Blaine drummed his fingers on the table as he listened to the NYADA freshman plink his way through a poor rendition of "One of Us". He checked his phone again, waiting for Kurt to text him or call him or something. It had been half an hour since he ran back to grab his phone, Blaine was sure that something had happened that was making him take so long. He was worried.
Rachel arrived with their drinks and was able to determine Blaine's state of mind with a single glance. "Stop freaking out," she scorned. "Kurt probably got a call from his dad or had to go to the bathroom or something. Nothing is wrong, so calm down."
Blaine let out a small breath. "I know you're right, but I can't shake this feeling." He tapped the table again. "I should have gone with him."
"To get his phone?" Rachel shook her head. "Between you and your paranoia and Kurt and his second coming nonsense..." She didn't finish the sentence, instead letting the point peter off into the distance, but her annoyance came through clear as day.
Blaine's phone pinged. Kurt had made a tweet. His face lit up at the prospect, but fell into confusion as he read the tweet. "Rachel, do you know what Kurt's talking about here?" He handed her his phone, and she raised an eyebrow at what she read.
The most wondrous thing/Happened to me this bright day/This light's not hiding
"Is that a haiku?" she asked. She counted off on her fingers and yeah, the syllables matched up. Blaine tried to think of anything Kurt had told him about today, but he couldn't recall anything so great that it would warrant being called 'wondrous'. Did it have to do with why Kurt was late? Did he get some sort of call back?
"Hey, did you and Kurt talk about anything else while I was gone, or just the Recurrence thing?" he asked. Rachel shrugged and shook her head.
"No. Yeah, I have no idea what this tweet is talking about either." She'd never known her friend to be so poetic. Theatrical, ostentatious, and flamboyant, certainly, but not this kind of speech and wordplay. It was...fucking bizarre.
Kurt hadn't known himself to be like that either, but Bragi knew it well. They were one and the same - the god had always been inside him to some degree, he knew. Parts of Kurt remained - important parts, but were they ever Kurt's? They fit so well with Bragi that they may have always been his. Kurt wasn't gone. But he was Bragi.
He was Bragi.
He had embraced Ananke after his awakening - he knew that was what it called, even if she never said a word - and she helped to clarify the myriad thoughts swimming through his mind. What he was, what he was meant to do, his lore, his domain, his necessity. Bragi felt like he had just come out of a dream. Bragi felt like the world was his oyster.
Bragi felt a poem coming on.
Ananke was gone, but he didn't care. He whipped out his phone and got on twitter, quickly typing out a quick haiku. It was enough for now, but there was so much more inside him that he knew he had to share with the world. He began walking to Callbacks. He felt eyes staring at him as he strutted down the sidewalk. Bragi was nothing outlandish compared to other New York oddities, but he exuded an air about him that simply drew people in. He walked like a person who knew where they were going, and as others passed by they looked after him and began to follow him. They wanted to be where there when he got there.
Blaine was just walking out the door when Bragi got there. He intended to go back to the apartment and see how Kurt was doing, but when he saw his fiancé walking towards him he smiled with relief. "Kurt! Kurt, where've you been? What was with that tweet?" He paused, finally realizing that something had changed. "Did you change your outfit? Wait..." Blaine knew every piece of clothing that Kurt owned, and he didn't recognize any of these. "Did you make a new outfit?" Even as he spoke he knew that wasn't it either. He could feel the power coming off of the man in front of him.
Bragi shook his head. "It's a long story. You'll understand soon. I just need to get inside." He brushed past Blaine and walked inside, followed by the small mob that had gathered behind him. The crowd wasn't huge, but it was enough that Blaine had to shove through them in order to get back inside.
All eyes where on Bragi as he walked straight to the stage. Rachel was about to call out to him, but even she faltered when she saw what he had become. He never broke stride until he reached the stage. He waited for the boy there to finish, and when he had Bragi climbed up and walked over to him.
"Mind if I give it a go?"
The boy nodded and handed him the microphone.
Bragi sang. Nobody could tell what he was saying, but they felt it. He spoke a language comprised entirely of emotion and meaning. Blaine stared in awe. There was something unfathomably perfect about what he was hearing. The entire bar was flooded with Bragi's ballade, which spoke of nostalgia and hope and inspiration. Most people began whipping out their cellphones and recording it. Rachel felt something squeeze her hand and realized that she and a girl at a nearby table has grabbed each other's hands instinctively as the song went on.
It seemed like eternity until the song ended, but when it did there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Everybody there was shocked at first, breaking themselves out of the daze they'd fallen into when Bragi had entered their lives, but then they regained their footing and broke out into applause. Bragi did a little curtsy before jumping down off the stage. The crowd gathered around him, complimenting him for his performance, thanking him for letting them hear it. Bragi smiled but pushed them aside. He knew that he had a lot of explaining to do.
Blaine and Rachel were waiting for him at the back of the room, arms around each other. They both wore huge grins across their faces.
"Kurt, that was amazing!" Rachel cried as soon as he as close enough. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. Then she moved aside for Blaine, who grabbed his love by the shoulders and kissed him passionately. When it broke, he had to take a breath.
"I don't know what happened, but whatever you just did was beautiful," he said, not letting go of his fiance's shoulders.
Bragi smiled. "Thanks. It's new to me too. But that whole thing back there...it wasn't Kurt." He saw their smiles fade into confusion and quickly continued. "You remember what I was talking about earlier? About the Recurrence?"
Blaine nodded. Rachel gulped. All the joy she had been feeling moments before suddenly began to drain from her.
"I've...awoken. I'm more than just Kurt. I'm Bragi now."
Blaine twisted his brow. "Bragi? What...is that a stage name?"
Kurt shook his head. "No, silly. It's me. I'm the Norse god of Poetry. I'm a god."
Blaine paused a moment, taking it in. It sounded ridiculous before, but hearing the words come from Kurt now, after a song like that...it all made sense. Blaine cracked out in a huge smile.
"Oh my god! Ku - Bragi! Oh my god!" he laughed with joy and pulled Bragi back into his arms.
Rachel grabbed a chair to steady herself. Her world was falling apart all over again. She only barely heard Bragi call her name before she blacked out.