Truth Revealed

When your dreams all fail
And the ones we hail
Are the worst of all
And the blood's run stale

I wanna hide the truth
I wanna shelter you
But with the beast inside
There's nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed
We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

"As I expected." A loud voice laced with a monstrous tone of anger rang through the large room, beating off the walls an landing into the ears of the people that stood before the man. The guards winced behind their steel visors and their grip on their weapons strengthened - this was going to be a long day. The man that stood at the bottom of the stairs of the throne only sheltered his face away from his King, his face was etched with pain, but many forms of the feeling. He couldn't look at the man he called his father, the King, because he had just let him down. He let all of Asgard down. While the large man brooded, the woman that stood on the second step of the stairs' body stiffened. It felt as f her blood stopped all together, her face growing stiff yet cold. She felt fuzzy. At the top of the steps that were usually so full of people was now empty. They stayed in their houses that day, for they had heard the terrifying news that the youngest Prince has escaped with his terrorist wife. They had nothing to complain about to the King that day.

Odin merely pet his large bushy grey bush of a beard that hung from his wrinkled face, his whole body ached with the tension and anger that coursed through him. He was lost in the field of his mind - he couldn't fathom why Loki could do such an act to his own family - leaving them once again. He had tried, Odin assured himself he had really tried to raise that boy as his own but now he was a grown man that needed to take responsibility for his own actions.

Frigga looked down to the floor beneath her feet with a blank expression as Thor and Odin had begun talking about their new course of action. She swore she would have no part in it! She licked her thin lips nervously before excusing herself from the vicinity of the throne room, picking up her dress and pacing towards the exit. She did not want to hear ill speakings of about her baby boy, especially not those plans where... She shuddered as if a cold wind had embraced her being. She had made sure those extra guards did not show up wot aid the two brothers with the court wizards tower, claiming they needed to bond as brothers like they used to be. She let out a chuckle at the mere thought of how much trouble she'd be in if Odin had found out she knew Daenerys' boat docked to retrieve their daughter she'd be in trouble with the court for treason, but Frigga would never tell. Because aside from his wife and daughter, Loki would always have his mother.

Meanwhile..

The hot rays of Qarth beat down on the bare skin of her back, it felt nice to Daenerys who had been in the moist air filled cabin of her ship, yet when she looked upon her husband's face she noticed he wasn't too sold on the weather here. She shifted her footing carefully as she stood on the large docks, to relieve the ache on her body she had received the night before, though most of the ache originated from her loins from her and Loki's urgent love-making. She shifted the toddler in her arms lazily while she twirled her daughter's silken black hair around her index finger absentmindedly.

"As you can tell, it's rather hot here in Qarth." She mentioned although she already knew Loki could feel the immense heat on his body that certainly was not meant to be under these conditions. He smiled and nodded almost to himself as they bother turned around to watch a man hurriedly unloaded the dragon's cages from her boat.

"Verily." Loki said as he crossed his arms and turned back to face the woman. Something caught his eye that he couldn't look away from. "I thought you were going to wear your shawl.."

Her brows furrowed as she stared upon his face, her own face stoic as she tried to think about what the hell he was talking about. Why was he going on about a shawl? Her brows knitted together in confusion as to why he was concerning himself about a shawl when it finally hit her. "Ah yes." She had almost forgotten - how embarrassing, she thought as she quickly placed their child into his arms and grabbed the shawl that was draped over her wrist. That's why I had grabbed it... After she pulled it over her head and adjusted it just the way she liked she looked back at him with slightly angered look on her face, while he laughed. Had he not given her these dark marks on her neck, the shawl wouldn't have a purpose on a hot day like this other than to cover them.

During pillow talk Daenerys and Loki had devised a plan, though it seemed expected, it was the only way to go about their sticky situation. It was as simple as gathering around all their loyal supporters and usurping the throne from the Lannister boy. Once they finally settled down on the Iron Throne and joined together the armies they would have, they would march off towards the city of Asgard to silence Odin once and for all. They'd have all the power in the realm and at that point no one could overthrow them. We tend to the peasants as if they mattered. For if they neglected said peasants, who knows how many successful uprisings would occur that could fatally harm their rule over the throne. I will absolutely have no slaves in my Kingdom. Without slavery running rampant through their society there would be more people to support their cause and more people to convince others they were right for the throne.

Thinking back to said pillow talk Daenerys smiled, watching as the men that could not board the ship with Daenerys a few days ago rushed down from the cobble road and bowed to her. She nodded curtly to them before she led her eyes towards Loki, who still looked rather uncomfortable in this sun. "Come, let's go to the manse."

He nodded briefly as he walked his way to her side and they began walking down the main dusty cobble road, admiring the old textured buildings that looked like they could not stand without support. Draped over windowsills and clothes lines were ornate carpets, of all shapes, sizes and colors. He smelled the air slowly, a thick aroma of an assortment of different spices filled his nostrils. At first he didn't quite like it, almost raising a hand to cover his nose from such a foul smell but as he tried to get used to it, he found a particular smell he could endure and stuck with it. He didn't know how these people could live here permanently with such a smell that was beginning to give him a headache.

Pairs of eyes started to dart upwards to the two walking through the street with many tanned men following behind, while some did not know who they were and continued to check tomatoes for their ripeness or tried to talk their way through with a rug shopkeeper on a cheaper price. Asgard definitely wasn't this... Diverse, he thought, as they passed by a large shop kept by an elderly woman, with large bags filled to the rim with different spices, where other older women would take a long whiff and smile when they realize it was what they wanted. There were worn wooden stands underneath battered awnings that advertised many types of fish they got every single morning, still fresh within the darkened barrels off to the side. There were shops that had shelves lined with different pottery that was made in the middle of the shop by an old man with nimble and swift fingers, each pot had been individually painted with different designs. Loki spotted a pot that even had a simple design of the Asgard Princes, Thor and himself.

Daenerys steadily walked alongside her husband with her elbow interlinked with his, her eyes lazily scouring over the shops she had seen before, until one had caught her eye. It was a darkened shop with silken deep purple curtains that covered the entrance to the shop, billowing gently with the breeze from the ocean. There were small black steel tables on each side of the opening to the store with little grey trays that held slowly burning candles. She could only imagine the wisdom the woman held, the woman she could see hunched over a table within the darkness. Her curiosity piked. When she was in Qarth before, she wouldn't have cared what this store had to offer, but with the knowledge that Loki has a distant child, Daenerys knew this woman would hold the answers she wanted. She noted he location and told herself that she'd return when Loki was busy with something.

He felt something wriggle in his arms to his surprise. Loki glanced down to the little tot who had finally begun waking up from her amazingly long sleep. A grimace found it's way to his lips as his darling little Rhaenerys' face puckered up into a sour expression before she finally cracked her eyelids open, to meet the eyes of her mother. She let out an audible sigh and she curled her fists up and tried to gather information about her surroundings. This was a place she recognized. Beside her was her mother walking with a smile on her face, but her eyes darted between her and whoever was holding her. She tried to peer up to the face of the person who held her but the sun had other plans, beaming it's bright rays into her sensitive eyes. Gasping as she brought her fists up to her eyes, she decided she wasn't going to do that again. Rhaenerys looked back to her mother who said something along the lines of, 'Rhaenerys, look who it is!' She merely blinked but she tried to look back with her no longer sensitive eyes from her long sleep. Curling her fingers around the hard metal chest plate Loki donned, she stared at him for a moment. Her face was blank as she tried to make out who exactly this was and why her mother was so adamant that she recognize this being. Cocking her head, she slightly recognized the short slicked back black hair and the bright green eyes. "Oooh!" She whipped ehr head back over to her mother, her mouth forming an 'o' shape before Rhay clasped her tiny hands over it.

Daenerys nodded to her daughter who then looked back at her father with a big grin that donned her tiny little teeth. "Ahh!" This man was most certainly her father, she was sure of it! She spread her arms out and tried to wrap her arms around his much larger chest in a rather fruitless manner, but she could really care less at this moment. She snuggled her face carefully onto his chest where his armor wouldn't poke her eyes out or burn her cheek since the sun was beaming it's hot rays upon it's gleaming surface.

...

She didn't know how soft a tattered map could really be when Loki had handed her one of Westeros so she could inspect their course of action, deciding she never wanted to let go of this old piece of parchment. It was like silk between her finger tips, it never caught whilst she slid her finger down the tattered sidelines of it, and it smelled like a dusty old book that she had read once back in Pentos. Laying the map upon her lap, she ran the palm of her hand over it – it was so smooth. She smiled to herself as she pried her hand away to inspect it like her husband had asked.

From the corner of her eyes she could see Loki's pair of boots swivel around to face her, and she knew she had to have an answer. She gazed up from the map and laid her eyes on the God. Since the week or so they had overtaken Xaro's manse, Loki had never once put on his golden armor and renewed his regular tunic and trousers for one's that were much lighter and allowed more air to pass through them – leaving his body temperature as low as possible. He crossed his arms and she stuttered for a moment. "I don't know which route to take. I trust whatever you deem necessary." Was all she could manage, weren't things like this his strong point? Strategical plans were something she absolutely knew he was good at, she had heard it all over the castle back in Asgard! "It wouldn't be wise to travel through the Red Waste since conditions are worse there, but my boat cannot hold any more people and I want to bring them all to Pentos."

"Then it's obvious we must obtain a larger boat." Loki mentioned as he strode over to the large window at the other end of the highly adorned room. He laid his green eyes on the large docks and all the boats it housed and he smiled. This was too easy for him. As children he and Thor would hitchhike upon boats that were meant to house many soldiers, so he knew it wasn't hard to get a boat. "It won't be hard, Daenerys, hundreds of large boats have came on gone through the docks in the past week. I'll take care of it..." His words drifted off as he saw a large beauty of a ship peak around the corner of land, it's bow slowly pushing through the water. He smirked.

He paced over to Daenerys silently and picked up Rhaenerys, who was silently toying with a small doll in her hands. "I'll take her for a while." He announced as he slowly made his way to the door, Rhaenerys now tugging at the fabric of his green tunic.

"You're kidding me." The man of steel had finally cut the long silence that fell between him and his comrades, his face one of shock as he crossed his arms over his dark Black Sabbath shirt, a single dark brow was raised. To his right stood the infamous Captain America with his equally famous stoic expression plastered on his face though there was a hint of disbelief in there. Then there was the red headed Natasha who leaned against the steel counter top with her bottom with arms crossed over her tight suit, but her head hung low, her red curls making a curtain to shield her shocked expression. Bruce Banner kept quiet through the whole ordeal, though he was still listening, he swept his fingers along the holographic screen to move the pages of his work. Clint was standing in the corner, idly fishing his fingers through his quiver and pulling out a bow, all the while his eyes were glued to Natasha.

Thor stood in front of them, his face was rock hard but showed his feelings - the feeling of sullenness. "I would not jest about such things." The blonde had said to the disbelieving group, almost appalled by their lack of understanding and supposedly kind human nature.

"Well I suppose we found a reason to why he's so angry." Bruce murmured to himself but raised his eyes when he realized everyone else had heard him too. He played it off coolly by looking back to the light blue letting on the holoscreen. "But there's no reason to take it out on us."

"I'd be just as angry as he is." Steve had announced suddenly, gazing around the room to all the faces, hoping at least someone would back him up. "If I lost my family, that is."

"Thank you." Dany called out as he left the large mapping room of the manse and looked back down to the old map in her hands and smiled. Now's my chance. She jumped to her feet and pulled on her strappy sandals with one hand, while she held the other one out for balance she knew she absolutely needed. Smoothing out her dress with her palms she gazed out the archway to the room and looked down the hallway. Loki had already left to do whatever he was going to do, leaving Daenerys the perfect chance to go and visit that woman with the darkened store front. Dany slowly paced down the hallway, her eyes peeled for any signs of her husband, knowing if he had found out she was on a secret mission to unearth the mysteries of his first child he'd probably act all stern with her.

The guards opened the back exit of the manse and she coolly walked through the small gardened area with many aligned archways over top the pathways that held long windy vines of grapes they used for their summer wines. The pathway was darkened by this and the air just smelled exquisite – it wasn't a smell that drowned all her other senses with it's sickening pungent sourness that made your mouth pucker and your nose crinkle. As she walked by she daintily plucked a grape off the vine, popping it in her mouth before she opened the wooden gate toward the small street that turned onto the main road. She clenched her eyes shut - the grape had not yet ripened fully and it exploded with a despicable sourness to it. She told herself that she's never sneak a grape again when she had not known if they were ripe or not. Slowly she padded through the main road, weaving in and out and between the native's of this city, her eyes on the prize at the end of the road. If he found out... Her heart pounded against her rib cage at the mere thought of Loki finding out, and the closer she got, her limbs did not want to move any more. Do I really need to know? She isn't my daughter, she isn't in his life..but.. She clenched her fists. For Rhaenerys' sake, for the future sake of her growing curiosity I need to know.. She nodded confidently to herself before she bounded down the road to find herself staring at the shop in wonder.

It was just as she remembered. The old silken curtains that blew around gently along with the breeze, the same candles as before though they had melted about an inch and a half downwards, and that eerie blackness that engulfed the inside of the store. Daenerys stepped forward and gently pulled apart the curtains to gain entry, her curious eyes scanning the area to make sure it was safe. The 'front' half of the store had been cut off by many more black and deep purple curtains that drug along the dusty floor, long strands of hand crafted beaded strings hung from the ceiling along with the curtains, the walls had black metal bent sconce's that no longer held a flame, just small candles of all colors. Off to her right there was an old slab of wood that was made into a makeshift desk and atop that slab were many small but lengthy wicker boxes, with small sticks of incense poking out from the top. That's what that smell is, she thought to herself as she realized the nasty aroma from the main street was gone, replaced now with a lovely but thick smell. She smiled and paced over to the desk and swooshed the burning incense's smoke into her face. She didn't recognize the smell, unfortunately. While she looked at the many assortments of incense, she did not notice the small jingles of the beaded strings from the middle of the room.

"Lavender." A foreign voice sounded from the other side of the room. It sounded like an old woman's voice to Daenerys, and she whirled around just in time for the older woman to hobble on over. She had a slightly wrinkled face that matched her verily wrinkled bony hands that clutched the top of a wooden stick - perhaps a makeshift walking stick. She wore a long brownish robe, at least Daenerys thought it was brown but the lighting in here was not good at differentiating colors, which barely touched the floor. Her immensely curly hair was tied back with a long strip of fabric with a design that matched the rugs Dany would see in the front of stores. "That one you're smelling is lavender, my Queen."

Daenerys smiled and looked down at the small flicker of orange that indicated the smelly stick was still burning. "It's a lovely smell." She admitted as the woman fully approached the desk, where her bony hands reached over to one of the wicker boxes and pulled out three or four long sticks of incense. Her free hand roamed around until she gently took Dany's wrist, pulling it over so she could place the sticks into the palms of her hands. "Thank you."

The woman waved her hand and stared up at Dany with her beady eyes, it was a stare that made her slightly uncomfortable. "Is there something in particular you needed?"

Daenerys smiled and looked down at her feet for a moment. "I was wondering if you had any knowledge about Asgardian history. I don't know how long ago it happened - all I know if the information I need is about the Queen of the Underworld." She fumbled to explain to the best of her ability but she felt a lump forming in the back of her throat - she felt like she was betraying Loki.

"Ah yes. I had a feeling your curiosity would get the better of you." She chuckled almost to herself as she turned away from Dany and began shuffling towards the divider of the room. "Follow me, I have tables in the back." She hobbled back in through the mess of curtains with Dany following suit, revealing the next half of the mysterious store. It was much darker in this half of the room, she had to admit, because there was no sun seeping in through the front of the store's curtains. There were many candles placed in random odd spots and a small fireplace in the corner of the store that gave off small comforting crackles of noise every so often. The walls were lined with shelves which were of different sizes and lengths, matching that of the books they held within, all different colors, sizes and lengths. There were a few tables that dotted the floor in this half of the room with silken sheets draped over top, small candles and different trinkets were settled in the middle. The smell of lavender had faded once she walked in through the curtains, though, but now she met the fragrance of old book pages like how her map had smelled earlier. The woman pulled a chair to the closet table and tapped the top of the back gently, ushering Dany to go over and take a seat.

As she took a seat on the chair that was more comfortable than it seemed, the older woman paced over to a specific shelf and pulled a large book from it's spine, then returned to their table, placing the book down in the middle (after she swept her forearm across it to remove said trinkets). "So." She began as she positioned the book to face herself, licking her finger once before she opened the book. "You want to know about your 'daughter-in-law?'"

Dany fidgeted nervously with the sticks in the palm of her right hand slowly, almost chuckling as the woman said daughter in law. Wasn't that weird, how Loki's first daughter was much much older than she was? "Yes I suppose I do."

The woman looked up at her with a page in between her fingers, raising a brow. "Anywhere you'd like to start? I have much information on her - she is the Goddess I pray to so you will not leave unsatisfied."

"Well I don't even know her name." The woman's face grew shocked but she would not say such rude things to her Queen.

"I am surprised your husband has not spoken of her - he should be a very proud man." She guided her fingers across a small inked map on the second page of the book. "Her name is Hela, Queen of the Underworld, Goddess of the Undead. Her powers parallel that of Thor's own." The woman's voice sounded very proud to be speaking about her.

Daenerys' brow's raised for a moment in shock, she had not expected to hear that one. She still fidgeted with her sticks. "I want to know how and why she was cast off by Odin - how old was she? Did Odin have a viable reason to cast off his own grandchild?"

"To answer those questions I'd have to brief you first on the Giantess Angrboda, Hela's mother. Your husband was once married to her almost a thousand years ago - and back then she had not shown her true colors. Sure sure everybody had already known she lived in the Ironwoods, but when Loki had strutted around the castle with her attached to his arm like a piece of arm candy they took his word on it and didn't pay her any mind - of course she was in a humanoid form-"

"-humanoid form? Is she not regularly in a 'human' form?" Daenerys had gasped and her eyes grew wide in shock. The woman shook her head.

"Giantess Angrboda was indeed a Frost Giant but because of her amazing talent and flawless execution of magic even Odin could be fooled. The only one in the castle that had known who she really was was Loki. Angrboda always had a knack for liking to do things a bit.. Differently you could say. She would use magic for every day things, then one day, when she thought their marriage was far enough, she had suggested the idea of producing a child through magic. We're unsure of Loki's true feelings towards this but we think that since he was still learning magic he did not want to displease her, since she was teaching him. And ah, here it is." The woman interrupted herself and pointed to a picture within the book. Daenerys leaned over and scanned the small painted picture. It was Angrboda in her humanoid form, with her mop of curly red hair and naturally dark crimson eyes and with her sharp features that only made Daenerys more jealous. "In her humanoid form she was known to be beautiful. So with her exceptional level of magic she had made her and Loki a child of their very own, though not everything had gone according to plan.

"When Angrboda revealed to Loki their first and only child the least you could say was that he was very shocked - she had shown him a monstrosity. Their daughter Hela had a deformity... Well, I'll just say what it was. The whole left side of her body was essentially rotten. To the point where most of her bones were showing, her skin was darkened and tattering away, she had no eye in her left socket. This was because of the dark magic she had used. Angrboda had loved her very much though-"

"So Loki didn't love her?" Shock rattled through her bones at this point and her stomach began to feel queesy. Was this really part of her husband's dark past? She didn't want to believe it but she had to.

"Nono. Loki loved her very much but with the shocking revelation that she wasn't.. Normal, he remained in a state of shock. That was the beginning of their hard times in their marriage, since he had only wanted a normal child. Loki left Angrboda and Hela to remain in the Ironwoods while he had to return to Asgard for princely duties, and that took a long while. When he had returned to his wife and child, he brought something very special with him. Very special.." She flipped to the next page she had bookmarked during her explanation. Daenerys leaned over again to view what she was being resented. A green cape. Just a plain old cape to her darkened violet eyes. "This cape has special abilities of unexplainable proportions - no one knows where Loki had obtained it, but he had presented it to his daughter in hopes it would cure her fragility and sickness that never seemed to go away. Hela was perhaps around ten or eleven when Loki had returned. He handed her this green cape here and poof - Hela's deformity had vanished. The cape did not have the property to heal the left side of her body, but it simply masked it and gave her overwhelming power. She didn't even need to wear it fully, even just touching it with her pinky finger left her looking like a normal child."

"Wow..." Was all Daenerys could conjure up as a reply, simply baffled by this story she was being told. She had never knew this side of Loki, the pain he must have felt for his daughter when she did not look right. She knew that Loki was not upset that she didn't look normal for his own benefit - knowing her husband he was upset because he did not want her to be excluded from other children her age. "That's... Amazing.."

The woman nodded and continued on. "So Loki decided he'd have Hela under his care back in Asgard, though Angrboda didn't seem to want to let her daughter go at first. He'd brought her back to the castle and basically paraded her around enough to catch the attention of Odin, who saw through the cape's effects since he had seen this magical cloth before." She shrugged. "Since he disliked Angrboda and was appalled by Hela's true form he decided to cast her off, but gave her a privilege. He sent her to Niflheimr and granted her the title of Queen of the Underworld."

Dany was still flabbergasted, to say the least. He had such a sad past that she almost knew nothing of. She gulped thickly, wanting to ask something that was lighter on her heart. "What did she look like?" She questioned and regretted it almost instantly because the woman had already turned to a page with portraits on both sides of the page.

"This is her before she had acquired her cape." Her long thin finger pointed to the portrait of a young girl with medium length black hair, and the one eye she had was a glossy green one. She had snow white skin which was the exact opposite of her other half - black and dead. How a young girl could end up looking like that because of her mother, Dany did not know. Something did click in her head when something in the portrait began to pester her. Rhaenerys looks like her... She choked up a tad before looking to the next painted picture of her 'daughter-in-law.' This was presumably later in life when she had obviously matured as a woman - she had a curvacious womanly figure with some sort of black outfit on that didn't look like it belonged anywhere but the realm she currently resided in. She had long straight ebony locks that passed down her breasts and just above her hip bone, then those eerie emerald eyes that sent chills down her spine. Her skin was pasty and she had both her mother and fathers sharp features. She was beautiful.

"What a change.." Dany admitted as she continuously looked between the before and after pictures. "I'd also like to ask if they are on good terms, Loki and Hela I mean."

"Not really, no." The woman stated simply and evenly as she closed the book sharply, dust flying up into the air. "Both Loki and Hela have snarky sides to them, which only leads into fights whenever Loki has to visit her realm. They don't even refer to each other as if they were related. She isn't overall a nice person, but fitting for her role in the realms."

Dany nodded slowly almost to herself, working out all the information that was basically thrown at her. "One final thing. What happened to Angrboda? Wouldn't she protest her daughter being cast away?"

"She had found it as an opportunity to puppet her daughter's way when she came of age to actually get the title of Queen. However Odin still wanted her gone and tried to kill her, but her magical abilities prevented her death. Loki still harbored feelings for her, and presented an idea to Odin which would please both him and the King." The woman hobbled back over to the shelf and stuck the book back where it belonged. "The only way to achieve her death was to destroy her heart in a special way - just like Angrboda liked. The God of Mischief eventually had to eat her heart to finally kill her, so he wouldn't have to witness her go through these tortures Odin put on her. This wasn't after Hela was cast off, however; this was years later. Since her daughter was cast off she had made many wolf 'sons' and became known as the Mother Goddess."

"I can't believe it.." Dany could feel her eyes begin to sting as she felt the pain Loki must have felt during that time. She felt her body tremor gently at just the thought of Loki experiencing that. No one deserved to have to go through that. She bit her lip that began to pout uncontrollably. "How horrible."

"Now you know the truth and pain that your husband has experienced perhaps you both will find peace."

Daenerys nodded slowly as she stood up from her seat. She wanted to make him better. She wanted to bear him all the children in the world and protect them forever, so he would never have to experience that pain again. She wanted just to make him happy. "Thank you.." She stated solemnly before she turned around and pushed her way through the curtains.

AN: Well, this was one of my favorite chapters by far. I know some of the things about Angrboda and Hela were from myth and weren't exactly what happened, but seriously everything I said was things I've researched and found multiple times, so I'm confident there wont be any flamers yelling at me for not getting the facts straight. I hope you guys like it too, Hela and Daenerys are both characters I seriously love and hold dear to me.

Song in the beginning is 'Demons' by Imagine Dragons.

I'm going to be setting a date for every update from now on. I'll try my best to update every Sunday, and if I don't, I promise I'll have a good reason!

Disclaimer: I don't own THOR or GOT