Out-Voiced (BotW fanfic) (on permanent hiatus)

Prologue - Katherine

The rain was harsh.

It pelted her back like small pebbles as she took steps far slower than that of her sister's and the silent knight's horses.

A bright light deceived her vision, leaving her momentarily blind. Her head buzzed with the memories of the previous night, coming in flashes that were so out of order, they were practically indiscernible.

Katherine's knees felt weak, but she kept her weight on her feet, refusing to fall.

She had ignored the unrest within her heart, the unease that had taken root and settled in her stomach, and she carried on.

She had ignored the feeling that something awful would happen, the feeling that something was going to go wrong... The knowledge that things wouldn't end well.

She didn't want something to go wrong, so she ignored the evident truth that was presented to her in a vision.

And, finally, she decided she wanted her sister to be safe, more than her own pride, and so she finally pushed aside her doubt, choosing to address her concerns.

"Zelda, the guardians-"

She had spoken too quietly for Zelda to hear her over the rain that splashed onto the muddy earth, and she was startled when she had slipped and fallen into the muck.

"I wonder how far from the stable we are..." Link had muttered, aimlessly looking to the sky as though he somehow peer through the clouds and determine the location of the sun in the sky.

Princess Katherine; the forgotten royalty, the forgotten sister, the forgotten daughter...

The girl who bore strange secrets she told not a single soul; secrets that she mapped out in her elusive locations all around Hyrule.

Random notes, scribbled on stone and etched in the bark of trees... Written in foreign tongues and deceptively messy, for a princess.

Now, Katherine stared at her feet, heart sinking to her stomach as her unease only seemed to worsen.

She cleared her throat, attempting to speak once more. "Zeld-"

"We really should find shelter soon..." The future queen muttered, again, ignoring her younger sister as she shivered in the cold. "I'd rather not attain any illnesses, on this journey."

"You two can go on," Katherine sighed, defeated. "I'll make it... Somewhere, at some point..."

Zelda seemed not to hear the last part as she thanked her sister.

Was that all she truly heard, her selfless offer?

"Thank you, Kate. It'll make our travels much more efficient!"

Was that meant to imply that she was useless? She shook her head, shrugging it off as she had always done. "The sooner it's over with, the better." She knew Zelda hadn't meant anything by it.

And the two set off in the direction of the stable.

Really? Neither of them could have allowed me to join them on their horses?

Zelda had always been quite smart, when it came to things like research... But she wasn't particularly the brightest when it came to matters of problem-solving, which had been Katherine's own speciality, before she lost her desire to perceive and resolve any sort of issue.

She squared her shoulders as she walked on, now trudging dreadfully slow through the mud.

If the rain continued, she'd be walking all night - and that's not even acknowledging that the rain might worsen.

The princess ignored the tears streaming down her face, denying even to herself that they weren't, in fact, the rain.

And more, she ignored the electric feeling that stirred in the air - a feeling that was less than pleasing.

She could feel her hair frizzing up, but she continued trudging on.

After all, what else could she do in the middle of nowhere during the rain?

She had already known that she would be bed-ridden whenever she returned to the castle, ill from lack of shelter in such weather... And sore from exhaustion, having not slept more than three hours in the past two days...

But what felt worse than that knowledge?

It was quite simple, really... It was the loneliness. The lack of a friend, of family. The lack of any presence aside from her own, in truth.

She peered to the sky, wondering the why the goddess had forsaken her.

Was her very existence some sort of a joke meant for amusement?

Her head pounded from usage of her secret power, unbeknownst to those who share her blood.

She held them in high esteem, those who were forever bound to her, but she had imagined they never felt the same over her slovenly self.

"Unbecoming" was something she had heard quite often. And then, of course, there was "Unfit."

She was never going to rule Hyrule, a fact she had long since admitted to herself. A fact that she had accepted entirely, knowing herself to only be a pawn meant to bind the royal family of Hyrule to another kingdom's royalty through marriage.

Her presence was meant to spare the future queen from a loveless life, and to spare her from many hardships, aside from the struggle to discover her power.

She had written her sorrows in her journal a number of times, her anguish and despair and loneliness...

All of it. She had somehow found the strength to write the words, the anger that she had hidden below layers of sadness.

A princess could not display her anger, for anger is undesirable.

How many times had she heard that?

She had lost track, and she had no desire to rediscover the number of times she had.

Katherine's vision had been wavering since she had begun her journey with her sister and the silent knight, and yet she had ignored it, but the pounding in her head was impossible to disregard as it continued to worsen.

And finally, she couldn't go on, collapsing silently to the mud as she lost sight of the world around her.

"Fate shall remain as it were."