1521
When the attack on the city had begun, all of you split up to fight the deviants, and it was just your luck that a bunch of Spanish conquistadores decided now was the best time to attack as well. To say it was chaos was an understatement, a severe understatement. People were running and screaming while left and right you heard gunshots go off and roars seemed to surround you.
Admits the chaos you had lost Makkari and Thena, with who you were sent to kill this group of deviants. God knows what could happen to them in this mix of blood, metal and bloodcurdling screams but you tried your hardest to think of something else. Like the deviant running headfirst towards you.
You jumped to the side and before it managed to take a sharp turn and jump at you again, you threw a large piece of stone at it, remains of buildings were scattered everywhere so you doubted anyone would mind. The deviant broke the rock in two with its tail like it was nothing and the sheer whiplash of it made part of it come back to you. Before you had properly registered it, it knocked you down and upon hitting the ground a stab of pain echoed through your spine.
Thank God you were an eternal because otherwise your spine would’ve been broken into a million pieces. You got up as well as you could and readied yourself for another attack. The fight was far from over and the longer it went on the more you wished you had Ajak’s healing powers. Despite the continuous pain in your tailbone, you hit the monster with loose pieces of anything within reach and very unceremoniously dodged its attacks.
Every time it was a close call, and you were beginning to feel the energy seep away. You had had a long day pining for someone who didn’t think of you as more than a friend and even though it was a feeling you were used to; it didn’t fail to cost a massive amount of energy. The pain seemed to spread, both from your heart and from your tailbone it slowly crept through your body. When you thought they would finally meet in the middle, an orange spear pierced the deviant from behind and as it sank to the floor dead; you sank to the floor exhausted.
“Come on, we must find the others.” Thena offered her hand, and you gladly took it, half walking half being carried by her you managed to find a way forward. “I thought you were with Makkari,” you groaned upon noticing the speedster’s absence. “We killed our deviants and were on our way to look for you when she noticed some more on the other side of the city.” Thena started carrying more and more of your weight until you were hanging on her for dear life. “She went to deal with them.”
Before long Makkari returned and you caught up with her, she inquired about your injuries and you explained, “It’s nothing really, I got hit by a boulder and landed on my tailbone.” You smiled at her in reassurance, but it was far too obvious that, had Thena not found you, you might not have seen her again.
When the three of you made it to where Ajak was, you noticed that the others who had been sent to fight the deviants, hadn’t returned yet. Thena put you down a little further away from the eternals who were there so you could regain your strength without being bombarded by questions and concerns, as well-intended as they would be. You couldn’t see everyone because of the dark, the distance between you and your eyes not being able to focus properly, but as far as you knew Druig was still out there.
You felt bad for him, he’d always confided in you about how horrible he felt about having to let the humans die at their own hands, how they suffered daily, yet he couldn’t do anything. You figured he must be having a hard time now; the screams of mass slaughter could be heard from miles away.
Despite the searing pain in practically your entire body, you felt a cloud of worry begin to form in your mind and you hoped that as soon as Druig came back, he would come to see you. Before your thoughts were able to spiral though, a distresses Ajak knelt beside you, “Oh my, what happened to you?” “Just a typical day.” You turned to look at her properly, “but it does hurt quite a bit so, my dearest Ajak, please fix it.” She laughed a bit and started using her magic on you. The sharp edge of the pain disappeared almost instantly, and you knew that when Ajak had finished you would be just fine.
Before she was able to do so however, a commotion amongst the other eternals caught your attention. You couldn’t really see what was going on but suddenly Thena started to attack, and Ajak ran off to help. You tried your best to help and occasionally knocked some weapons out of Thena’s had with lose rock you could see, but from this distance and with your still not fully healed body, you could only do so much.
After Gilgamesh knocked Thena out, he picked her up and, along with the others, started walking towards the highest temple. You tried to stand up, barely succeeding and limped towards the group, turns out Druig had been with them all along and your worry had been for nothing. Ajak’s healing had made a significant difference because you were able to catch up to them before they reached the stairs. You looked up and sighed audibly.
“Everything alright?” Druig asked, he had turned around to look at you when he heard you and noticed your crooked stance. “Yeah, yeah, no worries just thinking about how standing up was such fun and now these stairs,” you waved your hand in their general direction, “they’re gonna be a hoot,” you chuckled sarcastically.
Druig stepped down and wrapped an arm around your waist, “wouldn’t wanna miss out on the fun.” He helped you and slowly but surely you made your way up the seemingly endless flight of stairs. “So, are you going to tell me what happened?” He asked while looking to where he was holding you. “Have you ever been hit with the whiplash of a deviant’s tail?” He shook his head. “Well, that and half a boulder threw me to the ground.” He looked at you with sympathy and together you continued in silence.
Your mind was racing with thoughts, how ironic it was that your heart had longed for him so much this morning and how close he was holding you now. How it was so very kind of him to help you and, how glad you were to know he wasn’t dead. But mostly about how close he was holding you.
And close it was. Druig knew that he would be able to help you up the stairs with more distance between you, but he liked holding you like this, and you didn’t seem to mind. He felt guilty for not going to you when he first saw you were injured but his mind was too preoccupied with what was going on around you. He told you so and you made sure he knew it was fine. “You’re helping me now and that more than makes up for it.” You smiled in reassurance.
“What happened to Thena?”, you asked when your thoughts had stopped consuming all your attention and you noticed the silence. “I don’t know, one minute we were talking.” He looked away a little and you knew why. Even the dark and the distance couldn’t hide that fact that, had Thena not attacked them, your friends would’ve started fighting amongst themselves anyway. “The next she had a spear in hand and a distant look in her eyes,” Druig continued, “she seemed almost possessed.”
You didn’t really know what to say, so you remained silent. The closer you got to the top the better you could overlook the city. It was a horror site, everything seemed to be on fire and the atmosphere was filled with never-ending screams and gunshots. You could see the pain in Druig’s eyes, the guilt he felt for not helping and the internal fight he had every time something like this happened.
In the little chamber on the top of the temple, Druig helped you to a wall near the opening and you leaned against it. Thena was still unconscious, but she began to stir, and your friends took a step back. All but Ajak and Gilgamesh, Thena and him had always had a special relationship, they seemed to understand each other without saying a word, even more so than Sersi and Ikaris. You had always dreamed that one day you and Druig might be like that.
After Thena had awoken, it all went very fast. You had barely grasped what Ajak had meant when she told Thena she had to erase her mind when Druig rebelled. It seemed that for the first time, his internal fight had been won by his sense of morality rather than his sense of duty.
If you had had the strength, you would’ve thrown Ikaris from the top of the temple the second pushed Druig against the wall, “you’re gonna have to make me.” And for a second it looked like he would, luckily Ajak was there to calm him down. Unfortunately, Druig’s mind was made up.
When he started walking down you thought he would still bid you all farewell or at least tell you where he was going. He didn’t. Then, for just a second, you thought he would come back. He didn’t. You hoped at least someone would run after him. No one did.
So, you took matters into your own hands and, slowly but surely began to make your way down the stairs. None of your friends made any effort to stop you, something which, you would only realise later, was actually quite a bitch-move.
“Druig stop,” you groaned, the combination of smoke in your lungs, pain in your ribs and having to walk down a flight of stairs made you feel like passing out. “Stop please, where are you going?” You grabbed him by the shoulders. When you got to the step he was on, you had to take a second to catch your breath. “Where are you going?” you asked again. Around you people had stopped their fighting and, despite his eyes not glowing, you knew they were under Durig’s control.
“It’s gone on for long enough, their suffering.” He glanced at the humans as he spoke, “I’m leaving, and you can’t change my mind.” He looked at you with sadness in his eyes, but you knew this was what was best for him, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Well, when will I see you again?” Your breath was still shallow but at least your eyes were able to focus again. “I don’t know.” You knew what he meant. Maybe never.
Your mind was still going crazy, Druig was leaving. Druig, he was leaving. And he might never come back. You thought about your feelings, your hopes for the future and eventually you decided it was now or never.
“In that case,” you looked him in the eye and grabbed his hands, “I am utterly and irrevocably in love with you.” You noticed something shift in his eyes but didn’t wait for his response, “I have been since we were in Babylon and I figured, since you’re leaving never to return, it would be best you knew. Now, I don’t expect you to feel the same, but I just had to tell you, or I would be cursing myself forever.” When you were finished you, once again, found yourself short of breath.
Druig didn’t know what was happening, he had felt so sure about his plan 5 minutes ago but now, not so much. He knew you had some feelings for him, it was obvious, not to mention his feelings for you. But love? It wrecked his plans and his mind.
“Well? Say something. Scream, yell, anything!” Apparently, he had been silent for too long because there was definitely some desperation present in your voice. He didn’t know what to say so he did the only thing he could think of. He kissed you.
You didn´t see it coming and your mind didn’t register it for a good 5 seconds, but when it did, it felt like heaven. The kiss was soft, gentle and so full of desperation. It seemed as if thousands of years of untold feelings and longing stares were poured into it, to some extent that was true.
“Come with me,” Druig said when he finally broke the kiss. You were sad to put distance between your lips, but this proposition made it worth it. “I don’t know where we’ll go, but at least you don’t have to leave.” He was right, you didn’t know where you were going, or what was waiting for you in the wild world. But you knew that you had Druig by your side and that made it all better. “Yes, yes I will come with you.”