White Eyes

By Perfect Soldier 01

Chapter 4 – Lying in the Unexpected

Together Impa and I managed to deposit the Fierce Deity safely back in Link's chamber. Dragging him in from the corridor outside, his boots scraped against the stone floor as we hoisted him up onto the bed at the far end of the room. His heavy body slid off down my shoulders with relative ease, falling away from me like water running down my skin, but his large figure lingered closely around the curves of my back for a long time afterwards.

He now lay horizontally across the bed and so we shuffled him around so that he lay correctly, but as the god nearly measured the whole length of the bed frame the lack of space available for this manoeuvre made it an even more difficult task. When his head rested gently over the pillow, Impa and I stepped back and took a deep breath, the exertion having taken its toll on the both of us.

But while Impa seemed to recover quickly, I couldn't shake away the tingling sensation that kept buzzing through my body. She stood straight and dignified, waiting for me to give her an explanation, except I found I couldn't even stop my head from spinning with thoughts I didn't want to confront or fully understand.

I glanced timidly at my nursemaid and then back to the Fierce Deity's sleeping face, wondering where I should begin.

"This wasn't meant to happen," I said hastily, the words being more for myself than Impa.

"I see," she replied simply.

I looked back at Impa absent-mindedly, hardly registering her response at all, and saw instead that the chairs Link and I had been sitting on were still lying on their sides strewn across the floor.

"The chairs…" I muttered, sighing in frustration as I went to retrieve one of them.

While I lifted up the thin, brittle arms and righted them to its correct position, I caught a glimpse of Impa's mouth dropping open a little.

"What happened here?" she said as she bent down to pick the other one up, looking at me with an uneasy anxiety.

"Nothing," I replied quickly. There was nothing I wanted more than to force the events out of my mind, but there wasn't much chance of that happening now.

Impa looked at me as if I was delusional. "I wouldn't call this nothing, Zelda."

We had returned the chairs to their original location, opposite each other at the foot of the bed and in front of the window, but something was stopping me from sitting down. I was standing on the wrong side of the room, facing away from the sunlight that was still streaming into the room behind me. Link had always been the one to sit here when we talked together in his room. I'm not sure how it came to be, but we had, for whatever reason, fallen into a pattern of sitting in the same places every time we saw each other. But whereas he would talk about his grand heroic adventures, I had no great story to tell other than the continuing folly of my own existence.

Blinking away a tear that threatened to escape from my eyes, I swallowed back the memory and started to go over everything that had occurred in the last hour or so. But even as I did so I found myself wanting to shy away from certain details. Looking down and gripping the top of the chair's frame tightly, I omitted the moment when I had leant down to kiss him in the study in an attempt to resuscitate him and bring him back to life, and I skipped over all the tumbling feelings that were churning around inside me, forgetting to mention the way his touch felt both frightening and thrilling at the same time.

It unexpectedly made me wonder whether Link had ever missed out any parts to his stories, whether all he told me was the complete truth or whether he too had some secrets he was hiding. I knew that I was breaking Impa's gaze far more often than the times Link had momentarily looked away from me, and so I felt somewhat reassured about his truthfulness; but nevertheless I was still conscious of Impa's innate and heightened sense of perception. She could always read through the lines when I was lying or beating around the bush with my words. I didn't doubt for a moment that she would easily perceive my uneasiness, and I was sure that my lack of composure was telling her everything that she needed to know about the real truth of the situation.

When I had finished speaking I was waiting for her to be looking at me with her knowing smirk, but she merely sighed and averted her eyes.

"This is indeed a problem," she said raising her head again, "and we only have one week to solve it. You're certain that you can't remove the mask?"

"Yes," I answered. "There are no edges around his face at all."

"And you definitely don't know who he's speaking of?

I shook my head and she too remained silent. We both continued to stand there quietly for a few moments, and I tried desperately to think of something that might answer my prayers and rescue Link from within the confines of his own body. But as the seconds slipped by, every moment that I sat there I felt more helpless and empty than ever before, the imminent hopelessness of all this edging ever closer until the concept of a week completely lost its value. Even waiting until tomorrow seemed too late now. And so before Impa had the chance to open her mouth to speak I couldn't help but surrender to the impending shadow of defeat that was looming right over my shoulder.

"I don't know what to do, Impa!" I cried, turning away towards the window as the tears I had been trying to hold back gradually slid out of my eyes with no difficulty at all. "If we don't think of something quickly then I will never see Link again. I don't want to have to face losing him again!" I sunk my head in my hands and wept. "I can't lose him again," I added in a choked whisper.

Impa came up from behind and turned me around, holding me tightly in her arms as she stroked my hair with her soft, elderly fingers. "I wish I'd never asked him about the mask! O goddesses, why does my curiosity always bring such disaster in its wake? I should have learnt that seven years ago. Damn it," I wept hoarsely. "Damn it all!"

"Zelda, it's not your fault. You mustn't blame yourself," Impa said firmly as she lifted my face up to look at her. "Promise me that you will not continue to blame yourself for this." Her solemn stare was steady and unwavering, almost reminding me of the Fierce Deity's, but it lacked his severity and irritation.

"But this is my fault. I was the one who asked Link to put the mask so close to his face; it was I who started this whole mess!"

But Impa wasn't going to play the kind mother today. "Listen, Zelda," she said with a rising anger lingering in the back of her voice, "a princess cannot let herself become so distraught over something like this."

"Something like this?" I wanted to interrupt her and correct the way she had phrased her words, but she carried on swiftly allowing no time to argue back.

"Think back to how you reacted when Zant invaded. You tackled that crisis head on and did what was best for your people. The sheer scale of that whole endeavour cannot even begin to be compared with this. Zelda, I understand that Link's life is at stake here, but you must calm down and think about this rationally. From what you've told me, it appears as though he is unaware of his situation in both time and locality. You need to make him understand that and then come to some sort of compromise."

I nodded quietly, my head barely seeming to move up and down under my own control. She smiled and kissed my forehead.

"You must not let this get the better of you. You're stronger than this."

At that moment the Fierce Deity moaned in his sleep. Both of us turned to look at him, but my head shot round much faster as I felt a fast-approaching anxiety start to throb inside my throat. I half expected him to be sitting up, peering at me with his menacing grin and waiting sarcastically to be told what he apparently ought to understand.

Thankfully he was still lying on his back, his chest slowly rising and falling in time with his breathing. I let out a small sigh of relief, but when I sensed Impa's gaze rotate round to me again I instantly regretted it. My cheeks started to blush with embarrassment, and while I inwardly cursed their spiteful punctuality I kept my eyes fixed in front of me and pretended that I hadn't noticed. I could only see her in the outer fringes of my vision, so Impa's exact expression wasn't very clear or particularly visible, but I imagined that she was likely to be looking fairly bemused. I thought I saw her eyes narrow suspiciously, but she turned and walked toward the door before I could confirm anything as she evidently decided against pursuing the subject any further.

"Well," she said cautiously, "until he wakes up, I think the most important task in front of us at the moment is to inform the servants of what is going on. I will go and re-organise their duties and put a stop to any rumours that might have already started flying about. For the time being though, don't let him out of your sight until I return. If he wakes up, you cannot let either one of your tempers get the better of you. You must try and find out as much as you can about him - only then will we be able to proceed in finding a way to save Link."

With that she closed the door and at once the room felt smaller and more constricting. Returning to the foot of the bed, I sunk down in the chair and sighed. I closed my eyes for a while, holding my face in my hands before I returned my gaze to his sleeping form. I hoped that I would be able to have some time to untangle my thoughts into some coherent and comprehensive order – a little while to myself so that I could try and decipher the altogether alarming feelings that were beginning to make themselves known inside my heart.

But there he was, sitting bolt upright on Link's bed, grinning at me just like I had imagined he would. I gasped and jumped in my seat, looking away immediately to hide the irritatingly persistent blush clinging to my cheeks.

"Good goddesses!" I breathed. "When did you - ?"

"Wake up?" he interrupted. "A while ago. Probably soon after you half-heartedly dragged me in here."

I shut my mouth before I could retaliate. Watching him swing his feet over the side of the bed, I became very aware of him rustling the sheets and the way his armour glided smoothly across his body as he moved. How could I not have noticed him sit up? Only moments before he had been lying practically comatose even after he had moaned in his sleep…

"But what was that just now then?" I asked, realising that he couldn't possibly have been sleeping if he had been listening to our entire conversation.

He scoffed at my naivety. "I had had enough of your small moment of drama and I wanted to get the old lady out."

For a moment I wondered why he would do such a thing, but that was one comment I wasn't going to take lying down. "That 'old lady'," I growled, "happens to be my most trusted advisor, and you will treat Impa with the proper respect she deserves, thank you."

He put his hands up in mock defence. "Now, now. What did she just say about controlling that temper of yours, princess?" he taunted, making no effort to hide his sarcasm.

The Fierce Deity stood up, albeit a somewhat unsteady ascent to his full height, looming above me like Death Mountain itself. Even in his state of exhaustion I quickly felt like I was a small child again, cowering fearfully in front of the imposing figure of my father, my hands fidgeting in my shame and my feet huddled awkwardly together, ready to recoil from his harsh words and crouch down in my own misery. But whereas the impending threat of a punishment never truly emerged from my father, the Fierce Deity didn't present the same sense of potential relief at all. I had been lucky before in the study, but I knew that I wouldn't be so fortunate this time now that he wasn't so chaotically immersed in his own rage. Yet this change made him appear more noble and dignified, and for the first time I felt truly humbled in his presence.

He took a step forward, wobbling very precariously on his weary feet. Frightened that he might fall again I rose to go and help him, but he waved me away angrily.

"Sit down" he said with a persisting irritation. "I don't need you to assist me."

I stood still for a moment, tentative and unsure about the bravado he seemed to be putting on for the sake of his own pride, and watched him advance sluggishly toward me until he firmly planted his feet only a few inches away from mine. His grimace was still tightly knitted in his face but there was something different about his expression that I couldn't quite describe, almost as if he looked more understanding than usual.

Without saying a word he placed one hand on my shoulder, his warm fingers curling around my bones before he forced me back into my chair. I blinked in surprise at his sheer lack of manners and sat there stunned and incredulous until I heard the chair opposite me creak and groan under his weight. I don't know what I had expected him to do, but my guess had inclined more towards him walking out of the room again than sitting down next to me. However, that sense of relief lasted only for the blink of an eye.

"So, princess, I hear you're trying to find a way to get rid of me?"

I froze instantly as both my mind and body went numb. He wasn't towering above me anymore, but this would be the moment when his hand would strike across my face, unleashing the vicious reprimand that he had been waiting to set loose ever since he had unexpectedly lost the opportunity only a short while ago. I didn't even dare to turn round and face him. Instead I found my hands had clasped themselves together in my lap and my toes were recoiling inside my shoes. My whole body was hunched and primed in a tense and almost contorted sense of panic.

"Listen," he said.

I waited for him to continue but he stopped, probably realising that I was too scared to even say anything at all.

He suddenly pushed his chair back, the wooden legs screeching so horribly against the stone that I winced and shied away from whatever his fury had in store as he lunged toward me. Seizing my arms he hauled me up again and jerked me round so fast that his menacing glare seemed to spin in a dizzy circle around my eyes.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" he barked, his grip on my upper arms contracting in his fury. An involuntary whimper escaped my lips as I struggled to lift my averted eyes. His rough hold slackened at the noise, and only then could I bring myself to look at him. His mouth was parted slightly, his eyebrows un-knotted and loose in a look of near pity. Something inside him had unexpectedly stopped enjoying my dread.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, my voice nothing more than a faint, coarse whisper.

He appeared a little dumbfounded, but shaking himself out of this strangely unnerving gentleness he cleared his throat and began again. "Listen, I don't take kindly to those who try to end my life. If you don't want me to finish you off after I've had my revenge, I would suggest not trying to do that again if I were you." He stopped and took a deep breath. "I would like to know one thing though," he said heavily. "If you're so hell-bent on getting rid of me, why didn't you let me die in your study?"

An awkward pause descended in the small space that separated us from each other. I thought he might let me go then, but his hands remained as secure as the iron bars of a prison. I was trapped in his grasp, although there were short fractions of a second when I thought I could feel his fingers tremble nervously against my skin. The soft lining on the palm of his gauntlet glove brushed my arm in minute, hesitant strokes, and with every single sensation there rose a familiar but unwanted feeling of almost intoxicating suffocation.

"I…" I began, but instantly felt unable to finish.

"You love him, don't you?" he said flatly.

"What?"

"You love him, the man underneath this mask. Is that correct?"

I couldn't quite believe what he was telling me. "H-How do you - ?"

His hands dropped and returned to his side. "I am perfectly aware of whose body I am possessing, princess. This is the same boy, the same life force who donned my mask and harnessed my power in order to defeat Majora. But you must understand that he was only a child then. He was weak and he was young, and I still have one more foe to bring down: the man responsible for condemning both Majora and I to this living hell, trapped forever inside this incarcerating mask. I never thought this opportunity would come, that the day would arrive when someone so powerful would put on my mask. I knew the boy had great potential, but I never imagined he would possess such incredible might. Now he has the strength to help me carry out my last wish, and I won't let go of that power until I've accomplished my vengeance, no matter what trick you try to pull. He is still alive out there, I know he is, so stop trying to protect him by feigning ignorance."

He turned away, walked to the side of the bed closest to him and sat down with his back to me, leaving me standing there in the middle of the room completely speechless. I sat back down feeling disorientated by his words as I took some time to fully comprehend them.

"How do you know these things?" I asked, my thin and confused voice still barely audible.

He turned around to face me, his mouth set in a straight, uncompromising line, his eyes steady but subdued. He no longer appeared frightening or intimidating, and somehow I found myself holding his gaze with a light-headed feeling of utter weightlessness. The blank, white eyes I once dreaded were pulling me in, dragging me closer and closer toward that ever-changing multitude of strange thoughts rolling around inside my head.

For a small moment I imagined that I saw Link's face rise up behind him, gazing at me with that sweet, understanding and reassuring smile; but then another second passed and when I blinked the Fierce Deity's distant stare had returned. I couldn't sustain the image any longer than that, and my heart was too full and exhausted to even take notice of the faint redness that fluttered briefly in-between the Fierce Deity's jagged, scarlet markings when he opened his mouth to speak.

But someone knocked at the door and the loud noises immediately tore away his answer from my ears.

"Zelda, it's Impa," she said. "Are you all right? I'm coming in."

As I stood up to greet Impa the Fierce Deity turned his back on me again, his words now completely lost in the intrusion.

"Zelda, a messenger has come from the Castle Town and he wishes to speak with you. He is waiting for you in your study. Do you need me to…?" she trailed off, but I knew what was going to end her sentence.

I glanced briefly at the Fierce Deity, but he soon felt both of us looking at him.

"A promise is a promise, princess. I'm not petty enough to break it. Go and attend to your duties," he said bluntly.

A small, grateful smile graced across my lips, the first, I realised, that I had had ever since Link had disappeared this afternoon. Without saying anything in reply I took Impa's hand and led her outside. Leaning briefly against the door, I took a deep breath and attempted to resume the closest thing to a royal guise as I could before I walked back into the mundane reality of the world.

"Goddesses, give me strength," I prayed.

AN: Sorry this has been so long in coming. I was planning to update this time last week, but I kept finding myself wanting to change certain parts and make them better. But here it is, finally. I hope you enjoyed it! I realise that this chapter may feel slightly repetitive, but I promise that the next chapter will step up the pace in Zelda and Fierce Deity's relationship! With the end of term coming up and deadlines to meet I probably won't be able to update again until sometime in July, but I hope that you'll stick with this story even though it's taking a long time to write!

Until then, Perfect Soldier 01