Link Dane

TWENTY-THREE

| dedication: sidewalkchalk_ for that cool cover xx |
TWENTY-THREE

At first I was confused. It wasn't something my mind could process well enough, or even at all.

I found myself in a moment where you didn't want to do anything but have someone assure you that you were still in reality and not floating above the clouds. I wanted someone to pinch me to be quite frank.

I was used to Link. I was used to all his twisted ways so I first thought of his words as a ploy. He wanted to get something out of me and one way to do that, was to tackle me from behind. He sure did succeed in doing that by just speaking to me.

Link had 'disappeared' after our bizarre talk at the hospital where he instantly shut me down. It was then I knew that no differences could settle between us ever.

"A truce?" I repeated his words, still finding it hard to understand what he meant by it.

Link pushed off the wall that he was leaning against and slowly descended upon me. He itched closer causing me to move back tentatively, a knee-jerk reaction whenever he would come closer to me.

"Yeah," he started to say, his voice dropping to a low tone which should have been one clear alarming sign that things were not so simple. There was more lingering behind that one word and knowing Link, it would be the death of him before he uncovers every meaning behind his words.

"Only a sane person would ask," I started to mumble, fiddle around with my fingers whilst trying to conceive a well structured response. "Why?"

Link eyed me carefully, watching my whole face as I tried to maintain a composed expression. But we both know well enough that I was not settled around him. "Only a sane person would ask for a truce," Link responded. "We both know all this chasing and looking over our shoulders has to come to an end."

I let out a loud scoff, not believing what I was hearing. "You looking over your shoulder?" I questioned incredulously. "Why would the tormentor have someone to fear?" I asked him, edging towards the table with my back still against the wall.

My eyes barely caught the twitch in the corner of his mouth before he dipped his head low. He stayed like that momentarily before he lifted his head up again, a questioning gaze lingering on his face. "Tormentor?" He repeated, as though that word didn't make sense to him.

"Yes," I fired back. "You're exactly that."

Link arched one eyebrow at me. "Do you hear yourself Ori," he said slowly and then I realised he was trying to pass me off as a mad woman.

"Don't even try to sizzle your way out of this," I wagged my finger in his direction. He was not going to play me, not anymore he wasn't.

"For a man asking for a truce, you really are going by it the wrong way," I filled him in, making sure he was aware that his pathetic antics were flying over my head.

Link Dane was no person to easily give up and he made it clear that our paths would forever cross until he avenged his sister. So for him to suddenly ask for a truce was bewildering.

"We have a past," I started to say. "We can't just sweep it all under the rug and pretend it didn't happen." I spoke the true words in my mind. Link and I were bonded in a way that no other person could imagine. They say behind closed doors lie secrets and Link has the key to my door. He wasn't afraid of slowly tugging out each secret for the world to know and that, I couldn't easily let go off.