Valen: A Collector's Item

Oh Baby

As the Talon Fighter landed at its destination, Valen ran to the stairs that were to descend onto the grey grass. She took her first few steps down and stopped as her feet hit the earth. She couldn't move any further than where she stood. The sight of the wreckage was nothing compared to how she imagined it would be.

"Valen?" Shuri whispered behind her.

Valen stared at her demolished home. A few beams and walls still stood as concrete, glass, and broken furniture were strewn all over the place. Ash covered everything except a few places that were disturbed by the fire department and ambulances.

She turned around with tears welling up in her eyes, and Shuri, without a thought, took off down the stairs and threw herself around her friend. Valen broke into sobs and clung harder to her.

"I'm sorry this happened to your home." Shuri whispered letting Valen let out all of her emotions.

T'Challa put his hand on the upset girl's shoulder, and she let go of his sister and wrapped herself around him. He tightened his hug around her, understanding what it was like to lose something important.

The three of them stood there in silence until Valen calmed down. She stepped away from T'Challa and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

With a slight chuckle she said, "And to think I was excited to come here. I'm sorry, I didn't know it would affect me this much."

"You said it was your first home." Shuri patted Valen's back comfortably. "But you can make a home anywhere. It's the people you love and the things you cherish that make a place a home. It's not only a building you live in."

"I know," Valen sighed, "but it would be nice to just have one thing that stays the same. I'm tired of something always going wrong. I want a normal life."

T'Challa laughed. "Valen, you shoot icicles out of your hands and turn invisible whenever you choose. You will never have a normal life. Just as Shuri and I will never have a normal life. Just as your team will never have a normal life. If you did, you wouldn't have them nor have met us."

"Then I guess a normal life is overrated. Thank you." Valen smiled at T'Challa as he nodded his head in response.

"Are you sure you don't want us to stay?" Shuri asked for the fifth time today.

"I'm positive. Go. I'm going to look around for a bit. You two have a long flight back."

Shuri hugged Valen one last time saying goodbye before getting back on the jet. When it was T'Challa's turn, he laughed as he put an arm around her shoulders.

"Keep in touch. You have this for a reason." He tapped the beads on her wrist.

Valen stepped away from under his arm and bowed. "Anything for my king."

She was laughing as T'Challa rolled his eyes and pushed her. He walked back up the stairs into the jet without looking back.

Valen continued laughing and waved a final goodbye as the jet took off into the sky, blending into the clouds. When it was completely gone from site, Valen's smile drifted away as she turned around to face the mess that was the compound.

The once-still ash was twirling in the air from the jet's backwash. Each step she took would puff the grey into the air coating her shoes in the same likeness as the ground. She didn't care though. Her thoughts were remembering where each room was located if the building was still standing.

After careful mapping, Valen finally made it to where her room would be if she was a couple of stories up. She kicked around the broken and burnt furniture, but something stood out in the sea of grey. She bent down to pick up a small red Spider-Man magnet that once held up a picture of her and Peter. She wiped off the soot to see it was untouched by the bombs and fire and stashed it into her shorts pocket.