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500 years was a long time to be separated from your family, even if you live for thousands of years.
Of course, through the years she had travelled and felt joy all over the world, never staying still for long enough to have any other home base other than the Domo. Someone had to keep it safe and ready to use, after all.
There was just one place on this beautiful planet, one person, that she could never bring herself to visit.
For thousands of years it was a rare occurrence to see Makkari without Druig close behind in the times they weren’t in the midst of battle, whether it be in the markets of the latest town they had been tasked to protect, speeding around the planet playing their favourite world-wide game of hide and seek, or just spending days around the Domo with the rest of their group.
They were Makkari and Druig, Druig and Makkari. Two names that flowed together as though they were always meant to be joined.
But that had ended the day he turned and walked down those stairs.
She wasn’t stupid, she knew this was always going to be something he had to do. A moment that was only a matter of time, their mission becoming all too much for him and breaking away. It had become obvious in the years leading up to Teotihuacan that he was becoming worn down and struggling more than he ever had before, the two spending countless days and nights sitting in secluded fields, just trying to find some greater understanding of why.
It wasn’t the same for her, but she understood his reasoning. She wasn’t the one to have to hear thoughts of thousands suffering from countless wars, but she was the one who often needed to help him find an isolated space to decompress when the voices became too much for him to manage on his own.
She still firmly believed in Arishem’s mission, hoping it meant one day they would complete their task and return to Olympia, perhaps beginning to explore something that they could not with the others around and so close.
There was nothing of that sort going on between the two of them, of course.
‘I mean it, Sersi!’ she had said countless times, even after they all went their separate ways ‘He’s my best friend…We aren’t… we don’t do anything like that!’ which was always met with a raised eyebrow and I-don’t-belive-you knowing smile
But she knew what it looked like to their family, what their assumptions were.
It didn’t feel like something that she saw the humans had, or even the same as Sersi and Ikaris. It was something deeper within them. It felt there was a connection that had been there longer than the centuries they had been on Earth, she could never put her finger on it…she just knew.
She knew he did too. From the look in his eyes when she would zip into his room to show him her latest find, to the brush of his hand against hers as they walked through the towns before she would speed off to swipe her latest obsession, and the way she was the only one he was fully honest with. There were even rare dark nights after brutal fights where they would hold each other, sneaking through the halls to the others sleeping quarters
It was something they never spoke about or needed a label put to it. Some of the other Eternals certainly had their assumptions
“ They can think what they want” Druig had said late in the night while they sat together in her room after a particularly alcohol-fueled celebration, flipping through a book she had liberated. They had been pulled into a bear hug by Gilgamesh while they stood beside the large feast table, where he had told the two joyfully how pleased he was for them “What we do is none of their business”.
They never let that change anything between them; they never lied to the others, but privacy was a rarity among their close knit group.
She was one of the few that stayed in contact, and even visited the other Eternals. Phastos had been the last to leave the Domo, waiting until he could build a lab in the rapidly technologically advancing North America. Of course she would see Ajak the most, bringing her the tales and souvenirs of her latest adventure, and Sersi much more when she had finally settled in London;
‘London is amazing!’ She had excitedly told Sersi over dinner in the late 1800s ‘There are so many artifacts here, they barely notice them missing and sent home to where they belong…eventually!’ This of course was met with a smile and roll of eyes .
Their split hurt deeper than she thought possible, the unique connection that had grown with each of them over 6500 years something she never thought would happen. But it was always easy to find out where they were, all she needed was to follow the magical stories they left in their wakes.
That’s why when her family finally came home, all united once more, she was filled with the relief and joy she had left in Teotihuacan.
Her eyes fell to Druig, and it felt like a missing piece had finally made its way home.
She saw instantly that two were missing, and it was Phastos to break the news of Ajak and Gilgamesh to her before starting to get his lab into working order without missing a beat, excited to get back to his well loved equipment.
This is too much.
Run, run, run.
She quietly excused herself, the others nodding to let her take some time to process the news of simply being pawns in a game larger than the world itself.
She knew she wasn’t going to be alone for long, the moment she walks out of the room she feels the vibrations of heavy boots trailing behind her, a distinct feeling coursing through her she hadn’t felt in 500 years.
She doesn’t turn to look behind her, she knows exactly who is there, instead she continues on and turns down a long hallway; walking straight to one of her favourite places to sit and read in the large ship. Thousands of years ago they had set up a window seat covered in plush pillows and blankets, the large window on the side of the Domo that would often face the sunset wherever they were stationed. She sits down, and carefully positions herself comfortably with her legs up and crossed on the bench before finally looking up at her follower.
“Thought you’d like some company…It’s a lot of news at once” Druig says before putting his hands back in the pockets of his jacket.
She gives him a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes while gesturing to the spot beside her, bringing her legs up to cross them and leaning back against the cool glass.
Ajak…Gilgamesh…they hadn’t lost anyone in 7000 years, even through the blip, and just within a few days it had all begun to crumble.
Run, run, run.
“You look as lovely as ever” he says after a minute of silence.
She can feel the tense anxiety radiating from him. She knows it’s time, 500 years she’s been waiting to see him again, running this inevitable conversation over in her mind.
“I didn’t think a leather jacket would be comfortable in the Amazon” she says, tapping his sleeve.
He scoffs “Stopped off on the way here for a change of clothes. Sprite insisted…says that robes aren’t in style anymore”
He’s trying to be lighthearted, wanting to have her smile and not think about the realities of what is happening…even if it’s just for a moment.
“Quite the collection you have now” He says gesturing down the hall where there are small items stacked against the walls, in what he can only assume are organised piles.
”I’ve spent most of my time travelling” she says, “Humans give and take so much, especially in the last 300 years. Things get displaced.”
“Just…by yourself?” He asks. The question was aimed at her with his hands, but he refuses to meet her eyes.
“After Phastos left, who would be here, besides me?” She says, her hands moving angrily, causing him to look at her. She doesn’t want to be angry, she’s thought about this enough to hope she would have a clear head when she was able to confront him again, but it’s been too much.
Run, run, run.
“I’m so-”
She raises a hand to stop him
”Please don’t, you don’t need to”
She could tell Druig wanted to say more. She knows that he understands that she doesn’t blame him for his departure, but he knows that the severing of contact with her has left a hole.
“It must have been lonely, with everyone away from the Domo”
“It wasn’t really. It was just very different…” she signs, pausing before looking back out of the large window at the horizon of Iraq “…with you gone.”
She can feel Druig shifting on the bench next to her, she knows he wants her to look at him, but she won’t just yet. She can’t.
He finally tilts further to the side to bump his shoulder into hers, hoping to get at least the hint of a smile from her, just like it would have when he would distract her during team meetings, earning himself glares from Ikaris and a raised eyebrow from Ajak.
Instead, her frown deepens.
“I spent so many years knowing that you were out there. There were wars, famines…I didn’t know if you were safe.” She took a deep breath, rubbing her hands against her thighs “but I didn't come to find you…there was a long time I didn’t want to. And you never tried either”
She’s looking at him now. She can see the hurt written across his face, his jaw tensing as he thinks over her words. He lifts his hands and opens his mouth to speak.
“Wait” she says, placing a hand over both of his and pushing them down slightly “I know the reason you left, more than any of the others. You know that. But you didn’t say goodbye. Didn’t even look at me…I thought I would have deserved that much.”
“I couldn’t” Druig says quickly, she can feel the anger of his words from the way he signs, but she knows it’s not something directed at her “if I did, I wouldn’t have gone. I had to protect them”
“I know” she says “It didn't hurt any less though.”
Druig turns his whole body to face her, “There wasn’t a day that I didn’t think about that night…that I didn’t think of you” he says while reaching into the pocket of his jacket. He pulls out a small stone engraved with the Helm of Awe, a symbol of the Norse gods that legends say grant the owner protection.
“It will still work to protect you, even if it’s borrowed!” Makkari had said all those years ago, handing it to Druig as he raises an eyebrow while she places it in his hands “ Anyway, it’ll take Thor years to realise it’s even missing!”
A grin spreads across her features as she reached for it, making Druig’s stomach flip. The leather string that once looped through a small hole at the top of the stone was long gone, the carving looks the same as the day she had ‘borrowed’ it almost 1500 years ago, though now the back hosts a deep pit; something made from a thumb rubbing over it for hundreds of years.
“Turns out if you handle something enough you wear it down” Druig comments as she turns it over in her hands, her thumb rubbing over its smooth surface.
She rolls her eyes, bumping her shoulder against his in return “ that can be said about a lot of things.”
He laughs at that, the vibrations coursing through her, making her stomach flip, as she settles back against the window, rolling her head to the side she watches him tap his fingers against his legs nervously; though smile still on his lips.
“I let them all go, I’m not going back” He says finally “If this plan works, I am not leaving you again”
His hand comes up to touch her forehead, fingers tracing down the side of her face to her neck before pulling her towards him, pressing his forehead against hers and closing his eyes as a silent promise.
She first relaxes into the embrace, but something deep within her makes her tense up.
Run, run, run.
She certainly doesn’t mean for him to feel that, but she can tell by the way his body stiffens and he’s suddenly pulling back from her that he does.
She doesn’t apologise, as he backs away from her she sees Sersi out of the corner of her eye standing part way down the hall.
“Sorry to interrupt” she says with an apologetic smile “Phastos says he has something”
Makkari gets up without looking back at Druig, passing Sersi and squeezing her arm in thanks as she heads down toward the lab.
Druig doesn’t move, only looking up when Sersi moves closer to him.
“Give her time” she says with a sad smile “it’s been hard with everyone gone from her, especially you”
“What would Ajak say, to know you were spying on private conversations?” He says, raising an eyebrow as he leans back against the warm window.
“Quite the statement coming from you” she says fondly.
Druig takes a breath while putting his hands in his jacket pockets, trying to think of what is missing. “Did she visit you at all, the others?”
Sersi laughs “All the time. She really loves London. She spent a lot of her time with me or Ajak, only went to the outback of Australia a few times…at the beginning seeing any of us was bad for Thena, so she would wait a while for visits. Bring Gil new ingredients as they were discovered” this makes both of them frown, still not quite believing their gentle giant of a friend is truly gone.
Druig nods, clenching his jaw trying to push down the jealousy and guilt that fills his chest “I’m glad”
He and Sersi weren’t so different. They both loved the humans deeply, even with the seemingly endless wars and bloodshed. He had always respected her for that, and other than Makkari she was likely the only one who would have sympathised with his inner turmoil at just wanting to protect them.
She’s still standing in front of him, arms crossed with the look of an internal argument filtering over her features. Druig can’t help but roll his eyes.
“I know what you want to ask” he says, leaning forward “But no, I haven’t spoken to her, or seen her, the whole time”
“Oh” she says while straightening up, a guilty look washing over her face “I wasn’t going to as-“
“You were'' he says, standing up to walk back to Phastos’ lab. He gets close and pauses beside her “You’re a terrible liar, dear Sersi”
He heads back into the lab that is filled with treasures and the promise of a different tomorrow. He realises the missing item from his jacket is now in the possession of Makkari. His protection stone. Good, he thinks as he glances over to her, we’ll need all the protection we can get.
He spots Ikaris with the infamous Emerald Tablet, and knows this is the perfect opportunity to make her smile and ask the question he has an inkling he already knows the answer to.
My beautiful, beautiful Makkari…did you miss me?