She decided a long time ago, she would run. From the Red Room, the only place she ever knew. She knew she would run, from her sisters, from her widows. She knew she would run, not fight. She knew if she fought, she'd ultimately lose. However, leaving was so much harder than she thought.

Sarai. Lula. Caina. Daisy. Her.

Seven left. Everyone felt it now. It was the final stretch. The final days were approaching. The swan song. The pas de deux.

Honestly, she never cared much for anyone else, but Sarai. Kind Sarai. Kind, weak, dying Sarai, who had been watching out for her for years.

She was the strongest of them all, not just in terms of strength and ability. But in terms of strategy, intelligence, creativity, death. The other three were capable, but still had flaws to be exploited. Still had open weaknesses. And Sarai, she'd been getting sick. She was dying from within, the same illness that likely killed the other ten girls, when she was little. Sarai was dying.

Sarai, who still believed in home and safely and love, was dying. It wasn't fair. Not to her.

It was time.


She heard of presence of the Soldier and the Widows in New York. So, naturally she decided to live in New Jersey. She needed to be under the radar. Away from the crowds. And besides the Inhuman Kamala Khan AKA Ms Marvel, there was no other in direct presence with her. She quite liked the Inhuman Kamala Khan. She reminded her of Sarai. Bright, hopeful, alive, young.

"Hmff!"

"Quiet. The guards." she whispered, removing her hand from Sarai's mouth. Sarai nodded, slowly getting up from her bed, rubbing her freed wrist. "What's wrong? What are you doing?"

"We're leaving now."

"Leaving….how-why?" Sarai whispered, pulling back the blanket. "The others-?" Sarai paused, taking a once over of the room. "There dead."

"Hm." she said softly.

"You killed them."

"Hm."

"In their sleep? They didn't fight back?"

She handed Sarai the last two piece of chocolate. "No, they didn't. It was quick and relatively painless. I wouldn't have, but from past actions, they were not to be trusted."

It would only be after Emily's death, that she would discover the secret behind the chocolate. That when ingesting more than one piece, it would slowly relax the muscles and induce paralysis over time. Emily fought dirty. She had to say, it was clever.

Lula was often known for taking cheap shots, not just in combat. She was what one would call a tattle-tail to an excessive length.

Caina was ambitious, which was a good quality to an extent. However, she was largely two-faced. The definition of untrustworthy.

Daisy was evil, plain and simple. Daisy was what one would call a sociopath. Personally, she preferred the term of asshole or bitch. Both were accurate.

Still, she did the most honorable thing, she could do in the situation. Make their deaths peaceful. If they were released into the world, even as widows. They would be far to dangerous.

"Come. We need to go now."

Sarai nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

Funnily enough, escaping the Red Room itself was easier than anticipated. Maybe it was because of the brainwashing and the indoctrination, maybe they were just that confident. Nevertheless, the escape from the Red Room itself had been simpler than expected. However, things had went downhill from then onwards. Trekking though the harsh winters, in thin clothes with no food or proper shelter had been harder. Finding a town, hiding in abandoned buildings, people. It was much more harder. Running from the Red Room and its spies was much harder. It didn't help that Sarai's sickness had become worse as time has continued.

"You need to leave me." Sarai said, one day. "You need to take what we found. And go."

"Why?"

"I'm not gonna make it. And you're the last one. They lose you. They lose everything."

"There are more widows."

"I'm not taking about widows. We're, we're not just widows. You…you really don't know do you."

"What is there to know?"

Sarai blinked. "Why did you take me with you? Hmmm? Why look out for me?"

"You are sick. You'll die soon. You want to see a school and family; you want to be safe again. You have faith that you will see it before you die. I will take you there."

"Then what?"

Then what. To be honestly she still didn't know.

"You can't back. Please, you can't go." Sarai whispered.

"Where else am I supposed to go?" she asked. "I have, nowhere else to go. I only know the Red Room."

Sarai pursed her lips together. "You can't go back. You can't. You need to trust me. You need to trust me and Soldier, remember?"

"Hm."

"You can't go back."


"Don't worry. I didn't." she whispered, placing the flowers onto the gravestone.

Sarai Toussaint Farhat

"Pretty." she whispered.

Sarai died young. It was expected. But it was sad. Sadder than anything she'd ever experienced before. Maybe that's why being alone felt better. It seemed better than suffering what she had all over again.

At least she'd brought her back. Sarai's story did not have an unhappy ending. She had brought her back to her family. And while their time was short, it was there. A miracle they said. Painful, she replied.

She wasn't there when Sarai died. It was far too dangerous for her to be. "I won't be back." she announced to the gravestone. "It's too dangerous. They're still looking from me. So, thank you for being my friend and for looking after me." she sighed, pulling her hood up, looking down at the grave. "I will do my best to have faith like you." she whispered.

"Goodbye Sarai."

"You remember the Soldier and the man, the day Emily died."

"Hm."

"There's a reason they brought him there. He's called a super soldier. It's something that a scientist created during World War Two. It's meant to be the best, the superior human. They gave that serum to Captain America; you know who that is?"

"No."

"Okay, well, they gave it him and he became the best. But the other side, you know Hitler-"

"No."

"Okay, well. He's a bad guy and he wanted to hurt a lot of people. His scientist, Red Skull-you don't know who that is, don't you."

"No."

"No, you don't know or-

"I don't know."

"Okay, sorry." Sarai said. "Anyway, he tried to re-create this serum. You following me?"

"Hm."

"Okay, well the Soldier got this serum. But the bad scientist, they wanted more. So, they took everything DNA, blood, whatever they could to re-create the serum. From him and from others."

"How do you know this?"

"I snuck into the vent while you were fighting the Soldier, I heard everything from that man and Madam. Focus, the ten girls that died, their bodies rejected the serum. It's probably what's happening to me too. The point is you have that serum. And you're the last survivor. You cannot go back. They'll use you like how they use the others. You're still young, it'll get worse. You have to run."

"Okay."

"Okay. Okay, good, you have to go."

"I go with you. I'll go away forever after I say goodbye. Deal."

Sarai, smiled. "Deal."

I keep promises.

I keep my deals.

I do my best.

My best to help where I can. My best to say in the background. I colour my time with music. I make sure to learn what I need to. I'm careful. Always.

Which is why, it truly disturbed her, when she opened the door of her small apartment to see him.

She found the monster.
He was just a man.

No. A boy who was turned into a monster.

The Winter Soldier.


~
Short story. That's it. Okay?

Thoughts?