✓ | To Save Her | Link x OC | Breath of the Wild

~Chapter 16~

The voices in my head grew louder as more and more told me to say nothing. I pulled my hand away from Link, curling into a ball, holding my head.

The voices finally grew quiet as tears stung my eyes.

"Please, tell him what you can."

I opened my mouth, but let out a shaky breath instead. Link leaned closer, taking my hand again.

"You can tell me," he said.

"There's nothing I can tell you. I told Impa when it happened, but they all got mad at me and I was punished for it."

"Who did?"

"I can't tell you that. All I can say is it happened after you died. I... I was there when you died. I saw it all happen. Impa was with me. And I... I got caught in malice. It should've killed me... but it didn't. And everything after that was a blur. But when I woke up, this mark was on my hand, and some of the Sheikah soldiers were trying to kill me."

My hand burned, the top triangle glowing. A tear slipped out, and I furiously wiped it away. The light died down as I shut my mouth.

"I'm not allowed to say anymore," I whispered.

Link cupped my cheek, turning my head so our eyes met.

"Who did this to you?"

"I'm not allowed to say. They'll hurt me more than they already have if I tell you."

He squeezed my hand, looking down at it.

"When I say I'm not supposed to be alive, that I'm not supposed to be here, this is why. It's keeping me alive. I'm just a puppet like every other monster that's been created. I've been given a purpose. And if I don't fulfill it, he'll try to give me a fate worse than death. Personally, I wish I'd just died back then, rather than be here helping with some scheme to end the world."

Warm arms wrapped around me as more tears slipped out.

"We'll stop them."

I sank into his arms without a second thought. I couldn't help myself, I couldn't help how weak I felt. And in his arms, I felt safe.

"We'll stop them and get everything back to normal. The Goddesses kept you here for a reason. And not to be whoever's puppet. We can fix everything. Make it all right. Then we can go back to things being mostly normal."

I wrapped my arms around him, clinging to him tightly as I let my tears free.

"Just don't tell the Princess yet. They'll get furious if I tell her, too. They don't want you two to ruin their plans. Please."

"I won't tell her unless you say it's okay to. I promise."

My arms tightened around him as I squeezed my eyes shut.

"You broke your past promises."

He grew tense, pulling his head back.

"Not that it was your fault... I'm not blaming you or anything. But all that's happened this past century messed me up."

He cupped my cheeks as he wiped my tears away.

"Then let's make new promises. Ones we'll keep this time."

He pressed his forehead to mine as I placed my hands over his.

"We'll get through this together. And we'll make it out so we can keep doing what we need to. We'll get the rest of my memories back, then we can keep going from there. Zelda will still need help rebuilding the kingdom, but that doesn't mean I can't make time for you."