A/n: Okay, next chapter. Last official chapter, no less. Huzzah!
Disclaimer: Sure, why not.
"The worst is over now and we can breathe again/ I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away/ there's so much left to learn and no one left to fight/ I wanna hold you high and steal your pain"
-"Broken" by Seether featuring Amy Lee
Chapter 10: A Promise to the Rain
"Link?"
It takes a moment for my mind to come into focus. When I try to open my eyes, I feel myself clamping them shut again, trying to get used to the bright sunshine that pours into my room relentlessly. I try to move, moving one arm but finding the other pinned down by Mae, who rests at my side, clinging to me, asleep.
"What?" I manage to pry Mae off of me, but she doesn't seem to take notice, rolling to her other side. I turn to see who called my name and saw Impa standing in the doorway.
"Impa?" I turn to the woman, who has a solemn expression on her face, looking between me and Mae.
"So Mae came in here last night?"
"Yeah. She said she was scared." I hear myself talk and realize that this is the most I've said out loud to anyone in ages. Impa seems shocked that I responded to her with a full question as well, her red eyes widening a bit. Her shock dissipates quickly though as the warrior places a hand on her trim hip, an eyebrow lifting at me curiously.
"Link? What's going on?" she asks, a tone of seriousness on her face.
"What do you mean?" I am unsure of what to answer. My throat is scratchy and a bit raw, but I'm able to talk out loud, even though some of my words come out as croaks. I rub my dry eyes, now annoyed at the lack of moisture.
"We need to talk." Impa says, crossing her arms. "Come to the garden once you get dressed." With a final nod, the woman leaves the room. I turn to Mae, sleeping as heavily as a lazy cat, not a care in the world apparent on her peaceful face. I then turn down to myself. I am the picture of confused and unkempt. The shirt I put on last night is wrinkled and damp with water, tears and sweat. The cuts from Zelda had scabbed over and the scratches on my scalp were barely visible. My hair was dry and clumped together and I felt like I had a layer of grime on my skin.
For once, I didn't think about anything as I washed myself and clothed myself with clean clothes. I didn't hear her voice in the ticking clock as I brushed my hair and washed my hands. I didn't see her when I pulled a blanket over Mae, letting her sleep peacefully in my bed.
I didn't hear her at all.
And it was nice.
"Daddy?" Mae finally said after about a half hour of sitting on the floor crying. She had nestled in my arms, half-crying and patting me comfortingly on the back as I wept apologies in her bright hair.
"Mae?" I loosened my grip on her and we stared at each other for a moment. There was something comforting about this silence.
"Daddy. I feel better now." Mae sniffs. She blinks at me, her beautiful eyes big and sparkling again, her cheeks dry and stained, her face a little blushed. She hugs me again, gripping tightly.
It dawns on me as she embraces me. I don't see her anymore when I look into Mae. I don't hear her voice anymore. I just see Mae.
"Daddy? Are you okay now?"
It was an innocent question. An honest question at that.
"…You know what? I'm fine."
"Ah, there you are, Link." Impa is waiting for me in the gardens, standing amongst a see of rainbow flowers, a solemn expression drastically contrasting the colorful world around her.
"Yeah." I look off to the side. I had bandaged my shoulders and next a bit, with a few bandages on my fingers, trying to keep the cuts from getting infected. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I'd get used to it. "Is this about what happened last night?"
"What did happen last night?" Impa turned. "You ran back to your room after Zelda broke the mirror, but what happened?"
"Daddy? I'm glad you're fine." Mae seems honest, a smile tugging at her lips. Her eyes are droopy now. The need for sleep slowly creeps up on her.
"You're tired, aren't you?" I stand up, finding it easy to do, filled with some sort of newfound emotion. I pick her up and take her over to the bed.
"Uh-huh…" She trails off, her eyes still drooping.
"Just sleep then." I say, sitting down next to here. She seems completely at peace when she reaches out and tries to draw me closer. There's complete contentment around us, filling the room, floating on the breeze. She snuggles against me, falling asleep almost instantly.
I'm in bed, sleeping peacefully with my daughter.
My daughter.
There's something complete now.
"If I understood exactly what'd happened, I'd tell you." I say. "Zelda…something snapped last night."
"Right. What else?" Impa continued, anxious to know what happened to her master.
"Her….It has to do with…her." I don't know how to say her name, so I fidget with a twig I found on the ground nervously.
"Her? She was mumbling about how she was watching her and wouldn't go away or something nonsense like that." Impa tapped her chin. "Who is she exactly?"
"The rancher's daughter." I say, tapping the twig against my leg, my voice filled with a confidence I haven't had in awhile. She turns to me, cocking her head in confusion.
"What does the rancher's daughter have to do with any of this?"
"Nothing anymore." I say. "She's dead, after all. But I know…for a fact…that she has to be the rancher's daughter."
"I guess that might clear something up." Impa sighs loudly. "Why is she muttering about the rancher's daughter?"
"It's complicated." I say. "I don't even understand what's happening."
"Weren't you with Zelda last night, though?"
"Yeah, for awhile."
"What happened last night, Link? Please…Tell me."
"Okay." I sigh loudly, trying to piece together the feelings of last night. "We were talking in my room first. Then she snapped, and she started yelling about her and how she was an evil bitch and was scratching at my chest and stuff like a wild animal. After that, she left the room. Awhile later, I heard clattering from the shower."
"So, she ended up in the washroom." Impa says, inspecting the bandages visible underneath my shirt.
"Yeah. She was curled up in the shower floor, with scolding hot water falling on her. I turned off the shower. She…ranted a bit more and then broke the mirror. Something snapped in me and I left the room."
"Something certainly did snap in you." Impa grabs my shoulders, looking at me in the eyes. "You're always so quiet. This is the first conversation we've had in a long time."
"Mae and I had a talk last night." I said simply. Impa seems to understand what that meant and she lets go, her eyes softening. They're motherly for a moment before they harden again, worry contorting her face again.
"Link. Zelda is unwell."
"What's wrong with her?"
"I have her locked in a bedroom for her own safety." Impa looks down. "I never thought I'd see my princess turned into something so scared and frightful."
"…" I don't answer. Instead, I drop the twig and sigh loudly. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
"I have no idea anymore." I say and a laugh escapes my throat.
"Link, you should go see Zelda." Impa grabs my shoulders again. "Please. Go see Zelda."
The feeling of peace seems so familiar. And so warm and welcoming. Everything seems so alive now. The stars are smiling at me as I grin back up at them, lying in the bed, losing myself in the indigo of the night sky.
Mae is up against me, a light snore escaping her.
So simple, so perfect, so flawed.
Yes. A little flawed. But perfect in that single moment.
Impa guides me to the room Zelda was being kept in, saying that she would wait outside, just in case something major happened. She leans against the wall, rubbing her forehead.
It all seems so familiar. The room lacks windows and there is a messy bed, with a table that holds a flickering candle that tries its best to light the dark room. I remember this room.
This is the room where everything started. Or was this where everything ended? I couldn't tell anymore. The days of that room are far away, locked in foggy chambers in my mind. There's an eerie silence, no noise whatsoever. The crackling of the struggling candle is the only thing saving this from being unbearable. I step on the noisy wooden floor, my feet making muffled tapping sounds against it, hearing it complain with each step I take.
"Zelda?" I ask. The room is dark and I can't make much out aside from the tabletop. I pick up the candle, gently, and begin moving it around some more. "Zelda? Impa said you were in here…" I trail off, inspecting the room, coming to a stop when I find her in the corner.
She's hanging there, dangling and waving gently back and forth against the strain of the cloth that holds her there. The snag in the wall struggles to hold her up, the small piece of broken stone wall trying its very best to not crack under the pressure. Her limbs are limp, pale with a tint of blue under her nails. Her mouth is open, screaming at her one last time to leave her alone, saliva dripping down her chin. Her violet eyes are wide open and beady, only the emotion of fear still lingering.
"Link?" Impa opens the door. "I don't hear anything going on in here. What's…" Impa freezes when she sees what the candle shows her. The cloth, a piece of her nightgown I presume, snaps and the lifeless princess clatters to the ground without a trace of grace or elegance. "Princess!" Impa practically screams, but controls herself so that she doesn't make a scene. She slides across the squeaky floor, dropping desperately to her knees. She scoops up Zelda into her strong arms, but the princess falls slack, her limps unable to move, and her eyes unable to escape the terror that haunted her mind.
"…" I look off to the side, unsure of what to do. Impa is trying her best to control her emotions. It is apparent that she doesn't know what to do and that she's confused and fed up with everything that was going. She brushes messy blond hair out of Zelda's face, looks down at the girl she guarded for so long with a look of remorse. The princess's beautiful face was hideously contorted in death. There were big, purple bags underneath her eyes; her skin was a sickly pale. Nail marks were dug into her scalp, and her chin was dry and crusty.
"Link." Impa choked out, the warrior still trying to make sense of her emotions. "Listen to me and listen to me well."
"Alright." I took a step forward, a wave of sympathy for the red-eyed woman washing over me.
"Link." She repeated my name, reassuring herself. "Take Mae. Get out of here."
"What? What do you mean?" I jolt forward at the guardian's request. "Isn't she the next heir?"
"With Zelda dead, the coronation ceremony is no longer going to happen." Impa speaks logically for someone about to fall apart. "You are not officially the king. You are a prince by marriage, and that should give you rights the throne."
"But it's not that simple?" I ask, thinking about it. "Wait. With Zelda gone, this country has no ruler, right?"
"You and Mae cannot stay here." Impa repeats. "You want to leave. You need to leave. Go find your home, Link."
"…My home?"
"A home for you and Mae." Impa repeats again. "This castle will erupt into chaos what the death of the princess is announced. Your lives and peace are at stake here. With the true heir dead…and under such circumstances no less…Everyone with a shot at the throne will do anything to you two."
"…" I sigh. Impa desperately stares at me.
"Link. You don't want to be here." Impa says. "You don't want Mae to grow up with this. Link…I don't know what happened with…her…Or with you and Zelda and the circumstances of Mae's birth…Or why Zelda…did this to herself….But I want to do everything in my power…Everything in my power to keep Mae from suffering the same way."
To keep Mae from suffering the same way…
"Okay." I nod.
"Now…" Impa puts Zelda down, her eyes watery. "Link. Grab what you need, take your daughter and leave this place. Now." I nod my head and Impa steps forward and hugs me. "I'm sorry that I was not able to understand anything sooner." Once I'm free from her embrace, she nods at me one more time, stern orders in her garnet eyes. I begin dashing quickly down the hall, my feet thumping the red carpet as I did so. I open the door and see Mae, still curled up on the bed.
"Mae…Mae!" I shake her gently and the girl stirs to life, her eyes dull for a moment before she sits up. "Mae, get dressed, okay?"
"What's going on, Daddy?" she seems worried.
"…" I stop, unsure of how to explain this. "Mommy left. She's not coming back. And now we need to go to, okay?"
"Where are we going?" She jumps off the bed, taking note of my urgency.
"Somewhere safe." I state, grabbing a couple of bags from a closet. "Somewhere fun. Do you trust me?"
"Of course!" Mae says cheerfully. "Can Dolly come to?" She holds up her doll. I nod softly.
"Good. Now go get dressed and Daddy will pack your stuff up. Hurry! Don't say anything to anyone, got it?"
"Gotcha!" She darts out of the room.
The future is in my grasp.
As I frantically stuff clothing, cleaning items, money and a couple of Mae's toys into the bags, I notice skies are grey.
So…If you're listening…Can you answer a question for me?
A cold breeze hits my face, the trees outside begin dancing to the beat of the wind.
Rain really does bring life, doesn't it?
A soft wave of thunder answers my question. Little drops of rain begin pattering the floor, the wind playing with curtain. I hear Mae darting back into the room, holding her doll and dressed in a simple yellow dress with a thick, matching sweater. She looks up at me, eyes sparkling, a smile tugging at her lips. She doesn't know exactly what's going on, but there's something that feels free between the two of us.
It's hard to explain. Nothing seems complicated anymore. I can't complete the puzzle. I think some of those pieces disappeared when Zelda ended it all. But I can try to keep the pieces I have with me put together, try to keep everything in line and clear for once. I don't know how anything happened or why it happened. I don't know why Zelda took her life and I don't know what happened with her on that day clear enough to answer any questions. I don't know what that future would have brought me.
I do know I have a new one now. I do know that. Everything will work out. For once, running away would bring me peace. I would go back and use the pieces I had to find a new future.
Everything is there. All I have to do is put it all back together.
The rain has brought us both some misfortune. But I think its fine now. You can sleep now. Life can grow again, just like you always wanted.
The rain gets a little harder, but not violent. It's chilly and windy, but it's nothing more than a simple thunderstorm. Mae and I enjoy the rain, so we dart out one of the castle's back doors confidently, my hand in hers, running as fast as we can out of the town, trying to find our way the vast, open fields that would take us home.
Maybe a billion apologies can't make up for what happened. Maybe a billion apologies can't glue everything back together or bring you back to me. But I can fix what I have left.
We exit the town, making our way through the fields. Mae has never left the castle. Zelda had wanted to wait for Mae to make her public debut when she was older. The endless green fields and the giant clouds rolling above us seem so foreign to her and she clutches her doll tighter, her eyes wide in fascination.
I can make everything better for you, I promise. I can try to find what's left of the family you left behind and I can rescue them. I can try to start everything over again. It all broke apart once before, but if you can just give me your blessing, I swear I'll make up for being blind. I'll make up for missing the opportunity. I'll make up for forgetting all the pieces were there in the first place.
The rain gets softer, the breeze gets a little chillier. Another roll of thunder rumbles the landscape and answers my plea.
It will all work out in the end. I'm putting what I have back together for you. I promise. I promise.
I promise.
The rain seems to be warmer now. The thunder gets softer. The winds are still chilly, but the rain is pleasant to walk in. It's comforting. Mae and I could care less that it's raining and that we're soaked and walking through this big field.
The situation is odd and unthinkable.
And I laugh at the absurdity of it all.
A/n: There you have it folks. All that's left now is the epilogue.
So, Link has snapped back to his senses, saved his daughter and found himself again. Zelda is dead now and the castle is left to chaos. I'm leaving a lot of what happened up to you all, so use your imaginations.
Please review!