Hours of thinking had passed, but Fi still couldn't find out what Ghirahim had wanted to tell her. She had found out, however, that what he had said held some truth in it. Sitting here and guarding a Sword that didn't exist was utterly pointless.
For the first time since long, she removed herself from the elevation and hovered a few inches above the ground. It surely felt good, floating again. And she realized, as she removed herself further and further away from the Sword, Ghirahim had been right.
It was useless to sit and wait until the Goddess called for her once more. That could take eons. Eons she could better use to learn about emotions. To learn about the demon lord. She had felt this strange attraction to him ever since he had left her, telling her she wouldn't be good company due to her emotionless appearance. And she wanted to change that...
...
Ghirahim sat on a rock near a slow river, staring at the water and throwing small pieces of stone into it in an attempt to repel boredom. He had hoped for his counterpart to be more like him, to feel. Finding a robotic girl was the last he had expected... Now it seemed he'd have to spend these eons on his own, until it drove him mad.
Lost in thought, he didn't notice the blue presence approaching him from behind. Fi's blue eyes locked with the demon lord and as she halted a few feet away from him, she felt that strange feeling return.
"Demon lord," she spoke, for some reason unable to address him with his name, as that sounded as if they were friends or something.
Almost startled, he turned to watch her. He gaped at her. That was one of the last things he'd expect, Fi coming to look for him.
"Fi..." he said, sounding quite happy and relieved, "What is the purpose of your unexpected visit?" he asked, smiling widely. He remembered her asking this same question when he found her.
He didn't know if he imagined it, but it seemed as if there appeared the slightest smile on Fi's lips.
"I came to look for you," she replied, her voice emotionless.
"And why, my dear Fi, if I may ask you?"
"I have been thinking about your proposal, and I think I have come to the conclusion it's the best for both of us to be in each other's company."
Ghirahim almost couldn't believe his ears, "Is that the conclusion you have come to? I must admit I'm rather surprised about that..." He beckoned her to come closer. Slowly, she floated forward.
"I was already beginning to think about giving up hope..." he sighed.
Fi now floated close enough for him to touch her wing-like arm. Again, Fi felt this strange sensation going through her as he softly touched her. She couldn't explain what it was, though she didn't want it to go away. She thought she liked it, if she rightly understood the meaning of liking. Yet, she recoiled almost immediately, floating out of his reach. It was inappropriate, good and evil touching each other like this.
Then again, the feeling she'd had earlier returned. She wanted to be closer to him, she wanted his arms to embrace her... Why did it always feel so good when he touched her? Why did she feel this strange attraction? Why did she feel almost... incomplete without him?
Fi turned around and hastily flew away. She couldn't bear to be here any longer. She couldn't bear to let these emotions take control over her. She had to get away from the demon lord. It had been foolish, a mistake, to look for him in the first place.
Ghirahim stared as the blue Sword Spirit disappeared behind the hill. But he couldn't have missed that look in her eye. It was emotion. And not just any emotion, it was desire. He smirked. Oh how much he longed for her now, for her divine touch... But he wouldn't go after her, no, if she truly desired him, she would return on her own.
...
Fi flew away as far as she could, fleeing for her own emotions that she couldn't quite comprehend. She guessed it was just that she wasn't used to feeling any emotions, that was the reason why she fled for it. But deep inside, she knew that was only the denial of what truly frightened her. She wasn't frightened of the emotions themselves, but more of the one who called forth these emotions.
After she had floated for miles, she looked behind to make sure she wasn't being followed. She feared the demon lord, yet she felt attracted to him. But the fear wasn't strong enough to suppress the attraction, she knew. She had feared him from their previous encounters, when he had fought he master, trying to murder him in the most gruesome ways. But now, here in this world, he seemed to be different. He didn't seem like someone to fear anymore. He was too gentle to fear.
Fi felt as if she was sinking away. She felt guilty for running away from someone who was being nice to her, someone who was trying to help her. And that one person who had shown her this affection, she just pushed away, as if she didn't want his help, denying her feelings...
She suddenly stopped floating, to fall into the grass. Why was she feeling all these emotions anyway? The Goddess had created her to be rational, to never feel any emotion, and yet, she now felt this terrible feeling she thought she could recognize as guilt.
Analyzing emotions had never been a problem to her before, but feeling emotions herself, and especially, dealing with emotions herself, tired her to no end.
She lay down on the grass, staring up at the blue sky. "Why, Your Grace, why have you done this to me?" she whispered. She wanted these feelings to go away. To have her endless sleep as she had imagined it instead of living another life here in this Sword Spirit world. She wanted to return to her master, incapable of feeling emotions and especially, incapable of feeling emotions towards the demon lord.
...
You could have called it coincidence when Ghirahim bumped into a sleeping Fi, but the demon was more than a little happy about this unexpected encounter.
She lay there so peacefully in the grass, staring up at the darkening sky. He circled around her, inspecting her sleeping state. She didn't move, didn't blink, eyes wide open. So she was just sleeping...
Ghirahim knelt down to sit beside her. He carefully placed a hand on her blue and metal hair. She would have been so much more beautiful had she had real hair...
He gently stroked her hair, constantly watching her face as his fingers repeatedly slid over the divine metal. And then he saw, quite clearly now, the change that took place on her face. A smile formed on her lips.
The demon lord couldn't help but smile himself as he noticed this long awaited gesture. He continued caressing his counterpart, unable to remove his hand and break the contact.
...
When Fi opened her eyes again, she stared up at a blue sky, sun shining brightly. She hadn't even realized she had been sleeping.
She sat upright and inspected the surroundings. Empty green fields, the same scenery as she had laid her eyes on before she had fallen asleep. She turned to sit on her knees, and nearly fell backwards when she saw what lay beside her. Frightened she stared at the demon lord, lying so close beside her.
She didn't dare to move away, her heart pounding like never before. Like a statue she sat there, watching his chest going up and down as he breathed. She found herself admiring his beauty, his peaceful state of sleeping. No, she couldn't possibly be... admiring him, could she?
It was stronger than herself, and her hand reached out to touch him. The tip of her wing softly touched his shoulder, and immediately, she felt that soothing feeling return. She wanted to touch him more... Her wing slowly slid down his arm, to rest in the palm of his hand.
She closed her eyes as her other wing moved to touch his cheek. However, her action was cut when she felt his fingers curling around her wing that rested in his hand. Her eyes flew open and she quickly withdrew her outstretched arm. The demon's eyes were still closed, which was why she assumed he was still sleeping. Still, she felt frozen in her actions and didn't dare to try and touch him again.
She sighed inwardly when she realized she couldn't leave now. If she removed her hand from his grip, he would surely wake up and see she'd touched him before she got the chance to go away. And if she stayed, well, that was quite simple, he would also see her. And so the only thing she was sure that was about to happen was him seeing her doing this...
She just sat there, waiting and watching his beautiful face. While sleeping, he didn't look dangerous at all. Fi didn't know for sure if this was an indication for his waken state in this realm, but still, she wasn't afraid. She could sit here all day, just watching him...
...
Over an hour had passed when Fi noticed Ghirahim's eyes slowly opening. She shuddered. She was afraid of him, even though in his waking state he still looked rather innocent.
His eyelids fluttered shut again, but soon enough, he'd be fully awaken. And if Fi had to be honest, she didn't want him to wake up. She just wanted him to sleep by her side, holding her hand...
But her wish wasn't granted and the very next moment, he opened his eyes once more, shifting a bit, trying to get used to the light that pierced in his dark eyes. One hand moved to his face, covering his eyes, while the other kept holding on to Fi's wing.
The female Sword Spirit wanted to say something to him, but she couldn't figure out what, and before she even realized it, his brown eyes were already gazing up at her. She felt the fear prominently present on her face. While other times it was one of the easiest things to do for her, she now felt unable to hide her emotions.
The demon lord stared in her pupil less blue eyes, now no longer as empty as before.
"Fi..." he whispered as he sat upright, only now noticing they had been holding hands. Slightly confused, he looked at the tip of her wing, enclosed by his own fingers. Then he raised his head, to look her in the eye again.
Fi tried to pull her wing away, but Ghirahim tightened his grip, not allowing her to leave. "It is such a pleasing sight," he said, "waking up seeing you..."
She only stared, unable to find the words to reply.
"You couldn't resist touching me?" he asked, teasingly, "You couldn't resist my beauty?"
Fi blinked. What did she have to say... "I...I didn't want to..."
He chuckled at her unease, "Well, my dear Fi, I think I have to take this as a confession you do want my company after all..."
"I'm not sure, demon lord..."
"Call me Ghirahim, please."
"But... Do you think the Her Grace will punish us if we interact with each other?"
"She won't punish me. That's the task of my Master, who is dead now. About you, I don't know. You surely know the Goddess better than I do, don't you think?"
Fi sighed, "I just..."
"Just what?" Ghirahim purred, leaning in closer to her. She turned her head away, uncomfortable by the closeness.
"I want to learn about emotions." she stated.
"Emotions? Well, that's an interesting fact... Sure you want to have the best teacher on the subject, hmm?"
"Since you are the only other person here, I suppose I have no choice."
"I doubt you have... Now... The first emotion I want to teach you about..." He moved further towards her, until his nose touched her cheek, "The most beautiful emotion that exists..." he whispered against her metallic skin, "But also the most dangerous..." She felt his lips moving towards her own. "Love..." His lips touched hers the slightest bit. She felt a shiver going up her spine. It felt so... She had no words to describe it, but she knew one thing: she wanted more of it.
Ghirahim enlarged the space between them a few inches to speak again, "Tell me, Fi, have you heard about the feeling we call love?"
Fi noticed only now her eyes were closed. She opened them to look in those dark eyes of the demon. Those eyes that had held so much hatred once. But all that hatred seemed to have faded now.
She didn't blink before speaking, "I have some data on the subject."
Ghirahim smiled, "Then tell me what you know... It's pretty useless teaching you things you already know, so please inform me on your knowledge..."
Fi smiled. She thought she felt something like... happiness. But it was slightly different from the happiness she had felt when her Master had completed his quest. It was more like... happiness mixed with another feeling she didn't know yet.
Whatever it was, she didn't hesitate and closed the remaining space between herself and the demon lord. Her lips soon touched his and again, she felt that wonderful feeling she always got when touching him, but now even more intense.
Ghirahim's eyes widened at the unexpected move, but almost immediately, he wrapped his arms around the other Sword Spirit, pulling her closer.
When she felt his tongue pressing against her closed lips, she pulled away. This was wrong. He was the enemy. He was evil. He was... Once again, she moved forward, now allowing his tongue to enter her mouth. He kissed her passionately. Never had Fi felt a feeling as good as this. She kissed him back and wrapped her wings around his neck. Never had she thought of emotions to feel this good. This was something she wanted to last forever.
She knew she felt emotions now, and she never wanted them to go away again. She knew she felt love now, love for the demon lord.
Fi pulled back, leaving one last short kiss on the demon's lips.
"Ghirahim..." she whispered. It felt weird calling him by name, but since she liked him so much, she wouldn't address him with his title anymore.
"I love you..."
He stared at her, eyes wide, and then a smile appeared on his face. A smile that held absolutely no malice. But before he got the time to reply, the earth underneath them roared, sending enormous shocks over the field. Fi fell backwards, dragging Ghirahim with her as they were still in an embrace.
With the demon on top of her, she looked up at the sky. The otherwise so beautiful blue sky now was dark, almost black.
"G-Ghirahim," she whispered as she pointed at the darkness hanging above them.
Fear coursed through her body, one of the disadvantages of feeling emotions. She clung to Ghirahim, hoping to feel safer. Whatever was about to happen, it certainly wasn't good.
The demon turned to look up at the darkening sky. Mortals would expect a thunderstorm to be on its way when seeing this. But this was no ordinary storm. There were no storms here in the peaceful world of the Sword Spirits.
One single flash of lightning descended from the sky. One single flash that was sent to strike the two Sword Spirits, splitting them apart. And then there was nothing.
…
Fi woke up in total darkness. Desperately, she grabbed around herself, trying to find Ghirahim. But there was only emptiness embracing her. She felt sadness in her heart. Sadness and even more loneliness. She wanted Ghirahim to hold her again. She missed him...
"I didn't allow you to develop feelings for you to love that creature of darkness..." she heard a voice say.
Immediately, she recognized this voice as the voice of the Goddess, Hylia.
"The feelings I wanted you to develop were feelings of caring, of love, towards the humans. Using your feelings to love that cursed Sword Spirit is not along those lines. He is evil, Fi, no matter how he appears to you. He is created out of darkness, out of hatred. You've made a mistake. You've disobeyed me. Therefore, I will take away your ability to further develop your emotions or to ever feel anything again. It was a mistake of me to think you could handle these emotions, even in this world. From now on, you'll be fully incapable of experiencing emotions. I will erase all your data regarding emotions, whether it is of feeling or seeing, you will not even know what the word 'emotion' even means."
Fi stared in the endless darkness. "B-But Your Grace! You never told me about this! You never... Ghirahim... He isn't evil... He is... How could I..."
"You knew it all very well. Good and evil, it doesn't mix. This is your punishment, Fi. It would be very unwise to complain."
Fi felt the tears stinging in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want this to happen. She wanted to feel. Why didn't Hylia allow her to love Ghirahim? He wasn't evil anymore. He loved her too...
Sudden light broke through the darkness and the Sword Spirit felt something tugging at her memories. They were going to be erased... More tears ran down her cheeks realizing this. And then, again, there was nothing. Nothing except emptiness, endless emptiness...
...
This is not the end! Only making things more difficult for Ghirahim haha XD
Next chapter will be up somewhere soon!