(General POV)
The two of them were eating together room that was especially prepared for this occasion. As was habitual with Lyze, he critiqued (internally) the food he'd been served. And safe to say, fancy food still was not much better than other food.
Food in this world only seemed to push itself to the extreme. It was always either too bland, too spicy or too sweet. And they did not give much care to texture either. Still, it was far better than some of the meals he'd had to eat in life, so he was not complaining.
Dinner was spent in silence between the two as he could see the thoughts burning away inside Freya's head. She looked to be contemplating something very deeply.
He had not expected the way things would go today. In his opinion, it had happened a little too fast. All he'd said was what he truly thought about her and the perfect face of hers cracked and she'd appear to break down. Outwardly she did not show anything but her change of mood was palpable.
Especially to her Familia members, some of whom looked ready to kill him. But it appeared as if Ottar was keeping them in line, otherwise Lyze had Excalibur poised to quick draw from his hammer-space should another confrontation occur.
His injuries from his earlier brawl had been healed before he'd gone in the bath, but the tension that hung in the manor seemed to promise him more at any given moment.
As they finished the last of their meal, she looked up at him and spoke.
"I still mean to try what I said."
"To try and win me over?" Lyze questioned. "I told you, you're welcome to try. But my yearning to return home transcends everything else. It will always be my top priority. Besides, what would you do if I happen to fall in love with someone else?"
"You speak as if you expect me to do something."
"Because I know you will."
"It's in a woman's nature to feel jealous when the one she loves has feelings for another."
"Again, I just don't understand how you can proclaim to love me already. Physically, I'm not at an age where I can have relationships just yet, and you barely even know me beyond the visage of my soul. From that alone, how can you be so sure that you're in love with me."
"One look at a soul is all I need to decide if I can love them, Lyze. I do not need to know the content of their character when I can easily see the contents of their being."
"That's just not how it works." He muttered.
"Whether you like it or not, I am still going to try." She said firmly as she crossed her arms. "You said that one of the things you admired about me was my stubbornness. Well here I am."
"Yeah, stubbornness to everything else except ME of course." He sighed. "Besides, how exactly do you plan on doing that?"
"Favours." She replied.
"Favours?"
"Yes. An alliance between you and me just as we described before. You can ask anything of me, and I will fulfil it to the best of my ability. Any secrets you hold will be guarded closely by me, and I will never betray you. Anything, anything if you will only give me a chance." She gave him a frown. "Or is it that you dislike me so? Just tell me if you do."
Lyze sighed and rubbed his face.
"I don't hate you Lady Freya. If I hated you, I would not be sitting here. And don't pull the 'favours' card with me and think I won't notice what you're slipping by. What's the catch?"
"That you have to spend time with me, to work on this, whatever it is between us."
"...You realise you're speaking to a child correct?"
"In body perhaps. But I am speaking to an adult in mind."
"The age of adulthood was 18 in my world."
"It's 14 in this one. And you're in this world, so you have to play by its rules."
Lyze put a finger to his chin as he weighed his options. It honestly was just a waste of time. He'd explained multiple times over how determined he was to go back to Earth yet this woman was just not getting it.
Perhaps if things had been different, then maybe...
Then again, being offered favours from the most powerful Familia of all at such a little price was worth quite a lot. A secret personal alliance with Freya could help boost his plans even further while at the same time shield him even more from Ouranos.
But if he did that, he would be a complete scumbag. As bad as she could be, Freya did not deserve to be treated like a resource while at the same time being given false hopes. What should he do?
"Even if you still decide that you want to leave, I will not stop trying." She said. " will only give up once you've gone from this world. But so long as you are here, I will never stop trying to win your affections. I have not waited this long to just give up so early."
"Am I all that means to you? A prophecy?"
"A promise. I want what was promised to me. I just want happiness like everyone else."
"And what if I find that happiness in the arms of someone else?"
"You speak as if I would try and hurt them!"
"...Would you not?" He asked in a very doubtful tone.
"...I would, usually." She said before squaring herself. "If swearing to you that I will not lay a hand on any other woman that catches your attention is what it will take for you to agree, then I'm all for it."
"I'm surprised that you would actually swear to something like that. It goes against everything I believed about you."
"You wanted a change didn't you. Well this is the beginning." It was a small price to pay if it meant he was her Odr all along. And besides...did it seem like a bad idea? As a goddess she would not be able to bear him children, which is something men always want from the ones they love.
Yes...now that she thought about it, the idea of little children running around with the blood of this soul in front of her running through their veins...her sphere actually seemed drawn to the idea.
Yes, any children that he had, she would treat as her own. Because it would be fitting that as husband and wife, what was hers was his and vice versa. So any children he had, even from other women, would be her own children too. Little whelpling heroes whom she could shower with affection and love...
Yes! In that case, he HAD to lay with other women, to make this new dream come true because she wouldn't be able to do it herself. The mere image of that happy scenario in her mind brought warmth to her cheeks.
Meanwhile, Lyze sat in front of her with a raised brow as he watched the emotions flit across her face one by one before her face suddenly started going red.
'What's this closet perv thinking about now?' He wondered.
If he actually knew the answer to that, he would have noped out of there long before her daydream finished.
"Look." He said quietly. "Like I said, I don't hate you. I do believe that you are someone capable of love as long as you change certain aspects of your personality and certain habits. But I don't believe it's me you're looking for. You are welcome to try and win my affections if you want to, but I have full confidence that even if I did come to love you at some point, it would never be enough to outweigh the importance that I dedicate to returning to my mother. Knowing this, if you still want to proceed with this 'deal' that you've concocted, then do so by all means."
She gave him an empty stare for a few minutes before nodding.
"If it means that I can achieve even the smallest amount of requited love from you, then I am willing to start here and now." She stood up and leaned over the table. "I'll do one favour for you here and now, and you don't have to spend time with me for it."
"Again, that's not how relationships are supposed to work. Clockwork does not make the dream work...but fine. I'll accept what we've sorted out here." He put a hand on his heart. "In return, I promise that I will not actively take advantage of you in it, and I will do my best to try and return your affections."
She sank back happy and relieved.
'She really must be desperate.' He thought. 'Are things always dealt with so simply for these gods?'
"Then what shall I do?" She asked.
"What?"
"What will be the first favour you ask of me? Surely there is something you wish to happen."
He thought for a moment. There was something actually. Something that had been nagging at him. But with Freya's help, it could actually come to pass.
"Fine then. Bring the crimes of the Soma Familia to light, and push your influence into Daedalus where the bulk of their shady business is. Start doing good for the unfortunate living there once the influence of these darker Familia are out, and help get the children and the elderly and those unable to work off the streets." He said. "A noble deed like that certainly is one thing that will put a good mark for you in my books."
She blinked. "That's it? Well, that's easily done then." She smiled before looking confused. "Why though? What would you have against the Soma Familia."
"It's not that I seek their destruction (well, I do actually), but it's more on what I hope to gain when they've lost all grounds and credibility. When the crimes of their top members come out in the open, Soma will probably be banished (and I say good riddance to that piece of shit) and his Familia will be disbanded so the guilty ones can be taken into custody and the innocent ones will be left free to join other Familia."
Freya narrowed her eyes. "From the way you're talking, it sounds like there is a particular person in the Soma Familia whom you wish to help specifically." She leaned forward. "Could it be a girl?" She asked.
"...Really? You're starting that now?"
"Just kidding." She giggled. "Consider it done. And if you'd like, I'll even take in their innocent members so they are not turned out onto the streets."
"You can do that." He said before stopping to think. "Although if they don't want to join, and I can't imagine why they wouldn't anyway from a Familia so destitute as that one, don't force them."
"Understood." She said as she held a fist to her chest. "I will win your heart, now that you have opened it to me. Remember this day when I turn out to be right!"
"Yeah, yeah. Good luck." He said as he got up. "Perhaps I shall see you again, Lady Freya."
"Just call me Freya. I can't have my Odr addressing me with such formalities now can I?"
"You don't even know that yet." he said exasperatedly.
"I would like to ask one more thing though. A request, if you may."
"What would that be?"
She gestured her arms to their surroundings. "Come back here and train with some of my executives."
"Why?"
"The Loki Familia surely are powerful, but when it comes to combat I have the more skilled children. Even if you will not get along, there will be much that you can learn to grow stronger."
"Would you not want me to grow as slowly as possible so you have more time to win me over?"
"Of course not! If I truly love you, I will do as much as I can to help you achieve your goal. That's what love is!"
"AGAIN, you don't have to be so serious. I'm only ni-...whatever. Nevermind. I'll think about it."
"You'd better." She smirked. "Otherwise you'll never catch up to Ottar."
"You know I could eviscerate him at any given moment if I wanted it right?"
"Perhaps. But YOU would not feel like it's a proper victory then would you?"
"...Later Freya."
"Farewell Odr." She waved to him as he opened the balcony doors and took flight. "Come see me again soon."
---
"What have I got myself into?" Lyze wondered as he flew past Babel on his way back to Twilight Manor. "So that's what a yandere is like. The moment you give them an inch, they act all serious like you're already married to them. Her mood change was so instantaneous, if I didn't know that she physically can't have periods, I would have assumed she was on one."
He put a hand on his head. "Could that be considered sexist? Whatever, I'm not living on Earth anymore where people are softer than butter. I suppose that's one thing this world is better in than my last." He then thought back to the arrangements he'd just made with the most powerful woman in the world. "Then again maybe not."
He sighed as he began to descend towards Twilight Manor where he saw his friends training in the courtyard.
"At least Lili's safety is guaranteed now. She won't have to go back." He smiled as Ais sensed his presence before looking up at him and waving. The sight of her filled him with a particular warmth. "Though there's no point in denying...I am growing attached to this world in some small way...Let's see what the future holds."
---
Freya smiled as she watched him leave. She wondered what it was like to fly as he did. There was a moment where she'd experienced that feeling as she first descended to the mortal plane, but she'd never had the opportunity to actually fly by herself. Perhaps she should ask him to take her with him one day.
She shook the happy thoughts out as she steeled herself. She had work to do. Her beloved had expectations of her, and she would not fail!
"Ottar." She called out. Her faithful child opened the door to the room and entered.
"Yes, My Lady."
"Gather the members of our Familia that specialise in stealth and espionage. Tonight, you will take them with you and you will bring down the Soma Familia. Those of that Familia who make trouble for you...well my beloved didn't say anything in regards to that particular scenario, but I suppose it's in the name of justice. Deal with them appropriately."
'Kill them.'
"Understood." Ottar bowed before he left again to fulfil his orders. He smiled to himself though as he walked.
'I am glad for you Goddess. Hopefully this newfound happiness will stop you creating trouble and worry for the rest of us now.'
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