fiction | Part of the journey is the end

5. Chicago & Iraq

There was a mushroom cloud above Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945.

The room instantly turned silent. Except for Quill, the Guardians didn't know the significance of what they were seeing, but they could guess that it was something big after looking at everyone else's expressions.

Fury tore through Phastos at seeing the mushroom cloud. Everything from the day he visited Hiroshima was seared in his mind; it wasn't possible to forget any of it. He'd once believed in his mission and had faith in Arishem, but all of it had died that day. Druig had the right idea by abandoning their mission since it all was false anyway.

Raw anger shot through Steve as his face turned stony. The first thing he'd wanted to know when he'd gotten out of the ice had been how the war had ended, leading him to learn about the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. That hadn't been a pleasant revelation.

Hiroshima was in ruins and Phastos was standing in the middle of it, tear tracks down his face as he cried. Ajak put a hand on his shoulder. "I did this. If my technology hadn't helped them advance..." he looked out into the smoking ruins. "Druig was right. Our mission was a mistake. These people...they're not worth saving."

It didn't bring Druig any pleasure to hear Phastos say that he was correct. He wished Phastos could've still kept his faith, but they all changed over the years even though Arishem didn't design them to evolve. They may not be able to evolve physically, but they've mentally evolved because none of them were the same people since they first arrived on Earth seven thousand years ago.

"Turns out our mission wasn't even our true mission," Phastos said coldly. Ajak's face crumpled; it pained her to see the Eternals, her children, go through all this.

Tony's throat thickened. The atomic bomb was a part of his legacy since his father worked on the Manhattan Project. It was ironic that Howard Stark worked on Project Rebirth which created Captain America, saving countless lives, but he also worked on the Manhattan Project, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people. If he was still alive, he would've liked to ask him if he regretted working on the project; if he regretted making weapons. "You probably don't like me because of my company, do you?" he asked Phastos.

"Nope," Phastos said flatly. He found Tony Stark to be an enigma. He was responsible for numerous deaths via his weapons, but he had also saved the planet time and time again.

"They're not worth saving," Phastos sobbed as Ajak brought him into a hug.

The room was silent. No one could blame Phastos for losing faith in humans after witnessing the horrendous aftermath of the atomic bomb. He was the one who helped humans advance and then humans carried out the most atrocious acts with that knowledge. The Avengers could only be thankful that Phastos regained a little faith in humanity through his family because they needed him to protect their planet and the multiverse.

Kingo looked away. All of the Eternals had moments during their time on Earth when they'd been horrified by the actions of humans, but they continued protecting them because they had faith in Arishem's plan.

In the present day, Phastos was fixing his son's bike as he watched Jack and Ben Stoss throw a football in the yard.

Phastos's eyes softened as he watched Jack and Ben. He'd previously vowed that he would never again get involved in human affairs and give them technology, but he'd somehow ended up on a multiversal research group with the Avengers and gave them his phone to help defeat Thanos. It was only for his family, otherwise, he'd probably have the same view as Ikaris and Kingo about the Emergence.

Phastos's smile fell off his face as he saw Sersi and Ikaris arrive. Sersi greeted them, and Phastos told Ben that those were his friends from college, Sylvia and Isaac. Ben didn't believe him.