the red room

nat's pov

we spar for long, exhausting, torturous hours. the winter soldier eyes me out of the corner of his eyes, i make eye contact with him every now and then. his facial expression turns to smug as i blush. i quickly look down and see yelena lunge at me, i grab her by the foot and swing her into the mat. ivan glares at me to hold back my skills, i sigh as i help her up.

"enough." ivan yells at us all, his voice echoing throughout the training room.

everyone flinches except me and the winter soldier, i stop myself from rolling my eyes. the winter soldier has an unamused expression planted on his face.

"everyone leave, except natalia." ivan hisses my name as yelena gives me a worried look.

i'm fucked. i rub my fingers together to keep calm, i still have scars from last time i wouldn't hold back but now the winter soldier is here. will he stop them?

of course he won't.

the red room officers escort the rest of the girls out, only ivan, a red room officer and the winter soldier are left in the room with me. the door slams closed. i hope they kill me this time, i don't know how longer i can stay like this. i blink at ivan as he takes steps towards me.

"natalia, my daughter, did i not give you an instruction? do you really have disobey your father?" he gives me a sad look.

a fake sad look.

you're not my father is what i wish to tell him.

he doesn't give a shit about what's going to happen to me.

"i apologise, but i-"

"and taking back? maybe this will finally teach you a lesson." he says, shocked and signals for the winter soldier to walk out with him.

the winter soldier tries to hide his concern as he walks out, confused as to what will happen to me but also deep inside, i'm guessing he already knows. i scowl at the red room officer as he grins at me.

he drags me outside the door and i don't fight back, there's no point. he has a gun and isn't going to be afraid to use it on me. in fact, i think he wouldn't mind.

i wouldn't mind him killing me either.

he drags me to a room, a room where he's going to beat the life out of me by the looks of it. i growl as he throws me to the other side. he closes the door and comes face to face with me.

"you should learn manners, romanova." he gives me a smirk.

i ignore him and scoff, he slaps me across the face. hard. he grabs me by my hair and throws me on the ground. i stay on the floor as he stomps on my ribs, definitely crushing them. he then bends down to punch me in my face over and over again until i feel blood dripping down my face and my vision becoming blurry. my world around me spins as he forces me to stand, only for him to kick me to the ground again.

"bastard!" i hiss at him.

he chuckles then pulls out a knife. my eyes widen at the weapon. a knife? really, ivan? he gives me a smug look full of pride then slams it into my shoulder. i look down at my shoulder with a wide mouth. it's lodged inside. he then prepares to beat me even more but freezes when the door opens. i'm too scared to even look at who it is, i look straight ahead instead of looking behind me. the officer looks terrified, he nods at the person behind me and quickly walks out. i close my eyes in fear and flinch, holding the knife trapped inside my shoulder as i hear heavy, metal footsteps come towards me.

"natalia..." i hear a husky voice say.

it's him. i relax my muscles and open my eyes to see him hovering over me, glaring at the knife lodged into my shoulder. i only just realised how much pain i'm really in, i groan.

"let me help you." he picks me up.

he carries me to the infirmary, making sure we don't get caught on the way. i feel like i'm going to bleed out, i feel all the blood slowly flow out of my body.

he carries me inside and places me on the bed, he closes the door. i squirm around in pain, trying to hide it but fail.

"i'll need to take out that knife." he tells me.

all i can do is nod, i'm in too much pain.

"thank you...for stopping him." i try to smile.

"you're welcome natalia, one day, i will get you out of here." he smiles and leans in forward so he can take a good look at my face.

i feel my face flush red at that, making me feel worse but also feel... emotions towards him. am i not supposed to be emotionless? isn't life for children? don't i have no place in the world, i-

"i love you." i blurt out.

"i love you too." he chuckles as i look away shyly.