Chapter 4: Without Participation

The time for Link to make a choice is nearing, and where does he go to make his decision? To the Sacred Grove, of course. But he'll need one final push.

Link bounded through the forest.

His mind was whirling with a feeling of excitement and a question of 'what am I doing?" The night clouded around him as he hurried to where he needed to go, unable to hold in his emotions anymore He leaped over a branch and muddy puddle, wondering... 

Familiar territory flashed by as he raced deeper into the woods, to the direction of Coro's house. Link supposed if they really wanted to hide it from him, they would've and he'd see if they had.

He nearly tripped as he ran over the bridge and his heart began to thump, realizing that death nearly caught him in its grasp. But he kept running. 

Perhaps his brains were no longer available to such an extent, an extent at all!

At last, he ran through the cave, forgetting his lantern, knowing his way. It was pitch black and he already cantered out and ran faster still. Before he could even say hi to a certain blue- afroed bird, he a swooped up Rusl's golden chicken and jumped, wondering just what exactly he was doing. He gasped breathlessly as he landed. He took a breath and looked back. There was no going back.

And at first, he felt regretful. But he realized he could not let it end. Not this way. 

He would not suffer through the pain anymore, blaming himself. He couldn't sacrifice everything for Ilia. But, somehow he could for Midna.

He rose to the challenge, flying over gaps, his heart pounding, not in fear, in excitement. He could do this. He would do this. At a point, a branch ran across his face and scratched his cheek. Blood began to drip down, but he barely felt it as he landed on the solid ground finally, letting go of the squawking chicken. 

He rolled and landed in front of the entrance to the Sacred Grove. Once again, it brought memories flying back.

As he ran in, there were so many winding paths as if a labyrinth. He feared if the Master Sword was not in it's resting place, he'd have done all of this- everything for nothing. Link ran through some paths and was constantly blocked by the density of trees. 

But, he kept going even if he felt the woods had been... rearranged. He pushed back the negative thoughts and caught his footing, nearly tripping over a tangle of leaves and vines. 

He nearly splashed into a puddle but he pulled himself up with his arms and stared into it... seeing...

He looked down at himself. Fangs and coat of black silver and green. 

His eyes were more vicious and intense and he saw it... his true self... Who he was. The mark was more heavily branded their now, and he blinked and the image washed away.

He got up and shook his head, pushing the image away, but realizing... he had to be positive. He would find it. And as he looked up, he saw the entrance, trees molded over as an entrance.

Link's response came slowly. He stared, entranced, so he never noticed when a blue marking on his hand shimmered faintly. And then faded quickly into the twilight of the night. He looked around, searching shocked. He was here. Link slowly began to walk forward, birds quietly chirping and the moonlight shining down upon him through the trees. 

He thought he felt a raindrop fall on him, but he had the mind to look up, but a glimmering caught his eye. Ahead... 

He stared at the object that held so many memories, and not even just his, generations of heroes before him.

The Master Sword. It's hilt purple-ish blue, it's blade glittering as if it was waiting for a new hero. But that was not Hyrule's destiny. The sword could not be weakened, and neither could he, and the mark of the Tri-Force was branded on its glimmering steel.

Slowly, heart pounding, he walked to it, barely aware of his surroundings. He let out an anxious breath, not realizing he was holding it. He would get it again, but as he thought that, he had millions of other thoughts chasing the tails of one another. 

What if it was stuck, and could not be pulled out, only by the next chosen hero? 

What if this was a mistake? What if he was ruining Hyrule as he knew it?

What if this did nothing? What if he felt nothing? What if...

What if...

He felt he could almost collapse under all the burning, serious questions. But he pressed on, something in his heart telling me to ignore any questions. He would prevail

Moonlight shone down through the trees, and he felt breathless how he'd forgotten how tall the trees stretched, how thick they were.

As high as heaven itself. Trees almost seemed to fuse into the rocks and boulders. He stepped upon pebbles, and a smile ghosted at his face, feeling the Master Sword's powerful presence. Nothing was different, perhaps a few tiny vines growing to swirl around the sword.

He stepped up closer and took a breath. He carefully, slowly wrapped his scarred fists around the blade, nearly gasping at the familiar feeling, missing the touch of it. His fingers gently squeezed the lace wrapped around it, and as he pulled it out, an orange-grayish light burst through, gracing him with new power.

He lifted it up, like he had, so many months ago, and saw the moon glint down on it, showing Hyrule and beyond, that he could do this.

He dropped it down and looked at its familiar grace. He felt a smile bubble up. Midna...

"Loneliness always pervades the hour of Twilight..." Link heard a voice speak, and he whipped around, shocked, only to find Rusl standing there. He had followed him.

Link met him in the eyes, evenly, and didn't feel ashamed at what he'd done. Link remembered when his father-figure had first spoken these words. The moon was high up now, shining on them. 

He was so innocent then. To pain, to emotions, to anger, to sadness, to all that had been lost. "Dawn could now be the only time our world intersects with theirs," said Rusl, gazing at Link with understanding in his eyes.

In Link's mind, he heard another matching quote. 'The only time we can feel the lingering regrets of those who have left us.' Link said. Rusl knew. He knew all along. Who just exactly, had filled his mind for months on end.

"Would you risk your life for someone who makes your life whole?" Rusl asked. Link blinked, realizing what the older swordsman had realized.  " You saved the world. Don't let it be the end for you.It's only the beginning. She promised. She never would've broken it."

Throughout his life, there'd been so many vows. Promises he'd come home. Promises he'd take the child back to Ordon, too. And promises he'd save Hyrule, promises he'd fight Ganondorf when that day finally came. Promises he'd get the Fused Shadows, and the Mirror pieces. Promised that she'd see him again... Even if they weren't his vows he'd make they'd never be broken.

There had been so many. They could not shatter.

He had come to what he thought was home. But he couldn't stay.

He never promised that.

Finally, Link felt pain strike him he'd been fighting, a pang of missing, and he felt what he'd kept in since she faded away out.

"Maybe I knew...  It was obvious, wasn't? ... I DID know I... keep thinking I won't see her anymore. I keep... thinking about her... why did this happen to me?"

"It's not over yet. Not by a long shot. You and I both know that. Ilia knows that-" He flinched. "It's not over. You're going to fight. It's not over until you win."

Midna had said the Mirror was truly the last way to get in, and maybe it was but... that didn't mean it couldn't be fixed.

"You're going to find home?" Rusl asked, but knew what Link knew.

Link tried to look into his adviser's eyes but found he couldn't and turned away with a deep-set frown. "Through the journey with her... my adventure... I guess it was her that filled that missing gap since I was younger... that calling to me.'

He was trying to put words to his thoughts, chasing the tails of one another, that had been, so frustratingly since she'd left. "And I... I just..." he shut his eyes, defeated till he found the words.

"Now that I came home... I realized it's NOT home... And that hurts."

Rusl knew how he felt. It was impossible to not feel what Link was in that moment, because it was true, honest.

"Link, if there was a way to do this without some sort of heartbreak,I know you would do it, but you have to leave what potential things you and Ilia had behind. You have to save yourself now. To find your way back home, your way back to her." 

Link stared determinedly ahead, back to his old mentor, feeling the moon nearly at it's highest peak shining down upon him.  He raised the sword to the moon, watching it glint and shine, his father figure smiling lightly. It was Link's own time time now.

'Am I so beautiful you've no words left?'

'See you later...'

'I found you!"

After pondering about her for so long, a clear image finally came into his made. And with it, a clear decision.

Author's Note

So, just so everyone knows, the next chapter is a bit sillier and is quite literally called, 'Oops.' And again, check out Stephonika W. Kaye's novelization of Twilight Princess. I was very inspired by her epilogue for the beginning of this story, but after the next few chapters, it starts to take on a bit of its own tone more, so please enjoy and review!