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1521 AD, Tenochtitlan

  GUNSHOTS FIRED ALL AROUND Artemis and Thena as the two warriors battled their final Deviant. As Artemis pulled back the string of her bow, aiming her golden arrow at its slimy body, a part of her wanted to prolong this fight because, after this, the Eternals' purpose on earth would be finished. But wasn't that a good thing? Humans would finally be safe. At least, that's what Ajak told them, but a part of Artemis had never truly believed that. 

Artemis took a deep breath, focusing back onto the Deviant before letting her arrow fly. It struck true in the beast's neck, forcing it to the ground and allowing for Thena to finally strike it down with her elegant spear. Standing from her perch, Artemis hopped back down to the rainforest floor and landed next to Thena. "Is that it, then?" She looked up at the blonde goddess. 

Thena nodded stiffly. "I believe it is." 

"Right," Artemis nodded as well. "We should meet up with the others."

"Yes," Thena agreed, and without another word, the two began to walk through the forest, towards where the rest of the Eternals would be waiting. Artemis tried her best to ignore the screams of the innocent humans that were currently being slaughtered by the Spanish. Her heart tugged at her chest, begging and pleading for her to go help, but Arishem's mission remained the dominant force in her mind. She could not interfere. 

A gush of wind indicated the arrival of Makkari. "There were more than Phastos said," The speedster huffed, wiping the sweat from her brow. 

"There always is," Artemis shook her head tiredly.

The trees cleared and Sersi, Ajak, Phastos, and Druig came into view. "Where are the others?" Ajak asked, concerned. 

"We had to split up," Makkari sighed. 

"There were more Deviants than you said," Thena shot an accusatory look towards Phastos. 

The man rolled his eyes lightly. 'Well, I'm sure that was fun for you."

Thena's lips quirked upwards. "It was."

Artemis headed over to Druig as Phastos pulled up a small global image of earth, with three small blue dots indicating Deviant threats. "Once the others kill these last Deviants, we will have eliminated them all from the planet." 

His words left a heavy feeling in her heart. She reached out subconsciously to grab Druig's hand. Their eyes connected. Without any words, he knew what she was thinking. He squeezed her hand lightly, sending her a soft nod. It will be okay.

But there were more gunshots and more screams. All their heads turned towards the distant woods where Spanish soldiers ran with their rifles held high, firing blindly at the Aztec, whose pained screams grew more and more. Druig's hand slipped from Artemis's as he stared, gritting his teeth. He walked forward, closer to the conflict. Artemis watched his familiar head tilt and she knew what he was doing. But before he could, Ajak stepped in. "Don't..." She warned him. "We don't interfere in their wars." 

Druig kept his eyes trained on the roaring army. "This isn't war. It's genocide," Slowly, he turned and his eyes trained on Phastos. "Their weapons have become too deadly. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea helping them advance, Phastos." 

Artemis sighed, moving past Phastos and to Druig's side as the larger man spoke with annoyance. "Technology is a part of their evolutionary process, Druig. It's not exactly something I can stop."

"No, you can't. But I can!" Druig huffed.

Once Artemis blocked his view of their engineer, Druig's face softened. The pain in his eyes broke her heart. She took his hands and gripped them tightly. "Stay strong, okay?" She whispered. Druig gulped and nodded, but didn't say another word because he worried he'd regret what he would say next if he didn't stop himself. 

"It's too late..." Thena's haunting voice caught all of their attention. A chill ran down Artemis's spine at her tone, it was bone-chilling. "Everyone is going to die." 

"Thena?" Sersi called to the blonde warrior with concern. Around Thena's cheekbones and forehead, golden magic swirled and flickered before her eyes turned a sickening white. "Are you okay?" 

As soon as Sersi asked her question, Thena's golden spear lit up in her hand. Artemis stepped forward as she began to swing it. "Thena, what are you doing?" She cautiously removed her hands from Druig to prepare her bow and arrows.

Makkari acted quickly as Thena lunged her spear towards Sersi, catching the woman by the waist and running her away to safety. "Thena, no!" Phastos cried as he ran forward but was stopped as Thena's spear lodged into his shoulder and pushed him to the ground. 

Artemis's eyes widened in horror. Her bow and quiver formed quickly and she pulled an arrow out. Firing just next to Thena's feet, she hoped the explosion it set off would knock the warrior off balance, but it did nothing. Thena simply moved out of the way, her gaze not focused on Artemis. 

"Thena, stop!" Artemis called to her through clenched teeth, but the blonde was in some sort of trance, nothing any of the Eternals were saying was getting through to her. Thena lunged for Artemis, spear flying high above her head, but Artemis's bow was right there to meet it as she slammed it down for the killing blow. Thena wasn't holding back, unlike when they spared. Something was infecting her, telling her to hurt the ones she loved. "Thena, snap out of it!" Artemis cried, her arms beginning to shake under the pressure of Thena's strength.

Gritting her teeth even tighter, Artemis pushed against Thena, managing to slip out from under her and causing Thena to stumble forward and momentarily lose her balance. This gave Makkari her chance to grab Thena and run her away. Druig was immediately at Artemis's side, hands tenderly holding her shoulder as he checked if she was okay. Artemis nodded, her breathing heavy as she watched for Makkari and to her horror, she saw as she speedster fell to the ground in a heap and Thena next to her, blade in hand. 

Then, her eyes caught sight of Ajak approaching the wild Eternal. Her breath caught in her throat and she leaned into Druig's arms. At the crunch of a leaf, Thena whipped around with her spear, piercing Ajak's open palm. Ajak didn't react and Artemis watched as her palms glowed gold, healing the wound instantly as Thena pulled her spear back. Ajak held up her hands as she walked slowly, whispering to Thena, hovering her hands around her temples.

"Phastos," Druig whispered to Artemis. "He needs us." 

Artemis nodded, managing to turn her eyes away from Ajak and Thena and over to Phastos, who was cradling his bleeding shoulder on the ground. She and Druig made their way over and Artemis knelt when she reached him. "Are you alright?"

Phastos tried to sit up as he nodded but winced and shuddered back to the ground. Artemis was quick to tear the lilac fabric of her tunic. "Druig, hold him," She instructed her husband as she prepared the makeshift bandage. In the background, she could still hear the struggles of Thena as she fought, but now she could hear Gilgamesh's voice, which brought her some comfort. She knew Gilgamesh would stop her. "Stay still, Phas," Artemis turned her full attention back to her friend. 

"I'm trying," He grimaced through gritted teeth. 

As Artemis began to position and wrap the bandage, a loud thud echoed through the forest. Her head snapped to see Thena lying unconscious on the ground and Gilgamesh standing over her, breathing heavily. He did what he had to, Artemis told herself, but the pit in her stomach grew at the sight of her friend needing to be subdued because she could not stop herself from fighting. 

Crunching leaves from her other side caught Artemis's attention. Ajak smiled sadly as she approached. "I can take it from here," She told her, pointing her head at Phastos's half-bandaged shoulder. "Help Gilgamesh take Thena to the pyramid. We're meeting there to...discuss."

Hesitantly, Artemis moved away from Phastos and stood. "Of course," She nodded, turning slowly to look at Thena in Gilgamesh's arms. She let out a shaky breath, her head dropping slightly. 

Druig's hand found its way to hers as he tenderly intertwined their fingers. They began to follow loosely behind Gilgamesh silently. They didn't need to talk about how they were feeling because they both knew -- this wasn't right.

  Thena lay in the centre of the pyramid on a stone platform while they all surrounded her, waiting for her to reawaken. Sersi and Artemis stood at her side, looking down at her with deep frowns. "I thought Mahd Wy'ry was a myth," Sersi sighed sadly. Artemis's heart sank.

"There is no cure..." Phastos informed them as Ajak finished healing his shoulder. "So no one really talks about it."

Finally, a gasp left Thena's lips as her eyes snapped open. Sersi took a step back but Artemis still remained by her side. "What happened?" Thena looked around tensely.

"Thena," Ajak sighed. "You attacked everyone. Wounded Sersi and Phastos, bruised Artemis, you nearly killed Makkari."

Thena sat up slowly and instinctively Artemis reached out to help her. She looked between Artemis and Ajak, her beautiful face contorting into a pain-filled grimace. "I don't remember," She shook her head.

'You have Mahd Wy'ry," Ajak told her honestly. "Your mind is fracturing under the weight of your memories. And all I can do is erase them so that you can start over,"Erase them? Artemis took a step back in shock and her eyes met with Druig's across the room. "I will have to inform Arishem and take you back to the ship where we have the technology to help."

"But she won't be Thena anymore," Makkari interjected. She took the words right out of Artemis's mouth. If Thena's memories were erased, all her years spent with the Eternals would be nothing to her, they would be nothing to her.

"What if it happens again?" Kingo said nervously. "She could've killed you. She could've killed all of us."

"Kingo!" Artemis gasped. "How could you say that? It's Thena!" 

"It's true, Artemis, and you know it!" He countered.

Artemis narrowed her eyes and took a step away from him. That was not the Kingo she knew. 

"Please," Thena's voice caught her attention, barely a whisper. "Please, I...I want to remember. I want to remember my life." She sniffled, tears now freely falling. 

"Thena, I love you," Ajak spoke as she shook her head. "But listen to me. It's not important if you remember or not. Your spirit will remain. You will always be Thena deep inside. Trust me."

"Why should she trust you," Druig spoke up for the first time since Gilgamesh knocked Thena out. Artemis's eyes snapped to him and a chill ran down her spine. He was the angriest she had ever seen him, his eyes blazing with fury as he stared at Ajak. "You're asking her to let you erase who she is."

Ajak sighed deeply. "Druig, I know you're upset, but-"

"Upset?!" Druig yelled. It was a shocking thing to witness the normally cool and collected Druig explode like that. "We've trusted you for 7,000 years, and look where you've gotten us," Artemis began to walk around the centre table to Thena sat on, never taking her eyes off her husband, watching as tears began to fill his eyes, the anger being replaced by sorrow and pain. "I've watched humans destroy each other...when I could stop it all in a heartbeat. Do you know what that does to someone after centuries?"

"Druig..." Artemis's heart broke as she whispered his name. She had known of his pain, it was their shared pain, but hearing it vocalized...it was powerful.

Druig spared her only a glace before he addressed all of them. "Could our mission have been a mistake? Are we really helping these people build a better world, huh?" His eyes met Artemis's one more time and her stomach dropped. I'm sorry. She knew that look. Then he turned around and walked to the entrance of the pyramid, stopping just before the stairs to look down at the fighting below. "We're just like the soldiers down there; pawns to their leaders. Blinded by loyalty. It ends now." 

Artemis's breathing turned quick and shallow as she watched him. Almost in an instant, the sounds of war on the ground ceased and they could hear the clang of metal hitting the floor as the soldier's weapons fell from their hands. Ikaris marched forward and grabbed Druig by the shoulder, slamming him into the wall. Anger flooded Artemis's veins as subconsciously her bow and arrows formed. She felt a hand quickly grab her wrist and she looked over to see Makkari softly shaking her head, telling her to stand down.

"Let them go," Ikaris demand. 

Druig scoffed. "You're gonna have to make me."

"Stop," Ajak commanded their attention as she walked towards them. Her intense gaze was set upon Ikaris, who, clearly hesitant, stepped back and away from Druig.

Druig looked down at Ajak, not a hint of remorse in his eyes. "If you wanna stop me, you're gonna have to kill me." 

This time, as he turned back around, he didn't look at Artemis and she knew why. She knew that if he looked back at her, he wouldn't be able to leave and he needed to. He was made for greater things. But still knowing this, it hurt Artemis to watch him go. Silent tears slipped down her cheeks as she took Makkari's hand for comfort. Once Druig's head was no longer visible, a sob escaped her lips and her hand quickly covered her mouth. 

"I'll watch over Thena," Gilgamesh spoke up after a few moments of silence. "Let her keep her memories."

"One day, when she attacks you, you might have to kill her," Ajak warned.

Gilgamesh and Thena's eyes met in the most loving gaze. "We'll take that chance."

Artemis watched as Ajak lowered her gaze, forehead crinkled in thought. When she looked back up, the words from her mouth weren't expected at all. "You may all go," A wave of shock hit all of the Eternals. Artemis stumbled back purely from shock. "The Deviants are gone. There is no reason for you to stay with me."

"Shouldn't you ask Arishem first?" Ikaris questioned. "We're a team, we should stay together."

"I didn't ask you for your advice, Ikaris," Ajak shot him down. "Do not forget your place," She looked over at the rest of them, her eyes glistening yet her voice remained steady and strong. "This is where we say goodbye. You are free to go. I want you to go out there and live a life for yourselves. Not as soldiers. Not with the purpose you were given," Her eyes connected with Artemis's. "Find your own purpose. And one day, when we see each other again, I want you to tell me what you found."

AUTHORS NOTE 
h-hey guys...ha, so uh...I'M SORRY but I really wanted to split them up! They still love each other but they both need to go their separate ways! ANYWAY, THIS IS THE END OF ACT ONE!!!! I'm so proud of myself for getting here and NOW I get to write modern Artemis and IM SO EXCITED