The Legend of Zelda: Prince of the Sea

Chapter Fifteen: Discretion

Blue eyes snapped open and searched all around. Where was she? For a solid moment, panic swept through the woman's chest and her heart skipped a beat; she had that sinking feeling one gets when they realize that they have no idea where they are. Sucking in a breath the woman placed a hand to her chest to help slow her heart as realization settled into her mind and she closed her eyes to calm down.

She knew where she was and it filled her heart with dread.

'It's still so cold and colourless... it's still all the same'.

Zelda slowly opened her eyes to distantly scan the grey and foreboding world she had found herself in once again. She was back within her nightmare: the same one that had been plaguing her nights for nearly two weeks. Each night the nightmare was successful in robbing her of a sound night's sleep. Wrapping her arms gently around herself as she looked ahead to drearily gaze upon the only light within the bleak world. Seeing it instantly brought tears to her eyes and the queen could not help herself from beginning to walk forward. Her footsteps echoed through the dark. The regret within her heart grew and grew the closer she became to the only object beneath the pillar of light.

It was a stone table and laying upon it was a man who looked to be sleeping.

However, reality now reflected her dreams and Zelda could no longer tell which one was the true nightmare.

Tears fell freely from her cheeks as she came to stand beside the table. With a blank, tear-stained expression, the queen looked down at the man laying there. His face was grey, hair a sickly white, while his tunic and hat a dark were black and stained by the deep crimson of blood that could be seen dripping from the table's edge. Previously in her nightmares, Zelda would always feel a rush of panic from seeing Link upon the table and she would frantically try and wake him up. She would cry out his name in despair, but would eventually stop when she finally saw the black blade sticking out from his gut and the amount of blood that had pooled around him. This time, however, she just stood there and stared blankly at his closed eyes.

Why were things different this time? Was it because it had come true? Had seeing the real thing made this scene lose its effect on her?

Zelda figured that she must've fallen asleep at his bedside back in the waking world. Out of sheer exhaustion and having run out of tears, and against her wishes, she had passed out. Now she was back in her nightmare where she could cry even more tears back at his bedside in this desolate world as well. She could not free herself from the image of her dear knight dead with a blade impaling his gut.

Biting her bottom lip, Zelda slowly lowered one of her hands to smooth back some of Link's white bangs. She knew what was to happen next. Each time when she tried to reach out to him previously in her nightmares, the scene would change. Even though she knew this, Zelda watched her fingers near Link's face. When her finger barely grazed his grey skin, the woman felt the familiar weightlessness that came right before she was wretched away from her dead monotone knight. Mournfully she closed her eyes when the ground beneath her disappeared and her body sharply fell. The fall only lasted a second or two before her feet were suddenly jerked back onto solid ground once again. Dismally, the queen reopened her eyes. The cold stone tomb and Link were gone and had been replaced with a dark and sandy environment with a tumultuous sea stretched out before her.

Shielding her eyes from the wind that battered the sandy beach, Zelda narrowed her eyes out at the dark waters that dominated the distance. Frowning, she glanced upwards towards the black sky. There was no point in looking around her for she knew that she was alone... all alone. Absently she reached up to wipe away her tears, but found that her face was already dry. Her hand paused and Zelda turned her attention to her arm. The queen blinked when she noticed what she was wearing. When she had dreamt of this place before, she had never taken notice of what she wearing. Why? Well... how often does one recall the clothes of a dream? Looking down at herself, the woman realized that she wasn't wearing a dress or any of her usual monarchical attire. Instead, she wore some sort of tight-fitting outfit that was the colour of dark navy, almost black. It looked similar to her training gear when she practiced her sword fighting, but it wasn't the same.