the good place
Another day, another successfully raided and destroyed Hydra facility.
Now the team was lounging around the common room having celebratory drinks as they did after big missions.
Clint and Nat sharing one of the sofas, with he archer hugging the russian's legs in a tipsy affectionate state.
The three soldiers sat on one of the big couches, Sam drinking a normal beer and the WWII veterans drinking whiskey, spiked with 'Thor's special juice' as they called it.
Tony and Bruce were both sitting on some pillows they had thrown on the floor, the two drinking some weird cocktail they had created in the lab, apparently the drink was hulk-friendly.
Pietro was standing and every now and then he would pace around the room, unable to stay still for more than a couple of minutes, he and Peter (who was glued to the ceiling because why not) were both condemned to ordinary orange juice, Parker owing to the fact that he was still a minor in USA laws and Pietro because the group learnt the hard way that alcohol only heightened his hyperactiveness.
Wanda shared a love seat with Vision, sipping on her glass of rum and coke and the android drinking nothing because... well, he's an android, although he did hold a glass of water for toasting and cheering.
Lastly, Thor lay on the last sofa, with his legs resting on the arm of the chair Cora was occupying, the two passing the flask of asgardian booze between them.
"Hey Pietro" Said a slightly intoxicated Tony, the speedster who was once again walking around the room nodded for him to continue, so he did "What did you see when you were... you know, sleeping with the fishes?" Finished bluntly, everyone shot their heads up, scolding him for being insensitive "Oh! C'mon! Aren't you guys curious? Sabrina brought him back after almost half an hour had passed, I'm a man of science, I want to know" Defended Stark with his hands up
Silence took over the group as they all turned to the older Maximoff, who shook his head before speaking
"I honestly have no idea, it was weird, one second I was falling and then I was in a sort of waiting room, I can't tell if it was a sort of heaven or hell thing, but there was a big window behind an empty desk that let me see some white gates in the distance..." Pietro trailed off, the team were all in the edge of their seats, except for who Thor looked deep in thought and Cora who was trying her best to look calm and collected "I don't remember much else, then an old woman came from the door and sat at the desk I told you before, she motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of her and before she could speak, I woke up in the helicarrier" Everyone nodded in thought and Banner spoke
"Well, it is said that the human brain can create hallucinations as they die, making you see a dream, or something" He said, the rest absentmindedly hummed, struggling to process the information in their drunken state
"I don't know man, we have proof that gods exist now, look at your right, we have one slouched on one of my couches... Maybe, there is something more after this, who knows?" Said Tony, everyone was surprised at his unusual faithful behaviour and the scientist just shrugged and nodded
"Wait! I remembered something else!" Said Pietro loudly making the heroes jump "The gates I mentioned had some letters written... Ugh, what did they say?" He started searching for the correct word, "Vul- No no, Vil? Agh!" He started pacing in distress, racking his brain trying to work it out "Oh! Valhalla!" He pronounced it like 'Vah-lah-luh' with pride. At this Thor's eyes glowed with happiness, and Cora's with slight fear that went unnoticed by the group
"Val-huh-luh" Corrected the god "It is a common misconception that only Asgardian warriors end up in Valhalla, but as I was taught a couple centuries ago, Valhalla and Helheim are the two afterlife options for creatures from across the realms, including Midgard" Everyone looked shocked at this, probably not expecting that existence after death would be in the hands of the nordic figures
"So, every religion is wrong... what a drag" Said Sam taking a swig of his beer, breaking the silence
"Okay, but wait, if i'm naughty I go to that Hel whatever and if i'm a good boy I go to this Valvala?" Asked a very doubtful Tony "How would that even work? I used to sell weapons to bad people, now I kill bad guys to save Earth and still sometimes accidentally kill or hurt innocent people, what actions weigh more?" The rest of the Avengers voiced their agreement at Stark's words looking at Thor for answers, before she could stop herself, Cora opened her mouth
"It's Valhalla" pointed out the woman "You guys remember last month when we watched that show? 'The Good Place?'" Questioned Francis to the group who nodded, the god of thunder eyeing her with slight bewilderment. She saw that and quickly averted her eyes from him and cleared her throat before continuing "Well, imagine it works like it did in the end, instead of being sent to hell or heaven, you are given different scenarios and you're evaluated on the way you behave. Most creatures, after some time, pass to the good place, Valhalla, there are still some very awful individuals who no matter the chances they are given, have no hope of redemption, those are sent to Helheim" The whole group 'Oh-ed' in understanding while Thor looked surprised
"And how do you know all that, lolite?" Asked the god. Yeah, he gave her a nickname, lolite, saying the color of the gem resembled her eyes when she got mad and they turned into that dark bright purple shade
Cora gulped and answered nonchalantly "I'll have you know, prince of Asgard, I've had my fair share of travels around the galaxies, every question has an answer available if you know where to look, I've read the files" She shrugged and Thor's suspicious glare softened but wasn't gone completely.
He got up to get more pop tarts while muttering 'annoyingly mysterious woman', to which Cora laughed lightly, sending a wisp of magic to trip the god over his own feet
- - -
The now taller and older girl opened the big golden doors and walked with her head held high, grief and pain clear in her eyes, as well as hunger for revenge.
"Oh, Freyasdottir, the woman I was just in dire need to talk to" Said the eyepatched king from his throne, a few feet above from the brown-skinned girl. She didn't kneel nor curtsy as she was taught to, not anymore, not after today
"And why would you need to talk to me, Odin?" Shock and confusion flashed for a second through the man's eye, though he quickly recovered and went back to his oblivious and too innocent stare
"My, my, not even those usual... nicknames you revel in giving me... what was the favourite one? Pops?... No? How very sad" Said the king with that mocking but playful tone the girl used to love, this time, not amused, she kept on staring. "I need a favour from you, Co-" The man was abruptly interrupted by the woman in front of him
"I need a favour from you, my Queen" She corrected with as much venom it scared even the woman herself "Because remember, thanks to you, i'm now Queen. Mother is probably going to be walking through the door soon and Sigrun... well" At the mention of that name, Odin straightened his back in a somewhat defensive manner
"I never intended for that to happen, you must know that, even if I know your head is full of vengeance towards my daughter-" Again he was cut off
"Towards your daughter?!" She exclaimed raising her voice "You were the one who sent the Valkyries to die, to fight your stupid family battle, their death is on you, my sister's death is on you" She said with pain and anger mixing to create this dark tone in her voice that only spoke hatred towards the old king "Now, I presume the favour you were planning on asking of me was about erasing your people's memories?" She asked with a sickeningly sweet smile, after staring at him menacingly a minute ago
Odin nervously cleared his throat and said "Well, yes. As I had asked you before, I want the people of Asgard to forget about the existence of Hela, and while you're at it, change their recollection on how the Valkyries died" the man explained his request waving his hand around dismissively, as if he was merely asking a maid to bring him grapes
She was shell-shocked at his petition. He had the nerve of asking her for something after he had sent the group of warriors to fight his firstborn. The group of warriors her sister was a part of. To fight the firstborn who was her best friend. He sat now on his golden throne asking to change everyone's memories about the pain he caused, to get rid of his own guilt. No, now he pays.
"Of course, but I'll be keeping Frigga's memories untouched" She said again with that wide fake smile she had mastered growing up surrounded by the mess of the royal family, Odin nodded
She started working right there and then on how she would change the remembrances of the asgardians (and anyone from across the realms who knew about Hela or the fight that had taken place between ther and the Valkyries for the goddess' banishment). She was done after five minutes, that's all it took for her to change a whole realm's memories
"Done" The kind gave her a satisfied smile and started gesturing for her to leave when the woman spoke again "I should tell you, dear Allfather, that I changed everyone's minds to think Hela wasn't banished, she is in a quest across the nines, where she is putting her life on the line to protect her people, she will be a heroi in their eyes" She glanced at the look of despair in Odin's face and continued "As for the Valkyries, everyone will blame you for sending their elite warriors to fight Surtur in a stupid attempt to gain reign of Muspelheim. Poor Valkyries, sending them to fight fire giants, your people will hate you Odin, you're welcome!" And with that she turned on her feet and walked down the hall towards the exit of the throne room, not turning to look back to see the disturbed look the king surely had at that moment.
Hearing the slam of the golden doors she had stepped through seconds ago, she teleported to her friend and asked him to take her home
"Thank you, good Heimdall"
"My pleasure, and i'm sorry for your loss, Queen Cora"
- - -
"I'm telling you, Sam, she's high"
"What the hell would she be high on? Would anything actually work on her?"
"What are you munchkins talking about?"
"Oh, hey Stark, Bucky and I are talking about Cora over there" Sam says pointing at the figure of the woman sitting in one of the kitchen stools staring at the microwave oven
"She hasn't moved or blinked since we got here, it's been almost an hour, it's getting scary" Tony nodded and the three sat on the other seats in the kitchen island
"Could she be sleeping? You know, like those weirdos who sleep with their eyes open?" Stark thinks aloud after another five minutes spent observing the woman in silence
"What are you creeps doing?" Asked Natasha who had come from the training room with Clint
"Are you spying on Cora or something?"
"We're literally sitting a couple of stools away from her, how could that be considered spying, Barton?" Said Bucky with an eye roll
The archer shrugged, the three explained what they were doing and soon after, the whole team was in the kitchen, standing in the doorway speculating over what she could be doing and if something was wrong
"Is she even breathing?" someone in the group asked
"Do you seriously have so little going on in your lives that you waste almost two hours watching me?" The whole team jumped and turned their heads to the voice that resounded from behind them and then looked back to the kitchen where Cora's body was still in the same position it had been for the last couple of hours.
The heroes kept looking back and forth from the woman behind them to the woman staring at the microwave, at their confusion the woman spoke again "That's an illusion, idiots" as she said that she raised her hand and the Cora in the kitchen disappeared
Everyone finally stopped and just stared at the real Cora.
"God, where were you then?" Finally Tony asked, being first to recover from his shock. Cora started playing with her fingers and looked away from the group sheepishly
"Spit it out, лолита" Said the russian spy
Cora sighed and mumbled under her breath unintelligible words. Natasha, or Nat as she had insisted Cora called her, looked sternly at the woman, who finally gave up and spoke up
"I went to the hair salon" She said, everyone eyed her suspiciously, her hair was still the same as it was before, straight and dark grey hair that reached just above her waist
"Okay, and now tell us the truth, because your hair hasn't changed one bit" Said the captain with sass and a warning glare, the rest nodding, 'They must be thinking I went and killed someone or something" Cora thought
"Okay, but you have to say I look pretty or I will cry" With that, a light purple glimmer surrounded her head and after a second it cleared out, revealing the now shoulder length hair, which was no longer completely dark grey, now only the front was that colour, the rest had been dyed a beautiful lilac, still with those curls everyone envied so much. The team gasped and didn't speak for a minute, Cora's smile faltered and was about to leave when a high-pitched voice and a tackle hug stoppd her
"O M G CORY YOU LOOK SO CUTE I LOVE IT" Cora laughed at the shrilling voice and laughed as much as she could, being that she was still trying to steady herself
"T-Thank you, Tony- Can you- Okay, please stop now?" She started sweetly, patting her friend's back but soon got fed up and wiggled out of his embrace
"We like it, Sabrina" Said Stark after getting his act together
"Not that it should matter whether we do or don't, but I think you look very very pretty, miss Cora" Said Parker shyly but with a bright smile. The rest of the group were quick to agree and sent their thumbs-up after the purple-haired woman said that if anyone tried to hug her and get close to her hair like Stark had, she would kill them
After some more praise from the team to the puppy-like avenger, everyone decided that they would go out for dinner to a fancy restaurant because, obviously, it was on Tony
"Should I dye my hair too?" Asked the billionaire as everyone piled into the elevator, he was instantly met with booming no's from everyone in the bunch
"Party poopers" mumbled a pouting Tony as the doors closed