someone carefully entered his cell and locked the door behind them.

"Doves and eagles. Count the eagles. Count the eagles. Count the eagles."

He kept repeating it under his breath before flinching and falling on his side, letting out a strangled cry as he balled his fists and pressed them against his head to try and stop the onslaught of memories.

"Sie befolgen die Regeln, befolgen die Regeln, befolgen die Regeln- yes, no. I comply. No more eagles."

He was talking gibberish, and Bucky could barely understands a word as he carefully sat down as far away from William as possible. As much as it pained him to see that, he could not wake him up.
It would only make things worse. So Bucky sat, watching William battle his nightmares from another corner of the cell.

Bucky wished he could be next to him, wished he could pull the man into his arms and press his face into his chest and let him battle the demons in his embrace. He wanted to ease the pain by giving him an environment that felt safe. He knew Steve must be looking right now and freaking out. He was probably destroying some SHIELD property, but Bucky couldn't be there for him. Not right now.

He was just hoping Steve wouldn't come storming down the hall and ruin everything, not yet. He'd made progress in a short amount of time. He'd noticed the way William had relaxed in his presence. He assumed it had something to do with their past, and maybe he had remembered Bucky. He didn't yet know why was Steve such a triggering factor. But then again, Steve had triggered Bucky as well, he hadn't wanted Steve to see him like that, see the monster he had become. But he never wanted to kill Steve as badly as William did. Sure he had been Bucky's mission... Was that what it was? Was Steve now Williams mission? Whatever was going on, Bcuky would figure it out.

Things had been going well, William hadn't been as tense in his presence anymore.

If only they could stop Jazuat from interfering. But Fury wouldn't budge, he wanted information and Uma was highly trained psychologist who had worked with many agents, old and new. But her tactics wouldn't work on William.

"Lassen Sie mich raus!" he growled out, a raw scream tearing from his chest as he tried to suffocate his own pain.

He quieted down, his eyes closing and sweat trickling on the floor from his hair. He looked as if he had ran a marathon. And Bucky wondered if he had looked just as broken.

William was shaking, his fingertips twitching as if he wanted to grab someone. A tired whisper and a sob broke through, making Bucky tear his gaze from him. Hoping it would hurt less this way.

"Mama."

Bucky closed his eyes at the broken plea, the boy cried out to his mama to hold him. He'd always been a mama's boy, Bucky could remember Sarah very well. Despite the rough time, she had always taken the best care of his boys. Even Bucky. She'd treated him like one of her own.

His sobs died down and the shaky breathing became even again after a long while, bringing back the hollow silence.

Bucky couldn't detect his rubiks cube anywhere, realizing he must have hidden it inside the pillow probably. He was glad he'd taken such a keen interest in it, Steve had been watching the whole time as Will had tried to figure it out. It was quite entertaining.

He'd given it to William to keep him busy, he'd soon have to bring something else for him. He knew Jazuat wanted Will to focus, to make sure he was hundred percent present when she was having one of her blasted sessions with him.

Bucky knew better than anyone that it wouldn't work. William needed to keep his mind stimulated, needed to do something to keep himself busy and take his mind off the fear that he was probably feeling.

He must be terrified and Bucky would do anything to lessen that fear. Even though he was sad that Steve wouldn't be able to confront him for awhile.

Then Bucky made a mistake.

He sighed, and suddenly there was a pair of crimson red eyes staring at him from across the room. Time seemed to stand still for a moment, and Bucky thought Will had decided not to attack. Even though he knew exactly what he was getting into when he entered the cell without permission.

William thought his heart had skipped a beat when he heard it. A sigh, it was too close to him. Despite his body screaming at him to stand down to ease his splitting headache, he still snapped his eyes open as soon as he heard the small sound disturbing the silence around him.

It was the man from behind the glass wall.

As soon as they made eye contact, the man looked away, slouching even lower on the floor. His body language screaming at Will that he's not a threat.

William was down, had been in a vulnerable state. Unable to look out for himself. And this man was violating his space while he had been helplessly stuck in dreams.

Without even thinking about it or analysing his opponent, he was off like a bullet, the chains clinking as he bounced.

Although he couldn't reach the glass wall, he still reached him. He grabbed him from his collar and slammed him into the ground, balling his fists as he bummeled it into the man's face.

Blood coated his knuckles soon enough, and he heard numerous feet running towards the cell, agitating him even more. It didn't dawn to him what he was doing really, he just needed to be safe. Needed to be alone. He had wounds that he wanted to nurse, he was in pain. And there was a stranger too close to his liking.

Suddenly he was pulled off, the bothersome chains got shorter and he was dragged off his enemy.

"N-no! Let him back up and get lost!"

The man covered in blood coughed out, glaring up at the guards though his squinted eyes. His right eye was almost swollen shut.
William was trashing in the hold of the chains, trying to get them off but they kept somehow rolling into the wall, shortening his grasp with each passing second.

"But sir, the protocol-"

"I said, get lost! All of you!" before you fuck it all up, he wanted to shout but didn't want to overwhelm William any further. He had already lost it, but Bucky knew it was necessary, he needed to feel like he had control in this situation. And if they fucked it up for him, Bucky would personally see to it that they don't see the start of a new day. Besides, he'd heal. So it was either him or Steve. And seeing that Steve wasn't William's favourite person right now, it had to be Bucky.

He didn't mind.

Reluctantly, the guards stepped back and left. He was convinced it was Fury who called them off.

The chains in the wall were also loosened and William was able to reach Bucky again.

Though he didn't.

Bucky watched as Will was on his knees as he stopped trashing. His shoulders sagged as he looked at his hands that were now covered in blood.

In Bucky's blood.

And William was convinced that he had known him in another life. Horrified by his own actions, he scrambed back to get away.

"It's alright buddy, you're going to be okay."

Tony Stark sat in his dark red Audi, flipping through old files from a case that seems very old now. He couldn't imagine how he'd forgotten about those. It all makes so much sense.

"She's hungry."

"She just ate."

"But she's still hungry."

Tony's dark eyes flickered to rear mirror, watching the big fluffy dog eat his daughters ice cream with no shame whatsoever. And she happily allowed her to.

"Great, now her slobbery tongue has been all over it. I'm not going to buy you a new one."

Tony had been very curious about his recent quest, and hadn't missed the chance to stalk him a little. Even if it was through the fluffy dog. He'd tinkered with her collar, and when he got the distress signal he had ignored it for a couple of hours, thinking it wasn't that serious.

He couldn't, however, keep ignoring it the next day. With Morgan insisting to come along for the road trip, the two had hopped into the car and headed towards Dog's location. Morgan had been playing I spy with FRIDAY the whole drive as Tony put the car on autopilot and dug out everything he knew so far about the Fake-John.

He had found the dog in a run down motel, the room had been turned upside down by the dog. Pillows were ripped to shreds, sheets were on the ground, curtains had turned into rugs and the door was covered in claw marks as she had probably tried to get out. Sure there was an accident or two which led him to believe her owner hadn't been there for quite some time. As his things were still there, he was also convinced something had happened.

And Tony was adamant on finding out what exactly. Although he had a pretty good idea. He'd collected Spy's personal belongings, taken the whimpering and anxious dog and left to give her to Morgan to play with. She was excellent with animals and soon enough the whimpering stopped and the car was filled with her wagging tail and flying hairs.

"Are we going to keep her?"

Morgan giggled, hugging the dog twice her size.
Tony placed the files back after having snooped through Spy's things. He was thoroughly disturbed by the journal. He also found the old glasses and weird wooden toy. Along with letters dated decades back.

Everything made so much more sense.

He'd been harboring Steve 0.2 in his home.

"No, Peach. She's got an owner. Besides, you've got a dog already."

He said, turning on the engine that purred almost silently before heading straight towards the isolated SHIELD headquarters.

"But why have one when I could have two?"

"Would you like it if someone just stole your dog?"

Morgan wasn't happy with that, but she understood and nodded sadly.

"But why was she alone?" she wanted Dog to be happy, and the whimpering and whining were her crying out to someone. Morgan didn't like it when people were mean to animals.

"Unfortunately, something happened to her owner. But we are taking her back to him so don't get too attached."

And like that, the little girls mood was lifted.

Tony took the leash when they made it to the building, knowing if the dog decided to make a run for it then Morgan would be dragged along for the ride through the mud.

They walked through the doors without even glancing at the security, Morgan running towards the lifts impatiently. Her energy seemed to rub off on the dog as she too, was suddenly more alive than she had been in the car. Needing to sniff everything and run circles around Tony made the leash got into dangles by the time they got into the lift. As the doors closed, he let out a relieved sigh.

"You better hope I'm right because I'm not keeping you."

He said sternly, taking off his sunglasses and looking down at the panting dog whose honey eyes danced around the small elevator.

"Dad, don't talk like that. She's just happy!"

"No, Peach. You're happy. She's completely crazy."

What do you think of Buckys take on the whole "trying-to-befriend-william" thing?

I'm trying to include many different languages, so what languages would you like to hear Will speak in?

Also, not my autocorrect changing Bucky into Nicky all the damn time.

Sorry about grammar errors, once again, it's very late.

Shoutout to my amazing non-ghost readers: -GossipGirls-, harasdrahcirp, Confetti438, shoppywatt, _Anonymous_Rosetta, meabhmcilwaine, Lovegoods_, Withouthope7, Iustatia, germpatriot, Skylar_Raveena,
Criminalminds899, Wintergaurdian,
blueoatmeal, kaminari1287, FighterAlways, Marvelseaweed_brain, _rubyack3rman_

Special thanks to Holy_Water_123 you've been here for so long and your profile picture is so weirdly comforting.

And shoutout to my little shy ghost readers 👻

Doodles everyone and see you all in the next chapter again!
- K