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Her name was softly whispered against her skin as his hold on her did not falter. She wished that they could stay like this forever. Zelda reluctantly took a step back to commit his features to memory. Ignoring how his eyes had grown weary and sunken, she focused instead on the depth of their cerulean shade and the slight arch of his eyebrows. His head tilted and Zelda stifled a smile before breaking the silence.
"You need rest."
He closed the gap between them again in protest, placing his hands on her arms without meeting her gaze.
The winds had grown calmer now. The sky above them reflected softly against the tip of his nose and Zelda could not look at him any longer.
"Link..." She sighed, slightly melting when he embraced her again, gentler this time.
She tried her best to ignore the way his hands caressed her back. How they moved to play with her hair. How he took in the smell of her hair and how she tried to take in his. Her arms wrapped around him and she heard her name being whispered again, in a soft plea. Zelda's hands slowly moved up his back to wrap around his neck before sliding down his shoulders and arms. She leaned her upper body away from him and their gazes fell down to their intertwined fingers, staying there for a moment. He squeezed her dainty ones with his thicker, rougher ones as he breathed wistfully. She took this momentary distraction as an opportunity to slip the Ocarina of Time in her free hand. He had noticed, she knew that, but he could not argue against it. Her nervous gaze met his and he braced himself.
"All the tragedy that has befallen Hyrule has been my doing." She felt him rubbing her wrist, creasing her gloves in the process while she continued. "I was so young, I could not comprehend the consequences of trying to control the Sacred Realm and I... dragged you into it too." Link shook his head. If she had been young and naive then he had been even more so.
"Link, we must close the Door of Time. Let me return you to your original time." She hugged the sacred artifact close to her heart. "So you can regain what you lost and go back home."
Zelda broke away from his intense gaze and looked far into the distance. "Where you are supposed to be... the way you are supposed to be..." She was not certain in which direction in time she was speaking. It was only until he slowly removed her glove that she came back to the present.
He bent down to press a soft kiss against the tips of her fingers and for once Zelda found relief in his silence.
As he straightened Zelda studied him and began playing the notes that he was all too familiar with, shutting her eyes as he disappeared before her in a shine of bright light.
"Thank you, Link."