Thank you everyone for not stoning me for that last chapter, I'll admit I was a little worried that it wouldn't be received well. As all was thank you to everyone who left a review! Here's the next chapter, please enjoy!
Chapter Ten: Nightmares and Memories
As Ghirahim lay on Link's bed with Link still safely wrapped in his embrace his mind began to wander to his past. Nearly 3,500 years ago when he was just a young boy with a loving family. In fact he was once upon a time a hylian just like Link, that is until Demise the Demon King came to his village. Half of the villagers lost their lives, some ran with limited success, but most were enslaved. Ghirahim's family fought long and hard against the Demon King only to fall one by one until only he remained. Impressed with the small child's obvious skill he spared his life and took him as his own slave. In the days that following his enslavement Demise had beaten him repeatedly and forced himself on to the young hylian until he felt he had broken him enough and forced him into becoming his demon sword, which was a very long and painful process. Every day after that he was beaten if he showed any emotion or pain. Until at long last he had become the perfect demon blade: a loyal emotionless and ruthless killer with only one mission: serve his master.
Ghirahim snorted at the thought, for he was no longer loyal to his 'master' and couldn't wait to see him ended at long last. He smiled sadly upon the sleeping hero in his arms. This time he would make sure that Link would be safe and that he would stay by her side, no matter what.
Everywhere Link looked was covered in darkness. Every step she took was laced with pain. How could someone she had known since childhood do the things they had done to her? And then leave her to die? Old memories began to surface around her. The anger filled voice of her father as he beat her for being too weak. The heavy fists of her classmate, Groose, as he bullied her for being a girly wimp. The fear of her secret becoming known and the reactions of those around her. She cried out in fear and pain as she was surrounded by the hate filled eyes of those who had filled her nightmares. When all of a sudden a small light filled the air causing the villainous visions to back away to reveal a person veiled in light who smiled and began to sing to her.
"Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You have come to journey's end" the soothing male voice sang out as the long forgotten memory began to take shape.
A small blonde girl ran from person to person begging them to tell her if they had seen her friend. She stopped when she bumped into a strangely dressed man with white hair who glared down at her. "I'm sorry mister. I should have looked where I'm going. But you see I'm trying to find my friend. Wait! Could you help me find him? He's about my height with shortish blonde hair and really blue eyes. He might be hiding and I'm worried about him. Please?" The little girl gasped for air as she finished her plea to the stranger.
"Ugh, fine. If I see him I'll let him know you're looking for him." The man groaned.
The little girl beamed as she bounced on the balls of her feet. "Thank you so much mister! Please tell him I'll be waiting for him at the bazaar! Bye!" And with that the small girl ran off in search of her lost friend.
"Annoying brat. Why should I care about some stupid sky child? Tsk. I just have to find the descendant of the hero and kill him now so he won't be a problem later." Ghirahim growled out in annoyance as he continued his search of Skyloft. After hours of his fruitless search he heard the pitiful sobs of a child coming from a bush. Still annoyed from earlier he ruthlessly reached into the bush and yanked the frightened child out, holding the small skyloftian in the air by the scruff of his shirt. The child cried all the harder as new fear filled them to the core. Ghirahim stopped as he saw the small child that he now held in his hands, the sudden need to comfort the bawling child was overwhelming. Ever so gently he shifted the child so that they now rested in his arms, fear filled blue eyes blinked up at him as the tears continued to flow down their cheeks. "Tell me child, is there a song that calms you?" Ghirahim asked the shivering child softly.
The small child nodded. "Do you know the Song of the Hero?" The stunning beauty of the child's melodic voice caught him off guard.
"Know it? Ha! I'm the reason- er, yes I know of it." Ghirahim stopped himself mid boast, the tiny child didn't need to know that he was the whole reason that the song had come into being, after all he was the one who killed the goddess' hero. "Would you like me to sing it for you?" He asked kindly. What was it with this child that made him want to be so kind and gentle? The little sky child nodded again, refusing to make eye contact. It was then that Ghirahim noticed the bruises that seemed to cover the tiny child; someone had been beating on this small child for a long time that much was clear. With a sigh Ghirahim cleared his throat and began to sing.
"Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You have come to journey's end
Sleep now
And dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across the distant shore"
Tiny hands could be felt gripping the front of his shirt as the small child silently wept into his chest as he sang.
"Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away
Safe in my arms
You're only sleeping"
Ghirahim hugged the child to his chest as he continued.
"What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home"
Meanwhile in the real world…
Ghirahim had remember a distant memory of a tiny broken child and the song that he had sung to calm him. Without thinking he began to sing it to Link, hoping to comfort her somehow.
"And all will turn
To silver glass
A light on the water
All souls pass
Hope fades
Into the world of night
Through shadows falling
Out of memory and time
Don't say:
"We have come now to the end"
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again"
Ghirahim's eyes widened in realization. The small beaten child had been Link, his Link. He hugged her to him more as he continued to sing to her.
Back in the world of dreams and nightmares…
"And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping
What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home
It was then that he noticed that the small child had calmed and had been singing with him. And he had to admit that the tiny child had a beautiful voice.
And all will turn
To silver glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the West"
The last notes of the song hung in the air as Ghirahim looked down into the shyly smiling face of the small child that had managed to make him act so unnaturally kind. He smiled back to the child before setting them down on their feet. "A small girl is looking for you at the bazaar. And sky child, don't let anyone ever hurt you again, don't let them extinguish such a beautiful flame." Ghirahim placed a gentle kiss on the child's forehead before turning and walking out of the small beaten child's life forever, or so he had thought.
"I had fallen for you before I had even realized it." Ghirahim chuckled lightly as he brushed the hair out of Link's face. "To think, you could have such an effect on me even as a tiny child."
Elsewhere in Skyloft…
Pipit walked along the edge of the lake as his mind raced as he thought about what he had just done to his best friend and love of his life. He had single handedly ruined everything. And the way she cried so hard and eventually dragged herself away from him had broken his heart. He had never wanted to hurt her but had completely lost control when she kept denying that she had been lying to him. Pipit remembered the way she had happily sung for Ghirahim, that was only the second time he had ever heard her sing. The first time had been when she was a young child and had found out that her father had died. No one could understand why she had run away from the funeral and called to her loftwing to take her away to her favorite place, the floating island above the lake. Pipit had followed at a distance and watched as Link angrily glared down at the clouds before raising her voice to the heavens.
"Child of the wilderness
Born into emptiness
Learn to be lonely
Learn to find your way in darkness
Who will be there for you
Comfort and care for you
Learn to be lonely
Learn to be your one companion
Never dreamed out in the world
There are arms to hold you
You've always known your heart was on its own
So laugh in your loneliness
Child of the wilderness
Learn to be lonely
Learn how to love life that is lived alone
Learn to be lonely
Life can be lived, life loved alone"
As Link sang the tears flowed down her cheeks before finally falling silent and scowling once more at the cloud barrier. It was then that Pipit realized that he loved Link. The way her hair gleamed in the sunlight, the sharp intelligence in her blue eyes, and a voice that put Zelda's to shame. Pipit fell to his knees as he cried out in his heartbreak. Link would never love or trust him now
Meanwhile…
Groose had been pacing the halls of the academy for hours now as he tried to come to grips with the fact that he had been for years beating up a girl and causing her nothing but pain. But there had been a time when he had wanted to be friends with the tiny blonde child. When they had first met as small children he had thought that Link was a very intelligent and kind child, but then his father, Cracidae, had reprimanded him for trying to befriend the blonde.
"No, Groose. He and his father are why we can't be happy. Just watch that boy will take away anything that you care about, just like his father." Cracidae explained to Groose the evils of their enemies, the Link's. Groose had later learned that his father and Link's father had once been friends until they both fell for the same girl, Lily. They fought each other constantly trying to prove that they were better than the other until at long last she chose Link.
Cracidae never forgave Link for stealing the love of his life and even after getting married himself, to a good kind woman, he still loved Lily. He would routinely beat on both Groose and his wife. And when Groose went to school he'd give Link a beating to match thinking it to be all his fault, not knowing that Link went through the same thing every day with her father only to come to school and be beaten again and knowing full well that when her father saw that she had been beaten up would beat her again for being too weak to defend herself.
Groose shook his head why did everything have to be so messed up? He walked up to Link's door and paused before knocking. Should I go in? Will I be welcome? He knocked gently on the door and waited.
"Who is it?" Ghirahim's tired voice could be heard on the other side of the door.
"It's me, Groose." Groose answered quickly.
"Oh, Groose, come on in." Ghirahim responded kindly. "The doors open."
Groose entered the room swiftly and closed the door securely behind him. "How is she doing? Has she woken up?" Groose asked as he sat down on the floor next to the bed thanks to the chair having been apparently broken in the struggle earlier.
"She hasn't moved at all, but I think I we shared a memory earlier when I sang an old song to her. But now I can't feel anything coming from her." Ghirahim sighed sadly as he placed a loving kiss on her forehead and nuzzling the side of her face.
"You shared a memory? How?" Groose cocked his head to the side looking very confused.
"It's actually quite common among chosen mates to have a connection with their mate, mostly just emotions are shared but sometimes if both individuals are thinking of the same memory that they made together they can share it with each other." Ghirahim explained as he watched the candle light dance on the heart container that hung from Link's necklace.
"Wow, that's kind of cool." Groose smiled at the loving look on Ghirahim's face.
"Groose? Do you think you could do me a favor?" Ghirahim asked quietly.
"Sure, what do you need?" Groose leaned in closer to where Ghirahim sat.
"Would you go get Pipit? He's Link's best friend, I'm sure his pressence will help comfort her. He might even have an idea of who could have done this to Link." Ghirahim made eye contact with the golden eyed skyloftian who smiled and nodded.
The first song in case you didn't recognize it is from the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It's called "Into the West" And the second song is from the Phantom of the Opera sound track, it is called "All I Ask of You (Reprise)" also known as "Learn to be Lonely".
I tend to be heavily influenced by music and I'm a little surprise it took me this long to do something like this. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave me a review so I know how I'm doing, if you like something or really dislike something please tell me!
-Freya