Epilogue (Age 18)

Link stared down into the Sealed Grounds, watching Ghirahim raise Zelda into the air, floating limp and nearly lifeless, though he could still see her fight to live, writhing in pain. Hordes of monsters wouldn't stop him. There was nothing that could stop him. No barrier, no spirit, no shield or sword.

"You're far too quick, boy."

Floating as he was, a single misstep against the demonic blade would send both him and Zelda to their doom. He could feel the demon's arm strike down against him, hard and sharp as a blade's edge.

Zelda's screams as a dark beast clawed its way from the ground… terror, pain… he'd never forget those sounds.

Sitting up with a start, feeling at his bare chest for any sign of injury with heavy breaths. His hand burned with the fierceness of a lightning strike, the pain of a memory. Link looked around in a panic. No, he was safe. Tired, but safe.

He looked down at his chest, seeing the littering of scars that he'd accumulated after several months on the Surface. It was far more than he ever thought he'd have after training to become a Knight. He thought maybe he'd step wrong and hit his head while on patrol and find himself with one decent scar. More likely from a sparring match, but nothing more dramatic than that. Eagus had one that ran down the length of his arm for a time that he'd slipped and dug into a rock as he fell. But nothing like this. After the monsters he'd faced, he was actually surprised he didn't have more.

He clenched and unclenched his fist, looking over at the sword by his bed. It didn't speak to him the way Fi had… it was just a sword. But he felt relieved that it was near. No matter how peaceful things were, he would never felt safe at night without it close by.

He slid off his bed and rested his head in his hands. Nothing felt right anymore.

Throwing on a loose shirt from a pile near his wardrobe that covered the majority of his scars, he opened the door and stepped into the Academy's hallway, taking slow, deliberate steps as he made his way up the stairs and outside. The door was surprisingly unlocked. The air was cold, and the world was… small.

He took a few steps and turned around, unsurprised to see Zelda standing just at the edge of the roof above him, her face tilted up to the light breeze, oblivious to his presence. She was the locksmith of the two of them, and she was more than adept at breaking open the locked second floor door. He should have known immediately that it was her.

"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked, not bothering to wait for her to notice that she wasn't alone.

She shook her head, hugging her arms as she continued to stare up at the Sky. "I see things in my dreams now. Things that I know were real. It makes it a little more difficult to ignore them. I see you die."

In a swift motion, Link grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled himself up, standing so he was just in beside her. Lightly, he pulled her hand from her crossed arms and turned her towards him, placing her hand over his chest where she could feel his heart beating. "I'm not dead."

He knew from his own nightmares that everything could feel real, as if they were still in the moment. For him, it took something concrete to snap him out of it. His healing scars. The sword by his bed. Breathing deep in the cool air and letting it ride through his raw, dry lungs.

It did calm Zelda slightly. Focusing on Link, on his living pulse, she had to keep her eyes open to force back the memories that were now hers, or... had always been hers. It was still overwhelming her, and there were times she couldn't differentiate Hylia's pain from her own. She knew Link wasn't dead, but she could still feel the harsh heartbreak of his sacrifice for Hylia all those years ago. Hylia had seen him die, not Zelda. Only Link understood. Though he didn't have another's memories, he had another's spirit. Zelda's words made enough sense to him that he understood her in a way no one else could ever come close to.

"Link," Zelda said nervously. "I need to talk to you about something. I… I have to go back."

"To the Surface," Link filled in, letting go of her hand.

"Yes. I want to live there. I want to feel solid ground beneath my feet, see the clouds above my head, and watch over the Triforce. When I first sent my people to the Sky, it was just to protect them from Demise. He's gone. It's time to return home. The people are used to being in the clouds, but we belong on the Surface. And that's the choice I'm going to make. I'm returning. But you still have a choice, and I won't presume to know it, though I hope… I want y... do you know what you'd do?"

Link needed a moment to take it all in, but not a moment to think. His decision had been made the moment he jumped through the cloud barrier the first time to get her back.

He bent down on one knee and bowed his head reverently. "If you'll have me, if you want me to, I'd follow you anywhere."

Zelda smirked and bent in front of him. "Don't bow. I hope that to you, I'll always be just Zelda, not the Goddess Hylia."

His grin turned lopsided, and she knew something smug or absurd was about to come out of his mouth. She rolled her eyes before he could even speak, earning a wider grin from Link.

"I'd bow to you as the Goddess, but I'd also bow to you as Zelda."

She pushed his shoulder and snorted. "You're impossible."

"And you are the Goddess. You can't deny a piece of who you are."

"I know. But I just want to be Zelda with you. The one who's known you for, Goddess what, eleven or twelve years now?"

He grabbed her and hoisted them both to their feet, pulling her up against him. He kissed her lips quickly before trailing feather-light kisses against her jaw. "Well, just Zelda?" he asked before kissing her lips again.

"Huh?" she asked, breathless. He laughed against her before pulling away.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Zelda let her fingers splay on the skin of his neck, one finger finding a soft bit of raised skin, a scar. "Yes, but you wouldn't be able to take the Outer Sky position. Pipit, Karane, Fledge… my father… they might not come with us. We could lose everyone we love. Is that something you're willing to do?"

He ran a finger along her cheek. "I wouldn't lose everyone I love." Zelda leaned into him and waited, sensing he had more to say. Despite his use of a certain word she'd longed to hear, she grimaced when his face turned mischievous. and he started to chuckle. "Prepare yourself, this one will be my most romantic line yet. Ready?" he asked with a playful grin.

"Fine, I'm ready," she rolled her eyes and laughed.

Link kissed her so lightly, she wondered if she'd imagined it before he spoke. "If what Demise said is true and we're cursed to be reborn again and again, I'll find you in every lifetime, because I might just love you too much for this one alone."

Zelda beamed, though words failed her. "Lov...you... I..." she laughed and pulled him down to her, stopping just short of his lips. "How can I top that? You've been practicing these romantic lines on me for years."

"You don't have to top it. You can just let me win."

She shook her head, exasperated. "Link." But her mind went back to their conversation and her tone changed. "Link... you'd give everything up that you've worked for all these years. I told you I'd never ask you to choose."

He closed his eyes and moved his forehead to hers. "Zelda. I guess I haven't made it abundantly clear that I don't want to live in a world without you in it. I'm in love with you. Unless you don't want me to be aroun-"

"No," she interrupted quickly. "I want you around."

He smirked and continued. "If you want to live in Skyloft, I'm here. If you want to be on the Surface, let's do it. If you want to live on the tip-top of Eldin Volcano, I might fight you first, but I'd prepare to sweat it out if that's what you wanted. I'll gladly go anywhere with you, but is that something you want too? If it is, I'm telling you right now... you can ask me to choose."

Zelda bit her lip with unhidden excitement at his response. "Will you come live on the Surface with me?"

His grin tilted up higher. "Mhmm," he hummed as he nodded against her.

She excitedly pressed her lips back to his before pulling away to get say something before she got lost in the moment. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about when we were flying together the day of the tornado. The day I was pulled to the Surface."

"I remember. I spent a long time trying to figure out what it could have been."

Zelda took a breath and let it go with a relieved laugh. "I wanted to tell you that I didn't just love you as a friend anymore, but that I was falling in love with you, and I didn't know if you were feeling the same. I didn't know how you'd take it. I didn't even know how to bring it up. But you just said it twice without even blinking." She laughed and threw her hands up, as if she'd made a big deal over nothing. "I shouldn't have been so worried, apparently."

He ran his hand through her hair. "Oh, I blinked the first few times I said it out loud, but I might have practiced a speech a over and over on a petrified robot or two when I couldn't find a timeshift stone."

"Was that your speech?"

He snickered. "No."

"Then, can I hear your speech?"

"Never," he laughed, kissing her again. It had become so easy between them to kiss each other, like it was the most natural thing in the world. As natural as talking, just a different form of communication that was meant only for them. Her fingers brushed his neck and he hummed, completely and utterly content.

When they pulled away, he had a dopey smile on his face that had Zelda giggling. "We're going to live on the Surface, Link. Together. Did you ever imagine that when we'd just met?" She stopped and her eyes widened, quickly changing to one of nerves. "Oh Goddess, we have to tell my father everything. We have to tell him we're both going to be leaving, and how long we've been together so he doesn't think we're absolutely insane-"

"He'll still think we're insane."

"-and then he'll question us both like we've committed some horrible crime. He'll throw himself in front of our Loftwings to stop us."

"Oof that will hurt," Link hissed, bringing her with him back the long way off the Academy roof. "Yeah, we didn't think of that, but he had to know eventually. Early tomorrow, I'll actually wake up and we'll tell him all of it together."

She groaned. "This might be the moment we kill him."

Link scoffed. "You can't possibly think he hasn't realized something is going on with us, at least on my end. I jumped through the cloud barrier to find you. I don't think it will surprise him too much to know where I stand." He grinned cheekily. "You, on the other hand, have either been hiding from him, or kidnapped by a soul-eating demon, so he hasn't gotten your side of the story."

"Ugh," she sighed. "Do you know how awkward it is to have to tell your father that you're madly in love with someone and that you've been secretly together for some time, and that you're now going to leave your Father to go live on the Surface with said man because you're the ancient Goddess reborn who was meant to watch over the legendary Triforce? Do you know how uncomfortable that conversation will be?"

"Nope," he said matter-of-factly as he opened the doors back to the Academy. "But I will definitely know tomorrow."

"You're a big help," she scoffed.

They stood outside her door, starting at Gaepora's room expectantly. Tomorrow would certainly be something, one way or another.

Link pressed her against her door and brushed her lips with a chaste kiss that left her reeling. "Good night."

"Wait," she said, grabbing his arm. "You know you don't have to go, right? You can stay with me." She watched his eyes glint, and she scoffed. "To sleep, Link."

He smirked and nudged her with his elbow. "I thought that was obvious. Where's your mind at?"

"Shut up," she said, her face burning. She hit his arm, earning an amused chuckle from him as they went inside.

The standard Academy bed was incredibly small for the both of them to fit in.

They'd faced each other and talked for most of the night, catching up on things they hadn't had the time to say to each other. But eventually, they'd both gotten rather tired and felt their eyes drooping. Link welcomed Zelda's hand as it slid into his and pulled his arm over her waist, scooting closer to him and resting her head and arm against his chest. Though he thought he'd feel far more nervous to be this close to Zelda all night, it felt surprisingly natural and calming.

Sure, he'd stayed with her outside several times. They'd even woken up together. And he remembered her staying with him after the Leviathans, but they'd both been injured. This felt much different than that. It wasn't after a traumatizing afternoon, or a friendly gesture of comfort. It was surprisingly intimate, he'd realized, to wake up beside someone he'd just confessed his love to. After years of friendship, he'd almost expected this morning to be the same as any other, but it was distinctly different.

So, when his eyes crept open in the thin line of the rising sun through her window, he couldn't help but feel himself smile at her peaceful expression in his arms.

He was sore, realizing that he hadn't dared to move a muscle all night. Zelda hadn't moved too much either, laying on her back now, but with her head lolled against him and her hand resting against his arm that was draped across her waist.

More than a little shocked that he was the first to wake up, he didn't want to move. Instead, he let his eyes close again, listening to the even sounds of her breathing, the slow and steady rise and fall of their hands across her waist. Goddess, he wanted to wake up with her every morning.

And occurred to him that soon… they could.

A/N: Okay, here's the last time you'll have to hear me (read me?) talking to the bottom of a page! This has been incredibly fun to write, and a really good way to be productive while in quarantine and I enjoyed writing it far more than I originally thought I would! Parts of this scene will be in the sequel, so it's just a tease. So, I've got this sequel that will be coming out very soon (maybe even next Sunday-ish, but with weekly posts rather than every two days) and yeah! I don't think I have anything else to say! I hope you enjoyed this to some degree and I'll maybe see (figuratively) some of you in the next one! I don't know how to respond to reviews after this chapter, but if you leave one, I definitely see you and I'm probably really happy but alas can't respond to you!

Last reviews (insert crying face here): Queen Emily the Diligent: Hahaha! Hope to see you there! Draegor: Thank you! I replayed the whole intro over and forgot just how much had been tutorial-related, so I'm glad changing it to fit this fic worked out well! I'll be looking at what it means for Zelda to also be Hylia and how it affects things. I brushed over it here, but I am definitely not going to just ignore that she's not entirely the same Zelda anymore. I'll see you there! Cosmo14: Your awkward talk 100% comes after this scene in the sequel! Hhahaha! Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good place for it in this first fic, but it fit well in the next one. The empty sky was definitely one of my favorite moments with them. Sorry not sorry, I can't resist my beloved cartoon reference! Yeah, four chapters in so far! I'm still working on notes, which is why I won't post them right away in case I have to change something, but I definitely can't see a long wait happening for that one! See you there!