Forgive me | Legend of Zelda FF | ENG

1 ~ Last hope

"Link, are you sure?", I called out to him when he suddenly stopped and looked back at me. His hair was already hanging wet in the center of his face from the heavy rain, which didn't seem to stop.
"I'm one hundred percent sure," he replied as he carefully took my hands in his. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

He took me by his left hand now, the Master Sword in his right; ready to fight. Briefly, he nodded to me as we then ran together towards Hateno Village to somehow get to safety before things got any worse.

We knew nothing about the situation of Hyrule at that moment. If the Akkala Citadel was still standing? Unclear. If Fort Hateno was holding? Unclear.

But we had to hope; hope that at least Fort Hateno was still standing.

That would be our last hope.

Link still had my hand firmly in his, his gaze stubbornly directed forward. He was moving at a steady pace, yet I could feel my legs beginning to weaken; I couldn't take any more, but we couldn't afford to take a break, either; that might be the end of us.

It came as it had to come. My strength was at an end and I stumbled. Immediately Link's hand slipped out of mine. Fear filled me; what if I had lost him now? What if he could no longer see me through the heavy rain?

I listened to my surroundings, looking for any sign of Link, but all I heard was the rain as it fell incessantly on the ground and the leaves of the trees around me.

Suddenly I saw a silhouette, then I heard my name.
"Zelda!", Link called after me, his voice hectic, his breath short.
I called out to him, but it felt like my word wouldn't leave my lips. Then, however, all I heard was someone on the wet ground stopping abruptly and now running in my direction.

I could see him, I was finally sure again that I was no longer alone. When he spotted me, he breathed a sigh of relief and stood next to me, one hand stretched out to me so that I could get up.

But I could not stand up. My legs were shaking, my body screaming for a rest, while my head was yelling to keep walking.

I briefly looked down at myself sitting on the floor, my hands in my lap.
My white dress was covered in mud and dirt, and so were my hands. My sandals were worn and my feet were sore in addition to the dirt and grime.

And right now I was sitting here questioning my appearance while the Calamity was raging across the land; and I couldn't do anything about it because my Sacred Power didn't seem to exist, or at least didn't show itself.

I felt my eyes gradually fill with tears as I held my hands in front of my face, finished off as well.
I couldn't hold it back anymore, too much had gone wrong; the tears burst out of my eyes like floods.

It had all been my fault, I should never have let it get this far, I simply needed my Sacred Power.

But it wasn't there and I couldn't awaken it, no matter how much I wanted to; it had never worked.
Whether I trained at the Springs or prayed all night, nothing had awakened even a spark of divine power in me.

I remembered that Mipha wanted to tell me something; that she was thinking of something special when she used her power.

But she was never able to tell me, because the Calamity was ahead of us.

I carefully wiped the tears from my cheeks with my hands as I watched Link kneel in front of me and put the sword away. Carefully, he put his right hand on my shoulder and gave me a gentle smile.
"This is too dangerous, Link," I brought out with difficulty. "Put the sword back in your hand in case someone attacks us."
Link's smile disappeared and his expression immediately became more serious again as he looked down at me sympathetically and then just hugged me tightly.
"It's not your fault, all right?" he said sternly as he put one of his hands to the back of my head. "You're not to blame for anything here."

I pushed him a little away from me with both hands and looked him straight in the eye, keeping my hands on his chest.

"But it's my fault," I told him right to his face as I burst into tears again and he hugged me tightly yet again. "It's my fault because I could have prevented everything, but I didn't do anything!"

Link seemed speechless, at least he didn't say anything more. Instead, he carefully lifted me onto his lap and just held me firmly in his arms.

I could feel his strong arms trying to seal me off from the outside world; to protect me. He had carefully rested his head on mine, his hands tightly embracing my waist.

I gently removed my hands from his chest and then embraced his waist as well; we remained there like that for a moment.

It felt as if the world stood still for a moment, as if there were only the two of us; but I was quickly jolted out of my thoughts when I heard the sound of a Guardian's gunshot in the distance.

Link immediately loosened his embrace and I felt how much I was missing it already; I realized how much I had lacked a hug in general.

But now we had to move on, otherwise we would lose the lead over the Guardians; then it would all have been for nothing.

"Link, we have to keep going," I said directly as he now fully released the hug.
"Of course, Princess," he simply replied, taking my hand in his again. "But I'm not going to let you go. I can't let myself lose you."

He tightened his grip, to which I nodded at him. Together we ran off again, Fort Hateno as our destination.

Link led me through many forests I had never seen in my life. He seemed to know many hidden paths, which was very helpful to us at this point.

Over and over again, he looked back at me as well; to make sure I was okay and could still follow him properly.

But I knew it, we should not have paused, because behind us I saw a Guardian Stalker, apparently a little faster than the usual. Panic rose in me as the Guardian began to catch up with us.

Suddenly, Link made a jerky turn with me and pushed me aside, whereupon I landed somewhat roughly in a large trunk of a fallen tree.
"Sorry," was all he could produce out of breath as he ran out of hiding and back into the open field.

I could hardly believe he was going to take on this Guardian; I felt nauseous just thinking about it.

I couldn't look, but suddenly all I heard was an explosion; and another. And then a third.
I took one deep breath in and out, mustered all my courage, and cautiously peered out from the tree trunk to sight Link. At first I couldn't see him, only the giant Guardian, but then I saw him.

He was holding his shield courageously in front of him, his sword in his other hand. Then the Guardian aimed at Link and shot his deadly beam right at him.

"NO," I yelled, but at the exact moment the blast of energy hit Link's shield, it reflected back, right into the Guardian's eye.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the Guardian went down and his light began to flicker.

Now Link was looking around frantically for me, presumably searching for my voice when I had just called him.
Then he spotted me.

He ran towards me, unaware that the Guardian was about to make one last attack.