GOLDEN SUN, ikaris

15. THE DOMO

As they continued on, memories began to enter Akoi's mind. Memories of when she first woke up on the ship, when she first saw Ikaris.

She smiled at all those memories, realizing that they shaped her into the person that she was today. He shaped her into the person that she was, and even though they had many have ups and downs, Akoi was grateful.

She was grateful for him, and she was grateful for her family.

She was also grateful to see Makkari again, who to her shock was already on the ship.

She was surrounded by books, and sitting in a chair, looking up at them with a smirk as if she had been expecting them for a while.

"What took you so long?" She signed to them all, and quickly rushed up as Akoi went to hug her. The speedster happily hugged her back, both Eternals grinning.

"I've missed you," Akoi signed to Makkari.

"I've missed you too," Makkari signed back, raising an eyebrow as Ikaris came to stand behind her. "I see nothing has changed."

"Oh, it has. But I don't think I have the time to tell you all of it." Akoi signed back.

Makkari smiled, and then Ikaris took her hand to lead her across the room while everyone said their hellos again. Akoi was confused, but she didn't question him when she saw exactly where he was going.

It felt like déjà vu as they stood in their rightful spots, looking at each other the way they had the day they first met.

"Hello, I'm Aiko," She repeated the words to Ikaris. He smiled briefly.

"I'm Ikaris, nice to meet you."

Akoi grinned as he then took her into his arms, spinning her around before pulling her in for a kiss.

The other Eternals gagged behind them, but Akoi paid them no mind as she kept her lips on Ikaris'. When they pulled away, Akoi couldn't help but feel content.

Everything was finally falling into place, she thought.

Everyone was finally on board to help them stop the emergence, and once they did, she would build her life with Ikaris. They would have a family, a child of their own, and they would enjoy earth, until it was time to move onto their next adventure.

It would all be perfect.

Ikaris turned her. "Akoi, my love. There's something that I need to—"

"Bracelets. You're making bracelets," Kingo's words distracted Akoi and caused Ikaris to sigh in frustration as she completely dismissed what he was saying. Curiously, Aiko made her way over to Phastos, who already conjured up some type of invention.

"Those are nice," Akoi commented, making Phastos smirk. "What are they exactly?"

"There not just bracelet," he corrected Kingo, "but rather a way that we can all stay connected. Sersi had the idea that only one of us will not be able to stop the celestial. But maybe if all of us shared each other's power..."

"You think we can become one Eternal and stop it," Akoi gasped at the genius idea, patting Phastos on the back. He merely grinned as Akoi praised him.

"We will call it the Unimind," Phastos told her. Akoi rose an eyebrow.

"The Unimind?"

"What? You don't like it?" Phastos could detect it in her voice.

"Terrible name," Sprite commented, before Akoi could say anything.

"Yeah, we should definitely brainstorm something else," Kingo patted Phastos on the back. And then as if a lightbulb went off in his head, he said, "Wait a minute. That's it. Brainstorm."

Phastos blanched. "No, no no—I made it. I get to name it," He said, however Akoi didn't care what he called it. She just hoped that it would work.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ikaris still frowning, which made Akoi frown.

And then, Makkari got their attention. "So suppose Druig can put the celestial to asleep. Then what?" She signed them.

"We find humans a safe place to go," Sersi explained. "We get them off the planet."

"Are we building an ark too?" Sprite asked her sarcastically, "gonna take one of each animals?"

"Well, you know what's never saved the planet? Your sarcasm," Phastos replied. Akoi chuckled.

"Space colonization could take decades," Sprite then argued.

"With our help, we could speed up the process," Akoi said. "Phastos could build ships, the rest of us can help with evacuating."

"What if we accidentally end up killing the celestial?" Kingo then wondered. "We will be responsible for millions of lives not being created across the universe. Right, boss?"

Everybody look towards Ikaris, who was the strongest of them all and who majority thought should be their leader. Akoi looked to him, too, squeezing his hand while he pursed his lips.

"Ikaris," Akoi asked, wanting his opinion too. "What do you think? What troubles you, my love?"

He didn't speak.

"We need your answer," Sprite spoke up, a little annoyed. "Say something," she urged him. When Ikaris still didn't speak, Sprite finally realized. "You don't think we should be doing this."

At this, Akoi felt Ikaris' grip on her hand falter. She looked at him with confusion in her eyes.

"What—Is this true?" She asked quickly, and Ikaris avoided her question.

"Ajax chose Sersi to lead us," He told everyone, "I think she should be the one to decide."

Everyone then looked at Sersi, who took a step back, not expecting that.

But it wasn't Sersi's opinion that Akoi wanted. She looked at Ikaris, trying to read his face, trying to see what he was hiding from her.

She knew it was something, and she knew he wasn't letting her in on purpose. He kept avoiding her eyes, and he wouldn't look at her. Everything he said at Gilgamesh's ranch, and just recently started to fall into place in her mind.

He said he had to tell her something. He said he had to confess. Was that what is was—did he not want to go through this plan?

Akoi still didn't get her answer because Ikaris walked off before she could. She sighed, and she went to stand by Sersi who really seemed to be the only other person that truly wanted to do this. It felt like everybody else was just obligated to do it which put a horrible feeling in her stomach.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" She asked Sersi quietly, the green Eternal shook her head.

"I hope so," She said simply.

Akoi sighed, and then she watched as Kingo went after Ikaris. She was hoping that he could bring him back, because she still had a lot of questions for her lover.

However, when he did come back, everything suddenly changed in an instant.

And Akoi wished that he had just stayed gone.