Chapter 39: Rekindle
3rd person POV
All of Hyrule was now silent. Throughout the land, there now lay nothing but empty homes and corpses, which all came from a shockwave of death and destruction. It had spread across Hyrule in a matter of days, and no life stood in its wake. From the peaceful Lake Hylia to the mystical Twilight Realm, almost nothing remained standing. Nothing, save for the small remaining village hidden within the Eldin province. But that too has embraced the strong aftershock of ruin, and now very few of Hyrule's people remain.
The remaining survivors were a mix of all; farmers, soldiers, freedom fighters of old. One week ago, they had all lived their lives normally, having finally recovered from the Twilight Invasion from two years prior. The residents of the land all were living peacefully. But in the span of just a single week, everything they had tried to restore was reduced to rubble once more. The shock wave of destruction came at the Hylians harder and swifter than the invasion ever could try to be. Except for the people of the village, nothing remained.
Many of the survivors simply waited. Whether it was their end or the end of this destruction, it did not truly matter to them. They simply wanted all of the suffering to cease. Many loved ones had died, and their families no longer had the strength to fight anymore. They had lost their hope in any way things could go back to the way they were. To them, hope was lost. But a select few still chose to keep their faith in the heroes that brought them to safety; the heroes that had fought their hardest to set things right. Currently, they all waited anxiously for either the heroes to claim their victory, or them appearing so they can assist in the final fight.
"Ashei, have you spotted anything?" Auru yelled up to the current scout, hanging from the side of a large signpost at the peak of the village. It managed to help her get a good enough view of the land, even letting her see Hyrule Field's vast span, as well as Castle Town's remains. As she looked about the rest of the land, just seeing the carnage of the beasts made her sick with anger. But there was nothing she could do about the past, so she decided to focus on the present with what she could do. So she pulled back some cloth that was covering her face and responded.
"Still nothing!" She yelled back down. The old man sighed; it was agonizing for him waiting in such suspense. After the attack on the Hidden Village, they barely had time to try and clean up the remains. Before they knew what was happening, the ground started to shake and a loud rumbling filled everyone's ears. Before anyone even had the chance to think about what was going on, one final BOOM caused everyone to see just what was happening to Hyrule now.
They all watched in terror as Death Mountain, the volcano dormant and silent for two years, erupted with its full might. Two years ago, the only things that came from Death Mountain's rage were falling rocks. Now, lava, flames and chunks of the mountain itself shot out from the mountain and rained down on both the home of the Gorons, and its neighboring town of Kakariko. Nothing in the range of the volcano still stood strong once the shaking subsided.
'Even if we do manage to survive somehow,' the remaining residents of Kakariko thought together 'there is nothing left for us to recover.' Many of the survivors were thankful that they were out of the blast zone of the volcano, or else none of them would still be thinking those thoughts by then.
When Link and the other two heroes appeared from the sky after the explosion, crashing down into the very middle of the village, many were relieved that they were safe and slightly regained hope. However not even mere moments afterwards, the Deity had appeared in front of them all. The conductor of all of Hyrule's destruction stood before them, and the survivors trembled in fear as if the reaper had come for them alone. Once it had whisked the seven heroes away, all they could do was wait. Wait for either their salvation or destruction.
The smoke from the volcano clouded the skies, covering any bit of sunlight that dared to touch the ground below. Along with the darkness, a mighty chill came from the lack of light, turning the late Spring into a deep Winter. Along with the chill, ash started to twirl through the air and cover the ground like snow. These all came hand in hand, physically embodying the grim becoming of Hyrule that slowly drawed near. Everyone could feel it looming over their heads, and even those with a mighty resolve still burning inside them could slowly start to feel its effects.
Auru left Ashei to her post and went to the other members of The Resistance, who tended to the survivors. He coughed hard from breathing in the ash, then covered his mouth with his shirt in hopes of stopping it. He walked over to Shad and Telma, who all tried to scrape together any scraps and cloth they could find to give to the villagers to keep them warm and fed. Thanks to the Twili Aden, they had plenty of rations for those who remained. But after the raid on the village, many of it had gone bad, and their food supply was cut by almost three quarters of what it used to be. But considering the amount of villagers, this seemed like more than enough for them all.
Telma noticed the old veteran approach, and left a grieving mother with some requested isolation. The bartender stood back up and faced him. "Any news from the girl?" she asked, hoping that there was any news of the heroes. Auru simple shook his head, with nothing else to say. Telma's expression quickly shifted into one of useless anger. The old man listened to her while he brushed ash off of his body.
"If only I could have gotten taken up there as well! I would have given that…" Telma's anger died off almost as fast as it had sparked to life. She sighed. "Oh what's the point. I couldn't do anything those heroes could do. They're all risking their lives for everybody down here, while all I can do is try and clean up the mess." Telma walked forward and stopped right before the doorway to the ash-sprinkling world outside, and looked up into the sky. "I just wish that there was something that we could do to help them. Down here I feel so, weak."
"Believe me, I know how you feel." Shad entered the conversation, leaving a small child with her fill of the remaining rations. He walked up behind them and looked up into the dark sky alongside them, exhaling and covering his arms to try and warm them up. "Even two years ago, I just wished I could do something as grand as Link was doing. But I knew that nothing I could do could match his efforts. I felt useless back then from what I wasn't doing." He pushed up his glasses and looked down at the ground. "Well, I guess you all know how I felt now."
"What, you think that you're the only one that felt that way?" Telma piped up, making Shad lift his head back up. "It may not have looked like it, but we ALL felt weak compared to Link! You, me, Auru, Rusl, even Ashei! All of us felt like we were barely doing anything before that castle raid! So don't you think that you're so low compared to the rest of us. Besides, which one of us planned out that said raid on Hyrule Castle, hm?" The brainy Hylian smiled a bit, remembering his grand accomplishment of infiltrating Hyrule with the rest of the Resistance. It was true, he was the one who planned out the attack, but he didn't fully accept Telma's compliment. He simply looked away smiling. The bartender chuckled slightly.
"You ain't as useless as you think you are son." Telma slapped him on the back playfully, making him jump in surprise. "With that brain of yours, you could probably become the princess's royal strategist! You just need to be a little more confident in yourself, that's all." Shad rubbed his left arm and looked away from the two; back up to the sky.
"I'll try, I suppose." The brainy Hylian slipped out. It sounded forced to himself, and a fake response to others. He wondered if he would even have a chance to try and reach for that position. 'Telma is only being herself; optimistic and supportive. She wasn't trying to bring you down even lower.' Shad's inner thoughts scolded. 'Just take the compliment, don't think about everything going on right now and just take it like a reasonable person!'
"Well, hopefully we can see that day soon." The old man spoke up, only to get a swift knock on the head.
"No, we WILL see it soon!" Telma scolded the old man, who tried to soothe the pain away from his skull. "Stop being so doubtful you old man! I know that Link, Zelda and everyone else will succeed! He saved us once practically all by himself, and with the six others with him INCLUDING the princess herself? I know they'll be able to pull through!" She suddenly started coughing, accidentally breathing in some of the ash from the sky. Auru tried to support her by holding her back until she stopped.
"Well, things were different from back then Telma." Rusl appeared, having finished his clean-up work with the village. His clothes were covered in ash, and a piece of cloth covered his mouth to prevent any from entering his mouth. Joining the other Resistance members in the house, he brushed himself and took off his breathing cloth. The others looked at him, curious about what he had to say and slightly annoyed that he brought in more of the volcanic ash.
"I won't deny, Link was abl' to help save Hyrule. That was impress've. But this…" Rusl sat down on the ground with his head lowered. It didn't feel right for him to face the others while he was saying this. "It's a god Telma. A god. I wanna believe in 'em, I really do. But this's much different from back then. We all know that." Everyone was silent, and let Rusl's words sink in. They all did know the severity of the situation, they have from the start of this catastrophe. But not everyone had let it fully sink in about how bad things were. So still refusing to give in, Telma pulled herself straight and faced the Ordon warrior.
"You too Rusl? Out of everyone here, even you lost faith in them?" Telma sounded appalled and furious, but Rusl only looked back at her with a guilty expression. "He's one of your own! You came from the same village, you know how skillful he is with a sword! You saw him yourself storm the castle and take it back! How can you doubt him now?!" Rusl looked back down and shook his head.
"Telma, you know it too." the Ordonian spoke; his voice giving off a pessimistic vibe. "A king's different from a god. We all wanna believe, but things're looking bleak now. I'm just not sure." Telma began to appear even more angry with every word he spoke, and the other Resistance members started to back away from the two before she exploded. They all once saw before what she was like when somebody ticked her off, and it does not end well. She took a deep breath and prepared for her fit.
"But! But… Oh what's the point." Her furious demeanor quickly plummeted down to Rusl's level. The others couldn't believe that Telma, of all people, started to lose faith as well. She turned around and walked back into the house, staring at nothing in particular while crossing her arms.
"I tried to be as hopeful as I could be, just trying to keep the dream alive for everyone. But, I suppose you're right. Maybe," she lowered her voice "maybe this time we got thrown into a battle we can't win." The people went silent once again. The reality of the situation had finally sunk in for everyone, and nobody said a word. Auru and Telma began to feel even smaller than they felt before. Out of everyone left in Hyrule, what exactly were they doing? 'All we're doing is cleaning up after the heroes' mess and did what they said.' Rusl thought to himself, joining the others in their pit of despair. 'We couldn't really help even if we all tried.'
"NO!" A young, child-like voice butted in, making everyone's head turn. The bug princess ran into the house with her parasol up, protecting her from the raining Ash. She flicked it shut and held it sideways, then stomped her feet on the ground. The resistance members recognized her expression, it was the same one she had when they found her mourning her insect friends. Mr. Clayface was right behind her, marching in to stand next to Agitha and protect her from any harm. He didn't bother to shake off the ash from his body.
"All of you are wrong!" Agitha yelled at everyone, furious at all of them for giving up. Her tears washed away some ash flecks that managed to get onto her cheeks. Rusl was about to try and say something, but she stopped him before he could even get a single noise out. "All of them are really, really strong! I know that they can beat up that mean god, they'll beat him up good! Why don't you think the same?!" Telma tried to approach the little princess, but moved away from her before she could get close.
"Agitha"-
"Back in Castle Town!" Agitha stopped Shad from trying to prove her wrong. "The really tall lady, uh…"
"Adri?" Auru questioned.
"Adri! She fought off the really mean guy and grew really tall! She was able to help us get out and come here, all by herself! And Mister Bahst, he's really strong too! When he found me, I was really scared, but he protected me! I saw how strong he was, and I know that he can beat up that mean god!" She stomped her foot again and yelled at everyone with all of her might.
"WHY CAN'T YOU BELIEVE IN THEM?!"
Her scream was heard throughout the village by everyone. Even Ashei, still on lookout high above the ground could hear her. She wondered what they were yelling about down there. The Resistance members on the ground however were not sure how to break the truth to the young child. They all did see how strong Adri was when getting them out of Castle Town, but Zant was on a much smaller scale than the Deity. Not to mention that none of them knew what exactly Logan did. Sighing, Rusl stood up and walked over to Agitha, about to speak up.
"I believe in them too!" Another voice cut in. This time, the Mayor of Ordon's daughter rushed into the home, trying to get out of the ash storm outside. She didn't bother to wipe the ash off of herself, but that caused her to go into a coughing fit. Telma and Rusl, both worried for the girl, rushed to her side to make sure that she was ok. When they huddled around her, she shook them off and said "I'm fine!" When she was obviously not fine. After she fully recovered from her coughing fit, she went to Agitha's side.
"Back in Ordon on the farm, I was surrounded by those monsters with nowhere to run. But you" she pointed to Rusl "and Link's friend, Midna, she was able to save me! She killed both of them before they could kill me! And I believe in her, Link, and everyone else! They were able to save me…" She clenched her fists and stood her ground. "So I know they can save the rest of Hyrule!"
For the third time, things went silent. The other survivors were starting to look in and see what all of the yelling was about. They peeked from their ash shelters into their house or walked over there with parts of their clothes covering their face. Murmuring had began to become audible to everyone as well; all of the people talked and theorized about what was going on. The members of The Resistance all looked around at the onlookers, becoming worried about the commotion. Nobody stepped forward to silence the two women now, since it didn't seem to do any good. Auru himself was satisfied at the two at gathering the crowd. He felt it was necessary to get everyone back onto their feet, as Shad decided to do right then. He held his head and thought to himself 'I suppose I wasn't thinking straight. Boy do I feel stupid now.'
As the murmuring grew louder, the rest of The Resistance got up to face everyone. There was no use in hiding it anymore anyways, since everyone was aware that something was wrong over in their house. Auru looked back to everyone, wondering who would be the one to step up and explain everything to the crowd. But nobody walked away from where they stood, nor showed any signs of stepping forward. With a disappointed sigh, the old man stepped forward to do it himself.
"Now, everyone"-
"HEY, AURU!" Ashei yelled down to the land below. All of the villagers looked up to the lookout, who was looking out at something in the horizon, gradually turning her head from right to left. She was following something, and it was coming in hot! But because of the ash, she could only see the faint outlines of something gigantic. It leapt from cliff to cliff, jumping high into the air each time as if it was looking for something as well.
The old man put a cloth over his face and ran outside into the dry rain. The other Resistance members ran after him, doing the same protective measures he did. Agitha went as well, flicking open her parasol and waving Mr. Clayface to follow her. Taking a quick glance back to the ground and seeing her boss, she pointed a finger at whatever was heading their way. "Something's coming, and it'll be here any second!"
Jumping at the chance for action, all of the Resistance members swiftly prepare! Rusl grabs his canon, Shad grabs a dagger, Agitha prepares her parasol, Clayface backs up Agitha, and Auru grabs one of the remaining castle soldier swords. The old veteran thinks back to the time when they raided Hyrule Castle, and when he was the one using the canon instead of Rusl. Sadly, he had left it behind in Castle Town when everyone had to evacuate, but then he remembers his training back from Hyrule Castle. He may have been a tutor, but he was still taught the proper fighting techniques in case he had to protect the princess. But as he readied himself, he wondered if he still had those skills when he felt a light crack.
Telma could not do much but usher the survivors back into the houses to prevent any further casualties, but she was happy with that. Shad tried to be as confident as he could, but nothing could keep back the trembling visible in his knees. A dagger could not do much in comparison to the others after all. Ashei kept an eye on the figure, trying to make out exactly what it was as it kept leaping closer and closer to the village. It seemed to know exactly where they were hiding, and it would only take a couple more seconds before it showed itself! Then with one final leap, it flew over the surrounding cliffs and nearly grazed the signpost that Ashei was stuck on, landing at the entrance of the village with a mighty BOOM! Ash from the ground flew upwards from where it landed, and the Resistance all prepared themselves for the battle to come!
They waited for some sort of monster to burst from the wall of grey, but all became confused when loud, thunderous coughing came instead. It was only when the ash settled when they all let their guards down. Instead of finding a giant destructive beast, there was a giant, white furred creature, coughing his lungs out. Lying next to it was a much smaller creature (compared to the giant at least) who was doing the same. It appeared to be bundled in some sort of giant sweater due to the colored shapes covering her fur.
Ashei immediately recognized the two creatures; they were the giants from Snowpeak she had seen two years ago! Wanting to find a quick way down, she yelled down to the giant grey blob that was Agitha's friend. "HEY CLAYFACE!" She yelled down. The creature looked up to her.
"I'M HEADING DOWN, CATCH ME!" Taking a running start, Ashei did a leap of faith and plummeted to the ground. Much to Ashei's relief, the creature did as it was told, and managed to safely catch her with its giant hands. Going with the momentum from the jump, she leapt out of its arms (giving it a thanks and pat on the head) and ran to the two beasts. The Resistance fully let their guard down as she approached, seeing that the two creatures did nothing to retaliate. Ashei could see their pain as they coughed; they did it to no end! The smaller one looked up to the woman, as if it was pleading for help without her voice.
Seeing nothing else to do, she helped the two into one of the empty houses to get out of the ash storm. The other villagers watched in confusion as Ashei led both of them into shelter. 'Why would SHE help those things?!' the skeptics thought. The other members of the resistance did nothing to stop her; Link had told stories of those two before. It was a tight fit with the giant, but they two managed. With every cough from the large one, the houses shuddered and shook. But little by little, the two managed to get everything out and were finally able to breathe again.
After thanking the kind humans and introducing themselves, Yeto and Yeta began to tell how they got there. They spoke of how they lived in the mountains peacefully together, only having to worry about what to eat for that night. But one day, a large army of monsters overtook their home and enslaved Yeto, turning him into a murderous beast to guard a pretty lady. Yeta managed to escape and run into a group of kind heroes, which all of the Resistance figured out to be the group who went to search on Snowpeak for Nayru. They managed to defeat him and turn him back to normal, but left before Yeto woke up to thank them. They had left their home in search of a hideaway from the monsters, which Adri had mentioned to Yeta, but got stuck in the ash storm on the way here. Then time caught up to their story, and there they appeared.
"Uh, where are kind humans?" Yeta weakly spoke, looking past the resistance members. "They not here? We thought they be here." The Hylians looked between each other, thinking about what to say. Ashei stepped forward, cautious about what to say to them.
"Well, you two said that there was that big monster army, right?" Ashei reminded them. Yeto nodded his head, almost hitting the roof.
"Yes! Monsters were very tough, uh. Not even I fought them off!"
"Well, the guys you two are talking about, they're all fighting the thing that made those monsters come after you, and"-
"HAH!" Yeto suddenly yelled, making everyone jump from surprise. He pounded the ground with glee, causing wood planks to snap. Some of the survivors outside scurried away in fear of the giant monsters, but the rest stayed. Yeta herself seemed happy hearing the news herself, despite the danger they were in (and the destruction her husband caused).
"Then we go home soon! Yeta, Yeto shall make best meal tonight!" The giant yeti wrapped one of his giant hands around his wife, causing her to shake her legs with glee. To the onlookers, it didn't seem like they were grasping the full walked up behind them to try and break the news to the couple.
"But, ya do know that they might not make it, right?" Yeto's smile stayed on despite Rusl's warning. The laughing stopped however. Yeto shifted himself into a hunched sitting position so he could face them all.
"Why do you doubt own friends?" Yeta interrogated. Her husband cut them off before they could explain, and began to praise the heroes for what they've done.
"Kind humans are very strong! Stronger than Yeto!" He slapped his own chest confidently, leaving an echo like a drum. Yeta nodded, agreeing to his claims of strength ("Husband is very strong when angry."). "Green one alone is strong; saved wife from mirror! Then other kind humans save Yeto from control! Friends brought us together again! All are strong! I know they will win!"
"But"-
"Yeta not understand." The kind yeti spoke, once again interrupting the doubtful humans. She held an expression of genuine confusion while she tilted her head sideways, much like a curious puppy would. "Why does human call friends friends, but not believe in them?"
The Resistance members opened their mouths to respond, but came up short and nothing came out. They left their mouths agape for a few moments, then closed it again to think of something to say. For every second of silence, the discomfort of the situation grew even more. Everybody was at a complete loss for words. Yeta and Yeto were both very displeased by this.
"How can humans call friends friends if they don't believe in them?" Yeta scolded, slightly raising her voice at this turn of events. Yeto looked surprised, as she had almost never raised her voice at anybody before. The only time Yeto had ever heard her raise her voice was a little after they first met. Yeta tried to leap up from her position, but she was still weak from breathing in the ash. So Yeto used his giant hands to help support her, getting a smile and thank you from his wife. Turning her attention back to the Resistance, she raised her voice once more.
"If humans do not believe in friends, are they truly friends? Yeta believes not!"
Once again, the members of The Resistance found themselves fighting in a battle they could not win. None of them could speak up against her because of their lack of rebuttal. Most of them felt guilty after hearing Yeta's words, except for one. Auru, instead of feeling guilty, felt disappointed in the rest of the team. The rest of them were all giving up while the heroes were risking their lives for them! So putting up with the foolishness no longer, he stepped away from the group and next to Yeta. The other members felt even worse after seeing the oldest, wisest person in their group shake his head at them.
"Now all of you listen up." Auru spoke up to his friends. "Link, Zelda, and their friends are off fighting that thing all by themselves. I do confess, these events are much different from those of two years ago, much like Rusl said earlier." Rusl felt a strong pang of guilt in his gut. "So don't you think they need all the praying we're supposed to give them? All of you gave up on them because of how powerful their foe was, while I remained by their side this whole time. I assume you want to know why?" Not waiting for an answer, he scolded all of them much like an ashamed father would to a disobedient child.
"It's because I looked at their strength instead of the enemy's power! While you all looked at the destruction that thing brought, I saw the motivation in those childrens' eyes! They all had no intentions of backing down ever since this began, despite all of the danger that could come from it!"
"Hey, same here old man." Ashei broke away from the non-believers as well, joined the Yetis and Auru. The two smiled at each other, knowing that neither of them were alone in how they felt in the group. Yeto and Yeta both looked proud for the two small humans. The stern warrior turned to her associates, ready to tell them what for.
"I don't know fully what you all were talking about while I was keeping watch, but I know enough to see what's going on. Remember Aden back in Castle Town, and how he tried to carry Midna to shelter despite all those monsters swarming him? Well I certainly did, and I saw the fire in that kid's eyes. It was like Link's when I first met him; filled with determination and no sign of giving up. If that fire is in the rest of them: Zelda, Adri, Midna and the others? Then I know that they'll be able to do this. It's the same fire my father told me I had during training after all."
Suddenly from behind the other members, two women and one giant clay monster brushed past them. Mr. Clayface, Agitha and Lila joined the side of the believer's, standing beside them confidently. None of them had any hesitation going against their friends, they all stood proudly with what they believe in. They were all tired of losing hope and doing nothing, and no longer were they going to tolerate it. As for everyone else, they searched for anything else. Their guilt had piled too high for their liking. But then Telma, holding her head in her palm, giggled and shook her head. Everyone else looked curiously at the bartender, curious at what she had to say. So taking a deep breath to recover from her laugh, she spoke in her usual, playful tone again.
"What were we thinking?"
Aden's POV
Seeing the Great Fairy again was probably one of the most relieving things that could have happened to me. I expected one of the goddesses to show up again to try and convince me another time, but seeing one of my friends alive caused my mood to take a complete turnaround. I lost control of my emotions, and I ran to her, collapsing by her feet and let my tears flow free again. But this time, instead of tears of grief, it was a mix of that and joy. I could feel her kneel down to ask me what was wrong, but when she looked across the field, she understood. Without making me sit up straight, she wrapped her arms around me. It felt genuine, but I was still overwhelmed to do anything. At some point, I was sure that I could hear her start to cry too.
After a minute or two the Great Fairy gave me some space. We both sat on the dead grass, legs crossed. My cheeks were still wet and salty, no matter how many times I wiped them. The whole time, she had kept quiet so I could take my time and calm down. "Are you calm now?" I nodded. My throat was still choked up from my tears, but for some reason I still agreed. She looked at my clothes and smiled.
"It seems you still wear the cloak I bestowed you." She noticed. I smiled and nodded, taking and feeling a part of it. I wasn't sure what it was made of, but it felt very comfortable. When I first wore the cloak, it felt strange on my back, like it didn't belong there. But after my time in Hyrule, it grew on me, and I never wanted to take it off! Not to mention, it was a reminder to not forget about the first person I met here; the one who took care of me despite how strange I might have seemed. All of a sudden, a memory came back to me from when I first woke up.
"Hey wait, how are you even here!? I thought you said that you couldn't leave the cave!" I questioned, letting go of my cloak and sitting up straight. The Great Fairy looked down at her flowing green hair, letting her fingers course through it as she talked.
"That…" her voice sounded just as confused as I was. "...I am not certain of myself. Up until recently, I have been residing where I have always been. For the past seven days, it proceeded as if the days were similar to the rest. I sat in solitude within my home, tending to my fairies. But prior to finding you outside of the entrance, I had sensed a strong force in my soul growing weaker each day. It felt as if it was chaining me to my spring, and the shackles were rusting as days went by. After you left, the force returned to how it had felt before, and the shackles once again tightened. In addition to the force returning to its natural state, I sensed something else as time went on." She stopped playing with her hair and let her hands drop together into her lap.
"My fairies. I am a caretaker to them all, yet also part of them. I sense the life force of all my fairies; if even one single fairy's life force is depleted, I always feel it and learn which had faded, along with where. When you left, I… I sensed so many disappear. Each day, more and more fairies, gone. I felt myself becoming weaker as time marched on. The only remaining fairies are only those who resided in obscurity alongside me." She placed a hand over her chest, reliving the feeling in her head. As she spoke, I started to realize something as my vision cleared. 'Did she change?' The Great Fairy's skin seemed more pale than before, becoming an almost ghostly white, her green hair was much more dull than a week ago, and her sparkling wings were shimmering. She was telling the truth for sure.
The Great Fairy was quiet for a long time. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but closed it quickly. It seemed like she wanted to ask something. 'But why is she hesitating?' I thought about the reasons why and the things that were happening after I left the cave. But after remembering how she phrased them, I managed to figure something out quick.
"Aden…" The Great Fairy forced out. "...What exactly did you do after you left?"
Her realization hit me hard. At the time, I already thought of myself as useless because of the fight that happened before. My own brain screamed it at me every second after the goddesses left. But hearing the Great Fairy say something like that too felt even worse somehow. It was like her words just confirmed my own self-bashing thoughts. She saw this though (I flinched when she asked the question, so it was obvious), and started to quickly pull back. She put up her hands, trying to calm me down.
"Wait, I did not mean to accuse you! I"-
"No, no. It's okay." I said back to her. I felt my eyes start to sting again, and I impulsively grabbed my cloak again to feel it. It helped me calm down, even slightly, and I didn't want to start crying again in front of her. Taking a shaky breath and wiping away the tears, I looked at her face to face. "You deserve to know."
Then I told her everything. Every place I went to, every person I met, every battle I fought and every person I saved. I started all the way back to when I first left the cave, using my powers and riding the boar. I told her about how Midna already knew me, how I met the Shade, and the Fierce Deity. She didn't seem to know what it was, so I told her the story Zant told me. Then I told her about the attack on Ordon, meeting Adri, and getting to the Hidden Village. I felt stupid again as I remembered how quickly I trusted Adri when she showed up. I should have suspected something from the start.
I went through everything else quick. The raid on Castle Town and saving Zelda brought back memories of my time with Midna. I heard her laugh again in my head as I talked about using my Ordon accent to get in. The Great Fairy found it amusing as well, but that just made it hurt more. So then I moved on to going to Snowpeak and helping Yeta. Yeto's body falling down to the ground after I turned him back to normal just made me feel even worse. 'Another person I couldn't save.' I thought. Lastly there was the Hidden Village defense and final fight, which finally brought me back to the present. With every word I spoke, my guilt grew more and more. I never sat down and fully thought about everyone I let down, and it just added onto the pile of guilt I already had. When I finally finished explaining my fight with the Goddesses, I saw just how shocked the Great Fairy was.
"You," her voice was wavy from shock "y-you chased off the Golden Goddesses of Hyrule?!" Another pang of guilt. This time, it was smaller.
"They figured out themselves that they didn't care about Hyrule and left. I didn't chase them off, I made them realize what they did." My voice held no regrets for doing what I did. I thought that I was completely right, and I did some sort of good when I snapped some sense into them. My hatred for the Goddesses was still extremely strong. But she didn't seem happy about the whole situation.
"But they all desired to help! They could have been your final chance to reclaim Hyrule! Even if you hated them, you could have joined forces! Why push them away?!" I said nothing back. A feeling similar to my hatred to the Goddesses started to form again, but I tried to push it down. The Great Fairy was still my friend, and getting mad at her wouldn't do any good. I grabbed some of the dead grass and clenched it tight, trying to think of other things. I wasn't sure if she noticed or not, but she stayed silent as well. She looked away from me and sighed.
"However… I suppose I should also thank you Aden." Her voice was filled with shame, and my anger turned into confusion. She grasped her hair again and looked away.
"The feeling within my soul I described to you. I know now it was linked to the Golden Goddesses." I let go of the grass as she helped me figure out what that was. 'She did say that it went away a little while ago.' I thought. 'That must have been when they all left.'
"Thanks to you, I am no longer shackled to the prison I once called a home. I had explained to you that the Golden Goddesses had condemned myself and ancestors to the cave. Whether their reasoning was either for protection or another unknown reason, I may never fully know." She tugged on her flowing green hair and grimaced at a thought. "I despised that cave. I desired to be with the people of Hyrule, as did my many ancestors, yet my ancestors and I were never given the gift of freedom! I yearned for any living being to appear, simply to experience something new. Every day, I scolded myself similar to my superiors. 'They are the Goddesses of Hyrule, pavers of this land. They would have their reasoning for your punishment.' But I was never given the privilege of knowing why. Now that they have left Hyrule, the shackles have been shattered, and thus I now am able to traverse Hyrule as I please." The Great Fairy looked over her shoulder, as if she could see the outside world. "At least, what is left of it."
As my curiosity melted away, I started to feel sympathetic for The Great Fairy. She was lonely for all those years in the cave, probably along with other fairies too. She didn't have anybody else to talk to, and could never leave and go outside. It made me feel sick at the Goddesses. 'Why would they even want to lock her up? What would that even do?!' But I also felt sorry for how she was finally able to leave. After all the time she spent in the cave, she could finally leave, and she was greeted with all of the destruction instead. It wasn't a matter of setting expectations too high, it was a matter of me not being able to save Hyrule. 'Although… maybe this is good for her.'
"The first thing I did after escaping my cave was try to find you. I used what little information I received from my fairies and tracked down your location. However, I was not expecting to find you in this pocket dimension of all"-
"You should go." I interrupted her. I could see her eyes widen as she stared at me.
"W-what?"
"You should leave. Try and get out of Hyrule while you can." I brought my knees closer to my chest, resting my arms on top while avoiding her gaze. "You said yourself that you're free to go wherever you want. So you should get out of here before the Deity destroys everything." The Great Fairy let go of her hair and leaned in, completely astonished at what I said to her.
"But, but what of you? What of those who remain in Hyrule?" I could hear the concern in her voice. She was worried that I might try something reckless, while I was actually planning on doing the opposite. I sunk my head deeper into my knees and held my legs tighter, letting my guilt run through me again.
"There's no way I can win now. The Goddesses are gone, you said that you're weak, my friends are gone and I'm nothing compared to the Deity. If I tried to fight it, I would get killed in seconds. There isn't anything that a screw up like me can do right anyways. You need to survive." I looked away, but saw her shaking her head frantically from the corner of my eye. It reminded me of Farore and how childish she acted.
"No, no! You plan to let this world die?!" She screamed at me in denial. I slowly shook my head.
"I said that there's nothing I can do. I'm powerless and just a giant screw up, so how could I even"-
"Stop labelling yourself as that!" She jolted up to her feet, getting desperate to try and convince me otherwise. "You told me of how you saved the lives of many Hylians and rescued the Goddesses! Yeto of Snowpeak, the Resistance in Castle Town, the countless people from Ordon, Kakariko? What of them?! If not for you, would they be alive?" I sunk deeper. "You saved them Aden, even if you only slightly assisted!"
"But what about all of the people that died?! What about me not telling anybody about Adri Logan and Lora?! What about me causing my friends to die?! They're all my fault!" I pressed my head downwards, thinking of all of the failures that I made. But for some reason, The Great Fairy kept going.
"Aden, you cannot claim those burdens all for yourself! You were not the cause of every death!"
"Well I was for my friends!" I screamed out, accidentally letting my voice crack. "Link and Zelda sacrificed themselves to save me, I wasn't able to save Midna, I even killed Zant myself after he was already on our side! It's my fault they aren't alive now, it's my fault they're gone, I'm just one gigantic screw up!" My heartbeat began to pick up as the screaming voice in my head came back. It just repeated the same thing I kept telling myself; it was nothing new. I stayed in that position for a while until The Great Fairy tried a different approach to me. She walked next to me and went down on her knees. Trying to calm me down, she talked in a relaxing tone of voice.
"Aden. If your friends were here right now, the ones you said you let die, what do you believe they would have said to you?" Seeing no other choice, I told the truth.
"They would've said I wasn't good for anything… Dead weight… just a failure." Without meaning too, my mind imagined all of them here. Link, Zelda, Zant, even Midna. They all looked down on me; Zant screaming for killing him, Link begging to bring them back, Zelda crying for being so alone. My hands reached for my ears and pressed on them as hard as they could, trying to block out the screams that were in my head. I could hear The Great Fairy worry as I collapsed to the ground, breaking out in tears. But no matter how hard I covered my ears and pounded at my head they didn't go away. I heard myself apologize over and over, but it still never went away. When Midna begged me to join her again, asked for me to come back to her, I started to curl up into a ball. 'I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry'
My screaming thoughts were interrupted by the Great Fairy, shaking my curled up body frantically. "Aden, snap out of it, please! They would have never even considered to speak of you like that! Link and Zelda both are far too nice to ever talk like that with somebody. They know that you tried your best, and they would accept that! With Zant serving as a possible exception, but still! Your allies would not label you as a failure after you have done so much good in Hyrule!"
It only got worse. They all kept screaming, they all kept begging, and it kept getting louder as The Great Fairy spoke. I tried to think of anything else to drown it out, but nothing helped. All of a sudden though, a wave of calm came over me. Starting on my hip, it slowly went through my chest and filled my head. My breathing went back to normal, the tears in my eyes dried, and the screeching thoughts faded away. I peeked from my ball, seeing if everything was okay and asking myself 'What just happened?'
The Great Fairy's sobs helped me stop focusing on myself, and I went to her side right away. Her sobs were light and quiet, like how a person would cry if they wanted to hide their emotions. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked. She wiped away her tears, which I got a good look at when she lifted up her head. They were a dark shade of purple, and seemed to shine as they fell. What interested me was how whenever a drop of her tears touched the grass, it changed. The color changed from yellow to green, and it stood back up fully. It almost seemed like it turned back to life! She sniffled, and my attention turned back to her.
"I, I am glad you are okay." She wiped her cheeks again. "My tears have a somewhat mystical power to refresh. I am relieved to see you calm again."
'So it was her.' I thought. She sat down again, regained her composure and took a deep breath. Within seconds, she looked like how she was about a minute ago. It almost seemed like she did this a lot. "Aden, you do not truly believe that they would say those things, do you?" I rubbed my shoulder on impulse and looked away, shaking my head. I felt even more stupid now because of feeling that way. The Great Fairy's tears really did do wonders to help. She smiled.
"Good. But you do realize that we must face this, correct?" She went back to the matter at hand, and I had no other choice but to face it. Nodding my head, I answered.
"I know. But you did hear me earlier, right? The Deity was powerful back then, but now he even has seven pieces of the Triforce. Neither of us even have any power either. I'm drained from the big fight earlier and you lost your fairies, so how could we even do anything?" She looked to the side and put a finger to her chin, considering the options we didn't exactly have. Or so I thought we didn't have. Suddenly her face lit up, and she turned to face me with a scheming grin on her face.
"I believe we can use the plan you had mentioned earlier. Where you could use your Memory Orbs on the Fierce Deity?" I almost jumped back at her response, then slapped my own head. 'How did I forget about that?!' I thought, feeling even more stupid than before once again. But then I let my hand fall, and the gears in my head started to turn again.
"But wait, the original plan was that the others distracted the Deity and I snuck up behind him. And, well…" I peeked over my shoulder, half expecting them to be behind me just like before the big fight. I don't know why I was surprised when they weren't there. I tried to shake off those thoughts and focus back to her. "What are we supposed to do? It won't be that easy with just us, and we're both weak. How would we pull this off?"
Without hesitating, The Great Fairy got up to her feet and walked over to me. Not knowing what else to do, I panicked and stood up too. It seemed like she noticed, because she smiled when I jolted to my feet. She stopped a step or so in front of me, then delicately held out her hand for me to take it. I only got more confused with each second.
"What do you want me to…" I tried to ask. But one look in her eyes told me what she wanted me to do. I gently took her hand with the one that had my Triforce Mark on it, still not exactly sure of what was going on. Then closing her eyes and putting her other hand on her chest, she began to chant.
"O' brave, young Twili, bearer of Hylia's power. In the name of the Twili, Hylians, and countless residents of this land, I grant thee my power to stand against despair and take back the land we so love! I grant thee all of my being; from this moment onwards, my power is thou's, and united as one, we shall no longer cower and tremble in the presence of the mighty! We shall no longer depend on the holy light of the Goddesses, for we shall be our own light, and purge the darkness from our land!"
As she triumphantly spoke her speech, her body began to disintegrate right in front of my eyes. With each word, her body turned into pure, white light from the ground up, and the orbs of light began to dance around me. I started to panic inside, but I kept holding onto her hand. She was confident in what she was doing, so I had to do the same. As she triumphantly spoke the last words of her speech, the remaining bit of her completely turned into the orbs of light and joined the rest. I spun around, not sure of what to think about everything. The orbs began to spin around me faster and faster, until as if I was in the middle of a cyclone of light! My cloak started to flap and my hair started to get messed up, so I put up my left arm to protect myself from the storm. But right when I did, all of the orbs transitioned from spinning around me to rocketing into my left hand! It didn't cause any force in return, but I had to steady myself from the surprise. With each orb that went into my hand, I could feel a tiny burst of energy inside of me, and all of the energy I lost in the battle had slowly but steadily came back to me! Once the final orb went in, I felt fully refreshed, along with feeling a slight breeze come from my back. When I turned around to see what it was, I found the Great Fairy's wings now on my back!
"Are you prepared now Aden?"
I jumped from the voice and looked around. I heard the Great Fairy, but she was nowhere to be found. But remembering what she said in her speech and what I saw earlier, what she said was true. Now she was a part of me. Every single bit of energy she had left, she gave to me. It felt strange to just how much she trusted me, but also very comforting.
"But what about you?" I asked out loud. "You can still leave, right? Are you sure you want to do this?"
"My decision was made the second I offered my hand. There is no more turning back for me. The true question is if you are prepared now."
I looked back at my new wings, still slightly unsure. I wasn't confident before the big fight, even with everyone on my side and supporting me. This wasn't exactly going to be easier than that just because The Great Fairy was here now. But as I thought of all my friends, not just the other Triforce bearers, but everyone else I met since I woke up. I had a feeling that The Resistance, Agitha, and many others were cheering me on, despite how bad everything looked. Then I thought of my friends who passed, and what they would really think if they were seeing me now. I didn't need The Great Fairy's tears to know now that they would do the same as The Resistance. So only looking forward now, I nodded. I was given one final chance, and I wasn't going to let anybody else down.
All of a sudden, a glow started to appear from my left hand. Although it was faint, it was still recognizable. My Triforce piece started to glow again. I could feel Hylia reaching out to me as well, and I wasn't going to let her down either! 'Nobody else is going to die!'
"Aden," she spoke up one last time before I went, "I believe I finally figured out just what the new Triforce piece is named." looking up, I asked her "What is it?"
"It is, the Triforce of Hope."