a/n: This is the second songfic for the Taylor Trilogy for Zelink. You dont have to read Teardrops On My Harp since they're not relevant to each other!
Zelda and Taylor Swift's "Love Story" don't belong to me!
happy reading!
~ loveandzelink
Love Legend
.
She was 9.
He was 10.
She stood leaning against the balcony's white marble railing. Her cerulean eyes were gazing at the wispy clouds in the impossibly blue sky and the spring breeze was lifting her grainy blonde hair like golden wings.
He stood transfixed by the young girl's elegant beauty below in the castle courtyards.
He had to talk to her.
So he climbed the huge Deku Tree with the outstretched branches to the girl who stood on the balcony. The boy's lean muscles were able enough to climb over to the branch, his curiosity growing by each step he took.
She was drawn by the rustling of the ancient Deku Tree in front of her. Her eyes fluttered over to the creaking tree and she took a silent step back, for precaution. She was ready to scream for her guards if necessary.
But it was only a boy.
A boy camouflaged in a green like the rustling leaves, a green tunic with a floppy, green hat. She was uncertain of his strange outfit, but it was the boyish grin on his face that called her to tiptoe forward. He looked none like an enemy.
"Hi," he greeted, extending one of his raw rough hands onto the balcony's railing. "I'm Link!"
She was fascinated by Link's audacity to greet her in such an informal manner. Informal, however, he spoke in an amiable manner.
"Hi," she smiled kindly and took his hand in her silky gloved one, "I am Zelda."
The glove was so soft as though the clouds above and her soft smile stirred something anew within him. He liked this girl already and widened his grin to reach his flashing blue eyes.
"Hi, Zelda," he tried out her name and it felt right on his tongue, "do you want to play with me?" His grip on her hand nudged toward his side of the tree.
She thought. Being a princess, she had no time to play. It was studying, watching her father be in action, solving tiny disputes around Hyrule, going to the royal balls, and—worst for last—more studying. So after thinking of all she has to do, she realized she does not know how to play.
'Well,' she concluded, 'the Minister always said it was good to learn something new.'
With that, she leaped gracelessly as possible over the railing and answered Link, "Come on, Link! Let's go play!"
.
She was turning 14.
He was 15.
She hoped he wasn't angry.
He wasn't. However, he was curious of the wealth that surrounded him like air. On the party goers' bodies, on the banquet located at the rich gold walls, in the air of tasteful music, and even on the waiter and waitress' outfits. He wondered if one of the buttons on a prosperous Lord's vest would pay for a year of food for his self.
She nibbled on her lower lip.
"Stop that," Midna, a fellow Princess, hissed at her friend, "or that pretty boy you keep babbling about is going to kiss some chapped lips."
She shrieked soundlessly in response, and turned back with a flushing face to Midna. She blushed farther as her Twili friend twitched her lips into a smile.
"He doesn't think of me that way," she whispered and pulled Midna towards a corner, "he'll just probably fall in love with you."
Midna laughed, a cackling giggle. "That's too bad," she smirked, turning Zelda around, "because he doesn't seem to think so."
He stride toward her with a smile, not a grin, plastered over his handsome face. His eyes were always the brightest azure with the same childish glimmer of mischief. However he looked like the rest of the party goers with the opulent clothing. The clothing she had begged him to wear to this certain party.
"You should tell him," the Twili Princess whispered into Zelda's long ear before mingling away.
She bit her lip again as he finally stood before her.
"Hi." His voice had much deepened from 5 years ago. She noticed days ago when he started growing and maturing into almost a stranger she knew for so long.
"Good evening Sir Link," she whispered, dropping her gaze down as she curtsied.
"Zelda," he whispered as well, "what's with all the formalities?"
His husky voice had softened to an almost child-like tone. If only.
She terribly the way it used to be.
His masculine tone rising, he asked, "Would you do the honor of dancing with me?"
She nodded timidly.
He placed one of his hand on her waist, the other entwined with her gloved hand. The glove looked as same as the one she wore when they first met. She again yearned for those days as she positioned her other gloved hand onto his left broad shoulder. In the middle of a Hylian waltz, they began to dance without any enthusiasm. His eyes bore in her wavering cerulean gaze but she, once or twice, was able to made eye contact without dropping her eyes at his somber expression.
"What's going on, Zel?" he asked in a voice fit for a whimpering puppy. Her eyes had broken the contact again, when they glanced at a newcomer at the huge maple doors of the entrance. "I thought you were supposed to be happy and cheerful and—well—you since it's your fourteenth birthday."
Her fourteenth birthday. The year she dreaded the most. The year when the ball was to be held for all suitors asking for her hand in marriage. She hated that she was finally fourteen and that he didn't know why. She knew she couldn't keep him hidden in the dark anymore.
"Link." She looked at him, this time with a fierce glint in her usual shaky, cerulean eyes." I have to tell you something. Something important." She paused, noticing her father watching her every move in the corner of her eye. "So important that you'll probably won't believe me. Because I should have told you five years ago. From the very moment I met you."
Her father now began to move—Zelda was watching—and headed towards her. She fixed her gaze back on him. Her best friend.
"What is it?" Link cocked his head in curiosity, oblivious to the king's movements.
"I am Princess Zelda of Hyrule, not just your best friend Zelda…" she declared quietly, her blurry eyes shifting to the shiny flooring.
Then the King—her father—finally made his way over and stopped behind Link's still figure. He watched his daughter—the princess—before he finally clamped a gloved hand onto Link's shoulder.
.
She was observing in silence.
He was staring at his scuffed boots as the King lectured.
She hid behind a pillar, clenching and unclenching her fingers onto the white stone. She nibbled on her lower lip every time it seem he was about to risk a look her way. She was so angry at herself for getting him—her best friend—in trouble for when he had done nothing wrong. Nothing.
He was innocent yet he was being told he could no longer visit or communicate with the princess. His punishment.
"For what crime?" she yelled into the thick folds of her gown. "He doesn't deserve this when he has done no wrong! He has done nothing wrong! Nothing!"
Just then, the king was patting him on his shoulder, the tiniest bit of sympathy that he had to restrict such lengths.
He lifted his gaze off the ground over to her, conspicuously hiding behind a pillar.
She gazed back, forcing her apologies to be able to be seen through her almost watery eyes. As if all her accursed world of royalty and how it hurts her, could be seen in those eyes.
He shook his head—as if cursing himself for knowing her in the first place—and then turned back to her father. His eyes glittered something she couldn't have seen, he turned much too quickly. The King faced him, his wizened face showing the tiniest emotion of curiosity before he retreated his hand that was awkwardly settled on the young man's shoulder.
That young man then began to speak with such vehemence, such determination, such courage. His voice heightened to sound much older than what age he really was. He stood his ground, all the while words of hope for him and her were rolling off his tongue.
When he stopped—when he thought the almost smile on the King's lips meant something or even anything—his mouth shut and his words of hope rang to a halt.
The King paused, taking in the boy's angrily determined features and the tense posture he stood and upheld. He then glanced at the pillar where his anxious daughter hid conspicuously.
The King finally looked back at the boy before frowning in a foreboding lost hope.
Her father shook his head once. The King leaves, not waiting for his reaction. Him, her best friend. As she, his best friend, immediately ran over to her father and tried but barely budged his decision.
Him, on the other hand, bent down to pick a pebble on the ground and threw it intentionally, but more so bitterly at the spot where the King last stood.
Where his hopes were last crushed.
.
She ran into his arms.
He was upset, but never angry enough to be mad at her.
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed into the vest she had lent him. Lent him so he could get into the ball. "So so sorry…"
"Sorry isn't going to solve this," he responded quietly. He has yet to wrap his arms around her. To comfort her. Like always, ages before. "Zel."
She doesn't say anything, only burying her tear-stained face further into his neck. Her pale arms gripped tighter around his waist. The waist which was covered with a ruby red sash. Another item, she had lent him so he would get into the ball, in a world he did not fit in.
"I am… I just… I did not want to tell you…" She lifted her face off his now damp shoulder but kept her crying face to the floor. "I did not tell you back then because something told me it was going to be better that way. And I did not know why it was better. Now, I believe I know why."
"Why?" he sighed with weariness adding onto his deep murmur. His hand tiredly ran its way through messy blonde hair.
She felt braver, more confident, more courageous as she leveled her face to his slightly downward one. She waited for his azure gaze to meet hers.
"Link…" She breathed out deeply when his eyes met hers for only a fraction of a second. "Things would have been different for the worst, would it not? You would act like everyone else in Hyrule as I would have to act like the only princess. I did not want us to have a dull and meaningless relationship like that. Not when you were and still are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me."
He smiled. He couldn't help it. The princess had called him the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to her.
She smiled back, hope lining the curves of her lips.
"Zelda," he still spoke in his quiet articulation, "what you did was undeniably foolish." She dropped her jaw and wrenched herself away from him, glaring at him with a mix of shock. He continued on however, raising his head to level with her eyes that gleamed hurt. "But I understand what you mean. Maybe things would have been different. I would not have liked that either. However, I still have may been able to see you… even if I was another nobody in your life."
She could not understand why her father had rejected him. He always knew how to speak in a way to console her misery.
"I know what your father said, Zel. But I want to see you again in this lifetime." At last, she was in solace as he spoke tender words and Zelda situated herself snugly back into his warm arms. Her best friend's warm arms. "We have to face the problem at hand."
She agreed by nodding energetically into his luxuriously handmade wool tunic. One of his arms rested on her waist as the other pulled her head closer, deeper onto his chest. In return, her arms wound around his cold yet warm pulsing neck.
It felt right yet nothing was right. He sensed her distress and patted her head like she was a child again. If only they both were.
"Don't worry." He smiled a soft reassuring smile. "We'll find a way to solve this and see each other whenever and ever."
She hesitantly removed herself from the soothing embrace to stick out her pinky finger. "Promise?"
He chuckled, the first sign to show he was truly happy that night, before twining his own pinky with hers. "I promise."
.
She was afraid she was going to be found and dragged back into the castle. Back into the life she detested and loathed and so greatly despised.
He was afraid she wouldn't have come. He was afraid he was losing his trust in her when he realized he was afraid of such thing.
But then he saw her.
She stood with her back out on the balcony, closing the glass doors before gripping her heavy, dark, cloak around her shivering body. She breathed out the cold night air before leaning over the balcony's marble railing.
He sighed out of relief when his eyes did not deceive him. He saw she was there. Right there.
Like so many times before, she leaped over the railing and landed with a small squeal onto the old arm of the Deku Tree. When a small breeze passed, she bit back another squeal when her slipper-clad foot momentarily lost its footing on the bumpy branch. He hastily stood at the trunk of the tree, his arms outstretched to catch her if she lost her footing again. But fortunately, she fell to the grassy ground on her own two feet.
"I feel like I'm 9 again," she giggled, wrapping him into a friendly but tight embrace.
"You can be whatever you want to be. You're free now," he replied in a ghostly whisper, embracing her just as tightly.
They then let go and, hand in hand, they ran out of the balcony's sight to the castle's gardens. They snuck through a hedge bush, although ignored the many leaves that littered their dirty blonde heads. Their feet found the worn pathway of the garden and stepped on with light footsteps.
"It's so peaceful here at night," she sighed contently, with her hand over her heart.
He agreed with a short nod. Blooms of all colors and scents flourished around the pathway; adding onto the lovely atmosphere the night had to offer. Link noticed one of those blooms so his fingers plucked at a dusty pink iris and he idly placed it behind one of Zelda's long ears. She flushed a color similar to the flower then laid a slightly shaky hand over the beautiful blossomed plant.
"Thank you, Link… it's beautiful," she mused, caressing the flower's soft skin.
"Did you know one of the irises' meanings was of wisdom?" He kept his eyes on the garden's walkway as they walked on. "I thought that you were always the intellectual one, Zelda."
'Intellectual…?' she wondered silently, pulling her hand back and habitually over her rosy lips to avoid nibbling her lower lip. 'What could—'
Suddenly, she was yanked into a carnation bush. She collided upon soft dirt before he joined with her and protectively covered her petite body with his quite larger one. He pushed her back into the staining mulch where they silently lied on their stomachs. His hands grabbed at the flowers to cover their dark clothing, to camouflage into the dirt. She then felt his arm curl around her waist and pull her closer into his warm self. A moment was stilled when she made contact with his chest, although covered by layers of dark fabric.
Finally, she heard it. She heard the footsteps. And voices.
Guards making their rounds.
"It'll be alright," he whispered, barely audible below the guards' chatter.
She did not move, only for a few moments before tucking her head into his snug shoulder. She shut her eyelids tightly, wishing to escape being the princess for only a little while longer.
.
She was 16 and bored out of her mind.
He was 17 and trying not to sigh in boredom. The king praised him for upgrading to a Lieutenant in the Hyrulean Army. Another upgrade in three months. Another boring ceremony to announce the such. The continuous praises flowed from the King's excited tongue. He paused so often to clap him—a Lieutenant at such an age—on the back. He stepped forward from the force of the hit.
Finally, the King ordered of him to kneel before him. The Princess exhaled in relief and threw her head back against the red velvet of her throne. Her cerulean eyes flitted to the gold and marble ceiling as her ears were the only attentive part of her.
He did kneel before the King, his head bent toward the floor that reflected his inattentive expression. He sighed at his mirror counterpart, but his reflection sighed back at him as well.
In a strong, loud, voice the King declared, "Sir Link, I now dub you Lieutenant Link of the Hyrulean Army." With that, he touched the young man on both of his shoulders with a tip of a polished sword. "Rise, Lieutenant."
Everyone in the room then cheered and threw their hands in the air, waving to the happy Goddesses above.
As the audience laughed, cheered, and smiled, the newly promoted Lieutenant then took the time to suggest something anew to the King. Something anew, however, that has been on his mind ever since he was proscribed from the Princess.
One quick glance at her. She caught the sneaky glance, watching what he intended to do next.
He exclaimed in a voice to discreetly snatch the King's engrossment of his happy subjects, "Your Majesty."
His voice was loud enough to get only the King's attention. But she snapped out of her fog of boredom to watch with both alert eyes and ears.
He coughed once in anxiety before suggesting, "Sire, now that I am of some status will you be able to allow me to escort the Princess during times you have control over to choose? She is becoming of age to be seated in a position as you and needs a well trained guard to protect her."
The King doesn't even pause. He snorted a type of scoff and drew his head back absently into the air.
"Absolutely not, Lieutenant. Your duty is still to the soldiers and Hyrule as I am the one who will be holding the princess' safety into my own hands."
He felt his hopes once again, be crushed by the same exact person. She wanted to rush out of her throne and grab her best friend into a comforting hug. Instead, she sat firmly at her seat while yelling internally like the first time his hopes, and hers, were dashed.
He nodded once. "I understand, Sire. If you will excuse me…"
He didn't even wait for the King's response. He just stride out of the room, feeling the intense gaze of sympathy on his departing back. From her. But she will beg him to keep on trying. In the meantime, she hoped of his advancement in the army will give them more time together. Like they always wanted it to be.
.
She was half convinced to do so. But it was seemed so risky, more so to fail than to succeed.
He was convincing her to run, to have a life with no limits, to be free from the chains shackled from her royal blood.
She wistfully yearned for that life. To get away of the rumors of a Gerudo man attempting to destroy her kingdom, of the more rigorous tutoring, of the hopelessness each time her father looks down at her when she fails at listening.
But she knew her duty is to her kingdom and to her family.
"I am so sorry," she uttered with sincere apology. "But I cannot. You know that, Link."
He thought he was foolish to try. He knew he truly was.
"I know. I hoped just this one time…"
She only listened when his sentence trailed off. She badly wanted to say his hopes were not of vain. But as always, she was silent.
"I'm sorry, as well. I should have known this was not a good time. Not when there are threats from a desert tribe which finally brought a man… a man of evil intentions."
He glanced at her. She seemed apologetic that she wasn't doing or saying anything.
"Hey, hey." He took her chin into his long fingers. "It'll be alright, it always turns out alright."
"So the rumors are true?" She weakly responded. Her curtain of blond hair covered her sickeningly pale expression.
"I-it seems… It's probably…" He focused on her as he sputtered unfinished answers. "…Yes."
She wound her arms around herself while her trembling body began to hide itself. He had never saw her react this way before. Immediately his arms also wound around her even more trembling figure.
"Let us go then!" she suddenly shrieked, insanity laced into her normally quiet voice.
"Zelda." He leaned away to place his hands onto her quivering shoulders. "What's wrong? Are you all right?" He gave off a strong vibe of intent concern. She could feel the emotions radiating like rays from the sun, but she still did not meet his gaze.
"I have dreamed about this…" she murmured more to herself than him. "A man from the desert to destroy Hyrule into what he wishes... Yet no one listens to me… Not even my own father…"
He stooped down to her level to hear more clearly. However, her head reached up to affront his curiously concerned eyes. She smiled sadly. "Let us go then. If no one will listen to my prophesy then let us go…"
He was confused by her words but he knew her true meaning behind those puzzling phrases. Gently, he leaned towards her, so she could hear him without any trouble.
"Zel." He swayed her delicately. He could see the bit of life coming into her dull eyes. "Everything will be alright. Because I will make it so." She broke out of her daze and gazed at him like when she had ages ago. When she counted on him and only him, to survive her dreadful life.
"How?" she mouthed, dropping her temple against his chin. He knew she was terrified of her dream and embraced her once again. "How can you do that?"
Against her golden yellow hair, he responded, "I will be the one to make certain that he will not destroy Hyrule."
His hands pulled her frozen head completely off his chin, then positioned face-to-face. She could not escape those flashing, no longer mischievous, eyes of his. When had he grown so much?
"I will do it for you." His voice dropped to the softer childlike tone, "For us."
"Promise?" she whimpered, raising a fisted hand with the pinky out.
He chuckled, thinking of the day of her fourteenth birthday, "I promise." With that, he clasped his pinky with her own.
.
She was scared well out of her mind.
He was scared as well, but his courage beat fearlessly against it. His battle with the notorious invader, Ganondorf, was long and laborious but it seemed he has the upper hand. His sword that was cutting through the death-filled air.
She was trying to break the wall that surrounded only him and the invader. Her hands uselessly beat against it as her mind cried internally each time he cried in pain.
He was all right, however. Some cuts and bruises. But the invader had none.
Perhaps it seemed more that he was going to reach the worst end of fate.
"NO!" she wailed as the Gerudo was able to force a deep gash into his—her best friend's—shoulder. The shoulder of the arm that held the legendary Blade of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword. The sword that fell out of the once tightly clasped hand. It collapsed onto the bloody ground. As he too collapsed, with the blood profusely streaming from the immersed wound.
"Ugh!" she groaned, forcing now her magic upon the invincible wall. The wall crackled for a second but returned to it's precious state. To circumscribe her wounded best friend and the desert man.
However, a second was all she need.
She pulled the quiver that carried the also legendary light arrows. She grasped it into her red palms as again, she strike the wall once more. Although this time, she enforced all of her magical ability into this one attack.
The assault caused a large hole in the wall for the shortest second.
"LINK!" she yelled while her arms threw the quiver into the opening. The wall closed just as the bottom of the quiver flew through and onto the blood-splattered ground. The ground of the battlefield.
He heard her cry, his eyes caught the sight of the quiver. His last hope that will not be dashed like many times before. Before he will become a hero of Hyrule.
The invader also saw. He grinned deviously before making his way to the quiver. His enemy's last hope.
But the fallen one was filled with determination. Determination as the last hope of Hyrule. The last hope for him and her.
He got up on shaky knees but he has got himself together. His clammy hand gripped the fallen blade, therefore stopping the dampness of anxiety. Exhaling a pained breath, he ran after the man. The man who was thought to be dead.
There wasn't enough time. The invader turned to look back to see the furiously fearless man sweeping before him and the hero plunged the Blade of Evil's Bane into his gut.
All movement everywhere was required to be frozen and listen to the breath of bewilderment of the Gerudo invader.
The hero knew the enemy was not dead. Light will end his terrible reign.
Thus so he dragged himself over to the quiver, leaving the Master Sword embedded into the invader. The fatal wound on his shoulder screamed at him to stop and writhe in agony, but courage allowed him to reach the quiver. His fingers gathered an arrow of hope. His vision was increasing to a condition of blurriness yet he seized his bow upon his back. A courageous figure got to his stumbling feet with the arrow was nocked into place.
"Goodbye, Evil King," he declared to himself. He lets his arrow fly across the air and into the heart of stone. When the arrow caught its target, she finally breathed. She saw the wall was fading and crackling into the nothing it once was.
He across from Ganondorf, dared the man to do anything more. There was no way he could do anything more. He was more good than dead.
And he was so and death took over.
The hero then stride over—displaying he had lost the straight posture he once proudly wore—to yank the legendary sword out of the enemy corpse.
With one last look, he turned around to face her.
She crashed into him. But she was safe. He was too, but with a few major injuries.
They simultaneously wrapped each other into a fierce hug, she weeping into the bloodstained tunic that was once greener than the once green grass below.
"It's over," he murmured into the golden head of his best friend.
.
She wondered about that day. If he truly meant his promise.
He kept his promise. Just not to her mind's idea.
Now she sat on her bed, the box of an engagement ring balanced on the palm of her hand. She glared at it but it did no good.
It did not erase the fact Prince Knil was perfect.
After fending off suitors for seven years, seven years waiting for her best friend, he came along. He was everything a princess dreams of.
With his sunny golden hair and emerald eyes, his appearance wasn't at all disappointing and displayed his good health. He was sweet, intelligent, honest, and did not rake his eyes over Zelda's feminine body. His country was prosperous; his people loved him as a fair and just ruler. Most importantly, he was quite under the age of 30.
But he was not Link.
She banged her head against the maple headboard and groaned.
There was no way her father would let this suitor go.
Again, she rapped her head against the board, again and again, hoping some magical answer comes to her mind.
There was nothing but a headache.
"Why, Link?" she moaned, gripping the ring box tighter to her palm. The velvet corners dug into her skin until pink with tiny indentions. "My father will not be letting this one go. He will be making the decision for me… and I will be wed to Prince Knil!"
She slammed the box onto her nightstand, causing a candle's light to flicker. She was furious that she did not understand why he chose adventure over her. She still remembered the last words he had said to her. Before he left for seven, long years.
"Zelda." He sighed. He always loved to speak to her when her floral perfume was surrounding him. As if she was surrounding him. "I have to go. People need me more than you do. There are others in danger and you know their lives are more important than you need for just my existence. It's not right Zel, and you know what heroes do…"
"I know I know," she mumbled into his neck."Heroes are needed for justice to be done…"
He pulled away to gaze at her, face to face, "I will come back though, Zel. I always do."
"Promise?" She held out her pinky. She knew she was too old for this, yet this was the last bit of her childhood she had left.
He smiled to reach his flashing azure eyes, "I promise." With that, he hooked his pinky with hers.
"What kind of promise was that?" she yelled to herself. The injustice of it all. She slid off her bed and violently grabbed the ring box before marching over to the glass doors of the balcony. She felt the answer to her question lied in the outside.
Just as she was about to fling the doors open, there was the crack of thunder. Her hands returned to her sides. Instead, she leaned against the cold glass and blew the few strands of blond hair out of her eyes. She whined to the tiny box, "How much longer am I suppose to wait when it is already too late?"
Instead of the silence she expected, there was a sound behind her. Behind, on the balcony, was the sound of rock hitting glass.
She twirled around to face the rock-throwing suspect herself, and could not believe her eyes
.
She was angry at him. Yet never angry enough to be truly angry with him.
He stood on the ancient arm of the Deku Tree that reached out directly before the balcony. The balcony of his very furious best friend.
"I waited!" she yelled above the heavily pouring rain. "Seven long years for you!"
He stood, his traveling tunic soaked more and more by the second. He even kept the foolish, but childish, green hat. He wore clothes that were ragged from his adventures.
"And now you have come?" she shrieked, her voice unbelievably high enough to pink-faced, tantrum-throwing toddlers. "You have come when it is too late?"
He was silents, his eyes betraying no emotion.
Her blood boiled when she found no sadness, no guilt, no shame, none of them, in those still flashing azure eyes.
"LINK!" she cried with absolute anger mixed within his name. "Why come now! Why come now of all times?!" She slammed the damp velvet box onto the balcony railing. To show that he was too late. To prove that her anger was boiling her blood for a reason.
HE glanced once at the box, before staring back into her tearful, flushed face.
"TELL ME WHY!" Zelda tried to scream over a stormy sound that brought forth heavier raindrops.
He answered by neatly plucking the box out of her hand and sending it down onto the grass.
"WHAT—" she began again, but her breath stopped in her throat and demanded her to listen to him. He—her best friend since they were both young—knelt on the bumpy branch on one knee.
She was herself again; she was silent. The fiery pink on her face was vanishing and her thin arms stopped thrashing in angry gestures. Her blond hair ceased to hit her face when she shook her head in rage. The dampness of the rain brought some locks matted to her temple and cheeks, and her cerulean eyes lost the sullen spark, instead softly lighting in disbelief.
"Link." Her voice soft, murmured more to herself. "Link?"
"Zelda." His voice was deep, serious almost. "Zelda I—"
Instead of finishing that sentence, he pulled out a midnight-blue box from his traveling tunic. The box was even darker from the soaked tunic, but it held the jewelry safe. It had a small painting of a pink—more dusty than any other pink—fading iris from the rain water.
With that, he opened the box, revealing a blue—as blue as a nestling of robin's blue—a blue-hued stone set in an old-fashioned ring.
.
"Zelda." He stood up and stepped closer to the balcony, till her was face-to-face with her awed reaction. "I never will leave you again. I want to be next to your side, forever and always. I may have learned a lot from traveling all these years, but what I learned of most importance was that I love you. Nothing else mattered during those long years."
She choked.
"Zelda, I love you. And that's the only truth I'll believe in," he declared faintly so that only he and she could hear. "Will you—Princess Zelda of Hyrule—do the honor of marrying me?"
She stopped everything. Stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped thinking, stopped acknowledging that he had left her for the longest seven years of her life. Then she sunk on the balcony.
She couldn't believe out of all times in the world.
He smiled as he leaned over the railing to whisper directly into her long ear, "Did I mention your father said yes?"
"But," she mumbled, shaking her head disapprovingly, "he chose someone else, Link."
"No," he only said, pulling her head onto his shoulder. "I want you to listen to me."
She only exhaled, feeling safe against him.
"The King proposed a trade to me after I defeated Ganondorf. He worries for other countries. When he realized my heroic efforts, he told me in exchange for seven years of my own foreign adventures, I can ask for your hand in marriage."
"Seven years. That's long enough to find an appropriate prince," she murmured and looked up at him. He who faced tons of malevolent foes and ultimately survived.
"But you love me too much," he teased, brushing away the matted strands away from her face. "I knew you would wait for me."
"Oh, Link," she whispered and buried her head into the crook of her neck. It was damp but she could hear the pleasant pulse of her living best friend. In return, he pulled her soaked figure closer to his self.
The rain showered them with gifts of raindrops as the blessed silence filled the air.
"Now," he chuckled, brushing aside more matted locks behind her ear, "what's your answer?"
.
Zelda smiled with as much happiness gracing her smile.
Link was curious as she pulled away from the embrace to beam at him.
Laughing, she tucked her wet locks behind her ear and said, "I'd be honored to marry you."
Laughing as well, he smiled from the result of it all, before fetching the ring out of the box. The blue was the most beautiful blue the both of them had ever seen.
"Your hand, Zel."
She offered him her hand. He gingerly clasped her wrist and then the slid onto her ring finger. Where it belonged. With the ring in its proper place, she leaped over the railing and sailed right into his arms. Her arms wrapped around his neck as his under her knees and the other other backside.
They both observed where they were just as the rain began to lighten its downpour.
Beside the balcony on the exact same branch of the ancient Deku Tree who saw it all. Just like the first moment they met, it was a picture perfect scene of the past and present.
"Who would have thought?" he chuckled and laid his forehead against hers.
"I know," she giggled and laid her lips against his.
[end]
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