the strongest avenger

sixty five

Jan 2017

"I think this is a bad idea." Tal says as she stares at the indoor lap pool.

Peter's already inside, wearing red swim trunks while Tal stares down at the water. She wears a black triangle bikini and crosses her arms.

"Tallie, why are you scared of water. You can literally control it!" She winces as Pete's voice echoes in the room.

Her shoulders lift in a shrug, but she takes a deep breath before sitting on the ledge. Her legs dangle in the pool, and she's pleasantly surprised at the heaters. Peter swims over to her and looks up at her expectantly.

"This is the kiddie area Tal. It's five feet."

"Yeah and I'm five foot two."

Peter sighs and holds out his hands for her to take. Talia lets out a breath and takes his hands, but then she snatches them back.

"Nope. Nope." Her gaze averts to the wall.

"You definitely drowned in a past life." He mutters.

Talia rolls her eyes. "On Hala, as a punishment sometimes they'd put me in this isolation tank. It's basically a pool, but in a cylinder style. And it's freezing cold. Bodies of water make me nervous."

Peter gazes up at her, refusing to look away.  "But I'm here and I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

"Well I know that." She looks around the room. "I know I'm not gonna die here or drown or anything. It's just—mental I guess."

Peter purses his lips and Tal can tell he's thinking. He moves forward and reaches his arms out to her waist.

She smirks and Peter rolls his eyes at her.

Talia places her hands on his shoulders as Peter lifts her into pool. He holds her slightly up as she's short and watches as her eyes scrunch shut.

Talia takes deep breaths to calm her rapid heartbeat. Her hands shake as she death grips onto Pete's shoulders. She pushes past the flashes of memories from her past, but quickly gets sucked back into one.

**

The girl flails around in the tank, the water up to her chin. She bangs on the glass walls of the large cylinder, and frantically tries to grasp the walls to help pull herself up.

"Let me out!" She cries right before her head dunks under the water, and she emerges seconds later, coughing up water.

"Please! I'm sorry! Let me out! I'll be better I promise!"

Her cries go unheard as she lets herself sink to the bottom, giving up.

**

Talia comes back to herself with a gasp and opens her eyes, finding herself opposite of Peter. She blinks rapidly and looks around.

"I'm in the pool."

"Yes." Peter murmurs as he wipes a tear from her cheek, one that she didn't know was there.

"And I'm not drowning."

"No you're not." She feels Peter's grip on her waist tighten.

Talia smiles at Peter and looks down at how her body looks reconfigured in the water.

"I like how I feel lighter in the water." She mutters.

Peter chuckles and helps her move over to another area near the stairs. Talia grips onto the pole as Peter lets her go.