Fortune Favors the Courageous

Chapter 19: Deliverance

deliverance
n. the act of rescuing or liberating someone or something
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Through unrelenting rain, two souls curled together in solidarity.

Their drenched clothes clung like loss, and the blanket around their shoulders was but the gesture of protection against their grieving hearts.

Zelda wasn't sure whose heartbeat was in her ears, but she knew the name of the brave flicker of light inside her chest that defied the thick darkness residing there.

The problem was, it shouldn't be burning for him at all. And Hylia knows how many flickers burned in his heart for someone other than her. His flushed face as he danced with Paya slid to the forefront of her mind.

Gods! Why was she thinking about this now? Her Papa was just murdered by the harbinger of Calamity. While she'd danced, concerned by nothing but the petty affections of a boy, her people had been fleeing for their lives.

Some of them were still trapped in Castle Town at this very moment. Was Ganondorf planning to send their innocent souls to Hylia as escorts for the king? Meanwhile, people here were expecting her to rescue all of Hyrule like some kind of warrior queen, which was something she would never be. As far as she was concerned, she'd failed everyone the day she was born.

"Now's your chance, Link," she muttered against his wet collar. "The monarchy is dead. You could leave me here to die, too, and Hyrule would be none the wiser."

That catatonic remark popped whatever gentle bubble he'd sheltered them in.

Propping her shoulders upright, he met her eyes. "What the hell are you saying?"

"You said it yourself," she bit, turning away from him. "The king would execute you for letting me travel by myself. Well now he's the one who's been executed. You have no further obligation to hang around me like a tortured nanny."

"Do you even hear yourself right now?" His voice shook. "Yes, I am a knight and you are my princess, but that's not the only reason I choose to stay by your side. I like being with you."

"And you can stop whatever that farce is, too. I've gotten enough glimpses into your true feelings to know I'm nothing but a nuisance."

"What—? I don't think that at all."

"Oh, would you quit being so nice to me!?" she cried. "You've snapped at me before— Go ahead and harangue me now! Tell me how you really feel about me!"

He sucked in a sharp breath, eyes widening and face reddening. But he blinked away that anger and his voice came out with threatening calm. "I think you're forgetting, we agreed in Gerudo I'd treat you like everybody else. That doesn't mean nice all the time. If my friends get snappy, I get snappy too. I've snapped at Midna. I've snapped at Aryll. I still love them. What I meant then was that I felt comfortable enough to speak freely around you."

"But— but why put up with me for so long?" she wailed. "I've been so spiteful and puerile and... and..."

Beside them, the river roared and raged with sordid water, hurling twigs against the rocks and dragging torn leaves under the surface. Zelda had the murky desire to join them.

"Because the mean princess front is just that. A front," he insisted. "You put that wall up to keep yourself safe. But when I look past it I see a scared girl that was forced to grow up too soon in order to carry a weight she never should have hadta bear on her own."

For a moment, Zelda thought she felt a burning on the back of her palm. Like fate was calling, trying to take her by the hand...

"I see a girl that is messy, and brave, and so, so strong for having endured everything she has on her own so far. And I don't want her to feel alone anymore. Especially now."