Loki's Daughter, Mortem and Mischief

Chapter Ten

LOKI'S POINT OF VIEW
"I'm coming with you."

I don't know what I expected to see when I gave into my daughter's madness, but the expression her face melted into was shocking. I had never seen such determination within her, such confidence. Hela had just won and she damn well knew it. Looking into Hela's eyes felt like looking straight into a mirror, she was far too much like me. I knew she was high off of her small victory, the small smile upon her lips told me all I needed to know. I could only hope her crash wouldn't be as nasty as mine always proved to be.

Hela tightly grasped my hand and pulled me into the portal after her. I hadn't a clue where we would end up on the other side. The  possibilities were endless with a TemPad. And with Sylvie as our guide, the uncertainty increased tenfold. I could only hope that this wasn't some giant trick that my daughter had been pulled into, and that I had now been pulled into as well.

"Took you long enough," Sylvie mused as Hela and I stumbled through the other side of the portal.

She looked me up and down and smiled. Sulvie restrd her hand on her hips and asked, "I'm surprised you decided to come along, old man. I was near certain your adventuring days were over."

"They were," Hela replied as she brushed herself off, "He's done seldom more than fish, garden, and feed chickens over the last three years."

"You say that as if you weren't doing the same exact thing," I argued, raising a brow at my daughter. This cheeky attitude from Hela was unusual to say the least. Just in the last few days, my daughter had transitioned from a sweet farm girl to a determined trouble maker. The qualities she shared with her mother were melting away before my very eyes as Hela became increasingly more like me. And not the reformed version of me.

"Now, now," Sylvie warned as she stepped between Hela and I, "I'd hate to see daddy and daughter fight."

"We weren't fighting," I said firmly. I had forgotten how insufferable Sylvie had been to work with.

"Not yet at least," Hela mumbled under her breath as she crossed her arms. She was acting as if I was the biggest headache she had ever dealt with.

"What was that?" I challenged, stepping out from behind Sylvie to get a better look at my daughter.

"Oh shut up," Sylvie groaned, "She's a teenager and you raised her, she's gonna be bratty from time to time. Let it slide."

"I'm not a brat," Hela scoffed, looking almost hurt by Sylvie's statement, "I'm trying to help him, help everyone actually. I wouldn't say that's typical brat behavior."

"You're only proving her point, dear," I teased, only receiving a glare from Hela in reply.

"Where are we, Sylvie?" Hela asked, turning her back to me and making her voice as sweet as possible for my variant. This small action hurt more than I cared to admit. Hela and I had been so close, nothing had ever come between us. And then, all at once, Sylvie had flipped a switch within my daughter.

"You don't recognize it?" Sylvie replied, raising a brow as she smiled at Hela, "Come on, dear, you know where we are."

For the first time since stepping through that portal, I actually took a moment to look at my surroundings. We were deep within the woods somewhere and the sun was shining through the canopy overhead. Each and every tree stood tall and strong with no imperfections in sight.

"I don't want to play guessing games," Hela sighed, "We're in the woods somewhere?"

"Very clever," Sylvie said sarcastically, "Do neither of you know where we are?"

"No, we don't," I replied, trying to keep my annoyance at bay, "I don't know where we are and I sure as hell don't know what we're even doing here. Would anyone care to explain any of this to me?"

"Don't get your panties in a twist," Sylvie teased, "But fine. If you must know, little Hela and I made a deal."

"Oh yeah?" I scoffed, "And what would that be?

Though I would never let it show, I was afraid to hear her answer. No matter what Hela thought, she was still a child. And a naive child at that. I knew Sylvie, I knew her just as well as I knew myself. I also knew that Hela's innocence wouldn't stop Sylvie from taking advantage of her.

"I wanted to bring Asgard back," Hela admitted, her tone serious and calm, "She told me that she would help me do that if I gave her the TemPad once everything was situated."

"Bring Asgard back?" I echoed, "What do you mean?"

"I wanted my kingdom back," Hela sighed, "My home, my people...my mom...If I could just rework history, stop ragnarok....we wouldn't be living in Midgard, we wouldn't be poor or hungry. Everything would be better. Truthfully, I wanted your help with all of this but you refused to even hear me out. So, when Sylvie made her offer, I had to accept."

"Since when did you care about Asgard? About bringing your mother back?" I asked as I tried wrapping my head around all that she had said.

"When did I?" she asked, her voice laced with an increasing anger, "Since I lost you to you obsession about all of this! About bringing mother back! I figured if you got to wallow in grief, I should be afforded that same right. Only difference between you and I is that I decided to at least try to bring back what I lost!"

"Hela," I warned. The last thing I wanted was to get her riled up, causing her short temper to spark up into a flame. Wherever we were, her safety was still my top priority. But I couldn't necessarily assure her safety if she stormed off to who knows where.

"I'm fine," she said, taking a deep breath and crossing her arms. I knew for a fact she was not fine but I was not in the position to pry.

"That was quite a show," Sylvie scoffed, "Are you two done now?"

"Quit with the teasing," I said as I looked at our surroundings. It all felt starkly familiar.

"Won't you tell me where we are?" I asked, giving up trying to figure it all out. My head was pounding and I was not in the mood to use context clues.

"Really?" Sylvie mused, "Even I can recognize these woods. And I bet Hela can too."

"I do," Hela said softly as she looked up through the forrest canopy, "Are we...?"

Just as she spoke, another voice within the thicket sounded. Hela immediately came to my side and clung to my arm just as she always did when she was afraid.

"Hela, dear! We must go back home, papa should be home soon!"

A shiver ran through my spine and I could feel the pit in my stomach open up. My breathe was caught in my throat and my heart began to beat rapidly. Hela and I shared a glance. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale as if she had seen a ghost.

Both of us knew that voice all too well.