Komali was alone.
He was surrounded by his kin, but alone.
He was a Prince of the Rito, but alone.
He had nothing but the pearl...
and not even that, now.
He was alone.
The newly grown wings on his back were hateful to him, for their only purpose was to put the sky between him and the one he loved.
The sea, the sky, joyful in their tumultuous union, were a salt-splashed wound that seared his heart with envy.
The green-garbed stranger he hated most of all. He had taken the only possession Komali cared about, the fiery globe known as Din's Pearl.
But that loss sustained, Komali had realized he needed to keep himself from losing someone more important than the pearl.
Medli. She was all he was not, brave, wise, and kind. Her presence soothed his aching soul, granting him respite from the jealousy and hate that consumed him from the inside. He had never smiled at her, never a kind word or deed to show he cared. But she was kind to him, kind and understanding (he hoped), and anyway she was a better person than all the rest, than the sorry fools he had turned his back on long ago.
He had decided to show her that he appreciated her. That her kindness was bestowed worthily, what he really did feel when she tilted her head, spoke words of wisdom and healing... That he loved her. That he cared.
A single flower. Growing sweet and strong from a soil-filled crevice in the rocks. He had plucked the blossom, nearly running up the winding, rocky paths of Dragon Roost Island, to where Medli, he knew awaited him, to forgive him... She would, he hoped, teach him to forgive himself, in time.
The last few steps of rocky stairs, his footsteps louder in his ears now, the surge of joy when he realized he would never be alone again.
He nearly sprang up the last step.
Medli would turn, smile, extend a hand to him, and he would present her with the flower, explain...
He stiffened, the flower dropping from his grasp, as he saw who awaited him.
The boy stands on the ledge, his long green cap flowing like the wind itself, his wide eyes too old for the young body. Komali remembered the boy vividly later,the winged blue sword that shone with an eerie light, the weather-beaten shield that depicted a jagged triangle.
They stood for a moment, the sea crashing against the cliffs.
The boy sighed, seemed to diminish and grow older, tired, his face lined with worry, fear... sadness?
Komali spoke. "Medli. Where is Medli?" Softly at first, then louder, his voice shrill. "What have you done with her? WHERE IS MEDLI?" He was shaking the boy by the collar of his tunic, harder and harder, with a strength he had never had before. "Curse you! Curse you and your goddesses! I HATE YOU!" He flung the boy from him, saw him fall-
The boy crumpled back against the rock, his face a twisted mask of sadness and regret. Komali saw in his eyes the acknowledgement of his torment.
Acknowledgement. That yes, the boy deserved this, that he was less than nothing, that Komali's worst fears-
Komali drives his fist into the boy's stomach, again, again, battering him with his rage and his hands, screaming, crying, hysterical, and now the boy is lying on the ground, gasping for breath, coughing. The boy raises a hand to his mouth and it comes away stained with blood.
But Komali doesn't care, doesn't stop, because the strange boy in the green hat has made his life a nightmare, taken away everything that mattered, so that all that matters now to Komali is to make this boy feel as much of his pain as possible, hurt him as much as he can...
The boy has gone limp, and Komali feels something break inside the boy's chest, a sickening snap that stops him, his breath gasping through his clenched teeth.
He lets the boy fall, face down, into the dust.
There's nothing left. He's alone, alone on a windswept cliff with the broken body of the hero.
He turns away, sickened.
He is alone.
Epilogue:
The soft golden light and warmth dragged Link back up through the blinding pain, the guilt. His shattered bones reknit themselves, the healing magic of the Triforce of Courage protecting its own. Link groaned, sat up.
Komali was gone. Did he have anything left, Link wonders, to live for?
Medli was gone. Locked forever inside the temple of Earth, her prayers struggling to keep the energy from bleeding out of the sword he carried.
He is sad, because of the duties he must carry out, even when they destroy those he is close too.
Because now, he, the hero, is alone too.
The sea crashes against the cliff again, carrying away the wilting flower that lies crumpled on the shore.
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