Issei was warm, cozy, the sort of warmth everyone experiences after a nice night of rest, and even though his head was slightly hurting from the mead and ale from last night he was still comfortable, if a bit thirsty.

Slowly he got out bed and looked around the room he was in. It was quite cozy with a large bed in the back being the first thing anyone coming into the room would notice. Last night he was too tired and simply searched for the closest thing resembling a bed, somehow he found it. But now that he was awake and quite rested he could see that on the floor there were different animal furs, the floor was made of dark wood, the same material had also been used for the walls, making the room look like a mountain cabin, considering that this was Asgard, where mountains were the dominant landscape it wasn't that strange.

"Prince? Are you awake? Lord Odin has called for you." A voice came from behind the massive wooden door. Replying to what he could only guess was a servant Issei searched for his clothes. Quickly getting dressed Issei opened the door and followed the servant through the halls until they somehow ended up back in Valhalla where Odin and a few other people he didn't recognize were waiting. One was a beautiful woman who had a boar by her side. Next to her was a tall man with red-blond hair and beard. There were other people but his attention was quickly captured by Odin when he began to speak.

"Good morning! I trust you slept well. I sent you some women to keep you warm but you were already asleep by the time they got you. No mind, you will have all the time in the world for that." Issei wasn't sure how to respond to that, he was a teenager after all, he was practically made of hormones and knowing that he missed a chance made him just a little bit mad. Odin chuckled as he saw the conflicted expression on the young man's face, he was clearly not happy with the revelation that was thrown at him yet he still tried to look as calm and not embarrass himself in front of so many people.

"Anyway…-the young man coughed-You called for me?"

"Yes I did indeed. I told you yesterday that you shall be recognized as a God but that can only go so far. Gods are usually born in our Pantheon so the process for someone or something to be accepted as a God is known only by a select few, the highest ranking Gods are among those few." Issei just stared at Odin waiting for whatever the old deity had in store. "Come. We shall see if the tree agrees with my decision." And with that Issei followed Odin and that other people, who he assumed were also Gods. He didn't really know who any of them were, except for the man with red-blond hair, the hammer at his waist being a dead giveaway at his identity.

All of them walked for some time through the beautiful lands of Asgard until they reached The Bifröst. They continued to walk in silence, the clatter of different accessories they wore being the only sound that could be heard.

Without warning the rainbow colored path under them disappeared and they were sitting on a massive branch of an even larger tree. The size was incredible, it couldn't even be described in human terms. Issei looked on amazed as the tree swayed gently in non-existent wind. Suddenly he was not on the branch of the tree anymore but was now floating quite a distance away from it. From here he could see nine spheres of different color, the ones that immediately caught his attention were the blue one and the golden one sitting one above the other.

"This! This is Yggdrasil. The Tree of the World. More of a honorary title since it's more like a network between the nine realms. The Eagle at it's top is the collective knowledge of all worlds and times." But I thought Odin was… Issei decided to voice his question.

"Weren't you the bearer of wisdom of Yggdrasil?"

Odin smiled. "I am the bearer of that wisdom, the Eagle, is a sort of interpreter, he contains the knowledge of the tree and when the tree has something to say about our affairs he speaks." That makes sense… somewhat… Issei thought, he raised his gaze from the enormous tree and looked at the two birds sitting at the top, there was the Eagle and a much smaller bird sitting between it's eyes.

"Usually Ratarosk would come and deliver the word of the Eagle but this is a special occasion. We shall see if the tree thinks my decision was wise. Not that I would care if it disagreed." Odin said with a chuckle. This God was seriously too laid back.

The eyes of the giant Eagle landed on Issei and it stared at him for a good few minutes until it looked away and resumed it's stance. Was that it? Before Issei could ask the question the Eagle opened it's beak and a voice echoed in all of the space surrounding them and the tree.

"This one is foolish, young and lucky, but greatness tends to favor the fools. The flames have been doused but the fire is still there." Issei expected the voice to carry power, respect, generally to sound different, instead he was surprised it sounded like your average man's voice.

"What did it mean?" Issei asked Odin who was running a hand through his silver beard.

"Bah. The bird likes to speak cryptically but it's nothing to be worried about. It generally doesn't care about us or anything other than Niðhöggr. You shouldn't worry about it's words too much. If it had anything to say against my decision you would know. Plus, the deed is already done." Odin said and turned around, a portal opening in front of him, from which Bifröst seemed to stretch forwards towards Asgard.

Night was approaching. Issei had decided to get away from the feast for now, it wasn't like it would end now, from what Odin said, it would last for a whole week, and that was only the celebration of his ascension. This was Valhalla, the feasting would never stop here. Currently he was sitting on a hill overlooking most of Valhalla and the surrounding city. A pair of footsteps alerted him that someone was coming but he paid them no mind.

Issei took another sip from the horn in his hand and waited for the person behind him to begin speaking. That didn't happened so he took it as a sign that they left, even though he didn't hear the person leave.

"I-I...P-Prince, there is… something we must talk about..." Issei turned around immediately when he heard Rossweisse's voice. When his eyes met her own he was left speechless. Bathed in the moon of the light and stars, silver hair flowing, face flushed and white dress fluttering in the wind, she made for quite a sight, especially to his slightly buzzed mind.

"Ah, Rossweisse. I'm sorry about before. If I offended you I'm truly sorry. When I said that I didn't mean it, what I meant to say was that I spoke before I knew it." Issei spoke, he wanted to clear this misunderstanding as soon as possible so he said those words while bowing sincerely.

Rossweisse was honestly rather embarrassed, here he was apologizing to her for calling her smile beautiful. Honestly, she wanted to apologize first for being so rash but when she went to his room earlier she couldn't find him. Last night she was quite drunk after being rejected by one of her seniors so the celebrations were just the perfect excuse for her, that was also the reason she was so abrasive towards being complimented, she just couldn't see anyone actually being honest when complimenting her.

"I-I'm sorry as well, last night I was not feeling at my best so I hope you can forgive me and we can start on better terms. It would not do after all for wife and husband to dislike each other." Rossweisse said, this was the reason she actually sought him out. Odin had decided that Issei would need an appropriate gift, so he decided that rather than giving him a one night stand with some random girls, he would rather give him a faithful wife. Of course that didn't mean the ones chosen were unwilling, hardly, they would all jump at the chance to become Queens, and since the new King was young, they wouldn't need to worry about him being too much of a lost cause. In the end she was the one chosen, having a very sharp mind, devotion and beauty to spare.

"I see. I'm glad that y-… Could you please repeat that last bit, I think I miss-heard you."

"Did you hear me say that husband and wife shouldn't dislike each other?"

"Ye-yes?"

"Than you heard correctly."

Issei stared wide eyed at her before taking a sip from his horn and laying down. "When, exactly was this decided and by whom?" Issei asked, still baffled.

"Today. Odin-sama decided that he should give you a gift to celebrate. Are you against the idea of marrying me?" Rossweisse said, a bit of sadness seeping into her voice, if he was indeed against the idea, this would make it her thirtieth rejection.

"I-It's nothing like that. I'm not exactly against it… It's just that..." It seemed things had suddenly got way out of his control, first he found out most of the myths were true, than he was raised to godhood and now as a celebration gift, he was to marry the girl that captured his attention the day before. He wasn't sure whether to curse his fate or scream to the heavens because of his luck. "Things are moving too fast for me to keep up."

"Refusing a gift from Odin-sama is certainly going to have a bad influence on your reputation." Why did I say that! Rossweisse thought. While refusing a gift wasn't the nicest thing to do, it certainly wouldn't affect the reputation of anyone, no matter who they were or who gave the gift.

"I'm not going to. I may not have known Odin-san for long but I trust him and his judgement, if he wants me to marry you I have nothing against it. I doubt any other girl wouldn't even have glanced at me, especially back home, so for a pervert like me, this is just perfect." Rossweisse frowned, he might have tried to sound strong and uncaring but it was clear that he was having a hard time dealing with all of this, and self-deprecating himself wouldn't help in any way. Rossweisse smiled and got down on her knees behind him, stretching her arms, she hugged Issei from behind and pulled him into her chest.

"I promise I will make a good wife to you, if you promise to make a good husband to me." Rossweisse said running a hand through his hair to soothe him. The action seemed to work as Issei took a deep breath and replied.

"Sure."

As if the celebration of his ascension wasn't enough, Issei now had to deal with the celebrations of his own wedding. He wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that his parents wouldn't know he is already married until he came of age.

"Don't worry, we'll have another wedding in Midgard as well, and then you can invite everyone you want." Rossweisse said from his side. While the whole ordeal left a bitter-sweet taste in his mouth he couldn't afford to let it show, after all Rossweisse, now his wife, was so happy during the whole ceremony he thought he would get diabetes from how sweet she was being.

Issei smiled and grasped her hand under the table. Currently they were enjoying the feast along with a little display of swordsmanship. That reminds me, I need to train with that thing, what I did before couldn't even be called training. I was just swinging the sword around.

And so celebrations continued well into the night, both bride and groom were already tipsy and were happily dancing. Göndul watched the two dance with a melancholic smile.

"Was this really the best decision, Odin-dono? They are young and full of life, isn't it a bit too rash?" Göndul asked the old god.

"It is fine, Issei is a gentle young man, he will become a good husband to your granddaughter. And if they were against it. Would they look so happy?"

Göndul looked back to her granddaughter and saw the smile on her face, the same expression being mirrored by Issei.

"Do not worry, Göndul. It is often the love built with care and time that lasts the most." Göndul was once again reminded why Odin was the Bearer of Wisdom. She knew why this marriage was arranged, Odin wanted to be sure that he had the favor of the newly ascended God, it will be some time before he was even close to being powerful enough to pose a threat to any of the Gods but he was the spiritual heir of Surtr so the Fire Giants took to him rather quickly claiming him as their true leader. The reason why this marriage started to become obvious when that fact came to light. It was a win-win situation. And he was right, they seemed happy together. They say that alcohol rids one of inhibitions, if that is true, than those two truly have nothing against each other, except maybe slowly growing affection.

"It's time for the newly-weds to retire to the matrimonial bedroom." And once again Göndul was reminded why the higher ranked among them sometimes questioned the claim that Odin was the wisest among them. She stared at Odin, her mouth hanging open. "It's up to them if they want to do anything, I just thought they might like to retire for the night, they are surely tired from the dancing and the ale isn't helping." I'm sure you only had the purest of intentions in mind. Göndul rolled her eyes at the King of the Aesir.

Walking, read stumbling, Issei and Rossweisse made their way to the room Issei stayed in the night before. When they entered they saw that the room had already been prepared before-hand. A hot bath was already waiting for them. Issei wasted no time and got rid of his clothes before entering the rather big bath. It reminded Issei of the baths he would see in inns that had hot springs, except this one wasn't built into the floor and once emptied could probably be easily moved by two stronger people.

The warm water did wonders to his tired muscles and Issei felt like he was in heaven, technically he was, just not in the right mythology.

"What am I to do with you, selfishly taking the entire bath by yourself." Rossweisse sighed and took off the ridiculously intricate dress she was wearing, she honestly would have preferred a simple white dress over this wedding one, she didn't even know why she had to wear it, perhaps so Issei would not be too culture shocked? Whatever. She finally got the dress off and was about to take off her underwear when a thought struck her.

She was about to enter a bath, with someone who was now her husband, was she really fine with this? Was she fine with what was about to transpire on that bed? Thoughts ran through her head, all making her hesitate just a little more. This was what she always wanted right? Someone to finally not reject her for once, but this was an order of magnitudes above that, they had already passed boyfriend and girlfriend level and were now straight to husband and wife. Was she really fine with anyone?

What was she saying, of course she wasn't. But this wasn't anyone, this was Issei, she might have not known him for long but he was a sincere and good man, she didn't need to think too much about it. Plus, Issei had already shared the insecurities he had, she was sure his mind was even more occupied, he had to deal with much more than she did and yet he was as silent as a rock. Looking at him, she expected to find him in the tub, with a complicated expression on his face. Instead she found just water.

Looking around the room she didn't see him anywhere, she looked back to the tub again to find him submerged in the water.

"Ahh!" With a cry she quickly jumped in, draining some water from the tub. Lifting him up, she found that he was thankfully still alive. If he wasn't it could have spelled as all sorts of problems. Besides him obviously being dead, she could have been framed as the murdered, or Odin-sama, the Fire Giants had finally gained back their King, it would not do well to anger them in such a way. "Thank goodness..." Rossweisse thought after she saw him cough up the water.

What the hell happened? Issei opened his eyes to see the light blue shade of Rossweisse's own. Looking down he found that even though she was in the bath, she was still in her lingerie, which was now soaking wet. He gulped as the eroticism of her current appearance hit him.

Rossweisse was about to sigh from relief again when she saw Issei open his eyes, just before she did, something rubbed her in a rather sensitive area. Looking down, she noticed a few things. One; Issei was naked. Two; her underwear became see-through. And three; she was straddling Issei. If the water wasn't already hot she was sure it would have surely heated up when she threw her head underwater to hide the blush that grew there.

"W—Issei coughed—What happened?"

"You almost died, that's what happened. You were probably too tired and fell asleep in the water." Rossweisse said removing her soaked lingerie. Issei moved with the speed of sound and placed both his hands underwater. Following his arms Rossweisse saw what he was trying to hide. Her blush grew even more than his and she swore the water got just a little hotter. In fact it actually did.

What the hell? Rossweisse looked up at Issei and saw that he was redder than she thought possible, steam was also coming from his head. She burst out laughing.

"W-What's so funny?" Issei said fidgeting.

"I'm… I'm sorry It's… It's just that, steam is coming out of your head. Are you really that embarrassed?" He was probably using his powers without realizing so it wasn't really his fault. That didn't make it any less funny to her though, in fact it amplified it.

"Look who's talking!" Issei said huffing. "I'm getting out." He said rising from the water, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Rossweisse, mostly because when he did, she got a clear view of the half-mast he was sporting.

"Wah!" She quickly covered her eyes and turned around.

Issei, surprised by the sound, looked to Rossweisse confused, before it hit him. Quickly, he covered himself with a towel and got out of Rossweisse's line of sight, going to the bed.

After some time Rossweisse looked towards the bed to see that Issei was already in bed and judging by the soft rise and fall of his chest, he was already asleep, so she took her time drying herself and joined him in bed. Turning to her side, she looked at Issei's wide back, she moved closer to him and hugged him from behind, she closed her eyes and hoped to fall asleep.

Of course I can't sleep… Rossweisse sighed. Her mind was too busy wondering about what it meant to be Issei's wife. She just couldn't sleep, not with her heart beating as fast as it did. Should I go for it? But he's already asleep and tired… Still, this is a wedding night, people are going to expect something to happened… Did she care that people expected things to happened between them? No, not really. Did she want things to happened? Y-Yes…

Gathering her courage Rossweisse shook Issei awake.

"What is it?" He asked rubbing his eyes.

"I-I want to..." She couldn't say it! How could she, she wasn't some shameless, straight-forward woman.

"You want to?" Issei asked, expecting her to continue.

"T-This is our wedding night, right?"

"Y-Yeah." Issei asked, redness returning to his cheeks.

"It's supposed to be special, right? We-We're supposed to… to… do it, you know…" Rossweisse said trying to not die of embarrassment.

"And do you want to?" Issei might have the chance of a life-time in front of him but he sure hell wasn't going to do something if Rossweisse didn't want to, there would be no enjoyment in that.

"D-Don't make me say it." Issei's eyes grew so wide he swore he could see into the next realm. Throwing away the covering from both himself and Rosswiesse, Issei took in her lingerie-clad form. Bathed in the moonlight, silver hair shinning and sprawled behind her, rosy cheeks and half-lidded eyes drew him in. They kissed softly, it wasn't their first kiss, but it was the one where they weren't under any sort of pressure and no one was watching. Now they were all alone, they had time to study each other and that is what they did. Slow kisses, tentative touches, it was a new experience for both of them.

Issei softly kneaded Rossweisse's breasts, this was one of his dreams, but right now he was too focused on the feeling of the perky mounds in his hands, Rossweisse's soft, erotic breathing and his own arousal, to care about any of that. All he wanted was to follow his instincts, and they told him to make love to the woman currently below him.

Rossweisse wrapped her hands around Issei's neck and brought him down for another series of kisses, more passionate this time, she was heating up rapidly, sweat already making her skin shine slightly, Issei had honestly never seen such a beautiful sight.

Realizing that they were both naked as the day they were born-and the room wasn't exactly the hottest place on Earth-made Issei cover both of them with the blanket he had thrown at the end of the bed.

Taking in the beautiful sight that was a panting, sweaty Rossweisse, Issei kissed her quickly once more and sealed the deal, Rossweisse's arms tightening around his neck as she gasped.

The light of morning shone through the window and Issei woke up feeling rested. He looked at the young woman in his arms and blushed. There she was in all her beauty, silver hair sprawled behind her, shinning and wild; soft, pale skin against his own, and of course, her face, with all of it's sharp edges and foreign beauty, well to him at least, in here, he was the foreigner, but that thought only passed by briefly in his mind before he returned to studying and admiring her peaceful sleeping face.

Icy blue eyes slowly opened, moving long, silvery eyelashes with them and she looked up to find herself in his arms. As soon as the realization hit her, her face grew red.

"G-good morning." Issei said nervously, he wasn't sure how she was going to respond, even if she was the one who wanted to do this he still had cold feet.

Rossweisse didn't reply, instead she just buried her face in his chest. At this point Issei knew what was coming, she had regret what she done and was now most likely going to slap him and go see if there could be anything done to abolish the arrangement.

However, to his surprise, the slap never came, instead he found her lifting her face slowly and gazing at him, her face redder than a tomato.

"I-I'm sor-" Before he could say anything both of her hands were already sealing his mouth shut.

"Don't apologize. I… I just needed a moment." She said while removing her hands from his mouth.

"Still, if you regret this, I'll speak with Odi-" And now she placed them back.

"Do you honestly think, I would throw away something I've wanted for so long? You had other things on your mind so I'm sure you don't know this but I've actually already finished high school and I'm already in college. I've studied hard and because of this my socializing skills are basically non-existent. I overheard some of my classmates once, talking behind my back, about how I would die alone and bitter. I wanted to prove them wrong so I kept talking and confessing to boys, but I only got two types of responses, "I'm not interested" and ones which are much worse. I was almost assaulted once but luckily I managed to escape. That, along with another reason is why I was so… abrasive after that comment you made." Rossweisse confessed, once more removing her hands from his mouth once she was finished.

"...Still, don't you think we moved a little... too fast?" Issei said trying to find the words he was looking for.

"We may have rushed a little, I was honestly too upset about my whole situation, I think a couple more years and I would have been fine with anyone as long as they showed any interest… You shouldn't feel bad about it… I-I enjoyed i-it." A blush grew on her face and Issei's at those words. "You can blame it on the ale if you want. We did have our fair share." She finished with a laugh.

"I don't feel bad about it, it's just… I don't want you too have any regrets. I wouldn't be able to call myself a man if I made you regret something like this… And… And I l-liked it as well..." Issei said looking like some innocent school-girl, which made Rossweisse burst into laughter.

"In any case, I'm glad I married you, you seem too innocent to lie or deceive anyone and from what you've shown me I shouldn't have any regrets. You're a great man, Issei, any girl would like you as their boyfriend, or, husband, in this case. I'll be sure you don't have any regrets about me either." She took hid face in her hands and kissed him.

Who said love took a long time to develop?

A few hours after they woke up Issei was called by Odin.

Once he was in front of the chief deity Issei took note of the sword at Odin's hip.

"Good day young man. I trust you enjoyed yourselves last night, judging by the sound." His words made Issei's face heat for what felt like the fiftieth time today alone.

"Oh youth! How sweet you can be… Moving on, you may have Surtr's sword and his soul, but you do not have his fighting expertise, you will have to train if you want to have a chance at being King of Muspelheim, the Fire Giants respect one thing, and that is strength. Luckily for you, you're in Asgard, home of Valhalla, the Hall of the Fallen, where the best warriors rest, and me, Odin, God of Warriors." Issei felt a shiver run down his spine, he didn't know what he was in for but for some reason he was a giddy as a child during Christmas.

"I don't have enough time to fully train you everyday but I can give you a basic idea, from there you will try and put into practice what I'm teaching you, using the Einherjar, they'll rough you up pretty nicely." Odin finished with a laugh, Issei also bagan chuckling, worriedly that is.

"So, first lesson, we'll start with the basics. Dealing with an unarmored swordsman. Obviously they have many weak-spots, expect people like this to either be cocky or extremely fast..." And so Issei spent hours learning all about what to expect from an unarmored opponent and then putting it in practice with the Einherjar, again spending hours fighting against one or multiple opponents, although he could barely deal with two…

Issei lumbered towards the room he was staying in, he was full of bruises and small cuts, Odin wasn't lying when he said that he would get roughed up.

Finally reaching his room, Issei took off his clothes and went straight for the bath to get off the dried sweat and to soothe his aching muscles. Jumping into the hot water made him aware however that those small cuts really sting.

"Fucking shit..." He cursed every time he scrubbed at a cut.

Having finally finished cleaning himself, Issei had time to dwell on what exactly was happening around him. It was strange, even for him, how easily he was taking all of this, knowing what responsibilities he had ahead of him and how… odd… all of this was. He was beginning to doubt himself and the people around him.

"I see the Einherjar didn't go easy on you, those meat-heads only think about fighting, eating, and drinking." Rossweisse's voice brought him out of his thoughts. She was lightly dressed in a night-gown, sitting by the door. "Let me check your wounds."

"That stings." Issei grimaced. He had gotten out of the bath and was now sitting on the bed letting Rossweisse tend to his wounds.

"Of course it does, some of these are pretty deep, not deep enough to be a problem but still deep. Don't worry, they won't scar, none of your wounds ever will." Issei grumbled in reply, he would have said something but his mind was slowly shutting down, sleep being at the top of his "to-do list".

Once Rossweisse was finished applying… whatever it was that she was applying, Issei immediately fell down.

"And here I was hoping for some happy newly-weds time together." Rossweisse sighed. She slowly moved Issei until his head was on the pillow and got in bed next to him, covering both of them. Well, this is nice as well. She thought gazing at his sleeping face.

The next day went mostly the same, his ass getting kicked by veteran warriors and then sitting in the tub contemplating what exactly it was that he was doing. While Rossweisse tended to his wounds, his phone surprisingly began to ring. I have reception? Here? Come to think of it there was also Internet here, I did check the weather but at the time I didn't think it was strange. Leaving his thoughts aside Issei looked at the phone and saw that it was his mother calling him.

"Yes?… Ah, I see… Okay… That's good… Okay, see you then… Bye."

"Who was it?" Rossweisse said, applying the mystery substance to his wounds again.

"My parents, the roads have been cleared and they're going to be back by tomorrow evening."

"Oh…" She was saddened by the news. He would still need to come to train but he couldn't be gone for too long so the time they could spend together was very small, soon school will also start for both of them again, leaving them with even less time.

"By the way. How come I have reception here, of all places?" Unless he was under the influence of some drugs and he was actually still on Earth, there was no way he should have received that call just now.

Rossweisse sighed, how they had come to have cell phone service in Asgard was a long story that involved Odin and several library and internet cafe's bans. She decided to leave it for another day. "You don't want to know." She replied with a defeated voice.

"There. All done. Come tomorrow morning and you won't have even a scratch on you."

"Thanks, Rossweisse." Issei said before he went into bed.

"Oh no you don't!" Seeing Issei close his eyes Rossweisse quickly pounced on him. "Since we'll be seeing each other less I'll need you to refresh my memory about… certain aspects of… married life." She said with a voice he swore was made of pure sin while she ground their pelvises together.

Normally Issei would have jumped at the chance but right now his whole body was aching and he only wanted to rest. "Can't we do this tomorrow morning?"

"No. We won't have enough time, you'll go train as soon as you wake up and you'll have to leave early to go back home. Now is my last chance to spend some time with you."

"Fine." Issei sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Come tomorrow evening and Issei was back at home. At Odin's orders the Einherjar went all out on him, he had bruises and small cuts all over his body but they were taken care of by Odin and a couple other sorcerers. Now he was enjoying a hot shower back home. I hope whoever invented the shower found eternal happiness. Issei sighed feeling the soothing touch of the hot water.

After the shower, while Issei was watching some TV show, the door was suddenly unlocked, the only people who had the key were Issei and his parents so it wasn't hard to figure out who unlocked it.

"Welcome home." Issei said getting up from the couch to greet his parents.

"We're back." His mother and father said from the doorway. "Anything happened while we were gone?"

"Nope."

A/N: I'm not even going to make any excuses. I have the next chapter almost ready, expect it soon.