Title: I Saw the Deep of You and Loved You All The Same
Rating: T
Word Count: ~1400
Summary I was he who saw the deep. I was he who saw the unknown. I have waited four thousand years to be with you again, and I will wait four thousand more. Gilgamesh Soulmates across time and space AU in two acts.
Author Note: Please listen to Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Follow You Into the Dark. Was very close to making this a songfic.
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I.
I once thought King of Uruk was the best title any man could have. My kingdom was peaceful under my strong rule. Perhaps my "lord's right" pushes the men of this city too hard, but it is the way that it goes.
But the Gods created you for me. They created you to be my equal and dropped you in the forest. I have waited all my life for an equal and I dream of you at night. Enkidu, I will wait as long as it takes.
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II.
"I'm not going to let you go in there!" Enkidu roared.
"Who the fuck are you?" I pulled my lightsaber out and ignite the yellow blade.
"The person who is finally going to put an end to you!" Enkidu roared again and pulled out a elegant, silver lightsaber.
There was something special about him. He was strong; stronger than anyone I had faced. For a man who was 2/3 made of the Force itself this was quite a compliment to pay. It was him. The man I had premonitions of for weeks. But I dreamed of a new, beloved companion, not an enemy set on destroying me.
The battle is hard. Two forces intent on winning fighting to the fullest of their potential. Eventually I see him tire and his Ataru form breaks down. He sends me reeling back with a powerful force pulse before extinguishing his blade.
"You are more powerful," Enkidu knelt. "You know, it would be an honor to have a friend so strong."
I grab him by the hand and pull him to his feet. "Then friends it is. How about you accompany me?"
"A-Accompany you?" Enkidu stammers.
"To destroy Humbaba in the Cedar Forest Nebula."
"Well, friend…let's go."
Somehow "friend" doesn't seem close enough. There is something here; a bond or something that runs deeper. I know there is.
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III.
"Mom?" I knock on the door to the New York City penthouse before pressing my key into the lock.
"This is your place?" Enkidu looked around the plush hallway.
"Well…" I open the door, "my mom is practically a goddess."
Enkidu is frozen in the doorway. His curly, dark hair was ruffled as he desperately tried to smooth it down. "I never had a mom."
They found him in the woods of Upstate New York living alone with the animals.
"Is this him?" Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother stepped out from the kitchen and eyed the man up and down. "Get in here. I'm making dinner. When you're here, you're my son too."
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IV.
"So…" Enkidu eyed the piece of technology warily, "…we both strap into this thing and we…"
"Drift. We enter the drift." Gilgamesh crossed his arms. "I think we're going to be Drift compatible."
"So…I'll be in your head and you'll be in mine?"
"We'll share dreams and thoughts and stuff, yeah."
He dreams about falling mountains, thunderstorms, wild bulls, and a thunderbird that breathes fire. It reminds him vaguely of Humbaba, the giant evil Kaiju that had yet to be killed. But he thinks these are good omens.
The drift is complete, the jaeger is theirs. They can hear Humbaba roaring in the distance.
"Ready?" Gilgamesh smiles.
"Ready."
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V.
"I'm afraid," Gilgamesh stood below Wall Maria.
"We've trained for this," Enkidu patted him on the back. "We aren't in the Scout Regiment for nothing."
Since he knew his friend was behind him, he knew that he had reason to steel himself. They had been friends all the way through training. He looked into Enkidu's eyes and became lost in the clinquant orbs. He knew there could be something more between them. Maybe if they survived the battle there would be time.
"Humbaba is the biggest Titan we've ever seen," Gilgamesh wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulder.
The battle is tough, but Gilgamesh manages to take him down with a blow to the back of the neck. He felt bad for him before the final blow, but Enkidu urged him to finish it off.
They come out on the other end together. Is there time yet?
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VI.
"Here's your latte," Gilgamesh pressed the white lid down on the white cup and slid a post consumer recycled content brown sleep on the cup.
"Did you see we matched on Tinder?" Ishtar was a regular here. She always ordered a caramel latte with an extra pump of classic syrup.
"Yeah…" Gilgamesh rubbed the back of his neck.
Tinder was dumb. Too many matches, too many of them women, and none of them were the person that he had in mind.
"Why don't we go out? We can go back to my place after…" Ishtar flirted.
"Look…Ishtar…I'm still not interested."
Let's be honest, his good friend, Enkidu had caught his eye long ago.
"I'll tell Anu," Ishtar was suddenly angry.
"So? What are you going to do? Threaten to raise so many of the dead that they outnumber the living and devour everyone? Lower the Euphrates River?"
"Ugh you're so weird. Stop reading all that Sumerian stuff you say you feel a 'connection' to. Forget it."
All Gilgamesh knew was that when he got into bed that night, Enkidu texted him saying he had an ominous dream.
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VII.
I always understood dying. The only person who understood dying as well as I did was Peter Van Houten, author of my favorite book, An Imperial Affliction. Yet, reading it over and over again didn't bring me the comfort it once did, like hugging a cloud to my chest.
Enkidu was dying. The cancer was back, and it was everywhere lighting him up like one giant firework on this CT scan. Pinball machines light up when you win, CT scans do not.
Slowly, everything that he was faded away. I'd like to say that he had his sense of humor until the end. But he didn't. That would be too kind and death isn't kind. He deteriorated slowly, then all at once.
The idea of the "last good day" was a cliché, but it was true. Frankly the inexorable decline never really plateaus and the pain is never truly bearable, but if only for a fleeting moment it feels tolerable. Of course, you never know that this "good day" is the "last good day" until it has passed into the past.
"Hey, Enkidu." I said.
"Hey, Gilgamesh," he answered in the voice that I had fallen for. "Do you want to meet me in the Literal Heart of Anu tonight?"
How was I supposed to say no? I messed with my BiPAP and argued with my parents. They said they never saw me anymore, the problem was they saw me but didn't see me. Once Enkidu was gone…well when I was gone…well we were all going to be gone in some sense at some time. I wasn't exactly sure what I could even say to them. Maybe, sometimes the things that elude words are the best.
"Do you have my eulogy?" Enkidu smiled, his skin paled from his disease as he sat in his wheelchair.
"You're what?" I scoffed.
"You know, so one day aliens of the future or past with their eulogizing records will realize that I, Enkidu, should have a story in which I resonate through history!"
But that night was fleeting like mist. The eulogy I delivered at his funeral was different. It was like a sandwich, stuffed with quotidian lies. But sometimes, we have to lie for others instead of leaving them to ponder metaphorical waste. Maybe we didn't have an always. Maybe we never did. Maybe never was our always. But I know I love Enkidu…always.
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Author Note: If this gets 10 reviews I'll post the remaining tablet/sections. R&R!
April Fools. :)