Chapter 13
He was sick and tired of feeling like the weakest link, or being treated like that. Druig knew how to fight apart from using his ability, and he was bored with being taken from the fights, being on the sidelines the whole fight or "keeping watch". He could still protect the people and mind control them to get away while he took a deviant apart with his bare hands.
And he was tired of Ikaris, Thena's and Kingo's "protectiveness" and subtle comments about how he shouldn't get in the midst of it, because he could end up dead, because he wasn't good enough a warrior was what they weren't saying but were thinking.
And you know, Druig had never been a necessarily violent guy. He wasn't like Thena, who enjoyed the conflict, thought of strategies to inflict the most pain on their enemies, who was at her most happiest while killing something. No, when he used his abilities and when he was most at peace was when he did the opposite, actually, when he broke fights down or even prevented them from even happening. He saved people and he took them away from danger, he was a defence kind of guy, not an offense one.
But still... Sometimes the others made him feel small, irrevelant. Unimportant. And he was tired of it. He didn't want Makkari to save him for the umpteenth time, he wanted to save her, or have her watch him save someone else heroically. Sometimes, one needed an ego boost like that, specially a guy like him, who didn't have the healthiest psyche on account of all the frustration and pain from not being allowed to help as much as he wanted.
So he decided to get in the fights, get into some action, no matter what the other said. He would be there, he would be useful and he would be distracted from his own woes for a while, and feeling like maybe he wasn't saving all the people he would like, but at like he was saving more than before.
Again, he was not supposed to be doing this, so he just cut in when it was extremely helpful, like when someone was about to attack Sprite from behind, or whe Kingo was dealing with Deviants at the same time and simply couldn't take it all. If Druig appeared from the shadows no one was going to tell him, hey dude, please do not save my life? That made no sense. (Maybe Ikaris would though. That man and rules was a love story like no other)
Anyways, Druig started getting in more in fights, until people started questioning him. Ajak frowned upon it and kept telling him to simply act when it was absolutely necessary and they were overwhelmed, but still. He was in on it. And then...
"Druig, you got that straggler?"
Gilgamesh was trusting him to against one of those beasts on his own! For once! And Ajak and Ikaris were or some sort of secret side mission so there would be no one to stop him. And maybe, just maybe, if he became a half decent warrior then people would take his opinion more into account and maybe he would be able to convince... o try to convince Ajak to change some of the things they were doing? Some of the... guidelines... of the mission? But he was getting ahead of himself.
Go against the Deviant, Druig. And he did, get ahead of himself, because even though in the beginning he seemed to be having the upped hand and landed a few nice blows, after one in what was apparently a sensitive area, the monster threw out his leg suddenly and to a very high place, throwing Druig several up in the air. But that wasn't the bad part. The bad part was landing, hitting his head squarely on some rocks.
Shit. That hurt. His head felt like it was split open, there was an awful ringing in his ears and he felt like he see sound, god damn it. That had really, really hurt and suddenly the world was tilting, and he... bad. He felt so so bad, let out a little moan. He was bleeding, he knew that already, but that was not the bad part. The worse part was that even through the ringing in his ears he could hear the deviant coming, no running, towads him.
And he felt so terribly dizzy and light headed... He felt as he were in the middle of a fog, his vision being clouded by shiny stars like spots, or dark ones. He was not going to be able to outrun this beast, not with how fucking dizzy he felt, no way.
There was only one option to save himself, and it had only worked a handful of times, because he was a mind controller and deviants were not supposed to have minds. Still, as the monster approached him too fast, he put his hand in front of him, his eyes started shining (his nose was bleeding which it had never done before), he focused on this one thing because if this didn't work he was done for....
And then the beast slowed. And then stopped, fell to the floor, closed his eyes.
Druig breathed. That had been close.
Still in an absolute daze and going more by sound than anything else (his vision was still... off) he walked to the Deviant, and slit its neck, then buried his dagger on its heart.
Finally. He had done it, and he hadn't died. That... that was something.
And then he sat on the floor, trying to think, although it was getting harder.
After some minutes, he heard people approaching.
"See, guys, I told you he would get him!" that was nice of that voice (was it Gilgamesh? Druig's head hurt so bad) to say. Because he got the thing, didn't he?
Makkari was suddenly sitting in front of him and looking at him.
You're bleeding! Are you hurt?
It took a bit too long of a while fro Druig to process that, but he managed to answer.
Fine. Just a flesh wound.
The ringing in his ears hadn't stopped though.
"He doesn't look that good, does he?" that was someone else. Sersi, maybe?
"I'm ffffi-ne" he said, even though speaking felt like quite a chore, he could get up. He could handle himself alone perfectly well, all right?
The world was tilting and his vision was getting darker, but he was fine. Even though something was climbing up his throat and suddenly he was vomiting everything he'd eatean in the last few days in front of everyone. Shit, this was unpleasant.
Makkari was just scared.
Phastos was trying to soothe him, , running circles through his back.
HIs hands and arms were way too pale.
And then his eyes closed, and he fell into Makkari's arms.
*
When he woke up, his head still hurt, but it wasn't that bad.
His eyesight had returned to normal, too, although he still felt a bit off, a bit dizzy and nauseous. Phastos was doing gadgety things in front of his bed. And heard him move, smiled.
"Hey, it's good to see you awake!" he said "You had us worried. Makkari!"
And then she appeared, from out of nowhere as usual, and smiled when she saw him awake.
"How long was I out?" his voice felt weird, but at least he could speak now.
Five hours! I was about to call Ajak.
Phastos nodded, and spoke.
"You had a serious head injury, Druig. But you know what, I'm not going to lecture you about the dangers of trying too hard, or about telling everyone when you're injured. I get what it to feel less, and I understand that you have only been trying to help more, save more lives. And that is honourabe, and you've been brave and very helpful these last weeks. That should be noted too. But... try not to hurt yourself like this, will you? These have been some of the longest five hours of my life."
Druig still had a headache, but the appreciation was nice and he nodded and smiled.
What he said. You're allowed to do heroics, but not allowed to hurt yourself like this, all right?
Suddenly, with just Makkari and Phastos, talking about close calls and just nurisng some cool water on his head wound, Druig didn't feel like the weakest link. He felt cared for.
He felt important.