She could feel it. She could feel it in every inch of her body; this aching pain coming right from her heart as if it was being torn in two. Her breath hitched and her throat burned like it was on fire. Instinctively, her hands shot up to her throat and caressed the skin there, trying to calm herself. But of course it wouldn't help - not when she saw the dead body of a beloved person lying still on the ground. Then she could feel her control slipping away and she nearly collapsed. Her legs began to tremble until they refused to hold her up any longer and she fell on her knees.

Tears began to blur her sight but she quickly blinked them away.

And then she could see him. His blue orbs were boring into her aquamarine one's, and she wasn't able to do anything but to held his gaze.

'The loneliest people are the kindest, the saddest people smile the brightest and the most damaged people are the wisest', she barely heard him because of his voice being rather a whisper. His lips curved up into a soft smile and he moved towards her. 'There's nothing wrong about losing control sometimes. It doesn't mean you're weak. There's nothing to be ashamed of.'

And when his hand met her shoulder, she screamed as if she was on fire. She screamed 'till she felt her voice crack and she shot up in her bed into a sitting position.

"Bad dream, princess?"

Zelda looked to her side, seeing Link sitting beside her on the bed, holding her hand in his own. "I was just going to head to the baker's for bread as I heard you screaming. May I ask what your dream was about, Your Highness?"

The young princess - and soon-to-be Queen - tore her eyes away from his and took a deep breath, trying desperately to steady her breathing. She knew that if she wasn't able to calm herself straightaway, she would lose control right in front of the Hero and turn into a shaking and sobbing mess. And she couldn't do this. She couldn't do this to herself; she couldn't let anyone see what lied beneath her facade - not even Link, the person she trusted the most.

So she just shook her head and brushed his hand off of her's. "It's none of your business, Hero", she snapped back, surprised at the harshness of her own voice. But her face, being as cold as solid water, hid all her emotions behind a mask of carelessness. He shouldn't see you like this, a voice inside her head whispered. Nobody should. Tomorrow is your coronation, after that you will be the Queen of Hyrule. Who would want a weak Queen?

Nobody would, another voice of her own tired mind snapped back.

A terrifying realisation came to the princess: They were right.

"But, princess-", Link began and Zelda winced, momentarily having forgotten about his presence. Her eyes shot back to his, recognizing the expression of pain on his face caused by her easily displayed distrust. And it hurt. The thought of causing him pain hurt her already broken heart to no end. But she wasn't in the position to let herself care - she had a whole kingdom to rule, she couldn't allow any feelings to get in her way.

'If you want to be a good ruler for your kingdom, you can't let feelings get in your way', she remembered her father repeating this one sentence over and over, as if he was trying to imprint it in her mind.

Oh, how his loss hurt her once oh-so optimistic soul.

She felt her eyes water with tears again, dangerously close to crying. No, please, not this again. Zelda closed her eyes and pressed them tightly together, in a last attempt to get a hold of herself, but she already felt herself slipping. And the wetness on her cheeks that followed made it painfully visible for Link.

Zelda hid her face in her hands, stiffling her sobs at the same time. I told you not to cry in front of him!, the voice screamed at her, resulting in the sobs to leave her lips even more loudly and herself shaking. You're so stupid, so fucking stupid. And you want to be the Queen of Hyrule? Your father would have done better by burning this whole kingdom down instead of dying and handing it over to his useless daughter. But you already know that, don't you?

The princess wanted nothing more than to scream, to scream so loud that it would drown out the voice screaming inside of her head, that her throat would burn like it was on fire. She wanted to scream until she could scream no more, she wanted to lose her voice from all the shouting and screaming. But she remained quite, nothing but sobs leaving her lips. And the next thing she knew was that she was clunging to her hero, to the one person her lost soul would never bare to lose.

His arms encircled her waist and his hands rested on her back, holding her against him and pressing their bodies tightly together. He didn't say anything, not that any words were needed to say - they for sure weren't, this kind of understanding went deeper than any words could ever do. He just held her while she shook in his arms, finally letting everything out that has troubled her soul for so long.

And the voice in Zelda's mind remained quiet as she clung to Link as if she was clunging to her life. And maybe, another voice spoke up - so soft and kind that it made Zelda's soul forget everything for a little, so peaceful moment -, just maybe you are.

She felt Link drawing random designs onto her back with one hand, all the while caressing her hair with the other one. The pace of the tears falling from her eyes had slowed down a bit, and Zelda pulled back to lock eyes with her hero. She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything at all. Link didn't say anything either, but the soft expression of concern on his face made words simply unnecessary.

For a moment, they just stared into each other's eyes, until Link out of nowhere decided to break the silence. "That dream", he started, carefully watching her and testing her reaction. But she just looked up at him with wide, blue eyes, so he continued talking. "That dream - was it about your father, Your Highness?"

Zelda's eyes slid shut and she let out a shuddering breath, not realising until now that she had stopped breathing for a second. She leaned forward, resting her head against her hero's chest and mumbled something that Link couldn't quite hear. A confused look settled on his gaze. "Excuse me, Your Highness - would you repeat yourself, please?"

She looked up again. "I said: "Stop calling me Your Highness." Please, Link. Just call me Zelda. There's no need for formal language. Not now." Not now when I'm on the verge of breaking apart and you're the only one who can keep me together.

Instead of verbally replying, Link pulled Zelda against his chest again and settled his chin on her soft hair, breathing in her scent, memorizing it. A small smile played across her lips. She didn't feel like it - she was all too broken to feel happy -, but Link automatically had this effect on her.

They stayed like this what felt like forever, somehow ending up lying next to each other on the bed, curelean eyes meeting aquamarines. His hand cupped her cheek and he brushed away the remaining wetness there, before he slowly began to pull his hand back. Zelda's hand carefully wrapped around his and brought it back to her cheek, resting it there and tilting her head to feel more of the warmth radiating from it. In the dark, she could see a smile smile spreading onto Link's lips and she returned it weakly.

Maybe, a voice whispered in her head, maybe you will be okay again. Maybe he can fix you.

Maybe.