☑ THE SHADOW | Peter Maximoff

n i n e t e e n

~ 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚 ~

By the time they were able to get the fire started (which took quite a while, since neither of them knew the exact science behind it), the sun was almost completely set, and the air was getting even cooler.

Amara and Peter were sporting their own squirrels on sticks over the fire. She didn't know how long they were supposed to cook them, especially since they still had their skin, but she figured the five minutes they already waited wasn't enough.

Her eyes were glued to the dark forest surrounding them. Even with the help of her power, the neverending sea of trees was terrifying. She was beyond anxious that something was going to pop out at them at any second, even though she would have been able to see it coming.

It was almost as scary as the thought of how there were no signs of anything around. Any sort of civilization or person was nowhere to be seen. Amara didn't know if she took that as a good sign or a bad one, because on one hand, that meant there was no one that could hurt them, but on another, if they couldn't find anyone, then they would never be able to figure out where they were, and therefore never find their way home.

Peter threw another smaller log in to keep it going, pulling her out of her stupor. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear aggressively. Amara was a little surprised Peter hadn't said anything about what happened earlier, but she didn't want to bring it up. That was one of the last conversations she wanted to have.

Her frown deepened. She was going to be stuck with Peter for the rest of her life, wasn't she. How the hell was she going to be able to handle that?

It'll be fun, Kahuna. Have him with us, and no one else. Trap him and watch him writhe underneath us-

She tucked her hair behind her ear again and decided to completely stop using her mutation to get It to shut up. She was done with listening to It. Completely done.

"I can help you with that."

Amara looked up quickly, only to see Peter looking at her with wide eyes of his own, as if he was surprised that he even said anything.

"With what?" she asked.

His hand reached up to scratch the back of his neck nervously. "Um... your- your hair. I can help you with that."

Her hand raised up to touch her hair self-consciously. "Help? Why? Does it look bad" - she cut herself off with a scoff - "well- no, obviously it looks bad, that was a stupid question, but-"

"No, no," Peter laughed, waving his hand in dismissal. "I just noticed that it keeps falling into your face. I can braid it for you."

Amara blinked. Braids on other people she could handle - she had actually gotten quite good at it. But for some reason, she couldn't figure out how to do it on her own head. And now that all of her elastics were probably taken apart thread by thread in some lame ass attempt to get her DNA now that they escaped, she had to deal with her hair being the unruly mess she knew it to be.

"Um..."

She tucked her hair behind her ear again as it fell in her face. She supposed that would make things easier.

"Sure." Her voice was so fragile that she wasn't sure that he heard her. But eventually, a small smile crept up on his face, and he stood up from his spot on the ground to sit on the log behind her.

"Can you, um-"

"Oh, yeah." She grabbed onto the stick with his squirrel and held it over the fire as well, then prepared herself for what was to come.