Hi everyone, thanks for the reviews. This chapter is a bit depressing and i initially didn't like it very much, but now that it is written it is actually one of my favourites. This chapter is a little flowery (in a morose kind of way, if that even makes any sense). In all reality it could have been shortened into only a few hundred words, but of course i can get a little carried away : ) Speaking of uncontrolable urges... if you thought my sadistic tendancies were limited to only Link... think again.

Chapter Twenty-one: Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust

Zelda sat by her window, looking out onto her silent kingdom. The soft cooing of unknown nocturnal birds had become a mocking background melody for her dismal thoughts. The land was shrouded in twilight for as far as she could see; just the way she wished it, for she knew that darkness was soon to come; soon to extinguish the light of day, taking with it the false sense of composure she had to maintain for all to see. She now hated the light; it reminded her of all that no longer was; it unfaithfully drew attention to everything she wished she could forget now; everything which killed her to remember. It highlighted the way the flowers bent towards the sun loyally; their petals outstretched like arms in praise; it reflected off the water an image of sadness whenever she looked into the fountain in the gardens, just like the image reflected from a spoon, she too felt as if she had been distorted by her misery and desolation. She barely recognised the dull eyes and pail face of the stranger who looked back at her. But most of all, the light of the sun dragged back the image of a certain Hylian, asleep and at ease as the rays of light kissed his skin with its divine splendour. It reminded her of what happiness felt like… and what it felt like to lose it forever.

Night time and darkness gave her a chance for respite; a chance to let her eyes moisten with the misery and anguish she suppressed during the day to the point of physical pain. She pressed her eyes shut but continued to let the tears fall. It had been too long, far too long. She had sat by her window every night since he left, hoping, praying that she would see him return. But every night passed just the same as the last; just as cold, painful and pointless. And he never did return. She had watched the moon thin and grow; its bright monthly glow she had witnessed twice, serving as a reminder that time was still passing for the rest of the world although it had ceased two months ago for her.

She wrapped her arms tightly around her frozen and frailly thin body and fought back a shiver. It seemed like so long ago that she was immune to the cold; that Link's body had served to protect her from it. It pained her to think his name now; to know what she had lost. But maybe she never really had him in the first place. She would always tell herself that she never deserved him and now she knew she was right. Sometimes she thought the time they had spent together was just all in her head; something she had made up to stop herself from collapsing under the weight of the world; her knight in shinning armour. The more she thought about it the easier it became for her to believe and accept as true. He was everything she ever wanted; nothing else mattered when she was with him; the rest of the world seemed like a fickle triviality and appeared to just fade out of focus. It hurt to think of him now, but then not thinking of him was as hard as not breathing. He was her life.

The faint sent of his skin still lingers in his cloak; one of the only things besides her memories which she still has left to remember him by; but even that is beginning to dissipate into her past and one day so too will her memories of him. Maybe it will be better that way; she can not morn for something she does not remember. But deep down she knew she did not want to forget him, but maybe in ten or so years time the pain would have subsided enough to be bearable… maybe.

She stepped away from the window and made her way slowly over to her closet; she placed a frail hand against the door and with a groan of the hinges she pushed it open and then closed it again behind her. Her mind was such a wreck she was surprised it even functioned anymore. She wanted more than anything to let her memories of him comfort her but no matter how fervently she wished she could live in the past her mind refused to let her. She could feel these memories eat away at her like a disease, slowly killing what was left of her; what very, very little was left. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. It had to be better than what she felt now. She was practically living as a dying woman; eating only when she remembered; breathing only because her body forced her to. Some nights she refused to sleep, for she knew that when she closed her eyes the haunting image of Link's impassively cold eyes would linger before hers; his final three words repeated in her head until she finally woke up in tears. She had learnt that it was just easier to not sleep.

Impa would try and cheer her up telling her that she was strong, that some things happened for a reason and that in the end everything would work out fine. But Zelda knew that Impa believed her misery was the result of her engagement to Ash; she did not know where her true despair lay. She let her body sink to the ground; her hand groped around weakly along the wooden floorboards below her until her fingers touched the corse material she had been searching for. She slipped her arms into the sleaves of the cloak and wrapped the rest around her body tightly before letting herself succumb to her fatigue; she knew she could not resist the sleep she so desperately needed; it has been too long since she had last let herself sleep. It was inevitable. She just prayed that tonight her mind too was so tired that she slept dreamlessly. She closed her eyes.

The next few days passed by just the same as every other; she woke up, got dressed, had breakfast (if she remembered), attended her lessons, undertook her mindless formalities, then finally returned to her room for the night in which she would wait to repeat the procedure all over again the next day. The days seemed to be slipping through her fingers like sands through an hourglass, but it was unsettling now more than ever because the days were counting down; her eighteenth birthday was less than only one week away and her indelible future was set in stone for her to await. She once believed she had successfully avoided the wedding; she truly believed Link's plan would work; but now as she sat before her vanity mirror, starring down at her hand, as if hoping that the simple action would bring him back, she was forced to accept that her marriage was no longer a marriage if she does not have a husband to be married to. She ran her finger over the red stone of her ring. When he first gave the ring to her, the warmth reminded her of a raging fire in the middle of the snow, but now the ring felt more like the embers left from a campfire the day after everything was burnt. She wondered if maybe the ring had lost its purpose, just as she had lost Link's love. It was supposed to be a symbol of his love for her, and she guessed that now it still was; cold, meaningless and lifeless. But she still refused to take it off.

She sighed and began to stare inertly at her reflection in her mirror. Her pail face was cast in shadows; her eyes looked almost soot black and her expression was tired and unhealthy. How did she let herself succumb to this; she looked as if she was sick; as if she was dying from some deadly disease. She wondered if dying from a broken heart was considered a disease.

The first week after he had left she could not remember; either that or her mind just shut it out. She was still in shock; she was in the state of mind when she thought she was going to wake up any moment and realise she was just dreaming. She was numb. As the days rolled away, she began to awaken from the protective shell her mind had built for her; awaken to the fact that she was not dreaming and that Link was gone and was never to come back. That was when the pain set in. It was so powerful and concentrated that she begged for the numbness to comfort her once again. The pain lasted the longest. She wasn't exactly sure how long though because the days all seemed to blur together as one long, perpetual nightmare. The pain never had and never will fully leave, but instead she just learnt how to bear it; how to accept it as a part of her life now. She let her eyes drift back to the stranger returning her gaze in the mirror and sighed helplessly. She looked like death personified; she refused to accept what she saw as herself. She diverted her eyes. She did not want to see her reflection anymore. But as soon as she did it, something else caught her attention. She lent into the mirror; her hands pressed harshly against the wood in front of her to stop them from shaking; her breath caught in her throat as she fought to see through the obscure shadowy reflection captured by her mirror. Were her eyes deceiving her or was her mind finally weakened to the point where she was seeing hallucinations?

"Link", she whispered. Her heart began to beat rapidly, for what felt like the first time in months, as she hopefully let herself believe for that fleeting moment the possibility she ached for. But as she turned around, her gaze fell to the empty chair in the corner of her room; the chair which has been empty for what felt like an eternity. She felt her heart sink- just like reopening healing wounds, the second time around it felt worse. She flopped back down onto her chair and put her face in her hands; but surprisingly she didn't cry. She didn't even feel sad; but the emptiness which the sadness usually occupied was quickly filled with a different emotion – anger. How could she let herself fall for her mind's tricks; how could she let herself believe the impossible. She grabbed the nearest object to her hand and thrust it against her wall; letting the sound of the shattering glass unusually placate her. But then as her eyes wandered back to the mirror she saw Link still sitting there in the chair, smiling back at her from within the shadows. She knew she shouldn't be letting herself succumb to her mind's mocking but she couldn't help but let herself give in. She watched as he got to his feet and slowly- almost dreamily- made his way over to her. He looked ghost-like; the way a figment moves within your thoughts and his movements produced no noise; no sounds of footsteps; no sounds of breathing. As he approached her from behind he became suddenly more visible in her mirror. She suddenly noticed something wrong, but before even her mind could react to the discrepancy something else made her scream.

Her hands flew to her mouth to muffle her scream as she spun around, stumbling back with fright. Link quickly withdrew his icy hand from her shoulder but the expression on his face remained calm and unaltered; it was as if he was expecting that reaction from her. She pressed her body back against her dressing table, as far away from him as she could get; her eyes wide with fear.

"Its ok, princess", his dark voice tried to soothe. He took a cautious step towards her, his hands raised as if showing her that he was unarmed.

"No, stay away from me", she whispered; her voice shaking with fear. She looked up into the man's blood red eyes and felt a shiver of fear roll down her spine.

"Why do you fear me?" he asked softly; she could have sworn she heard traces of intrigue and amusement embedded within his words. They had the absolute opposite affect on her than what they intended to elicit. She remained silent and terrified. The man raised his hand to her face; his skin was just as soft and as pallid as shadows; his fingers as cold as ice. His hand felt weightless on her cheek, as if he wasn't really even there; as if he was just an illusion.

"What do you want?" she whispered bravely, trying to turn her face away from his hand.

He smiled an unusual smile; one she was not used to; one which was too dark to be a smile given by Link. "You, of course", he breathed bringing his face closer to hers, and with that his eyes narrowed ominously. "It has always been you" Her breathing began to accelerate as her fear truly started to set in. She tried to push him away but she realised he was not as weightless as she initially thought.

"Who are you?" her voice shook, betraying the composure she was trying to not let slip.

"Link", he breathed. He ran his nose slowly along her jaw as he breathed in the sent of her skin, just as Link would always do.

"No", she refused to believe him. He ran his lips along her neck and throat; she was afraid to move; afraid of what he would do to her if she tried.

"Why not?" he asked, his cold lips moving against her neck; the amusement had returned to his words. "I can give you everything he couldn't; I can give you so much more" He pressed his lips against her neck in an icy kiss. Zelda shivered, but not because she was cold. She couldn't help but recognise the similarity between this man's kiss and the one who had left her. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to ignore the affect his lips were having on her. "He was so weak; he took you for granted; he was just playing with you; he didn't want you" Zelda shook her head weakly even though she knew that what he said was true. "You deserve so much more than him", he said, bringing his lips to her ear. She could hear his soft, shallow breathing. His hands moved to her waist.

"I don't understand", she whispered trying to keep her mind under her own control.

"You don't need to"

"But you're not the Link I remember", she spoke forlornly.

"I am better"

"But-"

Her words were cut short when the man crushed his stone-cold lips to hers. His lips were rough and demanding, nothing about the kiss was soft. But what scared her the most was the fact that she wasn't even trying to stop him. She moved her hands hesitantly over his back; he felt exactly the same as what she remembered Link feeling like… only he was a lot colder. She ran her hands through his soft, dark hair and then down his cheeks, his neck, his chest. She kept her eyes closed and imagined for a moment that this man actually was Link; she imagined it was his lips she was kissing; his body her fingers were touching. Her confusion was being overpowered by some other emotion; sadness. She could feel her melancholy state creeping back over her. She didn't even know if what she was experiencing was real, but either way she felt as if she was being tortured. It was as if someone was waving something she couldn't have in front of her face; mocking her; trying to make her succumb to the taunt. No. She couldn't do this. She couldn't keep putting herself through this.

She put her hands to his chest and tried to push him away from her. He was strong and her movements were nothing more than irritating to him. He removed his lips from hers with, what sounded like, a low growl, but he didn't move away from her. He began to roughly kiss her neck again; his hands moving from her waist to her hips. But before she could even bring any words to her mouth or force to her arms to stop him, he had lifted her up and set her down carelessly on the dressing table behind her.

"No", she choked out in fear as his hands started to roam her body. "Leave me alone!" she struggled as she tried to push him away from her.

The man suddenly ceased. He grabbed her flailing hands and secured them within his strong grip at her sides, his eyes suddenly ablaze with rage. "I don't understand you, Zelda", he breathed dangerously, "after all he has done to you, you still want him; you still want the man who betrayed you", he spoke through clenched teeth. "You are a fool Zelda. He left you; he left you for her" the last word he spoke indecently.

"What?" Zelda whispered.

The man's eyes suddenly lit up with dark amusement. "Oh, don't tell me you didn't know", his lips turned up in a vicious smile. The look of surprise and confusion on her face made him laugh patronisingly. "He left you for another woman, the one with hair as red as fire and eyes as blue as the sea. She was the one there for him during the years you weren't. Like I told you Zelda, he had gotten over you very quickly"

Zelda forced her eyes closed, trying to contain the tears now streaming down her face. She heard another low growl and then frozen fingers wrap around her neck. "I now see why he wanted to leave you; you are pathetic!" he spat. His fingers tightened around her and then before she could react he threw her onto the hard ground. Pain shot through her limbs as she scrambled to her feet, preparing to either run or defend herself. But as soon as she turned she realised the room was once again empty from all other life.

Her entire body began to shake. She let herself fall to her knees; weakened and hurt she broke down in tears; tears of pain, anguish, betrayal and loneliness. That one, minute hope she had been holding on to for so long, the hope she had needed just to stay sain, the hope which was keeping her alive and breathing had just being shattered before her very eyes. Before she had nothing, now she was left with less than that; she felt as if now parts of her were being taken away slowly, one by one, until finally she will become a shell, a hollow replica of what she used to be. She closed her eyes. Now not even the feeble hope of Link returning to her will be enough to entice her to endure the rest of her days. She has nothing to live for; nothing to hope for. She wanted more than anything to end the pain; to put a stop to the suffering she had endured just in case her one infinitesimal hope was actually enough and maybe he would come back. Now she knew why he had left her; why he hadn't cared enough to stay; why his vows were just spoken to honour a promise to her. Tears of anger began to stream more fervently down her face. She pressed her forehead to the cool floorboards and watched as her tears began to pool below her. She had been so stupid; so naïve. She had trusted Link with her heart and he had shattered it with ease and little care; he had lied to her; every single word he had spoken was a lie but she had trusted him, she believed he had actually loved her. She had given him her mind, body and soul and he had taken advantage of her. But what was killing her the most was what she was doing to herself; she was still loving him. She had signed away her love to him, an act not easily revoked. Even if he never had the same feelings as her; even if he is in love with another woman, she would still always love him, and it was killing her. But she did not want a long, painful and drawn-out death, not when she could end the pain quite easily herself. She would put herself out of her misery; Link would not miss her if she was gone. Maybe it would be better for everyone if she were to cease existence.

She got to her feet in an almost trance-like manner and wiped the tears from her eyes, leaving behind something else- resolution and determination. Maybe Link would realise how much he meant to her if she took her pathetic life, maybe he would see that while his words were meaningless and empty, hers were true, absolute and uncompromised; maybe she would not be entirely forgotten to him; maybe he would stop and think about her; her death will be a plea for his acknowledgement. But she would make sure her death was not in vain; she would make sure he understood.

She moved across the room. She felt unusually light, as if she was floating. Knowing that her time was now numbered by her restraint, she felt almost euphoric – a peculiar sense of ecstasy. She sat back down by her table and opened a draw; the sound of wood sliding against wood made an almost melodic sound to her ears now. She was sure her mind was beginning to turn for the worst, but right now she couldn't care less; she felt so… free, so weightless; it was almost as if she had stopped carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She shuffled through the draw until her fingers brushed against the object she was looking for. She pulled out the pencil and set it down on the tabletop. She then reached back in again and retrieved a simple rectangle of white parchment. She set it down in front of her; the words she was yet to write she could see materialising on the paper already. She had so much to say to Link; so much she wanted him to know before she left this world. She picked up the pencil and held it to the paper. She felt as if the words she was about to write were going to be the most important ones she had ever inscribed in her life. She could feel the message flowing through her hand and into her fingers. She began to write-

Link …

Oh no... R+R: )