The Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Flow of Time ❯ A Hero's Desire ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two: Drifting

Disclaimer: Zelda characters and Hyrule are owned by Nintendo. Badria and Kaula, however, are mine.

 

Who are you?

 

 

 

Returning to consciousness had been like clawing my way through thick, black sludge. Slow. Difficult. Hard. The closer I got to the surface, the more I remembered, the more I wanted to sink to the bottom.

 

I had drawn the sword from its stone sheath… there had been a light, a pillar of blue light that rose to the sky and filled me with warmth. I had opened my mouth to laugh, to cry, to shout out in victory. It was over, I… we had prevented Ganondorf from succeeding with his evil plans…

 

No.

 

NO!

 

I awoke, remembering everything. There had been utter white—pure, blinding, desperate white. But then… a shadow. The dark had come and tainted the light. Because of me… I had opened the doors for Darkness and it spread its evil touch beyond the room to all of Hyrule, because of me.

 

I found my body changed, too large for me. It was heavier, difficult to move, each limb a struggle to lift. My hands… when had my hands gotten so big? Big enough to carry the weight of the Master Sword?

 

Seven years.

 

Seven years I'd slept while the world suffered from my mistake. Now… I had to fix it, find six sages (well, five) and get them to lend me their strength and power so I could right the wrong my stupidity had caused.

 

After being gifted with the first of the six seals, I was transported from my awakening point at the Chamber of Sages back to the Temple of Time. Instead of the blue light rising, it fell around me, brushing close as though to reassure me before it vanished back to where it had come from.

 

Navi spoke, advising me that some of my weapons were no longer usable, wondering if seven years had truly past. I left the alter, heading out to begin this newer, more challenging task. How would I find the sages? The temples? How long would. . .

 

I stopped, blinked once then drew the Master Sword and turned, preparing to fight as I had done before, only this time, in a different body.

 

 

 

Tell me… please. Who…?

 

 

 

It was the first time I had met you, the first time I think my heart stopped beating. Your eyes drew me in, made me want to drop my sword and move closer… eyes the color of the bleeding sun, hair brighter gold than a candle's flame. Dressed in dessert wear, your face was concealed from me but it made you all the more mysterious and alluring. I wanted to know… had to know who you were.

 

You told me where the Temples of the Sages lay, how to awaken the Sages… but I wasn't listening as well as I ought to have (lucky for me, Navi was and repeated your instructions at every chance she got). Your voice had ensnared me, so soft, a mere tremble in the air that floated across the room… I was more interested to learn your name than where the temples were… Sheik, Survivor of the Sheikahs. Was that blame to be laid at my feet as well?

 

I tried to speak with you again but you only repeated what you'd told me. Couldn't you spare a word more? Your age? Where you lived? Well, I'd be content with your name for now.

 

 

 

I must know more…

 

 

 

Each time I met with you after that, you taught me a song on your harp. Your delicate fingers would pluck each strand, the melody vibrating something dormant inside me that only awakened when you were near. I just needed you to stay longer, one moment more, was that too much? Sometimes, I'd make a mistake on purpose so you'd repeat the song and I could watch your hands, so much smaller than mine, as they played each resounding note. I think you knew but humored me all the same.

 

I tried to get closer to you but each time you would throw that Goddess-forsaken Deku Nut and blind me with the same flash of light I used on my foes. Did you see me as your enemy? Was the destruction of your people my fault? I would cry myself to sleep some nights, thinking of the pain I must have caused you.

 

It wasn't until Bongo Bongo was released from the well that I got within a Cucco's feather of you. You'd been standing at the well, looking down into it. I'd run up to you, so glad to be able to see you again. Your words of “getting back' didn't sink in (they'd been spoken so softly) till the wooden part of the well was flung off by some unseen force. I watched it fall, confused. Hearing something behind me, I looked in time to “see” the same invisible force picking you up and flinging you around like a girl's doll. I never wanted to kill anything more than I did in that moment!

 

I'd never been so scared till that moment either.

 

When it threw you to the ground I ran to your side, praying to the Goddesses who both loved and forsake me that you would still be alive. Feeling your heart beating through your back, I had little time to relish the touch as the Darkness that swarmed like beetles swung around for another shot. I would defend you!

 

It rammed into my shield, numbing my arm with the sheer power and hate that it threw against me. I kept my sword in my other hand, preparing to swing it in a desperate strike but I never got the chance. The Darkness swarmed around my shield, making noises that no mortal thing can make. I awoke on my back after it'd shoved me out of its way, the stormy sky greeting me as my whole body hummed with pain and pricks of invisible tacks. It hurt all the more when I sat up but you were there. Even though I'd failed you, you were there to help me back on my feet.

 

But you never offered me your hand to help me rise… Did you hate me that much? I couldn't bear the crushing weight of the thought but it brought doubts to my mind. Were you only helping me to bring down Ganondorf's reign of evil? Once my purpose was complete, would you turn against me and seek vengeance? Was I merely a tool for you?

 

That couldn't be, of course not! I shouldn't think ill of you, you who were the light I fought for. The one who made me forget the blood that stained my clothes each day, the nights where I longed for my home village that was no longer my home. Your image gave me the strength to go on searching when I would have rather sunk back into the black sludge that held me for seven years, your presence drove me on to find the remaining temples because if I did, you would be there to teach me One. More. Song.

 

But what about after the songs ended? Would you still be there? Would you have me, this little boy in a man's body that has been beaten and scarred by things from nightmares and horror stories, would you stay by my side and be my light for me?

 

Because sometimes… I can't see it. At those times, I feel that Ganondorf has won…

 

But for you, my light, I'll fight on.

 

 

 

Something… Anything… Everything…tell me…

 

 

 

When this is over, if, when I win… will you hold me? There are times when I feel that I'm going to break and everything that makes me who I am will spill out. That I'll never regain that which spills free, that I'll be empty and without anything inside me. I need you to hold me, to keep it inside. Please! Hold me. Let me cry on your shoulder so I can bleed some of it free. I can't be strong all of the time, I can't…

 

I've seen too many monsters, I've fought too many battles. I've seen too much suffering that I've been the cause of.

 

Tell me it's alright? That it will be okay? That if I keep trying hard enough and long enough, it'll all go away. Then, I can go back to being a kid and none of this will have ever happened. Cause if you say it, I'll believe you. Everything else you've said has been true, hasn't it?

 

 

 

I need you.

 

 

 

I feel safe when I think of you holding me, knowing that I can let it all out and that you'll be there, letting me. That you'll speak quietly as you hug me closer to you, your fingers rubbing through the wool of my shirt. That you'll pull down the wrappings that cover your mouth and kiss my forehead, telling me how brave you think I am and that it'll only be a little while longer, just a little while more. You'll kiss my tears and shed your own, trying to take away the pain Ganondorf's imbedded in my heart, just as I'm trying to take away the evil he's imbedded into Hyrule. Both are difficult, I know, but you'll succeed.

 

You'll kiss your lips to mine, yours gentle and sweet, mine chapped and coarse, and try to drink from the bottle inside that I've corked up. The bottle that's going to shatter into thousands of shards that I'll never be able to find, releasing all I've held in from the beginning. I'll give it to you, eagerly, needing you to drink it. Drink me. Drain me. I'll put my arms around you, hold you close as you keep drinking and drinking till there's nothing left but a light, bubbly feeling.

 

I'll kiss you again and again, moving my hand to gently clasp the back of your neck, sliding my thick fingers under the wrappings so I can feel the light wisps of your hair as my other hand runs along your back. I'll close my eyes and keep holding you to me, keep you by me, my light. I'll worship you with my mouth, praise you with my tongue, I'll give you anything you ask of me… My body. My heart. My soul. Take them! They're yours!

 

 

 

I need you!

 

 

 

You're beautiful. Anyone who says a man can't be beautiful hasn't met you, Sheik.

 

But I want to see all of you and even in my mind, I can't. I have a vague notion of how you might look but the image gets blurry and I can't make it solidify. That's alright, you can still hold me with your wraps on, still kiss me with them pulled down a little, right? Maybe, when this is all over, you'll still want to hold me and assure me that everything is done, that Ganondorf really is gone. And… that this isn't my fault… that I'm still a good person.

 

 

 

Please?

 

 

 

When I finally found the last Sage, dark dread filled and choked me from the inside. Would I see you again, my light? Or, had your purpose been served, now that I had nearly accomplished the task set before me?

 

When he, the Eldest Sage, said someone was waiting for me, I knew it had to be you. I couldn't leave the Chamber of Sages fast enough to get back to you.

 

You whispered the same muffled words spoken upon our first meeting…

 

“I've been waiting for you…”

 

I'd been waiting too! Now, with all the Sages' power burning, churning, inside me, I wanted to ask you—

 

But you broke me before I'd even gotten a chance.

 

You lied from the beginning… you were not my light, Zelda. You could never be him and I could never trust you again. I don't care that you were hiding from Ganondorf, how could you! How could you make me believe in light only to find shadows at work? My anchor, my pillar was gone. The reason I was fighting, gone.

 

When I saw you change, my heart plummeted before I clung to the hope that you came in Sheik's stead. You shattered that with a clear, crystal voice that informed me it'd been you all along. You who played the songs, you who'd balked at my touch, fled from me…

 

Sheik had never been more than a trick of the Light.

 

The cork wasn't holding it in any more, I began to drown in ways you couldn't see, could never have seen (your lack of compassion had taken care of that!). I was drowning from inside. When you walked toward me as though everything was all right I wanted to scream out how wrong it was.

 

When Ganondorf grabbed you, I was relieved. I couldn't look at you, knowing that you had taken him from me. Couldn't you have waited before Ganondorf was killed to tell me?

 

Or had your conscious gotten the best of you, princess.

 

I rescued you. I didn't have a choice. The sword commanded it, the people dictated it, and I was the vessel that had to obey. I lost myself to oblivion while my body went through the motions of fighting my way to him, and you.

 

When I saw him sitting there, playing the organ, something snapped. Sheik, the image and kindness of a man who didn't exist, had kept me going, kept me sane. I no longer had that, no longer had him. When Ganondorf attacked I fought him in anger, with blind rage guiding me. He started this. He forced her to play a part to remain safe. His inevitable demise was what made her drop the act like a sack of cow dung.

 

Screaming, I attacked again and again till he fell, his castle along with him. When he rose from the rubble, a monster like the one clawing inside me, I easily destroyed him.

 

But the one inside me still raged.

 

 

 

Come back…