Twelve
"Vaati?" a quiet, female voice calls, hesitantly, from behind.
With my breathing still heavy, I look to the voice I'd heard. My eyes go wide at what I see.
"Shakra. Oh Ezlo, Shakra." I whisper, feeling so relieved. Tears form in my eyes as I start walking in her direction. "Are you real, am I dreaming? Or perhaps dead?"
Shakra smiles slightly at my confusion and says, "Yes I am, no you're not, and I thought I was dead. Why am I not?"
Reaching her, I pull her into my arms, and allow tears to fall from my closed eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again." I breathe a sigh of relief and explain, "You were dead. I thought you were dead for good. And when I read your letter, oh Shakra, it broke my heart." I hold her at an arm's length away and look her over.
"You look horrible." I say, smiling a bit.
Shakra raises an eyebrow. "I look horrible? You should see yourself! You've got blood all over you. Are you okay?"
I recall what Shadow said to me when he had killed Shakra. "None of it is mine."
"Then whose?" she questions.
"The men..." I trail off.
"Ohh okay. I- I didn't think you'd kill them." Shakra seems to still believe I don't like her.
"I didn't either. I thought they'd kill me. And I was actually okay with that. I almost let them."
Shakra cocks her head to the side. Now I know why she reminded Shadow of Gwendolyn. "I- you read the letter?"
I bring her into my arms again. Shakra remains stiff, but I'm afraid, too afraid that if I let go she'll be gone. I nod into her hair. "Of course I did. Whatever made you think I wouldn't?"
"I thought you didn't like me. I thought I gave you a headache." I can hear the tears in her voice.
I lean out again and look at her. There are tears starting to fall, so I reach up and cup her cheeks in my hands. With my thumbs, I wipe away her tears. Glancing down at her body, I notice that she is still wearing the same clothes she died in.
I put my arm around her shoulders and turn around to walk back to my campsite. "C'mon, let's get you changed. You're wearing what you died in."
"Well I didn't have much time to change. I was too busy wondering why I was alive..." she looks up at me.
I lick my lips and say, "You are alive because- because- because I brought you back." I finish hesitantly, not knowing how she'll take it.
We reach my home and I open the door to usher her in. She goes willingly, or perhaps because she's trying to figure out how I did it.
"But- how?" she spurts out.
I look at her, trying to find a way to say it. "Well, do you remember that legend I told you of, the one where a kiss from the beloved to the dead would bring them back?"
"Uhm... Yes. But, if I recall correctly, it could only be... a... Oh, Vaati, it could only be by a mage. And only by their one true love." she finishes slowly. Shakra looks over at me.
I nod slowly. "At first, when nothing happened, I thought it didn't work, and then the men came, I was so upset I just killed them. Then you came," I gesture to Shakra, "and I thought I was in a dream. You have no idea how relieved I was."
Shakra walks over to me slowly and says, "I thought you didn't care. I thought you would rejoice in my death." She closes her eyes.
"If only you'd come to me before all this happened. Why didn't you?" I question. "And rejoice in your death? I cared for you, just didn't know how to show it."
"I thought that you would... I don't know. I thought you didn't care, I couldn't face you, so I wrote you that letter."
"Yes, that damned letter." I turn away to look for a clean tunic and robe for myself. I find one and slip my ruined one off. I hold the tunic in my hands, but place it back in the drawer, along with the robe. I'll be going to sleep soon anyways, so I'll have to take off the tunic again, so why bother putting it on in the first place? I continue speaking, "It tore me apart, it did. When I finished it, I couldn't even keep a hold on it. And when I tried the kiss, it didn't work." Turning towards her again, I resist the need to pull Shakra into my arms again.
"You know why I always came back here?" she says abruptly. I shake my head.
"It wasn't to annoy you, or make you mad. I needed to be near you." Shakra looks at me again.
I open my mouth to speak, but Shakra cuts me off. "But I could never say that to you, because you would scorn me and I'd never be able to come again. So I chose to slowly die inside and see you, than tell you and never see you again."
"You should have told me. Damn, I shouldn't have been such an ass to you. I'm so sorry, Shakra." This time I do pull her into my arms, and this time she wraps her arms around me. "And don't kill yourself anymore. I don't know how much more of that I could take." I say this lightly and Shakra takes it that way. She giggles and looks up at me.
"I'm sorry, Vaati. I won't, I promise." she says quietly.
We're silent for a moment, then Shakra says, "You cared for me? Had a funny way of showing it."
I chuckle, then say, "I thought if you didn't feel the same, you'd leave, and I'd never see you again. So I, like you, chose to slowly die inside to see you."
Shakra pulls out of my arms and turns, looking for clothes. "We are so out of sync. If only we had told each other, then we wouldn't be in this situation."
I reach into a drawer and pull out some of my own clothes. I press them into her hands and turn around to allow her privacy.
"Thank you. For saving me." I can hear her clothes rustle as she dresses. "I'm done." she murmurs.
I turn around and take her in. My tunic is overly large on her, coming down to her knees. I start to say you're welcome to her, but she doesn't give me the chance.
Shakra walks up to me and puts her arms around me. She looks up at me and stands on her toes. I know what she intends as her face gets closer to my own. I lean down, closing the distance between us.
Her lips are soft against my own, and warmer than when I kissed her for life.
Wrapping her arms around my neck, she presses herself closer to me. I kiss her softly. Layering kisses down her face, to her neck.
My hands rest at her hips. Shakra exhales air softly, and closes her eyes, nuzzling her face into my shoulder and neck.
I step forward, placing one foot on either side of her left one, and Shakra doesn't move, which presses her even closer to me.
I gather the tunic's cloth in my hands, and work it up over Shakra's hips. Moving my hands up her bare skin, I rest one at the small of her back. The other lingers at her waist. Finding Shakra's face again, I kiss her lips.
She shivers, so I murmur, "Are you cold?"
Shakra smiles while kissing me. "No, it's just that your hands are cold."
"My apologies," I step closer to her, rubbing my 'cold' hands up and down her bare sides, underneath the tunic. "There. I'll try to warm you up." I kiss her again and Shakra kisses me back.
"Shakra," I murmur, only a moment after.
"Yes?" She whispers back, eyes still closed.
"I love you." I stop kissing Shakra, and her eyes open. I look into them, smiling slightly. "I'm sorry I never told you."
Shakra smiles as well. "I love you, too."
I run my hands restlessly up and down her sides. Kissing Shakra again and again, I back her up to the end of my bed. I lower her into it, supporting her with my hands, the one that was resting on her hip now at her back, still kissing her.
Shakra moves backwards laying down on the bed, using her elbows, and I come with her, pushing her head down to the pillow with the pressure of my lips on hers. I kiss her more fiercely now, making up for all the years we both thought we would be scorned by the other. Shakra moans softly and kisses me back just as fierce.
"I forgive you." she says softly in between kisses.
"Good," I reply, just as soft. I kiss her once more and then move to lay next to her.
"I'm sorry, too, for worrying you and killing myself. I really thought Shadow would kill me. Why did he not, what made him soft?" Shakra questions slowly.
"And I forgive you. Shadow did not kill you because of a certain girl. Gwendolyn, someone he saved from... something. He never told me what happened. He only mentioned that she was fragile. And he also said for some reason you reminded him of her.
"And I apologise on behalf of the men. You might've at least told me that they raped you and beat you. I could have helped." I shake my head in disbelief.
Shakra's eyes widen. "They said that they'd raped me?" Her eyes close now. A tear leaks through.
I gather her into my arms and comfort her as best I can. "Did they?" I say softly, not wanting to upset her.
Shakra nods slightly and more tears come.
"Oh, don't cry, please don't cry. You're fine, they can't hurt you anymore." I say this almost inaudibly.
Shakra whimpers and opens her eyes. Her pale green eyes meet my red ones and she says, "Please, Vaati, don't let me go. Ever. You don't know how scared I was when I was there."
"I know, I'm so sorry, if I had showed I cared, you would not have left, they wouldn't have found you, and you'd be fine right now." I close my eyes and pull her closer to me.
I'm almost asleep when she speaks again, "Vaati?"
"Mmm...?" I reply, trying to pay attention.
"When Shadow was about to kill me, and I said he might as well, he hesitated and looked at me with pity, but more with love. You said that I reminded Shadow of her, right?"
I nod.
"Well, do you think that he's falling in love with her? That he didn't kill me because it would be the same as killing her?"
I open my eyes, now fully awake, and say, "That is what I thought. I pressed him on it, but he just said he wasn't falling for her. But," I hesitate.
Shakra looks up at me expectantly.
"But," I sigh. "His eyes said otherwise. If I know Shadow as well as I should, knowing him for so long, I'd say he is falling for her. And I hope he figures it out before we did. Because Gwendolyn cares for him, also."
Shakra continues to look up at me and says, "I could see it in his eyes. He does care for her, he's just been under Zelda for so long that he's put up barriers to shield himself."
I nod, and start to doze off again. Shakra doesn't say anything, and presses herself closer to me. We stay like this for a while, in a comfortable silence, until we both fall asleep.