alphapiscis2001

[alphapiscis2001]

In the next life time.

Azriel × reader( let's say her name is Gwyn )

I'm a big Gwynrial fan and was in a mood of angst today. It's my first public writing.......I'm nervous

Part 1

(gwyn pov)

Battle around us raged on, but I was barely aware of it. The clang of weapons, the shouts of soldiers, the chaos—it all blurred into nothing. I couldn't focus on anything other than the aching emptiness in my chest.

I had known the bond had snapped for years. The moment I realized it, I understood the truth: I was his mate, but he wasn’t mine. Not in the way I had hoped. He was in love with someone else. Elain. She was everything I wasn’t—pure, innocent, beautiful. The perfect match for him. I could see it every day in the way he looked at her, the tenderness in his touch when they were together, and the joy that seemed to radiate from his soul when she was near. He was finally happy. He had finally found someone who could make him whole.

And it hurt. It hurt in ways that words could never explain. To watch him love her, to be completely invisible in his presence—it was a kind of torture that I couldn't escape. And yet, I never told him. Not once. Because I wanted him to be happy. I couldn’t be the one to ruin that. He deserved her, not the broken, scarred version of me.

He had chosen Elain out of love. And I—what could I offer him? I was nothing like her. I had scars, inside and out. And besides, he had always ignored me. The bond might have snapped for me years ago, but I had learned to bear it in silence. He never noticed, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. The bond wasn’t a burden—it was the only thing keeping me alive, even though I knew it would never be reciprocated.

But today, everything had changed.

The battle had been brutal, relentless. Every swing of my sword felt like it took a piece of my soul with it. But I couldn't stop. I wouldn't stop. Not with the lives of our people on the line. The clang of steel and the cries of dying warriors blurred around me, my focus narrowed only to the fight. I gazed behind me and only than i noticed that i was edging toward the cliff's end, a canyon beyond that. I swing the blades with more urgency, the stakes are high. I looked around and...

I saw him—Azriel—rushing toward Elain, his shadows twisting and striking down the enemy in his wake. His movements were so fluid, so deadly. For a split second, my gaze lingered on him. I couldn’t help it. His power was intoxicating, and it made my heart ache in ways I wasn’t ready to confront.

And then the world tilted.

I didn’t see the blow coming. One second, I was blocking the warrior’s strike, and the next, I felt the cold steel sink into my side. Poison. I could feel it spreading, numbness slowly creeping through my body as the warrior grinned, pulling the blade back. My breath caught, my vision blurring at the edges. That bastard !!...

I swing my sword with everything i've left with and it striked right. The head is gone . Much better!!...

As the chaos continued around me, I felt the pull of the bond stir. I thought I had forgotten what it felt like, but the familiar tug in my chest was undeniable. I turned, and there he was—Azriel. His eyes locked with mine, and I saw it. His expression shifted, a flicker of confusion, pain, and then... something else. Something I couldn’t name.

I locked eyes with him, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

It was too much. Too much to process in a split second. And then, in an instant, the world was upside down.

I was falling down the cliff.

The world blurred, my vision turning dark as I plummeted toward the ground below. So that's how it's going to end...tragic, painful...incomplete. I should've told him.......Az...

But then,

I felt him. I felt him dive after me. I couldn’t see him, but I felt the force of his presence, the shadows that whipped around us. In the last moments of consciousness, I felt him catch me, his wings enveloping me, his body pressing against mine.

The impact was brutal. He shielded me from the worst of it, but still—pain coursed through me. He was holding me as though I was fragile, as though I was the most precious thing in the world.

And all I wanted to do was tell him—tell him that I was his mate, that I had always been there, but I never let him see me. Because Elain had always been his first choice, and I was too afraid to ruin that.

His voice was frantic, desperate. “Mate.” He whispered it, but there was no triumph in his tone, only confusion and anguish.

I didn’t have the strength to say it. I couldn’t. I couldn’t speak the truth to him now. Not when he was finally holding me, finally realizing that I was the one who had always been there.

I had always been broken, scarred beyond repair. Azriel deserved better. He deserved her.

“I love you,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, knowing it would break him in ways I couldn't undo. “But you don’t love me.”

He froze, his breath catching in his throat as he looked down at me, his face contorted in horror. But I saw it—the realization. The bond had snapped for me. It had always been there, even when I tried to ignore it.

And now... it was his turn.

His voice cracked as he tried to speak. “Gwyn... I... I never wanted this. I never wanted to hurt you.” His hands cupped my face, trembling with the weight of his regret. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see it. I didn’t see you.”

I closed my eyes, the darkness overtaking me. I had always known this would be my fate. I had always known I would love him from the shadows, silently watching him find happiness with someone else. But in these last moments, I finally felt seen.

I gasped for breath, the world slipping away. My vision blurred, and all I could focus on was him. Azriel’s face above me, his eyes wide with terror.

“Can you feel it?” I whispered between painful breaths, each word like a dagger through my chest. “Can you feel the bond breaking?”

Azriel froze. His body shook with raw emotion as he looked at me, the shadows in his eyes flickering with the agony he couldn’t hide. “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, his voice trembling as he gently brushed the hair from my face, his fingers lingering on my skin as if I was the only thing keeping him tethered to the world.

I forced a weak smile, despite the agony tearing through me. “You can feel it. I know you can.” My voice cracked with each breath.

“No... nothing is going to happen to you, you'll be fine...yes you'll fine,” Azriel said, but there was a tremor in his voice, the desperation impossible to miss, as he was reassuring himself.

I could see the fear in his eyes, and even though the darkness was closing in and I've no energy left to say anything . I couldn’t help but smile faintly. “Next lifetime,” I whispered.

Azriel’s breath hitched, and he began sobbing uncontrollably. “No, no, no... not like this. Not like this...” His voice broke as he held me tighter, as if trying to stop the inevitable. “I’m so sorry, love.”

I managed to whisper through the pain, “It’s okay.” I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t sad anymore. I was at peace with everything. “I’ll wait for you."

Azriel shook his head violently, his hands trembling as he cradled my face in his palms, trying to find some sign of life in me. “I love you... i love you” he sobbed, his voice breaking with guilt. “I was too scared to say it. I should have said it sooner.”

But I couldn’t reply. My breaths were shallow now, my body growing colder with every passing second. The shadows around Azriel seemed to mourn with him, writhing in the air as if they, too, felt the loss.

“Rhys... someone... please...” Azriel whispered desperately, but no matter how hard he tried, no healer would be able to save me now.

I closed my eyes and whispered one last time, “It’s okay... in the next lifetime. We’ll be together forever...”

Azriel let out a sob, his grip tightening on me. “I promise, Gwyn,” he whispered fiercely, as if swearing to the heavens themselves. “I’ll find you. I’ll make it right. I swear.”

But I knew the truth. I knew it was too late.

I smiled at him one final time, though it was broken. The tears in my eyes blurred everything around me, and I whispered just before the darkness consumed me, “Liar,” with a fond smile that he would never see again.

Azriel screamed, his roar shattering the stillness of the world. The shadows that had always followed him erupted into violent beasts, thrashing with grief. The sky darkened, clouds gathering above as thunder rumbled in response to his agony.

He cradled her lifeless body against him, his wings wrapping around her as he disappeared into the shadows, his form vanishing into the darkness that had consumed him.