The Home of Dragons

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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"Well, here we are," Atreus whispered as they crept behind some overgrowth, the entrance to the mountain just across from them. There wasn't anyone standing guard, and he couldn't hear or sense anyone lying in ambush. If not for the markings and totems set-up near the entrance, you wouldn't think anything was wrong. He looked to the sky, Hildr and Olrun little more than pinpricks as they waited for their signal to rouse the dragons and lead them away.

Sora let out a low hum. "Any chance these Seiðr guys will see reason?"

"No," Father bluntly replied. Sora frowned and turned to Mimir, who was attached to Father's hip—as he preferred during these bigger confrontations.

"Afraid not, lad," the talking head said solemnly. "Like I said earlier, Seiðr magic eats away at your soul. Use little of it, and you might bounce back after months, if not years, of recovery. But the kind of folk that congregate together to practice it? There's no hope for them."

Sora nodded, solemn. "Alright then." He looked around. "Now, where's Ratatoskr. Or that aspect or whatever you call it?"

Atreus arched a brow. "That's a good question. Ratatoskr?" he hissed into the open. "Where are you?"

"You think he's still mapping the caves?" Mimir asked.

"More likely he is hiding," Father said with a dismissive grunt.

"Well, he is all of Ratatoskr's anxiety expelled out into its own being," Mimir replied.

"Why though?" Sora asked, still looking around. "If I were going to separate my emotions and rely on them for something, I wouldn't pick anxiety as one of them."

"Precisely," Father said with a nod.

"Anxiety is a rather healthy aspect of life for normal folk, you know."

Sora grinned. "Yeah, but we're abnormal, Mimir. Remember?"

"Would that I could forget."

Atreus chuckled, before returning to his search for Ratatoskr's anxious aspect. He couldn't hear anything, so he turned inward and used his supernatural senses. And…there! Right above them, in the trees.

"Hey!" Atreus called up to the tree. "Anxiety, come down!"

Silence.

And then, a whisper. "I-I-Is he still here?"

Atreus arched a brow. "Who?"

"The m-m-m-monster that tore apart the World Tree!"

"Is he talking about me?" Sora asked. At their flat stares, he rolled his eyes. "Right, forget I asked."

Father stepped forward, glaring up at the tree. "Get down here. Now," he growled. Atreus tried not to chuckle—Anxiety always pushed his father's patience to the limit.

Finally, the purple, spectral squirrel climbed down the tree. And immediately hurled himself into Atreus's chest, clutching onto his tunic like a lifeline. "Please don't let him hurt me!" he pleaded.

"Oh, c'mon!" Sora complained. "I already told the main Ratatoskr; I didn't mean to hurt the World Tree!"

"Oh, of course," the aspect scoffed, sounding remarkably like Bitter. "And imagine what you could not mean to do to me!"

Sora groaned and rubbed his face. Atreus looked over his shoulder with a sympathetic smile before turning back to Anxiety. "Uh, Hildr was telling us that you were mapping out the caves."

Anxiety nodded against Atreus's tunic. "Yes, yes! I marked the pathways that lead to the seed. There're arrows scratched out on the cave's ceiling, and I marked the last intersection with a large 'X'." He shuddered. "It's a very complex cave system, and there are those terrible people at every corner!"

"Where is the seed?" Father asked.

Anxiety whimpered. "With a bunch of other goods—ill-gotten, no doubt. I don't think they realize what they have, otherwise they'd be casting that horrible magic on it rather than those dragons."

"And what are they doing with these dragons?" Mimir asked.

Anxiety sniffed. "No clue. Didn't ask and didn't want to stick around to find out." He looked up at Atreus. "Is that all? I'd very much like to be as far away from this place as possible once you start committing acts of violence."

"Yeah, you can go." Atreus smiled and pet the spectral squirrel's head. "Thanks for all your help." Anxiety just hummed and leapt off Atreus's chest before scurrying away into the undergrowth.

Sora crossed his arms as Anxiety fled. "Now what?"

"We enter the cave, find the seed, and eliminate any that stand in our way," Father declared, pulling his axe off his back.

"Guns blazing, huh" Sora smirked and summoning his weapon in a flash of light. "I like it!"

"Guns blazing?" Atreus repeated, drawing his bow, and stepping in line with Sora and his father. "What's that mean?"

"Loud and proud."

Mimir snorted. "If that doesn't describe Kratos, I don't know what does." Father said nothing, though he did grunt in amusement.

When they reached the cave entrance, Father stopped, and looked over his shoulder. "Atreus."

Atreus nodded, drew an arrow, and aimed at the sky. He took a deep breath. "Skjálfa," he intoned, before letting the arrow fly. The arrow pulsed with green energy as it soared into the air. When it flew far enough without hitting anything, the projectile burst with a soft, almost inaudible boom of sound.

But the shield-maidens high in the sky got the message and dove into the mountain from an entrance near the top. The harsh, guttural roars of dozens of dragons echoed form the mountain moments after.

"Come," Father declared, leading the way forward. Sora exchanged a grin with Atreus, and they followed him into the mountain.

/+/+/+/+/

The draconic roars continued for some time, before eventually dying down. Atreus could sense that Hildr and Olrun had been able to lead the dragons out of the cave—most of them, at least. A few were still in the mountain, but Atreus couldn't make out any thoughts or feelings from the dragons with all the stone between them.

They didn't run into any Seiðr practitioners on the way. No, based on the marks on the floor and scattered items everywhere, they all ran for the dragons once they started roaring. Ideally, that meant they would be able to just grab the seed and leave, but Atreus knew in his bones that it could never be that easy.

"Atreus." His father's whispers cuts through Atreus's thoughts. He gestured to the ceiling, and Atreus saw a large 'X' above the leftmost fork. "Scout the area, inform us of any traps."

Atreus nodded and called upon his magic. His form shrank in an instant, fur growing out of his skin as a long, cord-like tail sprouted from his lower back.

"Aw, he's so cute!" Sora gushed, bending down to get a closer look at the rat Atreus had shapeshifted into. He reached out and poked Atreus's snout. Atreus let out an indignant squeak and snapped his jaw at the offending finger. Sora just pulled it back with a snicker.

"Focus," Father ground out, eyeing them both in annoyance. Sora snorted but stood up as Atreus scurried across the cave floor.

As opposed to the low torchlight just barely illuminating the tunnels, the loot room, or whatever it was called, was illuminated thanks to a large opening in the ceiling. He could see a large pile of stuff—gold, gems, all sorts of bits and bobbles—at the end of the room. There were five people—some looking no different from the average person beyond sickly skin, and others that were more monster than man—guarding the loot.

He tried to stretch out his godly senses to detect anyone hidden away, but between the thick stone and Seiðr magic permeating the very air, he couldn't sense anything.

With a sniff, Atreus scurried back to the others. He turned back to his regular form. "Saw the loot—couldn't see the seed, though. There are five people standing guard, but there could be more lying in wait."

Sora hefted his Keyblade over his shoulder and turned to Father. "Well, how do you want to do this?"

Father grunted. "Sora, use your Flowmotion to launch at the ones in front of the hoard. Atreus and I shall follow, either joining you in fighting them or engaging any that may be hiding."

"Sounds like a plan!" Sora said with a smile as he led them forward. "Just wait for my signal."

Atreus thought he was going to use that Flowmotion thing to attack them from the darkness of the tunnel, but instead he just sauntered forward out into the open. "Hey there!" he called out, waving his Keyblade at the corrupted Vanir, who stared at him in surprise.

The shook themselves of it soon enough, though, and the leader of the group—bigger and more visibly corrupted than the rest—gestured to Sora and shouted in a harsh, hateful tone.

Seconds later, dozens of Seiðr practitioners poured out from holes in the wall. If Atreus didn't know any better, he'd think they were in a Dark Elf hive. And Sora just stood in place, his weapons causally held at his side as he was slowly surrounded.

Then, just before someone one of the Seiðr-folk could attack him, he burst towards the group in front of treasure hoard in a flash of blue light. The five corrupted people cried out in alarm as Sora slammed against the leader, before spinning around, rays of light following his attack and sending them all sprawling to the ground.

"Guess that's the signal!" Atreus declared as he marched forward, shooting arrows into three skulls as his father hurled his axe at one of the Seiðr-folk. Half of them turned around at the sudden attack, and found themselves face-to-face with Father, his Blades of Chaos in hand.

What followed next was the sort of delicious chaos that could only come from facing intelligent beings. Unlike wild animals or monsters, these people, corrupted as they were, could think. Strategize. They could feint and strike from another angle. Work together beyond animal instinct. Weave spells or perform complex maneuvers. Atreus would never love the thrill of battle as much as his father did, but even he got a rush from seeing his foes eyes widen in despair when their plans failed and left them open to swift and brutal retaliation.

Eventually, Atreus found himself side-to-side with his father, their backs to a wall. Sora was zipping around the cavern like a bee, slaying foes with powerful strikes or fantastic magic. They must have killed dozens of Seiðr-folk by now, but there were still dozens more.

"This is way more than I was expecting!" Atreus exclaimed as he downed three in as many seconds.

"We are in a mountain, lad!" Mimir replied from Father's hip.

"Freya and her shield-maidens have grown lax," Father said with a grunt, hurling a Draupnir spear through two foes at once.

"You can grouch about discipline later," Atreus said with a huff, sidestepping a wild swing and cracking the offender's skull with his bow. "We need to take them out, now!" Just then, Atreus felt a strange tingle run down his spine. A series of electric explosions that set his nerves on fire, but in a good way.

"Kratos!" Sora called out from across the sea of foes. He drew his Keyblade back, and a layer of frost coating the tip of the weapon, whose chill Atreus could feel even from across the cavern. To his side, his father merely grunted, pulling out his axe and mirroring Sora's movements, the blade of the axe frosting over.

They pair threw their weapons with harsh bellows, and the weapons spun wide circles around their remaining foes. A few were cut down by the weapons, but neither axe nor Keyblade faltered in their path. They spun round and round, whipping up a blizzard between them, coating their foes in ice.

With barely a conscious thought, Atreus shifted into a sparrow and flew high into the air, above the artificial storm. He shifted back into his normal shape, bow drawn as he aimed down the eye of the storm. "Auka!" he cried as he fired three sigil arrows. They sank into one poor unfortunate soul, a large purple sigil forming over its back. He changed back into a bird, diving away from the storm as his father's axe and Sora's Keyblade soared into the air opposite each other. They hovered in the air for a moment, before shooting down towards the sigil. They crashed together just as they sank into the sigil, and in an instant giant spikes of ice shot outward, spearing through and killing their remaining foes.

Atreus shifted forms and landed just as his father's ax and Sora's Keyblade returned to their owners, the spikes of ice breaking apart and evaporating into mist. In that moment, it was like a spell was broken, and Atreus stared down at his hands in shock. What had come over him? Like…he knew what he was doing, but was just watching his body do it.

A quick peek at his father revealed that he was going thinking the same thoughts.

"Alright!" Sora cheered with a quick, excited hop in the air. "That was awesome!"

Father set his face into a fierce glare. He stomped towards Sora, and with a sneer, said, "What was that? What did you do?!"

"Woah, hey!" Sora stepped back in alarm. "What are you talking about?"

"You did something to us!" Father bellowed. "Our bodies…they acted without our say!"

Sora's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, that! Yeah, I call 'em Team Attacks."

"I do not care what you call them!" Father spat.

"Easy, easy!" Sora replied. "It's not like what you're thinking! I didn't control you or anything. It's more like…" he pressed a hand against his chest. "In the heat of battle, my Heart reaches out to yours. They connect with each other, for the common goal of beating our enemies. They resonate, acting as one as we unleash powerful attacks we couldn't accomplish on our own."

Father bore down on Sora. "You claim to be able to manipulate my 'Heart' without my knowledge or permission?"

"It's not like that!" Sora exclaimed.

Atreus found himself coming to Sora's defense. "Father," he said, waiting until his father turned his angry glare towards him. "I've lost control of myself before, and while this…Team Attack…thing caught my off guard, it didn't feel like that. It felt different. Almost…good."

"I'll admit I didn't see the result of this 'Team Attack', but it felt powerful," Mimir added. "Besides, Sora's a good lad. He wouldn't do anything nefarious, especially if he's done this with others." Father's features softened, registering the statement as fact. Mimir continued, "Although, you'd know better than me, since you've seen fit to share your otherworldly adventures with each other."

Father looked down towards Mimir with an arched brow. "Are you truly so petty?"

"When my brother in all but blood refuses to share his knowledge with me, the Smartest Man Alive?" Mimir scoffed. "You'd better believe it."

Father let out an amused grunt, before levelling a stern glare at Sora. "Should the time come when our Hearts…resonate again, forewarn us, and let us decide whether or not to cooperate."

Sora nodded. "Course!" He clasped his hands behind his head. "I never intended to force my Heart's desires onto you guys."

"It's okay, we believe you," Atreus said, reaching over and clapping Sora's shoulder with a smile. "Now, let's get that seed." He led them all towards the treasure pile, and after taking a moment to admire the stolen goods, dug in.

"Geez." Atreus whistled. "Do you think they stole all this, or ransacked through a bunch of ruins?"

"Both," Father replied, tossing aside an urn without a care. "There is an even mix of new and old items within this pile."

"Didn't you say that these guys corrupt themselves, lose all reason?" Sora asked. "Why would they need stuff?"

"Base greed," Mimir supplied. "And a handful of spells and enchantments. Freya would know more. We can ask her when we're back in Vanaland."

Atreus leaned back and snapped his fingers. "That reminds me, I've gotta talk to her about the mortals of Midgard."

Sora hummed, turning a coin over in his hands. "For that thing Skjöldr told you about, right? About the people of Midgard not making the first steps towards making amends?"

As he nodded, Father said, "That is a sound idea. Too often are mortals left to suffer at the hands of the gods' decisions, with token apologies offered at best."

"That's the idea," Atreus replied. "Just…don't know what they can do."

"Well, that's not really your decision, lad," Mimir said. "If it's going to mean anything, it needs to come from Freya—and the other races, for that matter—alone." Atreus shrugged his acceptance, returning to the search.

They must've been searching through the hoard for ten minutes. Just when Atreus was becoming convinced that they'd have to sort and catalogue the whole thing, he found the seed.

"Got it!" he exclaimed, pulling it out of the vase it was hidden it. He handed it over to his father, who pocketed it. "One down!"

Father grunted. "Let us return to Vanaland and inform Freya." He gestured at the remaining loot. "She can decide what to do with the rest of this as well." Atreus and Sora nodded, following him away and towards the exit out of the mountain.

Until shrill, fearful cries sounded from nowhere, splitting Atreus's head in two. He fell down to his knees with a strangled shout, clutching at his head.

"Atreus!" Father called out in alarm—though his voice was muted, as if blocked by a storm.

Atreus took a deep breath, focusing on his own heartbeat and forcing the voices aside. "I-I'm fine!" he said through clenched teeth. The voices were still there, but muted, for lack of a better term. "I…I heard something." He turned towards the source of the cries—nearly straight up. "Dragons. The ones that didn't follow Hildr and Olrun…Something's happening to them." The cries slowly softened even more, either because Atreus was getting used to them, or because they were being silenced. He would vastly prefer the former.

Sora stepped up next to him. "We heading up?" Atreus shifted his gaze to his father, who nodded. Sora clapped his hands. "Then what are we waiting for?!"

/+/+/+/+/

As they neared the peak—at least, Atreus assumed it was the peak—there was a shift in the air. An intense, almost toxic amount of Seiðr magic was practically seeping into his bones.

Then, they heard the chanting.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good," Mimir muttered as they broke out into a sprint.

When they reached the top of the mountain, the cave led out into the open. There, on the other side of the peak, were four dragons, tied down by vines corrupted by Seiðr magic. In front of them stood a corrupted woman, chanting and gesturing wildly at the dragons, some sort of energy flowing out from them into her.

In between them and the woman, stood a dozen corrupted warriors.

Sora instantly went on the offensive. "Back off!" he shouted, hurling his Keyblade at the closest one, and then engaging another five foes. Atreus and his father easily swept up the other half.

Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough.

The corrupted woman shouted one final word, and the mountain peak was overtaken by a burst of bright green light. Atreus clutched his head as the dragons all let loose one last painful, horrified screech, before falling silent.

When the light faded, instead of one Seiðr-corrupted woman in front of four bound dragons, there was a massive, Seiðr-corrupted dragon, in front of four bound dragon corpses.

"What happened?!" Mimir called out.

"The chanting woman turned herself into a dragon," Father bluntly replied.

"Oh," Mimir said. "Lovely." Father just grunted, hurling his ax at the newly formed dragon at the same time Sora threw his Keyblade. However, the dragon, with surprising deftness, dove off the mountain. Father and Sora called their weapons back just as the dragon rose back into view, flapping its wings to gain height. Frantically flapping, in fact. It was actually rather clumsy, pitching to-and-fro as it rose higher and higher. Still, the wind currents its wings made forced them all back into the cave for cover.

"I don't think it knows how to fly," Sora said as he peeked out at the dragon.

"You offering lesson?" Atreus snarked. Sora stuck his tongue out in response.

"We must kill this creature, now," Father declared. "Sora, can you reach it?"

"If you throw some spears, yeah," the otherworldly youth replied. He narrowed his eyes at the dragon. "Might need some help bringing it down." He turned to Atreus and tapped his head. "Atreus, hop on!"

Atreus blinked at the statement, but then recalled Sora's rat teacher. Still, he asked, "Why?"

"Better safe than sorry," Sora said with a shrug. "I'd bring Kratos too, but unless he can pull some transformation magic out of his belt, I can't carry him too." He arched a brow at Father, and when he shook his head, turned back to Atreus.

With a nod, Atreus transformed into a rat and climbed atop Sora's head. His hair, while not as sharp as it looked, was remarkably firm.

"All set?" Sora asked. Atreus squeaked an affirmative. "Then hold on tight!" He turned to Father, who nodded and stepped out into the open, a Draupnir Spear in hand. The dragon was high enough now that they weren't buffeted by wind, though it was still clumsy with its movements.

With a mighty bellow, Father hurled the spear towards the dragon. Then another, and another, and another. Sora took a deep breath, and when the first spear started to dip in the air, zoomed forward in a burst of Flowmotion.

Atreus was certain that, were he in his normal form, he'd be screaming at the top of his lungs. Sora had said he ignored the physical world with this type of magic, why did it feel like he was being thrown through the air?!

Finally, they landed on top of the dragon. Atreus hopped off and transformed in an instant, taking deep breathes as he hunched over and rested his hands on his knees. "That was…wild," he said after a moment.

"Yeah, it's real fun!" Sora said, either oblivious or uncaring of Atreus's discomfort. His cheer died as he looked out at the dragon. "It's getting better." Atreus frowned, but noted that with each passing second, the dragon's movements grew smoother and smoother.

"Don't see any outstanding horns," Sora said. He smacked one of the spines on the dragon's back with his Keyblade. "And these don't look vital. Guess we're doing this your dad's way." He hurled the weapon at the left wing. It cut through the wing's flesh easily, but to their surprise, the wound healed itself instantly, not even disturbing the dragon's flight.

"Well, that's not gonna work," Sora said as his weapon appeared back in his hand.

"I got it." Atreus said as he nocked an arrow. "Auka!" he cried as he loosed the arrow into the wing, followed by two more, a large purple sigil forming from the point of impact. Sora nodded, aimed his weapon, and shot a large ball of fire at the sigil.

The resulting boom was deafening, and the dragon lurched to the side. But before Atreus and Sora could even think about leaping away, the burning wound in the wing glowed green and closed in seconds.

"Alright then." Atreus nocked another arrow. "Let's double up!" He fired three sigil arrows into the left wing, and then another three on the left. Sora shot fireballs at both wings within seconds of each other. The dragon plummeted for a few dozen feet, but like before, the wounds healed, albeit slower, and it righted itself.

Atreus was about ask for another idea, but the dragon started to tip to one side. "Hold on!" he called out as he clutched onto a spike. The dragon twirled in the air twice and bucked it's back to shove them off. Atreus did slide up the spike a little but held on. Sora was thrown off, but he just flew back down onto its back.

Sora clicked his tongue. "You saw that it took a bit longer for it to heal from those two fireballs, right?"

"It's got some sort of threshold," Atreus said with a nod. "Gotta hit more spots at once. How fast can you cast?"

Sora rubbed his chin. "Pretty fast." Then, his lips spread into a wide grin. "But I got another idea." Sora turned away from Atreus and thrust his Keyblade forward.

Two things happened in that moment. First, Sora's furs flashed white, and when the light faded, they were dyed blue, stars and runes spelling the word 'Element' printed on his sleeves and pantlegs, and a large silver star printed on the back. But what was even more shocking was what happened to his Keyblade.

The star at the blade of the weapon, and the star token at the end, expanded over ten times their initial size, the weapon itself streatching as if it were made of taffy. Then, he pulled the weapon back, splitting it apart into blocks on strings of white light. He held what was left of the hilt in both hands, and then separated his hands, each one holding an equal number of stringed-together blocks.

The blocks coalesced, and formed a pair of identical…things? Atreus had absolutely no idea what the heck they were supposed to be. They looked like tubes with handles.

"What're those?" Atreus asked in wonder.

"Arrowguns" Sora replied, spinning the weapons in his hands.

"Arrow…guns?" Atreus repeated slowly. "Like in 'guns blazing'?

"Yeah. I'll explain later." Sora spread his feet shoulder-width apart and aimed one at each wing. "Make eight sigils, and make sure that there's one where the wings meet the body." Atreus did so. "Great. You might want to get back on my head, by the way." Warily, Atreus shifted into a rat once again, and clung tightly onto Sora's hair.

Sora took a deep breath, and then shouted. "Freeze!" The tips of his Arrowguns glowed blue, and eight bolts of ice—four from each weapon—shot out from them. They soared through the air, and landed directly on the sigils, all at the same time. The wings froze, from the tips to the joints. The dragon let out an awkward yelp, and the wings snapped backwards, breaking off in frozen chunks, as it plummeted to the ground.

Sora fell too, limbs spread out to slow his descent. The dragon crashed into the jungle, crushing the trees underneath and kicking up a massive plume of dust. Then, adding further insult to injury, Sora slammed his weapon—returning to its previous blade shape in a flash of light—onto the dragon's back with a massive explosion of light.

Sora flew away from the dragon as if whimpered and writhed, Atreus jumping off and changing back to his regular shape when he landed.

Sora summoned his Arrowguns back, aiming them at the dragon. "How long do you think it'll take for your dad to get here?"

"Not long." Atreus shifted his gaze to the mountain, which was less than a mile away. "Wanna keep freezing it?"

"You read my mind!" Sora said with a chuckle. "I'll keep it distracted. Aim for the head or neck!" With those final words, Sora leapt into the air and flew towards the dragon, which had stopped its writhing and rose on unsteady limbs. Sora swung his weapons in wide arcs, arrows made of blue light firing from them and homing in on the dragon's head. It roared as the magic projectiles exploded against it and swiped its claws and snapped its jaws as Sora. Without its wings, it moved a lot like a Dreki. Just bigger and occasionally breathing fire.

For better or worse, it recognized that Sora was the bigger threat. Leaving Atreus to fire sigil arrows onto its snout. Sora flew around a wild chomp, aiming at the sigil and shooting fireballs at it. The dragon's pained roars were just barely audible over the explosions. The wounds were still healing, but much slower and less effective compared to before—while the skin closed, parts of its snout had lost its scales.

Atreus fired another three arrows at its neck, but instead of Sora's magic, Father's axe soared through the air and slammed against the sigil. Ice spread out against the left side of its neck and onto its body and face. The dragon roared, clawing at the ice and slamming against the ground to try and break the ice.

As the dragon roared, Sora flew down in front of it and held both of his weapons up high. They expanded like taffy once more, and joined together to form some sort of giant, two-handed Arrowgun, which he had to hold over his shoulder. "Try this!" he exclaimed, the front end of the weapon expanding and two rings around the tip spinning as lightning arced between them. The tip of the weapon shot forward down the dragon's throat and, after a long, tense moment, burst apart into dozens of explosions. The dragon's throat expanded with each explosion, until it became too much, and the frozen flesh burst apart, blood gushing onto the jungle floor as the dragon flopped over, dead.

Sora landed back on the ground, his furs returning to their normal color in a flash of light.

"My word!" Atreus jolted at the shout, whirling around to see Father walking forward, holding Mimir up. "That was astounding! Kratos, did you know he could do that?"

"No," Father replied as he held out his right hand, his ax flying back into it.

"Did you even ask?"

"No."

Mimir scoffed. "You see, this is why you need to include me in your otherworldly discussions! You never ask the right questions!" Father rolled his eyes in response.

Sora had jogged over to them at that point. "Hey guys! Nice throw, Kratos. Really tipped it over the edge."

Father nodded, looking at both him and Atreus with respect. "Well done," he said, and Atreus's soul bloomed with warmth. His father was far more open than he used to be, but it still made his day—his week, even—when he said those two words.

He then turned to the corpse, and smirked. "I see you went for the wings."

Sora huffed. "Got the kill by aiming for the head."

"You shoved an explosive down its throat."

"Through the mouth, on its head!" Sora declared with pride.

Atreus laughed, and only stopped when Sora and his father directed questioning stares his way. "Most people would focus on the fact that they killed a dragon, not the specific way they took it down."

Mimir snorted. "We've long established that these two don't qualify as 'most people'."

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A/N: I'm still kind of mad we didn't actually fight Baldur and his dragon at the same time in God of War (2018).