"I love my sweet Mommy! I have the best Mama in the whole Universe! I love my Mama and my Mama loves me!" Hela began to recite as she laid in the soft, green grass next to Loki. Since Loki was currently pregnant and Hela was mentally impaired, neither of them were allowed to assist their people with the reconstruction of Asgard so to pass the time, the two merely gazed up at the clouds as Loki's smile grew with each compliment that Hela provided for him.
"I've never seen him like this..." Thor remarked in bewilderment at his younger brother's newfound kindness as he assisted Kong with the construction of one of the buildings.
"Maybe Hela losing her marbles was a good thing..." Bruce added as he and Valkyrie watched the two cloud-gaze with looks of confusion.
"Mommy?" Hela momentarily interrupted her long list of compliments to ask who she sincerely believed was her mother, a question.
"Yes, dear?" Loki replied gently as he turned his loving gaze to his brain-damaged, older sister.
"If you were another kid the same age as me and we met, do you think we would be friends?" Hela happily asked with a tiny giggle. She truly believed that she was no older than the age of a newborn infant.
"Well, that depends...Do you like ice cream, large dogs and is your favorite color purple?" Loki questioned, gleefully playing along with his sister's hypothetical question.
"I do!" Hela giggled.
"Alright, your application has been submitted and is pending approval...Approved!" Loki momentarily paused before rolling over to begin tickling Hela. Valkyrie narrowed her eyes in disapproval as Hela's shrill giggles pierced her ears. She still did not trust this horrible woman with he soulmate and after losing her previous partner to her, she never would.
"Hela?" Loki then spoke up as he sat up from his initial position on the ground, brushing stray blades of grass from his cape as he did so.
"Yes, Mommy?" Hela smiled as she sat up from the ground as well.
"I have something I would like to give you..." Loki replied as he reached into the inner-recesses of his cape to retrieve the object he had for Hela.
"You got me a gift?! You're the nicest, sweetest mommy ever!" Hela beamed as Loki pulled a small, wooden carving of a horse from his cape.
"It was mine when I was a little boy and now I want you to have it..." He explained gently as he handed the horse carving over to Hela. He had saved his favorite, childhood toy all this time for reasons that even he was unsure of but now Loki was certain that he wanted to give this toy to Hela.
"A horsy! I love it so much, Mommy!" Hela giggled as she tightly hugged the small carving.
"Giddy up!" Hela giggled as she began to play with her new toy. Loki smiled in content, feeling pretty good about himself at the moment as he watched Hela make the wooden horse gallop along the grass with poor imitations of a horse's neighing.
"Loki! Can I speak to you for a moment, privately?" Valkyrie growled.
"What ever you need to say to me, you can say in front of Hela..." Loki replied sternly as he completely stood up to face Valkyrie. Valkyrie was about to argue but then she remembered Hela's current, mental state and figured that she would not be able to comprehend what they were saying anyway.
"Very well, I don't think you should be spending so much time with that little witch..." Valkyrie growled as she struggled to ignore the fact that Hela was making her new, toy horse gallop up her back.
"Valkyrie, I will have you know that Hela is my sister! How dare you call her a witch!" Loki scolded.
"Loki! Are you forgetting that she destroyed our home?! She plucked one of your brother's eyes out for Pete's sake! I know she's not like that now and has no memory of it but what if she suddenly remembers who she is and hurts you and our unborn child?!" Valkyrie once again voiced her concerns.
"Darling, we've been over this; if I show her the love that Father never showed her or me for that matter then I might have a chance of reforming her when her memory does return..." Loki reminded.
"But what if it doesn't work and WILL YOU GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME?!" Valkyrie suddenly shirked at Hela, fed up with the feeling of her sworn-enemy's toy horse prodding her back. This sudden outburst of course caused Hela to begin crying hysterically.
"Mommy! Daddy scary!" Hela sobbed, immediately clinging to Loki for comfort.
"Shhhh...There, there now..." Loki gently carried Hela into his arms before flashing Valkyrie a dirty look and returning to the inside of the ship with Hela still in his arms.
"Unbelievable!" Valkyrie scoffed with a roll of her eyes. She was only trying to protect Loki, her intention was never to upset him.
"You know? If Hela remembered who she was and tried to attack, you might just have a chance to kill her without upsetting your lover..." Kong noted. He had no personal problem with Hela but he did had a bad habit of voicing his insightful observations, no matter how harmful they were.
"You're absolutely right..." A sinister grin spread across Valkyrie's countenance at the realization that she would not only finally be able to take revenge on Hela for destroying her previous love-life but she would also be able to protect her current one as well. Later that night, Loki sat on the bed that Thor had made for Hela on the ship, humming a gentle lullaby as he gently rocked Hela in his arms.
"Mommy? Why does Daddy hate me?" Hela asked softly with a yawn as she struggled to stay awake for just a little longer.
"Daddy doesn't hate you, darling; she's just a bit rough around the edges...She'll come around soon..." Loki reassured with a tired yawn as he leaned against Hela's headboard.
"Good..." Hela yawned tiredly before she and Loki both fell into a peaceful slumber, cuddling each other closely in the process. Once she was certain both Loki and Hela were asleep, Valkyrie quietly crept into Hela's temporary bedroom. With Hela tightly nestled in Loki's arms, her plan would be much harder to fulfill since Loki was a notoriously, light sleeper. Valkyrie gently wrapped her arms around Hela and carefully attempted to remove her from her sleeping husband's arms, taking extra care not to wake either of them.
"Stop that at once!" Valkyrie was suddenly startled by Loki yelling as she quickly glanced up at his face.
"Father! Thor pulled my hair again!" Valkyrie was relieved to find that Loki was merely talking in his sleep as she finally succeeded in removing Hela from his arms. Valkyrie smirked to herself as she quietly crept out of the bedroom, fully believing she was in the clear. Luckily for her, The Grand Master had a library on this, particular ship and she was easily able to find a book about the history of Asgard that would hopefully jog Hela's memory.
"Daddy? Where are we going?" Hela asked with a tired yawn as she stirred lightly in Valkyrie's arms.
"First of all, I'm not your father and secondly, I just want to show you something..." Valkyrie replied as she carried Hela into the ship's library.
"Did you get me a gift, Daddy?" Hela questioned softly as Valkyrie placed her into one of the library's various chairs.
"You could say that..." Valkyrie replied as she grabbed the large, old, hard-covered book of Asgard's history. After opening it to the page she desired, she then handed the book over to Hela.
"Hey! That's me!" Hela grinned as she pointed to a picture in the book that revealed her entire family, everyone except for Loki.
"And there's Mommy!" She then grinned as she pointed to a picture of Loki that was on a completely, separate page. She was currently unable to read anything the book said but she could easily recognize pictures of herself along with who she believed to be her mother.
"No Hela, that's Loki, your adoptive, little brother...He's not even really related to you, he's a Frost Giant...This is your real mother...You were banished for being a witch..." Valkyrie explained as she pointed to Frigga, back in the picture of almost Hela's entire family.
"No...No! That's my Mama!" Hela shrieked, pointing back to the picture of Loki before throwing the book at Valkyrie.
"Why, you little..." Valkyrie flinched as the large, hard book roughly crashed against her arm, hard enough to leave a bruise. As she glanced up to watch Hela angrily storm out of the library, her heart sank when she saw Loki standing in the library's main entrance with a look of heartbreak masked by anger.
"Loki, I..." Valkyrie began only to be cut off by her enraged lover.
"Don't! Don't you dare...I'm not a part of my own family, hm?! I'm just a Frost Giant?!" Loki shouted, on the verge of tears. Valkyrie had basically confirmed every, single one of his insecurities.
"Loki, I didn't mean it like..." Valkyrie began only to once again be cut off by Loki.
"You know, Valkyrie? I expected a comment like that from Father, maybe even from Thor but never from you..." His look of anger was soon replaced with a look of deep hurt before he stormed out of the library, closely behind Hela.
"Loki, wait!" Valkyrie attempted but it was too late; she knew the damage had already been done as she let out a sigh of shame.