Inspiration: The responsibility of greatness, and the word ambivalence.
The Picture is by Wynahiros, check out his deviant art page for more beautiful pictures. A special thank you to Sarah Montrose for finding that out for me.
Author Note: Ambivalence is neither good or bad, rather it is something that totes the line. This story does not stringently follow canon and is the prequel to How Zelda Got Her Groove Back. ~ZR~.
Chapter 1
Monologue of a Man
A man apart is a man who isn't whole. What makes a man whole depends on what he values in life. When a man happens to be a hero, that value gets amplified. The reason? A hero's life is no longer their own. When a hero becomes a savior their consciousness becomes the people's property, and their value becomes the people's measuring stick. If that value and consciousness are not in correlation with each other, then the hero is not living up to his expectations. Why is that important?
My name is Link, and I'm a hero. I understand all too well the fickle position of being a man for the people, and being a man for myself. It isn't easy keeping up a guise of unselfish servitude. It isn't easy pretending that the burden of the Triforce isn't really a burden. It isn't easy watching someone you love leave you, and pretending you're not affected by it. It isn't easy being a man for the people, when the people don't understand you.
It isn't easy at all.
It's been two months since I put the Master Sword away, and I still miss her. It's been two months, and that trail of hers still haunts me. It's been two months, and that doubt of hers still plagues me. What was she going to say? Why did she stop? Why did she... break the mirror? It doesn't make sense. I guess maybe I should be asking myself, why should it make sense?
We were from two different worlds she and I. She was a Twili, and I am a Hylian. She was a queen, and I am a farmer, a goat herder actually. Given our stations in life it seems impossible for us to have anything other than a mutual respect for each other. However, that isn't the case. I'm in love with that woman, that twilight queen, that girl named Midna. She's kind of hard to forget, especially after she nearly sacrificed her life to try and save Hyrule. Needless to say, my twenty year old self is a little bitter with my circumstances.
From the outside looking in I have a great life. I've been invited to act as the lead strategist on her majesty, queen Zelda's, counter insurgency team. I took the job, grateful that her majesty recognized my efforts in saving Hyrule. I thought it would help me deal with my loneliness, and it does to a certain extent, but there's only so much hiding behind a title I can do. Even still, I enjoy my work and know there is a great deal of responsibility behind what I do.
I have access to the queen on a daily basis. The queen is the gem of Hyrule. She's beautiful, righteous, and perfect. The people for the most part love her, and would kill to be in my shoes to speak with her. However, I find queen Zelda to be an enigma. I never know what she's thinking behind that perfect face and those icy blue eyes. She seems standoffish, but I know she doesn't have family around her, so maybe her demeanor is a defense mechanism. In any such case, I respect her, and am grateful that she saw some value in me. She was actually told by her closest advisor, a man named Vincent of the Rue Morge family, that I was ill equipped for the job. However, queen Zelda took it upon herself to hire me anyway. She made the case stating that there wasn't a man in the kingdom more qualified than me. At her saying that, Vincent shut his mouth, even still I didn't trust him.
Anyway, I had a great deal to be happy about, but like I stated before, I'm slightly embittered. One day, I am going to find the woman I love and tell her how I felt. Until then, I need to be content with what I have going on in my life. After all, everything was different now. Everything. My work is what I have to occupy my days, the least I can do is be content with it.
And I will be.
There's a saying that a man of ambivalence is a man of contradictory impulses. I'm not going to lie, I feel that way at times. I feel like I have contradictory impulses. I feel like... an ambivalent man.