Intersections

~oOo~

Link sighed lightly. It was a beautiful day in the Faron region, sunny and warm, but with a lovely breeze to keep it from getting too warm. He and Zelda had ventured to the area ostensibly on a scientific endeavor, but in the end, they'd come because for some reason, out of all the places in Hyrule, Faron, and Lake Floria and Floria Falls in particular, were their most favorite of all. That was why, the moment they'd realized they had several days in a row with absolutely nothing to do, they'd immediately and mutually decided to pack up and head south - before anything could show up at their door and interfere.

And so here they were, and he could sit and watch Zelda in peace to his hearts' content. It was his duty, after all, and no one could ever accuse Link of shirking his duty. He rolled his eyes at himself. Well, best of both worlds, and everything. If only all duties were so sweet...

He hummed under his breath. "What's got you so transfixed over there, Zel?" he asked, blinking slowly and yawning in the drowsy heat.

The princess glanced up with a slightly distracted smile, then went back to studying the clouds of yellow and white butterflies almost wistfully. "These butterflies... it almost seems as though I've seen them... before-before? I-I'm not quite sure how to say what I mean..."

Not really noticing the hazy state he'd fallen into, Link replied, "Like when we first came to the surface, and you said that you thought they were named wrong, that they should have been-"

"-should have been called flutterby's, instead," Zelda interrupted in a shocked whisper, her eyes wide and stunned. The surface. The land in the sky... Skyloft! "Link!" she gasped, reaching out a suddenly panicked hand to her knight.

But by that time the same knowledge had grabbed hold of the young hero, and his eyes were also now wide, and wide awake, as well – all drowsiness gone. He shot to his feet and rushed to the suddenly unsteady princess' side, grabbing the hand she'd held out to him and pulling her protectively into his arms.

"You're still here, we're still together," she was repeating under her breath, her eyes now closed tightly as she tried to regain her equilibrium. "Even all this time later, you're still with me..."

"I promised I always would be," Link rumbled softly, caught in the same memories as the princess. Skyloft. Their first lifetime together. How long had it even been since then? He had no idea, but at the moment it felt as though that lifetime were still happening. Like they were still little more than teenagers excited by a whole new world to explore – the surface. Hyrule, now. And we're still teenagers excited by a new world to explore.

Something odd occurred to him, then.

Between then and now, no matter how far apart this life and that one, nothing has really changed... we're still young but so old, still fighting the same battle, and our homeland is a strange but half-familiar place we're still learning about.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Zelda's still-frightened trembling and her suddenly cold skin, his brow furrowing as he took in the tight clutch she had on him, as though she was afraid he would disappear if she let go.

"Zel? What's wrong? Talk to me," he murmured as soothingly as he could. "I'm here, I'm with you. It's okay."

Zelda shuddered under his hands, and becoming really concerned, Link pulled back a little and looked down at her. Her eyes were still tightly clenched, and her lips moved though her voice was barely audible, a stark whisper: He's still with me, everything's okay, the way I meant it to be. Demise's curse changed nothing.

"Did you think it was going to? That we wouldn't be together anymore because of that?"

Eyes still closed though not quite so tightly clenched anymore, Zelda nodded. "I never told you, back then, but sometimes I would have nightmares," she began faintly, "especially as we got older, and I knew our deaths were nearing. I was terrified that I would never see you again, but I didn't want to worry or upset you, so I... just never said anything about it."

Green flashed in the light as she opened her eyes and looked into his – still the most honest blue to be found beneath the skies themselves – and smiled, but it was shaky. Link frowned.

"You can tell me anything, you should know that, Zelda. I don't want you to hide things like that from me, no matter what, okay? If it's something to fear, then we can both be afraid together. We share everything, and that means the bad as well as the good. You have to promise me you won't hide things from me anymore. I can't fix it if you don't tell me what the problem is, right?"

That brought a watery little giggle, which he was very glad to hear.

"You're going to protect me from my nightmares and fears, now, too?"

He smiled, and dropped a kiss atop her head. "I will if you'll let me. I'll protect you from anything you need me to. Always."

She let out a laugh on the back of a sob. "I believe you. Seeing as we're now living who knows how far down the timeline, and you're still with me... oh, thank the three, you're still here," she breathed, like she had to keep repeating it or it wouldn't be real. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd woken up in some life and remembered, and you weren't there..."

It was clear that it was a very real fear and concern to the young woman in his arms, and though it warmed his heart to know that she truly wanted him with her, he wanted to chase it away, not appreciating anything that darkened the light in her eyes in any way.

"It'll never happen. I'll always be with you. That's what you wanted, when you became human, right? That we would always be reborn together, whenever Hyrule's need was greatest. And we always have been, I know it, even if I can't remember all our lifetimes right now, even if I never do. We're two parts of one whole. Don't you feel that, too?"

Zelda sighed quietly, but nodded. "Of course I do, and more than that, I know it, but... well, our fears aren't always necessarily rational, you know. I love you – you... you're everything. The horror I feel at thought of losing you makes me feel quite irrational, if you know what I mean."

Link chuckled at that. He hummed, beginning to feel drowsy and at ease again as Zelda's form lost its own tension and started to melt into him. He squeezed her tighter for a moment and then loosened his hold and glanced down at her. "I don't know about you, but a nap sounds great right now. Care to join me?"

This time, when her eyes met his they were clear, and filled with soft affection. She shook her head at him and sighed, smiling. "Sleepyhead," she murmured fondly. "you never change. Your favorite things – sleep and food. For once, though, I agree. A nap definitely sounds in order. All this warm air is particularly effective at inducing sleepiness in a being."

Link watched her carefully for a long moment, simply nodding quietly at her. But there was one more thing he wanted to address with her, and it would be best done in this moment, before taking that nap.

"Hey." He waited for her to meet his eyes, and then held them. Despite the change in color, those eyes belonged to the woman he loved above all else and had since their first lifetime together, and he smiled faintly, reaching a gentle hand up to brush fondly against her cheek, feeling oddly nostalgic. Who truly knew how many lifetimes had come and gone between them and Skyloft? Yet, no matter how many years between then and now, in the end that time didn't matter. They were still bound to each other; even time couldn't but bow to the will of the woman who was once its ultimate mistress – and Link was certain, one day would be again.

"Listen to me, love. No matter how many more lifetimes we have to get through, I will always be beside you. I will go through anything fate or Ganon or anyone else tries to shove between us. I will always protect you, defend you, and most importantly, love you. All of that is something that even Ganon doesn't have the power to change. Think about it, Zel. Nothing that he has ever been able to do or bring to bear on us has changed your will or mine. That's proof enough that it never will. Don't fear this anymore, okay?"

Link continued to hold her gaze captive with his, allowing her to see him as he really was, without all the burdens others had settled on his shoulders. He wanted her to understand what he was telling her, not appreciating the thought of her having nightmares, phantom wisps of broken dreams chasing her with desperate ragged breaths and the fear of being torn from each other and forever lost to history.

Zelda stared at him for long-seeming moments, her eyes rapidly roaming his familiar, beloved features, her earlier fear subsumed by his gentle handling of her.

She smiled, an aching smile full of every bit of her love for him, her eyes locking on his, caught by the look in his brilliant blue gaze. They were full of a quiet adoration that stole her breath, and she smiled tremulously up at him, her own gaze just as enraptured in him as he was in her. The certainty in them was absolute – he did not fear being separated from her in such a manner, not at all. She couldn't deny that Link's will had never been broken, no matter what had been brought to bear upon him. That shouldn't have been surprising; that was exactly why she – as Hylia – had first chosen him to bear her sword as her champion. His soul was unbreakable, and it had needed to be, or all would have been lost.

But on this day his clear conviction that nothing would ever separate them permanently soothed her fears well enough, and she nodded at the patiently waiting Link with a slightly brighter smile and an, "You're right. If it hasn't happened by this time, after all..."

He nodded once at her with a playful wink, then, in a surprise move Zelda hadn't expected, swept her up into his arms and began walking with deliberation towards the blanket he had been sitting on only a few minutes before. Laughter burst from her, her earlier angst forgotten under the tender care of the only man she had ever loved.

Even the Three could not mistake why I chose this man above all others – princes, kings, and even deities have sought my hand since the very beginning of creation, some in my time as Hylia, and even more as the Princess of Hyrule,but my heart has never wavered, not since the moment I made my fateful choice so many eons ago. And despite the difficulties, and the things we both have suffered, I would not change it; not even now, so long after I first made it. Oh, Link, her thoughts stilled for a moment in appreciation as she looked up at the man now hovering above her with a rather different look in his eyes, and a strange smile pulled at her lips. And you wonder why I love you so...

Her emotions swelled then, and she met his soft, tender kiss with fervor, sudden need flaring up in her after the earlier upset. That fear, the fear of losing something precious when danger of any kind threatened, broke in her throat on a guttural moan, and Link met her need with an equal one of his own.

After all, as he'd proved a thousand and more times since he had first met the radiant Hylia in person and accepted her charge to him in taking her sword from her hand, he also loved her with a single-mindedness that had not once wavered in all the ages that now littered the floor of history's chapel, and he knew that it never would.

That was okay, however. He wanted to love her, he always wanted to love her, and no one could stop him from doing just that. When it came to her, no one could could stop him from protecting her, defending her, and loving her... not Ganon with all his terrible and calamitous power, nor even time itself, as he'd already amply proved all throughout Hyrule's beautiful and terrible history.

He chuckled inwardly as his hands began to wander to all the places he adored so much and, by now, knew so well. I daresay even the Three know better than to try.

There was no fear in him for the warning he'd basically just given to the goddesses, only steely and uncompromising determination – as uncompromising as Hylia's herself, because he knew that she would do the same for him, even if it meant taking on her elders in such a way, and defying all of creation, besides. They were destined lovers by choice and by design, divine and mortal will forever unchanged, and unchanging.

His last thought faded away, then, into the ether, and he let himself fall once more to the passion this woman had always inspired in him, from the very first lifetime they'd shared, and in every single one of their lives since.

Eternity embraced him with glowing green eyes, a welcoming smile, and loving arms.

fin

~oOo~

For anyone who didn't quite get the ending, 'eternity' would just be another name to call Hylia, as she is the goddess of Time. I think one of my very most favorite things about the storyline of the games is that the Princess Zelda born during times of the greatest upheaval is the reincarnation of Hylia herself, and the relationship between her and her chosen Hero. I don't think I would be able to continue on in this fandom if that were taken away.