When the last follower finally lays to sleep, Isis rises slowly to her feet. An insurmountable wave of heartache stands frozen in time just behind her, waiting for the worst moment to crash on her shoulders. Still, she stays strong. Or at least, she tries to be, for him. She finds his silhouette motionless on a hill in the distance, and she's almost afraid to go meet him.
She's quiet like a ghost as she approaches him from behind. He doesn't look over his shoulder, but he knows she is there.
"Where are you?" she asks; it breaks her heart not to know. It's so quiet too, as if the entire planet is holding its breath to hear his answer. The silence feels heavy on her shoulders, so she closes her eyes and listens to what it carries: a wind whistling between the trees, a dry leaf tumbling across the forest floor, and his tense but steady breath beside her.
"I thought about taking control of every single human on this planet. War, violence, greed. It would all be gone." The cadence of his words is slow and calculated — as you would expect for a thought rehearsed without end.
"But you won't," she says, so sure of her words. His heart is broken, but it is not naïve. She places her hand on his shoulder and looks into his eyes. He doesn't look back but not out of spite.
The silence forges on.
"We say that when we love something, we protect it." He whispers his words, barely loud enough for her to hear. "I can't protect them if I can't control them."
More silence.
"Druig, do you love me?"
He looks at her and she looks back, having never looked away in the first place.
"Of course I do. But, do you trust me to protect you? To make your decisions for you if it came to that?" There is endless uncertainty in his eyes. "I always thought that when I finally rejected my faith in Arishem that I would finally be free, but I still don't know. I don't know, Isis, if it's right for me to take away what makes them human even if it means we would have a peaceful world. Would I be betraying them?"
Still, silence.
"Druig, do you know why I ask if you love me?" He shakes his head. "I will always trust you to protect me, and I trust you because I know that you love me. It is not even in your will to betray me, or anyone that you love."
She places her palm on his chest, and he is silent.
She continues: "Your heart is so heavy with compassion for me, for your family, and for these people, but your mind is so full of doubt. I know that you love these people, and so I know that you will protect them."
Further the silence goes.
She moves to stand in front of him as her hands reach up to hold on tight to his arms. "You have such a complex relationship with the people of this world, and I may never understand what that is like for you." Her eyes look deep into his. "Still, do you understand what I am trying to tell you?" Although she is earnest in her words, her expression is weighed down by worry and sorrow.
He releases his hands clasped in front of his waist and mirrors her gesture, holding on tight to both her arms as well.
"I do. I do," he says so softly, but he means it.
Her expression resolves to relief and then to comfort. He rests his forehead on hers, continuing to mouth, "I do. I do."
The first light of the morning stretches across the forest floor. The planet — which has been holding its breath all along — finally exhales, grateful to have known and to continue to know the love that they have for each other. If ever there are soulmates, they could be here.
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somewhere in time {Druig}
Fanfiction'It's beautiful, isn't it?' she says. 'It is,' he answers. She's looking at the sky, but he's thinking about her. OC x Druig (Marvel's Eternals)
