Chapter Text
Zora Domain is saved. Sidon becomes the Sage of Water, granting his power to Link to save Hyrule from the Demon King. It should be a time of happiness and joy.
Except it isn’t.
After the monster was slain at Mipha Court, Yona spoke to Sidon of how he cannot be afraid to lose someone he loves. Link saw the look in the Zora’s eyes, how they flashed with an emotion he couldn’t quite place.
They had lost Elise, the woman they love. Sidon pulled away after she vanished, and they hadn’t spoken for months. When Link came to Zora’s Domain and saw that Sidon had gotten dragged into an arranged marriage, he didn’t know what to think.
Was he angry? Oh, livid. But he couldn’t blame Sidon for falling into such a thing. Even though they fell in love with one another first, Elise was the steel holding them together.
Then… then Elise appeared before them.
Except it wasn’t her.
Link knew the second he saw the imposter. Her eyes were wild and the way she carried herself told him that it wasn’t the woman they lost. But when she sneered at Sidon, a smirk on her lips as she spoke her next words, it broke his heart.
“You must not have loved us the way I thought if you got dragged into someone else’s arms. Pathetic.”
Link hated the look in Sidon’s eyes when the figment said those horrible things. He visibly recoiled, flashing his teeth as pain colored his eyes. But then she disappeared, and Link was left to pick up the pieces.
The two of them are in the throne room. Yona left to tell Dorephan that the marriage was void, and Link sat across from Sidon, watching the Zora he loves fight with himself.
He can’t blame him for what he did after Elise disappeared. He was angry, despaired, and lost. While Link wished he would have found comfort with him, he understood that Sidon needed to be with his people.
“Goddesses above, I’m an absolute buffoon.”
Those are the first words Sidon spoke since he became a Sage. Link moves to sit beside the Zora he cares so much for, resting his head against Sidon as he takes his hand.
“You aren’t,” Link whispers. “That wasn’t Elise. You know it wasn’t.”
“Perhaps not, yet…” the Zora sighs. “She spoke the truth. It was dishonor to my love for you and her to let myself get into an arranged marriage. I’m so sorry, my pearl. I hope you can forgive this foolish Zora.”
Link lets out a breath. “I know why you let it happen. You were destroyed after Elise vanished. And I know I couldn’t be there for you.” Link tightens his grip on Sidon’s hand, realizing, not for the first time, how the Zora’s engulfs his own. “Don’t berate yourself. I know you love me. I know you love her .”
Sidon trembles and Link hates seeing him in such a state. The love Sidon has for Elise could destroy the Demon King if such a force was able to. And the love he has for Link would be able to yet again. The Hylian knows it. He knew, even when he found out the Zora fell into Dorephan’s plan and almost was married off.
“I do,” Sidon’s voice breaks Link’s train of thought. “I love the two of you more than anything in all Hyrule.” The Zora wraps Link in his arms, and the smaller male lets himself be held, burying his nose within Sidon’s chest. “I’m so sorry, my luminous stone.”
“Stop apologizing, you dork,” Link murmurs against Sidon’s scales. “I told you I forgive you. And I know Elise will too. We love you too much to be angry at you.”
Sidon laughs softly and Link relishes in the sound. “I hope that when Elise returns to us your words ring true.”
“I know they will.” Link leans up and places a soft kiss against Sidon’s lips. Kissing the Zora is a feeling Link will always love. Settling himself in the Zora’s lap, the two of them sit in the stillness, enjoying one another’s company.
“I love you, my darling,” Sidon whispers against Link’s messy blond tresses.
Link nuzzles against their Zora. “I love you, too, my beloved Zora.”
The Zora and Hylian find themselves at Mipha Court. Link looks at Sidon, noticing his gaze looks sorrowful and far away. He strides over to him, placing a hand on his waist, and Sidon looks at him, casting a slight smile at the blond.
“It feels like yesterday that apparition appeared before us,” Sidon murmurs. “Even though its words tore into me like a blade, it spoke the truth.”
“Don’t go there,” Link tells their Zora. “You know that if Elise was herself she would tell you the same thing.”
Sidon looks down at the woman in his arms. She’s dozing, but neither of them is sure how long she’ll rest. Sometimes she slumbers for many hours, other times it’s less than ten minutes. It’s exhausting, not knowing how long she’ll sleep.
The Zora nuzzles against Elise, a soft sigh leaving him. “I can only hope she would say the same.”
“Sidon.” Link forces Sidon to look at him. “We both know Elise is one of the kindest, most understanding people either of us have ever met. You know she will.”
Although Sidon looks conflicted, he nods. “You’re right as always, my sapphire.” His eyes look towards something that Link can’t see, and he gasps. “There. Do you see that?”
Looking in the general direction Sidon is, Link sees what looks like a small pool of water. Walking towards it, Sidon on his heels, they stop in front of it. It looks like one of the Light Dragon’s tears, except it’s swirling with miasma and madness.
“This must be one of Elise’s soul fragments,” Link murmurs.
Before he can say anything else, Elise’s eyes snap open, and she starts struggling to try and reach the tear. Sidon keeps a tight grasp on her, stepping away from it, and once he’s a good distance away, she passes out.
“I… did not expect that kind of reaction,” the Zora mutters. “Zelda was right in that we must keep her away from it, but it surprises me Elise fought to be near it.”
“I think her soul still holds Ganon’s madness,” Link thinks aloud. Sidon looks surprised. “Think about it. If her soul was truly purified, even if it was missing pieces, don’t you think she would be full of light and happiness? Instead, she’s covered in despair and agony.” Link’s face twists with sadness. “That, alone, should have told us the Demon King’s darkness still grips her heart.”
“Why didn’t I think of such a thing?” Sidon shakes his head at himself. “You speak the truth, my pearl. Once we find all of her scattered pieces and restore them, I can only hope it’ll be enough to purge his taint from her soul.”
Link nods his affirmation, putting his hand over the tear. Within seconds, they’re thrown into the past, and he and Sidon look around in alarm.
“Is this the Imprisoning War?” the Zora asks.
“It is,” Link responds.
Standing a few feet away is Elise, her eyes tainted with crimson and her blue locks blemished with red. She looks out at the sky, a look in her eyes that Link’s all too familiar with.
After all, he’s seen the same one in Sidon’s.
Despair. Agony. Loss. Anguish.
“I miss them,” Elise murmurs. Link and Sidon look at each other, matching looks of shock in their gazes. “Link, Sidon… what are you doing right now? I hope you’re together.” Tears drip down her cheeks. “I love you both. Please be together. You deserve one another. You don’t need me.”
“Elise…” Link hates the tone Sidon’s voice carries. It’s full of misery. “That’s the furthest thing from the truth. We need you. We will always need you…”
Ganon walks over to Elise, and seeing the look on the Demon King’s face makes Link seethe. He wears a smirk as he places his hand on her shoulder. “Forget about those scum. If they truly cared for you, they would have protected you from this.”
“ Bastard, ” Link whispers under his breath. Sidon quivers with rage as Elise looks up at Ganon, the look on her face telling the Hylian that she still believes in them.
“They’ll come for me. I know they will.”
The fierce conviction in her voice, the strength of her belief that they’ll save her, makes Link’s heart ache. How long did she believe in them before she gave up hope?
The scene fades. Link and Sidon find themselves back in Mipha Court. Silence passes between the Hylian and Zora before Sidon growls ferociously.
“That fiend,” he snarls.
Link sighs. He doesn’t know what to say. The fact Elise believed so desperately in them, that they would come and save her from the Demon King, makes his soul spasm with sorrow. She loved them, clutched onto the hope that they would save her from Ganon…
He doesn’t know how to feel about that.
A soft cry breaks his melancholy, and he looks at Elise. Her eyes are open, yet she doesn’t struggle. Tears drip down her cheeks as she clutches onto Sidon, the first thing she’s done that resembles her old self. Sidon notices as well, and he tightens his hold on her.
“Elise, my dearest, forgive us,” he hisses. “You trusted us that we would find you, and we did not. I’m so sorry.”
“Sidon…” Link touches his arm. “We didn’t know. It’s not our fault.”
“She trusted us, Link!” Sidon exclaims. “She believed that we would save her, and we failed her!”
Link finds himself taken aback by the ferocity in their Zora’s tone. “We can’t berate ourselves for this or let us fall into the madness from her memories.” He grips onto Sidon’s arm harder. “Please, don’t fall into despair. I need you. Elise needs you.”
The black that was starting to color Sidon’s eyes fades. The Zora takes a breath. “This will be harder than I thought.”
“It will, but we have each other. We need to rely on one another.” Link reaches up and touches Sidon’s cheek. “We need to count on our love for each other and Elise to help us get through this.”
“...You’re right.” Sidon rests his hand over Link’s. “We’ll get through this. The three of us, together.”
“We will.” Link gives a reassuring smile. “Let’s return to Zelda and give her this fragment. She may have found a way to piece them together.”
“The sooner we restore her, the better,” Sidon whispers softly, nuzzling against Elise. Link lets out a quiet sigh, knowing that the quicker they bring Elise back to them, the sooner Sidon will return to his old self.
There’s nothing he wishes for more, to have the man and woman he loves more than anything in Hyrule to be back to who they’re meant to be.
“Let’s get going.”
