A/N: SO I know Hyrule Warriors isn't really a canon game (and I may or may not have just watched the cutscene movie instead of actually playing the game) but there is one scene where Fi meets HW Link and says something about him not being the master that made me think. So, for the "time" prompt (yes I could have done something OoT based but did I do that? No) I wrote about Fi and some reflections she had on the master.
I don't own the art.
~~~
Her voice sounded strange to her after so long a time of not having been used.
"My name is Fi. I was waiting for you." There was a brief pause as she scanned the lad standing before her, taking only a few seconds to look but catching every detail: his blonde hair, the startled look in his eyes, the blue scarf around his neck. Then she went on.
"You are not the master, but I can consider you a master." Fi hesitated, thinking over what she had just said. Her words were all too true to her ears, but she could see visible confusion on the current hero's face. He was wondering what she meant, it was obvious. He was wondering what she implied when she said the master.
If Fi had been bolder, she would have said "my master," but as it was, the mere thought of those words passing her mouth made her cringe. She did not like to show much emotion, and the feelings those words would have brought--sorrow, happiness--would have been too much for her cold blue heart.
Without really realizing it, Fi launched into a brief speech, explaining some things to the current hero. Deep within, however, she was remembering a time, a time thousands of years ago, long before this hero was alive....
~~~
"Fi, I am sending you to sleep now. When you next awake, it will mean the hero has arisen, and that his destiny is beginning to play out. You will still be conscious and able to think during the time before this, as I would not deprive you of your imagination." Hylia had laughed softly after informing Fi of these things.
Fi looked at her emotionlessly. "Your Grace, I am incapable of imagining things."
Hylia raised an eyebrow, trying to look lighthearted, although Fi knew she had not been feeling cheerful since the final stand against Demise. "So you say." She made no further comment on the subject, instead remarking, "After your final task, Fi, you will be granted eternal sleep, in which you will be conscious of nothing, not even your own thoughts. It may seem cruel, but I wish you to have peace for once. You have seen so much bloodshed."
Fi coughed slightly. "Your Grace. I am a sword. Is that not the point? For me to slaughter?"
Hylia looked sad. "I wish it did not have to be," she whispered.
Fi was confused by this statement and chose not to reply. "This...hero," she finally said. "What will he be like? Will he closely match my superiority of thought? Will he be wise and brave and willing to shed his blood?"
Hylia shook her head. "You will see."
And Fi had seen. But not until a thousand years of being surrounded by blackness had passed, with only her thoughts keeping her company.
As she waited for the time to come when she would awake, Fi had already planned out what the hero should look like--tall, strong, and completely serious--and how their mission would go, with the hero not letting a single thing get in the way of his mission. They would complete their task, and then Fi would enter eternal sleep, a well-deserved reward after all she had done during the war against Demise. She had rehearsed the scene where she met the hero so many times that she was certain he would look exactly as she had imagined him. No, not imagined. As she had foreseen him.
And then one day a tingle ran through her, like an electric shock. And then Fi knew that her time had come. Her time to guide the hero on his quest and aid him in bringing light to the world again. As she began to wake up, she heard the soft sound of wind, and of candles flickering, and then her senses came to her and she saw him. The one who would save the world. And he was not at all what she thought he would be.
Instead of the tall, muscular man she had pictured, there stood before her a mere boy. His seventeen or eighteen years were nothing compared to the thousands Fi had endured, and she felt slightly scornful as she looked at the innocence shining from his large eyes, at the hair falling across his forehead. He was immature, that was the word for it. She did not wish to associate with his inferiority.
Fi thought of Hylia, and told herself to stick to the task at hand. So she did. She did not fraternize with the boy--for he was a boy in her eyes--unless it was to give him information. She referred to him as "Master," a title he obviously viewed as slightly callous. That only prompted her to continue to call him such.
It was not until her master went through the trials in the Silent Realms, and then sought the Flames of Farore, Nayru, and Din, that Fi began to feel something inside of her. A warmth she had never felt before, not even around Hylia. And she grew incredibly fond of the boy, enjoying his happy smile whenever he spoke of Zelda, of the lightheartedness of his spirit that could not be tainted by the horror he had gone through.
When Fi at last bade her master farewell, gazing for the last time upon his messy golden hair and his wide blue eyes, she knew she would miss him more than she had missed Hylia. For she and her master had gone through so much together, and nothing could break their bond, not even the eternal sleep Fi was now entering.
And so, as she felt the warmth inside of her shrink and grow cold, Fi whispered farewell to her best friend and vanished forever inside the Master Sword, there to sleep until time was no more.
~~~
Now, looking down at the lad who carried the spirit of her master, Fi felt a strange tension in her throat. This boy was not her master. In his eyes was a fierce look that her master had never worn, even after all he accomplished. This boy looked grim and worn, as though perhaps he had given up on hope.
It was strange, really, that Fi had been awoken again, that she was facing a new hero. Or perhaps it was not so strange. Maybe, in this new time period, this new age, Fi had been granted the ability to awake again, a last gift from Hylia so that Fi could somewhat reunite with her master, or with his spirit, at least. And even though this boy was not her master, Fi felt she could accept that, because deep inside of her she knew someday she and her master would meet again. It was only a matter of time.
