Chapter 02: Halja's Story
After having a tour of the palace grounds, Halja led Samus back to the demoness' royal bedchamber, while Amirani, his brothers, and Mist followed behind.
"Hey Miss Samus!" Amirani's youngest brother, Gressil, cheered in excitement. Gressil was the son that resembled his father the most, only, Gressil was far more shorter and more stout.
"What is it Lord Gressil?" Samus asked, wearing a happy smile on her face for once.
"Do you mind if you tell me more stories about your adventures in outer space?" Gressil said in curiosity. "Your stories are very exciting to hear."
"Thank you. Maybe I'll tell more stories later Lord Gressil." Samus replied, sounding a little bit groggy.
Now, it was the mouse demon Prince Kursha's turn to speak. "One of these day Miss Samus, can you teach me how to use pistols and arm cannons? I'm interested in them a lot."
"Heh heh, I will teach you sometime." Samus laughed. It seemed like quite a while that Samus has ever laughed, or felt truly happy. She was taking a liking to her guardian's family a lot, and they seem to take a liking to her in return.
"Wanna go fishing with me sometime Miss Samus?" The fish demon, Dan-Dan asked in excitement. "Doesn't have to be today, but you know..."
"Okay Sons! That's enough!" Queen Halja shouted in a stern voice.
King Bullar approached his sons Kursha, Dan-Dan and Gressil, telling them in a stern tone of voice, "I know you all have taken a liking to Miss Samus Aran. But she is rather tired right now. She needs to take it easy at this moment. Understand?"
The three brothers sighed in dismay, as they responded with..."Mmmgh! We understand father."
"Hey Bullar darling?" Halja asked. "Do you mind if I speak privately with Miss Samus right now."
Bullar closed his eyes, nodded his head, and said, "Yes, very well. I understand. I'm going to be busy with my duties soon anyways.
"Thank you my love." Halja said back, kissing Bullar on the cheek. "Take care!"
While the women entered the Queen's royal bedchamber, Halja beckoned to have Samus sit down and relax on the Queen's bed. Since Samus is familiar with the castle's settings now, the bounty hunter was staying in a guest room that was built off the King and Queen's bedchamber. There was even a personal restroom in the guest room, making things a little convenient for the bounty hunter, so she doesn't have to go through many halls nor corridors, just to relieve herself.
Next to the royal bed, there was a dresser drawer with a water mirror sitting on top of it. Halja brings the water mirror over to Samus, as if she wanted to tell the huntress something.
"Now what might that be?" Samus asked the queen in curiosity.
"It is a water mirror." Halja replied softly. "It is an enchanted device found throughout divine realms, to show us memories of the past and present, as well as being used for entertainment."
Samus made eye contact with Halja, saying, "It seems like you have a story to tell me. I would love to hear it my Queen."
"I do have a story to tell. A story about myself, and the ones I love..." Halja responded as the water mirror started to work its magic. "Here, this water mirror will show you, and tell you all about it."
The vision on the mirror showed a fishing vessel, piloted by King Scratch of Sheol Kingdom, sailing down the Lethe river. The anchor was dropped into the lake after two hours of sailing. Scratch puts down his flags, got off the highest point of the deck that was reserved for him, and looked down at the river water. To Scratch's delight, there were huge, plump fish jumping around, salamanders and frogs hopping and swimming in the cool river water, as well as freshwater crustaceans making themselves present by flopping around in the river. It was a fisherman's dream come true.
Scratch looks down at the water and licked his chops in delight. "Mmmm...are we lucky today, or what?"
Scratch then faced the group of fishermen, both of the demon and mortal souls species, and started to shout out some commands to them. "Dip the nets! Drop in the cages! Pull out your fishing rods! The fish are biting fiercely today. So let's catch em!"
So the nets were dipped, the cages were dropped, and the fishing rods were pull out and cast into the water of the river Lethe. For the bait used, a group of some of the wicked of all the mortals souls were transformed into various live bait, ranging from goldfish, to earthworms, as their divine punishment for their immoral acts they committed before death came to them. Thus, they ended up in Helheim, being used as mere fish bait by fishermen of both demon and mortal soul origin. Even though they cannot speak anymore, the transformed souls that became fish bait still have their minds in tact. With that, the only types of noise they can make, is just mere high pitched screeching and unintelligible garbling. Every time a hook or needle pierced the bait creatures, a few droplets of red blood would sometimes trickle out as they warbled in agony. Yes my pretties, this is one of the most nastiest and foulest of fates to happen to some of the most nastiest, and most foulest of mortal souls in Helheim.
Before everyone knew it, on board Scratch's lake side ship, oodles of fish, crustaceans and edible amphibians were being reeled in and gathered aboard. The catches were being harvested and gathered into boxes full of water, so they can be transported back to the kingdom of Sheol. Things were uneventful for a while, with the only drama being a few stubborn mortal souls trying to defy their demon overlords.
Yes, things were uneventful...that is, until a few noises were heard in the bushes of the riverbank.
The first noise was the rustling of the bushes. The second noise was a combination of a large splash and a brief thumping sound. The third, and most alarming of noises, was the sound of a young infant child crying.
King Scratch immediately heard the cries of this infant child, as he faced the riverbank, and said to himself, "Oh my...This doesn't sound good. I have to investigate the source of the child's cries."
Chancellor Baal also heard the cries of the infant child, as he approached King Scratch, and asked, "Want to me to take charge while you investigate the riverbank?"
King Scratch frowned, closed his eyes, nodded his head, and replied, "Yes, please. I can't leave that child to be exposed to such a wretched fate. That child does not deserve this kind of treatment."
"Very well...You're doing the right thing my lord, and that is all that matters." Baal said as Scratch unsheathed his wings and got ready to fly off. "Who cares what those mortal souls think of your deed."
"Thank you." Scratch said solemnly, just before he took off from the boat, and glided down to the bushes in the riverbank.
When King Scratch landed in the river bank bushes, he followed his ears to the sound of the infant's cries. The bushes were drenched and muddy. Every time Scratch took a step, his feet would making slurpy plopping sounds. It was so muddy, that the devil king lifted his royal robes, so they wouldn't get too dirty with mud.
Further down the banks, the crying gotten louder, as Scratch followed the source of the noise. "Hang in there little one. I'm coming!"
Right before King Scratch, there was an overturned hand basked, with a few blankets hanging out of them, and the top part sprawled away from everything else. Underneath the muddy blankets, a baby's arm started to make itself known to Scratch. From the looks of the disembodied arm, it looked like the baby was a type of doll demon.
King Scratch picks up the basket and blankets, and underneath, he found a rag doll demon baby. The demon baby was an albino female, with her short white hair being caked with mud, her pink eyes were large and had tears forming in them. The poor rag doll demon baby was in pieces, so Scratch took her hand basket, gathered the baby inside of it, and got ready to head back to the ship.
"Hang in there little one." Scratch whispered to the baby. "I'll bring you to safety."
Back at the ship, Baal was giving out commands to the fishermen and fisher-women, making sure that things were in order. So far, no one dared disobeyed the fallen angel chancellor, since witnessing the drama with Simon Maximon.
"Hum...hummm...So far...so good!" Baal thought to himself, as he kept an eye on everyone upon the ship.
Upon the ship, King Scratch has returned, with the baby inside the hand basket. King Scratch started to yell out commands to all the demons aboard the ship. "Hurry up everyone! Get a washtub! Fill it with water! Get clean blankets! Get a first aid kit! Most importantly, get her some milkworms we store on board!"
"YES SIR!" All the demons aboard shouted in unison as they were gathering together to gather the supplies for the baby that was discovered by King Scratch.
First, King Scratch gave the baby a bath, cleaning on the mud and river scum off of her milky white body. After bathing her, Scratch grabs out a first aid kit, and finds some needles and threads made specifically for rag doll demons like her. So King Scratch sews the baby up tightly, making sure she won't come apart too easily.
After that, Scratch grabs the clean blankets, wraps the naked baby up in them, and places her gently down on the hand basket. Scratch noticed the baby was calming down, and crying less now. However, she still needed some food, to calm her down even further. King Scratch couldn't bare to having anymore horrible things happen to the baby.
"Hey my Lord Scratch..." Baal said as he hands a food sachet over to his beloved king. "I hope this sack of milkworms would be enough to feed the poor girl."
Scratch looked into the sachet of milkworms, and noticed that this was more than enough to feed the baby girl. Scratch looked over at Baal, and said, "Thank you very much. This is more than enough to feed her. I wouldn't know what to do without you buddy."
Samus has gotten somewhat emotional over the scene that taken place. "Who the hell abandoned you there in the wilderness of Helheim?"
Halja lets out a solemn sigh, replying with, "It was my biological parents, the angel/demon hybrid, Loki Hrimthung and the frost Jotunn, Angraboda. My brothers and I cut ties with them, ever since they not only just abandoned us at birth, but even had the nerves to separate us as well. They merely abandoned us, just for being born full blooded demons."
Samus' face started to flush red with anger, while her hands knotted up into tight fists. "What nerves indeed. If Loki and Angraboda ever cross my path...I swear..."
"Oh oh, calm down Miss Samus! It's okay." Halja said calmly. "You see the figure known as King Scratch, the ruler of Sheol Kingdom?"
"Yes...Is he...?" Samus wondered in curiosity.
"King Scratch and his harem of wives adopted me into their clan." Halja explained to the huntress. "They are my true family to me."
The more Samus thought about it, the more she thought that her and Halja have quite a bit in common. Like Samus, Halja was adopted into a foreign clan, although the demons of Sheol Kingdom that adopted Halja, were allies of Niflheim Kingdom, so it was to be expected. Samus also learned to use various elemental gun attacks, while Halja learned various type of elemental magic. They also had similar body figure builds, despite being two completely different races, as well as having fair hair and fair skin tones.
A thought now sprung into Samus' mind, regarding their biological parents. Samus wondered what was worse: Having biological parents that loved you, but losing them at an early again, leaving one an orphan? Or...Having biological parents that don't love you, and would toss you aside like worn out trash, just for being different from them?
Those thoughts crossed Samus' mind for a bit, only now to be focused on new images showing up on the water mirror.
The images on the mirror now showed various moments of then Princess Halja of Sheol, and then Prince Bullar of Niflheim, growing up together, and being almost inseparable from one another. Samus found these images of Halja, Bullar, and their family, some of the most heartwarming things she has seen in years. She started to think of her time with her Chozo family back at Zebes. Samus' Chozo family, and Halja's adoptive family in Sheol seem to have a lot in common with Samus. Not only were they kind parent figures that dotted on their adopted daughters, they also taught their daughters to defend themselves, fight back, and protect others that are weaker than them.
More images shown up, depicting the wedding between Princess Halja of Sheol, and King Bullar of Niflheim, the two kingdoms growing closer to one another, while the Princess is now the Queen. Everyone from both kingdoms were invited to this very special wedding that took place in Niflheim. Both Halja's parents, and Bullar's loyal subjects, watched in awe, wiping tears of joy from their eyes as the childhood sweethearts were now together forever.
"I bet this was the best day of your lives." Samus said to Halja, feeling touched by Halja's story.
"It is one of the best days of my life, but there is another one." Halja replied back to Samus as yet another image shown up and played itself to the women.
The image changed to Bullar and Halja spending time with their seven septuplet sons, from infant-hood to childhood. In the order they were born, there was, of course, Prince Amirani, then, there was Prince Belthegor, Prince Dan-Dan, Prince Ghmerti, Prince Kursha, Prince Biris, and finally, there was Prince Gressil.
"Heh heh, your little sons. They are just so cute!" Samus said in a giddy voice. "I'm happy to see them grow up so fine. Especially Lord Amirani."
Samus has never felt this giddy around anyone who wasn't her Chozo family before. Most people outside the Chozo who knew Samus, has seen her as some sort of stoic, silent, ice queen. Only a few people have seen the kind, caring, more sentient side of the huntress. Among them, was Mist Elmbarn, and the Royal Family of Niflheim.
Other event shown up, such as Mist getting to know the Royal Family of Niflheim, as well as her sworn brother, Prince Balder (now King Balder), and her sworn sister-in-law, the Valkyrie Nana Hogen, showing up in Niflheim after a tragic event took place in the Asgard kingdom of Godheim. Since Mist, Balder, and their sworn sister, Eir, have took part in saving Amirani and various Niflheim demons from the Asgard prison cells, Amirani and his brothers returned the kindness by taking in Balder and Nana, helping them out during the catastrophic events that would lead up to Ragnarok.
"So, Prince Balder and Eir Gullmannen are actually Lady Mist's sworn siblings?" Samus wondered.
"Yes indeed." Halja replied, as she nodded her head. "They have been allies with us for a long time."
Samus smiled and said, "Heh heh, I learn something new everyday."
Now, on the mirror, it showed images post Ragnarok. Balder and Nana were restored back to life, now being the new rulers of Asgard Kingdom. They are now the King and Queen of Asgard, since the old rulers, Balder's father Odinn, and mother Frigga, have perished in the great battle. The leadership between Balder and Nana, were vastly different from the rulership of Balder's parents. They were more tolerant and accepting of divine beings of foreign descent, unlike Odinn, who was guilty of fantastic racism for quite some time.
A new image cuts to the allied kingdoms of Asgard and Folksvangr, holding a festive wedding at the castle of Walhalla.
"Who is getting married here?" Samus pondered, but then, thought about it more. She then realized that it was the wedding between Prince Amirani and Mist Elmbarn.
"This is the wedding between my son, Prince Amirani, and Lady Mist Elmbarn." Halja explained to Samus. "Their wedding changed the outcomes of both Godheim and Helheim forever. For now, the Kingdoms of Asgard and Folksvangr, were the first Godheim kingdoms to make peace to the two Helheim kingdoms, Niflheim and Sheol."
"What about the other kingdoms in both Godheim and Helheim Lady Halja?" Samus asked in curiosity. "What are they like?"
"Well...Ummm...Heh heh..." Halja stuttered sheepishly. "To put it this way, there are Kingdoms in Helheim that are mortal enemies with one another. The same can be said for Godheim as well. So since those kingdoms have been at each other's throats for centuries, it was lucky that the kingdoms of Niflheim and Sheol were able to make peace with the kingdoms of Asgard and Folksvangr."
"Your kingdom is quite lucky indeed." Samus said, as she watched an image of the marriage on the water mirror. "You and Mist are quite lucky girls for having such devoted consorts."
"Heh heh! Thank you Miss Samus." Halja said, blushing.
After a while, images stopped playing on the water mirror, and Halja was done telling her story. The Queen grabs the water mirror, and puts it back on the dresser drawer near her bed. Samus yawned in exhaustion, as Halja asked the huntress, "Hey, you sound tired Miss Samus? Would you like to get some rest my dear?"
"Mmmgh...Yawn...Yes my lady." Samus yawned, feeling drowsiness kicking in. "It's been quite a long day. But a great one indeed."
"Well, go get some rest my dear lady." Halja said as she kissed Samus on the forehead. "There is a lot to do, now that you are invited into my land. Now, I'm going to spend some special time with my beloved Bullar."
Samus went over to the guest room that was just off the Royal couple's bedchamber. She opens the door, closes it behind her, and heads over to the bed she was going to sleep in. Samus strips off her blue, full bodied zero suit, leaving the huntress in her undergarments. She lets the zero suit fall to the floor, as she gets up to shut off the lights before laying down in bed, getting some well deserved rest.