They set foot on the huge stone altar and let their Loftwings fly back to their own devises.
Without word, Hylia walked to the engraved wall and looked up. In its encasement, the Triforce glowed with a quiet magnificence.
The pull of the Golden Powers' magic distracted him, and he only noticed the sad longing in her eyes when she blinked it off.
"One wish can't be made twice for the same result," she murmured low, for his ears alone. "And if the wisher heart isn't ready, the Golden Powers may break apart and be sent anywhere in the vastness of this World. It would be dangerous to leave them unwatched when the remnants of Demise could rise again."
She fell silent.
Nothing can challenge our Bond. My faith and love will last as long as it exists.
Unable to send loquacious answers to her and not caring to, he just grunted back aloud.
"But I must put the fate of this world first too. Because it is the reason of my existence along with the reason for our Bond. ...I hope that you will do so as well."
"Willing is only one thing."
"Nothing can deter the spirit of my beloved once he wills something."
Silently, he gathered a deep breath, feeling the weight of their duty.
"You know," he mused, so low that he was almost a whisper "when I told you that I believed you. It wasn't because of Demise's curse. It wasn't for a lack of caring, either."
He watched her, and she didn't move her eyes off of the Triforce.
"I simply knew that you cared for this world more than anyone. Even if I felt betrayed. There was no reason to doubt the rest. If you have not found a way to finish this, then I won't insist. If you are okay with it, I'll do my part. And I'll leave this to you."
She extended her arm and clutched his hand in hers, giving a slow and warm squeeze before she spoke.
"Thank you."
"But don't ask me to put your duty before yourself. I'll protect you first and foremost. Then, we'll care for these lands together. ...Okay?"
"Agreed," she conceded after considering his words.
After a few seconds, she closed her eyes and her lips curled.
When her eyes glided sideway to find his, her small tired smile mellowed with an air of lordly acceptance. Behind it, Link immediately sensed cunning mischief being brewed. Tensing up, he watched Zelda suspiciously.
Without words, she joined her hands behind her back, and made a little show of turning around.
Slowly stepping up to the middle of the altar with affected nonchalance, she watched him sideway, a smirk in her eyes, encouraging him to walk along her slow long strides.
They bantered for a while. Her despondent teasing grew into a silly game of tag, giddiness putting a bounce in her steps. He followed in her dancing chase with small steps; double checking his footing, eagerly waiting for faints, wary of ambushes. He couldn't help but laugh as the thrill of the game got to them.
With a distracting pout after a failed tackle, she tricked him. Now she had cornered him toward the border...
His expression lifting with a bit of alarm when he found no more purchase for his footing.
When she took a few steps back as if to launch herself into him, he raised his arms and opened his mouth to protest, his back rigid, hands shaking, he felt a cold sweat run down the nape of his neck.
Then it dawned on him; how much she was still the same as the Zelda he knew; in moments of mischief, she was all over again the childhood friend he never stopped to love. (For there were not enough words to express how glad he was...)
Link slowly blinked instinct away, his expression willfully changing to one of calm.
With a tiny nervous smile, he held himself straighter, and raised his arms to catch her.
Hylia stopped right before she could tips him over, watching for a second, looking a bit surprised, a bit charmed.
She came closer and he closed weightless arms around of her head. Her kiss began as a tease. It sweetened before she could think; but possessiveness filled in and mischief rose again, underneath...
Hylia tiptoed and pushed against him.
As he slowly lost balance, her features mellowed, almost apologetically —he didn't buy it one second! Tipping off the altar, Link cried his lungs out, groping air while they fell down together to their death. No one has ever jumped this close to the ground, and a dozen of expression pass on his face as he watched her with resentment.
And then, that scoundrel even chuckled.
Before the wind gushed them apart, she grabbed his shoulders and whispered in his ear.
"Quick, behind, take my waist!"
Eyes lit with delight, she whistled for her Loftwing, boldly opening her arms to slow her fall, making her look like she was embracing her fate.
Through the wind and every instincts telling him that they won't have time and it sounds way too silly to die splattered on the Surface after all of this— he struggled to maneuver himself behind her. (By the Four Winds, he has pledged himself to a crazy deity and now it's too late—)
"Brace yourself, sleepyhead!" he heard her warning him one second before her Loftwing caught her. She looked down and he followed her gaze to see the ground barely feet away of the bird.
He laid, falling flat against the Loftwing's back, halfway down his rump. The air chased from his lungs, he crawled up and managed to sit up.
Holding his thundering heart, and grinding his jaw, Link tried to forget his fright when the devious creature he rode behind suddenly had the nerve to giggle behind the back of her hand.
"That was fun!" her voice sung in delight. Then she turned halfway to catch sight of him. "Unhurt?"
His grudged glare widened her smile. "You look fine to me, mister," just like that, she turned back forward.
"Your face was amazing," she teased him warmly. "That was...interesting," she added two little nods.
"Well, you'll pay for that," he muttered under his neckline, lips drawn together—and that didn't make it a pout.
Hylia hummed bemusedly and lowered herself to flatter her Loftwing's neck.
"Come on boy, fly us up again!"
"Why?" Link interjected from behind her before he could help it.
But Zelda gently reclined back against him and boldly, she turned her face to press her cheekbone into his chin.
"Trust me?" her round voice murmured; so suddenly honest that he couldn't decide whether he wanted to get revenge on her flesh or to thank her for letting him be hers. In the end, the warmth of her back against him and the rhythm of her heartbeat pulsating though their joined skins added to the encompassing heat other voice...felt too good to care. (His pride came from serving Hylia, anyway. anyway. As long as she knew there were such things as heart attacks, that is...)
'Beloved?' she softly called in his mind as they landed.
Not feeling like speaking Link just grunted.
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ
Silently, he pulled away from her and turned around. Taking a few steps, he listened to the clear sound of his feet against the stone, trying to make up his mind. Before she could ask, he inhaled and went to the Triforce. There, he reach around the altar and retrieved a pouch from an old hole cracked in the stone.
He didn't dare to move, still hesitating while hearing her walk up to him as silently as possible.
He stopped looking at the bundle in his arms and called her before she could speak, afraid that if the mood was lost his decision would falter.
He turned around and took a long breath, unable to help but watch the bundle as he spoke.
"I— This is for you. It has been sitting in my room for a while...I-I wanted to have something to give you too the day of the flight ceremony, but it had not been read back then, so..."
He steeled himself and handed it out to her.
Bemused, she tilted her head, and, careful, reached out to take the cloth package.
It didn't took long for the linen to fall from the small wooden Loftwing. Surprised, she raised the statue to inspect it under sunlight and he watched away.
Offering a Loftwing charm, in Skyloft was the same as saying "I'll catch you if you fall." It was a common way to comfort a frightened toddler... or give more weight to a friendship.
There was a great view of the land below, up here. Funny how far one could see if they concentrated.
Suddenly, he thought about all the tiny way he could have polished the carving — really he could have waited just one day more before showing it — maybe he should just have bought a Loftwing plush after all.
After a few seconds, his stare at the horizon was so hard it began to cramp. (Giving up his pretense at calm, he brushed the side of his neck, and struggled not to pinch his lips.)
As her fingers brushed every of the curves, his smile returned fainter.
There were many bird plushes on the islands, but statues were less common a gift. He had wanted his to be a little different, since the friendship he had with her felt a little special. But now...
With a mute moan, he tipped the end of his shoe to the stone to break the crisp silence.
Her voice came evenly, crisp only at the edges and he pretended not to notice.
"Are you making our friendship official?" she teased softly, her trailing voice uncertain.
His eyebrows jumped up into his bags and he blinked very round eyes.
He...had to admit that he had not thought beyond that point.
The reason he had begun to carve it was now lost to time. Now he couldn't only thing of expressing his feelings...and it was unfortunate that the limits of those weren't easily defined. He only knew they encompassed friendship and love and allegiance, and that was the limit of the words he had to put on them. While he thought about it, she smiled shyly and cradled the small Loftwing. As she looked up to his face again, trails of poorly dried tears shone down her rosy cheeks.
"Thank you," she said, voice booming cheerfully above the whining winds.
She wet her lips, then poked her shin out and beamed at him fiercely. "For deciding to give it to me."
He briefly chewed on his lower lip, shifting his weight on his other foot...still unable to find anything right to add here. But she went on.
"And for not changing...despite of all that happened. For having waited for me. For saving me so many times."
As the list went on, she shook her head, laughing softly.
"I love you," she simply added, as if her words amounted to this in the end, all but those superfluous; details. Technicalities. He blinked, enjoying this rich simplicity, with a contemplative expression.
However, she began to grow anxious, about to insist as she did when she wanted to convince him of something.
As if he would doubt her feelings. His heart hurt as he saw her overtly torn expression, both guarded and earnest. He would have to say something too at so point, wouldn't he?
Well...there was the Loftwing, and there was the Bond's magic, both saying more than words seemed worthy of...
Oh, he realized, having solved the little riddle. It was faith she sought, then, right? She needed to hear the confirmation of his belief... He could hear the faith thrumming of her heart beneath her skin, against his arm, and he felt a new, serene kind of joy.
And so her Chosen huffed, folding his arms.
"Well..." he trailed, savoring the moment, defying the pull of affection that overwhelmed his chest...
Oh, 'know that, Zel, he thought tenderly, forgetting that she was still able to decipher his thoughts. Just—please make sure it won't kill me too soon.
"I want to believe you, but..."
Link waited a while, gazing ahead in the cerulean horizon before he looked at her again and gave her a smile that could almost only be called coy as he tilted his head aside.
"To clarify, perha~aps...you should demonstrate, now?" he quipped, with a goofy eagerness. With a silly grin and a wriggling of his eyebrows added in for good measure, her sled her bangs behind her pointed ear and waited.
Anticipation building, vivifying, he grinned brighter and braced himself a little...just in case.
(This could get used to...)
Ending note: I'm sorry for the cartoon feel of the ending. I'm not sure why I ended it on such a note...but somehow it felt...appropriate? What can I say? Link seemed to want it like that.
I hope to post a sequel to this story: Gift of the Bond that I'm very slowly working on:
"Freshly awaken to the deity status Hylia has gifted him, Link must learn to control his overwhelming power if he wants to avoid ending up sealed in a magical mask. • A standalone sequel to Sweet Lies in Her Name."Characters: Hylia!Zelda/F.Deity!Link, Owlan, Horwell, Groose.Tags: Suspens, Romance, Humor, D/s.
You can expect romance, sexy shenanigans and serious character development. There will be some action (of both kinds), but nothing big.
You can check my writing progress in the "Now Writing" section of my profile page.
Thank you for having tagged along through the chapters of Sweet Lies in her Name. It's your mystical manifestations through comments, follows and favs that have fueled their development and my investment. :)
Inspiration for Zelda Hylia
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Inspiration for Link The First Chosen
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