of s a n d and s e a
Bright sunlight worms underneath a young boy's eyelids. Weakly, he raises a bone-thin hand and hides, curling into the side of a small wooden rowboat, burying his face in his arms.
And suddenly, Ico remembers.
He shoots into a sitting position, only to regret it immediately. His head throbs with pain, and he moans softly a name.
"Yorda…"
Slowly, Ico stands, taking care not to fall. He cradles his aching skull and blinks in the bright light around him, seeing that he appears to have washed up on a beach. Tall, ominous cliffs rise up before him, barring his way, and parallel to those a long stretch of sand disappears into the horizon. Turquoise waters lap at the shore impatiently, but Ico notices none of this as he flings himself from the canoe, only to lose his balance and fall face-first in the sand.
He mutters to himself as he picks himself back up, distracted by the question running through his mind.
Where is she? Where is she, the girl who had helped him through those trials in the Castle in the Mist—the girl who had very well saved his life?
The girl who he had failed… whose mother he had killed.
Ico stumbles down the beach, downcast. What had become of Yorda? He cannot remember how he came to be on the boat, nor can he recall what happened after he buried the sacred blade in the queen's heart.
Suddenly, Ico notices something white, too bright to be sand, up ahead. Hoping against hope, Ico quickens his pace, ever tripping in the wet sand and stumbling to his knees in the shallows.
And then he sees her. Lying still as death at the water's edge, pale-faced, but with more colour to her cheeks than he is used to.
There Princess Yorda lies, limp and white and beautiful in the sunlight.
Ico's breath catches in his throat and he lets out a cry, dashing towards her and falling to his knees in joy. Tentatively, he reaches out to brush a strand of pale hair off of her unblemished forehead.
But, before he can, she stirs and wakes, eyes fluttering open to reveal soulful, shining grey. She smiles up at him in the sunlight and whispers something he cannot understand.
Ico releases a choked sob of relief and lunges forwards to embrace her. Instead, his small hand passes right through her shoulder as if she were not there at all. Tears begin streaming unhindered down his dirtied face and the child stares in horror and disbelief as she smiles again, sadly this time, and reaches up as if to cup his cheek.
And then he blinks and she is gone, and it is only the wind caressing his face.
—fin.
this is based off the ending theory of ico that i liked the most—the one where the yorda that ico saw was just a figment of his imagination. it's so sad! i really loved that game, and i hope this little ficlet did it justice. :) and… oh yeah! ico is definitely not mine.
—n a n a