Altruism by Life Is A Highway66
Legend of Zelda © Nintendo
Inspired by 'Armageddon'
She stands, waiting. Just waiting. Standing inside of the force that binds her to the corner of the room. She cannot help but think, look back, at how she ended in this situation. How people, years from now would be looking back and marvelling in the beauty of, the tragedy of, the ending of Link and Zelda; the monarch of Hyrule. The first monarch who worked together to stop the Gerudo king. To stop Ganondorf.
The blond haired, blue eyed man clad in the green tunic of his ancestors comes through the large door at the end of the hall. His hair, which sticks out from his hat, is plastered across his forehead. The blood of slain enemies and the dirt of nights in the wilderness across his face; almost sucking the life out of him, almost making him weak. Her smile appears, nonetheless, for the first time in weeks as she takes in a new side to the man. Holding a sword and shield seems almost natural to him. He ignores her for the time being, and for a moment, she hates him. Hates him for all the times that she has been ignored, all the times that he had not acknowledged her presence. All those times she has lain awake wondering when and if she will see him again.
She had laid awake, staring at the decorated ceiling, just twenty years before she would be stuck in the cage, or in captivity. Stuck in her own world of fantasies, and of dreams, she did not notice the gloved hand reaching out to stroke her face. "I'm so sorry." He muttered, "Please… Never hate me." He clambered into the small bed, and held her close as she began screaming. Putting her on a green chest, she quietened. "I love you, you won't remember me when I get back, I'll try and write."
Zelda stood in the doorway; a smirk playing about her lips. Never had she seen the hero quite so tentative with another living being, she knew he had had to leave quickly, but she did not have the heart to stop the scene playing out before her. A father laying in the cot with his few month old daughter, trying to savour everything about the small girl. "Link."
"Zelda. Not now." His voice a tense and harsh tone, one that she was blissfully unaware of, "Please, can you just let me say goodbye?" Once he was satisfied with the length of silence, he turned his attention to the child against his chest. "Nico," He kissed her hairless head, and a thumb on the back of her sleeping form, "I love you more than you'll know. I can't wait for the day I'll never have to leave again, but Daddy has to keep Hyrule safe." He watched her, sitting up, being careful not to wake her; she was laid on the cot and her father got out. "I'll see you soon." Smirking, he took the cap from his head and placed it in his daughters' arms, "Maybe one day… You can come with me."
She looks to that green hat now, the one that was moving as he moved from foot to foot; readying himself for combat. She wishes that she could be out there helping him in whatever way she could, but alas, she knew not of how to get to her freedom. Holding her hands together, she could only imagine the feel of the material, that unique smell, the soft material which had seen more wonders than the majority of the citizens of Hyrule.
It was the next best thing from falling completely into his arms in a heap of helpless despair and terror.
She can will herself to be a use to him now, but she knows that there is very little se could do to help; been if she was not bound by the magic of the cage, she had been brought up to be a 'young lady', and thus was not taught the way of the blade. She thinks about this, and realises that she hates him for it.
She looked to her father, wearing the green tunic once more; the sheath of the sword upon his back and the shield on top of it. That belt around his middle with the pouches attached. She frowned. That could only mean one thing. "Daddy!" She cried, but he ignored the wooden sword in her left hand, and instead focused on the helmet she had taken from the guards room of the castle, and laughs, taking the piece of armour that was obviously too big for her. "Daddy! I'll need that!"
The older man laughed once more. "For what, exactly?"
"She stood proudly, and tried to puff her chest out slightly in an attempt to make herself seem more intimidating, "Daddy, I'm gonna help you!" She swung the sword out in front of her, and by doing so, took out each piece of pottery that was on show on the shelf, she bit her bottom lip, looking down to the mess on the floor before looking up to him. "Uh oh." Was all she could muster.
He took the sword from her, "Nico," he said, wanting to sound stern, but not being able to control his laughing, "You're right handed, so hold the sword in it." He held the blunt wooden blade until the small fingers wrapped around the hilt, "But that's beside the point you're not coming."
"Daddy!" She whined, holding onto the bottom of the tunic, and attempting the most adorable face she could pull, "I'm just as strong as you! And brave! She emphasised the point by thrusting the blunt bade into one of the teddy bears that Zelda had kept around. "See? I wanna be just like you, and I can be!"
He knelt down and pulled her close, "Nico, you train to be strong, and you can come. But right now the bravest thing you can do is stay here and keep your mother company, okay?" His embrace tightened, wishing she could come with him, and although she could, he would never forgive himself if something were to happen to her. "I'll come back soon, and then I'll take you to Lake Hylia. We'll have a picnic, go swimming, fishing… Everything, okay?" He took the silence as a sign of defeat, and kissed the top of her head, "I love you, Little Princess."
"Daddy?" She began to ask, he looked down to see her holding out a small blanket, the same which she used to curl up with as a baby, "Daddy, can you take Blankie? He'll keep you company, and he can tell me all about what happened!" She smiled widely as he took the blanket, and held it close to his face and closed his eyes in a moment of seemingly pure bliss as the memories from her as an infant flashed from behind closed lids. He opened them again to look at her.
"Of course I will," He took the hat off, and put it in her arms, "Goodbye, Nico. I'll see you soon."
The swords have clashed and she is brought back to the present day. Ganondorf towers over her father, they are talking—or yelling, she cannot hear. Her heart aches, this is all her fault. She knows this; he is thirty—eight years old, and is not as strong or able as he once was, but she continues to act like the five—year old with the blunt sword. She watches him jump back as the desert dweller calls upon his dark magic.
She holds her breath from behind bitten lips, never could she imagine him defeating such raw power, and yet when a surge of power comes toward the middle—aged Hylian, she cries out, but he raises the Master Sword and hits the ball back. The Gerudo is stunned momentarily, and the Hero goes on to slash at him, she faintly hears his war cries of frustration; she mentally screams at him to move as she sees Ganondorf's eyes opening.
The Hero does not hear. The Hylian is deaf to it. Her father remains unknowing to the fate he is soon sure to meet, even as the sword in the muscular arm is raised, and is brought down upon him…
"No!" The young girl of ten years stood in front of the door, holding her arms out. Her face red and tear stained, "Daddy, no! I don't want you to leave! You promised you wouldn't go again!" She glared up at the man in green—the colour she was growing and learning to despise (that damned colour that took her father away from her)—and tried to express her anger in a single, fixed, and drawn out gaze.
He sighed, unequipping his weaponry before kneeling down to her. His hands drowning hers in warmth and comfort and she allowed the tears to fall freely onto the green clothed chest, "Sweetie, I won't be gone for that long." He pushed the shaking figure away from him at arm's length, wiping the tears away and looking her in the eye, "I promise, we can go to Lake Hylia when I get back—"
"No Daddy!" She cried, trying to shake his grasp from her shoulders, but ultimately failing, "I don't wanna go to Lake Hylia! I want you to stay here! I want you to promise that you're never going away again!" She looked down, trying to suppress the small whimpers that were rising in her throat, "Daddy. Promise me you'll never leave again or let me go."
Her pulled her closer, a strong arm around her back, his non—dominant hand resting on the back of her head, his fingers tangling with the dirty blond hair, and his head resting in the nape of her neck, "I love you. Si damned much!" He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his heart shatter over the floor, "It kills me to leave you, and one day, I promise, I'll take you everywhere I've ever been and tell you of my adventures." He felt her nod her head, but still, his hair grew damp with her tears, "Please, Nico. If I didn't have to leave, I wouldn't. it's not a past time, and not even my job. It's fate… My destiny. Only I'm able to pull the Master Sword, and only the Master Sword can defeat this evil."
There was a silence. "Daddy?"
"Hm?"
He felt the hat leave his head, and pulled away, looking to the young girl. She was grinning with the green and oversized hat on her head with the hair sticking out. She kissed him, "Love you, Daddy. Please come home safe."
He kissed her small nose, which was almost a miniature version of his own, "I can promise that. I love you too."
He raises the Hylian shield, and the sword crashes down upon it; he cries out as the vibrations from the metal ricochet down his arm, the speed creating a sudden and sharp pain in his shoulder before the hilt of the enemies sword is brought down heavily upon his back and he is sent sprawled across the floor. The air that once filled his lungs is sent into the room.
Her face is pressed against those invisible barriers, a part of her knows how this is going to end, while another part of her screams and fights the invincibility of the Hero—come—father who is struggling to gather the strength needed to get onto his feet. She silently wills him on; trying to give him the strength that she is using to stop herself from crying in order for him to use it in his quest to stand. But she knows it is useless. He looks to her, and as their eyes meet, she knows this is it. That this is the end of King Link the First.
The blade is raised again, and she covers her eyes. The sound it makes entering his body and piercing through the skin on the other side is foreign to her, but the screams that emanate from his throat are all too clear. The sounds of a dying man. She dares to look at Ganondorf, standing triumphantly over the sword impaled into the screaming man.
Fifteen years. Her journey to Heaven had been going on for fifteen years. For the third time in her life, she glared at the green tunic and for the first time, the hatred imbedded in her eyes was not only directed at the clothing, but to the man wearing the material. "I don't care about your excuses, Dad!" She yelled, "Always the same! You don't want to go! It's your destiny! I don't care anymore! It's always the same!"
Link sighed. "I'm sorry—"
"No!" She paced the room, trying to distract herself from the tears that threatened to fall, "You're not! If not, you'd let me go with you, or you wouldn't go. I don't want to go to Lake Hylia when you get back!"
He hugged her, but she pulled away. He watched her momentarily, before trying to give her his hat, but she was quick to push it to the floor, "Nico, what am I meant to say? That I'll risk the fall of Hyrule just to keep you happy? I love you, and would do about anything for you, but not that! Don't you think you're being slightly childish?"
She scoffed, leaving the room. Promising never to see him again, and muttering of the pure hatred for him that was pulsing through her veins. He rolled his eyes and left; upon his return, he soon realised that the castle was big enough for her to keep her promise for five years, till his wish to see her would be met by his mortal enemy.
The magic has let her go, and she runs to the man on the floor, she falls to her knees and takes his head in her arms and runs her hand through golden locks. She is silent, as she prays for his survival, but as she takes the sword from out of him with a terrifying squelch, she knows. It is confirmed. "I'm sorry—" She begins, but a gloved hand takes her. He knows. His breathing is slowing, and she knows that it is only a matter of time.
"Daddy, I don't hate you."
He smiles, and nods. The grip on her hand is fading. His grip on reality is fading. He allows himself to focus only on being held in his daughters' arms—her soft arms—and puts his energy on savouring this moment. Trying to engrave every detail about it, save for Ganondorf watching them several feet away, and wanting to carry it on to the afterlife, making sure it was the only thing that he remembered. And as those three Goddesses come to meet him—those three damned Goddesses—he does. Nico and himself in the room is all he can see. Suspended in his own interpretation of the poets heaven.
Nico, she does not allow herself to cry, and instead stands—choking at the limp body falling off of her—and picks up the Master Sword. Eyes narrowing toward Ganondorf.
Meh. Needed to vent. Haven't killed Link yet. Not my best but, what you gonna do?