Find Me Afterlife

when my heartbeat stops will you stay mine

Amazon 2023 - Druig

Druig wasn't sure it was you at first. He didn't really want to believe it when you had stumbled into his compound with an injured ankle. He had tried to keep his distance as his healers worked on your leg. He didn't want to confirm it. He had promised himself, when he had last seen you in 1521, that he would stay away. He would never put either of you through it again. He would never have to suffer you dying in his arms again.

But he couldn't stay away. He needed to know. His chest had tightened from the moment you had stepped in his compound, and he knew it wouldn't lessen until he knew. It was when he saw your eyes for the first time that he regretted walking over to the medical tent. Your eyes had met his, scared and in pain, and he knew he was done for.

After 500 years, you had come into his life again. His vixen, his muse, his life. You looked a bit different this time, but then, you always did. In every lifetime, your face was just a bit different, your features suited to whatever culture you had been born into in that life. But your eyes were always the same. Your soul was always the same. He would know you anywhere.

He couldn't do this again. He couldn't go through this pain. He needed to keep his distance. It was the only way to protect you, he reasoned. He had tried it before, a few lifetimes ago. He had tried to just watch you from afar, to not get close to you, to not let you fall in love with him again. But you had once again broken through his barriers in a way only you could, and he found himself in your heart again. As if he was in the very make up of you soul. He had thought maybe he could try to protect you if he told you why you needed to stay away from him, but you hadn't cared. You wanted to risk it, for him. He shouldn't have let you. But his heart was weak for you, and in the end, his heart had broken once again, when he held your lifeless body in his arms.

He wouldn't make that mistake again. He wouldn't let you fall in love with him. He wouldn't watch you die again. He couldn't. He listened quietly as his healers told you that you needed to rest the ankle for two weeks. You had asked if you could stay here, as you were backpacking across the Amazon during your summer vacation and they were so far from civilization. He wanted to say no. He wanted to send you on your way, and never see you again.

"You can stay here for the two weeks while your ankle heals," he found himself saying instead. "But then you must go."

He turned and walked away, ignoring your timid gratitude behind him. This was a bad idea. He shouldn't have said that. He should have sent you away immediately. But you were hurt, and his heart was still weak for you. He'd let you heal, and then he'd send you away. Then he'd know you were safe at least. In the mean time, he just needed to keep his distance from you.

•••

Babylon 525 BC

The humans were annoying him. They were fighting amongst themselves on whose land was biggest, and well, Druig just wanted some peace and quiet. It had been such a long day. He looked at them and his eyes shone gold as the humans all slapped themselves before walking away from where he was sitting.

"I saw that," a quiet voice said. He turned to see you standing a few feet away from him, hanging your wet sheets on a drying line. He had seen you a few times around the town, but he'd never heard your voice.

"What did you see?" He smirked at you.

"You did that, didn't you? You made them slap themselves and leave," you said as you put your hands on your hips.

"And if I did?"

"Some of the villagers say you're a God," you looked at him thoughtfully, as if sizing him up.