Sorry for the inactivity ':) spring fever got me down! Thank you to @defaulthousefrau on tumblr for the request! I hope you like it!
Link was the first thing she saw.
A blinding light saturated her lidded eyes and as she blinked herself awake, she saw him there: hovering above her, respectfully distant and yet protectively close. Dripping wet and somehow warm, she laid sodden in the tall grass, unable to place herself.
Nothing made sense. Distantly, the last thing she could remember was the heat of the stone, like a lump of coal in her chest, and the cold steel against her collarbone as she embraced the Master Sword. She could remember pleading to him to find her, to somehow know what she'd done and where she'd gone thousands of years in the future.
And yet he'd done it. Not that she doubted he would.
They'd stopped at Lookout Landing first for a goodnights rest before setting off to the heavens and witnessing the departure of her newfound – or perhaps old - friend Mineru. Afterwards, Zelda insisted on stopping by Kakariko to see Impa, if only to ease the old woman's heart, and Link had followed her dutifully.
Through it all, she was different. It showed itself subtly at first - a mispronounced name here, a wrong date there. Every time someone would correct her, Zelda would pause, swallow, and nod with a distracted apology. There were moments where she'd confidently march off in the wrong direction and he'd have to step in and guide her down the right path. And though Link was there every time, he had yet to say anything about it.
Zelda admitted to him previously that she couldn't remember any part of her existence as an immortal dragon, as though she'd been asleep the entire time. It was just as how Link had lost his memories after a century long slumber; an ironic twist of events perhaps, but at this point, they were well aware of how ironic fate could be.
The breaking point was in their cottage in Hateno. Standing in the storage beneath the loft, she frantically foraged through the boxes, getting more flustered by the minute. She couldn't for the life of her remember where she'd placed the lesson plans she'd apparently had stored away. She knelt atop one of the boxes as she reached for the furthest, dustiest crate, inadvertently elbowing a haphazard pot. It rolled down the stacked containers before crashing to the floor with a loud smash. From the kitchen, Link rushed to her side.
Zelda defeatedly slumped into her makeshift seat and placed her head in her hands. His footsteps slowed to a stop beside her, and though she couldn't see him, she felt his presence light up the damp and dingy pantry. "I just-" she took a short shuddering breath, "I don't quite feel like myself anymore." She drew her head from her hands and looked up at him pleadingly. "I feel like I've lost who I am - ever since…" Her words faltered, her eyes wandering away – unwilling to finish that sentence.
Zelda knew what she was giving up when she swallowed that stone. She knew that she'd lose herself, everything that made her her, and that she would most likely never recover her human form. Despite all odds, he'd found and returned her to her true self, but it was not without loss, it appeared. Parts of her were still missing and she'd been trying to find them ever since.
But Link already knew what she meant to say. Silently, he placed his hand before her and she blinked confusedly when it came into view. Her eyes followed his arm up to his face, the unassuming, kind look that seemed everlasting, and he said, "Come. I want to show you something." Without reservation – she'd follow him to the end of the world at this point – she set her hand in his and stood up.
She couldn't say how long they travelled, but the sun had bound across the sky and below the horizon by the time Link pulled his mare to a stop at Ulri Mountain range. The princess followed his lead to the cliffside, shivering a bit as a salty breeze swept through her golden hair, lifting her cloak behind her.
Zelda took his hand once more as he carefully guided her to the spiral in the sea, where a thousand shimmering stars danced across the surface of the water. When they reached flat terrain once more, she noticed something in the sand a bit away from them and dropped his hand to investigate. He followed her.
Kneeling in the sand, she reached her hand out and brushed the petals of the flowers. "Silent Princess's? They're everywhere. What is this place?"
"This is where I found you."
Zelda looked back at him, brows raised, but he was looking up at the sky. The breeze picked up his hair and swept the bangs off his face. "I came back here every day. Sometimes I found you; sometimes I couldn't." Her steady gaze withered, her heart wrenching in her chest when she realized what he meant. "But I always looked for you."
"Link-" She rose to her feet. "I'm sorry."
The hero met her gaze and simply shook his head. There was nothing to apologize for. What she did was braver than anything he'd ever seen. "You're not lost. You've just forgotten."
Her head turned up to the sky, watching the slow glide of the few clouds. "How do I remember?"
Link reached out to his side and pulled out the pad hitched onto his belt. "When I'd lost my memory, it was you that helped me remember. Your pictures." Holding out the pad, he caught the scholar's gaze again. She took it into her hands and curiously looked at the screen.
There were pictures that she hazily remembered taking what felt like decades ago, photos that still hung on the walls of their home. Pictures of Magda working the Floret Sandbar, Chork with his beloved white goats, the Don-Don species, she'd been researching, and more pictures of their adventures together; as she flipped through the gallery, she was quick to realize just how many pictures she'd taken, all of which he'd saved.
Zelda paused and looked up at him, unsure what to say. Instead, he continued, "Now it's my turn to return the favor."
And he did. Not that she doubted he would.