A/N: Look, the past is the past. It no longer bothers me. I lost my temper, I admit and now looking back I seem so foolish.

Will I take this story down? I will not.

This is your warning: This story contains graphic violence and there are some disturbing situations. (Look, it's 'R' rated, how much more do you need? Obviously a lot more. I over estimated you.) Loved characters will "die". Fabricated characters will "die". The damn horse will "die", okay? Oh, and for the mentally challenged, there are quotation marks around the word die. They look like this --- "" and they mean that not everything is as it appears. Thank you for your time and now onto the story, which belongs to me while Legend of Zelda and all characters associated, do not.

Sorrow

It hadn't occurred to him that the seal might, would, could break. Nor the sages as it seemed. Peace. He savored the word, letting it move about him and slip into his soul. True peace.

The young man moved to stare at his reflection in the mirror, frosty blue eyes of glacier ice, golden sunlit spun hair, muscular but lithe, death beneath the innocence of youth. He studied his features carefully; did anyone see past the mask of courage he had slid over his face? Past the eyes like blue fire, past the heroic grin, past everything into his soul? A single tear threaded its way down his cheek-a temporary scar of grief, pain, and terror.

Link shuddered despite himself, eyeing the golden triangle that was his curse with a cold loathing that almost seemed to chill the air around him. How he hated that vile triangle that dared defy the life of a 16 year old. How he wished beyond all hopes that he could rid himself of it. All he would have to do, his sword, his life, it was so simple, and yet.….

The blue eyes shifted to the land of Hyrule outside, taking in the sheer beauty of it all. Every single life down there depended on him. His duty was to protect them even if it hurt him past the breaking point of any normal Hylian. It was his duty alone, and he loved his people more than anything or anyone, even her.

As if on cue, a timid knock on the door answered his thoughts. The young hero whirled around, the false mask of heroism sliding back over his tear stained face.

"It's alright, come on in," He told the waiting person, years of practice hiding the rough edge in his voice. He knew before the door opened who it was. "Zelda."

A fair young women clothed in the robes of royalty glided gracefully in, golden crown set upon her silken blond hair, deep blue eyes, pale ivory skin.

An angel. Link thought to himself as he did every time he set eyes on Zelda. My angel? No, Hyrule's angel.

Zelda's heart skipped a beat, as it always did when she looked into those pure blue eyes. Those eyes, never lying, they were so full of courage, why didn't she have that courage?

The princesses overlooked the dark flash that burned under those eyes. The fire of death and killing.

"Good morning, Link. I….I suppose you will be leaving?"

Was he imagining the pain he thought he could hear in her voice? His eyes went a bit blurry. Pain. He was no stranger to it and his years of battling and training took over as he forced the back those tears. Zelda did not the see.

Link nodded his head at her. He was ready- dressed and he could go now. As he turned to pick up his sword from where he had laid it on the bed, he could feel those quiet blue eyes, searching, searching for any sign of a goodbye, any hint, anything. He would not disappoint her.

He turned quickly, embracing her closely, marveling in her beauty, how the whole of Hyrule's splendor reflected in those sapphire eyes. The kiss lasted only seconds as for warrior's blood was rising. The hero could wait to no longer. Hyrule needed him.

He left Zelda in his chamber, she was leaning against the door in a dazed stuper. All the better; he could leave with out painful goodbyes. Farewells that lasted forever, burnt into his heart leaving never healing scars.

Epona, ah Epona. He buried his face into her sweet smelling mane, letting her warmth that was physical as well as spiritual flow through him. His beloved horse.

Tracing his hands along the hard coiled muscles rippling beneath a shimmering coat of copper, he let the horse nuzzle him, the corners of his lips twitched upwards. Here was one who was true, one who didn't hide behind a mask, he could lean on her until the end and Epona loved him.

Mounting his steed, he leaned forward, whispering into her long velvet ears, Epona whinnied and stamped a powerful hind leg, she, like her rider, was a born warrior. Link thought he could almost hear her saying.

"Let's go Link, you and I. I promise to be with you until the end. This is our fate, which we share. Let us go."

The young man finally gave in to the grin that had been slowly creeping up on him as they burst out of the stable to gallop with the wind. To race it. He felt his heart pound madly in perfect unison with the beast below him. Felt the melody of the wind whipping past him, renewing his soul. The beating rhythm that pulsated around him in tune with each step the horse took and the rhythm took on a song, their song, Epona's Song.

"Dear Hyrule, my love, my true love, I have come!" Link's voice carried on the wind, bringing a sense of hope and peace as he rode astride his steed away from Hyrule into the Lost Woods, onward to destiny.

He didn't question the feeling that had risen with in him, that beckoned, that pulled him relentlessly toward the deep unfortold depths of hidden secrets lurking in the forest.

She watched the blood run down her hands and spatter on the death paled face. She matched the empty eyes' stare with her own evil ones and ran a crimson hand over the cold lips, and her own twisted into a cruel smile.

"I've been freed, finally. I will bathe Hyrule in it's people's own blood! I will listen to their sweet screams of agony, and I, I will laugh at them as they plead for a painless death."

Straightening, the figure ran a pale hand, smooth as spider silk, glowing like the moon through flowing black hair. The black cloth wrapped about her neck and lower face was spattered with blood. She licked full, bloody lips under the cloth, relishing in the salty flavor. And then, she laughed. Her laughter was that of death: a cold cruel sound, so smooth, sinuous and intoxicating that it was dangerous in itself. And under it all, echoed in her cold laughter, the screams of many voices, rising in an eternal plea for mercy.

Link stopped to get an idea of his surroundings, after a quick inspection, he concluded that he was on near the eastern edge of the forest. Why he did not know. He only felt with his born instinct that had allowed him to survive as a warrior for so long, the only part of himself he knew he could trust. It was than he felt a pain so deep, so intense that he screamed and fell from Epona yelling obscure vocalisms. No one was there to help him when he felt that evilness lock onto him, nor was anyone there when he passed out flat on the ground, vulnerable to the world.

"Oh, oh my God! Link!" Zelda's piercing shriek ran throughout the castle, causing its stonewalls to echo and re-echo the sound as if the very stones where screaming with her. The dainty dish of glass she had been holding shattered upon the ground as the princess sank down with it, hands pressed to her gaping mouth in horror, face pale as death and eyes wide and unseeing.

It didn't take Impa long to burst into Zelda's room, a matter of seconds for the Sheiken warrior, but it was already too late and Zelda was beyond help.

Link awoke with a start, something warm and salty was trickling into his mouth, causing him to cough and gag. Spitting and hacking, the Hyrulian shook his head, trying to clear his vision and windpipe. A sickly smell burned his nose and brought him even closer to consciousness and he struggled to pierce the black darkness that had enveloped him. It wasn't until the pungent odor clicked something in his mind did he sit up with a yell of horror and recognition.

His face bumped into something warm and furry, his heart caught in his throat and a chill ran throughout him, he was afraid to look, much too afraid, and yet, as if out of his control, his head turned and fixed on the source of the smell of death. Immediately he wished he hadn't.

"No, no, no! This can't be happening! This cannot be happening!"

Hanging like a grotesque piñata above his head was a horse, not just any horse, his horse, Epona.

Her hind legs where broken and maimed, tied to a tree limb by a crimson rope. Blood ran in streaks down her copper hide, out of her gaping mouth and flowed from the terrible bloody mess that had been her throat. This was the liquid that had been dripping steadily into his face, her blood, her life, had been dripping into his mouth and down his throat.

Link gagged, retched, and turned away, he tried not to look in her eyes, afraid lest they be pained or even worse, accusing.

Stumbling drunkly away from death and sorrow, he collapsed at the edge of a stream, trying in vain to rid himself of the blood that he had been stained with. Though he managed to get most of it off, his hands remained dyed a deep crimson red that shocked and disgusted him for no matter how long and hard he scrubbed, the pain would not go away, and neither would his blood-stained hands.

Reaching for his Master Sword, he instinctively sought comfort from it, but when he unsheathed it and saw it's wondrous blade he threw it away as if burned.

"Arg!" He screamed, voice raw and hoarse. Its blade was dripping blood, and he knew whose it was.

Link sat there for a moment, just sat, staring in horror at the sword, blood of enemies was one thing, the blood of a friend's was something totally different, and it made him sick. A harsh sob tore though him and he shook violently, biting his lip as he fought the grief and heart throbbing pain. He lost the battle. And so, the Hero of Time, Wielder of the Master Sword, Bearer of the Ocarina of Time, and Savoir of Hyrule lay on the blood stained grass and sobbed like a child.