Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. You are all wonderful. We are back to dealing with stubborn Asgardians. We're still in the gamma timeline but will get messages from the beta timeline.

Writing process note/Spoiler warning: This chapter was initially drafted before Love and Thunder came out. However, certain information that we found out in that movie inspired edits that I think made this chapter better. This chapter mentions a character we do not meet until Love and Thunder. However, I feel the chapter works better with a specific name. Therefore, this chapter has minor spoilers for that movie. I also changed a few things to make it more consistent with the information we learn in the new film.

Conversation 55: If I Knew Then What I Knew Now

Quake: Ana, I do not have time to start looking at the letter from the Scrapper. She's going to be here any second. What do I need to know to convince her to join us fast?

Avenger Ana Remote: Before she came here, she was a Valkyrie sent to deal with Hela. Unfortunately, she was the only survivor. That was why she was reluctant to help save Asgard in the original timeline.

Quake: OK, I can understand not wanting to face that again. Losing your teammates can be difficult to handle. Especially if you're the one who survives. I still think about Puerto Rico, and I only lost Tripp. I don't wanna think about losing the entire team.

Avenger Ana Remote: One of those teammates was her girlfriend and fiancé.

Quake: I can definitely understand that part as well. She's here. Wish me luck.

xxxx

Daisy is not shocked at all that Thor screwed up. Or that she is now chasing after the former Valkyrie who just downed an entire bottle of something very alcoholic.

"I'm sorry he was an idiot." At least those words caused the woman in front of her to slow down. "You don't need to go with us to Asgard if you don't want to. Unlike Thor, I understand why you don't want anything to do with us."

"You understand? How can a human like you understand?" Daisy could feel her anger with every syllable.

"Because I've lost somebody I loved before," Daisy confessed.

"That is understandable for somebody that only lives decades, not centuries. But you cannot comprehend what I lost, what Hela took from me. I have no desire to face her again." With that, the angry woman pushed past her.

"I lost the first man I ever loved because he sacrificed himself in my place." The words spilled out of her before Daisy realized what she was saying. "The only reason he had to sacrifice himself was I screwed up." At her words, the woman stopped.

"Explain yourself,"

"His name was Lincoln. He helped me figure out who I was during a really dark part of my life. We were barely together a year, but it was a good year. I thought it was going to be forever until it all fell apart. I lost him when he went to destroy a monster that I helped create in my place. Because he didn't want me to die." Daisy explained, trying not to cry.

"Afterwards, I just ran away, much like yourself. I was tired of fighting. I was tired of seeing the faces of the people I let down. And I couldn't deal with it."

"But you came back?" The former Valkyrie asked.

"I had to because there's something bigger on the horizon."

"Hela?"

"Thanos." At the name, Daisy sees the woman visibly flinch.

"You know of him?" Daisy asked.

"Many of the survivors of his massacres find their way here. The gladiator pits are preferable." That seems right from what she's read about the purple monster's pre-decimation activities.

"Then you realize how dangerous he is. We have to deal with Hela just to be able to deal with him. He's on his way and planning much more than just massacring half a planet." Daisy explained as she handed her Stark pad to the former Valkyrie.

"What did you just hand to me?"

"Everything I know about what's to come," Daisy explained.

"And how can you know what's to come? Are you a seer?"

"No, but I know a seer. Although that's unnecessary when you know how badly this will go because of an alternate timeline." Daisy answered honestly. Considering Loki and Thor's reactions, she expected the former Valkyrie to believe her. Alternate timelines didn't seem that strange of a possibility when you lived for millennia.

"Through dreams?"

"No," Daisy answered initially before thinking on it for a moment. "Well, maybe. I don't know exactly how Robin gets her visions. Maybe she does see things in her dreams sometimes."

"Dreams are windows to other universes. Or at least that's what legend dictates." The former Valkyrie explained. "I don't believe in most of the legends now."

"Because, if you did, that means there's somewhere where your fiancé is still alive because you dream of her every night. Just like there's somewhere where I'm with Lincoln." Daisy will not mention the weird sex dream involving Sharon's great uncle. She will blame it on spending too much time digitizing the Howard Stark diaries. Daisy sincerely doubts that somewhere in the multiverse, she will end up with the legendary Daniel Sosa. That would be super weird, considering he was murdered by Hydra when she was a toddler.

"OK, you probably won't believe me, but we found a way to contact other timelines, and they're trying to help us. It's how I know what we need to do to defeat Hela once and for all so she can't hurt anybody else."

"Is there a way to defeat Hela? She feeds off of Asgard herself."

"Things stop working when you remove their battery. Read those files. We're leaving for Asgard in two hours." If they can take a ship. Considering how badly Thor just botched this, Daisy has her doubts. "With or without you. However, I'd rather have you with us."

"If the monster who took your Lincoln away from you came back, would you go to fight it?" The Asgardian asked her.

"Yes," the word was out of her mouth without even thinking. "Lincoln gave his life to take out Hive for good. And if that monster ever managed to find his way back, I would owe it to Lincoln to destroy him once and for all."

With that, Daisy left to get a ship.

xxxxx

Dear past Brunnhilde:

I bet you hate I'm even using that name. Well, if you're sober enough to feel hatred right now. I'm not sure. We always did drink to stay numb. It was better than dealing with what we lost, right? It was better to feel nothing than like half of you was still missing. Wait till you have to deal with Asgard being nothing but ashes and the last of us struggling to get by in a small fishing village in Norway depending on the goodwill of parasitic tourists.

You didn't want to deal with Hela again. Not after what we lost. You feel like you're worthless, that you couldn't do anything. You feel all the guilt of surviving. Which I understand because I still feel the guilt of surviving every day. It's sharper now that it's no longer buried under several bottles of booze.

The pain of losing her is nothing compared to the guilt of realizing that if you joined the little group of misfits earlier, maybe more people could have been saved. Every day I pass by the children that lost parents like Astrid Heimdallson, and I wonder what I could've done differently. Did my stubbornness cause their loss?

Asgard itself is lost. You can't save her. The only way to defeat the monster that took our love from us is to let Ragnarok happen. The sooner we leave, the sooner you can begin the evacuation and get them to Earth safely. Let the others fight the next monster. He is much worse than any of the legends you heard before. All you could do was run away and save as many of our people as possible as the purple monster slaughtered the rest. Now you have the chance to get our people out before he comes.

I always wanted to go back and save her. Even though the alcohol, we dreamt of it. Now you have the chance to do things better than I did. An opportunity to protect our people. To truly rebuild Asgard. But only if you get over yourself and leave now.

XXXX

Daisy tried to hold herself back from quaking the idiots dragging their feet. They don't need to be dealing with two apocalypses simultaneously. Thankfully just as she felt her resolve slip, the former Valkyrie arrived.

"I read the letter. When do we leave?"

"I knew you would agree to help us." Thor wrapped her into a hug while Loki rolled his eyes.

"As soon as we can get a few ships together. Neither of them want to go with my plan." Loki said, pointing at Bruce and his brother. "They are not a fan of larceny."

"I'll take care of it." The former Valkyrie said simply.

XXXX

Flamethrower: Hey, I'm here. I decided it was best not to port directly into whatever room you're in.

Quake: That's probably for the best. We're currently in the process of trying to steal some ships. The former Valkyrie is helping.

Flamethrower: Good. She is the one who gets the remaining Asgardians back to Earth, right?

Quake: Yes, at least that's what I got from what I was able to read. It's hard to make time for reading mission reports when you're trying to steal a couple of ships. Mainly because we have to steal more than last time.

Flamethrower:?

Quake: It was pointed out to me that we can't take everything to the Simmons summer vacation spot. And since the beta spot is unavailable, we need a ship for plan C.

Flamethrower: Which you will not put in writing.

Quake: May was my CO. I know better. Although, if we get attacked by the purple asshole, you are to port the fuck out of there with the ring pop.

Flamethrower: I was planning to do that anyway. Is there anything else I need to know before I go in there?

Quake: Well, you know that Natasha's ex-boyfriend is here since you read the reports?

Flamethrower: Yes. So, I assume you don't want me to mention you are now dating Natasha?

Quake: Yes. We just got Bruce ungreen, and I would like to keep it that way until we get to Asgard. Actually, don't mention my girlfriend at all.

Flamethrower: That might be best.

Quake: Also, to keep a code green from happening, don't mention that Thor recently discovered half-sister Sylvie is really Loki in their other form. Also, please don't have the rider take him out yet because we need him to get the Tesseract.

Flamethrower: I'll try my best.

Quake: Also, I need you to help me teach Thor to control his powers without his usual focal point.

Flamethrower: I can do that. You should know that Joey was able to put the hammer back together again.

Quake: Good to know. Can Joey pick it up? And did you, by chance, bring it with you?

Flamethrower: No and no. The little bird told us not to, even though Vision is the only one who can carry it right now. She says Thor doesn't need it anymore, but someone else does.

Quake: And did baby bird tell you who that is?

Flamethrower: No. Baby bird only told us we need to bring in an oncologist from Wakanda for whoever that person is.

Quake: Of course, she couldn't be direct.

Flamethrower: Have you had a chance to text your mom or your girlfriend?

Quake: Girlfriend, yes, but then I had to deal with getting the ex-warrior on our side. I will contact May as soon as we get some ships and get off this planet.

Flamethrower: Good plan.

Quake: You didn't bring any equipment with you? Loki is the only one that can communicate with me.

Flamethrower: I brought COMs and more Stark Pads. Baby bird told me what to pack. I have a backpack of things to give you.

Quake: OK, I mostly forgive her for not sending you with the hammer.

To be continued…

Sorry I couldn't resist having a little fun with the multiverse dream thing from Multiverse of Madness.