Eventually there was always some kind of dirt to find. Not everybody was as pure and straight headed ... not everybody seemed so innocent as they appeared. Margrethe never was, Freydis apparently wasn't either. You looked between the cracks of that shed, witnessing the emotionless ride she took on a man. He probably was an innocent ... he probably would be dead soon enough. The rumor wasn't so secret anymore, Ivar couldn't get a woman pregnant and here was the love of his life proving him otherwise. She wasn't innocent, not by far. You looked one last time before you walked away from yet another scene of destruction. Ever since Ragnar died things had changed around here, ever since the brothers broke their brotherly bound things got downhill. You grew up with them, you even followed them to York. You loved one of them ... but you were wiser in the end. You didn't choose Ivar his side, how much Hvitserk tried to convince you to stay.

'Death is no a place I want to fight alongside with Hvitserk. One day you will thank me for that, this is not the end. The gods didn't mean for uss to parten like this.' That were the exact goodbye words you gifted him with. Ever since you disappeared from civilization.

Whatever hope there was, it became overshadowed by a person imitating like a god, a king acting like he owned the world. Ever since he was little you knew there was something briljant about him, but this little taste of power made him not much different then Margrethe. You never knew when it was the right time, all those weeks you hide in the shadows of Kattegat, looking how Hvitserk drank himself to sleep, how Ivar taunted him into humiliation. Being alone with nature all those months made you realize that your dreams weren't just dreams, they were messages, so you believed, from the gods. You justified the messages just as you would justify the sins Ivar was spreading around. It was time, time to choose that side.

The sun was barely touching the horizon as you pushed open the door to that little house. Your eyes immediately found Hvitserk, sleeping in his clothes, his shoes.You pushed the hood from your head, your braid loosened from its spot, letting strands of hair escape around your face. For a long time you just looked at him, asking yourself if he would be like this if you had stand by his side. Sadly there was not such a thing as reversing time.

'Hvitserk.' You whispered. His name tasted so different over your lips. Last time you saw each other you were nothing more than kids. You saw him frown in his sleep. For him you were probably nothing more than a dream, a dream he wanted to catch. 'Hvitserk.' You repeated with the same softness. You smiled softly as he turned away.

'Leave me be.' He muttered.

'The gods didn't meant for uss to parten like this.' You repeated the exact same words from years ago. His eyes fluttered open. For a second he looked in front of him, and then he looked over to you. His eyes rested on yours and it was like something restarted on the inside, a feeling that was sleeping for years now.

'You are not real.' He said, blaming the ale for his visions.

'What do I need to do to prove you I am?'

'Go away.' He muttered, pushing himself up and awake. But you were still there and he started to doubt his own sanity.

'Hvitserk.' You repeated softly, placing one foot before the other, knowing he could hate you for leaving.

'Y/n please, it can't be you.' He squeezed his eyes close, trying to forget. Never before he carried so much trouble around in his expressions. You stood still before him, slowly stretching your fingers to touch his cheek.

'I'm real.' You whispered. He opened his eyes, looking up before he lifted his hand to capture yours against his face. 'I'm sorry I didn't came sooner.' You said.

'I thought you were dead.' His fingers softly wrapped around yours, turning his head to smell your skin, kiss your wrist.

'He will wish I was.' You answered those words. Hvitserk looked back up to you and you smiled, lowering yourself down on his lap. 'I'm on the path of the gods, I'm the messenger of the people. I will choose you and only you, Ivar won't sacrifice you for his own lies.' You promised him. His fingers softly squeezed in your side and you knocked your forehead against his, witnessing the biggest struggle in his eyes. 'You are as much a son of Ragnar as he is, don't crumble under his greatness Hvitserk, I won't let you.' And that was enough for Hvitserk to find his long lost passion. He laid his hand against your cheek, pressing his lips against yours. Your fingertips rested against his cheeks, tasting something that you thought would be lost forever. You pushed your body closer and he forced his lips loose from yours with a deep sign.

'Y/n,' He sounded so broken ... so alone.

'Look at me.' You whispered tenderly, cupping his face to make him look at you. He looked, but in the same time he didn't. 'You always protected me from his hate, let me now protect you.'

'How, he is a king.'

'Being a king doesn't mean your are untouchable.' You promised him, he let his head hang against your shoulder and you let him, gazing in front of you while thinking in how many ways you could punish Ivar for how his brother was sitting here now.

Hvitserk found his energy back, his body language straightened up when he was around Ivar and you smiled with every smile he let play around his lips. You sat on the table, with your back towards the throne and your eyes down to Hvitserk who told you about how Ubbe spared his life.

'Why are you so cheerful today brother?' That voice used to make you freeze on the spot, it didn't now. It made you more angry then you cared to admit.

'Maybe he is sick and tired of your disapproval and started living on his own.' You answered for Hvitserk, turning half around to look to Ivar. The expression on his face was priceless, for a second the mighty facade disappeared.

'Y/n,' he stumbled in his words a little. 'I thought you were dead.'

'You wish she was.' Hvitserk repeated the words you used earlier. Ivar laughed dryly as he looked from his brother back to you.

'Where have you been?' He asked you politely. But in a way it sounded more as a mockery, a carefull one. He was on alert, at least that was something.

'Imagining the disapproval of your father if he was still here.' You answered straight ahead.

'She sees things,' Hvitserk helped him process. 'she is a seer, she foresaw your victory, she foresaw the fall of a king.'

'I'm not planning on falling any time soon.' Ivar snapped, impatient.

'Not you, Alfred is the new king is Wessex.' You announced. He had to believe at least that. 'You know what else I saw?' You asked him way to sweet voiced.

'What?' Ivar asked.

'I saw the dead of a man, somebody you won't know. He is a villager. But as he dies you should ask around why he is dead and who ordered it, I will keep the ending as a surprise.' You forced a smile on your lips and looked how Hvitserk grabbed a cup to get a refill. Your eyes went slowly back to Ivar who clenched his teeth and slammed his hand on the table to lean closer to you.

'You should be dead.'

'I maybe was, who knows, maybe the gods send me back to earth to deal with you. You ordered your men to kill me once, only to win Hvitserk over. You killed Margrethe to break him. Then you have the support of one brother and you destroy him anyway, why is that Ivar? You want to be the only God walking around here?' You tilted your head with those last words and it made his fingers clench to first as he pushed himself back on his crutch. 'Yes, I saw that to, I would watch out, for all we know your killer is sleeping right beside you.' You followed, jumping from the table as you turned around to see Freydis coming.

'Ivar my love,' she smoothened with that tender smile. Her eyes fell on you and she became curious. 'Who is she?'

'Somebody he tried to kill once.' You answered in his place. Ivar was beyond furious with your return. 'Somebody he just can't control.' You followed in a soft whisper. You smiled, a general smile for her as you gave him one last look before walking out.

Hvitserk was playing with a strand of your hair as you laid sunken in thoughts beside him.

'What are you thinking about?' He asked carefully. You shifted your eyes towards him. He laid on his stomach beside you, stroking his fingertips over your collarbone.

'Sadly enough, your brother.' You confessed softly. Hvitserk stopped his fingers from touching you as he look grew more concern.

'You can't beat him, he is to powerful for that.'

'I know.' You smiled, pushing your head up to give him a quick kiss. 'You can't beat him with strength or cleverness. You need to beat him in his believes. If he can't believe anymore, what is left of Ivar the Boneless then?'

'I knew there was a reason why I fall for like I do right now.' He whispered. You chuckled, tugging his braid as you kissed him so tenderly slow.

'I'm gonna be alongside you,' you promised him. 'this town is filled with fear, if you only represent strong they will support you.' You explained. He stroke your hair behind your ear and nodded. You smiled when he lowered his head again. Maybe you came right in time, maybe this was everything he needed to find himself back ... you.