Link's POV

Zelda and I walk along the beach, not a soul in sight. Just the two of us.

It's romantic. The waves are calm and rhythmic, and the moonlight is pushing through the clouds.

Earlier, after Zelda woke up from that loud bolt of lightning, I thought it might start raining soon, but by the looks of it, the storm has moved away from us to somewhere far over the Pacific Ocean. You can barely see the lightning anymore, and no thunder can be heard. It's still a bit cloudy though and the wind is ruffling our hair.

Zelda is staring straight ahead without the slightest emotion on her face. I want to hold her hand, but she's got her hands full carrying her shoes. I've offered to carry them for her twice already, but both times, she just shook her head. It makes it seem like she wants to carry her shoes, and that she is deliberately using two hands so she doesn't have to hold hands with me.

I'm overthinking.

But can you blame me? She seems distant overall, not talking to or looking at me. Any stranger (if there were any at the beach at this hour) could tell, just by looking at us, that Zelda is passively avoiding me, as if me walking next to her was in no way different from her being by herself.

That's why I'm hesitant to smother her in affection right now, why I'm not going to offer a third time to carry her damn shoes for her. I just don't want to overwhelm or push her. I'm perfectly fine just walking next to her and stealing looks until she's ready to talk to me.

For a while, I just look at the colorful glowing pier in the distance. It's like 2 miles from here, so you can't hear any music or laughter. I don't want to get all philosophical or anything, but right now, the pier and the lightning seem closer than Zelda.

Here and there, she looks down at the sand. Other times, she'll look out at the ocean. Or she'll look behind us at Urbosa's shrinking house. She'll look anywhere but at me. Maybe I did something wrong and just didn't realize it.

We keep walking along wet sand until Zelda finally speaks. "I'm sorry," she whispers in such a small, broken voice that I almost don't catch it.

I look at her from the side, but don't say anything yet. It sounds like she's apologizing for more than just ignoring my texts, like she's sorry for who she is, or for what she's going through.

"I'm sorry for shutting you out," she explains, "for not being strong enough to handle all of this. I just..."

When she doesn't go on, I'm once again left guessing why she's been so distant to me. It's possible that she's scared she'll drag me down with her if she gives in to the pain. Knowing how selfless she is, it would make sense for her to carry it all on her own two shoulders. But that's not the case. If anything, I've been more worried that I'm not doing enough to lift her up.

"Zelda..." I start, but the words get stuck in my throat. How do you tell someone that they're everything to you when they're feeling like nothing?

Zelda falls behind, and when I turn to check on her, I notice that she has stopped walking completely.

I position myself in front of her, and somehow she manages to face me without really looking directly at me.

"I just feel so... lost," she admits. "I've been trying so hard to be the person everyone expects me to be, but I don't even know who that is anymore. And when I'm with you..."

"I want to help you carry this," I tell her, and I mean it. "Whatever it is."

"I don't want to repeat the same mistakes," she whispers. "I don't want to push you away like I have done in the past."

"Then don't. I'm right here, Zelda. And I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me to."

I take a step closer, leaving only a few inches between our toes. She doesn't back away, which is a good sign. It gives me the courage I needed to just take those shoes away from her without asking for permission. I hold them in my left hand, using my right to reach for her. Gentle and slow. She finally lets me hold her hand.

"You don't have to apologize, Zelda." I want her to know that she doesn't have to carry this guilt on top of everything else. She needs to realize that it's not a matter of whether I can help, or whether she needs me to-I want to.

I look at her in silence.

I want to carry every weight you're holding onto. All the pain, the burden, your fear, and your past. I want all of it, all of you-the good and the bad. Dreams and hopes, failures and regrets. Let me carry it all.

"I do have to apologize," she says, shaking her head. "I've been pushing you away, and that's not fair to you. I just... didn't know how to face you."

I resist the urge to pull her into my arms. "What can we do to make you more comfortable with me?"

She's quiet for a long time, but her breath finally steadies when she leans into me. I welcome her. I hold her.

"Link..."

When she stops herself, I try to encourage her. "Just say it."

She sighs and takes a shaky breath. "I am despicable."

"You are lovable," I counter.

"I have been so sad recently..."

"And you have every right to be."

"I don't..."

"Why do you think that?" I ask.

"Because..." she sniffles, hiding her eyes from me again. "All I've done is mourning, and I hate myself for it!"

"I don't understand..."

"I've been mourning all the things I've lost in the fire... Terrako, my mother's college sweatshirt, the soccer ball you gave me last year, all the polaroids on my desk, my books with all their annotations, my old diaries, the Silent Princess flower, your blue hoodie, souvenirs from Japan," she breaks down crying and I catch her, holding her weight as she goes on. "I've been mourning all the things I've lost in the fire, but you know what I haven't been mourning? The man who lost the most! The man who lost his life!"

I frown, not sure what to say. It's not something I expected her to say, but it's not surprising either, knowing how much she's been pushing herself. "You've been through a lot," I say carefully, trying to understand. "Maybe it just hasn't hit you yet?"

She shakes her head, looking frustrated with herself. "I know I should feel something more, but I'm just... numb."

"It's okay to feel that way, Zelda. I don't think grief follows a timeline. It comes in its own way, when you're ready. And it's okay if you're not ready yet."

She looks down at our joined hands, her eyebrows pushed together. "I feel angry... I've always been more focused on what Father wanted from me, rather than what I wanted for myself. I've lived by his standards, that's how it's always been. I know he cared in his own way, but growing up, he was so... distant. And now that he's gone, I don't know how to miss something that was never really there. He left right as we were finally starting to understand each other... Right as he was opening up to me... I'm left mourning not him, but the person he could have been. The person he will never be."

"That makes sense," I say. "Your relationship with him was complicated."

"Complicated," she repeats with an absent nod. "I don't think of it as complicated at all. It's fairly simple, actually." Her voice is low, as if she's talking more to herself than to me. She wipes her tears. "No matter how hard I tried, it was never enough. He had these expectations, and I never quite met them, did I?"

"Zelda, come on... Don't think like that."

"I'm not saying I was a complete disappointment to him, but... By the time of his passing, I hadn't yet become the person he wanted me to be. I was still on that journey. And I was close, but I hadn't made him proud yet."

Even though I want to interrupt her and tell her how amazing she is, I stay quiet, letting her work through the thoughts she's been holding in for who knows how long.

"He was always so hard to read... I feel like I didn't even know him. I thought I'd have more time to figure it all out, to understand him better. But now..." The tension in her eyebrows suddenly lets up, as if something just clicked. "Now, he's gone, and I'll never know if I could have ever made him proud."

She pauses, and I can see the gears turning in her mind.

"And... maybe," she continues, "maybe part of why I've been so distant to you is because..."

She clenches her jaw and shakes her head, unwilling to go on.

"Why, Zelda?" I give her hand a gentle squeeze. "Why have you been so distant to me?"

Her eyes slowly come my way. For the first time in a while, she looks at me without breaking eye contact. "My father..." She takes a deliberate step away from me. "He never really liked the idea of me by your side. He never approved of us."

I hear the words come out of her mouth, but it takes a good three seconds before I'm able to fully understand what's going on. She's withdrawing again, avoiding my touch, and breaking eye contact. Her whole body language is telling me that she doesn't want me anywhere near her.

I would've just looked past it, pretended that her words don't have to mean anything, heck, I would've even made some stupid joke to lighten the mood, if only she didn't let go of my hand. It hurts to know that the reason she's been distant to me is because she literally doesn't want me with her.

"So, um..." I swallow hard, my whole body feeling stiff. "You feel guilty for being with me, is that it?"

In the back of my head, one thought is trying to dominate all the others: Communication is key. Because like her, I don't want to repeat old mistakes. If we talk about it, I can understand where she's coming from. Simple as that. It gives me hope that maybe I completely missed her point and that there's no need for me to be hurt.

Zelda rubs her arms, her head tucked away between her shoulders. "I feel like I am betraying my father... I shouldn't be with you."

"Zelda, please look at me."

I can see the hesitation in her. But slowly, she forces her eyes back up to meet mine, and when they do, I make sure she finds a smile on my face, even if it's small.

"You say you didn't know your dad, but you did," I say. "For one, he was a businessman. A successful one. Which means he knew how to invest in things that mattered. And I believe he invested in our relationship. When he stood up for me during my expulsion hearing, when he offered me a job and paid for my tuition, when he let me stay at your place when I had nowhere else to go, and when he told me to get counseling-all that was him investing in me."

The pain and fear slowly disappear from her features as she begins to understand what I'm trying to say.

"My coach used to tell me that when someone takes the time to point out your mistakes, it shows that they haven't given up on you. In other words, it's a good thing. And boy, did your dad point out all my flaws. Especially after that fight with Karusa. He told me what I did wrong, how I could fix it, and why it mattered. That's not him disapproving of me, it's him giving me guidance to become the man he believed you deserved."

I slowly close the distance she created, and sigh in relief when she doesn't pull away.

"If your dad didn't approve of me, he would've done something about it a long time ago. I mean... he always knew I wasn't perfect. I'm pretty sure that, for the most part, he thought I was a total mess. But he never gave up on me. He saw something in me worth saving... Worth caring about. Even when he tried to set you up with that Rammy guy, I think part of him was relieved when it didn't work out. Think about it: what was his reaction when you told him you wanted to marry that guy? Your dad wasn't thrilled, so what was the first thing he did? He asked about me. And then he apologized. A man who never sees a fault in himself apologized for trying to set you up with the wrong man. So yeah, maybe it wasn't always obvious, and it sure as heck wasn't perfect, but he cared about our relationship and you can't deny that."

At first, Zelda doesn't say or do anything. She is perfectly still. Then her face begins to crumple, and before I can react, the tears start falling again. She drops to her knees and I go down with her.

Her shoulders shake, and she covers her face with her hands like she's embarrassed or something. But I don't care about that-I move her hands, making her look at me.

"You idiot!" She cries.

"What?"

"My father loved you! He constantly praised you! Always spoke highly of you! He personally picked you out of all the other athletes in the world. He found you, Link, YOU! He chose you for the full ride scholarship! And then he entrusted you to be my personal guard during my first semester. He protected and supported you in everything you did." She buries herself in my hug, her whole body trembling. "It was me he didn't approve of!"

Zelda clings to me like I'm the only thing keeping her from falling apart completely, sobbing into my chest. It's like everything she's been holding back just comes flooding out all at once. I can feel her pain in the way she grips my shirt, and it kills me that I can't do anything more than hold her.

Between her sobs and tears, she chokes out, "I was the part of our relationship he didn't approve of! That's why he wanted me to be with Ramses-because he thought you deserved better!"

"I doubt that." I stroke her back and hold her close. "I think maybe you have this idea because you feel like if you're not enough for your father, then maybe you're not enough for me either. But that's just not true."

"Link..."

"Do you really believe I deserve better?" I ask, feeling her nod against my chest. "Better than you?"

She nods again, crying harder. "I want you to be happy..."

"Really? So you want me to go find someone better?'

She doesn't nod this time.

"Zelda?" I ask again, "Do you want me to be with someone else?"

"You deserve the best, Link..."

"That's not what I asked. Do you want me to be with someone else? Yes or no, Zelda."

"Of course I don't!"

"Then stop pushing me away, please."

"But..."

I don't even let her fight me on this one. "No but." I free myself from our hug, just enough to look her in the eye. "I've felt the same way in the past, okay? There were times when I thought I wasn't good enough. A lot of times, actually. And do you know what?"

"What?"

"It's true! You really do deserve someone better." I hold her face with both my hands, forcing her to keep looking at me. "So every day, I strive to be someone better." More tears gather in her eyes, and I catch them with my thumbs. "I do it for you. I do it for me. And I do it for us. Can you do the same?"

Instead of answering with words, she kisses me. It's a simple, heartfelt gesture, but it says everything. It tells me that she doesn't want me to be with someone else any more than I want her to be with anyone else. So all we can do, really, is strive to be the person the other deserves. And I think that's something we might actually be really good at, because we think so highly of the other.

After our kiss, she instantly falls back into my arms, this time with a faint smile that she quickly tries to hide. "Thank you, Link. Talking about it really helped a lot..."

"Are we good then?"

"We're great," she says, and I believe it.

I rest my chin on top of her head. Can't see her face, but I'm positive we're both smiling, if not on the outside, then definitely on the inside. And that's enough. Even if she still feels a lot of pain from losing her dad, or shame for not feeling more, I hope she now realizes that there are no set rules on how to grieve.

"Link?" Zelda murmurs. "Would you perhaps like to stay with me tonight?"

I think it over for a sec, then shake my head. "Urbosa would not be cool with that."

"How do you know? She's the one who called you over after all."

"Okay, correction: Riju would not be cool with that."

I slowly rise, and take her hand to help her up. Without any rush, I start leading her back into the direction of the house. The lights are off, which means that Urbosa and Riju are most likely asleep already.

When Zelda tucks on my arm for attention, "Stay the night. Nobody will know. You can sneak out in the morning before anyone notices."

"So rebellious." I smirk at her from the side. "Can't wait another two weeks to sleep with me, huh?"

"No," she says with a straight face. "Not at all."

"Would you be able to wait three years?"

"Are you mad?"

Me? No. But Riju might be. Still can't believe she wouldn't let me in the house unless I teach her how to drive.

Something else dawns on me. "Do you even have your own room?" I ask.

"I share it with Riju."

That's what I thought. "Then I definitely can't stay the night."

"Link please," she pouts, pulling me closer with both arms. "Won't you stay with me?"

"Riju's a minor. It's not appropriate for me to sleep in the same room as her. Especially not without Urbosa's knowledge. I can't just sneak in and have her find me in the morning, passed out in the same room as her 13-year-old niece."

"Then we'll sleep on the couch," Zelda offers.

"We really shouldn't."

"When has that ever stopped us?" She teases.

I shrug, trying not to laugh. "You make a fair point."

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