Long fingers gently touched the bars separating the two royals. Feminine gloves caressed the prison of gold, blue eyes watering slightly. Sand poured from the desert fortress' windows, an omen of looming death.
"You shouldn't be here," growled a voice.
"Why? Why did you lie-for me?" came the woman's soft voice.
The imprisoned dark man shrugged, his hunched form moving slightly in the corner of the cell. He had been stripped of his armor, weapons, everything that spelled out 'threat' for the King of Hyrule.
Following the inquisition of the impending "warlord," Ganondorf had been exiled to the land his people once inhabited. He may have been in better spirits (imprisonment be damned!) had his "reunion" not been with the rat-gnawed skulls of the tribe he once ruled. Bile rose in his throat with the knowledge that his people had suffered genocide under a tyrannical demon.
The woman's voice floated back to him, shaking him out of his reverie.
"Ganondorf?"
"Because, Hyrule needs you. Nobody needs to know about your plot to overthrow your father. It seems more appropriate that the Gerudo scum should desire the forced abdication of the ruler who oppressed and destroyed them, Zelda," snapped the man.
The Princesses' eyes widened, her mouth contorting and forcing half of a pout, half of a cry, onto her fair face. She spun rapidly around, tears streaming down her cheeks, cloak floating as if another entity was attached to her-its ghostly apparition clinging to her body as a child would. A phantom child she would never know, came a voice from the back of her mind.
"I never asked you to lie for me, Ganondorf," was the only answer he received.
Zelda whirled around again, catching Ganondorf's golden gaze as he turned his head toward her. Bitterness was etched in his tan face, his red hair wildly flowing around him as if it were a waterfall of blood.
"I know you never asked me to. I did it because-" His voice stopped abruptly. He broke her gaze, slamming his heavy fist against the stone wall. He had utterly succumbed to pain, anger, and another feeling. One that he could never speak.
Curiosity bubbled in the princess, along with pain she could not subdue. Her loving heart hurt for Ganondorf. She had known him since she was a baby. True, he was eight years her senior, but many a time he had played babysitter and adoptive brother (she thought) while they were growing up.
Now he had taken the fall for her sins.
"Why, Ganondorf?" she asked again.
He shook his head. "It isn't important. All that is important is that you don't fail in your task. Should your father keep power, hell will be wrought on Hyrule. It is inescapable, Zelda."
"What should I do, then? What can I do now, for you? I am powerless, Father saw to that. I cannot even break the enchantment on these bars that lock you here, Ganondorf," replied Zelda, cheeks glistening in the dim light.
Ganondorf stood and walked over to her. His fingers gripped hers through the bars. She had to see what was in his mind, the things he knew she did not. In an instant, one thousand images rushed through Zelda's mind. She felt her body flying through space. Time itself had ceased to exist. On another plane of existence, she saw the coming darkness.
A crazed man with hollow eyes would barter his soul to her father, a pact which would destroy Hyrule. A new hero would emerge, and the hourglass of the gods would becoming a living machine once again. The ancient relic that dwelled within the two royals would become the one thing to tear apart their platonic love. They were merely pawns in a game of chess they could not win. Ganondorf would die at the hand of the hero, and Zelda could not stop it once the game began.
Ganondorf could not capture the queen. But here she was, trapped in his mind, in his embrace.
Zelda felt her soul slam roughly back into her body. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes, a sob catching in her throat.
"I will ask you one more time, Ganondorf. Why did you take the fall for me?" she whispered. The shivering sands echoed eerily.
The vein in his jaw twitched perceptibly. "Because, I am to die. The gods will it. One way or another, ancient lore bids my demise, Zelda."
"You lie. Tell me the truth," she pleaded. Warmth engulfed Ganondorf when Zelda's fingers lifted to stroke his cheek.
He leaned further into her touch, his lips brushing the palm of her gloved hand. "Zelda…show me heaven before I am condemned to hell…please."
Realization dawned on her suddenly. She slowly lifted her chin. "Say it, Ganondorf," she murmured, tears glistening anew.
Ganondorf closed his eyes, allow her gaze and touch to linger on his face. "Zelda, Princess, I have known you all of my life. I think I have loved you for most of it."
The princess began to weep, her knees buckling beneath her. She collapsed onto the sands, face buried in her hands. Ganondorf knelt next to her, stroking her long hair through the gaps in the bars.
Zelda's sobs gradually ceased. Her blue eyes locked with his golden ones. Every bit of love she held for the dark man was reflected in a single glance.
"Close your eyes, Ganondorf. I can do this spell but once."
He closed his eyes, his ears perking up at the ancient tongue she whispered. He felt his body levitating. The world began to spin uncontrollably. His eyes rolled back in his head moments before his world went black.
"Ganondorf? Are you alright?"
He felt a soft hand on his forehead. His blurred world gradually came into focus. Empathetic, worried blue eyes looked down upon him. He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings. Black, purple, and deep blue clouds illuminated a citrine sky. They sat in a field of blackened grass. It blew gently in the wind. There was an innate sadness to this place, noted Ganondorf.
"Where are we, Zelda?"
"A world between worlds," came her gentle reply. "We are in the Realm of Twilight. Only here can we be together. The gods have no control over this world. It is a place between the living and the dead."
Zelda did not immediately meet his gaze, her eyes straying over the clouds briefly before her eyes drifted back to Ganondorf's.
"What now?"