#The one where sky writes a note to zelda

[majorproblems77]

Day 24 of whumptober! Goodbye note

My darling sun If you are reading this...

[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. :) 

[proxycrit]

I love your au!!! I love how the hylian duo look like gremlins, I LOVE the expressions and sass constantly and the changes to the lore, the worldbuilding and also the emotions (OUCH). I love their relationship with purah and each other and the new champions. I love the depth you gave Yona and her relationship with Sidon and Mipha. I love how link feels comfortable talking to sidon in addition to sign, I don't know if he does that with anyone else but Zelda unless its absolutely necessary (eg: just launched out a cannon and is paragliding down, so hands are busy) (side note: i love how much of an adrenalin junky/gremlin he is!!)

I do got a few questions! Will the pair get the sheikah slate again (so say link has the slate and zelda the pad), and can both slates do the warping and item storage (food, ingredients, armor, weapons, etc) (if so: no WONDER link was so upset! His collection!)

Does link have access to the ultrahand abilities (ik you said not The ultrahand, but what about fuse or ascend or rewind etc?) Where is the mastersword??

Does Link still have the champions' abilities, or did he lose those when their spirits moved on at the end of botw?

I know these are a lot of questions but I can't stop thinking about it!! The last few updates sent me back rereading the whole au and now its just vibrating in my head and giving me no piece

This is long and rambly, just know I am very much enjoying this au! Its silly and fun and touching and cute. Thank you for working on it!!

Oo some notes (also ty for circling my au haha im glad other people fixate like i do)

(Prewarning— i did not finish totk despite putting triple hours in it, so a lot of this story is being written while playing, though i know the big broad strokes thanks to cultural osmosis and video essays. A lot of Familiar Familiar builds from my playthrough with BOTW over TOTK, so the sheikah influence is significantly stronger and I will always choose botw characterization over totk characterization as a result.)

That aside

1. Sheikah slate’s dead. Rest in pieces, link’s rare collectable korok poop. Purah’s extracting as much data as she can to put on the purah pad but you can see the dread in her eyes whenever she has to tell link resurrection is not possible.

2. No idea about the zonai arm powers yet— im thinking about ascend, but the longer i go through this story the less likely ill hand it to him just due to immersion breakage. He and zelda will be getting sheikah gadgets from purah though! Maybe ill have a scene of him wandering through the sky island shrines, but without zelda warning rauru he and sonia wouldnt have prepared anything for the hero of the future. (But i DO love ascension and fuse. Lowkey dislike the building mechanics from a concept art pov because the green glue makes me want to cry, but it’s FINE i GUESS)

2b. Master sword’s chilling in korok forest. Link put it back in this au because of Reasons (part of his and zelda’s characterization in this au is to discard their past roles and embrace the present, not as knight and princess but as hero and researcher. They both have to face the reality those roles aren’t dead, but it’s a work in progress. I may also never address it. This “one off hehe lemme draw some guys” idea quickly spiraled into a web comic series so apologies for the vagueness, because i too am watching them adventure with dread and awe and i don’t know where they’ll go with it. They literally write themselves.

3. Rip champions, their ghosts are Gone (but their influence remains. You go mipha, keep haunting the narrative girl, i love you)

I know that some of these story notes don’t quite match up to what totk states is stone cold canon, but that’s the joy of fan work! Anyways sorry for folks who i have NOT answered asks of— i have a lot of them and I’m much better at the drawing and writing part then the socialization aspect (please feel free to peak in to my zoo enclosure ever so often though. I need the enrichment)

[alicewritingstories]

The art-based angst I promised, based on @kikker-oma's amazing art!

Sky stood slightly apart as the others read their letters, talking about what they were missing at home, comparing notes about loved ones. He tried not to feel the empty space that had been left in his hand after he'd handed over the last one. Nothing for him.

He knew it didn't mean anything, but it did.

He took a couple of steps away, running his fingertips over the soft cloth of his sailcloth, smelling the perfume woven into the fabric and remembering Zelda handing it to him. He could still see her smile, could still hear her voice and feel her hand in his, but at moments like this melancholy seeped out of his bones. He missed her desperately, more with every day that went by.

But at moments like this, he also wondered if Zelda loved him or if the Goddess Hylia loved her Chosen Hero.

He took a breath, once again focusing on the perfume and the softness of the cloth. She did love him as he loved her. She loved him as he loved her. They, themselves as they had always believed themselves to be, not the Goddess and her Chosen.

He took another deep breath, but as he turned to return to the others he saw Time also standing aside, reading a letter he guessed was from Malon.

Once again, he was aware of his own empty hand.

He ducked around a corner, intending to just take a moment to pull himself together. Nobody seemed to notice.

Something dark deep inside him wondered if they would notice if he never went back. If anyone would. If that was why, now that he was out of sight, none of those he loved on Skyloft had written to him.

He shook his head, dismissing the thought. There was a good reason for him to have had no letters from Zelda or even Groose. They had a lot to do with organizing the move to the Surface, after all, and for all he knew the postman hadn't even been to his era recently. There was no need to worry.

No need to think that now that he was out of sight he was also out of mind.

That now the Goddess had no need for her Chosen.

He scrubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. He had to stop thinking like that and get back to where the others were probably waiting.

He was sure they were waiting. Someone would be along to look for him soon. He shouldn't worry them.

He knew this was an overreaction to simply not receiving a letter. They didn't know how the postman travelled; perhaps he couldn't even go to Sky's era for some reason; he didn't know.

But he thought of the light in Wind's eyes as he read a letter from his sister and Four laughing ruefully over something his grandfather had said and he felt absolutely alone, in his corner out of the way where he had gone without anyone apparently noticing he'd left.

Perversely, he almost wanted to stay here and see if anyone did come to look for him. Just to silence the part of him that thought they wouldn't. That expected them to write him off as slow and lazy and leave him behind, no longer a burden on them.

After all, that had been Hyrule and Legend's first guess for why he hadn't caught up with the postman this morning: that his heart and lungs had gotten the best of him yet again and he'd been too slow. That he'd failed in his own self-appointed mission because he couldn't run.

He could. Not for as long as some and not even as fast as he could before, but he could.

But what did that matter when he could be the butt of a joke?

He knew they hadn't meant to be cruel, but it had been a tiny jab into something that always hurt somewhere deep inside him and he didn't think that had ever occurred to them. That maybe it would hurt him to have his poor stamina mocked like that. He'd brushed it off as he always did and he knew he couldn't expect anyone to notice something he made an effort to hide, but it was there.

Slowly, it bore down on him harder and harder.

No letters from home.

The doubt that Zelda truly loved him.

The fear that he would be forgotten as soon as he was out of sight.

Failure.

Too slow.

Too weak.

Too cowardly.

Mocking laughter.

Silence and solitude and…

The sob came out before he could stop it and he clapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself quiet. There was no reason to give even more of an impression that he was weak, that he couldn't even cope with just not receiving a letter.

Another sob, ripping out of him. He clenched his eyes shut and wrapped an arm around his waist, trying to steady himself. He couldn't break down like this. He couldn't break down just because he was alone and lonely and homesick and nobody had come to look for him and…

Again, he could hear laughter ringing in his ears. Weak and slow and broken and maybe better out of sight and out of mind and uncared for and…

"Sky? Sky!"

His eyes shot open as a hissed voice in his ear and a hand on his back broke into his whirling thoughts.

Legend leaned into his field of vision, eyes wide. "Hey, can you hear me?"

He took a shuddering breath, choking on more aching, wracking sobs, but managed a nod. Desperately, he tried to stop crying, but it somehow made it worse.

"Wow, OK, uh…" Legend actually sounded lost for a moment. "Look, please don't cry, I…" He started rubbing at Sky's back. "It's OK, I didn't get a letter either, I'm sure everything's fine, what's wrong?" His words tripped over themselves as he spoke.

Sky, meanwhile, was torn between being glad someone had come to check on him and wanting to die on the spot to escape his embarrassment.

Legend had evidently realized his audience wasn't really there and just started saying "It's OK" over and over, still rubbing circles on Sky's back.

"S-Sorry," managed Sky, hugging himself.

"What happened? You're really… shall I get Warriors?"

Sky shook his head, making the world spin disorientingly. Chills were running up and down his spine as if he had a fever. "Just… stay?"

Legend blinked, but caught his elbow as he staggered and helped him sit down, leaning on the wall behind him. He knelt next to him, still rubbing his back, as Sky finally managed to start to calm down, reassured by having someone with him who, even after that humiliating display, was still willing to stay with him and comfort him.

"What… happened?" asked Legend.

As Sky sat on the dusty ground, trying to keep his breathing steady and swallow the occasional hiccupping sobs and still the shivers, he didn't know how to answer that.

He hadn't got a letter from home.

That was all, and it had somehow hurled him into the kind of spiral he hadn't experienced for ages.

"I… don't know," he whispered.

Legend stared at him for a moment, then said, "Well… something must have happened. Did someone say something?"

Well, yes, but teasing from Hyrule and Legend was nothing especially new either. It hurt sometimes, but not enough for this.

Legend was still rubbing his back and he sighed, trying to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

"I really… don't know."

Legend looked skeptical, but didn't press further. "Well, if you want to talk, I'm here anytime," he said. "For now, we should get back to the others as soon as you're feeling up to it. They're all still reading their mail, but as soon as that's done someone less inclined to take no for an answer will come looking."

"You think so?"

Legend blinked. "Well… Yeah, I think so. Why not? It's not like we'd just leave without you."

Sky chuckled, knowing it sounded a little hysterical. There was something surreal about that casual remark after everything. "Yeah… well… just give me a minute."

"OK. Do you still want me to stay?"

"Would you rather not?"

Legend shrugged.

"Please stay."

When his brother agreed easily and with no trace of regret, Sky relaxed a little, rubbing his eyes to try again to dry the tears. "Thank you."

"Of course."

"Also for coming to look for me. And listening."

Legend nodded again.

"It was… a silly thing to get so upset about."

That got a shrug. "That doesn't mean you weren't really upset."

"No, I… suppose not." Sky wiped his eyes one more time. "How obvious is it that I've been crying?"

Legend looked critically at him. "I might not notice normally," he said carefully, "But some of the others probably still will. Give it a moment longer."

"Do you really think they'll want to know what happened?"

"You've spent as long as I have with this lot. For a start, Wind will worry, the captain will want to know if there's a problem he should be aware of, and Wild will try to help without really knowing what the problem is."

Sky chuckled again. It sounded better this time and lifted a weight off his chest. "Thanks," he said again.

"Anytime. Ready? Not to rush you, but there wasn't that much mail."

Sky wiped his eyes and cheeks one more time. "Ready."

---

(AO3)

[tinytime10]

I have more head cannons for warriors. Also thank you to everyone who voted on my, (What is the next story I write) vote. “Left in the cold.” is almost done. I'm just finishing up the editing. I should be able to post it soon but for now have some more head cannons centered specifically around the hylein body, and habits that manifest in a physical sense.

All right let's talk ears, Warriors have very expressive ears when he's relaxed and comfortable around the chain. He's very good at stopping his ears from portraying his true emotions when he's around the people he's trying to lie to.

Warriors will rub his ears when he's nervous or upset as a way to calm himself down. It's just one of his ways of self-soothing. Parents will rub their young children's ear to get them to stop crying because it feels good and comforting. So Warriors will do it with a mask when he is having nightmares or otherwise upset. Zelda will kiss the back of Warriors’s ear as a show of affection. Warriors loves it. He also finds the fact that time will kind of nibble at melon's ears and a playful affectionate way super adorable 

I think that the Hylian body is way tougher than the human one. You know how humans have like three layers of skin highlyans have eight. Their bones are just a lot more tough. They have better hearing and night vision but the sense of smell and touch is about the same. 

All of the links share the habit of messing with the back of their hair when they are nervous or embarrassed. I just find it hilarious that literally all of them do it.

 Just like myself, Warriors will comfort himself by hugging his middle. He absolutely hates other people touching his sides or his waste. But he'll hug his middle because it makes him feel more secure. During the war he wrapped his waist tightly with bandages, because that pressure feels comforting. After the war he wears a corset for medical reasons, that was actually a thing way back when. The Physicians made him one after the war to help with his injuries. He just kind of wears it all the time under his clothing. Cuz it's really easy to stealth the corset when his uniform is already so baggy.

 Speaking of uniforms, he is walking around in about 30 lb worth of chainmail. He has like 8 layers. an undershirt and trousers, a gambeson, chainmail, the Green Heroes Tunic, his armor, and his scarf. One side effect of all of these layers is the way they fall, he has extremely feminine hips because he cinches his belt so tight and his hip bones stick out so much anyway because he's so thin. The way the chainmail lays smooths out his figure, giving him extremely feminine hips.

 On that note he mastered that Mom hip carry. You know what I mean, where Mom will just stick out one hip a little further and rest the baby on it. He would carry Mask around all day, going about his duties in the war camp. Mask either loved it or hated it depending on the day. He frequently was made fun of by his own soldiers and a lot by his commanding officers.  He was called a Teen Mom for years he leaned into the title as a joke and it weirdly stuck, to the point where mask and tune would accidentally call him mom on occasion. Time will make a lot of jokes about Warriors being the mom friend during the linked universe adventure. He'll just start acting like the whole chain are his rowdy sons.

Warriors would never undress in front of any one of the chain for a very long time. Long after his facade cracked he still refused to let them see him even take his gloves off. He was fine with everyone else but not himself. At one point he is injured very badly and is unconscious. To Times utter consternation and aggressive objections, Twilight and Sky make the decision to leap over that boundary they know he has and undress him to get to his wound and save his life. When he wakes up shirtless and bound in bandages, the rest of his brothers have a lot of concerned questions. His brothers are smart enough to know what scars were earned from battle and what scars were done by his own hand.

 He has to explain his bad habits, and promise that he's getting better and not hurting himself very much anymore. Of course his brothers are horrified and heartbroken that the perfect captain they'd all grown to love had such terrible scars on his arms  and his chest there are scratch marks on his sides that only some of the older members of the chain recognized as being done by Hylian nails not the claws of monsters. Cia left her marks on him and Sky tried to ask about them but Time shot him down quicker than Warriors could.

 Another discovery they made that day was that Warriors has two tattoos. One, an eating disorder progress tattoo  and One he shares with time. He, Masks and Tune got matching tattoos at the end of the war. Wind is too young to have his, but he is the one who designed it during the war. It is a sword stabbed into the waves of the ocean, around the hill is tied a ribbon with the Kokiri symbol. A design meant to incorporate all three of the war brothers. 

Before the war the captain was a wild child, Impa punished him severely because that seemed to be the only way he would listen. There is a patch on his upper arm that is a mess of perfectly lined up scars overlapping years of punishment. It was a comin military punishment for drinking, 2 small cuts to the arm, not meant to really do any real damage just enough to hurt. Every time he drinks on duty he adds to that number of scars. Which is far too many to count by the time he joins the chain. 

Warriors is extremely suicidal at the beginning of LU. Even though he tries to hide it from his brothers, his sense of humor is extremely dark and twisted. Time and strangely enough Legends are the only ones who seem to really understand his darker humor. he makes jokes about suicide or self-harm a lot. They thought it was just jokes so when his brother's saw the scars themselves, they knew a lot of the methods he'd used against himself by that point, just from the jokes he'd made.

 Four Will aggressively braid comb and demand they wash their hair and bodies frequently see the last  repost for better clarification on why. He does this with the whole chain except for Warriors. Four is understanding about the fact that Warriors hates having his hair touched by other people. So Four takes meticulous care of Warriors’s gear. He’ll ask to oil and maintain Warriors’s weapons for him. He will service his shield and armor because if the captain takes care of himself so meticulously, Four will do the same for his gear, as a way of showing his friendship and care.

 All right, that's everything I can think of now. Thank you to the like two or three people who actually care. Us Warriors fans are starved for content. My fellow Hyrule Warriors fans I bring sustenance.

[wayfayrr]

It’s been a while but hello! ✨ I have been so busy working two jobs but I have been doing well, just tired, hope you’ve been doing well Moss <3 I absolutely loved what you wrote for reader playing Stardew valley with Sky <333 absolutely worth the wait, I need me a Sky irl so badly it’s not even funny 😭 throwing hands with Nintendo for making a fictional man so fine and lovable </3

But also, YOU PLAY ELDEN RING????? I’VE BEEN PLAYING IT SO MUCH RECENTLY WHEN I HAVE FREE TIME, ITS SO PRETTY <33 restarted cause I couldn’t remember how to play and I wanted to do a new build, rip my level 90+ and 50+ hours Samurai Tarnished </3

But on that same note, TARNISHED MY ABSOLUTE BELOVED, I MUST GIVE YOUR BOY SMOOCHES <333333 !!! I beg for a crumb of more lore for him please 🙏 He deserves kissies, and cuddles, and being spoiled and treated with so much love and affection <33 IS HE TAKING MAIDENS CAUSE I VOLUNTEER <3333

~ 🍀anon

I'm glad that you've been doing well clover!!! Working two jobs is draining as all hell so I hope you've been able to find time for yourself outside of it <3 That sky fic was really nice to write too, even if it was a bit shorter than I planned for it to be. He's just such a sweetheart and Nintendo really be hurting us all for having him only be fictional ;-;

ALSO YOU'RE RIGHT ELDEN RING IS SO PRETTY???? whenever I talk about tarnished I'm probably going to be posting some screenshots too cause just??? I don't blame you for restarting though, when you haven't played for a while it's nicer to restart than try to figure out where the hell you left off last time

(The siofra river is so pretty stg AND THE AREA IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL????)

As for lore - I've been fleshing out his background a bit but I'm still uncertain on a few things For certain I think It would be interesting for him to be a member of the church of dragon communion, since dragons are more worshipped by the rest of the chain and then you just have this fucker/aff who eats their hearts to gain abilities a friend of mine also suggested that he could have a second nickname of elden, in tune with the boys tending to have two nicknames or more (like wars/captain or wind/sailor) it would also match how the nicknames seem to be given!! one is what they quested for and the other is something they 'are'

as for him taking maidens? :3 I've been wanting to write a bit for him I won't lie, cause I've had the idea of him possibly being self aware too

It's been a while since I've even touched my playstation, but with my switch all but turning into a brick the last time I tried to play anything but a zelda game. Well there's no reason not to try play on something else. "Shame... booking a repair slot is a headache that I'd rather not have to deal with." That can wait though, till I have the energy to do it that is. In the meantime I've got other games that I've been neglecting. When is the last time that I played elden ring actually? It's gotta have been at least a year, I remember setting up a link look alike character before totk came out but... Oh wow that would have been the last time I played wouldn't it? I don't think I even got far, so maybe picking that save back up won't be to much of an issue. ... I could have sworn it wasn't possible to have your character so close to the screen. "You - You came back?"

[crazylittlejester]

Can we hear about "the other Wars"? 👀

ABSOLUTELY

i dont really have anything I can really share for this one, it’s in very rough shape and mostly just jotted down notes, but it’s the idea I mentioned ages ago about wanting to write a fic where Wars was a villain. And i dont mean just an asshole, I mean at some point in the war something happened and his need for control led him to believe the only way to save everyone and ever feel safe again was to gain as much power as physically possible and essentially do everything himself. in his mind he’s protecting the people of hyrule, but he’s actually become a dictator. and once he WINS the war and defeats ganon and cia and everything is over, he can’t let that power go because it makes him feel safe and it’s all he can rely on, and he’s taken over the kingdom at that point and Lana, Zelda, Impa and all the others have literally had to leave because they can’t get rid of him from right next to him and he sees them as threats. And he just grows more and more paranoid that people are going to take his “safety” away so he becomes a worse and worse person. But in HIS mind he’s doing it to protect people he loves and also himself, because his fear has made him selfish but he’s unable to see that. its not that he doesn’t still care about the others, because he DOES, but his perception of reality has been so fucked up and twisted he can’t comprehend the harm he causes

HOWEVER: REGULAR GOOD OL WARS IS ALSO JUST THERE IN THIS FIC. THERES TWO OF THEM. Because Evil Wars ended the war HOW he did, the timeline didn’t heal, so he’s in his own timeline continuing to fucking suck, and a portal spits out the chain in THAT era. So Regular Wars and Evil Wars will at some point comes face to face

and the whole point of this fic is that I want to highlight that YES, (Regular) Warriors is a deeply traumatized character who’s terrified of betrayal and just wants to feel safe and to protect others, and yes sometimes his fear and his worry can come across as him being harsh to the others, but he is not cruel. He was never cruel, not at any point in his game. His over confidence does not equate to him being unkind, in his game he got a bit of an ego, sure, but he was a kid and he learned his mistake. His trauma does not make him abusive, he IS a kind and caring person, and he chooses to be one despite all he went through because he has compassion for others and lives his life serving the kingdom and its people that he loves so much

…basically i’m petty and i hated seeing so much of Asshole Wars that I decided I was going to create Evil Wars but STILL make him human and not completely cold hearted. DONT GET ME WRONG EVIL WARS STILL FUCKING SUCKS, but also he exists (in part) to highlight the gentleness and love Regular Wars treats others with, EVEN when he’s stressed and/or scared. Because Wars is not a fucking asshole and shouldn’t be used to create more angst for the other members of the chain and i lose a year off my life every time i see that happen thats my biggest pet peeve like yeah sure its your fanfic do whatever you want but oh my god im falling to my knees and screaming at the sky

[candy8448]

Photo (for the one word prompt)

Used a fic idea i had since i basically joined this fandom but never wrote so i got carried away and wrote 1580 words 0.0

This fic idea came to me when playing totk for the first time when it first came out, i took a photo of the old champions photo and put it in the gallery of my new house

Get ready for some fluff! (From me? I know, shocking!)

Send me a one word writing prompt

"And this room, i actually made with you guys in mind... i didn't have space for full beds but those mattresses are a lot comfier than a sleeping roll. Sometimes i even prefered sleeping in here than in my own bedroom," imagining that i was still with you lot, he left out. Wild turned back to the chain as he finished showing them around his new home. Twilight glanced around, noting something,

"Where is the champions photo? I thought of all things you would want to bring, it would be that?"

Wild tried to hide his upset expression, "well, Zelda kept it... and she is the one with all the real memories of them... so its okay"

He tried not to think about losing the champions photo, but he couldnt help but think it was like loosing them all over again. Still, nothing would come from burdening the chain with his emotions.

---------------------

The next day, while Wild was out running errands, Legend burst into their shared room on the top floor, canvas and paints in his arms, dumping them on the table in the center of the room,

"We're painting him a new one."

"What?"

"You saw how sad he looked when he didn't have the champion's photo; we are repainting him a new one"

Warriors grinned at the vet, "wow, didn't know you were soft, collector."

That earned a glare, "You never know when you could lose someone, sometimes you need something to keep their memory alive, like a song, or a picture."

A few of them nodded in agreement.

"Right, who's doing what?" Time said as they all gathered around the table.

Wind's hand shot up first, "ooh, OOH! I can draw! Let me draw it!"

Legend looked at him, "okay, you do the sketch and i do the painting, BUT im gonna check over the sketch before we're done" ever the perfectionist.

Sky nudged Four, "bet we can make a pretty good frame eh?" Four grinned back and nodded, running off to find somewhere he could start.

Roles were assigned to each member: Four and Sky would work on a frame, Wind would sketch and Legend would paint, Warriors would find Flora and ask to borrow the original photo as reference, Time would also go with him to learn more about the champions, and finally, Hyrule and Twilight, having no artistic skill and being the closest to their cook would distract Wild until the painting was finished. It was a good plan, and they began too work.

---------------------

Legend and Wind sat in the top room all day, Wind was getting frustrated at how the sketch was just not looking right, Legend came to pull the pencil away,

"No you do it like this!" He said, rubbing out a piece of the drawing and sketching it on himself. Wind's eyes widened in understanding, and he grabbed the pencil again, fixing up other similar mistakes. Legend noted that the rito happened to look the best and he had to wonder if that was because it was the only race outside of hylians he had a lot of experience with. Wind noticed the same thing. He almost felt the spirit of the rito looking smug as he pridefully gloated on the others, and Wind giggled.

---------------------

"It's really nice you're doing this for him, i wasn't aware that he would feel upset that i kept the photo. I thought he would come and tell me if something was upsetting him," Flora said as they sat around the table in her own house in Hateno village. Warriors and Time had told Wild that they wanted to speak to her and Wild, being unsuspecting at the two 'leaders' of the group wanting to gather information, called Zelda over with the Purah Pad. She had teleported to them with the old Sheika Slate and Warriors couldn't help but gape at the glowing blue antlers and her purple and blue eyes. Zelda then proceded to take them to her house once they told her they wanted to speak to her in private, much to the displeasure of Wild, who wanted her nearby to make sure she was safe, not that anyone could blame him.

Time smiled at her, "well, hiding one's emotions do seem to come with the hero's spirit"

She nodded uncertainly.

Wars drew the girl's attention, "Can you tell us about the champions? Our friends Sky and Four would like to make a frame and were hoping to make it something special."

---------------------

Wild excitedly showed them around Tarrey town and was pulling Twilight and Hyrule along with him. When wild came running back to the house, Twilight first asked to have help with Epona, but because the house stable was already occupied, they had to go to the nearest stable. Hyrule also tagged along, hoping to use up time exploring once Wild's attention would eventually shift from horses to something else. Twilight was currently just following behind them, trying to catch up to the duo and making sure they didn't get hurt.

Wild had decided that it was a good idea to dive off the side of the town and into the water to reach the construction grounds. Twilight tried to stop him but the champion, as slippery as he is, got past him, already with his shirt off and shouting as he went down, followed by a massive splash that almost reached up to them. Twilight sighed and turned around, only to see Hyrule missing from his side. The traveler's laughter joined Wild's own as he knelt on the moving tracks platform and waved at him, Wild waving back as he swam to shore. Twilight sighed harder but smiled, at least his brother seemed in a better mood.

---------------------

Sky hummed to the rythm of Four's hammer hitting metal. The skyloftian had decided to join the smithy in the forge to spend time with him. The carving in his hands would theoretically slot into what four was making, the metal to hold the canvas in place and the wood for the details. Sky used what Warriors and the old man had relayed to them from Flora to create intricate markings which he hoped represented the champions. Four hammered away, joining his humming with his own layer to the tune until he stopped hammering and looked at his work, "how does that look?" He asked, sky stood up, halfing his unfinished piece nearby and comparing the two, looking at the but where the two would slide in together, "it looks great!"

---------------------

Hyrule excitedly dragged Wild to the top room by his arms. When the champion saw everyone in the room he looked confused, waiting for an answer. "We made something for you" Wind said, ushering him to the table.

Wild walked up to the table to see a canvas resting on it, one with a very familiar image. His breath hitched in his throat as he silently.

It was almost identical to the original image, the champions photo, but newer. Everone in the image looked perfect, careful strokes of paint marking out their individual features. Wild sniffled as he inspected the frame. Wood and metal worked into eachother. The metal sides of the frame had the words "champions ballad" indented in his hylian. The wooden sides had carvings, depicting the four regions the champions came from, it also had things which he knew the champions loved from his scattered memories. There were indentations of more things, and Wild wondered where they got this information from. The frame was detailed, he could also see where the wood and metal intertwined with one another. There were no carvings of the divine beasts, Wild noticed suddenly, no marks of duty; just six friends, together and happy.

Wild worlessly looked up at his traveling companions, and only now noticed the river of tears running down his face.

Twilight stepped forwards, offering Wild a tissue, "legend was the one who suggested we do this because we saw how sad you were about not having the original. He and Wind sketched and painted it. Wars and Time got the original image from Flora and learned about the champions for the details on the frame, which Sky and Four both made. Hyrule and I were distracting you so it could be a surprise"

Wild sniffed, happy tears overflowing him, "th-thank you guys, it really means a lot" his voice cracked, "i-um... can we take a new one? With all of us? If you dont mind" he stuttered.

---------------------

Flora held the Purah Pad, looking through the lens. She called out, telling everyone to move around and making sure they were in shot, "Time, move down, yeah like Warriors, you might not be that tall but you are still out of shot" laugheter errupted out of the others, the old man deadpanned before his face returned to his smile. Flora decided to take advantage of everyone's laughing faces, "Ready?" She giggled, borrowing Purah's iconic phrase "Click-" Twilight grinned mischieviously, "-snap!" And pulled everyone in suddenly with his strong arms.

The image was put up next to the champions painting on the top floor where they all slept. Wild took a step back, smiling softly. Everyone had a mixture of shocked and laughing faces, Wild himself, in the middle with a beaming smile and a tear running down his cheek...

Ao3 (oneshot collection)

Ao3 (the fic on its own)

I have notes and headcanons featured in this fic in the end notes of both of the Ao3 versions

Hope you enjoyed! :)

[fioreofthemarch]

Fic Masterlist ✨

Hello :) My name is Rachael. I write Legend of Zelda fanfiction, mainly Zelink. I have a loving fixation on the world, lore and characters of TLOZ and often start my stories by opening up a map.

From the Ground Up

Post-BOTW. Love, War and Robots. Link and Zelda embark on a Hyrule-wide odyssey to rebuild their kingdom as well as their relationship, but sinister forces, painful memories and political machinations hide around every corner. Artwork Masterpost is here.

Finding Her

During TOTK. An open sky, a missing princess and a working Purah Pad. Link makes notes, takes photos and keeps time on his quest across Hyrule, in the hopes of finding Zelda and staying sane until he does.

Marble Skies

During and Post-TOTK. You, me, and the people we’ll never be. Three oneshots of quiet moments shared between Link and Zelda in the skies over Hyrule.

More below the cut!! ➡️

Long Fics

The Ballad’s Beginning 👑 - Pre-BOTW. A prequel to BOTW telling the story of the doomed reign of King Rhoam. The Prince who never wanted to be King now finds Hyrule’s whole fate rests on his shoulders and the decisions he makes. 

Where the World Ends 🌄- Post-BOTW. Setting out to explore the Lomei Labyrinths, Link and Zelda uncover clues that point towards their original purpose and the great secret that they contain.

On The Life of Queen and Consort 📝- Post-BOTW. A lifelong friend and advisor of Queen Zelda tells the story of her reign 

Hateno Housemates 🏠 - Post-BOTW. A year in the life of Link and Zelda as they settle down together in their Hateno home. 

All that was tangled came undone 🌟- BOTW/Kimi No Na Wa (Your Name) crossover. Knight-in-Training Link and Temple Acolyte Zelda find their paths intertwined by an inexplicable phenomenon: they have begun to trade places.

Oneshots

have and hold 🔥 - Post-BOTW. Mature. It starts by the fire and ends in fire every night. Link wants it to be more, but each time Zelda leaves him all the same.

Oasis abandon 🌞- Post-BOTW. Link and Zelda attend a wedding in the Southern Oasis of Gerudo and learn to live a little.

Eagle wake 🦅 - Post-BOTW. Now in her twilight years, Zelda visits a dying Teba and must help him decide who will inherit the powers, and the burden, of Divine Beast Vah Medoh.

Vicious Sickles 🔪- During BOTW. Mature. Wishing for a better weapon, Link wins a Vicious Sickle from a Yiga footsoldier — and quickly discovers that all blades, not just the legendary ones, seem to have a mind of their own.

Various tumblr oneshots - some are requests, some not, all BOTW 

[marenwithanm]

I know most of the people following me are here for Zelda stuff, but I was rewatching mob psycho and a plot bunny popped into my brian so of course I had to write it

“He stood, backlit by the setting sun. A soft breeze tousled his hair, obscuring whatever expression could be on his face. But she didn’t need sight to understand his feelings. She knew him like she knew the watercolors of the sky. The explosion of blues and purples, of pinks and oranges and yellows. Yes, even before he open his mouth to speak, she knew. “I…”

“I know.” She stepped towards him, the wind’s futile attempts at blowing her back like a token effort of protection. “I’ve always known. You aren’t alone.” 

This time, the movement of his hair wasn’t due to the wind. This time, the hair floated away from his face, baring his expression to…”

No, that’s too plain. His… What’s the word? Not quite bittersweet. Almost contemplative? But definitely more emotionally charged. The feeling of a sunset, the beauty that's fleeting but still just as real or whatever! But what is the word?!

“Melancholy.”

Emi’s head shot up from where it was hunched over her desk. What was that? A voice? More importantly, yes! That's the word! Before she could forget again, Emi scrubbed her eraser over the offending word and wrote out the correct one in the newly blank space. “baring his melancholy to the world.” 

Emi looked around, searching for the source of the voice. Nobody was looking at her. She’d successfully hid her writing notebook within the textbook they were reading from. Not even the teacher suspected anything, despite being turned to face his students head on. So how had whoever that was known she was writing? Even more, how had they known what word she’d been thinking of? She was sure she wasn’t muttering under her breath, otherwise people actually would be looking at her. And that voice, it wasn’t her own internal monologue, unless her brain had decided to talk in the voice of a boy for some reason. Which just left one possibility… Emi suppressed a grin, covering her mouth as if she had to cough. It was serendipitous to get called out to by a psychic while she was writing this particular story.

But that still left a question of who. She knew Mob’s voice, and that wasn’t it. Not to mention he’d never mentioned anything related to telepathy. 

“Hello?” She called out internally, noting how weird it was to try and speak within her own mind. “Is someone there?”

No response. She kept her thoughts carefully blank, knowing that someone could be listening. Perhaps they weren’t feeling all that talkative. Emi could understand that. “Thanks for giving me the word I was looking for.” 

Still nothing. Oh well, Emi thought, gaze turning back to her novel. She’d left off at the confession scene, a pivotal moment in the story that needed a lot of emotional impact. Now how would she express the… wait. A horrible realization struck Emi as she stared down at the words scrawled across the paper. If the psychic could hear her internal monologue well enough to give her the word she was looking for, then.. Then they could hear everything she’d been writing. Emi’s face went hot at the thought, and she scrambled to close the notebook. She’d never shared her writing with anyone, most people didn’t even know she had the hobby! And, well, she wasn’t exactly ashamed of it but still! How embarrassing… 

Emi forced her focus back to the textbook, determined not to think any more of her novel in this class. Internally, she groaned. This class was going to be a lot more boring now.

---

A few desks away, a boy scrubbed a hand over his face. "Stupid!" He thought. "Of course she'd get creeped out. Should've just kept quiet. Now I'll never know how the story ends."

[majorproblems77]

I was planning to write fluff but…Sky is just too easy to angst. I hope you like it anyway.

Merry Christmas <3

TW: Mourning

The flame licked at the fireplace, crackling. Sky watched his brothers laugh and smile and banter with a broad smile of his own. The snow sparkled outside even in the evening darkness. He didn’t expect to feel this kind of joy during an adventure, a quest. The last one he’d had, there was no time to sit down like this and bask in the warmth and the comfort of his home. Skyloft was a thing of the past now, for better or for worse, so he and Zelda had built a house for themselves. Everything here was made of bought with their combined effort and strength, and it felt like home. It felt like maybe, when his parents were still around they would’ve shared a house like this. He couldn’t really remember his mother and not much of his father, but enough to see his face among the stars and remember his close-guarded nature. His Zelda, that they called Sun now was sitting next to him, curled up in his arms. “Did you know my parents?” Sky asked in a soft whisper.

She stiffened but started to sit up a little, her cerulean eyes locking with his azure eyes. She told him, in a low volume, “I did. Not as well as my father but I’d met them before.”

“Can…can you tell me about them?” 

He didn’t want to take away from the cozy atmosphere of the room but Sun just huffed. “Of course…Your mother’s name was Adiva. She had auburn hair, and I think it was really curly. You have her eyes. Uh…hm…it’s all pretty foggy but I remembered thinking she was really nice. My father said she was always pleasant to be around, and she held you ever so gently, even in her final moments, when it took all her strength.”

The chosen hero’s eyes became misty. Wistfulness melded into concern and a bit of pity as Sun paused. He wiped his eyes hastily. “Keep going.”

“Do you want to talk about it…in private?” Sun asked, glancing at the group of heroes, a few noticing him.

“That would be nice,” Link nodded and she offered her hand.

He took it, standing up and clutching it. Groose noticed, him having been bantering along with the chain for a while. An expression that once would’ve been filled with something jealous or cruel was now a soft, sad one, that had no hint of envy. They sat down in a separate room, with no fireplace to warm him up. He sighed. “Can you…continue?”

“Just tell me if you need a break,” Sun told him, a bit sternly, before she softened. “She knitted, I think. When we went to your old place, there were tons of handmade scarfs and blankets. My father mentioned she had made a business out of it for a while, instead of taking up the path of a knight. She was extremely involved in Skyloft, helping where she could, and she had so many people at her ceremony after her death.”

“H-how did she die?”

“You don’t know?” 

Her tone wasn’t accusatory, but worried. He replied, “My father couldn’t stand talking about it.”

“She…there was an illness going around the islands. We didn’t know how to treat it, but your mother caught it and with nothing to help her condition she…succumbed to it. I’m sorry.”

Sky fell into silence. She wrapped him in a hug. “I can see a lot of her in you when you help people. She would be proud.”

Tears overflowed no matter how much he tried to suppress them. She held him tighter. “Your father, Erwin, was a commendable leader, and quite fierce. He was often too stubborn, my father said, but he saved many lives through that. You have his hair, I think. When it came to you, his demeanour changed though. He was so happy with you and it showed. He was admired by his peers, and though he wasn’t as involved in Skyloft itself, many people recognized him.”

Sobs wracked his body and she stopped letting him bury his head in her shoulder. She carded her hand through his hair. “Shhh…let it out…it’s okay.”

UNI

I LOVE THIS LIKE SO MUCH THANK YOU?!

I openeded my notes just to check before I go to bed for the night and I'm so glad I did this is amazing thank you so much.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas too! Thank you so much for this its wonderful

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

A small handful of songs I associate with A Glint, a Spark. (Spoilers for both that fic and Memory, Heavy in My Heart.)

Arms Outstretched - Griffin McElroy

As I alluded to in the MHIMH playlist, Arms Outstretched was the song I had all but set AGAS to, for the animatic in my head. The progression of it from being kind of downtrodden, to this moment of hope, and then a happy epilogue was pretty perfect, both for the idea I actually went with, and the one I may still write.

Chapters 1 & 2

Place to Start - Mike Shinoda

Do I even have a decision? Feeling like I'm living in a story already written. Am I part of a vision made by somebody else? / Am I out of conviction with no wind in the sail, too focused on the end and simply ready to fail?

Cause I'm tired of feeling like I can't control this; tired of feeling like every next step's hopeless. Tired of feeling like what I build might break apart, I don't want to know the end, all I want is a place to start.

I don't have a ton to elaborate on with the lyrics. The first part just meshes really nicely with the theme of being unable to influence events that have already happened, and having to take them as they come. The second part resonates particularly well with the first chapter, in my opinion. I also like having a song from the same artist in both halves of the main story, and the contrasting tones.

Chapters 3-9:

The Heart of a Graveyard - Demon Hunter

Tell me that your final home is not a shot in the dark; tell me that your hopes and dreams don't end in the heart of a graveyard.

Tonally, it doesn't fit perfectly with the rest of this list, but the subject matter is pretty on the mark. There's a sense of preparing for the worst while still hoping for the best that I like, particularly in this context.

Chapter 10:

Final Battle: Malladus (From "The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks") - The Noble Demon

(The portion up to 0:46 is an intro, and not the most relevant to this list; the actual battle theme starts warming up after that.) A friend unintentionally reminded me that I love this track, and since that conversation happened smack at the climax of MHIMH, I naturally connected the dots. This would correspond to the recorded battle with Arceus, because the track for it in canon PLA just does not fit this version. I chose this remix in particular because it really emphasized the woodwind notes in parts-- which made sense re: the Azure Flute-- and because it has that underlying, train-chugging percussion. It's always struck me as a very triumphant battle theme, which fit beautifully.

Chapter 11:

Welcome to the World of Pokemon - Super Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

It's wondrous and mysterious, but gentle and a bit low-key at the same time, which I think makes it work very well for the build up this chapter, and most of the time spent in the Hall of Origin.

Mysterious Rainbow Girl - Wandersong

The same goes for this track; I was pretty torn as to which one I liked better, so I ended up keeping both for a little bit of variation.

Chapter 12:

On the Beach at Dusk - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness & Sky

I had this one set aside specifically for the scene at the top of Dragonspiral Tower, where the reality of the situation is beginning to sink in. If you're familiar with Explorers, there... might be something of a parallel to be read into the situations they 'play' over.

Misc:

The yet untitled song from The Dreadful Demise of the Dinosaurs - Puppet History

A lonely life among the stars, my destination veiled and far away, but I knew one day we'd find each other. Then in the dark, a glint, a spark, the greens and blues, be still my heart-- and once I hit, that's it, I'm here forever.

While I'm here, I should probably include the fic's namesake. It's really only the one verse (~0:25-0:47), because this song has a very specific subject matter and thesis, but that one passage really stuck with me in this context. The first half definitely resonates most strongly with chapter 11, but I was also aiming to match the second to 12-- specifically "the greens and blues, be still my heart" to the scene on Dragonspiral, and to end with the promise of "I'm here forever"

[across-violet-skies]

Febuwhump day 19: "please don't"

Whumpee: Sky

Whump Rating: 4/10

TWs: nightmares, discussion of loss/fear of losing loved ones

Time hummed quietly to himself, glancing up at the moon every so often.

He was on second watch. Monsters rarely struck during a second watch, but nightmares did, especially with all the trauma this group had dealt with.

So when Time heard a soft whimper from the bedrolls, he wasn't too surprised.

He stood up, knee cracking as he did. His eye scanned over the usual suspects– Legend, Wild, and Warriors– but they all seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

“...Please don't,” Sky whispered, a note of terror held in his voice. The knight was still asleep, but he was twitching and mumbling with deeply furrowed brows. “No… please don’t hurt her…”

Time knelt down beside Sky, roughly shaking his shoulder. The Skyloftian woke with a gasp, immediately reaching for the Master Sword. Realization dawned on him quickly, however, and his arm slumped as he let out a relieved breath.

Time raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to tell Sky to follow. He led them both back to the small campfire, having Sky sit to calm down from his nightmare.

“Nightmare?” Time questioned, despite already knowing the answer.

Sky sighed, running a tired hand down his face. Like this, the knight looked much older than he actually was, purple eye bags exaggerated by the dim, flickering light of the campfire. “Yeah,” he finally murmured, nodding.

Time offered a grim smile, nodding at the Skyloftian. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“...It was about my adventure,” Sky began, frowning as he stared at the campfire. “Zelda– Sun– went missing. She… she was taken away, and I didn’t-” his voice broke. “-I didn’t know where she was, or if she was safe, or if she was even-” Sky cut himself off with a choked sob, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Time nodded solemnly. He despised that his boys had all gone through so much… and he knew more went unsaid. There were some things too difficult to talk about.

“I…” Sky sighed, hanging his head as he clasped his hands together. “I was so scared for her. Losing Sun… well, I don’t know what I would do. How could I live without her?”

Time hummed, glancing up at the moon briefly. “It would be difficult,” he agreed, turning his eye onto Sky. “But you would figure it out with time.”

Sky wrinkled his nose, shaking his head helplessly. “No, I… I could never move on without her. I love Sun.”

“Moving on and learning how to deal with it are two different things,” Time mused, lips pressed into a thin smile. “It would hurt, yes. But you can’t base your existence on another.”

Sky sighed, finally tilting his head up enough to make eye contact with Time. “...I guess. But it scares me.” He shook his head, frown deepening. “What if she disappears again? What if… what if I’m not fast enough?”

“Do you think it’ll happen again?”

The knight faltered, hesitating. “...No. I don’t. I think… at least for now, it’s over,” he spoke slowly. “But that fear… it just won’t go away.” He glanced away before returning eye contact. “How do you deal with it? Being away from her… not knowing what’s going on in her life… all of it.”

Time took a deep breath, resting his palms on his knees. “It gets easier,” he murmured. “The love doesn’t fade, but… you learn how to live separately.” He twisted the smooth wedding band, smiling fondly down at the piece of metal. “It makes the reunion all the more joyous.”

For the first time since waking up, Sky smiled. “You really love her.” He sighed, reaching around to hold his sailcloth. “You’re right. I just wish it wasn’t so hard for me to be away from her.”

Time chuckled. “You’re both young. It takes time.” He smiled knowingly. “Why don’t you write her a letter? It might help if you’re missing her.”

“I think I will,” Sky decided, standing up with a yawn and a stretch of his arms. “Tomorrow. I’m going back to bed.”

“Sleep well,” Time offered, nodding.

Sky smiled. “Thanks. And… thank you for talking to me about this.”

“Don’t mention it,” Time insisted, waving a hand. “We all look out for each other, stuff like this included. You can always talk to me.”

“I might take you up on that sometime,” Sky mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Goodnight, Old Man.”

“Goodnight, Sky.”

–> support me on ao3!

[theangelicstoryteller]

This is my entry for the @zelinkcommunity 2023 Zelink week! This would have included an AO3 link, but since the site is down I will update the post with it later.

WARNING: STORY TAKES PLACE DURING TEARS OF THE KINGDOM AND INCLUDES MAJOR SPOILERS FOR IT

Title: Both Here and 100,000 Years Away

Words: 978 Rating - G

Happy readings to you all!

Link woke in his bed in his new home in Akkala. He stretched as he got up, savoring the morning, even if he had a lot to do today. But he liked his new home. It was nice and he liked that he got to make it himself, to a degree. Not that he disliked his home in Hateno, but this… this was nice. Especially as he found himself usually sleeping in a stable or in the wilds again as he tried to save Hyrule from its newest disaster. A bed was nice, especially a new bed, since…

He shook the thought out of his head and quickly got dressed and readied himself for the day. He made a quick breakfast that he shoveled into his mouth before he grabbed his weapons and burst out the door. It was usually breezy and today was not an exception. He took a second to admire the mountainous view, looking over the small Terry Town he had helped build years ago. He smiled as he looked down at it. He was glad he had helped Hudson and that his family and his community was thriving.

He was smiling to himself as he thought about as his eyes wandered over to the construction site below it and then up the mountains. He looked over the mountains, his eyes wandering upward to the sky where he froze.

She was passing through the sky above him. The Light Dragon… Zelda. As it often did when he saw her shining form dancing across the sky, The Master Sword on his back felt heavier. He couldn’t stop himself from gazing at her as she slowly made her way across the Akkala sky. His beautiful, beautiful Zelda… somehow both here and 100,000 years away.

Before he had witnessed her final memory, seen the vision of her swallowing her stone to provide the power the Master Sword needed to both recover from the gloom that Ganondorf had struck it with, but to be strong enough to defeat him, he had always felt the Light Dragon filled him with a sense of comfort and ease. Now Link understood that was Zelda. That her spirit was still watching over them, even now, uncounted milenia after she had lost her mind to becoming a dragon for Hyrule… for him.

Though Link did not want to lose himself in the memories of it all, he could not stop them as they washed over him. He thought to the days they spent in Hateno village, how Zelda had gently made his house a home for the two of them. He thought of holding her tight as they slept in their bed, never getting as peaceful a sleep as when they were holding each other through the night. He wrapped his arms around himself as he thought of even last night, as he had to force himself to sleep even as his bed felt cold and empty without her, even in a bed she’s never seen, let alone one he had shared with her.

He missed her laugh. He missed her coming to him in the night with a notebook and excited words with a breakthrough she had neglected her sleep to achieve. He missed having to gently remind her it could wait for the morning as he guided her to bed where she would still excitedly speak about her research before she would gently drift off to sleep. He missed running after her in the wilds as she found something she wanted to document or capture, writing down notes excitedly.

He looked back up to the light dragon as she passed over him more closely. He saw into those wide purple eyes, where he saw no hints of the woman he loved within them. She seemed as if she was really gone… He wondered if it would have almost been better that she died rather than being trapped in the form she was currently in.

Could Impa or Purah really think of a way to change her back? Was such a thing even possible? And what would she be like if they even could reverse the effects of swallowing her sacred stone? What if… what if she could not remember him? What if they brought her back, but her memories were gone, just like his were when he was resurrected. Even now, years later, many things were hazy when he tried to recall them.

And if she did remember everything… would she forgive him? It was his fault all this had happened. If had been stronger, if he had been faster, if he would have caught her, she would have never had to make such a sacrifice. He could have prevented all this pain, if he had only been better. What kind of a knight could he call himself after failing her again?

Would… would she even still love him?

Link heard a weird noise and it brought him out of his drowning thoughts. He looked around and heard it again, though this time he felt it as well as heard it. Oh… he put his hand to his face, feeling the tears that were streaming down him. I’m crying… The sound came again and he realized it was him sobbing. He took a steadying breath as he tried to calm himself. He looked back up to the sky to see Zelda’s form beginning to retreat. Though he was able to calm his breathing, his tears still flowed.

Goddesses he missed her. Din, Nayru, Farore, and Hylia herself did he miss her. He would give anything to see her smile once more.

[natdrinkstea]

Zelda 3 - L + un

so this one isn't writing as much as it is a little thought exercise @haijinks and I use to keep each other occupied and it is What Would Our Perfect BOTW/TOTK follow-up look like?

putting this under a cut :) it's long :)

our basic premise so far (Nintendo you can pay us $10000000 to use this) is that it's about five (maybe ten?) ish years post totk and link is visibly older! late 20s, early 30s, less boyish and more of a Real Adult. He's still getting used to having Both Arms Again, but in general everything is Normal now? Rebuilding after the Calamity is near finished, Tulin and Riju are all grown up (😭), and in general everything is chill. until! inciting incident! don't freak out, but Ganon's once again trying come back. BOO! but in my vision his soul or whatever is a sort of shooting star, a meteorite slowly falling from the sky directly towards Hyrule castle. (Imagine a huge ball of white-red light hovering above the castle throughout the game. UGH. isn't that COOL).

Guess Link is back at it again!

Because I miss them, Link has to go on a little cross-country journey, Zelda in tow, to attempt to convince the Sages/Champions to- you guessed it- BRING THE DIVINE BEASTS BACK! and he has a little quest in each region similar to botw where we get to reprogram each divine beast to aim its laser towards the Ganon Meteor. in these little quests we get to see how the last fifteenish years have really impacted the people of this world- two world-ending catastrophes that close together have got to leave a mark. how did Tulin and Riju manage growing up in Revali and Urbosa's footsteps, and having to save the world so young? Is Yunobo cool again? Is Sidon still hot?

our idea for the Gerudo/Naboris quest specifically was that just before the time this takes place, word got out about the existence of a young gerudo who (gasp!) is a boy. this isn't necessarily bad, but after ganondorf everyone's a bit on edge. so, zelda and link go to check it out, and learn that this kid's totally normal, just a bit desperate to prove his worth after being Hidden In Shame for so long. it'd be sad and about generational trauma or whatever

other things of note:

-> ZELDA DOESN'T DISAPPEAR IN THIS ONE! She actually travels with Link for some of the more plot-heavy portions of the game! I think she maybe provides some cool mechanic or something, like the memories in BOTW but if they weren't pictures. Maybe she's just a walking sheikah slate/purah pad lmao. AMD SHE CAN BE HELPFUL IN COMBAT. somehow. we haven't figured it out. can you summon her like the Sages? who knows

-> similarly, Zelda was fucked up big time by the Dragon-ing and I think another main quest has something to do with the fallout of that. maybe her cool powers are fucking up, or she has scary nightmares about being a dragon again, or visions or smth. idk man. wouldn't it be cool though.

-> link gets a third set of cool new superpowers. no ideas for what those would be

-> you can sit down whenever you want in this one

-> MY BIGGEST NEW ADDITION: because totk introduced the sky islands and the depths as new areas, we have ... drumroll.... two new divine beasts!! that's right, in the last few years people have made these areas hospitable and that means they need a giant robot animal too. to fit in. In my heart the depths beast is a snake, with the mechanic being that it's coiled around a huge stalagmite and you can rotate it up or down from the map. the sky one is a dragonfly!!!!!! and maybe it flaps its wings in a fun way! who knows!

-> you can decorate Link's house in Hateno however you want. just because I want to

-> nothing about shrines yet! I'm thinking maybe a weird mixture of the botw and totk ones? but we're not totally sure.

-> At the beginning of the game Link decides he is Retired and puts the Master Sword back!!! By the Deku Tree! so you have to get it back! but it's different this time somehow. somehow. we don't know everything.

send ideas if u have them!!! this is basically fanfiction

[achoshistor]

[totk] alternate dimension???

HAHA ok i simply can't go without writing this down but this time i will try my best to omit all spelling errors to preserve readability... tbh i wouldnt read this if you havent finished the geoglyphs

[spoilers!!]

ok im gonna be honest i've only finished botw and totk so this is gonna be moreso why the alternate timeline from botw is plausible in comparison to the actual placement of the timeline bc thats too much thinking and its been like a million bajillion years since i read the historia.

ok so firstly zelda doing different things in the past is def why the line would have changed from botw to totk but why was zelda the one who went back in time?? In botw the divine beasts are literally analogous to the current sages which is basically

vah rudania/daruk = yunobo

vah naboris/urbosa = riju

vah ruta/mipha = sidon

vah medoh/revali = tulin

that covers all four but what about link?? link gets his own divine beast (master cycle) too so why is zelda the sage and not link?? besides i heard this mentioned somewhere else (i forgot where) but link has the ability to literally slow down time when hes drawing his bow or looking through the scope and he can pause time with the menu but idk if thats actually canon LOL. either way link can also control time like zelda. But speaking of divine beasts the 4 helms can be found in totk as well but the item descriptions call them zonai while the general look of the pieces is clearly sheikha which is weird cuz whaaaat?? also idk maybe nintendo just wanted a way to explain amiibo gear but this just suggests that the divine beasts themsleves are also zonai of some sort. Ik people are saying they dont mention the divine beasts at all but impa and i think like one or two other npcs mention them meaning they are still here but zonai somehow which doesnt make sense in the context of botw.

also aside from the divine beasts theres some other things of note too: firstly, your house in hateno which zelda STOLE 😭😭liek man i paid good money for that sign... 3000 rs.... this is p minor but why would she just take the sign away unless it wasnt already there?? I mean ok maybe link wanted to live with her

[zora arc spoilers]

anyways point two about yona... tbh i thought she was ganondorfs spy or something at first because she came out of nowhere... im assuming she's muzu's daughter but we saw no sign at all of her in botw... maybe the devs hated sidlink that much lolol. In all seriousness tbh her appearance does seem to point to a shift in the events of 100 years ago unless she's not from hyrule which seems unlikley seeing that sidon grew up in zora's domain according to the botw dlc.

[zora spoilers over]

ok last thing... the bottomless swamp is gone!!

like whaaat theres a pond there now

I'm like 99% sure this is just because they needed a body of water that you can drop into safely but its also the only pond on ground thats actually got the lily pads from the sky in it which is interesting. I don't think they added any other new bodies of water aside from this though. Lorewise though it makes no sense at all that they removed that whole giant skeleton from here in a few years and even if they did iirc the ground around it was crackly and dry. Lanaryu/Zorana used to all be a desert and they said it took hundreds of years for it to become fertile so its kind of nonsensical that this area would only take a little while...

overall i think this is probably just nintendo trying to make it so that totk can be standalone but man it cant be that hard to write coherent lore