Chapter Fourteen
Zelda had made up her mind...
She was leaving...
Dawn was beginning to break and having spent the night away from Dark, despite his attempt at getting her to come back to the camp, she'd made up her mind. The journey would be easier without him, as Princess she would release him from his duty.
Now all that was left was to tell him...
She should have felt joy that he would finally be out of her life and wouldn't be there to cause her pain and heartache but despite that her footsteps felt heavy. She wrapped the cloak tighter around her, for she was still in her chemise and her body felt chilled. As she came closer Dark raised his head, ruby eyes shining bright. From what she didn't know and she didn't care. Seeing that her clothes were now dry she dressed, ignoring how Dark still continued to watch her every move, his eyes seemingly to burn holes into her body.
Eyes that always seemed to leave her helpless...
She could feel her body react, could feel the heat race across her suddenly feverish skin. She ignored it, or tried to and reached for her shirt. Pulling it on, pain suddenly flared up her arm and she sucked in a tight breath, fumbling with the sleeve of her shirt. He was beside her a moment later, hands reaching out to help her and she reacted without thinking.
"I said don't touch me!" The hurt made her words raw and she yanked herself back, stumbling away from him but she still saw the look of pain cross his face as if he was the wounded animal.
He lowered his hands down to his sides, his eyes glittering like hard rubies. He opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something and Zelda felt the hope surge in her chest that he would. That somehow he felt the same about her but she saw the coldness settle over his face, taking away the warmth she knew he hid and she inwardly felt her whole body sigh.
Turning from him so he wouldn't see how the tears threatened to spill forth she forced the shirt on, ignoring the pain that throbbed up her arm. The emotion was starting to become a natural feeling for her. She knelt to pick up her trousers but Dark was already there. He'd stepped around to her front and grasped her about her shoulders. Fury ran hot through her body and she went to strike him but the indifferent mask he wore cracked and she saw his real face beneath.
"I know you do not understand." His voice sounded hollow despite the sorrow in his eyes but she shook her head.
"No, Sir Dark I do not." Zelda made sure to keep her tone placid, her face as well as she looked at him. "Fortunately for you and my own well being we will no longer have to understand one another." She briskly took her pants from him, ignoring the fact that she stood in front of him in nothing but her underwear and shirt and raised her chin.
"Now be a gentleman and turn while I dress if you would be so kind as to grant me that request." Her formal, biting tone must've shocked him but at his lack of a response besides surprise, she lifted one smooth brow at him. With a jerk he turned, the surprise leaving his face to have anger take its place. She pulled her pants on and finished dressing.
"You can look now," Zelda didn't bother to wait for him to turn around and started to gather the rest of her things. She was curious and a bit shocked as to how calm she seemed to be knowing what was going to happen after she'd gathered her things. Once that was done she turned back to Dark who had already been dressed and his sword properly taken care of. He watched her, his eyes like a wolf's and chills crept over her skin.
No...
He wasn't going to do this to her...
"Sir Dark," his brows furrowed at her cold voice, "I release you from your service to the King of Hyrule. Good day." Knowing that if she stayed a moment longer her breaking heart would burst and she'd rather be dead than have him see how much he could hurt her. She went to make her way down the bank when his hand shot out and grasped her arm.
"What?" Dark sounded genuinely surprised and Zelda cast her blue eyes over her shoulder to Dark. His face was pinched, as if he'd ate something sour while his eyes shined with a light she didn't recognize. She didn't get a chance to for the sound of horses drew their attention.
As if on instinct Dark moved in front of her, the Dark Mastersword raised and the blackened blade caught the morning light of day menacingly. Zelda blinked, her mind momentarily caught off guard as she stared at him.
He was so confusing...
So frustrating!
Zelda was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize that the horses bore Richard and Thomas until they'd crossed the swift current and were before them.
"Princess!" The relief on the old knight's face shown and he quickly dismounted his horse. Stryder however beat him to them. The black horse came to a rough halt in front of them, ears perked and nostrils flaring in worry. The tension left Dark's body and he greeted his horse affectionately. Zelda moved past them and to Richard.
"Thomas? How does he fare?" Her worried question was answered when her eyes caught the small boy slumped on his horse.
"He lives Princess, and you?" Richard quickly looked her over but she waved him away.
"I am fine, Thomas needs treatment." Keeping her back straight she strode to Dude and mounted quite graciously despite her arm. "We will ride on to Karkariko Village." She turned Dude's head back towards the river when a voice stopped her.
"No not in the daylight." Dark's words were meant to be final, she could see it in his expression and how he held himself but Zelda was threw with taking orders from him.
From the man that had broken her heart...
The pain made her fingers clench on the reins and she lifted her chin, schooling her features so nothing remained but cold composure.
"No, as I told you earlier Sir Dark," she bit the words out and could see the anger building inside his chest, "you've been released from your service. You are no longer needed on this journey." Zelda could see the rage inside him, not on his face, no his face was a cold, nearly serene mask of indifference.
It was in his eyes...
She almost laughed at how ironic this was...
Dark may have been able to fool the entire kingdom into seeing a blackened, scarred monster but she knew him, knew the man beneath the horrid actions and whispered stories about him and his past. He'd let her in even if he didn't know it but it was too late now.
She knew how their stories ended...
"Good bye Dark," she whispered, her cold monotone slipping to reveal her pain beneath and she quickly whipped Dude around and sent him back into the river. At first she was afraid that Richard and Thomas would not follow her but they did so without complaint. After they'd crossed Zelda couldn't help the driving need to look over her shoulder one last time.
Dark remained where he was, his eyes rooted to her. Crimson met sapphire blue and Zelda felt her whole body shake with a pain that she knew she would never begin to describe, but she was a princess, the Princess of Hyrule, and she could no longer afford to be by his side anymore.
Not when he didn't have the courage to tell her his feelings for her...
If he had feelings for her...
Memories of being in the stone building back at Lon Lon Ranch floated before her eyes and her chest tightened. She'd hoped, though it was a foolish, naïve hope of a girl, that what he had said was false.
It did not seem to be true...
Tossing the memory from her head she dug her heels into Dude's sides and away they went.
Leaving him behind...
VVVV
Dark watched her go...
What had just happened?
He stood there, like a moron he mused as he looked across the river and to the hill where the trio had disappeared over the horizon.
He felt...
Numb...
As if he'd suddenly jumped into a freezing lake...
Dark tried to rouse himself, to rid his body of this numbness that seemed to make even his mind cold and utterly empty. He found that only one phrase kept repeating itself inside his mind.
She'd left him...
Zelda had left him...
Joy at no longer being attached to her fate should have made him giddy, especially at the thought of being free but it didn't.
First of all he was the only one that could defeat the monster lurking in the caverns of Death Mountain and second his life was tied to this as much as hers was. Both of those reasons would have been valid arguments against her releasing him of his service to her and the King but his mind had gone blank, his body unable to move and his voice silenced as he'd watched the utter finality of her decision wash over her face and resonate in her eyes.
He snorted, anger finally chipping away at his numbness. Who was she to tell him what to do? She had no right, he wasn't her puppet, he wasn't a knight in her father's army, he was Dark, the shadow of the Hero of Light, the Dark Prince and he followed no one's orders.
Especially a princess's who was only doing this because her ego had been bruised...
Yet as the thought entered his head he winced, for once shame filling him.
The sensations of having her underneath him, her responsive, luscious body reacting to his touch filled him with wanting and he clenched his teeth, an aggravated breath leaving his chest.
He was a moron...
Turning he mounted Stryder, who had waited patiently for his master to decide how big of an ass he'd been, and spurred the animal on.
He wasn't going to let her get rid of him that easily...
VVVV
He was dying...
Impa stood by the King's side and watched his stricken face struggle with the simple act of breathing. The air rattled in his throat, in his lungs, and Impa knew his time was close.
She drew closer to him, her hand reaching down to lightly touch his forearm. His face twitched and slowly his eyes drifted open. They were blurred and unfocused and the King blinked, trying to draw shapes into his vision but none came. With trembling lips he managed to gasp out a few words.
"Is that you Impa?" His face turned towards her, eyes still blurred and she swallowed to steady her answer.
"Yes, my King, it is I." At her response relief eased the pain of dying from his face and his head rose in a nod.
"Good, I know I may not have much longer in this world." He sought her hand and she grasped it, her strong fingers an alarming contrast to his brittle ones. "Zelda, my daughter, where is she?" The words were filled with concern and though his eyes did not meet Impa's he still stared at her face, the anxiety at being kept in the dark spreading over his appearance.
"When we last saw her she still traveled with Sir Dark and that of the old Knight Richard and his squire, Thomas." Her answer did little to ease the King's fears and his fingers tightened on hers. His body trembled and he seemed to want to say something but then thought better of it. Instead Impa watched as his body seemed to relax, sinking into the bed and Impa saw the defeat cross his aged face.
"My poor, poor daughter." His fingers grew slack and dropped, "I was a fool, a fool to think that I could protect her from that monstrosity." Impa, alarmed that he meant Dark, went to speak but the King shook his head, drawing her silence. "It is not Link's other half that I mean, Impa." His lungs constricted and he coughed, the heavy breaths shaking his weak frame. Impa steadied him and his breathing returned to its former shallow breaths. "It is Ganondorf that I mean. I knew his lust for power could never be completely destroyed, could never be completely cast out, but I had hoped, foolishly hoped once, that it could've of been." His sad, soft words drew a tight intake of air from her.
"Do not think so little of yourself, sire," Impa leaned down and grasped his arm firmly, "You ruled the land of Hyrule with honor and Princess Zelda will do the same, doing everything in her power to protect the people as you do." Her words seemed to draw some comfort to him but he turned his eyes back towards her.
"Ah, but soon my rule will end and she will take the throne. I have left her in a fine pickle." He mused, pained laughter emitting from his chest. Settling himself he tried to clear his throat before speaking once more. "I know what Lord Rendell plans, keep her safe, Impa. Promise me to keep her safe." His words grew faint and his eyes pleaded with her. Impa nodded, squeezing his arm.
"I shall sire," she answered and the worry faded from his face to be replaced with sorrow.
"Tell her...tell her I'm sorry...and that...her father loves her," his words barely passed his lips before another harsh set of coughing racked his lungs and Impa withdrew, letting the physicians tend to him. She watched as they tried to apply medical herbs to his chest, underneath his nose and powder into his water but it did little to ease the coughing. As the spell ended he lay quietly against the sheets, his eyes searching for something and they fixed upon the far wall where a small portrait of his family hung.
Impa watched the pain leave his face...
Watched his mouth curl up in a soft smile...
A quiet sigh...
Then he was gone...
VVVV
This was just peachy...
Link scowled to himself, trying to pinpoint the Shadow Beasts movements as they made circles about their camp. At first he thought they were just stumbling about but now he could begin to see the pattern. Midna and the female Lost Child still remained in the center of the patrol and Link felt the frustration at being helpless swell in his chest.
What was he going to do?
He remembered all too well the last time he'd tried to take on three Shadow Beasts, it hadn't ended well and he didn't think charging in there full speed would help matters any especially where Midna was bound. He shifted in the trees, careful to make no sound yet as he perched there he felt something draw close to him. Snapping his head back he reached for his sword but paused when he saw the Lost Child that had led him to the entrance. Its eyes were fixed upon the little female below as it shuffled forward to pause beside him. Once there he flicked his eyes to Link's face.
"Help Hero, help her." It gestured with its head to the group below them and as for which her the Lost Child meant Link didn't know nor did he care. By helping one it would help the other and he nodded in agreement. "Friends in trees." He bobbed his head to the trees surrounding them, "Distract black beasts," it shoved its first finger into Link's chest, "We rescue." At the straightforward words Link didn't even have time to pause before the Lost Child screamed and leapt from the branches. Swearing he scrambled after it, leaping out of the tree to roll out of the fall.
The Shadow Beasts screamed in return, their high war calls sending goose flesh along his arms but as Midna caught sight of him she began to struggle, her words muffled by the gag. Link didn't have time to enjoy the apparent relief that covered her face either before the Shadow Beasts were on him. One tried flanking him, its massive hand shooting out to try and grab him but he lashed out and caught the creature across its palm. It hissed, the mask and hair trembling violently from the action and the second closed in. Link back tracked, his mind racing to figure out a plan on how to defeat them. The third hesitated, as if wary of him but Link lost the thought as he fended off another attack from the second. As it lunged he sidestepped, coming in close and drawing his sword across the beast's side. It roared in pain, lurching away from him but it stumbled to the ground and remained still. The first Shadow Beast and third wasted little time then and charged him. The third swung, its goal to backhand him but Link remembered that move and managed to avoid it by ducking and rolling back behind them. He came up off balanced and caught the creatures along the back legs. They wailed, swiping at him but Link dodged, rushing the two beasts. They jumped, startled but met him head on. Twisting his wrist, he took his sword and slashed one beast along its neck and as it fell to the ground, Link kicked off of its shoulder and sailed up through the air to embed his blade through the mask of the other. It screamed, its cry dying away as it crumpled to the soil. Link landed roughly, his leg buckling underneath him so he landed awkwardly on his side.
Movment to his right made him cast his eyes towards where Midna and the female Lost Child had been held. The female was free, busy with the male that had shown Link the way while more melted from the shadows to free Midna. The Twili Princess seemed worried, even after she'd just been rescued. Link frowned and stood, making his way towards her even as her hands were freed. She tore the gag from her mouth and words were already flowing forth.
"Link! Link you're safe!" She threw herself at him, arms wrapping tight around his neck. He stood there a moment, shocked into silence but instantly his arms came around her waist. He buried his head into the crook of her neck, for the first time truly realizing how scared he'd been for her.
Of losing her...
"Link," she sighed his name, her neck craning back to look at him. Her eyes met his and the fiery glow of them drew him in. His palm cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing over a cut that ran along her cheekbone.
He knew then...
He brought her in close and before he could think more on if it was right or not he kissed her.
And it was right...
AUTHOR NOTE: Another update! Sorry for the wait, but hands get stronger every few weeks and I'm allowing to do much more with them! Thank you all for your support! I will hopefully be getting to my other stories very VERY soon, I know I've been keeping a lot of you in suspense and I deeply apologize but know that I am definitely finishing those stories, it may take me awhile but I will! Again thank you all for your support, it truly means a lot to me!