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“…Well…ya…er…for the most part…” Hel rubbed the back of her neck. “I went with Mac because he was getting his hair cut, and he thought I should get one too! I told the witch just a trim…but she ended up hacking off both of my braids…” She grimaced. “…But he thinks I look good with short hair! Besides…” Hel narrowed her gaze at her sister now and turned, so that she was angling her shoulder at her sister as she crossed her arms. “I did not look like a valkyrie anymore anyways, ya? Because you would be lying if you said I did.” Maybe someone was just a bit bitter about that still.

Now it was Hel’s turn to look between Freya and Kettil.

Oh.

Oh.

Freya wasn’t telling Kettil things, huh?

Her lips pulled into a wicked grin.

Hel Trouble Tattling Brynhildr was about to surface.

“Oh, she was, Kettil, let me assure you, not only that, but when she dropped the knife, she then tried grabbing for it so that she could make herself dissipate with it to get away from me ~ !”

Apparently that wasn't all to the story. Truly it wasn't a huge deal because...Dissipation but the mere thought and implication that Freya would willingly harm herself that way hit him right in the gut while his heart just dropped right to his knees making him stumble to the point where he flopped right on the couch.

He ... Looked pretty pale.

"You..." It might as well have been Hel telling him that Freya had died and was never coming back ever. Hel had successfully blown Kettil's mind.

Freya tried to ignore Kettil in the wake of pushing her sister out, but when Hel's icy words cut through her, she couldn't push anymore. She wasn't the only one changing, after all. She never remembered hearing her sister take that tone with her, and now she didn't know what to feel. She rubbed the spot on her scalp where the sting of a pulled braid called attention, and watched her sister saunter away, confident and smug.

And she was left a crumbling mess.

She picked up her door, put it back into place, and then spun around to look at her best friend. The moment she did, she sort of wish she hadn't. She was going to lose him, she could already feel it.

Very slow and quiet steps took her to the spot just in front of the boil, and she knelt down in front of him, put her hands on his knee, and rested her cheek on her hands. She looked up at him pathetically.

"Hooter?" She whispered tentatively, trying to get a taste of his mood. "I'm sorry."

The question confused her. It was obvious by the look on her face.

"Why what? Why am I sorry? Or why did I-" She paused, and her lower lip jutted out thickly in a pout. She might as well answer them all, in hopes one of them was what he wanted. "I'm sorry because I didn't wants yeh teh worries about me. Me and Hel, when we talks.. we gets very.. ach.. physical. So yes, she pushes me, and I did stupid things. But she makes me better. Not.. well. But better." Her eyes pleaded with the boil silently. "I never wants teh hurts yeh, Kettil. Please, tells me what I has teh does teh makes this right."

She'd disappointed him. It was like a fist, curled around her heart, crushing it. It was the worst feeling in the world.

"I promise." Freya whispered, pushing off the floor and sitting beside him. Her legs curled up, balling herself up tightly and wrapping her arms around her knees. "I guess yeh don't wants teh be around me right now, hah." She looked down at her knees, and her expression dimmed as her gaze unfocused. "I can't blames yeh."

Freya flinched at the strength of his words, but there was a selfish relief that followed. The problem lay in what he said next, and she knew it. She wasn't going to get better for him, or Hel, or Herryk. She needed to want this for herself.. and she didn't.

She really didn't.

Her head dipped down and her hands wrapped around her head. Soft, soundless sobs wracked her body. Through them, she whispered.

"I don't knows what teh do."

The only thing she felt she could do right now, after all she'd said to the two of them, was not give up. If there could have been anything close enough to be considered the right answer to the moment, Kettil had found it. She unfurled when she felt his arm around her, and her thin arms reached out to cling to him childishly, burying her face into his side. She still cried, for a minute or two. It wasn't all out, yet.

But when she felt all cried out, she sniffed and muffled a shaky answer into his vest. Her voice sounded like a child.

"Yes please."

Hearing those words just made her start crying all over again. But she laughed through her tears, and rubbed her face in his vest shamelessly, leaving a giant wet spot. "I loves yeh too, Kajika." Her eyes were wet and shiny with tears when she looked up at him, but she was smiling. It was a start.