Minuet of Spring Contest 2009 --- fanfic --- rein_kun
Link remembers.
And that could kill him. A single glance at the young Hylian tells Sheik that much. He has withdrawn into his own little world, someplace where Saria’s absence can’t touch him. Someplace where it doesn’t matter whether the bread is moldy or the edge of his sword beginning to dull.
Some lifeless, dark place hidden behind once vibrant eyes.
Sheik had known to expect this. Zelda had warned him ahead of time what had become of his lover in his absence, but all the same…
His first day home passes without a single word between them.
<><><><><><><><>
The Kokiri know what became of Saria. They know what rumors say happened to Link.
But they don’t remember.
Link’s eyes follow them silently. Sheik wonders if he’s recalling his childhood. Is he seeing his fights with Mido? Saria teaching him something on the ocarina she’d given him? The ticks on his wall from when he was still lively enough to count his successes?
“Link,” Sheik murmurs. The Hylian gives no indication that he’s heard anything. “It will be dark soon. We would do well to leave.”
The hero doesn’t fight, and another day passes without a word passing his lips.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
The house is dark. To a passerby, it could be empty. Abandoned. People stare when Sheik hangs out the laundry to dry.
He cannot remember when Link last left the house.
Sheik gathers the baskets and returns to the dwelling he is now loath to call home. Link does not look up from the chair. It is all he does now, sit in that chair and recall better days. Worse days to the rest of the world, Sheik supposes. But in those dark days, Link had met so many people.
He knows it hurts him not to be remembered by those he’d grown to love. Sheik feels that same pain from time to time.
But it is the fact that Saria no longer exists in this world that haunts the Hylian.
Sheik has heard the faint notes of Saria’s song every time he’s left the house. Some desperate attempt at connection, he supposes. It is natural.
But it has gone on too long.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
“Get up,” Sheik murmurs to his lover, shaking the sleep from his body. Link obeys - always silently now, always obedient. The Hylian sits up in the bed, scars glowing in the faint light dancing over his bare chest. Sheik feels a pang of…something.
They have not made love in months.
The Sheikah helps him dress, and pulls him out of the house. The townsfolk stare openly. Had they known Link lived here? It seems they hadn’t.
Link squints against the sun as Sheik leads him through the town and out to the plains. There is a cool breeze today, pleasant, gentle - and cold somehow, catching under Sheik’s wraps. Link doesn’t even shiver.
“Saria would never have seen this,” Sheik says firmly, watching Link’s face. It is barely recognizable, but Sheik swears Link nods. “Had she remained in the Kokiri Forest, she would never have been able to see these hills. The sun on the horizon. She would never have heard the gurgle of a river nor seen the magnificence of the castle.”
Link is quiet. Is it hopeless?
“I miss her so much.”
The voice that speaks those words is raw, having not been used in so long and filled with emotion. Sheik wraps his arms around him and for the first time in months is embraced back.
Then there is nothing to say to heal him.
The process has already begun.