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"The fact that you can feel pain like this
is your greatest strength."
~Albus Dumbledore
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As the explosion racked through the ship, Nanna pushed herself up a little. The world around her turned fiercely, making her sick. She frowned as something hard wrapped around her waist, before it dragged her over the ruined floor. Nanna almost struggled against the force that pulled her somewhere. But she didn't, perhaps for the familiar feeling or maybe it was her fatigue.
Nidhogg opened his wings a tad bit, enough to pull Nanna through, the last breathing Asgardian on the ship apart from Thor and Freya, who held onto their brother's body.
Then came the explosion and everything turned black.
Freya didn't even feel pain. Perhaps it was the shock of the explosion that had completely knocked her out, perhaps it was because of Loki's death, or maybe she was dead. No one that had died, had come back to say what it felt like. The only thing that was known about Valhalla was knowledge that was gained by those with the gift of sight, and those always spoke in riddles.
"This is all yours," A girl whispered, she wore white armour and a helmet that had wings on either side of her head, she was a Valkyrie. "What is this?" Freya looked down at the girl before looking around "This is your birthright, or your destiny." "What do you mean?" The girl locked her eyes with Freya for the first time, her eyes looked like galaxies, filled with stars "You will end up here no matter what you do. It is your fate.".
The Valkyrie girl turned to look at Freya again, her galaxy eyes pierced through Freya's soft green ones.
Freya's green eyes met the spirit's galaxy ones, for a moment she was reminded of her vision of the Valkyrie girl on the night of Loki's first death.
But as Freya really looked into the girl's eyes, she noticed that in fact they weren't galaxies. They only reflect the stars that shone brightly in the blood red sky. The true colour of the Valkyrie's eyes was a green shade, that closely resembled Freya's eyes, perhaps they were even the same. But the girl's green eyes were tinged with an orange shade. Something that Freya had only read about in books and seen in her visions and dreams.
"Save them," The girl whispered as Freya frowned "Who? How?" Freya asked as the girl only stared back at her "Who are you?" The girl seemed so familiar to Freya, and not from her visions. It was as if she and the girl were one, but at the same time completely different people "You know, you just have to find out that you do." The girl's answer only further confused Freya.
Slowly the blood of the sky seemed to change into a more dark colour, the building fell apart in dust as the lake seemed to be sucked away. The Valkyrie girl slowly walked away, disappearing "Wait!" Freya waded behind the girl, but her feet seemed to be sucked into the bottom of the lake.
A gasp left Freya's lips as she sat up quickly "She really is an Angel Woman," A blue-grey skinned man commented as he looked at Freya, who's eyes widened as she looked around. Thor, Nanna and Nidhogg at her side, while they were surrounded by who looked like three Midgardians, a green woman, a woman with two antennas, a teenage Flora colossus, a Xinoch, a talking raccoon and the blue-grey skinned man that had nicknamed her earlier.
Peter Quill, Louisa Quill, Ethan Ianson Black, Gamora, Mantis, Groot, Daw, Rocket and Drax. Or as they called themselves, The Guardians of The Galaxy.
Freya smiled fondly as Gamora gave her a warm cup of soup. Freya's hand shook a little as she lifted the spoon to her lips, making the simple task a lot harder than it needed to be.
"The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal. To bring balance to the Universe by wiping out half of all life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre...." Gamora trailed off as she recalled the painful memories "Including my own," Drax added as Freya looked at him sadly "I am sorry for your loss."
"If he gets all six Infinity Stones, he can do it with the snap of his fingers, like this." Gamora snapped her fingers, demonstrating how easily half of all live would just disappear at Thanos' command "You seem to know a great deal about Thanos," Thor said warily "Gamora...is the daughter of Thano," Drax spoke, slowly, unsure of how the three Asgardians would react "Your father killed my brother. Our brother." Thor stood up and walked towards Gamora aggressively as he motioned to Freya, clarifying that Loki had been their brother.
"Oh, boy. Stepfather. Technically, she hates him as much as you do," Peter said, attempting to calm down the god, which it did "Adoptive father actually," Louisa pointed out, not looking up from her watch screen "Families can be tough. Before my father died, he told me I had a half-sister...that he imprisoned in Hel. Then she returned home, and stabbed me in the eye, so...I had to kill her. It's life, isn't it, I guess. Goes round and round and...I feel your pain." He put a comforting hand on Gamora's shoulder "The family you chose is your true family." Freya looked Gamora who understood what Freya was hinting at and sent the shorter woman a grateful smile.
Ethan frowned at Ferya, who felt eyes on the back of her head and turned to look at the him, a look of recognition flickered on her face.
Peter glared at Thor's hand on Gamora's shoulder, on the verge of full outburst, and moved around her to push himself between her and Thor "And I feel your pain, as well. I mean it's not a competition, but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother, then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out of it with both of my eyes..." Peter trailed off as he tried to impress the ones on the ship "He's married, don't worry," Nanna mocked a little, her smirk on her face as Peter flushed a dark shade of red and Gamora rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.
Thor smiled at Nanna, reminded as to why he loved the brunette "I need a hammer, not a spoon." Thor walked towards a touch screen "How do I open this thing? Is there some sort of a four-digit code maybe...maybe a birth date or something...Freya?" Thor continued to tap away on the screen as Nanna and Freya shared a look.
"What are you doing?" Peter asked as he puffed out his chest a bit "Taking your pod." Thor gave his goofy smile, something that seemed so normal that it hurt "No, you're not! You'll not, be taking our pod today, sir." Peter deepened his voice and mimicked the Asgardian accent as best he could, failing quite miserably "Quill. Are you making your voice deeper?" Rocket asked "No."
"You sound very ridiculous," Ethan barked causing Peter to glare at him "I always sound like this."
"You're imitating the god-man. It's weird," Drax pointed out "No I'm not," Peter responded, still imitating Thor "He just did it again!" Mantis gasped like an innocent child, making Freya's heart warm at the woman's innocence "This is my voice!" Peter defended as some scattered chuckles were heard.
"Nope." Ethan smiles coyly before wrapping an arm around Louisa's shoulders.
"Are you mocking me?" Thor asked as he walked closer to Peter, looking down at the man "Are you mocking me?" Peter copied "Stop it. You did it again," Thor angrily responded, clearly done with the pointless argument "He's trying to copy me." Peter looked back at the rest of the group before looking up at the angry Thor "Would you stop doing that? He's doing it first."
"Enough! We need to stop Thanos. Which means we need to find out where he's going next." Gamora ended the argument, making everyone focus in the important task before them "Knowhere," Thor responded "He must be going somewhere," Mantis sounded quite confused "It is a place. A chaotic one, but a place nonetheless." Freya smiled kindly as Mantis looked over at Freya thankfuly.
"Yeah, I love that place," Louisa sighted dreamily, causing many others to look at her in annoyance "Yeah. We've been there. It sucks. Excuse me, that's our food." Peter looked over at Thor annoyed, who had gathered some of the Guardian's food "Not anymore," Nanna and Thor responded at the same time.
"Freya, why would he go to Knowhere?" Gamora turned go look at Freya, the woman having decided that they were the only two that were capable of having a serious conversation "The Aether, Reality Stone, has been stored there safely since 2013 in the hands of the Collector. You probably know him if you have been there."
"2013?" Gamora asked, the year sparking a memory in her.
"Yeah we know him alright. If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe. Only an idiot would give that man a Stone," Peter interjected, preventing Freya from asking the importance of 2013 to Gamora "Or a genius."
"How do you know he's not going for one of the other Stones?" Gamora addressed the Asgardians again "There's six stones out there. Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it last week, when he decimated Xandar. He stole the Space Stone from us when he destroyed our ship and slaughtered half of our people. The Time and Mind Stones are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers," Thor explained.
"The Avengers?" Louisa asked "They're Earth's Mightiest Heroes."
"Like Kevin Bacon?" Mantis asked exited as Freya frowned "The man from Footloose?" She vaguely rememberd something about him "Exactly. Is it still the best movie ever?" Peter asked her excited.
"This movie is not even that great, but it's cultural so we'll watch it." Shuri said, jumping on the couch between T'Challa, Naika, Oyoke, Bucky and Freya, a bowl of popcorn clutched tightly in her hands.
"I recall it not being the best movie...." Freya trailed off as Peter looked at her offended, ready to attack her for her comment.
"The Soul Stone, well, no one's ever seen that. Except, Freya in her dreams, but that's just that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can't get it. Therefore, he's going to Knowhere. Hence, he'll be getting the Reality Stone. You're welcome," Thor explained as the group looked at Freya for an explanation as to why, the petite woman was the only one to have seen the Soul Stone. All except Gamora "Thanos started hunting you in 2013, the year you uncovered your legacy.....Soulkeeper." There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Gamora broke it "Then we have to go to Knowhere now."
"Soulkeeper? That sounds overly idiotic," Louisa snorted and Gamora rolled her eyes.
"Wrong! Where we have to go, is Nidavellir," Thor argued "That's a made up word," Drax interjected "All words are made up," Thor fired back "I knew I loved you for a reason." Nanna looked at Thor with a look of approval.
"Hold up, Nidavellir is real? Seriously? I mean, that place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would very much like to go there, please." Rocket climbed on the table and looked at Thor as a giddy child almost "The rabbit is correct, and clearly the smartest among you." Thor smiled at the raccoon "Rabbit?"
"Only Eitri the Dwarf King can make me the weapon I need. I assume you're the captain, sir?" Thor directed the last part of his sentence to Rocket "You're very perceptive." Rocket smirked happily, going along with the lie "You seem like a noble leader. Will you join us on our quest to Nidavellir?" Thor asked "Lemme just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it's me! Yeah, I'll go." Thor smiled "Wonderful."
"Except for that I'm the captain." Peter remarked "Quiet!" Thor snapped as he took a backpack "That's my backpack."
"Go sit down." Rocket waved Peter off "Yeah Dad, what you gonna do? Fight the gods? One has a dragon." Louisa's words made Peter narrow his eyes at her "I'll take your music player away." Louisa waved him off "I'm 18 now, Dad. Stop treating me like a kid."
"Look, this is my ship. And I'm not goin' to...Wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?" Peter asked, not able to say 'Nidavellir' "The Thanos killing kind," Thor explained "Don't you think that we should all have a weapon like that?" Peter motioned his hands to everyone on the ship "No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies will crumble as your minds collapse into the madness," Thor clarified "It is true," Freya added.
"Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket asked, further strengthening his comparison to a child "A little bit. Yeah." Thor grimaced "Yeah," Freya trailed off as Nanna jumped off the table she had been sitting on "Nope."
"What about dear Ethan here? He's part Asgardian." Louisa slapped her hands on his shoulder as he nodded excitedly "He's a Norn. Norns have the gift of sight, they are not like other Asgardians." Louisa frowned "How the hell did you know he's a Norn?"
"Because she dated my mom."
"I dated his mother."
The two looked at each other and Ethan winked at her as Louisa opened her mouth as she did the math "Wait? What?"
"If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another Stone, he'll be too powerful to stop," Gamora interrupted the ever lasting pointless banter.
"He already is." The three words were scary, but true.
"I got it figured out. We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons. So me, Ethan and Groot will go with the Pirate-Angel, Weird Sword Lady, Angel Woman and her dragon here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool." Rocket offered "So cool." Thor grinned "Very." Nanna walked towards the pod.
"For the record, I know that you're only going with him because it's where Thanos isn't." Peter gave his last attack for Rocket "You know, Quill, you shouldn't talk that way to your captain, Quill. Come on, Groot. Put that game down, you'll rot your brain." Rocket winked at the man before he entered the pod with Freya, Nidhogg, Thor, Nanna and Groot.
"Hurry up horny teenagers!" Rocket hooted as Ethan and Louisa shared a quick farewell kiss "I'm coming!" Ethan called before tripping on his was to the pod as Louisa gave Rocket the finger.
"I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye." Thor said his last farewell as Freya looked at the Guardians one last time "Good luck, and may we meet again."
And with that they were off to Nidavellir.
A/N:
Somehow 3 scenes turned i to 2593 words 🤷🏼♀️. Oh well, hope you enjoyed and let me know who you think the Valkyrie girl is to Freya. Again, I love reading your theories.
If you want, read the corresponding chapter in Infinite Stars (chapter 13)
ps: If you haven't yet, check out my instagram, Hannahdottier_Wattpad
[Word Count:2606]