A Princess's Tale

by 005532

I would toast to my stuffed animals, their black eyes would show me my reflection. Cold, professional, expressionless. I thought I was doing a good job. That's how a princess is supposed to be, correct?

A quick one-shot about what Zelda went through. Being a princess isn't all glamor and gold...

A Princess's Tale

I used to peer through the keyhole of the overly sized door, I wished I could be apart of whatever it was they were doing. I later learned it was a simple dinner party. It looks extravagant from the outside, especially when you are just a child.

I didn't know it, but I would practice with my Mum. I used to think this was our quality time, and I suppose it was. But yet it was all training. Our tea parties, the strict tea parties where we would calmly discuss the weather and other unimportant business, all were lessons. She would squeeze other tests in there, to keep me sharp. They were hidden though, I thought we were just having fun.

I would toast to my stuffed animals, their black eyes would show me my reflection. Cold, professional, expressionless. I thought I was doing a good job. That's how a princess is supposed to be, correct? Heartless, in order to make headstrong decisions. Strong, so I won't cry when my people die in war. Wise, so I can provide the subjects a grand place to live, and uphold the law.

I didn't talk to people very much. My parents were busy with royal duties, at the time I didn't understand that. Sometimes I went to bed without speaking to anyone at all.

Sometimes I would talk with the guards, but they we silent. They were taught, to be quiet.

My mother passed away, and I cried. The tears were full of regret, I never got to know her well. I only remember vague memories, her smell, that feeling of motherly love when she would brush my cheek, all reside in my mind. Shut away, for when I wish to daydream.

Father turned cold, not in a kingly way. Not the way we were taught. His heart was locked in ice, even if I would show him my smile, the one I was told to hide.

I got a nursemaid, she terrified me. She was strict, and her methods were hard to digest. I didn't realize she was only protecting me. Toughening me up, taking the place as my friend. She didn't smile much, but she was taught to be like that.

Just like me.

To show perfection, to reveal no weakness, to eliminate any flaws.

It was how I was brought up, and this strange coincidence brought me closer to her.

I relied on her in ways I didn't know I needed help with, and in ways I don't even know. Impa, my nursemaid, my best friend, my caretaker.

Despite her firm discipline, she gave me freedom. Any time my boredom would drive me to sneak out, she would always watch from the shadows. Always there if I ever needed her.

My people would talk to me, but they would talk about unimportant things, like the weather, and my face would fall behind my mask.

The princess mask, the one I was told to build, the one I was taught to remember.

I was introduced to other royal blood, other princes and princesses my age, and they would all be the same. Faces, names, and a body. That's all I would remember them for.

They were never nice, and allowed the high life to embrace them. Their masks fused to their faces, their attitude that of a stereotype royalty, but their personalities I could not place. I only saw their performance.

The act, we were all taught to play.

The visits were formal, usually just to meet. A simple piece of recognition. Father would discuss business matters with their parents, kings and queens from other countries. I would gaze out the window when their piercing eyes didn't notice me, wondering what life could be, if I were a bird.

It didn't have to be a dove, it could be a simple gray bird, but it would be nice to fly away and live their life. Just for a day, maybe and hour, a few minutes would be lovely.

I want to be free, I want to remove my mask, I want to laugh and sing and not dance the waltz and not have to take speech lessons and not have to memorize the rules of a country...I want to be alive.

I want to eat salad with my dessert fork. I don't care the price, I want to play with the other children. Even if it means getting my dress a little dirty, something the maids would complain about to me.

The servants were nice to me, but all in fear that I would tell father. They whined though, they knew I wouldn't tell father about their petty complaints, they knew he wouldn't care.

I gave up on being his daughter, and slowly molded myself into his princess. A girl to introduce to others and to teach how to rule.

Impa noticed I was falling into a depression, and I guess I was. My regards to life were shattered when I saw a group of girls play. They giggled, and ran around, and even fell in the mud. They got to get their clothes dirty. It's not fair.

I heard little girls dreamed to be princesses when they grow up, I'd hate to smash their dreams.

I just smile politely when one would compliment my dress, or ask what it's like beyond the castle gates, or even show a slight feeling of jealously at my higher status. I couldn't play with them though. I had to maintain my appearance. Just as I was taught to do, as I was slowly being convinced to do. The lessons are being carved into my soul.

The part that scared me, was that I was painstakingly watching it happen. I couldn't stop it. The glue was hardening on my mask.

Until one day I had a dream, it was terrifying.

It was confusing.

It was...reliving.

I felt as though something inside my was lit, the warmth slowly melting the glue. It burned my blindfold, and I could see the world more clearly. The fields, the lake, the forest, the sea...

As quickly as the feeling came, it disappeared, being replaced with raw fear at what was coming. I knew it.

I knew what was going to happen, I knew death was coming soon, I knew my people would suffer, I could feel it. I could sense it.

I awoke screaming, nearly scaring my servants and Impa half to death.

I told them it was a nightmare, simply a nightmare.

When the maids and guards and others left, I tugged on Impa's glove. She turned her head, and I told her it wasn't. I told her it was real, it was going to happen. Something bad was coming.

She didn't believe me at first, but whatever she saw in my eyes was proof enough. Her eyes filled with understanding, and at the time she knew something I didn't.

She pat my head, and told me to go back to sleep.

The feeling crept away, but I still felt restless. I felt hopeless, and weak, and exposed. Despite all the Royal's efforts to make me strong, they were only enhancing my appearance.

I took Impa's lessons more seriously. Checking for hidden signs of wisdom, reteaching myself.

The way it was supposed to be.

The next day, I was anxious. I tried to tell my father to be careful, to not meet with the person he was scheduled to. That feeling lingered when he uttered the name: Ganondorf. Of course he didn't believe me, he said I was being incomprehensible. I lifted my temporary princess mask, and left him. I walked from his throne room, for what would be the last time with him and I in it.

I went into the gardens, and thought about everything. A gray bird chirped in the trees. I resisted the urge to cry.

I was overwhelmed by everything and by nothing.

I heard the large doors to father's throne room open, another visit from another king.

But the feeling returned, and to this day I remember what happened. I remember placing my hands on the cold marble window, and looking through the clean glass. He was walking up to father's chair, painfully slow. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, bile rose in my throat. I knew it, I knew this man would be the cause.

The part that scared me, was that I was painstakingly watching it happen. I wouldn't be able to stop it.

I heard rustling behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin, but turned to look. A boy, dressed in green was standing at the garden entrance. He had a sword and a wooden shield, messy blond hair and blue eyes so blue I think the color deserves it's own name.

A fairy floated by idly, proving him to be that of the mysterious kokiri race, even if he didn't look like it. But all that didn't matter.

I saw him in my dream, he was the one in the light that peeled away my false ways, he could be the one to help me, to help the world. I just hoped.

I uttered his name without thinking, and his eyes widened in confusion. I relaxed, he is. He is, I can trust this boy.

I told him everything, everything he would need to know. He accepted my knowledge. He didn't call me a fool, he didn't think I was incomprehensible. I sent him off on an impossible journey, but he did not complain.

I felt guilty, I just placed the largest burden on him, the world.

Our world, the one we call home.

Several moons later, suddenly the sinking feeling nipped at my gut. I looked Impa square in the eye and told her. I said I was scared. She stroked my hair reassuringly, but in her eyes danced uncertainty.

The feeling drove me, it was nighttime. I ventured out into the hall. I shrunk under the guards' silenced stares, and carefully wound around their bodies, each step growing more and more agonizing. Impa was around, searching for the killer no doubt. The guards I was with became busy with battle, with the dead honored knights.

He mocks us, by turning our deceased into monsters.

My common sense was screaming at me to run, but I couldn't.

My instincts were on edge, they told me to bolt, but I couldn't.

Leaving my protectors was absolutely senseless, but I had to.

I peered through the door, not daring to breathe. There he was, standing over my father's body. There he was, with the bloodied blade.

My father's last breath rattled in his lungs. The man laughed.

And so, it began.

I gasped, a mistake I wish I never made. His head snapped up, and stared at me. His horrible, dreadful burning embers of eyes glared at me in satisfaction.

Fear locked me in place, at my father's door. I started to shake. He drew closer. Common sense tugged at my legs, causing me to draw back.

He continued to advance agonizingly slow. I stumbled and fell over one of the guards' swords, cutting my leg in the process.

He grinned and rose his sword. I squeezed my eyes shut, and rose my hands in front of my face in a last ditch attempt in protecting myself.

I felt arms wind around me, and I heard the sword clank stiffly onto the ground. I heard his angry snarl.

I cracked my eyes open, it was Impa. We were speeding down the hall. I heard his female guards tailing us.

She told me to hang on, and I did. Before the Gerudo could reach us, Impa jumped out a large window, shielding my face from the glass shards. I screamed until we hit the ground.

I never was one for heights.

We didn't stop, I heard Impa's heart racing in her chest. She mounted a horse quickly, and pulled me up.

I could hear his horse galloping over, cornering us in the stable. She flicked the reins, and the horse reared up, before breaking out in a full gallop.

Their horses smashed through the fence, and leapt over the stall doors, frightening the other horses.

Our horse neighed in confusion, but we kept going. We were going to smash into the back wall, or so I thought.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and felt the white stallion leap over the back wall and through the hole allowing the horse's heads to hang out.

We just barely fit.

The horse plowed through the streets, Impa commanded to allow the draw bridge down. It slammed down, and we charged over the bridge.

I saw Link. I saw him, I saw the hope in his eyes. I didn't think, I reacted. The little instrument I was given when I was a little girl, the one I brought with me to the gardens, the ocarina of time, I pulled out from the pocket of my dress.

I threw it to him, a last shred of hope. The key to his quest.

I heard the man slow to a stop.

Desperation filled in my gut. Please, don't let that man kill Link. Nayru, Farore, and Din...please...

Impa allowed the horse to slow, but kept it going fast in case we could be tracked.

We made it to a city, Kakariko city to be exact. Impa said I would go into hiding here. She said it was no longer safe to be a princess.

The brave horse died from exhaustion.

I remember my wish, to be striped of my duty. A very small part of me felt relived. But the larger portion of me was full of despair, for it was the only way of life I knew.

It came with a cost, I couldn't show my face. Or my personality, or even my true gender.

I took on a whole new identity, I am a Sheikah now, my name is Sheik.

For seven grueling years I had to train with Impa. Her mental lessons were still strong, but her physical training was unbearable. I would fall onto my bed, aching from every single bone in my body.

She beat the emotion right out of me, and hardened my skin, showing me my new way of life.

For seven long years.

I had to watch silently as Ganondorf's armies took over Hyrule.

For seven long years.

And I couldn't do anything.

Nothing, for those seven years.

I had to run with the armies, and I had to react to a false name, and I had to live the way everyone else did.

It was torture, but it slowly became my way of life. I accepted my misfortune, I understood why I was ambushed daily by stupid moblins, I knew why the re-deads tried to suck the life from people, I even recognized the fact that the stalfos are simply under a spell, and will rest in piece once slayed to bone dust.

One day, I got an odd feeling. The same that melted my misguidance. The same when I met that boy. My triforce burned.

Link...he's alive.

Finally, after all these years, he has awaken. He must of pulled out the sword and fallen unconscious just like the prophecies foretell.

I was overjoyed for a split second, I almost forgot about it.

But it's easy to forget, when you are surrounded by miserable, broken souls.

I stepped through my shell of a city, the one I used to rule.

It smelled of death.

I entered the Temple of Time, and listened to the hum from an invisible chorus. Soon, a bright light burst my thoughts. My training kicked it, and I blended in with the shadows.

He appeared, and my stomach flipped. It was him, he still had his messy hair and blue eyes, he still had his fairy, he was still the Link I remembered.

We shared a brief talk, I only let him know the important details, before leaving to return to the broken world he had left behind.

I aided him in his quest, in the best ways I could. If I was not helping him, I was helping the others in what little way I could. Secretly smashing in a moblin's face here and there, nothing to major. I couldn't be noticed.

His quest came to a close, and I felt that feeling again. The one of dread. I knew we would have to face that demon. I knew it was coming all too soon.

I met him in the Temple of Time again, the place where his adulthood had started.

I coordinated my arms, and allowed a bright flash to suck me in. When it dissipated, I was Zelda again. I was a princess. But for the first time, I could be seen without a mask. I was myself, and I let my guard down. I was no longer an impassive Sheikah, or a heartless Royal, I was Zelda.

I explained my disguise. He seemed glad to see me, but there was a tinge of hurt in his eyes. Because of his lost seven years, because I lied to him, and millions of other little things, he was hurt. And it was all my fault.

I rose my hand to his cheek, and caressed his face comfortingly. He stared into my eyes, and I stared back. Link, the hero, my dearest childhood friend...

The moment did not last long. I felt an icy sensation creep down my spine and spread through my whole being, freezing me to the core.

I gasped and stumbled back. The ice locked around my limbs, and caused me to freeze, trapped in crystal.

He found me.

It hurt, my limbs throbbed in dull pain from the stiffness and the unnatural coldness from my usually warm skin.

I screamed in shock, frustration, and despair. How? I'd been so careful. My vocal chords froze shut, and I was whisked away to his lair.

I fell unconscious, but I awoke to the sound my own prison cracking from the inside out. It was deafening, but finally the feeling of freedom overwhelmed me when I fell the floor. I got up stiffly, and saw Link standing over Ganondorf's, supposedly dead, form. I smiled, and he grinned back. The Evil King has finally fallen...or so we thought.

In a last ditch attempt to finish us, he brought down his own castle. We sped down the halls and corridors, praying we would make it out in time. Mustering up enough power, I rose the closed doors, avoided falling debris, and prayed we would make it out.

We did, just as the castle fell.

I didn't feel joy, as you would think.

No, I knew it wasn't over. I could sense it, I could feel it.

He rose from ashes, a monster, an ugly, vicious pig. His true form, Ganon.

Link had to slay the beast, I couldn't do much. The Sheikah in me screamed for battle, but I knew I couldn't. Fast as I was, I would just get in the way. The Princess in me could only watch, afraid for her land, wishing for peace. The friend in me screamed in agony, beating me senseless for not helping him.

I can't interfere in the never ending battle, the one we were all doomed to re-live.

Eventually, the sage in me reacted, brushing aside my other feelings. I held the beast still, with what was left of my power. Link delivered the blow, the sages chanted the sealing spell, and he was sent hurling into the sacred realm.

He snarled oaths, but I did not listen.

That is where he shall stay, forever.

For now.

We are in the clouds now, a dreamworld you could call it.

"Thank you Link....thanks to you, Ganondorf has been sealed inside the Evil Realm. Peace will once again reign in this world...for a time. All this, everything that has happened, is all my doing...I was too young...I,"

"Zelda, it was not your fault. You were just a girl, at the time you did what you could."

I smiled at his words, but I know I have to make up for it. I know what I must do, for him.

"I dragged you into it too, now it is time for me to make up my mistakes."

"What are you saying?"

"You must lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time..."

I hesitated, but held out my hand. "Link, give me the ocarina of time, as a sage I can return you to your original time with it."

He hesitated, but placed it in my hand. "Zelda...it doesn't have to be this way. I don't want to go back, I want to stay here. With you."

I swallowed the urge to cry, and took his hand with mind. He has given so much, it is only fair I return it.

"Go home, Link. Regain your lost time."

He dropped his hand, I held the instrument to the my chest. The key to close this chapter. "Home...where you are supposed to be...the way you are supposed to be..."

"Zelda..." He pleaded. I played the song, the song I remember by heart. The song of time.

A light engulfed him, and slowly rose him up towards the heavens, where They would send him back.

"Thank you...Link...Good-bye..."

I don't know if he heard me, the light faded, and I was back in Hyrule. I held the ocarina still, and I waited. I don't know what I'm waiting for, maybe for the magic to fix everything.

But it's not that simple.

I felt the sobs wrack my body. I am overwhelmed by everything and by nothing.

I have to return to my duties, I can't hide from my people anymore. I can't hide what I am, but I won't let it rule over who I am. I have to fix my lands, I have to mend my subject's hearts, I have to be Queen.

I took in a deep breath.

And so, it begins.