Sergeant Barnes disappeared beneath a sheet of thin white ice.

Ayo approached the chamber, raised a hand, and touched its surface. From her touch, James' vitals appeared. Revealing his heart rate, REM, and brain signature. 'He's an interesting one, isn't he?' Ayo turned. Princess Shuri was at her side, looking up at her. 'Your majesty' Ayo said, nodding in reverence 'Yes, he is'. Shuri nodded back, 'from what my brother said, his conditioning is possibly the most sophisticated form of mind control he has ever seen. And if the footage from the airport and Bucharest is anything to go by, there is a clear distinction between what is him and what is The Winter Soldier.'

Ayo glanced behind her.

T'challa and Captain Rogers were in the hallway, overlooking the bush; talking. The black statue of Bast bearing down on The King and The Outsider. Ayo knew she could trust The Captain, but you could never be too sure. Ayo returned to Shuri, 'how long will it take?' 'judging by how long he's been active as The Winter Soldier, something close to a year. But with some help from James, maybe even less'.

Ayo hoped for the latter.

She did not want to spend an entireyearlooking after a man in a constant state of sleep. Doing nothing whilst her sisters – in – arms were out defending Wakanda. It made her feel lazy. Whatsmore, she did not trust the Outsiders. After centuries of colonization and degradation, the surrounding territories had all lost what had made them great. Wakanda was the only untapped source that was free fromThe White Man's Burden, and she was adamant to keep it that way. Shelikedthe Captain and his friends, but shedislikedwhat they stood for. The Avengers, although bold in their attempts to save the world, were no different from the colonizers. Invading spaces that were not their own and attempting to "make things better" through violence. If Sokovia wasn't an example, Nigeria was one.

It was where Acantha died.

'This is for you'

Shuri's voice broke through her fog of thought. Her arm was stretched out, the white lab coat sliding to her elbow. In her palm sat a black bead, not unlike the one most Wakandan's wore. 'What is it?' she asked, picking up the bead. 'it is James' biometrics. It gives you the progress of his rehabilitation, REM, heartbeat, and brain signals in real time.'

'So, if you are away from him, you can keep an eye from afar. It also has a homing device, so if for whatever reason he somehow manages to break out of his chamber as The Winter Soldier, you'll know exactly where he is' Shuri said. 'Also, I'm sure you wouldn't want to spend all your time in here, so at least you have something to help you when you're out and about'

Ayo was impressed. Shuri had thought of everything.

'Thank You,' Ayo said, a small smile on her face.

The day went by steadily.

Ayo had set up a small room for herself close to the Cryostasis Chamber. The only divide, a set of doors. That way, if anything happened whilst she slept she'd be there in a heartbeat. Some of the other Dora Milaje helped her set up, laughing and joking about her situation. Ayo humoured them, the jokes lightening her mood. When they left, she had her dinner. A small meal of Jollof Rice, Suya and Moin-Moin. She ate the rice and suya, saving the Moin-Moin for later that evening. She then went over James' biometrics, memorizing his resting heartbeat, REM, and blood pressure. As she did this, Captain Rogers walked in.

'Hey,' he said, raising a hand.

'Hello,' Ayo replied.

Captain Rogers bounced on the balls of his feet and placed his hands in his pocket. It wasn't an obvious gesture, but after a few seconds of silence, Ayo noticed. The Captain was a hard man to read, but not as hard as interesting. When they'd first been introduced, something changed in Sergeant Barnes. It was so fleeting, so quick, that for a second, Ayo had hardly registered it. It wasn't until the moment had passed that she had been made aware of the change. When she had first stepped forward to introduce herself, Sergeant Barnes eyes travelled to three places at once: her eyes, her figure, and then to her lips. Resting there until she made her address. When he spoke his voice was steady, as though whatever it was that had affected him had never existed to begin with. A part of her wondered if she'd imagined it, but she knew that was not true. If she'd seen it, it was real. However fleeting, it was there. Something had changed.

Captain Rogers spoke at last.

'Thank you, for looking after Bucky' he said, sincerity in his eyes. Ayo turned back to the files, 'it is no problem, Captain. I am merely doing as I have been instructed by my seniors'. It was silent for a moment further, The Captain watching as she read the hologram. Ayo did not mind this, small talk was not her forte, and she was adamant to continue with her work. In no mood to amuse the American. 'How does it work?' came his voice again, curiosity in the mettle of the sound. Ayo fought the urge to roll her eyes, and faced The Captain.

'These are Kimoyo beads. They are personalised to contain the individual information of each Wakandan. It can range from medical records, to home security, videos, and act as a mode of contact' 'wow, we have nothing like that back home'

Ayo nodded 'I know. More advanced versions of it can manipulate things such as cars or planes.' She looked back at the hologram.

'If the user has a link, they can control it. It's quite like Bluetooth. I believe that's what you use now – a – days?'

Captain Rogers shrugged, his features brightening, 'I can't tell you for sure. I'm still learning myself. We have something called weefee?' Ayo frowned. The word certainly sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. She knew what he was talking about but did not recognise the word he used. 'Buck would have loved all this' he said, stepping forward.

Captain Rogers stood in front of Sergeant Barnes Cryostasis Chamber, staring up at the man inside. Although the cylinder was clouded from the ice, Ayo could just make out The Captains features from his reflection on its surface, from the corner of her eye. 'Buck loved science. Technology especially. Anything that used electricity, he'd have loved it.'

'Sergeant Barnes sounds like a man of the future'

'he was. Just before he set out for the war, he took me and some girls to see a science show. Howard Stark was there. He was promoting this car. For the life of me, I can't remember what exactly this car did, but I know it was impressive because Buck liked it.'

Ayo flicked through the holographic screen 'what do you mean by was?'

'I beg your pardon?'

'you said Sergeant Barnes "wasa man of the future". What do you mean?'

Captain Rogers had spoken of Sergeant Barnes entirely in past tense. As though the man he had known all his life was not right there in front of him. He was not gone in a deceased sense, but Captain Rogers spoke of him as though he was.

'I don't know' he confessed looking back at the cylinder. 'Ever since I found him controlled by Hydra, I knew he wasn't the same.' Ayo looked at the Captain, flicking the holographic screen away. Ayo naturally wasn't an empath, that was Acantha's job. But she knew in that moment what the Captain was trying to say:

"I miss my friend"

He hadn't said it out loud, but the message was clear all the same. Ayo understood the loneliness that accompanied the separation of someone you loved. She had seen it first-hand between The King and his cousin N'jadaka. T'challa and N'jadaka had been together since birth. They had all lived, played, and trained together as children. Growing as one body and vowing to protect Wakanda together. Both boys even sported the same crush on Nakia.

Ayo did not know the finite details of what had happened, but an Outsider by the name of Klaue was involved. A brief war rocked Wakanda. Many died, with most of the older Dora Milaje who had trained them perishing in the onslaught. N'jadaka's father was discovered to have had a hand in it, and sentenced to death. The remaining members of the Panther Clan who had been involved were then banished; N'jadaka included.

15 years on and no one knew exactly what had happened and where they had gone. No onewantedto know. The pain of his exile had hurt them all, and looking for answers about the situation only served to raise tensions amongst the current Dora Milaje, and the current King.

King T'challa may have given off the cool and calm aura of a prince, the pride of a king, and the wrath of a God, but Ayo could see through his cracks. She could still see the youth he once was hurting from the loss of his best friend. She had known loss of someone you loved second hand, and here it was in Captain Rogers.

'Your friend hasn't gone Captain Roger's, he's merely at rest. Who he once was, and how he is now, both are interchangeable.' Captain Rogers face turned to her. She continued: 'you say he used to be something, and now he is not. In the short time you were together, did you actually ask him if he was still interested in science?'

'no'

'Sergeant Barnes may have changed in a sense, but I doubt who he was is completely gone. People do change, but who they are at their core always remains the same.'

'Motives change, directions change, but who he was, that will remain. Because he is such a big part of who you are, and you are – by default – a big part of who he is. He may not seem like the man you once knew, but I can guarantee Captain Rogers, he is still in there, marked by you.'

She thought of N'jadaka as she said all this. Wherever he was in this world, she hoped he remained the same. The King – to – be, the Dora Milaje, and even she had remained the same; the changes that did occur only serving to better them. Nothing was ever eternal, but when she looked at the Dora Milaje, she always saw them as they once were.

Ayo flicked her wrist, and the hologram of Sergeant Barnes records appeared before her once more.

From her peripheral vision, she could see Captain Rogers taking all that she had said in, his blue eyes having grown a fraction.

'Miss Ayo?'

'hm?'

'thank you'

'it's not a problem Captain Rogers'

'please, call me Steve.'

Longing

The word flashed like an alarm. It faded in and out of existence as fog would, seemingly there and not there in the same instance.

The word's insistence annoyed Bucky mildly, the indecisiveness making his head hurt.

Where exactlywashe?

Bucky looked around. The white space was empty, save from himself, and the fading word. The white space had no beginning or ending in sight, seemingly going on forever. He looked down at himself. He was dressed in the same whites as before.

'well' he said to no one, 'This sucks'. When Shuri had first mentioned waking dreams, he thought it would be quite literally, a dream. It would make a significant change to what he was used to.

But as Bucky walked, the word following him like a moon, he realised that he preferred this over what he had been put in before.

When he was with Hydra, his dreams were always the same: cold, black, and lonely. His awareness of sleep a constant, and the screams of his victims the back noise. At least here, there were no screams.

Bucky peered behind him, the word still there. He stopped walking, sighed, and faced it. 'What am I supposed to do with you?'

"I beg your pardon?"came a voice, echoing around the invisible walls of the white space.

Bucky blinked. He was not expecting that. He looked around, half expecting someone to materialise from air. But only he and the word were present.

The voice was male, and its timber familiar, only, he could not place where he had heard it from before.

He stared at the word, half expecting it to speak again. When it did, the voice was different:

"– friend hasn't gone, - at rest."

This time, it was a woman's voice. It was softer somehow and held the undercurrent of authority behind its words.

This too, was familiar.

"no"came the man's voice again, and the air shifted.

Realisation dawned on Bucky as brown's, golds, and greens rushed past him, taking over the white space. What was once blank canvas, filled the space with an explosion of colour. But he took no notice of the palette that surrounded him. And when Bucky learned to breathe again, only one word left his lips:

Steve

The man who was speaking was Steve. Who else could it be? When Shuri had mentioned waking dreams, was this what she meant?Hearingvoices? Was this the unconscious part of his psyche he would have to interact with in order to heal? He stared harder at the flashing word, willing it to speak again. If it was a part of him, no matter how deep, surely it would answer to his will. It spoke once again, but in the voice of the woman:

"He may not seem like the man you once knew, but I can guarantee Captain Rogers, he is still in there, marked by you."

What did that mean?

He still did not recognise the voice of the woman, nor could he say he remembered it from some time past. But from her words alone, Bucky understood that she wasn't a part of him, rather, she wasoutsideof him. Her choice of words a dead giveaway. This was a conversationbeyondhis psyche.

The colours that painted the once white space began to shift, moulding itself into shapes. Bucky ignored his surroundings, straining to hear more of what this mysterious woman had to say. Why was she saying these things to Steve?

The reassurance in her words and the finality in her voice confused him. Was she consoling his friend or was she being condescending? The sight that evaded him only served to heighten his desire to know.

But no.

Whoever this woman was, wherever she came from, Bucky could tell she was not making fun of Steve. Yes, he could not see, but he could hear just the same. Where one sense failed, another would take its place.

The shapes took form, building further to what Bucky noted absently to be a bar. But he focused only on the woman's words. In her words, Bucky found nurture. Firm words of condolence. Her words alone told him that Steve was missing him.

A figure passed him. It was faded grey and dressed in an all too familiar military uniform. The sudden appearance of the thing startling Bucky, forcing him to tear his eyes away from the word, and focus on the world around him. He was in a bar. Only it was one he had not seen,thought back too, since before Hydra.

He saw James Buchannan Barnes sat at the crowded bar, the grey shapes silhouettes of people. Steve at his side, smiling. He had just been liberated. His unkempt appearance and tousled hair the biggest indicator. A woman walked in. She wore a red dress, its colour brighter than the room. All eyes turned to her, and Steve was struck by her beauty. If James Barnes had been on his own, he'd have stared too, but as Bucky looked at James Buchannan Barnes, he saw his past-self looking only at Steve; looking with adoration at the woman so aptly named Peggy.

In his gaze, the desire of what once was and could not be returned was there all at once. The intense feeling of a love that would never be returned. It was the same as the sound of Steve's voice, a yearning for one that could not be reached, or seemingly would not be able to respond. It was the reassurance of the woman with Steve and her hope in him maintaining who he was.

It was Longing.

And just like that, the vision faded away. The past became the present, and Bucky was in the white space once more. Steve's voice came again:

"Miss Ayo, Thank You"

Ayo. That was her name.

Thank you indeed. She had consoled Steve and himself.

'Thank you', Bucky said, true sleep gripping him.