"...I accepted life as the hero..."
The Boy Who Became a Hero
In a flurry of cascading blue-white light it was all over. The calm and heady incensed filled air of the Temple of Time felt lighter somehow, or perhaps it was just him. Perhaps he was lighter with the burden of the fate of Hyrule lifted from his shoulders. Or perhaps it was the child-like frame.
No not child-like.
He was a child. A child - but so much more.
Navi had gone, without a word, without so much as a goodbye. She didn't need to. They didn't need to because it was finally over.
The quiet air was relaxing. Peaceful, still,trainquil. None of the words that came to mind seemed to do the atmosphere justice. The looming dread and daunting presence of darkness was no more. There was no rush to go to the castle. There was no urgency. There was only laughter and joy. There was only the Hyrule of his childhood.
The Hyrule of the present.
He did not run out of the gates or quicken his pace. But drank it all in. It was almost nice that his gait was shorter now. He could spend more time just being in the space.
The untainted sunlight that fell and danced among the Gossip Stones outside of the Temple of TIme. The chatter and normalcy of the Hyrule Castle Town. The clucks of the Cuccoo and the barks of the dog he had once rescued.
The castle was the one he remembered from the distant dream of his childhood. Bright white walls, polished to look like marble, stood in quiet grandeur as he approached the castle gates.
As if by rote, he scaled the wall easily almost chuckling to himself as he thought of the boy he had once been. His smile turned to a frown as he climbed though. The muscles he had developed as the Hero were now those of a child once again. And he found himself surprised at the effort he had to put into his climb. It felt like it did the first time. Strenuous.
The feeling was fleeting. A small price to pay for the peace restored to Hyrule. Although no one would remember that. And when he thought of the horrors of Ganon's floating castle and wreckage as he climbed out of the small waterway within the castle courtyard, he knew it was all for the best.
He knew that the guards he now snuck past would never have to die at the hands of Ganondorf protecting the Princess. How harrowing it had been to find that soldier in the back alleyway that rainy night so long ago... or not so long ago...? Or never so long ago? Link looked down from the catwalk down at the not-dead guard below, patrolling as seriously as if he guarded the Royal Treasures of Hyrule. To find him here, to recognize him, to know him, and to see him guarding the rupees beneath the trellis that Link now climbed was... painful.
It was painful to think that the brave nameless solider's loyalty to the Royal Family would never be known. It would never be known because that solider would never get a chance to prove himself to his king and country. He would never die as he had previously, but would be condemned to guard the meager rupees in the courtyard perhaps forever.
How many of these soliders here would be grateful to go home? Would understand what they had narrowly avoided? Would appreciate the peaceful lives they could lead now that Hyrule was-
He slipped.
Link had lost his footing, a rookie mistake. A mistake he hadn't made since... since... since...
He couldn't remember.
Maybe he just wasn't used to his child-body. It had been a while; the Spirit Temple not withstanding.
He didn't remember being so blatantly calm the last time he had been here. The present was so strongly juxtaposed with the memory of an uncertain fumbling fairy boy from the forest who had once snuck into the castle. Link landed lightly on his feet with all the grace from all the time spent crawlign through dungeons only to fall backwards onto his backside.
"Hey! You there! Halt!" Came the all too familiar cry from the guard.
Before he could register he had once again lost his balance. Before he could even smile at the guard who would never have to die. Before he could stand. Before he could even hold up his hands in surrender...
He found himself unceremoniously dumped outside by the milk crates.
It made sense. Link told himself as he stood and brushed his Kokiri tunic off. It made perfect sense. He looked no different than he had once looked. It should be expected that they would throw out "a trespassing kid". It was normal that they would treat him like a nuisance.
But if it was so expected, so normal, and made sense -why did it bother him so much?
Why? He asked himself as he climbed the crates once more.
Why did being treated like a chidl bother him?
Why did he expect any different?
Why? When it was all the same as it once was did it feel different?
As he stepped into the inner courtyard racking his brains. Trying to clear the pounding weight of a cloud of questions from his mind. And then he understood.
He understood the moment he saw her standing at the window.
She was a child again. A mischevious girl who had snuck around the castle to spy on the proceedings of her father's court. She was so young. He felt a stinging in his eyes as the tears started to form.
There was none of the seriousness that he remembered. The weight of the world was not on her shoulders. And he prayed it would never have to be.
She was so young. So unaware. So innocent.
And he understood.
The world had not changed. Not truly. It was back on its proper course. Untainted by the evils of Ganondorf's control of the Sacred Realm. All was as it should be.
But he was not.
No.
The boy that walked slowly and quietly toward her through the flowers was not the same boy that had done so before.
He was a fragment. A piece from a world that no longer exists. A piece of a world that should never come to pass.
He didn't belong here.
This wasn't his world any more.
It didn't matter if he was a child again. He would never have a childhood. He had accepted that the moment he had pulled the Master Sword from the pedestal. Link paused at the base of the steps where she stood and took a moment to collect himself.
With a quiet deep breath and a hero's heart he steeled himself and cleared his throat.
The Princess Zelda turned in surprise, "Who?! Who are you? How did you get past the guards?"
She took in his Kokiri tunic, "Are you from the forest? Then...then...you wouldn't happen to have... the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, would you?! That green and shining stone... Do you have it?"
Link smiled and shook his head. It wouldn't matter if he had the Kokiri Emerald. It wouldn't matter if he could just bring himself to tell her what he knew of Ganondorf and his plans. But then, he would never have become the man he was today -the Hero he was today.
Princess Zelda looked taken aback by his response, "Well, that's odd... I thought you might be the one from my dream... You really don't have it?"
Once again it took all of his willpower to tell her that he didn't have it. And once again her disappointed face almost broke him.
"Oh..." she said, "It's just...I had a dream...In the dream, dark storm clouds were billowing over the land of Hyrule... " Her voice grew quiet and pensive; but then she smiled. "But suddenly, a ray of light shot out of the forest, parted the clouds and lit up the ground... The light turned into a figure holding a green and shining stone, followed by a fairy... but I suppose you don't have one... a fairy..."
Princess Zelda looked back at him and he knew she was wishing for a fairy to come flying out from his hat. When one did not she continued, "I know this is a prophecy that someone would come from the forest... Yes, I thought you might be the one... Oh, I'm sorry!"
She smiled and turned to face him properly for the first time."I got carried away with my story and I didn't even properly introduce myself! I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. What is your name?"
It felt odd to introduce himself to someone he had known for so long and knew so well.
But his job was to protect Hyrule and its princess, even if he was no longer a hero.
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"... Link... Strange...it sounds somehow... familiar."
In my usual fashion, I don't like to clutter the story. However, I would like to say that this quick little story is for a reviewer called "Guest". Words cannot express how much I appreciated your review.
It was nice to see that this very old story is still getting some traffic. I hope this at least satiated your appetite for a Hero of Time character. It's probably not exactly what you were looking for but a quick little idea I was able to write in an hour or two, so please for give any grammar errors or typos.
I hope to write more in the future (especially with Breath of the Wild coming out eventually).
But as we all know: Life happens.