1
His Only Regret
"I brought you a present, Medli. I really hope you like it."
Link stepped gingerly into the eerie chamber. It was all as he had left it - dusty stone, red thorns along the walls, skulls and rays of light scattered across the floor. Silent, except for the sweet melody coming from Medli's harp.
Link's mouth tightened as he stepped up to her. The bird girl's expression did not change. As usual, she did not acknowledge him. "Medli, look. I brought you some Golden Feathers." Tearing his eyes from her, he dug into his pack for a moment, pulling out a handful of brightly sparking feathers. "I have so many... I don't particularly want to sell them... Can't you take them off my hands for me?"
Medli opened her eyes, seeming to fix them on the feathers, and Link's heart nearly stopped. 'Please,' He mentally begged. 'See me. Be alive again.'
His pleas did nothing. Medli closed her eyes again, and started the song over. Link felt like screaming in frustration. For months, she had not moved. She had not eaten, drank, spoke, or laughed. If he had known what being a sage would do to her and Makar, he never would have brought them here, damn the consequences. Makar was in the same state, of course, but he was a forest spirit... Did they even have to eat? Maybe that was why Link worried more about Medli than he did about the small leaf child.
Link growled and pulled all of the Golden Feathers he had out of his pack. "Here. Have them. If they... if you like them, you can have them all." Ninety nine feathers, all glimmering dimly in the dank chamber. He dumped them all at her feet, covering her ankles up to her dress. "Take them! They're yours!" He whined with distress as he was yet again ignored. "Medli! Take them! I collected every single one - all of them for you!" Medli did not make a single sound.
With a groan of frustration, the boy swathed in green sat heavily by the comatose girl's side. "I'm sorry, Medli." He could feel the angry tears coming again, and he did nothing to stop it. Well aware she would not stop him, Link buried his face in Medli's side, embracing her as tightly as he could. He had done it several times before, and he knew it would not wake her. "I'm sorry. So so sorry." All he could do was apologize. Nothing worked. He had yelled at her, brought her gifts, even attacked her. He was unable to even move her from her place. She was locked in eternal stasis, and it was all his fault.
After a while, he ran out of tears, and slowly released her. With a haggard sigh, the blond stumbled to his feet so he could look her in the face. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was calm as her delicate white fingers played along her harp's strings. He nuzzled her slowly, disturbing her bangs with his own. "You... aren't going to wake up, are you?" His chest almost throbbed with pain, but he just couldn't cry anymore.
He wished he didn't feel so guilty... He knew it was his fault, but... If Komali hadn't asked him to give Medli a message, he never would have realized. Would he ever have come back here if the bird prince hadn't asked him to complete such a task? It should have been so simple! Go to Jalhalla's room and give Medli the message, get a response, then go back to Komali. Maybe give her some of those Golden Feathers Rito girls are supposed to like so much... When he arrived, he found to his mounting horror that she was as good as dead. He worked himself into a panic trying to get some sort of response, but to no avail. Nearly going out of his mind with fear, he got back to the King of Red Lions and warped to Windfall, setting his course for Gale Isle. When he arrived to try and speak with the little forest spirit, he found that Makar was in the exact same state. He had tried everything he could think of to wake the leaf child, but he got no reaction at all.
So now, every week or so, he went to visit one of the cursed sages. Medli more than Makar, but neither seemed to care. He also had taken to avoiding Dragon Roost Island. The last thing he needed was to run into the Prince and blurt out what had happened to the Rito girl.
Wincing, Link finally straightened and put a little space between Medli and himself. "Medli, I need to go. We're going to go face Ganon... That is, myself and the King of... I mean, my boat and I... Listen, just forget it." At that moment, the Rito looked up from her playing. Link knew she was still comatose; her gaze was directed at his collarbone. "I don't think I'll come out alive. I mean, this is Ganon we're talking about. Bad of the bad, you know. But I am going to kill him. I swear your sacrifice will not be in vain." He took her face in his hands and touched their heads together again. "I swear it! He will not win. I won't let him! After that... Well, I don't know what will happen. Maybe... I don't know, we could be... together, or something." Gently, he pressed a sweet kiss to the unresponsive girl's mouth. It was the only thing he hadn't tried with Makar. It didn't really matter, though, because that didn't have any affect on her either. "I like you, okay? Do you hear me, Medli? I like you. I'm going to wake you up someday, even if it means giving you up to the Prince." He gave her one last, half-hearted smile. "I'll save Tetra, and everything will be okay, all right. Wait for me. One way or another, dead or alive, I will be back. Count on it!"
Before he could change his mind, he stepped into the circle of light. Moments later, it dropped him onto the beach of Headstone Island. "Link?" He looked up, and found the King of Red Lions staring intently at him. "What ails you, my child? Does Medli's and Makar's condition still disturb you?"
"It doesn't matter." Inwardly he winced; he sounded dead even to his own ears. "We'll save Tetra, and everything will be okay."
"Her name is Zelda," Corrected the boat almost absently.
"..Yeah. We'll save her." With a grim set to his mouth, the boy holding the Triforce of Courage pulled out his Wind Waker, and played the Ballad of Gales, warping as close as he could to the Forbidden Fortress and the dark portal it held.
AN - Okay. All right for my first fanfic in about 4 years? ^ ^; This was written in about half an hour, so please tell me what you think. I have a sequel planned, and I will post it if I get one review. Is that too much to ask for? I've forgotten. Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought of it.