The second time, they were simply taking a stroll around the castle gardens, arm on arm, the air around them quiet and calm. The past months had been intense, with him fretting over her making the slightest effort and her tensing at even the littlest discomfort. However, when the fifth month rolled by them and nothing happened, they laughed at their worries and began hoping and dreaming again. The strolls had become a custom of theirs, under the light of the setting sun when the memories of their first meetings seemed to bloom afresh.
Then Zelda suddenly froze, grasping her huge and round stomach with a pained gesture, biting back a scream as Link let her cling to him with her free hand, lost for words in fright. It didn't take them long to realize she was bleeding, her white skirts stained in crimson, and Link felt everything but that stain becoming gray and surreal. Even her cries for help seemed to come from far away, and it took him a while to realize this was because he was close to fainting. Biting his tongue to bring back reality, he promptly carried her into the castle, his own voice booming across the halls as he calls, demands, begs for someone, anyone to come do something. She broke into sobs the moment she saw the blood, knowing what it meant, and was muttering to herself something like 'Not again, please, dear Din, Farore, Nayru, not again, please let my baby be safe, please-" Link disconnected himself from the prayer, knowing that should he lend ear to it, he would end up panicking, and Zelda really, really needed the cold-blooded, straight-thinker hero for the moment. He kept his voice firm as the servants approached, telling them to fetch the doctor immediately and only allowed his darling, frightened wife to leave his arms as he laid her to their bed, still writhing and clutching her stomach. The doctor arrived soon after and entered the room where Link could hear Zelda screaming and crying and begging and praying for the life of their unborn child.
It was for naught. For a second time, the doctor diagnoses 'Natural causes'.
"You are still young" he added, still too frightened of Link to not try and humor him "You both are. The queen will give you heirs very soon, I'm sure of it"
Link nodded and curtly thanked him before dismissing him and entering the bedroom.
This time, she wasn't sobbing; instead, she sat on the bed, straight and proud, pale and beautiful as a statue, tears sliding down her face, seemingly unnoticed. He sat beside her on the bed and reached out to catch a tear sliding down her cheek with his thumb.
"...how are you feeling?" he asked, because he couldn't truly think about anything else to say. It had been many years since he'd last found himself shy in front of her, and going back to that phase was sort of frightening, it made him feel as though they were drifting apart.
"...I am so useless" she whispered, her voice hoarse with tears.
"It's not your fault" Link immediately countered "The doctor said-"
"To hell with what the doctor said!" she suddenly half-hissed, half-sobbed "Our baby...our babies died!"
He swallowed, trying to unknot his throat and biting back tears. He had tried not to think of what would have been their first born, even now that their second born too was...
"Zelda, please, calm down-" he tried, his voice most unmanly-like quivery.
"I could not even...my babies...I couldn't even give life to them!" she continues through a set jaw "Queen of this land, bearer of a piece of the Triforce, and I still was unable to protect and keep my babies alive!"
He hushed her, caressing her hair, and her back, and her shaking shoulders and arms. She had goose skin, and felt incredibly cold, and Link couldn't help but wonder exactly how much blood she had lost and what it implied.
ZeLink: You must love me
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