As we approach the tallest mountain I've ever seen, we see a few buildings scattered around. They look almost modern. Not at all what one would expect to find at the top of Hel. It's the closest thing to a town we've seen this whole trip. Once we're closer, we can see just how rundown they look. Everything just seems so decrepit. It's more like a ghost town than anything else. Where's John Wayne?

I'm not familiar with him. Was he a Norse figure?

Yeah. Basically.

As Skaldi asks me follow up questions, I ignore her and charge on ahead. "Maybe we'll get lucky and someone here has seen Jasmine."

"I just hope we haven't missed her."

I can't help but smirk. The idea of Jasmine managing to escape on her own, without our help, makes me so proud of her. I think she could really do it, even without Skaldi. She's a lot tougher than I ever expected her to be.

No one answers when I knock on the nearest door. There's no light inside and I don't hear any movement. It looks empty. We try the next one and have about the same result.

Anna runs over to the other side of the little town. We can find out quicker this way, I suppose.

On the third door, someone finally answers. "Yes?" A woman asks, peering out at me through the half-open door. "Can I help you?"

"Hi." I throw on my most charming smile, letting my armor vanish to reveal the fitted suit beneath it. Jasmine helped me figure out how to make it work in such a way that I don't have to strip to wear my armor. I've no interest in adding another woman to my roster, but I've been told I can be quite smooth. Maybe it's the suits. I toy with my tie as I lean against the door frame. The only other way I have to get information is shooting people, and there's an annoying voice in my head that will complain if I murder someone. "We were just on our way through your little town – if that's what it is – and I was wondering if you'd seen a friend of mine. She's about yea high," I hold my hand just below my chin, "dark skin and long black hair, super chipper, probably wearing a belly –" there's no way some random Norse woman knows what a belly dancer is – "A flowy blue outfit with really wide legs for the pants."

She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. We haven't. Did she die along with you? I was separated from my partner when I died as well. It took me years to find her."

So she really is gay then. I knew showing off my dapperness was the best plan. I stare down at my feet, and allow a slight nostalgic smile as I think of Jasmine, the silly little puppy trailing behind me as we chased after that goat-man with the flute after he attempted to assault that woman. She loved the super hero stuff so much – loves, we're bringing her back, I'm not gonna start thinking of her as dead. "How did you manage to find her?" I ask, my voice quivering just the slightest as I look up to meet her eyes.

She's biting her lip. She'll tell me absolutely anything now. That worked even better than breaking all of her shit with a baseball bat. "I walked all over Nfilheim, asking everyone I saw, just like you. I thought about trying to ask Hel, but there's usually such a long wait for that. I didn't want to go a decade without her, I needed to find her."

"So you know how it is."

"I do." Her fingers run through her hair, and she gestures for me to come inside. "Honey?" She calls back. The place is dark, but there're a faint light pouring in from the back. "There's some cute lady here looking for her girlfriend. You haven't seen a girl in a belly dancer outfit have you? Black hair?"

At the end of the hall a door sits ajar, and she shoves it open, guiding me into a cramped study with a shag rug in the center of the floor, next to a plush recliner. In it sits a woman with her long brown hair up in a braid, wearing glasses, along with leggings and a t-shirt. I'm starting to think they might not be vikings. Whatever gave you that idea?

"I haven't," the woman in the recliner replies. "I'm so sorry." Her eyes trace over me. It's the suits. "I went through the same thing." She turns back to her partner. "Maybe we could help."

The first woman nods. I should probably learn their names at some point. "I knew you'd say that."

"Anything you can tell me would be a huge help." I'm running out of polite phrases. "What are your names, anyway? I'd like to at least know who's helping me."

"My name's Letitia," the first woman says, "and my beautiful girlfriend here is George." I'm going to assume it's short for Georgina.

"I'm Elsa."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman," George says. I don't have time for a three-way and Anna would kill me. At least if I didn't invite her. But we're in a hurry.

"Would you have seen her if she came through?" I ask, trying to drag the conversation back to Jasmine.

They exchange glances. "People don't come through too often, but it's not like we were on the lookout for anyone. We could ask around. Generally around half the population are in the bar. It's free and its food replenishes much more consistently."

"Plus there's booze," Letitia adds.

"Half the population?" I ask. "How many people is that? The place looked pretty abandoned when we came through."

"We? You came here with someone else?"

Fuck it, I don't have time to come up with a lie. "Yeah, my other partner. My wife, actually."

George smirks up at Letitia and I can guess exactly what they're thinking.

Why do you think they're as perverted as you?

Because they are.

"So, anyway –" I try, "What happened here? Why is it so abandoned? Isn't this the afterlife for everyone who worships the Norse gods? We've barely run into anyone."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but not that many people still worship our gods." Me included.

"Right, but you're dead. Shouldn't every believer who's ever died be here? Why is this town so small? From what I've heard, it's a pretty major point, being the intersection between –" Come on, Skaldi, what're the names? "Nfilheim and Hel," I manage, with her assistance.

"Well, yeah, that's why we're so big and have such a nice bar, but there aren't that many people left. Sure, we all came here, except for the warriors, but lots died. I suppose that's the downside of so many of us worshiping war gods. We both worship Freyja, so I'd like to think we're not as bad, but there are all those skinheads who came here and are pissed that they didn't end up in Valhalla, and there are plenty of old vikings who weren't lucky enough to die in battle. War has been pretty constant."

"But wouldn't they just come right back? When I was in the Elysian Fields, we weren't running out of people and most of us were warriors."

Letitia's eyes narrow. "How were you in the Elysian Fields?"

Me and my big mouth. I can't stop giving things away that I shouldn't. Maybe this is why Anna never let me go undercover. "It's a long story, doesn't matter that much, I just need to find Jasmine."

"Are you even dead?" George asks.

I offer what must be the least convincing smile in history. "Of course I am. Look at me, all dead and whatnot. That's why I was in the Elysian Fields." Wait, that doesn't help, I had to have left. You're an idiot.

And we were finally bonding. I rest my left hand on my hip, just above my sword's hilt.

"You're down here to rescue the woman you love." A bemused chuckle falls from her lips as she leans against her lover's chair. "That's amazing. Both of you came? I hope you can find her. And that – I'm sure she's fine."

My eyes widen. Oh. Fuck. If people can die here, then Jasmine can. But she's grown so strong. She won't. Right? "Is it that dangerous? She's a very good fighter." When she has her powers, which are currently with me. Shit. We really need to hurry.

I honestly thought you knew. Did you think I was rushing you for no reason?

I thought you were just impatient.

Then may I reiterate – "So, you were saying something about a bar? Where people might have some idea about her?"

"Yeah." George rises from her seat. "Come on, it's not at all far. We'll take you there."

When she said it wasn't far, she meant it. Two buildings over, there's another modern looking structure, this time with a damaged sign, proclaiming it as a bar. The rest of the name has fallen off, save for an S and an L. I don't see Anna, but I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Maybe she's in one of the houses.

Or she could be pinning a man to a pool table with a gun to his head. That makes sense. "What did you just say?" she snarls.

"What?" George asks, looking between Anna and me. I take it she's already figuring it out. "Your wife?"

"I'm sure he deserves it," I mutter, taking a seat at the bar.

The man holds his hands up, staring up in horror, tears falling onto the damaged felt. "I didn't mean anything by it."

"Oh, you didn't mean anything when you said I should forget her and just 'have some fun' with you? I wasn't supposed to infer anything from that?"

It wasn't that long ago I was worried about shooting someone near Anna. I must have rubbed off on her. And not like when we were experimenting back at the orphanage. Can I please just go back in her head? Okay, I actually kinda deserved that one. "Have you seen a Middle Eastern woman in a blue belly dancer outfit?" I ask the bartender. Like Jasmine would ever go to a bar.

"That's what she just asked Marco."

I look over to the man on the pool table as urine runs down his pant legs. "So have you?"

He shakes his head. "No. I haven't seen anyone like that."

"Are you going to stop her?" Letitia asks, staring intently at me.

"Be my guest." I gesture toward the woman who runs almost all crime throughout New York.

"She's your wife!"

Anna turns over to the yelling woman. "Oh, Elsa, you're here. I don't suppose you found anything out?"

I shake my head. "Nope."

"Well, fuck." She slides her gun back into her pocket, leaving the man to sob in his puddle of urine as she sits beside me. "We should get going then."

"You think she's going to pass through here though, right?" George asks, taking the seat on my other side. "Four beers, please," she adds to the bartender.

"That's the hope," Anna said. "It seems possible, if not quite probable, that the woman we're looking for –"

"I already said she was our partner."

"Of course you did." She rolls her eyes. "Well, she didn't end up here the normal way. She was dropped by a Valkyrie."

"Because we killed it," I smirk. Her.

They stare at us, the fear turning more into something closer to wonder.

Anna continues, "A Norse goddess seemed to feel that there was a good chance that she could've ended up down in Hel proper rather than just in Nfilhel, and as we didn't have any other leads, that's what we're going with. So she'd have to pass through here."

"Then wait," George says. "You can stay with us. I promise it'd be fun. And you'll find her when she comes through."

Anna's eyes are ablaze, literally, as she glares back at the woman. "You're as bad as him." She gestures toward the now-unoccupied puddle on the floor. He must've run off. Can't say I blame him. "We're not going to just spend our time fucking when our puppy is in danger – our girlfriend." She swallows, shaking her head as a tear sizzles in the corner of her eye, leaving a puff of steam. "We have to keep going. We have to make sure she's okay."

See? She knew that Jasmine could die.

Okay, fine, I'm an idiot.

You said it. Not me.

You also said it. "But what if we miss her?" I ask, barely able to get the words out. I don't like crossing my Mistress in general, but I like it even less so when she looks more like my killer than my wife. Or maybe I'm only struggling to say it because I hate the idea so much. I can't stand the idea of just sitting here instead of looking for a woman I love. "What if she manages to climb this mountain, and keeps going, only to be hurt on the way out. We'd never even know. At least here we can almost guarantee that we'll see her."

Did you just say something practical?

Oh, fuck off, Skaldi.

Anna stares at me. Oh come on, I'm not that dumb. "But – we can't just leave her alone. Who knows how long it could take?"

"She's stronger than we're giving her credit for. If we just wait –" I sigh, staring down at the bar as a beer is placed in front of me. "I don't like it either."

"Well then I should go fly on. I'll find her and bring her back here."

"You can fly?" Letitia asks, finally taking a seat in front of her drink.

"And what if you miss her?" I ask. "We'll have no way to contact each other. We'd be right back in the same position, but with you as the one we can't find."

"Then I can just come right back every morning. It won't be an issue."

It is tough to argue with that.

"What if she's hurt?" Letitia asks. "You might need to hurry back to Earth and find a doctor."

I hadn't thought of that.

"Then I'll just fly her back home. I can go plenty fast."

"Not if you miss her," I point out.

She gnashes her teeth and yanks the beer to her, hard enough that some splashes onto her shirt. "Well what the fuck else should we do? I'm so worried about her."

"I am too." Signal fire. I blink. Wow, I really am that dumb. "I'll look for her. I can't fly, but I can go plenty fast on my own. And if I miss her and she shows up here, then you send up a signal with your powers. Just make some big fireworks, even in the day I'll be able to see it."

She snaps back, "Oh, so you get to go."

"I know you're worried about her, but I can't make such an obvious signal. At least without freezing this entire town, and I don't think they'd appreciate that."

"You could make a loud snowman or something."

"Fire's still gonna work better. Anna, please. I'll hurry, and I can send out minions in every direction too." I always forget I can do that. I only thought of it because she mentioned making a snowman. I just like fighting my own battles too much. "Then the second you see her, you head for the exit, and I'll hurry back. If she's injured, don't even think about waiting for me. Just keep her safe, and I'll see you back home."

After draining her drink she turns back to me. Rather than snarling or yelling or insisting that she should be the one to go, she gives me a sad nod. "Okay. You're right. I'm just so worried about her. She has to be okay."

I squeeze her hand. "She is. I promise."

Chewing on her lip, she nods again. "Okay. Fine. Then you'd better get going." She grabs my beer and slides it over.

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good girl." She grabs my collar, pulling me down as our lips meet, and she kisses me roughly, possessively. "Hurry back. Please," she breathes when our lips part, the fire gone from her eyes as she looks up at me, silently pleading.

"I will." I wave. "You three have fun." Smirking, I rush out. I do wonder if they'll be keeping her as busy as they wanted to keep me. Oh well, we can talk about it later. The idea only makes me a little jealous.

I shake my head to clear it. There's no time for that. Skis appear on my feet, poles in my hand, and a veritable army of tiny snowmen surround me. She'll be okay. She's strong.

Thanks, Skaldi. I hurry up, speeding down the mountain. Skaldi's right. There's no reason to worry. Even if she can die. She hasn't. I'm sure of it.