different » marvel ¹

twenty-seven

hi y'all, sorry for not updating in a while, it's been weird and a bit hard lately, but hopefully now everything is figuring itself out :) here's a new chapter

"Fight harder!" The man yells at me as I trip my opponent to the floor. "Finish it!" He demands. I look down to my opponent who was pinned beneath me as my knee dug into his throat. I knew they didn't want me to kill him, not this time at least, so I glared back down into his eyes that pleaded for some type of mercy that I wouldn't dare to give, especially when it was either him or me. I slid my knee off his throat as I bent my arm and sent my elbow flying into his face as I used all my weight in the attack.

Bright light suddenly makes me squint. I jump from my position, nearly hitting my head on the metal above me.

"Hey, you're awake. You're okay." James' voice filters into my ears and I turn my head to see him sitting in a chair next to the bed I was laying in. His brows are furrowed in worry as he glances over me, his hand next to my shoulder on the bed. I look down at my attire, noticing I was wearing a baggy t-shirt and some leggings.

I swallow thickly before I speak, "Who changed my clothes? How long have I been out?"

"About a day." He smiles calmly. "Steve did, it—it was a whole ordeal." The answer made my eyes widen as I sat up, but as I did so, a small, uncomfortable pain shot up my back. He must've noticed because he was quick to supply an answer. "You're healing. We gave you a few pain killers, but they must've worn off. You should be good in a day or two. Stark got you pretty good." Bucky mutters the last part and the mention of his name makes me wince. "You shouldn't have done that."

   "Done what?" I ask, looking around the room for a bottle of water. I grab a bottle once I notice one was set next to the bed post in the floor, quickly twisting the cap off and drinking most of it.

   Bucky leans forward in his seat, clasping his hands together as he looks down, a new demeanor emerging that I couldn't quite make out. "Gotten in front of me. You shouldn't have done that."

"Don't start with that." I twist the cap back onto the bottle. "I don't regret it. I'll heal in a day or two anyway."

"You could've gotten killed. You risk too much for me." I could tell this was serious to him, but I couldn't help the small snicker that escaped my mouth. My laugh caused him to cock his head to the side in confusion. "Raven, I'm serious. You need to stop, I'm not—"

"I'm not going to stop trying to save you. You're worth saving." I say the words in an obvious tone. Bucky should know by now that I'm not going to let someone hurt him, yet he still acts like me leaving him behind would be an option. "From the minute we got off that plane in Romania, we were in this together. You can't get rid of me now, not when we just went through all of that." My words remind me of the memento that I always kept with me.

I reached for the silver tags that never left my neck, grabbing the chain and pulling them from beneath the shirt. I twist them with my fingers, flipping the metal over and over. "I don't care if it's dangerous, I've been in dangerous things my whole life. I don't think that's going to change anytime soon, and I'm okay with it." I look up to James, his blue eyes staring me down curiously.

He stands from his seat, taking a step closer and I do the same, getting as eye-level as possible with him, pushing away the slight pain of my injuries. "You're stubborn, you know that?"

"I do, actually." A smile graces my face slowly as I glance over his face. The previous appearance of blood and small cuts had been cleaned from his face and he was now wearing a comfortable sweatshirt and jeans. The simplicity suited him well and I liked it.