I don't know how long I sleep before I'm suddenly awakened. Sweat drips down my forehead as I tear at my shirt collar, feeling hot and suffocated. But surprisingly, it's not my discomfort that wakes me up.

A desperate knocking at my door is the culprit behind that.

I sit up, wiping away sweat and shaking my hair away from my face. My room feels way too hot and I slide off the bed, resolving to lower the temperature to as cold as it will go to make me feel less feverish. I pad over to the door as the knock sounds again, more harried than before. I'm fairly certain it's Veers, but wonder why she's here at this hour of the night. We can't duel or anything – we found that out earlier. There's nothing to do but attempt to sleep.

I unlock the door and it slides open, showing me a pale Veers. "Yes?" I say, slight irritation creeping into my tone as I reach over to the panel on the wall beside the door and lower the room temperature.

Without saying anything, Veers brushes past me into my room, the door sliding shut behind her. Frowning, I turn, cocking my head as she paces across to the window gazing out into space.

"Why are you here?" I ask, puzzled.

"I can't sleep," she says, her voice low but scared. For a moment, I contemplate whether or not Veers has been replaced with a Skrull, for I've only ever seen her scared once before, and that was when the symbiote Carnage had infected her after his former host was killed. "The dreams. They don't stop."

"Dreams of the Contest?" I ask in a low voice. I've had my fair share of those. It's the only reason my inability to sleep without waking up in a pool of sweat is a blessing – I'm too uncomfortable to dream for very long.

"Some," she whispers. "And others – others I don't know."

I lift my eyebrow at that. "Then why did you come here?"

"I don't want to be alone."

Confused, I furrow my brow. "And so you came to stare out my window."

Without a word, Veers turns and wraps her arms around me.

I must admit, I'm a bit surprised by this development, but slowly return her embrace, holding her close like I haven't done since the arena. She presses her face into my chest and I find myself rocking back and forth, just holding her.

"I can't believe all choice has been taken away from us," she eventually whispers.

"I know," I reply softly, as Veers draws back, her arms still around me. She meets my gaze.

"Loki, we have to convince a galaxy of something both of us know to be a lie. How do we expect to do that?"

"We lie," I say. "We believe the lie. We live the lie. We do nothing but lie for the rest of our lives."

"I'm a horrible liar," Veers tells me in a low voice. "Unlike you, it doesn't come as easily as breathing to me."

"We don't have a choice," I remind her. You can lie, Veers, and you know it. You've lied before, back in the arena. You started all this with your lies. "Either that or we die. And I'm not ready to die. Not yet."

Veers draws away from me, crossing her arms. "If one of us had died in the arena, this wouldn't be happening."

"Do you wish I had killed you?" I ask sarcastically.

"I could have killed you."

I decide against arguing with her on the details. "No, if one of us had died, if we had done what Thanos wanted, the survivor would be able to live out the rest of their life in drunken misery."

Veers frowns. "Are you saying we would have become like Valkyrie?"

I shrug. "I'm not saying we would have for certain, but I can certainly see the appeal in it, after fighting in the arena myself. At least we now have an incentive to remember. We must remember, so we can live. Valkyrie's memories – they seem designed to kill her slowly. The liquor will kill her a little faster. Our memories...they are a minefield, yes, but one we can avoid if we tread lightly."

Veers sighs, sinking down onto the edge of the bed. "What are we going to do?"

"Pretend to be in love," I reply. "There is no other option."

She looks at me, opens her mouth to say something, and then closes it. Without another word, she walks out of my room, to go have her nightmares alone.

The following day, we arrive on Midgard in District 10, or the Life Foundation. I haven't been to Midgard since I was a child, when I first met Veers and watched her stand up out of the wreckage of her go-cart. As we prepare to disembark, I glance over at her, wondering if she remembers any of her time here on her home planet.

Are any of those other memories about her life before the Kree?

What even was her life before the Kree?

A limousine takes us from the Statesman to a large, multileveled building built into a cliff face, crossing a red bridge over a wide river to reach it. Thor says it's Carlton Drake's Life Foundation, the corporation the district was named for since Drake is the governor. "Your appearance will be televised from here," he adds.

Only two champions have come from District 10, Eddie Brock, or Venom, and Annie Weying. Eddie, similar to Cletus Kasady in my Contest, had a symbiote, but his had been black instead of red. Annie Weying, however, had not had a symbiote, and I only remembered one other contender from the Life Foundation who had had a symbiote, in the 17th Contest of Champions. The contender had died quickly, killed by the symbiote as the theory goes, and the symbiote had eliminated several other contenders before Baron Mordo, the champion that year from District 5, found a way to kill it. The thing most found baffling about it was who to attribute the kills to, the dead contender or the symbiote itself.

The only three symbiotes ever seen in the Contest, all coming from the same district. Coincidence? I think not.

The limousine pulls up in front of the building and Jane ushers Veers and I out of the car, the mentors, stylists, and teams following. Two suited security guards escort us into the building, walking us through pristine corridors to the second floor, where Carlton Drake waits for us.

"Ah, Loki Odinson and Veers of Starforce," Drake greets us, flashing us a smile. His pearly white teeth contrast well with his dark skin, his jet black hair impeccably groomed. Dressed in an elegant black suit, Drake is already camera ready, just like Veers and I. Veers wears a royal blue dress with a businesslike jacket of matching color over it, a gold and green necklace around her neck, while I am dressed in my Midgardian suit from the beginning of my first interview last year, complete with the patterned scarf and cane that mirrors the color scheme of my scepter. We both look professional and classy. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to the Life Foundation."

"Thank you for your hospitality," I reply smoothly. Veers gives him a smile, her arm through mine. I wonder what the Life Foundation thinks of us. Dr. Dora Skirth, the female contender last year and an employee here, had died relatively quickly at the hands of Veers' allies, and the two of us had personally killed Kasady. But then again, Kasady was a serial killer, so they may not be too miffed that they didn't have to treat him as a champion. "We are happy to be here."

The lies have been coming so much easier lately.

"Please, allow us to give you a tour of the Life Foundation," Drake offers, sweeping his arm out to take in the vast space.

For the next hour or so, Drake shows us around the laboratory building. I know we're only seeing the tourist approved areas, which makes me wonder what else the Life Foundation does. They have a contract from Thanos in deep space exploration, but beside their district being the only one with symbiotes, I don't know anything else about what District 10 does. Drake's descriptions of their "scientific discoveries" are purposely vague.

I want to ask if those discoveries have anything to do with symbiotes, but I hold my tongue.

Then we do our speech, Veers and I standing before the camera crew and thanking the district. This one goes better than yesterday's, probably due to our inability to see the audience and our prearranged agreement not to attack or disagree with each other while on camera. I wonder if that is the point of it being televised – no audience to react to, no way for them to react to us. Only the camera crew, our team, some Life Foundation employees, and the two champions watch us.

Afterwards, Selvig and Darcy adjust our outfits and touch up our hair and Veers' makeup, and we're escorted to the feast, which is very professional and distant in nature. I find I like it much better than last night's, for now I don't need an excuse to be aloof and condescending – everyone else is, too.

Eddie Brock, Annie Weying, and another guy called Dan Lewis – apparently, he's a doctor – join us at the feast, which should just be renamed the appetizers, for that's all they serve. Light music plays and Annie and Dan end up dancing after a little of pointless mingling. Drake asks Veers for a dance, and so I'm left standing by myself, watching.

"Stop it, I'm not going to ask him that."

I startle, spinning with my arms raised defensively to find Eddie standing a couple feet away, frowning intently like he's having an argument with someone. But there's no one there for him to be talking to.

"I beg your pardon?" I say, giving him a strange look. Eddie looks up at me and gives a slight shrug.

"I'm sorry, I'm talking to a parasite." There's a beat, in which Eddie smirks slightly, and then he adds, "No."

"Excuse me?" I say, taking a step back from him.

"Fine, I'm sorry," Eddie says, rolling his eyes, and then looks back at me. "I was talking to Venom."

I press my lips together. The symbiote. "Ah."

Eddie raises his hands. "I get it, you don't have great experience with symbiotes. But Venom isn't like Carnage at all. Venom is a loser." He sighs. "Okay, thanks, buddy."

"What did he say?" I ask, curious despite myself.

"He said we fit together because I'm a loser, like him." Eddie gives a slight laugh. "He also adds that technically, Carnage and Kasady are the losers and we're the Champions, so there's your difference."

I glance out at the small dance floor, itching for a way out of this conversation. Veers is still dancing with Drake and I take a step back from Eddie, nodding my head in their direction. "All right then. I am going to have a dance with my girlfriend."

Eddie waves me off amiably, but out of the corner of my eye I catch him watching me with narrowed eyes, and I get the feeling he's not narrowing his eyes at Venom.