AN: Okay, I know it's been forever. I have no real explanation other than just not managing to get a chapter I liked written.
I'm not exaggerating when I say I wrote 23 chapters before getting to this one. Some were only one chapter, and some were several chapters that followed a storyline I decided didn't work. I had five chapters written that introduced Baulder as a character. That all got cut out because I didn't like where it went and it felt like the story was getting bloated. The initial idea was to finish the whole story and then upload it all at once, but as I wrote out the story, I was not satisfied.
This also added the issue of me re-writing chapters and that created continuity issues That I had to address and I'm still not sure I managed it,
I honestly don't love this chapter either, but I can't let this story die. I will finish it, but I'm hoping that chapter jump starts on a line that works out, because what I have planned was not working out in a way I found satisfactory.
Thor
The trip was a blur. He was aware of Blake talking to him, and he was answering. But he couldn't remember what he had said. It felt like he was bordering on being blackout drunk. That was the best description his brain could latch onto, being drunk.
But he couldn't remember feeling like this before when he transformed.
But if his memory was being affected. Maybe he never knew... until he had some point of reference with another person.
But it was so odd to him. He was feeling in two minds. All he thought he knew before he gave his eye felt like a dream, of a child who had read a book. He knew some things but didn't truly comprehend his power, status, or age.
He had thought he was old before…but it was like a teenager graduating feeling old. It was only relative; only now did he realize and comprehend what he was.
Even now, it only trickled in. He supposed a human mind couldn't handle it all at once.
As he limped along with Blake, he felt like his mind melted. His mortal life faced an immortal life, and he felt scared.
What he thought he understood and knew was merely a fraction of what was true. Or what he thought was true.
"Are you feeling okay?" Blake's voice cut through his thoughts.
"Yes… why?"
"You are sweating… a lot." She said.
He wiped his forehead and felt and saw what Blake was talking about. He was soaked in sweat.
He didn't feel hot or sick, just weaker than usual.
"Maybe I need to rest." He said, slowing down and making to sit down on the ground.
"Not here." Blake said, pulling on his arm, "Let's get you to Yang's first, then you can rest."
"Yang and…Ruby?" He said. The names helped clear his thoughts.
"It's their house," Blake said, pulling him harder.
He became more compliant and followed Blake more readily and with more energy.
He was floating in and out of awareness, but soon he saw the house, and he felt the world fade out…
When he came too, he was lying on something soft and warm. Opening his eye he saw he was in someone's home. The next thing he keyed in on was two voices arguing in the next room, which he supposed had been what woke him up. It took him a moment to recognize them and remember where he was heading before he blacked out.
"This must be Ruby and Yang's home" was the first thought that became clear in his head. Ruby's voice was not one of the voices he heard however, it was Blake and Yang arguing over… what? He only heard a few bits so far. Closing his eye he listened and before long he got the topic of the discussion. What to do with him.
"We have to take him to see a doctor Yang!"
"He's going to get arrested the second we take him anywhere Blake!"
At that, Thor stood up. However, the second he was up, his head began to spin and he fell to the ground with a crash into a coffee table.
He didn't even feel the impact, the only sensation he felt was the disorientation and spinning sensation. He knew he was lying on the floor but he felt like the world was spinning.
"Thor!" Yang's voice cut through his cloud of confusion and he felt himself being moved by someone. He still wasn't feeling the sensation of being touched, all he felt was the sensation of movement.
The next sensation he felt was something cool being pressed onto his forehead. As he came more into it, he could tell it was someone wiping his forehead with a cool damp cloth. He opened his eye and saw Blake dabbing at his forehead.
"Hey, there big guy…you feeling better?" She asked in a quiet tone.
This time before trying to get up he did an internal inventory. He was feeling, if not better more coherent than he had before. But he still didn't feel good.
"No, not really." He muttered and closed his eye again. "I feel…wrong."
"Well, you're looking pretty rough. Just… stay here for a second, I'll get you some water."
Blake was back soon with a glass of ice water. Thor pushed himself up to a sitting position to accept the glass and even that made his head spin. He had no idea what was wrong with him, his power had left him, and then… the whole thing was a fog. Frankly, if Blake hadn't caught him, he felt fairly certain he would be in custody, but he couldn't remember in any clear sense how he'd gotten here.
His mind wandered to the fact he had been alone for the majority of his transformations and an idea occurred to him. Maybe he had been having similar episodes and just didn't recognize them for what they were when he was alone.
The idea was cast aside almost the instant he thought of it. It wasn't like blacking out after having too much to drink, right now he remembered a fair bit of whatever happened. His crash, the journey here, at least in pieces, and waking up feeling horrible. That was new.
He took another sip of water, it was cold and clean, something he was in a position to appreciate more after drinking boiled river water.
"Feeling better?" Blake asked.
"Yes," Thor answered truthfully, his mind fog was clearing, and was feeling less sick the longer he was sitting up. "Thank you." He added.
"Thor." Yang's voice cut in.
"No hospital," Thor said.
"Thor." Yang continued, "I wasn't going to suggest that, you'd be arrested on the spot, but maybe we could."
"I'm fine." Thor cut her off and started to stand as if to prove a point and a slight swaying motion, he seemed to be steady on his feet. "Just a side effect of the transformation." He said with a slight smile that masked his true feelings of concern. As far as he could remember this sort of reaction had never occurred before when he changed.
"Okay…yeah, about that… what transformation are you talking about?" Thor looked past Yang to Blake. This didn't go unnoticed by Yang "Yeah Blake filled me in." She said. "You want to explain it?"
"Showing is better than telling," Thor said sitting down on the couch. "I can't do it till tomorrow."
The look on Yang's face did not say she was on board with this plan. But there was nothing he could do about it. Explaining it to her without a demonstration would just make him look insane, even with Blake supporting him. Better to wait, and show no doubts, if not of his divinity then at least his power.
The room was silent for a moment before Yang spoke again.
"Fine… I guess a day can't make that much of a difference. Still…" She said looking over Thor "You're going to need some medical treatment of some kind…and with the hospital being out." She walked to a kitchen opened a cabinet and pulled out a box. "We're going to have to do our best." She said as she put the box down and started pulling out bandages. She looked him over again and said "But maybe you take a shower first."
Yang
Thor looked slightly confused at what she was saying, both about changing his bandages and taking a shower. His overall demeanor seemed like he was in a fog, granted he had just woken up and the confused look only lasted for a second before he stood up and said " Where is the shower?"
"Upstairs, second door on the left," Blake answered before Yang could.
Thor simply nodded and limped off to the stairs and slowly made his way up.
Once she heard the sound of running water, she turned to Blake and said " So do you have a plan for harboring an escaped mental patient who needs medical attention."
"Yang… I'm telling you he isn't crazy."
"Okay, let's move past that for now," Yang said, She'd seen the footage on the news of what Blake swore was Thor in some sort of transformed state. She had no clue if that was true or not, but the facts remained the same from the perspective of the wider world. " He still needs better medical attention than we can give him and he did break out of a hospital while under arrest."
"What happened to "do our best" with these?" Blake said as she grabbed a hand of the bandages.
"I mean we will, but I just sort of…wanted him out of the room for a bit."
"Why?"
" I don't know," Yang said her voice raising ever so slightly "I'm just uncomfortable around him right now. If someone comes looking for him…"
"He's managed to get along in the woods without being caught, with our help…"
"Blake what if someone saw you bring him here?"
"Yang…sorry I didn't think."
"No…I get it a friend in need and all that." Yang said before Blake could finish. Sighing she walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of orange juice and a bottle of vodka to make herself a screwdriver.
"Yang…" Blake said, with a slight pleading in her voice.
Blake had been on her about her drinking lately but right now Yang didn't care, she needed a drink, and looking at Blake, she thought she needed one too.
"Want one?" She said as she finished making her drink.
To her surprise, Blake nodded and said "Yes."
"Alright, we got a party," Yang said with more than a bit of sarcasm in her voice.
Handing Blake her drink she raised her own and said "To friends." And took a swig.
As she swallowed something occurred to her. "I better get Thor something to wear before he gets out."
Setting down her glass, she went upstairs and went into her father's room. Grabbing some underwear, a T-shirt, and sweatpants. They wouldn't fit perfectly, but her father and Thor were close enough in size that they should work. she brought them to the bathroom and knocked and owned it a crack "Thor I'm leaving you some clothes for you."
"Thank you." Thor's voice came over the sound of the running water.
Yang noted that like back at Beacon, there was no steam. Cold water…as always.
Walking back downstairs and back into the kitchen picking up her drink. Blake had moved into the living room and was watching the news, which was replaying the footage of what Blake claimed to be Thor.
She noticed that half of her drink was gone. That was a surprise, Blake hardly ever drank, and for her to drink that much that quickly was sending up warning signs.
"Hey…you okay?" Yang said.
"Just dealing with the idea of a god coming to us, living with us…how old is he? What has he seen? And why…." She trailed off.
"What?" Yang asked.
"He acts like a teenager… why is he like he is? He… is all over the map. Sometimes it's like he has all this experience then other times he is like someone our age."
Yang had always thought about that with Thor. Sometimes he seemed more mature than anyone his age should have been, and then there were times he acted like a typical teenager.
But that had come to be one of the idiosyncrasies she had just come to accept about him.
Yang placed her arm around Blake's shoulder and pulled her close. "Look we'll… figure this out."
Just as she said this, the water in the shower cut off. Rubbing Blake's shoulder, she stood up and went into the kitchen and grabbed the bandages she had taken down, while Blake stood up and followed her into the kitchen.
It wasn't what he needed, but it was the best they could do for now. He'd been living in the woods until now and was more or less alright… well he could walk on his own, but he was looking rough. He probably wasn't in mortal danger from his injuries, but he would need to see a real doctor at some point soon.
The sound of Thor coming down the stairs turned her mind back to her… friend. The rhythm of his steps was not brisk but staggered. He came limping into her view and sat back down on the couch.
"Okay…let's get you patched up," Yang said as she brought the bandages over and started patching up what she could, mostly the minor cuts that covered his body and face. The more concerning issue was his eye and what was left of his arm. Both looked inflamed and irritated. His Aura should have done something about that.
Reaching up with her hand she touched the red angry skin around his eye. He flinched at this but didn't make a response beyond this. It was warm to the touch which meant an infection.
"I've got some antibiotics." She said, "Left over from my treatment, let's get you some, I don't like the look of that arm either." Yang said.
"I thought I might have an infection." He muttered.
"And you still don't want to go to a doctor?" Yang said.
"I don't want to go back to the asylum."
Yang held back on commenting on his "surprise" for tomorrow because he looked wiped out. He was usually, or had been at least an energetic man. He looked so tired like he was about to pass out.
"Well let's get you that medicine, then you can lie down." She said standing up and walking to the bathroom medicine cabinet and getting her antibiotics. She still had a fair few left, her aura had kept her from getting an infection, but the doctor had prescribed them as a precaution.
Getting a glass of water to go with it, she brought Thor the medicine. Silently he took the medicine and just lay back down on the couch, closing his remaining eyes.
Blake
Nursing her drink, Blake watched silently as Yang treated Thor's injuries. It was odd they hadn't healed better than they had, his Aura alone should have done at least something. The only thing she could think was he kept reopening them.
But he hadn't had a scratch when he was killing the Grimm. He was truly transformed then, and now… he looked worse than ever. Even cleaned up, he looked like he hadn't slept in days, which was of course not the case, he had slept for about an hour when she had gotten him back.
But now he was sleeping again, his deep breaths audible from the kitchen, not snoring, but close.
It was still early, but she felt like a whole day had passed.
She took another drink as Yang walked in and made herself another drink.
"This is stressing me out," Yang said as she drank.
"I know, I know." Blake said, "Sorry for bringing him here but…"
"No!" Yang cut her off. "It's fine, I mean you couldn't leave him…he…was our friend."
"Was?" Blake said, "Isn't he still?"
"I mean… he might not feel the same way after…everything."
"He saved us," Blake said.
"Yeah…but that is…sort of who he is, I don't think even if he hated us he would have left Adam to…well he wouldn't have left us alone," Yang said as she walked into the living room and sat in the love seat opposite the couch, and watched Thor sleep.
Blake looked from her sleeping friend to Yang and saw Yang pat the cushion next to her, inviting Blake to sit next to her.
Not entirely comfortable with it, but she wanted… something.
Sitting down Yang placed her cybernetic arm around her. It was a stark contrast to the warm living flesh of earlier but she didn't flinch away despite the cold touch of metal.
She leaned into Yang's body rested her head on her shoulder and felt her arm stroking her shoulder. This time however it was cold metal, but Blake appreciated the gesture and didn't show any discomfort.
"He's the real deal, Yang," Blake said after several minutes of silence.
"I'm sure… he…." Yang started but couldn't finish.
"Don't lie." Blake said closing her eyes "I know it's hard to believe. But it's… you just have to see it."
"Okay." Yang said, "I don't believe in gods." She said squeezing Blake closer "But I believe in you, so if you say there is something to this, I trust you."
Thor
The sensation of waking up was peculiar to him recently. He went from being drained to exhaustion to waking as he wired on a hard stimulant.
Sitting up he felt the call of Mjolnir and was ready for his hand. He was wide awake and stood with strength in his legs he hadn't felt the previous day.
He felt stronger, and better in general. He had no idea how much time had passed, but he knew it had to of been at least a day since his last use of Mjolnir.
He walked to the kitchen and got a drink of water.
After that, he walked outside and sat on the front porch. Taking a deep breath he smelled the air, and could not detect any rain in the air. He would change that soon.
"So." A voice came from behind him and cut into his thoughts. Turning partially to his left he saw Yang in sleepwear walking out the front door onto the porch. "Time to show your true self yet?".
He chose to ignore the comment, which he sensed was less than a genuine question.
The sound of footsteps announced the arrival of Blake.
Thor stood up and limped off the porch " I said you would see." Standing on the grass he raised his right arm.
However, before he could reach out and call Mjolnir, he was overcome with a bizarre sensation. He felt a warm feeling running down the left side of his face. Pulling his hand down he touched his cheek, and pulling it away he saw his hand was covered in blood.
That…was new.
"Thor you okay out there?" Blake's voice called.
They couldn't see the side of his face where the blood was running down.
"I'm fine." He called back a reached to the sky again and this time called Mjolnir.
He could feel the hammer draw closer, and he could hear Yang say "Can't you hear that?"
A loud CRACK rang through the air, and his power returned.
Yang
Her jaw dropped as saw the transformation. Thor went from a very injured-looking and weary man into a fully healed, fully armored…well he looked the part of a deity. His arm was back, and his missing eye socket was now a glowing blue-white light. And all his cuts, scraps, and scars had vanished. He looked like he had before the accident, but also somehow seemed like he was more than before.
Even his hair was back to what he used to wear it and light seemed to radiate off him. That she realized was lighting arcing off the hammer in his right hand, The hammer she recognized as the one he was wielding back at Beacon when they ran into him at the attack. But back then he struggled to carry it, now he held it like it weighed nothing, with one hand outstretched.
"I'll be back." He said, spun his hammer threw it, and launched it into the air like a rocket.
"I told you," Blake whispered.
"Uhmm." Was all she could respond with.
She didn't know what to think, and now had far more questions, God or not, that was something that she had never seen, never even heard of outside of fairytales. The fact that Thor had called a hammer out of who knows where and healed all his injuries. Except for his eye, which seemed to still be off in some way.
"He's a freaking god!" Blake hissed "You know what this means?"
"I better start going back to church?" Yang said trying to crack a joke, but it just sounded anemic.
"Yang I'm serious! This is a… paradigm shift, he's been destroying Grimm but the thousands. He kills them like bugs, even giant ones."
"Well maybe he is a god, or maybe he's… something else."
"What else could he be?!" Blake said excitedly before shaking his head and continuing to say "It doesn't matter either way, his power is real."
Given what she'd seen on the news and just seen now, that power was real. But still…
Her line of thought was shattered by a sudden downpour drenching Yang and Blake.
Yelping in surprise, both ran into the house.
"Geez!" Yang said wiping her face off "So I guess he's the cause for the weird weather then." A thundercrack seemed to shake the house. "Crap, he lets it all out doesn't he."
Yang wasn't sure what Thor was, but it made some of the things he had been accused of being delusional about seem pretty probable.
Now getting Blake's desire for a drink the previous day, she went and mixed herself one as she tried to process what she had just seen.
"Yang please," Blake said as Yang grabbed a bottle of vodka.
"What? I just experienced…what did you call it? A Paradigm shift? I think this is warranted."
"But you've…Yang please, no more drinking…for me. Please?"
Looking at the bottle Yang sighed. There had been too much drinking from her lately, Blake was right, she didn't need that on top of everything else.
"Fine." She said putting the bottle back. "We need to be clear-headed when he comes back anyway, I have some questions."
"Yeah. But before that." Blake gestured to them "I think we need to change, I'm soaked."
Thor
This time he had to fly further out from the island than previously to find the Grimm. They had congregated near where Mjolnir had landed when he had thrown it last time.
They still died, but this time, over the ocean, they were caught in a maelstrom where the wind cut through them like razor blades. Their cries sounded like music in the wind.
But as the last of the Grimm fell, his mind began to fog. That hadn't happened before… he didn't think so anyway. He was… what? He felt odd all of a sudden and wasn't sure why…
It took him a moment to realize he was beginning to fall. Looking down he saw the open ocean. Spinning his hammer he flew back to the island, back to the house he flew from… it was…a friend…he thought.
All he knew for certain was his power was fading again he knew he needed to be someplace safe, the exact reason why he needed to seemed to hover just on the edge of his mind.
As the strength began to leave him he came to land in the Yard he had left not long ago.
And he crashed into the ground.
Blake
The crash from outside causes both herself and Yang to jump their feet and run outside to find Thor, on his knee hammer at his side. But the look on his face was one of someone completely lost. His eye was wide and he was looking around until his gaze landed on them.
And he spoke, but it was in no language Blake understood or even recognized.
As he staggered to his feet, Yang rushed forward grabbing him to keep falling over. He kept speaking in that foreign language as Blake went to help Yang bring Thor into the house and get him inside.
He looked even worse than the previous day, a bunch of injuries had reopened and he was bleeding from several points.
Rushing him into the bathroom, they started to redress the open wounds that covered his body.
But it was more than the injuries, he was ramblings wouldn't stop and he just seemed confused, but now he was cutting in English with whatever he was saying, which made it even scarier how he was acting.
"Thor please just sit still, we need to," Blake said but was cut off as Thor vomited onto the bathroom floor, much to her and Yang's disgust as they recoiled from it.
But that seemed to of taken whatever energy he had left and left him just staring blankly at the floor, drool running out of his mouth.
"Thor?" Blake said, quietly "You okay?"
Thor just continued to stare.
"Was he like this last time he changed back?" Yang whispered as slowly started to wipe Thor's face clean.
"No…I mean he seemed a little out of it, but he could walk and talk."
They silently watched Thor for a moment to see if he'd come around on his own.
"Let's get him cleaned up…then…." Blake said
"If he doesn't start talking soon, we don't have a choice, he's going to the hospital."
Blake had, until this point, sided with Thor on this matter, but this was scary. "Yeah." Was all she could say, and slowly they cleaned him up.
"Okay…I'll go call."Yang began to say.
"No Hospital." Thor's voice was so deep and stern it made Blake and Yang jump after his solid silence for the past quarter of an hour.
"Thor you need to go." Yang said, "I mean what are they going to do to make you stay."
"I think…" Thor said, "The hammer is…doing something to me."
"What does that even mean?"
"Was I speaking in another language?"
"For a little while there, yeah," Blake said.
"When I was transformed I was… remembering…things, but I think I was…forgetting other…aspects of my life."
"How would that even work," Yang asked.
Thor's hand drifted up to his empty eye socket, touching lightly. "I may not have paid enough."
"What are you talking about?" Blake said, getting scared again that Thor may be losing it. They had thought he was insane, but then she saw evidence that he wasn't, and now he was making second guesses her conclusions.
"I paid for my power." Thor said looking at her "Like my father, power comes at a cost." He pointed to his eye socket "But maybe it wasn't enough, and I feel like…" He trailed off and his face became contemplative. "I think each time I'm using my power, I lose a bit of myself to…myself."
"What does that even mean?" Blake asked.
"I remember more of…before each time I transform, but today…I almost forgot where this house was, or who lived here."
"And you didn't notice this until today?" Yang asked.
"I had a…feeling, but I didn't recognize it was this severe until I was doing more than just surviving in a hut, and I think it's…getting worse. Today was by far my worst reaction…I think I don't fully recall what I did when I changed back."
"You were worse than you were yesterday, I can tell you that," Blake said, and that was perfectly true. He had seemed a little disoriented, somewhat confused but he could communicate. Today he'd been incoherent, speaking another language, and had gotten violently sick.
"So… what does this mean?" Yang said "You can't keep using your powers? Or you can't use them as much?"
Thor just shook his head, "I don't know, my uncle may…" He said trailing off.
"Well, let's just, lay you down for a little while," Blake said helping him stand up, and it was only now she noticed how badly he had declined since Beacon. His injuries aside, he was much thinner than before. He wasn't thin but compared to his days at Beacon or when she saw him transformed, his muscles had atrophied pretty severely.
Walking him to the living room, she helped him lie on the couch, which she noticed was becoming a recurring event with Thor, he was sleeping a lot.
"No hospital." Thor said as he closed his eyes "I don't want to wake up in a mental hospital."
"Relax big guy." Yang said, "Just get some rest, we'll figure this out."
Thor was snoring in under a minute, leaving Blake and Yang in silence.
After sitting in the living room for a couple of minutes, Yang stood up and headed for the front door.
"Yang?" Blake said standing up as well "What are you doing."
"He said that hammer did this to him right? Well, I want a closer look at it."
Blake followed Yang out the front door, feeling the need to correct the statement, but also to keep her partner from handling a potential object. "He said he thinks it might be not that it is."
"Well either way I want a look," Yang said as she walked into the yard where the hammer lay on its head, handle pointing to the sky. The rain had stopped and as they approached the hammer, it didn't look remarkable at all. It was a large metal mallet with a leather-wrapped handle and strap on the pommel.
It looked heavy, but as a weapon, on the surface, it didn't look great. But Blake had seen what it could do.
Yang bent over, and using her prosthetic arm, gripped the handle and pulled.
And it didn't budge.
"Come on, it can't be that heavy," Yang grunted pulling again, harder, and it still didn't budge. "Come on, move!" Yang grunted adding her other arm to the attempt, and before long her whole body was being used to try and lift the hammer. "Blake give me a hand." She grunted.
Blake didn't think it would make a difference, but she grabbed the handle with both hands and added her strength to the attempt.
It still didn't budge.
"Okay," Yang said with a huff as she let go of the hammer "That's enough things I can't explain for one day."
But Blake noted that she continued to stare at the hammer, confusion on her face. Thor was physically stronger than Yang, at least when Yang wasn't getting a buff from her semblance. But the gap shouldn't be so much greater that Yang couldn't at least budge the hammer, even if she couldn't lift it.
There had to be something else to it than raw strength.
Her thoughts drifted back to Thor, and she was hoping he'd become more coherent after he rested.
But if he kept getting worse, Then they were going to have to do something about it and get him real medical and maybe mental help. She didn't blame Thor for being so reluctant, after being locked up like he had been, he was scared of it happening again.
And if these transformations were hurting him like this, then he couldn't just break out without severe ramifications, especially if it kept escalating in intensity.
The idea of somehow clearing his name seemed like the best solution. That seemed the most promising for a long-term solution, they just needed a plan. Show the right people what he could do, even if they didn't believe he was god, at the very least some of what had been called "delusions" could be seen as true. The fact that she and Yang couldn't move the hammer as well seemed like an important piece of information.
But they still needed more information. Hopefully, when Thor woke up he could explain his situation better, and they could come up with some sort of plan to clear his name.
"Let's head in." Yang's voice cut through her thoughts. "When Thor wakes up, he's going have a lot to explain."
"Yeah," Blake said while thinking about how not only clear Thor's name but how if he could get the effects of his transformation under control, it might just shift the scales in the world with the creatures of Grimm and those who tried to destroy Beacon.