Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ A Hero's Resignation ❯ A Hero's Resignation ( One-Shot )

I saved the world and no one knows, not even my closet friend. I was born with a destiny preordained, giving me no choice over my own life. In fact, because of destiny, I don't even think my life is my own.

I've held the power to travel in time, I've fought and killed more monsters than I can remember. I wake and feel nothing any more, not fear, not anger, not even something as trivial as happiness. It's as though I'm not even alive any more. I put my life on the line daily and am expected to ask nothing in return. What have I become?

My childhood was ripped away from me. My hands have been stained with blood since the Deku Tree asked me to lift a curse, starting the path of my destruction. I was unable to save him, in the end, just as I was unable to save countless others. He sent me to the Hyrule Castle to seek out the princess. It was his dying request, whispered on his last breath. I left my home for him, willingly. Everything else I had to give up was stripped from me without my consent.

I found the princess eventually, after sneaking past her guards. She told me evil was coming, that she too was having dreams of impending doom. I didn't fully understand it then, what she asked of me. There was a lot I didn't understand at that age. Evil and Death were foreign to me. I had never heard of such things till the Deku Tree had summoned me to him. When she asked me to find her two jewels, I agreed. After all, she was a princess and it seemed like something the Deku Tree would have wished me to do. I wish I hadn't helped. If I hadn't gotten those stupid jewels, the Temple of Time would have kept it's seal tightly shut and the Triforce would have been well protected. Gannondorf would have never gotten the Triforce of Power and I would have not lost my innocence, my childhood, and my soul.

After a long, weary journey that put my mind and body to the test, I returned with the jewels in time to see Zelda and her lady guard, Impa, fleeing the castle. Gannondorf was following behind them, blasting me hard in the chest when I refused to point out where they had run. I rushed over to the Temple of Time (after retrieving the Ocarina, of course) and opened the seal into the Sacred Realm. Seeing the sword I hurried to grab it, wanting to use it against the evil man who had attacked not only myself but the princess. Rashly, I acted without thinking. I pulled the sword and whited out, Gannondorf's laughter ringing in my ears. I awoke to find that seven years had passed and Hyrule had fallen into times of desperation and despair.

Of course, since I had pulled the sword out I was the Chosen One, the Hero of Time. I really liked how I had no say in anything. Destiny said, "Jump" and I was forced to obey.

The next thing I had found out after my seven-year slumber was that while my conscious slept, my body had aged. How was I expected to handle that? I was a child in a man's body. I began to feel and experience things that I had no name for. I was forced to push past my childish ideals and settle into a harsh way of living. I slept outdoors, always on guard, afraid some random monster would attack me as I slept. When I awoke, it was nothing less than purgatory. I strained my body to the point that movement became agony. I forced myself to learn various techniques just to survive. I was required to solve endless puzzles and mazes, defeat monsters and various other trials. I didn't know which hurt more at times, my body or my mind. Navi's incessant whining didn't help either. God, you'd think I didn't have a brain in my head. "Look! Listen! Link, go- blah, blah, blah." It's enough to make you want to shove her in a bottle and throw her in a lake.

"Only one worthy of the title of 'Hero of Time' can pull it from the Pedestal of time." B.S. More like anyone who is stupid enough and strong enough to pull the sword out and forsake his life can be the Hero. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping people but isn't giving up everything I am asking too much? Is all I'm good for killing monsters? I gave up myself to save a time no one remembers. Why? If only one person could remember, just so I could talk about these feelings I'm having… No one would believe me, I'm just a kid… or at least I look like one. I feel anything but one though. I no longer have a place in life. The world is safe, Hyrule is safe, the princess is safe. I exist to be everyone's salvation but my own. Who will save me from what I have become?

Hyrule is out of harm's way, but at what cost? Is it that the one who saved all is to be forsaken? Am I nothing now that the danger is gone?

Well, Destiny, Bite Me. I'm not going to be your stooge any longer. I'm kissing everything from my past life goodbye. I'm leaving to find a place where no one knows me, no one cares, and there's no stupid Temples, Sages, or Princess that need to be saved. I did my job now leave me with what little peace I have left. I'm going to live out my life, waiting till my body can finally catch up to my spirit.