With the way things had gone, at first, there hadn’t been much she could do when it came to keeping the numbers of the ‘drones’ down. Between trying to stem their ever-encroaching tide and trying to keep people safe, storefronts and collateral damage had been the least of her worries. Now in the aftermath of collapsed building corners and cracked asphalt, she could only drag a hand down her face and sigh.
Despite her best efforts, it still hadn’t been enough. Not for this street, at least, while she’d been preoccupied a couple of streets over.
The remnants of the deactivated machines had been dragged off and picked well over by now, but the bodies of those that had died remained– though she knew it wouldn’t be for long. For all the things there were in the city, she had yet to see a cemetery among them. No matter what happened to them though, she couldn’t simply leave them there without doing anything. Belated though they might have been, last rites were the least she could attempt.
Kneeling before each person she could find took time, prayers whispered into too-still air, uncertain if any of them would even be heard. God might not work in this place, but that was all the more reason she should try and do something in his place. As she finishes with the last, she straightens, dusting off the knees of her jeans, and catches a pair of eyes settles on her, wide and uncertain. She stares back at the familiar face, equally unsure. There’s no guarantee that he knows her, of course, bu there’s no guarantee he won’t– and even if he doesn’t, it’s not like it’d be the first time.
“…y’ alright there, hon? Ain’t come lookin’ for someone who lived ‘round here, did ya?” A neutral enough question, but one that she hoped would be enough to get an answer as to whether he knew her or not.
It was easy enough to see that she hadn’t instigated any of the chaos that went on. If she was, Link was sure he would have been able to see some source of evil in her person (as if something like that could be an accessory, what a small foolish thought); either way, he felt it best to take a few steps forward and greet her from a closer distance.
Looking her in the eye now, he thought that there was a reason he felt so sure she hadn’t done any wrong. Something about her was familiar, just like the city in general, as if he had some form of a memory left to sit in a jar on a dusty shelf, closed off in a room he had long kept himself out of.
At her question, he shook his head simply enough. Surely, there was nobody he knew here... not unless the Princess had ended up in this mess, or God forbid, the kids from Ordon. But the bodies laying around them, left behind in a way that made him feel unholy and unclean to even bear witness to, were not those of anybody from Hyrule.
Part of him wanted to speak up, but if there was a word that came out of his mouth, it had almost never been about himself. Surely there were better things to save his breath for, and so he did.
“This...” Link shook his head once more, scanning the area for any lingering foes — of course, all those left behind were ghosts. Ridiculous, devastating, horrible, there weren’t enough words to describe what it appeared to be.
“...What about you?” (Have you lost anyone here?)
