THE AMAZON
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As (Y/N) walked along with the group through the humid trees and plants, she couldn't help but stare down to the dirt covered floor to make her nerves go unnoticed by her friends. They continued moving forward and the first sound that came into their ears was the tools clashing as they entered a small village.

Small cabins and houses were all lined up together in the village, and people chartered amongst themselves as they carried baskets of food and water to their homes. Families treated their farm animals peacefully but eyed the group as they walked along, but (Y/N) felt slightly uncomfortable when she noticed how they all seemed to offer brighter smiles to her.

"Good afternoon," a woman greeted in Spanish as she walked by her and Kingo while Karun still held the camera in his shoulder.

"It's very nice here, sir," Karun said.

"Don't be fooled," Kingo advised while they continued moving through the village. "Ignorance is bliss."

Sprite separated from the group and walked up to a young man, who was minding his own business chopping wood until she called him out. "We are looking for Druig," she spoke casually in Spanish. "Is he here?"

"Yes," the man turned around unbothered. "How do you know Druig?"

"We're friends. . .from college."

The man had turned back to continue his duties as he listened to Sprite, but when she finished her sentence, he whirled on his heel with an emotionless look on his face. His eyes were glowing gold and energy hummed in the air.

"Hello, Sprite," the man spoke again, but this time it wasn't his voice.

By then, the entire village stopped what they were doing and stood with golden eyes as they waited for another command, startling the entire group because of the abrupt change in the atmosphere. The yellow door of the church a few feet away opened widely and out walked (Y/N)'s worst nightmare, looking exactly the same as the last time she'd seen him.

The group stepped forward to catch up with him, standing face to face with Druig as his eyes trailed along the group.

"I missed all of you. Some more than others," he said slowly as his eyes trailed to (Y/N)'s figure. "Please, make yourselves at home."

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Everyone sat in small groups inside the church, where they broke the news of the emergence and Ajak's death to Druig in the calmest way possible to stop him from snapping at them. When they finished explaining, uncomfortable silence filled the church and waited for someone to speak up.

"You've given me a lot of bad news in one go, my lady," Druig said from leaning back to a wall.

"Will you help us?" Sersi questioned.

"I am glad that — "

Sersi's ringtone cut in the middle of his sentence, a loud tune changing the mood entirely as she embarrassingly rummaged through her pocket to silence her phone. When she did, Sersi felt Ikaris's eyes on her as she tensed at the contact number before putting back down.

"Hey, what's your service?" Kingo whispered. "I'm not getting any bars."

Thena slightly pushed Gilgamesh to wake him up from his short slumber as she caressed an iguana on her lap. (Y/N), who was sat with them, reached out to pet the iguana too but Thena smacked her hand before she could do it, backing out from her actions with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you all remember this forest? Beautiful," Druig continued. "It was the last place we all lived together. I've protected these people for 20 generations now from the outside world and from themselves."

Druig spoke his words and walked up to the bench where Karun and Kingo were sitting, looking down at the two. "Your kind, my friend, you will be responsible for your own extinction one day. Don't you think?"

"I think we must learn from our mistakes and do better, sir," Karun innocently replied, holding the camera in his hands. "You must not give up hope."

Druig'z eyes glowed and so did Karun's, making the latter involuntary throw the camera away for it to crash against the wall.

"Oh, no, you didn't," Kingo stood up from the bench and walked straight in front of Druig. "Okay, new rule, no more possessing people's valets."

"Oh, where is your sense of humor, Kingo?" Druig smirked as he locked his eyes with his.

"I'm sorry, sir," Karun said ashamed.

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault," Kingo told him softly before his eyes moved back to Druig's. "You are not a God. You know that, right?"

"How ironic," Druig seemed to find it amusing. "Kingo, the movie star."

Kingo squinted his vision. "I've directed some things too."

"Oh, yeah?" Druig titled his head. "Like what?"

"Some internet content."

"How many views?"

"I don't do it for the views — "

(Y/N) sighed in frustration and stood from her seat to walk right in front of the two boys, tugging her jacket close to herself before speaking. "This is getting ridiculous. Can we — "

"Ah, look who we have here," Druig's teasing smile turned into a flirty one when he caught her eye. "My beautiful, beautiful (Y/N). Missed me?"

This angered Kingo even more. "She's not falling into your games again, right (Y/N)?"

(Y/N) wanted to hit herself hard in the head because she couldn't stop the involuntary blush that covered her entire face and how her body grew hot because of the single phrase. Kingo noticed this and his jaw dropped.

"(Y/N), you wouldn't — "

Ikaris, who'd been standing far from the rest of the group pushed himself up and walked into the main isle of the church. "Let's go. He's wasting our time."

"We need him," Sersi insisted.

Druig left (Y/N)'s side to join Ikaris', stopping him from moving any further into the doors and caused him to freeze on his tracks. "Ikaris. I missed you. Are you gonna charm me of threaten me?"

"I mean, there's a third option, if you prefer that," Ikaris challenged with raised eyebrows.

"It must be heartbreaking to find out that you're not Mother's favorite," Druig taunted.

"And I'm sure she'd be real proud of what you've been up to," Ikaris bit back.

"Druig, this is serious," Sersi broke in.

"I'll tell you what's serious," he snapped. "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. So, excuse me for not giving a shit about your plan right now."

He walked away from her and moved to the doors, storming out from the church without another word and left the group in silence as they watched him leave.

Once the doors shut close, Kingo sighed in annoyance. "Druig sucks."

"He does, sir," Karun agreed.

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(Y/N) heard the loud crunches of the dry leaves as she stepped on them while walking along the village, trying to clear her mind from the problem. Her gaze followed up to the trees and she even heard the quiet chirping of the birds along the way as the dark hit the forest.

"Hey," the voice she now dreaded to hear called from behind, hands behind his back as he waited for her to turn around.

(Y/N) couldn't force herself to keep walking and sighed, whirling on her heel while doing so. "Hey, Druig."

"You don't have to pretend to keep a nice profile. I can see your anger right through," Druig said.

(Y/N) shook her head and tried to come up with a lie. "It's been a long time, I don't hold grudges."

"Then why do you look so tense to see me?" he raised a questioning eyebrow as he spoke.

(Y/N) closed her eyes to think through her words before speaking, now lowering her volume as if she was too afraid to say it out loud. "Because you left without turning back and with no hesitation."

"You saw what was happening that day," he tried to defend. "It was the only way to stop it."

"I understand that, but you could've contacted me, you know?" (Y/N) continued, playing with the ends of her jacket. "Send a letter, or even an email now that they exist."

"I thought you wouldn't want to see me," he confessed.

"Well, no shit," (Y/N) couldn't contain her frustration any more and she racked her hand through her hair. "I wasn't going to keep waiting on for you to notice me once again. So I got enough and moved on with myself."

"I'm glad you did. You deserved better," Druig's eyes locked with hers and he stood up straight. "Sersi told me you're a tour guide."

"I am," (Y/N) replied without emotion.

"And when would I get my own personal tour of the aquarium?"

"if you keep a nice profile, someday you will," (Y/N) crossed her arms in her chest.

Uncomfortable silence filled the air after that, and the dread starting to drown (Y/N) down, feeling like she could've reacted in a better way to what Druig was saying in the moment. She was too ashamed to speak again, opening and closing her mouth like a fish.

"I have something for you," Druig was the one to break the silence, turning back to retreat something from behind him.

"Oh, now you're trying to buy my forgiveness?" (Y/N) tilted her head. "You can kiss your tour — "

Druig revealed a small artifact made from stone from behind him, and (Y/N)'s breath caught on her throat when her eyes set on it. It looked old and dirty, but the words carved on the stone still  shined during their time in Babylon. It was an old stone tablet with a carving of (Y/N)  in the middle of it but with slightly different features due to Sprite's tales at the time.

"I. . .I thought i lost it," she mumbled, slightly afraid to touch it and look back at Druig for forgiveness to find that he was already looking at her.

"I kept it all this time," Druig confessed, lifting his head proudly like he did all those years ago.

(Y/N) copied his actions and offered a small smile. "Thank you."

They stared into each other's eyes, no words spoken because they weren't necessary. (Y/N) swallowed down the lump in her throat when she saw how Druig's eyes flickered from her irises to her lips in a matter of seconds. But before anything else happened, a shriek that broke through the entire forest interrupted the scene.

"Watch out!" Sersi's voice screamed. "Clear the camp!"

(Y/N) moved back and she could clearly see how several Deviants surrounded the camp, their familiar growling ringing through her ears. Immediately, she left Druig' side to come into Sersi's aid, noticing how she was thrown back by the impact of a Deviant running to her. "Sersi!"

Kingo and Sprite reached Sersi first, the latter helping her up as Kingo fired several cosmic energy blasts at the Deviant, succeeding in pushing it back a few feet. "Get behind me!"

"One of them took Ikaris!" Sersi panicked as Sprite pulled her away.

"It's an ambush!" Kingo answered as the two Deviants came back, firing another blast to push them once again and gain more time.

After that, he formed a bigger blast with both of his hands and 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's voice broke in, and they all turned to see him holding a smaller camera as he stood behind a tree.

"Are you mental? Hide!" Kingo exclaimed.

"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 crumbled roof with a snarl and (Y/N) decided to stand next to Kingo as they prepared to attack the Deviant.

Kingo didn't move his eyes away from the creature and formed another energy blast and aimed it. "Sprite, get Karun out of here."

Sprite left Sersi's side and tried to push Karun away from the scene as he battled to stay. "How many cameras did you bring, young man?"

One more Deviant came in, jumping into the roofs of the houses and caused the villagers to scream out of pure horror as they ran the fastest they could. The Deviant roared as its eyes set on its target, and (Y/N) followed the creatures' eyes to notice it staring at Sersi and summoned a wave of water from a nearby water fountain in both of her hands to buy Sersi time to run.

Sersi took the hint and ran away from the scene and guided the people away from the broken houses to take them into a safer place with her. "Kingo! (Y/N)!"

(Y/N) worked on keeping the Deviant with the long tail back, forming a whirlpool of water around the creature to stop it from moving as Kingo blasted the other away with his powers, running behind it to catch up with him, leaving her by her own.

(Y/N) held the whirlpool but the Deviant found a way to break its tail through it and hit her in the back with it to distract her, causing (Y/N) to roll in the dirt and catch her breath as the Deviant roared again and charged towards her.

Before it could advance any further, several gunshots were fired all around, and (Y/N) stood from the dirt to see a circle of villagers with golden eyes firing at the Deviant without loosing their rhythm. Druig ran into the scene after two of the villagers were thrown away, managing to slightly push (Y/N) behind him to grab a shotgun and use it to shoot the creature in the back.

"(Y/N)!" Sersi shouted out and (Y/N) turned right in time to see how she touched the trunk of a tree with her palm and used her powers to change it into water, and (Y/N) got the hint.

She lifted her hands and pulled the water to her, using it to throw the Deviant back with several waves as Sersi transformed the trunk again and changed it to a strong metal, causing it to fall down to the side and trap the Deviant down.

"Druig!" Sersi and (Y/N) ran to him the moment they noticed the Deviant wasn't going anywhere. "Let them go!"

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

"I know you are way better than this," (Y/N) pleaded. "Please."

Druig stopped and saw the pleading in her eyes, and he raised an arm as his eyes glowed gold and the color faded away from the villagers' eyes. Because of this, they all dropped their weapons and stared around in confusion.

"Druig," one man called. "What's happening?"

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

At this, they all followed his orders without hesitation, and the Deviant trapped underneath the tree budged and roared once again, causing Sersi, Druig and (Y/N) to move away the quicker they could when they realized it was about to break free.

They ran away but the Deviant was quick to catch up, throwing each of them to the dirt and ready to charge but Ikaris flew right in front of it and used his hands to open its mouth, using his laser vision to burn the inside of its mouth and throat.

After that, 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 and then resume the fighting once again, which ended up with the Deviant using one of its claws to pin Ikaris to the ground and unable him to use his laser eyes at it.

"Ikaris!" Sersi cried 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 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.

(Y/N), who had watched the entire thing with the others, was ready to run into the water and help her friend because it was her territory, but she wasn't able to take another step because an enormous explosion under the water broke in, causing the water to jump out and made everyone's eyes widen in confusion.

She raised her hands in the air to pull the water back into the fountain as the water foam died out. Sersi stood up to her full height, soaking in her clothes but all she cared about was the Deviant in front of her, which wasn't moving because she'd transformed him into a tree right under the water.

"Sersi! Are you all right?" Ikaris ran up to her, hugging her close. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know," Sersi responded.

The last people who they needed to make sure to be safe were Gilgamesh and Thena, and Ikaris decided to take the air and search for them any sight of the leader of the Deviants along the way as the rest searched through the forest, hoping that nothing major had happened.

The first thing (Y/N) heard were the quiet and muffled whimpers, until they became into strong cries and she paused in her tracks when she saw how Thena laid sobbing over Gilgamesh's dead body, his skin being the exact same color as Ajak's when they discovered her corpse.

Thena sobbed uncontrollably, resting her head on Gilgamesh's chest as the others gathered around in a circle, giving her space to mourn. "I'll remember."

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That same night, everyone gathered around a campfire where Gilgamesh's body was burned down, and (Y/N) didn't have enough strength to clean her tears as she stared at the burning fire in front of her with red eyes.

Karun was reciting a scripture in Sanskrit along with Kingo, and Thena was the one in the worst state throughout all of it, since she was the one who was forced to watch him die in front of her.

When dawn hit, she was the one that offered to throw his ashes into the river, and the group watched her from the shore to give her space. (Y/N), who was the closest to Thena out of the others, watched her up close with Sersi beside her in silence until Druig came up to them.

"When I left, I thought about taking over the minds of every human in this planet," he began. "Violence, fear, greed, all gone."

"Why didn't you?" (Y/N) asked.

"Because without their flaws, they wouldn't be human," he told her.

"Please, Druig. You can't stay here anymore," Sersi spoke up. "These Deviants are trying to keep us from killing their own kind. They have a conscience now. That makes them more dangerous."

"No,"  Druig cut her off. "That makes them us. Eternals and Deviants. Arishem's children. But you are asking me to take control of a mind of a Celestial. I do not have that kind of power."

"We're gonna need Phastos," (Y/N) suggested.

"Well, good luck," Druig continued. "He gave up on humans a long time ago."

"Don't worry. I won't need it."