The Forgotten Goddess

I've Been Through Worse

TW: Electrification and talk of torture 

Our family is together again.

1st Person POV (Alexandrya)

As I stayed there with Thor and Loki, I could hear sounds of movement around us. Looking up from the hug, I saw that we were surrounded. Thor and Loki both saw this and we all stood up. A weird metal man walked over to us with his hand raised. It started to glow and make a weird sound and I flinched a little. 

Bucky ran over and stood in between us.

"Tony, no. She's like me. Don't hurt her." So the metal man's name is Tony.

"How can you be sure Bucky?" A new person asked. He was wearing red white and blue. He reminds me of little Steve from the alley all those years ago.

"She was with me in HYDRA, Steve. We were cellmates." Wait, that is Steve? What happened? He grew up. Bucky continued to talk,

"Also, you know her too Steve. Remember Hannah? The girl from the alley all those years ago?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's her." Steve's eyes went wide and he looked at her more closely.

"H-Hannah?" He said, almost whispered.

"It's Alexandrya. There's no use in hiding from Odin anymore. He'll find me if he wants to. Might as well use the name my mother gave me." I heard Thor gasp behind me.

"She doesn't know Loki."

"Well, you tell her then. Also, you can lift her banishment now."

"You two know I can hear everything you're saying, right?" They turned around at that.

"Well, Lex, Odin's dead," Thor told me and I immediately felt a weight lift off my chest. I knew Thor liked his dad, so I knew this must be hard for him.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I was kind of. I was sorry that he lost his family.

"Thank you, but since he's dead I am now king. And as King of Asgard, I can do this." He smiled at me and I wondered what it was.

"Alexandrya Miadottir, I, Thor Odinson, King of Asgard hereby lift your banishment. You are welcome on Asgard at any time." (A/N: I forgot to say in the last chapter, but Asgard was not destroyed. Thor is king, but he doesn't have to be there all the time.) 

As soon as Thor said those words, I felt the weight being lifted off of my mind. I smiled at Thor,

"Thank you. Thank you so much." But of course, every happy moment has to be ruined. 

I screamed out in pain as electricity ran up and down my spine, coursing through me. I'd never felt the level this high before. My hands tried to reach up and grab the collar, but I was frozen there. Paralyzed. I couldn't move. I lay on the ground curled in a ball, crying.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening to her?"

"What do we do?" So many people were asking questions. Thor was trying to avert the electricity elsewhere, Loki was trying to soothe my mind. People were surrounding me. Suddenly I felt someone touch my wings. I panicked.

"Please," I whispered, "Leave my wings. Please." But no one heard. 

"Get away from her!" A female voice shouted. 

"I can help her, but you need to stop crowding her." She sounded strong, fierce, smart. 

"Bucky, you would know the most about this other than her. But since she is unable to speak to us, I need you to tell me all you know about that collar."

"I don't know a whole lot, but I know that every time they took it off to update it or adjust it, they'd knock her out and use this fingerprint scanner to open it." Hearing his voice calmed me. Knowing that he was here, he wasn't dead, I wasn't alone, relaxed me a little. Until I felt foreign hands on my neck. I tried to jerk away, only to have someone gently hold me still.

"It's okay little elf, Shuri's going to help. She helped me, she'll help you too." I relaxed as much as I could into Bucky's hold.

"AHA!" That female voice, I think Bucky said her name was Shuri, excalimed. Suddenly, the shocks disappeared. I tried to get up, only to be held down.

"No. You will not get up. You are too weak." I looked at her face. T'Challa's sister. She helped me after I tried to kil her brother. I looked at Bucky, who was holding me, and he helped me sit up so I was leaning against him. Looking back at Shuri, I stayed silent, not knowing what to say. She spoke again,

"That was really high voltage you were shocked with, how are you not passed out?" I gave her a sad smile and answered,

"I've been tortured for eight years plus frozen for 63 more, I've been through worse." I could hear gasps around me.

"71 years?" I saw a beautiful red-head. I nodded at her. 

"I've been shocked, whipped, beaten, and burned until they thought they had broken me. There were only two times I thought they had succeeded." I looked her straight in the eye, but I could feel the stares of everyone around me.

Then Shuri walked back over to me, I hadn't even realized she had left.

"We can talk more about what happened to you after we get that collar off and get you healed again." She nodded to Bucky who picked me up and folllowed after Shuri.

We went into a room full of different machines and I braced myself, preparing for the pain that was coming my way. Bucky noticed this and whispered

"Está bien muñeca. No te lastimarán aquí." (It's okay doll. You won't be hurt here.) I smiled at him.

He lay me on a table and sat down next to me. Shuri came over with different tools to try to get the collar off, and I started to worry. Are those going to be used on me? Bucky grabbed my hand and told me what happened to him after he woke up. He told me about them wiping his mind, about killing Howard and Maria, about fighting Steve, about remembering who Steve was. He told me how Steve fought to keep him safe and brought him here. 

"Bucky told me you helped to heal his mind." Shuri cut in.

"I did, yes."

"You did amazing. I was worried it was going to take a long time to fix what had been done, but it only took ten days." She was impressed. I smiled, then frowned. Ten days? Bucky escaped HYDRA two years ago. He just told me he spent a year in hiding until they brought him here...

"Why didn't you come back?" I whispered, tears starting to run down my face. "You promised you wouldn't leave me, but you left me there. You left me alone."

He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Shuri who had unlocked the collar. 

"AHA! I got it!" She smiled triumphantly and carefully took it off my neck. There were two puncture wounds in the back where the rods the shocks came from were. Black scar-like lines eminating from around them. 

"Can you feel this?" Her question caught me off gaurd. 

"Feel what?"

"I'm touching where those rods were, I think the electricity fried your nerves here." She continued to examine me to make sure I wasn't critically injured anywhere. I didn't even notice Bucky had left. My fast healing already giving me more energy.

"I'm all good, thank you Shuri. I don't deserve your help after almost killing your brother."

"But you didn't." She smiled softly, "You were willing to kill yourself to keep him alive. I appreciate that. I am very grateful." She wrapped her arms around me, and I returned it.

I stood up then and said,

"Now I'd best be off. I owe the other an explanation, and Bucky owes me one."

A/N: That's Chapter 17! I already have the next chapter started in my head, so I'll probably update either today or tomorrow. 

I don't have a whole lot else to say. Hope you enjoyed!

Love y'all <3

Kari (pen name)