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Zelda’s least favourite game they played was hide-and-seek. Link always knew the best spots to hide where she nor the others could ever find him, and he always “won” by the end of their break time. Of course, Groose called him a coward and claimed to be the best seeker of all, and that it was Link who cheated. No one really understood how Link could cheat in a game of hide-and-seek, but they never found him either when they were the seeker, and instead assumed that Link had a really good hiding spot.
Zelda, on the other hand, while not found easily, tended to be the third or fourth person found in their game of hiding. She didn’t hate hiding, but she was never really one to sit still when playing a game. Sitting still was for class time, sitting down when playing a game, waiting to be found… it only added to her hatred of the game.
Zelda hated being the seeker as well, because she was able to find everyone rather quickly, and then spent the remainder of the break time to try and find Link. She never could, disappointing her greatly.
When she was hiding along with the rest of them, she always tried to follow Link, but he was fast and she lost track of him easily, even though Skyloft was a rather known chunk of land.
Zelda had quickly realised that Link was always covered in vines, grass and dirt in their class after that, so it must’ve been a journey to get to his spot, but there were so many areas with vines and grass, so it was still rather difficult to determine his hiding spot.
She couldn’t even begin to take a guess at where he hid.
The caves were strictly off limits, but everywhere else, besides going inside, was completely fair game, but it still left so many options open.
And today would likely be no different.
It was Zelda’s birthday today, meaning she got to choose the games they played, and she would’ve left hide-and-seek out, but Link insisted she play it on her birthday, so she decided they would, as the last game in the afternoon.
Link was a bit fidgety the entire day, a little bouncy on his feet, like he was extremely nervous for something. Zelda didn’t really understand why, his gifts were always the best, and they’d only been friends for just over a year.
His gift last year was his friendship—of which Zelda treasured greatly, and would continue to, for the remainder of their lives.
Throughout the day, Zelda kept a close eye on Link. She was always told that those who act differently one day may be hiding something, or could be nervous about an upcoming event, so she should try and comfort them in the very least.
And she tried to comfort Link, but he still seemed so nervous. She was tempted to ask but she knew better than that. Plus, what if he was just nervous about giving his gift this year? She didn’t want that surprise ruined.
The day seemed to flash by but also seemed to be the slowest day of Zelda’s life.
Henya’s pumpkin soup for lunch seemed to have an extra spice to it, added just for Zelda’s day who absolutely delighted in it, and everyone else loved it too, even Peatrice, who was known to be a picky eater, unlike her father.
The afternoon went just as smoothly as the morning, but Link’s fidgeting never ceased.
When it was finally time to play hide-and-seek, Link stood very close to Zelda, while they all stood in a circle. It was decided that Orielle was to be the first seeker, and so she turned to face the knights training hall’s wall, her hands covering her eyes, and she started to count up to 30. The children all ran off, except for Link and Zelda, who didn’t move because Link hadn’t.
Orielle was already up to the number 10, they didn’t have a lot of time left to hide.
Link looked around and then took Zelda’s hand, holding it tightly and running down the steps down to the market tent.
Zelda struggled a little bit to catch up even though she held on to his hand with a fierce grip, he was still too fast to her.
The two ran up the stairs, standing before the steps that led to where the Goddess Statue stood.
Link stopped running for a moment, and pointed to Orielle who finished counting and ran off. Link turned to Zelda, and put a finger up to his lips. She nodded and Link hurried up the stairs with her in tow.
Instead of praying, or stopping to admire the statue, Link let go of her hand and walked hurriedly to the back of the statue. Zelda followed, running to catch up with him. He stood at an edge, looking down. As Zelda finally got to the edge, she watched Link leap off.
With a loud “oof” Zelda looked down at him, seeing him on a small chunk of land. Her eyes widened.
“Link!! I can’t—I can’t jump that!”
He stood up, wiping off the dirt briefly before looking up at Zelda. He frowned.
“B-but…umm… I wanted to show you my secret hiding spot.”
Zelda gasped.
“But it’s down there?!”
Link nodded, his eyes darting to the left and right of her, watching for Orielle.
“Quickly! Before ‘Elle finds you!”
Even if she wanted to move, she couldn’t. She was too scared. She had yet to perfect the call for her loftwing, and wasn’t used to jumping off to land on other chunks of land. It seemed dangerous, she’d probably get hurt, and then what would her father say?
“What if I fall?”
“You won’t!” Link called out, stretching out his arms. “I’ll catch you if you want!” He said with a grin.
Zelda, although not really reassured by this, nodded, and without warning jumped off, toward the land. She landed on her hands and feet like a remlit, her palms and heels tingling from the landing, with Link standing next to her, his grin wider, as Zelda stood herself up, taking a moment to look at her open palms, the bright red of blood started oozing out little by little, but it was no biggie, she was in the middle of a hide-and-seek game and she couldn’t very well go to Horwell to wrap up such a small scrape.
“Alright! That was perfect, Zelda!”
Forgetting about her scrape, she turned to him, her smile widened greatly, eyes shining like stars. “Really?! Thank you!”
He turned to face the connecting lands, and jumped up the ledge, turning and crouching to help Zelda up by reaching out and pulling her up. It was tough, but they pulled through, and Zelda’s injury wasn’t bothering her at all.
Once up on the ledge, they were able to slide down a huge hill, on which Link had no hesitation in jumping down, sitting on the edge of the rock outcropping. Zelda followed his moves, sitting next to him, legs swinging and hitting the rock with her feet.
“This is your secret hiding spot?” She asked, looking around. He nodded.
“Mm-hm.”
“Amazing…” She watched as the knights of Skyloft circled around the sky, looking for any danger that might befall the citizens.
“Ma and pa showed me this place…” He added on quietly, looking behind them. “We’d have a fire there, and ma would teach me how to mix up potions and pa taught me how to travel at night using the stars as guidance.”
Zelda’s eyes grew wide. The loss of Link’s parents was still fresh although fading, happening right before the time they became friends. They knew of each other, well, Zelda knew of Link at least, and Zelda seemed to be the only other child to reach out and comfort him of his loss. Zelda saw how traumatised he was, and she knew how he felt, and although she couldn’t actually ease any of his pain, she hoped that she could at least be a ray of light in a world that had turned black in his eyes.
And it worked! At least, she was sure it had worked, seeing how inseparable they were nowadays. He even decided to show her his go-to hiding spot, as a gift to her. She would have never dared to go here otherwise, but because Link showed her this part of Skyloft, it was now her favourite part of Skyloft.
“You think you’ll fly at night soon?” She asked, looking aloud at the barricade of clouds beneath them.
“…nah.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. “Not yet, pa has an old book I’m keeping full of everything he had yet to teach me, so when I’m older.” Zelda nodded, impressed with his determination. Zelda could never bring herself to fly at night, not even as a dare in exchange for rupees. She certainly wouldn’t do it alone…if someone were to teach her, or decide to come along with her for a night fly…
“Do you think…I could come flying with you one night? On Crimson, I mean,” she looked at him, stretching out her arms out in front of her as she waited for his answer, palms out to the sky.
“Hmmm yeah! Of course, Zel! Crimson is a huge bird, I bet when we’re older we’ll still both be able to fit on her!” Zelda laughed, nodding along. Link changed his demeanour so quickly… she wondered if he was trying to hide any pain under the big grin he wore.
“Yeah! I bet! Crimson is an amazing loftwing…you’re lucky to have been chosen by her, Link.” The little boy blushed, and scratched the back of his neck, looking away from Zelda. “I wonder if the Goddess Hylia has anything else for you?”
“I hope not. She should give some good to others amongst Skyloft. Like you.” He looked back to her, gesturing toward her with a small flick of his finger.
She smiled, and looked down at her open palms hovering above her lap. The scrape had already stopped bleeding and the very ends of the cut already seemed to be healing itself. “You think our Goddess would grant me such a gift?”
“I know she will.” Link stared, also staring at her palms.
“That would be amazing… to get a gift from the Goddess…”
Link nodded. “I think you might already have a gift from her. You’ve always been a fast healer, maybe that’s her gift?” Zelda shrugged.
“Maybe.” Zelda looked back up, out into the sky, as did Link. “Your ma and pa are with the Goddess now, aren’t they?” He nodded. “Maybe they’re telling Hylia what gift to give us?”
Link laughed. “Yeah, maybe.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I miss ma and pa…” He turned his head to look at her once more. “Hey, you’ll never leave me, right?”
Zelda tilted her head and shook it, her short hair hitting her face.
“Course not!” She exclaimed. Her grin became wider as an idea popped into her head. She lifted her fist up, her pinky sticking out. Link stared at her little finger. “It’s a pinky promise! So we’ll never break our promise!” Link smiled, immediately lifting his own pinky and looping it with hers, and they gave it a firm shake.
“Forever?”
“Forever!”
Zelda completely forgot she was playing hide-and-seek, but she didn’t mind, her friendship with Link was more important than any other gift she had ever received, even with a bland tasting cake on the horizon… hmmm, Link would enjoy that, he seemed to eat anything on Skyloft.
She and Link had to fly back into town, long after the others had stopped playing the game and decided to do their own thing until Zelda returned. The rest of the night was spent opening gifts and a town wide celebration with large dinner and dessert to go with it.
Even though Zelda felt the food was bland, she was still incredibly happy, and she never wanted the feeling to end… when she was asked to blow out the candles on her cake, that is what she wished for. She wished for eternal happiness for all, even for those who had passed like Link’s parents. She always wanted the best for everyone, and the best way to do that was simply by willing it into existence.
She couldn’t wait to grow up, at least then, she wouldn’t have to play hide and seek anymore and she could easily ride on Crimson with Link if she wanted to.
She often thought about how meaningless her life and interactions must’ve been, if she was Hylia the entire time. Is that why she healed a bit faster than others? Is that why she “chose” to go up to Link and become his friend? Is that why normally seasoned food tasted bland to her, and she needed more seasoning to even begin to taste such food? She couldn’t even begin to answer those questions, she had to focus on what she would say when he finally arrived.
She stood in the past, where her past self—as Goddess Hylia—had just physically passed on like a mortal, and was putting her plans into motion as such. She could feel her other self not that far away. She and the very first hero were in Faron Woods, and Skyloft had just been created, as well as Fi, and it hadn’t been long since Impa had been briefed on Hylia’s plan, and now it’d all caught up with her. Zelda. The Goddess reincarnated as a mortal.
She thought of all the times where she and Link would ride their Loftwings together, or when Link would sneak out and ride his Loftwing at night when he was older, her sometimes joining in on riding Crimson, but never did she fly on her own bird at night. It was something that they were only caught doing once out of the dozens of times that he flew at night. He was right all those years ago, Crimson was big enough to carry the both of them as young adults.
Zelda was the better flier of the two, but Link had the better bird in her eyes, and she admitted she did push him too far sometimes, all just to try and fly on his bird with him. …and sometimes pushed him literally, for his own benefit, of course.
Zelda shook her head. No, she had to focus on what she’d say once he arrived.
…
She couldn’t help herself, her thoughts were all she had as she waited.
Link was stripped of his parents at a young age, and Zelda herself lost her mother young too. Was that pre-determined? Was that all apart of Hylia’s plan to build up the hero’s courage?
…no.
No, she knew it wasn’t. As Hylia herself, she knew that wasn’t the case.
People were lost in Skyloft all the time, seeing as how many gaps and holes there were to easily slip down, or some lost their lives to storms or flying mishaps. They happened all the time—too many to count in all honesty.
She reached out to the open air, grasping nothing in her fist.
She wished she could go back, before all this, before she knew she was the Goddess, before she knew that Link was literally slaving away every day to reach her, to catch a single glimpse of her, to just have the knowledge that she was all right. It was like they were playing hide-and-seek all over again, but she was the one with the impossible-to-find hiding spot.
She wanted to run and hide forever if she could, but she knew that she’d have to face her destiny sooner or later. She didn’t want to face reality because soon, very soon, everything that Link knew, all of those precious moments they had together growing up… they would collapse right before his eyes. She was about to ruin his world view, that she wished she could just hide him from, but if she did that, then she would be casting aside his role in this play, and both the Surface and Skyloft would be brought to ruin.
Everything she knew and had learnt over the past few months, would finally be revealed to him, and she wasn’t sure if she was prepared for the heartache she was going to cause.
So long as he understood who she was, and why she was doing it… that’s all she needed. She would understand if he never forgave her, she didn’t expect forgiveness.
She pulled in her arm, opening her fist to look at her palm. That scrape had left not a mark on her, all these years later. She lowered her arm to her side, and looked up at the ceiling of the temple built to worship her.
Boots echoed into the chamber, ones that were clearly not Impa’s. It was time.
“Zelda!”
From the corner of her eyes, she saw him slow to a walk and then stop, still a fair distance away. She turned to Link, completely unprepared to reveal the secrets she held.
She was about to break their promise from so long ago, the one they thought impossible to break as they continuously stuck by one another as they grew up.
With a sad smile, she looked into his eyes, eyes that were so desperate and happy to see her.
She almost laughed, realising that if this was a game of hide-and-seek, then she would have just lost the game right now. She was never the first to be found when they were younger, but when there’s only two people playing, she supposed it was much easier to find the other.
There was a reason hide-and-seek was her least favourite game they played. Link knew all the the best hiding spots, even when they decided to add their loftwings into the game, he was still never found. He knew of all the best spots, and now… well, now, Zelda knew of one that could never allow her to be found…because she wouldn’t even be able to hear Link yell “found you!” when he saw her once more. She would be in a sealed crystal, one that, if he wanted to truly finish their game, he had to break.
Even though she hated hide-and-seek, and she especially hated the current game they were currently playing, she still saw an upside. She was playing with Link. Even after all these years, Link was still here, and he was still playing silly little games with her.
…it was time to tell him of her hiding spot.
One last game of hide-and-seek, for old times sake, she convinced herself. Just the last game for the afternoon, and for an eternity.
She blinked a couple of times, her sad smile still present.
Just the last game for the afternoon, she repeated. She took a deep breath in.
“You’ve come so far, Link… I’m glad you made it.”