EPILOGUE + NOTE

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➽ You were inconsolable for many months after Druig left.

At first you didn't understand. You foolishly thought that he had just left early that morning and you'd see him again soon.

He was usually cryptic and never shared where he would run off to anyhow.

But you had no doubt in your mind that he would be back and sweeping you off your feet again in no time. You were so excited for the future of your relationship and what it could turn in to.

Especially after reading the note, he had left.

You had forgiven him and felt like you really did understand him and why he sought you out. But the days passed on and eventually weeks went by, and you were left contemplating whether you would ever see him again. For him to leave without saying anything to you just didn't make sense after he poured his heart out to you all night.

But just as if he had never existed at all, he truly vanished without a trace.

Except Druig did exist.

He was everything you had ever wanted and more. And you would cruelly be reminded every single day that he was all too real and so was everything he ever said to you.

➽ You stumbled through life blindly through the next couple months, trying to find happiness where it didn't exist.

It wasn't until the end of the following summer that you finally faced the gut-wrenching reality that he was never coming back.

There was nothing anyone could say to you that would make you feel better. No one understood and you couldn't help them understand because you were so heartbroken.

Eventually, the only helpful thing people would tell you anymore was to move on.

And after a year, you did. For the most part.

➽ Resuming your normal life again was not easy.

Finding a new internship, working full time and being thrown back into that dreaded 9-5 lifestyle was harder to adapt to again then you thought. Faking niceties, paying your bills, eating fast food because you were too tired to cook every night.

It was a sad and miserable life.

There was a certain emptiness that had taken home inside of you. It lived there for many years and consumed you entirely. It was the darkest time of your life.

➽ Eventually one day, you met someone new. A man that made your dull life just a little bit brighter. He was kind, handsome, genuine. Perfect by any definition.

But he was no Druig.

You knew in your heart you didn't love him, and when he proposed that night to you on the dock you had to finally confront the feelings, you'd tried to repress for over ten years.

You still weren't over Druig, and were incapable of living a lie anymore.

Druig was the one, the only one and that would never change.

And you watched as that bright little life you had created with this new man crumbled apart and you were left alone once more.

➽ Eventually you stopped trying to find someone new and had convinced yourself that you were comfortable living your lonely single life, no matter how miserable you actually were on the inside.

As autumn rolled around each year, you were brought back to the days you spent with him and the happiest memories of your life. You would go to the park, the museum, the riverwalk. Enjoying every minute until you always ended up crying. But those memories were enough for you.

➽ Twenty years later and you had accepted the inevitable. You had let go of the idea of ever being with Druig again one day. Because the truth was, you had run out of adventures long ago.

The necklace he had bought you still hung on your neck, despite having the chain changed three times from it breaking throughout the years. The 'new' phone that had shut down fifteen years ago was still kept in your cabinet.

And that little piece of paper, that stupid piece of paper that you couldn't move on from. It had been crumpled and stained and cried on. But it was still kept in the drawer of your nightstand where he professed his love for you. You read it every other night to remind yourself he was still out there. It was your last piece of hope.

Maybe you did hate your life. Maybe you even hated yourself and hated Druig even more for doing this to you.

But you could never regret those weeks spent together. Which perhaps meant that it was fate after all.

➽  Druig would never forgive himself for how he ruined you. Shamefully, he would watch you every decade and punish himself for leaving you like this. He couldn't believe the beautiful, lively girl he had met so many years ago had let her life turn into this.

Yet he knew he only had himself to blame.

Cowardly, he would return to Wilmington and watch you every few years. Truthfully knowing he could change everything if he just got the damn courage to walk up to you. But he would walk away back to his family and his duties every time, just a little bit more broken than before. Always wishing he would've stayed for you.

That was, until he almost died again in battle.

Call it his life purpose, the reason he was created, whatever bullshit it was. Druig couldn't keep living the way he was created to. He had become human through his love for you, and you had shown him that he was so much more than his abilities. He refused to keep fighting anymore. Knowing that death was at his doorstep, having not lived his life to the fullest by being with you. It was the last straw.

So, he left.

He left his family and being a hero and gave up his abilities entirely. He truthfully would've done anything to be with you again even if he would be left with nothing. Those enchanting visions he had of you and him on the beach, smiling in the sunlight became his goal in life once more. He was determined to make it a reality, no matter the consequences.

➽ And so that next autumn that began twenty-one years after you first met, you walked downtown as always, numb to the rest of the world when you saw him.

Your heart stopped.

Just as youthful as the day you met him, there he was five feet away. The man you had spent twenty-one years waiting for.

"So," his voice shook, walking up to you. "Ready for our next adventure?"

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Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this story.

First off, I just want to say that I've really appreciated everyone's comments and votes, I'm so grateful for your support.

Additionally, I did want to say that all of the places mentioned in the city this story took place in, Wilmington, North Carolina, are real. I did research before writing this, so it was accurate! I've never visited there but hope to one day.

I want to also give some explanation as to how this story was written as well.

I wanted to create a main character who readers could truly relate to and one that mirrored what my life has looked like as well. And I've been so happy to see people mention in comments that they feel seen and validated by my depiction of the main character.

While it may not be the ending you were wishing for, I hope I brought Druig's character to life and created an understanding of what this whole story was meant to symbolize.

Sometimes there are no perfect endings.

And even if it was a few weeks that they were together, there are no rules or limits with love and that is what makes it so magical.

If you like my work, I have a few other stories on my profile of Kylo Ren and Draco Malfoy. Thank you again for your support and I hope you'll be back to re-read! <3

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