#spirte

It made you sick to your stomach, you couldn’t imagine. All these people coming to trust you all on those other planets, entrusting you with their protection, only to be betrayed by you all in the end. It was disgusting really.

The idea was formed that maybe Druig could stop the birth of the Celestial, control it’s mind and make it sleep, just delay it’s birth until you could figure out how to truly stop it.

The only problem was none of you had seen Druig for centuries. You knew where he was though. The Amazon, Ajak had been the only one who’d seen him since you’d all disbanded, going your separate ways, but their short meeting did not end well.

He apparently had a cult of sorts, a compound he’d told Ajak, protecting a large group of people from the outside world and themselves as well.

You could still remember seeing him for the last time.

Tears formed in your eyes as you watched Druig disappear into the crowd of soldiers he was controlling, leading them away from the burning city.

He hated war; he’d always had. It brought him to tears at times, he’d cry to you, wishing he could stop the mortals from killing each other. He wanted peace, but they wouldn’t have it, and neither would Ajak.

So, she let you all go, encouraging you to live out your lives until it was time to go back to Olympia.

But you couldn’t imagine a life without Druig, that was the only thing.

So, you raced down the steps of the temple, away from your family and into the surrounding forest.

“Druig!” you called, racing through the trees, “Druig?!”.

After a few minutes of running, you stopped, looking around at the dark forest surrounding you.

Your cheeks were wet from crying, you hadn’t realized your tears had started to fall. Wiping at your eyes, you called for Druig again, pleading for him to come back.

A sob escaped your lips, you couldn’t lose him.

“Y/N,” came the familiar voice from your right, you turned, spotting Druig walking towards you.

You ran over, wrapping your arms around his torso and hugging him tightly.

“P-Please, don’t go, please,” you whimpered, burying your face into Druig’s chest.

His arms wrapped around you, holding you to him, “Shhh, I’m here, I’m here,” he told you softly, rubbing your back a bit.

When you pulled away, you noticed he was crying as well. You choked out a small laugh, reaching up and wiping at some of his tears with your thumb.

Druig smiled sadly, leaning into your touch. “I’m sorry,” he spoke, “I’ve got to go.”

You shook your head, “I’m coming,” you insisted. “You’re not leaving me.”

He leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on your forehead before he pulled your arms off him, gently pushing you away from him.

“No darlin’, you’re not,” he told you. “You’ll be better off by yourself.”

“No…,” you began, but Druig focused on you, his eyes glowing gold.

“Go,” you heard his voice in your head.

You turned away from him and sprinted the other way, it was only when you were a safe distance, miles away from him, did he release you from his control.

Dropping to your knees you began to cry once more, not being able to understand why he suddenly no longer wanted you.

You had half a mind to go and find him, use your own power, telekinesis, against him. You could probably throw a couple trees at him before he stopped you.

But you couldn’t hurt him, you never could.

Makkari found you about twenty minutes after and comforted you until you both went your separate ways as well.

You were broken out of your thoughts by Sprite nudging you suddenly, Kingo’s plane had landed. It was finally time to face Druig after all these years.

After asking a few locals you discovered exactly where to go, trudging about fifteen miles into the rainforest, pushing past dense brush and trying not to get bit by bugs or snakes, you finally found it.

The small village was simple, untouched by modernity besides the electricity. It was a safe place obviously tucked away from the rest of the world, exactly a place you’d expect Druig to be.

You walked through, all the villagers were kind, greeting you as you passed. Sprite walked up to a man who seemed to be welding, asking if they knew Druig, and if so, where he was.

Suddenly, the man she was speaking to went slack, his eyes glowing gold as he spoke, “Hello Sprite.”

All of you turned as the doors to a large building a few feet away from you opened, and out stepped Druig. He was dressed in baggy black pants, black combat boots, and a baggy, long sleeve black shirt.

He’d always been a fan of black you recalled.

“I missed you all,” Druig spoke, a smirk painting his face. His gaze flitted to you, lingering on you for a moment before his eyes left yours. “Please, make yourselves at home.”

You wanted to hug him and kick his ass all at the same time. He hadn’t changed one bit, none of you did obviously but regardless. The same hair, same stupid smirk, same sparkle in his eye.

“We need to talk,” Sersi spoke up, walking up towards Druig, who smiled at her.

“Come, we’ll talk in here,” he told you all, motioning to the building behind him.

You all filed in, the inside of the building was laid out in the same fashion as a church, benches facing a small stage, where Druig moved to, leaning against the podium.

Gilgamesh and Thena sat in front, and you followed, perching beside Thena, you’d missed her, and she’d always had a soft spot in her heart for you.

She was fierce and intimidating, but treated you with complete and utter kindness, she’d told you you were like a daughter to her after a couple centuries of knowing each other.

Leaning your head on her shoulder, you sighed. Thena made no move to push you off, letting you rest. It had been quite a wild nearly forty-eight hours.

When everyone was seated, Druig spoke again, “So tell me, what brings you all here? It surely isn’t a warm reunion now, is it?”.

Sersi explained what had happened, Ajak’s death, the real reason you all were here on Earth. As you watched Druig’s face slowly became stoic, his head hung as he listened.

When she was done, Druig was silent for a moment before sighing.

“You’ve given me a lot of bad news in one go, m’lady,” Druig said, a slight joking tone to his voice. “I am glad…,” he started but was cut off by Sersi’s phone going off.

Sersi quickly pulled her phone from her pocket, which was blasting a Lizzo song you recognized. You snickered a bit, making Thena crack a smile.

“What’s your service?” Kingo asked once Sersi got her phone off, “I’m not getting any bars.”

Gilgamesh suddenly snored beside Thena, making her hit him softly. He woke with a start, looking around confused, if anyone had tired dad energy, it sure was him.

“Do you all remember this forest?” Druig suddenly asked, walking down the few steps of the stage, “Beautiful. It was the last place we all lived together.”

Druig stopped beside you, looking down at you, but you didn’t meet his eye, Thena wrapped an arm loosely around you.

He looked away, continuing, “I’ve protected these people for twenty generations from the outside world and themselves.”

This time, Druig stopped in front of Karun, Kingo’s valet who’d been working for him for fifty years, at least according to Kingo himself.

“Your kind, my friend, you will be responsible for your own extinction one day,” Druig taunted the man. “Don’t you think?”.

Druig was being unusually cruel, he was no longer kind it seemed, no longer really caring about the humans and what happened to them.

Karun looked nervous, but swallowed and answered Druig, “I think we must learn from our mistakes and do better, sir. You must not give up hope.”

Moments later Karun’s eyes glowed, and he tossed the camera he was holding behind him. It hit the wall, smashing into a few hundred pieces.

“Oh, you did not,” Kingo spoke, standing up to face Druig, staring the other man down. “Okay new rule, no more possessing people’s valets.”

“Oh, where is your sense of humor, Kingo?” Druig asked, obviously not intimidated by Kingo one bit it seemed.

“You are not a God. You know that, right?” Kingo challenged, raising an eyebrow.

“How ironic, Kingo, the movie star,” Druig replied, his smirk returning.

“I’ve directed some things too,” Kingo said, trying to defend himself.

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Druig asked, raising an eyebrow of his own.

“Some internet content,” Kingo said, his confidence disappearing a bit.

“How many views?” Druig asked, just teasing Kingo now.

“I don’t do it for the views,” Kingo replied.

Ikaris stood up from his seat, moving towards the door, “Let’s go, he’s wasting our time.”

This appeared to be a mistake on his part, only fueling Druig’s fire.

“We need him,” Sersi spoke up.

“Ikaris,” Druig began, turning from Kingo to Ikaris, “I missed you. Are you gonna charm me or threaten me?”.

“There’s a third option if you prefer that,” Ikaris challenged, making you roll your eyes.

“It must be heartbreaking to find out you’re not Mother’s favorite,” Druig taunted once more.

“And I’m sure she’d be real proud of what you’ve been up to,” Ikaris spat.

“Druig, this is serious,” Sersi spoke up, standing up as well, her eyes pleading with Druig to stop.

“I’ll tell you what’s serious,” Druig told her, “I’ve just been told I’ve been sent on a suicide mission for the past seven thousand years, and that my entire existence is a lie. So, excuse me for not giving a shit about your plan right now.”

With that, Druig disappeared out the door, making you sigh and turn back around, your head returning to its place on Thena’s shoulder.

“Druig sucks,” Kingo spoke up after a moment, making you smile a bit.

“He does, sir,” Karun replied.

You all dispersed, leaving the church, you left Thena and Gilgamesh to their own devices and followed Sersi around the village for a bit, examining the extent of what Druig and the people he watched over had built.

After a while, a few little girls ran up to you, giggling softly.

“Hello,” you told them, smiling at them, which only made them giggle more.

One motioned for you to crouch, so you did, and she placed a beautiful crown made of flowers on your head. Your smile widened as you stood, “Thank you,” you told the little girls in their native tongue.

They nodded and one of the other’s grabbed your hand, pulling you in the direction of the forest surrounding the village. You looked back to Sersi who only smiled and shrugged, letting you be pulled along by the little girls.

The girls continued to giggle as they pulled you deeper into the forest for a few minutes, until they finally stopped, turning to you, “Stay,” one of them told you in English.

You only nodded, watching in confusion as they disappeared back towards the village, continuing to giggle as they went.

“Weird,” you spoke softly to yourself, reaching up to readjust the flower crown on your head.

“Hello beautiful,” came a voice behind you, making you turn around, finding Druig standing there. He no longer wore his long sleeve shirt, instead opting for a beige colored tank top tucked into his black pants.

He was smiling softly, hands tucked behind his back.

“Druig,” you told him curtly. “This was your doing?”.

You motioned to the flower crown on your head making him smile and shake his head, “I did ask them to bring you out here, that though, was their doing. It suits you, love.”

Ignoring his compliment, you shook your head, “I’m going back,” you told him, turning to leave, but suddenly felt his hand wrap around your wrist, holding you back.

“Please, stay,” he said softly, and you turned back around.

“Why should I stay when you didn’t all those years ago?” you asked, a venomous tone to your voice.

You could see the hurt in Druig’s eyes as he let go of your wrist, looking away from you, biting his lip as he did.

“I…let me explain, please Y/N,” he begged when he looked back at you.

Crossing your arms, you sighed and nodded, “You’ve got five minutes, maybe.”

Druig nodded and took a breath before speaking again, “I didn’t want you with me because I didn’t know how safe it was, these people…they could’ve hurt you if they turned against me, and I’d never be able to live with myself if that happened.”

You glared, “I’m a big girl Druig, I can take care of myself.”

“I-I know love, I just…I couldn’t have you in any sort of danger, so I had to let you go,” Druig told you.

Anger bubbled up inside of you suddenly, “Oh yeah? Is that why you left me the week after you finally told me you loved me Druig?”.

You were seething, you remembered when he told you he loved you for the first time. You two were alone, sitting under a secluded tree, sharing a papaya.

It was when you took a bite of fruit that he’d let it slip, you almost choked. He was looking at you with the most love and adoration you’d ever seen that it had made you cry.

You’d reciprocated the feeling, of course, you and Druig had been close ever since you met, or rather, when you met this time.

It made you wonder if you two had been together before, in your past lives, or just this one.

“I fucked up I know, please darlin’, please, I still love you,” Druig said, his eyes were brimming with tears. “I have all these years, I even asked Ajak to check up on you the last time I saw her, she sent me letters about how you were doing, how you were okay.”

“That would mean a lot more if you’d just come yourself, but you couldn’t leave your precious fucking compound, right? If you really loved me, you would’ve come seen me yourself,” you spat.

Druig groaned, backing away from you as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “What do I have to do to get you to love me again?”.

You felt a lump form in your throat as you turned away from Druig, “Whoever said I’d stopped?” you asked softly.

It was silent then between you two, before you heard Druig moving closer to you, and suddenly his arms were wrapped around you from behind, his head resting on your shoulder.

He held you for a bit, the familiar feel of him and his warmth was enough to make your tears start falling. He felt like home.

“Don’t cry,” Druig told you, turning you in his arms to hold you against his chest. You let him, finally wrapping your own arms around his torso.

It reminded you of when he’d left, it was the same forest after all, so you held him a little tighter.

Druig must have noticed because he chuckled a bit, “Don’t you worry, I’m not leavin’, not ever again.”

“You better not,” you whimpered out, making Druig hold you tighter as well, one hand resting in your hair, the other on your back.

“Never,” he said again, pulling away from you gently to look down at you.

He smiled a bit, moving his hand from your hair to wipe at the tears on your cheeks before resting his forehead against yours.

“Forgive me, love?” he asked you, and you nodded.

“I’m still pissed at you though,” you told him.

“Rightfully so, my beautiful, beautiful Y/N,” Druig told you before leaning down and pressing his lips to yours.

Your arms moved from his torso to link around his neck, pulling him down closer to you, his own hands rested on your waist, holding to him.

The silence of the forest was suddenly shattered as a scream pierced through the otherwise quiet night, making you two break apart and look towards the village. More screams began and Druig grabbed your hand, beginning to run.

It took you two about a minute to reach the village, a scene of chaos met you both.

Deviants were destroying everything in sight, attempting to kill your family. There were at least three, maybe more. Villagers were running, screaming, out of the village.

You and Druig dropped hands, jumping into action. Druig disappeared into the crowd of people while you ran towards Kingo, helping him fight off one of the Deviants.

You used you power to pick up anything in sight, including one of the empty buildings. Everything crashed into the Deviant, knocking it to the ground.

“I’ve got it! Help the others!” Kingo shouted towards you. You nodded, running towards some of the villagers, directing them the right way to go.

“Head to the river!” you heard Druig scream at them, you looked over just to watch him run away again, heading towards one of the buildings.

You watched as Sersi led a large group of people into the church, quickly turning the outside into a more indestructible surface, rather than the wood it was originally.

She didn’t see the Deviant running towards her, but you did, and you had no time before it slammed into her, breaking part of the building and slamming her into another one.

“Sersi!” you shouted, taking off running towards her, only to be knocked down yourself, and slammed into a tree.

Gasping, you tried to catch your breath again, hand moving to your side as a splitting pain made you yelp. One of your ribs was broken, you could feel it.

You managed to get to your feet, staring down one of the Deviants. It growled loudly, bounding towards you.

Lifting your hands and then slamming them together in front of you, you watched as trees that had once been surrounding you crashed into the Deviant, rendering it immobile, at least for enough time for you to get away.

Where was Ikaris? You could really use that son of bitch right now.

You saw Druig fighting off another, villagers surrounded it, shooting an almost constant rain of bullets into it. Not of their own accord though.

The Deviant had Druig cornered, and you quickly used your powers to pick up a rather large tree, throwing it into the Deviant, knocking it out.

“Druig!” you shouted, running over to him. “Let them go!”.

You motioned to the villagers who were still shooting, eyes glazed over as they repeated the action.

“Now is not the time, love,” he told you as you grabbed his hands.

“Please, you’re better than this,” you replied, desperate.

Druig sighed, his eyes softening before they began glowing gold, and he lifted a hand, letting the villagers go from their trance.

“What’s happening?” one of them yelled to Druig in Spanish.

“Go! To the river!” he shouted, they all nodded, taking off in the direction Druig told them to go.

You both turned and watched as Sprite leaped onto a Deviant, stabbing it in the side of the face as Kingo formed a ball of his power in his hands.

He told Sprite to let go, slid under the Deviant, and fired. The creatures head exploded, drenching Kingo in it’s blood.

A scream tore you from the sight, looking over as you saw one of the little girls from earlier, cornered by the last Deviant, at least, what you thought was the last one.

“No!” you screamed, running towards her. She was terrified, a look of pure horror on her face.

You hit the ground, sliding under the Deviant to get to the girl, you grabbed her in your arms just as Ikaris finally appeared, shooting the Deviant in the side with his lasers, giving you a chance to get away.

Once you were a safe distance away you set the little girl down, “Go! Go to the river!” you shouted, and she turned and ran from you.

Druig appeared beside you suddenly, “Are you alright?” he asked you, you nodded, a hand resting on his arm.

He smiled softly, kissing you quickly before disappearing again, making you smile and shake your head.

Your smile soon disappeared though as you were shoved into the building closest to you, a scream escaping your lips as you felt something pierce your shoulder from behind.

Groaning, you rolled onto your stomach, reaching behind you as you pulled a shard of wood from your back, screaming again at the pain.

“Y/N!” came Sprite’s voice as she ran over to you, kneeling beside you.

“Are you okay?!” she asked, voice filled with worry.

You could only nod, “Just help me up,” you managed to get out.

Sprite nodded, helping you up and out of the now smashed house, just in time to watch one of the Deviants shove Sersi into a large pool of water, diving in after her.

Druig ran over to you, wrapping an arm around you, “I got her,” he told Sprite, who nodded, letting go of you.

Before Druig could say anything else the water in the pool shot upwards, and you all watched in wonder as the Deviant twisted and turned, turning into a tree, now forever frozen in place. Sersi was standing there, staring up at, just as confused as everyone else.

“Are you okay?” Druig finally asked, managing to look away from whatever the hell had just happened as Ikaris ran over to Sersi.

You nodded, “I-I think, one of my ribs is broken, and I got stabbed in the back, literally,” you said, huffing out a laugh, and instantly regretting it when a sharp pain invaded your side, making you gasp.

Druig pulled you into his side, holding you up when crying broke the now silent atmosphere.

Thena.

You all hurried over to where you’d last seen Thena and Gilgamesh. Your breath caught in your throat as you found Thena crying over Gilgamesh, his skin had turned gray, and you could clearly see where he’d been stabbed multiple times by one of the Deviants.

He was gone.

Tears began to spill down your cheeks as you gently pushed away from Druig, limping over to Thena.

Falling to your knees beside her, ignoring your own pain, you gathered Thena into your arms, holding her close as she sobbed.

None of you were supposed to die, you were supposed to be together, forever.

You cried with Thena, holding her until she finally stopped. Sersi took her away as villagers who’d come back helped Ikaris and Kingo carry away Gilgamesh in the direction of the river.

Wiping at your eyes, you felt arms wrap around you. Turning, you pressed yourself into Druig, head resting on his shoulder.

“C’mon, we’ll get you patched up,” Druig told you.

You only nodded, following him back into the village. The people had come back and begun cleaning up, Druig nodded at them as you both passed them, heading towards one of the still standing houses.

Druig helped you up the two short steps into the small house, and it was unmistakably where Druig had been staying.

It was a bit messy, a small twin bed pushed up against the wall, unmade. Books were stacked everywhere, paper tacked to the wall. Some were drawings, posters, or handwritten notes.

There was a small table, as well as a wood-burning stove, a sink, a dresser, and in through a door, a small bathroom.

Druig instructed you to sit on the bed, heading into the bathroom, when he came back, he was holding a first aid kit.

You pulled your arms carefully from your shirt, and Druig helped you lift it over your head. He sat behind you, examining your wound.

Although you all healed incredibly fast, it still needed cleaned.

He gently cleaned your wound, apologizing when you winced, especially when he had to pull a rather large splinter of wood that was still stuck inside you.

Your side was already beginning to feel better thankfully, and you looked down to see the bruising was almost already gone.

“Done,” Druig suddenly spoke up after he’d placed a large bandage on your wound to keep it from bleeding anymore or staining whatever shirt you were going to put on now.

“Thank you,” you told him, turning around to face him, watching him wipe some blood from his hands on a washcloth.

He met your gaze, smirking softly, “You know, I was hoping to have you half naked in my bed in a different way, but I suppose this works.”

You reached up, slapping his arm, only managing make him laugh, his smirk turning into a smile as he did so.

You couldn’t help but laugh as well as Druig got up, disposing of the know bloodied washcloth, before heading to the dresser and pulling out a shirt for you.

It was a black t-shirt and you gratefully accepted it, carefully pulling it on.

“Guess you’ll have to get me into your bed half-naked another time,” you teased, making Druig smile again as he shook his head.

He grabbed his long sleeve shirt that he’d apparently discarded on the small table, pulling it back on.

“We better go back, say goodbye,” Druig told you, the lighthearted feeling in the air soon disappearing as you remembered your fallen friend.

Druig took your hand and led you from the house, into the woods and towards the river. You two walked in silence, you clinging to Druig’s arm as you walked, just wanting him close.

When you finally reached the river, you saw they’d already placed Gilgamesh on a pyre made of large logs, it was what he would have wanted, a warrior’s funeral.

You all stood around the pyre, you leaned against Druig as he wrapped an arm around you.

Kingo lit the pyre with his power, the logs quickly setting ablaze, taking Gilgamesh with them.

Karun folded his hands, closing his eyes as he began reciting a scripture in Sanskrit. It was comforting in a way, and Kingo joined him in folding his hands and closing his eyes.

Besides that, you all watched silently as the flames grew larger, reaching up into the night sky. And that’s where you all stayed until the flames were gone and there was nothing but ash left.

Thena gathered the ashes into a small box, you and Druig watched her from your places in the sand, your head on his shoulder. She entered the water, ready to disperse the ashes.

“You know,” Druig began quietly, “when I left, I thought about taking over the minds of every human on the planet. Violence, fear, greed, all gone.”

“Why didn’t you?” you asked, not moving your head from his shoulder, but lacing your fingers with his as you spoke.

“Because without their flaws, they’re not human,” Druig told you, resting his head against yours.

“You can’t stay here,” you told him after a moment, “We need you…I need you.”

“Sersi’s asking me to take control of the mind of a Celestial, I don’t have that power,” Druig told you.

The sun was rising now, illuminating Thena in a soft glow as she dispersed of Gilgamesh’s ashes into the water around her. She wasn’t facing you, but you could tell she was crying, her shoulders shook as she did so.

“We’ll need Phastos,” you commented.

“Well good luck with that, he gave up on humans a long time ago,” Druig told you, forever the pessimist of the group.

“He’ll listen,” you replied, “he has to. Besides, he can’t resist my puppy dog face.”

That made Druig laugh a bit, lifting his head from yours and you lifted yours from his shoulder, meeting his eyes.

“I missed you,” he told you, reaching out to move a bit of hair from your face.

“I missed you too,” you told him, “I wish we had more time.”

“If this all goes according to plan, we will.”