Empty mind

After eliminating that pack of the Deviants in that small town, that was now to be considered save once more, their group had hurried to disappear just as suddenly as they had appeared before the vast majority of the townspeople had the opportunity to pluck up enough courage to leave Sersi's makeshift shelter and look around to check on the damage caused to their city.

They would be confronted with the corpses of a pack of Deviants and quite an amount of damaged parking cars and public property, maybe with a few scratches or laser marks here and there on buildings, but they would not remember anything more of it than the attack itself.
Druig had gotten most of them out of harm's way and his powers had that effect on humans.

Which was a lucky thing for them.

It was for a reason that Ajak and Phastos' had stayed behind with the cars, some distance away from the actual fight, after the latter had found the trail of the pack of Deviants and briefed his fellow Eternals about the enemy and the place of action.

The people of Earth now knew about superheroes. About magicians, gods and mad titans who came from the stars to wipe out half of the universe and how to reverse said snap.
They knew there were things they couldn't explain and they had always had an affinity for believing in what seemed to be impossible.

For millennia, the Eternals had walked among them, under many names, still existing, hidden in histories that became those of gods.
But after they believed to have succeeded in their mission and the Deviants to be wiped out and had dissolved their group, the firm knowledge of humankind about their existence gradually faded until they were no more than stories that lived on in the history books as fantasies of ancient folks. They had become the stuff of legends.

Since their arrival on Earth seven thousand years ago, they had never actively attempted to hide their powers and immortality, never denied to be different from the human race.
It was only after mankind had forgotten them in their true form that it had become easy to move among them. Only then, with the ban on interfering in human life and development still active for them, did they began to hide and disguise what they were.

They had hold a discussion on this very same subject after it had become clear that the Deviants were back and after Arishem had granted them a last chance to prove their worth and that of this planet.

Humans had new heroes, and Ajak felt it would be better if it stayed that way.
Otherwise, she feared thar there would always be the danger that earth's people, who were so used to get saved by heroes like the Avengers by now, might ask them to do the same, might demand them to intervene in human affairs for they had the power to do so.
Something Arishem had forbidden them for a reason and from which he had not deviated.

They were treading on thin ice with the Celestials anyway since Tiamut's averted Emergence and provoking Arishem further was the worst thing they could do.

Druig and Sersi had protested, but Phastos had firmly sided with Ajak.
It had been good the way it had been for the last five hundred years, he had said. No one wanted to mention a certain one of his inventions. It would have only strengthened his and Ajak's claim anyway.

In the end they had decided that, at least for the time being, it would be better not to reveal themselves to the humans as what they really were. They had to take care of fighting the Deviants and this time there would be no chance to delve back into the world of mythology and legends after the task was completed once more.
Not in an age of cellphones, cameras, and the internet that were ever-present everywhere.
Technology was a part of their growth as a race, as Phastos always reminded them, but it did not only make things easier.

Not everyone was happy with the decision, but they had accepted it as a group.

Kingo had whined about his important work on the documentation he had planned about them and how much work had already went into it only to be cruelly wasted. Under Ajaks stern gaze, however, he had quickly faltered and given in, mumbling something about how this world was not ready for the greatness of his cinematic genius yet anyway.

Another consequence of the verdict to stay as hidden as possible though, was that they could not take the Domo everywhere anymore like in old times. Not if they wanted to lay low for a while and especially not without Sprite's Illusion powers that she had given up when she had become a mortal.
Which was also the reason that five of them where now cramped together in Phastos' SUV on their way back to Ajak's farm where they could rest and where Phastos had hidden their ship under to Covers of invisibility shields.

Makkari would have liked to run ahead with Druig to the Domo, to the safety of what had always been home to her and where he could lay and get better, but really, there was not much she could do on her own there and Ajak had said that it'd be fine, that he only needed rest to recover his lost energy.
She had to live with that for now. But she hadn't been quite able to resist rushing into the car after him and securing the seat next to him for herself, as soon as Gilgamesh had loaded his unconscious body into the car.
She wasn't ready to let him out of her sight just yet.

In the passenger seat in front of her Kingo was happily singing along a song that blared from the radio. Judging by Sprite's very much unhappy face, Makkari was quite content with the fact that she could feel it's vibrations but not really hear his voice like the most people did.

Druig was squeezed between the two of them on the backseat, his head resting on Makkari's shoulder.
He had yet to wake up again, after his way to close encounter with that beast, but Ajak had called that normal as well and not all worrisome.

Sprite had simply called him a lucky guy for being sparred of Kingo's vocal interlude.

Makkari felt his gentle breathing against the skin of her neck. It calmed her more than Ajak's word had been able to.

It took a moment for her to fight back the images of what she had seen on that market place, that suddenly pressed back into her mind. How he had struggled and screamed, and about what could have happened, about what she had been told the Deviants could do to them. She had to remind herself that he was still here, right beside her, still breathing.

Thena had been there. And she had been fast enough.

She had been there fast enough while Makkari hadn't.

Her attention was snapped back to the real world by a small hand that touched her shoulder.

You okay?  Sprite signed, a frown on her face.

Makkari recovered quickly and gave her a smile, thankful for the distraction. Fine. Just tired.

Sprite still looked skeptic but they returned back to a relatively comfortable silence after that until the redhead threw her another gaze.

Makkari raised an eyebrow at her.

I have never seen you like that. That angry. You basically crushed that Deviant's head with your bare hands.

You saw that?

Sprite shrugged. Form afar. I followed you. Took Ajak a moment to notice and call me back.

I have been that angry before.

Once. In a similar situation. The difference was that, back then, she had desperately wanted to bash Ikaris' head in against the rocks where he had buried Druig beneath tons of stone and where she had believed to have lost him.
Not that good of a thing to tell Sprite though, she had a soft spot for Ikaris that Makkari was aware of and that was still existent.

Ajak said he'll be fine, the red haired human said. Don't worry to much. Besides, he is stubborn.

"Hey, hey, what are you two talking about? No secrets!" Kingo chimed in before she got a chance to respond.

"Have you never heard anything of privacy?" Sprite snarked back.

"Okay, no, can you not? No further annoying the driver." Phastos sighed, exasperation clear in his voice even though he had proven himself pretty patient in the face of Kingo's singing talent so far. "And no more singing!"

Kingo laughed. "You can fly the Domo and lead a conversation with Ajak but not keep the car on the street despite a bit of conversation?"

"Oh yeah, that's rich form the guy without a driving license at all."

"I never needed too, that's what I got Karun for."

"I can drive." Sprite offered more or less helpfully. She received two surprised glaces through the back-mirror and huffed affronted. "What? Sersi taught me back in London."

That earned her a very stern "No." from Phasto and a very much surprised "You?" from Kingo, which made her glare back at him through the mirror.

"I am not a child."

"Well, technically, with the whole human thing, now you are."

"Shut it, Kingo!"

"What did I say about annoying the driver? You behave like children and I should know, I have one."

Makkari smiled while the discussion between them unfolded. She sank back into the fabric of her seat, slowly relaxing. The tension started to slip out of her body and she leaned her head atop Druig's to look out of the window for a while. The smell of his hair made her smile a little more. His body was warm against hers, a calming presence she very much enjoyed even if he wasn't awake.

In the car in front of them, Ajak lead the way back home.

By the time Phastos pulled the black SUV to a halt by a horse pasture on Ajak's farm, Makkari had almost dozed off.
Without the vibrations of Kingo's singing, the car ride had been wonderfully quiet, not even the bickering of the other Eternals could disturb her, on the contrary. She was used to it. She even appreciated it because it gave her a sense of familiarity. How she had missed them for the past five centuries.

Sprite almost kicked the door open as soon as the car came to a halt. "I have to get out of here." she moaned annoyed.

Kingo followed laughing. At some point on the car ride, he had found one of Jack's toys, an Iron Man action figure, under the passenger seat, which he now used to mock the redhead while following her around the farm grounds. Phastos sighed, glancing in the rear view mirror and caught Makkari's eyes.

I'm going to get Gilgamesh. Once we get him in the Domo and Ajak can get a good look at him, he'll be fine.

Makkari smiled back at him.

Thanks, she signed back.

Phastos nodded. He got out and Makkari let her eyes wander after him while he moved across the dusty ground to the other car, without making a move to get out herself.
She watched as the others got out of Ajak's car one by one.

Sprite had meanwhile fled to the porch but that hadn't saved her from Kingo's reach and Sersi quickly made her way over to them, presumably to avoid an escalation that would end with Kingo being kicked somewhere where it hurt. It wouldn't have been the first time.

Phastos exchanged a few words with Ajak and Gilgamesh. Their former leader seemed to be assigning them tasks as everyone nodded and either made their way back to the house or over to Phasto's car.

Makkari turned to Druig, smiling, brushing his bangs away from his face. His dark hair was soft under her fingers and she knew from experience that it would fall back to its original position as soon as she let go. She'd tried messing up his hair dozens of times to tease him, to no avail. It didn't stop her from stroking it off his forehead anyway.

Then she grabbed his hand, intertwined it with her own fingers and turned his palm up.

With gentle fingers, she drew words on his skin. It was a form of communication that they hadn't used in a long long time, but that was still familiar to her.

You'll be okay soon, she told him and at that moment, she actually still believed in the truth behind her words.

Gilgamesh opened the back door of the car across from her a moment later and grinned at her in his typically cheerful, infectious way.

"Not that I want to disturb your togetherness" he said amused and Makkari just smirked and laid her head on top of Druig's. "But let's bring him in so Ajak can work her miracles."

Makkari wholeheartedly agreed and so Gilgamesh expertly hoisted her Druig out of the car as if he weighed nothing to take him to the Domo and she followed on his heels.

As they passed the porch where Sprite hung over the railing and watched what was unfolding in front of her, the human girl lifted her hands to gather her attention. You know when he finds out Gil carried him around like that, he's going to want to sink into the ground, right? Sprite asked

Makkari grinned. You might have got a point there.