AN: I'm so sorry that this has taken ages to be updated! Blame school and lack of creativity for three weeks. Soon I'll have my other LxZ fic out of the way, so I'll be able to concentrate on this one more. Anyway, here we are. Chapter 2. Enjoy :D
Chapter 2:
It was meant to have been a marriage of rank and status, not one of love. It wasn't meant to hurt, and neither was she meant to have fallen in love; but she did.
The sun was still high in the clouds, slumbering in a light daze that filtered over the lands. The golden rays spilled through the grand windows of the castle, set high upon the hills overlooking the empty and abandoned plains that had once been full of vitality. Every dark shadow should have been banished to the smallest corner, yet they remained and lingered, festering in the dawn.
Zelda awoke, alone and cold. Unconsciously her hand wandered away from her, reaching, feeling for something warm. Shivers bit at her spine, gnawing all the way down her body. But soon she would be warm. All he ever said was to reach out and he would be there. He would come to save her, always.
However, when Zelda's fingers failed their task, her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes were torn open, burning with tears. Her hand, limp with defeat, retreated back to her chest where it rested, trying in vain to quell the sharp breaths as she cried freely against her pillow. This morning had been a ghost of another. Never had she felt so cold, so deflated. It had been the morning of Link's departure. Despite Zelda's plea he had been determined to spend at least one night with his future wife; nothing at all could sway his decision.
Both knew what defilement they would bring upon themselves, neither being married. Zelda still remembered the anger she had felt, having been interrupted so late at night. But that had quickly been replaced by shock as Link strode in, shut the door and placed his hands on her shoulders. There had been a mad craze in his eyes, something that had frightened Zelda as she looked at his rough appearance. But through that desperation there had been a frightened man with death following at his heels. His breath was uneasy, his hand trembling slightly upon her. No words were said between them; all conversation took place in that one long stare. Link had touched her cheek stroking the soft skin with his thumb, looking at her, pleading.
They shouldn't have fallen in love; it was far less painful. Both knew it, yet they came together, falling to the floor in a hot flare of fleeting caresses, forgetting all but each other.
That morning had come all too quickly, the same chilly sunrise streaming into Zelda's room. Link had risen far earlier, his eyes resting on his lover's sleeping form as he stood by the door. A small wish came through his mind that they had met under different circumstances; that he was not the commander of Hyrule's army but that he were some lord or even a peasant. Such a beautiful, kind and gentle woman did not deserve such cruelty or misfortune. He crossed back over to her bedside and leaned down, touching his lips to her forehead. Zelda's lips had curled into a smile as she stirred deep in her serene slumber, but her eyes remained closed. Feeling his heart wrench in his chest, Link kissed her beaming mouth one last time before closing his blurred eyes and walking hurriedly out of the room.
As if angels were lifting her up into the sky, Zelda awoke to the soft clicking of something far away. She rolled over onto her stomach as her eyes opened, expecting to find the handsome form of her lover opposite her, the golden sunshine shining in his flaxen hair. But her smile dissipated at once and she sat up with a start. He had gone.
And again, each morning there had been that small sliver of hope that it had all been a dream, a fantasy that hadn't happened, and that she would awake to see Link lying beside her, smiling. But this time there had been the same sunlight, the dim, cold light of a bloodstained night. She felt cold, as if a wind surrounded her in a frosted embrace, chilling her tears away.
Unknown to Zelda however, Impa, almost her foster mother, had slipped through the door. "Please, do not cry your highness. He does not want it so."
Zelda jumped in fright, as the older woman placed an affectionate hand on her shoulder, smiling sadly. Impa had always been the best part of a mystery to her, and no doubt would remain so until her being ceased to exist. But even for such an elusive character, Impa had not fallen short of a mother in Zelda's growing up. Her own mother, having died young in her life, was a faint, mostly obscured memory. She could not remember her soft touch or gentle, soothing eyes that would send even the most stubborn of children into a calm of tranquillity. It had been Impa that had lulled her infantile tantrums, given her advice throughout her life, when needed or not, and it had been she who had held her while she cried unafraid of judgement.
Her father had never taken so much of an interest in his daughter. In truth, Zelda had always thought that he would have preferred a son, someone strong and wise to take to the throne after his reign. While he showed the odd interest, the King was an awkward man, neither indulgent nor tolerant. More often than not Zelda was being reprimanded for her rash actions or remarks, always followed by Impa taking her away to her courtyard. It was the one place she could call hers, and it was here where she would argue all the things she would never have the courage to say in front of her father, with Impa always listening with the highest attention, guiding her where she was wrong and right.
And it was now, at her most devastating moment that Impa was there again.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"He does not wish to see you cry."
"Who - "
"Come, princess, your father requests your audience."
---
Link didn't know why he was still walking on the earth. He could walk through doors, walls and pass through anything. Who ever he saw, they took no notice, walking past as if he weren't there. As the commander of the army, people would have almost dropped to their knees as he passed, bowing low and saluting his presence. Yet now it was as if he were nothing, a ghost still roaming the world in an endless quest for something yet unknown.
He now stood in the very familiar position of the castle balcony, wondering if this really was what the afterlife was like, or whether he was here for a reason, an unfulfilled purpose to accomplish that had been robbed from him by death. Even after banishing Ganondorf and saving Hyrule from the hell of his evil, must he still have a task to complete?
His eyes were averted from the interior of the room. Nothing could bring him to watch Zelda crying like that. Guilt burnt deep inside him, smouldering, surrounding him in the aroma of putrid decay, and bringing back the horrific memories of the battlefield. All around him had lain burning bodies, rotting and crackling amidst the clashing of swords and the shouts of the survivors.
Yet nothing would shake the questions that swamped his mind. The weaponry that their advisories wielded was of a very unfamiliar nature, as if the art of swordsman-ship had been enhanced and improved in a matter of years, when it should have taken centuries. Their weapons were stronger, sharper, their balance rightly adjusted to each man. They weren't clumsy like the Hylian swords. Each soldier had the same sword, created in the same frame and mould.
But it wasn't only their swords; it was their abounding supply of other arms, completely foreign even to the commander. An entire fleet consisted of archers, but their bows were not of the normal shape of size. They cradled them in their arms, pulling a trigger to fire the arrows at a faster, further and more accurate distance. Many of Hyrule's men had run blindly into such a fate, none knowing just how powerful the odd weapons were. It was only a quick order, but Link could have sworn that they were called 'crossbows'.
Not only did they have the majority of soldiers as swordsmen and archers, but also they brought mounted knights, trained highly in the art of the most elite black magic. Link couldn't understand what knowledge they possessed, and how such technology of the crossbow and new craftsmanship could have missed Hyrule in its passing. How could this possibly be the artillery of the present day?
It had been something that had occupied his mind ever since this new identity had been forced upon him. But now something else diverted his attention. Black clouds were beginning to form in the skies and the sun had faded behind the wall of the oncoming storms. Only moments before had the sun been shining, fighting away the threats of rain. Perhaps it would cool the burning corpses that still littered the growing barren war fields.
Link walked back inside, the glass door passing through him like air. Zelda lay there sobbing, clutching the white sheets in her pale hands. She looked thinner. Feeling compassion rise, he walked over to her, wanting to hold her in his arms, but reality came as a stinging needle as his hand glided with ease through her body. It looked all to familiar to him, and the morning in which he left came back as a haunting dream, only then he could touch her. He should never have left that morning.
The door then opened and in walked another familiar face. Zelda didn't notice, but Link turned his head, smiling slightly knowing that someone was there to comfort her in my absence. But Impa merely stood there, a shocked look flashing across her face as she stared at Zelda. Trailing his hand back across her cheek, Link rose and waited to watch the scene unfold. Yet all the time, Impa's eyes looked at him, sending an instant flood of fright rushing through his limbs. She raised her hand to her forehead, saluting.
Could she see me?
She turned her gaze away, attending to Zelda as she roused her from her tearful sleep. "Please do not cry your highness. He does not want it so."
"What do you mean?"
Link felt a pang of happiness underneath the sorrow. Her voice was still as heavenly to my ears as it had been the first moment it had graced my hearing.
"He does not wish to see you cry."
AN: Dun, dun, dun! So, what do you think? hint hint: review! :D Some of you may have remembered that I mentioned about the time thing with Ganondorf in Chapter 1, and now may be thinking that this chapter was a bit at odds with what I said. How can Link defeat Ganon and still be as old when thousands of millennia passed? I assure you, it was NOT a mistake. The answer will come in due time :P Thank you too, for everyone who reviewed!
Rainer Aquarias - Sage of Time: Thank you! I wanted Link's part to be sad and I'm glad I've achieved that.
Hououza: Yeah, this is taking a very different turn from what I intended. Hope it lives up to be good :D
breezydusk: Thank you so much :D Yeah, the prologue was maybe a little too deep, but then again, that was meant to stand alone as a short. I didn't want to change it though.
Lady Kumiko: Yes, school is definately an evil thing. It takes up just too much time -- Way, way, way too much time.
Lenipez sideshow: Yep, I hope it stays good
I hope I won't take as long with the next chapter, but I can't promise anything XD. Until next time!