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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥

United States Army Camp, England

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Bucky sits on the edge of his bed, staring at the plain white wall opposite of him with her dog tag dangling from his hands. He mindlessly flips the tag between his fingers, feeling the cold metal cool the pads of his fingertips. He runs his thumb over the small imprints of her name that have been etched into the metal, signifying the beginning of her redemption story.

He should be preparing and getting himself ready. But he can't bring himself to. He can't find the motivation to make himself go to the one thing that finalizes her death. The end of her story,

Today's the day.

Today's her funeral.

And here he sits, on the edge of the bed that once belonged to them, not even bothering to try to memorize his speech. Because all he can think about is that this was their room, where they slept. They lived here.

But now it's just his.

And these are the thoughts that have been circulating throughout his head for the past week. Thoughts that have cut him so deeply that he has completely isolated himself from the rest of the world.

He hasn't seen Steve since they got off the plane a week ago.

He hasn't seen anyone since he got off the plane.

Every day for the past week, he wakes and reaches over to the usually warm side of the bed where she lays, only to find that she is gone. He pushes himself up and stares at her side of the bed where she used to sleep and finds it empty.

Then he will get up to go change into some semi-decent clothes. He walks over to the closet, pulls the door open and once again is reminded of her. Her clothes are still all neatly folded up and placed in the closet. Just as she liked them.

Every second of every day, he is reminded of her. Everywhere he goes has a reminder of her.

But he is never brave enough to detach himself from them. He can't bear to leave their room.

Because even though he will never say it out loud, he is still waiting for her to walk through the door and fling herself into his arms.

He is still waiting for her to come home.

And even though Steve comes around every day, knocking on the door and begging for Bucky to come and talk to him, he never leaves. He will stay sitting on the edge of their bed and stare at the door, waiting for her to burst through it.

But today he can't just sit around and wait. He has to go to her funeral.

He has to finally admit that she isn't going to come home.

And he's not sure if he is ready to do that.

But then loud knocking suddenly breaks Bucky from his thoughts, causing him to jump slightly. With a depleted sigh, Bucky pushes himself up and slowly ambles over to the door.

He flings it open and reveals a somber-looking Steve.

"Buck," Steve sighs when he sees his best friends appearance. Dark bags reside under Bucky's once bright blue eyes and a short stubble has begun to grow on his face. His dark hair is sticking out at all angles and his suit looks as of it was pulled from a nearby dumpster. He looks as if he has been walking through hell.

Even though Steve knows that Bucky is grieving, he wasn't expecting this.

"It's time to go." He says sadly and Bucky shakes his head, too tired to put his thoughts into words.

"Buck, are you alright?" Steve asks, despite already knowing the answer.

"No." He answers, turning his gaze down to the ground shamefully. "I don't know if I can do this Steve..." He whimpers.

Steve quickly pulls Bucky in for a hug, knowing that his best friend is still reeling from losing Allie."Do this for yourself, Buck. You deserve this closure. And if you can't do this for you, do it for her." He tells him, hoping that he listens because he deserves to finally say goodbye.

Steve pulls back from Bucky, still holding onto his shoulders, and gives him a solemn smile. "You deserve this, Buck."

With a deep breath, Bucky nods silently. Knowing that if he even tried to say something, he would probably break.

And with that, Steve leads Bucky over to the funeral procession.

They are holding the funeral in a small secluded forest area just on the borders of the base. They were originally planning to actually bury her in a cemetery but decided against it. This was her home, so they thought that she would want to be buried here, even though it is only in spirit.

Since they have no body, they decided to just have a small gathering at her gravestone with a priest performing the funeral. Bucky had left all the planning to Steve and Peggy, knowing that they would be able to handle it. But now he wishes that he had helped because as he approaches the grave, he can't help but pick out every single flaw.

She absolutely hated flowers. She hated them with a passion. But there was only one flower that was ever exempt from her scorn, and that was the Oleander.

When she told him that, he nearly laughed in her face. He was expecting her to say a rose or a lily. But no, it was the oleander. A flower that he had never heard of before.

And then she told him why.

Ever since that time when Erskine had taken her outside the base and lectured her on what oleanders were, she saw the beauty in them. Every week he brought her a bouquet of them to her tiny room at HYDRA. Every week until he escaped with Peggy.

And every week after that, she brought a bouquet back for herself.

And as Bucky walks up to her grave and sees all the flowers laying down on the dark grass, he feels grief well up in his throat.

She would have wanted oleanders.

But as Bucky and Steve near the procession, Bucky begins to notice the few people that turned up. Peggy and Howard are waiting for them at the edge of the clearing while the rest of the Howling Commando' are standing around the priest. Even the Colonel turned up.

Bucky's eyes quickly scan the small crowd and he lets out a sigh of relief when he doesn't spot Jones. Steve and Peggy decided that it was in everyone's best interest if Jones didn't come. No one would have wanted to break up another fight between the two men when they should be saying their farewells.

"Bucky." Peggy sighs as he and Steve near her and Howard, who both look equally depressed.

Bucky gives her and Howard a sullen nod, pulling his lips into a small smile that ends up looking more like a grimace.

She returns a small smile and as she opens her mouth to offer him her condolences, but Bucky quickly leaves the group and makes his way over to her grave. She then turns to Steve with a sigh.

"Is he really that bad?" She asks, noticing Steve's somber expression.

"Worse." He responds, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. They were dealing with a Bucky that none of them knew. Not even Steve who has known him all his life.

"We should probably go join them," Howard interjects softly, gesturing towards the congregation who are all waiting silently.

With a nod, all three of them make their way towards the group. Steve takes his place beside Bucky who is looking at her gravestone wistfully.

The priest then begins the ceremony, talking about how Allie was a good person and how she valiantly fought alongside her friends. There wasn't a word uttered from the crowd as they sat and listened. Tears glistened in their eyes, silently falling down their faces.

It was if mother nature even realized their loss. The sky was dark and the clouds blocked out all the sun, casting a dark light over the ceremony. The wind soon turned violent and whipped at their exposed faces and their tears began to mix with the downpour of rain.

They continued despite the short storm that quickly ceased into a slight shower.

Then, it was time for Bucky's eulogy.

Shakily, he makes his way over to the priest who offers him a warm smile and a comforting clap on the back. He stands in front of the small crowd, trembling as he looks into their own eyes.

He can see the pain that resides in their eyes. He can see how Allie has touched each and every one of their lives.

She was a lover for him. A best friend for Steve and Howard. A sister for Peggy. A teammate for Dum Dum, Dernier, Morita, and Falsworth. And a prodigy for Colonel Phillips.

She was something to all of them. And they were all something to her.

"I just want to thank a brief moment to thank everyone for coming. Allie- uh... She would have been glad that everyone was able to come." He starts, trying to stop his voice from quivering as he pulls out the small speech that he had written for her.

"I've never actually done this before. Having to write a speech about some that I have loved and lost. So this is a first, a first of many things that Allie was to me. She was the first woman I had ever loved, the first person who had loved me, the first person who truly and wholeheartedly believed in me." He reads, completely grateful that his tears are indistinguishable due to the rainy weather.

"Allie had never had an easy life. She lost her parents when she was just a child. Then she was forced to grow up in HYDRA, where she lost many of her friends because of HYDRA's treachery. But despite growing up in a place surrounded by horrible people and horrific acts of violence, she never once was a bad person."

"She was forced to survive in a place that doomed other to die. She fought and against all odds she survived. And not only did she survive, but she also became one of the best people that I had ever met. She was never scared, never afraid of dying for her friends, never not willing to fight for what was right."

"Allie was actually my hero. She was the one who got me out of HYDRA, who got many of you guys out of HYDRA. She was willing to die so that she could free thousands of soldiers that she did not know. She fought alongside men that she had never even met before so that they would be freed." He continues, lightly smiling as he reminisces over their time together at HYDRA.

"She saved me. And then she came looking for a place that she could call home, and she found it with us. We were the lucky few that were deemed worthy of being in her life. She let us into some of the deepest, darkest parts of her. Parts that she wouldn't just willing open up to anyone."

"She let us love her, and she let herself love us. And love was something that she was always scared of. Because loving someone meant caring, and when she cared for people, she normally lost them." He continues, his voice quivering as he nears the end of his speech.

"I love you, Alexandra Williams. And I will love you until my very last breath. You are the one for me, the only one. But now our time together has come to an end. Now you can finally rest. Your battle is over, and it is time for you to be at peace." He whimpers, turning to look at her headstone.

He takes a step forward towards her grave and kneels down. He gazes at her name sorrowfully and with a sigh, he pulls a single oleander from the inside of his suit jacket. He places the pale pink flower at the bottom of her headstone, feeling his heart pull with regret.

"It looks like our always didn't last forever." He murmurs before he stands back up and takes his place back beside Steve.

But little did he know, their forever wasn't finished yet.

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Her eyes slowly flicker open, greeted with a faint light that barely illuminates the room. Her lungs expand as she takes a deep breath in and she lays there motionless. She blinks constantly for a short while, successfully ridding her vision of its prior blurriness.

She can feel small beads of sweat, dotting her forehead as she gazes around the unfamiliar room, trying to gauge where she is. Her limbs feel heavy and she doesn't even have the strength to lift up her body from the cold table that she is lying on. Her head lolls to the side as she pulls up with her arms with all the energy that she can muster.

But alas, her efforts are to no avail. She quickly realizes that her arms are bound by thick leather straps, securing her to the table. She does not yet have the consciousness to scheme her way out of here, and the throbbing in her head will certainly hinder her any attempts to concentrate.

She forces her weary eyes to scan the room and she faintly makes out a silver bench that sits on her side.

On top of the bench lays a black briefcase which is open on display, revealing a very sharp needle that is filled with a brilliant silver substance.

The chemical is not the same type of silver as the bench though. It almost looks radiant despite the lack of light in the room, reminding her of the moon on a dark winter night. She finds herself unable to look away from the glowing solution until a loud 'bang' erupts in the air.

Immediately startled, she shifts her gaze over to where the noise came from.

Standing in the doorway is a small, roundish, man who is fitted in a dark suit with a familiar red bowtie tightened around his collar. His face had aged since the last time she had seen him. It now features more prominent wrinkles around his eyes and forehead. The mop of light chestnut hair that once resided on his head is now thin and greying, revealing his true age.

He looks at her with an almost sad look, recognizing the pain that she is in. Because despite everything that she has done, he was still the one that brought 5-year-old Allie to HYDRA. He was the one that looked after her before Erskine came into the picture.

But that look is quickly replaced beneath one of morbid curiosity. He gives her a diabolic grin as he approaches her weary body. "Ah, hello Ms. Williams. It's lovely to see you again, dear."

"Zola." She snarls, visibly tensing as he saunters over to her. He places his hand over her frail arm and, wrapping his stubby fingers around the extremely pale skin. She almost immediately feels goosebumps covering her arm from his hold and she squirms to get away from him.

"You've been out for quite some time Alexandra, nearly two weeks in fact. You were in such a bad condition when we found you, We thought that you weren't going to make it." He tells her, not at all bothered by her incessant glare.

"What the hell are you doing to me?" She growls weakly.

Zola looks at her with a raised eyebrow before he shakes his head with a chuckle. "There is no need for such hostility Alexandra, I am merely nursing you back to health." He warns as he shoves his thin, round glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Now, I assume you have some questions, so I will allow you to ask them whilst I am in a good mood." Zola continues.

Allie looks at him hesitantly for a few moments, wondering why he is offering her some peace of mind now when she is probably going to die within the next few minutes.

But then she remembers that despite all of Zola's flaws, he did care for her when she was younger. He was by no means a decent caregiver, but he never physically hurt her like the rest of HYDRA did. He was her protection before she learned to protect herself.

But now, that man is long gone. He has been corrupted by HYDRA and its devilish ways.

"Where am I?" She asks.

"You are in Serbia, not that that is going to be of any use to you." He responds dismissively, almost unimpressed with her first question.

"What happened to Bucky?" She asks again, pain flashing through her mind as she thinks of the man that she has left behind.

"Ah, Mr. James Barnes and the rest of your team managed to make it out of the building and return to London. He sure wasn't happy to hear of your 'passing' though. He threw quite a fit if I say so myself." He replies with a smirk which causes anger to flare up in Allie's veins.

"I swear to God, Zola. You leave him alone." She threatens as she pulls against her restraints with a new found strength.

"Or what? What will you do?" He declares, looking at her defiantly. Allie quietens down at this, knowing that there is nothing that she can do now to protect the love of her life. "That's what I thought." He continues cockily.

"What's the point of this Zola? You saved me from that fire just to kill me yourselves. Seems like a waste of time to me." She questions with a malicious glare, watching Zola unflinchingly.

"I wouldn't bet on it, Alexandra. HYDRA has big plans for you." He states vaguely which makes Allie scrunch her brows down in confusion. "But alas, our time is nearly up. You have an old friend that wants to see you." He concludes, finally pulling his hand away from Allie's arm.

"You brought me back here and kept me alive because Schmidt wants to see me?" She questions, not understanding why Schmidt would want to see her again. Maybe he wants to torture her? Or even kill her?

Either way, both options are bad.

Zola looks down at the confused girl with a contemplative look. A look that makes her stomach churn. Because it is a look that tells her that not all of HYDRA's cards are on the table.

They still might have one last trick up their sleeve.

"You have a big future ahead of you, dear. A future that will reinvent mankind as we know it." He declares as he pulls the large syringe out from the black briefcase with a flourish.

As he walks over to the bench with the syringe held delicately in his hand, Allie tries to lift her head to see what he is doing. But she finds herself unable to see over the large steel benchtops.

"What's that for?" She asks desperately, praying that whatever the hell that it is in that syringe is not going into her body.

The question hangs in the air for a few moments whilst Zola scurries around the room, preparing some sort of procedure that has Allie worried. After a few moments, he turns around to Allie with a diabolical smirk.

"Well, you dear, are going to become one of the new faces of HYDRA," Zola smirks as he waltzes over to her again, holding the syringe up dauntingly.

"Don't you dare come near me." She barks, straining against the bonds that restrict her against the cool, steel table.  With each step, she feels fear well up in her stomach and it forces her body to react. She writhes and wriggles to free herself from her restraints, only to feel them get tighter and tighter around her limbs. "Don't!"

"Stay away from me!" She screams frightfully as Zola stalks over. She screams and begs him to stop but he completely disregards her pleas, and instead aggressively pushes her head to the side. He presses the tip of the needle over her jugular vein, and without a seconds notice, he pierces her skin.

She shrieks as the needle is inserted into her neck, releasing whatever the hell that was in that syringe into her veins. Pain erupts in her body, forcing her to gasp as it quickly becomes too much to bear.

She has no clue what the hell they are doing to her and she can only hope that her death is quick and painless.

And that it's soon.

"Stop resisting, Alexandra. It's time for you to harness your full potential. No more fun and games, we are into the real battle now." She hears Zola over her bloodcurdling screams. He looks down at her somewhat regretfully as he pushes a dark strand of her off her damp forehead.

But that regret doesn't last for long when he remembers what Allie is going to mean to him.

She will be his prize. The culmination of his life's work.

Zola takes one last look at Allie before he backs away slowly, retreating to the exit of the room. It will take time for his formula to work and he needs to start preparing for his next mission, killing Captain America and his troublesome crew.

But as Allie's vision fades in and out, forcing her to succumb to the darkness, she sees another figure enter the room. She can barely make out the man's features aside from his dark mane of hair and black HYDRA uniform.

He walks with a sense of unchallenged authority over to her and looks down at her pain-filled body with a nostalgic expression. His striking blue eyes take in her rough appearance and she can't help but think that he is familiar somehow.

"I've got some tricks up my sleeve, and you are the best one, Allie." He whispers into her ear and almost immediately, she remembers. Even though sleep threatens her mind, she still is aware enough to know who this man is.

"Mikael?" She gasps, not believing the words that tumble past her lips.

He was dead.

He should be dead.

"I've missed you, love." Is the last thing that she hears before the darkness overcomes her.

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A/N - Hey everyone!!!

WE ARE NEARLY AT THE END GUYS!!!

2 more chapters until 'Tricks' is finished!

WOOOOHOOOO

Unfortunately, though, the next chapters may be updated a bit late because I am in the process of preparing for my mid-year exams. Obviously I want to do well, so that means that writing will have to be put on hold while I study. But that doesn't mean I will take like a month to update, it may just be between 2-3 weeks at the most.

Sorry :(((

Oh and I also haven't had lots of time to edit this so please excuse any mistakes! On the weekend I plan to go back and look over the chapter x

Now onto the questions,

1. What did you think of the chapter?

2. What are your predictions for the end of the story?

3. Who do you guys picture as Mikael? (his actor reveal will be next chapter!)

4. How was your day?

Once again, thanks for reading and have a beautiful rest of your day!

- Grace xx