She Never Promised
The fire rattles pleasantly, sending flakes like fireflies to soar toward the starlit skies. All is still except for a light breeze, and Link breaths in the crisp night air savoringly.
His entire body comfortably stagnant, he sits shoulders slumped, gazing at the flames. It's a calmness his body hasn't known in months. Not since the twilight started to seep through into this realm, and he was yanked from his monotonous pace of living into the world of legends and destinies and beautiful princesses-
A small shudder runs him through as his heart quakes. Here, under the satin weave of the night sky, loss clenches his chest as the inevitability of what is to come crashes down on him. That come morning, everything would be different.
His throat is sandpaper, the words getting caught as he looks for the right ones. "You...don't have to go back." Aiming for casual but unable to keep the pleading edge from his voice, Link doesn't dare to turn his eyes from the fire, toward the movement on his left as Midna undoubtedly brought her attention to him. It's selfish of him, he knows it. To ask, to even think about it. But after everything -everything- they've been through together, the thought of it all ending, not as much like this rather than just it ending in the first place…
Is there a better word for it than unbearable?
In his heart, Link knew it'd come to this. Once they defeated Ganondorf and restored harmony not only to Hyrule but also the Twilight Realm, Midna would -could- finally return to her world. To retake her rightful place as the queen of twilight, where she belonged. He had known this. Just…
They had journeyed together for so long it had begun to feel like it would never end. That they'd go on pursuing the end that kept slipping further and further away with each new drawback, each next obstacle they'd have to brave.
After all this time, Link now found himself lonely. Even though Midna sat next to him, those alluring amber eyes waiting for him to summon the courage to meet her gaze, Link could almost feel how the dread crept into his heart like a shadow.
His gaze shifts slightly, to look at the intertwined hands in between them. His skin tanned, hers ashen grey, two sides of the world, joined as they should be. He wants to keep it that way. To treasure the unity for as long as he could. If he could receive one prize for all his trouble, it'd be this. Just this moment, frozen in time. For them to be able to be together, despite-
"I guess so."
His eyes rise to face her at break-neck speed. Wide-eyed and jaw slack, Link ogles him like he can't believe he had heard right.
The familiar-sounding chuckle squints her eyes. Even in this form -this masterfully carved beauty, now a woman in place of the imp- Midna still looks the same when she finds something he says or does naive yet adorable. Usually Link would be offended by that. Now he's just grateful the playful grin is still there with him.
"You...what?!"
Midna laughs briefly, and the way the ambers of her eyes light up is like watching a sun rise. "I guess I don't have to. But what would I do then? In this world of light, where would I go?"
You could stay here. With me. He finds himself unable to speak his mind, though. His tongue tying around the words, all that comes out is false starts.
Midna lets out a soft sigh. Then, she detangles her fingers, to run them down the young hero's jawline. She stops beneath his chin, then draws her fingers up and over before letting them linger just below his bottom lip. "Link…" There is sorrow in her eyes but it she hides it well. Her lips curve up slightly as she brushes her thumb across his cheek, behind his ear, and pulls him closer. Link lets out a soft gasp at the gentle tug but doesn't resist. His eyes slide closed as she rests her forehead against his, her breath gracing his lips.
There's so much he wants to tell her. I can't get my eyes off you. I want you. Thank you for everything. I love you. Please don't leave me. All the things he wants to say crisscrossing in his head, what comes out is a half-breathless, confused "Midna, I-I-"
He doesn't make it further. She's kissing him, longingly, passionately. The surprised 'mmph' he makes evokes a soft, satisfied chuckle from the woman as she nudges close, encouraged by the hands coming to rest on her hips and back. And Link pulls her flush against himself, the stupor in his head clearing out to make way for this one constant, the feel of her skin against his, the soft dance of her lips on his own. She's like mist in a corporal form, moist and tingling. She's his oasis and like a drowning man Link drinks her up.
They only break away as the demand for air forces them apart. Nuzzling her cheek, Link lays butterfly kisses along her neck.
Midna's smile is pure starlight as she gently pushes him onto his back. The smile sharpens into a mischievous smirk, and she crawls over to straddle him. The silken fabric of her robe brushes over his flushed cheek, and Link lets out a soft breath at the sensation. So much like the woman herself, and yet not at all. Midna looks like she's shining, emitting an other-earthly glow in the pale moonlight. A goddess but flesh and blood, so warm and inviting before him as Midna pushes some of his hairs out of his face and behind his ear. Then, those lips are on his again, and she swallows his groan of rapture as her hips grind against his sensually.
"Stay with me," Link breaths out between kisses. The woman stills, pulling back just enough to look at his face, hesitation written all over her features.
"Midna, I...I don't want you to go." Link hates how close to begging his voice comes. This is beneath him. It's selfish and immature, but he was too slow to hold his mouth. So now he watches -half hopeful, half terrified- how Midna's eyes widen, and the softest of gasps slips out of her. Barely audible, and yet all it takes to shatter the world.
And then, the smile spreads her lips, her eyes softening with unshed tears. Her voice fragile, she almost whispers, "Of course."
"Re-really?" She just nods with a soft 'uh-hm', anything more than that beyond her then. "Promise?"
"Link…" She gives him her answer in a lust-filled once-over as she lowers herself on him, and captures their lips in a powerful, smoldering kiss.
Link wakes up to a breeze ravaging his bare back. His teeth chatter lightly as he instinctively curls in on himself a little. His mind still claws at the remnants of sleep, beckoning him to allow it more time, but as shivers rake up and down his torso, he knows it's a losing battle. Groaning, he cracks his eyes open as he shifts over to his other side, expecting to see Midna there, between himself and the long since darkened remains of the fire.
A jolt sears through him at the absence. Now instantly awake, Link scrambles to sit up. "Midna?!" His head swishes around. Where is she? "Midnaa?!"
He's on his feet and remotely dressed in roughly fifteen seconds. Epona neighs at her master questioningly, tilting her head as if to ask what was the matter. Link is already inclined to speak his mind, to have his steed show him where the woman has gone to when something catches his eye.
On the ground, contrasting starkly against the weathered stone bathing in the sunlight, lays a dark cloth. So familiar. So disturbingly out of place. Link stumbles a little as he hurries towards the altar, fear clenching his throat. No…
He picks up the scarf like it's something fragile. His mind has just begun to wrap around this as he catches glimmer in the corner of his eye. As Link straightens out to look around the stone slab flooring of the altar of twilight, to watch the morning sun glisten on the millions of shards scattered across the clearing, his fingers clench the scarf tightly enough for his muscles to twitch. His arms shake at his sides as what he sees sinks. No!
On the pedestal, the frame that no longer bears the portal mirror. The fingers clench the scarf tighter as Link drops to his knees on the stone pavement. The name of the twilight princess tears at his throat, scratches on its way out as Link throws his head back and screams it out into the silence of the desert.