Druig has always had this feeling that his family would come to the garden someday. And even though he was the one who left them in the first place, he's been having dreams lately — good dreams — about what it would be like to see them again. The dreams go a little something like this:
He would be going about his usual business on a day that feels like any other day. Except today, he would feel a sudden gust of wind roll through the garden, and he would venture cautiously to the tree line to find them — all of them — emerging from the brush. He would get the pleasure of running to Isis somewhere in the flowerbeds, tapping her on the shoulder, and giving her the news that he knows she's been waiting to hear since the day they departed.
Unfortunately, he doesn't get that pleasure today. In fact, his family's arrival in the garden turns out to be not much of a pleasure at all.
"Druig, please. This is serious," Sersi begs.
"I'll tell you what's serious. I've just been told that I've been sent on a suicide mission for the past 7,000 years and that my entire existence is a lie. So excuse me for not giving a shit about your plan right now."
He walks straight for the door, unable to hear any more of what any of them have to say. He glances over his shoulder as he passes over the threshold, and he sees the receding image of his family as they watch him leave. He remember all too well the last time he saw the same image in Tenochtitlan, except this time none of them are willing to follow him.
Ikaris approaches Sersi with a doubtful look, but she still has hope in her eyes. "He just needs time to think," she says.
Meanwhile, Druig retreats to his house. There's not much there, and it hasn't changed for nearly a century. There's the bed in the center, the shelves along the wall, and the two rocking chairs on the porch. He came here to think, yet he has too many thoughts to focus on a single one of them.
First, there are the memories: the memories given to him of a home that was never actually his, the memories taken from him of the planets they could never save, and the very real memories of his life on earth — a life that could be ending in days. A life he has with Isis. Or had.
Maybe that is the most jarring part out of everything — that in a matter of days, everything could disappear and that his last day with Isis would have been 97 years ago. That they would be reborn on a new planet far away from here, possibly doomed to repeat this same lonely ending again, and again, and again.
He sits on the foot of the bed and squeezes his eyes shut, forcing his tears out. It's not the future he wants for her. So if there's a chance that he could save her from it, shouldn't he try? He has a thought, and it's not one that he's ever had since creating the garden. "It's time to leave," he thinks. "I have to stop the emergence."
He thinks about how he just told Sersi that he's protected his followers for 20 generations from the outside world and from each other, but he also thinks about how this is a lie. The truth is that it's been decades since he had to protect them from anything. These days, he just sits on his front steps and watches from afar as his followers look after the garden with complete peace in their hearts. He realizes now that he has faith in these people — in humanity — again. He realizes that his purpose is no longer to protect them from each other but from the Arishem who threatens to take away their beautiful life in this beautiful place. And with this new purpose, he can finally say that he is ready to leave this place with complete peace in his own heart.
He stands up and walks over to the extremely dusty shelves. He picks up the painting of Isis and himself and thinks about how much he really, really misses her. The painting isn't particularly detailed, but he still remembers her face clearly in his mind: the movement of her hair, the wonder in her eyes, and the warmth of her skin. He sets the painting back on the shelf, ready to find her again.
YOU ARE READING
somewhere in time {Druig}
Hayran Kurgu'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)
