Chapter One: Unanswered Questions
In the field, behind the Sacred Ground Ruins, after the final battle...
Link turned his eyes back towards Zelda as she gazed off at the castle in the distance. Light was starting to seep into the sky as the darkness vanished. Looking at her was like looking at a memory, familiar yet far away. He was in awe that after everything, she was before him now. She was no longer a memory.
Zelda's back was turned towards Link, her eyes staring off at the castle in the distance. Dressed in soft white robes with shining golden hair, she looked like the goddess incarnate. The bright aura that surrounded her for the last one hundred years was gone, replaced with the true outline of her being. Link saw the emotions running through her eyes as he looked upon the profile of her face, which was tilted just enough for him to notice.
His thoughts were interrupted by Zelda's voice.
"I've been keeping watch over you all this time…," she softly spoke. "I've witnessed your struggles to return to us as well as your trials in battle," Zelda voiced, sounding as if she was miles away.
As she continued, Link was slowly drawn to her. The master sword gently clinked against his shield making a small sound as he approached.
She paused. "I always thought-no, I always believed, that you would find a way to defeat Ganon, I never lost faith in you over these many years…," she murmured.
With shining eyes, Zelda turned around to face him, clasping her hands to her chest. She continued, "Thank you Link...The Hero of Hyrule."
"May I ask…," she spoke, her eyes glazed with what seemed, a memory of the past.
"Do you really remember me?" Zelda questioned, her hands still clasped close to her as if for one second to hold onto a hope and the other, to protect herself. Her voice lingered amongst the grass blades in the field.
Link was frozen in time. He could now feel what once was the adrenaline of battle, seep heavily into his bones. All his weight sunk to his feet, anchoring him into the earth. He blinked slowly. His mind was trying to keep up with what was occuring around him.
Behind what was now the Sacred Ground Ruins, the sun was shining down upon them in the field.
Link felt the breath of the wind and saw the long grass respond to it. His pointed ears started to ring, and he could not comprehend how his hands could feel numb and have such a tingling sensation at the same time. That feeling swept from his cheeks to his knees, making him force a foot forward, and exhale a quick breath.
Link lifted his eyes to meet Zelda's. With a pensive look on his face, he opened his mouth, only to be quickly cut off.
"As-," she cleared her voice glancing at him sheepishly for interrupting, but continued.
"As I have watched you, it seems as if you have...well perhaps, recalled some memories of your own. You have a knowing air that surrounds you," Zelda paused and glanced down but turned her eyes back up to him with determination.
"It is as if you understand the gravity of the situation that has befallen on Hyrule these last one hundred years, as if you have experienced the past yourself." She mentioned earnestly, with her voice lowering into a whisper at the end, eyes falling back to the earth.
"I do," Link spoke, his voice sounding gruff to both their ears after not speaking for such a time.
Zelda snapped her head back up to his face, eyes widening with hope.
Link stopped her, with a raised hand.
"I do remember... at least what memories I have gained back since awakening." He answered, his hand falling to graze the side of his dirtied ancient armor greaves. His voice sounding hesitant. He was still unsure what the implications of this true could mean.
Link brought his hand to the scruff of his neck and rubbed there, as was his nervous habit. A small voice inside his head nigged at him to say more, but he could not give her more than that at the moment since he had not yet spoken about his recovered memories to anyone but Impa.
As he spoke, Zelda's lip formed a slight downturn in frustration. She could not decipher how he truly felt just like before. Even after one hundred years some things just do not change. But with a rush of emotions, she righted herself.
"After all that we have been through, to be even standing here now- alive, I shall accept that answer," She spoke, honestly. Her rationale was that after all that had happened that they have time to figure these details.
Link let out a breath, returning her small smile.
Zelda took a step towards him and grasped his left hand with both of hers. She took a deep breath and let it out as she gazed around the area, her eyes soaking in the land before her.
The hand in hers felt like it tethered her to this world after spending the last one hundred encased within the power of the goddess in the Castle.
She felt a spike of fear that all of this could quickly slip away, as it once had. Zelda did not want to have to endure the detachment she felt towards this world any longer.
Link could feel Zelda's hands tighten around his own. His eyes studied her face strategically as her gaze swept around. He could sense her hesitation and gently brought his right hand to join his left to encase both of hers.
Their eyes met, searching each others for the answers that neither of them truly had at the moment. With a smile, Zelda shook her head out of the fog that clouded her. An undeniable, but unknown emotion settled upon her heart.
It seems he is always there, protecting her, even from her own mind.
Link dropped his hands after a moment of comfort still having the sense to keep a slight distance of propriety from the princess.
Zelda found her voice again, "For the sake and respect of Hyrule, we must continue on with our duties and focus on strengthening the land again." After all, she thought, this is what they were born into.
Zelda turned her gaze sideways to look at the castle with slight trepidation.
"My senses are telling me the first place to start...is within the castle, as we are already so close," she spoke. "I feel we might find what we need to start our journey, there," Zelda continued knowing that it was time to plan a course of action.
"Off we go!", she spoke as she turned and started to make her way towards the castle, expecting Link to follow.
Link took a moment to glance at the castle thinking that in all its destruction, it still had an atmosphere of glory one which was still standing...after all this time.
But yet, his insides felt like a swirling storm was brewing.
He turned his eyes to Zelda and couldn't help but wonder how much she had seen with her own eyes of her home in its current state. Link wondered if she saw the castle's destruction before she became fully under the influence of the power of the goddess...
Author's Note: To those reading this, I hope you have enjoyed yourself! I am open to constructive criticism, so if I am making a terrible mistake, let me know (:
I have a question for you all, one that I am so curious of, since I do not personally know many who are into the LOZ world.
(P.S. I have gone through to re-edit my first chapters to make the story flow better)
What was one of your most special or cherished Legend of Zelda moments? One that stands out to you!
Mine relates to an emotion of fondness. I remember sitting in my room as a young girl with my father and brother, staring into our tiny box tv, with a HUGE stack of papers that had the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time walkthrough printed on them. I remember back when the walkthroughs had no pictures or videos included, when it was straight old black computer text printed onto paper. I remember my dad highlighting them to figure out where we were at when we got stuck! At this age, I was still young and my Dad and brother controlled the N64 console, never thinking that maybe I would like to play. Little did they know their daughter and sister would become the most obsessed with the series in our family. It is such a fond memory that I look back on with rose tinted glasses. It was one of my first big discoveries. I loved the music, the story, the new 3d graphics, everything about this new world of Zelda.
It's funny to think back on a time where even I got Zelda and Link mixed up!
See you all next chapter!