Return to the Castle

!Link                                Gerudo Town

I'm starting to think that the Blood Moon is the cause of my losing my mind.

Clearly, there can be no other explanation. What was I thinking? Y/N is right; my actions were a result of my own cowardice. And that cowardice is a result of my own lies.

Sure, I panicked. Should Riju see me with Y/N, it will get back to Zelda that I took Y/N along for this mission. Zelda, whom I have yet to answer about my feelings. And Y/N, to whom I have yet to confess my feelings. What she said was nothing short of the truth.

I was right to walk a path of silence.

But am I so wrong to want a choice in who has my heart? Am I wrong to wish that I could choose my own path? Or does the guilt of Zelda not being able to choose hers outweigh my own choice?

Sometimes the bitterness that destiny has brought out in me is of such grandeur that I don't think the Blood Moon crashing into earth could eradicate it from within me.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

You saw the shadow of Link's feet beneath your door frame. He had paid for lodging in Hotel Oasis, or what was Gerudo Town's local inn. It was after you checked in that you found out he had only paid for one room.

Link would be returning to the castle at the edict of the queen.

You didn't think about the veiled kiss. The thought of it made a volcanic eruption of acid shoot from your stomach into your throat. How could you think about it when it was an "accident"? Shortly after you saw the Blood Moon's formidable shadow looming closer to earth, you and Link made a civil pact to focus on your mission.

Which is what you were focusing on before he went and did the "thing" you now decided you refused to name. Seriously, here you were trying to focus, and Link was either topless jumping into ponds or twirling around kissing you.

Let's not even mention his mood swings.

The one advantage to traveling with him was that you got to know his modus operandi. Now as you sat on your bed, watching the stillness of his shadow beneath your door, you knew what you had to do next.

"I know you're out there, Link." You let out a crotchety whine.

"I can't converse with you through the door."

You could kiss me through the veil just fine. You let out a huff of vexation as you shuffled to the door. You opened it up at a not-so-generous sliver, allowing him to stand with you, pupil to pupil.

"I just wanted to say I'm going to be off now." The longer you stood eye to eye, the larger his pupil seemed to dilate.

You thought about a study you read that spoke of the way pupils dilate when they view someone as attractive. You wanted to laugh at yourself for scraping the bottom of the barrel. You wanted to find any inkling of evidence that he felt the same things you felt.

Any morsel.

Any crumb.

There were no crumbs to be found. But rather, a whole cake was discovered when the Shiekah Slate rang with an alert from Purah requesting his official presence at the castle.

So here he was, leaving you once again. And you weren't even entitled to feel slighted.

There was no question about where his loyalty lay or what it had to be.

And let's be honest, you and Link sharing a connection could never top a divine one like his and the queen's.

You realized you were grinding your jaw at the stress of your own thoughts. Yes, Link's lips would always be shielded from you.

But whatever was beneath that face mask was waiting to be exposed on the lips of the queen.

The self-induced bullying was beginning to wear you down. You began to blink, not wanting Link to have the satisfaction of seeing you cry.

His voice was a slight draft that traveled through the crack in the door. "You'll be safe here. I promise I won't keep you waiting long."

The prickling itch of straw began to unfurl amongst your flesh. You could see cracked wood above your head as you felt feathery kisses against the nape of your neck. The ceiling felt mighty close; a ladder to your left led to below. You were in a hayloft of some sort.

"You know, I hadn't seen you in seven years, but I never forgot about you."

"I'll never forget about you. Ever."

"You say that like you won't come back?"

Splashes of kisses among your shoulder blade left you unsatisfied. You wanted an answer.

No, you wanted a promise. "Link, promise me, you'll come back. Won't you?"

You saw placid blue eyes, amiss of their usual turbulence. These eyes were turquoise earrings plucked from Hylia's own ears and placed on a human.

They belonged to Link. But not your Link.

"I promise, I won't keep you waiting long. One more temple, and it'll all be over."

His eyes cradled you, paralyzing you in place as he tread wet kisses all the way down your arm, turning your palm upward and caressing his face with it. He planted a gentle kiss on your inner wrist.

"It'll all be over. So please, just wait for me a little while longer."

You slammed the door in Link's face. You slid down with your back against the door, plopping onto the floor. The discourse of phantom voices repeating over and over again.

"I promise, I won't keep you waiting long. One more temple, and it'll all be over."

"You'll come back, won't you?"

You grabbed your head; the anguish that overcame you was as horrid as finding out someone you loved had died.

"Link, promise me."

"I promise."

You heard a shuffle from the other side of the door. "Y/N, are you alright?"

You lurched forward, holding yourself in a comforting embrace.

"Y/N?"

"Just go, Link! You bellowed, "I'm fine. Just go!"

"Just go..." You whimpered as tears sprung from your eyes and down your cheeks.

"Oh, and Link! Promise you'll come back?"

The absence of a promise didn't make you sob quite as hard as the absence of the shadow of feet beneath the door.

❤️❤️❤️

You were mesmerized by the way his fingers moved.

You watched as they methodically tapped against his ocarina. Each hole carved into its ceramic surface seemed to be made for his fingers.

And his alone.

The Hero of Time stood against a dislodged wooden fence panel. His back rested on it, as if his body were weightless. His eyes were closed as he continued to maneuver his fingers along the ocarina, his lungs never seeming to run out of air.

Didn't he know you were watching him?

As if by instant telepathy, he rolled his eyes open slowly. He turned toward you, cocking his head.

"Ah, here she comes."

A horse that bore a striking resemblance to Link's Epona roared past. She butted her head against Link, forcing him to put his ocarina away.

"Um, can you see me?"

He gave you a half-smile before allowing himself a small chuckle. "Can you see me?"

You couldn't help but laugh at his response. "I'm sorry. That was a silly question. Where are we?"

You noticed a plentiful area of land that was completely surrounded by the same shoddy wooden panels that the Hero of Time was standing on. Sleek lodge cabins stood at the entrance of the property. Horses and cows were situated in the middle of the property and were confined by additional fencing. You saw some pillars constructed from logs as well as some other neatly set obstacles. You realized it was meant to train the horses.

Then you saw a dilapidated barn. It looked like it was in complete disarray. The roofing had caved in; and the once Macintosh apple-red shutters were now hanging off the hinges. Pieces of chipped paint were all over the surrounding grass.

"This is Lon Lon Ranch. It exists in your time. Though, not as you see it now." You turned to see the Hero of Time standing beside you. His vision, once more, was absorbed by the battered and broken-down barn. "He needs the ocarina to stop it." He spoke casually, as if you two had just had lunch a few days ago and he was completely in the loop.

"Wait, how do you know? How do you keep coming back to me? Is any of this even real?"

His eyes fluttered over to your own. The confidence you saw in them before was long gone. His eyes were a glum wasteland of mourning. For the first time ever, you saw the Hero of Time look like Link as you knew him.

The Link you loved.

To carry this title is to carry pain.

"I promised you I'd come back." 

You shook your head. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. What does this mean? These dreams? And now I'm hearing voices and -"

"Oh, Ma-" He caught himself before he spoke. He gave you a forlorn stare that made your heart feel like it might disintegrate into a dust ball and roll away. "You don't remember. Well, that's okay. But please, don't be so hard on him. He doesn't remember either."

He clutched onto each of your wrists, his thumbs circling the back of them where he had kissed in the vision. "He resents me. He resents that he and I are one and the same. We share the same misfortunes. But when he learns to accept me, destiny will change for him. He will be Hylia's chosen hero until the end of his days. There will be sacrifices." He directed his eyes back toward the crumbling barn.

"But no matter what happens, never question his loyalty. Never question who his heart beats for." You looked at the Hero of Time's hands on your wrists, only to be greeted with the sight of a child's hands.

You looked up to see the wide eyes of a little boy staring at you. He dropped your wrists, turning away. Indignity forced his head to point downward at his feet.

"He needs the ocarina. And, should he get it, tell him to play Epona's song. He knows it."

You felt your surroundings swirl; all the questions in your mind would have to be tucked away for another time.

You were going to wake up. But not before you managed to shout one question at the child hero's running frame.

"Who does his heartbeat for?"

It was no good. If you wanted to know, you'd have to ask the hero hiding behind his veiled kisses.
Edited:8/1/2023