Like a boulder amidst a hurricane, Link watches the festivities unfold before his eyes without a sound. Being the champion of time itself, he knows the celebration of Ganondorf's imprisonment is ultimately in vain. Keeping a man like Ganondorf imprisoned is foolishness itself, but little else could be done. Though he is controlled for now, he is immortal; immortal in a way the sages could never be. And when a man is caged, no matter how cruel and selfish he may be, he turns into a beast, something far worse.
While the cheering and dancing roars about him, he broods in silent contemplation of the inevitable second coming of Ganondorf, and suppresses an internal shudder. When that time comes, he won't be here. That he's sure of, in the way that greyed him beyond his years more than any monstrosity or horror he ever had to face. The end to his mortality will be quick and brutal, senseless and violent, as much of his life had been.
Watching the massive bonfire erupt and reform fluidly, he feels a leaden bout of spiritual malaise. He drifts back to the Sages, condemned to a quasi-immortal life watching and waiting for the next hero. He detected the well hidden but deep regret in Saria's voice as she spoke to Link. I will always be... your friend... Will that regret sour, even in a heart like Saria's? She will grow lonely with the passing years, even within the Sacred Realm. The forest and its inhabitants were her true family, she their protector in ways they understood only after her departure. This is why she.. liked Link, he now realises. He was an outsider, one she did not recognise as brother (nor did the other Kokiri, for that matter.) How long had they lived before his arrival? Link raises his haunted eyes to the sky, pigments of dusk deep and rich. A small distance away, fireworks are being shot up into the air, exploding into a thousand fading sparks. Zelda had asked for him; to impart a gift, perhaps. A departure gift. She knew all along of his plans to leave this place, restored to its glory at the cost of his happiness.
He arises, wanting to leave this place as soon as possible, lest he is confronted by a partier. He can feel Saria's eyes on him, even now. Making a hasty pace, he calls Epona to his side. The horse's gallops can be heard in the distance, and soon he sees the red horse bulleting toward him. She slows as she approaches, and he gives her snout an affectionate stroke before mounting. He takes one last look at Kakariko Village, in shambles but with a seed of hope still planted deep in its soils, and rides toward the similarly fated Hyrule Castle Town.
The Town itself is still a ruin, but devoid of the monstrosities that lurked its broken streets not a day ago. It is quiet, and not unwelcoming. Link appreciates it, resonates with the silence.
Epona trots up to the ancient Temple of Time, unnerved by the desolation of the town below. The sky had parted above Hyrule. It is a beautiful night.
Zelda catches sight of Link entering the temple and walks toward him. Nearing her, Link could see the concern in her eyes. It touches him, but not sentimentally. After his experience, sentimentality is a bygone dream. Link slows Epona to a trot, and stops her a few feet from Zelda.
"Link.. You're leaving, aren't you?"
Link pauses a moment. Leaving seemed the clear path in his heart when he was surrounded by raucous celebration, but now? Here he stood, alone with Zelda, a slow sadness creeping across her face at his silence. "Yes. Tonight, if I can."
"Where?" Zelda inquires, attempting to sound casual. As soon as the words leave her mouth, she knows she won't find out. She can read in Link's face that he doesn't have the slightest clue.
"There are other worlds than these, Zelda," he gives her a wan smile, "I'll figure it out. I always do."
She nods. "I knew you were leaving. It wasn't a prophecy, not really.. But I knew." She turns her eyes down. Not crying, Zelda has grown too hard for such displays. Gathering herself, he realises. When she looks up again, Link sees that uncommon fire in her eyes. He wonders if Ganondorf saw that same fire as he was struck down by the Master Sword, burned, but not incinerated. "I have something for you. It's a spell; or rather, the breaking of one. To return you to your natural state, the way you were when you pulled that sacred sword from the pedestal in the Temple of Time." To return to childhood? "Let me see the Ocarina of Time." The thought did not faze him; the memories will linger on inside him, no matter what age he may appear to be. But the idea is appealing. A chance to live out the years he missed, sealed away inside the Temple of Light.
"You have to return the master sword to the Temple pedestal, where it was drawn." He rummages in his tunic for the ocarina and feels his hand enclose about its mass. Zelda receives it from his grasp... Gingerly. Almost timidly.
He'll be immortalised in legend as the mighty Hero of Time, saving Hyrule by banishing the evil Ganondorf into the abyss of the sacred realm, but Zelda knows him as he is now. A young man that defeated a god who murdered his dearest. Still warm now, but growing colder by the second. A cruel twist of fate it was, to see those he cherished before his eyes, dead but awakened. Sages. Beings of which he could not touch nor be touched by, locked only by the gaze he held and the invisible barriers that separated them. How the moon must feel, locked in an endless orbit, destined never to meet but to simply watch Hyrule in it's life and beauty, solemnly, as each passing day fades to memory.
She begins the translucent Song of Time, and Link feels that familiar blue aura surround him. It shapes and reshapes him with a master sculptor's hand, precise and infinite. He looks around him one last time before the great sleep takes hold of him. The Temple itself remains unchanged, but the windows burn with fierce blue light. He opens his eyes, and is a full two feet shorter. Stockier, younger. Perhaps healthier? No, Ganondorf's poison is still in him. It swims in his blood now. He looks upon Zelda, and she, too, is changed. Young. She's smiling now, young as Link. The castle is restored, and the sounds of medieval industry emanate from within. Epona is still here, also youthed by the song's strange power. They are outcasts, he realises. The three of them. Outcasts of time itself. The paradox unsteadies him.
"What of the sages? Are they-" Zelda puts a finger to his lips, her smile fading like clouds smothering an autumn sun. "They're outside time, too, but in a different way. There is one waiting for you, in a place sacred to you both." The smile became a frown. Her eyes grow melancholy. "I can't have you, not now. And I understand. We will meet again, though. I'm sure of it." Her voice quavered only slightly. Her eyes met his. "Go now, Hero of Time. Hyrule will never forget you."
Neither will I.
She returns the ocarina and walks out, past the great ironwood doors, to a town that will never feel Ganondorf's fire. Zelda would see to it. Link unstraps the master sword, bulky and heavy in his now smaller hands. He brings it to the ancient pedestal bearing the mark of the Triforce, unsheathes it, and rams it into the rock, squeezing his eyes shut, expecting an explosion of magic. Nothing happens. Link opens his eyes to the granite temple, turns to the door, and walks out. The Door of Time grinds shut behind him, perhaps forever. Outside he saddles Epona.
Kicking off, he rides toward Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods.
He rides quickly through the Kokiri clearing, ignoring the looks and beckons of the Kokiri children. From the ones he sees, they do not recognise him. He doesn't ponder the implications. Epona jumps the cliffs overlooking the Kokiri clearing, enjoying her reinvigoration, if not understanding it. As he nears the hollowed log entrance to the Lost Woods, Epona slows to a halt.
"Still unsure, girl?" He hops down and strokes her nose. She whinnies quietly, carefully watching the Lost Woods. "I'll be back." He turns away, and enters the Woods. His memory of the forest is clear, and he arrives in the sacred meadow a few minutes later. There are no monsters leading toward the Forest Temple, as there should have been. Through the maze and approaching the Forest Temple's clearing, he sees a green figure in the distance.
Saria. She's sitting, her back to him, playing her ocarina serenely. A wind gusts across the field, blowing Link's blond hair across his face. Saria's hair moves not an inch. Quietly, he moves toward her. The song permeating through the forest has shrunken to a hollow, vacant memory of what it had been. Saria stops playing and turns to him. She looks, simply and profoundly, sick.
"Link." A sad smile dimly lights her face. Link understands now that when she leaves this place, the song that echoed through these woods for so long would cease, and it would become little more than a regular forest. The temple that stood for a thousand years will crumble, and the magic of the Lost Woods will simply fade.
Her face is calm, but her eyes are full of emotion. "You don't belong here anymore. Neither do I."
Bitterness streaked her face, only for a moment. It was that which Link feared the most. It brings him closer. She brings her face near his, then draws away. "They don't remember me. The Kokiri, that is. Not even the Deku Tree sensed me." She gestures to the waning Woods, flecks of red growing on the leaves of the now mortal forest. "I think it'll be like we were never here."
She turns back to him, a small tear escaping her right eye, trickling down her cheek. She manages a small smile.
"But that's okay."
Link sits beside her, on the dead trunk of an ancient tree. She puts her head on his shoulder. "There are two worlds now, two Hyrules, I think. Something the Princess didn't intend. One where you destroy the Lord of Evil, and one where a cruel man named Ganondorf is captured and executed by the King of Hyrule." Link feels small tears through his tunic. He is expressionless. "I wish... I wish I had told..." One look tells her Link understands. This world, this goddamned world. "It's like fighting exhaustion. But I had to wait for you, Link. I can already feel myself slipping away." She turns up to him, with agonizing slowness. Her warmth is fading quietly but unabated. But a new warmth is holding them both. "I always knew what you were, since the first time we met. I knew I had been waiting for you. But... I was afraid. I was afraid and shy of you." He tries to imagine Saria afraid and shy. He cannot. "And now... I am going to fade, and you are going to leave Hyrule." Link holds her closer; he can already feel her slumping slightly, fighting sleep. Her hair, a vivid green, begins to tarnish to a pale lime. Her deep blue eyes were losing colour as well. She smiled. "You never were a man of many words..." Seizing the opportunity, Link leans in. As soon as their lips touch, Saria falls immediately silent, entranced. The feeling sent vibrations down Link's spine, and he feels Saria shiver. Soft explosions rock Link's eyes, excruciating and wonderful. After what felt like eternity, they part.
Unnatural silence settles in the meadow, the night above bleak and starless. Saria sighs, and lays her head again on Link's shoulder. She closes her eyes. He closes his. The warm weight on his shoulder grows light. The scent of pine and flowers that had surrounded Link fades, caught on the breath of time.
Link opens his eyes to find himself alone. Hearing a low rumble, he turns around on the lonely stump to see the forest temple's entrance crumble in on its foundations. He motions to leave, but stops. On the ground, to the left of the ancient stump, a deep purple hydrangea grew. It was not there before. Bitter wisdom, he thinks. He smiles coldly at the irony of it all. Outside the woods, he mounts Epona. The horse is impatient from waiting for her master, and is eager to leave the forest. Link rides into the night, looking for the path to lead him away from Hyrule, the haven of his nightmares.