Author's Note:
Another huge thank you for reading along! I have to admit I feel like I've skimmed over the storyline and may be going too quickly through the timeline. What do you think?
August 1943
Her hands moved in taking apart a radio, putting the pieces each in front of her before reassembling it back together with speed and ease. Christiane looked from her desk, watching Peggy and Anya walk around moving markers on a map.
"Agent Bougourd!" Colonel Phillips came through the tent flap, righteousness in his step.
"Yes sir," Anya and Christiane stood and spoke together in unison.
Phillips looked at the two, letting his guard down for a moment as he muttered, "Not again..."
He looked back up, his eyes on Anya, "Agent A Bougourd," he emphasized, "Your file says you speak Italian."
"Yes sir," she replied.
"What about you?" He turned to Christiane.
"A little, sir," she cleared her throat, coming to stand with Peggy and Anya.
"Good enough. Carter?" He turned to Peggy.
"Conversational, sir." She replied smoothly.
"Good," he turned to Anya and Peggy, "The two of you are staying here and will train and teach agents till October where you will join Agent C Bougourd with Stark."
He turned to Christiane, looking her up and down in her jumpsuit, "You are going to Azzano, Italy. They need more mechanics and you're the quickest one we have here. You leave tonight, pack your things."
Anya took a step forwards to him, "But sir, the agreement was we could stay toge..."
"I don't want to hear it. This is war and it takes whatever it can." He turned, leaving the three in silence.
Christiane sat back at the desk, her legs felt like jelly as she steadied herself with a hand on the tabletop. She looked in blankness to the half-done radio, trying to process the news.
Peggy took a deep breath, trying to massage her temples from the raging headache before she looked back to the markers on the table.
"Peggy?" Anya broke the short silence, a hand on Peggy's shoulder.
"This war," she shook her head gently. "They agreed to keep us together, and yet this happens," she looked to Christiane.
Christiane looked to Peggy and Anya, still trying to gather her thoughts.
"Christiane, say something," Anya looked to her little sister.
"This is it, isn't it?," her voice caught in her throat, a lump in her chest as she spoke quietly. She stood, starting to pace the room, fiddling with the rune bracelet.
"You need to survive," Peggy stepped in, taking her arm.
Her eyes looked to Peggy's then to Anya's, "We've been lucky, too lucky."
"Christiane," Anya took her sister's face into her hands, forcing her to look at her.
"Peggy's right, you need to survive. Luck has nothing to do in this war. It'll be two months and then we'll be with you again." She brushed her thumb over her sister's cheek, looking up to the green eyes that searched hers.
"You're the quickest damn engineer they've got in the SSR and probably the army. They need you, as much as they need us here."
She nodded, "I know," she whispered.
Christiane knew what she had to do, but she couldn't help the sense she was standing in uncertainty.
Her eyes moved to Anya's, glancing to Peggy beside her, "I'm scared." She looked down admittedly, feeling Anya and Peggy hug her tightly.
"It's okay to be scared," Anya pulled away, tears welling in her eyes as she tried to put on a strong face, being the responsible big sister, "We're both scared."
Peggy chuckled lightly, trying to sooth the two sisters she felt like her own family, "We'll meet again," she whispered between the three.
Later that evening
Around her, three other mechanics trekked past. Christiane turned around, managing with her duffel on her shoulder and her toolbox in one hand. Her other waved to Peggy and Anya as they stood by the edge of the base camp, waving back to her until she disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
They arrived to the nearby Resistance base by midnight, fellow Frenchmen around the airfield nodding to her as she nodded back, one of them coming to help her haul her gear.
"Merci (Thank you)," she smiled to the young teenage boy taking her duffel over his shoulder to load onto the plane.
He waved to her from the window as the plane started taxiing, quickly taking off into the night.
Amongst the snores of the other mechanics, Christiane looked out the window down below watching the people disappear, the shadows and outlines of the forest fade through clouds. It felt like the beginning of it all, that fateful day in Paris when Peggy helped them escape. She couldn't help but sense déjà vu. Christiane closed her eyes, trying to get whatever rest she could, fiddling with her bracelet again as she felt herself slip into sleep.
Anya looked over to Peggy on her side, sleeping as the last of the oil lamp dried out. Amongst their tent outside, croaks of crickets in the forest quietly orchestrated a midnight symphony for the base.
Anya tried to think of Christiane, wandering and hoping that she was safe. She took a deep breath in as she rolled onto her other side, trying to close her eyes.
It started with a faint whisper, turning into a roaring wind by her ear as she tried to open her eyes only to be blinded by a bright line and kaleidoscope of colors flying past her. Anya landed with a thud in a garden surrounded with Capri-blue waters, suddenly getting up, her hand going for her pistol only to find it missing. She looked down to herself, dressed in a grey-silver armor with a blue cape by her side.
"Anya, it's so good to see you again," came a voice behind a pillar, as Anya immediately knelt to the floor, an arm against her knee, head bowed down.
"Your Majesty, Queen Frigga," Anya quickly said.
"No need to bow to me, my child. Come here," she stepped forwards to Anya, taking her up as Frigga hugged Anya.
"With all due respect, why have you summoned me? Is this about...?"
She smiled, tucking a stray hair from Anya's face as she looked to her eyes. The stark resemblance of her mother with Vili's eyes passed down each generation.
"This isn't about Loki, this is about you," she adjusted the cape, letting it drape on a shoulder.
"I gifted you the Valkyrie's blessing a few months ago. You never got to wear the armor, the last Valkyrie armor ever made," as she dusted off Anya's shoulders and arms.
"Queen Frigga, I don't understand,"
"You have the heart and fight of a Valkyrie. I see the courage in you, to fight for what is right. History and the future have many plans for you, it's best you be prepared." She took a step back, guiding Anya to sit on steps.
"Not many get to know their future, but the Fates have shown me. You will bear this armor into a battle that will come. Your forefathers and mothers will protect you through space and time, but time come, the gift will be given to your sister. She has much in front of her."
"I don't..." Anya furrowed her brows.
"Do not question the Fates. You have no need to worry my child, the AllFathers will protect you for you are a Princess of Asgard." Frigga took Anya's hands in hers.
For a moment, Anya felt a sense of comfort, the way her mother used to hug and hold her. Her voice came like a whisper, "No one's ever told my sister and I we were princesses of Asgard."
Frigga took Anya's rune bracelet, covering it with her hand, "Keep this safe, it has great power that was passed down from Vili. It will guide the way for you, Anya."
"Why are you telling me all of this?"
"I have seen the Fates too, and know some parts of mine. I just want to best prepare you, Thor and Loki."
"Loki told me you knew my mother?"
"Maria was like a little sister to me. We spent time together every time she came. It was very difficult after she passed, and I am truly sorry I did not help you sooner. You know how Odin is," she rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
"What did King Odin say?" she looked to to Frigga, her eyes set on the waters extending to what seemed like infinity.
"He wants to forbid any further contact with Midgard, which would include all of Vili's descendants. He hasn't fully gone ahead with his decision," as she started smiling, "otherwise you and Loki would not have met all those times in secret in the courtyard."
"You knew?" Anya smiled, remembering to the times they were both young, running around the tree through the square as Loki showed her Asgard.
"Since the first time I met you all those years ago, you make him incredibly happy, that's all a mother wants for her children."
"But his rage, his jealousy," Anya's voice dropped, trying to mask her disappointment.
"Will pass eventually. He is lost and I cannot even help him. It will take time. He has much to learn," she smiled reassuringly.
"I don't have time like you. You are gods, and I am human."
Frigga smiled, resting a hand on Anya's cheek as she started to shimmer away, as well as everything around her, "You must be strong, Anya. Sweet dreams."
Anya opened her eyes again, still in the same position she was in. Her mind tried to think what she had been dreaming but came up blank. Her mind tried to wander to Asgard only to settle with darkness. She scratched her head, before turning onto her other side, blaming herself for not getting enough sleep.
30 September 1943
"Help! We need help!" a shout came from outside as all heads looked up, more shouting coming from the edge of the forest.
Christiane looked up from the jeep she was working on, dropping all her tools as she ran to the crowds of men flooding into the camp covered in blood and sweat.
"What happened?" she swung a soldier's arm around her shoulder as she tried to ease his limping. Nurses and doctors started darting between soldiers, taking stretchers and pulling them to the medic tents.
"Last night's battle, there were lights. Took out a third of our regiment!" the man hollered his final sentence as Christiane and another soldier lifted him onto a stretcher.
"What regiment are you?" Christiane looked to the soldier, watching the limping man get carried away.
"The 107th ma'am," he spoke, trying to catch his breath. "Ma'am? Are you alright?"
Christiane felt her blood go cold, her heart felt like it had stopped as her legs started sprinting, shouting his name at the top of her lungs.
"Bucky! Bucky! Where are you? Bucky!"
She reached the edge of the forest as the last of the 107th walked past her. She panted, looking to the small crowd of soldiers. Her hand grabbed out to a passing soldier, turning back to camp, her eyes frantically searching his, "Is this all of you?"
"There's more men coming. We got split up. Some were taken," the man supported her, as she stumbled over a tree's root.
"Taken where?" she asked him, her eyes never leaving his.
"I don't know Ma'am," he looked back to her apologetically. "Who are you looking for?"
"Barnes, James Barnes. You might know him as Bucky?" she could feel her heart quickening, trying to catch her breath up.
"Last I saw him, he was being rounded up with the others."
She nodded quickly, taking into realization, "Take yourself to the medics tent, get yourself some food, thank you," her hand briefly touched his arm before she felt her legs sprinting in the soft wet mud.
Christiane ran to the strategics tent, peering in first to see if anyone was there. She bolted inside seeing it empty, trying to see whatever maps she could find showing the 107th's movements in the surrounding battleground.
A map on a table showed a circle drawn 48 kilometers from the Italian border in Austria. She took to memory the road to there. Arrows showed the movement of the 107th over the last few months, their final battle in a field north of base.
Christiane snuck out the tent, making a mental note to herself to quietly collect items - she was going to go find them, survey the area and report back. She went going about her day, fixing engines and radios while passing the ammunition and weapons tent, sneaking an extra pistol and bullets. At lunch and dinner, she managed to sneak some fruits with her, putting all the items into her backpack hidden inside one of the jeeps she was fixing earlier.
Christiane passed by her tent, taking up the clothes the farmer's wife had given her to disguise herself as a boy into the backpack, and straps of cloth as she started binding her wrists and hands with them in case she got into combat with anyone. Scrambling for a pen and paper, she wrote a note, leaving it on her crib.
She continued back to the mechanics tent, sneaking the keys of a motorbike into her pocket as she tucked her hair up, stuffing the bellboy hat in the bag.
Her eyes scanned the mechanics tent, waiting for the last person to leave as darkness fell outside camp. Soon, silence descended apart from the quiet chatter from tents and the medics tent. Christiane slung her backpack over her, wheeling the motorbike out through the back of the tent, pushing it up into the forest quietly. She knew that nobody would notice she would be gone until the next morning or later, she was a loner at the camp just trying to get her work done.
After 15 minutes walking north, she hit a road, quickly glancing left to right as she changed into the boy's clothes, fastening her cap with pins to her hair tucked in as she kicked the gear of the motorbike, driving quietly through the night. She knew once she reached the bridge, she would have to ditch the motorbike, hiding it in the forest with her bag and make it by foot to where the circle had indicated across the border into Austria.
1 October 1943
Her mind was blank, only focused on whatever attempt of a mission this was. She wanted to know where the 107th was and bring back a clearer location back to camp in the hopes a major rescue operation could take place. She knew she couldn't fight it out alone, yet she kept driving, feeling the cool wind against her face, flying her jacket behind.
Once reaching the bridge, she switched the headlights off, taking the keys out as she wheeled the bike into the forest, hiding shrubs on it. Her backpack hung from the handlebar, as she took one last look at the concealed motorbike, taking a breath and pulling up her scarf over her mouth and nose, walking deeper into the forest.
After an hour of walking, eating three plums from her pocket, light casted against the forest, ghostly shadows projected against the trees. Her eyes hurt, trying to adjust against the bright lights coming from a facility.
Christiane ducked behind a bush, as a group of soldiers marched in front of her. She gasped quietly, looking through holes from the bush; they weren't the enemies they had been fighting all along. They were the ones Phillips had told them all so long ago back in Brooklyn yet she never had the chance to go against them. Hydra.
She darted in the darkness, trying to make the perimeter of the facility. Her eyes watched soldiers march, prisoners outside lugging machinery.
Christiane's hands shook, anger fueling her as her skin prickled. She stood, running to go to the same spot she began in to take a final look before going back to base only to feel a contraption clasp onto her, electric surging as she felt as if her heart was going to explode. She fell to the floor, trying to breath, choking on each inhale and exhale, her vision blurry. Her eyes refocused, seeing two masked soldiers haul her to her feet, her hands clasped in front of her in cuffs as they dragged her into the facility.
Bit by bit, she regained her vision, coming to a realization of where she was and what they were doing. They pushed her, electric sparking from the end of a pole behind her as they walked through what looked like a factory until they brought her into a dark room, giant cages keeping men.
She looked to them, their eyes seeking her, cage by cage with ten men per one. They reached a row, her head pushed down by one of the soldiers, a voice shouting to her from the side.
"No, no!" he shouted, banging on the bars of the cage.
Christiane turned in shock, trying to fight against the soldiers, "Bucky!"
"Get out of here! Please!" He started crying, feeling hot tears as he pleaded her to leave in any way possible.
Christiane kicked one of the soldiers, locking him by the neck as she pulled him down and kicked him hard. The other one scrambled for the electric pole, taking it as he pushed it into her stomach, her whole chest feeling it was on fire. She fell to the floor screaming, the man pulling her by her arms and threw her into an empty cage opposite.
She tried to scamper to the door only to be locked in. Her arm reached out the cage, as if trying to hold Bucky's hand yet they were so far from each other.
Bucky stared at her, distraught, "You shouldn't have come for us," his voice echoing in his whisper.
"I had to," she looked down guiltily, trying to block out thoughts of what the future could hold.
"Hey," he spoke, his voice gentle and soothing in his whisper, "Look at me, we'll make it out. We're going to be okay."
"What do we have here?" a heavily accented voice echoed from the end of the hall, a small man in a white lab coat walking between two guards.
"I couldn't help but hear all the commotion and it's two in the morning. How ungrateful of you, fraulein."
He halted in front of Christiane's cage as she scooted back to its walls, staring fiercely at the man.
"You are quite the fighter, I could use someone like you for my work."
"Don't touch her!" Bucky roared, banging the cage, his eyes set with rage.
Zola smiled, clasping his hands together, "Well well, what do we have here? Acquaintances?"
Christiane spat at his feet, "Hurensohn (Motherfucker)".
Zola turned to her, impressed, "Du sprichst Deutsch. (You speak German.)".
Zola flicked his hands to her direction, a guard opening Christiane's cage as he kicked her in the stomach, forcing her to cough over and kneel on the floor.
"Stop! I swear to God when I get out of this hell I'll tear you to pieces myself," Bucky banged again on the cage, Dugan holding him back as he tried to reach out and grab the doctor.
Christiane coughed, trying to even get breathing again as she slowly stood up, her eyes filled with rage to the man.
"Bring sie zur Wartezelle, wir haben viel mit diesem kleinen Mädchen zu tun (Take her to the holding cell, we have much to do with this little girl)".
The guard dragged her out of the cage, pushing her to the ground and pulled on her hair to make her look up to Zola. He held her chin, an evil smirk on his face, "Du wirst ein ausgezeichnetes Experiment sein, Fräulein. (You will be an excellent experiment, girl)".
Christiane tried to pull away, hearing Bucky's shouts beside her, "Take me! You leave her alone." He cried out pleading.
Zola turned to him, amusement on his face, "Squad leader, you are brave. Unfortunately, you are next on my list. Take him too."
A guard snatched Bucky out, cuffing him beside Christiane. Zola turned, walking back in front as the soldiers kicked them up, forcing them to follow.
Bucky tried to hold her hands, at least her fingers as they walked together, Bucky's voice a whisper for only the two of them.
"I love you."
She searched his eyes, full of fear and concern, "I love you too."
They were thrown into a dark cell with a tiny hole in the wall, whatever moonlight faintly luminating the cell. The door closed behind them, as they tried to find each other, holding one another tightly.
"Christiane, how are you here? Does anyone know you're here?" Bucky held her face gently in his hands, searching her eyes, the green, blue and gold fighting with each other somehow comforting him.
She shook her head lightly, "I thought I could come here alone and survey the area," she whispered back. "I'm an idiot."
He pulled her in tightly to him, kissing the top of her head softly, "God you're so stubborn," he breathed out. "But you're not an idiot. Just too brave to admit it."
"How long have you been here?" Christiane asked, taking his hand with hers, intertwining.
"Maybe a day? I don't know. We haven't eaten in two, our supplies ran out. We were supposed to make it to camp but we got caught first," he looked down guiltily, squeezing her hand for reassurance.
"Bucky," she turned around, sitting in front of him on the floor as she took his other hand into hers, "Are you scared?"
He nodded quietly, "Can you hold me?"
Christiane took him into her arms, his back against her chest as she rested against a wall.
"Are you scared?" he whispered.
"Yeah," she breathed, hesitating with her words, "I am," she spoke softly, just audible to the two of them.
He rested his head onto her shoulder, "What were you thinking? Going out alone like that? If anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself."
"I was thinking about you and your company. I was responsible for you all at one point to get you to base safely, and I failed in doing that now." She stared straight ahead, trying to hold back the crack in her voice.
"You don't have to carry the whole weight of the world on your shoulders," he took her hand, kissing it softly to his lips.
"I know," her whisper barely a sound.
"Do you think someone will come find us?"
Christiane felt tears at her eyes, trying to hold them back, "I don't know."
She hoped, the note she left behind would be read soon.
Amongst the faint moonlight, the coldness of the dark cell, she began to hum a melancholic tune, brushing his hair out soothingly till Bucky slept. After a while, Christiane closed her eyes, trying to think about her sister, Peggy and Steve.
Sometime during the night, Bucky woke, easing his weight off her as he took her into his arms and they slept.
Deep down, Bucky feared the future. He feared whatever abyss of the unknown that the future had in store for them. He held onto her tightly, like it might have been his last day.