Revamped!
[I'm bored in English, not listening to a presentation because I crammed my Economics homework]. [2020: Why do I have a vivid memory of that? Like I can picture myself sitting in that class, in my school uniform with my backpack on the floor, all that].
Chapter 97: A Living Hel Part Five
Hel
Just as Hel's sun was kissing the horizon, almost blindingly dark, Sigyn stops and turns back to see Xavier halting. He tries to follow her gaze but sees nothing he could understand. He just confessed the love he felt for this girl, even for the past seven years when they were technically broken up, and she kept on brushing past him silently. He tried to get her out of his mind but couldn't. It hurts, yes, but what hurts, even more, is that he still doesn't know why she's being like this.
"Stop," Xavier commands and she listens. "Look, I can't do this anymore but I'm hoping this can change because I seriously can't live without you."
"Sure, you can," Sigyn replies.
Xavier laughs, in a huffing way. "You think I can live without you? Because I haven't had any luck with that."
"Not true. You're a man in a uniform with two working lungs. You also had all those years of 'luck' before we officially met."
Her air quotes around that word bother him.
"That doesn't count," he continues. "I didn't know what I was missing before I met you."
"Crying? Confusion?"
"Sigyn."
"Xavier."
They both stare at one another, keeping their mouths shut. Sigyn starts walking again, faster this time but that doesn't stop Xavier from speeding up to match her pace.
"Why are you trying so hard to push me away?" He asks her.
"I told you that you would hate me," Sigyn says.
"You're making me hate you."
"That's the point."
Xavier grabs her bicep and stops her, making sure that she's looking at him.
"Your emotions get in the way," Sigyn tells him.
"Your emotions make you lose your way," Xavier spits back.
"My emotions are saving me!" She screams.
"Your emotions are killing you!"
Angry tears escape her eyes. She wants to hate him for what he's saying to her because it's all true and she just didn't want it to come to the surface. Before their argument could go further, Hela appears, giving the two of them a slow clap. She snickers but Xavier and Sigyn don't know why.
"My, my…" Hela mutters. "This mortal impressed me not only with his combat but now with his words. He has done his work for me so now, his time is up."
Still unsure of what Hela meant, Sigyn and Xavier remain quiet.
Hela's hand warms up with her black magic as her eyes stay on Xavier. They narrow as Xavier's widen. Sigyn shakes her head rapidly in a naive disbelief. Hela fires her dark magic at him and Sigyn screams as she blasts back her own to retaliate. She shields Xavier as Hela keep on pushing her wrath on them.
Hel blurs all around them in a cyclone of the two spells. With her free hand, Sigyn grabs Xavier and wraps her arm around him. And now, seven years later, they're finally here: folded together like this with Hela's magic swirling all around them, but they can only hear each other's heartbeats loud and clear in their ears. They look into each other's eyes and despite what's happening, all the fear and adrenaline drain from their bodies; replacing it with heat and long-awaited passion.
Lips tingling, she arches her neck towards him but she pulls away again. The space between them increases and the warmth that was once their fills with a harsh breeze. Sigyn lets go of Xavier and pushes him back. She lights up her free hand, her green magic glowing brighter than Hela's. She swirls it around as if she was holding a sphere.
"What are you doing?!" Xavier asks, holding out an arm for her.
"I'm sorry, my darling," Sigyn mutters back unsure if he heard that. "I love you and the world needs you more than me."
Xavier screams as Sigyn throws her sphere of magic at him.
-o-
Stark Towers - 11:03 AM
A machine starts beeping as Xavier wakes up in a sudden gasp for air. The bright lights blind him for a few seconds before he can see again. He takes a few seconds to process where he is an immediately rips the wires attached to his body. He doesn't know what happened but he does know this: he saw Sigyn and something went wrong.
Then, it hits him: if he woke up in some sort of hospital, then maybe his encounter with Sigyn was another dream. But if it was, why did it feel so real? Why did he feel as if he was in her presence, beside her, holding her, in a different realm? Why did he feel so different after that experience if it was only just a dream?
If it was just a dream, then that means that all his confessions of his feelings towards Sigyn were all a waste.
Xavier looks up and sees that nobody is in the room with him. He sits up and slides his feet over the edge of the bed. He sees a clipboard with a medical report on his bedside table and picks it up just to see how and why he was in a hospital. He skims through it and stops once he sees her writing.
'I will take care of it - Sigyn'
It happened. That is all he needs to know to verify that everything in Hel did happen. He saw Sigyn. He had her in his arms. He held the bracelet. It all happened. The last moments of Hel flash in his mind - the magic, the grasp, the love, the final words -
"Xavier?" Angela questions, walking in.
Xavier looks up and sees Angela. At first, he thought and hoped it was Sigyn but he's happy to see his twin after all he's been through. She cries tears of joy as she runs over and so does he. It was heartwarming for him to see a sunshine-like face after being in the darkness of Hel for so long.
"Oh, my god," she mutters. "We were all so worried about you and didn't know what to do. Are you okay? What happened?"
Xavier takes a breath. He isn't sure how to explain it since he isn't sure what happened.
"Sigyn's in trouble."
Angela pauses. "What?"
"Where's Apollo?"
-o-
Hel
The wind blows and Sigyn lies on the ground, defeated. Her cheeks are stained with streaks of tears and her chest feels so constricted. All that happened with Xavier sticks in her mind, playing on repeat. She has never felt so weak and vulnerable in her life that was hanging on a string.
"Aw…" Hela mutters, standing above and looking down at her. Her pity sounds fake and Sigyn doesn't bother to respond with even the slightest facial motion. "Poor, poor little Sigyn. You should live, darling. You have to live. Promise, Sigyn. Promise me you will use your power for good and survive."
Sigyn looks up at her and scoffs. "You, Goddess of Death, are asking me to survive and do a good thing? Wow, for a moment, I actually believed you cared about me."
Hela shrugs.
"Why did you bring Xavier?" Sigyn asks.
"I brought him but you kept him," she responds. Sigyn says nothing since she needs an explanation. "Think about it, you have all the power in all the Realms and yet, you've been wallowing in my realm for months and could have returned him at any time. You could have left at any time and not be submissive to my power! Does any of that not mean anything to you?"
"No. You should have brought Apollo instead."
Hela rolls her eyes. "You, Lokisdottir, are impossible. You truly are. I have gone out of my ways to try and assist you but you simply don't listen or take the time to think. I've truly wasted my time believing in your potential."
"Everything you say is the same - riddles, obscurities - I don't speak or comprehend those things and now everyone will know where to locate me. Quickly, Hela, I beg of you, hide me somewhere outside from Asgard. Banish me, throw me into an abyss, anywhere where I will never be seen again."
Hela studies Sigyn for a bit, a small smirk growing on her face. "Get up."
Sigyn slowly stands and the studying continues. Hela circles Sigyn, eyeing her up and down.
Sigyn faces her. "You were supposed to help me!"
"You and Apollo are so much alike when you don't get your way, both enraged like tantrum-ridden children and forgetful. Tis a shame that fate put the lives of everyone in the Realms in both of your hands when you two can't even take care of yourselves."
Sigyn is left speechless.
"I'm a being of evil, but take courage and touch my hand." Hela holds out her hand for Sigyn. "Don't be afraid and do what I command." Sigyn hesitates before taking Hela's hand. "You will be punished."
"Punished?!" Sigyn yells. "But I've done nothing!"
"Exactly."
An instant chill rolls down Sigyn's spine as Hela's grip on her hand tightens to the point where it will shatter her bones. Sigyn chokes on a gasp as Hela lifts Sigyn off the ground by her hand, her feet fluttering above the ground. With her other hand, Hela grabs Sigyn's face tightly, almost cracking it as well, and holds it right in front of her face.
"Get out of my realm."
Hela throws Sigyn to the ground and turns her back on her. Sigyn catches her breath, staggering, before making a portal and stepping through, not even knowing or caring where it will go.
