(14 and Final Chapter) Zelda - Together
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Oh dear Hylia, there's nothing left for me is there? Once again, I will be abandoned by someone I have placed my trust in. Someone who held my heart closer than my parents, or a friend. Once again, I was helpless to watch as another person I cared for (love, admired, treasured) was taken from me by the yiga. It all seemed to happen in slow motion…
Link breaking free, Nanaba falling, Ariel screaming and- and and…. "LINK!" My devastated wail blurred over Ariel's in a hair-raising dissonance. Ariel whirled on him, and in the same fluid motion swept his legs from underneath him. Link's body seemed to give up before his mind did as he slammed into the ground. His back arched in agony before he went limp. The whites of his eyes striking a chord deep in my chest.
The light on the horizon grew, but this time I let it grow within me too. Everything, everyone left me alone. I wasn't about to let Link become another name on the list. I refused, and rebuked the evil spirits that played their twisted games with our fates. My body surged in temperature until I was burning up from the inside out. My heart, my soul, glowed with divine power. Behind me, the mountain side cracked with the explosive force of my power. Every dormant emotion inside me past or present had built up to this moment.
The grief of loosing my mother. Then my father. The entire kingdom. Bolson, Karson, Sidon, Paya, Impa, Nanaba and now Link- erupted like the famous Death Mountain eruption that got the volcanic range its terrifying name.
Was I awake or was I dreaming?
Everything I had to offer built up into a singularity of energy inside me. A breath before the moon reached its height… Ariels' scythe was raised to harvest the Hero's blood… and I released.
As golden light swallowed the world, the goddess Hylia appeared before me. Her evanescent mirage wavered before me, but the more I concentrated on drawing out my power the more stable she appeared to me. With a brilliant face like the sun and cool skin like the moon she truly did emanate divinity.
"Princess…" her voice like a songbird, low and sweet. "Your devotion today will bear fruit for generations to come. Rest now princess, for you have fulfilled your role as my vessel."
The light in me died. The last I saw was of Ariel's ashy form as it blew away on the wind, her scythe falling off the edge. Link's unconscious form, and the wide concerned eyes of Thaddeus. Their voices were disjointed and muffled as I sank into a sea of oblivion.
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I would later be told that I leveled the surrounding peaks forming a plateau. The landslide it created made the entire mountain side unfit for descent. Link had been laid down next to me on a mat much like mine. I was first aware of the wind. Warm and pleasant on my face; not yet searing. The next was sound and light. Also warm… I felt like I was drifting just below the surface of a dream. Not quite there, but enough that sound was perceivable if not understandable. Then touch. A palm on my cheek that drifted up to brush through my hair, then down to cradle the back of my head.
"Princess?" A deep voice resonated through me. "Can you hear me?"
I wanted to wake up. To wrap my arms around everyone I had ever hurt while trying to save. I wanted to run to the stable to see if Karson and Sidon were alright. I wanted to run to Hateno to see if the sheikah guard had returned Bolson safely, and if he was doing well. To run my hands along his arm until I could feel the stump between my fingers. Maybe it had gotten infected, maybe not. But most of all, I wanted to see Link.
To caress his face, brush his hair, help him sharpen his weapons each night by the fire. To watch him make me breakfast, and to cuddle up after nightmares at night. To hike the mountains for ingredients, both of us companions, comfortable in our silence. Gods, I wanted to kiss him. Scratch that, make love to him so he can feel how much I value him so he never EVER feels the need to pull such a stunt again. Maybe if we had had those hard conversations about our past. If I had worked harder to emotionally satisfy him maybe he wouldn't have felt the need to chase after ghosts. If he hadn't been so starved of affection and my role in denying him such, he would've been more formidable against Ariel's manipulation. But it's too late for that now isn't it? Everything has already happened.
The world has already burned. And for the brief time I was that flame. I could've cooled off and become the balm that healed the kingdom. But instead, I took my frustrations out on my emergency coolant. On Link. And I did more than burn him. I scarred him for life.
Emotionally, physically, and mentally.
The light had faded into murky gray, the vilces gradually drifted into silence once more until only my slowing heartbeat resounded in my ears. Throbbed through my body.
"Zel…. da?" Another person murmured. It was Link… he's calling out to me! I have to get up. I won't go through all that trouble just to give up on him now. I struggled to pull myself from the gloom. Had to actively fight it. I broke free of the murk and into full consciousness. In one fluid motion I flung myself up to the left and embraced Link in my arms. He was quick to hug me back. Even though a sound didn't pass our lips, we sobbed into the other's shoulder. So fuckin' relieved to finally be together. His breath trembled as a small whimper sounded against my neck. That only made us hold each other tighter. Closer.
"L-Link," I sobbed. "Y-You're a colossal d-dummy. Y-You kno-w that r-r-right?"
His breath hitched and he nodded. "Y-Yeah." He sniffed wetly. "I kn-know."
Shakily and dependant on each other, we struggled to our feet. And together, we took our first step towards home.
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We met up with Karson and Sidon along the way. Together, we watched Sidon sink into the river and swim away. Before he rounded the bend, he leapt up and twisted. His brilliant grin vanished back under the waves. A moment later, his blurred red form was gone back to Zora's Domain. Karson's thigh wound had begun to scar over, forever a wicked reminder of the battle's he'd won to get here.
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Link and I stumbled up the path towards our home in Hateno. We'd decided to rest a few days before checking in on Bolson. I led Link through first, his still fever addled body weak on its legs. He collapsed to the ground, a hand already splayed on the floor to balance himself as he lay down.
"N-no," I whispered. It was night out, and the moon was covered by clouds. I stumbled around for a match and lantern. Eventually finding one I managed to light up the room a little. I started getting a fire going in the stove to faster warm the two level home. Link was half asleep on the floor by the time I returned to him. "C'mon Link," I panted. "Get up, we're almost there."
He feebly shook his head. "Mgunnathrowup."
"Throw up?" How can he puking at a time like this? He can barely breathe. "Alright! Um, just hold on a sec I'll find a bowl or something…" I raced around his house. Where the hell are all the bowls? There wasn't even a bucket, but I found a small flower vase. I felt bad about dumping the plant and soil on a spare plate, but it would have to do. I got the vase under Link's nose in time for his body to tense. I held back his rugged bangs from his weathered face as he threw up. But as expected nothing came up but saliva. He eventually stopped and I forced some ice chuchus to melt on his palette. I stumbled while I carried him up to bed, the entire time his stick-thin arms clutching on to me with a desperate grip. I tried to lay him down, but he suddenly had the strength to hang on. His blue eyes glazed with fear and pain broke me. I cuddled down in bed next to him, drew the blankets over us, and pressed every inch of ourselves together. Usually it was me being the little spoon; crying into his chest while he stroked my head and shoulders in long, even pets. But tonight, and possibly for many nights to come our positions would be reversed. He would fall asleep with his tearstained face buried into my chest, bony fingers holding on to my clothes as if he could stay alive that way. I prayed he would. I didn't want to lose him…. I… couldn't afford to lose him.
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It had been almost two months since we had returned from our trip and the nightmares still didn't stop. Link had gained some weight, but he was still susceptible to random bouts of vomiting. Where he would expel everything we'd tried so hard to keep inside him. Those were the hardest nights. When I truly feared that he would begin to wither away like before.
But he got better.
And for once, I was able to save the one I loved.