Unfastening her eyelids, she expected to be completely submerged in the bone chilling water of the Potomac River. She had pictured a variety of oxygen bubbles to rise over her head as her mangled body sank deeper under the surface. Broken and utterly immobile carcass declining away from the sunlight gave her a sense of peace. Rather than being driven to insanity by the darkness that lied in her heart, The Shadow Stranger was helpless to be consumed by the blackness under the waves. It seemed to sooth her to know that she would be given to shadows, but in a more honorable way. She wouldn't be able to lose her tranquility any more, she could never lose control of her inner dark, and add more bodies to her count of seven hundred and eighty eight. One mountain town was enough for her short span of bloodlust; that was obviously one of her many regrets. No one would ever know how it really happened on January third. Without a counterclaim, the internet would simply accept SHIELD's records of Mountain Pass to be true. She found it ridiculous; how could anyone ever believe them, when they didn't even get the correct causality number? Another regret was stealing the life of the Temple Twins. They never stood a chance. Not against her enraged flames. Hardly any of the buildings had managed to survive. Newborn babies would never endure such a gruesome blaze. They were the first babies born in the town in three years. She was jealous to the point of calling upon her inner demons for the first time; she wasn't ready to control it and thus, seven hundred and eighty eight people paid the price for her childish tantrum.

Another regret was not being able to defend herself to HYDRA's claim of her involvement with Fury's "death". This one was recent; even while she watched the fraud video clip of her releasing Winter, she couldn't say anything. Nick Fury and Romanoff had immediately concluded it to be true and saw her as a threat. The entire world was going to accept the "fact" that she was a HYDRA member for years; leaving a bad taste in the mouths regarding Erin Memmott. Oh, another regret; revealing to anyone her name. Those two words would go down forever written in history as a terrorist, a monster, maybe even a demon. It was no joke the art of shadow manipulation, but it did not gain the approval of the masses. Mr. and Mrs. Temple had labeled her a demon just one time; however, it caused her such mental agony. The whole town knew she wasn't religious in any aspect, but that didn't give them the authority to accuse her of being a servant of the devil just because her eyes were black. No one knew about her book, so she never expected them to understand. Ah, the regret that started it all; Qlifhat's tome. Receiving that one piece of literature so many years ago led to all these regrets and mistakes, scars and pain. What ever possessed her to obtain that damn book? Absolutely nothing positive came from it. Mastery of Shadow Manipulation was a challenging task, simply getting in touch with one's own darkness was difficult enough. She was no where near completing the mastery; and as her body drifted into her aquatic grave, she realized that one thing she didn't regret was not finishing her studying from Qilfhat.

The only other thing she didn't regret was helping The Winter Soldier. Yes, he played her for a fool for the longest time, drawing her back to DC in order to be recruited into HYDRA. Why they wanted her concerned her the most; didn't Pierce knew that she was more dangerous than an asset? Despite her reality check from Mr. Pierce about their informant, The Shadow Stranger was able to connect to Winter. Normally, his missions were to eliminate the target, not gain their trust and obtain any notable knowledge about them. Why did Pierce send Winter? Why not Rumlow, or a regular agent? Too late to ask. Before long, her lungs would fill with the icy liquid and her heart would be deprived of air. Her life, depicted as the Monster of Mountain Pass, would be over in one huge convulsive and she could no longer regret. She only whispered a weak prayer that Winter would one day figure out who he really is and not the weapon HYDRA had programmed him to be. The Shadow Stranger's chapter was ending; unfinished and still unanswered. The book would find a new owner, like it always does. The Shadow Stranger's side of the destruction of her home town would die with her; it was probably for the best. The population wouldn't be able to handle what really happened, no matter how spotty her memory was during the actual burning.

Once her dull green eyes slid open, she wasn't surprised to see nothing but black around her; she was sinking after all. What she couldn't understand was when she exhaled a huge breath, nothing seeped into her throat. Ice cold water wasn't sucked in when she inhaled either. Strange. She was unable to visibly watch the last bits of her breath being carried to the surface of the river. Am I already dead? Did the impact from the fall snap my spine? Her lazy gaze circled around her, trying to recognize anything. Is this the afterlife? Am I to stay in darkness for the rest of eternity? It would be a fitting ending; the majority of her life was with shadows, why wouldn't her spirit be lost forever in a shade?

Gaining the energy to turn her head to broaden her view, she was immediately halted by a cringing pain. Instinctively, she put her hand over the sore area, her left shoulder. "Holy shit," she gasped. Why did it hurt? Wasn't she dead? Testing her friction zone of her mobility with her pain induced shoulder, Erin lightly rolled her joint. The result was that she couldn't help it at all.

"Oh my God," she muttered a handful of swear words under her breath as she gently rocked back and forth to accommodate the misery. "What the hell?"

Disregarding her predisposition of waking up in the river, Erin struggled to sit upright as much as her body would allow her. Cradling her aching shoulder, she bit her bottom lip to exert a small portion of pain. Draped over her slender shoulders and around her legs were drenched clothing that squished whenever she moved. Carefully parted away from her face, Erin's thick locks of black curls clung to her ear for support. Underneath her was a puddle of water. Did she hit the river? Why was she wet? "What the hell is going on?"

Her next move was to stand, but it was interrupted. Erin's ears peaked at a familiar sound of a lamp clicking on. Across the room a small desk lamp was switched on and let a hazy light filter the area. Her breath was lost as she witnessed something she never considered to be a possibility.

Standing slightly hunched over by the tiny lamp, The WInter Soldier had his fixed deep blue eyes on her. His dark hair was soaked as well, dripping onto his black tactical uniform and empty weapon pouches in his belt and shoulder straps. Slowly drawing his mechanical arm away from the meager light source, The Winter Soldier squared his large shoulders and turned to her. Just as every time before, Erin couldn't read what he was thinking; she assumed that he was about to put a bullet into her skull. He had attacked her on the helicarrier, why wouldn't he try to complete his mission?

"How did you do it?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

Erin's dislocated shoulder hindered all possible escape routes. And, quite frankly, she wanted to know what he was referring to. He seemed a bit delirious and crazed, and with previous knowledge of his prosthetic, Erin was terrified of him to deny him the answers he was looking for.

"D-do what?" she stammered.

The Winter Soldier didn't move, but seemed to flinch. Was he in pain? Or simply looking for the right words to phrase his question? Erin watched him intently as he raised his coiled arm and studied it for a minute, constantly turning it over and gently flexing his fingers. Once he found what he was looking for, his attention went back to Erin.

"When you grabbed for me," he began quietly, but gained more courage as he spoke, "On the Charlie carrier. I felt it. How did you do it?"

That wasn't exactly a rephrased question, just an explanation. However, she didn't want to tempt fate by answering him with the same response.

"When you were hanging off the edge, right?" she thought back to the glass frame on the belly of the flying fortress. The first thing she recalled was rolling off the platform and cracking her shoulder; again. Then she saw the support beam charge at her from the ceiling, and leaning against the spire to find him pinned. After using her shadows to help Rogers free him, another beam fell and caused the two men to fall; but Winter had grabbed ahold of the metal frame. Just as a desperate attempt, she tried to pull him up. Erin had absolutely no upper body strength, so her idea was flawed from the beginning. But when she touched his arm, it seemed to sear her palm. Recalling the odd sensation, she looked at her hand looking for answers. It didn't hold any burn marks or strenuous fissures. That had happened before. While Pierce was scrubbing his mind, she had placed a comforting hand on his forearm; it scorched under her touch, but that was because of the electric shocks to his brain and branching throughout his body, right? Why did it happen for a second time? "I-I don't know." Erin didn't want to give him a false answer. She was done lying to people, especially Winter, even if he didn't remember her.

The lack of definite answer didn't faze The WInter Soldier. Maybe it was the honestly terrified expression painted on Erin's face that caused him to finally breathe out. Her shoulder ached while she stared up to him with huge fearful eyes, never averting her gaze and hardly blinking. Another pain shot through her; as she watched this man, she knew it wasn't the same man she had grown to enjoy. He didn't know her. It was causing a tight grip to strengthen around her heart and pressure on her lungs. The longer she looked at him, the more it hurt. But, she couldn't force herself to turn away. Who was this man now? Just a HYDRA soldier following orders? A small part of her stubbornly refused to believe that he was completely gone. If he was just one of HYDRA's pawns again, why wasn't she dead? In fact, why didn't the fall from the carrier kill her?

"How did I-" she began to ask aloud, still used to having Winter as a friend, but when he raised an eyebrow at her when she spoke, she caught herself. The fear reinstalling in her. He could easily end her life, why wouldn't he?

When she started to ask a question, The Winter Soldier was brought from his own thoughts and back to the cramped room. He focused his gaze at the drenched girl, expecting her to finish speaking. Disregarding all previous training to remain silent, The Winter Soldier took a step towards her, curious as to what she wanted. "What?"

She couldn't find her courage to openly talk again, so she sat holding a frightened gaze at him.

"Stop that," he muttered, tilting his head away.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't reign in her fear; she had trusted him and he ended up double-crossing her, giving all of her information to HYDRA. This man standing before her knew nothing and had no reason to not hurt her. How she managed to get this far with him was incredible, and she was scared to say the wrong thing and pissing him off. From the alleged stories about him online and her own encounter of how he handles his targets, Erin had every fiber in her being telling her to stay quiet.

"Erin, stop," he said again.

The cowering girl froze in bewilderment. For a moment, she wasn't terrified of him; just confused. "How the hell did you know-"

"You told me," when he clarified, his eyes seemed to focus on something in the distance rather than Erin.

According to his slight facial expressions, The Shadow Stranger was able to actually know what he was feeling; disorientation. Partially because she was experiencing the same emotion. He said her name, her name. Not only that, but their short exchange of dialogue was vaguely familiar as well; the way he seemed to plead with her to stop staring with fearful eyes. They had a conversation strangely similar back in Houston, when he first found her outside of DC. Or did HYDRA aid him in locating her? That was a possibility, but pointless at the moment.

While The Winter Soldier stood dripping cold water onto the ground under him, Erin bit her lip to hold back a moan of torture as she pushed her way to her feet. Dislocated shoulder in hand, she stumbled and got a crazy head rush. All of the blood raced to her head and made her weak and stagger forward. For a moment, her vision was impaired and her body nearly crumbled under it's own weight. Blinking the rush away, and lightly shaking her dizzy head, Erin realized that her knees had given out. But she wasn't on the floor; The Winter Soldier had hurried to grab her. He only used his mechanical arm, pressing her to his chest and holding her steady as her wits returned to her. Dazed, confused, and a little scared at how close they suddenly became, Erin dared to glance at him.

He didn't wait for her to say anything, only because he had suspected that she wouldn't. "I'm not going to hurt you." The Winter Soldier saw in her big green eyes that she was surprised again; hopefully that was a good thing. "I won't."

His tone was sincere and honest; she even found a trace of a promise in those words.

Did he remember her? Otherwise, this was a serious case of deja vu. Everything was just like it was when he found her in Texas. The words, the tone, even his eyes. The blue in them were troubled, and clearly struggling. Yet, she felt as though she knew this man. Does this man know her? Was she imagining things? No, everything was exactly like it was back in Houston. It was her throbbing shoulder that ensured her that she wasn't dreaming.

Her own eyes clouded with happiness; fear pushed aside, she quickly wrapped her functioning arm around his waist and hugged him. Burying her face in his chest to secretly add to his wet clothes, Erin felt him tense up and hesitate, unaware of what to do next. She didn't let go, quietly crying into his chest and just barely feeling his heartbeat through the thick tactical uniform. Just before she was going to release him, The Winter Soldier repositioned his arm to return the embrace. Even going as far as to rest his chin on her head. They never hugged before Pierce erased his mind, but Erin enjoyed it.

She had been the first to gently pull away, allowing her arm to linger on his hip. Erin barely had a chance to smile at him before he snapped her shoulder back. With one solid motion, he had relocated her joint. Naturally, she wasn't prepared for such a dramatic change in pace. Standing, mouth ajar and shoulder pulsating from a new form of pain, Erin blinked in confusion as a tear escaped. Originally made out of happiness, it raced down her cheek for a more arduous reason.

"It was dislocated," Winter explained after examining her distressed face.

"Give a damn warning!" she stepped away, still crying. As more salty tears ran down her face, she took deep breaths to calm herself. Winter didn't necessarily scare her anymore, but he definitely hurt her. Not in the traditional way, but popping a shoulder back in place hurt like hell, especially when it was cracked out before and had scar tissue. Regardless, she was daring to be more outspoken to him; she always made sure to choose appropriate diction.

"Now do mine," he said.

"What?" she exhaled in a distrainuous way.

"You have to do mine," Winter stayed stone faced and barely moved. While Erin was rubbing her tender shoulder she gave him a quizzical look. He subtly gestured to his normal arm. Upon further investigation, Erin realized that it was hanging lazily in the same way her arm was before he locked it back in place.

"You've got to be kidding me," shaking her head to continue deny his request. "I can't. I-I don't-"

"I caught you from that free fall," he cut her off and slightly narrowing his eyes at her, causing her to clam up and become more defensive, "If I didn't, the impact from hitting the river would have killed you." Winter was holding a serious glare at her, practically demanding that she help. "Pop it back."

She allowed a buffer between his request and her reply, "I would, if I knew how." Erin clarified why she refused to try. Her grandfather tried to give her a few pointers on quick stitch jobs and first aid, but nothing as serious as a dislocated shoulder. She didn't even know how Winter was able to quickly pop it back into place with one arm. "I don't want to try and make it worse."

Winter took a second to study her, attempting to search for any tells of lying; she wasn't. "What kind of HYDRA agent doesn't know how to relocate shoulder joints?"

"HYDRA?" she repeated.

"You're the traitor HYDRA agent," he said, holding up his flesh arm by the elbow.

"Did Pierce tell you that?" Why was he so determined to display her as a member of his insane organization? What was his endgame? What was he getting out of making her reputation even worse than simply burning down her hometown? "Well, I was never in HYDRA, or SHIELD for that matter. You can call me an 'independent party,' if you want. So I can't help you."

There was a bit of an awkward silence between to two. Erin was cradling her aching shoulder while Winter kept a stern gaze at her. During their moment of quiet, Erin held herself back from hugging him again. He had knew her name; was he expected to know the name of all his targets? But, he said that she had told him. Did that mean that he remembered? Pierce was very thorough of scrubbing his mind of memories; hell, HYDRA's been doing that for over sixty years. The fact that he recalled her name just gave her the far-flung hope that he remembered more. But, how?

However, she wasn't given the chance to change the subject. The Winter Soldier stiffened and sat on the edge of the bed behind Erin. "I'll show you," he said, staring off into the distance.

"What?"

"How to pop the joint back together," while he clarified, she took the opportunity to quickly examine the room they were in. Thankfully, it wasn't his cryostasis chamber; she had had enough of that dungeon for one lifetime. Dull street lights were filtering through thin window shades and a cheap television set was sitting on a large dresser. After a short minute of searching, she knew where they were. He had brought her to her rented motel room.

"How did you know about my room?"

"If you weren't involved with the blond haired man on the helicarriers, then this was where I was instructed to eliminate you," he answered bluntly.

"Very reassuring." Apparently, HYDRA had more eyes on her than she anticipated.

Winter ignored her remark. "Keep one hand just under the ball," he began to explain the procedure, "And the other on the blade." As he instructed her, Erin timidly placed her hands where he said. Her own shoulder was pulsating and pleaded with her to refrain from using it. Although, she did owe Winter her life for breaking her fall from the helicarrier. The least she could do was try; what was the worst that could happen?

"LIke that?" she mentioned to the placement of her hands.

He adjusted her right hand higher and continued his instructions. "You need to be fast, pushing upward and using your other hand from preventing missing the socket." He led her hand upward in a small demonstration, "Do that, but much more force."

Feeling his dislocated joint was starting to creep her out; small amounts of blood caused her to get faint hearted, so physically touching a dislocated joint was making her skin crawl. Resisting the urge to slink away, she focused on her own painful shoulder. If he could do it was one arm, she should be able to do it with two. "Okay," she muttered, "You ready?" Winter simply nodded, keeping his head forward. Honestly, she was talking to herself, trying to coach herself to actually attempting to pop a joint back into place. One, two, three! She pushed his limp arm upward and towards her other hand. With all his muscle and tactical gear on, his arm was heavier than she expected. Nonetheless, she used all her might to bring his shoulder back to it's original place. He grunted, but didn't move. Erin felt the bones in his shoulder blade shift and finally pulled away.

Cringing away, she studied his injury; did she make it worse? It sure as hell looked like it. "Oh my God," a hand cupped over her mouth. Winter didn't say anything, only used his working arm to adjust the placement of the ball and socket. She flinched when she heard a crack and turned away. "Oh God," she muttered.

Underneath him, the springs in the cheap bed creaked and relaxed. He took heavy steps around her, rolling his normal arm. The Winter Soldier didn't say anything. But the way he walked, and moved his right arm, she guessed that he was able to fix the mistake she made. Taking a baseball cap off of the coatrack by the door, he turned the knob and pulled it open.

"Where are you going?" Erin still had a lot of questions for him, he couldn't leave just yet. "How did you remember me?" she quickly blurted out; that was the one gnawing at her the most.

Placing the cap on his head and glancing over his mechanical arm, he gave a surprising answer, "By your touch." Then he left the motel room.

For a long while, she stood there, dumbfounded to say the least. Her touch? What did that mean? Was he referring to when she tried to pull him up from the helicarrier? That was when her hand burned. Why? "Damn," she sighed when she began to mimic Winter's movements with her own shoulder, "So many unanswered questions."

Her initial search began on the internet. With all of SHIELD and HYDRA's secrets leaked out onto the interwebs, maybe she could find something that could answer some of her inquiries. Using the provided desktop computer at the motel, she quickly found a ridiculous amount of information. Everything that SHIELD had deemed necessary was available for the world to see. From the first funding people of SHIELD to access codes for unknown military bases across the country. Personal records of every agent, all black ops missions, the schematics of project Insight and whatever the Zulu Algorithm was. The actual algorithm wasn't available, but it explained that it could predict someone's intent of terroristic tendencies. Sounded a lot like science fiction, but wasn't too concerned about the helicarriers anymore; they were destroyed and over with.

Lightly skimming over sudden human combustion, she couldn't find anything that was even remotely close to her interaction with Winter. If her hand burned when she touched him, where were the scars? It happened before, yet the disfiguration wasn't visible. She spent hours turning the virtual pages of the internet, searching all forms of burning sensations and allergic reactions involving metal. Everything she thought of held no substantial answer. Although all of SHIELD's secrets were accessible, she still couldn't find anything that pertained to her scowling hand. An old Sherlock quote had echoed into her head, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Shutting down the rented computer, Erin brought her exploration for answers towards her book. Hidden in between the mattress and box spring, she pulled out her oversized tome and sat on the reused bed.

Legs crossed and keeping her left shoulder as still as possible, she started to flip through the thick, wore pages of Qlifhat's book. Her green eyes darted above the yellowed pages and over the vaguely English sentences. More hours passed as her pursuit for answers continued into the dawn hours. Erin barely felt time pass as she turned the pages and began to read the techniques for the more skilled Shadow Masters. Daylight seeped through the thin curtains and filled the dusty motel room with natural light. Erin kept her nose buried in her book as the sun continued to rise. She was reading the absolutely ludicrous techniques by the lunch hour; some were explaining how to create 3D shadows, such as a flower or butterfly. It started off small, with golf balls, nails, and paper clips, then elaborated to manifesting a portal in thin air. Another technique was changing the master's face to hide his identity. As she advanced to the last pages of the tome, the explanations of the techniques were less in English and more in the native language of Qlifhat, whatever it was.

The last four pages of the book were in English, but seemed like an index for the rest of the book. In case she missed something, she read each line carefully. Finally, many hours later, she had found a tangible led; under the B category, there was a mention of a Blood Seal. Both times she had touched Winter's prosthetic, she had left a bloody handprint. Honestly, it was a shot in the dark, but she decided to read further into Blood Seals.

The information she needed was near the back, so it was written in the other language. Some of the markings looked familiar, they had been written in the earlier parts of the tome. She was forced to backtrack even further as she tried to pinpoint the right markings from the back of the book with ones in the front. That resulted in another two hours passing before she was able to decipher a few words. It was crazy difficult and seemed to take forever. Her efforts made little progress, but she was finally able to decode enough words to get a basic understanding of what the technique was referring to.

Apparently, a Blood Seal is when a Shadow Master physically touches a person and makes a vow. To the degree of the promise, sometimes the shadows will burn a bloody handprint on the person; it fades away under their skin, but remains until the Shadow Master upholds his oath. When the Shadow Master lays a hand on the person, it burns as a reminder of their commitment. The mark under their skin will naturally disappear when the Shadow Master completes his promise.

"Oh," she said after countless hours of searching online and in her book. "A Blood Seal," Erin muttered to herself as she finally shut her book and stretched her stiff back. "That explains the burn from the helicarrier." When she had grabbed him from the edge, her hand burned intensely. It was the shadows reminding her of her vow to him. Her hand wasn't scared because it was just a sensation of her previous seal. In his cryostasis chamber, she had laid a hand on him out of comfort, not to make a promise. However, she did swear she was going to get her friend back. But, she touched him again when she tried to pop his shoulder in place and he didn't burn her hands; did that mean she completed her oath to him?

Before she could finish connecting the dots, there was a knock at the door. Erin hesitated for a moment, staring at the wooden door and subsequently realized that it was daytime. While raising a curious brow to the drifting sunlight through the windows, she stood up and reached the door. Her hand went for the lock, but it was already unhinged. She had forgot to lock it after Winter left. Well, that's a dangerous habit for a traitor HYDRA agent. Checking through the peephole in the wood, she noticed that someone was covering the view of the small glass. It couldn't be the manager of the motel, she was sure to pay for a week. Was this a SHIELD or HYDRA agent? Or just simply law enforcement? She would have to change her appearance again in order to lose anyone that wanted to follow her.

Taking a risk, she opened the door. Rather than being greeted by a barrel of a gun, a lovely woman stood in front of her. Her dark hair was pulled back into a professional bun and held a stern face. With soft features, she seemed to have an angry face despite her upright posture. Former Agent Hill of SHIELD shifted under Erin's green gaze, not speaking but silently asking why she was there.

"Shadow Stranger," Hill nodded to Erin, and she did the same. "I'm not here to arrest you, kill you or recruit you."

Erin kept her lips together, not wanting to speak to any agent from any organization.

"I," she began, but quickly started again, "We all owe you so much."

"I haven't done anything," she shrugged her shoulders, a painful mistake that she did her best to cover.

"I saw you on the Bravo Carrier," Hill explained, "If you were really with HYDRA, you would have switched the processors back. But, you didn't. Why?"

Erin sighed and pushed her hair away from her face, "I was never with HYDRA."

Hill took a moment and studied her; looking for a tell of lying. When she didn't find one, she slightly nodded. "Whatever your reasons were, thank you; for not giving into Pierce's claim about you."

"I want to help people, not kill them. I've shed enough blood."

"Well," she lifted a folder to Erin, "Maybe a little less than you thought."

The Shadow Stranger eyed it suspiciously. It wasn't thin, there was definitely a small stack of paper in the covers. What it contains, she didn't know. However, that didn't deter her from accepting it.

"I suggest leaving here," Hill advised, "And soon. If I found you, it's only a matter of time before other's follow."

"Trust me, I know just how nosey you lot can be," she gave a sly smile to the former SHIELD agent.

"Good luck," Hill returned her smile with a stern nod. Erin took a moment to read her eyes before she turned and walked away. She knows. Soon, everyone will too.

Closing the door, Erin fidgeted with the folder in her hands. What was in there? Why did Hill give it to her, rather than finding it out online?

"What is it?" a voice startled her out of her thoughts.

In the corner, Winter was sitting in the recliner chair. His arms were crossed and his gaze towards the folder.

"How did you get in?"

"You left the front door unlocked."

"Oh," she felt her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "When did you come back?"

He answered with a shoulder shrug. His clothes were different; the were civilian. Instead of thick straps and a black uniform, jeans and a thin jacket covered his legs and arms. His right arm didn't seem to be bothering him anymore. It unsettled her, knowing that he simply walked back into the motel room and she didn't notice. She must had been really focusing on her research. Thankfully, it had paid off.

"What is it?" he asked again.

"Wait, why did you come back?" she tossed the folder on the desk.

Winter stood, uncrossing his arms and standing tall compared to her. "You said you were never in HYDRA," he took the baseball cap off, "Pierce said you are a traitor to the cause. Either way, I need your help."

"Help?" she sounded like a parrot, always repeating words he had said.

"I know who I am," he seemed to swallow his fear, "But, I can't remember. Bits and pieces, but nothing worth remembering. You, too." He stepped to her; Erin watched him for a hidden knife or a concealed gun. "When we met in Houston, and when you were tied up in the cryostasis room. Nothing much."

"But it's something," Erin gave a genuine smile of relief. He did remember her; just not much. It was enough to give her hope.

"And, I know that every time you touched my arm, I've been able to feel it." Winter glanced at his left hand, the only bit of his metal showing were his fingers.

Erin raised an eyebrow, "When we first met, I examined your arm. You felt it then too. I thought you were always able to feel when someone touches it."

"It's a prosthetic arm," he said, lowering his arm but looking at Erin, "I'm not supposed to feel anything with it. I can tell when someone hits it, or fixes it, but it isn't the same when you place your hand on it."

"Oh," was all she could say. Erin never knew that; so from the first time she stumbled upon him in his chamber, he was able to feel her touch? Why didn't he ever say anything? She felt a little embarrassed regarding how much time she had spent researching why her hand burned when she grabbed him rather than realizing he could feel her touch with his mechanical arm. She had laid a hand on his arm many times; why didn't he mention this before?

"What's in the folder?" he asked again, bringing her back to reality.

"Let's find out," she sat at the desk and opened the cover. After reading the first lines of the paper, she pushed it aside. She didn't need to read anymore to know what it was. "Why the hell did she give me this?" Erin became bitter and kept her gaze away from the folder. "It's not like it's on the damn internet."

Winter crossed the room with long stride and began to read the material in the folder. Erin sat, nearly sullen, quietly waiting as Winter turned the pages and continued. He was going to hear about her actions in Mountain Pass eventually, might as well let him know now.

Once he reached the back cover of the folder, he stepped away and faced The Shadow Stranger. "So," he said, in a dreadful tone, "That's what happened up there."

She didn't want to answer; she just sat, knees to her chest, awaiting his judgement for SHIELD's interpretation of what occurred on January third.

"Who are you?" The Winter Soldier asked.

The Shadow Stranger scoffed at his question. "It's about time someone asked that."

"According to this," Winter quickly flipped the loose pages to reach the one he was looking for, "Erin Memmott is an African American girl who went to your high school."

"They are correct," she moved the chair to face her friend; well hopefully, he was still her friend. "Erin was my best friend. The one person who never saw me as a monster, or weird, or an outcast. She was the only person in that entire town who didn't fear my abilities. The rest, they all screamed, they all judged me a demon, just for my eyes on that day." She cleared her throat and began to confess everything, "Even before I got the book, the whole town seemed to look at me differently. As if I was a monster from birth. But Erin, she took the time and got to know me. She accepted me as a normal kid. When I got Qlifhat's Tome, she was the only one I showed my talents to. I tried to teach her, but she wanted me to 'have my own thing.'

"When we were growing up, she made more friends, had an impressive social life, while I sat in my room, practicing techniques. But, she always checked up on me. She never let a week go by without paying me a visit. My parents even forgot about me when they went took a trip to France. Well, my adopted parents. Honestly, that was the best three weeks of my life. Erin would come over, spend the night, cook me dinner, we would do homework together; just being friends. Mountain Pass is a very religious town; Christianity. Mass every Sunday, praying before bed every night, all that jazz. With Qlifhat's book, I didn't have time to practice with my town. It wasn't long before they stopped asking me to attend church. In a matter of two days, the whole community knew I wasn't religious. It didn't faze me; they already saw me as an outcast, might as well limit my interactions with them.

"In April, that was when Mr. and Mrs. Temple learned about their pregnancy. The whole town was so excited that they threw three baby showers. If I wasn't forgotten by my parents by then, the fact that the Temples were having twins drove them crazy. At first, I thought that was what I wanted, for the town to forget me and channel some positivity to the new arrivals. But as the due date neared, I realized that I just couldn't live in my room, studying the shadows. When the twins were born, I was at the hospital. I held them in my arms. Boy and girl. And, when I saw how absolutely thrilled Mr. and Mrs. Temple were, to the point of tears, I became envious. I lashed out and my eyes turned black for the first time. My parents called me a demon. And, for a moment, I believed them.

"I called Erin, begging her to meet me at the church. I went home and tried to look like a guy, wearing baggy pants to hide my hips and a hat to keep my hair away, so when I talked to the priest, he wouldn't know who I was. When I got there, she neglected to tell me that she was bringing her friends with her. She wanted me to show her friends what I could do with the shadows. But all I wanted to do was talk to her and get advice from Father Kevin. Once the others began to doubt my abilities, I got angry. And, that's what drove me over the edge."

The Winter Soldier stared at her, unblinking and with a blank face. She wanted to know what he was thinking, so she stopped and allowed him adequate time to speak his mind. When he didn't she sighed and concluded her tale.

"And after that, the rest is history. Seven hundred and eighty eight people died because I was jealous." The Shadow Stranger was harsh with her words but it was true. She had murdered those people for no reason, other than being a child with too much power.

Winter went back to the folder and turned more pages. The Shadow Stranger lowered her head in defeat, unknowing what he was going to do next. Why he was still in the motel room was a mystery to her. Once he found the page he wanted, he spoke.

"It wasn't seven hundred and eighty eight," Winter pointed to the words as he read them, "Amidst the ruins of the former mountain town, seven hundred and eighty six piles of ash were accounted for. The only structure unhindered by the black blaze was the church." The Shadow Stranger watched his finger skip a few lines before finding what he wanted, "Inside the church, two newborn babies were found; unharmed."

The Shadow Stranger narrowed her eyes at Winter. She didn't understand what he had said. "What?"

"You didn't kill them," he said, pulling himself from the folder. "They're alive."

"I-" she couldn't speak. Instead, she brought the folder to her view and read the entirety of the page that was open. Her green eyes began to become cloudy as she reached the part Winter had read to her. She completely lost it when she read that the Temple Twins were unharmed. Tears raced down her face and she couldn't focus enough to read the rest. Covering her red face and hiding her trail of tears, The Shadow Stranger felt a ten ton weight be lifted off her chest. She never suspected in all those years that they could have made it. She always assumed that they were dead, like their parents and townsfolk. But they weren't. Somehow, someone put them in the church. She didn't care who did; they were alive.

The Winter Soldier allowed The Shadow Stranger to sob for a few minutes. He wasn't sure why she was crying, but her breathing alone seemed to be lighter. It was obvious that their deaths was what troubled her the most; what would she do now that she knew that they weren't dead?

She calmed down enough to stop the crying and relax her heart; everything about her seemed to be twenty pounds lighter. She wasn't as much as a monster as she thought she was.

"So," Winter spoke carefully, trying to avoid her continuation of crying, "Who are you?"

"Your name for my name?" she remembered that he said he knew who he was, just couldn't recall the memories clearly.

He didn't even hesitate, "Bucky Barnes." He extended a hand to her.

"Casey Temple."

I hope you've all enjoyed reading my fanfiction! I'm quite surprised that I was able to finish it, honestly. I'll be going back through the earlier chapter and actually proofreading them; but for the time being, I hope you all got what I was going for!

Feel free to review (nicely, I would hope) and keep you're eyes open for a second installment!

Thank you for your continued support and time!

Much love! XOXO