"Lo there do I see my mother. Lo there do I see my father..."

She was dreaming. She forgot the last time the voices called to her.

She didn't recognize this one.

"You have to come back."

"Hello?" She calls out. But the voice continues as if it couldn't hear her.

"You left me alone, alone with him.

"He always leaves, he's never here. He doesn't want me and he never will."

It was Loki. Loki was talking to her she realizes.

"Loki? Loki I'm here. Where are you?" She calls out tenderly.

"I don't know him and he doesn't know me. Doesn't seem to want to."

The voice continues without her.

"I'm strong. I'm smart. I'm not what he thinks I am. I know better."

With a sudden sadness, she understands what is going on.

"He doesn't talk to me. Doesn't teach me." His voice grew angry. "It should have been him. Do you hear me? Him... not you."

She reaches out her arms into the darkness, standing there in silence for a moment as a gust of air blows against her body. Suddenly, a boy was in-between her arms. His head was pressed against her and tears drying on his cheek.

"Except." He said into her chest.

"I don't mean that. You know I love him. I just wish he was better. I know he can be."

Laufey attempts to wrap her arms around him but found he was an illusion and nothing more.

"So if he tries, I'll try. But if he doesn't, please come back."

She backs away from the illusion.

"I know you're out there somewhere."

She gasps awake, a wash of panic and determination swirl in her head. A vision. It had been so long since her foresight had plagued her dreams. That was her son, her son with Kratos. 'No,' she thinks she'll utilize her gift for good now.

She managed to unintentionally sabotage the other prophecies. This time she would intentionally do everything in her power to ensure this one never happens.

Kratos arrived back when the leaves began shifting from green to yellow. She ran out the front door and saw him walking up the hill. He looked, different, his face had filled in with a short thick beard. His red and gold kilt was starting to break down as badly as her old dress had. It draped over a pair of grey woolen pants tucked into his tall, open-toed, shoes from his land. He wore a boar hide harness too small for his body across his chest. Over his back, he carried a bag wider than two of him put side by side.

She quickly ran downhill to embrace him. As he drops the massive bag onto the ground he silently picked her up and held her firmly for a moment. Then, he slings her over his shoulder with one hand and picks up the bag with the other. Casually strolling back to the house with her slumped over him. "What are you doing?" She laughs dangling over him, he had yet to say a word to her.

Kratos walks through the door of their house and sits her onto the bed. Before she could ponder what he might be up to, he reaches into the bag and pulls out an apple. For a moment he hesitated, then holds it out to her.

"Thank you?" Laufey smiles, a little confused at the gesture, especially coming from him.

"I thought to include softer traditions. I know you are not from my lands. Will you eat it with me?" He asks.

She leans in playfully and takes a bite while it was still in his hands. The apple was soft and warm, bruised, yet sweet as if someone had been squeezing it firmly in their hand for weeks.

Kratos exhales through his mouth, then brought the apple to his face and took a bite next to the one she took.

"What's all this about?" She said while leaning towards his hand to take another bite. He pulled the apple away from her before she did and brandished a knife, pointed directly at her. Laufey sat up straight as concern started to enter into her mind. What in the nine realms was he doing?

"For your hair." He said, extending it over to her. He mumbled apprehensively as he quickly realizes how he was holding out the knife. He spun it around and held the blade in his hand and presented the handle to her instead.

He was nervous.

"Kratos, talk to me." Laufey reaches past his arm offering her the blade and cups his face. She drags her long nails through his new bushy beard, finding the dry cracked skin underneath.

"You do not have to cut all of it off if you so desire...-"

She leans into him and kisses his lips to interrupt him. "Is this supposed to be some strange ritual gods do when someone returns home?"

That snaps him out of it. "No, this is me taking you as my wife."

That snaps her out of it. "What?"

"I am used to a feminine body, so it is not necessary to dress as a man tonight."

"You want to marry me?" Laufey says delightfully, not fully paying attention to the last thing he said. The smile on her face was so wide it cracked her lips.

"The ceremony is almost complete." He says with a rasp. "Come, outside, fight me. Do not hold back, I will not if I hit you."

Laufey loses herself in joyous laughter for a while as she stares up at him. Kratos didn't seem very amused. "I will. Marry you I mean, but, let's maybe skip the fighting? Instead, we can include some of my rituals. If that's okay?"

He relaxes his shoulders and hums, acknowledging her.

The string was finally finished, it was a thick blue woolen strand braided in between two red leather ropes. She only had one seashell left from the pins in her old dress, she carefully attached it to the bottom of the string.

She decided to wear her old white long-sleeved underdress without the apron over top of it. She held a freshly made crown of pine needles, purple flowers, and rosemary sprigs. For a moment, Laufey felt sad, wishing all of them could be here to see this. Before she allowed her heart to sink deep into grief, she heard Kratos approaching from behind, holding a knife.

"Here?" He questions, touching where her neck meets her shoulders. She nodded once and stood completely still, a touch nervous. But proud to take part in something from his culture. He picked up her long thick braid and gently cut it off from the spot he pointed at. She immediately felt a weight lift from her head as he dropped the mass of hair onto the ground. She didn't linger over it for long, quickly placing the weaved crown atop her head.

They stood by a white tree with her golden handprint on it.

She held out her left arm to him. She had rolled up the sleeve on her dress, exposing her bare skin.

He started to lift his left arm up to mimic her but hesitated as he looked at the bandages wrapping his scars.

Laufey quickly acted as if she made a mistake. Rolling her sleeve back down and placed her covered arm out to him.

He extended his hand out like she instructed him to.

Gently, she placed her palm onto his hand and held still as she started fasting their two hands together with the string. One of them was trembling, she assumed it was herself, it made the whole process a little bit more difficult. Finally, she was finished. Their hands were bound together in the string. "Do you remember what to say?" She looks up to him. He didn't respond, he was looking at her with repose in his eyes.

"Do you need me to say it again?" She adds. He snaps out of it and grunts. "I know what to say."

They stood in front of the white tree and gazed into each other's eyes.

"As I have given you my hand to hold."

They both start saying together.

"So do I give you my life to keep."

He bends down and kisses her tenderly. She lifted her hand to touch his cheek but remembered it was tied to his.

They both smiled softly at the realization.

That night they had decided to bathe in a calm rocky pond that branched off from the river. He sat in the water leaning against the side of a large flat rock. She sat nakedly on top of the rock with her legs draping over his shoulders. The crown of flowers still on her head. She reached around and scrubbed his chest with a cloth drenched in sweet smelling oil. Tracing his red tattoo down until it disappeared into the water. Then she began gently washing the white skin on his neck and shoulders.

She paused in shock for a moment.

As she glided the cloth along his white skin a bit of dark pink began to show through. She feared she had wiped too hard and irritated his skin.

He sat calmly in the water, drinking a strange smelling liquid from a glass bottle he had brought back from his trip.

She continued washing his back, more and more color started peeking through. What was coming off him she wonders? She always assumed his skin was naturally this white, perhaps that's how all the people from his land looked. Maybe she was wrong? Whatever it was, she was slowly and carefully removing it from his skin.

Kratos let out a sound of satisfaction after his last gulp and reached behind him to snatched her towards him. His breath smelling of alcohol and an oddly familiar smelling fruit as he kissed her hungry.

"I have you." He says into her ear. His breath stinging her eyes, she didn't realize how drunk he had become. He unwraps his arms from her chest and neck and dips them deeper under the water, sliding his hands down to her hips and over to her behind. He curls the tips of his fingers underneath the area where the cheeks of her bottom meet her legs. Because of his height, he had to bend forward a bit in order to grope her here. His inebriation caught up to him and he stumbled sideways, then fumbled forwards into her. Splashing water over them. He grumbled for a moment but the reverberations turned into a low chuckle as Laufey helped hold him steady.

"My husband, I do believe you are quite drunk." She said, smiling deviously.

"Say it again." He said still leaning on her. She could feel his beard upon her naked shoulders, he was smiling she thinks.

"You are drunk?"

"No." He said slowly rising up from her body. His breath still reeking of fruity alcohol.

Laufey beamed happily, she looks into his glazed eyes and leans closer to him. She presses her hands onto his chest.

"My husband."

He hums approvingly, before picking her up out of the water by her bottom only. She gasped as the cold air pierced her wet naked skin. He walks several steps back over to the rock she had been washing him on. He lays her down carefully onto her back and spreads her legs as he stands over top her, still unable to stand straight up.

"Are you sure?" She smiles lovingly, noticing how drunk he still was.

He ignores her and fixes his eyes down upon her.

"My wife." He proclaims, his face no longer soft, instead an honest severity washed over him.

"I can not promise a happy life for you." He says leaning down in between her legs. His beard brushing against her inner thighs. At first, it tickled, but the closer he got to her opening the more lust overtook over.

"I can not promise you the life you deserve." He continues speaking into her legs, his breath dusting across her lips. She gasped, his mouth had never been this close to her opening before. What was he doing?

"I can not promise you I will be easy to love." He begins lightly kissing down her thighs. She arches her head back onto the hard rock.

"But I promise you this. I will worship you." He presses his mouth against her lips. With his tongue, he penetrated her from the bottom of her opening and slowly made his way to the top. Spreading her lips apart with his tongue. Laufey jolted her head up from the rock to look at him. She wanted to protest but desire had stolen her voice. His nose breathing hot air onto her body as he began to devour her.

He moved his right hand away from keeping his balance against the rock. He drunkenly slid forward for a moment until he caught himself. Stabilizing his weight on his own. With two fingers he casually spread her lips open. For a moment he simply stared at her, completely exposed before him. She felt a rush of embarrassment and vulnerability at the situation. Blood rushing away from her pulsing sex and moving instead to her face. She couldn't help but smile through her embarrassment as he kept his eyes fixated at the opening between her legs.

She rushed out an awkward giggle at his serious expression. It brought his eyes to look up to her. Not quite looking into her own. Instead, looking at the woman before him. Blushing, exposed, smiling, and recently bound to him. She felt her crown of flowers slipping down her head and quickly readjusted it.

"Είσαι τόσο ωραίος," he says in an inhale. Kratos leaned down in between her legs and kissed her. She didn't have time to ponder what he might have said to her. Instead, she arched her chin upwards and moaned softly as he slid his tongue over her sensitive pearl over and over. She brought her hands in between her legs and smoothed them over his bobbing head. One tracing his red tattoo, the other trying hard not to clench down too tightly while lost in her desire. He penetrated her with his tongue. Only stopping to pull away and gently roll over her nub with the tip of his tongue. Occasionally she would feel his teeth grazing her wet skin but gentle kisses were always left in their place. She sighed his name as she felt her peak approaching. He puffed hot air through his nose as she rode out her pleasure around his mouth. He lapped up the juices that had flown out from her during all this. He pulled his face away from her but not before giving her one last kiss on her pulsing self.

She opened her eyes and found his own staring back down at her. He was holding himself in his hand. The sound of water dripping down off his body into the lake filling her ears. She sat up on the rock and was face to face with his erection. He gripped himself tighter as she leaned closer to him with her mouth. He removed his hand and placed it on her shoulder, stopping her from moving closer. "That is not necessary." He rasps, his voice was harsh like steel. A sign that his inebriation was slowly leaving him. She repositioned herself onto her hands and knees before him and arched her head upwards to him with wide pleading eyes. "I want to try." She says, her breasts being pressed together by her arms.

He rolled his eyes upwards in awe before closing them tightly. As if blown away by the sight of her before him. He reopened his eyes and nodded approvingly down to her.

Her lips went to his head and softly kissed him. He was breathing in a way that made her want to caress herself as she placed kisses up and down his shaft. She wasn't sure what else she should do? She looked up at him for a moment of reassurance. His eyes were lidded in a mixture of desire and frustration. "Lick." He rumbled down to her. She opens her mouth and licked the base of himself, all the way to the head. She tried imitating the same motions he had previously done to her.

He struggled to withhold his enjoyment. Intoxication allowing a moan to escape his mouth. It was so rare for her to hear his sounds of pleasure. She wanted to hear more, so she continued. A small clear dewdrop emerged from his tip, she hovered her mouth atop him and licked it curiously. It was a savory flavor, like a salted butter only available to royalty.

His hands reach for the top of her head. Slowly he removed the crown of flowers and herbs. As he held the crown in one hand he slides his other hand at the back of her head, thumbing his finger through the tips of her freshly cut hair.

She still had her mouth slightly ajar, licking the head of his manhood. He leads her head closer to him, causing him to enter inside her mouth.

She gasps through her nose as he gripped the locks of her hair in his hand. Exhaling harshly in pleasure as more of him driving into her mouth. She didn't know what she should do, but she closed her lips around him and started sucking him.

The way his hands tremble and gripped pet and clenched her head was guiding her on what to keep doing to him. With her lips closed around him, she tried pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth, sandwiching him between the act. "Faye." He sucked in. She couldn't see his face right now but it sounded as if he was looking upwards, talking to the sky. There was still a large amount of him she was unable to fit inside her mouth. She attempted to devour more of him but suddenly found herself gagging around him. She worries the ugly sound of her throat protesting his intrusion would hinder the mood. But it seemed the sounds of her struggling to engulf all of him inside her enticed him more.

He bends down slightly and grips the part of himself she was unable to fit. Her lips now lightly brushed up against the rough flesh of his fingers. He opens his hand against the back of her head and with a light touch, hovered it there. With the hand around himself, he pushes her mouth away from him ever so slightly. Then with the open palm on her head, he guides her back to him. She drags her hands up his legs as he repeatedly pumps himself into her mouth over and over. Her spit would eventually pool up inside her mouth and drip out around his hand, it only aided in allowing him to thrust faster and easier inside her. She had to concentrate on breathing through her nose, else she would gag again. It was difficult to do with the sounds coming from his mouth. Desire overrode the harsh facade he usually conducted himself with and he moaned as she sucked him. He spoke to her in a broken jumble of the two languages. "φως, my light." He said. "Yes, πιό." She was trying to make out what he was saying.

"αρέσκω...-" He silenced himself from speaking anything more.

She drags her hands from his legs around to his bottom and grips his hard cheeks. From inside her lips, she could feel him start to pulsate. He tried pulling completely away from her but with both her hands on his behind she pushes himself back deep inside her mouth. She looks up at him with wide blue eyes while he was in her mouth. In an instant, several different emotions cascaded across his face. Finally, he shut his yellow eyes tightly, an outburst emitting from his lungs. Warm salty juices shot into her throat, she moaned around him as she quickly swallowed the thick liquid filling her. His legs shivered, she could see the goosebumps on his skin and feel his trembling hands. He collapses down into the water, pulling her off the rock and into his arms. He was still coming down from his high, she could feel his heart pounding against chest.

"I love you, you know that right?" She says into his skin. He calms down for a moment, releasing her from his tight grip ever so slightly so he could look upon her.

"I know." He said down at her.

She hung the shield onto the wall, adjusting it so it wasn't crooked humming softly while working. It was a habit she found herself doing while they worked together on projects around the home. She walked back to the massive bag he brought home a few weeks ago. It was bottomless she thought. Could he have stolen this from Sindri?

She picked up a heavy chunk of metal. It was a different color from any of the raw metals saw the brothers work on.

"Here, give me that," Kratos says taking the heavy chunk from her. He tucks it into his new pouch she had made him, along with his new pants and an actual shirt.

"Are you going to work on the dock again today?" She questions. He grunts a soft response as he slips on his closed toe boots.

"I'll have dinner ready for you when you back." She sits up and kisses him, he kisses her back before he heads out the front door.

Laufey rows the boat up to the old dock. It was still holding up well two years later. She climbed out of the little boat with a basket of wildflowers, shrimp, acorns and quail eggs. She walked slowly up to the cozy complete home they build together over the years. Kratos was hunched over carving out a hollow tree trunk, his long thick beard disappearing into his chest while he was hard at work. As soon as he saw her he dropped his tools and rushes over to take the basket from her hands.

It gave Laufey time to gently touch her swollen pregnant belly.