Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda.
Warnings: MAJOR spoilers for Skyward Sword. Some violence, theory, and slight AU.
Pairings: Mild Zelink and some Fi/Link, if you want to look at it that way
Summary: None of them knew it, but they'd been doing this for more times than any of them could remember.
Link lets his finger lightly trace a spiraling path downward on his map until the path finally terminates right on the spot where The Imprisoned currently lies.
The map of the Sealed Grounds is almost the perfect metaphor, he thinks. He lets his finger glide over the last semicircular stretch of pathway just before the pit. That's where he is right now. The beginning of the end, with the goal in sight and just within his grasp. He can finally save Zelda from her fate. He can finally go home.
Link looks down at the sealed spike embedded in the center of the pit, feeling oddly apprehensive. Will sealing away Demise really be the end?
Just out of the corner of his eye, he thinks he sees, for a brief second, a tornado flinging an unconscious Zelda up in the sky. Without even thinking, Link snaps his head in the direction of the tornado and runs as fast as he can to save Zelda from a potentially fatal fall... only to find that there is no tornado, no Zelda. Link looks around in confusion — he could have sworn he saw — was he dreaming?
Link casts a wary glance in the direction of the sealed spike again, remembering the monstrous behemoth that would emerge from the ground. For some odd reason, he seems to recall seeing The Imprisoned without a spike in its head, completely unstoppable, with the earth shaking beneath its thunderous footsteps as the skies overhead clouded over.
Link involuntarily shudders and turns around, not only to escape the suddenly dark aura that seems to permeate the air, but the flashes of memories he hasn't even experienced.
Ghirahim looks up and sneers at the tired hero. "You're far too late, boy. Do you really think you can win?"
Even with sweat running down the sides of his face and his eyes wide as adrenaline courses through his veins, Link continues to look entirely too defiant and hopeful in his current situation. He even raises his sword and points it at Ghirahim, his pants becoming more and more like snarls with every breath.
Ghirahim doesn't think it's possible to be angry and amused at the same time, but he manages to laugh even when his blood is boiling. "You're such a pest," he remarks, glaring at Link — he's going to go all out on him, no holding back. Ghirahim throws Zelda up in the air, watching as Link's eyes follow her. "You've been a persistent little bug up until now, buzzing around in my ear, foiling all of my plans. Well I've had just about enough. I think I'll just squash the life out of you, right here and now."
Link doesn't look any less deterred, not even when he sees Ghirahim transform. This is one of Link's more annoying qualities. He just never runs away, not even when he's about to die, and it's stupid. Ghirahim could beat him until he was blind and Link would still manage to stumble back just to try and save his precious Zelda again. And again. And again.
Link is always there. It seems that every time Ghirahim tries to put his plans into action, Link is always there to mess them up. It seems that whenever Ghirahim tries to capture the little goddess, Link is standing there, guarding her. Every time he's made an effort to revive his master, Link is right there to interrupt him.
Ghirahim's fingers unconsciously wring at the air before curling into a fist, Link eying it with something resembling caution. They are bound by a thread of fate, albeit a very annoying one, and, well... Ghirahim is very eager to cut that thread.
Because he can't remember a time when Link hasn't been there to mess everything up, neither in the past, present, or future.
Ghirahim feels his fist collide with Link's stomach.
Fi flies out to inform Link of the massive pillar of light that they are currently heading toward — her analysis indicates that her master is currently experiencing an emotion known as nervousness. Under the circumstances, this is expected: Master Link is, after all, heading to a land he didn't think existed until recently, a land he has never seen that is said to be populated by monsters. She conjectures that sharing some information with him beforehand will help ease his anxiety.
Fi searches her memory banks for something that would be appropriately reassuring. As she does so, she stumbles across a memory that has no clear point of chronological occurrence, as well as a rather startling lack of circumstantial background. The memory itself is hazy; it's dark and eerily quiet, but she can see Link there.
Understood, Master Link. Know that even in the place that lies beyond this portal, I will be with you...
Curious. There is a memory in her memory banks that has no practical purpose, and yet Fi cannot help but give it some precedence over other, more relevant memories. Later on, Fi will have to investigate the origin of this memory, but for now, the task is of low priority.
She looks down at Link's bright face, and she feels something well up in her, something she can't properly identify.
"Master Link," she begins slowly. "Please know that despite your anxiety, I will be there with you, and that I will not let you go unprepared."
Her words seem to have a comforting effect on Link, and he smiles at her. Fi can now confirm that most of his anxiety has been alleviated, and she retreats to the blade.
When they have the time, she will have to examine this particular occurrence. That strange, precious memory and that feeling inside of her...
Fi believes that this is something that humans call "déjà vu."
Ghirahim catches the Goddess Sword, marveling at how familiar the blade feels when it's lodged in between his fingers. He's aware of the lore behind this blade — but he's never actually touched it, no. He can't help but laugh at the shocked and frantic look on the sky child's face as he attempts to wrench it out of Ghirahim's grip. Stupid little boy, thinking that he could take on the Demon Lord. Ghirahim toys with him for a while before deciding to let go, gracefully dodging the subsequent, haphazard swipe.
He readies himself to catch the next swing. Oh, this would be too easy. It would be over in a matter of—
Ghirahim feels the sword's sharp edge smack him in the side, and even though his magic protects him from sustaining any major damage, he hates the sensation of that blade actually hurting him.
Ghirahim hates the fact that this mild, stinging pain compounded by mounting irritation is something he has already dealt with — and something he will deal with in the future. He glares at the sky child who is poised to stab him. Ghirahim easily dodges his attack by leaping backwards again, but as he falls, he suddenly feels as if there is no ground below him; he'll just fall and fall unless he does something, and quick. Before the boy leaps down and sinks that blasted blade into his chest again, before the boy slashes his sword to bits, before he loses again.
For only a brief second, Ghirahim almost feels helpless and frustrated, because he cannot shake off the feeling that he just can't prevail.
And then he feels his feet hit solid ground. Ghirahim stands straight and tall, trying to laugh off those faint, flickering experiences that could be called memories. This is child's play. If he wants, this 'hero' would be dead in a matter of minutes. And yet Ghirahim lets the sword hit his body. He lets the the boy walk away with his life. He lets the girl slip out of his grasp.
Ghirahim isn't afraid of a series of unclear sensations and experiences. He'll show that goddess and her servant. He can play her game and still come out on top.
He snickers to himself as he departs. Next time, definitely next time, he will kill that boy if he gets in his way.
Zelda nearly wrenches herself out of Impa's grip before the Gate of Time. "I'll see you again! This isn't good-bye, Link! I promise!"
Link cannot even turn around to acknowledge her remark, and Zelda has a sinking feeling in her stomach that this isn't the first time Link has gone off and she's never seen him again.
Demise smiles as he lies defeated on the shallow pool of water, admiring the fatal blow on Link's chest. The boy's breaths are heaving as he struggles to stay alive just long enough to see his fated enemy sealed away. Maybe he knows Demise can't be sealed away, not with the way things are now. Maybe he doesn't.
Either way, pity is not in Demise's dictionary, and his smile grows wider.
"This is not the end," he rumbles, letting out a hearty laugh at the expression on the human's face. "My hate... never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again!"
And then Demise throws his sword to the side and allows himself to be sucked back into that spike as Link collapses on the ground and dies.
Now is the moment of calm before the storm. Impa acknowledges the renewed presence of the crystal at the back of the temple. She knows this has happened a dozen or so times before, and that she has witnessed every single time, yet she can't remember seeing any of those times. Strangely enough, she remembers doing things she has yet to do: guiding the hero, helping him seal away that abomination, opening the Gate of Time.
It is truly jarring to remember things one hasn't done yet, but forget everything that has happened.
Impa looks down at her map of the Sealed Grounds, looking at the spiral that Her Grace had deliberately carved into the earth after she'd sealed away Demise.
"Please tell me," Impa quietly begs — she's not much of a beggar, and she's not one to question the Goddess, but she can't understand why Her Grace would do this to her chosen ones. "Where are we?" Her fingers wander around the map, trying to pinpoint a location that's unclear to all of them.
A soft, golden light leaks out of the door where Her Grace currently rests. Impa closes her eyes as the golden light washes over her, her head getting light and her memories hazy.
"Please," she says quietly, "Let this time be different."
Link looks much better with a sword on his back, Zelda concludes. She lands near the waterfall, walking up to him. "Hey, Link, I was hoping I'd find you here. I heard you'd gone searching for your bird around the waterfall, so I thought I'd fly around and help you look." She pauses to tilt her head slightly to the side. "How's your search going? Any sign of your Loftwing?"
Link shakes his head no, looking horribly discouraged.
"Oh no..." Zelda says, eyes sympathetic. "Well, let's not lose hope yet. There's a place up ahead that Groose and his gang are always hanging around. Maybe we'll find something there!"
Link nods, his face brightening immediately. Zelda walks closer to him to help aid his search until she hears a kind and desperate voice whisper in her ear:
Please... make this world peaceful again.
Zelda pauses, turning towards the clouds. "Huh...?"
Take my place. Let me be with him again.
Zelda feels uneasiness form in the pit of her stomach, and she shudders. "Who... who's that? Who's calling for me?" When there is no reply, she suddenly realizes that Link is sitting there, watching her with a look of concern on his face. "Oh, sorry, Link. I got distracted for a moment. Let's go!"
They rush ahead, only to find Link's Loftwing boarded up, poor thing. Link immediately sprints forward, grabbing his sword and slashing at the ropes that held the planks together. Zelda couldn't help but notice how right it seems for Link to be carrying a sword, almost as if he's destined for it.
Within seconds, his Crimson Loftwing is free, ready to soar the skies again. It joins her blue Loftwing as she and Link walk up to the nearby platform, watching the two birds fly around happily.
"We should hurry, Link. Now that your Loftwing is free, you should fly to the ceremony..." Zelda says, still staring at the sea of clouds.
Please... come down to the land below...
Zelda frowns, Link angling his head to see what's wrong. "But before you go, I have to ask you something. I... I heard this voice a few moments ago. Did you hear it too? It's been happening a lot lately." Her frown deepened. "It's the strangest feeling... almost like someone is calling out to me."
She gazes out at the vast expanse of clouds. "Have you ever wondered what's beneath the clouds? Some say that it's an empty, barren place, or even that there's nothing at all down below, but I just have this feeling that they're wrong.
"Some of Father's old texts talk about a place called the surface. The old tales describe a whole world under there, far more vast than Skyloft!" Zelda's eyes light up with excitement at the thought of another world to explore and see. "The thing is, no one's ever been down there to see it, and our Loftwings won't fly through the cloud barrier. ...But I can't help imagining the wild things that might be waiting below. Someday, I want to see for myself."
Link listens quietly, trying to imagine another land entirely, where people can't fall through clouds or watch water drop down into places unknown. Zelda lets the silence hang in the air before she nervously laughs — how ridiculous she just sounded! Link is her best friend, but still... who would give thoughts like hers any credibility?
"Oh, sorry, Link. We don't have time to talk! Let's get going. Look, your bird's waiting for you!" she gestures to the Crimson Loftwing slowly circling around the island they're standing on. Link just smiles and nods before jumping off the edge, Zelda quickly following suit.
As her Loftwing soars through the air, she hears the voice whisper again, sweetly this time:
I know you'll do better than I ever could. I have absolute faith in you.
Groose watches as Link flies off after a particularly quick visit to town before running off the nearby platform himself and mounting his Loftwing. Ever since Zelda disappeared, Link was popping in and out of town in a hurry, with a look on his face that Groose hasn't seen in years. Even his eyes, normally lost in another world entirely, seem different from afar.
Groose isn't about to let that slacker take all the glory for finding Zelda. Just because Link somehow managed to grab a fancy-looking sword somewhere after he graduated to the senior class didn't mean that he would be the one to find her. That lollygagger's bravery alone won't find a missing girl in a sea of clouds. He probably sleeps in too late to even try and find her before dusk settled.
And yet despite Link's general incompetence at virtually everything he does, Groose must admit that he has a better lead on Zelda's whereabouts than anyone else — and that is precisely why he's following him today.
Link flies toward a massive green pillar of light that appeared in the skies recently, and Groose stares down at the base of the pillar. An opening in the clouds, as wide as the whole of Skyloft, greets his eyes.
And Link jumps off his Loftwing and skydives down there.
Groose gapes at the sight, at least until he remembers to close his mouth before something flies in there. No way. Absolutely not. What, was Link trying to kill himself? Is that where Zelda was, below the clouds? Groose considers turning around and going back home, but then again... something about the place below the clouds kind of calls to him.
Maybe it's Zelda desperately pleading for her big, burly Groose to come and save her. You know, with telepathy or something.
Groose's face breaks into a grin, and he charges his Loftwing forward before even considering the implications of what he's doing. It's only after he's jumped off his Loftwing, fallen at least a hundred feet below the clouds, and caught sight of Link that he realizes, oh crap. How is he going to land without killing himself?
Groose starts screaming and, well, Link looks more than a little surprised to see someone falling toward him.
Groose grabs Link, pumping his legs in an effort to stay airborne. "Link! HEEELP!"
Link deploys the sailcloth he received from Zelda and allows it to slow their descent. Er, somewhat. They land with an unceremonious thud against the hard ground.
It's a pretty promising start to an epic adventure that he would later call... The Legend of Groose.
When Zelda arrives in the Temple of Hylia, she thinks she hears a faint sigh of relief coming from the back room.
She turns to Impa. "Did you hear that?"
Impa looks baffled. "Hear what, Your Grace?"
Zelda suddenly feels as if she is a phoenix fledgling, like some old part of her has died and this new, uncertain Zelda was rising from the ashes, feeble and afraid but still hopeful.
"It's nothing," she finally says. "I guess I'm just a little apprehensive, that's all." She walks up the steps and opens the heavy stone doors, looking at the empty spot where her resting spot would soon lie. She swallows her nervousness and anxiety.
She and Link had been born to do this, born to correct the mistakes of their predecessors. And in doing so, they can only hope they will do better.
Link allows himself to rest for a while after retrieving the Water Dragon's part of the song. He retreats back to the Sealed Grounds, staring down at the pit where The Imprisoned lies from the rails the Groosenator ran on.
Bringing out his map, Link looks at the impressive downward spiral that comprises the Sealed Grounds. It's a nice metaphor for his journey, for the repeated visits to this place. Each time he's sealed away the behemoth, he's grown closer and closer to his goal — the pit of darkness in the center. When Link reaches that endpoint, when he destroys that darkness, he and Zelda can finally be together again.
And this time, he doesn't feel the least bit doubtful that he can't pull it off.
A memory resurfaces in Ghirahim's mind, and for once, it's not a memory of him getting beaten with that infernal sword.
Ghirahim remembers a rotting old temple that smells like earth, beams of light shining down as the little hero and his goddess walk forward. But more importantly, Ghirahim remembers a giant portal — the second Gate of Time.
Ghirahim chuckles in spite of himself. This memory of his, perhaps the only useful memory he possesses, combined with his brilliant intellect... Ghirahim knows now. The second Gate of Time is in that debilitated old temple in the Faron Woods, the one he conveniently can't enter because of the seal on it — until now. Ghirahim is almost entirely sure that the seal is broken now, probably by that stupid boy, and he can enter willy-nilly and get away with it.
He hums to himself as he begins to make his way to the forest, his heart full of rainbows. Soon, very soon, this world would belong to his master.
Everything crashes around Demise in his final minutes. His sword is gone, literally vanishing into thin air. The Goddess's hero stands before him, with no gaping wound in his chest, with no burnt skin, with no face tinted blue from drowning in water, but with eyes that shine with victory. In the present, he lies destroyed under an entire island brought down by the very power he sought for these many eons. And here in the past, he has no chance of winning.
"Extraordinary. You stand as a paragon of your kind, human. You fight like no man or demon I have ever known," he tells the boy before him. Link doesn't look flattered. Demise's face breaks into a small grin. "Though this is not the end."
He may not be able to win right now, and he may never get the chance to wreak havoc on the world after this is over. But the fact of the matter is that he is still the Demon King, fated to lust after the Triforce and lock blades with the Goddess, and he's not about to let her or her chosen ones forget that.
"My hate... never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again!" Demise points at Link, who doesn't look the least bit intimidated. "Those like you... those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero... they are eternally bound to this curse."
Demise's smile grows wider — if she can reincarnate herself, then so can he. "An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!"
Demise laughs as he feels his body and soul dissipate into black smoke, the dark clouds parting. Link raises the Master Sword as it glows, the blade absorbing all of the darkness.
"I have confirmed the eradication of the demon king," Fi reports. "His residual consciousness has been absorbed into the Master Sword... and is now sealed away."
Something about standing on top of the Goddess Statue on the surface feels... right. Complete, if you will. As if a great and long puzzle had finally been finished with the last piece.
Zelda doesn't remember the details, even with the Goddess's memories. She remembers she built the spiraling pathway in the Sealed Grounds for another reason, and it's right there on the tip of her tongue, but she just can't seem to grasp it no matter how hard she tries.
All she knows is that she finally feels at peace with herself and the others, almost whole in a sense. The Statue of the Goddess sits on top of the pit where Demise had originally been sealed, and in a sense, she guesses they've reached the end of the pathway.
Zelda takes Link's hand in her own and smiles at him, and she can tell that he's thinking the same thing, too.
It's over...it's finally over.
NOTES.
Thanks to ryttu3k for betaing (beta-ing?) the story. You rock for reading my weirdness, seriously.
This came about when I tried to rationalize the events of the game. What it basically came out to was, "the whole thing is circular, except not at the end." I thought it would be interesting if, in reality, Link and Zelda had attempted the cycle of defeating Demise numerous times, each time getting closer to their goal but never succeeding... until Skyward Sword. I don't think of this as a plausible theory; I just thought it would make a good story.
The spiraling pathway is a metaphor for the cycle: it seems to go around in a circle and repeat itself, but each time will have something a little different that brings them closer and closer to their goal before it finally terminates at the pit, where Demise is. (I hope that explanation is coherent, because I don't know how to say it otherwise.)
Comments, criticism, and whatever are welcome. Hope you enjoyed reading.