"Love & Destiny" - The legend of the Valkyrie and the Space Princess

X - The Decision

Captain Marvel felt something that was actually foreign to her: panic.

Behind thorny fangs, a screaming Valkyrie threatened to be strangled. In front of her lay another wounded Valkyrie on the ground.
"Don't look there," said the Valkyrie on the ground as Carol shot at the thorns again. "What you see there is the true illusion!"
Carol looked down at her. What should she do?
"Carol, my darling... Think about it: all she can offer you is impermanence."

As if by magic, large images surrounded by light appeared around Captain Marvel. Scenes played on them like on a cinema screen. Carol's gaze was immediately caught when she saw herself walking in through a door - and Valkyrie falling into her arms. They kissed. And Carol looked so relaxed, so happy - as if it was a natural part of her everyday life.

The next picture showed her fighting on a battlefield. Heroes, Avengers and unknown creatures flew around her - and there was Valkyrie. And then her sword fell to the ground. And she collapsed.

In the third and final picture, Carol saw herself standing at a grave. Rain fell down on her.
"Carol, you know..." the voice purred. "Everything that lives dies. Everything you win you will lose."

The words echoed in Captain Marvel's head. A dread flooded every fiber of her body. The voice was right.

"Come with me - and we will be together forever," the voice whispered. "Only I can give this to you. Only me."
Captain Marvel closed her eyes.
"You finally know what you want..."
She breathed in and out deeply.
"You finally want to arrive. Finally...arrive..."
Carol slowly raised her hand. Her fingers were about to touch the valkyrie's on the ground.
"Yes... come with me..."
"Marv!" Valkyrie's voice echoed to her from the distance. "Think of Maria! Remember what is real!"

A familiar pain settled around Carol's heart. Maria...
"I can bring her back to you too, look at me, I -" the Valkyrie in front of her began to speak, but then Carol opened her eyes and looked into Freya's empty eye sockets.
"NO," the monster shrieked and grabbed Carol's hand, which she quickly pulled back.

Captain Marvel rose into the air. She felt a little dazed, as if she had just been woken from a deep sleep - but now she saw clearly where she was. In the ugly, dark cemetery called Nocturne. Below her, Freya reached out to her. Behind her, Valkyrie was pushed to the ground by the hands of more monsters.

Captain Marvel flew straight into the horde of dark creatures. She pushed two of them away, dispossessed three more of their arms, and blasted the others away with violent beams. The nooses around Valkyrie loosened. Exhausted and with bloody scratches on her arms, she collapsed to her knees.

"Carol! Look at me," Freya's voice rang loudly across the entire roundabout. Captain Marvel braced herself - ready to just fly right through Freya.
Freya showed herself once again with everything she had to offer. Her appearance alternated between the figure of Valkyrie, the face of a classical goddess and every now and then Carol thought she also saw Maria in front of her.
"Accept it," Freya yelled. "Everything you desire can be found here! Only here!"
She laughed Valkyrie's laugh. Stretched out her arms. "A life full of guilt and deprivation – or an eternity in the perfect world? Finally you can arrive, finally..."
With an irrepressible will, Captain Marvel pushed herself off and raced towards Freya, who stopped in the form of Valkyrie, her arms open in welcome. And suddenly Captain Marvel slowed down. The trail of light around her body faded. She came to a stop. Freya smiled: „You got it..."

Carol didn't know whether she understood or not. Nothing was clear to her. Except for this burning desire within her. Arrive... Why fight anymore? She reached out to Valkyrie.
"Yes, yes..." the woman in front of her whispered.
"No, don't do that," a voice shouted from the distance.
But before Captain Marvel could understand, her fingers had already touched the valkyrie's.

All light went out.

Carol fell to her knees. Freya looked down at her. Smiled. Said: "Now you're mine." And suddenly Carol's whole body was filled with pain. Where Freya held her hands, a painful suction arose. As if she was sucking all the life energies out of her, a fire shot through her veins and into Freya, who shone with ever brighter light.
"Marv," echoed desperately from somewhere. "You have to resist her!"
Carol narrowed her eyes. Opened them. Looked into empty eye sockets.
"Marv..."
Valkyrie...
Carol closed her eyes again. Valkyrie was blindfolded... She had cuts on her arms from the thorns... She... Carol opened her eyes. She wasn't the one standing here in front of her.

"She's going to die," groaned the voice in front of her, as if she sensed that Carol was resisting. "You will lead her into her misfortune and you know it! You will lead her to the battlefield – cause this is what you do – where she will meet her end just like her sisters did - and you will watch! And for what?!"
Carol concentrated so hard on holding on to the image of the real Valkyrie in her mind that she could barely speak. Was she mistaken - or was there some skin peeling off Freya's face? Little fibers flew away from her like grains of dust. Was she dissolving?

Pain. Freya pulled on Carol's life energy even more violently.

"What are you doing," shrieked the voice in front of her. Particle by particle her shape disappeared. "How can you throw away an eternity of happiness for a love that must fade?!"
"Rather... a true love..." Carol said "...that will pass – than something that was never true!"
"You'll regret this," said Freya, horrified.
"I'll rather... regret forever..." Carol swallowed. With a final effort of all her will, she said, "...than never having loved."

Freya stumbled back. Larger and larger pieces of her body fell apart and were blown away like ash. The monster understood that its end had come. As it dissolved, it looked Captain Marvel into the eyes. "You have decided," it said. „But remember my words..."

Captain Marvel fell to the side as the words reached her ears, filled her consciousness, and left nothing but silence: "Everything that lives dies. Everything you win - you will lose."