Nightmares

It was an exceptionally cold night in Skyloft. Winter had come, and the island in the sky lay dusted with a sheet of snow. No one was out and about, and the entirety of the island was silent and pristine.

Link awoke suddenly to a soft knock at his door. He glanced at his clock, and silently groaned at the thought of getting up from his warm bed this late at night. He sat up and trudged over to the door. He opened the door to find Zelda standing in front of him, shivering in the cold hallway wearing only her thin nightgown.

"Link…" she whispered, eyes focused on the ground.

"Zelda, what's wrong? Why are you out of your room?"

Link noticed a tear roll down Zelda's cheek. He lifted her chin up and flung herself into Link's arms, bursting into tears.

"I had the most horrible nightmare, Link. It seemed so real and I woke up so scared, so I came here…I'm sorry, Link, I didn't mean to wake you up like this…"

"Shhhh," Link whispered to her, pulling her close to him. "It's alright, it's alright. Here, there's such a draft in the hall, why don't you come inside."

He helped the trembling Zelda inside and sat her down on his bed. He pulled out his softest blanket from his bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her.

"What happened in your nightmare?" he asked her.

"I dreamed I was separated from you again. Some evil force had taken me and I had no idea what was going on."

"Well, that doesn't sound like anything we can't handle, right?" Link said with a smile as he playfully nudged her, in an attempt to help her make light of her fear. But Zelda didn't smile. She continued to look at the floor.

"Yes, but…This time, I knew you weren't coming to get me. Something inside of me just knew you weren't going to rescue me, and…." She began to sob into her palms and slipped onto the floor. Link was somewhat taken aback by this. He sat down next to her, grabbed her head and looked straight into her teary eyes.

"Zelda, that would never happen. Don't ever for a second start to think that that could actually happen. If you're in danger I will always, ALWAYS come for you. I will never sit back while you're in trouble." Tears started to well up in his eyes. "That would never happen, Zelda. Never."

Zelda looked at him with frightened eyes, hot tears streaming down her face. She knew she could always trust the boy who saved her life as well as the entire world. The smallest little smile emerged on her quivering lips for a split second, and she began to weep again as she fell into Link's embrace. He held her while she cried for hours, leaning against the side of Link's bed. He stroked her hair and sang lullabies to her. He reached into the drawers next to him and pulled out his harp, the sacred harp Zelda had given to him at their brief encounter at the Gate of Time. He strummed beautiful melodies; sacred songs of the ancient goddesses, and Skyloftian children's songs. After a while, Zelda finally stopped crying, and just listened to the peaceful sound of Link's harp.

Link put down his harp and lifted Zelda's chin. He smiled down at her. "Feel any better?"

Zelda closed her eyes and nodded with a smile. She laid her head on his chest again and whispered, "Thank you, Link."

Link smiled to himself. He bent down and kissed the top of her head. "I hate seeing you cry, Zelda. But I love to see you smile."

The two sat there for the remainder of the night. Despite the bitter cold, they managed to fall asleep comfortably. When they awoke the next morning, Link's window had somehow blown open during the night. Both of them were dusted with a thin layer of powdery snow. Zelda looked up at Link and he stared down at her, and Link began to giggle.

"What's so funny?!" Zelda inquired.

Link smiled at her and brushed off a little pile of snow resting on her nose. Zelda smiled, and began to giggle as well. She ran her fingers through Link's hair and tousled out all the snow from it. Link returned the favor to her brilliant blonde hair. The two sat there in the snow and smiled at each other. It was such an odd situation, sitting in the snow while inside a bedroom, but neither of them felt a trace of a feeling anything less than peaceful bliss.