No time had passed during my freaky séance with the past Zeldas. Ganon was still standing in my doorway, as intimidating as ever, eyes still glowing. Link and Sheik were braced protectively in front of me. I glanced at Link's left hand. Sure enough, it was glowing. Ganondorf sauntered forward with an infuriating confidence. He wore a cocky smirk that I wished I was strong enough to slap off his face.
Rage that I had never known started to build up inside me. I felt white hot anger gather beneath my ribcage, and I started panting with the effort of keeping it inside my body. The glowing coming from Ganondorf's eyes dimmed as he looked me up and down. Was that…fear in his eyes? Link and Sheik had also turned to look at me with a mixture of fear and amazement. I looked down at myself. It seems as though my body had decided to join the 'glowing' party. Coming from my chest was a white light, that was getting larger every second that I was getting angrier. And every second I was getting angrier.
This man. This horrible, wretched, cold-blooded man, violated me. Violated my family. Violated the safety of everybody in my life. He killed my fucking parents. Triforce bull-shit aside, he was a complete psychopath. A psychopath who would continue to hurt the people I love the most unless I did something.
These feelings that had been stewing inside of me for weeks kept building and building, and my fury kept growing and growing along with the light protruding from my chest. I knew that whatever was inside of me, I couldn't contain it for much longer. Just when the heat inside me was becoming too much to bear, I heard a voice in my ear.
"You are about to lose control of your power." It was the regal, brunette Zelda from my trance. "If you do, you will hurt everyone around you. Breathe. Control it. Ganon won't back down unless he sees your power."
Breathe. Okay. I could do that. I blinked and took a deep breath in. Cool air that smelled like redwood trees entered my lungs. Like pine trees but…warm. The edges of my vision turned into a vignette of a dense redwood forest, complete with the sounds of bugs and birds chirping in my ears. I felt the energy within me distill, purifying it and turning it from pure rage to something lighter. I felt the light behind my eyes, which I could only assume were glowing. My living room, and everyone in it except Ganon, who was in my direct line of sight, had disappeared into the redwood forest that was grounding my newfound power. Another deep breath in released some sparks that flew to the ground and seemed to release gravity's hold on me. My body slowly rose from the ground to hover. Swirling masses of energy pooled in my hands as I moved forward, closing in on Ganondorf, who looked like he had seen a ghost. I suppose I didn't look too different from a ghost at this point. I opened my mouth to speak, wondering if I could even remember how at this point.
"I think that you'd better leave." My voice sounded ancient. It was me speaking, but it felt like a dozen other people were speaking through me too. The other Zeldas. Ganon was sputtering and I was slowly closing in on him.
"B-but," He was sweating. "No Zelda has been able to do this before. Her powers have always been subdued. I was told this was going to be easy." I chuckled. This time when I spoke, the other Zeldas could be heard distinctly. Each with their own archaic anger from lives past.
"We intend to end this Once And For All this time." Ganon's eyes widened with the realization that it wasn't just me speaking anymore. It was twenty against one. "Now I suggest you leave my home, unless you want me to end it Right. Now." Ganondorf's eyes darted back and forth before he practically 'wily coyote' skittered out of my house. Sheik slammed the door behind him, and as quickly as the rage had built up inside me, it dispersed in a palpable swoosh. I collapsed onto the floor. Panting, sweating, and more exhausted than I have ever felt in my life, I used the floor as my connection to reality and desperately tried to fight of the black spots that were clouding my vision. I was vaguely aware of my family crowding around me, but their voices sounded like they were underwater. Hands Touched my shoulders, my knees, my forehead, making sure I was okay.
I tried to answer them, but my tongue was heavy and opening my lips to speak seemed like the most monumental task I had ever been assigned. The dark spots in my vision became bigger and bigger, and I was too tired to fight them off any longer. I let them cloud my vision entirely, submitting to blissful unconsciousness.
When I woke up, I was in my bed with, covered in like twenty blankets, and I swear every single pillow in the house was on my bed. I was still exhausted, but not in the 'I feel like if I don't sleep I am going to die' way like before. Now it was just like I hadn't slept in a few days. I looked around my room, a glass of water was sitting on my nightstand. I took a sip, realizing how thirsty I was. A sip turned into downing the entire glass. A rustling on the floor make me jump. Had Ganon snuck back into my house? I was far to drained to access whatever power I had tapped into. If he was in here there was nothing I could do. I heard the rustling again, and this time I caught a glimpse of dirty blonde hair. Leaning over my bed to look at the floor, I breathed a sigh of relief. Link was shifting uncomfortably on my floor, presumably watching over me.
"Hey you." My voice was hoarse and cracking. Link's head whipped around to look at me, excitement and concern in his eyes. He gave me that crooked smile I loved so much.
"You're awake!" He shuffled forward and clasped my hand in his, rubbing his thumb in circles on the back of my hand. He looked up at me with the most earnest, puppy dog eyes I have ever seen. I looked away from his gaze guiltily. He had stayed up all night watching me. After tirelessly protecting me for the past few days he was probably exhausted, and yet, here he was, watching over some girl who used to be his tutor, and somehow became his partner and reincarnated Prophet buddy. What the fuck?
Does he even like me? The thought flashed through my brain. What if he is only here because he is supposed to protect me? Tears welled up in my eyes. Maybe subconsciously he was only drawn to me because we have some freaky cosmic duty to perform for each other.
"Hey!" Just as self pity threatened to swallow me, Link's voice broke my chain of thought. I forced myself to look into his frustratingly beautiful eyes. His shaggy blonde hair was strewn about messily, framing his eyes in the most knee-weakening way. The sincerity in his gaze was hard to mistake, but self-doubt still echoed in my brain. "How are you feeling?"
"Well," My vocal chords were beginning to warm up. The water helped. Now I didn't sound like a chainsmoker. "I can lift my head now, so that's definitely improvement." A reluctant smile graced Link's face. I hadn't lost the ability to make him laugh. "That glowing thing was pretty crazy, huh?"
"Yeah it was." Link agreed. "How did you do that? I mean, I've tried to do stuff like that. You know, with magic, but I've only ever made like, these wimpy green sparks. But you! Goddesses Zelda that was insane!" My head had started spinning again. I hadn't really registered that what I had done before was magic.
"I just felt it." I choked out. "All of it. The lives of all those women I saw, what Ganon did to my parents, the danger that my entire family is now facing because of him. I got mad. Like, really mad. And then I started glowing, I guess." I shrugged sheepishly and looked down at my hands that Link was still holding.
"Hey," His lyric baritone voice soothed the tears that were building up, despite my furious attempts at breaking away. "I won't let him hurt you or your family, you know that don't you?" I sniffled and nodded.
"But that's the problem." I pulled my hand away from his, dreading what I had to say next. "We've only been dating for like, a month. Until then, as far as you were concerned I was Malon's has-been best friend who tutored you in math." I sighed, and brought my gaze to meet his. "I don't want to take your whole life away. This….. Whatever the fuck this is…..it's huge Link. And we are kids. This doesn't have to involve you. I'm giving you an out if you want it." As I spoke a new resolve solidified like a rock in my belly. I could do this. No matter what Link said, I would figure out a way to protect the people I love. Link looked at me dejectedly.
"Is….. is that what you want?" The despair in his voice shocked me. He thought I didn't want him around. "I know I'm not as powerful as you yet, but I've been training with the other Links and I'm getting pretty handy with a sword. I promise I ca-"
"Link of course I want you to stay." I put my hand back on his. "That's not what I meant at all. I just want you to know that you're not obligated to me."
"Zelda you are the most wonderful woman I have ever met. I would be honored to fight by your side." He stood up and behind him I saw a dozen or more broad shouldered blonde men looking on proudly. A particularly tall one, with darker hair than most made direct eye contact with me, and with a profound tenderness that could only be fostered over countless generations of love. Could he have been in love with his Zelda? Are Link and Zelda destined to fall in love generation after generation? I heard a voice in my ear:
"I loved him." It was the voice of the regal, brunette Zelda that had explained everything to me earlier. "He went through many trials for me. Even transformed into a wolf. He traveled to and from shadow realms save me. After he defeated Ganon, we wanted to be together. He stayed at my castle as head of the royal guard for a time. But he was never happy. He was riddled with trauma, as was I, and his heart belonged in the small woodland ranch town that he left when he was thrust into his quest to save me. Eventually I told him to leave. He insisted he wanted to stay, that he loved me and wanted to protect me. But we both knew that his work with me was done. Our lives were not meant to continue together.
Link went back to Ordon Village and did his best to live out the rest of his life as a farmhand. I ruled Hyrule. We always exchanged letters. Once every few months or so, Link would travel to Hyrule castle and spend the night with me. We would talk into the wee hours. Laughing, talking, crying, and holding each other. We wanted so badly to be together, but we were from different worlds. He always loved me though. Always. I could feel it from across Hyrule field every minute of every day." She stopped to gaze fondly upon the faint outline of the Link behind my Link. Her eyes welled up with tears.
"We have not seen each other for centuries. But still I feel his love permeating across my plane of existence. Ganon may be terrible, but it brought us together, and for that, I am forever grateful." She turned her gaze, filled with more love than I ever thought possible, to my Link. "But you two," her voice remained low and composed, despite the tears that were silently falling down her face. "You two live in the same world. You grew up in the same place, have the same friends. There is a chance for you two." She laid her hand on my shoulder for a moment, before I felt her presence and her touch fade away.
"Did you hear that?" Link was looking around frantically. "That Link and that Zelda just spoke to me! They were in love!"
"They could never be together." I mused. "Isn't that so sad?" I patted the spot on my bed next to me, so that Link would get off the floor and into the bed. He took the cue, and I wrapped my arm around him and started stroking his hair. I felt him melt into me. A relaxation after what must have been days of constant tension.
"It is sad." Link mused, his voice half muffled by the fact that he was snuggled into my neck. "But it's kind of beautiful too. Yeah they led different lives, but they always loved each other no matter what. I think that that means something." I hummed in agreement. What little energy I had was fading, and my eyelids began to droop. I stopped fighting the urge, and gently let myself drift off, with my ancient partner in my arms.