SessKag; Breath of the Wild

FORTY FOUR

It hurts...

It hurts...

Somewhere deep inside, Link just knew that the Hero of Time exist. He...didn't want to think that his friends will believe the tale to be nothing more than a fairy tale...

"Link?"

Link looked up to see Sesshoumaru walking in his direction; his gaze calm but his brows frowned at the sight of Link. It was then that Link realized that he was crying. Wiping his relentless tears away, Link answered, "I'm..." He stopped. He was going to say that he's 'fine' as usual, but wasn't that's because everyone expected him to be infallible, incapable of mortal hurts and limits? He was so used to the habit of telling everyone that he's fine, that he's not hurt, that he can keep on going that the habit had followed him a hundred years later even when he has forgotten just about everything else.

But Kagome didn't see him as infallible...

Sesshoumaru didn't expect him to be a paragon...

So he changed his answer, "Can I...tell you something?"

Sesshoumaru studied his face for a while before finally nodding, turning to lead him somewhere more private. They ended up at the pond with the single Korok flying over a formation of lily pads. One look from Sesshoumaru and Korok disappeared. Link chuckled at that, "You didn't have to tell it to go away,"

Sesshoumaru turn to him, "I belief it will be easier to speak without extra ears listening,"

Link smiled at that. It's just so Sesshoumaru to avoid saying anything too personal, or too kind. But he's right; it was easier to speak now. The two made themselves comfortable and Link started, "About the Hero of Time...I guess since I inherited his soul like Impa said...I know he exist. But everyone is so certain that he doesn't that...it hurts. It hurts so bad it feel like my chest is being torn open,"

His fingers fumbled with a blade of grass as he continued, "I don't know why, back then, why it hurt to be told that he's a figment of imagination. After...I guess after I become the Hylian Champion, I realized why. When I heard about the story from both you and Kagome again, there's this excitement bubbling inside. Back then I didn't remember about being told that he's not real, but then Purah insisted that he's not and I just remembered why it hurt..."

Sesshoumaru sat quiet, listening as Link fell silent and the only sound was the birds and the small waterfall breaking the pond's water. In the end he asked, "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Link frowned, leaning forward against his propped up knees before answering, "Maybe? I guess, since I hold the soul of a Hero and all that,"

Sesshoumaru hummed, "Hn. Perhaps that soul of yours rebelled whenever it hears the false belief of the people. If anything, you should be carrying the hidden memories of all the Heroes that come before you. In a way, only you as the Hero would know if the Hero of Time truly exist,"

Link blinked before looking at him, "Are you sure? Do you really believe that he can travel in time?"

Sesshoumaru peered at him from the corner of his eyes, "Have you seen Kagome? She claimed to travel from a time beyond mine, a time where apparently my race either hide or...extinct...for she have never come across a youkai before falling through the Bone Eater's Well. She said that she uses the well to travel from the time where I met her and the time where she's born,"

Link stared at his hands before nodding, "I guess it made sense..."

"GUYS!!!"

They turned to find Kagome running towards them with Purah tottering along behind her on her shorter legs. Kagome grinned, "I think I know where we can find Link's sword!"

Link blinked before standing up with repressed excitement, "Where?"

Kagome beamed brighter, "I had a discussion with Purah-,"

Said girl cut in, "More like an argument,"

Kagome ignored her, "A discussion with Purah about the Heroes. All the Heroes visits the Lost Wood. And it got me thinking; where better to hide things that are lost than in a place famous for getting things lost?!" She then added with a smug look, "Also, I told Purah my...adventure...with time travel and that if what she says is the truth then I and Sesshoumaru won't be here! In another word, when I really think about it, perhaps why people think that the Hero of Time does not exist is because he did something that erases all that he had done for them from their mind. So even if they hear his story as an overly active imagination of a bard that supposedly doesn't exist, they can't forget it and so they preserved it by passing down the story as a fairy tale, because somewhere inside them they know that it did happen and that he did exists!"

She then added, "Not to mention that apparently the Hero of Time grew up under the guard of the Great Deku Tree that, from what Purah's research said, have been guarding Hyrule since time immemorial. If anyone know about the truth of the Heroes of Hyrule, then it will be the Great Deku Tree!" She pointed at a random direction confidently, "So let's go to the Great Hyrule Forest!"

Purah grabbed her pointing hand and redirected her north, "It's that way actually,"

"Right..."