Whumptober Day 20

alternative prompt: tragedy

life is calamity - LiS AU alternative ending

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | other ending

warnings: grief, survivor’s guilt, self deprecation, canonical character death

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Twelve hours had gone by since the sun rose on Zelda’s seventeenth birthday. Twelve hours that repeated, and repeated, and repeated until she was so worn down and shattered that she couldn’t even stand up. The sky was dark over Hyrule Castle. The malice beast swirled high in the air, marking its territory before the burning buildings and stampeding guardians. It had not stopped–would not stop, no matter how slow time seemed to become when she pressed herself into Link and resigned herself to being a terrible, unworthy princess. 

So many innocent lives had been lost tonight. Her friends, sealed forever in the ancient machineries she promised them were safe, her father, locked in an eternal state of disappointment, and her kingdom in tatters–this was the fate she’d resigned Hyrule to. And yet, she could not stop being selfish. She could not stop wanting something for herself, even when the world around her depended on her sacrifice. She was an utter disgrace to her people, to her friends, to every living, breathing thing around them, and she couldn’t even find it in herself to be sorry.