"It's gonna get better one day; the pain is gonna fade away, if you just hang on a little longer, hang on a little longer." UNSECRET, Hang On A Little Longer
*Twelve Years Later*
If only she knew her soul would be bound to this place... maybe she would have chosen somewhere warmer to suspend her soul.
Maybe she should have chosen the Leviathan Great Fairy Fountain in Gerudo.
But no, she was a being of wisdom. She must be bound to Mount Lanayru.
"My world caught fire, you're the one who lit the spark..."
And it wasn't like she was completely alone. There were other beings of wisdom, beings the world never knew about. One, for instance, had just struck the chords of a harp. "Now I'm playing with matches, all alone here in the dark."
"Ah!" An almost melodical voice chirped. "Your Grace, my Queen! I did not know it was you inside Naydra's afflicted figure today."
"It will not be long until the Sheikah arrive."
A light blue, feathery dragon hopped out of the shadows into the waters of the Spring of Wisdom. "Oh, happy birthday, my Queen! You look not a day over seventeen!"
Zelda rolled her eyes and smirked. "Thank you, Lady Sirie."
"Of course! So! How are you on this fine day?"
"Cold."
Sirie instantly puffed up into a feathered ball. "Bbbbrrrrr! Indeed! The wind's got a frozen bite. Perhaps after the Sheikah come, I could bring you some treats from warmer climates! Least I can do for my Queen on her birthday, after a stunning performance that her king cannot hear."
"It's about him and all the others that I sing. I hope one day he'll come to the Spring, just as we did on his last day."
Sirie smoothly morphed into a human figure, then laid a now Hylian hand over Naydra(Zelda)'s snout. "The Shrine will do a good job. It will bring him back to you, and he will be here to greet her."
Naydra's head bobbed with Zelda's agreement. "I know."
As soon as Sirie's finger tipped her chin in thought, a mischievous smile crossed her face, she hopped down into an odd bow. "I might know a way to bring you comfort." Even less subtly than the first time, Sirie morphed back into a dragon and took off, as suddenly as she had appeared.
Although, in all honesty, Zelda's appearance at the Spring of Wisdom was just as sudden. While the Spirit Naydra had been captured during the Calamity, Zelda had not assumed control of the dragon at any point, except during the last twelve years. She had reached a point where she could no longer remain in the castle for the Calamity's anniversary. Ganon refused to set her free for this one day. Having already occupied Naydra, he would suspend her within the great Dragon to allow her out of the cursed palace while still being controlled. After the first few times, he realized he could temporarily banish her there whenever he found her ramblings (or eating of the offering bananas) incessant. Truth be told, it was originally her idea, and she really should have picked somewhere warmer. She greatly underestimated the amount of times Ganon would banish her temporarily.
In her defense, however, Ganon should have done his research before holding a pregnant woman captive! She has a child to feed, and a very hungry one at that. So what if she gets into the banana stash every so often?
Link would make sure she'd never go hungry. He'd make sure she never had to resort to the drastic measures of theft, have to fret over their child's wellbeing.
She had to remind herself every so often, that he hasn't eaten anything since the Calamity. Because he was gone.
These patron spirits of the Sacred Springs were helpful, but they weren't the same. They were servants, not family.
Ah, what she'd give to even see Link's family again.
His sister... she should be full grown now, hopefully with a family of her own.
Her family was splintered. Her child was somewhere in this long body, but the scales and such prevented her from feeling the kicks and movement. Her husband was long deceased, in a tomb that she invested all her hope in, the Shrine of Resurrection.
Saying she would kill to have him back would be an understatement. But even thinking about how much she wanted him made her whole body crumple. "Link... wake up, Link..." She didn't care about her footing giving way to her faltered weight, and she didn't care about the returning wingbeats or the screams of "My Queen! Are you alright?!"
...all she did was scream his name in agony.
...
"Good evening, wise Sheikah." Sirie, now in Hylian form again, bowed. "I know you've come from so far to honor our Queen, the descendant of Hylia herself. However," She looked towards Naydra's collapsed figure in the frozen water. "Her Majesty had a bit of a fall earlier, and in her already weakened state, she will not be able to lament on this day of remembrance."
An aging Impa, Purah, Horacio and a strongly-built Temitri stumbled from the crowd, followed closely by one of Purah's assistants. They made their way behind the statue where Zelda had laid, almost lifelessly, since her tumble earlier.
"How are you doing this evening, Your Majesty?" Temitri knelt into the water, gently brushing a warm hand across her face, Naydra's scales pixelating into Zelda's skin for mere moments at his touch.
She was cold. And not just because she was in Naydra's body.
"Mother, Father! Help get her out of the water!" Temitri looped his arms under her shoulders and began to drag backwards, his aging parents lifting her legs and hips together. They placed her just outside the lapping waters and lit a fire near her body.
Several red dragons, exactly like Sirie except for their color and the heat billowing from their scales, surrounded the parts of Zelda that the fire didn't reach.
"You'll be okay, Your Majesty..." Temitri whispered through burning eyes. "Please... please be okay..."
"Zelda..."
Her breath shuddered at the frighteningly familiar voice, and all the Sheikah froze in place.
"No... it can't be..." Impa mumbled, afraid to look to where the voice had come from. There was no way... and she didn't want to induce any more despair on her or Zelda.
"Zelda..." The voice was gentle and smooth. "Come here."
Zelda finally found the strength to flutter her eyes open and look towards the voice, though it was clear she was afraid. Upon seeing the voice's identity, her eyes shot open and her breath caught.
"Hi... Zelly."
"Link!" She tried to stand but lacked the strength. All the Sheikah, in awe of their young deceased king's sudden arrival, began to gather around.
Link drew closer to Zelda and cradled her to his chest, all of Naydra's features fading away. Even though he was a spirit, her body did not pass through him, and her cheeks felt his soft lips. "I missed you..." he whispered into her ear, stroking her shivering shoulders. Her stomach had become noticeably larger in the decades that passed since their last meeting, and she felt him purr upon seeing their child was growing still. "You're beautiful..."
"She's growing well... strong, just like you."
The warmest smile spread softly over Link's battle-tarnished face, and his voice grew softer than a feather. "She?"
A matching smile infected Zelda. "Your daughter..." Her eyes rolled back and she grew a little limper in Link's arms.
"Shh, rest." He stood and all the Sheikah followed suit, beginning a trek down the frozen mountain and through the Promenade. Most of the Sheikah headed home to Kakariko, but Temitri and Horacio remained with the pair. Eventually, they arrived in Hateno, having only had to trek southward to arrive at the fort. Having found his home empty, Link inquired to where his sister and father were.
"I am sorry, Your Majesty... your father passed a few years after you did, but your sister is alive..." Temitri led him, Zelda limp and cold in his arms, to where Sydnei had made a new home.
"Who are you?" Link growled when a male Hylian in his sixties answered the door.
"Jolu, I-" He locked eyes with Link. "I-it cannot be..." He looked down at Zelda resting in his arms. "You are him! My brother-in-law!"
Link's breath caught. "Sydnei-?"
"She's out and about. Rarely's at home on either of your birthdays. And this must be..."
"Zelda, my wife."
"She's just as beautiful as Sydnei described. She looks due soon."
"As long as she fights Ganon, sealed away by her own might, she won't become due."
"Come, come! Rest yourself for a while."
He laid Zelda down in the bottom bed of a nearby bunk, then flopped beside her and observed with contentment. Being dead, or at least suspended in a half-dead state thanks to the Shrine, Link did not grow any ounce of exhaustion.
Later that evening, after Zelda had regained her strength, the pair ambled through the village towards the overlooking cliffs that housed the Ancient Tech Lab. They settled on a lower ledge, mesmerized by the sunset shining over the windmills.
"I wish you could stay..." Zelda clasped his hand a little tighter, as if that would prevent him from leaving.
Sorrow consumed Link's expression. "You know I can't."
"Please... please... don't leave us again."
He swiped away the tears in her eyes. "If I only could..." Link leaned forward and kissed her forehead, then proceeded to fade away with the sun.
"No! Link, Link!" She lurched forward to keep from losing him again, but hit the ground. He was already gone. The shock of the impact kept her from getting back up for several moments, and then the aching of her body kept her down. In tear-stained silence, she began to hear another voice higher up on the path to the tech lab. It was a hymn of blessing, a prayer... for her. "Hello?" She chirped back to the hymn, having to repeat twice before she was noticed.
That voice... it was so familiar... but it couldn't be.
"... Zelda?"
She struggled to turn towards the voice, when she finally was able, her shock met her visitor's.
It was Sydnei. A much older Sydnei. "Zelda! It is you!" She came over and got on the ground, brushing her hand over Zelda's stomach. "I can't believe... I'm actually seeing you again..."
"You...you just missed your brother."
"Link?! He's alive?!"
"No, no. He's passed away, but his spirit was just here."
"So-so are you alive or-?"
"I am alive, yes." She suddenly winced.
"Oh! Are they coming out?"
"That seems to be everyone's favorite assumption. But no, she's not coming yet. We're in stasis, sealed away in the castle with Ganon. She just... well pretty much met her father for the first time. Wasn't ready for him to go..."
Sydnei smiled. "Zelda Ivee..."
"You remembered..."
"Of course! I may be old and quite possibly have grandchildren, but I still remember my only niece!" She bent down to talk with the child. "I'm your aunt, Zelda Ivee... and I promise I wasn't always this old. Your mommy and daddy are older than I am though." Sydnei laughed, sitting back up. "It's been too long... I'd feared the worst for all of you. I knew Link died... but I was forced to believe you'd passed by his side."
"He died in my arms." Zelda sniffed. "I stayed with him through his last moments and until some Sheikah soldiers arrived for his body."
"Do... do you know where he is buried? The Sheikah won't tell me... I've pleaded for years."
Zelda paused for a long time. Although she felt she should think, her mind was completely empty. Eventually, a single thought entered her mind. Take her.
When they arrived, Sydnei was in disbelief. "Here? But this is... it's huge!"
"It's an old Sheikah chamber, the Shrine of Resurrection. Found just before the Calamity."
"...Resurrection?"
"Yes. I ordered him placed here. To bring him back. It's feasible he could arrive any day."
Sydnei collapsed to her hands and knees. "All these years... they hid all of this from his own family..."
"A thousand years could pass, and I'd still recognize you instantly... Sydnei."
The pair's heads whipped around. "Link!" Zelda darted back over into his arms.
"Shh, shh, Zelda it's okay..."
"Link... After all these years... I can't believe it's really you..."
"Who else would I be?" Link smiled cheekily.
"You've been dead for over half a century and then you just show up! Don't joke off my disbelief!"
Link gulped.
"And another thing!" Sydnei had finally reared her head. "You should be taking better care of your wife! Before the Calamity, you hardly ever left her side, and always gave her ample warning and comfort when you did have to go, but now, you just up and leave her with no warning!"
"I didn't want to leave her!" He snapped back, clutching Zelda's shoulders. "You think I wanted to die?!"
She snuggled closer to him. When he was ticked like this, the safest place to be was behind him.
"I didn't want to hurt anyone or leave anyone behind! My plan always was to quickly fight Ganon and do him in, then take Zelda home and take care of her until she gave birth to our daughter! That stupid Guardian spear changed everything!"
"...Spear?" Zelda stepped out from behind him to his front. "Link... what spear?"
He sighed. Look at her... She was the reason he fought, her obvious condition revealing this to the whole world. Oh, how he wished he could stay with her, providing the support she so desperately needed in this long battle against Ganon. However, he could only venture so far from his body or the sword for so long, and with the sword in the state it was, he couldn't go anywhere that was infected with Malice. If only...
"Link. What spear?"
He sighed once more. "It was during the Calamity... that Guardian army near Fort Hateno..." He pulled his shirt up to reveal a gaping hole on the left side of his lower chest.
"Oh, Link!" Zelda's legs collapsed and she gagged at the sight.
"I didn't want you worrying... you were so panicked..."
He heard Sydnei's breath heave. "That's what did you in..."
"We were gonna make it, I truly believed that. But when we got close, all of those Guardians... I got distracted by one of them tripping you... and..."
She held onto her husband's ankles, still unable to view the wound. "The fact that you didn't die instantly is truly a marvel."
"Heh, it was probably my stubbornness that had me hold on. If I was going down, there was no way in Hell that you and our daughter were going down with me."
Sydnei finally smiled. "It is that wound that proves your dedication to her and your kingdom. It is that reason that I sing the same song each year on this day. She bowed down before the pair, although Link also lowered to the ground to wrap his arms around Zelda. "Queen Zelda and King Link, for all you've sacrificed for your people... forever may you reign."