☆ ﾟ･ ｡° *. ﾟ

002. his serpentine inamorata.

1521 AD, TENOCHTITLAN.

EMPIRES DO NOT FALL ON ITS OWN.

Huitzilopochtli had told it's people to build Aztec and be as great as ever, so great it was unreal, standing proudly at the vast territory of Lake Texcoco... Ziggurat pyramids made from mud bricks crimson of blood, sweat and tears from human sacrifices and the hunger from things that are bad and all evil.

This had questioned Anitun's morals... she never expected the turn of events in everything, how certain things had corrupted and tainted humanity's soul with an sinister evil called greed and power.

It knows no line to cross and limit to reach and no Empire to destroy.

Empires do not fall on it's own, silly, it's the people who do that, it's the people who threaten it's parliament, it's foundation. Humans have an exquisite nature of wanting a lot more than what they have... and nothing is ever enough for them, never enough for their short spanned lives.

And who is she supposed to side with? Both are wrong in their own way, both reasonable and unreasonable... a Spanish conquistador visited Aztec at some point, Ajak had said no to whatever Anitun was about to do.

Anitun don't do that

Anitun, no

Anitun I demand you not to...

They had wondered what Druig would think about it, but he had been stoic, unmoving in his spot like a statue, unbothered and untattered, Anitun would just follow his lead... like the irrelevant being she is... that doesn't mean that it hadn't bothered her, that doesn't mean that she wanted to try and do something,

And she can't.

Perhaps she'll have to settle in the darkness, there is nothing much that she can do, for now... just like what Druig would always say.

There would always be the time where subtle smiles would find its way to Anitun's face from time to time... and there could only be one Eternal who does make her smile, Druig.

But then again, they would often argue about a lot of things and then making it up to one another, sometimes Anitun would go morbid, she'll apologize for it and he'll forgive her... sometimes, the other would do some advancement alone to stop whatever is happening with the Eternals and the other would feel as if they are not trusted enough to be a part of it, Ajak would always interfere the arguments they are about to form, saying that they are better off to leave themselves out of the matter of what is right and wrong with everything before things gets worse.

None of their problems were never really solved, they were just eased by their own little lies... and this will never be a solution... it's just making it worse, she's just doubting more and they're both just lying to themselves, and even with pearly white teeth always shown to him, his inamorata was never the happiest.

No love was perfect and Anitun is just as terrible with feeling such emotion as time flies and the air is thick with putrid false affection and she's breathing on it along with a poor being that is devoted to her.

There was one thing that they seemed to always agreed on, after quite some time of Anitun convincing Druig to help and try doing a change in an environment so still and unmoving because of Ajak's orders... he agreed, and how the tables turn, Anitun become tired of doing it, and Druig never faltered with his determination; Anitun had let the Prime Eternal stop her, and Druig didn't gave a single care about what she had to say.

Anitun was a butterfly, evolving and growing until there was finally time where she could fly to her own freedom, but they wouldn't let her, her wings are clipped on a lepidopterist'sjournal, she'll be stuck there so that they could analyze her more and find out what's wrong with her ─ but no, that is false, they aren't... she isn't the prey, she's the predator, she's the snake, the serpent, the one who bites back, behind that facade is a rotten girl.

Anitun was a product of the Celestials... she is no butterfly, she doesn't go through any metamorphosis, their mind was already conscious when they were born, hatched, made ─ she is no caterpillar to a butterfly... she has always been like this... nothing to change, nothing to develop, no beautiful wings to flutter and grow but venomous teeth drowning in poisonous saliva; No wings were growing but fangs that grew longer and sharper.

All good things will come to an end and Anitun's ichor would yearn for something much more than what she has right now... irking words were flowing through her veins,

Do something! Move! Be useful for once!

Was she not contented with what she have?

No...

Some things are left to be unbothered untouched, you don't know what you are about to do.

No.

There are qestions that were not answered even after thousands of years helping everyone around her grow, and to fonder and to excel,

She is done helping others... why not help herself this time? Selfish or not, she will... Ajak was never willing to answer any of them, all her answers would end up with Anitun, I love you, but I am afraid that I cannot answer your question.

That made her want to answer everything more, that desire to answer everything would be at an inexorable force. She'd feed her curiosity, like a hungry man who seemed as if he hadn't eaten for days... years and more that came, as if the only thing she could gut and devour was violence to pave the way towards her desperate need of answers.

Anything, everything... that hole in her heart will never be full, not without that thing that she was anticipating for so long... nothing that her lover will be able to fill.

Words will be thrown, to how pathetic she is, after what she is about to do... like desperate hands reaching for something, maybe her mind? Her body? Her heart?

And who was standing in her way again? She doesn't know, and she needs to get rid of it, as soon as possible.

No love was perfect for someone who had never truly loved themselves... and what idiot thinks loving someone instead would make everything better?

Death is what's keeping everyone awake at dead of the night, Anitun heard screams and yells of agonizing suffering, and others in different tone that felt different... Anitun swore that everything was in shambles, that one favourite spot of her was gone... and here they thought she'd get to see the flowers bloom that she planted there. But it was nothing, but ashes, and remnants of what could have been a healthy, exuberant garden.

Anitun's head was spinning... stars forming on her vision, screams were heard and firearms were blared. She ran and ran and it seemed as if she was transparent to the humans around her, horses and limp bodies passing by, but one had recognised her familiar figure from far away.

She hears an awful squelch, she wished she had never dared to look down, small bloody hands reaching out for her, she hissed as she kneeled in front of the child whose name was the prettiest flower that could grow in this place... Anitun cups the child's cheeks, the fluid from the child's body was pouring tremendously out of them. She can never say sorry, they were gone... they withered before they could even grow.

Makkari, who was looking everywhere for her after all this time immediately signed to her because Ajak asked for her presence in the woods where the other Eternals were staying, Anitun shook her head violently, a sad frown was etched on the speedster's face; Thena came along, gently forcing her to let the child go... she pulled the grieving Eternal away,

"Thena please let go of me..." she whispered, Anitun wouldn't know how to react, but to stare at the child's body until a Deviant forced her to come into her senses.

Dusts of flame from the sins that emitted the torches of those who are attacking the people of Tenochtitlan coated Anitun's ebony hair, as she pushed a Deviant away, followed by Thena piercing it's chest. "Is that all?" the Goddess of War had asked her... standing beside the corpse of the dead Deviant, glancing towards Makkari who went past her.

"Yes." she said, blood and tears smeared on her face, looking around for any signs of her fellow Eternals, but none of them were nowhere to be seen... Anitun walk alongside the two, looking down at her bloody hands.

"Where are the others?" Asked the Prime Eternal, the night was eerie, Anitun couldn't see nothing but faint visions of the other Eternals, the light behind them wasn't helping, but it was enough to keep them in the shadows as they hide from the cataclysm that is happening in front of them, like cowards,

"We had to seperate" signs Makkari, followed by Thena who was asking why there were a lot more Deviants than Phastos had said, but then it was followed by her 'having fun' about killing them when Phastos commented about it. Earning a small chuckle from the Eternals Inventor.

Anitun simply did not care about it, they acted as if they hadn't saw her current state, they sighed softly while making her way to Druig, who was already running towards her, putting his hand on her shoulders worriedly and looking at her figure, mainly at the fabric of her gown which is now crimson red.

"Are you hurt? What happened?"

"This is nothing..."

Druig sighs, nudging her to tell the truth but she stood silent, looking everywhere but his eyes, he then instead wiped the blood on her cheeks with his hands without a care of the weird feeling on his skin.

"If you do not wish to talk about it then we won't."

Guns were cocked and fired to humans who were simply trying to survive... it was admirable yet a coward of them for how they simply watched all of it, Anitun would flinch every now and then from the blaring sounds that knocked her eardrums... Druig mirrored her actions, walking in front of her...

"Don't."

Ajak warns Druig when he stepped forward, lightbulb white emitted from his eyes, Ajak earned a look from Anitun because of that.

"We don't interfere in their wars"

"This isn't war... this is genocide" he remarks in a mocking tone, walking further to the front, and Anitun could only sigh.

But then Druig just kept on going... commenting about how technology had changed the world, in a terrible way, he was not in any way surprised, but he was disappointed. Everything was terrible, not even a speck of anything good was there but her.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea helping them advance, Phastos..." Druig stares at the man beside the Prime Eternal.

That earned a scientific remark from Phastos about those being inevitable and a part of human evolution, and without those, humans wouldn't be able to move forward and beyond, through gritted teeth he snapped at Druig,

"It's not something that I can stop─"

"─Well... you can't, but I can" the Eternal interrupts.

Makkari walked towards the two, standing in front of Druig to sign to him, telling him to resist his urge... Anitun then placed a hand on his shoulder in which he quickly succumbed at,

"We can't do anything" She said.

"I can... myself"

"What about me? What can I do?" Anitun tilts her head to the side the slightest.

He didn't answered.

Anitun then heard the voice of Sersi calling out for Thena's name worriedly. "Thena...?"

"It's too late... everyone is going to die"

Anitun snapped her attention to the two, only to be seeing Thena wielding her blade, but not towards any enemy but to her allies, to Sersi, like a woman gone insane, before she could slice Sersi in half, in which she actually kind of did, Makkari pushes her out of the way,

Thena was attacking anyone, anything she sees, from Phastos falling down to the ground with a wound placed on his stomach from the sins that corrupted Thena's blade, to Makkari who tried to get her out of the way, pushing her and ended up falling to the ground... and now Ajak, attempting to calm her frenzied figure, but calming someone so violent will never be useful.

"You are Thena... you are loved..."

But she was too stuck in between her sanity and madness... until she decided to choose only one.

The Eternal did took a few steps back, but something deep inside her made her keep on going... Thena buried her sword deep inside Ajak's lower part, causing the Prime Eternal to clutch her stomach in despair.

The last three Eternals came on running towards them, confused yet alerted about the situation unfolding in front of them. Gilgamesh immediately tried to stop her and so does Anitun themself when Phastos told her to do something... even if Druig yells her not to.

The two tried to avoid the swiftness of Thena's blade, both grunting in the process, at one point, Anitun tries to take block the air from her lungs, earning gasps and a weak knee from Thena which only made her a lot more enraged, immediately going over and cutting a gash on Anitun's collar bone, she gasped, almost falling from the impact and the wave of pain that washed her.

"Thena please... come back to us" Gilgamesh pleads before carefully putting Anitun behind him, a hand to protect her from Thena if anything bad is about to happen.

Even with the stinging feel trying to take over her body, Anitun managed to push Thena's limits with the air that surrounded them, not letting Thena breathe but not necessarily killing her, Anitun had plead for the thin air to help her, the breeze had always been tranquil, but the motion of Anitun's hand stopped its peaceful state, she continued to move her hands until Thena lets out desperate coughs and she collapsed to the ground, giving Gilgamesh the chance to forcefully put her to sleep.

And even with the destruction she just caused, the woman looked peaceful while she was asleep, the light from the weapons that she had created was no longer there, leaving the place dark and devastating once again.

There was nothing else in Anitun's mind as of the moment but to fall to the ground in brute force, she feels the presence of what seemed to be Ajak and Druig immediately running towards her. She tried to stand up but a calloused hand stopped her.

"Don't move, it'll hurt" his tone was a lot softer than it did before, bringing a hand to her cheek gently, slender fingers drawing circles on her blood stained face comfortingly.

"...Go somewhere safe." she whimpers.

"I THOUGHT MAHD WY'RY WAS A MYTH"

comments Sersi, residing at the biggest ziggurat pyramid, away from the chaos that the humans caused below, glancing at each and everyone of her fellow Eternals in a worried gaze... mainly to her husband who stood at the opposite side of her, where Thena was sleeping on.

With Anitun's wound healed, she simply watched outside the entrance of the pyramid, Druig glancing at her every now and then, "You shouldn't have done that." He says, finally talking to her.

Her eyes were not leaving the chaos happening below as she replied to him. "If no one is going to try and stop her... who will?"

"Gilgamesh was there."

"He'll get to stop Thena after the half of us is finally lifeless." Anitun deadpanned. Finally looking at him. "I could've lost you..." he shifted on his place uncomfortably, and Anitun dropped her head. The glint of red fading from her eyes.

"I'm sorry... what else am I supposed to do?"

A gasp was heard, and movements were made "What happened?" Thena asked when she was fully awake, oblivious of what she had just done to all of them, breathing heavily and face worried and oblivious.

"Thena... you attacked everyone, wounded Anitun, Sersi, Phastos and nearly killed Makkari"

Anitun could hear Thena whimper in distress, after having to know of what she had done to all of them; There is no cure for Mahd Wy'ry, nothing else will be able to stop a fractured mind but to erase it and start over again...

...in which Druig, Thena, and perhaps Makkari solely disagreed to... "She won't be Thena anymore..." The speedster signs with a frown on her face...

...Druig implied that trusting the Prime Eternal and even Arishem is pathetic, a way to let a being destroy her, as if the existence of her memory was worth nothing ─ and Anitun had thought that the Eternals really are perfect. Being an Eternal wasn't the most greatest thing, and this simply proves that,

"Druig... I know that you are upset─"

"─UPSET?"

Anitun flinched at the voice of her immortal partner, "Druig... please" Anitun warns him inside his mind, "I've watched humans destroy each other when I could stop it all in a heartbeat." he ignores her solemn pleas.

"Do you know what that does to someone after centuries? Could our mission have been a mistake? Are we really helping these people build a better world?" he spat every word bitterly with tears rolling down his face, perhaps choking softly every now and then...

Anitun feels his present beside him, and with the slightest movement their hands met, Anitun placed her gaze to Druig, saline tears left dry on his face, never to be wiped away even if she wanted to.

"We're just like the soldiers down there... pawns to their leaders. blinded by loyalty." he remarks... the statement mainly for Ajak to hear.

"It ends now..."