frustrating, intoxicating, complicated
“Call me when you land, I still think you should’ve taken my private jet.” Kingo laughed, arms wrapped around the shorter Eternal, a laugh escaped her as she hugged him back.
“I gotta ask, how did you manage to get your hands on Asgardian liquor?” She questioned, feeling the beginning of a hangover from the fun they had the night before, Kingo shrugged in response.
“Thor’s a good friend of mine.” He stated, nervously looking away when she continued to stare at him, waiting for the real answer.
“Ugh fine.” He gave up hiding the truth. “I won an auction on eBay.” He confessed, causing her smile to widen even more. A voice was heard over the intercom announcing that a flight will begin to board soon, she recognised the flight number as the one printed on her ticket and therefore bid farewell to her friend before making her way to the queue for the aeroplane.
Although she enjoyed spending time with Kingo and watching him prepare for his new movie, she couldn’t wait to get back home away from the overcrowded streets, to get back to the place that made her feel the most herself she’s ever been. Her phone began to ring, distracting her from her train of thoughts. She glanced at her phone to read the incoming caller ID.
“Did you check the photo I sent to the message thread?” Sersi questioned on the phone while making her way through Trafalgar Square in London. “Hello to you too.” She responded, laughing as she glanced around the airport while waiting to board.
“The main chat or the one without Ikaris?”
She heard Sersi sigh in response. “The one with.” She answered.
Unlocking her phone to read the messages, she noticed two pictures that were sent by Sersi. Both photographs of a billboard which displayed a single gold dagger with a cerulean blue handle as well as a crown with flowers created out of gold wrapped around it, both were objects discovered to be from thousands of years ago from what was once called Mesopotamia, in 5000 BC to be exact.
And also created by two eternals.
Scrolling through the chat she read all the responses from the fellow Eternal’s and the lack thereof, Phastos reminisced of the past while Kingo responded with how he despised his hairstyle during that time, she noticed how Druig didn’t bother to respond to the messages itself. Preferring to like the photograph of the flower crown instead.
She let out a chuckle once done reading the responses, before getting interrupted by the boarding agent to give them her ticket she said goodbye to Sersi, promising to call her back once she lands.
“Oh shit, I’m late for work.” Sersi responded before ending the call, allowing the other Eternal to finally board the plane home. Hours later she found herself in a taxi, directing the driver to the designated location only to get an odd look from him.
“That’s in the middle of a forest?” He questioned, staring at the Eternal through the rear view mirror, she hummed in response too distracted to be invested in the conversation, overhearing the driver whisper something incoherently. Over an hour had passed since the two last spoke, the driver opting out of small talk due to the weird nature of the woman as she continued to stare out the window admiring the nature surrounding them while they drove further into the forest.
The car suddenly halted as the man immediately hit the brakes. “What the hell?” He questioned, getting out of the car to see a broad tree that was on its side, blocking the dirt road. Branches were scattered around the trunk of the tree, the roots were pulled out almost as if something pulled the tree out of the ground and onto the road, which was physically incapable.
Unless you were something not of this Earth.
She got out of the car seconds later, contemplating whether she could put the tree back in its original spot and continue her journey home but that risked letting the strange man know about her ‘special abilities’.
A loud rustling from the depth of the forest distracted her train of thoughts causing her to squint, attempting to look into the forest but failing due to nightfall. It was almost impossible to see anything.
The rustling was heard again but this time much closer, as if it was approaching the two of them.
“Hey lady! Get back in the car.” The driver ordered, wanting nothing more but to drive away and get to safety. She flicked her hand and within a second bioluminescent flowers surrounded the duo, allowing a small glow to expose what was approaching.
Crawling on all fours, wings raised up with its jaw wide open, teeth sharpened, she recognised the unmistakable Deviants she previously believed were to be wiped out over 5000 years ago. A piercing roar cut through the air causing the man to jump in fear, rushing inside of his car, headlights turning on as he presses the horn of the car grabbing the attention of the deviant.
The deviant cocked it’s head to the side as it stared at the human before turning towards the Eternal, charging towards her. She gasped as she ran in front of the car, a golden aura surrounding her almost immediately as the fallen tree was thrown at the deviant as if it was made of styrofoam.
The deviant dodged the trunk, it’s anger bubbling as it once again charged for her, wanting nothing more but to kill her.
“Go get out of here!” She shouted at the driver who did so with no hesitation, leaving her to fight the creature alone. Her eyes were now glowing as vines began to wrap itself around the deviant's wings pulling them down onto the ground, within seconds the deviant caught loose of its grip and aimed for the Eternal once again, not blinking an eye towards the car that sped away.
It felt like minutes had passed as she continued to fight, attempting to protect herself from the deviant but wanting nothing more than to be in her bed at home.
She glanced back at the direction the car drove off towards, wondering why the deviant didn’t acknowledge the human, focusing all its energy towards the eternal instead. Her head was slammed against the dirt road, powder of dust enveloping the air as the Deviant pinned her down with its claws digging into her torso. A throbbing sensation was felt at the back of her skull and she swore she could feel bleeding, she looked up at the Deviant in fear as it’s jaw opened, teeth barred and ready to pull her apart limb from limb. The eternal panicked as she allowed her eyes to glow once more, fingers twitching as a large tree was ripped out of the earth and shoved its way through the skull of the deviant, blood splattering over her, combining with her own.
She slid from under the creature, breath heavy as she stood up, touching the back of her head wincing as she felt a fresh wound oozing out blood. Attempting to pick up her bags that the driver tossed out onto the road before speeding off, she began to tread towards the village, the corpse of the Deviant wrapped around thick vines that dragged the body alongside her as she limped her way home, battered and bruised.
By the time she got a view of the village it must’ve been past three am, hours had passed since she separated from the driver and killed the deviant, the lights were all out except for the simmering fire that sat in the middle of the village. She paused, dropping her luggage for a couple minutes to gather her breath, one more break before she’d be at home in her comfortable bed, surrounded by her favourite people.
She assumed everyone was asleep due to the quietness of the place, she could hear the alpacas begin to lay down on the ground to get comfortable, as she neared the village she noticed a man sitting on the steps, head in his hands, he looked as if he’s been sitting there for hours, waiting. As soon as he heard her steps he looked up.
“And where the hell have you been, you were s’posed to be here hours ago-“ Druig’s sentence was cut short.
The frustration that was once on his face was wiped away as he took in the sight of her, the dried blood on her clothes, bruised and beaten down as she limped her way towards him, her eyes were still glowing as she used her abilities to drag the deviant's corpse with vines that acted as rope.
As soon as her eyes met his, she dropped everything, body staggering as she made her way towards him, he met her halfway, holding up her body as she fell into his arms. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep but she knew she couldn’t in case she had a concussion.
“Shit, What the hell happened?” He demanded, gently bringing her to the steps of the chapel to sit her down, his eyes scanned her body to determine where all her injuries were at. His hands went to her face, moving her hair away from her face to examine the injuries on her, only to feel the clumps of blood on her scalp. He immediately got up, calling out for a medic.
“Don’t- it’s really late they’re all asleep now.” She sighed, hands rubbing her forehead to numb the headache.
“And I don’t give a shit.” He responded, swatting her hand away from her head as she touched her wound that began to open up again. Druig’s eyes began to glow a similar shade of golden, within a couple seconds the village medic came rushing out of his home, still in his pyjamas as he carried his things with him, his eyes were parallel to Druig’s glowing eyes. All she wanted to do was chastise him for using his powers but she felt herself becoming weaker, held up by Druig’s arm as the medic put all his attention on her injuries.
“What the hell happened to you?” He questioned, voice soft as he watched the medic stitch her wounds, her eyes began fluttering shut, struggling to keep herself conscious as the effects of the fight began to become more prominent. She hummed in response as she fought to keep her eyes open, feeling Druig’s fingers gently trace over the stitched wounds from when the deviant dug its claws into her.
“So?” He asked impatiently, wanting nothing more than to kill whatever did this to her.
“It’s complicated, Druig.” She managed to breathe out, visibly wincing as the medic dabbed one of her wounds with disinfectant. Druig scoffed in return.
“Complicated?” He echoed in disbelief.
“The deviants are back.” She finally confessed, attempting to wrap her head around what she couldn’t believe truly happened. She remembered when the Eternals had finally killed them all, they celebrated with one another before going their separate ways due to Thena’s sickness.
“What? Don’t be ridiculous, we killed them all... Right?” He questioned in disbelief.
“Exactly why I said it’s complicated.” She responded sarcastically, thanking the medic who completed his task, eyes now back to their original colour as he stared around in confusion wondering how he got there before Druig told him to get back home. He went back to his home without hesitation, wanting nothing more than to not be with the telepath and his counterpart in the middle of the night.
She pointed to where her luggage was laid, next to which was the corpse of the creature, Druig stood up immediately and made his way to the corpse, surprised that he didn’t notice the large creature beforehand. The head of the corpse was unattached to its body, a hole was seen in the middle of it’s torso, as he looked closer he could see that the deviant was in the process of healing itself before getting decapitated.
“It managed to heal itself.” She answered his unspoken question. He looked back at her and back at the deviant once again, unable to process this information.
“But that’s not possible.” He said in disbelief.
“If you think that’s shocking, wait till you find out that it didn’t even attempt to attack the human with me.” She began to stand up to make her way towards him.
“Are they safe?” He asked concerned and she scoffed in response, wondering if he remembered who he was talking to.
“D’you reckon this is the last time we’ll see another one of these?” He asked rhetorically, knowing something bigger was about to occur.
“Deviants with healing abilities that only want to hurt Eternals? We can only hope that was the only one.” She shrugged, Druig brought his arm around her to hold her up although not necessary.
“Guess it’s time for a family reunion, don’t you agree? My sweet blossom.”