Before you start reading I want to recommend fatefulfaerie's oneshot Eternal Love (on Tumblr). It has inspired this piece (and maybe some sequels to it). Its tragedy moved me in the wee hours of the morning to belt out what it below (as is typical of my creative habits). Of course, you can read this on its own.
Nothing could keep out the frostbite of his scorn. Regardless of the meager defenses presented to her in a jail cell, the stone wasn't as cold as her heart.
Just whisper. Oh please, just let yourself whisper it to your conscious. Let the friction of the lie on your tongue be the only warmth you find.
Her ankles grated against the cobbles of her isolation.
"He'll know," a sob echoed. Denial made her throat tighten and choke.
Sobs. She was sobbing.
"I know. I remember. It's not supposed to be this way," she reasoned.
And yet it was. She was a stranger to the person she knew more intimately than any other; yet she had scarcely spoken a word to this man most beloved in her heart.
"I miss you," she broke. Mirrors can be shattered more than once.
Had the goddesses really lied to them? Had they laid her in another life with him only to estrange them from one another? She would rather take on eternity.
"It's not supposed to be this way."
The groan of rusted hinges invaded the sparse privacy availed to her.
What next?
The sharp paces of formal boots stopped at her enclosure.
"What has you so convinced that this is a flawed condition? Why have you such a relentless notion of my… obligation to you?"
Oh, how grief can grow. But could she really profess to have lost him when she's never held any claim to him in this life?
…Yes. That was a very real ripping sensation in her chest, wasn't it?
A hoarse rasp: "If you had known paradise, could you so easily settle with a betrayal of hell… A hell of betrayal?"
She hadn't turned. Couldn't bear to see him see her but not see her.
"You mustn't speak in riddles if you possess any hope of elevating your current disposition. I do you a great favor to consider tolerating your presence after what you've done."
Zelda curled. A rat squeaked. The soles of her feet chafed against the scratchy straw littered across the floor. She was living a level less than some livestock. All in the midst of cold unfamiliarity from her oldest friend.
"What do you want to know?" she whispered.
The toe of his boot scuffed the floor in tandem with an exasperated release of his lungs.
"Why? Why would you do something like that? You've thrown your whole life away. For what? A kiss? And an unrequited one at that! My sympathies do not stretch far for you… and yet… I cannot help but be frustrated at this whole situation."
"I didn't know you were a prince."
She heard a rustle of clothing as he most likely expressed his discontent with her absurdity.
"So? Do you randomly kiss any man you fancy that happens to make eye contact with you? In the woods no less? To my knowledge, that is not a very wise relational policy."
His speech was so much more refined in comparison to before, and it came in ample quantities as well. She wasn't the same as her past self… and it appeared he certainly wasn't either.
"I thought you knew me."
He sighed, sounding a strange, different kind of upset.
"How could I? I barely know your name."
"Don't you think it's possible that greater things than knowledge act in the balances of our thoughts?"
"Didn't I tell you not to be vague?"
"Apologies. I only wish to preserve your meager faith in my sanity."
"I already think you're senseless; you needn't worry," he breathed.
Would he believe anything she said?... Did it matter?
"I do know you, though not in this life. You and I… We had a before. We…"
I must see his eyes when I tell him. Even if it hurts. She rotated her figure toward him, draped in rags and covered in dirt. He had been gripping the bars of her cell before she noticed and he stepped back, smoothing his vest. He looked up again only to be met with her resigned sorrow of longing for a stranger. His brow pinched.
"You and I are... soulmates."
She whispered the word.
"We were married in our life before. There must have been something about our love that made the goddesses want to see it grace the world again… Or something about it that made them want to rip us apart. Reincarnation, we had been told. I was to be with you in this life as well."
Unbidden, the vivid memory of his ephemeral touch rose like an undead. Calloused, thin fingers dragging along her skin. The electricity of his gaze. The encompassing nature of his attention.
"Or so we thought. Such a thing has no guarantee I suppose. I almost wish my shoulders hadn't been weighted with this knowledge of you." She gazed wistfully at the crisp waters of his eyes so sadly he almost stepped forward again. "Almost."
"Why now? Why didn't you find me at any other time?"
"That night I kissed you was the same as the one I remembered everything. I was overwhelmed and rash. And now I'm in jail. Fate may be cruel, but it knows what its doing."
Regally, he bent to rest on the balls of his feet, one knee to the ground, one elbow on his other. Those eyes ancient to her soul peered guardedly through the slats of her cage. "I don't remember you, though. How am I supposed to believe you?"
A single tear cut through the grime on her cheeks. "I don't know. Maybe one day it will come to you as it did to me… Maybe."
It was an incredibly disheartening thing to place doubt on a matter like this.
Link stared at her for an endless moment in time before his composure slackened and he ran a hand through his bangs, styling coming out of its set. He exhaled, backing up to the door once standing.
"I...will come see you in two days. I have to think."
The hinges groaned back into place.
"I'll wait, love," she sighed.
Would anyone be interested in seeing more of this? ✍(◔◡◔) I've never tried following up a oneshot like this before. (⊙_⊙;)