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"Oh, Link, I'm home!" She looked at him with those large green eyes of hers, still rattling with reality around her.
No tears came, not from the princess, whether it be exhaustion or disbelief, not one drop fell from her eyes. Instead, water clung to her tightly yet had already begun to dry as the setting sun shone upon her. Link was dripping wet just as much as she was from the lake that saved them from their fall.
Though a man of few words, Link could talk to her as he wished. He talked especially more than before the calamity, she noted now slightly frustrated that she wasn't quite able to remember the sound of his voice all too well for whatever reason. As their gaze was locked, he remained silent save for his ragged yet shallow breathing. Zelda could feel her chest tighten as worry spread through her every fiber.
Her eyes glossed over him as quickly as she could manage, taking slight mental note of several new scars and finding familiarity with others. Letting herself breathe, Zelda met with his eyes once more now assured he wasn't injured. That's when she could see hints of what was, a sight almost more chilling than anything else she'd ever witnessed. Link's mouth hung slightly open, the upper portion of his face scrunched tightly, eyes red and heavy with moisture, and though they weren't too prominent, she could see bags had begun to form under them. Water dripped down from his thick hair and across his face, but not every downward streak shared the origin. Zelda had never seen him cry before.
"Link..."
Something snapped when he heard her voice again through the light Hyrule field breeze. Link blinked before his eyes darted every which way, tears falling harder, face distorting along with the sob that left his throat. He shook his head and waited for a second, expecting it all to just stop, and when it didn't he shook again and again. All until his body shook alongside his head, and after covering his face with his hands, he fell to his knees. She quickly followed suit, almost immediately joining him on the grass.
For once she was at a loss for words. Not only was it the first time he cried before her, but he sobbed as well. Shutting himself off as it all went into his hands. Hunched over and downcast, Zelda knelt a whole head above him as he cried. The sight broke her heart.
The pleasant warmth of the sun lulled her body into peace, but an oddly familiar dread lined itself snugly within every vertebra in her spine as she had not the slightest clue of how to help him. Zelda breathed in deeply, clearing herself, hoping it would come up with some solution.
"I'm going to-" her arm twitched forward, honoring the instinct, she extended it further- "put my hand on your shoulder, okay? If that isn't okay you just stop me." It almost felt silly to say, for some time they had even shared the same bed. But this was an unprecedented event.
Without much in response, only his back rising and falling with the hitch of his breaths, she hesitated before going any further. Her hand moved gentler than a petal on the wind. The touch even softer as she came into contact with his skin. Link remained in his position almost as though the touch never came. She fully rested her hand on him now.
"It's okay..." It was barely over a whisper. "It's okay now, we're safe. I'm-"
Link began to tilt toward her. For a moment she worried he was growing faint and moved closer, but instead, his hands dropped and his damp head went to rest against her shoulder. Still, Link sobbed, Zelda's hand snaked onto his upper back. Her fingers passed over a large gash just above his shoulder blade, nearly completely healed. She winced imagining what had given him that, but that thought was for another time.
"I hope you don't mind me asking the favor. But can you do something for me?" He nodded. "Follow my lead, breathe with me for a moment."
Something like a chuckle escaped him and he nodded again.
Zelda established a gentle and deep tempo and waited for him to find his way into the rhythm. There were nights when she woke, terrified that she was still within that hundred-year stasis. Unsure whether she'd ever get to see Hyrule, her friends, or Link, ever again with her own two eyes. Before Link would sleep beside her she tried toughing it out, attempting to return back to sleep only to find that she'd lay awake until the sun rose. She remembered how embarrassed she felt when asking the very boy who held her heart without even knowing it not to leave her alone at night. Even more embarrassed at his brief response of " Okay ," and not another word.
The first nightmare that woke the two of them up, Link took her hand and put it over his diaphragm, just below the scars underneath his pectorals. For a moment she cursed and thanked Hylia that he insisted on sleeping shirtless. " Feel that? " He'd said." The rise and fall, deep, low, and gentle. Breath just like that... " When he put her hand down, she'd struggle once again. " How about this, we do it together, just follow my lead and breathe with me ." She did, the act soon becoming customary whenever she'd wake them both in the night.
Link took a moment but eventually matched Zelda's pace. The sobs started to subside as he shifted against her, a more comfortable lean as he pressed his wet face against her bare shoulder now, Zelda's head sitting atop his own. She took her free arm and wrapped it around him as well, the additional hand holding the back of his head now, gently scratching his scalp.
Neither of them bothered to keep track of how long they stayed like that, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes of silence between them that Link of all people had his voice break through.
"Do you remember..." his words came sloppy and slow broken apart by the involuntary hitch of his breath. "...anything from when you were...?" He pointed a finger to the sky.
"I cannot recall much, no." Zelda thought for a moment longer, only to bring back hazy memories and nothing much else. "Why do you ask?"
Link put one of his own hands on her arm, moving upwards until he could hang it on her shoulder.
"The kids missed you. They made all these little drawings for you when you came back home." She felt her eyes become heavier, still, no tears breaking out just yet. "I had to track you down. It took a few days, but I found you again. Hanging off of your mane, I held some of the drawings up to your eye." Softer he went: "You had this flight pattern," Link rose his finger again and swirled it in the air, "all across Hyrule. I kept coming up, brought you little things. Sometimes I just sat there, on your head…"
His crying picked up the pace slightly, but not for long as he took a moment to align himself with Zelda once again. Meanwhile, she tried looking back, getting frustrated she couldn't remember their moments together.
"Was I frightening?" Link nodded.
"You were a beautiful dragon," were not the words she expected next. "You just weren’t you anymore." Zelda pulled him a little closer as his other arm wrapped around her back. " That was terrifying."
"...How so?"
"I thought you were gone forever."
Gently, Zelda pulled them apart, suddenly missing his embrace. With both her hands on his shoulders, she looked at him face to face. Link's eyes were even redder than before, his face still moist with tears, snot threatening to drip from his nose if he hadn't sniffed it back in. He reminded her of a wet dog for a moment and it broke her heart all over again. Silently she pulled him in to rest her forehead against his and closed her eyes.
"I'm here, and that wouldn't have been possible without you, Link." An embarrassing thought entered her mind, only to have her fulfill it for she felt she was past the point of fearing awkwardness in a moment such as this. She brought her hands to either side of his face, gently facing him downward and bringing her lips to his forehead. The kiss lasted for a good moment, Zelda hoped it would cement her next words within him. She spoke against his skin, "I'm all here." She lingered with her lips on his forehead until Link lifted his head.
Stopping when they were face to face again, Link put his hands to rest upon the ones holding his head. Softly he smiled and Zelda could've fainted at the sight.
"You're here..." Zelda felt a tear finally fall from her eyes, she couldn't help but smile too as she nodded along. He searched her face for something, unable to read him as he laughed and bit hit lip for a moment. "Did you know I'm the luckiest in all of Hyrule?" She laughed aloud.
"There are many who'd argue otherwise,” it was now twice he had to seal away darkness, almost single handedly. She couldn’t imagine how such struggle and unbearable weight of destiny could make anyone envious. “Why do you think so?"
"Because I got to fall in love with you twice."
Zelda pulled her hands away and covered her mouth as she gasped. Her eyes went glossy and she trembled slightly as she fell back. Any moment now she would return to the haze of eternity in the sky. A dragon surely she had stayed, unsure once again that any of this was real. The sky was too pretty, his hair a little too perfect, and the near silent breeze and the comforting blanket warmth of the setting sun could only be real in just imagination alone. That had to be it.
She was convinced until Links's face fell, looking scared.
"Y-you cant be-... What do you mean love? What do you mean twice?" He looked down to the ground beneath him. "...Link?"
"Before the-" Calamity , the both of them always struggled to utter the very word. Link swallowed hard. "I loved you then."
"You never said anything..." An almost redundant statement as he almost never said anything that hundred years ago. He understood what she meant.
"When I remembered I loved you, it didn't really feel like those memories of before were even my own. Rather just some boy who shared my name, my face..." Zelda sank a little into the ground, she never knew. "Even as the lines blurred between him and I over the years, it didn't feel right to call those feelings mine." Link wiped his face and sighed with a shake. "Then I fell for you on my own terms," he chuckled a little sad, "I only realized it too late...."
"When? If I may ask." If his face weren't already red from the crying, she would've sworn there was a blush upon him now.
"I accidentally fell asleep in your mane, when you..." Zelda almost cracked a smile. "When I woke up, I don’t know why, but it was like we were back home together. I told you right then. I promised to tell you again if you ever came back. And now you're back...." Finally, he looked at her once again, his blue eyes piercing into her own. "Zelda, I love you."
A chill passed through every bone in her body, suddenly reminded of the slight dampness of the dress clinging to her. Tears became frequent, blurring her sight and dripping down her chin. Link moved toward her for a second, stopping himself from getting very far as he hesitated. He opened his mouth but then Zelda shook her head as something in between a sob and a laugh escaped her. If she could see clearly she'd see a very confused Link tilting his head to the side. In the blink of an eye, Zelda rose to her knees, wiping her face with a smile unwavering. Matching Link's level by bending over slightly, she took his face in her hands one more time.
"I'm going to kiss you."
"Wait, Zelda-" She cut him off by moving closer. Stopping just before their lips touched.
"If that isn't okay, you just stop me."
So close now, their eyes met with an intensity to rival the sun shining above. Both barely breathing now so close to one another. What happened next surprised her.
Link closed the distance himself as he surged forward to press his lips to hers. She gasped as they met, the sound snuffed out by the contact. Zelda closed her eyes, sinking into him as her hands went to hold his head and wrap around his back. Link followed suit as his arms wrapped around her waist. Both tasted incredibly strongly of tears, both unaware of how it was supposed to go, both forgetting to breathe all that much, both not having any other care as they became all that inhabited their world. They broke when air was desperately needed again. Taking a moment to breathe before coming back together again, both pulling a little tighter on the other.
Apart once more, Zelda settled for a hug that threatened to crush him, her head resting on his shoulder.
"So I guess you feel the same way?"
"Maybe you should stop talking again." He tensed a little in her arms. "I didn't think I'd have to spell it out...but yes. I love you too."
"I'm sorry I took so long to do anything about it..." He started, his voice never having sounded so peaceful. "Worth the hundred and four year wait?" They laughed together.
"Your numbers are off, as for me, it was tens of thousands of years." Zelda's voice, however, full of snark.
"Yeah, but you just said that you couldn't remember it-!" She pulled away and put a finger on his lips.
"Hush." He shut up right and quick, Zelda traced his jaw for a moment and held his chin between her fingers. "Besides, to answer your question. Yes. It was worth every single second..."
With her fingers, she tilted his head up again and joined their lips once more, smiling into the kiss.
Purah stood still. The battle above had forced all others to take shelter below Lookout landing, but from beginning to end she stood and watched. Looking as the Light Dragon aided Link in his battle with the other, what she could only assume was a gloom dragon, that had risen from beneath the castle. With her spyglass he caught Link plunging the Master Sword into its head. She was blown black by the wave of destruction that followed its vanquishing. Losing sight of both Link and the other dragon. Only to see the knight and the very princess herself falling from the sky not long after, landing into a lake not very far away
By this point the others returned to the surface, catching their bearings, assessing the damage, making sure everyone was accounted for. Purah looked down at them for a moment, wondering if it would be the right moment to tell them. Excitement and relief flooded her every fiber.
“Are you alright up there? That was quite the-” Robbie called up as he spotted her.
“Yeah! I’m fine!” She looked through the spyglass again, trying to catch where the two of them were now. “Get some horses sent out to the east immediately!”
“Horses?” Josha called from down below, now having joined Robbie.
Finally, she caught sight of them again, just a few meters from the water's edge. Both were seemingly okay as Zelda stood before Link now. Worry rushed in as he fell to his knees, the princess joining him on the ground. Purah heard quick steps behind her as Josha made her way up.
“What do you see out there?” She called out from behind, up on the tips of her toes as if it would help her see.
“I found them…” She stuck her tongue out slightly as she watched them.
“YOU DID-?!” Purah pointed a finger at her
“Shhhhhh…”
“What’s wrong, are they alright?”
For a moment she silently watched, the pair of them seemed fine. Holding onto each other now, then falling apart again, then their heads came together and-
Purah pulled the spyglass away from her face, unable to keep herself from a cheeky little giggle. Josha stared in confusion as the laughter erupted like thunder.
“Oh, they’re more than alright.”
“What-”
“About damn time too if I say so myself…” Purah made her way to the edge of her platform, looking down at the settlement with a slight smile, thinking maybe the horses could wait a few more minutes.