A/N: Hi all! I got a lot of positive reviews, feedback and a few asks for a continuation on my last story "Well, Happy Easter." This is the sequel to that which will be a full story. You can read the first one here: s/10286055/1/Well-Happy-Easter . This one picks up right after that one. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first one I hope you enjoy the continuation!
He held the stuffed brown bunny in his hands. It had a lopsided grin and bright green eyes. The bunny was covered in short velvety dark brown fur.
Winter didn't know what to make of it. For the first time in seventy years he was faced with something that wasn't there to fight, torture, or provoke him. The bunny didn't pose a threat. It just looked at him. He ran his right hand over the fur feeling the strands between his fingers.
"When I had bad dreams, I slept with my stuffed poodle."
He thought back to what the girl had said when she showed him the bunny. Winter grimaced. How could a child's toy drive away the terrors that plagued him every night. Whether it be the memory wipes, or the constant refreezing , the visions always came. Night after night, he'd scream and tremble until he woke in the middle of the damp and dark alley.
His eyes bore into the green stitched eyes of the bunny. It represented something he couldn't comprehend. Winter pulled it close to him. The bunny didn't lash out, hit, or scream at him.
It was safe.
Upon realizing this he lied down under the his blue jacket, holding the bunny close.
"Katie, come down stairs for breakfast!"
The twelve year old set her hairbrush down and ran down the winding steps of the apartment to the kitchen. She sat down at the table to the small glass table and began pouring a cup of cranberry juice. Her mind wandered to her encounter with the man in the alley the night before as she watched her mother flip pancakes. Katie had been warned about interacting with homeless people before they moved here. In the quiet suburbs back in Pennsylvania, it wasn't too much of a concern. The bustling city of Washington D.C. was another story. She knew she would be in trouble if her mother found out but Katie disregarded it. It had been a few weeks since she first saw, or rather heard the man in the alley. His cries in the middle of a night terror were more than loud enough for Katie to hear in her bed. The girl racked her mind thinking what else she could do to help him.
She pushed the thoughts aside for later as her mother set a plate of pancakes in front of her. She poured syrup on top of them while her mother sat next to her.
"You're not talking much sweetie," her mother remarked after a few minutes of silent eating.
The girl shrugged her shoulders and remained silent. She wasn't trying to be rude, she just didn't know what to say. It had been nearly two months since she and her mother has relocated to Washington DC. Most of her was struggling to adjust.
"Your teachers say you don't talk much either. In class or to other students."
Katie swallowed a bit of pancakes and sighed.
"Nobody wants to be friends with the new kid mom. I've tried making friends. I have. It just hasn't worked out yet," she answered looking at her plate of half eaten pancakes.
Katie could feel her mother's eyes on her. She knew they were tear filled and regretting the last several months that had lead to them moving. The girl moved to wrap her arms around her mother. Katie knew that things had been just as hard on her mother as they had been on her. They remained in the embrace for a few minutes before Katie's mother pulled away.
"Let's get you to school," she said clearing the plates.
While her mother's back is turned Katie quickly grabbed her lavender backpack. She opened it and threw a banana and an orange in.
"You're eating more than that for lunch," her mother said putting a brown paper bag in her hands.
Katie nodded her head wondering if her mother had eyes in the back of her head. She followed her mother out the door dreading the school day that face her.
Winter woke several hours later. It was the first sleep in months that he could remember went uninterrupted. He had no nightmares, no terrors, no memories that made him cry in the night. His eyes darted to the stuffed bunny in his arms . The lopsided smiling bunny greeted him with the same face it said good night with. It had done just what the girl said it would; help keep away the nightmares. Part of Winter wanted to believe it was true, the other part just believed it was a lucky coincidence. The nightmares would come back, they always did.
He pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around the alley. People were already busy with their day, nearly walking into each other trying to accomplish their daily business. Winter sat against the brick wall avoiding it all. The constant noise drove him mad. He felt absolutely lost in the world with no direction. There was no mission for him to complete, no assassination for him no carry out. No Alexander Pierce or Hydra to control him. No memories to guide to him to who he used to be. He was an existence without a purpose of identity.
He stood briefly, stretching his arms and legs. The sun caught the glint of his metal arm. He quickly put his arms down, knowing what would follow. Winter shook his head fervently and sank back to the floor. His arms wrapped around his torso and he slowly rocked back and forth as his mind slipped into a state of panic.
Winter's eyes went blank. The alley which he sat in shifted into the red room. His mind pushed the terrors of the room into a hellish reality until he was consumed by it.
"Put him on ice."
"Wipe him and start again."
His body shook against the brick wall. Winter shut his eyes as he tried to push the voices out of his mind.
It didn't work.
An all-consuming pain washed over him in an instant. His body was on fire. He screamed his voice hoarse as he felt the pain of needles digging and scraping his skin over and over. The feeling of electrocution came next, his body burning from the inside out as he remembered the constant memory wipes that robbed him of his past. He clawed at the ground as if he was trying to pull himself out of the hell his mind enclosed around him. A shrill cry escaped his lips when he felt the ice creeping on him. It slowly froze every joint, every fiber of his body until he was nothing until he was needed again. His body was covered in a cold sweat as it convulsed on the ground.
"What's wrong?"
Winter's muddled mind recognized the voice. It was a female's, fairly young by the sound of it. He desperately wanted to open his eyes but the possibility of seeing the vision in his mind a reality terrified him.
Never again.
"Here you dropped the bunny."
Winter slowly opened his eyes to see the blonde haired girl from the night before kneeling next to him. His vision adjusted and focused on her small figure kneeling next to him. Her purple hoodie clad arm was slightly outstretched holding the bunny she had given him. No different than the night before he looked at her for several seconds, assessing her for a possible threat. Winter read her face searching for any hint of malice in her blue eyes.
"It doesn't bite and neither do I. Promise." She remained kneeling on the concrete, making no sudden movements. Winter looked at her nervously . He reached out and quickly grabbed the bunny from her hand.
A soft smile crossed her lips.
"See? Perfectly okay."
Winter said nothing and clutched the bunny to his chest. Even knowing the girl wasn't a threat, he still kept his eyes on her.
"Have you eaten since last night?"
He swallowed and shook his head.
The girl slipped her backpack off her shoulders and unzipped it. Winter watched as she opened the bag. His nervousness grew as she rummaged around the bag until she finally pulled out a brown paper bag.
"I didn't eat my lunch today," she said pulling out the sandwich made for her earlier sandwich. "Here."
Winter looked at the sandwich in the girl's hand. His mind couldn't comprehend why she was bringing him food for a second time. His eyes glanced at her and back at the sandwich.
"It's not poisoned. Look." She pulled a small corner of the sandwich off and chewed it.
The walls of his stomach churned. He took the sandwich from the girl and began eating it.
The girl sat quietly as he ate the sandwich. His eyes never left her. Her actions didn't make sense to him. For years every person he'd come across was a threat or a mission. This was the first time he was in the company of someone who wasn't trying to harm him, or requesting that he harm someone else. It was a strange feeling for Winter.
The girl looked at her watch.
"I should probably go, I have to do homework before my mom gets home. Maybe I'll come back tomorrow."
Winter didn't respond. Nothing lasted forever in his world. Missions ended, lives ended, the only thing that had been permanent in his life for the last seventy years had been pain.
"I hope you get through the night without a nightmare," the girl said quietly before she left the alley.
He somewhat scoffed as she walked out. No amount of wishing or hoping would drive away the thoughts that ran through his mind. It wouldn't erase what had been done to him, it wouldn't erase what he had done.
A/N : There you go! I hope you enjoy it. I will try to update as soon as I can however, I'm a college student and finals are right around the corner so please be patient. Also thanks to my lovely friend Rachel who's been editing and reviewing my chapters for me. R and R and see you soon!