Impossible || Druig

20

Druig did not very much care in that moment that Sersi had turned a deviant into a tree. He was on his feet and striding across the earth towards Ikaris with intent. The last he had seen Soro, the other man was being taken up into the sky . "Ikaris", he barked as he reached the other man. "Where's Soro?" It was a demand. Less than an hour ago Soro was wrapped in his arms and smiling, the next the other was brushed and bloodied. He wanted to see if he was okay. The deviants had caught them by surprise, ambushed them when they were separated. Druig had only just gotten his husband back. 

"He's with Gilgamesh", Ikaris finally tore his gaze from Sersi towards the forest. Without another word he was floating up and soaring through the trees. Druig broke into a run after him, gun slung over his shoulder. It thumped on his back as he heard the others follow behind them. The trees thickening further away from the village they grew and the light darkening. Ikaris shot out of sight and the light of his golden gaze glowed on the branches as he chased the deviant off. Druig got a glimpse of it. It was a huge hulking thing, humanoid with what seemed to be almost a face. That was far more scary than any other deviant they had seen before, yet he forgot it once he took in the scene in front of him. 

The first thing was Thena. She was bright in her customary white and gold, outshining the figure slumped over in her arms. All grey skin and muddied clothes that they blended into the earth. Gilgamesh was dead and the sight of it stole his breath. He had never seen one of them die before. Thena's sobs filled the air, loud and soul aching. "Soro?" He called, eyes darting around the scene. 

Then he saw him. Soro was sprawled like a dropped doll on the earth. Hair covering his face and glasses missing, skin so pale that for a moment Druig thought he was dead like Gilgamesh. He was slipping to his knees in the dirt at the fallen man's side before anyone else had moved. Hands desperately hauling the smaller body up into his lap. Soro's head lolled into his chest as Druig felt for a pulse in the pale neck. He had to be carful of the stabbed wounds dotting his shoulders. It was there, weak and slow but there. "He's alive", he breathed in relief. Behind him, Thena's sobs had quieted to whimpers. Druig tucked Soro closer, adjusting him so that he was cradled comfortably. The smaller man so fragile in that moment. He had never seen Soro unconscious after a fight before, not for this long. 

There had been injuries that had scared him. The way his back had bled after that Deviant in Ireland during their honeymoon. The time a lucky claw had pierced through his hand during a fight in Athens. The other time where he was knocked around the head by the blow of a gorilla deviant before Babylon. That time had Soro falling, stumbling. He had only been unconscious for half a minute but still, that brief limpness had startled the beat of Druig's heart and it didn't steady until after the battle, when Soro was victorious and beaming. (That had been the moment the mind reader had realised that his feelings for the other man were different to the feelings he held for the others. It had been terrifying). 

"What happened?" Sersi's voice was wrecked with grief. 

"This one was stronger", Thena gasped as she fought the tears dripping down her cheeks. Druig picked his husband up and crossed over to where the others were assembled around Gilgamesh' corpse. He knelt down there, arms draping Soro back across his lap. The long haired man's face nestled in the crook of his neck where Druig could feel the soft movement of his breath. It was one of the few things grounding him in that moment. Upon seeing Soro, Thena paused to reach out a hand to rest it on the unconscious man's arm, fingers smoothing over healing welts in his skin. Druig noticed the same wounds on Gilgamesh. Round areas of flesh were things had sunk into the skin, red and sore. 

"It had gotten Gilgamesh and I thought it would kill him. Then Soro was there. For a second they were able to push it back but this one is clever", her voice was more steady with anger as she spoke. Grief settling into determination and fire that was similar to how she had once been. "It learnt and it managed to break their attack pattern. It got Soro. It's vines clawing into his skin and seeming to suck out his life. They glowed, like we do. It would have killed him. But Gil stopped it. It got him instead. When it was done it seemed to change, becoming more sentient. It spoke. It said it had their memories". 

There was a moment of silence where it was only the soft breathing against his neck that stopped Druig from panicking. What had that thing done to Soro? "What do we do now?" Kingo voiced. He sounded lost and small. 

Thena's face set. "We should burn him. Let Gil go", her hands tightened on the corpse in her hold. The body didn't even look much like their friend anymore, whatever spirit that inhabited their robot bodies was gone. The machine left was now empty and drained. 

"I know a spot", Druig murmured as he stood up again, Soro's weight easy and comforting in his arms. "Follow me". 

-----------------------------

Soro woke with a scream. He was upright and scrabbling back amidst a tangle of blankets as his mind churned. The dream he'd had still vivid in his mind's eye. "Eros! Eros!" He didn't know the name he was screaming, only that there was a scene playing out in his head. "Eros! Help me! Mentor! Please!" His voice cracked and he clutched at his skull as memories began to overwhelm him. "Please! Please! Eros!" 

"Soro!" Hands were grasping at him and Soro batted them away unseeing. "Soro! Soro! It's me! It's me! Druig". The name made him pause. The information in his head calmed, the influx slowing from a broken damn of water to a drip. Soro shuddered, a full body rattle. He felt of key, cold and like someone had reached deep inside him and shattered whatever had been placed in there to stop him from remembering before. Was this what Mhad Wr'ry was like? It was scary. Soro reapplied that he was sobbing, great heaving sobs that rattled his frame. Arms wrapped around him and he was tucked into something warm and alive. He could hear a heartbeat under his ear. 

Druig was talking, accent lilting his words soothingly. "Remember when we got married? The cliff and the smell of the bonfire tangled with salt as we stood on that cliff. The wind was so strong and your hair was being blown around like crazy. You looked so pretty. I was so happy to be marrying you. Remember china? 1349. The robes, all those layers. I kept on getting tangled in mine but you looked beautiful. I remember how you laughed when you had found that I was hiding bao in my sleeves. Those long sleeves and layers allowed for so many hidden food pockets. Remember Russia afterwards? The snow was so deep we tried to bury Sprite. She was not very happy with us about it and Kingo laughed so hard he slipped over-" 

Soro concentrated on breathing as he willed his panic and terror to calm down. His husband's voice a comforting lull that grounded and brought him back to the present. Druig must have felt him stop shivering for he stopped talking and moved back gently. Soro looked up at him with tired, dozy half lidded eyes. The mental attack had left and now he was scooped out and hollow and cold. He felt colder than he could ever remember, which was strange. Druig's hands smoothed their way up his back to cradle his neck and head gently, thumbs brushing long hair out of the way as blue eyes examined him anxiously. "There you are", he exhaled, a small smile tugging at his lips. 

Soro felt his lips instinctively twitch to smile sightly back. Druig was all blurry. Where was his glasses? "Here I am", he croaked, voice dry from screaming. "I thought I had died. My head hurts".

"You terrified me", Druig murmured as he pressed their foreheads together. "I thought I had lost you". 

"I'm still here", Soro smiled. In the back of his mind, the new memories pulsed but he would deal with them later. He still remembered his time here and that was more important. "You're not getting rid of me that easily my charming husband". 

"Good", Druig rumbled as he tucked Soro back to his chest and placed a gentle kiss on the other's brow. Soro hummed soothingly as he took in the room. Familiar stone black walls greeted him and he squinted at them. "Here", Druig reached out and handed him something. Soro slid the old golden wire frames onto his face and peered around at his bedroom in the Domo. The last thing he remembered was the fight in the forest. 

"How long have I been asleep?" He asked. "We're back on the Domo again. Am I still dreaming?" 

Druig leaned back and Soro could finally see his face. There was something wrong. Blue eyes seemed to melt and then the world around him was shifting dizzyingly, changing. Domo walls melting into trees and he was under shaded canopy. The deviant who he had been fighting lunged from the branches and this time, the tentacles ripped him apart as he screamed. 

Soro awoke screaming. 

unedited 

Still not having a fun time. the mind is not a fun place, much less if you're millions of years old. Song for this is Spiracle by Flower Face.