Darling in the Dark: A Melizabeth Fanfiction

Chapter 16: "I Don't Love You."

A/n: Aya~ sorry for the long wait! Spot the reference to the OG beauty and the beast, huehuehue~

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"I don't love you."

Mael froze, his entire frame quaking slightly when he heard the ruthless words that had been so callously thrown at him from the one whom he considered to be his beloved. He could hardly blame her for them, after all, he was here to rip off her beautiful, precious wings—but it wasn't like it didn't hurt to hear them, even when he knew that he was well deserving of them.

Elizabeth was wrapped in chains, her delicate frame collapsed against the corner nook of the cell, an expression of exhaustion upon her perfect face. Her black and silver lashes fluttered tiredly, her chained arms wrapped around her stomach protectively, bearing testament to the child that lived within her.

Her pretty pink lips opened up and repeated, "I don't love you, Mael. So please, stop acting like you love me and that doing this hurts you, and get this over with—the suspense is making this only worse."

Her voice was cold, but exhausted, the bags under her eyes and her shallow way of breathing showcasing her poor condition. Perhaps it would be better to get this over with, to free her of her anxiety over the worst possible thing, but Mael felt like he was hewn of stone after her words.

He knew already; he was well aware that his feelings for this beautiful woman were unreciprocated, and that no matter how hard he tried or no matter how many times Elizabeth restarted her life from zero, she would never love him like he did her.

He had long since known and even accepted this fact, even if it was with a lonely and broken heart.

He knew...

But that didn't mean it didn't hurt him to hear those words from the woman whom he considered to be the object of his affection.

So, he sucked in a deep breath, suppressed his tears, and turned to look down on the tired and broken woman who laid curled up at his feet, her silver platinum hair sprawled across the stone floor of the cell in  tangle of curls and twists, her long, black lashes with a hint of silver strands in them fluttering weakly. 

Mael's feelings of guilt and pain were only intensified by her fragile expression and her significantly smaller figure.

She was so small, so... delicate.

Getting her wings, the very pride of a Goddess, ripped out?

By the Heaven's, what was Lord Azrael thinking asking for a capital punishment to be administered to such a delicate and frail-looking woman, let alone when she's pregnant?

Not only that, but the Supreme Deity supporting such a thing?

Mael felt nauseous at the prospect of of hearing Elizabeth's screams and whimpers of pain—let alone being the one to cause them, be the source of them; he wondered briefly if this was his punishment from God for following the will of a long since corrupted and even evil leader like the Supreme Deity.

He clenched his calloused and bloodstained hands, trembling as questions thundered through his mind, as loud as his frantic and aching heartbeat.

Would she survive the punishment?

Would her child survive to be birthed?

Would this lead to later birth complications?

Could he do this to her, the apple of his eye?

Why had she come when she was not only with child, but also had to face her mother and terrible punishments?

Most Goddesses died when they lost their wings, and the poor souls who survived often commit suicide from the agony of losing arguably the most important part of themselves.