A/N: Voltrasin: Thank you for correcting me about the Jotünheim error I made. I have fixed the error.


The three continue on their journey, eventually coming across an odd-looking wild boar. It had dark skin, an extra set of curved tusks protruding from its snout, and strange yellow markings along its flank.

"Boy." Kratos softly says. Atreus silently draws an arrow into his bow and aims it at the boar. "Remember what you learned."

Atreus nods as he releases the arrow, but something weird happens. Despite hitting the boar, the arrow bounced off of it, leaving the boar unharmed as it runs off, now aware of the trio. "I-I don't get it. I hit it. I did what you said, but it was looked like the arrow bounced off. You think the boar is magical?"

"Hmm.." Kratos mumbles as he kneels down, his eyes locking with Atreus'. What do you think?"

"It looked weirder than any boar I've ever seen..." Atreus answers.

"Get after it, then." Kratos says as Atreus starts tracking the boar, no thanks to it leaving footprints behind.

As they stalk the strange boar, Hulk, Atreus and Kratos come across a destroyed village, courtesy of some draugr, as a small number of draugr corpses are found strewn out on the ground. "Grr...A massacre..." Hulk softly growls.

"These poor people never stood a chance." Atreus says as he looks around. "What do you think did this? Draugr?"

"It would appear so, boy." Kratos says as Atreus looks around some more. "Do not let him out of your sight." He says as he looks at Hulk. He still didn't trust him, but knew Hulk wouldn't harm Atreus.

Hulk nods his head at Kratos' request. "Okay." After this exchange, Hulk finds a stone pillar blocking their path, so he quickly lifts it, allowing them to keep moving, only to stop as they spot the boar.

Atreus kneels down behind a log as he readies his bow. "Elbow up...steady hand...Relax...Accuracy over speed..." He mumbles to himself as he aims the arrow at the boar's underside and releases, striking a direct hit on the boar, who squeals in pain and runs off again, albeit with a limp as a result of Atreus' arrow. "I got it!" Atreus says happily as he looks at Kratos.

"Do not lose it." Kratos says, his mind focused on the fleeing boar. Atreus nods as he hops over the log. As he chases after his target into the mist, Atreus' knife pops off, which Kratos picks up and sighs in annoyance as he sheathes it.

Hulk wastes no time and runs into the mist, remembering what Kratos told him about keeping an eye on him. While Hulk didn't exactly like Kratos either, he did care a lot for Atreus. "Kid!" Hulk calls out as he and Kratos run into a labyrinth of canyons, easily losing track of Atreus.

"Boy!" Kratos calls out. "Where are you?"

"Hurry, father!" Atreus calls out, though his exact location was still unknown to Hulk and Kratos. After a few more seconds, Atreus calls out again, this time in distress. "Please hurry!"

"Atreus!" Kratos once again calls out.

"Where are you?" Hulk asks loudly as he hears Atreus once more.

"The boar! He's slowing down!" Atreus yells, referring to the boar.

After a few more moments of frantic searching, Hulk and Kratos overhear a feminine voice cry out in anger. "What did you do?!" The woman cries out.

"I'm sorry!" Atreus shouts apologetically. Hulk and Kratos finally find him, though Hulk has to leap over the stone wall, while Kratos easily shimmies his way in through a crack in said wall. The two powerhouses land next to each other with a thud as they spot Atreus kneeling next to the injured boar, along with a beautiful woman that had a sheathed sword strapped to her back. "We didn't know this boar belonged to anyone." Atreus says.

"He doesn't; he is my friend." The woman says as she tends to the injured animal.

"The boy was following my command." Kratos says as he and Hulk slowly approach.

"Then help fix this." The woman says as she makes Kratos kneel in front of the boar. "Hold your hands against his wound. He's losing a lot of blood. Ugh, the last of his kind in all the realm and you shoot him." She says as she rubs her hands together, causing yellow energy to appear between her palms. "You needed food?"

"No, target practice." Atreus says, which clearly disgusted the woman.

"Target practice..." She says angrily, not really noticing Hulk, who was observing the whole thing. She focuses on Kratos. "You-the arrow cut a tideway inside him. Find both ends and hold them tightly." Kratos grips both ends of the tide way. "Good. Now pull them together and line them up." Like before, Kratos does as she asks. "Sunnan..." She says, magically treating the boar, albeit slightly. Witnessing this, Atreus looks at her.

"You're a witch..." The young boy says in astonishment.

"I can't finish the healing here. My home, it's just beyond the trees." She then silently looks at Hulk for a few seconds before speaking up. "You...creature. Will you carry him?"

"Me? Urrr..." Hulk lowly groans.

"He must not die. Please." The woman says. Hulk grunts as he nods his head and slowly picks the boar up, which squeals in pain. "Thank you. He seems stable and calm for now." The woman says as she approaches a wall of entangled vines and says an incantation which makes them untangle themselves and allow the group to proceed, leading them to a beautiful clearing of other boars, albeit normal ones, deer similar to the one Atreus hunted, and most amazing of all, a massive turtle that rises from the ground.

"Whoa!" Atreus exclaims in awe upon seeing the oversized reptile. "I-Is he friendly?" He asks the woman, who nods.

"He is. No harm will come to any of you." She says as she leads them under the turtle, revealing a house.

"You live inside a turtle?" Atreus asks, puzzled by the placement of her home.

"No. The house is built under him. Come. I must heal my friend." The woman says as Hulk enters the house, having to lower his head due to being too big for the human-sized door. "Lay him on the floor."

"Okay..." Hulk growls softly as he lays the injured boar on the floor as instructed. "Now what?"

"Hold him. He will try to move." She says as she mixes herbs into a bowl. As she does this, the bowl's contents start to glow, getting Hulk to tilt his head in confusion as the woman pours some of the bowl's contents into the boar's mouth, healing its wound slightly.

"Wow..." Atreus watches in amazement, though Kratos didn't even budge. This isn't the first time he's seen magic.

"Mmm.." Hulk softly mumbles as he looks at the woman and removes his hands from the boar.

"I need two more things to fully heal him. Some fresh red roots. It grows just behind the house. Young man, would you mind pulling a cluster?"

Atreus nods. "Sure. I'm on it!" He says as he runs outside, leaving the woman alone with Hulk and Kratos.

"What else do you require?" Kratos asks. The woman leans towards him, making him lean back defensively.

"I...I know you're a god. Not of this realm, but there's no mistaking it." She says to him before looking at Hulk. "I also know you're not from this realm."

"Grr..." Hulk growls.

The woman grabs the bowl and stands up, walking over to a shelf. "The boy doesn't know, does he? About your true nature-or his own?"

"That is none of your concern." Kratos says sharply as he walks over to her.

"Look, the gods of these realms don't take kindly to outsiders. Trust me, I know. When they find you-and they will-they'll make things difficult."

"I think we'll be fine." Hulk grumbles, crossing his arms.

"As you wish, creature. The boy...he will want answers." The woman says.

"That will be my problem." Kratos sternly says as he stares the woman down.

"Whatever you're hiding, you can't protect him forever. But...you're right. It is not my concern."

"Then why'd you bring it up?" Hulk asks.

"I also need Lamb's Cress. It grows in the garden. It's a white herb. You mind grabbing some?" The woman asks Kratos, ignoring Hulk's question.

Kratos growls softly as he heads off to get the herb she requested, leaving Hulk alone with her. "Lamb's Cress..." He mumbles.

"You want to tell me what you are?" The woman asks Hulk. "In all my years, I've never encountered a creature like you."

"I'm...not from around here..." Hulk grumbles as he looks down at the woman.

"Where then? Helheim? Jotünheim? Alfheim?" The woman asks, assuming Hulk is from one of the Nine Realms, unaware that he's from an Earth far different from this one.

Hulk scratches the back of his neck as he raises an eyebrow, having no clue what she was talking about. "Uhh...no. Earth."

The woman is puzzled by his answer. "Strange. I sense a great strength within you. You are no mortal creature. I can also sense two minds within you." As she says this, Kratos gathers some Lamb's Cress and helps Atreus pull up the red roots before bringing it back to the woman, who mixes it into the bowl and feeds it to the boar, fully healing it.

"Is he going to live?" Atreus asks, concerned about the boar.

"He is." The woman says, which makes Atreus smile.

"Then we are leaving." Kratos says as he heads for the door.

"Wait." The woman says, making Kratos look towards her as he stops in his tracks. "Not without thanks." She says as she covers her fingertips in magic and approaches Kratos, only for him to roughly grab her arm. "You want solitude? I merely wish to put a mark on you. It'll keep you hidden so your lives will be less...difficult."

"Mmph..." Kratos grunts as he lets the woman do as she wishes, putting a strange mark on Kratos, Atreus, and even Hulk's neck.

"Good. Now...There's a shortcut below the house that leads safely out of these woods." The woman says as the ground rumbles.

"Will we see you again?" Atreus asks as the three prepare to leave.

The woman smiles as she bends down to look at the young boy. "As much or as little as you like."


-Later-

As the three leave, they arrive at a canoe. While Kratos and Atreus enter, Hulk doesn't move. "Creature, we have no time to waste." Kratos says impatiently.

"Uh...problem. I'm too big." Hulk says, pointing at the small sitting space on the canoe. He'll break that canoe in half the second he touches it.

"We can't leave him behind, Father." Atreus says.

"If he cannot ride, we go on." Kratos says as he grabs the oar.

"I might have to take control." Bruce says inside the Hulk's mind. Realizing he has no choice, Hulk transforms into Bruce Banner, much to the surprise of Kratos and Atreus.

"You're a...shapeshifter?" Atreus asks.

"Uh...something like that, but not quite." Bruce says as he sits next to Atreus on the canoe.

Kratos growls softly as he paddles away. "What are you, a man or beast?"

Bruce thinks it over for a second or two before he starts telling the two that he's from a dimension far different from their own, as well as telling them that he isn't the only one from his dimension that has abilities, most specifically about his girlfriend Janet van Dyne, aka Wasp, as well as various villains he's fought, such as Thanos, Galactus, and the Masters of Evil.

"Wow! Your...world sounds amazing. Especially the one called...Spider-Man." Atreus says in awe.

Bruce chuckles. "Yeah. It's, uh...really crazy sometimes, kid."

"Grr..." Kratos growls, still not trusting Bruce, remembering an incident where he fought several Berserkers prior to the journey. "You might appear as a mortal...but you're still that beast."

"I'm not a threat to you, sir...and especially not to Atreus." Bruce says, remembering all the times he heard Atreus' name called out when he was in Hulk form.

"He saved our lives, Father. You know that." Atreus says in defense of Bruce.

"The beast is the one that saved us, not him." Kratos corrects him as they arrive at a large lake.

"Wow! It's so big!" Atreus exclaims at the Lake's size.

"Yeah, very big..." Bruce says in agreement.

"So...who's the strongest of the people you've fought?" Atreus asks, wanting to know who Bruce's most challenging adversary was.

Bruce chuckles. "That's a tough one, Atreus...but if I had to guess, it'd be a tie between Thanos and Galactus. Galactus is really powerful. He's basically a cosmic god that consumes entire worlds."

Atreus' mouth drops with shock and fear. Just picturing Galactus consuming a world and killing billions of innocents in the process was truly terrifying. However, while Atreus was scared of Galactus based on Bruce's description, Kratos didn't seem to take the world eater seriously.

"A being that consumes planets. Highly doubtful that such a being exists." Kratos says in monotone disbelief.

"Back then, I would've agreed with you, sir, but I've seen him devour a world firsthand...It wasn't pretty." Bruce says, shuddering at the memory of Galactus destroying a planet that the Avengers tried to save.

"W-What about this Thanos guy?" Atreus asks awkwardly.

"Ah. Thanos. He's known as the Mad Titan. He's one of the toughest foes the Hulk has ever faced. Eight out of ten times we've fought...he always beat the Hulk. You see...Thanos killed half of all living things on my world with the Infinity Stones...all so he could impress Mistress Death herself." Bruce says with total disgust as he describes how despicable Thanos is.

"Infinity Stones?" Atreus asks.

"Yeah. They're six stones that possess unimaginable power. The Power Stone, the Soul Stone, the Mind Stone, the Reality Stone, the Space Stone, and the Time Stone. With all six combined with his Infinity Gauntlet, he destroyed half the universe...with a simple snap of his fingers." Bruce says as he snaps his own fingers as a demonstration of how powerful the Stones are.

"This Thanos guy sure sounds scary..." Atreus shivers with fear.

"Calm yourself, boy. This Thanos is nothing but a fool blinded by obsession." Kratos says, not even fazed by Thanos' power. "I promise you...if this Thanos comes looking for trouble...my axe blade will be the last thing he will ever see." Kratos says blankly.

Bruce chuckles nervously at Kratos' words. He truly was a very intimidating man, even for someone like Bruce Banner, who was host to the most powerful creature on his world. "I wouldn't be so sure, sir. Thanos...he was a really big problem for my world." Bruce says to Kratos, who kept his focus on rowing across the large lake.