fic rec - Road's End
“Lucky you didn’t fall out a window,” said a voice behind him. “We’re high up, you know.”
Link slowly got to his feet and looked around. He wasn’t worried about the voice. He was done dealing death - from the Triforce to his heart, he knew it was true.
The room looked like an office of some sort, although in a very sorry state; the writing desk by the window was stained with ink and watermarks; towering piles of paper leaned against the walls, and the floor was covered with them - a few were caught by a draught and came dangerously close to the open fireplace, where a log burned brightly.
Behind the desk stood a man. A short, happy-looking fellow with dark hair and mysterious, slanted eyes. He regarded Link with something like contempt, and Link didn’t like that much at all.
“Who are you?”
The man shook his head and stayed behind the desk. “You’re not the curious boy you once were. It’s a shame. It was never meant to come this far.”
Link took a step forward. The man did not move. Paper rustled dangerously close to the fire.
“Do you know me?”
“I do. Or I did, very well, once.” He narrowed his eyes and made a sour face. “You are not who I’d hoped you’d be, sorry to say.”
Another step, and Link could see the pain in the man’s eyes.
“What do you have to say about it? Who are you to judge?”
“My friends call me Shiggy.”
“That means nothing to me.”
Shiggy picked up a piece of paper, crumpled it, and tossed it over his shoulder into the fireplace. It landed on the log, began to uncurl like a blooming flower, and did not burn.
“I didn’t think it would,” said Shiggy. “None of it makes any difference now. Go to it. The Triforce calls, just as it always has. You’re close. You’re so close.”
This sounded too much like teasing to ignore. “Do you mean to stop me?”
Shiggy shook his head sadly. “No.” He shuffled out from behind the desk to the tune of chains - Link looked down and saw his ankles were shackled to the desk. “Your success means my freedom, too.”
“Then why aren’t you happy?” Fool, thought Link. So used to the cage you see only the safety, not the bars.
“Because it got out of my hands so fast. I couldn’t control what people dreamed of you. Your legend lived long after I’d stopped telling it. This is not the conclusion I’d have had you come to.”
Link shook his head. “How proud,” he whispered. “How sad.”
He turned and left to the sound of another piece of paper refusing to fall to the fire.
Link to fic here.