So I was wired on Ben and Jerrys and Vanilla coke so I managed to get this chapter written pretty fast. While I usually enjoy more character development and would prefer that relationships take awhile to form, I don't have that luxury so yeah this story will rush the relationship development unfortunately. Like I said, I have big plans, and I plan to bring them into the light as soon as possible.

Anyways, thanks to KegiSpringfield again, the cover art looks fantastic.

Oh as for the scene being used, well, that will be explained later.

In the mean time, enjoy the chapter.


It had been a seven more months since Brynjar and Sienna had actually had their fresh start. And things were going well. Instead of dreading the english lessons every day like both had previously done, now that they were both working together, Brynjar was becoming more and more fluent everyday. While his accent did make his words sound a bit funny, at least now he could speak without getting the words wrong or getting mixed up with something else. In return he had also taught Sienna and the Belladonna family some of his own language. Granted, he still stuck to runic writing when it came to writing things down. He just preferred to do it. But now that both Sienna and Blake understood it, if he needed to pass a message to those two and it was private, no one else could read it.

Brynjar had never felt so at peace in his life. He still trained his ass off when he had time, because he had no idea when that peace would end, after all, he was bred into a harsh life, and he knew at any time that bad times could come back. After all, no one was expecting that riot at that civil rights protest, but he stayed vigilant and wasn't caught off guard like anyone else. So he was able to fight his way out. Granted someone had shot video of him throwing people around like ragdolls, but they didn't see his face, all they saw was a large muscular wolfhead. That was all, so Ghira told him that his identity was safe.

Speaking of which, Brynjar no longer worked at the mill. After he had shared with Sienna about how Mead was a honey wine. He talked to Ghira about it, and Ghira had helped him secure the materials he needed to brew his first batch of mead. It was only enough for one batch, since Ghira didn't want to help Brynjar make it if it turned out to suck. But after six months and the mead was fully done. Ghira tasted it, and he enjoyed it so much, that he actually was helping Brynjar start his own meadery. Luckily money wasn't a problem for them due to the treasure on Brynjar's ship, it was just securing the supplies from traders. But since alcohol was popular enough on Remnant, and this new form of alcohol was delicious and strong, they were certain it would become popular enough.

Add that onto the fact that it would be a legitimate business for the people of Menagerie to get into, therefore employing more faunus workers, and giving them something else to sell and trade with, Ghira only saw benefits ahead for them. Him and Brynjar were business partners on this, they had named it the 'Black Cat Meadery' because after one night after taste testing it, Blake had accidentally grabbed a cup thinking it was juice and spit it out because she didn't like the taste of alcohol. After Brynjar had finished laughing and Ghira had tried not to laugh because he accidentally picked up Blake's juice, they decided to name it after Blake.

Brynjar was working on building his own cabin on menagerie, it wasn't finished yet. But he was enjoying working on it, he didn't want any help. He preferred to work on this alone, if often reminded him of home. Granted, the thing he would have to get used to was building in a warmer and sunnier climate, the place he came from was cold and cloudy, so this was something new, as a result, his pale skin now had a slight tan to it, which he was thankful for, he had sunburn once and found it annoying.

He was working on the roof of his cabin when he heard a whistle.

"Hey Brynjar, don't you think its time for a break?" He heard Sienna's voice call as he looked back to see her carrying a basket.

"Did you really cook food for me?"

"No, Kali asked me to deliver this to you, said she would prefer if you didn't go out hunting again so soon, especially since the house is full of butchered meat already." Sienna had been to their house.

Brynjar had stuffed the freezers with meat from various deer and animals he had killed, they had enough meat for awhile. When he foud out there was a way to preserve food much easier than he did back home, he had gone a bit overboard. Ghira didn't mind, he loved meat, Kali also was a fan of it. Blake preferred Tuna. But overall, they had plenty of food.

"Aye, maybe it is time for a break." He wiped the sweat from his brow as he put his tools down.

That was another thing, despite the things he did enjoy about Menageries advanced technology, he did often prefer the old ways, hence why he was only building his cabin in the traditional sense rather than using all this fancy technology, it was just the way he wanted to do it. There was something satisfying about doing it.

"What did she make." Brynjar walked over with his shirt off.

Sienna over the last few months had taken notice of how attractive he was. And right now the sweat glistening off of his muscles was only accentuating his features. The fact that his long golden locks and beard only added to the physique was not lost on her.

"Mostly venison sandwiches with some blood sausage, some cheese, and some cold mead." She said as Brynjar chuckled.

"The woman certainly knows me." He sat down and began to eat his sandwich.

"You're welcome to join me." He said as she sat down.

"Don't you think you should dry yourself off with a towel first? Or at least wash in the pond?" She said pointing to the small pond next to the cabin.

"Ah yes, well, what can you expect, as soon as you said venison sandwich, I lost my train of thought." He got up and put his sandwich back in the basket as he walked over with his hands on his trousers.

Sienna looked away quickly, she had forgotten that Brynjar was not exactly civil with nudity. Often she would walk in on him naked when she came to get him for their english lessons, and he was not ashamed of his figure, in fact he even carried on conversation like normal because of it. That was the main reason she had managed to notice his physique, because of all the times she had accidentally walked in on him.

You would think once she would find him at least wearing pants, but no, that was why he had the 'Please knock' sign on his door.

Blake listened….Kali Listened….Ghira listened.

But somehow Sienna forgot every single time. She didn't know why.

She heard the sound of him getting in the water. And knew it was safe to look now. Granted, while his..his member was no longer in sight, she could see everything from the waist up. He had put his trousers on a tree branch next to the tree. And she soon realized that now he looked even better. His hair was wet and going down his shoulders, which somehow only seemed to make his muscles more prominent.

She had heard other women on the island talking about him in a sultry tone. And she didn't like that, despite her mistrust of humans, Brynjar wasn't just some sex object. He was much more than that! When she had actually gotten around to knowing him, he turned out to be wise, funny, and actually a decent person. Granted…she didn't agree with all of his beliefs.

Especially since his beliefs focused mostly on a small tribe, he said it himself, he could really only care about 200 people at most in his life. Which is why he thought this whole beef between Faunus and Humans was stupid, how could anyone actually like every member of their race enough to care if one got into a fight with another? Brynjar didn't understand that, and despite Sienna being friends with him, she didn't understand that belief.

Brynjar's philosophy was if he wasn't personally involved he saw no reason to get involved. If it had no benefit to him, or sending him to Valhalla, he wasn't interested. Despite being a viking raider, he did have a sense of honor, and found no joy in killing monks, while he had done it before, they were mostly ones who tried to fight back, he admired their bravery even when going up against a superior foe, so he gave them an honorable death, those who ran away, he cursed them like the cowards they were. And would not give them a warriors death, but some of his other kinsman would do the job for him so he had nothing to worry about when it came to that.

Blake had been fine after the riot, granted, she didn't talk with Brynjar about what happened there. She still trusted him, but she had become more active with her father's work, learning more about the struggle of the faunus. So they didn't play as much anymore if at all. Brynjar had to admit, he missed that about her, she would still spend time with him, but the girl who wanted to play Ninja and Samurai with him just wasn't interested anymore.

Ilia stopped coming over when Brynjar was over. Something about being afraid. And Adam had openly glared at Brynjar whenver they crossed paths. Brynjar never really liked Adam, but the look the kid gave him pissed him off beyond all doubt.

The faunus protests continued, and it seemed like they were making zero progress overall. But Ghira remained optimistic that things would get better.

"Sienna? You still with me?" Sienna snapped out of her thoughts as Brynjar was back and wearing his trousers.

"Er yeah, sorry lost in thought." She was actually wondering if these peaceful protests would get her anywhere, or if more…extreme measures would have to be taken.

"You seem troubled."

"It's just, a lot on my mind." Sienna was thinking about trying to get Brynjar to talk to her more, and also thinking about what she would have to do to help the faunus.

Both were going slow. She wanted to know why all that time ago, Brynjar seemed hesitant to talk about a wife or kids. When she heard how quickly he shut off her questions about the possibility of it. It only made her curious. He obviously liked children. So why did he not want any? Or did he have some and something bad happened to them? Did they both die? What happened?

"Brynjar…" She asked as he looked up.

"Yes?"

"I need to ask you something…" Sienna knew this wasn't going to be easy.

"What is it?"

"Were you married?" She asked as he froze for a bit.

"….Why do you ask?" He seemed to not have the warm friendly tone he had earlier.

"I only ask because when I asked you last, you didn't want to talk about it."

"For good reason."

"But what about kids, you're good with Blake."

"I know I am."

"But yet you don't have any of your own?" She was wondering why he didn't.

"No I don't." He didn't want to talk about this.

"Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Please, I want to know."

"I….DON'T…WANT….TO….TALK…" Brynjar was getting angry.

"Just tell me!" Sienna was getting angry.

"Why do you care?!" He snapped and yelled at her.

That caused Sienna to jump back a bit, she knew Brynjar could have a temper but this was the first time he snapped at her. Whatever happened, it must have been bad. But how could she get him to trust her? They were friends, and she wanted to know. Surely there had to be something she could do.

"Don't you trust me?" She asked him trying to play off the 'I thought we were friends' routine.

"We are….but I do not wish to talk about this." He said as he stood up and walked over to the pond again.

"Brynjar…you can trust me…" She said putting a hand on his shoulder.

What could have been so bad that this giant of a man didn't want to talk about it.

"Sienna, I warn you, you don't want to hear this story." Brynjar was trying not to snap at her again.

"What could be so bad?"

"I'll say this….you remember how you told me you hated the idea of any child being mistreated?" Brynjar asked her.

"Of course, human or faunus, children are innocent…" What did this have to do with it?

"Then trust me when I say you don't want to know."

"….You didn't abuse any children did you?" Sienna asked as Brynjar snarled.

"OF COURSE NOT!"

"THEN TELL ME! WHAT COULD BE SO BAD?!" She yelled back.

Brynjar turned away for a second, she heard him give out a big sigh. He stood up and turned to face her.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked in a cold tone.

"Yes…." She said as he crossed his arms.

"I warn you, once you hear this story, there is no going back…" He warned her.

"I doubt it could be that bad." She said as he gave a dark chuckle.

"You're a fool for believing that." He turned to look at the pond.

"I was married once." He said as Sienna was surprised.

She saw no ring on his finger, and he had never spoken of any wife or any kids. But then she remembered he said once, did they get a divorce?

"Once?" She asked trying to get more details.

"A Saxon woman, her name was Audrey, we were battling for control of a town, I was leading the assault, I was just concerned with the soldiers, I had no care about the regular town folk who ran and hide, to me they were a waste. After we took the town, I heard a woman screaming. I don't know why, but I chose to follow it." He said as Sienna was starting to wonder if he had a savior complex.

"I came across my men trying to rape this saxon girl, with blond flowing hair down to the small of her back, and the brightest green eyes you had ever seen. She was screaming for help. And despie my bloodlust, I did not approve of this. I threw my men off of her. And I shielded her from harm." He remembered that day.

"She didn't speak to me for a few days, we returned to Norway, she was with our company. I gave her food, protection and wealth. Eventually she opened up and started to talk to me more. I assumed that meant she was warming up to me. Eventually we started talking about more and more things, and eventually." At this point he looked at her.

"We fucked." He siad as Sienna blushed.

"Do you…have to put it like that?" She knew his people were vulgar.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, you can say 'Make love'." He said if it put her mind at ease.

"Years went by and we eventually married, I was happy, and I assumed she was too." Sienna was confused, what did he mean by that.

"I told her of my desire to have a child, but year after year, she never had any, no matter how many times we lay together, it was if she was barren." Okay was that why he was so bitter?

Did his wife never bear him any children? And that was why they got a divorce? Is that the information she was getting here? Because that's what it was starting to sound like. It would also explain why he was so bitter about it. After all, he loved kids, but couldn't have any with his wife. It would leave anyone bitter.

"And then after five years, she falls pregnant. I was overjoyed. I watched as her belly grew, and everyday I couldn't wait for the baby to come. I thanked Frigga for her help. I was ready to be a father, and then, my son was born." He smiled in slight remembrance.

"My son Arnvid. He looked just like me, he was a large baby, I knew he was going to be a strong warrior one day. I held him for as long as he could. But eventually his mother took him away from me saying I needed to get some rest, and she would stay up with our baby to feed him." This was when he seemed to trail off and wince in anger.

"I woke up later that night to hear crying, at first it was loud, but it was getting fainter and fainter, So I ran to my son's room to go and check on him, wondering if he was sick already, and what I saw…." His eyes went cold as Sienna felt scared.

"I saw my wife strangling my son." At this Sienna gasped.

She was hoping that he was kidding, but he would never joke about something like this. Why would she be strangling her own son.

"I screamed and immediately I tore her hands away from his throat and threw her to the side of the room, I heard her spine break against one of the beams of the cabin as I desperately tried to save my son. His breaths were getting weaker and weaker, and I realized not only had she strangled him, but she had fed him a deadly poison…" Sienna put her hand to her mouth.

What kind of sick witch would do that.

"My son…not even a few hours old…and he was dead in my arms. I screamed to the gods, hoping this was all a nightmare, but it wasn't….the pain I felt was real, my son was dead…and my wife was the one who did it…." His fists started trembling at the memory.

"Immediately I turned to the bitch I called my wife, I grabbed her throat and lifted her up, I cared not for her broken and useless legs, all I wanted to know was why….why did she do it? And you know what she said?" Sienna really didn't want to know.

"She said she would 'Rather be dead than be the mother to a heathen child.' And she proceeded to confess her other crimes to me." Brynjar was shaking in anger.

"Brynjar…" Sienna wanted him to stop.

"NO! YOU WANTED TO KNOW THE TRUTH! HERE IS THE WHOLE TRUTH!" He pinned Sienna against a tree in anger. She had to admit, for once she was afraid of him.

While she did admit, once she had a dream about him being this close to her. This was not the right situation for this.

"She told me that she had been trying to avoid this, and this wasn't the first time that she had fallen pregnant, but everytime she had, she would drink a poison, it wasn't deadly enough for kill, but deadly enough to kill any child growing in her….she had done this everytime we laid together, everytime we laid together in those five years trying for a child, and turns out she had been with child more than once, its just that the birth of Arnvid was the only time it didn' fail…." Sienna couldn't believe it…she had been knowingly killing all of his children, or trying to prevent any child from being born.

"I asked her why she would betray me like this, and she said that she hated the fact that she was married to a filthy pagan, a savage…a barbarian, and she refused to bring a child not blessed with the light of her god….she laughed at the very idea of killing her son….MY SON…..so…." He tightened his fist.

"I beat her….I beat her….and I beat her some more until she stopped laughing and her face was nothing more than a crushed pulp." At this Sienna felt scared.

Often Brynjar would talk about how he didn't hurt women, but to hear him talk about beating this woman to death, she couldn't believe it.

"I thought it would bring me peace, but it didn't. After I killed her, I picked up the body of my son and held him, hoping that by some miracle, that he would live, I tried to get the village healer to help, but it was too late, my son had long passed. He was gone, I finally had a child and my wife had killed him." Brynjar backed up a bit.

"Now do you see? I have no wife….I have no children…." He said as Sienna did something she wasn't expecting.

She leaned in and kissed him.

Brynjar was surprised, he tried to back away, he didn't want this, but Sienna pushed him against the tree and onto his butt as she deepened the kiss. He tried to push her off, but eventually, he stopped and he wrapped his arms around her as he closed his eyes. Finally, she pulled away.

"Brynjar….I'm not her…." Sienna said as she couldn't believe she had done that.

"I know that….but what does that have to do with this?"

"I know that we started off on the wrong foot, but….I do want to get to know you better…if you'll have me…."

"Are you asking me….what do they call it in your language….on a date?" Brynjar asked.

"Yes…"

"…..After that whole story?"

"….I won't deny, the things you told me, they scare me, but….you suffered enough…maybe its time you get some happiness back…."

"…..I don't know if I can do that…."

"At least let me try…."

"Sienna….I warn you…..if you betray me….I can't guarantee what can happen?"

"You would never hurt me."

"You don't know that, I never thought I would hurt my wife."

"She killed your son! I am not her!" Sienna yelled a bit insulted.

"Brynjar, you're far away from home, maybe this is your chance for a new start, time to give it another shot."

"….." Brynjar was silent for a second.

Sienna was worried that he was going to reject her.

"Are you trying to bed me so soon?" Suddenly she blushed as she hit his chest.

"You pervert! I mean another chance at having someone who cares about you, not for you to have another son already!"

"You should have seen the look on your face…" He laughed as she had an angry look on her face.

Despite the anger she felt at him, she enjoyed seeing the look of amusement on his face, it showed he had a softer side and that she had reached it.

She swore, she would never do anything to hurt him like that bitch had.

But the thing about promises…they were hard to keep.