Hela grinned as she held her sword, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, circling. The sun beat down on her and her opponent mercilessly. Sweat ran down the side of her neck, her armor becoming heavy. But she could not let such trivial things get in the way of winning.

Sif taunted her, motioning her to come forward and calling her a coward. Hela rushed forward, blocking Sif's blade and swinging at her. But Sif easily dodged. This went on for another hour. Dodging, blocking, swinging, sweating, and more dodging, until finally, Sif was able to trip Hela. Hela grinned at the point of Sif's sword resting on her throat. "Yield." Sif commanded.

Hela sighed. "You may have won today, but I will beat you tomorrow for sure!"

"You have been saying that for a number of years now, Hela." Sif laughed at Hela's unrelenting enthusiasm and helped her off the ground.

Hela brushed the dirt off her silver and blue armor, sheathing her sword. "That is because I get better every day, and I know I will be able to beat you someday."

Sif punched Hela's arm playfully. She felt as though the young princess was the only warrior with which she could fully relate to. "Don't get too prideful. When you win, it will be because I will have let you win."

Hela laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Because the Mighty Sif wins against foes big and small!"

The two walked to the training building, where all the supplies were kept. Hela placed her dull, metal sword on the rack with the other training swords and retrieved her own. An exact copy of Sif's sword, but it had a dark blue hilt. She sheathed her real sword at her waist and picked up a wet rag, wiping the sweat of her brow.

She had practiced sword fighting every day since she was a little girl. She had learned her own speed and force, mastering them. She had learned the angle, position, and intensity of a killing blow versus a maiming blow. She learned how to disarm someone, how to break their spine and neck without killing them, and how to twist their arm so badly that they would beg for mercy. She learned to fight with the sword, knife, and dagger. She was so fast and focused that she could find a way to beat someone with both arms tied behind her back. But she also did stuff with her mind. She had named it the Death Curse, because she had once made an entire stall of horses drop dead because she had gotten too angry. She tried to be calm and control her anger. She could do all these things, and she didn't know why. They came as naturally to her as breathing. As if killing and hurting people was meant to be her role. And that troubled her sometimes.

She knew she wasn't Aesir, yet she looked exactly like one. She had read everything she could on other species, and found nothing. It frustrated her to no end. She had researched killing spells, different types of sorceresses, spell casters, magical species…. nothing. She felt as though she had read every book in the library.

And even though she felt like a monster sometimes, her family, her entire family, supported and loved her. Sif had only become better friends with her seeing her gifts. Her Father taught her magic, though she didn't really have an interest for it anymore. She was too busy with sparring and training. Her Father. Hela smacked her forehead.

Sif grinned at her. "Late for your Father's magic lessons again?"

"Norns!" Hela cursed. She said her farewells to Sif quickly and rushed through the palace grounds, running as fast as she could. Servants and commoners that littered the halls gave her a respectful nod and smile as she hurried through the halls towards her family's chambers. She burst through the tall golden doors and sprinted through the massive front room, towards her father's library. When she opened the door, panting and flustered, she was just in time to hear her parents.

Sorrow huffed in anger, hearing Loki walk after her. "Sorrow! I apologize!" He called after her.

Sorrow whipped around, seeing the smirk on Loki's face. "It is not funny." She said angrily.

Hela grinned, but hid it behind her hand. Her Father had done it this time.

Loki's grin widened, despite his best efforts to make it disappear. "I didn't know you would hate having green hair… I thought it looked ravishing." Loki tried to explain. He changed her hair back to its original color quickly.

Sorrow noticed her hair was now brown once more. She glared at him. "I am in no mood for your games right now." Any other time, and Sorrow would have found it at least a little entertaining, but current events left her in a rather sour mood. She felt tears stinging her eyes. Loki pulled her into a tight embrace, even though she was angry with him.

"I am sorry… truly. I thought only to lighten the mood. I know you are worried for Yvette. She will be fine, though. You know as well as I do how strong-headed that woman is." Loki whispered into Sorrow's ear. Only the previous day, Yvette had been thrown from her horse and was now in the Healing Halls, unconscious still. "She will be well."

Sorrow sighed. "I know… I am sorry for getting so angry." She said quietly.

"As long as you forgive me for making your hair a stunning shade of green, all is forgiven." Sorrow leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on Loki's lips. Loki smirked and pulled her closer, kissing her deeply. She felt her face heat up.

"Do you two have to do that in front of me?" Hela asked, looking away in embarrassment.

"I know of no better place." Loki replied.

Sorrow's blue eyes flitted over to her daughter. Hela wore blue and silver armor, her soft black hair was dirty and sweaty, pulled up into a tight ponytail. She was covered in dirt, with a few extra bruises than the last time she had seen her. A long sword hung at her hip. Sorrow smiled. "How was your training today?" She asked.

Hela plopped down on a couch. "Fine, I guess. Just like any other day." She relaxed on the couch, her tired muscles pulsing from that day's hard training. She could fall asleep right there, content and exhausted. But she was jerked awake by cool liquid running off her head. Hela touched the blue paint that was soaking her hair and armor and hissed in anger, spinning around to see her younger brother, Fenrir, with an empty paint bucket. He grinned and stuck his tongue out at her, giggling. "You little rat!" Hela shouted angrily. "I'm going to skin you alive!"

At this threat, Fenrir bolted out from behind the couch and ran for dear life. Hela chased him and tackled him to the ground. Fenrir cried out in surprise and tried to wiggle out from underneath her. "Mom! Dad! Hela's going to kill me!"

Paint from Hela's head dripped down onto the younger boy's face. He was only seven years old, with pale brown hair and brown eyes. He looked too much like her mother, but acted too much like her father. Hela unsheathed her sword and pointed the edge of it towards his throat, her face slowly inching towards his so that she could scare him. "I will kill you, little runt, if you do that again."

She failed to see the terrified look in Fenrir's eyes and the way his lip started to quiver. "You would! Because you hate me! And you're stupid!" The boy shot back. "You're the worst sister ever! I hate you!"

"Well it looks like the feeling is mutual because I hate you too." Hela spat.

She felt fingers wrap around her forearm and yank her off of her brother. "Hela! We are family!" Loki hissed angrily. He motioned towards the sobbing form on the floor. "Is this what you want? Your brother to fear you? Your own brother?!"

"Well it's no different than what you did to Thor! Where do you think I learned it from? I'm a monster just like you!" Hela retorted.

Loki was silent for a few seconds, his ice blue eyes flitting to Sorrow's, who was hugging Fenrir and whispering comforting words in his ear. Loki let go of Hela's arm. "You are right. I have done many bad things in my life." Loki said in a low voice. He glared at Hela, giving her a disapproving look. "But I am no longer that person, and you should not be either. Those were my mistakes. Ones that would be foolish to repeat."

Hela scoffed. "What? Is this some sort of speech to try and make me be kind to that rat?"

"He is your brother!" Loki said angrily. "And you should love him, no matter how he may treat you!"

"Oh, is that what your relationship with Uncle Thor is? Is that how I should show love to my… brother? Shove a knife in his stomach?"

"I told you what I had done so that you would see what a fool I had been. Why do you twist reality? Thor and I are past our differences, and you should learn to get past yours as well. No more on this subject. Apologize. Tell him you love him."

Hela rolled her eyes. She had never like Fenrir. Ever since he had been born, she had been number two to her father. He took Fenrir's side every time. Annoying little rat that Fenrir was. Just because he could shape shift into a wolf and do magic better than her. This made her angry, looking down at the little boy in front of her. He was so perfect in her parent's eyes. Mainly her Father's. In fact, she didn't even know if she loved her family. Well… her mother was the only person that she could get along with, so she couldn't say that about everyone. She had honestly tried spending time with her father. Magic lessons, studying with him, going on trips. They were naturally opposites. "No." Hela flat out said. "I hate him and I hate you! I wish you weren't my father!" Hela shouted angrily.

Instead of fighting like Hela had expected Loki to do, Loki's face fell. His blue eyes flitted to the ground in confusion, as if wondering what he had done to deserve that. Hela felt guilt well up inside her chest. Loki's eyes became hard and he looked back up at his daughter. "I am sorry for whatever I have done to make you despise me so."

"Loki… I'm sure she didn't mean that." Sorrow assured.

Loki smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm sure she didn't." He said sarcastically. He walked out of the room, and Sorrow stood up.

That was one thing Hela loved about her mother. She was always calm. She didn't get angry very easily, and never held grudges. Sorrow placed a slender hand on Hela's shoulder, ignoring the drying blue paint that was most likely getting on her fingers. Hela slowly looked over at her, confused by her own words. "Hela… how about you get your Aunt Eirrah to watch Fenrir and take a little break."

Hela sighed and headed towards the door. "Okay…" She muttered glumly. Before she went out the door, she turned to look at her mother, who was now scrubbing the paint off the couch. Her mother was the best cleaner in the whole family. She could make anything spotless. Hela had asked about it, and her father had said her mother was a Queen, and that she had many skills. "Mother?"

Sorrow looked up at Hela. "Yes?" She asked.

"Does father… love me? Even though I say those things?"

Sorrow smiled. "You were born only an hour before your father came back from the front lines. He was exhausted and smelt of smoke. And when he first laid his eyes on you, and held you in his arms for the first time, he wouldn't put you down long enough to be fed. He loves you Hela. We are your family. We love you."

Hela pondered these words. "What am I?" She asked almost in a whisper.

Sorrow looked down at her blue hands. "I believe it is time you knew, but not tonight."

Hela nodded and went out the door. Why would her mother not tell her? Why? Was it because they feared what she was? Because she could kill things with her mind and lose her temper in a split second? She felt tears sting her eyes. Was it because she was a monster?

As soon as she stepped into the hallway and shut the door, she found herself at the mercy of over thirty guards, all had their swords drawn. "Lady Death, the Allfather summons you. You will come willingly."

Lady… Death?

I think I'm losing my touch on writing... School is sucking away all my creativity. :/ Anyways... Hope you liked chapter 2. I know I just started this story, but I'm thinking of writing another story at the same time. So watch out for another story that could possibly be called "A Silent Reminder" or something...

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