Tearing Off the Shadows

On Earth, Baldur was amusing himself as he controlled various people and gods into what he wanted. A storm blew fiercely all around them, causing panic as it struck. Ragnarok had come.

At Loki\'s mansion, Freya stood outside, the wind whipping her hair around. She stood in the front, protecting the mansion, along with Yamino and Fenrir. The absence of Loki and Heimdall had them all concerned, as did Narugami’s and Freyr\'s disappearance.

Skuld and Verdandi stood with Urd as they grimly watched the skies. \"It comes. Ragnarok.\" Verdandi said softly as the wind whipped their hair.

\"Ragnarok? But it is too soon! And if so, where is Thor and Odin?\" Freya protested. After all, prophecy said that Thor and Odin would be fighting Yamino and Fenrir.

\"Not all things go as prophesy says.\" Baldur\'s voice floated over as he sat on the wall around Loki\'s house. He smirked at them as they glared up at him. \"Besides...they are out of the picture.\"

\"What do you mean ‘they\'re out of the picture’? What are you doing here, Baldur?\" Freya demanded, her blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

Laughing softly in amusement, Baldur gazed down at her with undisguised lust. \"Just as I said, Freya. Odin shall no longer...be in the way and Thor has...fallen.\" He said before chuckling again.

Freya took a step back, her eyes wide. Who was this? It certainly didn\'t seem like the Baldur she had known in Asgard. \"What do you want here, Baldur?\"

\"I have come to claim what is mine. And now that the \'greater\' gods are out of the way completely...nothing shall stand in my way.\" Baldur replied with an evil grin.

\"But why?! Why do you want to do this?!\" Freya persisted. She just didn\'t understand...

\"Why? I did not know that stupidity came with those blonde locks, Freya.\" Baldur sneered at her before jumping down. \"Power is seductive and great when controlled. And I have found that power...and that control.\" He said as he waved his hand and a blue ball floated above his hand.

\"Whatever happened to the sweet, kind Baldur from before?\" Freya said, taking a step forward. She eyed the blue ball warily before looking into his eyes.

\"He saw the light.\" Was the quiet response before Baldur shot out the blue ball, surrounding Fenrir and Yamino.

\"Leave them alone!\" Freya cried, reaching out to the two. She narrowed her eyes, her sword appearing in her hand. She would protect them for Loki at all costs.

\"Do you really think you can fight me, Freya?\" Baldur asked her softly, eyeing her with amusement as he slowly tightened the cage around Loki\'s children. He frowned suddenly and looked over sharply. He snarled softly. \"Those two idiots....\"

\"Things not going to your liking, Baldur?\" Freya asked with a smirk. She didn\'t know what was going on, but he wasn\'t happy.

Baldur glared at Freya and zapped her with another of his glowing balls, trapping her. He trapped the Norns as well before jumping down. He smirked cruelly at them. \"You kiddies stay here while I take care of some unfinished business.\" He sneered before stalking off.

\"Or while we take care of you.\" Heimdall smirked, striding forward, Loki not far behind him.

Loki\'s eyes were enough to make the bravest cringe. His eyes were on his trapped children, and he all but radiated rage.

Smirking evilly at them, Baldur cocked a hip and put his fist on it in a mocking stance. \"Really now? You don\'t seem able to handle me.\" He said in a bored tone of voice.

\"You didn\'t stick around long enough.\" Loki growled, his green eyes flashing red. He certainly wasn\'t about to let this little asshole interfere with him now.

\"Oh pity...such a shame. Ah well...I had better things to take care of.\" Baldur said in a bored tone as he looked at his nails. He slowly clenched his hand into a fist and the webs surrounding the captured began shrinking. \"Can you stop me and save them? In time to stop Ragnarok?\" He asked with an evil grin.

\"Hai.\" Heimdall said, jumping forward. He took his weapon, slicing through the webbing on Freya.

Making his own attack, Loki shot a lance of power at Baldur, impacting his shoulder with it.

The webbing molded around the weapon, then hit Heimdall with power, sending him flying. Baldur blurred and disappeared, laughing in amusement before reappearing on the wall. \"Really, Loki...do you think I\'d be so easy?\"

\"Yes. You\'re extremely childish, after all.\" Loki remarked with an evil smirk. He jumped up, standing only a meter away from Baldur.

Heimdall groaned, falling back. His eyes narrowed, but he wasn\'t so easily defeated.

Baldur sat lazily, watching Loki in amusement. \"Do you think you can beat four Gods, Loki?\" He asked softly, eyes glinting with malevolence.

\"What four gods? All I see is you. Freyr and Thor have already been defeated.\" Loki said levelly, his eyes narrowed. \"I will destroy all of Asgard if it is required. You still don\'t know why I\'m Odin\'s blood-brother, do you?\"

\"And you still don\'t know how I controlled them.\" Baldur shot back, grinning even more, almost maniacally.

\"I don\'t have to know how you did it. Especially when your control was so weak to begin with.\" Loki snorted, waving his hand in the air. He smirked, looking over at the cage that held his sons.

Yamino\'s eyes had narrowed, much as they had that one time Loki had been kidnapped. The webbing of the cage began to crack as he changed forms, becoming the creature that many feared so much.

The Midgard Serpent.

Baldur smirked as the cage just adjusted to Yamino\'s change, and then squeezed even harder. \"Oh? Is that so?\" He asked before taking out what looked suspiciously like Mjollner. He twirled it expertly before slamming it down and hitting Loki with a thunderbolt, sending him flying. \"I gained control...by absorbing them. That is why Odin is dead...and Freyr and along with Thor is dying.\" He said with an evil smirk.

\"But you haven\'t taken us. I wonder why that is?\" Loki said, picking himself up. He certainly wasn\'t going to let a snot nosed brat like Baldur defeat him. What Baldur didn\'t know was, the longer that webbing constricted Yamino, the larger he would get until the webbing would eventually break.

But what Loki didn\'t know about the webbing was the more Yamino stretched it, the more it drained from Freya, the Norns, and Fenrir. Baldur smirked at Loki and shook his head. \"You truly are a fool, Loki.\"

\"Maybe. But you\'re too cowardly to face me yourself, without any aid from the others.\" Loki appeared back on the wall, balancing easily.

\"Oh Loki...if I didn\'t know better, I would think that you were trying to insult me!\" Baldur said in mock injury before laughing. \"What do you think Ragnarok is anyways?! It is the end of all gods until one stands! And I shall be that one!!\" He said as he spread his arms, and then brought them together swiftly, sending a swirling column of white fire at the trickster God.

Loki held out his hand, absorbing the fire. Fire, in all of its various forms, was his element. \"You are wrong, Baldur. Ragnarok is not the death of the gods. It is change; a rebirth for something new. Ragnarok has not come, because I have not started it yet. You are nothing but a would-be destroyer. I will be the one to destroy the world when it comes.\"

\"Says you!\" Baldur snarled, angered as his eyes flared up. He raised his hand up and a column of water appeared behind him. \"Time for you to know death, Loki!\" He cried before sending it flying at Loki, hitting him.

Loki screamed, falling back. He went rigid, the pain of the water searing him. He came to his feet, ignoring the pain as best he could. He faced Baldur squarely, anger in his eyes. \"Says destiny, Baldur. I am the one to begin Ragnarok, not you. You will die...as you were meant to.\"

Snorting in disbelief, Baldur raised up his staff, which looked much like Freyr\'s naganata. \"Not in this lifetime, Loki.\" He said softly before raising up another three columns of water and sending them at Loki.

\"Oh, I think so.\" Loki retorted, dodging the columns. The first had caught him off guard, but he had this experience with Verdandi already. He raised Laevatein, casting one of his spells. One of the columns became trapped in his three-dimensional spell instantly.

But the other two swirled around his attack and hit him swiftly, controlled easily by Baldur. Baldur cackled softly as he jumped down onto the ground.

Falling to the ground, Loki panted in unbearable pain. He closed his eyes, the water searing his flesh as if it were fire. He kept his gaze down, not moving.

Chuckling evilly, Baldur stalked closer, twirling his staff. \"How does it feel, Loki...to know that you are going to die and not even be with your lost loves?\" He asked softly, eyes glinting with malice.

\"You may kill me, Baldur...but I will go on. You, on the other hand, will not.\" He arched an eyebrow, and then smiled. \"Pity, really.\"

Baldur frowned darkly, and then snorted. \"You are pathetic. I have nothing to fear!\" He said before hitting Loki with an icy cold column of ice water.

Screaming, Loki shook on the ground. \"But...but you do. You fear failure...\"

\"Shut up!! I do not!!\" Baldur cried, hitting Loki again and again with water. \"I am too powerful! I can not die!!\"

\"All...things die...Baldur.\" Loki gasped, his eyes blurring from the pain. Baldur just might get his wish; Loki wasn\'t sure how much longer he could take this pain. \"You\'re nothing without that hammer, you know. You\'re weak and spineless...someone who has to have their thoughts told to them.\"

\"And you are nothing but a conniving thief and whore, Loki!!\" Baldur snarled as he hit Loki once more with ice water.

\"I have...never stolen anything without provocation. And I have never slept with anyone that did not want me.\" Loki retorted, pushing past the pain to look up at Baldur. He groaned silently; he was on his own...

Heimdall had been about to go to Loki to aid him, when his flail had become caught in the webbing. Trying to pull it out, he\'d fallen into the webbing, becoming trapped.

Baldur snorted as he hit Loki again. \"That is what you think, Loki.\" He said in amusement.

\"No, it is what I know.\" Loki said, pushing himself up, despite being hit again. \"What\'s the matter Baldur? Upset that I didn\'t screw your lights out?\"

Snorting in disdain, Baldur glared at Loki. \"You only wish.\" He said as he walked up to Loki. He grabbed the trickster god by the hair, yanking his head back cruelly. He kicked away Loki\'s staff as he sneered. \"How does it feel to be the one dying, Loki?\" He hissed out.

\"Fine. I\'d rather die at your hands than Heimdall\'s.\" Loki retorted, glaring back up at Baldur. He smirked, despite the pain. \"At least when I do die, I\'ll see my family again. You can do what you like to me, Baldur. But it will not stop the fact that you are worthless and all that you accomplish will come to nothing in the end.\"

\"You wish, Loki. You will never see your family.\" Baldur snarled softly before putting his hand over Loki\'s face. His nails extended and plunged into Loki\'s skull as a bright light flared up. He began draining Loki\'s very soul, smirking.

\"It\'s not...so easy...as that...\" Loki said, grabbing a hold of Baldur\'s hand in his own. \"You forget, Baldur...I am not one of you...\"

Holding Baldur\'s hand, Loki\'s eyes flashed red. Images flooded Baldur\'s mind from Loki\'s.

Baldur shivered, fighting off the images as he continued draining Loki. \"Nor am I.\" He growled out, his voice deepening.

\"So, you finally come out do you?\" Loki closed his eyes, searching. \"You truly are a coward, Surt. Using these idiots to further your own ends. Why don\'t you come out and fight me, giant to giant? Or are you too cowardly for that?\"

Baldur chuckled deeply. \"Oh, I\'ve been here...only using Baldur for my body is amusing.\" He growled out as he continued draining Loki.

\"Figures. You never could do things up front, always had to be sneaky.\" Loki groaned, closing his eyes. He took a deep breath, and then pushed Baldur away from him, using the last of his reserves to do so.

Tearing from Loki, Baldur stumbled, and then glared at Loki. He smirked and licked his lips slowly. \"Your spirit is so delicious. But I think I shall feast a bit on one not able to fight me.\" He said before jumping down and stalking towards Heimdall.

\"Think again, asshole.\" Heimdall growled, his red eyes flashing in anger. He\'d been powerless to stop Baldur\'s torture of Loki. \"Do you really think you\'ll kill me so easily? You\'ve failed, giant.\"

\"Really now?\" Baldur asked in dark amusement as he stalked towards Heimdall. \"You are trapped within my web and Loki is too weak to help you now.\" He held up his bloodied claws and smirked evilly. \"I shall enjoy making you writhe.\"

\"Do you honestly think you can inflict any pain on me that I have not felt already?\" Heimdall snorted, closing his eyes. \"I had someone I care very much for rip my own eye out. There is no other pain that you can inflict that is comparable. And you will die, giant. Painfully and horribly. I shall see to it. Even if it means killing my own brother.\"

Baldur\'s face flickered briefly before it became dark again and he snarled. \"I would like to see you try.\" He said as he came up, and then put his hand over Heimdall\'s face, sinking his claws in as the glow started once more.

Smirking, Heimdall reached out, grabbing the wrist of the hand that was against his. With one snapping motion, he broke Baldur\'s wrist.

Shrieking in pain as he stumbled back, Baldur glared at Heimdall. His features suddenly shifted and he grabbed his head. \"Brother...brother please...end this for me...\" He pleaded softly, shakily.

\"I\'m sorry, Baldur. You know I cannot. That is for another.\" Heimdall said sadly, bowing his head.

A hand rested on Baldur\'s shoulder, forcing him to turn. Loki stood, his green eyes filled with sadness. \"It is my duty, Baldur.\" In his hand he held a sword.

Nodding as he smiled in relief, Baldur closed his eyes and trembled. \"Hurry...before he takes me again. I\'m using the pain to push him back. If you kill me with him inside, he\'ll die as well...\" Tears dripped down his face.

\"I\'m sorry Baldur. But Hel will keep you safe.\" Loki said, tears falling down his face. He swallowed, closing his eyes. He lifted the blade, and then sunk it into Baldur\'s chest, fulfilling his destiny in killing the God oght.ght.

Looking up with a soft smile, Baldur opened his mouth to say something before blood came forth, stopping his words. He fell forward, sighing softly on his last breath as a shrieking wind whirled up around them. The webbings suddenly disappeared and four wispy souls floated out, one returning to Loki.

Loki closed his eyes, and then fell forward. Heimdall, having broken away from the webbings, caught him before he hit the ground.

Yamino slowly returned to his human form, rushing to his father in concern.

Heimdall didn\'t even notice. He smiled at Loki, who smiled in return. They\'d done it; they had avenged Mayura\'s death. Life could go on, though neither of them knew how they would continue to live without her.