Work Text:
~&~
There's something about her cell that unnerves her.
They should have killed her already - should have finished the job. But they didn't, and now she's here, all alone in the dark.
Her captors taunt her - play games with her as they let her hear her friends' voices.
The first time that happened she almost cried, but her body protected her in time. If I don't show, they might think I don't have any weaknesses.
But they aren't stupid either - she knows that they know.
And they play with it, when they put the knives on her skin or when they beat her until she can barely breathe.
She hates them for it.
Days pass and she can't make out time because it's always dark. They only bring her a glass of water on irregular hours and her head gets fuzzier because of it.
But even though they're drugging her, she needs to stay hydrated.
She needs to stay alive.
But for who?
For her loved ones, who have all died?
For her family, who let them drag her away?
Even though, she doesn't want to die in a place like this.
If anywhere, she'd rather die on the battlefield, fighting to set her past right - to make up for all the blood on her hands.
She is glad that she at least got to say goodbye to Clint.
That is at least one wish fulfilled.
She closes her eyes and puts her head against the wall - waiting.
For something that's not coming.
~&~
A few days - hours? weeks? - later the air tenses. She can feel it in her posture.
She can hear them running around outside of her cell and she hears them yelling.
Then she hears gunshots and raw screams, and she almost wants to get up and start screaming for help herself.
It wouldn't matter anyways.
When she looks at her hands in the dark, she faintly sees them trembling.
Is it because of the lack of food?
Or the exhaustion, maybe.
She doesn't know and she frankly doesn't really care.
She just wants to sleep and slip away into that comforting darkness instead of staying here another day.
The floor is cold and hard, but she lies down anyways. Her breathing becomes a bit slower and she forces herself to relax.
Guess I will die in this place, is the last thought that runs through her head before the darkness takes her.
She doesn't notice it when Bucky and Clint charge into the cell.
She doesn't notice it when Clint cries and Bucky lifts her up in his arms.
She doesn't notice the others standing around and she doesn't notice Bruce putting an IV in her arm. Neither does she notice Clint sitting next to her or the picture he takes out of his suit - with her standing on it, laughing with Nat.
~&~
When she wakes up, she's in the medical bay.
For some reason she knows immediately where she is, but she doesn't move.
They found another way to torture me, she thinks.
Her eyes flash through the room and stop on Clint's sleeping form.
He looks so... so relaxed, and she wants to cry.
The tears are unstoppable and before she knows it, she's sobbing in her bed.
His head goes up and his eyes fly open.
"Y/N!" He calls out, and he rushes to her bedside.
She flinches as he raises a hand to touch her cheek. His fingertips are calloused, but his touch is warm and comforting.
Even though, she doesn't let herself relax.
"Go away," she whispers, and she hates how weak she sounds. "I'm not... I'm not letting you do this to me."
"What are you talking about?" He asks, and there's confusion in his eyes.
She pulls a disgusted face.
"You can't get to me, not like this."
Understanding dawns on his face.
"Baby," he whispers. "It is me. I swear, it's me. We found you and got you out. What did they do to you?"
She looks at him, unblinking.
"How do I know it's you?"
He grimaces.
"Well," he starts then, "do you remember that time I tripped on a banana? You laughed so hard you cried."
He carefully strokes a lock of hair behind her ear. "I wish I can see you laughing like that every day."
Now she blinks, and with that come the tears.
"I- I missed you," she croaks, and he smiles.
"I missed you too."
At that exact moment, the others come in. Bucky waves at her.
"Hey, did you know Clint keeps a picture of you in his pocket?"
"Bucky!"
~&~