xp_logs | Flight of the Valkyrie

After capturing the Disir, the team makes their way to Hel's realm.

Each Disir was carried over the strip of grass that Valkyrie had pointed out and laid side by side. It was odd; as they picked up the Disir, the atmosphere around them changed, growing hazy and watery. The few New Yorkers that passed them in the park didn't so much as spare them a glance. It was one thing to know that magic was separating from normal reality, but another thing to experience the disconnect directly. With each Disir, Valkyrie pressed what looked like a seal carved into the end of a bone to their forehead. She then pressed it into Kane's bare arm. It flared for a moment and then dissipated with a waft of smoke. Each of the Disir administered such faded away into nothingness. For the first few, there was no reaction. But as the line reached the end, Garrison's eyes tightened and the Canadian sagged a tiny amount. For anyone else, it would have been an easily discounted reaction, but with his strength and endurance, it was as telling as if he'd gasped and braced himself to stay on his feet.

"Please tell me we have a quick way to, uh-" Kane shrugged. "Go to hell, I guess."

Valkyrie nodded as she reached into her armor and brought out a small medallion. Instead of activating it, her eyes fell on Illyana. "This path can only be opened by one who has crossed it before."

"It's not me," Illyana protested immediately, trying not to feel too relieved. "I've never been there. I've never been anywhere, almost." Maybe it was all a mistake, and she could leave these highly unpleasant experiences in someone else's hands. Like practically all of these people who seemed to enjoy this kind of thing, and the scary tall blonde lady who had a real sword that wasn't made out of her own soul. It wasn't that she was a coward, but she knew her own abilities extremely well, and they mostly involved staying out of deadly situations.

"That... may be so," Valkyrie replied, choosing her words. "But you will be the one to get us there."

"One thing we might want to consider before actually going there?" Amanda pointed out. "How will we know where we're going? None of us went to Hel's domain, far as I know."

Ty tentatively raised his hand. "Uh, Nott took me there once," he offered.

"Kind of glad that Baldr stuck to the land of the living." Tandy remembered the first time they set foot in Asgard, Hel's name had been mentioned by Loki. "Imagine if Loki got his way." Tandy shuddered at the thought of it.

Folding her arms, Molly nodded. "I've been there too, with Sif. Only for like...20 minutes, though," she said. She made a face, then added quietly. "Place totally gives me the heebie jeebies. But I know what it looks like."

"I think it's probably supposed to", Angelo said quietly, then looked at Valkyrie. "So, Illyana's got the right powers. She doesn't have to have been to Asgard before?"

"She will be guided," Valkyrie almost answered, warm but also not quite the Paige he had known, turning to stand in just such a way that she cast a half shadow over Illyana, blocking her from the group. There was almost a physical shift. "I'm sure you have questions. I don't think I can answer any of them, but I'll try my best."

"Has anyone considered that half of us have died, in one manner or another in the past and how that may affect this?" Marie-Ange asked "The question of which afterlife is real aside, we are venturing to the realm of the dead, and some of us have been dead, if briefly." She glanced at Doug, at Angelo, at Garrison. "Are we going to come back?"

Valkyrie's eyebrows raised, looking up from where she was quietly speaking with Illyana. "Your query holds merit," she said, carefully. "You will come back from the realm, so long as you do not insist on dying again."

"So that's a 'yes, you're going to die horribly here. Thanks." Kane let his head loll back. "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" He suddenly froze.

~"Lad has nice arms... You're not wrong, you know. I used to know this young man who worked on a fishing boat. I knew a few fishermen. I do miss them. But not the smell of the fish."

"Fish would be preferable to this," a high, almost childish, voice piped up. "What is this smell? It burns the nostrils. I want mud! good, clean sod. This place is too barren."

"Actually I prefer this place." Another voice, almost a hushed,gentle, whisper, appeared. Torunn the Gentle continued, "It is relaxing, safe almost."

"You're gone mad," Kara of the Twilight intoned with a smile, "tell me, is it as lovely as it seems?"

"No. I am not mad, that is Hlokk. If we talk about how lovely it is, then it will." Torunn whispered softly.

Mad Hlokk ignored them both. "I want to make this body piss!"

"We have flesh again and that is what you want to do? Are you twelve?" Brun snorted. "Once you've finished making this nice young man uncomfortable, he should take us for a walk. This kingdom is definitely different from what we knew."

"It is male. We should...." Kara of the Twilight canted her head to the side as she searched for the word. "Helicopter."

There was a silence. "What's that?" someone finally ventured to ask.

"I take that back, I am surrounded by idiots." Torunn said softly. "I am stuck here forever with idiots."

"Better idiots than cannibals! I bet you have a story for that, Gondul."~

"Wait... wait. These bitches are talking to me! They're talking to me!"

Amanda snorted a laugh despite the situation. “Of course that’s what they focus on,” she said wryly, but she was looking at Garrison with some concern. He was strong, but he was also vulnerable to magic and the burden wasn’t a small one. “All right, Ty and Molly are the guides, ‘Yana’s the ride, and don’t get killed. We’d better head out before Gar’s ego suffers horrible damage, yeah?”

"Indeed," Valkyrie agreed, finally handing the medallion to Illyana. It was just smaller than her palm, and faintly glowed with an amber warmth as it touched her skin. Illyana turned the medallion over in her hands uncertainly, for a second looking like a scared kid before she shrugged and nodded, almost to herself. "Brace yourselves, everyone."

She gave Illyana a confident nod, watching her chest rise in a deep breath, and they were gone.