It was as if his heart had packed its things up and decided it wanted to live inside his head. Atreus experienced headaches before thanks to his reoccurring sickness growing up. He remembered mother sitting next to him, keeping a damp cloth pressed down onto his head. Exchanging it every couple of minutes for a fresh cool one. All while reading softly to him or singing him a song to lull him back asleep. This headache was different, the pounding it caused was merciless. The pain spilled down into his burning throat, he felt dry, like he had gone days without water. He desperately needed someone to fetch him a cup of water. Maybe several cups of water.
Atreus opens his eyes still in between his dreams. That's right, mother would never bring him something to drink ever again. Instead, father sprawled out in his bed, face down, snoring loudly. A pile of vomit pooled next to the fire pit next to the two beds. Atreus revolted in disgust at the sight of it. But after the moisture from his saliva finally managed to coat the inside of his dehydrated mouth, he tasted the hint of stale vomit.
Perhaps that was his own doing?
He couldn't remember much of his birthday night. Just drinking, stories with Mimir, and laughter. His dry eyes protested the light peering in through the window. His back more so as he sat up and stabilized himself. Kratos still snoring away.
He was happy, it had been a while since his father slept this hard. His body probably in need of a long hard slumber. He remembered father sharing a few stories last night as well. The wine loosened his tongue for a while and he managed to string together parts of a story. He couldn't quite remember all of it. Something about searching the world for someone that left something behind? Or was he searching for something he himself lost? No, maybe that was Mimir's story?
Atreus pinches his fingers into the center of his forehead. The pain wasn't going away any time soon. He stood up slowly, avoiding the vomit on the floor. He would clean it up later, right now he needed something to drink.
Sluggishly, Atreus heads over to the shelves next to the front door. He reaches for a bucket and pulls it down. His body must be very fatigued, the bucket seemed heavier than normal. He lowers his arms and looks into the wooden bucket.
"Hello!" Mimir's severed head greets him from inside it.
"Waaaah!" Atreus shouts. Dropping the bucket and stumbling away from it.
Mimir's Head rolls out from the bucket onto the floor.
"Well good morning to you too little brother." He says.
Atreus quickly rushes over to pick him up. "Mimir, I'm..-" He loudly starts to say.
His father stirred in his sleep. His snoring paused for a second as he rolled onto his back. Atreus pulled his lips inside his mouth and pressed down with his teeth.
Kratos begins snoring again, this time even louder thanks in part to his new position.
Atreus sighed in relief and looks back at Mimir.
"I'm so sorry Mimir, I didn't realize you were in there. I don't remember much of last night, did I put you in here? I hope not if so I'm sorry about that too."
Mimir chucks. "No my boy that would be your even pleasant father who shoved me inside here after he got a wee upset over an exchange we had last night."
Atreus set the head back onto the shelf, making sure he looked comfortable. Well, as comfortable as a severed head can look anyhow.
"What did you say to him?" Atreus asked, dreading the idea of the two of them fighting.
"Oh, nothing that you need to worry yourself over. I just reminded him how drunk and lose his tongue was getting."
Atreus picked the bucket back up. His head was pounding so hard he struggled to pay attention to what Mimir was even saying.
He looked inside the bucket, he would need to rinse it out a few times in the river before he drank out of it now.
"Well whatever happened, I'm sorry you had to sleep in this last night. Ugh..-"
Atreus moves the bucket to one hand and presses his palm against his forehead again.
"Sorry, my head is killing me right now. I don't know what this is?" He worrying says. Could this be a new symptom of his sickness? He hasn't been sick since Freya cured him a few years ago.
"I can feel my heartbeat in my head and light hurts my eyes. My ears feel full and my body is extremely weak. Most of all I don't remember ever being this thirsty in my entire life."
Mimir chuckles quietly from the shelf. Atreus lifts an eyebrow at his reaction.
"Yes, little brother this is indeed a sickness. A sickness caused by you and you alone. They call this a hangover. And to be frank you are a wee bit too young to be suffering from one this bad."
Mimir's glowing eyes glance over to father in bed. "Just as I thought, you take after the old man when it comes to your tolerance for alcohol. Heh, Greeks, fiercest warriors in all the known world... Shit at keeping 'yer liquor down!" He loses himself in laughter.
Atreus was growing annoyed at the outburst, yet he remains respectful and doesn't walk away or silence him like his father probably would've done. Finally, the head comes down from his jolly high and looks back at him.
"Go get yourself something to drink, maybe find something that grows from the ground to eat while you're out. Something with a lot of starch or fiber. I'll watch over your old man while you're gone. Let him know where you went."
Atreus nods quietly and opens the door. His knife and bow were by the door. He leaves the bow behind, too tired to fit his quiver of arrows around himself. He sheathed his knife in his belt and walked out the front door, closing it gently as to not wake his father up.
He easily drank down the first two buckets worth of water. His body begins rejuvenating itself by the time he refilled the bucket a third time.
He breathed in the crisp cold air and relaxed his shoulders as he sat next to the river in the snow. Fimbulwinter or not, he loves how cold the weather had been getting the past few months. He enjoyed all the seasons, but something about the cold air pressing against his skin made him feel at home. He set the bucket down and leaned back with his arms extended behind his back, fingers disappearing into the fresh icy powder. His eyes close as snowflakes scatter onto his face and eyelashes.
He listened to the sounds of the forest. Winter always made it quiet and peaceful.
Deer clinging together for warmth, squirrels tucked away inside their trees sitting upon their treasure trove of acorns and seeds they collected year round.
The salmon in the river called to him. The dull pink fish was always the easiest for him to understand for some reason. They spoke in complete sentences and would hold the most interesting conversations with one another.
"What am I going to do?" He hears a voice crying out.
His eyes shoot open, that wasn't a fish. That was a person.
He stands up and feels for his dagger, still there, but no bow, shit! He hisses for not bringing his weapon of choice out with him. Within his thoughts, his father's deep voice strung together a list of reasons why he would always be a foolish child.
Along with his mental image of his father disciplining him he hears someone crying. A girl? Oh, this was someone's thoughts he was hearing, not the sound of someone close by he realizes.
Atreus picks up His bucket and hesitates for a moment. He should go back home and tell father someone is close to our woods. But he also wanted to help whoever was in trouble.
"I need you to grow, please. I don't want to die." The girl's voice weeps out.
He drops the bucket down and runs towards the voice.
It was the edge of the forest where he found her. His legs were aching from running so fast. The pounding inside his head had vanished he realizes, his heart instead beating violently in his chest as he sees the figure before him.
She looked around his same age, maybe a bit older? She was on her knees in the snow, praying?
She wasn't dressed properly for the environment. A long red string weaved in an intricate pattern wrapped around her feet in place of proper shoes. Her dress was as white as the snow she sat in, oddly there was no dirt that gathered at the bottom. It was modestly designed but the white silk left little to the imagination as it cascaded down her body. Long sleeves draped down from her skinny wrists as she held her hands together in prayer. The extra fabric bowled out down her hands, it was almost the same length as the dress itself. The edges had a pattern stitched around the seams.
Red apples were scattered with green ivy throughout.
Atreus had never seen blonde hair up close before. Hers was the first, it was long and thick, braided loosely at the side. Small strands escaped the braid and feathered down her face. Her lips were bizarrely thin as if whoever created her ran out of time and simply drew two skinny pink solid lines right underneath her nose.
She made his throat feel hot as he looked at her, his heart was still racing from his jog here.
"I'm doing this right, right?" She says softly keeping her eyes shut. "Why isn't this working?" She sighed out loudly.
"Is everything okay?" Atreus finally musters up the courage to say.
She opened her green eyes and gasped at Atreus from the ground. Stuttering several panicked noises towards him.
"Sorry for startling you. I live around here and heard someone crying. Is everything alright?"
"Oh, uhhhh yes! Yes, everything is just fine." She started slowly backpedaling away from him.
She couldn't be that much older than him. Yet her voice, while soft and kind, sounded mature like an adult.
"You're praying, right?" He asked. She nodded her head vigorously and wrapped her arms around herself.
"Y-Yes, I was asking the Allfather to, to bless me with courage and strategy." She stutters out nervously.
"Oh, those are great things to ask for." Atreus follows up. "But Odin isn't who you should be praying for. Those blessings belonged to Tyr."
The girl suddenly stops fidgeting. She narrowed her eyes for a moment.
"Who are you?" She says cautiously.
"My name is Atreus." He says warmly and free of concern. It was difficult to read her expression. Finally, her face softened and she leaned forwards at him as he spoke.
"Again, I'm sorry for scaring you."
"No, no it's okay." She says kindly at him. "I'm just a little lost, and hungry. I was told there was an apple tree inside this forest."
"Apple tree?" Atreus asked. Last time he remembered eating an apple was two years ago while on the journey to scatter mother's ashes. The time before that was the final baked apple he'll probably ever eat on his tenth birthday. "I've lived here all my life and have never seen one in these woods."
She sighs.
"B-But then again I've never actively looked for one." He follows up. He wasn't thinking before the words started spilling out from his mouth.
"I, I can help you look for one if you want?"
A smile drifts across the girls face.
"You will?"