Feeling my uniform morph onto my skin made me remember all the times I have done this before. But I knew this time, it could be the last time.

The orange that shined on my uniform glistened in the dim light of our room, the rest of the group changing into their uniforms too with an added accessory on our wrists. Phastos got the bracelets done just in time for us to set our plan in motion. It was a delicate and intricate bracelet, beautiful in sight and powerful in use all thanks to Phastos and his handiwork. We had a plan in motion, going over it together at least a few times to make sure it was going to go to plan. This wasn't like the other times when we were simply fighting Deviants.

This was a fight for the survival of the human race.

Makkari gave the coordinates that showed where Tiamut was to Phastos, having him navigate the ship and follow those numbers to get to the destination. As we were traveling to Tiamut, we were getting into our uniforms and Phastos was explaining to us how the bracelets were going to link us together. He handed us our bracelets, all of us placing them on our wrists. It all came down to channeling our energy to Druig, giving him enough of each of our power for him to channel enough of his mind control in order to make Tiamut sleep. We could have the right amount of power with all of us contributing together to make it work.

The one main hurdle we would have to face was Ikaris.

I was trying to get my mind back on the right track, psyching myself up for what we were attempting to do. Not only were we going to try and get a Celestial to sleep before it would take over and destroy the world, but we were going to have to stop our ally turned enemy, Ikaris. I still felt a twinge of hesitation in fighting Ikaris on mown, if that was going to happen anyway. Ikaris was an Eternal, but I knew too he had weaknesses as just like the rest of us.

There was also a hesitance space between Ikaris and me, and it only got bigger and sharper since I lashed out at him so long ago and within the heat of the moment. He knew what he was doing, thinking he was higher than the rest of his because of his allegiance to Arishem, and at the time to Ajak. Ikaris always thought he better, though he would never say it out loud to the rest of us, I knew that notion was there.

And to think that he swore he was going to kill every single one of us to have Emergence happen. Ikaris was willing to murder to follow orders, showing his true darker side and how he played all of us in thinking that he was truly there to help. His mind was set on the wrong goal, I knew that deeply. We lost Ajak and Gilgamesh because of it. But this battle that I knew was going to happen was going to be life or death.

Thena was going to stay on the Domo with Phastos as the rest of us would go out and start the Uni-Mind together. It seemed like the logical solution since Ikaris would assume that we would still be on the Domo while the Uni-Mind was happening. Thena gave me a knowing look, seeing that I was almost about to argue with her in leaving her alone in the Domo with him. I always felt as though we had to watch out for her since we lost Gilgamesh, and although she was remaining calm and pose as she always had before, we knew she was fragile.

"I'll buy you all some time," She reassured me as we were getting closer to our destination. Thena and I were talking together in our uniforms within the meeting room. I still gave her an uneasy look, not believing her while I was fiddling the bracelet on my wrist, "He will look for you all here, it'll give you time to start the Uni-Mind,"

"I can stay with you," I suggested to her, seeing her shake her head as I kept talking, "We can take him on together and stop—"

"Your place is with them," Thena explained, having me look from her to the others that were talking together on the other side of the room, going over the plan amongst each other. I saw each of their faces, looking determined our makeshift plan. It was soothing to see that we were all willing to stay there and fight for this planet, to fight for s species that we each grew to love and care for. It made me wonder if Ajak would be proud that we were doing this. Although she knew what was to happen and she used to follow in the steps of Arishem, I knew her heart was left with the humans themselves. So for us to do this, almost in her honor in a way, was enough.

Even if we were to die, at least we did it in her honor.

My eyes moved from person to person, almost having a sense of fondness for each of them. They were each my family, they each held a place very close to my heart and I knew they were also fighters. We were meant to be together as a family, I knew we were. And because of that, that need to protect them was growing stronger inside me. That power I knew I had in me was growing more intense that it was almost about to burst at the seams.

Then my eyes landed on Druig, who was in a deep talk with Makkari and watching her sign at him. I thought back to when we were alone in the hallway together and Druig was trying to convince me to not risk my life for him. All I was thinking about was the mission at hand, trying to end what could be the end of the world. Druig was thinking that same thing too, but another thing was just as concerning to him. He was looking out for me, not wanting me to be in the line of fire for his safety. We always looked out for each other in the past, that small hint of worry for the other person. Yet in those times we always succeeded against the Deviants, this was a whole new kind of battle.

I was still buzzing within myself from the kiss we shared. It both felt gentle and kind mixed with pent-up feelings and almost desperation. Perhaps it was because we were separated from each other in the past 500 years, or even it might have been we were dancing around each other since we first met each other 7,000 years ago. Years were nothing to us, and yet they were everything when it came to something like this. I felt the loss of years and time in how we held each other, in every press of his lips to my own, and in how we were embracing one another in that small moment. He knew more about me than I did myself, and it was all from not being able to read my mind.

If only we were under different circumstances, or maybe it was fate that this Emergence was happening to have is reunite again. If there was no Emergence, would we have ever met again? Would we have had that kiss together? I had to think we would have, the feelings I harbored deep within me about him were still there long before the current situation we were in.

"Your place is with him," I looked from Druig over to Thena, noticing that she was watching me gaze at Druig. A small smile was on her face, her knowing look is that I have seen before. The smile on her face slightly grew, perhaps she knew what did happen to Druig and me when I thought we were alone. I had to give Thena credit when it came to her intuition. Then again, it took Druig and me this long to finally confess our feelings to one another. She might have none a lot sooner than I knew myself. I grinned back at her, showing no ill feelings about it as she squeezed my arm before walking away.

I shifted on my feet, looking over in the direction of Druig again to see him finally look over at me. Since we kissed, my view of him almost lightened. He stared at me, giving me a very soft and gentle smile that I knew was only meant for me. Thena knew about the both of us, but I didn't care. All that I cared about was that she was rooting for us.

I was rooting for us too.

We finally approached our destination: a real land with carrels any life seen there amongst the dirt and sandy beaches. There are hills and valleys of dirt and rock, which left a singular active volcano right in the middle with smoke spewing out from the top. We all could see the intense energy of lightning bursting from the opening of the volcano, lava spewing up and throwing to overpower. This was where Tiamut was buried, ready to come out.

Once we were close enough, Makkari took Sersi and sped her down to the pointed spot where we would use the Uni-Mind. I teleported Druig and myself, the four of us standing side by side while watching the volcano. I looked around for a brief moment for any sign of Ikaris, thinking that he was about to talk out of nowhere. But I saw nothing for a good while, so far so good.

"It's time to put a God to sleep," Sersi said to us, the wind picking up around us as the smoke was rising higher and the energy within the earth was getting greater by the moment. We had mere moments before the Celestial was going to wake up, it was now or never. The four of us spread out then, giving each other plenty of space before I looked down at Phastos's bracelet on my wrist.

I took in a good breath, reaching over to give it a gentle twist and seeing the bracelet active. The motion of the bracelet was having around my skin and starting to spin rapidly, the sensation of my cosmic energy with me heightening and magnifying. The intricate patterns on my uniform that had our own ancient Eternal language started to glow and hover around my body, having me feel myself levitating a bit from the sandy ground as my energy was now swirling around inside of me. I close my eyes one last time, focusing my energy on how I can push it over to Druig.

We have never done something like this before, not with each other. Our own powers and energy were both different and yet the same. I never knew how much power that we had within ourselves, let alone within myself. But I could feel it at that moment, moving in tad within me like a swirling vortex of power that was remaining calm and powerful simultaneously. What a strange feeling, thinking that I had all of this power all this time, and I barely tapped into it.

But it was also flowing through my head, drifting away from me like a lifeline in the direction of Druig. He needed all of our energy together to make something as big as a volcano, if not bigger, go back to sleep. I was willing to let my energy be drained from me, in a sense, for Druig to work his own magic.

The sound of all of our energy was now floating around us, simmering like the buzzing of bees as more energy was now from Druig into his abilities. I could almost feel it working, the simmering of the active volcano that was felt over the land was calming down and sow lying melting away from being active to being dead again. Druig was placing Tiamut to sleep, I knew it was working and I could almost feel it too under my skin.

But suddenly, it stopped.

I opened my eyes, seeing a flash of beaming light over to my left and Druig falling to the ground in a heap. Looking over within a second, seeing Ikaris land on his feet and walk over to Druig with pure murder in his eyes. We didn't hear or see him come, but the fact that he was there and was already ready to kill was enough to set us off. I didn't move for a moment, but I felt my stomach drop as he grabbed Druig by the throat. Instantly, I teleported over to him and grabbed his arm that was out in a death grip on Druig, about to yank him off.

Ikaris looked at me within a millisecond, snapped his other hand back, and punched me down to the ground. I screamed out in pure pain Sersi rushed over to me, hunching down and placing her arms on me in concern and shock I fell on my knees, the blossoming and intense pain that was spreading all over my face almost gave me a concussion. My vision was going sideways, blurry, and almost having me gasp out in pain as I heard Ikaris near me.

"I should have done this 5 centuries ago!" He growled, flying up in the sky and taking Druig with him. I looked up, cradling my injured face with one hand as we all looked in horror. Ikaris took him higher and higher in the sky, having me feel so frozen on the spot as he finally stopped and hovered with Druig in his grasp. Ikaris then threw Druig having me see him fall through the air for a split moment before Ikaris shot beams at him.

Shooting him to the earth in a heap. I saw rocks flying everywhere as it looked like Ikaris was trying to bury him in the ground, pushing him with his beams farther and farther into the ground with such power behind the beams it looked like it would be impossible for Druig to survive it. The longer he was doing this, the more I was realizing what he was doing.

My heart broke within a moment. Druig was….no!

I heard Makkari screaming, sounding so raw and in pain as I got up from the ground. The pain was now secondary to the pain that I was feeling in my chest and within my own heart. Ikaris was murdering Druig in front of my eyes, in front of all of us, and I already felt I was failing him. I had mere seconds to end it, and it didn't matter that my face was still in intense pain and I felt slightly uncoordinated, I was going to stop him.

Throwing up a hand, the seat of rage slamming through me like a wave in a stormy sea, and a flash of a force field beam that looked like a boulder fly through my fingers into the air in such speed that it was almost as fast as Makkari's speed. The boulder slammed into Ikaris, his beams finally releasing his deadly grip on Druig and staggering a bit in his spot in the air. A wave of relief hit me before I saw him look from where he buried Druig over to where the Domo was. Out ship was floating not too far away. He then flew over in that direction, having us see that his new target was the Domo.

Thena and Phastos were still on that ship.

His beams slammed onto the top and the bottom of the ship. slicing and making the Domo fall into the sand and the dirt. Once again, my instinct was kicking in. I was still in pain, my sense of balance was still off, but my mind was focused on the others. Ikaris was not holding back the time, unleashing all that he too was holding in and not reserving anything against us.

Watching the Domo fall, I threw out a bubble around the ship in some kind of attempt to lessen the damage of the fall. Two Eternals were still there with no way of escaping before impact, so I tried to make sure that they were going to survive that fall that was coming closer and closer. I didn't know if it was before Ikaris shook me from my balance, or that I watched the Druig almost die in front of me threw me off, but my ability was still fragile and almost useless as I tried to push everything I had in cradling the Domo to the earth. As my bubble around the Domo stayed a strong as it could, the ground shook as the ship landed on the earth and skidded to a halt.

It was safe, they were safe.

I sighed, releasing the bubble and swaying a bit in my spot. Within seconds after feeling so much energy flowing in me from the Uni-Mind, I then felt drained and almost always full. But to see that the ship was safe, watching Makkari speed in one and at a time to get Phastos and Thena out safely, it was enough.

Once The five of us were standing together, drinking all that happened.

The volcano remained still, whatever Druig did had worked so far. The energy that was in me was slowly coming back as we had a small moment, but that too was shattered. Ikaris floated down in front of us, still stoic as ever as we were now watching him in intense eyes. I didn't know about the others, but the anger that I was feeling again Ikaris was spewing out and almost taking over me as he was looking at each of us.

"Druig is gone. It's over,"

Makkari bolted into action, the rage was in her eyes too as she assaulted him and she away, punching him as she went on. I watched in awe, seeing her really try and take care of Ikaris on her own. I looked over at Sersi then, seeing her give me an intense look before we felt the ground rumbling again. We all looked, watching in horror as the volcano was now becoming active once again without us stopping the Emergence. The ground was now shaking violently, smoke was rising again from the top.

It was going to erupt at any moment.

I looked from the volcano over to where Druig fell, seeing the massive impact and sourcing area. My heart sank once again, no longer caring about the volcano and Ikaris. All I was thinking about was Druig, wondering if he was alive and if he was okay. I was picturing him in my mind, wondering if there was I saw I could try and seek him out where I was.

"Go find him," I looked at Sersi, seeing her watch me look at the area of impact. I looked petrified, almost taken back as Sersi watched me intensely. She knew that I was worried about Druig, she saw it in my face and in how I tried to top him. I gave her one last look, seeing her nod at me once.

"Go," Sersi ordered. I nodded, looking back at the place of impact before teleporting. I laded right at the foot of the dome, looking down and around for any sign of Druig. The ground was still shaking violently now as darkness was seen in the hole, darkness and silence. Rubble was everywhere, and marks of Ikaris beams were noticed and identified along the rock walls as I searched earnestly with my eyes.

"Druig!" I called out, attempting to go down the slope a bit to see if I could find him better. I was searching for a solid minute or two, not worrying about anything or anyone else in that split second. Maybe I was too late, having me think the worse. I made a small force fill bubble within my shaken hand, making my own makeshift flashlight as I pushed it out to float amongst the ruins in front of me. It helped, the light illuminating the hole in the ground to show every corner and every hidden spot. I was glad that I did that since I saw way down with the ruins a body.

Druig's body.

I could hear movement from him, almost a shuffling as he was coughing the dust in the small room. I sighed in a broken relief, pushing the bubble out and having it go around him to carry him out of there. The rocks above him and around him were shaking from the nearly erupted volcano, making me realize that I had seconds before this cave that Ikaris made could cave him.

I had to get him out.

"Hold on," I said to both myself and Druig as I was pulling him out of the hole. Every second I was taking him in my ability was another second close to the volcano erupting. It would have been easier for me to do this if it wasn't for my energy already being drained moments beforehand. Now it was hurting to do this, but I was willing to go through the pain to keep Druig safe.

Finally, I got him out of the cave and placed him carefully on the ground, seeing him land with ease as he was coughing and clearly alert. I dropped the bubble around him, landing on my feet next to him as I searched his body for any injuries. It looked worse back when I was watching from afar, but from what I could see on his armor, he looked alright. There was a massive cut on his cheek, some scrapes here and there along his pale skin, but he wasn't dead.

He was alive.

"Hey!" I said in urgency as he was coughing violently from the duct in his lungs, "You're okay! I got you, you're okay!" I was holding him up a bit for him to sit up and seeing him blink rapidly at me to get used to the light and what just happened to him. I was relieved to see him in front of me, the blue eyes looking right at me to show that he was alive and okay. I didn't know what as going to do if he was dead.

"Ikaris," Druig said in a low tone, giving me a warning look as I knew what he was thinking. I nodded slowly.

"We're gonna take care of him," I vowed to him already having not the treason to take care of Ikaris myself since he harmed and almost killed Druig. But before Druig could say anything else, the ground gave one more massive shake and quake. Both Druig and I got up from the ground, trying to stay level with the ground as we saw the volcano finally erupt. The lava spewed high in the sky, the sound itself was deafening and almost chaotic as rocks were flying high in the air and propelling down to the ground on impact.

I saw some of those rocks flying in our direction, making me instantly push Druig behind me and I threw up a shield around the both of us. The rocks were bouncing off the shield, having me keep the both of us out of harm's way while the erupting was still going on in front of us. Tiamut was no longer under Druig's spell since it was interrupted by Ikaris, which meant we were still back to square one with our plan. While I was keeping both of us safe from the mutual disaster that was happening all around us, I saw a flash of green out in the distance. Way out on a clearing, dodging the fallen rocks and making it sway to the volcano itself.

Sersi.

"She's gonna stop Tiamut," Druig said to me as I was holding my shield around the both of us for the last bits of fallen debris. I nodded in agreement, knowing that Sersi was now going to try to help the Celestial on her own. But that meant she was going to be left out in the open, and although I knew she could handle a few fallen rocks and some lava, it was another obstacle that was left for her to encounter.

Ikaris was going to kill her.

Finally, after the massive rocks were no longer raining, I dropped the shield and we were back in the open again. The noise died down and was now in a simmer as we both stood there amongst the ruins of the island. Rocks were all over the place, lava was starting to slowly crawl from the volcano onto the ground seep over the island we were in. Over in the direction of the shore, I heard the battle ensuing that involved the rest of the Eternals and their fight against Ikaris. Looking in that direction, I saw some of the action with energy and beams flying against one another.

"Go help them," Druig said to me calmly, making me look from the beach over to him now as he nodded his head, "I'll go find and help Sersi if I can. You need to help them back there,"

"You nearly died right now and you want me to leave you here?!" I asked him almost in disbelief, seeing only the cut on his face and the scares there along the skin. I just saw him get buried in the ground, almost losing him forever, and yet he was wanting me to go off from him. I didn't want to ever think that I was going to leave him again, and for a split second, it didn't matter that we were on the average of this planet going into extinction. I was just focused on Druig.

Druig still gave me that look that showed me that he was going to hold s ground on this. There was no point in arguing with him now since there were more important things at hand. I had to go back to reality now since the others needed me, not just him.

"They need you, Soteri," He reminded me gently, his voice sounding raw at me. I gave him a nod too, then I reached over to give his neck a gentle squeeze. He knew what I was silently telling, having our foreheads touch briefly before he then leaned up to kiss my skin right above my eye. It felt like a seal that he was giving me, a promise that we were going to be able to come out alive from this.

"Go help Sersi, and get back to me in one piece," I reminded him, feeling him release the kiss and nod his head at me. We both still had work to do, and as much as we wanted to say together, we had to separate. He then released me, giving me one more intense look to show that he understood. I knew he was safe, I saved him from dying, now it was the time for me to get to the others too.

I teleported back to the beach, leaving Druig on his own and landing just in time to see Ikaris battling it out with Phastos, Makkari, and Thena at once. They were taking turns trying to hit him and knock him down. Makkari with her speed in punching him before dodging a blow, Then using her strength to knock him down, and Phastos with a weapon that he would create in his hands to throw out at him. Ikaris was fighting back too, trying to gain his footing back with every blow and almost succeeding at times. At one point, Phastos threw out what looked like small orbs of explosions at Ikaris, who shot up and the air and the orbs followed suit. They were getting at him left and right as I ran over to the others, watching as he was struggling to get rid of them and off of his back.

Once most of them were destroyed by his eyes, Ikaris then turned to the four of us. He shot out a massive beam, still flying in the air as Phastos threw out a shield in front of us before I could. Makkari sped up to him, sticking dirt at him to stop the beams before Thena launched up and punched him hard. He flew back a bit near a cliff, having me look and see another behind right behind and jumping down on him to have Ikaris fall to the ground in a heap.

We all stopped, not knowing who this being was as Ikaris was struggling to get up from the ground. It was some kind of massive moister, and from the looks of the tentacles that were moving around on its back and the glow within its beings, something was telling me that this was no human.

An evolved Deviant.

"Why are you helping Ikaris?" Thena asked the Deviant directly, welding her spear within her fingers now as we were walking up to both him and our alley-turned foe. Phastos had a cannon out and ready, looking at Thena and then over at the Deviant.

"We can't let it absorb our powers," Phastos warned her as the Deviant now held up an enclosed fist in front of him, Cosmic energy glowed around his fist, almost like a glove as it glared directly at Thena with a lowering gaze of pure evil. Something in that stance made me remember someone that we lost, and in how he was staring at Thena he was trying to get her to remember too.

Gilgamesh. This Deviant was toying with her.

"Too late," He sneered at her. Thena instantly stalked over to him, getting a shield ready in her arm as the other hand had her spear. Phastos looked at her in concern, as did I.

"Thena, he's going to—" I said in a warning, but Makkari was already thinking the same thing. In such rapid speed, she was circling the Deviant so fast that the dirt was elevated to create a make-shift wall and warrior, blocking the Deviant from us. We watched as the dirt was making it sown wall, Makkari running faster and faster to make sure the Deviant wasn't going to go anywhere near us. And it worked for a few long moments before a boom was heard within the circle.

Makkari's body went flying, skidding on the top of the sand as did the rest of us from the impact. I fell to the sandy floor, only to look up and see an unconscious Makkari some feet away, and the Deviant launching himself over to get to her.

No, not Makkari!

"Makkari!" I screamed in fear as the tentacles were grabbing her arms and legs, preventing her from running. She was struggling, noticing one tentacle off of its back aiming right under her chin. The tip was about to pierce her skin, having me throw out another blast of a force field at the same time Phastos threw out a cannon blast. The Deviant released Makkari, seeing her fall to the ground as he was sent soaring into the cave right behind the both of them.

I teleported over to Makkari, helping her up from the ground as I saw Thena stalking past us into the cave, weapons at the ready and the look of pure revenge in her eyes. Makkari grumbled a bit, having me inwardly sigh in relief that she was okay. But that still left our main obstacle to deal it. After I helped Makkari up from the ground, I looked behind us to see Ikaris slowly walk over to Phastos. A wave of hate towards him was now coming into me and around me.

He did so many things to our family that I wasn't to let him do anything else anymore. No longer wanting to be on the sidelines as Ikaris's threat to this planet getting stronger and even more dangerous. I rounded my shoulders, cracking my knuckles with my fingers as I walked behind him with a hand at the ready.

"Ikaris," I said his name once, seeing him still walk on and ignore me. That had another wave of hate come through me as I threw out a field at him to get his attention. It knocked him to the ground, finally having him look back at me as I still had a hand out and ready for him. I knew I was willing to place myself in the line of fire at that moment, to place a massive target in front of me for the sake of buying Sersi the time she needed. But I was thinking back to all that he has done to us recently, all the lies and deceit that came from him for the sake of our mission.

I had enough.

"Where's Sersi?" Ikaris asked me, finally walking over to me now with a look of murder in his eyes. I glared at him as Phastos spoke up behind him.

"You always underestimate her," He reminded Ikaris, who gave him a quick look of disbelief for it was my turn to speak.

"You murdered Ajak," I said calmly when Ikaris looked back at me, my voice rumbling with the earth as the volcano was still active and showing its force to us, "You lied to us about the Deviants, and you got Gilgamesh killed because of it, and now you almost killed Druig. You're no Eternal, not like the rest of us."

"You can't stop me, Soteri," Ikaris warned me, squaring off with me then as I glared at him some more, another smaller bean of a force field being created in my hand. it was growing with my growing hate and anger towards him, "You're going to let your anger get the better of you excuse of what I did to your precious lover,"

"You think you're stronger than us," I sneered in a deadly tone since he menacingly mentioned Druig, "But Ajak saw your weakness before we need. She knew you were weak, that you couldn't handle being the leader,"

The anger in his eyes grew and intensified with what I was saying. I was poking at him, getting him to focus on me now as a distraction. With every insult I was throwing at him, with every shake of the earth from the volcano, I knew I was making the fight we were about to get into nastier and deadlier. But I had to say what was on my mind with him, what was spewing and harboring deep within me that he needed to realize once and for all.

"You told me a long time ago that I was downright weak. But that's further for the truth, isn't it? You're not perfect, you're not close to perfect, Ikaris. You're the weak one, not me! You can't handle not being the leader, being jealous of Sersi, and knowing she's more powerful than. That I'm more powerful than you!"

It was the last straw, having me see him fly towards me with beams at the ready. I took in one last breath, ready for the impact.