Chapter 3
He was there.
It was like the air had been sucked from the room. Druig was there, just as handsome and cocky as he always had been. They were Eternals, but Makkari hadn't realized how much she'd been expecting him to change.
But he hadn't, and it was distressing her. Her fingers felt locked together, brain turned to mush, as she firmly repressed the urge to run to him. He'd asked her to let him go, and she had, and his return with their family did not negate that. She would respect his request, even with him standing right there in front of her. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done.
So instead she sat with Kingo, catching up on what the situation was. It was crazy, insane, unbelievable - they were machines, made rather than born, with a fictitious homeland planted deep into their memory circuits, here to raise livestock for the slaughter. And yet Makkari couldn't really take it in, couldn't really care, because too much of her processing power was being taken up by the man across the room.
She was hyper-aware of him, basking in the reverberation of his footsteps, letting the fluctuations of air from his lungs wash over her as a comforting embrace. Out of the corner of her eye she watching him picking through her things, leather jacket open at the front and the wrists,
Makkari gritted her teeth, keeping her gaze carefully fixed on anything but Druig. Even now, she would not cause him any more strife. She would keep away from him, even if it took all the effort she could summon for the rest of her endless life.
But Druig had other plans. He was there, suddenly, right in front of her, startling her with his nearness. She looked up into his face, and very nearly cried.
His eyes twinkled at her, and she could've leapt for joy. She couldn't see any of the pain that had grown all-too familiar on his features in the years before Tenochtitlan, just simple happiness, as in the younger days of this planet.
"How did you end up scoring this Emerald Tablet?" he asked, and she gaped at him, realizing he'd picked up her most precious treasure.
Reaching for it, he yanked it back from her, bringing his face closer to hers than she had dared even to dream about for the last half millennium.
He called her beautiful, just as he always had, lips caressing her name. Makkari snatched the tablet from him, unable to keep the grin from her face. It was as if no time had passed, none of those lonely centuries away from him, none of the strife that had plagued them in the centuries before Tenochtitlan, when the weight of their mission hung heavy on his shoulders.
It was everything she hadn't let herself dream of.
"Did you miss me?" Druig asked, smiling gently at her, eyes alight with humor. His hands formed the signs with lazy familiarity.
She had no words to answer him, for it would take an age. Of course she had missed him, yes, like breathing or like running or like kissing, and it had felt like a never-ending ache deep in her bones, a reminder of all her mistakes that she wouldn't be able to list even if they had hours. So she settled instead for tipping her chin up at him, as had been their habit, and knew he would understand.
There was no time for catching up, no time to sort out exactly what he was thinking and feeling about her, because they had a mission. The other Eternals had not returned to their ship to go home, but rather to prepare for a battle unlike any other they had fought.
It seemed a pointless trial, testing their strength against that of a Celestial, but there was no other option if they were to save this planet that had been their home for so long. Their only home in existence, in fact, since Olympia was only a myth.
Everything devolved quickly. Phastos was hard at work and the others were on edge, stomping around, and there was no peace to be had anywhere on the Domo. Druig, who had always been the kindest of them all, walked amongst everyone, sharing quiet words and gentle encouragement, a hand on a shoulder here, a hug of understanding there. Thena he spent a long time with, sitting in silence as Makkari watched from afar, worried about her sister but unsure how to help.
Thena was facing a unique pain, Makkari knew, having experienced her own version of it before. It was no easy thing to lose a loved one, and she couldn't imagine the shock and horror of seeing her love die before her very eyes.
It could break her, Makkari thought, and gritted her teeth. This was just increasing her longing for Druig’s company, and when he left Thena's side she ran to him, slipping one hand into his.
He gripped her fingers tightly, worry in his eyes as he looked at her. His mouth opened slightly, as though he would speak, but he thought better of it after an instant, shaking his head. Instead, he ducked down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, lingering but a moment.
Makkari inhaled sharply, heartbeat fluttering in her ears, seized by a sudden burning wish to pause time exactly then, to exist in this beautiful state where Druig didn't hate her without having to think of anything else.
But her power was speed, not time, and so the seconds kept ticking by. Druig drew back much too soon, giving her fingers a squeeze before steadily walking away. His meaning was clear: there was much to be said between them, but now was not the time.
And then, very quickly, everything went off the rails. The Emergence started, and Makkari was sent to find its exact location, and when she had returned the remnants of her family had fractured further. Ikaris and Sprite vanished, vowing to put a halt to any plans to avert the coming cataclysm, and those left behind foundered.
In the wake of all the departures, cutting through the stunned silence, Druig asked the very sensible question of what they would do instead, since now Ikaris would be acting against them. Of course they couldn't stick with the original plan where Druig was the key player: Ikaris would kill him in a heartbeat, and spare no remorse. Makkari nodded, agreeing that it needed to be addressed.
But Sersi wouldn’t hear of it. And Druig, kind, sympathetic Druig, who would volunteer in a heartbeat to keep anyone else from enduring pain, spoke up again. "It's okay, Sersi. I've got this."
Makkari’s blood turned to ice in her veins.
No. He couldn't. This couldn't be the real plan - it was impossible. Druig would struggle enough to keep control over the young Tiamut, but to ask him to do so while being hunted by Ikaris? No.
But Sersi had already left the room, and Kingo and Karun were gone, and Ikaris, and Sprite, and Ajak and Gilgamesh… so little of their family was left. When Phastos turned back to his tech, she went back to Druig's side, needing the comfort of his presence for as long as she had it.
Don't leave me again, she said pathetically.
I won't, he told her seriously. But he was lying, and they both knew it. He gripped her hand, knuckles turning white.
She wouldn't lose him again. She couldn't.