So I was expecting Link to meet another SC character in this chapter before realizing the chapter may be too long to include that encounter, so I decided to upload TWO chapters, the second one definitely having Link encountering the SC character...hope that's not too inconvenient-AHH! (ducks from audience member about to punch)
"He BETTER meet that SC character next chapter!" (shaking his fist at me)
Don't worry! Don't worry! He will! I promise...
"He BETTER," (audience member sits down and crosses arms)
(Whew...) Ahem, like I said, Link will meet the SC character next chapter AND will have a fight scene in the process.
"Good,"
Ye-Yes...now then, just to recap on how the dialogue works:
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This is a sentence. - Narration. No character speaking or thinking.
"This is a sentence." - Character speaking out loud.
'This is a sentence.' - Character speaking in his/her head.
This is a sentence. - Emphasis placed on the italic word in the normal course of the narration or the character speaking or thinking.
This IS a sentence. - Same as with the single italic, just a variation of expressing the emphasis.
This is a sentence. - All italics means the event is happening in a flashback of which I would give a quick note prior saying a flashback is occurring.
This is a sentence. - During a flashback, emphasis placed in the normal text word in the normal course of the narration or the character speaking or thinking.
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I do not own The Legend of Zelda or Soul Calibur.
Chapter 4 – Heartfelt Goodbyes
Link stayed with Hachibei and his family for four more days while he recovered and Chie sewed his tunic back together from their latest spar. The scratches and bruises had all healed and the tunic looked good as new, much to Link's delight. Hachibei also gave him an extra cloak he had and some shuriken for his travels. The cloak has a hood with a single-buttoned front and a mask buttoned on the inside of the hood that can cover the lower face of the user if they so choose.
Hachibei instructed Link to head to the port city of Osaka and look for port number three, as that one typically has ships that sail to Europe. It was unknown as to when the next ship would be sailing to the West, and so it was advised for Link to leave as soon as he was able. He gave Link a map of the island of Honshu and instructions on how to best get there, and to help keep his family safe, Link agreed to be blindfolded and taken to a remote area and make his trip from there. This was so in case any enemies found him, he could not tell them exactly where Hachibei and his family are hiding.
But as he was walking where Hachibei was guiding him, he didn't have the usual bright, adventurous energy that he usually had inside him when he was traveling. Instead, he felt very...somber. Saddened. Downcast...Almost to the point of tears.
He wasn't sure if Hachibei noticed when taking him to the remote area while he was blindfolded, but Link's thoughts were still focused on his time staying with them...and the goodbyes thereafter.
When the time came to say goodbye, Link found it was very...hard to do, harder than he expected. And for a while, he wasn't exactly sure why. For two months he had lived with them, and in that time he had grown rather...close to them. The way they treated him and took care of him in that time, it was...he wasn't sure how to describe it. It just felt so...nice. Wonderful, really. It actually felt...normal.
He had never lived with anyone like that in his life. And when they were actually saying their goodbyes, Link had finished playing his ocarina for them one last time. But shortly before leaving, Riki, to his surprise went out and gave him a hug, saying he was like the older brother he never had. Link was stunned speechless, both at his actions and his words, unsure how to react. To add to it, while Riki was hugging him, Chie shortly walked up to them and gave him a joint hug with Riki, with Hachibei saying she thanked him for being such a positive influence on her son.
Link had remained frozen...unsure what to say or do when they did that. It all just felt so...surreal to him, that is when a thought suddenly came to him.
'Is this what...family feels like?' he asked himself.
He never knew his parents. He never saw them in person or even had a picture of them. He didn't even know he HAD parents to begin with until the Great Deku Tree Sprout informed him after saving Saria in the Forest Temple. He knew absolutely nothing of his father, and all he knew of his mother was how she entrusted him to the Great Deku Tree before she died from her wounds, a casualty of a the great war in Hyrule, and there was no mention of him ever having a brother or a sister.
It almost felt like his time with Hachibei, Chie and Riki showed him...what he had been missing growing up. Or rather...what had been taken from him growing up. A picture of what life could have been like for him had things been...different. Normal. Not raised as a Kokiri normal, but...raised as a Hylian normal.
He felt like it was some of the happiest times of his life while living with them. And now...
He was leaving it all behind...again. That chance for a normal life that had long been denied him...
All he found he could do was give a small hug in return and whisper, "You're-You're welcome...And...thank you...for...everything," barely able to get anything out. His eyes threatened to shed tears, but he managed to hold them back at the time.
As he thought about it, he found it was the third time in his life he had said his goodbyes to someone, yet not wanting to leave...not knowing if he would ever see his friends...or whom he had started to view as family...again. Just like with Saria when he left the forest for the first time in his life...and again with all of his friends he had met in his journey in Hyrule who saw him off as he was transported to this world—Zelda, the Sages, Malon and Epona...
He never felt so sad in that moment. When he saw their heartbroken faces at seeing him leave, he almost stopped right then and there to not go on this quest to destroy Soul Edge. So he could stay with them...live a normal life like the Princess had intended...
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. 'Don't go there, Link...don't try to make it harder on yourself going down memory lane...'
He then felt the blindfold being taken off, snapping him back to the present. He adjusted his eyes a bit to the light, the sun starting to rise over the horizon.
Hachibei saw Link shake his head a bit just before taking off his blindfold and couldn't help but ask about that. "Is everything alright, Link?"
"Uh, yeah...I'm fine," he said rather slowly and looked anywhere but him.
Hachibei "Hmmed" in reply. He looked rather sad, a very contrasted look to the upbeat look he usually had. "I can tell something is on your mind, Link. Tell me, what troubles you so?"
"No, I'm fine. Really...I just..." he trailed off, unable to finish.
Hachibei, however, had learned how to read people for a long time. That's how he knew of Toki's corruption and Li Long's genuine feelings for his daughter, Chie, giving him his blessing in the process. As such, he had a pretty good idea what Link was thinking.
"You do not wish to leave, do you?" He said it more as a statement than a question.
Link looked up at him in surprise. "I-No, no. I'm just...uh," he sputtered out, unable to come up with a reply before looking to the side, trying to come up with some kind of a response.
"I could tell by your reactions to Chie and Riki you did not want to leave. Even now you are having second thoughts on what you want to do next."
Link opened his mouth as if to speak but nothing came out. Finally he looked down, unable to look him in the eye. His sensei always seemed to have a habit of knowing what he was thinking, even if Link didn't say anything.
He then gave a deep sigh at what the boy was likely thinking. It was so cruel a hand that fate had given him in life, and he rarely seemed to catch a break. "I am sorry one so young as you has been forced to face so many burdens, Link. I cannot imagine how you must feel, never having any time to yourself or live the way you want to," he said softly. He actually had started growing fond of the boy himself, especially the way he bonded with his daughter and grandson. And he knew those bonds were likely saddening him, making it harder for him to go.
Link remained silent as his sensei hit the nail on the head once again...He never seemed to be able to live the way he wanted before he was called to another journey in some way. To be sure, he did like to go on adventures; they always brought an excitement in him. Being able to see and do new things, meet new people and so forth. It was always appealing to Link to do all those things.
But he almost never got any rest or time to himself in between his adventures before he was shortly called to another one for people who needed his help—generally several days at most, hours at worst.
And most of all, his constant adventuring prevented him from returning home to Hyrule.
And to his friends.
For over two years he and Epona had traveled away from Hyrule, and both had become very homesick in that time. He was thrilled at finally being able to return home and see everyone again after so long, only to be horrified at the devastation that had occurred at the hands of the sorcerer.
He eventually stopped him, but when it was all over, Link felt deep inside that he was responsible for all the damage the sorcerer caused and the lives lost in his attack. That if he hadn't gone on his adventures, he would have been there to prevent the carnage and save all those lives.
Then as if to add insult to injury, shortly after stopping the sorcerer he is told of Soul Edge and the threat it posed to Hyrule, how it was in another world, and with one other very important detail...
Once he was sent to this other world, they had no way of sending him back.
As soon as he heard that, he wanted no part of it, much to the shock of the Princess and her handmaiden Impa who had informed him of the threat of Soul Edge. Whenever he wasn't there for Hyrule, the land suffered from his absence, he felt. It happened with Ganondorf in his seven year absence in the Sacred Realm, and it happened again with that sorcerer holding a piece of Soul Edge—and he wasn't about to leave Hyrule in danger like that ever again.
For the first time in her life, the Princess and bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom was at a loss at what to do. Sooner or later, this Soul Edge would eventually come to claim his missing piece if not dealt with before it became complete again, and who knows how powerful it would be then?
But the Hero and protector of Hyrule was choosing to stay, not wanting to leave his home in danger again. It was only thanks to a pep talk by Impa that convinced Link to go after Soul Edge. She first helped convince him that it wasn't his fault for not being there when the sorcerer attacked, stating if he had stayed in Hyrule then all of those people he helped in those other lands would still be suffering without his help, and that the world did not solely revolve around Hyrule.
That gave him pause when he thought about it, and actually made him feel a little better about it. Knowing he helped prevent people from suffering always helped him feel better on the inside. But it still bothered him that people still suffered in Hyrule when he was away, saddening his mood again.
When it came to Soul Edge, she argued it was best to go after it while it was still weakened and incomplete, before it had a chance to threaten Hyrule again. Link saw the logic in that, but it wasn't enough to convince him to go, not wanting to leave Hyrule behind. But the second and most important point she reasoned to Link was that if it was possible for a person or object to travel from that world to this world, then perhaps Link could find a way home in the exact same way.
That was the only thing that made Link even consider taking on this mission.
But even so, the thought of possibly never seeing his home or his friends again was too much for him to bear. He didn't want to leave his home after only having just returned.
And neither did his friends, who were devastated by the news when they later heard from the Princess.
Upon hearing the news, they were told that Link had only nine more days to prepare for his journey, when the sun and stars were best aligned to send him to this new world. A journey he didn't want to take to begin with.
His friends all met together to discuss what to do and whether they felt Link should go after Soul Edge or not. No one wanted him to leave, and yet knew the danger Soul Edge posed to Hyrule should it one day attack, which Princess Zelda assured would one day occur if not dealt with now. It could be years, months, maybe even weeks from then.
Eventually it was decided they were willing to let Link go after Soul Edge, but they would make sure Link had the best nine days of his life before then. They gathered together for a surprise party for him and told him of their plans. Link was indeed surprised by them, not just by their actions but their willingness and support in going after Soul Edge, even though they knew they might never see him again. Touched by their actions, that helped give him the resolve and support he needed to go on this quest. And he too made sure to make every day last as long as he could with his friends. For one day, each friend would spend a whole day with him and make the most of each day.
But as one act of reprieve for Link by the goddesses, the Inverted Song of Time he learned in Termina also worked in Hyrule, allowing Link and his friends to make each day literally last even longer, as if they had triple the time to spend each day thanks to the song's time slowing properties.
Link could honestly say they were among the best days of his life...ever.
They shared stories, had fun, played games, Link even received some gifts from his friends such as a newly crafted Slingshot, child-sized Goron and Zora tunics, and the Boomerang from Jabu-Jabu among others as thanks for helping and saving them and their people.
And just like now...he had to leave them all behind. All for this stupid quest that for some reason only he could do and no one else...Only he had the skills and abilities that could let him survive the journey and stand a chance against the evil of this cursed sword...Only he could bear the heavy burden on his shoulders...a burden that just seemed to get heavier and heavier as time went on.
Despite the last days spent with his friends, he hadn't truly gotten over leaving them...and he didn't want to leave here, either. After two months of living with people who more or less became a family to him, a concept he never knew or felt before, he's leaving them to go back on an adventure.
At the very least when he went on his adventures in the past, he had a companion with him to help him on his journey. A companion to join him in battle. A companion to share meals with. A companion to just...talk to in general. Navi, Tatl, and for the past two, nearly three years, Epona. Even though Epona couldn't reply back in human speech, she could still understand him and what Link was feeling, and vice versa. And here he would be going on alone...again. No companion, no fairy, no horse, nothing.
Just him.
He finally couldn't take it anymore as he started sobbing, much to the surprise of Hachibei. "Link?"
"You're right...I wish I didn't have to leave. I wish I could just stay here, and not have to worry about Soul Edge...and just live my life the way I want to," he stated despairingly as tears started to form.
"I wish...I could just go home..."
Hachibei may have been trained to control his emotions, but even his heart clenched in sadness as tears started falling on Link's face. He slowly knelt down, gently pulling Link into a grandfatherly hug, which Link returned while placing his chin on his sensei's shoulder.
"I know...it is cruel that such a heavy burden has been placed on a child so young..."
They stayed that way for a little while before Link spoke again. "Why do bad things always happen to good people?" Link asked him in defeated sadness.
"I wish I knew, Link. I wish I knew..." he stated, closing his eyes a bit as he tried to think of what he wanted to say. "I wish my family and I did not have to live in hiding, in fear of being hunted by those who lurk in the shadows. That at any given moment, one or all of us could end up dead." he replied.
Link hugged him a little tighter at that. He certainly didn't deserve to live like that, and all because of a corrupt and selfish leader who wanted more power.
"We all wish that the world, or any world for that matter, did not have to place such hardships on people's lives like they do. That people would be allowed to just live their lives the way they want to...But unfortunately, that is not for them to decide."
Hachibei pulled back a little as he continued. "As such, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Link looked at him in silence for a bit, processing his sensei's words before reluctantly nodding while looking down, another tear falling from his face as his sensei continued. "I admit, the time generally given to you has been such that it takes a very strong will to endure it, no matter who you are. And it can wear on a person's soul over time, especially as one as young as yourself and what you've gone through." Link gave a small frown while looking down and to the side, but nodded in agreement. It has been wearing down on him as of late. And the possibility of never seeing his friends again continued to linger in the back of his mind, often making him regret taking this mission even though he knew how important it was.
He suddenly looked back up when he felt his sensei place his arms on his shoulders. "But after everything I've seen in my life, you are by far the strongest person I have ever met, and I don't mean because you defeated me in battle earlier," he added with a small touch of humor in his voice. Link's mouth did actually curl into a brief smile at that and even breathed out a tiny chuckle. "And that's what I mean right there."
Link blinked in confusion at that as he looked at him. "Huh? Wh-What do you mean, sensei?"
He then gave a grandfatherly smile. "If anyone else had gone through the same things you have in life, they would have likely given up a long time ago—given in to the pain, both physical and emotional. But despite all the hardships you've experienced. All the sorrow and pain you've gone through, and all the emotional turmoil you have had inside you—Despite all of that, you still manage to smile," he said, his smile widening at the end. "And THAT is what makes you stronger than anyone else in the world. Yours and mine."
Link blinked at him in surprise at everything he said to him and found himself unable to speak. After a brief pause, Hachibei continued.
"I could not be prouder of you if you were my own son with how far you've come and everything you've done to help others, despite all the pain and hardships you've had to go through to help keep them safe. And I'm sure your friends and everyone back home are just as proud of you as I am."
For some reason Link found himself shaking upon hearing that, his eyes widened slightly. No one had ever said anything like that to him before...and he never felt himself shaking so much. But he wasn't shaking out of fear, but rather...pride?...Is that what he was feeling? He unconsciously swallowing a lump in his throat as his sensei continued.
"The time you have been able to spend with us, and with your friends I know has been...less than ideal, to say the least. But the memories shared with them, and with us, will last forever. As long as you treasure those memories—and hold them close to your heart," he added, placing a hand over Link's chest for emphasis, "your friends, myself, Chie, Riki, and everyone else whom you know and care about...will never truly be gone. They will always be right here with you," he said, giving Link's heart a couple taps, "helping you and guiding you along your journey. Even from afar."
He slowly looked between his sensei and his hand over his heart a couple times, still shaking a bit as he replayed what his sensei had said in his mind. He stayed silent, looking down slightly as he reflected on his sensei's words and reminisced about the past...and all the fun times he had with everyone.
He was breathing so silently Hachibei almost wasn't sure he was breathing at all. Finally, he heard Link let out a small sigh before suddenly but gently clutching his sensei's hand before looking back at him—with a small smile on his face. "I-I will..." Link said, full of emotion. "I'll-I'll never forget them...or you. I promise...I will never forget what I'm fighting for. WHOM I'm fighting for. My friends, you, and everyone else. I'll never forget," he finished, a soft yet determined look in his face.
"That's my boy." Hachibei said softly with a warm smile before giving him a brief hug. Link didn't know why, but that sense of pride suddenly skyrocketed in his heart when he said that, unconsciously swallowing another lump in his throat again before smiling much more broadly than before. Hachibei then slowly removed his hand from his chest before standing upright again. "Take care, Link. I have no doubt you will succeed in ridding the threat of Soul Edge once and for all."
Link looked at him with a bit of wonder at his confidence and assurance in him before smiling again and wiping his remaining tears. "Thank you, sensei. For...everything," he said softly, his eyes still misty. They then gave one last solemn bow towards each other before turning and parting ways. As Link continued walking, he briefly turned his head to look at his sensei, the closest thing he had to a father, one last time.
As if feeling Link gaze upon him one more time, Hachibei turned his head as he walked as well. He gave him a reassuring smile before slowly waving at Link.
Link's eyes and smile widened as he waved back, with more vigor. After about half a minute, he finally turned his head back ahead of him. He took a deep breath before looking down slightly while closing his eyes as he thought back to everything his sensei said to him before placing a hand over his heart. "I promise...I'll never forget," he said quietly to himself.
He then took another deep breath before slowly releasing it. And suddenly...he felt a lot better. MUCH better. If felt like...a major weight was suddenly lifted from his shoulders. He smiled at that feeling as he looked up into the sky. He then took another deep breath and released it as suddenly a more pleasant and more familiar feeling rushed through him.
That feeling of adventure calling to him. That feeling of exploring the unknown with wonder and excitement he hadn't felt in a long time. He finally couldn't take it anymore and he suddenly started running forward towards his destination, laughing a bit with a smile on his face as the sun continued rising over the horizon.
"Get ready new world! Prepare to meet the new and improved Hero of Time!"
A/N: So I wasn't expecting for the goodbyes to be as long as an entire chapter, but I have a policy of letting the characters' backgrounds and personalities dictate the dialogue and flow of the story, and so that was my logic in having a longer goodbye.
I felt Link living with a family for a couple months would have a much larger impact on him given his lack of a family growing up due to being raised amongst kids and no adults for ten years of his life. I mean, if you had no parents growing up and all of a sudden lived with a family that DID have parents for eight weeks, wouldn't that leave a more lasting impression and make it harder to say goodbye? Especially after the times Link had said goodbye and not knowing if he'd ever return or see his friends again.
The video games don't fully give Link a personality as he almost never speaks, and so I'm trying to make Link more human and relatable as opposed to just a brave yet polite boy who always does the right thing or doing what the goddesses tell him without so much as a second thought.
Seriously, if you were 10-13 years old and had to leave your home in order to save it from a great evil, wouldn't that feel overwhelming? Wouldn't you feel saddened and depressed at having to leave everyone you care about behind in order to do it? Would you even want to be a hero anymore if that's what it took to help people?
So that's the angle I've been going for in trying to express Link and his mindset in this story. Hope I'm at least somewhat successful in that regard.
Next time (as promised earlier), Link gets into a fight with another SC member. And again, I'll leave you to speculate who that will be :)
This is Agent Ghost-Writer 000 (Double-O Zero) signing off.
