Disclaimer thingie: From Beyond The Stars and I own only Fare, Nexus, Lana, Catherine, Kai, Fado, and...Fado. I don't claim to own Link, the Goddesses, or any other characters or objects mentioned (et cetera).
"Nex? Are you in there?" Nexus's wife, Catherine, called from outside of the bedroom. Nexus was sitting at his desk, stationed to the right of he and Catherine's bed. He was stacking his books, thick volumes pertaining to the legend of the Twilight Realm, and looking through the other scattered things he left on the desk. There was a small, broken, and jewel-encrusted mirror he had found in his travels around Hyrule; a picture of his two younger sisters, both laughing; Aria, the youngest, with long brown hair and bicolour eyes, and Fado, with her brown eyes and blonde hair. He had been close to his sisters in childhood, but now they lived so far apart he rarely saw them. A small pocket knife, rarely used, also lie on the desk. A gold ring with a red jewel set in the top that had been his mother's sat next to another photo- a photo of a beautiful woman with mahogany hair, and just like Aria, bicoloured eyes. It was his late mother, Fare, to whom he had been very close. It was her death that broke the already fragile family life that Nexus had known up until he was sixteen. It was his father's fault.
Nexus clenched his fists at the thought of his father, as he always did. He realized Catherine was still calling him.
"I'm in here. I'm getting ready to...go for a walk." Catherine opened the door. She had long, golden blonde hair, and grey-blue eyes, almost identical to his. She walked in and sat on the bed and watched him, her eyes sad. Nexus turned got up from the chair and sat next to her.
"It's today," he said.
"I know," Catherine replied softly. Ten years ago today, his mother had died. "You'll be going to visit there again?" she asked. Nexus nodded. Catherine kissed his cheek. He would go today to his mother's grave, far off in the middle of the Kokiri forest.
"Come back soon, okay?" Nexus nodded. He stood up again without a word, grabbed the golden ring and slipped it onto his finger, and stuffed the folded knife into his pocket. He quickly kissed his wife goodbye and left the room.
He lived in a small house in Castle Town- the house had two floors; one containing the combination of a living room and kitchen, plus Nexus's son, Kai's bedroom. On the top floor was a large, open room with a few chairs and windows looking out into the town, and next to that was Nexus and Catherine's bedroom. Kai was sitting in one of the chairs which he'd pulled up to the window, and he was looking out at the bustling streets of Castle Town.
"Hi, dad," he said, looking up at Nexus. His son was only six.
"Hey, Kai," Nexus said. He walked over to his son and ruffled his hair. "I'm going out for a while. I'll be back later today." "Okay..." Kai said, looking disappointed. Nexus smiled.
"I won't be gone too long, I promised your mother I wouldn't be," he said. Kai nodded.
"Bye dad," he said and continued watching the people on the street. "See you later," Nexus replied, and went downstairs. Nexus reached the bottom of the stairs and turned left, down a short hallway off of the living room, and walked out of the house.
Castle Town was full to the point of exploding as usual, so Nexus had to cut through people constantly to get through the large main square and outside, onto the bridge, and finally, into the field. It was only twelve in the afternoon, so he'd have a while before dark; a while to mourn his mother and get even angrier at his father. His father, Link, the Hero of Time, who defeated Ganondorf and saved Hyrule. His father who obsessed about the Triforce, hoping it had been passed on to Nexus, and ultimately refusing to believe it hadn't. His father who drove him and his sisters away and got his mother killed. Nexus walked, trying to enjoy the Autumn breeze, toward the Kokiri Forest's entrance. He remembered, as he walked, leaving his father when his mother had died; he remembered exploring Hyrule for years, and meeting Catherine. He thought about his life as he walked, and soon he had already reached the Kokiri Forest's entrance.
There was a parting in two cliffs, surrounded by trees, and a dead, hollow log set in the very back of the parting. Nexus climbed through it and found himself in the forest already- he smelled the trees, and felt more comfortable already, being in the cool shade and around so much plantlife. He had grown up here. Nexus crossed the small rope bridge ahead of him and entered through another enormous dead log.
He was now in the heart of the forest, the small village. He saw abandoned huts, once belonging to the Kokiri race, all over the village; and he saw in the very back of the village, the small house that had once belonged to himself, Fado, Aria, Link, and Fare. Aria now lived here alone; Nexus thought he'd visit her after he went to his mother's grave. He knew, from past visits, that there was only one way he could get to the clearing where Fare's grave was located- if Fare's old guardian fairy, Lana, led him there.
"Lana!" Nexus called out. "Lana!" From a large tree in the middle of the village came a soft, silvery light, and Lana the fairy slipped out from the tree and fluttered in front of Nexus.
"I knew you'd be back, so I left the clearing," she said in the high, musical voice that all fairies had.
"Thank you," Nexus said. He was grateful for Lana's assistance; without her, he could never visit the place.
"I...have to warn you..." she said quietly, "he's there today." Nexus froze. He knew his father had a home in the small clearing, but he had never actually been there when Nexus went. "Maybe...I should come back later," Nexus said quickly. Lana fluttered in what seemed to be an irritated manner.
"She'd want you to go," Lana said softly, floating near Nexus's head. Nexus guiltily realized she was right. He would have to face his father anyway. "Lead the way," Nexus said. Lana floated in front of Nexus and led him to the old house and past it, then into the trees, and everything was plunged into pitch black. "Just follow me," Lana said. "The darkness is a precaution to make sure no one finds the clearing." Nexus quietly followed Lana for what seemed like hours through the darkness (though in reality it was only a half an hour) and the two finally emerged in a clearing lit with beams of sunlight. In the clearing's very back was a small hut and in the center was a large, beautiful stone monument with a jewel set inside it; Nexus recognized it as the Kokiri Emerald. However, he was not at all prepared for what he saw lying in front of the grave.
It was Link's body. He looked unconscious and had knife wounds all over his body; his tunic was ripped almost completely to shreds, and what was left was soaked in blood. Diagonal slices were left all over his arms, and there was an open wound at his neck. Nexus was torn with confliction- he didn't know whether to feel glad that his father was finally gone, or to be breaking down at the thought of his death. Instead of either, he picked the first reaction that came to mind.
"What the hell are you doing?" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Link's blue eyes were now only pale, Nexus noted, as they fluttered open. Nexus's mouth opened with revulsion as he found that Link could still speak and function.
"I'm...trying...to...be with your mother..." he said slowly. Lana was completely silent. Nexus did not know what to say.
"They care about you..." he muttered. "Fado and Aria...They love you...You'd do this to them?"
"They don't," Link said, his eyes sad. Nexus stamped his foot into the ground with anger.
"Yes, they do," he said bitterly. "And this is how you repay their forgiveness- their willing to accept you? You go off and- and try and kill yourself?"
"I need to be with Fare. It's where I belo-" but Link did not get to finish his sentence, because he saw with shock that the wounds he had inflicted upon himself- in his throat, his arms, his chest- all of them were sealing up completely. All that was left were light scars. All was silent for a few moments.
"No," Link said. "No." Nexus bit his lip and backed up a few paces. Link let out a yell of complete, utter anger, and stabbed his knife into the ground.
"Curse them," he yelled. "Damn them!" "D-damn who?" Nexus asked quietly.
"The Goddesses," Link said. Nexus was shocked. "It's their fault. It's their fault I'm still alive. They won't let me die. Not until...not until the Triforce is passed on." Link snarled the last part. Then, abruptly, he stood up and walked into the hut in the back of the clearing, He slammed the door. "He's horrible," Nexus said to Lana. "He's absolutely and completely horrible."
A few minutes later, Nexus was sitting below a copper birch tree in the right side of the huge clearing. This was where Fare was buried, along with her friend and mentor, Fado. He looked to his left, where a small headstone sat. There was no marking where Fare was buried; however, Fado's grave was directly under the small stone. He was trying to forget what he had just seen; he was too confused about how he felt to think about it.
Nexus heard a soft rustling as a few fallen leaves were swept along the clearing by a breeze. Then he saw her.
A pale echo of what his mother had been- dressed in the same clothes she'd worn when she was killed- appeared in front of him, hovering a few inches off the ground. She was colourless; one could not have told, for instance, that she had bicoloured eyes. She smiled softly "My son," she whispered "I'm proud of you. I've watched you and your sisters every day these past ten years. I cannot tell you the pride and happiness I feel when I see you with your family and your studies. You look after your wife and son well. And your sisters. Please make sure they are okay," Fare glanced to the hut behind them "I fear your father may try something stupid again soon," she sighed. "It's not like it'll matter," Nexus muttered. "He'll just come back, strong as ever. Because of the Goddess-damned Triforce."
"Something far more drastic than merely inflicting wounds upon himself, my dear Nexus," she said cryptically "but please do not be angry with him Nexus. I know it is a lot to ask, but try to forgive him as I and your sisters have done. My death was not his fault, in the end. It was my own. I sacrificed myself for you and your sisters, it was never your father's fault."
"It feels like it was his fault," Nexus said quietly as tears quietly streaked down his face. "It feels like he drove us away, like he never cared. Just like you said that day. Like all he cared about was the Triforce. It feels like he never cared about us, his family, and because of that you...you died."
"He did love and care about us, Nexus. I know that he did. Perhaps he never quite knew how to show it. But I cannot deny the fact he cared more for Hyrule than he did for his family..." she trailed off.
"Please, Nexus. Try and forgive him. For me." Nexus was silent for a few moments.
"I'll try. For you." She smiled sadly at him.
"You're doing so well, Nexus. I hope I'll see you again someday...someday soon." Nexus reached out his hand, trying to grasp the echo or apparition that was his mother.
"No, don't go," he said. "Don't go yet."
"I have to go, Nexus. This world isn't my world." She smiled again at him, but her smile looked pained.
"Goodbye, Nexus." And she faded.
Nexus never felt more alone.
Author's Notes: I wrote the majority of this one, but Stars wrote Fare's dialogue and created all of theOCs with the exception of Catherine, so most of the credit here goes to her...
This is a sequel to Tales From Another Broken Home, which you can find in From Beyond The Stars's stories or in the Zelda fanfiction section somewhere- together, these are in the The Legend of Zelda: Legacy of the Forest series. Tales From Another Broken Home and Homecoming are both sequels to The Legend of Zelda: The Last Kokiri. I recommend that if you haven't read Tales From Another Broken Home yet, go do so now.