With lowered eyes, Baldur rubbed over the rough surface of the amulet. It was a perfect copy of the one he had given you for protection.

He had felt it vibrate, probably around the time you had fallen from the sky. But he had ignored it, out of spite for what had happened the night before. He had ignored it like the coward that he was.

And now you were paying the price for it.

With a low growl, he tied it to his belt.

If the dragon was quick, you might had a chance to survive.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

But even if you died, he would know. The amulet would call it's other half, just like a lover who was desperate for the touch of their better half.

He had to snort at the thought.

"You're such a coward...", his tongue licked over his lips and collected the last bit of your blood that was left from the kiss.

It tasted like anything else that had touched his mouth the past hundred years, ashes and dirt. And yet, Baldur felt like this was different.

"Mother...", he growled and turned his gaze to the sky. "This is all your fault. Look! You've made me a monster! And now my only joy in this cursed world has to pay for it."

A laugh shook his chest, loud and insane. But as he remember the look on your face from the first time you've had heard him laugh this way, he killed it immediately.

"My apologies.", he mumbled and lowered his gaze again to look down to the mountain top, where Mimir was supposed to be trapped. "I didn't want to scare you. I just... want to be good to you..."

His eyes jumped to the tree, the prison of Odin, that was now empty. Somehow, that wise fucker had managed to escape, probably with the help of that stranger and his son.

The son.

It was him who was able to cure this curse of Baldur. At least that's what he hoped. And if he wasn't, there wouldn't be any hope left for him in all the nine realms. It must be him.

Thinning about it made Baldur clench his hands into fists. His whole body was tingling.

He felt strange. Somehow, it was as if he felt something, both physically and emotionally. He felt sick to his stomach.

The blood, your blood, on his body was like a burden. It felt heavier than a thousand mountains that tried to push him down. But it also seemed to burn itself into his skin to leave marks that would never disappear.

With a groan, squeezed his eyes shut and frowned.

"You're such a coward!", he hissed and pinched the bridge of his nose until the feeling of blood crawled over his cheek. "It should have been you. You should have known. But you didn't. You didn't know... because... you're a... coward."

All of a sudden, sounds filled his ears.

Aroused, he tore his eyes open, just at the right time to spot the stranger with his child walking across the snow mountaintop.

Without looking around, they walked towards the huge archway that grew into the sky.

Baldur knew that it was supposed to be a portal. But in all the years of his existence, he had never seen it work.

Curious, he raised his chin to watch what was about to happen.

The two stopped in front of the archway.

The tattooed stranger said something to the boy and made him step back before he reached down to his belt and picked out a round chunk of something. He raised it into the air, to about his own eye level and waited.

Another voice sounded.

It made the hairs in the back of Baldur's neck tingle. He might have been a maniac, but he would have sworn that this was Mimir's voice that reached his ears.

Frowning, he jumped up and walked a few steps to get a closer look while still watching from above.

"You bastard...", he growled and chuckled. "You old, wise bastard. You escaped. How? Who?"

But as he asked the question out loud, he immediately knew the answer.

"Mother... you rotten whore. You disrespected Odin. Again. Ha...", a smile lit up on his bearded face. "Ha! Now I won't have to explain myself to him anymore. It seems you just gave me a reason to get rid of you. The godfather would probably prefer your death than dealing with your little games any longer. What a coincidence for me..."

He turned on his heel, wanting to leave to check if his mother was still where he had seen her last, eons ago. But a loud, magical sound made him freeze.

An electric buzzing filled the air.

Frowning, Baldur threw a glance over his shoulder, only to raise his eyebrows in surprise.

A bright, white and golden lightning chased down into the archway with such force that it made the mountaintop tremble. Little avalanches and stones broke off and fell into the depths as the magic formed some sort of crack in the air and started to grow to fill the archway with its light.

Unable to believe his eyes, Baldur turned around again.
The gate was opening.

His eyes wandered down to the stranger again. But it wasn't him nor Mimir who did the trick.

It was the boy.

A sound if surprise escaped him at the sigh.

"Finally!", he gasped, almost too overwhelmed to take a step towards the archway again, a step closer to his goal. "(Y/N)... you were right. It's the boy."

Without wasting another second, he let himself slide down the rocks and stopped right in front of the tree. His head snapped around and locked on the boys back.

They didn't notice him yet.

"What fools...", he mumbled to himself and started walking.

He could feel the excitement grow. It forced his legs to walk faster and faster, until he was running with a broad grin on his face.

He was barely a stones throw away from the tall stranger, as Mimir's golden eye suddenly locked with Baldur's blue.

"Brother, look out!", Mimir warned.

But Baldur was quicker.

With full force, he wrapped his arms around the stranger and smashed him into the bottom of the archway.