Still the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Bucky has been found and saved, but Ari is missing. It's been months. I'm doing such a large time jump because I don't want to show the torture scenes. Yes, Ariana becomes a winter soldier, named Snow White. A play on cold and the fact she is Stark's princess.

Differences mentioned in this chapter: Stand alone chapter, so none of this happens in the MCU.

TW: Mention of rape.

Loki sat in his room. He hadn't left unless it was important. Fury had him take over for Ariana until she was rescued. While out, he would look for her, for any sign. Six months, and no clue as to where to look. Even his connection with her did not help him. On the worse days, he questioned if they were as close as he thought they were.

He came out when a meeting was called. Everyone kept quiet about his appearance. Even Thor seemed to know when to keep things to a fact that Loki didn't bother with an illusion of being fine told Thor that he was worse off than anyone knew. Fury waited for everyone to sit.

"We found a new super soldier," said Fury. "The next generation of winter soldiers." Everyone glanced at Bucky. "I know you have just gotten your memories back a month ago, but if you know…"

"About five months ago, a new soldier was brought to me to train," he said. "She was already powerful, needing dampening bracelets just to keep from blowing up the facility. She's quick and deadly. Like a ninja. They called her Snow White."

"Why?" asked Steve.

"They like the cold. And she was a princess or and heiress or something. So calling her after the fairytale was their way of being clever. They even have her dress in all white, where they had me in all black. Called us siblings. The short time we were training together, it felt like it. We always had our masks on, so we never saw each other's faces. However, some of the wounds on her body I did get to see were not from training, but…" He couldn't voice it. "Just know the guys in charge, Rumlow and Peirce, probably had more than one use for her. She's like my little sister and I don't even know what she looks like. Last I heard, she was still in training."

"So even if we showed you a picture, you wouldn't recognize her?"

"I might. Just cover the lower half of her face."

"That's not accurate enough," said Natasha.

Loki pulled out his picture of Ariana. It was one of the few that they had taken. She was angry at someone, but she still looked amazing to him, so he had to use his phone to take the photo. With a bit of editing, he slid the phone down to where Bucky was sitting.

"Could that be her?" Loki asked, half afraid of the answer.

Bucky looked at it and nodded. Everyone else came to look at the photo while Loki got up to pace. First Thanos, now HYDRA. Ariana would not be the same as before, not if they had… he sat down hard. Just as he thought things were going right for the woman he love, fate seemed to be set out to hurt her.

"It's a possibility," said Fury. "Capture and help, just as we have Barnes."

"I can't go with you," Bucky reminded them. "If they know my trigger words, I'm a liability. I'll stay here and work on coms for now."

"So, who will go instead?" asked Steve.

"I'll go," said Loki. "I can bring her memories forward and push the pain away. The faster we get her back…"

"Are you crazy?" Bucky asked. "That could cause more damage than you can conceive of."

"Or it could save her hours of pain."

"You don't know what they did to her. Her powers…"

"Were there before she was captured."

"It makes it more difficult!"

"Guys!" Steve ordered. "The goal is to save her and bring her back here. We will decide how best to help her after that."

Everyone nodded. Loki put his Asgardian armor on. He didn't want hope to grow, but it was. He sat on the jet. Everyone tried to prepare him, to be friendly. He had gotten close to Clint and Natasha, two people Ariana felt were like siblings, and they accepted him readily. Tony was harder as he didn't want anyone to hurt Ariana again, and it was his job as her father to protect her, but since she disappeared, even Iron Man was more solemn. Still, they included him in their group… their family.

"Land in the field twenty minutes away," Bucky instructed. "Jarvis found a signature similar to someone named Ariana."

"If nothing else, we found Stark's daughter," said Steve. "Thanks, Buck."

"Wait, Stark has a kid?"

"She was the one in the photo you saw," Loki said, coming up next to Steve. "I edited it to look how you described. This power signature only convinces that Snow White and Ariana Stark are one in the same."

They landed and there stood a woman. Her hair blew in the wind, her face hidden behind a mask, her outfit formfitting, and here crystal blue eyes staring at them speaking of death. But Loki knew who it was. When Loki, Natasha, Steve, Thor, and Tony were out of the jet, she charged at them. Loki couldn't bring himself to hurt her, but he did get her mask off of her.

"Ariana, stop!" Tony said. "Don't make us hurt you, honey!"

"I'm not this Ariana person!" she said, blasting him with electricity. "Now, where is my brother?"

"We can take you to him," said Loki, dodging her daggers. "We know where he is. But you have to come with us."

"Prove it!" She knocked him to the ground.

Loki took out his ear piece after saying, "Barnes, we have a chance to get her to come willingly, but she needs to know you are safe."

She took the ear piece after Loki stood up and Bucky said, "Hey, Snow."

"Winter!" she said, sounding happy. "Where are you? The boss wants you home!"

"Go with the Avengers, hun, and they can bring you to me. I'm safe and they know me. But you can't attack."

"But the mission…"

"We will talk about it when you get here. Trust me, little sister."

She paused for a moment. "Okay, Winter. I trust you."

"And do me a favor. Let the one that let you borrow the earpiece from into your mind. They need to know you aren't going to hurt them."

"Fine. For you, big brother." She handed the earpiece back to Loki. "What do you need me to do?"

"We will need to secure you," Loki admitted. "And then, I will go into your mind, bringing out the… the information we need."

"Liar! You want to mess with my mind, don't you? Winter said…"

"What he said is the truth, little one. But there is more I need to find. I promise, we don't want to hurt you."

"Fine, but only because my brother says you can be trusted."

They cuffed her and placed her on the jet, though she didn't make it easy. Not that any expected it. They all knew that she was still dangerous despite the restraints, so while Steve flew the jet, Tony and Thor watched her so Loki could go in.

It was difficult. Everything seemed to be a jigsaw puzzle and Loki had to put it back together again. She fought him when the pain started from her memories returning. By the time they got back, Loki was exhausted and Ariana couldn't move. She clenched her teeth so hard, her gums bled. Bucky was there, knowing she wasn't fully free and would only trust him.

"Winter," she said breathlessly as he got her out. "It hurts."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"What was he doing? The images in my head…"

"They are your real memories. He was trying to help."

"Wait. My… my left hip. Once I'm off the jet, a tracking device will activate. Take it out and destroy it." She teared up. "If they are my memories… I can't…"

He kissed her head and took out a knife. Before anyone could stop him, he cut into the left side of her hips and removed the tracker. She bit into his shoulder, screaming until it was over. Bucky pulled out a small disk and threw it down, stomping on it so it wouldn't activate. Bucky carried her to the lab for Bruce to look at. She was pale but fought passing out. Loki came back to finish with her memories but Bucky stopped him.

"She needs them back, Barnes," Loki said.

"She needs to rest and so do you," Bucky said. "You don't know how painful it is. And we don't know what they did to her to speed up her training."

Loki couldn't deny it and Ariana refused to look at anyone except for Bucky. He hated to admit it, but he would only cause her more pain by staying. It seemed like it took all her selfcontrol just to sit still for Bruce to get to work and sedate her so her memories could finish surfacing.

Around five in the morning, Loki woke up to screaming in his head. He knew it was Ariana. Because he had awoken her memories, she was in pain. He went to the lab where she lay. Bucky sat in a chair nearby.

"What is it, Loki?" Bucky asked.

"She's in pain," Loki said. "I can…"

"Look, I get you like her, but she's still like a sister to me. We suffered at the hands of HYDRA, her more than me."

"I hear her screaming even though she is under the influence of a strong sedative. Once her mind is hers again, she will be trapped in a nightmare. I only want to help."

"Then stop the sparking. Everyone told me you can, so do what you have to for that."

Loki pulled up a chair and held her hand. Both men fell asleep in the room with her, though it was harder on Loki with her screaming in his head. The exhaustion was too much after six months of stress.

The next morning, they woke up to someone tapping their shoulders. Bruce handed them each a coffee. Loki had developed a liking for it when he first came to Midgard. Bucky was grateful for something to cure his cotton mouth.

"I should be able to wake her up," Bruce said.

"The screaming's stopped," said Loki. "We didn't think about the pain she would suffer while under."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to see you two."

Using a syringe, he put some medication in her IV to wake her up. It felt like hours before her eyes begane to flutter. She looked around her.

"Winter?" she asked.

"I go by Bucky here," he said with a smile.

"You're real name. They hated that."

"Do you know who you are?"

"Ariana Elana Stark," she said. "They taunted me at first, calling me the Stark Princess."

She looked and saw Loki. She teared up before drawing up her knees and crying. The memories of what happened to her hurt now that she remembered it all. Loki went to her to rub her back, but she flinched away.

Loki said, "I won't hurt you, Ariana."

"I know," she replied. "But… I can… feel them… Bucky, I don't want anyone to touch me. Please. Just you and my dad."

"Sure thing," he said. "It will pass. Give it time."

Loki left them alone and told Tony she was awake. Tony looked at Bucky and how he treated her.

"You still see her as your sister," Tony said.

"Yeah," Bucky said. "And she sees me as her brother. She only trusts us. You because you'er her father and safe. Me because we were the only family we had in that hellhole."

"Well, at least I know she's safe."

"That god, Loki…"

"Her ex. Same with your boy, Steve."

"If he hurts her…"

"Well, then her father and brother will have to deal with him, won't we?"

"You're thinking of adopting me or something?"

Ariana chuckled and said, "He's accepting that you are just another line of defence for me. I think he's just glad you aren't trying to date me."

Tony smirked and replied, "You just rest, kiddo. Barnes will watch out for you. But he's not a Stark."

"Yet," Ariana and Bucky said together, smiling.