BOOK 3. Trapped in Asgard after Odin's apparent death, Anna chooses an unlikely ally in her attempt to find Loki. While the realm is sealed from the rest of the Nine Worlds, her strange dreams lead her to the one place she'd never expect.
To him...
"Wait!" Anna calls out, tripping over the edge of her gown as she rushes after Hela. "Why not? Why won't you help me?"
Hela sighs, waving her hand dramatically, "Why should I? It benefits me in no way."
"What about Loki?" Anna argues.
If it weren't for Hela's presence less than a foot in front of her, she would be terrified of her surroundings. Ice, snow, and mist are jumbled together around her, every direction indistinguishable from the other, creating a frigid wasteland hiding countless horrors that she can't even begin to imagine.
"What of him?" Hela shrugs. "I owe him no allegiance."
Anna frowns, "But...he's your father. Surely--"
"No," Hela interrupts, stopping suddenly to swirl around to face Anna.
The mist twists and turns around her, bending to her will almost as if it is afraid to touch her, and Anna can practically feel Hela's eyes burning in the shadows of her clock. In one swift movement, Hela throws back her hood causing Anna to gasp at her appearance.
She looks remarkably similar to Loki, her long black hair falling wildly to the middle of her back. Her eyes are rimmed with black, thick rings of darkness that serve only to make her pale blue eyes all the more startling. Hela stares at Anna with clear disdain, those electric blue eyes cutting through her resolve like a pair of icy cold daggers.
Anna's heart twists painfully at the memory of Loki, but she pushes it from her mind as she stares at his daughter without backing away. There is something about her, despite her frigidly beautiful and terrifying appearance, that is incredibly unsettling. Every fiber in her being is telling her to run, to be afraid, but she forces her shoulders back as she stares back into those cold blue eyes. Something wrong, something hidden and dark, makes every second passing feel like a challenge that she must not fail.
"What do you think, Midgardian?" Hela taunts viciously. "Do I frighten you?"
Anna shakes her head, the word no stuck in her throat, as Hela takes another menacing step forward.
"Are you certain?" Loki's daughter asks, tilting her head to inspect Anna. "I look just like him, don't I? What that must do to you, I can only imagine."
She thrusts her chin forward, clenching her jaw to prevent it from quivering, and stares up at the dark-haired goddess of death. She is frightened - she's bloody terrified - but she refuses to let it be known. After both Restitution and Malekith, she's found a strength inside her that is startling. That, her love for Loki, and sheer stubbornness are the only things fueling her now.
Hela cackles, her cruel laugh echoing through the darkness and the fog, as she turns away from Anna.
"I can see why he cares for you, Midgardian," she drawls, her long strides causing her form to disappear quickly into the mist. "You have heart, but I shall not assist you in your quest. I do no favors for sons of Odin," she spits out the name, malice dripping from every word, "so I suggest you return from whence you came."
Her heartbeat racing, Anna scrambles after Hela.
"Odin is dead," she says, the words falling out of her mouth before she can stop them. "I don't know how to get back, I don't know how to find Loki, and I don't know how to defeat Thanos."
Tears of frustration fill her eyes as she stares at the now-motionless Hela, her shadowy figure as rigid as a board, before Anna continues, "I won't stop. I do whatever I have to, anything you want, so long as you help me. Please."
Hela waits for a few moment, every second like a knife digging into Anna's heart in the midst of this frozen wasteland, and a sense of desperation floods through her. This could be it. This could be the end of everything. Without Hela, there is no getting back to Sigyn. There is no finding Loki. There is nothing.
Just ice and cold and emptiness for the rest of her days.
The woman in front of her shifts almost imperceptibly, and Anna can barely make out one black-rimmed eye as Hela glances over her shoulder at the tiny brunette. Everything within her freezes - she doesn't even dare to breathe - as she clings to one insignificant thread of hope.
"Anything?" Hela asks, her voice low as she lifts an eyebrow.
Anna nods, ignoring the alarm shooting through her brain, repeating, "Anything."
The corners of Hela's mouth curl up slightly, twisting into a distorted smile that would spark fear even in the most seasoned warrior. In this land of fog and darkness, this woman is nigh omnipotent, and Anna can't fight the feeling that she's just made a deal with the devil.
"Well then," Hela smirks. "What are we waiting for?"
Now Playing: "Lose Your Soul" by Dead Man's Bones.
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*cue evil laughter*
So, what do you think of Hela? Marvel released the first look at her character! Anyone reminded of desperate Loki in TDW after Frigga's death? Like father, like daughter...
