This is a legend.
"Link? Liiiink??? Wake up, Sleepyhead!"
A legend of friendship.
Five-year old Zelda appears at Link's bedside, shaking him awake.
With one large pull, they both fall to the ground.
Zelda giggles, watching Link's face contort into something that resembled pain. His eyes slowly flick open.
"...Zeld? What're ya doin' here?"
"I'm here to wake you up! We don't have classes, so it's time to explore!"
"...I don't wanna explore...I wanna sleep..."
A legend of curiosity.
Eight-year old Zelda lazily glides through the sky on her loftwing, looking curiously at the thick clouds below her.
Streaks of crimson stream through the sky as Link flies around carelessly.
Zelda however, is focused on one thing: the surface.
"I wanna see what's down there..." She mumbles to herself, "if it's really just barren...or maybe it's full of amazing things that we'd never see on Skyloft!" Her blue eyes grow wide at all the possibilities.
"I'm gonna see what's down there someday...I just know it!"
A legend of secrets.
"Link?" Twelve-year old Zelda calls.
"Mhm?" Link lazily responds, too caught up in his daydreaming to really care.
"Do you ever wonder...what's below the clouds?" She asks tentatively.
He snaps to reality immediately.
"Zeld, you can't be thinking about-"
"N-no...I just...I just was wondering."
"Okaaaay...I guess I do sometimes...but Zelda, you can't go down there! You know that! You've been told over and over, so why do you keep thinking about it?"
"I...I just feel...trapped. I feel like I'm missing out on so much, being cooped up here. I'm bored, of all the sights, and all the sounds...and all the places...and the people...I just want something...new."
"Zeld," Link begins, straightening up and turning to face her, "promise me you won't do anything risky to get down there. Please? You're worth more than the surface." He says, blushing a little at the last comment.
"..." The girl stays silent.
"Zelda." He looks stern, about the sternest she's ever seen him look.
"...fine." She says, not sure if she truly means it.
"Ok. Good." The boy lays back down in the grass and resumes his daydreaming.
Only she knows that she's going to see the surface someday, whether she has to do something dangerous or not.
A legend of protectiveness.
Groose lumbers up to Link, smirk slowly growing on his face.
"What're you doin' punk? Tryin' to look cool so Zelda'll like you? Well here's the news: she doesn't! And she won't no matter what you do, cause you're a sorry little kid who doesn't know how to take care of himself! You cling to her like a little puppy, and she's just too nice to kick you away! You can't do-" he trails off mid-sentence, eyes widening at something behind Link. Link doesn't even have to look behind him to know who it is.
"Groose," she says sternly, "are you berating Link again?" The fourteen-year old girl is now taller than Link, having experienced a growth spurt, and she has quite the commanding aura to complement.
"Uh, um, Zelda. Zelda, um...I was just...talkin' with my buddy! Yeah! Talkin'! Isn't that right, Link!" Groose slowly backed away, then took off in a full sprint.
Zelda sighed, then turned back to Link. Her face changed from stern to caring.
"You're not hurt, are you?" She asks, scanning every inch of him for some sign of hurt.
"N-no..." He stammers.
"If he ever does anything to you...I'll just...ARGH! WHY CAN'T HE JUST LEAVE YOU ALONE?!" Zelda's face contorts with anger, and she throws herself towards Link, capturing him in a hug.
"You need to learn to stand up for yourself, Link..." She mumbles into his shoulder, sounding like she's about to cry, "What's gonna happen when you need help and I'm not here, huh? Are you just gonna let everyone walk all over you?! ARE YOU?!" Now she really does start to cry.
"Zeld..."
"Don't you dare do that. Don't you dare get hurt-YOU IDIOT!"
"Zeld...I promise. I'll get stronger. I'll get better, and I won't let anyone walk on me. If only to make you happy, I'll do it."
"Thank you...I just...thank you." She pulls herself from his shoulder, then very nearly scurries away, wiping her eyes frantically."
A legend of excitement.
She watched the wing ceremony nervously, hoping beyond hope that Link will come through. He's the fastest flier she knows...and yet he can be so careless...
All her worries are shattered when she sees him. He has the bird, he caught it, he won, he won!!!
All reasonable thinking is thrown out the window as she jumps off of Skyloft, not even bothering to call her loftwing. All that comes out of her mouth is his name.
"LIIIIIIINK!!!"
He catches her.
"Zeld? Zelda, are you..." He asks in a worried tone.
"Don't worry, I'm fine!" She sings, like she didn't just do something completely insane. "Great flying, Link! Congratulations!!!" As she leans toward his face, he leans back, cheeks flushing red.
"Now, we'd better get on with the ceremony!" She giggles.
She's so ridiculously excited, and she has no idea why.
A legend of separation.
"Zeldaaaaa!!! ZELDA!!!" He calls, throat scratchy and hoarse.
He hears her screams, her tortured screams, and sees her face, contorted in fear.
Then it's all black.
When he wakes up, she's gone.
Her father stands next to his bed, expression worried and terrified.
Zelda's gone.
She wakes up in a strange world, like nothing she's ever seen before.
The surface. It's the surface.
That's all she has time to process before an old woman approaches her.
"You've arrived."
"You've been expecting me?" She asks.
"Yes. For many years. Come."
"A-alright..." She whispers.
She's scared and alone.
Slowly she realizes why she isn't ecstatic to be on the surface.
In all her dreams of the surface...never once did she imagine seeing it...without Link.
A legend of promises.
He had found her. He had found Zelda. Yet, as she was talking, he found something was wrong.
She was the goddess' reincarnate...he, the chosen hero, they were together...so why would she not smile???
He received his answer, and suddenly wished he hadn't.
"It's impossible to know the true reason why the gods created the Triforce. But I have a theory of my own. The gods created the Triforce, yet they specifically designed it so that their own kind could never use its power. Somehow, I think that may have been their way of giving hope to all the mortal beings of the land. Which brings us back to you. To face Demise and give the land hope, the goddess, Hylia, needed someone with an unbreakable spirit. That someone is you, Link."
She pauses.
"But spirit alone wasn't enough. You had to overcome many trials and awaken the hero within yourself so that you could wield that supreme power. And so Hylia...I mean...and so I...I knew that if it meant saving Zelda, you would throw yourself headfirst into any danger, without even a moment's doubt..."
"Zeld?"
"I...I used you." She sobs, resuming her trudge away from him.
"I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for pulling you into all of this, Link. But you have to understand this is a war, and the fate of the land hangs in the balance. I need your strength to tip the scales in our favor..."
"Zelda, you don't need to-"
"While that may be well intentioned and true, it doesn't mean it's right... And it doesn't excuse my actions."
"Zel-"
"But I'm prepared to pay the price for what I've done."
"No-"
"To ensure that the seal holds, I will remain here, in this time...deep in sleep for thousands of years."
She turns to face him once more, exposing her tear stained face.
Link gasps, no words able to express his feelings at that moment.
"Link, I can't say it enough. I'm so sorry for the way I had to involve you in this. But until my memory of things before our lifetime returned to me, I had no idea we were fated to carry such a heavy destiny. Before all this, I was happy just spending my days hanging around with you in Skyloft. I wanted that feeling to last..."
"Zelda-"
"Forever."
She began to flow in an orange light, Link ran toward her as fast as he could. A shell formed around her, and he began punching it, trying to reunite himself with Zelda.
"ZELDA! NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!!" He screams, and although tears continue to stream down her face, she keeps speaking calmly.
"While it's true that I'm Hylia reborn, I'm still my father's daughter and your friend..."
"No,nononono...no..."
"I'm still your Zelda."
"Zeld..."
"When Demise is finally gone, there will be no more need for the seal that bind him, and then I'll be able to wake up."
"Zelda..."
"So I'm going to ask you a favor, Sleepyhead. Ever since we were kids, I'd always be the one to wake you up when you slept in. But this time..."
"No...no...no..."
"When all of this is over, will you come to wake me up?"
"...I-I promise..."
She smiled at him, then a light emerged, blinding him.
When it cleared, he stared at Zelda, entrapped in a chrysalis.
And he cried.
Eventually, he turned away and started down the stairs, her words echoing in his head.
"When all of this is over, will you come to wake me up?"
A legend of reunions.
The chrysalis pulses as he walks towards it, and slowly begins to crack. Then it bursts, leaving the figure in white in midair.
She floats to the ground gracefully, eyes still closed. Slowly and carefully, she raises her head, absorbing the world around her. Unsteady feet take steps towards him, but all of a sudden, her eyes roll back into her head, and she begins to fall.
Link rushes forward wordlessly, catching her in his arms. He kneels on the ground, her head on his shoulder, until she comes to.
Her eyes open again and she smiles up at him lazily.
"Good morning...Link..."
She stands up, and together they walk, hand-in-hand.
A legend of beginnings.
They stand on top of the goddess statue, Link calmly playing the Ballad of the Goddess, Triforce leisurely floating above them. Zelda waved to Groose and his buddies, who were ascending back to the sky. They watched until the birds faded from view, then Zelda turned to Link.
"Look around us! As a child, I always dreamed of a world below. I wanted to see the surface with my own eyes and feel the land's warm breeze on my skin. I...I think I want to live here. I always want to feel solid ground beneath my feet, see the clouds above my head, and watch over the Triforce."
She paused, pondering something.
"...What about you, Link? What will you do now?"
His smile was answer enough.
This is The Legend of Zelda.
