The prompt I chose is "I thought you were dead".

Warnings: kidnapping, mentions of violence, mentions of death

You had always been Sigurd's girl.

Even though he was very popular with the girls in Kattegat there was no doubt that you belonged to him, and he to you.

It was no surprise that you came with him to wherever he went, be it in Kattegat, or even on raiding parties.

You openly led the perfect relationship, getting many annoyed or jealous looks, but neither of you minded.

It was rare to have a love like this, a strong one that had built at an early adolescent age, and that only seemed to grow stronger.

You had known early on that you wanted to marry someday, but you knew that neither one of you would be going anywhere and decided to wait for a reasonable age to marry, at least in the eyes of society.

Your love was strong enough for the wait, and you lived together anyways, if married or not.

You even joined Sigurd and his brothers in raids or hunting trips, you were a near perfect archer whilst you were no use with a sword.

This meant that you were often besting the boys in hunting, but nevertheless you never joined any battle.

When Sigurd told you he'd go raiding in England you decided to come along.

It worked well, you could stay with Sigurd instead of waiting for him in Kattegat and you were a good help in bringing food to the always hungry viking men.

It was a day like every other when something happened none of you had expected.

You oftentimes went hunting alone or with Sigurd, but because he was discussing something important with his brothers you decided to head out on your own.

When you didn't come back after hours Sigurd was worried out of his mind.

After looking through the whole camp and as far from the camp as he possibly could he turned to his brothers, breathing heavily, eyes looking like a madman.

"She's gone missing", he let out as he slouched forward slightly, exhausted by the worry and searching he had done.

His brothers immediately knew that it was you he was talking about, straightening their backs and looking up from the food that had been sat in front of them.

The fear on their brother's face made them worry as well as Ubbe asked what had happened.

"She went out hunting, I don't think she ever made it back", he let out, the fear making his voice much more airy, and his brothers saw him shaking like a leaf.

"She's not supposed to go on her own, doesn't she know that?", asked Ubbe as he stood up slowly, his forehead starring wrinkles as he watched his younger brother hastily pace around.

"I was supposed to go with her, but I was busy planning our raids with you", he whispered, the guilt heavy in his voice as he stared back at his older brother.

Ubbe sighed heavily before he moved around the table to walk over to Sigurd, setting a heavy arm on his shoulders as an attempt to reassure him.

"We'll form a searching party. We'll find her", he said before letting out a yawn.

"Tomorrow, in new light", he added and Sigurd shook his head vehemently.

"No, no we have to go now. Someone took her or she's hurt somewhere, I can't risk doing nothing and maybe even letting her die alone out there!", he said agitatedly and Ubbe nodded, his head already heavy with sleep.

"We'll go", he said and Hvitserk and Bjorn got up from their seats immediately, while Ivar only watched the scene.

"You don't expect me to actually help Sigurd, do you?", he asked in his usual observant and taunting manner, and Sigurd looked like he would murder his younger brother on the spot, but Ubbe held him back.

"He wouldn't be much help anyways", he mumbled to Sigurd and the younger brother tried to calm down, nodding.

They went on to search for you, but they couldn't find you.

Just when the sun started to come up Sigurd heard Hvitserk shouting, telling them that he had found something.

When Sigurd arrived he saw your bow laying on the ground, and he felt his knees grow weak.

"Does that mean she's...", he began but he couldn't continue his question as he gulped audibly.

"We haven't found anything that actually belongs to her. You know, a hand or finger or something", Ubbe tried to soothe his brother but he would have none of it.

"Sigurd. You need sleep as much as any of us. You will rest now, and when we wake up we will go out looking for her", Ubbe said in his very authoritative way that left no room for contradictions.

When they woke up they followed the direction where Hvitserk had found the bow, occasionally finding beads of a necklace Sigurd had gifted you on your birthday on the forest floor.

You had left a trail, inconspicuous but if you were looking for it it was easy to follow.

It took hours that the men followed the trail you had left, and after the beads were gone you had started ripping small pieces from your dress, tying it to the branches of the forest.

When the brothers started to lose hope of finding you again, preferably alive, the woods opened to a clearing, a small hut in the middle of it.

Sigurd was so disheartened that he didn't even see the hut at first, trotting behind his brothers in a daze until they halted and Ubbe gestured forward.

Sigurd was back to his agitated self in a heartbeat, pulling his sword and ready to attack before Ubbe stopped him.

They waited for a bit, trying to observe what was going on.

They saw a few men in Saxon armor in and around the house, but it didn't look difficult to take over at all.

The brothers debated whether it could be a trap, but decided to move in either way, knowing that Sigurd would lose his mind, and that they loved you like a sister already anyways, making the danger they would be put in worth it.

When they attacked they slaughtered the Saxons, whilst half of them didn't even have proper weapons to defend themselves.

After Sigurd killed two men brutally, letting out his anger and frustration his eyes fell on you and he immediately stopped fighting, rushing over to you to cut the cords around your hands and ankles loose, freeing you and embracing you in a needy hug.

You didn't say anything as you hugged him back, holding onto him as if your life depended on it.

"I thought you were dead", he whispered as he pulled away from you to look at you, as if he wasn't really sure it actually was you he was looking at.

"I'll never leave your side ever again"; he whispered as it grew quiet around you, his brothers watching you with a smile on their faces as Sigurd inspected you for injuries.

"I love you, I'll never leave you alone again", he whispered and you smiled, stretching a hand out to hold the side of his face gently.

"I love you too. I'm fine, Siggy, I was just waiting for you to come and get me. I love you", you answered him and for the first time in days there was a smile on his face as he took you in.

"Right, now let's get you back to our camp", you heard Ubbe say and you smiled up at him as Sigurd helped you to stand up.

You thanked the brothers for their help while Sigurd only had eyes for you, making sure you were actually as fine as you claimed.

The whole walk back to the camp he didn't let go of your hand once, and he kept his promise to care for you by marrying you as soon as you came back to Kattegat.