Idunn's Apple Pie
A Marvel 616 fic by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: Ain't mine.
How it all began...
Before, Hela had only counted the mortal years in large groups. It mattered little in the grand scheme of her life. The years changed, the mortal world changed... And she didn't. Death never did, and never would.
Yet now, every year that Steve was awake and among the living seemed to drag on and on. Like she was acutely aware of the ticking clock of the universe, as time slowly inched by. Perhaps it was because of all the changes he and his Avengers caused. All the new threats to Midgard and other parts of the realm that he and the Earth's Mightiest Heroes rose to challenge. Even her own father, Loki, became involved in their escapades-All part of his ambitions to conquer Asgard itself.
He'd even approached her for her help, in person. Standing before her throne with an almost fatherly smile. It had fooled her in the past.
"Hela, my dear, you look so deathly pale. Getting enough sun?"
It no longer did. Her wolf, Garm, snarled at Loki from beside her throne. She didn't rise from it: Merely sitting and regarding her father with a cool expression.
"What do you want, Father?" She asked, as cold and icy as an ice giant's breath. Loki looked hurt.
"Such a chilly reception for your beloved father! Whatever have I done to offend you so?"
"The list would go on forever," Hela stated dryly. 'Get to the point, before I make you a permanent resident."
Loki smirked, and spread out his hands. "You've aware of Thor's little mortal friends, yes? The 'Avengers'? They represent an obstacle to my plans for Asgard."
"I fail to see how this concerns me," Hela replied, reaching out to stroke Garm's fur. The big wolf growled at Loki, but enjoyed the caress of his mistress. Loki shook his head.
"It very much does, because when I become the new King of the Realms, I shall remember those who aided me. My unfeeling, ungrateful daughter among them, despite her poor manners," the God of Mischief replied with a wink. Hela resisted the very unqueenly urge to roll her eyes.
"And how would this differ from all the other times you've attempted to overthrow Asgard, and failed? Miserably?" Hela shot back. Loki's smile grew just a bit wider, his teeth shining like the glint of light off of a knife.
Just before it went into your back.
"Because I can give you what you want, dear child," he said kindly. Hela stared back, unmoved.
"You have no idea what I want," she replied evenly. Loki snapped his fingers, and the image of herself and Steve riding a roller coaster at Coney Island appeared, magically outlined by frost and snowflake. Hela's hand paused in its stroking of Garm, though she wasn't foolish enough to express any other emotion.
"If the Avengers are scattered across the Nine Realms, they will not be a threat to me," Loki said, sweeping his arm across the barren platform in an almost magnanimous gesture, "and if the good Captain Rogers ends up in your realm, well...?" He grinned almost fondly at her. "He'd be yours. Hang fate, hang the Norns-Which I might do anyway! He'd be yours."
Hela straightened up a bit in her throne. "And in exchange? What do you want?" She asked. Loki shrugged, his mouth making a mockery of a surprised "oh?".
"What would I want? Why, your support and recognition! ... When the time comes, of course," Loki said. "You see, I deliver on my promise first in a tangible way, and you only need to promise me a favor in the future."
"A vague promise," Hela stated. Loki again smirked.
"Really. If all it takes is one mortal to make my little girl happy and to let me conquer the Nine Realms, why make it more complicated by betrayal? It's nothing more than a simple transaction, between father and daughter." Loki grinned his most charmingly, and held out his hand. "So what do you say? Your true love, for helping out dear old dad?"
Hela knew it was too good to be true. She knew Loki would betray her the moment it became convenient for him. He already had the plan in mind, the wheels turning behind that gracious smile.
Yet she hadn't survived this long by ignoring the game. To ignore it would kill you. Better to play it, but to win on your terms.
Loki thought he was using her? Fine. She'd use him right back. Because she knew her mortal was the key to defeating him.
She slowly rose, and took her father's hand. She shook it.
"I say, yes."
It was not long after that she could sense Steve Rogers. She could never forget the feel of his soul, burning brightly in the dark abyss between life and death. It made her tremble, from the core of her soul to the outer extremities of her body.
He wandered Nifelheim in front of her throne, and she knew what he saw: The images of his lost comrades, manifested from his memories. He felt angered and determined, so she lifted the magical fog from his eyes. It let her see him again, and she resisted her blush and the urge to bite her lower lip.
He still looked just as good as the day he saw him. Well, better, now that he was up and about in his modern armored suit.
"They are shadows of what once was," she said, letting her voice echo around him. He locked eyes on her... And there wasn't even a hint of recognition as he glared at her. "You are surrounded, enveloped in the scent of death, Steve Rogers."
"And who are you?" Steve demanded. It hurt a bit, but Hela was in her mask so she didn't feel the string as deeply. Right now she was Queen Hela, Goddess of the Dead. Not Hela Lokidottir, with a heart that could be harmed. As a result, her face was stony and unreadable.
"I am Hela, Queen of the Dead," she introduced herself. "Welcome to Nifelheim."
"Well thanks," Steve replied, "now mind telling me where the exit is?"
Hela shook her head. "There is no leaving Nifelheim, Steve Rogers... Unless I allow it."
Steve's eyes narrowed as he walked up the stairs to her throne. "Well then lady, you and I are going to have a problem."
She couldn't resist her smile at that. She wanted to do so much more, but it sufficed. She watched him as she sat, relaxed, in her large black throne.
"Nifelheim is nothing to fear, Steve Rogers," she said gently. "A warrior of your strength, will, and heart would do well here." She slowly rose from her throne and walked down the steps, her hips swinging just a bit more than usual. She stopped in front of him, looking directly into his eyes. "Rest now, my warrior. Your hardship is over."
She reached out and rested a hand on his chest, lingering right over the star in the center of it. He looked down at her hand, for a long moment. Just a flicker of recognition went through his eyes, and her heart surged with hope.
Then he looked back into her eyes, naked concern written all over his noble face.
"My friends need my help," he said. "I can't abandon them."
Hela slowly nodded. She expected this. It was who he was. It was why she loved him.
"I know my father will eventually betray me," she said, letting her hand linger over his star, before pulling away. "I participate in his games because they amuse me. So ruining them benefits me in turn." She shook her head. "I can send you to aid your friends... But there is a price to pay." She looked into his eyes. "What will you give up?"
Steve didn't even hesitate. "What do you want?" He demanded. Hela smiled softly.
"I will send you to aid your friends... But! If you fall in battle, your soul? Will belong to me." She again ran her fingers over his chest, and he stiffened.
"Is this the only way?" He asked. Hela nodded. Steve took a deep breath, considered it... And nodded.
"Deal," he said. "Now send me to my friends!"
He grasped her hand, and pulled it away from his chest. Her heart beat hard, as she gazed at him. She nodded, sealing the deal and their link with a flash of green magic.
"The deal is made," she said. "Good luck, Steve."
A flash of confusion washed over his face, but he was gone before he could ask. Hela allowed herself a full, happy smile.
Yes! he was hers! The Norns were wrong! And her father's little ploy to try and placate her would be his undoing!
She actually laughed in joy! Yes! At last! Something was going right for her!
It did not take long for the Avengers to rally and defeat Loki and his allies. They won the day, and soon returned back to the Avengers Mansion. Loki was imprisoned, and Hela had arrived with her undead troops to help secure Asgard for Odin. The other Asgardians may have suspected her working with Loki, but they had nothing but her father's word on that. And they wouldn't believe him. Having the reputation as the God of Lies didn't help there.
She knew she needed only to wait for Steve to be hers, but she couldn't resist. She used the magic of her contract with Steve to cross into Midgard, invisibly. She looked in on her champion, her love, in his room...
Staring in despair at his shield. Hela paused. Captain America let out a long, low sigh, and seemed... To collapse in on himself. He looked so small, as small as he did when he had first gotten the Erksine Treatment. His shoulders trembled, as the depths of his despair seemed to at last run over.
Hela again felt the deep, cold feeling that had almost froze her. The moment she'd tried to deceive Steve in his last night frozen. She trembled, the depths of his pain and anguish like heat from a fire.
This... This was not what she wanted. To cause him pain.
She took a deep breath, stilled herself, and stepped forward as the invisibility spell dropped. At the same time, she used her magic to warn the room against sound and interest. Steve's head snapped up, a stony, heroic mask slamming into place as he glared at her. She tried to keep her own mask up.
"Steve Rogers," she said, in as commanding and queenly a voice as she could manage, "you need not despair. I am Loki's daughter, but I am not a villain. I have no ambitions of using you to conquer the Nine Realms, nor to destroy your friends and loved ones."
"Then why do you want me?" Steve demanded. "You want to use me as a catspaw for your games with your father? You see us as toys. Thor is the only one of you who doesn't."
"I don't... I don't want that either," Hela said, her voice trembling. She shook her head earnestly, the horns of her crown feeling so heavy all of a sudden. "I don't see you as a toy. That... That is the last thing I want."
"Then what?" Steve demanded, rising up and towering over her. Without his mask, his eyes seemed to burn like fire, his gaze was so much more powerful. Despite her strength and abilities, she felt so very small. "What do you want with me?! To torment me in the afterlife? To use me for dark magics?!"
Her steely control broke at this, as she felt every bit of her anger and regret break through.
"I could have done that any time over the last seventy years, and I didn't!" Hela snapped back. A flash of confusion went through his eyes, but he didn't relent.
"What are you talking about?!"
Hela no longer felt like the Queen of the Dead. No, she only felt like a woman who had wronged and hurt the man she loved. If she was going to fix this, she couldn't be a goddess.
She had to be like a mortal. More specifically... Like Steve.
She reached up, and ran her fingers up from her temples to back over her head. The mask and horns slipped away, vanishing into nothing. Her long, black hair fell down her back as her face was bared. The tears her mask were contained were released, now trailing down her pale cheeks. Steve stared at her, just the hint of recognition in his blue eyes.
"For seventy years, in the ice," she began softly, "I watched over you. I went into your dreams. I saw you there, between life and death, and still fighting on. Still alive. And I... I saw how amazing you were. I had never met anyone like you before, god or mortal! I had been alone for so long, and then when I met you... I couldn't let go! I... I grew to care for you! And on the night before you were to be rescued, I... I went into your dreams to pose as the woman you loved. To use you. To have you..." She trembled again. "I couldn't do it, Steve. We gods do almost anything we please to mortals, but you... Seeing you, knowing you, watching over you-I realized it was wrong. You made me feel this. You've made me feel... So much, Steve. And I cannot be happy if you are unhappy: That's how much I care!"
She looked down at the ground, her shame and self loathing overwhelming her. It was foolish to believe that just because she could own his soul that it would make everything better. Defying fate would just make Steve miserable-What was that worth?! Nothing!
She slowly took a deep breath, and looked back at him. He was unreadable, studying her. She reached up and pressed her hand to his chest again, and her magic flared around them both. She pulled her hand away, breathing hard.
"I... I've released you," she said softly. "When you die, you will go wherever you wish." She slowly turned away. "You are free."
His hand landed on her shoulder, and she stopped. She looked back over her shoulder at him. Nothing but concern and care was in his features again-How she had wanted to see that from him in reality!
"You... Watched over me all that time?" He asked gently. Hela nodded.
"Yes," she said quietly. "I... I am sorry if you-"
"I can't say I'm glad about you going into my head," Steve said, and Hela winced, "but what I remember from when I was asleep was that... I had nothing but good dreams. Nothing but hope. You did that for me?"
Hela nodded. Steve gave her a small smile.
"Well... That sounds like something for us to talk about," he said. "Sounds like we have a lot to talk about. After all, you know more about me than I do you. It would be nice to talk to someone who can... Understand."
Hela's heart began to beat harder. That strange, alien sensation of hope again filled her breast.
"You would... Be with me? Despite what I've done?" She asked. Steve shrugged.
"You did help save us all... I think the least I can do is treat you to dinner. What do you say?"
Hela managed a small smile. She transformed her clothing into something mortal and sensible.
"I... I would like that," she said.
And now you know the rest of the story...