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hanayori89 · 1 year ago

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🪶🪶Lesson 8: Sky Break!🪶🪶

It was almost offensive how perfect the day was.

The clouds swirled in a dance that made you feel a rush of adrenaline, as the time to show off your moves with Sava in the ballroom of the sky was fast approaching. The marriage of perfect, cottony clouds was accompanied by a temperate breeze swooping over Skyloft.

The scene of the skies around you were oddly rejuvenating, even with your lack of sleep.

The reason for your sleepless night could be chalked up to a certain knight's face clouding your mind every time you felt your eyelids droop. Pain streaked across his expression, forcing you to startle yourself back awake. Link may not know what was said, but your reaction the night prior was enough to confirm any conspiracy theories he may have created about what occurred behind Gaepora's doors.

Link has his own future to focus on, and so do I. Whether that future involves one another, well, that is not up to me.

As you watched the clouds continue to revolve in a splendid waltz, you felt an elbow jab your side.

"Oh boy, now is not the time to have your head in the clouds." Karane's panicked tone prodded a sense of dread in the pit of your stomach.

"I take it you haven't seen Link?"

Oh, I've seen him. Every second of every hour in my thoughts. You bit your tongue, stifling back the intrusive thought that wanted to escape. "No, why?"

"He's wearing a knight's uniform."

Before she could add anything else, a ruckus of applause gathered around you. You turned to see Zelda walking past everyone, Link's hand secure within her own as he trailed behind.

She wore a white ceremonial gown, its white bell sleeves tangled with the ends of her lustrous blonde hair as it cascaded behind her. You could hear Karane bitterly murmuring beside you. "Well, doesn't she look like a goddess?"

You opened your mouth, only to clamp it shut. If only you knew.

As they strolled past, Link's eyes fell on you once again. You had to escape the concern present in his sweeping gaze. You looked down at your feet.

Please don't look at me like that.

The clouds that had put on an encore presentation now hung stagnant; their heavy hoarding masses felt crushing, as did the bodies of the other students loitering around you.

Oxygen felt sparse, and your knees began to shake. Were you having a panic attack?

You forced yourself to focus on taking deep inhalations of breath as Zelda and Link stood before everyone. Gaepora then joined them front and center, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Has Link already been knighted?" It was obvious to you that Karane was merely speaking aloud without wanting a response. Her voice was not the only one audible among the student body, as whispers and pointing let you know everyone was equally confused.

You finally found the courage to glance at Link in his knight tunic. The tunic you wanted to wear. And now, as he stood before you, showing it off, the small carton of hope you still had stored within you had officially been punctured. The sight of him had caused it to leak, dripping slowly away.

And somehow that wasn't even the worst part.

No, the worst part was that he looked ridiculously hot in it.

He had shed his ill-fitting Skyloftian clothes for the tailored knight's tunic. His shoulders hung broadly beneath the weight of layered chainmail, and his waist was whittled and defined with a simple brown leather belt.

Then there was the tunic's shade of green, which created an undertone of radiance and warmth to his skin that had not previously been present thanks to the drab beige of his Skyloftian tunic, which, you hated to say it, washed him out.

"Y/N, you, okay?" You turned to see Karane narrowing her eyes at you. It wasn't long before a gargantuan grin took over her face. "Ah, I get it. I had the same effect when I saw Pipit in his tunic for the first time. It leaves a lady speechless, doesn't it?"

You couldn't even defend yourself, because your best friend was right.

You had been able to ignore Link before, but as long as he wore that tunic, there would be no more ignoring him.

Gaepora held his hands up, signaling for all conversation to cease.

"My dearest students, it is with great pleasure for me to present my dearest daughter Zelda, who will play for us a song from the goddess to kick off this year's ceremony. Each one of you standing before me displays either tremendous courage, unadulterated wisdom, or an irrevocable hunger for power. But only one possesses all three, and they shall be named this year's knight."

With his hands folded behind his back, Gaepora disappeared into the shadows as Zelda rested her harp against her upper arm, her fingers deftly beginning to strum each necessary string.

"Ugh. She is so nauseating." Karane ripped her hat from her head and punched her fist inside of it, reshaping it so it would lie snugly on top of her small head.

"I don't know... she is rather talented with a harp." As soon as the compliment left your lips, your throat grew tight as if you had inhaled a whiff of pollen and wanted to cough. Karane raised her eyebrow in your direction.

“Are you sick? You know that's Zelda standing up there, right? Contender for Link's heart and your rival in love?"

You wanted so desperately to tell Karane everything. If she knew who Zelda actually was, she would refrain from saying anything negative about her ever again.

At least, much like yourself, who was now afraid Hylia would strike you dead if you dared even snicker in her direction.

As Zelda continued to croon before everyone, Link's eyes fluttered in your direction.

"Not so subtle, is he?"

"Karane!" You hissed.

"What? He isn't. Maybe he wants to piss Zelda off, so she'll stop singing like a skinned remlit."

Your head pointed down to your feet as you bit your lower lip and suppressed a laugh. Your eyes flickered upward once again, sheathed beneath your lashes as you glared in Link's direction, but his eyes were back on Zelda as she concluded her performance.

A ripple of accolades passed through the students as Zelda bowed. "Thank you, everyone!" She was then joined by the presence of her lavender Loftwing and Link's crimson one, who chose to land by the side of his pilot and friend.

"It is with the great pleasure of the goddess that I offer all of you a benediction to be safe during this year's competition. It is also my honor to recognize a certain knight, one who has demonstrated great valor and dedication, and it is time I brought to public his tenure." She turned toward Link as he got down on one knee. The sight of his hand in hers invoked the same tightness in your chest from earlier, the sensation of the land around you shrinking, and the familiar urgency to run away.

Except you couldn't.

Zelda held Link's sword, tapped each shoulder as she recited a christening. Karane dismissed the spectacle with a long, drawn out "pfft." She laced her fingers in between yours and gave you a sympathetic glance. The feeling of your friend holding your hand in support helped you feel less flighty, and more grounded. You gripped her hand tighter.

"If he is a knight, then he better not be competing." She growled beside you.

After the dubbing was over, Link rose. "Now, it is only fair that this competition be held for the next knight; without further ado, let us begin. This year's judges will be myself and Link, our newest knight."

"Everyone, secure your Loftwing and head to the ledge." Zelda and Link walked over side by side, with Link's head slightly cast over his shoulder as if he were searching for you.

Karane dropped your hand. "Good, at least he isn't competing that wouldn't be fair. Come on Y/N, let's show them who the real knights of Skyloft are."

As you stood on the ledge, peering beneath the tundra of clouds, in the far-off distance, an ominous fissure flickered to life.

That's strange.

You surveyed the faces of your classmates to see if they noticed it too, but they all just stood with their arms splayed as they looked at their Loftwing sailing among the clouds.

"Alright, everyone into position! On the count of three, the competition will commence. 1.." Zelda sat nestled behind Link on his Loftwing. You looked at his face to see his eyes lasered in the direction of the mysterious cleft that was pulsating into creation.

"2..."

Link's eyes snapped in your direction, and his face transformed into a feral scowl. A seething rage blossomed openly, and it was unlike any emotion you'd ever seen him display. You knew instantly that whatever he had warned you about was real.

Real and headed this way.

"3!"

A wall of bodies with their arms outstretched collapsed, falling into the skies below. The sounds of whistles erupted from all different layers of the clouds as Loftwing dived toward each of the students.

You still remained on the ledge; your body frozen stiff at the sight of the spiraling tornado headed this way.

Karane gently pushed you down. "Y/N, come on! What are you waiting for?"

You began to fall, with Karane next to you. Only for her Loftwing to swoop her up and take her back to the minefield of obstacles laid out above.

You continued to plunge, Karane screaming above you. "Y/N? Whistle! Whistle for Sava! Y/N!!!!"

But the vicious cyclone that had broken forth from the aperture in the clouds now whirled beneath you. A wind tunnel suctioned around you, swallowing you and digesting you down into its core.

You could hear Karane's frantic cries as she watched you be suctioned from the sky. The shadows of other students streaked above, fluttering around in sheer horror. The cries of Loftwing followed you to the depths of the cyclone, its savage winds not loud enough to erase the sounds of pandemonium above you.

But there was no Link. After all, he had a choice to make, and that choice was his goddess.

It was then, as you closed your eyes to an uncertain fate, that you decided this was Hylia, and she was getting you back for laughing at the remlit joke.

Edited: 6/18/24

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