Author's Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda or any of the characters involved in it. I am earning no profit from this story, other than the enjoyment of writing it and sharing it with others! I hope you all enjoy reading it!
"Zelda!" I scream into the wind, my hands curled tightly in the Light Dragon's soft fur. "Zelda! Come on! Please! Don't you recognize me?"
The dragon doesn't respond. Her brilliant purple eyes stare straight ahead, ignoring the tiny Hylian sitting on her forehead.
"Zelda!" I yell again, bending over and resting my head against hers. "Please! Please…" Tears gather in the corner of my eye and I hurriedly wipe them away. "Please…I can't do this alone… I don't want to be alone…"
Still, she ignores me. I know that this dragon was once Princess Zelda…but it seems that she is no longer. She clearly does not know me. My words cannot reach her. She doesn't remember me. Maybe she never will again. That thought sends a shiver rushing through my entire body, and a tear escapes my closed eyes and rolls down my cheek.
…Was this what it was like for you, Zelda? I can't help but wonder. Screaming my name into the void, futilely hoping that the man who awoke from the Shrine of Resurrection would recognize your voice? Did it hurt you when I didn't know your name? When I didn't know my name? Was it painful to know that the only true friend you'd ever had was gone? That he remembered nothing about himself, he was nothing like the man you'd known 100 years ago?
I curl my body in on itself. If it makes you feel any better, I really wanted to remember. Every time I heard you call my name, I wanted to call back and promise that I knew you, that I recognized your gentle voice. After all, you taught me everything I know about this world. You gave me my name. You gave me my title. I wanted so badly to give you something in return. Even if it was some small indication that I remembered you at all. Some indication that I was the Link that you'd loved 100 years ago. Some indication that you meant something to me, just as I so obviously meant everything to you. And even now, though my memories of you…of us…are only the ones I've created since the Calamity was destroyed, they are still my most cherished memories. I refuse to believe that you have forgotten all of them. Please don't let me be the one who remembers while you've forgotten.
Do you even want to remember me? Can you hear me yelling at you, yelling the name that belongs to you, even if you can't recall it? You taught me my name, why can't I teach you yours?
"Your name is Princess Zelda Bosphoramus Hyrule!" I scream at the Light Dragon, leaning over and staring directly into one of her eyes. "Do you remember?"
She doesn't reply. She blinks lazily, the eye I'm staring into regarding me with only an annoyed expression. I sit back in the middle of her forehead again and lower my head into my hands. This can't be all that's left of you. I cannot accept that. I don't want to be so completely and utterly alone again. I have all the other sages, sure, but none of them can compare with you. Please don't leave me…
More tears fall now, and I remain on my back staring into the sun, the Light Dragon's soft fur caressing my skin. Why can't my voice reach you? When I woke up in the Shrine, your voice was the only comfort I had. I didn't know who it belonged to, but even from the very first moments I knew that I could trust you. My memory of our friendship wasn't completely destroyed. I heard your voice, and I knew that it belonged to someone I could believe in.
So why, why, why does my voice not have the same effect now? I can scream and shout all I want, the Light Dragon is uninterested in listening…You are uninterested in listening…I want so desperately to save you in the same way that you saved me. I want so badly to give you your name back, to show you who you used to be, to teach you all the things you can't remember about this land that you care so deeply about…But you just won't listen. There's nothing more I can really say. My voice is tired from shouting. I haven't got any words left to try. I can't save you…
I bury my head in my hands. Some hero I am. I've failed Hyrule twice now. Has any hero before me failed twice? Failed even once? From what little I know of my predecessors, they were figures of legend, masters of the blade, and some even wielded powerful magic. But I…I am nothing like that. I grind my teeth together. I am nothing like that. I perished over 100 years ago during the Great Calamity and saved the kingdom a century after the original disaster. And now, the entire kingdom is in a state of upheaval because I couldn't stand against the Demon King even after he'd been sealed away for tens of thousands of years and his body had almost entirely decomposed. I'm supposed to be the bearer of the Sword that Seals the Darkness. The light of Hyrule. The Hero of the Wild. But when we discovered the scourge of the kingdom that had been plaguing us for eons…I was unable to defeat him. My sword was shattered. My arm destroyed. And you were lost to me forever…
I hate to admit it, but when I woke up in that cave after the Upheaval…I panicked. It was just like the Shrine of Resurrection. I woke up to the sound of a voice I didn't recognize, my own body felt foreign to me, and I had no idea where I was. Even after Rauru urged me to awaken, I just laid there for several minutes, trying to remember how to breathe. Trying to remember anything at all. I was so relieved that I could do so. I still remembered my name and your name and our kingdom's name and the job I was supposed to do. I still remembered what had happened in those Depths and how I couldn't grab hold of your hand because my own was so infected with gloom. The only thing I could not remember was how I'd gotten up to that giant sky island. And what had happened to my arm. I met with Rauru, who explained those two things, and it was then that I realized why my body felt so foreign.
Certainly in part because I had lost the entirety of my dominant arm. Though Rauru seamlessly replaced it with his own, it still felt weird–still feels weird, if I'm being honest–to control an appendage that I can't truly recognize as belonging to me. But moreso, my body was ravaged by Ganondorf's gloom. I felt as weak as I had when I stepped out of the Shrine of Resurrection and into the sunlight for the first time in 100 years. The Demon King's evil essence has invaded my entire body, and though Rauru was able to save me from the worst of the infection, such a deep-rooted contamination was not to be removed so easily. I can still feel the horrible substance sifting through my blood right now. To help, Rauru suggested that I complete his Shrines of Light; four on that first sky island.
The task was sickeningly similar to the one your father first gave me. The parallels were impossible to ignore. I had to traverse an unfamiliar, isolated portion of the land, and learn how to survive and work with the new tools I'd be using for the rest of my quest. The only thing that even remotely calmed me were my memories. I still remembered things. I knew how to start a fire and climb trees and that apples are tasty. Unlike before, I remembered my place in this world, and the shame of my failure pushed me to find the shrines as quickly as possible so I could regain my strength, return to the castle, and find you.
Even now, every Orb of Light I claim from the Shrines of Light marginally eases the uncomfortable sensation of gloom burning in my blood, and each blessing the goddess Hylia bestows upon me from those Orbs greatly reduces my weakness. I still have a lot more Shrines to conquer if I am ever to regain my original strength, Zelda. But I'll get there. I know I will. I will find and clear all of the Shrines so that I will be beyond even my original strength when I next challenge the Demon King. But until then…I wish you were. I run my fingers through your fur, relishing in the soft feeling, watching as the hand that I still cannot truly accept as being mine brushes against the dragon that I cannot truly accept is you, Zelda.
I promise I'll find a way to restore your previous body. And then, even if you still can't remember anything, I'll take your hand and show you the world you've forgotten, just as you once did for me. And even better, if you do remember everything, we'll return to our house in Hateno and I'll fix you the finest meal you've ever had. I'll make your favorite fruitcake and a wonderful helping of hearty mushroom stew and…
I shake my head slowly. I'm getting ahead of myself. I wipe my eyes of their tears and stand from my position. I will save you, Zelda. I will find you. I swear on my honor as both a knight and a hero that I will find some way to reverse the draconification. I dash towards the end of the Light Dragon's nose and jump off, pulling my paraglider out of the Purah Pad's inventory and sailing away from the white dragon. I'll be back. I don't care what it costs. I don't care if I have to sacrifice my other arm. I will not lose you. I will find you, Zelda. But until then, I've got a lot of work to do.