I am one of the few people who absolutely loved Eternals, and even though I tried my absolute hardest not to, I have started shipping Thena and Ikaris, though this isn't exactly a shippy kind of fic for them. I do intend to write some at some point though. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this, I promise it isn't as awful as my ability to come up with a title and summary.
If there was one thing Thena hated more than losing a fight, it was feeling confused the way her Mah'd Wyry always left her. Whenever she suffered an attack, she felt as though she was living someone else's life, a life she couldn't fully remember once the attack subsided. She remembered flashes of her previous lives, bits and pieces that made no sense without a way of putting them together. Sometimes she would see people, versions of her family she didn't recognize and yet knew she loved with all her heart.
Lately, she had seen two people in particular each time she came back to herself after an attack. She could never make out their faces, but it was clear they had been lovers, or at the very least had been together in the most natural sense more than once. She liked to believe the people were herself and Gilgamesh, that their love had borne the test of time and spanned across the many planets they had traversed together.
It hurt to think about him. To think that she could have saved him had her Mah'd Wyry not been so easily triggered by the Deviants. And yet, she knew, if there was an afterlife for their kind, if he was looking down on her right then, he would not want her to blame herself. It was Ikaris who was at fault. He had led them on a mission to gather their family and had abandoned Gilgamesh in the woods, knowing she could not help against the Deviants he knew were stronger than any before.
Thena had always had a certain disdain for Ikaris, as far as she could remember. He was consistently pretentious, always thinking of himself as Ajak's right hand. There had been more than one occasion on which he had tried to command them himself while their true leader had been away. She had laughed in his face the first time he had tried with her, and eventually he had given up.
She took great pleasure in knocking him down a peg or two, which was one reason she had gladly taken on the duty of distracting him while the others attempted to execute their plan to put Tiamut to sleep. She mused that it was almost like a game. She'd get to see just how long she could keep Ikaris busy by challenging his strength, seeing as he was so confident he could kill them all single handedly. It was almost cute that he thought so.
"Where's Druig?" his voice broke her from her musings, and she pushed herself off the wall she'd been leaning against.
"He's busy." A condescending look graced his face, and he tilted his head at her like one would at a small child about to do something foolish.
"Thena. Play nice."
It was like being hit with a shower of icy water as his words filled her mind. She'd heard them before, more than once, or so the flashes of memory she now had told her. She couldn't see clearly, darkness shrouding the flashes as it always did. She could just barely make out the silhouettes of the same two people she had been seeing for the last several months.
They were close, barely three inches of space between them, though with the tension rolling off of them both, it was almost as though even those inches didn't exist. She soon realized, however, that this memory was different.
In previous moments, she had simply seen flashes, simple pictures or seconds long movements. She'd been able to make out the silhouettes' mouths moving as they spoke but never any actual words. This time, she heard very clearly the words the taller silhouette spoke as he wound an arm around the other and yanked her against him, eliminating the remaining space between them.
"Thena. Play nice." She couldn't quite make out who the voice belonged to, the tone just distorted enough to keep the man's identity a mystery as a low, sultry chuckle came from the shorter silhouette, whom she now had confirmation was herself.
"I rather thought you like it better when I play dirty."
The memory ended as quickly as it began, and within seconds, her sword had materialized in her hands. She didn't want to dwell on what she'd seen, the implication far too distressing to acknowledge when there were such important things at stake. All of her focus needed to be on her task, and with that thought, she spun and shoved her sword toward Ikaris, his hand blocking it with near laughable ease.
"You've never had to fight me." he told her, almost as though he were giving her a warning. A smirk spread across her lips, his confidence as amusing as it had always been.
"But I've always wanted to." she retorted, yanking her sword back and spinning to thrust it at him again. For the next several moments, everything passed in a blur. She threw attacks that Ikaris blocked, and he did the same to her. It was almost satisfying, seeing him so annoyed that she could hold her own against him even if only as a distraction tactic.
She extended her sword to pin him to the wall, adrenaline coursing through her. She had always loved the thrill of battle, and the fact that she was getting to avenge Gilgamesh, even if she didn't kill Ikaris, only made it that much sweeter. Soon, however, he broke free from her hold, throwing more and more attacks at her that she did her best to dodge and parry.
She hadn't been expecting him to resort to a simple punch to the face, an impact that knocked her back and threw her off, causing her to briefly lose her focus. She stood up straight, just barely in time to allow her shield to materialize and block his lasers. A quick duck, and she swung at him again, missing and allowing him to land a blow that knocked the hand holding her shield to the ground. As quickly as she could, she raised the shield and took another easily blocked shot. Another blow to her shield knocked it to the side, and before she knew it, he'd grabbed her wrists and flown them both into the air before pinning her against the wall.
"Enough." he told her, his tone rough and commanding.
With just that one word, another memory hit her brain, the most vivid she had experienced beyond the visions she'd seen while in the midst of her attacks.
The two people who had only heretofore been silhouettes were now fully visible, the memory picking up exactly as it had left off with Ikaris's arm holding Thena against him, a smirk on her lips as he soon flew them upwards and pinned her against the wall of the Domo by her wrists just as he was in reality.
"Enough." he said, undisguised lust filling his tone. "You've been teasing all day."
"And it's been working." she replied, her lips curving into a sultry smirk. He kissed her then, the smirk fading as she returned his kiss, his hands already wandering over her body.
Within moments, they were removing each other's clothes. His hands were rough, and his breath warm against her skin as he kissed her neck and cupped and massaged her breasts. Her moans filled the air around them, soon muffled by his lips as he kissed her again. His hands traveled down to grip her thighs and pull them up, her legs lifting to wrap around his hips as he pushed inside her.
Nothing was heard after that beyond her moans and sighs and his groans as he fucked her into the wall. Her nails left red streaks along his back, and he soon released her lips to leave a trail of kisses and bites from her neck down to her breasts, tearing moans and whimpers of pleasure from her lips. It felt as though it was hours before she was crying out, his name a moan that echoed around the room as her release crested over her, his soon following.
The memory ended with their cries of ecstasy still echoing in her mind, leaving her beyond confused. It was a shock to know that in some life on some planet, she had deemed Ikaris a suitable sexual partner, even moreso now that her simple disdain had festered and grown into a deep hatred for what he'd done to Ajak and Gilgamesh. The knowledge that the man who had killed the love of her life had once been inside of her, that she had allowed him to be inside of her, only made her hate him more, and disgust soon replaced her confusion, filling her entire body.
It felt like a betrayal somehow. Even though her tryst with Ikaris had occurred thousands of years ago on a planet no longer in existence, Gilgamesh had given up everything for her. He had been happy to live in isolation for five hundred years, dealing with her attacks and the wounds she left on his body, sometimes more than once a day, all because he loved her, and she was learning that she had once willingly fucked the man responsible for his death, the man still holding her against the wall.
She wanted to see him hurt as badly as he had hurt her, and yet, she would never harm Sersi in pursuit of revenge. And yet, she knew that if he failed to prevent them from stopping the Emergence, it would destroy him. She would watch him face the love of his life after murdering two members of their family and threatening to do the same to them, and she would be content knowing that he had to live with the knowledge that Sersi would never return to him and would instead go home to the human man who had stolen her heart.
Finally, the Unimind began to take effect, connecting her to the others on the beach, and a triumphant smile graced her face as Ikaris realized he was losing. He released her wrists as Phastos's invention held her suspended in the air, flying away to, no doubt, attack Druig.
Later, after the fight was over and the Emergence stopped, she would look back and regret that she hadn't gotten to kill Ikaris herself, and yet, she would still feel a sense of satisfaction. Kro had died by her hand as Gilgamesh had by his, and Ikaris had died with the knowledge that he had lost, leaving her desire for revenge fulfilled. All she had wanted before the Emergence had been to live and be happy with Gil, and though she would never see him again, she knew he would always be with her.
In the end, she remembered for him.
If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed this little fic inspired by my best friend saying to imagine Thena's mah'd wyry reminding her she fucked Ikaris on one of the many planets they lived on, and then hates him even more for everything he did. Also a big thank you to both her and my friend Ashley who both helped beta this for me.