You clung to Loki's arm as the Bifrost engulfed you and you began your ascent to Asgard. Above you, Thor was glaring down past you and Loki; you followed his gaze to see Hela beneath you and catching up fast.
Let go. Do not let her see you.
Trying to ignore the terror which was rising in your throat you let go of Loki's arm and watched as he procured two daggers from thin air and launched them downwards at Hela. She stalled for a moment as she deflected them; you felt the briefest flicker of hope.
It didn't last for long. You reached out to grab Loki again, but before you could grip his arm properly Hela launched herself upwards towards him with a yell. Before you could so much as blink Loki was knocked sideways out of the Bifrost.
"No!" you screamed, hearing Thor bellow Loki's name above you. Hela was looking around in confusion for the source of your scream, but then saw Thor above her and seemed to forget about it. She projected a jet-black grappling hook up towards Thor and grabbed hold of him, pulling him towards her. Your heart was hammering in your chest; you had to do something.
Torn between wanting to help and terror at the sight of two gods fighting above you, you had barely summoned your magic before Thor kicked out at Hela with both feet and dislodged himself from her grasp. The momentum of his kick was too much though, and he too crashed through the side of the Bifrost. You barely managed to bite a second scream back, freezing as Hela cast her gaze downwards. She still hadn't yet seen you.
Suddenly you landed hard on all fours in the Observatory, Hela landing on her feet a few paces ahead of you. You scrambled to your feet silently, blanching in terror when you saw Volstagg holding the Bifrost sword, Fandral behind him. They appeared to be overseeing Skurge who was mopping up dragon guts off of the floor. They both drew their weapons as they saw Hela.
Fandral, Volstagg, it's me. You have to run-
"Who are you? What have you done with Thor?" Volstagg asked boldly. Fandral was frowning over Hela's shoulder, looking for you. The pure terror you were feeling was a physical weight in your chest, pushing on your heart and lungs painfully.
Quick as lightning, Hela launched a black dagger at Volstagg, which tore through his armour and buried itself in his stomach. Fandral raised his sword, but before he'd even taken two steps forward there was a dagger through his chest too.
"No-" you choked silently on the word, stepping forward. The magic you had summoned died at your hands. You would never be able to beat her.
"I'm Hela." Hela stated, sounding bored. With a casual flick of her wrists she impaled Fandral and Volstagg with two more daggers; they both dropped to the ground like stones.
Your knees gave out; you had to press a hand to your mouth to stop the sob which rose in your throat.
Hela was walking towards Skurge, who was cowering before her. Your brain was telling you to go and help him, but your body remained frozen on the floor.
"I'm just a janitor." Skurge said, his voice shaking as he peered up at Hela.
"You look like a smart boy with survival instincts. How would you like a job?" Hela asked Skurge.
You watched as Hela looked out over your home and then started walking down the rainbow bridge towards Asgard, Skurge in tow. After a few seconds you slowly turned your gaze back to Volstagg and Fandral; your eyes burning. Your heart leapt suddenly as you saw Fandral's hand move ever so slightly; his eyes were still open.
Illusion forgotten, you threw yourself forward across the floor towards him, repeating his name over and over as you placed your hands on his chest; using your magic to numb the pain for him. Ever so gently you moved his head so that it was resting in your lap; his eyes never left your face. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out, just a distorted gargling noise.
You screwed your eyes shut as grief lanced painfully through your chest.
Don't try and speak. Think it; I'll hear you.
Traitor.
Your eyes flew open in horror. Shame, white hot and burning, washed over you. Fandral's eyes were angry. He'd heard about Loki's betrayal. And yours.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." you croaked, barely able to speak.
No.
"Forgive me Fandral. Please, I'm so sorry." you begged, tears spilling down your face. Your vision blurred and you wiped your eyes furiously.
You could see again, but Fandral wasn't looking at you anymore. He wasn't looking at anything.
"No, no." you moaned, grabbing Fandral's shoulders, shaking him desperately. When he didn't respond you broke down completely, sobbing into his blood-soaked chest.
How long you stayed there for you didn't know.
Fandral was dead. Volstagg was dead. Thor and Loki were... you didn't want to think about it, and Hela was about to take over the throne. You'd never felt so helpless in all your life. There was nothing you could do, there was no way you could stop Hela. How could it be that only an hour ago things had been normal?
Y/N.
You lifted your head quickly and looked around, but no one was there.
"Show yourself." you said hoarsely, moving Fandral's head gently to the floor and standing up to draw your sword.
I'm here.
You recognized that voice...
Heimdall?
You span in a full circle, finally spotting him as he walked towards you from the entrance to the Observatory. He looked so different to the last time you'd seen him, golden armour replaced with tattered, old looking clothes. A thick beard and long hair surrounded his face, which looked much older.
A thousand questions rose to your lips at the sight of him, but then you saw that he was looking down at Fandral and Volstagg and the awful sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach grew so strong again that you were unable to speak.
"Did she do this?" Heimdall asked you solemnly. You nodded, sliding your sword back into its scabbard. Heimdall turned his gaze to you.
You swallowed hard before opening your mouth to ask about Loki and Thor, but Heimdall was a step ahead of you.
"The princes are alive."
You took a deep breath and nodded in relief, going quite light headed for a second.
"I see them, but they are far away, on a planet called Sakaar. You must go to them and bring them back here immediately; Hela cannot be allowed to rule Asgard. Tell Thor that the Einherjar have fallen and Asgard is defenseless."
You opened your mouth to protest: the Einherjar was still intact, but Heimdall held up a hand before you could speak.
"I must take the Bifrost sword now to hide it from her, so you will have to find an alternate route back here. Can you do that?"
"Yes." you said determinedly. In truth you had no idea how you were going to do that, but you felt like you needed to prove yourself to Heimdall after what Loki had done to him.
Before you could open your mouth to speak again the cries and yells of hundreds of Asgardian soldiers being slaughtered reached your ears, as if to prove Heimdall's point. Heimdall hurried to the centre of the Observatory and placed both hands on the Bifrost sword.
You looked back down at Fandral and felt grief rise in your throat again as you knelt to close his eyes. Then you moved to Volstagg on the steps to do the same, before walking to stand before Heimdall, who was watching you with great sadness.
"You must be careful, Sakaar is a dangerous place on the verge of a revolution. The fate of Asgard depends on you Y/N." Heimdall told you, before activating the Bifrost. No pressure then.
"Heimdall..." you wanted to apologise, but as with Thor you couldn't seem to form a grand enough sentence.
I know.
You looked at him, and saw that he understood, and forgave you. With a final nod of good look, Heimdall sent you shooting off into the unknown.
You'd only travelled by Bifrost on your own twice before: once when you'd gone to Midgard to fight with the Avengers and once when you returned to Asgard after said fight. This was a lot more daunting, at least before you'd known there was someone waiting for you on the other side. This time you knew only the name of your destination: Sakaar. You didn't let yourself think about how you were meant to find Loki and Thor on a whole planet; you'd worry about that later.
Finally your feet touched solid ground, and the Bifrost disappeared to reveal that Heimdall had dropped you in the middle of a wasteland; there was nothing but trash, piles and piles of rubbish surrounding you for as far as the eye could see. Above you, the sky was filled with wormholes, out of which trash was falling from. It was dark, almost pitch black.
Perhaps oddest of all were the alien ships flying around; they seemed to be scanning the landscape for something. You stood still as one of the ships seemed to notice you and landed a fair distance away, blasting some weird, alien music. Your hand hovered over the hilt of your sword.
Humanoid creatures began to emerge from the ship, all of them masked, all of them armed. You casually drew your sword and they halted their approach.
"Are you a fighter, or are you food?" one of them called.
"Well I'm certainly not food." you replied after a beat.
"That's something that food would say." another of the masked creatures said, levelling its gun-like weapon at your face.
"Look, I don't want any trouble. Maybe we could-" as you spoke you took a step forward, which turned out to be a mistake. The creatures fired their weapons, which you barely deflected with a wave of magic. They stumbled back, scared.
"I just want to talk." you reasoned.
"Get her!"
Have it your way.
Sixty-four seconds later you were picking your way through the unconscious bodies of the creatures on the floor, making your way towards their ship. It wasn't until you were sat in the pilot's seat that it occurred to you that you probably should have brought one of them with you to fly the damn thing. You would be fine; you'd been in the Quinjet enough times to know roughly what had to happen.
Eventually it transpired that you had in fact not been in the Quinjet enough times to know even remotely what had to happen to get the ship in the air. Cursing yourself, you returned to the mass of bodies you'd left outside and set about standing on all of their hands. After a while there came a badly disguised gasp of pain and you hauled one of the creatures to its feet.
"Do you know how to fly this thing?" you asked. It didn't reply.
"Well?" you demanded, giving it a shove. You weren't in the mood for games, and the numbness which had spread through your body ever since you'd left Fandral and Volstagg dead on the floor was beginning to alarm you slightly.
"Yes." the creature spoke, and you huffed in relief.
"Good. Take me back to... wherever it is you come from."
It didn't take long before you reentered civilization (if you could call it that): ten minutes perhaps. This must be the capital of Sakaar. The city was lit up; the light pollution was such that you could hardly see any stars. At the centre of the city was an enormous stadium which was lit up so brightly that if you were inside you might mistake it for daylight.
You couldn't take your eyes from it as you flew lower and lower over the buildings, finally landing in a secluded area which didn't look exactly savory.
As you stood up the creature in the cockpit flinched away from you, and you suddenly felt remorse rise in your throat. You pushed it down quickly, fighting back the absurd urge to thank the creature for flying you here as you exited the ship. A quick glance around told you that you were sticking out like a sore thumb; a great variety of creatures were staring at you with emotions ranging from fear to dislike to awe. The ship behind you took off again immediately and flew back in the direction you had come from.
You spotted a human looking woman in the crowd and cast an illusion over yourself so that you looked exactly like her. Not waiting to see the fear and confusion on her face you walked swiftly away, pulling the hood of your new cloak up over your head just in case.
Your right hand stayed firmly planted on the hilt of your sword.