The Hydra Sin (SDS)

Chapter 29- Reunited

The grass cracked dryly under my feet as I walked through the abandoned town; technically, it was still the same as when I was last here, but there was something different about it, a new feeling of danger lay about it. The air had almost turned sour and it was as though an evil presence was breathing down your neck, which was definitely irritating. Moments like this made me thank the gods that I was a banshee; yes, the atmosphere was more distracting to me than it would be to most other species, but at the same time it was less harmful. I would bet that normal creatures could only spend a couple of hours here before becoming violently ill because of how this place felt. I only the other hand, could stay here all day and prepare all the wards I needed to, to protect my friends when they got here.

If I didn't set up wards for evil, then Loki wouldn't face much initial resistance in this realm; the wards would allow everyone who came to stay here for a much longer period, since I had no idea when Loki would break the barrier. If he had corrupted Hel, then he would be here already, so I was guessing that he had locked her up somewhere where my mind couldn't reach her.

I desperately wanted to go to the other realm and check to see if everyone I cared about was okay, especially Hel and my family, but something told me that that would be a bad idea; I mean, I would pretty much be gift wrapping myself for Loki if I did that. For now, I would have to content myself with knowing that I was doing everything I could to protect my loved ones at this point.

I was so deeply buried in my thoughts that I didn't even notice the force I was using to place my wards, my last one was set, and a loud crash startled me from my thoughts; when I looked around I saw that wherever a ward had been placed, a crater was also present. I shook my head and blushed, at least no one was here to see my loss of control, I usually was a master at focusing my attacks, so this would be another bit of ammunition for the others to use against me.

Before I could start to fix my mistake, a voice called out from behind me, "Geez, did we miss the initial attack? This place had been torn to shreds!" I spun around, and a huge smile spread across my face as a body slammed into me, nearly knocking me off my feet; my arms rose to embrace Diane, who was hugging me with everything she had.

"Janis! How could you have left us for so long without telling us first? We were worried that you had died or something!" I smiled as she ranted about everything that had happened to them, "You should have seen Ban, Janis, he was so mopey and sad, it was actually kind of cute!

I laughed and waited until she let me go so I could turn and greet everyone else, "Hey." I waved awkwardly as I remembered that I left after leaving a cryptic note and nothing else; everyone else seemed to remember that as they looked at me with slight irritation, though some looked more irritated than others. *cough* Ban *cough*

The before mentioned irritated person approached me slowly, looking as though he was debating between throttling me and just giving me a quick decapitation, so I grimaced apologetically, "I am so sorry about leaving without a note, but I swear I had a good reason, please don't kill me." He was three feet away from me now and my eyes closed instinctively as I braced myself for whatever was going to happen next.

To my surprise, instead of yelling of smacking me, I found myself being pulled into a strong hug; my eyes flew open with shock and I felt him bury his face in my hair, "Don't you ever do that to me again, I thought you had died or been captured; I can't afford to lose you, Janis, don't you realize that?" If I hadn't known Ban as well as I did, I would almost say he was close to tears in that moment.

I was speechless for a moment before what he said caught up to me, "Wait, you can't afford to lose me?" I asked hesitantly, and he jerked away from me wide-eyed.