I'm Yours

A/N: Based in the Legend of Zelda universes of OoT and MM only. Others disregarded for the purposes of the story. Story title credit to The Script. This chapter title is taken from the song Saviour by Rise Against. I've never written a Zelda fanfiction before, so go easy on me! This is something of a prologue, and a bit shorter than I usually publish. Most of the dialogue in this, although manipulated for purpose, can be found at the end of OoT and in MM, in the case of the latter, using the dialogue but not the setting.


1: Like Memories of Dying Days


Their celebration of victory couldn't last. They both knew that. The people were allowed to throw their parties, and to dance and to sing, and rejoice in the conquering of evil. They could never have known that before long it would be only be one of many possible futures. But they must have their fun before the clock is turned back. It might not all be real, in the end, but even so they had lived their hardship. The days that had passed between now and the vanquish of evil had already been too long.

"When peace returns to Hyrule, it will be time for us to say goodbye"

Goodbye. Why was it so hard for her to say? She barely knew him, what did she fear to lose?

"Now go home, Link. Regain your lost time."

She'd stolen time from the Kingdom, from everyone in it, from him. Hyrule could turn back to the way things were before the mess she had created, she owed the kingdom those lost years. She owed Link all the years she had taken from him, years that could now be free of trials and hurt.

"Home... where you are supposed to be... the way you are supposed to be..."

It would be selfish of her to ask him to stay and to leave the kingdom in this mess. He was a stranger to her, no matter how much she felt that she knew him. Her heart could not be telling her that she cared for him. He was not meant to be the man standing before her, he was never meant to be the boy standing before her in the castle courtyard. He deserved to grow up as himself, whoever that might be.

And after all, once things were righted again, neither of them would remember any of this. It would only hurt for a moment.

"You won't remember me, Link."


But Zelda did remember. She was soon once more a girl of ten, peeking curiously through a window in the courtyard at the grand visitors her father had, and at the same time she was a growing woman of seventeen. There was a sharp pang in her chest as the memories came flooding back and brought tears to her eyes. She gasped, hands clasped at her breast. What had she done?

The shuffle of soft leather boots behind her gave her a sense of déjà vu. She turned around, disbelieving. Their eyes met. The look in his was the same as when they last locked on each other, grief tinged with horror.

"This wasn't meant to happen." Her voice shook and nearly broke. She sank to the floor and buried her head in her hands.

"I can't stay here like this. I can't live here knowing what happened." His tone said nothing, but there was a sadness in his eyes that belied his age.

"You are already leaving this land of Hyrule, aren't you?" Zelda looked up from her hands, disbelieving. "You know, it's funny, but even though it was a short time, I feel like I've known you forever."

"It's too hard, Princess. I remember seeing this place torn apart, even if time doesn't. I need to come to terms with that. I don't have a home any more. I might not have the reason for leaving the Kokiri that I might have had, but I know now that I will eventually grow up. I can't live in their ignorant bubble." Link looked tired, his blue eyes dulled in comparison to their gleeful colour in their celebrations seven years in their future... was it their future? Zelda wondered. It didn't feel right calling it their past.

There was a lengthy pause. Uncomfortable, thick with things she wanted to hear, to say. "I'll never forget the days we spent together in Hyrule."

He bit his lip and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. "The problem is, Princess, we never spent them. They are a few of many memories that will never happen."

Unable to hold back silent tears any longer, she raised a hand to her mouth. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that they could make new ones. Grow up together, grow old together. They would be better, happier. "I believe in my heart that a day will come when I shall meet you again. We can make a new future."

She stood up and fumbled around in a pocket in her dress. Slowly and deliberately, she moved towards him, the only way she could prevent herself from running and throwing herself upon the boy, so different from the man she knew, holding the very thing that started this mess, the Ocarina of Time. "Until that day comes, please take this..."

Hands shaking, she pressed the instrument into his hands, smaller, less rough and work worn than the ones she had taken it from, before clasping them under her chin and turning around quickly, avoiding the hurt in his eyes. "I am praying..." She started and faltered, taking a deep breath and blinking back tears. Through the window, she could see a very pretty woman blushing profusely as her father, the King, kissed her hand and complimented her new husband on such a fine catch. How could life go on so simply? "I am praying that your journey be a safe one."

She turned back to him and smiled sadly, his mouth was open, as if to say something, but no words came out. He stared at her dumbly, looking betrayed. "If something should happen to you, remember our song. It reminds me of us." The Song of Time. How cruel that the thing that both bought them together and then separated them should be the only reminder she possessed. Link looked at the floor. "If I could go back and-"

"Don't, Zelda. Please don't." He interrupted, for the first time sounding bereaved, almost angry. "I think we're living with enough might-have-beens."

"Where will you go?" She asked, desperately trying to prolong their conversation and delay his departure.

But it was too late. Zelda watched as her Hero of Time left the courtyard and left her kingdom.


"A parting doesn't always have to last forever..."

The parting words of the mask salesman gave him a longing for home that he'd not felt while in Termina. While to the people it had only been three days, they were three days Link had lived repeatedly, and no matter how well he felt he knew the people here, it wasn't home. He'd inadvertedly played the Hero of Time once more, but his victory felt hollow. He'd left Hyrule to escape his memories of dark forces, combat and death, but all he had done was add to them.

Time passed strangely between Termina and Hyrule. The land seemed changed and unfamiliar, just being back there he felt changed, aged, although not yet so far as his recollection could take him. He came out of the forest on the border and found himself on the edge of Hyrule field, staring across at Castle Town in the distance. Epona shook her head impatiently, eager to be out in the open again and out from under the trees.

He allowed her to take a few steps forward, his Princess in mind, of the deceptive promise in her eyes in the days after they defeated Ganon. Link wanted so badly for that reality again, in spite of all he went through to get to it, he spurred the horse on, climbing the hill in the middle of the plain eager to see her face again, but stopped once more. He wasn't the person she had shown affection to in those past days. She wanted the Hero he had been to her Kingdom; saving Termina meant nothing to her.

How did he even know that she even wanted that Hero? She had chosen to send them back, promising that neither of them would remember a thing, despite his pleas and assurances that he didn't need the childhood he lost. She had been the one who suggested forgetting it all and making it seem as though it never happened – no, making it so that it never happened.

He gritted his teeth and roughly wiped his eyes with his knuckle. She was better off without him, at least for now. His gaze fell on Lon Lon Ranch. They wouldn't remember him, but Malon and her father were nice people. He was sure he could find work and a place to stay there.

What Link didn't know was that what he was witnessing of Hyrule was the calm before the storm.