𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 | 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍

reduco

The two of us stay in the tall tree as we watch the golden sun make its way farther down, slowly but surely getting covered by the trees. The sky is a light pink and melts into a blue the farther you look up, and I can't help but tilt my head as far back as I can to see the changes in color. Too soon, the light pinks turn to purples and the sky continues to get dark.

"Should we get going?" I ask softly, my voice sounding as delicate as the wisps of clouds in the sky.

"Yeah," Peter whispers back, making no attempt to move. "We probably should."

"We can always come back and do this tomorrow night," I tell him, and I look up to see that he's smiling at the idea.

"I'd like that, Ave," he responds, and begins to shuffle slowly back to the trunk of the tree.

I follow him, but every now and then turn my head back to the fading colors in the sky, wishing that Peter and I could've stayed here for days and forget about the threat that's always haunting us on the ground. But fantasies are just that, and I continue to follow Peter to the trunk and then down it, making sure to memorize which direction the camp is. After a few minutes, the both of us are standing on the forest floor again and I look to Peter, who's begun to walk in the wrong direction.

"Hey, Star-Lord," I call out, my voice taking on a teasing tone. "You're going the wrong way."

Peter turns around quickly and laughs as he lightly jogs to catch up with me. Once he does, he takes the spot on my left and we start our trek back to camp. We walk in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, but once we're probably around halfway back, Peter speaks up.

"You ever see a sunset from space?" I shake my head no, looking to him with curiosity. "Depends on where you are, but they can be pretty awesome. Which planet, I mean. You can't really tell what's a sunset when you're in space itself."

"Where's it the best?" I sense another story coming, but instead he turns to me, a soft smile on his face.

"Up on that tree. That's definitely been the best sunset I have seen so far."

The air around us feels lighter as I smile back, and we continue on quietly, not talking until I see a familiar clearing about a hundred feet away from us. I look around us to see that no one's in the area outside of the camp, and unless we watched the sunset for too long it seems to be that we're the first ones. I grab Peter's hand and look up to him with excitement as I start to run, and he trails me awkwardly as he tries to find his footing.

"Peter, come on! We have to win!" I say, the excitement in my voice making me sound a bit younger than I am.

Peter's still awkwardly holding my hand and trying to run behind me when we make it to the camp, and I slow down as we enter. I look around, trying to find anyone in the camp, but it seems completely empty. Once we stop completely, I look to Peter and let go of his hand. I'm about to ask a question when he beats me to it.

"Where is everyone?" Peter's tone is drenched in as much worry as I'm feeling, and I shake my head.

"I don't know. There's no way that at least Pietro isn't here," I say, my paranoia immediately realizing how dark it's getting and that if the others don't get back soon, we might not be able to find them until morning.

"That's true. He wouldn't leave the camp completely empty with all of our stuff here, right?"

I'm about to agree when I realize it's very possible that he could've, so I end up simply staying quiet. I walk into the darkening camp, Peter following close behind.

"Pietro?" I call out lightly, not wanting to make too much noise. But when I hear no response, I test out his name a bit louder, loud enough for anyone somewhat near us to hear. "Pietro?"