Nora blinked at the sudden brightness that filled her vision. She turned on her heels, perplexed at where she suddenly was. White surrounded her, filling every space visible and beyond. Nora wished she could call this strange place a room but for her to call it that it would imply that there were walls marking its end. However, no matter how much she strained her eyes, there were none. She just saw an endless space of white.

Nora's gloved hand rose to her neck, where, just seconds ago Tyrian's stinger had encircled like a noose. It had restricted her moments and forced her to watch as Cinder took another life. Rage surged through Nora at the thought of the woman. Pyrrha, Penny and now Valerian, how could someone take lives as if they were nothing more than dried leaves on a tree? Nora had come to her conclusion long ago however, when she'd held Penny's body in her arms back at Schnee Manor. Cinder Fall was nothing more than a monster draped in human flash.

That however, did little to explain where Nora was or how she'd gotten there, in that endless space of white.

"I will cling, I will clutch,

I'll hold onto you, I won't turn away.

I won't leave, I won't go,

I will stay with you all our days."

The voice wafted through the air, the gentle tune guiding Nora, tugging at memories she'd believed long destroyed. She knew this song, familiarity itched at the back of her mind and urged her feet forward towards the source. This had been the strongest one yet. The academy, the gardens, even its people had alluded to memories she no longer had but this song… this had sounded by far the most familiar. Colours and smells of crisp winter nights played behind her eyes but the more she tried to focus on the detail, the foggier they became.

A woman stood with her back to her in a beautiful dress of black and blue. Her long ginger hair reached the middle of her back and she swayed lightly in time to the tune. It took Nora a moment to realise that this woman was the source of the song.

The woman's melodious voice echoed around the pair even after the final verse had been sung. It slowly faded away to leave silence in its wake once again. With slow, graceful movements she turned to look at Nora, her blue eyes widening in surprise at the Huntress's appearance.

"Nora Valkyrie?" The woman announced, quizzically as she turned to fully look at the woman. Freckles painted her rosy cheeks and Nora could now see a number of bright blue feathers braided into the woman's hair.

"V-Valerian Carrie?" Nora asked, recognising the voice. She could barely believe that this beautiful woman before her was the same one she'd met in Shade. The Valerian she'd met had seemed as if all colour had been washed out of her, along with her strength. However the woman before her appeared vivid and full of light.

Valerian chuckled at Nora's reaction, an intriguing and contagious laugh she'd never heard her utter before. But then in the short time Nora had known the Huntress, she hadn't had many reasons to laugh. "It seems, here, I appear as I did in the peak of my life."

"But where is 'here'?" Nora gestured to alien space with her hands, twirling slightly but, as before, nothing broke the endless whiteness other than Valerian.

"I've only been here once before, when I acquired the Summer Maiden's power from the previous host." Valerian admitted, remembering the moment from so long ago. Amelia had smiled at her then, gleefully twirling around as, at last, she could stand on her own two feet. "I think this may be where the Maiden's power gets passed on from one host to the next."

Nora looked at the woman skeptically, unable to recall ever being in such a place when she'd received the Winter Maiden's power from Penny. But then, Penny had been an android, maybe normal rules of the Maidens had not applied to her. But, then again,Penny had been human enough to accept the Maiden's powers.

"I don't understand." Nora admitted, taking a step towards the woman. "If this place is what you say it is… that would mean… the power goes to the final person in your thoughts… Why would you think of me?"

"I didn't." Valerian confessed, tilting her head slightly. She had also been wondering the same thing. Nora was right, her final thoughts had not consciously been on anyone present at the Vault. She had assumed that they would pass on to a poor, random individual far away from Cinder and the Vault. Had chance cursed Nora to inherit a second power?

Unless...

Valerian's eyes widened further, taking in the finer details of Nora's face, details she'd been too distracted with what was happening in Shade Academy to notice. Suddenly the pieces fell into place.

"How could we both have been so blind?!" Valerian exclaimed, startling Nora who had no idea what she was going on about. But she shook her head, answering her own question "Because we'd accepted you'd died. We could never see you past the little girl you had been then.

"My final thoughts had been on the daughter I'd mentioned to you before. The one we'd thought had been killed by Grimm." She carefully explained, her eyes looking intently at Nora's, they were the same colour of her when he'd been healthy. How had they been so blind? " Her name was Eleanora."

"So I got chosen because we kinda have similar names?" Nora shook her head, it seemed like a flimsy requirement to be chosen to inherit this woman's powers. However, unlike Valerian, Nora was unable to put the pieces together for, to her, they had been washed away with her memories long ago.

" Eleanora… Nora, your name is a part of hers." Valerian laughed again, actually raising her palm to her face at her and Bellamy's stupidity. It all seemed so obvious now. "Your surname is Valkyrie, right? Like my name, Val Carrie… Nora, I think you really were the last person I was thinking of! Just neither one of us knew it." Valerian finally explained, lowering her hand, unable to look away from the woman.

She'd spent more time with Nora than Bellamy. She'd fought beside this woman, protecting each other. But, if what she thought was true… how could she have been so blind?

Nora's eyes widened as finally the meaning behind Valerian's words became clear. She wanted to deny it, to claim it was simply a coincidence. But her excuses died on her lips. She had always said she couldn't remember anything before waking up in Mistral, was it so hard to believe, in the confusion that was her amnesiac mind, that she somehow created a new name for herself by Merging hers and her mother's together? How could Nora deny such a possibility when every step she'd taken within Shade Academy had filled her with an inexplicable sense of nostalgia? How could she explain how Valerian's song just now had tugged at memories long vanished? How else could she explain why she was standing there before Valerian Carrie in her final thoughts?

But Valerian had explained how she'd lost her daughter, it most definitely did not match her recount of events. However, as of late Nora herself had begun to question how accurate her own memories had been. She had washed up on the coast of Mistral, injured and alone and not knowing who she was. She interpreted the one memory she had the one way a frightened child could have- that she had been abandoned to the Grimm.

But, what if that had not been the case? What if her mother had never left her behind but rather, she had been taken away from her?

"That's kinda crazy." Nora admitted, completely at a loss at what to tell the woman who claimed to be her mother.

"Kinda? That's the definition of crazy." And Valerian was shaking her head, looking at Nora with bright eyes.

Never had she imagined she'd ever see her daughter again. Not only that, but as an adult! Her eyes fell on the scars that ran across Nora's skin. She must have had a difficult life, most definitely not the life she had wished for her. The thought saddened her, even the fact she had not been there for most of it. However, Valerian recalled the brief time the two had spent in her home before Tyrian had attacked. Nora...Eleanora had been smiling, especially when she had spoken of her companions. Those scars across her skin were a mark that she had grown to be a brave woman who had gone through many hardships to aid the people of Remnant. To protect the people she cared for.

In many ways, Eleanora had not had the life Valerian may have wanted for her but she had still grown into the woman she had hoped she would be. She had grown into one surrounded by people she cared for and was willing to fight for them.

Nora looked at the woman awkwardly. Never had she prepared for such a moment. She had so much to say and yet, at the same time, she didn't know what to tell the woman. However, Valerian filled the silence for her.

"I think my time here is up." Valerian sadly admitted, as, in the distance, she saw a small silhouette Nora could not see. The shape of a young girl, not older than twelve. She was standing in the distance, eagerly waving at her. It seemed Amelia had also been waiting for her. "I know that our time together was short… gods there's so much more I want to tell you! To hear from you. I've missed so much… Too much… everything..." Valerian said the words softly however the small smile never left her face. "But at least I can tell you this … I'm so proud of you Eleanora." She beamed at the Huntress. Such words would have felt empty to Nora, the two barely knew each other but she just looked at her and all she felt was pride, and a wish she could stay a little longer. No, she couldn't wish that. No matter how painfully she wished it to be so, nothing would change. She had to be grateful she could leave knowing her child was alive.

Not wishing to linger and confuse the woman further, Valerian made to walk past Nora, to head towards the girl who was waiting for her in the distance. However she paused, Nora, understandably, was uncertain as to how to react. Valerian, however, wished to be selfish one final time, if Nora would allow her. She raised a hand to the woman's nose and gently poked it.

"Boop." She whispered, remembering the little way her daughter used to show affection. How often had she dreamed of doing it one more time? It really was a gift that she'd been given such an opportunity now, after so many years.

Valerian then lowered her hand, satisfied. Nora most likely would not understand the meaning of her actions, most likely believing it some bizarre whim of a dying woman. However, when she looked at the younger woman's eyes, she saw them gleaming. Tears were swelling within them. With that one action it was like the wall that had blocked Nora from her memories had crumbled. Memories she'd long forgotten flashed before her eyes- of her sitting with this woman looking up at the stars. Of her and her father sharing meals, speaking of the wondrous mundane. She remembered. She remembered it all.

And with this revelation, sadness.

Sadness.

Grief.

Loneliness that she'd found her mother simply for her to be snatched from her once again.

Nora felt her throat constrict. What could she say, after all these years? That she was sorry she'd thought she'd abandoned her? That she'd missed her? That she wished she wouldn't leave her now that they'd finally been reunited?

The forces that pulled them apart were beyond their control.

Nora, her voice failing her, did the only thing she could think of in that moment. She hugged her mother, feeling the older woman's hands encircling her one last time. She felt as warm and strong as her newly found memories remembered they had always been. Valerian could feel Nora's tears seep into the sleeve of her shirt, so very warm and so very alive.

Her daughter was alive.

Alive.

She could say it a thousand times, and a thousand times over and she still found it impossible to believe.

That she'd blink and she'd be gone.

But Eleanora… No, Nora was alive.

"Live a long and amazing life, Nora Valkyrie, " Valerian whispered into her hair, glad she could not see her own tears. "I love you. I have always loved you."

Thank you so so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will see you all next week :D