Hey guys, Midna here~
So basically this is my first ever fanfiction, so please bear with me here as I am just learning the ropes. This here is an old one I posted like two years ago, refreshed (because I've discovered this wonderful technique called *editing*. It's just majestic.) and hopefully you guys can enjoy it now that I've decided to keep up with it and not leave it dead for years *hides behind curtains*.
Anyway, this a more personal retelling of the Skyward Sword game from the lovely LoZ franchise, so if you have not played the game, yes, there will be some situational spoilers as the chapters continue. There's also some theories as the the backstory we don't see in-game, such as the creation of Fi, Demise and Ghirahim's pasts, and what exactly was going through Zelda's head as she did her own travelling.
*DISCLAIMER*
I do not own any characters or places or anything from Skyward Sword in here, all rights belong to Nintendo, so on and so forth.
And without further ado, let's go!
Grey clouds, dark and looming, surround him entirely. Suddenly, there is a wail; he turns and watches a golden-haired girl being thrown off of her Loftwing, her blue eyes wide with fear. The boy reaches out to her, straining desperately with a cry of her name, but he is unable to grab hold of her thrashing limbs. He feels his own bird being thrust skyward by the storming winds, tearing him farther and farther from the imperilled girl. With a final heave, he leans forward, feeling an almost painful pang of hope as his fingertips brush with hers... And then he is suddenly flung upward into a black nothingness, his last memory of the girl's terrified face as she tumbles far, far below the clouds with an endless scream...
Link awoke with a start, covered from head to toe in a chillingly cold sweat. His green tunic and baggy tan pants were plastered to his body, which was lying stiffly on the hard-packed earth of the Surface. The darkness of night hung in the sky, any and all stars hidden by the shadows of trees looming far above. He groaned and turned over, groggily lifting himself from the ground. As he did, a glow emanated from his sword and Fi, the spirit charged with guiding Link on his journey, emerged from his heavenly blade.
"You should rest, Master," she said in her strangely toned voice. Her azure eyes were, as usual, expressionless. "I detect an eighty-five percent chance that monsters more heavily populate this area at night. I estimate the risk of sustaining injuries significant enough to impede your travels to be approximately forty percent higher at this time." Fi floated in the air beside Link, her head tilted slightly like she was taking in every detail around her, examining it, and storing the information. The spirit girl would have looked almost curious, had it not been for the lack of emotion in her flat blue gaze. How could the Goddess's servant be so focused and yet so detached at the same time?
Link winced as he stood, his tired muscles aching in protest. "I just can't sleep, Fi. I keep having nightmares. About losing her, again and again. Zelda." Even saying the mere name of his childhood friend made his heart, still racing from the dream, thud unevenly. The image of the tornado that had torn Zelda from him, with its slashes of black and golden brown earth, flashed behind Link's eyes and he grimaced.
"That the spirit maiden would come across the surface world was preordained," Fi informed Link with her usual monotony. "There was, approximately, a zero percent chance that you could have retrieved her before her inevitable decent."
Link was unaffected by her words. If they were suppose to be helpful, which he couldn't tell, it didn't work. "I can't help it. It just seems like if I had acted any sooner, I could have stopped all this... this madness." He paused. Not sure of whether or not he wanted, or even expected, a response, he looked at his companion. Fi, however, said nothing. The tunic-clad swordsman didn't even know why he bothered to tell her anything about what he had bottled up from the recent traumas. For all Fi's knowledge, the Goddess's servant was a stranger to emotion. She couldn't empathize or offer condolences or do anything. She just spouted statistics and percentages that went in through one ear and out the other. As Fi's blank gaze stared patiently at Link, seemingly unaware of the boy's thoughtful silence, he supposed he told her about what he felt because... well, because he was there. And while he doubted that Fi would ever be a friend or a confidante, Link could look at her unblinking, unbreathing form when she appeared and try to pretend that he wasn't alone on his quest. That there was something human by his side.
The silence continued.
Link sighed, Fi's unyielding gaze and statuesque patience wearing on him. "I want to keep going," he said. "Into the temple. I can't waste any time- a few hours could be the difference between finding her and losing her again."
Fi nodded once. "As you wish, Master." She disappeared back into the Goddess Sword.
Lifting the blade with another sigh, Link looked up and around him, intimidated by the sheer size of the Faron province. Even now, far in the Deep Woods with what looked like an ancient marble temple towering over him, he instinctively knew that finding Zelda would not be easy. He slowly walked up the pale, ghostly gray-white steps and glanced at the arched doorway. Resting above its opulence was a red diamond, glowing in the dark of night.
With a well-aimed deku seed, Link released the elastic on his slingshot and triggered the mechanism that opened the doors to the temple. They creaked open ominously, and the smell of musty mushrooms and moss, mixed with the strangely fresh forest scents, wafted from beyond. Old, cracked stone stairs led down into darkness and from within its depths, the sounds of crawling, snapping and hissing creatures taunted the hero. He shivered subconsciously, then trekked forward into the old- but not yet abandoned- temple.
Zelda rushed forward, gasping for air and choking on tears as a Skulltula nearly caught her in its sticky web. She could still hear its annoyed hiss as she sprinted blindly forward, heard the echo even when she was far past the beast. Her heart pounded with desperation and fear, threatening to beat its way out of her chest.
She ran until all was silent with the exception of her racing pulse and the blood pounding in her ears. Zelda forced herself to breath- in, out, in, out- as she was safe, for now, in this short moment. But there was no time to rest. Still, however, she fell to the ground in exhaustion, heaving in deep pants than bordered on hyperventilation. Adrenaline all but spent on her brief spurt of energy, all the poor girl knew was fear and pain. The ache of her bruises and the sharp sting of scratches and cuts from various hostile plant life plagued her body. Her cracked lips seemed to throb in time to her violently sore feet. She was nauseous, her stomach protesting and feeling like it was turning over several times a minute. She felt like she was going to puke, but there was nothing left in her system to regurgitate. Zelda hadn't eaten breakfast the day before, and it had seemed so inconsequential at the time. She had had to help find Link's Loftwing, and then rush to the Wing Ceremony while anxiously praying for his success. And then the ritual itself, which she had prepared for for months- she took her role in representing Hylia very seriously- and wouldn't miss for anything. And then the day had seemed so nice and the moment had been so achingly perfect, and Link had been there and the clouds had been practically begging for the two to fly above them together.
A sob reached the blonde girl's lips as her mind went on a visual babble, trying to distract her from the harsh reality she faced. But her last good memories were so hard to bear, because everything they reminded her of was gone. Her beautiful home of Skyloft was gone. Her father was gone. Even Groose and his awful underlings were sorely missed because of how intertwined they had been in Zelda's daily life, whether it had been reprimanding their constant bullying of Link, or rolling her eyes at Groose's dangerous stunts and futile attempts to earn her favour. The professors were gone, her Loftwing, her room at the Academy. Sweet Kukiel and Gully, the young children she had fondly watched play in the Plaza of Skyloft. All the little things she hadn't had the chance to appreciate had been snatched and torn away.
There was an animalistic shriek not too far away, ripping her from her reverie, and Zelda looked up to see a fanged, underclothed goblin-like creature waving a crude blade at his companion. The creature's almost comical stubby legs did not take any attention away from its sharp, slobbering teeth and the way it mindlessly flailed its weapon. Almost against her will, she cried out again, and through the tears she shed the girl could see the pair of Bokoblins become alerted to her presence. The shrieking calls echoed again and the Skyloftian pushed herself to her feet, the pain almost blinding. The stone floor stretch in a long line, the left and right paths blocked by the swiftly approaching goblins. That left only going forward or going back, and she could not go back. Desperately, Zelda looked for an escape.
The log was thick and floated so nearby that the Bokoblins would probably be able to reach her regardless, but it was the young girl's only hope. Clumsily, she jumped towards it, grasping at the wet bark and clambering onto the floating object just as the monsters arrived. They glared at her with beady eyes and raised their weapons with more vicious snarls... and yet they did not come forward across the water. For all their vicious shrieks and cries, they didn't seem able to comprehend the mere foot of water that separated the pair from their prey. They weren't smart enough to get across or just reach for her. Zelda felt a hysterical laugh bubble up to her lips at her small victory although she was still captured with fear. It curled around her heart like icy claws despite her brief respite.
But the goblins weren't the worst thing she had to worry about.
Suddenly, her forehead felt like it was cracking open, and she grasped it with a helpless moan, the rest of her pains paling in insignificance. Not again, she thought with a moan, please! Zelda let out an agonized gasp as reality wavered, threatened by shockingly sharp pictures flickering behind her eyes. Her face, contorted in pain, fell slack as she slipped into an unfamiliar memory.
In her mind's eye, she stood in a stone room, neither very large nor very complex, but there was something almost intimidating in that simplicity. It was grey everywhere, save for a small alcove to her left, where new grass was bathed in a stream of sunlight that slipped through the cracked ceiling. However, that was just noticeable in her periphery. Right now, she looking down on a single motionless form: a large, rectangular stone block that emanated pale light, and when she floated forward and pressed her palm to it's surface, it was warm to the touch. Although it was clearly hardened rock, her slender fingers sensed a malleability in the substance. She knit her brow in concentration, imagining that eerie, pale light shaping the block, smoothing down the stone into... what, exactly? She was not yet certain.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to see that the slab of rock had changed, its rough edges now shaped into soft, smooth lines curving downward. It was a start, she thought to herself, but a small, thoughtful frown marred her expression. Using even more of her willpower, she closed her eyes one more and envisioned the light creating more details, more elaborate marks on the stone. With her hand still pressed lightly against it, she could feel the magical material bending to her will, changing and shaping itself to the woman's desired form.
After what could have been thousands of years or just a few short seconds- there was nearly no clear sense of time in this strange place, this strange memory- the shifting of the stone's shape slowed to a stop. She opened her eyes, and before her rested a statue of a youthful girl standing upright, her empty eyes locked on her creator. The woman was still for a moment, examining it, and then she leaned forward, kissing the glowing statue's forehead.
A piercing light engulfed the gray room for a split second, almost blinding her. Instinctively, she took a step back, wondering idly what it was that she had finished creating. Then the light retreated, closing in on itself, fading from white to cyan blue. It shrank until only the statue was surrounded- but there was no statue anymore. The stone representation of a youth now glowed faintly with life. The girl was bedecked in a short violet dress, gold and purple tights worn over long, graceful legs that floated just above the floor. Her skin was poreless, smooth and blue, the same shade as her short hair and wide, youthful eyes. In the center of her forehead, where she had been kissed, there was a diamond from which the light glowed strongest. It shimmered brightly once, and then the strange figure bowed down her creator.
"Your Grace," the blue and violet youth said in a high, clear voice. "My lady, Hylia."
Zelda inhaled sharply as her consciousness returned to the present, as if her wandering spirit had returned with the oxygen that filled her burning lungs. The light behind her eyes faded until the memory was barely even that. The scene was hard to grasp at now, but Zelda knew that it was an important piece of the puzzle that surrounded her. Frustrated by how the unfamiliar memory slipped just out of reach, her dark blue eyes watered with confusion, fear, hopelessness, and the feeling that the weight of the world rested on her shoulders. Which, in some ways, it did.
She allowed herself three more sobbing breaths- one, two, three- then forced herself to get pulled together. She stood up, balancing precariously on her log, and looked around. During the time that she had been unconscious, the goblins seemed to have left her. Had they given up on reaching her? Assumed she was dead? Maybe found some easier prey in this forsaken place? Zelda didn't know, but she was grateful.
She trekked forward, deeper into the dangerous temple, pushing open a door that led to a circular, golden-plated room. In that room, there were several other ways to go now that her path split in three; left, right, forward. Instinct told her that she was getting closer to her destination, although she didn't yet know what that destination was. She just followed her gut feeling, like the old lady at the Sealed Temple had told her to, letting it pull her in the right direction. But how would she know when she had arrived where she was supposed to be? The old woman had told her to search for the mystic spring deep within the temple's depths, but that wouldn't be the end of her journey. No, this was leading to something far bigger, far more complex than Zelda ever could have imagined.
The earth shook suddenly, and her heart stopped- someone was entering the temple. He's coming, her instincts warned, he's coming closer! Who, exactly, 'he' was was unclear, but it was a primal instinct that spurred the girl into action. Danger lurked near, compelling her to pelt forward, weaving this way and that to try and avoid the Skulltulas and Deku Babas that plunged intermittently from the ceiling in attempts to thwart her path. Between gasps, the girl couldn't help wishing that Link was with her. Sure, he could be a little lazy at times, but he had always held a special place in her heart despite his flaws. Not to mention, he was braver than she had ever been. And there was no one else in the world that Zelda would have trusted so wholly with her life.
But your journey must be completed alone, the old lady had warned her. Your special one will pursue you... but you mustn't look back. Focus on the task at hand.
Zelda wanted to argue; she didn't know what her task was! She was torn away from everything she loved and forced through the harsh and unforgiving landscape that was Faron Woods. She just wanted to go home, to feel the sky all around her and see the world above once more, dotted with floated islands that sailed above a sea of fluffy, sun-kissed clouds.
But all she could do was keep going forward, following her gut feeling into the unknown. Please, Zelda prayed desperately as she ran further and further into the temple's core. Let the Goddess be with me. Then she flinched, because it was slowly beginning to dawn on some part deep within herself that her Goddess was much closer to Zelda than she had ever dreamed possible.