Mommy, I'm Sorry

by Maria Stars

I fight to protect our homeland

I travel far and near

To seek help on my quest

You travel with me sometimes

To help keep me safe

Along with Navi, my guardian fairy

I'm scared sometimes,

But I know that you will always say

"Have no fear my child, God will keep you safe."

"I love you mommy." I always tell you

"I love you too Link." You always reply

We go to see Zelda, she tells us

About a huge monster in a cavern

Not far from here

"Ok, I'll go get it." I tell her

We travel on horseback

To reach the cavern

We go inside and find the monster

Inside a huge room

The monster is bigger than I had thought

"I'm a little kid, what can I do against that huge monster?" I ask mom

"You've done so much already my child, you can at least try." She replies

I take a deep breath and enter the room

The monster sees me, then roars

My heart starts pounding

I get ready to attack

The monster lashes at me, I jump away

Then I attack the monster with my sword

It roars in pain

It knocks me down with its tail

I get up and continue fighting

I will not give up

With each attack the monster gets weaker

I'm getting too tired to keep going,

But I continue

The monster knocks me aside with his hand (claw, whatever)

I slam into the wall

Pain runs through my small body

I feel a sharp pain in my side

And something warm running down my side

I look down at my side

I see red, red blood

My blood

I am bleeding

You run up to me and see I'm hurt

"Please stop, don't fight anymore. Please stop now Link." You plead

"I can't momma, I must finish the fight." I reply

You help me up,

I continue the fight

And grow weaker by the second

As I prepare to strike the final blow

I'm knocked into the wall

I try to get up, but I'm too weak

"Link, get up! Get out of the way! Link!" You scream

I try again, but fail

"Link!" You scream again with fear for my safety

I look around for something to aid me

In the defeat of this huge monster

But my vision is beginning to blur

I spot a stone-like structure

On the ceiling

And pull out my slingshot

I aim at the stone with my blurry vision

Hoping to hit the stone

I aim and release

My aim is still good as the stone cracks

And begins to fall

I watch as the stone

Hits the monster

Right on its weak spot

The monster roars and screams in pain

It begins glowing a bright red color

"Link! Link, get out of there!" You scream at me

"I can't move!" I yell back weakly

You run up to me and hug me tightly

As the monster explodes

You protect me with your own life

I'm proud to have you for my mother

Outside the cavern

You begin to take care of my wound

"It's too late momma." I whisper

It's getting hard for me to stay awake

It's even getting hard for me to breathe

"Hang on Link. Please hang on my child, please." You say

"I'll try momma." I reply

You clean and dress my wound

I continue to get weaker

I feel as though I won't live much longer

I try real hard to stay awake as you take me

To the new hospital

"I'm proud to have you for my mother." I whisper, my voice growing softer

By the minute

"And I'm proud to have such a brave little boy, like you, for a son." You softly reply

Two hours later I'm laying in the hospital

With tubes connected to help me live

Resting, with you close by my side

You take my hand in yours and softly say

"I love you Link, please don't die. Please don't leave me."

I wish I could've stopped the tears streaming down your face

You laid your head close to mine and whisper

"Please don't die my child, please don't leave me, son."

I wish I could've stayed momma, but it was my time

I had to go

Soon after this

My heart and breathing stop

Alarms go off in the hospital

"No! Link! Please don't die, Please!" You scream

A doctor and three nurses come in

One nurse pulls you away from my lifeless body

The nurse escorts you to the waiting room

The doctor doesn't know this,

But I'm not going to make it

After a few minutes

My spirit leaves my body

Soon after this

The doctor pronounces me dead

I follow her

"Maria, I'm very sorry. Link died, I couldn't save him."

You refuse to believe this and say

"No, he can't be dead. He can't be! Not my son, not Link!"

You cry so bitterly over my death

"I'm sorry mommy. I'm sorry I left." I whisper, hoping you hear

But you don't hear me; you're too upset over losing me

At my funeral a few days later

You stand by the side of

My casket, gently holding my pale hand

"Why did you die Link? Why did you leave me son?" You ask

As tears stream down your face again

"I love you always my son, Link. Please remember that, wherever you are."

You say to me, or rather, to my lifeless body

So many people gathered at my funeral

I'm surprised; I see so many familiar faces

Zelda, Malon, Talon, Ruto, among others

I see what must be... no, it can't be... it is... Saria, my life-long best friend

Somehow, some way, she was allowed to leave the forest,

Just to see my funeral

Later, everyone comes to pay

Their condolences,

Putting down flowers or other trinkets

You walk up again and lay a beautiful red rose

Placing the stem under my pale hands

You lay the rose on my chest

Then you lean in and gently kiss my forehead

"I'll miss you my brave little Link. May God and the Goddesses protect you wherever you are now."

The preacher says a prayer for me

Then places the lid on my casket

Then they bury my casket in Kakariko's graveyard

"I'm so sorry mommy. I'm sorry I left you."

"Mommy, I'm sorry."

Epilogue

A week later, Maria's in her beautiful home. She still grieves over the loss of her young, brave, adopted son, Link. (I'll explain if you like. E-mail me and I'll tell you.) She has been in distraught the whole time as well, since she lives alone. She's barely ate or slept as well.

'What am I going do now? Now that he's gone.' She thinks. "We were so happy together, if only we hadn't gone to see Zelda..." She stops right there, thinking of Zelda, princess of Hyrule. "Zelda, that selfish, uncaring little tomboy!" She screams. "She's the one who did this! She's the one who caused his death... in essence, she murdered him." As she says this, fire burns in her eyes. "I'll get her! I'll get that ungrateful little tomboy! She'll pay for murdering my son! She won't get away with this!"

A week later, Maria finds out some things that don't make things any better; they only make them worse. She's back at her house and still grieving over the loss of her son, Link. Just then a couple of unknown girls walk toward her house, one of them is holding a small child in her arms, the child is asleep.

"I hope she's home." One girl says.

"I do too. If she's not home, what will we do?" The other girl asks.

"Wait for her." The first girl replies.

The girls walk up to Maria's house and the first girl knocks on the door. Maria hears the knock and responds,

"W-who's there?" She says as she cries.

"Friends, we've got something to talk to you about." The first girl replies.

"Come in. I'll be with you as soon as possible." She responds.

The girls enter with the child they brought. They stand in the large living room. Maria enters but won't let them see her red, tear-stained face. She sits in a chair that's been pointed towards the wall.

"Please sit down and make yourselves comfortable. I don't get visitors often." She says in a melon-colly voice.

"No thank you. We shouldn't have to be here long." The first girl replies.

Maria doesn't respond. She just stares at the wall. The second girl gently wakes the sleeping child in her arms.

"Huh? What's going on here? Are we home yet?" The child asks.

"Shhhh... Not so loud ok? And yes, you're home now." The second girl tells the child.

The child nods, smiling. The second girl gently puts the child down on the floor.

"We heard that you lost Link, the Hylian boy you adopted and took care of, we're very sorry." The first girls states.

"Well, being sorry isn't going bring him back." Maria responds, bitterly.

"We've brought another child who's in need of a loving person to take care of him." The first girl tells Maria.

"No! No, I won't take another child! I won't go though that pain again!" Maria screams.

"I'm sure that you'll be happy with this child." The first girl says, smiling.

"No. No other child could ever take the place of my Link. No one." She responds.

The second girl whispers to the child and the child says,

"Momma, don't you want me back? Don't you love me anymore?" The child says, but the child is really Link!

Maria gets out of the chair she was in and turns around to look at who spoke.

"Link! Oh god! My child! Is it really you?" She says happily, while hugging him.

"Yes mommy, it's me. I missed you so. I love you." Link tells his mother.

"How?" Maria asks.

"You risked your own life to protect mine. Because of that, I was allowed to come back to you." He replies.

Maria and Link rejoice together. The two girls disappear without a trace.

Can you guess who the two girls were?

7