2 The Goatee Is Back

"Behind me, boy," Kratos gruntles, his palm open as he pushes Atreus behind him. He steps forward, returning the intense staredown in full force, "Thor..." Kratos mutters with furrowed brows.

Thor chuckles, his belly quaking slightly. His eyes glow slightly in a blue hue, "...The one and only. Son of Odin... God of Thunder and strength," he says, stepping out of the crater.

"Careful, Brother... Thor may look like a walking pint of ale, but, well... I'm sure you know," Mimir whispers to Kratos.

Kratos grunts, keeping his eye contact with Thor, "What do you want?" he asks, pulling the Leviathan axe from his back. Old Nordic symbols on the head of the axe take on a white-blue light and icy crystals form along the blade.

Thor hums, craning his neck to try and see around Kratos, "Is that... Mimir?" he asks, chuckling slightly, "...And here father was wondering whatever happened to the bawbling oaf."

"Oh, the fat dobber remembers me? I'm flattered really... With the amount of mead that flows through your gullet, I would have thought you forgot about your old friend Mimir," Mimir says with sarcasm and a hint of trepidation gushing from his words.

Thor grunts, slamming a meaty foot into the snow, "I should have killed you when you were bound to that tree," he sneers. Thor reaches for the hammer on his hip and Kratos reacts by readying himself, his grip tightening on the handle of the axe as a layer of ice forms over the head.

Thor chuckles again, "Ah, it seems you already know what I'm here for, isn't that right?" he says with a smirk slightly hidden by his beard.

Kratos grits his teeth, "I do not wish to fight you," his voice echos through the snowy land.

"Oh, but you will. You'll fight me, or you'll lay down as I smash your skull in," Thor responds.

"Father! Let me fight with you! I can help, you know I can!" Atreus yells from behind his father, holding the bow in his hands.

Kratos glances back at Atreus, quickly returning his vision to Thor. A silence falls as Atreus waits for the word, and Thor draws the hammer from his waist. Kratos grits his teeth harder, his knuckles turning white as he grips the axe tight, "...Come then, boy," he says.

Atreus nods, running to his father's side and drawing an arrow bristling with yellow electricity aimed at Thor's wide head. Thor chuckles, that smirk widening as he stares forward, "Ah, father and son fighting together. He hasn't tried to kill you yet?" he says, seeming to be waiting for an answer, "...Don't worry, he will."

Every muscle in Kratos' body contracts and he bolts towards the God of Thunder. Atreus runs alongside him with the string of his bow still tight against his fingers. He looses an arrow, that yellow electricity streaking behind as it approaches Thor's forehead quick.

The arrow dings, meeting a hard metal surface. Thor holds his hammer up before him, and the arrow falls to the snow. He grins, his eyes raising to see Kratos leaping above him, the leviathan axe drawn back and above Kratos' head.

"Oh, that's real nice," Thor says, the grin creeping further up his bloated cheeks. He swings the hammer to his side, muscles rippling under the fat as he slings it towards Kratos.

"Father!" Atreus screams as he watches axe and hammer meet. Reality folds upon itself, cracks forming in the very air around the battling gods. The cracks widen and a black void appears, deep and dark as the night sky. The men stand frozen in time, and the void leeches on reality, sucking in any and everything around it, the snow, the trees, and the men surrounding it. Every one of them is forced into the void like a vacuum, all except the obese God of Thunder himself.

Time starts up again and Thor stares forward, Mjolnir held up in the same striking position as before, "What in the hell?" He mutters, his eyes darting to and from to find his adversaries. Alas, they are nowhere to be found, seeming to have completely disappeared right before his slightly drunken eyes.

Thor sighs, lowering his hammer to his side with a hiccup, "Am I that bloody drunk?" He mutters to no one but himself.

—-

"Father! What's happening!?" Atreus yells, his limbs flailing in every direction as he flies through a star-streaking tunnel of space.

Kratos reaches out and takes hold of Atreus by his arm, pulling him into his chest, "I do not know. Hold onto me," he says through clenched teeth.

"What in the bloody hell is happenin'!" Mimir yells from his place at Kratos' hip, "We were fighting the fat lard and now we're flying through space!"

"AAAAH!" Atreus screams out in agony, and a series of cracks echo through the numbing silence of space.

"What is it, boy!?" Kratos exclaims with wide eyes, looking down at his son and witnessing the agonizing convulsions of the boy's body. More blood-curdling cracks echo and Atreus lets loose another voice-cracking scream. Kratos' mind races as he stares at his son, and soon the screams stop. Atreus lies limp in his father's arms, those cracks still beating into Kratos' ears.

"What in the bloody hell is happenin' to the lad?" Mimir exclaims.

Kratos pauses for a moment, staring at his son as the bones and muscles in the boy's body seem to stretch, "...I do not kn- mmmh," Kratos suddenly grunts, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw. Bones crack again, but this time it comes from Kratos himself. The burly man shifts his son's body to one arm, lifting his other to inspect it. Excruciating pain pulses like a migraine through his entire body, but Kratos is able to keep himself composed, at least more than the boy in his arms.

Kratos' eyes widen as he stares at his arm. White ashes appear in space, gathering along his arm, his chest, and moving to the rest of his body, "No...," he mutters. He looks to his shoulder and sees the tattoo he's lived with for so long gaining its color back. Kratos lifts his hand to his jaw, a slight gasp leaving his lips as his thick beard regresses to a long goatee, "...What is this?" he mutters again with a much younger voice, memories of his past flowing like a tsunami into his mind, a past he had attempted to avoid for all of this time.

"What is it, brother?" Mimir asks again, his voice carrying a great deal of concern for the man he's attached to.

"I..." Kratos is dumbfounded as he watches the ashes fully cover his body, little flakes of cremated bodies the symbol of the memory he wanted to avoid most, "...I do not know," Kratos says, directing his eyes back to the unconscious Atreus in an attempt to distract his thoughts. He grits his teeth, the pain still flowing through his body with no bars held, but Kratos welcomes the pain, anything to keep the gnawing thoughts from taking over.

The trio continues to fly through the tunnel of space in silence, tiny streaks of light zipping past them. Mimir suddenly gasps, "Ah!... Brother, I may have an inkling as to what is happening," he says.

A hum vibrates Kratos' throat, and he reaches to his hip with his free arm. He holds Mimir before him by a rope, "What is it?" he says through his teeth, the aching pain still clouding his mind, but it's beginning to subside.

"Oh, brother... You look younger, much younger..." Mimir says, glowing yellow eyes staring into Kratos'. Kratos furrows his brows, "What?"

Mimir hums, "I dunno, but your beard... It's a goatee now, and you just look younger in every aspect. And your skin... I'm remembering why they call you-" he says.

"DON'T... Don't say it," Kratos sighs, "Continue."

"Sorry, brother. It seemed to have slipped my mind... Eh, do you remember the story I told you and your boy? The story of the battle between Jormungandr and the fat dobber?" Mimir asks.

"Yes," Kratos responds.

Mimir hums, "I believe that's what's happening to us now. Jormungandr was sent back even before his birth by the sheer force of their strikes meeting. And... with that goatee and the situation we find ourselves in at the moment, I believe without a shadow of a doubt," he says.

Kratos hums, pausing for a moment. His eyes wander to the empty space around them until they finally settle on Mimir again, "...Whatever comes for us, be it time travel or gods, we will triumph," he says, glancing down at Atreus.

"Aye brother. I've been with you long enough to know that you two can handle yourselves in the face of adversity. Truly, brother... I am truly honored to assist you and your boy on this journey. This has been the most exciting time of my life... Even if I can't walk," Mimir chuckles as he finishes his words.

Kratos pauses, staring into Mimir's glowing eyes, "Do not speak as if it is over, head. We still have a long journey ahead," he says, reaching his arm to his waist to put Mimir back in his place.

Mimir hums, "Aye, brother. That seems to be the case," he says.