Chapter 3- Confessions

Link stared down into the Sealed Grounds, watching Ghirahim raise Zelda into the air.

"You're far too quick, boy," Ghirahim had hissed when Link had reached the bottom, past hordes of monsters.

Zelda's screams as a dark beast clawed its way from the ground… terror, pain… he'd never forget those sounds.

When the demon sword fell and Demise rose, Link could only feel his screams mingling with Zelda's as she fought to keep hold of her life force, while the embodiment of evil attempted to drain it into nothing. Her voice tore through the air, louder even than the roar of the creature. She was high in the sky, writhing, fighting... and losing.

Link could do nothing but watch.

Sitting up with a start, feeling at his bare chest for any sign of injury with heavy breaths. He felt his wounds, but they were all stitched up and healing, not new and dripping with fresh blood. His hand burned with the fierceness of a lightning strike, an echo of what had come to pass in his fight with Demise. Link looked around in a panic, realizing that he might still be feeling it. That this had all been an illusion after being knocked out. He looked around, panicked before settling down from the nightmare and into the real world. No, he was safe. Tired, but safe.

He looked down at his chest once again, seeing the littering of scars that he'd accumulated on his quest. It was far more than he ever thought he'd have after training to become a Knight. He thought maybe he'd step wrong and cut his head while on patrol and find himself with one decent scar. More likely from a sparring match, but nothing more. Eagus had one that ran down the length of his arm for a time that he'd slipped and dug into a rock as he fell. But nothing like this.

He clenched and unclenched his fist, looking over at the empty space by his bed where he'd once kept his sword. His fingers twitched, itching to feel the sacred blade, or any blade, in his hand again.

Sliding off his bed, he rested his head in his hands. Nothing felt right anymore.

Throwing on a loose shirt from a pile near his wardrobe, he opened the door and stepped into the Academy's hallway, taking slow, deliberate steps as he made his way up the stairs and outside. The door was surprisingly unlocked. The air was cold, and the world was… small.

He took a few steps and turned around, unsurprised to see Zelda standing just at the edge of the roof above him, her face tilted up to the light breeze, oblivious to his presence. She was the locksmith of the two of them, and she was more than adept at breaking open the locked second floor door. He should have known immediately.

"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked, not bothering to see if she'd notice his presence.

She didn't flinch at the appearance of his voice, and shook her head, hugging her arms as she stared up at the Sky. "Like I told you, my memories as Hylia are stronger in my dreams. I usually live out the worst moments in my nightmares. I watched you die again."

In a swift motion, Link grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled himself up, standing so he was just in beside her. Lightly, he pulled her hand from her crossed arms and turned her towards him, placing her hand over his chest where she could feel his heart. "I'm not dead."

He knew from his own nightmares that everything could feel real, as if they were still in the moment. For him, it took something concrete to snap him out of it. His healing scars. The lack of a sword by his bed.

It calmed her slightly as Zelda bit her lip, trying to force back the memories that were now hers, or... had always been hers. It was still overwhelming her, and there were times she couldn't differentiate Hylia's pain from her own. She knew Link wasn't dead, but she could still feel the harsh heartbreak of his sacrifice for Hylia all those years ago. Hylia had seen him die, not Zelda. Her dreams were riddled with mistaken identities. But thankfully, her waking world felt solid.

"Link," Zelda said nervously. "I need to talk to you about something." She paused, watching his steady expression. "I… I have to go back."

"To the Surface," Link filled in, letting go of her hand.

"Yes. I… want to live there. I want to feel solid ground beneath my feet, see the clouds above my head, and watch over the Triforce. When I first sent my people to the Sky, it was to protect them from Demise. He's gone. Now, it's time to return home. The people are used to being in the clouds, but we all belonged on the Surface. And that's the choice I'm going to make now. I'm returning. But you and the people of Skyloft and the Outer Sky all have a choice, and I won't presume to know it, though I hope… I want y- well, I mean... do you know what you'd choose?"

Link needed a moment to take it all in, but not a moment to think. His decision had been made the moment he jumped through the cloud barrier the first time to get her back.

He scoffed and held out his hand, an offer. "If you'll have me, if you want me to, I'd follow you anywhere."

Zelda smirked and stared at his hand suspiciously before taking it with a wry look. "I can never tell if you're being serious or not. You have this face that just… I can't tell sometimes."

His grin turned lopsided, and she knew something smug was about to come out of his mouth. She rolled her eyes before he could even speak, earning a wider grin from Link.

"I didn't know you thought there was something wrong with my face? I couldn't tell earlier when you threw yourself at me."

She pushed his shoulder and snorted. "You're impossible."

He pulled her up against him and kissed her lips quickly before trailing feather-light kisses against her jaw. "Well?" he asked, though he didn't stop.

"Huh?" she asked, breathless. He laughed against her before pulling away.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Zelda let her fingers splay on the skin of his neck, one finger finding a soft bit of raised skin, a scar. "This would be permanent. I want to live there, not travel around for a few months and then come back here. You wouldn't be able to take the Outer Sky position. Pipit, Karane, Fledge… my father… they might not come with us. It's possible that we could lose everyone we love. Is that something you're willing to do?"

He ran a finger along her cheek. "I wouldn't lose everyone I love." Zelda leaned into him and waited, sensing he had more to say. She grimaced when his face turned mischievous. "Prepare yourself, this one will be my most romantic line yet. Ready?" he asked with a playful grin.

"Fine, I'm ready," she laughed.

Link kissed her so lightly, she wondered if she'd imagined it before he spoke. "If what Demise said is true and we're cursed to be reborn again and again, I'll find you in every lifetime, because I might just love you too much for this one alone."

Zelda beamed. "You... I..." she laughed and pulled him down to her, stopping just short of his lips. "How can I top that? You've been practicing romantic lines for years."

"You don't have to top it. You can just let me win."

She shook her head, exasperated. "Link." But her mind went back to their conversation and her tone changed. "Link... you'd give everything up that you've worked for all these years. I told you I'd never ask you to choose between me and a chance at the Outer Sky position. We've talked about it."

He closed his eyes and moved his forehead to hers. "Zelda. I guess I haven't made it abundantly clear that I don't want to live in a world without you in it. I'm in love with you. Unless you don't want me to be aroun-"

"No," she interrupted quickly. "I want you with me."

He smirked and continued. "If you want to live in Skyloft, I'm here. If you want to be on the Surface, let's do it. If you want to live on the tip of Eldin Volcano, I might fight you on it first, but I'd prepare to sweat it out if that's what you wanted. I'm telling you right now... you can ask me to choose."

Zelda bit her lip with unhidden excitement. "Will you come live on the Surface with me?"

"Mhmm," he hummed as he nodded against her.

She pressed her lips back to his before pulling away to get something off her mind before she got lost in the moment. "There was something I wanted to tell you when we were flying together the day of the tornado. The day I was pulled to the Surface."

"I remember. I spent a long time trying to figure out what it could have been."

Zelda took a breath and let it go with a relieved laugh. "I wanted to tell you that I was falling in love with you and I didn't know if you were feeling the same. I didn't know how you'd take it. But you just said it twice without even blinking. I shouldn't have been so worried, apparently."

He ran his hand through her hair. "I might have practiced a speech on a petrified robot or two when I couldn't find a timeshift stone."

"Can I hear your speech?"

"Never," he laughed, kissing her again. It had become so easy between them, to kiss each other. At one point, Link would have gone into a panic at the very thought, no matter how much he'd wanted it.

Her fingers brushed his neck and he hummed, completely and utterly content.

When they pulled away, he had a dopey smile on his face that had Zelda giggling. "We're going to live on the Surface together, Link. Did you ever imagine that when we'd just met?" She stopped and her eyes widened, quickly changing to one of nerves. "Oh Goddess, we have to tell my father everything. We have to tell him we're both going to be leaving, and how long we've been together so he doesn't think we're absolutely insane-"

"He'll still think we're insane."

"-and then he'll question us both like we've committed some horrible crime. He'll throw himself in front of our Loftwings to stop us."

"Oof," Link hissed, pulling her along with him as they headed the long way off the Academy roof. "Yeah, we didn't think of that. Early tomorrow, I'll actually wake up and we'll tell him all of it… together."

She groaned. "This might be the moment we kill him."

Link scoffed. "You can't possibly think he hasn't realized something is going on with us, at least on my end. I jumped through the deadly cloud barrier to find you. I don't think it will surprise him to know where I stand." He grinned cheekily. "You, on the other hand, have either been hiding from him, or kidnapped by a soul-eating demon, so he hasn't gotten your side of the story."

"Ugh," she sighed. "Do you know how awkward it is to have to tell your father that you're madly in love with someone, and that you've been secretly together for some time, and that you're now going to leave your Father to go live on the Surface with said man? Do you know how uncomfortable that conversation will be?"

"Nope," he said matter-of-factly as he opened the doors back to the Academy. "But I will tomorrow."

"You're a big help," she scoffed.

They stood outside her door, starting at Gaepora's room expectantly. Tomorrow would certainly be something, one way or another.

Link pressed her against her door and brushed her lips with a chaste kiss that left her reeling. "Good night."

"Wait," she said, grabbing his arm. "You know you don't have to go, right? You can stay with me." She watched his eyes glint mischievously and she scoffed. "To sleep, Link."

He smirked. "I thought that was obvious. Where's your mind at?"

"Shut up," she said, her face burning. She hit his arm, earning an amused chuckle from him as they went inside.

The standard Academy bed was incredibly small for the both of them to fit in.

They'd faced each other and talked for most of the night, catching up on things they hadn't had the time to say to each other. But they'd both gotten rather tired and felt their eyes drooping. Link welcomed Zelda's hand as it slid into his and pulled his arm over her waist, scooting closer to him and resting her head and arm against his chest. Though he thought he'd feel far more nervous to be this close to Zelda all night, it felt surprisingly natural and calming.

Sure, he'd stayed with her outside several times. They'd even woken up together. And he remembered her staying with him after they'd been trapped inside the nearby cave during a dangerous Leviathan migration, but that time, they'd both been recovering from injuries. This felt distinctly different. It wasn't after a traumatizing afternoon, or a friendly gesture of comfort. It was surprisingly intimate, he'd realized, to wake up beside someone he'd just confessed his love to. After practically a decade of friendship, he'd almost expected this morning to be the same.

So, when his eyes crept open in the thin line of the rising sun through her window, he couldn't help but feel himself smile at her peaceful expression in his arms.

He was sore, realizing that he hadn't dared to move a muscle all night. Zelda hadn't moved much either, laying on her back now, but with her head lolled against him and her hand resting against his arm that was draped across her waist.

More than a little shocked that he was the first to wake up, he didn't want to move. Instead, he let his eyes close again, listening to the even sounds of her breathing, the slow and steady rise and fall of their hands across her waist. Goddess, he wanted to wake up with her every morning.

And occurred to him that soon… they could.

She sighed contentedly in his arms as she began to stir, and he knew they soon had to face the day… and her father.

"Hey," he whispered, kissing her hair. "Your bed is small."

Zelda giggled, covering her mouth when she remembered Karane was next door. "It's really not that bad."

"No, it's not bad," he agreed, scooting down to kiss her.

It was certainly not the kind of kiss she expected first thing in the morning, but she welcomed it with open arms. Link deepened the kiss, and she felt herself let out a sigh when he finally moved away and sat up.

"I don't want to get up," she muttered, looking at the door apprehensively.

"Do you want to just get it over with? Go now?"

"Kind of," she admitted. Running her hands through her hair, she rolled out of the bed and went toward her wardrobe. "Go put something really respectable on."

He snickered. "Like I don't always dress to impress."

She looked him over pointedly. He held out his arms. "I was sleeping in this."

"Go change. Meet me in the hall."

He scooted out of the bed and slowly opened the door, looking out into the hall before slipping away.

Zelda sighed and changed faster than she ever had before, wearing something that she felt suited Hylia as much as herself. She looked in the mirror and tied back the hair on either side of her bangs so it was only partially up.

When she'd finished, she waited in the hall for Link, who finally arrived taking the steps two at a time. He was in his Knight uniform.

"Good call," she said approvingly. "I'll do the talking, at least at first. But he knows you probably better than he knows me at this point, so I don't think I should go in there alone. I don't know how this will go." This was the moment they'd both managed to avoid for quite some time.

Link nodded and stopped her hand from knocking. "Should we wait and do this in steps? Tell him about us first, then the Surface another day?"

"I want to get it all over with. Besides, I want to go soon. I don't want to be apart from the Triforce for much longer. It's like… it's like it's calling to me."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I can feel that a bit. Probably not as strongly as you can, but I had it for a time."

"Makes sense," she said, closing her eyes. Steeling herself, Zelda turned and knocked lightly on her father's door.

"Yes?" he called, muffled by the door.

She pushed it open, knowing there was no turning back.

"Hello, Father," she practically whispered.

Gaepora looked between the two of them and gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. "Hello. What can I do for you two?"

Zelda and Link took their seats, practically shaking in anticipation. But Zelda kept hold of her nerves for now. "There's something we wanted to talk to you about. Something that we didn't want written down or to talk about in front of Instructors Owlan and Horwell."

Gaepora looked at both of their nervous expressions and sat back. "Go on."

But that's where Zelda froze. She swallowed and opened her mouth, but no words came out. She turned to Link.

He cleared his throat and sat forward, his elbows digging aggressively into his knees for support. "Zelda and I have been friends for many years now, as you know. And… um… before the tornado happened, we both…" Link had to stop to clear his throat again, trying to steady his bouncing leg before continuing. "We both realized that we had, uh, mutual feelings towards each other. More than friends."

Gaepora's attention turned to Zelda, eyes narrowed. "Before the storm?"

"Yes," she practically whispered.

Sitting back and crossing his arms, Gaepora made a satisfied sound. "I figured. You two were acting differently."

Zelda could feel Link's eyes on her, but she was staring dumbstruck at her father. "And you didn't say anything?"

He looked at her like she had three heads. "Am I supposed to casually mention that to you? I was thinking you might come to me first."

"Well," Link said, biting his lip and looking at Zelda a little harder. She turned to him and let him take back over since she was caught up in the wrong part of his answer. "We didn't want to say anything to you because… it felt awkward to bring that up. But we're bringing it to you now, even though it's a bit late."

Gaepora squirmed in his chair. "And I imagine there's a reason that you feel the need to tell me about this crush you had months ago?"

"Link and I have been together since he won the Sparring Contest about a month before his Wing Ceremony!" Zelda blurted out. And once it was out, she couldn't stop. "We've been seeing each other secretly so you wouldn't find out because you were making me so nervous. You didn't let me have privacy and I was concerned that if you knew, you'd stop letting us hang out in peace and that you'd be over our shoulders all the time. And Link was willing to come to talk to you, but I stopped him because I wasn't ready for you to know. But now, I'm the Goddess Hylia reincarnated; I think I can openly date a boy I lo- like," she stuttered over the last word.

"So," Gaepora said, clearing his own throat, looking between the two. "You're coming to me months later because you are sick of... sneaking around. Is that the takeaway of this little chat?"

"One of them," Zeda said, wringing her fingers.

Gaepora nodded, keeping his voice level and controlled as he processed all of the information being thrown at him. "Okay. Now it's my turn to speak, then. I cannot say I'm surprised," he said, looking specifically at Link, "But I also can't say I saw this coming. I also wish that I'd been more prepared for this speech."

"What speech?" Zelda asked, nervously.

Gaepora turned to Link. "I think of you very much as a son of sorts, so I don't think I need to tell you how much I love my daughter. From your actions over the past months… I think I have a sense of how much you do as well."

Link dared a glance at Zelda, unable to hide the small smile that crept over his expression before turning back to Gaepora. Goddess, he'd rather fight Demise. "Yes. I think that's a fair guess." Zelda spun to face him. "Headmaster," Link continued, "Zelda is my best friend. I've always respected her more than anyone else in the Sky. I would never hurt her." He scoffed to himself. "I'd die for her. But you knew all of that already."

Nodding, Gaepora sighed. "I did know that." He turned his attention to his daughter.

She looked ready to cry from her own anxiety. "Father, Link is everything to me, but I would love for this conversation to end quickly because I think I might just pass out soon. There is a reason we have to tell you all of this. And you won't like it at first."

That stilled Gaepora, and his eyes widened at the implication. "Oh, Zelda. You're not…in trouble?"

She stared at him, waiting for him to finish. But her eyes drifted to Link, who was now fighting back a hard laugh, his face turning an inhuman shade of red. His amused reaction had Gaepora's face relax slightly.

And then Zelda realized how it sounded.

"Oh! Goddess, no! Oh, Father, please don't even go there. We aren't… we haven't…I can't..." she stuttered and backed up, stumbling out of the room.

Link glanced at Gaepora. "That's not it," he assured him before following Zelda out into the hall. "Hey," he said, jogging up to her. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling her shake as if she was in a state of hypothermia. "We knew this was going to be the worst conversation in the Sky. You're doing great."

"Apparently, there was a worse conversation we could be having, and I accidently just implied it!" she hissed.

Smiling and stifling another laugh, Link ran his hands along her arms. "Which is very funny and you'll laugh about it in a few days. You've actually done us a favor. In his mind now, nothing he hears could possibly sound worse than your implication. He's taking everything pretty well. Let's get this over with."

She looked up at Link with tears in her eyes. "This is going to kill him. He'll die. I'm going to kill my father."

Link kissed her hair before looking back at her. "Do you want to stay here? On Skyloft?"

Her head shook. "I want them all on the Surface with us, Link. I don't want to say goodbye."

"Are you alright, Zelda?" Gaepora asked, watching them from his doorway.

Borne from old habits, Link and Zelda took a step away from each other at his appearance. Gaepora noted the immediate, ingrained reaction they had and couldn't help but feel guilty. He'd done this to his daughter. He'd turned her into someone who got sick at the thought of ever mentioning anything to him. As her father, he realized that he'd failed her in that way.

Zelda's face was in her hands, trying to calm down still. Gaepora looked at Link and gestured with his hand toward Zelda.

More than a little surprised by the gesture of acceptance, Link hesitated before moving back to Zelda, though his eyes were carefully watching Gaepora, to see if this was a trick of some sort. He lightly placed his hand on Zelda's back, just enough of a gesture to remind her that she wasn't alone.

Her head jerked up to meet her father's gaze. "As the Goddess Hylia, I was entrusted with the protection of the Triforce. That Triforce is on the Surface. None of us belong in the Sky. It was a safety mechanism to protect against Demise. He's been defeated. That means that it's time to return where we belong. I'm returning to the Surface to watch over the Triforce, and Link is coming as well. We have to leave soon in case the cloud barrier closes."

Gaepora leaned heavily against the doorframe, his mouth agape. He'd been stunned into a long silence that he only managed to break after several long minutes.

"You and Link are going to live on the Surface... together. For the rest of your lives?"

"Yes."

"You may have the memories of a Goddess, Zelda, but you are both seventeen years old! You're children! And it's still dangerous down there! You said yourself that the monsters are still there!"

Link took a breath, ready to deflect some of Gaepora's attention off Zelda for her sake. "I'm eighteen. My birthday happened when I was on the Surface. I'm officially old enough to be a graduated Knight who would patrol the Outer Sky, the most dangerous position in our order. By all laws of Skyloft, I'm an adult who is old enough to die for the sake of expanding the Sky. And Zelda's birthday is nearly here anyway. But that shouldn't matter. We aren't children anymore. Even if we were children at my Wing Ceremony, we were forced to grow up the moment the Sky was ripped open.

"I know those monsters. I've fought them. And, Headmaster, if any of them were to touch the Triforce, even by mistake, the worlds we know could be destroyed. They were created by Demise, the embodiment of hatred. They fight on sight. They kill the unsuspecting. They wage war amongst themselves. We can't let them near the Triforce. This isn't me sounding like a child when I say you can't understand why we need to go back. We bore pieces of the Triforce. We are its keepers, whether we want to be or not. It's our curse and our burden just as much as it was our destiny."

Zelda wiped a tear from her eye. "Come with us, Father. All of Skyloft can come. The outer islands can come. We were all meant to live on the Surface. That's where we intended you to live. The Sky is safe, but the Surface is alive. Ask Levias! I created Levias to keep Skyloft safe until Link and I were reborn. That's happened. In truth, Father, I should bring Skyloft and all the islands back to the Surface where it belongs. The Goddess Statue is already there, thanks to Link and Fi. I can do the rest."

"Zelda," Gaepora gasped. "The Sky is home."

"No! The Surface is! The Surface is where we were meant to live!"

Gaepora ran his hands along his eyes. "Zelda. I can't. I can't think right now."

"I can do it… I can bring Skyloft to the ground, like Link sent the Goddess Statue down. I am the Goddess, and I can bring all of Skyloft back to the Surface where it belongs. Father, I don't have to ask permission for any of this, but I am asking for your blessing. Please, please! Just consider it!"

"Enough!" Gaepora shouted, frustrated and stressed out from all this talk of the Surface. "I will think about what you said. But I do not encourage this jaunt you two are going on."

"It's not a-"

"Zelda… enough."

Gaepora was weary on a whole new level, and both Link and Zelda could see it.

But Zelda shook her head. "We're going to go down and speak with Faron, the Water Dragon. She may have some insight that could help us make a permanent decision. We'll be back soon, I swear it."

Gaepora went to say something, but Zelda grabbed Link and all but pulled him out the door with her. When they hit the air, she let out a sigh, feeling Link's hand against her back.

"That didn't go as bad as I thought."

Zelda laughed. "No? I don't think it went well."

"Right, but it could have gone far worse."

She nodded. "Come with me?"

"Obviously."

"Should we ask Karane and Pipit? Maybe Groose?"

Link's eyes lit up at the thought. "Let's talk to them, tell them where we're going now, and that one day, it will be our permanent trip. Let them all sit on it until you and I get back. Groose had a connection to the Surface, Pipit craves adventure, and Karane is daring enough to try anything. They just might consider coming. Have them spread the word that going to the Surface is a possibility."

"Okay, yeah. I'll talk to Karane and Groose, and you go find Pipit. Let's see what people think about the possibility."

Link nodded, now far more excited than he already had been.

"It will be so strange returning without Impa there," Zelda said, looking around. "Nevermind. Let's do this. Let's go pack some things and go back to the Surface."

A/N: Here's where the end of the game's canon kind of gets iffy for me. It couldn't just be Link and Zelda who went down to the Surface. Although, I find it unnecessarily amusing to think that everyone else stayed on Skyloft forever, and then eventually evolved into the horrifying Oocoos from TP. And to get that thought out of my head, I'm going to go ahead and focus on some of the other theories I know about that are far less terrifying.

Reviews: Queen Emily the Diligent: Thank you for your patience with me. It was a necessity! ZViridian: Thanks! I'm glad it came across fairly clearly! bladeofthebookworms: Honestly, I'd have migraines all the time if I was her, too! And thank you! That's super nice of you to say! I feel like poor Link is just along for whatever ride she's on right now, like a 'where are we going' kind of thing.