Asgard
That... Was... Fucking... Excruciating. A whole month of being on my feet every day for hours. For what? To end up in Asgard? Hela's palace better be worth it. My muscles were sore all over (even muscles that I didn't know I had) and in need of a good, long nap. We lost most of our horses and avoided other hunters to the best of our ability for the last goddamn month. I'm just glad we made it this far with our lives. The sooner we could get to Hela's palace, the better.
"Hela..." I tried not to whine. She's been through it just as much as I have, "I hate to be a bother but my feet hurt. Do you think we could stop for a short while"
"I know, sweetling," Hela put an arm around me, "But I do have some good news."
"What?" I leaned onto her for support or I was going to fall to my knees. Even when running from hunters, my feet never hurt this much but then mother and I didn't walk for 8 to 12 hours in one hit. The most we ever walked was an hour or two at most.
"Do you see that gold glittering palace up ahead?" she pointed into the distance. I squinted my eyes as I could not see well. I was tired after all.
"Yes," I could hardly stand, let alone keep walking. At least that palace was close.
"That," Hela smiled, twirling my hair around her finger, "is our home, Aurora. Welcome to Asgard."
"Oh, thanks the gods" I sighed, placing a hand on my chest. I was going to have a home. It's been so long "I honestly didn't know if I was going make it much further."
"breath through the pain," she insisted. I nodded, taking a deep breath and walking on "It's only one mile from here to the palace. Can you make that for me?"
"I think I can" I pulled myself together. How Hela has kept her composure for the last month astounds me. Her guards were just as annoying. There were one or two times when I thought she was going to kill her brother. He didn't do anything, only a few snide comments here and there but mainly, Hela picked on him when she was bored. I honestly felt sorry for him.
After another hour, we finally made it. We stood at the front gate of Hela's palace and from what I can see, it looks like we had a welcoming committee, too. Two men and a giant wolf.
"Welcome home, Queen Hela," a bald man with a dodgy haircut greeted us, bowing slightly. The wolf howled behind him.
"That was utter hell." Hela sighed loudly. The wolf lowered his head and licked Hela's "Good evening, Skurge. And hello to you too, Fenrir"
"I'm sorry to hear that." Skurge sighed. Many of Hela's army sat down wherever they stood. Many groaned in relief. They all looked knackered. Can't say that I blame them "Why did you not call for the Bifrost?"
"How long has it been up and running?" Hela looked towards the sea. Skurge rubbed his neck and looked away "I miss Heimdal. He could have found us"
"My Queen, I see that you've brought a friend with you?" the other man spoke as he looked me over. I frowned at him. He then smiled at me, fangs showing "My Queen, did you bring me a snack?" the man asked, speeding being me. He pulled my head to the side and I could feel his fangs on my throat, "It's been a while since I had a decent drink. And this one smells like a virgin."
"Excuse me?" I jumped, I pulled away, dagger out. I shoved the one who I thought might be a vampire away. I was used to being threatened but not because I was a virgin. I spun the dagger in my hand and held it against the man's throat "Back the fuck away!" The man laughed as I slowly moved back to Hela.
"You think that puny little knife will hurt me?"
"I'm willing to find out" I warned. The man snarled as he rushed towards me, only to be held in place by Skurge. Hela stood behind me.
"Calm yourself, Morbius. She is not your meal" Hela wrapped her arms protectively around me, "She's not a human. This is Aurora, a Hybrid I picked up in Jotunheim. Please forgive Morbius, dear. Sometimes, his eyes are bigger than his stomach."
"And he is also a prick" Skurge rolled his eyes.
"She's a mon-" Morbius frowned.
"A Hybrid," Hela cut her off, "Yes. She's a Hybrid. She also needs a drink and something cleaner to put on. And I need a bath... A long one. Go on, Aurora. Skruge will show you to the baths"
"Thank you, Hela," I bowed to her in gratitude.
"No need for that, darling," she brushed me off, "I'm happy to have you here. As are these two. At least they will learn to love you anyway"
"Hela" Morbius looked over the crowd of Hela's army at Hela's brother, "What should we do with that one?"
"I don't know. Nor do I care at this moment" Hela looked at her brother in disgust, "Throw him in the dungeon, I guess. Keep him alive though"
"I'll take care of him," Morbius decided, grabbing the chain around his neck.
"Don't bite him. His blood will kill you" Hela spoke. I think that was the first time I have ever heard her be nice to her brother. Morbius complained as he dragged her brother away.
"And you," Skurge turned to me, a blank look on his face. He wiggled his finger, beckoning me to follow him "Come with me."
"Okay..." Being around so many people was still strange. I've only lived with my mother my entire life. It was only us. Apart from the village chief and maybe the healer that delivered me, all of the people in our village had no clue that I was a Hybrid. But now... I would finally get to see what my other half was like. The other half that I despised for so long. The Asgardian side. Maybe it's not so bad. Hela did say that living here would provide quite the education for me. She promised to show me all the things my mother tried to keep me sheltered from.
All my life, I lived in a dilapidated shack. And when my mother died, I never ever expected that I would survive so long in the wild let alone that I would be living in a palace. Perhaps I would have gone feral. I don't remember the last time that I had a proper roof over my head. It might have been when I was a child. I hope that I will get to call this place home and Hela won't cast me out into the void.
Despite the lavish furnishings, it felt like home. Or maybe that was the pain in my feet and my legs talking. And that bed... The big, beautiful bed in the middle of my new bedroom... It looked so fucking inviting.
"Your name is Aurora, correct?" Skurge asked me, sitting down in the overly stuffed armchair in the corner.
"That's right," I nodded.
"It's a pleasure meeting you," he smiled sweetly. I liked him. He might look like a hardass but he seems to be a lot less of a hard ass than Hela, but soft doesn't always get one where they need to go, "I'm sure you had a long trip."
"It was exhausting. I am not used to walking for so long" I threw myself into the bed, revelling in the comfort of it "Holy hell, this is comfy" I was used to the floor. Pillows were still foreign to me. I was used to rocks or moss.
"This might help" Skurge went over to a small cabinet and got a bottle out of it.
"I'm not really much of a wine type."I shot him down,
"This isn't any wine," he assured, pouring a different dark red liquid into a chalice for me, "This is Asgardian Nector. You'll need your strength." I took a heavy smell of the glass. Skurge was not lying. This definitely wasn't wine. It was too thick to be wine. I nearly downed it all in one drink. Granted, it wasn't warm as I hoped, but it certainly warmed me inside.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," Skruge put the bottle back from where he got it, "Would you care for some food?"
"I thought with Morbius, you would have that in a place like this?" I wondered.
"We Asgardians still need to eat. Morbius has his own... stuff. And there's something special about biting into a piece of bread fresh from the oven"
"I could not agree more," I sighed, remembering how incredible my mother's baking was. It saddens me that I will never taste her cooking again. Her Frost Beast Stew was to die for. It's not like I didn't know how to do it, but it wouldn't be the same "But I'm not really all that hungry. Thank you, though"
"Was the Frost Giant's not hospitable?"
"Not to me. Being a half-breed, I don't get a lot of welcoming faces. My mother and I were run out of different towns. In the end, we grew to depend on what the land could provide"
"We can be quite hospitable when we want to. With the exception of Morbius. He's always ready for a fight, no matter who it is."
"And he was ready to make me her next meal," I shuddered.
"I'm surprised that Morbius didn't smell the Frost Giant blood in your veins. Usually, he has more of a brain cell. If you don't mind me asking, which one of your parents was human?"
"My mother," I told her, clutching my necklace. It belongs to her. It was all I had left of her.
"And who is your father?"
"His name was Volstagg. And from what I understand, he's dead now." I wish I had been the one to kill him.
"And the world is a better place for it," Skurge snarled. Suddenly, he realized what he had said, "Oh, I'm sorry, lass. I shouldn't speak ill of your father in front of you"
"Why not? I do" I allowed, "From what I know, he was a fucking prick. Though, I am curious. Did no one have a single nice thing to say about him?"
"I only knew him when he was in the army as one of the warriors three. To me, Volstagg was nothing but a pig. If he couldn't sail in it, eat it, or jam himself in it, he wanted nothing to do with it. Did he know about you?"
"I doubt it," I sighed, "When my mother moved to a different village after she found out about me. I highly doubt they kept in touch. I was told by a village elder that he raped my mother but my mother never confirmed it. She never utters one bad word about him. If a man defiled me without my permission, I wouldn't want to see him again either"
"Why did she move?"
"Because of the village before," I explained, "they were convinced that she was nothing but the village whore. And she was considered evil for taking a bed with an Asgardian. And assorted names that followed. We tried to settle in other villages but word spread about her and we ended up leaving"
"What was her name?" Skurge wondered.
"Layla" I bit the inside of my cheek, keeping my family heritage to myself, "Though the amount times we had to move, she could have changed her name and possibly mine"
"You know something, lass" Skurge smiled at me, "Hela sees something special in you. I'm glad you've found a home here."
"It is still so strange," I thought it over, "Any person that I have ever met who finds out that I'm a Hybrid calls me an abomination. I can't remember the last time it was just my mother and me"
"You will be safe here," Skurge promised, smiling.
"Even though I was here for ten minutes and Morbius wanted to drink me dry?"
"Yes," he laughed, "Morbius can be a bit of a dick, but that's not going to happen again. Why don't you get some rest? You did have a long journey here. And I'm sure you could use the sleep." I nodded and kicked off my tattered shoes. Soon the door knocked and we both looked to see Hela standing in the doorway in a black silk dressing gown.
"Hela" I smiled. Skurge bowed.
"My Queen"
"Skurge, Could you give us a moment alone please?" Hela turned to her friend.
"Of course, my Queen" Skurge got up from my bedside, "Good night, Aurora."
"Good night, Skurge," I liked him.
Skruge bowed to us both before he left the room, Hela replaced him at my bedside, Sitting on the bed next to me. She looked different from when I last saw her. Her skin was glowing, her hair was shiny. It's amazing what a bath can do to someone.
"Are you comfortable, Aurora?"
"Very much so" I nodded, crawling under the blankets.
"Good," she approved, tucking me in a little better. I wanted to cry. It had been so long since I was tucked in. I'm 21 years and it feels like I was a child again "I'm trusting Skurge got you everything you needed?"
"Indeed. I will take my long, well-deserved bath in the morning," I decided, "I'm too tired for it now and I would rather not fall asleep in the bathtub. The risk of drowning would be too high."
"I thought Frost Giants didn't need to breathe underwater" Hela assumed. I shook my head.
"That is where you are wrong" I clarified, "Yes, we can last a good amount longer underwater but I still have normal bodily functions. I still need to breathe, eat, sleep. My heart still beats, albeit a bit slower than most normal beings. I do have some Frost Giants traits, though. My vision is impeccable. My hearing is sharp as a tack. My sense of smell could rival a bloodhound. My speed, strength, and agility are enhanced. All I am missing is the deathly cold blue skin. Aside from all that, I'm just as Asgardian as the next person"
"You have your father's red hair and royal blue eyes but the rest I can only assume is your mother." Hela played with my hair again before pulling me into a hug.
"Thank you, Hela," I laid my head on her shoulder, "I mean. Thank you for all of this. Thank you for taking me in"
"You're welcome," Hela awed, "And if you need anything, do not hesitate to ask. This is your home now"
"I won't"
"Very good," she got up from the bed and pulled the blankets over me, "Rest well, child."
"Good night, Hela," I shut my eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.