Sakaar was eventful, but also boring. There were a lot of parties but every single one involved the Grandmaster, so I didn't want to be a part of them. Exploring Sakaar was interesting, and I tried to my first full day of freedom, but was too unfamiliar with this planet so I stayed in the... palace? That's the best way to describe the place I was in.

I refused to attend any contests, not wanting to sit by and watch people literally fight for their lives. It was a sick sport and all of those who found enjoyment in it were rotten and psychotic. Strong opinion, but fair considering these... aliens... watch others die for fun. I couldn't stand it.

And for a week, I'd avoided it all. The room I was in became my spot and that was where I was frequently found. Every now and then the Grandmaster tried to talk to me, but I'd ignore him and he'd eventually get bored and leave. Loki never came by again, instead spending his time working the Grandmaster's favor... whatever that meant. There wasn't anyone else who came by.

I stretched my arms high above my head and finally got out of the bed. It wasn't early in the morning, but it also wasn't afternoon yet, so I still had day left to do nothing before going back to bed.

The guards had given me some clothes one day, bringing in a chair as well and they set all the clothes on it. Other than those, I had my sleeping outfit, my Sakaarian battle armor, and that one dress. I didn't wear much other than that armor and sleep wear so the clothes on the chair remained mostly untouched. The dress was moved to that pile, too.

After getting the dark leather on, I decided today I would walk around and stop moping in my room. There had to be some modes of transport on this godforsaken planet and I was going to find them.

My first stop, however, was grabbing some food. The place I was brought to on my first day had some small things, so I decided that's where I'd stop first.

There were already many creatures around, drinking and laughing loudly under the colorful, flashing lights. I slipped by everyone and went straight to the bar. "Got anything to eat?" I asked the thing behind the counter.

It did a nodding motion then slid away. I turned away to observe my surroundings as I waited when something caught my eye. My eyes widened at the sight of Thor strapped to s chair, watching the Grandmaster be a DJ. It was a strange scene, yet brought me relief to know he was alive and found us.

He was already looking in this general direction. I followed his eye line to see him staring at Loki. The latter suddenly stood up and walked hurriedly to Thor and I decided to follow in suit.

"I didn't get a chair," Loki whispered to Thor when I came up. "Oh, look who else is here."

"Thor?" I questioned, mimicking Loki and used a whisper.

Thor looked over at me in more surprise. "Lady Reyna-Rose, I'm so happy to see you alive," he said in relief. He was also whispering. "Wait, did you not get a chair either?"

I shook my head. "Well, I did, but that was a week ago. Also, why are we whispering?"

They ignored my question and kept on. "Well, get me out of this one," Thor requested, nodding down to the chair he was stuck in. "Get me out."

"I can't," Loki answered.

"What?"

Loki explained. "I've made friends with this man. He's called the Grandmaster."

Thor shook his head rapidly. "He's crazy!"

I nodded. "I agree there."

Ignoring us both, Loki kept going. "I've gained his favor. The Bifrost brought me out here weeks ago," he said.

This confused both Thor and I. "Weeks ago?" Thor managed to ask. The confusion on his face was comically, but I probably had a similar look. "I just got here."

"What are you whispering about?" Loki and I jumped, and Thor let out a yell at the Grandmaster's sudden appearance. "Time works real different around these parts," he said, answering Thor and I's question. "On any other world, I'd be, like, millions of years old. But here on Sakaar..."

Nobody spoke and we all just awkwardly looked at the Grandmaster as he waited for someone to say something. He had a weird smile on his face leading me to have a grimace on mine.

"In any case," he continued, "you know this, uh... you call yourself Lord of Thunder?"

Thor looked annoyed at the title demotion. "God of Thunder. Tell him," he said. He looked between Loki and I.

Loki put on a cheesy smile and shook his head. "I've never met this man in my life," he answered. I smacked his arm and Thor looked pretty offended.

"He's my bother!"

"Adopted."

The Grandmaster moved on. "Is he any kind of a fighter?" So this is where he was going. Not that I should be surprised.

Not realizing what he was getting at, Thor laughed sarcastically and answered. "You take this thing out of my neck and I'll show you."

The Grandmaster laughed and his eyes flicked over to me for a second. "Oh look at that he's threatening me," he mused while playing with the collar of his robe. "You and your little metal armed friend here like to do that, don't you?"

Thor looked over at me and I shrugged. "I like personal space," I said, and that was the only explanation I offered.

"Hey Sparkles, here's the deal. If you want to get back to Ass-place, Assberg..." he trailed off.

"Asgard!"

"Any contender who defeats my champion... their freedom they shall win," he offered.

After taking a deep breath, Thor yelled, "Fine, then point me in the direction of whoever's ass I have to kick!" He was pissed off and I was curious how this was going to end.

The Grandmaster looked at Loki and smiled. "That's what I call a contender!" he said excitedly. Rather than helping his brother, Loki just smiled "Direction would be this way, Lord."

The chair started to move away, starting Thor. "Ah! Loki! Lady Reyna-Rose! Help!"

I moved to stop the chair, but Loki grabbed my wrist and stopped me from going any further. "Loki, what the hell are you doing?" I asked, going back to whispering.

He shook his head. "Thor can handle himself just fine. Trust me, he won't get killed."

~~

The Grandmaster decided to invite me to his box to watch the fights tonight. Loki was there too, he was just much more social than me. I sat at a table close to the window, ignoring anything or anyone that passed by me. Loki talked with some people and grabbed a drink on his way to sit on the long yellow couch in the center of the room.

On schedule, the hologram popped up and spoke to the rambunctious crowd. It was weird, seeing it from this angle in all it's glitching glory.

I looked to my right to see Loki still standing, really just taking in what he was watching. It was interesting, seeing him in this environment compared to what I heard about him from New York. He was just an interesting person. I didn't know if I could put even the slightest bit of trust in him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Lord of Thunder." The introduction was met with the entire crowd booing. It was deafening and I felt awful for Thor, who no longer sported his long, blonde hair and Asgardian armor. It was all Sakaarian now, but that was expected when you ended up here.

After some time of the crowd booing, the hologram spoke again. "Okay! This is it! Let's get ready to welcome this guy. Here he comes." Bright green fireworks and powder bombs were shot from the crowd, exploding in the center of the ring. Speaking of, the floor itself suddenly started to lower. I got increasingly worried. Sparing a glance at Loki, I only saw slight confusion but nothing more.

I ignored Thor's actions and the Grandmaster's words and opted to watch the other door to see what the hell got this kind of crowd reaction, not to mention the necessary floor lowering. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Thor getting himself ready for the beast he was about to face.

My body remained stiff as I watched the door. I could feel the rumbling the beast made from here and didn't want to think about what the fight was going to look like.

"Why did I come..." I whispered, drawing the attention of Loki who was smiling in anticipation. I wasn't excited to watch this beast tear Thor apart.

It burst through the door, causing me to flinch. An all too familiar, deafening roar rang out through the stadium and I quickly looked back over.

"Yes!" Thor yelled below. His response silenced the crowd. I wanted to join in with him and jump up and down in joy.

Loki, on the other hand, was not feeling it. "I have to get off this planet," he said, terror in his voice and on his face. He tried to run back out, but the Grandmaster stopped him.

"Hey, hey, hey, where you going?" he asked and started to push Loki back into the room. His reaction was interesting, but I didn't push for details. Reluctantly, he sat down on one end of the long couch while the Grandmaster sat at the other. One was dramatically more tense than the other.

I turned my attention back out to the stadium where Hulk was soaking in the glory and crowd cheering. My eyebrows furrowed. "This... this doesn't feel right," I thought. "The Hulk has never acted like this before."

"Hey!" Thor was waving up at us. "We know each other. He's a friend from work!"

The Grandmaster looked at Loki and I weirdly, confused at Thor's reaction to all of this. Loki cleared his throat and tried to tuck himself further into the arm of the couch. I was still shocked at the sudden appearance of Hulk. The problem was it wasn't Bruce, and it looks like he hasn't been Bruce in quite some time.

Thor hadn't seemed to grasp the fact that Hulk wasn't really into having a civil talk. "Where have you been? Everybody thought you were dead," he said, finally drawing Hulk's attention. "But so much has happened since I last saw you. I lost my hammer, like, yesterday so that's still pretty fresh.

"Rey's here, too. We found her- oh which reminds me, Loki. Loki's alive. Can you believe it?He's up there," Thor rambled. "Loki! Look who it is!" Hulk followed where Thor was pointing and I looked over at Loki. He looked to be frozen with fear.

I leaned over towards him. "You gonna make it?" I asked him, somewhat joking.

"Not sure." He was not joking.

Thor was speaking to Hulk, this time in a more conversational tone so I had a harder time picking up on it. "Banner, I never thought I would say this... but I- I'm happy to see you."

Hulk looked like he was thinking about Thor's words when the crowd released some more green powder bombs (which suddenly made a lot more sense). "Banner," Thor called.

I sighed. "Oh no, please stop, it's Hulk not Banner, he's not going to answer to that," I mumbled. The excitement I had for seeing a long-lost friend was gone when I realized that Hulk  wasn't normal. He was loved by the crowd, something that has never happened before on Earth. This was a Hulk who loved to destroy because he was encouraged to. This was bad.

"No Banner. Only Hulk!" That's when the fight started. Hulk charged at Thor, the latter rolling out of the way to avoid the impact. He had barely gotten up when Hulk swung at him, causing Thor to fly away. He pulled a sward out and stuck it in the ground to stop from tumbling along the ground.

Thor stood and pulled two swords out of something on his back then flung them out to each side, giving me Hela flashbacks. Beside me, the Grandmaster clapped and Loki was getting more and more nervous.

Clanging his weapons together, Hulk jumped and went for Thor again. "I don't think I can watch," I said, feeling sick from this. Yet I couldn't move.

Thor tried some defensive moves before getting kicked in the chest and he went flying back into part of the wall of the ring. The audience cheered louder and the Grandmaster said, "Here we go." These people were sick.

Hulk chucked his hammer in the direction Thor went, but I saw Thor jump out of the wall and out of the way before he could get hit. The green giant started running at Thor, looking to deliver a final blow, but Thor had a different idea. He jumped up and pulled the hammer from the wall and hit Hulk with it.

The crowd gasped as Hulk flew back. He hit the wall and slid through it, leaving a long trail of destruction. Loki remained tense, but the Grandmaster was finally silent. I looked over and saw his confusion, because how could someone beat his Champion- his beloved Champion. "What?" he asked, finally voicing the confusion.

I turned back to the ring, wanting to know what would happen next, who I'd have to mourn. Hulk shook some metal scraps off of him and tried to reorient himself. Thor walked up to him, speaking to him lowly. I couldn't hear what he was saying.

To my surprise, Thor put his hand out to the other, wanting him to take it. And it looked like he was going to. His giant green hand met Thor's and I really couldn't tear my eyes away now. It was such an amazing moment.

Until Hulk grabbed Thor's leg and swung him around like a doll.

I winced every time Thor made impact with the ground. Hulk threw him (again) across the arena  and started roaring in victory as the crowd cheered.

Loki jumped up and screamed, "Yes! That's how it feels!" He punched the air a couple times in his little celebration as well. The Grandmaster and I were both giving him confused looks. He looked at the Grandmaster first and said, "I'm just a huge fan of the sport." This made the Grandmaster laugh.

When he looked over at me, he just shrugged and sat back down. I would ask about that later. For now, I was concerned if Thor was okay.

The two started fighting again, but this time, Thor was much more on the offense. He was pissed off because for him? He thought this would be an easy fight and he'd win his freedom. Not so much anymore, especially when it turned out to be Hulk and not some random alien. This was someone we knew.

"I know you're in there, Banner. I'll get you out!" Thor yelled, then continued to hit Hulk with the hammer he had taken.

The audience didn't know what to think as they made 'ooh' sounds with every hit. Hulk was getting more furious but Thor wouldn't let him land a single hit. After a few more seconds, my stomach told me it was time to leave. "I can't keep watching this," I said, and finally got out of my chair to walk away. There were some people in the way, but I moved around them and started to walk out.

Started, but didn't finish. Because the crowd went dead silent.

I turned around and saw both the Grandmaster and Loki lean forward and walked back over to stand behind the couch and watch what was going on.

Hulk had grabbed the hammer and thus, got back the upper hand. And boy, did he look pissed. Thor was punched across the field and then jumped on top of him to punch him into the ground. Loki even had a few adverse reactions, but the Grandmaster just laughed.

I hated it. "You know," I started, drawing Loki and the Grandmaster's attention. Well, everyone in the room's really. "You're sick for enjoying such a thing. These people- these creatures kill each other just because you're some psycho who wants a little entertainment. You take advantage of these lost souls and force them to do this so they can feel even slightly validated!" I yelled.

"Rey..." Loki said in warning. I, however, didn't care about what he had to say.

"Shut up," I told him and focused back on my rant. "Innocent creatures die because you're some stuck up asshole who has control over everything. It's sick! And all of the people in this room who laugh along with you are no better. You're all so high and mighty, but the second you get put in that ring and fight anyone else who has ever stepped foot in there and I bet you'd cower away and beg not to die.

"This planet for 'lost and unloved things' is just a way for you to jack yourself off and no one here is wise enough to see that." I leaned in close to the Grandmaster. "You are a murderer."

I felt two of his guards come up behind me and grab my arms, and I was ready to fight them off, but a giant lightening strike from the field caused all of us to stop. Hulk was flying through the air and landed far across the ring.

The Grandmaster stood up and got closer to the window. I shoved the guards off of me and walked around to stand on the side where Loki was, who opted to remain seated but leaned far forward.

Thor was standing now and lightening crackling all over him and his eyes were glowing. Hulk stood back up and got in a defensive stance. We all watched to see what would happen next.

They charged at each other. Lightening was coming from Thor, shooting out to random spots in the ground as he charged towards the not-so-jolly green giant. They jumped, both ready to hit the other and I held my breath.

Thor threw the punch, and a blinding light cause me to look away for just a second before I quickly looked back to see what happened. A huge explosion rippled through the floor, sending not only Hulk but also dust and bits of ground flying away.

Suddenly, the crowd was chanting again. "Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!" I marveled at how quickly they changed their minds on who to cheer for. It was gross.

The Grandmaster had sat back down and was messing with something in his hands- a long stick that looked vaguely familiar but didn't know how. He was not happy with this turn of events.

As Thor got closer and closer to Hulk, ready to show him what he was messing with, Thor suddenly spazzed and fell to the ground. My mouth fell open and I looked over to see the Grandmaster had the stick pointed at him with his finger retreating from a button.

I shook my head. "Cheating bastard," I mumbled under my breath. Swiftly, I turned and exited the room, ignoring the pounding I felt through the ground and the cheers I heard from the crowd.