Sersi and Ikaris decided that a small group was better to approach Phastos. The last anyone had heard from him he had lost all faith in humanity following Hiroshima. Meda had spent time with Phastos in the years after the second World War and knew it would likely be a tough sell to get him on board with the plan. The two had spent years in the most remote places they could find, avoiding the rest of the team and hoping that the mission would soon be over.
Sersi had asked to go with Ikaris to find Phastos and Meda didn't mind at all, she appreciated the opportunity to stay and process things on the plane. It had been an emotionally charged few days between losing Ajak and Gil, and seeing Druig again. The group was quiet as they waited for the pair to return with Phastos. Kingo, Karun, and Sprite were chatting quietly at the front of the plane, Druig was sitting by himself rolling a coin across his knuckles, and Thena was sitting across from Meda staring out the window.
"If I had known this would happen... That Gil would spend a lifetime looking after me and I would be too broken to be there when he needed me... I might have chosen differently. Maybe it would have been better to have Ajak erase my memories."
"Don't say that Thena. Gil wouldn't blame you for what happened and neither does anyone else."
"I miss him," Thena said finally turning to face Meda. Meda could now clearly see the tears falling down her cheeks.
"I miss him too."
"I am going to make this right. I am going to kill the monster that did this."
"We will make this right Thena," Meda felt Thena squeeze her hand and the two fell into a comfortable silence.
From her position Meda could see Druig across the row. He made no indication but Meda knew from years of studying him that he was listening closely to their conversation. After a while Thena's breath got deeper and started to even out, once Meda was sure she was asleep she slipped away.
Druig didn't look up at her until Meda sat in the seat across from him.
"Killing the deviant won't fix things," he said after a moment.
"Nothing will fix things, but if I can honour Gil's memory by killing the thing that took him from us."
"Just be careful Meda. Don't get caught up in getting revenge." Meda looked away from Druig and back to where Thena was asleep. She didn't say anything else so Druig continued. "I'm sorry. For everything, but especially for the night I left. I don't think I've ever told you."
"Druig now is not the time."
"No now is the time Meda, you deserve an apology."
"Ok then, why did you leave? Why did you leave when I asked you to stay."
"I didn't know how to put it into words at the time and even now I don't know how to explain it. I think I just needed to be somewhere different, maybe I needed to be someone different too, but I never wanted to lose you."
"You never lost me Druig, and you never will. We've had our ups and downs but we're family. We'll get through this like we've gotten through everything else, together." Druig reached his hand across to Meda. There was still so much they had to work through but for now there was nothing else to say. This wasn't forgetting and it wasn't forgiveness but for now the way Druig was looking at Meda was enough.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Look what the cat dragged in, Phastos! Good to see you buddy," Kingo said as soon as the trio boarded the plane, he dragged the man into a hug. Everyone greeted Phastos excitedly. He had always been the smartest of them and for the first time the team fully felt like they might be able to pull off Sersi's plan.
"What have you been doing all these years?" Meda asked when everyone finally settled down.
"Well I settled down, living the quiet life now."
"Oh finally decided to stick to one place? That's new for you. I thought we agreed to keep the nomad lifestyle going," Meda said teasing.
"Not just sticking in one place, he's got a whole family hidden away guys. Can you believe it? Mr. 'I hate humanity' is a stereotypical suburban dad," Ikaris chimed in. Everyone looked at Phastos in shock but he simply shrugged in return.
"What can I say, I fell in love. I stopped holding on to all that anger and finally started to see people for what they truly are, and some of them are pretty great."
Kingo whistled and the team burst into laughter, and for a moment things felt right again.
