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OSVP	By : LotornoMiko Category: +S through Z > Valkyrie Profile Views: 1214 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyrie Profile or the charcters from it. I make no money off of the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-OSVP
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Eleven
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 15-Fifteen
- 16-Sixteen
- 17-Seventeen
- 18-Eighteen
- 19-Nineteen
- 20-Twenty
- 21-Twenty One
- 22-Twenty Two
- 23-Twenty Three
- 24-Twenty Four
- 25-Twenty Five
- 26-Twenty Six
- 27-Twenty Seven
- 28-Twenty Eight
- 29-Twenty Nine
- 30-Thirty
- 31-Thirty One
- 32-Thirty Two
- 33-Thirty Three
- 34-Thirty Four
- 35-Thirty Five
- 36-Thirty Six
- 37-Thirty Seven
- 38-Thirty Eight
- 39-Thirty Nine
- 34
- 35
- 36
Sometimes Brahms wondered if it wouldn't have been more merciful to kill Hel. To end the torture her existence had become, to free her from the horrors Hel's mind forced her to relive. Again and again, the nightmares coming whether she was awake or not. The months following his rescue of Hel was a rough period in both their lives. The Goddess was broken, her mind and manner childlike. She was fragile, the slightest thing could set off her upset. Hel often existed in two modes, one where she was constantly screaming. The other times, she was weeping, crying endless tears. Rare was the time when she was quiet, and those times worried Brahms most of all, even as they gave him a much needed break from Hel's hysterics.

Brahms often had to remind himself that Hel had a right to be hysterical. She had been tortured most cruelly, a victim of both physical and sexual abuse that had left long lasting scars on both her mind and body. He needed to be patient with her. Caring. But many days when the stress got to be too much, he thought about killing her. It shamed him to think that way, but never as much as the fact that he hungered for a relief from the burdens Hel placed upon him.

In saving the Goddess, he had bound them together all the more tightly. Hel was linked to him, her very fate, her very existence dependent on Brahms. She needed his protection, needed his patience and care. She was incapable of caring for herself. If let alone she would have surely ended up right back in a similar situation with a different set of demons.

Hel was not just a broken shell of her former self. It was as though she had been transformed. She no longer was capable of using her abilities, neither to protect herself or to care for herself. Brahms had given up his tattered, blood stained shirt to her, not wanting the Goddess to go around nude for any longer than necessary. Sometimes he thought it good she couldn't call up her ether. And all because he had a feeling Hel would have turned that divine energy on him just as easily as she could have used it on demons.

Sometimes he thought Hel could not tell him apart from the very demons that had hounded her. She was as scared of Brahms as of anyone else in the underworld. He supposed he couldn't blame her. He had fed off her. Even worse, he continued to do so, all the while telling himself it was merely payment for his protection. But the truth was Brahms was addicted to Hel's blood, to the very divinity that had allowed her to withstand the torture that had ruined one half of her body.

She often tried to run from him. When her attempts to flee became more cunning, the Goddess waiting until Brahms had settled down to rest, it gave him hope that something of the old Hel still existed inside her. It might be buried deep, lost amidst the horrors she had been through. Brahms did not know the full extent of her tortures, or the reason why she had been chained down in Nifleheim in the first place. He didn't even know how long she had been imprisoned, though Brahms' fear was that it had been a long time indeed.

There was no answers coming from Hel. Not at this time. Maybe they would never come. But some days she didn't scream quite as much as Hel normally did, giving Brahms hope. It might be a false hope, but he held onto it all the same.

He continued his journey through the underworld, hunting demons with Hel his reluctant companion. At first he was merely intent on killing any and all he could get his hands on, wanting to make them suffer for what had been done to Hel. He certainly didn't need to feed, not with Hel existing as his steady food source. But Brahms wasn't satisfied with this kind of lifestyle. He didn't want to stay in the underworld, didn't want to just aimlessly wander as he built up his power reserves by drinking Hel's blood on a daily basis.

The demon hunting was serving a purpose, though Brahms did not realize it then. Silmeria though did, the former Valkyrie noting Brahms was becoming better at killing. He no longer had to call on the parasite within him, no longer had to go mindless with anger. He was quicker, more efficient, and his skill was increasing by leaps and bounds. At this rate, the underworld would end up empty, Brahms succeeding in killing off the demons quicker than they could reproduce.

For a long time he continued this way, killing demons indiscriminately. There was no one to protect them from Brahms, no God or Goddess for them to pray to. The demons were the unwanted dregs of creation, cruel beings who thrived on evil and others' suffering. That incident with Hel was just one example of the depravity they were capable of, and Brahms often shuddered as he thought what the demons could be capable of if someone were to organize them into a cohesive group.

He'd nearly claw his own face off when Brahms realized that HE could take advantage of the demons that remained in the underworld. He'd have to stop killing them, or at the very least stop killing most of them. Some of the more powerful demons simply couldn't be tolerated to still exist. But the lesser ones? Brahms thought he could bully them into following him. Into making him their leader.

It wasn't a simple plan to enact. He would have to get together with a group of them long enough to impress upon them the benefits of following his rule. But he thought it was possible, after all he had seen the demons unite to take turns torturing Hel. The same could be done now, Brahms making a deal with them. Their loyalty, such as it was, in exchange for their lives.

Brahms' decision would set off a great battle in the underworld. The demons weren't eager to be ruled, especially not by the monster who had slaughtered so many of their kind. Silmeria saw many fights, many brutal battles between Brahms and the various demons who tried to rebel against his mastery of them. But Brahms was fueled by the divine blood of the Goddess, Hel's vitality his, along with his righteous fury. He was determined to see this through, to craft the start of his armies.

It wasn't always an easy victory for him, the fights sometimes taking their tolls on him. Brahms was feeding more than ever off of Hel, the Goddess enduring this with little more than resigned whimper. She had after all become accustomed to his feeding off of her by this point.

In the quiet moments, Silmeria would watch as Brahms sat in some hidden alcove. Hel would be resting against his front, sitting between his spread legs. He'd whisper reassurances to her, telling her how he would use the demons to make the one responsible for her torture pay. He still had no concrete proof that it had been Odin, but who else could it have been? Who else would dare seal away a Goddess' powers, and leave her at the mercy of lusty demons?

The demons continued to rebel. They seemed to prefer to die rather than suffer under Brahms' rule. It frustrated him, Brahms often gnashing his teeth as a sign of his annoyance. He knew if he had retained his divine abilities, the power he had once wielded would have been enough to bring the demons to heel. Hel could have done it in his place, but not so long as she was mindless. Not so long as she couldn't even call upon her powers to clothe herself.

The lesser demons should have been no problem. The scavengers should have fallen in line, fearing Brahms. But they looked to the larger demons for protection, and those beings were roughly the same size as Brahms if not bigger. The large demons were refusing to give in, and influencing the other weaker, more cowardly creatures from aligning with Brahms.

How long had he been fighting? How long had Brahms tried to subdue the demons through brute force? It was difficult to beat them without it resulting in their deaths. Brahms was all too powerful, the parasite within him all too eager for the kills. It cared nothing for his ambitions, was satisfied so long as he had Hel to feed his blood cravings.

Hel had entered into a silent phase. No more screams did she utter, no more tears did she weep. She just kept quiet, her eyes seeming to take in everything around her. Brahms did not know what to make of this. Was she getting better, or worse? He did not know. But he kept on fighting and feeding, trying to get his army. Telling himself the legions of demons would protect Hel instead of hurt her. He'd make them, force them to treat Hel with the care and respect deserving of a Queen.

Silmeria felt a shiver at those thoughts. If she had been awake, her eyes surely would have widened. Was Brahms responsible for Hel's rule over the underworld? It was surprising, but not as much as it once would have been. She had already seen so much, more memories and experiences than she could possible process in one sitting. Why shouldn't Brahms be the one to carve out Hel's underworld empire? But she still had many questions, wondering just how the Goddess would regain enough of her senses to become the cruel queen the Valkyries were so familiar with.

Brahms was often worried. And not just about Hel's mental state, and the difficulty in getting the demons to unify and obey him. He worried over the one responsible for the horrors done to Hel. Worried that Odin would come to check on his handiwork. If he did, he would be expecting one of two things. Hel to either still be chained to that rock, a victim of the demons, or Hel having succumbed to the torture, and died at the demons hands. Either way, Odin would not be pleased to discover Hel was free. More than ever, they needed that army for protection.

Even if they got that army, Brahms felt he could never truly leave Hel alone. Not among the demons, not in her present state of mind. If she was left alone, the demons would be quick to take advantage of her vulnerable state. It left Brahms stuck with her, forever duty bound to see to the Goddess' care. He hated the moments when he despaired over that duty, but Brahms had his own sense of honor. It was that honor that kept him with Hel, taking care of her needs, and feeling ashamed of how he preyed on her.

Hel was a weakness. Silmeria knew it, Brahms knew it, and the demons knew it too. His acts to unify them were beginning to work, but it was not Brahms who they named leader. A demon name Azrieth took command. He would organize the demons, a plot being concocted. A plot to strike at Brahms' one weakness, his source of power. They would attack in unprecedented numbers, striving to separate the vampire from the Goddess.

For a time it worked, Brahms being driven further and further from where he had left Hel. The Goddess was in a stage where she would not move unless prodded, Hel silent as she studied her surroundings. Brahms' enraged bellows could be heard once he realized what the demons were up to. There were all around him and ON him, little scavengers clinging to his body, biting down to bleed and tear out chunks of his flesh.

As quickly as he threw them off him, more would jump on him. And all the while he had to do battle with the larger creatures. Silmeria froze when Brahms let out his most tortured scream, the vampire realizing he had lost sight of Hel. She felt his fear for the Goddess, felt Brahms ready to blame himself for any torture that befell Hel. He even cursed himself for not being the one to end her life, Brahms thinking that was the only thing he could have done to truly protect her from the demons.

Even as he cursed and held himself responsible for what was surely about to happen to Hel, Brahms continued to fight. Tearing apart demons with his claws, hauling the little scavengers off his back, and throwing them like they were projectiles. He roared and bellowed, but was losing blood. His body was trying to heal, and in the process expending energy. He'd need to feed, and had no reliable food source available to him so long as Hel was stolen from him.

Even as his vision started to grow hazy, blurring, he continued to fight. Snarling, turning feral. The demons were worse, lips drawn back to reveal sharp, jagged teeth that couldn't hurt as badly as Brahms' fangs did. His claws tore apart flesh, even as the demons tried to rend him apart with their own nails. And then amidst it all, he heard an unnatural scream. It was like nothing he had ever heard, and even the demons stopped to look.

A burst of divine energy came flying towards the group around Brahms. It didn't just strike demons, some of the energy rebounded into Brahms. It sent them all flying, mini explosions of dirt erupting around them. And then another blast of divine energy took out another group of demons, Brahms staggering upright in time to see the one who had wielded the attack. He felt his jaw drop, Brahms blinking in disbelief.

The Goddess Hel stood across the field, glowing globes of dark purple energy in her hands. The center of the orbs crackled with green lighting, the globes growing in size as she studied the remaining demons. The demons were torn between attacking and fleeing, eyeing the Goddess who was surrounded by the burnt remains of bodies. Brahms did not know what to make of this. Had Hel's abduction roused her to the point she was coherent? He was too far away to see her eyes, and that chilled him all the more. Brahms did not want to think of a broken mind wielding Hel's power.

The moment of indecision ended, several demons lunging towards Hel with outraged shrieks. Did the fools actually think they could take her down? Eerily, with no hint of expression to her face, Hel thrust the globes of power in the direction of the attacking demons. They died, still shrieking their anger, bodies turned to powder. The rest of the demons either fell to their knees to beg for mercy, or attempted to flee. Hel would blast apart the ones who ran, and then begin to weave into the crowd. Brahms struggled to retain consciousness, but it was a losing battle. Hel's approach was the last thing he saw, Brahms desperate to see her eyes, even as he toppled face forward into the dirt.

How long did he sleep? Silmeria came away with the sense that he was unconscious only for a few hours at most. Brahms would wake up with a groan, muscles protesting when he suddenly shot straight up from his reclining position. Dead demons were all around him. He was barely in better shape, feeling as though he was one foot in the grave from how rotten he felt. Silmeria could feel he was hungry, and it was a shocking feeling. All because both she and Brahms had gotten used to his hunger being satisfied from his constant meal of Hel's blood.

He frowned, and started to look around. He spied her on a nearby rock. His eyes widened, Brahms noting Hel had taken the time to materialize a dress to replace the tattered shirt she had been wearing. She looked better than he could remember seeing in recent years, Hel clean, her hair tangle free. She sat in a rock, but her bearing was so regal, as though she sat on the finest of thrones.

She was staring at him, still as a statue. As though waiting for him to say something. Brahms felt the parasite rear it's head, urging him to go to her, to take her as was his right. But the corpses around him weren't all by Brahms' hand. He remembered the power Hel had wielded. The power she might unleash against him, should he go for her neck.

"Hel." Brahms said, cautiously moving, slow and steady. He was trying not to make any sudden movements, not wanting to give her an excuse to attack. "Are you...are they..." He couldn't figure out what to say to her, the situation seeming unreal. "Are you all right?" Hel's head tilted, as though she didn't understand the question. "Did they hurt you?" Brahms said, inching towards her.

"Many have hurt me." She finally spoke. Her voice had a childish ring to it, sounding distorted from her normal tones. "The demons, Odin...you."

Guilt flashed through him. Brahms struggled to ignore it. "Odin? Then HE was responsible for chaining you down here?"

"I've been a bad girl." Hel retorted. "I've been consorting with monsters. I had to be punished. I had to be made to suffer for my sins."

"The only monster you've willingly dealt with is me." Brahms said, disturbed but angry by her words. He had a feeling she was repeating what someone had told her. That someone was probably Odin.

"Yes. You." Hissed Hel. "Because of you I was hurt...because of you I was tortured..." Ether crackled over her, the energy looking like purple lightning.

I was not the one who chained you to that rock." Brahms was quick to remind her. "I was not the one who left you to the demons..." Her eyes flashed with confusion, some of the energy's intensity lowering. "Hel, can you tell me what happened?"

Her head tilted again, her lips frowning as though Hel was struggling to remember. He almost held his breath, mentally willing her to remember. Brahms had not realized it then, but such a strong thought in his head, directed towards one he had bound to him with blood? It was as good as giving an order, his compulsion manifesting, forcing Hel to remember.

Hel visibly flinched, hands tightening into fists on her lap. The ether bolts of lightening continued to crackle over her form, increasing in speed and intensity. They were reacting to her emotions, to the pain she was experiencing as Hel remembered everything. Her eyes fluttered quickly, he thought she might faint before Hel could tell him anything.

"I remember..." She spoke slowly, still in that childish tone. Hel would actually grimace, shaking her head no as though she was fighting off the memories.

"What do you remember?" Brahms asked her, his voice turning as insistent as his thoughts. "Tell me."

Her eyes seemed to flash a different color. She'd narrowed them at him, as though incensed by his request. "You were sick...dying...we all thought you would die...all of us, even you."

"Yes, I remember that..." Brahms agreed. "But I didn't die. I lived...thanks in part to you."

"Thanks in part to what you took from me." Hel corrected him. "You hurt me...you tore into my flesh, and drank of my blood...I think you would have killed me then if he hadn't interfered."

"Odin..."

"Odin." Hel agreed. "You two fought...he thought you died, torn apart and eaten by the demons. There was no way you should have been strong enough to survive them, after that fall..."

"But you knew better." Brahms said.

"Yes." Hel agreed. "You called to me...you let me feel your great pain, and the hunger you were suffering through..." She frowned. "Why couldn't you leave me alone? None of this would have happened if I had never gone to the underworld. He would have never have needed to punish me if I hadn't continued to feed you!"

"He...who is he?" Brahms would not speak a name, wanting Hel to come up with it on her own. She hesitated long enough for his impatience to flare. "Tell me Hel."

"...Odin..." She finally whispered, fearful and cringing as though she expected to be struck down at any moment. "He discovered what I was doing, who I was going to see..."

"And he punished you for it..."

"He was so angry..." Hel shuddered. "I tried to protect you even then. Tried to deny who I had been seeing. But the marks remained...he could see my skin retained fresh bite marks." She was beginning to cry, lifting her hands to cover and hide her face from him. Her shoulders shook with her sobs, Hel weeping. "I tried to hide you...to deny you were in the underworld...I would not make it easy for him to find you...Nifleheim is a vast realm...it would take him months if not years to find you on his own..."

"Hel..." Brahms began to cautiously approach her. He could not deny he wanted to feed, but in the moment he was trying to ignore that need in order to see to comforting the Goddess.

"I should have told him what he wanted to know!" Hel suddenly screamed, ether slamming into his chest. "None of this would have happened if not for you! I would have never...never been...been used by those monsters!"

Brahms managed not to scream, slamming back against a tree. "Hel!" She threw more energy at him, her face wet with streaked tears. "Hel listen to me..."

"It's all your fault!" She raged. "If not for you, I would still be in Asgard. I would not be banished from the heavens!"

Her words staggered him as much as the energy slamming into him, Brahms gasping. "Banished?"

"He will never let me return! Never! Even if I kill you, I am no longer fit for the heavens! I am no longer pure but tainted. Corrupted by the likes of you and the demons here!" Hel screamed. "I am ruined! You have ruined me!"

He screamed this time, the energy hitting him harder. She seemed to be pouring all her strength, all her energy into the attack, willing to kill herself along with Brahms. She continued to rant, saying there was nothing left for her. Nothing at all. She as well as Brahms had seen the beauty of the heavens, and knew no other realm could compare with Asgard.

Brahms groaned in pain, writhing in agony from Hel's assault. For one brief instant he was mindless, unable to think of anything but the pain the Goddess was inflicting on him. He barely managed to speak, but when he did it was a command. "Hel stop!"

To his shock she did, the ether stopping just like that. Hel stood a few feet away from him, seeming frozen in place. Her ether crackled over her form, and her face wore a grimace. Her tears were falling, and she seemed to be trembling. Struggling with the effort to break free of his compulsion.

Brahms was confused. "Why did you stop?" He demanded. "Why didn't you finish me off?"

"I...want to." Hel admitted. "But I can't!"

"Why can't you?" Brahms asked, rising cautiously to his knees. He didn't dare think she still held affection for him. Not after all she had been through, a lot of which he had put into motion with that first bite.

"Because...you told me to stop." Hel said. Silmeria sensed Brahms still didn't understand.

"It's just that easy?" It wasn't an easy question to answer, Hel just glaring at him hatefully. "Do you have to do whatever I say?"

"Yes." Hel gritted out through clenched teeth. Silmeria felt Brahms' surprise, the vampire rising to walk cautiously towards Hel.

"Anything at all?" A terse nod from Hel. Brahms decided to test it out. "Stand on one leg, and hop in place." Glaring at him, Hel did as he asked. Her movements were awkward, her long dress hardly ideal for this activity. Brahms did not smile at her antics, still wary of this revelation. "Why? Why are you compelled to do as I ask?"

"Because of your bite..." Hel said, still hopping. "You've damned me with it..."

"You can stop hopping now." Brahms told her absentmindedly. He was considering her words, marveling over the power he might command as a side effect of his binding Hel to him. He'd need other people to test this power out on, Brahms wondering if he could command the demons through his bite. But he didn't yet know how he had succeeded in binding Hel so thoroughly to him. Experiments would have to be done, but now wasn't the time.

"Hel...for what has been done to you...and what I have been responsible for...I am truly sorry. For all of it." Brahms told her sincerely. She just glared at him, showing no willingness to accept his apology. "I never meant to do any of this to you. I just wanted to live. To live long enough to avenge the crimes Odin has committed. Crimes Odin continues to add to. I may have set into motion much of what has happened to you, but Odin has a hand in it too. If he never turned a greedy eye on the throne of Creation...none of this would have happened to either of us."

"It doesn't excuse you!" Hel hissed. "You will never earn forgiveness from me...even if you command me to say otherwise! Your hands are as dirty as Odin's!"

"I know that..." Brahms was inching towards her. "But I can try to make it up to you..."

"You can never make it up to me..." She scoffed. Her eyes were frightened, she didn't like that Brahms was approaching.

"I can never." He agreed. "But I can help you..."

"How?"

"By setting up a base of power for you. A kingdom of sorts." Brahms explained. "I will get you an army...between you and I, the demons will fall into line. They will protect you...Odin will never be able to harm you again..."

"And what price will you ask for this army, this kingdom?" Hel demanded. His eyes were involuntarily drawn to her neck. It made Hel scream, her struggles becoming more apparent. "NO!"

"I need strength, Hel." Brahms told her, tone level. "I need YOUR strength if we are to do this." She continued to scream, shaking her head wildly. "Just a bite Hel. That's all I ask...all I need..."

"It will never end with just one bite..." Hel moaned, even as Brahms was pulling her into his arms. "You are a leech...you will continue to take from me...all to serve your own selfish ends..."

Her words hurt him, but they weren't enough to stop Brahms from biting her. He tried to be gentle, but Hel was starting to thrash about as best she could. It forced him to hold her steady, his bite growing rougher as he began feeding, replenishing all the strength he had lost in the battle with the demons. It was apparent to Silmeria that the days of Hel being a willing, or at least docile blood donor were at an end.

Hel had been broken at the hands of the demons. The things done to her were something she might never recover completely from. But it had given her back one part of herself. The part that had made her a near mindless blood slave to Brahms. Now she was only too conscious of what he was doing to her, and Hel HATED it. She hated him, alternating between screaming and weeping bitter tears. Brahms would never gain her compliance in this act again, he could only force her to hold still for his bite, Hel glaring and fighting against the compulsion all the while.

Not even the knowledge that Brahms would build Hel a kingdom of her own, one designed to protect her from Odin, could appease the Goddess. She wanted nothing to do with Brahms, at times retreating into her mind. She was a silent companion, keeping much of her thoughts to herself though she always became most vocal when Brahms' hunger reared.

Silmeria would sit back and watch, as Brahms, together with the Goddess, set about forming a kingdom for Hel to rule. He'd fight many demons, and use his compulsion on Hel to force her to help him subdue the denizens of the underworld. It would take time, and many beatings before the remaining demons reluctantly kneeled before Hel. By this time the most powerful of the demons had been exterminated, killed by Brahms' own hands.

Sometimes, during the lull between battles, Brahms would experiment with his bite. There were a few strong looking demons that he didn't kill right away. Instead he drew out their lives, feeding off their foul blood. All in an attempt to repeat the blood bond he had inadvertently forged with Hel so many centuries ago. He was not successful. The demons merely withered from being fed on, slowly but surely dying. Brahms began to wonder if the blood bond needed something more, needed some kind of connection with the person one was feeding off of. Or maybe the demons were unsuitable because they didn't hold a spark of divinity in them. He simply did not know, lacking much when it came to finding out about the parasite that had changed him.

Hel was also experimenting. Taking demons, and twisting about their very nature. Sometimes Brahms would find her covered in their blood, Hel having thrown a tantrum when the results of her experiments were not to her liking. Other times he'd find her nearly smiling, petting some new type of creature. He didn't understand at first why she bothered, Hel making the first monsters to exist in Creation that weren't purely demons.

Silmeria watched as through Hel's experiments, the first of the many types of undead monsters were created. All at the Goddess' hands. They retained the demon's cruelty, their lust for torture. But these monsters were a different breed, and though they had desires of their own, Hel's will superseded theirs.

It wasn't until Hel had created over a hundred different types of undead, that her true intent became known. She wanted revenge. On Odin, even on Brahms. The latter she had no hope of contesting, Brahms firmly keeping her under control through his compulsions. He feared for her. It was that fear that kept him from allowing her to go challenge Odin directly. It was simply too early, too soon, their power too little. HIS power was still not enough, Brahms sure that even with the backing of the demons and Hel's undead creatures, they would be beaten by Odin.

Hel was frustrated, and lashing out. She wanted action, wanted to take revenge and now. Sometimes she'd try to use her undead creatures against Brahms. That was how they discovered that Brahms could command them too, and all because of the blood bond he had forged with Hel. Through the Goddess, he could take command of her undead legions, steal them away from Hel without the Goddess even being able to voice a single complaint.

He didn't. Brahms let her have her armies, let her continue to make more undead creatures. He only exerted his power over them to keep them from attacking him. Sometimes he helped train them, preparing them and the demons for the war they would eventually wage.

Hel wasn't satisfied to wait. She kept on experimenting, and then sending those experiments into other realms. Brahms did not know this at first, and when he found out he was aghast. He thought Hel was risking everything by releasing her creatures into the realms. Hel didn't agree, eager for Odin to take note of what they were doing. She was especially proud of the havoc they were wrecking on Midgard. They were preying on the humans, eating their flesh and blood, sometimes infecting them. The undead were expanding in size, at an alarming rate. It was no wonder that eventually Odin would take notice.

Hel was unrepentant. She had remembered that the humans had been Odin's special project. It made her hate the humans. Made her want to torture them. She reveled in the pain and misery her undead creatures were causing, the turmoil and strife. It was as though she was making the humans pay for what Odin and the demons had done to her all those centuries ago.

It couldn't continue. Odin would not allow it. The first true war of Creation was set to occur, Silmeria fascinated by what she was learning. The Valkyrie would be called into play, the women all descendants of the first Valkyrie that Brahms had done battle with. She had been injured during the fight with the vampire. Injured to the point she had been unable to return to the heavens. Denied Asgard, she had accepted the next best thing, making the most of her remaining life on Midgard. There had been a human, a mortal man and somehow the Valkyrie had deigned to birth a few daughters for him.

Those same daughters had been imbued with the Valkyries' powers and immortality. They had all become lesser deities, and remained on Midgard to safe guard it from any threats. Brahms had been wise not to return to the realm of humans, because the Valkyries would have been waiting. Would have been ready to finish what their mother had started.

Those Valkyrie maidens had been dealing with the press of Hel's undead. But there was too many, the Valkyrie only a small handful in comparison. Too many humans were dying, Odin being forced to act to prevent his pet race from being wiped out completely. He'd call upon the humans who fought with the Valkyries, those brave few who ultimately died in battle with the undead. Rather than reincarnate them, he gave them a new chance, a new mission. They became einherjar, fighting for the honor of the heavens.

It took time for a true army of Asgard to be amassed. More humans died, some preyed on, others changing into the very monsters they feared. But there was a few who died a warrior's death, and those were the ones who made up the army the Valkyries used to invade the underworld. Silmeria would watch as a most brutal battle took place, demons and undead fighting against the Valkyrie and the einherjar.

It would last for over a thousand years. Neither side able to take a deciding victory. It seemed the war would never end, seemed the fighting was destined to last all eternity. Even to this day, the war might have continued, if not for a meeting between Hel and Odin. It was a secret meeting, one Brahms had not been privy to until after it was all over.

Silmeria felt and echoed his confusion when the combatants began to withdraw from the fighting. A truce had been reached, one that had the Valkyries and their einherjar leaving the underworld. But it was grudging withdrawal, the battle maidens not happy to leave. Brahms wasn't any happier, confused and seeking out Hel. He'd find her in Eljudnir, the castle Brahms had had the demons build for her.

Seated upon her throne, Hel was playing with a faintly glowing object. It was a pale blue that was nearly white, and was constantly changing shape under the play of Hel's hands. She was looking not at the thing in her hands, but staring absentmindedly off in the distance. She didn't immediately come back to her senses, not even when Brahms growled her name.

"Hel!" He frowned at her, wondering what that was that she played with. "The Valkyrie are withdrawing from the battle. As is our own forces." When she said nothing, he stepped towards her, wanting to grab her by the arms and shake her back to reality.

His approach drew her attention to him, Hel blinking rapidly. She didn't look surprised to see him, just continuing to massage new shapes into the object.

"What's going on?" demanded Brahms. "Why have you called back our armies?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "We should be pushing to chase after the Valkyrie. We should finish them now, while they attempt to flee!"

"And what purpose would that serve?" Hel asked. "If we pursue the Valkyrie, they will stand and fight. It will only continue this war."

"So be it. The war cannot end without one side victorious. We must see that our side is the winners."

"And what if we are not?" Hel demanded sharply. "What if you press us to fight, and then we lose? Do you dare imagine what Odin will do to us then?" Brahms said nothing, watching as Hel shuddered. It was clear she had imagined it all too vividly, the kind of torture and punishment Odin would inflict on the losers. "Brahms...we cannot go on as we have..."

"We cannot stop either." He argued. "Odin would see us dead..."

"Odin is as tired of this war as we are." Hel told him. He snorted at that, hardly believing what she said. "He wants peace..."

"He will never have it." Brahms vowed. "So long as he draws breath, I will continue to hound him. It won't end until he is dead. I won't give up until I have killed him."

"You'll never get close enough to him to end Odin's existence." Hel retorted. "He's too protected, too safe in the heavens. His Valkyries alone are a formidable power. It is those women who have kept the war going for as long as it has. Those Goddesses who have kept us from seizing victory."

"They may be Goddesses, but they can still die." Argued Brahms. He had by this time, fed off several of the Valkyries, gaining brief bursts of power from their blood. "If I feed off enough of them..."

"You will never get strong that way." Snapped Hel. "The power you get from the Valkyries is a temporary thing at best. Unless you have a steady supply of Valkyrie blood, you'll never be able to face Odin and win."

"I'm not just reliant on the Valkyries' blood for strength." Protested Brahms. "I've gotten stronger..."

"You've gotten stronger feeding off of my blood." Hel hissed, eyes narrowed. "But it's still not enough, is it?"

He kept silent to that. Hel's blood had sustained him for centuries at this point, but it seemed the power in her veins was reaching a limit. Brahms' was working on a theory that he needed to expand his food sources, find other veins to tap if he wanted to continue his growth.

"Don't you tire of this Brahms?" Hel asked. "The endless fighting?"

"Are you talking about the war, or us?" Brahms demanded.

"Both." Hel said after a moment's pause. He didn't answer her, which caused Hel to sigh. "Brahms. Odin has offered a deal."

"As if we could ever trust anything he would give us!" scoffed Brahms.

"I don't trust anyone...not anymore." Hel reminded him. "But I am no fool. We could turn Nifleheim upside down, destroy Midgard, and still Odin would continue. Safe and protected in the heavens. While we? What would we have left? Nothing."

"If he destroys our home here, we will simply move on to another realm." Brahms retorted.

"I am not so quick to pack up and leave." Hel replied. "I have grown fond...of my kingdom."

"Kingdoms can be rebuilt elsewhere." Brahms insisted.

"Perhaps. But they can just as easily fall." She did an exaggerated pull with her hands, letting the glowing object stretch out longer. "Neither option appeals to me."

"But what Odin has offered you does?" Brahms demanded.

"Yes." She suddenly flung the object at Brahms, the vampire throwing up his arms for protection. The object hit him, and Brahms felt the energy shiver through him. But more than that, Brahms thought he picked up on pain, a soul in agony. He gasped, startled.

"Was that a...?"

"A soul." Hel smirked. "A human soul. The first of many."

"So you are stealing souls now?"

"Not stealing. I've been given them." Hel corrected with another smirk. "It's busy times Brahms. Creation is changing. And human souls need a place to rest..."

Brahms stared at her, Silmeria sensing he wasn't sure he wanted to understand. "What have you done?" He asked.

"Not I." Hel told him. "Odin. Since I so magnanimously agreed to end this war, he has agreed to let me have the remnants of the souls he finds unworthy of his paradise. I'm to see to their punishments, to their rehabilitation."

"Why would he so such a thing? No..." Brahms shook his head. "Why would you agree to such a thing? Don't tell me it's because you are tired of fighting. You LIVE for revenge."

"I still do." Hel smirk widened. "But this will give me a chance to increase my armies. A chance improve upon my soldiers. Even a chance to lull Odin into thinking I've given up on revenge..."

"There has to be more to it then that." Brahms said. He narrowed his eyes at her when Hel tried for a blank look. "What did you really offer him? What did he ask for? Tell me!"

"Just you." Hel hissed. Brahms lunged towards her, hand grabbing her by the throat. She didn't even gasp, just let out a strangled laugh. "Go ahead...kill me if you can. But it won't save you...nothing will..."

"You would betray me?" He demanded, fighting not to crush her throat in his grip. Hel just smiled, a twisted, mocking expression. It was all the answer he needed, Brahms jerking her up off her seat. His fangs had extended to their full length, Brahms shifting his grip enough so he could plunge them into Hel's neck. She let out a shrill scream, the sound alerting her personal guards to the trouble in the throne room.

Even as he was drinking down Hel's blood, trying to drain her dry for her betrayal, the guards were attacking him. Brahms was forced to let go of the Goddess, Hel staggering away from him. He hadn't come close to draining her, and was now too busy fighting against a press of numerous foes. And more kept coming, demons and monsters rushing into the throne room.

Silmeria watched as Brahms fought in a frenzied, feral state, raging at Hel's betrayal all the while. He only grew more incensed when the Valkyries arrived, the battle maidens intent on capturing Brahms to deliver him to Odin. He'd fight them all, even as Brahms realized his chance to drain Hel dry had passed. He could do only one thing, and that was retreat, Brahms trying to take out as many of his opponents in the process.

----------------------------------------------------

I like the first...17 KB of this chapter. Then when Hel and Brahms talk for the first time, I feel it's sucks big time. BLAGH!

To Be Continued...And I hope next chapter will be the last origin chapter! X_X

Michelle
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