The Demon King didn't know how long he could stay in the heavens, the hero had fallen asleep in his hold a few moments ago. He was curled up against him head resting on his shoulder. Demise had his arms securely around the hero keeping him upright in his sitting position between his legs. He really wished he didn't have to let the man go, he was...almost willing to give up the Triforce for this man. Almost. Even if he was willing to let the Triforce be, he couldn't have the hero, he knew that.
A soft sound drew his attention, Demise looked over to where the door vanished to see it reappearing. He cursed mentally when it opened, one person he really didn't wish to see came through the open door, Hemia. She paused seeing him, her eyes wide, then heaved a sigh as she began to walk over; she sat down a few feet from him and the hero resting on her legs.
"The Golden Three said you were getting your reward, I suppose it makes sense that he is the reward." Hemia said softly, keeping her gaze away. "They didn't decide it, he did." Demise said calmly, trying to keep his voice low so as not to wake the hero.
Hemia sighed, rubbing her neck before she finally glanced over; despite narrowed eyes there was no air of hostility radiating from her like when she meet him all the other times. She looked down at Link, her gaze softened quickly. "He...seems content. More so than I would have thought." Hemia commented, rubbing her arms. "I guess even with us...he doesn't always have time to be so...peacefully asleep." She said, before looking Demise in the eyes; aside from Hylia she was the only woman who dared look him eye-to-eye.
"Though he decided this on his own, you say?" She questioned, before tilting her head to the side. "Why?" She asked, keeping her voice low; she too did not wish to disturb her brother's sleep. Demise gave her a dull look. "If you ask that then I assume you don't know what happened when I dragged his soul down from the heavens before." If she didn't know he would be surprised.
He figured the hero would at least tell her about it. He did have to crush some smugness he felt hearing her say the hero looked content. Did he never nap near others? He crushed the smugness again when it rose, he wasn't going to think about it. Hemia sighed, leaning back on her arms. "I know everything that happened, I saw it all." Hemia said, before looking over at him.
"It's the reason the Golden Three were able to completely stop my cycle of death and rebirth, they had me go to Link because he was in emotional turmoil after everything that happened. I helped him through it." Hemia explained, before she leaned forward, resting her arms on her legs...she looked very similar to Link, sitting like that. "After all, family helps one another, blood relation or not, we're still close to one another; more so than others." She commented softly, giving a nostalgic smile as she remembered getting him to like pulling pranks on others.
The Demon King didn't reply for a moment, merely focusing on making sure he wasn't a total bastard to her right now. He hoped she didn't comment on it, he was not going to explain his reasons. "What was he like...before he was imprisoned? What was he like as a child?" The question was soft and hesitant, he doubted she would tell him. He wondered often what the hero had been like but had never asked the man himself, something else always came up.
Hemia looked at him suspiciously before heaving a sigh and looked around. "Don't tell Link I told you this, he'd never talk to me again." She commented before humming. "He was really carefree as a child, being older than him I often watched over him, though I also got him in a lot of trouble." She responded with a smirk.
"We'd go around and play pranks on the soldier's, annoy the farmers by acting like we'd steal their harvest." Suddenly her eyes lite up. "I remember we played a huge prank on Hylia, we did something to the castle, I can't remember but I remember we were forced to clean the castle afterwards because of what we did." Hemia looked over, for the first time giving a genuine smile toward Demise. "He was carefree, though he was also pretty mischievous; he enjoyed the fact that I pulled him into pranks." Hemia looked off to the side suddenly.
"He also liked it when I trained him, he enjoyed our sparring sessions, he also enjoyed crafting things, he liked watching me craft things out of wood." Hemia pulled a small item from her pack. It was small but delicately made, it looked to be the Hylian shield. "When I showed this to Link, he was shocked and asked me to teach him." She showed it to Demise. "Generally I think it looks like crap but I was young when I made this, I've gotten rusty though." Hemia commented, rubbing her neck.
Demise looked closer at the piece of wood, it wasn't painted so details were tricky to spot but he could see a few of them. The outer design of the metal, the three screws, two at the top and one at the bottom. The pattern that rested on the metal was carefully carved into the top the small screws seen. The metal curved decorations on the top of the shield and near the bottom. The golden Triforce surrounded by thin bits of metal and the Crest of The Kingdom Of Hyrule.
She called this crap? It looked like just the thing only made of wood! It wasn't even colored but it looked good. "I take it back, you two are very alike." Demise said with a soft huff. "He beasts down on his own abilities and confidence at times and you...you seem to do the same." His subtle compliment on her carving skill better be noticed, he wasn't going to say it directly.
Hemia seemed taken about by his compliment, she knew one when it was given...he reminded her of her previous mentor. He was often gruff and acted just like Demise...aside from the whole 'evil' act, they were alike. She gave a soft smile, touched by his compliment. "Thank you Demise...you're a lot nicer than I thought." She said putting the small wooden carving away. "You remind me of my previous mentor, makes me wonder...what would it have been like if you were on our side. Would me and Link have trained under you?" She commented, rubbing her chin in thought.
That...he hadn't expected. Oh what hell? He'd humor the thought. He hummed softly looking to the sky above them. "Perhaps if things had been different...if I were a simple human." That wasn't an odd thought since he lived lives as Ganondorf. "Training under me...huh, what a thought." His gaze fell on the sleeping hero, then back to the woman, Hemia. "If things had been different in another way...what would you have done if he joined me?" The Demon King had nursed the thought a few times, but being unable to ask the woman he had let it go.
Hemia hummed, that was something she hadn't expected...but she had an answer. "I would have followed him," She said, shocking him. "I vowed to myself, ever since I lost my parents and raised Link on my own, that no matter what, I would always be there for him. I would follow him wherever he goes, protect him at all costs." She turned to looked Demise in the eye.
"I was ready to die for him. I was ready to follow him, even into the darkness. I had vowed myself to his services, no one else had my loyalty except Link." Hemia said, before she looked at Link. "It might even be my attachment to him that will eventually be my downfall." Hemia said, yet her smile said she didn't regret anything. "But a simple answer...I would have joined as well, if he had joined." Hemia said, a determined fire in her eye; she was loyal to a fault.
Demise stared at her, feeling a little more than just shocked; he gave a fond shake of his head. "He certainly makes it easy for that, doesn't he? Wanting to follow after him...speaking of...all the times he went out to meet with me in the start, did you ever try to follow him?" Demise had never sensed another when with the man and certainly didn't see anyone.
Hemia chuckled. "Actually...I did, a few times but you never showed any signs of harm whenever I did follow, so I usually left. The times I didn't follow, he'd come back in pain, I felt guilty for it but Hylia wouldn't let me get to close." Hemia said, shrugging her shoulders. "Me and Hylia...didn't exactly see eye-to-eye when it came to caring for Link." She explained, before looking up, her green eyes looked like they were shining with unshed tears.
"All the times he was hurt...I couldn't get close enough to comfort him. The times I followed you never harmed him, the times I didn't follow he'd return hurt and Hylia wouldn't let me do anything to help." He voice was cracking, her shoulders trembled with sadness. Hemia was trying to control her sadness...it was obvious she felt it was her fault not following; she believed if she always followed, he wouldn't be harmed.
"Hemia," Demise began, likely surprising her with the use of her name. "Even if you had been there when I hurt him, there was nothing you could have done to stop me. Forcing raw power onto you, the way I did him, would have killed you in seconds. The only reason it didn't kill him is because of what Hylia did to ensure he could use the Master Sword and be a proper hero." He said, confusing Hemia.
"What she did?" Hemia asked, a protective edge to her voice...what did Hylia do to her brother? The Demon King gaze at her a moment blinking. "You...don't know?" Link hadn't told her? "Why did he not tell you? He knows very well what she did." Demise didn't understand why Link would keep it from her...Hylia did make him forget but that couldn't it...could it?
Hemia moved closer, sitting by his side, looking up at him. "Demise, what did Hylia do to my brother?" Hemia asked, looking at Link. "There was a lot I asked Link, though I knew there were some things he wasn't telling me. I don't know if it's because of his memories, or if he thinks he's protecting me but I need to know." Hemia took a deep breath and bowed her head. "Please, tell me." She said quietly, she wanted to know.
"Link's imprisonment was decided by the heavens, by Hylia. She said and I quote, 'Your Imprisonment was willed by the heavens. I was meant to make you strong. Like a sword hammered and honed so that it would never break. It was necessary to transform you into one fit to wield the Master Sword...The sword was tempered by your spirit. You woke it...And it will serve its master for all eternity…' She said more but that is the part that is important. He regret for it matters little, she was a goddess for crying out loud she could have done more." Demise growled. While, yes he had encouraged the humans to lock the man up, he hadn't thought Hylia would let such a thing happen!
Hemia was shocked...she heard about someone being locked up, but no one told her who it was. To think that...Hylia, the woman who Link had liked for a long time...locked him up. "I remember...hearing someone was locked up...but I kept getting thrown out on mission's. When I would return, for only a day or two, I would ask but no one would tell me anything." Hemia said before she gave a sigh and leaned against him. "To think she did all of that, just to change him to be a hero...I ought to strangle her." Hemia seethed out, her glare to the ground murderous...she was NOT happy with Hylia.
Demise looked at her, not commenting on her leaning against him, if he did he would as Link once said ruin the moment. "Oh, so you'd just leave me the scarps when you were done with her? No way I call first dibs of ripping her throat out-" He broke off when Link shifted in his hold making a soft sound. Son of a- He didn't want the man waking up just yet, he was actually enjoying this conversation. His fingers gently brushed a pointed ear earning a small twitch, then the hero relaxed again. He had figured that trick out while the hero was was with him all those years ago.
"Ah, so you know the ear trick as well." Hemia commented, smiling at Link. "I learned that trick when I was raising him, despite being only three years older, I knew what to do to raise us both without parents to guide us." Hemia explained before looking up at Demise. "If I wasn't so loyal to Link, I'd say let's go after Hylia right now and rip her to pieces, but I shall follow Link's wishes and not harm her...until he says otherwise that is." Hemia commented, she was actually comfortable against Demise like this.
"I wonder what Link thinks of Hylia, seeing as she locked his memories of me away and was the one who had him imprisoned." Hemia said, laying her arm against Demise's arm, this was nice...having a nice conversation with him for once. She wondered why there couldn't be more times like these...though she now understood why Link seemed to have missed the conversation's; they were pleasant.
"...It's a mix of love and hate." Demise said, remembering a conversation he and Link had. "Link wasn't fond of her at first at all you know, he gets out of the prison and every one wants him to fight, even the goddess. Were you there when he got out? To see him snap at old friends and allies when they tried to help him? He told me he wanted almost nothing to do with any of them but forced himself past it." He said and Hemia sighed.
"No," She commented, looking up at the sky. "I wasn't, I was still out on a mission...though I do remember being dragged by home and Link yelling at everyone to let him see me." Hemia said, her eyes were far away, she was remembering something important. "I was dragged home, half alive...if I hadn't received medical attention when I did, I wouldn't have made it. I remember Link, screaming a yelling, demanding to see me but no one would let him enter." Hemia then looked at Demise.
"Link even punched a few soldier's try to hold him back, he demanded to be at my side when I was on the operating table...but Hylia had to drag him out. Else he might've ended up doing something he would have seriously regretted." Hemia explained, looking at her lap.
Demise really wished he could have seen that, he kept the grin off his face, having a feeling that wouldn't be appropriate right now. "Hylia could have healed you-Oh no, she couldn't have. She got severely limited when she went down, she could only do so much." Demise didn't know all the details but he knew when the Divine came down, their power cut in half and they could do very little. "Anyway, neither of us can kill Hylia, the woman died and shed her divine form shortly after I cut him down." Demise nodded down to Link. "All that remains of Hylia is a girl, who he referred to as the first Zelda. There isn't a Hylia to rage at any longer." And no Hylia for Link to get closure from, to ask her things or try to make something between them work.
"Did you mean it back then during the Hero of Time's era, what you said about Link?" Demise asked lightly tapping the side of her head. Hemia blushed a little, before heaving a sigh. "About me having feelings for Link?" She questioned, before sighing once more. "I wasn't lying, when me and Link were kids, I fantasized about it, even a few times as an adult but I knew he would never see me like that." Hemia explained before looking to the sky.
"We did make a promise as children, to always be beside one another; back when we were kids, I believe we were foolishly in love. Though, when I meet Time...I found myself falling for him, the feelings were stronger for Time." Hemia then looked at Link. "Though I do wonder what it would have been like had me and Link gotten together, either way, I think I'd be happy. Both of them make me happy," Hemia looked back up at Demise and gave a smile. "and I know I make both of them happy, that much is obvious." She said, before chuckling.
Demise frowned a bit, something coming to him. "He lost his parents as did you and you raised him...he told me he mostly took care of himself and hated the pity he got. I gather you helped him out when you could." She had confused him before when she said it, but had brushed it off until now. Hemia nodded. "Yes, whenever I was able and not being sent out of suicide missions by Hylia, I helped him whenever I could. He'd get angry, asking me to stop pitting him until I made it pretty clear that, with how close we were, I saw him as family." Hemia responded.
"I think that's when he decided to do whatever he could to help me as well, though I do feel like I raised him mostly." She said, though her gaze was downward, it was obvious she was giving all her attention to Demise.
"Hn and to think I killed you over and over…" He mused wondering what might have happened if he didn't save Lilia, they still never would have talked again but...His gaze fell back to Link still sound asleep. He really wished things had been different.
A bright flicker of light flash above their head, making Demise glare. "I suppose that means I have to leave now." He growled then gave a defeated sigh. He didn't have the Triforce and this was the realm of The Golden Three, he wasn't about to test them. Carefully, he shifted the hero away from him, moving to pass him to Hemia when to both their shock, Link gripped his wrist in his sleep brow furrowing. Demise clenched his jaw not willing to think on the action, once he got Link to let go and he was safely in Hemia's, hold that was it. He was ejected from the heavens.
Hemia looked down at Link, before heaving a heavy sigh...she also found herself missing his presence. She brushed some of Link's hair aside, rubbing his forehead. "Even asleep, you find yourself missing him." She said before she noticed something...red...on his neck.
Hemia rose a brow confused, before moving his scarf down a little more to get a better look at the mark. Her jaw dropped as her eyes widened...a hickey?! She growled, looking straight ahead where Demise once stood. "Be glad it was the Golden Three who ejected you out Demise, else I would've been the one to pummel you out myself!" She growled out, before taking a deep breath to calm herself.
"Grh, next time I see him, I'll-!" Hemia stopped herself, realizing what she just said. Did she miss him...that much? She looked where he once sat, feeling her heart suddenly grow heavy...she missed him...missed him a lot she realized.
She also wonder what it would've been like, had they been on the same side. 'Would we...all be the same.' Hemia thought, continuing to rub Link's forehead in a soothing circle. "Should I wake him up…?" Hemia wondered, scratching her cheek, confused.
"No need for that." Link muttered feeling her jump in surprise. "I've been awake since you started rubbing my forehead." He didn't however move from her hold, even if he was now awake. She continued to rub his forehead, knowing that he liked the sensation...but then a thought struck her as she noticed the mark again.
She grinned, oh she was going to enjoy this. "So, seems like you and Demise had a good time if that hickey on your neck is anything to go by." Hemia teased out, poking the hickey, grinning more.
Link went stiff as a rod, then was out of her hold, placing a hand against his neck; heat lifting to his face. Dang it, with what Demise had been doing he should have expected this! He groaned, not looking at her knowing what look she had on her face. He so didn't want to discuss this but as he wasn't in a bad state this time, she was going to tease...and hopefully not get the wrong idea.
Hemia began laughing at him embarrassment, she knew nothing of what she thought actually happened, she also knew not to tease him 'too much'; he was her brother after all. "Eh, I can't say much in my defense. Me and Demise had a good talk anyways." Hemia said as she stood, holding a hand out to Link.
He lifted a brow, they had talked? Well, Demise had been pleased with the reward so him being nice to her wasn't such a long shot. He took her hand letting her help him up. "Let's go find Lilia," He said heading for the door with Hemia. "she did want to meet you after all."
Hemia smiled and followed him, though she did a little something different and linked their arms together. "Yeah, let's head home." She said, giving him a bright smile...if she had learned something, it was to cherish moments together...just like she was sure Demise had cherished his moments with them.