CHAPTER 265

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You guys didn't stone me enough. Didn't even need to use my health insurance for the wounds. Remember if we reach top 3 we get 2 chaps.

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[Sif POV]

Thor had finally come back, after finally having completed his mission in record time, however, despite his evident success in his quest, I couldn't help but feel anguish the moment my eyes met his. His eyes, they had changed, having a different feeling to them. It was like staring at the eyes of a dead man. He looked at me as we talked, but it was like he was seeing right through me, with an empty gaze, barren of all emotions, or rather, lacking Thor's natural gleam.

Hela was the first one to notice this, gazing at Thor kindly.

"He will recover in time," Hela muttered a few seconds after Thor had left. Her voice soft, and empathic as each word left her mouth.

"You really think so?" I asked, feeling as if my heart was beating ten times slower. Thor was many things, a fool, a thrill-seeker, a child at heart, a brute, and much more, but above all, he was Asgard's sun. Asgard wasn't ready, none of us were, we still needed that beacon he represented.

Hela sighed, running one of her hands through her hair, as she turned to face me. "I know that look, and all he needs is time to process, maybe a talk with Alex as well. I had that same look after my first campaign with Odin, hopefully, he will get the time to process."

"I thought you enjoyed war and conquest," I replied, sighing.

"That wasn't always the case." Hela chuckled, staring into her child-like hands in reminiscence. "I just wanted to make Odin proud."

"So you didn't enjoy fighting at the beginning?" I smiled, finding that statement highly amusing.

"Oh no, I always enjoyed a good fight, but war. War was a different matter altogether," Hela sighed, shrugging ever so slightly. "Be that as it may, my child-like thoughts changed, adapting to the circumstances as I waged my life on the battlefield day after day. I don't quite recall when I started loving war, but it simply happened, so I guess everything worked out in the end."

Everything worked out in the end?

I looked at her, in shock, was the former All-Father that terrible of a father?

"How old were you during your first campaign?" I had to know, I wanted to know.

"Eight," Hela replied without missing a beat, "It wasn't that bad though, I remember being nervous, but determined to do as Odin asked. I had it easy with that one to be honest, it was a fairly easy campaign, the enemies we were fighting at the time were extraordinarily weak, so we eradicated them quite fast. I think it took a month or so to kill everyone on that planet, now, the next campaign we fought two weeks later, now that one was scary." she chuckled, "I almost died twice there, passing out in the middle of the battlefield, only to wake up a few seconds later over the body of someone I killed, to see Odin giving me a look that said, be tough, be a warrior, so I did, I stood up with a cry, grabbed my blade from the ground and pushed through the pain. With time, things became easier, and soon, at the young age of thirteen, I was leading the soldiers with him."

Odin was a monster, how could he do that?! How could anyone do that?! She was a child, his child, and he took her love, her trust, her everything and crushed it under his hands.

No child deserves that.

"Don't feel sad for me, darling. It's unbecoming of you, I might even think you like me, and we can't have that now, can we?" Hela chuckled.

"If anything I am horrified by your tale," I replied with a sigh, musing over her tale. "I never thought the former All-F… Odin to be capable of such things."

"Well, in his defense, and yes, I know how odd that sounds coming from me, the Odin I knew, and the one you know are two entirely different individuals," Hela replied with a small shrug.

"Perhaps, but that doesn't excuse his actions," I replied, my tone firm. While it was true I didn't like Hela, it didn't change the fact Odin's actions had been beyond despicable.

"As Emily says, meh," Hela replied with a small chuckle, "Sure, I still want to see him die on a stake, his body set aflame as he screams in sheer unyielding agony, with me laughing at his agonizing face, but seeing as that will never happen, I am satisfied knowing he has no powers, with Alex and Thor having taken them as a punishment for his treason in keeping me a secret after my supposed death. So, glass half full situation."

Glass half full…

"If you say so," I sighed, my mind going back to Thor.

"The point of all of this being, Thor will go back to normal in no time," Hela said, reading my face.

"Maybe when Alex comes back," I smiled, Alex did have a way to make Thor smile, or come to reason. They really seemed like brothers, more so than Thor and Loki ever looked.

"That's my bet," Hela nodded with a smile, before her face morphed into a frown, staring right ahead of her.

I followed her gaze, finding Vest and Adara walking into the room.

"Hi!" Vest smiled, waving at us, making Hela tense even more.

Could it be that she was able to feel they were threats? That made no sense, if they were, which was Alex's running theory, they had fooled us all.

"Well hello there ladies," Adara winked, giving Hela a warm smile, "Why so tense? I haven't pranked you yet… I think…"

"My apologies, I simply do not like strangers," Hela replied without missing a beat. "As you can clearly see, I am but a child, at least in body, so, as Emily would say, stranger danger."

"Hmm, fair enough," Adara shrugged.

"We are so sorry to disturb you girls, we really are, but we were looking for Alex, and Emily, we have looked everywhere, and we can't find them, do you have any idea where they are?" Vest inquired, her eyes shining with kindness.

"We do not," I replied just as Alex had told me to because I really didn't know, I had no idea where the girls were, or him for that matter, it was all part of the plan, to secure the girls as much as possible, by keeping those who knew their location to the bare minimum.

"Ah, I see," Vest sighed, before pulling a basket full of muffins out of nowhere with a warm infectious smile, "Well, if you see them, please tell them we are looking for them."

"Will do," I replied, taking the basket. Realizing, that now that I was aware of her presence making me feel warm and relaxed, it felt wrong, almost as if I was being drugged, or hypnotized by her.

"Well, toodeloos~" Adara smiled, before turning around, and walking towards the exit with Vest.

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After Vest and Adara left, leaving us in silence we moved back to my private training ground to continue with my training training with Hela instructing me, as well as having some privacy to ask Hela why she reacted that way.

Much to my shock, the moment we entered my place, Hela turned to me and hissed, "We need to contact Alex, right fucking now."

"You know who they really are?" I urged, seeing her agitated state, and immediately realizing what was happening.

"Not all, but I caught wind of Alex's suspicions thanks to his change towards them," Hela replied, frowning, "My first opinion of them was that they were unbearably irritating, the man especially, while the girl felt like home to me, so instead of questioning that, I simply accredited those feelings to Emily rubbing off on me, but after seeing Alex's body language change towards them, I started to question my own assumptions… and when I did, I found myself no longer feeling safe around them."

"Same," I replied quietly. The moment I was told they were possible threats, I just couldn't help but feel like jumping out of the room whenever they were around. The feelings around them were the same, but now, they felt as if snakes were crawling all over my body.

"I have no doubts those two are threats. Everything twisted the moment I became aware there was something to be wary about, almost as if I had opened my eyes to actually see them," Hela added, taking a deep breath, her thoughts concurring with mine. "The once warm and welcoming feeling of home the girl gave, changed. It was still warm, but somehow cold at the same time, making me feel like I was a prisoner of my own home. And the man, he wasn't simply irritating anymore, he was now terrifying, and cold, his eyes like those of a snake playing a game…"

"We must act carefully," I nodded.

"I am fully aware," Hela replied, "So do that!"

"Well, that's not nice…." That voice, Adara.

"Leave my property this instant," I ordered, keeping my tone even and calm, as Adara stared into my eyes. Hela was right, his eyes felt like those of a snake, it was unsettling.

"Hmm," Adara hummed, index finger pressed upon his lips. "Not sure I like that offer."

"I refuse to die without a fight," Hela muttered, pulling a knife out of her clothes while getting into a battle stance.

"Well ain't that cute," Adara chuckled, looking at Hela.

"Leave. Now." I repeated, knowing fully well it would not work, especially if this man was truly an enemy, which I was now certain he was. "Or I'll be forced to fight," I added, unsheathing my blade.

"Hmm, how about this for a counteroffer," Adara winked, snapping his fingers. At first, everything seemed the same, however, it didn't take me long to figure out what he had done, Hela was no longer around.

"You killed her?" I muttered, before staring into his eyes.

"No, I simply sent her away, to a forest nearby," Adara replied, as he started walking towards me with an unsettling smile, "She will be okay, probably, but I did what I had to do, there was simply no other way, I needed to have a private chat with you, nothing bad, I assure you."

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Author note: this revelation doesn't discredit the theory of who are Alex's parents. This revelation if anything shows that a predator, knows how to hunt his prey.

As I foreshadowed earlier a few chaps ago. Lies that are truths.

Clue of the day = the real deal already appeared in the novel multiple times. At the beginning, middle and somewhere before this arc. Let's see who manages to note the appearances in the novel.

Beyond that. Enjoy, with love corn.