ETERNAL

“I don’t know who’s worse: you or Saturnyne.” Probably Saturnyne. Opal Luna was truly the worst on most days. “I won’t be long, Druig. I just have a plea to make.”

“Cut the shit, Druig.” They didn’t have time for his bullshit and peacocking. “Are you going to help me or not? I get that Strange wants us to lay low, but we’re just letting things get worse.”

Jessica stared first at the bag of coins and then the man who had delivered it. “What, am I supposed to be impressed?” She asked, knowing full well who he was. Being in a close proximity to him made her skin crawl after what she had been through with Kilgrave. “What do you want, Eternal?”

“No.” Her hands balled into fists. “No. You do not do that in front of me. You’re no better than Kevin Kilgrave, are you? Invasive.” 

“The Eternal Old Gods remain as they always have been, I see. Childish, entitled and utterly useless.” Perhaps it was foolish to speak to him that way, but Elektra cared not.

Electricity flowed through her veins and lit up Jane’s eyes as she shook her head. “Out of all the Negative Zone survivors I could have found, it had to be you. I need you to work with me here.”

Ah yes, being burned alive at the stake. That had almost happened. “I’m fortunate to be alive.” The words were hollow in her mouth and left a sour taste on her tongue. She shouldn’t have been alive. After all she had done for Le Fay the stake would have been a punishment and relief. Being around him was stirring something inside of her, though. Wanda tilted her head to the side. “An Eternal, one remaining. I’ve seen the others, you know. When I scried for Baroness Le Fay.”

druig could tell there was a hunger in wanda he didn’t often sense in others. perhaps it was what kept her alive all this time. what he did know however, was that any information was good information at this point.

The Witch stared down the god. She had mental tricks of her own, but no desire to use them. “Druig.” His name was stated plainly. “I’m Wanda Maximoff. I am not sure if you are familiar with me, but we need to talk.”

“You Old Eternal Gods move into our domains and act as if you own the place. Don’t people ever tell you no?”

“Baroness Le Fay chooses to run this domain a certain way, and it’s not inclusive or conducive for many to live normal, happy lives.” Kate replied evenly. “Just a bit of social commentary. Nothing more.”

“Easy.” Susan stood her ground. “And don’t do that – for your sake more than mine.”

“I wouldn’t try that.” Purple sparked at Clea’s fingers. “Where I come from, there are no gods and I won’t be intimidated by one who fronts as one. Not when I’ve come all this way to speak with you.”

“Bloody hell.” Elsa rolled her eyes. “Give me a chance to speak, yeah? Asshole. I’m here because a person I’ve worked with is looking for people like you. People who may… have an inkling things aren’t right? It all sounds bonkers to me, honestly.”

Jake noticed that Druig had fallen silent, and when the others eyes started to turn gold he knew exactly what was going on, and yet he was powerless to stop it. Before he knew it, his own memories were surfacing back to the forefront of his mind as the Eternal poked and prodded in his subconscious.

Most prominently, Marc’s time on the ship in the Negative Zone and the exact carriage ride that Jake was able to recollect everything about his past life.

Shit.

“Get the fuck out of my head,” He hissed, a few other partygoers around them glancing in their direction at the sound. But they were clearly too drunk to keep their focus as they quickly turned back around. Druig’s question rung through Jake’s ears, the weight of it sinking in as he remembered once again that everything he’d built for himself in Higher Avalon was nothing more than an illusion.

And guilt washed over him at the thought of Marc and Steven having to deal with their own shit for once in Egyptia. Jake wasn’t there to protect them, he was several domains away, running carriages and getting invited to extravagant parties at the Faire. 

“Are you really one to talk?” Deflection was the easiest defense mechanism in this case as Jake quickly turned the conversation back to Druig. “Living here in this castle, working with someone like LeFay because it saved your own ass.. Even though the rest of your Eternal buddies are stuck back in Egyptia?”

druig acquiesced, withdrawing himself from the other’s subconscious.

no information was truly ever unavailable to him, but the means of retrieval for druig varied from person to person. some people cracked rather quickly. others, he could dip in and out of their minds without them even knowing.

jake’s retort left a sour pit in his stomach for a moment.

“you think i’ve been aware this entire time? it’s been eight years. i, like the rest of us, have only had my memories for a short while,” he paused, thoughts drifting to makkari again as he muttered under his breath, “ - didn’t even know she was alive this entire time.”

Jake had to stifle a groan at the sound of the Eternal’s voice as he whipped around to face Druig, a scowl tugging at the sides of his lips. He’d been doing a lot of thinking and research of his own since their last conversation, and he didn’t like any of what he’d discovered. 

Marc and Steven were in trouble. Fugitives, actually. There was talk of Mr. Knight assisting the Hellstrom Barons in the Darkforce Dimension with monster hunting, which could only mean Steven. 

And Marc? Well, last anyone had heard of Marc was in Egyptia. Where apparently Khonshu had been slain and his alter had been forced into hiding. Not good. Why couldn’t they have just found themselves their own cozy lives in wherever they’d ended up? 

“It’s not something that’s just gonna change, you know. Other realms means other sets of problems. Getting through the Sentinel Stretch in Genosha is going to be a pain in the ass, and that’s before we even get to Egyptia or have to deal with any Horsemen.” 

But that wasn’t a no. Jake knew what they had to do, even if he didn’t want to do it.

“you know i could just make you take me there,” druig shrugged, letting out a slight laugh before his expression hardened once more, “but i think we’re past that point. i think you and i have similar goals. similar needs.”

word had gotten around, he knew the other alters were also in egyptia - the other pieces of the man known as marc spector - and jake clearly had a vested interest in their wellbeing.

makkari was his primary concern however, and he knew he needed to do something, and fast.

“You’re what brought me here, actually, Druig. You and Marc Spector.” It appeared that Marc had been physically fragmented, so that would be a bit more difficult. But at least he’d found Druig so far. “You were on the ship. I know you remember. What things were like before all of this. And I want to stop it. Stop Doom before he continues to meddle with any more lives.”

The smug smile was hard to contain, even if the Eternal was technically threatening Jake. A gloved hand reached up to adjust his suit as he continued to stand there and shrugged. “Figured if Eternity was going to rent my services for the night that I could at least strike up a conversation. Not that watching you guys parranda all night is mind numbingly boring, but it is. But please, you’re free to carry on with staring at the wall.”

his eyes faded back from gold to blue as he eyed the other man with a disappointed shake of his head, “don’t know why i even bother.” something was off about the carriage driver however, and druig was absolutely going to get to the bottom of it. gold irises shone once more as he took a step forward, telepathy poking around in the other’s memories for a moment until he found what he was looking for.

“you know,” jaw clenched, his tone was sullen.

his thoughts drifted to makkari, and he couldn’t help the tightness in his chest as worry took over. while eight years in the life of an eternal was like the blink of an eye, eight years in a world of someone else’s design, a world where he’d been deliberately separated from her - did not sit right with druig.