Drip…
Drip…
Drip…
If nothing else, it was good for keeping the time.
Drip…
Every minute, on the minute, exactly on time, another damned drop falls into that damned puddle, and that damned noise echoes out through the room.
Drip…
It was as if a chisel was periodically striking his patience, slowly breaking down his normally stone-cold demeanor, gradually making him more and more pissed off. Pissed at what? Nothing quite in particular, mostly just in general, but partly at himself.
He could have plugged it when he started waiting, but no. He was a battle hardened warrior, and there was no way in hell a simple leak in the shrine's ceiling was going to defeat him. At least, that's what he said to himself at first. For a while, it seemed he was right. In the beginning, the noise meant nothing to him. However, it seems that they have made themselves more present over the last 99 years, 11 months, 29 day, 23 hours and…
Drip…
58 minutes.
If nothing else, it was good for keeping the time.
Goddesses know, he wanted to leave, he wanted to get up and see history unfold as it was supposed to, but that was just the annoyed part of him talking. He had a promise to keep, and above that, he had already changed enough that, even if he left, the upcoming legend would still be forever changed because of him.
Drip…
The man begun stirring. The time had almost arrived for this legend's hero to rise again, and, despite his annoyance, the man still had some preparations to finish. He stood up, his ludicrous height forcing him to crouch slightly, and finished writing the sign. It was just then that it had occurred to him that the hero might not be able to read anymore. It was a possibility, however slight, a possibility of the type which annoyed the warrior to no end.
Drip…
Vrrrn…
His time was up. The hero was healed.
He stood once more, forgetting how low the ceiling was, and cursing in annoyance as he waited for the pain in his head to subside.
The warrior turned to face the land supposed savoir…
And all of his built up anger was washed away by what he saw.
It was rare for the man to show any sliver of emotion other than rage, rarer still when people were around, but what he saw in that so-called bed of resurrection was enough to bring a tear to his otherwise empty eyes.
In all the time the man spent siting, waiting, counting the minutes go by and turning them to hours and turning the hours to days and so forth...in all that time he had forgotten just why he was siting there in the first place. However, the sight that greeted him when he turned around was enough to make him start reminiscing.
He remembered why he helped that boy with the flute stop the moon. He remembered why he helped that young lone wolf find his shadow again…
And he remembered why he brought the zora to the shrine of resurrection to heal with the hero. The zora who was currently embracing and being embraced by the hero. The man didn't know wether they were embracing just because the bed was made for only one person and was cozy to say the least with two occupants, but part of him wanted to believe that, by some miracle, they remember who the other is, and remember the feelings they shared for each other.
Now, some would assume that he was spell bound to their lineage, cursed to help them all through some malicious spell of some sort. Others might think that the warrior simply enjoys screwing around with history, making the world flow as he saw fit.
Those some and others would be wrong. No, only the man himself knew why he did what he does. It had no singular reason, really, but there were two that seemed to be the primary driver for his actions.
The first was a secret that he intended to take to his grave, and the reason he shed tears upon viewing the sleeping couple: despite appearance, actions, attitude and achievements, the man had a large soft spot in his heart for tragedy, and enjoyed fixing them whenever possible.
The second reason was because of a promise he made to the flute boy when he had finally reached the end of his time in this realm.
"A promise that I intend to keep" he thought to himself as he turned for the exit.
Before leaving, he called out into the dilapidated shrine:
"Alright then, Mr. Hero, nap time's over. It's time to wake up…"