"What a coincidence."
On Asgard's Rainbow Bridge.
Hela watched her half-brother with great interest. The chained Thor was still struggling desperately, but it was all for naught. The Other, who was walking close behind Lothar, held the "keys" that kept Thor under control. The God of Thunder was completely unable to resist, forced to be led wherever he was pulled.
"Believe it or not."
Hela's teasing tone didn't affect the incredibly composed Lothar. The man's nonchalant demeanor left Hela feeling a little bored as she pouted. She really wanted to see Lothar in an awkward silence just once, but she never got the chance.
"Anyway, thanks."
Jokes are jokes, but Hela was genuinely grateful for Lothar's act of capturing Thor and delivering him to her. After all, Thor was her brother and the successor to the throne designated by Odin.
In the thousands of years she had been sealed away, Thor had gained immense prestige among both the populace and the military. With a man like him wandering free, Hela's position would never be truly secure. She had planned to catch him herself after the coronation, but now she wouldn't have to bother.
Snap!
As Hela reached for the chain, her wrist was caught by Lothar.
"???"
"The terms haven't been discussed yet. He doesn't belong to you yet." Lothar was unfazed by the change in Hela's expression.
"Ten reflection papers, about your unauthorized mobilization of the entire Black Quadrant army without my father's permission." Lothar said, holding Hela's pale wrist as he laid out his conditions.
"And they must be insightful, no less than 2,000 words each," Lothar added at the end.
"..."
Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, Hela finally broke free of Lothar's grip. She looked up and met his suddenly infuriating gaze. "Two."
"Done." Lothar had no intention of bargaining, which immediately sent Hela into a state of deep self-doubt. She felt that given how quickly Lothar agreed, she could have probably gotten it down to just one.
The bound Thor stopped struggling, his eyes darting back and forth between Lothar and Hela as if he had just discovered a new world. He never would have thought in a million years that his value, as the rightful successor of Asgard, was only worth two papers.
"You mobilized the Black Quadrant's forces without your father's permission?"
Hela led Lothar and his group down a recently constructed VIP-only path. As she closed the Rainbow Bridge doors, she asked the question.
"Didn't you say the Rainbow Bridge was broken?" Lothar replied, dodging the question.
"I am the ruler. I decide when the Rainbow Bridge is working and when it isn't." Hela's swaying fingers paused, and she quickened her pace slightly. "But what about you? Aren't you afraid your father will be like Odin, who, because of your unauthorized mobilization of the army, will accuse you of betrayal and a power grab?"
Walking ahead as their personal guide, Hela glanced at Lothar, who was only half a step behind her, and asked with a hint of mockery.
Odin's death, her newfound freedom, and her hopes for the future made Hela, the Queen of Asgard about to be crowned today, willing to make a joke of her own heartbreaking past. It was both a jest and a warning.
"My father is not like Odin. The one who would have something in common with Odin would be Ego." Lothar sneered contemptuously. Those two were the kind of people who would be ruthless enough to strike down their own children for the sake of a goal. His adoptive father, Thanos, was different.
"So confident?"
"Are you trying to sow discord between me and my father?" Lothar narrowed his eyes, his gaze holding a hint of scrutiny.
"No, I'm just reminding you." Hela was not intimidated. Odin's transformation was still a vivid memory, and she didn't want Lothar to suffer the same fate.
"That's exactly what you're doing." Lothar's expression was deadly serious.
"Interpret it however you like." Hela's queenly stride led Lothar and his entourage to the newly built platform in Asgard's central square.
"Take him to the dungeon. Lock him up with Frigga."
The skeletal soldiers, with no skin or muscle tissue and wearing standard Asgardian guard armor, took the raging Thor from The Other's hands under Hela's command.
"Strange, isn't it?"
Hela smiled as she noticed Lothar's gaze wasn't on her, but on the departing skeletal soldiers.
"They are all dead?" Though it was a question, Lothar's tone was assertive. He couldn't sense any life force from these guards. Not just these guards, but the soldiers stationed on both sides of the Asgardian square were all corpses with no trace of life.
"Odin killed them all."
"Just because he wanted to erase all traces of me from Asgard."
"He wanted everyone to forget me, to forget everything I did for this kingdom."
"He wanted to clear the way for my foolish brother to ascend the throne."
The elegantly dressed Hela leaned on the railing of the platform, looking down at the Asgardian populace gathering below. Every single one of them was filled with fear and hatred for her. This was because on the day of her return, she had slaughtered her way from the Rainbow Bridge to this very square, leaving a river of blood and an oppressive gloom.
"Remember Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto whom we met on Midgard?"
"The spell he left behind gave these soldiers, who were once loyal to me, a chance at resurrection."
"I used the Eternal Flame to bring them back..." A trace of sorrow flickered in Hela's eyes.
"But they are still dead." Lothar exposed the illusion of their resurrection. Hela nodded in silent agreement. She was, after all, only the Goddess of Death of Asgard, not of the entire universe. She had no way to truly resurrect soldiers who had been dead for thousands of years.
The sad truth was that in Asgard, the only people Hela could trust were the dead. Every living person wanted her dead. Including Frigga, her mother, Odin's wife, the former Queen of Asgard.
"Is it worth it?"
After a long silence, until the sparsely populated square was filled with the teeming masses of Asgardian people, Lothar finally spoke.
Is it worth conquering an entire kingdom that hates you? All your old friends have long been buried, and every person still alive hates you with a passion, yet you have to pretend not to see it and become the queen who leads them forward. Is it worth it?
"Of course."
Hela closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and hid the sorrow in them.
"This is the only thing I have left to do. And only by doing this, can I truly feel that I am alive."
Asgard was the pillar that had kept Hela from becoming a mindless zombie during her imprisonment.
"Lothar." The woman opened her eyes and turned to face him.
"What is it?" The man and woman met each other's gaze.
"Will you celebrate with me? In your own way." A gentle breeze ruffled the hair on Hela's brow, and her voice had a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.
"Why?" Lothar crossed his arms over his chest, his expression cold.
Because... you're the only person I can trust right now...
Hela pressed her lips together, and the words on the tip of her tongue changed. "It's nothing. Forget it if you don't want to."
Below the platform, the vast populace of Asgard was already prostrate at Hela's feet. The skeletal guards sounded a cannon salute for the birth of their new ruler. The sky was filled with sparkling fireworks and ancient, profound prayers. The magnificently dressed Hela stood upon the high platform, her arms outstretched, accepting the worship of her subjects.
"Rejoice!"
"For the birth of our new Queen!"
"Behold, Hela, the benevolent and virtuous Queen of Asgard!"
"That is..."
The Other, who had discreetly turned on the amplification device on his suit, began a dramatic chant at a signal from Lothar. His loud, soaring words of praise echoed in the ears of every Asgardian.
"Women are so much trouble..." Lothar, standing right behind Hela, muttered with a dismissive sneer.
Hela's face, a few feet away, broke into a radiant smile.
Lothar, who was completely unfamiliar with the coronation ceremony, had no intention of leaving with The Other, and Hela didn't ask him to leave either.
A man and a woman, two figures stood tall on Asgard's magnificent ancient square, accepting the reverence of all its people amidst the profound and solemn prayers.
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