Close but not Enough.
Author Note: Spoilers of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom story and lore.
The pain shoots through my entire body.
My legs are shaking. I'm panting. I'm pretty sure I'm going to faint any second now. Everything hurts… and I can't quite feel my right arm. It's numb—just like most of my body.
I'm confused for a moment. I vaguely remember something attacking us. I tried to counter the attack but it ended up breaking the holy sword and burning my entire right arm.
Then I felt it—the floor crumbling beneath my feet and a scream that pierced straight through my heart. I stopped thinking. Against all my years of combat training and instinct, I turned my back on the enemy who nearly ended me with a single blow, and I rushed toward the source of the scream. It didn't matter if the thing behind me was the Demon incarnate. It could stab me, slice me, or burn me alive—I didn't care. I had to save her.
I spun around as fast as I could and plunged into the darkness, following her in her ravenous descent in a desperate attempt to catch her. But I turned too late—just a fraction of a second too late.
She was falling—falling to certain death—and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. I stretched out my almost useless arm as far as I could, but the distance between us only seemed to grow. Her desperate gaze pleaded for help.
My heart sank as my numb fingers brushed against hers—missing her hand by mere inches. And to my absolute horror, I saw her vanish into oblivion.
With a jolt, I woke up—drenched in sweat, screaming her name.
That damned nightmare again.
When was the last time I had a decent night's sleep?
Oh… right.
It wasn't exactly a nightmare. Well—it was. But it was also real. It really happened.
I failed her.
Some hero I turned out to be. I was assigned to protect her with my life. And for the second time… I failed.
Once again, I woke up in a strange place, told by a disembodied voice that I barely escaped death—for the second time.
This time, though, I remembered everything.
The first time this happened, the absence of my memories had been a twisted blessing. Ignorance of the horrors the Calamity left behind—while harrowing—didn't feel personal.
Ironic, I know.
But this time... this time was horribly different.
I might as well have died.
A pang of guilt hits me every time I remember—
Her terrified expression.
My fingers just barely missing hers.
Her pleading eyes… as I failed to catch her.
If only I had been faster.
If only I had tried harder.
If only I hadn't failed her.
I cover my face with my hands. Defeated, I let the tears fall—endlessly.
Every night is the same.
I can't sleep. I dread nightfall.
I try to keep myself awake—slaying monsters, traveling up and down the country in a desperate search for her.
I chase rumors of her sightings, carrying the unbearable weight of her absence.
And as I travel… it hurts to realize just how far her influence reaches.
The villages she helped rebuild. The children she used to laugh with. The smiles of people who still speak her name with reverence.
Her kindness lingers in every corner of Hyrule.
She's everywhere.
Just… not with me.
I left our peaceful home in Hateno Village because I couldn't bear the thought of spending another night in that house without her.
After the Calamity, I acquired the old, abandoned house that sat at the edge of the village. I tried to build some semblance of normalcy. Bit by bit, I worked on that place—fixing the ceilings and floors, cleaning it, furnishing it to the best of my abilities.
So that when I brought her home after containing Calamity Ganon for over a hundred years, she'd have a place to rest.
A place to start over.
Little did I know… she'd be the one to turn it into a home.
After losing her once again, I couldn't bring myself to return.
But as fate would have it, I found myself back in the village. Unwilling, unready.
I suppose the emotional and physical toll had changed me more than I realized—most people didn't even seem to recognize me anymore.
Not that I cared. I didn't want to stay in that house without her. I left in the quiet of the night and moved north—farther up into the Akkala Region.
As far from our shared memories as I could manage.
At least… until I can bring her back.