Rusl wasn't fazed by people dying. Having spent time as a soldier in his youth, Rusl had witnessed death countless times. He had long since accepted the fact that even the greatest warriors can't live forever. Whether it's by a sword stroke or old age, Rusl knew everyone dies eventually. At least, that's what he had believed before he saw Link's body healing itself. Moments after witnessing the young man die from blood loss, Link's cuts started sealing themselves. Rusl could only stare in shock as Link started gasping for air, his eyes darting around the room like a wild animal.

Noticing the man standing in front of him, Link flipped up onto his feet. Spreading the distance between him and the intruder, he spread his legs into a fighting stance and and let out a low, guttural growl.

"Link, calm down. It's Rusl. You remember who I am, don't you Link?"

After hearing his mentors words, the feral light in Link's eyes faded away, covered in the emotionless vail that had grown all too familiar over the last year. Ignoring the older mans question, Link reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small bag and poured several red rupees onto a table. Turning back towards the doorway, gesturing for Rusl to come closer. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Rusl went to the table and pulled up a chair for the second time this week, mentally preparing himself for whatever Link had to say.

"Rusl, do you know what these look like?" he asked, pointing at the objects that had been scattered across the table.

Rusl slowly raised one of his eyebrows in confusion. "I fail to see how a few rupees have anything to do with what just happened."

"Oh for Din's sake Rusl, just tell me what they look like to you!" the young man roared in frustration.

Taking a closer look at the gems, Rusl realized that they were far from normal rupees. There were twenty jewels before him, and not a single one was shaped like a rupee. The stones sitting in front of him were all shaped like hearts. Seven of them, he observed, were glowing red, while the remaining thirteen were all the color of rust.

"It seems like they're small hearts," he said cautiously. "Care to explain?"

"They're called Heart Containers. They possess powerful magic that can only be utilized by those chosen by the goddess Farore. As of this moment, that would happen to be me. For every heart container I find, my life force grows stronger. The only way I could possibly die is if they all went dark."

Upon hearing this, Rusl slammed a fist onto the table. "That doesn't make it acceptable for you to do this to yourself!"

Unphased by his mentors outburst, Link stripped out of his ruined shirt. Retrieving the knife from the middle of the floor, he carefully wiped off all of his blood from the short blade. After a minute of silence, Link set his shirt and knife down. As his gaze landed upon his uninvited guest, the beginning of a frown began to form on his face. "Everything that you just saw stays between the two of us."

"I'm afraid that I can't do that Link. You may be able to fool everyone else in this damn village, but not me. I spent ten years of my life as a soldier, and I've seen this a hundred times. People who are through with the fighting but are never truly free. You have a soldier's heart Link, and you need to forgive yourself before you do something that will get you killed."

"And what if that's what I want Rusl?" He said quietly, paying more attention to the repairs to his front door than the current conversation.

"What did you just say?"

"Hyrule doesn't need a hero anymore Rusl. I tried to go back to just being a ranch hand, I really did, but it doesn't work for me anymore. After all the things that I've seen, all the terrible things that I've done…" Link paused, gently closing the hastily repaired door. He then walked over to the table and sat across from Rusl. Link directed his gaze towards the seeing ceiling, as if reading a story that only his eyes could see. "At the end of the day, the only thing that I deserve is a sword through the heart."

Rusl lifted a hand off of the table and began stroking the stubble on his chin, something he was known for doing when deep in thought.

"Link…" he began slowly, now well aware of just how fragile Link was, "I don't believe you ever told me what happened after you defeated Ganondorf. Why don't you finish the rest of that story, and we'll talk about this afterwards."

Link whole body grew tense from the suggestion, a small growl forming in the back of his throat. "Get out of my house Rusl."

"Tell what happened and I'll leave you alone for as long as you like."

"Goddesses be damned Rusl, get out of my house!"

"I just want to help you Link."

Link's whole body was shaking, his voice continuously steadily growing louder. "You can't help me Rusl, not a single person in Hyrule can help me!"

"And why is that?"

"Because she's gone!" Link yelled, his voice awash with grief. "She's gone Rusl, and she's never coming back."

Rusl closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "So who's the pretty girl that broke your heart?"

"Her name is Midna."

Well she certainly isn't someone that I've met before, seeing is it isn't a Hylian name. Still, why does it feel like if heard it before… Oh shit…

Rusl opened his eyes slowly, his gaze coming to a rest on the broken man sitting before him. "She's the one that Ganondorf killed."

"She's not dead Rusl, she's just… gone." he responded dejectedly. "She managed to survive, and she destroyed the only bridge to her world right before our very eyes. She went home Rusl, and I'll never see her again."

"I know that this girl meant a lot to you, but we all have to say goodbye eventually. Nothing will come of spending the rest of your life shedding tears over her."

"I ran out of tears a long time ago Rusl. All that's left is a used up puppet of the goddesses, and painful memories." Link sighed, gazing at the golden triangle at the back of his hand. "Memories that will never fade away, no matter how hard I try.

"How dare you! You've been blessed by the goddesses themselves. Show them some respect!"

The younger man rolled his eyes, a poor habit picked up from his mentor. "Oh yes, blessed by the goddesses. Blessed to have had my old life ripped to shreds and fix the mistakes that they refuse to recognize! And to help me along the way, they turn me into a monster that is feared by the very people I wanted to protect, forced me to kill the ones who I failed to save. So thank the goddesses for all of their blessings." He replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Shaking his head, Link began to trace the mark on the back of his hand with one of his fingers. "The least the goddesses could have done was tell me how to use this…"

Rusl, having withdrawn from the conversation, was quite startled when Link's gaze snapped towards him, his eyes lit up by a spark that had long since been extinguished.

"I think I just figured something out."

I would just like to apologize for how long it took to get this chapter out. I started posting while I was a sophomore in High school, and you all know what junior year is like. On top of that, this was a very difficult chapter to write for me. Regardless, I hope you enjoy and I plan on writing more soon.