For you, I'll risk it all

XXII

This chapter is longer than the others but I didn't know how to split it I'm sorry!!

Let me know what you think of this story and feel free to give me some advice! Please always be respectful! 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her heart was hammering in her chest, beating so loudly she was sure he could hear it like a snake preying on a mouse. In one swift movement, she was thrown to the ground, his body relentlessly pressing her into the cold concrete. His hand was wrapped around her throat, his hair sticking to his sweaty face. His grip on her throat tightened, cutting off her air.

"James... please," she managed to gasp out, struggling for breath. Her vision started to blur, black spots dancing in front of her eyes. With a surge of adrenaline, she brought her knee up hard between his legs, and his hold on her throat faltered.

But he recovered quickly. He flipped her over, pinning her to the ground once more. His knife glinted in the dim light, the blade pressed against her throat. She could feel a thin trickle of blood as it bit into her skin.

Despite the danger, despite the pain, her eyes locked onto his. Those ice blue eyes, the ones she knew so well, stared back at her.

There was something. A flicker of confusion, a hint of uncertainty. His gaze dropped to her face, to the scar near her left eye. His brow furrowed, his grip on the knife wavering.

With a burst of strength, she bucked off the ground, sending him tumbling off her. She scrambled to her feet, knife at the ready. He followed, his movements swift and deadly.

They clashed, their knives meeting mid-air. She was a whirlwind of motion, striking and striking, but he was a wall of muscle and determination. He parried each blow, his counterattacks swift and precise.

She could feel the sweat dripping down her face, her breathing heavy, but she refused to back down.

Because in his eyes... in his eyes, she saw a glimmer of something. A flicker of memory, a spark of recognition. And with that, she found the strength to keep fighting.

But out of the blue with a final lunge, he struck. His knife sliced through the air, heading straight for her heart. But at the last second, she moved, the blade crushed into her shoulder instead of finding its mark.

She stumbled back, her eyes wide with shock. And in that moment, she saw it. He was breaking through.

He reached for her and slowly layered her onto the ground, his hand applying pressure to her wound. His eyes scrutinised her, desperately searching for his memories, for something.

Her hand, in a movement that seemed to unfold in slow motion, started to rise to his chest. With a delicate touch, she reached into his shirt, pulling forth his necklace with the metallic clink of dogtags and the ring.

Her fingers wrapped around the chain, gripping it firmly yet gently, before proceeding to lift it off him. As the cold metal chain slipped from his neck, his eyes were drawn to the ring that hung from it. Time, it seemed, had ceased its relentless march forward, frozen in this moment.

The ring seemed to hold a faint glow in the dim light of the warehouse as if carrying within it a shard of the past, a fragment of a time that wasn't such a distant memory. Its mere presence stirred up a whirlpool of emotions in Bucky, its familiarity tugging at the edges of his fragmented memories.

His gaze fixed on the ring, and slowly, like a picture coming into focus, memories started to flood back. He remembered the feel of the ring in his palm when she first gave it to him, the nervous emotions that buzzed under his skin. He remembered the way Iris's eyes sparkled when she saw the ring on his finger when they were under SHIELD fire in Bucharest.