Written In Ink
The little girl was babbling on and on in a language they couldn't understand.
"Speak English, you little midget," growled one of the agents.
She only frowned some more and began shouting at them. Crossing her arms, she turned her head away from the one who spoke and began talking to the one on her right.
"She never shuts up, does she?" asks another agent.
"Let's just get her to the boss," said a third. "He'll want to see her."
They dragged the little girl away. She resisted the entire time, screaming, kicking, and even biting them. Tears streamed down her face as she was escorted to a different room.
"This is the girl?" Pierce asked.
The agents nodded. He made a motion for them to leave and they did so immediately. The little girl stuck her tongue out at them as they exited the room, shouting a few words at them in her native tongue.
"Hi, there," the man said, leaning forward towards her. "What's your name?"
She replied in a fierce tone, which he guessed was a curse or two. He sighed and leaned back.
"They were right, she is a loudmouth," he muttered. "Alright. Take her away to meet the Asset. This'll be good."
"Soldier, there is a person in the room you shall enter. You are ordered not to kill her," the agent said as he opened the door to the cell. "Go inside."
The Winter Soldier stepped inside, wary of who was inside the room. He was surprised upon seeing a child.
She was around three years old, if he was correct. She had curly black hair that ended just above her shoulders. Her face was barely illuminated by the pale light but he could see that her skin was a light brown.
He stepped forward and saw that the door behind him had been locked.
'Is this a test?' he wondered to himself.
He took another cautious step towards her. She looked up towards him and said something he couldn't understand. He carefully took another step and she moved back towards the wall.
He reached towards her and saw her eyes stay on his metal arm. He was about to retract it when she saw her take a hesitant step forwards, still talking in gibberish. After a few seconds, she ran right towards him.
She touched his arm, making him freeze. He stared at her but all he saw in her face was wonder. She was saying something in an extremely excited voice as she reached her arms up towards him. She closed and opened her hands, as if wanting something.
He froze as she grabbed his hair and pulled herself up. He bent down on one knee and she sat on it as if they did it everyday. She was placed her hand on the side of his face, silent for a moment.
Then, she began babbling again. He listened carefully, noting that there were a few words here and there that he could make out. She was pulling on his hair, trying to scramble onto his back.
Placing her arms around his neck, she buried her face in his hair. Her words were muffled but she still kept talking. He could feel her breath on his neck as she did so.
Finally, he moved and supported her weight by lifting her legs. She giggled as he did so. Curious, he tickled her feet, making her go wild with laughter and fall to the ground.
He felt a sharp pain on his head when hers hit the ground. She was crying for a while, rubbing the back of her head. It was in the same spot as the mysterious pain on his.
The Soldier felt his heart stop.
'Could this child be…' he trailed off.
"Ow," he heard her say. His attention went back to her, and he was surprised at the protective feeling that came over him. He watched as she punched the area of ground where she fell. "Bad floor."
He looked at her in surprise, of both her attitude and the fact that she could speak English. He kneeled beside her, observing her carefully. As if she could sense him doing so, she turned towards him and grinned. Dimples showed on her face as her eyes crinkled at the corners and her nose scrunched up ever so slightly.
He looked at the words inked on his wrist: Jeanine Hernandez. It was written in print, with a bit of cursive thrown in. The child crawled over to him as well, wanting to see what was happening. She smiled and her face lit up in recognition of the words.
"My name," she told him excitedly before talking in the other language again. She was pointing at the words on his wrist with glee. "Jeanine Hernandez. My name!"
'This girl was his soulmate?' he thought to himself. He wasn't sure how to feel. She was barely three, from what he could figure.
"No, no, no," he protested. "You're three years old."
She crossed her arms and stomped her foot. "Four. Niña is four."
"Four?" he echoed.
She nodded, holding up four fingers. "Niña's birthday is on January 7."
He wasn't sure what to make of the situation. There was only one way to know for sure whether or not she was his soulmate. He took out a knife, ready to cut himself to see what would happen. Before he could, she grabbed it with her right hand and dropped it in pain.
A red gash appeared on both their hands. Niña began squeezing her hand with her left one, and he tore a piece of clothing to wrap around it. When he was done, she tried to do the same thing to him.
"Thank you," he said.
"Welcome!" she replied happily before chattering again.
The two of them spent the rest of the day talking. Actually, she talked while he merely listened, trying to understand what she was saying. Lunch was slipped to them from under the door.
"Open up now," he said absentmindedly, trying to feed her.
"Niña eat by herself," she told him bossily, picking up the fork and the spoon.
The food was made to cater for her, from what he could tell. It was rice and fish, which gave him an idea as to where she was from. True to her word, she ate on her own, though she made a mess. He tried cleaning up after her.
When they were done eating, she turned around and noted some words on the back of her neck.
James Barnes
He traced them softly, causing her to throw her head back and laugh. Running away from him, she climbed up the bed HYDRA had provided. She jumped up and down on it before launching herself towards him.
He instinctively opened his arms wide as to not let her fall to the ground. She giggled and rested her head on his chest.
"James, James, James," she said happily, closing her eyes before opening them again and talking. She seemed to love doing that.
He stared at the chatty girl in his arms. He knew that HYDRA would definitely use her to keep him in place. He also knew that it would work; he would do anything to keep her safe.
He had always thought people like him didn't deserve a soulmate, up until the day the words had appeared on his wrist. From that day on, a lot of little bruises appeared randomly, and he knew it was because of her.
After hours and hours of talking, as the sun went down, Niña finally began to tire. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, though she still kept jabbering. He lay her down on the bed and told her to sleep.
She patted the area next to her and looked at him. "James."
He nodded and got in the bed beside her. She curled up into a little ball and, using her arms as a pillow, closed her eyes. He drew her closer to him, sandwiching her between him and the wall.
"Goodnight, Niña," he whispered.
Jeanine lay in her bed, reading the history book that HYDRA bought for her. They gave her a decent, even excellent, education. Her tutors were agents, of course, but they drilled a million facts into her head like a normal teacher.
She guessed that it was because of James.
She knew that he was the Winter Soldier, and that he had killed dozens of people in his life. More importantly, to her, he was her soulmate. He would often make demands for her sake, and obeyed HYDRA's every order.
Of course, whenever he did something wrong, she would get strapped to a surgeon's table again. They had given her a version of the super soldier serum when she was four. It had odd effects on her.
Since she was merely a child when it happened, her cells bonded strongly with the serum. Her healing was four times faster than that of James's, or even Captain America. Her intellectual capabilities were enhanced too, though her physical ones weren't.
Whenever James was in cryo, they would train her as a weapon. They had taught her how to fight, how to lie, how to get out of any situation and, most importantly, how to kill.
The days before James returned was her favorite ones. She was pampered and treated like a princess. James knew what they did before those days, but nobody wanted their Asset to get too angry.
The door opened and in walked James, looking the same way he was whenever they got together. She had guessed that they kept her alive and let her see him so that he could recover some semblance of peace of mind. The boss didn't want to wipe him too often.
As usual, she dropped everything she had and ran towards him, her arms open for a hug. Instead of strangling her, like he did with everybody, he impulsively opened his wide as well.
Giggling as she buried her face in his hair, she whispered over and over how glad she was that he was okay. It had been five months since she last saw him. She gave him her usual peck on the cheek before going back to her bed.
"Do you remember me?" she asked him.
He furrowed his eyebrows, deep in thought.
"You're James Barnes," she continued. "I'm your soulmate. My name is Jeanine Hernandez. We met when I was four, eight years ago. The last time we saw each other was on my birthday, five months ago."
"Niña," he said, finally. He went up to her and hugged her tightly, taking in her scent. Though she had never gone outside of HYDRA, for some reason, she always smelled like books and either the sea or petrichor.
"I missed you," she whispered.
"And I you, angel," he replied. "How have you been?"
"I'm alright," she told him. "Anyway, I'm learning another language."
"Another one?" he said with a small laugh. "You know how many now? Four?"
She nodded. "I'm learning French."
James chuckled. When she wasn't studying or training, Niña was always learning something. At first, she wanted to learn Russian so that when he was in Soldier mode, she could still talk to him. Then, she learned the guitar; more specifically, she learned how to play the acoustic, electric and bass.
The two of them spent the entire day together, talking about everything and nothing. Too soon, it was sundown and agents took him away to prep him. It was always like that. He would spend one day with her before being taken away.
"I'll come back," he told her before he left. "I promise."
She nodded and he kissed her on the forehead before going away. She stared at the door, watching him leave. Her eyes stayed there long after he was out of her sight. Then, she sighed and went to bed.
James would sometimes be shocked at how Niña had grown without him near. It was usually due to all the languages and instruments she had learned to put to use. She had a lot of spare time in her hands, and she would rather learn a million things than do nothing.
Still, it shocked him to see her when she turned sixteen. He always saw her on her birthday, and he was expecting a little girl to wait for him. She still launched herself at him, but she had grown taller.
Of course, she was still below his chin, but he was surprised to see her look so different yet familiar. Her hair was in a braid that was tied up in a bun. Her features were much more defined, and she had become more slender.
"James!" she said, clinging onto him like a Koala.
"You look nice," he complimented her after a moment. "Happy birthday, Nin."
She grinned. "Thank you. I'm glad you're here."
"Of course. I'll always be here, doll," he told her.
"Doll?" she echoed quizzically. He was about to make up an excuse for it when she grinned happily. "I like it."
The pair spent the rest of the day catching up on what they had missed about each other. It was mostly James soaking up everything Niña was saying while she looked up towards the ceiling.
"So, I'm finally getting the hang of French," she was telling him. "I think. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm learning something else but, you know, what matters is the… you know what I mean."
"I don't think I follow, no," he said, chuckling as he shook his head slightly.
"Meanie," she told him, pouting. Just as quickly, she grinned again. "Anyway, I hear that we'll be moving to another facility."
He nodded in acknowledgement. The two of them kept moving around, mainly because, as she had overheard, there was a new leader in play. An Alexander Pierce, apparently.
He heard her sigh, and his attention immediately went back to her. She was tracing words on the floor with her finger.
"I want to have a steady life for a change," she told him. "At least, I want to experience it, even just once. I want to know which country I'm in, or what day of the week it is. I just want to live."
"One day, angel," he promised her. "One day, we'll get out of her. You and me, together. Just wait for me, okay?"
She nodded.
Jeanine did wait.
She waited even though everybody else was telling her that it was useless. She waited even though he stopped visiting her after that day. She waited and waited, until the day she overheard them saying that James had escaped.
She knew that this time, they wouldn't be able to bring him back. She knew that this time, they were going to use whatever method necessary to take him out. She knew that this time, they were going into her room to kill her.
She ran.
She ran away from the guards firing their guns at her. She ran even though one hit her shoulder. She ran until she got out of the facility and kept running. She ran even though she didn't have a place in mind.
James knew something was wrong when a bullet hole appeared in his shoulder. He had been staying alone in an apartment since the Washington Incident happened. He was sitting down on a chair, looking out the window, when he felt it. Crimson red blood began dripping out of his shoulder and he felt a flash of panic.
Jeanine.
He cursed himself for being so stupid. If he deviated from what he was supposed to do, even a little bit, she would be hurt. Now that he had run from HYDRA completely, he feared what they would do to her.
He took a moment to examine the wound. From what he could tell, this hit hernot because she was punished, but because she ran. He tried to think about she would have gone, trying to imagine what was going on in her head at the time.
Niña, I'm so sorry. I'll find you, I swear.
Author's Note:
And, that's the end of this story/one shot/idk what to call this. It's a bit short, but I just wanted to actually finish something.
This has not been betaread, so I'm sorry for any errors in spelling or grammar. If you find any, feel free to point them out to me nicely.
Now, because of a dare (don't ask), I'm taking xOC or xReader requests on the following fandoms: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase, Avengers, and Chronicles of Narnia.
Thanks for reading!