Free to Love - A Zelda x Link Fanfiction

LXXIII: Nothing But Rubble

Zelda's Perspective:

I didn't know how long I stayed there, cradling him. I sobbed, rain still pouring, hugging his body to my best, blood staining my dress, my skin. It was everywhere. It made me sick.

My stomach churned and I sat, crying until my voice was hoarse and my eyes couldn't shed anymore tears. That was worse. All I could do was stare down at him... His body. His eyes were still open, albeit faintly. He was stiff now, cold, joints tight and awkward. I hated the lack of warmth.

I turned away, retching violently, bile rising in my throat. I didn't have anything to vomit up. Instead, I heaved, entire body trembling with the force of it, as I spit phlegm up, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to force my breathing to slow.

"I'm sorry..." my voice was coarse, soft. I could barley hear it, especially over the rain. My lips trembled and and I sucked on the I side of my cheek, gently brushing his hair from his face. Even his hair looked like it lost the sheen to it. "I failed you... and it's my fault..."

I choked up, getting lost in my words, trailing off and staring down at nothing. I looked at his face, blood still staining his pale lips, corners of his mouth still twitched in a style.

I couldn't help but stare at his body. Homework wouldn't want me to blame myself. Who was at fault if it was not me... The guardian had shot him but...

I blinked, glancing up. My neck cracked, straining because of the new position. It wasn't my fault. It was his.

I hadn't noticed it before, in the chaos, then in my grief. Hyrule Castle was destroyed. I knew that, I had witnessed that. But now, the palace was covered in a smog. The fires had been out out, but the mass shifted, red twisting through it like living malice. It's eyes, two red orbs, glanced across the ruined landscape, before closing, it's monstrous head lifting to the sky to make a victorious roar.

It was him. Ganon. My lip trembled and I swallowed. "I'll avenge you..." I promised him under my breath. I pulled myself up, body weak, but I managed to pull myself upright, walking towards the palace slowly.

I could see the forms of divine beasts in the distant. Each one was broken, smoking, dead. The tombs of my friends. My sorrow was replaced with rage. Everything I loved, everything I cherished. It was gone. It was all gone.

My friends, my family, my home, my love. All gone. Nothing but a memory and a ghost to watch over my shoulder. My rage fueled me, my tired limp turned into a slow walk, then normal steps, then a jog.

I thought I was out of tears, but again, I was incorrect. These weren't tears of grief. They were tears of boiling rage. Each drop burned my ski as it rolled down my cheeks. I stumbled, blood from my dress, my skin, dropping onto the cobble stone as I approached.

Just like the prophesy said. My lip curled. Castle town was in ruins. Everything, every building, every plant, reduced to nothing more but smoking rubble.

"Hey!" I didn't realize I was shouting at first, but I suddenly was. My voice was rough but still loud. It almost shocked me. My fingers were trembling. I could feel the magic in the air, just waiting to be used and put into action. The ugly beast glared at me, face turning down to stare at me with beady eyes, mouth opening to laugh.

"You took everything from me!" I shouted. I held up my hand. I could already feel my palm starting to burn, magic accumulating in the center of it. "My dad!" I punctuated my shout a blast from my free hand. It wasn't strong, but I gathered magic behind me in my extra hand, creating a golden ball to launch. It was t large, but the beast recoiled.

It roared, diving towards me. I growled, tears stinging my face as I jumped back, albeit a big clumsily, throwing more golden magic into its gaping maw, forming the light into a spear. "For Mipha!"

Ganon fell back, roaring and sneering at me. I strode forward, forming a sword from the light that danced at my fingers. It resembled the master sword. My heart panged. I slackened across its face, inky blood appearing at the surface, the sword broke into a billion tiny fractals, like glass. "For Daruk!"

The beast recoiled, jumping back and glaring at me from a distance, mouth snapping angrily. I threw arrows at it, golden ones with tips like the sharpest places I'd ever seems impeding and disappearing into the black form of Ganon. "For Revali!"

It roared and charged again, coming at me from the left, bucking its head wildly. I glared, focusing on sucking under its mouth, slashing up into its underside. It yelled like a wounded animal, leaping over me, reading to charge again.

"For Urbosa!" It charged from over head, rearing up then coming down. I barely managed to block it with a golden shield, blocking the sharp teeth that reached for me, shoving a beam down its throat. I choked up. "For Link!"

I focused all of my power on the beam that shot from my palms, the magic accumulating, heating up and burning my hands, before launching forward. I could feel the beast resisting, trying to force the beam back, but I persisted.

I growled, teeth grit, sweat coming to my skin. I could feel my strength weakening. I didn't have long until I collapsed. I closed my eyes, focusing on the air around me, pulling every conceivable strand into my hand, pulling it from the air until it felt thin, then releasing it in a muffled boom, then sent me stumbling back.

I picked myself up slowly, glancing up. The smog was dissipating, Ganon roaring as it faded and died, leaving black only pools that sunk into the earth. The sky lightened, turning from crimson to a grey. And I glanced forward.

The castle was in ruins.

And for the first time I could remember... I was all alone.