Chapter 1
"UFC officials are still debating if we'll see the return of Valerie 'The Valkyrie' Selvig to the ring anytime soon, if at all. As most of you may recall her championship match last month resulted in the hospitalization of her opponent, Ana Valacheck. Selvig won the match early in the first round by knockout, with a direct hit to Valacheck's temple. Valacheck was rushed to the hospital immediately follow the match, the hit causing a number of ruptured blood vessels in and around her brain. Valacheck was stabilized but remains in a coma. Doctors at this time are unclear if she'll ever wake up. Officials are still investigating the case but Selvig has been cleared of any charges. Only time will tell if 'The Valkyrie' will ever be making her return to the ring."
"Next on ESPN we turn to-
Valerie turned from the screen, turning her attention to the drink placed on the dirty bar top in front of her instead. "Thanks Mick." She mumbled to the bartender, tossing a crumpled ten next to it.
The bartender scooped it up with one large hand "Anytime Val." With that he went back to cleaning the near empty bar. On any given night the tiny New Mexico bar was quiet, this Tuesday seemed to be worse then others, but it was a Tuesday after all. As Valerie finished her drink the ever faithful Mick return to her side and laid another on the counter for her. "After that report I'm guessing we'll be stuck with you for a while?"
She shrugged without looking up from her drink. "Your guess is as good as mine." She took a long swing from her drink before continuing. "Hell of a way to end a career though. At least I didn't kill her." Her mood darken at her own words, not realizing what she had said until it had already left her lips.
Mick gave a dark chuckle, "Guess that's one way to look at it. I suppose either way you'll end up in the UFC hall of fame for that hit."
Valerie clenched her fist against the countertop, her large pale knuckles staring back at her. "Guess you're right." She mumbled back. Deciding she had had enough company for the night she finished her drink and with a quick nod goodbye left through the front door.
The heavy, soundproof door swung shut behind her as she met the chilly New Mexico air. She shook it off easily as she pulled up the collar of her navy jacket. She looked around the small town from her spot on the corner. It was so still compared to the hustle of the city life style she was use to. However after the mess in Vegas (and since she'd be cleared of any charges) she was thankful to be away.
She began her walk through the quiet country town, heading back to the lab where she and her father had been staying since... the Vegas incident. Her father had been on leave from the university at the time and was staying with her in Vegas to watch her championship match. After the fight he cancelled his plans to return so he could be with her. Once the officers and officials had ruled the damage as an accident they had decided to head back to the family estate in Norway. That's when one Jane Foster called and said she needed his help on a project. Long story short, they have been sleeping on the lumpy couches of Jane's lab for two weeks now with no end in sight. Not that Valerie minded much, this was the most time she had spent with her father since her career had taken off.
She made it back to the lab without issue, the lights of the old gas station lighting her way home. It was fairly early into the night and she wasn't surprised the team was still up and working. They studied astrophysics after all.
"Hey Val!" Darcy greeted when she walked in. Her usual chipper mood instantly making the blonde scowl. That girl, for reasons unknown to Valerie, thought she was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Valerie hoped the young girl found a new target for her misplaced hero worship, and soon.
"Hey Darc." She replied in an almost bored tone. "Hey Dad," she greeted her father with much more warmth and a kiss on the cheek as she passed him. She gave a quick nod to Jane and made her way to the back room where she had been staying. She peeled off her jacket, tossing it on her 'bed' before sitting at the chair behind the unused desk. It was only in the room to make space for other lab equipment but she was thankful for the extra seating space.
She leaned forward on her elbows against the old wooden top as she ran her hands over her face. She gave a heavy sigh, letting the weight of the days events sink in.
He father strode in a few moments later, braking her peace as he fluttered around the room in a whirlwind. Collecting items here and there. "We'll be leaving soon. Jane predicts an event tonight and we hope to get it on film."
"Ya," Valerie replied softly through her fingers, "I'll be ready to go."
Erik froze at his daughter's tone. "Valerie." He started softly. "What's wrong honey?"
"It's nothing." She countered quickly. Not wanting to upset him.
He frowned, "What is it? Did something happen?" He became cautious as he spoke. "Did something happen at the bar?"
She huffed, turning sideways in the chair to face her father. "No, nothing happened at the bar." She sighed again, smoothing back the loose hairs from her braid.
Erik dropped the load in his arms onto the top of the desk before crouching down in front of her. Gently he took her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs over the back of them. "What's wrong Sweetheart? Tell me what happened?"
Suddenly Valerie felt like she was twelve years old again. Sitting in the plush, brown leather office chair in his home office. Having just come home from school and about to get a stern talking to but the proud look in his eyes for beating up the older kids at school for picking on her and other younger students. Valerie closed her eyes. Remembering all those moments before letting them fade away for the weight of her day to return to her. She opened her eyes before speaking, keeping her gaze on their hands as she spoke. "I got a call from my manager this afternoon." She paused to lick her lips. She took her time, knowing her Father wouldn't pressure her into talking until she was ready. She let out a shaking breath and squeezed his fingers tightly. "He told me that even if I'm allowed to return to the ring he thinks it would be best if I retire."
"What?" Erik was shocked. He had never understood much about his daughter's career but he did know she was good at it. "Why would he say that?"
"Because of Valacheck." Was her simple answer.
She didn't need to see his face to knew his eyebrows where knit tightly together. "But that was just an accident."
"I know." She let out a long, steady breath through her nose. "It won't be released to the public for the next few days but they had some specialist from New York look over her case. He said even though the damage has been repaired the trauma done to her brain has most likely resulted in serious brain damage. Even if she does wake up she'll never be able to fight again. Hell, she won't even be the same person anymore... I killed her, Dad."
A long silence stretched between them. Finally Erik tightened his grip on his daughter's hands. "Don't say that." He whispered.
"It's true." She mumbled back. She pulled one of her hands free to wipe away the tears forming in her eyes. "Even if I didn't physically kill her body, I killed all the things that make Ana, Ana. That woman who walked into the ring with me will never come back." Valerie let out a sob.
Erik ignored his daughter's hands this time in favour of embracing her. He held her in silence for a few moments trying to figure out how best to comfort her. He could hear the gentle patter of rain drops begin against the window. He listened for a moment before talking. "Now you listen here Valerie. No matter what happened you have to remember it's not your fault. It was a simple accident. It could have happened to anybody."
"No." She began to cry harder. "It happened to me Dad! These things always happen to me. Somethings wrong with me!"
Erik began to smooth back her hair to try and calm her and to try and push back his own heartbreak at her words. "That's not true honey. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. You're completely normal."
Valerie gave a dark chuckle through the tears. "Normal? Can a normal twenty three year old woman knock out a single person in one punch without tiring them out first? Can a normal woman bench press two hundred pounds? Jog five miles without breaking a sweat? Not be drunk after a case of beer?" She let out another sob, the rain outside almost reacting as it hit harder against the glass. She listened for a moment, she always found the sound of rain calming. She took a few deep breaths and pulled away from her father. Standing up to look him in the eye. "Something's really wrong with me Dad. I'm getting stronger, I can feel it. I was even holding myself back that day in the ring. I shouldn't have hurt her like that." She was deadly serious. This was obviously something that had been bothering his daughter for some time. Something that, as her father, he should have noticed. He should have noticed her pain, how scared she was. He realized then while looking into her dark blue eyes that it wasn't losing her career that scared her, not even what happened with the Valacheck woman. No, she was scared of herself. "Even if they'll take me back I won't go, not until we find out what's wrong with me."
Erik nodded, not knowing what else to say. Finally he settled on a hug.
"HEY VAL!" Darcy's voice screamed from the other room, the teenager too lazy to get up and find the other woman herself. "WE NEED YOUR HELP MOVING STUFF! JANE SAYS WE ARE GOING EVEN IF ITS RAINING!"
Valerie cursed the young girl under her breath and pulled away from her father. She gave him a tight lipped smile before wiping her face clean of any evidence that she'd been crying and returned to the main room. Hopefully helping out would help take her mind off everything. Even if she didn't understand what they were doing.
Erik watched his daughter leave, waiting until he was out of her line of sight. He turned his back to the door just to be sure. He removed his wallet from his back pocket and opened it up. Inside the clear pouch nestled inside the brown leather was a picture of Valerie and Maria. He couldn't remember when the photo was taken but Valerie couldn't have been more then 7. Maria having passed shortly before her eighth birthday. However it wasn't the photo that interest him. It was what was under the photo. He slipped the folded piece of paper out, slowly unfolding it with a shaky hand. As he had done since she was 15, when he had received the paper, he studied it. He may have missed how frightened his girl had become over her strength but he had always noticed there was something different about her, something special. He had hoped to have understood it by now but even with this vast working network and advances in technology he was no closer to solving the riddle. His eyes landed at the text at the very bottom of the page and he frowned deeply at them, as he had time and time again. He knew them by heart but still read the line, somehow believing it could have magically changed since he had last seen them. They hadn't.
The message was simple:
DNA Test Inconclusive - Sample Not Human.
"You sure you don't want to come?" Her father pressed after closing the doors of the van.
Valerie nodded. "Chasing stars isn't really my thing. I'm just gonna hold down the fort."
He father nodded in return. He pulled her into a quick hug before joining the other two woman in the van. She waved them off as they pulled away from the lab watching until it turned the corner out of her line of sight. She let out a huff, stuffing her hands into her pockets. Alone again.
Valerie was thankful for the time to think but at the same time she wasn't sure if she really wanted to be alone right now. Too late now, she thought to herself before heading back into the lab. Once inside she made her way to the stairs in the back and ended up on the roof. The old lawn chairs weren't the most comfortable but they would do the job and as reclined back in the nearest one and looked up out at the starry sky. While it was true she wasn't interested in them as a forum of study she did enjoy star gazing. There was just something about the night sky that comforted her, like they held all of life's answers in their inky depths. It was something she couldn't explain completely. She just felt that up there were all the answers she was looking for. Like whenever she was looking up someone was looking back and watching over her. Not like a guardian angel, but something else. Something... more.
Part of her felt guilty for having those thoughts. Like some cliche teenager going through an identity crisis at not knowing who she was or where she came from. While it was true she didn't know who her birth family was. Her parents had never lied to her about that, but it didn't matter because they were her parents. She knew who she was and she knew she came from a loving home with wonderful parents. Maria had loved her more then life itself before she had passed. Erik had always been supportive in whatever choices she made. She wouldn't change her life for anything.
It was what she was becoming that made her feel so lost. She had always been different but instead of pushing it away she had embraced it. Because of her differences she had able to build a career and become one of the best in her field. However, now those differences were starting to turn on her. She was changing and what she had said to her father was true, she was getting stronger.
And she was scared.
Everything she knew had been taken from her and it would never be the same again. That she was sure of. She just had to figure it all out. Problem was that she had no idea where to start.
Valerie reached into the inside pocket of her jacket, removing a small chunk of wood. Attached to it was a series of small metal fastening with a metal drum and handle. She ran her fingers over the small object before they settled on the handle. She gave it a slow turn, the first few notes sputtering out until she found the familiar pace and the melody flowed perfectly out. Valerie never knew where the music box came from, she had just had it for as long as she come remember. She had also never been able to figure out the calming folk tune it played but over time that information had began to mean less and less to her, the presence and tune of the music box meaning more then the tune itself.
The melody was broken by the ringing of her cell phone. Valerie stopped the tune, returning the music box to its pocket with one hand while using her other to remove her phone from a different pocket and bringing it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Valerie!" Her father exclaimed, "I'm so glad you're alright!"
"Why wouldn't I be alright?" She answered slowly.
There was a brief pause, "I don't know. All the commotion from this evening has me shook up I guess."
She sat up in the chair, resting a long leg on either side. "What happened Dad?"
"Jane's prediction was right but there was a man out there." He began. Valerie didn't know how to respond so she kept listening. "He came out of no where. Almost like he came from the event himself. Anyway, we are on our way to the hospital."
"Are the girls alright?" She asked. She liked Jane well enough and even if Darcy was a twit she didn't want to see her hurt.
"The girls are fine but the man had an unfortunate run in with the van." She chuckled at her father's words. She guessed by his words that we wasn't hurt to bad. "Think you can meet us there?"
Valerie nodded even though he couldn't see it, "Ya, I'm on my way." She hung up, standing from her seat. She looked out over the town and cursed at herself. Of course she hadn't thought her promise to her Dad through. They had the only vehicle and the tiny ass town they were staying in didn't have a cab company of any type. Looks like she was walking across town.