19. traitors

☆ ゜・ 。。・ ゜゜・ 。。・ ゜★

"Does anyone know where Phastos is?" Ikaris said as we all settled in the jet. Druig sat in front of me, kicking my legs, acting like a child.

"He's in Chicago." Everyone turned to look at me. Did they not know? "What?"

"How do you know and we dont?" Sersi turns in her seat.

"Dont you guys get the Christmas cards?" They all look at me confused, opps! They're cute! Makes my year better when him, his husband, Ben, and kid, Jack, dress up in their matching pjs or santa suits and reindeer. Makes me want a family of my own.

"Sersi and Ikaris can go see Phastos and-"

"I like that idea." Ikaris smiles at Sersi. Give me a break. Cry me over a river. And he complains to me that I cloud myself with my love for Druig. Ikaris went to take a sip of his tea and I snapped my fingers to make it spill over him. He groan in pain and I chuckled with Druig.

"You were always good at using your hands." Druig comes closer to me, smirking.

"Oh shut up." I playfully rolled my eyes.

"Aw no comebacks?" He moves seats to sit next to me, whispering into my ear. "What happened? Too shy now?"

"You just love the sound of your voice huh?" I pushed him off of me.

"Whatever makes you melt my sweet Celeste." He puts his head on my shoulder, then his nose hid in the crook of my neck. I shrugged him off, to mess with him, which I know he misses.

"Usually youre the one melting." I turned to him, whispering and giving him these soft eyes I always used on him to make him, you know... "Remember when I would just sit on your lap and you just-" he moves a bit, shuffling in his seat.

"I got your point."

"Oh baby I thought you can take it, guess not." I whispered in his ear and he shakes his head. I got out of the seat and take a quick trip to get a snack. Sersi comes up with me and we huddled by the bar.

"So you and Druig?" I turned red and laughed it off. "Come on, what were you guys doing when you chased after him."

"We just caught up, talked." She hms, bumping her elbow to my arm, trying to get more out of me. "What? Thats all!" We turned back to Druig, who watched us. "Maybe we kissed..." i blushed from the memory.

"I knew it." She scoffs. "You two cant even be mad at each other." Sersi smiles and walks away, making Druig come my way.

"Talking about me?" He rested his chin on his hand. "If you were, don't make it so obvious." He looks down at my hand and his eyes soften as he saw the ring I had, the same one he gave me many years ago. "You still have it." He picks my hand up and holds it in his, running his thumb over mine.

"I never took it off." Druig lets go and looks away. "It was the only thing that made me feel closer to you."

★

We landed in Chicago, Ikaris and Sersi we're on their way to see Phastos and I decided I needed to walk around, take a breather. Druig tagged along, following me to stores, window shopping. He still had his robe and pants on so I decided to get him a new look, at least a new pair of shoes or something.

"Remind me why we are here?" Druig complains as he follows behind me as I search new clothes for him, picking out simple things. "I look fine."

"You look like you escaped a cult." I pulled out a leather jacket. "This looks nice." I tossed it in the pile. All Druig did was scan the store, holding my hand, groaning about how long was it going to take. When I finished and he tried on the clothes, which he looked breath taking, I started to turn red. "Stay here, Imma go to the bathroom." I patted his chest and went in for just for 5 minutes and I saw a girl flirting with Druig.

"Druig? Thats a hot name." My hands turned into fist and my eyes green. Jealousy was written all over me. The girls smoothie exploded in her face, covering her face and shirt, her gasping. Druig looks at me, knowing that it was me. My green eyes vanished as I made my way to him, wrapping my hand with his.

"Oh no, looks like you got something there." I pointed at her face.

"How was that even possible?" I shrugged and Druig smirks.

"Come on Druig, we have to go." I grabbed his hand and left the mall. We teleported back to the jet and he stops me.

"Ive never seen you that jealous." I looked up at him.

"I dont know what you're talking about. The girls drink exploded, I had nothing to do with that." He hums and I went back into the jet, sitting down and calmed down.

"You're cute when you're jealous. You scrunch your nose, that little wrinkle by your eye, its cute."

"Phastos' here!" Sprite jumps off the jet and we all ran out to see him. Everyone hugged him, telling him he looks great and how happy we are to see him.

"Phastos!" I hugged him and he laughs. "Its nice to see you in normal clothes, not in a elf pj." His smile disappears. Everyone held in their laughs. "Sorry." I shrugged.

"Now we need Makkari, Celeste do you-" i nodded.

"Iraq, so, if you wanna get there early because you know, the world is coming to an end in a day, we should teleport." Everyone groans. "Oh come on!" I stick my hands out and everyone latched on. "Ill count down, in 3,2,1!" The rush of wind knocked everyone off their feet.

"Celeste! We are never doing that again!" Kingo huffs. "This is vintage!"

"Oh be quiet, you guys are fine. You all are in one piece, what I should be hearing is, 'thank you Celeste!'."  Druig controlled the paleontologists to leave so we can get the domo out from the ground, they got in their cars and left, and we walked in, wind blowing in our faces as the domo came out. Home. Its been awhile. Kingo lead the way in so he can document this. I looked around the halls that I once walked before, walked past my old room, Druigs, the training room. Memories flew back in, good ones. That was the good old days.

"A foreboding atmosphere fills the air." Kingo whispers to the camera. "An eerie stillness chokes our lungs."

"What are you doing?" Phastos tells him. "You know you're creeping us out. You know that right?" I flinched as Phastos yells and something pops. Thena didn't even flinch. "Oh! Oh god!" Phastos holds his chest. "Stay calm T! Please!" Again, Thena wasn't even amused. We looked down to see that Thena stepped on a chip bag. Really? Phastos chuckles as he went to pick it up. "Chips. Its just chips." Dear god.

"As you can see, being an eternal does not preclude you from having human emotions such as cowardice."

"Nice one Kingo." We fist bumped. We then squinted as we heard music coming from the lab. Makkari! I raced over to her and she gave me a good old hug. Its been 2 years since we saw each other. I was busy and she was looking for gems, so we barely got to hang out like we used to.

"You look amazing!" She smiles.

"Oh! I got you something!" I pulled out a ring from 1800s. She likes these type of stuff, as you can tell by all the books and all the ancient artifacts she had collected, and some I gave her.

"Where did you find this!? Is this king Henrys?"

"I had to go on a date with a guy to get that, you're welcome." Druig squinted at me, but nothing happened, besides a kiss Goodnight and a blocked number.

"Ready to go home?" We all eeked, stay silent. She sighs, throwing her head against the chair. Whos going to tell her?

★

I looked at the books that were stacked as Phastos began his newest invention for us to stop the emergence. I love the smell of old books, i just love reading in general.

"Look what I found." I looked at Druig who was holding the necklace I liked in Babylon. I gasped and reached for it but he backed up and dangled it above me. "My beautiful beautiful Celeste." I tried to reach for it again and he switched hands. "You still have those sticky fingers."

"If I like it, i get it." I said with my chin up.

"Like how you got me?" He leans closer, about to kiss me and then Phastos and Kingo gagged at the sight.

"Im sorry, but we're still here, don't start undressing." Kingo gags.

"How can the sweet girl and a grumpy guy be together?" Phastos groans.

"Phastos, i need to control the mind of a celestial." Druig said for them to get back on track.

"Okay, get ready for it." We looked up and saw the new invention. They're bracelets, you see... bracelets aren't my favorite. Doesn't really go with my suit.

"Bracelets? You made us bracelets?" Kingo sounded so disappointed. As Kingo and Phastos talked about the idea, Druig kept nudging me and then kisses my cheek, distracting me.

"So, heres 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. The bracelets, in theory, shut down our regeneration process. And once that happens, our bodies accumulate extra cosmic energy."

"What for?"

"Well, if the deviants can absorb our energy, what if we can absorb each other's energy as well?"

"Like the power rangers! Oh! Or the transformers!" I clapped. Phastos turns to me.

"Yes but very weird that you like those shows." What? There's nothing on tv back in the 90s and thats all they had! "Anyways, 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... a uni mind." He claps his hands. He felt proud of the name, which I didn't like but go Phastos! No said anything about how cool that was or anything. "Uni meaning one, mind meaning mind."

"Oh no we heard you the first time." Kingo comes in.

"Terrible name." Sprite jumps in.

"We'll brainstorm...." Kingos eyes widen as he came up with a new name. "Brainstorm! Thats a way better name!" He looks at me for my approval but shook my head, its not the time nor the place, plus Phastos made it. He gets to decide.

"No, I invented it, so im calling it whatever i want!" Makkari steps in.

"So supposed Druig can, say... put Tiamut to sleep, then what?" We all looked back at Phastos.

"We find humans a new home on another planet." Sersi comes up.

"Are we building a big ship too? Take a pair of each animal?" Sprite and her lovely sarcasm made a debut. Most definitely didn't miss that.

"Well you know whats never saved the planet? Your sarcasm."

"Space colonization could take decades."

"It can happen quickly with our help."

"What if we end up accidentally killing Tiamut? We could be responsible for billions of lives not being created across the universe. Boss, am I right?" Kingo turns to Ikaris. Boss? Ikaris? Yeah right! In his dreams! He wishes.

"We need a plan b." I looked up as I got an idea.

"What about me?" Everyone looked at me, as if I was crazy.

"Celeste, thats a suicide mission for you." Kingo tells me. "You using your powers to stop a celestial? What are you going to do?"

"I can hold Tiamut back. Trust me." I shrugged.

"No." Druig states and walks up to me.

"Druig." I whispered to him. We didn't have a lot of time and if Im plan B, so be it.

"Im not letting you."

"I can do it. I did it before." Phastos stops and looks at me again.

"Im sorry? Before?" Ikaris sounded confused. Well, none of them know.

"Do you all remember when I came back bloody, beaten and worn out the time we were in Asgard?" I tried to jog their memory. "I was like gone for days."

"You couldn't walk for a month." Thena states. "Frigga and Loki mostly stayed in the Domo during that time. Druig was upset that month. He hated seeing you like that."

"We almost thought you were going to die. Ajak couldn't even heal you."

"Ajak said you were attacked by a god, Kronos."

"Frigga believed that my powers could do more, and we heard about a planet about to be gone, Ajak sent me to stop Ego." I clapped my hands together and everyone was too stunned. It took them a moment to gather their minds.

"Ego?!" Kingo yells. "A celestial!"

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I couldn't." I bit my lip. "I managed to stop Ego but look where that ended me. If I can do it, i might be able to stop Tiamut for awhile." They started thinking. They actually thought it was a good back up.

"No! She's not doing this! You almost died!" Druig yells at them. "Im going against Tiamut, you are doing nothing. You're not plan b. Im not losing you again, i just got you back." He walks away from me to cool down. Im just trying to help.

"Say something Ikaris." Please dont, I already have a headache from you talking nonstop to Sersi the plane ride to Chicago. "You dont think we should be doing this." Correction, he always thinks that, its either his way or no way. We all looked at him even though it should be Sersi we should be looking at. Ajak chose her, not Ikaris.

"Ajak chose Sersi to lead us. Sersi should decide." Wow. For the first time ever, we agreed on something. What a big shocker. Pinch me i must be having a dream. We all turned again to Sersi.

"Forget who Ajak chose." Im sorry?! Sprite i think its pass your bed time, go away and let us handle this. We dont need your opinion here. "You're the strongest, you should be making this decision."

"If I may." I coughed. Druig steps back so everyone can look at me. "Ajak said that Im the strong one in the team, not Ikaris. But go on." Ikaris rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Just keep lying to yourself." Sprite walks away.

"Sprite." Ikaris sighs. He follows her. I pulled Druig away from the group and went to my old room, locked the door behind me and paced around the room.

"If you wanted to continue on from what happened back home, we could've-" I stopped him from taking off his jacket.

"Not now Druig." He saw that I had something in my mind. He stops me from pacing and calms me down.

"Whats wrong my love?" I looked up at him.

"I think Ikaris is hiding something, or hes not telling us everything." I blurted out. "I have a feeling, its bad. Its just every time we talk about Ajak, he gets quiet, hes been dragging lately."

"Cel, what are you trying to say?"

"I think Ikaris has something to do with Ajaks death." He looks at me. "Dont give me that look!"

"Im not giving you a look. Im just saying that you never really got along with Ikaris."

"Listen Druig, even though I hate Ikaris with my entire life, something isn't right and I know it." We heard beeping and Phastos panicking. We raced back to the lab and Sersi came in as well.

"Oh no. My god." It's starting.

"What about the uni mind?" I said as I stood and watch the target turn red.

"I haven't figured out a way to connect us. But im close. Im very very close."

"How much longer?" Sersi asked.

"I dont know Sersi!" Phastos yells at her. I felt a twisting feeling in my stomach, thats not good. Im basically panicking in the inside. Phastos hands Markkari an orb and tells her to find where the emergence was going to happen. She sped out of there, wind gushing. Ikaris came in, wearing his suit. "Im close to figuring it out." Ikaris shoots at the bracelets and we all shot back. What the hell is he doing!?

"Boss what are you doing?" Kingo looks at Ikaris.

"Ive let this go on long enough." Im sorry? He knew? All of this? We spent all this time doing what? My hand danced as I was going to stop him but Sersi runs in, standing in front of me, stopping me from what I was going to do to him.

"Dont hurt him!" She turns to us. "He lied to us. He already knew about the emergence." My body filled with rage. All this time!

"No he didn't." Kingo said, still in disbelief.

"Ajak told me everything when we left Babylon." What? No.

"You were never gonna let us stop the emergence."

"No. I only wanted to protect you from the deviants." Bullshit. If he lied to us then, then he's probably lying to us now.

"If Ajak wanted you to take her place, why did she choose me?" There. He killed her. I looked up at Druig, who caught my attention and knew I was right. Sersi looks at Ikaris. "What have you done?"

"He killed her." Druig stands up.

"I had to." I almost jumped Ikaris but I was held back by Kingo and Thena. A tear slipped out of my eye and everything went numb. She trusted him and he killed her. I want him dead and I want to take it away. I want to be the one to kill Ikaris. Sersi whimpers that Ajak loved him, Phastos cries. "Did she?" No matter what, she loved us all.

"She loved you." She repeated.

"Do you think it was easy to live with the truth? To know that one day all this would end? To keep on lying to you? If we gave humanity the choice, how many of them would be willing to die so that billions more could be born?"

"We're not giving them a choice. Is this why you're willing to kill? You are so pathetic!"

"Im an Eternal, Phastos." I shoved Kingos arm off of me.

"The day you killed Ajak, was the day you stopped being an eternal." I growled at him. Ikaris looks at me.

"I really wish you're not so uptight, maybe we could've had a chance to do this, together. But you love these humans so much, Celeste. I almost feel sorry for you." My hand turned into a fist. I wanted to kill him now. "I exist for Arishem. As do you. Its who you are."

"I wouldn't change a single thing about who I am. Born or made. But I do not exist for Arishem. I exist gor my family!" Phastos comes in.

"Then you are making the same mistake Ajak did." Makkari comes back, signing she found the emergence. Ikaris' eyes glow yellow.

"Makkari!" I jumped in front of her, pushing her away. The laser hit my arm and i groan in pain. Druig stops as Makkari checked up on me. "Get out of here now!" She runs away. Druig gave a look to Ikaris, the 'you hurt her, you're gonna die' look. Kingo helps me up.

"Kingo." Ikaris walks up to him. Kingo used his powers, pointing at Ikaris.

"You do not turn against your family. Gilgamesh died because of you."

"You wont succeed against me. And I kill every one of you if I have to."

"I will like to see that happen." I huffed as I held my arm. Ikaris was just going to leave and Sprite stops him.

"Im going with you." She walks to him. Traitors. Sersi calls her out, telling her rethink this. But Sprite already looks like she knew what she was doing. She didn't care about Ajak or Gilgamesh? What Ikaris did to us? She still went with him? They disappeared and now, we had to fight them and stop the emergence...