Chapter 18: The Lost Victory
He was so close to victory.
Link and the Zora sentries battled against Lord Jabu-Jabu's tremendous might. His behavior at Lake Hylia grew worse by the day, causing havoc throughout the space. Despite this, they gave themselves a chance.
The sentries cornered Jabu-Jabu in the lake's depths. Every soldier banded together to form a perimeter around the whale, closing in as the united front persevered.
Their specialized weapons were ready to detain the rampant guardian. Each sentry had an iron grappling hook attached to a rope. The hooks weren't meant to pierce Jabu-Jabu's skin–no one wanted to harm the guardian but merely trap it so healers could soothe the entity. Then, Princess Ruto could be saved from its belly.
The long ropes would cross Jabu-Jabu's body as the hooks sank down into the lake's bottom surface. If everything went well, Jabu-Jabu would be pinned by the weapons without being harmed.
Everything seemed to go to plan. Jabu-Jabu got trapped by the ropes and almost every hook dug into the lake's bottom.
Almost every rope.
As Link watched from a distance, he saw that one of the grappling hooks missed its mark. A sentry's aim must have been off, causing the mishap.
Now something had to be done. Link rushed ahead, cutting through water like an arrow through air. He felt as light as a feather while flying through the lake.
His beeline for the grappling hook seemed perfect. Link reached out for the glimmer of silver laid out in the silt.
The forest boy clutched the hook, which slightly pierced his skin and caused one of his fingers to bleed a little. Link ignored the pain. He had to.
Link raised the hook over his head. If he stabbed the ground, it would be over. Jabu-Jabu would be contained. Ruto would be rescued. Everything would finally be over.
A tremor caused the waters to shake. It couldn't have been an earthquake, Link thought. There's no way it was anything like that.
He struggled to put the hook into the ground. The rope slid away from his grasp, going back towards Jabu-Jabu and the sentries on the other side of it. That was when Link knew. He looked over at the guardian.
Link caught sight of one of Lord Jabu-Jabu's eyes. It blazed like something made of a terrible flame, a fire that couldn't be put out by anything, let alone this water.
Link suddenly stopped. He froze and it was like he forgot what it meant to live and move.
By the time his mind returned, the ropes snapped off. Jabu-Jabu proceeded to bare two rows of jagged teeth.
It let out an ungodly roar. The cry was a mixture of rage and pain, as if something brought out the very worst in the whale.
Link barely dodged its surging lunge at him. Navi wasn't with Link now. She waited on the surface, hopefully next to Sheila and Jerome.
Sheila and Jerome still weren't talking to each other. After two days, their conflict hadn't stopped. Silence continued between the two of them and probably would for a long time.
Trevor was missing. Another one of their friends was also unseen and Link didn't know if either child would be found.
Link was on his own. It was a truth he simply had to get used to. He hoped it wouldn't last forever.
Link almost took out his sword. Jabu-Jabu was too powerful to allow on the loose.
However, Link remembered the Zora people's wishes. They didn't want to lose Jabu-Jabu. Losing him could also mean losing Princess Ruto.
Link couldn't do that to King Zora, Commander Claudius or anyone else in the Domain. Too many souls depended on his success.
The difficulty of the situation weighed in on Link. Was he even a worthy hero anymore? Could he save anyone at all, let alone a guardian? The last guardian he tried to protect died and it played a role in him leaving the Kokiri Forest.
Though the Deku Tree reassured Link that there was nothing he could have done, Link always wondered...was the Deku Tree softening the blow of his failure? Did he take away the boy's guilt to keep him focused, to keep him away from the terrible truth...that his efforts always came up short.
Link's thoughts kept him still once more. It proved enough for Jabu-Jabu to target the child and ram into him. Much of the whale's weight damaged Link's armor.
If it weren't for the steel, Link would have died instantly. Of course, the forest boy wondered if that protection mattered at all.
Water rushed into the hole the blow made. The armor's effect of allowing Link to breath below Lake Hylia's surface withered.
Both of Link's lungs shriveled up. He started choking, wondering if this was how Trevor felt. At this point, his new friend must have died. There was no other explanation as to what happened.
Everything was lost. I should just give up Link thought. I...I can't do this. I can't, I can't, I can't…
He kept repeating the words–I can't, I can't, I can't. They echoed, even in the deepest parts of his mind. The words grew softer as he slowly closed his eyes.
Link wondered what was on the other side, now that it would all be over soon. He saw a hand reach down and pull him up by the armor's damaged chest plate. His body rose, then light streamed down on him. Link closed his eyes as soon as air filled him up, coursing through his body as if the oxygen would make him burst.
Commander Claudius looked down on Link. Link lay on his back, covered in a blanket on a makeshift gurney much like the one the Gorons used to bring Jerome to the top of Death Mountain. The gurney was pitched on Lake Hylia's emerald shore, in the midst of the Zora Army's camp. Despite the chaos and dangers of the lake, Link lived to fight another day.
Navi sat by his side. She rested on Link's arm, her face full of worry. Jerome and Sheila stood beside the gurney, thought they were on the opposite sides. Neither of them look at each other–only at Link.
"You had us worried," said Navi. She mustered a smile at her charge.
"I'm sorry," Link said, though he didn't know who he was saying it to. He couldn't bring himself to look at Commander Claudius, who wore a look of disappointment on his face. Link tried to sit up in bed. His muscles felt stung as soon as he shifted.
"Perhaps it's best that you rest your body." Commander Claudius didn't look at Link either, but at Lake Hylia instead. Its waters were surprisingly quiet. "Jabu-Jabu has hidden himself again. It will be difficult to lure him out."
Link didn't reply to the leader. He stayed down but scanned the camp to see the state of the sentries. The soldiers tended to their own wounds. Healers focused on closing cuts and mending broken limbs.
Like the issue between Sheila and Jerome, everything was silent.
"We've…finished the rescue efforts for now," Claudius finally said after a while. "Link, thank you for your service."
Link heard the finality in Claudius' voice, already understanding the decision. "Claudius, I—"
"It was a mistake. And not your fault. I…don't know what happened to you out there but...your hesitation upended our best chance. Our best chance, young lad. One of your friends is missing and may have died. These two–" Claudius gestured to Jerome and Sheila with small nods. "Are not exactly available. I hear of your abilities and you all have such great promise…but you're compromised. I can't have that. I'm sorry. Sit this one out."
"But Ruto—"
"Sit this one out, please. You have a noble heart. It's not of use to us right now."
Commander Claudius walked away. Jerome and Sheila looked at their friend sympathetically but still couldn't share a gaze with one another. They walked away as well, apart from each other and as alone as Link felt.
Only Navi stayed with Link. She couldn't offer him words of comfort...instead, there was only sorrow and it was the type of sadness that couldn't be expressed in words. It was only silence, only the quiet, and only the loneliness that comes with such emptiness.
Link was so close to victory in Lake Hylia–then, it was snatched away. Now, it felt as if he had nothing at all.
