𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 | 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍

invenio

My eyes widen when I see her, and I can't help but let a smile grow on my face. Natasha looks down at us from her place in the trees, choosing to stay where she is at the moment. I get the strong urge to climb up and sit with her but as I try to walk toward the tree I'm quickly reminded of how drained I am. I'm honestly surprised I'm still standing on my own, but right as the thought passes through my mind Pietro slides an arm around me and helps keep me upright. I feel a bit lightheaded after the movement, but return back to my spot next to Pietro anyway.

"Nat," I say softly, and a small smile appears on her face too. "H-how did you–"

I try to finish my sentence but the words fail as my legs collapse under me, and Pietro launches into action. My eyes feel too heavy to stay open so I let them shut, but I vaguely hear Pietro talking to me and telling me to keep them open. I try to force them open and do so for a few seconds, my eyes searching for Pietro's the whole time. I find him leaning over me, his hands cradling my head.

"Sorry, 'm tired," I mumble, my eyes closing again.

"Ave, I need you to stay awake, okay? Just a few more minutes, can you do that?" Pietro asks gently, his voice like a warm blanket late at night.

I keep my eyes shut, feeling too tired to try to open them again. I hum in response, and I feel a different pair of hands lift me up. Instead of the soft, familiar hands that were holding my head, I now feel calloused, small, worn hands. My head can't help but make the connection to the way my mother's hands felt after a long day of work, when I was much younger and she would bring me to the local laundromat and let me put the quarters in the machines. She would often play with my hair, her tough hands running through my knotted strands before picking me up and carrying me around. Is my mother holding me?

"Aveline, stay with us, just a little farther." 

I can't place the voice speaking to me now. It's definitely feminine, but it's not the voice that sounded like how strong coffee tastes in the morning, which belongs to my mother. Instead, it sounds like the way it feels to drive one of Tony's sleek, black cars, with no music on and all the windows closed. It sounds like the type of lonely that you want to feel sometimes, like when you've spent just a bit too much time with someone and wish to be alone in your room for a while. I feel my eyebrows scrunch in confusion over the new voice, but only for a moment– even the small movement makes me more tired.

I lean into the woman with the black-car voice instead of responding. I vaguely notice my hair being blown from my face, and I decide that it's because whoever's carrying me is running. I hear hushed whispering from above my head and I try to grasp on to a few of the words, but I don't hear enough to make any sense of it.

I open my mouth to call out to someone, but I can't pin down who. I know I was just with someone, but the name of who it was won't come to me, nor will the face or voice that comes with it. Why can't I remember?

I was healing him. That's why I'm tired. Whoever I was with, he got injured, I was healing him, it felt different than normal but I didn't think of it. It's never felt different except for this time. Is there a reason it felt different?

My breathing begins to quicken as my thoughts spiral. What was his name? A flash of white hair and fast-moving blue wisps breeze by the back of my eyelids, but I can't reach it, I can't hold onto the thought, and the image is gone as quick as it came.

"Pietro, she's going into shock, we have to get her somewhere safe. We don't have much time. I know you're hurt, but she needs help, and she needs it now. Can you run her?" 

His name. It's Pietro. I hold onto the knowledge with all I can, not letting it escape my mind again.

"I can try, but I don't know how far I'll get. There was something else in that bite; I've been hurt many times before, but nothing has lasted this long on me after Ave's healed me. I think there was some sort of poison in it. She must've taken most of it when she healed me."