To Pieces (LoZ - Link)

Everything's Alright (Finale)

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At first, I thought for sure I was being reborn. Fairies filled the sky around me, swaying lightly to some lingering melody in the air. My cheek felt wet with tears that I hadn't cried, and my skin warm under the touch I thought I'd never get to feel again.

I knew I'd remember them, but I didn't expect Link and Zelda to look exactly the same.

"It worked," Zelda muttered, breathless. "Oria..."

"Thank god," Link collapses onto my stomach, his fists clenching tightly to my knight's uniform. "She's alive."

His voice may be muffled my the cloth on my body, but it was only then that I realized that I was not reborn at all, at least not into a new mortal body.

I was back as me. As Oriana.

"How..." I said it so quietly, I wasn't even sure I said it at all. But Link rolls his head to look up to my eyes, and then rises and ushers me to sit up beside him.

"You gave me your heart. I just gave it back." He responds, grabbing my left hand. "If Zelda hadn't suggested we try, I'm not sure I would've thought of it at all."

I look over to the girl on my right, who gives me a smile through the tears pouring from her eyes. "I got your message, the one you left for the fairies to deliver. It made sense then, you had been giving Link your heart, that's what had been killing you. If you hadn't said that if was getting torn to pieces... I would've never thought to try to give the pieces back." She lets out a gentle sigh and wipes the tears from her eyes and cheeks. "Thankfully, your little counterpart was willing to offer her help."

Zelda moves to the side for a moment and reveals Navi floating behind her. Navi looks a little flustered, maybe a little scared. Mostly, she looks relieved.

"You asked me to help Link... you never specified with what." She wrings her hands together nervously. "But I thought, if fairy magic can take from you, it can probably take from him too..."

"So I.. I have my heart back? All of it?" I ask, bringing a hand to my chest.

"These two sang the ballad of the great fairy, and offered their pieces to you... As long as you remain together, your fates intertwined, then everything shall be alright."

And the I feel the beating in my chest.

And I felt how I hadn't felt in a long time.

I felt truly alive.

"It's ... all over, then?"

Link gives me a smile I hadn't seen in a long while. I look over to Zelda, and she nods her head in the same vigorous manner she always did when she was truly happy.

"Demise is gone for good... we can go home."

It's like Link's words are that equilibrium, that moment of peace right before you wake up... It's like my whole mind was at ease, no-- my whole heart was at ease. Their kisses caressed my skin, their sighs of relief echoed in my ears and their hearts beat loudly as each pushed their chest against mine.

Finally, after all this time, there was nothing left to worry about. No more monsters. No more dying. No more losing each other. No more broken hearts.

There was just us and the infinite ahead.

No more consequences.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

I used to believe love wasn't worth the risk. I used to believe that the pain caused by the inevitable heartbreak wasn't worth the initial rush you got to feel.

I was an idiot, back then.

Love isn't something you can control. It may not always happen like every fairytale your parents read to you, but when it happens, its not something you can just run from forever.

I'll tell you the truth-- love hurts. It can hurt both physically and mentally and affect you in ways you never even thought were possible.

And sometimes, love heals.

It can patch together wounds you didn't even realize were there. It can help you become a better person, become stronger, become more courageous-- become someone that you are truly proud of.

And sometimes, love can be so powerful that it transcends your own control. Sometimes, fate just puts you together-- because it knows what your heart needs.

I used to believe that love wasn't worth the consequences.

But any heartbreak I suffered, any pain or misery-- it was all worth it. Even if I hadn't ended up back home, even if I managed only to save my best friends and not been saved myself-- It still would've been worth the fall.

Fall in love. Don't let your negativity be what holds you back from falling.

But most importantly, never be afraid. If there's anything Link and Zelda taught me, it's that it's okay to love openly and freely and in whatever manner makes you happy. I saw it in Hylia and Aine, unabashed pure love. For each other, for the hero, and for the people they swore to protect. If I can wake up every day holding even half the love that the gods before me did-- then I know that I'm doing it right.

That love is worth the consequences.