He didn't want to go back to nothing.
Lose everything he found.
Everything that mattered.
So he roared in defiance.
Roared though nothing came from his mouth.
“Tor?”Something small and fiery hit his chest.“We’re right here. Tell us you can see us. That you’re really back.”
It was Raven.
Right here.
Not somewhere endless and empty.
Warmed by the sound of her voice, he blinked several times before his vision cleared, and he stared up at two faces. One, Raven’s beautiful dragon. The other, a tiny dragon with wide light blue eyes to match his. It stood proudly and cocked its head, waiting for him to respond. Yet for all its outward calm, he felt its terror. Its fear that Tor hadn't actually returned after all.
“It’s really me,”he managed, realizing the fiery bits hitting his chest were Raven’s tears.“I’m back.”
Though he had been determined to appear composed, his son couldn’t seem to help himself when he started hopping from foot to foot, like he had when he was a spirit. Revving up before he lost control altogether and broke out in a happy dance.
In direct response, roars of happiness arose far and wide, shaking the ground.
Raven and their offspring cuddled close, dousing him with fiery tears from all angles. Tears he would bottle and save for an eternity if he could. Tears that reminded him how very grateful he was to be alive again.
Unfortunately, because he was so weakened, he had to shift back to his human form, but his son seemed to get it.
“It’s okay,” he said to Raven when she hesitated to shift back as well. “He understands he’ll shift soon too. Just like human babies eventually shift to their dragon forms for the first time.”
While it was different starting with a baby dragon rather than a human baby, he couldn’t be happier. So happy that he gathered both Raven when she shifted and their little one up in his arms the best he could and held on tight.
“Thank you, son,”he said into his mind.“You are our største helbreder, our greatest healer, and we are very proud of you.”
How could they not be given their son had single-handedly pulled him back from a place worse than death? Had saved Tor's life within moments of breathing his first few breaths?
“Very proud,”Raven agreed.“You were a mektig kriger from the moment you were conceived. A mighty warrior.”
Their son preened under the compliments.
“We should name you, shouldn’t we?” Raven murmured.
“No,” Thor said as the gods approached. “It is unwise to name a dragon such as him until he has shifted for the first time.”
“Ja,”Loki agreed. “Unwise until you understand him in all his facets. All his forms.”
The way the gods said it gave Tor pause.
“Why do I get the feeling they know something we don’t?”Raven said into his mind, still wiping away tears.
“Because they likely do,”he replied, so grateful to be back with her.“After all, our son is by far the most powerful dragon ever born to Midgard.”
“He is, isn’t he?”
He had no chance to respond before others were welcoming him back. First, his parents, who embraced him tightly, then his cousins and their mates, then so many more. All grateful not just to him, but as they should be, to Raven and their son as well. Because it had been a group effort to defeat their greatest enemy and come out alive.
A group effort to put an end to so much suffering.
