Hela opened her eyes, her body felt like it was about to shatter into a thousand pieces.
But she was also able to feel the softness on her back, she was in a bed.
She stared at the white ceiling, the room was silent.
Very different to the gym she'd been in just now.
With some effort she sat up on the mattress, her armor and gloves arranged on a small table.
It was very clear that she was in a hospital room, well it was obvious especially since there were even medications being put directly into her vein.
She ignored this and simply ripped off everything that was stuck to her arm, she wouldn't stand there waiting for the medicine to run out.
The immensity of walls in complete white, the place immersed in the smell of disinfectant and medicine.
It was all baffling on so many levels.
Besides, Athena was there, leaning against the wall watching all that movement.
She sighed a little uncomfortable, she didn't feel comfortable having so much skin exposed like that.
Of course, not just skin, after all her left arm didn't have much more than bones.
Athena hurried towards Hela.
"What are you doing?"
It was a bit chaotic to see a person who had just passed out acting in such an irresponsible way.
Her eyes were filled with worry and fear, she didn't like the idea of Hela simply passing out in the middle of the arena.
But she liked even less to see Hela trying to get out like that.
Her heart was filled with worry.
But Hela didn't seem to mind, she could rest or seek help when she was home.
That whole Mount Olympus adventure was not only annoying her, it was also slowing her down.
.
"I was unconscious for how long?!"
Athena sighed feeling pitiful. "About two to three hours."
Hela nodded, thankfully not much time had passed.
She sat on the edge of the bed, stretching her arms and legs.
She wanted to ensure that despite being weak, she would be able to walk around.
Athena who stood beside the other woman could only watch.
It was very obvious that she shouldn't interfere after all if Hela hadn't accepted help from her when she got injured with the sword now wouldn't be much different.
But it was somewhat of a relief to see that she could move her arms and legs perfectly.
She had received so much poison from Ares's arrows that it was a little worrying.
No one would know what her recovery might have been like, but luckily everything seemed to have gone better than expected.
"Are you feeling better?"
Hela nodded, her body clearly feeling the effects of all that battle, but she also knew that she was in the best condition within existing possibilities.
Well, there really was no way out of that kind of situation without bruises and bruises.
Hela finally put her feet on the floor and started to take a few steps towards where her clothes were.
Athena barely had time to react and turned sharply with her back to Hela.
Her face red and her heart racing.
"Hey! Don't get up like that..."
Hela stopped walking only to question what was going on, she didn't understand that kind of reaction coming from Athena.
After all, what was going on?!
Hela arched her eyebrows and crossed her arms, feeling extremely dissatisfied with it all.
Just let me go! "I can't stay here long, I need to talk to Aphrodite..."
Athena had been so nervous that she had even raised her voice.
Finally she covered her eyes and waved her hand wildly.
It just doesn't matter, she can't handle it anyway. "Okay, at least let me out of the room... You're not wearing anything under your robe."
Hela finally realized that she only had a white cloth covering her and that it didn't even cover her well, leaving the front of her body completely exposed.
She was almost completely naked.
So embarrassing.
She grabbed the two ends of the thin fabric and desperately covered herself, filled with shame.
"Oh sorry..."
Athena nodded, it wasn't really a problem and reason to apologize, but that was too much for her.
She almost ran out of the room leaving Hela to finally get dressed.
As she dressed, she calmly observed the cuts on her face and the huge bandages on her arms and legs.
Ina would be really mad to realize that her wife was coming home like that.
But all she could do was sigh a little complicatedly.
Finally ensuring that everything was ready for her departure, she walked towards the exit of the room and opened the door.
There was a shy Athena waiting for her.
Well, despite everything it was still really cute.
She smiled in her thoughts and just followed the steps of the Greek goddess towards the exit.
Athena didn't have much courage to look at Hela, the image of her naked body was still very vivid in her mind.
It seemed impossible not to feel her thoughts really troubled.
"The armor is okay? I asked Hephaestus to fix it..."
Hela was surprised that another god had repaired her armor himself.
She felt honored.
"He did that? I'm afraid I can't reward you properly..."
Athena denied, payments were not necessary.
She just called in a small favor for a friend.
"Don't worry… He also seemed to have a lot of fun fixing it, he said it had immeasurable power."
Hela listened carefully and smiled gently, not going into details about her armor.
Despite the cordiality between the worlds... They were still gods of different origins and boundaries had to be established.
Her armor was a great treasure and she was able to endure a lot.
Specially crafted by the blacksmiths of Asgard to keep your body protected.
Just her body.
It was a special type of metal, which could only be found in Niflheim.
Well, some secrets should exist even between friends.
"Then thank him for me, the armor is better now than before…"
Athena nodded, she would definitely pass on the warning.
"He said that in future the right side should be reinforced more than the left, he didn't explain it to me in detail, but he said you would know what he meant..."
Hela heard this and kept quiet.
The two didn't say anything else for a while.
Athena had no idea what Hephaestus was referring to, but Hela could understand perfectly well what it was about.
He had most likely realized that much of Hela's physical integrity was being maintained by the armor.
It was true that a race against time had begun as the thousand years of marriage came to an end, but not just for Ina.
To ensure there would be no interference from Odin, Hela offered her mortality.
Hela slowly walked the path towards the complete non-existence of life and consequently of humanity itself.
She didn't have a lot of time, but around Ina she had a lot of time and that was the only thing that relieved her.
Immortality was achievable, even if she needed to travel through several worlds and face several battles.
But she couldn't just get a new heart, fate wasn't so easy.
In reality it all seemed very cruel.
Hela was wasting away and turning into death itself.
Her heart no longer beat and the rest of her body, which was once strong and alive, would no longer be like that.
Her blessing was her curse.
She knew that very well, but she recklessly chose to ignore it.
Perhaps the answer to Socrates' question was more obvious than she realized.
She didn't have a life purpose, she didn't even have a life.
She was just death personified.
The silent path between the goddesses ceased the moment they finally saw the exit of the hospital.
Hela sighed a little more relieved, but finally asked. "What about Ares, how is he?"
Athena stopped her steps slightly and let out a sigh full of feelings.
She was worried.
"Well..."
Hela understood perfectly what Athena wanted to say... In fact, what she couldn't say.
"If they don't get someone with healing power… Ares will suffer until his last breath."
Athena faced Hela and nodded, she would look for a solution.
"If he is completely healed he should be fine after a rest, leave no trace of the black bruises on his body and then it will be fine…"
Athena nodded, feeling a little awkward.
Hela wasn't going to linger on that conversation and Athena seemed to understand that perfectly.
"Well... Aphrodite's garden is that way... I won't be accompanying you."
Hela nodded and didn't question.
In a few meters it was already possible to observe the increase in the number of roses and the sweet smell appearing in the air.
Athena wouldn't dare go to Aphrodite.
Well... It was like a nightmare.
Hela only took a few steps forward, but it was like she was sucked in.
Athena sighed when she saw the huge amount of roses appear, almost as if they were trying to imprison Hela, but there was nothing to be done, she had wanted this and could finally see Aphrodite.
Hela was focused on looking straight ahead and hadn't noticed what was going on around her.
But it didn't take long to finally notice that the meager steps were as if she had walked several meters, abruptly moving away from the place she was before.
Flowers clustered around Hela.
It was no longer possible to look back, an enormous wall of flowers separated it from the rest of Mount Olympus.
As flowers clustered one on top of the other a voice came through.
"I thought you were going to make me wait a lifetime… Welcome to my garden… Hela."