Chapter Text
Hela traced the mural with her fingers, her lips spreading to a smirk.
She was there when that mural had been made and she could swear, that was not what it used to look like.
She turned her gaze on Lady Frigga, her eyes following the former Queen's movements, as she collected the last few items she needed for her journey.
"I meant what I said, Lady Frigga," she broke the silence. "There is room in my court for you, as long as I can count on your trust and loyalty. I have nothing against you - you should have nothing against me."
Frigga forced a polite smile. "Shouldn't I be the one to decide that?"
Hela closed the distance between them. "No blood was shed here. Your husband, your son, are both alive and well. I don't suppose you were hoping your rule would be indefinite."
"Nothing is indefinite, dear," Frigga turned her back on the younger woman and closed her satchel.
Hela tapped her foot on the floor and followed Frigga to the door, unsatisfied with how this final meeting was going so far.
"If I had slain Thor-"
She never got the chance to finish that sentence, as Frigga turned sharp eyes on her.
~
The body she held was still warm as she screamed and begged for her baby to talk to her, but he couldn't. She pleaded and cursed at the Norns as Balder's lifeless eyes stared through nothing.
She didn't let anyone near him, she didn't let anyone close his eyes or kiss his forehead. She had been the one that cared for his body and made the necessary preparations for the funeral, despite the fact that every look at his pale face was a dagger to her heart.
She was the one that covered his face with the veil, before his funeral pyre was sent out to the sea. When the arrow hit and his body was engulfed in flames, she thought her legs would give out.
For just a moment, they were probably going to. For just a moment, before she heard the muffled sob and turned to see Thor, with wide, terrified eyes, pulling his shaking father in his arms.
With newfound strength, she dragged herself over to them, shielding them from the eyes of the Kingdom, who weren't supposed to see their King's pain.
~
A blood-curling scream made its way from her bleeding heart to her throat, when she saw the ship taking off. Both her boys were nowhere to be seen - it had been hours since she had last seen Lady Jane.
Despite herself, the scream turned into a short laugh, the first she had managed since Balder's death, when she watched Bor's statue being decapitated.
There was a chance she would never see her sons again.
There was a chance her mind would shutter.
~
She wanted to hold Thor to her chest, just like when he was still her baby. She could barely hear his story of how Loki had died a hero's death, his explanation and promises to stay if his mother needed him.
She tore her heart out through her own words, as she looked into her son's brilliant blue eyes and asked him what it was he needed to do.
As Asgard's crowned prince renounced the throne, she turned her gaze to the man sitting on it, who returned it, wordlessly asking for her permission.
It was silly, in a way that made her want to laugh and cry at the same time. After everything, he still looked to her for guidance.
He heard the words in her husband's voice, that set Thor free. She held her son close to her heart one more time, as he was promising her this wasn't goodbye.
She turned her back the moment he did; she knew this was the right way, but she still couldn't bear to watch her son walk away.
The throne room was silent, as she closed the distance between herself and the man on the throne, who stood up and dropped his disguise.
Loki stared at her like a spooked animal, ready to run away at any moment. Seeing her son like this, she finally snapped.
Loki caught her before she fell and they both sat on the stairs before the throne for what seemed like ages. Loki had nothing to say; Frigga's tears wouldn't let her speak.
At the end of it all, she commanded him to disappear before the Allfather would wake from Odinsleep and be forced to call for his imprisonment.
~
There was fire and blood in their dead eyes. The Dishonored Dead. The army of Hela Odinsdottir.
Gjallarhorn echoed through Asgard.
The doors of the throne room swang open. Hela stood before Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, who awaited the orders of their King quietly.
"I defeated you once. I can do it again. If it has to be the last thing I do in this world, so be it," Odin's words echoed through the golden hall.
"That may be so," she tilted her head with a tricksy, almost innocent expression on her face. "But then, Asgard would have to be lost in your blaze of glory. Unless of course... you simply step off the throne."
"You want an entire realm to bow before your whims?" the Allfather snarled.
"You have no heirs. Your surviving children have denied their right to the throne. I am free of the curse you put me under and I am here for my rightful claim. Step aside, or watch your entire kingdom drown in a sea of blood."
Frigga stood next to her husband and watched as a small group of Dishonored Dead, led by a gigantic wolf, entered the throne room to stand behind their ruler. The wolf sat beside Hela, its glowing emerald eyes fixed on the King.
"Ragnarok could mean the end of Asgard, or simply the end of your era. The decision is yours to make, father."
~
She wasn't on time. She wasn't there to stop Heimdall's final act of defiance, she wasn't there to catch her son before he entered the palace gates to challenge Hela.
The Rainbow Bridge was the site of their battle. Hela met Thor alone and faced him with all the might and respect he deserved. When Frigga arrived on the scene, their battle cries and the sound of metal clashing against metal was all she could hear. Lightning and emerald magic concealed their figures.
By the end of it, the scent of blood had filled the air. By the end of it, her son was no longer standing.
She stayed completely still as she watched him struggle to get back on his feet and fail to do so. She focused her eyes on the new Queen of Asgard as she stood over her firstborn son, pressing her blade on his throat.
"You asked for a chance to reclaim the throne, Odinson. You failed."
Her triumphant eyes wandered away from Thor for a second and the Queen of Asgard caught a glimpse of what looked like a beast, ready to pounce on her and tear her limb from limb.
She seemed to hesitate as she cast her eyes down once again, studying her younger brother's expression.
"You are hereby banished from Asgard."
~
Hela stood before the same beast she had seen on the day of her battle with Thor.
"If you had slain my son, dear, I would have tore your heart out with my bare hands."
Hela believed that. In a strange way, she respected it, too.