Chapter 14: The Moon

Bucky began to dream. That was the first sign he was no longer frozen. He did not know how much time had passed or what all had been done while he was sleeping, but he did know he was no longer frozen.

He slept and slept and slept. He couldn't get enough. Despite the decades he'd spent sleeping on ice, he still felt he had a deficit. The reprogramming of his brain seemed to have flipped a switch inside him and he needed to recuperate more than just his mind.

Bucky woke a few times and each time found himself in a little grass-thatched hut next to a jade-colored lake. There were no machines, no tubes, no sign of medical equipment. He lay on a foam mattress covered by a blue and red plaid blanket. He found hot porridge, roasted meat, a banana, and a bottle of water by his bed whenever he woke, but no sign of where it came from.

It was a week before he ventured out of his hut.

He pulled the plaid blanket off his bed and tied it around his good shoulder. He could feel a finger's length covering of rough beard over his chin. He ran his fingers through over his head and noted the brown locks reached past his shoulders. He placed his bare feet onto the smooth, compact dirt floor and ducked through the short doorway to find the world outside.

Bucky found it still dark, the sky broken by a million fireflies of starlight overhead. He gave a soft whistle and stopped to stare at the glowing luminescence of the moon. He sank onto the damp, fragrant grass beneath him, laying his head on his arm, and drank in the night. He followed every line, crater, and shadow he could find on the three quarters full orb.

Because he could.

He couldn't remember the last time he watched the moon.

A pale figure emerged from the hut a few meters away from his with a soft swishing sound. She seemed to glow, the ethereal moonbeams reflected off of her loosely draped white dress, like a master's portrait of Venus rising from the sea. She walked silently towards him in bare feet, and he thought he was still asleep until she spoke.

"You are awake. How are you feeling?" she asked in a bell-like voice that made him wish it was a dream.

"Better," he said. "Where am I?"

"A small village about an hour's walk from the capital city. You refused to wake up in the lab. They kept trying and trying and each time you looked like you might come to, you seemed to decide against it. The doctors sent you here to see if you'd do any better. You woke up almost immediately so they left you here to continue to heal."

"How long have I been here?"

"You came about a month ago."

"Hmmmm," he responded. "Have you seen this moon?"

"Yes. It's nearly full. There was a meteor shower three nights ago," she said.

"I would have liked to have seen that," he said. "You're Bella, right?"

"Yes."

"You live there?" he said, throwing his hand carelessly towards the hut she had emerged from.

"Yes. There are a few other families half a kilometer away, but we are pretty isolated out here."

"What happened? You get kicked out of the city?" he asked.

"I lived in the city for nearly five years. I like it better here. You are free to go back anytime you want. Your medical team wasn't sure how you would react once you were fully awake so they wanted to make sure there was someone around to, how should I put this? Handle whatever mood you woke in," she said.

"You mean in case I woke up swinging punches?"

"Yeah."

"And they sent you to deal with me?"

"Yeah."

Bucky gave a derisive snort and looked over the petite woman beside him. She stood motionless, the moon reflecting off of curves and edges in a way that made him forget what he was looking to find.

"Do you need any food?" Bella asked him.

"Not right now, thanks. I'm kinda eating up this view," Bucky said. "You know, it's been decades since I was able to see the moon. Really see it."

Bella said nothing but sat down beside him on the damp grass.

When dawn broke, it found them unmoved, both still sitting in the same spots, silently watching the sky.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So, Sergeant Barnes, how are you doing?" Shuri asked, joining him outside his hut.

"Bucky. Just Bucky."

"Ok. Bucky."

"I'm good. I'm feeling better than I have in a long time," he said.

"How do you like this spot here?" she asked, directing his attention towards the lake and the small huts. "We decided that the Americans can start their own ethnic enclave by the beach."

"It's fine. It's nice and quiet and I like that."

"Well, we can move you back into the city if you find you are too bored and lonely here or if you would prefer running water," she said.

"I'm grateful to you," he responded. "I think it will be awhile before I'll want a lot of company. I think this spot will be perfect for now."

"I have come with the doctors. Are you ready?"

Bucky sat on his bed, surrounded by three doctors with a full arsenal of medical equipment. They poked, prodded, tested, and asked him a barrage of questions till he felt ready to go back to sleep for another month.

"We think we have been able to cure you," the doctors said and his heart leapt within him. "We cannot know for sure unless it is tested, but we do not have the means to test you. We were able to reprogram your neural pathways and have high hopes that you are now cured."

He could feel the change. Already, his head and his heart felt lighter than they had in decades. But still, it was the "untested" part that left him still feeling nervous. He would have no means of knowing if he was still a walking bomb until he went off.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Bucky followed a red dirt road as it wove eastwards away from the small lake. His footsteps kicked up clouds of dust that swirled around his ankles and settled on his legs. Birds' songs echoed from the abundance of tree branches shading his journey from the early morning sunshine. He walked half the day, the muscles of his body and his mind longing for the exertion after his long sleep.

He found grass-thatched huts similar in shape and size to his on each side of the road. Unlike his, these homes overflowed with life. Chickens, goats, cows, and people poured from doorways and into the clearings surrounding the huts. The road, also, remained busy with bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, and some types of vehicles with technology he had never seen before.

He paused to climb a mango tree and gather a bundle of small, sweet, yellow mangoes. As he placed his bounty in his blanket, he heard footsteps behind him. He swung around, heart pounding, ready to face an enemy and instead met two small eyes hiding in the bushes. He nearly laughed in relief. He continued his walk, noticing he maintained his little follower a few paces behind him as he went.

The clumsy, childlike footsteps grew from one pair to two and continued to grow. Bucky turned to look over his shoulder again and saw five children trailing him now, whispering to each other. They dove headfirst into the bushes as soon as they saw him notice them.

"Watoto, habari zenu?" Bucky called out in greeting.

"Mzuri sana," five voices chimed in response, accompanied by shy giggles.

"Come here. Kujeni hapa," he said. "Wanataka maembe? Would you like a mango?"

They children held council together and slowly crept towards him, each taking a mango from his blanket and staring at him with wide eyes. One of the braver children reached out his hand and stroked Bucky's hair. The other children gasped until they saw Bucky's amusement.

"Wapi mkono wako?" the boy asked, pointing at his missing limb.

"Umepotea," Bucky responded. "Nilianguka. I lost it."

"Pole sana!" the boy responded. All five children beckoned Bucky to follow them to a nearby homestead where a woman stood waving towards them. The fragrance of nearly cooked stew floated on the warm breeze. He followed.

ooooooooooooooo

The day nearly finished before Bucky found his way back home. He retraced his steps and came upon the now familiar sight of the grass-fringed lake. He knelt at the edge and used the warm water to rinse off his newly accumulated layers of dust from his arms, face, and neck. He paused to look at his reflection and began to laugh.

"You are a sight," came a woman's voice from behind him. Bella stood behind him, one hand on her hip, comfortably clad in jeans and a green t-shirt. "I'm assuming you didn't do that to yourself."

"You would be right. I mean, I can do a lot with one arm, but braiding my hair is one thing I never learned how to do with two arms, let alone one."

Bella walked closer to him to investigate the tiny plaits and twists now covering his hair and she began to chuckle.

"Not only your hair but your beard!" she said. "You must have made some friends."

"A whole household. It took five sets of hands to make me look this handsome," he said with a wink. "And another few sets to feed me so much food I don't think I will need to eat again for at least a day. They also sent me home with extra samosas and a live chicken."

Bucky pointed to where a red and brown rooster pecked at the grass and gave them both a haughty stare.

"I had to carry the chicken the whole walk home. He's rather a fine-looking fellow, though, so I think I'll keep him around for awhile," Bucky said.

Bella covered her mouth as she laughed.

"My, you have had a full day!"

"Oh, I'm not even finished yet! I also got a new name!"

"Did you now?" Bella said.

"Yes. I was telling the children a bit about the snow in Siberia and they were very excited and named me 'White Wolf,'" he said. He made a mock growling sound and pawed at the air with his hand. "It has a nice ring to it, I think."

"Let me guess, you visited Mama Ntambi's family?"

"You would be correct."

"They discovered the movie Balto a few months ago and have been watching it on repeat nearly every day."

Bucky gave her a lost look.

"It's an American cartoon from the 90's about a dog who finds out he is half wolf…hence the 'White Wolf'. They've been asking me about wolves and dog sledding and the wilds of Alaska ever since."

"Well, that does make it sound a little less intimidating," he said with a grin. He spread his plaid blanket over the grass and motioned for her to join him. They both sat and watched the flamingos preen their feathers by the side of the lake.

"You've been gone a few days. Where did you disappear to?" Bucky asked.

"Hunting," she said.

"By yourself? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not for me," she responded with a wry smile. "Maybe for the animals."

"What did you bring back?"

"I brought you some ostrich and impala," she said.

"Is that what I've been eating lately?"

"You had some antelope too," she said.

"Huh. This is definitely a better place to be exiled to than Siberia."

"Siberia?" she asked.

"Yeah. I was kept locked up in Siberia for quite a few decades. I suppose I slept through most of it. But, I gotta say, it's nice to see the sun and be warm and, well, eat something other than tinned soldier's rations. I did manage to live on my own for a bit in Romania, but Bucharest is a bit of a concrete jungle. And without legal papers, money, or a job, it's a hard to eat much other than bread and the occasional sausage."

"That sounds miserable."

"Which part? The sausage or the bread?" Bucky said and glanced at her to see if she'd laugh. She did and he responded with a self-satisfied smirk.

"All of it."

"On the positive note, I don't think I've ever stayed in a place as beautiful as that little hut over there. This place is so full of life. This is a full, living silence as opposed to the empty silence of the Siberian highlands. Everywhere I look, there's some plant or creature walking around. I feel like I could spend forever just basking in the sense that I'm not alone anymore and I am free to do as I please."

"I know a little of how that feels," Bella responded with a shrug. "When I woke up here, I realized I no longer needed to run for my life. I'd never be hungry or cold again and I didn't need to be afraid anymore. It was a beautiful feeling. This little hut has been a paradise for me. It's my own space and my own place and I can do as I please there."

"You don't mind all the dirt and bugs?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "What exactly are you insinuating?"

"Don't get prickly. I've just know my fair share of dames who took a dislike to crawling little creatures and getting their nails dirty."

"Seriously? Dames? What year were you born?"

"1917, ma'am," he said, giving her a lazy salute.

"Shuri said you were over a hundred years old, but I thought she was exaggerating. She says that her brother is an old man all the time and he's not even 30 so I just assumed….Wait, she also said you were a soldier who was captured during a war. I assumed that must have been the recent conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan…"

"Unfortunately, I think I either slept through or was brain washed of all major world events in the last few decades. I have no idea what conflicts have happened in recent years, though it's highly possible I caused a few of them. No, I was captured in 1944 while on a mission with Captain America."

"Holy crow! That's amazing!"

"I know. Brainwashing and ignorance of entire generations of world history are pretty amazing…or did you mean the fact that I served under the handsome, illustrious, and captivating Captain America?"

Bella laughed. "I meant the fact that you actually lived through World War II."

Bucky groaned. "Way to make me feel old, kid."

"Shuri calls you mzee behind your back."

Bucky placed a hand over his heart. "That wounds me deeply."

"You understand the word?"

"Hydra training. We all were forced to learn over 30 languages. While Kiswahili, Amharic, French, Portuguese, and Arabic are the only ones applicable to this side of the world, it's still helpful."

"So, you remember foreign languages but not historical events?"

"No, I remember what I was taught and they washed my memory of whatever they didn't want me to know."

"That's awful."

"So, what's your story, Bella?" Bucky asked her. "I mean, what's a 20ish year old American girl from Washington doing living in a mud hut on the bank of a small lake in Wakanda?"

"It's complicated," she said with a sigh.

"Ain't it always?" he responded, then waited in silence to encourage her to speak.

"They found me injured on their borders and took me in. I'd lost my whole family and past life to someone who wanted revenge. The Wakandans gave me a home when no one else wanted me and they gave me a family when I had none. Now this is home," she said and shrugged. She played with the edges of her long hair.

"That makes two of us," Bucky said, green eyes drifting off into the dimming twilight. "My entire world has disappeared over the decades. There are some memories I wish I could keep as lost. Once I stopped with the constant brainwashing thing, memories of what I'd done and experienced came back. Then there are things and people I find I miss which have been gone a long time."

"After my injuries, I woke with my memory permanently altered. I have only a few very blurry memories from my past life," Bella said softly. "I have glimpses here and there of events. Shuri thinks I maintained a fair amount of my subconscious memories because I seem to have maintained my socialization. The way I walk and react to stimuli shows I was originally raised American and that's my default programming, but I don't necessarily remember where I went to school, the books I read, or the people I knew. When I read books or watch movies I must have experienced before, I experience a light sense of deja-vu, but it's still basically new to me.

"The Wakandans have helped a lot. They researched my past in my hometown and came home with photographs of my family there, but it's almost like hearing about someone else's life. I do still seem to have some deeply imprinted memories within my subconscious that will bubble to the surface from time-to-time. Like when I saw a picture of my father for the first time, I broke down uncontrollably and couldn't be roused from my grief for two days. I didn't remember his full name, birthday, or favorite food, but I had a deep emotional connection to him that was triggered by seeing his photograph."

"So, you've basically had to start over here?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I gotta say you picked a pretty good spot to start over."

"I could say the same about you."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Translations:

Watoto, habari zenu?: Children, how are you all?

Mzuri sana: Very good

Kujeni hapa: You all come here.

Wanataka maembe?: Would you like some mangoes?

Wapi mkono wako?: Where is your arm?

Umepotea: it has been lost

Nilianguka: I fell.

Pole sana: very sorry.

mzee: elderly person