What was it that brought them together, to be united in this perfect love?
It must have been fate in mortal form that brought them together. She knew from the moment she laid eyes on her that they were meant to be. From then on, Zephyra was sometimes needy and close, but then suddenly cold and fearful. Calist tried her best to hide her pain, but it was plain in her globes. That was how it was to this very day.
Yes. She often reflected upon that day with fondness. It was a day that had changed her life, after all.
Zephyra, a sorrowful woman of unquestionable ability, stood alone on the beach, gazing over the cobalt water with her wretched violet pools. Her smoke-colored hair danced lightly in the ocean breeze, tickling against one cheek as she tried to deny the stirrings in her heart, resting her cheek against one hand as she adjusted her ebon glasses.
She wore a many-colored shirt that left her rouge-flushed lily-white arms bare and color-mixed shorts that looked comfortable and easy to wear. Her leaden mane brushed against her shoulders, complementing her hollow plush-flushed light-colored visage. A noticeable sigil provided proof of her descent. For a moment, she absorbed herself in these thoughts, of her, and Calist.
"Zephyra," Calist said simply with a beaming grin. Her plush windows to her soul complimented her rose coiffure, brushing against her shoulders, belying her stubborn heart. She was dressed in her usual everyday clothes. Her skin was healthily color-touched pearly and her form was slight. A prominent scar stood out on her healthily color-touched light-colored skin. As Zephyra drew nearer, she caught a note of Calist's familiar perfume: a sweet, rich lavender. Her depths softened. It always reminded her of the time they shared.
"Calist. I feared you might not come," Zephyra whispered.
Calist's eyes widened. "Of course I came!"
Zephyra shook her head. "Everyone else abandoned me."
"That's awful," Calist mumbled. "I swear I won't." He affectionately reached out to her, and carefully she wrapped her fingers in hers. With that, they began to walk along the beach. As they proceeded tenderly down the shoreline, Zephyra's orbs mused over the doubts that haunted her, trailing her like a mournful shadow. Her lips softly parted from the confessions that welled up in her throat, only to be swallowed back in grim defiance. Zephyra struggled to keep together her fragile composure.
"I'm... glad I was able to see you today," Zephyra whispered, steadying her tremulous voice. "While I still have you here, that is..."
A faint blush tinged Calist cheeks; she turned his face away with a nervous laugh.
"Heh, me too, Zephyra!" Calist didn't pick up the hint of foreboding in Zephyra's tone. "Uh...so... what's on your mind?"
Despite the enthusiasm in Calist's reply and her grin, Zephyra's heart sank like their feet in the ocean-kissed sand. What would Calist think about her? Would she recoil in disgust? In fear? In ridicule?
But Calist was different from the rest. Under that charming, outgoing exterior, there was a truly kind heart. Zephyra had previously known nothing but loneliness and isolation until Calist came into her life and filled it with her warmth. Pain and doubt had plagued Zephyra before Calist nearly extinguished it with her infectious optimism.
Zephyra shook her bowed head slightly at the thought. She was lying to her; Zephyra wasn't worthy of her kindness. Zephyra was ... Nothing but an outcast. A freak. Abandoned goods. Damaged beyond repair. Zephyra was undeserving.
Before Zephyra could notice and dam the impeding flood, a bit of dampness flecked and darkened the sand at their feet. Tears were rolling down her cheeks in soft rivulets, like hot bullets. Then came the sobs, breathless and soft as the dark bile in her heart came to a boil and bubbled up in the form of quiet, trembling whimpers.
"Hey! Hey now," Calist murmured, pulling Zephyra close to her chest. "What's the matter?"
Zephyra pulled away and gazed into Calist's concerned windows to her soul. The affable gaiety those deep pastel pools once held had since given way to tender distress.
"It's nothing. Please do not trouble yourself."
Zephyra cast her troubled visage aside and fought back the welling tears, glinting gold as they caught the light off the heavens' sympathetic glow. The ocean rolled and sighed with her shuddering breaths, and the flocks of seabirds overhead sung their lament. A newfound resolve set itself in Calist's eyes, and he pulled Zephyra close.
"That's nonsense," she murmured comfortingly, slowly stroking Zephyra's upper back. "You've got to tell me what's going on."
"I...I could never do that to you, Calist. There's something about me you don't know, and I fear it's... it's too much to bear."
"Come on. What could be so bad that you wouldn't tell me?" Calist attempted to cheer Zephyra up with a reassuring smile.
"I'm afraid the answer might terrify you."
"Is... is that all?" Calist stammered.
"I've already been alone once, and I don't think I could stand it again!"
"But you won't be! You have me, don't you?"
"There's a reason... I am the way I am. A dark secret hidden deep in my past that I wanted to keep from you. You're just so...happy, and I couldn't stand to take that away from you."
"It's me, Zephyra. Come on, you can't keep stuff like that bottled up!"
Though comforting, the kindness in Calist's reassurances only aggravated Zephyra's grief.
"Act as nonchalant as you please, then!" Zephyra sobbed louder than she had intended to. "It's horrible all the same!"
"Well, whatever it is, I don't care!" Calist shouted defiantly. "We'll bear it together!"
The sudden firmness, yet gentleness in Calist's voice drew a slight gasp from Zephyra's lips. Calist truly cared... for a person like her. She shook her head, another wave of racking sobs overcoming her.
After a few moments, they found themselves walking down the beach again. Zephyra couldn't stop thinking about her worst memory. It plagued her endlessly -- while she was far from Calist and while she was near. It threatened to consume her. When Zephyra had let the faintest hints slip in the moments before, it had already taken taken so much of her will.
With concern, Calist turned her spirited globes toward Zephyra. "Zephyra? What's wrong?"
"Calist... it's..."
And at that moment everything came together, all of the magic and the hurt that had been building that day, and she locked her orbs with hers and whispered, "You can tell me."
It was like a floodgate burst, or some barrier of fear had been struck down. Zephyra shook her head and everything came out at once. "I... I keep remembering it.... That day. Calist, I can't help myself! I don't want to think about it... it hurts, Calist. But even when I sleep, it comes back to me in my dreams. I can't forget, not for a moment.... Not a moment's peace."
Calist listened silently and solemnly. At last, when all the words had left Zephyra and she was at a loss for words, Calist reached out to her and took a deep breath to whisper back, "Zephyra... that's awful. It wish that weren't how it is. I wish I could say more. Zephyra...." Zephyra's eyes began to burn, and she abruptly pulled Calist into a fierce embrace. Calist's globes widened at first, but then she too felt overwhelmed by emotion and succumbed to the warmth of Zephyra's touch.
"You," Zephyra whispered, her breath hot on Calist's ear. "As long as you're here, I... I can make it." They held each other as tears trickled down cheeks and dripped onto the shifting sands to be carried away into the sea. With time and soothing embraces, their pain dissipated into a mist swept out by the ocean breeze and into the setting sun.
"Look... it's the sunset."
Zephyra lifted her head at Calist's words to behold the dying sun's terra radiance. "Mm."
After a moment of silence, Calist said quietly and seriously, "It's destiny, isn't it. Us, together."
Zephyra clasped Calist's soft hand and murmured in response, "I'm... so lucky."
Calist brought their clasped hands to her lips. "As long as the world goes on, as long as time flows... we will be together."
Zephyra sighed with contentment and brought Calist closer. She gazed at the beautiful tawny rays of the falling sun, thinking about everything that had transpired on this day and all that would pass between them.
"I love you, Calist."
"I love you too, Zephyra."
Their lips met, and granite strands met russet ones, aflame in the dying light. The sand was their witness and the rumbling ocean their approving audience, and Calist, her eternally faithful lover. Zephyra thought to herself that nothing had ever been so perfect for her as this.
---END---