Chapter 1: Kindred Asgardians

Loki and Melody had been married for eight, happy years alongside their children, Hela and Hart, and everything that was good was falling into place perfectly. It was almost as if their lives became entertained like the threads of a quilt, weaving together their fates with many others in the great 'circle of life' in Asgard. Loki had given up his life as a criminal to care for his family in a just way, and Melody had given up her harsh, dark childhood to become a caring mother. Everything was perfect...or was it?

Many years before the birth of Loki or any in his generation, a race of peoples known as 'Dark Elves' vowed to place the world, no the universe, in perpetual darkness. They almost succeeded by using a liquid substance as a weapon, a substance they called, 'The Aether.' Odin Allfather's own father, Bor, waged war upon the Elves and defeated them, forcing them to sacrifice many of their race or be 'killed off' as the Asgardians thought. Knowing the Aether could not be controlled, Bor locked it away in a hidden location so no one could ever harness it's dark power again...or so they thought. These stories of Elves and Aether were stories told to all children in every realm, well except maybe Midgard, and these children believed that these Elves were dead...They would soon find out what really happened in that battle that day, many eons ago...

Hela was training with her father, Loki, as usual, with magic in the palace gardens while Melody trained Hart. Hela executed a high-level spell as her parents watched, beaming with bright smiles and claps of praise as Loki congratulated the ebony-haired teen, "For a sixteen-year old, you're a prodigy. You executed that spell perfectly and it only took you four years to master it, whereas your mother and I took a whole childhood to learn such a high-level spell."

Hela was now of marrying age on Asgard, a sixteen-year old, wizard girl with long, black hair, shining emerald eyes, and fair skin that almost made her look like Isabelle Fuhrman in 2013 on Midgard if she were wearing a medieval-style, green dress. The petite 'Snow White' grinned, the skirts of her green dress and her long, wavy, ebony hair blowing in the breeze as she laughed, "Well, I did learn from the best, Father."

"Pretty soon, Princess, you'll defeat me in a duel."

"Not if you have some new tricks up your sleeve." Hela retorted playfully as Loki laughed and hugged his daughter close to him, stroking her raven locks as he praised her, "I'm very proud of you, Hela. You'll make a fine magician."

"Thank you, Father."

Melody clapped for Hela as she walked by her daughter and husband, remarking, "Nice work on the transformation spell. I almost thought your father made clones of himself again."

"Thank you, Mother."

"And I agree with your father. I too am proud of you, my sweet Hela. You are a genius at magic, even more of a genius than your father or me."

"Well, I agree-Hey!" Loki gasped as the Laufeyson family laughed playfully. The three individuals laughed before Melody explained, "Ahem! Now, I'd like to show you what Hart can do. His pace may be a bit slower than Hela's, but he's catching up and catching on very quickly."

"What spell are you teaching him?" Loki asked as he walked with his queen of innocence, hand-in-hand.

"A transportation spell, a teleportation one to be exact."

"Ooo! That spell took me two months to master."

"Well, it took him the same amount of time, and I think he's ready for a test run," Melody replied before she called out, "Hart, we're ready for a demonstration!"

"Sure thing, Mother!" Hart shouted across the gardens as Melody danced with joy, "I'm sad yet so excited! My children are growing up so fast and they're learning so much, it almost makes me want to cry!"

"Oh, don't cry, Mother. It's no fun when you're in tears." Hart replied with a smirk from behind Melody. Melody looked back at where Hart 'was' standing and then where he was now, picking the eight-year old up and swinging him around before setting him on the earth below him, smiling as she did so. Hart had grown into quite a handsome, little boy with ebony hair, turquoise eyes, and fair skin to match his parents; the uncanny resemblance made him look like Loki if he were thirteen or fourteen and he looked too mature to be eight. The resemblance was so strange that he almost resembled Aza Butterfield in 2013 on Midgard. After hanging out in the garden for a while, the Laufeyson family headed back inside the palace to wash up and eat to their hearts content alongside their friends and family. After all, Thor and his army were returning home from a long day in battle and their victory needed to be celebrated, as always, of course.

It seemed that, overall, the relationship between parents and children was a fine, delicate balance with nothing bad befalling the Laufeyson family. The balance could be broken if ties were broken or if the family became divided, but the two families, Odinson and Laufeyson, wished good will and good fortune to both good friends and their kinsfolk. The party lasted for several hours, even going far into the starry night as the men drank and told stories, the women danced and sang, and the children played and joined in the festivities of the victory. Thor and Jane celebrated together alongside their four-year old daughter, Levina, and other friends and family while Hela and Hart celebrated alongside their parents Loki and Melody; both families, Laufeyson and Odinson, were proud of the victory against the invading armies on the peaceful realm of Vanaheim.

And why shouldn't they all celebrate? Jane and Thor as well as Loki and Melody had been married for more than two years with at least one child of their own each, peace had spread across the nine realms, Sif and Fandral were engaged to be married while Darcy and Hunter had been married for four, joyful years, and no threats had been seen in the realms for many moons. Also, Hela was at the age where she could accept marriage proposals from suitors to plan an arranged marriage, but Loki and Melody wished for Hela to marry whoever she wished in her own time because of how the two Jotuns met and fell in love, even though Odin assured the Jotuns that arranged marriage was not that bad. Loki and Melody sternly told Odin that they did not wish for Hela to be forced into marriage, and the discussion was left at that: Hela would choose a man in her own time...It seemed as though everything was falling perfectly into place, except when a tragedy struck the house of the Asgardian royal family...

*AN: Please Enjoy & Review. Thank you. :)*