Chapter 2: Lost Home

~ Still in the Flashback~

"NO!" Thor yelled in shock and denial as his brother in all but blood dropped to the floor, dead. "You're going to die for that!"

Ebony Maw shuts Thor's mouth with a mouth bracer. "Shhhh." He held onto the Tesseract and went down to one knee. He lifted the Tesseract up to Thanos, "My humble personage… bows before your grandeur. No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp."

Dramatically, Thanos picks up the Tesseract and crushes it, revealing the Space Stone hidden inside. He holds the space stone, tiny compared to his size, and it zooms into his gauntlet, "There are two more Stones on Earth. Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan." He commanded.

"Father, we will not fail you." Proxima Midnight bowed her head in response.

"If I might, interject…" Loki stepped forward, a little cocky, "If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that arena."

Thanos huffed and frowned, "If you consider failure experience…."

Loki snapped back, "I consider experience, experience." He hesitated then began, "Almighty Thanos. I, Loki, Prince of Asgard…" Loki turned and glanced at Thor… no. At his brother, "Odinson... The rightful King of Jotunheim, God of Mischief, do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity."

Thor squinted and noticed a dagger in Loki's hand. Loki attempted to stab Thanos, but Thanos is ready for the attack and grabs Loki by the neck.

"'Undying.'" Thanos snorted, "You should choose your words more carefully." He hissed. Thanos tightened his hold around Loki's neck. He makes eye contact with Thor before he increases his force on Loki's neck.

Loki realized that he couldn't compete with the mad titan and gave up struggling, "You… will never be… a god." He forced out. Thanos snapped Loki's neck, killing him.

Thanos tossed Loki to the side, like he was no different than a piece of trash, "No resurrections this time." He rumbled. Without a glance in Thor's direction he teleported away with the Black Order.

Ebony Maw's mouth clasp fell to the ground along with the restraints. Thor, devastated by his brothers death, crawled over the dead bodies of his fellow Asgardians to lie over his dead brother.

"No… Loki…." He sobbed as the ship exploded, sending him unconscious with. His last conscious thought was of his brother.

~ End of Flashback~

"And I feel your pain, as well." Peter stated, trying to look more manly in front of his crew. "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." Peter glanced at Valkyrie to see her glaring at him, "Which I would never do. Plus, I, came out of it with both of my eyes-"

Thor shook his head and stated, "I need a hammer, not a spoon…" Thor attempted to fiddle with machinery attached to one of the escape pods, "How do I open this thing? Is there some sort of a four-digit code maybe…. Maybe a birth date or something…."

"What are you doing?" Peter asked, concerned with how he was fiddling with his ship.

"Taking your pod." Thor stated bluntly.

"No, you're not!" Peter then tried to mimic Thor's accent, "You'll not, be taking our pod today, sir."

Rocket looked at Peter with puzzlement, "Quill. Are you making your voice deeper?"

Peter shook his head, "No."

Drax nodded, "You are. You're imitating the god-man. It's weird."

"No I'm not."

Mantis pointed at Peter, "He just did it again!"

"For Nova's sake, Peter, just stop." Valkyrie but in. She sighed as her half-brother made a fool out of himself, as usual.

Still trying to hold up his voice change, Peter stated, "This is my voice!"

Thor finally noticed what was going on and stepped closer to Peter, "Are you mocking me?"

"Are you mocking me?" Peter mocked Thor.

Thor growled, "Stop it. You did it again."

Peter pointed, "See, he's trying to copy me."

"Would you stop doing that? He's doing it first." Thor said, getting very annoyed at this Earthling.

"Enough!" Gamora shouted, bringing a brief end to Peter and Thor's pissing contest, "We need to stop Thanos. Which means we need to find out where he's going next."

"Knowhere."

Mantis shook her head, "He must be going somewhere."

"No. Knowhere? It's a place. We've been there. It sucks." Peter explained then hurriedly he stepped closer to Thor, "Excuse me, that's our food." He said to Thor as he rummaged through the food stores.

"Not anymore."

"Thor… Why would he go to Knowhere?" Valkyrie asked gently, trying to get rid of the testosterone in the room.

Thor looked at her, "Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored, there with a man we call the Collector."

Valkyrie shook her head, "If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe. Only an idiot would give that man a stone. I've met him once. He's an ass."

"Or a genius." Thor stated.

"How do you know he's not going for one of the other Stones?" Gamora asked.

"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 me when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers." Thor explained.

Valkyrie felt sick and she asked in a faraway voice, "Wait, What…. What happened to Xandar?"

Everyone else froze as they went back over what Thor had said. Then the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. "Val." Peter started.

Valkyrie snapped at Peter, "No. Shut up." She turned to Thor and said in the most menacing voice she had, "Answer me very carefully. What the hell happened to Xandar?"

Thor noticed the tone in her voice and the tension in the others that had rescued him, "It happened two weeks ago. Thanos made a grab for the Power Stone." Thor sighed, "He destroyed Xandar. There's nothing left. I'm sorry. If it's in any consolation, they gave him a good fight and I'm sure died honorably."

Valkyrie breathed out and her ears buzzed. Her family. Nova Prime, her mother. Her adopted brother Landon and his family. Her little baby cousin. Gone. Dead. Destroyed by Thanos.

"Val, you alright?" Peter's voice filtered through and he put a hand on her shoulder. Bad mistake. She turned around and punched Peter across the face.

Peter, bent over from the force of the hit, held his hand to his left cheek, "Val! What the fuck!"

"Leave me the hell alone." She stopped off to her room, ignoring the concerned calls of Mantis, Gamora and Drax behind her. Her family was dead and she was alone.

Peter turned to Thor, "Nice going." He stated sarcastically, "Next time, be more sensitive."

"I do not understand. They died defending their home. There is no more honor in the world than that."

"Yeah, well, just word it differently this time." Gamora snapped and stalked off after Valkyrie.

Peter threw up his hands, "Gamora!" She disappeared around the corner and he sighed, "Women."

Valkyrie sat on her bed in the ship, her hands resting on her head as she sobbed. She must have known something was up. She connected the dots and realized that her nightmares had begun around the time Thor said Xandar was…. She couldn't even finish the sentence.

Someone knocked on the door, "Kyrie, it's me." It was Gamora. She only used that nickname when they were alone and needed girl time. She didn't respond and the door opened anyway. "Oh Kyrie." Gamora stated as she sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around her, "I'm sorry."

"They're gone. All gone…. My home." Val got out.

"I know. They didn't deserve that fate."

"Thor said… he said that Thanos came for the Power Stone. The stone we had and handed over…." She trailed off, her eyes widening. It was her fault. It was the Guardians of the Galaxy who had asked Xandar to watch over the stone.

Gamora's arms tensed around Valkyrie as Gamora realized were her thoughts were going with this, "Valkyrie, no. It's not our fault and definitely not yours."

She breathed out, "Thanos is going to pay for what he has done."

"And he will." Gamora stated, "We'll make sure of it."

Valkyrie pushed Gamora's arms away and stood up, "Yes. He'll pay. And Thor will help me do it."

Gamora shot up from the bed, "Whao, Kyrie. Not so fast. Think about this first."

Valkyrie began to race around her room, throwing things and weapons into her messenger bag, "He's out for revenge. And I'm going to join him." She threw on a jean jacket and slung her brown messenger bag over her shoulder and clipped on her gun belt which was full. Two hand guns, Xandarian make as well as the back strip for ammunition. "This son of a bitch will pay."

Valkyrie stalked into the main area where the rest of the Guardians and Thor were waiting. Peter was asking Thor, "Earlier you mentioned something about an Avengers?"

"Ah, yes. They're Earth's Mightiest Heroes." Thor responded.

Mantis tilted her head, "Like Kevin Bacon?"

Thor stared at Mantis, "...He may be on the team. I don't know. Haven't been there in a while. As for the Soul Stone, well, no one's ever seen 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."

"Then we have to go to Knowhere now." Gamora stated, bringing everyone's attention to her and Valkyrie.

"Uh, Val," Peter began but hesitated when he saw her pissed/determined look. He still spoke anyway, "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Cause Thor here is going to help me kill Thanos."

Peter's eyes widened at that and he began to panic, "What? No! At least, not alone you aren't."

"You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do." Valkyrie snapped, "Thor." She stated harsly and he turned his head tentatively toward her, "Where do we go next?"

Thor cleared his throat, "Where- where we have to go, is Nivadellir."

Drax shook his head, "That's a made up word."

"All words are made up." Thor stated.

"Nidavellir is real?" Rocket asked, eyes shining in excitement as he climbed up onto the table, "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." He begged, folding his paws together as if he was praying.

Thor nodded, "The rabbit is correct, and clearly the smartest among you."

"Rabbit?"

Thor continued as if he didn't hear Rocket's comment, "Only Eitri the dwarf king can make me the weapon I need." He turned to Rocket, "I assume you're the captain, sir"

Rocket nodded, "You're very perceptive."

"You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nivadellir?"

"Lemme just ask the captain. Wait a second, it's me! Yeah, I'll go."

"Wonderful."

"Except that I'm the captain." Peter stepped forward, protesting Rocket's takeover.

"Quiet!" Rocket snapped back at Peter.

Valkyrie stepped forward, "Count me in. Thanos killed my people. My family. He will pay."

"Valkyrie, are you sure that's a good idea… and that's my backpack!" Peter protest as Rocket snatched it.

"Quill, sit down." Rocket said, then to Valkyrie, "You may come." Rocket pointed to Peter. "He may not."

"Look, this is my ship." Peter stated to Thor, "And I'm not going to… Wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?"

Thor grinned, "The Thanos killing kind."

Valkyrie smirked, "I am loving this plan."

"Don't you think that we should all have a weapon like that?" Peter asked.

Thor shook his head, "No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies will crumble as your minds collapse into the madness."

"Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket asked.

"A little bit." Thor nodded, "Yeah."

"If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he'll be too powerful to stop." Gamora stated.

Thor turned to her, "He already is."

"I got it figured out." Rocket explained, "We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons. So me and Groot will go with the pirate-angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool? Cool."

"So cool." Thor replied.

"For the record… I know that you're only going with him because it's where Thanos isn't." Peter said to Rocket.

"You know, Quill, you shouldn't talk that way to your captain." He entered the pod, "Come on, Groot. Put that game down. You'll rot your brain."

Teenage Groot responded with "I am Groot." And Groot stepped into the escape pod.

Valkyrie stopped by the pod and looked at Peter who had grabbed her by the arm, "You know why I have to do this. It's the same reason why you stopped Ego. Let me go." Then softer, "Please."

Peter sighed, "I know what family means and I know what it's like to lose it all. But... just remember that I'm your family too."

Valkyrie pressed her lips together, "Goodbye Peter." She stepped forward as if to go in for a hug, but at the last minute decided against it and turned her back on the Guardians and ducked into the escape pod.

Thor was the last one on the ship and he turned around to say, "I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye." He ducked into the escape pod and Valkyrie pressed the control that closed the door with a quiet hiss.

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Posted: March 9th, 2019.

Next Update: April 13th, 2019.