Chapter Text
So where do they go, from there?
Well, there’s a few things to do. Some of it, obligations to other people, some of it, their own desires. Some things major and some things minor.
But, to start...
It takes several hours for Hylia to pull herself back together. The Goddess is old and tired, and she had long expected to be faced with hatred, entirely deserved, in her mind. To have been met with kindness, instead... was almost too much to bear.
Link, Zelda, and Hylia would have a long conversation, afterwards. Zelda is still not happy with what the Goddess had done to Link, but her anger is blunted, unwillingly, by his own understanding. Link’s understanding, however, does not immediately lead to his forgiveness of Hylia’s actions.
Hylia is honestly grateful for that. She doesn’t want such forgiveness, for having tormented her Hero, for having taken what she considers the easy way out. Her actions may have led to the end of the curse that had plagued the world since times that only she had witnessed, but she betrayed herself and her Hero to do it.
She does not want to be that person. This had been too much already, and to do it again would make her unworthy of the kindness Link had shown, and she would rather die than become that.
Hylia makes a promise, then.
Never again.
It’s the first step on a long road, but it’s an important one.
However, Hylia cannot, and should not, stay in the mortal world forever. She is a Deity, and an important, old one at that. Her status and power lends her great capability, and equal responsibility. She offers blessings, before she leaves, since it is the least she could do after all she’s done.
Link declines, having no real need or desire. Zelda does have a request, however. She wants her memories of what happened during the loops. Link is... not surprised, really. It had long weighed on her that only Link (And Hylia, now) had remembered what happened in those times.
It is within Hylia’s power, and so she agrees. Zelda stands, stunned, as all those memories run through her mind. She turns and clutches Link close the moment she comprehends it all, now knowing and now being able to appreciate, fully, what he’d been through.
Hylia bids them farewell. Link tells her to visit, because he knows better than most what isolation can do to a person, and nobody, not even the Goddess herself, was immune to it. Nobody deserved that. Hylia shakes her head, amazed and confused in equal measure, but Link has always exceeded expectations.
There’s only a few things left for them, there. Fi summons a few Guardians, and has them patrol around the hole left by Ganondorf. It’s a rather dangerous thing, after all.
Zelda, finally, shows Link what her father had left to her. A simple note, by all means, but one that echoed with all the things they’d never been able to say. A message of love and encouragement.
Link and Zelda go back to the Plateau, where they would find the scientists sitting and waiting. They have not, of course, missed the light show, even if Maz Koshia had wisely told them to stay away from that. There would be an explanation there, of course.
Then they’d go to Kakariko, and meet with Impa, and Link would finally, finally start to explain everything that had happened. Ten long, long, long years where so few had learned, and finally, he’d never have to tell her again.
Of course, they’d travel around Hyrule, after that. They would visit Zora’s Domain, and Goron City, and Rito Village, and Gerudo Town. News would be passed, stories told...
And it wouldn’t stop there, of course. There were plenty of things to do.
But did the specifics really matter?
Sure, some things had changed. The Fierce Deity’s marks hadn’t, and wouldn’t, fade from Link’s face. Hylia’s light, burning in Zelda’s soul, would only strengthen, rather than weaken. There was an aura around both of them, now, for any that had the senses to be aware of it. They both knew much more than they probably should have, and they were both so close, though that would surprise nobody who actually knew them.
And, yes, it would take Link weeks to stop suddenly waking up just before midnight, no matter how much or how little he’d slept, just as it would take Zelda months before she stopped having nightmares when Link wasn’t present. By then, they would have an entirely different reason to continue their arrangement.
But in the end, it didn’t matter how many things changed. There was a whole world out in front of them. There was a future, theirs to decide at last.
And no matter how things went, no matter what they’d face...
They would do it together.
Isn’t that enough?