The Prince and the Sol

Chapter 25

ELIZA'S POV

*ASGARD, 2016*

Thor, Rocket and I appear in a hallway of the Asgard palace. The Quantum suits disappear and I straighten my new one. It's closer to the original, but laced with threads of vibranium to be more protective. The palace as beautiful as I remember. I want to wander the halls, revisit the library, but we don't have time.

Thor points to a room. "That's Jane in there." Apparently all of this Reality Stone nonsense with Jane happened right before Hela and Asgard's destruction.

"All right. Here's the deal, Tubby: You're gonna charm her and we're gonna poke her with this thing," he holds up a device, "and extract the Reality Stone and get gone, lickety-split.

"Perfect," I say.

"I'll be right back, okay? There's a wine cellar, that's just down there. My father used to have a huge barrel of ale. I'll see if the cellar has a couple of-"

"Thor, come on! Focus!" I plead.

"Hey! Hey! Aren't you drunk enough already?" Rocket snaps. A door opens, and we all hide. My heart aches when I see a beautiful woman leading other ladies down the hallway. Frigga. My mother-in-law. She never even knew that.

"Who's the fancy broad?" Rocket asks.

"It's my mother," Thor whispers, completely heartbroken. "She dies soon." Of course. We came soon before Hela attacked Asgard and killed Frigga. Soon before Odin went missing.

"Oh. That's... unfortunate."

"I can't do this," Thor says, shaking his head wildly. "I can't do this. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have come.This was a bad idea!"

"Thor, it's going to be okay," I say comfortingly.

"No, no, no. I think I'm having...I'm having a panic attack. I shouldn't be here. This is...this is a bad-"

"Come here," Rocket commands. When Thor obeys, he slaps him. I gasp

"Hey!"

"You think you're the only one who lost people? What do you think we're doing here? I lost the only family I ever had. Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna, all gone." Rocket loses his composure for a minute, but keeps going. "Now, I get it. You miss your Mom. But she's gone. Really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kinda gone. But you can help them. So is it too much to ask that you brush the crumbs out of your beard, make schmoopy talk to Pretty Pants, and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone and help me get my family back?"

"Okay," Thor finally says. Tears glisten in his eyes.

"Are you... crying?"

"No!" He sniffles. "Yes..."

"Get it together, you can do this! You can do this, all right?"

"Yes, I can!" Thor says, trying to reassure himself.

"Good," I say. I pat him on the shoulder.

"I can do it! I can do it... I can't do it..."

"All right, Heartbreaker, she's alone. This is our shot," Rocket says. My eyes widen when I realize that Thor is gone. "Thor?"