7.

This chapter is dedicated to LodestarJumper, who recently reviewed *every* chapter.

X

Another grey day. What else was new? Her prison planet rarely saw the sun, or rain.

Hela could hardly tell whether it was night or day. How long had she been locked away like this? Nothing to do but sit there and stew, lost in thought. She couldn't even die, despite repeated attempts. The power that she still drew from Asgard simply refused to let her go. Perhaps it needed her as much as she needed it. Whatever the reason, she was caged like an animal for the foreseeable future. Nothing to do, no one to talk to.

Out of nowhere, the Bifrost materialized.

For a moment, she had a wild hope that her punishment was over, that she could go home. Then she realized that Odin had arrived, with a bundle in his arms that she hoped was only an unconscious Loki, rather than a dead one. But that hope was soon dashed, also. He was too still, and Odin's face too grim. He laid Loki on the dead ground and stepped back.

Hela dropped to her knees near her brother, laying a hand on his forehead. He'd gone blue and cold.

"What happened?"

Her voice sounded strange and horribly loud after centuries of silence. Odin just shrugged.

"He got sick. The healers couldn't help him. I thought maybe..."

She grasped his meaning at once. She did have the ability to raise the dead, after a fashion, but whether she could bring back his mind, it was impossible to say. She never did figure out if the first resurrection had brought back his infant personality or mixed it with her own. Most likely a little of both. What effect reviving Loki again would have on his mind as it had been -How long has it been? Who is he now?- she could only guess.

But Odin most likely still had no idea of her role in that part of the story. "Heimdall said you might be able to help him."

Yeah, I'll bet he did. "Did he say anything else?"

"No."

Hela wasn't sure whether to believe him. A plan started to form in the back of her head. Get Odin to leave, revive whatever version of Loki she could, have a brother, at least for a while, maybe prove herself fit to return to Asgard -I'll be good, I promise I will...

"How's Frigga managing?" Does she actually care about him, does she miss me...

"She doesn't know yet. If he can come back, why make her worry, and if he can't, she doesn't need to remember-" Odin broke off. Too late.

"Did you make her forget me?" Hela let out a harsh laugh. "You really are the worst, father."

"Can you help him?"

Classic Odin. Just talk over any criticism. "I wouldn't do it for you."

Did she still have the ability? Way back in her head, the power still existed. No way to know if it would work without trying it.

"I don't think I can. I'm sorry."

X

It had been a gamble, Hela knew that. If Odin had taken Loki's body back to Asgard, that would have been that. She could only guess that a dead body would have been an unnecessary complication in his reprise of erasing one of his children.

Not that she was all that concerned with the "why". Unwittingly, her father had given her exactly what she wanted: her baby brother as a companion, if she could only revive him.

She'd carried his limp, blue body into the cave that was the closest she could get to a home. So much like the day she'd found a dead baby abandoned in a temple. There were many regrets, but he wasn't one of them. Even the goddess of death had a soul.

It was years since she'd touched the Eternal Flame, or even Asgard, but the power remained in her when she reached for it. Goddess of death, they called her. For causing death, or for reversing it? Or avoiding it entirely, willingly or otherwise.

One hand on Loki's forehead, the other on his chest, she drew on every bit of power she could dredge up. Her spirits, such as they were, were lifted somewhat when a black cloud began pouring out of his nose and mouth. An infection, or some sort of poison, or curse, she couldn't say. But soon enough, it was gone, and Loki gasped underneath her hands.

"Hey there."

Green eyes fluttered open. She couldn't help smiling. Gradually, Loki's skin returned to its usual Aesir appearance.

"Can you hear me?"

"No."

For some reason, she was inordinately proud.

"Do you know who I am?"

He swallowed. "Papa doesn't want me to."

X

It had taken Odin quite some time to figure out that time simply did not exist on Helheim. Hela hadn't aged a day since he'd sent her away. Perhaps she would live forever if she stayed there.

Stranger still, he hadn't even gotten back from the Bifrost before he realized his daughter had either lied or changed her mind. Loki was indeed alive again, with Hela teaching him a few tricks.

He did briefly consider leaving them together. If pressed for a reason why he didn't, he could have come up with a few: that Loki was an innocent child and shouldn't be left there, that he was a weapon to be taken from Hela, whether Odin used him or not, or that Frigga and Thor would miss him and erasing more memories would take too much effort.

In reality, he didn't think Hela should have a friend to ease the deserved harshness of her punishment. Only centuries later, when Loki was again gone, this time by his own actions, did he realize that any desire to simply have the child he considered a son with him never played a factor. For all he claimed to care about his youngest, and perhaps he did care, there was no sense of great loss when he was gone. Mostly he was just angry about Hela. Liar, traitor, murderer.

There was a simple solution. Kill Hela, bring Loki back, continue pretending he never had a daughter. Yes, that would work. But he couldn't do that himself.

X

The day Odin came to ask the Valkyries for help was one Brunnhilde would live to regret.

They'd been engaged in a mock battle, blue armor and practice weapons versus red. Nothing they hadn't done many times before, but this skirmish would be their last. Unbeknownst to any of them.

Opposite Brunnhilde, command of the red faction had fallen to Joyana. The relatively new arrival had caught Brunnhilde's eye, both as a skilled warrior and as something else, in a way she couldn't name. Certainly, the golden-haired soldier was a worthy opponent.

They'd caught each other's blades in mid-air at the exact moment the Bifrost touched down. Seconds later, Odin himself arrived and broke the spell.

He told a strange and questionable story, of an estranged daughter, Hela, locked away for murder, who had escaped and stolen Odin's younger son.

Their mission was to retrieve him, killing Hela if they were able. Nothing they couldn't handle.

Or so they thought.

X

Not much grew in Hela's strange prison, but she'd scrounged enough that she and Loki could share a meal. A few greens and some sort of shellfish. It was good to have a friend to eat with.

Loki had just fallen asleep when the sound caught her attention: that weird concussive sound she remembered from her childhood. Odin had taken her to visit the Valkyrie training camp. Maybe he'd been hoping she would decide to join them, saving him the trouble of figuring out what to do with her. Some part of her still hoped that her father had thought she would enjoy it, which she certainly had, but Odin never did anything purely for anyone's enjoyment. She had actually considered joining them, climbing on a pegasus and heading off to war in parts unknown.

In the end, the freedom she had enjoyed as Asgard's crown princess proved too great of a sacrifice. She'd had plenty of time for second thoughts. Knowing her, of course, she probably would have screwed that up, too. But now they were here, too, and it couldn't be good.

The concussive flapping sound stopped, and there was the sound of hoofbeats, then footsteps. Hela gently ruffled Loki's long dark hair, so much like her own, before heading out to deal with her "guests".

Brunnhilde, whom she'd met long ago, seemed to be in charge. Maybe she could be reasoned with. Then again, the dark warrior already had her sword drawn.

"Hela, where is the child?"

"Safe. Safer here than with the All-father."

Brunnhilde didn't react. Most likely, she didn't believe Hela, which was understandable. What was not understandable was the entire Valkyrie army drawing their swords or bows or whatever else and charging at her. They had numbers, she could give them that, but she had power, and a lot of anger. Odin couldn't protect Loki on Asgard, and now he was using an entire army to get him back? No sign of Odin himself, just the Valkyries to do his dirty work.

Figures.

A little overkill, she thought, with maybe three dozen of them, on horseback, against her. Then again...

A surge of power into the ground, and the swords she'd crafted for herself multiplied into dozens. Most of them wouldn't actually wound, would in fact disintegrate if touched, but that wasn't the plan anyway. Spooked by the flying metal, pegasus after pegasus either landed in a panic, or threw its rider, or simply fled entirely. One of the physical swords hit a Valkyrie in the chest, and there was still enough left of her soul to regret that, but not much. They were trying to kill her.

By then, only a few of them remained, with Brunnhilde lifting her sword and swinging it at Hela. Hela fell back and launched her remaining sword at the Valkyrie leader, intending to end the fight with one blow.

Out of nowhere, a blonde swordswoman lept in front of Brunnhilde, the sword striking her in the back and killing her instantly. Brunnhilde howled in anguish; evidently her savior had been someone special. Not her sister; they looked nothing alike. Close friend, perhaps, or shield-sister, or even a lover? Impossible to say.

Brunnhilde made as if to charge at Hela, then seemed to think better of it. Around her, three remaining Valkyries were breaking rank, as it were, turning and running, with one of the braver ones trying to carry away a fallen comrade. After a moment, Brunnhilde ran after them. Crisis averted, at least for the moment.

Out of breath and emotionally drained, Hela decided to check on her brother.

X

The cave was empty, but the tracks of Loki's magic could still be felt. He must have seen the skirmish and tried to run away. Unsurprising, given the twenty or so dead Valkyries, either from hitting the ground, or trampled by their own steeds, or for two of them, shot by their comrade's arrows. Fewer dead horses, but two remained that were badly hurt. Hela quickly cut their throats and left in search of Loki.

The child was wandering along a dry streambed, constantly stumbling over rocks. At the sound of her footsteps, he spun around and pulled out a dagger. That surprised her -he'd been unarmed last she saw- until she realized he'd simply taken one of hers. Her baby brother, after all. She was so proud.

"Loki," she held out her hands, "you don't need to worry. I'm not going to hurt you. Can you put the knife away?"

"Why did you kill them?"

Fair question. She swallowed hard before replying.

"They were trying to kill me. So- I stopped them. But a lot of them left to go back home." She tried to put her arms around him, but he shied away.

"I want to go home."

Hela blinked, surprised. Then again, it made sense. Home was his parents, his brother, his belongings, maybe his friends. Here, there was only death, and a sister he couldn't remember. But it didn't matter all that much.

"I can't take you back to Asgard, Loki. But come with me, and we can get you back to bed, maybe some food first..."

Eventually, Loki put the knife away, and Hela lifted him into her arms, carrying him back to her cave. He was sound asleep before she even got him halfway there.

Laying him on what passed for his bed, she realized she needed to get rid of the bodies. Most of them were piled together already; it didn't take long to collect the rest and get a fire going. All that was left of most of the Valkyrie army rose in ashes on the wind. A proper warrior's funeral, much like they would have been given anywhere else.

That thought was of little comfort. The slaughter had been pointless, even for Hela. Even Loki couldn't cheer her up; she was keeping him prisoner as much as Odin was keeping her. Worse, actually, since Loki had done nothing wrong. Maybe Heimdall would bring him back, if she wasn't around, but there was no way to know unless she simply let Loki wander away, which was too dangerous. She wasn't entirely alone in her exile. Creatures she couldn't identify had needed to be "convinced" to leave her alone. Loki wouldn't stand a chance on his own.

Hours later, it occurred to Hela that the surviving Valkyries had gotten out somehow. Leaving a sleeping Loki with a dagger and some food, she set off after them, hoping they'd followed a clear path.

Soon enough, in the side of a mountain, there appeared a strange glow. Some sort of pathway, perhaps, but to where. Preferably to Asgard, but there were likely multiple branches, and to get lost would likely prove fatal. It was anyone's guess what had happened to the surviving Valkyries. They could be anywhere, literally anywhere in the Nine Realms or outside of them.

Loki couldn't stay here. What had she been thinking? She should have brought him back to life and sent him safely home with Odin. This was no place for an innocent child. He belonged with Frigga, and Thor...

A wave of homesickness swept over her. Asgard was her home. She should be fighting one battle after another, bringing justice to the Nine Realms, finding more realms, bringing them into the fold, so to speak. Was that truly so bad?

Ambition is just an emotion. Like any other, the only problem is when it gets too strong. Where exactly that line is drawn, is something of a judgment call. And evidently, her father drew that line a bit earlier than she did.

Hela knew full well her imprisonment was not solely because of the palace massacre. That was only the tipping point, the justification, the reason she hadn't argued. Objectively, she'd deserved punishment. But this, this was a way of getting rid of a rival. The fact that said rival was his own daughter was probably the only reason she was still alive.

And yet, the Valkyries had been trying to kill her. It seemed Odin had all the parenting fulfillment he needed from Thor. They hadn't even asked for Loki back, or how he was, just demanded to know where he was and attacked her for answering. Maybe Hela should have just handed him over. There was no way of knowing if that would have made a difference or not.

After a long time, she walked slowly back to her cave, where Loki sat munching on a boiled crab. Hela sank to the ground next to him and put her arm around his shoulders. If this was the last time they were together, the last time she touched another person, she wanted to make the most of it.

Eventually, something shifted and she let go, taking his hand instead.

"Come with me. I think I found a way home."

X

The glowing lights spoke to Loki in a way he never could explain. The only time anything like that had happened before was in the Vault, when Odin was showing them the Casket. No words exchanged, just the impression. From the Casket, it had been power, the kind of power that sent chills through him. It made him feel alive.

This time was a little different. The portal beckoned to him, offering him what he wanted most: a way home. At the strange woman's urging, he put out his hand and touched it. The light field offered no resistance as he touched it, but it felt warm. It felt like home.

After one last glance at his nameless guardian, he walked in on high alert. Anything could be waiting here, to ambush him or offer a way home. It would be so easy to get lost.

Then he thought of Mother.

The light ahead of him to the left shone gold among the swirling silver. He would follow that one.

Traversing the passage seemed to take forever, but he never grew tired, or hungry. That was interesting. When he looked around, there were unfamiliar stars, worlds he couldn't name, worlds he could, and the sense that there were far more paths linking all of them. But he only wanted one.

After an eternity, or just a moment, he was back in the Vault.

By pure luck, Odin came across him before anyone else. There were questions, of course, of his miraculous recovery, and his return without using the Bifrost, but he avoided giving any answers. When pressed, he said he couldn't remember anything between the archery range and the Vault. If he didn't think too hard, he could almost convince even himself that the mysterious woman who looked so much like him, the battle with the Valkyries, and the paths between worlds were all just figments of his imagination, or else fever dreams.

That was his first permanent lie.