Pretty Pretty Abilities

God of War and all associated characters and interpretations are property of Sony Santa Monica. Kingdom Hearts and all associated characters are property of Disney and Square Enix.

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"So, this is one of those 'Gateways', huh?" Sora said as Father lifted his modified World Tree seed over a pile of rocks and wood. The debris shook and floated up into the air, quickly shifting together to form a door, an image of Yggdrasil and the Eight Realms etched in the center. "Why haven't we used them to travel? I think I saw a similar pile of rocks outside your house."

"There aren't any Gateways close to Vanaland—we'd have been walking for hours to get to Freya," Atreus replied. "And…I actually don't know why we didn't use a Gateway to get to Alfheim."

"Tyr's Temple leads to the main roads," Father answered as he keyed the Gateway to…Sindri's old home. "It is easier to find others, or for others to find us, than if we'd simply used a Gateway to an indiscriminate location." The Gateways flashed as the destination was set, and Father opened the door.

Just in time for Ratatoskr to scurry out. "Ah, there you are!" the World Tree's keeper said. "Was wondering what was taking you so long, after Perfection said he'd found you."

Father grunted, reaching into his pouch. "Here are the seeds," he said, tossing the objects to Ratatoskr, who caught one in each paw.

He took long sniffs from each of them—so long that Atreus exchanged a perplexed glance with Sora. "Ah~" Ratatoskr finally sighed. "Nothing quite like the smell of a fresh seed, no?" No one said anything. "Just me? Alright then." He stuffed the seeds down his shirt and pat them. "In any case, thank you, gentlemen. I'll get to working on the paste as soon as I return to the World Tree."

Father arched a brow. "How long will it take?"

Ratatoskr sighed. "I am unsure. The World Tree has given me instructions, but it does not view time the same way us purely physical beings do. It shouldn't take longer than two weeks, but I'm going to have to spend every waking on it."

"So long as it is done," Father replied. He nodded at Atreus and Sora. "Come, let us return home."

Ratatoskr clicked his tongue. "Ah, one problem with that." He climbed up the Gateway, clinging to the edge. "You cannot use these, I'm afraid," he said, pointing at Sora.

Sora crossed his arms over his chest. "And why not?"

"Because these Gateways travel directly along the World Tree's branches. I'm afraid of what may happen were you to tread upon them."

Sora threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, c'mon! It was an accident. Why are you treating me like some kind of crazy lumberjack?"

"I'm actually more afraid of what the World Tree would do to you," Ratatoskr replied with a shiver. "Not even Odin garnered such vitriol from it. I fear the temptation for fear-fueled retribution might prove too great for it to bear."

Sora calmed down, but he did pout. "I could take a tree."

"Of course, you can," Atreus said with an indulgent smile, reaching over and patting his shoulder.

"I could!"

"Enough," Father gruffly commanded, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice. "We shall return to Midgard through Tyr's temple."

"Oh, you don't need to do that," Sora said. "I can get back on my own."

Atreus frowned. "You'd walk all the way back home by yourself?"

"I can fly," was all Sora said in response. Which was fair.

"You can?" Ratatoskr asked. Sora simply leapt into the air and flew in tight circles around them before landing. "Huh, and here I thought I'd seen everything. How do you do that?"

"Wind magic," Sora replied simply.

Ratatoskr turned to Father. "I don't suppose you can do that with your spear, Master Kratos?"

"No."

"Shame. In any case, farewell, gentleman. I shall inform you when I've created the paste." With that said, the World Tree's keeper slipped into the Gateway, which crumbled apart soon after.

"Guess we're walking," Atreus said as his father led them towards the elevator to the Temple of Light.

"Well, you could always transform into a horse or something and carry us," Sora teased.

Atreus made a face. "Ugh, no. You might be a twig, but Father's so heavy, he'd break my back." Father grunted at the insinuation of his weight. "Please, you're basically a boulder shrunk down to a person-sized shape."

"I think it's called 'chiseled'," Sora replied. Atreus side-eyed Sora, who shrugged, unapologetic.

"Regardless, I shall not ride upon my son like some common animal," Father stated.

Sora snorted. "Well, I'll do it. Atreus, change into something!"

"Wha, no!"

"C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"Fun for you!" They devolved into a, light-hearted, squabble. Father just grunted in amusement, not even pretending to want to intervene.

/+/+/+/+/

Sora took a deep breath as they exited Tyr's Temple out to Midgard. "You know, there's just something nice about Midgard. Something in the air."

Atreus hummed. "What do you mean? The woods, the lake?" He sniffed the air, shifting his eyes over to Jörmungandr, who was laying against a mountain in the distance. "…Something else?"

"Nah, not like that," Sora replied. "There's like this…lightness in the air that the other realms don't have."

"Are you talking, like, humidity?" Atreus said with a frown. Maybe Vanaheim was a little humid at time, but Alfheim was more arid, and Muspelheim was just plain hot,

"Not that either."

"It is the magic in the air," Father said, having closed the doors to the temple behind them. "The magics of Midgard—and most mortal-dominated realms—are not as dense as they are in other, more supernatural areas. Despite their general lack of innate magical abilities, most mortals can feel the difference more acutely than other races." Sora hummed in thought, hands clasped behind his head.

Atreus frowned. "I've never felt anything like that."

"You are part Jotun," Father replied. "And a god besides. How you feel magic is different than how a regular mortal does." He shrugged, leading the way home. "Most people—mortal or not—do not even realize such differences exist. I myself did not know until I had become a god and questioned why certain areas felt different than when I had been mortal."

Atreus crossed his arms. "I never realized. Do you think that's why mortals don't like travelling to the different Realms?"

"Among other reasons, perhaps." Father led the way forward. "Such questions can wait, however. Now, we return home. First, however, we must check the surrounding woods."

"What're we checking for?" Sora asked.

"Raiders."

"Oh yeah," Sora replied. "Those half-animal people that attacked me the minute I landed on this world. Mimir was telling me about them." He hummed, face shifting into a downcast expression. "He said that they gave up bits of themselves to survive that really long winter leading up to Ragnarök." He turned to them with a frown. "Is there something we—"

Father stopped him with a raised hand. "There is no helping these people. Those that wished to regain their humanity have already done so, when they all realized that Ragnarök had passed, and there was no good reason to forsake themselves anymore."

Atreus walked over and pat Sora's shoulder in sympathy. "I don't like it either, but these people made their choice long ago." Sora nodded solemnly. "Ah, don't make that face! We probably won't even find anyone."

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Atreus scowled as he drove an arrow through a Raider's eye, then tore it out and shot it with his bow into the neck of one of the three bear-like Raiders attacking his father across the clearing they fought in.

"'Won't even find anyone', huh?!" Sora snarked from the sky, calling down lightning to fry half-a-dozen Raiders.

"I said probably!" Atreus shot back, transforming into a deer to gore a pair of Raiders trying to rush him.

"Oh, right, how could I forget." Sora dropped like a stone and slammed his Keyblade—his Kingdom Key—against the ground, rays of light sprouting up around him and knocking what few Raiders that had avoided the lightning down into the dirt. They did not get back up.

Sora hefted his Keyblade against his shoulder as Atreus shifted back to his normal form. They both turned to Father, who was easily holding off his two remaining foes—the one Atreus shot an arrow into had been bisected near in two.

Just then, Atreus felt a familiar shock run down his spine. He turned to Sora, who had a wide, face splitting grin on his face.

Atreus grinned back. "Fine, let's do it your way." As soon as he said that the warmth in his body bloomed into an inferno, and he let his instincts—or Heart or whatever—lead him.

He leapt forward, shifting into a wolf feet in front of Father and the remaining Raiders. Sora jumped up beside him, crouched low with a wide smile on his face. The pair tilted their heads to the sky and howled, the force sending the Raiders flying. Father stared at the two with a baffled expression, but Atreus paid him no mind.

He and Sora charged forward towards the Raiders. Atreus attacked with razor-sharp claws and fangs, letting his animal instincts take charge. Sora too, attacked like a wolf, but with small blades of light instead of true claws. The Raiders tried to fight back, but they were too slow and clumsy to hit them. And not even that, Atreus himself felt stronger and faster than he usually did. Twisting to avoid blows in ways that, at the very least, should have been difficult for a wolf.

He shifted forms into a moose, tucked his head in, and lifted, one of the raiders tumbling into the air. Sora, he saw, did a similar movement with the other Raider, magic light taking the shape of a moose's horns like it had a wolf's claws to lift the Raider up. Atreus shifted back into a wolf, and he and Sora leapt into the air and further tear at their enemies. He had no idea how he was staying in the air, but he was not going to question it in the slightest.

Atreus felt another burst of fire bloom across his body when the Raiders fell back into the ground and shifted forms once more. His form grew larger, bulkier, deadlier, and he knew that he was changing into a bear. He reared up onto his hindlegs on one side of the Raiders, Sora mimicking his movements on the other, and roared.

The twin booms of sound impacted the Raiders like waves against the shore, their bodies twisting and breaking under the sonorous assault. Then, one in one final burst of strength, Atreus and Sora slammed their paws/hands against the ground. The very earth trembled, and spike of earth bathed in light shot up from the ground and skewered the Raiders.

And just like that, the warmth in Atreus's body vanished, and he shifted back into a man.

"Woo!" Sora cheered. "Tha—ugh, gross"—Sora side-stepped the corpses as the earth spikes sank back into the ground—"That was awesome, Atreus!"

Atreus nodded slowly. "Yeah…yeah it was!" He was smiling now, Sora's good moon infecting him. "Now that I actually know what was happening, that was awesome!" He stared down at his body. "I…I felt good. Powerful."

"That's what happens when our Hearts connect with each other," Sora replied, his bombastic glee shrinking into something more genuine. "We're stronger together than we are apart."

"You're not going to hear any complaints from me!" Atreus said, clapping his friend's shoulder with a smile. Sora grinned and rubbed his nose bashfully. Atreus turned to his father with an expectant look.

He slowly nodded as he placed his ax back on its holster. "That was…impressive."

"More than impressive!" Atreus scoffed good-naturedly. "I mean, we hurt them with our roars—and the fact that you can roar like that! And those weapons of light you made to mimic animals! And that…floating in the air!" Atreus stare at his father. "You used to be able to do that, right?"

"I could," he replied. He looked up into the sky wistfully. "It is…lost to me."

"Aw, that's quitter talk!" Sora countered. "I'm sure it's still there. You just need to build yourself back up to it." He flexed his arm and pat his bicep. "Take it from a guy that's been forced back down to zero three or four times by now."

"'Forced back to zero'?" Atreus repeated with an arched brow.

"Ah, it's just the handful of times my powers have been lost or taken away from me over the last…couple of years." He blinked. "Wow, I've lost all my strength four times in two years…Never really thought about it like that."

"I know what you are speaking of," Father said with a shake of his head. "But it is not that. As I told Mimir and Atreus Vanaheim, the ability to hover in the air like that was an ability known to the people of Greece. It was an applications of the magic inherent to the land and its people, mortal or divine. Magic that is no longer exists."

"So, why not learn how to use it differently?" Sora asked. He hopped into the air and floated in place. "It's how I taught myself how to fly like this."

"How do you mean?" Father asked.

Sora flipped around so he was 'lying' on his back, hands clasped behind his head. "Well, the first time I ever flew—and I mean actual flying—it was thanks to pixie dust given to me by a fairy, Tinkerbell. So long as I had her around, I could soar like a bird." His lips curled into a smile. "After that, me, Donald, and Goofy could use the stale pixie dust to glide in the air—and in a couple really desperate fights, revive it to get back full flight—until we were put to sleep, and it all vanished. Then I learned how to use wind magic to mimic flight"—he gestured to himself—"and here we are!"

"Unfortunately, I am not adept at elemental magic unless I have an object to focus it through," Father replied. "Or if the technique itself were granted to me."

"Then I can teach you," Sora said. "You too Atreus, if you want."

"Like I'm going to turn down the chance to learn how to fly without wings," Atreus said with a snort.

Father grunted. "I doubt much will come of it, but so long as you are offering, and I have the time, I shall join."

"Great!" Sora landed back on his feet. "Now I just have to figure out how to teach you guys my kind of magic." He tilted his head down crossed his arms over his chest. "Or maybe I should try and adapt your own magic." He shrugged and looked back up with a bright smile. "Either way, it'll be fun!"

"Your absurdly peppy, has anyone ever told you that?" Atreus asked with a chuckle, turning to the corpses on the ground.

"I just don't like getting held down by the little things in life, is all." He leapt into the air again, doing loops and spirals with a bright smile.

Atreus crouched down beside a corpse to search it for valuables. "'Little things'," Atreus grumbled amusedly. "As if learning how to fly without wings or a magic weapon is just a minor obstacle." Atreus frowned when his search of the corpse revealed nothing. His frown deepened when a quick look at the surrounding area revealed nothing as well.

"Atreus?" Father asked.

"Ah, it's just, there's nothing here." Atreus stood up. "No loot, you know?"

His father nodded. "I noticed as well." He gestured at the nearest corpse. "Given how long it has been, it is most likely a matter of there not being enough items for the Raiders to possess. Midgard has recovered from the chaos of Fimbulwinter, and a raid on one of the villages would invite swift retribution."

"Makes sense." Atreus crossed his arms. "But what about the Wulvers?"

"What about them?"

"None of the Wulvers in Vanaheim left anything behind either. At least, none of the ones I checked."

Father grunted. "Nor the ones I checked."

"Seriously? Weird."

"What's weird?" Sora asked, touching down once again.

"Ah, it's just the Raiders," Atreus said. "They usually have minor valuables on them—gold and such—that we'd collect after battle. Same with the Wulvers we fought in Vanaheim."

Sora hummed, before snapping his fingers. "Wait a second!" He looked down at his furs and reached into a pocket. "Gold…Gold…Here we are!" He pulled out a handful of Aegir's Gold. "Something like this?"

"Exactly like that." Atreus arched a brow at his friend. "I never saw you pick that up."

"Well, I didn't physically. I use a passive type of gravity magic to automatically draw in valuables dropped by enemies to my pockets."

"Gravity magic?" Atreus repeated.

Sora blinked. "…If you're going to tell me you don't know what 'Gravity' is, I can't help you. I just know that it's a kind of invisible force that determines how objects interact with each other."

"I know what Gravity is!" Barely, he could admit. "I just didn't think there was an entire branch of magic devoted to it."

"Well, there is." Sora dropped the gold back into his pocket. "Anyway, I didn't even think that these guys dropped anything my magic would consider 'valuable', so I didn't bother checking until now. All I've ever grabbed with it was Synthesis materials, the occasional enchanted jewelry and armor, and Munny." At Atreus's and his father's inquisitive grunts, Sora continued. "It's this sort of magical currency used in my Realm. Though outside of Moogles, only a handful of people use it."

Father frowned. "What is a Moogle?"

"These cute little sprites, or something, about this big." Sora replied, holding out his hand at about knee-height. "Hold on, I'll show you a picture." He pulled out his Gummi Phone and swiped across it. "And…here!" He flipped the device over, showing off a 'Moogle'.

"Aw, that is cute," Atreus said as he observed the creature. It was as small as Sora said, and looked as if it was made of dough or fluff. It had a pudgy body and limbs—without any fingers or toes. Its head was almost too big for its body, with a bulbous, bright red nose to match, two strange, thick lines above it, and a pair os small, foppy ears at the top of its head. Right in-between its ears, attached to a thin antenna growing out of its head, was some sort of orb the same shape and color as its nose. And just barely peeking out behind its arms Atreus could see tiny, bat-like wings. "…Does it not have eyes, though?"

"They do." Sora pointed at the lines above its nose. "Right there."

"…Those are lines."

"Atreus, please, keep an open mind," Sora said in mild admonishment.

"Those aren't eyes! Lines aren't eyes!"

"Different worlds, different beings, Atreus," his father added in a somewhat bored tone.

"Oh, so you've seen things that have weird not-eyes, then?" The bored look his father gave him made him regret his words in an instant. "…Forget I asked." Father grunted, returning his attention to the Moogle.

"These creatures are merchants, then?" he asked.

Sora nodded and put his Gummi Phone back in his pocket. "Merchants and blacksmiths. They made all the accessories I've got on me."

"Those things?" Atreus said in wonder. "They made the jewelry that Lúnda can't make heads or tails out of?"

"Yeah, they're pretty amazing." He crossed his arms with a frown. "Now that I'm talking about them, I really wish there was one here."

Atreus nodded. "Yeah, the Dwarves would be all over those guys."

"Hm? Oh, not that. They've managed to set-up holographic shops in almost every world I've ever been to. If one of them was here, I could easily get in touch with my friends."

Atreus wasn't even going to ask what the hell 'holographic' meant. Instead, he said, "Shouldn't that not be possible? From what you and Father have been saying, travelling to other Worlds shouldn't be possible without special magic."

"Well, it's just a projection, so they aren't physically going to other worlds. They're all based out of Radiant Garden." Sora replied. "Except for the one Twilight Town, but that world's close to the borders of the Light and Dark Realms, so it's super easy to travel there, even by sheer accident."

Atreus hummed in understanding. "Is there a way for you to set-up one of these…projections for them?"

Sora shook with a shake of his head. "I'd need some sort of specialized crystal for that." He sighed and clasped his hands behind his head. "Nope. My only option is to wait for Ratatoskr to make that paste and unlock the paths to Niflheim and Muspelheim and get my hands on that Primordial Energy."

"Do not forget that Sinmara stands in our way," Father added. "And I highly doubt our short time apart will have dulled her rage."

"Don't remind me," Sora groused.

/+/+/+/+/

"Aw, you guys are just the cutest things!" Sora gushed as Speki and Svanna bowled him over, tails wagging as they yipped and licked and sought all sorts of affection.

Atreus chuckled as Sora started to wrestle with the wolves—it reminded him of when Fenrir was still just a regular wolf. All full of energy and making the other two sink down to his level of liveliness. "Hey Sora," he called out, "you mind keeping them busy while Father and I check on the traps?" Sora said nothing but did give them a thumbs-up from beneath the wolf pile.

Atreus and his father checked over half the traps each. It wasn't a great haul. They only caught two rabbits and one fox, and most of the traps hadn't even been sprung yet. Still, it was nice to just walk through the woods with his father, no dangers looming overhead.

It also gave him the perfect opportunity to ask a question that had been burning in his mind.

"Hey, Father," Atreus began after they'd checked the last trap and began walking home. "About this school thing Sora was talking about in Alfheim. Did you…" he trailed off.

Father nodded. "Greece held similar institutions and practices—the agōgē in Sparta is one such variation. I adapted them for your own education as a child."

"Oh." Atreus looked down. "I just…I know that you had a lot of issues when I was a kid, so I always assumed that when Mother had me do those things, they were her idea."

"They were not." Father laughed—a soft thing, steeped in wistful reminiscence. "I will never forget the look on her face when I informed her what I had planned for you regarding your education. She thought me mad, said it was not how things were done in these lands." Atreus nodded. Thinking on it, Thrud or Skjöldr never mentioned anything like what he'd done when they were kids, to say nothing of the mortal, Vanir, or Aesir children he'd seen since Ragnarök.

Father continued. "I told her that did not matter. If there was only one thing that I would ever bring from my homelands, it would be the methods and lessons required to sharpen and hone your mind into the most powerful tool in your arsenal."

Atreus smiled softly. "Well, thanks for doing that. They were kind of tedious when I did them but looking back…I had a lot of fun."

"I know," Father said. "I still remember how excited you were to relay your findings on the animals that called our woods home."

Atreus chuckled—he hadn't thought about that day in years. "I remember that. You were there?"

Father nodded slowly, lips spreading into a soft smile. "I arrived home from a hunt a little after you began your report. I did not wish to interrupt you, so I listened through the window. After witnessing the excitement you displayed, your mother did not object to more lessons."

A few years ago, Atreus might have brought up the fact that, if his father hadn't said anything, he would never have known about this. Would have questioned why he hid it. But as frustrating as it could be, he knew it was just the kind of person his father was. Especially back then.

Instead, he sighed and said, "You know, I could have used some of those lessons during Fimbulwinter. Would have really broken up the monotony of training."

Father looked down with a nod. "Perhaps. I was single-minded in your ability to survive past Ragnarök. I did not put much thought into…how you would live in the present day."

"Ah, it wasn't all that bad." Atreus held out his left hand, yellow light slowly creeping up from his elbow to the tips of his fingers. "You helped me figure out how to do magic."

"Mimir was of more help in that endeavor," Father admitted without shame. "I simply watched over you to prevent injury."

Atreus shook his head. "All the advice Mimir had stored in that head of his wouldn't have mattered in the slightest if it wasn't for all your advice." He tapped his forehead. "Things only went so smoothly because you drilled the importance of discipline into my head."

"Did I?" Father, tone simmering with amusement.

"Oh yeah. Couldn't go to sleep some nights without hearing the word bounce around in my head."

"Only some nights?" Father smirked. "It appears I was too lax on you."

"Please." Atreus scoffed. "I can run circles around you now."

"Is that a fact?" Father asked with an arched brow, paradoxically amused, yet unamused.

Atreus's first instinct was to take it back. But he recalled Mimir's words in Vanaheim. Thus, he stood straighter and took a deep breath. "Well, no time like the present, right?" Father's eyes widened minutely, but his ever stone-like features softened into a genuine smile as he nodded.

"Very well. We can do so after a light meal."

"Great. And maybe Sora can teach us how to do that floating thing too." He shook his head. "I know you don't like talking about your homeland, after everything that happened, but really, Father? You had to keep something that cool from me?" Father let loose a dismissive grunt, but there was something in his eyes caught Atreus's attention. A sort of grief and self-loathing Atreus hadn't seen in a while.

But it was gone as quickly as it appeared, so he let it go.

/+/+/+/+/

A/N: Kratos keeps all of Atreus's old 'school' reports under the floorboards of his bed.