Chapter Text
Sometimes, Link feels guilty.
So many people rely on him, but he can’t do enough to help them. He’s failed them so many times, each consequence bigger than the last. He can’t be who they need him to be.
He can’t live up to the image of the hero children fall asleep to the stories of.
He’s failed so many times, and his people paid for it.
But he speaks to them anyway, and helps them with whatever he can.
o0O0o
Sometimes, Link feels lacking.
He isn’t smart enough, strong enough, brave enough to step up, to be who he needs to be. He always seems too late, makes too many mistakes, fails too many times to be adequate. He makes it by the skin of his teeth most days, and he wonders how someone like him could possibly free Hyrule.
He isn’t cut out to be the hero everyone needs.
But he cuts down each enemy anyway, clearing his way through each dungeon.
o0O0o
Sometimes, Link feels lost.
He doesn’t have a manual to tell him what to do next, how to move forward, what he was doing at all. Somehow, every instruction he gets, whether it be a map, a compass, or even a riddle, he gets more and more hopeless.
He feels lost, and no map is able to guide him.
But he moves forward, stumbling along a path that is barely there.
o0O0o
Sometimes, Link wants to stop.
Stop, and just rest. Stop, and let his wounds heal, no matter how long it would take. Stop, and let himself forget what he was meant to be doing, how many people depended on him, how many he had failed thus far.
Stop, for just a moment, to let it all go.
But he knew what would happen if he were to stop, so he pushes onward.
o0O0o
Sometimes, Link is hopeful.
When he completes a dungeon and retrieves whatever awaits, when he saves a villager from a monster, when a kind fairy heals his wounds and exhaustion, when he receives hospitality and sees the remaining joy in the people’s eyes, and when he finally finds what he’s been looking for, he has hope.
Maybe, just maybe, he could succeed.
He moves forward with new vigor, determined to complete his task.