The sun was almost all the way down when Link and Zelda returned to Hateno Village. They trotted over the wood bridge to the house and towards the small stable. Link stepped off and grabbed Zelda to help her off the horse. He set her down on the ground facing him with his hands still on her hips. He couldn't help but look at her. It had been a long time since he had seen her up close. She—

"Link?"

He blinked a few times and realized what he was doing. His cheeks started to burn.

"I think I'll go check on Purah right now. I won't be long."

Link let go and put one of his hands on the back of his neck and nodded. Zelda turned and started walking across the bridge. He sighed as he watched her leave for the lab. He took Leighton into the small stable next to Epona. He patted her.

"Tomorrow, girl. I promise."

He looked at his house and thought about heading inside. They had been inside the castle all day. Maybe it was time to spend some outside.

—————

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes Zelda, I'm fine," Purah responded. She was looking at some notes that were on her table. "Don't waste your time up here, princess." She shooed her away with her child sized hands. "Go to Link! I'm sure he'll be more than happy to be with you."

"O- ok. If you're sure-"

"Go princess," Purah said with a smile.

"You're sure you're fine?"

"Princess!" Symin exclaimed. "We're all fine! Now go."

Zelda walked down the hill and back into the Village. There were still some people sitting on their porch even though it was rather dark. She eventually made it back to the house but something caught her eye. Link was sitting on the roof of the house on the side where the stable and pond were.

"Link?"

He looked over to Zelda. He patted the roof below him, telling her to come up. It took her a while to figure out how to get up there. It amused Link to watch her struggle to get up so he went over and took her hand to pull her up. He had the blanket from his bed draped over his back like a cape.

"Thank you, Link."

He nodded.

They both sat down in the middle of the roof facing out; Zelda was to the left of Link. He had brought another spare blanket for Zelda. She wore it over the front of her body, while Link still had his on his back.

They were close to each other: their shoulders were touching. It was the closest they had been for 100 years, that's for sure. They both were quiet for a while, but it wasn't awkward. It was... peaceful. It was like they were remembering what it was like to be together. Zelda was the first to talk.

"I missed you," she started.

"I missed you, too," Link replied. "I feel like it's been forever."

"It has! We've had no time at all! We were thrown into everything right after we finished Ganon off."

Link nodded, agreeing. "It's crazy."

A short silence.

Zelda glanced over to Link. "You know, I could sometimes see you in your travels after you awoke from the Shrine of Resurrection."

His eyes went wide.

"Every time I saw you, you were always helping someone in a village. Or you were freeing the champions." She paused and looked over to him. "Or you were taking pictures with the slate," she laughed.

Link became flustered. "Uh... well, y-"

"You took quite a lot I must say," Zelda continued to laugh.

Link shrugged. "It's fun." He started to laugh with her. "I took some pretty good ones, too."

"Yes. I especially loved the one of you at the Forgotten Temple."

"You mean the one with all the guardians—"

"—aiming for you?"

They both burst out laughing. Link remembered exactly which one she was talking about. They fell over each other laughing

"You're just as reckless as before!" Zelda continued to laugh.

"It was fun," Link defended, finally calming down.

They returned to their original positions. Another short silence followed. Both were smiling.

"It looks like the castle is coming along," Link finally said.

"Yes! Oh Link! I can't wait until it's finished! It's so beautiful even now. I can't believe how fast and hard everyone is working on it."

"Castle town, too?

"Yes! Oh!" Zelda could hardly hold in her excitement as she gripped her blanket tightly and shook her legs under it. Link silently laughed at her.

After she had finished squealing and recovered a bit, she gave a little yawn and-

Should I?

-placed her head on Link's shoulder. He looked over to her, slightly surprised.

"Tired already?"

"Well, we worked hard today," she replied.

"We did. It was actually really fun."

"Fun? Well, that's good."

Link nodded.

Zelda kept her head on his shoulder. "So you've been clearing monsters all this time?"

"Sort of," Link shifted in place. "That's mostly what it's been. Earlier on that's all I did. I'd get to a village and ask for a few people to come with me. Then, we'd search for a couple of days and get rid of all the creatures we could find. Once the village was done I'd go to the next one and kill a couple more on the way."

"What about the mountains? Or the fields?" Zelda asked.

Link nodded. "I did those, too."

She sighed. "That must have been a lot of work."

"It was, and even when I was done clearing the area I had to dispense all the parts we got to the villages. I tried to do it as evenly as possible."

"How long did that take?"

He sighed. "A long time."

Link looked over at Zelda on his shoulder. He lifted his arm, hesitated, then wrapped it around her and slowly laid down on the roof. They let a sigh out in unison and looked up at the stars. They were quiet again. The moonlight illuminated both of their faces.

"It's unfair."

Zelda's head shot up at his words. She looked at Link laying down.

"What?"

"It's unfair we couldn't spend more time after everything."

Zelda laid back down. She took a long breath out.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice shaking a little.

Link turned to his side, confused. "Why?"

Zelda turned to her side to face him as well. Inches away. "I've made no effort to see you all this time. I've been so caught up with the castle that I've-"

"Zelda."

Tears hung onto her eyes as she looked at Link. They shone in the moonlight. "It's exactly like my studies from long before: amounting to nothing."

"Zelda," he repeated looking directly at her. "Don't apologize for doing your job. You're doing more to the kingdom then you know. Don't beat yourself up. You're fine."

Zelda nodded. She blinked and the tears that hung ran down her cheeks.

Woah.

The feeling Link had yet to understand returned to him, stronger than it had ever been

Link pulled her close and enveloped her in a hug. He placed one of his hands on the back of her head. Zelda's heart melted as she wrapped hers around him.

"You're ok," he said into her ear. Her breaths were long and deep.

"Thank you," she said into his shoulder.

"You're welcome, princess."

They stayed like that for what seemed like forever. Zelda's breathing eventually evened out as Link thought about what he was feeling. He felt like the answer was so close, he just couldn't place it. Did he really love Zeld-? No. No, it couldn't be. He had protected her and he understood her. It was probably just the time they had spent apart getting to him.

They continued to hold each other. He felt the rise and fall of her chest against his. He then remembered something.

"Zelda," he started. "When I pulled the master sword out in the Korok Forest... I saw a memory of yours. You were asking the Deku Tree to tell me something, but he stopped you." He paused. "What did you want to say?"

Zelda stayed silent. Her breathing was even with his. He stayed silent for a response but it never came. Link lifted Zelda's head carefully from his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was parted slightly.

She was asleep.

He moved some of her hair out of her face and behind her ear. Carefully, he set her down and pulled the blanket over her. Then, he himself settled in for a night's rest.

—————

Zelda could hear the world waking up around her. The birds were beginning to sing and the people of the village were starting to come out for the day. She eventually opened her eyes to the bright blue sky above her. She smiled. She turned to look at Link. She had rememb-

"Link?"

He was gone. No Link, no master sword, nothing. Just the blanket he had used the night before. She looked down to the stable. To her surprise Epona was still there. Zelda looked around but to no avail. She lifted his blanket up and was met with a note scribbled on paper in red ink. Her heart filled with fear as she read it:

Tell your precious kingdom the hero is no more.