The Secret Memory
Links POV
I stood in Rito Village having just released the final champion, Revali, from his 100-year torment. Vah Medoh was perched above him with his sights on Hyrule castle; his beam intersecting with the other beasts. Not for the first time I felt worry dig into his stomach but not for myself…
It was the princess that filled my mind. The Princess, who loved studying the vast secrets of Hyrule and Sheikah technology. The princess, that sacrificed her desires so that she may unlock the power to seal Calamity Ganon away. The princess, who saved my life. I shudder at the thought and felt the sense of failure I always did when recalling the Ash Swamp ever since Impa directed me to this final memory.
"No more time for this" almost angry at myself
"She has waited one hundred years fighting that beast for me… she will not have to wait much longer."
I pull out the Sheikah slate about to teleport to the Wetland Stables before I hear a very familiar sound. I walk over with a slight smile on my face knowing exactly who the sound will lead me to.
"Kass"
"Ahh, we meet again! I'm taking a moment's rest from my tireless search for the ancient songs to perform in my hometown."
"You deserve it… you've travelled the world"
"I must ask something of you, I've a song you need to hear. I wish to speak with you, so this will take some time. Is that all right?".
"Of course, my friend."
"Ohhh, thank you so much, I wanted to talk to you about my teacher. My teacher was of the Sheikah tribe. He was the royal poet for the Hyrulean royal family. At the time there was a beautiful princess quite close to my teacher in age apparently. Although he must have known it was doomed to be unrequited, my teacher fell in love with her…But the princess had only eyes for her escort her appointed knight."
'Zelda! She….' My mind filled with hope and then despair
"My teacher was consumed with jealousy… he fumed that he was neither nobility nor royalty himself. And then Calamity struck."
'And I left her to fight it alone'
"… my teacher believed a hero would appear to beat back that calamity. He poured that belief into a song." Kass mused, turning to face the Hebra mountain range. "And that song is what I need you to hear".
'Remember Link… please you must remember' feeling my brow crease, willing myself to remember…something more.
He begins…
"An ancient hero, a Calamity appears
Now resurrected after ten thousand years.
Her appointed knight… gives his life
Shields her figure… and pays the price"
The princess' love [my heart skips at this] for her fallen knight awakens her power/And within the castle the Calamity is forced to cower.
But the knight survives! In the shrine of resurrection he sleeps until from his healing dream he leaps!.
For fierce and deadly trials await
To regain his strength. Fulfil his fate
To become a Hero once again!
To wrest the princess from evil's den
The Hero the princess must bring the light back to this land.
AGHHHH
I'm perched above hyrule castle, looking at three figures on the wall. There's a guardian behind them and some soldiers tinkling behind them.
"Do you understand" King Rhoam said softly.
"Yes I understand" Zelda replied tears welling up in her eyes. She turns, struggling to contain her liquid from rolling down her cheeks, bolts back into her room. In her turn Zelda accidently pushes the Link from 100 years ago to the ground, who was kneeling behind her out of respect for the king.
Link slowly rises to his feet and settles himself outside the princess' door making sure no-one was going to disturb her while she was vulnerable.
….
Link stood up as swiftly as some hyrule knights come over to Zelda's room. As the two knights gingerly attempt to step past the appointed knight he draws the sacred blade. One menacing look and a quick shake of his head indicates that under no circumstances will the princess be disturbed. The knights wisely compromise by reminding Link that the king wishes the princess leave the castle immediately.
"She will leave when she is ready". He said in a tone that said the conversation was over.
The two knights nod and depart. Link watches them carefully until the door ahead was closed and he was alone. He visible sighs and lowers his legs so that he can lean against the door of Zelda's sanctuary once more. But his back met something much less solid than a wooden door. He'd rolled into the Princess herself.
The memory moved itself. So that I was now seeing the world from my own perspective… well my perspective from 100 years ago.
"huh" I quickly scramble to my feet not wanting to embarrass myself in front of her. I face her and I see a face I've never seen before.
It's Zelda, her normally piercing blue eyes are barely visible as they are squinted in pain as tears escape from their lids. Her cheeks are burnt red with grief and her normally flawless golden hair is dishevelled, strands of it falling onto her face. The beautiful princess collapses into my arms which quickly latch around her frame. Her tears flow freely. She whispers one thing muffled against my shirt "I'll never send you away again".
….
"What happened… are you okay hero."
"Ahh" I shout a threatening beak a mere 5 centimetres away from my face. "Kass, I'm sorry I just remembered something…" his voice dying off into nothing at the last word. "Thank you Kass, thank you for passing on your master's final song. It was exactly what I needed to hear. But I have to go now".
"Save her, hero".
I nod, filled with courage once more and a longing that I haven't felt in what I'm sure is exactly one hundred years.
…
Third Person POV
Wind and rain is what he should have felt as the skies pour down with all the force the goddess appears to be able to muster. But Link didn't feel any distraction. He spurred the white stallion…
"Come on" he mutters with force.
The relative of the royal steed appears to understand my goal and gallops with all its might through the mud of Hyrule field. The darkness of the castle surrounded by the pure malice of Calamity draws closer and closer. Two guardians patrolling the castle entry creep in their menacing way towards Link and his horse lining up their shot. Leaping off his horse backwards, time seems to slow down. He drew Revali's bow and fired two ancient arrows destined for the treacherous technologies. Gracefully landing on his feet as gravity pulls him down, the guardians tumble and explode. The hero incarnate looks up at Calamity's incarnation swirling around the castle and draws the sacred blade. With the wind howling through his hair and the rain dripping down his face he enters Hyrule castle. For Zelda.
….
Zelda's PoV
"May I ask…" my gaze wondering over Hyrule lustrous landspace for the first time in 100 years "do you really remember me?"
Link slowly approaches me and I can hear the grass crack under the heavy step of his soldier boots. He extends his hand to me holding a..
"a silent princess" I gasp, feeling my lips spread into a wide grin. "You…:"
"I missed you princess" the hero interrupted before she could finish her thought. "And you'll never have to send me away again".
Confused, I take a moment to think
"what do you.."
"wait.." comprehending what Hyrule's hero was referring to.
"that memory is not one that the Sheikah slate…" she paused "should have showed you" she finished much softer than she started.
"I don't remember everything, Zelda" (I smiled at the use of my name 'the first time he's said it actually') "but I remember you".
Link stepped forward and embraced me, holding me tightly above my waist. I move my arms around his shoulder and fall into his comfort...quietly hoping this moment will never end.
'Surely he can't remember how I….' she thinks
"Do you remember how I feel about you?" My eyes snapped open as my thoughts betrayed me. My heart starts to beat slightly faster than it should.
Link opens his mouth and softly says, "I love you too."
A/N I would love some positive criticism about the way I write. I'm a law student so I typically write more direct than such creative pieces demand. I plan on adding more chapters as I sort out the particulars but I do have a vague idea where I want this story to go.