Once a thorough scrub was complete, Casey emerged to find a pile of semi-clean clothes waiting for her. Getting dressed and finally covering her raw feet with slightly too big shoes, she towel-dried her pixie hair and examined herself in the large mirror wall. Dark circles were beginning to form under her dull eyes, small bruises spotted her legs and left an impression on her face, and her once manicured nails were chipped. Even after her long shower, her appearance resembled a weary woman leaving a battlefield. "Damn," she muttered, wiping away the rest of the steam on the mirror. She was asleep for six days, what battle could she have been in?

Dismissing her borrowed towel, she pushed open the white wooden, saloon style doors to be met by Bucky almost immediately. He seemed flustered and anxious by how long his strides were and the dreadful expression on his face. With a peaked eyebrow, Casey began to question his obvious worry.

"What's wrong-"

"I have a problem." He answered before she even finished her inquiry.

"You mean besides the rolling blackout, ambushes by red and gold soldiers, and that shadow creature lurking about?"

"Yes. However, it's related to the blackout."

"What is it? Food, supplies, looters, what?"

Bucky took a short moment to compose himself before admitting his burden to his friend, "Every day, I go out and get adequate provisions. I always go alone, but I always come back with," he acted as though he couldn't comprehend his next word, so he swallowed the insecurities and uttered, "Survivors."

"Survivors?" She repeated the word as if it wasn't processing in her mind, "Why are they survivors and not regular people?"

"Although it's been six days, the town has been ransacked. It's damn close to a war zone out there. The weak don't survive on their own during war."

Casey knew that he was too accustomed to warfare; he'd been forced to fight in a seventy year long war for HYDRA. "So, you recruited some buff guys to help us get out of Seattle?" Something wasn't clicking in her mind what he was referring to.

"Casey, the weak followed me back here. They won't leave, leeching off the provisions I've collected for us."

"But, we don't really need provisions. I can walk through walls and create portals to anywhere, remember? We can skip out on this condemned town and start new elsewhere."

Bucky straightened his posture, "I will not leave them."

"You just said that they were leeching-"

"They've never lived during a siege. Don't know how to act and how to busy themselves productively. I need you to talk to them."

She couldn't help but scoff at his request, "Me? Tell them about living a life under constant fear? I think you've got the wrong person for this job."

"You're the perfect person for it. You know how to ration food, conceal hide outs in plain site, and walk unseen."

"I can only do that in crowds; plus I have an unfair advantage of shadow manipulation." She tried to reason with him, how her trying to help the "survivors" was a bad idea. All she was good at was making herself become transparent to the rest of the world, not the other way around. "Why do you want to help them anyways? Please, can't we just leave?"

"Casey," he lightly grabbed her forearms and gave her a stern stare into her green eyes, "I made a promise. And I will not break it."

For a long while, Casey held a glare back at Bucky's blue eyes. Strategic lanterns were placed inside the washroom of the spa and were blazing a tiny amount of light. Outside the shower area, the lobby was filled with natural sunlight through the large windows. It was a poor substitute to light bulbs, but without electricity, lanterns would have to suffice. The two kept their pleading gazes at each other; Casey's to leave the forsaken city and start over, while Bucky was insisting they stay and assist the survivors. She couldn't lie, seeing this side of Bucky was taboo; she'd witnessed him nearly assassinated Nick Fury, beat Steve Roger's face in, even shoot at her on the helicarrier. Now, he wanted to help people, to ensure they live. Countless years HYDRA has been brainwashing him to be a mindless weapon, to murder anyone that stood in their way. At that moment, The Winter Soldier had died away. Bucky Barnes had resurfaced. He was changing into a better man. Casey could see more humanity in his eyes than in her own; that's when she subcame to his request.

"Okay, okay. We'll stay. But, who did you promise?" She sighed and voiced her curiosity.

He made small circles with his thumbs on her arm before letting go. By the slight drop in his shoulders, Casey could tell that be felt relieved that she sided with him. "She's wanted to meet you for days."

She? There was a sudden ping in her heart that she hadn't felt in years; jealousy. Who was this new woman? Did he really find an interest while making runs for supplies in this hell city? And why was she feeling this way? Bucky never really expressed an interest for her, so why was she already so defensive by such a small word? Casey immediately reeled in back her secret emotions.

Bucky grabbed her hand again and gently pulled her away from the showers. As they walked past, he blew out the lanterns and closed all of the doors. Casey had gotten the feeling that he was used to this habit. Silently leading her through the softly colored lobby and back into the stairwell, he took easy steps downward. Casey counted four flights of stairs and a door on the evenly numbered ones; he had brought her to one of the skyscrapers in the city. Did it hold a tactical advantage with higher elevation? Possible, to gain a bird's eye view.

Only a handful of stairs remained below the door he pulled open; she didn't have enough time to count, but she guessed that they were on the third or fourth floor. Once she brought her focus to inside the revealed floor of the building, her thoughts of jealousy were gone and her wonder of where they were faded away. The two were met with many eyes gazing at them. People of different origins were grouped together and discussing miscellaneous things. White collared businessmen were chatting loudly with construction workers while female chefs were laughing along with housewives. An odd sense of collaboration and unity was present during this

crisis. She couldn't help but wonder which of these women Bucky had made the promise to.

To Casey's surprise, there were children as well. At least five. They were clumped together, running around and playing. When the kids realized that the adults had fallen silent to their presence, they all became timid and uneasy. Each backed away and quickly found their parent to cling onto. Expect, one of the older girls. Rather than the others, her large hazel eyes were filled with pure joy. Her mouth was slightly ajar when Casey raised an eyebrow at her. Children was never her speciality.

However, that didn't stop the child from sprinting across the suddenly motionless level and right into Casey. Her frail arms wrapped around Casey's waist faster than she realized what had happened. The girl buried her face into her stomach and squeezed tightly. The Shadow Stranger gasped at the hidden strength from the child.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" she squealed as she began to twist Casey's stomach around. Before Casey could push the child off, she released her killer grip and quickly looked up at Bucky. Her face was painted with a huge grin and excited eyes. "Your princess is awake!"

Lightly huffing from the sudden embrace, Casey glanced at Bucky, "Your princess?" she asked.

A little flustered, Bucky pressed his lips together and held his tongue.

The small child between the two answered for him. "Yeah! He's your knight in shining armour. He rescued you from those bandits." Her voice had a hint of maturity to it, but her fantastic imagination was refreshingly innocent. Casey was staring at the kid more than she should have been reading Bucky's obvious signs of discomfort; her left eye had a grey tint around it and a butterfly strip was holding part of her eyebrow together; someone had hit her. Who the hell hit this child? At the sight of her injuries, Casey felt angry at the child's parents for not properly protecting her during such a hostile time. "Please, please, please, tell me your name! I've got a million and a half for you, but I need to know! You're Princess…?!" She rolled her wrist as a gesture for Casey to fill in the blank. Why am I a princess and Bucky a knight?

She opened her mouth to answer, but quickly closed it. What name should she give this child? A short glance across the cubicle floor showed that the survivors were all waiting for her to provide a name. What did Bucky tell them? For a moment, she felt as though she was back in high school, giving an oral presentation and forgetting the most important fact of the project.

As a last resort, she brought her attention back to her friend. His mouth was still tightly closed and his assassin face was being displayed; she couldn't read him. You son of a bitch. She cursed at him for not warning her about this pop quiz. What am I supposed to tell these people?

Following the hunch in the pit of her stomach, she replied with, "Kristen, but everyone calls me Kris."

"Oh my God! Princess Kris!" The girl nearly tackled Casey again for another hug. "What a beautiful name!"

"Nice to finally get some answers outta this place," one of the businessmen scoffed as he crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry, what?" Casey asked him behind the girl's embrace.

The half suited man rolled his eyes and pointed at Bucky, "He saves us from the psychos outside, brings us here, and doesn't say a flippin' word to anyone!" With every word the man's tone got louder. Taking a few steps to the two adults and affectionate child, he resumed his rant, "All he said was 'I'll keep you safe,' and that was to that damn kid! Other than that, we've been left to fend for ourselves down here!"

By this man's tone, the girl eased off of Casey and slid closer to Bucky. Free from her grasp, Casey had the opportunity to fully examine the cubicles surrounding them. Some were broken down and used to make short shelters for small groups. Desks were shredded up and used for cheap firewood. The uncomfortable chairs were being used as play things for the children and makeshift wheelchairs for the few elderly survivors. The computers that once sat on the plywood desks were shoved into the corners of the floor, attempting to maximise space. All of the shutters were left open to allow as much light as possible into their temporary homes. Oil lamps and candles were scattered among the cubicles for continued light sources after the sun sets. Next to the stairwell she and Bucky emerged from, a pile of food was neatly sorted; juice boxes, water bottles, and countless canned foods took up the majority of the back wall.

While her eyes drifted up and down the aisles of the altered cubicles, the man continued to complain, "He hasn't said a damn word! Yet, he expects us to believe he's here to help us?! Ha! What a joke!"

His harsh and critical words snapped Casey's attention back forward. "A joke?" she repeated to make sure she heard him correctly. "I'm sorry, but who are you?" Casey was bracing herself to put his man in his place, but she needed to make a good first impression with the rest of the survivors.

"Professor Barnett. And I would appreciate more than shoulder shrugs from that lumbering brute!"

Cocking her head a little, and keeping her darkness at bay, she scowled at him, "Looks to me he is helping you."

"By making food runs every-damn-day?! We need a way out of the city, not more spaghetti-o's!"

"There isn't a way out," she answered sternly.

Just beyond the college professor, the remaining survivors began to mutter uncertainties to each other. Barnett called her bluff and questioned her on it, "Oh yeah? And how would 'Princess Kris' know this?"

She had already lied about her name, what was the harm of continuing her facade? "I was making my way out of town while the power was turned off. You know what I was met with at the outskirts? Military humvees, stationary camps, border patrol, and the National Guard."

"Oh really? What's the military doing here?"

"That's what I asked them," Casey pointed at the scraps and cut on her face, "But all I got was physical retributions."

There was a lag from the college professor. While Casey allowed him to get his bearings, she noticed that the remaining survivors in the cubicles were watching intently. Barnett was speaking what everyone else was thinking; only, he was adding his attitude.

"You're lying," he finally responded.

"Oh yeah?"

"It's illegal for soldiers to attack unarmed civilians." Just by his tone and confidence, Casey knew that he assumed he found her out.

What he didn't know was that she has been lying for years; a simple argument about military procedures hardly fazed her. "Who said I was unarmed?"

Her acting/ lying abilities seemed to surpass her shadow techniques. Barnett was shocked into silence as Casey simply grabbed Bucky by the hand and led him to a less populated area of the room. As they stepped away, murmurs from the others were discussing what Kris had informed them. She had achieved her goal of silencing Barnett, keeping her true identity a secret, and upholding a leadership authority; if neither her nor Bucky were in charge, then it would make assisting these people all the more harder.

With hushed voices, Casey stood on her tip toes and whispered as low as she could into Bucky's ear, "What's your name to them?"

"Barnett wasn't lying, I have only promised Marissa to keep her safe. I haven't said a word to anyone else."

"Marissa? That little girl?"

"Yeah, she's been with us since the first night. I couldn't leave her out on the streets."

"What does she know you as?"

Bucky darted his eyes around to ensure no one was within ear shot, "The Knight."

A little surprised that he actually admitted the small girl's title for him, Casey replied with a goofy smile. "Really?" She asked in disbelief.

Still vaguely hidden behind the shadows, Casey could almost see a color of embarrassment flash his face. That was all the answer she needed.

"Why does she keep calling you that?" Casey giggled at the small child's imagination.

"Because he's as noble and honorable as a knight!" Marissa bounced up to the two. Bucky rolled his shoulders and turned his head outward to the opened windows and to the ragged down city below. Casey welcomed the little girl into their conversation; half relishing in the refreshing change of pace emitting from her and half relieved that the woman Bucky had mentioned the promise to was a young girl.

"And how do you determine that?"

"It was easy. The way he carried you, protected you, and look at you; it's all there."

"What's all there?" Another ping of curiosity.

Marissa seemed all too excited to answer her question, however Bucky did not want to continue this discussion. He lightly grabbed Casey's forearm and shot her a warning to stop egging the child on. Marissa's wild smile altered a little to a disappionting but understanding. She was definitely old enough to know that Bucky's face was signaling her to leave.

"Can I know his name before I go?"

The little girl's hopeful eyes tugged at Casey's heartstrings. How could she say no?

With a quick glance at "The Knight," she came up with an alias for him, "Nathan."

((Sorry for the late update! Ya'know, Mother's Day and all. But I hope all of the your mom's had an amazing day!))