Before the Calamity

Disaster Strikes

A/N: lol sorry guys. This story has been finished forever but I guess when I unpublished everything after a freak out I never put the last chapters back up. Oops.

Soon enough, the festivities were over. Link and Zelda were to set out for the third and final Goddess Spring in Hyrule: the Spring of Wisdom. The princess would finally make the trek up Mount Lanayru on her seventeenth birthday. All four Champions were to accompany them, as well. Everybody seemed to have faith in this trip; after all, the princess was wise beyond her years. It would make sense that this sacred place could be the key to awakening the dormant powers within her.

~

"Be sure to take the time to soothe your mount... That's the only way it will know how you truly feel... Your advice was quite helpful, thank you." She said to him, smiling. Zelda had been having troubles with her horse recently, and Link had known exactly what to say. He did not speak as much as others did, but his few words were always calming, helpful, or wise.

The two of them reached the horse statue, dismounting their steeds. The princess gazed solemnly at the sight ahead.

"See that mountain? That's Mount Lanayru... It takes its name from the Goddess of Wisdom." He studied the the princess, standing a few feet behind her. The setting sun bathed her in a warm orange glow; a sight he'd never grow tired of.

"Lanayru's decree is very specific; it says : 'No one is allowed, under the age of seventeen... For only the wise are permitted a place upon the mountain." She looked up into the horizon. "I've prayed at the Spring of Courage and at the Spring of Power, yet neither awoke anything inside me. But maybe up there... Perhaps the Spring of Wisdom, the final of the three, will be the one." She was full of hope and optimism, despite her fear, worries, and anguish. The princess was determined and nothing was going to stop her, no matter how much heartache her predetermined fate had caused her.

"To be honest, I have no real reason to think that will be the case. But there's always the chance that the next moment will change everything... Tomorrow... is my seventeenth birthday." She turned around to look at him once again. Her gaze pierced into his soul, her emerald eyes gleaming. Suddenly, all of his memories with her came surging through him, a sudden onslaught attacking him fiercely. He remembered the ceremony, her absentmindedness as she recited colorless, arid words. The struggles she faced internally to cope with her fate being entwined with his, the apathetic and troubled nature she seemingly had. He remembered the honor he felt the first time he sacrificed himself for her, without a second thought to his own well being. The day she finally apologized to him, her unkindness shattering into smithereens on the ground. From that day on, they had become friends despite their differences. Link recalled that she was the only person who could tear down the walls he had put up around him. She helped him in finding himself when he had been lost. As they grew close, his feelings grew stronger. Then, the day came when they finally admitted their true feelings, words that seemed long overdue, undeterred by their seemingly brief friendship. He felt the tears he had wiped away linger on his thumbs. He felt the delicate skin he had caressed in his hands. He reminisced at the thought of their night on Eventide, the pale moonlight washing over her. He even revisited the past night, the sadness and doubt she had expressed. He saw it all when he laid eyes on her.

Soon, though, he would lose all of that. The times they had spent together would be blown away by the strong winds of time and tragedy, far too quickly for him to reach out and grab them.

"So then I shall go... and make my way up the mountain." She finally spoke to him, a dubiety in her eyes that told him she was trying, but she was terrified. He looked to his feet, words evading him as a feeling of worry overtook him.