It was raining again the next day. The thunder was soft and far away. Kratos didn't leave to go hunting. Instead, he stayed inside with her all day. She was patching a hole in his shoe. She threw away the old ropes he tied them with and took out the new leather ones she prepared earlier that week. He slipped them on and nodded with a grunt in satisfaction. After a moment, he focused his attention on her dress. It had several rips in the fabric, the patchwork kept coming undone. She looked at her almost year old deteriorating foreign dress, "yeah, it's about time I let go and move on." Exhaling through his nose, Kratos started cracking his knuckles one by one with his fingers while looking away from her.

"If you run by some wool or even a sheep, I would really appreciate it. I can use it to make myself something new." Laufey says.

"Why do you insist on such feeble attire? You are a warrior in an unforgiving world. The clothing you don is inappropriate for such a life."

Laufey froze, a smiled pulling her lips from ear to ear as she stared at Kratos.

"Why do you look at me like that?" He snaps

"Your vocabulary is improving so much. I think that's the longest sentence I've ever heard you speak."

"What is a 'sentience?'" He asks.

Laufey chuckled, that may be a little too advanced for the foreign god. "You are talking a lot more. It makes me happy, that's all."

A raspy hum escaped his throat.

Later in the evening, once the rain finally stopped, they opened the windows to air out the stuffy cabin. Nervously, Laufey stood next to the massive man and turned to glance at his hand. Impulsively, she leaned into his white arm while reaching for his massive hand.

Violently, he pulled away from her. "What are you doing?!"

She gasped, what was she doing? "I...- I just thought."

"I am leaving." He says coldly, then he walked quickly into the forest.

He didn't return that night or the night after that.

Her garden kept her busy. The better she got at keeping the plants alive, the more it brought about a rodent problem. In the mornings she would hear critters munching on her cabbages. She'd run outside with the Leviathan in hand and chases them off, but the damage they left would usually set her back most of the day.

She stood outside barefoot in the dirt. Her hair bedridden and sleep still in her eyes. Her dress was hardly a dress anymore. Just a patchwork of red cloth slumping over her shoulders. Only a small part was still completely intact. The golden square pattern that draped down her back. She imagined how ridiculous she must look right now, this axe was forged to bring down Mjolnir yet here she was using it to chase off rabbits eating her food.

Thankfully she didn't have to worry about anybody noticing her. Kratos never returned after he left a week ago.

She walked back inside and put her axe down, gathering up some rosemary and a bucket. She would wash up today in the river.

Once she dropped her entire body into the river she leaned back and sighed. She wanted to relax longer but wasn't able to. She had to get back to her garden before the sun got too high in the sky. She let her hair down and dunked her head under the water. Once everything was wet she reached over for the long rosemary sprigs and tucked eight or so into her hair. She gathered the mound of wet hair to her side and braided it loosely, the sprigs sticking out every which way. She took her dress from the shore and scrubbed it gently. Not wanting to damage any of her shoddy patchwork jobs.

She jumped out of the water and walked nakedly back to the house, her wet dress over her arms.

Once she got to the cabin she hung the dress over a branch to let it air dry. She walked around the cabin, finally sitting down on a wooden bench by the fire pit. Letting the heat from the fire help finish drying her skin off while she unravels her hair, the smoke helping it dry quicker too. She took out the rosemary sprigs and set them onto her lap one by one. She decided to leave her hair down for the rest of the day. Except for one small braid on her left side. She included a sprig of rosemary in the small braid.

That night she sat naked in front of the open cabin door while she ate her dinner. Her dress would be dry by the next morning.

She woke up started by the sound of something she didn't recognize. Laufey walked outside and looked, a sheep was helping itself to her garden. Frantically she shooed it away and quickly grabbed her poncho and threw it over top herself. "Kratos?" She called out, but he wasn't there. Nor were there signs he was there recently. The sheep bleated at her and started wandering off back to her garden. She chased after it, tripping slightly while it avoided her first grasp.

The tall fence she started constructing the day of the sheep's arrival was finally finished. It would keep the sheep and hopefully other critters out of her garden. The sheared sheep bleated at her before wondering off. She didn't follow it, trusting it wouldn't stray too far away. She got to work on the wool it gave her, spending the next several days preparing it and then constructing a dress from it. She soaked some of it in a bucket with beetroots dying it a bloody magenta, leaving the rest the same dusty white the sheep was, or, used to be.

She made a traditional modest apron dress. The underdress was a natural sheep wool color, loosely fitted, long-sleeved dress that came down to her ankles. The apron was a separate part made from the dyed red wool. It was a sleeveless dress without the sides sewn together. It slipped over her head and draped down right below her knees. She used a rope as a belt to tie around her waist.

She had finished her chores early that day. There was still a few more hours left of sunlight before the day was through.

Laufey decided to walk around the barrier and look for the foreign god herself.

She returned to the original campsite she first settled in when she arrived here. Most of it had been ravaged by the weather and time. She walked up to the spot she buried the two blades attached to chains. She bends down and put her hand over the ground. They were still there she thought, but she wanted to make sure, so she began digging them out.

As she carefully pulled them out of the ground, she felt his presence behind her. Gasping, Laufey turned around to face Kratos, looking nothing like he did the day he left. A dim flame engulfing his skin, his eyes orange and terrifying. She started backing away from him, dropping the blades onto the ground.

Then in the distance, an ogre charges at them. Kratos pushes her out of the way and takes the blow head on. They began savagely fighting one another, Kratos was slow she noised as if he had been battling all day. The ogre landed a devastating blow on him and sent him flying towards Laufey.

He landed next to her on his back. Recklessly, Laufey charged out of the barrier and towards the ogre while summoning her axe. She swings the Leviathan and summons her falcons simultaneously. They swarmed the beast and it stumbled backward as she follows through with a swing.

Then the skies above turned red as if warning the gods of something. Dozens of transparent green birds begin circling around, high in the sky. From all around armored vikens appeared and looked at her. Some even pointing, Laufey knew right then she needed to get back into the barrier.

She started running as fast as she could back to the marked trees but a traveler snatched her leg and pulled her away. She swung her axe and severed the hand holding her and ran again, his armor would make it too hard to fight against. Nightmares suddenly appeared and surrounded her. Then she hears it, thunder.

She makes a run for it again, as she does Kratos rushes past her.

Two flaming blades in his hands.

Attached to bloody arms.

She makes it past the markings on the trees safely but turned to see him fighting. It was horrifying. He didn't just kill them, he slaughtered them. The blades flung around viciously, screams echoed throughout the forest as he cut through everything. All those attempting to flee weren't spared from his wrath. He lifted both blades into the air by the chains and slammed them down onto the ground in a violent explosion. A fire ignited and began swallowing up the battle before her, all she could hear was his screams of battle. Laufey couldn't watch anymore.

Athena was right, he was a monster. She ran away.

She got to the river and stopped to catch her breath, smelling blood and fire close by. Then, Laufey heard him approaching. Both blades in his hands, the chains coiled around his arms. She stutters as she sucks a breath of air in and squeezed the Leviathan as she turned to face him.

"Kratos" was all she could manage to say to him. His body was on fire, his eyes now more red than orange. He was drenched in blood, but none of it his own. His appearance broke her heart.

The foreign god didn't speak, only looking on her with cruel gruesome eyes. As he moved closer to her, Laufey found herself backing away from him.

She was afraid of him.

"NO!" He suddenly screamed and then seized both her shoulders while still holding the blades.

"Stop!" He roared, shaking her violently.

"What do you want?" Laufey said as his hands bruise her shoulders, she stumbled back towards a tree and he slammed her into it. The blades were so close to her face.

"No more, stop!" He screams, pulling her away from the tree and slamming her back into it, the back of her head hits first. She closes her eyes in fear, he was about to kill her she thought.

"Do not look at me this way! I will not have it!" The blades shift in his hand as he loosened his grip on them, it sliced off the braid in her hair as it moved.

All she could hear was his breathing, ragged and heavy.

"Not you... not you." He finally says while loosening his grip on her.

She opens her eyes and sees a sea of grief swirling in his enraged eyes. She had to reach out to him somehow, pull him out from this. Not knowing how to do so, Laufey threw her arms around his neck and embraced him.

Silently, Kratos exhaled and leaned his fierce body into her. He doesn't hug her back but he nestles his face into her hair and breaths slowly. His skin started to cool down she could tell. Then with his full weight leaning against her, he kneels down, bringing her with him onto their knees. Laufey kept her arms around him and rests his head on her breast, nuzzling her cheek across the top of his head as she found her voice again, "I'm here, calm down."

Feeling him nod one into her chest, she heard Kratos releasing the blades from his hands, the chains still attached to his arms. She let's go of him and pushes him away gently, reaching out to touche the chains. Were these the cause of all of this? She had to get them away from him. As her skin made contact with the metal, they painfully burn her hands.

"No." He started to say but it was too late, the flesh on her hand was charred and smoking.

Laufey didn't cry out in pain as she touched them again, trying to find the end underneath his elbow. Giving up, she moved to the opposite end and picked up the blade itself. Pulling with all her might she started unraveling the chains from his arms. Kratos shut his eyes in pain as she lifted chunks of his flesh off as the metal peeled away from his sizzling skin. She let go of it for a moment and finally moaned out in pain from the burns this was leaving on her hands. She had managed to remove one row of them, but the layers beneath burned even hotter, she wouldn't be able to remove those herself.

She left the chain still attached and moved to the other arm. She did the same thing. The hot chains seared her hands as she tore away the first layer.

"I can only get it started, you'll have to take the rest off yourself," Laufey tells him.

She met his eyes and he nodded once.

Slowly she rises to her feet and walks behind him. Lovingly, she curves her arms underneath his armpits and places her hands onto his chest, leaning into his back with her face. All she could do was listen to his groans of agony rumbling from his back as he removes the chains himself.

Once she heard the final link fall onto the ground she squeezes him slightly. His arms were a mess of blood, puss, and blisters.

"People look upon me with only fear in their eyes. But you, the way you look at me. I...-" He doesn't finish.

Laufey stands up and reaches her hand out to him. "Come, Let's go home."

Once inside the house, Laufey walked over to her old red dress with golden symbols on it. She ripped a long sheet of fabric from it and set it down onto the floor. Kratos stood behind her and watched as she wrapped up the blades inside the red and gold fabric and opens one of the floorboards. She shoved it inside and replace the board immediately after. They stood at opposite sides of the room for a moment. His wounds were already almost healed, except for his arms. Her hands still had a ways to go. He removes something from his pouch and begins wrapping his arms tightly with bandages. She moves to help him but he turns to reject her offer. She nods and leaves him alone, preparing something for the two of them to eat. As if they had gone back to their usual routine.

After they finished eating she stands up and reaches to take his empty bowl. She recoils in pain slightly, her hands still hurting. He looked up at her and opened his mouth to say something to her, but nothing came out. He was struggling with something. But then again, so was she. Everything was suddenly so heavy.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"For?"

"I, I just don't know anything about you, what I should ask you about, what I shouldn't. You always disappear into the woods, is it something I'm doing? I want to know more about you because I care about you."

He stands up off the floor and crosses his arms. "What we have now, this is enough...-"

Laufey interrupters him.

"I want us to become closer, but I don't want to hurt you."

She thinks of the prophecy. Of Loki.

The guilt was suffocating her. This future she felt forced to have with him. She didn't want to use him anymore, she didn't want to hurt him, and she would.

His past, her future.

She knew nothing about the man he was, nor did he know anything of the self-sacrifice awaiting her. All she knew was the man in front on her right now, a man she has fallen in love with.

"You are not hurting me." He says, interrupting her thoughts. "It is the opposite." He looks up. "When I am with you I remember something precious, something I thought lost in darkness long ago." He stares at her with intensity and focus. "For that, I am grateful."

She felt tears gathering in her eyes. She began to feel several spill as her lips pulled into a smile, but he closed the gap between them before she could feel the wetness on her cheek. His cruel lips pressed down onto her own.

At that moment, she dragged her wounded, trembling hands up his back and opened her mouth for him to enter.

He did.

As Laufey reached her hands up to embrace his face she stops and hesitates, fearing the stinging pain the burns would give off. As she stood still, he took immediate command of the situation and quickly begins unraveling the strings of her apron. With his mouth still furiously upon her own, he shocked Laufey by his sudden possessive behavior. A full year had passed and in all that time he had kept a respectful distance from, she even struggled to hold his gaze when she spoke to him. Kratos pauses to bite her lower lip as he lifts up the apron from her body. With her lips still in his teeth, he rips his mouth away and hoists the garment over her shoulders. Giving her little time to react as he prowls behind her hungry and starts unlacing her white underdress. She feels his fingers fumble with the small strings she so delicately stitched in her gown. Becoming frustrated, he rips the fabric open causing Laufey to gasp.

Laufey staggers another breath in nervously as the dress fell to her ankles.

Realization was finally catching up with her emotions at what she thought was about to happen.

With her back still turned from him she hears him rustling with his own clothing. She hears the metal buckles rustling up against the dry leather strap on his harness. She quickly turned to him, this was happening so fast.

Almost too fast.

After removing his harness he looked down at her. His eyes narrowed, taking his hands away from unlacing his trousers. She realized she was trembling, so much blood had rushed to her face she started to feel dizzy. This was really about to happen. She knew it would eventually. The elders told her mildly how this works but she knew understood the gist of it. Instead, the elders were more focused on how important it was she conserve herself for this very moment. Shutting out any emotion towards another man until she birthed Loki first. Her family, her close friends. Everyone close to her was told of this, any man or woman who they saw her becoming close to was brought aside and informed to stay away and wait.

Even a blacksmith she had become close to was told this.

She balled her hands into a fist to calm herself down and stop thinking about all of this.

She wanted this, it wasn't just because of the prophecy.

She had fallen in love with him.

And.

This is what you do when in love.

Right?

Laufey winced in pain, forgetting the chars on her hands as she quickly unclenched her fingers.

She finally noticed he had stopped his pursuit of her. There she stood fully exposed in front of the man yet he didn't touch her, was there something wrong?

Did he not want this?

Want her?

Her face felt hot as more blood rushes to it.

"Have I misunderstood?" Kratos finally says, breaking the silence.

"W-what?" She stutters out. "No, I want this, I mean you. I'm just."

Kratos lifts his right hand and cups her flushed cheek.

"Faye." He keeps his other hand and his body away from her. "What is troubling you?"

She leans against his touch and shuts her eyes.

That's right, it was him.

She forgot what she worried about prior to his touch. No longer did she care or think about the prophecy. About what others wanted her body to be used for. At this very moment, she was in control of her destiny. And this man in front of her, she has chosen him to be a part of her future. No one can take this decision away from her, or claim it as predetermined. She loves him. She feels the room stop spinning, her body calming down. She looked up at him with bright blue eyes and smiled timidly.

"I've just, never done this, or anything like this before."

A look of suspicion drifts across his face. It was quick chased away by an ever so small tug from his lips. Kratos steps closer to her, pausing for a moment as if asking for permission before he gets any closer to her. Laufey closes the distance between them herself, kissing his closed lips. He kept his hand on her cheek and slid it into her hair as he opens his mouth, participating in this burst of passion once again. Only this time he was a touch softer. She presses her breast against his chest as she stands on the tips of her toes, returning his passion. He exhales harshly and with his hands grasps both cheeks of her bottom and lifts her into the air. She wraps her legs around his hips and he slowly slides his hands from her bottom to her back. He held her steady for a moment, simply looking at her in his arms before diving back inside her mouth. He moved them closer to a wall and leaned her against it as he kicked his shoes off. The contrasting titillation of his body heat radiating on the front of her body, mixing with the cold hard feeling of the wooden wall behind her sent her senses spinning.

He pulled her away from the wall and took back full dominance over holding her up. She pulls away from his kiss, moving towards his right ear and licking it slightly before whispering his name into it. He rushed them onto his pile of blankets sprawled out on the ground. Setting her down on her back and crawling over top her, slowly spreading her legs apart as he gets closer to her. He was still dressed in more clothing from what she had desired. But before she could protest he sank down her neck and kissed her several times. She could hardly feel them, sometimes the wisps of his goatee were the only thing brushing against her skin. It drove her mad, she curved her neck out to feel his lips on her before he moves down to her shoulder bone. Laufey's eyes closed together in bliss as he follows the horizontal line of her clavicle, she reopened them widely as he suddenly took her left breast in his hand and licked her nipple with his tongue. She gasped softly when he took more of her flesh into his mouth. His other hand reached up and began fondling her neglected breast before he moves his face over and devours it to. He pulled his face away from her skin and held both firmly in his hands. For a split, almost selfish moment, he squeezed her flesh in his hands and seemed lost in pleasure from this act. She smiles up at him, the thought she could provide him with something that sent his desires wild thrilled her. She brings her hands up towards her breasts, replacing his hands and touches herself for him. He gently grips her wrists, her burns still stinging as they rub against her milky white skin. But the way he exhaled with his mouth slightly ajar while watching her play with herself banished the pain from her mind.

Kratos emoved his hands from her and leans closer to her. She feels him brush a calloused finger along her inner thigh, sending shock waves of pleasure as she pushes her forehead softly up against his own. He traces his finger up to the opening in between her legs, she shivered as he dragged it along the lips of her slit. He slid lower into her opening, slightly spreading her lips apart and then started dragging it upwards. He stopped his finger at a small pearl at the top of her. He rotated the tip of his finger along it. Laufey pulled her face away from him and arched her back as she reached her hand down to his own. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do once she touched his hand fondling her, but something feral drove her movements. She moaned out harshly as he continued rubbing this sensitive spot at the top of her opening, sending pleasure rippling down her spine. He pauses only to quickly slide his finger from the bottom of her opening to the top. As if feeling for something. She grips his back and shoulders tightly whenever he moved away from the spot.

"I know." He says into her ear. And then one of his fingers enter inside her. She whimpers out a loud sound as she feels him stretching her insides. She was becoming embarrassed by the sounds coming from her mouth so she quickly placed her hand over her lips to silence herself.

A strange sensation of no longer being in control of her body overcame her. His yellow eyes were sternly staring down at her from above, occasionally they would soften as she struggled to retain her sanity. But he remained focused and utterly in control of the situation. He brought his hand up to rip away her own hand muffling her mouth, as he tore it away he slipped another finger inside her. She sharply inhaled air through her teeth and twisted her back off the ground. He placed his palm gently onto her stomach to lower her back down as he continued stretching her open with his fingers as if preparing her. With his thumb, he flicked her sensitive nub once again. She collapsed fully down and cried his name. He took a quick inhale of air through his nose as he silently watched her squirm below him.

He sits up on his knees and begins unlaced his trousers. She was grateful his hands were no longer close to her chest. Her heart had begun racing so fast she could feel the beats in her ears. He withdrew himself from his pants, there was no hiding his desire. She wasn't sure what to expect but felt intimidated when he finally presented himself to her.

He kicked his pants off to the side and hovered above her. He held himself in one hand and with the other, brought her burning palms to touch him.

"Hold." He says sternly. She was nervous by the sight of this immense part of him but nodded submissively through wide eyes. With delicate fingers, she touches the head of his manhood. He closes his eyes slowly. His breathing still signifying his complete control but something was finally tested him.

She moved her hand down the tip of his head and with her fingers, wrapped her hand not quite all the way around himself. She didn't know if she should be gentle with this part of himself. "Hold." He said again, his voice signifying something had begun to frustrate him. She brought her other hand to himself and gripped him. The tip of his head protruding out from her two hands holding the base. She squeezed him slightly and moved her hands up and down as he controlled her to. Then something in his eyes gave way. He

pulled away from her hands and aligned himself at the wet opening in between her legs. "Kratos." She whispered, he placed his right hand onto her cheek and maneuvered his arm over her chest. His elbow was over her rib cage as if preparing to keep her from floating away. His tip enters her. She sucks in air as he slowly pushes more of himself inside her.

Any form of constraint was lost as he kept entering her. Breaking down every blockade she had ever placed within her self-control. She realizes why his elbow was there. She felt herself lifting upwards as he filed her, stretched her. There were flutters of pain at times but they were quickly washed away in the sea of euphoria he was giving her.

With every thrust, the twinges of pain faded away. Until all that was left was the pleasure of her stretching fully around him. Once he was fully sheathed inside her he exhaled sharply through his mouth. His hand still resting on her cheek. He leaned forward and kissed her lips. She wrapped her legs around his hips and hooked her arms underneath his armpits, clawing at his back.

He withdrew himself slightly and thrust back into her. She screamed into his neck, he withdrew himself more and more with each pump. She pulled her face away from his neck and looked up at him for reassurance. He was straining in frustration as he kept a slow pace of thrusting carefully inside her. She mewed mindless requests up to him as she felt a wetness from her insides spill out around their act. Saying his name in jagged breaths and silently crying out in pleasure below him. He rumbles something in the back of his throat and begins picking up the speed of his momentum. She held onto him for dear life as he pumped faster and harder inside her. He found a pace he approved of and continued to follow it for what seemed like an eternity. He drags his hand in between their conjoined body parts and finds her sensitive pearl with his thumb. He rubs circles around her as he pumps inside her frantically.

She closed her eyes when the pleasure started overwhelming her. She felt as if she were falling, floating helplessly. Completely dependent on him to lead her back to solid ground.

"No. Look at me." He ordered her.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. His dull yellow eyes peering down at her as if penetrating her just as much as something else was. He kept pumping.

"Now," He says. It wasn't a question. It was a demand. She didn't quite understand what he wanted her to do but nodded submissively. He removed his hand from her and placed both firmly on her hips. He jerked her upwards to him and threw her legs over his shoulders. He begins thrusting deeper inside her. Something inside her let go and she is competently undone. A wave of ecstasy pulled her under and she cried out in pleasure as it carried her away.

He kept his speed consistent through her outburst but something was amiss about his eyes. He pulled himself out of her and flipped her onto her stomach.

With one hand he brings her hips up into the air. She feels him position himself at her entrance. He leans over top her back and brought his face to her ear. "Again." He says before backing away and quickly entering her. She screams as he fills her. Still, he remained silent as the night as he thrust roughly inside her from this new angle. Every time he was fully sheathed in her he hit a spot deep within that send her over the edge. At times it became too overwhelming but he continued taking her. The feeling of something slapping upwards into her wet lips with every drive forward drove her wild. Her legs were trembling, she was growing exhausted but didn't want his invasion to end. He reaches his arms around her chest and embraces her breast. He takes turns squeezing her flesh in his hands and pinching her nipples softly with rough fingers. The same wave that overtook her moments ago approached again. She moaned his name in a rough haggard voice. Completely undone. Finally, she collapsed down onto the floor and he fell over top her, still inside her.

"Keep up." He said into her ear as he dominated over her. She was struggling, utterly exhausted by the second wave of pleasure. But he showed no signs of slowing down. She took a deep breath in and arches her posterior towards him, forcing him further inside her. He rumbles approvingly, then withdraws from her and leans back, inviting her to sit on top of him. As fast as her trembling legs would allow, she rises up and moved to of him. It wasn't fast enough for him. He grips both her arms and forcefully pulls her onto his lap. He repositions himself and guides her back down onto him. She was right next to his face as she cried out in pleasure at him refilling her. He silences her moans with his mouth. Kissing her roughly as he lifted her hips and body up and down with his own strength, his biceps and shoulders flexing with every lift.

She enjoyed this position, it let her see and hear his little gasps for air. She saw how his nostrils flared and watched wrinkles in his forehead form as he concentrated to kept control. She wondered why he was so silent throughout it all? Up close like this, she saw how much he was enjoying this. Perhaps it had to do with his culture, or maybe his previous experience in doing this?

She slid her hands down to his controlling grip over her hips and tried pulling him away. She didn't want his guidance anymore. He sighed into her mouth and removed his hands. Laufey smiled inside their kiss, happily taking control of the movements. He ended the kiss and leaned back onto the ground. His white hands reached back behind his head and neck. He locked his fingers together in a relaxed demeanor as he propped himself up to watch her. He looks at her with a raised eyebrow, as if challenging her to something but she wasn't sure of what it was just yet.

He had given her control over her own body and now, the act itself. She focused her breathing, gathering a second wind inside her and started rolling her hips up and down over top him. She could examine the entire situation from up here. She straightened her back and begins exploring his arms and chest with her hands. Tracing the lines of his pectoral muscles down to his hard abdomen. His red tattoo was an easy road for her fingers to follow. She avoided the scar on his stomach and instead brought her hands up to fondle her breast, remembering how much he enjoyed this from before. He hums approvingly as he removes his hands from behind his head and slides them down to her rocking hips. She begins squeezing herself in her hands, Rolling her nipples in between two fingers, showing him how she enjoys being touched. He exhaled sharply out his mouth as he intently watched her. Then he tightened the hold onto her hips and motions for her to go faster. She doesn't give him what he wants. Instead, leaning forward and shoving her breast in front of his face. She lets his face sit in between them for a movement as she slides up and down his erection. Then she arches her back slightly up to the left and presented her left nipple in front of his mouth. He quickly devoured it, rolling his tongue over the pink nub, only stopping when he wanted to press down with his teeth. She moaned his name every time he did. His breathing was becoming staggered, his chest was rising and falling faster than she was riding him. He sat up quickly and shoved his hand into the hair right above her neck. He brought their faces together, almost touching noses. She did not give him back control over the thrusts as she continues bouncing up and down on his lap. He let's out a struggling exhale as he tries encouraging her to go faster, she did. But he was losing control and couldn't fight back against her motions. His face wrinkles savagely as something was approaching him. He was enjoying it, but, he seemed so angry. Like he was rushing for his own pleasure to be done and over with quickly.

She places her hands upon his cheeks and while inches away from his face, stares up at him.

Her blue eyes looking into his own, trusting him, loving him. She softens her face lovingly as she kept riding on top of him. His own eyes widening as he looks at her face. His face thawing slightly from its previous scowl. She guides her lips onto his own. Smiling happily while pressed against him before she returns to gliding up and down, squeezing him tightly with her own body. "Faye..." He says in a slight gasp, as If realizing something he hadn't before. He rolls his eyes upwards before closing them tightly and groans. She feels him release something deep inside her. He quickly silences his moan to inhale a desperately needed breath of air through his teeth, then opens his eyes and comes back down from his high.

He crushes his lips back onto her own, he was trying to tell her something through them she thinks. She began to concentrate on what that something could be. But they don't stay there for long, he pulls away from her mouth and peppers kisses along her cheek, her neck, and finally her forehead before he leans into it with his own. The tip of his nose presses against her own lightly. She was close to passing out from fatigue. But she rubbed her forehead along his own. Causing the tips of their nose to brush against each other. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. How happy she was to have chosen him, how happy he made her. But her body struggled to do as her mind ordered. He laced his fingers through her hair.

"My light." He quietly says before leaning down onto the ground, bringing her with him in his arms. She quickly drifts off to sleep in the crook of his arm, smiling happily.

She woke up in the crook of his arm. He was playing with the loose strands of her hair. Combing his cracked fingers through the ends. She could feel him unintentionally pull a few strands out as they get caught on his hangnails. He took a handful of split ends and brought them to his face and inhaled deeply. He was smelling her she thinks.

She sits up and looks down at him. Silently, he rises up with her and lets go of her hair. Then, with one hand, pushes her back down onto the ground below him.

The weeks that followed after that night were some of the greatest moments of Laufey's life.

They stood in front of the sheep. Kratos kept his arms folded on his chest.

"It is an animal."

"I'm not ready to get rid of it yet."

"It is annoying and upsets you often."

"I know I just, we'll keep it around a little longer. The wool is helpful."

"Then let us eat it. I will bring you wool if that is what you desire."

"You really want to eat this thing, don't you? I've never tasted lamb meat before, it can't be that good, can it?"

His lack of response intrigued her, maybe it would be delicious?

"I'll kill it later this week. I'm not sure how to prepare it."

He grunts in response.

She sat on top of him, he dragged his hands up and down her hips amusingly as she spoke to him. "You're really not going to tell me how old you are?" She said.

"We agreed to leave the past behind." He said moving his hands up her back and slowly reaching around toward her breast.

She snatches both his hands before they grab them.

"Telling me how old you are isn't me prying into you 'mysterious' past." She lifts her hands up and wiggled her fingers as she said mysteriously. He took the opportunity and completed the intended detestation his hands were traveling to.

"Next fall will be my thirty-first. It's hard to believe I'll...-"

He let's go of her and grumbles. He drops his hands to the bed as if she said something that disturbed him. Was she truly that much younger than him? It didn't look it from his face.

"Fine, I'll drop it. But you're definitely too old for this." She says playing with his meticulously groomed goatee. She grins wickedly down at him. He doesn't respond back to her antics, keeping a more serious face. He's a god so he is immortal. But what defines immortality? Can he never die no matter what? Or... "will you never die from old age?" She let's slip out of her mouth.

This affected him. He rose up and with both hands, held her face tightly while he kissed her. Like she was going to blow away if he let go of her. He pushes her down onto the floor and climbs over top her. He tried to be delicate, but something was obviously distracting him.

She woke up in their combined mess of blankets on the hard wooden floor and reached out for him. He wasn't there. She could hear him chopping wood outside. He grunted with every chop like he was in pain. She didn't bother dressing. She rushed outside to see if everything was okay.

He was standing over several medium-sized tree trunks, trying to cut evenly down the middle of each one. He looked up at her and lifted an eyebrow, slightly pleased at her current lack of attire.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, leaning against the door frame.

"Go back inside woman." He says as he starts swinging the axe again. She folded her arms, always a tad annoyed when he called her that. "Okay, god." She could see him shift in aggravation at her retaliation. Then she turned around and went back inside. He went back to chopping. Occasionally throughout the day, she would hear him threatening the wood in his native language.

He was finished later that evening. He brought it inside and placed it next to the fire. She couldn't stop grinning. He had made them a bed. She walked over and sat down onto it. Seductively she lifts her eyebrows at him. Trying to suggest that they should test it out. He crawled on top of it and fell asleep until dinner was ready.

"Who was your family preserving you for?" Kratos asked with a mouthful of lamb.

Even after all this time, it was still rare for him to engage first in conversation. The lamb must really be putting him in a good mood.

"Preserving me for?" She questions over the noticeably distinctive tasting meat. "You are at your child-rearing years." He takes another bite and finishes the question with his mouth full. "You are educated, disciplined well in combat, your face is pleasing to look at, and your body is adequately curved for taking care of children. Yet on our first night, you told me of your inexperience with a man."

She pushes the plate away from her. He insisted on roasting the lamb with garlic, but the flavor of the meat was simply not a pleasant taste to her.

He slid the plate over to himself and took the remaining meat off it.

"I thought we weren't going to pry into each other's pasts?" She says as she picks up a wooden cup of water.

"I would like to know if I am in possession of a runaway woman betrothed to an emperor or king with a powerful army? If they are still scouting the land searching for you? Who or what I will have to fight when they find you?"

She laughs. "No, I'm afraid I'm not that important..." She pauses.

She could tell him everything right now. This was the perfect opportunity.

"My family... they were, very big into prophecies and... fate. And, I didn't want to disappoint them."

"Prophecies and fate are for tricking foolish men into submission. Inform them nothing is written that cannot be unwritten." He says pulling the last bits of meat off the bone with his teeth.

"I wish I could." She said smiling weakly.

Kratos hmms softly, she knew by now this was his way of apologizing.

"You seem quite confident with the act." She attempted to lighten the mood. "I guess gods get around a lot?"

Silently he picked up his wooden cup and hid his face from her as he drank the entire thing down.

She let the opportunity to tell him to slip away again. She felt like a coward.

When he set the cup down she noticed he seemed to be struggling with something as well.

"Tomorrow you're leaving again?" She says to change the topic again.

"Mmm, Yes."

"How long will you be gone for this time?"

"I do not know."

"I'll miss you." She says reaching a hand out over the table he had made them. He took her hand into his, he places a kiss onto the back of it.

"You're never alone, remember that when you're out there doing, whatever it is you're doing." She weaves her fingers with his own.

"Once I return I promise, I will not leave you again." He begins struggling to find the next thing to say.

Laufey pulled their joined hands over to her lips and kissed the back of his hand. "When you come home, I'll be here."

He let go of her hand. "I know." He pushes the table out of his way, the legs screech against the wooden floors, the plates rattle on top of it. With the same hand, he pulled her chair over to him.

A full month without him passed by. She kept her spirits up every day, knowing he would return to her. She wanted to know what he was doing all alone? What personal journey required such solitude? But every time she thought it appropriate to dig into his past she found herself feeling guilty about never mentioning the future Tyr told her.

He said anything written could be unwritten. She thought back to the paintings, her golden body atop a pile of logs, to become the ashes that would bring her people back.

A mixture of pride and fear start to bubble up. She would save her people, but, she would have to...

She sat beside their bed on the floor. Leaning against the side he normally slept on with her knees to her chest.

She was going to die.

She had known she would die while on her journey. She had prepared for the trip into Hel to be her last before Loki brought her people back in a glistening triumph. A magnificent sacrifice for her people, she was the mother of Loki, of Ragnarok in itself the elders whispered in her ears.

But now something was pulling her away from everything. She wouldn't return from death anymore.

She wanted to live on, with this man. She wanted to grow old with him and watch their children grow old as well.

She sat up straight. Kratos was right, it wasn't as final as foretold.

She would find a way to change her fate.