Everything was on fire, but somehow, it was also pitch black. She could hear the thundering roar of the beast above her. But it was the whispering voice in her head that screamed loudest.
He won't come.
Yes he will, she rebuked it again, and again, countless times.
You failed him.
I did what I could.
You let him die. You let all of them die.
You can't break me, Ganon!
I broke him.
No-
Her head erupted with the sounds of his agonized screams. He was calling for her, begging her to save him, his voice joined by a chorus of others; her father, the knights, the Champions, all crying her name in desperation.
Princess! Princess!
"...Princess!"
Zelda jerked awake as gentle hands shook her by the shoulders, and a frightened voice above her repeated her name once more. Blinking against the darkness-the cool, natural darkness of the deep night-the princess stared up into the wide, confused eyes of Impa's granddaughter, Paya.
"I-I-I'm sorry, Princess," she stuttered, releasing Zelda's shoulders immediately. "B-but you were screaming...having a nightmare. I didn't know what else to do..." She fell silent, biting her lip in embarrassment and worry. Zelda tried to take a deep breath, to tell her that she was fine, and apologize for scaring her, but all that came out was a heaving sob. This seemed to frighten Paya even more than her screaming. "Oh n-no! Wh-what should I do? Can I get you anything? Maybe I should wake up Grandmother-"
"I want Link," Zelda whispered piteously. She immediately wanted to slap herself. She sounded like such a child. Paya flushed a glowing red and looked uncomfortable.
"A-are you sure?" she asked timidly. "Would you like me to get Grandmother?" Zelda shook her head feebly. As much as she wanted the presence of her oldest friend, she could not bear to look upon all that had changed in her absence, including Impa. She wanted familiarity, protection, reassurance. So she repeated herself in a hoarse whisper, feeling enormously ashamed of herself.
"I want Link..."
"A-all right, then," the Sheikah girl relented, blushing again. "Just a moment." She disappeared down the creaky wood stairs into the floor below, where Link was probably sprawled contentedly on the pallet she had laid out for him earlier. Remorse churned in the pit of Zelda's stomach as she heard Paya's muffled voice from below. They had come to Kakariko to rest, both she and Link. She hated to think that she was disturbing him now. But at the same time, she felt like her lungs were squeezed tight and she was on the verge of throwing up. Whether he liked it or not, she desperately wanted him now. Maybe even needed him.
To her surprise, Link came shuffling up the stairs faster than she expected. He was not easily roused from sleep any time before sunrise. He was yawning, and running a hand through his sleep-mussed hair, but did not appear irritated. Still, Zelda couldn't help the heat that rose to her cheeks as he entered the room, feeling more tiny beside him in this moment than she had with the Calamity all those years ago.
"H'llo," he slurred, dropping with a soft thump on the edge of her bed. Zelda nodded in acknowledgement, still too embarrassed to speak. She finally looked up at him when she felt him gently prod her shoulder, and found him wordlessly presenting her with a glass of water. She sat up shakily and took it from him, managing a few sips before her throat closed again and she set it down unfinished on the nightstand. "What should I do?" he asked after an awkward pause.
"I-I don't know," Zelda whispered brokenly. "I just...wanted to see you."
"Okay," he replied, as though she had given him a real answer. There were another few minutes of Zelda sniffling in spite of her best efforts, and Link valiantly dueling with the clutches of sleep as he perched on the edge of her bed.
"I'm s-sorry," she whimpered. "I sh-shouldn't have-"
"No," he interrupted, much more firmly than she would have expected, given the hour. "It's fine."
"But you need to sleep," the princess argued, in spite of the weightless feeling that rose in place of the remorse in her stomach. Link looked at her blearily, too tired to refute her point. After a moment, he stood from the bed, and, with a sick feeling of disappointment rising in her chest, Zelda watched him leave to return to his own bed. She wrapped her arms around her knees and trembled, too ashamed of herself to feel hurt that he had apparently abandoned her.
Except, he had not.
A minute later, she heard his bare feet padding up the stairs once more, and he reappeared holding his lumpy pillow under one arm and his blanket in the other. He crossed the room, oblivious to the confused stare with which Zelda watched him, and nudged her arm with the edge of his pillow.
"Move over." Zelda found herself complying with his request before she could think about it. Link, as though what they were doing was perfectly natural and happened every night, threw his pillow down beside hers, wrapped himself up in his blanket, dropped onto the bed, and curled up beside her, one arm stretching lazily over the top of her head. "Try to sleep, okay?" he mumbled, sinking into the mattress comfortably.
"A-all right," she answered, too surprised to argue with him. She listened to the sound of his breathing, as it gradually sank into the slow, reassuring rhythm of sleep. Eventually, in spite of her lingering nervousness, she found herself joining him.
They never talked about it later. The way Impa asked them how they slept the next morning made Zelda think she knew about it. But she did not push it, and Paya was too shy to say anything about it. So it stayed between them, a warm, bittersweet memory of harder times, and the relief they could find in each other.
But every night after, if Zelda began to toss or murmur in her sleep, Link would quietly move to lay beside her, wherever they were, letting her curl against him and listen to his heartbeat, until the nightmares retreated, and she could sleep peacefully once again.
A/N: Story time! I've struggled with severe anxiety my whole life. When I was a little kid, I used to wake up in the middle of the night, absolutely terrified, screaming my poor little head off. When that happened, one of my parents would always get up and come lay beside me until I calmed down. That doesn't happen anymore, obviously, since I'm an adult and very territorial about my sleeping space, but I wanted to do a little something in homage to the support my family has given me over the years. I'm considering making this a two-shot, and having Zelda be the one to comfort Link in part 2. Let me know if you'd be interested in such a thing, and as always, thanks for reading. :)