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Freya had walked past Hel's room four times. It wasn't much of a walk - her own dorm room was literally right across the hall. But once she reached it, she paced back and forth, and then returned to her own room to think some more. On her fourth try, Freya stopped, raised her hand, and looked a moment away from knocking it before she took another step back.

Fifth time's a charm.

When she returned to her room, she slammed the door shut, and the sound was so jarring it hit her with an idea. She grabbed a notebook and a pencil, scribbling a note on the paper inside. Then she ripped the paper out jaggedly, stormed out of her room, and slipped the paper under the door.

Freya blinked in surprise when the door opened so quickly, and then again when the note was thrown back in her face. Without meaning to, Hel had answered her question.

"Since now." Freya's voice murmured in hushed, neutral tones. She wasn't going to get angry with Hel - that was the opposite of her intent. "And I can sees yehr not in a good mood, so forgets it. I'll comes back later."

Freya, with one foot already turned to leave, gave her sister an exasperated sigh. "So, that's not goings teh helps here, crumpet. I'm tryings teh fix our relationship. But yeh didn't wants me teh helps yeh after we fought, and I says, okays, I waits. Now yeh tells me yehr NEVER goings teh be in a good mood? How can that even be? Doesn't anythings makes yeh smiles anymore?"

Freya started pacing back and forth. "Does yeh wants teh goes out together and does something that will makes yeh smile? Or maybe we eats? Will watchings me eats makes yeh smile? Or are yeh really goings teh stands there and tells me-" Her hands flew up in the air. "HAY, SISTER, I AM PERMANENTLY UNHAPPY NOW, AND I'M HAPPY WITH IT."

She dropped her hands and looked at Hel, exasperation clear on her face.

Well if she didn't care.. Freya wasn't going to encourage eating. So instead, she hung on to every word her sister had to say, and caught the glance to another door, which she had to look to see was Mac's. Suddenly, she realized Hel's bad mood stemmed from something that probably was temporary. Boils. She didn't have to worry about it being permanent, anymore.

Freya put her hand on the door, and shoo'd her sister out of the way. "Inside." She commanded, bullying her sister back into her room and closing the door. "Yehr right, I can't puts yeh back in a good mood. There's no way for me to makes it better. I gets that." She sat down on her sister's bed, and nodded. "But that won't stops me from worrying. Besides, maybe this is exactly what we need."

She patted the spot beside her. "Tells yehr sister what's wrong."

Freya was listening, very carefully, and when Hel started to run her hands through her hair, Freya reached out and stopped her, pulling her into her own arms to cradle her. She hadn't held her sister like this in so long, it almost hurt to feel it again.

"Just yeh, by yehrself, for teh rest of yehr existence." Freya repeated, mulling the words over as they rang familiar in her head. "Yeh sounds like me. Back when yeh kept tryings teh convince me otherwise." The old her would have been so proud to see Hel pushing away from the idea of love, and marriage. But she felt no pride, now. She wasn't upset with it either.. just sad.

"Is good that yehr questioning yehr own beliefs. Yeh thought yeh wants one thing, and then, yeh thinks about it, and yehr heart says, no, stupid, that's not how yeh wants teh lives. But teh fact is, whether yeh wants teh lives alone, or whether yeh wants teh be with someone, isn't going teh change what actually ends up happening. Because, believe it or not and I know yehr goings teh say not, many, many other boils are goings teh falls in love with yeh, crumpet. From now until infinity, they're goings teh be lining up at yehr doorstep. They're going to be attracted to teh things that yeh thinks puts some men off. Yehr stubborn nature, yehr foul mouth, yehr fiesty attitude. As time goes on, yehr goings teh finds boils wanting yeh for who yeh are. And if - IF they're lucky.. yeh'll wants them too. It won't be some plan of action. And it might not even be what yeh wants at that moment. But it happens, whether yeh likes it or not."

Freya fussed at her sisters hair, putting the strands she'd pulled on back into place. "Yehr teh most beautiful, most lively and exciting ghoul this world has ever seen. And teh world is waiting teh gets a chance teh knows yeh."

Her sister was as stubborn as a rock. She slumped as she finally pushed away, and her hands fell to her lap uselessly.

"Questioning yehr beliefs is undermining yehrself. Yeh know why, crumpet? Because yehr not always right." Freya gasped dramatically for effect, and then turned serious again. "If yeh keeps fightings against things just because yeh thinks yeh knows better, all yehr goings teh does is never learns anything. And yeh'll be a cranky old woman who still thinks she's unlovable, mostly because she's so stubborns she probably is." Her last words came out a little sharper than she'd meant, but she was tired of listening to her sister talk down about herself. She'd never been so low about herself before all of this. It made her sick. It made her sad. It made her angry.

She didn't know what to feel first.

Freya didn't try to grab a hold of her sister again, but her hand rested on her hair, brushing her fingers through it gently. She sighed, trying to find any way to get through to her sister. Words never seemed to be enough.

"Well," She began with a sigh. "Nobody is perfects. Yeh knows that by now, I hope. Every one of us, we has faults. Yehr stubborn. I'm a big baby. Everyone has things that makes us who we are, but it also makes us hard to tolerate. That is where the right person comes in. Yeh meets someone who has their own faults, but they like yehrs. Maybe someone sees yeh, and thinks yehr stubbornness is sexy. Or someone looks at me and thinks I'm childish, and that's cute. They don't looks at it like its a fault, anymore. They starts teh likes yeh for the things that makes yeh who yeh are. They don't just tolerates yeh despite yehr faults. That's what it means."

Freya pulled her hand out of her sisters hair, and settled it on the ghouls knee. "But only if yeh gives people a chance teh sees who yeh really are. If yeh keeps closing yehrself off teh the idea, Hel, yehr only ******** yehrself over."

Something about the way she said open arms and a loud mouth made Freya's heart hurt. "Yeh don't needs teh insults the way I choose teh lives my life, Hel." She mumbled, her demeanor shrinking back into herself just a little more than before. "I'm not perfect, either. I'm just tryings, okays? That's all any of us can do anymore, is try." Her eyes stung with the threat of tears.

She wanted to have all the answers for her little sister. She wanted to be the comfort and solid rock that Hel could have relied on, but Freya was about as solid as jello.

"If yeh drives away someones yeh really cares about, just by beings yehrself, then that person doesn't deserve yehr feelings.." Freya's eyes flickered down to the floor. "But that doesn't makes it hurts any less."

And for the first time in a long while, she allowed herself to feel something she'd tried to block away just to save herself the pain.

"Hel." She whispered brokenly. "I miss Herryk."

Hel was right. Freya didn't know what she was saying, until she spelled it out for her. Unfortunately, by spelling it out for her, Hel was making it too obvious that this conversation wasn't as abstract as Freya had thought. There was one, very specific person Hel could drive away by having feelings for them. The only person who was stupid enough not to want that.

Freya's hands tightened into small, tight little fists.

If she spoke her mind, and told Hel exactly how she felt about someone who could be driven away by feelings, she knew Hel would kick her out. That damn idiot had her wound around his little pinky. She wanted to walk over and kick Mac's door down, punch his face in until it was so ugly, Hel wouldn't want it anymore.

Freya took a deep breathe. That thought made her feel better. Her fists relaxed.

"It's a scary things, the idea of losings someone yeh wants teh keeps in yehr life. But we've never been the type of ghouls teh let fear keep us away." Freya's weak smile flickered. "I says, yeh should just be honest. With him, and with yehrself." That felt fair, as fair as she could get.

Honesty put Hel in danger of losing something she wanted. But here Freya was, having lost something she wanted for the rest of her life, and she had to take her sisters advice. She cherished her time with Herryk, and she wouldn't have traded it for the world. But it wasn't hers, anymore. He wasn't hers, anymore.

But their time together always would be.

"Yehr right." Freya whispered. "Do yeh thinks he'll ever talks teh me again?" Her heart ached at the idea that this rift between them would last for the rest of their lives.