This won't be the last chapter either, hun.
La! Enjoy! RR
Chapter 2: A Reunion of Sorts
She was standing in front of the mirror, turning this way and that; a little champagne glass half-empty (or half-full, if you're like that) sitting on the vanity table. Link watched with bated breath, his hand shaking with how hard his little knife was being clutched. And then he moved.
Too soon.
Had she heard him?
No way.. No no no.. Not how it was supposed to work!
He wasn't even standing in the dresser anymore! How had he opened the door and stepped onto her carpet without /himself/ noticing?
He sucked in his breath, cursing himself inwardly. What the hell was the matter with him! Now he'd have to kill her before she screamed, which gave him... Who knew how much time?
If she recognized him, it might have been a little longer, or maybe shorter... All he knew was that he needed to move now, and that he wasn't. The knife was still in his hand, pointed at her from his stationary position. Why wasn't he moving? Why when he needed stillness did he jump from hiding places, and now when he needed to move quickly he was frozen in place?
The princess, not just a little startled, drew herself away from the mirror to stand up straight in front of him.
This was... Familiar – not the situation itself of course, she'd never had a knife pointed at her in this manner– but the boy... Rather, man, was familiar... A man that could have been a boy if not for his staggering height and toned body... And the odd age of his eyes. Blue ones shades lighter than hers that told her 'Remember him! You should remember him!'
But a man pointing a /knife/ at her! Just /standing/ there.
Why didn't she scream? Because the silence was familiar. His breathing was familiar.. His eyes...
"You're.. He's... You're that boy.. The one from the.." She was whispering, trying desperately to string together the myriad of thoughts throwing themselves into language with her vocal cords.
Goddesses, this was bad. What was she doing? Talking to him, or to herself? Had the princess gone mad in his absence? Oh, how droll.. Insanity.. Now he didn't know whether to kill her and end the madness, or leave her be and let her suffer in the craziness.
"Dream..." She breathed, staring at him.
Link hadn't realized he was holding his breath until he let it go, the air flowing out of him in a huge gush.
She still didn't scream, but he found the will to move again. And she was pinned against the door now, the knife to her throat and his other hand palm-down on the wood next to her head.
She didn't struggle.. She saw no use. And yet, she still did not think to call for help. Surely there would be any number of guards here in a matter of moments.. Or at least a maid with a broom or something.. But she didn't call.
"I hope you've gone crazy because of me. I'd like to think that. It's flattering." His voice was gruff, but there was a mocking grin on his face; the face not an inch from hers. "To know that your mental state has become compromised because the guilt has eaten your insides, that you lack stability because you've been consumed with fear that I'd come and kill you on a night like this." He laughed softly as her eyebrows furrowed in obvious confusion. "I'm back, princess." (1)
Those herbal remedies given to her the past three years all wore off. It was like... A snap in her mind and her recollection was open to this boy.. This man:
"Link..." It was a struggle to even mouth the name... She could scarcely breath under the pressure of his dagger in fear it would draw blood.
"The boy that would be forgotten." He said, raising his eyebrows. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, stranger." The dagger budged only a little, she should be able to breath, after all.. He wasn't one for torture.. Not yet, anyway.
With her slice of freedom, her body began shaking violently.
"Are you cold, princess, or are you shaking because you're scared? Do I make you uncomfortable?" Because he had no desire to be heard by anyone possibly walking by, his voice was more of a hiss than anything else.
"You left.." Her eyes narrowed as she tried to put meaning to the flood of pictures running just behind her eyelids.
So she had put a name to the man with the knife... But she couldn't put a full history. She saw a boy... With a fairy.. A boy that had not been this hard or this... Brutal? But he hadn't actually hurt her yet.
A hand at her side raised to touch his cheek. He was so changed... Why? What happened between herself and the boy that had turned him into... This?
Lapse of resolve and he melted at her touch. But it was only a moment his forehead rested on hers, because he'd whirled away, his back turned to her, his breathing now heavy. He looked at the knife in his hand, glaring. He had to do it. He couldn't mar her childhood, so he'd simply take her life. An eye for an eye, right?
And so the knife was replaced at her throat, but this time his hand was pinning one of her wrists to the door with the rest of her body. "You /will/ die.." (2) He was speaking to her without /speaking/ to her, his jaw clenched.
And then the pictures revealed to her... Standing in a garden. She asked him to save her. To save Hyrule. Two small faces against a window... Looking in at the man that she had suspected evil.
She was the only one that had seen.. And he was the only one that had believed her.
"I will die..." She said softly, nodding. She didn't know.. She /knew/ he meant to kill her... But she saw now why he had reason.. A very valid reason. There was confusion.. There was a desire to touch him again.. But she had no will. If what he wanted was to kill her.. Should she not grant it to him? She owed the man her life, after all... She owed him her trust.. If this was the right thing... Why not?
Maybe she /was/ crazy.
"You're accepting.." It could have been a question, but it could have been a statement, as well.
"Are you so pathetic that you won't even fight for your life?" His eyes puckered as he looked at her. "You think I'm bluffing." Yeah, that was it. She was so conceited she thought he wouldn't kill her!
Before she could answer -or react at all, really- he moved one foot to kick hers out from under her, the dagger disappearing into his sleeve. But she didn't fall to the ground, no, he caught her in his arms. It was a position many little girls dreamed their newly-wed grooms would carry them after a wedding, but much more sinister.
He carried her out of her immediate chambers, to the balcony. "Tell me I'm bluffing and you'll drop." If the dagger hadn't scared her, this would.
It had all happened so fast... Her arms swooped around his neck.. And as he held her over the balcony, she almost screamed. What a way to go...
Her voice was slightly wavering as she spoke, "I don't think you're bluffing..."
"What the hell is the matter with you?" He shouted, arms tightening around her in anger. "Why do you /want/ to die? You're supposed to beg me for mercy! Supposed to tell me you'll do anything, that your daddy will pay anything to keep you alive!" Mixed impulses fought for expression in his mind. He would drop her to the ground, or.. But that was what he had to do!
He turned so that she wasn't dangling from the edge with no support but his neck and his arms, but so that her body would fall to the ground of the balcony. He reached to pry her from around him and watched her fall the three or four feet to the ground, glaring down at her.
As she hit the marble, her nose crinkled in pain. Well, she wasn't dead. She should be glad for that.
But wasn't she just ready to die a moment ago? How did this man put her at such odds with her very mind?
More pictures came to her mind as she looked up at him. He was so powerful... But he had always been powerful.. Just not so tall.
The little boy smiled as Impa, her nurse, taught him her lullaby.. And she remembered vaguely throwing... Something for him into the moat as she fled to escape Ganondorf... Surely it was her fault he was such an angry thing now? She had set him up to fall... Set him up to be a hero but lose something he'd never get back.
"I can understand why you hate me... But you need to understand I'm not accustomed to drops like that. If you're going to kill me, do it a little more humanely." My, the princess retained a proud disposition under the oddest situations.
"Shut up, stupid." He looked around and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back into her room and shutting the balcony doors. He threw her roughly on the bed, checking the other door for lock and for sounds of people coming. Amazing.. No one.
And then he turned to her. "Hate you?Is thatwhat you think? And why would I hate you? Is there actually reason in that pretty blonde head you've got attached to your shoulders?" He muttered scathingly, reaching up his sleeve to return the dagger to his hand and cross his arms. "Asking me to kill you takes all the fun out of it." He said dully, almost... Pouting?
"Well you've come for revenge, haven't you? To kill me.. For your revenge?" She asked, surprised that he'd thrown her to the bed. He was confusing her. Everything was confusing her.
"Revenge for what, pray tell?" He leaned against the far bedpost, arms still crossed. "And who said I was trying to kill you?" They both looked at the knife in his hand. "This means nothing." He waved his hand towards the closed balcony doors. "That meant nothing. You're insane, is what you are. You take things too seriously." He was being sarcastic. "If I wanted revenge, why would I come up here myself and kill you? Why wouldn't I get someone else to do it?" He didn't wait for her to answer. She didn't offer one.
"To see you again? You think I had to see you just one more time? It's only been three years, Zelda. It's not like I forgot your face. It's not like you didn't bother me day and night, it's not like I've cursed myself for not being able to recall your voice or your touch." He was glaring.
"You're wrong. I came here to kill you, not to tell you that I'm in love with you. I didn't come to tell you that I've learned hate isn't the opposite of love, but the same.. Exactly the same.." His voice was calm but his eyes were flaming.
END
Muaha! He confused me there at the end... Didn't he confuse you?
(1) Um.. His language is pretty, isn't it?.. -nods- It's hard giving him a like... Personality, because... He's so.. Devoid of one in all the games I've played. Besides being all.. Hot and heroic and all that jazz.. XD So I've warped him. He's all.. Crazy. -nods- Bear with me, it gets better.. I think.. Oh! And that was also the same little quote "I'm back, princess" from my Teen Titans fic. -nods- Because I'm cool like that. xD
(2) "You /will/ die!" Anyone recognize the quote? No? Well I was going to get the DVD to say the lady's name.. But I can't find the box.. It's not on my shelf.. Which means someone didn't put it /back/ after taking it out. -shakes fist at little sister-.. Her names starts with an A... -thinks- I don't remember. She said it when she was holding a gun to that.. God thingy and then it made plants grow on it.. And then she scraped them off and shot him anyway?
Princess Mononoke. Duh... -shakes head-
Okay! Well.. I'm done. Review. And you can't flame.. Because who the heck else is Link gonna be with/come on/. You can't think of anyone else. Ruto? No way, jose.. Anju? Aw.. If they were the same age/that/ could be cute.. But no. Malon? Haha! I actually said I wanted to marry her in OOT.. When the dad asked because I beat his chicken game.. -giggles- He told me I was too young... or something.
Alright! I'm done..