Pre-Fall | Angela / Gabriel

Of all the things we will remember
The good, the bad, and all the blessings in disguise
Today will stick with me forever
Even if we have to say goodbye

- Where Does the Time Go? [A Great Big World]

"We can't keep doing this, Angela," Gabriel snapped. Something about his tone, about the way he was pacing around the room, made Angela pay very close attention. They'd argued before - of course they had, because she had a stubborn streak a mile wide and he was more protective than a mother bear with its cubs - but this felt different.

"You have to choose: Overwatch - or me." Angela stiffened, hands curling into fists in her lap as she fought the urge to cross them defensively across her chest. They'd had this discussion - or one very similar to it - countless times before; he took great offense that she was a member of the organization that had forced him into the shadows. That she wouldn't join him - as if she had any business in Blackwatch, gathering intelligence and doing covert ops.

No, she was where she needed to be, whether he liked it or not.

But this - he had never made it into an ultimatum. He had never made her choose before, between him and the organization that she'd been a part of for nearly a decade. It had never mattered so badly to him as it appeared to now - not even when they had first gotten together, had realized they were soulmates.

All he had ever wanted was her: safe, whole, and under his protection in the shadows of Blackwatch.

"Gabriel, please," Angela begged. Begged out of desperation, because she knew what her answer was - knew it before the words had even left his mouth - and it was the wrong one. "Please, do not make me do this." Because, if he forced her hand, they would be driven apart.

And it would be her fault.

"Choose." He'd stopped pacing, eyes hard as he stared at her from across the room. She could tell, from the way he stood and the way he looked at her, that he knew. He already knew what choice she would make, but he was going to make her say it anyway. He was going to force her to break them.

Angela looked at him, the man who was her soulmate. It had taken years for her to learn what he seemed to know instinctively, but she could read him nearly as well as he could read her. There was a deep anger there - not surprising, considering how long he'd been raging against Overwatch. But at the edges was desperation, and that was surprising.

Gabriel was not a desperate man. He was confident and cocky. That he would be desperate now, when he was forcing this ultimatum upon her, told her that there was more to this.

But she also knew, by the stubborn jut of his chin and his arms crossed over his chest, that he wouldn't tell her what the real reason for this demand was. Without that answer, without that knowledge, she was left floundering in the dark.

Angela considered choosing him, at least until she could figure out why this was so important - but she never purposefully lied. At least, not about anything of any consequence.

And she had always known, deep down, what her choice would be.

"Overwatch." Angela made her choice reluctantly, but not uncertainly. It hadn't taken her even a moment to choose Overwatch over Gabriel - her soulmate - and that struck her as surprising, too.

Shouldn't there have been at least a little hesitation? But no, the choice to stay with Overwatch felt right, while the thought of leaving with Blackwatch did not. It should be wrong, refusing her soulmate like this, but it wasn't - and she didn't know what to make of it.

Gabriel clearly didn't either. He didn't appear surprised by her answer, though she could see the hurt easily enough. He opened his mouth as if to say something - but in the end, what was there to say? With Overwatch between them, forced there by his hand and kept there by hers, they would forever be at odds.

Instead, he closed his mouth and nodded once. Then, he turned on his heel and stormed out of her rooms - and out of her life.

She knew he would never forgive her for putting her duties over him, just like she would never forgive him for forcing her to choose. But one day in the future, when whatever this was had blown over, perhaps they could move past it.

It had hurt her to hurt him. She had gone to bed with bitter tears and an aching heart, but her resolution never wavered. Soulmate or not, Overwatch was her home and her life.

That didn't ease the pain at all.

Please see my tumblr ( brighteyewrites) for the credits to the four prompts that inspired this work. Credit to creativepromptsforwriting for the title. As necessary, I will tag any trigger warnings or anything else needed.