Hello, first of all, Happy holidays! This is my first avenger's fic so please be gentle with your critics. I had so much fun writing this and I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I do. Reviews are appreciated, taken into consideration and happily received.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
(Edited: 16/01/2019)
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
– Francis of Assisi.
There was a soothing voice, warm like coffee, sweet as honey and smooth as butter whispering in her mind, prompting her to wake from her slumber. Even with her eyes closed, she could tell she was in a bright room judging by the slight ardor in her retinas, her mouth was dry, as if she had swallowed a handful of sand and most of it had gotten stuck in her larynx. She glided her tongue along the inside of her mouth, the sensation reminded her of the rough sandpaper used to polish wood, then came her lips, they were dry and chapped, sealed in a thin line, refusing to say anything to the man in front of her.
She opened her eyes, closing them almost immediately when the Led lights burned her sensitive retinas. Breathing came next, painful choking breaths filled her lungs as if it was the first time she did such a thing. Her disoriented gaze settled in the other occupant of the room, and she tensed, though she did not know why her body reacted like that.
He was a pirate? No, not a pirate, his clothes were too modern to fit that role, maybe he was a crazy man who kidnapped her, that made more sense, hence why her wrists were bound to the metal table. Still, that wasn't it, he looked like the guy from Matrix, what was his name again?
Something in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and she swallowed noticeably at the sight of a glass of water resting innocently next to her left hand. Even without moving her arms, she knew she wouldn't be able to reach it, so it was most likely placed there to torture her.
She continued her blatant staring at the man, trying to find answers in her dizzy brain was becoming impossible in her current state, how did she ended up here in the first place? He also stared at her, though his gaze was more blank and stern than anything she could ever muster. He leaned closer, pushing her even further into her seat, forcing her to recoil in her chair; cold metal met the bare skin of her shoulders momentarily distracting her from the man moving lips.
She must looked very confused, because he started talking again, not breaking eye contact and taking satisfaction in the way her own gaze clouded with fear.
"What are you?" he asked slowly, each word pronounced in a way that made her feel insulted at his tone.
She eyed the glass again, hoping her eyes could convey what her voice could not.
If he noticed her silent plea, he simply ignored it "I hate repeating myself." he muttered in a bored voice.
She opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by a whistling sound.
She jolted awake, jumping from her couch tumbling around with the blanket till she landed ungracefully in her wooden floor, it creaked loudly at the sudden weight but it made no other sign of giving in. She really needed to start saving money to fix that or one day she'll found herself buried all the way to her waist in the middle of her freaking living room. She stood, placing a hand in her chest feeling the rapid beating of her heart starting to slow down as she eyed her second-hand furniture.
Now she was positive her couch was possessed or at least housed an evil energy, because every darn time she fell asleep there, she ended up having horrible nightmares, except that one time she dreamed she was the president, but one good dream against 8 horrible ones, it wasn't really up to discussion.
So, chained in a room with Fury, was that her kink? Ew, she rather not, or she'll have to kink shame herself. This sentence, this was the worse her brain could ever produce.
Her wall clock marked 4:12 am, or was it 4:14 am? She really couldn't tell from the distance and squinting her eyes wasn't really helping her decipher the tiny dots, so she just settled with the time being way too early (or late, depending on of one point of view) to start making breakfast. She sighed as she bent to pick up and fold her discharged tiger blanket, next came her DIY cushions and finally she kicked her nightmare inducing evil couch for good measure. The rest of her living room was a bit of a mess, mostly because she was in the middle of her weekly movie marathon before she fell asleep.
A black empty DVDs carcass (that she had totally acquired legally) peeked through a mountain wraps of her favorite milk chocolate, and she suddenly felt like slapping herself when her memory came back at her. She had woken up super early yesterday to open the bakery and finish the Clark's wedding cake, just so she could be home before 9 pm to start her movie marathon early, so she could finally watch the iron man trilogy and hopefully catch up to Thor since she never seen the first two movies. She was very excited for today's movies, but she ended up asleep after the second iron man movie ended.
To her defense, wedding season was no joke in her town, so she was very overworked and tired. Yep, that definitely made her feel better (not really) but what else could she do? It was her fault for ignoring her friend recommendation for so long because she was busy pretending she was a pro surgeon in progress watching Grey's anatomy only to end up heartbroken after Derek Shepherd died, so she had resorted to watch infinity war to placate her friend incessant nagging. Though she also ended up with her heart broken, that had been the beginning of her current obsession. She had a lot of catch up to do, and she was taking advantage of her holiday break to free fall directly into Marvel's a-hole.
Her phone screen lit up as the infamous whistle broke through the silence once again signaling a new message from her best friend Kathleen. She could still remember Kat's angry face when she had changed the tone to match her phone preferences, "I'm surprised your battery lasted long enough to change it." had been her deadpan answer.
She unlocked her phone, quickly reading the message before typing a simple reply.
"Come. Cake emergency"
"K. be there in 10"
She slipped on her sneakers, they were a bit dirty with mud from the rain of this morning, but she couldn't care less as she grabbed her keys, her bag and tied her hoodie around her waist. Cake emergency usually means something was horribly wrong and that mostly resulted in her walking home covered in pastry cream and flour covering her hair and clothes, not something she was keen to repeat any time soon.
She walked through the desolated streets mentally singing random songs to calm her nerves, even with dawn approaching the town seemed more quiet than usual. She fastened her pace and secure her grip in her pocket knife, "Lowest crime rate my ass." she thought as she saw a black figure emerged to the other edge of the sidewalk. She looked down trying to be invisible whilst jogging to the bakery.
He noticed that, and he, too, starter to jog at her. The yellow street lights did a wonderful job in highlighting the glistening metal he held in his hand.
She froze for a second before adrenaline kicked in, and she ran the remaining distance to the bakery. She collided with the glass door, trembling hands trying to push it open, but it was locked, so she banged her fist loudly.
"Kathleen!" She screamed hoarsely, "Help!"
At this point she was a crying mess, her mind couldn't even produce a simple prayer to save her poor soul, so she turned to face him, gripping her pocket knife tightly hoping her 20 minutes judo tutorials kicked in to save her ass.
He was running now, shortening the distance in mere seconds. 5 more meters. She thought grimly before she was yanked inside by a strong grip.
The bell that usually announced a customer's arrival rang loudly before falling to the ground as the door was closed in the man's face. He pressed a gloved finger against the glass, his breath helping him create a canvas in the unstained glass. "You." he wrote, and pointed at her.
Kathleen snarled at him and pulled out her phone, "You'll regret this crazy bastard! I'll make sure you rot in prison!" she screamed with anger filled screams, though she could detect a slight trembling in her friend's voice.
A pair of arms encircled her, forming a protecting barrier between her and the door as Kathleen dialed the 3 digit number that would put an end to this nightmare. How funny, earlier tonight she'd thought being chained in a room with Nick Fury was scary, well, her past self hadn't experienced trough terror until today.
Kat helped her to her feet, and handed her a glass of water that she downed in one gulp. A quiet knock startled her again, and she turned only to face the apologetic gaze of two officers.
It could be worse, really. She told herself trying to reduce her trauma, she'll deal with this later. Now she needed to put a brave face to retell the story, once she was finished and Kathleen was busy talking to one of the officers when the remaining one "Martinez" turned to her, "I guess you're not looking to become an officer anytime soon?" he had said so casually that it made her physically take a step back with wide eyes.
"W-What?" she stuttered in disbelieve.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?" the other officer hissed, elbowing his partner as he gave her another apologetic smile, though this time it faltered when Martinez said nothing. He cleared his throat and guided his partner to the door. "Call us again if you see anything suspicious, have a good day ma'am."
"Well, at least we know who's not the good cop." Kathleen said, glaring at their retreating forms.
After a second of silence, she spoke with a voice too hoarse to be her own. "What did you need?"
Kat visibly jumped, "What?"
"Cake emergency," She lifted an eyebrow "Your text?"
She shook her head in disapproval, "you can't be serious Alex!" she walked to the back, already putting on her apron. "You almost died." she whispered the last part still in disbelieve.
"I'm alive, "she shrugged imitating her friend actions "and I need my paycheck to keep living."
"You know I can talk to my grandma, I'm sure she wouldn't mind…" she trailed off, unsure.
Alex shook her head, they both knew Kat's grandma would definitively mind if the Clark's wedding cake wasn't in perfect condition by tomorrow, and Alex also knew she wasn't the old hag favorite worker, the only reason she allowed it was because she was, (not to brag) wonderful with her work. One of the reason they had so many clients this season was because of her, and the hag knew it, though that didn't stop her to criticize Alex with every breath she took.
"So, what happened?"
Kat looked down, embarrassed as she cracked the eggs for the mixture "I lost my footing and ruined a good chunk of the flowers you did."
She nodded, that could be fixed. "I'll be done quicker than quicksilver," she lightly joked. "Just make sure to add the right amount of dye, I don't want a mismatched array of flowers."
"Aye boss!" she gave her a mock salute, and after adding two drops of blue and one of red, she turned to Alex smiling "Wouldn't it be really cool if spider man had come to your rescue?"
She snorted at that, creating an uneven petal that she removed before answering "Maguire or Holland?
Kathleen beamed at that "Let's play fuck, marry and kill avenger's edition," she cleared her throat as she grabbed a whisk to use as a microphone. "Today's contestant is Miss Alexandra, she's 19 single and ready to mingle!" she paused to fake cheer at her introduction. "We'll start easy for this first round, so Miss Alexandra, who would you fuck, marry and kill, Your first options is America sweetheart and well known dumbass, Captain America!"
Alex laughed, this time being more careful and stopping the pressure in the piping bag. "Who else?"
"We also have Loki prince of Asgard if you're into some dark shit, if you know what I mean," she said, pausing to wink suggestively "And finally, the man of iron, the genius, the playboy and philanthropist Mr. Anthony Stark!"
She looked up with and sighed "that's a tough one." she said, grabbing her own whisk and smiled "I'll fuck Steve, kill Loki-"
At her words, Kat gasped in surprise, "Why? You're not into being a princess?"
"If I fucked Loki, he'll probably kill me after it, and Steve is a nice man, he'll probably hug me afterwards." she shot back, looking smug at her analysis.
"Don't tell me you'll marry Tony? Dude, I didn't know you liked them old, I have a single, forty-something uncle if you're interested"
"Uncle Gavin?" she asked and Kat nodded eagerly "Isn't he the one that doesn't blink?"
"Yep, his record is 7 minutes, and he never cries after it." She said sounding too proud for something like that.
Alex smirked "I think I'll pass."
"Shame, you could've been my aunt." She said, pretending to be hurt at her rejection "So, why Tony?" she asked with a more serious voice.
Her smiled widened "I bet he has really fast WI-Fi."
7:47 am, she was done literally minutes before the bakery opened and the Clarks came to pick up their cake. She shook their hands and smiled before she politely excused herself and left. Kathleen had convinced her that everything would be fine, and that she would talk and convince her grandma to give her the day off to fully rest. Also, Andres, (one of the bakers) was kind enough to give her a lift to her house.
Once inside, she collapsed in her evil couch not caring if she dreamed with Fury again, she had experienced true, raw horror and nothing could top that. Or so she thought.
She closed her eyes and was transported to a white room of some sorts. The ground below her feet was soft and mushy, like earth after a rainy day. Her bare feet walked thought it, enjoying the sensation, she looked down and found a trail of flowers forming in front of her. Tulips, carnations, daisies and gerberas filled her vision, the beauty of it pushed her to keep walking.
The white room started to make sense as she walked further into the path, she was literally walking in a cloud. A freaking, fluffy white cloud covered in her favorite's flowers. It was decided, this was her best dream sponsored by her evil couch, screw being president; she could walk this path all day and never get tired of it.
"I'm glad you think as such" Said a disembodied voice.
She stopped abruptly, taking in her surroundings, it felt familiar to her, but she didn't know why. The cloud shook with vigor as thick roots and leaves erupted out of it, the bark came next, covered in an array of white flowers she'd never seen before. They seemed to glint with a pure golden light the closer she got.
"Come closer," the voice demanded.
She obeyed, entranced by the sweet voice. She had heard it before, but where?
Out of the flowers, emerged a woman's face. Her skin was pale and dull, complimenting her chapped lips and hollow expression. Her face was framed by long, wavy red curls that darkened at the base with her blood and blue eyes seemed as lifeless as the rest of her.
Alex gasped as she closed their distance, struggling to form a coherent sentence "Are you okay miss?"
At that, the woman laughed good naturally as the flowers parted to reveal the rest of her battered body. Her silver uniform was covered in gashes, mud and dry blood, also her right side was oozing a blood in her lap and boots. Alex crawled to her side, hoping her wasted hours watching Grey's anatomy would come handy for once. "I can h-help."
"Hush now, dear, I'm dying and there's nothing you can do about that. I have since long accepted my fate. Hela awaits for me"
Now it was her turn to be pale, she was witnessing someone's death, and she could do nothing about it.
"There's something you can do, though it would do nothing to prevent the inevitable," she announced just as calmly as before. "I've been watching you little pumpkin, you are very innocent despite everything, your soul has not been tainted by darkness and your spirit is unbreakable. I asked Heimdall to find someone like you, and he surpassed my standards."
She blushed at the praise, "I'm nothing special." she tried to brush it off.
"You are not," The woman agreed, Alex bit the inside of her cheek slightly disappointed, so much for surpassing her expectation. "But you don't have to be special to make changes, every little action counts."
Alex nodded, not fully understanding, until a thought hit her "Wait, you said Heimdall? As in I see everything in the universe Heimdall?"
She smiled, her chapped lips bleeding from it, but she didn't seem to care. "That would be him, yes."
Alex took a step back, fumbling with her words, then she stopped "Your clothes, you're a Valkyrie!"
"Indeed I was, little pumpkin. Long before the universe, even though about creating you, I was already by the Allfather and Queen Frigga's side. I'm called Eir, the goddess of health and healing, one of the handmaiden of Queen Frigga's and Valkyrie of Asgard at your service."
"Something tells me your humbling down your introduction."
"You are very amusing my little pumpkin, yet you speak the truth. I'm afraid I have been running out of time long before I even noticed." She let out a sigh, releasing a breeze that gently caressed Alex cheeks in comfort. "You have knowledge not even Asgard wisest scholars could ever come across of."
"I don't know it all" she interjected "I barely watched the avengers movie, I haven't watched Thor trilogy, only Ragnarok, I-"
"Ragnarok? You've seen the downfall of Asgard?" For the first time she sounded desperate. "This further deepens my purpose. Stop doubting yourself, you have enough knowledge to save millions of lives. You are enough" There was a finality in her tone that Alex didn't like. "Besides, I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice."
"What do you mean?"
"My dear, you are no longer part of the realm of the living. You lost your life yesterday, at 4:49 am of Midgardian time by the hand of the man you saw."
"That's not possible!" she rose abruptly "I-we called the police, I hugged Kathleen and I fixed the cake, we-"
"No."
She scrunched her face in confusion "No?
"I let you believe that, I'm not only the goddess of physical healing, but the mind realms are also under my jurisdiction. I wanted you to bid goodbye to your dear friend."
Alex sniffed and looked away "Will she ever be okay?"
"I made sure of that, she'll mourn your loss but her smile wouldn't disappear forever."
She nodded numbly, deciding to change the topic, "I am no goddess."
"And you will not be one, for the Allfather is the only one with the power to grant such a gift, but I will give you the power of one. Hereby, I, Lady Eir of Lyfjaberg, Valkyrie of Asgard, protector of the nine realms, Goddess of health and healing concede my gift upon you Lady Alexandra of Midgard for I consider you worthy of bearing the mark of a Valkyrie, no dying men shall perish under your hand for I forbid it. My mind will join yours and my knowledge will be yours to bear. Your hands will no longer be frails and untrained, no sword would be ashamed to serve under you and the finest horses will be mounted by you; and with my dying breath I promise you, Lady Alexandra that I will look after your wellbeing from Valhalla. May the Allfather bless your ways my little pumpkin, I trust you'll do well."
As soon as those words left her mouth, her blue eyes faded to a milky blue and the sound of her labored breath stopped altogether. A white flower sprouted from Lady Eir chest. "An Eirflower." her mind provided. It glowed with a pure gold light, and she gently plucked it.
The stem wrapped itself around her forearm and a burning sensation invaded her. She blinked and the flower disappeared, leaving behind a Valkyrie tattoo, though it looked more like a birthmark.
She closed her eyes and she welcomed the foreign sensation. A pulsing pain flourished in her head and the sound of multiple voices talking made her want to scream yet no words came. She was experiencing the same pain she had felt in her dream. A gasp caught in her throat as she realized that she was also experiencing the pain Lady Eir been feeling for heavens know how long. Tears welled in her eyes and she was suddenly falling.
She jerked awake hitting her brow with something hard and cold and metallic sounding. She peered her eyes open and gasped at the sight that greeted. Alex was in a filthy alley, clutching her bag for dear life, cold and afraid, resting against a dumpster. It was a dream, she was alive and well and-
A grunting sound coming from her left startled her. A man was next to her, bruised and reeking of whiskey.
She hesitantly approached him and turned his face towards her.
Well, shit. Tony freaking Stark was her alley companion.