"Is everything alright? We haven't heard any—." Loki asks as he teleports into the infirmary, he see's Caitriona and rushes to her side, his eyes go wide with rage as he see's the restraints on her wrists. He looks at Dagny and Runa, then to Cora and see's how distraught she has become. Loki approaches Peter and Cora, Peter let's go of Cora and Loki takes her in his arms comforting her.
"She's home, you both are. And she will be fine, right?" Loki says and darts his gaze to Dagny and Runa, they both nod.
"It will take time for her to recover, but she should be in full health in a few days." Runa says as she places her hand on Caitriona's head checking her temperature. Cora shakes her head and pushes away from Loki, she uses her powers to throw the infirmary doors open and sprints away from everyone.
"Adamaris, wait." Loki says as he starts to follow her, but Natasha stands in front of the entrance.
"You need to stay here with her. I'll go check on Cora." Natasha says sternly, Loki nods and watches as Natasha rushes down the hallway to catch up to Cora.
"Cora, slow down and talk to me." Natasha yells as she and Cora pass by the throne room. Just as they pass by, Thor pokes his head out the door and watches them run down the hallway.
Just as they get to the hallway where all the rooms are, Cora accidentally trips over her own foot and falls to the floor. Not bothering to get back up, Cora curls into a ball and let's the tears flow.
"It's alright, Cora. It's alright." Natasha says as she kneels down and pulls Cora to her feet, putting her arm around Cora's shoulder, Natasha walks Cora to her room. Opening the door, Natasha leads Cora into her room and has her sit on her bed. Cora sits on the bed for not even a second before she falls back and rolls on to her side, and continues to cry.
"All of your emotions are mixed up and all over the place right now, huh?" Natasha asks as she pulls Cora up and into a sitting position. Cora manages to nod her head, before she drops it into her hands.
"Not trusting Thor anymore, either?" Natasha asks, Cora pulls her head up and glares at Natasha, then shakes her head.
"He lied to me, to all of us for Eleven years. Eleven years of trust was brought down by one decision and that being a lie. He's smart keeping himself hidden, so none of us beat him down or humiliate him again." Cora yells, knowing Thor is close by listening to every word.
"I only did it, to protect you." Thor says as he pushes the door to Cora's room open. Cora glares at Thor.
"Protect me, you think hiding someone's true identity from them for Eleven years is protecting them? No, more like hurting them. Was this even part of your so called plan? Or did you even have one?" Cora screams, and jumps up and off her bed to get in Thor's face.
"Cora, breathe. You need to stay calm." Natasha says, Cora balls her hands into fists and then releases them, she does this several times.
"The plan was to bring you to Asgard shortly after you turned Eighteen. And slowly have you learn the truth." Thor admits as he backs away from Cora.
"Do you not remember what happened Nine years ago? You lifted Mjölnir and the agreement between myself and agent Hill." Thor says reminding Cora of the agreement that took place.
"Oh, I remember the agreement. But, what was not specified was the fact that seven other recruits were going to be joining in on that agreement. Especially the four recruits who couldn't stand to see me progress in any way." Cora screams and then turns away from Thor and looks at Natasha.
"I'm sorry, things did not go how any of us expected them to go. But, at least the truth was brought to light and everything is known now." Thor says as he tries to be sympathetic and sincere. Cora's eyes go wide as she looks back at Thor and walks out of her room. Natasha and Thor stay put and don't follow after Cora.
"At least she's talking and not using her fists this time." Natasha says as she gets off Cora's bed, crosses her arms, and stares down Thor.
"At this point, I think I'd prefer her fists over the screaming." Thor says avoiding all eye contact with Natasha.
"Why did you do any of it? I mean, you swore to me and the other leaders that you would protect Cora while she was here. That hasn't been proven from what I've seen." Natasha asks as she walks to Cora's door.
"What's more important to protect, Cora and her well-being or Asgard's seemingly pristine reputation? You need to get your priorities straight, because you have them severely mixed up. And the real one you need to be protecting is getting the crap end of the deal." Natasha says as she walks past Thor and out of Cora's room.
"I had hoped she would have accepted what was told to her days after she arrived. Everything went down quickly after Cora was attacked during the battle that took place on her second day here. Instead of easing her into everything like I had hoped to do, it all got thrown at her. It's almost as though Asgard itself knew she had returned, and it needed her to know the truth." Thor says Natasha walks back into Cora's room and shakes her head.
"Accept it? How could she, you were supposed to be the one she could go to for help and answers. You were supposed to tell her the truth, but you couldn't even do that, you left that up to Loki of all people." Natasha says and turns back to the hallway, but stops as she see's Cora standing in the half way point of the hall. With her head down, Cora looks up at Natasha through the hair that covers her face.
"Nat?" Cora asks lowly and tearfully. Natasha walks up to her, and softly puts her hand under Cora's chin and raises it up.
"What's up, kiddo?" Natasha asks calmly as she puts a small smile on her face. Cora looks at Thor and then back to Natasha.
"I don't want to be here, anymore. Can we go home?" Cora asks loud enough for Thor to hear, his eyes widen from pure shock.
"Why do you want to go home? You just got your mother back. You should want to stay, not leave." Natasha says as she takes Cora in her arms and hugs her.
"Cora, if this has anything to do with what transpired a few hours ago, or even everything that happened days after your arrival, I am sorry. Everything went wrong because of me, I am at fault for all that has happened." Thor says as he rushes from Cora's room. Cora looks at Thor and shakes her head.
"It's not just you, it's this whole place. I get flashes of memories from the night that started all of this. They don't stop, they never will. Every piece of the puzzle finally came together and you know what it made? A picture of a broken family that could never be whole. Somewhere down the line, a piece will not be able to fit into the puzzle again. And you, you took the most important piece away. To you, that doesn't matter though, as long as you bring a piece back that can still fit, but is slightly different, then it doesn't matter, right?" Cora asks, Natasha looks between Cora and Thor, then raises her eyebrows at Cora as she turns back to look at her.
"I won't allow you to leave, not now." Loki says coming from around the corner, Cora hangs her head and groans.
"I feel like I'm going to snap and do something bad if I don't leave, at least for a little while. I need more time than I've already used in order to figure out how things will go from here." Cora says and looks between the three people that surround her. Natasha puts her hands up in front of both Thor and Loki to shield Cora.
"Before you make an important and possibly life altering decision, I want you to take the rest of the day to actually think it over. We don't need you regretting your decision once it's been made. Understood?" Natasha asks as she looks at Cora, who simply nods.
"You can't seriously be thinking about leaving, after what we just did." Peter says as he comes walking up the hallway, Cora turns around to face Peter with shock filled eyes. Looking from Natasha to Peter, Cora's head begins to spin with thought after thought from both sides of the decision at hand. Not wanting to look at any one of the four people that stand in the hallway with her, Cora closes her eyes and thinks of her Aunt Liv and Davina's home at the bottom of the village. Once she opens her eyes, she breathes a sigh of relief as she stands just near the back gate entrance.
"Cora!" Davina says as she looks up from picking flowers in the back yard. Cora opens the gate and walks into the yard, just as Davina gets up and runs to the gate. Liv hears the commotion and walks out of the back door to greet Cora.
"Cora, what's the matter?" Davina asks as she gets closer, Liv comes up to Cora and wraps her left arm around her shoulders and guides her into the house.
"Adamaris, well isn't this a surprise." Sindri says enthusiastically as Cora walks into the house.
"Hello, grandmother." Cora says as she walks up to Sindri and hugs her, then plants a small kiss on her cheek. Sindri holds Cora tightly before letting her go and gestures to the chair across from her.
"What's troubling you, dear?" Liv asks, Cora takes a deep breath and then begins to explain everything that has happened since the last time she visited. When Cora mentions her mother being alive and not dead, both Liv and Sindri show a ray of emotions, starting with shocked and ending with realization as Cora finishes explaining everything.
"So, wait. Aunt Caitriona is alive and has been this whole time, but she was placed on Midgard sometime after you had been banished there? And you just learned of this today?" Davina asks as she tries to understand everything Cora has just said, Cora only nods.
"Have they brought her back? Or are they going to?" Liv asks trying to stay calm.
"Me, Peter, and two other recruits went down and got her. Granted, she'd been awake for days and hadn't slept in so long. The infirmary staff gave her some kind of medicine to make her sleep, once we had gotten her here." Cora says, and Liv becomes so angry that she hits the table and jumps out of her seat.
"Aunt Liv where are you going?" Cora asks as Liv moves toward the back door.
"My sister is alive and you expect me to just sit here and take that news lightly?" Liv asks raising her voice at Cora. Davina becomes scared and runs to Cora, who immediately picks her up and cradles her.
"You can't just go bursting up to the castle, they'll arrest you in a heartbeat. And given the fact that Loki is probably with her right now, and watching her like a hawk. No one is going to be able to get near her." Cora says as calmly as she can manage.
"I want to see my daughter." Sindri says tearfully. Cora puts Davina down and gets out of her chair, goes to Sindri, and hugs her. Just as Cora gets out of the hug, the back door to the house opens and Fandral walks in, then closes the door behind him.
"Father!" Davina says excitedly and runs to Fandral, he scoops Davina up when she is right in front of him.
"Fandral, what's going on?" Cora asks as a worried feeling comes over her.
"I was sent to bring all of you to the castle." Fandral says looking at Cora and then to Liv.
"Is Caitriona alright?" Sindri asks as she looks at Fandral with tired eyes.
"She's just fine, Mother. Somewhat weak, but other than that she'll be fine. She's asked to see you all." Fandral says and Cora looks down to the floor.
"Then we must go." Sindri says as she gets out of her chair and grabs the shawl that hangs on the back of the chair. Liv walks over to Fandral and stands next to him as Sindri makes her way to them.
"Cora, aren't you coming?" Davina asks, Fandral puts Davina down and walks over to Cora, who looks at Fandral with tired eyes.
"Do I really have to go back? I just left from there and with the decision I have to make, I need to be away from everyone to think clearly." Cora says, Fandral takes a minute to think about his response before he gives it.
"You may stay here for a little while and think things over. I'll come back and get you sometime later. Or if you decide to come back on your own, you may also do that." Fandral says as he places a hand on Cora's shoulder. Mouthing thank you to Fandral, Cora watches as he walks back to the family and escorts them out of the house.
Sitting back down in the chair she had been sitting in, Cora stares at her hands for a long time as she weighs the pros and cons of both options. On one hand, if Cora stays, she'll be with those that are similar to her. But, she'll miss everyone that helped her get to this point on Earth. If she goes back to Earth, she'll have a better understanding of who she is and the powers she holds. But, she'll miss out on opportunities that Asgard may have for her. And she knows Loki and her mother will not let her go so easily.
"I think my choice is pretty clear." Cora says to herself and gets up from the table. She looks around the room giving it one last good glance before she walks out of the house and begins to walk toward the tunnel that will put her in the library.
As Cora enters the tunnel, she begins to think about the time she's had on Asgard. She lightly smiles as she recalls how nervous she was the first day she had arrived. As she continues to think about her time in Asgard, Cora unknowingly walks down a passageway on the right side of the tunnel. Going deeper into the passageway Cora begins to notice the temperature begin to change and get colder.
"What the, why is it getting colder?" Cora asks herself as she keeps walking, white light begins to fill the tunnel as Cora nears the end of it.