Returned
Malon closed the door to her room and then leaned against it. She took a deep breath and slid down the door. She sat, with her back against the door, thinking about what happened earlier that night. Few tears began to fall from her eyes. She pulled her knees to her and hugged them. Malon kept on playing the scene over and over in her head. And she remembered how Vincent looked so hurt afterwards. That his world had shattered in that moment. And she knew it was her fault, because it couldn't have been anyone else's. She put her forehead against her knees and just kept thinking back to earlier…
She sniffed.
( . ) -----------\
Malon sat there in shock at Vincent's confession. She wasn't even sure she heard him right. But one thing was certain. She wasn't tipsy anymore. Those three words managed to knock her out of that. And then she noticed how close she was to him. Malon edged a bit back and stared at him, into his passion filled red eyes. The one she knew she fell in love with. But nothing came into her mind and even less escaped her lips. She simply kept quiet and then finally, moved her eyes away from his.
She didn't want to look at Vincent. She knew he must've been hurt. But he didn't say anything else. And the silence between them killed her. Malon wanted to say something, anything to break it. But out of all things that ran through her mind, 'I love you' wasn't in there. She wanted to say it though. Deep in her heart that was all she wanted to say. But right then she couldn't even look into his eyes. And he had the only eyes that could pierce right through and know what she was going through. Malon had to take the awkward silence that had taken their date. She didn't have the same courage Vincent had. She didn't know if she could say it back to him. And she didn't know why. But as the minutes passed, the waiter finally came and Vincent paid the bill. And in silence they stood up. Malon watched as Vincent had his back to her when she pushed in her chair. She was sure that he was angry as well. But before she did anything else, he spoke.
"Come on Malon, let's go," he uttered, low and soft. Malon didn't need anything else to know that he felt defeated.
Malon took a step and he did as well. They began to walk through the market, and then the wind began to pick up. It was unfortunate that Malon didn't think too far ahead and still wore her simple jacket. While it was enough to keep her warm in the regular winter, she never thought that she would be walking back at night with the wind against her. She hugged herself tight but that didn't help the feeling that she was cold and alone. A single tear fell from her eye before she felt a heavy jacket on her shoulders. She looked up to see Vincent beginning to quickly step away and start walking again back to the ranch. She wasn't sure what to do but she knew she had to walk as well or she wouldn't make it to the ranch.
She walked, a step behind Vincent. They made it passed all the couples left in the marketplace and made their way into the field. Malon couldn't understand how Vincent managed to stand the cold. But she understood why he had the jacket. She had put her arms through it and now wore it loving the feel of the down against her skin. The jacket provided more than enough warmth for her, especially since it already had Vincent's warmth in it before he gave it to her. As she snuggled with it, she smelled Vincent's flowery scent. Roses she believed. Like always. She looked back up and saw Vincent still walking in his silence. The silence began to throb in Malon's ears, unbearable. Even with the whistle of the blowing wind, even with the rustle of whatever leaves were left on the trees, even with the crunching of the snow under their feet, without his voice it was unbearable.
They finally made their way into the ranch. Vincent had finally slowed down so that Malon was able to catch up with him, no longer a step behind. He waited for her to open the door but Malon had to do something first. Grabbing the key that was in her pocket, she quickly took off his jacket. She walked up the ranch house door and stuffed the jacket back into his arms. She opened the door as quickly as possible and ran inside.
( . ) -----------\
Malon felt stupid. She callously disregarded Vincent's feelings and most likely made him feel worse. She knew he was being a gentleman about it. If he didn't, then he would've never had given her his jacket when she was freezing. And she didn't even need to wonder why. He loved her, and he would easily brave the hottest fires or the coldest wind to make sure she was fine and happy. But she wasn't happy. Biting her bottom lip, Malon let a few more tears fall. She didn't know what to do. Malon just wanted the day to be over.
The sun poked through the east horizon. Naturally the rooster was the first to know and let out his loud wake up call. And as the sunlight spewed forth into Malon's room, she lifted her head from her knees. It took a moment for her to realize where she was and what had happened. Malon wiped away the dried tears that had fallen from her eyes and stood up. Her legs ached and throbbed as they had finally moved from the position they were in. But they managed to take her to the small vanity mirror Malon kept. She sat down in front of it and stared at her reflection. Her eyes were blood shot. The little red vines constricted her small blue orb. She believed that she cried herself to sleep. That was the only explanation. And then her hair was a mess. And there was no doubt; the wind had whipped at her and Vincent pretty bad. Right then she didn't find herself attractive enough for Vincent. She just wanted to know why he loved her. Why did he think that she was the woman he wanted to be with? But she didn't want to ask herself why she loved Vincent. Because then she would ask why would she hurt him like she did the night before.
She took a deep breath. Malon wondered what he was doing, how he was handling it. He was always strong. She hoped that he could be able to work his way around whatever pain she did to him. Malon stood up from the mirror, tired of looking at herself and went into her bathroom. She let the water run as she undressed herself and brought herself into the warm running water. She sunk her head below the water and emerged, her fiery red hair doused. She no longer had any signs that she had been crying except for her eyes. But that didn't mean that new tears couldn't come and give out more signs. And as she was washed herself, tears did come. Before it became unbearable for her, she finished bathing and hopped out of her bath. She toweled herself off and quickly dressed herself. Malon went back to her mirror and began to dry her wet hair. She usually hated the hassle of her long hair but she managed to dry it completely off.
Malon took her brush and ran its many teeth through her hair. She hummed a song to herself, an attempt to try and get ready for the day she had in front of her. And then Malon heard people arguing outside. She looked up and saw through her mirror. Of course she couldn't see anything so she put down her brush and got up from her chair. Malon crossed her room and went to her window. She saw Vincent. And he was arguing with Ingo. She sighed, there was always a bit of bad blood between them. She guessed that Vincent was in a bad mood. And it seemed that Ingo had crossed Vincent on a bad day. Malon could tell that was a bad thing just by how Vincent was able to go off on Ingo. She was surprised that both of them were awake so early. She knew Vincent wore up early, but then she figured the situation was worse than it was. He didn't even wait for her for breakfast.
Vincent was done with his part and began to walk away. He had disappeared, out of sight from Malon's point of view. She didn't know she made Vincent angry as well. But she thought about it and figured if he was angry, he wasn't hurt. And she didn't want him hurt. He was too good to be true. He didn't deserve to be hurt, especially by her. But Malon did want to talk to him. She quickly rushed downstairs and went outside. She looked around but Vincent was gone. He was nowhere to be seen. She sighed; she just wanted to talk to him. Deciding it was better to go to work, she went into the barn so she could get the feedbags for the horses. It was nearing that time for them to eat anyways.
She pushed open the barn door and walked inside. Malon went deep inside it and found the feedbags but the light from the open barn door was blocked. She looked up to see Vincent standing there, a bit of shock in his face. Malon dropped the feedbags and looked up at him.
"I see your going to deal with the feedbags. I thought you were still in bed," he looked away. "I'll leave now."
"Vincent! Please, I want to talk," she said. Despite her demand, it was just a question. She wouldn't blame him if he said no. But she wanted him to stay. Malon needed him to stay. She couldn't take what happened between them. She wanted it to get sorted out. Malon only hoped he did too as well, because he had to help and meet her half way to get things straightened out.
He stopped and looked back to her. He kept his eyes away from her, "What's there to talk about, Malon?"
She walked over to him. Malon stood a step away from him. She kept her head down as she began to talk. "Vincent, I want to talk about last night. I want to talk about what happened."
"Its simple," he said. "We went out to dinner and then we came back home. Nothing else. That's all that happened, Malon. Nothing more."
"Vincent, please," she pleaded. "I want to explain myself."
"Your silence said it all," Vincent muttered. He was obviously hurt but he didn't want it bothering him. Vincent was trying to act stronger than he really was. He wanted to pretend that it was bound to happen. That he was just letting his feelings known. But it did bother him. It did hurt him. It was like a stake was brought right down on his heart. "Anything you'll say now is just to spare my feelings."
"Vincent," Malon said softly. She took that one step toward him and looked into his eyes. The ones that tried so hard to keep them away from hers. They were now looking into her soft blues. "I love you too."
Almost inaudible but Vincent heard her. He heard those words he wanted to hear last night. And for the first time in his life he was almost close to tears. He himself was lost for words. Now he could understand Malon. But he had said it first and saying it again was just emulation, "And I love you."
Malon stood there for a few more minutes before she felt his soft lips against hers. At first she was surprised with her eyes wide-eyed but she knew that it was Vincent and let herself fall into it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss in the exact passionate way Vincent had kissed her. And then the kiss had broken and her head fell onto his chest. She could hear the gentle beating of his heart, the one that was hers, and smiled.
Vincent released her. "Malon, I got you this last night." He reached into his coat and pulled out the long box. Before he opened it, he looked to Malon, "Could you turn around. It's a bit of a surprise."
Malon nodded and turned around. She felt his hands creep around her neck and something cold against her skin. She kept her eyes shut, after all it was a surprise, and when his fingers left her neck, she opened her eyes. Malon looked down and saw the necklace she had longed for on her neck. She turned around in a happy surprise to Vincent, who stood there a bit worried and a bit happy. He just wanted to know if she liked it. And after Malon wrapped her arms around him again and kissed him, he knew that she liked it.
And then… Ingo came into the barn. Vincent and Malon whirled around to see the former drunkard invade their moment. Malon could tell from the arm she held on to, that Vincent didn't like how Ingo just came in. Malon was a bit worried since Vincent's arm had tensed, almost ready to shove her away and cock back to hit Ingo. But the event didn't happen in reality, but Vincent didn't say anything with Ingo in the room. But Ingo didn't do much either. He leaned the shovel he had in his hands against the wall with the other tools and dusted his hands off. And with a sneer he turned to the new couple. Malon hated how his horribly yellow teeth were bared at them. And Vincent knew she didn't. Especially by the way her arm tensed around his.
"Can we help you?" Vincent asked. His voice was without care or emotion.
"Seem ta be a bit close with the boss's daughter, dontcha think?" Ingo asked. Already, there was something being planned within his head. Ingo had always had a certain distaste for Malon but that had subsided when Vincent came. Ingo's hate grew even more for the dashing redhead. He had bided his time, waiting for something - anything - that would be able to get rid of Vincent. And it didn't seem like nothing much at first, Ingo would use whatever might've happened to his advantage.
"We are just normal people after all," Vincent stated. "You can't control your emotions."
"Righ' you are," Ingo agreed. He still had his creepy smile on when he left the two alone in the barn again.
Malon breathed a sigh of relief and released her grip from Vincent's arm. She turned and looked over to Vincent who seemed to have relaxed a great deal with Ingo's leaving. He too had taken a deep breath and looked down to her. He smiled and raised a gentle hand to caress her face. She raised her hand to grip his and she too smiled. They didn't speak a word to each other, having reached some sort of silent expression that only the other knew what was what. A touch of something salty came to her lips. Malon finally realized that she was crying and that tears had came down. That was why Vincent was doing what he was doing, wiping away her tears. But she kept her genuine smile on, she was crying because she was happy.
Vincent bent down to kiss her one more time. A little short and innocent kiss before he returned to his full height. "We still have work to do, Malon," he uttered. Malon could sense the disappointment in his voice as he remembered that. "We can always talk some more at dinner." He shot one of his smiles before he wrapped his strong arm around her and began to lead them out of the barn.
Malon took her own arms and wrapped them around his waist. They walked through the barn door, effectively forgetting the reason they were there for. After a while, Malon and Vincent were forced to remove their arms from each other and get to work. But as Malon made her way back to the barn and as Vincent went over to the cucco pen, Ingo waited around the corner.
After he had seen both redheads separate, he went and turned into the ranch house. He stood outside the door; he had to make sure that he would pull off a believable performance. He gripped the doorknob in his hands and quickly opened it and burst inside. With a furrowed brow he yelled: "Talon, I need to tell ya sumtin'! It's about yer daughter!"
Talon came out of his room and quickly made his way over to Ingo. He had a worried expression stamped on his face, "What is it Ingo? What's wrong with Malon?"
Ingo tried to catch his breath, "I came as soon as I could. Ya know that boy that she hired a few months back. I seen him try ta get her to do things she didn't wan' ta do. She sure didn't like it when he stole a kiss from her."
"What?" Talon asked angrily. "What did he do to her?"
"He did things no man woulda done," Ingo replied. "And ya know how Malon is. She wont speak up but she must be terrified, the poor thing. They were in the barn earlier. She's should be lucky that I came in just in time fer him to stop. Walked away like he was the king of the world he did."
Talon didn't need anything else. He was steaming. He quickly walked out the ranch door and was in hot pursuit of Vincent. He had trusted the boy enough to figure he would make Malon happy. But hearing Ingo say that he was more interested in her body than herself made Talon snap. He stormed over to Vincent who had just finished feeding the cuccos and gripped him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. Vincent dropped the bag of feed and was wondering what was going on. All he had in his sights was an extremely pissed Talon.
"Who do you think you are?" Talon yelled. "My daughter was good enough to take you in, we were nice enough to let you work here for your stay, and yet this is how you repay us! Vincent, I want you gone! Now!"
Vincent's eyes darted all over Talon's face. He had no idea what was going on. And then his eyes found Ingo sinking back into the background. The snake had struck and when Vincent figured that out, all that could help was time. Talon had finally let him down and Vincent kept his eyes on him. "You want me to leave? That's fine, I guess I'll leave."
Talon's fierceness didn't waver. He had his eyes deadlocked with Vincent. After a few moments had passed, Vincent began to walk away, toward the entrance to the ranch. He kept his head up, no use in feeling sorry for himself. But he could feel the heat from Talon's stare on him. Vincent sighed and almost broke into tears. He and Malon had finally gotten somewhere and he was forced to separate from her. He hated how life began to work against him. But he had to keep strong. He had done it before so he could do it again.
Malon came out of the barn, wondering what was all the yelling about. She saw Vincent making his way to the entrance of the ranch and quickly ran to him. She stretched out her arms and wrapped them around him, her face buried in his back. He had stopped walking and let Malon hold him. Malon finally lifted her head and looked up at him, his neck craned so he could try to look back. "Where are you going?" she asked. She hoped that it wasn't anything too important. She didn't want him to leave. Not yet anyways. "Your gonna come right back right?"
"Malon…" Vincent said softly. "I have to go. My name isn't as great as it was with your father anymore. So until that's cleared up, I can't stay here anymore and I highly doubt that I can see you." His words hid how he felt. He didn't want her anymore worried than she already was. Vincent would hide the pain he would feel until he was with her again.
"No! You can't leave. I can tell the truth. We know whatever my dad is thinking is wrong!" Malon said. She hugged Vincent tighter. "I don't want you to leave."
"I don't want to leave either," Vincent said. He managed to turn around, letting Malon's arms fall. He turned and looked down to her. He took her face in his hands and raised it up to him, "I will come back Malon. Don't you worry about that." He wanted to kiss her goodbye again but he knew Talon was watching. How he hadn't come and made Malon let him go was beyond him. But he didn't want to push it. He let his hands leave Malon and he began to walk away. Taking a deep breath, he began to think up of a way to prove himself the man Talon thought he was.
Malon stood there, at the entrance to the ranch, tears streaming down her face once again. Deciding if that's how things were going to happen, she might as well forget about the rest of her chores. They could wait while the tears in her eyes couldn't. She ran into the ranch and up to her room. Shutting the door with the lock, she fell onto her bed and grabbed her pillow. She let her tears came and the pillow soaked them up. She wanted Vincent.
Vincent opened the door to his new place to live. He had to quickly purchase a place to live but he didn't care where. His new home was located on the second floor of a building. His stairs outside led down to the dark alleyways of Hyrule's marketplace. It was a new way of putting up houses. Essentially building one or two on top of an existing house so that there would still be more land around for other things. He could've easily got a room in an inn but he needed his own space. And so he bought his new home.
He walked though the new home with little interest. A few tears had escaped from his eyes and left their trail on his face. He bought the home fully furnished but that didn't matter much to him. He doubted he was going to use any of the furniture that came along. After a few moments of inspecting his house, he came to the mirror out in the hall. Vincent took a look at himself and saw the pain he hid in his eyes. He balled up his fist and slammed it into the wall near to the mirror, making it rock back and forth. A few more tears came from his eyes before Vincent tore himself away from the mirror. He made his way over to the window where little light was coming from. He took a gander outside to see the sun slowly setting, soon leaving the moon to do its sorry excuse for a job. Vincent sighed and lit a candle that was left on the dining room table.
He watched the flame dance on the wick until it was the only light in the house. He tore his eyes away from the small flame and stumbled around his house and found a wine rack. Grabbing one of the bottles and a conveniently placed glass. He went over to the window and sat in front of it. He leaned against the wall and stared out the window. The shops were closing up and light were starting to flicker off in the distance. He popped open the bottle and poured himself a glass. He stared at the dark liquid a minute before he gulped it down. Finishing it up, he looked down at the small drops left in the glass. He remembered when he used to drink the same rich wine like water every day. His tongue slithered out of his mouth and licked his lips, taking the small tastes of the wine on his lips with it back into his mouth. But before he had gotten another glass, Vincent got mad.
He looked at the bottle and glass with his red eyes. He promised he wouldn't drink again and first threw the glass into the darkness, shattering into a wall most likely. Vincent then stared at the bottle's label. He hated its sweet taste on his lips, how the liquid danced on his tongue. But then it too was thrown into the oblivious darkness and it too shattered when it hit something. But that one small glass of wine was enough for Vincent to feel its tiring effects. Letting his head fall to a propped arm, he tried to think of a way he could somehow prove himself. He just wanted to be with Malon one more time. That was all he wanted. But Ingo had made it harder for him to be with her.
Sleep came to Vincent quietly.
And he dreamt himself in armor. Shining armor. He looked around the dream world but all he could see were nothing but flowers covered in snow. He took a few steps forward and the world around him still hadn't changed. Except now he could see something off in the distance. His eyes widened as he saw Malon walking around. He called out to her and she had heard him. The two quickly to ran to one another but before their arms were able to wrap themselves around the other, a lighting bolt struck between them. Vincent looked up and he could see dark clouds over him. He turned back down and stared at Malon.
"I'm not going to give up," Vincent said. His voice seemed to echo.
Malon had a look of worry in her eyes but she smiled at him. She believed him. But they could not get any closer while the cloud was over them. Vincent knew what he had to do. He had to prove that he was what he was. He had to make sure that there were no doubt about what he was. He had to make sure that he was the one that had been in Malon's dream. That he was supposed to be with her.
And Vincent's eyes flew open.
He sat up, rubbing his neck from the horrible position he had slept in. The sun was just waking up as well and wasn't too aware that it had its job to do. He yawned and stood up, stretching out his legs. He looked out the window and took in a deep breath. Vincent turned back and looked at his house. The glass had exploded over by the door while the bottle had taken its death at the table. The candle was out, not even smoke came from its black wick.
Vincent knew what he had to do. He had to somehow become a knight, a symbol of honor and chivalry. And he knew how he was going to do it. He only hoped that the princess would allow what he was planning to do. But it was the one thing he could think of that would be able to get him back with Malon. And he would do anything to be with her. He had loved her and he was going to fight to be with her. And if that meant he had to do something that might've been looked down upon by his family, then so be it. An Aegis part of the Hylian knights was more of a myth than anything else. Vincent's family had little ties with the royal family. But Vincent knew that he and Zelda were on better terms than the rest of his family.
"Don't you worry, Malon. I'll come back to you," he said as he walked out of his house.