{-Eir-}

For years she had lived in silence, but now…she felt warmth. A feeling she thought she'd only experience through dreams. Her time was coming to repay those mortals for all that they've done for her, and she could only pray that she'd do it right.

-|—|-

The lack of guards around the throne room was welcoming, if not a bit concerning. It would make her job much more easier, however, without having to worry about being overheard or stopped. Despite their absence, she was sure she'd find her mother in the throne room.

Eir pushed open the door enough to imitate someone opening it for her, keeping her head bowed as she entered. "Mother, I have returned."

She didn't need to look up to know Hel was sitting on her throne, barely glancing at her and already beginning a dismissive wave. "I don't see any bodies and I didn't count any more soldiers. Why are you back here?"

"You must be mistaken," Eir replied calmly. She walked up right in front of Hel and offered Alfonse's sword to her. "The task is done, Mother, and the prince is dead."

Hel gave the sword a few seconds of observation before all but tossing it aside. "Then where's the body, and why are you offering his sword instead of his head?"

"Shall we just say bringing it would've been a bit…messy." Eir slowly began slipping the dagger out from her sleeve, careful not to alert her mother of it.

"Care to explain why there's not an increase in my ranks, then?" Hel noticed the dagger as she said this, but wasn't able to stop its course.

It was in deep enough to kill a man in due time, and still had room to go deeper for a swifter death. Eir kept a firm enough grasp on it so then most movements her mother could make would only quicken her end.

"When I am with them…I feel more love than I have felt for countless centuries. They made me realize just how horrible all of this was. I don't care what you have to say to me, or what your followers will do when they learn what I have done to you; I will not allow you to keep me from doing this. These mortals…each and every one of them could die at any given time, yet they are not afraid. They do not fear death…and that is a strength beyond battle prowess, one that I wish to understand and learn." Eir felt like she was staying rather calm about all of this, barely allowing emotions to show through her voice.

"Did you just come here to dishonor everything I've told you and kill me?" Hel spat bitterly. "Listen to yourself. They're mortals. Do you really think—"

"Why did you stop?" Eir interrupted, glancing up at her mother. There was one thing she needed to know in order to allow her mother to die…assuming she could get it all out. "I remember a time where I felt that same kind of warmth with you. When we would play together in my youth, as mother and daughter. The memories greet me every night as I sleep, reminding me of what how you used to treat me. Why did you stop loving me, Mother, even before I had disappointed you? What sparked the change that made you who you are now, from who I remember you being when I was young?"

Hel laughed. "With this damnable little 'self discovery' of yours, I can't believe you never connected the dots…then again, I raised you better than to doubt just how little blood we share."

Eir almost let herself get distracted—she shook her head to clear it, reminding herself she couldn't afford to falter. "That's not a sufficient answer. Much more talk like that and you could very well find yourself in wherever the after-death is."

"I leave you in the influence of mortals for a few days and you've grown to sound just like one of them. Where's that obedient little husk that I raised, I wonder?" Hel wasn't even trying to hide her disgust anymore, taking on a mocking tone. "It won't take long for the mortals to realize you're not nearly worth the trouble. And when they realize just who's the real threat here…you'll be wishing you'd stayed in the safe, quiet comfort of home."

Eir only responded to her mother's words by pushing the dagger in deeper. "Answer the question," she reiterated as threateningly as she could. "You've already lost, there's nothing you could gain from hiding."

"Oh, but the battle's only begun…" Hel smirked. "You want to know why your memories don't match up to reality? Well, fine. It's because they don't. I am not the same woman you seem to so fondly remember. Quite honestly, I killed both of your birth parents when I raided the world you came from. I claimed to be your mother so then you could trust me, knowing what abilities you possessed and seeking to benefit from it. Up until now that little hoax of mine has worked perfectly, don't you think? Even if you have lost your shine… I've only ever wanted to use you, and I'm not ashamed to admit it even as I die. That's all you're really good for. Why else do you think I've kept you for this long, showing you around, allowing you to consider this place home, taking care of you as if you were truly my own? I hope you're able to join the mortals…and watch as what you thought would be your pathetic redemption reduces to nothing but a few creatures trying to survive."

"You may think that I am foolish to fall behind those mortals, being aware of the fickle nature of life and that all things must die eventually…but you cannot change my mind. If everything must die at some point, and if I am one of those things, then so are you." Eir didn't exactly know if she was still satisfied with all of the answers—it was still quite a bit to take in and wasn't really the most easiest thing to understand—but she knew she shouldn't stay here too much longer. There was only so long she could do this for before someone realized what was going on and stopped her.

This already felt easy enough as it was. Hel was here, unguarded and likely the only one that was even on this side of the castle, barely putting up a fight by doing nothing more than being daunting. If any of this had been planned or expected, the sooner that Eir finished this and came back to the others the better. They'd need her to guide them through the halls of the castle, after all.

Still, Eir kept her thoughts to herself. The others were waiting for her, and there was no reason to entertain Hel with the games she was trying to play. "Mother…though I suppose that's not truly who you are…I have spent my life trying to prove myself to you. Now that I know that all of that was for nothing, and you truly did only plan to use me…do you really expect me to live? You've hurt countless people just so then you can grow stronger. It's time for you to learn what it's like to be one of your soldiers; what it feels like to die…"

She looked her mother straight in the eye for the first time that she could remember, taking in a deep breath before calmly declaring, "I hope the realm after death makes up for all of the horrible things you've done, and that it's far worse than anything the suffering you put so many people through. Your reign over the dead ends now."

With that, she pushed her dagger the rest of the way, cutting a longer gap until she was finally sure that the task was done—all the while doing her best not to show her hesitance towards violence to the person she'd thought as her mother, and ignoring the look that Hel was giving her.

After several minutes and an almost sickening silence overcame the room, Eir let out a sigh as she stepped back. The queen of the realm of the dead wouldn't be a threat to the mortals any longer.

((A/N: I wrote this, but Eir isn't actually an important part of the series after this story. She's mentioned, yes, but not much else. Hel's more or less talking to the reader at this point; she's not kidding when she says it's just begun...

I really wish I could say the themesong for this series was Invincible by Ruelle, but that's kind of just what every character is hoping for. In fact, Up in Flames—still by Ruelle—is Loki's "walking away dramatically from an explosion in slow motion" song.))