Destined to Fight (GhiraLink)

Rusty Blade

"My name is Tirai," the woman said once Mal was gone. She turned her head to look at Zelda. Her eyes and voice seemed to hold no emotion, making the goddess reborn shiver. She bowed deeply. "It's an honor to meet you, Goddess Hylia."

"Please," Zelda said, unable to maintian eye contact with Tirai and shifting her gaze to the floor. "Call me Zelda. And treat me as nothing more than your equal."

The woman looked up at her and tilted her head, the closest thing she did to showing emotion. She sat on the side of the bed, the cheap thing sagging under the combined weight of her and Zelda. "Very well, Zelda. I apologize about him."

"It's fine," Zelda mumbled as she looked around, her eyes first finding the rusting pipes on the ceiling, twisting and wrapping around eachother before they disappeared into some place unknown. The walls that made up the large room had faded paintings depicting robots and papers tacked to the stone, most likely telling robots what and what not do. With the orange firelight of the torch against the wall serving as the only light, the place was eerie and Zelda could almost be sure that it was haunted.

"Where am I?" Zelda asked as she looked back at Tirai.

"Lanayru Mining Facility," the Sheikah answered. "We felt that it was the safest place, especially since your hero killed the moldarach that inhabited this facility."

Zelda took another look around the room, eyes momentarily settling on the torch. She was reminded of the days when she and Link would sneak out and run through Skyloft at night, back before Groose began to bully him. Now more than ever, she longed to see him.

"Zelda," Tirai said, catching the woman's attention once again, though she didn't show it. "Is the hero aware that monsters have begun to appear again?"

"His name is Link," Zelda snapped as she turned her head back to Tirai. If the Sheikah was bothered, she didn't show it. She began to apologize, but Tirai cut her off.

"My apologies. Does Link know that the monsters have returned?"

Zelda frowned, shifting her gaze from Tirai and, once again, back at the torch. Did Link know? Could that demon she sent sense things like Fi? Would he have told him? Was Link even alive?

"Zelda." Zelda turned her head back to meet the stone eyes of the Sheikah with her. "Does Link know?" Tirai asked again.

"I...I don't know." Zelda looked down at the sheets, tracing the wrinkles with her fingers. "He could, but I don't know."

Now Zelda was afraid. Was she going to have to play the role of Hylia again? She never wanted anything to do with that goddess-because of her, Link had suffered and it showed in how he hated silence, hated the dark, hated anything that could remind him of that quest he went on. She knew she had created wounds that would never heal, even if it was to prevent an apocolypse, she couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Then I will send someone after him," Tirai said as she stood up. "And your daughter will be coming in in a few minutes, if that makes you feel any better."

Zelda nodded, silent as she kept her gaze on the sheets before her. You're gonna be okay, she thought, pushing away images of Link with the black rapier lodged in his chest. You have to be.

--

"So," Ghirahim said as he clapped his hands together. "Since it appears we will be stuck together for a while, we may as well learn a little more about each other, don't you think?"

"I guess," Link muttered, looking down at the horse Ghirahim had gotten a few days ago, saddle and all. Overhead, Skyloft cast a shadow on them, reminding them that they were halfway there.