A Thousand Miles And Poles Apart

baby you're not dancing on your own

You were in Phastos's lab, looking over the map he had made you of the small island where you'd made your stand against Tiamut in the Emergence. Sersei was beside you, trying to help you figure out where best to fight Ghaur now. Phastos was still trying to tinker with the bracelets. Truthfully, you wanted him to figure out a way to use them to get their memories back so they could stop your other plan.

"We could always split up around the island," Sersei suggested. "Cover the whole thing."

"We would be too far apart to help each other if needed," you disagreed. You pointed at the volcano on the planet, now dormant. "We also don't want any cosmic energy to set that off."

"There's still a lot of places he could get to Tiamut besides from the island," Phastos said. "He is a huge stone in the middle of the water. We can't really protect all of him."

"Y/N, what if we call the Celestials?" Sersei asked.

"What?"

"The orb that connected me with Arishem, it's in the bracelets, isn't it?" she asked. "I'm sure Arishem doesn't want Ghaur to get Tiamut's powers any more than we do. Maybe they can help."

"No," you said firmly. "That is an epically bad idea."

"They have the power to defeat him," Sersei said.

"Then why haven't they?" you asked. "He's been around longer than we have. He's terrorized countless of their seed planets, and stolen how many Eternals' powers. Why haven't they stopped him? Besides, we are not high on their list of friends right now. We killed one of their own for this planet. Do you really want to call a bunch of angry Celestials to Earth? They could just as easily destroy it for spite."

"I agree, that sounds like a bad idea," Phastos added.

"We don't have enough numbers to keep him from Tiamut," Sersei said. "What are we supposed to do then?"

"Maybe call the Avengers?" Phastos asked. "More man power."

"And say what?" You asked. "Hey Captain America, sorry to bother you, but we're cosmic beings that have been here since 5000 BC with superpowers? Why didn't we help you stop Thanos? Oh we couldn't get involved in human affairs, but now we need your help, so, sorry you lost half your population for five years, but can you fly over to the Indian Ocean and help us stop a monster who wants to steal the power of a Celestial who could destroy the Earth? By the way, it may not matter, the oldest and strongest beings in the multiverse may still destroy your world."

"That was oddly detailed," Phastos said slowly, looking at you.

"Okay, so what do we do then?" Sersei asked again.

You thought about it, looking at the map. You knew separating everyone was not a good idea. Three times you had faced Ghaur now with your power, and three times you hadn't been able to beat him with your power alone. Any of your powers. It didn't make sense, your power was strong enough to turn a Celestial to stone. Ghaur wasn't as powerful as Tiamut yet. And yet, he had escaped you time and time again.

You looked at the bracelets Phastos was working on, triggering the feeling of the Emergence. You remembered connecting with the others, feeling their bond and powers within you. You remembered the feeling of Tiamut and the universe, of life itself. It had unlocked your final power, the one Arishem had made you forget, the ability to wield energy as you did the elements. But you'd tried to connect with the power since the Emergence, and you'd felt nothing. It was like it was dormant inside of you. All this time, you'd thought that had been the key to stopping Tiamut, and that you'd only had access to it because of him. But what if you were wrong? It wasn't just the Celestial you'd connected to.