Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda, Nintendo, or any of these characters.

A shattered mirror, a few broken sobs, and those beautiful blue eyes glaring at me with such a look of twisted pain… was that really how I had left you? Betrayed, saddened, and angry at me, the one who had driven you into everything on her own selfish whims?

How long has it been since that painful and nightmarish event? Has it been a few days? Several months… one hundred years? Yes… it's been three years. The three longest years of my wretched existence.

They say that love hurts more than anything, that all living creatures are better off without such intimacy and affection. Some say it hurts like a constant coal burning in your chest for the remainder of your years until the day your story ends… What fools are they to describe unrequited love under such a petty description?

The sensation is almost indescribable… It's not the clichéd verse of your heart being ripped from your chest; rather it's more painful than being burned, scourged, or scorned. It's as if every single fiber of your being is lit on fire, then ripped apart one painful piece at a time. It's not having the will to care about living anymore, the loss of interest in things that once seemed so alive to you at one time.

When love is lost, the world has lost all flavor and color. You live as a mere hunk of flesh, a bloody drain on humanity pining away for things that might have been. What could have been if your love was not such a burden and a waste to your object of affection?

The answer will forever remain outside my grasp…

You… all my heartache is your fault.

If you had not stumbled upon the Twilight Realm looking for those children, then I might never have met you. I never would have come to admire you and come to appreciate you as more than a mere Light Dweller.

Strange how at first I thought nothing of you… All I thought of you was a tool for regaining my true form, a way to regain everything I had lost and gain revenge on Zant for his foolish actions. Every time you glared at me with those fierce and feral eyes I could see within you; I saw that brave boy lying dormant within, the kind and caring soul that all should admire… A rare and beautiful gem hidden among the ugliness of my dark prison.

The first signs of my affection growing became apparent to me when Zant used his magic to severely injure me, leaving you to render for yourself.

You could have left me to die and gone off to Zelda on your own, then walked away as though nothing had ever happened. You could have used me, then thrown me away like so many other men had done with my heart before.

Instead you saved me and befriended me. A thing that no one, not even one of my own race had managed to achieve.

You always had this smile lighting your features; a gentle and confident smile. It made you appear invincible, unfazed by even the largest of foes or the most impossible of puzzles. I suppose that it was your only way of showing your admirable courage, or maybe your way of reassuring me that all would be well.

Then during those long and arduous months of adventuring, you kept me well and cared for me. You fed me the most food even if you had scarcely eaten yourself. You made sure that I was warm in the cold nights in the mountains while you lay shivering in your wolf form.

You gave me everything, and all I could do was aid you with what little I knew. And truthfully, compared to your skills and genius, I'm quite sure you didn't need me at all.

I began contemplating our future once we had collected the last of the shards and we stood within the shadows of the Twilight Realm. My home: the place that I had failed as a person and Princess.

I knew that I had all the symptoms that one feels when afflicted with love: weak knees, a change in my sullen and selfish personage, and a great admiration for you. And what a mad love it was, so much so that whenever I came near to you I wished that I could touch you without any awkwardness between us. I wished that I might be more worthy of you by returning myself to my true form.

But then I realized the wide gap between us. I was a Twili, a descendant of the most powerful of the Mages that had been sent into the Twilight Realm as punishment for rebelling against Hyrule. Your people of fair qualities and beloved by the Gods banished us from your realm long ago. A relationship between the two of us would be laughed and mocked by the people of both realms.

A Twili woman, the princess no less, in love with a peasant Hylian man… The elders would laugh and dethrone me for such an atrocity. Yes… I believe that was when I had made my decision… for my good, the good of my people, and for your good as well.

'If the two worlds no longer were connected, none of these wars would ever occur again. Each of us could go on without worry or care.' That is what I thought at the time, and what I still believe to this moment. My heartbreak is a small sacrifice to maintain peace within the realms.

When I returned to my true form, I vowed to harden my heart against you. It would make the job far less painful if I kept myself from falling ever deeper in love with you, and perhaps my silence to the desert did lessen the pain of the blow quite a bit. Maybe it made it even more unbearable as I watched the longing look and betrayed hurt in your eyes as the glass shattered into a million shards, matching the own breaking of my fragile heart as tears silently poured down my face.

Now as I sit here, staring blankly at this tear-stained page I can only imagine what the future would have been like had I chosen to leave to mirror intact.

Would my people perhaps accepted you as their savior? Would we have been happily married, and might I be cradling our child in my arms as I kiss you softly on the cheek?

…My loneliness shall be my constant companion as the years of my life trickle painfully by like a steady stream of sand through my fingers.

I know you will never read this, Love, but somehow my sorrows leave me and my burdens lighten as I confess all this to you. In my heart I can still see your smile… your soft and wild locks of golden blond hair, along with the handsome and soulful face I have come to love and cherish.

And so I ask you to please remember me always. Know that I wish you all my love as you venture forth in your world of light. Whether your happiness be found in the arms of another woman I shall never know, but you have my blessings. I bear you no ill will for things that were fated to happen.

Now I will complete the sentence that should have been said so long ago. The words that I should have exclaimed to put your mind at ease.

"Link, I… admire you ardently for your courage, bravery, and kindness toward others. My time spent with you has been the most pleasurable experience in all my years… I wish our time together might have lasted forever."

And now I complete this letter with a final tear and the three most powerful words I have ever uttered in any language…

I love you.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading. Please read and review!

Note: Don't forget to read and review more of Kurai Hitokiri's excellent writing and artwork over at Fanfiction.Net.

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