"Are you alright?" No. Of course he isn't. He's in the 107th, he's just been released from the POW camp by Captain America. He must be so tired, and he looks somehow odd. I wonder why? I shake my thoughts back on track as he answers, not moving to uncurl or turn around.

" No. I'm not. I'm really, really not."

"Yeah, that was a really stupid thing to ask. I'm an idiot sometimes, sorry. What's your name? I'm...actually, I don't know if I'm meant to tell anyone." That's that, then. He's not going to want to talk to some nameless young woman who sounds rough, wild, and speaks English with an unintelligible Cumbrian accent at least a third of the time. I'm saddened by it because I want a friend, I've always had to be alone, I'm too dangerous... But maybe, just maybe, I can be a friend to this man?

"Why wouldn't you be allowed to tell me a thing like that? Names are simple. Make one up. I'm James, James Barnes." He shuffles until he's facing me and I swear my heart skips. James is beautiful. Gaunt, half-starved, bruised and filthy, he seems to me almost angelic.

"Umm... Oh! My name, yes, my name, I have a name, why don't you call me, ah, Minna. Yeah, that'll work. Minna. I don't think that'll upset anyone." A silence falls, like a dusting of flour when a new bag is opened, or when a spring breeze brushes petals off blossom trees. I realise that I like the name Minna and how it rolls out of my with two nasally syllables, not hissing fricatives or dull plosives, firm but not hard. He watches me as he seems to think about this. James must be very clever, I think, because it's obvious that those blue eyes hold intelligence that is constrained most of the time. Not many people think to hide the skills that cause their deaths. Perhaps that is why he only looks haunted and not tortured.

Pehaps he was conscripted.

"Do you want anything, James? Anything I can help you with, I mean. I think we all want to go home but I can't help you there because I don't know how to do it in a way that wouldn't get us all in trouble and that wouldn't be fair on you or your family if you've got one or on my Tom, he needs me to be around, he's in love and wants to run away with her to us here and join the service but that's a really crap idea cause they probably won't let him and I have nowhere for him which would be unfair and, oh, I'm rambling all over the place, I'm so sorry, I-"

"Stop." He's smiling. James doesn't look mad. He has a pretty smile. "Don't make yourself ill, doll. You can do me a job, though?" he asks as charming as any young prince. I nod, willing to do errands if it keeps me busy. I'm too dangerous if I'm lazy, they say, so I keep busy. "Great. You saw Captain America? Find him and tell him Bucky wants him, then bring him here. Can you do that?"

"Yes, that'll be easy enough. But...the Captain? You're sure?" I frown. Who is this young man?

"Yes." How can I refuse that smile? "He's my little brother."

Oh.

Crap.

Command are not going to like this. The Captain isn't meant to have family because people like us are a danger so they say and if we have families we put them in danger. Isn't that why I'm not meant to be in contact with Tom? Command will be so angry and I find that I don't want them to be in trouble.

"Oh. Yeah, sure, I'll do that, he's generally quite easy to find, I'll be quick, bye!"

I'm most of the way back to the command tent five minutes from the storeroom I found James hiding in when I'm hailed.

"Firebird! Here, now! Mission!"

Shit. This is bad. I can't refuse a direct summons, but I need to help James. The Captain is on the other side of the clearing, I realise as I catch a glimpse of blond hair towering over the nurses tending to the wounded. I decide to take the chance. The Captain will protect me. The sprint to reach him is short, but they're still visibly furious as I dodge around them. They say that if I disobey orders I'm dangerous and can cause harm to people around me- I'm a weapon not a civilian, so they say, and should not act like a foolish child. "Captain, Sir, follow me! James Barnes needs you! He's this way!" My brain informs me that my speech had too many exclamations there, so I tell it to be useful of piss off. The voices in my head are not really normal, so they say, but not necessarily dangerous. The Captain looks confused.

I don't hear what he says, because they've already got to my side. I hear one tell me I'm dangerous, or something like that, and it all fades to black.