Eternals AU Idea cont - the final battle
"It's not enough," Sersi gasps as the uni-mind releases her, fading into nothing. "We're not enough."
Tears gather in her eyes. All this time, all this pain, this struggle, to protect this planet that has become her home, and now, in the time of Earth's greatest need, she can do nothing to protect it from the threat her family's own arrival had heralded so many millenia ago.
She hears Lena's soft footsteps through the thunder of Tiamut's emergence as her lover comes to kneel before before. Sersi can't bear to meet her gaze, instead staring at her helpless, useless hands. A moment later, one slender hand enters her field of vision to take her hand, while the other gently cups Sersi's cheek.
"I have an idea," Lena says quietly. At this, Sersi finally lifts her head, and looks into Lena's eyes.
"Anything," Sersi begs, pleads.
"For thousands of years, you have protected this world, and its people. You may not have cultivated this garden, but you have stood as sentinels against that which would have ravaged it. Even now, you wish to save it."
Sersi blinks, spilling her tears. Lena wipes them away with her thumb.
"The Eternals may not have the energy to stop Tiamut-- but because of you and your family, the earth does." Lena holds Sersi's gaze. "It will lend its power to you, to save itself and its people."
A desperate confusion fills Sersi, as she struggles to discern how to use this new resource. Surely if this were an option, Phastos would have mentioned it.
"We are not of this planet," she says. "We have no way to connect with it--"
"I do."
There is a calm resignation in Lena's voice that sends a lightning bolt of fear through Sersi's chest. Lena's magic is tied to the earth and its elements-- she could direct its power towards Sersi, allow her to access the nigh-unlimited energy of a planet bursting with human life. A font of power that could kill Lena.
"No," Sersi gulps. "No, you can't."
"I will," Lena returns calmly. "But you have to promise... promise me you'll receive this gift, and use it to save us."
Sersi shakes her head again, only for Lena's hand to firm against her cheek, deterring the motion.
"So many have already sacrificed so much to save this planet. This galaxy, this universe," Lena reminds her. Sersi's thoughts race to the Avengers, to Ultron to Thanos. "Now it's my turn."
Sersi can't bring herself to speak, nor to break eye contact. She stares wordlessly at Lena, until soft lips turn up in a reassuring smile.
"Promise me."
Finally, Sersi nods. "I promise," she whispers.
Satisfied, Lena stands, bringing Sersi with her. They walk together to the edge of Tiamut's palm, still half-submerged in the ocean. Kneeling at its edge, Lena offers Sersi one last soft smile.
"I have loved loving you," she says simply.
Sersi hiccups, fresh tears falling from her lashes. "I love you, Lena. More than I've loved anyone else."
Lena gives their joined hands a squeeze, then reaches down to dip her hand into the churning waves. The reaction is almost immediate-- a tendril of bright, glowing energy coils up Lena's wrist, arm, shoulder, until it spreads across her chest, then courses through the rest of her body. Sersi feels the heat of it through their palms, still clasped together.
Lena shudders, eyes clenching briefly under the wash of power, power a human body was never meant to bear. But then she takes a stuttering breath, and opens her eyes. Light pours out of them, their normal green flooded with the magic and energy of an entire planet.
"Do it now!"
Without giving herself a chance to hesitate, Sersi thrusts her free hand down, planting her palm against Tiamut's.
All at once the life force of an entire planet slams into Sersi. With a cry, she nearly jerks her hand from Lena's, but Lena's fingers tighten even as she cries out in pain. It takes all of Sersi's remaining focus to work her abilities, shaping the energy from raw power to intense purpose.
Slowly, the celestial surface of Tiamut's palm begins to change. It hardens, tightening into tightknit marble, pooling around Sersi's palm. Then, as though the planet senses Sersi's intent, the flow of energy increases a hundredfold, bending to Sersi's will with eager readiness.
Soon, the entire palm beneath them turns to stone. Focusing harder, Sersi expands her power to encompass the whole of Tiamat. It consumes all of her awareness, so that even when Lena's grip slackens and falls away, Sersi only moves her freed hand to aid the other, pressing both palms to the warping Celestial.
Then, it's done. The rumble of thundering earth ceases, and all she can hear is the cascade of seawater rushing from Tiamut's stony crevices. Sersi's body thrums with residual power, still almost too much to contain. With veins and muscles thrumming, Sersi opens her eyes.
Lena lays where she collapsed, blood baked in thick lines trailing from her ears, eyes, and nose. With a ragged gasp, Sersi lurches towards her, gathering Lena in her lap.
Her lover's lips are chapped and pinched, the areas around her eyes blackened from the intensity of the light that had shone from them. When Sersi clutches Lena's pallid hand against her chest, Lena's skin is cold and paper thin.
"Lena, no," Sersi pleads, voice wobbling in her throat. This was always to be the outcome, but seeing Lena-- a woman so full of life and light, who embodied so much of what it meant to be human-- now nothing but an empty shell... it's more than Sersi can bear. "No!"
In her anguish, Sersi almost doesn't notice the twist of magic within her. The earth had given her more than what she needed, and now it seeks an outlet, a route by which to return home. When Sersi leans down to press a kiss to Lena's brow, the magic arcs between them, seeking the vessel that had channeled it in the first place.
The magic spreads throughout Lena's body before Sersi's very eyes, wrapping her lover in a gentle embrace of light and power. As she watches, Lena's cheeks grow rosy once more, and her chest lifts with a deep, sustaining breath. When Lena opens her eyes, her eyes are golden with the shimmering magic that claims its home in her.
"Sersi..." Lena murmurs. Not quite a question, not quite an admonishment.
Sersi coughs a watery laugh. "We did it. You did it."
Lena studies her, eyes wide and watching. "You're... different."
"No, my love," Sersi returns. "You are."
It's the truth. The magic Sersi had thought was returning to the earth now resides comfortably within Lena, making no effort to travel beyond the bounds of her flesh.
After a moment, Lena nods. "I feel it."
There's no fear in her voice, no apprehension. Almost reverence, almost awe, but also... comfortable. As though she had come from a tiring journey, and returned home to a warm, welcoming hearth.
They remain there for a long time, with Sersi's arms wrapped around Lena. As the minutes pass, the glow of magic in Lena's skin fades. Her eyes return to their normal green, with only shining golden flecks to hint at any sort of difference.
When they finally rise, Lena climbs steadily to her feet, showing no indication she had been dead just an hour before. When she helps Sersi up, her grip is firm and sure, even as they begin to pick their way back to shore.
When the others come into view, with their ship a broken backdrop behind them, Lena pauses. When Sersi turns to her, Lena's gaze remains fixed on the starship.
"I can't go with you," Lena says simply. "When you leave."
"Lena," Sersi says gently. She steps in to eclipse Lena's view of the ship, turning her back to her family. She gazes deep into Lena's eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."
Even if she were, Sersi wouldn't ask Lena to join her, well aware that the magical energy that had revived Lena now bound her irrevocably to the planet beneath their feet. But Sersi has no desire to return to the stars.
"My place is here," Sersi vows. "With you."
Lena's brows lift, the corners of her lips quirking upwards in a tenuous smile before it soon spreads into a grin of delight.
"Well, now..." Lena teases, finally sounding more like her usual self. She loops her arms around Sersi's neck. "That's the best news I've heard all week."
Sersi leans in, kissing Lena softly at first, then more passionately as the sense of Lena fills every inch of her. She pretends not to hear the whistles and light-hearted teasing of her family behind her.
