Author's Note: Ok everyone, we are so close to the end!
Try as she may, Sigyn couldn't escape from her dreams or the Realm. She had searched and searched for a way back to Asgard, but had never seemed to get any closer to finding one. There must have been some way for Hel to leave Nifleheim, otherwise Sigyn would never have seen her on Asgard, but even spying on her from a distance hadn't given Sigyn any answers. As time trickled away Sigyn began to fear that Loki wasn't coming to her aid after all. She had been here for far too long, which could only mean that he had given up looking for her. As her last hope of rescue began to fade, so did her will to live. She eventually stopped eating the food that was brought to her room, and instead of carefully exploring the halls and chambers of her elaborate prison she began to ghost about them like the spirit of some poor being that Hel had left to wander for eternity. It was at this point that she began to hear the voices. It didn't happen often, but every once in a while she could hear faint male voices coming from some unknown location. She had attempted to follow them during her ghostly vigils, but had never managed to get any nearer to their source. She knew that Hel was keeping a close eye on her all the while, but she didn't care. Let the woman watch as the one person she had hoped would bring her death embraced it herself. Sigyn couldn't have vengeance on Odin and the War Council for their role in her demise, but she could exact revenge on Hel for keeping her here against her will. Her death would be her final act of defiance.
The day finally came when Sigyn sensed that her time was up. She had held on as long as she could, but it was clear that Loki had abandoned her. The knowledge that her captivity was soon to be at an end was like a heavy burden being lifted from her. The nightmares or memories or whatever they were would finally end, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity she would find rest. It was without any thought that her feet carried her to Hel's throne room. She stood a while motionless in the large cold chamber debating on whether or not she should sit on the throne. She had always wanted to, but she had always refrained since she wasn't the ruler of this Realm. What did it matter now though? She was going to give herself up to Death anyways, so surely Hel wouldn't mind if she borrowed her throne for a few moments. Sigyn made her way up the steps and sat down. A feeling of hollow power washed over her as she sat upon the Queen of the Dead's throne. What a sad kingdom to rule it must be. Sigyn wasn't even certain she could say Hel really ruled it. There weren't any subjects for her to govern after all. Perhaps she could now see why Hel would wish to be free of it. Sigyn didn't think long on Hel's plight however, because a large set of double doors at the opposite end of the hall caught her eyes. Like the throne and columns in the room, there were golden runes etched along the doorframe. How had she never noticed these doors before? The doors seemed to call out to her, so she lighted down the stairs and across the hall towards them. Sigyn just knew that these doors would lead her out of this place. She approached them without fear, and studied their intricate design. There were no handles and they appeared to be sealed shut, but still something seemed to beckon to her from beyond them. A voice, a voice she knew well…
"Frida?" Sigyn murmured.
She could easily recognize her sister's voice, but she couldn't make out her words.
"How did you come to be here?" She asked, fully knowing she would not be able to make out any reply from her sister.
Frida's voice seemed to be no more than an echoy whisper at the back of Sigyn's mind, her words completely unintelligible.
"It is too late to save me, Frida." Sigyn sighed as she placed her hand on one of the stone doors.
To her surprise her hand began to sink into the door, and she quickly pulled it back out.
"What sort of magic is this?"
She timidly placed her hand on the door again, and began to push gently. Her hand began to go through the door a second time, so she continued pushing forward. The further her arm went, the clearer Frida's voice became.
"S-yn, -n't c-o- -ny fur-t-e-."
Sigyn ignored her sister's broken words however, and continued to reach through the door till she felt a hand: her sister's hand.
"Frida, how I've missed you…" Sigyn admitted as she grabbed her sister's hand.
She was about to attempt to walk through the door when she was violently pulled away from it. She tried to grip on to Frida's hand, but her sister let go. Sigyn was sent careening a few steps away, and she fell to the ground.
"Why did you touch that!?" Hel demanded as Sigyn tried to regain her composure.
"Because my sister came for me and those doors are my way out of this forsaken Realm! I am dying, but I would rather die on Asgard than here!"
"You are only correct on one account, you are dying. I warned you that the gem would slowly kill you if you did not give it the souls it requires." Hel stated coldly.
"This gem is nothing more than a rock!" Sigyn replied angrily, while taking off her necklace and throwing it across the throne room.
The gemstone made a clicking sound as it rolled across the floor, and Sigyn rose from the ground. Hel walked over to the necklace to pick it off of the ground, and Sigyn made a break for the doors. She was just about to reach them when Hel grabbed her arm.
"Nothing more than a rock?" She asked, while dangling the necklace in front of Sigyn.
Sigyn wanted nothing more than to struggle against her captor, but she lost all the strength to when she took a good look at the necklace. There was a faint light swirling inside of the green gem. Sigyn looked from the necklace to Hel, surprise clearly etched on her face.
"Why is it glowing like that?"
"Because you have been feeding it your own soul for some time now, and it just almost took the soul of your sister."
"That isn't possible, Frida is…"
"Dead, as you will soon be if you do not kill me and take my place."
Sigyn wanted to argue with Hel, to protest her sister's death, but she couldn't. Her heart told her that Hel was telling the truth.
"How?" She asked mournfully.
"She was killed by the same people who attempted to kill you." Hel stated, dropping the necklace into Sigyn's hand.
"And the doors… where do they lead? Why couldn't I see them before?"
"They are the entrance to a place where only the dead can reside, the heart of Nifleheim. The only reason you can see them now is because you are literally on Death's doorstep. If you had crossed over that threshold you would have joined your sister as the only other permanent resident of the Realm."
"Why is she here?" Sigyn queried. "I thought you said you had stopped collecting the souls of the dead."
"I made an exception for you. I didn't wish you to be alone when you took my place…"
"I am not taking your place! Why can you not give up this fantasy!?"
"Because you will take my place if you wish to save your husband."
Without any warning Hel began to pull Sigyn out of the throne room and down a series of corridors. Their journey ended in a room that was empty except for a book lying open on a pedestal.
"Read it." Hel demanded, releasing Sigyn into the room.
Sigyn gave the woman a scathing look, but did as she commanded. There was nothing in the large book, but a list of names.
"They are just names." She stated.
Hel didn't reply, but continued to block the doorway. Sigyn began to read the names. Most all of them were written in red, and Sigyn's eyes naturally went to the first name written in black. It was her own.
"Why is my name written here?"
"Because that book lists those that are marked to die that I am to collect. Those in red are the beings that have already passed, they are the ones whose souls are waiting for me to retrieve them..."
"and the ones in black have yet to die…"
"Very good, now look whose name is below your own."
Sigyn looked at the next name, and her heart stopped.
"Loki, why Loki?"
"Continue reading, and perhaps you will see why."
Sigyn began to flip through the pages. Page after page after page filled with black names. No matter how many pages she flipped through she didn't seem to get any closer to the end of the book.
"Why are so many marked to die?"
"Because of you. I warned you of what your death would signal."
"Ragnarok." The word escaped Sigyn's lips as no more than a whisper, but Hel must have still heard it.
"Loki is about to destroy an entire Realm Sigyn. Should you die the Norns will take it as a sign that he is to succeed, and should he succeed Ragnarok will begin."
Panic began to overtake Sigyn. All of these people couldn't die because of her.
"You must stop him!" Sigyn begged. "Go to him, tell him I am alive!"
"I cannot stop him, besides you are barely alive. Your soul hangs on by no more than a thread. If you do not provide the gem with another soul you will lose your own."
Sigyn's anger began to rise at Hel's words.
"I can sense your hatred Sigyn, but your anger is unjustified. It is you who condemns the Nine Realms to burn, not I."
Sigyn's patience finally snapped, and she slammed the book shut.
"No, this is Odin and the War Council's fault for trying to kill me, and it's your fault for keeping me here."
"They don't have to die Sigyn. None of them, not even Loki." Hel reassured, while coming to stand in front of Sigyn. "I was born with the curse of death, but I was also born with the ability to give life back…"
Sigyn remembered the puppy from her dream, and she clenched her hand around the gemstone in her hand.
"Then why don't you keep me from dying? Removing my name from the book should remove theirs as well."
"Because I cannot. Your Infinity Stone has a power that overrides my own. Only you can save yourself, and in turn, the Nine Realms."
Sigyn knew exactly where Hel was going with this train of thought, and she shuddered as Hel placed her living hand on her cheek.
"You have only one option, Sigyn. You must take my soul, and then you will become the Queen of this Realm. You will save what is left of your own soul by collecting those souls that have been marked for you by Death, and with the power that I possess stored in your Infinity Stone you will be able to protect those that you love… forever."
The same power that Sigyn had felt growing inside of her in the sacrificial clearing began to fill her once more. She knew Hel was right. To save those she loved she had to kill Hel.
"I am ready, Sigyn." Hel encouraged. "I have been ready."
Sigyn relaxed her body, and released the energy from within her. A flash of green light shot into Hel, and returned to the stone in Sigyn's hand. Sigyn's vision blurred, and she immediately began to feel woozy. She stumbled to the podium where the book had previously been to use it for support. It took a few moments, but her vision returned to normal so she could see Hel lying motionless on the floor. Sigyn carefully walked over to her body and knelt beside it. Her lifeless eyes seemed to be staring past Sigyn, and there was a faint smile gracing her lips. It seemed that the troubled woman was indeed finally at peace. Sigyn then looked at the gemstone that hung around her neck. It was no longer glowing. It seemed that Hel's soul had satisfied its hunger for the time being.
"The book…" A faint voice in the back of Sigyn's mind reminded her.
Sigyn quickly rose and went to retrieve the tome. She desperately flipped through the pages to find the first name written in black that she could, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she found it. It wasn't her own. Loki's name had been removed too. Hella had been telling the truth after all. New names were beginning to appear in the book, but Sigyn assumed that that was natural. It seemed that for now Ragnarok had been avoided. Sigyn closed the tome, and left the room. She had no desire to stay with Hel's body, though she knew something would have to be done about it eventually. Sigyn returned to the throne room and sat in her newly acquired seat of power. She opened the book of names once again and began to read them absentmindedly. There were so many red names in these pages...
"There would have been more, but others among Death's Guardians began to stumble upon the souls I neglected and collected them." Sigyn imagined Hel explaining.
How was she supposed to collect these beings though? She knew she could use her gem to gather the souls, but she didn't know who these beings were so she wouldn't be able to locate them. Not to mention that even if she could locate them it wouldn't do her any good. She still didn't know any way out of this cursed Realm.
"Close your eyes…" She thought she could hear Hel instructing.
Sigyn did so, yet nothing happened.
"Place your hand over the names."
Sigyn again did as her inner mind told her, and images of the dying and deceased began to flood her mind as her fingers trailed over the names in the book. Startled by the disturbing visions, Sigyn gave a gasp and sprung from her throne. The tome fell to the floor with a thud, and Sigyn backed away from it.
"This cannot be real…" she murmured to herself.
She looked around her desperately for any sign that this was just a bad dream, and her eyes landed on the large carved doors from earlier. She ran down the steps towards the doors, leaving the book of death where it lay. If she could just get through those doors she would find Frida, and then her sister could take her home. Oh how she longed to be home.
Sigyn crossed into the circle of golden runes engraved on the floor underneath the giant chandelier as she ran towards the doors, and came to a standstill as they began to glow around her. There was a blinding flash, and then Sigyn felt herself being pulled upwards. Light and dark began to flash around her, and she silently hoped that she wouldn't be crushed by the amount of force that was pressing upon her. Without any warning the motion stopped and Sigyn lost consciousness. A sharp throbbing sensation pulsing through her head caused her to awaken eventually, and though her vision was swimming she could tell that wherever she was now was dark. After a few moments Sigyn was able to make out her new surroundings, surroundings that weren't very new to her at all.
"Our chambers… Loki and I's chambers…" she muttered to herself in disbelief.
There was no mistaking this room however. She was truly back home on Asgard. Relief and happiness began to fill her, but the moment was short lived. Something about this room wasn't right. It seemed… empty.
Empty of peace.
Empty of joy.
Empty of life.
Sigyn rose to her feet, and walked around the chamber. The moonlight illuminated only some of the room, but it was enough to see that it was indeed empty. It looked as though the room hadn't been lived in for quite some time, and Sigyn began to wonder just how long she had spent in Hel. There was an oppressive feeling in the room. It was almost as if the chambers were being haunted and that the offending spirit was non-other than herself. Wanting to escape the chamber and find her husband, Sigyn went to the door. When she pulled on the handle however, it didn't budge. The door had been sealed shut… just like the one at the estate had been. Sigyn knew that it was useless to try and open the sealed door if she hadn't been the one assigned to undo the spell, so she went to the balcony of the room and looked down into the garden. If she climbed over the balcony railing she could drop into the garden below. Surely the fall wouldn't kill her…
"You are the Queen of Nifleheim, you cannot be killed except by those whose celestial ranking is above you."
Sigyn's conscience was beginning to sound more and more like Hella, but Sigyn pressed that thought to the back of her mind. Her conscience was right. The fall into the garden might not feel great, but it wouldn't kill her. She climbed over the railing and dropped herself into the garden. Her landing didn't feel pleasant, but ignoring the pain was easy to do as the thought of being reunited with Loki took over her mind. She ran through the garden and into a corridor of the palace. She began to sprint towards the main wing, but stopped suddenly. She looked over her should back towards her and Loki's wing of the palace. Some inexplicable force seemed to be drawing her back that way. Sigyn began to run back towards her and Loki's wing of the palace against her better judgment, and didn't stop running till she saw a familiar form roaming the corridor.
"Livia!" Sigyn called out to the maid.
The maid stopped walking and looked around in a terrified manner till her eyes landed on Sigyn.
"Who… who a-are you…" the maid stuttered.
Sigyn did not wait for Livia to say anything else, but pulled her into a hug. She knew it was against the social norm to show such open emotion, especially to someone of a lower social class, but Sigyn didn't care. She was too overjoyed at seeing a familiar face to bother with social graces.
"Livia you have no idea how happy I am to see you!" Sigyn exclaimed.
"My Lady, Princess Sigyn?"
"Yes." Sigyn confirmed as she drew back.
"… how can you see me?" Livia responded uneasily.
Sigyn tensed, and though she tried to reply, she couldn't. All her words seemed to be caught in her throat. She had heard Livia speak, but she was certain that the maid had not opened her mouth. How was this possible?
"The dead do not breathe, therefore they cannot speak. You can hear them because they are your subjects."
Sigyn ignored the voice in her head and took Livia's hands in her own in hopes of disproving what the voice was implying. Livia's hands were cold however, just as Frida's had been. The maid merely looked at Sigyn despondently as realization sank in for the new Queen of the Dead.
"How? How did it happen?" She asked somberly.
Livia look towards the ground as if embarrassed.
"I was attacked while cleaning Loki's study."
"Attacked?" Sigyn repeated in disbelief. "By whom?"
"I do not know, My Lady. Someone who wanted to steal your journals."
"My journals?"
Why had her journals been in Loki's study? Who would want to steal them?
"Shouldn't you be wondering how you are talking to a dead girl?" Hel's voice asked in amusement.
Sigyn released Livia's hands and grabbed her head.
"Why do I still hear you Hella!? You are dead!" Sigyn hissed.
"Princess Sigyn? What is wrong, My Lady?!" Livia asked worriedly as she wrung her dead hands.
Sigyn didn't hear her question however, only Hel's reply to her own query.
"You hear me because my soul lies with you. You will always be able to hear the voices of those the gem takes, though one day you will learn to control them."
Sigyn recalled the male voices she had heard in Niflheim.
"Those men, the ones I heard speaking in Hel…"
"Are the men whose souls you took in the sacrificial clearing."
Sigyn went to her knees.
"Princess Sigyn!" Livia exclaimed, dropping to her knees as well to check on her.
"Why do you despair, Sigyn? You have much to learn about ruling Nifleheim and collecting the souls of the dead. This way I will always be here to guide you."
"And is this how it will always be when I return to the world of the living? Will I never escape the dead?"
"No." Hel answered plainly.
"My Lady! Princess Sigyn… I do not understand." Livia protested, clearly unsure of what was happening to her former mistress.
Sigyn didn't reply at first, but studied Livia. Livia's soul hadn't been collected upon her death, and so was doomed to wander till another of Death's servants collected her or Ragnarok destroyed everything. It was a depressing fate, and Livia was not alone in it. There were more names in that book than Sigyn could count of beings left to wander, and Sigyn would see them all. She had made it home, but she couldn't stay here. Not only would she always see the dead and forgotten, but she would also be forced to feed her gem and cope with the growing number of voices in her mind. She could not keep such a secret from Loki and her family, and yet, she couldn't tell them either. No one would believe her. They would think she had lost her sanity, and eventually she surely would.
"I am a Princess no longer, Livia, but a Queen."
"A Queen?"
"You asked me how I could see you, and now I am giving you your answer. I am now the Queen of Nifleheim… the Queen of the Dead."
Livia looked at Sigyn as if she was mad, but the look quickly disappeared. The maid clearly didn't dare to dispute Sigyn, and had no other explanation on how she could be seen by her.
"So… you have been in Nifleheim all this time?"
"Yes, though I assure you I did not stay willingly."
"Prince Loki believed you to be alive. He searched so hard for you…"
"I must see him Livia. I cannot stay here on Asgard, so I must convince him to come with us."
"Us?"
"You cannot stay here Livia. Now come, we must find him." Sigyn insisted as she began to walk brusquely back towards the main wing of the palace.
"That may be difficult, My Lady." Livia replied as she tried to catch up.
"Why?"
"Because he is dead."
"What?" Sigyn asked urgently, stopping and turning to face the maid.
"The maids who went to clean the library not long before you came said that he fell into the abyss when the Rainbow Bridge broke."
Sigyn began to feel lightheaded. This couldn't be happening. The Rainbow Bridge couldn't just break, and even if it had why would Loki be on it?! Was this related to what Hel had said about Loki trying to destroy one of the other Realms? No, it couldn't be. Sigyn had taken Hel's soul, saving her own life and Loki's. His name had been removed from the book! Surely it hadn't been added back after she left Nifleheim...
There was only one way to find out. She had to go back to Hel and look at the book, but she didn't know how to return.
"You are the Queen of Nifleheim. You opened the path between Nifleheim and Asgard, and it is still open. Will yourself to return and it will take you back." Hel instructed.
Without another word Sigyn grabbed Livia's arm tightly, and did as Hel said. She willed herself back to Nifleheim. The same light from earlier flashed around her and Livia, and both women were pulled along some magical current back to the Realm of the Dead. Sigyn landed in a slightly more controlled manner than she had the first time, and wasted not even a moment in running up the stairs to the throne. The book of the dead and those marked to die still rested where Sigyn had dropped it, and she picked it up and turned to the last page with names inscribed on it. Loki wasn't amongst them, so she continued to flip backwards. She searched and searched, but she did not find her husband's name. It was possible that she hadn't gone back far enough, but Sigyn knew in her heart that that wasn't the case. Loki was alive.
Sigyn closed the book and set it on the throne. Her husband was still amongst the living, but how was she supposed to find him if he had fallen into the abyss? Sigyn looked down to where Livia was now studying her new surroundings.
"Do you believe what I told you now?" Sigyn inquired.
"I didn't not believe you when you said it."
"Yet you weren't entirely convinced either."
Livia didn't reply, and Sigyn walked down the stairs.
"I fear Nifleheim is a rather lonely place." Sigyn apologized.
"It cannot be any lonelier than wandering the halls of the palace where no one could see me."
Sigyn gave Livia a sympathetic glance, and walked to the doors that were carved into the stone. She placed her a hand on the door fully expecting to sink into it as she had before, but she did not. Instead, the door began to open. Sigyn paused for a moment, and Hel spoke.
"Last time you were dying. Had you sunk through the threshold then your soul would have been lost to the Realm. This is your domain now however, so you may go freely wherever you wish."
Encouraged by Hel's words, Sigyn pushed the doors fully open. Beyond them lay a seemingly limitless city with buildings made of the same smooth stone as Hel's palace. It was a desolate city that housed the soul of only one person.
"Frida!?" Sigyn called out in hopes of finding her sister.
"Sigyn?" Her sister's familiar voice reverberated in Sigyn's mind.
Sigyn glanced in the direction the voice had come from and spotted her sister coming out of a building.
"Sigyn!" Frida's voice reiterated upon seeing her younger sister.
The sisters ran to each other and embraced. Sigyn could feel the chill of death seep through her very clothing and into her body, but she didn't care.
"Sigyn, I thought I told you not to pass through the door." Frida scolded.
"I didn't… I mean I did, but this time it was different." Sigyn tried to explain as she pulled away from Frida. "This time I simply opened them."
"You opened them?" Frida echoed as she looked over at the open doors where Livia was standing. "Then… you killed her."
"I did. I had no other choice. Loki would have died if I hadn't."
Frida didn't reply, so Sigyn drew away and headed back inside Hel's palace. There were things she needed to know, but she didn't feel like staying here to talk with Livia and her sister. She bid Frida and Livia to follow her, and she led them to her sleeping chambers. She sat at her golden vanity and requested that Livia make her look presentable as she told the two deceased women what had happened to her after she had fled the estate on Roan. Neither of her companions interrupted her storytelling, and once she was finished she invited Frida to tell her what had happened after her disappearance. Frida did as requested, and Sigyn listened at tentatively. Livia had finished Sigyn's hair long before Frida finished her tale, and she stood quietly to the side as Sigyn paced the room. The room went silent at the conclusion of Frida's account of events aside from the crackling fire of the golden braziers and the sound of Sigyn's measured footsteps.
All the pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place for Sigyn. Hel had accused Odin and the War Council of her kidnap and attempted murder, and Frida's story confirmed it beyond a doubt. The War Council had wanted her dead to regain Loki's services, and Odin had wanted her dead because she had threatened to reveal the truth of Loki's birth. Loki had been so close to finding the answer when he thought to search her journals, but it had been Frida who had found it, and she had paid for the information with her life.
The same spark of hatred Sigyn had felt for the AllFather in the sacred clearing when she had seen his ravens flying above her returned to Sigyn. It was a deep-rooted hate for her father-by-law that could not be shaken. Without any warning to her companions, Sigyn stormed out of her chambers towards the throne room. She would return to Asgard and seek revenge on the All-Father this very night. When she reached the room however, she paused. She couldn't kill the All-Father. What would that do to Asgard? How would his death effect the people she loved and cared about that still lived there? Yes, Odin had to pay for what he had done to Loki and her, but killing him wasn't the answer. She couldn't be the cause of such sorrow to Frigga and Thor. Besides, death was too swift a punishment for Odin. Sigyn and Loki had been forced to suffer, so Odin should suffer as well. The War Council on the other hand… there was nothing to stop her from claiming their souls with her gem. Hel may have been unable to kill those not already marked for Death, but Sigyn believed that her gem would eventually be strong enough to surpass that magical limitation of this Realm. With that in mind, Sigyn climbed the stairs to her throne. She took up the tome of names and sat down. If she were to find her husband and gain enough power to kill the War Council she would need to collect the souls of the gifted and powerful. Hel had said that she would be able to use the skills and inherent abilities of the souls she assimilated into her gem, and Sigyn knew this was a power she would have to master if she was to enact her revenge upon those that had betrayed her. She opened the tome, closed her eyes, and began her search for souls.
