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Chapter Text

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on.

Granted, Ajak had said that when they’d volunteered for this mission and left Olympia, their memories had been wiped and would be restored once they went home. So perhaps it wasn’t fair of him to say that, but on the other hand, he couldn’t imagine nor fathom anything being more beautiful than she.

Whether it be by chance, or by sensing his gaze on her, her dark eyes meet his. Immediately he’s lost in their depth, and he doesn’t think he’s ever been so happy to be lost. A smile graces her lips, and the word slips from his lips:

“Beautiful.”

He doesn’t even realize he said it until she cocks her head, and her eyes narrow curiously. He moves, gravitating into her orbit. Her chin tilts up, eyeing him up and down as he approaches.

What did you say?

Without a thought his hands move, forming the words with his fingers as he speaks,

“Tell me your name first.”

Her expression is still laced with that lovely smile of hers as her mouth opens with a small bout of mock annoyance, and her chin tilts up at him. He copies her, tilting his up just the same.

Makkari.

Makkari. There’s something about her that’s familiar, something about her that beckons him home. He had to have known her back on Olympia.

And you? She then asks, eyebrows raising expectantly, and she steps closer to him.

“Druig.”

Now tell me, what did you say, Druig?

At that moment, Ajak interrupts and beckons them to the new world below.

Afterwards, he comes up beside her, and signs, 

Beautiful.

She turns to him, head tilted.

“That’s what I said. Beautiful.”

Blush rises on her cheeks like the sun after a long night, and he knows in that moment that he’ll do anything to see it return. He advances on her, hands behind his back and that smile returns that he first saw on the Ddomo, the one that’s filled with curiosity and mischief and joy. 

“Beautiful Makkari,” he says, and he vows to never stop saying it.

Chapter Text

The City of Ur was beautiful. He remembers when they first landed on Earth, and all the humans had were tent-like huts. There was something wondrous about watching humanity grow, like watching your child take its first steps.

He knows that Makkari loves to see what the humans create as time goes on. Everything from tapestries, to bracelets, to paintings on the walls, to carved statues. And he especially loves when Makkari brings him said artfully crafted pieces. Some would be traded for other pieces, some would be for herself to treasure as long as she could, and some for him. And where she got them from, he discovered early on were not always of honest origins. Let’s just say that she didn’t always use her speed to snatch humans out of the way.

For Druig, the progression of humans beings was often painful. Progression often came with illness, fear, greed, the need to improve in the wake of death and defeat. He could feel their minds spiking with distress, he would just have to stand by and watch as they destroyed each other. He had the power to with ease make it all stop. With a lift of his hand he could bring peace. 

It didn’t seem right that life came with so much death. And his life, unlike theirs, was long. And according to Ajak and Arishem, they were not to interfere. They were here to protect the humans from the Deviants, but from nothing else. Not from themselves, not from invaders, not from wild animals, or wild weather occurrences.

It was difficult for him to understand, and even more difficult to hold back, and even more difficult to withstand feeling and witnessing it.

The violence.

The fear.

The greed.

For hundreds of years and for possibly hundreds more. 

But Makkari.

Makkari and her warm brown eyes and bright smile filled with mischief and stolen trinkets and braids that fly in the wind as she sprints in streaks of gold made it easier. 

But the City of Ur was falling. 

Has been for several days now. 

And Ajak has sent Makkari with Ikaris and Thena to take care of the final Deviants still prowling around the area. The Prime Eternal had insisted that they wait to leave for a few days just to ensure that the Deviants were truly gone from the area. After five days, two attempts to make the fighting stop, and one heated argument with Ajak:

“You can’t expect me to just sit here and watch the city and it’s people burn before the Emalites and Susa while we wait around for deviants that haven’t shown!”

“Druig, you know the rules. We cannot interfere with humans.”

“But we can when there’s Deviants? It makes no sense! These people looked up to us! They thought we would protect them! Why can't I show all of them, the Emalites and Susa that violence is not the answer?”

And so on. When she had not budged, he had resigned himself to his room and had since refused to come out. Ajak had then sent Makkari away on another scout for Deviants, despite having just got back from one. It had almost felt like a punishment to him. 

Four days later, and finally three more deviants decided to show up. Druig was at his breaking point. He hadn’t slept, he had hardly eaten the food Makkari had been leaving at his door. She had tried a few times to talk to him, but frankly he didn’t want her to see him like this. She knew of his qualms and questions about their mission, and she knew the distress that he often felt. She had seen him break down a few times but…

It hadn’t been like this, not this bad, and he didn’t want her to waste any time trying to keep him together. She didn’t deserve that. 

As he lays on his bed, body exhausted and mind tired just the same but yet too tortured to sleep. Druig thumbs at the necklace she’d given him several years ago, hoping to coax strength from it. It has black round beads, and a red dyed string. He remembers the brightness of her eyes when she slipped it on over his head and made him get in his suit just so he could see how well it matched. 

***

Makkari was… browsing …the market that the Sumerians of Ur had set up. 

She felt him before she saw him. A smile lifts her lips and she turns to watch him coming out of the shadows of the canopies. Still in his iconic colors of red and black but wearing the Sumerian fashion. There’s a grumpy lilt to his lips, and a moodiness in the way his eyes are set. His sandals gets caught on a rock and he nearly trips but rights himself quickly. The little mishap only deepens the gray cloud looming over his features. 

The other Eternals wouldn’t be able to tease him in such a state, he’d probably bite their head off, but Makkari can.

Only Makkari.

She darts off and ducks next to a tent enough behind him that he can’t see her with an easy turn of his head, but she can still glimpse his facial expression. His brows scrunch with confusion when he lifts his eyes and finds her gone. A brief flash of annoyance crosses his features.

For a moment Druig thinks that maybe she didn’t see him, and had slipped off, her eye perhaps catching on a shiny object at a different table. But then, he knows the speedster better. It’s certainly not a matter of not being seen, it’s a matter of hiding, and him now having to seek her out.

He walks up to the stall owner, and asks if he’d seen where the beautiful woman who was just poking around his jewelry went. The answer was a rude no as the man grumbled about some of his jewelry pieces going missing. It’s all too convenient that it seemed to have happened right as his beautiful Makkari went missing.

The beautiful Makkari.

Not his.

He’s not entirely sure when he’d started to replace the with his in his mind. Several times he’d nearly slipped up when referring to her, but had always caught himself before the my or his slipped out. 

The mind controller wanders, eyes staying sharp for any glimpses of golden streaks or dark braids flying. His ears stay perked for even the faintest sound of air whooshing. He asks stall owners and passerbyers as he goes. 

All the while Makkari moves the second he gets distracted but when his head turns just as she runs, she chooses to stay in the little alcove. He’s starting to get far too sharp, he’s learned her tricks too well.

A little girl hesitantly approaches him after he finishes talking to the stall owner, her father. She tugs at his skirt and he looks down in surprise at her. Makkari can’t make out what they’re saying.

“I saw a very beautiful girl hiding in the alleyways, the one that runs fast, right? That’s who you want to find?” she says to him in a quiet shy voice. Druig kneels down to her level.

“Oh yeah?”

She nods.

“Do you remember when? And which alleyway?”

“Behind you, right now, I keep seeing a head peek out,” she whispers. Druig smiles but doesn’t dare turn his head to look.

“Thank you–oh wait wait,” Druig catches the little girl as she nearly trips on her sandal strap that’s come free. He quickly fixes it then she runs back to her mother that’s calling her.

He walks on, pretending to not have been clued in on her whereabouts and simply doddles until she feels safe enough to move. When he turns to another tent, he hears it. That familiar wind that comes when she speeds off in a blur of gold. He turns around and watches her slow and stumble for a second when she realizes that he has her. She tries to lose him in the maze of stalls but he slips into the humans nearby, and has them all move to bow right in front of her. She slides to a stop and gives him a disapproving look, although he can see a hint of blush on her cheeks.

Found you he signs with extra emphasis. He lets the humans go and she gives his shoulder a shove. He takes the opportunity of her arm being raised to slide her satchel from around her body. He flip it open and she halfheartedly tries to grab at it.

“Now what does the beautiful Makkari have in here?” he teases as she grabs at it again, this time being successful. She doesn’t pull it away fast enough before he manages to reach his hand in and pull out a few items.

“I came across a very grouchy shop owner griping about some missing jewelry…” he says and signs with one hand, dangling the pieces in front of her face. She snatches them back and he advances on her, eyebrows raised in that imploring but teasing way. 

Only grouchy thing I saw in the market was you.

“Kingo tattle told on me, apparently I was annoying him and Ajak sent me out here. Then the woman I was coming to see vanished.”

Makkari giggles at the little pout that temporarily returns to his lips, it quickly is overtaken by his previous smirk.

“Now would you happen to know anything about that jewelry?”

She shrugs and attempts to switch the jury on him. 

I don’t think Ajak would like you interfering with humans.

“I don’t think Ajak would like you stealing from humans,"  he counters.

If you don’t tell, I won’t tell.

His eyes run over her as he drags out responding.

“Deal.”

She smiles and lifts her chin, and he copies her. From behind her back she pulls out a necklace and holds it up to him.

For me?

It matches your suit! With no further warning she grabs him around the waist and runs them to the Domo, stopping in front of his station. He blinks, trying to reorient himself as she urges him to stand against the wall and put it on his suit. Glee fills her cheeks as he steps away armored up and she puts the necklace on him. It sits perfectly against his collarbones above his armor. He runs his thumb over the black beads with wonder. It probably is making him a little too emotional. 

Like it?

He lifts his head and meets her pleased gaze. 

“I like everything you give me, beautiful Makkari. Stolen or bought.”

Not his. Not my.

It’s not stolen it’s…borrowed , she says with a shrug.

“Borrowed?”

Yes. Borrowed.

***

It was late as Makkari returned from finishing off the last Deviants. Despite the long day, long run, and long fight, her steps are quick as she goes to Druig’s room after cleaning up and changing out of her suit. She’s hoping that she can tell him that they’ll be leaving in the morning. She also hopes that just maybe there will be signs that Druig left his room, or that he’d in the very least taken the food tray she’d left for him. 

It’s never a good sign when Druig, who never stops eating, stops eating . That’s when she knows he’s really struggling, and with the way he’d been sparsely picking at the meals she left for him, she knew it was bad. Every time she saw the untouched meals or shut door she wanted to either run in and try to comfort him, or run to Ajak and demand they leave. It just seemed cruel at this point to have waited around while the city burned and let Druig have to suffer though feeling the pain in the humans of it all. Then one last round of Deviants showed up, and she doesn’t think she’s ever left faster to fight. 

As soon as the Deviants were dead, they could finally go. And Druig would feel better, away from all the violence and fear.

Unfortunately he would have to withstand it for one more night, and she could feel that something was wrong as she approaches his door. She feels a gasp, or maybe a cry? The speedster only hesitates for a moment before pushing open his door.

He’s sitting up, hands planted on the bed and shaking, breathing hard. He’s staring straight forward, eyes locked like he’s seeing ghosts. 

Maybe he is.

Maybe he was. 

His skin is as pale as one. 

He had to of had a nightmare.

His head snaps to look at her as soon as she steps into the room. His beautiful face is broken, his ice blue eyes glassed over. She quickly shuts the door behind her and goes to him, always drawn to him like the sun is always drawn to rise. 

He crumbles into her like he’s done it a thousand times before. Perhaps he has? He’s wondered it hundreds of times, if perhaps they were together on Olympia. Everything with her always feels so natural, so instinctive. The first time they hugged, it felt new but also familiar. Right now, the way he fits against her, the way his face tucks perfectly into her neck. 

She rocks him, trying to calm him before she attempts to ask him what’s sent him into such a spiral.

Do you want to tell me? What did you dream? She asks one handed as she pulls back from him a little. The mind controller reluctantly lifts his head away from resting on her. 

“I just feel, all the time,” he says bitterly. “I always feel their pain, and when I sleep, I can still feel it, and when I can’t feel it I dream of it. Makkari…” his voice cracks on her name and he looks like he might cry again. “I just want it to stop, I want to stop it and I don’t understand why I can’t, I just—“ his eyes begin to glow gold and she quickly grabs his face and turns it back towards her. He blinks, startled. 

Druig… She nearly brings up Ajak but thinks better of it. She’s trying to calm him, not rile him up again and mentioning the prime eternal will only do just that. 

Stay strong, she signs instead. She picks up his hands and takes him through the movement of the signs as she does it again. We’re leaving in the morning. Just stay strong, for one more night.

He takes in a shuddering breath as he tips forward and rests his forehead against hers. She leans into it, still holding onto his hands.

“My beautiful Makkari…” slips out of his lips. Not a day goes by where he doesn’t address her as the beautiful Makkari or just beautiful Makkari. But the my…

He thinks maybe he’s gotten away with it, but she’s far too quick and clever. 

What did you say? She asks, pulling back much to his dismay. 

Tell me your name first, he teases, reminiscent of their first conversation on the Domo. He tilts his chin up, beating her to the motion she usually does to him. Makkari slaps his shoulder and he titters. 

Before he loses his courage, he spits it out.

“I said, my beautiful Makkari.” 

Even in the dark, he can see that it flusters her as her hands search for a response. 

Your beautiful Makkari? She finally replies and tilts her chin up to copy him. 

He confidently nods, although internally regret is pummeling at his heart. As she presses her forehead back to his, the anxieties ease. 

Can I stay? She asks him. It throws him for a second, she’s asking him if she can stay? If anything he wants to be asking her if she can stay. Perhaps she knows that, and is saving him the mental war of whether or not he could ask. He nods, and she pulls away to presumably lay down.

But then she darts—it’s only a second, if even that—But in that second he convinces himself she’s not coming back. She does, with a tray of food in hand. 

There’s a no nonsense look on her face as she places it on the nightstand and hands a piece of bread to him. 

Eat first. 

She hands him a little bowl of fruit. 

Druig swallows, feeling a little rumble in his stomach but remembering how everything he’s tried to eat has just tasted like ash on his tongue the past few days as headaches of the overwhelming emotions of the humans plagued him. 

Makkari looks back at the tray, debating what else to hand him off it. Maybe the cheese? 

But then he takes a bite, and another. He doesn’t go at it with his usual vigor, but he finishes the bread and the fruit, and that’s enough to satisfy the speedster. She lies down then, and follows after her settling onto his side. 

Makkari hardly realizes that her fingers are moving before they’re halfway to his exhausted face. She fixes his bangs, getting them out of his face.

“Thank you, my beautiful Makkari.”

Her hand lingers on his cheek for a moment, and warmth blooms from where her palm rests to the tips of his toes.

She is always his warmth.

His sun after a long, dark night.