"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced."

-James Baldwin

His pupils dilated.

His metal fist clenched.

He looked down as Steve fell into the abyss.

"O..." His voice was nothing more than a ghost.

Ophelia smiled, if she was going to die now, at least she knew that she had done something. If Steve was dead, they had failed. No one would be out there to want to bring Bucky back, it had only been their mission. And so she needed to get out of here alive, she needed his help. So she spoke softly, like she always did with him. "That's me, Bucky."

The hellicarrier shook and rumbled, and the process of them falling into the water below sped up. Within a minute they would be trapped in the debris and rubble, drowning in the depth of the water below. An explosion above caused Ophelia to wince, but she kept her eyes trained on Bucky. If he was coming back to her now, it would be a terrible time, but he could survive. He could get better. He could maybe even save Steve. Maybe even her.

"Go," she said. The next words she spoke came naturally, they appeared to feel right upon her bloodied lips. "Run, Bucky."

"Get out of my head," he growled, raising his metal hand to his brown hair.

Ophelia remembered her power, amidst the chaos she hadn't bothered using it, and now tried to link with him. There was no time to create a strong enough connection, and once again, it failed. But she could see the shift. In the way his expression looked so shattered. She knew enough about him to be able to bring him back, she hoped, given time. Everything he had said to her, done for her, been there with her for, she could remind him of how he had been a good person once. The time was slipping away, and Ophelia had only this chance. Her condition left her wondering if she could save one life in exchange for hers. Bucky for Ophelia; that was a sacrifice she was more than willing to make.

"You have to go or-" She groaned in pain as the carrier shifted underneath her, rattling her broken bones. "Or we'll both die."

Bucky looked over the broken glass where Steve had fallen, and then back at Ophelia. He walked over to her and fear shot through her. With his metal arm, he pulled her off of the ground and hoisted her arm over his shoulders, half-carrying her. Her feet touched the ground and she forced herself to balance, leaning on Bucky.

Was he saving her? Was he going to toss her into the water below? Was he going to bring her back to HYDRA? She did not understand, but she said nothing as he walked to the edge of the carrier, looking down and then without another moment of hesitation, he jumped. Ophelia wrapped her arms tight around him as best as she could. The water was far closer now that it had been when Steve fell, though everything had happened in a matter of seconds and it had been no longer than half a minute since Steve disappeared from her sight.

As the water rushed up against her, it filled her mouth and nose, making her cough. Being forced underwater so quickly, she inhaled a good amount of water; above them, the hellicarrier was still crashing down. Bucky still had his arm wrapped around her, this time around her waist, pulling her back up to the surface. When they had breached the surface, she looked over at the carrier falling from the sky, crashing into the water only a few metres away from them. The giant wave pushed Ophelia back, and she struggled to remain above the water. When she looked back at Bucky, he was gone.

"No," she cried, trying to wade in the water but her ribs and shoulder were causing too much pain. Another wave splashed over her head and she sunk a few feet down. Frantically, she tried to bring herself back up, but the waves were too harsh and continued to force her down. A large beam of metal sunk down on top of her, pushing her to the depths of the water. As she swam as best as she could manage to avoid it but it caught onto her boot laces and began to drag her down. As she sank deeper, she reached down and tried unlacing her boots, but the pressure from the metal beam prevented her from succeeding.

The light above her seemed to fade, and Ophelia decided to think about the good that she had done. If Bucky had tried to save her, she had gotten through to him. She shut her eyes and tried to link with him, using every last ounce of energy to do so.

At first, nothing, and then...

For the first time since she had been tortured, carvings upon her stomach the permanent evidence, Ophelia was able to penetrate Bucky's mind. He was still the Winter Soldier, or at least that part of him was still in there. The overwhelming sensation of feeling the complex and confused emotions bouncing in his head caused her eyes to shoot open; the filthy water stung but it was then that she saw the metal hand coming down for her.

Though his head was filled with demons; anger, hatred, order, confusion- there was something driving him to save her. When his metal arm clasped onto her hand, he pulled back; the power behind the arm brought every little plate within strength, and he was able to pull her from the tug of the metal beam. The laces on her boots were yanked, snapping easily and she was free from the tug-of-war. Bucky's legs kicked as he pulled them both above the water, his arm around her body just underneath her arms. When she surfaced, Ophelia saw the fire burning on top of the water, the bits of debris floating all around them, half of the helicarrier sticking out of the water still slowly sinking.

It was not the end, though Ophelia could hardly believe it.

As she was dragged to shore, she was forced to stand as soon as the water was shallow enough. Still clinging to Bucky's metal arm, she had to keep up with his brisk walk. Looking over to the muddy shore beside her, she saw Steve. Blood soaked his clothes, as well as water. He was breathing, though hardly.

Ophelia let go of Bucky, but fell to her hands and knees in the process. As the mud caked her already bloodied hands, she crawled over to him, pressing her hands to his shoulders. She pressed on his ear piece, as hers had been lost somewhere along the way. Somehow, his was still intact, and she called to anyone who might hear it.

"This is Ophelia... Steve is wounded," she said, leaned over Steve so that their bodies were touching. She couldn't keep herself up any longer. Her ear was close enough to Steve's so that she could hear any reply, and she found herself desperately hoping to hear something from anyone.

"Is he alive?" Agent Hill's voice came through.

"Yes."

"I'm on my way," she replied, "Stay where you are."

Ophelia collapsed and then rolled off of Steve, staring up at the bright blue sky.

What a beautiful day for a massacre.

The Triskellion was crumbling, completely smashed and adding debris to the water that now was the grave of the helicarriers. Today a few million deaths had been prevented, but at what cost? How many were dead because of HYDRA? How many were dead because of Bucky? Project Insight had been destroyed today, and HYDRA had been set back a few steps; but there was no possible way HYDRA was entirely wiped out. They were an insidious disease in every nook and cranny of the world. They would resurface, and this time more prepared to deal with the parasites like Ophelia and Steve. They would never give up trying to take control of the world, they would simply adjust their tactics to work better next time.

"Get up." She heard Bucky say, but his tone was still The Winter Soldier.