&. @remainedqueen ， 𝐳𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐚.
she did not want to hear it. she held her breath, closed her eyes, and waited to wake up in her bed. wrapped in the covers, hiding from the sunbeams that poked through the curtains with her love wrapped up and cozy with her. the princess’ eyes widen slightly in disbelief, unable to register the emotion that this situation would warrant. she can’t think about the current situation. she’s too busy wishing that it wasn’t, lost in a dream of a better time.
the herald of wisdom was many things, devoted was one of her many traits, but strong-willed, when it came to those she cared for, was not a trait she harboured. zelda’s sapphire eyes have a slight jadedness over them, (or were they tears that have yet to set free?) and she doesn’t blink for a long while. the sound of a slow crack and then a loud shatter—-
the mirror was not the only thing that had broken, just a moment ago.
broken into hundreds of thousands of particles, drifting away in the scalding wind. the wind blows her hair again toward the obsidian shard that erupts from the coliseum’s centre, but zelda remains still. her hands together in front of her, her shoulders square and back straight. she’s sure he can tell how unsteady her breathing has become. how the glossy coat over her eyes is more than normal, how her nostrils flare with each sharp breath she takes to steady, how her jaw quivers just slightly so.
she’s gone. the voice is silent, the thrum within her soul stills. the light that she carries with her has dim slightly. zelda’s hands part, one raises up as if to grab something that was not there. but, after a moment, it falls to her side to no avail. and so she stands there, for a moment, as if not hearing his words, not comprehending them. like he speaks the language of the gods she refuses to acknowledge.
the gods. how cruel were they, to destine light and shadow to intermingle but never mix.
it’s that thought that pulls her under the ice, where the frozen surface under her feet cracks and gives away. zelda holds her breath subconsciously, and it all comes pouring out in spurts. sharp gasps, tears slip down her cheeks, and she turns to bury her face in his shoulder.
❛❛ i loved her so much, ❜❜ the princess weeps into the shoulder of courage, her own shoulders shaking worse than any tremor. ❛❛ i loved her so much and she’s gone, she’s gone. ❜❜
LINK THINKS HE UNDERSTANDS ; OH , HERO , you spent so long fighting for her throne & for her life , & you still don’t know ? of course he loved her , of course he loved midna , it is impossible not to. zelda knows , zelda knows his heart. your heart & mine were one , however briefly , she said once , a century ago. “ i ... ”
voice is hoarse , achingly so , as his heart pangs & pangs & pangs. he can do naught but grasp the princess’ shoulder , face turned away. for her privacy & his own ; link knows , he knows how much they meant to each other. just as he had spent months , years , by midna’s side , so too , had the princess. so too , had she learned the nooks & crevices of the twilight princess’ heart.
why did she go ? he cannot fix the day , or the hour , midna decided on her plan ; a mischievous imp she may be , she held her eyes towards her kingdom alone , didn’t she ? “ i know , ” he says instead , ‘pon the realization that she must have planned it from the start. hesitation lied betwixt her brows , but her parting words were more than enough.
link , i ... see you later.
tears well up in his own eyes ; he convinces himself it is the desert wind. “ i loved her too , ” he whispers , gentle & airy. like howling into the night sky , the golden wolf guiding him ... oh , link knows. it is not the same as zelda’s heartbreak ─ he suspects that , nothing can ever really compare ─ but he knows , he knows. of course he loved her too.
& now , in the dust of arbiter’s grounds ... link swallows , & it feels like glass scraping down his throat. midna , oh midna ... “ i loved her , too. ”
