2023 - Paris, France

Rea was walking home from her local market like she did every Monday, her apartment overlooked Canal Saint-Martin and on certain days when it was nice enough, she would go to the edge of the canal and have a picnic by herself there. She walked next to the canal, like she always did and that's when she saw it.

"What the fuck!?" She exclaimed as she saw a Deviant poke it's head out of the water. "You aren't supposed to be alive." She whispered to it. Before she knew it, it tried to attack her which was weird since it usually only attacked human. She conjured up the water from the canal and knocked it into the bridge and fell into the water. Rea quickly checked if her groceries were still in tact and they thankfully were. It climbed out of the water and she could see it was healing itself, also new. That's when she made the roots of a trees wrap around the monster and stabbed it threw the head with a large root, which thankfully killed the Deviant. She used the roots to move the body into the canal so nobody would have to see it but it was in the middle of the day and a lot of frighten people did see it.

She looked back to see her groceries were soaking wet which she internally whined about.

"Oh come on." She mutter while picking up the bag and the wet groceries and brought them ho to her small apartment. She set the groceries down on the table and went into her bathroom to get the hair dryer

Thank you Phastos!

Rea thought to herself as she got all of her groceries out and started to dry them. She spent the next hour doing this before putting them away and decided to go to bed early that night.

The next morning she woke up to the sound of knocking on her door, which she opened revealed Sersi, Sprite, and Ikaris. Her eyes widened and so did her smile as she let them into her cramped apartment.

"What are you doing here?" She said as she hugged Sersi tightly. She then turned to Sprite who gave her a hug and then finally to Ikaris who literally lifted her off of the ground to give her a hug.

"The Deviants are back." Sersi said while sitting down on Rea's coach from the 1950's.

"Oh, I know. I killed one yesterday, it's body is in the canal." Rea said nonchalantly but to be fair Rea thought she just had a bad dream and the Deviants aren't back.

"You managed to kill it?" Ikaris asked suprised, which made Rea roll her eyes as she got out a box of cereal.

"Yes Ikaris, why did you not kill yours?" Rea asked looking at him and by his expression he didn't. "Oh my god." She laughed as she poured the cereal into a bowl.

"It's not funny Rae, I would've killed it if I wasn't distracted." He huffed as he crossed his arms and that made the girls snicker at him.

"We need to get the other's." Sersi says as she stands up, "We need to see Ajak, she'll know what to do." She added and everyone nodded their head in agreement.

"Can we wait until I finish my cereal." Rea smiled cheekily as she ate her Frosted Flakes.

2023 - South Dakota

The four of them sat in a car silently which Rea didn't like so she cranked up the music to fill the awkward silence. She knew that Ikaris had left Sersi because Sersi came to her after it happened.

The car stopped in front of Ajak's house which was in the middle of nowhere. Rea had a bad feeling as soon as she stepped out of the car, she could feel it in her gut. The house was dark from the outside and it was when they went in. Outside it was getting dark and stormy which made all of this much more nerve wracking for Rea.

Sersi had spotted the back door open so she made her way outside and Rea following her. Sersi spotter Ajak immediately and yelled her name. The both ran to Ajak's body and saw that she was dead. Sprite and Ikaris joined them a second after and saw her.

Rea had a flash of all memories with Ajak. Rea made sure to visit Ajak every 2 years, to check up on her.

Rea fell to the ground and sobbed as she held in to Ajak's body.

"No, no this can't be happening." She cried and Sersi went to her side. It was no secret that Rea and Ajak were close, extremely close.

"It was a Deviant." Ikaris said and Rea looked up at him with tears falling down her face. She sobbed harder and Ikaris couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't listen to her sobs, it broke his heart. He went back inside and Sprite trailed behind him who had shredded some tears.

Rea got up from Ajak's body not being able to look at her being dead anymore and went into the house. She didn't say a word to Ikaris or Sprite and went upstairs to Ajak's room. She just stood there in the door way and stared into her room. She felt like she was invading Ajak's privacy but she had to see. She walked in and saw photos on her dresser, a lot of them are with Ajak and Rea but a couple are with Sprite, Sersi, Ikaris, Phastos. She smiled as she cried at the pictures, she turned around and exited the room. She went outside to check on Sersi but she just say Sersi staring into nothingness so she called Sprite and Ikaris to come help her.

"Sersi! Sersi! Are you okay?" Rea asked Sersi as she shook her,

"What happened Sersi?" Ikaris asked as Sersi seemed to snap out of it.

"The sphere that Ajak used to talk with Arishem, it came out of her body and went inside me." Sersi explained as she looked mostly at Rea.

"Did you talk to Arishem?" Ikaris asked as he held her up.

"Yes. He said it's almost time." Sersi said confusedly.

"Can you try talking to him again?" Sprite asked while holding Sersi's arm.

"I don't know how." Sersi simply said.

"But she chose you to replace her. And she gave you the sphere." Sprite replied.

"Hold on, Sprite." Ikaris softly said, "Are you sure you talked with Arishem?" He asked.

"What else would it be?" Rea asked while staring up at him. She was still crying but silently.

"Mahd Wy'ry." He replied.

Rea hadn't heard about Mahd Wy'ry since Thena.

Since Druig left.

1521 AD - Tenochtitlan

War had broken out in Tenochtitlan and it broke Rea's heart to see human's fight but it's the only way they will develop and advance.

All of them met in the woods outside of city, to avoid the war that was going on around them. Rea, Thena and Makkari met up to the thinkers.

"Where are the others?" Ajak asked, looking at the three women.

"We had to split up." Makkari signed with a upset look on her face.

"There were more Deviants than you said." Thena added also with the same look Makkari has.

"Well, I'm sure that was a lot of fun for you." Phastos looked at Thena.

"It was." Thena simply responded.

"Once the others kill these last Deviants, we will have eliminated them all from the planet." Phastos explained,

Gunshots grew closer to them making Rea jump. Druig cam over to her and put a protective arm around her. She snuggled into him trying not to think about the people screaming. He stepped away from her and was about to control them.

"Dru, please don't." Rea pleaded, she just wanted him to comfort and distract her.

"We don't interfere in their wars. " Ajak added while looking at Druig.

"This isn't war. It's genocide." Druig responded as he stared at them. "Their weapons have become too deadly. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea helping them advance, Phastos." Druig simply said.

"Technology is a part of their evolutionary process, Druig. It's not exactly something that I can stop." Phastos frowned but Rea gave him a comforting squeeze of the arm.

"No, you can't. But I can." Druig barked back, Rea grabbed his hand and made his attention turn to her.

"Please Dru, stay strong." She pleaded with him.

"It's too late. Everyone is going to die." Thena mumbled,

"Thena? Are you okay?" Rea asked stepping closer to Thena. Thena took out her weapon and stabbed Rea in the abdomen.

"Rea!" Druig yelled and ran toward her. Thena went for Sersi and stabbed her. She then stabbed Phastos in the shoulder making Ajak stop to see if he was okay. Thena tried to go for him against but Makkari tried to take Thena down and ended up getting stabbed.

"My love, are you okay." Druig asked Rea as he laid her on her legs and held her.

"I'll be fine." She said weakly as she held on to Druigs hand.

Ajak tried to stop Thena but she also got stabbed but thankfully Gilgamesh stepped in and knocked her out.

"Ajak! Ajak! Come quickly!" Druig yelled as he held on to Rea. Ajak ran quickly toward the brunette and quickly healed her.

"Are you alright, Rea?" Ajak asked with concern in her eyes. Rea sat up and nodded.

The group took Thena to a temple of some sort where they all currently stood. Rea had cuddled up in to Druig's side as he put a protective arm around her.

"I thought Mahd Wy'ry was a myth." Rea said watching Thena.

"There is no cure..." Phastos said glumly as Ajak healed his wound, "so no one really talks about it." He added and the Thena woke up.

"What happened?" She asked, which Rea stepped forward and grabbed Athena's hand.

"Thena. You attacked everyone. Wounded Sersi, Phastos, you nearly killed Makkari and Rea." Ajak anwsered as Thena sat up.

"I don't remember." Thena said looking at Rea sadly. Rea had returned to Druig side and he wrapped an arm around her.

"You have Mahd Wy'ry. Your mind is fracturing under the weight of your memories. And all I can do is erase them so that you can start over. I will have to inform Arishem and take you back to the ship where we have the technology to help you." Ajak spoke softly to Thena, Gilgamesh looked glumly at Thena.

"But she won't be Thena anymore." Makkari signed.

"What if it happens again? She could've killed you. She could have killed all of us." Kingo anwsered Makkari. Rea laid her head on Druig's shoulder and he moved to kiss her head.

"Please." Thena pleaded as she started to cry." Please, I... I want to remember. I want so remember my life." She pleaded,

"Thena, I love you. But listen to me. It's not important if you remember or not. Your spirit will remain. You will always be Thena deep inside. Trust me." Ajak said, Druig looked deep in thought before talking.

"Why should she trust you? You're asking her to let you erase who she is." Druig said moving away from Rea.

"Druig, I know you're upset, but..." Ajak started,

"Upset?" Druig yelled, "We'v trusted you for 7,000 years, and look where you've gotten us. I've watched humans destroy each other when I could stop it all in a heartbeat." Druig continued and that's when Rea noticed the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"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, huh?" He said and turned to the people down below.

Rea felt tears in her eyes, she knew he held so much sadness because he cared so much for humans.

"We're just like the soldiers down there. Pawns to their leaders. Blinder by loyalty. It ends now." He said and then starts to control everyone below. That's when Ikaris grabbed him by the shoulder,

"Let them go." He demanded,

"You're gonna have to make me." Druig said.

"Stop." Ajak and Rea demand Ikaris.

"If you wanna stop me, you're gonna have to kill me." Druig replied as he looks at Ajak. After that, he left.