"Want to drive?"

"What?" I was grasping the arm-rests, pulse racing at the wormhole in front of me. I knew it was illogical for me to be scared of the ride through, but it was still daunting. More because I really didn't want to fall unconscious again.

"Do you want to try piloting?" Valkyrie glanced at me casually, and I blinked, snapping back to reality.

"Uh. I don't know-"

"We're not letting her fly the ship," Loki interrupted rudely. "She'll kill us all."

I shot him a look. "Actually, I wouldn't kill us all. But since Loki's too scared, no thanks."

Val shrugged dismissively. "Whatever suits you."

"I'm not scar-"

The rush of the engine powering drowned out his words and the ship shot forward, my body immediately forced back to slam against the seat. The sound of my heartbeat pumped in my ears as I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself, and-

Light.

I slowly breathed out, and cracked my eyes open. I felt extremely dizzy, like I was about to keel over, but then it was comparably better than the previous wormhole-traveling experience. We were back in Sakaar, flying over the colorful wastelands, and Val didn't even seem effected by any headaches as she directed the spaceship back to the Grandmaster's tower.

I looked down, through the window, trying to locate the spot Loki and I had fallen down to. The sights were familiar, but the piles of trash weren't very impressive from up in the sky.

A swarm of movements caught my eyes, and I narrowed my eyes to see clearly. There were a group of scrappers around a lone figure, a figure wearing a red cape, and I balked.

"Stop!" I yelled, extending a hand out to Val next to me, and due to her credit, the ship halted immediately in the middle of the sky with an over-exhausted whine from the engine. My heart hammered in my chest.

"What in Asgard are you-"

"We have to go down." I cut Loki's words off. I was actually getting used to doing that. I turned to Val. "You have to go down there."

She raised her eyebrow in a explain look, and I tried to make a coherent sentence that would actually make sense to people who haven't watched Ragnarok. Just my luck, that Thor arrived just when we did.

"Thor's down there." I finally settled on, ignoring Loki's sharp intake of breath. "You need to get him to the Grandmaster as a contender in the contest."

"Why?" Val frowned, and I waved my hand roughly in the direction of Thor down there.

"He needs to fight the champion," Hulk, "And become friends with him."

There was a pause. Loki looked at me like an idiot.

"You realize fighting does not equate befriending?"

I didn't have time to glare at him. "It's a long story, but the point still is, that you," I pointed at Val. "Need to treat him just as every other contender." I paused. "And you'll get money off of it. Please?"

"How much?" She didn't even bat an eyelash. I smiled impishly.

"I don't know the exact amount, but as much as you want from the Grandmaster."

"Deal," Val nodded, and we both ignored Loki's protests as the ship flew down.

My mind pondered if I was doing the right thing. I mean, I was trying to keep the events closest to the movie as possible, so that I would be able to predict and foretell what was going to happen. I tried to think of how Valkyrie and Thor's first meeting had went.

Well, there hadn't been Loki in Valkyrie's ship.

I shifted my head to look at Loki, when Val left the ship with a lot of weaponry at her arsenal. He was undoubtedly sulking. I tried to fight back the eye-roll. "Loki. Thor can't see us in the ship."

"Well, what do you suggest?" He said with a petulant tone, and I gestured at the restroom.

"Go in there."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going in there."

"He's going to be unconscious in a moment. Just for a minute, please?"

"If he's going to be unconscious-"

"I'm pretty sure he wakes up in the middle of the flight."

We held a brief staring contest which I didn't really get that we were doing until it was over. Probably that's the reason I won, because his posture slightly diminished, and he muttered something about weak mortals under his breath, then he thankfully trudged back into the bathroom.

I glanced outside the window, slightly ducking so I won't be seen, and straightened up when I saw there was no reason to. The scrappers were already dealt with, and Val was dragging Thor like a sack behind her shoulder. I was so conflicted. Do I risk staying here, or do I go to the smelly space restroom? I would annoy Loki's eyeballs out if I went in.

I inclined my head. Wait, why was I conflicted? Another way to annoy Loki. It was basically a present!

I dashed to the restroom, ignored Loki's startled look, and shut it closed the moment I heard Val grunting, as she carried Thor's body up the ramps. I winced, guiltily. I felt like I should help her.

"What are you do-"

"Shh," I pushed a finger against his lips, although I knew we could shout bloody-murder and Thor wouldn't still hear us. "Be quiet."

Loki looked torn between the urge to throttle me, and the urge to kick me away from him. I plopped down on the toilet seat, lowering my hand and letting him stand awkwardly next to me. I knew it would be way more coordinated if I let him seat, but you know. I knew how to annoy a guy.

And as I suspected, well more like provoked, he clenched his fist-my eyeline was at that level (ugh he was stupidly tall. I hated tall guys. They had no sense of respect for shorter people.)-and growled "What are you doing."

But he still said it in a hushed tone. Ha. I smiled with the sweetness of victory.

"We're hiding. From Thor, in case he wakes up." I said, innocently, and hummed a song underneath my breath. Sigrid's Don't kill my vibe.

Loki threw me a nasty look, and I piled it in my ever-growing list of Loki looks. It was somewhat fascinating, that he was able to make so many faces that expressed exactly what he was trying to say. He probably didn't even need to talk to me, after some time. He could raise an eyebrow at me and I would know what to do, whether to shut up or fetch him some water.

Ugh. I shuddered. Spending more time with this dude sounded horrible.

"You haven't answered my question," I said suddenly, and he looked down, crossing his arms aggressively.

"What question?"

"What are you going to do after," I waved my hand around. "This?"

He looked passionately detached. I hadn't known that was a possible look on a human. Well, he wasn't human, but still. He was trying so hard to look like he didn't care about anything.

"I'll find a planet or two. And rule over the insignificant mortals." He replied casually.

I leaned forward, peering up at him with disappointment. "I thought we were going to be Space pirates. I'll let you be the first mate!"

He looked at me. "Who's the captain?"

"Uh, its my hypothetical spaceship. Of course I'm the captain."

Loki looked away, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh. I rolled my eyes. I was kind of offended. But also kind of pleased. Loki laughing wasn't a everyday occurrence.

"Fine," I said, pondering. "I'll let you be the co-captain."

"Co-captain," He repeated, his gaze drawing back to me.

"Yeah, prince charming."

"Prince charming?" He narrowed his eyes, and I beamed at him.

"You keep reminding me you're a prince, and you can, well, should be charming. It's a nickname. Humans do nicknames." I added, and he looked slightly apprehensive, as if I was going to try to stab him with this human nickname.

"Nickname," He repeated again, and I rolled my eyes.

"Is there an echo somewhere?"

"Okay."

"What?"

I frowned, and he smirked. It was a genuine smile, and I paused for a second, because it looked...well, different on Loki's face. But it wasn't wrong. It felt right. I just wasn't used to it. I took a moment to memorize the angle of his lips and the lines around his eyes, without realizing I was doing so. God, I was becoming so sentimental.

"Okay." He tasted the word in his mouth, and it must have felt good, because he continued. "After this is over, we'll be Space pirates. I'll be the captain-"

"Co-captain,"

"-And we can rule some planets."

"...What is your fixation with ruling planets?" I complained, but I was also smiling. Widely.


Thor was a contender, tomorrow was the contest, and everything was on it's track.

Track to the looming, inevitable future.

I couldn't sleep. I laid on the couch, staring up at the dark ceiling, and my mind went down the path it had gone down a million times before. I wished there was a medicine for overthinking, like depression. Maybe there was. Maybe I just hadn't found one yet.

I sat up, after I wrote sleep in my mind for the hundred and fifty-th time. I couldn't sleep. I just couldn't.

My hand crept inside the jacket I laid down next to the couch. I took out the orb, and ran my finger over the crack where it opened. The memory of that power, and the impact it had on my mind was still clear, but I couldn't help the part of me that wanted, desperately, to use the power stone again. I wanted to have that power. I wanted to go home.

Loki had said that I could control it. Could I believe him? And if not, how was I supposed to deal with the power stone? I even had a strong yearning for a garbage disposal, so I could chuck it down that. It probably wouldn't work, but at least the thing would be off my hands.

I had been very short-sighted when I thought that getting the stone would be the end. I didn't have a plan on how to take care of this, and now I was having a meltdown.

I cradled my head in my arms. Okay. No. I was fine. I was going to take care of everything, with an abundance of wacky humor and dorky comments. I was going to be fine, even if I was alone and I felt it.

I was fine. Maybe if I reminded myself enough, I would actually believe it.