The Goddess' Druid

(Chapter 24) Fairy and Giant

CW: nsfw is implied in this chapter, read at your own risk.

Gaia opened her eyes slowly as she woke up, still sleepy from the aftereffects of the pheromones that had been clouding her senses for the past who knows how many hours. She looked around and took in her surroundings, noticing that the "ground" below was made of both earth and plants. "Orudora, huh?" she muttered under her breath. "How did I even get here? I could have sworn-" She then sensed two people behind her, and tensed up as she finally remembered what happened to her that got her into this mess. Gaia decided not to look at them, sitting with her legs and arms crossed. Gloxinia cleared his throat, before flying backwards quickly as she launched a spike of earth at him. "Are you going to turn around?" he asked her, causing her to scowl at the ground. "Are you going to promise not to make Rosetta cry when she wakes up?" she asked, an unamused look on her face as she looked at him. Drole watched from the side as the two bickered, sighing deeply as he did so. While the two fought, he saw Rosetta waking up, and quietly moved her closer to him, before he picked her up and held a finger to his lips when she looked up at him, then pointing to the argument. Before long, Gaia had her weapon at the ready. "I swear, I'll use this as a fly swatter, you ugly little moth!" she yelled, raising her mace and trying to swing at him. She continued to do so before she was held back by three hands grabbing her legs and wrists. "That's enough from both of you! Can you for once act like civilized adults? You're giving Rosetta a panic attack!" he yelled, gesturing downward to Rosetta, who was in his only free hand, as she rocked back and forth while grasping Honey Hive, which was in its pillow form, tightly. She looked anxious, her fearful gaze locked on Gloxinia, as he looked back at her. She was snapped out of her trance by Drole. "Are you alright?" he asked, causing her to nod before she floated up and sat down on her Spirit Spear. It was obvious that she needed some time alone with Gloxinia to talk, so, taking the hint to leave, Gaia grabbed Drole's hand and pulled him to a place that wasn't in view, and put up a wall between them and the fairies.

After she was sure that both of the giants were gone, she let herself cry, hot tears rolling down her cheeks as she trembled slightly. She didn't want Gloxinia to see this, not when it was so obvious that she was terrified of seeing him when he had changed so much. However, looking back at him, she saw that he was worried for her, and that he had missed her. He smiled down at her as he flew closer to where she sat, before he landed on the pillow and sat beside her. "I-" she was about to speak, but he wouldn't let her, pulling her into a tight hug as he sighed into her hair. "I'm so sorry for leaving you behind." he whispered, holding her close as she sobbed into his shoulder. "I wanted to stay so badly, but I couldn't. I-" he explained, but she shook her head. "I thought you hated me." she whispered. "I thought you left me behind." she continued. "I suffered with no one to ask about where you were, no means of knowing whether or not you were alive, for three thousand years. And the only thing you can say is sorry?" she asked, scowling up at him as she spoke. "Do you have any idea how much I've suffered since that day?!" she yelled, as whirlwinds whipped around her, throwing him back. "I wanted so badly to know if I would see you again. Because you left, I missed out on having children, on having a family!" She broke down again, unable to control herself, as he flew back to her. "Did I not matter enough for you to stay?" she asked, causing Gloxinia's eyes to widen. He grabbed her and forced her to look up at him, tears still rolling down her cheeks as he did so. "Don't." he whispered. "Don't say that about yourself. You mean everything to me. Do you not think that I wanted that, too? Do you not think that I wanted to stay with you? Because I assure you, I did." he said, before he moved his hands to gently cup her face. "I wanted to have children, same as you. I wanted to stay by your side and raise those children that we would have had. There were so many places I wanted to show you, so many things I wanted to do with you. Don't you dare think that I left because I wanted to, because I didn't." he finished, resting his forehead against hers. "Rosetta, my lovely queen, I would never abandon you if I could help it." he reassured her, leaning in and kissing her. Gloxinia pulled her into his lap as he spoke, his soft voice just above a whisper as he leaned in close to her ear. "Now about earlier, there's still time to have those children, isn't there?" he asked, causing her face to turn completely red.

Drole watched Gaia as she looked around at everything but him, and finally spoke as she started thinking of how she could get away from this awkward situation. She felt two arms wrap around her waist, pulling her close as she looked at Drole. Finally, the ever stoic, cold, stone-faced Giant King spoke. "Gaia?" he asked carefully, before he caught her gaze and saw a scar on her cheek from when Gideon had cut her during her fight over ten years ago with Diane. He reached out to trace the scar and made her flinch, expecting him to slap her or to call her weak, but instead, he gently traced the scarred skin, humming softly as he smiled ever so slightly down at her. She truly did look even more beautiful than when he had seen her last, and decided to address this. "Drole, what are you doing?" she asked, causing him to smile even more now. "You look even more beautiful than when I saw you last." he breathed, causing her face to heat up as she tried to speak. "Well, um, gee, thanks, I-" he cut her off by hugging her as he spoke, his upper arms gently taking her hands and holding them. "You don't have to tell me that you forgive me for leaving. In fact, I don't deserve it. I should have told you where I was. And I should have gotten back to the Light of Grace sooner, but I didn't. Gaia, I failed to protect the people of the Giant Race, but I also failed to protect you. Please, let me apologize for that at the very least." he said after a while. Gaia's eyes widened as he dropped her hands and then looked at the ground, his gaze full of regret and longing when she looked into his eye. "Drole, look at me." she commanded, her voice gentle and quiet. He looked back at her. Gaia reached up and brushed his brown hair out of his face, crawling into his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. She rested against his chest, tracing nonsense patterns into the skin, before she leaned in close to him and kissed him. Drole's cheeks and the tips of his ears turned red as she pulled away, smiling and giggling at his bashfulness. However, it was her turn to blush when he bundled her up in his arms and kissed her, his eyes closed as she tensed up and froze for a few seconds, but then relaxed, and kissed him back. He pulled away and saw her wide eyes and flushed face, causing him to give her a smug grin as he chuckled. "So, why were you laughing a few seconds ago?" he teased, causing her to bury her face in his chest. He would do these kinds of things every so often, where he would give her the bare minimum amount of affection that he possibly could when the two of them were in public, but he would overwhelm her with love and adoration when he knew that the two of them were alone. Drole fell back into the soft flower covered floor of the ore tree, pulling her down with him. She was on top of him, her legs on either side of his waist, and her arms around his neck. Her face turned even redder, and as did his when he realized why she was blushing. "I didn't mean-" she held up her hand, effectively silencing him, before she rested her head back against his chest, hearing his heart beating rapidly. "It's fine, I know you didn't. Let's just stay like this, alright?" she proposed, causing him to nod softly. "Of course." he mumbled, causing her to smile as she closed her eyes and rested with him, relaxing in his presence.

After the two were done dozing, they both got up and joined Rosetta and Gloxinia, who seemed to still be tired. "You two enjoy your 'alone time' together?" Gaia asked, emphasizing the 'alone time' part with air quotes. Rosetta tried to stutter out an explanation, but she gave up after repeatedly failing to do so. "So do you." Gloxinia shot back, keeping Rosetta in his lap. "Nothing like that happened in there, get your mind out of the gutter, Gloxinia." Gaia retorted. As a thick silence settled in the air. The two then laughed, before Drole cleared his throat and nodded at Gloxinia. "Ah, yes, of course, we both have decided to train the giant girl and her fairy friend, the current Fairy King, so that they survive this war and can fight the Commandments. We wanted you two's feedback on this idea because I'm pretty sure that Drole somehow got drunk when he decided on this idea." Gloxinia explained, causing the two women to snicker. After a while of talking and devising a good plan, they agreed on what to do, and Gloxinia started the first part of the process, which was actually getting the two out of the Fairy King's Forest.