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In some aspects it would be considered impressive that Link had remained standing for as long as he had been after sealing away Demise inside the Master Sword. The fact hadn't registered in Link's mind as Zelda, Groose, and he walked out of the Sealed Temple towards the Goddess Statue that fit with the Sealed Grounds like a puzzle piece. The ancient stone pathway was completed once again, instead of cutting off abruptly.
Maybe it was the shock of losing both Fi and Impa allowed him to push on further than he should’ve. Perhaps he was still concerned over Zelda’s wellbeing enough to not notice how weak his legs felt.
Walking through a ray of sunlight not obscured by the temple or the Goddess Statue, Link’s vision blurred and skewed. Black dots swam and morphed into bright colors and he was no longer standing on solid ground.
Link heard Groose let out a surprised shout- the ground wasn’t this separated- stone didn’t have a kind of give like this.
Oh. He was caught.
“Link!” Zelda called out, “Link, what's wrong?”
“Zelda, his arm-” Groose warned as he lowered him down to the ground, “Goddesses, he's so light.”
“There could be more than just his arm, we have to get this off of him.”
Link felt his body being moved so that he was propped up against something. Link could hear his own cries and whimpers of pain with every slight movement he happened to make. He could feel a pulling on his tunic pulling it up, not that he could fight it, Link chose to comply with the distant directions of Zelda and Groose.
Most of Link's surroundings were hazy and dim. It was calm in a certain way. If he could fall asleep, maybe he wouldn’t notice the odd tingling he started to feel in his fingers.
A brush of his right shoulder, and his eyes flew open from their half closed state. His whole body seized. Jolts of pain sparked all throughout Link's body. Lightning was running down his arm and- where was Fi?
Link's hand twitched around nothing, no weight of the Master Sword in the hero’s ruined grasp. No. No, no, no, no, no! Demise was standing above him. He needed to stand up, but his legs weren't listening!
Another lightning strike.
He was flailing now, kicking and scrabbling for any weapon, any defense to use against this overwhelming evil.
A blurred flash of red entered his rapidly distorting vision- Demise. Link let out a yell of desperation and kicked at the Demon King, knowing it was ultimately useless, it still sent a wave of pride through Link every time he felt his foot connect to something solid.
“Ack-he's fighting me.”
The barrier that was cradling Link shifted. White fabric moved in his line of sight. A figure with long blonde hair was beside Link, taking his uninjured hand in hers. Zelda? No, there was something more to this presence, he could feel it in his soul. Hylia.
A cool hand rested on Link's forehead, pushing his hair out of the way. He could see Her lips were moving, saying more than he could've understood. Link prayed that She knew he did everything in his power to stop Demise.
“Sleep,” the Goddess commanded.
He was dying. Why was Hylia telling him to sleep? Demise was still alive. The god was killing him…he failed. Link failed. He was too late again. Zelda was gone, her spirit consumed by Demise. The Goddess was gone, everyone was going to die and Link couldn’t find the strength to stand up.
Colors blurred and swirled more than they were before. His eyes grew heavier with every blink. With one last prayer to the goddess, Link apologized. He apologized to the world, to Skyloft, to Hylia, Herself. He apologized to Zelda. He couldn’t be the chosen hero and save her in time.
Link was sorry. He’s sorry. He’s so sorry.
I’m sorry.
***
Light flooded his vision before any other senses caught up to him. Not able to make out any discernible shapes yet, Link closed his eyes as he heard his own wheezing breaths. Stretching out his hand, bits of his skin caught on fibers of fabric.
He jerked his hand back to free himself from the pulling of his skin. Link’s eyes opened, bleary with tears welling up. Pain. Pain, pain, pain. Sharp pain rolled down and out from his arm and back up through his neck.
Dropping his hand, the shocks of pain quieted down as his awareness extended further. Blonde hair swayed above him. Link knew that this was the Goddess-but She had brown? Red? Blonde hair… and feathers.
But her blue eyes.
Those weren’t the eyes of the Goddess.
She wasn't Hylia. She was the person he'd run to the ends of the earth for. The one he killed a god for.
“Zel-Zelda?” Link winced, his throat felt like he ate nothing but sand for weeks.
She hushed him, running her fingers through his hair.
“You're ok. Everything is going to be alright.”
Link blinked again and saw the green of tree leaves- but there was a ceiling-stone. The Tree of Life? They were back inside of the temple. Why? Didn’t they just leave?
A shiver ran through Link as he could feel the stone floor under himself in a more tactile way than normally. Link moved his neck to see that he wasn’t wearing his tunic or any under shirt. Instead patches of makeshift bandages ran up his right arm and covered his upper torso. His mind still a bit sluggish he rested his head back down. A click of a puzzle piece occurred in Link's mind as heat rose to his face as he looked up at Zelda again. She was looking down at him- he was shirtless.
“We had to take your tunic and mail off,” Zelda explained, “Your right arm and chest are still open wounds, the fairy could only heal so much.”
Link hummed in acknowledgment. It made some sense to him why there was little reaction to his state of dress. But still if he was as injured as she was telling him why wasn't he feeling the pain constantly?
A twitch of his fingers.
Lines of pain shot up through him again. Link flinched and squirmed in a fruitless attempt to get away from the source of pain. A weight pushed down on his left shoulder
“Hey, hey, hey. Are you ok?” Zelda asked.
Link was able to find her eyes again. He gave a small smile as an answer.
She sighed.
“I don't know if you remember anything about the last few minutes. Or if anything you might remember was true. But for now at least-can you try not to move unless we ask you, please?”
She was somewhat right, his memory wasn’t adding up. Everything after stepping out of the temple was…hazy to say the least. Link did remember the flash of red-no- fire hair that was above him. Everything fell away after Hylia comforted him into unconsciousness.
Even with all they'd had been through, one thing was horrifyingly clear. Link lost his fight.
“‘M…s-sorry,” Link apologized, “Too…late.”
“No, no apologizing,” Zelda said.
“But…he…De…mise-” he tried to counter.
She cupped his cheek, “Demise is gone. You sealed him away.”
Sending a shock through Link’s system something clicked within him. He remembered the mirrored sky and shallow waters. The threats that were promised unto Zelda and him and those that came after. Sealing the Master Sword into the dais of the temple.
What…Who was he kicking then?
“Got it!” Groose’s voice echoed throughout the temple.
Footsteps and their echo also followed as Groose came closer to where Link and Zelda were. He was holding a bottle, most likely a heart potion.
“The old lady had one buried at the bottom of a storage chest.”
“Alright, I’m going to sit you up. Ok, Link?”
Link nodded.
“You’re not gonna kick me again if I help?” Groose asked, “Not that it hurt me or anything, I can handle any-”
“Groose.” Zelda interrupted his tangent before he could start.
“Oh, right. Bottoms up.”
The ceramic lip of the bottle accidentally hit Link’s teeth as it was raised up for him to drink. As much of a bonehead Groose was and still is, he kept the potion liquid from spilling everywhere.
Oh. Link was alive. This wasn't some last figments of his imagination the Golden Three had given him as he died. He moved his functional hand to grasp the neck of the potion bottle, tipping it back a bit further until the bottle was empty.
If he didn’t already figure out that he was alive, the next few moments definitely would have.
He lurched forward curling around himself. A pseudo-nausea like feeling came in waves as Link breathed hard, waiting for it to pass. Link remembered he promised Fi, although she had insisted that a promise was not needed, to not down potions on an empty stomach after the second time he slammed a heart and stamina potion and had to brace himself against a tree stump for ten minutes. He knew he wasn’t going to throw up but that fact alone didn’t settle Link’s rolling insides or the worries of his friends that were now filtering in.
“Link, what’s wrong?” Zelda asked.
Groose on the other hand was a bit more blunt, “Come on Birdbrain, if you’re going to do something do it.”
A few more seconds of an uneasy anticipation, Link sat back on his legs. His stomach still twinged from the emptiness other than the magic infused into the potion.
“M-my…bag.” Dear Hylia, his voice was destroyed, “has…food.”
Groose was quick to move. “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”
The stretch of silence was good for him as Link sat there just breathing. The sick feeling of nausea was lingering but having a tangible awareness of the world around him was worth the side effects of the potion.
“There’s only stamina fruit in here!” Groose called out.
Groose’s confusion was not unusual. The best way to recover from an upset stomach due to potions, is to eat food. Substantial food. Which stamina fruit is a poor substitute for.
Link nodded his head, even after he realized that Groose couldn’t see the movement from where he was. Link didn’t want to try to verbalize his answer, even if he did, Link didn’t know if his voice could even carry at this point.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to as Zelda cupped her hands around her mouth.
“Bring it over here.”
Her voice carried a hoarseness to it. Not speaking for over a millennia while incased in a amber-like crystal
Groose came back with Link’s belt of adventurer pouches, and two pieces of stamina fruit. He handed the hero the fruit and somewhat casually began to search through the rest of the bags almost to see if Link might’ve missed a healing item. He grumbled to himself when nothing materialized and pushed away the mess of leather.
“Stamina fruit isn’t food,” Groose pointed out, “It’s one of the first things we are taught.”
Link shot him a look as he tore through the fruit like he hadn’t eaten in a week-but to be fair he practically hadn’t, just enough so that the potions wouldn’t incapacitate him.
“I don't know what you're looking at, Pipsqueak, not all of us are able to sleep during class.”
“It works,” Link mumbled, wrapping his left arm around his midsection. Maybe his own body heat could warm himself up even if only slightly.
“Are you sure you’re going to be able to keep it down, Link?” Zelda asked.
He nodded. “‘s cold.”
Groose’s bravado puffed up again as a grin split across his face. “You’re sure lucky that I was smart enough to take an extra set of clothes with me when I jumped after you.”
He started to rummage through his own satchel of supplies and items.
“What about mine?” Link slowly asked.
“They’re ruined. At least this is clean.” Zelda glanced over quickly. “Hopefully.”
“Hey my shirt is as clean as it is going to get, princess. It doesn't have mail fused into it or burnt to a crisp,” Groose argued, before he swiftly added, “Please don’t smite me.”
She rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t be worth it.”
Link gave Zelda a questioning look.
She shrugged.
“It wouldn't be wrong to assume that you would need help pulling this over your head?” Groose asked.
Link hesitantly nodded. Allowing the other two to help him get the spare shirt on. The larger size compared to himself made the accidental brushes to his arm and side more forgivable.
Even though Zelda would’ve been better support from a height standpoint point, she had even tried to argue that, both Link and Groose agreed that it would be easier for everyone if Groose helped him walk out of the temple.
Once the trio was standing only a few paces from the statue, Link was able to convince Groose that he was able to stand on his own now. Obviously not without some snide comment from the other.
“Zelda,” Link started, looking at the iridescent loftwing statue. “How are we getting home?”
“I can call our loftwings down,” she said as if that was always going to be the answer.
“Sure, but how is this gonna work? I don't exactly want to be constantly looking behind me to see if String Bean made it,” Groose said.
Zelda huffed, “I’ll ride with him on Crimson. Your bird doesn’t trust Link and mine wouldn’t be used to carrying more than one person, alright.”
“Yeah, yeah, ok we’ll go with that plan.”
“I don’t get a choice?” Link hoarsely whispered.
“I'm sorry, but I-we can't have you falling off of Crimson. Even if she can keep you from falling, Link, you're not in a condition to be flying solo.”
He sighed.
Moments later the sky barrier opened up as the loftwing statue glowed with magic of the goddesses.
Two loftwing calls were heard as green and red steaks flashed in the sky. Groose’s loftwing hit the ground first, barreling into his rider. A wave of fear washed over Link as Crimson rushed to the surface seconds later. How loftwings showed affection to their companions varied from bird to bird and rider to rider, but with the separation of distance and his many dangerous trials, Link knew that Crimson was stressed and bound to be protective of her human counterpart, but he hoped that she would
Crimson touched down on the earth. Grass and dirt displaced by her talons was audible as she skidded to a stop.
Link let out a strained laugh as he opened his eyes, coming face to face with a yellow beak. Crimson also let out a small call as a kind of greeting. She gave her human counterpart a look that read like:
‘You trust me that little? Silly human, you offend me.’ Crimson moved her head so that she was sticking her beak up into the air.
Link gave a small sigh to himself and bowed to the loftwing as a sign of apology.
Crimson quickly reciprocated the bow and responded with a light rumble.
‘Acceptable.’
She raised herself back to full height and knocked the bottom of her beak on the top of her human’s head. The hard feeling of her beak resting on his skull stayed there for a few seconds until the loftwing moved to inspect Link. Crimson of course closed in on his bandaged arm.
She blinked and narrowed her eyes asking, ’What is this?’
“I’m injured, you’re going to have to help me,” Link explained.
She nipped and let out a hiss at the shirt that was practically wearing Link instead of the other way around.
“That was a warning hiss, are there any monsters around?” Groose asked.
Link shook his head. “Unless you’re the monster, because she was hissing at your shirt.”
“Your bird has a serious issue with me. You should tell her that we’re good now.”
“Leaving her trapped in a confined space…mi…ht-” Link’s voice broke as he started to cough. Quickly recovering his voice came out as a stuttered whisper, “Might have something to do with that.”
“Continue talking, hero, it might do you some good to lose your voice for a few days.”
“Both of you enough,” Zelda scolded, before she caught the attention of the disgruntled loftwing, “Come on Crimson lay down.”
The loftwing followed her directions and guidance. Crimson eventually was guided to sit down, making Link’s task of getting up onto her back easier.
He swung his leg over the side of Crimson's saddle. Link hissed as pain rocketed through his side, there must've been some injury to his ribs that wasn't noticed. Hands were shoved against Link arm and side as a counterweight so he didn’t fall off.
“Easy, easy, I've got you,” Zelda said.
Link pushed his weight up onto the saddle, finding himself face planted into his loftwing's feathers. Taking a second to breathe he moved to sit up. Crimson started to stand, now that her usual companion was seated.
“Wait, wait, wait, I need to get on.” Zelda was able to coax the loftwing back down.
Link petted the feathers along Crimsion's neck in an attempt to soothe her. Both loftwings were starting to get restless from staying on the surface for this long.
“Ready.” Zelda wrapped her arms around Link’s waist.
Link whistled and Crimson took a running leap into the sky, stalling to get enough lift, before she climbed up higher and higher catching the wind stream created by the loftwing statue. Another set of wingflaps was heard not too far behind.
Link glanced behind him, seeing Zeda’s hair whip in the wind. She moved her arms around his waist tighter. Everything was going to be alright, Link concluded, even if the edges of his vision were starting to dip into darkness again.