Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

playlist

"I swear that I'll be yours forever, 'till forever falls apart"
Till forever falls apart - FINNEAS & Ashe

"Now it's just too late to turn around. I try to forgive you, but I'm struggling 'cause I don't know how"
Long way down - One Direction

"I remember all too well. How could I ever forget"
Nineteen - Dylan

"If you walk away, I'd beg you on my knees to stay"
Don't blame me - Taylor Swift

"Cut me through my skin, through the heart, yeah, you went right in"
Love & war - Yade Lauren & Yellow Claw

"This morning I woke up still dreaming, with memories playing through my head"
Two of us - Louis Tomlinson

"We'll go down in history, remember me for centuries"
Centuries - Fall Out Boy

"If I, catch fire then I'll take my turn, to burn and burn and burn"
Burning pile - Mother Mother

"When I'm not with you, think of me always, love you, love you"
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy - Queen

"Can you kiss me more? We're so young, boy, we ain't got nothin' to lose"
Kiss me more - Doja Cat

"See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns. See you make your way through the crowd, and say 'hello'"
Love story - Taylor Swift

Chapter Text

00 | our little, stupid

conversation means more

to me than you think

5000 B.C. – The Domo

Footsteps echoed through the room, nearing the enormous window, that looked out on planet earth. The silhouette walked over to the other, who was staring down at the planet, their new home.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The girl said, still taking in the features of the glowing creation that Arishem once made.

“I suppose it is.” The deeper voice echoed through the room, just like his gracious footsteps had. He, however, wasn’t paying much attention to the planet in front of them.

“I’m Druig.” He said, with a slight smirk, holding out his hand for her to shake.

“I’m Hestia.” She turned her head towards him, shaking his hand politely. Only now did she have the time to take in his features, instead of earth’s. His mesmerizing blue eyes stared right into her dark green ones. It felt as if their souls had created a bond, one as unbreakable as the friendship that lay ahead for them.

“We’d better suit up, right?” Hestia suggested, her smile brighter than anything Druig had ever seen.

The two of them walked next to each other, Hestia only being slightly smaller than the man next to her. When they reached the door, Druig let her go through first, muttering a small “Milady,” before Hestia hit him on the shoulder, earning a “hey!” from him.

“Stop with the formalities, you idiot.” She laughed at him, smiling like an idiot herself.

“Never.”

Chapter Text

01 | If the plan doesn't work,

change the plan,

but never the goal

5000 B.C. - Mesopotamia

“You know what you have to do.” Ajak said to the group of warriors who were ready to fight the creatures they came here for, the deviants.

Thena, Gilgamesh, Makkari, Kingo, Ikaris and Hestia, were lowered out of the Domo, floating down onto the battlefield. Ikaris was the first to jump to action, shooting his lasers out of his eyes to protect a child, who was about to be killed by a deviant. He flew after the monster, chasing it away from the shore, while the rest of the group landed safely on the ground and joined the fight.

A deviant charged over to Hestia, but the girl was quicker, forming a fireball in her hands and throwing it right at the beast’s chest, making it roar and erupt in frames. She looked around her, trying to see if any civilians were in danger, or if any of the others needed any help. Makkari was running around, trying to get the Mesopotamians to safety, but one of the deviants was still chasing them.

Hestia sprinted over and ducked underneath the monster, creating fire in her hands, and burning the deviant’s stomach. Gilgamesh saw it all play out and decided to give the deviant the final blow after Hestia got out from underneath its stomach.

“That was a solid punch,” Hestia was impressed by the man’s power, “I’m Hestia.”

“I’m Gilgamesh.” He said and smiled, not having much time to introduce himself as the next wave of deviants came charging towards them, making the two split up and fight on their own again. Roaring deviants and screaming civilians was all that the Eternals heard as they fought.

As Thena killed the last deviant, and Ikaris flew back to the ground, the rest of the Eternals exited the Domo on Phastos’ golden rings. The civilians gathered, ready to attack them. Druig used his mind control to make them all drop their weapons and when the people regained control of their own mind, they were confused to say the least.

All the Eternals gathered, standing on the edge of the cliff, with Ajak in front, as she was the prime Eternal. She signalled to Sersi, to go up to the humans and show that they were to be trusted. Sersi walked forward with small steps, just like the boy, who had been pushed forward by his mother, until they were standing close enough.

Druig looked over at Hestia, checking to make sure she was okay. He didn’t do it so subtly, the girl could feel his gaze on her, and she turned her head to look at him for the second time that day. She was still mesmerized by his face and his soft jawline, but especially by his eyes. The same could be said for Druig, he was unable to take his eyes off the girl since he first saw her. He knew that the colour of her eyes, would be his favourite colour from now on.

Hestia raised her eyebrow, as if to ask him “are you okay?” and he nodded, trying to hide his smile. He mouthed “you?” and the girl nodded back. She looked back at Sersi, who had succeeded in giving the boy his weapon back, but her thoughts didn’t stay there for long. Within a few seconds, she was thinking about Druig again, trying to suppress a smile. When Hestia looked at him again, the girl could see he was doing the same.

Chapter Text

02 | don't go broke

trying to look rich

2023 - New York

The sun shone down on the penthouse Hestia had been living in for the past 2 weeks. She was laying by the pool, enjoying a book, when she heard her phone go off inside the house. Reluctantly, she stood up, sighed, and walked into the kitchen. Her phone was still going off, meaning that the person on the other side desperately wanted to get a hold of her. She grabbed the phone and answered without looking at the caller.

“Welcome to roadkill diner, you kill ‘em, we grill ‘em! What can I get started for you?” Hestia was never serious when it came to answering phone calls. Since she had stolen the phone, she had always answered the calls with a different line, and never checked who was calling her, resulting in very confused people and very short conversations.

“Hestia,” she heard a woman sigh on the other side, “it’s not the time for jokes.”

“Sersi!” Hestia perked up, happy to hear from the woman. “Why didn’t you call sooner? I was so bored, none of you visited me in, like, a thousand years.” She exaggerated, the last time they had seen each other was only 500 years ago.

“I know, and I’m sorry for that, but there’s something we need you for.” Sersi sounded calm, but Hestia heard the little tremor in her voice and knew something serious had happened.

“So, are you coming to pick me up?” Hestia broke the silence.

“We’re coming with Kingo’s private jet,” Sersi informed her, “we’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Hold up, Kingo has a private-” But she couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Sersi? Did you just hang up on me?” She huffed angrily. “You’re not going to get away with that.”

-

A little later, the sun had cast a shadow over the pool, and Hestia decided to change into more appropriate clothing, seeing as she was still in a bikini. Just three minutes after she had put on a pair of jeans, the doorbell rang. She jumped up from the enormous couch in the living room and went to open the door.

“Hestia?” Sersi stood in front of her, with Ikaris, Sprite and Kingo behind her. Sprite was in awe of the building and looked at Hestia with disbelief.

“You live here? How did you afford this place?” She questioned the other girl.

“Well, you see Sprite, I do live here, though I didn’t exactly buy the place.” Hestia said with a cheeky smile on her face.

Sersi’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you stole the penthouse.”

“I didn’t, technically not. The owners are on a month-long trip to some country far away, so I decided to put their house to good use!” She cheerfully clapped her hands together, proud of herself. “I was going to throw a good party tonight, but seeing as you’re here, I don’t think I’ll make it back on time.”

The four Eternals didn’t know what to say. “Is it okay if I call my friend? I’m gonna have to cancel the party, you know. Oh, we also have to call off the strippers.” Hestia asked the group, but no reaction came, so she took that as a yes. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket, quickly dialling her friend’s number, who picked up almost as soon as Hestia rang.

“Hey Ry, I’m afraid we can’t throw the party tonight. Family issue.” She sighed and looked around her, giving a little wave to Kingo. Ryan asked her if he could host the party instead.

“Oh yeah. I’ll leave the keys under the mat, but you’ll have to clean up the mess afterwards. I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon.” She stayed silent for a bit, letting her friend talk, but Sersi pulled her arm and started dragging her along to Kingo’s jet.

“Woah! Sorry, I’m being pulled away by an impatient sister.” Hestia said, glaring at Sersi and tugging at her arm. “I’ll talk to you later, love you.” She hung up and felt all eyes on her. Looking at everyone around her, she saw their surprised and slightly confused faces.

“So, are we going or not? I wanna see this private plane of yours Kingo.” She walked out in front of them, not before tossing the keys under the doormat and closing the door.

Chapter Text

03 | happiness looks gorgeous

on you

575 B.C. - Babylon

A fireball formed in Hestia’s hand as she ran over to a deviant. Luckily for her, the deviant was already running right at her, mouth open as if it was going to rip her head off. She directed the fireball right at its open mouth, making it explode inside the deviant. Pieces of the blown-up deviant and its blood flew everywhere, completely covering Hestia.

“You didn’t say it would do that!” Hestia screamed at Thena, who shrugged and laughed at her. Hestia pouted and tried to shrug off some of the remainders that stuck to her suit, but it didn’t seem to work.

She gave up when she saw a deviant running into a group of people. Quickly, she made another fireball, and sent it flying towards the deviant. It fell onto one of the tents and the fireball caused the tent to light on fire.

“Hey! That one was mine!” Kingo complained from next to her. “Oh! Never mind.” He saw another deviant, perfect for him to kill. Hestia laughed and looked around to see if there were any deviants left for her, but it seemed like the fight for today was finished.

Although, it seemed like Hestia didn’t look well enough. A deviant came charging at her from behind and just before it reached her, she heard Ikaris scream from the sky.

“Hestia! Behind you!”

She turned around, only to be stabbed in the chest by one of the deviant’s tentacles. Another one stabbed her in the gut, but she wasn’t giving up so fast. While the deviant was focused on keeping the tentacles in her chest and gut, she was forming a small fire between her hands. She had just enough strength to kick the deviant in the head. It flew back slightly and that bought Hestia enough time. She used the fire in her hands to burn the tentacles off, and she fell to the ground. She tried to create another fireball, but the creature was already making its way back over to where she lay.

Right before it could get to her, Ikaris flew down and destroyed the deviant with his lasers. Hestia let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, and let herself fall back on the ground, closing her eyes. She heard footsteps approach her and somebody knelt over her body.

“Hestia? Are you alright?” Ikaris asked from above. She opened her eyes again and looked into his blue ones. They were different from Druig’s. Ikaris’ eyes looked like they were tired, and full of something, something that he wanted to say, but has just carried around as a secret instead. Druig’s eyes had something much warmer to them, they were inviting, and they looked as if they solely focussed on her whenever they talked.

“Hey, Hestia.” Ikaris waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

“Nope. Can’t hear you.” She groaned, trying to get up. Her stomach hurt immensely, and she saw that the tentacle was still there. Grabbing it, she pulled it out, doing the same thing with the one that impaled her chest.

“Phew, that’s better.” Hestia said before laying down on the ground again. Ikaris just stared at her with wide eyes.

“Why did you pull them out?” Ikaris yelled at her. “Now you’re going to bleed out, idiot!”

“Well, I’m not going to leave someone’s hands sticking out me, am I?” Hestia yelled back in the same tone. “Just let me get to Ajak, because apparently, she’s the only useful one around here.”

“You can’t even stay upright. How are you going to get to her?” Ikaris asked, clearly not in favour of letting the girl get there on her own.

“That seems like my problem,” The girl hoisted herself up, “not yours.” Looking at him with a pointed look on her face, she stood up on her legs, holding her stomach in pain.

“It’s going to take ages like that.” Ikaris told her before putting one hand on the small of her back, the other under her knees and pulling her up.

“Hey! I said I could do it myself!” Hestia exclaimed, annoyed with the man.

“Yes, but you and I both know that that was a lie.” That was the last thing he said before taking off, with her cradled in his arms.

He landed them safely in front of Ajak, who rushed over to the girl, healing her wounds. At the same time, Druig came running over. He had seen Ikaris flying with a body in his arms, and was alarmed by the sight, fearing that it might be Hestia in his arms. He had never been one to deal with jealousy well, especially not when someone got hurt in the process.

“Ikaris.” Druig announced his presence, lightly shoving him out of the way to get to Hestia. “The beautiful, beautiful Hestia, what happened to you?” He asked her while inspecting the wounds that were being healed. He had a concerned look on his face, still not liking the fact that Ikaris was the one to bring her in.

“It’s no big deal, one of the deviants stabbed me with its tentacles,” Hestia said while Druig brushed a few stray hairs from her face and tucked them behind her ear, “one tentacle in my chest and one in my stomach, but I burned them from its body, so I guess the beast is worse off.”

“You’ve going to have to start being more careful, okay?” He folded his arms over each other, trying to look like he was lecturing her, but neither could keep a serious face. Together, they burst out laughing.

“Ouch, I should stop laughing, my stomach still hurts.” Hestia managed to say, still laughing through the pain.

Ajak patted the girl on the back. “You’re all healed, though it might still hurt, considering the tentacles went straight through you.” She smiled and motioned for her to go with Druig, knowing the girl would be in good hands with him.

Chapter Text

04 | I remember when we

used to talk every day

575 B.C. - Babylon

Druig and Hestia were sitting on the floor of the Domo together, Hestia between Druig’s legs, leaning the back of her head on his chest. His arms were around her, holding a piece of paper in front of them. It had a drawing on it, that one of the locals made to thank Hestia for helping them with making their fire. It kept going out after minutes, so she helped them keep it burning.

“The people really love you.” Druig said softly, sometimes he wished he was so adored by the people.

“Well, I don’t care what they think about me, if they love me or hate me, I only care about you.” Hestia turned her head to look at the boy behind her with a lovesick smile on her face. Druig looked down with a similar expression at the girl.

“Phastos,” Ajak came walking into the room with grace, “did you go to the party last night like I told you to?”

Phastos scoffed. “The party? Oh yeah, it was…”

Druig interrupted him from behind Hestia. “He worked all night.”

Phastos turned around with a betrayed look on his face. “Who was talking to you? Shouldn’t you be drooling over Hestia like you always do?”

Hestia turned her body around in his arms. “You like me that much? I’m honoured.”

“Oh, shut up.” He retorted.

“Get a life.” Ajak said. Hestia had no idea who this was directed to, it could have been said to both Phastos and Druig. “And where is Sersi?”

“Late as usual.” Sprite twirled a random piece of metal in her hands.

“I’m sorry, but I have something very exciting to show you, okay?” Phastos softly grabbed Ajak’s arm and dragged her along to his workstation. “Wait till you see this.” He chuckled. He started combining all the components to his invention for the humans.

“What is it?” Ajak asked the inventor. “I’d like to know that too.” Hestia quipped.

Phastos started explaining his creation. “It’s an engine. It moves steam from high pressure to low pressure. It’ll help them till their fields at an incredibly fast rate.”

“It’s gonna freak them out.” Sprite was still playing with the random piece of metal she found, twirling the circle around her finger.

Druig sarcastically agreed with the smaller girl. “I mean, they only have had the wheel 1,000 years, so…” earing a jab in the stomach from Hestia.

“You know, we could do that thing, you know,” Phastos started and pointed at Druig, “where you use your mind to control them and then they could do it quicker.”

“That’s not how evolution works.” Hestia muttered, but it was almost inaudible because Druig had started talking too. “Ajak, you listening to this?”

“Phastos, this steam…” Ajak trailed off, not knowing what the machine was called.

“Engine. It’s a steam engine.” Phastos sighed.

“It’s too soon.” She pointed her finger at him to warn him.

Sersi finally decided to make an entrance. “And there she is.” Ajak welcomed her. Sersi was still panting, and with a smile on her face she asked, “what did I miss?”

Phastos clapped his hands together. “Nothing. Just the screams of my deep disappointment.” He walked away from the design with an obviously disappointed expression.

“I’m sure you have something simpler.” Ajak tried to comfort him, but it didn’t help. Phastos was immensely proud of his design, and nothing was going to change that.

“Simple.” Phastos noted. “Okay, let’s see.” He started taking apart his previous creation, removing parts.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the plow. ‘Cause that’s what it does. Plows dirt.” The disappointment was evident in his voice, mixed with sarcasm.

“I met another group of settlers who are building their homes in the northern fields.” Sersi added.

“What’s that supposed to add to this conversation?” Hestia questioned, mainly to Druig, who shrugged his shoulders.

“They’ll need to plant their own crops.” She hinted towards the plow that was glowing above Phastos’ workbench and Ajak put her arm up to point towards Sersi, clearly trying to show Phastos that his invention wasn’t as useless as he thought it to be.

“Okay, that actually makes sense.” Hestia muttered, feeling slightly stupid for not thinking of that earlier. Druig let out a little laugh and she looked at him with a fake pout. “Are you making fun of me?”

“I’d never do that, milady.” He smirked, knowing she hated it when he constantly used such formalities when talking to her.

“C’mon, I told you like two hours ago, stop with the ‘milady’ thing! If you don’t, I’ll start saying sir after every sentence and bowing whenever you come into a room, you’ll see how annoying it gets after a while.” She had fully turned her body around between his legs, now facing him. She didn’t find it annoying that he kept calling her milady, but that was something he didn’t have to know, for now.

Both tuned back into the conversation that the others were having. “Listen, humanity may be coming along slower than some of us want. But there is no telling what wonders they will discover as they advance.”

Chapter Text

05 | if I could have

anyone in the world,

it would still be you

575 B.C. - Babylon

Sprite’s illusions had been lighting up the room and leaving the partygoers impressed. Hestia was sitting at a table in the corner, together with Makkari. The two had grown closer over the years.

“So, when are you going to tell him?” Makkari signed.

“Tell who? And what do I need to tell?” Hestia looked at her, tilting her head. She was clearly confused.

“I’ve seen you staring at Druig all night and whenever you look away, the roles reverse. It’s as if you guys can’t stop staring at each other.” She smiled at her friend.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, right? I don’t have anything to tell him and vice versa. We’ve been friends for centuries!” Hestia groaned, not wanting to have this discussion again. She had heard from multiple Eternals, that they thought that one of the two should pluck up the courage and ask the other out, but she never took their advice. Druig and her had been friends for as long as she could remember, and that didn’t need to change, she didn’t want to see their friendship get ruined.

“And besides, I don’t like him as more than a friend. I’m sure he feels the same way.” She sighed, desperately wanting to drop the subject.

“Whatever you say, sister.” Makkari signed back, not believing a single word the girl had said.

Neither girl had noticed that while they were talking, Druig had made his way over to them from the other side of the party. He stopped right behind both of them and leaned down.

“What are you two talking about?” He inquired, a light smirk present on his face.

Hestia turned her head to meet his gaze, not expecting him to appear right when they were talking about him. “Oh, nothing important.”

“Oh, so I’m nothing important now? Didn’t expect that one.” Druig’s smirk became even more prominent, while Hestia’s face changed into a face of shock. She hadn’t anticipated that the boy had been listening in on their conversation. Now she was caught red-handed.

Makkari looked from Druig to Hestia and signed a quick “I’m going to let you two do your thing,” before speeding off.

Meanwhile, Hestia had started to blush, thinking about how she could talk her way out of the situation. Suddenly, Druig grabbed her wrist, pulling her through the crowd and to the gate, where he pulled her into a small room, away from everyone else. He closed the door behind them, and the sounds of the party were drowned out.

She saw this as her chance to sweettalk her way out of here. “So, why were you eavesdropping?” She said as she tilted her chin upwards, looking directly into his eyes. Druig mirrored her.

“I wasn’t. Why were you talking about me?”

“I wasn’t.” Hestia retorted.

“Oh yeah?” Druig questioned, walking closer to her in an excruciatingly slow pace, his signature smirk plastered on his face again. “You don’t like me as more than a friend?” He had reached her by now, lifting his hand up to her face and brushing her hair back, tucking it behind her ear. His eyes met hers, his blue ones staring into her green ones, like they had done all those centuries ago, the first time they met.

Hestia was stunned, she couldn’t move. Only her eyes had stared into his with a burning passion. She knew her eyes couldn’t hide her lies anymore, as soon as somebody took control of her eyes like Druig did, she became an open book, even for someone who did not have the power of mind reading.

“Do you actually think I only see you as a friend, beautiful, beautiful Hestia?” He leaned even closer to her, resting their foreheads together, never breaking eye contact. “Would a friend do this?”

He dipped his head down and pressed his lips against her soft ones, moving one hand on her jaw and the other moved down to grab her waist and pull her closer to him. Hestia put her hands on Druig’s chest, moving her lips in sync with his. She felt him smile into the kiss, and she did the same.

“So, would a friend do that?” Druig asked breathlessly.

“No…” Hestia said, unsure what he was going to do next.

“Well, it’s a shame I’m only a friend then.” He turned around and walked back over to the door, though before he could open it, Hestia grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. He stood there for a moment, waiting what she would do. Then he turned back to face her.

“Yes, friend?” He raised his eyebrow.

Just at the mention of the word friend, she could feel jealousy burning inside of her. The idea of him being just a friend, and being able to go out with others, didn’t sit right with her, so she took control.

Hestia pulled him in by wrapping her arms around his neck and their lips met for the second time that night. She could feel Druig’s hands finding their way to her waist, and he rested them there, occasionally drawing her a little closer.

After a while, both were out of breath, and leaned their heads against each other, not wanting to let go completely yet.

“I don’t want you to be my friend.” Hestia breathed out heavily, feeling like she was on cloud 9.

“That’s good, because I don’t want you to be the beautiful Hestia.” Druig pecked her lips. “I want you to be my beautiful Hestia.”

Chapter Text

06 | you glow different when

you're actually happy

575 B.C. - Babylon

Druig and Hestia walked, hand in hand. In the morning when the two woke up next to each other, he had told her to put on one of her nicest dresses and wait for him at the waterside. So that’s what she did.

She was wearing her light blue dress and was waiting for him by the beautiful sea when he arrived. He had a basket in his hands, and an array of food was it in, prepared by the citizens. He told her that he had asked them to make their specialties, wanting to make the day extra special for his special girl.

So, there they walked, Druig holding a woven basket and Hestia’s hand, while Hestia played with the hem of her dress with her free hand. While the two made their way to the spot Druig had deemed ‘perfect’ for the date, a few civilians waved to them and complemented Hestia’s dress. Every time she got a complement, she would blush, and Druig would agree, making her blush even more.

The waves crashed against the shore as the two sat down on the picnic blanket that Druig had brought. Hestia was sitting between his legs, leaning back on his chest, and he rested his head on top of hers. It was their favourite way to spend time together, sitting like that, in a peaceful silence, arms around each other.

“Do you ever think about what happens after we finish our mission?” Druig asked the girl in his arms.

“Not really, I like to live in the present, rather than the future.” She chuckled.

“So, you’re being poetic today? I’m going to have to start taking notes on everything you say and put them all together in a book.” He joked.

“Really? Would you do all of that for me?” Hestia played along.

“You know I’d do anything for you.” Druig pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“Even be civil with Ikaris?” She grinned, taking advantage of what he said.

He thought for a moment before answering. “So, you see, everyone has limits, and I don’t want to associate myself with idiots. Yep.” He was awkwardly trying to explain himself, but Hestia was folding over in laughter. She knew damn well that she could ask anything of him but being nice to Ikaris was something that nobody could ever get him to do.

“You wanna know what I can do instead?” Druig chimed. The girl in front of him just hummed.

“I can give you this.” He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small necklace, holding it out to Hestia. It was a delicate piece of jewellery, with a small red stone hanging at the end of it.

“I found the stone,” he said, “and it reminded me of your flames. So, I went and asked someone to put it on a necklace for me, so I could give it to you, to show how much I love you.”

“Druig, it’s beautiful. Can you put it on me?” Hestia held it up to him, and when he grabbed it from her, she went to brush her hair aside, so he had better access to her neck. His cold hands ran shivers down her spine, and she felt him close the clasp of the necklace. Looking down, it was hanging as if it was perfectly made for her, which, ironically, it was.

“Thank you, my love.” She pecked his lips, but Druig softly placed his hands on her cheeks and pulled her back. They kissed for a while, lips moving in sync, hands roaming over the other’s body and neither said anything. They were satisfied with the mere presence of one another.

“Can you promise me one thing, darling?” He questioned her after they had happily shared another few kisses.

“What is it?” She was curious to know what he wanted her to promise him.

“Take it off if you don’t love me anymore. Promise me.” He tilted her chin, so he was looking directly into her captivating dark green eyes, the ones he loved looking at. Her eyes showed him, that she was confused at what he had asked, her forehead creased slightly.

“Wha- “

He shut her up with a quick kiss. “Just promise me, that’s all I’m asking.”

Though Hestia was disoriented, she nodded her head and said, “I promise.”

400 AD - Gupta Empire

The sun shone down on Sersi and Ikaris, as the newly wed couple shared their first kiss as husband and wife. The Eternals were standing together, clapping for the couple. Druig was standing behind Hestia, his head resting on her shoulder, and his arms around her waist. Keeping his arms around her waist, was one of the things he loved to do, to show people that she was his.

He didn’t have to bend down to whisper in her ear. “You look beautiful, you know that?” It made her blush and chuckle. “Thank you, my love.”

“How long do you think they’re going to last?” Druig whispered in her ear again, but he quickly came face to face with her, as she had turned around.

“What? Who?” She questioned.

“Sersi and Ikaris.” He motioned his head towards the two standing in front of the group.

“Are you serious?” Hestia looked at him with wide eyes. “You can’t just ask that, not at their wedding, idiot. But for the record, I think they’ll last for as long as this mission lasts.”

“I think they’ll last for about 1600 years.” Druig added.

“That’s pretty specific. Any reasoning behind it?” Hestia inquired.

“Just a feeling. How long do you think we’ll last?” Druig asked the girl in front of him with a cheeky smile.

“Until the last star in the universe burns out.” She said with pride.

“So forever?” The boy quizzed.

“Forever.” The girl responded.

Chapter Text

07 | life has to end, she said.

love doesn't

1521 AD - Tenochtitlan

The flames spread though the village, illuminating and burning everything and everyone who dared to cross its path. The forest was glowing red and orange, though the flames were not of Hestia’s making. Running through the forest, she saw the silhouettes of her fellow Eternals standing on an open piece of land.

Hestia arrived at the group, and she heard Ajak ask “where are the others?”

Makkari signed back to her. “We had to split up.”

“There were more deviants than you said.” Thena sounded rather annoyed with the prime Eternal.

“Well, I’m sure that was a lot of fun for you.” Phastos chirped.

“It was.” The annoyance in her voice was gone, meaning that she had faked it in the first place. Thena was always the one who loved killing deviants the most.

Phastos pulled out his projector, pulling up the status of earth. “Once the others kill these last deviants, we will have eliminated them all from the planet.”

Just as he finished, gunshots ran through the forest, and Hestia looked over at Druig with a knowing look. He wasn’t paying any attention to her though; he had turned his head to look at the fight that was starting among the humans. They were shooting at each other like no lives mattered to them, dead bodies falling to the ground every second.

Druig had walked closer to them, his eyes glowing gold, but Ajak knew what he was up to. “Don’t.” She warned him. “We don’t interfere in their wars.”

Druig wasn’t having it. “This isn’t war. It’s genocide. Their weapons have become too deadly. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea helping them advance, Phastos.” Hestia slowly stepped closer to him, knowing she was possibly the only one who could make him stand down.

“Technology is a part of their evolutionary process, Druig.” Phastos didn’t back down. “It’s not exactly something I can stop.”

“No, you can’t. But I can.” He was raising his voice, and Hestia softly put her hand on his shoulder. “Look at me. Calm down.” She whispered.

Out of nowhere, Thena started talking.

“It’s too late. Everyone is going to die.” Her eyes turned white as snow and her weapon appeared in her hands.

Sersi was standing right in front of Thena, trying to make her regain her consciousness, because to every single Eternal, it was obvious that this was not the Thena they knew.

“Thena?” Sersi stepped closer, but Thena had prepared to attack. Sersi didn’t see it coming, though Makkari did. She ran over to her and pulled Sersi out of the line of attack.

Phastos walked over to Thena to check on her, but instead he got stabbed in the shoulder. Hestia hadn’t thought her plan through, and she too, walked over to Thena. Just as she was almost in front of her, Makkari sped past again, pushing Hestia out of the way lightly and dragging Thena along with her.

Thena was quicker though. She had her sword ready and stabbed Makkari in the gut, making her drop down to the ground, holding her stomach in pain.

Hestia saw it happen and sprinted over to Thena, ready to protect Makkari. She bent over the woman, inspecting the stab wound. What she didn’t know however, is that Thena had gotten back up again, and threw her sword.

“Hestia, watch out!” Druig screamed at her, but all the attempts to help the girl were futile.

She turned around and felt the sword drive through her chest. Her mouth fell open, wanting to scream because of the pain, but not a sound came out. The sword was glowing in her chest, and as her body sagged, it held her up. A tear slipped out of her eye, and she looked at Thena, who’s eyes were still white.

“Don’t listen to your head, Thena.” Ajak chimed in from behind Hestia, trying to take Thena’s attention off the girl, hoping that the sword would vanish if she lost her concentration.

“Listen to my voice.” The prime Eternal lifted her hands up to Thena’s head, both glowing gold. “You are safe. You are loved. You’re our Thena.”

Thena’s weapons disappeared for a moment, making Hestia drop to the group, gasping and clutching at her chest. Though it appeared like Thena was back to her normal self, her white eyes reappeared within seconds, and so did her weapons. Ajak and Thena kept fighting, Ajak desperate to get the warrior back to her normal self, while Thena was desperate to kill her leader. She nearly succeeded, stabbing Ajak in the stomach, leaving her gasping, just like Hestia had moments ago.
Gilgamesh ran over to the two fighting, distracting Thena and fighting her. Meanwhile, Ajak healed herself, but she seemed to forget about the fact that Hestia and Makkari were still on the ground, bleeding out. Druig had ran over to her, muttering words of love and reassurance at her, telling her to hold on for just a bit longer.
Ajak ran over to Makkari, putting a hand on her back to help her get up from the ground, and one on her stomach, healing the spot where Thena’s sword had impaled her.

Druig had sprinted over to Hestia, who was still laying on the ground, gasping for air. “Hestia, look at me.” He held her cheeks in his hands, leaning his forehead against hers. “You’re going to be okay? You hear me?”

“I- “Hestia croaked out. “I love you.” She whispered.

“Don’t say that. You’re going to be fine.” Druig’s voice started breaking.

“Ajak!” He shouted demandingly at the woman. “Hestia’s bleeding out!”

Hestia was looking in Druig’s eyes to hold on to her consciousness. Her eyes were starting to get heavy. She had been laying on the ground for hours, it seemed, and her whole chest was soaked with the red colour of her blood. She felt Druig’s hands lift her head up and heard him saying something to her, but it sounded too far away for her to hear her.

Far away she could hear Ajak talking to her now. “Hestia, stay awake. I’m healing the wound now, you’ll be okay.” It was as if she could feel her chest being stitched together, the pressure of her cut vanishing slowly. She finally felt like she could breathe properly again.

Behind her, she could hear a loud boom and it sounded like Gilgamesh had delivered a relatively painful punch. Hestia was starting to push herself from the ground and she leaned on her elbows before asking what had happened.

“Who deserved that punch?” She said jokingly.

“I think he might have brought Thena down with that one.” Druig still looked concerned. He was franticly checking the girl’s chest, to make sure there were no other gashes on her body.

“Hey, look at me, my love.” Hestia put her fingers under his chin, making him look her in the eyes. “I’m okay.”

“I’m glad you are, darling.” Druig placed a delicate kiss on her forehead.

Chapter Text

08 | sometimes we are just

collateral damage in someone else's

inner war against themselves

1521 AD - Tenochtitlan

The candles on the stone table shone onto Thena. Hestia was exhausted after the fight with both Thena and her own body. It was a difficult task of staying awake while the other Eternals were talking. Luckily, she could lean her head on Druig’s shoulder.

“I thought Mahd Wy’ry was a myth.” Sersi whispered, to no one in particular.

Phastos was being healed by Ajak. “There is no cure, so no one really talks about it.”

Thena gasped from the table, her eyes had flickered white before turning to their usual blue. Everyone walked a bit closer to the table, alarmed.

“What happened?” She asked the group.

Ajak took it upon herself to explain what had happened. “Thena, you attacked everyone.” Her calm voice rung through the temple. “Wounded Sersi, Phastos, you nearly killed Makkari and Hestia.”

Thena slowly got up from the table, looking around with a look of sorrow. “I don’t remember.” She shook her head and tears seemed to form in her eyes.

“You have Mahd Wy’ry. Your mind is fracturing under the weight of your memories. And all I can do is erase them so you can start over.” Thena had started shaking her head and murmuring ‘no’ repeatedly.

“I will have to inform Arishem and take you back to the ship, where we have the technology to help you.” Ajak informed the warrior.

“But she won’t be Thena anymore.” Makkari signed with despair.

“What if it happened again? She could’ve killed you. She could have killed all of us.” Kingo argued.

“I’d rather risk that she kills me, than lose our Thena.” Hestia joined in.

Tears were streaming down Thena’s face. “Please, I… I want to remember. I want to remember my life.”

“Thena, I love you. But listen to me. It’s not important if you remember or not. Your spirit will remain.” Ajak put her hand over Thena’s heart.

“How do you know that? If you erase her memories, how much of her will remain?” Hestia rasped out, tears forming in her eyes too.

“She’ll always be Thena deep inside. Trust me.” Ajak told everyone.

“Why should she trust you?” Druig walked forward, making Hestia drop her head from his shoulder. “You’re asking her to let you erase who she is.”

“Druig, I know you’re upset, but…” Ajak wanted to comfort the boy.

“Upset!” Druig shouted, startling everybody, but mainly Hestia. She had never seen him lash out like this, not with so much anger present in his voice.

“We’ve trusted you for 7,000 years and look where you’ve gotten us.” Druig spat out. Hestia walked over to him and tried putting her hand on his shoulder, tried to calm him down, but he shrugged her hand off like it was nothing.

“I’ve watched humans destroy each other when I could stop it all in a heartbeat. Do you know what that does to someone over centuries?” Hestia could see a small tear slip from his eye, though she didn’t dare move closer, scared he might brush her off again.

“Could our mission have been a mistake? Are we really helping these people build a better world, huh?” Druig stayed silent for a bit and turned his back on them. He walked to the edge of the staircase, looking over the fires burning down the city.

“We’re just like the soldiers down there. Pawns to their leaders. Blinded by loyalty. It ends now.” Nobody dared to interrupt him.

Out of nowhere, all the soldiers down in the village dropped their weapons. Hestia realised what he was doing and slowly made her way over to him.

However, Ikaris was faster. He grabbed Druig by the shoulder and yanked him back, shoving him into the wall. “Let them go.” Ikaris demanded.

“You’re gonna have to make me.” Druig dared the taller man, tilting his chin up and looking into his eyes with anger.

“Ikaris let him go.” Hestia ordered him.

“Stop.” Ajak marched over to the duo, ready to separate them. Ikaris looked down, backing up, but Druig kept looking into his eyes, asserting dominance.

“If you wanna stop me, you’re gonna have to kill me.” He said to Ajak, before turning away from her, walking back out of the temple, down the stairs and not looking back.

“Druig!” Hestia pushed her way past Ajak and stormed down the stairs.

“Wait, Druig, please!” She ran after him, but he paid no attention to her, continuing to walk through the village. The citizens walked after him, eyes glowing gold like Druig’s. They formed a line behind him, making sure none of the Eternals could get to him.

“Druig! Don’t leave!” Hestia’s voice broke near the end of her sentence, tears dropping down from her eyes.

He stopped walking and so did the rest of the people. He turned around at a tauntingly slow pace, his eyes meeting Hestia’s.

“Go back.” That was all he said.

“No! I’m not going to let you leave like this.” She walked closer, reaching out to him.

“Don’t make me do this, my love.” Druig looked like he was about to burst into tears, but he kept himself composed.

“Don’t make me do what? You’re the one who decided to leave.” Hestia retorted, letting out a sad chuckle at the end.

“I love you.” He whispered.

The civilians walked over to her, some closing in around Druig, and two others grabbed her by the arms, dragging her back up to the temple. When she realised what was happening, she started kicking the men, trying to get them to back off.

“Druig, no! Make them let me go!” Hestia slowly started to break down. “Druig!” Her voice broke and tears were streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably.

“Let me go!” She shouted one last time, before her voice gave up on her. Her shoulders were shaking, and her eyes couldn’t focus because of the many tears gathering.

In that moment, she felt more alone that ever. Even as everyone gathered around her and hugged her, none of their affection reached her. None of the people around her were the people she wanted to see. The only one who she wanted was Druig. It felt like a part of her soul was ripped from her.

She had lost her reason to live.

Chapter Text

09 | it is both a blessing and a curse

to feel everything so very deeply

2023 - Somewhere in the air

“So Ajak is dead?” Hestia muttered, her hands rubbing in her eyes. She was leaning her elbows on the bar in front of her and let out a shaky breath.

“We found her on the ground at her ranch. She was killed by a deviant.” Ikaris spoke, rubbing a hand over the younger girl’s back. She sensed something was off about him though, but she shrugged off the feeling, considering the two hadn’t seen each other since Ajak had told them they were free to go, on that horrible night.

The night he left. It still haunted her, even after all those years. Neither party had tried to reach out and it seemed like both were fine with living their lives separately. Unknowingly, she had started fidgeting with the necklace he had given her in Babylon. She never took it off since she had promised to only take it off until she had stopped loving him. She never did.

Kingo had entered the room dramatically, his valet, Karun, following his every move.

“Seven thousand years. That’s how long the battle between Eternals and Deviants has raged for. You think I’m a movie star. Well, I am. But I am also an Eternal.” He finished his speech proudly.

“Kingo, what are you doing?” Sprite asked, rolling her eyes.

“Good question, but I don’t even want to know.” Hestia turned to Kingo. “Can you just stay quiet until we land?”

“I think we should be remembered, so I am making a documentary, about us.” He did jazz hands and sat down next to Hestia, Karun trying to get the perfect shot of Ikaris, Hestia and Kingo next to each other.

Kingo turned back to look into the camera. “You’re about to meet my fellow Eternal, Hestia.” Then he turned to the younger girl. “Hestia, tell them about yourself.”

“I’d rather burn down this plane, specifically with you in it.” She deadpanned and stuck up her middle finger.

“I think that says enough about her powers.” Kingo was talking to the camera again, like the movie star he was. “She’s still moping over the fact that her boyfriend left her 500 years ago.”

Hestia’s eyes widened and she felt her heart break at the mention of ‘her boyfriend’. She smacked Kingo on the back of the head and walked away to the bathroom on the other side of the plane.

“502 years.” She whispered to herself, correcting Kingo.

2023 - Australia

The Eternals stepped off the plane, Hestia joining them after a moment of hesitation.

“You alright?” Sersi had waited on the girl to get off the plane, so she could talk to her.

“In all honesty, could be better.” Hestia looked at the woman with a sad smile.

“It’ll be okay.” She rubbed a hand over the girls back. It had always made her feel bad if anyone around her felt melancholy.

The group walked past a dead deviant, that was laying on the ground before the house. Karun was filming it all, never having seen such a creature in real life, he was desperate to record it.

Ikaris knocked on the wooden door, while Kingo narrated everything for his documentary.

“… a mighty powerhouse of strength, the fearsome Gilgamesh!” He yelled, though the door didn’t open yet. “Gilgamesh!” He yelled once again, hoping the man inside would hear them and open the door on que.

Finally, the wooden doors opened, and there stood Gilgamesh, wearing a ‘kiss the cook’ apron. He didn’t exactly look as heroic as Kingo had described him to be.
Gilgamesh looked around and asked Ikaris “what took you so long?”, his eyes squinting because of the sun. He waved a hand at the camera Karun was holding, signalling that he had to put it away.

He marched out of the gate and past the others, to an oven outside. “You look younger today, Sprite.” He joked and Hestia had to hold in a laugh.

Karun didn’t stop following Gilgamesh around with the camera. “I have the same apron.” He chuckled and Gilgamesh squinted his eyes at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Karun. Kingo’s valet.” He exclaimed enthusiastically.

Gilgamesh thought for a moment before he understood. “Oh, valet. Like Alfred in Batman.” He pointed his finger at the man and Karun happily nodded.

“Gilgamesh,” Ikaris started, “the deviants are back.”

“No shit. I could’ve used some help.” Gilgamesh complained.

“We were attacked by a deviant in London, too.” Sprite added and Sersi joined in. “Even Ikaris couldn’t kill it.”

“Wait, you were?” Hestia was surprised. “Why did nobody tell me?”

“You broke into a big ass penthouse, but never thought of turning on the tv and watching the news?” Sprite inquired.

“The news is for old people.” Hestia argued.

“We are old people.” Sprite stated, and Hestia muttered a small “fair enough.”

“Hey, you guys wanna try my pie?” Gilgamesh held up a freshly made pie, still hot from the oven.

“I’m sorry, Gil. Ajak’s dead.” Ikaris brought the bad news, like he had done multiple times that day.

“It’s true, buddy. We lost her.” The youngest looking of the group continued. Gil had dropped the pan with the pie on it from one hand, a remorseful look on his face. The pie started sliding off the pan and it smacked on the ground, the filling falling out.

“Damn, no pie for us, I guess.” Hestia tried to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t a success. Gilgamesh had slumped in a chair and started bending the pan that he was still holding until it broke into pieces.

Meanwhile, Sersi had spotted Thena, who was sitting on the ground, near a tree, drawing with all kinds of different materials. Gilgamesh told them that she wasn’t much fun to be around right now. He said that the deviant’s attack had triggered her, made her more volatile.

Thena turned around and her eyes glowed a familiar white, her sword in her hand, attacking Gilgamesh. He tried calming her down, like he had promised he would do all those years ago, when it first started happening to her, but it didn’t seem to work.

Sprite created the illusion that they were on the Domo. She made illusions, recreating all the things Thena was known for in history. Her weapons slowly disappeared, and she reached her hand out to Gilgamesh’s. Their hands entwined and Gil whispered “remember” at Thena, who’s eyes were starting to return to their usual colour.

Sprite’s illusion slowly disappeared and the grassy plain came into vision again. Gilgamesh exhaled, clearly relieved that they had their Thena back again. She looked past her friend, at the rest of the Eternals who were standing there. A chorus of hello’s went through the group, Thena greeting them back, with an articulated hello.

Chapter Text

10 | family is supposed to be

our safe place

2023 - Australia

Gilgamesh had prepared a gigantic meal for all the Eternals. A large part of the group was finally together after 500 years, the only ones missing being Druig, Makkari and Phastos. The thought of not knowing where Druig was made her sick to the stomach like it had before. Phastos had called her multiple times, updating her on his son and husband, and Makkari had visited her a few times, considering the two saw the other as a sister.

“This is just what you guys eat every day?” Kingo was in awe at the amount of food displayed on the table.

“Thank you for this.” Ikaris nodded to Gilgamesh. “Oh, you’re welcome. Help yourself.”

“This one is a trio of wine, beer, and mead. Made for all the soldiers in the battle of Troy.”

“That’s so thoughtful.” Karun thanked the man, both chuckling.

Thena was staring at Karun like she had murder on her mind. Kingo and Gilgamesh caught onto it. “Should she be drinking?” Kingo whispered.

“No, hers is non-alcoholic. For kids.” Gil whispered back. “I gave you the same thing Sprite.” He added a bit louder. Everyone started laughing, except for the younger looking girl.

“So, I don’t have a non-alcoholic one?” Hestia questioned and Gil nodded. “Good, because I need some alcohol.” She chugged down the rest of her glass, grabbing the pitcher and refilling it.

In the meantime, Sprite had gotten annoyed at him, and put him in a baby costume with a bib that said ‘Gilga-mess’.

“I was just kidding.” Gilgamesh told her. “Yours is a secret brew that Odin taught me as a thank-you after we helped defeat Laufey’s army in Tonsberg.” He hadn’t noticed that everyone had started laughing at him, though when he looked down, he saw what was happening.

“Oh.” He put his hands up in despair. “I’m a big baby. Very mature. Can you stop?”

Sprite laughed and lifted the illusion with a mischievous smile.

Kingo started bragging about meeting Thor once, the then child, merely running after him. Then he went on complaining about how he became famous and never returned any of his calls.

“So, now that Captain Rogers and Iron Man are both gone, who do you think is gonna lead the Avengers?” Sprite glanced around the table.

“To be brutally honest, I don’t care, unless it’s mister Barnes, because frankly, that man is smoking hot.” Hestia grinned, the alcohol taking over for a quick second.

Ikaris seemed confident and he said “I could lead them. I figure I’d be good at that.”

“Yeah, you would.” Kingo agreed, pointing his fork at him.

“Ajak didn’t even choose you to lead us.” Gilgamesh argued. “Ouch, Gil, ouch.” He responded, slapping his hand over his chest. “I’m gonna let that one slide, because, you know, you’ve always been bitter that I can fly, and you can’t.”

“Oh, what, so you can fly, I’m better looking, everyone knows that.” Gilgamesh declared.

“Guys, let’s not use fake arguments to prove something.” Hestia put her glass down on the table, inspecting both men with a judging glare.

“Hestie! I always thought you agreed with me.” Gil pouted at her.

“I was only joking; you are better looking.” The girl spoke and Ikaris gasped at her, feeling betrayed, but Hestia just shrugged at him.

Suddenly, Sersi stood up and sauntered outside. “Where are you going?” Ikaris posed.

“I’m just gonna get some air.” She told the rest before strolling to the door and going outside.

“This is really good, Gil.” Kingo held up his jug. “You know, I could sell this. Put my face on it, move some units.”

“I made it from corn. I chew each kernel myself and ferment it in my spit.” Gil explained and Kingo’s face contorted. Even Hestia subtly put her glass down.

A little later, Sersi came back in, and she explained everything Arishem had told her. The table stayed silent for a good few minutes, processing the things they’d been told.

“So, you’re saying we’re basically fancy robots? Kingo quizzed. “And our past memories are stored somewhere in space?”

“And Arishem made the deviants.” Sersi added. Hestia was deep in thought.

“I’m sorry, Thena. You tried to warn us.” Gilgamesh looked at the warrior with sympathy.

“The last time Arishem reset your memories, something must have gone wrong.” Sprite reasoned.

“What do you mean?” Kingo sounded very confused, though Hestia was paying him no mind. She was listening to what Sprite had to say.

“Well, that’s what Mahd Wy’ry is, isn’t it? All this time, Thena was remembering all the other planets we were sent to and everyone dying during the emergence.”

“I thought we were heroes.” Kingo was starting to get gloomy.

“We all thought we were.” Hestia said. “There are two things, however, that don’t add up. How is it possible we weren’t destroyed during past emergences? And, how come Ajak got killed, if she’s a literal robot?”

The group pondered about her reasoning for a little and Hestia continued. “I mean, the deviant didn’t take out the sphere she always carried with her, the only thing they took is her powers. Does that mean, we are nothing more than our abilities? Are we really worth that little?”

Nobody responded since nobody had any idea of what to answer. They realised that the girl was right but couldn’t reassure her of anything.

“Hey, we’re not the bad guys, okay? We’ve helped the Celestials expand life across the universe.” Kingo declared. “That’s not what bad guys do. That’s what good guys do.”

“But at what cost?” Hestia had pulled her chair back from the table and was standing upright. “It’s nice to see you living out your fantasies, but you need to get your priorities straight.”

“Every time innocent lives have been sacrificed for the greater good, it turns out to be a mistake. We have to stop the emergence.” Sersi backed up Hestia and she nodded her head to Sersi’s argument.

“Sersi, we have no right to save the birth of a Celestial.” Kingo was not backing down at all.

“So, it’s okay to you, that we help the human population grow from, give, or take, 500 people, to 7 billion, and then we kill them all? Weren’t we sent here to protect the humans?” Hestia hissed. She stormed away from the table, bursting through the door, and running all the way to the tree. From outside, she could hear the voices of her companions rise, so they were clearly still arguing about the topic.

It felt like only a minute before the group walked out of the house again, Ikaris spotting the girl standing by the tree. He made his way over to her and patted her on the shoulder.

“We’re going, are you coming?” Ikaris asked her.

“Where are we going?” She eyed him suspiciously.

“We’re going to get Phastos.” He lied to her smoothly, and she pushed her lips to a thin line, bobbing her head. The man slung an arm around her shoulder, hugging her lightly and they strolled back over to the group, heading over to the jet.

Chapter Text

11 | good sense of humour,

dirty mind

and a beautiful heart

2023 - The Amazon Rainforest

“This doesn’t look like a neighbourhood. Like, at all.” Hestia deadpanned, realizing she had been tricked. Ikaris looked at her with a smirk, shrugging and walking out of the plane. “Hey! That’s not fair! You can’t just lie to me and trick me into going somewhere! I mean, where even are we?”

“The Amazon rainforest, dumbass.” Ikaris retorted. “How am I supposed to know? You just randomly brought me here!” She shoved him in the back of the head.

Slowly but surely, a village came into view. A ton of people were working outside, some making new tools, others just wandering around. The inhabitants of the small town stared at them as they walked further into the settlement.

Two women greeted them in Spanish and Karun captured it all. “It’s very nice here sir.” He said enthusiastically.

“Don’t be fooled.” Kingo warned him. “Ignorance is bliss.”

Sprite walked over to one of the citizens and asked him something in Spanish, that Hestia didn’t hear. She was standing with Ikaris, continuously bothering him about who they were going to meet.

“C’mon, just tell me why we’re here.” The girl begged him, but he merely rolled his eyes at her antics and moved on.

The man Sprite was talking to had turned to face her, his eyes glowing gold, and immediately, Hestia knew who they were here for.

“Ikaris, why didn’t you tell me, I could’ve stayed on the plane, please.” She looked around frantically, seeing the civilians gathering over at a hut in the middle of the settlement. Her hand had involuntarily grasped the necklace hanging around her neck, the necklace he had given her, and she cursed herself for not having taken it off.

The wide doors were opened and Druig stepped out. He was wearing a long robe, with a grey shirt underneath and not surprisingly to Hestia, he looked just as handsome as he did before. She stood there, frozen. She wanted to run over to him, hug him and tell him that she had missed him, yet something refrained her from doing so.

“I’ve missed you all.” He smirked and stopped a few metres in front of his fellow Eternals. Eventually, he spotted Hestia and looked at her from head to toe, taking in the woman he had longed to see for so long, before continuing. “Please, make yourselves at home.”

-

Druig had taken his place at the front of the building, leaning on a bench, while the rest of the Eternals were scattered across a few other benches, Hestia sitting on one before a tree, resting her back on it. Ikaris was the only one standing.

“You’ve given me a lot of bad news in one go, my lady.” Druig complained to Sersi. Hestia looked up at him, remembering the first time they met. He had called her ‘my lady’ too, and after that, it had become his thing to call her that. Though apparently, it wasn’t only reserved for her anymore.

“Will you help us?” Sersi questioned the man hopefully.

“I am glad that...” Druig started but was rudely interrupted by Sersi’s phone going off. The music filled the room and Hestia laughed quietly.

“Hey, what’s your service?” Kingo whispered at Sersi. “I’m not getting any bars.”

“Do you all remember this forest? Beautiful, the green of the forest is my favourite colour. It’s also the last place we all lived together.” Druig had stood up, walking around in front of the bench that Thena and Gilgamesh were sitting on. “I’ve protected these people for 20 generations now, from the outside world and from themselves.”

He threateningly strode over to Karun. “Your kind, my friend, you will be responsible for your own extinction one day. Don’t you think?” He glanced over at Kingo with a mischievous smile.

“I think we must learn from our mistakes and do better, sir.” Karun answered truthfully. “You must not give up hope.”

By the way Druig had stopped moving, Hestia knew he was using his powers on the poor man. Karun threw his camera at the wall, and it shattered, breaking into thousands of tiny pieces.

Hestia stood up and grabbed Druig by the shoulder, pulling him back. “Let him go.” She demanded, and he did, after what seemed like a moment of hesitation. “Long time no see.” He smirked at her.

Meanwhile, Kingo had stood up as well. “Oh, no, you didn’t.”

“Okay, new rule, no more possessing people’s valets.” He strode closer to Druig, their chests almost touching. Hestia was standing slightly behind them, watching it all play out.

“Oh, where is your sense of humour, Kingo?” Druig chuckled, titling his chin up.

Karun chimed in from behind them. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“Don’t apologise, it’s not your fault.” Kingo waved his hand at his valet, and he turned back to the man in front of him. “You are not a God. You know that, right?”

“How ironic. Kingo, the movie star.” Druig laughed at him.

“I’ve directed some things, too.” Kingo uttered casually.

“Oh, yeah? Like what?” He raised his eyebrow, not impressed.

“Some internet content.” Kingo was growing more and more uncomfortable under Druig’s stare.

“How many views?” Druig dared to ask.

“I don’t do it for the views.” Kingo told him.

Ikaris pushed himself off the wall, almost storming over to Sersi. “Let’s go. He’s wasting our time.”

“As much as it pains me to say this, we need him.” Hestia remarked and Druig quirked his eyebrow, his famous smirk back on his face.

“Ikaris.” He called after the man, and he immediately stopped in his tracks. “I missed you. Are you gonna charm me? Or threaten me?”

“I mean, there’s a third option, if you prefer that.” Ikaris looked down at him.

“I prefer the third option, maybe he’ll come to his senses then.” Hestia chimed in.

“It must be heart-breaking to find out that you’re not Mother’s favourite.” He taunted.

“And I’m sure she’d be real proud of what you’ve been up to.” Ikaris got cut off by Sersi. “Druig, this is serious.”

“I’ll tell you what’s serious.” Druig raised his voice.

“I’ll tell you who’s Sirius.” Hestia joked lightly, not getting any reaction from her companions, meaning they either didn’t get the reference, or were completely done with her jokes.

“I’ve just been told, I’ve been sent on a suicide mission for the past 7,000 years, and that my entire existence is a lie.” He looked around the group, trying to find someone who’d agree with him. “So, excuse me for not giving a shit about your plan right now.” He strode back over to the door, but Hestia wasn’t letting him leave.

“Druig.” She called his name out with power and precision, making him whip his head around. He had seemingly forgotten that she was here as well. “This is not just about you. Not only your existence has been a lie, but all of ours were also a lie. Do you think that I’m happy about it? If you really care so much about these people, why don’t you care for saving the rest of them?”

Druig’s eyes widened at her small outburst, though he realised she had made a valid point. His eyes fell to the floor, hands behind his back and he nodded stiffly at her. He softly treaded to the door and closed it behind him, leaving the rest of the immortals awkwardly standing in the middle of the room.

Kingo broke the silence. “Druig sucks.”

“That’s what she said.” Hestia joked, still being immature, even after being alive for 7,000 years.

Chapter Text

12 | even the dumb things

he says and does,

make me smile

2023 - The Amazon Rainforest

Hestia had left the group in the small building, to go outside for some fresh air. Even though the discussion wasn’t just between her and Druig, it felt like a weird way to see each other again after 502 years. She hadn’t tried to look for him, wanting a minute alone before they possibly got on the plane for the third time that day, trying to find Phastos.

Leaves and branches broke beneath somebody’s feet, creating an eerie sound. Hestia didn’t have to look up at the person, to know who it was. He apparently did go searching for her, seeing as she was standing in a relatively hidden spot.

“Fancy seeing you here.” Druig announced, making his way over to the girl he had shared so many memories with. He stopped right next to her and exhaled.

Hestia kept her mouth shut, fearing that if she started talking, she might burst from all the different emotions she was feeling. Happy, because the two were finally reunited, sad, because he hadn’t acknowledged her presence so much, and angry, still, because he had left her, had her carried away by people he had under his control.

“You got something to say?” She eventually asked, annoyance clear in her voice.

“I don’t live here because this was the last place, we all lived together,” Druig hesitated, “I live here, because the green of the forest reminds me of you.”

“The green of the forest isn’t just my favourite colour without a reason. It’s my favourite colour because it’s the colour of your eyes.” He explained. Hestia wanted to say something, but he kept going.

“I felt the need to punish myself for leaving you, so I needed to have something near me that reminded me of you.” He tilted his head to gaze at the treetops, his eyes slightly glossy.

The girl didn’t know what to say, and suddenly she felt sorry for him. The only thing she did was grab his hand and intertwining it with hers. For a moment, they stayed like that, the only sound coming from the rustling leaves.

Hestia pulled the necklace from beneath her shirt with her free hand, and brought her other hand around it, still intertwined with Druig’s. She could hear a small gasp escape from his lips, as he shuffled closer to inspect it.

“You’re still wearing it.” Druig whispered, observing the piece of jewellery he had given her on their first date in Babylon, almost 1500 years ago.

“I never took it off.” Hestia said under her breath, eyeing his features and his mesmerizing eyes. She finally realised how much she had really missed him, missed the idea and the feeling of him as he cupped her cheeks in his hands.

“Can I?” He asked, wanting to kiss her like never before. He too, had missed her. He had missed her being next to him when he woke up, missed her being there to make him laugh, and most important of all, he had missed her smile. Her smile would light up the room, and it was one of the few things that would ever make him smile like an idiot. Every time he would make her laugh or smile, he would be there too, smiling like an absolute idiot.

“Yes.” Hestia wasn’t looking in his eyes anymore, but rather at his soft lips, the ones she had kissed every day, every morning when she woke up and every night when she went to bed.

When their lips finally met, it felt like the first kiss they shared, all over again. Druig’s hands roaming her body, and hers slung around his neck, one hand tugging at his hair occasionally. They kept going until both had to physically stop because they ran out of air. Panting, they leaned their foreheads together and gazed into each others’ eyes.

The girl felt conflicted. On one hand, she was immensely happy that she could finally hold him again, but when she reminded herself of what he had done to her, she felt anger rise up. She didn’t know what to do, so she decided to figure that out in a later moment.

“So,” Hestia breathed, “does this mean that you’ll help us?” She questioned with her signature cheeky smile.

Druig groaned and threw his head back. “Was this all a plan to get me to help you? Because it worked.”

“No. Well, not initially.” She giggled at his childish behaviour. “I wasn’t going to try and convince you without talking to you first. Seems like the talking part was mainly done by you though.”

Hestia looked at him with puppy eyes and a fake pout, trying to persuade him into helping them. He merely stared at her, trying not to break out into a fit of laughter.
“Okay, okay, I’ll do it. I’ll help you.” He snickered a little but couldn’t contain his laughter after. He almost fell over, clawing at a tree to rescue himself, which was a little too late, as he fell onto the leaves. Now it was Hestia’s turn to laugh at him.

“Don’t laugh at me, just help me get up.” Druig mumbled, rolling his eyes at the girl who was taking the piss out of him.

“Did you get too old to get up all by yourself?” Hestia mocked him. “C’mon.” She grabbed him by the arm, puling him up from the ground. He stumbled a little, grabbing her waist to stabilize himself.

“Thanks.” He pecked her lips, teasing her, as a revenge for her making fun of him.

“No, no, not so fast mister. You’re not forgiven yet, remember that.” She took a hold of his arm and dragged him back over to her. She slung her arms around his neck again and connected their lips. Soon their breathing became heavier, and they broke apart to breathe.

Chapter Text

13 | never trust your fears,

they don't know your strength

2023 - The Amazon Rainforest

Just as they were about to kiss once more, they heard Sersi scream from far away. The two looked at each other, alarmed and ran over to the houses.

“Ikaris!” They heard Sersi scream his name out to the air. Deviants started getting down from the trees around them and one of them had gotten hold of a civilian, killing it without hesitation. “Clear the camp!” Sersi yelled.

Kingo and Sprite ran over to them, Kingo firing bolts at a deviant that was running over to Sersi. “Get behind me!” He demanded as Sprite hoisted Sersi up from the ground.

Hestia felt a tap on her shoulder and whipped her head around to see Druig pointing at a deviant that was sneaking out of the tree. “I can’t do anything.” She groaned at him. “If I use my powers, the whole forest will be lit within a minute!”

“You’ve got a point.” Druig studied his surroundings and it seemed like he remembered something, grabbing Hestia’s arm, and dragging her along.

“Where are we going? We can’t just leave them!” Hestia cried out, glancing over her shoulder to see Kingo fighting some of the creatures, while Sprite took Sersi to a safer spot.

Hestia made a decision in a split second. She jerked her arm out of Druig’s grip and sprinted over to help Kingo.

“Hestia!” Druig yelled after the girl, but she didn’t react. She was too focussed on the fireball that was forming between her hands. “Don’t!”

“You’re not the boss of me. I have to try!” She shouted.

“Focus, and aim.” Hestia muttered to herself when a deviant came charging at her. “C’mon, open up big guy.” The animal roared and she immediately fired, aiming for the fireball to fly right into its mouth. She had learned from the last times she had done this, and she quickly dashed towards a tree, hiding behind it as the deviant exploded.

Next to her, one of the buildings collapsed, fire burning through the roof. Hestia threw a quick glance around, before reducing the fire, until nothing was left.

“Very nice, sir.” Karun praised Kingo from behind a different tree, but Kingo was not having it. “Are you mental? Hide!” He yelled at his valet.

“We need action sequences!” Karun defended, filming a deviant that was climbing out from underneath a collapsed building. At the same time, Hestia came out from behind the tree, seeing that the deviant she had tried to explode, was in fact reduced to little pieces.

“Sprite, get Karun out of here!” Kingo ordered the girl, while moving his hands around a ball or energy and firing it at the deviant emerging from the rubble.

Meanwhile, Hestia had made her way over to a deviant that was smashing a house with its tail. She motioned for the people inside to get to safety, and she tried her best to aim her fire at the moving beast. The fire hit its head, burning it, though it never seemed to die.

Kingo started helping her, firing more energy at the monster as it hopped from roof to roof. It gave Hestia a second to look around. She tried her best to spot Druig, but to no avail. Another deviant had emerged from the burnt down building, and Kingo whipped around to fight it, while Hestia focused on the one that was on the roof. Her fire did little to the beast.

Sersi lead everyone over to the building they were in previously, closing the door behind them. She used her powers to change the building from wood to metal.

“Sersi!” Hestia warned the woman, but it was too late. The deviant had crawled up from behind her, throwing itself at her. It whipped its tail and Sersi flew away from the one building, ending up somewhere on the other side of the square.

The deviant ran over to Sersi as soon as it saw that she was crawling out from under the wood. Before it could reach her though, guns fired at the monster. All the civilians were standing in a row, holding their guns, and shooting. It was obvious that they were under Druig’s control. The monster screeched and tried to duck but failed. It opted for swinging his tail at the people instead, making them fall over or fly into one of the houses.

Out of nowhere, Druig jumped over the deviant’s tail. Hestia noticed he had gotten rid of his robe, his arm muscles now on full display. He rolled on the ground to avoid being hit by the deviant’s tail and landed himself near one of the guns that had been dropped on the floor.

His muscles flexed as he snatched the weapon off the floor, ducking from the tail again. He quickly loaded the gun and charged right at the monster. He jumped on the tail this time, running over the deviant’s back, and shot it right between its shoulder blades, if it even had those. The recoil made him fly off the monster, but he twisted in the air, making him land gracefully.

Hestia heard a loud noise beside her and Sersi had turned a part of a tree into water, and the rest of it to metal, causing it to fall. Luckily, Druig had heard what was happening behind him, and he rolled away just on time.

“Druig!” Both Hestia and Sersi yelled, Hestia being relieved that he didn’t get crushed by the metal tree, and Sersi because she needed him to do something. Hestia ran over to him and helped him get up.

“Let them go.” Sersi panted, referring to the civilians he had under his control.

“Now is not the time, Sersi.” Druig said breathlessly.

Sersi had grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him lightly. “Please. I know you’re better than this.” As soon as Sersi put his hands on him, Hestia got closer. “Hands off.” She demanded and Druig seized her hands, dropping them from his shoulders.

Hestia rubbed a hand on Druig’s upper arm, glad to have that privilege all to herself again. He gazed over at her, looking for reassurance. She nodded. “You’ve got to let them go.”

Holding up his arm, his eyes glowed gold, and everyone seemed to feel something was happening.

“Druig? Está pasando?” One of them asked their leader.

“Go! Get to the river!” He demanded them. “That was oddly hot.” Hestia whispered, not intending for anyone to hear it, but Druig smirked at her, indicating he did indeed hear what she said.

The deviant that Sersi had trapped under the tree, had freed itself, and the tree Eternals sprinted away. They weren’t fast enough though; it ran right after them. Hestia and Druig both got smacked by the beast’s tail, falling on the ground with a groan.

Ikaris arrived right on time, firing lasers into the deviant’s mouth, while holding it open with his arms. Hestia found herself staring at his muscles for a moment, before Druig elbowed her and said, “I prefer you’d stare at me, rather than him.” Hestia looked at him with wide eyes. “I could almost feel you watching me, you’re not that subtle.” Druig chuckled.

“You should wear that shirt more often.” She mumbled, getting up.

Ikaris had flown over to another deviant that was attacking Kingo and Sprite, but soon he was on the floor, wrestling and trying get it off him. The deviant had pushed Ikaris under his claw, shoving him from side to side. Sersi sprinted over to him, turning a stick into metal, and stabbing the deviant with it.

The beast pushed her into the pond in the middle of the village. “Sersi!” Hestia yelled, though it was too late. She darted over to the pool, not sure if she had to rescue Sersi or first get the deviant out of the way. Before she could even get close enough, the creature had jumped into the water.

Hestia heard a soft humming noise and out of the blue, it was like the pool exploded. The water splashed high up in the air, making Hestia wet. When all the water had dropped, a gigantic tree was standing in the middle of the pond and Hestia walked closer to it. Only then, she realised that Sersi had turned the deviant into a tree, and that she was staring at said deviant.

Druig stood a little behind her, and he too was gaping at the creature. He strolled closer to Hestia, wrapping an arm around her from the side. He felt her place her head on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” He asked her, and she hummed. “You?” She questioned and he hummed back at her, placing a kiss on top of her head.

Chapter Text

14 | ends are often written

before beginnings

2023 - The Amazon Rainforest

Thena lay there, sobbing over Gilgamesh’s dead body. Hestia felt tears in her eyes, and she turned away from the scene, not wanting to believe it. Out of the group, Thena was the closest with him, seeing as they had lived together for hundreds of years, but when the whole group still lived together in Babylon, Gilgamesh and Hestia had gotten close.

Although Hestia had never experienced what it was like to lose someone who was like a father, she knew that this is what it would feel like. Her heart felt empty, even though everyone else she loved was around her. She wanted to comfort Thena, however, her legs had no strength left to carry her anywhere.

Unbeknownst to her, she had softly started sobbing, barely audible. Druig was the only one who heard, and he wrapped his strong arms around her, giving her a kiss on the side of her head as she cried onto his shoulder.

-

The Eternals were standing in a circle, around a big fire, that Hestia kept burning. Karun was reciting a scripture in Sanskrit, honouring the Eternal they had lost. Gilgamesh’s body had been put under the fire, the only thing preserved being his ashes and the memory of him.

-

In the morning, Druig and Hestia found Thena standing in the water, holding the pot that contained Gil’s ashes. The two held each other, feeling melancholy. Hestia had heard footsteps and saw that Sersi had joined them.

“When I left,” Druig started, gazing at the sky, “I thought about taking over the minds of every human on this planet. Violence, fear, greed, all gone.”

“Why didn’t you?” Sersi whispered.

“Because even with me controlling them, they do the wrong thing.” Druig stared at Hestia and both women knew what he meant. He had let the two men pull Hestia away that day, that was all his doing. He couldn’t even put into words how much he regretted that.

“Please, Druig.” Sersi pleaded. “You can’t stay here anymore. These deviants are trying to keep us from killing their own kind. They have a conscience now. That makes them more dangerous.”

“No, Sersi.” He shook his head, not taking his eyes off the sky in front, “that makes them, us.” He twisted his head to look at her now. “Eternals and deviants. Arishem’s children.”

Hestia let the two talk for a moment, not interrupting either, she just stared at the water, seeing it ripple as Thena walked.

“But you are asking me to take control of a mind of a Celestial.” Druig continued. “I do not have that kind of power.”

“We’ll need Phastos.” Sersi nodded.

“Well, good luck. He gave up on humans a long time ago.” Druig gazed over at Thena as she let Gilgamesh’s ashes land in the water.

2023 – Chicago

Ikaris, Sersi and Hestia had decided to go and find Phastos together. The rest of the Eternals decided to stay on the jet. Hestia didn’t know if she wanted to be so close to Druig for now, so she opted to go with. She didn’t stop feeling angry towards Druig, but amid battle, it might’ve looked like she had forgiven him. In her mind, it was certain that she didn’t.

As they strolled up to his house, they saw him standing in the garage, fixing a children’s bike. His son was playing with Phastos’ husband. Phastos spotted the trio and his face fell.

“Auntie Hestia!” Jack ran over to the girl, arms wide open. She crouched down and gave him a big hug. “Did you miss me?” She asked. “Of course!” The young boy was hyped to see her again.

“Who are they, dad?” Jack pulled on his dad’s sleeve.

“These are my friends from college.” Phastos was holding a tool in his hands, playing with it. “Uh, this is Sylvia, and, uh, Isaac. That’s Isaac.”

Hestia tried her best to contain her laughter. It was obvious that Phastos wasn’t so happy to see them here.

“No, dad, that’s superman!” Jack was jumping up and down, pointing at Ikaris. “Dad! That’s superman!”

“Jack, that’s really funny.” Phastos put his hand on his son’s shoulder, but Jack was convinced it was him. “No, no! He is superman.”

“That is definitely not superman.” The inventor sighed.

Jack kept going. “I saw him on TV. He was in London, fighting a monster. And you were with a cape, and you were shooting laser beams out of your eyes.” He gestured his hands at his eyes.

“I don’t wear a cape.” Ikaris informed the little guy, who responded politely. “Oh, sorry.”

“We should just go inside, right?” Hestia understood what Phastos was trying to hint at.

“Jack, do you wanna go inside with auntie?” She held out her hand for him to take, and he took it with no hesitation, skipping in front of her, and she subtly put a thumbs up to Phastos, who thanked her with a nod.

“Can I call you Clark?” She heard Phastos say, mocking Ikaris. “Is that what you go by, now? Because, you know…”

“You’ve called me worse.” Ikaris chuckled and followed Hestia and Jack inside.

Chapter Text

15 | you return like autumn,

and I fall every time

2023 - Chicago

Hestia sat down at the table while Ikaris and Sersi spied on Jack and Phastos. Hestia chuckled at them as they tried to run to the table and act natural when the inventor walked to the living room.

“Yeah. Incredibly natural, guys.” Phastos smacked his lips together, disappointed in the two. Hestia put her hands up in defence, but he just laughed at her, knowing she wasn’t spying on him. He pulled out a chair, sat down and took off his glasses.

“So, after all these years, even you fell for Ajak’s lies.” Phastos looked directly at Ikaris.

“No need to rub it in.” He muttered back.

“It all makes sense why she wouldn’t let us interfere with human conflicts. Conflicts lead to war and war actually leads to advancement in lifesaving technology and medicine.” He explained. “So, our mission was never to make a peaceful and harmonious world, but to increase the population at all costs. Just farming humans as food for the Celestials, right?”

Hestia was surprised at how much the man knew, and even his explanation made her rethink everything Ajak did and told them to do.

“That’s bleak.” Ikaris defended Ajak, even in death.

“Well, so is telling your husband and your child that they could be dead within a few days.” Phastos reasoned.

“So much for giving up on humans, ey?” Hestia implied. “We’re not going to let them die.” She said on a more serious note, not wanting to let Jack and Ben die.

“I got lucky.” Phastos sighed. “I have a family now. They give me faith again. And I see the good in humanity in them every single day.”

“So, look, I cannot help you.” He raised his voice to make his statement get through to them. “I am never leaving them.”

“Phastos…” Sersi tried interrupting him. “I’m sorry, Sersi. It was wrong of me to use my powers without thinking of the consequences in the first place. So, now, I choose to use my hands, to fix my child’s bicycle, okay?” He ranted.

“Do you?” Ikaris challenged and Hestia knew what he was up to, though she didn’t say anything.

“I don’t use my powers anymore.” Phastos said casually, but Hestia squinted her eyes at him, and he noticed.

“You sure?” Ikaris raised his eyebrow, and he used his powers on his door. Immediately, a force field became visible.

“What the hell is wrong with you! My child is right down the hallway!” Phastos scolded Ikaris, pointing a finger to where Jack was.

“That looks like someone’s been using his powers.” Ikaris joked. “I bet you’ve built the perfect safe house.” He gazed at the ceiling and the walls for extra effect.

“What is this even made of?” He was talking about the wooden table they were sitting at. “Vibranium?” He lifted his hand up to test his theory. Right before it came down on the table, Phastos screamed “don’t!” but it was too late.

The table broke right in half. Sersi had put her hands up and stared at the table in shock. Phastos just looked at Ikaris with a disappointed look on his face.

“Fall collection. IKEA. Ass.” Phastos said to Ikaris. Hestia let out a small laugh, receiving a glare from Ikaris and Phastos.

“How did you even deal with this guy for over 5,000 years?” Phastos questioned Sersi, however she didn’t get the time to respond.

“If you stay here, you might as well invite the deviants to dinner. Never mind waiting for the end of the world.” Ikaris stated.

“He has a point.” Sersi and Hestia said, looking at each other, surprised that they said the same thing. “I never thought I’d agree with Ikaris.” Hestia added.

“No. I’m sorry. You can’t just show up in my life and expect me to go with you.” Phastos made a lot of hand gestures and Ben had shown up at the doorframe. Only Hestia noticed him, and she gave him a warm smile, which he returned.

“I’m not gonna…” Phastos was interrupted by his husband. “You should go, habibi.”

“You want me to go?” He was startled.

“You know what my mom would say to you right now, right?” Ben posed. “Quit procrastinating, Phil, and take care of your business.” He said in Arabic.

“He’s a chronic procrastinator.” He told Sersi and Ikaris.

Phastos stood up. “I’m not leaving you two. No way.”

“I’m not happy about it, but if there’s a chance for us to watch Jack grow up to live a life of his own, we should take it.” Ben looked his husband in the eyes.

-

“Before we leave, Hestia, can I talk to you for a minute?” Phastos walked back into the living room, Hestia following close behind.

“What do you wanna talk about?” Hestia put her hands behind her back.

“Did you guys already pick up Druig?” He questioned the girl.

“Yes. Why?” She was hopping from one foot, onto the other, unable to stand still.

“Don’t forgive him so quickly, okay?” The man put a hand on her shoulder, with a sad smile on his face. “I saw how long it took you to stop hurting, so don’t forgive him in a second.”

Hestia had stopped moving. “I didn’t forgive him yet. At least, I don’t think I did.” She sighed. “I gave in for a moment and I felt weak, but the weakness felt so good.”
Phastos let her talk, he saw that she needed to let her emotions out for a little.

“I wanted to come here so I could have a bit of time away from him, so I could figure out what to do.” She whispered, gazing up at Phastos.

“Talk to him, but don’t let him talk, let your own feelings out first.” He told her. “As soon as he starts talking, you’ll give in again, I know that. So, tell him that he needs to sit down and shut up, and tell him everything.”

Hestia held her arms open and walked closer to Phastos, giving him a hug. “Thank you.” She muttered.

Chapter Text

16 | I hate that I'm still hoping

2023 - Iraq

Hestia had promised herself that she would talk to Druig on the jet, so she did. She asked him if she could speak to him for a moment, and he agreed, following her to a slightly more private part of the plane.

“What do you wanna talk about?” Druig asked with his hands in his pockets.

“I want you to let me talk for a moment. No interruptions, please.” Hestia sat down on a couch, and he did the same.

“I have not forgiven you. Let’s start of with that.” She stared at him. “I hoped for years that you would return, I stayed up for days on end, without sleep, because I hoped you’d return in the night, and I wanted to be there when you did. Nothing. You never returned.”

“Phastos had to force me to sleep once with an invention. I was awake for five days. That was right after you left. We were told we could leave, but I stayed. I waited on the exact stairs you and your little puppets pulled me away. Every time I felt myself dozing off, I would force myself to stay awake. I waited, so long, for you to return.”
“I had to refrain myself from burning Phastos, right there, when he pulled me away from the stairs and forced the bracelet onto my arm. I fell asleep right after that. I slept for days on end. I was too tired. Hoping, all the hoping I did, tired me. It drained me.”

“There were days when I had no energy left in me, so, I stayed in bed. I stayed. I stayed and I waited, hoping that you’d come back to our room. But you never did. Even a week ago, I hoped that you would try and visit me, or at the minimum, called me.”

“I didn’t have your number.” Druig spoke, clearly forgetting the rule of no interruptions.

“Then you could have gone to anybody else!” Hestia cried out. “You know who did have my number? Gilgamesh, Sersi, Phastos, Ajak, Makkari, anybody! Heck, you could have even gone to Ikaris! If you had really wanted to, you would’ve asked them.” Tears started to form in her eyes. The only thing he had said, was a pathetic excuse. Not even a ‘sorry’.

“Even after everything you did to me, I still wear your necklace every single day, and I’m starting to rethink doing so.”

“So, unless you have something to say that isn’t a pathetic excuse, I’m leaving.” Hestia gave him a few seconds to think, but when he said nothing, she stormed out of the room.

Phastos saw her and he raised his eyebrow. She knew he was asking her if she had talked to Druig, and she nodded. He gave her a thumbs up, and she mirrored him, before walking over to the bar and joining Ikaris. She was in desperate need of a drink.

-

The plane landed, Ikaris and Hestia getting out first. She had put on her sunglasses and strolled past Druig with her hands in her pockets, ignoring him completely. He had mind controlled the archaeologists working on the site and they drove off in their trucks.

Phastos had located the Domo, making it rise out from beneath the excavation site. It was a mighty sight, the ship rose, all the land above it crumbling and falling. Hestia felt the presence of the ship, that they had arrived on this planet on, make the Eternals tense up slightly. However, Hestia felt relaxed, seeing her home float above them.

The immortals had walked into the Domo, Kingo narrating everything that happened like usual. “A foreboding atmosphere fills the air. An eerie stillness chokes our lungs.”

“What are you doing? You know you’re creeping us out. You know that, right?” Phastos complained with a little waver in his voice. Out of nowhere, something popped, making him scream. “Oh! Oh, God! Stay calm, T, please.” He looked over at Thena, who didn’t seem phased in the slightest.

It appeared that Thena had stepped on a bag of crisps, and Hestia recognised it straight away. “Hey, I bought that one for Makkari!”

“As you can see, being an Eternal does not preclude you from having human emotions, such as cowardice.” Kingo mocked Phastos. The group had made their way further into the Domo, finding Makkari sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, piles of books around her.

“What has she done? Is that… a sarcophagus in my lab?” Phastos asked in a high voice, and he sprinted over to the other side of the room.

“This is Makkari.” Kingo narrated. “Or should I say Miss Havisham? None of us have seen her for centuries.”

“That’s not true! Makkari and I meet up every year!” Hestia argued, waving at the woman who she saw as a sister.

“Ready to go home?” Makkari signed with a happy smile on her face.

When nobody responded and merely stared at her with complicated looks, she knew something was up and she threw her head back as a way of complaining. They weren’t going home, not soon at least.

Chapter Text

17 | I don't care

how complicated it gets,

I still want you

2023 - The Domo

Hestia sat on a ledge, wondering where all her stuff had gone. She had left some things on the Domo, like her sketchbook. She decided to look through the messy room and try to find it. Walking past stacks of books, with titles she didn’t recognise, she found a leather-bound book, with her name scratched into it.

Flipping it open, she saw all sorts of different quotes, that seemed like they were said by some ancient people, like Aristotle. However, when she looked closer, she saw that there were dates under every one of them, including her name and a place. One of them was from Babylon. “I like to live in the present, rather than the future.” It read.

Shock washed over her like a wave of cold water. Druig and her went on their date in Babylon, that was what she had responded when he asked if she ever thought about what happened after their mission finished. After she told him that, he had joked that he would put all the poetic things she said into a book, and he actually did.

More and more pages were filled with things she had remembered saying, some bringing up memories she had forgotten, some bringing up memories she would never forget. Even though she was searching for her sketchbook, she was more than satisfied with what she had found instead.

“My beautiful, beautiful Hestia.” Druig whispered, causing her to turn around and glare at him, not wanting to hear those words from his mouth until he apologised.
He held his hand up at her, showing her sketchbook. She eyed him suspiciously and realised he spotted the book she was holding. Within a second, Druig had snatched the book from her hands, and she did the same with her sketchbook that he was holding. Satisfied, Hestia smiled at the familiar notebook.

She opened it, to flip through all the drawings she had made over time. A few drawings were of Druig, some were simply landscapes, and others were plants, with the original inspiration next to it, either taped or just loose. It felt amazing to her to have it back in her hands, where it belonged. She was about to close the book, when she realised there was a piece of paper sticking out on the first page and Hestia pulled it out.

“I’m sorry” it read, a small heart underneath. She didn’t need long to figure out who wrote it. Her eyes glanced across the room, to find Druig already staring at her. Strolling over to him, she gave the paper to him.

“For what?” She questioned him, knowing damn well why he said sorry, though she wanted to hear him say it, directly in her face, before even thinking about forgiving him.

Druig sighed, realising she wasn’t going to let him off easy, at all. “I’m sorry for walking away. I’m sorry for dragging you away from me, and I’m sorry for leaving. I regretted it every day.”

“Was that so hard?” Hestia smiled softly, clutching her sketchbook to her chest.

“Actually, it was harder than you think.” He stated. “Well, then you know how I felt when I said everything to you on the plane.” She retorted; chin held high.

“So, does this mean I can call you ‘my beautiful, beautiful Hestia’ again?” Druig smirked, stepping closer to Hestia. She faked being in deep thought for a moment, but eventually she answered. “I guess you’re going to have to find out.” She dared him.

“I’m sorry. What are we watching?” Phastos gestured at the two of them. “Because this... Are you two?”

“Is this new?” Kingo joined in. “Because I hate it.”

“Kingo.” Hestia started. “You know what I hate?” He just shook his head. “Your movies.”

He looked insanely offended at that moment, and Druig held up his hand, Hestia getting the hint and giving him a high-five.

“Phastos, I need to control the mind of a Celestial.” Everyone gathered around.

‘Okay, get ready for it.” Phastos waved his hands in the air.

“Bracelets?” Kingo quizzed. “You made us bracelets?” Hestia saw what Phastos had projected in the air and her breath hitched in her throat. The bracelets that were floating in the air, looked exactly like the bracelet Phastos had used to force her asleep.

Druig wrapped an arm around her, remembering what she had told her about her past experience with a bracelet.

“So, here’s a little Celestial 101. Celestials are the most powerful energy generators in the universe. When Arishem made us, he imbued us with infinite cosmic energy to keep our bodies regenerating.” Phastos explained. “The bracelets, in theory, shut down our regeneration process. And once that happens, our bodies accumulate extra cosmic energy.”

“What for?” Sersi asked.

“Well, if the deviants can absorb our energy, what if we can absorb each other’s energy as well?” Phastos posed the idea to the group. “If I can find a way to connect us all, one of us could become immensely powerful, pulling the accumulated energy from the rest, forming…”

Phastos paused for a minute, pulling up a visual. “A uni-mind.” He clapped his hands together.

“’Uni’ meaning ‘one’ and ‘mind’ meaning ‘mind’.” He explained to the group. “We heard you the first time.” Kingo declared.

“Yeah, I think the explanation wasn’t necessary.” Hestia remarked. “Terrible name.” Sprite agreed and nodded.

“We’ll brainstorm…” Kingo gasped. “Brainstorm! That’s a way better name!”

Phastos refused. “No, I invented it, so I’m calling it whatever I want.” Makkari waved her arms to get everyone’s attention.

“So, suppose Druig can, say… put Tiamut to sleep. Then what?” She signed. “She’s got a point, you know. If he needs all of our power to put it to sleep, who says he can keep Tiamut asleep when we take the bracelets off and we get our power back?” Hestia backed Makkari up.

“Not saying that I’m doubting you, before you get all mad at me.” She put her hands up in defence after seeing the look Druig gave her.

“We find humans a new home on another planet.” Sersi reasoned.

“Are we building a big ship, too?” Sprite joked at the woman. “Take a pair of each animal?”

“Well, you know what’s never saved the planet. Your sarcasm.” Phastos pointed out.

“If we’re all gonna die, we might as well die being sarcastic bitches.” Hestia suggested.

“Space colonization could take decades.” Sprite deadpanned. “It can happen quickly with our help.” Sersi proposed, shrugging.

“What if we end up accidentally killing Tiamut?” Kingo sounded very concerned. “We could be responsible for billions of lives not being created across the universe. Boss, am I right?”

“Say something, Ikaris.” Sprite begged the man next to her. “You don’t think we should be doing this.”

“She’s got a thing for him, I’m telling you.” Hestia whispered to Druig, who snorted.

It stayed quiet for a while, everyone awaiting Ikaris’ answer. “Ajak chose Sersi to lead us.” He finally said. “Sersi should decide.”

“Forget who Ajak chose.” Sprite commented, annoyed by Ikaris’ answer. “You’re the strongest. You should be making this decision.”

“Just because he’s the strongest, doesn’t mean he’s the smartest. Ajak chose Sersi for a reason.” Hestia rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Just keep lying to yourself.” Sprite glared at Ikaris, and she stormed out. “Sprite.” Ikaris sighed; arms still crossed. He ended up walking out after the girl.

Chapter Text

18 | you knew exactly what

you were doing.

that's what hurts the most

2023 - The Domo

Hestia was sitting on the ground when an alarm went off. Hestia jumped to her feet, seeing that a red dot had appeared on Phastos’ globe.

‘Oh, no. My God.” He muttered as Sersi came running in. “What about the Uni-Mind?” She questioned.

“I haven’t figured out a way to connect us, but I’m close. I’m very, very close.” Phastos informed them.

“How much longer?” Sersi asked and Phastos snapped. “I don’t know, Sersi!”

He handed something to Makkari, pressing it in her hand. “Find the point of emergence.” Before she could run off, Hestia stopped right in front of her.

“Be careful, sister.” She signed at Makkari.

“Only for you.” Makkari responded with a wink, before speeding off.

Druig had left the room earlier, so Hestia decided to try and find him. The hallways in the Domo were relatively dark, but even without a singe source of light, the girl was able to locate every single room. Having spent so many times on the spaceship had its benefits.

She heard Druig’s voice when she walked into another long hallway. “You always knew the end was coming.” Quietly, she followed his voice, finding him in the room, standing next to Thena, both staring at the painting in front of them. It was one that Hestia had made, long ago. She had given it to Makkari, and she had seemingly found a good spot for it.

“It must be a relief.” He continued.

“That deviant is still tracking us.” Thena had almost no emotion in her voice.

“Revenge won’t bring peace for you, Thena.” Druig reasoned.

“But killing it might.” Hestia was leaning against the doorframe, observing their conversation without being spotted by either Eternal. Thena turned away from Druig and only then did she see Hestia. The two women gave each other a smile and Hestia strolled into the room, taking Thena’s place next to Druig.

“Nice speech.” Hestia commented, crossing her arms over each other.

“Thanks.” Druig said dryly. “Could have been a little more enthusiastic, but I’ll let it slide.” Hestia grinned at him.

“What do you think will happen if I can’t put Tiamut to sleep?” He stared at her.

“We’ll all die.” Hestia stated. “Though we probably won’t remember considering we’re robots, who’s minds get erased after every planet they destroy.”

“Yeah, that was very reassuring. Thanks, love.” Druig muttered, rolling his eyes at her answer.

“Let’s just go back to the rest, Mr. Optimistic.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

-

Ikaris strode into the room, full suit on. “I’m close to figuring it out.” Phastos told him.

Ikaris’ eyes glowed gold and his lasers shot out of his eyes, destroying Phastos’ floating globe. Hestia shot up, fire starting to burn in her hands. “Ikaris. You got Mahd Wy’ry too? Should I burn it out of you?”

“Boss? What are you doing?” Kingo shrieked. “Stop calling him ‘Boss’. An actual boss wouldn’t shoot lasers at his team.” Hestia hissed at him, fire still moving around in her hands.

“I’ve let this go on long enough.” Ikaris’ voice echoed through the room.

“Don’t hurt him!” Sersi ran into the room, spotting Phastos on the floor.

“Little late for that.” Hestia commented.

“He lied to us.” Sersi explained, helping the inventor up from the floor. “He already knew about the emergence.”

“No, he didn’t.” Kingo stated it like it was obvious.

“Ajak told me everything when we left Babylon.” Ikaris stared at Sersi.

“You were never gonna let us stop the emergence.” Phastos muttered, having figured it out.

“No. I only wanted to protect you from the deviants.” He confirmed what Phastos was thinking.

“So, you’re really going to turn on us like that? Like the weak little bitch that you are?” Hestia raised her voice at him.

“Calm down, Hestia.” Sersi warned her, and she turned back to Ikaris. “If Ajak wanted you to take her place, why did she choose me?” It stayed silent for a moment. “What have you done?”

“He killed her.” Druig declared.

“I had to.” Ikaris defended himself.

“No. Nobody told you to kill her. That was your own choice!” Hestia called out. “She loved you.”

“Did she?” Ikaris eventually turned to look at Hestia, seeing the anger in her eyes, and the fire in her hands, ready to fight him. “She loved you.” The girl confirmed.

“Do you think it was easy living with the truth?” Ikaris’ forehead creased, tears threatening to drop from his eyes. “To know that one day this would all end? To keep on lying to you?”

“No, but it’s what you deserve for killing her. And don’t you dare cry. You don’t deserve to mourn over the woman you killed or the planet that will be destroyed because of you.” Hestia put extra emphasis on the ‘you’.

“If we gave humanity the choice, how many of them would be willing to die so that billions more could be born?” Ikaris responded.

“We’re not giving them a choice.” Phastos’ had tears streaming down his cheeks, just like almost everyone in the room. The only ones who weren’t crying, were Druig and Hestia, Druig wasn’t one to cry, and Hestia was too angry to cry over him.

“Is this why you’re willing to kill?” Phastos asked the man. “You are so pathetic!” He yelled.

“I’m an Eternal, Phastos.” Ikaris replied. “I exist for Arishem. As do you. It’s who you are.”

Phastos shook his head. “I wouldn’t change a single thing about who I am. Born or made. But I do not exist for Arishem, I exist for my family!” He walked over to Ikaris, but Sersi held him back. He was stronger though; he pulled his arm from her grip.

“Then you made the same mistake Ajak did.” Ikaris slowly stepped closer to Phastos.

Suddenly Makkari came rushing in, a happy smile on her face. “I found Tiamut.” She signed. Ikaris saw what she had said and aimed his eyes at her without hesitation. Hestia jumped in front of Makkari, holding her hands up in defence, ready to try and pull of something she had never done before, create a shield with her fire.

Right as he fired, she threw up her own fire, holding the shield as Ikaris tried his hardest to get through. Hestia turned her head around to see Makkari staring at her, her mouth open in shock. “Go! Get out of here!” Hestia screamed and the speedster was gone in no time.

Hestia let her shield vanish into thin air and she stumbled to the ground. The pressure on her body disappeared and she had to adjust for a second.
Beside her, she saw Kingo slowly raise his hand, forming a ball of energy under his hand. “You do not turn against your family.” He shouted. “Gilgamesh died because of you.”

“You won’t succeed against me.” Ikaris boasted. “And I will kill every one of you if I have to.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Hestia dared, letting her fire grow in her hands, illuminating the space around her.

Kingo and Hestia kept their powers aimed at Ikaris as he turned around to walk out of the door.

“Wait.” Sprite said. “I’m going with you.” She stormed over to him, ignoring Sersi’s protests.

Thena strolled in. “What is this?” She stared at Ikaris, his eyes starting to glow gold again, preparing to attack. Sprite rose her hands, waving them and the two disappeared into a cloud of birds. Thena’s glowing sword, Kingo’s energy, and Hestia’s fire were the only thing still visible. The birds turned into a small number of golden butterflies and slowly the creatures vanished from the room.

Chapter Text

19 | my soul's too lit

to give a shit

2023 - The Domo

“Why did Sprite go with Ikaris?” Makkari signed, confused.

“Because she loves him.” Kingo stepped forward. “Oh, you guys didn’t pick up on that?”

“I did!” Hestia stated proudly, before realising that this wasn’t the best time, seeing as Sersi looked like she was about to burst into tears.

“He really fooled us, didn’t he?” Kingo stared at the ground. “Karun, let’s go.”

“Wait, where the hell are you going?” Phastos pointed a stick at the two of them.

“I can’t help you guys.” Kingo told them. “I still think Ikaris is right.”

“So, that’s it, huh?” Phastos questioned. “Just gonna follow him?”

“I love the people of this planet.” He defended, but Hestia scoffed. “You love them so much that you’d let them die? Make it make sense.”

“If you stop this emergence, you are preventing so many other worlds like this one from being created.” Kingo declared. “I still have faith in Arishem. But I refuse to hurt any of you for my beliefs.” He strolled over to the door, but he was stopped by Makkari.

“We need you.” She signed. “Even with my help, we’re no match. It’s Ikaris.” Kingo responded and he walked out, letting Makkari’s hand drop from his shoulder.

Right before he exited, he turned around one last time. “But I hope to see you on the next planet.” Karun waddled after him, also turning around at the door. He spoke to them in Hindi, thanking them for everything that they had done for humanity. Lastly, he told them, that he would miss them, and Hestia felt sorry for the man, sorry that they had dragged him into this mess. She smiled at him before he, too, left the Domo.

“Look,” Druig started, “if I’m gonna get myself killed going up against Ikaris, we’ll need to have a backup plan.”

“Let’s start with a plan in general, you’re not going to get killed, how about that?” Hestia stared at him, proposing her great idea of a plan. He pressed his lips into a thin line, nodding.

“All our powers, even if they’re amplified, are not enough to kill a Celestial, so…” Phastos trailed off.

“Well, Sersi did turn a deviant into a tree.” Druig motioned his head towards the prime Eternal, chewing on something, though Hestia had no idea what.

“I’m sorry, what?” Phastos looked absolutely flabbergasted at the news. “You don’t wanna tell me that?”

“You’ve never been able to do it before.” Makkari frantically signed at Sersi.

“Okay, so when I do something, I’ve never done before, nobody acknowledges it, but as soon as Sersi does it, everyone’s attention is on her.” Hestia muttered, throwing herself back in a chair.

“I don’t know how it happened, okay?” Sersi almost looked ashamed of herself. “And I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do it again.”

Phastos scoffed. “Well, now is the time to try, don’t you think?”

“Phastos, that deviant is dead.” Sersi reasoned. “Our plan is to put Tiamut to sleep, not kill it. I can’t kill a Celestial.”

“Sersi. Sersi.” Phastos tried to calm her down.

“We can’t!” Sersi yelled and sprang up from her chair, breathing heavily. “We can’t.” She whispered.

“It’s okay, Sersi.” Druig told the woman, looking up at her. “I got this.”

Sersi nodded at him, visibly upset, and hesitantly walked out of the room, leaving Phastos, Makkari, Druig and Hestia to figure out what to do with Tiamut.

“So, what do we do now?” Hestia sighed, hoisting herself up to sit on the table.

Out of nowhere, Phastos gasped, and he sprinted away.

“Phastos?” Hestia called after the man. “Where are you going?”

“Too late.” Druig chuckled at her failed attempts of getting Phastos’ attention, earning a jab in the side from the girl next to him.

“You really like doing that, don’t you?” He turned his head to meet her gaze.

“Correction, I love doing that, just like I love doing you.” Hestia stated. They were lucky none of the others were in the room, excluding Makkari of course. She was staring at a wall, not looking at the two at all, though she had probably noticed that they were talking.

“You love doing me, huh?” Druig smirked at her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her closer over the table. He was now standing in between her legs, and she wrapped them around him. “If I recall correctly, I was doing you.” He raised his eyebrow at her, waiting for a reaction from her.

Druig leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers lightly, before pulling away, like nothing ever happened.

“I’m not playing that game again.” Hestia muttered as she pulled him towards her again, wrapping her arms around his neck and connecting their lips.

“I have it!” Phastos stormed in, holding a golden ball in his hands, but he stopped as soon as he saw Hestia and Druig making out on the table. “Seriously, guys? I leave for two minutes, and you fuck on the table? Makkari is still in the room!”

The two broke apart, Druig detangling himself from the girl’s grip. “Cockblocker.” He muttered.

-

Phastos waved his hands around, summoning items and placing them together. Nobody in the room knew exactly what he was doing, but all were fascinated by the way he created things with his bare hands.

He had built multiple bracelets, displaying them on the table. It took a lot of convincing from both Phastos and Druig, that these bracelets were designed to do something else than put her to sleep.

The remaining Eternals went over to the room with the statue of Arishem in the middle, walking to their designated spots to put on their armour.

Hestia felt the familiar pressure of her suit appear on her skin as she raised her arm, crossing it in front of her chest to let the bracelet clasp itself onto her armour. A click sounded when all the bracelets fastened, and Hestia’s heartbeat began to quicken. Even though they had convinced her that the bracelet wouldn’t do harm, a part of her was still anxious. She knew she could trust the inventor and she gazed over at him; he gave her a reassuring nod.

Chapter Text

20 | some women fear the fire,

some women simply become it

2023 - Tiamut's place of emergence

The Domo had flown over to the place Makkari had found, where Tiamut would most likely emerge. Everyone heard it when something hard landed on top of the ship. They knew it was Ikaris, without a doubt. Something on the ship exploded and Thena and Hestia went to find where exactly Ikaris had entered the Domo.

Thena and Hestia found him staring at Arishem’s statue and the two entered the room.

“Where’s Druig?” Ikaris demanded. Thena had pushed herself off from the wall, walking over to him with Hestia behind her.

“He’s busy.” Hestia responded, not at all fearing the man. She strutted past Thena, letting fire grow in her hands to show that she wasn’t backing down.

“Hestia. Play nice.” The man warned her, he too, strolling closer to the duo. Thena had conjured her sword, the cosmic energy that it was composed of, glowing brightly together with Hestia’s fire.

Thena had whipped her sword at Ikaris, who caught it with ease. Hestia waited for a moment, watching the scene between the two play out.

“I’ve never had to fight you before.” Ikaris stated, not breaking eye contact with the goddess of war.

“But I’ve always wanted to.” Thena remarked, seeing Ikaris’ eyes widen at her comment.

She quickly changed the form of her sword, giving it spikes right where Ikaris was holding it, making him release the sword immediately. When he did so, Thena swung the weapon right at him again. The other weapon she was holding was swinging at Ikaris with deadly precision.

Hestia stayed close, ready to interfere if Thena needed any help or if Ikaris decided to make a nasty blow. She watched as Thena kicked Ikaris and as he flew over to the other end of the room. His eyes powered up, glowing gold, and the warrior threw up her shield.

The other woman saw this as a perfect opportunity. She created her own shield, hoping her fire would protect her if Ikaris decided to fire at her too. Deeply breathing in, she ran over to Ikaris, not wanting to waste another second hesitating. Ikaris, however, realised what she was planning, and he switched from attacking Thena, to Hestia.

The lasers pushed Hestia back and she grunted, trying not to slip away. She looked over at Thena and mouthed “go!” at her, gesturing at Ikaris.

She stormed over to him, slashing his thigh. He dropped down, recovering quickly as Hestia started throwing smaller fireballs at high speed, trying insanely hard not to hit Thena in the process. Thena swung her swords at Ikaris again and the two fought for a while. They were too close together for Hestia to safely throw any fire at him, so she just stood there, waiting for the right time.

Ikaris threw Thena into the wall, flying up so he could pin her to it. She had retracted her swords from her hands, practically leaving her defenceless. Hestia tried to fire a fireball at them, but Ikaris glanced back at her, the lasers in his eyes destroying her only chance at getting him to back off.

Suddenly, a gold harness began to glow around both Hestia and Thena. Only Hestia rose from the ground though, seeing as Thena was already being pinned to a wall about two metres high. Hestia heard the woman laugh lowly, knowing that their plan was close to succeeding.

Ikaris released her, flying back, and seeing Thena being connected through the roof of the Domo. It seemed like the man had realised what exactly was happening to both women and he flew back out, through the hole he had entered in.

The Uni-Mind was connecting the five Eternals, the golden arches all leading back to Druig, who was absorbing all their power. Hestia couldn’t see what was happening outside of the spaceship, but she knew as soon as the golden bond between the immortals broke, that something was wrong.

Hestia dropped to the ground and started to worry what had caused the Uni-Mind to fail. Running over to the window, she saw that Ikaris had directed his lasers at Druig, making him collapse. Anger took Hestia over and she created a fireball, firing it at the window, making it explode. She walked back over to Arishem’s statue, exhaling through her mouth, and preparing herself for what she was about to do.

She broke out into a sprint. “Hestia!” Thena yelled at her. “You can’t!” That made the girl run ever faster.

“I’ll die anyway.” She screamed back before jumping out of the window. The cold air made her freeze up for a moment, but as soon as she felt herself falling, she held her hands under her. She had practised flying with Ikaris before and she could only hover, though that would not be enough this time.

She generated as much fire at once as she could, feeling the warmth on her hands. The water of the ocean was coming closer and closer, the floor nearing. In that moment she realised that even if she would manage to fly, she would also have to hold enough power to get to the shore without crashing down into the water.
Hestia started panicking and falling faster and faster, the fire in her hands not being enough to keep her from doing so.

“Shit, shit, shit.” She exclaimed, looking down at her hands. She shook them, trying her hardest to fly. Hestia could remember exactly what it felt like, hovering above the ground back in Babylon when Ikaris had taught her. She closed her eyes for a second, recalling every detail about that moment, but nothing helped. Hestia was still plummeting down to her death.

“Ikaris!” Hestia cried out as loud as she could, trying to get the man’s attention and divert it from Druig, but to no avail.

“Okay, I’m going to die now.” Hestia felt like giving up right there and then. She gazed over at Makkari, Sersi, Druig and Ikaris, seeing as Ikaris grabbed Druig by his neck and flew up, into the sky.

At that moment, Hestia knew what and who she was fighting for. When she was falling to the sea, she forgot why she had jumped out of the Domo, but as soon as she saw what Ikaris was doing to Druig, she saw her purpose. Anger coursed through her body, through her veins and she felt her fire grow brighter than it ever did before.

Hestia noticed she was slowing down, gaining control. Her fire burned in her palms, though it never hurt her. Her fall turned into a flight rather quickly and when she knew that she wasn’t falling anymore, she positioned her hands slightly behind her, pushing herself forward through the air, right at Ikaris.

Chapter Text

21 | turn the pain

into power

2023 - Tiamut's place of emergence

Ikaris was still holding Druig high up in the air, and Hestia flew at them with a speed she could never have imagined. She saw herself coming closer to the two, flying over Makkari and Sersi, who gazed up at her in shock.

Just as she managed to get close to Ikaris, he held Druig up and threw him down. Druig was falling head down, right at the mountains. Ikaris didn’t leave it at that though. For extra measure, his eyes glowed, and lasers shot out, right at Druig, who got blown into the mountain.

“No.” Hestia whispered, her fire slowly disappearing from her hands as she lowered herself to the ground. As soon as her feet hit the floor, her knees buckled, and she fell down on them. The only thing she did was stare at the spot Druig had been smashed into. Behind her, she heard Makkari scream, but Hestia kept silent, merely staring at the hole that was now visible in the floor.

In the meantime, Ikaris had flown back over to the Domo, firing lasers at it, making it split in half and fall out of the sky, aimed right at Makkari, Sersi and Hestia. It seemed like Sersi was the only one who actually noticed their home being destroyed, both Makkari and Hestia were in a trance. Hestia felt herself being whisked away by Makkari, tripping over her own feet because of the high speed, right before the Domo hit the ground.

Now standing, Hestia had a better view of the ground. The place Druig had crashed looked like a gigantic crater, and she could see how much damage Ikaris had done. Turning around, Hestia saw that Makkari had rescued Thena and Phastos from the Domo and behind Sersi, Ikaris landed.

“Druig’s gone.” He stated. “It’s over.”

“For you.” Hestia strolled forward, trying to contain all the anger pent up inside her to prevent her from killing Ikaris on the spot. Instead of killing him, she was planning on making him beg for death, burning alive until he couldn’t take it anymore.

In a swift motion, Hestia formed an enormous fireball, throwing it at Ikaris. Makkari took that as her sign. Right after the fireball hit the man, she sprinted over to him, throwing him into a rock on the beach, smashing him through a few for good measure. From a distance, Hestia could see Ikaris’ lasers frantically trying to hit Makkari but failing.

Hestia hurried over to the two, using her fire to fly over there quicker. Ikaris tried to fire lasers at Makkari, but she was faster, pushing the man’s head against the wall. Hestia was trying to catch up with Makkari, who was speeding along the mountains, keeping Ikaris locked against the walls, scraping him along them.
Behind her, she could hear the volcano explode, debris falling all around her. Her attention was diverted from Ikaris and Makkari, to the other three Eternals who were battling the falling chunks of rock.

“Shit.” Hestia breathed out, deciding that helping the people she trusted was worth more than going after Ikaris, who was still being beaten up by the speedster. She flew over to them, dodging the volcanic rocks coming for her.

“Hestia!” Phastos panted. “You need to do it.” He gazed over at the girl who was avoiding the debris.

“I need to do what?” Hestia questioned, walking closer to the Phastos.

“You need to stop Tiamut. You’re probably the only one who can do it. If you can control the fire or the heat of the volcano, then maybe you can extinguish the life in Tiamut.” Phastos explained.

“You expect me to be able to do that?” The girl asked in disbelief. Phastos’ hand found its way to Hestia’s shoulder, resting it there. “You managed to fly, out of pure willpower. Who says you can’t do this?”

Hestia breathed out heavily, staring at the place where Tiamut would emerge in a matter of minutes. “I’ll do my best.” She smiled at the man next to her. “Keep Ikaris off my back, because I won’t be responsible for my own actions if he gets too close.”

After that, Hestia ran off, making her way up to the volcano as fast as she could manage. The closer she got, the hotter the air around her became, but she paid no mind to it. Heat had never had much effect on her, though when she neared the crater, she noticed the heat was slowing her down and making her tired.

The girl turned around for a second, gazing at her fellow Eternals who were fighting Ikaris. Makkari was on the ground, holding her shoulder, indicating that she had been hit by Ikaris’ lasers. Phastos threw things at him, although Hestia had no idea what they exactly were, they seemed to do the job. Ikaris was slammed onto the ground. Thena ran over to him, jumping up and slashing a big rock, that Ikaris was standing in front of, with her sword.

From afar, Hestia could see everything, including the deviant that had emerged from the water, making its way over to the fighting immortals. She wanted to scream, warn them for the incoming danger. She quickly realised that if she would, the deviant could hear her too and might come for her instead. Reluctantly, she turned her body to the volcano again, and started climbing her way up, hopping over little rivers of lava that had started to form.

“Hestia.” She heard someone say from behind her, the voice strong and immensely powerful. It made her stop in her tracks.

There she stood, atop a big stack of rocks, like the leader she always was and will be. Hestia moved closer to the edge, careful not to fall forward into the burning lava.

“Ajak?”

Chapter Text

22 | I would know him blind

2023 - Tiamut's place of emergence

“You’re not powerful enough to do this.” Ajak stated, her voice clearer than ever, just like the message. “And you won’t.”

“Didn’t you always say I could never learn how to fly? Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I can fucking fly.” Hestia hissed. She wasn’t lying. Ajak had once told her that she didn’t have enough control over her powers to fly, but today, she had proved her wrong.

“You’re not a killer.” Ajak continued, as if she wasn’t hearing what the girl in front of her said.

“You don’t know what I am.” Hestia raised her voice. “You never came to check on me after we all left. Not once. How can you know what I’ve become, Sprite?” The girl spat out the name, like it was some sort of disease to her.

“Are you really going to follow Ikaris blindly?” She continued. “Is that- “

Hestia felt something piercing through her abdomen, right through her armour, like it was nothing. Looking down at where she thought the wound would be located, she saw nothing. Though soon, a knife appeared, clearly being held hidden by one of Sprite’s illusions. Hestia gasped slightly, letting her eyes glide over the landscape, trying to find where the girl was hiding.

Ajak disappeared, but still Hestia could not see where Sprite was.

“I’m sorry, Hestia.” She heard a whisper from behind her.

“Yeah, nice saying that after you stab me.” Hestia retorted. Her legs gave out from beneath her, knees buckling under the weight of her body. Right before she fell over, she turned her head back to Sprite.

“So, do you want your knife back?” Hestia asked. “Or can I keep it?”

“I always envied you.” Sprite looked down at the girl who was laying on the ground, holding her stomach. “And Sersi.” She added.

“Because you get to live as one of them. And I never could.” Sprite started to get angry.

“You know why I hated living with humans?” She questioned, Hestia pushing herself up from the ground with one arm, so she was sitting upright. “Because they reminded me of things I never even know I wanted.”

“Because of them, now I wanna know what it feels like to grow up.” Sprite’s face contorted, her voice breaking slightly.

“Hey! You just had your first voice crack!” Hestia joked. “You’re going into puberty!” Her lame joke only caused her in getting glared at by Sprite.

“I wanna know what it feels like to fall in love too!” She yelled, jealous of Hestia. “To have a family. And to know, in the end, I’ve lived.”

Both stayed silent, Hestia letting the words get through to her, and Sprite calculating her next move. She held up her hands, making multiple more volcanoes appear.
“Asshole.” Hestia whispered, narrowing her eyes at the girl.

“It’s all over now.” Sprite informed her, walking closer. “We get to start over somewhere new.”

Out of nowhere, Hestia heard a loud thump, and Sprite’s head flew forward, her body soon following. She dropped to the ground, unconscious, revealing who was standing behind her.

“Well, that was very moving.” He stated.

“Druig?” Hestia asked in disbelief. “Hold up, does this mean I’m dead?” She looked down at her body, frantically trying to find a stone to hold. Grabbing ahold of one, she exhaled. “Phew, I can still hold things, I think that means I’m alive.”

Druig smiled at her, strolling closer and grabbing her hand, pulling her up from the ground and wrapping his arms around her.

“So, how?” Hestia gazed into his eyes when they let go of each other. “How are you alive? I saw what Ikaris did to you.”

“Can’t get rid of me that easily.” He smirked, leaning his forehead against hers and pecking her lips.

“Now, what do we do with this knife?” Hestia motioned towards the knife that was still lodged in her abdomen. Druig stared at it, a small gasp leaving his mouth. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, though I’d be much more comfortable if it would be gone.” She deadpanned. Behind her, she read footsteps nearing. Turning her head around, she saw that Sersi was running up to the two.

“Oh Sersi, thank god, can you get this knife out of me?” Hestia almost begged the woman. Sersi looked at the two and Sprite, who was still passed out on the ground. “Sure.” She sounded unsure, but she held her hand up to the knife, turning it into water.

“Thanks.” Hestia nodded. “Oh, by the way, I don’t think I can do it, not like this. I’m not powerful enough.” Sprite’s words as Ajak had gotten to her, more than she’d like to admit.

From beside Hestia, Druig nodded at the other woman. “This is your fight now.” Hestia put a hand on Sersi’s shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. Druig’s arm was around Hestia’s waist, steadying her, seeing as the stab wound was slowly weakening her.

Sersi peered at the volcano, the only one that remained after Sprite’s illusions had faltered. She exhaled, preparing herself, and sprinted over to the mountain.
Hestia felt Druig’s gaze on her, and she turned to look at him. “You sure you’re okay?” He asked, cupping her head with his free hand, tightening his grip on her waist with his other hand. “You’re starting to look a little pale.”

“It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been stabbed. This is like the, what, third time?” Hestia quizzed. “I’ll be fine.” She detached herself from his hold, her legs giving out from beneath her within a second.

“Correction, I’ll be fine as long as you’ll hold me.” She smiled sheepishly, making him chuckle and hoist her up from the ground. He wrapped his arm around he again, and the two walked over to the beach again.

Chapter Text

23 | we're a mess, you and I,

but the truth is,

you captivate me in ways no soul ever will

2023 - Tiamut's place of emergence

“What’s happening to the water?” Hestia pointed over at the sea that was starting to move, waves forming at a rapid pace. The waves grew higher and higher, the island in the middle of the ocean breaking apart and washing away.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s Tiamut.” Druig muttered gazing at the sea.

Suddenly, something rose from the ocean floor, glowing bright red and making the ground rumble from beneath them. The two didn’t have to ask each other what was happening now. Even before the surface tension of the water broke, both knew that Tiamut was emerging, and that they were too late. Druig couldn’t put it to sleep, and Hestia couldn’t extinguish the Celestial from inside.

Pieces of rock fell down as Tiamut rose out of the water, his gold and stone-like ‘skin’ shining in the sun and the light of the volcano.

“Which one do you think is his head?” Hestia turned to Druig. “I mean, there’s like three different things sticking out of the water right now, but I can’t really see which is which.”

Druig merely rolled his eyes at her and chuckled. He didn’t know either. The Celestial was so gigantic, that it would be nearly impossible to see from the ground, where its head was located.

“Oh! Do you think that might be it?” She pointed in the direction she thought might be Tiamut’s head. “It has those big lights as eyes. Didn’t Ajak say that Arishem has those too?”

Druig squinted his eyes at the lump of rock rising from the ocean floor. “It does look like a head, to be fair.” He nodded, impressed.

Hestia spotted something further along the beach and she pulled Druig with her, still using his arm to stabilise herself. She almost tripped over her own legs, but Druig held her up, saving her from a nasty fall.

“Was it really necessary to pull me away?” He asked, looking over at her.

“Yes.” Hestia simply said. “I don’t wanna miss this.” She pulled him along, leaning on him at the same time, meaning they weren’t going super fast. Eventually they reached the others. Phastos was standing right in front of Ikaris, who was stuck on the ground by something Phastos had created, golden ropes holding him in place.

“I like this.” Hestia complemented Phastos, who laughed back at her. “Oh, me too.” He held his arm up, summoning rings, and Ikaris groaned, being held down by the ropes that were tightening, causing him to fall face first.

“Come on, Sersi.” Hestia heard Phastos mutter under his breath, still praying the woman would make it. “Come on.”

By now, five fingers had seemed to have risen from the sea, holding the volcano in its palm. Slowly but surely, the fingers grew, lifting out of the ocean. The crater of the volcano had started to break apart, revealing a golden surface underneath.

From afar, Hestia could see a figure, kneeling on the golden floor. It was Sersi. She was being shaken by the movement, but managed to steady herself, planting her hand firmly on the floor, together with her knee.

She held her hands up for a moment, staring down at them, before lowering them onto the floor.

“Look! She’s doing it!” Hestia informed the others. The golden ground was starting to turn white, Sersi’s powers freezing the Celestial. From beside Phastos, Ikaris was groaning, trying to free himself. He succeeded, lasers aimed at the sky.

“Oh shit.” Hestia managed to bring out before Phastos, Druig and her were smashed to the ground by an energy blast that came from Ikaris. Makkari came speeding over, checking on Phastos. Only then did she see that Druig was next to Hestia. Her mouth fell open in surprise, not having known that he was still alive.

Ikaris had pushed himself off the ground, flying over to Tiamut and Sersi. Meanwhile, Hestia had received a push from Makkari. “You couldn’t even tell me Druig was alive?” She signed with annoyance.

“Well, no, I was busy getting shanked.” Hestia responded, making Makkari look at her in shock.

“Who stabbed you?” She signed in disbelief, helping her get up after. “The little simp. She just had to tell me her whole life story beforehand, which honestly, was worse than being stabbed.” Hestia rolled her eyes.

Hestia heard Phastos gasp, and when she turned to look at him, she saw that the familiar golden harness was forming around him, the Uni-Mind activating once again. She, too, felt herself rise up, Druig and Makkari next to her rising up in a similar way.

Powers being transferred from all the Eternals, right to Sersi, who was hovering the highest of them all. Above them, the lines connecting them formed a dome, protecting them. As soon as Sersi reached the top, she was slammed down onto the floor again, this time with the powers of all Eternals combined.

Tiamut started to turn white, Sersi’s powers turning the Celestial into marble. The hand sticking out of the clouds started curling up, becoming solid before more happened. The connection of the Uni-Mind started fading again, the Eternals being lowered to the ground carefully.

“Is that Ikaris?” Hestia motioned her head to the sky, where a man could be seen, flying up into the clouds. “Well, that’s one less.” She stated, earning herself an elbow in her side from Druig, who was careful enough not to hit the stab wound. “Hey. I’m wounded.”

Sersi had joined the remaining Eternals and so had Thena, who came from a cave inside the mountains that Hestia hadn’t seen before. Makkari stepped over to Sersi, giving her a hug and Hestia limped over to Sersi too, holding her arms open and joining the hug. After they let go, Phastos moved over to her.

“How? How did you do it?” He asked Sersi in disbelief.

“When I touched Tiamut’s palm I felt energy surging into me.” The woman explained, gazing down at her hands. “Tiamut joined our Uni-Mind.”

“I always wondered how we survived the destruction of other planets that we were on.” Phastos sighed. “By being connected to the Celestial as it emerged.”

Makkari strolled over to Thena, shrugging. “We became one, even Ikaris and Sprite.” She signed to Phastos. “All because of Tiamut.”

She turned her head to see Sprite walking up to them, probably having sensed her vibrations. Druig’s arm tightened around Hestia’s waist, holding her close.

“Is he gone?” Sprite looked up at the adults, tearing up slightly.

“Sprite,” Sersi started, “I still have energy from the Uni-Mind. I think I can make you human.”

Sprite’s eyes lit up after hearing that she might finally be able to live the life she had always wanted to live.

“All the things you said you wanted, you can have them.” Sersi added. “But your time will be fleeting and you’ll die one day. Are you ready for that?”

“I am.” Sprite choked out as Sersi held out a hand for her to take, and Sprite took it, ready for whatever it might bring her.

Druig loosened his grip on Hestia’s waist, moving his arm up, placing it around her shoulder instead, as he placed a kiss on her temple.

“We’ve done it, my love.” He whispered in her ear. She leaned her head down on his shoulder and smiled. “We have.”

Chapter Text

24 | what feels like the end

is often the beginning

2023 - South Dakota

two weeks later

The television in the corner of the room echoed through the house as Ben, Phastos, Druig and Makkari sat in front of it, watching the reporter talk about the Celestial that was now a marble statue in the middle of the sea. Hestia was standing behind the couch that held the other three Eternal, leaning on the backrest.

“You guys did that?” Ben questioned.

“I love you so much.” Phastos responded with his mouth full of pizza, causing Hestia to laugh. “I mean, all credit goes to Sersi. Or should I say Sylvia now?” She teased Phastos, who glared at her, making her put her hands up in defence and quickly stroll over to the kitchen.

Thena was trying to warm her hands up by putting them into the toaster.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked her.

“I get confused sometimes.” Thena stated as she pushed the toaster back, leaning on the countertop.

“Yeah. Me too.” Jack comforted her. He went to reach for the orange that was stacked away in a rack too high for him to reach.

“So, dad said you’re the goddess Athena.” He said, jumping up, trying to reach the orange. Hestia waited to let it unfold, wanting to see if Thena would help him.

“Thena. Drop the ‘A’.” She informed him.

“Oh.” Jack sounded surprised and Thena nodded at him and hummed.

“What’s your superpower?” He quizzed. That was when Hestia felt the need to step in.

“Woah let’s not demonstrate tha- ” She was cut off by Thena’s sword plunging right into the orange Jack wanted to grab a few seconds ago.

Phastos ran over to them, anxiously chuckling. “Okay. All right. See, that thing is… Okay.” He stuttered.

“Almost gave you a shave and a haircut, didn’t she?” Phastos remarked. “Stand behind me, actually.” He pulled Jack behind him, shielding him from Thena, scared she might whip out another one of her weapons.

“Um, you remember earmuffs?” He asked Jack. “Remember how we practised earmuffs? Thank you so much.” He thanked his son as he held his hands over his ears and Hestia put her thumbs up to him, making him smile.

“You know that your babysitting privileges are completely revoked, right?” Phastos waved his arms around to make his point clear. “Like, it’s done.”

“Thank you.” He looked back at Jack, who took it as a sign to lower his hands from his ears again, allowing him to hear the conversation. “Violence is never the answer. Right, T?” Thena agreed with him, purely because there was a child in the room.

“You always gotta use the brains, hmm?” He told Jack. “Yeah, because without your dad’s brains, we wouldn’t be alive today.” Hestia praised the inventor, but at the same time, Thena had wanted to make her point.

“Like you did fighting on the beach?” She questioned.

“Your dad,” Phastos pointed at his son, “spoke calmly and firmly to the bad guy and he had no choice but to listen to me, so no violence.”

Makkari had entered the kitchen. “The kid is ten, not stupid!”

“She does kind of have a point though.” Hestia shrugged.

“When are you guys leaving? When is that happening?” Phastos raised, making Jack laugh. “That’s happening soon, right?”

Druig strolled in, holding a bowl. He pretended to grab something out of it, and he threw it at Phastos, who tried his best to catch it, only to find out that he threw nothing.

“Ah, yes, there’s Druig.” Phastos said to his son. “Don’t go anywhere near him.”

“Hey! I heard that.” Hestia exclaimed. “No talking shit about Druig.” Jack agreed with her, but Phastos scolded her instead.

“No cursing.” He told her, but Jack interrupted. “You can’t say bad stuff about her husband.”

“Woah, you’re getting a little ahead of yourself buddy.” Hestia walked over to him. “We aren’t married.”

“Yet.” Druig added from the other side of the room, causing Hestia to blush and Jack laughed at her.

“I don’t want to see this.” Phastos informed them, walking out to his husband in the living room. “Get a room.”

“Oh, we will.” Druig called after him. “Shut up.” Hestia murmured.

-

Hestia, Druig, Thena and Makkari had bid their goodbyes to Phastos, his husband and Jack. A few tears were shed, mainly by Jack and Hestia, who were partners in crime, but she promised him she would visit as much as possible.

Back on the Domo, the four of them cleared out the rooms for a little, sorting books into bookshelves and throwing away empty packages. Druig walked up from behind Hestia as she was putting a few books away and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him.

“I missed you.” He muttered, placing a kiss in the crook of her neck. She held his hands that were placed on her stomach, humming at the contact.

“I missed you too. Even though I hated myself for missing you, I still did.” She responded, turning around in his arms, wrapping hers around his neck.

They stayed like that for a while, happy in each other’s embrace. Druig made the move to kiss her and Hestia let him. It was a soft kiss, savouring the moment, not rushing. Above anything, the kiss was full of love, love that Druig had missed giving to her.

When they broke apart, both smiled and caught their breath. They heard Thena call out for them, and they switched to holding hands as they walked over to the doorway. There was a humming sound coming from it, none of them entirely sure what it was. Out of nowhere, flashes of light lit up the hallway and a scream became louder and louder.

A weird creature fell out of nothing, something falling out of his hands. It groaned and after standing up and picking up the thing that was dropped on the floor, it laughed.

“Wow. Ah! My ears. My eyes are numb. No more drunk teleporting for you.” It seemed to scold itself. Hestia looked over at Druig with a confused expression, to find him eating something. “Do you ever stop eating?” She whispered and received a shrug.

“Um…” Thena wanted to say something but she was interrupted by the creature.

“Hang on, hang on.” It held its hand up and cleared its throat, imitating a fanfare as new lights begun shining in the hallway.

“Behold, the royal prince of Titan, brother of Thanos, the Knave of Hearts, defeater of Black Robert.”

“Roger.” It was corrected by the man that had appeared in the hallway, who seemed to be Thanos’ brother.

“Defeater of Black Roger.” The creature continued. “The great adventurer, Starfox of Mystery Planet.”

“What a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my fellow Eternals.” The man bowed. “You know, you really don’t have to do the whole thing every time.”

“Everything you do is impressive.” The creature told him. “Who am I gonna leave off the list?”

“No, I know it’s impressive.” Starfox argued.

“Who are you?” Thena interrupted their bickering.

“I’m Eros. This is Pip.” He informed them as he looked at the group. “You two are as beautiful as legends say, Thena, Hestia.”

“Well, I can assure you, you don’t look too bad yourself.” Hestia was nearly drooling over the man, completely forgetting that Druig was next to her until she received a smack on the head. “Sorry.” She muttered.

“What do you want lads?” Druig sighed, clearly jealous and not wanting them to stay much longer.

“Pip and I are here to help, aren’t we?” Eros motioned at Pip. He held up a golden sphere in his hands and tutted. “Your friends are in big trouble. And I know where to find them.”

Chapter Text

25 | the bracelet

1521 AD - Tenochtitlan

There she sat, silently sobbing on the stairs, staring at her shoes. Hestia hadn’t moved from her position in 5 days. All remaining Eternals had tried their best at getting her back inside, though nothing seemed to help, her feet were nailed to the ground and she was unmoving.

It was like she was living in a different world. Her world consisted of only hopelessness and heartbreak, while the others seemed to have excluded those feelings from their world. Nobody really understood what was happening to her and why she was doing certain things, like not moving for days. The only thing they did know, was that they let it happen for too long.

The Eternals had gathered, minus Druig and Hestia, to discuss what they were to do about the girl who was seated on the stairs. They all hopefully looked at Phastos, who was possibly the only one who could do anything to help.

“Phastos, there must be something you can do.” Ajak muttered, looking up at the inventor who merely shrugged.

“There’s multiple things I can do, but I wouldn’t want to force anything upon her.” He responded, putting his head in his hands while sighing.

“We can’t just leave her there.” Sersi butted in. “She’s been there for days on end, she’s clearly not alright.”

“Yeah I think everyone can see that.” Sprite retorted at the taller woman.

“If she hasn’t moved by the time the sun sets, I’ll do what I can.” Phastos gave in. “I’ve got something that I think might work.”

And so he went to work. The sun shone through the window, casting a soft glow on Phastos’ workstation. Instead of going to his usual workplace near the edge of town, he resorted to working in the Domo. All the houses were burnt down by the rage of the people.

Within an hour, Phastos had created a rough idea for a device that was meant to help Hestia and an hour later, it was completely finished. He had promised himself to use it only if the girl hadn’t moved from her place by sundown. When he looked out the window of the Domo, to his disappointment, he saw the sun slowly disappear behind the mountains.

Phastos joined the rest of the Eternals again after a heavy inner conflict. Restraining the girl went against his morals and it shouldn’t have been so easy to decide for the other Eternals.

“I’m not sure about it.” He admitted, fumbling with the golden bracelet he had created.

“It’s what’s best for her.” Ajak comforted the man, patting him on the back lightly.

“Who’s gonna do it?” Phastos inquired, glancing around the group. “Ikaris?” He held out the bracelet, wanting to get it out of his hands as fast as possible. “Sersi? Anyone?”

“You’re going to have to do it.” Ikaris broke the news, holding up his hands in defence when Ajak glared at him. “Somebody had to say it.”

“No.” Phastos sputtered. “I can’t do that.”

“You have to-” Ajak was interrupted by Phastos.

“It’s wrong on so many levels already, I can’t do it.” He stammered, tripping over the words. “I can’t just betray her like that.”

“She trusts you the most. You have to do it.” The prime Eternal repeated, strolling over to Phastos to try and comfort him for the second time that day.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s so wrong!” Phastos shouted. “She trusts me the most and I’m not going to take advantage of that! Maybe that’s why she doesn’t trust you guys as much, because she knows how easily you’ll betray her!”

The whole room stayed silent for a moment, letting the harsh words sink in. Ikaris looked down in shame and so did a few others. They knew he was right. Besides Druig, Hestia was closest with Phastos, the rest all sharing a third place. Hestia never really connected with any of the other Eternals. She could get along with them, yes, though she never felt a deeper connection like she felt with Druig or Phastos.

“Phastos.” Ajak started. “You will be the only one of us she will forgive if we do it.”

Phastos glared at the woman, but the glare slowly faded as he realised she did make a good point.

“If she doesn’t forgive me,” Phastos hesitated, “I think it’s pretty clear what I’ll do.” With one last angry look at Ajak, he stormed out of the room, right to the stairs Hestia was still seated on. The bracelet in his hands felt like it was burning, trying to tell him that what he was doing was wrong, but he knew that already.

“Hestia.” He whispered when he was close enough to the girl. “Hey, Hestia.”

The girl didn’t respond.

“I think it would be better if you went inside to sleep.” Phastos posed. “You’ve been out here for a long time, you must be tired.”

“No.” Hestia simply responded, staring at the mountains ahead of them.

“I don’t want to do this.” Phastos’ voice became harsher, not wanting to fight the girl. “If you just go inside and sleep, you can come back tomorrow. He would have wanted that.”

“How do you know what he would have wanted?” Hestia rasped out.

“He wants what’s best for you, we all do.” Phastos reasoned.

“I thought that too, but he left me.” Her voice stayed a lot more quiet than the man would have liked. By now, he expected her to be screaming, at least. The fact that she sounded calmer than ever scared him shitless.

“If he comes back, you’ll be the first to know.” He tried to nudge the bracelet towards Hestia’s arm but she dodged.

“Well, clearly not if I’m sleeping.” For the first time, she looked over at him. Her eyes were bloodshot and red from crying, her cheeks scrubbed raw by the amount of times she had to wipe away her tears.

“I’ll wake you up.” Before Hestia could register it this time, Phastos had slipped the bracelet around her arm, though he couldn’t secure it. Hestia had felt the cold metal against her skin and smacked the bracelet away.

“Get away from me.” Hestia hissed, standing up from the stairs. Small embers of fire started to form in her hands, growing into bigger flames in a second.

“Please, Hestia.” Phastos muttered. “Please.”

“Get any closer and I won’t be responsible for what happens.” Hestia objected.

She couldn’t see the next move coming. From behind her, somebody had grasped her, their arms locking around her torso. Her own arms were locked against her sides. In shock, the fire in her hands had vanished. She tried to get out of their grip, wriggling like crazy, though nothing helped.

Phastos ran over to the girl, rapidly clasping the bracelet around her arm and securing it without a second thought. This time, Hestia couldn’t get the bracelet off. She struggled for a minute, trying to pry the bracelet off and fighting off the person holding her at the same time.

Tiredness started to get to her after a while, her kicks becoming weaker and less often, her arms slacking at her sides. Hestia felt her eyes slowly fall closed, darkness taking over. Right before she was about to fall asleep, she heard a last voice.

“I’ll be there when you wake up.”

Chapter Text

26 | the bracelet pt.2

1521 AD - Tenochtitlan

Phastos hadn’t broken his promise. He had been seated at the girl’s bed for the past four days, waiting for her to wake. She didn’t wake up, even after Phastos removed the bracelet from her wrist after a full day of sleep. Only now could the man see how malnourished she was. He thought it wouldn’t be such a shock to see her laying there, paler than ever, though he was wrong. She hadn’t eaten a single thing in the last nine days and it showed.

Her eyes were sunken in from dehydration and sleep deprivation, her body looking fragile as ever and her chest only rising a minimum amount of times. It was like he was staring at a corpse. Apart from the soft breaths leaving her mouth, she looked dead and after so many days without any food and water, she should have been. Maybe the fact that she was an Eternal was the only thing keeping her alive, maybe it was a miracle, maybe she wasn’t meant to die yet.

Phastos heard footsteps, signalling that somebody had joined him in Hestia’s room. He gazed up with an indifferent look on his face. The rest of the Eternals had tried to get him out of the room, but he wouldn’t budge. He promised Hestia he would be there when she woke up, and he planned on keeping that promise.

This time, Kingo stood beside him, staring over at the girl who was calmly laying under a warm blanket. He held a bowl with some food and handed it over to Phastos.

“You’ve gotta eat.” Kingo uttered, scared that he might wake the girl, though he knew that it wouldn’t happen. “Don’t want you to end up looking like her now, do we?”

“Don’t say that.” Phastos countered, gratefully grabbing the bowl from Kingo’s hands and digging in. He himself hadn’t eaten in a while now, he had been looking over Hestia for so long that he forgot to.

“You sure that bracelet of yours didn’t put her in a permanent sleep?” Kingo questioned, his brows furrowing, making his forehead crease.

“I didn’t have the time to check.” Phastos explained, but Kingo didn’t let him talk any longer.

“What do you mean you didn’t have time?”

“You guys wanted me to do it as fast as possible!”

“Yeah, but as the smartest you should know what you’re doing!”

“I know what I’m doing!” The two kept arguing. Phastos had stood up and strode closer to Kingo, bowl still in his hands, making him look a lot less threatening.

“Do you have to yell?” Hestia’s raspy voice filled the room. The two men whipped around to see her sitting upright, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Hestia.” Phastos rapidly put his bowl down on a chair and sprinted over to the girl, enveloping her in a hug. Even though she was extremely confused as to why he ran over to her so quickly, she hugged him back.

“So, you’re finally awake.” Kingo sassed from behind Phastos, moving closer to Hestia’s bed.

“Finally?” The girl queried, tilting her head to the side.

“You’ve been asleep for four days.” Phastos muttered, looking down with guilt.

“Four?” Hestia exclaimed in disbelief. She rubbed her eyes again, resting her head in her hands afterwards.

“How?” She mumbled to no one in particular. Slowly but surely, her own memories started to answer her question. She remembered that she had been seated on the stairs for days on end, without eating or drinking. She remembered fighting Phastos and arms wrapping around her from behind, holding her still so Phastos could secure the bracelet on her wrist. One of her hands rubbed the place on her wrist where the bracelet was placed, just a few days ago. After that, she remembered nothing, only darkness.

Hestia looked up, gazing at Phastos. He immediately knew that she recalled what had happened that night.

“Why?” Her voice broke. “Why did you do it?” She felt immensely betrayed in that moment.

“I had to.” Phastos whispered, regret clear on his face. “You-”

“I trusted you.” Hestia spoke. It seemed like she was too tired to put up a fight, so she stayed seated. “I guess I trusting you was the wrong thing to do.” Kingo glanced between the pair and decided to leave, so they could discuss whatever was going on between them. Phastos threw a grateful glance over to him right before he closed the door.

“Hestia. Look.” Phastos started. “I didn’t want to do it.”

“Then why did you?” Hestia glared at him, light tears glistening in her eyes.

“Because it was better for you.” He breathed out. “You were as pale as a ghost. You hadn’t eaten in days, don’t tell me that sounds like you were alright!”

Hestia swallowed the lump in her throat and looked down at her lap. She folded her hands together, knowing he was right and what he had done was probably for the better.

“It wasn’t my idea. Ajak came up with it, I merely executed.” He sat down on the bed next to her.

“I begged anyone else to do it, I swear.” Hestia could hear his voice start to break, just like hers had done earlier.

“I didn’t know that they were going to grab you from behind. I wanted to let you choose to put on the bracelet.”

He was telling the truth. When Hestia gazed up at him, his eyes were filled with tears.

“I’m sorry.” Phastos sobbed, taking off his glasses and putting them on the bedside table so he could wipe his eyes.

Hestia scooted closer, wrapping her arms around him and embraced him. “It’s okay.” She merely whispered and she felt Phastos throw his arms around her as he continued sobbing. Soon after, Hestia noticed that she too was crying.

So, there they sat. Crying in each others arms. For the guilt and the loss they experienced. They let everything out. They talked for hours. About how sorry they felt. About all the things they wished they could change. About all the things they wished they would have done and about all the things they wished they could have said.