A/N: And now, a representative from Nintendo.
Representative: We have a new addition to the Zelda series. We bring you the ground-shaking game, "The Legend of Zelda: Paper Link"!
Audiences: …
Representative: Umm… We have, uh… changed the gameplay to RPG! This is a highly… novel move from third-person action to strategy based turntable combat!
Audiences: … Did Nintendo finally run out of ideas…?
Representative: Uh, uh… The game will have the same fun and experiences as the successive Paper Mario 1 and 2!
Audiences: … What were they smoking on…?
Representative: Blu-h-h… Did I mention Sheik is one of the playable characters?
Audiences: YAY! We'll camp outside game stores if we have to buy the first copies off the shelf!
Representative: Hmm… Link has a chance… at other romantic opportunities?
ZeLinkers: BOO! We shall throw this game down with no dignity!
Every other shipper: YEAH! Let's move to Kyoto so we can get the game the first moment it exits the Nintendo's manufacturing building!
Representative: Nonlinear love story?
ZeLinkers: Woot! This game will make millions! No, billions!
Representative: Whew… Better report to Miyamoto to add in "nonlinear love story" idea…
SHUSH! (Sniper bullet hits the head of the Nintendo's representative)
Specialist (over radio frequency): Bill Gates? Yeah, it's me. I took out the Japanese bastard like you paid me to. Now your Halo 3 can go on unconquered… Don't worry. I'll make sure Twilight Princess was all a big, bad, stirring cock-and-bull story by Miyamoto…
Well, people, the business world of video gaming is a cruel, very cruel one…
Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
A Pair of Time
Chapter 69- Ascension to Evil, Part 2
Inside Ganon's Castle; Night
"Ah… Ah… Ah-choo!" sneezes Link.
"Nayru bless you," Navi said.
The hero gives a sniff before returning with, "Thanks." An involuntary shiver unseen by the eyes runs through his body. After leaving it, Link picks himself up onto the elevated floor and continues into the next room.
"And here I thought Malon herself hated the cold."
"… Yeah," Link answers back halfheartedly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the fairy deploringly said as she rotates to him. "I shouldn't have said that."
"… But you did. Still… I… Well, don't worry about it. I'm fine."
"Okay. If you still feel lamentation, don't hesitate to make yourself feel better."
He sighs. "It's nothing. Nothing."
"Link, don't fill yourself with false words."
"Navi, look, I'm not going to do well if I just keep thinking about it. I know I shouldn't lie to myself, but how's that going to help me in the upcoming battle?"
"Yes, I see all of that, but… telling yourself that it's nothing when it truly tears you inside isn't at all good in the end."
"Yes, yes, I know all that. But this is now, not later."
"Okay. But just don't lie after all of this, okay Link?"
Don't lie… Always tell the truth… Link pauses in his tracks to listen to reminiscent sentences in his thoughts. No matter what price it may take, truth always lets one be close to you… Even if the end all turns bad, upside down, or ultimately the end of the world, ya know that… that person will trust you more, and that seems to be the best thing that can come out of it… Right, fairy boy…? I trust you… Even if the truth hurts me or you, even if it separates us, I'll always trust you more… because it means that… I can always… depend on you… It means that… I can truly hope… that… that you'll… you'll say… you… you love me…
"Link…" Navi gently takes him back to his conscious self. "Thinking about her, right?"
"Yeah…" He nods at his fairy. "Something about… trust. Something about her trusting me… and trusting myself."
"Oh, Link… I wish that Fate didn't let you be born into this destiny and suffer tragic hardships. A life of normalcy would be the least of the things needed to ease your spirit."
"That would be best, yes. But then, who would step in to aid the world in this time of agony? No, everything is lost to me if I do not accept Fate's will. If I don't do it, I shall pay, and then, who will take my place?"
"Mmm, yes… Let us not concentrate on this matter any further. We have to dissolve these barriers quickly."
The Hero of Time avows with another nod. Soon, the blue seal disappears along with the evil orb. Pointing his face up, he spots Ruto above him. "Ruto."
"Link," the Zoran princess addresses. Her countenance almost seems grievous for a moment, then she puts on a face of anticipation. "The Water Barrier is down… I see you're alone."
"Please, let's not s-"
"Link, as the man as you are… believe in your heart."
"B… Believe?"
Instead of clarifying, Ruto replies back with, "Now hurry up! A man like you should have gotten three or four of these barriers down by now!"
In a blast of ultramarine light, Link's vision distorts for a few seconds, then goes black. When he opens his eyes, he finds himself back at the entrance to the Water element. Like with the Forest Barrier, the one over him aches in sound as the beam shrinks into nothingness.
"Alright, the Water Barrier is gone. Let's head for Spirit next."
"But what about the Fire Barrier? Navi, you saw how I can't get through it without the Golden Gauntlets."
"Well, I don't know exactly where the gloves are, but we have to do something, shouldn't we?"
The green knight plainly shrugs in response and follows the fairy up to the Spirit dungeon.
--
Temple of Time
"Oh, goddesses, why must you do this to her…? Why must you? Why must you allow this to happen?"
The heroine could not bear her legs to upright her from her prone position. She could not look up; she could not move her face away from her arms, arms that lay on the divine lock of time. She could not push back the water that sprouts from her eyes; water that sting the chafed skin of her lower left arm. She could not hold back the straining, sore sounds from leaving her vocal cords to her mouth. She could not flee from the onslaught of misery in herself; sorrow from something… from something that took everything she ever made and smashed it. She could not hold back the mournful outburst of her broken heart. She could not stop feeling like this.
The heartrending cogitation of the only one she ever loved… never loving her back.
"Why? Goddesses, why? My own daughter? Do you think it is indifferent when a person like her had her heart torn apart? Do you think it is entertaining to see mortals suffer the cruelty of emotions?"
Why, Link? Malon bewails softly. Why don't you love me? Why don't you love me, Link? I… I've been through… so much… so much with you… I… I've done… I've done so much… so much… so much for you… I always… needed you… But… But…
Why don't you love me, Link?
Am I… Am I so… so wanting of you…? I… I just… I just never feel lonely with you… that's all… I'm sorry… I promise not to be so… dependent…
Am I… not beautiful? Beautiful… like… like Zelda? Beauty… What is beauty when… when you shared… you shared so much… with me…? I… I never loved you… just because you were… handsome…
Am I… so different… from you? Different… that… that you can't… ever think… we can be together…? Link… but… what about… all those moments… those precious moments… we had… together…?
Am I… just a friend? Am I…? Are you… not that… close to me…? Link, I… I… My heart… It's never… closer to anybody else… but to you…
Am I… not the one for you…? Am I not the one… you want to… share your life with…? I… I… I always… I always see us… being together… Link… I always see us… being together forever… I don't care about Fate or soul mates… I always… want to be… with you… forever…
Link… why can't you see… I love you with all of my heart? With all of my life? I can't ever… I can't ever see me with anybody else. No matter how much I try, I can't see anyone else being with me… other than you, fairy boy… I always see myself… with you…
Link, why…? Why do you… not love me? Why do you… love somebody else…? I don't… I don't understand… I thought… I thought you were… a person who… who… keeps his promises… Link… I thought you would… keep your promise to me… Why…? Is… Is the person you love… better…? Is she… the one for you…? But… But… you… you promised, Link… You… You never break a promise…
You're… You're the one… I only ever loved… so much… But… you don't love me…
I don't love anybody else… but you, Link… But… you don't love me…
You don't love me… but… you promised, Link…
Why, Link?
Why don't you love me?
Why did you break your promise?
Why?
"Malon."
The farm girl gasps at her name. Slowly, her countenance tips upward until emerald eyes discern her. "M… M-Mom!" She kneels up, espying the woman in her whole body. The carmine hair glistens behind her head, impressing an imposing figure. "You're… Y-Y… You're alive?"
The lady chuckles. "Well… sorta."
"W-What?"
Her mother brings Malon up to a stand. "This… body, if I could call it that, is a temporary creation of divine hands."
"Temporary…? Wait, how did you get here first of all? Didn't the goddesses prevent you from visiting me anymore?"
"Originally, yes. However…" She puts her hands on the heroine's shoulders, "compassion is a strong thing."
After drying her eyes, she said, "Compassion…? The goddesses… pity me?"
"That's a rough way to say it, honey. But yeah, they felt kinda bad 'bout this. So… I had an extra ride. And I took it… to be here when ya need someone."
Malon gives an overwhelmed puff. "Oh, Mom…" She plunges forward and hugs her. "Thank you…" The body feels like it should: warm, full, and has a spirit inhabiting it. Surges of memories come back as her mother returns the embrace, joyful ones in the days before the sadness.
"I'm here, Malon… I'm here."
"Mom…" the heroine sniffs. "Who woulda thought… I would hug you… like this again…?"
"I… I didn't…"
A tear, warm and full of life, kisses Malon's neck and shoulder. "You're… You're alive…"
"Just for a while… Just for a while…"
"But… But… But to… to feel you again… to feel that you're here…"
"Shh… I know… You don't think I feel the same way, either?"
Weeping silently in each other's arms, they stay within each other for a while, blissful that one could feel the other's presence on this plane. Nevertheless, time is short. Malon's mother is first to come to grip. "Malon, Malon. Please…" She pushes her daughter back to catch her face, "I only have so long. I really wanna help you."
"Help…? Mom, it's… it's nothing. I just feel-"
"But, Malon… you deserve to be happy. After all you've been through, all that you've lost… it just won't do ya right to live in misery."
"Mom… I… I'm fine. I'm… I'm happy the way things are."
"Malon… don't tell me these when ya know that I saw what happened."
"But… But…"
"I'm not here to tell ya to come rushin' to him or anything like that. I'm here 'cause you need to know the truth."
"Truth…" Her face turns sore. "Truth is, Mom… Link doesn't love me… He… He lied to me all along…"
"… I'm not gonna jump for joy, but… ya really got him."
"You would say that, but that ai-"
"I'm your mother, why would I lie?"
Malon scoffs. "Mom, saying that doesn't just magically make me happy again."
"I know. If ya weren't payin' attention, I said I was gonna tell the truth only."
"So, what? Is that it? Is that what ya got down here for?"
Her mother scowls. "Don't use that tone with your mother, young lady."
The heroine takes a deep breath to reduce her mental tension. "I'm sorry, Mom."
"Now I understand what ya're goin' through, so it doesn't matter much." She shakes her head. "Malon, listen. The one ya love is strugglin' inside with his feelings. The tribulation of his past is troubling his heart. He wants to make sure ya ain't disappointed, but… he's afraid he might risk hurtin' himself."
"Oh…" Guilt bites Malon on the spot. "His past…"
"Ya remember. Him bein' different from everybody? How they all show it, even if it seems good-hearted?"
"Yeah… I remember… How… How I was like him…"
"Yes. You… You just felt lonely… Him… He kept his heart down to stop feelin' the pain."
"But, Mom… That… That doesn't explain why he doesn't… doesn't-"
"Yes, it does."
"No, it doesn't. He's afraid of his feelings, but… but… I'm not. And… he's… he's one of the bravest people I've ever met… I… I don't understand… why he should be afraid of loving me…"
"Malon, ya're not empathizin' with Link here. He's been through much worse… so much worse that he shut his emotions off… Not like you. Link hadn't felt his emotions in a long time… You… Malon, you… When you came to be his close friend… his lover… ya opened him. Ya made him feel his heart once again… He didn't realize it until you professed your love… That's when he became scared of his heart… That's why he's really not ready for all this… He can't love you… yet. But he's tryin', Malon, trying for you. He's trying to build up his confidence to meet the pain of his emotions. He's trying to make sure he can keep his promise. He's tryin' so hard… for you."
"… Trying… for me…?"
"Yes. He does love you. Just… give him some time to assure himself."
"… Link…" Malon's head drops in comprehension.
"But, Malon… you're not… you're not makin' it better for him if ya keep pushing. He's tryin' to overcome his fear, but you're… you're not making it any easier on him. Ya're going around sayin' ya want him to take the plunge now while he's still tremblin' at the thought of the consequences. He needs to be ensured that you can wait, that you can go at his pace. But now, this… Ya gave up. You gave up on hoping. How do you think he felt? Everything he's done, and now he's too late. When he tried to explain it, you misunderstood… You were confused, and he tried to guide you, but… you pushed him away… Malon, he's done so much for you… and you… you threw it all away. When he didn't finish his promise, you thought he didn't care… You wanted to be loved without considering his own problems… Malon… do you realize this?"
The heroine thought she could not shed any more tears, but it could not be said so. She quivers, her eyes bleared with liquids of emotions. With new feelings of shame and guilt, Malon suddenly explodes inside and falls on her knees sobbing. "Oh, goddess! What… What have I done…! What… What… What was I thinking!"
"Honey, please don't…" Her mother comes down to her. "Don't…"
"I'm sorry, Link! I'm sorry! I… I didn't know! I'm… I'm so… sorry! I'm sorry… I'm sorry for all I've done…"
"Malon… you just… Please, don't cry. You were just confused, that's all…"
"Mom…" Malon gazes up to her, still stricken. "I lost him… I lost him… over this… My… My misunderstanding… I… I lost Link… I lost… him."
The woman proceeds to put her daughter in her arms. "Don't cry… Malon…"
"W… What should I do…? I… I lost him… Mom, he's gone… I… I told him… to stay out of my life… and… and… he's… he's gone…"
The mother takes up one of her hands and fondles her daughter's inherited hair. "I'm… I'm sure… things will go right."
"H-How could it…? I… I was so… selfish… So selfish for… for his love… that… that I didn't care about… his h-happiness…"
"Malon, he… he cares for you. He's… He's happy making you happy."
"But… But, I… I didn't… care… I… I didn't try to… make him happy… I… I was selfish, Mom… I-I haven't been the best person he's been with…"
"I know. But I'm sure… he can forgive you."
"How could he…? After all I've done…"
"Malon, you know him. In fact… you know him the best out of anybody."
"Are you sure, Mom…? You think… I can hope… again?"
She smiles a healthy one back at the heroine. "If things go like ya're hopin', I think there's a promise waitin' to be fulfilled."
Malon looks down and takes a sniff. After a while, a breath of calm release is heard from her. Her face goes up, filled with the hope that always make her shine. "Mom… thanks."
"Ya welcome, honey… Just remember, I'm always there for you… I'll always love you…" She slants forward to lay a warm kiss on her daughter's forehead. Malon closes her eyes to enjoy her mother's love, love of a lost parent. It is a kiss she never thought she would ever feel again. But it is gone as it came, for when she comes into vision again, Malon's mother was gone. Only a few sparks of pearly white descend in the scene in front of her. The Heroine of Time glimpses around, but already knows that her mother has returned to heaven. She stands up, staring above at the temple's window, which grants celestial light through the dark walls outside.
I'll try my best, Mom… I'll try my best… for Link… for everybody… Mom… thank you…
A/N: There we go. Our redhead got the big picture now. Hmm, but will she arrive in time to assist her beloved… uh, friend, companion, buddy, comrade, WHATEVER. Have to wait then, folks. Which… I think is long considering the rest of the year. Eh, who knows?