merciless

NEA

09

NEVER, in her 18 years of lazily inhabiting the universe, has Petra felt so meek and uncomfortable.

The swimsuit squeezes her skin, and stops right below her hipbones. She knows her body is a work of art, but she's always felt like she got to choose who looked upon it.

Andy's swimsuit is yellow and white, lacing up her ribs and stopping in a knot at her clavicle. Petra wishes she could see all of Andy's scars and bruises, and find out where they're from. It's not about Andy in particular, just the fact that the goddess was successfully bred to find pain intriguing.

When Petra tells Andy she can't swim, the girl keels over laughing.

"Don't you have any lakes or anything where you live?"

Petra blushes, scratching her collarbone.

"It's frozen most of the time." And the souls trapped under the ice for all eternity kind of keep it from being a pool party, she thinks to herself.

Andy giggles.

"Well, I could teach you. It's not that hard, I just hope you're not scared of water."

Petra scoffs, flipping her braids over her shoulder.

"I'm not scared of anything."

+++

Petra is scared of Andy's friends.

There are three of them, a white-haired boy and a girl that Andy says are twins, and another girl with ebony skin and sultry eyes that make Petra deeply uncomfortable. Her accent is thick and edged, and Andy says that she's from someplace called the United Kingdom.

"Hi," the girl smiles. "I'm Pearl. This is Daphne," she says, gesturing to the small girl with the silvery ringlets of hair framing her pink face, "and that boy already in the water is Darren."
She holds out her hand, but Petra doesn't shake it.

"Pleasure," Petra says, turning away from them and looking at Andy, who seems to be oblivious to her obvious discomfort.

"This is Petra, and she's living with me for now while she deals with family stuff. So be nice, guys."

Daphne walks up to Petra, her large grey eyes squinting up at the tall girl.

"She looks pretty healthy, but her metabolism is too fast. Her hands are shaking."

Andy steps between Daphne and Petra, putting her hands on her hips and cocking her head.

"Daph, I don't remember giving you permission to analyze my friend, so why are you doing it?"

Daphne blushes.

"Sorry, I can't help it."

Andy laughs.

"Go make sure Darren doesn't try to hit on boys by telling them their pulse is irregular, ok?"

Daphne nods and runs over to join her brother.

"Sorry about that one, she's a handful."

Petra stands in awe of the little siblings.

"How did she know that?"

Andy's face turns somber.

"It's a story for another time, okay? But oh my gosh, I have to teach you to swim! I totally forgot!"

Before Petra can say anything, she's being pushed into the pool, the cool water engulfing her and burning her skin. She doesn't move, sinking to the bottom. Her eyes are open wide in awe of the bright blue water, but more of Andy, with her beautiful hair cascading in slow motion around her face.

"Fuck," she says, bubbles escaping her mouth.

Andy smiles, gesturing to the surface. Petra doesn't need to breathe, but Andy does.

She's human, idiot.

Petra is about to get out of the pool when she sees Pearl step next to Andy, her arms wrapping around her waist as she pulls her in for another deep kiss. She glances at Petra briefly, her eyes shadowed with something that looks like jealously.

She goes back under the water, watching the people above her as she floats to the bottom.

She doesn't know why Pearl bothers her so much, but she does know that that situation was fine without her.

This whole universe is fine without her.

+++

Petra sits next to Andy and Pearl, hugging her knees to her chest as she watches the people aimlessly fucking around in the pool.

She wants to go home. Not to Andy's apartment, but to her real home. It's only becoming more obvious that Andy already has an entire dynamic with her friends (and Pearl) that doesn't include Petra, and she hates not being needed. Without the feelings she thrives on, she's just a slutty blonde who just happens to be a goddess of the Underworld.

Pearl stands next to Petra, her hand grazing her hip.

"So, you're the girl Andy's been spending all her time with? I have to say, I'm not impressed."

Petra wraps her arms around her waist, sucking her stomach in. Something about this girl makes her uncomfortable.

Andy gets out of the water, dripping, and Petra stumbles over to her, her toes curling on the slimy concrete.

Pearl gets to her first, grabbing the assasin's waist and kissing her so hard that Petra winces. That's not how you treat girls that are already made of broken bones and steel; but then Pearl opens her eyes and curls her lips at Petra and she understands the way things are in this world. Pearl is fighting for the dominance of a girl who is already dominant, and she fears she may lose to Petra, who doesn't even like Andy like that at all.

Giggling, Andy pushes Pearl in the pool, jumping in after her. Petra sits on the side, once again overly aware of how much people stare at her.

She takes a deep breath and reminds herself that this is a low point in her mind. All she has to do is prove to her parents that she can survive here, and then she'll get to go back home to her sisters and her girls that love her to death whenever she wants.

Andy bumps Petra with her elbow playfully.

"How's my little swimmer doing?"

Petra frowns, glaring at her fingernails.

"Drowning."

Andy laughs, wrapping her arms around Petra like its a normal? Normal?! Thing to do like it doesn't make Petra's heart flutter annoyingly like it doesn't make her want to rip her heart out of her chest and throw it in the pool and then burn the entire waterpark down and kill all the people in it.

"You'll get there! We believe in you." She laughs, grabbing the goddess's hand and yanking her up. "Let's go home; there's something I want to ask you."

who said gods can't have self esteem and anxiety issues bc lmao this one sure does yikes she's legit a mess just like me

also wow I'm rlly cranking em out huh like these r so many chaps for u to enjoy in the bathtub or while u search for Pokemon ur welcome