Thena didn't remember. Not at first. Her eyes stayed that creamy white, not really seeing him. Their battle lasted for quite a long time. Gilgamesh started to lose hope. They always dreaded this day. They had foolishly hoped that it would come later. Five hundred years or so had gone so fast. Eternity wasn't nearly enough for Gilgamesh to spend near Thena. His heart was breaking a little more with each second passing by. Thena was leaving him.
Thankfully, Thena came back eventually. An episode had never lasted that long before. Traces of their battle was easy to spot all around them but worse, on Gilgamesh's body. His clothes had been ripped by her blades. Bruises were forming on his forearms. Thena's expression just crumbled as if she could have cried right there and then. Resignation washed over her. Crying wouldn't change everything. What was done was done. She lifted her hand towards him and let it fall down in the same minute. Gilgamesh knew she wanted to help but didn't know how.
Dread visibly washed over her body, replacing anything she had been feeling so far. Thena trusted Gilgamesh even when she couldn't even trust herself. That was the problem though. He was simply too kind. Why didn't he just knock her down like the first time? That solution would be so much easier for him.
Gilgamesh had a hard time even thinking about raising his hands against her. Of course, they spared against each other regularly but that was training. Even though they weren't holding back, they weren't intentionally trying to harm the other. Gilgamesh was really a teddy bear, soft and dependable. The Deviants were a different story altogether. That was work, the reason why they had been sent on that planet by Arishem. They were protecting the ones who couldn't protect themselves against such monsters.
Thena started keeping her distance after that episode. It was hurting him more than their fight or her illness altogether. He was always putting on a smile when she was looking at him. Sometimes though, when her attention seemed somewhere else or he didn't think she was around, his posture would change completely. He couldn't help it. His shoulders would slump, his face looking tired. Looking in their small mirror, he could see how dull his eyes looked now. Gilgamesh was just getting by when she was away but he needed to hide it for her anyway.
He didn't have time to think too much about their situation, on how to have her back close. The others, at least some of them, arrived with terrible news. Ajak was dead. A deviant had killed her. They had been so sure they were all gone for good. Now, at least one of them had killed their leader. How many were they exactly? They shouldn't be alive, even less spreading. It was also kind of odd that the deviants had gone for Ajak first.
This was bad. He couldn't believe this was happening. Sersi would never lie about something like that. Whatever the circumstances were, they should have stayed together. They would always be stronger as a group. Ajak, after her death, had given the power to communicate with the Celestial to Sersi. She had been trying to contact Arishem without any luck. Maybe she was simply trying too hard. It always looked so easy for Ajak.
Nobody was envying Sersi's position. Gilgamesh was like Thena, a warrior, a protector and not a leader. It wasn't just in their nature. Ikaris would have certainly wanted it. He was the most powerful of them all and he knew it. Modesty wasn't really his best trait. Gilgamesh wondered if he was really happy with that decision. Then again, Ajak being dead, he couldn't say anything. Ikari respected Sersi. More than that, he loved her. Surely, this new dynamique wouldn't be a problem for them.
Their story was very different from what they had been told. Arishem had told Sersi everything. The seeds had been planted in different planets all around the universe for millenia. The deviants had been created to ensure that an intelligent life could spread on each world. When they had been evolving a little bit too much, Arishem had created them, the eternals to exterminate the Deviants.
