Friends in My Heart

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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Mimir, appropriately enough, finished his tale of the torture he inflicted on the Lyngbakr just as they passed through the portal to Svartalfheim in Tyr's temple. Sora was silent for as they walked through the hilly roads to Niðavellir, small groups of dwarves travelling along the roads as well parting for them like a hot knife through butter. Atreus, for his part, didn't mind the silence. On top of wanting to let the Lyngbakr's story settle within Sora's, being in Svartalfheim…it reminded Atreus of Sindri. And Brok. Reminded him how he lost the two—one to Odin's cruelty, another to his own callousness—leading up to Ragnarök.

It was why he didn't come to Svartalfheim outside of occasionally coming to see the Lyngbakr with Mimir.

"Mimir," Sora eventually said as Niðavellir came into view, off in the distance. "…I-I don't know what to—well, I can think of a lot of things to say."

"Oh, lad, I promise it's nothing I haven't spat at myself!" Mimir lamented.

Sora wore a pensive frown. "…So, you only come visit once a year, then? Before Ragnarök?"

"Oh, no, I come every few months," Mimir replied. "But…this is the day I finally did what I could to atone for what I'd done to that poor creature." He scoffed. "Of course, it's only because we were in Svartalfheim searching for Tyr that I even mentioned it. Not as if I ever tried anything before then."

"Before then we stayed in Midgard for fear of reprisal from Asgard for the deaths of Baldur, Magni, and Modi," Father gruffly, if kindly, replied. "And before that, you had spent a century bound to a tree. You took the first opportunity presented to you, if a late one, to make amends. There is no shame in that."

Mimir cleared his throat. "That's…that's very kind of you, Brother."

"It is the truth," Father sincerely replied. Mimir cleared his nonexistence throat, blinking away tears.

Sora let out a breath and clasped his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes. "The Lyngbakr's just outside the dwarf's capital city, right? To the…what, north? Well, northwest of us, specifically."

"Th—That's completely right," Atreus said, nonplussed. Even Father paused to look over his shoulder at Sora. "How did you…?"

"I can feel it," Sora stopped and placed a hand over his chest. "It's…it's Heart is in pain. It's not a sharp, instant hurt, but a slow, steady trauma. The kind that's been building up for years."

"You can feel that?" Atreus asked. "From this far away?"

Sora nodded slowly, somber. "Yeah. It's faint, and I wouldn't know to look for it if I didn't already know the Lyngbakr was in pain, but I can definitely feel it."

Atreus and Mimir goggled—Father merely grunted and turned forward. "That's astounding!" Mimir exclaimed. "Such a great range of empathic abilities is unheard of! In these lands, at least."

"The closest I can think of is the soul magics Giants like me can use," Atreus added. "But even then, we need to be pretty close to hear even a whisper." He gestured to Sora. "Is this a common ability among Keyblade Wielders?"

Sora hummed and tilted his head up to the sky. "Kind of? All the Keyblade Wielders I've met, even the bad ones, have a sense for how Hearts feel." He removed his hands from his head and pressed one hand against his chest. "But the sheer depth that I can feel, I've been told, outstrips any other Keyblade Wielder ever seen."

"Rather impressive," Mimir noted.

"It has its ups and downs," Sora replied evenly. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to help anyone that needs it. But…if I'm not careful, it can backfire on me."

"How so?"

"Well…I've mentioned that Ventus's Heart was resting within my own before, right?"

"It's come up once or twice," Mimir blandly replied. "I assume you're going to explain what exactly that means?"

Sora nodded. "See, about fifteen, maybe sixteen years ago, Ven was Xehanort's apprentice, and he did some horrible experiment that ended up destroying Ven's Heart by extracting all the Darkness within it."

"To what end?"

"I…don't know." Sora frowned. "See, from what Ven vaguely remembers, Xehanort originally wanted to draw out Ven's inner darkness through a 'training exercise'." The pure disdain in Sora's voice would have put Baldur's hatred of Freya to shame. "After it failed, I guess he wanted to try and salvage something from his abuse. Anyway, after that, Ventus was in a coma, and slowly dying. So Xehanort, in what might be the only kind act he's ever committed, took Ven to Destiny Islands to die in peace."

"Destiny Islands?" Atreus repeated. "Your home World?"

"It's Xehanort's home too."

They all stilled at the blasé declaration. Father looked over his shoulder once more. "You and Xehanort share a homeland?" he asked incredulously.

"Yup. I actually grew up hearing stories about him as this legendary boy who had managed to leave the Islands for other Worlds—well, I never knew it was him, no one ever gave a name. It's what helped inspire me, Kairi, and Riku to leave ourselves." Sora let out a breath. "And oh boy, was it a shock to find out he was the person we'd all looked up to for years!"

Sora sighed. "Xehanort took Ven to the Islands, and then something amazing happened. Ven's broken Heart made contact with the pure, light-filled Heart of a newborn, and that newborn Heart offered a piece of itself to help Ven heal his own."

"That was you," Mimir stated, to which Sora smiled. "You're telling us that your freshly born Heart just…helped some broken stranger of its own accord?"

"Well, according to Sora's legends, it was the Hearts of children that restored the universe after the Keyblade War," Atreus replied. "Healing an almost dead person sounds like a lot less effort."

"It could still have gone wrong, could it not?" Father asked. "In your attempt to heal Ventus, could his damage have not spread to you?"

Sora clicked his tongue and wagged a finger at Father. "Now, now, no skipping ahead of the story!" he teased. "But honestly, if that had been our only interaction, I doubt anything would have come to it."

"Except sometime later, you sheltered Ventus's Heart within your own," Mimir concluded.

Sora nodded solemnly. "That Darkness Xehanort extracted from Ven? It shaped itself into a person, which Xehanort called Vanitas. Even back then, Xehanort wanted to craft the X-Blade, but he didn't want to gather thirteen beings of Darkness and seven of Light at that point. Instead, he thought that waiting for Ven and Vanitas—who, after the split, became beings of pure Light and pure Darkness, respectively—to grow stronger and enter a climactic clash would satisfy the conditions to form a X-Blade." He grimaced. "And it did…kind of."

"Kind of?!" Mimir was incredulous. "How can you 'kind of' recreate a weapon of mass destruction, and not either succeed or blow everything to smithereens?"

Sora shrugged. "The way Ven told it, in order for the X-Blade to have properly been forged following their clash, he and Vanitas had to fully merge back into one being. One mind, one body, one Heart. They started to, but Ven fought back, and the ensuing battle within their freshly conjoined Heart shattered it completely, and took the would-be X-Blade along with it."

"And you two found each other again," Father intoned.

"Yeah," Sora said with a soft smile. "I must've been…around four years old. I don't remember it, but Ven told me that he traced this…warmth held deep within his Heart and found me, waiting at the other end and ready to help him at the drop of a hat." His smile brightened. "Can you imagine? He was I don't even know how many Worlds away, with no way of telling how exactly what was on the end of our connection, but he had this…this faith that I'd be able to help him again."

"Sounds like it was faith well-placed," Atreus remarked.

Sora snorted. "You're telling me. He spent the next ten years resting within my Heart after that day. Healing, and waiting until I was finally able to return his Heart back to his body."

"…You know, it did not occur to me what would have happened to his body if his Heart lay within yours," Mimir noted. "I assume it was put under some sort of protection, lest it decay."

"Well, Master Aqua did secure Ven in this place called the Chamber of Waking within Castle Oblivion, but even without it I think Ven's body would have been fine."

"I have known men to waste into nothing mere weeks into a coma without proper care," Father stated. "What would make Ventus's situation different?"

"Well, after Xehanort messed with his Heart, Ven was left with a Heart of pure Light, like a Princess of Heart. And when all of them lost their Hearts thanks to Ansem and Maleficent wanted to unlock the Final Keyhole in Hollow Bastion and create the Door to Darkness and unlock Kingdom Hearts, their bodies entered this sort of stasis. I think Aurora lost her Heart first, at least ten years prior, and when she got her Heart back, she was right as rain. Walking and talking and everything." Sora hummed. "And Kairi lost her Heart—well, she gave it up to me for safety, but same thing—and was set adrift after Destiny Islands fell to Darkness before Riku found her. And same as Aurora; she got her Heart back and was healthy as a horse." He shrugged. "And as soon as Ven got his Heart back he was all set to attack Vanitas, so yeah, it's probably the same thing."

Atreus, his father, and Mimir all exchanged tired looks. "…You gonna explain any of that?" the former asked.

"Which part?" Sora replied with a cheeky smile. "There's a lot."

Mimir huffed. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sora declared with a bright smile. He sobered seconds after. "All this is to say that, from a very young age, my Heart sought out and mended those in pain. After Ventus, I held Kairi within my Heart for a few months, and then about a year after that Roxas, and Xion, found shelter there." Atreus was glad the Sora had briefly explained the Roxas and Xion thing back home, otherwise Mimir's brain—to say nothing of his own—would have probably melted from the contextless overflow of information. "But that's just the direct connections I have. My Heart can also trace the connections between myself and those I know, taking in a little of their hurt as I do my part to mend it."

Mimir clicked his tongue. "Ah, I see it now. A particularly clever bastard could force pain onto you, couldn't they?"

Sora grimaced. "A few months ago, I took part in the Mark of Mastery exam—a test designed to separate ordinary Keyblade Wielders from true Masters. But Xehanort sabotaged the test, and slowly broke me down using the Darkness within my own Dreams. If I was a regular person, with just my own Heart and no special ability to connect with others, then maybe I would have been okay, you know?" He stopped walking and looked down at his hands. "But while I was in the World that Never Was and getting led by the nose by Xigbar and Xemnas, the lines between myself, Ventus, Roxas, and Xion started to blur. Their hurt mixed together with mine and made it so much easier for Xehanort to pull me to the brink of death. He practically destroyed my Heart, to make room for him to shove a piece of his own in my body to make me one of his Vessels for the Keyblade War."

"I see," Mimir repleid sagely. Atreus sent him a dubious look. "I do!" he protested. "Things are finally making sense, as far as Sora's concerned. Why, I'm positive I can extrapolate the reason why Sora's standing before us now, despite his Heart, as he put it, being all but destroyed." Mimir sniffed. "Sora, you explained that due to Roxas having unlocked the ability to wield two separate Keyblades—however that came to be—once his Heart entered your own, you inherited the ability?" Sora nodded. "Then, it stands to reason, the people held within your Heart bore some form of influence over you, right?"

Sora smirked. "Yup. It usually came out as intense emotions, but Roxas, at least, once dragged me into the depths of my own Heart to fight me for control of my body."

Mimir so desperately wanted to question that statement, Atreus could tell, but in the end his desire to regain some semblance of his claim to being the Smartest Man Alive won through. "There we go! Why, Roxas, Xion, and Ventus must have used their influence to keep your Heart from being completely shattered after this Xehanort fellow's machinations."

"It was entirely Ventus, actually." Sora replied. "Opposite what happened when I was four, he enclosed my nearly shattered Heart within his own, at that point basically fully healed Heart. Of course, at the time we didn't know that that's what happened. When Riku told us about how he fought some Nightmare-infected armor to restore my Heart after diving into it with the Power of Waking, Master Yen Sid and King Mickey told us that's what Ventus's Keyblade Armor looked like. But they just assumed it was the shape the Darkness within my Heart took the shape of, like how Riku turned into a Dream Eater to enter my dreams at the start of the Mark of Mastery exam in the first place."

Atreus didn't mean to, but the sheer speed in which Mimir's face—which was previously alight with pride—fell into bewildered despair made him burst into laughter.

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After Sora once more shattered Mimir's self-esteem, the talking head fell silent, even after they entered Niðavellir. Probably trying to untangle Riku becoming a 'Dream Eater', whatever that meant. Thinking on it, Mimir repeatedly ramming his horns into the utter insanity that was Sora's life probably wasn't healthy. But if it distracted him from his guilt over his crimes against the Lyngbakr, Atreus considered it a good thing.

Of course, being able to put his worry for Mimir aside left Atreus free to delve into his own regrets. How Brok died because of him. How he'd taken Sindri for granted and destroyed his life. He missed them both, so much. But Brok was gone, forever, and Sindri…if he never wanted to even breath the same air as Atreus again, he'd understand. He hadn't even gone to Brok's funeral because he knew Sindri wouldn't want him there.

He just wished for the chance to talk with him, at least once. One last chance to repair the bond between them.

"Atreus." The young god startled at his father's voice. He looked to his side as his father laid a soft hand on his shoulder. "Are you well?" he whispered, to not attract Sora's attention—not that they would, given how the young man was excitedly darting around to take everything in and greet bewildered dwarves, most of whom stared at him instead of continuing on with their days.

Atreus swallowed the lump in his throat. "I am, Father." He looked out towards the city, and the dwarves living their lives. "Just…regretting some things." Father said nothing—the look in his eyes told Atreus he was having similar thoughts.

"I think we've all got our fair share of regrets today, Lad," Mimir said. "And travelling the long way through Svartalfheim isn't helping anything." He huffed. "If only the World Tree didn't want to tear Sora limb from limb."

"I do miss the Mystic Gateways," Atreus agreed.

Father, after giving Atreus a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, grunted. "There is nothing wrong with walking to one's destination."

"But it's awful tiring to walk from one Realm to another, even you must admit," Mimir said.

Atreus and his father arched their brows at the talking head. "You can't even walk," the former stated.

"You think getting jostled against your father's waist for hours on end is a picnic?"

"Compared to actually walking for hours on end? Yes," Atreus bluntly replied, a laugh bubbling up his throat.

"You both lack stamina," Father cut in, amused. He gestured ahead. "Look at Sora," he said, as the young man in question stood up on a railing to get a better look at some buildings across a waterway, a dwarf couple hastily dragging their children away before they could reach out touch him. "He does not complain, and he is covered in furs."

"Sora's magic," Atreus said with a dismissive wave.

"You are a god," Father deadpanned.

"It's different!"

"Is it not."

"Hey, guys!" Sora popped up from behind them—when did he get behind them?—and draped his arms over their shoulders. He ended up hanging above the ground by at least half a foot. "This place is amazing! I don't think I've ever seen such amazing craftsmanship!"

Father gruffly, if gently, pushed Sora off—Atreus let him stay as he used wind magic to maintain his balance. "Niðavellir is an impressive city," he admitted. "The dwarves are able craftsman."

"'Able craftsmen'," Mimir said with a good-natured scoff. "That's an understatement if I've ever heard one. There's a reason why, even back when Niðavellir was little more than a handful of communal lodges, Odin wanted the dwarves under his thumb."

"He coveted their skills even back then?" Father asked.

"Aye, he did." Mimir hummed. "Of course, the dwarves have always been stubborn, so it's not like they would have just rolled over and did his bidding. But he was already in hot water with the Vanir and Giants, so he let them be for a time." He sighed. "And then I entered the picture and helped subjugate them to curry Odin's favor."

Sora tilted his head at Mimir. "You've really got a lot of regrets, don't you?"

"Oh, I've a long list of sins, lad," Mimir morosely replied. "Rare is the day I don't curse myself for my past selfishness."

Sora frowned, for a long moment. "Well, it's like I told Kratos, I don't know about who you were years ago, but I like who you are now!"

Mimir sniffed. "That's mighty kind of you, Sora. More than I deserve."

"Ah-ah-ah!" Sora leaned down to face Mimir—and let go of Atreus before he could force his spine to bend at an unnatural angle, thankfully. "None of that! You made some mistakes and are working towards fixing them. Of course, you deserve some goodwill and faith."

Mimir darted his gaze to the dwarves around them. "…There are some here that may disagree with you, but I get what you mean. Thank you, truly."

"What're friends for?" Sora cheerfully declared, before something caught his attention and he bound towards it.

"He really is remarkably chipper, isn't he?" Mimir remarked in wonder. "Consoling a daft old fool one moment and marveling at some old waterwheel the next." He chuckled. "Of course, considering—"he stopped himself and looked around at the dwarves around them—"…his profession…I suppose someone that faced everything with that sort of honest wonder would make an ideal…employee."

"It would make things easier," Father agreed. "My own…travels were made much more complicated due to my past belligerence."

"Is that a fact?" Atreus asked, only slightly teasing. Father fondly rolled his eyes with a huff but didn't respond.

They continued through the city in comfortable silence, with the odd 'Ooh!' and 'Wow!' from Sora. Then, finally, they reached the docks. Where they spied a familiar face.

"Ræb!" Atreus called out. The tavern owner turned away from a cart of food being offloaded from a boat and waved at them.

"Hey everyone!" Ræb jogged over and gave them a sad smile. "That time of year already, huh?"

"That it is," Mimir replied evenly. Ræb nodded, and though he did his best to hide it, kept giving Sora a side-eye.

Eventually, the young man in question arched a brow and pointed to himself. "Uh, is there something on my face?"

Ræb chuckled. "Nah, more like on your chest." He gestured to Sora's furs. "That's…some kind of magic."

Atreus frowned. "You can tell?"

Ræb shrugged. "I am a dwarf. Just because I don't have the talent of a smith doesn't mean I can't eke out an enchanted object, same as everyone else." It was at that moment that Atreus realized that the surrounding dwarves had all stopped what they were doing and were staring at them. At Sora.

A few of them looked at him like he was a slab of meat.

Sora noticed them too and gulped. "Should, uh…Should I be worried?"

"Nah." Ræb rubbed his nose. "Lúnda called dibs—you know, after Durlin teased out the origins of those strange pieces of jewelry she had on her."

"She did, huh?" Sora smirked and clasped his hands behind his head. "She get any closed to figuring out how they tick?"

"Not even." Ræb chuckled. "She told me that part of her wants to figure it out before Sindri comes here for supplies, and the other can't wait to show them to him."

Atreus and his father exchanged alarmed glances. "Sindri still has not come for his supplies?" the latter asked.

Ræb sighed. "No one's seen hide or tail of him for a good couple months now. I mean, we all know what this week means to him but…" he grew silent for a long moment, before clicking his tongue. "Ah, he'll be fine. He's sad, not stupid," he tried to chuckle, but it came out as a nervous wheeze. "Well, I won't keep you. Just grab any of the canoes you see, no one'll mind."

"It would not matter if they did," Father said as he walked towards one of the aforementioned canoes.

Ræb just laughed as he walked away. "Ah, never change, Kratos!"

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"So…slight problem," Atreus said as they all stood in front of a canoe. A canoe just too small for all of them to ride.

"I can swim beside you," Sora said, already prepared to dive into the water.

"You can keep up with a canoe?" Father asked.

"If I use my Keyblade as a propeller…Hey now…" Sora stared down at his hands.

"What is it, lad?" Mimir asked.

Sora frowned. "Well, all that talk about Ven's got me thinking…" he trailed off, and summoned a Keyblade, this one appearing within a series of bright, teal cubes. The blade looked nothing like a blade, more a splatter of black cubes with vaguely sharp edges. The shaft, which opened up to reveal the black cubes, and the handle were made out of this strangely smooth, shiny red material, with a yellow, wide smiling face connecting the two. Each half of the handle had a pair of different accessories attached to it, the top half bore this strange, blue-ish, see-through film, and the bottom half had some sort of large, curved cones. Oddly, there was a pair of concentric red and yellow circles at the bottom joint of the hilt that didn't match anything else. The Keyblade's token, attached with oddly colored, orbs of a chain, compared to all the mess that was the weapon itself, was a plain white smiling face with some sort of accessories on its head and sides.

All-in-all, Atreus had no idea what the heck he was looking at.

"Say hello to Nanogear!" Sora said with a grin.

Mimir, who Father had brought up to observe the new weapon, hummed inquisitively. "What's all that shiny…material made of?"

"Some sort of fancy science stuff. I know that the black bits are nanobots, and I think the orbs on the keychain are supposed to be Honey Lemon's chem-ball thingies. The little circle at the base of the hilt is one of Gogo's discs. Those blue bits at the top of the hilt are some kinda plasma like Wasabi's blades." He shrugged. "But I've got no idea what this plasticky stuff is supposed to be. You know, aside from whatever magic metal all Keyblades are made of." He snapped his finger. "Oh, wait! This is supposed to be Baymax's armor!" He chuckled and lightly smacked his own head. "Duh!"

"Well, I've got no idea what any of that meant," Mimir grumbled. As one, he and Atreus looked up at Father.

Father sighed. "Let us be off before we gain even more of a crowd." Indeed, the surrounding dwarves, who were at least pretending to not notice them before, were now blatantly staring at Sora.

It was not helped by Sora's next actions.

He stepped to the edge of the dock and drew his arm back. With a sharp grunt, he lobbed his Keyblade into the air. The red 'plasticky stuff' extended forward and enclosed the black cubes. The handle of the Keyblade at least tripled in size, the top half of the handle extending outward, the blue bits glowing brightly and extending to cover the closed blade. The bottom half's pair had bent slightly downward, and just before Sora's transformed Keyblade could sink into the water, bright purple flames shot out from them, letting the Keyblade hover just above the water's surface.

"Alright!" Sora cheered as he leapt onto the weapon. "It worked!"

Atreus had a million questions. But the sudden onslaught of hungry leers from the dwarves around them quelled whatever curiosity he had.

"We should get going!" Atreus said as he leapt onto the canoe. Father grunted in agreement, and after handing Mimir over to Atreus, plopped onto the canoe and shoved off, Sora flying right beside them.

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A/N: We were robbed of a hoverboard in KH3. Don't get me wrong, I like Nanogear. But I would have vastly preferred if Sora used it like a hoverboard for its Formchange.