When Hel finally allowed herself to sleep, her body stilled… but her mind did not.
Sleep, for a goddess of death, was simply a shift of awareness.
Her breath slowed. Her vision faded—
—and then she stood in that place full of shadows trees and fog.
“I need to find the rest of RWBY,” Hel mutters to herself as she begins to walk and the world shifts around her.
Finding the black-haired cat girl ought to be easy enough.
But today, something felt off.
The fog swirled.
The forest twisted again.
And instead of Blake…
A quiet, broken sob echoed somewhere ahead.
Hel’s brow furrowed, and she stepped toward the sound.
The sobbing grew clearer as Hel approached, soft but raw—
the sound of someone trying to cry quietly and failing.
She pushed aside a curtain of fog.
There, at the base of a twisted tree, sat a small black-haired cat girl.
Much younger than Blake, barely more than a child.
Her tail was curled tight around her legs, trembling.
She clutched a broken sword to her chest—
or what remained of one.
A rusted, jagged stump of metal.
Cracked. Twisted. Burnt.
Something that should have been discarded long ago.
Yet she held it like it was the most precious thing in the world.
“T-Teacher…” the girl whispered, ears flattened.
Her tears dripped onto the ruined blade.
“Teacher… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
Her shoulders shook. She pressed her forehead to the mangled weapon, as if afraid it might vanish if she let go.
Hel took one slow step forward, intending to kneel—
to at least see the child’s face.
But the shadows around them stirred.
the girl was gone.
No fade.
No sound.
Hel’s hand, half-raised, closed into a fist.
“…Damn, I'll try and find you again.” she murmured.
Another figure appeared.
A girl stood alone beneath a dead-looking tree, long hair covering most of her face.
But the most striking thing were the wings—red, like fresh blood, folded tightly against her back. Feathers missing, and others themselves matted red with what appeared to be the own girls blood.
“Orius is gone… Orius is gone… Orius is dead… it’s gone… all gone…”
Hel took a step foward only for the girl to disappear aswell.
A young man stood in a clearing, shirt torn, sweat dripping from his jaw.
No grief here. No despair.
Just focus.
He swung a battered sword in steady, practiced arcs—
shhk, shhk, shhk—
then smoothly switched to throwing knives, sending each one thunking into a nearby tree with military precision.
One. Two. Three. Four.
No words.
No expression.
Only relentless repetition.
The knives vanished the moment they struck, dissolving into ash before reappearing in his hands—just another sign this was a soul-space, not reality.
Hel observed him for several long seconds.
“…Huh, thats odd.” Hel mutters as the entire place begins to stir.
===
Hel’s eyes opened.
She found herself lying on her side in her room, lantern still softly glowing…
and Ruby Rose wrapped around her like an overexcited barnacle.
The girl had fallen asleep mid-hug, cheek pressed firmly against Hel’s ribs, arms locked around the goddess’s waist. Her hood had slipped halfway off, and she was mumbling something about pancakes.
Hel blinked once.
Twice.
“…Of course,” she muttered quietly.
Ruby snuggled closer.
Hel let out a breath somewhere between resigned and fond.
“Very well. Five more minutes.”
“…I suppose this is preferable to being woken by Loki screaming,” she murmured.
Naturally—
that was when it happened.
BOOM BOOM BOOM.
Three violent knocks shook the entire door.
Then—
“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!”
Ruby jolted awake so violently she headbutted Hel right in the ribs.
“Ow—! Wait—what—why is someone screaming my goddess’s name?!” Ruby flailed, still half tangled in the blanket.
Hel sighed, utterly resigned.
“She has arrived.”
The door didn’t open so much as detonate inward, slamming the wall behind it.
Loki stormed inside like an angry tornado holding paperwork.
Her eyes were bloodshot.
Her hair was a mess.
Her hands clutched the single sheet Hel knew all too well.
“HEL!” Loki shrieked, waving the bill like a weapon. “ FORTY MILLION VALIS?!”
“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!!” she screeched, shoving the bill forward like it personally offended her existence. “FORTY. MILLION. VALIS?!”
Ruby made a sound between a squeak and a dying accordion.
Hel blinked. Calmly. Slowly. As though this were not the tenth divine meltdown she’d witnessed this month.
“Good morning, Loki—”
“DON’T YOU ‘GOOD MORNING’ ME!” Loki howled, her voice cracking into a pitch that could shatter glass. “FORTY MILLION VALIS?! FOR THE FIRST FLOOR?! WHO DID YOU LET LOOSE DOWN THERE, A RAMPAGING DRAGON?!”
Ruby tried to hide behind Hel but ended up peeking out—exactly like a child caught stealing cookies.
“Um… hi…”
Loki lunged at her, stopping only because Hel placed one hand on her forehead and held her in place like an angry, short, flailing deity.
“YOU! YOU DID THIS!” Loki screeched, arms windmilling.
Before Ruby or Hel could react, the door swung open again and Reveria stepped in, her presence radiating the calm authority of someone used to dealing with Loki’s chaos.
“Loki,” she said, her voice sharp but measured, “enough.”
Before the goddess could protest, Reveria’s hand shot out and clamped firmly onto Loki’s ear, lifting her off the couch like a bag of angry laundry.
“HEY!” Loki yelped, flailing wildly. “THIS IS CRUELTY! YOU—”
“Quiet. You’re being removed from the room before you break something else—or someone else,” Reveria interrupted, marching her toward the door with Loki screaming an looking at Hel for help.