songerein | log 🌻 the one left behind

Who: Zelda and others
Which: Log with open and closed prompts in the comments
Where: Around Reverein- Wild Harvest, Archives, and Wishing Well
What: Zelda wakes from her sleep coma and is big sad about her bf being gone
Warnings: Usual TOTK spoilers, possible themes of self-sacrifice

[ Zelda wakes slowly, opening her eyes to sunlight filtering through the window, playing on the rafters crisscrossing above her head and illuminating a few dust motes drifting in the air. The ceiling of her bedroom in Songerein.

She lets out a slow, defeated sigh and closes her eyes again.

She failed again.

The day Zelda woke to discover Link gone, she laid down in her bed and willed herself to go back to sleep. His departure did not come as a surprise, but that did not make it any easier to bear. He had told her that he would soon return to Hyrule, as if he knew-- no, not just knew, decided to go, as if that conviction was all he needed to break free from the shackles the dream world placed on its residents. It was time for him to return, he said. He was going to bring her home too. Nevermind the permanence of the draconification transformation. Nevermind the obstacle of the Demon King, looming insurmountable over Hyrule. He was going to overcome it all.

He was going to bring her home.

If Link could escape Songerein simply through sleep and conviction, then surely Zelda could as well. Why stay, when staying meant being without him? She only agreed to set duty aside and live for as long as the two of them were together. Link was gone; time for Zelda to fulfill her duty and become the Light Dragon.

And she partially succeeded; the princess managed to slip into a sleep coma of her own volition, where she spent the entirety of a month. But of course, escape still eluded her. Three times, Zelda has tried to wake of her own volition. Once by trying to swallow her secret stone and force the draconification transformation. Once by throwing enough baubles into the wishing well to grant her passage back to Hyrule. And now, by forcing herself to sleep. All three times, Zelda has failed.

Really, she should not be surprised. Leave it to Link to succeed in something like this the moment he puts his mind to it, and for Zelda to struggle and fail repeatedly. Such has always been the way for the two of them, hasn't it?

Zelda continues to lay in bed for awhile, wondering if she should try again, until the bedsores all over her body become too much for her to bear. No, she needs to get up. She needs to do something. If she doesn't find some way to occupy her mind, her thoughts will drift to Link... and whenever they do, it feels like scalding knives driving into her chest.

The pain of being the one left behind. ]

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[ Zelda knows the precise way Sheik usually brushes off a compliment and although the words are the same, his tone is all wrong. It makes the food in her mouth taste like sand when she hears it.

She forces herself to swallow, but it goes down like a hard lump in her throat. ]

It... It is all right, truly.

[ Those words feel like such a cop out, because they both know it isn't all right. Nothing is all right. If it was, Zelda wouldn't have tried to return to Hyrule and make her ultimate sacrifice. If it was, she wouldn't have hesitated all day to call on Sheik.

Zelda places one hand against the sofa in the space between their bodies, searching for Sheik's hand to take. She doesn't feel like she deserves it, but she wants it all the same. ]

Link... [ She sighs. ] There is nothing you, or I, or anyone could have done to keep him here. He said he needed to return to Hyrule, so he did, simple as that.

[ A mirthless laugh. Link always made everything look so easy, even breaking free from the prison of the dream world. When he sets his mind to it, not even the gods can stop him. ]

Before he left, he promised me that he would bring me home. [ Zelda knows she doesn't need to elaborate. Sheik will understand that the promise Link made was to find a way to turn the Light Dragon back into Zelda. ] And I just... When I found him gone, I wanted so badly to go home to meet him there.

But I couldn't. Link can do anything, but I... [ She sniffles, holding back tears forming in her eyes again. ] I can't.

[It's not all right, but she has to say as much, doesn't she? It'd be too cruel otherwise, to acknowledge that for all his yearnings, she would rather be passing a mindless eternity than sitting here on this couch with him right now.

She's breaking, though. He hears it even before the tears begin to once again threaten the corners of her eyes, the bitter helplessness that he knows so well but isn't accustomed to hearing in her voice. It urges him to take a deep, steeling breath and sweep his own selfish laments from his mind. Now is not the time to feel sorry for himself, not while she's here looking for strength and comfort.

He shifts, pulling the shoulder she leans upon back so he can wrap his arm around her as his other hand finds the one searching between them.]

... You believe him, then. Or at least a part of you does.

[He observes after a quiet, contemplative moment. He's unsurprised her Champion would make such a promise; Link had said as much to him that night he seemed to find his resolve. The both of them seem to think it impossible, but—call it hubris, or denial, or perhaps divine wisdom if one is feeling generous, but Sheik has to believe there is a way. And if Link can do anything, then surely, surely he'll be true to his word.

That doesn't help in the here and now, however, and his thumb runs soothing circles across her hand as he thinks.]

Perhaps... you are looking at it the wrong way. The Goddesses may not hold dominion here, but... the destiny of a Princess of Hyrule is never entirely free from their influence.

[And he would know, wouldn't he? It's a fatalistic point of view, one that denies Zelda her free will and suggests her separation from the one she loves is something that has been demanded of her by the gods. He doesn't relish in arguing it, his voice low and tired as he does, but as things are, after a month of caring for slumbering friends and wondering if the next day will be the one where they in turn disappear, he struggles to come up with a more hopeful reasoning for her repeated failure to return to enact her sacrifice.]

If it is their will that you remain here, then... maybe there is reason for it. Something that can only be done here, in this strange world so far away from anything Hyrule has ever known. [Malon would be better at this, he thinks. He squeezes Zelda's hand and pulls himself away from that thought as though it's a hot stove.] It is cold comfort, I know, but...

[Is it so implausible, that perhaps they want her to live?]

[ She curls into Sheik as he puts his arm around her, fitting herself neatly against his side.

'You believe him, then.' ... Yes, she nods wordlessly against him, yes, she believes Link. At the deepest part of her, past any guilt and grief and longing, past any trepidation and anxiety born by a logical mind that knows what he promises to goes against all proof and precedent-- she believes him. Link can do anything.

Which doesn't make the bitter pill of his absence that much easier to swallow. Zelda is choking it down as best she can-- because what other choice does she have?

She listens to Sheik as he continues, attention held in the present by the texture of his calloused thumb over her hand.

He's right, a Princess of Hyrule's destiny has never been her own. Whether by the edicts of the gods or the demands of her station, her fate has been decided since the day she was born. Sheik would know all about that, wouldn't he? Doubtless, the princess he serves is tethered all the same. ]

[ But then he hits on something... unexpected. Something... that makes it all click.

A reason she is still here.

Suddenly, it's not just Sheik's words, but Rauru's in her mind, "Zelda... I believe there is a reason you were sent to us. It has to mean something."

Something that can only be done here. ]

Something only I can do...

[ Her own words echo in her memories and on her tongue all at once, her tone equal parts wondering and galvanized. ]

[Oh. Something... resonated there. Curled against him as she is, Sheik can feel the tension in her body shift as her voice goes somewhere very distant, to a memory of some other time and place far away from here. Of all the reactions she could have had to his attempt at comfort, it's certainly preferable to most, but that doesn't mean he knows why, exactly, his words have left her so awed. It's not as though they were very optimistic.

He leans forward slightly to better see her face, questions writ upon his own.]

... Princess?

[There's a lot going on in that head of yours, please share with the class.]

[ Up until this point, Zelda has looked tired and despondent, but when Sheik looks down at her now, he'll see a familiar light in her eyes-- one that is usually present, but has been conspicuously absent tonight. ]

You're right... I've been looking at this all wrong.

[ She moves to sit up, causing Sheik's arm to slip from her shoulders and down her back. When she looks at him, he'll be able to see the gears turning in her mind as she sorts things out in real time. ]

There must be a reason I am still here.

[His surprise persists as he watches her pull herself up, but it is not unpleasant. On the contrary, from the depths of his own grief, seeing the light return to her eyes feels like nothing short of a small miracle. Given the words that inspired it, perhaps he should be more concerned about the possibility of her throwing herself into some other impossibly cruel fate, but... for this moment, he can be satisfied that she's willing to move forward.

He nods, a weak smile tugging at his lips.]

I see. I... am glad to know there is some insight to be found in my counsel, still. That expression befits you far more than despair.

[He's still... useful to someone, in some small way.]

Of course, you will have my assistance in seeking that reason, whatever it might be, but it will be your strength that matters most when you find it.

[As she's not seeking his support quite so much, he'll free a hand to nudge her snack plate a little closer. Please eat, Princess, it's been a long month...]

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