Hero's Fanfare

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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"Sora," Kratos repeated, testing the name on his tongue. He pressed a hand against his chest. "I am Kratos." He gestured to his son. "Atreus." And then his friend. "And Mimir." Atreus slowly waved at Sora, who eagerly waved back. Mimir simply stared at the Keyblade wielder with narrowed eyes.

"So," the smartest man alive drawled. "You're from another world, whatever that means."

"Yup!" Sora clasped his hands behind his head. "Technically speaking, you're not supposed to know that—there's this World Order I'm supposed to protect." He smirked. "But since I'm not the one that spilled the beans, I can't get in trouble for it!"

Mimir grunted. "In trouble? From who?"

Sora shrugged. "Technically, no one. I mean, Donald would always squawk at me and Goofy to not break it, but it's not so much to protect me, so much as the inhabitants of the world."

"What do you mean?" Atreus asked.

Sora hummed. "Well, some worlds just aren't far enough along to really deal with the concept, I guess. The idea that the place you call home is just a tiny part of a much grander place, that what you think you know about life and the universe is probably wrong—it can be hard to think about, for some people."

Atreus arched a brow. "Uh, I've been to all the Realms here, and more lands beyond. It's a lot, but not really mind-blowing."

Sora dropped his hands to his side and shook his head. "You're thinking too small. I'm talking about worlds just as big as this one, or smaller, or even bigger. Some are similar to this one, and others are so different I couldn't even begin to describe it. And there're as many worlds out there as stars in the sky! All filled with people and creatures just living their lives, ignorant of each other."

Atreus cocked his head to the side. "…I still don't see what the big deal is."

"I do!" Mimir said in awe. "Good heavens, just think about what could happen if we could learn from these other worlds. The things we could discover—oh my!" Mimir's voice took on a frightened tone. "It's a good thing Odin died before you got here! I can only imagine how fast the gears in his head would turn at the knowledge that not only do worlds outside of our own exist, but they can be traversed. Oh, we'd debated the theory of it, but it was never a serious topic of discussion." He grew quieter. "Of course, he could have also just a simply demanded that no one travel to these other worlds and killed any that came to ours. Although he probably would have just captured and tortured them to learn their secrets."

Sora gestured to Mimir. "I don't know who this Odin guy is, but he sounds like the exact reason people aren't supposed to know about other worlds." He turned to Kratos. "But how do you know about them?"

Kratos made to answer, only to look up towards the sky at the thunderous beating of wings. Seconds later, Freya and her Valkyries landed in a protective circle around them.

"Kratos!" Freya, Queen of Vanaheim, and what was left of Asgard's people, called out, her wings magically vanishing into her back, blade held at the ready. "Have you found the source of that energy?"

He straightened. "You felt it Vanaheim?"

"Faintly," Freya replied. "Now, what is it?" Kratos, in response, pointed to Sora, who waved.

Skepticism immediately leaked into her features. "A child is the cause of all this commotion?" Even the Valkyries relaxed and looked at the young man in confusion.

"Hey!" Sora pouted. "I'm not a kid!" Freya ignored him in favor of looking at Kratos.

"He is far more dangerous than you realize," Kratos replied. The admission set them all on edge once more.

All but Freya, at least, who sighed and sheathed her blade. "But if you're not fighting him, then he's not a threat." She faced Sora once more. "Greetings, Sora," she said. "I am Freya, Queen of Vanaheim. Welcome to Midgard."

"Yeah, hi," Sora replied, still smarting over the 'child' comment. If Freya took offense over the blasé response, she didn't show it.

Instead, she asked, "What was that energy we all felt?"

Sora opened his mouth, only to pause and look at Kratos. After he nodded, Sora said, "It was me crossing over into this world."

"This 'world'? Freya repeated incredulously.

"It's a long story," Sora wearily replied.

"Try and shorten it."

Sora arched a brow at Freya but did tilt his head in thought. After a moment, he snapped his fingers. "I treated my friends dying like they had just fallen asleep and woke them up, and was punished for it." he said, pleased and proud at evidently summing up the circumstances of his arrival in once sentence. "I also might have abused time-travel, but I'm pretty sure I didn't break any rules."

Everyone, even Kratos, stared at Sora in silent, horrified shock. It was only broken when Mimir, with a nervous chuckle, remarked, "A man after your own heart, eh, Brother?"

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"'Abused time-travel', time-travel itself is an abuse of nature!" Freya grumbled as she stomped towards Kratos's home. She'd sent her Valkyries off to the other realms to assuage their inhabitants while she, Kratos, Mimir, and Atreus got to the bottom of Sora's succen appearance into their world.

"No, it's not," Sora stated. "Time-travel's fine on its own—I did it to train once." He gazed around the land. "…Who lives here?"

"I do," Kratos replied.

Sora turned to him with a smile. "Nice place. Feels homey."

"It was better when my wife was alive."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"You do not need to be," Kratos replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he could Atreus fondly roll his eyes. "But…thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Stop that!" Freya shouted as she turned on her heel. "You can't just say…everything you've said and start acting like this is all…normal!" Mimir and Atreus nodded in agreement.

"You're the one that wanted me to keep it short," Sora said with a shrug. Freya took a deep breath and slowly curled her hands into fists.

"Let's take this inside," Kratos cut in before Sora could say something to further infuriate Freya. She eagerly agreed, and all-but slammed the door to his home open.

Mimir hummed. "Been a few years since I've seen her this irritated."

"She dislikes mentions of time-travel," Kratos replied as he entered his home and mounted his axe and blades on a wall next to Freya's bow, before sitting at the table next to Freya. He suspected it had to do with her attunement to the natural world and that travelling into the past to change events was anything but 'natural'.

"It is weird, when you think about it," Atreus said, propping his bow against the wall. He sat opposite Freya, and placed Mimir on the far end of the table to look at them all

"It's not that complicated," Sora replied as he sat down next to Atreus. "The time-travel I can do can't really be abused—well, unless you do what I did."

"The time-travel that you can do?" Atreus incredulously repeated. "There's more than one way to time-travel?"

"Sure," Sora replied as though commenting on the weather. "Still not really sure how Pete did it, but his Heart cried out so much for a chance to relive his early, carefree life, and his home world responded by creating a door he could use to enter the past." Sora shrugged. "Too bad that world didn't put in a safeguard to keep Peter and Maleficent from changing the past to mess with the present."

Mimir, Atreus, and Freya just stared at Sora. Kratos took it upon himself to keep the conversation moving. "Is time-travel how you ended up in these lands? Did you come here from the past or future?" Kratos's mind flashed to the conversation he had with Atreus before finding Sora, on knowing the future and being bound to it.

Sora shook his head. "Not directly. But because I used time-travel and the Power of Waking in ways that I shouldn't have, I was punished, and…" Sora sighed. "…I was banished the worlds."

"'Banished by the worlds'?" Mimir echoed. "Worlds are alive?"

"Kind of?" Sora's face scrunched in confusion. "They have Hearts—"

"The organ?" Mimir interrupted.

Sora chuckled. "No. The Heart is the collective memories, emotions, and dreams of a living being."

"You mean a soul?"

"No, that's the energy that a body needs to survive. Though it can take the place of a Heart if you end up losing it. But only if your will is strong enough to take control of your body and force it to go through the motions of having a Heart until you form a new one by bonding with others and forming new memories."

Mimir stared at Sora. "Okay, I'm the Smartest Man Alive, but that didn't make a lick of sense."

"The Smartest Man Alive in this world," Sora cheekily corrected. "I know a couple people that probably have you beat."

"Heresy!" Mimir exclaimed.

"Defend your ego another time," Freya chided the talking head. She nodded at Sora. "Finish your tale."

Sora huffed. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, the Worlds have Hearts, and a basic desire to live in the Realm of Light—where I'm from," he added at Mimir's confused grunt. He crossed his arms with scowl. "I've saved the Realm of Light three times now, you'd think that'd earn me enough good will."

Freya opened her mouth—no doubt to question his claim of saving the 'Realm of Light' thrice over—but stopped herself. "…One thing at a time. From what you're saying, the lands, worlds, you call home, are separate from the ones we inhabit?"

"Yeah." Sora looked around Kratos's home. "I'll be honest, I didn't try to come to your world. When I was banished, I was sent to the Final World—the last place Hearts go before returning to Kingdom Hearts." Atreus opened his mouth—to ask for clarification on this Final World and Kingdom Hearts, but Kratos gently held up a hand to keep him quiet. If they started picking at every random name or event or ability Sora threw at them, they'd never get to the bottom of his appearance. And how to get him to leave.

Sora continued, "But then I got into a fight with this guy called Yozora—who I still have a million questions about—and after I beat him, I just kept wandering until I felt…something different." He tapped his chin. "It was like a…crack in the world that was letting something leak into it that I got sucked into." Kratos and everyone else stiffened at his words. Sora eyed them all curiously. "What's wrong?"

Mimir cleared his non-existent throat. "Odin, the man we mentioned earlier, he was obsessed with this tear in reality he'd found. Believed it, and a mask associated with it held answers to question's he'd long been seeking. Atreus here ended up closing that tear, after which we—rather, the three lovely people beside me—put Odin down."

"Do you think closing the tear has something to do with your coming here?" Atreus asked.

Freya spoke up before Sora could answer. "I doubt it. The energy we felt was too different from that of the crack or the mask."

"But it could have had consequences that reached beyond our own world," Kratos replied. "I did not think of the possibility that the tear could reach beyond the borders or our world—like you said, Freya, the energy is different—but it is a possibility we cannot dismiss out of hand."

Freya arched a brow at him. "And what, exactly, makes you an authority on these things?"

"I have travelled to worlds outside of this one." Freya and Atreus stared at him incredulously. Mimir, having already pieced the pieces together, no doubt, frowned in thought.

Sora leaned forward, eyeing Kratos with hope. "How did you travel to other worlds?"

Only for his face to fall when Kratos said, "Never by my own power." He shifted in his seat. "The first time, three warriors had crossed into this world. They stole an artifact from my homeland—I don't know why they did it, and never cared to find out—and I gave chase. I was in their world for weeks before being pulled back into my own by the gods."'

Sora's eyes gained a fascinated gleam. "You guys know gods?"

Mimir chuckled. "My friend, you're sitting with three of them."

Sora shifted his gaze between Kratos, Atreus, and Freya. He tilted his head in confusion. "…Huh."

Atreus smirked. "Awestruck?"

"Nah," Sora bluntly replied, the easy dismissal making Atreus scowl. "Just…you guys don't feel like the gods I've met before. Ah well, different worlds, different rules."

"Well, what did the gods of these different worlds look like?" Mimir asked.

"We don't have the time to discuss this," Freya cut in.

Only for Sora to say, "It's fine, I can just show you!" He reached into his furs and pulled out a strange, small multi-colored brick. He pressed on the black face, and it chimed and lit up.

Freya and Atreus crowded around the item in wonder—Sora held it closest to Mimir, who was just as astonished. Even Kratos looked on in interest. "What is this thing?" Freya asked.

"It's a Gummiphone! It's like a computer in the palm of your hands." Sora proudly exclaimed. Only to flinch and look down bashfully. "Oh…you guys wouldn't know what a computer is."

"No, we would not," Mimir grumbled good-naturedly as Sora tapped on the screen once more. Then, a person appeared on the Gummiphone.

He was a well-muscled man, with a thick, a long mane of curly white hair and a well-shaped beard, bronze skin, and bright blue eyes. But the most startling thing about him—aside from the Greek-style robes he wore, Kratos noted—was the fact that he was glowing.

Even through this strange device, Kratos could tell this was a powerful being.

"Well, we certainly look less impressive by comparison," Freya noted with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "Who is this?"

"Zeus."

Kratos jerked to his feet so fast he hurtled the bench to the end of the room—knocking Freya over.

"Father!" Atreus exclaimed as Sora pulled back his device in shock.

"Zeus?" Kratos repeated, voice trembling with a tumult of emotions. "You claim that to be Zeus?"

Sora slowly nodded. "Yeah. Do you…know him?"

Kratos almost laughed at the question. Did he know Zeus? Perhaps the greatest understatement of his life. But he forced himself to calm down and focus Sora's otherworldly nature. He could faintly recall, in the first world he'd visited—where Order and Chaos warred through blades wielded by unwitting proxies—that there was also the nation of Greece, whose people worshipped the Olympians. In fact, he'd discovered that those people still worshipped Ares as the God of War. Before he could do anything about that, however, Zeus had pulled him back into this world and closed the portal. After which his father, in a rare display of caution and worry, lectured him on the nature of other worlds, and the dangers therein. It was then that he'd first heard of the Keyblade, and the destruction it could bring.

Krato took a moment to help Freya up before answering Sora's question. "There…was…a version of Zeus in this world."

Sora frowned. "Oh. Yeah, I've met alternate versions of people I know before…What happened to him?" Kratos stayed silent. Sora's eyes narrowed, but eventually he leaned back and waved his hand. "Ok, never mind, we're getting way off track."

"I'll say," Mimir replied, eyes Kratos with concern as he dragged the bench back to the table. When he and Freya sat back down, Mimir said, "I believe you were discussing your travels through other worlds, Brother?"

.

Kratos recentered himself before answering. "I was." He focused on Sora and pushed thoughts of Zeus and doppelgangers out of his mind. "Again, the first time I traveled to another world; I used a portal the interlopers into this one created. The second time, beings known as the Titans"—there was a flash of recognition in Sora's eyes—"pooled their energy together to tear a hole into space-time to send me from this world to another—though the space I ended up was less a world, and more a nexus that intersected with many."

Mimir chimed, "Is that when you fought History's Greatest Musician?" Kratos slowly turned to stare at his friend. "Right, sorry…We'll talk later."

Kratos grunted and returned to the matter at hand. "The third time I was explicitly summoned by a warlord to become his slave. I escaped and wandered that world before defeating the warlord in combat, ending the spell and returning me here." He hummed. "I visited one final world before finding these lands. I am unsure as to how I traveled there and back, in truth. I did battle with a local warrior, and after drawing to a stalemate, we parted ways, and I returned to this world."

Sora slumped in his seat. "So, you can't open pathways yourself?"

"No." Kratos arched a brow at Sora. "And there is no way for you to leave this world under your own power?"

Sora sighed in bitter defeat. "Like I said, I'm stuck. Using the Power of Waking to bring my friends back to life messed with my powers. I think the Worlds were punishing me to try and keep me in one place."

"And what is this 'Power of Waking', and how did you abuse it?" Mimir asked.

Sora let out a breath. "It's a way to restore sleeping Hearts to their waking state, and a way to travel to other worlds by using those Hearts as anchors. But since sleeping and death are closely linked, and I used to Power of Waking to restore my dying friend's Hearts, and travel to worlds to find my friends—when I didn't know what worlds they were in—which breaks natural taboos."

Mimir wordlessly worked his jaw following Sora's proclamation. Atreus playfully tapped his forehead. "Looks like you'll have to give up your title."

"Bite your tongue!" Mimir scolded. "Sora, go through that all again. Slowly. I'll get it this time."

"No, he won't," Freya chided the so-called Smartest Man Alive. "We have more important things to discuss than your bruised ego." Mimir harrumphed but didn't argue.

"Indeed. Our focus should be returning Sora to this Final World as soon as possible."

Freya arched a brow at him. "He could at least get a night's rest."

Kratos slowly shook his head. His friends and son looked at him in mild disapproval. Sora, on the other hand, furrowed his brow. "Wow. You must have had really bad experiences in those other worlds."

Honestly, they had been great at relieving stress. Still, he answered. "They were trying times. However, I am more concerned with the weapon in your possession."

At that, Sora smiled tiredly. "I figured as much."

"Why?" Atreus asked. "I mean, he's powerful, I've seen that, but it's nothing too crazy."

Sora crossed his arms over his chest and focused on Kratos. "Do you want to tell them?"

"I have only heard rumors and second-hand accounts of the Keyblade's abilities," he replied. "I would hear the facts from you."

The Keyblade wielder nodded and turned to the others. "Okay, technically, I can use the Keyblade to destroy this world."

Kratos could see their instinctual desire to decry his claim. But grew deathly serious when Kratos himself said nothing to the contrary. Atreus gulped. "And…how would you do that?"

Sora sighed, growing solemn. "By unlocking the barrier that protects this world's Heart and letting Darkness overrun it."

"Darkness?" Mimir repeated.

"Fear, anger, hate despair," Sora listed. "When people let those emotions overwhelm them, become their sole driving forces, that's Darkness—although, it's a little more complicated than that."

"I'd imagine."

A smile ghosted across Sora's face, before it settled into a frown. "Anyway, I can either attack this world's Heart myself with Darkness—what little I can use, anyway—or let the Heartless, creatures of Darkness inside." Mimir would have asked another question, had Atrues and Freya not shushed him. Sora turned to Kratos; face creased in a determined frown. "But I'd never do that."

"Perhaps not," Kratos said with an accepting nod. Indeed, from what he'd been able to observe, Sora was not the kind of man to crave destruction on a world-wide scale. "But I've been made to understand that these Heartless are drawn to Keyblade Wielders, are they not?"

Sora slumped a little in his seat. "You're not wrong." He leaned his elbows against the table. "Listen, I don't want to be in this world either—I'm trying to get back home. But I just can't do that right now."

"Because the…Hearts of your worlds kicked you out?" Freya said skeptically.

"Yup," Sora replied without missing a beat. "And on top of not having access to a Gummi Ship to travel to another world, I've lost the different abilities Keyblade wielders have to travel—guess they really don't want me back." Sora groaned and dropped his head in his hands. "So, I'm stuck here." Kratos eyed the young man in sympathy. To be cast aside by those you'd saved—he'd tasted such bitter gratitude time and time again.

"There are ships that can travel between worlds?" Atreus asked. Sora nodded absent-mindedly.

Freya let out a breath and reached over to place a hand on Sora's shoulder. "I'm sorry you're facing such hardships. You are welcome to stay here while you rest and think of a plan." He looked up at her in gratitude.

"Kratos," Mimir spoke up. "You said you were once summoned by a spell? Any chance you can recall it?"

"What use would it be to summon him when he is already here?"

"Oh, not that. I'm just saying, between Lady Freya, Tyr, and even Angrboda and Atreus, perhaps we can break the spell down to its base components. Make a reverse summoning spell?"

Before Kratos could reply that he never bothered to learn the spell Shao Khan used, Sora shot to his feet. "Summons!" he exclaimed. "Of course!" He reached into his furs, and pulled out five different colored, identical charms, each with a different symbol in the center. Whatever excitement Sora held slipped away as he beheld the items, however. "Never mind," he said dejectedly as he sat back down.

"What's wrong?" Atrues asked. "What're those supposed to do?

"These things are called Heartbinders, and I'm supposed to be able to use them to summon friends I made from other worlds." He thumbed one, colored purple with a strange, heart-like symbol in the center. "I was hoping I could at least summon these guys, but I guess not." Sora let out a sigh, as he slipped the items back into his furs.

The mood had dropped, though while Mimir, Freya, and Atreus were genuinely saddened over Sora's plight, Kratos could only focus on the fact that Sora was a Keyblade wielder, stuck in their world. Whatever sympathy he held for the young man was overshadowed by worry.

Not for the first time, he cursed his past self for being too focused on his own rage and desire for a fight. He'd had the opportunity to learn all about other worlds while fighting in the Polygon Man's tournament but spent his time searching for weapons that would have made it easier to take his revenge of Zeus—when he wasn't holding back the desire to crush the god's skull after they and the other warriors called or pulled from other worlds destroyed the Polygon Man. The only things he did learn, however, related to the Keyblade, and the Polygon Man's conflicting desire to bring one into his tournament or leave well enough alone for fear of being destroyed.

Briefly, he recalled his past desire to possess one himself—a dark, vicious desire to take the rest of his world out with the gods. He'd banished it soon enough, but in the end, he did destroy Greece.

Returning to Greece had been difficult following the tournament now that he recalled. The Titans had almost run out of energy keeping a sliver of their original portal open. Gaia had clarified that they wouldn't have just left him there, after he accused them of treachery. She'd said the primordial energy the Titans used was easily repleni—

Kratos cut off his own thoughts with a sharp inhale. "The Spark of the World," he said. When everyone turned to him, he said. "The Spark of the World. It holds Primordial magic—the kind the Titans used to tear open a hole from this world to another."

Sora's expression grew hopeful once more. "Do you think it'll work?"

"By myself, no? But with your Keyblade…" Kratos trailed off, not willing to give a definitive answer on a subject he knew little about.

Sora sprung to his feet once more, a wide smile on his face. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Now hold on!" Freya called out, stopping Sora short. She stared hard at Kratos. "You're talking about messing with the very fabric of creation."

"So long as it is handled properly, there is no danger," he replied.

Her face was the very definition of skepticism. "And you can handle it properly?"

"I have wielded many different kinds of magic and energy sources." It had been years, of course, but the magic of Greece was, ultimately, rooted in Primordial Chaos. The fires Surtr had transferred into the Blades of Choas were oddly familiar and, dare he say, comforting, in that sense.

"I'm sure we'll be fine between the two of us," Sora said with almost shocking confidence. "Now let's go!"

"Stop!" Freya ordered, slamming a fist on her table. Sora turned to her with a frown. "The Spark of the World Kratos speaks of can only be reached through Muselpheim. It's a fiery, lava-filled land where a single misstep can lead to your doom, and since Surtr's demise it has been changing, filling in the void his presence used to provide. And you would rush in blind on the belief that it might grant you the ability to leave these lands?"

Sora crossed his arms with a huff. "Well, when you put it like that…"

"Surtr spoke of an entrance through Niflheim," Kratos said. He grunted when Freya levelled a glare his way. "It is a safer terrain." Sora's cheer quickly returned.

"Wow," Atreus stared at Kratos queerly. "You really want to help Sora, huh?"

"I want him gone from this world," Kratos corrected his son. "If accessing the Primordial energies within the Spark of the World shall assist in that goal, then I will seek them."

"Not to be rude, but killing the lad would be easier," Mimir mumbled.

"No, it wouldn't," Kratos replied. Sora just grinned and nodded his head in agreement.

Freya rose to her feet with a sigh. "I have heard enough of madness for one day. If you truly seek to enter Muselpheim then come to Tyr's temple. Tomorrow. After dawn. I shall speak with Lunda to get you proper protection from the heat."

"Oh, I'm fine," Sora said with a wave. "My clothes are magic, and I've got some enchanted accessories that ward off fire on top of that."

"Of course," Freya said with a roll of her eyes. "Kratos, outside. Now." She took a moment to bid farewell to Mimir and Atreus—her tone reaching something motherly towards the latter—and stalked outside after grabbing her bow. Kratos stood and went after her. He closed the door to his home and followed her a bit into the front yard.

She paced, hands her hips as she stared up at the sky a grumbled beneath her breath.

"I am helping Sora, Freya," he declared.

A scoff. "I'd gathered." When she finally stopped moving, she stared tiredly at Kratos. "I know if this boy were a true threat, you would have killed him, for Atreus's sake if nothing else." He nodded slowly. "But really, Kratos, Primordial energy? You were dealing with the aftereffects of forming Ragnarök for weeks, and that was filtered through Surtr's fire."

Kratos's expression softened. "I shall be fine," he said, stepping closer. "For all my desire to send Sora off the world, I shall not kill myself doing so."

Freya tilted her head back with a groan. "And then there's all this talk of other worlds and such…impossibilities!" She fixed him with a look. "Just why have you never mentioned it before?"

Kratos was silent for a moment. Then, he said, "I would not burden you, any of you, with knowledge of other worlds. Knowing how truly small we are compared to the universe; how many powerful creatures and objects lurk beyond the stars…Such thoughts have kept me up at night." He needed time to recover, in truth, following his battle with the Polygon Man. To truly grasp just how small he was in the grand scheme of things. He could only imagine that Zeus felt much the same, for why else has his father not led an attack against Kratos and his Titan allies following their return?

It was almost lucky that Shao Khan has been upfront over his desire to enslave Kratos, who was still fresh from destroying Greece, and the sting of Athena's betrayal. His rage grounded him, kept him from truly thinking of the ramifications of him being summoned to another world against his will.

Freya let out a breath, lips curled into a sympathetic frown. "You still clutch many secrets to your chest. Many burdens."

"They are mine to bear."

She smiled and reached over to rub his shoulder. "But you don't need to bear them all alone." Kratos grunted and said no more.

Freya stepped back, her wings unfurling from her back in a shower of lights. "I shall speak with Tyr and the other Aesir, see if they either know of, or once heard Odin speak of, other worlds."

Kratos nodded. "I shall send Atreus to Angrboda—perhaps the Giants knew of them."

Freya's smile shrank into a smirk. "Do you really think Atreus will spend his time in Jotunheim speaking of another's plight with Angrboda?"

"He will if he means to assist us," Kratos quickly replied. He let out an amused huff. "What he does after, however, is none of my concern." Freya laughed, but it was tinged with grief—plagued by thoughts of her son Baldur at that age, no doubt.

She nodded at him and flew into the air with one mighty flap of her wings. She circled his home twice, before flying off in the direction of Tyr's temple.

Kratos followed her form until it disappeared. When it finally did, he returned to his home.

"Wait a moment," Mimir said, staring hard at Sora as Kratos opened the door. "So, the creatures born from Hearts plunged into this Darkness are called the Heartless?"

"Yeah," Sora replied.

"And the ones born from the bodies that had those Hearts stolen are Nobodies?"

"Yup," Sora said, popping the 'p'.

"…Isn't that backwards?"

Sora shook his head. "I thought so too, but then I did some reading—well, Riku forced me to do some reading—and it turns out—"

"Father!" Atreus exclaimed when he saw Kratos, leaping to his feet—he'd almost fallen asleep during Mimir and Sora's discussion. "Where's Freya?"

"She left for Vanaheim, to seek out Tyr, and others that might know of other worlds." He nodded at his son. "We thought you might ask Angrboda if she or any Giants might know of them."

"Oh, sure!" Atrues walked over and picked up his bow. "Honestly, anything to get away from those two. At first, seeing Mimir get stumped was funny, but now it's just sad."

"I heard that!" Mimir shouted.

"Don't worry," Sora said, gently patting Mimir's head. "I don't know anyone that got it all straight the first time they heard about all this stuff."

"Well, I'll be the first!" Mimir boasted.

Kratos ignored the two to focus on his son. "Meet us at Tyr's temple in the morning, two hours past dawn."

Atrues nodded, until he fully registered Kratos's words. "Wait, meet you?"

Kratos grunted. "I would not…tear you away from Angrboda without reason." His son blushed and slipped out the door with a short 'goodbye'.

Kratos managed not to chuckle as he nearly tripped on a rock on his way out.

He focused back on Mimir and Sora, the latter poking at his Gummiphone, pulling up images of strange, colorful creatures. "Okay, so the Heartless actually come in two varieties. Purebloods—which are born entirely out of the Darkness—and Emblem Heartless—which are born when a Heart falls to Darkness." Mimir hummed in thought.

Kratos rolled his eyes. "Sora, you may take the bed on the left. I am going hunting. I shall return at sundown." He grabbed his axe and blades off the wall. In truth, he only needed the spears formed by the Draupnir ring, but with Sora's sudden appearance, he couldn't afford to be caught off guard by any other potential visitors.

"Have fun!" Sora called out with a wave.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Mimir dismissed Kratos. "But Sora, you see how these Emblem Heartless aren't really heartless, right?"

"Well, they are in the sense that they're little more than a bundle of killer instincts. Well, most of them. Some are actually friendly and like to play games."

Kratos left the pair to their otherworldly discussions. He'd had enough of such talks back with that small automaton and child-sized, adult-sounding, talking turtle.

/+/+/+/+/

A/N: I would pay money to have Mimir explain Kingdom Hearts lore to me.