chaos and control | druig ✔︎

26 | bonus 2

26 | the bracelet pt.2

1521 AD - Tenochtitlan

Phastos hadn't broken his promise. He had been seated at the girl's bed for the past four days, waiting for her to wake. She didn't wake up, even after Phastos removed the bracelet from her wrist after a full day of sleep. Only now could the man see how malnourished she was. He thought it wouldn't be such a shock to see her laying there, paler than ever, though he was wrong. She hadn't eaten a single thing in the last nine days and it showed.

Her eyes were sunken in from dehydration and sleep deprivation, her body looking fragile as ever and her chest only rising a minimum amount of times. It was like he was staring at a corpse. Apart from the soft breaths leaving her mouth, she looked dead and after so many days without any food and water, she should have been. Maybe the fact that she was an Eternal was the only thing keeping her alive, maybe it was a miracle, maybe she wasn't meant to die yet.

Phastos heard footsteps, signalling that somebody had joined him in Hestia's room. He gazed up with an indifferent look on his face. The rest of the Eternals had tried to get him out of the room, but he wouldn't budge. He promised Hestia he would be there when she woke up, and he planned on keeping that promise.

This time, Kingo stood beside him, staring over at the girl who was calmly laying under a warm blanket. He held a bowl with some food and handed it over to Phastos.

"You've gotta eat." Kingo uttered, scared that he might wake the girl, though he knew that it wouldn't happen. "Don't want you to end up looking like her now, do we?"

"Don't say that." Phastos countered, gratefully grabbing the bowl from Kingo's hands and digging in. He himself hadn't eaten in a while now, he had been looking over Hestia for so long that he forgot to.

"You sure that bracelet of yours didn't put her in a permanent sleep?" Kingo questioned, his brows furrowing, making his forehead crease.

"I didn't have the time to check." Phastos explained, but Kingo didn't let him talk any longer.

"What do you mean you didn't have time?"

"You guys wanted me to do it as fast as possible!"

"Yeah, but as the smartest you should know what you're doing!"

"I know what I'm doing!" The two kept arguing. Phastos had stood up and strode closer to Kingo, bowl still in his hands, making him look a lot less threatening.

"Do you have to yell?" Hestia's raspy voice filled the room. The two men whipped around to see her sitting upright, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Hestia." Phastos rapidly put his bowl down on a chair and sprinted over to the girl, enveloping her in a hug. Even though she was extremely confused as to why he ran over to her so quickly, she hugged him back.

"So, you're finally awake." Kingo sassed from behind Phastos, moving closer to Hestia's bed.

"Finally?" The girl queried, tilting her head to the side.

"You've been asleep for four days." Phastos muttered, looking down with guilt.

"Four?" Hestia exclaimed in disbelief. She rubbed her eyes again, resting her head in her hands afterwards.

"How?" She mumbled to no one in particular. Slowly but surely, her own memories started to answer her question. She remembered that she had been seated on the stairs for days on end, without eating or drinking. She remembered fighting Phastos and arms wrapping around her from behind, holding her still so Phastos could secure the bracelet on her wrist. One of her hands rubbed the place on her wrist where the bracelet was placed, just a few days ago. After that, she remembered nothing, only darkness.

Hestia looked up, gazing at Phastos. He immediately knew that she recalled what had happened that night.

"Why?" Her voice broke. "Why did you do it?" She felt immensely betrayed in that moment.

"I had to." Phastos whispered, regret clear on his face. "You-"

"I trusted you." Hestia spoke. It seemed like she was too tired to put up a fight, so she stayed seated. "I guess trusting you was the wrong thing to do." Kingo glanced between the pair and decided to leave, so they could discuss whatever was going on between them. Phastos threw a grateful glance over to him right before he closed the door.

"Hestia. Look." Phastos started. "I didn't want to do it."

"Then why did you?" Hestia glared at him, light tears glistening in her eyes.

"Because it was better for you." He breathed out. "You were as pale as a ghost. You hadn't eaten in days, don't tell me that sounds like you were alright!"

Hestia swallowed the lump in her throat and looked down at her lap. She folded her hands together, knowing he was right and what he had done was probably for the better.

"It wasn't my idea. Ajak came up with it, I merely executed." He sat down on the bed next to her.

"I begged anyone else to do it, I swear." Hestia could hear his voice start to break, just like hers had done earlier.

"I didn't know that they were going to grab you from behind. I wanted to let you choose to put on the bracelet."

He was telling the truth. When Hestia gazed up at him, his eyes were filled with tears.

"I'm sorry." Phastos sobbed, taking off his glasses and putting them on the bedside table so he could wipe his eyes.

Hestia scooted closer, wrapping her arms around him and embraced him. "It's okay." She merely whispered and she felt Phastos throw his arms around her as he continued sobbing. Soon after, Hestia noticed that she too was crying.

So, there they sat. Crying in each others arms. For the guilt and the loss they experienced. They let everything out. They talked for hours. About how sorry they felt. About all the things they wished they could change. About all the things they wished they would have done and about all the things they wished they could have said.

AN | so this is the actual end, no more bonus chapters

it was amazing to write, but the story has come to an end

if/when the Eternals get a second movie, I will most definitely make a sequel because I'm a whore for Druig, and considering you're reading this, you are too.

bee xx