Past Mistakes

Chapter 2: Compromise

This had happened over a thousand years ago. The acid from the snake burned and seared into Loki's face and the pain was so unbearable that Loki's agonising yells were the actual cause for earthquakes that took place on Midgard. To relief Loki of some of his pain, his wife Sigyn stood by his side, mostly quiet, holding a bowl to catch the venom. Loki was internally grateful to Sigyn for sparing him the pain, however whenever the bowl got full and she had to empty it, the venom freely fell onto his face.

At the moment, Sigyn was still holding the bowl over his face, her look distant. Most of the time they barely interacted. Deep down, both of them still loved and cared for each other, but their relationship had seriously been strained in the light of recent events. She absentmindedly yet softly asked, not even bothering to remove her shoulder-length red locks aside from her face, "How did it feel?" Loki looked up with his bloodshot eyes. His once short, luscious black hair was now long, messy and burnt to a colour of grayish black. He croaked, his voice hoarse from all that screaming, "What?" Sigyn replied, "Killing Baldr. How did that feel and how do you feel now?" Loki sighed and mumbled, "Triumph, at first. Triumph, but no satisfaction."

They stayed like that, absolutely silent, when suddenly Sigyn frowned, "Before Odin tied you up, what did he curse you with?" Loki groaned, since that memory had been drilled into his brain, "That no Aesir or Vanir or mortal or giant or dwarf or elf or plant or animal could ever free me from here." Sigyn had a strange gleam in her cloudy eyes, like Loki used to have in those pistachio eyes whenever he used to pull off one of his schemes. The ends of her mouth quirked up into a smirk, "He didn't mention anything about the dead, did he?" Loki muttered quietly, as this had been the longest conversation they had since his imprisonment, "No..." Her face turned hard again, fury replacing the gleam in her eyes, "We're getting you out of here, but you will have to bear the acid for sometime." Loki groggily nodded, "Okay- Wait, what? Sigyn? Sigyn, wait! Where are you going?! Why are you going?!
Sigyn answered, not turning back as she left the cave, her voice grim and full of hatred, "To get something. Vengeance." Loki tried reasoning, but Sigyn had already dropped her bowl and disappeared.

She teleported herself to Helheim, the Realm of the Dead, the kingdom of Hel. There was a bit tension between Hel and Sigyn as Hel, alongside her brothers named Jormungandr and Fenrir, was the result of Loki's affair with Angrboda, a giant. The triplets had been born before Sigyn actually married Loki, but still. Anyway, Sigyn confidently strode into Hel'a palace and bowed before the throne. Hel was a peculiar deity, to say the least. Anyone looking at her from the right would see a beautiful, fair, young girl with long, raven hair like Loki's (who could change his hair colour) with shining blue eyes. However anybody who looked at her from the left would see a dead, skinny, miserable girl with gray skin, black eyes which were dying, and white hair as long as the black on the other side.

Hel gave a curious smirk, saying in a rough yet somewhat pleasant voice, "Sigyn! How lovely to see you here." Sigyn stood up, "I need a small favour from you. I hope you will agree to help me." Hel's right hand took a wine glass from the servant ghost's tray, "That depends on your favour. Whom does it concern? It certainly won't be you, as why would you come to the Goddess of Death for something?" Sigyn looked her straight in both of her eyes, which not many could do and live to tell the tale. She said in a motherly, commanding voice, "It concerns your father, Hel."

Hel's smirk turned into a sour expression in a nutshell. She practically slammed her wine glass on the servant's tray, "Of course." She stood up, as all the servants bowed, "This conversation needs to be private. Follow me." She took Sigyn to the gardens which had dead and decaying plants. There Sigyn explained her plan of using a spirit from Helheim to break open Loki's bonds so he could be free. Hel hadn't really been close with Loki because:
A. He had married Sigyn, not Angrboda - but Hel had gotten over it now. And
B. He had never stuck around for more than 3 days to even look after her and her brothers, just like he ignored Narvi and Vali. It just felt personal to her.

So Hel was reluctant upon this plan. She knew Sigyn knew that she disliked Loki for abandoning her, but there also stood one teeny problem, "But if your plan succeeds, and Loki is free, won't that mean Ragnarok is here?" Sigyn shook her head, "Nay. Ragnarok is destined to occur when your brother Fenrir breaks out of his bonds and goes to kill Odin." Hel straightened, "But why should I trust you? More importantly, why should I trust Loki? All his life, he's been nothing but a pain in the neck. A two-faced, cunning, loathsome, evil cockroach who cared for nothing, not even his own children, but himself. Why should I trust that ignorant, horrible man who, at this point in my life, is just a title to my title - Hel Lokidottir, Goddess of Death, Daughter of Loki. Why?"

Sigyn shook her head, "I know he's been a lying, conniving idiot, but he's my husband, and your father." She gently patted Hel's left arm, to which she flinched but didn't protest, "Everyone deserves a second chance, Hel. How about this offer? If you help me free him, I promise that I will free Fenrir without causing Ragnarok, and mend Loki's ways so that he could become the father he never was to..." She swallowed, choking a little, "To Narvi and Vali." Hel stared at her incredulously, "How in Odin's beard will you free Fenrir without causing Ragnarok? You just said-" Sigyn nodded, "Ragnarok will begin when Fenrir pursues Odin to get revenge. I know Fenrir's heart is full of hatred for Odin, and mine is no less, but if we manage to calm him down, Ragnarok will not begin immediately." Hel tried contemplating this offer and stood there, completely dumbstruck for a few minutes. Then she slowly nodded, "I mean, I don't see why not." She raised her right eyebrow in suspicion, "But why do you want to strike this offer with me? It seems as if I am getting more advantage in this than you."

Sigyn had mixed feelings. She wanted to compromise her offer so that besides freeing Loki, she could also be able to free Vali and Narvi, but she had no idea what made her say this to Hel, "That's all I ask for." Hel agreed, "Alright. Your deal is too tempting to let down. I will send you a well-abled soul to do the task." Her mouth quirked up in that nefarious Loki smirk, "In fact, I want to annoy Father. I will send Baldr to free him."