Gunderkeen one-shots

You Have Us Now

(before Magnus' arrival, two decades after Mallory's death)

Mallory's POV:

Halfborn had been acting stupid recently- well more stupid than normal. At first I didn't notice it, then these past two missions, I saw it. Halfborn's tendency to put himself in harm's way without a second thought, even if it was unnecessary. Yes, he's a berserker, but this was different.  Be it taking on too many opponents; fighting when it wasn't necessary; and taking lethal risks, just to complete the task faster or even not killing his opponent to make the fight longer. This behavior was fine during practices, not during missions, away from Valhalla were one could actually die.

I asked TJ, he said Halfborn had always fought like that, it came with being a berserker. Afterwards he tried to talk to Halfborn about it, apparently it wasn't a long conversation, that had ended in TJ's death.

The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I got. The last straw was when he decided to do something so dumb, I thought I was going to lose the stupid jackarse.

We were on a mission in Minnesota, some rouges were terrorizing some locals, so Valhalla sent in Floor 19, well our section of it anyway. The mission wasn't supposed to be too hard, a quick fight and we could get some food for the road before heading back. Halfborn decided to make it more interesting.

I ducked a rouge's sword, and stabed it in the gut, killing it. The crowd of rouges were thinning, only four left. I turned to one of the two that was on TJ, when we killed both we turned to see Halfborn still fighting.

His axe was strapped to his back, and he was covered in many deep gashes. The berserker was drawing out the fight.

"Gunderson,  get your axe and finish it already!" I snapped at him. The oaf ignored me, and continued his hand to sword combat with the rouge.

This was the last straw. I stomped over to him, cut off the rouge'd head, then grabbed the stupid berserker's ear.

"What in Hel's name, woman!" Halfborn protested as I tugged him back towards our rental car.

      "Me! You're the one who decided to fight a rouge without a weapon!" I snapped. "You've taken simple tasks and made them more dangerous too many times!"

        He yanked his ear out of my grasp and marched towards the car, muttering things in old Norse. I glared daggers into the back of his head.

        "He needed that, though you might want to talk to him when we get back to the hotel. Give him some space for now." TJ said next to me. I huffed and made my way to the car.

      The car ride to the airport was, well, silent except for TJ's futile attempts for conversation. After a few sour looks from Halfborn and I, he stopped and sat silently in the passenger seat. I kept my eyes on the road, stubbornly refusing to glance in my rearview mirror to keep from even glancing at the brooding oaf in the back seat.

      When we arrived at the airport it was the same angry silence, except worse due to the fact TJ had to sit in the middle of Halfborn and I in the tiny seats on the 2 hour plane ride.

As the taxi stopped in front of Valhalla Halfborn jumped out before it came to a complete stop. He then stormed inside not to be seen until the next day.

That night I had laid in my bed, before sleep took me, thinking about how to approach Halfborn. In the end I decided I would do so as I approached everything: bluntly. With that I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning after Halfborn failed to show up for breakfast and training, I later found him deep in the library. I stomped over to him, and took the seat across from the oaf. Halfborn didn't look up, he did something that resembled a flinch that let me know he knew I was there.

"Gunderson?" I tried to get his full attention. He didn't look up, just stared intensely at his book.

I huffed, took his books and papers, and tossed them to the floor. The papers scattered. Halfborn's head snapped up, and he was midway through a curse before I stopped him. His brown eyes were lined with red, like he had been crying.

"Halfborn Gunderson." I said slowly and sternly. "You are going to spill your metaphorical guts right here and now."

He went to protest, but a cold gare stopped him. He rubbed his face, stared at the scattered papers for a while, seeing something I couldn't. Halfborn took a deep breath and sighed.

"I've thought about it -last night-, but before that as well. I..." Halfborn chose his next words carefully. "When I was alive, after I left my mom, I didn't have much to live for. I wasn't suicidal, though I just didn't have a lot of friends, and I never did see my family again. So I didn't have much- I didn't fear death, I thought it would be nice to die. After a bit, during battles I would shut everything out, and just kill. When I died, nothing changed. If anything, this made it worse. My limits were longer, I was stronger, and faster than ever. It- I never realized it was a ture issue until you mentioned it.

"I had thought about before, but I had pushed aside, thinking that was just being a berserker. But being a berserker is having a high pain tolerance, your brain doesn't shut or slow down from pain. My thing is I just kill in battle and I don't try to protect myself, because- because I don't think I should."

I waited a long time to make sure he was done. I was also giving myself time to form my own words.

"Halfborn," I paused, as his attention was brought from his hands to me. "You need to protect yourself because, I- Floor 19 needs you. I can't handle TJ alone, first of all. Second of all, you have us, friends, shield siblings, to fight for and with. A lot has changed since when you were alive. You have a family, okay? Us. So we need you alive and here, with us." I tried to find other words, but came up with nothing. I had gotten my message across nicely, I thought.

We sat in a peaceful silence for a long time. Halfborn was staring at me, and it was making me blush, though I tried to school my fluttering heart, and ignore the giant crush I had on the oaf. After what seemed like eternity, Halfborn stood up, gave me a hug, though I was still sitting so it was a bit awkward. He smiled a melancholy smile, and walked out of the library.

I stared at the door for a while before getting up and training in my room to clear my head.

Halfborn was at dinner that night. We all acted as if nothing had happened, as if Halfborn and I hadn't had a incredibly deep conversation. Though he shot me a knowing look afterwards, that sent butterflies in my stomach. Halfborn and I never had to discuss the topic again, I knew he was working on it. I slowly began to notice his defensive tactics, and I would give a small smile. He had gotten the message through his thick skull: he had us now.