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Link had dealt with a lot in his life. Critical injuries, a hundred-year sleep, corrupted mechanical beasts, enemies of every kind, a dark, ancient evil…there was little he felt he couldn’t handle.
But this? This felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him and would never catch his breath.
Dozens of Silent Princesses bloomed around the empty dip in the ground where Zelda’s final tear had fallen. Their soft white petals practically glowed in the moonlight, a silent testament to her love for him that had lasted through the ages.
His hands mechanically picked the flowers as if his body belonged to someone else. His mind was elsewhere, his thoughts spinning round and round like that whirlpool he’d plunged into to get to the Ancient Zora Waterworks. He felt like he was in that whirlpool again, his mind and body tossed around like a plaything of fate.
His hand shook as he reached for the final flower. No, it didn’t feel right to pick it. At least one needed to stay. Silent Princesses were wild and untamed and deserved to be free. He would leave this one here until…until…
His vision blurred, and a choked noise escaped his throat.
There had to be something he could do. Something to undo all of this. To make it right. But even if he could rescue Zelda now, even if he could find a way to restore her humanity, that wouldn’t undo her eons of silent suffering. She’d turned herself into a dragon long ago to make up for his failure, in a time and a place he couldn’t find her. Couldn’t reach her or rescue her.
He’d doomed Zelda to this horrible fate the moment he’d let her slip from his grasp.
His legs failed him, and he buckled to his knees. The tears he’d kept inside for so long traced hot, sticky paths down his face, each one a bitter reminder of his failure. He’d sworn on his life to protect her, but she was the one always looking out for him. She’d ensured he’d made it in time to the Shrine of Resurrection. She’d made arrangements with Rauru for his arm to be replaced. She’d turned herself into a dragon and restored the Master Sword so he could wield it again.
What had he ever done to compare to all of that?
Thunder and lightning crackled in the sky, and a torrent of rain soon followed, making the waves lash against the shore of the peninsula. But he refused to budge or take shelter. What good would it do? He’d failed Zelda in such an utterly spectacular way that nothing he did would ever come close to making it right again.
This must’ve been how she felt when she couldn’t unlock her powers in time to save their friends, her father, and the kingdom. The same bitter taste of self-loathing and hopelessness, only his failure was so much worse than hers that he didn’t see how he’d ever forgive himself.
So much for being the hero. He knew she believed in him, but he did not deserve her faith.
He sat there for what felt like hours, his mind stewing over the staggering implications of it all. More than anything, his mind kept circling back to her tears. No one had been there to comfort her when she’d cried. How many years had she flown through the heavens bearing such a heavy burden alone?
This most recent tear, however…She knew. She knew he’d seen her other tears, and she couldn’t stop herself from crying again. She’d wanted him to know how she felt about him, too.
As if there had ever been any doubt. Never had he felt so unworthy of her love and yet grateful beyond measure for it.
It had stopped raining finally, and the moon peeked through the clouds. Just a soft, normal moon without the awful red of the Demon King’s taint. He wiped his eyes and stood. Enough crying and wallowing in self-pity. Zelda hadn’t sacrificed everything and doomed herself to a terrible fate just so he could feel sorry for himself. She was counting on him to do his part. And once he had, he would rescue the silent princess, whatever it took.
He took a deep breath and looked to the heavens. Zelda was up there somewhere. He would find her, take the Master Sword, defeat the Demon King, and save her. Only then would he allow himself to cry again. And he would comfort her too, for all the years she’d spent waiting, for all the pain she’d suffered as an immortal dragon.
Until then, he would keep every one of her tears in his heart.