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Hela watched with head tilted as Thor and Loki ran after one another with wooden weapons. They were both so small, their weapons even smaller. Thor's grin took up his whole face and Loki's eyes were like saucers.
"Sister!" Loki came running when Thor smacked him with his wooden sword. Hela knelt to look him in the eye. Loki paused just within her reach, "Thor keeps winning, what do I do?"
Her dark-haired brother bounced on the balls of his feet. Hela flicked his forehead, "Cheat, of course." Loki's eyes got even wider, but his lips quirked into a grin.
Loki raced back to Thor. The two continued their little sparring match as Hela straightened.
"Hela?"
The voice sent a shiver down her spine and the little figures of her brothers fell away. The illusions dissipated like sand flying from a dune.
In its place was Frigga, walking towards her. Each step the Queen of Asgard took sent ripples across the water of creation. Hel is but a whisp of a plain that exists above the water so that the souls may sink into the water upon arrival.
Hela has made herself a home here, an island upon which she may rest.
"My daughter," Frigga smiled as she paused before that island. The ripples cease with her movements. "May I enter?"
Hela grunted, but nodded. Frigga curtsied before Hela's make shift throne before making her final approach. Hela does not make a move towards her, but sits.
It was not the throne of Asgard she was born to have, but the dark stone certainly fit her aesthetic better. Hela's hair flowed down her back and Frigga reached out to tuck a stray it behind Hela's ear.
"What is it you want, Mother?" Hela asked, sighing heavily. She is tired, she does not wish to argue about her father. Odin will not lift her exile and Hela will not apologize for her rebellion.
Nothing will change. Not for millennia.
Frigga took a breath and threw her shoulders back, "Your father has discovered that I visit you."
Oh.
"He told you to stop, didn't he?" Hela's voice is much quieter than she would like. There is no one but her mother to hear it though. The souls of Hel are gone as soon as they come.
"He did. He ordered Heimdal to shut the gates." Frigga cupped her daughter's face. With the gates shut only the forgotten will visit here - the souls that are neither noble nor unnoble. "Heimdal has given me this chance to say goodbye."
Hela leaned in to her mother's touch this last time.
"I wish I could have brought your brothers."
Hela shook her head, "They are too young to understand." Too young to know her properly.
"I am afraid…" Frigga dropped into the throne beside her daughter, held her shoulders as she looked into Hela's green eyes. "…your father has wiped you from their memories."
Hela is surprised to find she is not surprised. She does not cry out, nor does she lash out at her mother. Frigga drew here in for a final embrace. She whispered sweet words of affection and care.
When she departed Hela felt the slamming of the gates. Waves crashed onto her island where once there had been no current. Hela stares into the dark depths.
She is alone. And forgotten.
With a sweep of her cloak Hela returns to her throne to watch the souls come in. If she focuses her magic well enough, she can see Asgard through the bars of her prison. She can watch as her father makes his many mistakes.
The first, he wiped the memories of his firstborn from the minds of his sons and his people. More erroneously, he does the same to his wife.
Hela is an island unto herself, but she had time to think now. Time to plan. And if she cannot save her family from Odin's control, then she will avenge them upon his death.