#LU fanfiction

[toyouhellohowareyou]

Seyph has made fanart for my series Alterity and I love it so, so, so much. Look at this gorgeous style and framing and use of colour.

Can't stop, won't stop yelling about this.

She's not on tumblr and I'm posting here with her permission. Hit up her instagram for her other art.

[i-love-zelda-16]

HELP

I’M READING THIS IS AN ADJURATION FOR THE FIRST TIME (45% through)

I AM NOT OKAY—

(edit:

I AM EVEN MORE NOT OKAY RIGHT NOW, OH MY GOSH—)

[lizzable]

DLH Chapter 41: Not yet

This chapter might upset you. Remind yourself of the tags!

[zeldaversed]

That moment when it feels like everything is falling apart and you're hanging on by the thinnest of threads

[lele5429]

Unrelated Retired Assets sketches from March 8

I just realized I’ve not posted this (maybe I didn’t think I should?)

Mostly unrelated to plot, but similar to Act 2 plot vibes.

After I finish school in May I will come back in full force.

[loz-chainsofcorruption]

Oooooh a second part to the writing game, fun >:)

Could you POSSIBLY do Hyrule and X? Maybe? Perhaps?

I think all of the little snippets are so funny lol, anyway have a great day/night

🍪

Oooh, good choice for a half-fae boy!

X: I promise/swear

-

"Promise me you won't do that again," Legend said, scolding in his tone as he glared down at Hyrule, arms crossed.

Hyrule's eyes darted away, shrinking into himself, fingers curling against the rough edges of the stump he sat on. How could he make such a promise? He knew Legend was angry at him for throwing himself into danger like he had, but he couldn't just let that monster strike Legend either. He would do it again if he had to. Why was it okay for Legend to take the hit but not him?

"Hyrule. Promise me. Please."

"I can't," Hyrule murmured. His gaze moved to Legend. "I won't."

He didn't care if it would make Legend feel better to hear. He wasn't going to make a promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

Legend's fingers curled. "Hyrule-"

"You would have done it too," Hyrule snapped. "Don't think I don't know that."

The teen looked away, unable to refute his words.

He hated arguing with Legend. He didn't want his friend to be upset, but...

Knitting his fingers together, he looked at his feet, expression set into stubborn determination. "I won't promise that I won't do that again," he said softly. He got to his feet, voice becoming more firm as he looked at his brother again. The weight of his next words settled on his tongue, but he sent them into the world anyway. "But I promise to try and keep you safe."

Legend's head snapped back to look at him, a blaze in his eyes. "Hyrule-"

"And you can't stop me," Hyrule huffed, lifting his chin. "I already promised it, so there." Maybe it was a little childish of him, but he turned and stomped off anyway.

Legend meant too much to him. He wouldn't ever lose him if there was something he could do to stop it.

[zarvasace]

Description and a bit more info under the cut. 

A series of green, blue, and red graphics using a nice sans serif font and a Zelda display serif font with white and gold as accents. 

First picture. 2024 Linked Universe Fandom AO3 Wrapped, presented by Mina, @zarvasace. (That's me!) 

As a fandom, we wrote 2,273 fics in 2024

That's over 6 a day every day this year! 

In smaller text below: Counting only fics tagged with “Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)” on AO3. Counting all fics last updated from Jan 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024. Data pulled by hand on Jan 1, 2024 at ~2:00 AM GMT-7. 

Next picture. Our favorite tags this year were:

1, Hurt/Comfort with 432 tags

2, Fluff with 352 tags

3, Angst with 335 tags 

4, Not Beta Read with 260 tags. Here there is also a brief exchange in two handwriting styles. One arrow points to this tag with the remark, “perfectionists, much?” Another cursive hand replies “Be nice.” to which the first says, “no”

5, Legend-centric with 251 tags

At the bottom of this image is a piece of parchment. The scratchier handwriting says, “Ha, I'm the favorite. Take that.” and the curlier handwriting replies “Not so fast, Ledge… we aren't done yet.”

Next picture. Favorite tags continued:

6, Blood and Injury with 230 tags

7, Wild-centric with 204 tags 

8, Whump with 215 tags 

9, Emotional Hurt/Comfort with 181 tags

10, Good Older Sibling Warriors with 163 tags. Legend's handwriting says “Din give me strength—” to that. 

Section break, and a bit more: An average of 7.46% fics every month were tagged Whump. Except October, which saw a spike to 29.5%.

Next picture. Our favorite Links. This info is presented in a table, with names on the left and number of tags on the right, organized from most to least. 

Warriors, 1408 (his handwriting says: HA!! I won something!)

Legend, 1398 (his handwriting says: BY TEN.)

Twilight, 1371

Time, 1323

Wild, 1217

Hyrule, 1151

Wind, 1143

Sky, 1137

Four, 1027

At the bottom is another piece of parchment. Legend says: “JUST TEN.” Warriors says: “Jealous?” Legend replies: “I don't know if being the favorite is a good thing.”

Next picture. Our favorite secondary characters were Malon (176 tags) and Racio (160 tags)

Section break. and the most popular pairings were Malon/Time (161 tags), Legend/Racio (89 tags*), Sky/Sun (66 tags).

At the bottom is the asterisk footnote: it's no secret that our fandom tags are a little wonky sometimes. This number adds together the works tagged “Legend (Linked Universe)/Ravio” and “Link/Ravio” where the work was also tagged “Linked Universe,” assuming that people would only tag one. 

Next picture. 2024’s longest fic was: This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja (linked below). 

Editor’s note: linked here!

With a total of 312,547 words. That's almost 971 a day! 

Began July 14, 2023, Finished May 30, 2024. 

Screenshot of the tag summary from AO3, showing a Mature rating, Gen, an archive warning, and complete. 

Significant tags: Time Travel, the Chain as Family, Time Loop, Multiversal Time Travel, Temporal War Crimes, Chain Meets Chain, Chronically Ill Sky, Four Splits Into the Colors, Fairy Hyrule, Hyrule Has a Blood Curse. 

At the bottom, Legend’s writing says: “That sounds like a lot of time travel…”

Next four pictures are a set titled Fandom Trends by month. Each month has, in order, a Popular Link, Popular Duos, Popular Genre, and Unique Tags, along with occasional handwritten commentary. 

January: Twilight. Twilight & Wild. Hurt/Comfort. Crack, Soft Legend. Commentary: Warriors says “aww.” and Legend responds “I'm going to poison your milk.” 

February: Warriors. Twilight & Wild, Twilight & Warriors, Legend & Warriors. Angst. Febuwhump 2024. 

March: Twilight. Twilight & Wild, Time & Twilight. Fluff. One Shot, Linked Universe Discord Server’s 5th Birthday Gift Exchange.

April: Legend. Twilight & Wild, Twilight and Warriors. (Commentary from Legend: “wow Twi”) Fluff. Humor, Canon-Typical Violence.

May: Twilight, Warriors. Hyrule & Legend, Twilight & Wild. (Commentary from Legend, circling Hyrule’s name: “Finally some good taste.”) Fluff. Other Additional Tags to be Added. 

June: Twilight. Twilight & Wild, Time & Warriors. Hurt/Comfort. June of Doom 2024, Sky-centric, Twilight-centric. (Commentary from Warriors: “Wait, doom?! Oh, there's Sky”)

Editor's note: congratulations to @somer-writes who singlehandedly got June of Doom in the top 10 tags of June. :)

July: Warriors. Hyrule & Legend, Time & Twilight. Hurt/Comfort. Twilight-centric. (Commentary from Legend: “leave some for the rest of us”)

August: Legend. Hyrule & Legend, Legend & Warriors, Time & Twilight. Hurt/Comfort. Crack, Fluff and Angst. (Commentary from Warriors: “I'm concerned.”)

September: Legend. Time & Twilight, Twilight & Wild. Hurt/Comfort. Sicktember 2024, Legend Has a Bad Time. (Commentary from Legend: “Excuse me?!” Warriors says: “I suppose your immune system is awful now.” Legend responds with: “ha ha.”)

October: Warriors. Time & Twilight, Time & Warriors. Hurt/Comfort. Whumptober 2024, Warriors Has a Bad Time. (Commentary from Warriors: “oh no…” To which Legend responds: “HAHAHAHAH”) 

November: Warriors. Time & Warriors, Hyrule & Legend. Fluff. Crack, Good Older Sibling Warriors.

December: Legend. Hyrule & Legend, Twilight & Wild, Warriors & Wind. Hurt/Comfort. Families of Choice. 

Parchment at the bottom has Warriors saying, “That's a nice note to end on.” Legend responds, “Not so bad I guess.” 

Thanks for coming along with me on this fun stats journey! It's been a privilege to add to this fandom. 

I thought about adding a section for ratings or prevalence of Gen fics, but I think you can guess that we’re a Gen- and Teen-heavy fandom. You can see my raw data and some more charts over on the Google sheet right at this link. Ha, link. :) 

[hero-of-the-wolf]

33 Wild

Wild hummed to himself, idly stirring the pot. In a few minutes he would need to leave the batter to rest, but for now he enjoyed the repetitive motion of mixing it while he let his thoughts wander.

Then something moved in his peripheral.

Wild kept mixing, but his attention wasn’t focused on the saccharine mix or what the weather might be like today anymore, it was on the careful crunch of footsteps carefully approaching.

With a final stir the batter was ready, and he whirled around to whack the hand reaching out to sneak a taste.

“Nuh uh! You’ll wait your turn, just like everyone else.”

Time grumbled to himself and walked away.

[mischefous]

sooo, I read A LOT of whumpy LU fics, and I finally had the motivation to draw up my favorite part from one of my fave fics where poor Legend gets drugged and Warriors is the first to get to him.

(Also i sowwy i didnt get every detail exactly how it was in the fic, dis was the best i could do)

I would love to do more of these. But fudge knuckles my motivation is dogshit. that's also why this is super messy T3T

but anyways, i do hope yall enjoy, AND GO READ THE ORIGINAL FIC ITS AAAAH, AMAZING!!!! Give it sum big lov'n!

[woahtherebuckerino]

Summary:

“We never had cloud season on Skyloft,” Sky says in reply. “Being above the clouds and all. I experienced it for the first time when I came down to the surface. You can imagine I was not prepared to see them decorating the ground.” Four hums quietly. “Cloud season?” He asks. “What do you mean?” Sky hesitates. “The clouds?” He says, releasing his free hand from his blanket prison to point directly out the window. He does not think he could be clearer if he tried. “On the ground? Where they aren’t normally?” The smithy furrows his brow and tilts his head. “Do you mean the snow?” ----- (aka four and sky are sick. they also have different opinions on what snow is)

[starwolfie]

@la-sera here he is, I did it!

La-sera posted a sketch of Hyrule in chains ( that inspired me to write “Poison Dart”) and I colored it in.

So here’s our art collaboration! (Click on “more” to view picture, warning for blood)

[toyouhellohowareyou]

The only word I've never seen before was 45. So challenge time! And I love Twilight, but if you don't want to do Twilight, Lore!

Hello I love you 💖

So svelte! With Twilight, who is very much not, and/or Lore (14 year old Legend.) What a combination.

Okay, so we're being mean to the baby.

***

It rains on their run back from the fairy fountain.

Twilight tries to beat it, but in the end there isn't a chance, it sweeps in too fast, too unexpectedly here in Labrynna where neither of them know the signs. The deluge rolls in as they are crossing open fields, nowhere to hide.

It doesn't occur to them what that means until it hits them, a few drops warning, then the rain begins in earnest, and Lore makes a pained sound from where he clings to Wolfie's back. Twilight stops, alarmed at the sound, slowing to try not to throw the kid. Lore slips off regardless, into the grass with a string of curses and profanity before its cut off with a strangled scream.

Twilight is whirling back around to him and is Hylian again in a moment. He couches beside Lore as he writhes and curls up, and Twilight realises what this is. Pink scales bloom along the boy's legs, almost hypnotic in the patterned growth of it. The there's the horrifically familiar crunch of bones breaking and rearranging as the mertail forms in earnest and Lore can't muffle the scream this time.

It's over before he can say or do anything. Not that there's anything to be done. The rain continues to pound down.

Twilight places a hand on his shaking back, "You okay, kiddo?"

A wheezing, shuddering, "I don't know."

He rubs his back, the borrowed tunic already soaked through, pushes the sodden hair out of his face, "You're okay," Twilight assures him.

Lore glares at him with the default Legend defensive glare, hating his weakness on display, but there's nothing behind it but upset. He looks too ill and pained to be of any threat to anything.

"You don't have your rain jacket?"

"I didn't…" his voice cracks, "It does this in the rain?" There's a desperation and horror to the words. Fear. Twilight abruptly remembers what he said at the fountain; This curse was from the last temple he visited, he's only just got it.

He didn't know.

This must be the first time he's been in the rain since picking up the curse, the first time he's facing it hitting not just when he's submerged, but in the drenching rain.

His breath is wheezing, not suffocating fortunately, but it was always harder for Legend to breathe in this form. It's getting faster and faster as he struggles to push himself up, to control his awkward body in the grass and growing mud.

"I…" He stares at the tail like its the first time he's seeing it, only now realising the indelible curse was more than he thought and feared. That a simple downpour has rendered him half immobile and half suffocated, "What if something comes?"

His breathing turns gasping and sharp.

He's panicking.

Twilight shifts in front of him, "It's okay, it's okay, just breathe. 'm not gonna let anything hurt ya."

Twilight wonders briefly if Legend had been alone for this.

"I can't—" Lore looks around frantically and Twilight takes him by the shoulders,

"Kid, Lore, Link, hey." He puts his hands gently but firmly on his neck and jaw, pressing slitted gills closed, "Eyes on me. In through your nose, out through your mouth, yeah?"

Lore shakes his head, but his hands reach up to grasp Twilight's wrists and he uses it to steady himself instead of trying to push them off, which Twilight takes as a good sign.

"Focus, Link, you c'n do this. Copy me." He takes a steady breath in and watches as Lore copies him. In and out, in and out. The kid can't match it at first, but bit by bit he calms down and steadies.

He lets go of Twilight's wrists.

"Good job, you're doin' so good. That a bit better?"

And the kid holds it together for all of fifteen or so seconds before he bursts into overwhelmed, distraught tears, looking all of fourteen years old.

Twilight grabs him in a hug and the boy buries his face in his chest and sobs.

He's a svelte little thing, small in his arms. Legend has never been big but at this age, where he hasn't finished growing into his limbs and he's a little too thin from the journey, it was only more pronounced. The long jewel tone pink tail giving the false impression of height. Pretty. Dangerous. Oh he never considered how dangerous this curse would be for sometime who didn't know how to handle it. How much handling it must take.

Twilight scoops him up and begins to walk, heading for the distant treeline, he'll get him home safe.

[marte-14]

"That time I killed a god"

The three oldest Links decide to go down to the bar of the tavern they are staying at and have a drink.

It's the first time they have done this since they met.

"I don't really drink much." Sky says:" What should I order?" He isn't an expert on alcohol:" I am going to take a beer, it's pretty light." Time responds:" I will take a glass of rum."

So they sit down at the counter and order, Sky copies Time's beer.

They are having light conversations, telling fun stories. Just a nice time.

When Wars finishes his glass when Sky and Time are at the half of theirs:" Another glass please." Time looks at him:" Don't over do it." He reminds him:" Don't worry about it, Sprite. I have a good tolerance."

As they talk, the two haven't noticed that Sky has been silent for a while.

The alcohol is hitting Sky pretty hard. He isn't even realising, his mind is already wondering about other things. Thinking about Zelda, his home, his loftwing....

Then to his last battle with Demise.

Normally it would be a bad memory, the hardest battle of his life. But right now he remembers it as the most funny and absurd thing of his life.

He giggles and, without thinking, says:" Did I ever tell you about that time I killed a god?"

Time and Wars turn confused by their friend's words, thinking that the alcohol is already messing with them:" Eh?"

"I never told you about that? Alright then-" Sky starts to talk about his journey, but it's almost nonsense.

He is telling things out of order, giving names and places without context or much of an explanation.

Wars and Time let him talk, not really getting any answer to the million questions in their head.

Finally, Sky stops talking, slowly falling asleep on the counter.

The other two Heroes help him get upstairs to his room.

"Woah." Legend says surprise, Sky and him are sharing a room:" How much did he drink?!"

Wars takes off Sky's shoes and places him on the bed:" He barely finished one beer."

..................

The next day, in the early afternoon, Time and Wars decide to confront Sky.

"Sky can we talk?" Time calls him over.

Sky had a rough morning, but after eating lunch he is feeling better:" Sure." They go to a more isolated place.

"About last night..." Wars starts:" Oh yeah... Sorry about that!" Sky is quick to apologise:" I didn't think my tolerance was so bad. I am sorry that we had to stop longer." Since they all knew Sky wasn't going to wake up early that morning, they all decided to stay another day in the tavern.

"Don't worry about that. We needed more time to take information anyway." The Captain reassures him:" You said strange stuff last night. About killing a god..."

"Oh."

They retell everything that Sky told them.

In the end the only thing that they understood is that: Sky fought someone's toes with a groosenator? Jumped off sky islands and fought a god. All of this to save Zelda.

"Oh goddess..." Sky sighs, hating his drunk self.

"You don't have to tell us anything. We just want you to know." Time reassures him, but Sky shakes his head:" Look..."

"You know that I haven't fought Ganon, I fought a god called Demise and killed him at the end of my adventure. But it wasn't something I really wanted to share."

Wars interrupts him:" And we will act as if we heard nothing, alright? At the bar there were only us, the others don't know about it."

Sky is glad.

They decided to never talk about it again and, from now on, Sky is only drinking non alcoholic drinks.

[la-sera]

Happy belated birthday, RIV!! @glittercat34 or @across-violet-skies

Sorry for the late gift, I overdid it, your fic made me possessed. I planned to make 1 picture, but it grew to 2 comic pages, then now it's 4 comic pages in the end. My bad... haha

I really enjoyed this fic of yours since you first posted it on AO3, LAST YEAR, and at that time I was always waiting for the next chapter. I already had the idea for this picture in my head when I read your fic, but you didn't have a Tumblr account at that time, so I never drew it. And when you finally made a Tumblr account, you have no idea how happy I was!

I hope you have a great day!

Fic: When it Rains, it Pours by @glittercat34 or @across-violet-skies

Fanart from chapter 4

[maesonc-artistic-adventures]

Playing around with half-dragon Warriors. Inspired by chapter 23 of @skyward-floored’s whumptober fic.

Just wanted to play with Warrior’s dragon features and what his “performance” would be in his and Legend’s uh new job 😅

Also had this AMV on repeat most the time I was drawing this so you can get a vibe of what inspired Warrior’s “dragon dancing”

[loz-chainsofcorruption]

Legend and Warriors with F?

F: Cuddly

-

A rustling sound and the creak of feet on floorboards grabbed Warriors' attention. He watched Legend, eyes squinty and cheeks red, slowly stagger forward. They had been cycling through watch duty, because even a sick Legend was stubborn, and feverish though he was, kept trying to go places.

Where, they weren't sure, but it was up to them to keep him in bed.

"Where are you trying to go now?" Warriors asked, getting up from his chair and putting steadying hands on Legend's shoulders.

Legend didn't reply, just continued squinting forward. He tried taking one more step but didn't go anywhere with the captain holding him back.

"Do you need the bathroom?"

That would be a worthy cause for venturing out, but the teen just huffed, shook his head ever so slowly, and began to slowly sink to the ground.

"Oookay, no, no we're going to lie back down in bed, not on the floor," the man chastised gently. It always surprised him how lightweight Legend was - it was a piece of cake to keep him upright and direct him back towards the bed. He tried to get him settled, but the boy seemed fussy, so Warriors sighed and sat next to him, rubbing his back as Legend stared at nothing with a disgruntled expression.

It sure was odd, to not be smacked away. Not fever-Legend surely wouldn't have ever let him do this.

Then, in a sudden, decisive movement, Legend flopped to the side, arm thrown over Warriors' lap as he pressed his face into the captain's scarf.

Warriors blinked in surprise and then fought off a laugh. Oh, how he wished Wild or Wind were here to snag a photo. It would be such good teasing material once he was better.

"Who'd have thought you'd be so cuddly?" Warriors murmured as he attempted to shift into a more comfortable position, only for the veteran to curl into him more tightly. The captain rearranged his scarf more like a blanket over the boy and leaned back against the headboard.

"You better not get me sick," he added like an afterthought, even though Legend already fallen asleep again.