Kratos x Reader

Twenty

The cold air danced around your (H/C) hair.

It was as cold as ice and as painful as a thousand knifes that cut your skin. Helplessly, you struggled in the air, the boy pressed tightly to your chest.

It was so windy and cold, tears were filling your eyes.

"Kratos! Kratos!", you screamed with a shaking voice.

The fear grew with each time the lake came closer.

With a grim expression on his face he tilted his head and looked down to you, telling you without a word to speak up and say why you were shaking in fear.

Your mouth opened, eyes widened.

But it was already too late.

The surface of the water greeted you with all its coldness and pain there was to offer.

Pain chased through your body. It felt like a thousand spikes of ice piercing you. The feeling of a raging fire spread inside of you.

The impact was so hard it threw you away from Kratos. With all your might you tried to hold onto his strong arm.

But it was impossible.

Struggling, you fought the cold water that hugged your body and made your clothes wet and cold. A scream left your lips as the light from the surface drifted away further.

"No.", you whispered, your mouth filled with water.

The darkness scrawled closer as the deepest depths reached out for your ankles.

How deep could this lake be?

How long would the air inside your lungs last?

It was already burning like hell fire. It was so painful, you wanted to cry. But the cold water made it impossible.

With halfway closed eyes you reached for the light that broke through the surface of the water, tried to grab the flowing strands and safe yourself.

But your body sank deeper and deeper, like a stone.

Maybe it was the water or your eyes that got worse, but you thought that the tips of your fingers started to turn blue. Everything was so cold. So unbearably cold.

"Kratos...", you whispered while little bubbles of air escaped your lips.

A shadow crawled into your eyes, huge and plump. It was moving slowly, but steady. But before it was able to reach you, your mind had drifted away already. Darkness swallowed you.

"Father, is-?"

"No."

"But- no breath-"

"Yes."

Voices.

There were voices filling your head.

It sounded like they were talking from below the surface of water. Everything was so dull, your head was as heavy as stone.

Breathing was painful. It felt like a flame was burning inside your lungs.

"Faster- dying! Help-", there was this voice again.

It was light and lively. And so familiar.

Hands were touching you.

They were all over your body, stroking your burning chest, the heavy limbs and your head. It felt like a cold shiver that was crawling through you.

Your lips twitched as something put pressure on you.

"Careful- might break.", the light voice said again.

"Shut up!", a harsh voice said.

The pressure on your chest tightened.

Suddenly, the urge to vomit rose in you. Something crawled up your throat.

You choked, bend forward and began to cough. Water was dripping out of your lips. It was painful, like knifes crawling up your throats.

Finally, the pressure became and a load of water came crawling out of your mouth. Coughing and choking, you bend over and vomited the entire water you had swallowed.

It was like a waterfall that came crawling out of you. It hurt to let so much out of your body.

"Good. Keep going.", a rough voice told you.

"K-Kratos?", you asked in between choking.

"Hm."

"(Y/N)! You're well!", Atreus wrapped his little arms around you and squeezed.

That made you throw up even more. Gods, you felt like shit.

Why was this so painful?

How much water had you swallowed?

"You can't swim.", Kratos suddenly said.

He was squatting next to you, his eyes were watching every single movement of your body. He was visibly upset, or rather angry with you.

As the water stopped flowing, you nodded.

"You could have told me.", he growled and got on his feet.

Angrily, you grabbed him and pulled yourself up.

"I wanted to but there was no time no more.", you replied, equally angry.

"You almost drowned.", Atreus said, grabbing your hand and looking at you with puppy eyes.

He seemed so sad, so afraid.

With a thin smile you stroked his cheeks, looking at him from all sides. He looked fine.

The magic had faded.

The cold water probably awoke him, meaning that there was still a little bit of magic left that could make him fall asleep again.

"I can't swim. Just like your father said.", you rubbed his head. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Thanks to your father."

You turned towards the big, grumpy looking man. His face was a mixture between calmness and anger. His lips twitched. But he did not say anything.

You tried to smile at him, make him be a little at ease. But that seemed to make him even more angry.

"We should go on.", he turned away.

At that moment you noticed how wet he was. His body was dripping, the wet pearls were dancing over his muscles.

How was it possible to be so huge?

He was a monster, more demon than man. He probably was a god as well, but one of the mighty kind. He couldn't have been a god of healing or wisdom. He must have been a god of war.

Or destruction.

Hastily, you followed him, wanting to say something but not having the courage to do so.

The boy followed you like a little puppy while making sure that you were stable on your feet. He grinned all the time. It was strange.

Why was he looking at you like this?

Why was he looking out for you as if he was a friend?

It must have been because of the contract. He really wanted his mother back, you assumed.

The thought made you sad. If only he would know the cost of it.