SACRIFICE / P. PARKER

MOVING FORWARD

Silence had once been treasured by Ellie Abraham, to her; it meant nothing was happening that she could possibly be missing. It smoothed down all of her jagged edges, soothed her screaming nerves, stilled her incessantly trembling hands. Now, it only fueled all of the symptoms left by all the words no one would dare to say. The tension present in the room was suffocating, provoking Ellie's irritation further.

Since her... accident, Ellie had been moved to what she assumed was a bedroom (the bed was admittedly more comfortable and the room didn't reek of disinfectant), for what she also assumed to be an indefinite amount of time.

Tony had supposedly phoned Nick and Georgia to announce that he would now be taking custody of Ellie, which made her feel sick, but with the threat she now posed to the general public, she understood. She had no clue of how he was able to bribe and scam his way through the denseness that was the New York Foster System, but she didn't want to know. It didn't matter. Nick and Georgia were eager to get Ellie off of their hands of course, and she would be stuck in Stark tower for the rest of her days; because now she was even more different than the rest of the civilian population. Of course, being blind wasn't enough of an idiosyncrasy, now she had to be a mutant alien freak like the rest of the Avengers.

Because Tony Stark had miscalculated the proposed results of Ellie's operation.

Perhaps it was misguided to place all of her pent up frustration with her condition on the man who was fighting tooth and nail to help her live a livable life, but she couldn't let her mind talk her into thinking this was somehow her fault. 

Whatever little energy she had left was better spent on despising anyone else's existence but her own for once.

"Are you okay?"

She couldn't help the words that spilled out of her mouth, in the form of a pathetic sounding whimper. She had asked it at least a million times at this point, but how could she know if it was true if she couldn't see it? Losing her sight for the second time was like losing her faith in people's words all over again.

"Yes, Ellie. We are fine, there is not even a headache left anymore," Pietro replied, his usually harsh sounding voice utilizing a very soft, kind tone she had never heard from the man before.

"What time is it?" Ellie mumbled, rolling over onto her stomach from her reclined spot on her bed. At approximately 3:15 every day for the last month, Peter had come to stay with her until about 7:30, before Aunt May would call and ask Peter to come home for dinner. Sometimes she would extend the offer to Ellie, but she was forced to decline despite how much it hurt her to do so. She still wasn't stable, according to Tony.

"3 o'clock. Peter will be here soon, and so will Natasha. With food," Ana sighed, and Ellie's newly trained ears picked up on her stomach growling, causing her to chuckle to herself. Ever since she woke up, her newfound abilities had been extremely difficult to cope with, but she had gotten used to it over time.

Her keen sense of smell and her hearing was an added perk. It was easier to eavesdrop on Tony and Peter without moving, and that was convenient. However, she hadn't been able to grapple her brand-new way of viewing the world. Speaking had provided a nearly indiscernible blueprint of the space around her, her new perception of sound waves giving her a new type of vision she wasn't sure she understood just yet.

As for the scream heard 'round the world? They hadn't dared test that out again, the effects were as negative as they were innumerable; and Ellie refused to put everyone in that much pain again, even if that's how she felt all the time.

Her body ached, something inside her skull was constantly scratching at the walls of her brain; triggering the most fearsome of headaches. She hadn't suffered from any more seizures, just random nosebleeds and general bouts of unbearable pain. But with Peter doting on her every second he possibly could, it was beginning to be bearable. Even if he was just climbing into bed after a hard day of school to nap with her, it alleviated some of her sufferings. Pietro and Ana were great company as well, their constant loved-up bickering a better source of entertainment than television. Tony's other visitors, like Natasha, were sparse; but she enjoyed making new friends (who weren't inclined to be hurt by her condition) while she could.

Ellie felt warmth bubble up in her chest as she heard someone jog into the room, breath labored. Peter.

He dropped his bag in the corner of her room, like he always did, dove into the bed, letting out an exhausted sigh.

"Hi Pete," Ellie mumbled, moving her hand to rest on his head. She stroked his hair and he let out a little hum of contentment. She heard Ana not so covertly sneak out of the room, Pietro banging his foot against the wall and cursing on the way out. She laughed.

"Hey, Elle. How are you feeling?"Peter asked, his voice raising slightly indicating his anxiety. Ellie had to refrain from grimacing, another thing that had changed was them.

Peter had been treating her like a box labeled "Fragile" ever since she woke up, maybe to make up for the fact that he wasn't there when she woke up, maybe because he was afraid of her lashing out again, maybe he was afraid that she was angry with him. But she wasn't, no matter how many times she tried to articulate it to him her pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears, and it infuriated her.

He was here now, and that's all that mattered to her.

"Fine," She mumbled, patting his head idly. "How was school?"

"Ridiculous, Flash is such a dick."

"Well," Ellie started, recalling the boy who had managed to become the bane of her sweet Peter's existence throughout the small entirety of his high school career so far. "With a name like Flash you can't expect anything else. It's like his brand."

Peter chuckled good-naturedly, in a way that made Ellie's heart warm. His hand grasped onto hers, completely skipping the step where he'd awkwardly brush their fingers together in an attempt to comfort her. It felt more absolute this way, he was here. Here. And he wasn't going away again.

"I've missed you Ellie," He said, and she could feel his eyes boring into hers, even if she could not see them.

She missed him too, she missed him everyday. She missed him when he was gone and she even missed him when he was right next to her, she missed him in anticipation of the moments he'd be somewhere else. It was a feeling so strange to her, it almost felt abnormal to voice it. Moving forward, she'd have to just get used to them.

But for now, all she could muster up was:

"I know."