I run up the spiraling path, breath short as my legs carry me towards the temple that is ancient in the era I have come from, but pure and new in this one. Although I am exhausted from the battle in which I have just barely emerged victorious, I know that in moments I will see her again. Everything is over now. Demise is defeated and peace returned.
After all this I can tell her the truth I've been wishing to say for so long: that I care for her deeply, that I love her. Then I can be happy – we can be happy. Together.
I press my hands against the heavy stone doors; using what little strength I have left to push them open. The thought of seeing her safe and well gives me a new burst of energy, and as soon as the intricately carved panels are wide enough, I slip through, into the temple with a smile on my cut and tired face.
No one is there.
The joy falls from my expression for a moment before I remember once more about the almost hidden room at the back of the holy place. It was where Zelda slept, waiting for me to wake her up. Waiting for me right now.
I try not to run as I make my way around the Gate of Time and up the stairs to where she sealed herself for millennia in a future that has now passed. For a split-second I'm worried. I don't see her, only Impa and Groose, standing and looking down at the smooth stone floor. Then I follow their sight as I reach the top of the steps.
My eyes settle on the sleeping form of the girl who I've always thought was a goddess – long before I knew she really was one.
"Zelda…" I sigh in relief. Sheikah and Skyloftian turn to look me, saddened expressions where there should be joyous ones. I hear the redhead sniffle; wiping his hand across his eyes, causing fear and confusion to take hold of my being. He should be happy. Demise is gone and it's finally all over. I near the three, worry on my face as I approach. I stop before the sleeping girl, who endured a destiny far heavier than one as light and delicate as she should have undergone.
"Link… Zelda is…" Groose's voice drifts, pain obvious from the way he struggles to get the words out, body shaking with his breath. I hear Impa inhale to speak, and I glance at Zelda's calm figure before my eyes settle on the woman who accompanied her through time and many distant travels.
"Although Ghirahim's ritual to revive Demise with the soul of Her Grace wasn't completed, the one you know as Zelda was unable to return to her body. Her spirit was separated from physical being and could not make it back. In this life, she will never again awake. Essentially…" the guardian drifted, eyes looking to the ground at my feet where Zelda lie nearby. With a weak voice Groose picked up where Impa left off.
"S-she's dead."
My heart stops at his words and wobbly legs give out from under me, causing this battle worn body of mine to fall to its knees before the peaceful figure of the one garbed in a divine white dress.
No. It's a lie. Groose is messing with me, just as he always has… but something on his face tells me he isn't. Impa speaks once more, but I just barely hear her over the buzzing in my mind.
"Yes, she is no longer present in this world."
That can't be. After everything we've gone through – everything that's happened. I only wanted to see her smile. I did this all for her. To see her joy and happiness, but now…
I take a few rapid breaths, unaware that I had been holding one in as water begins to collect in my eyes. My heart starts racing from fear once more, beating hard in my chest.
"Z-zelda… wake up, Zelda," I weakly say, trying to deny the truth as I reach towards her with a shaking arm. I grasp a dainty hand, lifting the cold appendage from where it lies next to her body on the grey stone. In my left hand I tightly grip the thin fingers that gracefully plucked the strings of the golden lyre; hoping to warm them as I take my right with the crest I had earned from my journeys, and gently stroke the smooth surface of the sparkling bracelet of hers. I spare a glance at the mark opposite my palm and revulsion takes hold of me. It isn't worth anything now. Not without her. None of it is worth it without her, but I can't stay mad like that for long, as my body is wracked with shaking sobs I can't hold back.
I'm trembling from the pain of it all as I try to accept the reality before me. I lean closer over her still form, bringing her hand towards myself. Tears fall from my eyes, and the quickly blurring vision of mine makes it difficult to see her peaceful expression. It's hard to keep my body upright after all this; physical form weakened from battle and the emotional side of me completely shattered. I let my figure fall atop hers, left ear pressed against her chest in a vain attempt to hear the peaceful beating of the calming and familiar heart, but the simple rhythmic sound isn't there. I feel tears slip from my eyes and down my cheeks, bringing with them blood from my many cuts. I look across her face from where my head lay, closed lids of hers and long lashes still as they rest on the unmoving expression that has known so much joy and sorrow.
I open my quivering lips, attempting to speak with uneven breaths.
"Y-you told me to wake you up when it was all over. I'm here now… Zelda, please just open your eyes!" I cry, knowing full well that she won't; that no matter how much I want her to, she can't do that. She can't ever again smile at me, can't ever laugh or even cry. I squeeze my lids shut, simply being in the long silence that follows my pathetic plea. It's only broken by an occasional sniffle of mine. At some point I realize that Groose and Impa had walked away, leaving me with what is left of her.
Alone.
I don't know how much time passes, but I don't notice anything anymore. Maybe it's because I'm so focused on the girl that should be giggling with a bright smile.
The girl I love.
She was my goddess – my princess… my light in the dark and beacon of hope when all seemed lost. I would do anything to see her safe and well, and I did everything. So why… why can't she be alive and happy? Why can't we be happy, together? I couldn't even tell her…
"Zelda!" I shout, voice hoarse from my crying. Her name escapes me again, knowing that no matter how loud I call, she can't hear me, and so I utter it quieter than before. "Zelda…"
Once more silence follows, as does the stillness that lasts for minutes – maybe hours. I don't know how long, but it's only broken by my shaking form over her frozen one.
If there were a way to rewind time… to do it over again and make sure she survives… I would. Without a doubt, I would do it. I would do it as many times as I need to, as many lives and millennia necessary for her to smile once more. I don't care what I have to go through, because I don't matter.
She does.
"Master…" Fi's voice resonates throughout the temple. The sword spirit must have appeared at some point, watching me as I break down after everything that I've somehow managed to soldier through; managed to endure knowing Zelda would be there, waiting for me at the end. At this point, I don't care if anyone sees me like this. I don't care about any of it anymore.
"What?" I spit the word out, disgusted. I shouldn't give Fi that. She doesn't deserve my hate, my anger and disdain. She had no say in any of it. Neither did I, nor Zelda herself. We were all merely pawns in this life; playthings to get the dirty work done.
"Master," she repeats. I force myself to lift my head, looking at the ethereal being of the sword that had been created in a past life of the one before me. My watering eyes briefly travel to the pure white of the angelic dress, now sullied with stains from my blood, sweat, and tears. I instantly regret dirtying the beautiful and elegant attire. My gaze is reluctantly drawn from Zelda as Fi continues.
"Her Grace left a message in the event that she would not awaken at the end."
I inhale sharply, eyes wide. Is this it? Her last words? Words I can hear only now that she is gone?
"She is no longer on this plane, but from these actions a memorandum has been unlocked in my consciousness. Hear these words now, for they are not mine, but that of Her Grace."
I shakily push myself to a sitting position, still grasping Zelda's hand as I let my gaze travel from the spirit of the divine blade to the body of the one who blessed it. In a voice unfamiliar and comforting, yet somehow recognizable, spoken thoughts penetrate the sorrow filled air.
"Link… Yes, I do know your name, and I have known you. In another life, that is."
My head snaps up at my title and I look to Fi. The voice she speaks isn't her own; it isn't the same as when she was relaying messages from Hylia during my journey. She doesn't dance, but instead simply floats nearby.
"You probably hate me, do you not?"
A pause. I open my mouth to speak, not knowing what I will say. Before I can voice anything for or against her question, she continues.
"I expect so, and I am deeply sorry. For you have not deserved this. I have been selfish; thinking that if I might sacrifice godhood for mortality it would all be over and that peace may be attained… but no. It has caused you great pain, and I cannot apologize enough."
Hylia has caused me pain… but I feel as if she's caused Zelda even more.
"In truth, my heart had been captured by a mortal man. A mortal man who sacrificed his life for that of myself and my cause. My abandonment of divinity was not simply for the goal in the utter eradication of Demise… for it was also to acquire my frail wish of satisfaction and joy. Yet this is where I have failed."
I tilt my head, confusion probably apparent on my face, even through the sorrow.
"You see, the one I loved was known as Link. Just as I cast aside my immortality to be reborn, he too has been reawakened to face the evil– exactly as he had done so before. That was a consequence and blessing of my actions, for our souls are intertwined in a cycle of rebirth and redemption. I was hoping in a millennium that followed, we could have the joy of peace and happiness... Though I doubt you feel the same towards I, as I to you, especially so after my greedy actions."
I try to stitch together her strange words. Somehow, they almost fit like puzzle pieces in my mind, but I don't have the full image to know what the final result should be.
"Link… I am eternally sorry. I have blessed you, and cursed you the same. Destiny shall repeat and we are to be reborn once more – many times more – ad infinitum. For one day we shall have peace. Peace not only for the lands we cherish, but also for ourselves; we being by the side of the other. Yet in this era I have failed you, my love… So may we meet again in another life."
Silence.
I expect something else. Another word or two to tell me that Zelda really will wake up, that this was just one more test like all the ones I've endured on my journey.
"That was her final message, Master. I do not know of human emotion, and so I am unable to console you, but I can do one thing," Fi breaks the quiet, voice her own once again. "I can thank you for all that you have selflessly done, for many have expressed the same gratitude."
She nods once, and with those words the sword spirit disappears into the blade on my back, leaving me truly alone once more.
Stillness and silence yet again.
Maybe it lasts an eternity this time, but maybe not a single moment has passed. My sight drifts to the familiar face of one I have known my entire life – and a life before, too. She looks so much at peace in her current yet sad state. I'm no longer crying, having used all my tears already. But I still feel the water on my cheeks, Zelda's cold hand in mine. As I gaze at her I notice my expression change to a sorrowful smile while the true and full meaning of the words her divine self spoke come to light in my mind. They are words from the past I wished I had never needed to hear, to instead listen to the voice of the one before me; smile on her lively face. Yet I know I can nevermore witness that delight in this life… But there is still hope.
I let the hand of my goddess, my princess and shining light, slip from my grasp as I reach for her head. Cupping her cool cheek in my palm I bring my face close to hers, looking at an expression that simply shows calming slumber. A moment later I brush aside the straight golden bangs and lean over the shell that housed the soul of a divinity; the soul of one I have come to love and will forevermore. For I know – as painful as it is – that this is not the end, but rather a beginning. So as I place a gentle kiss on her forehead, I sadly whisper a parting phrase.
"Then may we meet again… in another life."
A/N: I feel like a terrible human being considering I actually find writing tragedies fun. xD Also, I was listening to "Fi's Theme (Piano Lament)" on repeat the entire time I was writing this. What can I say? Depressing stuff is interesting. :P
Anyway, I couldn't seem to say anything in the way I wanted to when writing this… Blah. I feel as if I wasn't able to accurately express my thoughts here for some reason, and I don't even know why. In my head the whole thing was different… but not? I dunno. It changed a lot from my original plans and it was supposed to be from Zelda/Hylia's PoV. As you can see, that didn't happen. Now excuse me as I go run off to write a TP one-shot for the game's ninth anniversary next Thursday, and to celebrate the fact that we will be getting an HD remake in March.