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"A villain is someone hurt by the world, and so they take revenge on it."
- V.E. Schwab, (Vicious)
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<(Atem POV)>
"I see, so he abandoned you as well." Hela sighed after hearing the story of my birth and about my latest trip to Asgard while subtly surveying the damage my fire had caused to the surroundings. She had been trying to heal the "burns" that my fire had caused to the realm multiple times, even though she was actively trying her best to hide her attempts from me. However, every time, her magic was only able to alter the landscape where the scorch marks had occurred instead of actually being able to erase the damage. It was almost like the fire from my Blades of Chaos had wounded the realm on a conceptual level, something that could no longer be repaired by mere magic. "*Sigh* Well, it's not the first time he has betrayed one of his own. I guess we indeed are a lot similar, you and I." Hela released a tired exhale once she realized she could not turn back the realm to its pristine condition so easily.
"Yeah, we have all been failed by our father. You, me, our sister, all of us. Honestly, I would have included Loki in that too even though he is adopted but unfortunately, unlike you and I, he is genuinely an asshole." I joked with a smile before turning serious. "Look, Hela, I know you want revenge against Odin, and you are entirely right to do so as well. I even want to kill that old man. But that doesn't mean we can let our desire for revenge consume us. Revenge doesn't have to be a reason why you and I can't be family. You want to rule Asgard, right? Fine, be my guest. Even though I am technically Odin's firstborn, I would be more than happy to let my beautiful goth sister rule instead of me. I mean, ruling is boring anyway. It's so much... paperwork." I shrugged with a disgusted look on my face.
"Did you just call me... beautiful?" Hela asked with a skeptical look on her face as if she was doubting her own ears.
"Did you just call my mistress goth?" Hela's maid, Leah, also narrowed her eyes. The two of them were staring at me so intensely as if they were contemplating whether to erase me from the universe or to allow me to continue.
"Wait, you know what goth means?" I asked, raising one of my eyebrows.
"This is hell. Souls from all over the nine realms come here. We can see the memories of everyone who crosses through this realm. How else do you think we entertain ourselves?" Hela answered as if it were an obvious fact.
"Huh, valid point." I nodded. "Anyway, my point is you can have whatever you want, Hela. But don't you want your own family too, someone to rely on when you need it, someone who makes you feel that you are not alone in the world?" I asked as I slowly placed my hand on her shoulder, half expecting her to try to slash my hand off with one of her necro swords.
But quite surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind it much. "A family...? No, that will make me weak. I was taught from childhood that all forms of love and attachment are signs of weakness. Power is the only truth. I don't just want to rule Asgard. With time, I want to take over all nine realms just like my father wanted me to. Only this time, he will be nothing but a dead soul watching me achieve the impossible with my power while I drain every last bit of his strength and destroy everything he has ever known." The Goddess of Death boasted.
"... Yeah, sure, your genius plan to take revenge against our father is to do exactly what he prepared you to do in the first place. You want to be a cold-blooded murderer just because our dear little daddy wanted you to be one." I chuckled. "Honestly, it's more like you secretly love Odin rather than hate him. Perhaps, that's why you are doing exactly what he expects you to." I teased, knowing that my words were definitely going to tick her off.
