melodiesoflife | The Missing Link...

Who: Zelda & OPEN
What: Link is gone. [ooc: Feel free to run into her wherever.]
When: Feb 7th: Return from Chocobo Trip and then onward.
Where: Home (A-16), Hospital & Finally Old observatory.
Warning: Just Tears.

At first everything was normal, Zelda walked into her home with her travel bag slung over her shoulder. She was tired and was looking forward to a bath and a bed but there was something she wanted to do first. With a soft thunk she placed the bag down and then worked to unlace her riding boots. Once they were off she slipped out of her jacket and then pulled off her muddy stockings. She stepped inside and wiggled her toes against the clean floor with a smile.

“Link?” She called his name lightly as she moved through the house, her fingers laced through her hair and began to pull the loose strands of blonde into a tight pony tail. “Link?” Her tone shifted from a light tone to a worried one. She stepped through the house peeking into his room and then hers. She checked the kitchen and then the family room before walking back towards the front of the house. He wasn’t home, except that she had told him the time and date she’d return. Link would be here.

---

Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she pulled on a lose pair of brown work boots, leaving her jacket behind as she bolted from the house. Over and over again she heard like a round in her head.

He can’t be there. He can’t be.

The words repeated again and again becoming an ominous chant in her thoughts as she ran towards the hospital. Everything ached and she felt exhaustion creeping through her limbs as she ran. The cold air bit at her exposed arms and legs but she didn’t care, she couldn’t feel it. The only thing she felt was a sharp twist in her chest as she ran.

He can’t…

She didn’t stop at the hospital steps; she took them two at a time and then raced up to where the heroes were kept. She bolted passed those who guarded the door earning her dark glares from the men who now constantly patrolled the room where the heroes were kept.

Her feet skidded to a halt, her eyes fixed on the familiar crystal shape and she felt her heart tear apart at the sight. He’d wake up again, he had too. Just because he was here now didn’t mean he would be trapped forever. She felt the presence of the others trapped, like Link, in a veneer of stone. She felt herself crumble to the ground as warm tears spilled down her cheeks. She tried to stop them but she had been trying so hard not to cry that everything just spilled out all at once. She cried and cried until there was nothing left inside of her, her soul felt empty and drained. Then she slept, her body reaching its point of exhaustion as she lies at Link’s feet.

---

A few days later Zelda can be found in the Old Observatory. She had refused to go back to the empty house, unwilling to see the home she had created with Link. Kopula began doing more work and calling in a few of his friends insisting that Zelda rest.

Zelda didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts; she wanted to keep moving, to fight of her fears and nightmares with hard grueling work. Her work consisted mostly of physical labor, letting Kopula take care of matters of state using Zelda’s signature. She had washed the floors, cleaned the stables, scrubbed down the kitchen, shook out and washed the bedding and then rearranged a few of the rooms. She was never out of things to do because once something was clean she’d then clean it again.

She didn’t smile, her expression was blank as if content with the mindless tasks that she set herself to. He’d come back and it would be fine. She just had to believe that but losing your best friend, the closest person too you, was hard; even for what might be a short time.

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"But nothing," it seemed like she wouldn't be taking no for an answer. Nodding towards Kulupa with some silent instructions, she picked up a stack of boxes, more than the average moogle could probably handle, and bumped his way out of the room, leaving the two of them to talk.

"Link... he's turned to crystal, isn't that right?"

Zelda didn't think she could protest and then came Midna's question. It felt as if all the air had left her lungs. She was stunned and for a moment simply stared at Midna as if seeing the shadow princess for the first time.

The silence lingers but eventually Zelda spoke.

"Yes."

There wasn't much else she could say about it. Her voice was shaking and she felt more and more unsure of herself. She knew he'd be back but beneath that hope was something darker, a heartbreaking hopelessness.

She knew as much. Checked there before she'd come here. It had been the propelling force for her decision, after all. "Which is why I invited myself over. With Link off sleeping again, there's hardly any reason for you to stay alone in a place like this. And since the grimy-old man that has been sharing with me decided to move out with his eye-candied girlfriend, this is the perfect solution."

Link's crystallization of course, was a heavy subject matter -- all the more reason Midna forced her tone to stay light. What had the Princess Zelda once told her about ill-timed levity? Really, this was the best time for it.

"It will take some scrubbing of the walls, and -- ugh, probably the bathroom just to be safe, but Raven's room should still be liveable. Kulupa is already off to start with the cleaning, you and I can start brining things for him to unpack."

Zelda couldn’t help but blink at Midna’s comment. She had no response for that, at least nothing that would come right away. Yes, Link was gone, she knew it but this wasn’t a reaction she was expecting. Her heart had twisted with pain and Zelda was sure that it might never heal without the heroes return and yet seeing Midna’s effort. The short curt words of comfort brought a small smile to Zelda’s lips.

How was she so lucky to have friends like this? She couldn’t understand and while Midna’s words weren’t delicate they were her own which made them perfect. Without realizing it Zelda began to cry. She quickly wiped at her face but she knew the tears were still there.

“Thank you. Are you sure Kulupa doesn’t want help cleaning?” As she spoke she moved to help Midna pack. She didn’t think she could talk about Link but then, they didn’t have to and she didn’t have to be alone. After all, Zelda had promised that she wouldn’t take things on alone.

"Of course, he doesn't mind at all." If he did mind, Kulupa had the good sense to keep it to himself. Over a year under the rule of Midna's iron fist was more than enough time for him to learn what he should and shouldn't do and say -- just the way the imp seemed to like it. A good working relationship, she'd call it.

"Your job is only to make sure that you pack the things most important to you. And if... there's anything Link has left behind that might bring you comfort, that would be all right to take with you, too.

I'm sure... if there's anything like that, he would want you to have it, anyway."

"Okay."

Zelda nodded her head. There were a few things she wanted to keep safe for Link. Things that were his and gifts she had given him through their time here. She set to packing things as well, starting with Link's things since Midna seemed to have her own room under control.

As she worked she tried not to let her thoughts wander however there were things she couldn't help but think of, memories she couldn't forget. As she packed things away she had to pause and stop herself from remembering before continuing again. It was during this time that Zelda would make them tea needing a break from the work.

Midna had accounted for this. Suggesting Zelda take care of any keepsakes that might remind her of Link, and giving her an appropriate amount of time alone to think them over... but not too much time. As a figurehead for the heroes, she knew that it would be important for Zelda to keep up apperances -- which is why she would have to make sure to keep tabs on the future goddess. As much for her own sake as for those she wanted to be strong for...

"Well," she emerged finally, dusting her hands off together, "that should about do it, I'd think. Did you gather everything you needed?"

Approaching the table, she took a seat, having heard the tea under preparation.

Zelda nodded her head, continuing to prepare the tea. It didn't take long and at this point she could perform the task blindfolded.

"Yes, I just need to move a few boxes from Link's room." Mentioning him hurt a little but Zelda showed no signs towards it. It hadn't been long but she had accepted that he was gone and merely hoped that he'd return.

"I don't think carrying the boxes should be to hard." Though Kopula can't do it alone. "I do need to stop in at the old observatory. There is some paperwork I need to check on."

"Of course," she waved off the comment of stopping to gather some of her paperwork, that wasn't a big deal, apparently. She tapped her small fingers against the tabletop rhythmically, as she wrestled with her thoughts. To bring Link up or to let sleeping heroes lie?

She knew what it was like to be without the hero, having long since given up on the thought of the Link she knew appearing. Even though his crystal had appeared just briefly that one time...

"Let me guess... your Link is probably just as prone to nodding off at inconvenient times as the rest of them, isn't he?"

Zelda looked up at Midna her expression a combination of pain and happiness. She felt tears dot the corner of her eyes but she did not cry. It wasn’t the time to feel sorry for herself. Instead she smiled fondly, looking down into her tea cup as the liquid’s surface rippled.

“Yes, I often woke him up so that he wouldn’t be late for things. The last thing I asked him before arriving here was to wake me up in return.”

She looked up at Midna. “He really did grow up since then.”

"Hah," she sounded a little indignant with the laugh, raising her palms up as she shook her head. "You must be lucky then, to have a hero that has managed to grow up. The Link I knew hardly knew what to do with the responsibility that was thrust on him. Why, without my help and guidance, there's no telling what he would have gotten up to," she didn't speak of the hero of her own world often, perhaps for the same reason Zelda was reluctant to talk about her own now. It... felt hollow, empty — talking about him while he wasn't here.

But the two of them shared this fate now, those left behind by a hero dozing away with time forgotten. Yet another thing that made the two of them similar...

"Your Link was just as lucky to have you, I'm sure."

Zelda smiled at Minda. There was an undeniable pain in her chest but she knew that she wasn't alone and that meant more than anything else right now. It was true that Link had grown but it wasn't through a happy situation. She had lied to him, had used him and she still carried that guilt with her; even after Link forgave her.

"My father certainly thought so."

Her smile brightened. "He always knew though." She blushed slightly. "That Link was always different. The goddess had blessed him." Added to the fact that Zelda couldn't hide her affection from the eyes of her father. He always knew which was perhaps why he was training Link to take over for him. In the end, none of that mattered.

The Missing Link...

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