Fifth time
It was Ikaris. It was always Ikaris.
You should have been suspicious from the moment he asked you to accompany them to the next mission, even knowing of the promise to Ajak and your total rejection of the battlefield. But you had misunderstood the fire in his eyes, you thought his smile was a friendly one. And you accepted.
Ajak looked at you worried, she even begged you to stay when the others couldn't hear her. You promised to be careful and stay out of it, even though that hadn't worked the first time.
Besides, Ikaris had promised to stay close. He had promised to take care of you.
How silly of you to believe that he didn't know. Of course he knew about your doubts, of course he knew of your increasingly close relationship with humans, he knew what you thought about their philosophy and thoer gods. He knew you were beginning to suspect of Arishem. And that made you dangerous.
Everyone knew about your relationship with Ajak, the deep love you had for each other was no secret to anyone. But Ikaris could see beyond. He knew this was not like Thena and Gilgamesh's relationship, or Makkari and Druig's, not even his own relationship with Sersi came close to what you had with Ajak.
Because everyone knew that the mission came first, but the place you occupied in the heart of the prime eternal was greater than the one occupied by Arishem, the mission and the rest of them. You were the center of her life and Ikaris knew that if you talked to Ajak and questioned what they were doing, she would stop. He couldn't take that risk.
It had been easy to get you to follow him, because you trusted him. There was no reason not to accompany him to the nearby forest, after all, he must have a plan and if you were an important part of it, you would do your best.
Closing your eyes when he told you, with the excuse that you should concentrate on the sounds around you in case some deviant was around, was a little more difficult. You didn't understand this part of the plan. Did he need you to gather animals? It must be, because there was no water nearby, so your other power must be what he needed, right?
When he walked around you and started asking you about your moments with Ajak, asking you to remember the happiest ones and focus on them, you became suspicious. You didn't feel safe with him anymore. You were no longer safe with him.
The blow came from behind.
You felt how his laser burned your skin and went through you little by little, scorching your insides as it passed. It was excruciatingly painful. You screamed, you tried to call for help, to run, something, but by the time you took two steps, the yellow light was already coming out of your chest.
You fell to your knees and he spun you around to look into your eyes. There was no trace of emotion on his face, no regret, no pain, not even hatred. Just a terrible cold indifference.
"I'm very sorry, Y/N" he said "I'm sorry I couldn't save you from that deviant"
You gasped silently at the realization of the meaning of his words. He was going to lie to everyone. Ikaris flew away, leaving you to your own devices.
You looked up at the sky, and you felt the tears come out of the corners of your eyes. You immediately thought of Ajak, how you must have listened to her, how you must have stayed with her when she asked. You should have kissed her longer, held her tighter.
At least you should have said goodbye to her.
______________________
"Y/N!"
You groaned a little and struggled to open your eyes. The tears came back when you recognized that voice.
Ajak immediately knelt beside you and her hands went straight to your chest. You could see Makkari a few steps behind. She must have found you and ran for Ajak. You smiled at the thought, the girl had always been like a little sister to you and you were glad that you could at least see her one last time.
Because the truth was, you no longer had time. And you knew Ajak knew it too, although that didn't stop her from trying to close the hole in your chest, which had already started to fill with bugs and dirt.
"Ajak" you whispered
"Shhh, it's okay love, you're going to be okay" she told you, but her voice was shaking and you knew that not even she could believe her words.
They were a false promise, full of fear.
"I love you" you said "you were my most beautiful coincidence"
The woman sobbed and finally stopped trying to heal you. It was useless and she wasn't going to waste any more time on anything other than hugging you. She took you carefully and you rested your head on her chest. Her heart was pounding and you wished you could ease her pain, but it was too deep a wound.
"I love you too" she whispered "And I think I already know why Arishem sent you with us"
You smiled before slowly shaking your head.
"It doesn't matter...I don't think he knew this would happen...I'd rather believe that this, us, was bigger than the universe itself"
Ajak tried to laugh, but the sound broke down into sobs. She felt a piece of her wither with you.
"Ajak...would you look at the stars with me?" you whispered, hoping at least to see her smile for the last time.
It worked.
"I would love to" she told you
But the sky was cloudy.
You could understand why, you knew that Tlaloc, the water, also felt that you were leaving. You were grateful for your friendship with it and silently, using what little strength you had left to activate your powers once more, you asked it to take care of Ajak.
It answered you with a promise and you smiled, sighing one last time. Ajak's crystalline eyes were the closest thing to the stars that you saw before you died. A sad constellation as your life slipped out of her hands.
"I'll see you in the stars"
And the sky wept.
________________________________
Many years later, as she witnessed the fall of Tenochtitlán, Ajak thought of you. She always did, if she was honest, there was no time when you didn't occupy her thoughts, even after so many years of losing you.
But this was different.
In a way, she was happy that you weren't here to witness the destruction of the mythical city that you so longed to see. But she also felt terribly lonely. When the others started to leave, she wished, like so many times, that you were here with her. Her heart would hurt less if, when separating from the others, at least she still had your hand to reach.
She watched them go, each and every one of them. Makkari had decided to stay on the ship, but there was a mutual understanding that Ajak would not. However, she had to do something else before leaving to seek her place in the world.
She climbed the now burning pyramid, trying to ignore the tightness in her chest. With each step that her feet climbed, she felt closer to you. When she reached the top, she took a deep breath before looking up at the sky and the tears fell almost immediately. It really was an impressive sight. You would have loved to see it, she was sure.
The stars seemed to embrace her and in night she could feel a warmth around her. The sky was really kissing the pyramid and, for her own sake, she hoped that, in one of those stars, you were, kissing her too.
