dreamcrystals | fifth dream 🌱 wake up

Entry tags:

fifth dream 🌱 wake up

Sender: Zelda
To: Everyone
Subject: Passive dream recording (and optional log prompt)
Warnings: Some gruesome imagery (mostly in linked image). Final boss Calamity Ganon is kind of nightmare fuel.

It's dark in this dream, the specific sort of dark that one sees when they close their eyes. Zelda is asleep—dreaming, it seems, of being asleep. It's such a deep sleep that her body feels both heavy and weightless at the same time, as though she's floating on her back in a pool of tranquil water.

"Save her, Link. Save the princess..."

"Good luck, little guy! And give my regards to the princess."

Zelda stirs. The darkness lightens just slightly as she tries to open her eyes, but her eyelids feel so heavy that they fall shut again. She's too tired to wake up. She's only just fallen asleep.

"Your job is far from finished, you know. The princess has been waiting an awful long time."

The voices sound muffled and far away, as though she's hearing them from under the water. She tries to lift her head so the water can drain out of her ears. She recognizes these voices—Mipha, Daruk, and Revali, Champions of Hyrule. It's been so long since she's heard their voices. But who are they talking to?

"Both you and the princess... I know you have suffered much regarding what happened to us Champions. But this is how things had to happen. No one need carry the blame. So please, make it clear so she understands that. Tell her to shed any worries. And let her know... I couldn't be more proud of her."

Urbosa. Zelda tries again to lift her head above water, but the weight of her waterlogged hair pulls her back down again. It's too hard to wake up. She's been awake for so long, decades upon decades, struggling all alone. The last of her strength is just about spent. All she wants to do is rest.

"Open your eyes..."

That... that's her voice. Zelda's voice. But how?

"Please, wake up..."

Zelda can hear the exhaustion in her voice, exhaustion that runs bone deep and permeates every part of her body. It's the same exhaustion she feels right now, that she doesn't want to wake up from.

But she has to wake up. She can't sleep now. She has to maintain the seal holding back Calamity Ganon. Just a little bit longer. Every day, every minute she holds the seal is another minute for Link to free the Divine Beasts so they can finally beat the Calamity once and for all.

With excruciating difficulty, Zelda forces her tired eyes open and the darkness of the dream finally gives way.

At first, everything just looks lumpy and indistinguishable, lit with a murky reddish glowing light. Zelda blinks and rubs her eyes to bring them into focus.

A gruesome face stares quietly back at her, rising and falling as it drags in slow, ragged breaths through a mouth with jagged teeth growing out at all different angles. Its two glowing eyes staring vacantly through Zelda, as though the monster is in some kind of daze. A low, rumbling growl comes from somewhere in the monster's throat as Calamity Ganon begins to stir.

[ Optional log option ]

[ Following the dream, Zelda is making a midnight trip to the Observatory. She's looking frazzled and out of sorts, and for once, the Sheikah Slate is conspicuously missing from its usual place on her hip. The dream sits ill in her mind. It didn't feel like a dream at all, nor was it a memory. She can't shake this terrible feeling that something might be wrong with the seal, the prison in which her real body and Calamity Ganon are trapped within. The princess won't be able to rest until she looks for herself. ]

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[ Sleeping had always come easy to Noctis back on Eos, his energy constantly being drained by the burdens he carried as part of the line of Lucis, but he's found that sleep eludes him here... Which could be a good thing, considering dreams are broadcast to anybody and everybody whether you want them to or not. This was one of those sleepless nights, one where he didn't want to simply lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling of his treehouse, thinking about everything he'd done wrong, everything he hadn't done, everything he needed to do.

Instead, he decided to take a walk in some sort of half-hearted attempt to clear his head and wear himself out. Walking about like this at night is strange, to say the least, without the constant threat of a daemon bubbling up from the dirt. It makes him think about the nights he spent under the stars with Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis, about walking the streets of Altissia or Lestallum and taking in the sights, or sitting on the rooftop of the rest stop at Longwythe... All of the times that he was able to enjoy their company before...

He sighs, closing his eyes and dragging a hand across his face. The split second he closed his eyes is all it took for things to go south, as he turns a corner and immediately finds himself running into somebody. ]

Shit—

[ Oh. ]

You... okay?

[ Noctis isn't the only one who isn't watching where he's going. Although Zelda is hurrying with purpose towards the Dream Observatory, her attention is anywhere but the path in front of her. The only thing she sees is the gruesome visage of Ganon stirring from its slumber, becoming alert—

—and vanishing from her mind's eye as she rounds a corner and bumps right into someone. ]

Oof!

[ Zelda stumbles back a pace, daze broken. Oh shoot, she just walked right into someone, didn't she? ]

Forgive me, I was not— [ She looks up and realizes who she just walked into. Oh. ] Noctis?

[ Goodness, she's just predisposed to cause problems for him, isn't she? ]

The one and only.

[ That was... the opposite of smooth. In fact, his own response makes him cringe a little bit, but he's not going to dwell on it or backtrack. At least he recognizes that he's a loser underneath the Lucian royalty most others see when they look at him.

When he takes a step back from Zelda, he notices that she looks a bit unsettled, not at all the confident person he met when he was stuck in a maze that looked every bit of the Costlemark Tower he came to hate. That and he's shocked to see somebody out at this hour as well. Running into somebody (quite literally) wasn't on his to-do list.

He gives her a half-smile. ]

...Everything okay?

[ Any other time, Noctis's remark probably would've gotten a reaction out of Zelda—an amused smile, maybe even a bit of a laugh. Lame or not, she'd appreciate his attempt at humor.

But tonight, it passes her by unnoticed, doing nothing to lessen the intense look on her face.

Zelda hesitates. It's tempting to lie, insist that she's fine, so as not to inconvenience Noctis in some way. It wouldn't be appropriate to burden him with her problems or the problems of her kingdom. Doesn't he already have enough to deal with, with the problems of his own kingdom? But if she's being honest with herself, she doesn't want to lie and keep this to herself. ]

... No. [ She shakes her head. ] No, I think something might be terribly wrong.

[ He’s never been one to give advice… or take the advice of others, really, but he’s always provided an ear to listen to when one of his friends needed it (train to Tenebrae after leaving Altissia not included). Noctis can see the distress on Zelda’s face, in her posture and the moment of hesitation when responding to his simple question.

This definitely wasn’t the same person he met in the garden turned Costlemark maze. He recalls having seen her dream, and it felt so incredibly invasive watching something that is generally for that person and that person only, and wonders if that’s the cause of her current state…

But they’re out in the middle of the night and it’s probably not the best place to have a conversation. ]

Let’s get inside somewhere. [ A pause ] There has to be a better place to talk than the middle of the street after midnight.

[ Once again, Zelda visibly hesitates. She's in a hurry to get to the Dream Observatory and use the telescope to check on her seal back in Hyrule. She can't shake the sense that something is wrong with it.

But on the other hand, Noctis's invitation is tempting and she really doesn't want to be alone right now. ]

All right. [ A single nod. She rubs her arm with one hand. ] But only for a few minutes. I don't think I should tarry long.

Were you heading somewhere at this hour?

[ Because she does look like she was going somewhere, even this late, and Noctis can tell that she's uneasy by her body language alone. He may not be the best people-person, or really in tune with others's feelings if he doesn't know them well, but even Noctis can tell that isn't the same girl he argued with in the Costlemark-inspired maze. ]

It's not like I have anything to do, I'll gladly come with you.

[ She's definitely not the same girl he argued with in the maze. That girl has shriveled up, curled up her leaves and drawn in on herself like a plant shrinking away from a biting frost. The weight of failing her royal duty always burdens Zelda, but tonight, it's much heavier than usual.

Zelda searches Noctis's expression. Surely he does have better things to do in the middle of the night, like going back to sleep. Do the kings of Lucis have a predilection for insomnia, or is it just a coincidence that Noctis seems to sleep as little as his ancestor? The idle musing manages to escape the mire of anxiety that is Zelda's mind, but goes ignored. ]

If that is what you wish.

[ No, that's not how she feels. Zelda grimaces at the words that escaped her mouth. She heaves a sigh. ]

I will be glad for your company, Noctis. Truly. I am on my way to the Dream Observatory to look in on my homeland.

[ A trip she's clearly thrilled about /s ]

I've... never been to the Dream Observatory.

[ Walking again, he follows along at Zelda's side. He loves sleep, always ready for a nap, falls asleep in the car... But sometimes the nightmares get in the way, leaving him unable to find rest when he needs it most.

The distance from the crystal that forever draws on his energy has helped... some. ]

You can look at your home there? [ A pause, he hesitates ] I could see Lucis?

[ With Noctis in step beside her, Zelda leads the way to the Dream Observatory. It's a little ways outside of town, but terribly far of a walk.

She nods as she walks. ]

You can, yes. All you need is a bauble.

[ Zelda fishes one out of her belt pouch and offers it to Noctis as an example. ]

You are only able to look briefly, though. A few seconds, maybe a minute at most.

[ He takes the bauble from Zelda and gives it a once over, before handing it back to her. ]

Ah, I have a few of those, just haven't done anything with them. There's not much back home I would want that didn't come with me, so I've just been keeping them by my bed...

[ Noctis had no idea he could use one to look at Lucis. The thought scares him, honestly, because he doesn't know what he would see, doesn't know how far the Starscourge has spread in the time that he's been a part of this world.

He knows the daylight was nearly gone by the time they reached Zegnautus Keep, but he doesn't know what else he would see, how many daemons would be swarming the land. ]

I'd have to think about using it to view Lucis, though.

[ Zelda gives Noctis a quizzical look as she accepts her bauble back from him. (If he'd said he didn't have any, she probably would have let him keep it. She has quite a few.) ]

Why is that?

[ She's surprised to hear that, actually. If she were the one in his place, having heard from others that his kingdom might not be in the same condition as he remembers, she would be looking in on things as soon as she could.

That isn't to say she wouldn't be without her reservations, but not checking in would probably make her worries all the worse. ]

[ The question results in Noctis coming to a complete stop, the agitation clear on his face though he’s trying to hide it. This isn’t something he wants to discuss with Zelda, something he honestly doesn’t want to discuss with anybody (Prompto and maybe Somnus not included)…

But he realizes he set himself up for this question, mentioning Lucis in the first place. And he knows that, no matter what he says, it will invite more questions from Zelda. How do you vaguely discuss the state of affairs on your own world without opening a can of worms?

You don’t. Not in this case, anyway. ]

I’m surprised Somnus hasn’t mentioned the state of Eos to you.

[ He looks over at Zelda, arms folded across his chest. ]

I would likely look upon a world covered in darkness. [ A sigh ] What good is it going to do when I’m powerless to do anything about the state of our star?

[ Zelda notices Noctis come to a stop and does so herself, just a few paces ahead of him.

Actually, Somnus has mentioned the state of Eos to Zelda on a few occasions (in as much as Somnus talks about anything). It is something that often weighs on her mind, the knowledge that his and Noctis's world has fallen to a point where it is completely devoid of light. What if such a thing happens to Hyrule someday—if the seal on Calamity Ganon breaks or if Link isn't able to defeat the beast? ]

Avoiding it will serve you no better.

[ There's empathy in her voice and in her expression as she regards Noctis. ]

I tried to, at first. I thought that if this was just a dream and no one here knew who I was, then I didn't need to be the Princess of Hyrule. I could simply be Zelda.

It was nice for awhile. There was no one to judge me for my failures. But I worried about Hyrule all the same, so much so that it eventually spilled into my dreams where everyone could see.

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fifth dream 🌱 wake up

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