Chapter 53
Vormir
They wasted no time to get supplies loaded and traveled to Vormir. They scanned the void area first to make sure there were no ships lying in wait to ambush them.
After several days' worth of exploration, they were confident that no one was about and headed towards the planet.
They spent another full day scanning the surface to figure out the best place to land.
During this time, Zara sat in the furthest corner of the ship and pulled out a pen and a notebook. She had vowed to never write stuff down, for many reasons, but now she began writing in earnest. She had a gut feeling and it wasn't a good one.
The landing was uneventful. The surface of Vormir was unremarkable and boring. Zara was torn between staying in the ship and writing, or go explore.
In the end, she followed along, but packed her book in her backpack and shrugged it on.
They headed towards the closest area that seemed promising. Although it seemed uninhabited, the sensor readings revealed a staircase. Since the peak was too small to land on, they had to make their way on foot.
Zara found it very difficult to keep up. She moaned in pain and panted heavily. She began to crawl up the stairs on all fours, lagging further and further behind.
Rocket kept going, and ignored her. He sniffed the air and figured if she really wanted to reach the top, then she'd have to find her own way.
Thor was more sympathetic, and helped pull her along.
About halfway up, he suggested she rest. She sat on the stone step and nodded. She was completely out of breath.
She watched Thor disappear around the bend. He would easily catch up to Rocket with his longer legs.
Zara waited until she had caught her breath, and continued up the stairs on hands and knees.
At the top, Rocket and Thor stood and stared at the "caretaker". He seemed to have no flesh on his head, just a red skull.
What's more, he called them by name, even though neither had offered theirs.
"How do you know us?" Thor demanded.
"I know everyone by name who visits here. It is my curse. If you come seeking the Soul Stone, you are too late. It is gone."
"We know that genius! Tell us something we don't know." Rocket muttered angrily.
"What would you like to know?"
"Who are you?" Thor asked.
"I am the caretaker of this place. I am cursed to remain here for all eternity for my transgression."
"And what transgression would that be?"
"I tried to control the Tesseract, but I failed. My enemy and I fought, but I lost. It transported me here."
During the conversation, Zara had finally managed to crawl the rest of the way up. She panted on her knees as she peered at the strange being talking to Thor and Rocket.
"Ah, I see Zara has finally joined us."
Zara's breath froze for a heartbeat, and her head came up sharply. What are they talking about?
She hunkered down as far as possible.
"We know Thanos has the Soul Stone." Thor stated. "We want to know where he is."
"And what would you do once you found him?"
"Defeat him!" Thor pronounced defiantly.
"You cannot defeat him. He possesses all of the Infinity Stones."
"Leave that part to us. We just need to know where he is." Rocket added.
"He is nowhere and everywhere."
"That makes no sense." Rocket shook his head.
"With the Infinity Stones, he can move through time and space in an instant."
"So we've discovered. We just need to know where to start." Thor confirmed.
Zara crawled up behind Thor. "How did he get the stone?" She squeaked out.
"He had to sacrifice the thing he loved the most. The stone exacts a heavy price; a soul for a soul."
"Who did he sacrifice?"
"I believe her name was Gamora."
"Gamora's dead?" Rocket asked. "Gamora's dead?"
"She is part of the Soul Stone."
"Stop talking in riddles! Is she alive or dead?"
"She's down there." The Red Skull pointed over the edge of the cliff.
Rocket walked to the edge and saw Gamora's lifeless body lying on the face of the stone below. "She's dead! She's dead! He killed her!"
"Her soul lives on in the Soul Stone."
"How do we get her out?" Zara asked.
Rocket turned on Zara. "What's the matter with you? Don't you understand what dead means? She's dead; there's no coming back!"
"That is incorrect. Trade one soul for another and they can come back; a soul for a soul. That is the price the stone requires."
All three were silent as they thought over the revelation.
Rocket thought of Groot.
Thor thought about his people.
Zara thought about Bucky.
"Where would he go?" Zara asked him.
"Home, I would think. He would go to Titan."
"Well, then, that's where we're headed." Rocket declared.
"Be careful seeking him out. He can destroy you in a heartbeat."
"We know." Thor turned and helped Zara along back down the long staircase.
The Red Skull looked at the place where they had just moments ago stood. "Good luck, little one."
Rocket prepared the ship for take-off, with Thor acting as co-pilot.
Zara pulled out her notebook and began writing as fast as she could. I don't have much time to finish this. She thought.
She had already written the dedication on the second page. On the third page, she left some directions. The title page was self-explanatory. She now flipped to the page where she'd left off. With tears in her eyes, she began telling of her life; from childhood, to her capture, to the brutal training she endured, to her being sold from master to master, and all the pain and torture she'd suffered all the years of her life. She was desperate to write it all down.
Fueled by her fear and determination, she wrote all the rest of the day and halfway into the night. Her story, her life, now needed to be told, no matter how painful.
She would write as much as she could until Thanos was found. She hoped she would be able to express all her feelings clearly; the pain, the despair, the fear and the grief over the losses she'd suffered. She lost her parents. She lost her innocence. She lost her fellow "inmates".
She wrote about the girl who was so distraught over being a slave and having been brutalized that she jumped out the window and ended her life. As her blood leaked out of her mangled body several stories below, the remaining girls peered out the windows. She wrote how they had all been punished and bars installed on the outside of the building.
She wrote about her own desperate attempt to end her life without success.
She had ripped a table cloth off the masters' dining room table and spun it into a rope. She climbed up on the table and tied it to the fancy, glittering chandelier. The other end she tied around her throat, and flung herself off.
The chandelier ripped out of the ceiling as she plunged to the floor. Zara hit her head on the table and knocked herself out.
She got punished for ruining the chandelier. She got punished for bleeding all over the carpet and the tablecloth. She got punished for trying to escape her life.
She spent weeks in and out of the infirmary. Each punishment was separate and required separate healing time.
Then after she had healed, she was forced to entertain the masters' guests.
The men forced themselves on her.
She wrote about how she came to be taught to write and spell. She wrote about the fears they all had about being caught.
She wrote it all down. She swiped the tears from the pages when she could no longer hold them back, and caused the ink to smear. She didn't care; she knew she needed to make this one last effort. She didn't know if she'd ever see Steve again and she wasn't sure if she'd ever get back to Earth. She wasn't even sure her book would make it back to Earth, but her felt she had to try and set things straight.
She pushed her fear aside. I'll be brave Steve. I won't disappoint you. I'll make him send Bucky back to you if it's the last thing I do. I promise.
