I never wanted this.

To be PERFECT.

I never missed the glances on the street. I tried to, but they surrounded me. Of reverence and hate. Some hated me for how "wondrous" I was. Some loved me for the same reason.

I never had a friend. Those who hate you won't speak to you; those who adore you don't know what to say when they meet you. They idolize you far too much to talk to you normally. Even Zelda, the princess I had long ago talked to as a child, before all this; the girl who had once looked at me as if I was just another person, now gave me glances like I was Farore herself.

The entity who had given me this accursed power. I didn't want it. I never had.

Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered. To protect this damned power from the one who actually wanted it, Ganon.

I told myself he was evil, that my life would be even worse if he got hold of it.

After a few lifetimes of fighting, that kind of logic sort of loses its grip.

Not like it mattered. I would always fight, whether I wanted to or not. I was the hero of time; even if I wanted to stop, that feeling of obligation that I hated burned within me, drug my feet from temple to temple. I had tried to stop before; but after sleepless weeks of a fire within me, I gave in.

Most people fear death. I was indifferent to it at this point. I had died and been reincarnated for millennia now.

Even death wasn't an end for me. I would always have to come back, fight. Fight fight fight. For my own life, for the land. For the people who hated me and idolized me.

For the goddess who gave me this accursed power.

So I lie in the cold grass, damp with night dew. It's not comfortable, but I'm exhausted enough to let sleep take me under anyways. To be haunted with nightmares from all the horrors I've seen, of the monsters that plague every lifetime I have.

I can't even escape in my sleep.

In the morning, I will have to pick up my sword and fight through another day.

I have to fight through every day and night.

The triforce on my hand glows brighter as I drift off.

I never wanted this.

Catz: Original idea from Monster, this story's companion piece. I figured Link decided to have one too.