Chapter Text
“Protect her.”
Rift’s body slammed into the stone door a moment after it closed. A moment. He slammed his fists against it, then he clawed at where the seam of the stone should have been, trying to pull it open again.
But there was no seam. It was flesh with all the other stone, as if it were just a wall and never had been a door.
-
“Protect her.”
-
The confidence in Impa’s voice and face. The stone hard determination.
“Argh!” Rift slammed his fists against the stone again. How was he supposed to protect her if they locked themselves in Supply Chamber? If they were never going to come out, how long was he supposed to stand here and wait?
-
“Wait.”
-
Zelda’s order had been given with the same stone hard confidence. As though there wasn’t even a doubt in her mind that he would obey.
The shock written on her face when he’d tried to stop them spoke clearly of that too. Because there wasn’t a doubt, was there? He couldn’t go home now. Not with them trapped inside that room.
Rift clenched his jaw and ran his fingers over the stone, looking for any imperfections on the surface that would give him a way in to them. A way to undo what they had done.
Nothing.
He groaned and backed away from the door, running his hands up through his hair and dropping to sit on one of those fallen stone pillars.
-
“You don’t want to go?” His little brother stared up at him, such a mixture of confusion and empathy written across his face.
“What?- no- I-“ Rift dashed at his eyes before turning around, his ears still drooping despite his efforts. “No, I want to go, Link.”
-
He had wanted to. He had been so excited, and that was why the prospect tore him apart, the feeling of duty and obligation he still felt so strong at home.
-
“I want to go. I’m really excited for the opportunity and the chance to see so much,” he said softly. He wrapped an arm over Link’s shoulder, and took some solace in his presence, even if it solidified what he’d been realizing all night.
His family needed him. More than the princess of Hyrule ever could.
-
Why hadn’t he just stayed home? Saved Zelda the mistake of taking him on and everything that had followed since.
But Link… Link had straightened under Rift’s fears and he had looked so much older than Rift had ever noticed before.
-
“You have to go,” Link said softly. “The princess needs a guard and there’s no one better than you.”
“But-“
“Don’t worry about us.” Link straightened to his full height. And in the dark light his serious expression held earnest honesty. “I’ll keep us safe until you get back.”
Rift stared at him, shocked at the assurance he felt that Link’s words were true. Link would handle things at home. Link would be fine without him.
-
Rift’s eyes stung. The absolute confidence in his brother’s words echoed back in his head again and again and again.
Link believed in him. Link expected him to succeed. He pressed his lips together and swiped at his eyes, standing up.
It had been so long since he’d felt that. He wished he could go home, but not like this. He couldn’t dare break that last trust. He didn’t dare show Link he wasn’t all his little brother imagined him to be.
When he came home, love and trust would still be his. They would still believe in him as they always had. As long as he could manage this, they would never have to know he failed.
He left the building and walked the circumference of it, looking for any other way into the Supply Chamber, but he didn’t find any.
-
“Wait.”
-
He sighed and returned to the cave, tidying up the camp and then he sat and began to sharpen his blade.
If he was to stay here for the foreseeable future, he would do his best to protect as he was bidden. None of the monsters out in the forest would get anywhere near this cave. Nothing would endanger Zelda and Impa’s mission.
He worked, in the total silence. As the wind whistled through the mouth of the cave, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had been forgotten.
3 Years Later
They found him. Lossa tried to keep some room for error in his head, but they found him.
After all these years, his boy would come home again! After all these years, he could bring Rift back to Narei safe and sound. Would Link be with him? At last! Their family could be together again at last!
“Wait here, men,” he ordered as they neared the edge of the forest. The scouts reported that the lone young man at the edge of the cave had been skittish at the sight of strangers.
The troops could tell that the mission was almost complete. They eagerly obeyed his command and were grinning and whispering to each other as Lossa dismounted and left his horse with Captain Park.
His bad leg needed stretching to behave well, so he walked through the trees with an uneven gait while it tried to get used to being used again.
Rift, where have you been? He pushed the question down as the eagerness sprouted once more, drowning out all caution. Did it matter? No more than to say whether or not his boy was okay. Was really here.
Lossa broke out of the trees and to the clear space between him and the mouth of the cave. He froze at the sight before him.
A young man indeed. Rift no longer held the young and innocent face of a fifteen-year-old. The change staggered Lossa. Rift’s muscles were toned and his clothes messily patched. His eyes were hooded and tired and he had to have gained at least a few inches from when Lossa last saw him.
Rift stared at him in disbelief for a long minute. The seconds ticked by before his boy’s eyes watered and he averted his gaze to the ground. “Papa?”
Lossa rushed forward, snatching his son in his arms and crushing him in a bear hug embrace. Rift’s breath hitched and his body stiffened, but he melted in Lossa’s arms and clutched at his shirt, silently trembling. “I’m here, Rift.”
His vision was blurred up and his eyes stung as he pressed his face into Rift’s dirty hair and squeezed them shut. “It’s been too long. Your mother’s been worried sick.”
Rift let out a wet laugh at that and Lossa smiled in success.
Still, Rift didn’t let him go. Quiet independent Rift clung to him like a lost child and Lossa pulled his eyes open, a new fear finding its way back into his head.
His gaze ran over the cave behind his boy. A simple camp, some skins hanging on the nearby trees, a fire currently roasting a meal. It looked as though Rift might have spent all of those three years camping here on his own.
But… “Where is the princess?”
Rift’s body jerked and Lossa’s heart dropped into his stomach as his boy pulled away, eyes still averted to the ground and shoulders slumped.
Tugging at the hem of his shirt, Rift tilted his body to welcome Lossa into the cave. “Sh-she’s in there.” He said almost too quiet to here. “She’s been in there for…”
Lossa lifted his gaze again, but he didn’t see any sign of anyone but his son.
Oh dear.
He dropped a hand on Rift’s shoulder and together they entered the cave.
Rift was regaining his old self back piece by piece, straightening and walking with soldier assurance that remained even when all else failed, but Lossa knew something was still wrong.
His boy still wouldn’t look at him.
“In there,” Rift gestured to the wall as though informing a superior officer. “Princess Zelda and Lady Impa entered the Supply Chamber and sealed it off while they worked to hold back Dark Beast Ganon.”
Lossa could see ancient inscriptions on the stone, but it didn’t look like a door to him. But Rift wouldn’t lie. “You’ve been guarding this since then?”
His son actually saluted rather than nodding. It made Lossa notably uncomfortable when it was his son and not a comrade. Lossa gestured to one of the few fallen pillars that now had haphazard cushions on them as though they’d long been used as chairs, and together they sat.
“Have you seen Link, Rift?”
Rift peeked up at him before averting his gaze to the fire and to the task of twisting the meat roasting over top it. “I-no, Papa. I haven’t seen anyone since…”
A pang of guilt shot through his heart. The strange barrier between them was not stronger than Lossa. He reached across it and pressed a hand on his son’s knee. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.” Whatever the king said, Lossa should’ve come sooner.
Rift stiffened at his touch, but he didn’t turn his gaze away from the meat. “I couldn’t leave anyway,” he said softly. “It’s my duty to protect them. I couldn’t cast that aside.”
Lossa’s grip tightened and he pulled closer, wrapping his arms around Rift again, though the boy stayed stiff this time. “You know I love you, no matter what, right Rift? You know that is nothing to be earned. I love you and I’m so happy you’re okay and that we found you. I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner.”
Rift was trembling again. He didn’t look at Lossa, but he did bury his face in his father’s chest, and he began to cry.
Lossa stroked his hair and let him have it out, ignoring the tears streaking down his own face. “I love you, son. More than I could ever say. I love you.”