-Lost- Chapter 14 -Hero Of Twilight-, a legend of zelda fanfic

Hello my lovelies. I am so sorry for the long wait... Not only am I battling school, but I also have mononucleosis, better known as Mono... For those of you that don't know, mono causes extreme fatigue, body aches, nausea, and a very sore throat. I swear I look like a frog with my throat and lmyph nodes so swollen... So it's difficult to really function at all. It's been passed around the school because people are spitting into the drinking fountains... Guess what lucky person drank out of the infected fountains without knowing they were infected!

Me... *cries*

Okay, question time for all of you. Would you like me to recommend music to listen to while you read the fanfiction? I wrote this while listening to Fi's Farewell. So if you would like to listen to it while reading, the fanfiction, it will help set the mood, then be my guest! Maybe play some zelda music beforehand just because? I don't know what would really fit the beginning up until Fi's farwell would start...

If you'd like to listen to music while reading, Fi's farewell starts at this paragraph:

"Notice how broken you are… You refused to tell us anything but that you fell for a girl who was as beautiful as the setting sun. You used to mumble her name in your sleep… Midna..." Ilia answered quietly. "You claimed she disappeared… What happened to her Link…? What truly happened to Midna?"

And ends with:

Just like his predecessor, fate too had shattered him, shaping them into "Heroes". Fate had destroyed both their lives. Life could never return to the peaceful way it had once been...

But you all deserve a chapter! So here it is! Thank you all for being so patient and supportive! Here's a fluffy chapter!

-WingedIceWolf

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE LEGEND OF ZELDA OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS! THEY BELONG TO MIYAMOTO!

He woke to the sun shining in his eyes, quickly snapping them shut with a gentle groan as he attempted to shield his face with his hand. He sat up quickly, using his elbows as leverage, immediately regretting that decision as pain ripped across his middle, branching out and setting his body ablaze. His jaw clenched shut, gripping onto the locks of his amber-blonde hair and curling in on himself until the pain temporarily subsided, ignoring the plop of something damp into his lap.

The young man cracked open one eye, then the other, seeing the cloth in between his legs, eyebrows knitting together in confusion. He first cast a glance down at the blanket draped over him, then his clothing, gaze coming to rest upon the bucket at his side.

The Hero of The Wild was often quick to piece two and two together, but his mind was fuzzy, struggling to recollect last night's events. He breathed in steadily, exhaling gradually as he rummaged through his head for the smallest bit of information that would allow him to recall last night's events.

He caught something out of the corner of his eye. Turning, wild-blue eyes met with the chess set upon the table. The pieces had not been returned to their original positions; the black king was set to the side and the white knight stood in the place of the king.

A flash of memory played through his head.

There was a young man, about his age, kneeling on the floor across from him, violet tinted, sapphire eyes wide as his jaw hung slightly, like a door hanging from its hinges. A small smile spread across the Hero of The Wild's face, remembering, as clear as day, the look of shock upon the young man's face.

I… Had played chess to pass the time… And I won… The Hero's smile hardly left his face. Probably the first time he'd been beaten.

He swung his legs over the couch, rising sluggishly, staring at his bare feet on the floorboards. There were dried spots of crimson upon the floor before his feet, smeared into the polished grains of wood. He licked his dried lips as he tried to recall where the blood had come from.

My host hadn't been injured, had he?

The Hero's head spun around, sending the whole room into a whirl, having to catch himself on the edge of the couch before the room stopped spinning. He very slowly lifted his gaze, seeing the sleeping figure upon the wooden ledge, though he brushed it off.

He let out an inward sigh, but it was then he realized the metallic taste of blood within his mouth. It was, without a doubt, his own. The flavor was all too familiar; it hadn't been from a recent kill or from the blood of a malice infested beast. He could feel a forgotten, odd lingering sitting on the back of his tongue, like a distant reminder of defeat.

His fingers came to his lips as his eyes slid closed, trying to clear his mind. He focused on the sound of the wind shaking the trees outside and the quiet chirping of birds as they woke from their slumber. Slowly, little by little, it all came back to him.

The young man recalled the pain that raced through him as he broke into a coughing fit, drops of carmine sprinkling the floor when he had failed to shield his mouth. But that is when things began to go blank in his mind. He could barely remember his host bounding over the table like some animal and yanking the Hero's hands toward the firelight. The rest of it, if there was more, remained a mystery to him.

The Hero's eyes slid open as he raised his hands to his face, closely peering at them in the light. It was here his spilled blood had seeped between his fingers, staining the crevices in his palms, swirling in his fingerprints. Now, there was nothing.

My own blood… I was coughing my own blood. And he…

The Hero of The Wild froze. He could summon up the face of the young man who had tended to him in his days of unconsciousness. His eyes were a violet tinted, sapphire blue. His ears were long and pointed, blue looped earrings dangling from them. His dirty blonde bangs hung in his face. Something about that face felt familiar… But… Why?

A Hylian…? Just like me… And… He stopped, fondling with his own ears, finding the dangling loops there. Earrings… Like me…?

He turned back toward the figure, hesitating, but he had to know if his memory served him right. Maybe this young man had answers to his past… To who he was and who his parents were… But most importantly, to Zelda.

He very slowly stepped across the floor upon his heels, trying not to make any noise as he crept along. The Hero held his breath, stepping up the ladder one foot at a time, almost silently. He pulled himself onto the ledge, trying not to stagger as he did so, watching the sleeping young man for any signs of movement besides the normal breathing.

The Yiga Clan, sheikah traitors who pledged themselves to Calamity Ganon, had used many disguises to throw him off guard. A little girl, crying under a tree, a woman, shivering in the cold, an elderly man not knowing which road to cross onto. How did he know this wasn't another Yiga warrior in disguise?

The Hero of The Wild crouched down slowly, subconsciously reaching for the Royal Broadsword sheathed on his back, but his hand met with air. Immediately, panic filled him, hands searching his attire for anything that belonged to him.

Nothing.

Oh Hylia, where is my sword?! And the Sheikah Slate?!

The Hero immediately descended down the ladder, searching frantically through the house for his weapon or the Sheikah Slate. He rummaged through drawers, trying not to make much noise as he went along, throwing blankets to the side and searching beneath the couch. His ears twitched, seeing the pot set upon the shelf. As any Hero would do, searching for his belongings in a house that was not familiar to him, he reached up to grab the pot, but a loud voice caused him to jump in fright, awkwardly fall backwards, and scramble into the wall.

"Hey! Don't touch that!" The Hero of Twilight yelled out suddenly.

His guest remained glued to the wall, heart thundering, shaking with alarm. The Ordonian rubbed his face and rolled out of the blankets, quickly hurrying down the ladder and to Wild, holding out his hand. "There's some sharp glass in there… If you stuck your hand in the pot, you'd cut yourself…"

Not surprisingly, the Hero of The Wild stared at his hand, breathing in short, quick breaths, ears perked against his head, frozen like a deer as an arrow hurtled toward it. Link sighed heavily, crouching beside him and speaking softly.

"I didn't mean to give you a heart attack… You shouldn't be up…" He reached out and lifted Wild's chin so their eyes met. The Hero of The Wild pulled his head away. "You're still sick and your cheeks are flushed… I bet you've still got a fever going… Just last night, you were coughing up blood… I could hardly sleep, I was so worried! Don't scare me like that, okay…?"

Wild gave him an icy glare as his mouth opened. Link half expected he would fire back some insult, but he instead shook his head and slowly rose to his feet, using his thighs as leverage, hand on his chest as he leaned over to catch his breath. Link perked his ears back low, subconsciously rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed in embarrassment.

Gods, why do I keep scaring him…? I'm just not prepared for this… Having someone in my house besides me isn't the usual... His eyes flicked to the pot upon the shelf. That… was too close… I should probably move the Crystal… Link thought to himself, taking a deep breath to slow the thundering of his heart. If Wild had touched the Shadow Crystal, even just by simply grazing it with his fingers, the affects would be more than devastating.

"Um… You were searching for something. Food? Do you want breakfast? It's probably nearing noon by now… so maybe lunch would be the appropriate term…" Link began, nervously shifting his feet, yawning and stretching. Yet again, he let out a small squeak as he stretched.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Wild flinched, looking for some place to hide. Link quickly motioned to the bathroom, walking toward the door and watching as Wild slipped inside. The knocking came again, followed by a voice.

"Link! Wake up, you sleepyhead! I brought you some breakfast!" came a girl's voice.

Link imitated the sound of footsteps before messing up his hair, more than it's normal messy state, and quickly grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around himself to appear ill. He cracked open the door, squeezing his eyes shut at the light.

"H-hey, Ilia," Link greeted. The girl with bright green eyes, dirty blonde hair, and a basket in her hand, stepped into the house without being invited.

"You left Epona out in that storm, Link!" Ilia scolded, hitting the Hero upside the head. Link grimaced, rubbing his head and biting his lower lip, ready to hear a long rant about how reckless he is, how he should take better care of Epona, how he needs to build her a stable, how she could die out in the storm.

"That was a while ago, Il… I was down in the cellar and a box fell on my head, knocking me out… When I woke up, the storm was over..." Link lied. Ilia stepped over to him, staring him hard in the eyes, then shaking her head.

"Don't lie to me."

"I-I'm not lying!" Link retaliated, fumbling with the blanket around his shoulders.

"You better be lying. If you really did hit your head that hard enough, then you should have a concussion. Why didn't you tell any of us about it?"

"Because I didn't think it was that severe..." Link replied slowly. Ilia stepped passed him, to Link's surprise, and simply set the basket down on the table, seeing the chess set scrambled up. One of her eyebrows rose as she crouched.

"Wait… Last time I came over here, this chess set was put away. No one has been over here recently, have they? Why is the board like this…?" Ilia asked in confusion, bending down and grabbing the white knight, turning it over in her hands. Link's blood ran cold, swallowing hard. He had to think up an excuse, and quickly.

"I got bored of reading… You know. So many books… read them all so many times… I decided to practice some chess moves!" Link answered quickly.

"Uh-huh..." Ilia replied with sarcasm in her voice. "You're acting weird today."

"Well, what else would you expect from the country bumpkin?" Link grinned playfully.

"Weirder than usual. And you don't seem that sick to me..." Ilia mumbled under her breath. "Same old idiot..." She took a seat on his couch, stretching a little and sighing, then smirked teasingly. "I've been gone for a few days and you don't give me some formal welcome?"

Link winced at that, but replied, sitting down beside her, "Sorry… How was Kakariko?"

"It was decent. We had a few travelers pass through. I helped out at the inn with Renado and Luda. She's a sweet girl, wouldn't stop going on and on about how much she has a crush on Colin and wants him to marry her one day." Ilia laughed and leaned on her hand. "I remember being like that… Hoping the cute village boy who was taken under Rusl's wing would kiss me..."

Link blushed fiercely, wrapping the blanket over his face. Ilia only laughed more, but then her voice went quiet. "You've been through so much for me… For all of Hyrule… It saddened me when I learned your heart yearned for someone else… But don't think we haven't noticed, Link."

"Noticed what…?" Link asked nervously, hoping she didn't mean Wild.

There was silence between them for several seconds before Link pulled the blanket off his head, letting it fall to the floor. He tried to find his voice, knowing it would be heavy with sorrow as the pain buried within his heart rekindled, but he couldn't will the words to his lips. It was in that moment, he realized just how truly his heart ached for a love he could never touch…

He could still see her beautiful face when he closed his eyes. He could remember those scarlet eyes of hers that would make any polished ruby, no mater the craftsman that polished it, seem like a grain of dust. He could recall her blue, porcelain skin, her lips as soft as rose petals, that gentle smile upon her face that warmed the cold fear that ate away at his heart.

He recalled how he had embraced her for the last time, sobbing and holding him close to her heart. He could still faintly hear the thudding of her heartbeat within her chest. He could still feel his lips meet with her gentle ones for the last time before they parted and a single tear rolled down her face. He could still feel the pain that shattered his soul, just as she had shattered the mirror that linked her world to his. It was an open wound that no song or amount of time could never heal.

It was a forbidden love… And by some spark of his imagination, he had hoped she would not have the need to leave him. That he could finally be at peace with his Queen of Twilight in his arms, gazing up at the stars as the two of them fell asleep to the rhythm of their own hearts, beating as one.

He had loved her, without a doubt. For once in his seventeen years of living, he had felt complete. With her departure, all that was torn from him. Though he wanted to grasp onto it and hold it so tight, it slipped through his fingers like water. Like the endless tears he shed.

"She..." Link could feel his eyes sting, shoulders beginning to shake as he stumbled on his words. His knees began to tremble, the playful glimmer in his eyes dying in an instant. "She l-left me..."

"Why?!" Ilia sprang up, fists clenched, eyebrows furrowing as anger raced through her veins. "Why would she leave you? After everything you'd done? After all you'd suffered?!"

"Ilia… I-it's not like that..." Link countered brokenly. He hung his head, dirty blonde bangs shadowing his eyes as his shoulders shook more. "She… h-had to go..." Without another word, he broke into quiet sobs, trying to hold back his tears, but to no avail. He collapsed to his knees and buried his head into his hands, rocking back and forth.

Ilia felt deep regret prick her. She knelt beside her childhood friend and pulled him into a hug, petting his head gently as he sobbed into her shoulder, clutching tightly to her. Hearing him weep so brokenly only made her regret grow. Maybe this was why he was acting so strange. Because of heartbreak. Because he could not heal…

Because this is his way of coping with a pain so great….

Ilia tilted his chin up, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "It's going to be alright… Whatever the reason she had to leave you, always remember that we're still here for you, Link. And we love you. Not because you're the Hero of Hyrule. But because you're family."

She reached out to the basket and pulled out a pumpkin muffin, placing it in his hand. "It's your favorite, Link… Don't cry… Please… I'm sorry." He only continued to sob, staring at the muffin in his hand. "I'll leave, alright? Maybe you can go pick the apples in the orchard. I'll visit you later, alright?"

Link nodded gently, though the tears refused to cease. She kissed his head gently, squeezing his left hand before wrapping him in the blanket. "It's chilly… I also brought you some soup. So eat up, idiot." She ruffled his hair gently before standing and taking her leave.

Link continued to sob quietly, setting the muffin on the table and letting it all out once he was sure Ilia was out of earshot. The door to the bathroom slowly creaked open, Wild standing there, ears perked back. He slowly stepped toward the Hero who did not acknowledge him, kneeling before him and touching his shoulder.

Even then, Link did not look up. His head remained bowed and his body continued to shake with his sobs. Without a second thought, Wild pulled the Ordonian to his chest, hugging him tight. To him, it strangely wasn't awkward. The Hero of The Wild wanted to ask many questions about what he had heard, but refrained, instead allowing the Hero of Twilight to sob into him, humming a tune that floated in his head.

It was a tune he knew well, but he was not so sure if Link would. The tune was one passed down to the royal family and the one fate had titled "Hero". Link's ears twitched at the tune, but he quickly relaxed, body becoming less rigid and breath evening out. Eventually, his sobbing ceased, snuggling into Wild. The young man did not budge from his position in fear of disturbing his host.

"That song… I… I recognize it…" Link sniffled. "Zelda's lullaby… It's the lullaby sang to the many Zeldas reincarnated with the spirit of the Goddess…"

Wild did not reply. His ears twitched, looking down at Link's left hand. Sure enough, the holy triangular symbol, though faded, was upon his hand.

He's Chosen… Just like me… I thought perhaps his name too being mine was mere coincidence… But no… Just like the Zeldas, his name too is the name given to the Chosen heroes reincarnated with the spirit of Hylia's chosen…

An image suddenly flashed through Wild's mind, his eyes sliding closed as the memory awoke within him.

~o~

Link sat against a tree within the royal courtyard, dressed in the Royal Guard's attire. The red and blue garb bore the crest of the royal family upon Link's chest, the sun beginning to sink into the horizon, casting an orange glow upon him. The shadow of Hyrule Castle Loomed before him.

A gentle breeze shook the oak tree he sat beneath as he fingered through the pages of a leather bound book that had once belonged to his father. The Appointed Knight's gloves were set beside him, his blue cap set in the grass as well and his blade leaning up against the tree. The rough bark digging into his back was strangely comforting.

Nowadays, he rarely could enjoy free time for himself, but he never skipped the chance to get lost within a book. He was always fascinated with the Heroes he had read about in stories while he was younger. The Heroes his father had read to him about from this very book.

One of Link's favorite Heroes was the Hero Of Twilight, the hero he currently read about within the book he held. Something about him always captivated Link as a child. He had read the story of the hero countless times over, always requested it before his father would tuck him into bed. He studied the map of that Era several times over, could recite the names of nearly everyone who lived within that time period.

From the distance, a voice called out his name. Link looked up to see Zelda standing on a hill, waiting for him to join her. He slipped his gloves back on, taking up his blade and refastening it to his back. He then jogged up to her, but kept a distance between himself and the princess as they went along.

~o~

Wild's eyes fluttered open. Since his slumber within the Shrine of Resurrection, he had been deprived of all memories. All he could recall from that memory was the leather bound book, the title of "Hero Of Twilight" upon the page, and the picture of the young man within the book. He could recall Zelda calling his name, but the rest of it remained tucked in the locked chambers of his mind.

The Hero he held within his arms was that same Hero.

The Hero of Twilight…

Just like his predecessor, fate too had shattered him, shaping them into "Heroes". Fate had destroyed both their lives. Life could never return to the peaceful way it had once been...

Aaaand there's the chapter. Again, let me know if you would like me to recommend music while you read the fanfiction. Thank you!