Chapter 15
Promises
Midna's tongue might have been even sharper in the way of gentle persuasion than in the art of silky speech…
As the pair sat amongst the sounds of running water, Link was losing the battle for dominance, and gladly so, this time. He wasn't quite sure why he was interested in doing such a thing right now, seeing as though he had been intruded upon by the demon on more occasions than he'd like to think about. Plus, he had no idea who this woman truly was in front of him, with her eerie magical abilities, and curious secrets…
And hands…all over his chest…and drifting into his lap.
A master at suppressing his desires, and corporeal functions if need be, they still thrived beneath his shroud of control, and the lid was finally about to pop off…
Sky child…
Maybe it was the harmony exuded by the atmosphere which made him feel at one with her. Maybe it was just because he had missed her so much. Maybe it was because his body had been through so much in a surprisingly short amount of time. From the second he had awoken in the demon's 'bedroom'- or whatever it was - he had been made into a laughing stock to a one-man audience who happened to think that watching someone repel his 'natural inclinations' was not only a spectator sport, but also hilarious. The whole thing had been horrible and wrong on so many levels that he couldn't even count that high.
One day I'll sever that deviant's palatal organ right from his mouth and crush it under my heel…
This criminal had completely blindsided him with his assault, which kept coming, and coming…all night long. It had been an abomination; a grave injustice against all things decent and proper. This villain claimed decorousness, but manifested little more than extortion.
The execration. The hate coupled with disgust. The more Link thought about it, the more it flourished in his mind. His emotions had already been running high. His mounting anger served only to elevate them further.
But in this moment, unlike the previous night, it was okay to acknowledge how good another person's touch felt, and to go for more…uninhibitedly.
Well, as long as she found it agreeable.
Sky child…
He heard it again. He wasn't sure what the murmur in his mind had been. Now, he knew. With a choppy gaze, his eyes searched, but found nothing, and no one…besides her. Descending further into passion, he batted his concern away like a bothersome insect.
Tilting his head to accommodate her movement, Link opened his eyes. Hers were closed, of course, as was the polite way to do it. From what he could surmise, she seemed interested in continuing, but he wasn't sure. This was Midna, after all.
"Ummm, Midna?" Link asked, his voice enmuffled.
"Hmmm?" she moaned into his mouth, still leaning into him. He felt himself grow a bit warmer in reaction to the sound.
"Mmm, that birthday present you mentioned?" he breathed, bringing one gloved and one bare hand to each of her soft shoulders.
"Yeah?" she asked, pulling away just long enough to speak, but quickly plunging her open mouth into his. It took all of his strength not to unleash some sort of excited noise.
"Um, what is it?" he asked, his eyelids fluttering from the pleasure being driven into him. She opened her reddish-brown eyes and laid her closed lips onto his.
"Why?" she asked, making quick eye contact before separating his lips with her tongue. He rocked back and groaned softly, trying to concentrate on his inquiry. It was important.
"Uuuuh," he said as more of a moan than anything, "can I cash in on it, soon?" The moment the words left him, Midna pulled away. He suddenly found a wry grin in front of him.
"Cash in on it?" she repeated. "You want your present now? Right here?" With shifty eyes, Link took a small breath.
"Uuuuum," he hummed, looking in her face, "yes?" With a little giggle she placed her hands on his.
"I'm afraid that's not possible," she said with a hint of reprehension. "It's not here. It's actually at home, in your room." She witnessed his marginally flushed face turn even redder.
"Oh…" he said, bringing his palm to the back of his neck. Realizing that he had made an erroneous, and rather naughty assumption about her, his head started to droop. Suppressing the majority of her smile, she dragged her fingers across his. "I'm sorry," he said, feeling ashamed. "That was really presumptuous of me. I dunno why I automatically assumed…" His voice trailed off. Feeling a bit bad about how embarrassed he looked, she decided to ease his pain. Right after a bit of teasing.
"Are you trying to say that I care only for the sensual?" she asked, enjoying his response.
"No! That's not it at all," Link insisted, afraid that he had offended her. When she cracked a smile, he lowered his shoulders.
"Well, in your defense, I wasn't clear about it," she assured him. "And before you left, we'd been, well…" She shrugged amusedly. Link sat wordlessly for a moment.
"Yeah…" he muttered, still feeling guilty. He couldn't quite believe what he had almost asked for.
"Link," Midna said, compelling him to look up. "I think we just need to go. You need to rest, and eat something, and possibly visit the doctor for your injuries. I believe some convalescence is in order." She lifted her hand to his face, expecting him to flinch, which he did. "Link," she said again, shaking her head. "I know this isn't really what you want to do right now. What happened to 'whatever it is, I wouldn't let you do it anyway'?" As she bore into his eyes, he sighed. "Out of character doesn't even come close to describing what you just said to me. I don't want to do anything of the sort with you unless you really want to. It has to be for the right reason."
Since when is a person required to file a formal request with a list of reasons for wanting to fool around? Link asked himself in the safety of his mind. Grumbling, he beat back his stubborn hormones.
Sky child…
Again. It was louder this time. His questioning eyes fell to the sword.
"This is almost a resumption of our little romp before you went to the Bazaar," Midna pointed out, jostling him. Stationary, he watched as each fragment of the sword was gathered into her hands. "Right after Zelda disappeared. It's only natural for your emotions to be a bit out of control at a time like that, and like this. You were distraught over her, and I was upset over you. That's why it happened. We weren't thinking straight." Link watched quietly as she placed the wreckage into his bag. He felt a deep anger start to blossom as he observed her actions. It was not an anger toward her, but toward the demon…The very fact that the Goddess Sword, his sword, had to be collected into a useless pile like this…"Knowing you, you've spent the last several days feeling guilty about it."
Snapping out of it, Link's eyes rose. He nodded, acknowledging her words, whatever they had been.
"Let's not let it happen again," she told him.
Sitting as rigidly as the trees which were reaching for the sky from the bottom of the spring, Link saw his pouch come up. Feeling strange about her, and even stranger about the voice, he hesitantly took it.
"Better put your belt back on," Midna suggested, aiming a finger toward the thick strip of leather. "Your tunic is hanging pretty loosely. You've lost weight. I need to get you home and cook you a huge meal." Link had to nod at that.
"No objections here," he said happily.
"And give you a nice foot massage," she said quietly, leaning toward him.
"Yes, ma'am," he said in jest, grinning. Her glimmering eyes shifted for a moment.
"And, when you're ready," she began, drawing closer, "truly ready, I wouldn't mind allowing you to cash in, as you so eloquently put it a minute ago." He swallowed again.
"I…okay," he finally said, almost stuttering. He shook his head as he watched her grin.
He wondered if he would ever attain that level of confidence with her which he'd always had with other women. Never before had he blushed so much because of a female; nor did he ever care that much about what women thought. Granted, Zelda had always been his main focus. No one else had ever mattered to him in a way as intimate as this. In their unmatched closeness, he had always been comfortable with Zelda.
In spite of it all, Link smiled. Squeezing his hand, Midna smiled back. It wasn't her fault that he had a tendency to turn into a blathering idiot every time he got a little flustered. She didn't do it to him on purpose. It was just…him; his mind and body displaying how he felt about her. Trying to change his usual reaction to her was like trying to stop the force of gravity.
Perhaps what he had uttered to the demon on that dusty road had been spoken from the heart…
He opened his mouth. He looked around. The setting was gorgeous. The ambiance was perfect. The sun's rays were streaming, a refreshing breeze was blowing, and the sounds of summer were pouring into the spring. The forest itself seemed to urge him. He peered into her eyes, wanting to say it.
The situation, however, left a lot to be desired. Surely there was a better time to discuss such matters.
Following a sincere disclosure about her past would be an ideal time…
"Midna?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"How did you know who he was? When you walked in?"
Silence filled the air. Link bit his lip.
Declining to answer right away, she allowed for him to continue.
"Are you…connected to him, or where he comes from…somehow?" he asked nervously.
They couldn't take their eyes off of each other as they sat, thinking, meditating on the question that hung between them. Link didn't know what to expect, and he feared the worst. She looked as though she was about to speak. He tipped forward in anticipation, but eased back when she shut her mouth. As pretty as her plump, unmoving lips were sitting in a quiet pout on her face, he longed for them to start moving.
"Well," she said, watching him petrify, "you know I'm not one to beat around any bushes, but, I thought we were done talking about this stuff." She gave him an unyielding look. "Because I know you're not talking any more. So why should I have to?" Link hesitated.
"Well, I jus-"
"Unless you're not finished telling me about your experiences with him," she said, "and everything that you did with him." Feeling the need to fidget, Link wiggled his toes in his boots. "You wanna keep talking?" she asked, nearing his face. He shook his head.
"No, not really," he admitted. Taking a breath, Midna sat back. She ran her fingers through her copper hair.
"Okay then. There's plenty of time to talk about serious matters later. Wouldn't you agree?"
"I suppose," Link said, wishing for a way to change her mind. Conversely, he certainly didn't want to have to tell her the disturbing details of the previous evening.
Fair enough, Link conceded. But, ugh…I want to know so bad…
Sky child…
This time, Link pulled in a taut breath and looked behind him. He could've sworn a whisper had penetrated his ear.
"You okay?" Midna asked, receiving his dubiety with unremitting kindness. Amazed by the wild menagerie of hard and soft that unequivocally converged to form the incredible woman before him, the voice slipped his mind. He relaxed significantly, passing his influence to her. She smiled.
"I need to go get my bow," Midna stated. She quickly jumped to her feet, offering her hand to the young man below her. He stared at it. "Wanna come? If not, that's okay. I can brave the chamber alone." With a light scoff, Link grabbed his gear and hopped up beside her, ignoring her hand.
"Trying to stomp down what little pride I have left, Midna?" Link asked jokingly. Refusing to be left in the dust, he hurriedly laced his bags onto his belt before fastening the buckle. With his pouches secured, he lifted his scabbard from the stone platform.
"Why would I wanna do that? Silly boy," Midna said lightheartedly. Link grinned, having missed her playful words. "There are certain special, designated times when I'd expect you to swallow your pride for me." She winked. "Now isn't one of them."
With a twist, she headed back to the temple. Link pursued, skillfully wrapping and locking his empty scabbard into place.
"I wonder what happened to my shield…" he wondered as he sped up to a limping jog.
….
As predicted, Midna's bow, along with her quiver full of arrows, was waiting for her right where she had dropped it. In the buzzing quiet of the hall outside of the chamber where everyone had regrouped, Link watched the readeption of her weapon.
It was a gorgeous object, befit for nothing less than a warrior princess. He had never seen her weapon before, though he had given ear to her endearing talk of it on many occasions back in Skyloft. She had described it as a sturdy recurve bow, sleek and crescent shaped, save for the top and bottom which curved smartly around. Chocolate-hued leather wrapped the grip on the center of the limb. Etched proudly throughout were the chaotic, swooping shapes which represented the Twilight Knight Academy's emblem. The weapon looked outstanding in her hands. It was everything that she'd said it was.
Gifting him with a quick demonstration, her pin straight arm stretched the bow in front of her slim body. The top of the composite bow hovered above her head, while the bottom extended to her knee. With the keenest of focus, her right hand pulled the string to her chin as she drew one of her precious arrows back. As still as a statue, she radiated expertise.
Enthralled, Link watched as the tension in her hand grew stronger, and stronger, until it was finally released, sending the arrow across the room and into a tree with astonishing speed and accuracy. Still holding steady her stately posture, Midna turned her head toward him.
"How was that?" she asked. Trying to contain the wowed expression on his face, Link held his empty hands behind his back.
"I'd say spectacular, but that doesn't give it the justice it deserves," Link said honestly. "I've seen a lot of female knights try their hand at archery, and even more wield a sword. But that…" he said, grinning and shaking his head, "…was first-class." With a sweet but confident swagger, she slid toward him.
"Thanks," she said, nuzzling the side of his face. "Was it so impressive that you feel inspired to retrieve my arrow for me?" With narrow eyes, he shrugged.
"Certainly, muh'lady," he said with a small bow.
"Thank you, muh'lord," Midna said in return, curtseying as he paced across the room.
…..
With one question after another overwhelming his mind, Pipit stared. The young woman stared back, looking beleaguered. Pipit noticed that her face was creased; visibly careworn. She had most certainly been through unspeakable trials.
Her dress, the same pink and blue garment she had worn the day of the Wing Ceremony, was tattered, slashed and torn. One of the hand stitched sleeves was starting to come loose at the shoulder. The soft fabric was damp and dirty, showcasing the harshness of the forest on the SKA graduate's petite frame. Her platinum blond hair was completely mussed. It clung to blue ribbons which had once wrapped two thick, neat tendrils.
The last that Pipit, or anyone knew, was that Zelda was gone, possibly dead…
He gaped some more. She stepped closer, her icy eyes the same pleasant yet imposing forces that they had always been.
"Zelda?" Pipit asked again. "Have I gone completely off my rocker? Am I seeing this correctly? Are you really here?" With one more step of her small, dainty feet, she smiled and blinked, slowly and tiredly. Pipit watched her wayworn approach. "How is this possible? Maybe the low elevation is making me, like…brainsick."
"Pipit," she repeated, holding a hand out. Pipit gasped, noting the bloody scratches that littered her pale skin.
"So…you are here, I'm not crazy, right?" he asked, holding his hands by his sides. "How…?" He paused, needing something from her. Hesitation overtook both of them. Neither knew exactly what to say in this moment. She looked up at him, feeling tiny as he seemed to tower over her. Her eyes settled on his chest, making him question what she was thinking.
"Zelda, are you okay?" Pipit finally asked her. At the completion of his heartfelt sentence, her face fell, dissolving into sadness. She immediately ran for him, crashing into his chest and practically begging to be embraced by his brawny arms. Her dirt stained cheeks, which were quickly becoming tearstained as well, buried themselves into the front of his yellow tunic. The force of her tiny body sent him back a step. His head came up as his eyes broadened. Gawking over her head at the ground behind her, his mouth fell open. His hands, splayed in surprise, came to rest around her shoulders.
The feeling of Zelda sobbing uncontrollably in his arms left Pipit speechless. He simply stared, curling his fingers into her dress.
"…Pipit…" she cried, hiccuping and trembling. He kept staring, taking in several shaky breaths. He didn't know what to say.
"Zelda…" he began before his voice faded. Her fingers scrabbled across his chest as she pushed into him. Feeling awkward, he sought to get her attention. "Zelda," he said again, more loudly. Rocking her face back and forth, she gave several long, hitched sighs.
"Pipit…" she groaned, wrapping her slender arms around his waist. Turning her face, she rested her cheek on the comforting wool.
"Uuuh," Pipit said, looking around. "Zelda, what's going on?" Still sniffling frenziedly, she tried to calm herself. Her sevres blue eyes closed despairingly, exhausted. "Where did you come from? How long have you been here? Were you waiting for us this whole time?" Pipit felt her shake her head against him before laying her ear over his heart. "Zelda, what in the world happened to you?"
"Pipit…I just…I'm just…so happy…to see you," she eked out in a jittery whisper, sounding as if she hadn't seen another person for an age.
"I'm happy to see you too," Pipit said sincerely, still marveling in his baffling discovery. Straightening up, she let her head fall back, showing him her red, spent eyes. Gazing into them, Pipit became lost for a moment.
Beautiful…
Blinking, Pipit remembered where he was. He was standing on the surface, in the woods, far away from anyone and anything familiar; aside from his friends.
His friends…Link…
"Gah!" Pipit shouted, pointing to the spring and startling Zelda. "What're we doing standing here? You've got someone waiting to see you!" The sheer amount of excitement pouring from him was astonishingly outdone by her lukewarm reaction to the mention of her best friend. His hand in the air, Pipit gave her a stupefied look. "Uuum…you've got someone - who nearly killed himself for days to find you - waiting for you?" Holding a shrug, Pipit waited, finding her apathy impossible to comprehend. "Don't you wanna see him?" Giving her one last chance to say yes, he waited. Quickly growing intolerant, he scooped her around the shoulders to guide her to the spring. "He's just over there! Don't you want t-"
"Pipit, no!" Zelda cried, twisting out of his grip. He turned to her, trying to decipher her irrational behavior.
But speaking became an impossibility when he found his throat intruded upon by the cold stab of a dagger.
"Stand down," a commanding voice ordered. Stopping, Pipit looked at Zelda, realizing that his assailant was directly behind him. His hands shot to his neck.
"Impa, stop!" Zelda cried. Pipit stared wide-eyed. "It's okay, let him go." Everyone halted in place, not wanting to disturb the already volatile atmosphere.
"What the hell's going on!" Pipit demanded, tilting his head sideways. "And who the hell are you?"
"Pipit," Zelda called, urging him to relax. "Impa," she said again, putting her hands up. They both looked into her tired, raddled face.
To Pipit, she sounded even more authoritative than she normally did.
Grudgingly, the knife pressed to Pipit's neck began to recede. He dropped his hands with a heavy breath. Anticipating something monstrous, he turned.
A tall being. As tall as him, but extremely lanky and long-limbed. Her skin was a medium shade, and her silvery hair was short, except for the single long strand that hung from the right side of her head. It was decorated by three red beads. Surrounding her large, dark, slanted eyes were two distinctive tattoos: a large, decorative crimson eye covered her forehead. Inked under her left eye was a white teardrop.
The remainder of her appearance was disconcerting, however. Her body was clothed tautly with a dark blue garment. Her arms were wrapped in strips of white material. But every inch of material looked as frazzled and ragged as what covered Zelda's body. Between their ragged clothing, observable injuries and overtiredness, the two looked downright terrible.
"You guys look like you've been put through the proverbial wringer," Pipit stated, giving Impa the eye. "What the heck's going on here? Who are you?"
"She's my guardian, Pipit," Zelda informed him, wiping her face and sniffing.
"Guardian?" Pipit asked, his curiosity flourishing. "What does that mean?" He turned to Zelda. She had clasped her hands behind her back, looking notably uptight. Pipit leaned forward, his face growing expectant. "Well?" he asked, pushing for an answer.
"Um…" Zelda drawled, "it means that…she saved me, the day I fell to the surface." Pipit listened, completely hushed by her assertion. "…From a group of bokoblins."
"Bokoblins?" Pipit asked thoughtfully. "Oh, you mean those…snaggletoothed, pig-faced little ruffians?" Twisting uneasily, he realized that he had stuck his foot right into his mouth. "Um, I mean, I guess they're not so little if you're, you know, a non-knight student…"
"Yeah…" Zelda said quietly, digging the toe of her frayed sandal into the dirt. "But, um…she also saved me from the one who had summoned me to the surface in the first place…" Pipit's eyes began to flare elatedly.
"The one who summoned you? You mean the one who pulled you to the surface? The tornado and all?" Peering into his eager face, she nodded. With his knightly authority galvanizing him into action, he stepped forward.
"Zelda, we need to get you out of here," he declared adamantly, a wave of intense seriousness flooding his face. Zelda looked at him forlornly. "Maybe you can fill me in as we're leaving. I mean, I don't need any more reason to wanna hotfoot it outta here. Are you coming?" He gestured toward the temple. "And I'm not exaggerating when I say that Link went through hell to find you." He drilled a glare right into her. She responded with a look of pure misery. He opened his mouth to speak again, but vacillated, wondering what her problem was. "Don't you wanna see him?" Zelda appeared to be temporarily out of words. Pipit sighed.
"Look," he said, "he came here a week ago, by himself. We watched him go, knowing it was a bad idea. Next thing I know, I'm having dreams," he emphasized, "of horrible things happening." Zelda flinched under his heavy gaze, turning her ear away from the words. "I had to come…" He swallowed dryly. "And then when I got here…" He stopped again, his voice almost shaking. Zelda's eyes began to glisten. "…I find some vicious freak about to play puppet with his unconscious body."
Rolling her head to the side, Zelda gasped out loud, her mouth agape. Pipit viewed her, feeling bad about inducing negative feelings within her, but not regretting it, either.
"I have no idea what did or didn't happen before I got here," he added. "But, all I know is that he deserves to see you." He couldn't have spoken the words more emotively if he had tried. "Why don't you want to see him? He's your best friend. Maybe he didn't succeed in finding you, but…" Sensing her disapproval, he glowered at Impa. "…he's still your hero, is he not?"
Tossing her head forward, Zelda's face fell into her pained hands. Pipit could hear the tears begin to flow once more. He waited, watching, confused…
…..
Leading the way alongside the outer wall of the temple, Link stepped lively. Like both of his loyal companions, he wanted to escape this place. He wanted to return home, if only to mine for some answers; to extract every last bit of information that Fi had stashed in her memory banks, in the comfort of his own room. To figure out which steps to take to help Zelda. To find out what he needed to do to repair this priceless objet d'art in his bag. He wouldn't rest until he righted the wrong that had been committed against him, and Fi, and the Goddess, and the Goddess' sword…
Sky Child…
Removing his steady gaze from his feet, he investigated the glade which was adjacent to the temple, and housed the connective trail into the woods. He growled lowly, cautiously, so as not to make his frustration known. He had heard the demon's voice in his head and in his dreams a handful of times before he had taken to the surface; not that he knew what the voice was at the time, of course…But, now, Link was reminded of those incidences. Those times when his drab thoughts would be interrupted, where his daydreams would be infiltrated, where he would wake up wondering why he felt the way that he did…
He shivered. He was sick and tired of thinking about it. In fact, the very idea of the demon made him ill. As he strolled from one end of the peaceful walkway to the other, escorted by the chirping of birds, he glanced at Midna. He could scarcely restrain his eagerness to get her home, and to get her talking…
A bend was rounded. A grove of trees was circumvented. A hill was traversed. The pair rotated, admiring the sight of the Skyview Temple as it lay behind them.
All that was left now was to find Pipit.
"Wonder where he is," Link said, running a hand through his hair.
"I warned him not to go far," Midna said, vicariously reprimanding him through Link. "I think we've all spent enough time alone in these woods, trying not to die."
"How did you even find me, Mid? And Pipit too? You guys are crazy for even coming here…"
"Well, I don't know how Pipit found his way, but I just felt like I was led here. Like I could sense where you were, even from miles away."
"Well your sense of direction is well beyond anything that I could ever comprehend, that's for sure," he said. "The Goddess Sword has…" He hesitated. "Well, it had the ability to track targets, either inanimate or living. That's the only reason I traveled this deep into the woods, or stumbled across this corner of it-"
"Well maybe it's not such a terrible thing that your pride's been vanquished," she giggled teasingly, studying the ground. "Asking for directions shouldn't be as painful of a task for you as it is for most knights." Awaiting his clever retort, she sashayed onward, not noticing that he had fallen behind. Ceasing, she pivoted just in time to see a rather odd sight.
In the shadow of at least a dozen trees, Link stood motionless, as if his ability to move had been arrogated. His expressionless face, coupled with the amount of time he was spending in this strange position, caused Midna's smile to waver. She backtracked, examining his face. It was fraught with concentration.
"Link?" she asked in a near whisper. "What are you-" Her voice died out again. She gaped at him, her face adopting the same absorption. What had stolen his attention had now reached her own ears.
Voices. Two of them. Coming from a nearby clearing.
Static, the pair's eyes magnetized.
"Who is Pipit talking to?" Midna breathed. Link's enlightened irises told her that he already knew.
Sparing no haste, he dashed for the clearing. Beating the ground away with his feet, he raced, exhilarated. Midna followed, suspecting that she knew who the mystery person was.
As soon as they arrived in a place where they could see Pipit, Midna saw that their guess had been correct. Link's head shot up, his face froze, and he stopped breathing. Midna almost didn't recognize him with the bizarre mixture of emotion that was flowing from him. He suddenly looked as though his pain was of absolutely no consequence.
"Link! It's her!" Midna cried with a curbed squeal. She first stared at Zelda, and then at Link. His state of jubilation was evident, but he wasn't moving. Gaping in disbelief, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Link! She's alive! Go to her! What're you waiting for?" Peeking into his face for several seconds, Midna's grin deserted her. "Link?"
He stood still and silent. Ecstatic was but one scant adjective to express his gratefulness for being blessed with the opportunity to see her alive and well, right before his eyes. His best friend. The one he had searched undyingly for. The one he had endured the demon, his realm, hell, for…The one who he had never been separated from.
The one who danced solitary in his thoughts as he lay dying…
He took a deep breath, monitoring her from a distance…
Midna could see the disappointment seeping from his pores. She looked back at the group in front of them. Zelda was crying, Pipit was arguing, and a mysterious woman was staring him down.
"Link, go to her," Midna persisted, shaking her head. "What's going on? Who is she?"
"She doesn't want to see me," Link said weakly, not bothering to hide his bruised feelings.
"She what?" Midna cried with exasperation. "Why are you standing over here analyzing? This whole past week you thought she was dead! Aren't you dying to see her?"
"Of course I am," Link told her tonelessly. He continued to remain a silent, unseen watchman as Pipit moved about animatedly, and Zelda listened, distraught. Too far away to hear their voices, all he could do was watch.
"What do you mean you can't face him?" Pipit asked through gritted teeth. "You've gotta be kidding me…What did he do?"
"I just can't," Zelda whimpered, her tears flowing anew. Impa towered over her as she stood sentinel. Pipit glowered at both of them.
"But, you'll see him at home anyway, right? Aren't you coming with us?" Pipit asked, about to unleash his fury upon the injustice that was unfolding. When Zelda shook her solemn head, he really started to get mad. "What? Where are you going? And most importantly, why can't you go see your best friend who busted his ass to help you?" Impa's eyes began to blaze as she sensed Pipit's impending forcefulness.
"Pipit, I jus…" Zelda started, rubbing her eyes, "I feel too guilty to face him…" Pipit stared even more.
"Guilty? For what?" he asked, his shoulders rising as he leaned inward, unaware of his concealed friends.
"He suffered because of me," Zelda sobbed, hardly able to speak in full sentences. "The only reason Impa and I were able to remain hidden from the demon after he almost killed her…" She choked back her sorrow for a moment. "…It was my fault…"
"Your fault? How could any of this possibly be your fault? You were the one taken-"
"I knew it was gonna happen," Zelda blurted out. Pipit stopped short, taken aback by her statement.
"What? How? Since when can you predict the future?"
"Well…I didn't know until…I bathed in the spring."
"You didn't know that you knew until you bathed in that spring over there?" Pipit asked, pointing. She nodded. "What does that even mean?"
"It's hard to explain…" Zelda said, still distressed. "Impa has shared what she knows. And my memory has only partially returned. I still have to visit one more place-"
"You're leaving?" Pipit asked, having a hard time believing what Zelda was disclosing.
"I have to…purify myself in the Earth Spring…just as I did here…" Her chest heaved as she tried to gain her composure. Pipit's jaw was about to become unbolted.
"Earth Spring? Well…where is that?"
"Impa knows the way…" Zelda said.
"Oh well that's reassuring," Pipit spat, unconvinced.
"Pipit…"
"Look," he said, taking a large step and rousing Impa's instinct to protect. "Am I the only one who thinks this entire situation is freakin' crazy?" He eyed both women. "Big black tornadoes sucking you to some new place we've never been? Demon's trying to kidnap you? I can only assume you're talking about that raving lunatic who I just had the joy of meeting." Everyone stared at each other. "And…purifying your body and regaining memories? From what, a past life?"
"You would be wise to choose your words more carefully when you are addressing Her Grace," Impa declared, stepping between the two humans. Directly at eye level with the odd woman, Pipit pulled his shoulders back and stood up taller.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"The Goddess' mortal form. You are speaking to her," Impa explained, accentuating her every word.
"What!" Pipit called, stepping sideways. "Zelda…"
"Don't come any closer to her," Impa commanded. Flanked by her arm, Pipit huffed.
"Look beanpole," he said irefully, "I don't care who you are. We didn't come down here to risk our lives, just for some loony stranger to drag our friend away to only the gods know where."
"Pipit, I have to go," Zelda said, her eyes bloodshot.
"The hell you do," Pipit said mulishly. "Look at you. You can't stay out here."
"You can trust Impa, Pipit," Zelda said, almost pleading with him.
"How do I know she isn't working for frickin' Dracula, wherever he is?" he asked, crossing his arms stubbornly. "How do I know she isn't him? After the morning I've had, I wouldn't be surprised!"
"It's okay, Pipit," Zelda said soothingly, gliding next to Impa. She looked up into her guardian's face. "It's alright, Impa, just let me talk to him for a minute." With her chin dipped to look upon the young woman, Impa nodded reverently. Turning slowly and smoothly, she shot Pipit a fierce look of warning. He glored right back, refusing to be intimidated. As she retired to a nearby tree to supervise them, Pipit and Zelda turned to look at one another. As she interlaced her fingers into his burly, gloved hands, he went partially numb.
"Pipit…" she said, her somber face to the ground, "you believe me, don't you?" He sighed at the sound of her stuffy, nasally voice.
"I will if I absolutely have to," he grumbled.
"I don't just mean about Impa, and about what she said…but about Link. And how I can't bear to face him…"
"You're gonna have to eventually," Pipit said. "Lucky for you, he's got a weapon of mass distraction keeping him away. Otherwise, he'd be the one standing here, asking question after question…"
"Speaking of her," Zelda said, her eyes jittering about, "and everything that she entails…" Pipit stood questioningly, gripping her hands. "There's something that I wanted to talk to him about after the Wing Ceremony. There's something that I wanted to talk to you about…"
"What's that?" Pipit asked, his face adorned with interest. He wanted to hear it, but at the same time, he didn't. Part of him knew what she was referring to. Something that hung between them in Zelda's final days in Skyloft. Unspoken words, communicated by subtle glances and soft touches. They had grown more frequent, especially in her last hours.
Pipit was reminded of how she had asked him to join her for a flight through the clouds after the ceremony. But he had declined, and Link had been the one to sustain a nearly life ending injury in the open air, instead of him.
"I was about to mention it to Link as we were flying, but…" Her hands swirled, and Pipit nodded. "I wasn't sure how he was going to take it."
"Maybe you should talk to him about it now," Pipit offered, hopeful that she would listen.
"No, I…I had originally wanted to speak to you about it first, and that hasn't changed. Why should I bring up such a sensitive subject if you don't…" Her voice cut off again. Pipit's feet shifted as his hands squeezed.
"Let's just get this over with," Pipit said with a heavy breath, looking as though the wait was killing him. Zelda hid a meager grin from him.
"…If you don't feel anything as well," Zelda said, concluding her thought. With a tense but relieved roll of his eyes, Pipit finally exhaled.
"Zelda, I don't know if…" he started to say. Lifting her head, Zelda smiled at his aberrant hesitance. He felt his heart skip a beat. Or two. Maybe it just stopped beating altogether.
"Do you?" she asked, carefully extracting the truth from him as he squirmed. Her eyes gleamed as she looked up, not maliciously, but kindly.
"Uuuuuugh," Pipit groaned unevenly, shaking his head.
"What?" Zelda asked expectantly. A portion of her delighted in his reaction, knowing what it meant.
"I feel…bad," he whined as the guilt rode him in droves.
"You have nothing to feel guilty about," Zelda said comfortingly. She stroked one of his clasped hands. He started panting, unnerved. "Pipit, what is it? Just…tell me." Looking into her eyes, he couldn't stand it anymore.
"Okay!" he shouted, looking into the air. Off in the distance, Link and Midna flinched at the sudden burst of energy.
"What are they talking about?" Midna asked as they both watched. Link didn't respond.
"Okay," he said again, dropping his chin and shutting his eyes. Zelda's expression changed as she waited on his admission. "I do feel something," he said dismally. "But I have no right to."
"How long?" Zelda asked, her eyes growing. Her interest piqued to the maximum, she rose onto her toes.
"Oh gods," Pipit groaned again, placing a hand atop his yellow knight's cap. "Too long. I'm sorry," he said, visibly upset.
"Sorry? For what?"
"No, I'm saying it to him," Pipit said, twisting around. "To Link. It's just so wrong."
"Pipit, it's not wrong. We've known each other since we were little kids." Glancing at her feet, she swallowed. "I've felt it for a long time, myself…" Her admission drew his gaze. "But I…paid it no mind. To be honest, I wasn't sure what it was, until recent days." She looked back up at him, her slim body pulling a few inches closer to him. "Lately, every time I look at you, I just feel something…electric." Pipit twitched slightly as if he felt the jolt behind the word. "And when you tried to make me feel better at the party a few weeks ago, and you hugged me-"
"Oh gods," Pipit said again, struggling internally. "We gotta tell Link about this. I don't think I can bury it any longer, this is way too horrible."
"No," Zelda said demandingly, shocking him a bit with her pitch. "Now's not the time. We haven't even had time to discuss any of this, and I have to leave. There's no sense in alerting him to something that we know nothing about, especially if it'll exacerbate what he's already going through."
"He still loves you," Pipit stated, his body and voice calming. "That's what makes this so horrible. He has Midna, sure, but…he hasn't let go of you yet. He won't admit it, but he hasn't really figured out what he wants. I feel like the crappiest friend on the planet telling him something like this, but I'm dying here…"
"I know he hasn't let go," Zelda said as their eyes locked. "I haven't completely released him, either."
"Then why are we talking about this?"
"Because this needs to be dealt with. Soon. It can't tarry and lurk about, lying in ambush like this..."
"I know, but-"
"Your Grace," Impa called in a stern but steady voice, jouncing them from their intimate discussion. "We must go, now." Zelda turned, a look of longing seeping from her. She rejoined with Pipit for a moment, retracting once more.
"I have to go," Zelda said sadly.
"Why now?" Pipit asked, holding tightly to her hands.
"Because he will return soon."
"He?"
"The one who pursues me," Zelda whispered, breathing in the fragrance of Pipit's tunic. "We ran from him for days. Ever since I fell to the surface and was aided by Impa, he's chased me. He's chased us. Knowing how powerful he is, she tried her best to keep him from me as we headed to the spring. We were successful for days, but he caught up with us just outside of the temple. He almost killed her…" Her voice cracked. "…as she protected me." She blinked the warm tears away as they threatened to rise up again. "She warded him off, but just barely. He continued to follow us as we concealed ourselves in the halls of the temple. He was right on our heels, but, then…Link came along." Pipit stopped breathing for a moment.
"I don't know what to say," she continued mournfully. "The only reason I was able to cleanse in the spring, and the only reason Impa was able to regain her strength after the fight was because he came for me."
"All the more reason for you to go to him," Pipit insisted. "You have to." His eyes beseeched her, making her shoulders drop remorsefully. "Come on, you have to. He's gotta be right over there. Just, please," he implored her. With that, Impa stepped up.
"Enough," she said, shoving an arm between them. "Your Grace, it is time." Stridently, she gestured in a direction that would lead them deeper into the forest. Pipit balled his fists at Impa's peremptory manner.
"I'm sorry, Pipit," Zelda said, chewing her lip. "But…" As she looked into his blue eyes one last time, a centripetal force spurred her. Bouncing onto her toes, she pulled him by his hands. He gave a nervous blink as she ascended to give him a firm kiss on the cheek. His mouth dropped as he hunched over against the tug.
"Wait for me," she whispered into his ear.
Slowly leaning away, Pipit felt her hands retreat as she turned, bounding over to her protector who waited with open arms. Impa received her, wrapping a long limb around her dainty shoulders. Her golden hair flowed in the breeze as Impa tossed the young man a cogent look. His hands hung by his sides as he observed their egression.
Link gaped in awe. Immobile for a moment, Midna stared.
"Link?" she asked, as they witnessed Zelda's exit. She looked to her left, uncertain.
The assortment of emotions on his face made him unreadable. He looked devastated, disappointed, dejected, furious and confused all at once. Midna was reluctant to speak. "Link…"
He turned away before she had the chance to say anything more. Looking into the distance, he marched away, leaving his friends behind.
...
The sun was beginning to beat down. Beams of light poured through branches thick with early summer flowers. The shrill sounds of twitterpated creatures assaulted his ears as he tromped through the grass and bushes, alone…
He passed through an open meadow, and then through a large grove of twisted, knotted trees. He didn't know how long, or how far, he walked. He just had to get away.
With empty hands and a heavy heart, he traversed an ancient path, untouched by human feet for countless centuries. His distinct footprints imprinted themselves in the soil.
He strode faster, brushing past aged stone walls. The ghostly foundation of a farmhouse passed by, unnoticed.
A wistful wind surged through his hair, sweeping his damp face.
Sky Child…
A voice billowed through the trees. Link looked to his right. An outcrop sat next to a cliff; the large, sharp boulders stretched upward before the drop-off. Link stepped toward it, beckoned.
His fingers jittered. His emotions ran feral. His breathing was irregular.
"Sky child." No longer a vague rustle, the voice called out to him. His head no longer flagged, he sped up.
The stone invited him quietly. He slipped inside of it, the open forest left astern. Rounding a boulder as large as a house, he discovered that he was not alone.
A being with clothes betorn, white leather sullied and face cut. He leaned his tall, muscular body onto the rock. His arms were crossed regally. One leg was bent as a single foot rested.
"You don't look…happy, sky child," the demon discerned, not even looking at him. Link breathed in as he stood but six feet from him. Ghirahim's daunted appearance was startling.
Silence teemed between them. The demon's face rose.
"Why did you come, sky child?" he asked, his voice as sleek and arresting as it had always been. Link stood silently. "Is it because I was right?"
With no response to give, Link looked down.
"I thought so." Ghirahim brought himself to his feet. He looked down at the human from his immense height. The human froze, seething, disdainful…but not toward him.
"Did I not say you would have nothing to return to, hero?" the demon asked, stepping closer. Link didn't move, but grimaced, feeling a strange power from the demon. The essence of another was all over him. "Do I not look so bad now?" Link's face shot upward suddenly, showcasing his flushed, wet cheeks. The demon halted.
"Not look so bad?" Link asked, his voice shaking. The demon frowned. "You killed me."
"Taught you a lesson," Ghirahim corrected, holding his hands out and tilting his head to the side. "Did you not learn anything?" Link stared, dumbfounded. "Do you not realize that you'll suffer this same fate if you refuse me? A war approacheth, sky child. It looms, waiting for you." Before Link could move, the demon was upon him. "You will pay dearly for the lives that will be lost, human."
"It won't be my fault…" Link said breathily.
"Men, women, children, babies, sky child…" Link gasped as he felt the demon's hands on him. "You will be coated in their blood." The demon leaned into his face. "You will swim in it."
Link wondered if he was dreaming. His surroundings didn't feel quite real. He felt a lack of sensation, numbness from what he had just seen between his two best friends. He didn't understand any of it.
"How will you fare when you are imprisoned for your war crimes, hero?" Ghirahim sibilated, his tongue coursing his lip for a moment.
"What?" Link asked, his lips parting worriedly. Ghirahim grinned.
"If you survive, that is," the demon purred.
"Why wouldn't I?" Link asked with a head shake.
"When that long awaited time comes for us to face each other in battle, will you find it within yourself to defeat me?" As he felt the demon's silken fingers running over him, he closed his eyes, unable to concentrate on his thoughts.
"As one addicted to an irresistible substance is fey to never dispel it, so you, sky child, will never be able to slay me." He ran a fingernail down the human's ear. "What happened between you and the girl in the garden doesn't count, sky child." Link's eyes popped open. "You pulled away from her, denying her." He grasped Link's shoulders, jerking him upward. "I will be your first." Link shuddered at his words, aflame with a searing promise.
"You are nothing more than your own instrument, sky child," Ghirahim sang. "A violin screeching and crying out dysphonic notes as I, your rosined bow, caresses you." His hands began to tighten. "As I work you, tune you, refine my stroke, your sounds will become melodious." His fingers began to dig into the area below the human's neck.
"You will beg for it, hero…"
