vatheon | (no subject)

[Normally, come nightfall, Link would be out and about - waiting (or helping, with various levels of success) with dinner, making cheerful conversation with the others, out feeding Asi. Instead, the room is almost dark, but the sound of ragged breathing clearly indicates that it's still occupied.]

[Link is huddled in one corner, knees drawn to his chest, face buried in his arms, fingernails digging into his biceps hard enough to leave indentations through the cloth. He's not alone, either - hovering over him is... well, Zelda, her clothing stained red, a devastating wound visible on her midsection. She stares down at him with scorn and quiet anger, mouthing quiet words - "This is all your fault."]

[He doesn't respond when Sheik bursts through the doors, caught up in the vision for now, but he can be heard - soft, choked pleas, muffled by his arms.]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...

[Almost as if in reply, the redead representing Link in Sheik's visions shrieks. It freezes him where he stands for a moment, but Link's muttered apologies finally pull him out of it. He forces himself to cross the room, kneeling down beside his friend and putting his hands on his shoulders.]

You don't have anything to apologize for.

[The shriek doesn't prompt too much of a reaction - ReDeads too? That'd be just his luck - but the hand and familiar voice does. Slowly, Link lifts his head, reaching up to rub at one of his eyes, not quite understanding what he's seeing.]

[Sheik's dead too, isn't he? Link flinches, expecting more blame, unable to reconcile his face with his words.]

But y-you -- [He draws away sharply, turning to give a tear-filled glare to the bloodied Zelda still watching them.] Why him too?

[It's hard for him to let go and change back into Zelda. It's so hard. Every nerve is screaming for him to not do it, if he changes back it'll all be over... but Link's vision is of Zelda. Zelda has to be the one to tell him it's alright. He lets the transformation drop.]

I'm sorry. I... am seeing some strange things, and thought it best to be ready for a fight. Link...

[She looks up at the vision of herself, wincing.]

[Link's breath catches at the familiar voice - hadn't Zelda told him she could still transform into Sheik? He finally looks up at her, searching her face for any hint of deception or disgust or blame, and finally lets out a shuddering breath.]

Zelda, it's really you? [His voice is tiny and thick with tears, and his hand shakes as he reaches up to brush his fingertips against her cheek.] What's going...

[His voice falters as he sees his ReDead self.]

[She's trembling slightly. This is exactly the sort of thing she feels like Sheik should protect her from. She feels utterly helpless, she just wants to hide. Though there's no blame on her face at all, she does wince when Link touches her.]

Don't - don't look at them. They aren't real. A true ReDead would have attacked by now.

[She doesn't want Link to see this.]

[He nods shakily, all too eager to look away and dropping his hand again. Unfortunately, that draws his attention to the other Zelda, and he cringes.]

What's going on? There was a fairy - but she screamed then melted, a-and...

[It had even been blue, like Navi... Link swallows thickly.] Then the - the other you appeared, and - and she said things...

[And now he's in the corner, a living Zelda in front of him and a dead one staring at him with disgust from behind her.]

The fairies appeared Sunday night, so this... must be related to a curse somehow. Why it took this long for it to take effect, I don't -

[The ReDead corresponding to Zelos lets out a pitiful wail, reaching out towards them balefully. Zelda screws her eyes shut tight.]

I don't know.

[Link winces as well, reaching for Zelda's hand.] The Sun Song - it might be able to help, it... [He exhales, frowning as he properly looks up at them.]

...Why do they look like your friends?

[The vision didn't have to be explained to her for her to know exactly what it signifies. She shakes her head vigorously.]

It doesn't matter. What matters is they aren't real. You're here, you aren't a ReDead. I'm here, I would not blame you for anything that happened.

[She couldn't blame him. It was her fault.]

You don't know that!

[It's louder than the shaken voice he had used before, and his voice immediately lowers again, wincing at the sound of his own words.] The - you remember things different, you remember me winning, but I didn't. I lost and --

[His voice chokes off there, and he buries his face in his arms again, shoulders shaking a little as he fights to keep tears from falling.]

I lost. I wasn't s-strong enough. The you that I remember - I can't pr-protect you.

I do know!

[Her voice is perhaps a little harsh.]

...I know... while you slept, I thought of it every day. What would happen if you didn't awaken. If Sheik and I couldn't stay hidden for long enough. If I couldn't manage to guide you to the temples without being caught, if you were to be hurt or lost or if one of the Sages might die before you could awaken them. I never blamed you.

[She forces herself to smile.]

It was me. I was the one who told you to break the seal. I was the one who gave you the Ocarina, who taught you how to open the door in the Temple. It was my fault, I could never blame you.

[Link shakes his head, although her words have made him falter a little.] I chose to help you. I wanted to - I wanted to protect you.

[He's a little calmer with her here, at least outwardly, but the way he won't look up at the spectre definitely indicates that not all is well. He even manages a smile, small and shaken and terribly sad.] I would have protected you any day. But I can't do that now.

[The dead can't protect anyone.]

[She knows that. Somehow she's always known that. If it's Link, she has no doubt that he would willingly fight his way through hell and back to save her. She doesn't know how she knows that, but she does.]

I know. I know I did not force you, but I... should have waited. We could have trained together. We had the Kokiri Emerald, Ganondorf would not have been able to break the seal. You wouldn'tve had to spend seven years sleeping, we could have been growing stronger over that time. The failing was mine. I sent you out too early.

[The words give him pause. Spending seven years watching Hyrule fall, waiting for the moment when he could draw the Master Sword? Training at Zelda's side, maybe getting to know Sheik properly as well?]

[It would have been... nice.]

[He shakes his head, dropping his gaze.] But you didn't know that the sword would do that. What Rauru said - it sounded like he didn't know the sword would make me sleep.

I suppose we didn't know.

[She lets out a shuddering breath. Zelda can't let Link blame himself for this.]

The destiny that we have been handed is a cruel one. It does not matter what timeline we are in or what occurred. I would never blame it on you. I want you to know that...

[He gives her another faint smile, but there's the faintest hint of gratitude in there behind the sadness.] Even if you died because of me?

[He sighs, then reaches for her hand again.] It's not your fault either. None off it is.

Even then.

[When he takes her hand and assures her that it's not her fault, it feels like something inside her breaks just a little. She's wanted to hear him say it, say it when he really knows the situation. He knows everything now - that she sent him back, that she was the one at fault for opening the Sacred Realm too soon, that there was a better plan available... he knows, and he still says it.]

...Thank you.

You too. [He glances up at his phantom (a little less insistent, now, a little more faded), then back to her - the real, living, flesh-and-blood Zelda.]

[Uncurling more, he holds one arm out to her.] It - didn't go well. For either of us. But we're okay now, right? This place is a second chance.

[Hers haven't faded quite as much. It isn't just Link she's afraid of failing, it's everyone. The whole country is on her shoulders. She curls into his arm quietly, hiding her face on his shoulder.]

It is.

[In the plaintive shrieks of the ReDeads, she can hear the message: "You'll destroy us, too".]

[Link's own demons certainly haven't disappeared entirely yet, either. Yes, the Zelda here doesn't blame him - but what about the Zelda he left behind? It's a question that still haunts him, and probably always will until he can learn, once and for all, how she fared in the aftermath of the battle. He holds on to Zelda both to support her and for his own sake.]

[Cracking one eye open, he frowns at the phantom again. It's... quieter, he's realised. Still there, still casting silent blame, but doing so a little less frequently. Even the blood seems lessened.] ...The things following us. They're still bad-looking, but I think they're less bad-looking.

[Hesitantly, she raises her head again. He's right. The part of the vision that corresponds to Link is still there, but instead of seeming accusatory, it just seems... sad, somehow.]

You're right... I wonder why?

[Is it because they told each other? They'd both refuted at least part of each other's fears.]

I don't know. I think they started fading a bit when we were talking.

[He still hasn't stopped clinging to Zelda, though.]

Because we refuted each other's fears, maybe.

[There's one way to test that. She looks to Link again.]

...what else are you afraid of?

Edited 2012-11-02 05:57 (UTC)

[He shrinks back a little at the idea of sharing exactly what bothers him, but if it helps... he hates being haunted, hates not being in control of himself.]

Being sent back. If they do, I'm... [He shakes his head. Vatheon has given him so much - friends, family, the opportunity to get to know Sola and Zelda as people, not just as a monster and a princess.]

[He likes being alive.]

[With a shaky exhalation, he forces the words out.] I guess I'm... scared of dying again.

[She's afraid of that too. Her hands on Link's arms tremble slightly as she lowers her head. Her instinct is to tell him that she simply won't let it happen, but there's a part of her that knows she has no power over the coral.]

...I am afraid of that as well. I do not want to lose you again. It's - it is part of the reason I spend so much time studying the coral, I cannot...

[She can't fail him again. She wouldn't be able to take it.]

[She does this for him? He exhales. While he's been lucky enough that he hasn't lost anyone he truly cared for (the other Link he barely knew, Pipit was only an acquaintance, he definitely wasn't sad to see Ganondorf go), he knows that it's only a matter of time before it could happen.]

I don't know if we can... stop it. [His voice cracks a little.] The coral, it could decide...

[He could be sent back tomorrow. He could be sent back right now, even as he holds on to Zelda. And there'd be no warning, no preparation - his death could come at literally any second.]

What do we do?

The scientists here know how to use it, at least to some extent. I saw the Head Nurse mention it. If it sends you or Sola back, I will find a way to make you return. I swear it.

[You'll fail. It's so clear to her that the wraiths behind her are condemning her silently already. She doesn't care. She just couldn't handle it if he was ever gone for good.]

[He reaches for her hand, entwining their fingers together. He doesn't doubt her for a second.] Thanks.

[If Zelda gets sent back, though... would he be able to bring her back to Vatheon?]

[The better question would perhaps be if she would truly want to come back or not. As many tasks as she gives herself, the princess always feels like she's drifting just a bit without Hyrule beneath her feet to anchor her. If she goes back to Hyrule without her memories, Zelda won't remember her heritage. She won't remember that Link doesn't want to return to his childhood, she'll think she did him a favor. She won't remember the fact that Link's soul is trapped along with her own and Ganondorf's for all eternity in a vicious cycle. She'll think it's all over. Taking a deep breath, she leans forward until her forehead rests against his shoulder, folding her ears back at the noise the illusions are still making.]

We should probably make sure that Zelos and Duke are all right as well... Dhaos is sleeping, thankfully.

[That would be a problem, yes. If Link knew she was going to be happy, he could live with that - but he'd still miss her.]

[Pulling her into a quick hug, he lets out a soft sigh before letting go.] Should we go check on them? Together, in case there's something dangerous?

Together.

[Zelda pulls back, taking hold of his hand and forcing herself to walk past her visions. The real people that correspond to them are still out there somewhere, she doesn't have time to keep indulging in her own fear and guilt.]

[Link nods, holding on to Zelda's hand tightly. It's meant to support her, but, well... it's not exactly harming him, either.]

[The phantom ReDeads get a worried glance and a faint shudder as something occurs to him.]

...Hey, Zelda?

[She pushes open the door to Zelos's room first since it's the closest. He's gone...]

Yes?

The people in Castle Town... [He pauses as Zelda checks Zelos's room, looking uncomfortable.] I didn't see them all at Kakariko. Did they... become the ReDeads in the town?

[Her hand stiffens for a moment. Every last person in the capital had been slaughtered. Her guards, her servants, everyone she grew up with but Impa. And now even Impa was...]

...that's right.

[Without any further elaboration, she goes to check on Duke.]

[Link winces - it's fairly clear to him that he just asked the wrong thing. In that case, he definitely won't ask about the Shadow Temple or the well - or, goddesses, the Royal Family's tomb, although at least that was already ReDead-infested before Ganondorf's invasion...]

[Still, there are others to check on. On the way to Duke's room, Link cautiously ventures,] Do you think Sola's okay? Or - Bianca and Lloyd, they both went through really bad things...

[He can only imagine what they'd be seeing. Ganondorf, maybe... and for Lloyd and Bianca, he doesn't really want to think about it.]

[Duke is gone too. She almost wants to just cry again right there, but Link draws her attention away from it.]

We will have to check in the morning. It looks... odd out there. If everyone is running around aimlessly, we'll all only get hurt. We can check the SFC for reports of anything strange in the morning as well, so we'll know if it's safe to go out at night or not after tonight.

[Link nods once, glancing thoughtfully at Zelda.] Okay. What should we do now? It's not that late, but...

[The ghostly image of one of his closest friends dead and blaming him for it has somewhat ruined his appetite.]

Wait for the morning to come, I suppose.

[She smiles a bit, heading back to her own room so that she can retrieve her harp. The noise won't be drowned out entirely, but there's no reason that they shouldn't be able to listen to something else, too.]

[And Link has his ocarina at hand, following Zelda around like a lost puppy.]

Do you want me to stay with you? [Can you stay with me?]

[She smiles softly at him, nodding.]

Let's play together.

[Settling down on the floor with her back to her bed where she can't see the ReDeads so clearly, the princess starts to play the lullaby that Impa's played for her for as long as she can remember.]

[Link lets his eyes fall shut as he raises the ocarina to his lips, harmonising with the familiar song. It's a little bit of peace in an otherwise-horrific night, and he's glad to be with Zelda right now.]