*Author's note*

Now this was certainly an interesting chapter to write because I really tried to get the strain of dark madness magic that's affected Mirkwood and have it be affect Hela as well without her realizing it, in case if anything's unclear, the next chapter will hopefully clear the air as to why a random fight scene is added here. Hope you enjoy this chapter and the next chapter after that my dears.

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We rode over the hills of the Wilderland and within several hours we finally reached the forests of Mirkwood. The woods I once saw as a child that was filled with lush green leaves during the summer, and in the autumn it's beauty could rival that of Rivendell's autumn glow. But since the start of the 3rd Age, the forest has greatly changed and not for the better.

The trees were barren of even a single lush green leaf, and the trunks sucked of any rich nutrients. The whole forest had fallen sick and had an aurora of darkness about it. Gandalf got off his horse and together the two of us walked and stood at the Elven gate.

Any leaves that were there had been dried and left there to rot on the ground like an infected wound. Dried up vines twisted over the stone statues, including over the very figurine of Thranduil's beloved Queen, Calen.

"The Elven gate." Gandalf softly spoke.

"It's a shame of how greatly this once lush forest has fallen." I said to Gandalf in Elvish.

"Yes. Especially after Thranduil's wife was lost to him. She was the caretaker of this forest and all its creatures." Gandalf said back to me in Elvish. He turned to the company and said, "Here lies our path through Mirkwood."

"No sign of the orcs. We have luck on our side." Dwalin said as he unmounted himself from his pony followed by the rest. Gandalf and I looked outward and saw on top of a cliff Beorn in his bear form.

"Set the ponies loose. Let them return to their master." Gandalf told the company. He walked further into the gate and I heard Bilbo say as he walked up to me.

"This forest feels—sick. As if a disease lies upon it."

"Yes Bilbo. This forest has greatly suffered through this pass Age. If Cersei were to see what became of this once greenwood forest, she would be heartbroken. For she helped forge the Greenwood to be as grand as it once was when Oropher first settled here."

"Is there nothing you could do to heal this forest? I mean, you-you do have your sister's elemental magic after all." Bilbo asked me.

"Yes. However to heal this entire forest would drain every ounce of my strength. Even if I could help heal this forest I do not have the strength to do so. Remember back at the Misty mountains? And that was just with one tree alone." He looked down solemnly remembering that night when we first ran into Azog. I patted his back comfortingly.

"Well if Hela's healing magic is out of the question, is there no way around?"

I do not blame Bilbo's hesitance for entering this forest. For the sickness is oozing out a dark energy that was even making me hesitant to walk through. I could hear the trees creaking and groaning and dark whispers echoing through the darkness.

"Not unless we go 200 miles north or twice that distance south." Gandalf told Bilbo as he stepped further into the Elven gate. I looked into the forest and could hear the whispers growing louder, some were even calling my name. My mind went fuzzy as they kept saying my name along with some words I could barely make out.

"Hela? Hela?!" I snapped out of my daze to see Fili at my side. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yes Fili I'm fine." I said with a tight smile. He looked at me skeptically before returning back to Kili and gathering his weapons. I walked over to the brothers and said to Fili. "You should really teach me how to hide that many weapons on my person. I still don't understand how you've managed to do it."

"It's a gift." Fili said with a cocky shrug and a playful grin.

"Mother always called him her little arsenal hoarder. She still hasn't forgiven you for sneaking a dagger on you when we were barely old enough to wield a sword much less a dagger." Kili said with a laugh.

"I always say you can never be too prepared. And on a quest like this, it's better to be prepared for anything. And I'll be willing to teach you about what weapons you could manage to hide, if you're ever interested Hela." Fili said.

"I'd be honored." I said with a bow of my head.

"Not my horse! I need it!" Gandalf suddenly exclaimed as he raced over to the horse that Nori was starting to unsaddle.

"You're not leaving us?" Bilbo said incredulously.

"I would not do this unless I had to." Gandalf said to Bilbo.

"Gandalf what's the meaning of this where are you going?" I asked him.

"Questions need answering, answers that I cannot find here."

"Then let me go with you."

"No! You pledged by blood to protect this company and you shall fulfill that pledge till the end. They're going to need you, especially through this forest. Stay with them and don't you dare leave them." He ordered me. The look in his eyes held a slight fear in them, almost as if what he was going to search for may in fact be what I fear to be true deep down.

"Very well Gandalf. Just be safe old friend." I gave him a kiss on the cheek for luck and protection before entering the gate. As Bilbo and Gandalf quietly spoke to one another I noticed how Bilbo's been fiddling with his pocket a lot more than I've seen. Just what exactly was this Hobbit fiddling with so carefully?

"I'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor. Keep the map and key safe. Do not enter that mountain without me." Gandalf told the dwarves and at his last statement, he drilled it into Thorin's mind. As Gandalf stood by his horse he warned the company, "This is not the Greenwood of Old. There is a stream in the woods that carries a dark enchantment. Do not touch the water. Cross only by the stone bridge. The very air in the forest is heavy with illusion it'll seek to enter your mind and lead you astray."

"Lead us astray? What does that mean?" Bilbo repeated Gandalf's warning.

"Hela's Celestial magic will be your guiding light, so long as you keep sight of her she will not let you fade. She will keep you on the path and make sure you don't leave it. Because if you do, you'll never find it again." Gandalf spoke as he mounted his horse. He urged his horse to turn and with one final warning, he rode off. "No matter what may come, stay with Hela on the Path!"

"Come on. We must reach the mountain before the sun sets of Durin's Day. Hela, lead us on." Thorin said as he walked through his company and into the forest. I nodded and they all followed behind me. Not a single one of them racing on ahead of lagging behind me as we entered the forests of Mirkwood.

The sun was now gone from our sights due to the trees and leaves shielding us from it's warmth and guiding light.

So now it was up to my tracking skills to find the path through touch. I brushed the dead leaves with my foot and felt around to see which way the path would turn for the leaves would disguise themselves on the ground like the path to lead us astray.

"Path turns this way." I told them. We went left and walked up a slight hill that lead us down in a winding, curvy trail alongside the bigger trees of the forest. Dwalin began to feel the ground with his axe and he said as he heard a clunk of rick against his axe.

"This way."

"No not that way. It's a fools path." I told him.

"A fools path? What do you mean?" asked Thorin.

"Thranduil began to grow suspicious of travelers shortly after the passing of his Queen. So he had some of his elves create a fool's path to confuse intruders in his realm. To better sure the safety of his people."

"Then how do we know we've been going the right way?" Dwalin asked suspiciously.

"To most you can't tell which rocks lead to the real path or a fool's path. That's why I've kept low to the ground at every corner turn. There's a different texture of rock. The fool's path feels slightly bumpier than the stones that guide us on the real path." Thorin nodded and told everyone to go right instead of left.

"Air, I need air." Bofur said.

"My head, it's swimming." Oin also complained too.

"I know, I know. But the quicker we get through the path, the quicker we'll be out of this forest my friends." I told them.

I knew the dark magic of this forest was starting to affect them, I wouldn't want to tell them this but it was also starting to get to me too. The dark magic within this forest isn't your average dark magic, this is something—far more powerful. Just like Radagast said, this is a dark and terrible magic. And it was almost like it was trying to call out to me for I kept hearing voices whispering my name every now and again.

After a little more walking we finally came to the bridge that Gandalf told us about. However the bridge had been destroyed long ago which left us at a disadvantage. Now if I recall there was once a boat docked nearby but it was now gone, where could it have gone to?

"We found the bridge." Kili announced to the company.

"Bridge." Bofur repeated. We all came to the edge of the bridge and Bofur suggested. "We could try and swim it."

"Didn't you hear what Gandalf said? A dark magic lies upon this forest. The waters of this stream are enchanted." Thorin said.

"Doesn't look very enchanting to me." Bofur grumbled.

"Not all enchantments are beautiful Bofur." I informed him as I looked down into the dead waters of the stream before us.

"We must find another way across." Thorin stated.

"There used to be a boat here last time I ventured through here. But—now it's just gone. Maybe they took it downstream or—"

"We won't have time Hela, we must find a way to cross now." Thorin told me.

"Hey, what about these?" Kili spoke up. We all looked to see a bunch of thick, strong vines surrounding the lake. Some of them curved down and dove into the water, while others twisted and contorted around each other creating a swing. "These vines look strong enough." Kili was just about to go onto the first vine when Thorin stopped him.

"Kili!" Kili and the others turned to their king as he said. "We send the lightest first." And that's when everyone turned to Bilbo.

"Send me first." I said.

"Hela—" Thorin started but I told him.

"I may not look it but Celestials are light on their feet. In fact we've been known to be just as light as any Elf in Middle Earth. Able to walk on top of snow and some of us like Cersei were able to walk along the very waters of Middle Earth. Please Thorin allow me to go first. At least that way I'll be able to help anyone out who may need it when you come to the other side." The dwarf king turned to me and then to his company.

"Very well." I nodded to him and walked towards the vines. I carefully looked at it and grabbed it with my right hand first. While in my left I felt a hand grab mine, I turned to see it was Kili.

"Just in case, I'll pull you back up." I smiled at him and nodded in gratitude.

"Okay." I sighed exhaled. One....two...three! I stepped off the bridge and onto the first vine and already I felt the vine beneath my feet swing. I gripped the vine above my as tight as I could while Kili used his strength to hold me up as best he could. I then turned to Kili and told him to let go.

At first he was hesitant but one look in my eyes told him that I would be alright. He released my hand and I joined that hand alongside my other one as I slowly began testing each vine out. Even with the lightest step I could muster, the vines still swung about and I even almost fell over.

"Definitely not this way!" I advised as I moved over to the next set of vines that lead me closer to the streams.

'Hela.....Hela.' the voice called out to me again. However this time it was a voice I knew all too well. But it-it couldn't be. 'Hela please help us. The Deviants are back.'

"Ikaris?" my foot suddenly wobbled and I nearly fell into the water had it not been for some quick foot work in wrapping my legs around another vine and great core-strength in bending upward so that I could avoid touching the water.

"Hela? Are you alright!?" Fili called out to me.

"Fine just fine. I uhh—found another problem. Definitely don't go for this path here." I pulled myself back up and continued onward till I finally was able to get to the other side.

'Hela! Hela please help us!' this time it was Phastos' voice I heard.

'Please sister you're the only one who can help us!' Sprite's voice soon cried out in my head.

'We need you little sister. Find us!' Gilgamesh too?

"No, no, no, no this is a trick! SILENCE!!" I exclaimed as I turned around. "Oh bugger." What I saw before me was just utter chaos.

All the dwarves plus Bilbo decided it was a good idea to go all at once across the vines. Sure the vines seemed to hold up but for how long? Some of them were hanging on for their lives as they crossed each vine one by one, while others were hopping from one vine to the next like rabbits hopping along in the fields.

I slapped myself awake before I saw Bilbo and Thorin coming in close to me. I stood up and reached out my hand for Bilbo and he took it as I helped him off the vines right as Thorin jumped down beside us.

"You both okay?" I asked them.

"Ye-yes yes fine. Fine all good. Slight problem with some of those vines but—all......good." Bilbo's voice wavered a bit. I cupped the side of his face and I could see his eyes weren't looking into mine. He was looking in my general direction but he wasn't fully looking me in the eyes.

"Oh Bilbo. Hang on. Oh I hope this works." I used Ajak's gem piece and touched the Hobbit's temples with my finger tips and saw them beginning to glow. Golden veins lit up onto Bilbo's temples as he let out a gasp and looked around frantically. "Easy Bilbo, easy it's just me."

"Hela? Wha-what just......"

"The dark magic of this forest was starting to make you go blind. I don't know if the healing will last long but for now you're alright."

"Thank you Hela. Truly I...." suddenly there was a large splash from the water and I saw a shocking sight.

Bombur had fallen asleep and had fallen into the waters of the stream. Without even thinking, I raced into the waters and using Gilgamesh's strength, I picked Bombur up from under his arms and dragged him out of the water.

One by one each of the dwarves were finally getting to the other side and when they saw me dragging Bombur out, they helped as best as they could.

"Bombur! Bombur!" Bofur exclaimed.

"Wake up you great fat oaf!" Bifur snapped in Khuzdul.

"Oh please Hela help him!" Bofur said to me worriedly. I touched my hand over Bombur's heart and used Ajak's magic to heal him. But even as the glow died down, Bombur still did not wake up.

"What? No, no, no that's impossible." I then placed my hands to Bombur's temples much like I did to Bilbo and used more of her healing power to try and awaken Bombur from his slumber.

I kept trying to push myself to giving him more healing magic but Fili and Kili separated from me telling me to stop.

"No! I—I can't let him die!"

"He's not dead Hela. He's asleep! A deep sleep it would seem." Fili told me.

"He's right. You did your best. Besides your nose was starting to bleed again just like back on the Misty Mountains." I reached up to touch my nose and just like Kili said, I saw blood on the tips of my fingers. I turned to Thorin and pleaded for forgiveness.

"Forgive me Thorin. I—I cannot awaken him."

"It's not your fault Hela. You did your best. Fili and Kili are right. We cannot have you draining your powers like before. Not in this place. Make a stretcher for Bombur! If he will not awaken, we'll have to carry him."

At that decree, the other dwarves groaned but obeyed their kings command. I looked down at Bombur and took off some of the dried up leaves that stuck to his face.

"You did your best, that's all we could ask for." Fili assured me as I felt his hand grip my shoulders. But not enough. It's never enough. No matter how much I try, or how hard or long I train to use my siblings and Celestial Prime's magic, it's never enough. Not without dealing with the expense of draining my own energy.

"We need to get out of here." I said as I stood up and walked off.

We kept on walking but now with half the company needing to carry Bombur's deadweight, we were forced to take more rests than what I was comfortable with.

"We need....to take a rest." Nori said as he and the others stopped. I could see the company's body language swaying and growing faint. And the voices kept whispering in my ear. Not only the voices of my fallen family but also dark whispers, chatters and clicks in the dark.

"Those voices.....can you hear them?" Bilbo slurred out. Wait he could hear those voices too?

"I hear nothing." Thorin slurred back. "No wind.....no birds..... What hour is it?"

"I do not know." Dwalin answered back in the same manner. "I do not even know what day it is."

"This is taking too long." Thorin responded. "Is there no end to this accursed forest!?" he then shouted.

"None that I can see." Glóin responded. "Only trees and more trees!" the magic of this forest was now really starting to affect every member of this company to the worst possible level. The madness seeping into their minds and I could tell from the distant look in Thorin's eye he was going to lead them off the path.

"This way." My fears were confirmed.

"Gandalf said—" Oin slurred but as Thorin pushed through his company, he snapped.

"Do as I say. Follow me!" I quickly got in front of him stopping him from going any further. "Out of my way!!!"

"You will stay on this path Thorin Oakenshield! Your mind is being toyed with! If you leave this path, you and your company will be lost forever in this forest!"

"And how do we trust that you haven't gotten us lost? It's in your name after all—the Celestial of Death."

"He's right. She could've been leading us off the pathway the entire time!" Dori exclaimed.

"She's responsible for getting us this lost!!" Nori shouted as he pointed at me.

'They dare insult you. Show them who you really are.' A dark whisper said in my head. My blood boiled but I tried to calm them down.

"This is not who you are. Any of you. If we stick to the path, we'll get out of here safely and in one piece."

"I'll never listen to another word of you Celestial of Death!" it was then I was roughly shoved aside by Thorin and he quickly guided the others out of path and deeper into the forest. All but Bilbo, Fili and Kili were left. The brother staring at me while Bilbo was fiddling with something along the trees.

"Hela he—"

"My brother Ikaris was right. Dwarves never see us Celestials as friends." I said as I got up and just left them. Maybe it was the magic, or maybe the hurtful words of the group that I came to accept as an extended family, I don't know. All I remember was getting up and walking away, trying to dry up the tears building in my eyes. Fili and Kili shouting out my name.

I walked and walked and walked, the voices in my head tempting me to act against the dwarves.

'Show them who you are. One snap of your fingers and you could end their lives. You are a Goddess! The Goddess of Death! Show those mortal dwarves they mean nothing to you.'

"Whoever is playing games SILENCE YOUR TONGUE!!" I slurred before roaring out. But all I got was as a response was an eerie silence. At least until I heard something. A sound I hoped I would never hear again.

A roar. But not just any type of roar. This roar was like mixing a dragon, bear and nundu all in one. It pierced the air of the forest and a cold shiver ran up my spine. I heard the snap of a branch and even felt the earth begin to shake.

I raced onward following the shiver and there along the side of a mountain there it was. It's sleek, shadow-like body walked along the edge like a lizard but it's body was in the shape of what looked like a combination of a bear and wolf. It had the front have shape of a bear with its large paws and razor sharp claws, but the lower half had a wolf—or well a wargs' back legs for running.

The snout was more bear like but it's teeth poked out from its lips and were sharp like a warg's teeth but longer. Very long, I'd say even about as long as an Elvish dagger. It walked along sniffing the ground until it's head perked up and it turned to me. It's piercing sunlight eyes stared directly at me as it let out a roar and charged right for me.

*3rd Person POV*

The fight was brutal and bloody. Sharp teeth and claws lunged at Hela. And though she fought back as hard as she could, this Deviant was the fastest moving one she had ever dealt with that was this size.

She was barely even able to get it to stay down before it would lift itself back up and hit her back twice as hard. With a sharp cry of pain she fell down the side of the cliff before landing on her stomach onto a ledge.

Hela pushed herself up against the ledge she was lucky to land on. Her body littered in scars and her arm bleeding pretty badly. She gripped her arm and heard Bilbo's voice from above her.

"Hela!"

"Bilbo no! You have to get out of here!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"The Deviant! BEHIND YOU!!!" When Bilbo turned he yelped as before him stood the Deviant. He had faced down orcs, wargs, and was going up against a dragon but (only in stories) had he thought to actually see a Deviant live before him. The Deviant roared down at the Halfling when a rock was thrown at its head.

"Hey demon! Come on over here!" Kili exclaimed as he threw another stone at it.

"Come on Deviant you want a real challenge? Come this way!" Fili said as both he and his brother armed themselves with their swords. The Deviant huffed and began walking towards the young dwarf princes. Hela took out Aeglos and held the wooden end to Bilbo so that he could pull her up while she gripped a few inches below where the blade of Aeglos began. Bilbo held as tightly as he could while Hela scaled up the side of the mountain and fell to her back.

"Why did you come?"

"We were worried and Fili and Kili they—"

"They're fools. Deviants aren't affected by Mortal weapons. They're just gonna get themselves killed." She pushed herself up but Bilbo tried to get her to stop since she already looked like hell.

"Hela wait—you-you're injured. And that arm looks pretty bad."

"I don't have time to argue Master Hobbit. Now get those two idiots out of here and leave this to me!" she shifted her armor to her sister Thena's white and gold armor and raced after the Deviant with Bilbo at her tail.

Fili and Kili stood strong and firm but all it took was one swipe of its large paw to send both brothers flying into the air near a crack in the mountain. They fell through it and were hanging onto each other for dear life with their swords in the rock as their only anchor.

While Hela fought round 2 against the Deviant, Bilbo raced over and quickly grabbed Fili out of the hole since he was the closest.

"Kili!" Fili exclaimed to his little brother. His sword was barely able to hold on and as Kili was about to fall deep within the earth, both he and Bilbo gripped onto Kili's hands and tried to pull him up.

Hela swung Aeglos (which was charged with Thena's Celestial magic) at the Deviant's face which scarred it up and it swung it's paw at her trying to take her down. She then stabbed the Deviant in the chest and using as much strength as she could muster, she managed to pin the Deviant down. However an exclaimed cry broke her concentration.

Fili and Bilbo were struggling to get Kili back up onto the mountain and next thing she knew, she was pinned to the ground, claws scrapping her back repeatedly as she let out the most agonizing screams her throat ever made until she just lay there on her stomach limp.

The Deviant huffed and turned it's attention back to her friends. Huffing and walking towards them. It's eyes studying them a bit closer as there seemed to be Celestial magic radiating off of the three of them, and it was strong magic too.

As it is with the way of the Deviants, tendrils began to come out from its back as it walked towards them, wanting to drain them of that magic before they would turn to stone. Hela slowly began to move and she saw the sight that was before them. Memories of how each one of her brothers and sisters were sent to that fate, if that Deviant found out they weren't really Celestials, the three of them would be ripped to shreds.

She saw Aeglos just an inch away from her and she gripped it tight in her hand. The Celestial imprints of Thena's magic surrounded Aeglos and she let out a cry before slamming the blade of Aeglos straight into the Earth and then pulling as hard as she could.

The earth between the Deviant and her friends cracked and the Deviant stopped sensing that something wasn't right. Finally after struggling to get him back up, Kili was finally able to see the horror that would befall the three of them.

"Hela?" Bilbo asked.

"HELA!!!!" Fili and Kili cried out. She only looked at them, the white streaks of her hair blocking her face as she gripped Aeglos tighter in both her hands and sent them a final telepathic message.

'Farewell.......my brothers.' Then the side of the cliff began to break and crumble apart. The Deviant tried to run but anywhere it went, the rock underneath it's feet broke apart. Even as it hung on for dear life, it too soon fell along with Hela and the rest of the mountain down into the waters below. As loud and quickly as the mountain side fell, all went quiet and still once more.

Downstream as the current was soft with only a few bumps of waterfalls a body was gently floating down the current. A mixture of blood and earth covered her body, her armor was torn by claw marks and teeth.

The body that floated down the stream was Hela. Her body would dip down into the water before remerging back to the surface until finally she was forced up along the shore of rock and the light of the sun shined down upon her.

Shortly after being brought to shore a figure stood before her. He knelt down to observe her more closely. Taking away the wet strands of hair that blocked her face and getting a closer look at her uniform he could see that she was neither from the World of Men nor from another Elvish kingdom.

She slightly stirred and her eyes faintly opened but all she could see was a bright Elvish light surrounding her and long blonde hair.

"H-Hal—dir?" was all she spoke before she passed out once more. The figure that stood before her knew of the name but was lost as to why this woman knew of the Marchwarden of Lórien.

"Hîr vuin Legolas." A female elf with long ginger hair and wearing a camouflage uniform came forward and asked him. "Who is she?"

"I do not know. But she knows of the Marchwarden of Lórien." The female walked closer and saw just how injured she was.

"She'll die if she is not treated."

"The king will not permit a stranger in this kingdom."

"But our King will need to know of who she is. And why she is here? And she cannot answer those questions if she dies." The Elf known as Legolas as carefully as she could, picked Hela up bridal style and carried her to his horse and told the She-elf.

"Keep heading East, Tauriel. If she came from the mountain that collapsed, she may have seen something there, or may have been the one to cause it." The she-elf known as Tauriel bowed her head and got on top of her horse and rode off, while Legolas rode back to his home of the Woodland realm to get this woman some sort of help.

If the King permitted it that is.