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"Truth hurts, huh?" Gilgamesh asked you as you sat between him and your mother on the ground.

"Like a bitch," you nodded with a grimace. Thena nudged you with her elbow at the profanity you uttered.

Gilgamesh turned to face you, staring at you for a while, "Hey, about what you said back there about being a 'fancy malfunctioning robot'," he spoke, "You're more than that, you know that, right?"

"I don't know who I am, Gil," you lifted your shoulders in a weak shrug.

"Come on, kid," Gilgamesh gave you a look, "You're Y/N, Goddess of the Sun. You can kick anyone's as-butt," he corrected himself when Thena gave him a stern look over your shoulder, "I don't call you 'kid' just because you are one and act like one," he ignored the offended look you gave him, "I call 'kid', because you have a special place in my heart,"

You let out a chuckle, propping your knees in front of you and rested your elbows on them, "Thanks Gil,"

"Thank you," Thena looked over at him, "For taking care of us," 

Gilgamesh smiled softly, "I'd do it again. On any planet," 

Thena returned the gesture, turning to the front with a deep breath.

"I missed you guys, you know," you grinned, looking from Gilgamesh to Thena.

"What do you say after all this drama," Gilgamesh let out a sigh, "I'll make you one of my pies that you love so much," 

"I'd love that," you nodded eagerly.

"I actually kinda miss them too," Thena admitted with a nod of her head.

The calm serenity that you three shared at the end of the forest was broken when you heard a scream from the camp.

"Watch out!" Sersi's shriek reached your ears, "Clear the camp!"

"Go back to the camp," Gilgamesh turned towards you.

"You sure?" you questioned, "What if—"

"It's an ambush!" Kingo yelled out.

"Go!" Gilgamesh urged you.

With one last look at the two, you took off towards the camp to help others. But what neither you, nor Gilgamesh noticed was the glimmer of gold that passed right under your mother's skin.

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 Kingo kept firing bigger blasts to push the charging Deviants back and buy more time for Sprite and Sersi. Bringing his hands together, he formed a bigger blast in his hold, cradled it carefully before charging it at the Deviants' direction, which caused them to collapse against one of the houses with smoke popping all around the crumbled house.

"Very nice, sir!" Karun exclaimed in delight. They all turned to see the man taking cover behind a tree as he recorded on a camera.

"Are you mental? Hide!" Kingo shouted.

"We need action sequences," Karun defended as he moved the camera to film the smoking house until a Deviant growling caught his attention, "Sir!"

The Deviant broke out of the collapsed roof with a snarl; by now, you had joined Kingo and Sprite to help them with the situation.

Kingo didn't move his eyes away from the creature and formed another energy blast as you summoned a sword and a shield in your hand, "Sprite, get Karun out of here,"

Sprite got to work at once, walking towards the man and pushing him to safety as he tried to stand his ground, "How many cameras did you bring, young man?"

Another Deviant came into the scene, jumping form one roof to another as the villagers screamed in pure terror and tried to fled the scene as fast as they could. Setting its eyes on you, it headed straight towards you.

You ducked under it, your weapon to slash it as Kingo blasted the other away with his powers and jogged away to draw the other Deviant away from you.

The Deviant stumbled back with each of your blow and it slashed its tail at you. You held up your shield just in time to avoid it, but skidded back in your place from the force

Before the Deviant could take a step towards you, several gunshots were fired all around, and you saw a circle of villagers, eyes glowing gold, firing at the Deviant without loosing their rhythm.

Growling, the creature tossed away two men with its tail; Druig ran into the scene after two of the villagers were thrown away, managing to grab a shotgun and use it to shoot the Deviant in the back.

"Druig!"  Sersi hurried towards him and you followed right after her, "Let them go!"

"Now's not the time for this, Sersi," he said.

"I know you are way better than this,"

Conflicted, Druig turned towards you and nodded for him with a persisting look to let go of the people.

He raised an arm as his eyes glowed gold and the colour faded away from the villagers' eyes. They all dropped their weapons and stared around.

"Druig," one man called in confusion, "What's happening?"

"Go! Get to the river!" Druig hollered.

Ikaris flew towards Kingo and Sprite's direction to push the other Deviant away from them, causing him and the creature to collapse in a house. They resumed to fight again, and the Deviant used one of its claws to pin Ikaris to the ground, not letting him to use his laser eyes.

"Ikaris!" Sersi yelled and grabbed a tree branch from the floor and transformed it into metal, using it to pierce into the Deviant's side. 

This caused the Deviant to toss Ikaris aside and no side and now put its attention on Sersi, growling and using its snout to push her back into the fountain behind her and jumping right after her.

The Deviant from earlier (that had whipped away the villagers) charged towards Druig, who had dropped his weapon.

It let out a screech  and stumbled to the side when you pierced its jaw with a glowing dagger. It tried to shake you off, but you clung to the weapon and you used the force to get on top of the creature.

With a grunt, you raised both your hands, summoning two swords and dug it into the top of the Deviant's neck as it screeched in pain. She pulled both the large blades in the opposite direction, slicing the creatures head off. 

As the Deviant fell lifeless to the ground, you jumped off it, landing on the ground in front of it. You turned to face Druig with a grin, "You okay, love?"

He only narrowed his eyes at you playfully, scoffing, "Show off,"

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One last Deviant was left standing; it stood in front of Gilgamesh as he held up a stance.

Thena leaned against the trunk of a tree, trying to fight off an incoming episode of Mahd wy'ry. She continued to pat her cheek a tear of frustration rolled down her cheek, "Stop, stop, stop,"

The Deviant caught sight of this and turned towards her, headed straight for her.

Gilgamesh noticed this, cursing under his breath, "Thena—"

He caught the creature by its neck just in time, and summoned his cosmic gauntlet, punching it back.

Several pincers of the Deviant were thrust into Gilgamesh's back, causing him to grunt in pain. It locked its jaw on his shoulder, trying to hold him down. He tried to punch it off of him but in vain.

Thena was still trying to get a hold of herself, muttering under her breath helplessly.

"Gilgamesh!" 

You charged towards the creature; the Deviant saw this and swung its gigantic arm to throw you away. 

Summoning your sword in time, you used it to slash it. But when it healed itself, it caught you off guard and made you falter in your place.

You yelled out in pain when the Deviant stabbed one of its spines onto your back, raising you into the air and two more tentacles with spiny edges proceeded to stab your hip and neck. It began to absorb the power from you.

"Y/N—" Gilgamesh choked out, "Get back, please," using the last of his strength, he punched you back in such a way that the Deviant will lose its hold on you.

You were thrown to the ground; and you went tumbling back, coming to a stop as you hit a boulder.

"Y/N!" Thena rushed to your side, crouching to your level to help you sit up.

With a gut-wrenching crunch, a final tendril stabbed into Gilgamesh's neck. You looked up and saw it; his golden energy, his power, slinking up into the Deviant itself.

You covered your mouth with your right palm to suppress a scream, crawling back towards Thena. She wrapped her arms around you protectively, both of you watching the sight helplessly.

The creature finally dropped Gilgamesh to the ground, before falling back itself. 

You rushed forward immediately, holding the bloody wound on your hip from where the Deviant had stabbed you. You struggled to regulate your breath, "No, no—" 

"No, Gilgamesh," Thena joined you shortly after.

"Kid, Thena," his drowsy eyes blinked up at you both, "Stay back,"

Clenching your jaw, you glared up at the Deviant. But to your surprise, it had transformed. No longer did it prance around on four legs, but two, with defined muscles, and a more human face. It had absorbed Gilgamesh's power, using it to evolve into a being that none of you were prepared for.

"Ajak— Her memories— I understand now," The Deviant spoke, its voice gravelly and hoarse, "I can see what she saw. So many planets. So much life destroyed every time a Celestial is born,"

 Thena hugged you closer to herself, afraid that the Deviant may get hold of you next.

"Arishem used us and left us to die with each emergence," It continued, "We just wanted to survive. And then he sent you. I will kill you all for what you have done to my kind," it looked up at you, Thena and Gilgamesh, "You are not saviors, Eternals. You are murderers,"

The Deviant made to lunge forward at you, but a pair of comic beams missed the creature by inches, making it look up. 

Ikaris headed towards the Deviant; and the creature fled, knowing that he will be taken down if he remained there.

"Ikaris!" Thena yelled out.

The Eternal turned around, his expression worried at Gilgamesh's state and he lowered himself to the ground.

Gilgamesh was breathing laboriously when he reached forward to catch your mother's hand, "Thena," his other hand rested on the side of your head in a fatherly manner, "Y/N—"

"Hey," Thena whispered, trying to put up a smile.

 Your face was twisted in a sob, as you tried to keep yourself together, taking deep shallow breaths.

"Remember," he said helplessly as his final breath left his body and his head lolled forward.

Thena's eyes skimmed over her pristine face, noticing that his skin was starting to grey, "No," she let out gutturally, her eyes overflowing with tears, "No,"

You shifted to sit on your knees, hanging your head as tears fell on your lap.

"I'll remember," Thena get out a blood-curling sob, letting Gilgamesh's body to lie against the ground, "I'll remember, I'll remember,"

Sprite, Sersi, Kingo, Druig all arrived at the scene, standing around you and your mother.

You felt Druig kneel down next to you and you let him embrace you. He held you comfortingly as you cried into his neck; the only thing running through your mind was Gilgamesh's last words: Remember.

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All of you left for the river then, as the sun started to set over the beautiful rainforest. Gilgamesh's body burned gloriously as you all stood and watched; praying; humming; sending words to him through the flames.

Kingo and Karun, held prayer hands, whispering ancient prayers into their fingers as the pyre continued its ferocious burning.  

Ikaris and Sersi clutched each other as fragile tears rolled down their cheeks. Sprite was right beside Kingo, barely able to hold herself together.

Thena stood next to you, turning slightly to the side as she held you in a half embrace. You leaned your head on her shoulder and she leaned her own on yours, taking a moment to press and motherly kiss on the top of your head. The flames licked in the reflection of her eyes which displayed an equal amount of rage and agony.

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