Loki's Daughter, Mortem and Mischief

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Hela," my father said slowly, his hands firmly grasping my shoulders. I couldn't even look at him, I felt entranced by the glowing rod that Mobius held-that Mobius seemed to threaten me with. I felt the adrenaline coursing through my body, begging me to run-to preserve what I had with Grimnir.

Lives had been lost, murders had been committed for me to get to this point. I had nearly all that I wanted, all that I had longed for right at my fingertips. Days ago, I may have been willing to make sacrifices, to hold on and let go to certain pieces of my perfectly crafted timeline. But now, now things were different. I now had absolute everything I craved, from my father, my crown, and to Grimnir. Why would I give any of it up at the drop of a hat? Just because Mobius said so? No. No, I had done too much, had tasted perfection. I couldn't let any of it go.

"Hela, it's for the best that your cooperate," my father said his voice firm and full of warning. I looked passed him, to Mobius, who simply nodded in agreement. My Father's fingers bore deeply into my skin, holding onto me as if I was animal bound to run from him.

"Grimnir is innocent," I repeated, feeling like a broken record as I argued for his safety. "I'm not going to hand him over to you like he's some lowly criminal," I stated firmly, still looking through my father and to Mobius. The Agent did no more than scoff before he said, "You know, you and your pa here, you're real jokesters."

"I'm not jok-" I began, taking a step towards Mobius before my father swiftly took me by the jaw. He forced me to meet his eyes and stop my pursuit of the Agent. "You need to give up, Hela," he said, his fingers pressing into my cheeks. "This is not a battle to win. It's just fate, it's the way things must be."

I stared up into my father's green eyes, searching for any bluffing. Hoping, pleading, that perhaps he was working on some elaborate rouse to save Grimnir and double cross Mobius. But as I peered into the eyes that mirrored my own, I saw no lies and found no hope. He looked at me with a stern gaze, just as he did when I was little and caught in a lie or mess. His brows were furrowed, waiting to hear an I'm sorry, or any sign of obedience.

"Fate?" I echoed as I tore my way out of my Father's grip. I could almost laugh at the idea that fate still had any significance. If anything had been proven in this mess, it was that fate was irrelevant. I was able to change everything that fate had demmanded. My mother way alive, Asgard existed, and I was Queen, if anything, fate was just my tool to bend to my will.

I shook my head as I stepped back, distancing myself from both Mobius and my father. "I'm so close," I said softly, my cheeks red with a surge of anger and frustration. My father's face fell, a white flush coming over it. It looked as if he saw a ghost. "I'm so close to everything I want," I said in desperation, trying to bring my father to my side in the last fleeting moment.

Mobius and my Father shared a glance and I could immediately tell they were one the same side. Nothing I could say or do could bring them to sympathize with me. My mind was buzzing like crazy, my heart was thumping out of my chest, and I couldn't seem to focus my gaze on either of the men that stood in front of me.

The only way I can describe the way I felt in that moment is the way you feel when you stand on the edge of a cliff. My stomach was churning, pulling me back and away. I felt as though I was inches away from the edge with only two options. I could either submit and lose Grimnir, handing him over to Mobius. Or, I could jump-take the risk and try to save Grimnir, try to save the perfection I had there. I only had moments to decide.

LOKI'S POINT OF VIEW
Looking into my daughter's eyes, I could see only myself. And that terrified me. Her eyes were full of fear, anger, and resentment. I could practically see right into her mind, through those murky green pools and into the bundle of thoughts that swirled within her.

I knew exactly what she felt as I had experienced the same terror so many years ago. I knew the feeling of being so close to everything you ever wanted, ever needed and seeing the threat to it all. It casts a fury in your bones so primal and so fearsome, it could drive someone mad.

I felt that way in New York. Flying far above the skylines and watching as those below me cowered in fear. And then, my brother and his band came and rightfully shot me out of the sky.

Though I didn't know then that they were in the right, and that I was very clearly in the wrong, I had felt cheated. I was seething with anger and fear, too desperate and hungry for power to back down from the fight. I saw that same desperation alive in my daughter and my heart crumbled within me.

Had I failed her so deeply that she felt that all she needed was power, was to have things her way? I couldn't bear the thought. Just as desperately as she felt the need to disobey and rebel against Mobius, I felt desperate for her to choose the selfless decision. I couldn't lose my daughter, my baby girl. Not to this. Not to what I had fought so hard to grow past.

"Hela, you have all you need," I said softly, standing firmly between her and Mobius. Her green eyes were wild and her breathing was ragged, panic was consuming her.

All Hela did was shake her head as she insisted, "But he's innocent. Doesn't he deserve to live? Don't I deserve to have him? After all I've been through?"