Zelink: And she wished

Chapter 21 - Promise

Dawn of her final day. Twenty-four hours remaining.

Accomplishing nothing as a Princess, nor a daughter, she sat anxiously at the side of her bed. Fingers crossed she waited for Link to arrive. He said he had some plans, finally he had promised to tell her what was his reason of leaving her side for a month and why was he acting so weirdly.

A gentle knock could be heard coming from the other side of her door, Link slowly stepped in. "Let's go." He said without hesitation, signing for Zelda to come along with him.

Zelda stood up from her bed and walked after Link. She was nervous.
They arrived at the main hall where father and every single servant of the castle were lined up to pay respect for the leaving Princess.

The King walked up to his daughter and closed her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry I was a bad father." He whispered into her ear. "I'll see you again." He ended up his good-bye and let go of Zelda who crossed her fingers again. She nodded in response and walked out of the castle holding Link's hand.

"Where are you taking me?" A quiet question escaped through her lips as they made their way through that same forbidden forest she had gotten lost into while looking for Link.

"You'll see." He responded leading the way.

"Why are you taking me?" She performed another question.

Link sighed. "So you don't have to die." He then responded coldly.

Zelda closed her mouth at that very second, she had no words left. Nor did she have any idea of what was going on or what was going to happen to her. To be honest, she was a bit scared, but not too much.

They arrived at a small grove. "See that?" Link pointed out to a what looked like a cave, its entrance was covered up in moss and vines. "That... Is the shrine of resurrection. An ancient healing devise that was used thousands of years before our time by a hero who was gravely injured. I once read that the power of this shrine shall never be used by other than the respected men of Hyrule, the Princesses have no need of it. Since back in then these Princesses possessed magic powers. A power to heal themselves up. It has been never used by a woman, so you'll be the first one to test it." He lectured as he cleaned the greenery away from around the entrance to the shrine.

"Wh-what?" Zelda asked in disbelief.

"You heard me right." Link nodded as they entered the cave.

At first all was dark. The two walked alongside a thin pathway with only the light of the torch Link was holding as their guide. A few steps down, a turn to left and they were in a much, much bigger room. It was a surprise to Zelda to actually see the what looked like a small cave hold so much inside it. It was a sad thing to see it being in almost ruins though, only the... What looked like a resting place of some sort, seemed to be fine. Everything else was either destroyed or covered up in moss. The time has taken its toll in this place, truly.

"Well here we are Zelda." Link said in one breath.

"Can you please explain everything to me?" Zelda crossed her arms.

"You see, as we all know a bit too well, your life is ending the same time as the day does today."

"Go on."

"I - this is the reason I left, I remembered you and me talking about this subject long ago, and so I did some research and eventually found my way into here. This is the thing that will save you from all of this. It can accomplish something even I could not." Link petted the side of the devise and then turned to look at Zelda.

Zelda raised her index finger and slightly opened her mouth, seemingly she wanted to say somehing, but quickly fell back silent. She looked at him waiting for him to continue his lecture.

"So, you see, I thought it wise to bring you here. Here you'll recover from your illness and regain all of your memories for nearly one hundred years. And here, I shall wait for your return, patiently." He sighed and looked down at his feet.

"One hundred years!?" Zelda almost yelled. "You are dead after that long time!"

"No I'm not, I have my ways too you know." Link curved a little smile onto his face. "Let a man have his secrets."

Zelda inhaled and exhaled. "But what does this do for me? Why won't you just let me join mother, I want to see her!?" She then raised her voice even more.

"Because we are going to get married after you recover." Link winked. "I wouldn't want to leave my wife for one hundred years. So it's better to wait until you're fine, and we can spend the rest of time, together." He grabbed Zelda's hand and hugged her with all of his might and after that escorted Zelda to the healing bed.

Zelda's heart warmed. "Promise?"

Link let go of the Princess's hand, who looked stunning in her white goddess dress, brown hair open and eyes bright like the afternoon sky. He watched as she slowly lied down and water surrounded her and light blue light started to flood out of the top of the devise. She closed her eyes and the machiene closed. And there she was, the Princess, inside the bed of resurrection. You know how they say when one door closes another one opens? The door of sadness in her life was finally closed, never to be opened again, and the another door, an emotion she almost never got to experience, happiness, opened.

"Promise."