The Girl In Battle (Carol x Valkyrie)

lies.

Valkyrie came awake to a dull, throbbing pain in her torso and rubbed her face. The stitches stretched when her fingers flew up and down them roughly, but she didn't care. "Carol?" she croaked. At least, she tried to. The only sound that came out was a hoarse whisper. She coughed and tried again. "Carol?"

  She was in her room. Everything looked the same except for a white box on the bedside table. The rug on which she had vomited was gone, probably taken for washing, and the curtains were drawn back, dappling the floorboards with rays of soft light. The sun was up high in the sky.

  Valkyrie yanked her shirt up and saw her  bandaged torso. She peeled it open and saw her ugly, swollen wound. It looked better than before, at least. She quickly tugged her shirt down when a knock sounded on her door.

  It creaked open slowly, and to Valkyrie's surprise, it was Loki. He looked oddly embarrassed and a little paler as he sat himself down at the foot of her bed.

  "You're awake," he said finally.

  "I am." Valkyrie pulled the pendant from her neck and rolled it around between her thumb and forefinger. "Where's Carol?"

  Loki's eyes drifted down. He picked at his left hand. His leg started bouncing, slightly shaking the bed.

  Valkyrie reached out and lay a hand on his palm. She tapped his cold skin. "What's wrong, Laki?"

  "Don't call me that." Uncharacteriscally, Loki laughed a little.

  Valkyrie was worried. He usually would snap at her, or smack her, or snark something back. But this time, he was different. He was silent. Nervous. His wolfish grin was gone and the mischief in his eyes had faded away. "Loki?"

  "Carol...she was just an illusion."

  Valkyrie blinked, unable to process the revelation. "What?"

  "I was Carol. All the things she said and did...it was me. She was never here." Loki's voice dropped away.

  Valkyrie's heart stopped. She tried to take a breath, but her ribs ached suddenly. Her chest numbed. "You...Why did you do that?"

  "I just wanted to make you feel happy," Loki replied softly. He still wouldn't look at her.

  That sentence alone sent flames boiling up the blood in Valkyrie's veins. It flowed all the way to her numbed heart, and it exploded to life in fierce, painful thumps. Tears pricked her eyes like needles. She let the rage accumulate inside of her and build it up, up, up, until it all came bursting out of her mouth. The hurt, anger, betrayal, stress. Everything. "Happy? You wanted to make me happy?" she seethed. "Well, good news for you, you failed. Horribly."

  "I was just trying to help-" Loki started.

  "Help? Is that what you called, help? Valkyrie tasted salt on her lips. "You said you wanted to make me happy. You said you wanted to help." Trembling, she jabbed a hand to his chest and he stumbled off the bed. "THIS isn't helping. THIS isn't making me happy. Do you KNOW how it FELT to have the person you LOVE come back and tell you she loves you? Do you know the JOY? DO YOU?" she screamed. "NO YOU DON'T. AND BE TOLD SHE'S GONE AND IT'S ALL JUST A HUGE LIE. TO THINK THAT SHE ACTUALLY LOVES ME-" Her voice cracked and she let it fade away to the silence of the room. Now the rage had died down a little, her heart had finally burned to ashes. Broken. She fell back toward the pillows and sobbed.

  "I-I'm sorry, Valkyrie," Loki whispered. It sounded like he was about to cry too.

  The tone of his voice soothed down the anger in her chest. But no, he don't deserve her pity and never will. He wasn't the victim here. He could cry all he wanted, but in the end, it was her tears that would always hurt the most.

-

Valkyrie stayed in her room for days.

  Loki was worried, of course. The huge void of guilt that had opened up in his stomach since a few days ago had eaten up his love of causing chaos and mischief just to spite his brother. Now it had started crawling toward his chest, squeezing his lungs. Even Thor had admitted he had missed Loki's routine of stabbing him nearly five times a day. Loki had wanted to talk to Valkyrie for the longest time, but he knew his presence would make her feel worse than she already did.

  Loki paced around in his hut. Thor had given him a scolding that day, and honestly, he felt really horrible. The guilt soon became unbearable, so he ran out his hut to Valkyrie's.

  A shadow fell over him. He looked up just as screams erupted from somewhere.

  His heart stopped. It's as though it would never beat again. But he was still alive, but it didn't beat.

  A large ship blotted out the afternoon sky. Thanos.

  Loki teleported himself to Valkyrie's room and wrapped her into his arms just as the first fireball came crashing into her hut.