Blood Moon: A Story Before the Calamity

Chapter 29

     Link faded in and out of consciousness. Zelda could hardly tear herself away from his bedside. Sometimes he would cry out in his sleep, his face tortured. Sometimes he would lay silently still, all signs of life diminished to none. His face was still as colorless as ever, and his arms were heavily bandaged. Zelda half didn't want him to wake up. If he did, what would he say to her? Would he forgive her? That was too much to hope, surely. Zelda's heart ached again.

     When she had told her father that Link was ill (giving as little details as possible), he had given her a sharp look but excused her from power training until her escort recovered. 

     Her escort. That was all Link was supposed to be. But she had only just realized how much he actually meant to her, a constant in a chaotic life, a comfort when times were especially hard, someone that actually cared, when she had completely ruined their relationship.

     Zelda slammed her book closed, unable to focus with her restlessness.

    Mipha wouldn't have hurt him. The same thought that she had been struggling with for the past few days rose again. Mipha would have known exactly what to say. She wouldn't have made him almost kill himself.

     Hylia, why do I have to ruin every good thing I have?

     Tyander, gone. Link, probably irretrievable. Mother, dead. Father, remote as ever.

     Zelda put her head on her desk, too empty to cry. she stared at the second hand ticking in her grandfather clock, mind racing and blank at the same time.

     A sudden, strong urge to go outside struck Zelda. Her room was stuffy, and the walls seemed to be closing in on her. She knew she wasn't allowed, but one more minute in the Castle and she would lose her mind. Acting entirely on impulse, she put on a baggy white t-shirt and tied her hair up into a messy bun. She washed her face in the sink and carefully removed any trace of makeup. Rummaging in her drawer, she pulled out a huge Hylian Hood that would cast her face into the shadows. When she glanced into the mirror, she couldn't recognize herself, and she was satisfied at last.

     With all the stealth of Sheik she sneaked out of the Castle without much trouble. The gates were open, and Zelda slipped out. Almost at once she felt better, refreshed, like the great outdoors was welcoming her with an embrace of sounds and scents and just fresh air. Feeling the first smile in a long time tug on her lips, she walked quicker, dousing her self in the simple pleasures of taking a walk. 

     Out here, in the flourishing world away from the Castle walls, her troubles were left behind. For a moment, all was well. Zelda was free, free to watch the sun climb up the horizon and the clouds drift lazily by. She was a normal girl, in a normal world, without the mess of Triforces and powers and monarchy and tangled up loves and friendships. She closed her eyes, and a warm breeze danced through her hair, making her t-shirt billow around her.

     She had wondered that, if the Zelda that journeyed through time was Time Zelda, and the Zelda that came from the skies was called Sky Zelda, and the Zelda that felt the wind behind her sails was named Wind Zelda, and the Zelda that fought the ever-lasting twilight was known as Twilight Zelda, then what was she? But that moment, among the loud quiet of nature, standing in a field of grass that ticked her calves, filling her lungs with the deep, clean air, she thought she had an answer.

     Smiling softly to herself, she returned to the Castle, ready to face whatever the world would throw at her next. Or so she thought.

     Link was awake. 

     He was sitting up, staring blankly at the white wall in front of him. He did not look at Zelda when she opened the doors of the Infirmary. He looked even paler than usual, and his eyes... his eyes were not Link's eyes. They were as cold as ice, as impenetrable as stone. They looked exactly like they did at the very beginning, when he was nothing but Zelda's annoying shadow.