an. chapter five is here :) also, far from home was absolutely amazing! I've seen in twice already and part of me now wants to write a spiderman/oc fic now...

anyways, on with the story

Chapter 5: Tell Me Why Everything Turned Around

It'd been a week since the Warriors Three and Sif were captured and arrested by the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Nova Core. They'd been forced to stay in the high security cells in the Nova base at the Xandarian capital. At first they were all unsure on how to handle them, the Nova Core never having arrested Asgardians, besides Skadi, before. The Asgardians surprisingly seemed well behaved, not giving their guards a hard time besides calling them all weak mortals.

The Guardians soon found themselves being put to work by Nova Prime. They were back at it, planning a new mission after Nova Prime revealed that their spies found the last few outposts of the nearly defeated Kree Purists. Gamora soon found herself, Peter and Rocket spending hours upon hours in Nova Prime's war room with her top generals and lieutenants going over strategies.

Skadi didn't sit in on them, having never really doing so ever anyway to begin with. Instead she opted on spending her days down in the cells, watching the Asgardians from the security deck. Mostly she'd be alone but after the first few days she found herself being joined by Drax, Gamora wishing to be able to go herself but was unable to, so she prompted the Destroyer to keep an eye out on the girl. Even before Gamora had, Peter had pulled him aside one morning, asking to go along with her as well, seeing as with him being the leader of the Guardians he couldn't get out of Nova Prime's constant meetings. As a member of this family, a duty the Destroyer took quite seriously, he knew that he'd have to take it upon himself to watch over her even before Gamora or Peter had approached him.

At first she wanted to be alone, annoyed as he just stood quietly next to her for hours. He'd never speak just stand there, eyes drilling into the screens as he too watched every movement the prisoners made. It wasn't until today, a week after the four had been locked up did Skadi say something to the Destroyer.

"You don't have to be here, you know?" Skadi rolled her eyes as he just grunted as his response, his arms still crossed against his chest. Skadi shook her head, not understanding why he still stood with her every day. "Then, why are you here?"

Drax merely shrugged, barely giving her a second glance as she turned in her chair to get a better look at him. He continued to be silent, driving a nerve in Skadi. To him, it was quite obvious as to why he was here and he didn't understand how she couldn't see that. They were all worried about her ever since the Asgardians tried snatching her up. She hadn't really said much about it, but they all knew she was terrible at keeping things bottled up for too long.

Skadi moved her attention back to the screens, deciding to not let Drax distract her anymore. She didn't understand why he had to be so frustrating sometimes. Letting out a drawn out sigh, rubbing her forehead roughly, she could feel another headache coming on.

She mumbled, "Okay, don't answer that then."

Drax laughed, finding her amusing. She had always needed constant confirmation and direction for everything he had learned over the years. She could never just let things be and see what happened. Drax on the other hand had no problem with sitting and waiting, not needing everything spelt out to him. He could pick up easily on why people did the things they did.

His laughter died down shortly, growing serious again. He shifted slightly, letting his arms rest down at his sides as he turned to face her now, "I am here because we are family."

Picking up on what he meant from that, Skadi smiled sheepishly, feeling slightly bad for being so short with him. It was true, they were family and she knew in the back of her head that that was why he was here, but without verbal confirmation it drove her mind crazy. She should've known though as Drax had become a short of father figure to almost everyone in the Guardians. It was in his nature to be fatherly, and Skadi could only imagine how great of a father he was too his daughter years and years ago. He was always there for them in their times of need.

When rumors began to spread a while ago about Gamora's father beginning to stir about in the galaxy again, Drax stood up with her at night, letting her eventually open up and vent to him when she got comfortable talking about it out loud. And there was when Peter finally accepted his advice on relationship stuff, granted a lot of it was terrible but some of it was surprisingly pretty good. And without Drax, they all doubted Mantis would've integrated well into life in space. Drax knew how to explain how things worked to her in a way that she could understand, whereas everyone else kind of would just get frustrated and give up.

"I just don't know how they found me," Skadi groaned, knowing that it'd be best to talk about her thoughts. Drax was the perfect person to talk to. He wasn't like Peter and Gamora were they'd instantly get worried and fret over her like she was some fragile thing. Drax was a good listener and he was harsh in a sense were he had no filter so what he'd say was always true.

"After all these years, why now? Why not a month ago? A year ago or when I first got my memories back or even before that?" Skadi questioned, placing a hand on her hip as she motioned to the screens. "And yesterday, I saw my brother. I thought I was seeing stuff because I was hungry but come on, I think I see him and not even like twenty four hours later these guys show up?" She looked at him, with wide eyes, huffing in frustration.

"And Sif, she said something. She said my father miss's me, which for one, is a lie. I was a constant nuisance to him as a child. I never listened, I was worse than my brothers. I drove him so crazy he was so eager to get rid of me that he was just willing to send me off to someone he didn't even know!" Skadi spat bitterly, knowing that she'd never let that go. Continuing on with her rant, Skadi shook her head, pointing at the screen that showed Sif. "But Sif, she said I was all my father had left which makes no sense to me. I'm not all he has, he has my brothers, my mother unless-, I don't want to even begin to think what she meant by that."

"Ask them," Drax said simply, after taking a moment to think about what she told him. He didn't see what the issue was. Whenever Drax wanted to know something, he'd ask and most likely get an answer. He looked to her, "They are right there."

"I know, but-,"

"This is not a matter about buts," Drax cut her off, his deep voice echoing in the room. "If this is troubling you as much as I can see it is, you must take the situation into your own hands and do what you feel is right. When my wife and daughter had been taken away from me, I did at first dwell on buts for far too long before I saw that I had to seek out their killer and avenge them. " Drax spoke with an even tone, causing Skadi too watch him seriously.

"I don't want to go down there though," She almost whined, not wanting to admit that she was afraid of whatever awaited her if she went down. If she could just ignore it a little longer, then everything would stay the same, right? .

"I shall go with you then." Drax smiled at her. Without another word he began to head towards the door, not really giving her a chance to say no. "I will be right behind you."

Drax had been standing closely behind her, true to his word, as Skadi quickly found herself standing at the door leading into the cells. The walk down there had been nothing but a blur, her heart racing and pumping that she was sure even Drax could hear it from his place in front of her. She could barely hear what he said to the guards, but whatever threat he made worked, seeing that the Nova Officers were letting them walk into the cell block without question.

Drax took a step behind her, letting her go in first as the doors slide open. The swish of the doors gained the attention of the Asgardians in the cells inside alongside with snapping Skadi out of the haze she found herself stuck in once again. Trying her best to put her brave face on, she held her head up high, not caring if she would buy the fake confidence more than the others did. She walked deeper into the room, her heavy boots clanking against the floor, having changed in her normal attire now that they were in the capital and their artificial air worked ten times better, surprisingly.

She stopped when she was in the center of the room, Drax staying off to the side to give her the space she needed but also give her the support she needed as well. Her mouth felt dry as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say first. She hadn't even given herself time to think of where to start, as Drax had to quickly lead her out of the room without a second thought. Turning to face Sif, knowing that she had always more so been the leader of the group even if the Three would never admit it.

"How did my father find me, now?"

"We are not sure," Sif spoke, softly as she moved closer to the bars to speak to her closely. She eyed the Destroyer, wanting him to leave the room so she could speak to her princess privately but figured he was the only reason why she was down here, after a week of them being here and decided to not press that matter for now.

"He called us to the throne room at first daylight and told us he'd finally found you. He then sent us to this planet by the Bifrost. He tasked us to bring you back home but you didn't make that easy for us." Sif smirked, letting her show her pride. "You've grown stronger over the years. I didn't expect you to be able to take them down. Granted, I can't be too impressed for you still couldn't defeat me, letting that green woman cut in."

Skadi smiled softly at Sif's compliment turned minor insult. She turned to face the Warriors Three, apologizing for fighting them. "You don't understand though, I can't go back. I have family here now, I have a job to help defend the galaxy. I can't just go back home and play dress up, go to stupid parties, and get married off to some asshole of my father's choosing. So much has happened and I just can't leave."

"Much has happened on Asgard as well, princess." Fandral piped up, sitting up from his cot. He moved to the edge of his cell as she turned to face him. "Asgard needs its princess."

"Asgard has two princes, it's been doing fine without me all these years," She rolled her eyes; Fandral had always been one for dramatics. His eyes widened, darting to his comrades as her words apparently caused an unease between the four Asgardians. Skadi eyed them all unsettled by their response or lack thereof. "Asgard is fine, right?"

"A lot has happened since you've been gone, it might be better if we spoke privately," Sif spoke up, motioning her eyes to Drax.

Skadi narrowed her eyes at her, her nerves growing as she thought of every worse case scenario of what could have happened back at home. Her heart raced as she turned to Drax knowing that she would break down if he wasn't here. Well, on second thought she felt like she would break down even with him here. Shaking her head, so pointed to the Destroyer.

"He stays," she said willing her voice to stay somewhat strong. "Over the years, he's become my family and whatever you have to say can and will be said with him here."

Sif nodded, knowing it wasn't here place to question the princess. She let out a sigh, wishing that Skadi had complied and let them bring her home so that way Odin would've been the one to have to explain it all to her. Sif didn't even know where to begin, the last few years being nothing but chaotic. Sif was a warrior, she should be able to deal harsh news to someone. But she couldn't, she couldn't bear to be the one who crash Skadi's world apart.

Fandral could see this, and closed his eyes solemnly before opening his mouth, "You are now the heir to the throne."

"What?" Skadi turned to him, confused. "But Thor, Loki?"

"Thor gave up his claim to the throne. It's a bit of a long story that your father should really be the one to explain, but last we saw him he was going to Earth." Fandral said, his eyes showing how she really shouldn't press the matter further.

She nodded, unsure if she should take his word for it or not. She couldn't imagine what could have possibly have had happened to make her brother renounce his claim. Growing up, the throne was all Thor ever talked about wanting. It was the only thing he ever trained for, working as hard as he could to become on par with their father. It was also what Thor and Loki always fought over too. They both wanted to be King, but Loki was younger and even so Thor was clearly more favored by their father to take his place on the throne.

Thinking of this, Skadi frowned. The only reason why she'd be heir to the throne would be if Loki wasn't around. He'd be next after Thor and Skadi knew that nothing would make Loki give up being the heir to the throne. It was all he ever wanted but knew he could never have. He'd always watched Thor in the shadows, learning what he had to just in case Thor couldn't take his father's place. Or, in the possible case that Odin deemed Thor unworthy for the throne and decided Loki was fit. It wasn't an impossible thought, Skadi would always tell Loki; their brother had always been drunk on his ego.

"And what of Loki? He'd have more claim over me. He would be next after Thor." Skadi frowned, not ready for the answer to her question.

"Loki, he's dead. I am so sorry." Fandral frowned, knowing that she wasn't there to see everything he did. She didn't know the person he'd become. She still saw him as her hero, the boy who'd sneak her away from her lessons, who'd lighten up her day, the person who was her closet friend and not the monster he'd become.

"Wha-aat?" Skadi shook, choking back a sob that suddenly hit her. She didn't bother to try and stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. She felt her body go numb as she took a step back from the cells, closing her eyes tightly. Stammering over almost every word, her eyes glowed as she reopened them and glared at Fandral. "You're lying. Loki isn't de-aad,"

"I am so sorry princess," He repeated, wanting to reach out to her and comfort her. Fandral knew she'd want to know what had happened and decided to tell her what she needed to know and leave out the rest. "He died a hero. He saved Asgard; we'd been attacked by the Dark Elf's, they came looking for the Aether. They managed to get past Heimdall and during the attack they, - they killed the Queen. Again I am so sorry. Loki and Thor set out to avenge her and they did, Loki didn't make it in the process though."

Skadi stared down at the floor, never crying before while her powers were charged. The tears falling from her eyes turned to mini icicles, shattering as they hit the ground. She could barely see straight, feeling the room around her begin to spin. Taking deep breaths as the world around her seemed to fall apart, she could sense Drax approaching her, placing his hand gently on her shoulder as if he was trying to keep her steady.

Skadi wanted to shrug him off but didn't feel like she had the energy too. She just cried, thinking about Fandral's words. It couldn't be true, her brother and mother couldn't be gone. And even so, if they were who was Thor do just abandoned his people and now he was where? Earth? Why would he be on Earth? Letting out an angered cry, Skadi couldn't help but think she wasn't any better. Who was she to judge him when he was there during this and she'd been off traveling the galaxy? She was no better than him.

Finding it in herself, she pushed Drax's hand off of her shoulder gently. He looked at her cautiously unsure what she was going to do, but knew from the look on her face that she was going to do something. The Destroyer moved back to her, seeing the rage taking over her being. It was all too familiar to him. It was the same look that he had the day Ronin killed his wife and child.

"Skadi," He spoke, hoping to snap her out of it.

Skadi didn't acknowledge him, instead clenching her fist and slowly moving away from him. Heading to the door, without a second glance back into the room, Skadi's lips were in a thin line. She felt a few more tears roll down her cheeks as she pried the door open and walked out of the room. The long hallway was spinning as all she could think of was how she desperately need fresh air. Walking a few feet further, ignoring the looks of the surrounding Nova Officers, she found herself unable to move any further as her body felt numb and she felt nauseous.

Drax had left the cell block, seeing her leaning against the wall as if for support. She had her eyes closed, trying to steady her vision and breathing. Drax shot the officer's dangerous looks, silently threatening them to get lost. When the hallway was clear, Drax moved closer to the princess, placing his hand once again on her shoulder. This time she didn't push him away, instead she nearly collapsed in his arms, finally letting out the sob she'd been trying to hold in. The Destroyer let out a pained sigh, feeling his chest grow wet from her tears. Without a complaint, he just let her cry, knowing the pain she felt more than anyone.