☑ THE SHADOW | Peter Maximoff

t e n

~ 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚 ~

The torture wasn't getting any better (which was a pretty obvious statement - how could torture get better? - but it was true).

Her head was still spinning, and her body still felt weak. However, she didn't have to drag herself around the cell, and neither did Peter. Her muscles ached with every move she made, but at least she could move. She saw that as a positive.

Peter was sitting next to her, the both of them upright and unmoving against the wall with the window. There wasn't a lot of talking that went on. It was more of an anxious silence as they sat together, just waiting to have to go back.

One thing that Amara noticed was how she never knew what the day was going to bring - pain from experiments so Dr. Dietrich could monitor their reactions, or torture for simply being a mutant.

Tests or humiliation. Studies or agony. Pain or pain.

Amara quickly lost track of how long they were there. Her attempt at counting the Sun rising and setting through their window no longer became an option since she didn't know how long they were in (what Peter and Amara liked to call) the Torture Chamber, and by the time she got back, she passed out on the ground, and didn't know how long she was unconscious for.

"I think the water's dripping slower," Peter murmured, making her eyebrows furrow.

She watched the ceiling drip onto the ground in front of her with eyes barely open, and her chest shook as she inhaled. "Is it?"

Both of their voices scratched as they spoke. She wasn't sure if they were going to be able to talk by the end of the next few days from all of their screaming.

"Well... before it was like drip... drip... drip.... Now it's like... drip... drip... drip...."

She frowned, contemplating his words. "I think you're right."

They both continued to stare at the water.

Amara unconsciously slipped into her memories as she did so. It seemed like so long ago that Jean was yelling at her to get in the shower and get herself ready for the day. Never did she think she would miss taking a shower. Now it was the only thing she could dream of. That, and the mini fridge with all of her restocked supplies next to her bed.

"Maxie?" she called softly.

He grunted in response.

"Do... Do you think they're looking for us?"

It took him a minute to respond. The water continued to drip in front of them, and a shiver ran up her spine.

"I don't know." His whisper was so soft that she had to strain to hear it. But the desperation in his voice told her he was telling the truth.

From the little information they heard from Kiselyov and Dr. Dietrich, Remedy attacked the X-Mansion while they were gone. They could be fighting for their own lives and not even thinking about hers and Peter's.

It went quiet again for a while. The stone hurt beneath her body and her back ached, but she kept her eyes forward.

"Aya?"

Her head lolled to the side to look at Peter, who had done the same for her. She watched him nervously look down at the ground between him and lick his chapped lips, only to slowly shake his head.

"Nevermind."

Amara frowned. Peter had barely spoken to her the entire time, besides the odd thank you or warning that someone was coming when she was asleep. He had given her the silence she always asked for. She supposed that in this hell hole, the relationship was a little different. She probably owed it to him to give him what he wanted, too.