𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 || 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘖𝘯 𝘔𝘺 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴

THE CONSTANT CHIME OF A DOORBELL HAD PULLED JACK FROM HIS SLEEP. He sat up slightly as his eyes flickered to his TV which was still on with 21 Jump Street playing. He glanced around, unsure if his dream had awoken him from his sleep.

All that followed was silence.

And that silence had ushered him to lean back into the pillows propping his head up. A groan fell from his lips as he shifted on the stiff cushions, attempting to find the position that had lulled him to sleep.

But as his eyes closed, the doorbell rang again, its chime finally making him sit up and rub his tired eyes. "Coming," he grumbled, loud enough that whoever had woken him up at this ungodly hour of the night would wait for him.

Then it came again.

"Jesus fucking christ- Yeah, hold your fucking horses!" He exclaimed, standing to his feet and marching to the door. "You better be here telling my parents are dead or else I'm going to beat the ever living-" He swung the door open and was greeted by the sight of a bloody Duncan leant against the frame of his door, beer bottle resting idly in his grasp. "-What in the fuck happened to you?"

The man grumbled, "Fun night out is all," as he moved past Jack and sipped his beer. He collapsed on the couch where he tiredly leant back into the stiff cushions with his head lulling back. A deep sigh slipped past his lips.

Jack bit his bottom lip, shaking his head as he bounded to the kitchen, grabbing all the items that could do some good for his friend in tending to the wounds before walking back.

Sitting on the coffee table, Jack laid out all the supplies; bandages, peroxide and some ice. "Does this 'fun night out' have a name?" He muttered, exhaustedly readying the supplies.

"Hmm?"

"Come on, man. Trying to tell me you got your face kicked in just because? Gotta be something responsible," he deduced. "I mean, this is the type of shit you did with Aphrodite when she came through town for those two months."

Duncan almost hated how Jack could read a situation based on someone's past. It'd been not too long ago that Duncan had been head over heels for a girl with luscious pink dyed hair and attractiveness that might charm the most loyal men. And at first, Duncan willed himself to not indulge in desires that might not become something more. But after a few of her visits to the shop, that emotion finally had him dotting over the woman for two months.

Until she disappeared without another word. The result?

This. Him beaten up on Jack's couch with little to no care about the rest of the world. A nuclear war could be going on and Duncan was confident he wouldn't even notice. Preferring self-deprecation instead of anything reasonable.

He was a love-fast and hard type of man. Call him easy, but he wasn't hard to please or to gain his heart. He was a simple man with simple standards that almost anyone could meet. And when he liked you, he liked you. Duncan knew his affection could be overwhelming and even drive others away, but it was just who he was. It was one of the only ways he could show how much someone meant to him.

But after today, after all the trust between him and Flora seemed to have dissolved in a matter of minutes, he resorted back to getting a beating to feel something other than the heartache. Rather than allowing his mind to go into a tailspin of thoughts, he liked the pounding headache that blurred and muffled the coherency. It gave him solace amongst the abnormalities in his life.

"Jack, there are some things in this world that shake your outlook and destroy what you thought you knew." Duncan sipped his beer again, looking at his friend. "I'm going to save you the mind-fuck of my situation."

Jack scoffed, rising from his spot on the table. "You know, I expect compensation for always allowing you in my home like this. Especially if you aren't going to tell me who is responsible for your night out..."

As he was about to finish, a set of knocks alerted the pair. Both looked at the door that divided them from who stood out front before looking at each other. Almost like a hive mind, the pair quietly moved to grab something that could be used as a weapon.

"Did you not even check if anyone followed you?" Jack hissed, grabbing a baseball bat from the coat closet.

"They beat the shit out of me, Jack. Why would they care to come back for a round 2?" Duncan scowled, holding a knife.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you just tend to start fights with people you shouldn't!"

"Jack! Duncan! I can hear the both of you." Flora's voice made the pair relax, relinquishing their weapons with Duncan standing at the end of the couch and Jack opening the door.

Upon opening the door, Jack could barely greet his boss before she forced the door open with Thena following closely behind. He closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. "Just breathe, Jack. Just be happy people are visiting."

Flora pursed her lips, staring up at Duncan whose broken features were now seen in better lighting. A busted lip and cut along his left brow where a long trail of blood leaked down the side of his face. He looked worse than when he came home after the whole Aphrodite situation. Then, he had a concussion and could barely get out of bed for a few weeks from the two broken ribs. So, some part of her was happy he was fine.

Licking his bottom lip, she jutted a thumb over her shoulder to Thena. "We both lost a friend from one of those Deviants. And you leaving only made that pain worse," she explained, blinking rapidly. "But you need to know that this is more than what you want, Duncan."

Duncan stood silently, biting on the inside of his cheek as the girl turned on her heel and grabbed Jack and pulled him outside. There was little to no room for any debate to be made as the door slammed shut.

Glancing at Thena, Duncan huffed. "Are you here to bark my ear off about my decision to leave?" He asked, collapsing on the couch and pulling out various bandages and such.

Thena turned to him, watching his calloused hands pour peroxide onto a bandage before pressing it against his brow. "No. I just think I owe you an explanation as to who we are." She sat in front of him, taking the bandage from his grasp. Duncan pursed his lips before allowing her to take control of tending to his wounds.

"So, who the hell are you then?" He muttered, twitching at the sting.

"We're Eternals. We've been here since 5000 B.C. Our powers have made humanity prosper and make their own decisions. But now, after learning more, our mission wasn't to better humanity. But prepare it for the Emergence."

"So, hold on a sec. You're telling me you stood by and allowed countless thousands of people to be killed by the Chitauri?" Duncan questioned, glaring at the woman.

"We had a mission-"

"Fuck your mission!" He stood to his feet, scowling at the woman. He scoffed, running a hand over his beard and shook his head. "People died, Thena. Thanos wiped half of the universe and none of you did anything to stop it? My father fucking died because of that big purple cunt!"

George Kenway. He was crushed to death by a vehicle thrown by one of Thanos' henchmen. The death was fast and there had been no suffering. A key highlight that made the guilt in Duncan's heart lessen. He'd been visiting New York to see his sister whilst she was in the hospital. It'd been pure chance that it had to be that day or that he'd been on that street where Tony Stark and Spider-Man had been fighting those aliens.

And some days when he thought about his father, Duncan couldn't help but wonder what could've happened if he'd gone with his Dad. Maybe they would've traded places. Or maybe he could've saved his Dad. It was these thoughts that made him question where the hell the rest of the Avengers were. Why no one could've saved his Dad?

Now, knowing some people could've helped, only made that resentment he had worse. And for it to be against Thena only made that pain in his chest worse.

Because he couldn't explain why some part of him cared about her. He didn't know her well enough to warrant any emotion toward the woman. It felt like some second instinct that took hold when she came to mind or when her face appeared in his dreams. His heart soared and all his sensations went haywire.

But she was someone that could've helped. She could've saved his Dad.

"Since I've known Flora or moved here, I've had your fingerprints on my damn memories. Because I know that if you were like a God, like Thor, I know then you could've done something to stop Thanos from winning," he muttered, rubbing his eyes before letting his hands rest on his hips, pursing his lips as he stared at the woman. "So, what's your explanation? Why were you never there?"

Thena bowed her head for a moment, toying with the gauze before she placed it aside and stood. "I have no explanation for you." Her answer left Duncan scowling, lips parting dumbfounded. "But some part of me always knew this planet was in danger of something far greater than Thanos. The Emergence will birth one of my creators and it will kill everyone on this planet. Life as you know it will end any day now."

Duncan, still dumbfounded, said with a wave of his hand, "You and Flora have horrible ways of leading the conversation, you know that, right?"

"Duncan, Arthur had been searching and learning about the Emergence. That endless knowledge he sought out was a Seer that told of a dark future for humanity. He strove to stop it before anyone could be hurt. But that was before he was lost at sea," she explained, stepping toward the man. "Whether you want to or not, Arthur has reached out to you for this and he is relying on you to do what he couldn't."

"Don't do that. Don't try and use him against me," he warned. "I don't have any reason to listen to whatever that man wants. So, don't even try to use him against me."

But she persisted. "I can't stomach the possibility of not succeeding and you dying, Duncan." Thena daringly took his hand. Beginning to trace shapes on the back with a clenched jaw. "I don't think we can win without you."

If everything falling from her lips was true, Duncan could see life end. He could see Dane, his Mother, Flora and Thena die. Grasping that would take him time to fully realize as this wasn't what he expected to happen in his life. Then again, who would ever meet a superhuman and be able to call them their friend?

And Duncan never wanted this, now with everything in place. All he wanted was a normal life. He wanted to find himself a wife, get married, have a few kids, get a dog, and live somewhere beautiful and far away from the chaos rising from the surface every few years.

But there was a spell on him the moment he saw Thena in his thoughts. Something, even now, compelled him to abide by her requests and wishes no matter what he wanted. Which was ironic when the man didn't even have any powers or weapons to proclaim himself as someone reliable amongst deities. Yet, he felt like the decision had been made for him the moment he saw her earlier today and all of those other Eternals.

Shaking his head, Duncan looked down at the woman. The look in his eyes already answered her request. "I live and die by your sword, Thena."

Before Thena could even look up at him or respond, Duncan was already walking past. Opening the front door, announcing to Flora that he'd go, and ushering Jack inside without so little as an explanation to the man. But Thena stood idly, lost in his statement. And even when Flora was pulling her to the car, she never spoke.

Mind still fixated on the man's previous statement.

I live and die by your sword.