Hela leads Veers, Thor, and I down the hallway toward Valkyrie's room. Odin elected to remain behind, to allow Hela to do her job and attempt to save one of us from dying in the arena. I can't help but determine that the champion this time around, it has to be me. The ultimate champion – I will win this whole thing, be the champion among champions in a Contest among Contests. I will be the one to return home.

I have to.

We reach Valkyrie's room and Hela knocks briskly before shoving the door open and sweeping into the chamber. "Brunnhilde, I need you to snap out of it."

At the sound of her real name, Valkyrie stiffens from where she's sitting cross-legged before the fire, her head snapping over to look at my sister. She hurls the bottle in her hand at Hela, who only summons a necrosword and slashes it in half. The glass shatters and flies everywhere, one of the pieces nicking my cheek. I draw back with a snarl.

"What are you doing here?" Valkyrie demands, shoving herself up onto her feet. She weaves slightly before gaining her balance. "You're exiled."

"My exile has been lifted until the Endeavor is concluded," Hela replies. "Father told me you stopped drinking, Brunnhilde. I need you to stop again."

"I'm not going to stop," Valkyrie retorts. "Why? What's the point? We're all just doomed to die, aren't we? Aren't we?"

"Then drink," Hela snaps. "But you need to get your head back in the game. We need to prepare for this next Contest."

Valkyrie scoffs. "Prepare for what? To die? At long last, I say. No point putting it off any longer. Thanos controls every single one of us, so what's the point in fighting against it?"

"The point," Hela says emphatically, her tone deliberate and icy sharp, "the point is to fight until we are sure it is the end. That is what we do, as Asgardians, right? As a Valkyrie, isn't your loyalty to fight to the very end for the throne?"

"There is no true throne," Valkyrie murmurs, but her voice has lost its former venom. Her expression softens slightly, and she straightens her back. "It's broken."

"No," Thor says suddenly, lifting his chin proudly. "Asgard isn't reliant on a throne, Valkyrie, but on its people. While the people live, so does Asgard." When all of us look at him in astonishment, he grows slightly defiant. "What? Father has been preparing me to rule Asgard. That was one of his lessons."

"I'm surprised you remembered it," Hela says airily. Thor gives her a glare as she turns back to Valkyrie. "Regardless, Brunnhilde, we need to prepare for the Infinity Endeavor. One of us will be going back in alongside Loki."

"Me," Veers states again. "It will be me. It only makes sense. This is all for us, anyway." She looks at me, as if looking for my confirmation this time. "Right?"

I nod. "Yes. Thanos did tell us, after all, that we would be required to restore the Balance. This is it, I suppose." And I will win.

"We're going to be ready for this," Hela vows. "We know ahead of time who it is going to be. So we prepare. We train like damn Avengers."

"I'm in," Thor says wholeheartedly. "Whatever I can do, consider it done."

Valkyrie sighs, lifting her chin. "Then I guess I'm also in."

"So you'll quit drinking again?" Thor asks. "Because the amount you drink in a day, it will wind up killing you sooner or later."

Valkyrie just looks at him. "No, I'm still going to drink. Not going to quit anytime soon."

Thor purses his lips. "Oh. All right, then. No harm, I suppose. You do you."

"We prepare," Hela states again, her lips twisting into a grim smile. "And we get our revenge for Frigga's death."

"I will swear to that," I second, though I am surprised at Hela wishing vengeance for Frigga's death. They never seemed to get along, after all. My sister flashes that peculiar smile of hers at me and my stomach twists nervously. There's something else, something coursing underneath all this, but I can't put my finger on what.

"The queen was always kind and welcoming to me, no matter what," Veers says. "I am up for revenge, but I don't know how we're going to get it."

Hela gives the Kree the same grin she'd just given me, the enigmatic twist to her lips betraying nothing but mystery and the slightest touch of madness. "Oh, we'll get it. Don't you worry. Revenge...it shall be ours."

"I'm all in for avenging Mother," Thor says angrily.

Valkyrie is the only one who hasn't spoken on this topic yet, and she looks the most uneasy. "Revenge, huh?" is all she says. "Revenge for the queen, I support. Sure. But...the rest of it, Hela, I'm unsure how much of that is really 'revenge.'"

Hela's eyes narrow dangerously. "Are you in, Brunnhilde?"

"Undecided on revenge," Valkyrie states loftily, crossing her arms. "But I'm in. Have no choice, do I?"

"United in revenge," Hela says, her eyes not leaving Valkyrie for a long, uncomfortable moment. Then she turns, turning her wrist and making the necrosword disappear. "Or almost so. Training like Avengers."

"Or Revengers," Thor adds, a gleam in his eye. "We're fighting for revenge; therefore, we should refer to ourselves as the Revengers."

"Sounds like a knockoff of the Avengers," I mutter.

Thor shoots me a glare. "We're not playing at being the Avengers pack, Loki. We're after revenge – hence, Revengers. We betray none of Asgard's principles that way." Veers clears her throat and Thor shoots a glance at her. "No offense, of course, to present company."

"I like it," Hela declares. "For once, not a scatterbrained idea." She gives Thor that same grin she's been giving Veers and I. "Now, we shall begin training. All of us. Although Veers and Loki will be Asgard's champion contenders, we will all need to be ready for the Infinity Endeavor. This will be a Contest like no other."

I glance at Veers. Like it or not, we will be allies again, partners, this time official allies from the get-go. And I'm going to have to kill her, or let her die, in order to make sure I win this time. A clean victory, no illusions, no Veers. Just me, restoring the Balance by killing everybody else. Just me, erasing Thanos' anger with me.

So I know for sure I can't trust her.

And as she returns my gaze, I know she knows it, too. In order for one of us to survive, the other has to die. Regardless of the methods, one of us, along with twenty-two of the other previous champions, will all have to die for Thanos to be pleased.

And if one of us, the ones responsible for ruining his perfect Balance, survives, I'm sure his pleasure will be tainted.

/**/

I'm sorry for taking so long to update! Homework has taken over my life this semester. I'm hoping to be able to pick up semi-regular updates, but we'll see. One of my big assignments was just turned in, however, so hopefully my schedule will clear up a bit.

Hope you enjoyed this long awaited chapter!

Skylar Wittenborn