#Drukkari is Fighter/Thinker

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello there, beautiful ✨

I've got this wonderful Reunion idea!

What if Thena, Makkari and Druig (and bitching around Eros, unfortunately) were able to rescue the others but the way back to the Domo is blocked by at least a dozen of Gilgameshs. And Arishem is like:"I'll let you leave the World Forge IF you're able to choose the right Gilgamesh, the one who walked earth with you." But of course all of those fake versions got the same memories downloaded, and now it's on Thena to find HER sweet sweet Gilgamesh.

Hugs and much love 🖤✨

Gilgamesh--dozens of him. Looking around, looking at each other, looking at them.

Thena blinked, stumbling back a step as gold flickered under her skin.

"Easy," Druig murmured only loud enough for her. He put a hand on her back to keep her from turning and running. "Easy, T."

"What the hell is this?" Kingo said aloud, taking the sight of copies of his brother--his brother whom he saw murdered not even a year ago.

"Thena?"

"Thena!"

"Thena, what's going on?"

Arishem had told them what it was for. He intended to discover if the Eternals were really capable of retaining pieces of their past lives, or if it was nothing but a flaw in his programming. Was Mahd Wy'ry a feature or a bug?

"T, come on," Phastos gestured from a little further back in the pack. His rings were practically rattling on his hands. "For all you know, none of them are-"

"No," she gulped, eyes still wide and glued to the small battalion in front of them. "He's here."

Kingo moved forward, intent on...something. Perhaps he thought this was the kind of burden he could take on for his sister. But he looked down as Makkari tugged at his sleeve, shaking her head.

"This is nonsense," the newest one of the group - Eros - drawled, utterly bored now that their quarry had been retrieved. "I can make swift work of-"

"No!"

Thena walked forward. None of them were listening to her anyway. All of the Gilgameshs looked at her as she approached. Not even one of them raised a fist. She glanced over her shoulder at Eros, "you touch even one of them and you'll face me next."

That was about as serious a threat that could exist.

She walked closer to the mass of Gilgamesh. It was surreal, and maybe a bit horrific. Her mind desperately screamed at her that this wasn't right. That she was finally, truly Mahd and that none of this was real.

"Thena?"

She closed her eyes, inhaling, trying to pull together her mind as she had been getting better at doing. Times when Druig would help by keeping her wild thoughts contained. Times when she would just stand there, crying for someone who was still there in her mind. Times when she would tremble and Gil would be there to hold her hand.

Her Gilgamesh.

She took in a deep breath again. They all smelled like the World Forge. None of them smelled like their home in Australia. One of them walked Earth with her for years--for centuries and millennia. The rest only thought they did.

She looked around at them, all of them meeting her eye with the same intent and recognition. Arishem really was a deity who new neither love nor cruelty. This was merely an experiment with his little pets.

Ajak was many things, but she never toyed with them like this.

Thena looked each in the eye one at a time. They reacted the way one might expect. They all had gentle expressions and soft smiles. But none of them were right, yet. She would know.

She could doubt many things about her life, and herself, but she had no doubts about this.

She looked each of them over. Their eyes would meet but then nothing would happen. She would know it wasn't really him. Someone who thought himself Gilgamesh, maybe. But she would move on. Something was missing.

She took a breath again. Her Cosmic Energy was buzzing in her veins, overstimulated from the sheer volume of Eternals present. But that wasn't right. She closed her eyes again.

There was a direction in which it was pulling. One that promised calm, and peace. She took a few steps, focusing entirely within as the power in her body guided her.

"What is she doing?" The interloper was wary of her letting her guard down around the enemy.

"Let her," Sersi was the one to silence him. She was their new Prime, after all.

Thena opened her eyes. Not at the back of the group, but far from the front. This one. She looked at his eyes, soft and warm, rich brown. He looked exactly like the others but...different.

The way he stood was different. His shoulders were a little more relaxed, a little heavier. The others weren't defensive but they weren't exactly dormant. He was at ease with her in front of him.

She raised her hand up to his cheek and he leaned into it, closing his eyes like she was a soothing balm to an open wound. She put her other hand on his chest. His heartbeat was strong, and it fell on the same rhythm as hers.

"This one."

Arishem's voice thundered both around them and in their skulls. "You are certain?"

Thena smiled, and was awarded with a smile in return. Gil turned his head to kiss her palm and reached out for her. Her body didn't flinch, her Cosmic Energy didn't reflexively gather in her palms. Her most instilled survival instinct - her inability to relax - was dormant. She sighed as his hand found the small of her back. This was him. "This is my Gil."

He beamed at her, touching his forehead to hers, careful of the tiara of her armour. This was him.

The other Eternals watched on anxiously. Thena was as certain as the Energy they all shared, but they could still have their own doubts. Sersi was the only one who already looked relieved.

Thena kept her eyes closed as the other Gilgameshs went quiet, sentinels robbed of movement. She didn't want to see him still and lifeless again, in any form. She whispered to her Gilgamesh, "let's go."

He nodded, leading her away and into the Domo, not even looking back at the rest of his family. He kept his hand at her waist, leading her gently, "I'm right here."

He was right here, with her, safe. This was him.

"Thena?" Young - genuinely young - Sprite ran out from the console room, stopping short at the sight. She eyed the 'Gilgamesh' with her. "Th-Thena?"

"It's okay, Sprite," she whispered, not releasing Gil from being within arm's reach. She nodded, "it's him."

Sprite accepted it, although she didn't exactly run over with open arms. She leaned to look around them as the rest finally followed, filing into the Domo. She widened her eyes and shook her head slightly.

Kingo mirrored the expression and shrugged; he didn't know either! He moved to her side quickly, though, "come on, let's get outta here."

Phastos took up the helm. Eros stood at the threshold while the family whose ship this really was easily fell into their respective roles again. He was still eyeing Gilgamesh.

"Don't let Thena catch you."

He looked beside him at the Elemental Eternal--the replacement Prime, as he knew her. That was until they got their recovered Prime online again.

"It's him," Sersi confirmed, looking at her sister, gazing at Gilgamesh without a care as to who saw. "If Thena's that sure, then so am I."

"You can afford to be so certain?" Eros felt free to ask her. He nodded his head at the Warrior Eternal, lavishing in the presence of her love. "You don't think maybe she wants it to be him badly enough to convince her mind of it? A mind, which, may I add-"

"Has nothing to do with you," Sersi cut him off decisively. She drifted closer to the rest of her family, "I have known these two for thousands of years. The love they have has always escaped my full understanding. But...you know it when you see it."

Maybe Eros wasn't used to seeing such display of emotion. It wasn't something Eternals were prone to--not supposed to be prone to, at least. They were androids--inorganic and created for a purpose. They didn't mate for life.

But then, Thena wasn't a perfect Eternal. She had a bug, or a feature, rather.

"Are they gonna just stand there like that," Phastos muttered, with Kingo's agreement over watching their sister's canoodling.

"Leave 'em be," Druig muttered behind both of them, Makkari tucked into his side. In the absence of the rest of their brothers and sisters, Druig had become the presence most looming and protective of the Warrior Eternal's peace of mind.

Thena opened her eyes again, finding, indeed, her Gilgamesh. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. That was him. "Hey."

He both melted and burst, his smile warming the entire room of their cold mothership. He ducked his head closer, their noses brushing, "hey."

She sighed, settling herself in the crook of his neck like she belonged there. "You're here."

"I'm here."

"It's you," she found his hands, winding them together. They fit just right.

"It's me," he confirmed, pressing his palm to his like he had millions of times before.

This was him.