Contest of Champions

33

The Avenger pack walks right past my hiding spot, completely unaware of my presence. They're talking, Yon-Rogg telling the others about Veers' run in with me. Considering he wasn't there, he's not very accurate on all the details.

I can hear Sif's scowl in her voice. "Loki? Why didn't you kill him while you had the chance?"

"For the moment, we were allies," Veers retorts, her tone displaying distaste and a hint of condescension towards Sif. "He jumped in to help me fight them, not help them fight me. It goes against Starforce code to kill an ally."

Then their voices fade out of hearing as they continue walking away from me. I hold my position for a long while, ensuring they are far away from me, before I dissolve my illusion and crawl out of the space.

Dawn is approaching as I walk into the clearing where the battle occurred. The bodies are gone, replaced by twin piles of dispersing ash. I glance at the piles briefly before abruptly turning and heading down to the bottom of the slope.

Six dead. Seventeen more need to die before I see Gamora again.

I eat a strip of jerky and a handful of raisons as I walk, washing the dry food down with a gulp of water. With a dagger in my hand in case of a sudden attack, I continue along the base of the rocky slope.

The sun rises, chasing away the last of the darkness. Only the noises of morning birds singing to greet the day and a cool breeze rustling the leaves of the nearby trees reach my ears. Although I am on alert, I can't help feeling my muscles relax. I love the early morning. It's when I no longer feel like my inability to sleep is a fault, when I stop sweating and can embrace fresh morning air.

It's when I see Gamora.

My mind tells me to focus, to forget about my friend, but the atmosphere makes me reckless. I allow my mind to wander, slightly, just enough to remember her clearly.

Her wavy dark hair, tinged with red, that floats around her shoulders. Her silver implants arcing around her eyes that always glint, just barely, in the morning rays. The multiple rings on her fingers. I can still feel them touching my skin the time she covered my mouth with her hand, the time she made me promise to return to her.

When I met Gamora, we were both young. Thanos himself had come to Asgard in the Sanctuary, the last time the capital ship had left its station over Titan. It loomed over Asgard threateningly, hovering over the water beside the bridge.

Thor and I saw the ship from the palace and ran out, never having seen one that large or imposing before. The two of us stood, staring up at the sky.

"Whose ship is that?" Thor wondered.

"I don't know," I replied.

"Thor, Loki." Odin's voice came from behind us. We turned to watch our father walk up to us, Frigga following him. He placed his hands protectively on our shoulders. "That, my sons, is the Sanctuary."

Solemnly, both of us looked up at Odin before transferring our gazes back to the ship. My father took our hands and began to walk towards the bridge as a beam of energy streaked down from the ship, depositing three figures on the bridge leading into the city. One was tall and broad, from what I could see; the other two were smaller, much smaller, one on either side of the first one. They stood for a moment, seeing us coming towards them from a good while away, and then started walking towards us.

The approach took a long time, to ten year old me, and I used the time to try and figure out who these newcomers were. As they got closer, I saw that the middle figure was Thanos himself, his golden armor and helmet making his already imposing figure more threatening. As I gripped Odin's hand tightly, taking comfort from the brush of my mother's hand on my shoulder, I turned my attention to the two smaller figures.

Both of them were young girls, a little younger than me. One, gripping his right hand, was blue skinned. She was still composed mostly of her own flesh, back then – the only mechanical piece I noticed was one of her eyes, and as the trio came to a stop ten feet away from us, that eye popped forward, out of place. She pressed her free hand against it, almost shamefully, shoving it back into place with a click.

But it was the other girl who captured my attention. She had green skin, with dark hair tied up and back into two messy, braided pigtails. I could see dark red coating the underside of her hair, the ends a beautiful shade of the color. She wore a rusty brown tunic over leggings of the same hue, a sash flanking her left side. Her flat-soled boots were so different from the heeled combat boots she would later grow to love. In her free hand was a red, jewel encrusted hilt for a double-sided dagger. Her gaze was fierce, like she was daring someone to mess with her. Like she was daring me to mess with her.

I was in awe of her.

"Allfather," Thanos said as Odin stiffly bowed his head. "I trust you will take good care of my daughters."

"I will," Odin swore. I remember looking up at my father, feeling uneasy at his tone. It was respectful, but the note of...defeat unsettled me. Odin appeared so insignificant before Thanos, old and hunched.

"We will," Frigga added.

Thanos glanced down at the two girls. "Gamora, Nebula," he said. "You are strong. Go, now, and take on your assignment."

"Yes, Father," both girls responded.

Thanos released their hands and Gamora and Nebula walked slowly towards us. Odin let go of Thor and I and held out his hands to the two girls, taking a step forward. Both of them took his hands dutifully, allowing him to guide them into position beside him before the girls released his hands and clasped their own before them, looking back up at their father.

"Goodbye, my daughters," Thanos said.

And then he was drawn back up into the ship by the blue beam.

Gamora and Nebula watched their father leave before Frigga smiled down at the two of them. "Welcome to Asgard, Gamora and Nebula," she said warmly. "I hope you will be happy here."

"Happiness," Nebula rasped. "Is doing the will of my father."

Gamora just eyed Frigga warily and slightly defiantly. Thor and I, meanwhile, were watching the two girls curiously. They were two different species, neither the same as Thanos, and yet they were sisters.

At the time, I had found that interesting.

Frigga turned the girls' attention to the two of us. "Daughters of Thanos, these are my sons, Thor and Loki."

Both of them nodded curtly to us, giving us a cursory onceover. Gamora held my eyes a moment longer than she did Thor's before she turned to look up at the retreating Sanctuary.

My mind is ripped from its recollection suddenly as the air begins to shimmer before me. I come to an abrupt halt and stand warily as the space takes on a bluish tinge, a circular shape convulsing in the air before me for a moment before the air tears open.

I barely have time to register the portal before I'm being drawn forward into dark space.