A/N: I've seen Endgame...
7th May 2011
Heimdall stepped back as the Tesseract let out a low pulsating sound, glowing brighter as it began to fix the Bifrost. A loud cracking sound came from the bridge as it knitted itself back together, the Bifrost itself whirring as it was fixed. Heimdall felt a sense of relief wash over him as the Bifrost was finally restored, allowing Asgard control once again.
"All that's left to do is squash the uprisings," Heimdall muttered with a sigh, walking back to his usual place on the Bifrost.
23rd July 2011
Karina gripped her sword tightly as she faced off against Sif. Sweat was slick on her back and it dripped down her face. Sif yelled as she spun, her sword coming at Karina. Karina blocked the sword, the metal clanging as they met, and pushed it away, taking a step back and panting. Karina took a second to readjust the grip on her sword, wiping the sweat off her hand on her pant leg. Karina growled as she launched herself at Sif, parrying blow for blow as they did a lethal dance on the dusty ground.
All around them, soldiers had stopped their training to watch the fight. They'd all moved out of the ring and were sitting on the wall surrounding the training ring. As their swords met for a second time, Karina kicked Sif's legs from underneath her, sending the goddess sprawling onto the ground, sword falling from her hand. Karina pointed her sword at Sif's neck, a smile on her sweaty face as Sif yielded. It was at that point that the soldiers surrounding them burst into applause at the performance and Karina blushed, brushing the hair back from her forehead.
"Come on, stop dawdling." One of the elite soldiers appeared at the top of the steps and began ushering his soldiers back to training. "We all know they're brilliant, come on."
"Are we though?" Karina asked, bending down to pick her sword up off the floor. "I thought we were just average."
"Well, compared to that lot," he nodded his head to where the younger soldiers were training, "you're bloody awesome."
Karina huffed, blowing her hair out of her face, "thanks."
"I'm Cassian," he said, holding out his hand.
"Karina." Karina took his hand and shook it. "Although I assume you already knew that."
Cassian laughed, running a hand through his curly brown hair. "I thought I knew you from somewhere!"
"Oh, very funny," Karina chuckled, sheathing her sword. "Haven't you got soldiers to train?"
"Ah, yes," Cassian said, clicking his fingers. "Well then, Princess Karina," he bowed, and Karina swatted at him, "off I go." Cassian took off towards the other training ring, barking orders as soon as he was within earshot of his soldiers. Karina watched him leave and chuckled to herself as she headed in the direction of the washroom.
Karina began seeing Cassian about Asgard more and more. Whenever she went to training, he was there training his legion of soldiers. She'd even begun seeing him about the palace and made sure to shoot him a smile and say hello. Somehow, in-between their many run-ins and conversations, they'd started training together. Cassian was an amazing warrior, brute force and a steel eye made him strong and fast. Karina, however, was fast and sleek, darting out the way of his attacks before they could land. T
heir training battles often involved their fellow soldiers stopping their training and watching the two battle. Who won varied every day. Cassian one once because Thor had distracted Karina, allowing Cassian to flip her onto her back. Karina had given Thor the finger when that happened and he'd chuckled, disappearing back into the palace. When she wasn't training with Cassian, Karina trained with Thor, harnessing her powers. These sessions were always done away from the citadel in the forests where no one could get hurt. There had been a few occasions where Karina had lost focus for a moment, and it had resulted in a minor explosion that had leveled a few trees.
"You haven't had any visions for a while, have you?" Thor asked one day as they took a water break.
"No," Karina said as she took a sip from the bottle, they'd brought with them. "Which is weird – for me."
Thor chuckled, "I wouldn't worry about it, its perfectly normal to go months without any visions at all." He stood up, pulling Karina to her feet. "Let's go again."
30th August 2011
The banquet was in full swing. The band were playing a lively folk song that the majority of the soldiers were singing along, and there were dancers dotted all over the hall. Somehow, food was still coming out of the kitchens, the servants bringing out wild boar, pies, bowls of fruits and delicate deserts to line the endless tables. Karina sat at the top table in between Thor and Frigga, the food sitting in front of her untouched. She picked at a thread on her navy-blue dress, and shivered when a breezed wafted through the room, touching her open back.
"Are you alright?" Thor asked, tilting his head to talk to her.
"I'm just feeling a bit odd," Karina assured him, squeezing his hand. "Besides, if I eat anything then I might just pop out of this dress!"
Thor chuckled, turning to face Fandral who'd just asked him a question. Truth be told, Karina was feeling like shit. For the past five hours, she'd felt like she was about to pass out and whenever she stood up, the entire world spun.
"Fellow Asgardians!" Odin's voice zoned Karina back into the hall and she blinked furiously as she tried to get rid of her stinging eyes. "It is my great honour to be able to announce that my son, Thor, will be taking the lead on our mission to bring order and authority back to the Nine Realms," Odin announced. A loud cheer went up, several soldiers raised their glasses in a toast.
"Furthermore, it is my pleasure to be able to promote Sergeant Cassian Villason to Captain of the Elite where he will take command of his troops and lead them to victory in our mission to achieve peace." Karina's eyes widened in surprise at Cassian's surprise promotion. She clapped along with the rest of the hall, a smile on her face.
"I would like to propose a toast," Odin said, raising his goblet. There was the sound of chairs scraping on the floor as everyone in the hall stood. Karina picked up her goblet and stood up, trying to ignore the spots appearing in her vision as she stood. "To peace – long may it reign!"
"To peace!"
Karina suddenly felt her body jolt as if it'd been electrocuted. The spots in her vision went from black to red. Not the usual purple she was used to. Just like blood, the red filled her vision and her body jolted. The goblet she was holding fell from her hand, falling to the floor with a loud clang. Silence fell in the hall as all eyes turned to her.
"Karina, what's wrong?' Thor asked gently, placing his goblet down on the table and turning to her worriedly. Karina opened her mouth to reply, but felt her knees give way, her body falling to the floor. She caught herself on the table as her vision was obscured by a red mist.
Everything was red. There was no other way to describe what Karina was seeing. It was all just red. She looked down at her hands and let out a shocked gasp. Her veins were bright red, the liquid moving through her skin as she turned her hand over. Karina looked down at the floor and saw a familiar symbol carved into the rock she was standing on.
All around her, red fragments floated about, glinting under an invisible source of light. They looked like broken stain glass pieces, but before Karina's eyes, they drifted towards one another, forming a large, red cloud. As all the fragments melded into one, large thing Karina faltered and took a step back. She recognised this thing from one of her many books.
"The Aether," Karina whispered, mesmerized by the object floating in front of her. She reached out a hand to touch the object, unable to control herself. The Aether wrapped itself around Karina's forearm, gliding over her skin and dancing up to her shoulder, to her head. It was only as the Aether began wrapping itself around her head that Karina began to realise that this wasn't right. She began to fight back against it, but as it pierced her brain, she felt her body go limp and fall to the floor, head smacking against stone as the Aether invaded her body.
Karina gasped, stumbling forward into the table as she came back to reality. The table jolted, knocking over several goblets and candles as Karina panted. Thor put a gentle hand on his sisters back as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, a tremor running through her body.
"I'm," Karina inhaled sharply, clenching her fists tightly as her head pounded, "fine."
"And I'm Tony Stark," Thor joked, and Karina huffed a laugh, her eyes still shut. "Come on." He wrapped an arm around Karina's waist, guiding her from the hall. Karina grasped her brother's arm as she stumbled, falling in to him slightly as they walked.
"I've got you," Thor whispered, tightening his grip on his little sister and pressing a kiss to her temple, "I've got you."
29th September 2011
"Wait, what?"
"It's true," Cassian shrugged as he helped Karina up of the floor.
"And why am I only now hearing of this?"
"Because it was embarrassing and stupid and something a rarely tell people."
Karina stared at her friend as he picked his shield up off the floor. "So, hang on, let me get this straight. You mistook your ex-girlfriend, who is in your legion so that must be really awkward, for an evil guy and tackled her off the third floor balcony, before punching her in the face and giving her a black eye?"
"Kind of, yeah," Cassian mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "We might, have also, been, you know," he gestured wildly, and Karina's eyes widened.
"You tackled her off the balcony during sex?" Karina yelled. A bit too loudly.
"Yeah, I still have the scars," a voice called from the ring and Karina turned to see Elodie standing there, blonde hair braided back, glaring at Cassian.
"Hang on, Cassian's the 'sex tackler'?" A soldier yelled, jeering when Elodie nodded. It didn't take long before the entire legion was taking the piss out of their commander.
Karina turned to Cassian, who's face had turned murderous, and immediately realised she'd gone too far. "Cassian, I'm –"
"Yeah, whatever, Your Highness."
Karina stood there, stunned as Cassian shouldered her, stalking off to try and gain back his authority over his legion.
1st October 2011
Karina watched as the light elf refugees milled around the courtyard, their belongings strewn across the cobbles. Ever since the Bifrost collapse, a group calling themselves the "Marauders" had been terrorizing the realms – destroying towns, stealing money and valuables and murdering anyone who tried to stop them. Alfheim had been the latest realm to be attacked, the citizens seeking safety in Asgard. They'd flooded the Bifrost almost overnight, families swarming the citadel looking for shelter and warmth. Karina felt a shiver run down her back as she caught a glimpse of the soldiers marching a new prisoner down to the dungeons and pulled the sleeves of her jumper down to her hands.
She'd scooped her hair up into a bun and had thrown on a pair of brown trousers, black boots and a thick, woolen shawl that morning, knowing she was going to be busy.
"Princess?"
Karina looked over her shoulder and saw Cassian standing in the doorway, a grim look on his face. "What is it?" Karina asked, ignoring the use of her title and turning around to face her friend – was he still her friend after what? - properly.
"The AllFather has summoned you, The Warrior's Three, Lady Sif and Thor to the throne room," Cassian replied, stepping to the side and gesturing to the door.
"Did he tell you why?" Karina asked as she walked towards the throne room. Cassian shook his head and Karina sighed softly, straightening out her jacket as they walked. "We, uh, haven't seen each other for a while," Karina said quietly as they walked, swinging her arms by her side.
"No, we haven't," Cassian replied stiffly, and Karina rolled her eyes, groaning under her breath. "You're not still pissed about –"
"Of course, I am, Karina! Cassian yelled, ignoring the people staring at them as he turned to face her. "You embarrassed me in front of my legion. I am now a laughing stock."
"It wasn't on purpose," Karina exclaimed, spinning on her heel and pointing a finger at him. "It was an accident."
"You know," Cassian began, crossing his arms, "you think that because your royalty, you're above everyone else." Karina stared at him open mouth, hands on her hips as he ranted on. "Hate to break this to you, Princess, you're not. You're ordinary, just like the rest of us."
Karina sucked on her teeth, shaking her head. "You think you know me, but you don't. And believe me," she chuckled humorlessly, "if I could be ordinary, I would be. I didn't wish to have magical powers that cause me pain almost on a daily basis. I didn't ask to have my freedom restricted. I didn't ask for my brother to become a murderer or for all those innocent people to die. I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS!" Karina swallowed against the lump in her throat as Cassian gaped at her, shoulder's falling down as he the full impact of his words sunk in.
Karina growled softly, storming off towards the throne room, a slightly purple hue about her person. Anyone who saw her as she marched down the corridors quickly moved out of the way, avoiding her wrath. She threw open the throne room doors, avoiding the looks the occupants gave her.
"Are we killing anyone?" Karina asked as she stopped in front of her father, arms crossed, "because I really want to."
"What's gotten into you?" Sif asked as she, and the rest of the Warriors Three and her brother, stared at the angry goddess.
"Some stupid man," Karina muttered, glaring at the floor.
"Right," Thor said slowly, looking between his sister and father. "Shall we?"
Odin cleared his throat, sitting up straighter in his chair, "As you all know, Anaheim is under attack. Asgard needs to be seen to be defending our realms and as a result of that, I am sending you to go and squash this rebellion. I am also sending two legions to go with you as a backup."
"We will do our duty, AllFather," Fandral said as he, and the rest of the warriors, bowed respectively. They all rose and began heading towards the armoury, Karina walking slightly further ahead than the rest of them. To say she was pissed was an understatement. Yes, she'd blurted out a slightly embarrassing secret of his in front of his legion and, yes, they'd fun at him but that wasn't a reason to snap at her.
"Right," Thor said, grabbing Karina's wrist as she headed towards her armour, "what's going on with you?"
"Nothing," Karina muttered, jerking her wrist away from her brother and grabbing her armour. "Cassian just said some…things."
"Is this going to affect your ability to work with him?" Karina's head turned to face her brother so fast, Sif was certain she heard it crack.
"Of course not! I'm not a child," Karina growled, pulling her armour on over her head. Thor raised his eyebrows, eyeing his sister carefully as she yanked on the straps of her gauntlets, tightening them up. Karina flexed her fingers, purposely ignoring the looks her brother kept giving her as he talked to Volstagg.
Karina huffed as she began to quickly braid half her hair back, tying the rest up in a bun with a hair tie. She unsheathed her swords, swinging them around as she checked for any damage, before putting them in their sheaths on her back.
"If you want me to murder anyone," Sif said, standing next to Karina as the latter hid a few knives in her boots, "just let me know."
"You know," Karina sighed as she cracked her knuckles, "I might just have to take you up on that offer." Sif chuckled quietly as the goddess left the armoury and headed towards the entrance to the bridge, ignoring the funny looks the soldiers were giving her.
God, I wish I was back on Earth
Avengers Tower, New York City, New York, USA, Earth
" Clint!" Natasha growled as she slammed shut the cupboard doors. "Stop nicking my coffee!"
"That wasn't me!" Clint yelled back, cursing loudly when he crashed his virtual car, killing his game character immediately. "It was probably Stark."
"What was me?" Tony sauntered into the room, falling into a nearby recliner, kicking it back.
"Natasha's favourite coffee has gone missing," Clint replied as he waited for his game to reload, "and she's blaming us."
"If Karina was here, she'd be blaming you too," Natasha called as she grumpily made a pot of coffee with the regular stuff. "I hate being the only girl."
"I do miss her," Tony sighed wistfully as he watched Clint shooting people on the T.V screen. "I wonder what she's doing," Natasha replied, drumming her fingers on the countertop.
"Probably sitting in a throne, looking stately," Clint grunted, swearing when his head was nearly blown off.
Karina was looking anything but stately. She had a large gash on her forehead that had stained the hair around it red and kept dripping into her left eye, dust coated her armour and clothes and she'd lost a sword to Fandral at some point, the warrior grabbing it off the floor and running off with it before she could tell him it wasn't his. Blowing a piece of hair out of her face, Karina sat back on her haunches as she finished with one of the Marauders.
Three hours.
They'd been there for three hours and had made things considerably worse. Karina was impressed that the Temple of Virtue behind her was still standing, considering a rather large rock – followed by a distinct hammer – had crashed through its walls. If anyone ever asked Karina what she liked most about Earth, she'd definitely say that it was their communicational devices. She missed having an ear piece, especially as she caught a glimpse of several of the Marauders seeking protection inside the ancient temple that the Light Elves had abandoned. She missed it even more as she began running into the temple, sword raised, ducking behind pillars as she went.
There were voices in a distant room, yelling at someone who simply grunted in response. As Karina was about to attack the room, there was a thud from the basement. She turned to face the stairs that led down to the basement, tightly griping her sword as she snuck down the stairs. Another thud echoed up the stairs and Karina ducked into the shadows, trying to breathe quietly as she peeked around the corner. Standing in the middle of the room was a woman in what looked like a Kree suit, except the colours were wrong.
"This planet is under Asgard's control," Karina announced, emerging into the room and pointing her sword at the woman's back, "surrender."
"I'm not one of them," the woman said, turning around to face Karina, hands raised in surrender, "I'm here to help."
"Name?
"Carol Danvers, a former member of Starforce."
"You're a Kree?" Karina questioned, eyes furrowing in curiosity.
"Kree-Human hybrid," Carol corrected with a smile. "I go solo now."
Karina stared at the woman in front of her and slowly lowered her sword. "So, you're a space avenger?"
"I'm a what now?"
"Avenger," Karina repeated, "defending other planets like I do on Earth. There's a whole team of us called the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D put us together."
"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Carol crossed her arms. "Tell me, does Fury still work there?"
"Work there? He runs it," Karina scoffed. "Hang on." Her eyes widened as she registered what Carol had said. "You know Fury?"
"Yeah, he helped me a while back defend the Earth from the Kree invasion. How's his eye?"
Karina gasped, "That was you?"
"What? No, it was Goose." Karina stared at her. "Ya know, goose, the Flerken." Carol made a gesture that looked a lot like her impression of a Flerken attacking.
"There's a Flerken on Earth?"
"Yeah, she ate the Tesseract and scratched Fury's eye out," Carol explained.
"Scratched – what, how, Tesseract?" Karina shook her head, rubbing her eyes, "this is not what I expected to happen today."
Silence fell between the two women, broken occasionally by the fight going on above them. "So," Carol began, drawing out the word, "you're an Asgardian?" She said, swinging her arms by her side.
"Yeah," Karina sighed, "I'm Karina," she held out her hand.
"Carol," Carol said, shaking it, "although we've already done that."
A sudden explosion rocked the temple, sending clouds of dust cascading down onto the women. Karina raised her sword, purple hue enveloping her hands as Carol moved to stand next to her, a distinct glow about her persona. Karina stared at the Kree-human next to her, eyes wide.
"You…glow?"
"So do you," Carol quipped, nodding towards Karina's glowing hands.
"Eh," Karina said, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly, "comes with the job."
"Check down there!" Both women looked up at the stairs as several pairs of footsteps began walking down them, approaching them.
"Hide or confront?" Karina asked as they moved into the middle of the room, back to back.
"I say confront," Carol replied as the footsteps got louder. "Besides, we both glow and you've got a sword, how hard can it be?"
There was a roar and they slowly turned to face the staircase where a large rock man stood next to two dozen Marauders, all armed and angry. They turned around and saw another two dozen men behind them, boxing them in.
"You were saying?" Karina muttered, sizing up the men in front of her as she swung her sword around.
"How important is this temple?" Carol asked suddenly, looking around. "Uh, in the grand scheme of things?" Karina asked and Carol nodded, "not that important."
"Then get ready to blow it to kingdom come," Carol replied, her body beginning to glow brighter. As the warriors began to march forward, Karina and Carol's glows began to get brighter, the two merging into one as they summoned all their powers. The structures of the temple began to rumble, chunks of rock falling off the walls and landing around them with a thud. The Marauders in front of them began to look around worriedly as the rumbling increased.
"NOW!" Carol yelled and together, the two warriors threw their hand up, sending their powers up into the ceiling. The burst of power shot through the ceiling, the stone cracking as their powers surged through it. It didn't take long before the supports of the temple began to collapse and soon the entire building was collapsing in on itself. Karina quickly threw up a forcefield as the rubble began to fall on to them, straining against the weight of the century's old temple.
Meanwhile, on the main battlefield, everyone stopped as a large earthquake rocked the ground, knocking a few warriors over. Thor looked up; eyes wide as the temple in front of him began to collapse in on itself. He took a few steps back, eyes locking with Sif as the two shared the same thought.
"Has anyone seen Karina?" Thor yelled, voice cracking slightly.
"Not recently," Hogun called, "I last saw her running into," he trailed off, eyes wide as he quietly said, "the temple."
Thor turned and stared in horror as the temple finally collapsed, sending a large cloud of dust into the air. An eerie silence fell as everyone simple stared at what was once the Temple of Virtue, now rendered to simply dust and rubble. Sif was the first one to snap out of the horror trance, ordering the soldiers to begin digging through the rubble, searching for anyone who might still be alive.
Fandral and Volstagg ordered anyone not digging to search for any remaining Marauders, the majority of them having fled the planet when the temple collapsed. Thor, frozen where he stood, simply continued to stare.
With a loud grunt, Karina pushed the large piece of rubble blocking their exit, sending it tumbling down the pile and onto the grassy floor. Blowing her hair out of her face, Karina clambered out of the hole they'd hidden in, surveying the damage as she crouched down and hauled Carol out and onto the rubble. The two of them fell back against what had been a statue of the Light Elf goddess, Elliana panting and giggling.
"That was mad," Karina breathed, giggling furiously when she glanced at Carol.
"I've done madder," Carol replied, chuckling. "It appears to have worked, though," she added, looking around and seeing no sign of any more Marauders.
Karina sighed, resting her head on the stone behind her, "One realm down, who knows how many more to go."
Carol patted Karina on the shoulder as she stood up, holding out a hand for the goddess. "You'll be fine," Carol said, dusting herself down. "I'm presuming you won't be staying to help tidy up?"
"Correct," Carol smiled, climbing off the rubble pile, "there's plenty more planets out there to save, Karina."
"Don't I know it!" Karina yelled back with a smirk.
"I'll see you around, Avenger," Carol winked, turning and running towards the tree line before launching herself into the sky, becoming a tiny dot as she flew off to defend the next planet.
Karina exhaled, looking around in dismay. "I'd better not have lost that bloody sword," she muttered, crouching down and looking through the rubble. Letting out a triumph, "Ahah!" Karina pulled her sword from underneath the crumbled stone, wiping most of the dust off on her pant leg as she stood up.
"Keep searching!"
Karina's head shot up as she heard Fandral's voice coming from the other side of the temple. Realising that she should probably re-assure her brother and friends that she was fine, Karina jumped down from the ruins and jogged over to the scarred land that had become their battlefield.
"Thor!" Karina called as she spotted her brother looking murderous and upset, standing in the middle of the field. Thor's eyes widened as he saw his sister running towards him and he met her halfway, scooping her up into his arms and hugging her tightly. Karina squeezed her brother tightly, blowing his hair out of her face as he hugged her.
"What happened?" Thor asked, setting her down on the ground and putting his hands on her cheeks as he looked her over.
"I was surrounded," Karina began, swatting her concerned brother away, "and I didn't see any other way out other than destroying the temple."
"I thought you were dead," Thor muttered, hugging his sister again, a hand on her hair as she hugged him back.
"Well, I'm not," Karina replied, releasing herself from Thor's grasp and looking around at the battleground. "Are we done?"
"I believe so," Thor looked around, surveying the damage. Karina sighed, nodding as she sheathed her sword and looked around the field watching as the soldiers rounded up the remaining Marauders, chaining them up and gathering them by the Bifrost site, ready to move them to Asgard. They'd made a mess of the planet; fires were burning everywhere and the temple was a pile of rubble. A few Light Elves were dotted about, weeping over the loss of their religious temple.
She caught a glimpse of Cassian, covered in dirt and blood, rounding up the Marauders. He looked over his shoulder at her, giving her a single nod. Karina returned the gesture, a smile forming on her face when he turned around as she realised he'd forgiven her. Smiling, she turned around to Thor who give her a questioning look before shaking his head and disappearing off to go and help Sif.
Karina noticed Fandral struggling with a group of Marauders and ran over, whipping out her sword and yelling at them to get back into line and to fucking behave. She rolled her eyes as one of the Marauders whistled at her, sending him a glare as the Bifrost came down, enveloping Karina, Fandral and the Marauders and transporting them back to Asgard. Where there were over a dozen more Marauders waiting to be taken to the dungeons. Karina groaned, psyching herself up as she readied to yell at them. "It's going to be a long day," Karina muttered, yelling as one of the Marauders started attacking a nearby guard.
2 years later
Karina sat on a bench outside the throne room, the doors to the balcony wide open. She fiddled with the belt of her dress, eyes down on the ground as she sat there.
"Karina?"
Karina's head shot up, smiling when she saw her mother standing in the doorway leading to the throne room. Karina hastily stood up, her dress falling to her ankles, and walked up to her mother.
"Are you going in?"
Her mother nodded, grasping Karina's shaking hand in hers. "I'll try, darling," her mother smiled, "but I can't promise."
"I know you can't," Karina replied, sighing.
Frigga squeezed her hand and began walking into the throne room. Karina watched as her mother disappeared around the corner and she sat back down on her bench to resume her watch.
"Loki."
Loki looked up from where he was being led into the throne room, chained up and guarded by four soldiers. Lining the walls were even more soldiers, all armed, ready to restrain Loki should he try anything.
"Hello, mother," Loki smiled, chains clanking as he walked forward, "have I made you proud?"
"Please don't make this worse," Frigga whispered, clasping her shaky hands together as she looked at her son.
"Define worse," Loki questioned with a smirk, knowing he was beginning to annoy Odin.
"Your sister –"
"Enough!" Odin boomed making Frigga jump slightly. "I will speak to the prisoner alone."
Frigga took one last look at Loki and quickly left the room, her footsteps echoing around the vast room as she walked away, the door banging loudly as it shut behind her.
Loki laughed, "I really don't see what all the fuss is about." His chains clanked as he shrugged, his guards becoming defensive when he moved forward, their spears pointing at his back.
"Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes? Wherever you go there is war, ruin and death," Odin said, looking down on his adopted son from his throne.
"I went down to Midgard to rule the people of Earth as a benevolent god," he paused and looked Odin in his good eye, "just like you."
"We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do," Odin replied, refusing to raise to the bait Loki was clearly setting out for him.
"Give or take 5000 years," Loki rolled his eyes, chains clanking as he clasped his hands together.
"All this because Loki desires a throne."
"It is my birthright," Loki growled, eyes glinting with rage.
"Your birthright," Odin spat, "was to die as a child." He sighed quietly, "cast out onto a frozen rock," he continued softly, the rage from earlier gone. "If I had not taken you in you would not be here now to hate me."
"If I am for the axe, then for mercy's sake, just swing it," Loki replied monotonously. "It's not that I don't love our little talks it's just … I don't love them."
"Frigga and Karina are the only reason's you're still alive and you will never see them again." Loki stiffened at the mention of his sister, hands clenched tightly as he held back his anger. "You will spend the rest of your day in the dungeons."
"And what of Thor?" Loki spat. "You will make that witless oaf king while I rot in chains? And Karina? Ambassador for Midgard?" Loki chuckled darkly, "how pathetic."
"Thor must strife to undo the damage you've done. He will bring order to the Nine Realms and then, yes. He will be King." Odin paused, "and once that is done, Karina will be left to go wherever she feels she is needed. And if that is Midgard, she will go there."
Loki said nothing. He simply stared at the floor, hiding the fact that his eyes were glistening at the fact he'd probably never see his little sister again. He inhaled sharply, lifting his head to meet his father's gaze. "So be it."
Thwunk
Karina huffed as she relaxed her stance, dropping her right arm to her side as she stared at the target where her knife was sticking out. She turned around, grabbing a second knife off the table next to her. Karina breathed out as she repositioned herself, grip on the knife tight. She took a breath in, eyeing up the target. As she let loose her breath, she threw the knife, a small sense of triumph arising inside her when she saw it land next to the first knife.
"Throwing knives? What happened to the sword?" Karina chuckled as she picked up another knife, feeling its weight as she held it.
"I care about my sword," she replied as she threw the knife, cursing silently when it landed at the bottom of the target, "I don't care what happens to the knives." She quickly threw another knife, letting out an angry scream when it completely missed the target, landing in the wooden leg instead.
"Hey, hey," Cassian said, walking up behind Karina and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, "calm down."
"Calm down?!" Karina whirled around and Cassian took a quick step back, hands up in surrender. "My brother is being locked up for life, I will never get to see him again and you're telling me to calm down?" She sighed shakily, fiddling with the end of her braid. "He's my brother, Cassian, despite it all, I still love him." Cassian sighed, wrapping his arms around his friend and Karina rested her head on his chest as she swallowed against the lump in her throat.
"Families are shit, trust me, I know." He rested his head on top of hers, rubbing her back gently as Karina let out a broken sob.
"I miss them," Karina whispered, and Cassian knew she didn't mean Thor and her fellow warriors.
As much as she hated to admit it, she still loved Loki and finding out he was going to be locked up for the rest of his life hurt. Yes, he'd done unspeakable things but a part of her was in stupid denial, refusing to acknowledge what he'd done even though she'd been there. She'd fought in the battle. And when she met the Avengers, she finally felt as if she'd found somewhere where she could be Karina. No Princess Karina, warrior or Goddess of Fire. Just Karina. No one had any expectations of her, they didn't pander to her every need, they didn't ask questions, they simply let her be her.
But then she had to come back to Asgard and sort out another mess, despite the fact she'd just survived a full-scale Alien invasion. Barely having any time to come to terms with her emotions and a new outlook on life.
"I'm fine," Karina muttered, wiping her eyes and stepping away from Cassian.
"I know," Cassian replied softly, moving to lean against a pillar as Karina retrieve the knives from the target. He stayed there, watching as Karina threw knife after knife at the board, said nothing when she let loose a scream and blasted the target – and the majority of the surrounding plants – with her magic, burning them away. Karina fell to her knees, panting hard as tears streamed down her face as the reality of everything that had happened finally sunk in.
The night was filled with the cheers of the soldiers celebrating the defeat of the Marauders and that peace had, once again, settled over the Nine Realms. Volstagg let out a roar of laughter as he finished his tenth drink of the night, throwing the mug to the floor much to the delight of the crowd. Fandral chuckled, two women, sitting on his lap, as he watched his friend re-tell the many stories that had come from their battles.
But not everyone was celebrating.
Thor glanced at his sister. She hadn't said a single word the entire night, barely touching any food and occasionally sipping on her drink. Instead of the usual extravagant dresses she wore to the banquets, she was wearing a plain, navy dress with long sleeves and an open back. She'd scooped her hair to the side with a gilded comb, but other than that, there was no sparkle on her.
Thor's hand found Karina's under the table and he squeezed it tightly, reminding her that he was there. Karina squeezed back, turning to face her brother with a small smile. Knowing that neither of them felt like celebrating, Thor stood up, holding his arm out for Karina. Together, the two of them left the hall, Fandral giving them a sympathetic smile, patting Thor on the back as he passed.
Karina sat down on a bench on the outside balcony, watching the floating orbs of light as Thor spoke to Sif. She wanted to be anywhere by Asgard. Wanted to be anywhere but here because here was where it all went wrong. She let out a deep breath as she stared out to space, wondering what was going on Earth and how her friends were. Karina knew that she had a role to fulfill and couldn't leave yet, but the promise of one day being able to leave didn't stop the itch that was yelling at her to abandon everything and run back to New York.
"Ria," Thor called softly. Karina looked at her brother, standing up and taking his offered arm as they made their way down to the Bifrost. This had been their routine for a while now. Every night they'd meet and go down to the Observatory where Thor would ask after Jane and Karina the Avengers.
It helped Thor feel better about abandoning Jane, listening to Heimdall tell him all about her adventures around the globe as she tried to figure out if and when Thor was coming back. He also had the same lovestruck smile on his face when he listened to Heimdall and Karina was so happy to see him happy. Karina asked after the Avengers, not because she felt guilty, but because she knew how dangerous their jobs were. She needed to know that when she did go back it wasn't going to be to no one.
They also took the chance to learn more about their universe, about their world. If Thor was destined to be King, he needed to know about what he was going to be projecting. Heimdall explained to them all about the random occurrences that happened in space, never complaining when they asked questions or didn't understand something. He encouraged them to learn and supported them every time.
Which is why, every night, they made the trek down the bridge where it all went wrong.
"You're late," Heimdall called as they finally entered the Observatory.
"Merriment can sometimes be a heavier burden than battle," Thor sighed, approaching Heimdall.
Then you're both doing one of them incorrectly."
\Thor chuckled, looking out into space, Karina by his side. "How fare the stairs?"
"Still shining," Heimdall replied quietly. "From here I can see Nine Realms and ten trillion souls." Heimdall glanced at the siblings as he drove his sword into the Bifrost, starting it up as it began to move, revealing the stars in front of them. "You remember what I told you of the Convergence?"
"Yes, the alignment of the worlds," Thor replied, nodding, "it approaches, doesn't it?"
"The universe hasn't seen this marvel since before my watch began," Heimdall began, eyes back on the expansive space before them. "Few can sense, even fewer can see it. A world that's infected can be dangerous." A small smile formed on his face as he stared at the stars. "It is truly beautiful."
Silence fell on them as they stared out at the space, watching as stars blinked in and out of existence. Karina's eyes widened as she took it all in, awe written all over her face.
"I see nothing," Thor replied after a moment. Heimdall chuckled at Thor's puzzled expression as the god sighed.
"I can," Karina whispered as she watched the stars slowly moving. Heimdall looked at her, shock on his face as she stared at the sky, unblinking. "It's magnificent."
"How come Karina can see it and I can't?" Thor asked, turning to face the Gatekeeper.
"Perhaps because the Convergence isn't the beauty you seek," Heimdall replied and Thor chuckled quietly, swatting Karina when she smirked, giving him a knowing look.
"How is she?" He asked it so gently, scared that Heimdall would have bad news for him.
Karina peeled her eyes away from the stars, watching Heimdall as he smiled. She could see Thor's shoulders relax at Heimdall's smile and Karina could tell how much he cared for Jane.
"She's quite clever, your mortal. She doesn't know it yet, but she studies the Convergence as well. Even …"
"What?" Thor asked tentatively, worry on his face.
"I can't see her," Heimdall said quietly, eyes frantically searching the skies for any sign of Jane. Karina and Thor shared a look, both showing equal amounts of panic in their faces.
"Where is she?"
Karina tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Thor to appear back in Asgard with – she was presuming – Jane. Thor had immediately gone down to Midgard to check on Jane and Karina took the chance to disappear back up to the palace and get changed into something more comfortable. In the end, she'd decided upon a red silk halter neck dress with cold shoulder sleeves and a highly embellished gold belt. She'd released her hair from the clip and had it tucked behind both ears, running an anxious hand through it every so often as she resisted the temptation to begin pacing around the observatory.
"Stop worrying," Heimdall called suddenly, causing Karina to jump slightly.
Choosing to ignore his words, instead giving him a pointed look, Karina began chewing on her thumbnail as the Bifrost whirled into life, the bright light blinding them. Karina vaguely made out a large object coming towards her as she ducked out of the way, starring in surprise at what appeared to be the front bumper of a police car as Thor and Jane appeared.
"We have to do that again," Jane gasped, eyes wide. She faltered when she saw Heimdall standing in the middle of the room and gave him an awkward wave. "Hi."
"Welcome to Asgard," Heimdall said as he withdrew the sword from the Bifrost, watching in amusement as Jane looked around in awe.
"We're you trying to kill me?" Karina groaned as she stumbled to her feet, glaring at her brother as he smiled sheepishly at her.
"Karina!" Jane exclaimed, launching herself at the woman. Karina chuckled as she hugged Jane back, happy to see her again.
"I heard you've been causing chaos," she said fondly as she took a step back, smiling as Thor came and put a protective arm around Jane's shoulders.
"Maybe," Jane replied, drawing out the word, much to Karina's amusement.
"Something's wrong with her," Thor suddenly said, glancing from Jane to Karina, "I have no idea what it is." Karina looked at her brother in confusion and he sighed, "sorry about this."
Karina had no idea what happened next. One minute she was standing next to Jane, the next she was falling against the Observatory wall as a red mist surrounded Jane who was lying on the floor.
"What?" Karina stared as Thor helped Jane up, turning to look at his sister, a slightly guilty expression on his face as he hurried over to Karina, helping her up. "Oh Jane, you've been causing far more trouble than I thought."
A/N: So a lot happened in this chapter and I did contemplate splitting it into two but decided it was easier to leave it as one chapter. Cassian is going to be a fairly significant character during Dark World and Ragnarok and I was excited to introduce him into the story.
Also, I am an impatient human and I couldn't wait to bring Carol (aka the queen of the universe) into Warrior hence the little cameo in this chapter.
If anyone wants to pop in PM and scream about Endgame, feel free. Just don't spoil it in the reviews, that's not cool.
'till next time!
Incorrect Quote:
Karina: Look at you. Always plotting. What happened to my fun big brother?
Loki: Fun? I was never fun. You take that back.
