The Battle of Wakanda
While most of the Avengers stood on a hovering craft that T'Challa and his Army were taking to reach the front lines against one side of the barrier around Wakanda, Athena was sitting against the side of it. She had her knees up, her arms somewhat resting on them, her hands clasped into fists as she rested her head against them. She was trying to take as deep of breaths as she could, trying to ignore the way her breath seemed to come faster than she would have liked. Even just sitting there was a trial for her. Her one leg was fidgeting with anxiety and restlessness. She could try to tell herself that it was just the anticipation of battle, the adrenaline starting to build up before the war began, but a voice in the back of her mind told her it could also be from a very different cause.
She had managed to stave it off up until now, but with the approaching battle it was just all flooding into her. Her head was aching, though there was a light headed quality to it, she felt like she couldn't get enough breath into her, her heart was racing, and it wasn't just her leg twitching as she could feel her hands shaking even as they were pressed against her forehead. It felt like her skin was tingling and she could feel a fine sheen of sweat breaking out on her brow. She squeezed her hands tighter, resisting the urge to pull them away from her forehead.
It was something she had often had to do on Olympus after the initial Dark Days had passed.
The temptation to reach for a weapon, to have a sword in her hand, to have HER sword in her hand, was almost too much. Her hands were itching to get a hold of a weapon, her body tensing, ready to throw itself into battle. But the battle hadn't begun yet and she was trying to resist that urge to use her own sword instead of the mock-up Hephaestus had made.
She couldn't risk of using it though, not just in the off chance that one of the blessings would activate in the heat of battle, but because she knew, if she touched that blade before the attack on Thanos, she would never let it go again.
Even now, even knowing that she would need to, HAVE to, destroy that sword when all this was said and done, was eating at her, the thought of watching it melt down, of all that it represented disappearing and being taken from her...
She tried to shake her head from her thoughts, not wanting to even allow or entertain them to go down that path. It truly was a dangerous path that she walked, and she knew she was creeping ever closer to the end of one of them. All the mental reassurances she gave herself that she would be fine when this was over, when Thanos was defeated, felt weak in comparison to what she knew was a very real possibility for her after.
"How are we looking, Bruce?"
Athena looked up when she heard Natasha call that into a communication device, it was both ringing in her ear where the device was connected, and also a few feet away where Natasha was standing.
"Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it," Banner called back, and Athena could see, even from where she was sitting, a large, thick, metal suit of armor that looked like a wider version of Iron Man, running after the hovering crafts, Banner within it ready to fight, "It's so amazing! It's like being the Hulk without actually..." she didn't even flinch when he seemed to trip on something and crashed to the ground, "I'm ok. I'm ok!"
Steve shook his head, catching sight of Athena in the corner of his eye with the action, and moving to go crouch beside her, a deep frown of concern on his face when she pulled her arms away as though to hug herself more, curling her legs closer, "You going to be alright?" now that he was closer, he could see she was shaking slightly.
Athena flinched minutely, her right hand had instinctively come to rest on the sheath of her sword, and she pulled it back with a snap, her hand curling into a fist once more. She took a deep breath and looked over at Steve, "I will be, when this is over, but there's something I might need help with."
"Anything," he said resolutely, "Anything you need, Athena, anything we can do to help..."
"I need to go back to Olympus," she told him, "I need my family."
Steve nodded along with her words, a look of understanding on his face.
But Athena knew that whatever he thought he understood the situation, would never even come close. He likely thought she needed her family because of Thor, because she had lost him. It was partly for that reason, being amongst family and having that support is what anyone would need when they were grieving. But it was so much more than that. She was going to have to use her sword in this battle, she knew what it would do to her to utilize it in such a way, and she would need her family to help her through the aftermath.
"I need to take my necklace," she glanced down at the string around her neck, the bottom of the necklace disappearing into her armor, "And take it to the waterfall," for she could hear the waters even from there in the stillness before battle, "And throw it into the mist that rises from it. It will open a doorway to my home."
"Alright," Steve spoke, though there was a faint note of confusion in his voice as to why she was describing the entire process to him.
"I need you and the others to make sure that I do this, that I return home," she spoke so seriously he frowned, "No matter what I say or try to do, I need your oath. If I try to resist, do what you must, knock me out, bind me, drag me there, I don't care, just make sure the necklace reaches the mist and I'm there. My family will take over from there."
And she was sure they would, they would take one look at her and know instantly what she had done, they would know of the oaths she had broken. And, as angry and disappointed as they may be in her, the ire she would feel from them, they would still take her back. They would never leave her on Earth, it would be far too dangerous to do such a thing.
Then, once she was with them once more, she would beg of her father to open Olympus to the Asgardian refugees. She would beg that they be allowed time to mourn and heal the same as her, for Earth could never be a potential home for them, not if she was to be their Queen.
She just had to make it through this final battle first.
"Athena..." Steve began, shaking his head, an unsure look on his face.
"I need your word," Athena cut in, looking him dead in the eye, "Promise me, Steve."
Steve searched her eyes for something, she wasn't sure what, but a moment later he slowly nodded, "I promise."
"Good," she tried to smile, though she was sure it looked as weak as she felt her will was, "Then all shall be well."
Steve opened his mouth to say something, however that was the exact moment that the hovercraft began to slow and come to a stop, the other soldiers of Wakanda hopping out, leaving them little option but to follow. Steve tried not to read too much into how Athena ignored the hand he held out to her to help, pushing herself to her feet instead.
They made their way along the grass to where the soldiers were already positioning themselves into blocks, following T'Challa already in his Black Panther armor sans helmet, as he led them to the front of the main block.
"Thank you for standing with us, M'Baku," the man spoke to another large soldier dressed in furs getting his own block ready for battle. The man said something in their language, shaking T'Challa's hand, before the king looked back at the dome and the ship's surrounding it, "Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood," he vowed.
They stood there, watching as the trees just in front of the ships began to move, the ground starting to shake with the sounds of an army approaching. Within moments the soldiers of Thanos appeared at the treeline, what look like mutated creatures with multiple arms and snapping fangs rushing straight for the barrier.
"Yibambe!" T'Challa began to chant with his soldiers as the Avengers grabbed their weapons, "Yibambe! Yibambe! Yibambe!"
Athena pulled her usual sword out of her shield, moving to strap it to her left hand, gripping the blade tightly in her right, as she stared at Thanos's soldiers who had now reached the barrier and were slamming themselves against it, trying to claw their way in.
"What the hell?" the Winter Soldier murmured from a few feet away, of the same mindset as everyone else that it was a horrific sight to witness.
The creatures were throwing themselves at the dome, trying to push their way in, but every limb and body part that passed through the dome ended up being cut off. Some of the creatures even managed to get half their body wedged through before it was dismembered. But it didn't deter the others, they just kept at it.
"They're killing themselves," Okoye breathed in shock.
The front line of the blocks of soldiers quickly raised their shields when they noticed a small handful of the creatures had actually managed to get past the barrier and were heading for them, firing weapons at a few that drew near.
The Falcon flew himself just over them, launching what appeared to be heat-seeking projectiles at the stragglers, "See the teeth on those things?!" his voice called through the communicators.
"Alright, back up, Sam," War Machine responded, as he too flew along the edge of the dome, dropping more bombs on the creatures that were still partially getting through, "You'll get your wings singed."
Athena's eyes narrowed as she noticed some of the creatures on either end of the swarm had begun to make their way further from the main pile, "They're spreading out!" she called over to the others in warning.
"IF these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us," Banner voiced, "There's nothing between them and Vision."
"Then we better keep them in front of us," Captain America reasoned.
"How do we do that?" Okoye scoffed.
Black Panther was silent a moment, knowing the answer but hesitating to give it, knowing what it would mean for the safety of his people and country. But there was no other way to herd the creatures back to the center, "We open the barrier," he stated, before reaching up to tap a private communicator to the palace, "On my signal, open Northwest Section 17."
"Requesting confirmation, my King," Athena could hear a voice respond, "You said open the barrier?"
"On my signal."
A silence fell along the Avengers as they all were aware of what this would mean for Wakanda.
"This will be the end of Wakanda," the large, fur-clad soldier spoke.
But Okoye gave a worthy response, "Then it will be the noblest ending in history."
Captain America lifted his arm, triggering the shields he had been given which had spikes on the ends of them, as the rest of the Avengers got into a fighting stance.
The Black Panther stepped forward before the armies, crossing his arms before his chest, "Wakanda forever!" he cried out.
"Wakanda forever!" was the answering shout from his people before they all took off running for the dome.
"NOW!" the Black Panther shouted into his communicator, and a small portion of the dome began to open, allowing the creatures to spill in.
Athena, Captain America, and Black Panther quickly moved themselves ahead of the running army, the quickest among them. Athena, with her god-like qualities, was able to pull ahead of even them, the three of them launching themselves at the creatures. She landed the first blow, swiftly cutting off the head of one with a swipe of her sword.
From that point on it was an all-out brawl between the Avengers and the Wakandan soldiers and the creatures of Thanos. Athena, Captain America, and the Black Panther seemed to remain relatively close to one another, each of them in sight of the others out of the corner of her eye. But she quickly lost sight of all the rest, she couldn't focus on them even if she wanted to. She was surrounded by the creatures and they had to be her main priority. She swiped and slashed and ducked and skid and stabbed, the creatures no match for her prowess in battle.
She lost count of just how many creatures she had managed fell, feeling like the battle had only lasted mere moments before she heard the Black Panther's voice in her communicator, calling to his sister, "How much longer, Shuri?"
"We've barely begun, brother," was the response.
"You might want to pick up the pace!"
Athena shook her head at that, focusing back on the battle once more.
~8~
Thor had just managed to get himself onto the edge of the shutter that connected to the Neutron Star that was the heart of Nidavellir. Standing there, he was facing and feeling exactly the might of the star blazing before him. The heat alone was almost unbearable and it was just resting there, not directed at him. He looked at either side of him, where the edges of the shutter were locked in place, knowing that once he pulled on them, once he released the power of the star, it would pass straight through him to get to the forge.
When he had been on Olympus with Athena, he had accidentally touched one of the horses that once drew the Chariot of the Sun. He had burned himself quite badly on it and that only been a minor tap and felt just about as hot as what he was feeling now, facing the star. He couldn't imagine what it would be like when he actually opened the shutters and was right in the middle of its ray.
"Allfathers, give me strength," he murmured to himself, offering a small prayer to Athena as well. He hoped she would forgive him for this. If he died trying to make this weapon and did not return to her, he hoped she would forgive him for not having told her he lived a while longer.
"You understand, boy?" Eitri called down to him from the edge of the rings, "You're about to take the full force of a star. It'll kill you."
"And if I die..." Thor called back.
"Yes," Eitri spoke, a bit confused, "That's what, killing you means..."
"I meant," Thor shook his head, "If I die, make sure Athena gets Storm Breaker. I know she will be able to wield it as I could, for she was meant to hold Storm Bringer," he swallowed hard, as he realized just how much danger he might actually be in of never being returned to Athena, of forever being parted from her by Death, "If I am no longer able to protect her in body, give her my weapon so I may forever protect her in spirit."
"I will," Eitri swore.
Thor took a deep breath to prepare himself, before reaching out and grabbing either side of the shutter, pulling with all his might and closing his eyes as the star began to blaze before him. Not even a moment later he felt the burning heat of the star firing towards the forge. He couldn't stop himself from screaming at the agony of it.
"Hold it, hold it, Thor!" he could vaguely hear Eitri shouting back at him, and so he held on, thinking of everything he was doing this for, everyone he was going to save by having a weapon to stop Thanos. He thought of Athena and how this would allow him to get back to her and protect her, always.
He tried to keep his grip on the shutter, he tried to keep himself conscious, knowing that the second he let himself fall to the darkness that was closing in on him, the forge would go out once more. But, in the end, the force of the star was too much for him, and he felt his world going black as he fell off of the side of the shutter, back towards the forge.
He could vaguely see the world around him during the descent, the edge of the ring was speeding up as he drew nearer. In his ear he could hear Rocket shouting, and he was only slightly aware of the pod racing towards him, trying to catch him before he hit the forge. But there was a beam in the way that he knocked into on his way down, sending him falling straight onto the floor of the forge's ring, only a few feet away from Groot, who finally looked up from the game he was playing.
"Thor?" he could hear Rocket shouting, the creature's voice getting nearer, "Say something, come on. Thor, you ok?" there was a sound of something shattering on the floor, "I think he's dying."
"He needs the axe!" Eitri called, a thumping telling Thor, with his last moments of consciousness, that he was looking for something, "Where's the handle? Tree! Help me find the handle."
Thor's head lulled to the side, his eyes blearily blinking open to see Groot approaching the cracked open mold of the axe. The tree creature held out a hand, extending his fingers into binding around the axe's sides, yanking it together and sealing it, before chopping off his own arm to act as a handle.
With the last bit of strength he had, Thor opened his hand, trying to call the axe to him...
~8~
The Battle of Wakanda was still raging, every available Avenger besides Wanda fighting as hard as they could. Athena was trying to fight against the sensation, the narrowing of her world, the tunnel vision that seemed to be affecting her lately whenever she was in battle. She wanted to, she needed to, keep track of the other Avengers, they were her friends, she needed to make sure they were ok. But she struggled for a great deal in doing so, the enemies surrounding her making it difficult to do.
Very vaguely she noted that Banner, the Winter Soldier, Captain America, and the Black Panther, were all overwhelmed, being swarmed by the creatures. She hadn't realized until it was too late though, and she had her own enemies to deal with, she could not go assist them.
But maybe...
She sliced through one of the creatures near her, panting heavily, and looked down at her left hip where her old sword was still laying in its sheath. Her right hand was trembling with the desire to grab her old sword out and use that instead, for surely it would change the tide of this battle. Just as her resistance broke and her hand settled on the hilt of her old blade, a blast of lightning shot down from the sky into the middle of the battlefield.
And from within that blast an axe was thrown out, spinning around in a giant circle, knocking out the creatures that had overwhelmed the other Avengers, crackling with lightning itself.
She immediately took off running towards it...
"Oh, you guys are so screwed now!" Banner was laughing into the communicators, when the lightning cleared to reveal Thor a raccoon with a gun, and a tree creature standing within.
"Bring me Thanos!" Thor demanded as he stormed onto the field, charging forward with the raccoon and tree.
Thor slammed his axe against one of the nearest creatures, sending it flying away. He jumped into the air and brought the axe down once more, sending a shockwave of creatures away from him with the force of his blow.
"New haircut?" he heard someone call, and looked over to see Captain America, a little more battle-worn than he recalled and with much longer hair, standing there and nodding his head at him.
"I notice you've copied my beard," Thor shot back, gesturing to his face where he was sporting a beard as well. He stepped back suddenly to the side when he saw Groot impale three of the creatures on a single branch of his arm, "Oh, by the way, this is a friend of mine. A tree."
"I am Groot!" the tree called over.
Steve panted a moment from the battle, but moved to place a hand to his chest in return, "I am Steve Rogers..." he paused when something just past Thor's shoulder caught his eye and he smirked, "And you," he nodded at Thor, "Are in deep in trouble."
Thor frowned at that, but turned to look over his shoulder, almost jerking to the side when a sword went flying past his head. He spun back to see that it had embedded itself in a creature that had just tried to jump him from behind. He looked forward once more, just in time to catch Athena as the goddess hurled herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck so tightly he was sure he wouldn't be able to breathe, but there would be no complaints from him, not when he wound his arms around her waist so tightly he was sure he bruised her.
He could see Captain America and some fellow dressed in a black cat suit take up point on either side of them, giving them a moment even in the heat of battle for their reunion. Clearly both men realized how important this moment was for them, though he assumed it was even more important for Athena. She had a thought him dead, while he still had hope that she lived. He would not fault her for this distraction on the battlefield, though he knew she would likely beat herself up over it later. Had the roles been reversed he would have done the same and let nothing stop him from getting back to her and embracing her once more, a reassurance that she was alive and with him again.
"You're alive," he heard her breathe into his neck as she buried her face into it, there was no way he could miss the crack in her voice that near to him.
He closed his eyes for just a moment and buried his nose into her hair, squeezing her tighter, "I am never leaving you again," he swore to all the gods he knew of.
He gave himself one more moment of weakness with her, one more moment of distraction, when he pulled away to kiss her quickly and rest his forehead to hers, his hands cupping her face, his thumbs brushing away the tears that were falling from her eyes. He could hear the sounds of the battle raging around them, and he knew they didn't have much more time left before they would be needed, but he would savor every moment he could.
Athena, however, always having a mindset for battle, forced herself to pull away and look up at him, her eyes shining, "You went to Nidavellir," she shook her head, trying to focus once more.
"I needed something that could destroy Thanos," he told her quickly, "It was the only way I could allow myself to come back to you with such a delay."
She nodded, "We both thought to find a weapon strong enough to defeat him, then."
He frowned at that, his face scrunched in confusion, as far as he knew of Earth there was no such weapon to be found there, "What weapon..."
But before the question could pass his lips, there was a loud rumbling noise as the ground began shaking. Their reunion was cut short at that moment as they looked over to see the trees just outside of the dome falling to the ground before the dirt just on the inside of the dome moved like a wave, and a large object, ten mechanical wheels surrounded by spikes, dug its way up from under the barrier.
"Fall back!" the Black Panter ordered as it separated into two halves, "Fall back now!"
"After we win?" Thor looked to Athena.
She nodded, "After we win," she agreed, and the two of them took off back into battle to help, Athena grabbing her sword out of the fallen creature as she went.
"Focus all fire on the left flank, Sam," Athena could hear War Machine order, and knew that the one set of wheels was being dealt with by the two fliers among them.
"I'm doing it," Falcon called.
She turned in her focus to move for the second set of wheels that was racing straight for Okoye and the Black Widow. But just as she reached it, it was surrounded by a red light, lifted into the air, and thrown back at a swarm of the creatures. She spun to see Wanda standing in front of the two women.
"Why was she up there all this time?" Okoye huffed.
But Athena's initial reaction was not one of relief, but of dread as she turned and looked straight towards the window where the stone was being extracted from Vision, only to see the glass shatter as the robot himself dove out of it, a swarm of creatures behind him.
"Guys, we got a Vision situation here!" Falcon reported at the same time that Athena called out, "Vision's been compromised!"
"Somebody get to Vision!" Captain America ordered.
"I got him," Banner responded, rushing off.
"And me," Athena added, not wanting Banner to get overwhelmed again as he had on the field of battle.
She ran straight for the wooded area of Wakanda, where she had seen Vision fall, coming up on him right as a number of creatures jumped at Banner, taking the suit out and causing it to roll down a small hill.
"Guys, Vision needs back-up, now!" Banner shouted into the communicator.
"I'm here," Athena reported, launching herself at the creatures.
She let out a fearsome cry as she slashed and hacked her way through the creatures with reckless abandon. They were trying to claw their way towards Vision's forehead but she had learned very quickly on the main field exactly how these creatures fought. It was only a matter of moments before she had taken out every last one of them that had followed him through the window. She was sure more were about to follow, she would need to get Vision up, on his feet, and away from that area as quickly as possible.
But as she turned to face him, he was looking at her in alarm, "Athena...your eyes..."
Athena look down at her reflection in her sword, her jaw clenching when she saw what he had. She opened her mouth to explain when she heard the snarling of the creatures sounding once more and getting closer. She moved to position herself in front of Vision, her back to him, her shield up and sword ready, "Go!" she ordered, "Get out of here, now!"
She quickly resumed the fight, attacking the creatures as they hurled themselves at her and Vision, doing her best to block them from getting to him. She could hear Vision struggling behind her, could see him out of the corner of her eye as he tried to help, but it appeared that the creatures knew exactly where Vision was now and were redirecting from the main battle to join them in the woods.
But they weren't the only ones who knew where Vision was, for not even a moment later Captain America dove out of the bushes, and into the main fray.
"Get outta here!" even he ordered Vision to go for it was clear the robot was reluctant to leave them to fight alone, "Go!" he turned back to the battle, he and Athena taking out as many creatures as they could. He spun around when he heard a snarl, to see one of the creatures launching itself at him from behind, when it was stabbed through the middle by Vision himself, "I thought I told you to go!"
"We don't trade lives, Captain," Vision shook his head.
"I don't believe there's much trade left," Athena remarked, panting as she looked out into the main battle where it appeared that their side was winning, more humans left standing than creature. Further out they could see Thor, destroying the different ships that the armies had come in so they could not retreat.
As though a testament to the changing tide of the battle, Wanda landed only a few feet away, rushing to Vision's side as he knelt on the ground.
"Are you ok?" she quickly checked him over as Captain America and Athena approached. He had only just started to nod in answer, when he flinched and groaned, the stone in his forehead flashing, "What? What is it?"
Vision tensed as he looked up at Athena and Captain America, knowing exactly what the stone was trying to tell him, "He's here."
Athena and Captain America exchanged looks at that, tensing with understanding...
Thanos had arrived.
A/N: Ooh, omg, one chapter left! It's all coming down to this O.O But yay mini-reunion! :D I wanted it to be sweet, but also realistic too. As much as I would have loved a prolonged reunion, they're literally in the middle of a battle that the Avengers had gotten overwhelmed during at times, it really couldn't be THAT long as much as it broke my heart :( So I tried to get the really important moments (and a kiss!) snuck in there :) And the moment with Steve again, Athena really is going to need her family after all of this, I think :(
But oh jeez, Thanos is here...what's gonna happen next? O.O
Some notes on reviews...
I'm glad Athena's struggle comes across :) There's a lot, I think, that is sort of 'worse' or that she's handling in not a great way because she's pushing it off till the battle is finished, and it really isn't good for her to do that way :( She knows things are wrong and that she's struggling, but she's also sort of locked on to avenging Thor and stopping Thanos that it's sort of putting her priorities in a not great order :( It's definitely going to have some consequences :(
