AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll warn you right now that this story is probably the darkest and most angsty one I'll ever write. Some of the ideas I used in this story were also used in some previous ones. I actually thought about this story a long time before I wrote it, during the time I was writing Rules of Succession. I have really put of writing this idea for quite some time, but I finally decided to do it because it was bugging me too much. This story deals with some dark subjects that might make some people uncomfortable. There are a couple swear words, but nothing major. If you haven't been to my website, please visit www.kasuto.net. And as always, I do not own or claim to own the character and places in the Legend of Zelda series.

Prologue

      Shadows danced across the aging ebony walls of the cavernous house. A small lantern illuminated a dilapidated old table, and the flickering rays of light cast an eerie glow onto a woman’s tired, drawn face. She took a sip from a small glass of liquor that sat on the table. It was all starting again. She could feel the strength slowly draining from her body and soul. She had experienced this feeling many times before, each time with the same end result. But over the years, the feeling had come at shorter and shorter intervals. It was as if her remedy didn’t want to work anymore. This time she would need something stronger. A normal person–with a normal body and a normal soul–would not do this time. She knew all too well that ordinary people would no longer have any effect whatsoever. That is why she had been seeking out a person with a stronger spirit. It had to be someone more than unique, someone with extraordinary powers. And she had found that person. His spiritual strength was more than she had ever sensed in any other person before. This boy would be enough to sustain her for centuries. Of course, his spiritual strength also made him more difficult to capture. It would take extreme steps to “extract” him, as she had so delicately named the procedure. Normally, all she would have to do was capture the person and perform the spiritual extraction. But this boy would take much more work. She would have to not only break him down, but all those who loved him.

Day 1

    Link exited the deep woods of the Kokiri Forest and walked into the clearing where all the houses were. He smiled at his accomplishment. In his hand were a dozen perfect, white roses. He had been up since the wee hours of the morning searching for the perfect flowers. He could have easily bought the roses from some vendor at the market, but it was more personal this way. Link had been lucky to find a clearing deep in the woods that was filled with wildflowers. But what caught his attention was a wild rose bush growing in the center of the clearing. It had huge white roses growing on it, and they seemed to just call to him. Zelda would definitely love these flowers. She always liked getting flowers from Link. Today was a special occasion, though. And a special occasion always called for a special gift.
    Saria was lounging on the grass in front of her house, enjoying the fact that the sun had finally come out after days of rain. She spotted Link emerging from the woods and ran over to him. “Link, where have you been?” she asked in a nagging tone. He gave her the most innocent smile he could muster and showed her the flowers. She knew him all too well not to expect them to be for her. Saria knew exactly whom the flowers were for.
    “I was out picking flowers,” responded Link, stating the obvious. “I had to find just the right ones.” The sweet, intoxicating scent from the pure-white blooms wafted to Saria’s nose as Link presented the flowers to her.
    “So, what’s the occasion?” she asked, knowing that Link never needed an excuse to give Zelda flowers. He was always so sappy when it came to her. But these flowers were much more spectacular than usual. It had to be for some special purpose.
    “Don’t you know?” replied Link, his face showing the slightest expression of hurt. “It’s been exactly five years since I first met Zelda, five years since I first snuck into the castle because it was my destiny to save the world, five years since I first saw her beautiful face.”
    “That’s so sweet,” commented Saria. “You remember the exact day you first saw her?”
    “Of course I do. I could never forget a day like that. Of course, it’s only been five years from her point of view; it’s been a little bit longer from mine, with all the time-travel and alternate timeline stuff. But that’s not important. Do you think she’ll like these?”
    “Yeah,” Saria replied in a disenchanted voice.
    Link saw the almost sad expression on her face. “What’s wrong? You look upset.”
    Saria tried to shrug it off. “It’s nothing, really.”
    “If something’s bothering you, you can tell me,” Link assured her.
    “Well, it’s just that…you always give Zelda flowers and stuff. And I…I don’t want to sound jealous, but…”
    “Oh, I get it,” Link interrupted. “You’re upset that I never give you flowers.” Link removed a leather pouch from his belt and dug inside it. “I was going to make it a surprise, but I guess you kind of beat me to it.” He pulled a few small flowers from his pouch and handed them to Saria. She was always a nature freak and knew every single plant that grew in the forest. But she had never seen these flowers before. They were small, delicate green blossoms with five petals surrounding a yellow center. Saria’s face beamed with happiness as Link handed the flowers to her. “I figured that it would be selfish of me not to give you anything. In a way, you were responsible for me meeting Zelda. If you hadn’t talked me into actually going to the Deku Tree, I probably would’ve never left the forest. So in a way, you brought us together.”
    “Oh Link! That’s so sweet!” with the flowers grasped firmly in her tiny hand, Saria ran to Link and jumped up, locking her arms around his shoulders. She kissed him on the cheek and then dropped back down. Link was so much taller than her that she couldn’t reach his face even if she stood on the tips of her toes. Saria examined the green flowers with amazement. “Where did you find these? I’ve never seen flowers like these before.”
    “They were growing out in a meadow. These were the only ones there. When I saw them, I knew they would be perfect. They match the color of your hair. Even though we know that’s not your real hair color.”
    Saria glared at him. “You know you’re not supposed to tell anyone about that. You promised.”
    “I know, I know. I always keep my promises. You just better hope that no one else finds out your secret like I did,” he said with a smirk.
    “You’re so mean,” complained Saria in a mocking tone, folding her arms over her chest. “But since you got me flowers, I’ll let it go this time.” She flashed a smile at him as she sniffed the flowers once again. “I hope you didn’t cut up your hands on those thorns like you did last time.”
    “No, I wore gloves this time,” he replied matter-of-factly.
    “Well, you should probably go over to the castle as soon as possible so Zelda can put those flowers in some water. You don’t want them to be all wilted before she sees them.”
    Link nodded. “I guess you’re right. I should get going.” Link turned around and began to walk towards the exit, but stopped after a few strides. He looked back at Saria, who was still standing there. “I’ll be back later. Maybe we can all have a picnic together later today. I think she would like that.” Saria smiled and waved at Link as he disappeared through the forest’s exit.
 
 
 
 

    Solo stuck out her tongue in disgust as Malon showed her yet another facet of her daily routine. Normally, they would just have fun when Solo came over, but Malon was behind on her chores and had to finish them before some prospective buyers came over to look at the horses.
    “And then you just shovel it into the wheelbarrow,” Malon said as she dumped another shovel-full onto the growing pile of manure. Solo had her dress pulled over her nose and mouth, trying to mask the unpleasant odor. “Is something wrong?”
    “How can you stand that smell?” blurted out Solo in an exasperated voice.
    Malon shrugged her shoulders. “You’d get used to it if you didn’t plug your nose like that.”
    Solo glared. “I’m happy like this, thank you very much. I always knew you had chores, but not like this. Frankly, if I was you, I would move out if I had to clean up horse shi-” Solo stopped in mid-word as she realized what she was saying.
    “My, my, we have a potty mouth,” commented Malon.
    “Don’t blame me, I was street-rat for eight years. I had a bad upbringing.”
    “You’d think living with Link and Saria would teach you some manners.”
    “Yeah right. You should hear Link when he drops something on his foot, which he does often ‘cause he’s so clumsy, he curses a blue streak…words even I haven’t heard before.”
    “I never thought the great Link would ever utter a dirty word,” said Malon in a half-sarcastic tone. Solo just rolled her eyes. Malon finished cleaning out the stable and moved on to the last one. “I just have to finish this one and then I’m done for the day.” They both went to the next stable and Solo gasped at the steaming pile in the corner.
    “Geez! I think you’ve forgotten about that one for a couple weeks…or months.”
    “I clean them every day. That’s Little Washu’s stable. She’s a miniature pony, the cutest one in the world. You’ve seen her before, she usually wanders around the northern corner of the ranch.”
    “You mean that little horse…”
    “Pony,” Malon corrected.
    “Okay, pony, made that? That thing must only weigh like thirty pounds, and that pile of crap is waist-high! How in the world can something that small possibly poop that much?”
    Malon couldn’t help but laugh at Solo’s refreshingly blunt comments. She was never one to sugar-coat anything. “She eats a lot,” replied nonchalantly, as if it was a well-known fact.
    “Yeah, but that is one huge pile,” Solo continued. “That horse must…”
    “Pony,” Malon interrupted again. “There’s a difference.”
    “Never-mind,” Solo relented. “You just have fun shoveling up that stuff. I’m gonna wait outside before I get sick.” Solo quickly ran out of the stable as Malon turned to finish cleaning. She saw Little Washu in the distance and still couldn’t imagine how such a small pony could produce so much waste. There were some things she just couldn’t understand. After a few minutes of picking at dandelion blossoms, Malon finally emerged from the stable.
    “Okay, I’m all done. We can move the wheelbarrow over to the compost pile later. That stuff isn’t going anywhere.” Malon walked over to Solo and waited for her to stand up. Malon gave Solo a quizzical look when she bent over and sniffed at her hair and her dress. “Wha…what are you doing?"
    “At least you don’t smell like horse poop,” Solo replied, after satisfying herself that Malon didn’t radiate any offensive odors.
    “Geez, I don’t bathe in it. The smell won’t come off onto you unless you fall into a great big pile. Besides, I thought appearances didn’t matter to you. Smell is part of appearance. Would you stop liking me if I smelled bad?”
    “No,” replied Solo. “It’s just that if you did smell bad, I would throw you in the trough first, then I would go on liking you.”
    “My, my, you sure are touchy about odors considering that you spent years on the street never having a bath in your life.” Solo’s face turned from a jovial expression to one that was somber, and almost hurt. “Oh…I’m so sorry…” Malon stammered. “I didn’t mean to bring that up…” Malon mentally scolded herself for reminding Solo of her painful past. “I was just joking, and you always joke about that to lighten the mood. I didn’t mean to hurt…”
    Solo held up her hand to silence Malon. “No… no it’s not that,” she said. “Nothing you say would ever hurt me. It’s just…I just felt really strange all of a sudden.” Out of the clear blue, a strange sense of foreboding had come over Solo. Her heart was racing and it felt as if something were terribly wrong.
    Malon noticed that Solo’s hands were shaking and that she was sweating, even thought it was a very mild day. Malon put her hand on Solo’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m…I’m fine,” Solo muttered, her mouth suddenly feeling as dry as a desert. Not only was she shaking, but all the color had drained from her face. “I just need to sit down.”
    “I’ll take you inside,” Malon said, putting her arm around Solo’s shoulder and assisting her to the house. Solo could barely remain standing, as if her legs were giving out. After a few tense moments, Malon brought Solo inside and guided her into a chair. “Here, let me get you some water.” Malon quickly poured her a glass of water from the pitcher and handed it to her. Solo carefully grasped the glass in her hand and brought it to her lips. She took a few small sips and set it down before she dropped it. Her whole body felt disoriented, disconnected, and numb. She couldn’t make her heart stop racing, it felt as if she had just run a marathon.
    “Something’s wrong,” whispered Solo in a quiet, ominous voice. “I can feel it.”
    “What’s wrong?” asked Malon in a frantic tone. She had never seen Solo this upset-or this quiet-before.
    “Link…I think there’s something wrong with Link. I can feel it…something that’s not supposed to happen.”
    “Is he hurt or something?” asked Malon. “Can you sense him or something? You’re really starting to worry me.”
    “It might be nothing, but I have to go see him.” With sudden determination, Solo stood up and walked towards the door, occasionally wobbling, but regaining her balance.
    “At least let me come with you,” begged Malon, quickly running to her side. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
    “Fine.” Solo managed a weak smile, but the wrenching feeling in her gut precluded any happiness. “I’m not sure where he went, so let’s go check back at home first. I really hope this is just nothing, I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him.”
    “Me too, I’m sure everything will be fine.” They both made their way to the stables to quickly prepare their horses. It wasn’t a very long walk from the ranch to the forest, but Solo wanted to get there as quickly as possible. The feeling of dread kept building inside Solo as she prepared to leave. She just prayed that nothing would go wrong.
 
 
 
 
 

    Link leisurely walked through Hyrule Field, enjoying the beautiful weather. The sky was strikingly blue, and there was not a cloud in sight. This excellent weather perfectly complimented the great mood Link was in. Before he had even realized how far he had walked, Link crossed the drawbridge that led to the castle town. Apparently his daydreams had made the trip seem a lot shorter. He walked through the town, smiling at some of the people who recognized him and waved at him. Most of the people he had seen before were vendors that he frequently visited. Some were just townspeople who knew who he was. And a couple were apparently love-sick girls who constantly tried to flirt with him. They all seemed to know who he was, but he didn’t know them. The vast majority of the townspeople however, didn’t even know who Link was, let alone that he had a romantic relationship with their princess. Most people had never even seen the princess.
    Link pushed his way through the gaggle of people in the town center and towards the castle gate. A sudden strange feeling of foreboding came over him as he brushed past one of the townspeople; he felt a cold, tingling sensation travel down his spine. Link quickly turned around and looked to see what had caused that feeling. All he saw were oblivious people going about their daily business. He shrugged the feeling off and continued on his way. In just a few moments Link approached the gate, which was already being opened by the guard ahead. “I see that this day finds you well,” said the guard as Link approached.
    “Oh, it’s a beautiful day,” said Link with a beaming smile. “And it’s going to get better.” The guard gave Link a knowing smile as he walked by. The guard knew that the princess and Link were infatuated with each other. Zelda always made it a point to let everyone who worked in or near the castle know each and every little “romantic” thing Link did. As he locked the gate, the guard jumped as a small black creature ran underneath his legs and through the gate. He relaxed when he saw that it was just a rabbit. Thankfully rabbits weren’t on his list of things to pursue for unauthorized entry.
    Link cheerfully walked through the vast lawn that lay spread out in front of the massive castle. Taking the dirt path was simply too boring for the mood he was in. He felt like enjoying the multitude of wildflowers that grew in the field. Link nearly stepped on a small black rabbit as it rushed underneath him and scurried behind a nearby bush. He smiled to himself upon thinking about what Zelda would do. She would probably chase after the “cute little bunny” and try to capture it and keep it as a pet. As much as a tomboy as she was, she had a fascination with animals, punctuated by her massive stuffed animal collection that filled nearly half her bedroom. She had had all sorts of strange pets over the years, such as hamsters, gerbils, birds, frogs, toads, and snakes. Most of them had escaped, and a few she had set free because Impa had found out she had them. Apparently, it wasn’t good for a princess’s image to have a pet boa constrictor. Link always wondered why she never got a normal pet like a dog or cat.
    The whole lawn was a very shallow hill that was barely noticeable except from afar. He had reached what could be called the summit and he could see the castle not too far away. All of a sudden, he felt a sharp stinging sensation in his right arm, startling him enough that he dropped his flowers. Link examined himself to see that an ordinary honeybee had stung him. “Great, I was in a good mood,” he muttered to himself. He wasn’t going to let a stupid little bee sting ruin his day. He had been stung many times before, and he was used to them. One bee sting was nothing compared to the thirty he had gotten when he had accidentally disturbed a nest many years ago. Link pulled a small dagger from his pocket and felt the sharpness of the blade. He had since become an expert in removing bees’ stingers. With a quick and simple motion, Link angled the blade on his skin and quickly flicked the stinger out. All that remained was a small red spot. It didn’t even hurt that much. After replacing his dagger, Link picked up the flowers he had dropped and continued on his way.
    To his surprise, after a few moments, the pain from the sting began to grow more intense. He looked at the mark and realized that it had swollen to almost twice its size, and red streaks were radiating from its center. Link stopped in his tracks as he felt his heart suddenly begin to race. His whole body became covered in a cold sweat and it was starting to be more difficult to breathe. Link took short, gasping breaths as it felt like his throat was closing up. Link panted desperately and fell to his knees. There was a strange tingling sensation all throughout his body, and there was a metallic taste in the back of his mouth. The beating of his heart became erratic and arrhythmic, like no other feeling he had had before. Link tried to make a call for help, but now he couldn’t breathe at all. He finally collapsed completely, lying on his back and staring at the sky. Then the sky began to cloud and darken; but it wasn’t the sky, it was his eyes. He could barely see right now. The feeling of panic grew greater as Link realized that he couldn’t breathe no matter how hard he tried. A million things flashed in his mind in just a few seconds. What was happening to him? He had never had a reaction like this to a bee sting before. Then a sudden, dreaded question flashed through his mind: Was he dying? No, he couldn’t be dying. Today was his and Zelda’s fifth anniversary. He had too many things to do. He just had to relax. Link tried to think of calming thoughts as the pain in his body grew from nagging to excruciating. He tried once again to scream, but only a tiny hiss escaped his lips. He tried to think of Zelda as an agonizing crushing sensation gripped his chest; it felt as if a boulder were pressing him. Link curled over onto his side and stared blankly.
    Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blurry figure approach him. He suddenly felt ecstatic, somebody was coming to help him. Link closed his eyes and waited for whomever it was to reach him. Somebody knew he was here, and everything would be okay. “Hello, my boy,” said an unfamiliar female voice in a very dark, sinister tone. Link would’ve opened his eyes, but he couldn’t. “It only gets worse from here…” The rest of the words became a blur as Link’s consciousness finally left him.
 
 
 
 
 

    She watched from behind the bush as the boy used the knife to remove the stinger from his arm. A lot of good that will do, she thought, your fate has already been sealed. She watched him walk a few more feet and then collapse to his knees. She so enjoyed watching her victims futilely struggle. Bee stings always gave the best show. She knew that he was gasping for breath, she could see his chest heave, but no air entered his lungs. The show got better and better till he finally collapsed onto his back. His life must be flashing before his eyes, she thought with a grin. Now was the time to act. The boy was totally incapacitated, and she could handle him safely.
    The woman stood up from behind the bush, metamorphosing from a tiny rabbit to her normal human form. It was a rare occasion when one of the crackpot spells from her many books actually worked. She approached the boy and smiled down at him. “Hello, my boy,” she said, trying not to cackle. The woman could see a look of fear cross his face as he rolled over onto his side. “It only gets worse from here.” At that moment, she saw his body go limp. The first stage was complete. She bent over his body and assessed his condition. He wasn’t breathing, and his face was beginning to turn a bluish shade. The woman quickly chanted a few cryptic verses from an unknown language, and the boy’s body began to glow. There were no guards to bother her, she had made sure to take care of them. She smiled as his body glowed brighter. Now the process could begin.
 
 
 

    Zelda was sitting in the castle foyer, becoming extremely impatient. Link should have been here by now. He always came over before noon on the days that he did come over. And today was exactly five years since they’d met. Surely he wouldn’t forget a day like this. He had hinted a few days prior that he had something planned, so why wasn’t he here? Sometimes boys just utterly confused her, or more specifically, Link confused her. Most of the time he was not only punctual, but early. He was never late when they had something planned. Then again, sometimes he was tardy, especially when the task involved waking up early in the morning. But it was almost noon, and he had to be awake by now. Zelda folded her arms over her chest and huffed. She wasn’t going to give Link the satisfaction of knowing that she was sitting here waiting for him to show up. But that nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her that something might be wrong. She usually ignored that feeling; Zelda always had been a worry-wart. Of course, so was Link. I swear, if he’s not here in the next five minutes, then I’m gonna go hunt him down, she thought to herself.
    Impa and King Harikana were strolling through the castle, laughing and having some kind of casual conversation. It was lunchtime and they needed desperately to take some time off work. They both happened to see Zelda sitting in a plush chair in the foyer with her arms folded over her chest and a pouting look on her face. The king leaned over to whisper in Impa’s ear, “She must be waiting for Link again.” Impa nodded. “She’s always so impatient.”
    “Just like her father,” Impa quipped.
    He glowered at Impa playfully. “You know I can throw you in the dungeon, right?”
    Impa laughed. “I’m shaking in my boots.”
    He then proceeded to walk over to Zelda to see if there was anything he could do for her. “We might as well see what’s wrong,” he said to Impa.
    “It’s probably your typical teenage angst.”
    Impa and Zelda’s father stopped in front of the chair and looked down at her. Zelda simply ignored them and pretended that she didn’t notice them. Her father promptly kneeled down to bring himself to her eye level. “Is something wrong, sweetie?” he asked in a gentle tone.
    “No, I’m fine,” Zelda replied poutingly. Her father stared her in the eye and she caved in immediately. “It’s nothing…Link just should’ve been here by now. It’s been exactly five years since we met each other and I thought that he would come over today. He’s never late.”
    “He probably just overslept,” said Impa, knowing Link’s sleeping habits all too well.
    “Maybe he was coming over and he fell down,” said Zelda, beginning to send herself into a spiral of worrying. “I know that something’s wrong because he’s never late. He could’ve been attacked by a wolf or something.”
    “You worry too much,” her father said. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
    “Well, I want to go look for him,” Zelda demanded with a stern look on her face.
    Impa sighed. “Do you want me to go fetch him for you? I’m sure he’s already on his way.”
    “Would you?” asked Zelda, her eyes lighting up. “I’d go, but I know you won’t allow me out of the castle ‘without an escort,’ I’m old enough to take care of myself.”
    “Let’s not get into that discussion,” her father warned. He wasn’t in the mood to hear Zelda whine that she was mature enough to go out on her own. A princess just didn’t go out into public without some type of escort. He could handle the bloodiest battle, or the fiercest warrior, but winning an argument with his teenage daughter was something that neither he nor any other father could do.
    “I’ll be back in a while,” said Impa as she began to walk towards the door. “If Link overslept, I’ll be able to wake him up.” She exited the castle and closed the door behind her. Harikana sat down in the chair next to his daughter and examined her expression. There was a hint of some deeper feeling that she was hiding. He knew his daughter’s expressions enough to know when she was hiding her feelings.
    “There’s something else you’re not telling me, isn’t there?” he asked. Zelda looked at him and slowly nodded, a saddened expression on her face. He patted his hand on his leg, indicating for her to go up to him. “You can talk to Daddy about it.” Zelda got up from her chair and plopped herself onto her father’s lap. It was just like when she was a little girl and used to sit on his lap to hear him tell her bedtime stories. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.
    “I just don’t feel right,” she whispered. “It feels like something’s wrong. I don’t know why, but I think he’s hurt. But you and Impa always tell me not to worry so much, but it feels more serious than usual. I don’t know what it is. What if I’m having some kind of premonition? What is there really is something wrong with him? What do I do?” Zelda sniffled and tried not to cry. She didn’t have any reason to be upset, yet she still was. She hated crying because it made her feel weak and helpless, and the future ruler of the country had no room for weakness and helplessness.
    “Zelda, honey, sometimes people just have bad feelings and there’s no real cause for them. But I also know that you’re a very perceptive person. I’m sure that, whatever it is, everything will be fine. Link’s been through so many things, that I doubt he would trip on a rock or something on his way here.”
    “I guess…I guess you could be right.” Zelda couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she just hugged herself closer to her father. He was the only other person whose presence made her feel as a safe as she was when she was with Link.
    On the castle lawn, Impa walked down the dirt path that led from the castle’s door to the main gate. She always kept her horse tied up in the stables in the village, where she knew some people that could take good care of her horse. For some reason, she just didn’t trust the stable hands at the castle. Impa was about halfway to the gate when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She stopped for a moment and look towards the far end of the lawn, near the stone walls. She thought she saw Link’s trademark green clothes in the distance, but it was hard to tell with all the grass. Rather than ignoring it, she decided to go take a look. As she made her way up the small hill, she could see the object of her curiosity more clearly. It was definitely Link. It looked like he was lying on the grass looking at the sky. He’s probably nervous and just taking a breather, Impa thought to herself. “Hey Link!” Impa shouted as she got closer. “You know Zelda’s waiting for you! It’d be much nicer if you two looked at the clouds together.”
    Impa’s smile faded when Link didn’t reply; he didn’t even move. He couldn’t have fallen asleep, no person could be that lazy. She stepped up to the motionless form and sighed. His back was facing her and it appeared that he didn’t even notice her. “Hey Link, you should get up,” said Impa, nudging him with her foot. Link only flopped over lifelessly. “Oh, dear gods,” Impa muttered, suddenly becoming extremely apprehensive. She knelt down beside him and rolled Link onto his back. She almost screamed when she saw his face: it was completely still and lifeless, and all the color had drained from it. Impa had seen situations like this many times before, so she immediately snapped into soldier mode. “Medic!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Somebody will definitely hear that. After she had called for help, Impa leaned over and listened for any signs of life. There were no hints that he was breathing. Impa placed a finger against his neck to feel for a pulse…there was none. She opened his eyes and saw nothing but a blank stare; his pupils didn’t even react to the sun. “Somebody get a doctor! Now!” she yelled when she saw a concerned guard come up the hill. Impa bent over Link’s body and placed her mouth over his. She tried breathing into him a few times, followed by rapid compressions to his chest. This particular technique had saved the lives of more than a couple of her friends. Impa kept repeating the procedure of breathing and pushing, but there was no sign of life. Then she saw a large red mark on his arm. She examined it closely and all her hopes of bringing Link back suddenly crashed to the ground. “A bee sting?” Impa thought aloud. “Oh gods no…he must’ve been allergic to them.” If he was allergic, then he has no chance. Oh, gods in heaven, please let this be a dream. “This can’t be happening…this just can’t happen…”
    Zelda had begun to calm down when she and her father were suddenly interrupted by a couple guards rushing into the castle and running down one of the corridors. “Hey!” the king yelled. “What’s going on?” He went to go after them, but stopped to look at Zelda. “Stay here honey, I’m going to see what’s the matter. I’ll be back in a minute.” Zelda’s heart began to race when she saw her father run off. Guards running frantically into the castle without warning was not a good sign. Now Zelda knew that something was wrong. And those guards had run towards the part of the castle where the physician’s office was. Now she became even more tense.
    Zelda’s hopes disintegrated when she saw her father, the royal physician, and even more guards running back towards the castle’s entrance. Zelda stood up as everyone but her father and a guard ran by. She saw a dire look on her father’s face and knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. “Daddy? What’s wrong?” she asked, choking back tears of fear.
    “Honey, you stay right here,” her father said in a frantic and almost hysterical voice. “Don’t move! I’ll be back in a second.” He quickly ran off with the other guards.
    “But daddy! I want to know what’s the matter!”
    “No! You stay there!” Zelda was shocked by the tone of his voice. He had never yelled at her before. Something was definitely wrong. Zelda noticed that one of the guards was blocking the doorway and watching her like a hawk. Zelda approached him and gave him a pleading look.
    “Please…” she begged. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
    “I’m sorry, Your Highness,” he replied. “But I don’t know. I’m ordered to keep you here until your father comes back.”
    “Something’s wrong with Link! I know it!” she screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks. She backed up and ran full speed towards the guard, but he caught and grabbed her easily. Zelda squirmed and fidgeted with all her might, but the guard held on. “Please! I have to find out!” she wailed.
    “I’m sorry, I can’t let you,” the guard insisted. He had never experienced anyone who put up such a fight. Zelda wiggled and squirmed, trying to loosen his grip. A sudden burst of pain caused the guard to release her and fall to his knees. She had managed to kick him in the crotch.
    Zelda ran frantically towards where everyone had gone. She saw a small crowd gathering near the center of the lawn. She saw Impa and the doctor both on their knees, apparently attending to someone who was lying on the ground. She slowed and approached cautiously as she got closer, not sure if she wanted to know what was happening. But her curiosity got the best of her, and she needed to know what was wrong, no matter how bad it was. Zelda tiptoed ever closer, and pushed her way through the gaggle of royal guards, who stood there stunned.
    Zelda then saw what everyone was gawking at. There on the ground lay Link, completely motionless and completely lifeless. It was as if Zelda's heart suddenly stopped and her blood froze in her veins. There was Link…lying on the ground. The doctor sat up from Link’s position and looked Impa squarely in the eyes. “I’m…I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. He’s…gone.” Everyone’s face suddenly turned to shock. Time seemed to have completely frozen. There was total silence, not even the sounds of chirping birds could be heard.
    Upon hearing those words, something snapped inside Zelda's mind. It was as if her life had totally ended at this very moment. She tiptoed closer to Impa and Link’s lifeless body. “No…” she whispered in an almost inaudible voice. She felt like she had lost total control of both her body and her emotions. “Noooo!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Zelda ran up to Link’s body and fell to the ground before him. “No! This is not happening!” she screamed, shaking his lifeless form violently. “Wake up! You’re going to be fine!” She continued to shake him even though her eyes were blinded with tears and she had lost all control of her breathing. She looked at the doctor with desperate eyes. “You have to do something! You have to!” Zelda ran up to the stunned doctor and began to shake him violently. “You’re a doctor! There has to be something! Some kind of potion, anything!” she wailed as her whole life came crashing down.
    “I…” muttered the doctor. But before he could utter a word, Zelda had released him and was back on the ground hovering over Link’s face.
    “This can’t happen to you,” she pleaded to his pale body. “Please Link…I love you…please…” She leaned over and kissed his lips. It was then that she realized the futility of it all. He was cold and completely lifeless. Zelda sat up slowly and staggered around, trying to regain her balance. The world spun before her and she saw all the faces of the people staring at her: the guards, the doctor, Impa and her father. They just stood there and watched her. “What are you all doing?!” she screamed in an almost maniacal tone. “Can’t you see what’s happened? You all let him die! You let him die! All of you!” Zelda had suddenly become overtaken with uncontrollable rage. “You all did it!” She ran up to Impa, whose face was blank and devoid of emotion. “You let him die!” she screamed at Impa, tackling her and flailing her arms wildly. Zelda tried to hit Impa anywhere she could. “You let him die!” she screamed again. Impa wrapped her arms around Zelda’s waist in an attempt to control her. Zelda simply struggled wildly, kicking and punching at anything she could. Zelda was now completely out of control, like a rabid animal, and it took all of Impa’s strength just to keep her from going on a rampage. Something had to be done before Zelda hurt herself or someone else. Impa eyed the doctor and he nodded. He knew what that look meant. Impa spun around holding Zelda so that her back faced the doctor. He retrieved a small vial from his bag and stepped up behind Impa, who was twisting and turning to keep in check with Zelda’s flailing body. She screamed and cried as Impa began to lose her grip. The doctor leaned over and waved the small vial underneath Zelda’s nose. The squirming began to slow as Zelda smelled a very strange odor underneath her nose. She felt dizzy and lightheaded. Suddenly, her legs buckled and she fell to the ground.
    “No…please…take me too…” she whispered toward the sky as her vision faded and she blacked out.
    Zelda’s father bent over and gently picked her up, cradling her in his arms like a sleeping baby. “We have to take her inside,” he said. “She has to calm down. Guards, you are dismissed. Don’t tell anybody about this until I tell you that you can.” The guards all nodded their heads and dispersed. He looked over at Impa, whose face was still emotionless. “Take care of him. I have to get Zelda to bed.” He choked back tears and tried to continue. “You have to find his friends and family. Get Saria, Malon, and…and Solo. We have to tell them. Don’t say anything until you bring them here.” Impa nodded and he walked off.
    Impa looked at the doctor, who stood there with a depressed look. “Doctor, please take him inside to the medical chambers. I…I just can’t do it.”
    “I understand,” he replied. Impa walked off as the doctor picked up Link’s body and carried it towards the castle.
    Impa waited in the field for a moment until everyone was gone. She walked over to the decorative stone wall and just leaned against it. If she had stood any longer, her legs would’ve buckled underneath her. Now Impa was reliving the death of her husband all over again. Everything-the pain, the grief, the feeling of emptiness-was all coming back to her. She had prayed that no one would ever have to go through the pain she went through so many years ago. Now it was happening to Zelda, the girl she had accepted as her surrogate daughter. And it was even worse for Zelda; she was young and immature, and she probably had never experienced the death of a loved one. Worst of all, Zelda didn’t have the emotional maturity to move on. Impa had never seen two people who were so emotionally attached to each other. This was going to devastate Zelda more than anything in the world. Impa knew that Zelda was strong enough to handle just about any hardship, but Link was always the one who helped her through it. Now without him, Zelda would have nobody to depend on. She had opened up to Link even more than she had with her father. Impa prayed that Zelda wouldn’t go through the emotional breakdown that she had had when her husband died, but somehow she knew that Zelda would. It was only a matter of time.
    Impa unconsciously rubbed her hands against her forearms and wrists, suddenly remembering the pain that she had endured so long ago. This flood of emotions finally became too much for her to bear. Tears began to well in her eyes and fall down her cheeks; she hadn’t cried in years. Impa finally lost her balance and collapsed to her knees, hunching forward and supporting herself with her arms. Now a sickening, nauseous feeling began to well in her stomach. She could taste an acidic sensation in her throat and knew what was going to happen. Impa’s body shook as she began to retch violently and vomit all over the grass in front of her. After what seemed like an eternity of retching and heaving, Impa finally collapsed onto the ground and rolled onto her back. She stared at the sky for what must have been several minutes, just trying to control herself. She had no idea how she was going to tell Link’s friends and family about this. Something like this was just too difficult. She’d never had to tell friends about the death of a loved one. Now she felt like the Grim Reaper, having to send the message of death to Link’s loved ones. Impa couldn’t let her emotions destroy her. She had to be strong and calm to break the news to Solo, Malon, and Saria. Trying with all her might, she managed to bury her emotions enough to keep herself from crying or getting sick again. Never really being a religious person, Impa still prayed for strength and guidance, because she knew that this was going to turn her entire world upside-down.
 
 
 
 
 

    Malon and Solo both dismounted their horses when they reached the entrance to the Kokiri Forest. They took the horses’ reins and led them inside the forest so they could tie them up without having to worry about thieves. They passed by a little boy who was appointed as the guard to prevent the children from aimlessly wandering off. “Um…hi Solo,” he muttered, eyeing the horses. He appeared to be apprehensive about the very large animals that the two girls were bringing with them. “What’s…what are those? They don’t bite, do they?” He cautiously approached one of the horses but jumped back when one of them suddenly snorted.
    “Don’t worry, it’s just a horse,” Malon said, trying to calm the shaken little boy. “They won’t hurt you. Just think of them as really big puppies.”
    “Oh…okay,” he muttered, still backing away. Malon sighed and followed Solo to the nearest tree, where they securely tied up the horses.
    “What was that all about?” Malon asked, motioning toward the boy who was still staring at the horses.
    “They’ve never seen horses before. These poor kids never get out.” Malon nodded, forgetting the fact that the only world the Kokiri children knew was inside the forest.
    “Do you feel any better?”
    “Not really,” Solo replied frankly. “It’s just getting worse. I don’t think it’s just an idle feeling. I know something’s wrong, I can feel it in my bones. And I’ve never felt this way before.” The seriousness of Solo’s words was making Malon very apprehensive. “Let’s just go to my house, and see if he’s there.” Solo quickly ran over to her and Link’s house, praying to any god that would listen. She practically jumped the ladder, climbing it in seconds. She ran into the house hoping to see him lying on his bed or reading a book, but the house was empty. The only sign that he had been there was the disorderly state of his bed, and the pile of clothes on the floor. “He’s not here…” Solo said, feeling tears come to her eyes.
    “Maybe he’s at Saria’s house,” Malon suggested. Solo’s face brightened a little, but not much. With amazing speed, Solo ran out of the house and jumped off the balcony, bypassing the ladder entirely. Solo landed on the ground and ran over to Saria’s house as if nothing had happened.
    Saria was sitting at her table reading a book when Solo came barging into her house, frantic and out of breath. “What’s wrong Solo?” asked Saria in her normal worried tone.
    Solo motioned for her to wait a second as she caught her breath. A few moments later, Malon entered the house and stood next to Solo. “Have…have you seen Link?” asked Solo.
    “Well, yeah,” Saria replied. “I saw him this morning. Is something wrong?” Saria was becoming worried at Solo’s dire expression.
    “Do you know where he went? I have to see him.”
    “He went over to Zelda’s house. It’s their fifth anniversary and he was going to give her flowers. He even gave me this.” Saria proudly displayed the beautiful green flower Link had given her.
    “Did everything seem okay with him? He didn’t seem sick, or hurt, or anything bad like that, did he? Are you sure he’s okay?” Solo let out the string of questions in one long, uninterrupted sentence.
    “Are you okay, Solo? You look a little upset.”
    “I just have a bad feeling. You know that feeling, when you think something’s wrong and you don’t now what it is?”
    “I guess so…” Saria mumbled, but Solo interrupted her.
    “Well, I just have this bad feeling about Link.”
    Saria’s face grew very somber when she realized the seriousness of Solo’s tone. “Are you…are you sure?” she asked, suddenly feeling her heart sink. “Are you sure you’re not just imagining things?”
    “Yes, I am!” Solo shouted. “Why won’t anyone believe me? I’m just the stupid little homeless girl who doesn’t know anything,” she mocked angrily. “Everybody just humor her, she doesn’t know what she’s saying!” She flailed her arms in exasperation.
    Malon put her hand on Solo’s should and snapped her out of her fit. “Just calm down,” Malon soothed.
    “I don’t want to calm down! Something’s wrong and I need to find out what it is. I see the look on your faces, and I’m not crazy.” Solo’s feelings of dread were becoming more intense as each minute passed. Attempting to bury those feelings was practically driving her crazy.
    “I don’t think you’re crazy,” Saria stated flatly. “But you’re worrying me. I thought I would have felt something if anything happened to Link. I usually do.”
    “There’s something different about this. It’s something bad, but it’s not supposed to be this way. It’s wrong. We have to go to the castle. I have to see if he’s there.” Before anyone could respond, Solo was out the door and walking towards where they had tied up the horses. Malon followed closely behind her when Solo suddenly stopped, nearly causing Malon to run into her.
    “What’s wrong?” whispered Malon.
    “Do you hear that?” Malon listened closely but heard nothing. “It’s a horse, I hear a horse coming. It’s coming through the forest entrance.” Solo pointed, and sure enough, a horse emerged from the dark passageway that linked the forest with the outside world. The rider completely disregarded the little guard boy’s shouts to stop and rode right through the meadow towards Malon and Solo. Solo slowly backed away as if she were being confronted by some kind of horrible monster. The rider was still a distance away, but Solo knew that it was Impa. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she came to a horrifying realization: Impa never came inside the forest, something had to be dreadfully wrong for her to do that. “No…” Solo muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. “I can’t be right about this.” Malon put her arm around Solo’s shoulder in an effort to comfort her, but Solo was completely oblivious.
    Impa rode up to the two girls and promptly dismounted her horse. Impa had a very solemn, stern look on her face. It seemed to be absent of emotion or feeling, simply a mask of nothingness. Impa took a deep breath to calm her racing heart and walked over to the girls. She totally avoided eye contact with them and stared at the ground. “I need you all to come to the castle with me now. There’s been…there’s been an accident. I…I would rather not say it right now. I want you all to come with me first, everybody needs to be together for this.”
    “I knew it…I knew it!” Solo screamed, running into Saria’s house. To Saria’s surprise, Solo ran up to her and fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around her waist and crying. Before Saria could say anything, she saw Impa and Malon enter the house. The look on Impa’s face sent chills down her spine; Saria knew that Solo had be right about something.
    “What…what’s happened?” mumbled Saria, fear and apprehension suddenly rendering her unable to speak.
    “You all have to come with me to the castle. I’d rather not explain it right now. It’s…it’s too hard for me.”
    “It’s bad, isn’t it?” asked Saria, her tone turning very dark. Impa simply nodded.
    “I told you,” Solo sniffled.
    “Saria, you can come with too,” Impa added. “I know the legend about you kids dying if you leave, but…”
    “I already know that that’s false. I’ll go.”
    “Very well,” said Impa. “Do either of you want to take Saria with you?”
    “I’ll do it,” replied Solo. She tried to keep herself from breaking down. Everyone else’s face was solemn and expressionless. They apparently were expecting the worst but hoping for the best. But Solo knew better, she already knew what had happened. She could feel it; every fiber in her body told her that the worst was true. But not knowing for sure enabled her to regain at least some control of herself. Solo took Saria’s hand and walked over to the horses, following Malon and Impa.
    Saria stopped in front of the horse and waited for Solo’s assistance. “I’ve never ridden one of these before,” she said.
    “Don’t worry,” said Solo. “It’ll be fine. When I boost you up, just grab onto the thing up there and sit on the saddle.” Solo lifted Saria’s tiny figure onto the horse and she did what Solo had told her. Then Solo climbed on in front of Saria. Saria felt a little apprehensive, she had never been so high up before. “Don’t be scared, just hold onto my waist.” A second later, Solo felt two arms wrap firmly around her, squeezing tightly. “Let’s go, it’ll only be a few minutes until we get there.” Impa rode out of the forest first, followed by Malon, and then by Solo and Saria. As the horses made their way into Hyrule Field, they accelerated to a quick gallop. Saria squeezed even tighter and buried her face in Solo’s back. Solo expected that the horse ride would probably frighten Saria, but she knew that this experience would be trivial compared to what was ahead for them.
 
 

    Pain. A deep, throbbing pain in her temples was all she could feel. What had happened? She felt around blindly for a moment and realized that she was lying in her bed. Zelda’s eyes flew open as memories came flooding back at her. Had it been a dream? Had the entire ordeal been a dream? Zelda sat up and opened her eyes, squinting due to the sudden brightness. As her vision cleared, she could see her father sitting in a chair next to her bed with his face buried in his hands. Then she realized that her memories weren’t of a dream, but reality. “It’s…it’s real isn’t it?” Zelda thought aloud, her voice shaking. “It wasn’t a dream…” Her voice trailed off into a whisper and her mind drifted. Somehow, the realization of what had happened didn’t quite register in her mind. It seemed so unreal, almost like a dream, but not quite. Zelda felt almost as if she were watching her own body from a third-person perspective, not really experiencing anything first-hand.
    Harikana had heard his daughter’s whispering and looked up at her with watery eyes. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said. He had always thought of Link as a son; he had loved him just as much as he loved Zelda. Now a member of his family had been taken from him by a cruel twist of fate. He could not even begin to imagine how Zelda felt right now. Those two had been so perfect for each other. He wanted to be strong for his daughter, but he didn’t know how long he would be able to hold back his own tears.
    “What happened…to me?” Zelda asked, not remembering going to bed or changing into her nightgown.
    “I’m sorry, the doctor gave you something to calm you down. You were getting violent, and I didn’t want you to hurt yourself. But I understand why you did it.”
    “He’s…gone…” she whispered. Zelda collapsed to her knees and hunched over, sobbing uncontrollably. Her father immediately went to her side and hugged her tight.
    “I’m so sorry, Zelda,” he soothed, rubbing her back and trying to keep himself from crying. But the tears came anyway.
    “Why did this happen?” Zelda sobbed. “Why did this happen to Link? He never did anything to anyone. Why couldn’t it have been me?”
    “It was an accident. No one knew this would happen, it just did.”
    “If I had just gone over to his house in the first place, none of this would’ve happened. It’s my fault.” For some reason, it made her feel better to blame herself. She didn’t want to place any blame on Link; he was too perfect as far as she was concerned.
    “Honey, don’t ever blame yourself,” he said, looking into her tear-filled eyes. “I spent years blaming myself when your mother died, and it only made me feel worse. It took me years of pain and suffering to realize that neither of us had control over what happened. I realized that it just wasn’t my place to question the will of the goddesses.”
    Zelda suddenly broke her embrace and stood up, looking at her father with anger-filled eyes. “Goddesses? Goddesses?!” she screamed. “What kind of goddesses would do this? What kind of loving, caring creators would kill a such a wonderful person for no damn reason!” Zelda was screaming angrily, angry at the entire universe for taking Link away from her. “What kind of goddesses would take away such a caring, loving, beautiful person? They told me themselves that we were meant to be together! And what do they do? They rip him away from me! Those fucking goddesses don’t love us! We’re just their pawns, put on this world for their sick, twisted pleasure! They’re not goddesses, they’re demons,” she muttered in a hateful, loathing voice. “And I never want to hear of them again. I don’t care about the Triforce, I don’t care about the integrity of the universe! And I don’t care what they have planned for me! I hate them, and I will curse their names as long as I live!” In a fit of rage, Zelda ran up to her vanity, which had a delicately-forged glass statue that depicted a red phoenix carrying the golden Triforce in its talons. She grabbed the statue and threw it to the floor, causing to smash into hundreds of pieces. She saw a copy of the Book of Mudora, a book of sacred scriptures, and began tearing pages out of it and crumpling them up. Harikana quickly tried to run over to Zelda to calm her down, he narrowly missed the book flying past his head and crashing into the wall, the pages exploding everywhere.
    “Zelda, stop this!” he pleaded in a stern tone. She was going mad and he had no idea what she would do next.
    Zelda turned to him with her hate-filled eyes. “No! I won’t stop! Not until every image of the Triforce, not until every image related to those goddesses is gone!” Then she eyed the delicately woven tapestry on her wall, which depicted the creation of the world. She yanked it from its place on the wall, causing it to tear at the top. With an eerie sense of satisfaction, she hurled the bundled up tapestry out the window, where it fell nearly three stories into the small moat. “It all has to go! All of it!” Zelda frantically looked around for more artifacts, but was so blinded with rage that she couldn’t even think straight. Her father finally grabbed her and tried to tackle her to the ground as gently as she could. The sudden action had snapped Zelda form her rage and realize what she had done. With a new-found sense of self-hatred, Zelda buried her face on her father’s shoulder and sobbed.
    “Honey, just calm down. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
    “I don’t care any more,” she wailed. “He was the only reason for me to get up in the morning. Now I have no one.”
    “Zelda, that’s not true. You have lots of people. You have me, Impa, Saria, Solo, and Malon. All of us love you.”
    “But nobody loves me like Link did. Nobody understands me like he did. He was the other half of my soul, now I’m empty.”
    “I know honey,” he said, breaking into tears once again. He had loved Link like a father, and losing him was almost too much to bear. He knew how much Zelda had loved him, and it hurt him terribly to see Zelda in so much pain. At this moment, he would’ve given his life to bring Link back. “You just have to be strong for him. He wouldn’t want to see you in such pain. Just try to remember his life; don’t dwell on his death.”
    “I’ll…I’ll try…” Zelda whispered, sobbing even more. “It just hurts so much. I’ve never felt like this before. I want the pain to go away.”
    “You’ll get over it, when you’re ready. I won’t lie to you, it’ll take a long time. But you’ll learn to accept it. It seemed like it took forever for me to recover when your mother died. I loved her the same way you loved Link. I went through hell before I finally came through. I came to realize that she wouldn’t want me to brood and suffer like I did. I knew Link enough to know that he wouldn’t want you to suffer. He wants you to live. He would’ve given his life for you, and the only thing he wants is for you to move on. Don’t dwell on his death, but don’t forget him, either.”
    “I’ll never forget him as long as I live.”
 
 

    Saria, Malon, and Solo were standing in the foyer of the castle, awaiting an explanation from Impa. Saria was shaking and extremely apprehensive, Malon was simply waiting, but Solo already knew the answer. Impa had already whispered something to a servant, telling him to inform the princess that her friends were here. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you all this,” said Impa in a solemn tone, her eyes watering. “But I thought it would be proper for you to all be here together.” Impa sighed for a moment, her voice giving only the slightest hint of emotion.
    “What happened?” asked Saria, already on the verge of tears.
    “There was…there was an accident,” Impa finally said after an awkward silence. “Earlier today, I went out to look for Link. Zelda had expected him to be at the castle earlier in the day and she was starting to get worried. So I offered to go look for him. I figured that he had overslept, or that he was just late because he was nervous. As I was about to exit the gates, I thought I saw him laying on the castle lawn. I went up to him and saw that it actually was him. I thought he was just lying there, but as I got closer, I saw that he was unconscious and not moving. I tried to get him to wake up, but nothing happened. That’s when I noticed…his injury. There was a large red mark on his arm; he’d been stung by a bee.”
    “A bee?” exclaimed Saria with relief. “That’s it? He’s been stung dozens of times. That’s nothing.”
    Impa’s expression became more somber, not expecting her comment to improve Saria’s mood. “No, Saria, it wasn’t nothing. He may have been stung before, but people can develop allergies without warning. I called the doctor, and he tried to resuscitate Link. But after a few minutes, we both knew that there was nothing that could be done. From what we can tell, Link suffered from a severe reaction to a bee sting. He…” she fought back tears. “He didn’t make it. Link died at about noon today.”
    Time came to a standstill. In an eerie repetition of what happened earlier, everyone merely stood there with stunned faces. After nearly a minute of stunned silence, Saria’s clam finally disappeared and she broke into tears. Malon followed suit a moment later. But Solo still stood there, her face pale and shocked, but not a hint of tears. She had already known the answer, but hearing it from someone else only reinforced it. Solo couldn’t even cry. She just stood there. No tears would come, no emotions would surface. She only felt empty and lifeless. Everything was numb: her body, her mind, her soul. It really surprised her that she felt nothing. After a few moments of nothingness, Solo finally began to notice what was happening around her. She heard high-pitched wailing and felt some kind of weight pulling on her legs. She looked down and realized that Saria was on her knees, clutching Solo’s legs tightly. Likewise, Malon also wrapped her arms around Solo’s shoulders, crying more for Solo’s sadness then her own. “I want to see him,” Solo blurted out after a few minutes of silence. “Is that okay?”
    “I suppose,” Impa sighed. “He’s in the physician’s office right now.”
    Solo nodded and knelt down to Saria’s level. Saria looked at her with agonized, tear-filled eyes. “Be strong, Saria,” said Solo, kissing the little girl on the forehead. “Things will get better. I promise.” Saria couldn’t understand how Solo could say something like that after hearing such terrible news. As far as she was concerned, things would never get better. As Solo stood and walked away, Saria latched onto Malon and cried with her.
    With a dull face, Impa led Solo to the physician’s office. She walked inside and saw a large stone table in the center. On the table lay the motionless body of her brother; the boy who had saved her from an eternity of torture, the boy who had completely changed her life. Now he was gone, only a still corpse was there. Solo walked up to Link’s body and stood before it. He was so…lifeless. What was I expecting? She thought to herself. She couldn’t believe she actually expected him to be doing something. What an absurd thought.
    Solo didn’t want to touch him, but she somehow found herself running her fingers across his expressionless face. His skin was hard and cold, nothing like it used to be. In the first show of emotion, a single tear fell down her cheek. She had no idea why she wasn’t bawling like everyone else. “There was nothing we could do,” said Impa suddenly, surprising Solo. Impa walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder. “He had some kind of allergic reaction.” Impa lifted Link’s right arm and showed Solo the red mark where the bee had stung him.
    “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Solo said matter-of-factly. “He’s not allergic to bees. I’ve seen him get stung before. This shouldn’t have happened.”
    “Things just…happen sometimes. There’s never a reason for them.”
    “You don’t understand,” Solo rebutted, her voice becoming forceful and angry. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. He has too many things to accomplish in his life…or he did. Does anybody realize that? It’s not his time. It’s not supposed to happen like this. It’s not right.” The tears were now freely flowing and Solo felt like she was once again alone in the world. On the table lay the body of the boy who had rescued her from a hellish life, her savior. Now her savior was gone. What reason did she have to live in the world he had given her? She shook the thoughts out of her head and looked back toward Impa. “So what happens now?”
    Impa sighed. “The doctor and some officials are taking care of the funeral preparations. I’m leaving that to people that didn’t know Link personally. It’s just too hard for us. I’d do it…but I can’t.”
    “When will the funeral be?” Solo asked nonchalantly.
    “The day after tomorrow. It’ll be small; only close family members and a few high-level officials. Link was more highly respected than even he himself knew.”
    All of a sudden Solo turned around and walked out of the room. Out of the corner of her eye Solo saw the confused look on Impa’s face and she responded as she left the room, “I have to get out of here before I get sick.” Solo walked out of the administrative wing and back towards the foyer where she had left her friends. She now saw that Zelda had joined everyone else in the foyer, crying like the rest of them. Solo stopped before she reached them, staring at them with a blank face. Why was it that they could cry and she couldn’t? She had cried so many times in her life, over things that now seemed trivial. So why couldn’t she cry now? She had never felt so depressed in her life, not even when she had contemplated suicide while living in the streets. It felt as if her soul had been sucked out of her body and only an empty shell remained. She was sad, but strangely, she couldn’t really feel it. She saw Zelda on the floor bawling, holding Malon and Saria tightly. But Solo just felt numb. A feeling deep inside her told her that all this was wrong. It was like a surreal dream, as if there was more to the situation than it seemed. Even seeing her brother’s cold, dead body didn’t make the realization sink in. Solo wondered if she would always feel like this.
    After staring blankly for a few minutes at the heartbreaking display before her, the others finally noticed Solo standing there. All three girls motioned for her to come over, but she remained completely still. She didn’t belong with them; they were upset and distraught. Solo felt nothing. So why should she bother them if she couldn’t feel anything? Zelda noticed Solo standing a few feet away from them. She looked so lost-so alone, like no one in the world could possibly understand how she was feeling. But Zelda knew how she was feeling. Solo didn’t even notice Zelda walking up to her; her mind was off in some other dimension of nothingness and she stared blankly into space. It took Solo a few moments to realize that someone had wrapped their arms around her. She looked down to see that Zelda was hugging her and sobbing quietly. Simply going through the motions, Solo felt obligated to hug her back, even though she didn’t feel anything.
    “I’m so sorry,” Zelda whispered between sobs. “I know how you feel.”
    Solo couldn’t help but let out a sarcastic chuckle. This caused Zelda to look up at her with a confused expression. “You have no idea how I feel,” Solo stated bluntly, almost harshly. “You couldn’t possibly understand how I feel.”
    “But…Link is dead; he’s gone. I loved him more than anything in the world, and I know you loved him too. We both share the same pain.”
    “We don’t share any pain. You’re upset because your precious little lover is gone and never coming back. Sure, he loved with all his heart, but you couldn’t possibly understand what he did for me. I lived through hell for eight years, never having a home, a family, food or clothes. I had absolutely nothing. I had less than nothing. I was nothing. I was a worthless scrap of meat that wandered aimlessly, hoping and praying that maybe I could find a piece of garbage to eat. You always had a family. You always had food, clothes, and shelter…you always had someone to talk to and share your feelings with. I had nothing, no one. All I could do was wallow in self-pity, or, if I was lucky pass out from hunger and maybe have a dream where I didn’t have to worry about anything. You always had someone. Link just added to your already enormous wealth. But I had no one-nothing. Link was the only person I ever had. He saved me from hell, and I owe my life to him. Everything that I have, I have because of him. He gave me everything: a life, a family and friends. Now he’s gone and everything I ever had has gone with him. I have no right to be here with you anymore, I don’t deserve any of you. Without him, I have no purpose. I might as well be dead along with him.” Solo didn’t even realize that she had fallen to her knees and was sobbing, clasping Zelda tightly.
    Malon had somehow wedged herself into the whole scene, replacing Zelda’s arms with her own. With all the gentleness she could muster, Malon touched Solo’s face and directed her eyes towards her own. Solo’s usually bright and cheerful eyes were eerily empty. The once beautiful blue pools, filled with love and happiness, were now devoid of life. It seemed that Solo’s eyes didn’t even register Malon’s presence. Malon always noticed that Solo’s eyes brightened when she saw her, it was one of the things she liked about Solo. But the eyes didn’t brighten this time. “Solo…” Malon whimpered, gently stroking Solo’s face and hair in an attempt to calm her. Solo had never rejected Malon’s touch before, but this time she flinched and moved back slightly. “Please, please don’t think those things. You still have me. I still love you. You’re not alone any more. I will always be here for you.” Tears welled in Malon’s eyes, and a few drops managed to make their way down her cheeks. Solo couldn’t quite understand why Malon was behaving like this. Malon didn’t deserve her any more. Link had always made Solo feel important and needed, that she had a place in this world. Now with him gone, her light had suddenly been extinguished. He was no longer there to guide her, and all her purpose had suddenly vanished in one fell swoop.
    “No, I don’t deserve you any more. I realize now that I was never good enough for you. I never really understood why you would want to love a person like me. But Link always reassured me that I was good enough for anyone. I was good enough for him…He accepted me for who I was. He showed me that I could be a person. And as long as he was there for me, I always believed it. He was…he was my savior. Now whenever I feel like I’m worthless, he won’t be there to tell me that I am worth something. A lot of times, in the middle of the night, I would have nightmares about my old life. The feelings of despair and worthlessness would come back. But he was always there to comfort me. He was always there to hold me and save me again. Now he can’t. I’m worthless again.” In a sudden flood, Solo’s emotions went rushing through her. She finally collapsed and let out all the feelings that had been locked away. Burying her face in Malon’s shoulder, Solo sobbed violently.
    “Solo, don’t ever think about yourself like that. I don’t think you’re worthless. You mean more to mean than anyone, and Link would tell you the same thing.”
    “No, no, you don’t understand!” Solo shouted. “You don’t know what it was like. None of you had a brother, you couldn’t possibly understand what he meant to me. He was not only my brother, he was my savior, and he was the first and best friend I ever had. I know you all loved him, and so did I. But it was more than that. He was my idol; I worshipped him. I wanted to do everything I could to be like him. I looked up to him more than anyone else, I wanted to someday become the kind of person he had already become. You don’t know what it’s like to have someone your age, someone who’s blood-related to you, someone you can relate to and someone who understands your feelings. He was my brother, and he was my light. Now I’m back in the darkness again…and he won’t be there save me from it.” After the heart-wrenching display, Solo continued her distraught sobbing.
    Malon couldn’t stand Solo’s terrible self-pity. She tried to grasp Solo’s face forcefully enough to get her attention, but gently enough so as not to hurt her. Solo closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth, not wanting to hear any more. “Solo…Solo! Look at me!” After some cajoling, Malon finally managed to get Solo to open her eyes. “Listen to me. You are not worthless, you never were worthless. Link obviously showed you that. He showed you what it was like to be human. His death can never take that away from you. He showed you that you could become a great person. But most important of all, he gave you the strength to be yourself. You know he wouldn’t want you to act like this. If you think of yourself this way, then you’re throwing away everything he gave you. He showed you that you weren’t worthless, and if you think you’re all of a sudden worthless because he’s gone, then you’re spitting in his face!”
    That seemingly insensitive comment suddenly brought Solo back to reality. The harsh truth of her situation finally hit her. She was spitting in his face. If she pitied herself again, then she was only desecrating his memory. “I…I guess you’re right,” she mumbled, at a loss for words. “It’s just that the problem is…I never got a chance to tell him that. With all the help and support he gave me, I never told him how I really felt. I always meant to tell him, but I never really got the chance. Now I’ll never get to tell him. Now I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
    “He knew,” Zelda stated simply. “Believe me, he knew. A lot of times when he was rambling on endlessly, he would start talking about you. I guess he never told you how proud he was of you. He always wanted to have a sibling. He was so proud that you were able to adapt so quickly, and finally fulfill your potential. I think he looked up to you as much as you looked up to him. He was always amazed by your strength and your independence. He always thought that you were stronger than he was. But he always regretted the fact that you had to live the life you did. If he had been able to change the past, he would’ve taken your place without any second thought.” Zelda tried her hardest to make Solo feel better, even though she herself was inconsolable. Zelda would never be able to relieve her own pain, but maybe she could take some of the pain away from her friends.
    Solo looked at Zelda with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “He…he really said that about me? He was proud of me?” Zelda nodded. “I always thought that I could never live up to his example.”
    “It’s quite the opposite, he wanted to live up to your example. He only gave you a little push, you did everything else yourself.”
    “It’s true,” added Malon. “Link introduced us, but you were the one who decided to be my friend.”
    “I know that,” sighed Solo. “But I’m going to have a hard time living without him. He was such an important part of my life.”
    “Mine too,” said Zelda.
    “I don’t think there’s anyone he’s met who wasn’t deeply affected by him,” said Saria, who had been silent until that moment.
    “That’s right,” said Solo. “But he wasn’t supposed to die, at least…not like this. This isn’t his time. He had too many more things to do.”
    “I know,” said Zelda. “I always thought that we would get married some day and have a whole bunch of kids and live to be old and senile. But now that’ll never happen. If I had known this was going to happen, I would’ve already married him. I don’t think I’ll ever really get over this. I’ll never be able to love anyone else, ever.”
    Saria looked out the door and noticed that it was nearly nighttime. She hadn’t told anyone where she’d gone, and everyone was probably worried about her. She had no idea how she would break the news to the rest of the Kokiri, or if they would even care. None of them had ever really accepted Link as one of their own, on Saria did. They might not even care. And if they didn’t, then she wouldn’t be able to stand living with them any more. “I have to go home,” said Saria. I have to tell everyone what happened. They probably won’t care, but they need to know.”
    “I understand,” responded Zelda. “You go back home, they need you, and you need them.”
    “I can take her home,” offered Malon. She wanted to let Solo stay with Zelda so they could try to comfort each other as much as they could. They had both known Link the best, and they could help each other more than Malon ever could.
    “It’s okay,” said Zelda. “Solo can go with. I’ll be fine by myself. I need some time alone.”
    “Are you sure?” asked Solo.
    Zelda nodded. “You need to go home. It’ll be easier if you’re at home with your friends.”
    They all eventually agreed. Everyone was completely burned out. All they wanted to do was simply go to sleep and forget about this for a few blissful hours. Solo kneeled down and picked up Saria, whose face was still wet with tears. It surprised Solo that Saria had shown such remarkable maturity facing the situation. She always had looked like a small, naïve child, but she was definitely wise beyond her years. Saria wrapped her arms around Solo’s neck as they made they walked towards the doors. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” said Solo. “I just want you to know…that I always loved you like a sister. You made Link so happy. Don’t forget how happy you made him.”
    Zelda wiped away a tear as they disappeared into the night. Zelda’s dad sidled up beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. She grabbed at his clothing and cried again. She had tried so hard to remain composed in front of her friends, for their sake. But now she was free to pour her heart out. “Daddy, I don’t think I’ll ever get over this. Am I supposed to get over him? I feel that if I ever fell in love with someone else, that I would be betraying him. I don’t even want to fall in love with someone else.”
    “You might not fall in love with someone else,” he said frankly. “I never did. Sometimes, when you find that perfect person, no one else can take their place.”
    “We pledged to love each other for the rest of our lives. I just thought that his would last longer, at least until we got married. I always looked forward to the day I would finally be his wife. But now that’ll never happen.”
 
 

    The sun had set and the twilight disappeared when Solo, Saria, and Malon entered the Kokiri Forest. They were surprised to see a whole slew of children run up to them as they tied up their horses. All the little kids ran up to Saria and started barraging her with questions. When they saw the pained expression on her face, every one of them suddenly clammed up. They never saw Saria like this, and they became even more worried. After moments of awkward silence, someone spoke up. “What’s wrong, Saria?” asked Hoshi, a dark-haired girl who was usually the biggest gossip in the village, but could also be surprisingly sensitive.
    Saria took a deep breath and tried not to burst into tears again. “I have some really bad news for you.” They all waited for her to compose herself and continue. “It’s about Link.”
    “What happened to him?” came a few stunned voices in unison.
    “He’s…” Saria sniffled a bit, but managed to control herself. “He’s dead. He was stung by a bee and he died.” The response the children had totally amazed Saria. Most stood there with looks of complete shock, while others broke down and wailed.
    “No! How can Link be dead?” screamed one girl.
    “Who’s going to protect us from the monsters?” shouted a boy.
    “What if that giant raccoon comes back?” asked two twin girls simultaneously.
    Saria was heartbroken to see all the children huddling together, crying. After all the hell they had put Link through during his childhood, she still had to remember that the Kokiri were still children after all. They couldn’t help their childish name-calling. Perhaps that had loved Link more than she previously thought. “You mean…you guys liked him?” asked Saria.
    “Yes!” they all replied in unison, some of them too distraught to speak.
    “After the Deku Tree died, he was the only person big enough to protect us,” said one of the boys. “Now what will we do? We have no one to protect us.”
    All of the children, their eyes and faces wet with tears, looked towards Solo, who was trying not to break down. “You’ll protect us,” said Hoshi again, running to Solo’s side. The other Kokiri quickly followed. Before Solo could even react, dozens of little kids were hugging her and looking up at her with sad, teary eyes.
    Solo couldn’t help but look back down at them. They were so cute and so innocent. The recent death of their guardian spirit, the Deku Tree, would have sent them into chaos had they not had someone to rely on. Apparently they had seen Link as some kind of replacement. He was bigger than them, and it only seemed natural that they would see hi as a type of protector. Of course, Link was gone now. And Solo was the biggest one there. She didn’t want the responsibility of having to be their new protector. But when she looked at their pitiful faces, it melted her heart. She couldn’t say no to these kids. All of them had helped her to live the childhood she never had, and she would be forever grateful for that. “I… I guess I could do that,” mumbled Solo, putting a small glimmer of hope into the eyes of the distraught youngsters. “I’ll do what I can. But right now, I just need some time to myself.”
    Most of the Kokiri reluctantly let go of her, while a few still clung to her legs. “You promise you won’t leave us, right?” asked a little girl in a pitiful tone.
    “Of course not,” Solo replied, gently running her hand through the girl’s hair. The stragglers finally let go of Solo and joined the rest of the group a few yards away from the three girls. Solo saw Saria, whose eyes were still filled with tears. “Why don’t you go with them for a while? I’d kinda like to be alone right now.” Saria nodded and joined a few of the children, the rest of them slowly dispersing.
    “Do you want me to leave too?” asked Malon sheepishly. She really didn’t like the idea of leaving Solo alone in her time of need.
    “I really don’t want to tell you to leave…” replied Solo, not sure how to answer without hurting Malon’s feelings. “I just need some time to myself. And you should probably go home and tell your father what happened. He needs to know.”
    “I guess you’re right. You’ll be okay, right?”
    “Yes, I’ll be fine,” Solo assured her. “I just have to deal with this in my own way. I hope you understand.”
    “It’s okay, I understand.” They stood there for a few minutes until Malon suddenly clutched her in a tight embrace. “I’ll help you get over this, I promise.”
    Solo stood and watched silently as Malon hopped onto her horse and slowly disappeared through the forest exit. She looked around for a moment, taking in the silence of the forest. It was no surprise to her that things were so quiet, the children were all usually in bed by now.
    She sullenly walked to the house that had once belonged to Link; now it belonged to no one. Link probably would’ve given it to her anyways, but she felt like she didn’t deserve it. But she didn’t care about that right now; all she wanted was sleep, assuming she would be able to sleep at all. She grasped the rungs of the ladder and slowly made her way up into the house.
    Solo stood in the house, which was strangely empty and silent. There were two beds in the room, both of them in similar states of disorder. And there were piles of clothes in front of each bed, mixtures of clean and dirty. Solo never really realized how much she took after Link. It all seemed to make much more sense now. After all, Link was the only role model she had, it only seemed natural that she would pick up his habits. Link probably never realized that she’d taken up his habits entirely on purpose. She wanted so much to be like him, that she would do anything to emulate him. She walked over to Link’s desk and saw the piles of books on it. It didn’t take very long for her to realize that he was a closet bookworm. The day she found that out was the day that she had meekly asked him to teach her how to read. She had felt so ashamed at the time, everyone else knew how to read. But he hadn’t made her feel stupid or insignificant. He even praised her ability to learn new things quickly. That had brightened her outlook on life more than anything. He never really realized how much those small compliments affected her. Solo sat at the desk and looked at the titles on the various books: Elementary Calculus, Botany of the Jungle, Ancient Hylian Architecture, The History of Hyrule, The Book of Mudora, Great Literature, and dozens more. There were so many books on so many subjects. It boggled her mind that Link could even comprehend those books. There were so many of them, filled with page after page of big words and completely alien ideas. Sometimes Solo would sit there in the middle of the night reading them, hoping that maybe she could become interested in what Link liked reading. It was another attempt to try to be like him, but sometimes it seemed futile. She just couldn’t understand the books.
    Solo snapped out of her reverie and walked over to the bed. What was the point of looking at those books now? She never understood them before, and she wouldn’t understand them now. It didn’t even matter anymore. Link was gone, there was no reason to try to be like him anymore. Now she had no more guidance. Suddenly feeling terribly dejected, she finally collapsed onto the bed and buried her face in the pillow, not even bothering to remove her clothes or shoes. Muffled sobs emanated from the pillow as she wailed loudly. Link was no longer there to reassure her and to tell her that everything would be okay. She was alone once again.

Day 2

    Harikana stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep so far. How could he even sleep? There was too much on his mind. Link had been such a wonderful person, like a son to him. He’d always waited for the day that Link would become his son-in-law, and marry his daughter. It was always so obvious that Link and Zelda would eventually get married, a person had to be really thick not to notice that. He personally understood how Zelda felt right now. It had devastated him when his wife died giving birth to Zelda. But he had had Zelda to help him overcome the pain. Zelda didn’t have anyone to love like she did Link. He had no idea how Zelda would take this in the long run. He didn’t even know if she would truly overcome it. How would she live the rest of her life? He knew his daughter well enough to know that she would never love anyone else.
    He wondered how she was doing right now. She was most likely awake just like him, probably crying into her pillow. He couldn’t lie in bed while his daughter was in so much pain. He needed to be with her. Harikana stood up and put his robe and slippers on. He quietly padded down the hallway, making his way towards Zelda’s bedroom. Normally he would worry about waking her, but he knew she wouldn’t be sleeping. He opened the door and peeked inside, expecting to see her lying on her bed. He was surprised to see that she wasn’t there. He walked into the room and quickly scanned it, not seeing any sign of her. It would be difficult not to miss a distraught teenage girl.
    Feeling defeated, he exited her room and walked across the hallway to Impa’s chambers. He opened the door and saw her sitting at her desk, eerily illuminated by a small oil lamp. She looked up and saw Zelda’s father standing there. “So I guess you couldn’t sleep either, huh?” she said in an emotionless voice.
    “No. I was looking for Zelda, but she wasn’t in her room. I don’t suppose you’ve seen her?”
    A look of worry came across Impa’s previously expressionless face. “I had no idea she’d gone somewhere. I’ll help you go look for her, I hope she didn’t get herself hurt or…”
    “Calm down,” he assured her. “I’m sure she’s fine. She probably just needed some time to think. I think I know where she is. I’ll go find her, don’t you worry.” Impa nodded and went back to her sulking as he left the room.
    Harikana walked to the end of the hall and down the stairs. He had a good idea of where Zelda might be. Many times when she was little, she would sneak off to the courtyard to calm down. She liked the flowers and the grass there, it was calming for her. He had no doubt that his daughter would be there right now. As he approached the center of the courtyard, he could hear sobs echoing off the stone walls. As he rounded the corner, he could see Zelda’s form highlighted by the full moon. She had her knees pulled up to her face and was rocking back and forth.
    “Zelda honey?” he said quietly. His comment startled her, causing her to jump back a little. She scuttled back and knocked over what looked like empty bottles. He heard the telltale sound of glass bottles falling over and rolling onto the grass. She looked up at him for a moment and then hung her head back down, ignoring him. “What are you doing?” He walked up to Zelda and saw that she was clasping a large green bottle in her hand.
    “N…nothing,” she replied, sounding not at all like herself. Zelda took a drink from her bottle and continued staring off into space.
    Her father, hoping she wasn’t doing what he thought she was, went and sat down next to her. His suspicions were confirmed when he smelled the unmistakable odor of alcohol. He put his hand on her shoulder, but she didn’t even react to his touch. “Why are you doing this?”
    “Why not?” she replied smugly, her voice slurred. She attempted to take another drink but her father snatched it from her. She groaned in disapproval but was too inebriated to do anything about it.
    He looked at the bottle. It was an extremely expensive wine from halfway across the continent. “For someone who’s so upset, you sure picked some expensive stuff to binge on. Where did you get this?”
    Zelda shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno. Was in the cab’net, in the kitchen. It wass the firs’ thing I saw. I wan’ it back.” She made a feeble attempt at reacquiring the bottle, but her father pushed her hands away. She folded her arms and pouted when she realized the futility of her attempt.
    “Why are you doing this?” he asked again.
    “B’cause. ‘Cause it makes the pain go away. I don’ hafta feel anymore.”
    “You know this isn’t the answer. You shouldn’t drink away your problems. It’ll only make things worse.”
    Zelda let out a sarcastic laugh. “Thin’s can’t get any worse.”
    Harikana had no idea how to approach this situation. He knew how Zelda felt. She felt like there was no reason to do anything in this world. “You’re smarter than this. Don’t degrade yourself like this. How much of this stuff have you had?”
    She shrugged her shoulders again. “I dunno…I los’ count after the secon’ bottle.” Her father looked around and saw four empty bottles strewn about. There were five bottles including the one he had taken from her. “Jus’ gimme it back. I jus’ wanna pass out and forget.”
    “Dammit Zelda! Don’t do this to yourself! I did the same thing when your mother died and it just made things worse!” He turned Zelda’s face toward his and looked into her eyes. “If you keep doing this, you’ll only sink deeper and deeper into depression. You’ll eventually dig yourself into a hole you can’t climb out of. You will just end up destroying yourself.”
    “Maybe tha’s what I want,” Zelda mumbled indignantly. “Maybe I wanna destroy myself. There’s no reason not to. I have nothing else to live for. At least there’s somethin’ to get rid of the pain.”
    “Zelda, you have more to live for than you might think. You have friends and family. We all love you, and none of us want to see you like this. There’s nothing I can do to stop you. I’m not going to lock you up or ground you or anything. It has to be your choice. All I can do is tell you not to do this to yourself. Please, trust me. I know from personal experience what this will do to you.”
    “I’m sorry,” she slurred. “I just don’t care anymore. I know you’re up…upset, but I don’t want to feel anymore. I can’t stand the pain. And if I can’t feel anything, then I won’t have to feel the pain. I can’t promise you anything.”
    “Well, we can talk about this later. Right now, you’re going straight to bed before you get sick.”
    “I alrea’y did,” she mumbled, pointing to some spot in the corner of the courtyard. “Twice.”
    “Come on, I’ll help you up.” He placed Zelda’s arm around his shoulder and tried to get her to stand up. She had barely moved when she stumbled over and fell flat on her face. She was thankful that she couldn’t feel a thing at that moment. The world was spinning when she just sat still, now it was spinning and twisting so fast that she could feel it even with her eyes closed. Zelda finally gave up and collapsed limply onto the grass, letting out a pathetic whimpering noise. Her father sighed and picked her up, cradling her like a baby. It reminded him of happier times when she was a baby and he would carry her around all day. She wasn’t a baby anymore, and this certainly wasn’t a happy time. Only half conscious, she snuggled up against him and put her arms around his neck. He slowly meandered his way through the castle and towards Zelda’s room. Another difference between now and the past was that she weighed a lot more. He wasn’t in nearly as good shape as he had been back in his military days. Somehow he still managed to walk up the stairs and into Zelda’s room without arousing any suspicion.
    When they had finally made it into her room, he gently placed her onto the bed and pulled the blankets over her. Instead of her normal relaxed pose, Zelda curled herself up into a fetal position. He didn’t know if it was from the emotional pain or just form being sick. He hated seeing her like this. He so wished he could take the pain away from her and make everything better. But now there was nothing he could do, he was the almighty King of Hyrule, but his power couldn’t bring Link back. He leaned over and brushed Zelda’s hair back a little, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “I love you sweetie,” he whispered. Zelda had already fallen into a deep sleep, albeit a fitful one.
    Harikana exited Zelda’s room and quietly shut the door behind him. His next stop was Impa’s quarters. He opened the door to see Impa sitting in the exact same position he had seen her previously. Her face was unusually blank, even for her. He walked up to her desk and sat down atop it, only a couple feet away from her. “I guess you found Zelda,” she said as more of a statement than a question.
    “Yeah, I did,” he replied. “She was in the courtyard. She always goes there when she’s upset.”
    “It makes sense.” Impa sipped something from her cup and placed it back on the table. “How was she?”
    “Well,” he sighed, “she obviously wasn’t in the best of spirits. She was probably more upset than earlier today. Not to mention she was blind, stinking drunk.”
    “That’s doesn’t surprise me,” she said nonchalantly. “At least she didn’t do anything worse. She’s not exactly thinking clearly.”
    “Tell me about it. Somehow she managed to get her hands on five bottles of the most expensive wine we have. The thing I don’t understand is how she got it. That stuff is in a locked cabinet.”
    “That’s simple. I gave her the key.”
    “You gave her the key?” he asked, completely astonished that Impa would do something so out of character. “Whatever possessed you to do that?” He studied her face closely and then realized the problem. “Impa, are you drunk?”
    “I was until about twenty minutes ago, yes.” She looked over at her longtime friend and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I couldn’t sleep and I really didn’t want to think about my problems. Then Zelda came in with the same problem. She didn’t feel like talking. I just gave her the key and left it up to her own judgment.”
    “Were you drunk when you gave her the key?” he asked.
    “Not totally. But I was a little tipsy.”
    “Why did you give her the key in the first place? That’s so irrational, and you’ve never done anything like that before.”
    “Would you rather I’d given her a knife?”
    That comment made him think. But something like that wouldn’t happen. “Good point. But I think it’s time for you to go to bed too. I don’t want to have to carry you.”
    “Is that an order?” she asked sarcastically.
    “I can make it one,” he replied. Impa signaled her surrender and put her bottle of liquor away.
    “I guess you’re right. I’ll try to get some sleep.”
    The king left Impa’s room, confident that she could take care of herself. Before going back to his room, he quickly peeked into Zelda’s room just to make sure she was okay. Satisfied, he walked back to his own room and shut the door. He climber back into bed, knowing full well that he most likely wouldn’t get any sleep.
 
 

    The pain. That’s all there was, horrible, agonizing pain. Where was it coming from? Everything was a blur of agony and dejection. Her whole world was being turned upside-down. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but a bunch of dark blurs. It was as if she was experiencing her life from a third person perspective. She could see and feel, but everything felt so detached and impersonal. But in another sense, it all seemed so real. She looked down at herself and realized that something was strange. It didn’t feel like her own body, but her instincts told her it was. There were no clothes on her, only a few tattered scraps remained. Then she saw the source of the pain. There were welts and marks all over her body. Purple bruises and dozens of lacerations replaced her pale skin. There were also a few deep gashes, some still oozing blood, randomly spaced on her body. She tried to move her hands to touch her face, but realized that her arms were tied. She also noticed that her ankles were shackled to the ground and tied together. She couldn’t move at all. Then she felt the pain in her face. Her left eye was sore, and her jaw gave an occasional sharp pain.
    A few other unusual feelings accompanied the physical pain. She had a debilitating sense of sadness and anguish. And there was more-a dreadful feeling. She had a dreadful feeling of humiliation and-shame. That’s what she felt: terrible shame. She felt like she was no longer human, like some scrap of meat. Something had happened to make her feel like this, something terrible. But she couldn’t put her finger on it. She had been through many beatings in her life, and none of them had made her feel like this. Something had to have happened to make her feel such indignity. But she didn’t know what. The feelings just kept getting worse and worse, building themselves into some kind of self-perpetuating cycle. She was about to simply give up when a voice came from someone she couldn’t see. “You’re mine now,” it said with a cackle.
    The world suddenly vanished as Solo shot up out of her bed. Her heart was beating wildly and she was breathing so erratically that she felt as if she were about to pass out. Solo looked around and realized that she was back in her house and in her bed. A dream, it was a dream. She usually didn’t remember her dreams, but this one was still vivid in her mind. The images and feelings of pain came rushing back. She anxiously rubbed her hands all over her body, making sure that there were no wounds. Then the terrifying sense of shame and indignity came rushing back. Solo suddenly felt as if she were going to get sick. Solo tumbled out of bed and staggered to a mop bucket in the corner, which she immediately leaned over. Solo retched and heaved, but very little came from her stomach. She hadn’t eaten anything the previous day, so all that was left was burning acid that sent sharp pains all the way up her throat. After an eternity of dry heaves, which were now agonizingly painful, Solo finally calmed down enough to lie on the floor.
    Tears flowed from her eyes once again, caused both by her sadness at the death of her brother, and also because of the dream she had awoken from. The feelings in the dream were so real and tangible. But what did the dream mean? Did this dream even have any meaning? Link had always told her about his own prophetic dreams. She wondered if this was some kind of premonition of what was to come. It certainly couldn’t have been a memory of the past, because she had never had an experience like that before. Then again, maybe it was just a dream and nothing more. Perhaps her feelings about Link’s death were being manifested in her dreams. She had no idea what it was, but she didn’t want the dream to come back. It was so terrible.
    Staring at the ceiling was doing her no good. As much as Solo wanted to, she couldn’t sit around in the house and mope all day. She had to talk to someone, to confide in someone. She peered at the clock and noticed that it was nearly noon. On a normal day, Saria would have already woken them up for breakfast. It wouldn’t have mattered if Saria had done that today, Solo still didn’t feel like eating. She had gone for days without food before, so it didn’t even faze her. Solo finally gathered the strength to get up and was shocked when she looked in the mirror. The face that looked back at her was tired and drawn, and her eyes were so bloodshot that she looked like some kind of demon. Her hair was matted and out of order, and her clothes were wrinkled. Then she remembered that she had slept in her clothes. After a few moments of debating with herself, she decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble to change clothes.
    Now she needed to decide what to do. She wanted to go to Malon’s house to talk to her, but she felt the need to check on Saria first. Perhaps they could help each other a little bit. Solo walked out onto the balcony and climbed down the ladder. What she saw at the base of the tree house left her in disbelief. All around the front of the house lay dozens of bouquets of brightly-colored flowers. There must’ve been hundreds of flowers lying there. Those flowers certainly hadn’t been there the night before. The display almost brought her to tears. The only people that could’ve done that were the forest children, and she had never thought of them as the truly compassionate type.
    Solo walked over to Saria’s house to see the same beautiful display of flowers that were in front of her house. She walked into Saria’s house to see her lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. Saria heard Solo walk in and sat up to greet her. “So how’d you sleep last night?” asked Saria, rubbing her tired eyes. “I didn’t get any.”
    “Pretty much the same here,” responded Solo. “I slept for a little while, but what little sleep I had was taken over by a nightmare.”
    “Really? I’m sorry.” Saria’s face showed a twinge of concern, but the bags under her eyes overpowered any other expression. “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “Not really. I don’t feel like talking about it.” Solo shuddered upon remembering her terrible nightmare. “Have you been outside today?”
    “Yeah. Those flowers were a nice touch. I guess everybody did like Link. I really wished they’d told him that. He was always convinced that none of the Kokiri liked him. Especially with the way they treated him when he was younger. They always teased him and made fun of him. But they’re just little kids, it’s their nature. But he was always so self-conscious, and I guess the teasing made him feel worse about himself. He always had self-esteem problems. It might’ve helped him if he’d known that everyone here looked up to him.”
    “I guess it’s too late for that. I was going to go over to Malon’s house. But I wanted to make sure you were okay first.”
    “Well, I’m not okay,” Saria replied. “I don’t think I could be ‘okay’ after what happened. But I’ll be fine here. I can take care of myself.”
    “You’re not…mad at me or anything are you? For just leaving?”
    “No, of course not. It’ll help you if you share your pain with Malon. She understands you. I can talk to the rest of the Kokiri here. They understand me. We’ll get through this.”
    Solo walked over to Saria and gave her a tight embrace. “Thank you. You’ve always been like a sister to me. I just wanted you to know that.”
    Saria managed a weak smile as Solo walked out of the house. When she was out of sight, Saria went back to moping on her bed. The other Kokiri would understand her; what was she thinking? This tragedy was making her delirious. None of them understood her. None of the Kokiri were friends with her like she had been with Link. They were all sad now, but they would all go back to their normal lives soon enough. But her life would never go back to normal. She would never find another friend like Link.
 
 

    Solo rode the horse back to Lon Lon Ranch, and was there in a matter of minutes. She really didn’t feel like going anywhere, she just wanted to curl up in her bed and cry for the rest of her life. Solo had spent the whole night mulling over how she had reacted the previous day. She knew that she didn’t have to feel worthless. At least she had Malon to talk to. She had been so distraught yesterday that she hadn’t realized that there still were people who could make her feel worthwhile. Malon could never be to her as Link had, but she was the only one Solo had left.
    Solo rode into the ranch and stopped the horse near the corral. She dismounted and the horse quickly ran off and started grazing, happy to be back at its home. Solo sighed and knocked on the door. “Hello?” she said meekly. “Is anybody home?”
    She heard some footsteps grow louder and the door opened a few moments later. Talon answered with a solemn expression on his face. “Hi, Solo,” he said, showing her in. “I’m so sorry about what happened. Link was such a nice boy. I can’t believe this happened.” Talon really couldn’t think of any adequate words to say to Solo. There really wasn’t much he could say to console her. He himself was quite fond of Link, and was devastated when Malon told him the news. He gave Solo an affectionate pat on the back and pointed towards the barn. “Malon’s in there, I’m not sure, but I think she’s been worrying about you. I don’t blame her. She’ll be happy to see you, if happy is even the right word at a time like this.”
    Solo nodded and ran off towards the barn. She opened the door and looked around for Malon. After a few seconds, she located her behind some stack bales of hay. Malon quickly ran up to Solo, hugging her and kissing her on the cheek. “I’m so glad you came over. I was worried that you would never want to come back and see me, that you would be too depressed.”
    “I am depressed,” Solo stated bluntly. “But I needed to be with someone. I just don’t want to be alone.”
    They both sat down on the hay bales and Solo let out a sad sigh. “I wanted to go over to see you, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be alone or not. I was thinking about the time when I thought I’d lost you up on the mountaintop, I can only imagine how Zelda must be feeling. And I really don’t know how you’re feeling, I never had a sibling.”
    “It’s terrible,” Solo said, her eyes watering. “He meant so much to me, and now he was taken for no reason. He showed me how to live.”
    “I think he all gave us a new perspective on life. Before I met him, I thought nobody would ever care to listen to me. He was the first person I met who didn’t think I was a total nut. And I could never thank him enough for introducing me to you. I just can’t believe that he’s gone. He brought us all together, and I’m just worried that we’ll all drift apart.”
    “I have no idea what I’m going to do now,” Solo said. “What’s it going to be like waking up every morning without him there? It’s not just the important things I’ll miss, it’s all the little things that make up our daily lives. I mean, I’ll never hear him snoring in the middle of the night, or hear him complain when Saria scrubs his floor, or laugh when he puts a spider in Saria’s bed. But most of all, he made me feel like I was the most wonderful person in the world, like the whole reason I was put on this planet was for him to take care of me. From the moment he took me into his home, he made it his job to tell me I was worth something. He never judged me or yelled at me for anything. Now I just feel like I’ve been thrown back on the streets again.” Solo choked back a sob and tried not to let it out. She didn’t want to end up blubbering like a baby again.
    Malon put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay,” she soothed.
    Solo leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Malon, burying her face in her shoulder. Solo sobbed loudly for a few minutes, while Malon sat there, gently stroking Solo’s back. “I just can’t understand why this had to happen now,” Solo cried. “Why did this have to happen when I needed him the most? Those damn Guardians said he was going to be some kind of turning force for the whole universe. So why did he have to die? He had so much more to do! And I had so many more things to tell him. Now I’ll never get to tell him those things.”
    “I’m sure he knew. You know how much of a perceptive person he was. I’m sure he knew all along.”
    “But I needed to tell him! I needed to say the words.” Solo couldn’t bear talking anymore. She resumed bawling on Malon’s shoulder, thankful that at least she didn’t have to be alone with her pain.
 
 

    Zelda rolled over and tried to open her eyes, but suddenly squinting at the bright light streaming through the window. She didn’t remember going to bed last night, all she remembered was trying to drink herself stupid in the courtyard. Then the memory hit her. She remembered being caught by her father and talking to him for a while. Everything after that was a total blank. Zelda knew that she had gotten quite intoxicated, the way she felt now was proof enough. She really didn’t care how terrible she felt physically. Not wanting to face the day or even get up, Zelda rolled over and buried her face under the pillow once again.
    A creaking door suddenly broke the silence as her father walked into the room carrying some kind of tray. “Go away,” Zelda mumbled from underneath the pillow. She did not want any visitors.
    “Honey, it’s me,” he said.
    “I don’t care,” she replied. Harikana set the tray down on the nightstand and pulled the pillow off his daughter’s head. “Go away!” she shouted, flailing her arms about. “Just leave me here.”
    “I’m not making you go anywhere,” he assured her. “Now come on, sit up.” Zelda reluctantly moved herself into a sitting position, squinting her eyes and massaging her throbbing head.
    “Why are you trying to torture me?” she whined.
    “Because I don’t want my little girl to sit here and suffer all day.” He took a ceramic mug from the table and handed it to Zelda. “Here, I made some tea for you. It should help settle your stomach after that little binge you had last night.” Zelda unwillingly grasped the mug and took a sip. “I brought you some oatmeal…”
    “I’m not hungry,” she interrupted.
    “You haven’t eaten since yesterday morning; you need something.”
    “What’s the point of eating if I’m gonna throw it all up anyways?”
    “Fine, have it your way,” he said in defeat.
    Zelda took a few more sips of the tea and set the cup back on the tray. She lay back down on the bed and rolled over, facing away from her father. She didn’t want to have to face him, not after how she had behaved the previous night. She didn’t want to have to face another lecture.
    “Honey, do you remember what happened last night?”
    “Of course, how could I forget?” she scoffed.
    “I suppose that’s a good sign. What motivated you to go into the liquor cabinet last night? You could’ve come and talked to me.”
    “I already told you last night,” she replied indignantly. “I just wanted to forget it all. Every time I tried to go to sleep, I kept hearing his voice in my head and seeing his face, I just couldn’t take it anymore. No matter what I do I can’t stop thinking about him, and I can’t stop seeing his dead body on the ground. That’s all I see now. I can’t even remember the was he was alive anymore. His death is haunting me.”
    “Sweetie, I’m so sorry,” he said, leaning over to gently stroke her hair. But before he could even reach her, she squirmed farther away from him to the other end of the bed, still not turning around to look at him.
    “No, please. I just want to be alone right now.” She wrapped herself in the blanket and put one of her huge pillows over her head.
    Harikana could hear her sobbing underneath the pillow, but he decided against bothering her any further. “Fine, I’ll leave you alone. I just wanted to tell you that the funeral is scheduled for noon tomorrow. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I just thought I’d tell you. I love you dear. Come downstairs later if you feel like it.”
    Although her hearing was muffled by the pillow, Zelda still heard the door close as her father left. At least now she could be left alone to wallow in her own depression.
 
 

    The people who called themselves the Guardians were gathered in the largest building among the cluster of cottages in the outskirts of Kataan. Most of them had been going about their daily business when Zoya had told them to meet inside. She said she had extremely urgent news. All of them sat, waiting for Zoya to come back inside. They hadn’t had any urgent news in quite a while. In fact, life had been quite dull lately.
    Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the gray-haired woman known as Zoya walked into the house and closed the door behind her. “I hope this is important. I had to miss my hair appointment for this,” quipped Kira. Everyone except Zoya gave her bewildered stares, she was not one to make wisecracks. Kira grinned, but her expression faded as she saw the grim look on Zoya’s face. “What’s wrong?”
    Zoya sat at the head of the table and sighed loudly. She rubbed her face with her hands for a moment, trying to keep her composure. “I just came across some bad news about an hour ago,” began Zoya, her voice grim. “While you were all out doing your things, a messenger from the castle delivered a message to me. I have to say that I was more than shocked when I read it.”
    “Something’s really wrong, isn’t it?” asked Gaiden in a serious tone.
    “Yes, yes it is,” Zoya replied matter-of-factly. “The message I received was personally written and signed by the king. It informed me of the death of one of our…friends.” Zoya paused for a moment in an attempt to calm herself. She had been quite fond of Link, and his death was tearing her apart inside. She almost thought of him as a brother, even if their age difference was huge.
    “Well? Who died?” prodded Gaiden.
    Zoya took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She realized that her hands were shaking and her eyes were welling with tears. “Yesterday afternoon, Impa, Zelda’s caretaker, discovered a body on the castle lawn. It was…it was Link. Link died yesterday due to an allergic reaction to a bee sting. His funeral is at noon tomorrow in the castle yards.”
    Stunned: that was the only thing that could describe the looks on their faces. All of them sat there silently, brooding over the news they had heard. For some reason, it didn’t seem right. “This is a joke, right?” asked Kira, the others nodded their agreement. Zoya was known for playing pranks on them, but she never did anything this serious.
    Zoya shook her head. “No. This isn’t a joke. I really wish it was, but…it’s true.”
    “I think I’m going to be sick,” mumbled Talan.
    “Yeah, that was my first thought,” commented Zoya. “But it’s true.” She stood there silently, letting the news truly sink in. “Any thoughts on what we should do?”
    “This isn’t right,” said Kira in a gloomy voice. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think this reeks of evildoing.”
    “That was my first thought,” commented Zoya, her voice and demeanor transforming her into the familiar “detective-mode”.
    “This is obviously the work of someone we have no knowledge of,” said Kayla. “It’s our job to see this type of thing coming. But I guess we’ve gotten a little lax lately. After all, Link was supposed to be one of the Supreme Oracles. Kasuto himself predicted that he would change the world, and so did all of his predecessors. And I personally felt it in him. We would’ve known if he was destined to die so soon. None of us would have these feelings about him otherwise.”
    “I’m going to have to agree with her,” said Soral. “I mean, a bee sting? I distinctly remember him rambling about bee stings that night he and Zelda were over for dinner. He said he stumbled on a nest and got stung dozens of times. If he were allergic, he would’ve died then. And one bee sting is nothing compared to multiple ones.”
    “That’s true,” commented Zoya. “So we’re all going to the funeral tomorrow, we were invited after all. We’re going to have to do some investigating. I want to find out who did this.”
 
 

    Zelda slowed her horse as she approached the entrance to the Kokiri Forest. She was sick and tired of lying in her bed, being babied and coddled by her father, Impa and the servants. All she wanted was to be left alone with her misery. She had pretended to be asleep and then sneak out of the castle when the time was right. The guards at the gates would’ve normally stopped her before she could leave, but they took one look at her face and backed off. Zelda had been ready to simply knock them out if they had protested, but it didn’t come up. Secretly she had wanted them to try just so she could have an excuse to do something to vent her frustration. Zelda didn’t really care about anything that happened anymore. As far as she was concerned, the world could go on without her.
    Slowly leading her horse behind her, Zelda walked into the Kokiri Forest. She tied up the white stallion to a tree and glumly walked to Link’s, or what used to be Link’s, tree house. With every step she took, Zelda became increasingly distraught. The simple act of approaching his house only made the pain worse. But she had to do it; Zelda didn’t plan on visiting his house much in the future. She was taken aback by the sight she saw before her as she approached the house. Strewn all over the grass were dozens of bouquets of brightly colored flowers, some of them with small cards attached to them. Zelda picked up the card and quickly scanned the scrawling writing. It was a sympathy card from one of the Kokiri children. Apparently they had liked Link a lot more than they let on.
    Not able to handle the emotions she was feeling, Zelda climbed up the ladder into the house. Zelda moved the curtain away from the doorway and let out a sigh when she realized that the house was currently occupied. Malon sat on Solo’s bed, cradling her like a small child. Solo was sobbing and whimpering, occasionally speaking broken sentences about some kind of dream. Malon tried to comfort Solo’s trembling body the best she could. Malon looked up and directed a pitiful glare to Zelda and motioned for her to sit down. Zelda took a seat at the desk and stared at the floor. Malon shook Solo gently to get her attention, and she stared up at the auburn-haired girly with red, tear-streaked eyes. “Solo, angel,” Malon whispered. “Zelda’s here.”
    Solo looked over to Zelda and gave her a look of empathy and understanding. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone was here,” said Zelda, hanging her head. “I just wanted to come here and…wallow in my own misery.”
    “Join the club,” Solo commented cynically, using her dress to wipe tears from her face.
    Zelda stood up and paced around the room, gazing at all the meager possessions that lay before her. She looked at everything with new eyes; everything was the same as it had been just a few days before, but somehow it seemed different. Stacks of books were lying on Link’s desk, a few of them open. Next to the books was a notebook full of his own scrawling handwriting and absent-minded doodles. In one corner of the room was a pile of clothes, haphazardly built up against the wall. And then there was the bed that Link slept in every night. The sheets and blanket were crumpled and in a state of extreme disarray, and the pillow had somehow made it into the exact center of the bed. It looked as if the bed had never once been made, and knowing Link, that was probably true. As Solo sobbed in the other corner of the room, Zelda cautiously walked up to Link’s bed, approaching it as if it were a wild animal ready to pounce at any moment. Then she finally sat down on the mattress, feeling it push down a little under her weight. She then lay flat on her back, placing her whole body on the mattress. She rolled over and rubbed her hand over the sheets, noticing for the first time the slightly rough texture. She had slept in this bed many times before when she had visited his house, but never really noticed how it felt before. Every time she came over, Link always let her use his bed, and he slept on the floor. He had always been adamant that it wouldn’t be proper for them to sleep together in the same bed. And she had never protested, no matter how much she wanted to lie next to him and cuddle up beside him. Zelda never understood why he protested. Perhaps he was worried that sleeping next to each other would make him lose control of himself. But Zelda knew he was worried more about her than himself. Zelda had inadvertently tried to seduce him on more than one occasi