Water Or Wine

Chapter 4

"He is going to ruin it and everything it stands for." He bites angrily and I sigh "I am so sorry Buck. I wish I could be there but..." I am cut off by Sersei shouting to get my attention "Noel, we are leaving now!" There is a pause down the line. "Who are you with?" Bucky asks tensely and I glance behind me at the others "Some family, look I have a problem I am trying to sort out right now but I promise I will come back as soon as I can." I hear a sigh down the phone before finally "ok." And the line goes dead.

-

I am fighting aliens and we are loosing, nothing we are doing is making a dent in the wall of them ascending on us. "Fuck!" I hear Thor curse as a monster bites into his arm before he shouts "duck!" I do and he throws a bolt of lightening at a creature that was about to sneak up on me. "Thanks." I pant as I stab another one in the gut.

"Uh guys we need to get the stones to the van." Peter says as he stops by us. I look ahead of us at the sea of aliens rushing us and I shake my head "Not gonna happen bud." But then a path magically clears. I frown, that's weird. Instead of the van, it leads to Tony, Nat and Steve. Everything seems to be still for a moment. "Noel!" Natasha waves me over with a smile and I feel the tightness in my chest loosen "Nat?" I ask, unsure but then I go rushing towards her. Although when I get there it's changed.

Natasha looks all crushed, half her skull caved in and both her legs bent in unnatural angles. Tony looks as though he has been electrocuted, his entire body filled with colourful veins instead of the natural blue ones he is supposed to have and Steve looks old but his eyes are not there.

I gasp awake in shock, my hands going straight to my heart only to find a camera in my face. I frown and swat it away "Get that fucking thing away from me." I snap angrily at Kingo before stalking to the back of the plane. I go into the bathroom and wash my face. Once that is done I look at myself in the mirror and take a deep breath. I feel like the weight of the loss of them is going to crush me and I don't know what to do, I feel so guilty that I am still here. Still here when I have no need to be, the others can take care of the Deviants, they don't need me. But all I hear is "Noel, we've landed." And I push those feelings down to deal with another time.

-

We reach the deserted planes of Australia where we know we will find not one but two of our group hiding out here. It's where Gilgamesh and Thena reside, keeping Thena from harm. We reach the top of a hill and spot a Deviant, dead and rotting in the beating sun. "This is the Deviant you fought in London?" Kingo asks staring at it as though he has never seen one in his life "It's different." Ikaris says as though he could possibly know that "There must be more out there than we thought."

Most of us walk past it however Kingo and his valet go right up to the monster. Sersei links arms with me and I push down my sunglasses to protect me from the light. "You're about to meet to of the greatest warriors the world has ever known." I hear Kingo say to his camera behind us as we make for the house. "Thena, legendary, deadly, fashionable. And her trusty friend, a mighty powerhouse of strength, Gilgamesh!"

Kingo makes it a big reveal, that doesn't happen. It takes several knocks on the door for it to finally swing open revealing Gilgamesh in an apron that says 'Kiss the cook' and turns into a dress at the bottom. Gilgamesh frowns into the bright light of the outside "What took you so long?" He asks before waving the camera away. He steps out of the doorway and towards us "You look younger today Sprite." He muses as he walk past.

Karun chuckles before telling us "I have the same apron." I roll my eyes, watching what my friend is doing. "Who the hell are you?" He asks the stranger, Karun introduces himself with an innocent smile and I silently wish he would just go away already. "Gilgamesh. The Deviants are back." Ikaris says and I scoff, crossing my arms "No shit." I mutter and he shoots me a glare. "I could have used some help." Gilgamesh chuckles as though this whole situation is funny.

"We were attacked by a Deviant in London too." Sprite tells him and Sersei adds "Even Ikaris couldn't kill it." This hurts Ikaris' pride slightly and that fills me with glee. Asshole. "You couldn't?" Gilgamesh asks the other man and he shakes his head "I was distracted." He makes up an excuse and our friend just laughs "sure man." He says.

He then turns back to his oven which is for some reason outside and asks "Hey, you guys wanna try my pie?" He brings it out but then stops when he notices our faces. "I'm sorry Gil." I say gently "Ajax's dead." We watch as Gilgamesh tries to process this and Sprite adds "It's true buddy. We lost her." And the pie falls into the sand. What a waste. Gilgamesh sits down on a wooden chair and crushes the iron pan in his hands easily, silently I move over to him and place a hand on his shoulder. He places his own on top of mine and I rest my head on top of his. A moment of comfort which is all I can offer.

Once he is feeling ok, Gilgamesh takes me, Ikaris and Sersi up to see Thena. When we reach her, he stops us "The attack triggered her." He tells us as we watch our friend drawing rapidly on a piece of paper "She's no fun to be around right now." There is a moment of silence before Gil calls out to her "Hey, Thena." He says "Look who's here. Give me your hand." She stops drawing and slowly turns her head towards us before launching into an attack.

Of course, having dealt with this probably a million times Gilgamesh is ready for it and blocks her easily. "Thena." He says as a warning, she doesn't appear to have heard him though as she speaks "Everyone of Centuri-6 is going to die." Her voice is almost robotic and it sends a shiver up my spine. "Give me your hand." Gil repeats calmly but Thena continues "It's too late. We can't save them." She moves to attack again but then Sprite buts us into an illusion to help her out of her mind.

"Thena." She says "We came to Earth together on our ship. You're an Eternal. The greatest warrior of Olympia. The legendary protector of Athens. The goddess of war. Remember who you are." This seems to be working as Gilgamesh can get closer to her, we watch as their hands interlink and he says "Remember." This seems to pull her back completely and Sprite gets rid of her illusion. Thena looks at all of us then, her eyes returned to normal "Hello." She says before her eyes land on me and they go soft.

She steps forward "Noel." She says affectionately, I smile and make towards her "Thena." I say before we embrace. "I am so sorry." She whispers in my ear and my smile drops for a moment. How did the news get all the way out here? Is there no where that hasn't heard about my loss?

-

We are back inside their house and helping ourselves to the food carefully laid out by Gilgamesh. It's a small place and we barely fit around the table but we make it work. "This one is a trio of wine, beer and mead." Gil tells us about the drinks in our cups "Made for all the soldiers in the battle of Troy." Karun smiles nervously "That's so thoughtful." He says and Gil places himself beside me. "Should she be drinking?" Kingo asks and Gil lets us in on a secret that she isn't drinking alcohol but being told she is.

Gilgamesh starts teasing Sprite so she turns him into a baby which has all of us laughing. Sprite changes him back as King says "Speaking of Odin, Thor used to follow me around when he was a little kid. Now he's a famous Avenger and wont return my calls." At this change of subject I keep my eyes on my plate, silently. "Wait, Noel. You're an Avenger right? What is Thor doing now days?" He asks, I swallow hard before looking up hesitantly before answering "He went back to space, with some of the people who helped us defeat Thanos."

The table goes silent for a few minutes before Sprite finally speaks "So, now that Captain Rogers and Iron Man are both gone, who do you think is gonna lead the Avengers?" I pause my eating but don't say anything, just stunned by the question because it's one I haven't thought about. Is there even an Avengers without Steve, Tony and Nat? I doesn't seem right. "I could lead them. Right Noel?" Ikaris asks trying to be lighthearted. Instead, angry I slam my cutlery down on the table, stand and kick my chair out from behind me and storm out.

I hear some muttering behind me before I leave. I stand in the desert on my own for a few minutes before Thena appears. "They don't get it." I say not looking at her "To them, some people died, big whoop. But to me, they were my friends, my family and now they are gone." Thena pulls me into her and I start to sob. "You know Ikaris doesn't think before he speaks and even when he does he can be an insensitive prick. You know no one could replace them, in your team or in your heart." I clutch onto my friend and cry.