Atreus sat wiggling in the chair as Laufey placed a steaming apple in front of him. Honey was overflowing from the top where she had hallowed out the core and stuffed it with hazelnuts and cinnamon sticks. Kratos playfully reached his hand out and picked a sticky honey soaked hazelnut up and popped it into his mouth.

"That's for the birthday boy." Laufey smiles as she kissed Atreus head. "How old are you today?" She asks the boy.

Distracted by the feast before him, Atreus held up two fingers before devouring the baked apple in front of him.

With a slight giggle, Laufey walks over to her husband and leans onto his back and puts her hands over his shoulders. Ignoring the absolute mess their son was making. "I can't believe he's two, it's all going by so fast."

With his arms folded against his chest, Kratos silently watches the boy from across the table.

"Boy, when you are finished we will work outside once more." The toddler looked up from his sticky treat. The joy on his sticky - honey drenched face suddenly disappeared and as a stoic firmness shined through. Atreus nodded once at his father.

"You should give him a break today my love. Let him enjoy himself." Laufey whispers into her husband's ear before sneaking a kiss into his neck while the apple held their son's attention.

"Hurry boy or I will start without you," Kratos says to his son, ignoring his wife. Atreus turned what should have been four bites into two inhales before hopping out of his chair.

Later, as Laufey was cleaning up the mess her son left behind she hears shouting outside. She pokes her head out the front door to watch her two boys. Kratos, down on his knees holding a long wooden stick out in his two massive hands. Atreus had both of his small, soft hands on the stick between his father's and pushed against it, digging his feet into the dirt below. "Try harder." Kratos sternly says. Atreus pushes with all his might, but couldn't budge his father's balance on the stick.

"Focus!" Kratos says loudly.

Laufey went back inside the house to prepare their beds for the night. What they were doing was nothing new to her, she needed to get the fire pit started before the chill set in anyways. For as long as Atreus could confidently walk Kratos had begun small training exercises with him. She hated it at first but soon came to realized how happy it made their son. Atreus loved spending time with his father, no matter what they were doing.

Suddenly, she hears something unfamiliar. Kratos shouting happily. "Good, again!" Atreus must have budged the stick held in his demi-god father's hands.

Atreus was finally asleep in his own bed. Laufey covered his shoulders with a blanket and sneaked outside the house to sit with her husband by the garden. Kratos was staring at his bandaged arms until he realizes she was there.

"He's asleep finally." She says, her voice cracked from singing so many lullabies.

"Has he ever hurt you?" Kratos asks abruptly.

"Our son? Of course not, well there was the time when I was still nursing him and he was teething."

"I mean it Faye. Has he ever lashed out in a fit of rage and attacked you?"

She didn't want to answer. She loved Atreus too much to tell him the truth, and she loved Kratos too much to lie to him.

Sometimes, when the toddler didn't get what he wanted, he would lash out and hit her. These were no simple temper tantrums. She would walk away with bruises and locks of hair missing. Or worse, Atreus would injure himself until she gave in to his demands.

She started rubbing her hand along her husband's upper leg seductively. Kratos knew better, grabbing her hand and holding it hostage.

"In a fit of rage, our son... he could..." He squeezes her hand tightly, his words lagging behind his thoughts.

"In a fit of rage, he could turn into a mushroom or make our house disappear. Maybe he will sprout a tail and feathers?" With her other hand, she moves his thick-bearded face to look at her. "We still don't know anything about his powers. We only know how much he loves us, and how much we love him." She pushed her fingernails through the hairs on his face and gently scratched the skin hidden beneath. Something she knew always relaxed him. It worked, she felt him loosen the grip on her hand.

"I killed my mother," Kratos says looking into her eyes. Her hand pulled away from his face. She didn't blink, or breath as he kept talking.

"I held her in my arms as she died, her life stolen away by my own hands." His eyes didn't move away from her. His gaze was intense and heavy. It had been years since he spoke of his past. She had to say something, but what?

She leaned into him and hid her face in the crook of his neck. "I... Kratos, I don't think Atreus would ever-"

"Will I kill him one day?" He interrupted her. "Is this my curse? For everything, I have done? To watch all that I love, die in my hands?" His voice shook. Rage, regret, and sadness fought together in his eyes.

"My love, Atreus is a sweet boy. He may be a god but he is more than that. You see, I mean, what I'm trying to say is... He's a, Well, I'm a-"

"What would you know of this path?!" He snaps at her.

She backs away from him.

He closes his eyes in immediate regret. "Faye, that was unworthy." He says touching his bandages and then his forehead with his fingers. He was lost in his thoughts, and she didn't know how to reach him. If she even should? He was hurting and she wanted to help him. She thought back to the dream of Atreus angry at his father, she had to prevent that. She had to be the bridge between them, she had to dedicate herself to keeping both of them happy.

"The cycle of this cursed life. The boy may one day take my life if anger overcomes...-"

Laufey rushes onto his lap and kisses him before he could finish his terrible thought. She forced his mouth open with her tongue until he moves his own into her mouth. She pulls away and moves downwards, kissing his neck and then his chest. She gets to his hips and bends down onto her knees in front of him.

Kratos breathed once through his mouth as she worked her way through his trousers to him. Brushing his hands on the top of her head when she took all of him into her mouth. "Faye..." he whispers before losing himself in a sea of restrained moans. Laufey exhaled when she found the opportunity, she had succeeded.

She tried to consecrate on only pleasing him, but the thought of the two of them fighting to the death kept creeping into her mind.

She would save them both from that fate.

Atreus played outside as usual while she started her chores for the day. He was stalking a rabbit on his hands and knees like a feral cat. Slowly creeping up onto it, until finally, the toddler pounced on it. It slips out of his grasp and hops away, he chases after it.

Laufey stood in front of the basket of wet clothes she was hanging up to dry on the line. Atreus and the rabbit ran past her and knocked the basket of washed clothes into the mud. He bumped into a low hanging blanket on the line and snapped the entire cloths line down onto the ground.

He keeps chasing the rabbit into the house, knocking over cups and jars onto the ground. Breaking several as they fall. He ran under the table and overturned it as he stood up.

The rabbit leaped out of the window and Atreus followed, as he climbed up onto the window seal he knocked a yellow shield off the wall and onto the ground. He landed in Laufey's garden, trampling several cabbages as he runs after the creature. Finally, he ran into Kratos carrying a large stack of firewood. He slams into his father and causes him to spill the wood out of his hands. As the wood landed it crushed most of the vegetables in her garden. Kratos managed to snatch the boy away from any of the falling wooden logs.

Laufey ran over to them. Atreus looks up to his father holding him. Kratos was furious. He held him up by one arm and shouted at him while shaking him furiously.

"Boy! Look around at what you have done!"

Kratos stopped suddenly. His face shifting from anger to something similar to shock and panic. Atreus had started crying at this point. Kratos let go of his hand and the toddler dropped down into the wet dirt. He brought his muddy hands to his face and cried harder. Kratos stormed silently past the boy and Laufey into the woods.

He did not return that night.

Laufey worked in her garden, still cleaning up from the incident a day later. Atreus helps by holding the basket she dropped pea pods in. Kratos walked past them, dressed and geared as if he would not be returning that night. Atreus dropped the basket off and ran over to his father blissfully. He picked up the long stick and held it out to Kratos.

Her husband ignored the boy's offer to play and kept walking past him. He disappears into the woods saying nothing.

The toddler stood with the stick still extending out in his hands, watching the spot his father disappeared to in the forest.

Laufey walked up behind the boy, noticing the tears falling from his blue eyes.

She picks her son up and hugs him tenderly. He weeps into her shoulder as he drops the stick onto the ground.

He stammers his crying as several coughs escape his mouth.

She hums a song in his ear as she brings him back inside the house.

Atreus crosses his arms and glares angrily at Laufey. She doesn't give his sour attitude any attention. He wanted to play in the river but she couldn't take him. Kratos had been gone all day yesterday and left early this morning, informing her he wouldn't return until lunch the next day. She had to chop firewood, think about what to hunt for dinner, hang laundry, and start turning her berries into preserves if they wanted to eat something sweet this winter. Plus, she had to clean up the disaster of keeping Atreus out of a diaper, training him to relieve himself outside instead.

The two and a half year old stomped his feet and yelled loudly to get her attention. "Swim!" He shouts over and over while she cleaned. And then, suddenly, he was silent.

A salmon flopped helplessly on the wooden floor. It flipped into the air and landed close to the fire pit. She looked around, where was Atreus? How did he manage to sneak a live fish into the house without her realizing till now? She looks around for the boy, then, the horrifying realization set in.

Atreus turned into a salmon.

She screams. Trying to pick the flopping fish up in her hands but it slips away several times, falling a great distance onto the floor. She screamed again as she realizes she is dropping her baby onto the floor. She finally got a hold of it and held the slimy fish in her hands. Its gills flair out, suffocating out of the water. Panic was washing over her, what does she do? Quickly she runs out the door and dashes downhill in the direction of the river. The fish wiggles furiously in her hands, she almost drops Atreus again but reaches the water just in time to drop him in. She is relieved as the fish started swimming away, then realizes...

...She just watched her 2-year-old swim away into the river.

She screams again and dives into the water, she can't find him. She shouts his name above and below the water. At this point, she was crying. She couldn't stay still and search as the river's current kept pulled her forward from where she was looking. She crawls out of the water and into the boat and starts paddling, not getting very far thanks to her trembling hands. Tears were blinding her vision, he is gone. Her son was gone forever. She loses herself in an ugly sounding cry and it causes her to drop the oar into the water.

She watches it float to the side of the river, then hits the toddler, bobbing face first by a bush next to the shoreline. She stands up quickly, shifting the boat too violently, it capsizes and she spills into the water. She immediately swims over to her son and picks him up out of the water. His eyes shut and face losing color. She sets him onto her lap face down and slaps his back several hard times. Then she picks him up by the legs and holds him upside down, shaking him a few times.

He spits out the water from his lungs and gasps in a breath of air. His eyes look around, examining where they were. Laufey hugs the boy and begins sobbing again as she smothered the child into her chest.

"Swim?" The boy asks, pointing to the river happily.

Laufey held the book still as he concentrated on the runes. She pointed to each one and he sounded the words out slowly. The child got all but one right. She smiled happily and hugged him. He beamed proudly and shifted back and forth quickly in his seat.

"Do you want to try it again?" She asked.

"Yes!" He says.

"If you get all these right we'll go gather some apples after. Maybe this time you can be the one who climbs the tree and hands them to me?"

"Really?!" Atreus says with wonder in his eyes.

She nodded at the four-year-old. He quickly got through the rest of his reading lessons.

"Mamma, why are the gods so mean?" Atreus asked over the book.

"Well, that's a good question. Sometimes when people become very scared of something, instead of showing fear, they lash out in anger at whatever scares them. The gods may be strong, but they are afraid of things just like you and I are."

"Why don't they just try talking to whoever scares them?" He says.

Laufey closes the book and brushes her hands along his cheek. "Is that what you would do to someone who scares you?" She asked. The boy nodded his head.

"I like that idea. But sometimes, things, not people scare them. And it can be hard to try and understand something when you can't talk to it. Until gods grow good, we must protect ourselves around them. They can hurt you Atreus. You must never let your guard down, especially around the Aesir. In the meantime, focus on helping those that they hurt. Not everyone is as strong and smart as you." She says ruffling his hair. "You should always try to help out those in need."

Atreus smiles happily, listening to his mother's lesson.

Kratos walks through the front door. He drops a bag off at the entrance and kicks his shoes off. Laufey quickly cleared the rest of their lesson material off the table and hands Atreus three wooden bowls to set. Kratos sat down at the head of the table and grumbled slightly as Atreus hesitates and placed the bowl in front of him.

"Father," Laufey asked cheerfully. "What did you do today?"

Kratos shifts his eyes from the nervous boy to his wife. "Training." He rasps.

Laufey ladles a large helping of stew into the bowl in front of Kratos "Atreus, would you like to train like fathe..-"

"That is not necessary." Kratos snaps.

Laufey looks at her husband. She wanted to smack him with the wet wooden spoon but refused to cause a scene around their son. She had to find a way to bridge the two of them back together. So while swallowing her pride she tried mending the conversation.

"That's true, perhaps you should practice with me before you are ready to train with someone as strong as father?" She smiles as she poured a spoonful of stew into the boy's bowl. "Would you like to come hunting with me tomorrow?" Atreus didn't look up from the table but nodded his head once.

Once she finally sat down to join them, they were already finished eating.

Her bow hung over her shoulder, she decided to leave the axe at home for this. Atreus held her quiver of arrows in both hands as he slogged behind her slowly. He stumbled over every uneven surface and tripped over an exposed tree root, almost spilling the arrows out of the quiver. She slowed down and waited until he caught up. Trying to not make it seem like she was watching him struggle. Hoping it would help his pride. The child was wheezing through his mouth and covered in sweat when he caught up to her. She held a finger to her mouth and pointed to a deer far out ahead of them. Atreus looks up to the creature and nodded once. Reaching for an arrow to hand to his mother. He fumbles loudly and accidentally picked up two instead of one. He dropped the extra arrow and gasped backward as it fell, avoiding the sharp arrowhead as it plunged first to the ground. By the time he handed the arrow to Laufey the deer was gone.

"Thank you, sweetheart." She says nocking the arrow into the bow and aimed it at nothing. She loosed the arrow before he could notice the animal was gone. Dramatically, she pulled air through her teeth and snapped her fingers. "Oh man! I missed it!" She says. Then she looked back to her son and smiles softly. "Will you help mamma try again?"

Atreus finally smiles and nodded his head happily.

Atreus was sleeping in the bed next to his mother and fathers. Laufey went to lay down too, exhausted from a long day. Kratos wasn't home yet, she wanted to wait up for him but couldn't fight off a random fit of exhaustion that overtook her. She knew to leave her husband enough room to climb in while in the dark.

As sleep finally started to take hold of her she hears something rustling outside. Then she hears Kratos groan silently. Laufey rushes quietly outside and sees her husband, covered in blood and gashes at the entrance of their front yard. She runs over and holds onto him as he leans into her. His skin was hot, almost too hot to touch.

"Give me a moment, I am fine." He struggles.

"You don't look fine." She says smoothing her hand up his chest, avoiding the gashes and exposed muscles protruding out of his flesh.

Kratos leans his sweaty forehead onto her own and calms his breathing. His flesh begins mending itself. Once he is completely healed she hugs him, she could feel his heart still racing. He pats the top of her head.

"Kratos I wish I knew what is going on? You've been acting so distant. From me, from our son. I want to help you, let me help you please." Kratos places both his hands onto her cheeks and pulls her away to look into her eyes. He was still calming himself down she noticed. He finally exhaled one more time from his mouth before breathing through his nose normally.

"Faye, if you will allow, let me lean on you a while longer. I will get better, for you and for him. I promise."

He drags his hands to her shoulders and pulls on the fabric of her dress. Pulling it away slightly, exposing her skin. "I can not do this without you." He says while bending down to kiss her. Kratos inhales her breath as if he was struggling to breathe and needed the air from her lungs to stay alive.

She returns his kiss. Then she sets her exhaustion aside and helps him remove her clothing.

Atreus sat over the book, a quill in his hand fidgeted back and forth.

"Here let me help you with this one," Laufey said with extreme fatigue in her voice.

"Momma wait! Let me do it all by myself this time!" Atreus says. She sits back and folded her arms together. Sleep threatening to overcome her at this very moment. She bobbed her head as her eyes flutter to stay open.

"Mamma?" Her son says.

"Are you sad?" He had moved away from the book and was right in front of her face.

"What baby?" She questions, the quick snap of sleep leaving her discombobulated.

"Be happy mamma!" He said pulling her lips into a smile.

She saw tears in his eyes.

"Please, be happy." He said letting one fall from his eyes.

She remembered this. But, it was wrong.

She threw her arms around the 5-year-old boy and held him close. "Oh baby, you make your mamma so happy! I'm sorry mamma is just a little tired today. I had trouble sleeping last night. Father was snoring again!" She lied.

"When you don't smile ..." he sniffed. "Then nobody in the whole world is smiling."

The depressing realization of his words hit her hard. Her poor lonely son, she was failing him, just as she felt she failing her ever distant husband. She bit the insides of her cheeks to concentrate, shoving her own feelings out of the way. Then, once she was ready, pulled Atreus away from her chest and smiled colorfully at him.

The boy begins coughing violently. She sees blood on her shirt from it. She presses the back of her hand onto his forehead. He was burning up. It was no ordinary fever. His skin felt like his fathers once did.

"Kratos!" She screams.