―otherworldly

congratulations,

you've survived the war.

now live with the trauma.

Arabella Stark walked up to the three heroes, bag in hand and a small smirk playing on her lips. Red tinted shades, perhaps a bit too big for her petite face, laid on the bridge of her nose. Her wounds and bruises from the Battle of Sokovia had finally healed after two weeks―some of them at least. Everything seemed to be back to normal, if there was such a thing to begin with.

"Yeah, that's what I―Wait, are those my glasses?" Tony glanced back at his daughter.

The girl shrugged, lowered the shades to the tip of her nose, and grinned. "I don't know. Are they?" Tony half smirked, mused by the answer he got.

"You think you can find what's coming?" Steve turned the conversation serious once again, shifting his eyes from Bella to Thor.

"I do. And then we shall face what comes." The god firmly nodded. "Besides this one," He smacked his large hand on Tony's chest. "There's nothing that can't be explained."

Arabella bit back a laugh as Tony silently stared at Thor. Oh, how she loved his sense of humor. Thor stepped away from the heroes, turning back just to call at the young girl. "Bella."

Her stomach dropped, she wasn't sure if it was out of anxiousness and excitement. Either way, it dropped. She was leaving her dad for the first time since they had reunited. She wasn't leaving the city or the country. No. She was leaving the planet. There's a first time for everything, right?

After the events of Sokovia and Thor finding out she could lift his mighty hammer, he had asked Stark if he could take Bella to Asgard. The god had a theory lingering around his mind, but he couldn't bring himself to tell Stark. Not until he was sure anyway.

"Coming!" Bella shifted her feet to face her father, sad eyes hiding behind the sunglasses. "Before you ask, I packed everything. Clothes, a knife, cookies―"

"Chocolate chip cookies?" Tony asked to which she nodded. "Good. Then off you go, kiddo. Don't do anything too dangerous."

"I wouldn't stress about it, I'll be careful." She wrapped her arms around Tony, hugging him for the first time in a while.

"Sure you will." Tony planted a small kiss on the temple of the girl as she let go from the hug.

Tony wouldn't let it show, but he was as anxious as Arabella. At first, he had immediately refused to let her go. He didn't even let her leave the city, for God's sake! He was too afraid Hydra would come and take her away from him again. Tony couldn't let that happen. Bella wasn't slipping away from his hold, not now, not ever. However, he felt slightly at ease Thor was going with her. And Tony hadn't been to Asgard, but he was sure it wasn't nearly as violent and tumultuous as Earth. So, hesitantly, he let her go.

A small, identical grin formed on each of their lips. It was during these kinds of moments when Tony realized just how strikingly similar they were, not just physically but in the way they acted too. He didn't know if he should feel relieved or worried.

"Bye, Cap." Bella nodded.

"Take care, kid."

"Will do."

With that final farewell, the girl stepped beside Thor who wrapped an arm around her small frame. Giving a firm nod, the god raised his hammer to the sky. A colorful sequence of light rained down and engulfed both of them in a circle, transporting them away from the planet.

Arabella thought the Bifrost would've taken longer to get them to Asgard, maybe a few minutes or more. But she was wrong, it was merely a second.

The first thing she noticed was a rainbow bridge leading the way to a golden city. Then her eyes landed on a dark-skinned man dressed in a golden attire that matched his eyes. She glanced down at her mother's leather jacket and instantly felt underdressed.

"Bella, this is Heimdall."

Heimdall smiled, courtly nodding at the girl. "Welcome to Asgard."

wide-eyed and awestruck. Thor had given her a small tour around his home and then left her at the care of maids to make sure she settled in her room just fine. Before leaving her, he had told her Odin wanted to meet her first thing tomorrow morning. She agreed obviously, she didn't have much of a choice either.

Now the darkness of night washed over the gold of the city, leaving nothing but shiny twinkling stars in the sky. Silence filled Asgard entirely at these late hours of the night. In the room at the far end of the castle's aisle laid a girl in a bed too large for her body. Her body was sprawled within the bedsheets. She was restless―uneasy. She tossed and turned in the soft silk bedsheets, sweat sticking her brown hair to her forehead. Low grunts left her clenched jaw and gritted teeth. Her knuckles turned white as her grip on the knife she held under the pillow tightened. Every fiber of her body was begging her to wake up. But her eyes wouldn't open.

Though it might have looked like it, the girl wasn't sleeping. No. She was far too gone on a nightmare, not a dream.

Visions kept on flashing behind her closed eyes. They were violent and vicious. And they wouldn't stop.

Her hand freed itself from under the pillow, the knife reaping through the pillow as she forcefully threw her hand forward in a defensive manner. Her leg kicked under the sheets at someone that was clearly not present.

She was fighting. She always was.

A hiss left her dry lips when the sharp metal of the knife tore her skin in half. A long slash above her knee dripped blood down her leg, seeping it through her shiny nightgown.

They couldn't win. He couldn't win.

A cry left her mouth when a sharp pain made a home on her chest. Hot tears ran down the corners of her eyes when she saw the dreadful scene before her.

They couldn't die. He couldn't die.

All the torturous visions stopped the second a voice echoed through her head.

"Fine. I'll do it myself."

Well, hello there! Long time no see. It took me so long to update this book, so sorry about that. I'll keep the updates constant, I promise. I started writing another book that I have yet to publish, it's not a fanfic but a teen fiction kind of book. I also have a shit ton of ideas for books (including this one) but I've been procrastinating so they aren't that elaborated yet.

Anyways, I hope you stick around! Till next time :)

love, lili