Epilogue- The Collector
It was a hot midday in Hateno and the air was thick with heat and hope. Link stood at the centre of his house, eyes closed watching his thoughts fly by. The peace of his mind was a welcome sight, or at least the absence of non-existent screaming. It was definitely and improvement from the last time he was here.
The itching edge of the broadsword looked up at him and Link hid it away under a layer of cloth before stowing it back in the cupboard. There was no chance of him keeping the prying hands of Bolson out; the builder had already shown that many times. It was best to just keep all sharp objects out of the way.
With the last vulnerable item away and all the furniture under covers, Link finally grabbed the saddle bags and hoisted them onto his back. It hunched like a camel under the weight before finally straightening.
"You ready to go?" Zelda asked.
He turned to see her silhouette in the doorway, shinning with the sun behind her. When she finally moved into the faint light of the room, her green eyes stared across at him blinking curiously.
"This was only part of the battle," Link shuffled the bag across his shoulder. "I've got to get these on Epona now."
They both laughed but it definitely wasn't a joke. Epona would always be a little different to the average horse. Fighting with her was like trying the control the wind movements. Each action was as futile and frustrating as the last. Still at least the mare was one of the few that could handle the fear of battle, sometimes better than Link could. She would always bring comfort to him along the road.
"You know…" Zelda fumbled with the sleeve of her travel clothes, knowing nothing about how cute Link found her needless insecurity. "It's not like you have to come. I'd understand if you wanted to stay. If there's anyone who deserves a rest it's you."
"I've never really been the resting type," Link shrugged, quickly remembering the heavy weight on his shoulder as it cried out to him. "Besides I'd miss you too much."
Zelda smiled at the floor like there was a pair of cuddling kittens there. Then she looked back around the house her smile fading as she took two tentative steps into what she probably considered a graveyard.
"You feeling okay?" she asked, eyes calling to him like a foghorn.
"Yeah," Link said honestly. "It feels like ever since it became my own personal hell that I just couldn't escape from the noise of this place."
"But that's all gone now? Right?" Zelda asked.
Link kicked through the air lightly watching the dust in the air moving under the force. "I don't think it will go. All of this will be part of me, I can't stop that. It's just it doesn't hurt so bad anymore. For the first time in forever it feels like it's just a house again…"
Zelda didn't say a word and she didn't need to. Silence hung around, swirling through the dust and fading lanterns. The two of them watched it for a few moments. Link knew that his bond to the place would never fade, but when he sealed the door behind them he felt a sudden ease in his heart.
Zelda walked over to the tree and gestured for Link to follow, "C'mon we still have an hour to kill and there's no way I'm going back down there."
Link knew exactly what she meant. He had gotten tired from just hearing all the questions thrown at Zelda as they milled through the town. It had been difficult to keep within a few meters of the princess as she was swarmed with people.
He dumped the bags by the tree and eased down, leaning back against the tree. Zelda gently lay down head on his lap and staring up at him with wild interest.
"The others were looking for you before," Zelda drawled lazily. "I think they want to say goodbye before you go."
Link shuddered realizing goodbyes included Sidon and the Gorons, "You know I still like having my arm attached and my ribs not cracked."
Zelda laughed in the most unregal way possible and Link loved it..
"I don't think you have a choice. Sidon will make it his personal quest to find you and thank you."
"I wouldn't laugh," Link said. "He's warming to you now. Soon it'll be your hand he's shaking too."
Zelda smiled and looked at the windmill rising high above the other town houses. It spun slowly in the low wind just as relaxed as the rest of the town, axles blocking then releasing the light gently.
"I can't believe it's all happening," Zelda murmured dreamily. "Everything I wanted for the kingdom is coming true. Each of the leaders will go back to their homes and start putting the plans into action to open the roads up, rebuild all that has fallen into ruin."
"And us?" Link asked. "Where are we going?"
"Well we need to make sure the people from all the major settlements support the idea of the Kingdom and of course having me as its ruler. But most of all we need to give all those travelling Hylians, lost on the road a place to call home. After everything I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go back to Castletown but Ganon took so much from us Link, and I won't let my home stay the cage he made it."
"You'll be busy," Link said. "I might have to fight off the politicians for some alone time with you."
Zelda laughed, "Goddesses I forgot how awful court was. I guess we'll be seeing more of the ambitious type hylians as everything starts to rebuild. You have to save me if I get into any extended chat on politics with one of those men."
"Looks like the enemies are getting more vicious," Link grinned imagining him fighting of hordes of greedy advisors. Just after his appointment he'd have done almost anything to stop their constant cacophony of meaningless blabber and of course the passive aggressive attacks.
"It's been so long I can't even imagine where I fit into all of this. I've been in the wild for so long and asleep for even longer," Link said resting his head back on the bark of the tree.
Zelda squeezed his hand, "I need you Link. I want you to know that more than anything."
A Hylian waved frantically from across the bridge and Zelda rose quickly, the moment ruined just as it was getting good.
"Looks like they're heading off, c'mon sleepyhead you've got some goodbye's to say." She pushed his head back a little and Link let it flop, the exhaustion of the past few weeks beginning to settle in.
"I'll be with you in a minute I just need to make sure everything's looked up," he grumbled, still annoyed he couldn't have just one free day with the queen-to-be.
Zelda rolled her eyes and set off towards the bridge to town.
Link stared back at the house for another few moments, listening to the echoes of voices from the village, the rush of the nearby waterfall and the rustle of leaves from the trees. He had spent his whole life fighting. A life of peace was something completely foreign to him. Strangely enough it felt like something he could get used to.
Then he noticed one more noise, one he hadn't expected to hear for some time. There was a gentle clinking of metal.
Turning towards the noise Link hoped he wasn't seeing reality again. That strange smile stared across at Link as the collector walked towards him. He looked even more pleased than he had done before, which was somehow even more unsettling.
"Our deal is finally at an end," the collector said.
Link stared unease spreading over him like cold in a blizzard. His mind had been so preoccupied he had hardly even thought about that strange night and the strange man. The deal had been pushed to the back of his mind.
Suddenly he felt a tingle on his chest and with a tentative hand he lifted the gleaming green charm up.
The slender figure before him suddenly burrowed his intense eyes into its light, grin widening impossibly. A small laugh clearly not meant for Link's clear ears rattled through his meek lips.
"I must say I'm a little curious, are you satisfied with our arrangement?" he asked eagerly, his eyes returning to Link.
"I don't understand…" Link murmured.
For a moment his smile faltered before snapping back rapidly with a chuckle, "Were your memories what you had hoped for?"
"I…" Link faltered for a moment slightly confused. "Well they weren't what I expected. I didn't realise just how much I had forgotten… how much I'd lost. I had to go through all that pain all over again but I'm glad I did."
"There are many I know who would love nothing more than to run from their pasts," he said an unusual sincerity flowing through their voice. "Some would kill to have it all wiped away clean but they never understand. We don't hide our past to get rid of it; we do it because we cannot bring ourselves to let it go."
"What do you mean?" Link asked the extra space freed in his head now filling with an impossible list of questions. "Who are you?"
"I said before, I'm a collector," he placed a feeble hand on his chest. "Much like my brother I collect things. He was always more interested in physical things, masks were always his favourite, but me… I was more interested in the stories, the ones we never really hear."
His eyes narrowed suddenly, "Now. For the business at hand, I didn't come here for nothing you know."
His bony hand stretched outwards towards the charm, calling desperately.
Link snapped it off from around his neck, watching its glow. Before he could even find the energy to hand it across he hesitated quickly, something fluttering throughout his body. It felt so unexplainably like he was saying goodbye.
With one last gulp of air he pushed it away into the claw-like hand taking a step backwards with a sigh of relief.
The man took an over exaggerated bow and began to walk up the steep slope he had presumably come down. Link watched him and realised the cover that the bag had once had was off. His green charm had been placed among countless others that hung off in random fashion. Each had its own distinct glow. Each one seemed to call to him just like his own, like he could feel the same mess of emotions in each one.
Link kept his feet and breath steady, and for one final time looked back towards the house.
Back at a time when Hateno was as full of life at it was today a child ran through the grass chased by his father. Eventually the boy charged at him only to be lifted into the air squealing. Both of them began to laugh until the man fell to the ground, the joy rocking through his body.
From the edge of the house a dirt blonde haired woman watched smiling and humming gently to herself, as the whole charade restarted for what must've been the thousandth time that day. It was the perfect type of boring life.
Link didn't realise the smile that had spread across his face until he heard Zelda's voice calling from across the bridge.
He stared at the scene for just a few seconds longer, knowing that in time the memory of their faces and the sound of their voices would fade. That one day he would forget the sound of his mother's singing and even some of the memories of that happy Hateno home.
When he finally turned his back to the house to Zelda impatiently waving him forwards, he knew that he was finally leaving the past behind. Above it all though, for the first time in his chaotic life, he was glad to not be running away.
The End
That's it! So what is there to expect from me for the future? I've been working on a fanfic on and off for the past 2 months and I'm excited to see how its received. It'll be another Zelda-Link fanfic but it's a lot more planned and I'm giving myself a lot more freedom than the current one. So if you enjoyed this fic and want to see more be sure to follow me. I should be releasing it over Christmas and it'll have a proper schedule of uploads.
I just want to say first off, God this was difficult to finish. In the end I decided to just keep it short and sweet because man I was writing full stories worth of epilogues.
I never really expected to finish writing something of this size and to just finish the damn thing is a massive achievement for me. Of course there are a huge amount of things I'm not happy about and even more things I've learned but I am happy with it overall. Most of all though I want to thank those of you who've read it to the end. I'm a little too insecure to show my writing to people in my real life currently so to have all the support I got on this site was amazing.
So for a final time I'll answer your reviews :)
Guest review: your wish is my (belated) command.
RSBCS thanks I've had a lot of fun exploring a quiet character like Link and how someone would react reliving years of a difficult life in a few weeks. But as always you hit the nail on the head with what I was going for. With Zelda I was kinda meant to do a little of the meeting in the last post-calamity chapter but I decided to focus on Link. I did have other versions of a grand reunion between the two but it didn't feel right. Thanks so much for all the reviews btw its been really interesting to see your perspective on my writing.
Name'sTatch I'm glad I surprised you. I was honestly the same when I first came onto the site but after reading a couple of the fanfics I was proved miserably wrong and I know I would not have the passion for writing I currently have, if I hadn't decided to start reading the stories on this site. If you want to start writing go for it man, I can't recommend it enough. If you want me to read through it and give some advice just shoot me a PM, that story sounds interesting I'd love to read it regardless.
Andrew thanks man I can't lie I'm proud of getting through it all. You've been here from the beginning and the constant support has been super appreciated. I'd love to read a draft if you want to send it my way. I'm currently reading quite a bit on how to write and I think I have some good advice that really improved my own writing.
Ari looks like you may have to burn my lawn because this took a while to write. I think I just didn't want it to end. Still good luck burning my lawn, it's tiny and I live in Britain which means almost constant rain. Yeah I'm kinda the same with the flow thing I do need to be a little better with my planning though. Thanks for the support though I'll make sure to catch up on your chapters in the next week.
Any reviews on this chapter I'll just reply via PM
That's all till the next time cya!