To Pieces (LoZ - Link)

Hurricane

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Once I laid down in front of the statue of the great fairy, I didn't feel like I'd ever move again. This wasn't just losing my strength, this was losing my mind.

Both of them. Both confessing. Both loving... me.

It was far too late now. There's no way I could ever come back from this, and no way we'd all walk away unscathed if I tried to stop. They wanted me to pick them, without realizing that I already was.

Yet there was still a part of me that wanted to let them in, to let them be right and to just listen.

A part of me still wanted to have a future with them.

But I couldn't.

No matter what, at least one of us would die.

I'd rather it be me. If anyone were to be lost to this absolute hurricane of a mess we're in, I want it to be me. They deserve everything, they deserve to have each other, to love each other in the ways they make me feel loved.

"I think I need to let go." I look back at Cytel, my pillow at the moment, half expecting an answer. "I think I've given the goodbyes I needed to. I think I need to just let the next part come and be done..."

"I'm afraid it wont be that easy," Navi states, appearing from her hiding place in the feathers of my loftwing. "I think the best thing you could do for the hero now is to make sure your final offering is during his battle with Demise."

I lightly brush the back of my hand on Cytel as I turn my head skyward. "Will I make it that long?"

"There's only one more time you'll need to sing the Goddess' blessing. You have more pieces than that left." Navi flutters into my vision, giving me a small frown. "If we don't wait until after the battle... I fear he might be too upset to fight at his full capacity."

I groan and roll away from the fairy. "Thanks for the guilt trip, Navi."

"My apologies, you just seem to want to give in... You need to be much stronger than that." Navi takes a seat beside me, also looking up at the sky. "I hope I get to meet you again in your next life, even if Aine doesn't need to awaken inside you... You're truly one of the more interesting reincarnations."

"Navi," I stop her from her compliments, catching her off guard. "When it's time.. will you stay with me? Until it's over?" I turn my head to look at her. "I'm not sure I can do it alone, despite how I may act."

"I will always be by your side." She answers. "I've been there through every lifetime. I've watched you be born, watched you grow up, watched you grow old..."

She didn't have to say the next part. I knew what came next.

"I'm not sure how many more times I can bear it."

Perhaps I didn't.

I slowly sit up, a frown curling my lips downward. Navi sits up as well, an embarrassed look on her face as she reaches up to wipe a tear from her eye.

"I'm sorry," She mutters. "I'm supposed to be guiding you, I should be better at keeping it together."

"What were the other lives like?" I ask, and Navi looks up to me, her eyes a piercing periwinkle color, her magic glow making them even more intense. "Were we close like this?"

"This and more." She looks up to the sky, lost in a memory. "Aine never had to be awakened, but that didn't stop a young girl from exploring and chasing fairies." She clutches her small hands together. "In your other lives, you didn't listen to me because I had answers to problems... You didn't put your faith in me because you had to. You just... did. A free spirit, and one who chose me." Navi smiles genuinely, and I feel a bit guilty.

"And Aine?" I ask, Navi giggles. I take that as more of an answer than I needed.

"I think I more followed and listened to her than she did I." Navi falls back onto Cytel, barely disturbing the bird with her tiny body. "Aine was a queen. I followed her because that's what I was made to do."

"I see." I answer, picking at the grass.

"I like you much more. You're not as self absorbed."

A snort forces it's way out of my nose and I shake my head. "Well, thanks for that, I think." Not entirely sure I believe it, though.

A warm breeze passes through the air, causing my hair to sway against my arms. Such a delicate feeling.

How many feelings would I miss?

"You don't have to be with me when I let go, Navi. I don't want to hurt you."

"Like I could live with that kind of guilt," She responds, nestling up into Cytel's feathers. "I'll manage, don't worry. I always manage."

"Promise to find me in the next life." I request. "Remind me of who I was... what I did. Don't let me do this for nothing."

"I'll never let you forget who you are... who you were. I'll make sure the world never forgets."

I turn my body around, my knees now exposed from peeking out from under my gown. Cytel's feathers tickle my skin, but not enough to distract my eyes from inspecting the reason I came here in the first place.

I had hoped resting in front of Aine's statue for a while might bring her forward, have her give me some sort of advice... some solace.

But there was silence on her end.

Perhaps she was scared, too.

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