((Hello and welcome! I've been wanting to dabble in this soulmate thing floating around. Seems so cute. This is a Bucky x Oc.))

August in New York. A break from the blistering sunshine July usually brought. Some would say the sunshine was nice, but Willow wasn't one of those people. Having been born and raised in Washington state, a place that was known for its never ending rainy days and cool weather, she was, still, not accustomed to the heat or the humidity. After nearly four years you think she would have adjusted but the twenty-four-year-old was a Washingtonian through and through. Not that it really meant anything anymore, she could never go back home. There was nothing left for her there.

Growing up, Willow was born into a family with a sister four years older than her, a loving father, and a cynical mother. Despite their differences, her parents had somehow ended up being soulmates. Literally. Whether it was to be kind or cruel was still unknown, but fate liked to play match maker amongst other things. When people are born, they are marked with the first words their soulmates will ever say to them. Sometimes the words were better than others, regardless, when one met their soulmate it was said to be life-altering. As if everything that happened in life made sense and was meant to lead one right into the arms of their best suited partner. Despite meeting them, the option to move forward with them was just that, an option. Of course it was encouraged and it was pretty unheard of for people to pass up the opportunity of true love, but some did, with a good reason probably. Her parents had gone along with fate's little game and things seemed to work out well for them.

Things were normal for the most part for the family, summer vacations, dinners together, movie nights, and so on. Just average family things. It wasn't until Willow turned seven that everything changed. It was when she became aware she wasn't like everyone else. She wasn't like her family. She was different. The first flare up of her abilities had been at home but was alarming regardless. Her father and sister had been there to witness the fiasco and once her mother found out was when things slowly began to unravel. Distance grew between Willow and the role model women in her life while her father urged her to develop her abilities. Though in the end it proved useless…

There wasn't much for her anywhere, really. To say things had been bumpy in her life was an offensive understatement, but she was getting by. After arriving in New York four years ago she had been left with no options but to take to the streets, surviving on little food and no shelter with top priority being to keep under the radar. Eventually she found her way around homeless shelters until she managed to get a job, then another, and one more just to be safe. Even after being employed, she couldn't just get her own place right away. She saved everything she made for three months before getting a shitty studio apartment in Manhattan, but it was home. Until she needed to move again, something she was saving up for. It was time to jump state, way overdue, actually. With how many people lived in New York it just seemed like the perfect place to blend in. Something she had gotten very good at.

Aside from working three jobs, the young woman took self-defense classes. Something she also prioritized.

"Alright, everyone gather round," A man, on the taller side, lifted his hands gesturing everyone to come together.

Pulling her pony tail tighter atop her head she used the towel around her neck to wipe her face of sweat as she turned from the punching bag to stand somewhere amongst the small group of people. The facility was popular, but they held smaller classes to ensure everyone was getting what they should out of the classes. It was appreciated, especially when she began just a year ago. She wasn't going to lie though; she still didn't feel totally confident she could take on any attacker. Her best chance was running but that could only take her so far. Dabbing her face again she reached up and grabbed the other end of the towel, hanging onto it as she peaked over heads to see the instructor.

"Can everyone hear me?" He asked arms still raised. When he got a unanimous yes, he clapped his hands together, a smile on his tanned face. He'd obviously spent a lot of time in the sun this summer. His teeth were dazzling in comparison to his darkened skin. "Great! So, I just want to start off with saying you guys did great today, I saw a lot of you really pushing yourselves." His eyes met Willow's briefly and she shifted uncomfortably, averting her gaze to a poster above the massive mirrors that lined the gym walls. "Some of you may already know, but this week is my last week here." The room broke out in a series of 'aw's', excluding the long haired brunette who was still looking at the poster above the man. "It's been a privilege to work with you all, I'll try to pop in whenever I'm in town. Just, do me a solid and kick the next guy's ass. Show him how badass I've made you." Laughter filled the room and he soaked it in like a sponge. If the spoke was full of grease, sweat, and testosterone. "I'll see all of you on Friday."

Everyone clapped and went up to the man to say their early goodbyes. In all fairness, he was a temp from the beginning. Just helping out the last guy apparently due to some family emergency so everyone should have known this time would come. It also didn't make sense to her for anyone to be sad over their trainer leaving. It wasn't a one on one class. Maybe she just didn't care as much because she didn't really care for him. It wasn't as if he was a bad person, he just gave off weird vibes.

Turning away from the group she started unraveling the wraps from around her hands, moving to the spot on the wall where she left her messenger bag. There was a locker room, but she felt more comfortable being able to keep an eye on her things. It also spared her the awkward shuffle of getting into the room, around people to get to the locker, then shuffle back out. If she could just grab and go, things worked out much better. It wasn't even that she didn't like anyone there, she just didn't trust them. That was fair in her mind.

Kneeling down by her bag, she flipped the flap open and put the wraps neatly in the corner before standing, adjusting her grey work out jacket as she turned.

"Excuse me, miss?" A low, gentle voice startled her as she looked up and took a quick step back.

She was about to apologize for potentially walking into the person but her eyes took in the sight of two men, both in baseball caps, bills facing forward. Raise the red flags now. Glancing back her eyes caught the intense gaze of Evan, the temp instructor, unknowingly looking like a sheep fallen victim to wolves. That seemed to be enough for him to make his way over. Shit. Turning her head back to the two men, her eyes hovered on the darker haired man for a moment, not familiar with his face like the poorly disguised Captain.

The weariness in her expression was evident and the blonde tried to hurriedly assure her. "We aren't here to hurt you, please stay calm. I'm Steve," he said gesturing to himself before his hand pointed to the brunette who was eying everyone in the room. "This is Bucky." He paused, gauging her reaction before continuing. "Can we have a word outside?"

At this point her heart was starting to pick up pace, beating against her chest like someone was knocking urgently. Piercing blue eyes broke down the tiniest movements made, waiting for one of them to make sort of attack. The reasonable part of her brain tried to assure her she was wrong. This man was an Avenger, they did good things for people. So why would they want to hurt her? Perhaps her past was finally catching up to her. Fight or flight was brewing and she knew either was bound to draw some sort of unwanted attention. "I think you've made a mistake…" Her voice was soft, feminine, and blended in well with noise around them.

"There's no mistake, Ms. Lewis." He said pulling his cap down a little further seeing eyes peaking over. "We need to go though. I understand your hesitance but this is urgent."

"Everything okay here?"

Willow jumped in surprise as all eyes focused on the newcomer, Evan. He kept his eyes locked on the two men, a tight smile on his face, before glancing at Willow, eyebrows lifting as he smiled further.

"What can I do for you gentlemen?"

There was a new tension in the air that had Willow taking a small step away from the instructor and closer to the brunette. She glanced towards the door which was just a few feet behind the Captain and his friend—partner—associate—whatever he was. It really didn't matter…or it shouldn't. He hadn't said a single word but something in her was waiting to hear what he sounded like, a small part, however, majority was saying to run like hell and don't look back. He seemed notice her gaze and stared at her with an intensity she hadn't experienced before, giving a small shake of his head that left her legs feeling full of sand.

"They were just asking where the instructor was," Willow finally chimed in. "They…want to sign up. I was just telling them about the class." She offered, hoping he'd buy it and steer them elsewhere so she could hurry and go.

Evan clapped his hands together, "Fantastic. I can take you guys over to the desk and explain what we offer."

"Great. I'll get going. Thanks, Evan." She said with a wave as she moved towards the door already planning her next steps in her head. She needed to rush home and pack everything she absolutely needed and get out of the city tonight. There was no other option. If they found her at her self-defense class, there was no doubt they knew where she lived to and mostly likely where she worked. She couldn't risk being caught by surprise at any other venue, it couldn't happen. Had she been careless? Her mind raced as she tried to piece together the last few weeks but it was all the same. It just didn't make any sense.

Passing the large windows that allowed passerby's to peer into the facility she heard a loud pinging sound and paused, looking out the windows trying to figure out what the hell it was. But before she could see the cause her body was being torn from its spot, feet leaving the ground just as the sound of glass shattering rang in the air. She instinctively covered her face, not unaware of the pair of strong arms around her, keeping her head ducked and body shielded with their own as they flew back onto the mats of the facility. Screams filled the shocked silence and people started rushing out of the building as men in black came rushing in.

The arms around her quickly let go, moving to put hands on either side of her face, examining her, "Hey, look at me. Look at me."

Then the world stopped.

Her eyes shot open meeting focused grey one's. No. Fucking. Way. Could life think of a worse time? Seriously. Tears sprung to her eyes, "I see you." The previously silent man, this Bucky fellow's eyes widened just as hers had. It was real. They were it. What a terrible, terrible situation to discover one's soulmate. Really, any situation would have been bad for Willow considering she never wanted to meet hers. Ever. The potential pain associated with knowing seemed to outweigh any good that could from it. But she couldn't fight what fate sprinkled down over them. Her heart swelled but her mind went reeling. This couldn't be happening.

Without even blinking they were up on their feet and she was being pushed behind him as he turned sending a solid punch to a man's chest which knocked him off of his feet and into another man. "Stay behind us." He called out to her taking down another man.

The only thing that brought her back to reality was seeing the violence unfold before her. If she thought her heart was racing before, it was damn near threatening to burst from her chest at this point. Steve had lost his hat at this point and was taking out several of the men who seemed to have flowed in like water. There had to be a least twenty men and somehow two men were bringing them down easier than what seemed humanly possible.

"Marie!" She heard a familiar voice call out to her and she looked around for the body it belonged, spotting Evan coming towards her from the side. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"What about them?" She asked glancing over to the dark haired man, concern forming in the pit of her stomach. She didn't want to leave him, but maybe that was the perfect reason to. Having ties to someone was dangerous…

"They can clearly handle themselves! Let's go!" He reached out to her, gripping her forearm much tighter than necessary, enough so that she jerked it away in response.

A frown formed on her face and she took a step back, "I'm staying." Now that she thought about it. Why weren't the men trying to get to them? Everyone who got in their way seemed to be taken down right away, which was pathetic considering the type of venue they were in, it just proved the class was worthless. Great. The feeling of unease crept into her once more as Evan's expression darkened.

"Fucking idiot." He growled as he reached for her again but she stepped back. He laughed in response. "You really want to fight your way out?"

No. Not at all. He was huge in comparison to her slender frame. He was rippling with muscles without being the type who did too much and then couldn't put their arms down all the way. She shakily rose her fists and prepared herself. It made sense that he was bad. He put gel in his hair just to workout. If that wasn't a red flag she didn't know what was.

"Aw, look at you," He said in mock joy, "You try now." He leaned forward as he rose his fists whispering to her, "Hydra will be so proud."

Just the word alone sent her mind spiraling and frozen as memories flooded her brain. Her chest tightened as panic swallowed her in one gulp. A tremble broke out all over her body and she started to struggle for each breath. In her shocked state a fist connected with her cheek and sent her to the ground, being enough to get her to refocus, but the panic was ever present. She couldn't go back. She refused. Death would be much sweeter. Shaking her head as the pain tried to sober her up she pushed herself up off the ground and moved back just in time to avoid a knee to the stomach. He continued to throw punches and kicks which she sloppily evaded, taking a hit every so often, crying out as a kick sent her back into the glass, her head cracking against it. The haze came quickly after, starting with her motor skills and creeping to her vision.

The outline of Evan crouching in front of her had her blinking in a futile attempt to clear the fading consciousness. "Hail Hydra."

Just before her vision went, a blur flew past her and warm arms enveloped her.

((Let me know what you guys think! I know there isn't much to go off of in this chapter but it's just a practice round. Things will only more exciting as the story unfolds! Please leave a review but save any flames, thank you!))