XLVIII: Inexhaustible Love

During the Calamity

"Would you like to sit up front with us?" Purah asked softly.

Zelda shook her head. She was very pale and quiet. "I'll stay back here with him," she said, grief-stricken. The Shiekah guards and Purah found Zelda and Link at the ruins of Fort Hateno, the morning after the hero had perished. Zelda's outburst of magic reached across the entire land of Hyrule, momentarily sealing Ganon. She had few days before she needed to refocus herself on stopping him again. Then, all that consumed her was her knight who died in honor. Purah ordered horses and a covered wagon to carry Link's body back to Hyrule Castle. Zelda sat silently in the back with her knight who was covered by a tarp. Purah and another Sheikah warrior sat outside of the wagon as the horses drearily trudged toward the ruins of the castle. 

"Ok," Purah responded in empathy. She dropped the cloth cover and left them alone until she remembered something.

"Oh, Princess?" she said sweetly, turning back around. "Link wanted you to have this."

Purah handed Zelda folded pieces of paper with some rain spots and dried blood on it. Zelda reached out and weakly grabbed it from her. Purah turned around and dropped the tarp as Zelda slowly unfolded the paper.

Link's voice began playing in her head.

"Zelda,

I intended on you only ever having to read this once I was gone. Please don't cry over me- I love you too much to cause you pain. I'm sorry to leave you, truly. I wanted nothing more than for our lives to become one and flourish together, but it seems the tide rises in ways we cannot control. I promise it will get easier. Maybe one day you will even forget. In the midst of the chaos our world faced, everyday things were disregarded and demolished. What remained was the purity of our stripped souls, not affecting the world but affecting each other, drawing closer to one another for warmth because we were both just as naked and cold. We were two helpless bodies drawn together by fate only to find out that every crevice in our bodies was made to fit together. The insignificant trembling of our hearts remained while our world was destroyed around us, but it seemed that was the only thing that could prove my infinite and wild love for you. It seems, in the end times, we are both as shelterless and unclothed as the first beings of this earth were, but in the memory of the souls before us, we breathe and we love. As I sit here watching you sleep, I try to name that warmth that you poured into my soul, demolishing any thoughts I ever had of living without you. You diffused the recklessness of my existence, becoming the song that played over and over in my head. You were the key through which I understood my whole world and my life. Your electrifying beauty struck me from the moment I saw you, and it nearly became painful. You're so beautiful, Zelda. Even while you're sleeping. My goddess... this makes me pray that what I'm looking at right now is the start of forever... However, because you are reading this, it wasn't meant to be. I knew that when I chased you toward that shrine, there was nothing that could prepare me for the day when I had to take my last look at you. I knew then because I was falling in love with you from the first moment you yelled at me for following you around. Zelda, do you know that it was you, and my dedication to you, that saved me from painful ends time and time again? Do you know that it was in fact you who saved my life by giving me a purpose to live? My delight, my everlasting love- as long as the softness of your lips and your splendid blonde hair remains, I will be with you. As long as my arms wrapped around you remember the curvature of your waist and the sound of your name, I will be with you. As long as the farthest wave in the sea flows through the endless curves in the sand, I will be with you. As it pushes through shells, seaweed, and coral, I want the memories of me to raise you higher than the tallest mountain in our world. The storm of life brought you to me, and I will remember you. So short was our time together, but so influential. Some people may think it's foolish how in love I am with you considering how young we are and how little time we've spent together. Though, if I know one thing, my heart is not fickle nor fleeting. My infatuation with you will never change. I was so used to disappointments in life that I thought love was just a mere flame that would fade with time. I was so wrong. This love is strong enough that no matter what happens or what comes next, I will be able to find you because I will remember that last night when I looked at you laying underneath me, you were everything to me. Our doomed romance, insignificant to the outside world, but everything to me. I could nearly cry out to Hylia, "What have I done to deserve her? Why am I so lucky?" Somedays I find myself in disbelief that our paths have crossed- it seems too good to be true. Perhaps it was. Ah, Zelda, my doomed love. I worried for so long what my soul would be like when I could no longer look at you. I do not worry anymore because even though I can be with you physically no longer, I can get by because you are the image pasted against my eyelids- your beauty wrings my brain even when my eyes are closed. You mended my soul. There's no way I could forget you, not even in death. Farewell, until we meet again in another life, farewell, my beauty, farewell my inexhaustible, fathomless triumph. When I get to where I'm going, I will be in peace. I want you to have peace too. Truly, I want you to be happy. And if that means pursuing a love in the world that is not mine, please do it. But if one day, when you are ready to move on to whatever awaits us after death, and you haven't forgotten me, I will be waiting for you. To Zelda, to the woman who reignited love in my soul after ages of darkness, I love you."

-Link

Zelda's throat became inflamed as tears began to well in her eyes. As she clutched the paper to her chest, she squeezed her eyes shut and tears flowed down her cheeks. She tried not to make noise but she gave in and hunched over, releasing held-in gasps of sadness. She put her hand down to hold herself up and dug her nails into the wood. Her voice shook and hiccuped. She was in disbelief of the past events. She cried in his arms... and he died in hers.

"I'm sorry for failing you," she whispered as her tears dripped on the tarp covering Link's body. "I could never forget you. I loved you so, so much, Link."  She bit her lip and tried to slow her crying. Her breathing quivered and her arm grew weak, but she would not allow Link to bear the brunt of her weakness any more than he already had, so she continued to hold herself up. Though, she did not think herself able to stomach touching him when he wasn't really there. The lack of warmth crushed her heart. She began to shut out all sounds around her until a particularly weird noise started ringing.

Zelda looked up and wiped her eyes. The wagon was glowing. But from what? she wondered. Then, she peered over Link's body and saw the Master Sword. It was glowing a bright blue. 

The wagon sounded like it was struck by lightning. It suddenly was glowing a bright white and the booming sound scared a scream out of Zelda. Her ears rang and her body immediately felt like it was boiling. Her veins burned and her breath latched in her throat, causing her to choke. Her hands shook violently and she looked down at them- the triforce symbol on her hand was glowing brighter than ever. 

Take him to the shrine of resurrection. The command reverberated in her skull... She didn't even hear the words. She just felt them. She couldn't even recognize the voice, but it was a woman's. The words made her blood feel electric. 

"So..." she breathed quietly. "He can still be saved?"

Zelda became numb to every emotion she just experienced and thought quickly. She could feel that they didn't have much time to save Link.

"Princess!" Adri, the Sheikah warrior, shouted. "Are you okay?!"

Zelda didn't answer the question. "Turn around! We must take Link to the Shrine of Ressurection! He can still be saved!" She started screaming hectically. "His life is in our hands! He depends on us!"

Adri did not question her, though it was unheard of for anyone to return from the dead. He turned the wagon around and stopped momentarily. Zelda lifted the tarp from the back of the wagon and grabbed the master sword. She turned to Link and pulled back the tarp.

"I will see you again," she whispered, gently placing her hand against his cold cheek, though the sight of his colorless face made her stomach turn. She looked at him one last time before leaving the wagon, sword in hand. She had to find a safe place for the sword until her hero's return. 

"Please hurry!" Zelda yelled at Adri and Purah. They spurred on the horses and quickly headed toward the Great Plateau. 

Zelda walked lightly out into Hyrule Field, the Master Sword in her hand. The Triforce symbol was still glowing and her steps left no imprint in the grass. It was like she was floating above the ground. Slowly, Zelda turned and faced the malice-covered Castle.

"Love is going to destroy you, Ganon," she growled under her breath.