The Legend of Zelda: Link's Desperation

Chapter 12: When Light Becomes 'Shadow'

Link spoke up first. "Hey Zelda?" He asked, making sure to not make the same mistake he had made the night before.

"Yeah?" She answered.

"You said that when you couldn't blame me for doing that to Ilia, that you've been there before..." he cut himself off, because he could just sense that it was Zelda cringing this time. He tried to look through the darkness, but it didn't work.

"...yeah, I did," she admitted. "When I was listing reasons I didn't want to go back to the castle, I left one out. A very important one." She was trying to give small bits of information to see if the next one would satisfy Link, but he wanted the whole story and she knew that. She sighed deeply and began to explain.

"Right before my parents died, they were talking about me taking the throne. But they didn't want me to be crowned Queen of Hyrule, because they didn't see my capability as a leader. So they told me that I could get the title, but I wouldn't be the supreme ruler if they had a say in it. They decided that it would be justified of them to arrange a marriage for me, and when it was time for them to leave the throne, we would be married. He would become the King of Hyrule, the supreme leader, and I his boring wife." Her story seemed to get her angry and sad at the same time, and Link worried that she was on the verge of tears.

"Zelda, you don't need to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, thanks, but I need to get this off of my chest. The worst part about it was that they didn't want someone out of the bloodline and last name to marry me. So they chose my cousin, who I've been best friends with for as long as I could remember. If marrying my cousin wasn't enough torture, he was my best friend, and they expected me to have chil--" she choked on the word, and hoped that Link got the picture. He remembered the King of Hyrule; stubborn and set in his ways. He completely believed her, and he was disgusted.

"I'm sorry," Link said to console her.

"Don't worry, it isn't your fault. But that's another reason why I ran away. And why I was so stressed. I mean, I know we've both been going insane over Midna, but I knew when I saw Ilia that you were going through something similar." Link personally didn't feel his situation was nearly as severe as Zelda's, but he let her talk it out.

"I was going to marry him today," Zelda said, reducing her voice to a whisper. Link suddenly realized that his little fake scenario in Kakariko may be getting to her, since it was hitting close to home unintentionally.

"You're here now. You can't obsess over something like that. Best case scenario, he takes the throne, we go somewhere awesome, and you can have everything you've ever dreamed of." Link was trying to cheer her up, but he couldn't begin to think of how. He was winging it.

"But what if I didn't make the right decision?" Zelda asked sharply. She burst into tears, but in the current situation, there wasn't any way Link could console her.

"...what do you mean?" Link asked sheepishly.

"I mean that I was born to be a leader, and you know my willingness for this kingdom and that I may not be a king but I can rule like any other, and me being me should have been enough for the castle and my father. I wasn't headstrong enough to stand up to my father while he was alive, and now that he's dead I'm living in hatred of him and his domineering shadow. I just needed to get away from the castle. I don't really know if I want to live away, I just needed a break. I still don't know if I'm cut out for never going back there, but I know if I do that it'll be so much worse than if I had never left in the first place. Don't think it's you or anything, Link--I chose to run away. But now I feel like a burden." Link didn't know how to respond to all of this; he didn't know to console or stay silent or what. Last night, Link was the one who turned the lamp on and asked Zelda to sit and talk, but now Zelda stood and walked to the lamp. She lit it and Link stood, wondering what she was planning on doing.