I gasped for air, this time feeling like I really had been drowning in the water. I stared at my reflection, my hands touching the bottom of the misleading shallow ground. Ahead of me was the dark-haired woman whose life I had been following.
Even though the others before her stopped their story as she did, I still asked, "Why did you bring me back?"
She sighed, facing away from me. "The memories are not really mine. They are Midna's and they should stay that way. To briefly put it, Link and Midna continued their journey and found the rest of the mirror in order to defeat Zant. As expected, he told them of his 'god,' Ganondorf. All thanks to Zant's efforts in taking the light he could to revive Ganondorf's physical form. The final stage in their quest was to go back to Hyrule Castle."
She turned around, one arm clutching the other. Her faded blue eyes stared into mine. I watched as a tear slipped down her cheek.
"I came to you in your moment of need, not for the love I felt for my hero or the loss of childhood. I came because we both experienced a tremendous failure. I had the same amount of time as you did to train. I even gained some of the sacred power, yet despite all of that my kingdom still fell into the wrong hands. Whereas you searched for all of your life finding nothing only to gain the greatest amount of power after everything was taken from you. And the person you were protecting, ended up falling anyway."
There was another pause as she stepped closer to me while I remained on my knees, feeling her remorse. My own words echoed in my mind: Everything I've done up until now . . . it was all for nothing.
"The worst is the aftermath," she said, taking me aback.
"The aftermath?" I asked.
"Yes. When you realize that so much is missing you continue to blame yourself for everything. I felt this way when Link decided to stay by my side after he saw his village was safe."
She waved her hand over the shimmering water and an image appeared of her. She stood in her cloak while Link met with those in his village. One of them was a beautiful girl who hugged him tightly when he arrived. The girl then looked up to see the princess waiting by Link's horse. The girl quickly ran over to her.
"Princess Zelda?" she asked with a bow, her tone soft as she spoke.
Zelda nodded, "Yes. On behalf of Hyrule, I thank your village for its bravery."
She shook her head, "No, we all know Link was our inspiration. He's going to become a knight, isn't he?"
Zelda closed her eyes, "Only if that is what he wishes. I see in your eyes the same emotion I saw in another's. You . . . don't want to give him up, but you realize what's for the best . . . Ilia."
The girl, Ilia, let out a gasp. "How did you--"
"Let's just say, I've traveled with Link for a long while. He didn't say much, but I could tell this village meant the world to him. If you could possibly make him stay, please do so."
Ilia then took Zelda's hand with a sad smile, "I'm afraid that things won't ever truly be the same, Princess. From me temporarily losing my memories and his dangerous journey, we turned out to be different people. After everything that's happened, Link will need something to focus on. I don't think he will be satisfied here."
The water rippled and the image faded. The Zelda in front of me said, "So she didn't fight for him to stay with her. Instead, he put it upon himself to accompany me. I was grateful to him as he took me to the places that I only saw through Midna's eyes. We even traveled to a village the Royal Family had forgotten. Impaz was there still. I could never fully express my regrets to her.
"After the castle was restored, I bade Link to journey home. I grew frustrated with the idea that I, out of Midna and Ilia, was receiving his devotion. As you will learn, it wasn't possible for him to interact with Midna any longer, but that knowledge made it worse. In my eyes, I saw no reason for Link to stay by my side.
"So one day, I got on my horse and rode off. He, of course, followed me on Epona. I had planned to ride to his village, but because of my rush, my horse got easily spooked when a band of bokoblins appeared. I was bucked off directly towards the monsters. In a matter of moments, Link was suddenly there with one arm around me while the other held up his shield."
A warm smile spread on her face, something I hadn't seen in her memories shared with me. She had a hint of amusement in her eyes as she recalled the memory. I could relate, though the frustration I had with Link was different than hers.
"It was still a long time before I was able to accept what happened. In truth, as he once explained to me, the reason he stayed was because he knew that he needed me just as much as I needed him. We were the only two people that experienced the Twilight as we did. The only ones who knew what Midna did for us.
"What I am really saying is you need not blame yourself for what happened. At the end of your journey, you may feel like if it wasn't for you being there, the whole world would be better. If you weren't there, Link could've spent his time with Mipha or even his sister. You must realize when all of this is over, he'll need you and you'll need him. Hyrule will need the both of you together."
A lump formed in my throat as I listened to her words. They expressed everything I felt even then. How was it that people always blamed themselves for not being able to fix a problem when they weren't the ones who started it? And even when everything was fixed, they kept wishing they could have stopped the problem altogether. This was my greatest flaw.
Her gloves hand touched my shoulder. I stared at her, trying not to cry. Somberly, she gazed into my eyes. I waited for her to give me her last message.
"We turn into our worst monsters," she said as suddenly dark lines etched on her skin and her eyes turned yellow.
I gasped as she held a sword, ready to stab me as I sat below her in the most defenseless manner. When my hands went distinctly up, however, water arose, crashing down upon me. I panicked for nothing once again.
Sorry for not updating in a while! Glad to say the next part in be the final Twilight Princess. Vote, comment, and I adore this picture! Had to fit it somewhere in the story!😊