God of War: Daughter of War

After ensuring that Freya would be fine, she had to come to terms with the fact that her son still hated her, even after his curse had been broken, Kratos and his children returned to Tyr's Temple without delay, only to find that Brok and Sindri were in the middle of bickering. This time around it wasn't the sort of family squabble that they were used to, rather they were sure that the dwarves were discussing the weather this time around, meaning one had noticed the start of the snow and had told their brother about it before their arrival. Flurry really hoped that she was just imagining things and that the Giants had an answer to her thoughts, though as they entered the main structure she noticed that Mimir's missing eye had been returned, something she hadn't noticed previously since her focus had been on Baldur. When they stepped into the main chamber of the temple their father walked up to the console to activate the sequence, while at the same time Pandora took Mimir's head over to where the gemstone that was used for Realm Travel should have been located.

Sure enough they were able to fire the Bifrost into Mimir's eyes, allowing it to interact with the special eyes the Giants had gifted him despite the bit of pain he was in, before firing a beam of golden energy at the final door, charging it with energy as the sequence settled in, as the door opened for them, revealing a portal that connected to Jotunheim.

"There, the way is open. The end of our quest is at hand." Kratos said, because now they could finally honor Faye's last wish, scattering her ashes from the highest peak in the Nine Realms, and hopefully discover if the Giants left any information regarding Baldur and Fimbulwinter, something that could help Flurry out.

"Yes, and that brings me to something I've been thinking about: this quest is yours, and you four don't need me weighing you down." Mimir stated, showing them that he must have been thinking about this for a long time and that he was okay with missing out on seeing the realm of the Giants, rather he was fine with them going in as a family to bring an end to their long and tiring journey.

"But... we can't just leave you here! What if Odin comes to investigate the return of the Realm Tower?" Atreus asked, as they had no idea if Baldur had returned to Asgard before tracking down Flurry, so he was worried that leaving Mimir out here might cause more harm than good in the long run.

"By Lady Sif's soft, perfect sloshers! You finally did it." Brok remarked, where the family found that he, Sindri, and even Freya had arrived, though the goddess shook her head as she heard the blue dwarf's comment, meaning it would take some time for her to get used to him saying such things.

"We can watch over Mimir while you're gone. I... have some things that I would like to ask him... in private." Freya said, which told the family that she was likely going to start searching for something once they were done visiting Jotunheim, but before that she needed to speak with the one who had advised Odin, since he might have information that could help her out, even if she disliked Mimir.

In the end Mimir decided that this was for the best, Freya would likely keep him safe until the family returned, causing Kratos to hand him over to her before he and his children crossed through the portal, allowing them to walk up a long set of steps that were carved out of stone, and it wasn't long before they stepped out into Jotunheim itself.

"I... I don't believe it! We're on the Giant's Fingers! The highest peak is right over there!" Atreus remarked, where they found that Jotunheim seemed to be a realm of mountains, as each were high enough to pierce the cloud layer, so it was hard to see the rest of the realm, since there had to be more to the realm than what they were seeing, before noticing that their father was walking towards the edge, "What are you doing?"

"Removing my bandages... I have nothing more to hide." Kratos replied, where he undid the chains that were around both of his arms and handed Pandora his bracers for a moment, which was when his children watched as he did the same to the bandages he had maintained for a long time, allowing the wind to take them as he revealed the chain marks to his son, who seemed surprised after seeing them.

While Atreus wanted to know more about the story, since it was clearly important to their father, Flurry was glad to see that the marks were no longer bleeding, rather it was like whatever magic had been keeping them in that state had finally come undone, allowing her father's body to fully heal at long last. In addition to that Kratos had one last thing to do, he told Atreus that it was time for him to carry Faye's ashes, where he passed the bag to his son, who was totally surprised by this turn of events and simply nodded, as he was no doubt remembering the last time he had asked about such a thing. It showed that he had changed since that point in time, he had matured slightly and Flurry was sure that his horns, wings, and tail had, in fact, gotten somewhat smaller since they grew in, likely a sign that he was on the right path to undo the curse, even though it would be some time before it was fully gone. It was also hard to tell if he knew that they were slowly disappearing or if he had no idea, but for the time being she figured it would be best to let him focus on the here and now, since that was what she and Pandora were also focused on right now.

It didn't take them long to cross over the stone and metal bridge that was in front of them, allowing them to enter what had to be a sanctum of some kind, where Atreus noted that he was unable to hear anything, before noticing that there were a fair number of stone statues around the area. This allowed them to see that this must have been what the last Giants had likely seen when they fled from Midgard, before Tyr did what he did to seal the way behind them, or this was what those last Giants must have carved after verifying that they weren't in immediate danger. Atreus found a wall with writing on it and did what he did best, he started translating the text and revealed that the Giants had believed that Midgard could have been shared between all races, before Odin and Thor did what they did and cut their people down, leading to them fleeing and putting in these obstacles to keep Jotunheim safe. There was even a wall of text talking about someone called the 'Guardian', another Giant that survived with the World Serpent, where Flurry realized that it had to be talking about Faye, it made far too much sense considering their current quest, causing them to progress towards the higher wall and the opening that was in the shattered stone.

As Atreus touched the stone, however, the walls started to change before their eyes, transforming into scenes from a tale that seemed familiar to the family as everyone looked at it, from Faye talking to Giants to her cremation, them meeting the World Serpent to their fight with Magni and Modi, and even the fight with Hraezlyr to clashing with Baldur.

"It would seem that I was not the only parent with secrets." Kratos remarked, as he saw what Flurry was seeing, there were signs on the images that Faye was a Giant, in fact one of the scenes showed her and the Leviathan Axe, before finding that his daughter was looking at a pillar that had risen behind them, opposite of the opening that would bring them to the area Faye wanted her ashes to be spread from, "Flurry? What have you found?"

The pillar was different from the rest of the murals, especially the hidden portion that Kratos was glad that Atreus wasn't interested in, because instead of pictures it was just a statement that had been carved into the stonework, and based on how the frown on her face he knew it wasn't good news.

"Information that confirms my worst fears: I just set Fimbulwinter in motion." Flurry replied, because she could read the text that was in front of them, due to the fact that it was in Greek and not the language that the Giants were familiar with, which meant Tyr must have helped the survivors write this down before completely sealing off Jotunheim, causing her to point at the passage in front of her, "Look here: 'The Valkyrie of Death, she who hails from a distant land and carries an arsenal of weapons... from both mortals and gods alike... will clash with the Indestructible and sunder his cursed power, bringing forth the Terrible Prelude... and then the end of all realms.' That's what it says."

Atreus opened his mouth to say something, anything really, and then closed it before he even made a sound, because he realized that there wasn't anything he could say to cheer his sister up, especially since she was likely feeling like crap due to doing a good deed that somehow was still triggering the start of Fimbulwinter. He did have to wonder why the Giants had called Flurry the 'Valkyrie of Death', since she technically wasn't one, and wondered if there was more to that title than what he knew, but for the time being their father wanted to progress and that was what they did. As they followed the path they also discovered something else, there was more of his mother's golden paint beckoning them forward, causing all four of them to make their way to the highest peak and get a good view over the entire realm. Flurry frowned as they noticed the corpses that were scattered around the realm, the large corpses of the Giants that reminded her of the Titans, since each one was large in their own right, causing them to realize that the survivors had succumbed to their wounds, meaning there was no reason for Odin to care since the army destined to end him was gone.

At the very edge of the path they were in, which was the highest peak imaginable, Kratos had Atreus hand over the bag so he could open it, allowing each of them to spread Faye's ashes by scattering them into the air in front of them, while making sure to say their last farewells as they rapidly emptied the bag.

"So, mother was a Giant... which makes me part god and part Giant, right?" Atreus asked, where it seemed like he was still trying to wrap his head around everything they had learned right now, especially since the fact that Fimbulwinter was going to happen despite saving the person whose death would have started it.

"And part mortal." Kratos pointed out, though at the same time he sealed the shrunken bag up and reattached it to his belt for the time being, as it would be a good reminder of what they had lost in his mind, but after doing that they started to walk back towards the structure that housed the prophecies that the Giants had left behind, or at least ones connected to the family as a whole.

"Right, still have to get used to that... anyway, there's still one thing I don't understand: my name on the wall. The Giants called me 'Loki'." Atreus said, as that was the part about everything that had confused him, that instead of using the name he knew, and had been called for his entire life, the Giants had referred to him by another name entirely,

"Not surprising, now that we know Faye was a Giant. That was the name she originally picked for you, but eventually she and father agreed on 'Atreus'... she must have learned it from her people." Flurry stated, though that meant that when they were found by Faye she must have been following a prophecy or vision of some kind, but she didn't have to worry about there being any bad complications since Faye had followed her own path, which explained why the prophecy wall had been totally ruined in some places, "You can tell how much she loved you, that she would go against her people and destroy portions of the wall that told your tale... she wanted you to write your own story, instead of being tied down by what the Giants had etched into stone."

"Yeah... I know. Mom... I'm sorry for everything bad I said... I was an arrogant brat." Atreus said, pausing for a moment to just look back at the area they had come from as he bowed his head a little, showing that he once more had faith in his mother and that he was incredibly sorry for disrespecting her memory, where he started to glow for a moment.

Kratos smiled for a few seconds as they watched as Atreus' horns shrunk to a smaller size, the wings shrunk back to the point where flight would be impossible, and the tail decreased in size as well, showing them that Atreus was on his way to returning to normal, if he kept up his good behavior. As they resumed walking Atreus asked why his father wanted to name him the way he did, since it didn't seem like the name that would be belong to a god, causing Kratos to tell him that he was named after Atreus of Sparta, a great warrior like all Spartans. Kratos did the last two times he explained this to Flurry and Pandora, he described how Spartans trained from birth and that their lives were full of discipline, duty, battle, and death in the end, but there was one light for them, Atreus of Sparta wore a smile on his face, even in the worst of times. He even won a great battle that was due to him sacrificing himself and turning the tide in their favor, something that eventually lead to him and the other Spartans burying him with all the honors that were part of Spartan custom.

Atreus was amazed by the story and even remarked on how Mimir missed hearing it, though as he said that they reached the edge of Jotunheim and stepped into the passage between realms, where it didn't take them very long to return to Tyr's Temple in Midgard, allowing them to find that Freya was still standing by with Mimir.

"We are happy to see that you have returned... even though I had to suffer an uncomfortable amount of measurements from the dwarves." Mimir said, showing them that he was happy to see them again and that something had happened in the time they had been in Jotunheim, but at the same time it was also clear that the pair were worried by the information that the family could have discovered in the realm of the Giants, "So, what did the Giants leave for you to find?"

"Flurry was right, the Giants foretold her sundering Baldur's curse... I'm guessing her magic, mixed with the mistletoe that did the deed, might have been the trigger." Pandora replied, something that caused Mimir and Freya to glance at each other for a few seconds before the goddess handed the head back to Kratos, allowing him to be returned to the belt he had been put on after meeting the family.

"Fimbulwinter... after so long trying to stop it, it's happened anyway." Freya remarked, as she couldn't believe that even the Giants knew there were alternate methods to trigger the start of Fimbulwinter, which made her think about the Norns and what they had told her in the past, causing her to sigh for a moment as she considered something, "Well, if we're heading for Ragnarok, I should track down Sigrun and see if we can find out where Odin hid the curses he's placed on me... I'd rather be able to protect myself when the time comes, instead of being defenseless."

"Understandable. We will be at our home, training and preparing for the future." Kratos stated, which was the truth, he and his children needed to rest after a long adventure, before they started getting ready for the end of the Nine Realms, and right now Freya was more than welcome to join them, especially since Flurry had already invited Baldur to come to her for however many fights he wanted to have with her.

Freya nodded and walked out of the temple, showing them that she was serious about trying to break Odin's curses, which was likely what she had talked to Mimir about during their time in Jotunheim, though that caused the family to get moving as well, as they walked over to the Door that was nearby. Such a thing allowed them to pause and chat with the dwarves, where both of them knew that Fimbulwinter was coming, Brok could 'feel it in his scrote' while Sindri was hoping they were simply imagining things, but still wished them well in their journey back home. Kratos did open the main door to the temple for just a moment after that, allowing him and his children to see that a fair amount of time had passed since there was more snow than what they remembered, where Mimir said they had been gone for about four hours. The family nodded and returned to the Door of Yggdrasil, where Kratos used his Key and opened the way to the Realm Between Realms, allowing them to just walk among the branches for a time before they were able to return to their home.

"First thing I'm going to do after we rest is head out and fix the protection stave." Atreus said, as he had a feeling that the spell his mother had used to form the barrier in the first place would come to him after he had a good nights sleep, though as he said that, and they stepped out into their yard, he found a number of draugr that had been turned into stone statues, more than what he was used to seeing, "What the...?"

"Kratos! I'm glad that you, Flurry, Pandora, and Atreus are okay." a voice said, where they found that Albis slithered out of the house that the girls slept in, especially since it was where Pandora worked thanks to her forge, though she paused as she noticed the freaked out look on Atreus' face, "Right, of course you'd be freaked out, since this is our first time meeting. I am Albis, a gorgon from the land of Greece that sided with Sparta after joining Flurry and Kratos on their adventures... I'm also Flurry's mother, or mother figure if you prefer."

"Um, nice to... meet you." Atreus managed to say, as while he had no idea what a gorgon was, this was his first time meeting one, he assumed she had the power to turn things to stone, given the statues, but he did relax a little as he saw that she was telling the truth, both she and Flurry definitely had a deep bond, like he had with his own mother, "I have so many questions."

"And we have answers... but first, we rest. Answers will come after a good nights sleep." Kratos stated, though at the same time he knew that the first thing Flurry would do after answering her brother's questions would be to go out and check on Modi, and what happened after that would be interesting as well.

Atreus stood there for a moment as Albis lifted one of the statues and carried it off into the forest, likely using it as a warning to those that were outside the protection stave's area, before he sighed as he followed his father inside, as a rest sounded nice and he was eager to see what the future held in store for them and their friends.