#I did try to pick a canon or LU Link but Power’s been on my mind so here you go haha

[skyloftian-nutcase]

All right, here's my ask for the prompt event

"Link, you are loved."

Your choice of which one and how to show them that but it's one of my favorite things in your writing so here we go. ❤️

Congratulations on the milestone

The wind chimes hummed gently, their song carried in the breeze that generated it, warm and gentle and comforting. Crickets accompanied it softly, a lullaby to the world as night swaddled the sky in its midnight blue embrace.

Two figures moved silently in the grass, their footsteps lost in the symphony of the night, quiet with trained precision.

Impa inhaled slowly, taking in the scent of honeysuckle, guiding her ward along. Link’s hand was warm in her own, callouses a rough reminder of all the times he’d held a blade, making her stomach churn a moment as she redirected her mind from—

Link, staring at her, covered in blood, knife slipping out of his slack fingers as he collapsed—

Impa paused a moment, and Link stopped with her. He glanced at her, just barely moving his head, eyes tired, a glimpse of how worn thin his spirit truly was. Impa took a breath, asked for strength from Din, and walked ahead.

It had been a few days since everything. Link hadn’t been outside that entire time, and Impa had decided that needed to change. The boy needed fresh air. They both did.

Eventually, Impa found one of the many benches scattered across the castle gardens. It was one with a backing, which was nice, dark metalwork intricate in how each strand interwove with the other to form a patterned design. Impa guided Link gently, and the pair sat down.

Impa waited a moment before speaking, eyes roaming across the garden. She was looking for something specific - Link was quiet in his tastes, but she knew for certain that he loved a certain summer bug that came out at night. There didn’t seem to be any here quite yet, though. She half wondered if they should keep wandering in search of a better spot, but at this moment this seemed the best place to settle. Link didn’t have much energy to walk around a lot.

Pulling out cloth from the bag she’d brought along, she gently wrapped it around Link’s shoulders. It was light blue, soft, with frayed edges and different stitches mending bits and pieces of it. It was well worn, cared for with love and bloodied hands, treasured since it had been first gifted to the young Hero many years ago.

His mother’s scarf. Link had worn it into battle time and again during the war. He hadn’t touched it since the royal wedding. He’d grown into it over the years, using it more as a shawl when he’d been younger. It was still a bit wider than a scarf for his size, but it made it a great little blanket on an evening like this one when unfolded entirely.

Link tugged sluggishly at the ends, staring down at the cloth between his fingers. He bit his lip, the distance between his eyebrows closing.

“I remember when you were born,” Impa said quietly. “Your mother had been so excited to meet you. She told your father while she was in labor that she couldn’t wait to tell you how much she loved you.”

Link swallowed thickly, turning his face away from her.

“I’m sorry she never got the chance,” Impa continued, slowly resting her hand on his back. “And I am certainly no substitute for her. I haven’t been there for you when I had promised you I would be. But Link…”

Impa faltered here, her own voice getting caught in her tightening throat. It wobbled as she said his name, displaying a vulnerability she rarely showed anyone.

She remembered painfully during the war when Link had joked around, inebriated as he’d been, calling her “mother.” She remembered the way the little one always looked up to her when he’d been growing up in Kakariko, the way his eyes had immediately sought hers out after he’d completed his trial, seeking approval. She remembered the faith he’d placed in her during the war, the way he’d smiled at her when she’d hugged him at its end, just before everything had fallen apart.

She remembered the look on his face, broken and pleading and terrified, as he’d fallen to the ground, blood pouring from his throat.

Impa took a shaky breath, closing her eyes and grabbing firmly to her resolve. “Link, you are loved. By so many. The people of Hyrule adore you, the Sheikah are proud of you, and I…”

A hiccup threatened to escape, and she held her breath to stop it, eventually looking at the teenager as he slowly returned his attention to her. Whatever tears that had been trying to leave him before had dried, emotions buried under a blanket of bone deep exhaustion. His lip no longer trembled, eyebrows heavy over his eyes, red eyes dull and seeming to look beyond her.

Impa felt her heart break once more, but it also spurred her to speak again, and she moved her hand from his back to his cheek, making him look at her. “I love you dearly, Link. And I… I will take care of you. All I ask is that you… you live. Please, love. If for nothing or no one else, for me. Just… just live.”

Link’s eyes roamed from whatever void they were lost in, looking at her, questioning her words, debating them. He looked worn thin all of a sudden, empty at the mere thought of listening to her words, and for a heart stopping moment, she was afraid she couldn’t reach him anymore.

But then his eyes watered, and he looked down to avoid her gaze, leaning towards her just a hair, a subtle, pleading request.

Impa pulled him to her in an instant, holding him tightly. She felt him go boneless under her touch, trembling, her shirt steadily staining with warm tears. He didn’t have the energy for outright sobs, spirit utterly depleted, but occasionally she’d feel a little sniffle shake his body. She ran her hand through his hair, detangling little knots as she went, disregarding the brittleness of it, the split ends that indicated how little he’d been taking care of himself lately.

The wind chimes continued their gentle serenade. As Impa continued to soothe the teenager, light caught her eye, and she finally saw what she’d been hoping to find by bringing him out here.

Impa shifted, repositioning Link with her, letting him scoot closer but turn his head so he could look out at the garden. Slowly, the environment started to glow gently, fireflies filling the space like silent fairies. Link’s eyes never left the sight, tears quietly falling down his cheeks, bathed in the warm light of the little creatures he used to seek out at night.

Impa kissed his head, closing her eyes and saying a prayer, begging for blessing and mercy on the poor child. She felt her resolve strengthen as Link let her hold him, as he weakly lifted a hand to grip her wrist in return.

The Sheikah chief took a deep breath. It would get better. He would get better. She’d make sure of it.

[justakidicarus]

Dark Link - The Fall of a Hero (1/?) Prologue

So I've been writing the sort of prequel/continuation of my one-shot here and since I've gotten writer's block with it I've decided to start posting the parts I have gotten written. So far I have three finished parts including this one with at least two needed to finish the set.

Assumptions:

Set in the Downfall timeline post A Link Between Worlds. I looked up the timeline on the Legend of Zelda Wiki for this as I thought Link's awakening was after aLBW. Turns out I was wrong. I do not know much about the Downfall Timeline.

I'm trying my best to keep the characterisations of characters from the actual games unique but I'm an LU fan and it's hard. It's not even Link that's giving me problems (you'll see what I mean in part 3).

More notes of for parts of the story mentioned and different pieces of worldbuilding I haven't been able to integrate into the fic are beneath the fic. Spoilers for the trailer of Echoes of Wisdom. This fic should be considered Non-canon to the events of Echoes of Wisdom and is heavily canon-divergent. Fic below the cut. This is the prologue and is quite short, so I'll post the next two parts straight after as well.

---///---

Link slammed into the hard stone with a groan, dazed by his impromptu fall. His groan quickly turned into desperate coughing as the normally clean air of Hyrule was replaced with something cloying and thick, painting his throat and lungs, attempting to choke him to death. He hacked loudly, trying to clear his lungs and breathe in some usable air as he rose to his knees, one hand supporting him while the other clutched at his throat. He could barely see the bricks under his hand and what parts of him weren’t occupied with coughing were occupied with shivering in the sudden cold.

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

Heavy footsteps echoed through the room as a large hand slammed into Link’s side, throwing him aside and away from the sword that had fallen beside him. Stupid! Why did he let his sword out of his hand? He could barely stand under the pressure from the air around him and still, his breathing didn’t ease up, leaving him completely at the demon king’s mercy.

Ganon picked him up effortlessly, all the wounds Link and his blade had left on its hands vanishing before the Hero’s eyes due to the dark energy of the room. The Hylian wheezed as the boar-faced beast squeezed his ribcage, Link’s arms pinned to his sides, regardless of his struggles. The sound of clattering metal echoed in the chamber as the beast moved, placing its blade down as its other hand came out of the shadows to grab his right hand. Link’s breath picked up as the gentle feeling of the triforce of Courage, constantly in the back of his mind, suddenly flared with urgency and pain.

A scream tore itself out of his throat, the pain ripping across his body as if he had been set alight. He thrashed within Ganon’s grip, trying to rip his hand away from the monster to no avail. He was completely trapped.

“Your time as a thorn in my side is over, Hero.”

Link whined low and long, his words not working as the pain began to crescendo, Ganon’s grip tightening on both his body and his hand while his breathing remained laboured and harsh.

“I have won.”

There was a sudden flash of Light in the otherwise pitch-black room as the golden power snapped, twisting out of Link’s hand and into Ganon’s palm. The golden triangle was twisting around, leaning more in favour of returning to the one it was ripped from than remaining with the one who had stolen it. Link was promptly tossed aside, slamming into the opposite wall with a harsh cry of pain, falling to the ground with limbs suddenly sore and weak to a level he had never felt in his life. Still, he couldn’t take his eyes off the simple triangle that had been his to protect. The one he just lost.

“The Triforce of Courage…” Ganon murmured, looking for all the world as if he had forgotten Link’s presence in the room as he marvelled at the prize he had coveted for so long.

“Mine at Last.”

Ganon closed his fist, the triangle's presence extinguished and removed all Light from the room. Darkness rose eagerly to its master’s call and swarmed the room, dousing all within in its shadows. Link’s eyes burned and his lungs screamed in pain

The last thought Link had before his consciousness gave out was a prayer to Zelda. She couldn’t let the triforce fall into Ganon’s hands, not when he had already failed.

---///---

Current (Prologue) -> Next (Part 1: Recruiter's Call)

So yeah! That is the prologue. Very short I know, but I was planning on posting everything as one fic before the writer's block struck. The only reason I'm posting in parts is because I want to get this fic out there in the first place and didn't want my writer's block to stop that.

Notes:

Since turning this into an actual series the Worldbuilding is coming as I write so things might not be consistent with the original one-shot. This is because I start writing and a scene doesn't match with the direction I initially planned and I just go with the flow. This is a common problem of mine even when I plan out the scene.

Darkness is Ganon's magical power. It can only be directly countered by a force of light (essentially Zelda has to use the tri-staff to hurt Ganon. The Master Sword would work too). Darkness exists in all states of matter (Solid, Liquid, Gas).

Ganon now has both the Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Courage!

Link's breathing problems are caused by the Darkness in the air attacking his body. It grows worse without the Triforce of Courage counteracting its effects.

There are not many notes for this part so right into the first full part, Part 1: Recruiter's call.