This is an interesting idea I've had knocking around in my head for a while. It was inspired by Green Day's song Boulevard of Broken Dreams. (Hence the title, I Walk Alone)
I walk alone.
Nobody to stand beside me.
It doesn't matter how many people are with me.
In the end, I always walk alone.
In a past life, I had a friend. She was a fairy. I was so happy when I first met her, because it meant that I finally had a fairy, and could join in with the other Kokiri.
But things never turn out nice like that. Instead, I had to go out and leave the only home I had ever known, and go save a kingdom I didn't even know existed.
At least Navi stayed with me.
I mean, sure, she was annoying and all, considering her insistence on spewing advice when I didn't really need it, but she was the only familiar thing in a land of strangers.
I really don't think I could have done it without her. It wasn't her constant "advice" that got me through. It was her just being there. That's it.
She was there for me. And that's all that really mattered.
I pause and look up, watching the sun set. It used to bug the hell out of me, but now I would give anything just to hear that ball of light squeak "Hey! Listen!" again.
What? You want to know what I mean?
I said she was there for me while I saved the kingdom. I never said she stayed after I was done.
…
I really don't want to talk about it.
I met another friend in that same life. Another fairy. A little funny, that, considering she tried to kill me at first.
Okay, maybe not. She did, in a way, but not directly. She did help the Skull Kid when he tried to kill me. But there is a difference between that and actually trying to kill me. I have to give her some credit, after all.
She helped me through that adventure, too. If you could call three days an adventure. That's how long it really took to save Termina. It felt a lot longer, but that's how long it really took.
Again, that blue ball that called herself Tatl was one of the most irritating personalities I've ever met. But still. It was someone.
Who else was I supposed to turn to, huh? The Happy Mask Salesman? Please.
But anyway, you kind of warmed to her after a while. A friend is a friend, no matter how you look at it.
What's that? What do I mean by a previous life? I don't really know, myself.
I just remember being all these different people. Dozens of different lives, spaced over hundreds of years.
I remember a time when Hyrule fell into a state of complete darkness. Swallowed by some kind of dimensional rift they called Twilight.
I had another friend there, too. First impressions were a little rough, I admit. Trapped in wolf form, with no idea what happened, stuck in this stupid cell, and all of a sudden, this weird imp comes out of nowhere, frees me, and directs me through this nightmare of a destroyed castle.
That was Midna. To be honest, she was way more useful than Navi, who could only really flutter around and annoy people. But she was just about as annoying, but in a different way. Even after she decided to stop treating me like some sort of slave.
Whenever I turned into a wolf, she'd always insist on riding me like a horse, and always landed on my back way harder than necessary. And that giggle…ugh, it was just about the most aggravating thing ever created. It had that specific pitch which just drilled its way straight into your brain and poked your angry gland.
Not to mention her sarcastic manner, constant disinterest, downright contempt for the world I called home, and of course, that creepy smile. Why she always insisted on grinning like that, showing that stupid fang, always escaped me.
In short, she was a complete bitch. But she stayed with me, like the others. And eventually, the sarcasm and rudeness, and the superior attitude and contempt, all stopped. Mostly, at least.
I can say it. I don't mind. She grew on me. At first, I couldn't be rid of her fast enough, but I slowly got used to her. It's like an itch that you can't scratch that, if you leave it long enough, just kind of fades on its own. Okay, wrong analogy. But it's kind of like that.
She stayed with me through everything. It didn't matter that she couldn't truly exist in my world, or that she couldn't find a friend there.
Because she had me. And I had her. We drew strength from each other, and our bond deepened, to the point of maybe going beyond simple friendship.
It got to the point where it felt like our very lives were meant to be intertwined. We were companions, finding in each other a little bit of solace in a world that held no mercy.
When I saw Ganondorf with her helm, crushing it in his fist like some piece of worthless trash…I thought that…
I'm sorry. It's painful. I just remember thinking…I never…I never said goodbye.
So I killed him. It took me a while, and he almost killed me, but I prevailed. Just blind luck on my part. I'm ninety-nine percent sure he tripped.
But I digress. When I finally won, she came back. I don't know how, but she did. And she was just about the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
I was convinced that she would stay. If she came back after what I was sure was death, then surely she would stay with me.
But she didn't. For some reason, fate seemed to decree that I spend my life…pardon me, lives, lonely.
And you know the worst part? She said we would see each other again. She said that! And broke our only way of seeing each other not a moment later!
Why?
…
That one still hurts. I don't understand why they do what they do, but they do it for their own reasons. But do they ever think of me?
I have feelings too. Like everyone else in this world, I don't want to be alone.
But I am. Dozens of lives, dozens of companions, dozens of wounds each time they leave me.
To be alone is my curse. And if they want to leave their companion, then it's also theirs.
…
Are you still there?
…
Hello?
I wonder how long I've been talking to myself. Maybe I was this entire time.
That's what I always end up doing. Talking to a shadow. That's my true companion. My shadow will never leave.
Wait. That's wrong. My shadow did leave once.
I stand up and walk away.
Because that's all I ever do.
I walk alone.