Pairing: Druig x reader (Eternals) - No use of (Y/N)
Summary: Chance encounters become all the more unlikely when it’s been hundreds of years since you last saw them. Or, Druig pines after a stranger he never even spoke to for centuries.
Word count: 2.1K
Warnings: mild violence, allusion to suicide, discussion of death
A/N: I’d been struggling to figure out a druig premise since I saw the movie and then I wrote this all today after work lol
Athens, 896 BCE
Athen’s had been the Eternal’s home for the last few years. Thena had been named the defender of the city after killing more Deviants than you could count. She’d saved the population and the people had named their city after her in thanks.
The people loved Thena. She was a goddess to them, and they practically worshipped her.
When Druig sat and listened to Sprite tell stories about their family to children and adults alike he could already see the way the fables were forming in their minds. The way the stories would grow and spread until the myths of who they were shifted and became unrecognizable.
And he would still be here, to hear those stories. In a hundred years, in a thousand years, wherever they went the stories about his family would follow them. It had already happened with Gil, and Phastos was fast on his way to becoming another god in these people’s eyes. The inventions and sparks of creativity he gave them would serve these people for the centuries to come.
And Druig would just have to watch.
Maybe fight a few more Deviants along the way, but eventually, they’d kill the last of them, and then what would he be able to do?
Sit and watch while these humans continued to wage wars against each other, to kill each other over petty arguments, over minor disagreements? The death and destruction that humans waged on themselves were growing every day. If the others would just let him, he could stop it. Stop the pain and suffering for everyone. But they would never let him do that. He was forbidden from interfering in the conflicts of humans.
So instead he’d just have to watch them tear each other apart.
And he had been watching when he saw her.
You caught his eye from across the pavilion. A beautiful face, but more interestingly, curious eyes. You were standing off to the side while a crowd listened to Sprite tell another story. She was droning on and on about Ikaris. Druig wasn’t sure which story she was trying to tell, there were too many unimportant details, about what Ikaris had looked like, detours to his interests, little personal details, it was boring.
So he allowed his gaze to wander. And he’d happened to lock eyes with you. And you smiled flirtatiously, a quiet burst of laughter bubbling up from your chest as you stared back at him, not daring to be the one to break the eye contact.
Part of him wanted to go to you. To talk to you. To find out what was so funny, and if things went well, to make you laugh again.
He wanted to know you. He really did. But he also knew that he couldn’t. Getting close to humans only made it all the more painful to watch them grow and age while he stayed the same.
Druig had had friends before, close friends, but every time they would grow old and die and Druig would be left with nothing but memories. No matter how hard he tried, death could not be stopped. Not even by an Eternal.
So he learned to keep his distance. To never get too close to the humans. It was easier that way.
So he took the easy way out. He winked at her before standing up and disappearing down an alley into the dark night.
Druig walked away, ending the story before it could even start.
Rome, 30 BCE
You were perusing the stalls of the Tuesday market when you saw him. The stalls and tables stacked high with goods, wares, food, crafts, anything you could ever dream of owning. Treasures from the farthest reaches of the empire. You needed to purchase some food to last you through the rest of the week. Nearly completely focused on completing your tasks when you’d loved up by chance and caught the eye of a stranger at the same time he looked over at you.
But was he a stranger?
You’d seen him before. It couldn’t be a coincidence. This wasn’t some stranger that you’d seen in the market a few years ago. This was a man that you recognized from centuries ago. And he was looking at you like he remembered you too. You didn’t dare speak. If he knew what you were that was one thing, but he was something…else. It would be a bad idea to go in blind to whatever he was.
So you were going to do what you do best. Run.
Life - if you could even call it that anymore - had been hard on you.
You’d been a young woman when the whispers had first started. When your sisters began to look older than you despite being years your junior, your father was getting greyer and greyer, and fine lines began to appear on the faces of your friends. When you first realized that while they had begun to age, that you hadn’t changed a bit.
As the years went by the whispers only grew, the more people wondered what you were, or what you had done.
Some thought you were chosen by the gods. A favorite. Bestowed with a blessed gift. Some of those people revered you and honored you. Others were jealous and envious, they couldn’t see what was so special about you that the gods would pick you over them.
But there were others who thought you had been cursed. That the gods had smited you, given you a malediction. Those people wanted you gone, banished from the city. Sent somewhere far away so that you couldn’t infect the rest of the city with your sin and wickedness.
They’d dragged you screaming and crying out of your father’s house. They’d dragged you through the city’s streets and to the edge of town where they’d tied you to a mule and sent you out into the desert with nothing but the clothes on your back.
You’d wander for who knows how long.
You should have died. Of dehydration. Starvation. Of something, anything that had happened to you in the wilderness.
But you couldn’t seem to die. You laid in the desert, stranded. Your dead mule left behind long ago and willed the gods to take you. To end your suffering. But they wouldn’t answer your prayers. Perhaps there were no gods after all. Or maybe they really had cursed you, maybe this was your punishment, to suffer and unending death for the rest of time.
You weren’t sure what your sin had been, how you could have offended the gods. But if the stories were true then the gods didn’t always need a reason for doing the things they did. They were all-powerful beings who could do what they pleased.
But you had your own power now. A power that had scared the people in your village. A power that you would have to learn to use.
Eventually, you’d accepted what had happened. And began your trek. You’d wandered through the wilderness until you found a new village. They’d taken you in, nursed you back to health, and allowed you to live with them.
But after a few years, you knew what you had to do, that you need to keep moving, from village to village so you never stayed in one place too long, never allowed anyone to get to know you too well, all in order to keep your secret safe.
Holding yourself at arms distance from all was hard at first, but eventually, it became second nature. It was only natural. And you’d traveled the world. Visited corners of the world that you never could have dreamed of.
Big cities were the best, it was easy to disappear into a busy place. And you could stay a few years longer which was always nice.
So when the Roman Empire came to power Rome was an obvious choice for your next home.
You’d been walking through the market when you’d seen him. Just glanced up from the fruit you were inspecting at the right time and made eye contact with him across the way.
She had to be a great-granddaughter 40 generations over. Some distant relative, one identical to a woman who had lived centuries ago. You’d think it impossible.
But Druig remembered her. Remembered her face. The smile was the same, her hair, her lips, the set of her cheekbones, and the rise of her chin. But her eyes….her eyes were different.
This time. He didn’t run away. He moved towards her.
She had turned to walk away. And was halfway down an alley when he finally caught up to her.
“Have we met before?” He asked as he chased after her, unintentionally cornering her in the alleyway.
“I don’t think so, But I do come to this market often, maybe you’ve just seen me around here before,” You tried to reply, your words coming out unevenly as you avoided eye contact, trying to step back from this strange man, to get somewhere safe.
“No, not here, somewhere else,” He said slowly. Trying to choose his words carefully. He’d clearly spooked her. And he didn’t mean to, but he also needed to understand.
“I’ve lived here all my life,” You lied quickly.
“That’s not true,” Druig replied with a simple shake of his head. “You’re from Athens.”
You stared up at him with wide eyes. “I-”
“I saw you in Athens, over 800 years ago.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I- You’re crazy,” You rambled as panic began to seep down your spine. What did this guy know? And what was he going to do to you?
“I’m not going to hurt you, I’m just confused,” He told you. Wishing he could reach out and press a reassuring hand into your shoulder. But he knew that he couldn’t. That you’d probably actually bolt.
“Who are you?” You asked as you looked up at him. Trying to search his eyes for some hint at his true intentions.
“I’m sorry,” Druig apologized. He’d gotten ahead of himself. And he needed her to trust him. “My name is Druig. I’m part of a group called the Eternals. We were sent to earth five thousand years ago to protect Earth from monsters called Deviants.”
“Who are you?” He asked after a beat.
You tell him your first name. “I’m...I’m not sure what I am. I haven’t aged since around 890. But I also can’t seem to die.”
You’d never told anyone that. You’d gotten close before, to breaking down and telling someone the truth. But you’d always known that the consequences would be terrible. But now you were here, telling a complete stranger, a man that you’d known for thirty seconds your deepest secret.
Maybe you’d finally lost your mind? Or maybe your death wish had finally returned.
“So it was you,” He breathed out. “And… do you have any powers?”
“Is immortality not impressive enough for you?” You shot back before taking a deep breath. “Not that I know of. I just don’t age, can’t get sick, never get sustain serious injuries, nothing can kill me.”
You looked away for a moment, closing your eyes tightly in an effort to banish the memories of your darkest moments, banishing them back into the recesses of your brain. “How did you remember me, you’re even older than I am, and you remembered me. From centuries ago. We didn’t even speak that night, did we?”
“We didn’t.” He admitted. Thorough he wasn’t sure he was prepared to admit the whole truth to you. The embarrassing fact that he’d thought of you frequently over the years. That a mysterious girl who’d smiled at him one time had plagued his thoughts and struck a chord in him back then, and that it had happened again today when he saw you.
No. That would be way too embarrassing to admit.
“I-I could take you to my family. We could figure out how this happened to you?” He offered, albeit, lamely.
“Phastos, he’s an inventor, if anyone can figure out what happened to you it would be him. And Ajak, she’s a healer, if we go find them, she might be able to fix it,” “Only if you wanted that.”
“I would,” You admitted as you glanced back up at him, trying to ignore the way your stomach flipped as his eyes locked back onto yours again. “I would like that.”
