God of War: Daughter of War

Flurry tended to Atreus for a few minutes, to be sure that her healing had taken and that she wasn't leaving her brother in a wounded state, while her father and Pandora kept watch to be sure there were no more raiders in the area, before finally withdrawing her magic as her brother started to stir, allowing the others to join them.

'Wh... What happened?" Atreus asked, where this time it felt different than when his arrogance over being a god had taken hold of his mind, clouding his judgement until Kratos snapped at him, because it honestly felt like part of him honestly had no idea what he had done before this point, before he noticed the charred area that was near them, "Did a dragon tear through this place?"

"You do not remember?" Kratos inquired, because if his son really had no idea that he had destroyed part of the forest, not to mention killed the bear they had seen earlier, than this would be difficult for them, though he did notice that the mark he had made around Atreus' neck, while his son was in his bear form, was slow to heal, even with Flurry's help.

"I... I remember burying Fenrir, and then... I'm... I'm not sure..." Atreus replied, though at the same time he carefully picked himself up off the ground while Kratos made sure that he was fine, since his body was likely going to be sore after what his son had been through before Flurry freed him from his emotional madness, before he considered something, "I remember feeling incredibly sad... and then I felt a surge of anger, followed by being scared. I recall that I was running at one point, and there was a bear that ended up charging me... and I charged back? And then there was pain, a rush of anger, and the burning desire to destroy whatever was angering me... but that... that had to be a dream."

"I'm afraid that it wasn't, brother. Your emotions caused you to transform into a bear, a rather large one at that." Pandora said, where they found that while he was talking Atreus rubbed both the area of his neck that was still bruised and part of his throat, which Flurry had healed after his attack had torn apart his insides, while at the same time her words caused him to freak out a little, "And from the looks of it your rage somehow caused your curse to bleed into your new bear form, which... well, you can see the results for yourself."

Atreus stared at the devastation that was near them, an entire portion of the woods utterly destroyed and ruined by his own hand, with who knows how many innocent creatures burned alive in the process, and that thought filled him with a sense of dread as he realized what he had done.

"I... I didn't know I could shapeshift... I... I couldn't have done THIS!?" Atreus weakly remarked, as if he wanted to deny that he was the one who destroyed this portion of the woods, that Baldur's ancient words about him turning into a mindless beast were still being proven true to this very day, which was when Kratos approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"You can, and you did. This, Atreus, is why we have been teaching you how to control your emotions." Kratos said, because if there was anything that would convince his son that emotional control was needed, least he do something he might regret, it was the utter destruction he had unleashed on the woods not a few minutes ago, meaning they might be able to make some progress with him once they got back home, "We do not know the reach of your godly abilities, nor do we know how much they will be amplified by the curse... let this destruction serve as a warning: uncontrollable powers can be dangerous."

"But... I have the discipline to control them! You've already taught me that." Atreus replied, showing them that, once again, he was missing what they were trying to tell him, or maybe he was just being stubborn for the sake of it, though he couldn't help but stare at the destruction, as if he was actually learning without directly telling them, "Besides, I need answers as to who I am, what my destiny is supposed to be... answers none of you have for me! Father, I know you had a troubled past, but you need to stop thinking like a parent and start acting like a general."

"NO..." Kratos stated, as that was the last thing he wanted, people assuming he was going to lead them into war, plus there was the fact that he didn't want his son to think he was going to go to war with Odin, before he realized he had been a little harsh with his word and regained control of himself, "No. I am no one's general, nor will I ever be. We will talk more about this when we are back home, and we have resumed your training to control your emotions."

Atreus looked like there was more he wanted to say, something that would cause his father to change his mind about what was going on, but instead he just sighed and bowed his head a little, showing them that he was going to follow Kratos back home, all while Mimir remained silent, as if knowing this was purely between the family and didn't require his input. The path they were following was in the direction that Atreus had loosed his fire breath in, allowing the boy some time to think about what he had done in his uncontrollable state, the destruction he had caused before his family stopped him. While they walked Atreus commented on his transformation and if they were going to talk about it, causing Kratos to inform him that it would come later, once they were back home, because for now they had to fix the protection stave, as Atreus and the other bear had smashed it during their scuffle. For a moment Atreus seemed offended that this was being pushed onto him, like he didn't want to be blamed for this, before he sighed and admitted that it was his fault, if he had been more in control of his emotions he wouldn't have done all of this.

As they moved along the path that was in front of them, which was moving in a different direction than the one the family had used to track down Atreus, meaning they were going to have to continue to walk down the scorched area as Atreus just stared at the destruction he had caused. That also came with some measure of death, as Flurry found some raiders that had been unlucky in where they had chosen to stop for a time, as the first torrent of flames had killed anyone unlucky enough to be in the way, even if they had no idea the flames had been coming in the first place. Mimir did have to ask Atreus if there were any other powers he knew about that they might need to be told about, simply to add some additional lessons to what the boy needed to be taught, and while Atreus didn't have anything else to say Kratos did ask about the words his son had said to Fenrir and the small wisps that had emerged from the wolf's body. This time Atreus really had no idea what he was talking about, causing Mimir to say that he would have labeled it as a trick of Fimbulwinter, if it hadn't been for Flurry's rune, so the family assumed he might be tapping into magic as well and that Flurry would have to teach him how to wield it before something else happened.

There was a short cave system the family used that winded a little, and had a stone chest Kratos looted, that brought them out in the area that was near the stave that had been broken, which allowed them to leave the destruction behind while Atreus found that his father was right, he had ruined the protection stave and killed a bear. Once Kratos found the perfect tree to replace the broken one he had Atreus utilize his power to turn in into a new protection stave, which he did without delay as Flurry confirmed that everything was back to normal, at least for the time being. As that happened they discovered a pair of bear cubs mourning the loss of their mother, something that struck Atreus to his core, especially since he had lost his mother not all that long ago, though there was next to nothing they could do for the cubs. Flurry, however, was able to walk up to them and touched their foreheads for a moment, imparting a very tiny bit of magic onto them in the hope that both cubs were able to find an area to survive in, so they could grow up and not die due to her brother's inability to control his emotions.

Once the bear cubs wandered off, still mourning their fallen mother, the family returned to the area that Speki and Svanna were in, giving Atreus a few moments to make sure both of them were just fine, especially after Fenrir's death, before they headed up to their home, all while they heard lightning crackle above them.

"Sounds like Thor." Pandora commented, as the lightning seemed to be frequent, like the god in question was annoyed by something or was traveling somewhere at the moment, and if that was true it made her and Flurry wonder if it was time for him to exact revenge for Magni's death.

"Aye, I recognize the sound anywhere... my advice? Remain awake for some time... we might have an uninvited guest in the near future." Mimir said, because while he knew that sleep was important, and some of them could use it, namely Atreus, he also knew that there was a chance that Thor might be coming and that they should remain alert, so the family could be at the ready if he happened to visit them.

Flurry nodded as she and Pandora headed into their house, while at the same time Kratos and Atreus headed into theirs, all while the look on their faces told Albis, who had a room in this structure, that they would talk later... though after waiting for thirty minutes the sky flashed like a storm was happening around them, and sure enough there was a large imposing figure, even taller than Kratos, standing outside their houses.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Kratos asked, standing in the doorway of his and Atreus' house as he noticed that his daughters happened to be in the doorway of their residence, before everyone focused on the large god that had a large belly, an exposed chest, a furred cape to combat the winter of Midgard, and, the most important of all, the imposing hammer that was Mjolnir, as they had heard Mimir describe it in the past.

"Thor Odinson, the God of Thunder." the figured replied, much calmer than the family was expecting after hearing Mimir talk about him for a long time, where Flurry was able to see that he had a short beard that happened to be similar to what her father had, before the god reached into a pack that was on his back and produced a mead bottle, "Can I come in? I brought some mead with me... and besides, we have some things to talk about."

Flurry glanced at the area that was around their home and found that there were two ravens in the trees, which seemed to be slightly larger than the emerald green spies of Odin, had icy blue eyes, and some of their feathers were unique, as one had a couple of red feathers mixed in and the other had blue ones. Those had to be Huginn and Muninn, Odin's personal ravens, or 'right pricks' according to Mimir, which meant there was a chance the All-Father himself might show up, meaning they must have been waiting for a crack to appear in the protective barrier and Atreus breaking a tree down had given them that chance. As she thought about that Atreus wandered back into the house for a moment and her father beckoned for the god to approach, where Thor walked over to the doorway and headed inside, though it wasn't long before she and Pandora did the same, since this seemed important. It was easy to tell that Thor was somewhat distracted right now, either because he didn't want to be here or there was someone back in Asgard he'd rather be with, no doubt Thrud, his daughter, since she was likely training to help her family out and being there for her was important to the god.

He did, however, glance up at the roof of the main house for a moment, allowing Flurry to see that the storm had done a bit of damage, a tiny amount that could be easily fixed, while at the same time Atreus finished moving their main table into the center of the house, all while Huginn and Muninn landed on the edge of the two beds.

"Nice place you've got." Thor commented, where it sounded like he was trying to be friendly and not just shatter everything like he usually did, which told Flurry that the loss of Magni must have affected him greatly, plus the potential passing of Modi until his other son showed up in Asgard, "Are there any house rules I should be aware of?"

"The only one that applies to this situation is handing Flurry your weapon... you wish to talk, so show us that you mean it by handing her the hammer." Kratos replied, as this was one of the rules they had come up with with Faye, that visiting gods and goddesses had to hand over their weapons as a sign of good faith that they weren't here to cause trouble, where he made the first motions by handing his daughter both the blades and the axe, which she stored in a magical prison.

"If you say so." Thor said, causing him to remove Mjolnir from his belt before handing it over to Flurry, though while he must have been expecting her to collapse under the weight of the hammer, which would have been hilarious in his eyes, he found that she was able to handle it's weight like it was nothing, in fact she flipped it around like it was nothing, "Well I'll be, I've never seen someone do that before."

"Yeah, she's always doing things that defy reason." Atreus commented, though he knew that even with him understanding his sister's abilities in such a way, to where some of the things she did caused him to just accept it, it was times like this that just made him utterly surprised by what Flurry was capable of, before his sister slipped the hammer into the magical holding area that their father's weapons were in, "So, what did you want to discuss?"

"First things first." Thor remarked, where he pulled out the mead bottle he had brought with him and uncorked it, allowing him to pour some into the two wooden tankards that had been placed on the table, though at the same time he and Kratos took their seats, but as he did so he still seemed distracted by something as he looked at Kratos, "You know, you seem like a calm and reasonable person, unlike your predecessor... you are a calm and reasonable person, aren't you?"

"When the moment calls for calm, I am calm. When the need arrives for rage, I rage." Kratos said, which was the truth, how he presented himself often depended on the situation he and his family were in, though there were times where he broke that train of thought and was more 'himself', as Flurry had put it, "Right now the situation calls for calm, so I am calm. The same applies to my children."

That got a light chuckle out of Thor, like he knew something they didn't, but before he said anything else there was a knock on the door and Kratos nodded to Atreus to open it, though when he did so they discovered that another figure had come by for a visit, a skinnier older man who was well dressed, far more than Thor, plus he had an eye patch over his right eye, a telltale sign as to who he was.

"You know who I am." Odin stated, revealing that he knew that they knew about him, enough to identify him at a glance, all while both of his ravens disappeared into his arms and left tattoos in their wake, for the short period of time that he held his arms out, before they found that the All-Father was definitely rude as he walked into the house without being invited by Kratos or his children, in fact he pulled over a seat and took it without it being offered to him, "What happened to you, boy? You look more like a dragon than a person."

"Oh, you know, Fafnir's curse... trying to control it and failing miserably." Atreus replied, though he didn't try to hide it, as he knew from Mimir that Odin had no information on this particular curse and that meant there was no harm in telling him that he had it, since he had no cure to offer him, just like he had no information to offer the All-Father.

"I see. Well then, onto the business at hand: back before winter set in there were some... misunderstandings." Odin said, all while Kratos and Flurry carefully listened to what he had to say, even though they suspected that some of it would be lies, a favorite of his according to Mimir, leaving Pandora and Atreus to just stand there and observe, "Regrettable ones, to say the least, but I like to think that we all have a better understanding of who we're dealing with now. What you did to his boys, for example, that was self defense... I mean, dying is what we Aesir live for, though to be honest they were kind of useless."

"Even so, they were family and I miss Magni... Modi is..." Thor started to say, though in the following moment he was cut off as Odin placed one of the wooden tankards in front of him, as if silently indicating that he was to shut up and get drunk like always, something that caused him to look to the side, like he was actually trying to cut back.

"Is dead. Both died in the line of duty." Odin stated, which annoyed Flurry quite a bit, because she knew Modi was alive and that he had gone back to Asgard a number of times over the last three years, a fact that made her wonder what sort of game the All-Father was playing right now, other than reminding Atreus of what he had gone, "But Baldur? He had value... he was my best tracker, my closer... yeah, his mind was gone, sure, but he made up for that with his skills... and now he's..."

Odin found that he was interrupted by a knock at the door and Atreus was quick to open it, where they found that Freya had come by for a visit, no doubt because she had witnessed the pillar of fire that was Flurry redirecting Atreus' second burst of fire into the air to avoid destroying the woods, though she did breath a sigh of relief.

"Kratos, I am glad that you and your family are alright." Freya said, confirming that she had been worried about them since she must have realized that the fire had been more than an ordinary attack, though in the next moment her smile turned into a frown as she noticed who was currently sitting at the table, "Husband. Thor."

"Why are you here? Why do you care for them at all?" Odin asked, because this wasn't what he was expecting to see, that his former wife would actually be calm and reasonable in the face of those that killed her son, not to mention his son, due to the fact that Freya was supposed to be hunting down the family for Baldur's death, "They killed..."

"Our son? Sorry to burst your bubble, but Baldur's alive." Freya replied, which was when Odin's eye widened and Thor was quick to do the same as they found the figure in question standing in the doorway, outfitted in light armor to help him tackle Fimbulwinter and survive now that he no longer had his invulnerability, plus a glaive that was like Flurry's Serpent Gliave but made in the Vanir style.

"What in Hel is going on?! Father, you said they killed Baldur, which started Fimbulwinter!" Thor inquired, as this wasn't part of the plan that his father had told him before he teleported them into Midgard so they could talk with Kratos, in fact it made him wonder what in the world was going on.

"Funny thing, we found a Giant tablet that revealed the true start to Fimbulwinter: my curse being removed... also, thanks for not telling me I was destined to die." Baldur remarked, his tone telling his father that he was annoyed right now, especially after Flurry had helped him and his mother reach a certain level of understanding so he tolerated her and didn't seek her death for putting that curse on him in the first place, "So yeah, there was no stopping Fimbulwinter."

Odin remained silent for a moment as he realized that his original plan was no longer in effect, as he had been planning on using Freya's hatred of Kratos to try and talk them into not doing anything, to stay passive until he dealt with Ragnarok, and now he couldn't do that, while at the same time finding that Kratos had something to say.

"You came here for a reason. What is it that you want from us?" Kratos asked, because it was time for them to get serious, as there would be time to talk about this later, so his focus was on getting these two gods out of his house and resuming his son's training so they didn't burn the woods down if he accidentally transformed again.

"How about peace? Tell me, how does peace sound for the esteemed and retired Greek God of War?" Odin answered, which was the truth, right now he wanted to stop Ragnarok and undo Fimbulwinter, though it was mostly to prevent his death from becoming a reality, since that was something that all of the Giant prophecies seemed to agree on, while hoping that Kratos and his family believed him, "In fact, how does peace sound for your daughters, the Goddess of Life and the Goddess of Hope? I do, however, have one condition I would like to make: that one has to give up his search for Tyr."

As he said that Odin briefly gestured towards Atreus, something that caused everyone to turn towards him in shock, as in he had told no one, not even his family, that he was trying to find a dead god, someone he seemed to think was alive for some odd reason, and Atreus stepped back as he found that everyone was staring at him.

"Shit, I'll even sweeten the deal: regardless if you say yes or no, you can keep Mimir... my old partner in crime seems more at home with you than he was during his time in Asgard." Odin continued, not even waiting for them to say anything about how Atreus was looking for Tyr, as he knew that would cause some fractures to appear within their group, which was when he pulled out a golden coin and set it on the table before drinking both cups of mead that Thor had poured, "I'll even pay for the damage to the roof, with a coin that you can use anywhere, and formally extend an invitation for Atreus to join me in Asgard so we can work together to stop Ragnarok. I'll even give you a few days to talk about it... come, Thor, we're leaving."

Thor grumbled something for a moment as he held a hand out and found that Mjolnir didn't move at all, rather Flurry pulled it out of the magical cage she had put the weapons in and returned it to him, though with the weapon in hand he headed outside with his father and disappeared, using a vortex of ravens to disappear, causing Flurry to weave her magic around the house to ensure Odin couldn't listen in on their conversation.

"Brother... explain yourself, now!" Flurry stated, because while they knew Odin was lying to them about wanting peace, he just wanted to save his own skin, his words about Atreus seeking Tyr rung true for some reason, meaning her brother had gone behind all of their backs, without any of them noticing which was a feat since she was the most observant of them all, and betrayed their trust.

"Look, I've been having odd dreams lately, and they told me to look for Tyr... and I knew that none of you would approve of me doing this, so I did what I could by myself." Atreus replied, where he rubbed his right arm for a moment, as it seemed like he had been hoping to tell them this when he had more evidence to support what he was doing, not have the All-Father just drop it on everyone during a visit, "But now that you know... well, there's something you need to see. Something that can potentially change our understanding of Ragnarok."

"You mean like how you learned about how the Giants foresaw a change in my fate?" Baldur asked, because if that was true, and Atreus was sure that there was a way out there to prevent or even alter Ragnarok, so that they didn't lose the entirety of the Nine Realms, he was all for it, especially since he was sure they would have foreseen his father's death even in this turn of events, "Oh, this I've got to see."

Kratos, while annoyed that Odin knew more about his son's actions than anyone else did, agreed with Baldur, if there was a chance that they could prevent Ragnarok, or alter it to avoid destroying the Nine Realms, it was worth looking into, causing him to tell everyone to gather their gear as they readied themselves for whatever the future held for them.