Tears of a Broken Kingdom

Chapter Twenty ~ Tell me lies

It hurt to be awake again. All her limbs ached with a heavy lethargy, how long had she been asleep?

It took a few moments for Zelda to get her bearings. Her eyes met his blue eyes, his concerned expression had returned and Zelda felt her insides twist. The last thing she'd wanted was for Link to be worried about her. She wasn't the one who would die.

It almost made her wonder what would've happened if she had died instead. Would it have been better? Would their son have healed and recovered from his grief?

A bitter hurt formed in her heart and Zelda tore her gaze away from him, her breath was uneven again and she was worried she was going to cry again. Why was it so hard to be strong?

Zelda got off from her spot in Link's arms, and he let her go, offered no resistance. The sand had cooled down, a drastic change from earlier. A blossom of sunlight burst from the horizon, blurry in the haze. She must've slept through a whole day and night then.

Zelda sat herself up, might as well fall into the rhythm. This normalcy felt unnatural though, she no longer fit, worn thin from the pain she'd experienced. It was a song she'd forgotten the notes to.

Her husband looked expectantly at her, as if he wanted her to say something. What could even be said? Zelda couldn't very well tell him the truth, and to pretend her tears from earlier had never happened wouldn't float well either. He was too smart for that. And she was smart enough to know that.

Nothing she could say would be good enough, but it didn't hurt to try. Zelda took deep breaths, worried she was breathing too fast, Zelda tried to give her brain enough oxygen to think up the best half-baked lackluster response she could give. The only thing she came up with was an apology, but what good would that do?

"I'm sorry about all this Link," her voice could've been characterized as a mere whisper, watching as Link's eyebrows bunched up in confusion.

"What?"

She bit her lip, darted her eyes away. Apologizing did nothing. How could she explain it to him? Guilt filled her again and it became hard to swallow. To him, there was no reason for her to apologize, but the sun did do weird things to people.

"I just..."

There's no choice but to tell him lies... I knew that.

"I'm worried."

There. That was something to say, somewhat beneficial too. Confiding in him was the natural thing to do, that much was clear. And it looked more believable than keeping silent about it all. 

"... it'll be okay Zel,"

It almost sounded like Link was trying to reassure himself. Maybe even then, back when this had originally happened he'd been nervous.

This whole scout journey must've been broken from the start, it had been strange, hearing the Gerudo back to their old ways. It was almost like the reform had never even occurred. Scrapped, discarded, back to their old ways, and with new invigoration, it seemed. There'd even been rumors amongst the sentry guards the Gerudo had been trying to resurrect Ganondorf. Could that have been the 'boss' that one Gerudo had mentioned? Zelda had just thought it was Nabooru... but maybe it went deeper than that.

Zelda just stared helplessly at him, torn between conflicting responses. A futile attempt at a smile played at her lips, trying to convince herself this was normal. It had been normal.

"Can we just... stay here for a bit longer?"

Buying time seemed to be the only option to prolong his life. Traveling back had been a fool's journey but Zelda didn't want to leave just yet. There was still some things she could do. Zelda wished she could make him stay alive, and although for whatever reason that part of her refused to let that foolish fantasy go, deep down there was no way Link would make it indefinitely.