Hey everyone! I finally finished this next chapter! I'm so sorry it took a while to get this up. I lost my internet for a few days due to a bad router we had to replace. But now I have my internet back!

In other news, I got a cover picture uploaded for my story! It's what our little Mischa looks like as an adult having a flashback over her past, remembering those "scarring" memories that never left her. I'll try to get a nice cover picture drawn up for The Fire's Illusion, too. I just need to get an idea for what I'd want it to look like first before I get any of that done. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

After the day where I had met the oddly familiar man, I had expected him to forget all about me and move on with his strange life. And who could blame me? I was a tiny, insignificant street kid covered in so many scars that people could assume I had a freak accident with a shitload of knives or spikes. I was prepared in every single aspect to never see Steve again and to move on with my life of thievery and shadow-dwelling. My expectations were blown out of the water. The next morning, as I was weaving between the many people and trying to find the best places to get my daily bread, I heard his deep, familiar voice call out to me in his horribly pronounced Russian, "Hey, kid!" I heard him shout from behind me. I sighed, wincing slightly at how he called me. Alik used to call me kid. I had but to wonder if he was still alive, or if his new Headmaster at his new post shot him in the head, like our old one had done to a young guard in my infancy. That moment of my birth still haunted my dreams, conjoined with new nightmares of my torture. I stopped walking and turned around slowly, hesitantly. What if he changed his mind and decided not to be nice to me? Humans were inconsistent, I would never know if they were kind one moment and vicious the next. Greed, power, corruption . . . all three of those things factored in the changing of human nature in their scramble for greater power, for greater things to make their lives comfortable. It seemed most people, well, most I had known personally, strived to rule over others, to be above them as if they were a god. It made them violent, crazy, insane, and ruthless. What if Steve was like that? What if he was no different from the people I had known? I hoped he wasn't. He was the first person who had been kind to me in many years.

He stopped in front of me and smiled warmly, "Hey there!" he greeted cheerily, "I thought I wouldn't run into you today. Good thing I was wrong, eh? How's it going?"

I looked at him curiously for his odd question. No one had asked me how I was before. It was . . . odd. I wasn't used to this treatment; however, I was silently relieved to see that his apparent gentle nature had not changed since I had last seen him. "Uh . . . I'm okay . . . I think."

Steve smiled, "That's good!"

I paused a moment before asking, "How about you? Are you . . . good?"

"I'm doing pretty well! Thanks for asking! Oh, before I forget, here," he took out a large, filled sack and handed it to me.

I stared at the sack he was holding out to me. Was he giving me something again? I hesitated a moment, wondering if I was even allowed to take it before slowly reaching my hand out and grabbing hold of the sack. He let go and the sack immediately fell towards the ground, dragging me down slightly with its weight. I had not expected it to be so heavy. I attempted to lift it up, but I could hardly bring it up from the ground. "Whoa!" I exclaimed, "What did you put in here, bricks?" I opened the sack and found, to my utter delight and surprise, that it was filled to the brim with fresh food of all different kinds. I looked up at him with wide eyes. Did he just buy all of this food for a stranger he barely even knew?

He chuckled softly and looked at me with kind, gentle blue eyes, "It's for you!" he said with a voice as warm as the sun, "You looked really hungry yesterday, so I figured that just one apple wouldn't be enough."

I stared at Steve in pure amazement. I had never met anyone before him who would give me so much of something. Did he expect something back? I did not know. His expression did not betray any hint of cruel intentions, so perhaps he just gave it to me out of the goodness of his heart. "Y-You got all of this food for . . . me?" I did not understand his actions.

He nodded, "Yeah. It looked like you needed it."

I stood there in silenced puzzlement for quite a few moments. Why was he being so kind to me? I was a pure monster, a beast of anger and hatred, was I not? I had ended more lives as a child than a grown human would end in his or her lifetime. I had stolen from more people than I could count, and I had pickpocketed even more than that. I had infiltrated bases, stolen artifacts, and even eavesdropped on my home. I had done many unforgivable deeds, many horrible deeds that I would not easily forget, and yet this man was treating me with the utmost respect and kindness. Surely, I was unworthy of his generosity. Yet, somehow, I couldn't refuse his gift. He had most likely spent his own money so that I would have a meal. I felt I would be wasting it if I didn't accept his offer. I felt my eyes watering up over odd, warm, and fuzzy emotions of happiness and gratitude, emotions I had rarely, if ever, experienced in my youth. I gave him a small, tiny smile and hugged him tightly, not even caring if he'd beat me for it later. I felt him tense slightly, most likely out of surprise from my sudden action, but he returned the embrace, chuckling softly. "Thank you," I whispered softly, "Thank you so much."

Steve smiled and patted my back gently, "No problem. Here, I'll help you carry it to wherever you live."

I looked up at him and backed out of the hug, shaking my head, "No, no! That'd be asking for too much!" I didn't want him to see my alley, especially since I had messages of my hate and avoidance of Hydra. If he found out about where I had come from, would he hate me? Would he stop being nice to me? I didn't want to find out. I didn't want anyone to know about my past there, and what Hydra had made me do. I, myself, was trying so hard to forget the horrors of what I had experienced and done.

"I insist," he said with a smile, "I'm sure it'd be hard to carry without help, especially for someone your age."

I sighed at his persistence, easily telling that his mind was made up. I slowly nodded, agreeing with his request, "All right, fine. But we're only going to the entrance. My home's a total mess," I said, trying to make up an excuse for him to not see what lay within my alley.

Steve chuckled softly, "All right, I understand." He picked up the heavy sack as if it was nothing. That was when I had finally noticed just how strong this man was. He was well-muscled, and his arms bulged slightly when he lifted the sack. It looked like he was clearly capable of lifting objects much heavier than the sack and could even rip doors off of their hinges with no problems at all. He seemed like he was stronger than the average soldier. My thought process halted abruptly. A soldier. . . I widened my eyes as realization hit me with the force of a train. He was a soldier! Now I knew why Steve looked so familiar. He was the soldier in red, white, and blue that had attacked my base. He was one of the soldiers that had inadvertently helped me escape. I had thought I would never see any of those people ever again, yet here he was, the unique soldier that wielded a shield, standing in front of me and helping me. My amazed stupor was interrupted when Steve looked at me and smiled, "Ready?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm ready." I walked in front of him and led him through the streets towards my alley. After weaving through the throngs of people, we stopped in front of a dark, gaping hole between the two buildings that were now a normal sight for me. "You can just leave it next to one of the buildings here."

"You sure?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Well . . . all right." He walked closer to the alley and set the sack of food gently next to the old boarding house. It seemed like, due to the expression on his face, he wanted to ask me about my dwelling, but he told me he had somewhere he had to be and left, bidding me a farewell and a good day before leaving.