Princess Protection Program - Helmut Zemo x Wakandan! Reader
Chapter 2: What Happens In Serbia...
Chapter Summary: Y/N decides to do something about Bucky’s situation which leads her back to Zemo...
Chapter Warnings: Mentions of death of a family member, attempted suicide and a bit of memory loss.
Notes: Female Reader, No beta read.
Y/N gasped back to reality, sitting up instantly. She looked around, taking in the beeping and bright white decor of the room she was in. It was a hospital.
She couldn’t remember a thing.
Confused and quite out of it, she listened to a nervous doctor explain that she would be fine if she got some rest, the Dora Milaje, Okoye, shadowing his every move.
Y/N and Okoye had a very close relationship. The older woman was like an older sister to Y/N. The woman's seriousness contrasted with Y/N’s younger cousin Shuri’s usual attitude.
A few more doctors came and went until it was just Y/N in the room. The Dora was outside having a long conversation about what to do concerning the girl's short-term memory loss.
Y/N, on the other hand, wracked her brain trying to remember what had happened, but nothing came of it, so the girl decided to take a short nap, hoping her memory would be back when she awoke.
Drifting between wakefulness and uncomfortable sleep, Y/N barely stirred when Okoye returned, standing at the door for a while before walking over to give the princess a kiss on the forehead and whisper in Xhosa,
"Sleep now, child. Prince T'challa will avenge our King. The winter soldier will face justice."
The girl didn't know how long it took, but her eyes flew open with realization. Okoye was already gone.
Y/N was swimming in a pool of emotions as everything came back to her.
'Uncle T’chaka is dead' Sadness, 'She had gone to see the Winter soldier' Curiosity, 'But that man released him and said those strange words' Confusion, 'I think he used those words to control the Soldier' Dread.
Y/N held her breath at the thought of someone using Bucky to enact some plan. Everyone would blame him and know none the better. T'challa knew none the better!
Y/N had to do something, even just this once.
It wasn't like Y/N to disobey, and it was even more unlike her to do things she knew would be disapproved of, so why now, she asked herself, was she standing between her cousin and Captain America and Bucky Barnes, all three men in fighting stances.
"Cousin, please!" Y/N exclaimed. "Sergeant Barnes is innocent. I don't know how to explain it, but none of this is his fault."
"Nonsense, get away from those men. They can't be trusted," T'challa says.
"Please, T'challa, I'm begging you. This isn't the man you're looking for."
Steve pipes up from behind her. "She's telling the truth. Bucky didn't do what you think he did."
"Enough!" T'challa commands, making the girl flinch. "Leave here, Y/N."
"I'm sorry, cousin...but I won't."
T'Challa sighs, switching from English to Xhosa. "Then stay out of the way."
The prince takes a step forward but freezes as an electrified dart hits his chest.
Y/N turns to the direction the dart came from. A red-headed woman with an alluring demeanour makes herself known; it was Natasha Romanov. She looked even more intimidating than she did on TV. The woman fired another dart at T'Challa, who had taken another step. Then another.
"I can't hold him for long," Natasha says, calculating her next move.
Steve begs her to go with him and Bucky, but she refuses.
Seeing this as an opportunity to do some good, Y/N presents herself as an ally, asking if she could accompany them to wherever they're going.
Steve shakes his head. "We can't involve civilians."
"I'm already involved," The girl reasons. "They'll try to shoot down the plane, I'm sure of it, but they might not if I'm in there with you," An emotion Steve can't quite place laced her voice.
"The kid's got a point. She's a grieving diplomat. It would be a PR nightmare to kill her," The Black Widow calls out, still struggling to keep T'challa at bay.
The woman's brashness shocked Y/N, but clearly, Steve was used to it as he furrowed his brow in thought.
"Tick Tock," says Natasha through gritted teeth.
"Let her come," Bucky said. Those were the first words she had heard from him since that dreadful evaluation.
With a pause, Steve nodded.
The flight had been quiet for most of its duration. Both men on board mentally preparing for the fight waiting for them in Serbia. Apparently, they were about to be up against a dozen or more other Super Soldiers.
Y/N had an idea of what was about to go down from the footage of Captain America fighting that she had seen. She knew they were called super soldiers for a reason, and this fight would be vicious. Y/N hadn't fought an enhanced human before; in fact, she'd never fought anyone. Growing up, she had taken up with more delicate hobbies like weaving and sewing rather than sparring in the training fields. With this knowledge of her own personal history, Y/N didn't see a reason to object when the Captain instructed her to stay in the ship, out of harm's way when they landed.
Y/N took a deep breath to calm herself. She noticed that Bucky was staring out of the window solemnly. Her heart clenched.
"Are you alright, Sergeant Barnes?" She asked.
"Yeah" was his simple answer.
"I'm sorry that this is happening to you."
"Can't say I don't deserve it," Bucky sighs.
"You can't say that. Nobody deserves to go through all that you have. I'm sorry I didn't realize that earlier. I was quick to judge, and that was wrong of me."
Finally, the man pulls his gaze from the window, "what do you mean?"
"I was there during your...psychological evaluation."
"I felt very 'strongly' about you, I thought you killed someone very close to me. I hated you, and I'm sorry for that."
"Is that why you're here? To clear your conscience."
"...I suppose I'm here to make things right, at least as best as I can" Y/N smiles meekly.
An awkward silence filled the cockpit, but Steve spoke before it could become unbearable.
"Admitting you made a wrong call isn't always easy, kid, trust me, but it's a good place to start from."
"Thank you. Now I guess we catch the guy who's really behind this, Dr. Broussard."
"That's right," Steve cocks his head, "Except his real name is Helmut Zemo."
Y/N knew Siberia would be cold, but goodness, this was COLD.
The girl had stayed in the jet like she'd been told as she watched lasers flash within the hydra facility. Only the panther god knew what was going on in there.
She tried to contend herself with counting snowflakes as the battle raged on, but the ever-increasing volume of grunts and thuds made her worry.
'I'll just peek for a second to see if they need anything.'
She zips up the extra jacket she found in the cargo-hold and unlocks the door.
Stepping into the nippy air, an almost paralyzing shiver went down Y/N's spine, but she continued towards the building. It never got this cold in Wakanda; well, maybe it did on the mountains where the Jabari lived.
Finding an entrance, Y/N begins to push open the door when a voice from nowhere says, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you."
The girl spins around, looking for the source. "Hello! Who's there!"
The source found her first, though. A shadowy figure emerges from the flurry of snow. It was him, Helmut Zemo.
"The gods are falling in there," he jokes when he's face to face with the scared young woman who isn’t laughing at all
"We meet again, Spiaca kráska" He says.
Her lip quivers as her mind races, wondering what he was going to do. Would he finish off what he started?
He gives an exasperated laugh when he notices her fear. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Well, not again."
"You won't?" she squeaks quietly.
"There's no need to. It's all over now."
Y/N had no idea what he was talking about, but his voice echoed a deep sadness. She couldn't help but wonder if he was alright.
"The Avengers. Our so-called heroes will destroy each other, and it will all be done" he looked towards the facility where a battle raged on, and Y/N's eyes followed. She suddenly understood what was going on in there. Steve and Bucky weren't fighting unknown super soldiers. They were fighting a friend.
"Was this your plan all along?"
He gave a nod. "I really am sorry for what you lost for this, but I am confident that the end justified the means."
Y/N was offended by the dismissal of his crime, but she didn't express it.
Zemo began to walk toward the edge of the cliff, settling down in the snow and taking his phone to his ear. Y/N was still afraid, but that feeling of pity flooded her again. She didn't even know what she was doing until she sat down in the snow beside him.
There was a woman's voice on the other end of Zemo's phone. 'It must be his wife, ' Y/N concluded. The call ended, and he pressed a button.
"Message Deleted," the automated voice said.
Y/N put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "What happens now?"
Without looking at her, he replies, "You should close your eyes, malá princezná. You shouldn't have to see this."
In a split second, Zemo has a gun in his hand, and Y/N's eyes widen
To her utter confusion and heartbreak, though, he doesn't aim the muzzle toward her, instead placing it under his chin. Her eyes snap closed.
All she can hear is a piercing female scream and then a BANG!
Why would he do this? He had a wife who obviously cared for him. What drove him to this extreme? And why didn't she do anything to stop this or see it coming? She was trained for these situations, wasn't she? These were some of the thoughts that ran through her mind at the tragedy.
Her eyes remain closed, and she realizes that the scream is coming from her. She hugs her jacket closer.
"It's all right, Y/N," a familiar voice said. Was that-
Opening her eyes slowly, Y/N's gaze fell on her cousin's face; she felt a sense of safety at this but only released a bated breath when she saw Zemo still alive.
5 months later - Berlin Correctional Facility.
Zemo was lead down the hallway by the guards. The handcuffs on his wrists dug into his skin, but he hardly blamed them for being overzealous. He was the person that had splintered the earth's mightiest heroes after all.
They hadn't told him where he was being taken. After a few too many guards had been outsmarted by him, they were all ordered to not share any unnecessary verbal communication with him.
They lead him through the door to the visiting area. This was strange to him. Nobody had ever come to see him.
The guards took him to a booth, allowing him to take a seat before the bulletproof plexiglass separating him from the outside world—a phone on the wall to his right.
There was movement from the other side of the glass; out of the corner of the opposing room came his visitor. A fairy-like creature of a woman, styled like the Wakandan Royal she was but dressed down enough to not look entirely out of place. It was Y/N, his sleeping beauty.
She sat down across from him. With a glint of mischief in his eye, he took the phone off the hook, to which she did the same, the nervousness clear in her movement, but she seemed different from the last time he'd seen her.
Speaking into the device, he said, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Spiaca kráska?"
'This will be interesting’ he smirked to himself.
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