gold rush

There was loud chatter in the air.

Children were running around creating games to play with one another whilst the adults continued with their day to day business, tending to the crops and cattle. You could hear the sounds of birds chirping away happily as they sat perched on the branches watching the humans. The forest was in harmony with the people that resided in it, the melody of the rushing river matched perfectly to the laughter of the children as they continued to enjoy one another’s company.

She was inside for the time being, although she’d been healed by the very kind medic, who had no choice but to heal her as Druig used his powers on the medic. She was told to rest by the man himself due to the ache in her bones and the delayed healing of the scars on her body.

Usually she’d have Ajax who would heal her with no hesitation but she unfortunately hadn’t visited Ajax in a few months, and hadn’t heard from her in weeks, although that wasn’t uncommon for Ajax to suddenly disappear.

Druig stood near the window, elbows leaning on the sill as he continued to watch the outside, taking in the view. She noticed his shoulders moved a little as he chuckled, watching two kids fight over who won the game they were playing. Druig loved his home, he loved that he got to create this beautiful place with her, but now the untouchable idea of a perfect life he had wished to live with her has been tainted. 

By the very thing they were instructed to destroy thousands of years ago.

She groaned as she attempted to pull herself up and out of the bed wanting nothing more but to rip off the bandages that were wrapped around her body. Druig’s body stiffened at the noise, immediately turning around to check on her, within seconds his hands were all over her to check on her injuries and to see how the healing process was going. She slapped his hands away in annoyance.

“Alrigh- alright! Cut it out! I’m okay!” She exclaimed, Druig hesitantly pulled away from her before scoffing at her statement.

“Just a couple of days ago you collapsed in my arms, now you’re trying to tell me you’re fine?” Druig crossed his arms, not believing the words that came out of her mouth.

She swung her legs over the bed to stand in front of him, making a show of twirling around to prove her statement.

“See? All better.”

“Yeah?” Druig questioned, beginning to make his way closer to her, she watched nervously as he stood right in front of her, their mouths only inches apart from one another.

She gulped as his gaze stayed on her and her only, piercing blue eyes staring right at her as if he could read her, her thoughts and feelings.

“Mhm.” She nodded hastily, already feeling the ache in her legs from putting too much pressure on them. All her body wanted was to rest but she couldn’t stand laying in the bed for any longer.

Druig slowly brought his hand up, allowing his fingers to trace up her jawline before resting on her cheek, forcing her to continue to look at him. She couldn’t read his emotions even if she wanted to, staring at the stoic expression on his face.

She felt goosebumps rise on her skin as his fingers traced her face, wanting nothing more but to fall into his warm embrace and allow him to hold her, to keep her safe in his arms.

“Then why is your stomach still bleeding?” He questioned before stepping away almost immediately, she felt colder as the warmth that he radiated, suddenly disappeared.

She frowned as she realised what he had done, glancing down at her stomach that did in fact begin to bleed through the bandages, groaning in annoyance and sitting back down on the bed. Druig grabbed the first aid box that he had left beside the bed, he kneeled onto the ground in front of her positioning himself in between her legs. He glanced up at her for permission before hesitantly pulling back the bloodied bandage, hissing in response as if he was the one that was injured instead of her.

“You’ve managed to pull some of the stitches.” Druig paused his sentence to throw away the old bandage before cleaning up the wound.

“How’d you manage to do that? I thought I strictly ordered you to stay in bed?” He scowled, shaking his head in disbelief, she shrugged in response, reaching out to place her hand on his shoulder to keep herself still.

She eyed him as he got to work on the wound, wanting to distract herself from the pain of the stitches. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the way Druig’s arms flexed in his grey vest, tensing with his every movement. All she wanted to do was reach out and trace his muscles with her fingers.

Or her tongue.

She blinked as she realised where her brain decided to go, wanted nothing more but to distract herself from the thoughts that were currently running through her mind, especially with Druig in between her legs right this moment.

She glanced back at him, noticing how he was already watching her with a knowing smile, turning his head to kiss her wrist gently before placing a new bandage on.

“Thank you Druig.” She whispered gratefully as he got up to throw some things away, he glanced back over at her, offering a smile before getting back to what he was doing. She couldn’t peel her eyes away from him, even with his back turned towards her, she was completely enamored by this man and she knew he felt the same way when their eyes met once more.

Outside the building the chatter of the villagers ceased, she heard footsteps approaching the centre of the campsite. Druig paused in confusion before letting his eyes turn to that all too familiar shade of gold, wanting to first hand see what was going on outside.

Within seconds his eyes flickered back to the baby blue colour she fell in love with, he had a disturbed look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just stay here for a moment, Sweetheart.” Druig mumbled, distracted before rushing to put his robe on and making his way outside. She sat on the bed in confusion, worried if another Deviant had made its way closer to the village.

She tried, and struggled, to overhear the muffled voices outside, only just recognising Druig’s voice.

“I missed all of you.” Druig smirked, glancing at the Eternals that stood in front of him.

“Please, make yourselves at home.”

Half an hour later she found herself sat on one of the benches in the chapel, which was against Druig’s own ideas. The latter wanted her to rest more until she was completely healed but she argued that there was something larger to be dealt with at the moment, hinting at the corpse of the Deviant they had to bury a couple days ago.

She sat beside Druig in front of the rest of the Eternals wondering why Kingo’s valet was filming the entire thing. On the right side sat Gilgamesh and Thena, behind them was Kingo and Karun. On the other side was Sersi and Sprite with Ikaris standing closely behind.

“You’ve given us a lot of bad news in one go, my lady.” Druig spoke up after Sersi explained what had happened, Druig also explained the events that occurred a couple days ago that resulted in ‘Theia’s injuries’.

“Will you help us?” Sersi asked, hesitantly.

She glanced at Druig who stood beside her with his hands behind his back before speaking up.

“It’s a lot to-'' she began only to be cut off by Sersi’s phone ringing, giggling as she recognised the song that was playing. Druig glanced over at her as she began to laugh, a soft smile forming onto his face before he turned back to the Eternals.

“Hey what’s your service? I’m not getting any bars.” Kingo whispered to Sersi in amazement.

“Do you all remember this forest? Beautiful.” Druig began.

“It was the last place we all lived together.” She whispered, interrupting Druig, he nodded in response.

“We’ve protected these people for 20 generations now, from the outside world and from themselves.” He continued before making a beeline towards Karun.

She quickly stood up as her eyes followed his every movement.

“Your kind, my friend, you will be responsible for your own extinction one day, don’t you think?.”

“Druig…” She warned him.

“I think we must learn from our mistakes and do better, sir. You must not give up hope.” Karun began only to be interrupted by Druig.

Druig’s eyes glowed once again, mimicking Karun’s own eyes before using his powers to control Karun and make him toss the camera at the wall.

She was in disbelief and knew Druig was feeling the same as well.

They had just been told their entire mission had been a lie, Ajax had known this. She had lived on the planet for more than 7000 years, she had been called by humanity itself the ‘goddess of human love’ only to find out she had been helping them head down a path straight to their demise.

The villagers outside this very building that she had grown to love and care for, they would soon die and it would be her fault.

She once again recalls Ajax’s words, how their fate was in the hands of the Eternals only for them to never be in control, she was a pawn to a game that led to the death of billions.

Ajax, who was killed at the hands of the Deviants, the same deviant that she had only just managed to escape death from.

“Let’s go, he’s wasting our time.” Ikaris spoke out, making his way towards the door.

“But we need him.” Sersi muttered.

“Ikaris!” Druig bellowed, following his movements, Ikaris unwillingly stopped and turned to face Druig.

“I missed you.” Druig teased.

“Are you gonna charm me or threaten me?”

“I mean, there’s a third option, if you prefer that.”

“It must be heartbreaking to find out that you’re not Mother’s favourite.”

“And I’m sure she’d be real proud of what you’ve been up to-“

“Boys, enough.” She interrupted, allowing her frustration to get the better of her. The rest of the Eternals looked at her in surprise as she made her way to the two.

“This is serious.” Sersi added much to Druig’s dismay.

“I’ll tell you what's serious.” Druig scoffed in return.

“I’ve just been told I’ve been sent on a suicide mission for the past 7,000 years, and that my entire existence is a lie.” He continued.

“So, excuse me for not giving a shit about your plan right now.” Druig stated before walking out of the Chapel, allowing the doors to swing shut on his way out.

The room was filled with silence after his exit, she stared at the door wondering whether she should go to him just yet.

“Druig sucks.” Kingo states.

“He does, sir.” Karun agreed.

She scoffed in return, muttering under her breath,  causing all eyes to go on her once again.

“What?” Kingo questioned.

“Oh nothing, I just find it funny how you all love to paint Druig to be in the wrong when he was right all along.” She began.

“The day we all split up, do you remember what caused it? Druig wanted to stop humans from killing each other. He only just found out that he couldn’t stop the thousands of massacres just so the entire planet can be destroyed years later.”

“Stop acting so full of yourselves, out of everyone here, Druig is the only one who cares the most about humanity-” She continued, glancing at Ikaris.

“There’s only one thing Druig cares about, and that’s the humans out there.” 

“And you.” Sprite added.

“Huh?” She turned to face the smaller eternal in confusion.

“He cares more about you than he does about anything else.” Sprite shrugs like it was common knowledge.

Nightfall was soon to arrive, it had been a couple hours since the conversation in the chapel, she had instructed the other Eternals to give Druig some space as he processed everything, in the meantime they roamed around the village, admiring the nature around them and how much had changed since the last time they lived here.

She sat with him by the river, using his robe as a picnic blanket as they watched the rippling water rush pass, it was their safe place, a place only the two of them knew of. Druig sat beside her, deep in thought and lost in his own mind.

She didn’t know what she could say to help him, she didn’t know how to comfort him with something like this.

But he found comfort in her presence.

It was peaceful, a little distraction from the truth they were both running from, in denial of what could damage the life they had struggled to build together.

What would happen to them after it all ends? 

Druig was half of her soul and being, after spending thousands of years together they had become one, destined to spend eternity with one another no matter the consequences.

He could hear the thoughts running through her mind, without using his powers he knew what she must’ve been thinking.

“Theia.” He called out softly, facing her. She turned around to face him, unable to stop the aching feeling in her heart as she looked him in the eyes.

Are they going to lose what they have?

Is she going to lose him? 

She lightly scoffed as he brought his hand to her cheek, gently tracing up her jawline before resting it to cup her face, he guided her face closer towards him, reducing the gap between them and pulling her closer towards him.

“You know I hate it when you call me that.” She joked, tears threatening to spill as the idea of losing the man she loved crossed her mind once more.

He chuckled softly, thumb brushing under her eye gently, she hadn’t felt the tears begin to fall until he wiped them away, pressing his forehead against her own and closing his eyes.

“I can't stand the idea of losing you.” Druig confessed vulnerably.

“You won’t.” She assured him, arms wrapping around his neck to pull him impossibly closer to her, his chest against hers, heartbeats beating in an intangible rhythm.

She focused on him, his pulse under her fingertips, the way his body moved as he shakily took in a deep breath, the heat from his body radiating onto her own as she held him as if her life depended on it. As if she’d let go and he’d disappear right in front of her very eyes.

“You won’t lose me.” She vowed, nudging her nose against his own, breathing him in.

Druig pulled away to look at her once more, watching as her eyes fluttered open, once again feeling the jittery feeling in his stomach as their eyes met.

“But, if it does happen- if I forgot about you, I promise you this, we’ll fall in love again, over and over again… no matter how many times they wipe our memories, no matter how many times we’re torn away from one another.” Druig continued.

“I’ll find my way back to you again, I’ll cause a shitstorm to happen, just to get you back to me.” 

“I was made for you, and I’d do anything in my power to keep you next to me.” He vowed, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall.

She felt her heart stutter at his words, as if everything around her stopped and all she could see was him.

Druig was her path, she would follow him to the end of the world.

“Druig, I-“

A loud scream interrupted her train of thought, causing the two to jump up into action, sprinting their way to the campsite in fear.

Chaos erupted out of nowhere as a handful of deviants stormed its way through the forest, charging towards the group of Eternals. She just about noticed Sersi who was pushed to the ground, rushing to help her friend up.

“It’s an ambush.” Kingo exclaims as he gets in front of the two, eyes shifting to gold as he uses his powers to harm the deviants. She watched as Kingo brought his two hands together, creating a large ball of energy before aiming it at the deviants. An explosion was heard as a building erupted into flames, crumbling into itself.

She only just noticed another deviant charging it’s way towards them before stepping in front of Sersi, allowing her powers to overtake her senses as her eyes began to glow a shade of gold, she felt the warmth surround her as she flicked one of her hands behind her, causing the dirt in the ground to build its way up, creating a sturdy shield around Sersi as she made her way towards the deviant.

She watched as the deviant cocked it’s head to the side, wondering what her next move would be before baring its teeth at her; within a second, she flicked her hand towards a large looming tree beside her. She didn’t watch as the tree was pulled out of the Earth as if it weighed nothing hovering in the air before she motioned towards the deviant, throwing the tree at the deviant, trying to mimic how she killed the deviant from days ago.

A deviant tore the roof of the villagers home, causing the villagers to run out in fear, distracting her from the deviant. She watched in fear the deviants approached the villagers.

“Sersi! Get them to safety, now!” She demanded angrily, wishing she had listened to Druig and stayed in bed that day.

She had turned her back from the deviant for half a second, only to be knocked down onto the ground face first by it. She wiggled in protest, groaning in annoyance as it pushed her face further into the ground, forcing dirt to enter her lungs.

She heard multiple shots in the air, only angering the deviant as it began to suck the power out of her.

“No!” She screamed in protest, blinking as her eyes flickered gold once more, using every muscle in her body to use her powers, shoving the nearest tree into the deviant's head, decapitating it. She felt the lifeless body fall onto her causing her to shiver in disgust before a villager pulled her up and away from the deviant.

Her eyes followed the sound of bullets as she watched Druig twist himself over the Deviant with a shotgun in his possession shooting the deviant in its head. She just about saw Sersi drop a tree on the deviant before getting pulled into fighting another deviant with Kingo.

She watched helplessly as the deviant knocked out Kingo and Sprite, attempting to use the roots of a tree to pull the deviant into the ground only to anger it, the deviant’s tail smacked into her torso, throwing her into the ground.

“Hey, hey, I gotcha.” Druig ran up to her, pulling her up to her feet and holding her up with his arm. The two watched as Sersi managed to turn the deviant into something else using her powers.

She felt her wound from a couple days ago open once again, groaning in annoyance. 

“It’ll never heal at this rate.” She muttered in defeat as Druig gently brought her towards the rest of the Eternals, everyone was worn out from fighting the deviants.

“Wait, where is Thena and Gil?” She asked, causing the rest of the Eternals to look around in confusion. Ikaris quickly rose up, flying into the direction where he had seen them last as the rest of Eternals followed by foot.

There laid The lifeless body of the fearsome Gilgagesh, who was once known as the mighty powerhouse of strength, next to him mourned, the greatest warrior the world has ever seen, reduced to nothing without her partner.

Thena’s sobs cut through the air as the Eternals surrounded the two in shock. Gilgamesh was known to be the Eternal that could easily bounce back from anything, stronger than anything anyone has ever seen.

Yet he laid there, lifelessly, as the people around him mourned another loss.