A/N: At the bottom from now on!
Curse of the Twilight
Act 3
Memories
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
"Quick! Fetch the doctor!"
"Keep an eye on her!"
It was chaos that day in Hyrule Castle. Despite six months worth of training and preparations, the majority of the castle guards were taken aback by the queen's incessant screaming. Her husband the king was sitting at her side, whispering soothing words at her ear. They weren't working, apparently, as some guards passing by the room could prove. Finally, the doctor arrived, accompanied by Impa, who heard what was happening at the market.
"So, how is the future mother doing?" The doctor asked casually.
The queen pulled the doctor by the collar at the first chance and stared at him with a death glare. "I feel like a million evil moblins were eating up my insides and breaking my hips. Now get to work!" She then pushed him back with such force that made him trip.
"Very well. Let's begin." The doctor composed himself and reached on his bag for his instruments. Having donned his special gloves and placed sheets all over the bed, he then set the queen in position and prepared himself. "All right, your majesty. Push!"
The queen pushed with all her might, clutching to the bed for some support. Her screams of pain could be heard all over the castle. She felt her muscles being ripped apart and her bones were being broken. It was, of course, her first time giving birth. About two and a half tension-filled minutes passed, which to the queen was an eternity.
Finally, the doctor spoke again. "I see the head." As a matter of fact, he couls see something else: a trickle of blood, quite possibly caused by the strain of the labor. He didn't give it much importance, since such thing happened on many first-timers. "Come on, queenie. Don't give up!" He encouraged while he tried to reach for the baby's head.
At long last, the baby's head came out. "Great! Now let's see the rest of the body!" The doctor said. He then noticed something shocking: the queen's legs were not tense anymore. In fact, they were completely unmoving. He saw what was wrong: the queen was unconscious. And to make matters worse, the trickle of blood grew larger. If she remained like this, the baby could die.
The doctor quickly rummaged through his bag until he pulled out a small bottle, then proceeded to uncork it, and gave it to Impa. "Wave this under her nose. It'll waske her up." He said. Impa, without much of a choice, followed the doctors orders, and sure enough, the queen woke up.
"Uh? What happened?" The queen asked lazily.
"Your majesty, I'm going to have to ask you to make an effort and stay conscious through the labor." The doctor said. The queen immediately regained her wits and concentrated her efforts unto finishing the task at hand. The doctor, on the other hand, was worried about the well being of the queen and her baby if the labor extended for much longer, considering the current situation. The minutes passed by, seemly extending indefinitely for everybody.
Finally, on a stroke of luck (and a burst of strength from the queen), the baby was finally out for the world to see. The doctor's first priority was to check if the baby was ok. Fortunately, the newborn survived the ordeal without a problem. The queen, however, was another story. She was extremely pale, breathing shallow, and many of the sheet around her legs were stained crimson.
"This isn't good." The doctor mumbled to the king. "She's lost a lot of blood."
"Can't anything be done?" The king asked.
"All we can do is clean the area, suture… and pray to the gods." The doctor said with an unsure tone in his voice. "Lady Impa, is it? Please clean the baby while I take care of the queen." After handing the baby to Impa, he proceeded to take care of the queen.
"Harkinian?" The queen called. "Hark, where are you?"
"Here I am!" The king answered and rushed to her side. "You need something?"
"Is…" The queen spoke laboriously. "Is our baby… safe?"
"Yes! Of course!" Impa is bathing her right now." He answered automatically.
"That's good." The queen smiled faintly, then suddenly coughed loudly. The doctor and Harkinian gasped in surprise, but the queen reverted to her smile. "I did that on purpose."
King Harkinian offered a sad smile in return. "Stubborn as always."
"Could I be any other way?" The queen stated half-jokingly. Suddenly, her gaze turned serious. "Hark?" she called again, locking eyes with Harkinian, eyes watering. "… I love you."
King Harkinian noticed the profound sadness on his wife's face. She knew very well her possible fate, and he could see that. He didn't have the heart of trying to fill her head with false promises, so he said the only thing he could. "I love you too."
Just then, Impa walked in, baby in hand. "My queen, here she is. A healthy baby girl."
"Please, place her at my side." The queen requested, and Impa obeyed. The queens face was a mixture of overjoy and sadness at the sights of the fruits of her love.
"My little baby." She said to her newborn daughter, tears flowing freely through her face. "You'll be a good girl. Take care of your daddy and Miss Impa in my stead. Be good to your people. They like that." She paused for a second as she choked up slightly. "Remember that mommy will always love you. And mommy will always watch over you, even if you don't see me." She then laboriously bent over and kissed her baby on the forehead. "May the goddesses bless you and keep you safe… My little Zelda."
"Impa." The queen called her longtime friend over. "I entrust Princess Zelda under your care. You are to work in tandem with the King and the wise men to… (COUGH!)… to assist in her grouth and ensure her safety." The queen promptly dropped the formal façade, and looked at the sheikah straight in the eye. "Take care of her, as you once took care of me, Impa, my friend."
Impa took baby Zelda into her arms, in a sign of trust, and, fighting back her own tears, addressed the queen one last time. "You have my word, as a warrior, as a Sheikah, and as a friend. I will protect her life as it were my own. I will not let you down…"
"Zelda."
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The very next day, a funeral in honor of Queen Zelda was coordinated at the Grand Temple of the Goddesses. Everybody in and around Hyrule Castle Town, peasants, nobles, merchants, soldiers, Zora, Gorons, and even Gerudo, attended the ceremony. The streets surrounding the temple were overflowing with people. The procession was very emotional, especially among the Royal Family, their friends, and the newborn Sheikah community, who Queen Zelda had a special bond with. Because of this, the baby's Presentation Ceremony, usually done within a week of its birth, was pushed back by a month. She was presented as Princess Zelda Dianne Hyrule the 2nd.
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"Sweet Nayru. I didn't know." Makkid's voice suddenly turned apologetic after hearing the story. "I… I'm so sorry."
Impa shook her head to silence her partner's guilt. "It's all right." She said. She then lowered her gaze to the floor. "In fact… I'm the one that should apologize. This is my responsibility, yet I've dragged you all with me."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Makkid said. It was now his turn of being reassuring. "You know we would've followed you even if you didn't want us."
"Yeah, you're right." Impa said, chuckling softly. "We're a scary race."
"Lady Impa!" Suddenly, another sheikah barged in, interrupting the conversation. "Sorry to interrupt you, but we found a new lead."
The news were so exciting for Impa, she actually had to will herself to not jump on the informant and pry the information off his hands. "The information, if you please." Impa requested. The informant gave her a piece of paper with everything they found out, which she quickly read. Impa's eyes grew as the lead revealed their route. She knew they were going to dangerous lands.
"Thank you. You may go." Impa told to the informant, the turned to Makkid with a concerned look across her face. "It just got dangerous."
"So? Danger is what we strive for!" Makkid boomed, reaffirming his compromise. "We'll all be there."
"Thank you." Impa smiled at her friend, which in turn became a smirk and a mischievous glint. "So, the chase is still on."
Makkid quickly recognized Impa's look, and returned the smirk. "And a-hunting we will go."
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It was noon at Toaru Village. Link, having completed a great deal of his chores, at the ranch, had settled to sit under a nearby tree to get a well-deserved rest. After eating his lunch, he closed his eyes and unintentionally dozed off into a peaceful dream.
If only that were true…
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Link stood in a strange road in the middle of the night. He can't remember where this road is. In front of him is a weird castle, closed off from where he stood, that seemed to extend as far as the eye could see. Amongst the imposing structure, two askew towers rose. The windows are like eyes, piercing through Link's very mind. Suddenly, a very large bridge began to extend from beneath the castle, but stopped halfway through. From inside the castle, a cloaked figure, with its head down, walked to the bridge. At the edge of the bridge, the figure looked up to Link, but all Link could see were its bright eyes. The figure took another stop forward, plummeting to the abyss below. Shocked by this, Link instinctively jumped down to the abyss to try to save the figure, but all he saw was a bird flying up from the abyss, leaving Link freefalling to the evergrowing darkness.
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Link woke up, drenched in cold sweat. Looking around at the clear blue skies, crisp green grass, and robust trees, he slowly convinced himself that it was just a dream. Just a bad dr…
"AAAAAH!" He screamed upon seeing a bird flying close by. Upon further inspection, however, he noticed that bird was the hawk Link healed, and thought was long gone by now. "Oh, it's you. How are you doing, buddy?"
The hawk swooped down, landing right beside Link. Silent as always, the hawk just looked at Link with a nondescript look on its eyes. However, Link noticed something odd on the bird. It was holding a piece of paper in its claw. "Hey, what's that? Can I see?" Link asked. The hawk simply raised its leg and dropped the piece of paper, which Link immediately swiped. What he saw made him gasp. It was a castle. The castle he saw in his dream. Although less detailed and straighter that what he saw, it was pretty much the same castle. Shocked, he stared at the hawk, who just kept giving him the same nondescript look as before. 'This is no coincidence' he thought.
"Where did you get this? Show me!" Link demanded of the bird. The hawk took a small look at the picture in the paper, and took to the skies, landing on top of the barn, looking to the southeast, never faltering its gaze. Link took the hint and climbed up to where the hawk was. Nothingness. Vast amounts of nothingness. That was all he could see, looking at the direction the hawk was looking. "I better borrow Epona." He mumbled to himself.
That night, Link sneaked around the village, and to the ranch's stables, where Epona, a horse with a reputation of being fast, yet painstakingly hard to tame, lay sleeping. The footsteps, quiet as they may be, woke the wild stallion up. Quickly, Link presented a carrot up to the horse's nose.
"I have a whole bag of these with your name on it, if you choose to cooperate." Link whispered to Epona. The horse scoffed in arrogance at the boy's proposal, But then he showed the bag full of carrots to the faithless horse.
Link and Epona sneaked around to the main entrance to Toaru Village. "Damn, where did the hawk go?" Link asked himself. "I know I locked all exits in my house when I went to sleep early, but even so, that damn hawk found a way out. How am I supposed to know where to go? Well, I guess I should keep going southeast until I hit something or the hawk decides to appear again." The duo began walking out of the village, when a voice halted their progress.
"Oh, you're leaving, aren't you?" Illa said.
"Illa! I didn't see you there." Link said, surprised. "What are you doing here so late?"
"I overheard you when you locked yourself up in your house. You talked of adventure and searching for something. It was almost like you were possessed by some demon."
"Demon? How come!" Link asked
"You sure didn't sound like the lazy butt we all know and love." Illa snorted.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Link questioned indignatied.
Illa giggled lightly. "I'm glad."
"Of what?" Link eyed her menacingly.
"That we're still friends, even after all these years." Illa answered.
"With a village this small, what are my choices?" Link said jokingly.
"Link!" Illa shouted. "Regardless, I'm glad we're friends. And I hope we can continue being friends." She then took out a pendant, and gave it to Link. "Take this as a promise. No matter where you go, no matter what happens, don't ever forget me."
"Don't worry. I won't." Link assured Illa
"You better, or I'll kick your butt all the way to next month to make you remember!" Illa threatened. Link winced, but then laughed it off. "Now go, before we wake the village up."
Link mounted on Epona and prepare to ride. "And take good care of Epona. She likes that." Illa advised. With a final nod, Link rode off to the horizon. Illa stood to watch until he was no longer visible. Leaning on a post, she closed her eyes lightly and let out a single tear.
"Don't you dare forget me. I won't forget you."
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FINALLY! Chappie 3 (revision 3)! For those who thought I might've forgotten of this story, sorry. I hope this was worth the wait. Oh, and 100 meseta to the first one who identifies my inspiration of the chapter. I am not sure when will chapter 4 be available, because I'm currently not having this story as priority. If you budge enough, though, I'll make chapter 4 soon enough.Review! I'm hungry for reviews.
BTW, for those who don't understand the birth scene, think about it. I would not just put in a scene for no reason. If you still don't understand why, I'll explain... next chapter.
Lightweight.