Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Avengers.

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Chapter 30

The following day, Micah left. The Durilian ship had arrived to take him home and after his belongings and his tutor were taken on board, Micah bid his farewell. He couldn't wish Dahlia farewell as he wished with a kiss with her family watching but he was able to kiss her hand as he did Hela's without raising suspicion. He then bid them all goodbye, wishing them good health and that he would see them soon at his brother's wedding. Hela was her usual queen self and wished him farewell and that he was welcome back to Niflheim anytime he desired. He then left, with a quick glance in Dahlia's direction. She watched as the ship flew away and took the man she was secretly courting 2.5 billion miles away.

After Micah's departure, Hela and Falcon decided it was time to tell Loki and Jörmungandr about the pregnancy as everyone else seemed to know. Hugs and kisses were exchanged and Loki was happy for them but when he discovered that the baby may not survive, he became increasingly worried. He knew the pain of the loss of a child, with his three eldest being taken and scattered around the realms by Odin and when he truly believed that Dahlia had died. The pain was indescribable and he wouldn't wish it upon his worst enemy, least of all his daughter and son-in-law.

Loki promised to look for a way to help them but with each way he knew about restricting powers or cutting them off in order to help the baby, it drew the power inwards. The power would still reside within Hela, even if they used Asgardian cuffs which cut off their power, it would still be within her which is where the baby was being exposed to it. If there was a way to take power, Odin surely would have used it on some of the more extreme prisoners on Asgard who were a danger to society because of their powers. That is if Hela's power was even the problem, there were too many unanswered questions and what they had so far was all based on theory but they could work with that and find answers as the pregnancy progressed. The family would work together to find answers, as would the council who Hela and Falcon had decided they were going to tell later that afternoon as they needed to be prepared for any more negative side effects the pregnancy might bring to Hela and her capacity to reign over her people.

After leaving her family, Dahlia decided to go to the hospital wing to check up on Akio and she had to see Saida. As she walked into the hospital room, she popped her head around the doors first to see that the coast was clear and that Saida wasn't currently in there. A few of her assistants were, tending to the soldiers that were lying on the beds. All the beds were taken by patients in every bed, others were being sent to other facilities and hospitals but it seemed to be a few were already being discharged as the assistants were treating the burns and bandaging them up. Dahlia had already seen soldiers walking around, their injuries being treated but even with the power of Niflheim healers and researchers, their souls would take time to heal. The worst injured were being kept in hospitals and Saida had made sure that she knew about all the worst injuries. The worst being Akio who was being kept right under the watchful eye of Saida.

Dahlia saw that the bed Akio was on was surrounded by white curtains, keeping him from the view, and she was only just able to see him through the gap in the curtains. She walked in and gave a small smile to those who looked her way before she walked to him and pulled back the curtain to see his condition. His bottom half was covered by a sheet and he wasn't wearing a shirt so she saw all the damage, as it turned out he was more injured than she initially thought.

His whole left arm was covered in a green paste with a dark green kind of substance wrapped around the paste. It covered his arm, top of his shoulder, his neck and the left side of his jaw and cheek. The left side of his chest and stomach weren't covered in the paste but the deathly blue skin was bright red and almost shining, covered in a clear ointment that made it shine. Dahlia guessed that it hurt and caused him pain as she could see in some areas it was blistered and bits of blood were clear. She could see that his fingertips weren't covered by the dark green wrap, they were almost all bone with very little skin, much less than what she saw the day before and she knew they must have had to cut away at all the burnt-beyond-repairable skin in order for him to heal.

On the top of his right arm, there was no injuries but Dahlia could see grey skin instead of Deathly blue that looked almost like it was breaking. Dahlia knew what it was, it was the mark of those souls who began to give up hope. The pain and despair and loneliness would spread until it covered their whole bodies, this is what happened before Hela took the throne. Even the great Akio succumbed to the darkness that affected souls. There was no way of healing it, only to feel a sense of self again and to have a purpose, a will to exist and Akio had just that. It is why only his right upper arm was covered and nowhere else.

His eyes were closed but he seemed to sense that she was there and opened his eyes. He went to move, ever the loyal soldier, but Dahlia was quick to stop him.

"Don't move," she said and sat down in the chair beside his bed. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, and I brought you this."

She held up a book, the title Wutopang, a Vanaheim book written with a slight military edge with military strategy and tactics to it but it was mostly about the teachings about the kind of society they should all hope to live in. It was about a fictional land and its society, religious beliefs, social and political customs with a strong sense of philosophy teachings throughout the book.

"I know it's your favourite and I thought you might like something to read considering you're stuck in here," Dahlia said as she put the book on the sliding table. "How are you doing? Can you talk?"

"Yes," he replied but his voice sounded strained. "I am recovering but I have been informed I will have to remain here for the immediate future. I shouldn't be in here as long as they believe I should."

"Well, I doubt you're getting out of here anytime soon. Saida has her eye on you from what I've heard and it's better not to rush your recovery. Can't have the best of the best and our trusted commander getting even more hurt because of his eagerness to get out of here," Dahlia teased. "Besides, I need my teacher back."

"Lady Salmira told me you did well this morning," Akio said then coughed so she poured him a glass of water that was at the side with a straw and helped him take a few sips.

"She's good at archery and I am sure she is good at leading the defence faction for light elves but she doesn't quite have your…let's say your enthusiasm for wanting me to do well," Dahlia said with a smile and almost laughed as it wasn't enthusiasm that she was really thinking of.

"You mean my desire for you to do well, my persistence."

Dahlia shrugged. "Some would say nagging."

"Motivating."

"Call it what you will, I left training this morning and didn't feel like I wanted to fall back into bed immediately so my body thanks Lady Salmira for not being as motivating as you."

"Well, your aim should at least greatly improve being trained by her. I hope to see that it has when I return."

"Which will not be anytime soon," a voice said and Dahlia looked behind her to see Lady Saida stood at the curtains opening. "Visiting hours aren't until this afternoon, princess."

"I know," Dahlia said. "But I was already coming to see you so I didn't see the harm in just dropping by."

"Well, I need to check his wounds so if you wouldn't mind waiting for me outside," Saida said and opened the curtain.

Dahlia gave a slight nod as she stood. "I'll see you later, Akio. Want me to bring you anything?"

"Whiskey," he replied.

"I think not," Saida and glared at her patient. "He will be on a very strict diet on what he eats and drinks until I clear him. Alcohol of any kind if not on the list of substances I will allow."

Dahlia looked to Akio and mouthed her response. "Sorry." She then turned to the healer, "I'll wait in the hallway."

Dahlia walked out of the hospital room, giving small comforting smiles to the other patients as she glanced their way. She waited in the hallway for Saida to finish when she looked back into the room to see that the healer hadn't completely closed the curtains and Dahlia could still see them. Saida was checking over his wounds but when she was finished, the healer didn't move, she just sat on his bed before she did something that surprised Dahlia. Saida took Akio's injured and brought it up to her lips, kissing it before she lay it back down. He then brought up his uninjured hand cupped her cheek before she turned her head to kiss his hand then leaned her head into his hand.

They spoke words which Dahlia couldn't hear but she knew from their gaze alone that they were having a moment so she looked away. The healer and the warrior, they were an unlikely pair. Both council members, strict and dedicated to their craft, but Dahlia had never seen anything romantic between them until now. Perhaps she was overthinking it, perhaps they were just friends and the kiss to the hand and the touching of the cheek was just a part of their friendship. A close friendship.

"Princess," she heard and turned to find the healer was behind her. "Let's go to my lab."

They walked down the corridor until they came to two large doors. Dahlia could see there was only two more doors in the corridor, one was the supply room and the other was to Saida's private quarters. The two wooden doors led to her lab, the silver plaque on the door was inscribed 'Lady Saida, Council member, Healer for Alfheim fraction and Royal Healer'. They walked inside and the room was filled with bookcases, filled mostly with medical journals that Saida had written herself, creating her own formulas and improving medicines from her years of work. There were also cabinets filled with ingredients, those she used often or were rare that she didn't wish to keep in the supply room. There were also numerous pieces of medical equipment in the room, the main being a silver table with each of the four corners having silver posts that curved up high and met in the centre of the table, ten feet up with a small rod pointing down to the table.

Dahlia had become most familiar with the room since she returned to Niflheim. Being under constant testing with Saida studying her meant she spent hours in the room. Still, after all of their searching, they had found very little about Dahlia, in fact they had come up with more questions than answers as Saida concluded that there shouldn't have been anything standing in Dahlia's way of inheriting her father's longevity since birth and her rights as a goddess. She should have shown traits of being a goddess even before she took the apple, even before the incidents at Hogwarts. That was Saida's biggest question, why didn't she inherit her birth right at birth?

"So, what are we looking at today?" Dahlia asked.

"Well, I need to draw more blood, I also need to run more scans and I want to talk to you about ways which we can monitor you further."

"Okay, lets go then," Dahlia said and walked to the silver table and pushed herself up onto it before lying down.

The silver of the table lit up as Dahlia lay down and Saida picked up a silver glass tablet device linked to the machine. It was a soul convertor. Similar to an Asgardian soul forge, it was able to transfer molecular energy from one place to another and can highlight an individual's physiology. However, with all the healers of the different fractions helping each other, with their living and dead experience on healing, they were able to work together to improve a soul forge so it could look into a living body right down to an atom but it could also separate the soul from the body, knowing very well some medical problems stemmed from problems with the soul itself.

Within a few clicks, Dahlia stared at the small rod as it began to release streams of blue light. It scanned Dahlia's body before small specks of light began to form an exact copy of Dahlia's body above. After all the scans that had been done before, Dahlia was used to seeing a blue light version of herself above her, she was used to seeing her skeletal structure and muscle, organs, veins and arteries forming and eventually the outer layers of her skin forming. Saida was quite thorough and they met twice a month to take blood and to take scans, especially since she became a goddess.

"Are you feeling well today?" Saida asked.

"Yes."

"How is your magic? Any changes?"

"I've been getting more control and having more visions."

"In what way?" Saida asked curiously.

"Well, you know I struggled with my visions at first, struggled to understand what was happening but Lady Morgan has been helping me focus and I have gotten much better at being aware of my senses and what's happening. Sometimes, I'm able to control when I get visions, I can will a vision if I desire to. Yesterday, when the ships came back, I tried to see what happened but I couldn't. I saw the men on the ship saying they found a trace of Voldemort and the others and they were going after them, then I saw nothing and then I saw the men dead, the others escaping but I couldn't see what harmed them."

Saida seemed even more curious about the vision. "Would you say you pulled out of the vision which is why you couldn't see it or could it have been shielded so you couldn't see?"

"I don't know. My mind was there, I know it was, but it felt like I was being pushed back so I couldn't see, like a darkness took over the visions. What is it? You're worried, I can tell."

Dahlia looked to Saida's hands and could see that they were tight on the tablet she held. "Lady Morgan has been teaching you about your visions, has she ever spoken of times when visions hide themselves from her?"

"She said sometimes the visions can hide themselves from you but they come in pieces. She said when she was younger, visions would sometimes hide certain aspects of themselves, especially if they were about people she knew or it affected her in a bad way."

"Have you told her about the visions yesterday or your sister?"

"No…you think it's something important, don't you?"

"I think you need to tell your sister before the council meeting this afternoon so we may discuss it. Dahlia, you have seen suffering and pain and death before in your visions, you understand them well unlike Lady Morgan when she was a child, her innocence helped protect her from certain aspects of her powers until she was older and it took many years. You have only just received this ability, even though it is your birth right, and you already understand so much more than most when they obtain the ability of a seer…from knowing many seers over the years, I believe there is something more to your vision. You weren't pulled out of the vision, it continued just in darkness. You could be different and your vision could be protecting you in some way or-"

"You think I couldn't see for a reason," Dahlia interrupted.

"Yes. There are very few things that can kill that of the dead, the fact that thousands of our men died and none that survived can identify what it was, has made me and other council healers believe that perhaps it is something magical, something connected to the realms. It is the only possibility."

"If it is connected to the realms, it is connected to my power. It might be able to hide itself, shield itself from me." Saida nodded. "But I'm a goddess, hiding things throughout the realms is easy for people with ordinary magic but being a goddess gives me an edge."

"It is just a theory," Saida said and the light above Dahlia faded. "You can sit up now, I've finished."

Dahlia sat us as Saida put the tablet to the side before she got a syringe and used the proper equipment to draw blood. Dahlia was already holding her arm out and didn't mind when the needle went into her arm and blood was drawn.

"I'll keep trying, I'll keep trying to see what happened. If I don't get anything more, then it clearly isn't my visions trying to protect me. I have to keep trying so our men won't be walking into a trap, especially Akio."

Dahlia only just noticed that Saida glanced away as she unstrapped the strap on Dahlia's arm as she was finished taking the blood.

"You care about him, don't you?" Dahlia asked.

"Of course. We've been on the council together for a millennia and I have known him much longer than that," the healer said, keeping her head down as she took the two vials of blood to store away.

"I mean really care about him. You're always telling him off when he does something stupid or even something heroic that puts him in danger. You tell him off when others get hurt but you're not nearly as strict or angry when that happens. But then I just saw you in the hospital…I've never seen either of you act like that before."

"We're private people."

"I know. It's not bad to show emotions like that. You're both the best in your fields, both dedicated to Niflheim and the council and you both are a little strict but that's because you want the best for everyone. It's only natural the two of you would be close, even if you're a healer and he is a soldier who is likely the reason you have people in training in your hospital wing when we're not being attacked by others."

Saida let off a small laugh which surprised Dahlia as she doesn't think she heard that before. Saida turned and leaned against the table beside her with a small smile. "My husband surely loves to do that; keeps me busy and he knows I disapprove of the condition of some of them he sends my way."

"Husband?!" Dahlia exclaimed, shocked as she didn't expect that.

"Yes, he is my husband. Why is that such a surprise? One in ten marriages on Niflheim are those of mix realms."

"No, no, its not that. I just never thought you'd be married. You just don't act like it and you don't wear rings."

"Not every culture uses rings to symbolise marriage. We do not act like the typical married couple with kisses in public because we like our privacy and we are older than most spirits here. We've been married 800 years and the council know, our friends and families know and we do not hide it, if we are asked, we confirm our marriage but we believe no one else matters."

"The healer and the soldier…you're good together."

"Thank you," Saida said then moved from the table but grabbed something from it first. "Now, enough about my marriage, I want to talk to you about something."

Sadia sat in a chair close by and Dahlia saw that she held a small wooden box. "What's in there?"

"It's what I wanted to talk to you about. Now, every time I test your blood, I have to be extremely quick because it seems to change, no matter the environment I keep it in. What I want to do is examine your biology from the source for much longer."

"By source you mean me. But how?"

Saida then opened the box and Dahlia saw a silver circular device inside with different buttons but she could also see a needle. "Microbots. This device can inject them into your bloodstream and can monitor you for a month before I can take them out and see the data they have collected. You wont even feel they are there and it is just a sharp pinch. That's if you agree."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, some people don't particularly like the idea of being monitored every second of every day for a month."

Dahlia held out her arm. "Do it. I don't mind being monitored with bots, especially if it helps us find out more about children of mixed worlds."

Saida took the device out of the box and it fit into the palm of her hand. She then held it on Dahlia's arm and pushed two buttons on the side when Dahlia hissed at the needle. The healer then pulled away and Dahlia looked to her arm to see silver lines beginning to spread up her arms.

"That will take a minute to disappear as the bots spread," Saida said as she put the device back in the box.

Dahlia traced the lines for a moment with her fingertips. "Will this help Hela?" Dahlia asked when she looked back to the healer. "She told us she's pregnant, she told me yesterday of her worries, the theories you have…the child will be a child of mixed worlds. Will this help?"

"We were surprised with you but with every test we do, we see what could be and how you are affected by the nine realms. Now your sister's baby will not be of full nine realms because of Angrboda but the baby will be connected to Jotunheim and Niflheim and has the potential of even having Aesir magic thanks to your sister being a goddess. Those connections alone will make the baby extremely powerful. The baby will be the first born of Niflheim to have the connection to the realm so he or she will bring about questions of his or her own. But yes, everything we do here will help the baby."

A few knocks were then heard at the door.

"Come in," Saida said loudly and clearly.

It was Hela who walked in. She didn't seem too surprised to see Dahlia there, her family knew about her checks and experiments with Saida and they only wished to know if anything was found. The young goddess and healer noticed the queen looked a little pale. "Hela, are you okay?" Dahlia asked as she stood.

"I'm fine," Hela said with a hand to her stomach. "Just a little morning sickness. I was hoping you could give me something, Saida."

"Please sit," Saida said and she went to her work station and began to make a mixture.

"I thought morning sickness was only in the morning," Dahlia said standing close to her sister.

"I was warned by others that it isn't so true and sometimes it is an all-day sickness. They were right," Hela said feeling queasy with a hand on her stomach.

"I'll have you fixed up with a tonic in no time," Saida said.

"Hela, I need to tell you something," Dahlia said knowing there wasn't going to be a good time to tell her about her vision. "Yesterday, I tried to have a vision about what happened aboard the ship."

"And?" Hela questioned urgently, needing to know how to protect her citizens.

"Well, there's the problem. I tried and I saw the men before the attack, saying that they found a trace of Voldemort and the others but then I saw nothing, darkness took over the vision and I couldn't see anything, I was still in the vision but I couldn't see. I then saw them escaping after the attack. I couldn't see anyone except those on the ship, almost all of them were dead already. I was still in the vision when it went dark, I didn't pull out or anything like that," Dahlia said then glanced to Saida. "Saida believes there could be a connection to what happened and my vision."

"You do?" Hela questioned, looking to the healer.

Saida shrugged. "It is possible. The weapon that killed our men must be connected to the realms in some way for it kill them. Being a child of two worlds and a goddess with Aesir magic on top of it would make Dahlia more sensitive to matters concerning the realms. We can't rule out the theory that Dahlia couldn't see because they didn't want her to see…it is just a theory."

"One that we will most certainly talk about with the other council members later today," Hela said then looked to Dahlia. "I don't want you worrying about this for now though. You have class with

Merlin soon, you should be getting your books together and getting to class."

"Class? Even after all this, I still have class?"

"Of course. Just because we are at war does not mean your studying stops, in fact it means you are being taught stronger spells now more than ever. All of your teachers have fought in wars before, you would do well to listen to them and continue your studies, no matter how inconvenient you believe it is."

"Fine," Dahlia sighed. "But I'm going to keep trying to have visions of what happened."

"Any help you can give us in your visions will be appreciated. Now, off you go," Hela said with a small smile.

As Dahlia was walking to the door, she looked back to see Saida giving Hela a yellow tonic. "Drink up, then I'll give you some ginger blocks to chew on, they should help."

Dahlia returned to her room and gathered her book bag with all of her things in for class and put the shoulder bag over her shoulder when she noticed a large wooden box on the table in front of the couch. When Dahlia got to the box, she saw that there was a book on top. It was a brown hardback leather book, the pattern on the front had the tree symbol for the nine realms small in all four corners and in the centre of the cover was a dahlia flower.

She picked up the book to look inside to see all the pages freshly woven together and blank except for the first page. A letter from the gift giver was written to her and it brought a smile to her face as she read…

Dahlia,

I know you are scared of the future, which is ironic considering you can see the future but I want you to remember that you are the Goddess of Destiny, you not only hold the fate of others in your hands but you control your own fate. You are unprepared unlike others in your position but you have taken great strides and control of your powers, even without books to help guide you. So use these books, write down every emotion, every vision, every name of the people you help, and with that, I hope it brings you peace and confidence in your powers. You are always telling me that love is the strongest of magic and emotions and can concur all and during my time with you, I realised just how true those words are. We may be apart now, but I am only a call away and I will always come when you call, even if it's just to talk or to go on an adventure that has me worried for your complete lack of self-preservation as you protect others, I will always be by your side. Till we meet again.

Micah

She opened the box to see ten more copies of journals, all facing spine up as they were packed tightly in the box. Dahlia put the journal into her bag before she got her communication device from her belt and pressed on his code just as she walked out of her room and put it to her ear.

"Missing me already?"

Dahlia smiled. "Depends, are you missing me?"

"Completely."

"It must feel good to be back home."

"I haven't been back long. I've just had to listen to my mother fussing and then hearing about the wedding. Thankfully, father suggested I should be given some time alone to change from my travelling clothes and he distracted mother with further wedding plans. Is it bad that I wish I was there with you?"

She let off a small giggle. "No. You know all you're going to be hearing about is this wedding and I understand completely. It's not for everyone."

"I doubt that. You helped plan your sister's wedding and you were excited every second."

"Of course I was, my sister getting married was like a miracle. Hello, you have met my father, right?"

"Yes, I have. 6'2", black hair, green eyes, powerful, incredibly protective and the reason I can't court you publicly yet."

"Exactly. My sister getting married with my father's consent was a miracle, my brothers getting married wouldn't be so. Your brother's wedding is only in a few weeks, all the fussing will be over then."

"Then I will have the pleasure of listening to my brother and his new wife plan for the future."

"But you won't be obligated to stay there every day. Your father is trusting you more now, you could always travel, see the universe…maybe visit," Dahlia said the last bit nervously. Even though she had nothing to be nervous about, it was his idea to court in secret, she felt nervous that once he got home, he would have come to his senses and realised she wasn't worth the trouble of courting, or even being friends with.

"I'll visit. The flight between our worlds isn't long and we can talk every day. You know you can call me for anything."

She sighed. "I know."

"Now, if the time is right, shouldn't you be on your way to Lord Merlin?"

Dahlia rolled her eyes. "And if you were here, you'd be training with Akio about now".

"How is he?"

"Recovering. I've just seen him, Saida has him under careful watch but he'll recover. I am just on my way to class I just called because I saw your gift, thank you."

"I am glad he is recovering and you're welcome. The book maker has the design and I have already paid for the next 50 books for whenever you need them. They don't include the ones that were left in your room. I meant what I wrote, you've got this. You are in control of your powers and I am only a call away if you need me."

"Thank you, you didn't have to do all that…" Dahlia said as she approached her classroom. "I should be going, don't want to keep Merlin waiting."

"One more thing…"

"Yes," Dahlia said and stopped walking.

"The books are the second gift. I won't be giving you the third until I know I can court you publicly but I just wanted you to know, me leaving Niflheim doesn't change how I feel or my intentions towards you…"

Dahlia bit her lip as she smiled as she did fear just that but now her thoughts were put at ease. She heard a cough and looked to her classroom door to see Merlin stood there, clearly hearing her in the hallway. She held up one finger and he went inside the classroom. "Same here. Now I really do have to go, Merlin has just caught me."

"Till we meet again," he repeated what was in his letter.

"Till we meet again," she replied then hung up.

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