the next day

virginia sits on the roof, knees pulled into her chest. she didn't sleep at all last night. the dark purple bags under her eyes look like bruises, and her eyes are bloodshot. her bare feet are cold against the shingles, and goosebumps prick her arms. the sun is just beginning to rise, and the sky is orange. she can't remember the last time she really saw a sunset. part of the reason she was so entranced by it.

she hears footsteps behind her and flinches, part fatigue, part paranoia. he sits down next to her, leaving a small space between them.

she was just a broken doll, dreaming of a boy with glue. -atticus

but the boy was broken too, and so they wept together

"i didn't want to go." bucky says quietly. "in truth, war scared me. but steve needed me to be that heroic best bud, so i went. and it cost me everything."

he turns to look at her, and their eyes meet. she stays silent and he continues. "it cost me you."

"do you regret it?" virginia asks quietly.

"that's the hard part. i don't." bucky sighs. "steve needed me. not just any soldier. but so did you. we could've stood a chance."

"no. maybe you, but in the end, they would always find me. because that's what mother and father wanted. they trained me from day one, called it parenting. it wasn't even real. aunt patty saved me a couple years by taking me away to america. hydra's what i was born into. a twisted, sealed fate." ginny's voice catches, and she blinks back tears.

bucky says nothing, only shifts closer, so their knees and shoulders are touching.

"and that's why i'm going after them."

____

carrie slams bucky into a wall, forearm against his throat. "where the fuck did she go? after all these years, i finally found her and you just let her run away? you're sick, you know that?"

after struggling a bit, bucky manages to slip out of her grasp and switch their position, pinning her against the wall. "leave her be. i know where to find her when this is over."

steve's voice comes from the door. "and where is that? right here, back in this old house, sipping whiskey at the counter?"

bucky lets go of carrie's neck and she catches her breath, breathing heavily. "no. that would be the last place she'd be. do either of you know where her story with hydra began? that's where she'll be. at the beginning, a full round trip."

a look of realization washes over carrie's face. "son of a bitch."