I woke up with the sun rising overhead the temple and quietly sat up in my bed. I quietly yawned to not wake up anyone else in the room with me before slowly getting out of bed and silently equipping all of my weapons and walking out the door.
Everything was relatively quiet compared to usual, so I decided to take a little walk around the building. I must admit, in the daytime, Alfheim looked pretty peaceful, almost tranquil...if it weren't for the scent of blood that often filled up the area I walked through.
'Sköll, Hati, you guys there?'
Hati: 'Right here Fǫðurbróðir'
'Has anything interesting for you happen yet?'
Sköll: 'What kind of question is that?'
'I don't know...is there anything else to do here?'
Hati: 'Actually...father did mention a jötnar shrine being in this realm, maybe that can educate you more on grandmother's side of the family.'
I nodded as I began to follow Sköll and Hati's directions to arrive at the shrine. Their directions eventually led me out the front door of the temple where a massive lake was followed by some bridges that led to some side platforms.
Eventually, I actually began to sense the shrine, as it had a presence of power that wasn't exactly from a god or even powerful being, but something more akin to a mortal power but enhanced...if that somehow makes any sense.
Eventually, I saw two doors and opened them up to reveal...some sort of presentation containing a lot of elaborate drawings.
"What's this?"
Hati: "Around the realms, the giants made shrines to engrave special individuals who were important for their people in one way or another."
"Ah, so this one is..."
I looked at the left panel and looked at a female figure who sat in the center.
"A giantess named Groá...she must have been a prophet, right?"
Sköll: "Yup, all giants can have visions of the future, but Groá had visions for events that happened multiple millennia before they actually occurred...including that event in the middle panel."
I looked at the panel and saw a huge battle happening above Groa's head...Thor, Odin, Freya, Fenrir, and Jörmungandr were all a part of it. I instantly recognized what the image was depicting.
"Ragnarök..."
I then looked to the last panel and saw Odin...standing above her...dead?
"What happened in this one?"
Sköll: "The all-father found out about this prophecy and invited Groá over to help share this vision...she told him what she knew...and Odin, jealous of the knowledge she held without him knowing, killed her with his own hands."
My hands clenched at the story, and I suddenly began to understand why all my family DID NOT like any of the Asgardian gods in the slightest...if Odin did this...then what did he do to the other giants?
Hati: "Sadly in most of these stories, these giants are often killed, either by Odin, or much more commonly...Thor."
I pulled the Leviathan Axe off of my back and held it in my hands...my mom was a giant...so how did this weapon come into existence...and into her friends. Vali and Bikou said that the axe was the only weapon in the Norse myth to rival Mjölnir's power. Is that massacre the reason why the axe was made?
I silently grunted in anger as I sheathed the axe back on my back.
???: "Oh...well isn't this a surprise?"
I suddenly grabbed the blades of chaos off of my back before pointing one at the voice present behind me before seeing...
(Just age her up to how you think she would look at this point)
A woman standing there, she had brown hair, dark skin and she definitely was quite a bit taller than me and was quite mature-I would assume she was around Sirzechs and Grayfia's age.
"Who are you!?"
The woman giggled at me.
???: "That's not the nicest way to greet your sister in law isn't it?"
I grew confused before thinking through what she just said...come to think of it, she does resemble Hel a little...minus the dead-on-one-half part.
"Angrboda?"
Angrboda nodded.
Angrboda: "Looks like you're pretty caught up on Norse myth knowledge huh?"
I stayed silent as I stared at her. SHE was the mother to almost all of my nephews and my niece.
Angrboda: "Uh...are you there Eíthürr?"
I shook my head to snap myself out of my trance.
"Yeah...back in reality...so you're the mother of Fenrir, Hel, and Jörmungandr?"
Angrboda smiled at the mention of her children.
Angrboda: "Yup! All of them were born and raised by me!"
I chuckled at her attitude.
"I see where Hel gets her personality from then."
Angrboda smiled.
Angrboda: "And you must be the younger brother of my husband."
For some reason, those words were strange to hear from her. My brother WAS well over 100,000 years older than me, but to imagine him actually being married...especially after everything he put the ORC through...was really weird.
"Yeah...I guess so?"
Angrboda smirked at the confusion in my voice.
Angrboda: "Still shocked that your family is full of infamous beings in the world huh?"
"Not going to lie...still trying to get used to it..."
I nervously laughed while rubbing the back of my head.
"But that's besides the point, what are you doing here?"
Angrboda: "Well, as I mentioned before, I wanted to meet you...and also introduce you to some benefits of your jötnar heritage."
"Wait what? Jötnar heritage?"
Angrboda: "You really think that the Olympian blood within you is the only reason you're the way you are now?"
"I mean yeah...I didn't think my mother's side of the family gave me any power?"
Angrboda chuckled.
Angrboda: "Sure, you may have gotten the most drastic change from your father, but Laufey's blood can also do some things for you."
"Like what?"
Angrboda shrugged and sighed.
Angrboda: "Every jötnar is different. Your brother got the ability to see the future, and also the ability to speak to animals from his jötnar blood. For all we know, you might have something that might surpass your father's own abilities. We'll just have to wait and find out."
I looked at my hand and smiled. Looks like I'm not done with the power ups yet.
Angrboda: "Anyway, I really want to show you something..."
I nodded to her in acknowledgment before she walked up to the shrine, placed her hand on it...and then dissipated the drawings on the middle panel, revealing a door.
"Now what is this?"
Angrboda: "This...this is the real story of Groá."
Angrboda opened the door and motioned me to follow her into a seemingly golden room. I followed her in to find myself in a room full of golden dust around us.
"Woah...what is this?"
Angrboda: "A secret room that only the giants could access that holds the true story away from the outside world."
I nodded since I put the pieces together. Odds are if the true story of these giants were out, they would be nine shades more fucked than anyone else due to Thor and Odin running around.
Soon, the sand in the room started to take different shapes, first the original story of Groá as a prophet, before she got strangled by Odin...but then something else happened.
A figure with a spear and a shield blew gjallarhorn, the piece of gear that started Ragnarök, but something else happened...the two massive armies that were supposedly supposed to fight each other at Ragnarök didn't clash...in fact, it seemed that they were fighting not each other, but fighting together against something...
That something ended up being a colossal figure with a true abomination for a mouth and body that completely towered over everyone. The...thing split itself into 6 parts and went off into different directions and eventually cut to all the armies fighting the different parts of it.
Strangely enough, norse figures weren't the only ones I noticed. In fact, I saw some figures that I was already familiar with, like Sirzechs, Azazel, even Issei and Vali...although the appearance of them has changed significantly...does that mean that whatever this is involves the factions...or even other pantheons?
Eventually all of the armies trap the creature in Asgard where 5 immensely beings crash into the creature(one gigantic western dragon, one small humanoid being, two gigantic humanoid beings, one with a sword and another with a ball in its hands and...a black and purple figure and a sword?) shaking the entire image apart. That shaking image transitioned to the world tree where the entire tree started to shake violently. The strange thing was that only one of the 9 realms collapsed: Asgard.
Angrboda: "So then...how are you processing everything right now?"
"Ragnarök...isn't actually the end of the world? Groá lied to Odin!"
Angrboda: "Crazy right?"
"That means Ragnarök doesn't destroy the world tree...it only destroys Asgard...taking some sort of monstrosity with it...."
Angrboda: "Mhm..."
"And...the factions join in the fight?"
Angrboda: "More than likely...and this fight is huge! I mean, if whatever they're facing requires a combined force of gods, dragons, super devils, and other races found in the nine realms...then whatever this threat is...it's more than likely on par with Great Red and Ophis in terms of power."
"I mean...if they're 2 of the 5 beings who land the killing blow on...whatever this thing is...who else could possibly match that power?"
Angrboda: "That's something Loki and I have been trying to figure out for the longest time, our best guess right now is that one of the creatures is Ragnarök, a monster created when Surtr and Sinmara join together...the other ones...we have no idea of what they could be."
I turned to the giantess.
"Loki knows this?"
Angrboda: "He has, way before he even supposedly met with Ms Gremory's peerage or the White Dragon emperor's team."
My curiosity grew with the words Angrboda said.
"Supposedly?"
My sister in law huffed.
Angrboda: "You really think your brother tried to do the exact same thing your father did to the norse pantheon?"
"I mean...based on what everyone described of him, yeah?"
Angrboda rolled her eyes but sighed in defeat as she started to lead me back out of the room.
Angrboda: "I guess that's only natural considering the circumstances they were in...the truth is, Loki isn't anything like that."
"What are you saying? Wasn't it big news around the world that he was sealed away by Rossweisse after fighting everyone?"
Angrboda: "Yeah, that's what everyone thinks of his clone..."
"Wait what...clone!?"
Angrboda: "He isn't the god of trickery and mischief for no reason you know."
"Wait...if his clone required the red AND white dragon emperors alongside everyone else...how strong is he normally?"
Angrboda: "Unlike you, his physical strength is actually pretty minuscule, maybe as strong as your father was without him tapping into his divine strength. His magical strength however...is probably equivalent to the power you have whenever you go into a berserker rage. His clone was only infused with maybe a 5th of his original power."
I nodded in acknowledgment. At this point, I already knew my brother was CRAZY strong, so I wasn't really going to be blown away unless he happened to also gain some power from God himself.
"Is that power in the clone permanently gone now?"
Angrboda shook her head in denial.
Angrboda: "No, your brother could see into the future. He knew everything that was going to happen, so he made it have a fail safe so that the power would return to his original form once Rossweisse sealed him."
It suddenly dawned on me with the mention of Rossweisse that they most likely knew every single step of my life...including the people I grew up with and love.
"Wait you know about everyone at the ORC?"
Angrboda: "Loki and I both know everyone...including your...how do I say..."
She giggled
Angrboda: "...feelings of affection you feel for your king, queen, and rook."
I blushed as I looked down in embarrassment, which caused Angrboda to laugh as we left the room and entered Alfheim again.
Angrboda: "You know, you kind of remind me a lot of him...same eyes, same awkwardness...really the only drastic change between you two is the weapons you two use, the hair you have, and the armor you both wear."
"Really?"
Angrboda: "Oh yeah, you should've seen him when we first met. He was flustered beyond all belief!"
I silently laughed to myself as I started to get the sense that my brother wasn't as bad as how everyone in the ORC described him.
Hel: "Mom?"
We both turned to see Hel, Jörmungandr, and Leia all looking at the both of us.
Angrboda: "Well look at you! You've definitely grown up!"
Hel began to laugh as she rushed into her mother's arms closely followed by her brother as he wrapped around Angrboda.
Safe to say, it was a pretty heartwarming thing to watch that made me reminisce of how Rias, Akeno, Kiba, Gasper, Koneko, and I often interacted when we were all relatively young before Issei joined and everything went to shit.
Leia: "I wish I had something like that..."
I looked down towards my side to see Leia sadly looking at the 3 giants hugging it out.
"You've never had that before?"
Leia: "No...I mean...Mom and Dad don't really like being near each other anymore."
I looked at her with a frown. I couldn't imagine not having both parents-or even a group of friends to at least call a family be there for you.
"Really...?"
Leia sighed with her wings drooping.
Leia: "Yeah, Mom and Dad are more concerned with peace in the realm via the ways of my existence..."
I grimaced quietly to myself. I had my fair history of families using their own children to gain an advantage-Rias and Riser's wedding pops up in my head, alongside an unhealthy majority of the devil population in the underworld-and some past tales of Norse and Greek myth I've read in the past.
"Well then...why don't you come back to Midgard then? I have my own family there."
Leia: "You mean the group of devils that caused you to run away and almost die before you ascended?"
"Yes...but that was only a one off thing...trust me, they're better than that...although they might be afraid of me a little."
Leia turned her head to me.
Leia: "Afraid? Why would that be?"
"It was when I got assigned to come to this realm and retrieve you. A meeting between the Norse Gods and Leaders of the Factions...during that meeting, the armor activated on me..."
Hel: "And he went berserk, nearly mauling one of his friends."
Leia looked at me to confirm Hel's words to which I slowly nodded. The elf princess then gained a look of thought as she looked towards the ground.
Leia: "That's why you were so willing to potentially destroy the armor..."
I grunted in agreement before turning and walking back to the temple.
Jörmungandr pov
After the elf princess asked Uncle Eíthürr what caused him to be so willing to dump the armor into the lake of souls, she silently watched him walk away back into the temple.
Angrboda: "He's pretty sensitive to that stuff at the moment, I don't suggest you try to dig too much into it."
My younger sister turned to Mom.
Hel: "How would you know that? Don't the giants not have any prophecies about him?"
Angrboda: "Giants have many secrets Dóttir...and believe it or not, he's fated to do some crazy things."
"Like what?"
Angrboda: "Ragnarök will start and end by his hand."
I started to growl as I looked at my mother.
Angrboda: "Oh calm down you big danger noodle, it's not as bad as you think."
Hel glared at Angrboda.
Hel: "You're not concerned with the onset of Ragnarök!? You really are no better than Father..."
Angrboda glared at Hel at the mention of her husband.
Angrboda: "Don't compare him to that facade that you decided to grow up with instead of me!"
I grew confused at my mother's words.
"Facade?"
Angrboda nodded.
Angrboda: "Follow me you two, there's something I need to show you. Leia, check up on Eíthürr for me please."
The elf princess nodded as she went into the temple after our uncle.
Ethan POV
I was sitting in the room we were sleeping in last night staring towards the sunrise on the horizon whenever I heard a knock on the door.
Leia: "H-hey, Ethan...?"
I turned around and smiled to myself before walking up to the door and opening it. There on the other side was Leia, looking more nervous than she usually did.
"Hey Leia...what makes you come here?"
Leia: "Angrboda wanted me to check on you."
I rolled my eyes playfully and gestured her to come into the room. She nervously stepped in and sat down on the bed.
Leia: "So...is there anything you want to get off of your chest...?"
I shook my head. She was clearly trying to comfort me with my situation with everyone at the ORC.
"Everything I'm dealing with is stuff that I made happen completely on my own, I'm just suffering the consequences."
Leia: "What do you mean 'suffering the consequences!?' They literally ignored you, causing you to feel useless! You didn't run away because you were just a jealous teenager, but because you thought that it would benefit both you and those devils."
"Doesn't change the fact that I ran away..."
Leia: "Ethan...I may not have much experience with family...but even I can tell when a parental figure is just not doing something right in one department. Just because you're in love with a couple people in that group doesn't mean that they're always in the right or should be worshipped."
I looked at her quizzically, but Leia looked at me dead in the eye with the upmost seriousness.
Leia: "They caused everything that happened to you. What else could you have done?"
"Have you ever been in love Leia?"
Leia stayed silent as I looked at her and smiled slightly.
"It's pretty good."
Leia: "I suppose that just proves my point, your devotion to them made it so that when they started to ignore you. Running away was an inevitability."
I stayed silent. Maybe I was just projecting my current condition onto myself...maybe I'm not the one to blame for everything...
"Then how come they avoided me before I came here?"
Leia: "They're afraid of your judgement more than likely. If you can enter a state where you completely lose your mind and can almost maul one of them...then they most likely interpret that as how you think of them, even if you really don't."
"I kept on trying again and again to show them that I don't! What could they not believe!?"
Flames started to crackle on my hands and a hiss was heard from the armor as I quickly steadied my breathing and calmed down. Leia was looking at me concerned, but then smiled whenever I returned back to normal.
Leia: "The fact that you're able to stop the armor from activating on you now speaks volumes on how much you can control yourself now. It's more than likely the guilt over your transformation that's causing their minds to cloud with these thoughts that you will completely murder them."
I looked down in thought of the entire thing.
Leia: "Look...the main reason I'm telling you this is to reassure that you're not the cause of everything that changed for them. They brought it upon themselves. The only thing you can do now is forgive them outright for everything, or reject their actions and leave them behind."
I looked at her with a small smile.
"When did you become so wise with family drama huh?"
Leia shrugged before smiling at me with a blush on her face.
Leia: "Being raised by two parents who're fighting on different sides of a war often enlightens you to guilty guardians."
I chuckled at her before putting my hand on her shoulder and smiling.
"I like you."
Leia's eyes widened as her face became red. I smiled at her which caused her to turn away from me with her hands on her cheeks.
"Now then...let's find some isolated location...I want to see if I can control this armor."
Leia: "R-right! F-follow me!"
Leia quickly sprinted out of the room to which I laughed at.
Sköll: "Dang Eíthürr, never thought that you were a player."
"Shut up Sköll."
I laughed to myself as I followed Leia out of the temple to a pretty empty flat area. By this point, Leia's blush was still present and I was pretty nervous, as I didn't want to kill Leia if the armor still took complete control over me.
"Alright Leia, you may want to hide somewhere! This may not be so smooth."
Leia: "Ok then...good luck!"
"Thank You!"
I sighed as she flew away and hid behind a corner before I started to clench my fists. Flames started to crackle out of my hands and the ground started to crack as the armor started to hiss to life. Suddenly I felt my vision grow cloudy as my hands were covered by the armor and the helmet fell over me...then nothing but red filled my vision.
Leia POV
Even hiding behind the corner, I could feel the immense amount of power coming off of him until eventually, the hissing eerily stopped for about a minute. The next thing you know, this demonic growling sound started emanating from Ethan and his appearance changed drastically. His hands were now covered in the armor, giving his hands the appearance of claws, and a helmet was now on his head, the collar of the armor was now a bottom jaw for a wolf's head and the helmet was now covering his head and face, making up the top jaw of the wolf's head-alongside a pair of red eyes.
A small scouting party of dark and light elves arrived and saw the newcomer. Even then, they seemed dedicated to attacking him. However, to my horror, Ethan zoomed up to them, grabbed and crushed two elf's heads like they were nothing and then BIT OFF another elf's top half all in under 3 seconds.
No matter what the elves did, Ethan completely ripped them apart in the most brutal ways without even getting hit once. I've never seen anything fight...this angrily, so wildly, and without any hesitation whatsoever.
However...then my Mom showed up.
"WAIT MOM! Don't-"
Before I could even finish, Ethan rushed up to her and sent her flying into a wall with a single punch...the thing was...she didn't get back up. Ethan however, didn't seem to care as he rushed forward towards her.
"NO! ETHAN STOP!"
I don't know what came over me, but I rushed to my mom's side right in Ethan's vision...and suddenly my wings and body lit up completely, and a loud sound emanated from the energy that suddenly surrounded me, causing Ethan to skid to a stop right in front of me and look down at me almost perplexed.
"Ethan...?"
Ethan tilted his head at me as he kept on growling at me. I then stopped and thought for a little...if the souls within the armor are what cause him to lose his mind, then telling them to shut up should get him to be himself.
"It's me Ethan...Leia."
Ethan's growling grew significantly quieter than it was earlier.
I started to slowly walk towards him and eventually was able to touch his chest as his growling grew quieter by the minute.
"I need to speak to the souls Ethan...so just stay calm for me ok?"
Ethan had no response at all, but he allowed me to actually just stand right in front of him as I touched his chest.
"Let go of your control of him."
I could feel the presence of the souls in the armor roar in anger.
"He needs to protect his family. Surely you could see that. He wants his family to be safe around him. Just like the families you had!"
The souls started to quiet down in their roaring.
"There's more to life than revenge! Allow him to use your power without taking his psyche over and you'll find every reason to keep on being trapped within the armor."
The souls were completely silent as I put my hand in Ethan's and gripped onto it.
"Ethan...I know you're in there..."
I started to float up to his head and put my hand on the forehead of his helmet.
"Open your eyes Ethan. It's time to rewrite the story of this armor."
The growling suddenly stopped and it almost looked like Ethan was going to collapse onto the ground but then I heard a whirling sound within the armor and then looked at the helmet.
Ethan POV
I yelled as my vision suddenly turned back to normal and looked to the ground steadying my breathing. It was then I looked at my hands...and was shocked to see that the armor was still covering my hands.
Leia: "Ethan? Are you with me?"
I turned to see a massive blue light in the shape of Leia in front of me. I assumed it was her, so I nodded.
"Yeah...I'm alright."
I grew shocked at the pitch my voice was now at since it was much deeper than it was before. It was then that Leia stopped glowing and I heard footsteps coming from my left. I turned my head in the aforementioned direction to see Hel, Jörmungandr, and Angrboda all looking at me, although Angrboda had more of a proud smile on her face compared to her children's look of shock.
Hel: "Uncle Eíthürr? Are you in control right now?"
I nodded before turning to Leia.
"All thanks to her majesty's strange light she emitted earlier."
Leia started to blush even more at my compliment and Hel began to giggle.
Hel: "Well then, it's good to see that dumping the armor actually did something."
Jormungandr hissed from behind Hel and slithered up to us all. I looked up at Angrboda and smiled slightly before looking to my niece and nephew.
"So, what did your mom discuss with you?"
Jörmungandr: "Nothing you don't know. We've been updated on everything."
I nodded as I stopped my spartan rage, causing the armor to deactivate and my face to become mostly visible once again..
"Hmm...ok then."
I looked back towards Angrboda
"Are you joining us?"
Angrboda shook her head.
Angrboda: "As much as I would like to, your devil family probably wouldn't like the wife of one of their most powerful opponents being around. I'll join you guys later on, I can ensure you that."
Hel and Jörmungandr ran towards Angrboda and then hugged their mother. Soon enough though, they let each other go and they went back to me.
"Leia? How about you? Do you want to come with us?"
Leia: "I would but...I don't think my parents would appreciate it."
We heard a groan of pain as Alva slowly got back to her feet and started floating again.
Alva: "Leiœrtheia...you should go with them."
Leia: "Mom...are you sure?"
Alva: "I've been aware that your father and I haven't allowed you to live the best life you could have..."
Alva looked at me.
Alva: "It seems this boy here may be the key into this new life you may start leading. I trust he won't do anything to harm you."
Alva nodded towards me to which I nodded back slowly.
Leia: "In that case..."
Leia turned to me, her bright blue eyes practically begging.
Leia: "Please take me with you!"
"That's sort of the entire point of me asking if you were coming or not, but ok...Of course you can come with us!"
Leia: "Now then, how do we leave this realm? I never thought realm travel was possible to individuals who weren't Aesir gods."
I chuckled at her.
"Well, follow me, and I'll show you."
Gasper POV
It's been 3 weeks ever since Ethan left...and the ORC's state has declined immensely. Me, Kiba, Asia, and Issei were all relatively faithful that he would return, but the other girls...quite frankly, I've never imagined them taking it quite this badly. Xenovia and Irina often tried to act unaffected by it, but just a simple look at Issei would immediately reveal the guilt that they felt over Ethan's disappearance. Rossweisse resorted to drinking to try and forget the guilt-she even told Issei that she felt completely horrible about not helping him out enough.
Koneko was now rarely ever at home as she was often searching for him, or rather-ways to reach the realm he was in. Sadly, that often led to a whole lot of fights that she took part in, and one day, she just returned with a massive scar across her stomach.
Akeno and Rias both regressed immensely in their social interactions and they often were shut in their rooms doing something...What they were doing? I'll be honest, I have literally no idea.
We tried to make things better by telling the girls that Ethan was only temporarily gone-that his trip to Alfheim to repay the norse gods were going to be relatively short and he'd be back before they know it. Unfortunately though, the guilt in them must've made them think that he wasn't going to come back after a week. I'll even admit, I got nervous that Ethan wasn't going to come back.
Right now, I was sitting out in the front porch of the Hyoudou household looking at the collection of stones that made up the door that Ethan walked through to enter Alfheim. Koneko was also with me staring at the stones with huge bags underneath her eyes.
I sighed as the stones stood unmoving out in front...
Koneko: "Gasper..."
I looked over at Koneko and frowned at her state...if only Ethan knew just how much we need him.
"Yes Koneko?"
Koneko looked down to the ground and even though she had no emotion in her face, I could tell she was feeling sad.
Koneko: "Did Ethan really say that he was returning..."
"That's what he told me...I don't know if anything has changed for him...we can only hope he still wants to come back...and even then, I don't blame him if he doesn't want to..."
I gave Koneko a sad side glance, to which she frowned at.
Koneko: "Look...I know what we all said about him was wrong..."
"You think?"
Koneko: "I know...but I at least want to show him that I don't think of him like that...I think most of us want to show him that."
"It just took him running away for you to realize everything wrong about your treatment of him."
Koneko looked at me.
Koneko: "Gasper..."
I shook my head sadly and frowned.
"It's all our fault...even Issei's. It was only until after we defeated Loki that I even found out about Ethan's thoughts...the ignorance we all showed to his existence. I should've noticed earlier...yet we were busy putting our attention into someone else..."
Koneko didn't show any emotion, but her hands clenched as she looked at the ground.
"It was only on that celebratory night that I found out what we did to him...and it pains me to think of what could've been if it weren't for Ethan being a god...and even what has transpired since he ascended."
Koneko: "He ascended just so that he could be more useful to us...and yet we treated him even worse than we did before..."
"It's not a good place for him to be in at all, if he wasn't a god...then either Vali and his team would've killed him, or the armor itself would've. Now that he has the armor, he has to deal with the complete mental regression the armor can instill in him if he allows it-alongside his innate godly abilities being directly correlated to anger."
We both looked down to the ground, but then we heard the front door open and Irina stepped out looking crestfallen.
"Irina? What are you doing here?"
Irina: "Just...needed to clear my head a little...if you allow me to sit out here with you guys."
"Yeah...yeah that's fine..."
Koneko nodded her approval as Irina sighed and sat down beside us.
Irina: "There's not a single day where I don't regret what I've done to him after the meeting."
Koneko and I looked at our angelic friend sadly.
Irina: "I should've seen that he doesn't like it when the armor takes over...he was yelling in distress when Fafnir activated the armor on him and he almost broke down crying after he snapped himself out of it...and yet I decided to keep my distance from him just because I saw him as an unstable person."
Koneko closed her eyes and looked sadly at the ground again. I was completely livid at her, but I knew she already knew the depth of her mistake.
"You better fix that whenever he returns...I have a feeling he may not be around for much longer if you or the others haven't changed Irina."
Irina nodded slowly, a tear about to fall out of her eye.
It was then that a magical sound started to become apparent and all of our eyes immediately snapped to the stones on the ground, which were now glowing blue. It wasn't until the rocks started to float up in the air that my eyes widened and I gasped at the realization of what this meant. Suddenly the stones all configured to the shape of a door and just stood there for a little.
It was then that Issei, Kiba, Asia, Xenovia, and Rossweisse all arrived at the same place as the door opened...and Ethan walked through back into the front yard.
Ethan POV
Literally like 2 minutes before.
Leia: "What is this place!?"
Hel: "A simple branch of the world tree Yggdrasil that acts like a bridge to other gateways in other realms."
Leia: "OOOH! So this is the world tree that holds the nine realms then!"
"Yup, that sounds right."
Leia started laughing as she flew around the path way more excited than I've ever seen her before.
Jörmungandr: "Seems like Leia's a bit excited huh?"
Sköll: "No shit uncle."
Jörmungandr laughed at the voice coming from my blades as we walked along the path. However, as we further walked down the path, a sense of nervousness suddenly started to hit me and once the doorway into Midgard appeared again...I just couldn't walk through, which everyone else noticed.
Hel: "Uncle Eíthürr? What's wrong..."
"What if they haven't changed there thoughts at me...what if they're angry and don't want me to return...am I just going to ruin things?"
Jörmungandr: "If you ask me Uncle, if those devils still can't change their minds...then they're fucking stupid...if they don't see the effort you put in for them, then that's their loss. Remember that we're always here for you. Even when they are not."
I nodded shakily as I took a deep breath, and walked through the doorway. I found myself in the front yard of the Hyoudiu household in the dead of night. Yet I could hear a collective gasp as I turned to see everyone in the ORC but Rias and Akeno looking at me shocked. I frowned at them all and kept my distance from them...despite me wanting to hug the hell out of all of them.
"Look...I know you guys might be scared of me...but if you guys want me gone..."
I took a deep breath and my breathing hitched.
"I'll be out of here by tomorrow..."
My chest was hurting after I said those words as I nervously looked at everyone. The group stayed silent until Koneko suddenly started to cry and rushed to me, embracing me in the single most suffocating hug I've ever received from her.
I was shocked at the sudden motion, and hugged her back...but once I heard heard her crying, I started to tear up slightly as I embraced her back.
Koneko: "I'm...(sniff)...so sorry Ethan.. (sniff)...p-please stay with us..."
Those words registered to me and I patted her head comfortingly.
"Hey hey...Koneko..."
She continued to cry in my arms, and then, I was covered it a whole lot more arms as everyone group hugged me.
Gasper: "Ethan...you're back...YOU'RE REALLY BACK!"
Issei: "Dude! Don't scare me like that ever again!"
Asia: "See guys! I told you he would return!"
Xenovia: "Please forgive me for my actions before your disappearance Ethan."
I smiled and started to cry as I let the hug play out as everyone stood still for a little bit and everything became quiet for about 5 minutes...until-
Jörmungandr: "While I do love family reunions, could you lot just move over so that we can enter as well?"
Everyone suddenly moved and I chuckled at Jörmungandr's attitude.
"Alright then you big danger noodle, come on through."
Hel, Jörmungandr, and Leia all stepped through the doorway into Midgard.
Hel: "Good to see that they still love you Uncle Eíthürr."
I hugged Gasper next to me and smiled.
"And I wouldn't be happier."
Xenovia: "Um...who is that other short girl behind Hel?"
"Oh yeah!"
I ran up to Leia and stood beside her.
"This is the individual I met in Alfheim and now my newest friend. Leia, the princess of Alfheim!"
Leia shyly waved at them all.
Leia: "H-hello! I've heard a lot of good things about you..."
Leia nervously looked to the side and looked at the ground. I touched her shoulder with my hand and smiled at her to which she smiled back at me. However, I heard Rossweisse clear her throat as we both turned to look at her. Strangely enough, Koneko was glaring at Leia as well.
Rossweisse: "Now that you've returned Ethan...would you like to discuss anything with us?"
I looked at Koneko's appearance with her eye bags and then realized that Akeno and Rias were more than likely asleep. It was because of those factors that I made up my decision.
"I think I'll wait until tomorrow...poor Koneko looks like she's about to pass out."
Everyone looked at her as she blushed in embarrassment before walking back towards the house.
Rossweisse: "So then, it's decided. Everyone! To bed! We have a lot to do tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"
Kiba: "You'll find out then buddy."
I confusedly watched everyone go back into the household. All things considered, it was a very brief reunion, but I was still glad they were comfortable around me now.
Hel: "Well then, if it was time for bed for them, it's about time we head off to bed as well."
Leia: "W-wait!"
We all turned to look at Leia.
Leia: "Where do I sleep?"
Me, Hel and Jörmungandr looked at each other before silently agreeing on the topic.
"You'll sleep in my room. If it makes you more comfortable, you can sleep with Hel."
Leia suddenly started to blush but I ignored it as I grabbed her hand and gently guided her through the house to my room. It was there that I flopped on the bed and hugged it. I was only gone for 2 days, but goddammit, I missed my bed.
It took a good amount of time, but eventually Hel created her own bed once again and laid down on top of it, Leia soon joining her, while Jörmungandr wrapped himself around both of our beds. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep that night, with the satisfaction of everything I did in Alfheim actually being worth something to all of my family. Maybe something good can actually come out of my transformation for once, maybe this family will have a chance of being normal again.
3rd POV
An hour later
Ethan, Leia, Hel, and Jörmungandr could all be seen fast asleep in his room. But outside the window, a black cat is seen looking through directly towards the former pawn of the Gremory peerage.
It stayed staring at him, before the door silently peeked open just a little bit to reveal Rias and Akeno peering into his room. Once their eyes locked on Ethan, they smiled briefly, but then frowned as they looked around and saw his family spread throughout the room before they eventually locked onto the cat sitting outside the window.
Their eyes furrowed as the cat was glaring at them right back before the cat jumped down from the window and made a hasty escape.
In response, Rias and Akeno yawned as it was very late in the night before they shut the door to the room, plunging the space into solitude once more.