I sat down on a ledge of the famed Asgardian mountains, one of my legs folded beneath me and the other dangling out over the edge.

Humming quietly, I braided my hair absentmindedly as I stared out over Asgard, the gold and crystal city beautiful from so high up. Despite the hustle and bustle down there, up here on this ledge, my home world seemed so strangely serene.

And then I caught the scent of cloves on the air and turned, my hair whipping around my face.

"Loki, show yourself. I know you are there," I said.

It was only when I spoke that he allowed himself to be seen, lounging casually beside me, his thin, almost effeminate face nonchalant as he stared at me. I narrowed my eyes and turned away, Loki chuckling, "Must you be so cruel to the Prince of Asgard?"

"Prince? Ha- you are but a trickster Loki," I replied, smirking slightly. "Did your brother send you here?"

"No goddess, I came of my own accord to seek the source of your discontent. Every conversation in the kingdom is alight with the details of Sif's attack-"

I glared up at him and bared my teeth, "It was no attack. She provoked me into a fight and then she lost."

"Come now Halea, we both know this is about Thor. My brother is a romantic and is well versed in the pursuits of love- many women have wanted his affections," Loki said, stepping back when I stood. "Let me finish, for as I said, many have wanted his affections but Thor does not seek subservience. He seeks a challenge dear sister and you know my words are true because you see as well the fire that comes alive in his eyes when only he looks at you."

Loki looked at me honestly and I narrowed my eyes, pulling the dagger on my hip. "I have no answer for your sudden bout of honesty, but I do have a reaction," I said, pressing my blade to his throat.

"What plan have you devised now Loki?"

"The plan is not of my own doing- Mother requested your presence at dinner tonight."

My eyes flashed at the mention of Thor and Loki's mother before I dropped the dagger, staring back out over Asgard.

Frigga had taken me in as a child and raised me for the better part of my life, hoping that Thor and I would become something more. Her meddling, for lack of a better word, had not helped the relationship whatsoever- and had actually pushed Thor towards Sif.

I moved past Loki without a word, making my way back down the mountain on swift feet. Once I reached the outskirts of the kingdom, I slowed, stepping onto the Bifrost Bridge. I made my way to where the keeper of the gate stood in the open portal room, bowing respectfully. "Heimdall, I need to go to Hel," I said, his golden eyes searched mine. "You know that the King does not approve of your visits to the tenth realm," he replied in his deep bass, staring out to where the castle towered in the distance. I nodded before looking back to where the waters raged below the crystalline floors, "Open the gate."

I closed my eyes and turned my face toward the sky, exhaling softly in anticipation. I could feel the wind pick up as the clouds descended to surround me, coaxing the breath from my throat. And then I was racing through time and space itself, feeling my being separate briefly before sensing the ground below me. I inhaled as my feet returned to the ground, opening my eyes to the barren landscape that was the tenth realm, the place where the world of the living and the worlds of the dead met.

A woman stood motionless at a fork in the path, the utter silence surrounding her almost eerie. And then she stepped forward, tilting her head in an alien fashion and regarding me with unfathomable eyes.

"Sister."

Hella stood before me, looking vastly different from myself despite the coincidence of our birth. She was my twin, tall and waif-like with dark, ebony skin and pure white hair. She dressed in a colorless garb, her eyes dark and impassive as they stared into my own. I could see myself reflected in her gaze, her opposite in every way. My skin was lighter, bronzed and glowing as if a life shone from within. I was petite yet sinuously curvaceous, my form managing to show even through the most unflattering of clothes. My hair was an inky black, like that of the night sky and hanging in tight curls to the middle of my back, much shorter than Hella's.

I could see the almost silvery, colorless glint of my eyes flash in her captivating glance.

"Looking for some solitude I see," she said in her light, ethereal voice.

"Yes."

Moving past her, I stood and simply breathed, tilting my head back as I attempted to clear my mind. Yet Hella's presence made that fairly difficult, the short hairs on my arm and the back of my neck standing up in awareness.

My heart held no ill will to the other half of myself- we were kindred souls, two meant to entwine by fates much higher than ourselves. We were just so different, though, my sister preferring to dwell here at the gates between life and death instead of skirting it like I loved so. Many a time had I met her at this place between, given a choice to remain in life or join her here for the rest of time.

I sighed and turned back to Hella, her eyes watching me every movement. "I shall see you again," I said, even though I hoped never to encounter her presence again in my mortal days.

She inclined her head towards me before seeming to glide backwards to her post, instantly still once more. I left her there, frozen and unmoving, returning to the impression in the ground.

"Heimdall."