The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 61

Thanos grins at the two of us before summoning the creatures out of the shadows. A woman with blue masking her bright yellow eyes and horns growing out of her head full of long black hair, grins at us like prey. The man next to her is taller and has pale skin and a helmet covering his head along with a long dark cloak. A large creature comes towards us from the right followed by a man without a nose and large jowls who also wears a long cloak and has his long fingers entangled in each other. A smirk pulls his whole face up with it, making the jowls hang down even more.

My brother and I back up into each other, taking in each other's sixes. I grab onto his hand and squeeze it three times before reaching out to his mind.

'I love you,' echoes into our minds. I wonder why he decided to change his mind on whether or not he's going with Thanos. I go forward and raise my hands towards the large alien, in response he raises the ax he's carrying and growls. I deflect his swing with my flames but I miss his second attack. Blood fills my mouth. I spit on the floor and give him a bloody grin, he raises his ax once more and swings it towards me. My flames catch it and hold it. I tremble from the coldness and feel the energy get absorbed into my arms; I pull my arms back creating a ball of purple flame, letting the energy building up in my body and soul and release out on the creature.

An explosion of purple sends the alien back into the wall, the sound of metal getting torn apart follow it throughout this craft. I focus my attention back on the noseless bastard, I wonder what he can do. His hands are still intertwined and his smirk still tugging at his lips, my body engulfed in purple and yellow. I reach out to my brother's mind and make sure he's okay.

My gaze flicks towards my brother's for a moment but that was a mistake that should have never happened. The creature raises his hands and metal tears away from the floor, wrapping itself around my body and squeezes. I lose my connection with my brother, the flickering from his flames fading in and out and I try to reach out to him. The creature squeezes the metal harder and I gasp. My lungs scream for more air that I can't provide and twist and turn to loosen them but nothing works.

"Just give up," Thanos purrs, I can't tell you who he's talking to but he better know that I'll have to be dead for him to take me.

"No." It somehow comes off my lips; past the barrier of no air, past the blood spilling out of my mouth. My gaze travels shakily up to the large figure, fear no longer filling me. "You will never have us nor will you ever have what you want."

I reach out to my brother; making sure I keep my promise to my sister, to my family, to everyone I failed to save. I'm going to save him, I'm going to get him out of here whether or not I make it, he's going to live a life.

'Show 'em what you can do,' it echoes throughout our minds, I feel the energy course through his body and I break away before it becomes too much. Light fills the room and heat engulfs me. The metal collapses off of me and I bolt to my brother, slowing down time. I dodge under an explosion coming from the wall and weave my way through the maze of flames.

I catch sight of my brother and leap between the twisted bodies trying to dodge the flames, I wrap my arms around him and try not to scream from the heat escaping his hands scorching my body. I absorb my flames and roll, holding my brother so he doesn't get hurt. I pull him up once we stop and begin to run down the hallway. Shouts and heat follow our trail as we bolt around the corners. Snarls echo and footsteps respond back to them. My brother grabs my hand and whirls me around a corner before taking four more right turns.

"What are you doing?" I ask, adrenaline pulsing through my veins screaming at me to keep running. He grabs me on the shoulders and my breath catches in my throat, he pulls me into a hug and I almost feel myself collapse into his arms. It's a different type of hug, it's different than all of those I've received from the team and my friends. It's as if some sort of calmness has finally washed over me from the finality of this.

"You need to get..."

"Hell to the no," I cut him off and break apart from our embrace, "you are the one getting off this ship, with or without me. It is not the time for this superhero bullshit from you."

He goes silent and I put my hands on my hips before looking up at him. He looks tearfully at me when a realization came to me.

"Why did you attack me?" I ask, he just shrugs before grinning over at me and gently punching me in the shoulder.

"Just kind of felt like it," he chuckles, I can't help but smile at the first time he's ever laughed in front of me.

"Wait, so you've been normal this whole time?" I ask and he just shrugs again.

"Depends on your definition of normal, when I first saw you at that coffee shop, it's like something opened up about me. Like this whole door opened for emotions to erupt into me." He scratches the design on his wrist that matches mine before continuing. "And when we met at the Hydra facility, I knew there was something different about you when this appeared," he gestures to his wrist, "and how you didn't attack me like others had or ran away from me."

"Which coffee shop?" I peak around the corner and see that we're in the clear before turning back to him.

"The one in France, I was Evan." That's when it hits me, his eyes. How could have I forgotten about that? I wonder why we didn't have a connection, perhaps it had something to do with our abilities being in contact for the first. Screams echoing down the hallway pull us out of our trance and we both look at each other.

"We're not saving him," I say and for some strange reason, he looks at me fearfully.

"We have to," he says and I almost feel the anger electrocute through me.

"We don't have to do anything, he's done so much to our kind," I almost shout, but I grit my teeth to block it from escaping too loudly. His eyes fill with tears and that's when I realize something. He had no one but Zaydon for all these years, I at least had my sister. I hold back a scoff and look at him. "Fine, we can at least try."

Zaydon doesn't deserve his kindness. He doesn't deserve anything but I have to do this for him. We make our way towards the screams and find ourselves back where we were, but they abruptly stop. I peak around the corner and see a sight I thought I would want to but I wish I never did.

Zaydon lays under an emergency light, the purple blood glistening from the light around his neck. I force myself to look away and I have to cover my mouth to not say a word. My brother pushes past me and runs around the corner. I try to pull him away but he just shoves me aside and walks forward. This has to be some kind of trap, but I still follow him. He kneels down next to the monster that raised both of us, with tears streaming down his face, he pushes his brown hair back against his skull and my gaze wonders to give him some privacy. The other creature lays with his front down to the ground, and it has to be for the better.

My mind wonders and I feel the presence of the five around us, coming from both ways in the hallway. My hand goes onto his shoulder but he does not move. His stare continues to linger on Zaydon and I feel the connection becoming stronger and stronger with each and every one of them. I never felt so trapped in my life, my brother finally gets up, purple blood trickling down his fingertips. My gaze travels back to Zaydon with symbols drawn over his head. My brother notices my gaze before shrugging.

"They're symbols I've seen in my dreams,  I think it's for the afterlife or something. It just felt right, you know?" I feel myself nod, despite my indifference on the subject. I don't believe he should wear any of our symbols or anything that represents Attolia.

Chuckles ignite chills up and down my spine, echoing their way from each direction the hallway has to offer. Flames erupt around my brother's fingertips creating a yellowish glow to the white. I allow the energy to course through me as I prepare for the fight we're about to commence.

"Get ready," he whispers into my ear. I look back at him and see a smile creep onto his lips. I get back to a defensive position, allowing the energy to flow out and into flames of purple and green. Shadows pass each and every light, the silhouette of Thanos and the horned girl face my way and I smirk at the two of them.

"Here we go," he yells before raising his fists. Time slows for me and I look back to see his arms slowly going down, about to hit the metal floor. I lose the grip I have on time and scream from the heat in the room. My arms raise and wrap the flames around the two of us as we fly out and into space.