Empty mind

Makkari was not at all easy to scare.

As the fastest woman in the world, and a naturally curious mind, she had seen more horrors and wonders than any human or any of her fellow Eternals could claim to ever have seen in their equally long lifes and after fighting countless of Deviants her whole life she wasn't easy to surprise in battle anymore either, she had thought.

But, despite all of that and despite the fact that they where in the middle of a battle for human lifes, in the moment she could feel Druig's scream vibrating through her whole body she was gripped by a fear that immobilized her and was really only rivaled by one situation she could recall. Her head whipped around to where he had been standing and she had passed him not even a minute prior, on the other side of the market place.
Her blood ran cold from what she saw.

A Deviant that sank it's tentacles into his neck and he let out another scream, dropping the weapon and starting to go still in the monster's grip.

Makkari had never felt so slow in her whole life, she sprang into action, but thankfully someone else had noticed his situation even before her.

Thena's golden ax slammed into the deviant's side and the monster found itself suddenly opposed to the boundless force of nature that was the goddess of war.
It did not get any time to move or strike back. Thena was already on it slicing the tentacles with her cosmic swords, making the beast scream and roar in pain, trying to escape her wrath.
It recoiled from her hits and Druig fell to the ground. There was nothing stopping Makkari anymore.

She more or less dropped the man she had just yanked out of harms way by Sersi's feet and speed over to grab Druig and drag him away but the split second it took for her to take a save hold on him, so that she would not hurt him further, she caught the eyes of the warrior goddess battling the Deviant that had dared hurt a member of her family.
Thena's eyes where glowing but not white like they did during a Mahd Wy'ry attack. They reflected anger. Uncontained rage. That was a feeling the speedster could very well relate to right now.

"Get him out of here!" she ordered, hacking of another tentacle that had moved to close to her.

Makkari nodded and ran. She fully trusted in the warrior Eternal's ability to deal with the Deviant by herself.
She had to take care of Druig. He was the most important thing right now.

She came to a stop in a small side street, that was surrounded by two multi-storey buildings and was therefore well enough protected, and looked around.
From here, she could intervene quickly enough if anything went wrong with the others but for now, her concern lay only with the man who was leaning heavily against her, almost with his entire weight.

Makkari slowly lowered the two of them to the ground, carefully maneuvering him so that his head rested in her lap and she could check him over.
She caressed his pale face and incredible worry bloomed in her chest at the sight of the bloody wounds in his neck from which blood had soaked the cloth piece of his armor that covered his neck. The destroyed part of his armor on the shoulder offered an equally bad view. That one seemed to be the deeper wound and it must hurt him pretty badly but she was more concerned about the holes the tentacles had left and what such an injury could do to one of them.

It did not help her at all that he didn't react right away when she signed his name. He always, always reacted to her, instead he seemed to stare right through her hands above his face and her movements grew a little bit more frantic.

Druig.

Druig.

It took her a few attempts but when his eyes finally fixated on her she took a breath of relive. His beautiful blue eyes. They looked so exhausted and pained. How long had that cursed beast sucked on his energy?

She smiled at him in an attempt to calm him, caressing his hair and he leaned lightly into her touch like he always did.

It will be okay. Thena took care of it. You'll be okay.

She wanted to tell him more. So much more, but his eyes already started to slowly drop and Makkari bit her lip and clapped his cheek, strong enough to wake him back up but still hesitant because really, the last thing she wanted to do right now was hurt him further in any way.

Druig. Don't fall asleep on me, do you hear?

" 'M not." he responded after a moment.

But Makkari could feel how the words washed into each other. His eyelids were getting heavy and started fluttering, he was visibly struggling to keep them up. She could see how much it took out of him and she hated nothing more than to torture him so but she had to make sure that he would be okay. He obviously wasn't right now and she realized with a sinking feeling that there was nothing she alone could do about it.

We need to get you to Ajak, she told him.

" 'o get 'er then..." Makkari frowned.

The aching in her own chest became stronger by the second. His words slurred together more and more so much that it was hard for her to read his lips, and his eyelids dropped again.
She tapped his cheek as his eyes fell closed again and another time, stronger now, when he wouldn't open them.

Druig. Druig!

He let out a groan but nothing more.

Makkari's heart clenched. It hurt like hell to see him like this. A few more attempts proved fruitless, she was not going to get another response out of him. That was bad.
His blood was dripping on the pavement in a steady pattern, covering her knees where they touched his neck, and slowly but surely forming a puddle on the dirt ground.

She had to get Ajak.and fast.
Realistically she knew that it would only take her a few seconds to bring the healer here but she hadn't gone far, only until she had found a remotely quiet small street and leaving him here, even for a few seconds, did not sat right with her in the face of another possible Deviant attack. She had seen what a difference just one or two seconds could make. She could not risk freezing and being to slow again.

The drumming of feet on the pavement alarmed her and made her attention snap to where the small alley opened up to the main street. Those where not the heavy steps of Deviants.

"Makkari!" Sprite, who had most likely been shooed away by Sersi from the immediate place of danger, dashed in her direction, her long jacket waving behind her like a cape of some sort, but came to an abrupt halt at the sight before her.

"Oh shit! Is he dead?" the human girl asked.

Makkari knew she shouldn't become mad at her. Sprite had always been blunt, that was who she was and becoming human, to all of their relieve, had not changed that little fact one bit. Not only that but the vibrations of her voice told Makkari that she had spoken more high pitched, more shrill than usual. She knew Sprite's worry. Nonetheless, she couldn't help herself but glare at her.

No, he is not!

The girl's arms shot up like in surrender, a sorry already visible on her lips, but Makkari shook her head. This would have to do. She gently and carefully placed Druig's head on the ground and got to her feet.

Keep an eye on him. Just a moment.

Sprite never got the chance to answer before she speed away to where they had left the cars. In a heartbeat she stood eye to eye with Phastos who jumped a little, dropping his phone on the pavement.

"Jesus, Makkari!"

"Is everything alright?" Ajak asked.

I need you too -

"I hate it when you do that, you know?"

She had no time for this and so she simply rolled her eyes, slipped past Phastos the moment he leaned down to pick up his communication device, grabbed Ajak by the arms and vanished with her, leaving a very irritated Phastos behind with no choice but to watch the cars alone for a while. She'd apologize for that later.

Ajak had not been prepared for her sudden assault without any explanation but she had not been their leader for seven millennia without reason.

Once Makkari came to an halt in the back alley again it took no more but a moment for Ajak to catch herself and take in the situation before her.

Sprite still stood right where she had left her.

Good, Makkari thought and within another moment she had retaken her former position, Druig's head in her lap and her hand wandered to his neck almost out of instinct. Her heart wanted to leap out of her throat, she had only been gone for ten seconds at best but still she had to check, to make sure.

"What happened?" Ajak asked. She hurried over to them and Makkari took a small breath of relieve at having found his heartbeat, not as strong as she would have liked it but not as weak as she had feared either.
She was beginning to sign an answer but Sprite spoke up as well.

"A Deviant got him. Thena cut him free but- " Ajak interrupted her with a swift wave of her hand at the mention of the word Deviant.

"Let me see."

She knelled next to Makkari, fully in her element and in her 'healer mode' as Sprite had once called it.
Carefully but urgently she took hold of Druig's face and titled it to the side to get a better look on the injuries, though her gaze, serious and concentrated as always in a situation like this, also wandered over his skin.

"Oh, Druig, dear." she sighed.

Flashes of memories of what Sprite and Sersi had told her had happened to Gilgamesh jumped back into Makkari's mind. How his skin had grayed and shown signs of being sucked dry by the Deviant that had ultimately killed him.
But she pushed them far away in the deepest corner of her brain. No, her Druig did not look like that. It wasn't the same.

Ajak's hand wandered over his neck and his shoulders and to Makkari's immediate relieve the nasty wounds the beast had left faded under her warm magic.
It was a short lived alleviation though when she finished her treatment and he still wouldn't open his eyes.

What's wrong? she asked, her chest was already tightening again. Why won't he wake up?

"He is exhaused." Ajak answered.

The vibration of her calm and familiar tone where like a salve for the itch under the speedster's skin.
Their former leader gave her a warm smile and squeezed her shoulder and Makkari felt a little cut on her cheek, that she hadn't even noticed until now, vanish.

"He needs to rest. It will be fine then."

She nodded and gently caressed Druig's head still resting in her lap.
You heard that, love? she though, you'll be fine.

A scream from the market place momentarily tore Sprite's and Ajak's attention away.

"Go back to help the others." Ajak told her. "It's time to finish this. Sprite and I will keep an eye on him. Go."

And even though she absolutely did not want that, she still knew about her mission so she leaned down to press her forehead against Druig's for a second, her warm skin against his. Warm, alive. It was an unspoken promise to return to him, before she sprang to her feet and speed of back to the main fight.

When she raced back out onto the market place the situation had turned to their favor. The human passerbys had all been removed from the path of danger and Thena, Gilgamesh and Sersi had one of the two last standing Deviant's cornered against a building.
That left one of them that still skillfully evaded the attacks of Ikaris and Kingo.

She didn't recognize the Deviant who had dared to attack her Druig, not among the two monsters still alive and raging, nor among those who already lay slain by the other Eternals, but at that moment any of the monsters would have suited her.

Now that she was moving again, her anger was surging once more as well, her heart, which had felt like it would stop completely the moment he had hit the ground, was beating at full speed. She was angry. Furious.

And once one of the monsters broke free from Kingo's attack it was like the last string of her patience snapped.

Makkari saw red.

She barreled into the Deviants side, her speed threw it of balance so it crashed into a building with full force and before it could lift it's ugly, heavy body again she had already ran around the place once. That was enough collected energy for another attack.

Her sonic blast rammed it in the wall again, and again, and again. She did not count.

A punch with the power of the speed of sound shattered the skull beneath her fist. Dark smile splattered everywhere and the Deviant finally fell still.

And by Arishem, it was a satisfying feeling.

Someone was cheering behind her and she turned around to face a brightly grinning Kingo.

"That was awesome!" he signed. "Do you know how long we tried to get that beast? And them comes you and easily beat it to a lump."

"Indeed." Thena cocked her head to the side. There was a splatter of black mucus on her left cheek. "I have not seen that from you in a while."

Oh.

Her eyes fell on Ikaris for a moment.

Yeah... that might be right.