006. her dwelling place.

PRESENT DAY, AMAZON.

"I'VE MISSED ALL OF YOU, PLEASE,MAKE YOURSELVES AT HOME."

This was not the reunion she was hoping for.

Anitun had no right to decide how this would happen... it was bound to happen, she felt the knowing looks of her fellow Eternal's right before they had visited her in her home, the side, she had accepted the fact that no matter how she wanted to escape the pain and sorrow, she wouldn't be able to elude from all of it, well it's been five centuries anyways... perhaps it's time to face the truth... and beside, she did this to herself anyways!

It is much like karma itself embodied on a knife to her throat and she couldn't even breath properly without it's sharp deadly blade sink on the skin of her neck... she was more than hesitant, shaking in her seat in Kingo's private jet as they go off to his place, she wished she could jump off the aircraft right there and now, and scurry away like the coward she is, or maybe when they were in the boats, she could just jump and drown herself why everyone was focused with Kingo's statement of him giving blue rays of his films to all of them.

He never wanted this reunion.

Even with other things that Druig can settle his attention to, like the way Ikaris glared at him, and the way Sersi had surprised him with her mind blowing stories of their true, cruel purpose and desperate pleas for help, he chose to look straight into her eyes with sorrow and anguish, and Anitun had tried her best to avoid it, not used to the way he gave his attention to her, not used to the way he never muttered a single word from his lips or from his mind like they would usually do, a secret only they can know...

She wanted to tell something, but she is not certain if he'd ever say anything back... she's not even familiar with the communication they used to do anymore... she's bad at telepathy, and she's only ever good with it when she's doing it with him.

Anitun had drowned in his blue eyes, but now she couldn't, it turned like pale ice, telling her to look away but she couldn't, having a hard time looking away from those mesmerizing orbs, reflecting like a perfect diamond, ever so simple yet so beautiful, it was a shame it had to be corrupted with all bad things that he had to see and witness, and she mainly was the reason for how it lost the old spark it used to have when he used to look at her, shining like the thousand stars, now seeming as if it was telling her that she is dead to him.

Her breath hitched, something stuck on her throat and she wasn't able to get it out... it was fear, sadness, guilt, almost as if it was suffocating her until it would squeeze the last bits of air out of her ribcage, leaving her there, gasping desperately for air.

"Anitun..."

Kingo mutters, looking at her shaking figure worriedly, having to notice that her eyes were glossy, tears threatening to spill like a thunderous storm... "I'll be fine." she replied as she timidly stared at the ground, finally breaking eye contact with that of Druig's cold, harsh stare... all of a sudden, her fingers were something so interesting to look at, and so she dedicated her attention to it as she ignored the feeling of someone looking down on her nervous figure.

"You've given me a lot of bad news in one go, my lady..."

Anitun immediately looked up. Oh, how she missed his voice calling out her name and telling her sweet words as it taints his jaw like pomegranate, defying his sentences with a proud grin on his face after making her flustered with his way of words.

He used to love loving.

"Will you help us?"

"I am glad t─" Sersi's phone ring interrupted him, making Druig look down to the floor with an embodied expression of sighing in irritation... clearly not liking the way he was interrupted with a funny song as it echoed throughout the empty space of the building.

"What's your service? I'm not getting any bars..." Anitun nudged Kingo beside him, "Stop." She scolded like a mother to her child. "Now is not the time." she sniffed silently as she tried to hold her tears back... hiding her sadness with a disappointed look. "Right... yeah... I'll ask her that later" The Eternal scratched his head and smiled at her.

"Do you all remember this forest?" Druig suddenly spoke when he was certain that no one else is going to interrupt him, standing up from his seat with his hands on his back.

"Beautiful." Anitun felt almost as if Druig's gaze was placed on her figure when he said that word, but she can only imagine.

Druig stopped in front of Thena, who was stroking a lizard's back and a sleepy Gilgamesh, observing them up and down, while the blonde Eternal looked up at him, "It's the last place we all lived together..." he then looked down to the ground after that... "I've protected these people for twenty generations now..."

Kingo and Anitun glanced towards Karun who was still recording, Kingo immediately shook his head, motioning for him to stop recording in which the human dropped with a disappointed look, Anitun shrugged at the human as Karun sighed.

Druig then started walking towards Karun, merely stopping in front of Anitun who was looking away, staring at the wall absentmindedly, Thena looked back at her with a knowing look while Gilgamesh gave her a sleepy, apologetic smile, she dropped her gaze to the ground after shrugging to the Eternals who were still petting the reptile on Thena's lap.

"...From the outside world and from themselves," Druig stated, finally stopping in front of the now, nervous looking human, who instinctively looked up at him, "Your kind, my friend... you will be responsible for your own extinction one day..."

"...don't you think?" The Eternal inquired menacingly, glancing towards Kingo with a smile... barely acknowledging the fact that Anitun was now staring up at him and that Kingo was behind her... the closest he could ever give his attention to her is with a blank stare or a small glare, nothing special.

"I think we must learn from our mistakes and do better, sir" Karun spoke up, with hope in his eyes, looking up at Druig's figure as the Eternal looked down at him with his lips tightly shut in a straight line.

"You must not give up hope─" His eyes, which used to be filled with so determination disappeared, turning a dead white as he was controlled to throw his large camera to the wall beside him.

Anitun flinched as she looked back at the cause of Druig's irritation to the human, making Kingo immediately stand on his feet, exclaiming his disbelief, "Oh no you did not." Kingo faced the Eternal as he looks down at him judgingly, making good use of the height difference, the two were now face to face, wanting to bite each others head off. "New rule... no more possessing people's valet"

"Oh, where is your sense of humour, Kingo?"

"I'm sorry sir..." Karun said timidly. "Don't apologize, it's not your fault" Kingo immediately looked back at Druig irritatingly after reassuring his valet of the situation. "You're not a god, you know that right?"

"How ironic..." Druig mocks... "Kingo... the movie star" he continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer from what he just said... "I have directed some things too..."

The Eternal scoffed. "Oh, yeah? Like what?" Anitun sighed in relief... having to know that he doesn't know about the existence of Kingo's silly-romantic-drama-tragedy whatever-genre movie inspired by them. "Some internet content..." Kingo replied.

"How many views?"

"I don't do it for the views" Kingo immediately replied, merely offended, making Druig grin from the reaction that he had received... Anitun dropped her head and started to nibble on her nails anxiously.

"Let's go, he's waiting our time" Ikaris walked past the two, breaking them from their little meaningless banter as Druig ignored what just happened and ran up towards the clearly, irritated Eternal.

"Ikaris! I missed you" he teased.

Ikaris stopped abruptly, bringing his hand to the other as he cracks his knuckles in an attempt to restrain himself from punching the mind controller. Druig looked at him up and down, "Are you going to... charm me or... threaten me...?" he said, stating the obvious fact that Ikaris hadn't changed one bit, and it was obvious that his ( violent ) antics would stay the same after five centuries.

Ikaris looked back, "There is a third option if you'd prefer that?" he inquires with a forced, irritated smile as he waits for an answer.

"I'm gonna third option the both of you if you don't stop."

Anitun interrupts, standing up from her seat beside Kingo as she nestles herself in between both of the Eternals, bringing a hand to both of their chests... stopping whatever was about to kindle even before it turns into a disastrous explosion... it's obvious that the two wanted to kill each other right there and now and she does not appreciate it, they needed to swallow their pride for now.

She then started talking once again, still having the firm hold on both of the Eternal... blocking them from being inches apart from killing each other.

"We have a planet to save, morons."

Anitun addressed the statement mainly to Ikaris, ignoring the stare that the Eternal on her right placed on the side of her face... she lightly shuddered at his cold gaze.

There was a long pause until Druig decided to push more of Ikaris's patience... and the Eternal had seen it coming, glaring at Druig intensely even before he could even move his lips to form yet another, mocking remark. "Didn't you wanted to kill me?"

"You are the only one who thinks about it like that..." Ikaris replied, acting wrongfully accused of his allegations, almost laughing at the ridiculous statement.

Druig chuckled darkly, making Anitun look back at him, meeting his gaze that was already placed on her face, and now... both were met with a stoic eye contact ─ the ocean and the earth finally met once again, as the waters kissed the feet of the ground in soft waves, so close together, yet so far... the stare did not faltered even if Druig was spewing venomous words for Ikaris to hear; a locked gaze without a key, longing and deprived of a proper reunion.

"Quite surprised that she's still with you, alive, considering the fact that you wanted to slit their throat before..." Anitun could feel his synthetic heart rapidly beating inside his chest as he talked, she never once dared to drop her hand on his chest, as it heaved with every syllable drowning in his thick, rich accent... "A change of heart?" he hummed.

Druig finally dropped the eye contact, staring Ikaris once and for all, making Anitun look down to her hand on his chest. "Do you see them the way... I do?"

"Is she finally useful?" he immediately added.

"Druig..." Anitun interrupted, merely a meek whisper for him to hear, he immediately paused at that, then looking back at her immediately, closing his mouth when he was just about to say another word. She frowned at him, shaking her head lightly.

"Drop it."

"As you wish, Anitun"

Druig nodded, clutching her hand as he gently removed it from his chest, Anitun's hands dropped to her sides as she stepped back from the two with a shaky breath... she immediately regretted it when Druig, completely ignored what she had just said, "But surely, it must be heartbreaking to find out that you're not mother's favourite?"

"I'm sure she'd be real proud of you─"

It was now the time for Sersi to interrupt, having to know that Anitun was clearly not enough to stop the both from fighting like little children "─Druig, this is serious"

"I'll tell you what's serious" Druig raised his voice and walked up to Sersi this time, he surely loves being close to his fellow Eternals, not caring about the close proximity that he shared with them. "I've just been told I've been sent on a suicide mission for the past seven thousand years..."

"...And that my entire existence is a lie" Druig glanced back at Ikaris with an attitude. "So, excuse me for not giving a shit about your plan right now" he immediately walked away, barely walking past Anitun as she sighed exasperatedly. "Druig..." she tried to call out for him.

"No." he replied blankly before opening the door in front of him harshly and walking outside, not sparing another glance to any of them.

"Druig sucks."

Kingo commented, meeting Anitun's gaze, "He does, sir." Karun replied after looking back at the Eternal's figure... Anitun squinted her eyes shut... "We wait." Sersi stated. "For what?" Ikaris replied with a sultry scowl... "You're not going to convince him." he added.

Ikaris glanced towards Anitun, "None of us can change his mind." he exclaims, making Sersi sigh, "Let's still try..." Ikaris shrugged, "Whatever you say..." he said, before following Anitun who was already walking outside the building, or whatever it was called, walking in a different direction as she lets herself wander through the woods with her heart weighing much heavier than it did before after what happened.

"IKARIS IS NOT PETER PANBECAUSE PETER IS NICE."

Anitun stated as she watched both Kingo and Sprite talk to each other. Leaning on one of the trees, crossing her hands to her chest as she had no choice left but to stay with them since she doesn't know where Thena and Gilgamesh had wandered off to... she also does not wish to be with Ikaris and presumably Sersi for obvious reasons... and most definitely wouldn't want to go out there and find Druig to convince him, because he does not want to be convinced, and the other reasons are hers to keep to herself...

...and even her own mind wouldn't even want to think about all the things that happened earlier; his hand on hers... how pathetic.

"Shut up Annie please, I'm trying to record here..."

Kingo gritted his teeth as he approached Sprite who was previously watching Ikaris do weird things that men do when they are thinking deeply and rationally.

They were not the best company, Sprite was having an existential crisis, Karun was hiding behind them with his backup camera for some reason ( Not the greatest hiding spot, Anitun could literally see him recording Sprite's vulnerability ) and Kingo is doing what he does best, annoying his family.

The young woman was in her fit of rage as she smashed Karun's camera into pieces after finding out about his presence and then storming off... about twenty five steps away from them... glaring at Kingo in the distance as Anitun stared back at the angry young woman with a small sigh.

"You have a very angry family, sir" Karun stated, staring at his broken camera, "Yeah, it's a big issue." Kingo agrees as he watched the young woman walking away.

Anitun frowned. "You're only realizing this now?" she questioned, tilting her head and walking towards the human... she was incredibly surprised with how well a mere human comprehends and adjusts to this type of things... she could only imagine how weird it is to discover that you are working for an alien of over a million years, and is now on the journey of finding a way to save the planet you are currently living from the verge of ruination and extinction... Karun was odd in many ways...

He literally witnessed all of them fighting a supposedly extincted catastrophic humanoid monster and didn't gave two shits about it... and even recorded them doing it...( Kingo had shown Anitun some of the footages of them fighting the Deviant back in her place during the plane ride towards Amazon, it was quite shaky but it's still something nonetheless... and she still grimaced at the thought of the Deviant residue splashing on her face... it's disgusting. )

If Anitun was a human and she was in the same situation that Karun is currently in, she would've been crying.

"You're very nice though, ma'am... just like the stories..." Karun nodded towards her, making her raise her eyebrows in amusement.

"Well the stories aren't very nice─"

"─This is why you're my favourite" Kingo finally faced both of them with a smile towards Anitun, "Calm as the breeze" he added, slowly walking towards her, clapping his hands softly, and finally patting her on the head...

Anitun remained silent as Kingo looked at her worriedly, "Are you alright?" he asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity, she shook her head immediately.

"No Kingo, I am very hurt."

"I think it's best to think about it..." Kingo sighed, patting the Eternal's shoulder knowingly. "Right" Anitun nodded, thinking of the perfect way to release her stress... making the Eternal beside her chuckle, "I know what you're thinking... you're gonna do that mermaid meditating thi─"

"─Paalam, adios, good bye" Anitun started to stride forward, the leaves crunching beneath her feet as she took a step after looking back at the two behind her. "I'll be back later" she flashed them a smile in which they immediately returned.

"We shall wait for your presence near this glorious tree" Kingo stated before walking away and towards Sprite to console the young woman from her small tantrum and apologize to her about what just happened earlier... leaving Karun with a thumbs up towards the Eternal before following his boss shortly after.

Anitun traversed through the forest deeper, offering a few smiles to the people of the compound as she asked for a direction to where the river is, in which they gladly replied with the exact location and a kind smile.