Strife of Misfortune(Wattys2016)

Forgotten

There was no time left. No more cheer. No more lies. Only fear. Only cries. The minutes melted into that dreadful hour, haunting the children with the ashes of what used to be theirs. They sucked in the hot air around them, feeling that poisonous liquid, like molten lava scorch their lungs. They breathed through that pain, that awful twist and gnawing at their thighs. There was no time to rest. They were approaching. The children had nothing left. They heard the angry ambush, that thunderous stampede of hurried footsteps. They drummed through the empty halls, their angry inimical voices as cold as hail. The children couldn't stop running, not even as their lungs strained to the point of bursting, not even as their muscles cried and their feet cramped. They was no time to rest. There was no place to rest. Why would they rest? They would be captured. They would be captured. That revelation was more agonizing than their frying lungs. They had to keep going, keep running, keep hiding.

No one was on their side.

So the children ran, ran till their legs crumbled into numbness and their lungs burned beyond pain. Still, the harsh footsteps continued, multiplying and mutating to a brutal hurricane of sound. The children couldn't take it, this constant fear, knowing their impending fates awaited at their heels. They could feel the fear gurgling in their throats, see the images flashing in their brains. There was no hope. They will be capture. Nothing will be the same ever again.

It was then that the sister tripped and fell.

"Get up!" The brother ordered. "They will be here any moment!"

"I can't! My legs hurt." The little girl cried.

"Please, we must hurry!"The boy helped his sister up and escaped into a nearby chamber. The room was cloaked by the night, permanently dark with only the moon sending a thin cord of silver through the window. The children felt their way through the darkness and crouched together in the corner, embracing one another as if they would be torn apart any second. The hours continued to burn. The girl began to cry.

"It will be alright baby sister." The brother said as he kissed her forehead. He knew it wasn't alright. Nothing was alright. Nothing will be ever again. But, he couldn't let his sister know, couldn't allow this revelation to rip the hope from her heart. So he rocked her in his arms, muting his own tears and allowing his woe to flood his mind.

"I'm scared." The girl whispered. "Where's father? Where's mother?" She knew they were somewhere in the palace, hiding and plotting. But somehow, it felt as though they were millions of miles away, as if a forest slice a line between them, as if the night kept them blind to the path leading to them. They were trapped. They were lost. Unlike the siblings of legend, they weren't in a forest and there was no hope of returning home. No evil witch to kill, no bread to pick, only the baleful screams of footsteps coming their way.

"I don't know." The boy admitted. His tears broke free from his water lines, crashing onto his cheeks. He cried and shivered as he held his sister. They were broken. They were unwanted. The only thing they could do is weep, weep and wait for their fates to burst through that door.

There was a pounding at the door.

Nothing was the same.

"Seize them!"

The girl screamed as the soldiers grabbed her. She seized her brother's arm, raking her fingernails into his skin in a mad attempt to remain with him. "No!" She shouted. Boiling tears rushed down her face. She dug her fingers into his arm, refusing to let go, not even as the guards seized him and ripped him from her grasped. "Stop! Brother!" She cried above her lungs. "Brother!" Her cries ripped at her vocal cords, she could feel them cracking . She screamed through the pain. She didn't care that her voice was being shredded by her screams, didn't care that her eyes were blinded by tears. The girl wrestled and struggled in the soldier's arms, struggling and seeking her brother. He was leaving. They were taking him! "STOP!" She yelled. "JORMUNGARDR! NO! BROTHER!"

Hela's eyes shot open. The dream evaporated into the night. There was no more screaming. No more crying. Only deafening silence. The girl sat up. She was drenched from head to toe in sweat. From her eyes protruded something. Tears? She lifted her hand to her face and drew forth the evidence. Why was she crying ? Hadn't she healed all those centuries ago. Never to care ever again. From that day forth, it felt as though she was thrown into the center of the earth, condemned to be torched, torn, and crushed. The lava became her blood, the crust her skin, she was continuously crushed until nothing remained but a hollow and hard heart. A diamond as she loved to call it. Yes. She was made by magma, hardened by fire. So, why were there tears? There was a tear somewhere. Her past was leaking through. That terrible past. That crippling sadness no amount of torture could produce. Having her limbs smashed would've hurt less. Now, she was damned to feel it again. She couldn't feel it again. She didn't want to feel ever again.

With a sigh, Hela ventured onto her balcony and basked in the milky light. The moon was a phantom in the night sky, blinding those to the beauty of the sky. It was a naked night. Little to no stars were in sight. Only the lunar goddess in her full glory, alone to face that endless void of darkness. Hela felt as barren as the night sky. More alone than the moon could ever be. She had the sun and the stars and Hela, she had the earth and decay. Death revolved around her. Misery revolved around her. It was no wonder that she didn't want to feel. To feel was to remember how miserable she really was.

She wished for the sun.

"Sister." Came a voice. "What a pleasant surprise. What brings you out here?"

Hela rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood to entertain her brother. "I came out here for peace and quiet. Do you have means to ruin it?"

Her brother took a swig of ale. "Why of course dear sister." He fell into the vein of musing the moment she arrived. He couldn't help but to wonder why. What brought her out onto the balcony? It couldn't possibly be the scenery. She wasn't the type to romanticise the night. "And I must say, I thought you've grown out of this little habbit. Did you have a bad dream?" He said derisively.

The girl glared at him. "I dreamt about that day." All humor suddenly left his face. A solemn mask conquered his face. Something eminently human appeared in his eyes. He then rejected his glass and looked at his sister with concern. There was no need for explaining. They both knew what she meant. That horrible day, the day the entire realm learned of Asta's true lineage. The day they were all banished. The day fire and rain collided with the death of their mother. It was that day that they learned of hell. It wasn't a place of fire. No. It was far more merciless than that.

"Oh." The brother finally said. "How dreadful."

"I thought I would at least gain some satisfaction from the girl's punishment." Hela added. "I felt none." Her voice hardened. "She couldn't even let me feel some satisfaction!" The girl nearly bellowed. She hated it! She hated this! Hela deserved to feel satisfaction, to feel completion. Asta deserved her plight. She deserved her misfortune and her pain.The blood. Her tears. They couldn't compare to the agony two children faced. They were broken because of her. She deserved to be torn. But yet...nothing. "It wasn't enough! I wanted it to be enough. But yet, I still feel dirty."

"It is the feeling we share." Jormungardr gave her a weak smile. "Nothing will ever erase the dirt. We are forever damaged. May as well embrace our filth."

"Why do I feel for a woman I despise?"

"She is our blood."

"She is nothing but a worthless cunt!" The girl snapped, biting back her tears.

"It appears we've switched roles for the night." He then lifted his bottle of ale and offered some to his sister.

Hela teleported to his balcony and accepted the drink, downing the strong brew. "I am only tolerating you for tonight." She said. "You would be foolish to assume that I've come to like you."

"Likewise dear sister." He replied. "And besides, would we be real siblings if we really did?"