[o4] ‸^‸ Fourth Song.

[ocariness]

Characters: AU!OoT Link (ocariness) and whomever finds her.
Setting: Floor 11 (Daytime). Set immediately after this, which is the day after the events of Hitori Kakurenbo.
Format: Action probably I'm terrible with prose lately?
Summary: Link now thinks that her ancestor hates her. Tired and emotionally past breaking point, she found somewhere (or so she thought) to be alone and sob. She really needs a hug.
Warnings: TOWER OF SADIMUS/ANIMANGST and tl;dr. But uh, other than that? None yet!

[ Everything around her was ripped away in a whirlwind of green light and the wooshing sound of air as Link returned to the warp point she'd set on the meadow floor.

It's hard, but she manages to pick herself up and not break down there, as luckily the warp point was next to the exit, as always. She gets up, numb, expression pained, and begins slowly making her way back to her room. By the time she returns to the meadow floor, she has since fixed her clothing, rebound herself, and gotten a shower.

... There was no evidence the person sitting next to the lakeside is a girl at all. Link had seen to that not being noticed.

She might be hard to spot, wearing a blue tunic instead of her usual green one and not bothering with having her hat on, but you'll spot her sitting on a bank, head pulled to her knees. There's the sounds of quiet sobbing every so often.

She shouldn't be allowed to carry the Master Sword, the name of Link, or anything else. She simply didn't deserve any of it; she had been forced to age and she never wanted it. She'd experienced loss, and the Tower was pushing her past even her limits of bottling things inside.

Something had to give. Perhaps it was her. Perhaps her ancestor deserved this sword more than she. Or the small Hero of Winds. Why was it that he, younger than when she'd started, was not forced to age like she had been? Was she never worthy to begin with? Did they simply "make do" with her? Was she a replacement "Hero"? Link didn't know.

What she did know was that she wished she could go home. Zelda deserved better than her. ]

Comments

[childhero]

[The meadow floor doesn't feel like home, but it's the closest he can find. When he was in Termina and felt at wits end, he would turn to the Woods of Mystery and disappear for three days, maybe six, maybe nine, if it was especially bad. Maybe that's a nice thing about the time cycle. He could always make everything stop when it became too much, and he could take as long as he wanted to get back on his feet. He could never bring himself to take full advantage of it, of course -- every cycle, there were people who were hurting, things that were going wrong, suffering he could stop (the looks on Romani and Cremia's faces can never leave his mind's eye, not with the way they look just like the kindest, sweetest girl he thinks he's ever met, the one who always reminded him that there was good to be found, who renewed his faith in this again and again, and to know that he could have saved them -- her -- if only if only if only if only).

So when he sees a familiar color of blue clothing and a shade of blonde, he... isn't surprised. After that night -- After he heard what happened -- After Sea... A feeling that is just as almost-nostalgic as himself has settled on his shoulders again. He didn't know it was happening, and he didn't save them. He couldn't even help. After he swore to himself that he wouldn't let anything happen to them, after thinking everything was his fault and that it was his job to get them all out, that the Princess wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for him... and then this happens... This is guilt. And if he feels it this severely, then consider the position of himself if he was. Imagine that failure, magnified, twisted, horrible and wrenching.

Quietly, without a word but plenty of noise as he walks to serve as an alert, Link comes to his other's side and sits down next to him. He won't say anything; he'll just serve as a companion.]

[ocariness]

[ For the longest of times, the older Link remains silent. It's funny, to see an 'adult' crying, but after all, the smaller one should know more than anyone else they're not really an adult.

Not by choice, anyway.

And for a long time, there is nothing said, but slowly it dies down, as Link looks mournfully into the reflective surface, saying nothing.

... They now hated dolls and bears. It's a shame; normally, they loved cute things, but this... this had ruined it for them. It takes a long time, for them to say something, but the scars of that night run deeper than can be shown by just a few tears.

Link was a failure; they were no hero. They weren't fit for the cross they bore. ]

[childhero]

[Oh, he knows far better than to think of his other as an adult. It's not an insulting thing; it's just that... well. While Zelda didn't necessarily fix everything by sending him back to his time permanently, it did mean he didn't have to try so hard any more. He didn't have to pretend, at the very least, to be a grown-up, something that he never felt he was, even after Kaepora Gaebora's acknowledgement. Maybe he isn't a child any more, not truly, but he certainly isn't an adult.

Link says nothing for a long while after the other stops crying. He doesn't want to pressure him into speaking -- if he doesn't want to, well. Being able to sit with someone in silence is just as important as being able to talk freely with them -- but he feels like he should say something. Technically, sort of, he's older. He's been through everything his other has and will go through back home (or so he thinks), and that puts him in a position to maybe know how he feels after what happened. They're the same person, after all, sort of. So... He should say something... wise. Comforting. Advice-related. Right? Maybe he can help.

After a moment of letting his thoughts wander and sort themselves out, he speaks, quietly.]

It's... okay, to fail, sometimes. That's something I've learned. It's not okay to not try, but... Sometimes, you can't save everyone.

[His voice may sound strained, a little shaken -- This is the first time he's put words to his lessons from Termina. He doesn't like it. He doesn't want to accept it, either. But it's the truth.]

But sometimes... you get second chances. And third, and fourth, and fifth... [He trails off. Maybe this place isn't in a three-day loop, but...] It looks like, as awful as this place is... It's also giving us more chances.

[ocariness]

[ There's the smallest of muffled, acknowledged noises.

They know that. But... ]

How many times will it take? Until--

[ Until I'm acceptable is the thought that they clamp down and bottle again and don't finish.

No. No, this was not LIKE them. They could not... they couldn't just be open, about things. Link had really been considering just staying in the lake forever here with this tunic on, which is not hard to infer.

It's pretty peaceful in the water, after all. Also silent. Alone. Private.

Link was so tired of all of this. Of this place. Of being toyed with, by fate, by the people here. ]

[childhero]

[Until it's done, Link fills in himself. He thinks he's right. Until it's fixed. He's at least half-right.]

I don't know. [He has to be honest.] It's different for everyone... for everything you do. Sometimes, you can get it in the first try. But sometimes... [Sometimes, little girls get kidnapped and nothing is ever the same, until the next three days, and the next after that, and sometimes you can't save her because you have to save everyone else, too.] It just hurts.

[... honesty is the most important thing right now, he tells himself.]

[ocariness]

[ Breathing. They... need to breathe. This has been bottled for too long, and the events of the other night are still too fresh. ]

... I... I would have gladly died to save her, but it was my fault she had to watch that. I could not stop it.

[ Overpowered by a small toy... how humiliating. ]

... I can never stop it.

[ Nothing. Everything cannot be undone or fixed. Even in the 'proper' timeline. Briefly, they wonder: what it must be like, to not feel constantly a disgrace. ]

[childhero]

It isn't your fault. [Link shakes his head. His voice is surprisingly firm -- It's a tone he picked up when he was Woods' age.] Blame the people who made the "game," who made you "play." [The quotations are audible. That isn't any game.] More than anything, you [plural "you"] wouldn't have been in that situation if it wasn't for them. [At last, his voice softens.] ... it isn't your fault.

[ocariness]

[ ... Haa.

Link wants to believe that. Hope it's true. Nevertheless... ]

These people are horrible. They think it's all right, so long as they bring us back, I bet. That it's a game. That it's 'fun' to toy with people's lives. They take us from different timelines to this place, claiming our worlds are gone and tormenting us.

[ It's disgusting. ]

[childhero]

[Link nods firmly in confirmation. That's what he thinks, too.

(And, honestly, it's healthier, easier, better to blame these other, faceless people for this than themselves. Link knows this. While that kind of thinking isn't something he's fond of, when it's something like this... If they continued to blame themselves, beat themselves up about everything that happens, they'll go insane. At least this way, they have a goal, and something to unite over.)]

[ocariness]

[ Wiping their eyes now. ]

... We... need to do something...

[ But what? And how? And... to whom? ]

[childhero]

[Again, he nods, but he hears the uncertainty. He's quiet for a moment longer.]

I know. But they have an advantage... We'll have to wait and try everything we can to find out more about the people in charge of this place.

[ocariness]

[ Messing with their hair, here, for lack of an outlet at the moment. Link is restless.

It's just--frustrating. The look on their face pretty much says that, all and all. It's horribly frustrating. These people deserve to know lives aren't to be toyed with. ]

[childhero]

There's got to be something. There's always an answer... Maybe we just don't have the tools to find it yet.

[ocariness]

[ A small, slow nod. Of course. They just... need to find it. ]

... This is a rather complicated puzzle, in that case.

[ Sigh. They hadn't found a single key yet. And there was a lot more at stake, here. ]

[childhero]

[He nods.] But there are four of us, right? And six adventures between us. [... wait. No, let him count. Technically the two of them shared one... so that would make it...] Five adventures?

[He shakes his head. ANYWAY.] If we all work together, we should be able to figure it out, even if it takes some time. ... and several tries.

[ocariness]

[ ... Muted nodding.

They can't give up. They'll find a way to fix this, somehow. They had to.

... Jokingly-- ]

What a shame we've not yet found the key to this enormous door. I would rather like to see what happens if we open it.

[childhero]

[Link allows himself to smile.]

I guess it's not the right time. We haven't found the secret weapon, after all. We wouldn't be able to beat the monster on the other side.

[ocariness]

[ A light scoff. ]

Then it had better be an amazing weapon; we've a fearsome enemy on our hands in this Tower, after all.

[childhero]

It always matches the enemy, doesn't it?

[ocariness]

... It does. At this rate, I am inclined to think their ultimate destruction will be a stuffed toy.

[ Link is JOKING, but... you know... ]

[childhero]

[Link allows himself a small smile.] It could be, for all we know. Who would think that a tiny slingshot could bring down a giant spider?

[ocariness]

[ Aha. Truly, a David and Goliath story. Or it would be, if Link knew what the Bible was. ]

... Indeed. I suppose the best we can do is attempt to locate it.

/does tags via email

[childhero]

Maybe other people in the Tower will know more than we do. It's worth asking around... We just need to know what questions to ask. [Hmmmmmmmm.]

[ocariness]

... Once they've recovered, of course. There are likely a few here who have been here for long enough to have found out something.