Luminescence

No Moon

"You saying that makes me know there's something else."

"Zelda," but he restrained his ire and took a deep breath. "I really, really don't want to talk about it, okay? I'm tired, I'm hungry, and..." but at that point his throat refused to work for him anymore.

But the princess didn't press anymore. Instead, she gave him an unexpected, but warm hug about his middle. Something in the way he could feel her arms shaking made him realize the unnecessary worry he had caused her. One more thing to fail in.

"It will work out, Link. Whatever it is. You don't have to tell me. I just worried about you. I'm glad you and Luna are safe."

He fought down the stone in his throat.

"I'm glad you're safe too," he said, not caring that his voice came out wavering. "I was worried about you too. I was worried about how I made you feel by yelling at you like that. I'm sorry. No, I wasn't being myself. I was stupid."

She gave a weak chuckle and pulled away. "Repenting and humbling ourselves, are we?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Are you as hungry as I am?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

"When Luna heals up, what do you say we go on a quick, what could I call it, a hunt for food before turning in? Maybe the twilight has moved from the castle already."

He sobered up quickly. Yes, he was starving and beyond exhausted. Every part of him begged him to just keel over onto the rocks then and there and sleep. Jasmeen would take Luna away from him the moment she was healed. He might as well go along with Zelda. It could be a comforting ending to this garish day and night. But...he didn't want to let her go. He didn't want Luna to vanish without a trace with the fallen star.

Then he really would be alone.

Watching the blood bleed away from her and the red bruises fade in the gentle glow of the spring, he felt sick with himself. What was he thinking? Hadn't he already found out what happened to Luna because of him? How could he even dare to think to deprive her of the safety she deserved? Zelda had said so herself—it had only been one day and Luna was already back here in the springs of Lanyru, out cold. It was unreal. He didn't deserve her presence. He never had. Besides, he had to deal with Midna on his own. This was his weakness he had to face, his screw up. If he had only prompted her to return the Fused Shadows, and if he had only not hesitated so when she offered him the power to combine their worlds. Even now he was hesitant and unsure of the right choice. He had told her he had loved her. Then what?

"I'm going to check in on Jasmeen, if I heard his name right. Perhaps he would like to return to the castle with us for food as well. It's the least I could do to repay him for helping you."

You don't need to repay him anything, he wanted to say, but he neither had the motivation nor the time as Zelda stood and walked back up to the entrance of the spring. He didn't hear her voice or Jasmeen's, so the star must have wandered far from the entrance. Feeling the silence of the empty room more than hearing it, he returned his gaze to Luna. The light had begun to die down till only the amber of the lamps remained. When her white lashes began to flutter, every nasty pain percolated in his gut rose to his chest like a wave of needles. Long before he'd ever be ready for it, those blue eyes opened and stared right into his. The needles rose.

She didn't say anything. Her face betrayed nothing of what she thought. Then, her eyes widened and she jerked as though to move away.

But urged on by all the suffocating aching he felt, he lifted her from the water and yanked her roughly against him, burying his face into her shoulder and her wet hair.

"I'm sorry." he croaked. "I am so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

And hefted on by exhaustion, hunger, conflict, guilt, and sorrow, he began to shamefully weep.

To his endless amazement, Luna barely hesitated before wrapping her wet arms about his head. When her soft lips pressed into his hair and onto his forehead, he could only cry harder and hug her tighter. Wet feathers, dripping spring water, wrapped about him in a protective cocoon.

This wasn't right either. He didn't deserve this.

"No, Luna. Stop."

And instantly she pulled back, expressing questioning, but eyes fearful—afraid to be hurt.

He felt a rush of panic.

"It's nothing like that, it's just... I don't deserve your forgiveness. This is wrong. You shouldn't have come down here in the first place, it was never worth it. You should have stayed up there, in the sky."

She watched the tears that he hated drip down his face. She did not let go, however, and her wings remained wrapped about them. Then she did the next remarkable thing and gave him that tender smile. She drew in close, parting her lips to whisper in that ethereal, musical voice.

"Mortality is a gift from the gods. Not many understand why, but even now it is a gift to me."

"Please, don't talk. You'll just hurt yourself. I don't need you to hurt yourself even more over me, please, just stop."

She shook her head. "You must understand. I don't regret this. Sadness, anger, pain—all these come with mortality. But they have taught me of happiness, peace, and joy as well." she winced, but nuzzled her nose to his cheek in attempts to hide it. "Even if you chose another...I would never regret having this time with you. I do not regret leaving my lonely throne in the sky to have this chance to see you, to speak to you, to finally hold you..." her voice finally cracked and gave out.

"Luna..." but he didn't know what to say and only dropped his head back onto her shoulder. He was so tired. So Din damn tired.

And without knowing how it happened, he slipped away from her arms, fell against a thin bed of grass a few feet away, and dozed off. No troubling dreams of twilight invaded his sleep, and he knew, even then, that Luna had something to do with it. The moon watched over his rest as she always had.

But when he woke up...she was gone.