Eternal Love [Druig]

Fifteen

There are approximately one million words in the English language-- another twenty million minimum words in all the other languages Ira knew-- and yet not a single string of them could properly help Ira express what he was feeling at that moment. The only sentence that even came remotely close was thousands of mental repetitions of the words holy shit.

The table was dead silent for a solid minute, the candles quivering with the tension within the room that could have been cut with stale bread. Sersi had finished her spiel, telling everyone what she had learned. Apparently, she had been able to contact Arishem and he had told her everything Ajak hadn't included-- they weren't even some distant version of the human race like Ira had wanted to hope. He could tell that in the next twenty minutes if no one took hold of the situation and called it all a flook-- Ira was going to be well on his way to having an existential crisis.

"So, you're saying we're basically fancy robots?" Kingo was the first to speak. "and our past memories are stored somewhere... in space?"

"And Arishem made the Deviants." Sersi added though it was incredibly unhelpful as Ira had already turned Sersi's speech over and over in his mind until he had it all practically memorized.

"I'm sorry, Thena." Gilgamesh spoke. "You tried to warn us."

"The last time Arishem reset your memories, something must have gone wrong." Sprite said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that's what Mahd Wy'ry is, isn't it?" Sprite asked.

"All this time," Ira said carefully, trying to keep his voice-controlled. "Thena was remembering all the other planets we were sent to, all the lives we thought we were protecting only to watch it all crumble during the emergence where we would then start over." His voice was thick, accent showing through as he wasn't rushing through his words like his brain couldn't keep up. He swallowed thickly and only glanced briefly at everyone before dropping his gaze down to his lap, suddenly taking an intense dislike for the way everyone's eyes were on him.

"I thought we were heroes. Turns out we're the bad guys."

Does that make me the villain? The voice of logic? The devil on your shoulder that you should never listen to?

The same words he had said to Druig when he had found him in that forest all those years ago ran through Ira's mind. They were villains. But their logic was off; blind. They were the devils because, in the end, even the bad guys think that what they are doing is right; is for the better.

"We're not the bad guys, okay?" Kingo said after glancing at Ira who had moved his gaze to the flame of the nearest candle and was watching it take on different shapes; a fairy spreading its wings, a dragon unfurling, a mother nursing its child. "We've helped the Celestials expand life across the universe. That's not what bad guys go. That's what good guys do."

"Every time innocent lives have been sacrificed for the greater good, it turns out to be a mistake," Sersi said, pausing. "We have to stop the emergence."

"Sersi," Kingo said. "We have no right to stop the birth of a Celestial."

"There has to be a way Tiamut can emerge without destroying the earth. We just have to- delay it until we figure out how." Sersi said.

"Could Druig control its mind?" Gilgamesh suggested apprehensively. Ira's eyes refocused as they darted up to settle Gilgamesh. Throughout this whole thing; finding the rest of the Eternals and making plans to save the universe, he had forgotten to consider the fact that they would inevitably have to find Druig. He let his eyes fall back to the candle flame.

"Put it to sleep?" Ira asked lethargically. What Druig could do was important. Whatever dispute Ira had put between them would have to be ignored. They could address their feelings when the world was saved.