𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 ✩ Ivar The Boneless

✩ chapter VI, act I ✩

"Even wolves bleed like sheep."
chapter VI, act I ✧ 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔

Nero dealt with the situation at hand pretty dismissively. They were not yet done avenging Ragnar, and she would stick with all to the end, no matter how injured she was.

The wolf had been laying on Ivar's chariot, falling in and out of sleep, but she refused to give up and when the girl finally climbed off the chariot and her feet touched the floor, Odin smiled.

Her ankles burned with the effort, her legs trembled. Her face remained stoic. Watching the ghost town where they hoped for Aethelwulf to be. He couldn't have run away, he couldn't have been that huge of a coward.

"It's empty. They've gone," Halfdan announced, bringing her out of her pain-induced trance.

She pulled tighter on the rags that sealed her wound, whining as she did before she walked over to Björn, her hand on his shoulder for support.

"Why... are they celebrating?" Nero questioned, her eyes filled with annoyance as the older boy looked at her, her reaction reflected on his face.

"They do not know of revenge."

She nodded, looking back at him as she followed the other's further into the village.

Ragnar's revenge was not about destroying villages. Raiding places. Ragnar's revenge was about bringing pain to everyone who had ever brought him pain. Achieving what he couldn't achieve.

They weren't hurting Ecbert nor Aethelwulf by thrashing one of their many towns. Nero understood that.

Something shifted suddenly inside the girl. Her mind traveled to Ivar while she walked in between the burning corridors. The warm feeling of the flames around reminded her of his touch, of him.

The boy felt every second of their kiss, over and over, cold sweat dripped from his body every time he saw her after that night, she became his drug, he got a taste of her love and he couldn't stop himself from wanting—needing more. He knew she would soon become an obsession he wouldn't get over, he was bad at rehabilitation, yet he was willing to suffer.

The way their tongues danced and played together with such gentleness in the midst of their roughness, it felt like a cold breeze in the middle of summer. Warm furs during a cold winter night. His nightmares were always about losing her because he knew deep down he had her all along.

Nero's body shivered. She wanted to melt into his kiss like she had done before. She wanted to be surrounded by him, by his power, by his strength, by his insanity. She loved and envied every patch of skin on his body.

There was no way one could forget the way he held her neck, her life in his hands, willingly, trustfully. Loving him was like loving the sun. Loving her was like loving the moon.

As the tales told, they were like Sköll and Hati. One chased after the sun, the other chased after the moon. And once those two wolves caught their prey, one they finally caught each other, the end of the world would come, Ragnarok would be upon them.

"No... Helga!" the thrilling scream brought the girl back to her reality, away from her thoughts. She ran towards it, her body acting on instinct as she recognized the voice as her father's.

The wolf stood at the end of a dark hallway. Light burning slightly from the flames, her legs trembling with effort, her wound oozing with blood through the rags that patched it up.

She was paralyzed at the sight. Helga was in Floki's arms, her body lifeless and eyes glazed. Nero's eyes teared up, no. She had never been close to Helga. Ever since the beginning, Floki made sure everyone understood the girl was his responsibility, nobody else's.