5 | Foresight

1.01 - Dream on Repeat

All around Solena, the palace was silent. There were no servants or staff wandering around, the guards were few and far between and even those in the kitchen would not be waking for several more hours. The young girl peeked her head out of her chambers, looking either way before slipping out into the corridor and sticking to the shadows as she wandered down the halls.

She was nervous, oh was she nervous. Thor had said it would be a good idea, that neither of them would get in trouble and it would be fun. Fun. Solena had to suppress a snicker at that. Fun for him, maybe, but her? Highly unlikely. But then again, when was she ever able to say no to Thor?

When she reached the training yard, she stepped out under the moonlight. Solena turned her head up and watched the stars and the night sky. It was beautiful. It always was.

Turning her attention away from the sky, Solena noted that the yard was empty. Thor hadn't arrived yet. Typical of her to be much too early for their secret midnight training session. Her nerves always made a bit paranoid. Leaving extra early so there was no way she could be late, jumping at the slightest breeze.

She wandered over to the rack of weapons and looked at them all, wondering which Thor would make her try first. They all looked so dangerous, much too dangerous for her. She stifled a laugh. Thor would tell her she was being too skittish and she would never learn how to fight unless she stopped being so skittish.

From off the rack, Solena grabbed a set of small daggers. She needed to be a little bold. She tossed them into the air a little, catching the handle each time. It was only a few inches at the most that she was throwing them, but it was making her more confident.

After catching them a few times, a jolt of pain went through her forehead and Solena's hands went up to clutch at her head upon instinct. Her vision blurred and the girl saw the image of herself, Thor and her friend Sigyn sitting in a room before King Odin. Then it was gone and the daggers slipped from Solena's fingers.

The pain from the vision dulled, only to be replaced by pain in her neck. Panicked, one hand went to where the pain was coming from, finding some hot and wet all over her neck. Bringing her hand back, she saw that it was covered in blood. She was bleeding. She was bleeding a lot.

More panic shot through Solena as she opened her mouth to call for help but her mouth filled with blood. Solena's legs gave out and she fell to ground, blackness slowly creeping into her vision until the remaining strength in her body left her and everything went dark.

Gasping for breath, Solena shot up in her bed. Her eyes quickly surveyed her surroundings, expecting the training yard only to see her bed chambers. In a flash, she realized what had happened and flopped back down on her bed with a heavy sigh. Solena longed to get up and wander down the darkened corridors in search of her friends so she could tell them what had happened but... it was simply not attainable at the current time.

The friend she longed for the most, Thor, was off somewhere in the galaxy, searching for something. Some powerful stones, he hadn't told her much. Sigyn was on Midgard as she had been ever since they defeated Malekith and her husband, Loki, had died. And Sif, the one friend she had been able to keep close was currently off world on some kind of mission, not due back until the morning.

Dreams of the night she had discovered that she was not like her fellow Asgardians had haunted her for years. Ever since that day to be quite specific. Why they persisted, Solena could never be sure, but between them and her regular visions, she felt like she hardly got a break. It had been hard enough just being the Goddess of Foresight, but now she had this... other curse to deal with as well.

A warmth spread through the goddess' body as she remembered what Thor had told her after they had discovered what had happened and told King Odin about it.

"This'll work out, Sol, you'll see. One day you'll think back and realize it wasn't a curse, but a gift! And just think of how much better a warrior you could be if everytime an enemy dealt you a killing blow, it would not last!"

"I don't know... What if it was a one-time deal? What if it doesn't work next time something bad happens?"

"There's no time for negative talk like that! Of course it's not a one-time deal! The universe wouldn't go to all that trouble only to have it work once. You'll see. Now, come, I still have to teach you how to properly wield weapons."

While it may not have been the best advice (and definitely not what Sigyn or Sif would have told her and did tell her), it was Thor and he always had a way of making her feel better. Whatever it was about him, from his boyish optimism to the swelling of her heart whenever she saw him, he was the one to turn to when she just needed cheering up.

The palace— no, Asgard, had become a lonely place for Solena without her friends around. Between the visions she had no one to tell about and the strange changes in King Odin, there wasn't anything she wouldn't give to go back in time and have all her friends back again. It would even be nice to see Loki again, if she did go back in time. Solena had enjoyed his company before he went bad. Before he discovered that Odin had been lying to him for his entire life. Her king was many things, but a good father did not rank among that list, oh no.

Solena rolled over in bed and stared out into nothing. "I wish things were just simple like they used to be..."