It had been a hell of a day, and they were incredibly tired. Not even Makkari wanted to speed after what happened on that beach, and so Phastos just called them a self-driving people carrier to take them to a place with more people, with transportation, so they could make it back to loved ones and find some place where they could repair the Domo, and you know, rest, lick their wounds. Because they were all wounded, in one way or another.
There was the mental and emotional wounds, of course, the grief, the betrayal, the horror at losing so many people, and having to fight people that had been their companions for ages. In the last week, they had lost Ajak, Gilgamesh and Ikaris (although that loss didn't hurt as much) and had Sprite turn on them, too.
Sersi had to see her (ex?) husband almost kill so many of them, and fucking fly in to the sun, after being stabbed by the person who had been her roommate and companion for decades. Sersi had loved and trusted Sprite, and she'd literally stabbed her, just so she would stop saving the world! That had to hurt. A lot.
Phastos and Makkari has also being hit by Ikaris' lasers, and we'll, Sprite had just turned human. That couldn't be painless, either, it surely came with some discomfort, some nausea, something. Everyone was exhausted and hurt in some way, so Druig decided not to tell anything about how much he was hurting himself. Because boy, he'd nearly died and he was really feeling the after effects of that.
His entire insides were screaming at him. His head hurt an incredible amount, so much so that it was hard to think, to see sometimes (black spots threatening to take over all his vision the whole time) and his chest was on fire, it hurt so so much, and it got worse with each movement. His stomach felt like it was full of hot needles, stabbing him constantly. Even his legs and arms were sore from the whole being buried into the ground thing. It was really fucking painful and it took all his strength not to wince or scream out when he moved or was touched.
But after everything that happened, he couldn't just be be a nuisance again. Makkari had already looked really worried when she saw his forehead injury, and that was the smallest of them. He couldn't just worry her and take the attention away from people that might be worse off than him, and he wouldn't. They'd been trusting him to do this one thing, be useful for once and all he'd done was almost get himself killed. The last thing he wanted right now was whine and bitch like a little baby.
So he put his head on Makkari's shoulder as they sat in the plane or whatever it was that was supposed to take them back to Ajak's place, closed his eyes and hoped that rest would do him some good, that he would be better when he woke up.
*
Phastos was sat in front of Makkari and her sleeping beauty, and smiling as he saw how she caressed his face and looked at him as if he'd put the moon on the sky, perhaps reminding him about how Ben and him looked at each other in photos.
So, you and Druig, huh?
I mean, we never made it as official as Ikaris and Sersi, but there's always been...something. It was friendship, first, then, admiration, longing, love. It may be a corny, but he is the love of my life.
Nothing wrong with being corny.
And then her eyes clouded and...
When I thought I lost him, back at the beach, when I thought Ikaris had...murdered him... I haven't felt pain like that in my life. I'm not sure I'd want to live in a world without him.
Yeah, I mean, I know you didn't hear it, but your scream... Was really something.
He hurt my man!
Phastos smiled.
I'm happy for you both. I'm happy that we didn't lose Druig today, and that you both get to be together.
Oh, we are going to be together. I'm not letting this man out of my sight in a long long time.
*
When he woke up, he didn't feel better, at all. They'd apparently made it back to Ajak's, and his head was hazy, the pain even stronger, throbbing, bordering on what he felt when he had migraines before. Breathing seemed like an awful chore, and the needles in his stomach had apparently become swords, stabbing him constantly. The pain was everywhere, but he tried to control it. The other had been hurt too, and they weren't complaining.
Sweetheart, you're so pale. Makkari said, and he hated the concern in her eyes. He had to power through this, and he could, and he would.
Just tired, nothing too bad. Stop worrying!
She smiled. He wasn't going to rob her of that smile. He could take the pain. He always had.
The others seemed to be getting happier, too. Phastos was happy that his family was coming soon, Sersi had spoken to Dane and was arranging her trip back to London on her phone, Sprite was excited about starting a new chapter. They were still grieving, but they were also remembering that they'd saved the world, and all the people in it. They deserved it and Druig wasn't going to rob them of that. Or at least, that was what he meant to.
As they were walking on the door of the house, the pain became just way too much, he muttered a small "no" and just collapsed, eyes rolling back in his head, knees buckling, starting falling down. He hadn't want this. But he couldn't help it - the darkness didn't take him a choice, it just took him.
*
"DRUIG!"
"Oh, my god, Druig!"
"Someone catch him!"
"What's happening?"
There was a cacophony of sounds and they all saw him collapse, and they were all suddenly incredibly, awfully worried.
Makkari was there before anyone else, catching him in her arms. He'd passed out, he was unconscious. He was unconscious! Why? How?
"We should put him somewhere comfortable, but that we can maneuver."
Beds were tricky sometimes, because you had to get up in it and sit to be able to see anything, work... the couch would do for now.
"Do you think this is still about what Ikaris did to him?" Sersi asked. She really hoped it wasn't, she'd lived for so long with that man, days and days and days... If she'd known he'd been wanting to kill Druig for so long she would have a) warned Druig and b) tried to calm Ikaris down a bit, maybe? So yeah she felt a bit responsible.
"Maybe it's about receiving all that energy from the unimind. It's a lot of power, that was the person from several people going into him. " Thena mentioned. "And he did manage to stop the emergence for a bit before Ikaris knocked him out"
"...and then choked him in mid-air, threw him against the floor and buried him on the ground with his lasers." Sprite was looking at the pale figure of Druig and perhaps having some regrets. Even if he had knocked her out and that had hurt!! he suddenly seemed hurt so much worse than any of them were.
"Yeah, yeah, he's had a long day." Phastos said "Let's check for injuries under his clothes, I.."
Before he could even finish his sentence, Makkari had taken off the top half of his armour. And... that was awful.
"Oh, no!"
"How..."
"Druig, oh, no, why..."
There was a big red angry stretch of skin from almost his neck to the bellybutton, with two big angry redder parts in the centre. Those lasers. Maybe, because he'd done the unimind thing his defenses hadn't been as up and running as with the others, and that was why it had wounded him so much. That made sense.
"Why wouldn't he say anything?" Phastos was asking Makkari.
He doesn't like to complain. Because he can often feel others' pain, he often feels that they should get some care first, that they are worse off, that he shouldn't take the attention. He can be an idiot, sometimes. there were some nods Can you fix him??
Phastos sighed. He knew his way around medical technology, but...
"I'm not exactly sure what is going on with him..."
"I know," Thena said "I've seen it in battle. Too much damage done by a very powerful blow can cause internal damage, bleeding of the organs on the inside." Makkari's face was full of worry, as he looked at him with horror (his insides were bleeding!?) and then back at Thena "It was usually a death sentence a couple thousand years agi, but I'm sure Druig can handle it. He's an Eternal, right? He has better defenses than the olden day soldiers, and he has us!"
Phastos was doing weird technology things with the light in his fingers. Sersi was looking at the scene with fear, with horror. She'd meant to go to London as soon as possible, but she couldn't leaven when Druig was like that! He'd given her the final push she needed to actually do what she did, and save the world. It was thanks to him in a way that they were all safe, that she could actually meet Dane in a few hours. He had to be okay.
Sprite... didn't know what she was feeling. A few hours ago it had looked so clear, you know? The mission was too important, and so was being side by side with Ikaris. They would help the Celestial and then be reborn somewhere else, and maybe there... maybe she would have more of a chance.
But now... Now everything was upside down. Sersi who had gone against the mission had helped her become what she wanted even after being stabbed. Druig, resident loner and self-serving bad guy was apparently dying from injuries he got while trying to save lives. Makkari was standing still, for God's sakes, just holding Druig's pale hand, looking so terribly sad, so unlike herself. And maybe Sprite too was feeling a bit bad for him. He'd risked it all because he believed in his mission, and at least he didn't murder anyone. (Also he was funny sometimes. Sprite appreciated someone that could deliver a nice sarcastic one-liner)
Thena was afraid to look... something inside her told her that she'd seen Druig die other times, in other worlds and that him dying again... the last thing they needed now was for her to be triggered. No, he was going to be all right, ok? He was stronger than he looked, he was resilient. Please, be okay, Druig.
Phastos placed some light orbs in Druig's chest and Makkari was hopeful.
Is that going to heal him?
"It should. It all depends on how serious and deep the damage is. But... yeah, there's a good chance this will help him."
Makkari kissed his pale, cold hand, closed her eyes, willed the damage not to be too bad.
There was some pacing.
"Is this supposed to take so long?"
Some angry rambling about how if "people don't say there's a problem, then the problem can't be fixed, and it becomes a bigger problem..."
Are you sure there's nothing else we can do but wait?
Even more pacing, and people cleaning dishes and plates to get distracted "there's stil a stain!! I am going to clean the stain!!"
And even more,
"Shouldn't he be awake by now?"
Until the moment, when Druig opened his blue eyes, and most of the pain was gone. He was surrounded by people, and incredible miracle, no one seemed to want to kill him. Yet.
"Good nap, Druig?" Phastos asked, and there was a dangerous tone to his voice. "Care to tell us why you didn't mention that you were in agony and decided to nearly die, AGAIN?"
The rest of them seemed to agree with the inventor.
Yeah... maybe he should go back to his nap.
It really had been a long day.