It was familiar yet unfamiliar.
In his first time in this place, he had barely had a moment to experience it before he had been whisked away somewhere else. And had never experienced a place that felt as alien as everywhere else he had been in this world. From Greece to Mount Olympus, to the scrublands of Turkey, to the tundra of Siberia, the great Pacific Ocean, the glamour and dilapidation of California, the dangers of Tornado Alley, the dismal dreariness of England. It had all been fascinating in its own way. But on coming back here... It felt absurd to think it, but it almost felt like home. For being a literal world away, it felt like he was right back in Midgard.
Maybe because from a certain point of view, he was.
"This is inappropriate."
And he even got to see a familiar face.
The valkyrie Rossweisse was as frustratable as ever. Atreus' polite and even cheerful greeting for the first person he met in this world was met with cool politeness at best.
"You understand how out of line this request was, yes?" she asked. "We have an agreement in place. The Norse pantheon, Asgardian and Vanir, don't interfere with Midgard so long as no one else interferes with Midgard. Just asking to come here at all is a violation of–"
"Yes, yes, but Hermes cleared everything with Odin didn't he? Everything is fine. There's no need to worry."
"Do I sound worried? I'm annoyed!"
"No need for that either!" the god of strength argued with cheer while casually dismissing the valkyrie's feelings. "Unless you have a problem with a young man attempting to understand his place in this crazy, topsy-turvy world."
"Rrrrgh!"
"I'm sorry, Rossweisse," Atreus said, both for the imposition and for Kratos' being... Himself. "I just... Need to know where I came from. I guess you looked at the thing that I landed in?"
The silver-haired woman sighed, finding herself unable to stay angry at the younger of the two Olympians. "From what Lord Odin could tell, there wasn't much to look at. By all evidence, it was a ball made of interlocking branches of a very strong wood. Strong enough that only whatever struck it managed to break it open."
"Understandable," Kratos mused, rubbing his chin. "It did land hard enough to leave a crater, didn't it?"
"It did," the valkyrie agreed. "But that wasn't what broke it open. We could estimate the force of that impact and acting on it with the same force did absolutely nothing. Something hit it far, far harder before it landed. An amount of force that we've struggled to replicate."
That was information more interesting than useful. Though it told Atreus that his survival to land was somewhere between lucky and miraculous. "Did you figure out anything else?"
The woman hesitated for a half second before answering. "The wood had similar yet different properties to Yggdrasil."
"Your 'World Tree'," Kratos translated. "Atreus, you didn't say you lived in Midgard with your mother and adoptive father?"
Accusatory, questioning eyes turned Atreus' way. "Is that so?"
"Uh, yeah." He really didn't want to be questioned on this. Not with someone who could conceivably poke holes in his story. "We lived in the woods."
"Don't be so modest, boy! You journeyed across the realm to scatter your mother's ashes! You went on daring adventures, even felled a dragon! What was its name? Hra... Hray...?"
Rossweisse sniffed in amusement. Thankfully Kratos' boasting had made it seem like Atreus had been telling tall tales. "Hraesvelgr?"
"No, that wasn't it, but it was close to that. What was it, boy?"
Atreus scratched his cheek. He couldn't refuse on being prompted so directly and Kratos was close enough that he would recognise a lie. "I don't know if it was a name, but there was a warning that said 'Hraezlyr'."
"Terror. How cute."
"Do you doubt my son's word?" Kratos asked, not quite sounding threatening, but there was a certain edge to his tone.
"It's fine!" Atreus insisted. "We're not here so people think I'm impressive. I just want to know where I came from, how I got here." And if he could get home.
Rossweisse sighed. "Fine. Here we go." A glyph lit up under her feet and instantly took them from one place to another. Woods turning to a low mountainside with a conspicuous divot carved into the rock. "There it is. Where you first arrived from wherever you came from. Do as you will. I'll be watching until you're ready to leave."
Kratos snorted. "Norse hospitality has nothing on Hestia. Come, boy."
Descending to the crater, there was nothing immediately obvious to glean from it. Save for the likely direction he fell based on the single impact point on a slope. But even that wasn't particularly useful information. The world turned, and so Atreus could have come from any number of places. It could be said that such information narrowed down the trajectory from literally anywhere to anywhere on a circle around the world. But that only lowered the possibilities from infinite to nigh incalculable. And that was ignoring the more mystical possibilities that were in truth more likely than the mundane.
"So..." Kratos said, arms folded behind his head, clearly already bored. "Pretty big hole, eh? Quite a landing."
"Yeah," Atreus answered, focusing as he put together what analytical magic he had developed with Melinoé's help. The impact crater lit up end to end, the young god focusing on what the spells were telling him. A luminescent line sprung from the crater, pointing the exact direction the object must have come from relative to its landing point. Impact force. Speed.
"Mm-hm. Quite a landing. Ha! It reminds me of that brawl we had in Siberia! Remember that, Atreus? Exhilarating! Nothing better than a good fight to keep the cold away–"
"I'm, I kind of need to focus?" the teen said, trying to avoid telling Kratos to shut up or go away. Hoping he'd get the hint.
"Oh." Thankfully, he did. "Alright. Then I'll just go for a wander I think. Good luck with your... Magic stuff."
"Thanks." Kratos tried. He really did. It felt to Atreus like he had gone through a whole journey all over again, though one with far lower stakes. Once again getting to know a Kratos and realise that he wasn't as bad as... Well. He was as bad as Atreus thought, but was willing to try to be better. Something both gods shared, and Atreus was happy for that, even if it made the guilt worse. He would need to tell him. Atreus just hoped Kratos would take it well.
A problem for the future though. He was finally here. It was time to get to work. "Andvari." Pulling the stone from a pouch, he tossed it into the magical array he had been constructing.
"Oooo!"
"What do you mean ,'what if you missed'? Good aim is kind of my thing? Besides, you're a gem, you're not gonna break."
"Ooooo..."
"Oh yeah, the principle of the thing. Sure. Could you just help, please? You're better at this stuff than I am."
"Ooo."The array lit up in a pattern. To most it wouldn't look like one, but there was a definitive rhyme and reason to how certain sections flared while others dimmed, the dwarven alchemist using the prepared array to perform a more in-depth analysis than Atreus ever could."O–... Oooo... Oo-oo."
"What do you mean, 'uh-oh'?"
"Ooo! Ooo ooooooo!"
Atreus' eyes closed. There were only so many possibilities for how he arrived here. Where he travelled to get here. It was good to get confirmation but also told him the enormity of the task ahead. "Ginnungagap." Traces of the chaotic emptiness from before the realms even existed. They had travelled through that emptiness. They had left the confines of the ordered world, travelled through an empty entropy and come out the other side at another ordered world. Entirely different. And with no idea of the path between one and the other. "So how do we get back?"
"And here I already thought you were interesting!"
Atreus turned, looking for the unfamiliar voice but found nothing. Out of caution he unshouldered his bow, then listened.
"Oo!"
The archer whirled around again and immediately drew and nocked an arrow. "Let him go!" he demanded of the man with Andvari's gem pinched between thumb and forefinger.
"But he's such a neat little existence!" the man argued, the high-collared coat he wore covering all but the edges of his grin as he studied the gem. "A soul trapped in a stone. I've seen it done, of course, but for the soul to be conscious the whole time. Able to communicate even. Quite rare."
"Who are you? What do you want with Andvari?!"
"Oh?" the man grunted softly in confusion, before smiling again just as softly. "I see. It seems I gave a mistaken impression. I'm not here for him. Andvari, was it? How funny." With a finger flick, the stone sailed through the air at Atreus, who caught it without letting go of bow or arrow. "No, no. The one I find most interesting is you! You're a funny little oddity. Almost like the grandest of practical jokes and trust me, that's very much something I approve of."
No longer feeling the tension of his friend being held hostage, Atreus was able to take better stock of the situation. A stranger appearing before him, entirely undetected, completely defeating his strong senses. And even now, even as the stranger spoke to him... Nothing. "You're a god." He couldn't read him. That was the best conclusion he had and it wasn't like the man didn't fit the image. Hair that twirled behind him in a tail that seemed to have a will of its own. Hovering over the ground for no better reason than he could, hands behind his back as though he had nothing to fear from the boy with an arrow pointed at him. Dressed in pure white, yet nothing about the man implied purity.
"I am indeed. I've been waiting for a long time, hoping you might lack an observer so we could have a private chat. That cute little death goddess barely strayed from you at all until you came into these lands. And your voyeur smartly decided to look away. Their protectiveness is cute, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about? Rossweisse–"
"Pfft, oh a valkyrie," the god scoffed. "What a tremendous challenge to pull the wool over the eyes of their number, let alone Odin's number one maidservant. Give me a little credit, would you? Of course," the stranger gave a one armed shrug, "You could always go call for teacher. Or perhaps run behind your father's loincloth. Well, 'father'. A cruel joke you're playing. I approve."
"It's not–!" No. Getting riled up wouldn't help anything. Strong heart. Tempered by discipline. By self-control. "What do you want from me?"
"Want? Well, I'll admit I mostly found you a funny little curiosity at first. Come now. Just focus a little bit. Think. Feel. You'll get an idea of what's going on here soon enough."
"Are you just gonna say a bunch of cryptic things or are you gonna start talking sense?"
The stranger sighed. His posture sagged just slightly, yet he still held a proud bearing despite that. "Are you truly going to make me spell it out for you? I'm disappointed, Loki."
Atreus' eyes widened. His grip tightened on his bow. No one in this realm had heard that name before. He had never mentioned it. No one had. But... Of course. They had heard the name before regardless. "Loki." He had learned of the legends surrounding this world's Loki. His conflicts with Asgard and how he became the villain of the story, if one that was portrayed somewhat sympathetically sometimes. It was easy for Atreus to ignore it, let it sit as something he didn't want to acknowledge. After all, Kratos was so very different in this world. Who was to say the same wasn't true for Loki? It was all meaningless. An alternate telling of a similar story, and one told by those with strong biases at that.
It was much easier to tell himself to ignore it before the genuine article floated above him.
"Ah, and he finally understands!" Loki exclaimed in joy. "But come now, no need for that accusatory tone! We're kin, you and I! The closest there could ever be! Literally the same person!"
"We're not the same person."
"Okay, well, I admit there are some minor differences. I'm taller, for example. Oh, and of course you go by 'Atreus'. What's that about, by the way? Oh, is it a ruse? A false identity?"
"It's the name my father gave me."
"Farbauti?" Another name Atreus remembered from the giants' final epitaph. The trickster god seemed genuinely perplexed for Atreus to even care about that parent. "Well now you're just confusing," Loki laughed. "Though, I imagine this is what it feels like to deal with me!"
"You still haven't told me what you want," Atreus reminded him.
"Why do I have to want anything? We Lokis have to look out for one another, don't we? There is so much we might offer one another with a little mutual cooperation. Like for example, how you just said you travelled through Ginnungagap, or as most call it nowadays, the Dimensional Gap. Now that is something truly special. Do you have any idea how few beings have managed such a feat? And there's one reason for that above all others." Raising a hand, an image formed. "You say you tangled with a dragon before."
He had. But seeing the image projected, it felt like an insult to call the red beast projected from Loki's palm a dragon the same as Hraezlyr. Even scaled down so far, there was no way to ignore the majesty of it. Even less so as the illusion consumed his whole world. From an image projected over a hand to an image as real as the air he was breathing. A gargantuan creature that rivalled Jormungandr in size, one titanic eye peering at him. Had Atreus the inclination, he could have climbed inside the eye through the slitted pupil without issue. Aside from what the dragon had to say about such an attempt.
The beast roared, and then disappeared, leaving a pale Atreus sweating as he once again looked at his local counterpart.
"Great Red. Quite the monster isn't he?" Loki asked. "That is what swims in the vastness of Ginnungagap. The lone guardian of the empty beyond of the Dimensional Gap. Anyone attempts to leave... Well. I'm sure you can imagine." The god of mischief smiled again. "And yet, you snuck past his notice. Well, more or less. And now I return your question back to you, Atreus. What do you want? You were discussing with the stone how you might traverse Ginnungagap again. Do you still wish to do so, even knowing what will be waiting for you with the attempt?"
"Yes."
Loki blinked. "Just like that."
It was hard to explain even to himself. But, "It doesn't matter how dangerous it might be. That just means I have to be smart about it. Even if it's dangerous, even if it might kill me, I can't just leave things as they are." His father was worried sick. He didn't need any kind of empathy powers to understand that. His father had never abandoned him, no matter how much he deserved it sometimes. Atreus couldn't accept leaving his father behind just because it would be easier.
"Ha... Hahahaha!" the god laughed again. Halfway to bent double, his hands remained behind his back. "Aha, oh, that's funny. We really are terribly alike, good and bad. Loyalty and sincerity are commendable, or at least most say so. Do you know why most say so?" From his robe, Loki pulled out a familiar stone.
"Oooo!"
"What?!" Atreus still held Andvari in his... No. He didn't. He never had.
"People value loyalty and sincerity because people who have it, expect others to share it." The stone hovered over his hand, turning end over end. Loki paid no attention as Atreus drew his bow threateningly, the arrow crackling with lightning. "And because of that belief, such people are so easily gulled. They never see the deception or betrayal coming."
Atreus didn't have much of a choice anymore as far as he was concerned. He loosed the arrow that swiftly transformed into a pack of wolves. Barks and snapping jaws of lightning lunged at the god of mischief. A distraction that would force the god to move, all while Atreus leapt for the stone. He grasped it tightly, turning toward his counterpart.
And once again felt his hand was empty.
He felt a tap on his shoulder.
There, smiling at him, Loki handed him Andvari's gem. "Can we call that a lesson adequately learned, Loki?"
"My name is Atreus." Never had he wanted to take that other name less than after meeting someone who took it gladly.
"Sure it is." His counterpart patted him on the shoulder in an almost friendly way. It would have been friendly were it not for the constant aura of amusement at his expense. "I'll wish you luck on your doomed attempt to repeat a miracle. In fact... I'll even offer a helping hand, one Loki to another. You never know when it might come in handy!"
Before Atreus could even perceive it properly, the shape that had been a god of mischief broke up into an unsettling mist.
Out of sheer paranoia for being tricked so many times, Atreus checked on Andvari again, made sure he was still in his hand. He breathed a sigh of relief, before showing an abundance of caution. "Andvari, tell me something no one here knows!"
"Oooo."
Another sigh of relief. "Yeah, Father does hate you. Thanks."
A question remained though. A helping hand. What did Loki mean? What had he done? No matter how Atreus searched, he couldn't find anything out of place, out of the ordinary. He knew he would search over and over again, trying to figure out what exactly the trickster had done. The worst part was, Atreus knew Loki would approve of being so paranoid about it. And not only that, hope that Atreus never figured it out so the punchline could be a surprise.
Sometimes it wasn't necessary to have empathy powers to figure out what someone was all about.
"Well!" Rossweisse said as Kratos and Atreus returned to her. "Can we say that your fact finding is complete? Nothing more to be done? All business completed?"
"How many different ways can you ask if we're finished?" Kratos asked.
The valkyrie's eyes narrowed. "Has your time here come to an end. Were your objectives accomplished. Are. You. Done?"
Kratos grinned at her annoyance.
"Yeah, we're done," Atreus interrupted before his father could taunt her further. "Thanks for this, Rossweisse."
"Hmph. Don't thank me. I was only here on Lord Odin's orders. Now that you're leaving I can get back to my real work." Once again, a circle of light ignited under their feet. "Thank you for visiting. Please don't come again."
And in an eye blink, both gods vanished from the mountains to reappear on the northern shore of Poland.
"Ah, Norse hospitality," Kratos sighed, stretching his biceps for no reason. "Well, it's time to head south, to return home."
"I guess."
Kratos frowned. "Did you... Were you able to find out what you wanted? Did it help?"
"Not what I wanted."
"I'm sorry Atreus."
The young god looked at Kratos, considering how strange it was for any Kratos to say those words. "Thanks. It wasn't what I wanted, but I don't know if it'll help or not. Not yet."
"Then we move forward with the power of positive thinking!" Kratos declared with an infectious smile. "Atreus. This is the last leg of our journey so I want you to know. Spending these few years with you has been the most fun I've had in centuries. It might not have been without problems, but I hope you had fun too."
His gut twisted with guilt. "I... Yeah. It was a lot of fun. Even when I kicked your ass in Siberia."
"Ho-ho! Is that how you're choosing to remember it?!" Kratos laughed boisterously. "Whatever you need to tell yourself, Atreus! Now, let us sprint to the capital! We will have genuine kielbasa for dinner!"
"Sounds good."
-(-)-
A/N: This chapter seen very very early on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!