A little serving of hurt for a 5-word prompt game.
Prompts: Dwale, Noxious, Cataclysm, Cobweb, and Facetious
Pairing: Azriel/Eris
See tags for content warnings.
Read below the cut or on ao3.
The Lost Prince
Azriel lay alone at the Velaris border, bathed in the moonlight. His fingertips brushed the unyielding invisible walls of his prison, as a fallen tear gently traced the bridge of his nose, a cruel echo of a long lost lover's touch. Long fluttering eyelashes cast shadows across his gaunt face as he desperately fought against sleep, fearing the memories that threatened to cleave his soul in two. But fate had never been kind to Azriel, and when sleep eventually claimed him, there was no escape as the past wrapped its cruel claws around his mind.
“You would never choose me,” Eris spat as his fiery hair lapped around his face in a furious maelstrom.
“It is not that simple and you know it,” Azriel cried.
Azriel watched as Eris’ fury instantly deflated, eyes guttering in resignation.
Azriel stood frozen to the spot, despair seizing his vocal cords, as he desperately scrambled for something, anything, to say. But he said nothing, and Eris began to walk away from him, shoulders curled inward, head turning back only briefly to whisper, “it is for me”, before he vanished … forever.
And Azriel did nothing to stop him.
Azriel's eyes flew open as he drew in gasping breaths.”I did nothing. I did nothing,” he cried over and over again, chest caving in as he begged for a second chance.
But not even the mother was listening.
-
49 years later
Azriel stared blankly ahead, walking aimlessly along the warded boundary, dragging one foot forward, and then the other, a repetitive, lifeless motion with no direction. The mountains rippled ahead of him but he dismissed it - too many times had his mind conjured up this illusion, falsifying hope where there was none. But then, unmistakably, lacy tendrils of magnificent starlight materialised ahead of him, webbing upwards, forming a blinding dome. The lattice erupted in a cataclysmic burst of power, leaving shimmering paper-like wisps drifting away on the wind.
"Rhys," he muttered aloud and the corner of his lips ticked up in a small smile.
It was over. He was free.
The faintest glimmer of hope burned deep within him, a foreign feeling he thought lost to him long ago. He thought of eyes swirling with mischief like dancing firesprites, a disarming smile, and unnerving facetious humour. For once in his life, he dared to dream.
He was finally free. And Eris was …
Where was he? Would Eris come for him?
Azriel battled against the blaring cacophony in his mind: Would Eris even want to see him? Would he forgive him? How would Azriel convince him that it was a simple choice for him as well? That he never wanted to part from him ever again? That his soul would never sing for another?
Azriel's shadows raced straight to Autumn in search of his firebird.
-
Hours later and his shadows returned limp and forlorn, they spoke of whispers in Autumn of a missing prince, betrayal and retribution. Azriel's blood roared and he could barely think through the emotional cataclysm searing through his mind.
Thoughts of Eris' beautiful face seized him and Azriel latched onto that talisman with all his might. Eris needed him and he would not fail him again.
He fought desperately against the panic threatening to consume him and rising in its wake there was only a fierce determination.
He would find Eris. There was no other option.
His wings snapped open and he launched into the sky, sending a desperate prayer to the mother, pleading for Eris' safety.
-
Azriel soared low over the sundrenched Autumn canopy, constellations of leaves glistened in hues of orange like living flame; Azriel's heart ached at the sight. Where was Eris? If he was not in Autumn, then ...
Azriel's stomach lurched violently as realisation struck.
-
He winnowed directly into the mouth of a dark, damp cave, stumbling forwards in his earnestness. He lurched forward blindly, following an otherworldly pull deep into a perversely opulent maze. His boots screeched across marble floors as he tore through every room under the mountain.
The faintest hint of cedarwood and cinnamon stopped him dead in his tracks.
Eris.
His heart raged in his chest as he faced a large pallid door, placing a flat palm against the ice cold stone.
There was no life in this place.
His legs felt boneless as he trembled so violently he barely possessed the strength to heave the door open.
Azriel's heart raced at the violent disturbance of the deathly silence as the heavy stone scraped agonisingly slowly across the floor. The air thickened with the noxious smell of damp and decay and his panic surged.
He crept into the room and a sorrowful moan slipped from his mouth as he was struck by the sight of lifeless red hair cascading down the back of a grand ebony chair.
No, no, no, no. It’s not him. It’s not him. It’s not him.
Azriel tried to speak, tried to call for Eris, but no sound came out. He couldn't breathe.
He nearly collapsed under the rising swell of mindless terror that tore through his body like a feasting wraith. A deeper part of him knew what he would find, but still, his feet kept moving, carrying his body forward, utterly outside of his conscious control.
He slowly rounded the table, taking ragged, shuddering breaths. His feet came to a stop and the air grew thin and heavy.
Azriel looked up, and the relentless march of time ceased as the breath stole from his lungs.
The male in front of him was almost unrecognisable. Shadowy cobwebs laced over his face - nature's offering to shield him from cruelty. Beneath the veil, unseeing orbs, shrouded in a gray haze, looked straight through Azriel. Stark fear marked Eris’ beautiful features and his usually pearlescent skin was stained with a blue hue, coated in a damp, clammy sheen, like morning dew on a cold stone.
The noose around Azriel's neck unspooled, air rushed into his lungs and like the creeping darkness of night, he slowly began to register what lay before him.
"Eris," he whispered so faintly he could fool himself into thinking he might not have heard.
"Eris," he croaked once more, pleading despair bleeding through his voice.
But there was no answer.
And there never would be again.
Realisation crashed through him, tearing through his chest, a ruinous cyclone he could not withstand.
He was dead. Eris was dead.
A blood curdling wail was ripped from his throat and he dropped to his knees, raw power exploding from him in bursts of cobalt blue, rattling the very bones of the mountain. His mournful cries ricocheted off the pale stone walls, amplifying into a clamorous chorus, consuming the room like a harrowing requiem.
Azriel crawled toward Eris, and reaching out a trembling hand, he stroked a scared finger down the beautiful slope of Eris’ elegant nose and over his cheek. Bile rose in his throat at the cold, clamminess beneath his fingertips.
Azriel’s heart raged against the choking tide of his grief. Like a predator toying with its prey, the malicious weavers of fate had freed him from fifty years of captivity, and allowed him to feed ravenously on a single thread of hope, only to rip it all away in one fell swoop. Azriel thought he could hear their cacophonous laughter singing alongside the torrent of his grief.
"Eris, Eris, "Azriel whimpered over, and over again as he lay his head on Eris' thigh and moved his cold limp hand, marred by a web of creeping, green-black lines, to rest on his cheek. "Eris, Eris," he pleaded again, heart throbbing with anguish. "I choose you. Eris, I choose you," he wailed relentlessly until his voice gave out.
-
Hours later, Azriel caught sight of a silver fork, glinting in the dying faelight near Eris’ feet. He shifted to glance up at the table, seeing a half-eaten slice of pumpkin pie - Eris’ favourite.
“Poisoned,” Azriel muttered aloud.
His shadows began roaring around him, whispering of vengeance.
Rage coursed through him and his body reanimated with renewed vigour. He had one last mission before he let himself fall into the depths of a mindless abyss.
Only one thought, one single name, seared to the surface, and consumed his every thought.
Beron.
-
Azriel wrapped himself in shadows, emerging in front of a great oak desk, an intrusive metallic tang mixed with blends of Cade and Geosmin engulfing his senses. The room was quiet aside from the gurgling croak of a raven far in the distance.
Azriel startled as a floorboard creaked behind him but before he could react, he felt a blade at his back, and flaming binds circle his arms. Hot breath caressed his ear, enveloping him in a putrid smell of rot. “I knew you would come, Singer,” the male said in a mockingly sweet tone. “But you see, it is not I you seek,” he continued, voice lifting slightly with an excited lilt.
“Send your little pets down to my dungeons, and there you will find the true prince slayer.”
Azriel’s vision was suddenly overtaken by darkness as his shadows delved deep into the murky dungeons, swirling through the endless catacombs below, before stopping in front of a lone figure.
His heart was torn open anew.
The Lady of Autumn sat motionless, cradling her chest on the dungeon floor. Her glassy stare was devoid of life, as though her very soul had left this plane when her son drew his last breath. The rare heavy drag of her eyelids being the only sign that blood still coursed through her veins.
Azriel was distantly aware of Beron whispering in his ear as a hollow emptiness crept through his body.
Eris was killed by … his own mother.
“ … concealing Dwale in my sweet pumpkin pie. I admit it was not a terrible idea. Alas, such a shame dear Eris thwarted her plan, a general felled by his sweet tooth,” Beron said with a conniving look on his face.
“He came to my quarters to advocate for that little swine, Lucien and simply couldn't resist a slice.”
“The irony is delicious isn't it? He was utterly useless to me in life, but my saviour at his very end”.
“Do thank Eris for me when you see him won't you?”
Azriel writhed against his binds.
Beron’s callous laughter filled Azriel’s ears.
“I made her watch you know? As he clawed at his rattling chest, frantically trying to draw in a breath. I made her look upon him, as he helplessly reached out for her grasping for his mother's comfort, tears slipping down his face as he suffocated,” Beron leered with a sickening smile.
Nausea churned violently in Azriel’s gut, vision blurring as he nearly vomited across the floor.
“You did this. You let him walk away. You let him face death alone,” a malevolent voice whispered in the back of his mind.
He collapsed to his knees as his body was invaded by relentless visions of Eris’ final desperate moments, a torment he could not escape.
“He was no better than a bloody youngling,” Beron spat.
“And then I discovered this in his chambers.”
Beron thrust a delicate piece of parchment in front of his face making it hard to focus. Azriel's gaze eventually locked on to a familiar face, his face, beautifully etched in charcoal, wearing a beaming smile.
“Filthy traitor, I would have killed him myself had I known,” Beron crowed.
Azriel’s eyes clamped shut.
Eris had hung on to Azriel's memory for all those years. He never let go.
“I'm sorry, Eris, I'm so sorry. Oh Gods, I’m sorry,” Azriel whispered, lamenting lost time.
The splintered remains of his heart shattered into smithereens, leaving only an empty chasm entombed in a lifeless carcass.
He felt nothing.
Not even as a dagger punctured slowly through his chest from behind.
"you know, killer? even in this short time we've known each other, you've taught me something."
Dust Spoke, diving to the side to avoid the blasts fired by his opponent. It was one of those "Star sanses", think his name was Blue? Not that he cared.
"Oh? Now what's that, Dust?"
"this can't go well..."
"you've taught me a lot about LOVE. thought i knew everything, really. How you gain it, what the maximum is, but..."
Dust sent a few bones to keep the opponent busy. He could hear Horror Groaning as he spoke again.
"...just look at yours. it's so far above what i thought the maximum was."
"I... don't think that's a good thing."
"didn't say it was. but it's interesting, isn't it?"
"I guess? Still, don't going trying to get up to my level, probably not a good idea."
He was about to throw some bones foward, but stopped when he saw Horror Charging foward, throwing a punch at Blue's armor, hard enough to crack. Dust could tell from the sound peices of it went inward and landed some cuts on him. Probably around the spine, if he had to guess. Horror might not have been all that strong in comparison, but he knew where to hit to cause the most damage, dust will give him that. And as if on sync with Horror doing that, Ink arrived. Was that his name? Not that it mattered anyways.
"i've got this guy for the moment, you two take the backup."
"Yeah, ok. Why not."
"…there's no way you started at the same stats as me. Not at that level."
Dust teleported Behind Ink, Killer appearing in front. Killer swung at Ink, Dust fired blasters to catch his Dodge. Simple. Always gets someone at least once, though there are ways around it, but hey, If it works it works, or… whatever.
"Excuse me? The hell's that supposed to mean?"
"what do you think? you have 10 ATK and DEF, there's no way you started at 1, look at my stats. either you just didn't gain stats for most of those, or maybe they got so high they overflowed? wonder how that would work."
Killer looked… pretty damn pissed.
"what's that look for? am i wrong?"
"…Just go focus on the mission, Dust. I got this guy. Need to take my anger out on something, after all. So stay out of my way."
Dust really didn't like the smile Killer just gave him.
"alright, alright, i'll go."
And so, he walked off to go do what they were here to do. Easy enough, given both of the people trying to stop him were distracted.
"now I wonder… is it possible to go past a LOVE of 20? Or is Killer's home Universe just… different, somehow?"
He checked his stats. Same as always. These monsters put up no real fight, getting where he needed to go was easy enough. Or, it was, until he turned and noticed the portal behind him, with the one member of those stars he's not to try and fight coming out of it.
"…i'm fucked, aren't i?"
To his suprise, Dream didn't seem to notice him. He took off towards… No. That can't happen. Not even all three of them could handle Dream by himself, let alone Horror and Killer, who are already fighting Ink and Blue, he had to do something…
Wait. there it was. Just like he took out Undyne, he's near the same spot in this timeline, the same thing should work, right? Well, Now or never.
"hey. where do you think you're going?"
He summoned Bones, sending the flying at dream, hoping to provoke a chase. He has to get further into waterfall. As soon as he saw dream start to run at him, he turned tail and ran further in. Dream's faster than him, but he knows waterfall better. Home field advantage.
"you know, i wonder how much EXP you're worth. think i'll gain LOVE if i kill you?"
Dust knew dream said something, but he couldn't tell what. Not that he cared. He focused as he ran, making a bone sprout up in front of Dream, making him trip.
"heh, just in time. see you."
His magic flared up, Grabbing dream by the soul with blue magic, throwing him towards a sharp rock formation, just as he did undyne many times by now. He knew it wouldn't Kill him, but should at least keep him out of the fight for the moment. He could Hear the scream as he got impaled on it. He had a job to do, but a quick picture wouldn't hurt. Just to prove he did it, right?. Just pull the phone out, switch to selfie mode, and… click!
"You have fun there. I gotta get going."
He needs to pass through the lab to get where he has to be. Maybe he'll grab those old research papers on LOVE, while he's there. Wonder what the real limits at...
