The fainter that breathing gets, the closer Sam pulls him. There’s no point in being gentle now, in taking care to make sure that he doesn’t make Albert’s injury worse - there isn’t a worse than this. By the time the only breathing that Sam can hear is his own, he’s got Albert completely in his arms, cradled against his chest with his face buried against Albert’s shoulder. He holds back his sobs, just a little longer, just a little longer because if he starts now, he might miss it when Albert takes his next breath, he can’t-

He can’t do this. Oh god he can’t, not with Steve dying in his arms last arena and Natasha a few hours ago and Kurloz a few minutes and now Albert, and there wasn’t a damn thing that Sam could do for any of them, he can’t. How the hell could he have ever thought he was strong enough to go through something like this all over again and come out even remotely in one piece?

Except Albert had believed in him. He'd said Sam could do it, that he could come back from something like this just like he had the last time. And somehow Sam had agreed, even though he knew how hard it was before. Even though right now it's hard to find that, it's hard think that Albert was right to believe in him.

But he has to do it. He has to. He can't let Albert down more than he already has. So he lets go, slowly lowering Albert's body to the ground. He stares at him for a long moment, then unzips his jacket and unhooks his falcon pin from where it's pinned to the inside.

Sam leans in, carefully pinning it to Albert's shoulder, and murmurs, "Give that back to me when we wake up in the Capitol."

Then he stands, pretty much on autopilot, and walks on into the tunnels of the cave.