Chapter 3

In the dark of the dungeon

Astrid cried out as another sharp pain shot through her body like a tidal wave.

The baby was coming, it was time.

She had helped deliver many children in her life, had seen the torment on women's faces as they cried out from the pains of labor, but all of her experience did nothing to prepare her for this moment. The pain made seconds seem like hours.

She leaned forward on all fours and pushed… and pushed… then collapsed feeling like every muscle in her body tensed up at the same time with no release. This happened over and over, up trying to push then collapsing to the ground. Hours of agony, sweat, and tears; alone in a cell trying to give birth while malnourished and exhausted. Her hair clinging to her face, her raggedy clothing dripping wet from sweat pouring out of her entire body. At one moment she thought she saw someone move in one of the dark corners of her cell…

whispering... whispering...

I must be hallucinating...

Every time she thought her body couldn't take any more, the pain kept coming. She would push and collapse, then a contraction would start the cycle over.

Then in one swift moment, when she thought she had no more strength in her, she dug deep and let out one final yell which was so loud it pierced her own ears. Then came the feeling of a great release followed by the sound of a baby crying, echoing through the cell. She crumpled to the ground, barely able to move for the first couple of minutes, completely drained of all energy.

Eventually she sat up and looked over at the crying child, still attached to her from the umbilical cord. She slowly crawled over and picked her up; a girl, just as she had thought. As she cradled her the cries began to soften, and she looked into her little eyes. They were blue, just like her fathers, with a slight glow around the pupil. Even though she was a newborn there was already a thick dark tuft of hair on her tiny head. She was beautiful, but Astrid couldn't help but see Loki in her, and all the pain she had been feeling for the last few months came bubbling over. She was overwhelmed with grief and began to sob uncontrollably. It wasn't the baby's fault, but she only felt sorrow when she looked upon her, and incredible guilt for feeling this way.

Then, there came a voice...

"Oh, my sssweet child, now now, this burden doesn't need to be yours to bear."

It scared the hell out of Astrid and made her almost drop the baby. She looked over to the corner where the sound came from and saw a pair of glowing green eyes. They began to rise as the figure stood and then moved closer.

"I will take her for you, she will be mine. In return, I can free you from this cell, and the great agony you've been feeling for ssso looong." As the figure spoke it kept coming closer. Astrid stared in terror, frozen with the baby in her arms. Was she still hallucinating?

There was a snap, and a green flame sparked out of the figure's hands lighting up the cell. Before her stood Hela, the goddess of death, towering over her and the child, staring intently at both. Astrid had never met her, but it couldn't have been anyone else. She was exactly as the stories had described; dark and terrifying, with an eerie beauty and a perpetually grim and fierce expression on her face. What could she possibly want with my baby?

"Why? Why would you do this? Who-" Astrid was delirious, she still couldn't tell if this was all some sort of dream… or nightmare...

Hela's look softened and she knelt down next to Astrid, holding the green flame in her hand and staring intently at the child. She then looked into Astrid's eyes and gently caressed her face.

"Shhhh, sweet child. Hush now, no need to worry. Not anymore." Astrid closed her eyes, the touch soothed her and felt warm and comforting. She felt her body relax and her grip around the baby loosened. "We both know there's no future for you and your child here, I come offering a solution. That'sss all." As she spoke, she slithered her arms around the baby and began to lift her away from Astrid, who barely noticed as

Hela's words entranced and relaxed her. There was a snip sound, and as soon as the umbilical cord broke the baby began to cry. Hela stood with the child in her arms, cradling and trying to soothe her.

"You can't just - my baby-" Astrid tried to argue but had no fight left in her, even her arms felt too heavy to lift. Deep down, she hated to admit that this sudden appearance from Hela was actually somewhat of a god send. It solved all of her problems… didn't it?

And yet… at the same time it was all so terribly wrong...

Hela touched her pointer finger to the child's forehead and a greenish glow enveloped her, then the crying immediately stopped as the baby began to smile, blissfully. Hela looked down at Astrid, who was too weak to stand and still lay on the cold ground, like a helpless bundle of rags.

"Don't worry, my child, it's all over now. Sssleep."

Sleep. The word enveloped her. There was another snap, then Astrid suddenly felt herself sinking backwards, darkness swallowing her as she drifted off into the void.

~oOo~

Svartalfheim, 300 years ago

The following day, Astrid awoke and made her way to the healing room to tend to Loki and his injuries. When she arrived, the guards were standing outside in case of another incident, but things seemed quiet. When she walked in, she saw he had been strapped back down to the table in the same knee length trousers, conscious but still in visibly bad shape, his skin looking pale and clammy. To her surprise there was only one other healer in the room, Sheira, quietly preparing for Astrids arrival.

"Good morning, Sheira. Where is everyone?" she asked as she washed up. She put on her gloves and apron, then turned to face the prince.

"Miss Gertrud was here with me earlier, I'm sure the others will arrive shortly." she responded as she held a mask with sedative gas over Loki's face. All the better with hardly anyone in here, we'll need him calm.

"Hmm, a bit odd, but alright as long as he's sedated. And you, Loki, how are you feeling?" she said, turning her attention to the prince. Sheira removed his mask so he could respond; he was visibly drowsy but could still talk.

"Oh, much better, now that I'm in the presence of royalty." he said, trying to get a rise out of her. She let out an irritated chuckle.

"So, you like to be among your own people. How very elitist of you." she said unamused, as she walked over to him and started to unwrap his bandages, Sheira assisting by her side.

"I admit, I find it surprising that you even know who I am just by knowing my name. Since when did Asgardians start paying attention to anything other than what the other kingdoms can give them." Her voice was dripping with disdain.

"Since King Ivalids took up arms with Queen Freya and started slaughtering us." he snapped back weakly. Despite clinging to his life, he was still trying to defend his side; Astrid wanted to be upset but found it annoyingly noble. "Its as they say, know thy enemy." he said. She didn't respond, and instead changed her focus to his wounds. When the bandages were off, Sheira left the room to dispose of them, leaving Astrid and Loki alone. She studied his wounds closely, seeming confused.

Looking better… but somethings off...

They had healed better than Astrid anticipated, but if that were the case Loki wouldn't look like he still had a horrible fever. She pulled out her alethometer and scanned him, taking a deeper look at what was going on internally. She was manipulating the images above him as she studied it intensely, a look of worry beginning to form on her face.

"Odd… very odd..." she muttered.

"What is it?"

"Your wounds are healing but your fever is getting worse, it doesn't make any sense." She walked back over to her table and started to sift through a few of the elixirs on the table, until she eventually grabbed a small silver bottle. When she opened it, a powder puffed out and floated in midair like smoke. Loki couldn't tell if it was the medication or what but he could've sworn the smoke formed the shape of a butterfly. She walked back over to him and held it up to his nose, the butterfly dissipating behind her.

"Take a deep inhale." He looked at her like she was mad.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, breathe it in, take a deep inhale." He continued to look at her, confused. She rolled her eyes, shoved it into his mouth and tilted it down his throat. It was the most putrid thing he had ever tasted and the texture was horrible, like thick smoke crawling into his stomach somehow. Before he could vomit it back up, she covered his mouth and nose with her hands. She laughed a little at the look on his face and he eventually swallowed and stopped squirming. She let go and gave him some water to wash it down.

"Told you, you should have inhaled it." He wanted to yell at her for making him ingest that vile substance but he felt drained from his headache. Within minutes, however, he noticed his splitting headache was already subsiding. He was impressed.

"I don't know many healers who use alchemy as you do. You're quite talented, you know."

"Asgard isn't the only realm with advanced knowledge in alchemy." she said, bragging a little, "We may not have the power of the Seidr, but I have worked very hard in developing the potions and elixirs we use to heal our people. As well as

some of our other tools." She took out the scanning device once more and when the chart floated above him Loki noticed a substance similar to the color of the powder flowing through it. She looked pleased.

"Looks like everything is working as it should. Does your head feel better?" she asked. He nodded, then looked at her somewhat fondly. "What?" she said with a sharp tone, visibly uncomfortable by the look he was giving her.

"You, the princess of the dark elves, Ivaldis daughter, are the mastermind behind all of these advanced healing techniques and devices?" he responded, intrigued.

"What of it?" she said, still skeptical.

"Nothing it just, well it makes me think of my mother," he said. Her demeanor softened a little at the mention of his mother, which she was not expecting. "She would be very impressed. She always admires someone born into privilege actually making something of themselves. Especially women."

"Is she a healer as well, your mother?" She had heard very little of Frigga. There were rumors around Svartalfheim that she was a grand master of Seidr, the power to discern fate and interweave destiny, and had learned from the witches of Vedel. It was considered a dark magic by many, wielded by very few and feared by most. Its power was said to be limitless and therefore very difficult to control.

Loki's face changed when she asked about his mother, and he fell quite silent. Astrid stayed quiet, still a little uncomfortable by this more sensitive side of him.

But he must miss her...

"My mother," he said quietly, "She must be so worried." His voice trailed off as his brow furrowed from worry.

The room was silent for a moment, until he started to suddenly grimace and twitch, as if he had no control over his body. He cried out, his face twisted in pain and his body writhing as the straps holding him to the table seemed to be barely holding on. Astrid stepped back a bit, panicked and not sure what to do.

"What is it?!" she asked. She used the scanning device again to see what was happening. The 3D image was all over the place, she had never seen anything like it. Where the hell was Sheira?

"AAAAHH! It feels like b-bugs are e-eating my insides…!" She was frantically trying to make sense of the scan above him as he continued to yell out in agony, then ran over to the table and grabbed a large syringe with a thick blue substance inside. She quickly stabbed it into his arm and pushed the substance into his bloodstream. He immediately calmed down, his body relaxing, and then passed out.

She breathed heavily and tried to calm herself as she withdrew the needle, shaking. She had never seen that reaction before and wasn't sure if giving him a sedative had really helped with anything other than the pain. She noticed Loki's body was still twitching slightly. She then saw something in his wounds and leaned in to look more closely; it looked like some sort of bright red smoky substance was moving around in them, almost like it was alive. It started glowing and seemed to be getting brighter. Before she could make any sense of it, Loki's body tensed up and some sort of red power surge came flying out of him in all directions like an explosion, throwing Astrid back and destroying most of the equipment around her.

She hit her head hard, glass and metal shattering all around and cutting her up. The blast was powerful; all she could hear was a loud ringing, everything around her looked blurry, and her body felt an extremely uncomfortable stinging sensation, like something was surging in her blood. As she tried to get up, she became overwhelmed with dizziness and fell over. She began to lose consciousness, and as the guards rushed into the room everything went dark.