Facing Time

Chapter V

Magnus-
The camp has been set up and a group has been sent out hunting. I have been tasked with building a large fire for tonight's feast. As I walk through the woods, I feel a presence following me. I slowly turn to see a young female wolf following me. I stop and she looks up at me like a puppy.  With a soft smile I kneel down. She bounds toward me happily, and I pet her. She seems familiar to me, but I know it's not Freya because she has different markings. She howls happily. I begin to hear other wolves join in. She is telling them where she is. At first I think she is bringing the other wolves to me, but after a second she bounds off happily. Good to know I still have a way with animals.
I return to camp and create the large fire. Everyone gathers around it and we eat and drink. I notice a man on a horse ride just into my view. He watches us for a moment before the horse gallops off.
"Harbard, are you not excited?" My mother is drunk. Floki stumbles over after her.
"You have not celebrated the gods being with us! Come on! Drink!" He hands me a horn filled with liquid. How can I party when I feel this sense of doom? To them it is just another battle. I'm not even sure which battle it is. Is this the one where my mother fell through the portal?
I take a drink to ease my oncoming anxiety.
Ragnar comes up behind me and lays a hand on my shoulder. I turn quickly, already on edge.
"Relax, now that you're here we will win for sure." I give a fake smile.
"Yes, because it is my job to help you win a war that has nothing to do with me." Ragnar's eyes widen.
"Whatever trickery you have up your sleeve, I pray it is to help us." I look back over at my mother. She's dancing while some men watch her.
"Just this once." I grunt before leaving the party. I walk away without any hesitation. My thoughts drift back to Allison.
I could pop back before she died and talk to her, but she won't remember me. For some reason it is easier for me if she is dead, rather than if she were alive and had no clue who I was.
Tomorrow we will travel to the flatland a little away from shore. Once there, we will fight to kill every last soldier until we win. Seems so stupid now. Fighting for land that is. It seems so much more minuscule than I first believed.
I lie down, hoping to get some rest. I quickly realize that it will most definitely be a restless night.

~*~

I am woken up at the ass crack of dawn. I grab my weapons and exit my makeshift tent. Everyone is preparing for battle. I take it all in.
"Harbard?" I turn to find Estrid. She has war paint. "I thought you would like to speak before battle." I take the paint from her.
"I'd rather be alone." I walk to a secluded spot behind the boats.
The pit in my stomach continues to grow. The more I think the darker my thoughts get. How will I ever find the moment things went wrong when I have to do it day by fucking day.
I dip my fingers into the black paint and place them on the right side of my face, then slide it down my face, over my eyes, and down my cheek. I find myself shaking. Almost as if I'm being electrocuted.
"Are you ready?" I do not flinch at the voice. I recognize Ragnar's voice anywhere. I close my eyes and suddenly see flashbacks of battle. I see Ragnar rejoicing and Floki with a panicked expression. Hundreds of people dead on the ground.
"Harbard!" I snap out of it.
"We will win." The words come out of my mouth without permission. I did not even know I was thinking them.
"I believe so as well." Ragnar smirks and goes to roundup the troops.

~*~

"So, first to fifty kills wins, yeah?" Estrid asks us.
"If you think you can do it." Floki teases her. I turn my attention back to where we are going. It is only a matter of minutes before we get over this hill and will see their army.
Once we reach the top, Ragnar signals for us to stop. That's when I see their army. We are fairly equally matched.
There is a moment of quiet, all of us sizing each other up. Then the horn blares out.
We yell as we sprint toward the opposing enemy. Arrows fly toward us. I hear the whirl of one as it flys inches from my face. I continue running. We all collide into each other, penetrating flesh with blades. Blood splatters everywhere to the point where I have no clue what blood belongs to whom. The clashing of metal on metal rings through the air. I breathe in slowly. As I fight, I feel as if everything is slowed down. I find it easy to kill without getting injured.
Suddenly, it all seems to speed up again as a shield knocks me to the ground. I hear a crunch as I land on my arm. I panic when I feel something cutting my wrist. I rip off my arm brace to find the vortex manipulator shattered.
"Fuck!" I wipe the glass off my arm and shove the rest of the broken watch into my side bag, along with the others. As I turn back towards the battle, I am met with a sword. I am able to dodge it just enough so that it only grazes my shoulder. Pain sears my wrist. Even so, I use my axe to disarm him. Before I can bury it in his skull, another man comes from behind. I slice his throat before finishing off the first soldier.
"The gods are smiling upon us! I am at 18!" Floki's voice calls out. I'm not surprised to hear Estrid reply.
"We shall see who wins!"
I notice the forces begin to split. Probably trying to surround us. I fight my way towards my mother. She is on the outskirts of our left flank. I am much too far away for my liking. If I had time I'd pop into modern times, get into position, then jump back next to her. However there are way too many people trying to kill me for me to stop to switch watches.

I continue to slay man after man attempting to get to my mother. I feel good about my progress until I hear her voice yell out. I get closer in time to see a man from the opposing army stop his comrades attack on Estrid. Estrid is on the ground bleeding profusely from her leg. He takes my mother into his arms. I watch as he runs off with her toward the tree line.
The world around me seems to stop as I finally understand.
This is the battle that she fell into the portal. Today is the day she was supposed to meet my father, but that guy took her away. Brutus took her away.
I scream as I attack with all my strength.
I had my chance and I missed it.
I take my frustration out on the opposing side.

~*~

I collapse onto the warm grass. The battle is over. We won. Yay.
"Estrid!" Floki's voice carried on the wind. He has been searching for Estrid ever since he noticed her go missing.
Ragnar is joyous, happy that the battle went in his favor. Unfortunately some of us weren't so lucky. I am reminded by this when I feel my arm jerk with pain.
I sneak away from everyone else and pull out the broken watch. I sigh heavily.
"Fuck!" I fish out the other watch that allows me to choose where I want to go and when. I do not even attempt to put the original one on. I'm pretty sure I broke it. I hit the button that activates the new device and I find myself outside of Connor's apartment.

"Hey I think I saw a light! Shut the fuck up!" I hear my fathers voice. The door peeps open to reveal Connor.
"I'm sorry officers, I didn't know how many people were coming last night." His eyes open wide. "Magnus?"
"Did you say Magnus? You know he left right?" Connor stares at me.
"He's standing in front of me." He pauses before looking to the side. "He is exactly the same."
My father pokes his head around the door.
"My kid's a god damn time traveler!" He comes out, pulling me into a hug. His death flashes through my mind and I stumble back. I look at Eric's face. Worry is in his eyes.
"You fucked your arm up." I nod. He laughs softly. "You'll have to ditch the weapons. And the clothes."
"I must get help." I say before stripping down.
"Woah, woah! Stop! I don't wanna see you naked man!" Connor shouts. I smirk as I continue taking my clothes off. My father comes back into the room with sweat pants and a tank top. I manage to get dressed without help despite the insane pain in my wrist.
"So, who's taking me?"

~*~

I watch as they wrap my arm up in gauze. I have a broken wrist. Fan-fucking-tastic.
"What did you say happened?" The nurse asks me.
"I punched a wall." She sighs as she turns to my dad.
"If I were you, I'd consider anger management programs." My dad gives her a polite smile. "Well, you're set to go!" She hands me a sling.
I put it on and we leave the hospital.
"What really happened? What were you doing?" I look over at my father.
"I was trying to find where things went wrong and it led me into battle. Fucking bastard kidnapped her basically."
"Who kidnapped who?" I roll down the car window slightly.
"Brutus kidnapped my mother."
"Your mother's name is Estrid." I let the cool air fan my face.
"Yes." My father seems to hesitate.
"So you found what needs to be fixed?" I think over it.
"Yes, I have. I must heal before attempting to fix it though." I watch him from the corner of my eye.
"What will happen when you fix this time stream?"
"Everything will go back to how it was." I hear his breaths get shallow.
"So, I meet your mom, we have you, and I die." I snap my head to face him.
"I'm sorry Father." He stops at a red light.
"How are you even here, huh? When time changed you should have been deleted from existence." I stumble on my words.
"W-well I was time traveling when it changed. I was technically out of the time stream itself. I remember it hurt like hell though." We finally pull into the parking lot of the apartments. I go to get out of the car, but my father stops me.
"Tell me, do you have to change things?"
"Yes I have to change it back! My wife and child are gone. My mother doesn't know I exist! My people have been slaughtered! Oh, and most of all, France is not supposed to be so fucking big!"
I'm not sure where that came from. I remember seeing France expand its empire dramatically when the time stream changed.

Eric is watching me quietly.
"Well, if I am going to die, I'm going to go out partying. What do you say we spend some father son bonding time together eh?" I smile at him.
"Let's do it." With a large smile my father jumps out of the car and runs inside. I follow after him. I find him in his room grabbing a pair of jeans. He then proceeds to throw them at me.
"Put those on."
I do as he says and in no time Connor, Eric and I are on our way to an unknown location. When we arrive, I see large flashing lights. My father looks back at me and smiles.
"Welcome to Legs Party Bar!"
My father brought me to a fucking strip club.