"Sir, she's unstable."

The blonde man watched you through the window as you sat silently with a blank stare back at him. The memory removal had finally been successful once you stopped resisting, and your strength had reached its peak. "Get Barnes, bring him in."

"Sir, I don't think that's a good-"

"Now."

The scientist looked at you and walked away towards Bucky's room, reluctantly opening his door and leading him to you. "Sir, if this gets out of control, we don't have the means to intervene. They are individually stronger than any of us. Together, we have no hope to stop them."

The man nodded towards the door and opened it for Bucky to enter. You stayed in your seat, motionless, only your eyes moving as you watched him walk from the door to the seat in front of you. The two of you sat across from each other, without words and without movement for what felt like forever. You didn't feel anything for him, and you didn't recognize him, but his presence was awakening something deep within you that you couldn't define.

"We have been tasked to work together, as partners." Even his voice had a blank quality to it, but when you heard it, you were gripped with emotion and lost control.

You lunged across the table at him and squeezed your hands around his throat with all of your strength, pushing yourself over the table to knock him back onto the ground. His metal arm reached up and broke your grip, flipping you onto your back. You kicked your leg up to push him away, standing up quickly to prepare for his attack, but he only stood on the other side of the room without advancing any further.

Bucky walked to the door and exited, never looking back at you until he was on the other side of the window. You could see him say something to the blonde man, so you stood in place, awaiting directions on what was to be done with you.

"Wipe her again. There's still a memory of him in there somewhere. She needs to be clean for this to work."

~~~

Without retrieval of his body, there would be no funeral for Bucky. Before Steve left again, you spent the night celebrating the man who was at the center of both of your lives. The night started at a nearby bar, but when Steve began fighting with any man who so much as looked at you, it was decided that maybe celebrating Bucky's life in private was a better idea.

"Steve, come on, let's go. If you're just gonna beat up every guy in the joint, then I'm leaving."

"I'm sorry, (Y/N), I guess...I guess I'm just not myself tonight." He threw back his drink in one swallow and slammed the glass down on the bar. "I can't even get drunk. How unfair is that?"

You laughed, feeling the warmth of the alcohol begin to wash over you. "Well I'm feeling pretty good, so it's hard to feel sorry for you at the moment. Still, we should go before you get yourself arrested. Can't imagine the Army would be happy to find good 'ol Captain America behind bars."

"No, I can't imagine they would." Steve spun around at the sound of the woman's voice behind him, recognizing the tone and the accent immediately. "I've been looking everywhere for you, Captain Rogers. We need to go."

"Go where?"

"I'll tell you on the way." She glanced at you with a look that felt as if she were judging you, looking at you up and down before turning away to leave.

"Peg, wait. This is (Y/N), she's Bucky's...was Bucky's..."

Her demeanor changed immediately and her expression changed to sorrow, now that she realized you weren't trying to make a move on Steve. It would make sense, given his new appearance that she would assume as much, and by her reaction you knew that it was a common occurrence. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry for your loss. Mr. Barnes was a wonderful soldier, and a good man." She stepped forward to shake your hand, and leaned in to plant a small kiss on your cheek.

"Thank you, he definitely was." You turned towards the bar and proceeded to finish your drink quickly, setting down the glass and moving to reach up for a kiss from Steve. "Bye, love. Be safe. We'll talk soon."

You followed them out and turned away towards the apartment as they drove away, holding Steve's gaze until they were fully out of sight. The walk was a short one, but with each step you could feel your energy being drained from you and the desire to sleep became almost unbearable. With Bucky dead and Steve off to fight for who knows how long, facing the apartment alone felt insurmountable.

When you opened the door, your heart sank even further, forgetting that Steve had brought all of Bucky's belongings there that day. As the closest thing to family that he had, Steve thought it was right to give them to you, but you thought it was cruel and unnecessary. Alcohol was never a friend to good decision making, so it made sense that you should take the time now to go through it all.

About an hour in and countless tears shed, you were almost finished replaying the years spent with Bucky through the belongings that were strewn across your apartment floor. Pictures of you, pictures of Steve, love letters written but never sent, and clothes that still smelled like him were amongst the items that you vowed to keep forever. The last item to look through was an old worn and dirty knapsack; one that you recognized from the day you met. The recognition brought even more tears, but you still opened it through the haze in your vision, reaching in to find nothing but a few sheets of paper and a small box. You opened the first paper, but the writing was almost illegible so you set it aside. The next was better, but still in scribbled handwriting with thoughts written and rejected, looking like he was struggling with what to say, each sentence incomplete as he tried again with the next.

My darling (Y/N),

In all my days, I would never have imagined that the day would come

On the day we met, I knew that you would become the most important thing

I have loved you since the first day we met, and I knew that this day would come. I can't imagine my life without you, and want to ask if you would

"Oh my god," you whispered. You reached down and grabbed the box, knowing exactly what was inside.

~~~

"How did no one think to take it off of her finger?! How the hell did this get missed?"

The blonde man was standing next to you as the memories were wiped from you again, holding the small ring above you and waving it at the scientists who were working on you. "Tactile memories can affect the success of the process! You are scientists, for god's sake, and even I know that!"

"We are sorry, sir. We didn't notice it."

The man shook his head in disgust and handed your ring to one of the guards. "Melt it down. We can't have any trace of it anywhere, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Let me know when she's done," he said as he exited the room. "Then bring Barnes in again."

You watched him leave, then turned your eyes towards the guard who held your ring. The significance of it was lost to you now, but it was still yours and you didn't understand why it was taken from you. The guard saw you looking at him; he glanced at the scientists, who weren't paying him any attention, then stepped next to you and knelt down at your side.

"I'm going to keep this safe for you," he whispered. "I have a wife who wears my ring, and I can't destroy something that meant so much to someone."

~~~

The next time that Bucky entered the room, the reception was much different. He sat across from you again, regarding you and deciding the best way to approach if you moved to attack as you did during your last meeting.

"We have been tasked to work together, as partners," he began, in the same tone as before.

"I understand." Your words brought a collective sigh of relief from the guards watching you, and you noticed that the visible tension in the man watching you from the other side of the window was gone. "What is the mission?"

"There will be many missions, meant to bring Hydra back to power. We'll work closely together to meet the goal, and we will need to begin our training immediately." He leaned in on the table to be closer to you, looking at your face for any change in expression, but found none. "Do you recognize me?"

"No. Should I?"

"No."

You were curious why this man would ask you that. You searched your mind, but it was blank. There were no memories there for you to retrieve; there were no memories of anything at all, even of yourself. "Do you recognize me?" you asked.

"No."

You saw the blonde man on the other side of the window smile, looking very pleased with how this interaction was going. He gave another man a firm slap on the back and laughed as he entered the room. "This looks very promising indeed. You are both ready, and I can't wait to see what your future holds. What our future holds. This is a momentous day indeed. Hail Hydra."

"Hail Hydra," you said in unison, looking at each other like you knew something felt wrong as the words passed through your lips.