𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 | 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍

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I'm starting to catch my breath after a few minutes of walking, Peter still talking to me to keep me as grounded as possible. Peter notices my breathing slow and my jerking eventually come to a stop, and once my breathing is normal he stops walking.

"You alright?" He asks patiently, looking down to me. I'm suddenly over-aware that he's still carrying me, but I don't move to get down quite.

I nod my head, my words still not wanting to work. "Ye- yeah, I'm okay," I'm able to get out.

He looks at me with worried eyes for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and retraining his attention to the woods in front of us. "You scared me, Ave. I didn't know what to do. Don't do that again, okay?"

I let out a puff of air in an attempt to laugh before responding the best I can. "Okay. I'll try." We continue to walk, Peter seemingly knowing where we're going. After a few seconds, I speak up again. "Peter?"

"Yeah?" He stops walking to meet my eyes.

"Can you put me down now? I want to walk."

The request is small and probably doesn't mean anything to Peter, but it does to me. As much as I trust Peter, now even more than I did before, I still need to be able to hold myself. This isn't the place for weakness or dependence.

"Yeah, uh, yeah, of course." He sets me down softly, but keeps an arm around my waist. When I look to him with questioning eyes, he offers a gentle smile. "Just in case."

I smile back, grateful for the steadiness. "Just in case," I parrot back, my voice small.

We start walking again, Peter gently guiding me around the roots I fail to notice. He catches me when I trip a couple times, but after a few minutes I start to catch my balance on my own. Peter removes his arm after about ten minutes of walking, and I almost expect him to start telling another story to try to lighten the mood, but he doesn't. Instead he speaks up quietly, asking a question.

"Why did you want me to run, Ave? What was it that you saw?"

The question makes my heart pound in a way I haven't felt before, weighing me down from from the chest and making me want to run away from the answer.

"I saw you. I saw you dying in my arms. Right there, in that part of the forest, from my vision. The person from my second vision had brown hair, and I couldn't have you there once I realized that. That's why I wanted you to run." I pause to look at him, but I find his eyes pointed to the ground. "But you didn't. Why didn't you?"

"I wasn't going to leave a friend in need." He ends the sentence in a way that makes me expect more to come from him, but nothing follows.

"Thank you." He looks to me in confusion. "I wouldn't of made it out of there– the forest or my mind."

"Well, that's what friends are for, right? To not run away when things get hard?"

I stop in my tracks and look at him seriously, and he slows once he sees this. "Peter, you have to promise me something, okay?"

"I have a feeling I'm not going to like this."

"If I ever tell you to run again," I start, ignoring his last comment, "you run. No arguing or trying to take me with you. Okay?"

"No. I'm not just going to agree to leave you."

"Then make me promise too."

I didn't expect to say this, but once the words leave my mouth I realize that it's probably the only way to get Peter to agree. He ponders the thought for a moment, but after a few seconds meets my eyes with determination.