Hey guys! I know I'm a day early, but I'm going out of town and I will be spending most of Wednesday in airports, where the internet connection is not the best. I wanted to make sure you guys got this while I still had access to a decent connection. So, enjoy!


Chapter 39: Escaping Auschwitz

The Howling Commandoes were no match for Auschwitz – normally. But they weren't going after Auschwitz on the whole. They were going after one building near the edge of it where feminine screams rattled the windows and furious shouts in Japanese cut through the air. A child was yelling under it all.

"Bucky, don't!" Steve said firmly as his friend tried to charge forward, his expression utter agony.

"She's in there, and god knows what they're doing to her!" Bucky whisper- shouted in reply. "They could kill her! Steve, don't ask me to hang back!"

"We need a plan," Jones tried to reason with him, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Bucky shrugged him off and rounded on him furiously.

"You plan, I'm going to go get her back!" Bucky snarled viciously. He tried to lunge forward again and Steve had no choice but to wrap his arms around Bucky and lift him bodily from the ground to keep him from running in. Bucky thrashed and kicked. His foot caught Steve in the knee painfully but he didn't let him down. He had already potentially lost two team members tonight, be damned if he was losing his best friend as well.

At that moment the screaming cut short suddenly. Like a switch had been flipped, Josie's screams stopped. Yori's shouting stopped and the child fell silent.

"No," Falsworth breathed. Bucky went limp in Steve's grasp. Cautious, hardly daring to breathe for his own fear of what that silence meant, Steve let Bucky down. He seemed barely able to stand on his own two feet, sagging weakly against a tree.

"If she's gone," Bucky said hoarsely, unable to adequately explain the gaping sense of loss that had just opened up in his stomach. "If she's gone I'll never forgive you, Steve."

Those words hurt like a punch in the gut. Perhaps that was why Steve didn't notice when Bucky lunged forwards towards the building.

"Damn it!" Steve hissed. "Jones, take out anyone who gets to close. Limey, you too. Dernier, get us a way out. Dum Dum, Morita, with me!" he ordered. The men split in all different directions.

Bucky had hit the side of the building. With desperation he was able to use the window sills and frames as a ladder, scrambling awkwardly up the side of the building. He was nearly to an open window on the top floor when Steve and the others hit the bottom. Steve swore again as Bucky wormed his way through the window.

Bucky stared around, looking for some sign of where the screams had come from. He needed to know where his Belle was, because if she was gone, if his Belle was dead and he hadn't been able to save her, he wouldn't be able to face himself in the mirror.

A man emerged from a room at the end of the hall. He wore a lab coat covered in enough blood to turn Bucky's stomach and when the door was open he could hear sobbing. The man was whistling as he strode down the hall, his gloves dripping blood as he peeled them off.

"What were you thinking?"

Steve piled through the window, a panting Morita and Dum Dum behind him. Steve grabbed Bucky by the collar and lifted him so that his heels were off the floor. Bucky barely noticed. The raging part of his mind wanted to go after that bloody man and tear him to shreds. The other broken-hearted part of him wanted to go through that door.

"They're in there," Bucky said, words spilling out in a rush, eyes fixed on the door. "They're in there."

Steve wasn't quite sure what to do in the face of Bucky's mindless fear. Uncertain, he let Bucky fall back flat-footed and watched his friend stagger down the hall towards the door he couldn't rip his eyes away from. Bucky opened the door and walked inside, the others following him.

At first he was confused – it was just an office, where had that man come from? Where had the blood come from? And most importantly, where was Josie?

But then he saw the glassed-in section of the room. Yori was slumped in a chair held in place by belts, her head rolling wearily. A boy who barely looked to be in his teens was strapped to a table, staring in wordless horror at the medical slab next to him. And on that table was…

"No!" the ragged shout tore out of Bucky's throat as he threw himself at the door, yanking it open and flinging himself inside at Josie's side. Or rather what was left of her.

Josie's eyes were wide and staring at the ceiling, agony and horror etched on her features. Her chest was cut open, the flesh peeled back and her ribs broken off and only half-healed. The ribs were all in a silver bowl next to her. There was more than one bowl. If he'd had enough left of his mind to consider it Bucky would have realized that her liver, stomach, intestines, lungs, and most importantly, her heart, were sitting in bowls around her.

Belle was gone. Belle was gone. Gone, gone, gone…

Bucky collapsed to his knees beside the table where she lay, one of his hands over her rapidly-cooling one. He was dimly conscious of Morita diving to be sick in a trashcan and Dum Dum silently crying. They didn't matter. All that mattered was Belle and that she was gone. The world was darker, he could barely breathe.

Who would tell him fascinating things he'd never even considered wanting to know? Whose nightmares would he beat back? Who would always have the perfect words? Who would he watch peer through a microscope with such utter focus? Who would look at him with those gorgeous misty grey eyes? Who would laugh at all his corny jokes and look at him like he hung the sun? Who would he hold at night? Who would he dance with? Laugh with? Who would he love, and who would love him?

"Pu' 'em 'ack…"

Steve looked up as Yori slurred, helpless in her bindings and under the influence of whatever drug they'd pumped into her. He surged forwards, tearing the belts from her ruthlessly. Yori staggered to her feet and Steve caught her before she could topple to the ground.

"Yori, you shouldn't move," he murmured in her ear. "Who knows what they gave you?"

"Doesn'… mat'er," Yori slurred, swaying forward and reaching for Josie.

"Yori, she's gone. I don't think even she can come back from this one," Steve tried to reason with her. With surprising strength, Yori's tail lashed for his eyes. He was forced to let her go or be blinded. Yori staggered forward and slammed into the boy's table. He was staring at the all in horror. Kicking himself for forgetting the boy and trying his hardest not to break down at the sound of Bucky's broken-hearted sobs, Steve moved to free the boy. Yori shoved herself off the boy's table to smash into Yori's. Her hand was shaking as she reached out and picked up Josie's stomach. Her face was pale and she looked an instant from throwing up, but nevertheless she lifted the organ in her hands and put it back into the cavity in Josie's body. She winced as it slid from her fingers and fell back with a wet plop.

"It won't help," Steve told her desperately.

"It... might…"

Bucky's voice was rough and raspy but he'd seen Josie come back to life before. Who's to say she couldn't do it again? He was sitting here on the floor sobbing mindlessly when Josie could possibly be brought back. Self-disgust and determination flowed through him in equal parts as he reached into the nearest bowl determinedly and pulled out Josie's lungs.

"There," Yori said, pointing weakly. Bucky didn't think to question Yori's knowledge of anatomy as he placed the lungs where he was told. Yori guided him in placing her liver. The others watched in silent horror as Yori and Bucky curled Josie's intestines back into her body. Finally, tenderly, Bucky pulled Josie's heart from the bowl and placed it where Yori pointed. His hands were shaking as he pulled the flaps of skin back over her chest and waited desperately for the wounds to begin to heal.

"Bucky," Steve said slowly as the seconds ticked by. "I don't think-"

"Don't say it," Bucky snapped. It was half rebuke, half plea. If Steve said it then it was possible.

"Wait," Yori said. She was leaning heavily against Steve but she seemed to be coming back to herself a little. Her speech was clearer at least.

"Belle." Bucky took Josie's hand in his, beseeching. "I need you to come back to me, honey. I need you. I need you, Josie. I've never loved anyone like I love you. Belle, please. Come on love, you're breaking my heart here," he sobbed.

"Bucky," Steve said. It was the hope in Steve's voice that made him look, watching as the skin began to knit itself together and lift as her ribs reformed.

"Thank god!" Bucky said, and pressed Josie's hand to his lips, kissing her fingers desperately. "Thank you, Belle. I love you, oh god, I love you so much," he murmured as he watched her heal, watching something like life come back to her eyes.

With a jolt and a snarl Josie woke, shooting upright on the table and ripping her hand from his grasp. A low growl rumbled in her chest. Bucky stared at her, surprised. There was nothing on her face but animalistic rage, not what he'd expected.

"Move," Yori said hoarsely.

The door opened and a soldier poked his head inside. He'd expected three captives strapped down, not a rescue party.

"Was-?"

"Move!" Yori screamed, and shoved Steve with all her might. The Commandoes followed her order and dove away as Josie lunged from the table, arms crossed in front of her. Yori hadn't been able to break the glass but Josie, with bones hard as diamond and blind rage and strength on her side, smashed through it. Shards stuck from her, the cuts already closing and forcing them out.

Frozen in terror the soldier stared at her as Josie stood up, her lips pulled back in a vicious snarl.

"Josie…" Bucky said uncertainly. His voice was the trigger that set her off. Josie lunged with a growl and not with her fists or her feet or her bones. She caught the soldier with all of her body weight and threw him into the wall. Her mouth leading, she sank her teeth into his throat. Blood spurted and poured over her as she reared her head back, ripping the front of his throat out. Josie tossed her head to the side and spat the chunk of meat from her mouth furiously before getting off the soldier. He slid to the ground, already dead.

"Tigress…"

It was Yori who moved forwards when the others were frozen in shock. Josie whipped around with a snarl on her face and blood around her mouth.

"We still need to escape from here," Yori said slowly. "All of us. You understand that, Tigress? You will get to feed, but we must go together."

"Tigress?" Steve questioned wordlessly. He didn't know who was standing in front of him at that moment but it most assuredly was not Josephine Ealum.

"Her feral side," Yori hissed to him. "Shh. Tigress," she continued. "Do you understand?"

Josie's voice was distorted by a rumble in her chest as she replied, "I understand."

Yori's smile was feral as she picked up her sword from where it had been left leaning against the office desk. She drew it with a sharp sound and raised it high.

"Then we shall take your revenge, eh?"

Tigress snarled in reply and surged out the door with Yori on her heels.

Steve, Bucky, Morita, and Dum Dum had a front row seat to the carnage that Yori and Tigress could wreak when they truly tried. They were torn between awed respect for their abilities and disgust for all the gore. Neither woman bothered trying to sneak out the window. They calmly made their way down the hallways and stairs with the men following behind.

They were not able to walk out unmolested by any means. Soldiers surged from all over as the shouts and screams of Tigress and Yori's victims echoed through the house and camp. The problem was that nothing they did could stop them. Bullets were deflected off of Yori's sword and Tigress didn't care as they drilled into her. Tigress clawed and bit, tearing out throats with her teeth and claws. Yori hacked and sliced, taking heads and severing limbs with a malevolent smile on her face.

Bullets rattled outside and they knew that the others had engaged backup rushing towards the house now. Steve prayed Dernier had an escape plan ready for them, and prayed even harder that Yori and Tigress could be persuaded to stop killing long enough to get out. He tried to cover the eyes of the boy they'd rescued with his hand to shield him from the sight but the boy merely ducked out of the way, watching the women work in awe.

Bucky, for his part, was having a hard time with what he was seeing. He knew that Josie had an animalistic side called Tigress. They'd discussed Tigress before and he understood that that state was pure animal with only a bit of higher thinking present. He knew enough about animal behavior to know that they lashed out when hurt, which explained Tigress's actions. The problem was that it was hard to reconcile that animal with the fact that it was wearing Belle's face.

They came out into the camp and Bucky couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed Josie before she could run off to hurt someone else and whipped her around. Tigress snarled and raised a hand to swipe at him but paused.

"Josie," he whispered, clutching her cheeks and desperately willing her to understand him as bullets rattled around them. "I know you're in there. You're safe now, Belle, I've got you. You can come out now. No one else it going to hurt you."

"Bu… cky?" The second half of his name was considerably more lucid than the first. With a happy surge Bucky realized he was getting through to her. He brushed a blood-soaked lock of hair from her face.

"Come on, love," he murmured to her. "You're breaking my heart here."

"Bucky." Josie was back now, blinking her way through Tigress's rage and focusing on him. She wretched, doubling over and vomiting blood onto Bucky's shoes. He didn't care. He just let her empty her stomach and then crushed her to him desperately.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered fiercely in her ear.

"For a moment you did." Josie's laugh was weak but present, which he took as a good sign. "What… happened?"

"Tigress," Bucky replied. Josie let out a sob as she clutched him tighter.

"We've got to go!" Steve yelled over the bullets. He was the only reason the pair of them hadn't been hit yet, he and Yori using their vibranium to deflect the bullets. Bucky nodded and picked Josie up, cradling her in his arms as he ran towards the truck idling nearby, the Howling Commandoes hanging out the back and urging them on. He flung himself inside and curled up on the floor with Josie cradled to him.

Yori and Steve threw themselves in the back and Dernier slammed the brakes. For a moment the tires spun and then they were off, cutting through the trees with bullets on their heels. But that didn't matter, because they were all together and they were all alive and safe.


When we were a good enough distance away from Auschwitz, we stopped for the night in an abandoned farmhouse. Yori and I were exhausted. We were conscious but we both had to be nearly dragged into the building. Steve laid Yori out on the couch with surprisingly little fuss from her. The others hauled in their sleeping bags to claim spots on the floor. There seemed to be some sort of unspoken agreement that I got the one bed in the place.

Bucky carried me into the bedroom and sat me down on the mattress.

"Wait here," he said, his voice painfully neutral. I nodded wordlessly and huddled on the edge of the sheets, clutching my arms and staring at my feet. I only remembered flashes of what Tigress had done but it didn't take a genius to work it out. I could feel the blood crusting under my nails and over my body and worst of all, I could taste blood in my mouth. I knew I had to look a fright.

I had long ago learned to accept that I couldn't help what Tigress did. She first manifested the first time I died, when I was barely six and I ran into the road and was struck by a car. When I healed, Tigress was in control. She'd run off into the woods and it had taken them two days to find me. Two days where I'd lived like a beast, hunting animals and eating them raw and sleeping curled up in trees.

I had accepted that Tigress was more animal than person. I also knew that those men would have died anyway on our way out. The only thing Tigress had done was make their deaths a bit more brutal than they might have been otherwise. It gave me some comfort to know that Tigress hadn't added to the death toll.

What concerned me now was how the others would react. How could they trust me when they knew what I was capable of? They'd seen me cut open with my organs splayed around. They'd seen me tear out a man's throat with my teeth. They'd seen me lose control like I never had before, the break brought on by trauma and death.

And more important, how would Bucky react? He'd held me in the back of the truck but he had only spoken a few words to me since we left the death camp. I was terrified that this was the point Yori had always warned me of, when my friends learned what I was truly capable of and turned their backs on me. I had to forcibly remind myself that once before I'd thought Bucky would turn his back on me and he hadn't. I had to hope that the pattern would hold true.

"Why you come?"

I looked up sharply. The boy from Auschwitz was standing in the doorway, watching me cautiously. His face was haunted, his blue eyes burning with depth and horrors seen. His English was spotty, but understandable. I beckoned him closer, patting the mattress beside me. He came in and sat stiffly next to me.

"I heard you scream from miles away," I explained gently. "And I had to help."

"But you got hurt," the boy countered.

I shrugged. "That's a risk I was willing to take."

"You don't know me."

"I didn't have to," I explained, reaching up to brush some strands of hair from his face. I smiled at him softly. "You were being hurt, Leibchen. I knew about it and I had the power to do something about it. Because of that I had to do something about it."

The boy nodded, his expression contemplative. "You… like me," he said slowly. "What are we?"

"You, Yori, and I are mutants," I explained.

"Mutants," he repeated slowly. "Monsters? That's what they call."

I shook my head fiercely. "You are not a monster!" I insisted, grabbing him by the shoulders. He needed to understand this if he was going to have a prayer at a normal life. "You are simply…" I didn't know how to translate this into a way he would understand. "You are a step ahead of most people."

"More powerful?" he tried to understand. I nodded.

"You can think about it that way, yes." I smiled at him fondly. "My name is Josie. The woman who was with me is Yori. What's your name?"

"Erik Lehnsherr," the boy said with a faint, unsure smile. I smiled back, as bright as I could manage with my thoughts dripping blood.

"It's good to meet you, Erik. We're going to take you somewhere safe," I promised him. "You'll never have to go back there again."

"Danke," Erik said, and the haunted look faded ever so slightly.

"Erik, I think it's time you got some sleep." We both looked up to see Bucky in the doorway. He had a bucket of water and a rag in his hand, as well as my pack thrown over one shoulder. I was so relieved it was almost a physical sensation when I saw the small smile on his face.

Erik nodded and left the room to move out with the others. Perring through the door I saw Steve offer him a spot near Yori. She was nearly asleep already, but she stretched out her arm and smiled at him, welcoming him to share the couch with her.

Bucky shut the door behind Erik and suddenly we were alone. Just us and whatever judgement he would pass on me. Once before Bucky had held the power to break me in his hands and now he held it again. If he called me a monster at this moment I would believe him and I feared that more than anything, more than even that twisted excuse for a doctor standing over me with a scalpel in one hand and my heart in another.

With a sob I hurled myself sideways onto the bed and dragged the sheets up over me, curling into as tight a ball as I could.

"None of that," Bucky chided gently, and he peeled the sheets away from me. I took a deep, shuddering breath and let him grab my arm and pull me up into a sitting position again. He cupped my face and I winced as I felt the touch through a layer of dried blood.

"She's my wrath, my anger, my fear, my desire for revenge," I tried to explain, staring at him intently and pleading with my eyes for him to understand. "She is me but without… without morals or ethics, without any kind of compunctions. For her life is kill or be killed and when I died and in such a… a horrible…" If I tried to describe it more I'd be sick. I looked away from Bucky and looked down. My eyes widened.

"Y-Your hands," I said slowly. "They're bloody. Are you hurt?" I worried, eyes darting all over him looking for wounds. Bucky laughed softly.

"I'm fine," he assured me, cupping my own bloody hands in his. "You once asked me if I was afraid of you. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told you then. I know you can hurt me, but I trust that you won't. I'll admit, seeing you like that was… scary." I winced and turned away, feeling the tears start to come. Bucky released my hand and put a finger under my chin, turning my face to his. "Because I knew how far you must have been pushed to become like that," he finished. "My Belle wouldn't do that to anyone. Tigress would. She is a part of you but you're separate too. I…" Bucky hesitated. "I can't say for sure I understand it, because I've never been like that, but I think I have some idea of what it's like from what you've told me."

I could scarcely breathe with the love I had for this man. He had seen me at my worst and still he sat here and held my hands and took care of me and tried to make me feel better. All I could do was breathe, "Thank you," and lean forward, resting my head on his shoulder. Bucky nodded and kissed my temple, dragging his hands through my hair soothingly. They caught in dried, bloody tangles almost immediately.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Bucky said, shifting away. He dipped the rag into the water and lifted it up. Tenderly, he began to clean the blood off my face, my hands. He dug a cheap comb out of my bag and carefully untangled my hair, being more careful than even I was when tending to it. My clothes were a wash, either torn or bloodied beyond repair, so Bucky respectfully faced a corner while I changed into something else. Then he dragged me down onto the bed and held me to his chest like he'd never let go.

"I love you Belle," he whispered as he stroked my freshly-cleaned hair. "I love you and nothing in the world will ever change that. Nothing you could ever do would make me hate you."