Storm Diver
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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Just as Atreus had gotten used to losing all his sense, they all came roaring back. First, he felt the tug of gravity on his body as he plummeted through the air. Then, he heard the wind rushing around him. And finally, he saw stars—countless stars—twinkling in the vast darkness.
It was beautiful.
"Atreus!"
He jolted at both his Sora's voice, and a firm hand grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "Be careful!" his friend shouted over the rushing wind. "Don't drift away like that." He could see that his father holding onto Sora's pantleg with an iron grip, Mimir, somehow, lay still against his father's hip.
"W-What's out there?"
Sora turned out towards the stars. "Other Hearts, in this World and beyond. But don't think about that right now! Focus on the Heart right below us." Atreus looked down, and once more was floored at the sight before him.
There was some sort of colorful glass platform below them. It depicted the Lyngbakr in a deep, dark abyss, with algae and barnacle-ridden chains digging into its flesh and dragging it to the surface.
"Is…Is that what a Heart's supposed to look like?" Atreus asked in awe.
"Like what?" Mimir asked. Father unhooked him from his belt and showed him the glass image—again, he did not appear to be affected by the freefall. His face fell as he took in the sight below. "Oh, it's in chains even here?!"
"The scars of slavery run deep, Mimir," Father solemnly stated.
"How can we help it?" Atreus asked Sora.
"Well, if this was like when I travelled to the Sleeping Worlds, there'd be a central Nightmare that's keeping the Lyngbakr's heart trapped in Darkness. But now that I'm looking at its Heart, there definitely isn't any sort of my usual brand of Darkness seeping into it." He hummed. "To start, we'll have to find the Lyngbakr."
"Are we not travelling to it now?" Father asked.
"We're diving into its Heart to reach its dreams," Sora said. "If we're lucky, the Lyngbakr's…conscious, I guess you could call it, will be right where we enter. But we might have to travel a bit to find it." He shifted back to grab both Atreus and his father by their shoulders. "Whatever happens, we stick together, got it? Don't go off anywhere on your own—I'm the only one that can bring us back." They all nodded—well, Mimir blinked really hard, but the sentiment was the same.
Sora took a deep breath and angled them downward. "Alright guys, brace yourselves!" They soared down the rest of the way to the image. Atreus was tempted to ask if Sora meant for them to break through the glass, but since neither his father nor Mimir seemed particularly worried, he kept his question to himself.
His worry was for nothing anyway, as instead of crashing through the glass, the dove through it as if it were made of water.
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Atreus's vision was filled with bubbles, and he became acutely aware of the water pressure closing in around him. He felt something tug his arm, and let it carry him up, up, and out of the water.
He landed on some kind of rock, and turned around to lie flat against it as he took great gulps of air, and promptly turned his head to keep rain from entering his freshly evacuated lungs. To his side he could see his father on his hands and knees, not quite gasping, but taking slower breaths than normal. Mimir spluttered and spat out far too much seawater than should have been possible for him to hold.
Sora, annoyingly enough, was perfectly fine, if wet. He even had the audacity to stare at them in confusion. "Wow, that looks bad."
Atreus coughed as he sat up. "Couldn't have spread some of that magic of yours to keep us from coughing up our lungs when you pulled us out?"
"Magic? Sora arched a brow. "I didn't pull us out. That was…something else." He stared out onto the horizon. "Might have been the Lyngbakr reacting to our presence in its Heart. Can't tell if its welcoming or not, though."
Atreus frowned at the explanation. "Doesn't explain why you're so…not drowned."
Sora scoffed. "I'm an islander, Atreus. Do you know how many times I've been blindsided by undertows or rogue waves?" He clasped his hands behind his head. "You learn to deal with it."
"He speaks true," Father said as he rose to his feet. "I have known those born on islands in Greece that have a greater sense and recovery against inadvertent and unexpected disasters at sea." He offered a hand to Atreus, who gladly took it up. "But enough about that." He peered around. "Where are we within the Lyngbakr's Heart?"
Before Sora could answer, Mimir gasped. "Oh! Oh, I know this place." Father unhooked him from his belt and held him up. Mimir cast his eyes downward, voice falling into a mournful whisper. "These are the islands where I captured the Lyngbakr for Odin. Far to the North of Niðavellir." Atreus took the opportunity to really take in their surroundings. The rock they were on was in fact a large piece of coral—sun-bleached white. In all directions there were similar outcrops of coral, leading to well-sized islands.
Now that he was looking at it, the coral was…suspiciously placed and formed, for lack of a better term. Some of them shot up out of the sea like a wall, others just peeked out over the waves in a continuous line, and those that were traditional islands were all, at the very least, the same size as the ones they were currently standing on.
He voiced his observations aloud.
"Weird, right?" Sora said with a shrug. "The Sleeping Worlds were like that too. A lot of conveniently placed architecture and objects for traversing and exploring." He grinned. "Neat, huh?"
"Not if we are unable to traverse it," Father pointed out. "The platforms are too far to jump to." He peered down at the churning water below. "And I do not wish to try our luck swimming."
Atreus peered up at the steel-gray clouds hovering overhead. He could feel the static flowing through the air. "I don't think I can fly in this."
"How are your magic platforms?" Father asked as he summoned a Draupnir spear.
"Not that good." He summoned a shaky shield under his left foot. It held for three seconds before it vanished into nothing.
"Then you shall transform into a rodent and hold onto Sora while he and I travel through the air."
"Now hold on, Brother," Mimir cut in. "If Atreus doesn't think it's a good idea to fly through the air as an animal, what makes you think you, with all your metal bits and bobs, will be any safer for you? Or me for that matter," he added under his breath.
"I have been struck by lightning on multiple occasions. I shall be fine. And you are already dead."
"That's not the point and you know it."
"Or~" Sora drew out the word with a grin. "You guys could use Flowmotion,"
They all stared at him. Mimir clicked his tongue. "Ah, yes, I recall that you mentioned you'd first learned it during your journeys through Sleeping Worlds. But is it a technique anyone can learn? Did you not journey into the Sleeping Worlds for training to use your Keyblade?"
"Yeah, but anyone can use Flowmotion. I first saw it used by Neku and his friends, and none of them could use a Keyblade or were anything other than semi-magic humans." He frowned and tilted his head to the sky. "Except for Joshua, I think. He might have been a god or something."
"One thing at a time," Atreus deadpanned. "So, you said Flowmotion works by just coating your body in magic, right?"
"It's more than that." Sora spread his arms wide. "See, this place we're in, this Dream? It's all just…magic and imagination running wild. As an outsider diving into the Dream, you can access that magic and do wonderous things."
"Like Flowmotion?" Atreus supplied.
"Yeah. Flowmotion, Reality Shifting, bonding with Dream Eaters and—!" Sora froze midsentence. Quick as a flash, Sora bent over to sift through his pockets. He pulled out one of those charms he showed them when he first arrived in Midgard, the one with the stylized heart printed on it.
He clutched it in both hands and held it tight against his chest. "C'mon, please work!" His face pinched tightly with hope, only for it to quickly fall to despair.
"…I recall you did that when we first met," Mimir said, focusing on the charm. "Something about summoning?"
Sora nodded and held out the charm for them to get a better look at it. "During my adventures, I've gained the ability to summon powerful people to help me fight. These things, the Heartbinders, are the latest way for me to do it—Master Yen Sid specifically made them to take advantage of my Heart's ability to form connections with others." He pulled out four others, each with a different symbol and color. "I figured these wouldn't work—all of these guys are currently in the Realm of Light." He held up the purple Heartbinder. "But Dream Eaters dwell within the Sleeping Worlds, in Dreams themselves."
Atreus frowned in sympathy. "You were hoping being in a Dream would make it easier push things along, regardless of the disconnect between the Realm of Light and…whatever you wanna the space that holds our World."
"Yeah," Sora said with an uncharacteristic despondency. "Stupid, huh?"
"It is not stupid to hope," Father said softly, if firm. "Hope is what guides us through uncertainty and adversity. That you maintain hope in your current situation is an admirable trait."
Sora stared up gratefully at Father. "Thanks, Kratos." He put away all but the purple Heartbinder. "Still, would have been great if this worked. The Dream Eaters…they helped me a lot, after the Mark of Mastery exam. I just wish, ah, forget it." He dropped his hands, the Heartbinders all clinking against each other.
But then, the purple Heartbinder started to float in the air.
Sora watched, mystified and transfixed with hope, as the Heartbinder was surrounded in a circle of light, soft chimes sounding from it. The light all coalesced at the top, and after a long pause, shot up into the sky.
The light punched a hole through the storm, revealing a clear blue sky.
"KYUUU!" Some…thing squealed from the sky.
Sora burst out into excited, disbelieving laughter. "Meow Wow!" he cried.
"Meow what?" Atreus said as he turned to his father and Mimir. Both men merely arched their brows.
Another cry of 'KYU' came from the sky, followed by an object rapidly falling from the heavens. Sora leapt high into the air and caught the object with a watery laugh. It was…like someone had sculpted the approximate shape of a small mammal from a wet sausage, colored it blue, white, black and yellow, and stuck a pink horn on its forehead. On its chest was the same heart-like symbol on the purple Heartbinder.
The creature—Meow Wow—yipped excitedly as it licked Sora's face with abandon.
"I missed you too!" Sora said, tears flowing down his smiling face.
"Fascinating," Mimir murmured. "So that's what a Dream Eater looks like? Rather cute, no?"
"It is certainly…colorful," Father replied neutrally.
Atreus would have added his opinion, had a cacophony of roars, barks, growls, and all sorts of noises not sounded from above. He looked up, and staggered back as more colorful creatures, shaped similar to, but not quite like, normal animals—and some not-so-normal animals, like dragons—flew down from the sky. Sora's joyous laughter renewed with abandon as he was swarmed by Dream Eaters.
"My word!" Mimir exclaimed in awe. "Look at them all! There must be hundreds of them!"
Father hummed. "It would appear that Sora has an army at his command."
"An army that loves him," Atreus added as every Dream Eater did their damndest to hug, pet, lick, or otherwise touch Sora. He could feel the sheer affection they had for him roll off them in waves, seep into his bones and lift his own mood.
"The best kind," Father replied, a somber air overtaking his form. "Soldiers that will lay down their lives for love and respect of their commander are capable of great feats."
"Aye." Mimir bobbed in place. "Thankfully, Odin was only able to instill such genuine emotions in a handful of his followers, otherwise Ragnarök may have ended very differently." He grimaced. "Can you imagine if there were more of Gná's ilk running around?"
"I will not."
Sora eventually pulled himself away from the…herd—Gaggle? Flock? Colony?—of Dream Eaters, just as the storm clouds covered the newly opened hole in the sky, pelting them with rain once more. Not that it stopped a dozen of them from latching onto Sora's clothes or hanging off of his body—though given the ease with which he moved, they didn't weigh anything.
"Oh, man!" Sora said with an infectious glee as he hugged Meow Wow—or one of them, at least. Each Dream Eater has at least a dozen similar, if differently colored, copies. "I…I didn't dare dream that I'd ever see them again."
"Suppose they sufficiently ate up that Dream, eh?" Mimir teased.
Atreus snickered at the lame joke. "Still," he said, looking at Sora with a smile, "I'm glad you found at least some part of your old life. And hey, maybe they can help your friends find out how to reach you!"
Sora's face fell slightly, and he hugged Meow Wow harder—enough to make the thing squeak. "Honestly, I doubt it. Out of everyone, only Master Yen Sid and Riku really know, or care, enough about Dream Eaters. But neither of them bonded with them as much as I have." He huffed. "I'm actually a little disappointed in Riku—he became a Dream Eater himself! The least he could have done is keep in touch with them!"
"Worry about that later," Father cut in. "While this is a boon for you, Sora, we must focus on assisting the Lyngbakr."
"Oh, they can help!" Sora said with a smile as the previously parted clouds slowly reclaimed the hole in the sky the Dream Eaters had torn open. He set Meow Wow down and whistled loudly. Immediately, the Dream Eaters all stood at attention. "Listen up! We're inside the dreams of a whale called a Lyngbakr. It's hurting a lot, and my friends and I want to help ease that hurt. To make this faster, can you guys help us find it?" The Dream Eaters all cried out as one, pride and duty washing over Atreus like a wave.
Sora nodded. "Great!. Oh, and one more thing!" He turned to Atreus, Father, and Mimir. "You guys should pick out a Dream Eater partner."
"We can do that?" Atreus asked.
"Of course!" Sora walked over to one Dream Eater—a sort of bipedal bear—and pat its stomach. "Dream Eater Spirits are guardians for everyone. And by bonding with them, they can share some of their strength and abilities, and make your stronger."
Father grunted. "I doubt we will be able to 'bond' with these creatures sufficiently enough to make use of their abilities during our one venture."
"Maybe so." Sora grinned. "But I've bonded with all these guys, and I've bonded with you, so those bonds can just transfer from me to you!"
"Is that how that works?" Mimir asked.
"Probably."
Mimir snorted. "Well, it's worth a shot, no?"
"Atreus?" Father turned towards him.
Atreus grinned. "What, you think I'm going to turn down this chance?"
"…No, of course not," Father said with an amused huff as he turned to the assembled creatures. They relaxed their discipline, content to laze about and converse with each other.
Atreus walked into the crowd, in awe at the colorful, not-quite animals before him. For some reason, he couldn't understand their 'speech' like he could with normal animals, or even other magic creatures. He wondered if it had anything to do with the sheer otherworldly nature—literally—of Dream Eaters.
Still, one creature stood out to him. A four-legged, two-armed, upright insect with a large blue, red and orange horn—that had a hole on the tip, for some reason—it's body and limbs colored blue and green. Its eyes were…strange; no eyelids to speak off, shaped like an almond, and with three lines inside its eyes instead of pupils.
The Dream Eater—previously jousting with another beetle-like Dream Eater but with two horns and colored red—took notice of Atreus. It shuffled over to him, and gently poked his belly with its horn.
Atreus cleared his throat. "Uh…hey there?" The Dream Eater waved. "So…You're one of Sora's Dream Eaters, huh?" The Dream Eater stood taller, and unmistakable sense of pride emanating from its form. "Cool, cool…Would you mind, uh, joining me?"
The beetle scuttled around Atreus, eyeing him up. He must have spent a solid minute standing still so this thing could inspect him. When it finished, it shrugged—shrugged!—and nodded. If not for the sheer novelty of the experience, he'd be insulted at the disregard from an oversized bug.
Atreus led the Dream Eater out from the throng back to Sora. His friend perked up upon seeing them. "Oh, KO Kabuto! Great choice, very defensive. They like hanging back and shooting at things like you do, Atreus."
Atreus stared at the now-named Dream Eater's horn. "Oh, that's what the hole is for!" KO Kabuto crossed its arms and held its horn up with pride. "Some sort of ballista?"
"No, a canon."
"…What's a canon?"
"A mortal invention—though one that may not yet exist in this World," Father cut in from behind them. "A long-range weapon that can fire a variety of types of ammunition. Mostly, the kind that explode."
They turned around, and Atreus whistled at the sight of the Dream Eater Father had chosen. It had the body shape of a big cat—like a lion—but lacked a mane. It had massive fangs, though, accompanied by razor-sharp claws, a pair of sharp horns on its head, and a sharp, segmented tail.
"Ooh, a Keeba Tiger!" Sora clapped. "Nice choice, Kratos! He'll help boost your strength, on top of just mauling things." He peered around Father. "Where's Mimir?"
"He asked that I leave him alone with the Dream Eaters," Father replied. "He wished to provide both of us privacy." The Keeba Tiger purred and leaned into Father's hand. With great reluctance, Father pet its head. "Are these creatures always so…affectionate?" he asked.
"Yeah," Sora replied as he clasped his hands behind his head. "But only when there's downtime. Trust me, when exploring or in battle, they're all business." He side-eyed a couple of strange-looking birds with cloths draped around their necks. "Well…most of them."
Atreus peered down at KO Kabuto. "So, how do we fight alongside these guys anyway?"
Sora shrugged. "Mostly, they just do their own thing. But after fighting for a bit, Dream Eaters will have stored up enough power in themselves. Then, you can pull off Link Attacks."
"Like the Team Attacks we can pull off?"
"Pretty much, Atreus." Sora nodded blandly at Father. "And don't worry, Kratos. You can choose whether or not you want to do it." Father grunted appreciatively, though he did eye the Keeba Tiger as he continued to pet it.
Suddenly, there was a great commotion from behind them, and Atreus heard Mimir shout as something shot up from the crowd of Dream Eaters.
"Ahaha!" The talking head hollered in the grips of a giant, colorful owl—that had a horn and large ears, for some reason. "Look at me, lads! I'm flying!"
Sora grinned at the sight. "Peepsta Hoo, excellent choice!" The owl flew down to them, and deposited Mimir in Father's waiting hand. "They're smart like you, Mimir. Hanging back and gathering information on foes before casting devasting magic."
He placed his hands on his shoulders and turned to the assembled Dream Eaters. "Alright guys!" He pumped his fist in the air. "Let's help the Lyngbakr!" His declaration was met with a cacophony of roars, and the Dream Eaters—save for the one's they'd chosen, and the original Meow Wow—all vanished into the sea or sky.
Sora turned to them. "Ok, now all that's left is to teach you guys Flowmotion!"
Atreus and Father nodded. "You said it was something like a layer of magic over your body?" the latter stated.
"Yup!" Sora grinned at the Dream Eaters. "It's similar kind of magic to what Dream Eaters use too." He bent down and picked up Meow Wow. "Grab onto your Dream Eaters, and just let them guide you into it."
Atreus and his father did so, both placing their hands on their Dream Eaters' heads. Immediately, he could sense the magic Sora was talking about. It was…utterly foreign. Not like his Father's Blades of Chaos, or the magics he'd witnessed—and endured—during his travels outside the Eight Realms. Whatever magic the Dream Eaters used, it didn't belong in this World.
Yet, despite that, it didn't feel wrong. It was almost comforting, in fact.
"Alright!" Sora's sudden cheer broke Atreus out of his stupor. "You did it!"
Atreus looked down at his body, in awe at the soft pink energy coating his body. It vanished in an instant, but he could still feel it, buzzing beneath the surface of his skin. Begging for release.
"Why does your Flowmotion appear blue, but ours is pink?" Father asked as he flexed his fingers. "Does it denote mastery?"
"Nah, that's just how Flowmotion looks when used outside of Dreams." Atreus nodded, recalling that he'd said that the Flowmotion he'd previously shown them was a less powerful version.
"How do we use it?" Atreus asked.
"Just coat yourself in the energy, and it'll do the rest. Watch!" Sora turned to the sea. He leapt high into the air—no pink energy coating his form—and landed on a thin strip of coral peeking out from the sea. When he landed, the pink energy of Flowmotion coated his body, and two small orbs of light circled his body. He leaned forward and slid along the rock like it was made of ice. When he reached the end of the thin platform, he leapt off it, far higher than Atreus had previously seen, and landed on a flat rock formation far away.
The energy vanished as he landed. He turned around and cupped his hands over his mouth, but whatever he had to say was lost to the storm.
"How simple," Mimir drawled. "But what about the Dream Ea—" At the moment, Meow Wow vanished in a puff of smoke, and reappared at Sora's side. "…Well, that answer's that."
Atreus sighed. "No time like the present, right?"
"Can you make the initial leap?" Father asked.
Atreus gauged the distance. "…Yeah." He nodded. "Yeah, I can make it." He did, however, step back to the platform for a running start. His Father and Mimir stared on in confidence—though his father couldn't quite hide the worry he felt.
He took a deep breath and broke off into a sprint. When he reached the edge of the platform, he leapt high into the air. He called upon the Flowmotion energy as he reached the apex of his jump, and frighteningly enough, felt his body shift in the air. But before he could truly panic, he saw that he was moving towards the raised coral. If he'd followed his previous trajectory, he would have hit the water. When he landed, his body automatically adjusted to balance as he slid forward on the coral. And upon hitting the edge, his legs automatically bent, and propelled him through the air, and onto the platform Sora waited on.
He stared at Sora with a wide-eyed, astonished expression. "Th-That was amazing!"
"Yup."
"It's like my body just…knew what it needed to do!"
"Yup."
"You feel this whenever you use Flowmotion?"
"Only in Dreams." Sora clasped his hands behind his head. "Using it in the Waking World requires actual thinking about when and where you want to use it. You'll get the hang of it."
Atreus chuckled as he looked down at his hands. He then paused and looked up at Sora just as his father and Mimir—and their Dream Eaters—landed beside them.
"Woo!" Mimir exclaimed. "That was a rush!"
"Indeed," Father said, looking down at his body as the glow of Flowmotion vanished. "This shall prove useful for traversal."
"Wait, wait!" Atreus walked up to Sora. "Sora, we'll be able to use Flowmotion outside of this dream, like you can?" Father perked up at the question.
Sora chuckled. "Only if you practice." He then leapt high into the air and dashed forward in the air. The glow of Flowmotion returned as he landed against a wall of coral, and he bounced off it and against others like a ball as he travelled to the nearest island.
Atreus and his father exchanged arched brows. Atreus broke first by running to the edge of the platform. "Race ya!" he shouted as he leapt in the air, eager to put this new technique to the paces.
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A/N: I wrestled a lot with whether or not I wanted to include Dream Eaters. I decided to do so because I wanted to give Sora a win.
