37 AD
CHINA

"Where is he!?"

"Who?"

"Druig." I panted holding onto Ikaris for stability. "It's bad. Really bad."

Today was supposed to be a calm day. Druig and I were walking around the village when it happened. Neither of us could've stopped it if we wanted to.

"What happened Vena?" Ikaris asked gesturing for me to sit down but I shook my head gasping for breath. "Breathe, Vena."

"A fight broke out. A full blown brothel... Three people dead. Druig tried to stop it, but it was too late. After that, it's all been a blur. I've been searching for him since it happened. I even have Makkari speeding around the town, Sprite asking everyone, Kingo too. Sprite's worried that he might do something he'll regret... I need to find him, Ikaris. He's not in our hiding places." I choked out through tears and Phastos placed a hand on my shoulder as Ikaris hugged me tight.

"He bursted in here moments before you did. We just heard a scream and that was it." He said handing me some water. "We were going to check on him, but I thought it would be best to wait for you."

"You made the right choice. Find the others and call off the search please. And whatever you do... don't tell Ajak about this. I'm begging you, Ikaris." I pleaded and he nodded pulling away and left the Domo.

Phastos gave me a small smile and I nodded at him leaving the lab. Once I left, I was met with a deafening scream that broke my heart.

I opened the door to our room and saw Druig on the floor surrounded by a broken chair and desk and a few broken statues.

"My sweet Adonis... I'm so sorry." I whispered crouching down in front of him and pulled him close to me. "It's just you and me, Dru... Let it out, it's okay."

"I could've saved them... I could've saved them." He sobbed clinging to me. "Why do they do this, Vena?"

"If only I had the answers and the ability to take away your pain." I whispered stroking his hair and placed a kiss on his head. "We can't save everybody-"

"But we should! I have the power to make them stop but it's Arishem's bloody rule that stops me... I just wanna help them."

"I know... I want to help them too." I said standing up and dragged him to the bed. Druig laid down and immediately pulled me to his side still clinging to me. "We couldn't have stopped it, Dru. We noticed too late."

"I... I care about them... so damn much." He choked out and I closed my eyes trying to stop my own tears.

"They're lucky to have someone who cares about them as much as you do... But this isn't your fault, Druig. It's none of our faults."

"Don't let me go... please. I don't want to be alone." He whispered against my neck and I nodded wrapping my arms around him even tighter. "Don't leave me alone."

"I'll stay here for as long as you want me to, Druig. I'm not going anywhere."

...

"You should eat something, Vena. It's been three days since we've last seen you both."

"I'm starving." I mumbled rubbing the sleep off my eyes and Thena handed me a plate of food.

"How's Ares?"

"As you could expect. He only leaves the bed when I force him to shower. After that, he's right back in there amd crying his eyes out. Makkari, Sprite and Sersi are with him so I could finally eat something." I sighed sitting next to Gilgamesh who put an arm around me. "This is hell. I can't bear to see him destroy himself like this."

"Sprite and I saw the scene. It looked like a blood bath." Kingo called out and we all glared at him. "Sorry?"

"He's asleep, finally. Ajak offered to stay with him so you could get some air." Sersi sighed walking inside the main room. "I don't think I've ever seen him this broken before."

"None of us have. He's not exactly good with emotions." Sprite shrugged and looked at me. "Has he slept at all these few days?"

"Not a wink and neither have I honestly."

"This has gone on long enough." Ikaris huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Ikaris... it's normal for him to react this way. I'd react the same way if I had his abilities and couldn't stop the fight in time. Druig cares for the humans, way more than he's cared to show." Sersi said crossing her arms. "We have to let Druig handle it his own way."

"Not all of us have the heart of a killer as you do, Ikaris." Makkari scoffed and handed me a small broken statue. "He tried to fix it. He was crying and saying that it was one of your favorites and that he broke it."

"It's the statue of Achilles from when I told the story of Achilles and Patroclus. I honestly forgot I had this one with me." I chuckled and set it aside. "It doesn't matter. If we ever stop in Greece again, I can just buy another one. There's more important things to focus on now."

"Try telling him that. He was begging Sersi to help him fix it."

"Look who's here." Ajak smiled walking inside and stepped away to reveal a disheveled Druig. "He just woke up."

"Druig... want to try and eat something?" Phastos offered and he shook his head laying next to me and rested his head on my lap. "Or go to loving wife... that works too."

"Ajak, I don't think this was-"

"He wanted to." Ajak interrupted me and I nodded playing with his hair. "Druig, this wasn't your fault. It's human nature."

"Ajak, not the time." Thena hissed and I sighed glancing at Makkari.

"There's going to be another argument, huh?"

"I think so. Prepare for the worst just in case."

"There's a mission, we don't have time for grieving a couple of humans!" Ikaris yelled and Druig grabbed my free hand and squeezed it tight.

"He's allowed to have these emotions, Ikaris!" Sersi jumped to Druig's defense.

"I get that, Sersi. But if there's a mission at hand then-"

"Right, because we wouldn't want anything to happen to Arishem's precious mission. We're not soulless, Ikaris. Well... except you of course." I shrugged. "You just don't get it, don't you?"

"Then please enlighten me, Vena. Everyone! Let's listen to perfect Vena... The expert in humanity and feelings!" He scoffed and i clenched my jaw throwing him to the ground with a gush of air making Druig smile slightly.

"Have you been inside their minds? No? Have you felt their emotions to the point where it overwhelms you? Didn't think so. Therefore you have no say in how Druig should feel or not. Human nature or not, even inside your thick skull, you know this is wrong."

"But apparently it's their nature."

"Then we should change that, right? Why the hell should we continue to watch them suffer of it clearly makes us suffer as well!"

"If it's not in Arishem's plan then-"

"Screw the damn plan! This plan keeps breaking us. We've all seen Vena cry herself to sleep, Sersi cling to the last hope she has and now it's Druig that's breaking down. We can't take it anymore!" Makkari signed and glared at Ikaris. "We've had enough."

"We can still protect them from Deviants, Ikaris. But we can also stop them from going to these extremes." Sersi spoke softly and Ajak sighed.

"We swore an oath-"

"Well apparently you've been talking to another Arishem, because I sure don't remember swearing no damn oath to no Celestial in the five thousand years we've been here, Ajak." Phastos scoffed glaring at her and Ikaris. "We swore an oath to each other, as a family. But never to a Celestial... Look, it's obvious we care about these humans way more than we would care to talk about. I mean, look at Druig, and I'm sorry I'm using you as an example. We haven't seen him for three days and if it weren't for the screams in the middle of the night, we would all think he's dead. Frankly, Vena... I admire you so much right now, because dealing with the bastard of the barrel for as long as you have can't be easy."

"Thank you? I guess?" I said confused and looked down at Druig who fell asleep again. "Look, I don't know what oath you're talking about, Ajak. Because I sure didn't swear anything to Arishem. My oath is to my family and my husband, that's it. And right now, that's my priority. Arishem be damned for all I care."

"I get that, Vena. But this reaction is getting out of hand, don't you think? We haven't seen him for three days and he wakes us up in the middle of the night with his screams and something breaking." Ikaris sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

"He's hurting, Ikaris. We have to let him hurt and break down. Not everyone can be strong all the time." Thena butted grabbing a spare blanket and placed it over Druig's body.

"Everyone hurts in different ways and sometimes it takes longer than expected. It's been three days, Druig just needs more time." Gilgamesh shrugged and I nodded in agreement.

"We have to let him hurt, Ikaris. Or else this will just keep bottling up for years and it'll be worse." Ajak finally spoke and glanced at all of us. "It's admirable that you all care for the humans. I find it even more admirable that all of you are willing to defend each other when needed... I know you all understand the mission and even though most of you don't agree with Arishem's rule, I applaud you for following through with it. I get the humans can be quite violent at times... I know it hurts to see them destroy themselves, but if we follow through with Arishem's plan, maybe one day they will finally understand that there is no need to hurt each other. I'm afraid all we can do now is hope."

"If hope is all we have left, then we truly are doomed."

MEMES:

A/N: you all aren't ready for what's to come