Who: Thena and Ikaris Where: The Emergence Spot When: Thursday December 22nd What: Investigating what happened to the Celestial Rating/Warnings: SFW Status: Completed in Gdocs
Since Makkari had left, they hadn’t really had a chance to do any investigations of the emergence. It had been confirmed by Q that the Celestial was gone, but Thena couldn’t help but think they should investigate for themselves. And of course, Thena couldn’t go on her own, but she had someone who could fly.
Thena wondered if Ikaris would resist going, considering what happened in their own timeline, but he agreed to go. Ikaris had taken them over two oceans until finally they touched down on the beach. Even as he let her down, Thena stayed close as she turned into him. “Still okay with this?” she asked, looking up at him.
While this wasn't the first time he'd stepped on this beach since being snatched from a fiery death, he found it hadn't gotten any easier. The island may not have shown any evidence of his clash with his family, but Ikaris saw it regardless.
For a few seconds, he just stood there, watching it all play out and wanting to scream at himself to stop. Or beg Phastos to just end it.
His hand trembled where it was wrapped up in Thena's, and his smile, when he was able to hitch it on his face, was every bit as uncertain as he felt. "I will be. This is important. I have to be. Are you?"
Thena watched Ikaris’s face, and tried to make sense of what he was thinking. The last time she’d been here, she had had a clarity of mind that had been lost to her for so long. Thena had a new mission and Thena’s point of view was something she rejected. She could guess the emotions he was feeling now though, and for that Thena couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him, and not just because of their relationship now.
Her hand was firm as his hand trembled. When he finally confirmed that he would be okay and even tried to smile, Thena reached a hand up to brush over his cheek and leaned in to kiss him for more reassurances. “I’m okay,” Thena assured him and then she smiled as well. “Remember: play nice.”
This time, his trembling had a much more pleasurable source, and his groan was both exasperated and something else altogether. "As far as things to be thrown back in my face, I can't say that's the worst one I've heard." Ikaris smirked and leaned down to kiss her knuckles, nearly bowing to her to do so. "Maybe later, once we've explored the place a bit more. For what it's worth, I really wasn't sure whether or not I'd be walking away from that fight on the Domo. As it was, I had other priorities. Idiotic priorities. Where should we start?"
Thena grinned as she’d at least helped to shift the mood. She watched Ikaris kissing her knuckles and then looked back at his face again. “All things concerned, it was probably the most fun I had that day,” Thena teased him. “We should go inside the volcano and see if Tiamut really is missing.”
"That's as good a place as any." Ikaris's grimace gave way to resolve: they needed solid proof that the danger had passed. He put his arms around her and took off to the most direct route to the base of the semi-active conical mound, and then settled them down by one of the slightly less steaming vents. The heat was intense, made him recall those last few instants of searing agony, but he shook his head to dismiss the memory. "Once more into the breach."
This wasn’t going to be easy for Ikaris, but Thena figured the sooner they investigated the worst of it, the sooner they could leave. She put her arms back around his shoulders as he lifted her again and took them higher to one of the vents. While Thena was missing the warmer weather, this wasn’t what she was missing at all.
Before going into the vent, Thena used her cosmic energy to create a shield to give them some protection as they entered the vent and active volcano. Thena was fully expecting to find the same chamber they had already found before, but she had no idea what they would find inside, or if there was any evidence to show why the celestial was missing.
Before the darkness gave way to the orange glow of magma, the heat prickled across Ikaris's skin, even where it was covered by the cosmic material of the suit the Domo had created for him over 5,000 years ago. It may have been able to withstand a dizzying array of environments—or lack thereof, if it was in space—but it didn't keep him from being able to feel things. Or smell things. His nose twitched. "Does something smell… sweet to you?"
Thena had gotten accustomed to wearing more human clothing again, but her cosmic suit was the only thing suitable for going into the volcano. The shield was just an extra precaution as they walked in deeper. The glow of the magma told her they were close. Thena did catch a strange scent, but she wasn’t able to describe it, but Ikaris’s question helped. “Yes, I smell something sweet,” Thena looked confused back at Ikaris. That just made this even more mysterious, and she picked up the pace. The vent widened further into a large opening to the chamber.
As soon as they stepped inside, Ikaris knew something was very, very wrong. The heat was intense, of course it was; they were walking into a lava vent. Yet the walls and floor and ceiling were strangely textured, blackened, to be sure, but not smoothed out like a normal flow might leave. He put his hand against it—and then jerked back when it cracked and gave. He pulled Thena away with him as something white poured out of the hand-shaped hole he'd made. It began to brown as soon as it hit the floor. "Is that…?"
Marshmallow.
That was not what Thena had been expecting at all. The room smelled sickly sweet now that they’d identified the source of the smell. She changed her shield into a dagger as she scraped the white sticky mass from the wall where Ikaris’s hand had removed the roasted crust. She tested it with the tip of her finger quickly because it was hot and melting from the edge of the blade to the floor. “I don’t understand.” She didn’t dare taste it to confirm either. “How did this get here?”
A muscle in Ikaris's jaw twitched as he surveyed the space with a critical eye. "Do you remember what Quentin said in his network post? He asked if something used to be in the world. What if… What if this was Tiamat? Think about it. If something as large as a nearly full grown Celestial were to have suddenly gone missing, the effect would be globally catastrophic, not to mention probably world ending. What the hell does this mean?"
“I remember,” Thena said as she listened to Ikaris recall what Quentin had communicated to them about Tiamat. Part of what Ikaris was implying made sense. A celestial couldn’t just disappear. It was a significant part of the planet’s mass, at its core. If it simply disappeared, the planet would have likely been destroyed without the emergence. But what was before them didn’t seem possible. “So… someone or something turned Tiamat into roasted marshmallows? Who would know the celestial even existed besides us?” They were only coming up with new questions instead of finding answers. “Would it be ridiculous to bring a sample back and ask someone in Sciences to look at it? It might just be sugar.”
Ikaris shook his head. Those were answers he didn't have, not even to speculate about. The entire thing was insane on a level he couldn't wrap his brain around. "No, it's not ridiculous. It's a good idea. Do you have something we can use?"
While going on this investigation, Thena hadn’t considered bringing anything to collect specimens. However, she tried and manipulated the dagger with her energy into some kind of vial that wrapped around the sticky marshmallow that hadn’t fallen away. It would be good for now and she held the vial in her hand. “That will have to do.”
After another long look around the cavern, Ikaris shook his head and took Thena's hand again to lead them out. All the rest was unpassable magma, and he didn't much fancy dealing with that kind of agony again—not if he could help it. "I checked the site of the last of the Deviants when I first got here but found no sign of them." His brows contracted thoughtfully. "If they were turned to sugar, too, maybe they simply dissolved? This is maddening."
At Ikaris taking her hand again, Thena turned back with him as they headed back out. Between the melted confection and the magma, there was nothing else they could investigate. She stayed close and listened to where else Ikaris had been. “Whatever was responsible for this,” Thena said holding up the vial, “it must be also responsible for making the remaining Deviants disappear. And the others, as well,” Thena also added but her voice was more solemn at that last part.
His fingers squeezed hers gently even as he frowned. It really was strange that they'd never found their doubles there, living their own lives. But Gil was gone, too, as was Ajak and Phastos, and they'd never come through the portal at all, as far he knew. He'd never had the courage to look for Phastos's family once he'd realized the man wasn't there. Not knowing felt more like a blessing, if any at all could be found in this mess. Ikaris shook his head. "The question really becomes: do we want to find whatever did this in the first place? How could we hope to go up against something or someone that powerful? What could we possibly do? Sorry, I realize these are frustratingly rhetorical questions."
“We have to do something,” Thena said without even hesitating at those questions. Sure, Ikaris and Thena could make a new life for themselves, together. Kingo could continue on as a movie star, and Sprite would be able to live a normal life. But that felt like abandoning their family who disappeared.
“Originally, I wondered if maybe it was Arishem that was responsible. He could have removed everyone who hadn’t gone through the portal,” Thena explained her theory though she had no actual evidence to that. In fact, they seemed to have evidence to the contrary. “But Arishem wouldn’t have done this,” she said, gesturing to the vial in her hand.
Ikaris's lips thinned; the problem seemed insurmountable, but he knew she was right. After all that sickly sweet, the tinge of salt in the air was almost a relief. "You're right. He wouldn't have. And from what you told me after I—he wasn't well pleased with our stopping the one thing that's now very clearly been stopped. And we do have to do something, but how do we begin? Where do we begin?"
The change in the air was a relief, and the prospect of cooler temperatures was approaching as they left the volcano. She considered Ikaris’s question about what they could do. “Well, we’ll give this sample for someone at the lab to analyze,” Thena stated first because they’d already agreed on that. “And now that we’ve seen the result of whatever happened, we can tell the scientists in the lab too. And maybe we should try talking to Quentin since he sensed this.”
"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to tell the other magic users, too, especially the ones native to this world—Wanda and Nico, I believe. It's too bad Strange and Wong are gone. They would have been supremely helpful." A joke? In these trying times? Perhaps a dry one. Ikaris stroked the side of her hand with his thumb and sighed quietly. "One answer, and a dozen more questions. Will this place ever make sense?"
“You’re right,” Thena agreed with Ikaris’s suggestion about speaking to the magic users. She knew Wanda would be interested in helping at least. If that joke was intentional or not, it brought a quick smile to Thena’s face. “I don’t think so. I remember the first plan was to go at this with brawn because we thought there would be a fight,” she remarked, thinking of talking to Thor about helping. “But this does put an end to the emergence, regardless. I want to find our family, but we need to know what we’re up against, and what consequences there might be.”
They walked back out onto the beach, and Ikaris pulled her into his arms, holding her close. Not knowing what was about to happen was maddening, but that was life—even this mixed up, crazy one they'd been dropped into. "That we do. And that we will."