Issei wasn't one for over-training, and while Odin and everyone else did push him until he was ready to collapse, he never actually did collapse after their training sessions, so when he felt his feet give from under him, he knew something was wrong.


Rossweisse burst into the room where she had been told Issei was taken after he fell down. She received news that while doing his usual training with the Einherjar he suddenly collapsed. Over-training could have been a cause, the Einherjar and Odin were strict teachers but they would have never overworked him, and Issei himself wasn't such a training nut that he would do it willingly. There was also the fact that it had been a year since his training regime began so the possibility was getting slimmer and slimmer.

"Rossweisse, you didn't have to come right now, you were still working on that paper of yours, right?" Odin said from a chair near Issei's bed. Speaking of Issei, he seemed to be asleep, deeply so, he wasn't even stirring, if not for the rise and fall of his chest she would have thought he died.

"Of course I had to come, he's my husband!" Rossweisse rushed to Issei's side and looked at his face, brushing a few strands of hair from his face. They had grown close in the year since Issei had first came here. His hair has gotten pretty long now. She remembered how he had come to the decision to let it grow. It was about three months ago.

"I see the time spent with the Einherjar has done you some good." Rossweisse spoke running a hand over his chest and stomach. He had gained a little muscle in the last nine months, he was still slim and would look average with clothes on, but naked, as he was right now, there was definitely some mass and definition there, something Rossweisse definitely appreciated. "Not sure about the hair however."

"I just haven't had the time to go get a haircut, between going to school, preparing for the high school entrance exams, training with the best warriors the north has ever seen and visiting you when I have free time. Well, you get the idea." It's not even that long. Issei thought bringing a strand in front of his face, it barely reached his lips. "You know what? I think I'm not even going to cut it anymore. It doesn't bother me and I can just keep it in ponytail or something when I train."

"Hmm… You with long hair… Sorry, can't really think of how that would look. Probably ridiculous." Rossweisse chuckled.

"Oh shut it, you!" Issei said taking her by the arms and flipping their position until he was above her. He stared at her for a good while, taking in the sight that was her flushed, naked, sweaty form.

"Are you gonna do anything up there or will you just stare?" Rossweisse challenged with a sultry smirk. Issei smirked himself and went down to kiss her.

Since their schedules were so different they had very little time for themselves, about two days every fortnight, usually in the weekends, while it made the time they spent very enjoyable it left them with little else to do besides talk for hours and… Now's not the time to think about that. They would have enough time soon, once Issei was admitted into a high school she would apply for a job there. She had thought pretty far ahead. She knew Issei was strong, no matter what was happening to him, he would be fine. That didn't mean she wasn't going to ask what was wrong with him however.

Before she could even open her mouth to ask, Odin already began to explain everything to her.

"Like you heard he collapsed while training. Just like I anticipated, it took a year for him to truly be one with his soul." Of course, just because he explained that didn't mean she understood.

"I'm sorry, Odin-sama, but I can't even begin to understand what you mean."

Odin sighed. "His and Surtr's soul are finally becoming one. It will take a while, around two weeks to be exact, we'll have to keep a close eye on him. I will see what I can do about his parents."

"What does that mean for Issei? Will he be in pain? Will he still be the Issei I know?" Odin smirked at Rossweisse's words, it seemed these two have really grown close to each other.

"Something like this hasn't happened in centuries, perhaps even thousands of years. I don't know much myself, all I can do is speculate. From what Issei has said, Surtr has truly died, only his power remains—And his curse—so the chance that his personality being massively changed is low, there could be one or two changes but like I said, I'm not sure myself. As for the question of pain, well, I'd imagine so, his soul will have to accept all of Surtr's former power, his life-force itself will change and shift. There is nothing for us to do but wait." Rossweisse stared with wide eyes at Odin. She looked back at Issei and her eyes softened. Brushing a few strands from his face she leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. Wake up soon, Issei.

Fire.

Anger.

Rage.

Wrath.

It burned.

Everything burned.

The tree was burning.

The golden hall was aflame.

An old man's corpse in the jaws of a giant gray wolf.

His hands were covered in blood. He could see people below him. They were small. Puny. Insignificant. Without purpose. He could kill them for good and none would care.

No!

They were not insignificant! That was Ulfric. That was Bjorn. Those were all people he knew, people he had grown close to, people who helped him become who he was.

Wait. Who even was he?

Was he the giant with blood on his hands? Or was he… was he…? How did he even know those people?

The fire rose around him. It devoured everything. He roared. Why?

As Issei stirred Rossweisse wiped the sweat from his forehead, he had been like this for some time, five days in fact. He would whimper sometimes and stir, his skin was very hot to the touch, she thought it might actually be a fever but that thought went about as fast as it came. She was really tired. A God of Fire suffering from fever? She really needed to rest.

As Issei calmed down Rossweisse took his hand in hers and sat back. Her eyelids were so heavy.

"She's been here for a week, shouldn't we do something Odin-dono?" Göndul said looking at the Chief God next to her.

"They are both in a very delicate situation right now. They need each other, even if Issei isn't aware of it she's there for him and it shows. He is calm, much calmer than I expected. But this was the easy part. The hard part comes now." Odin said looking at the sleeping Valkyrie and her husband.

Fire.

Once again, it was fire.

He had seen this.

It must be the thousandth time he sees it.

The tree burning. The hall aflame. All the worlds in chaos.

And he was to blame.

He killed that man. The man with the horn.

He had killed many more.

And now once again he saw the old man, the gray wolf, the giant serpent, and the small people below him. All looked at him with determination. He knew why. He knew who.

But he didn't.

He didn't know why he did what he did. And he didn't know who he was.

The fire engulfed everything once again. That burning fire. It would burn him as well, so hot he thought he would die. But he never did.

"Odin-sama, it's been two weeks already, when will Issei wake up?" Rosseisse spoke, her voice barely a whisper, she had bags under her eyes, her hair had lost it's beautiful shine and her eyes spoke of how tired she was.

"Thirteen days to be exact. I can feel that the process is almost done, by tomorrow he should wake up." Rossweisse sighed and tried to relax. "Get some sleep child. You need it. I will take care of him." Rossweisse looked to protest but her grandmother Göndul placed a hand on her shoulder. She could rest easy couldn't she? Issei was in good hands, and when she woke up, he would as well.

Once Rossweisse was gone Göndul looked at Odin. "I know what I said. But from what I'm feeling, his life-force is extremely unstable, the hardest part is about to come. I just didn't want her to be here when it begins." Odin said as if he was reading her thoughts.

As if he had heard them Issei began to stir and toss around. He grunted and whimpered, flailing about. The room grew hotter and hotter until Odin decided to use his magic to cool it down. Seeing that Issei began to stir too much, Odin called some of the Einherjar to hold him down.

Suddenly a spine-chilling sound came from the flailing young man. A mix between a roar and a cry. It sent shivers down everyone's spine.

Fire.

The serpent. The wolf. The army of small men. Everything was there.

He was there.

The fire rose for what must have been the ten thousandth time. And the pain that came with it.

With time he began to realize something. Even though the fire was around him, the pain, that pain he came to associate with burning came from inside him.

With even more time he came to understand what that pain meant. It was anger. Anger at himself. Why was he angry?

For the first time he looked around him and understood. The fire. He was the fire. He had been the fire all along.

He was always the one who killed them, those men. He was always the one who burned the tree. That ancient, beautiful tree.

The fire grew and he saw white.

Opening his eyes he saw a great plain in front of him. Above him the shade of a great ash-tree. Behind him the greatness of mountains. To his left a massive ocean. To his right forests.

"What is this?" He looked behind him, the great mountains were there and before them the great ash-tree which he sat under. He looked up at the tree and understood. He knew. He remembered.

I know who I am.

His eyes opened once again. This time however he was back, back where he belonged. He looked around and saw Odin, and his grandmother-in-law Göndul, surrounding him were also five men from the Einherjar. He looked past them all to see Rossweisse standing in the door-frame, she looked shocked and scared at first but as soon as he focused his eyes on her she jumped straight towards him and hugged him tightly, if not for the daily training he was sure his bones would have been crushed.

"I-I was so scared. I-I was s-sleeping. And-and you began screaming. I thought something went wrong. I-I..."

"It's fine, Rossweisse. I'm fine. What exactly happened? I remember sparing and then I saw fire for a long time and Valhalla was burning, everything was burning. And then there was this weird place, where there were mountains and..." Before he could try and remember more, Odin began speaking.

"I will explain to the best of my ability. Issei Hyoudou, your soul had merged with what remained of Surtr's soul, his ambitions, his pain, everything that made him who he was, it took a year but it seemed the process finally finished. You have been in what could be called a coma for the last two weeks. Thankfully you choose a good time." Odin chuckled as Issei and everyone else looked at him like he grew a second head. "What I meant was that it overlapped with a period when you weren't required to go to school anymore."

Right. Winter vacation. It has been a year since I first came here. That also means I've spent my entire vacation doing nothing. And here I was hoping to spend some time with Rose. Crap… I also have very little time until entrance exams…

"I see… I think I'll skip on training for today and also for the next month, entrance exams are coming, I've lost quite a lot of time and my friends want us to get into a really strict high school." Issei said slowly getting up.

"Wait! You-you need to rest. Your body-" Rossweisse said trying to push him back onto the bed.

"-Is fine. Issei Hyoudou should now be better than ever. With time he will gain Surtr's legendary strength and power." Odin cut her off before she could make the poor boy spend another two weeks in bed, she had been worried sick even though they tried to convince her that he will be fine. "I'm not sure how your body will respond to these changes exactly, but you can expect a rather impressive growth spurt. Surtr was a giant after all. Thankfully you're at the age where these things are common so no one will bat an eye if you suddenly gain height in the following months."

"Thank you. I'll go home now. I need to get ready for school and for the entrance exams." Issei said getting up and extending a hand to Rossweisse. Once she was up he hugged her. "And thank you as well Rossweisse. For staying at my side this whole time." Rossweisse smiled before kissing him deeply on the lips.

"It's the wife's job to be near her husband after all." Issei smiled and returned her kind words with a kiss of his own.

"I'm so sorry! I wanted to spend my vacation with you here but… Well…" Rossweisse looked towards her grandmother. Göndul sighed and nodded, which made Rossweisse light up.

"What is it?"

"Well, I was just thinking. You need to pass the entrance exams to a strict high school, right? And your wife, me, has quite the reputation as the youngest to ever finish collage here in Asgard. I wonder if she can help you study?" Rossweisse smirked.

"I have a feeling studying is the last thing in my dear wife's mind." Issei smirked as well.

"Maybe..." Rossweisse replied with a sultry look.

"Yes, yes. You can flirt on your way home. It's almost time for you to meet your parents, Rossweisse will tell you what to say if they ask questions." Odin said waving his hand in the air as if to drive away the lovey-dovey atmosphere the two created.


"Pretty simple story, but how did he manage to mimic my voice? Actually, I don't want to know." Right now Issei and Rossweisse were sitting at a train station near Issei's home, they were waiting for his parents to come pick them up. During the wait, Rossweisse explained to Issei what cover-up story Odin and the others created so that he wouldn't get in trouble for being away the entire winter vacation. It was simple really, he was at a friends house across the country, the same friend he had been visiting for the past year, and whenever he would get a call someone else would pick up his phone and speak in his name. That slightly scared him. Who knows what they could have said?

Seeing his parent's car pull up Issei rose from his seat and took Rossweisse's hand out of habit.

"When you said you were bringing a friend we weren't expecting this." His father remarked with a smile.

"Ah, yeah, sorry. This is Rossweisse, I met her a year ago when I was out looking for a video game. She's a foreigner but has lived in Japan for some time now so she knows the language very well." Well, that was easy enough

"While you were looking for a video game? She doesn't seem like the type to play games." His mother said. Not because she was suspicious, it was more the way Rossweisse looked and behaved. She indeed didn't look or was the type to care for video games.

"I was looking for a book I needed in my collage classes." Rossweisse answered before he could.

"You're already in collage? But Issei said his friend is not much older than him." Issei's mother said surprised.

"Yes. I am two years older than Issei but I skipped a lot of grades and managed to finish collage. All I have to do now is give my last paper to be graded and published." Rossweisse said with a smile, it was clear she was trying to impress his parents on their first meeting. Cheeky little Valkyrie.

"Oh my! Already finished collage at that age? You're very impressive! I hope some of your mind rubs off on our son, he could use it." Something else has already rubbed on me plenty of times. As if reading his thoughts Rossweisse hit him in the stomach with her elbow. Realizing she was embarrassed Issei began laughing.

"What's so funny?" Rossweisse said pouting.

"Nothing, nothing." Issei said trying to suppress his laughter.

The rest of the short drive home was filled with such interactions and small talk shared between Rossweisse and his parents.


"Come. Hope you two didn't have dinner already because we made quite a lot." Issei's mother ushered them into the kitchen that also doubled as a living room.

Once again small talk was shared between Rossweisse and his parents with the occasional quip from Issei. Until the talk began steering into a direction not exactly pleasant for Issei.

"There used to be rumors surrounding him at school that he and his two other friends would peep at the girls and openly leer at them. Thankfully they stopped." When Rossweisse turned to look at Issei he simply shrugged.

"Hmm… I wonder why?" This time it was Issei's turn to look at Rossweisse and when he did he saw her wearing a teasing smirk. He sighed and resumed his eating. He wasn't going to get away easily it seemed.

"It's fine for a teenager to show interest in such things but discretion is still something that they should understand." And it seemed like the conversation was going back towards boring territory, tuning out his parents Issei resumed eating.

By the time he was finished eating Issei noticed that his parents and Rossweisse were much closer, especially his mother who now showed her a photo album from when he was a child.

"Is that something moms have to do? Is it written in some sort of mom code?" Issei asked his father who shrugged and took a drink. Issei sighed and excused himself from the table. He really needed a shower.

"So it wasn't always like that." Rossweisse said with pink cheeks looking at a certain photo of child Issei.

"How is what, sweety?" Quickly shifting her gaze from the photo Rossweisse tried to find something to cover up her staring at a small Issei's… parts.

"H-His hair, it wasn't always like that… U-Umm, wild and… long..." Issei mother chuckled at her stuttering. She was so cute.

"Of course. This was back when he still let me comb his hair, now he just leaves it flowing like that. It's his hair so he can do whatever he wants with it but I still say this suits him better." Rossweisse sighed, she was safe, for now.

"It's getting late. I see Issei has already left." Issei's mother said looking around.

"He went to take a shower." Issei father spoke from the couch.

"Well I'll get the guest room ready for you dear."

"There's no need mother. I can sleep with Issei." Issei's mother stared wide eyed at the silver-haired beauty as did his his father.

"I-Is that the kind of relationship you have with Issei?" Issei's mother spoke trying her best to control herself.

"Y-Yes..." Rossweisse said fidgeting slightly.

"Oh we're so glad! Issei's always been a weird child so we weren't sure what to expect. Please take care of him dear, he is worth your trouble." Rossweisse smiled and bowed at her yet-to-be-aware mother-in-law.

"Of course. I shall take care of him just like he took care of me." She rose from her bow and was taken by surprise when her mother-in-law hugged her.

"Thank you." Rossweisse looked at Issei's father and saw him smile warmly, she was happy that her future parents-in-law received her so well.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you, mother, father." She said, bowing once more and went on to find Issei, a rather easy task once she saw the door open to his room, with him inside putting on a shirt.

"You do know I'm gonna take that off first chance that I get, right?" Issei looked towards the door and found Rossweisse leaning on the door frame staring at his clothed body.

How could he get back at her for such shameless teasing? "And I trust you know as well that I've slept for two entire weeks, I've never had so much energy." Let's see you try and do better.

"Oh, heavens no! I can't wait in fact." Alright, underestimating your opponent, that's a big no-no, Issei.

Thankfully their teasing battle came to an end when Rossweisse closed the door and went to take a shower herself. Leaving Issei alone.

By the time she came back Issei was already in bed. So much for all of that boasting about energy. He's totally out of it… Can't really blame him though… Deciding to punish him Rossweisse crept up until she was right by Issei's side, she bent down and went to whisper something in his ear but before she could Issei had already taken her by the arms and thrown her on the bed, positioning himself above her.

"You let your guard down. Is that really fine for a battle-maiden? Looks like I'll have to teach you all of it from the beginning."

"Don't be too rough now, it's been a while since I've had a proper battle." Both of them smiled and started to devour each others mouths. It had indeed been a while.

Not wasting any time on pleasantries, they both undressed the other as fast as they could and were at each others mouth before one could blink. Issei started to travel down, kissing Rossweisse's soft flesh. Beginning at her jaw, he traveled down towards her neck, sucking at a certain weak spot he learned she had, even lower he went, towards her collarbone where he bit down lightly drawing a gasp from her.

A lesson Issei had learned during their passionate moments was that Rossweisse enjoyed foreplay a great deal. That was exactly why he was trying his best to bring her to the edge using only his fingers and mouth.

"Ah!" And it worked wonderfully, every time he switched to another part of her body or tried something new she would gasp and writhe under him. By now he knew most of her weak spots.

Under her jaw. The skin covering her main artery, which incidentally was his favorite spot to tease because he could feel the blood flowing through there. It made him realize that she was more real than himself in some way. She was alive. She was beautiful. And he was making love to her. He knew most of her weak spots, yes, but most of the time he would forget about them while in her embrace and be just as surprised as she was when he found them again.

"...C-Close..." Rossweisse managed to breath out between pants and sharp gasps, she felt the coil winding and reaching it's climax, when it finally unfurled she grabbed Issei's head and pressed him into her large chest, she didn't even know what erogenous zone he was currently pleasuring but she didn't care, she wanted to be as close to him as possible in that moment of nirvana.

"Aren't you overly-eager, I was getting to the best part." Issei said rising from between her legs, Rossweisse breathed heavily and sat up on her butt. With speed she didn't know she was capable of in that moment she took his member in her soft hands and began to stroke it agonizingly slow.

While she had many spots that could drive her mad, Issei was more straight forward. Just like he knew her weak spots, she knew his. Letting go of the burning-hot rod between her hands, Rossweisse then ran a finger all the way up his shaft, from the base, to the tip.

Needless to say Issei was being tortured, she gave him just enough to keep him on edge but never more. Those slow movements of her soft and delicate hands drove him mad. The torture continued when she ran her tongue up his shaft in the same manner as she did with her finger.

"…R-Rose… please..." Issei almost growled. He was so hard it hurt. He was on the point of exploding and he didn't know how much more he could take.

"Please what?" She spoke with a smug expression and a teasing, faux innocent tone.

Issei wanted to say something but he couldn't, he was too far gone, he could barely hold himself back anymore. When Rossweisse took the tip of his shaft in her mouth he lost all control, releasing everything he held back. To his surprise and slight irritation Rossweisse didn't even seem surprised. She was humming lowly, the vibrations of her voice making it even worse for him, in the best way.

"Who's overly-eager now?" She said after releasing his cock with a sinful pop. Now that both of them were lubed up they could properly begin. Issei guided his saliva-coated cock towards the entrance of her sex and slid in easily, the entrance making them both sigh in pleasure.

They had teased each other enough, now it was time to let themselves go. And they did, until the early hours of the morning they made up for all the times they had to rush and leave each other frustrated, now they had no time constrains and could enjoy the presence of the other.

Issei was laying on his back, Rossweisse sitting at his side, her legs entwined with his own. When he looked at the clock on his nightstand Issei chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Rossweisse asked propping herself on her elbows to get a better look at him

"That." Issei pointed towards the analog clock which read 5 AM. When the realization struck her Rossweisse began to laugh, Issei joined in as well. They had certainly made up for all the time they had been away from one another.

"Well. Time well spent in my opinion." Rossweisse said with a satisfied smile and a teasing look.

"Agreed."

It wasn't like they were tired either, while a normal human could go a few days at best without any sleep, a Valkyrie, technically a demi-god, could probably go a week without any sleep and still be fine. Issei was a god so in theory he didn't even need sleep. Still, sleep was one of the greatest pleasures in life so he had no intention of staying up all night. Not unless Rose was there with him to keep his busy.

Issei's parents weren't awake yet since it was a weekend so they both enjoyed the peace and quiet of staying in bed early in the morning not feeling even the slightest bit of shame from wasting such a good opportunity to start the day early.

Issei took the opportunity and went to take a shower to get off the dried sweat off himself.

When the door to the bathroom was opened he knew exactly who it was that followed him there. "You know, if you join me then all the effort I've put into cleaning myself until now was useless."

"And do you care?"

"No."

"Then it's fine."

A/N: "The tree burning. The hall aflame. All the worlds in chaos.

And he was to blame." Didn't mean for this to rhyme but whatever.

Thanks for all the reviews and favorites and follows and stuff.

In any case, like I expected, some of you pointed out that Issei and Rossweisse moved too fast, something I also pointed out myself in the story. That was on purpose. It was a shotgun marriage, it wasn't supposed to take a long time. The marriage aside I felt that both of them had no reason to not accept it. Issei, while confused about most of the stuff happening around him isn't someone who strikes me as the type to wait for 'the one' and it wasn't like he had anything against Rose. Speaking of Rossweisse, for her I tried to make it as obvious as I could.

While the marriage has a reason, mostly to do with keeping the Fire Giants in check. It will be quite a while before they have a role in the story. Since Rossweisse is a Valkyrie and her relationship with Issei is a genuine one it will help in diplomatic relations between the Aesir and the Fire Giants. Basically, it's all politics. That is also why Issei is being trained in Asgard and is left to his own devices. He's not a leader yet, and certainly not a King, no matter how much he or other people try and say he is. Odin wants to keep him close to himself so that he would be easier to talk to. As a Fire Giant and God, he would act as the bridge between the two. I realize it may not make much sense but I was never good at putting my ideas into words. Perhaps because my vocabulary is lacking and so are my writing skills, all I have are ideas.

I should also make this clear. Issei doesn't have the Boosted Gear. While I like when characters are OP, I don't trust in my story-telling skills enough to make him just shit on everyone yet still keep the story exciting and interesting. Think about characters like Alucard. The reason it works in Hellsing is because the fighting is never the main focus, it's the journey towards that ending, where Alucard realizes that like the last two times he lost everything only to be reminded that in fact he hasn't. The first time he lost his domain and everything in it. The second, he lost the woman he loved. Now he still has his Master and Seras. You'll need to read the manga to understand what I'm getting at but basically, what I'm trying to say is that OP characters that are also interesting are hard to write.

This will be the last time I explain something in such detail. One of my pet-peeves is when authors try and justify the way characters act and the way the story flows. It ruins the fun for me. You wrote it that way for a reason, no need to elaborate on the characters motivations and why that power-up makes sense in the A/N. Unless the story is truly all over the place I see no reason to try and explain something to the point where the whole fun of reading and finding out yourself is gone.

In any case. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you next time.