Link woke up in his hammock in the hut he shared with his family.
But it wasn't their faces he saw.
"Am I dead?" he asked to the blue and red Goddesses.
Din shrugged. "As good as. But you wanted the chance to say goodbye, did you not? I told you I'd give you that." She bent in front of him and ran her finger along his jaw, proving that she was able to touch him this time, and that he had made the trade.
He shuddered and closed his eyes. "Where's Zelda? Is she okay?"
Nayru moved away from him but nodded. "You have been out some time. I ensured her safe return home to her father in that time, and I have set her down the road to a lifetime of happiness. She will not forget you, Link."
"She's gone?"
"She has been taken home, yes."
Link ran his hands through his hair and nodded, turning to Din. "Will it hurt?"
The Goddess shook her head. "No. I'll lead you the whole way, and I will keep you calm. It will be peaceful."
"Okay," he breathed, taking in the feeling, letting the smell of the salt sea hit him harder than he'd ever felt. Then, he pushed himself to his feet and headed into the sunlight.
It beat down on him, and he closed his eyes to soak in the warmth. The wind wrapped around him, almost playfully, and he opened his eyes to see a third Goddess, green, smiling at him. She pursed her lips and blew in his direction, the wind spiraling around him, rustling his hair like a good-natured sibling might do.
He saw his family together on the seashore, huddled in the sand, playing with some unseen thing in their hands.
"Hey," he said, coming up behind them. His voice cracked and his nerves threatened to shatter as his sister's arms tightened around him. He gripped her tight and pulled her into his arms, holding her like he used to when she was younger.
"You're a hero, you know?"
"Why?" Link asked as both his parents joined in embracing him.
"You saved that girl. Against all odds, you saved her. And you protected the village."
His mother ran a hand through his hair, and Link had to bite his lip to stop from crying at the gesture he realized he'd never feel again.
Link took a deep breath and shifted Aryll in his arms. "I think… I want to… to go on… on an adventure." He fumbled for the words that he just needed to get out of his system. He couldn't tell them he was going to die. He couldn't tell them what he'd done for a girl he barely knew in this life. That he'd chosen someone else over all of them. That thought itself steeled his resolve. "Yeah, I need to get out of here. I love Lurelin, but I need something else."
"Link," his father said, his brow knitting. "You just woke up."
"Yeah, and I think… I think the Goddesses are calling to me. They want me to do this. Farore will take me where I need to go, whatever I need to do."
It was a low blow to use them on his family, devout as they were. He knew he was beholden to Din now, but Lurelin favored Farore for her control of the seas and the sun and the shade. He could almost see a sly smile on one of their faces, though the presence of someone was no more than a mere glimpse and a movement of the wind.
And Link's pious revelation had its intended effect. His mother winced, as if the news had been a physical blow. "You're injured. Surely this can wait? Let us take care of you."
"Link," his father said, coaxing Aryll from his son's arms. "If this is about the girl…"
"It's about the Goddesses," he said, and it wasn't entirely a lie. "I think… I think they came to me in a dream. They want me to leave today."
"Link!" his mother tried again. "What's this about? Are you alright?" Her soft hand rested on his cheek, and though he longed to pull away to save himself the hurt, he didn't want to make his mother's last memory of him being one of him flinching away.
"I have to go," he said, giving her hand a squeeze before heading back to their home to pack his things, so it wasn't quite as suspicious as him simply leaving to die. Tears fell down his cheeks as he threw some clothes into a bag, not even paying attention to what they were. He grabbed some shoes for the road ahead, planning to remove them before Din took him so he could feel the grass beneath his feet one last time, as much as he wished it would have been the sand and the water.
"Give me strength," he muttered, knowing that Din was listening. He didn't presume that she'd actually intervene, but there was an unexpected lightness in his chest that made every action just slightly easier to bear.
He slung his bag over his shoulder and said his goodbyes to his friends. He offered Maiamai a special thank you for everything she did for Zelda, and to Sebasto, his training master all these years. He said goodbye to Numan and Armez, his closest friends. It was all easy compared to the moment he wrapped himself in his mother's arms, holding her tight and never wanting to let go.
"How long will you be gone?" she asked tearfully, almost as if she somehow had an inkling that this would be the last time she'd hold her son.
He shook his head into the crook of her neck. "I don't know."
"I want to come!" Aryll said, pulling at his leg.
He gave her a reassuring smile, though it was pained, and his eyes tinged red with fresh tears, before he pulled her into his arms. "No, you don't. Be good for mom and dad, okay?"
"I will, but I still want to come!"
"Not this time, Aryll." He let her go and pulled his necklace off, the one with the shark's tooth and a story about him behind it. He dropped the loose twine around her neck and rustled her hair. "Keep that safe for me?"
"Okay," she said, examining the tooth carefully before her mother pulled her into a comforting embrace, one that they both needed.
Link finally turned to his dad, crashing into his arms. "You be safe, son."
"Yeah… I'll try. You know me though."
"If you're going to the girl, just invite us to the wedding."
Link laughed, and the pain it would have brought was eased by Din's fiery strength that she lent to him. "Yeah, if that happens, I will."
"Good. Come home soon."
"Right." The word caught in Link's throat as he backed away. "I love you all. Don't miss me much, okay? I'll be fine."
"You really have to do this?" Aryll asked one more time.
"Shhh," his father said, kneeling to her. Then his eyes darted up to Link. "Don't look back. Do what you need to do."
Link swallowed down a few more tears, nodding his head as he headed up the long path out of the village, keeping his head down on the ground.
It wasn't until he felt something beside him that he looked up and saw that he'd walked for miles.
"I'm ready," he said, somehow knowing that it was Din and not one of the other Goddesses. "Can you just… go to them in a dream one day and let them know I'm not coming home?"
"I can do that." Din walked like air, a swirl of wind at the bottom of her dress so he never saw her limbs move. "But I believe you have one more person you'd like to say goodbye to?"
"Din," a new voice said. Nayru appeared on Link's other side. "Don't hurt him more."
"He's mine, sister. I can give him the time to say goodbye to the girl he's dying for."
"You're cruel," Nayru said with a huff, disappearing again.
"Why?" Link asked, turning to his constant companion.
"She's made her happy. Do you want to say goodbye to her, even knowing that she's happy?"
"Of course, if you'll allow it."
And Din did allow it.
She led Link the entire way to where Zelda lived, to the very doorsteps of her home.
Link felt suddenly underdressed and very self conscious. His hands shook as he rapped on the door.
A man opened it, dressed in his finest clothing, a stoic look on his face that masked his confusion and disgust. "May I help you, Sir?"
"I'm looking for Zelda."
"The Lady Zelda is not here at present. She is meeting with her fiancée."
"Her…" Link swallowed and nodded. "Okay. Thank you."
The man closed the door, and Link made his way to the town square where he rested heavily against the fountain in the center.
Din appeared, though it seemed he was the only one who could see her.
"You are cruel," Link muttered. "That's how you made her happy? A fiancée?"
"Nayru caught her heart before it could shatter. If the roles had been reversed, you'd have found someone as well."
"You brought me here so I could see that she'd already forgotten me?"
"So that you could see that she'll be happy even once you're gone. She won't forget you. She'll learn from you."
"Just days ago, we were making plans to run away together, back when we didn't know you'd cursed us."
"Her. You were safe. You're dying so she can be happy with someone else, with a life that doesn't have you in it. That's what you agreed to."
Link ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. They could have let him think she mourned him for at least a week. He knew it was by their intervention, that their magic was what made it so, but did they have to show him? Did they have to remind him that he maybe loved her more than she loved him?
Din cocked her head, watching Link curiously. "I'll take it back."
"What?"
"I'll make Nayru switch one more time. You were meant to live. I was meant to have the girl. You can have your family. You can have your happiness. You can have everything this world has to offer you. The three of us will see to it. Just say the word, Link, and I'll take her instead. Think of your sister."
Aryll clinging to his leg, begging him not to go.
"Your mother?"
'How long will you be gone?' she'd asked tearfully.
"Your father?"
Link had turned to his dad, crashing into his arms. "You be safe, son."
"I can give them all back to you. They never need to know how close they came to truly losing you. And Zelda? She was meant to die. She's not losing anything. Her life has been handed to her, but her father is distant. This man, she's just met him. There will be a while still until she feels even affection for him. She's just started this all. She's losing nothing."
"Why do you want her so badly?" Link asked wearily.
"She was mine. I traded for you, but I can see what this is doing to you. It wasn't meant for you. I made sure that she had family who she wouldn't miss when the time came to lead her away. I made sure that her life stifled her. You? You have everything to lose. Tell me, and I'll do it, Link. You were born to live."
Din gestured to the far side of town, to a figure heading their way, still oblivious.
"There she is. Either say your goodbye, or let me do what I was meant to do."
Link watched Zelda's approach, the grin on her face. But he could still feel Aryll's phantom arms around him, and his mother's lips on his cheek, and his father's smile still burned in his mind.
Standing, Link took a deep breath and nodded to himself. "She's happy? For the first time, she's happy. And you said it yourself; I've had happiness my whole life. How can I take it from her now?" He turned away, his back facing her. If she saw him, if she saw his face, he'd take some of that happiness away from her. Now, she was free. If she saw him, it would remind her of someone left behind.
Even at his own expense, at his own closure, he couldn't say goodbye. Not to her.
"I'm ready now."
"Are you sure, Link? This is the last chance."
"Just do it."
Din faltered for a moment, surprised by his choice. But Nayru's voice broke through the tense silence. "Did you expect him to sacrifice her? His past lives have lived for that woman, and you thought he wouldn't be willing to die for her?"
Link turned around, finding the streets of the town empty. Cracks in the cobblestones beneath his feet sprouted grass, and the wind swirled around him.
Farore sat on the fountain and held out her hand to Link. "Take off those shoes."
He wrapped his fingers through hers and kicked off the shoes. She helped him up onto the ledge and urged him to step into the gushing fountain. And when he did, the water lapped at his feet, and he wriggled his toes, feeling the sands from the beaches of Lurelin replacing the stone. Wind caressed his face, blowing his clothes around as if he were caught in a tornado, though it was the most serene thing he'd ever experienced.
It was warm, like being wrapped in a blanket by the fire against the chill of night. And he smelled the sea.
Farore's hand was tight in his, but he felt another press against his chest. It was a little uncomfortable, like the pressure of holding his breath for too long but without the pain and panic of the experience. Just pressure. Din ran another hand through his hair in a comforting gesture.
"We'll watch out for them all. And when you return again, I will do all I can to keep you both together."
"I've got you, Link," Farore said, holding his hand tighter.
Nayru watched, unable to lay a hand on the boy. But she nodded her ascent to him, her promise.
"Look at the sky," Farore whispered.
Link looked up, holding tight to the hand as he fought against the spinning sensation he felt. The sky was alight with unending stars. One streaked across the sky, downward like a tear. The rest shimmered.
Link looked down to see the ripple of waves reflecting the sky above so he was surrounded by stars and water and pressure and a hand that held him tight through it all.
A/N: The next chapter is the last one and it's an epilogue, so if you want to, you can end this here if you're not into epilogues!
Reviews: zViridian: Thank you! That means a lot! I sometimes overestimate how long something needs to be and then burn out from it, but I should be able to whip out the last chapter in a day or two so this will be done very soon! Zeedry: That's literally the BEST way to summarize this hahahahahhaha!
