The Girl In Battle (Carol x Valkyrie)

Wanda is delirious. Valkyrie tries to calm her down. oh, look, pym particles.

"So what you're trying to say is you saw Natasha down there, helping Thanos carry 2012 Loki into his ship." When Wanda nodded, Thor slapped both hands on his face and dragged them down. "How is that possible?"

  "First off, Romanoff is dead. Second, she wouldn't be helping someone like Thanos." Strange regarded Wanda with a  suspicious look. "Are you sure you're not just seeing things, Wanda?"

  "I saw  someone with red hair. I'm not sure because it's dark, but I saw red hair." Wanda trembled.

  "I can try going through her memories," Loki offered unexpectedly.

  Thor sank into the couch. Nebula had returned from marveling at Valkyrie's weapons cabinet. Rocket and Groot were sitting on the ground while Gamora whispered quietly to Peter. Mantis was staring at Wanda with curious yet sad ebony eyes while Loki was picking at his left hand, a gesture he normally did when he was nervous. Valkyrie realized during her time at Asgard, she noticed how Loki's mother, Queen Frigga, had the same nervous gesture too. Bruce said he had to go collect the pym particles his friend had provided for him.

  Wanda looked at him with guarded eyes. "I am not sure."

  "I won't hurt you," Loki promised. His eyes were the kindest they had been. "I'll just see whether you're hallucinating or it's real."

  Wanda gulped and frowned at him. "Fine."

  Loki stood up and went over to her. His hands came resting against the side of her head and she recoiled, but he had a firm grip on her.

  The whole room seemed to hold its breath when Loki closed his eyes. When he opened them, Wanda let out a gasp. Valkyrie touched her arm to let her know she's all right.

  "It's not Agent Romanoff." Loki looked at Wanda. "There's nobody there, but she just thought she saw somebody."

  "But...But..." The hope in Wanda's eyes vanished and her shoulder slumped. She regained her voice. "But I saw someone."

  "Wanda, maybe you're just creating another reality," Stephen said. "I know you miss her, but I told you that messing around creating alternate realities aren't going to help."

  "But I saw her!" Wanda insisted, getting desperate now. "She has the jacket Steve gave me when I joined the Avengers. She was smiling at me. Maybe she's pretending to help Thanos! You know she used to be a double agent. She-"

  "Maximoff," Loki interrupted her. "It's not real. I know because I can create illusions and I know when what is real and what is not and Natasha is not real. She is long gone."

  Tears shone in Wanda's eyes. "She was smiling at me," she whispered softly. She looked up at Loki, and a faint hint of red gleamed in her eyes. "You don't know what you're talking about, Asgardian. She's right there in front of me, and you have the audacity to tell me-"

  "She's dead, Wanda Maximoff!" Loki nearly shouted. "I know you miss her very much everyone does! But you just have to accept that she's dead and you won't see her anymore! Your mind is tricking you can't you see that? I know the grief I really do but if you keep on going like this you will doom-"

  "That's enough, Loki!" Valkyrie yelled.

  Wanda collapsed into herself in a mess of tears.

  Loki retreated back into his place on the couch beside Thor, looking guilty yet frustrated at the same time. Thor whispered to Loki in a furious tone and the younger Asgardian brother just kept quiet.

  Valkyrie gently touched Wanda's shoulder and when the sobbing sorceress didn't recoil from her touch, she squeezed her shoulder softly. She glared at the people staring and they quickly averted their gaze away.

  "Here." Valkyrie had brought out the burned paper of Natasha and she had it folded neatly to fit in her trousers pocket. Now she slid it out, pried Wanda's soaked fingers open from its loose fist, and pressed it in her damp palm. "You can have this."

  Wanda managed to stop crying for a moment when she unfolded the paper with shaking hands. She stared at her friend's face on the paper and cried even more. "She trained me. She taught me everything from combat training to curling my hair. We were so close. She even let me keep her jacket. She's my mentor but also kind of like a mother figure. I miss her as much as I miss Vision." She let out a small laugh. "I can't believe you took the time to save this piece of paper."

  "I believe it belongs to you now." Valkyrie smiled at her.

  "Thank you." Wanda held it close to her heart. A picture poked out of her breast pocket, showing a man's face. Only it didn't look human. Must be Vision.

  "Is that...Is that Vision?" Valkyrie asked.

  "Oh, yes." Wanda tucked Natasha's picture in front of it. "He's like a lucky charm." She patted the pocket. "I know it sounds ridiculous but it brings me comfort."

  "I know how that feels like so no, not ridiculous." Valkyrie smiled at her. "Go get some sleep. You'll feel better."

  "But I don't know..."

  "I can help," Mantis volunteered. She hurried over to Wanda, who seemed way more relaxed than she did when Loki was about to invade her memories. She willingly let Mantis touch her head.

  "Sleep," Mantis commanded, the tips of her antennas glowing like two tiny suns.

  Wanda fell back toward the couch.

  "Are you sure you didn't kill her?" Strange asked.

  Mantis gave him a child's annoyed look. Which was kind of cute. "No."

  Strange looked like he had his doubts.

-

When Thor had carried Wanda to Valkyrie's room and they were all discussing on ways to stuff Thanos back to his own timeline or just kill him, a knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

  Bruce entered the room and a man stumbled after him. He had bags of food and carried a backpack.

  "This is my friend, Scott Lang. He's the giant guy in battle, remember?" Bruce helped unpack the food on the table. "We got some Taco Bell. Are you all hungry?"

  "Hi, Giant Man." Thor laughed merrily while clapping Scott on the back. "What brings you here?"

  "I got some Hank to make some pym particles." Scott took out tubes filled with red liquid from his backpack. "We can finally get the time travel starting."

  The others let out happy murmurs and the mood lightened a little.

  "I'll go get Wanda," Mantis said, then skipped away. Valkyrie followed her for she had nothing to do.

  When Mantis cheerfully knocked on the door and opened it, her happy demeanour vanished and tears erupted in her eyes. She screamed.

  Valkyrie squeezed past Mantis and her heart stopped.

  Wanda lay motionless, her chest slashed open. Her mouth was wide open in a soundless scream. Blood splattered the walls and stained the bedsheets, pooling on the floor.

  Mantis screamed and screamed until Valkyrie forced her down onto the floor, hugging her tight until she finally stopped screaming.