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Chapter Text

"Come on! They had it coming." The blue dwarf complained. Sindri only shook his head. The older brother shrugged and mumbled "It ain't my fault they attacked."

"Excuse me?" The other blacksmith asked accusingly and turned around quickly to look Brok in his eyes, but he just waved him off.

Sindri turned back to his work. "Please just listen to me the next time?" His brother walked past him and patted his shoulder, as he chuckled lightly "Never." And Sindri groaned in annoyance.

"You know, none of this wouldve happened if you wouldn't have wanted to go drinking!"

"A mans gotta do what he needs to do, " Brok said half jokingly, "but dont com'ere complainin' like ye didn't enjoy the brawl!"

Sindri raised a scolding finger and wanted to answer but he stopped himself, when he heard heavy footsteps followed by a young boys voice. So the dwarves turned around to greet the travellers.

"Looky what the draugers dragged back." Brok said with a smile.

"Brok! Sindri!" The boy said excitedly. He approached the work table, while the tall man followed. The young archer started rambling about their adventures, though the boy's happy face was quickly replaced with concern as he saw a purple bruise on the blue dwarfs cheek.

"What happened?" Brok huffed a laugh while his brother looked at him disapprovingly from the side. "You should see the others." Sindri couldnt help but pinch the bridge of his nose as he sighed.

-------
The Night Before

The tavern was already filled with drunken and passed out men as the brothers entered.

Brok forced Sindri to come with him and normally he would do everything not to go to a disgusting place such as this one, but he knew his brother would do something idiotic so he begrudgingly joined him.

Brok sat down while Sindri stood nervously beside him. All the looks gave him a bad feeling, but his brother wanted to get full, so they stayed.

"Relax Sindri, s'gonna be fun." Brok told his obviously nervous brother. "I don't know, I have a bad feeling."

Brok only scoffed at his brother's statement. "You always have a bad feeling. Just calm down will ya? Drink somethin' or talk to others, I dunno. But stop being so on edge it makes me all tipsy, and not the kind I want."

The younger dwarf sighed and continued to stand next to his sitting brother.

The bartender looked at Brok and his brother for a moment and gave the blue dwarf his mead. He looked at Sindri, silently asking if he wants something, without exchanging any words. The dwarf shook his head and said a quiet 'no thank you' and started to glance at every corner of the disgusting bar.

After some time two midgardians approached the dwarves after Sindri looked at them for a few seconds, the dwarf knew that these were only a few moments before disaster. Brok, however, paid them no mind.

"Say little man, what're you staring at?" One of the obviously very drunk men asked Sindri. "Nothing. Just looking around." He replied unsure.

The younger brother looked at them and gulped, maybe they should leave? He looked to Brok, he turned around on the stool, with the mead still in his hand.

Brok wasn't exactly drunk, but he was tipsy. Sindri guessed that's the kind of tipsy he meant before.

But they continued to taunt the younger dwarf "Oh I see, playing dumb are we? I dont like being stared at especially by a disgusting little bastard like you."

"...I'm sorry?" Sindri said, while being visibly taken aback.

"What didya jus' say to my brother?" The blue dwarf looked at the midgardians seriously. The blacksmith was pissed and Sindri knew it never ends well when his brother is in this kind of mood.

"Brok it's fine let's leave." He knew it was a bad idea to come here in the first place. But of course Brok never listens to him.

The midgardians only laughed "Leave?" The one said, while the other man chimed in "We're just chatting! Come on sit." He said while pushing Sindri to the ground.

Sindri shielded his face with his arms and pushed himself up quickly. The floor was sticky. There was hair on the ground. He gagged a little, but composed himself. Then he saw cockroaches roaming around the taverns floor, while a tooth laid next to his hand.

He stood up fast and leaned a hand against the table. He felt sick.

Brok got off from the stool, as he hurried over to his little brother. He patted Sindri's back and tried to help him force the urge down.

The men's laughter filled the tavern. "Would you look at that? A dwarf is scared of some dirt, I thought that's where you live." Sindri could feel all the faces staring at him, he felt so embarrassed.

Brok turned  around furiously and told them in a menacing tone that: "I will shove my boot so far up your asses that your shit will come out of your mouth."

The laughter died and the men took that as their cue to attack.
-------

Sindri sighed heavily "That was a very long night."

The boy only looked stunned at Brok. "You fought two men by yourself?"

Brok shrugged "Well, my brother helped. He was throwing cups left and right, you should've seen'em!" The blue dwarf started laughing at the memory. Sindri was standing on the table and was throwing bottles and cups at the midgardians.

Sindri cant help but role his eyes. "Anyways, what can we help you with?"

Atreus smile widened and he looked up to his father than to the brothers again. "Actually, we just came from hunting and your workshop was on the way, so we-" Kratos raised an eyebrow at his son, so Atreus corrected: "-I thought it would be a good idea to eat together!"

The brothers exchanged a look and immediately pulled out their kitchen wares.

"I'll cook!" Brok called out as he got the knives ready. Atreus frowned and protested "But I wanted to-" The blue dwarf was only able to huff out a laugh "Listen lil fart, I'm sure yer able to do a lotta stuff but cookin' ain't one of them."

The severed head also joined in, in the conversation. "Dont worry lad! You'll get yer fair share of poisoning us with yer cooking, just not today." Mimir said teasingly.

Atreus crossed his arms and pouted. "I wasn't going to poison anyone!" Brok laughed loudly as he sharpened the knives. "Kid, I was shittin' my soul out 'cause of yer cooking last time. Ye can't tell me that wasn't attempted murder."

The boy sat on a nearby rock, away from the food and only gave them a disapproving look. Sindri offered him a weak smile while joining his brother's side to help him cook. Kratos approached his son and waited with him until the food was ready.

Chapter Text

Atreus opened his eyes and the first thought that rushed through his head, was a remembrance that it was his birthday.

He immediately wanted to go to sleep again, so this stupid day would be over already.

His mom would hum him awake with a song of congratulating his birthday, her blue eyes would be the first thing he saw on those days.

He wouldn't want to forget her smiling face, but remembering it only hurt more.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard his father waking up.

If he was lucky his father would forget, it was his birthday, he really didn't want to be remembered.

"Are you awake boy?" Father asked him.

He thought that the deep voice of his father couldn't get any lower, but Atreus was always surprised anew when he heard his father talk in the morning.

"Yep." He answered back.

His father gave him a nod and made himself ready, to leave their hut as he told the boy to: "Get ready." as well.

Atreus lamely did as he was told and remained silent through out. His father seemed to notice, because Atreus is pretty sure that he felt a pair of eyes  burning into the back of his skull.

His father typically didn't forget his birthday, he always seemed to remember but this time he apparently did, Atreus wanted to count himself lucky since that was what he wanted, yet it still felt weird.

Did his mother always have to remember his father? He wasn't sure how to feel about that thought, so he only slumped his shoulders, went over to Mimir and tried to smile like he always did.

"Good morning Mimir."

"Good morning lad, didya sleep well?" His friend asked with his always cheerful voice, though something just felt afoot about him today.

Maybe, he as well had noticed Atreus' slight change in mood, eventhough he tried to keep the appearance up.

Atreus shrugged and went to get his bow and arrows.

The boy let out a little sigh, turning to his father as he spoke. "So, what are we doing today father?"

His father went to pick up Mimir and attach him to his belt like always. "We are to gather resources. The winds are getting colder every day."

He nodded in acknowledgement as they exited their home.

-----

And they did gather resources, plenty of them actually.

They were in a lot of tombs, fought a lot of trolls and slaughtered many draugrs and helwalkers (eventhough the number of helwalkers have significantly dropped since they freed all the Valkyries).

Yet after all this adventuring, Atreus couldn't get excited about it like he normally did, he just felt emotionally stumped, he wanted to sleep nothing more.

"Hmph. We have more than enough now."  His father stated.

"So, can we go home now?" Atreus asked, sounding more grumpy than he had intended.

His father only looked down on him, giving him a short and firm: "No."

Mimir (as always) cut into the conversation, trying to give Atreus a more opportunistic mood. "Aw come on lil' brother. Yer normally so excited for adventure where's yer spirit?"

Atreus, only shrugged.

He then looked up as he felt a heavy hand rest on his small shoulder.

"We shall go to the dwarves, they may find use of our findings."

The boy couldn't help himself but to shrug again, adding a quiet: "Okay."

So they made their way to Tyr's temple.

As his father swung the doors open, Atreus was immediately hit by a wave of delicious smells.

He then heard whispers as they walked closer to the workshop.

"Oh here he comes." Sindri whispered.

Atreus tilted his head slightly and was greeted by a huge feast.

"Happy Birthday!" He heard the Sindri  and Mimir say to him in a enthusiastic tone.

Followed closely by Brok mumbling "Yea what they said." With a (surprisingly) soft smile.

Atreus only stood there for a few seconds, flabbergasted by the scene so he ran out the doors.

"Did we do something wrong?" He could here Sindri asking  as he made his way to the front doors of the temple.

He didn't- He couldn't celebrate his birthday. He didn't want to celebrate it without his mother, without her soothing voice singing him his favourite song.

He frantically wiped the tears from his cheeks.

He was so distressed that he almost didn't hear the heavy footsteps.

When Atreus opened his eyes, he saw his father kneeling in front of him,  cupping Atreus' face with both of his huge hands.

"I miss her aswell." He spoke in a soothing voice.

He couldn't help himself and swung his arms around his father, like a child.

Atreus was taken by surprise as he felt his father carefully closing his arms around him.

"I don't want a birthday where she isn't there." Atreus mumbled.

His father sighed and slowly pulled away from the hug. "I know it is difficult. You loose the people close to you, but you will also gain new ones. New people that care about you. It does not make the loss of others easier but it is life. And your mother would want you to continue it. But you cannot when you hold onto the grief. Move on. Even if it is difficult."

"So you just want me to forget about her?"

"No. Never forget, let her live in your memory, but do not let her death control your present or future."

Atreus nodded. He was right. His mother had been dead for a few months now, he will never stop loving her but he can't hold on to his grief forever.

With that thought, he wiped the final tear away, smiled at his father and turned to the door to join his friends, when his father stopped him again and hold out his hands in front of him.

It was a wood-carved wolf! Atreus' face lit up with joy.

"I know these are your favourite animals." His father simply stated.

"It looks amazing! Thank you father!" He said happily.

So he ran back to the workshop, apologized for his behaviour and proudly showed his friends his present.

As they all ate together Atreus looked at Brok, Sindri, Mimir and his father, realizing that this is definitely one of the best birthdays Atreus has ever had.