Promises

From the first day of the month of November until the last day of the month of February of the following year you had religiously found yourself away from the Compound, an agreement that no mission or extracurricular activities was to be made during those four months. No amount of danger or impending doom could bring you back to help them during those four months. You were under the radar, without anyone knowing your whereabouts nor were they aware of who you were spending those long months with.

In the eyes of the people you called a team, it was a weird condition, somewhat selfish choice for you to make. But you knew better, knowing that being part of said team saving the world on a day-to-day basis and being away from your own family was more selfish—especially for your husband of few good centuries living in this earth. It was selfish for you to make a choice with your husband and leaving him behind when you bit more than you choice chew, disobeying the one thing your family had told you not to do. You interfered.

You were an Eternal, who was sent to Earth to eradicated the Deviants—in your mission, you were ordered never to interfere with their wars nor their advancements, but you couldn’t stop yourself. It was always in your heart to interfere even knowing openly the consequence that could come to you one day. It tore your family apart centuries ago, choosing to stay with your husband as they had stopped the both of you from interfering with the impending but senseless wars. It broke your heart having to leave them behind, to see Sprite and Sersi beg you to stay, to not follow your husband with his choice. The pain of having to let Ajak free each and every single one of you into the world—the catalyst of the impending change in the only thing you had known as your family.

But the life you had created with your husband wasn’t perfect, it was far from it. The home you had created for yourself was far from the advancement with the rest of the world. Generations upon generations you had seen the people in the small commune stay stagnant, content with the life that they already have in the moment. Of just the two of you in this community, watching the people grow, reproduce, and pass before the cycle once again repeats.

But it was never for you. Your husband has known as much and had come to terms that you would want to explore the world and all of its advancement along the way. So he had allowed you to go, to explore the world for as long as you had promised him to you would come back, which you did. Decades of such a set up and the two of you found your middle ground.

You had never broken your promise, always and forever kept your promise of coming back to him. Whatever it takes.

It was in your exploration that you’ve met Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, created an identity away from what you were created to be. A human with extraordinary skills. Someone that had helped them in whatever capacity they would need from you. You had created a family in them, away from what you had lost in the past.

It was the perfect set up and your husband had accepted it, for as long as you do come back to him, nothing else truly matter to him.

It was a setup you never thought would become a constant to you, instead of the explorations you’ve done in the past. Four months out of the year away from the team and the eight was fully dedicated to any missions they would throw at you, your team believing it was the only time out of the year that you could be with your family. The holidays were religiously for them (notwithstanding the fact that neither you nor your husband really celebrate anything), no amount of bribing or teasing from the team could convince you to break your four month breaks. It was a promise you were not willing to break even if the world was crumbling.

But then a mission happens, you were Superhuman, but you were not truly invincible. In the act of saving Natasha Romanoff, you found yourself falling thousands of feet down the cliff. Everything somehow moved in slow motion, Nat tried reaching for your hand but she was just a second too late and your back and head were met with the jagged rock-filled ground.

The impact shook you, and the sounds of their scream could never compare to the sudden numbness in your mind. The voices in the back of your head, every voice fearing for your well-being and the promise you had with your husband finally being broken.

What if you couldn’t come back to him in your state? The last thing you would ever want is to scare him or to worry him.

“Druig.”

It was a silent plea for him as the pain now resonated through your entire body, what you didn’t realize was even in the distance you shared with your husband, he heard you.

~

“How’s she doing?” Tony has inquired, shaken still after seeing your lifeless body down the cliff. Nat was sitting beside the bed you laid, uncertain if the spy had left you throughout.

“Still hasn’t woken up since what happened.” Nat’s voice portrayed the same expression she showed—worry and guilt.

It’s been three days since the mission, three long grueling days since your operation, three long and painful days since you had sacrificed yourself for Nat who had been the most doubtful of your arrival in the team. How it took years for you to soften her up in your presence, of how you simply wanted a family in them. Every single member of the team had also learn this part of you, and the worry that had now come as it was the second day of November and you were still unconscious.

In the silence of the medical ward, the prominent beeping had irked the two members and the gravity of what had happened to you meant. The things that now changed since the incident. It scared them, how you could so easily give your life away if the chance ever presents itself to you. To the family you’ve made here.

“Have you tried contacting any of her family?” Tony inquired again, unsettled by the number of bandages in your body. Dr. Cho had done her best to keep you stable for the most part—only time could tell when you would wake up and begin the healing process.

Nat shook her head. How could she even begin making necessary contact when you never disclosed anything about your life away from the compound. No mother, no father, no husband or wife, no children. Your record was clean for them to start making the necessary contact.

Silence was the only thing Nat could give. Her hand now coming to hold onto your own, even in your sleeping state, held onto her hand tighter—your little way of reassurance. The constant protector—the reassurance, the peace in the constant chaos of what the team could be if not mandated. Even as the questioned they were yet to find any answers to, it was a problem for another day. Even after all the years of knowing you, there were still things they were yet to know.

“I should have been the one that’s falling—not her.”

“You can’t continually blame yourself for this. She wouldn’t want you to.”

“Tony—”

Before Nat could continue on with her own protest, FRIDAY’s disembodied voice took the both of them by surprise.

“Boss, we have a couple of people waiting in reception looking for Y/N.”

Tony and Nat had shared a look now.

“Who?” Tony inquired his AI, opening up a hologram of the two individuals.

“Y/N’s husband and mother.”

~

“I should throw you off a cliff.” Druig was known to be quiet and somewhat broody as you would often tease him to be—but this time, seeing your unconscious body, he was being resentful.

“Druig.” Ajak was the only one keeping him at bay. Keeping him from doing something he knew you wouldn’t approve of. It was a good thing he had sought Ajak before making his way here in New York, he knew perfectly well it would be a much messier scene if she wasn’t here.

Sitting on the chair besides the bed you laid in, his hand held onto your own cold ones.

“Once she’s regained consciousness, we can have our doctors have another look at her before she can finally leave the medical bay.” The man Druig had learned to be Tony Stark had explained, but his attention was solely focused on the woman that was responsible for your predicament.

“I know you’re upset…” The woman began.

“Upset?!” His voice rose and he tensed at how even in your unconscious state, calmed him down as your hand tightened around his own. “What I am feeling is past being upset. I am angry at what my wife has to do for you humans.”

“No one wanted this to happen, you need to calm down, Buddy.”

“My wife wanted this to happen, to constantly risk her life for you, for the people that know nothing but pain and destruction. Of war and death. She wants to change the world but it is beyond saving more so when the world needs to depend on people like you. Centuries have passed but it is always the same and the only way that she would ever stop if she is dead.”

“Druig, please.” Ajak had now held onto Druig’s free hand. “This is not what Y/N would want you to say.”

Druig bit his lips, but it was the truth that he will never have the heart to have you face. His love for you outweighs the constant worry and fear he has for your safety.

“Just help her.” Druig pulled away from Ajak’s hold, his free hand coming to cup your cheeks. His mind was filled with the memories the two of you shared in your home.

Druig focused his attention on you. Ajak had now started using her powers to help in your healing process. A smile lingering on his face as the warmth was slowly returning to your palms. The power slowly surging back against your fingertips and the familiar color returned back to your features.

Before long, you were slowly swimming back into consciousness and the smile of relief finally rested on Druig’s lips as soon as your eyes had opened and it was his eyes that you first see as you woke up.

“Druig?”

It was adorable to see the confusion in your eyes, the familiar crinkle of your nose as you try your best to comprehend everything that was going on in the moment.

“I came all the way to New York, worried sick when you didn’t come home like you promised…” He trailed off, but the fear of the possibility of you seriously getting hurt overcame him. “Don’t ever make me so worried like that again, My Persephone.”

The smile on your face at the nickname brought the worries to rest for now. How fitting it was for the situation you both shared. A portion of your time was with him, in your own little underworld, and the rest was here, as far away from him as possible. You were the Persephone to his Hades, and it was the most beautiful tragedy known to man. He had taken you away, to his own kingdom away from the only family you had ever known, only to have you leave for a fraction of the year for the sake of your own happiness.

“We’ve been together for centuries, My Love.” You teased, hands finally having the strength to let go of his own. Gently, Druig savored the way that your hands hand now found their way to his cheeks. It was the littlest of touch that meant the most to him, even to this very moment. “I thought by now you’d get sick of me.” You continued rubbing circles against his cheek bones.

“Never.” He pulled back, lips twitching as he fought for the smile to not grow any bigger on his face. He still had a reputation to uphold. “When it comes to you, a century is not enough. As long as I can have you, I cherish it.”

“Even if I break my promise?” You inquired.

“Even when you break my heart over and over when you leave.” He whispered finally leaning down to kiss your forehead and eventually your lips—it was a gentle kiss, the first in months now.

He miss this, missed the feeling of your soft lips against his own dry and chapped ones. How with just a small fraction of a moment, he was finally brought back to life again. This was the power you held over him and you and only you could possibly have over him.

At the sound of throat clearing, he finally pulled away and the small gasp that escape that lingered on your lips made Druig well aware that you had not noticed the two familiar individual aside from Ajak that was also in the room.

“I would have said get a room, but you’re already in one.” Tony Stark has spoken, the gears in his head were turning—that much Druig could see through his mind. It was whole different thing when it comes to the woman besides him. It was chaos of the truth and the pieces finally coming together.

“Thank you for caring for our Y/N.” Ajak had finally intervened knowing neither you nor Druig had any plan of breaking the silence.

“Who really are you, Y/N?” And there it was, against the lips of the woman that had been the sole reason for what his wife was in the bed, in the brink of death only moments ago.

“It’s no one’s business but our own.” Druig’s terse response was almost a given when it comes to him, no one was immune to it except you. It was always like this with him and with new people—especially when said people are the reason for you being in this predicament to begin with. “Stay out of our business, Widow.”

~

“Druig.” You called hoping to stop anything from happening between the two. It still amazed you how your husband could be an imposing figure without even using his powers, only the coldness of his blue eyes could make anyone fold, even one of the deadliest assassins known to man.

“Just stating facts, My Persephone.” He finally turns his back at Nat, conflicted with how your husband was acting. “I placed my trust on this people to keep you safe but here you are laying on a hospital bed. Now they have the audacity to act suspicious over you of the thing in your life they know nothing about.”

You closed your eyes, so there was a reason why he was here. More than to take you back home, he was trying to make a point.

“Druig, please. Not here.”

“Then where? When you’re out there saving the lives of Humans that will one day turn their back on you if they don’t get what they want?”

“I think it’s time we settle this.” It was Ajak’s voice of authority that finally cut Druig from his upcoming tirade. “It is only fitting for you to do, Y/N.”

Turning your focus on Ajak, the look of reassurance was all you needed to see before every worry finally melted away from you. Away from your mind and all you could do was nod and hold onto Druig a little bit tighter, hoping that this would not ruin anything that you had built with the Avengers.

Full patched up thanks to Ajak, every single member of the Avengers had made their way to the meeting room, with you, Druig, and Ajak following closely behind. It was then that everyone noticed how you practically glued yourself to your husband—an individual no one would have ever thought you would have in your secretive life.

“It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you both, Thor Odinson and Loki Odinson.” Ajak greeted offhandedly upon seeing the two Asgardians also in attendance much to their shock and confusion at the sight of her.

Sitting beside your husband, you had watched Ajak begin to tell the team about their mission all those centuries ago. Of who you three were. Eternals. Of the sole reason you had been placed in this planet and how your purpose since it’s completion was to create a life for yourselves without interfering with the world.

It was a weird sight to see, the confusion in their faces before realization and shock came to replace it. Of course, they were made aware of your lack of help for Thanos’ action in the past, they were made aware of what you and your family had to do to stop the emergence from happening after what they had to do to recover what they had lost in the snap.

It was no longer a surprise for you when a few of the team you had made for yourself looked at you differently now. How some had stood up from their chair in the meeting room and walked away. It was to no one’s surprise that the trust they once again for you was no longer there.

“Let’s go home.” You begged now, stopping Ajak from further explaining your history with the rest of the Eternals.

It was when even Steve, the man you had been the closest with in the team had stood without another word and left that you realize that this was the final nail to the coffin and you cannot see yourself being part of the team anymore. There was no more trust and you’ve come to peace with that.

“Y/N—”

“Enough!” Druig spat turning his attention to Ajak now. “I am taking my wife home.” Druid stood with his hand held up for you to take.

You turned your gaze back to the people that remained still. Nat, Tony, Thor, Loki, Sam to name a few. There was hurt in their eyes that met your own. It would take a while for you to even look at them again like this, maybe never even, and you want to go home and think of what you could do for now if this was what you truly want for your life.

Coming to hold your husband’s hand, with the familiar spark at your connection you teleported the both of you back to your home. Deep in the heart of the Amazon Forest. There was a consequence you know perfectly well you needed to face when you come back but it was better than allowing the confrontation to come so early in everyone finally knowing the truth.

In the comfort of your shared bed, you took a deep breath before finding yourself sobbing against his chest as everything you had worked so hard for as part of the Avengers has now come crumbling away.

“I had to do it—Y/N.” Druig whispered, arms coming to wrap around your healing body. “I am yours, my Persephone. And I will do everything I can to keep you safe—even from the very people you always choose to protect.”

“I know.” You whispered, voice breaking in the process. “That’s what makes it more painful.”

~

In the silence of your bedroom, your focus had been on your surroundings.

The sound of crickets from the outside, the light platter of the rain against the roof of your home, the gentle and even line of breath of your husband that wasn’t asleep just as much as you weren’t. But in your shared silence, what stood out the most was your hearts, always beating in sync whenever you were together. One body, split into two, as your family had often spoke. He was your peace as you were his chaos. One cannot truly function without the other.

Craning your neck to look at him, he was look right back at you as you were still splayed naked on top of him. His gaze solely focused on you, hands resting against your naked waist, and his thumbs drawing circles against your skin.

This was the very thing that you missed the most out of him, of being home in his arms. It was this silence, the peace of not having to worry about the world for once. The only concern you had was your husband, nothing more and nothing less. It was this, the bliss of being in his arms, the warmth and constant comfort only he could give you.

“It shouldn’t be like this, not anymore at least.” He spoke in the hours of silence you had both shared.

“I can’t leave them like this.” You whispered. “I can’t disappoint them more than I’ve already did.”

“What about me?”

You closed your eyes, realizing that there would come a day that Druig would become selfish but what made it different now when you could simply stay back home longer was this time, you couldn’t. Not with the responsibility that now rested on your shoulders. Of the constant hope they had for you even with the doubt that came with your life, of your history, and of the things you still had no way of controlling.

“Please my love, anything else.”

“A child.”

At the words, you looked at him, the fear of what he was asking you. You wanted a child for so long, but Druig wanted his peace—a child would ruin that. The unspoken words of hesitation on his end, the one reason you really couldn’t stay here for long. It was the loneliness, the choices of having to stay with Druig alone in the heart of the Amazon, instead of being with your family.

A child that was all you ever wanted, to compensate the family that you have lost with the choice you had made with Druig. But he couldn’t give it to you, so he asked for something else, you chose to explore the world instead. Now he was using it against you.

“Don’t do this to me, My Love.”

“I want to keep you safe, at whatever expense I might need to endure. If a child is what you truly want, let’s have one. Arishem had given us the blessing if we wanted one.”

Bated breath, it was all you could have ever hoped for yourself and for Druig and now, as much as it was finally in your grasp it scared you to make it into a reality.

“What of your peace?”

“Centuries, and still you never understood where I get my peace, My Persephone.” He chuckled hands resting to cup your cheeks. “It is you. My peace in this Earth is you. Away from harms’ way and in my arms alone.”

“We can’t have this if I’m the only one that wants this. You can’t use the child to make me stay.”

“I always wanted this.” His hands now coming to rest onto the smalls of your back. “When I am alone, I see the people here, children of their own running around, it makes me think of you. Of how beautiful it would to see you caring and loving our own child soon. To see him have your eyes, beautiful just like his mother.”

“Him?” You smiled, amused that he would want his first-born to be a boy.

“Another one to help me in protecting you.”

“I will get hurt, we are Eternals, but can still get hurt. You have seen me bleed just as much as I saw you do so. But it is what makes as closer to being humans.”

As he closes his eyes, the deep breath you know very well where it would lead to.

“But we are not humans.”

“I know. I’ve made peace with such fact.”

“Why didn’t you tell them about us, about what you truly are?” He inquired. “Of our mission? Of the things we could have stopped but was ordered not to?”

You closed your eyes, of course you knew first hand. The snap had done so much damage to not only you and Druig but for each and every single member of the team. Of the things they had lost and of the life that shifted for everyone else. You could have helped in stopping the Mad Titan, but chose not to because you knew the repercussion it would have for not only you but for Druig if the time were to come.

You knew and turned a blind eye on it, for the greater good. Choosing to let them find a way all on their own instead of giving them the right answer. You could not interfere as much as you had already broken so much rules as it was.

“I did not have the heart to tell them.”

“Stay here with me instead. Let’s make everything we had always dream of into a reality.”

Opening your eyes, you come to stare right back into Druig’s own eyes. The pleading in his eyes that you knew you could never say no to—even for this moment.

“Okay.” You relent, lips coming to meet his own. “I promise.”