Chapter One
The Winter Soldier didn't know how long he walked for, he just walked away from all the chaos, and the destruction, and Hydra itself. But he couldn't walk away from his thoughts. The blond fighter, Captain America, had opened a section of his mind that he didn't even know he had. And the Winter Soldier did not like it. However, he could do nothing to stop it, so he walked and let the thoughts and memories come.
"Come on, Steve, give it a rest already!" Smiling, Bucky shoved the shorter blond boy away as he once again tried and failed to tackle him. Steve.. the Captain..his friend..
"I'm not leaving without you!" Steve, now Captain America, continued to reach for his hand, even as the building began to collapse around them. Bucky saw himself fiercely wave off his friend. "No, go! We won't both get out in time! Just leave!" He saw Captain.. no, Steve.. reach out anyway and grab his flesh and blood left arm. Together, they escaped with the rest of their friends. The Howling Commandos..his friends, drinking, laughing, celebrating their luck-filled victory against Hydra...Hydra... the bad guys?
Bucky pulled the thug off his best friend and taught him a thing or two about messing with Steve. After the jerk staggered away, he reached a hand to help his friend up. "If I didn't know, better, I'd say you liked getting beat up, Steve!" he berated as they left the movie theater alley. Bucky watched as Steve sadly looked at his brand new officer's uniform. "You got in?" It wasn't a question. He nodded. "103rd regiment. We're deported next week." Steve looked at the ground and nodded. They'd both been in that regiment. They'd fought together, and Steve had let him fall. No. The Soldier told himself. That's Hydra talking. What do the memories say?
Steve and Bucky stood in the train car, both fighting and reasoning with the mad doctor they had been chasing. Suddenly, the door he was beside ripped open, taking him with it. As he desperately clung to the door to avoid dropping into the abyss below him, Steve continued to madly try to reach him. But then, Bucky felt a horrideous pain in his arm and he was falling, falling, and Steve was almost hysterically calling his name, mourning what he failed to do. All Steve had wanted was to save him. And he had almost killed Steve himself.
Suddenly, the memories were much more recent.
People screaming, running away..from him. He felt sickened at the enjoyment he had felt.
Captain America, his target, calling to him with an unfamiliar name. His name.
Watching the man he was supposed to kill, who had completely trusted him, fell into the river below. And diving after him. He had saved him. And then he'd walked away.
The sheer weight of everything he had done, both in the past and recently, and his mind's reminder of who he had been was too much for the Winter Soldier to handle and he collapsed to the ground. He didn't notice the blizzard swirling around him as he lay on the ground. But, as it faded to black, he thought he heard someone gasp "Oh my God!" and he thought he felt something touch his right shoulder. But then everything faded out.