It was shortly after a raider attack that Baelfire came out of the forest looking like he had been on the wrong end of a fight. He was bruised, bloody and more importantly he had the weapons of a dead raider.

The people didn't question his tale of being attacked by raiders, or that he had barely survived. They took his story of being a blacksmith who lived deep in the woods and didn't try to verify it.

Baelfire couldn't believe how easy it was to bluff his way into their village. The miracle of living in a world where the internet and technology had yet to take off he supposed. Hel had even helped by giving him the basic info of the world she was sending him to so no one asked any questions.


"So whatcha doing for today Bae?" asked the innocent child.

Baelfire, or Bae for short to the villagers, was apprenticed to the local blacksmith to complete his training, since he had been making do with what little his 'master' had taught him before he was killed. At least he had finally gotten some headway on making his own weapons. Though he would wait until he had much better quality materials to work with before he even considered reforging his personal weapons.

"Have to forge a few things before the Master lets me have the day off. He said I've been working too much and I'll need to take a day away from the forge before I end up hunched over," joked Bae.

"Can you come play with us?" asked the tiny girl, who's name was Eowyn ironically enough.

"Sure I can play with you and the others. Who else can make you fly without wings?" he laughed. The children loved to be spun around so fast that their feet left the ground. It was as close as they ever got to traveling the bifrost without leaving home.

"Yay!" cheered Eowyn.

Bae was about to put another strip of metal onto the forge to make more nails when they heard the sound of the alarm. Eowyn's eyes widened in fear as she raced behind Bae.

It was well known that he would defend children and the women without hesitation during a raider's attack. His natural strength had been a great boon in protecting them from harm. The men took solace in the fact Bae would keep them safe while they held the raiders off until Thor and the Warrior's three made it.

Baelfire took out ten raiders before the some of the men came to take his place so he could deal with the larger group. His strength and skill would be needed to chase them off.

"Stay safe everyone," said Bae as he grabbed his largest hammer and ran outside.

Bae fought like the devil, and during the ruckus he received a decent sized hit to the head causing him to drop his hammer. He heard a thud and scrambled to grab his weapon to continue the fight. He frowned at the odd grip, but ignored it to keep fighting in the here and now. A few seconds later Thor grabbed his hammer from the ground rather than take a few seconds to summon it to his hand, though his first clue that he had grabbed the wrong one was after he realized that the head had melted under the force of his lighting.

Still, after the smoke cleared and the raiders captured, it took him little time to locate where his hammer was...and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Standing in the middle of a good sized group of unconscious raiders was a youth with his hammer, carrying it with perfect ease.

The boy was muscled and a bit lanky, but clearly very strong for his age. He was almost a foot shorter than Heimdall, and he had deep red hair. Turning Thor could see teal colored eyes that shone with intelligence and kindness. He wore a blacksmith's apron, and from the way the villagers greeted him he was well known in the area.

Seeing that the raiders were being lead away in chains, the youth went to find someone to bind his head wound before he keeled over. Thor followed, partly to retrieve his hammer and partly to learn more about the boy.

"Baelfire, what have I told you about ducking!" clucked the healer.

"And give you less work? It was difficult enough trying to find my hammer in all that dust, how can I be expected to duck at the same time?" replied Baelfire flippantly.

The healer gave him a look...before she saw the hammer in his hand and gaped.

"What?"

"I believe she is startled to see you holding my hammer. It seems we switched during that large dust cloud without realizing," said Thor openly.

Bae squinted at his hammer before he expertly flipped it so that the handle was facing Thor.

"Sorry about that. I thought the grip felt wrong," said Bae.

"And I was surprised to find that my weapon melted after I passed my lightning through it," joked Thor, accepting his weapon back.

"Melted?" asked Bae in dread. It had been hard enough getting the blacksmith to trust him with his best hammer!

Thor showed him what was left of it, and Bae sighed.

"Great. There goes my apprenticeship," he said in annoyance.

"Apprenticeship?" asked Thor.

"Baelfire is a junior blacksmith. He's fairly talented, but is occasionally clumsy when it comes to carrying his finished works out of the forge," explained the healer, finishing the bindings.

"Had to come up with some way to pacify my mother once she learned I fell through the old ways by mistake. She'll never let me hear the end of it unless I bring something to make up for not listening to her warnings about the forest," said Bae.

Thor laughed openly at that story. If he had to chose between pacifying his mother for not listening to her or facing her wrath, he would avoid his home realm as well if given the choice! Too bad Odin, or worse, Loki would drag him back to face the music. He would swear that his brother took far too much pleasure in seeing him getting berated by Frigga.

"Perhaps you can make up for losing the hammer by bringing a new one from Asgard. I'm sure my father would be interested to meet someone who can wield mine without dropping it," said Thor.

Baelfire looked past Thor to the blacksmith he was apprenticed under, and grimaced.

"Considering the murderous look on his face, that's probably a better idea than trying to find someone else to accept me as an apprentice," he said. Thor let out another booming laugh.

This youth was very entertaining.


Loki had been getting a strange feeling of foreboding for months, and he had no idea why. He knew Hel was partially behind it because Kara had shown up a while back and not left.

Then he saw the youth Thor had brought back from another raider's attack and his heart nearly stopped from shock and fear.

What in Hel's name was Adrian doing in Asgard?!

Seeing the surprised look in Frigga's eyes, she recognized him pretty fast as well. Then he noticed open amusement in her features.

Loki listened to Thor's tale and barely kept from groaning out loud.

Adrian used Thor's hammer without realizing it until after the raid and Thor found out? And what was this about him being an apprentice blacksmith?

At least his son could act in front of Odin. He showed no open signs of recognition when he saw Loki or Frigga. And he acted as though he only knew of the Warrior's three by word of mouth.

Odin required a demonstration of Adrian's ability to wield the hammer though, something he did with shocking ease for Loki and Frigga by destroying a target a good sized distance away. He didn't know how to summon it back to his hand like Thor though.

Loki felt relief when Odin said the boy could stay for now, learning under the castle blacksmith's since it was unlikely the one he had been training under would take him back, new hammer or not. He had been fairly angry over the loss of his best hammer.

That gave him the perfect chance to pretend to learn more about 'Baelfire' without drawing Odin's attention to the fact they knew each other.

And find out why in Helheim his son was in Asgard when he was supposed to be on Midgard until either Thor or Loki were made king...or better yet he did something to earn Odin's attention in a positive way.


Bae paid no mind to Kara, though he did look up when he sensed Loki's presence. He waited for a spell of concealment first though before he dealt with Loki concerns.

"What in Valhalla are you doing here?!" hissed Loki once the spell was in full effect.

It was a trick he had come up with to avoid Heimdall's notice. It made the conversation much different than the one they were having.

"Some twit had a marriage contract and Hel agreed it would be an amusing prank on you," said Adrian flatly, enjoying the look of disbelief on his father's face.

"A prank?! You think this is a big prank? Thor becomes king in a few short years, couldn't you have waited before coming?" hissed Loki.

Adrian rolled his eyes.

"I was planning on lying low in Vanaheim until the coronation, then I would have made my way into Asgard through the old paths. I didn't mean to pick up that damn hammer by accident, or have Thor notice me until after Odin was in his hibernation cycle," said Adrian.

"What's this about you being a blacksmith?"

"No one would question my strength if I had a decent cover story for it, and blacksmiths as a rule are stronger than normal. Besides, it's a hobby."

Loki ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to be here? What if Odin..."

"I have a cover story that even Odin won't bother to look through unless I give him a reason to. As far as he knows I fell through one of the old paths by mistake and have decided to avoid my mother until I have a way to curb her anger for not listening to her. Hel and I worked through my story and she gave me all the information I would need. She's also agreed to make several fake people to back up my story if anyone comes looking for a Baelfire."

"Why Baelfire?" asked Loki.

"There's this TV series on Earth called Once Upon A Time, and one of the characters is the son of Rumpelstiltskin, also known as the Dark One. His name is Baelfire, though he also goes by Neal or Bae. Besides, it was the first thing that came to mind," said Adrian.

"So have you seen your brothers and sister yet?" asked Loki.

"I went through Helheim to get where I was, and I've seen Fenrir. He's like a giant overgrown puppy," deadpanned Adrian.

"Bet Hel was pleased to finally see you," said Loki.

"She seemed shocked and happy that I openly hugged her without a second thought. Then she applied the color charms on my eyes and hair."

"So what cover should we use to hide our meetings?" asked Loki finally.

Adrian was here now, and there was nothing he could do about it until Thor took the throne and he explained things for his brother. Thor was at least more understanding than Odin was.

"How about enchantments? I mean it wouldn't be unusual for you to teach me how to enchant my own weapons and it would be the perfect reason for us to meet in public," said Adrian.

"It's a start," grumbled Loki. He wasn't happy that his son was in Asgard at this time.

Frigga met with Adrian under the guise of helping him find a way to 'pacify' his mother...and to subtly push him towards some eligible females in Asgard. Adrian took the hints with good humor, mostly because she had an easier time hiding from Odin than Loki did. Thor had to rib Adrian about that whenever the opportunity presented itself, because he still found the reason why Baelfire didn't return home hilarious.


Two years. That was how long Adrian was in Asgard. Odin never once questioned his story or looked into where he had come from, as his cover had been airtight. Even Heimdall never gave him more than a cursory glance when he learned the boy could use Mjolnir as easily as Thor could.

The hammer was more picky about who could use it than even Odin was about who was let in to the ranks of the Aesir.

It took Adrian eighteen of those twenty-four months to get that 'privilege', and it made hiding infinitely easier.

As far as Odin knew, Adrian's full strength came from Frigga's blessing, not naturally through his father.

Thor's coronation was in a month, and Adrian was getting ready by preparing his gift to the soon-to-be-king.

But first he had to reforge his weapons since he bent them by mistake in the training grounds. He had a few mishaps since he was finally able to use his full power without drawing attention.

He had the scales Jörmungandr collected by Hel, fur from Fenrir and a few strands of Hel's hair, from both halves of her head. They had each insisted on contributing to the weapons since they were all so fond of him. Loki and Frigga had donated something to the weapons as well.

Loki would enchant the weapons once they were done so that they had similar spells to Thor's hammer. Frigga had donated the fires he would use to temper the metal as well as a spell so that he could cool them off in Jotunheim without angering the Frost Giants.

Thor had allowed Baelfire to borrow his hammer to make his weapons...he was spending the next few days in the training ground sparring with his fellow warriors without it.

Sif thought it was about time. He had grown far too reliant on his hammer in a fight.

Adrian used the special flames Frigga had captured for him and heated the metal until it was red hot and almost melted. From there he added the powdered scales of Jörmungandr to it, and hammered it to a thin shape, reheating as he went. Each time he added the powder, the metal took the shape of a serpent's hide...absorbing some of Jörmungandr's power.

This would allow it to lengthen as long as Adrian needed it to be and give it extra strength. It would also give him an automatic control of any snakes he came across, even the older ones who didn't respect the 'speakers' as they were called.

He could control a bound thousand-year-old basilisk with these weapons, spells or not. It also made him immune to their gaze, a definite bonus.

Next came the shape of the weapon.

Adrian spread the metal out until it was paper thin, useless for a sword. Then again, he only collected swords, never used them. He folded the metal repeatedly, added to the strength.

Finally he began to shape the metal. Unlike before, his battle fans wouldn't be made entirely out of adamantium and whatever special metals he could get from the goblins.

The edges were sharper than any sword available, and thin enough to make it past any armor the Asgardians made. In between the two outer blades, Adrian spread the enchanted metal so that it could fold up. The metal was so thin that it could be used as paper. Too weak for any real practical use now. But Adrian tended to use his fans for other things, and it would become strong enough once Loki was done with the enchantments.

Next came the final cooling once the shape was the way he wanted it. Adrian summoned the portal into a lake inside Jotunheim and dunked it. The sudden shock hardened the metal to the point he would have to start over to make any real changed that wouldn't compromise the fans.

Satisfied with his new battle fans, Adrian set them aside and began the process all over for his other weapons.

Adrian used the more esoteric weapons, mostly because people always gave him the most amusing looks when they saw them. The battle fans were just his main ones that he could use to spread the Kiss to his enemies.

His next project was a pair of tonfa. This was infinitely easier to make as he didn't have to thin it out first. It took him less time to make those.

Finally he made his daggers, which Loki would enchant to return to him once thrown, or into the pouch he kept them in. He wasn't wasting time retrieving the things.

For his last project he made Thor's coronation gift, a new set of bracers that would allow him to take a sword to the arm without getting cut for it. He didn't add the powdered scales to this one, considering the old Ragnarok myth said that Thor would be killed by his scaly older brother.

The next morning he returned the hammer, having cleaned off the scales off it and spent the next two days braiding the fur and hair into straps. It was something he had to do by hand because he needed the weave to be tight, something that couldn't be guaranteed by a spell.

Loki enchanted all the weapons and put a basic set of protection spells on the bracers. It was a joint gift between him and Baelfire for Thor so he didn't have to think of something his brother probably wouldn't appreciate or use anyway.

Then he slept for a full day to recover his strength.