CHAPTER THREE —
( 575BC )

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THE HANGING GARDENS
Babylon 

Later in the evening, the people of Babylon hosted a party for the Eternals in honour of them saving the city once again from a Deviant attack. Groups of people sat around Sprite as she stood in the middle of the room, her voice loud and her hands moving as she created a bright illusion above her head.

"The wonders of the world await you. Follow Gilgamesh and Enkidu into battle. Be forever inspired by their bravery and strength. You and your fellow man will go on great adventures. And become legends of your own!" A bright shot of fireworks went off after Sprite finished her story and everyone cheered in amazement.

"I just saw that," Gilgamesh commented from beside Gaia, who had been too immersed in Sprite's story to really be paying attention to her fellow Eternal who had definitely had one too many drinks.

Gilgamesh wrapped his large arms around Kingo and Gaia and pulled them both into him, causing Gaia to laugh lightly and Kingo to groan. "There's so many other chairs, man. You know, I could use my powers," he threatened.

"Right. And then I would just put you both back into your places," Gaia told them, raising her eyebrows as she looked between the two.

Gilgamesh leant in towards Kingo. "Y'know, she's right."

Kingo let out a laugh as Gaia smiled. "I know because she's been spending too much time with Druig. She's beginning to turn into him."

Gaia rolled her eyes as Gilgamesh teasingly smiled and pulled her closer to him. "Is that a blush I see, Gaia? Oh, Druig's looking our way." Gaia looked up and across the room where she spotted Druig talking to Makkari and a couple of humans, not even looking her way. "Made you look."

Gaia shoved Gilgamesh as he let out a loud boisterous laugh while heat rushed up her neck and warmed up her face. "You're rude to me, Gil."

"I'm teasing you, Gaia," he grinned. "But he actually is looking our way now."

"He's not joking this time," Kingo spoke.

Gaia looked over towards Druig and, just as Gilgamesh said, Druig was looking straight at her. As soon as the two made eye contact, however, Druig looked away, heat rushing up to his cheeks and turning his pale face a soft pink. Gilgamesh and Kingo both let out loud laughs at his reaction and Gaia shoved them both.

"Leave him alone," she told them.

"We're not being rude to him, it's just he's usually very...moody," Kingo told her.

"But when it comes to you, Gaia, Druig's happy. We can all see it," Gilgamesh said. "He likes you."

Kingo frowned. "It's disturbing."

Gaia looked back over to where Druig was, immediately making eye contact with him before Makkari decided to turn her way to see what was capturing Druig's attention. A mischievous smile spread across her face as she turned back to Druig.

"Oh no, I think Makkari's noticed your little stare-off," Gilgamesh commented.

Seconds later, a gust of wind nearly knocked Gilgamesh over but he instead laughed it off as he drank more mead. "Hey, Makkari. How's your evening?" Kingo asked.

"Can I borrow Gaia?" She instead asked.

Gilgamesh and Kingo both nodded and turned to each other as Gaia held her hand out for Makkari to take and within a blink of an eye, the two were now standing in front of Druig. "Thank you, Makkari," Druig signed. Makkari smirked as she looked between the two before disappearing in a gust of wind. "My beautiful Gaia."

"Druig," Gaia softly said, instinctively grabbing his hand as soon as he began to raise his. "Why didn't you come up and talk to me? Why did you have Makkari run me over here?"

Druig chuckled softly, a hand reaching up behind his neck nervously. "She thinks I'm too nervous to talk to you around the others."

Gaia frowned as she stared down at him and at how he surveyed the loud room with people dancing and chatting and drinking with one another. She softly tugged on his hand, turning his attention towards her. "Do you want to go for a walk?" Druig nodded with a smile and the two began to walk back through the Hanging Gardens and towards the Domo where they knew the only person inside would be Phastos.

Gaia's eyes glanced at every little thing they walked passed on their way to the Domo while she hummed a soft tune she heard earlier, a tune so beautiful to Druig that he thought it'd make angels wheep. She took note of the spots that looked plain and others where the green of the vines had begun to fade away and turn to brown. She knew the next day she'd have to get to work, Mother Nature hardly ever had time to relax, but at this moment with her hand entwined with Druig's, she could relax. He was her safe person, her resting place. Whenever she was with him, no matter how nervous she may seem, she always knew she could be herself and relax without the pressure of her mission looming over her.

It took Gaia a few moments to realise that they weren't heading towards the Domo but just around the Gardens, pass all the exotic flowers and trees and vines. Druig was guiding Gaia along, taking her over to his favourite place as he recited in his head what he was going to say to the woman he wanted to call his love.

"If I didn't know any better, Druig, I'd believe you were taking me away from the party to do something suggestive," Gaia told him, a small smile on her face as she looked up at Druig.

Druig's eyes widened and his mouth dried up. "Um...I, ah...I'm sorry, m'lady. That was not my intention."

Gaia softly nudged him. "That was a joke, Druig. Although I am intrigued on where you are taking me."

Druig pulled her along a little further, where a large green tree stood. It was the largest tree in the Hanging Gardens, one that Gaia had created when she was feeling a little down and just wanted to cry everything out. As her tears reached the ground, a large tree sprouted, one that was several metres tall with a thick oak base and bright green leaves on the top. Around it was grass as green as Sersi's armour, and despite the desert environment they currently lived in, the grass never died and the tree always stood tall. It was now Gaia's favourite tree, and it was also Druig's favourite place to relax when he wanted to get away from his family.

Druig watched Gaia as her eyes looked up at the tree with a wide smile growing on her face. Her eyes began to glisten, and Druig didn't know whether that was a good or bad sign. "My favourite place," she eventually said softly.

"This is my favourite place, also. I come out here to get away when I just want to be alone," Druig admitted.

Gaia pulled Druig over towards the tree and placed her hand on the trunk. She closed her eyes to see what the tree was feeling, and as a feeling of warmth spread throughout Gaia with Druig curiously watching her, the brunches above them began to move as if the wind was blowing them around. They moved together in sync, the leaves going one way while the branches would go the other way. Everything seemed magical in Druig's eyes, and he watched on as a smile began to grow on Gaia's lips.

"The trees tell me what they're feeling, how they're going. If they're sick, if they're sad," Gaia admitted to Druig, watching as a small flower appeared by her hand. She plucked the flower and turned to him. "I don't talk to anyone about it, especially Phastos. It'd just make him feel worse about his inventions for the future. And nobody else really cares about the environment to take the time to listen to me."

Druig grabbed Gaia's other hand and brought her hands to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her warm skin. "I care, Gaia. I just want you to know that I care about everything that has to do with you," he told her, and Gaia struggled to hide the smile that was growing on her face. A small smile then grew on Druig's face as he looked between the tree and Gaia. "So, what does the tree feel now?"

Gaia laughed lightly. "Well, ah, they also sense emotions in the air. They're like an empath," she explained to him. "It's happy. It can sense that within us. We're happy so it's happy." She paused and her nose twitched a little as she contemplated on continuing with what she was going to say, but as Druig squeezed Gaia's hands lightly, she gave in. Gaia pushed some of Druig's black hair aside and placed the small flower behind his ear, and Druig looked between Gaia's dark eyes and watched as she made sure the flower she placed was in a good spot. "The tree is also giving off a romantic aura. Like, it's in love. It feels it on and off as certain people visit the tree, but at this moment, especially at this moment, it's feeling it at a much larger scale."

"The tree is in love?" Druig softly asked.

Gaia hummed, her head tilting to the side. "Kind of, but only because it's surrounded by love at this very minute."

Silence submerged the two, and as Gaia looked up at Druig to see if he was taking in what she was trying to say to him, eventually, as if a lightbulb went off in his mind, Druig's eyes brightened as he gazed down at Gaia.

"Love," he said softly. Gaia nodded. Druig let out a sigh as he placed his hands on Gaia's cheeks, a smile appearing on his face. "Gaia, my love, I've wanted to say this for a long time now, but you enchant me."

Gaia's eyes glistened as she looked between Druig's bright blue eyes. "I do?"

He laughed lightly. "Yes. You are all I think about during the day and you're who I dream of during the night. You're the one thing that's constantly on my mind. I love you, and I've loved you from the moment our eyes met on the Domo thousands of years ago. And I'm fairly certain all of the other Eternals know about my love for you."

Gaia laughed, remembering what Gilgamesh and Kingo mentioned earlier in the night. "I love you, also, Druig. I have forever."

Something shifted in the air in that moment, and the tree and plants around them could feel it too. Two hearts had just opened up to each other, walls had just crumbled down. Gaia didn't notice as the tree beside them began to sway again and how the flowers around them began to blossom and come to life. All she could think about was the feeling of Druig's large warm hands cupping her cheeks, and how his bright blue eyes looked between both of Gaia's chocolate brown ones.

"May I?" Druig eventually asked in a whisper.

Gaia pulled on a smile, her heart swelling and soaring as she uttered, "Yes." And then his lips were on hers.

They kissed as if the world would crumble around them and this was their last moment together, because everything was finally falling into place. Gaia and Druig knew they were in love, and to Druig, the kiss felt as if as soon as he'd stop, this dream would be over. Everything he confessed would be nonexistent, that everything happening was a dream. He was scared to let go of Gaia as she raised her hands and placed them over his that were still holding onto her face. Gaia could feel that Druig was scared and a little nervous. She could feel it on his lips as he kissed her gently at first, tasting her the same way she tasted him. She felt it in the way his tongue prodded her bottom lip and then explored her mouth.

Eventually, however, they did pull away but not very far. Druig kept his head bowed down to reach Gaia and he placed his forehead against her own. A sigh of happiness escaped his mouth while Gaia grinned.

"I've been holding that in for a while," Druig admitted quietly.

Gaia lightly laughed. "I could tell."

They pulled away and Druig looked behind Gaia and around her, a frown on his face. "Did you do this?" he asked.

Gaia turned around and looked around them and, sure enough, bright flowers had sprouted all around them. All up the walls, covering the green grass bellow them, all up the tree and up Gaia's legs. Gaia laughed lightly and turned back to Druig who was grinning down at her. "Oops?" She shrugged. They laughed before pulling each other back in, their lips connecting once again and creating all sorts of bright colours that'd cover the Hanging Gardens and Domo.

AUTHORS NOTE
A MASSIVE shoutout to these two legends for helping me knuckle down and write this chapter out in a day when it would normally take me weeks. You two were incredibly helpful and friendly and thank you so much. This chapter is dedicated to you <3
MissHiraeth98 aethrastic_dreamxx
I hope you enjoy and don't forget to like and comment
-rosepetal