Background music suggestion: Dune's version of 'Who Wants to Live Forever'

spoiler alert: will spoil "the Tale of Cosmo" from Phantastes

Chapter 5: Star-Crossed

There's no chance for us
It's all decided for us
This world has only one sweet moment
Set aside for us

-Queen: Who Wants to Live Forever

...

Vanya felt like he needed some fresh air. The space was dark and filled with loud jazz. Places like this made him feel very stressed. He was sipping beer in his thoughts, standing in a dark corner, quite hidden. Suddenly he noticed there was a door on the third level of the space, where there were balconies with steel railings circulating the large hall. These were obviously some reminiscence of the industrial history of the building. For some reason Vanya had a feeling the topmost door could be a roof access. And now he most definitely felt he needed to get out. The other Agents could cover him for a while. And besides, nothing seemed to be happening. Well, somehow he felt he wouldn't have noticed anything even if it was happening right in front of him.

Vanya reached for the metal stairs and walked to the furthermost corner where there was another set of stairs that might have been for staff but he risked using them. Finally he was on the same level with the door he had seen. It wasn't locked. And he had been right. The fresh air greeted him at the roof. The sun was setting. It was one of those rooftops that had gravel on it. He sat down a bit further from the door, leaning to the wall.
"I'm taking a break on the roof. Be right back," he said to his mic.
"Roger that, Vanya," Mitsuko replied to his ear-piece.
He took a deep breath and took the glasses off shutting off the mic and video feed.

What am I doing here?
Am I even a real Agent?
Am I useless?

He had been thinking these questions almost constantly since the day he had arrived to Oslo and met the senior Agents. Volunteering to the mission had been a sudden impulse. They had been very nice but it was fairly obvious they considered him inexperienced. But he could provide them with extra ears and eyes at the venue. But now he was exhausted. He had been very stressed the whole day and the party didn't help at all.
His thoughts were interrupted when the door suddenly opened and closed. Someone had entered the roof. The sun was shining low from behind the person so it was difficult to see who it was.
"Faaaaaen!" the person shouted. It was obviously a female voice. And he assumed she was swearing.
"Faen!" she shouted again. Vanya noticed she suddenly bent forward and obviously began to cry.
This was awkward. The door behind her was the only exit. Vanya most certainly couldn't get past her without being noticed. He froze thinking his options. But then he realized there was something wrong with the way the person was breathing. He instantly knew what it was. She was hyperventilating. In a second he was up and approached the person. He could hear the gasping and all he could see was basically a tangle of messy dark hair. She was obviously a girl, or a woman, who was wearing jeans and a black hoodie.
"I'm sorry. I know you didn't notice me. I was here on the roof before you."
He tried to speak in the most calming voice he could. The person instantly lifted her face to look at him. Somewhere under the messy hair there was a pair of dark eyes that looked utterly terrified.
"Has this happened to you before?" he asked.
She shook her head.
"Okay, you're hyperventilating,"
"I...know," he could hear her voice between the gasps.
"You just need to calm down. Could you sit down?"
She nodded and they walked next to the wall. She sat down still gasping.
"Would you like me to sit with you?"
She nodded again and so he sat down not far from her. She was still hyperventilating.
"I know you can calm down," Vanya said most reassuringly.
She was staring at her hands, obviously concentrating in them. Slowly her breathing was becoming more normal.
"You're doing really well," Vanya continued in a calm voice.
Some minutes passed by as they sat in silence. Finally her breathing was nearly normal. She put her hands on her face and then pulled her fingers through her hair so that her face came fully visible. She had high cheekbones and her features had something a bit otherworldly in them. Vanya thought it was probably the eyes. A strange idea of a dark fairy passed through his mind. He thought she couldn't have been much older than twenty.
"I don't think...There's a way I can save my face this situation," she said in a slight accent that made him assume she was from some Nordic country.
"What do you mean?"
"After...I mean. That was just...," she said still holding her hands in her hair.
"Would it comfort you if I said I have experienced what you just did a few times in my life?" he asked.
The dark eyes looked at him surprised. She nodded. There was a silence.
"Could I have some?" she said pointing at the beer bottle he had left close to where he had sat before.
"Sure," he said reaching for the bottle and handing it to her.
Her hand was slightly shaking as she took a gulp.
"Thanks."
"And thank you for...your help."
"No problem. You must have had a bad day."
She nodded.
"I have," she took a deep breath and placed the bottle on the gravel. She kept staring at it.
"You know that button you wish that would exist. That button that would erase your entire existence. I wished to press that button today," she said quietly.
It had sounded weird. And somehow worrying.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Would you like to talk more about it?"
"Thanks...but I'd actually like to forget it," she knit her brow, closing her eyes.
"I can try to help with that. If you want, of course."
Her eyes opened and for the second time they looked at him surprised.
"That's nice…You're a nice stranger," she said no longer frowning.
"And you're obviously not from here. Where are you from?" she asked.
"Belarus."
"You're the first Belarusian I have ever met...I'm from here. Well, I live up in the north, by the mountains."
"Then you're the first Norwegian I've ever really met, and I love mountains," Vanya said.
He wasn't sure why he had made that comment about the mountains. It seemed stupid afterwards.
"Me too," she said looking at him. Perhaps he imagined it but there was almost a hint of smile on her lips.
"Why are you hiding here?" she asked. He could see from her eyes she was curious.
"I just needed to get away...from all that," he said gesturing towards the door.
She nodded.
"I understand...I'm only here because my family forced me to," she said.
"Your family forced you here?"
"Yes. They're really into all this...but it's not my thing." she said shaking her head.
"What's your thing?" Vanya found himself asking before even thinking about it.
"What's my thing?" she echoed his question looking at him even more curiously.
"Medicine, I guess."
"Medicine? Are you studying it?"
"No. I'm a researcher...But what are you into?"
"Hacking."
It was probably worst thing to confess, he thought.
"So are you a hacker by night and you make mobile games by day?" she said and now a smile rose on her lips.
She had a lovely smile. Vanya suddenly realized he could've looked at her smiling all night long.
"Yes, that's it exactly," he said now smiling too.
"What do you hack?"
"I'm trying to fight the evil in this world."
"So you're like...Batman."
"Yes, I'm exactly like him."
Her smile grew wider.
"Thanks for sharing this information. Can I now share my secret?"
"Of course you can."
"I basically research…" she took a breath before continuing.
"Immortality."
"Immortality?"
"Yes. Do you know of those cancer cells that practically live forever?"
"I think I do...They're Hela or something."
He could see she was positively surprised by his knowledge.
"Yes...HeLa are definitely most known ones. So I research these kinds of cells."
Suddenly Vanya couldn't help feeling his heart sinking as he realized she was very likely linked to SCEPTRE.
"You must think I'm strange," she said noticing his reaction. Suddenly she seemed to be withdrawing into a shell and he most certainly didn't want this.
"I think your research sounds extremely interesting and you are by no means stranger than I am," he said looking her in the eyes most intensely.
She looked him right back.
"I'd like to know your name," she said.
Vanya knew he should have said his fake name but something inside him convinced him he didn't wish to do that.
"I'm Cosmo."
He had said his real real name,
"Cosmo? That is different."
"I know."
"I like it...It reminds me of a story I once read. A story in a story. It was a fantasy story."
"You know Phantastes?" Vanya looked at her very surprised.
Of all his namesakes no one had ever before mentioned Cosmo von Wehrstahl from George MacDonald's 19th century book.
"Yes. You look surprised."
"It's more common people think of Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld."
"I like Seinfeld too," she gave a laugh but then she became serious again.
"But Phantastes...I remember the story was beautiful. Very sad but beautiful. How did it go? He found the mirror and began seeing the woman in it..."
Cosmo nodded.
"She was under some spell and he tried to break it...Did he summon her or something?"
"Yes."
"And then...It ended tragically."
"It did."
There was a silence. She was clearly trying to remember how the story went.
"Please tell me your name," Cosmo said interrupting her thoughts.
She looked at him again with her dark beautiful eyes.
"I'm Helena...My family calls me Hella but I've always preferred Helena."
"Helena...is beautiful. You are beautiful."
Cosmo wasn't sure where he had gotten the sudden courage to say this, but he was happy he had, for it made her blush.
Being now even more brave he decided to ask something.
"Could I have something from you?"
"What do you mean?"she looked a bit confused.
"Like that string from your jacket," he pointed at the drawstring of her hoodie.
"This string from my jacket?" she asked.
"Yes. I'd like it s a memory."
"As a memory?"
"Yes...Unfortunately I have a feeling I will never see you again. Please tell me I'm wrong."
He had said this looking at her very intensely. Something in her had just made him sense this was the way things were going to go.
"I wish you were wrong but you're not."
They looked at each other for a long moment. He was quite sure his eyes reflected the sadness he was feeling. He could see it in her eyes too, and this just made his heart ache. She took hold of the drawstring and slowly pulled it until it came out. Then she scooted closer to him and closed the black string inside the palm of his hand.
"It's my turn then. My memory," she said.
Helena put her arms around him. He was slightly surprised but carefully put his arms around her. They were just holding each other on that rooftop, in the Nordic everlasting sunset.
"Can you just say it's all going to be fine," she finally said pressing her face against his chest.
"It's all going to be fine."
Saying this made Cosmo's heart ache even more. Suddenly Helena pulled back and faced him. He swore he could've drowned in those dark eyes.
"Thank you for making me forget. Even for just a moment."
He could see there were now tears rising in her eyes. Then, before he could react, she quickly got up and ran to the door.
"Wait!"
Cosmo got up as fast as he could but by the time he got back in she was nowhere to be seen.

...

"That's his daughter, Helena. A child prodigy," Ian and Jo could hear Mitsuko's voice in their ear-piece.
"She got her PhD at age twenty, in the field of Pathology."
"Pathology?"
Helena Magnusson was short, girly in a way, and her behavior seemed somehow skittish. Ian got the feeling she didn't seem to enjoy herself at all. Every now and then she was glancing around her. Her father Mr. Magnusson put his hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and didn't look around her anymore.

...

It was quite late at night. They were back at the flat. All the junior Agents had their laptops open. They were analyzing all the info they had gathered from the event that day. Footage, audio, face recognition, whatever they could find. Erik was standing by the window, Ian and Jo were also sitting by the table looking at the screens looking at the data.
"That was uneventful. But the whole thing…It's SCEPTRE for sure," Erik said.
"But nothing happened today," Mitsuko said.
"I have a feeling tomorrow it will," Ian said.
There was an image of Helena Magnusson on Cosmo's screen. He was obviously reading her biography, looking extremely thoughtful, even grim at times.
"Everything okay?" Ian asked noticing this.
"I met her," he said nodding at the screen.
Ian raised his eyebrows and asked him to tell more. So he told all of them an edited version of their meeting, excluding some things like the embrace.
"Let me get this straight. The man's name is Loke and he calls his daughter Hella. And she is a pathologist," Gudrun began.
"He's living the myth...The trickster god Loki and his daughter, Hella, goddess of the underworld."
"The man probably has a dog called Fenrir and a pet lizard Jörmungandr," Orfeus interjected.
"And wait. The company NV's CEO is Tyr...The old Norse god of war. Shit. I should've seen this before.." Gudrun was shaking her head now.
"I mean, it's obvious...I have a feeling I know with whom SCEPTRE has made an alliance with."
"With whom?" Erik asked.
"The NüVikings."
They all just stared at her.
"Did you just say NüVikings?" Jo finally asked.
"Yes, it has an umlaut...Although I have feeling that's not what you are wondering."
From their faces she could see they all expected her to continue.
"It's a cult. They believe they are the descendants of Vikings and wish to finish what they imagine they started, conquering the world basically."
"You cannot be serious." Ian said.
"Where do these cults get spawned?" Erik added.
"For a long time no one took them seriously but if there's an alliance that definitely changes things. I don't know. Maybe it's not them...I don't know what kind of organization they have nowadays. We should look for more clues."
Gudrun still seemed to be pondering something.
"But if it is the NüVikings, this could be SCEPTRE's last act born of out desperation. Before they would have never even considered an alliance with them."

...

Cosmo was on his bed, in the small room, wrapping the black string around his wrist in his thoughts. Before he finally fell asleep, he hoped he would meet the dark fairy in his dreams again.

...