𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐝𝐞𝐧 | 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 |

57 | 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

I sit in the back of a van, brought to us by a group of Heavies to extract the team from British soil, Deimos' delirious form beside me. Her body is covered by white sheets, to protect her from the harsh cold as well as her modesty. I run the back of my hand softly on her cheek, a choked sigh escaping her tired lungs.

Rebecca sits opposite of us, tinkering with a portable heart monitor connected to Deimos, this one giving us a view of her heart rate, oxygen and saturation needed for her to live, versus the values she currently has. The black haired female clips the small device on the stretcher that the goddess is sprawled upon, keeping it open to monitor the status.

"Everything's normal, except for the heart rate, but it's nothing to worry about, medic told me that pain tends to raise it." I nod, not really paying attention to her words.

I look over to her markings on her neck, these ones brittle weakly with pulsating energy, Deimos clearly fighting to keep her strength. Her eyes fight against the exhaustion, trying to stay as awake as possible. Rebecca grabs a syringe and a vial from one of the medic bags, starting to lightly drain the contents from within.

"Stop, what are you doing?." I bring my hand out and grab her wrist, stopping her from getting close to Deimos, syringe in hand and ready to be injected, the content inside sloshing with the light movements of the road.

She raises her free hand, trying to calm my soon—to-be—explosive mind.

"It's only anesthesia. The medic told me the dose and how to inject it right to make it work faster. We can't let her wake up, the pain will be unbearable. And we can't let her try and fight against the injury, it'll worsen her condition." She says lowly, as if she's talking to a frightened child.

I blink while mentally slapping myself, having forgotten the hushed conversation she had with the head medic before leaving the hideout. I let her go, ashamed of my actions. She says nothing as she brings to the side a part of the sheets, letting her arm free.

She places a blue rubber band on her arm, finding a vein after a few seconds of searching. She digs in the bag, taking out an alcohol pad and ripping it from the package. She gently rubs the site clean and carefully inserts the needle, pushing down and slowly introducing the liquid, a low 'bingo' coming from her as she completed a somewhat difficult task for those that don't have medical knowledge.

Deimos' eyes start to close, the medication working quickly on her system. The pulsating markings in all her body dwindling and shutting down completely, no soft dull lighting whatsoever filling the space like it did a few seconds ago, her mind completely asleep.

Becs takes the needle out softly once she finishes, placing a small gauze on her arm to stop the blood from pouring out. She safely discards the syringe and places the sheet back in its place, enveloping her unconscious form.

She sighs and starts to write down the information on her computer, sharing the details with the medical staff accompanying us as well as the official Doctor waiting for her in Peru.

Why such a far place? It'll take weeks to get there, who knows how long it'll be until she.. until anything happens. I take a loose strand of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear, briefly moving the braid in the process, uncovering the burn marks in the left side of her neck, the sight making my blood boil.

"She protected them so much, and they couldn't even do the same. They burned her.. played with her, made a fantasy out of her origins.. they gave her nothing while she gave them all. Including their lives." In my peripheral I see how Rebecca's head flies up, my words impacting her.

"So you're saying that she shouldn't have given her life for us? Remember that if not for her, we wouldn't be here. Like at all. Her kind gave us life, you and I are here because of them. If she wouldn't have given us protection, we wouldn't be here." I look over to her face, full of sleeping peacefulness.

"You're mad with the Templars, not with humanity, Shaun. Take your anger out on them, but don't bring innocents down with you. She won't be happy to know that you blame everything while the fault lies on a single person. Isn't that what happened that led her to where she is?." She resumes her work, making my mind ponder of her words.

That is what happened. How exactly, I am unsure.

'Your naiveness brought us to dying numbers before the sun could even burn enough.'

Juno's words from a couple of years back ring in my mind..

'She had thousands killed on a war out of pettiness. People of her land and even those that weren't.'

Now Becs' retaliation against Deimos back in the temple ring through..

'She was.. played with, when she was younger.'

'She won't be happy to know that you blame everything while the fault lies on a single person.'

Rebecca's words from a year and a half ago and even now drown all sound around me.

Could it be? Her going to war because of someone? Did a single person make her blame everyone around her? What really happened that made Juno hate her so much to the point of trapping her in a temple?.

I don't want to be like that.. I know I won't kill anyone but, right now I do find myself blaming people.

I blame Violet for stabbing her. I blame Deimos for getting in the way. I blame myself for becoming the target and being distracted. I blame Berg for grooming her. I blame Lemay for burning her. I blame Bishop for bringing us into this mess. I blame the Isu for making such dangerous artifacts that do nothing other than attract people with evil intentions like flies to a pile of shit.

I blame the world for wanting to burn again, but on its own.

I blame the world for the constant need of hurting everyone in it.