Chapter eleven: A Tainted Land

Link did not wake up until they were back out of Termina.

The rest of the group had carried him with magic back through the gate to Termina, up the huge drop downward, (Zelda using a hover charm to get them back up,) and out into the deep woods of Hyrule.

They camped in the woods that night, all fearing to leave the safety of the forest for fear of what they would find. Saja was horribly aware that even if Majora hadn't destroyed Hyrule by now, they would have no possible way of stopping his future job...the world.

They had a small fire lit. It was very late, yet they were all awake, save Link. All were silent, sitting in a circle around the fire, staring into it's roaring depths. Zelda sat by Link's sleeping form, slightly away from the fire. He was wrapped in blankets, and beads of sweat lined his forehead. He was slightly shaking in his sleep, the violent tremors convulsing him, making him want to wake, but in his comatose state, he still knew that to wake would bring back the troubles that he would eventually have to face...

Zelda stroked his hair, her eyes boring into his closed ones. The swaying black trees around them blew in the quiet wind of the night...a different wind than usual. It was not the blessed wind that blew through the trees every night in Hyrule, and along the plains...she could not put her finger on it, but it felt different. It felt––unwholesome.

As she put a soft finger on Link's smooth cheek, her thoughts drifted to her father. What was happening in Hylia City? Was that where Majora was now? She felt terrible worry envelope her, and she placed her entire hand on Link's cheek. She despairingly stroked his cheek, confiding in his wisdom. It might be the only thing still keeping the five of them alive at the moment.

Saja, who was sitting by the fire like most of them, looked over at Zelda, sitting next to Link. He winced. She was torturing herself for his condition, which was not right. He said, "Princess, please, do not worry. Link will be fine. You have done nothing wrong. You don't have to stay with him."

"I want to," was her simple answer, and she turned her head on Saja. The guardian of the sapphires was slightly taken aback, but made no further attempts to stop her. As he gazed into the fire once more as if in a trance, he reflected on Zelda's odd behavior since they had left Termina. She had insisted on keeping close to Link at all times...as if to protect him. Could it be, perhaps, that the princess fancied him? He shook himself mentally for thinking this. Even if she was in love with him, it was not his place to interfere. i Besides/I he reminded himself, i there's nothing wrong with the two of them together...I mean, they're inseparable... /I

In spite of himself, he glanced up at Malon, who did not notice, for she was lost deep within her own thoughts. His eyes lingered on her long red hair, shining in the light of the fire as it had done the night before Majora's revival. He remained staring at her, until she looked up at him.

Embarrassed, Saja looked downward again, at his shoes.

I I think I'm in love again/I he said to himself. He closed his eyes, trying not to think of her...of Relina...

Zelda was not even looking toward the fire. She was bent over Link's body now, her face not inches away from his. She wanted more than anything to just tell him...to get it out of her system even if it meant them never being friends again. But what if he felt the same way?

Nevertheless, she simply could not bring herself to say it. She desperately whispered, more to herself than to Link, "I love you, Link. I love you so much, it hurts. I just want us to live together...forever. But will it ever happen now? Now that Majora is about to destroy this land?"

Despite her best efforts, she would not contact him in his mind. She would not tell him the truth, no matter how much her heart ached her to tell him. Tears rolled down her cheek's as she saw his handsome face glowing in the firelight. She swiftly bent over, and kissed him on the forehead for luck against the terrible foe that they would soon have to face again. As her lips lifted away from his forehead, however, Link's eyes fluttered very slightly.

She gasped, putting a hand under his head for support. Was he going to wake finally?

Link's eyes opened a hairs breadth, then wider, until his blue eyes could be seen. He looked up into Zelda's face, then smiled.

"Welcome back," she whispered to him.

The night dragged on ever slower. During that time, Link began to recoup with his thoughts and fears. He and Zelda joined the rest of the group around the fire. They were in tranquil silence, none of them wanting to talk.

Eventually, however, they had to discuss the events that occurred in Termina, no matter how painful it may be for Link. It was around two in the morning, with all of them still awake, when they finally began to come out of their comatose stupor.

"Majora's power is growing," Saja informed them all, his voice breaking slightly. "Both his rise to power and the destruction of Termina have strengthened his evil. It will be harder than ever from here on out."

"Well what do you plan on doing!" Link exclaimed. "He destroyed Termina in i ten minutes. /I Who's to say he won't do the same thing to Hyrule?"

Zelda, who was laying on Link's chest, said "because you are here."

He looked down at her, and she looked up at him. "What do you mean?" he questioned.

"Well," she said slowly, "Majora wants you dead, Link. I'm sure you've already established this. But, he is also the face of evil, so before you die he wants to injure you as mentally as possible. He could cripple your mind, even break it if he wanted to. With the pain and suffering caused in Termina, it made you faint. He knows that this horrible feeling can only be magnified in your own homeland. So, I expect...that he won't take over Hyrule all at once. I have the deep feeling that he has taken Hylia City. And so far, that is all he wants."

Malon and Darunia listened intently. When Zelda was finished, Malon said "well, are you saying that Majora only destroyed Termina to hurt Link?"

"Precisely," was the princess's answer. She looked up at him worriedly. "You are not responsible for their deaths. There was nothing you could have done."

"But it is because of me..." he said quietly. No matter anyone's words, he could not come to forgive himself for all of this. What he had caused. He felt tainted...sickened with himself.

"I don't deserve to be the Hero of Time!" he said suddenly. "Look at me! I can't stop Majora! None of us can! What the hell does our life mean if nothing can be done? Why would the goddesses not help us in the time of need! Why did I have to get chosen for this job! Don't want to have this on top of me anymore!"

His voice rose to a shout near the end. When he was done, everyone stayed silent. They didn't know what to say. The only person who spoke up quietly was Malon.

"Link..." she whispered, "I've...I've been meaning to ask you...why does Saja call you Hero of Time?"

Link froze, as did Zelda. Darunia's eyes grew wide, as everyone suddenly remembered that Malon was the only person who didn't know Link's title of the Hero of Time.

Nobody knew what to say. Everyone was silent. Malon was gazing curiously at Link's form, his arms wrapped around Zelda. He seemed to be struggling with himself. Should she be told? She was definitely trustworthy, and was one of his closest friends...

"We have to tell her, Link," said Zelda gently to him, squeezing his arm. He frowned, knowing she was right. He looked back up at Malon.

"You have a right to know," choked Link, staring at the ground. "I...that is...um..."

Zelda interrupted sharply, saying "It all started long ago, when Link was ten. A fairy woke him one morning and told him of a great evil that had consumed the Great Deku Tree. Link took the Kokiri Sword, bought a shield, and went to the tree. The Tree told him many things––"

As Zelda continued, Link found it was much simpler to just let her tell the story. He had never been comfortable about people speaking of his deeds. It made him uncomfortable. He had started out as a lowly Kokiri boy, and still preferred a low profile. For some reason, he just could not stand people gawking when they heard of his feats. He kept his eyes down, only half listening to Zelda talk. Saja and Darunia, though they both knew of the great adventure that had taken place in Hyrule, and then later on, Termina, listened intently, for Zelda and Link were the only one's who knew the entire details.

It seemed to take ages, but Link did not seem to notice the passing time. Nearly the entire time he was staring into the fire's roaring depths, even when he felt the eyes of Malon on him as she heard of the incredible things he had done. Link heard Zelda speaking as though he were hearing it in another time, another place. Part of him was elsewhere, floating in a dark abyss, as he recalled on the evil spreading across the world.

"...He gave me the ocarina, and I sent him back to ten years old. He visited me several days later, and I gave him the ocarina back. Then he left for Termina..."

As Link had also told her of the events in Termina, she launched into the story of Skull Kid's corruption with the mask, the moon, and the four Giants. This took around an hour to get all the way through, and when she finally finished, Link felt relieved.

"...He arrived in Hyrule days afterwards. To me, you seemed older, Link. Your hair was longer, your tunic was different, you were taller, and you had seen even more danger, and confronted the ultimate evil."

Link finally snapped back to attention, and found Saja, Darunia and Malon staring, wide eyed at him. He lowered his head, so his long spikes of hair covered his eyes. He felt very uncomfortable now.

"There is no need to be ashamed of your actions, Link!" consoled Zelda, putting a hand on his shoulder behind her head. "You should feel proud. Think of what you have done and be happy, for you have done all you possibly could to save this land, and the other."

"It was not enough now though," replied Link monotonously, heedless of Zelda's words. "I don't care about past deeds. Termina is gone, and all of my friends dead. You don't seem to understand...who cares if it wasn't Hyrule! I knew many people there! I got to know them almost as greatly as all of you."

Rage at Majora's actions swelled up inside him again, but he forcefully held back the urge to cry out. Instead, he said, "we should get some sleep. We're going to need it tomorrow, because we have to get back to Hylia City."

The group tiredly rolled out their blankets, and flopped down, too drained of emotion to set out a watchman...they doubted that Majora could find them in here. He was undoubtably either in Hylia City, or somewhere else in Hyrule, destroying it.

As Link took off his hat, and laid down on his sheets, he watched Zelda lay down a few feet away from him, her dark face obscured, now that the fire was out. As he saw her put her head down, his hidden love for her swelled up unbearably. He watched her silently, until his eyes fluttered, and he shut them, succumbing to the haunting disease of restless sleep.

Although he did not know because of the darkness, Zelda was watching him too.

They exited the woods early the next morning after only a few hours of sleep. Not surprisingly, Saja had been the one to wake them. Link had found it harder than ever to rise, wanting more than anything to just continue sleeping, oblivious to all except the inside of his eyelids. But not so...for if he had delayed, Saja probably would have kicked him.

When they emerged onto Hyrule Field, Link gritted his teeth in fury.

The sky was normal, the sun shining bright light down, except for the clouds. They seemed to be stretched, and were no longer puffy as they usually were. And they were completely back, and unmoving. As for the field, the normally soft green grass was yellow, and most of the field was sloshy mud, now.

But on the horizon, the sky abruptly changed to dark red, and it was seething, as though scorched. Link knew that stretch of sky was directly above Hylia City...

Incredibly, nothing was torn down, as they had expected. Malon had expected Lon Lon Ranch to be on fire, or already burned down, but it was not, it was still standing. Although she did not know what her father was doing now that the change of conditions in the weather and aridness had moved so quickly and unexpectedly.

Epona even noticed the change of conditions, and was snorting rapidly, probably out of anger at seeing Hyrule tainted by Majora's evil.

As usual, the trip across the life-extricated field of Hyrule was spent in silence. It was around noon, Link guessed, as to the suns position in the sky, when they finally glimpsed Hylia City...

But it was not Hylia City that they saw.

The white walls were gone, along with the forest on the western side. Instead, all that was there was a huge, black wall, extending up at least five miles into the sky. The gate was up, and there was no sign of life at all.

The red plume of sky was directly over them, and the nearer they got to the huge black outer walls of Majora's new fortress, the dimmer the sun got.

They stood on the top of a large rise on the field, surveying the evil place with blank expressions. Wind blew through the desolate area of the destroyed field...the evil wind that had plagued it with Majora's arrival, and continued presence.

And now...what more could be done. Majora had taken the biggest power in all Hyrule, and they were five lone people against the entire empire now. As the weight of grief crushed down on their shoulders, Link looked down at the dried grass, and whispered hoarsely, "we have to go."

A moments silence followed these words, but nobody raised protest. Zelda knew it in her mind...her father was dead, long dead. Probably for at least 24 hours, and his body had not been buried or burned. The people––her people––were now slaves to Majora, and his black legion.

"Where should we go?" said Saja, his voice breaking slightly in the dry wind.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Link said, a single tear rolling down his face as he again realized that he could feel no life anywhere on Hyrule Field, except for themselves. "You could leave...go back to your own land. Stay there, or go somewhere else. Seek safety, for I cannot give it to you."

Malon, so drained of vitality and emotion, yet rocking with pain and anguish as the rock of defeat weighed down on them all, managed to get her tongue around her words.

"I stay with you Link––for as long as my heart beats, and the world survives, be it under evils reign, or golden times."

Malon's invisible treaty was nothing to her anymore. She had accepted her fate, and rode over to Link. Zelda raised her head, forcing herself to not cry. "As do I," she said, also riding next to Link, taking his hand. The hand with the Triforce on the back of it. Darunia silently rode over, saying quietly, "we ride together, we die together. You are my brother forever." and he placed a big hand on Link's shoulder.

Saja trotted over to the Hylian's, and looked at them sadly.

"I stay with you also, hero," said Saja loyally. "I do not seek safety in this time of need. Hyrule has been taken, and I will not abandon you. I stay."

Link somehow could not describe to them what it meant to see them all there, arranged on his side when they knew in their minds that Majora had truly won. Instead, he just smiled weakly, turned Epona, and they turned off to the south, to Gerudo Fortress. As they galloped off, Link stole a glance over his shoulder, taking one last look at the black fortress.

If this was the end, he would face it without fear.