Hela was sitting in the library when she heard footsteps coming her way. The palace's library was huge, filled with millions of books and scrolls. Hela was sitting in the middle of it, but she wasn't sure where the end was. It seemed to stretch on forever.
She was reading a Norse fairy tale book when she saw two heads of white-blond hair coming toward her. She smiled lightly as Nari and Vali appeared behind one of the giant book piles. The two wore near the same thing, and Hela knew why. They loved confusing people.
"There you are. We've been hunting for you for hours," Nari said as the two walked over. Hela laughed.
"Through the castle?" she asked, tilting her head.
"No, just in this library." Vali casually sat on one side of her and Nari on the other. "Sif said we would find you here," he added as the two sat. Hela set the book on the table without closing it and looked between her brothers.
Looking at the two was like seeing a portrait of the same person twice. They had the same white-blonde hair that was was pushed to the side. They both were beginning to need a haircut, but neither of them seemed to mind. They both had dark skin and eyes to match it, which made them seem even darker. Teir faces were flawless and they were both tall, lanky boys.
"So why the search party?" she asked, now turning her attention back to the book. She had been on Asgard for two days now, and still wasn't sure when she would get to go back to Earth. It was a soft subject with her uncle. He wasn't around much to ask, anyway. Hela didn't know where he went to everyday.
Vali thought for a moment. "We want your help with something," he said slowly. He sounded like he was choosing his words carefully.
Hela's eyebrows furrowed and she looked up from her book. "With that?" she asked. Vali and Nari shared a look and then turned back to her.
"It's complicated," Nari said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"We'll explain outside, when there aren't as many wandering eyes and ears," Vali added, glancing at a few Asgardians at the next table. Hela looked at them too and then nodded. She stood and brushed off the royal blue dress she wore. The boys stood with her and they all began the long walk to the door. Hela sighed.
She wished she would have stayed near the doors now.
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
"All right, we're alone, now will you two please tell me what's going on?" Hela skipped over and sat one of the two beds in the room. This was the twin's room. Nari ran over and jumped on to the bed as well and Vali went to sit on the other bed.
The two looked at each other for a moment and then looked to her. The door had been closed and they had even closed the balcony doors. They were taking no chances on being heard.
"Hela," Vali started carefully, "When was the very last time you saw Father?"
Hela looked down and thought for a moment. "I caught a glimpse of him back at the house in the woods right before Tony carried me away." She closed her eyes at the thought of it. That last glimpse could have been the last time she saw her father, after all.
Vali and Nari shared one more look before they both nodded and looked at her at the same time. "What if you could see him again?"
She froze and slowly looked between the two. "See him again? What do you mean?"
"We want to find out where he is, Hel," Vali mumbled, "We want to find our father. And we want to help him get free."
Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. They wanted to break their father out of prison? Were they crazy? But then again, Hela wanted to see him again. She needed to see him again.
Hela looked between her brothers for what felt like hours. "Do you two have any idea where he is?" she asked.
Vali nodded and slid off his bed. "He's somewhere in this castle, Hel. He's somewhere in one of these dungeons, we overheard guards. We just have to find out which dungeon, and where. But once we do, we can free him and then we can all be together."
Nari turned to Hela and nodded as well. "We can all be a family, Hela. Wouldn't it be great?" Her brother's eyes glimmered with hope for a future. "So, will you help us?"
Hela was silent for a moment as she studied each of her brothers. They both looked so hopeful for a real family, a future with their father. Thinking of it, Hela decided that it was what she wanted more than anything.
She looked between them slowly.
"Yeah," she whispered, "I'm in."
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
It was storming outside.
Hela could hear the wind and rain beating against her balcony doors. It was dark, but she could see lightning crack through her drawn curtains every few seconds. It was worse than any storm she had ever witnessed on Earth.
She clung tightly to the blankets and buried herself in their warmth. Thunder rolled and she saw another white flash across the glass doors.
A yelp came from the small girl and she yanked the blanekts over her head. A memory came to her mind of her Father while she was staying with him.
The thunder clashed and Hela screamed with terror. She had never heard anything like this. Usually the helicarrier was too high up to go through storms, and Hela rarely had to suffer through thunder. But now, even with no windows in her room, she heard the thunder clearly.
Hela screamed again at the sound and sat up abruptly. She heard footsteps coming to her room and the door opened. Her father stood with confused eyes. He wore a white button up shirt and a pair of brown breeches. He wore no shoes and his har was tustled from his sleep. He turned and looked at her.
"What's the matter?" he asked, walking over slowly. Hela's eyes filled with tears as Loki sat on her bed. She scrambled to him and he quickly pulled her into his lap. She buried her face into his chest and jumped as she heard the thunder clap once more.
Loki sighed and wrapped his arms around her slowly. She felt his hand on the back of her head and clung to his shirt. "What's going on outside?" she asked, having to shout over the pounding of rain on the roof.
She heard her father chuckle and slowly looked up. "It's nothing but a storm, Hela. No danger here." He took her chin and smiled gently.
"Why is it so loud?" she asked, yelping when she heard the sound again and hiding her face once more. Loki sighed, amusement in his voice.
"Your uncle must be very angry," he said, a grin playing on his lips. Hela's eyebrows furrowed as her father pulled the blankets back and pulled them over the two. Hela looked up at him and tilted her head.
"What does uncle have to do with the storm?"
Loki chuckled. "Well, he is the God of Thunder." Hela thought about this for a moment and then jumped at the clap of thunder. She clung to her father's shirt.
"Why is he so angry?" she squeaked. She wished her uncle would calm down, where ever he was right now.
"Who knows? He has quite the short temper. Whatever it is, don't worry. He isn't one to hold that great a grudge. This will be over soon."
Hela laid her head on Loki's chest and sighed softly. Loki stayed still and held on to her until the storm began to subside. When it was nothing more than a weak rumbling of thunder, Loki looked to the ceiling and then to her. "See? It's over now."
Hela was asleep, though. Her fingers were curled into his shirt and she was breathing softly. Loki sighed, chuckling some before leaning back again to sleep.
She didn't know what her uncle was doing right now, but Hela wished he would calm down. Tears filled her eyes when she thought about her father. She needed him right now.
There was a scratching on the door and Hela's eyes widened. She hid herself farther under the blankets to get away from the sound. It continued though, and Hela went quiet. She heard a familiar yelp and threw the blankets off of her.
Hela ran over to the door and opened it. Fenrir ran inside her room, yelping and whining as he went. "Fenrir?" she whispered. "Fenrir, what are you doing?" The pup ran over to the bed and hopped up, burying himself under the blankets. Hela sighed.
"You don't like the storms, either, huh?"
At that moment, there was another clap of thunder that shook the room and Hela was quick to close the bedroom door and run to the bed. She crawled under and pulled the blankets over her head. Fenrir crawled into her lap as she sat up under the blankets.
The wolf pup whined and flattened his ears against his head. Hela sighed and stroked his fur. "I don't like this, Fenrir. This is nothing like the storms on Earth. It's never been this bad before. Is this normal here?"
Fenrir whined in reply and curled up against Hela's stomach. The young girl held wolf close to her and buried her face in her brother's fur. "Let's just try to go to sleep, okay? Then in the morning, we can all get to work on finding Daddy. The twins told you, right? We're going to break him out of jail."
The pup looked up at Hela hopefully and she smiled a bit. "Yeah, we're going to find him. I promise."
Slowly, Fenrir closed his eyes and soon the pup was asleep. Hela sighed, stroking her brother's fur and humming softly. Her eyes grew heavy and she found herself slipping away into sleep.
"You and I both know that this cannot go on." Hela stood in a strange room. In front of her were two men that looked exactly alike. They were young, probably no more than twenty, and the only differences in them were their eyes. One had golden eyes and the other had silver ones.
The man with the silver eyes held a dagger in his hand. It was beautifully crafted in silver with a single stone that looked like moonstone in the handle. It looked sharp and dangerous.
"What would you have me do, brother?" the man with the gold eyes asked. He sighed, weary of his twin. "The humans cannot help their nature. They were created this way."
"So what? We let the world fall to ruin at their hands? No. That is not our duty, our duty is to protect the earth. To protect it from monsters like them!"
Hela looked between the two. They wore strange robes and the room was made entirely of wood. "We cannot--we will not--kill these people." The golden-eyed man stayed firm and calm, but the silver-eyed one only growled and turned.
"If you will not do as you were meant, then I will."
The man stormed out and left the room. Hela's head began to ache and she saw flashes of pictures in her mind. She saw people fighting. The silver-eyed man was fighting with the dagger. Something happened, the dagger was broken into two parts. The dagger and the stone. They were split apart. Hela heard a man scream.
And then everything went black.
Sorry for the wait, everyone. I am not particularly fond of this chapter, but I felt like I had to have it for the story. I hope you all enjoyed.