𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 | 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍

oro

I wake up to the smell of dirt, my face buried in it while the rest of my body is tucked in a tarp. My head aches as I open my eyes gently. I sit up slowly to find Pietro and Nat sitting at my feet, whispering urgent, worried words. Unintentionally, I shift just a bit too much and the tarp crackles in response, making both Pietro and Nat whip their heads in my direction.

"Oh my God," Pietro says before jumping up to run over to me. He reaches me in seconds, his hands first grabbing my shoulders but quickly engulfing me in a hug. "I was so worried about you, Ave. Don't you ever do that again, okay?"

My eyebrows scrunch in confusion as I try to remember what he's referring to, but my mind draws a blank. After a few moments of thinking I'm still puzzled, as my last memory is of finding Nat and leaning into Pietro. "Piet?"

He breaks the embrace but keeps his hands on my arms, tracing small circles with his thumbs. "Yeah?"

"What happened?"

Pietro looks at me in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The last thing I can remember is finding Nat, but I feel like more than that happened. Especially since we're in a hut?"

I watch Nat as she slowly gets up and walks to Pietro. She leans down and whispers something in his ear, which he nods to. He lets go of my arms hesitantly and begins to stand, Nat quickly taking his place. Pietro leaves the small room we're in and I sit up a bit farther, letting my back find the wall behind me.

"Alright, so what do you remember?" Nat asks gently, getting right to the point.

"I remember healing Pietro. It took a lot more out of me than it normally does, and made me a lot more tired considering it was only one injury. After I healed him we turned to fight the animal that was coming after us but then you killed it. I remember trying to ask you a question, but that's it." I pause to look at Nat's face and see if it reveals anything, but it doesn't. "Did I pass out?"

"We aren't really sure what happened, but until we have a more experienced doctor-person with us we came up with a shaky explanation. We think that when you were healing Pietro that the type of venom in the bite was engineered to be able to transfer through your healing ability. That animal was designed to kill one of you, but because of the vial you had you were able to overcome it. It's not the best theory, but it's the most logical one we have right now."

I let the information process in my head, everything moving a bit too slow for my liking. After a few moments I nod my head, the theory settling in my brain.

"So you think that they were trying to kill either me or Pietro, and they wanted to see who would save who?"

"Pretty much. Pietro's pretty shaken up about it. He doesn't like the idea of you being in danger, let alone almost dead." Nat cracks a small, joking smile, but it quickly disappears. "He thinks this is all his fault. Which, though I hate to say it, isn't far off– if you didn't remember the vial you had, you would've died. You had already gone into shock, but something apparently triggered your memory just in time. Considering how long it took for you to wake up, if you had waited even just a couple minutes longer before taking it you probably wouldn't of made it." Her voice is just above a whisper by the time she finishes, and I avoid her eyes, trying to take it all in. Finally it all sinks in, and I realize something.

I tilt my head with hesitant questioning. "A vial?"

Nat eyes me and forces me to make eye contact. "I know you know what I'm talking about." She doesn't waste time trying to explain. "Two vials. One's a revival serum, the other one I haven't been able to decode. And a note. Pietro said the note was what made you remember how much serum to take."