"𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄?" Cecelia asked, watching as the soldier dragged Captain America out of the water. His body was wet and his face was scraped. Cecelia knew that. She could see that. What she didn't know was why James was saving him.

James's fingers went to his neck to check his pulse. He gave her a firm nod, and Cecelia quickly pulled out her handgun, pointing it at the captain.

James saw this and immediately walked over to her. "No, no," She furrowed her eyebrows as he blocked her from him.

"But-"

"No." He firmly said, not giving any reason as of why she shouldn't kill the man. She hesitantly holstered her gun then letting her hand drop to her side.

Why was he acting like that? They always finished the assignment. They never showed mercy, never had they ever done that.

"Why?"

She expected no response, maybe a shrug. James had been wiped again, so, he was kind of weird. He was more of The Winter Soldier than he was James. But now, he was being James.

The Winter Soldier was emotionless, and mean, and cold. James was different. He had a slight feeling of care for one person. He cared for Cecelia and Cecelia only, and now maybe Steve as well...Maybe.

"That's not us anymore." She furrowed her eyebrows together, staring up at him.

"What?" She questioned him. What did he mean That's not us anymore. That was all they'd ever been. Killers. Murderers. Assassins. Machines. All that stuff. How were they not something they'd always been? How could they just suddenly change.

"We don't do that anymore." Cecelia didn't question it. Maybe because she didn't exactly mind if they didn't kill anymore...

It was silent as he looked down at the captain. Cecelia couldn't decipher the look on his face. It was sad, but not sad. She swallowed the lump in her throat, not exactly knowing what to do.

She had questions. Many of them. Why did he want to save their target? Why weren't they killers anymore. Why weren't they getting back to Hydra? Why wasn't Hydra coming back for them? Why, why, why.

But, Cecelia didn't ask the question of why. She asked the question of how. How did James know this man? On the bridge the man knew him, how?

"How did you know him?" Cecelia questioned, earning a glance from James. She asked the question that he didn't quite know the answer to. Well, he did, but he didn't. It was complicated. "Or how did he know you?"

"He was an old friend," James said as Cecelia looked up at him. The two were bleeding, and they were wet from going into the water. Now they were walking away from the scene. James was holding her hand to keep her close.

"Was he a good friend?" Cecelia asked him and he nodded his head. Looking at the large scrape going through her hairline. His metal hand looked down at it, wiping it back into her hair.

"One of the best," James told her, Cecelia furrowed her eyebrows. She looked up at him as he stared ahead.

It was silent for a moment as she came up with a response for that, feeling the need to though she spent more of her time never talking.

"I thought I was your best friend," Cecelia said with a sad expression on her face. That expression made James feel indifferent.

"Well, he's one of the best. You are the best." She nodded her head, looking down at the ground as they walked through the woods together.

It was silent for a few moments as Cecelia thought of something to say or something to ask. Well, she had a question on her mind. One that she desperately wanted to ask, but was afraid to.

She ended up asking it.

"So...are we going back?" James let out a huff of air, then shook his head no.

There was no way in hell he would go back there, especially not if right now he had the chance to be free. To be free with Cecelia. To give her maybe a good life. "No," She looked up at him.

"Why?" She asked. It wasn't that she wanted to go back, she was just curious. Hydra was all she knew. Quite frankly, she thought it was all she would ever know. So, she didn't know if leaving was going to be for the best.

"Because I said we're not going back," James said grumpily. She shrugged her shoulders, looking down at her suit. It was the same as it always was. All black with certain parts for protection up in her shoulders, elbows, and knees. Along with her ugly black boots which she very much hated.

Cecelia kept holding James's metal hand as they walked in the woods, not exactly knowing where they were going. "James?" He grunted, looking down at her. "Where are we going?" He did not answer her question, which she didn't exactly like. "Am I not allowed to talk?" He looked down at her.

Right now, he didn't want her to talk because he had a lot he needed to figure out. But, she was out of Hydra. That meant no more rules from Hydra. So, he sighed, shaking his head. "You can talk." She nodded, looking around the woods still. Then down at her feet she and James were leaving. His feet were a lot bigger than hers, which was to be expected.

There was no silence during their walk, and James was going close to insanity as she kept asking questions. He didn't want to get angry, so he answered, hoping she would pipe down soon. But she kept asking questions or just saying stuff.

James took it as her finally being able to speak her mind instead of just keeping quiet all of her life. And though it was annoying, and it was driving him insane, he couldn't help but maybe find relief or something.

Her head was pounding, but she also had hit it off of a piece of metal, and there was a large scratch going through her hairline. Then she fell into a river head first, so that explains it.

"My head hurts." She complained and James closed his eyes, trying to get some sort of silence. He took a deep breath before looking at her head, he noticed the large scratch.

"You hit your head, do you not remember?" James asked her, she nodded her head, annoyed. How could she forget? Well, she'd forget if the impact was hard enough, but, still.

"No, I remember it very much." She said, annoyed by him. She watched James walk, and she then looked down at how she walked.

She continued to mimic how he walked, letting her arms swing slightly at her side. She kept her chin up and her face blank because that's what he did, even though she wanted to look at the ground as the leaves crunched and everything.

It was silent, and James savored it. That was until the girl said his name for what felt like the hundredth time. "Hey, James?" She asked and James groaned, wanting silence. She jumped on a stick, letting it crack! and Bucky kept dragging her along. Even when the kid had a headache he couldn't shut her up.

"Cecelia, let's play a game, ok?" James asked and she nodded her head, now excited for what the game was gonna be. It's called-"

"What's the game?" She interrupted, unable to contain her excitement. She didn't get o play games or anything like that at Hydra, so, this would be exciting.  James gritted his teeth as she interrupted him. He sighed irritably as she spoke over him.

"That's what I was getting at," James said between his teeth and Cecelia slumped her shoulders, looking up at him.

"Well, then tell me!" She exclaimed and James sighed before saying it.

"It's called the quiet game. To win, you have to be silent, and the first one to talk is the loser." James explained to her. She nodded her head, understanding the rules.

"Okay- oh crap, am I out?" She spoke, then realized she couldn't do that because in the game she couldn't talk like he said, and she didn't wanna lose. James shook his head no. "Okay, good, because I thought-" James cut her off quickly.

"Alright, the game starts now." He told her and they kept walking, then the leaves crunching and sticks snapping were heard again. She didn't like the game very much, but she didn't want to lose either, so she stayed silent.

Cecelia kicked a rock as James looked down at her.

stop kicking things. James had thought to himself, he knew once he started talking, she would talk too. So he just dragged her along with him. He thought maybe giving her a little tug would make her stop, maybe just a little bit, but it didn't help at all.

As they walked she purposely snapped sticks and kicked rocks, her body bored and curious at the same time. She wanted to do stuff, run around and be free because she was never allowed to...

𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐍. There was a house in the woods and they needed a place to stay, they needed clothes. They needed a lot. When James killed the man, Cecelia was confused. He said that wasn't them anymore. If that wasn't them anymore, why did he kill him?

James had changed into spare clothes. He'd come to the conclusion that the man was a deadbeat because the place reeked of alcohol and there were beer bottles everywhere. There was no wife, or kids, or anything in the house.

James had changed and Cecelia sat there still in her suit, thinking of what had just happened because she didn't understand it. "James?" She questioned him. He looked over at her, packing stuff into a large duffel bag he found in the house.

"Yeah, Doll?" She stool a deep breath, swallowing the lump that grew in her throat.

"I thought we weren't killing anymore. You said that wasn't us." He nodded his head, rubbing his chin.

"It's not."

"Then why did you kill him?" She asked shaky. He looked over at her, understanding the confusion. He knew he confused her and now he had to make it right. Make it somehow make sense, even though it didn't.

"Sometimes we're gonna have to do things to survive. Okay?" She nodded her head, slightly understanding what he meant.

"Okay."

a/n:

it's starting to get good, i swear.