It'd been a few days after Loki had left and Hela was finding it hard to sleep. Every time she'd doze off, she'd have the oddest of dreams about a young woman holding a baby and running. It was frightening, simply because of the air about the dream. The woman and the baby were both in grave danger, Hela just didn't know why.
She was sitting in her room with one of the old books her uncle had brought her. There was a story about in it about the goddess Freya being so disgusted about a man she was asked to marry that the vein in her neck swelled up so much and her favorite necklace broke. The story made her giggle.
Hela was far too into the many strange tales when the super soldier walked into her room. She glanced up briefly before turning back to her book.
"Hi, Steve." Steve walked over and plopped down on her bed. She marked her place and shut the book quickly. "What's up?"
The soldier seemed a bit awkward in her small bedroom. He looked like he was trying to think his words over carefully. "Well," he started, "Hela, ever thought of meeting kids your age?" Hela frowned. She'd never really thought about it. She'd always been home schooled, so she never had really met other children. She wasn't sure if she wanted to.
"I don't know, not really," she confessed, leaning against the soft pillows. Steve nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.
"See, thing is," he started, "We've all decided that it'd be best if you start going to a real school. Meet kids and stuff. So, tomorrow you'll be starting second grade."
Hela felt her jaw drop and her eyes bulge slightly. Where did that even come from?
"Huh?" she murmured. She wasn't necessarily upset. Just surprised that she was even allowed to go. She had been told she couldn't because of her magic, so why the sudden change?
"Yep. Everyone thought it would be best if you start public school. You can control your magic fairly well now, and you need to see a little of the world. So you start tomorrow!"
Hela was silent for a moment before she nodded her head once. Steve seemed a bit relieved, as if he was expecting her to blow up on him, and then stood. "Great, then you'll be up by 6 o'clock tomorrow, goodnight, Hel."
She cringed at the thought of waking up so early. Hela was a lot of things, but a morning person was definitely not one of them. She sighed and set the book on her bedside table as Steve walked out and shut the door quietly behind him. Tomorrow would be a long day for her, and she wasn't sure if she would like it or not. Slowly, she slid under the blankets, reached over and set her alarm, and flicked the lamp off.
"Shh," a woman soothed, stroking an infant's raven black hair. She held the child close and stared at the entrance of the room. The door was shut and seemed locked, but the woman still seemed to be waiting for someone to break the door open.
She was alone in the room, the only other person being the baby in her arms. The woman looked calm and collected, though the air about the room seemed panicked and eerie.
"Nothing will harm you," she whispered, "I'll never let anything harm you." The baby squirmed some in the woman's grasp but soon settled again. It seemed to be hours of waiting in the room that only held a bed, a small cradle, and a few boxes on the sides of the room. The boxes seemed to contain food and water.
There was a loud banging going on above them. It sounded like a war was going on, the walls shook and there was the faint clash of weapons. They were under attack. The woman began to sing softly to her daughter, still clutching the baby tightly to her chest. She looked around the room and took in a deep breath, not a hint of fear in her eyes.
Suddenly the clashing came to an end and everything fell silent. The woman went quiet and slowly backed away to the bed. There was a click that signaled the door unlocked and then flew opened. The woman didn't flinch as a familiar soldier walked in. He looked at the woman and the baby.
"All clear, Miss."
Hela woke with a jolt and sat up straight. Her alarm clock was blaring with the same irritating ring. Only now it was more irritating; It was 6 o'clock in the morning.
She groaned in protest and slumped back on the bed. Right now, the last thing she wanted was to get up and fly down to a school and meet a bunch of kids. Despite this, she sighed and sat back up, turned off the alarm, and climbed out of bed.
Soon Hela was dressed and sat in a jet, staring out at the ground far below. Once she wondered how it would feel to free fall out of one of these jets. She'd always wondered what if felt like to fly, and she couldn't help herself. One day, she snuck into a jet, asked to be taken down to a store, and when the pilot wasn't looking she grabbed a parachute before jumping. The Avengers could have killed her that day.
Now she was going down to start public school. What an interesting turn of events. She'd been told to never get on one of the jets again, let alone take off, and now she was headed down to school. Interesting turn of events.
Hela pulled at her dark green sweater. Her dark jeans were a bit too long on her, but she didn't mind too much. She had no idea what to expect, and she wasn't sure if this was such a good idea. Her nerves were slowly getting to her.
"We're here," Steve chimed. He'd decided to come along and make sure she got there. Hela thought he just wanted to make sure she actually went into the school.
Hela sighed and nodded, grabbing her bag. "All right, see you later," she paused, "And don't forget to come get me, okay?"
The super soldier laughed and grinned down at her. "Yeah, yeah, I'll either send someone or come get you myself. In the mean time, stay out of trouble." The girl rolled her eyes but smiled anyway.
"I'll behave, bye Steve." Hela climbed out of the jet and headed toward the school. She turned back once to look at it, but it was gone. The jet had already taken off and was gone.
Hela sighed and turned back to the school. It was fairly large, made from brick, and had windows all around it. There were children her age all around, but none of them seemed to pay her any mind. This was fine with Hela, who kept walking toward the school.
Inside of the first grade classroom, it was much more colorful than Hela had expected. There were posters all along the walls of math equations, books, and cartoon students. Hela's eyes found a table covered with colored pencils and she had to restrain herself to not walk over now and start drawing to help her nerves.
Class had yet to start, so she shoved her bag in a small space meant for her to store her things and sat down in a chair, propping her head up with her elbow. Once again, her mind wandered to the man in the cell. Where was he and her uncle right now? On Asgard? Hela had never been, but Thor had promised that one day he'd take her. Was it nice there? From the stories she'd heard, Asgard had to be the most beautiful place ever created.
Hela didn't notice the boy snapping his fingers in front of her face. She blinked and looked at him.
"You okay, there?" he asked. His hair was fiery red and he wore the strangest clothes. A bright red shirt and yellow skinny jeans. The shirt had "I'm The Good Thing That Comes In Small Packages" sprawled across it. Hela noticed he wore glasses, but they were fake. "Hello?" he called.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine," she replied, taking a second glance at his choice of clothing. The boy smiled widely, showing off braces. He seemed friendly enough, if a little strange.
"Pass me that box?" He gestured to a box of crayons beside her. Nodding some, she grabbed the box and slid it over to the boy, watching him with mild curiosity as he searched through until he found a strange shade of orange and then began to color.
"My name's Will," he said, looking up at her again. He grinned at her, once again showing off the braces. Hela couldn't help but laugh quietly at just how comical he looked and smiled back at him.
"I'm Hela," she replied. Will held out his hand for her to shake and she took it, shaking his hand quickly before releasing it.
"That's a strange name, it fits you though," he commented. Hela laughed.
"It is a bit strange, but Will is a very normal name, especially considering-"
"My awesome style choice?" he finished, looking over his clothes. He looked up and laughed. "I might as well look different, better than looking normal." Hela smiled. She liked his way of thinking. Why be normal when you can be special?
For a moment, there was silence between them both. Hela grabbed a sheet of paper and a black colored pencil and began to draw. Will looked up and studied her for a moment before he let out a huff of fake anger.
"Your hair is so dark and naturally pretty, I'm actually jealous of it," he stated. "When I get older, I'm dying my hair a weird color." Hela looked up and laughed with a raised eyebrow.
"What color?" she asked.
Will looked deep in thought before he answered. "Not sure yet, maybe a dark blue. Or maybe-"
"Green," the two said at the same time. They looked up and laughed. "Green hair would suit you," Hela said, looking at the boy's red hair. Will grinned.
"All right, then the first color I dye my hair will be green."
She grinned back at him before going back to drawing just as the teacher began to call roll.
Hela ran out of the school, Will at her side, laughing. School had been interesting. She'd kept control of her powers and hadn't caused any trouble, that anyone knew of. Their teacher would be finding a lizard in her desk at any moment.
"That was brilliant," Will said, chuckling. They stopped under a tree and took a breath. "Think she found it?" he asked. There was a shriek from inside the building.
"I'd bet on it," Hela replied. She looked out and saw Steve walking down the sidewalk to the school. "Looks like my ride's here," she murmured.
Will's eyes followed her gaze. "That you're dad?" he asked.
Hela shook her head. "No, not exactly," she replied before turning to him. "See you tomorrow, William." The two waved goodbye and Hela took off at a run, intent on telling Captain America about her first day at school.
Hi everyone, sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and tell me what you think!
Will: HI PEOPLE. That's right, I'M IN THIS ONE. I had to beg though. Funny, I actually remember meeting her this way. I even remember complaining about her hair and my hair. Bleh. Oh well. BYE.