Bucky carries you through the house and out the back door. As he steps onto the back deck, you release a soft gasp at the visual in front of you. A short pathway is lit by a row of candles and leads to a small lake, surrounded by the trees of the forest. The sun has set, turning the sky a navy blue, the full moon casting its silver glow across the center of the lake. As if the stars themselves have fallen into the water, tiny tealight candles sit in water lilies dotting the surface of the glassy lake. The sight is absolutely breathtaking and you don't understand how Sam and Wanda could have set it up so fast.

Bucky walks down the path. It's not until you're closer to the lake that you notice Sam and Wanda standing behind a large boulder. The top has been carved into a flat surface, serving as an altar of sorts. A large leather-bound book rests in the center, large cylindrical candles lit to either side. You notice the dark form perched on Sam's shoulder as you approach. Upon closer inspection, you see that it's some type of bird of prey. A falcon maybe?

Sam notices your curious gaze. "This is Redwing. He's my familiar. I draw part of my power from him and he'll also be here to guide your souls should one of you stray." The falcon's feathers fluff out ever so slightly, as if he knows you're talking about him. "Wanda has agreed to handle the elemental aspects of the ritual, so I can focus entirely on the spiritual aspects." You glance briefly at her, but she avoids your gaze. "James, go ahead and disrobe and take her into the water."

Bucky nods. He moves to set you down on a smaller set of boulders. Sam and Wanda avert their eyes when he pulls off his robe and then takes yours. He lifts your naked form into his arms, his warmth encasing you in a cocoon. Ripples cascade across the surface of the water with each of Bucky's steps as he moves toward the center of the lake.

"It's warm," you mutter quietly, your hand reaching out to touch it once the water level has reached high enough.

Bucky stops in the circle of the moon's reflection on the water and then carefully lowers you down. He keeps one arm firmly locked around your waist, as your feet settle against the silty bottom. "You okay?" he asks you.

"Yeah," you clutch his arms for support, but with the water surrounding you to your waist, standing has become easier. You can already feel the healing energies in the water giving you some of your strength back, too.

With a voice that seems to fill the entire space, yet at the same time, doesn't appear to be very loud at all, Sam begins his chant, reading from the tome. It's a language you don't recognize at first. There's definitely an elegance and familiarity to it. It almost sounds like French, but some words are something else entirely. It takes a moment for you to realize that it's Louisiana Creole French. And you suddenly understand why Bucky brought you here.

You recall what Rumlow had told you while you were imprisoned. The third class of magic wielders, the ones that practice both white and black magic. The Bokors. Sam was a Voodoo Sorcerer.

It made sense. Only the Voodoo practice can successfully pull out a soul without damaging the body.

The chanting continues as a light breeze starts to pick up, curling around your bodies and making your hair stand on end. Bucky pulls you closer to him, tucking you against his chest, the amulet pressed between the two of you. He lowers his head, whispering quietly into your ear. "Sam is talking about each of the elements and what their purpose is for the ritual. The water and wind are meant to be unifying, the fire cleansing, and the forest grounding. All are necessary for this to work. The harmonization of the elements will lead the merge to success," he explains to you.

You smile up at him in thanks, glad he at least knows a little about what's going on.

Over his shoulder, you watch as Sam grasps a simple looking stone and holds it to the sky. He continues to speak and Bucky translates once more. "He is unbinding the stone from it's grounding earthly qualities. He'll throw it into the lake and when he does, our souls will become unbound too."

You release a shaky breath, realizing that this is it. That this is really happening.

"Y/N, you have to trust me that this is going to work. You have to believe it. If there's any doubt inside you, then it won't," Bucky urges.

You meet his gaze, your hands clenching around his arms. "I do. I trust you."

It's then that you hear the splash of the stone hitting the surface of the water and everything seems to shift. Your body goes limp and Bucky has to catch you before you sink beneath the water.

"Y/N?" Bucky calls. "Lumina!" He feels the panic growing in his chest when you don't respond. Looking around briefly for some sort of explanation, the first thing he notices is that half of the tealight candles in the lake have gone out. "Sam, what's happening?!" he cries out, looking back down at your face for any signs of life.

Sam flips through a few pages of his book. "She was already so weak. The venom must have made her body eject her soul instead of simply unbinding it. Red, go look for her."

The falcon on his shoulder spreads its wings before taking off. He soars through the night sky, disappearing into the bright light of the moon.

"Lumina," Bucky whispers, cradling your body against him, one arm around your waist while his other hand holds the back of your head. "Come back to me, my love. Focus on me. Please don't leave me. Not again."

"James, give her the amulet. We have to protect her body while Redwing searches for her soul," Sam advises.

Bucky pulls the long chain over his head and places the necklace over yours. The amulet is still pressed between the two of you, the white quartz pulsing with his energy. He can feel his own soul attempting to leave his body now that it's become unbound. He tries desperately to hold onto it, focusing on the energy within the amulet. The anchor. If he manages to lose the small thread of a hold he has, it'll all be over.

The sharp falcon cry is heard overhead before Redwing reappears. A glowing white orb is clutched between his talons as he darts down toward the lake. Angling his wings to the side, he flies in a circle, the very tips of his feathers ghosting over the water's surface. Straightening out, he rushes toward Bucky's back. The familiar passes right through the both of you.

Right after he does, you take in a gasping breath, your back arching. All the tealight candles that had gone out suddenly burst into life.

"Lumina!" Bucky breathes in relief. He pulls your body even closer until your mouths meet.

Your mind is a little fuzzy from your near-death experience, but the longer your body is pressed to Bucky's, the more you begin to feel him. Not just where his skin is pressed to yours, but you can feel the heart beating in his chest, the blood running through his veins, the breath filling his lungs. It's like you're standing in his body; a more intimate connection than anything you've felt with him before.

But then you begin to see flashes of images in your head. A young boy holding hands with a beautiful woman. A rambunctious teenager running around with his friends. A young man entering into adulthood. And you realize these aren't just any images. They're memories. Bucky's memories.

You transition quickly through the most important events of his life, some things flashing by so quickly, you don't even get the chance to process them before they're gone. But then you see yourself, the night you walked into the club. The first night Bucky ever saw you, and everything seems to stop.

For the first time, you actually see yourself the way Bucky sees you. You're glowing. You're gorgeous, absolutely captivating. You never imagined that you'd meet someone that looks at you the way he does. And yet, here he is standing right before you.

The flames of the candles begin to grow, pulsing in harmony like a heartbeat. They grow until tiny orbs of light begin to break off, the flames no longer able to contain them. They flit about in lazy circles, each flame dissolving into hundreds of tiny orbs. You only notice what's happening when the light from them increase so much, you can see it behind your closed eyes.

You pull out of the kiss, your eyes blinking open. You notice the orbs of light reflecting in Bucky's eyes first, before you look around.

"Fireflies?" you question. You reach your hand out when one flies close. It lands at the center of your palm, tickling your skin slightly, the heat coming off of it is warm and comforting.

"Born from the flames of the candles. They represent a new beginning," Bucky explains, watching the firefly walk across your hand before it buzzes off once more. "Our new beginning."

You pull your hand back, placing it against his shoulder as you look up at him in adoration. "So it worked?"

His gaze softens, his hand moving to cradle your jaw, just beneath your ear. "I'm yours, Lumina. Forever."

You nuzzle into his palm. "Forever and always."

"Remove the dagger from the amulet, James," Sam calls out to you both.

You look down, only now realizing that you wear the necklace. Bucky carefully releases you from his hold, only after he's sure you'll be able to stand on your own. He holds the chunk of quartz in one hand and carefully removes the dagger from the crystal.

"This is going to sting a little," Bucky warns you as he holds his empty hand out, palm open.

You place your hand in his without hesitation, "It's all right."

Using the dagger, he cuts a line down the center of your palm. He works quickly to slice his own palm, so you won't lose too much blood. And then he joins your hands together. "One soul, one body," he whispers to you.

You thread your fingers through his. You're not sure if it's instinct that drives your movements, or what, but you find yourself removing the amulet from around your neck and you wrap the chain around your joined hands. As you hold the quartz in place with your free hand, Bucky places the dagger back inside, sealing the deal.

You intake a sharp breath, feeling his energy flowing into you. It's white hot, but instead of burning, it seems to soothe, like feeling heat on aching muscles. The heat travels up your arm before filling your whole body. It reminds you of the first time you met, the way his heat seemed to fill your entire being with warmth.

Bucky feels your energy filling his veins. He expected it to hurt, even with the merge. Demon and angel weren't really supposed to mix well. But it actually felt kind of nice. He could feel some of his depleted energy reserves starting to charge, like he was experiencing a transference. He could feel his love for you growing to impossible lengths as your humanity thrives within him.

His free arm wraps around you once more, pulling you in for another kiss. Your lips mold perfectly, like they were designed to do so, like the cracked pieces of a whole fitting back into place after being apart for too long. The pain that had once felt excruciating in your bones began to ease away. It felt like a hundred pounds lifting from your shoulders. Even the burn from your mark didn't seem to hurt as much.

You feel the wind beginning to circle around you, the water churning softly in its wake. Pulling back, you realize the fireflies have begun to circle you both in a frenzy. Thousands of tiny lights merging into one massive movement, before they shoot toward the sky. The yellow light merges with the white of the moon, before they explode outward and disappear among the stars.

The water lily candles have all gone out, the ritual concluded. Bucky waits a second before he begins to remove the amulet from your joined hands. Once the chain has fallen away, he releases your palm, curling his hand around the backside, so he can take a look.

"It's gone..." you marvel, looking at your perfectly healed palm, not even a trace of blood left behind. You move your hand around his, so you can check his palm, but it too is unscathed.

"It's part of the bonding process, to ensure the right amount of blood gets transferred over, without things going too far."

Your fingers trace gently across the lines on his palm before moving up and following the veins on his wrist. Veins that now hold your blood. "So what happens now?" you question, looking back up at him.

You don't miss the way his eyes darken as your fingers continue to brush against his skin. "Now, you experience your first transference."