Chapter 2- The Tale of a Goddess

Zelda cleared her throat and looked around the room. Everyone was staring at her, waiting. While she'd learned a lot about herself and her past, she was still learning, and was hesitant to share with all these eager eyes. There was only one pair who looked at her patiently, not needing to hear everything all at once. Perhaps it was because he'd been the only other one to bear witness to the events. He didn't need all the answers. He didn't need a perfect history. It's why Link was the only person she felt comfortable talking directly to.

When she looked at the instructors, they were both ready to jot down every single word she said, like they might miss something terribly important and never be able to hear it again. Her father was confused, but also curious. She could see heartbreak in his eyes. She wasn't just his little girl anymore. No, she was the Goddess Hylia. It didn't sit well with him, and it was very obvious to anyone who looked at Headmaster Gaepora with more than a passing glance.

"Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. What we thought we knew about our history was missing a few details. For one, I was not… I mean… Hylia was not the first or only goddess. It began with the creation of the earth, sky, grass… life was created first by the three goddesses of old, Din, Farore, and Nayru. Their combined power left behind the Triforce, which they left under my protection before they disappeared beyond even my… uh, Hylia's reach."

"I can't fathom it. Was it really you?" Gaepora asked. "I held you in my arms as a baby and you most certainly were not the ancient Goddess Hylia. You were ours. You were our daughter."

Zelda fidgeted. "It depends on your point of view. Do you believe that you- that is, your essence- reside within your body, or within your mind? This body is entirely mine, Zelda's. From my memories, Hylia seemed to look similar to me, but not exactly a clone. But my mind… it has me, Zelda's memories, but also Hylia's. Right now, things are still muddled. I can't always sort between them. When I prayed at the springs, it was like I was given a set of keys to try, not a rushing floodgate of memories. Like sometimes, I look at Link and I see my Link, the one I grew up with. But other times, I'll get a flash of a different Link, one that Hylia trusted with her life."

Link grinned. "So either way, my name is Link? You must be joking. Your hero's name was Link, too?"

Zelda chuckled. "Fate is funny."

They both stared at each other for a moment too long, looking away so as not to attract Gaepora's attention. Link liked the way she called him her Link. And Zelda liked that he hadn't called her Hylia. He'd said "your hero," like she'd never changed in his eyes, as she had in her father's. He'd already begun to accept her dual mind.

Gaepora sat forward and waved the two of them back to the conversation. "The three goddesses gave Hylia the Triforce?"

"Right," she said, snapping back. "I guarded it for many years, though time passes differently in the Sacred Realm. I cannot say how long it was by the way we measure time. I divided my time between the Sacred Realm and the one the Three Goddesses created, which we now call the Surface. I started to love it there, spending more and more time among my people.

"But one of the men of the Surface discovered some of the magic that Din had left behind, granting him powers and strength like a god. He acquired knowledge faster than any before, and he realized that the goddesses were real, and had been among them at some point. He grew jealous of all that I had. Because of his strong connection with Din's creation magic, his malice, jealousy, and rage began to manifest itself in the monsters of the world, creating more and more. They served him, and he began to believe that he, too was truly a god, and he called himself Demise.

"Link fought many of his creations; they were the antithesis of my people. They were beings of hate. And when an army of these creatures amassed together, Demise emerged from a fissure to lead his army against me and my people. He wanted what I had: the Triforce.

"Yes, there were problems with my people. No one is perfect, and I did not intervene in most of their squabbles, but there had been nothing like this before. Few people were even capable of fighting, as we lived in a time of mostly peace. My beloved people that I shared the Surface with were being slaughtered, and I had to act. It was around this time that I found my Chosen Hero. It was... unconventional. He was a prisoner held unjustly by his captors. There was a darkness in him that he had to overcome. He'd been captive for so long, and his exoneration left him torn between revenge and hearing rumors of my plight. He chose well, in the end." Zelda's eyes softened and turned to Link. "He looked like you. Older, but I can see it."

Clearing her throat, she looked at the ground. The tragic love between Hylia and her Chosen Hero was known on Skyloft, and she didn't want to betray anything more with her expressions. "Link had begun amassing an army of my people in my name to drive back the darkness. At that point, I had to see him for myself. So, I got on my Loftwing and went to meet him. Thankfully, his first act wards me was to stop his people from shooting me from the sky. They thought I was a monster at first." Her eyes closed and she couldn't help but smile as she remembered him with the same vividness of her own memories. "Link was brash, confident, a natural leader, and a brilliant swordsman. After a time, I gave him my sacred blade, unable to be wielded in battle by a mere mortal. He reforged it so it so it might serve him, and he stood by my side as we started to round up my people into designated areas where they would be safe while trying to force the darkness back.

"We fought Demise the first time, and Link sustained grave injuries. I managed to get him away, and we knew it was time to save my people, that the Surface was lost. He drove the sacred blade into the ground and I hid the Triforce away on Skyloft and used my powers to raise as many pieces of the Surface as I could. Skyloft and the outer islands were pieces of the land below that I moved as far from Demise as possible. But Link… he chose to stay with me, to fight a battle against evil itself. Raising Skyloft took a great deal of energy. Link guarded me while I recovered, but he was forced to... he was forced to confront Demise without me. Without the sword that he'd sent up to the Sky with the Triforce, and being injured as he was, he… was mortally wounded. I woke up. He'd bought me the time I needed to recover. And I h-held him in my arms… as he died."

Zelda could feel a tear fall down her cheek at the memory. The pain was oddly fresh as she relived it. Though she didn't share the final words that passed between them, she remembered them.

Link sat forward, watching her carefully. "You thought I was dead."

"Huh?" she asked. No, he'd definitely died. She hadn't thought that, she knew it.

Shaking his head, his own eyes softened affectionately. "A few years ago, I mean. You scared me and Pip half to death. You barged into our room because you thought I was dead. That you'd seen it happen and that you had my blood on your arms."

"I remember that," she whispered.

"So your memories were coming back before you were on the Surface." He scoffed. "I wrote it off as a bad dream. I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "There was absolutely no reason for you to believe otherwise. I convinced myself that was all it had been as well."

"But," Gaepora interrupted, "what happened once the Hero…"

Zelda sat back and hugged her arms around herself. "He'd bought me time, as I said, and I went to face Demise alone. But I didn't possess the strength to defeat him entirely. I was gravely wounded as well, but I was a divine being who cannot die by mortal means. I sealed Demise away in the Sealed Grounds, taking his physical form away and leaving him as the demonic abomination his magic had created. His loss scattered the rest of his armies across the land.

"I created Fi and gave her explicit instructions to follow, knowing what I had to do to defeat the demon once and for all. Once she went into the Sky, she would have to prepare everything for the day my spirit and the hero's would be reborn. I also called forth three guardian dragons, and I created Levias to watch the provinces of the Surface and the Sky and each held only a piece of knowledge regarding the Triforce. When they'd gone to their respective places, I went back to Link. The Triforce cannot be used by a god or goddess because it is of our make, but there are ways around that. I renounced my immortality and divine powers, knowing that my spirit would be reborn and able to use the Triforce one day. My now-human body succumbed to the injuries I'd sustained, and my spirit passed into the Sacred Realm, waiting. Now, here I am: Zelda."

Horwell sighed, still scribbling. "This is not the history we were taught. Not in its entirety. How did we miss so many pieces?"

Gaepora clicked his tongue thoughtfully. "Years worth of information can't always transcend time properly. It's likely we have oral tradition and embellishments to blame."

Owlan dipped his quill and looked back at Zelda. "Link has told us his version of events from when he first arrived on the Surface. He's been back several times. But you? What happened?"

Link sat back, genuinely interested in every word she had to say, but this was a story she almost didn't want to tell. But everyone's eyes were on her now, and she feared she had little choice.

"I arrived on the surface and met an old woman, Impa, as I later discovered, and she told me how to find the temples to purify myself and regain my memories. I went to Faron and Eldin alone before Impa appeared to me again, much younger. Time is interesting, and she protected me in her youth and her old age, ensuring that I remain safe. Link and I reunited briefly at the Temple of Time where he…" she trailed off and crossed her arms, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. Link understood the feeling. That's when he thought he might have lost her forever, when the Gate of Time was shattered. "What happened after you told us to run?"

Link took a deep breath and glanced at Gaepora's waiting eyes. He didn't want to talk about that. Not to them. Instead, he put on his best smug face, though he couldn't help but feel a slight true curiosity as he teased her. "I thought the Goddess was all-knowing? You know how as a kid, they tell you that the Goddess can see all thoughts, and only judges those we act upon? Has my childhood been a lie? Can you not read minds?"

Zelda smirked. "Of course I can't read minds. I don't think I'd even want to."

"So you can't tell me what I'm thinking?"

"I probably could, but that's nothing to do with mind readi-" Zelda stopped and gasped. "Wait, come closer… I'm serious, Link… I think I can hear something."

He cast her a skeptical look, but leaned forward.

"Closer, it's… I think…" she trailed off as he scooted to the edge of his seat.

Zelda lightly whacked him in the head with her palm, giggling hysterically as she did. Link rolled his eyes, but chuckled along, knowing he'd fallen right into that one.

"I just told you I couldn't read minds and you already forgot? I can tell you that there's an empty buzzing noise in there sometimes."

Link felt his hand twitch towards her, but he leaned back, a casual grin stuck on his face as he carefully avoided doing or saying anything that might make the others suspicious.

"So," she prodded again. "Tell me what happened. And where is my harp?"

Link's eyes glistened as he watched her. "Your harp is in my room, so come grab that later when I definitely forget to give it back. But… I don't know. I heard you singing and I thought I'd finally managed to find you. Ghirahim showed up," he added, more for Gaepora and the others, since Zelda had been there, "and he trapped me behind that barrier. You gave me the harp and then I saw you stop at the Gate when Impa's magic shield broke and I thought you were… I thought…" he glanced between Gaepora and Zelda. No, no telling them what he thought. Those deep-rooted fears of what might have happened if he hadn't been fast enough were his burden, no one else's. "So when Impa destroyed the Gate, Ghirahim wasn't interested anymore. He left. I went to the Sealed Grounds and then came back here to fill in your father."

"And I thank you for that, Link," Gaepora said, nodding. "Link did an incredible job of keeping my mind at ease. But please, continue."

The two told their stories, cutting each other off to fill in the gaps, marveling at the stories that the other told. It came to a point when they realized that they were only talking to each other, filling the other in on their adventures, rather than a room full of people. Link was almost positive that he hadn't looked back at Gaepora in some time, and Zelda's own gaze stayed firmly locked on his.

He skipped over the most uncomfortable parts. When he reached a point of his story that betrayed his fear, anger, or absolute drive to find Zelda at any cost, he skipped over it. He brushed over how poorly he slept at night, eager to sleep, but also to keep moving. To close his eyes, but remain watchful. And his worst nightly fear: that some night, he'd close his eyes and miss Zelda running past him with Impa, too preoccupied to notice him, and he'd have lost them all over again.

At the same time, Zelda could see that he was leaving pieces of his story out, just as she did with hers. She didn't want to tell the world, or whoever would eventually read the words Owlan and Horwell were writing, that she was terrified by the Goddess' voice in her head. Her own human feelings and emotions had clouded, replaced by the will of the goddess that was otherworldly. She felt the need to seal Demise away so fiercely that she'd almost forgotten Skyloft, her father, her friends. She never forgot Link. Perhaps it was her own feelings, or the Goddess' for her Chosen Hero that kept him in her mind, even when all the others in her life had faded under the precedence of the fate of the world.

Gaepora didn't let them leave until after their story had absolutely made a full circle back to when they'd returned to Skyloft. Both Link and Zelda were exhausted as they wearily stood up after hours in the chairs, recounting their tales.

Link held the door open for Zelda and gestured to the stairs. "Want your harp?"

"Oh, right!" she said, following him down the stairs and into his room. "It's a good thing I taught you a few things before the Wing Festival."

She could see the harp on his desk, along with a few other things, but she only turned back to him when she heard the door close. He leaned against it, his eyes drinking her in as if she were water.

"I have to ask you something serious," he said quickly, trying to blink away his absolute enamorment with her.

"Of course," she said, crossing her arms and watching as he began to pace.

"Who am I to you now?"

"Who…?" she asked, not understanding.

"When I look at you, I see Zelda, my best friend, the most important person in my life. But when you look at me, who do you see? Am I the ghost of a dead man you once loved; has Hylia's memories altered yours and I'm nothing? Or, are we just friends again, someone you once had feelings for before all this started? Maybe I'm competing with a ghost? I'd understand if it was any of those answeres. I just don't know where I stand with you now that Hylia's memories are yours as well."

Zelda crossed the gap and took both of Link's hands in hers. "Here's how it works: I am me. I'm Zelda, like I always have been. And when I look at you, I see you, my Link, not Hylia's. But especially when I talk about the past, or sometimes when I sleep, it's like Hylia's thoughts are stronger than mine and she can take over. But when she does, it's a sadness for someone who's passed on that I feel linger."

She tugged his hands closer to her and he took the hint, wrapping them around her waist. She reached up and pressed a soft, unhurried kiss on his lips that was filled with so much more emotion than he thought a kiss could have, especially one like this. It set his mind at ease as much as any words could.

Zelda pulled away and ran her hand affectionately through his hair. "I feel the same about you as I did before all this happened. I may even feel stronger after all we've been through. Don't think that you're competing with a ghost. You have his spirit, his courage, and his curse. We'll all be reborn again when evil manages to reincarnate. But you are uniquely you, Link, and you are the one I have feelings for, not anyone else."

Link smirked and leaned down to kiss her again, already missing the feeling of her against his lips. "Yeah, that's what I figured."

She sniggered and lightly hit his chest, but didn't resist. Instead, her arms went around his neck and pulled him closer to her.

But a knock on the door had them jolting apart. Link sprang across his room and threw himself on his desk, grabbing the harp and plucking a string as he called out, "Yeah?"

Gaepora pushed the door open and narrowed his eyes at Link's distressed appearance. He turned to Zelda, who sat on the bed with her head resting in the palm of her hand, a sweet smile covering any guilt far easier than Link's expression did.

Turning back to Link, Gaepora ignored his odd behavior. "I just forgot to mention that I have an Outer Sky route available, if you were feeling better. And Zelda, there's a class you can teach tonight if you'd like to. I'm sure it would feel good to get back into some old habits. Zelda, you're nearly graduated and I know your heart was set on being an Academy Instructor. I don't know. I thought, perhaps, it might interest you both to try to find some normalcy again."

Link turned to Zelda, knowing his own answer immediately. She shrugged. "Sure. If it's tonight, I don't mind giving it a shot."

Gaepora turned to Link, expectantly.

"Not anytime in the next few days, Headmaster, but thank you. My arm is hurting a bit too much to hold a Loftwing for that long."

"Your arm?" Zelda asked. "I thought it was just…" she motioned to his collar.

Rolling up his sleeve, he showed her his entirely bandaged arm. "I got kicked pretty good, too, so I'm still a bit bruised up. The potions are just helping to manage the pain."

"I'm sorry," she said, her face sobering up immensely. "I should have known that Ghirahim or Demise had some plan in place for when I woke up. I should have planned better."

"Don't start," Link scoffed. "Don't apologize."

Gaepora looked between them and cleared his throat. "Well, Zelda, come meet me when you're done here and we can go over the lesson you'll be teaching."

Zelda stood up and made a face at Link. That had been close.

"To think you could have stayed here with me if you weren't going to be Instructor Zelda," Link laughed, strumming the harp lightly.

She rolled her eyes and left with a large grin on her face, missing Link far more than she could say.

They didn't see each other for the rest of the night. After her teaching lesson, Zelda went for a walk with Karane to fill her in, and Link surprised himself by checking on Groose. Link wouldn't have guessed, but Groose was struggling with everything since being back as well.

Link went to knock on Fledge's door, but remembered that he was visiting his family on an Outer Island, and Pipit was on a patrol, not to be disturbed.

After deciding there was little else to do for the day, Link peeled off his shirt and began removing the bandages that covered his wounds, letting the air hit them and offer some relief. He unwrapped his arm and flexed it a few times, testing the muscle. It wasn't as bad as he thought, and the potion had worn off for the night. Then, he checked the rest of the smaller wounds. None looked bad. The large boot-sized bruise on his abdomen was already turning from purple to yellow, and he had no doubt it was from his gratuitous use of potions.

He changed out of his normal pants and into ones that were more comfortable to sleep in, rolling them up as he sat on the bed. There were quite a few scrapes that he'd acquired there as well. His knees were the worst. He'd done far too much skidding on the hard, rocky surface.

Laying back, he ran his hands through his hair. How had that only been days ago? How had he defeated a semi-god? How had he lost Fi and saved Zelda? It was like a dream, but one that he knew was all-too real.

Not even bothering to get under every blanket, Link scooted down and rested his head on his pillow, feeling his eyes drift closed very quickly.

And he fell into a very fitful sleep.

A/N: I definitely should NOT have started replaying Twilight Princess while writing about Skyward Sword, let me just say that right now! I honestly feel like I need to replay SS now just to get my head out of TP land. That's really all I have to say. Wish me luck as I head into the horror world of the City in the Sky! Which… I guess technically makes it appropriate for SS.

Reviews: James Birdsong: Thank you! Good to see you back! zViridian: Thank you! I have some key things written down that I want to happen (like conflicts), but I don't really do much pre-planning, so that's technically a yes and a no answer hahaha! Draegor: Yeah for anyone who played the game, the prologue was just a refresher chapter with more Zelink than the game hahah! But yes, it is great to see/read you again too! Queen Emily The Diligent: YASS QUEEN! (I've been wanting to do that! Sorry, I had to!) bladeofthebookworms: Thank you! Yeah, he's definitely realizing that life is much different now, for the better or not! ThrowerofBooks: Honestly, I'm impressed. I speak babbling fluently, so go for it! Thanks for the feedback! I went back and added a few things to make it clearer, because only Link and Pipit went to the Bazaar and everyone else stayed in the Academy kitchen. So thank you for catching that mess! Cosmo14: Yeah, I did! Thanks for the catch! I went and fixed it! But yeah, they're definitely over the 'when will they be together' kind of thing the first story had. Duke Serkol: Yeah, Zelda's struggle is going to part of her story. I think it would be weird if you suddenly learned a whole lifetime's worth of memories and didn't struggle with it a bit. But thanks for your input! I'd forgotten some of that! I do think that the Skyloftians (is that what they're called?) don't quite get it yet since they were so detached, so they definitely think Link fought a god. I totally forgot about ALttP and the fact that no one is guarding the Triforce though hahaha! There's that Goron that hangs near the temple! We'll leave the temporary fate of the world in his hands!