A/N: This is literally the first thing I've ever written with a focus in romance. So, of course, I did it on my favorite Final Fantasy couple. How'd I do?

Published: 4/17/2018

Warnings: Spoilers for Fairy Tail and Once Upon a Time. Kinda spoilers for Star Wars, FFVI and IX

Intertwined

Reborn, again and again.

A thousand lifetimes. A thousand realities. Two souls, bonded for all eternity. That was what they were.

No matter how many times they fell, they'd find each other again. They'd find each other, time and time again, because that is what they were. Two souls, intertwined.

His. She was his. She was his and he was hers and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Their first life had been a chaotic mess. There was no other way to describe it, really. Brought together by war and destruction, they bonded.

It isn't an easy journey. It's full of pain and full of anguish. She watches her mother tear the world apart. He watches his brother do do the same.

In the end, they stopped it.

The corpses are piled around, but the world is alive, they're alive and they won and they survived.

Then, he comes back for her, just like he said he would. Just like he promised. Then, slowly but surely, the princess lost her heart.

Her heart, stolen by the charming thief who smirked at her victoriously.

Here, dancing in the moonlight, with his arms around her, the pair of them tied.

"Hn. Those two… No matter how often they die, they find themselves in the next life. Soulmates, through and through. That poor girl, corrupted by my brother's influence." Kuja had once said.

He'd said it casually, too. Simply just tossing it out there. A fact of the universe. Something simple and quaint. A fact to reality, like how the sky is blue or how coffee was the essence of all creation.

Something so obvious, it should have been considered a law of creation.

Zidane heard it, even as he walked away.

Annoying older brothers.

He was totally right, but still.

"Please. Kidnap me."

Whaaaa?

The princess wanted him to what?

Those earnest eyes didn't lie, though. She wanted him to take her away. Away from here, from this place, from this life, from this palace.

This was a different life. A different place. A different castle.

A memory, fleeting, like Deja Vu, of Alexandria shot through his mind. Those words, spoken then.

His agreement, because it had been his intent all along.

"If that is what her highness wants," he took one of hands in his, lips trailing along her knuckles. "Then who am I to deny her?"

There was this thing that just… Tugged and pulled them to one another, endlessly. No matter what they did, no matter what they tried, the chain would yank them together.

He didn't want to fight it.

Why would he deny something that felt so right, felt so good? This was them, and they were meant to be.

Except, she did. She wanted to deny it. She wanted to deny them what they wanted, what they craved. What they needed.

She wanted to be stubborn about it.

Well, that was fine with him. He could be patient. He could wait. He could wait for her, because she was worth it. For her, he'd wait until the end of time.

He'd wait because there was no one else for him. There could be no one else, no one at all.

Sometimes, it isn't just the two of them.

Sometimes, Kuja comes along with them because of course he does.

They don't always remember. The details are smudged. Their fates though, will always be bonded. Bonded, because fate was like that and it liked to play its games.

Names, appearances, powers. Those shift, changing again and again. Sometimes, though, the roles remain the same.

The summoner. The hero. And, the reaper.

Natsu's punch is enough all on its own to shatter him. Zeref had fought so hard and for so long, but in the end, it wasn't enough. How could it be, against Natsu?

His brother never did approve. No matter what, his brother was one stubborn being, and that stubbornness showed through even now.

"I'm going to end this. I'm gonna beat Acnologia. I'm gonna save everyone. And I won't have to erase this world to do it! If that's your solution, it's a goddamn stupid one! I'll fix it all, you'll see!"

Then, of course, he walked away. Walked away as Zeref laid there, his body at long last giving out, his curse finally taking its toll on him.

Walked away, towards his summoner, because she was his soul, his heart, and Zeref? Despite everything, Zeref was the monster of the story, like always. The deranged reaper, made by god's cruelty and condemned to die.

"My heart. It's yours. It's always been yours."

Sometimes, the roles are reversed.

Sometimes, they flip.

The universe is an ever expanding thing, constantly shifting from one end to the other. And this story does not always have a happy ending. Sometimes, it ends in blood. It ends in death. It ends with him.

It ends, because sometimes, she is the villain at the end of the book, and when she is, she is merciless.

"Yes. It is." She smiles… As she tears out his heart.

A squeeze is all that it takes. He screams and falls. Falls, fading as she crushes him, crushes it.

It's only when the deed is done that she realizes what she's done. It's only when the light in his eyes fades that the reality of it all comes crashing down.

She falls, tosses her head back, and screams.

Luke looked back and forth between Han and Leia, Han's arm perched over her shoulder, holding her to him like she belonged there. Like she had always belonged there, and the idea of her being elsewhere just don't compute.

Luke titled his head.

"Something feels… Wrong about this picture." he finally says.

Han and Leia freeze. The pair of them shoot him confused looks before Leia's waivers into worry, into fear.

"Oh god. You don't mean The Emperor, do you? You said he fell into the core, but of course he could have survive and-" she starts to trail off.

"What!" Luke exclaims, shaking his head. "No, no. Not that. Not that at all!" He exclaims.

Leia relaxes. Han does not. Instead, his grip grows a little tighter, his eyes narrowing at the other male.

"What is it, then?" he asks. Except, ask is not the right word. Demand fits it far better.

"It's just… Leia doesn't feel like my sister." Luke finally admits.

Leia fidgets uncomfortably.

"Um. Luke. I know you and I had a… moment, but-" she begins.

"What? No, no! By the Force, not that! Not that!" Luke shakes his head frantically. "I don't mean the pair of you being together. That feels right, somehow. No, something else."

Leia falters. Beside her, Han is equally as flummoxed.

"Then what is it?" Han finally asks.

Luke shrugs.

"I don't know. I just have this random feeling that you and I are suppose to be brothers, she's suppose to be a princess which already matches, and I'm the bad guy for some reason." Luke admits.

Han and Leia blink at him.

The silence between them grows uncomfortable. Finally, Luke breaks it, looking sheepish.

"Er. Nevermind. That was weird. Forget I said anything?"

Some worlds are similar to theirs. Similar, but different.

This… Is one such world.

She's the one who finds him. She hunts him, across the planet. Him and the rest, because this is it. This is the end. The final battle. They've finally reached this point. This final reckoning.

When Celes finds Locke, he laments for one last moment over a broken lover, lost and so far gone even the fires of a Phoenix are not enough.

He turns to her, tears in his eyes.

Then, holding it back, the thief nods.

This isn't the time or the place for this.

No.

Not with Kefka out there, wrecking the world with glee. They have to stop him. They have to because, if they don't, everything will be lost.

So, they go together.

Together, because they failed once, Kefka had ripped them apart once with words and lies and deceptions, but they are together again and they will fight to a bitter end.

"My, my. You've been reborn again! How utterly delightful. Such potential! Twisting you, my sweet, is always a pleasure." He spoke, eyes twisting with sadistic glee. Oh, this would be fun. It would be fun, it would fun!

Rumplestiltskin had lived a very long time. The Enchanted Forest was ever changing, but some of its inhabitants were not.

The last time he had seen her, he'd decided to twist her heart, make her as dark as he was. Such a joy it had been when he'd watched her tear out her own Soulmates heart. Such a pity, how she'd killed herself afterwards. Wasted potential, that one.

Something about not being able to live with the guilt? Honestly, how childish.

This time, thought he'd make sure their paths wouldn't intersect. He'd keep them apart. He'd keep them seperate. Separate, because he needed her. She had to be the one. It had to her. No one else would do.

Regina would cast his curse, she'd sweep this land away. It could be no other.

It was simple, really.

He'd just have to keep the thief at bay.

Keep Robin Hood from her until the day came where she could bring this world to a grinding end. That, he could do.

This wasn't the first world Rumple had murdered, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

He's wild. He's insane. He turns that beaming smile to her, and she can't help but swoon. That mischievous look, dancing in his eyes.

He's rude. He invades her space. He shows up sprawled on her bed like he owns the damn thing. He never leaves her alone. A constant, endless presence.

A presence she doesn't mind.

One day, he just turns and kisses her full on the mouth, like it's the most normal thing in the world. Then, idiot that he was, he turned away as if her heart wasn't thudding painfully against her chest and as if her face wasn't as red as the fire he liked to create.

Natsu really was an idiot.

She loved him anyways.

They're themselves again.

He's Zidane and she's Dagger and he's holding her close, holding her to him. She clutches back almost desperately because it's been so long. So, so long since they've had this, since they've remembered.

Since they've remembered each other properly.

The moment their eyes met, they just knew. Memories, flooding back to them, an eternity, lifetime after lifetime.

The princess and her thief, together again.

"I love you!"

"I know."

They win.

They actually, somehow, impossibly, win.

They won.

They won.

Oh gods, they actually won!

Magic is shattering around them, Kefka's tower is breaking apart at the seams, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because they won, they won, they won!

They're hugging and happy and cheerful, because they won, they won, they won!

Then, instinctively, he kisses her.

Celes feels herself freeze as his lips press to hers. His arms are warm around her, welcome and encasing against the memories of chains. Here, she feels safe.

Here, she feels like she's home.

Locke himself freezes, then pulls away, a look of shock on his face.

"Sorry. I, ah-" he begins, blushing red.

Celes doesn't let him finish. Instead, she pulls him closer, locks her lips to his, and feels him melt against her.

In the background, she hears a laugh and a voice that sounds suspiciously like Setzer's saying 'finally'.

Terra, of all people, then swears. Loudly. Locke pulls away as they both look to the girl in surprise.

Terra growls before pulling out several bills, handing them over to a smug looking Setzer. She wasn't the only one. Setzer looked pleased with himself as he received Gil after Gil.

Celes wasn't sure whether she would die from embarrassment or annoyance that their friends, in the middle of a goddamn apocalypse, had had a bet running on this.

"Could the two of you not waited a little longer?" Edgar groaned, and Locke began to laugh.

Rolling her eyes, Celes joined in, regardless of how ridiculous the whole thing was.

Hades is cruel. Hades is a monster. Hades has taken her love, stripped him away. Blasted him to pieces.

Regina can only scream as Robin is struck down. Scream, because she's too weak to stop it, too weak to prevent it.

He's gone.

He's gone, taken from her again.

Zalena roars.

Then, together, the sisters strike down the dark god. They cut him down using his own crystal, his own power. They erase him from creation, but it isn't enough.

It isn't enough because now, there's a hole in the world. There's a hole that can never be filled, because he's gone, he's gone and he's taken a piece of her soul right along with him.

She outlives him again.

It hurts. It hurts so much.

She can feel it, across the stars. They'd been separate for so long, seperate for stupid, silly, petty reasons. They'd seemed so logical, so understandable at the time, but now?

Now, Leia wishes she could go back and time and slap herself.

What do differences matter when he's gone? All those reasons mean nothing. All they mean is wasted time. Time they could have spent together, but instead spent separate.

And now, there's no undoing it.

There is no happy ending.

How can there be, when he's gone?

What's worse… What's worse is his killer.

Leia looks to the stars and wonders just where they went wrong. She knows they did. She knows, because no matter what Snoke has done, no matter what lies he's fed her son, at the end of the day her child murdered her husband, ripped him from the world.

In the end, it was their own failures that tore everything apart.

Sarah feels a shoulder bump against red. Looking up, she meets a blue gaze. A boy, on the shorter side of the spectrum, with long blond hair stands beside her on the busy train.

"Sorry, my bad." He says, then moves a bit past her.

His gait, his form, echoes in her mind.

Something… Something that she just can't place. She isn't sure what it is. What this feeling is. She isn't sure at all, but she knows that she knows him.

He walks away, and her heart clenches at it.

She doesn't want him walking away from her. Not again. Never again.

"Zidane!" She calls, the name slipping past her lips instinctively.

He freezes.

Slowly, he turns to look at her, confusion on his face.

"Do I… Know you from somewhere?" he asks, before shaking his head. Eyes trailing down her body suggestively, Sarah feels warmth taint her cheeks. "Nah. Can't be. There's no way I'd forget someone like you." Then, his eyes meet hers, and it's there.

That familiar suggestive look that makes her weak in the knees in the way only he can. Passion, shining in his eyes, along with a silent promise in them to show it to her, slowly over and over again.

Zidane blinked, leaning a bit back, seemingly coming back to himself. Shaking his head a few times, his gaze locks back with hers.

"I- Dagger?" he asks tenatively, confused.

No. That and her name. It isn't her name, but it feels right. It feels like it should be. It feels like it's hers. So, she nods. She nods, because it feels right.

And, when his arms come around her and when his lips lock to hers, the final piece clicks.

This person, this boy. This stranger, he's hers and she's his, for now and forever.