There was a loose grip swathing around her. Link's arm hung over her like a curtain, which she had to carefully remove without awakening him. She arose out of bed before the sun hit the sky, which was a lot earlier than he usual wakes up. However, she knew there was no time to waste for sleeping in, and she didn't dare go against that. She pushed herself up from the tufts of overgrowing grass. The sounds of singing crickets, and buzzing permeated the air, and punctured her eardrums. She gave Link one last meaningful glance, before she mumbled: "I promise, I'll be fine." Sure the heavy sleeper couldn't hear her, she scampered to the perimeter of the island, and leaped into the sky. One whistle echoed through the thick air, and summoned her turquoise Loftwing. The lavish bird swooped in, and caught the blonde girl. "Hi girl, how've you been?" She nudged her bulgy feathers, and smiled. "We're going home for a bit, but we've got to come back soon."
I'm glad Link trusted me enough to let me go on my own. He seems so attached to me that separation looked a little rough on the poor guy. I'm sure that I'll be back before he wakes up anyways. I can prove to him that with or without my memory, I can manage on my own. It hasn't bothered me that Link cares for me until he doubted my strength, and told me I couldn't help him. Maybe he was someone I was close with not long ago, but nobody could do that. Not with the amount of determination I contain. Was that stubbornness Zelda's or Hylia's? It didn't matter, because I am going to convince him that he was wrong. The bird flew around, Zelda noticed she wasn't fully paying attention to the ride, and led her bird in circles. "Whoops. I guess I should probably focus on actually proving myself, rather than thinking it." She quickly swept the bird back in the right direction. It wasn't long before she reached Skyloft, and safely dropped herself next to Academy. "Thank you, girl. I'm just going to run some errands. I'll be right back, you go right ahead." She motioned for the bird to fly on her own. The bird squawked, and flew off, following her friend's instructions.
Zelda stepped into the campus and decided she should gather some things, and change from her grass stained and soiled clothes. As usual, the young girl hated feeling grungy, or dirty in anyway. She quickly scurried through her drawers, not wanting to waste her precious time. She slid the hangers against the solid bar, screeching an unpleasant sound, and revealed a white dress. She peered at the simple dress, with a detailed collar. "This dress.…This is my dress. I'd know it anywhere." It was the dress from her journey. She smiled, as she pulled it out, and gently ran her fingers against the delicate and tight fabric. Something about it, the style, the material, and the way it made her feel, was kind of, well, special. Quickly, she shook her head, and tugged the dress on, without another minute to waste. She searched through a brown carrier sitting on her bed, discovering a small wallet, and some coins hiding inside it. Running out of the dorm and off of school grounds, she was lucky not to bump into anyone. The elegant gown followed her swift movements, as she sprinted into the ginormous tent in the center of town.
The crowd inside of it was rambunctious, and deafening. The intense stirring, children wailing, and loud conversations hit her all at once. She rubbed her temples, a little distressed, but walked a straight route anyways. Around her were so many stores and things to look at, but nothing stopped her from going forward. On the far corner, she spot multiple vessels, all different colors. She gazed at all of them, strolling along the aisle.
"May I help you, hun?" The cashier asked her.
"Actually, I was looking for something to heal a possible broken leg. Can any of these help me?"
"Here, we've got a heart potion. That'll help you with any injury for just 20 rupees."
"Of course." She pulled into her bag, and found a wallet. A red coin, what the woman referred to as a rupee, was grabbed and given to the cashier. "Is this enough?"
"Sure is. Thank you for coming by. Now if you want that boosted up, my husband at the end of this table can help in trade of some insects." She gestured to a man holding a child on his back. He looked fairly busy, and swamped. He glanced back at her, with a welcoming smile, but she could tell he was struggling with his responsibilities.
"Sorry, I don't have any." She admitted. "Have a nice day."
See, Link? I did it. I'm fine, and soon you will be too. She walked proudly out of the bazaar from the front entrance, ready to show Link how well she did. Finally back into the quiet and serenity of outside the tent, she took a deep breath in and smiled. The air wasn't quite as fresh as the air on the island with forests, but it was just as well. There was a sheer waft, grazing at her soft skin. She stuffed the bottles into her carrier, and took a few steps before she tripped, her mind dazed and distracted. She tumbled face first down the stairs, and fell on the cold and stone floor of the plaza. She was only scratched, and a little bruised, but she worried mainly for the bottles
"Zelda!" A familiar voice called out to her, and she looked up and around for its source. Link?! Quickly, she scampered up and wiped herself clean. Why is he here?! He promised he wouldn't come!
"What are you doing here?!" She fumed, her eyebrows furrowing.
The injured boy limped towards her, and she hadn't noticed how long he had been standing there. "I had to make sure you were okay, that you didn't get hurt or lost. I'm sorry I couldn't just-"
"Trust me?" She finished off for him, approaching him with her anger steaming.
"No, I just-" He paused, not knowing what to tell her.
"Just what? You promised you wouldn't come. You could make your injury worse! If it wasn't broken then, than it must be now!"
"I'm fine; I think it's just sprained anyways. I couldn't let you go out alone, it was too risky, and I can't stand losing you again."
"No, Link. You broke a promise! You should've stayed. I'm safe, and I would've been either way. After everything you've shown me, and everything we've done, you still don't trust me?! I don't even know who you are and I still had confidence in you this whole time. I believed in you. You've known me your whole life and you can't believe that I can make it home and back? To help you?!" She shouted.
"Zelda, calm down. Please, you don't understand!" He begged, noticing that she's attracted a bit of a crowd.
"No, you don't understand. I trusted you, and I thought you might've felt the same about me. Obviously not."
"I did…I mean I do. I've always believed in you! You promised you wouldn't get hurt, yet I saw you on the ground just now. What if you were badly injured?! How could I possibly let you get hurt again?!" He raised his voice, trying to get her to listen.
"I tripped! I can't even make one little slip up without you pestering me about it?!"
"No, that's not it!" Everything Link said was wrong, and he felt terrible about himself. How could he let all of this get out of his hands?
"Then what is it?" She tapped her foot with impatience, her hands on her hips, and stared directly into his nervous eyes.
"It's just…" He began. "I wanted to help you. It's my job to protect you."
"I can handle myself! I don't care if you think I can or not. You know nothing about me!" She lost her temper, not focusing at all on what she had said.
"I-I…" He felt shattered, and his breath choked. "I know everything about you! I know that you begin your day before dawn, and you hate being alone! I know that you're afraid of the dark, and that you would never leave your room at night alone. I know that you babble when you're upset, and that you talk in your sleep. I know you never let me read your diary because it's your little oasis, and that you only use it on your desk. There isn't a thing in your room that isn't clean or dusted and everything smells like heart flowers because it's your favorite. I know you can't stand being dirty, and you love to shower in the morning. You knit when you're bored, and you love every color you've ever seen because you couldn't choose just one. When you come home, you finish your homework as fast as possible so that you could spend the rest of your day with me. I know that you would risk your life for everyone in this town, and that you wouldn't give it a second thought. The day of the Ceremony, you wouldn't have wanted anyone else but your best friend up there with you, and you wanted that day to be the best of your life. I know how scared and afraid you were when you first went on the surface, even if that's all you've ever wanted since you were three. You never expected to be anyone other than a regular girl in Skyloft, and you were shocked when you were told otherwise. You stood up to the job immediately when you learned that's what you had to, because you would do anything and everything for anybody else. I know that the whole time you wanted to see anyone from home again, but there was nothing that stopped you from doing your duties as Hylia. I know how badly I wanted to break that seal that took you away from me, even if you would've gotten extremely mad at me if I did. I know that when Demise took your soul, you were scared of leaving this world without doing all of the beautiful things you've dreamed. I know that when Ghirahim came back three weeks after all of it was over, you wanted to stay with me the whole time, but I would never let you do that. When you almost died, I knew you wouldn't have wanted it to be anyone else, but I would've traded our places in a split second. And I know that that night, you realized you loved me almost as much as I've always loved you!" He breathed heavily and sighed.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She was suddenly confused and felt out of place. The anger was still lingering in her voice, and she felt tears gather at the base of her beautiful blue eyes.
"I was afraid. I didn't think that I should give you all the information at once…I wanted you to find out on your own."
"So you hid something soo important from me, because you were afraid? You didn't think that maybe, it would've helped me get my memory back?!" She argued.
"I thought you couldn't handle it!" He blurted out. Her face heated up; getting offended, and torn all at once. She faced down, and felt the tears stream along her rosy cheeks. "N-No…that's not what I meant." He realized what he had said, and felt ashamed.
"That's exactly what you meant." She stormed away, lightly bumping into him on the way, towards the platform.
"Zel, where are you going?!" He yelled after her, keeping his balance, as he hopped to face her direction.
She ignored his question, not feeling the need to tell him anything. It was hard to deal with being someone who had lost their memory, and not knowing who to trust. When she finally gave her hope to someone, they had abused it and hid something from her that she begged to know. Then he had told her how she was too weak to handle the truth. How was she going to deal with something so heartbreaking? How could she have ever been so foolish to trust, and love a stranger? I don't fit in here. I'm not Zelda anymore. I'm not his Zelda, or my father's Zelda. I'm not my friends Zelda, or even Impa's Zelda. I can't get those memories back. It's not who I am, or who I'm supposed to be. My destiny led me to forget something…everything for a reason. Why should I force myself to disturb its wishes? Who am I to fix something not even broken?
She heard footsteps edging behind her, but she didn't look back. She just ran, forward, and off the platform. She plummeted and plastered to fingers to the edges of her lip, whistling for her bird. She flew off into the direction of the green pillar, and disappeared into the light. Link chased after her, as fast as he could with his strained leg, when Zelda's father placed a firm hand on the young man's shoulder, stopping him from going any further. Link curiously turned to face him, and the man in red gave him a tough, but understanding glare. He knew that Link wanted to chase after his daughter more than anything, but he wasn't ready to take of her in his condition. He gave the young boy a strict nod, and motioned to the Academy. Link, extremely frustrated with himself, still followed the wise man, giving a upset glance to where Zelda had left. He sighed softly once again, feeling warm liquids gather at the base of his own cerulean colored eyes. He let her get away, and put herself into the dangers of the surface. He needed to get her back, no matter how many promises he had to break.
A/N Aww! I hope that you guys like this long chapter, because I felt so touched writing it. Then again, I'm a very sensitive person, so I cry at almost everything. :) Anyways, I loved the reviews! You guys are all too sweet! I'm glad you like the story as much as you do, and that you loved that note I wrote last time. Thank you all for your wonderful comments!