#Yiga: Ha ha! you have fallen into my trap!

[charcoaldustonmyfingers]

I love the Yiga, they always give me free stuff! Roadside bananas, arrows, swords, rupees, schematics, you name it! What generous guys… strange how they’re so aggressive about giving me gifts though, the bit about taking Link’s head in exchange is getting a bit stale.

I was perusing the unlit Depths when a bunch of Yiga biplanes tried to snipe me from way too far away. They could have just flown over, but I guess their supervisor is strict with their patrol routes lol

It was pretty funny to see them agro at me while clumsily trying to keep their planes within bounds.

[deiliamedlini]

Whumptober 2021- The Darkness I Know

Chapter 1

Note: So, I decided to do the same thing I did last year, which is to turn the whumptober prompts into one continuous fic! This first chapter heading info up here is a mess! I’ll fix the next post!  Also will be posted on Ao3 (the link will only be on the chapter index page so I don’t keep forgetting to do that). These chapters are typically on the shorter side just because I am writing a chapter daily and haven’t written ahead more than the first two chapters! 

Fic Summary: After the world as she knew it was destroyed by the corruption of Malice, Zelda allies herself with her saviors from captivity: a disgruntled former governor, an alert paramedic, a cocky pilot, an excessively overt optimist, and a blind strategist. While the corrupted, malice-filled Yiga Clan looks for revenge on them, Zelda has to learn how important it is to find family in others... and how much more dangerous the stakes become if she fails to protect them.

No. 1 - ALL TRUSSED UP AND STILL NOWHERE TO GO

“You have to let go” | barbed wire | bound

Chapter Index/ Next

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean you don’t have a ruler?”

“I don’t need one.”

“What are you doing—… no!”

Never had there been a more malicious offence in Zelda’s eyes. Rulers were the key to life: they kept things straight, and they made things balanced. There was equality in every precise and calculated movement, and a delicate hand was required to hold the simple mechanism steady.

So, watching Dorian take the scissors and cut three strands of paper was like cutting straight through the muscle of Zelda’s heart.

“Why would you do that!” she screeched, more an accusation than a question. “Now they’re uneven, and they’re crooked! You’re insane!”

“It’s just a stencil, Zelda. If you want to cut the wood with a ruler, go ahead, but now we have an idea of how much we need.”

“We need to redo that. It’s not accurate.”

“I’ve been doing this since before you were born. It’s accurate enough. I can eyeball it. Do you want to fix the fence today, or no?”

Zelda grabbed their tools off the table and sulked behind Dorian as he left without waiting for her answer.

There were some battles Zelda knew she had to lose to win the war. This was one of them,

The fence was a priority to keep out anything that might have been affected with Malice from entering Mabe Village. There were so few survivors as it was.

Before the Malice had invaded Hyrule, Zelda had thought that her student loans were the biggest problem she’d have to tackle. She’d thought the money she’d spent on an apartment outside Castle Town was worth it, despite being far from her family back in Akkala. She thought there was a bright future waiting for her behind the years she’d spent in academia, trapped behind computers writing term papers and researching and experimenting and playing by others’ rules with the dream of one day making her own.

Then, the Malice spread: a thick purple substance that oozed from a seemingly endless source; a vile smell that reeked of rotting food in a broken refrigerator, and a gaseous haze that followed that made it near impossible to breathe. Worse, it corrupted any who came into direct physical contact with it for too long, and most of those affected were now dead for one reason or another.

She remembered when her car stopped working on the highway as the purple smoke filled the air on that first day four years ago. She’d stayed inside the metal hull, watching in awed horror as it engulfed her in an endless stream of fog. She ducked down below the steering wheel and listened to the crashes of other cars on the road that didn’t manage to slow down before their sight was stolen by it all. The constant ring of a jammed horn had her blocking her ears after too long.

Three days in the car, officially parched and hungry, no one had come for her. No phones worked; no drivers dared leave their vehicles. But it had become too much, and Zelda decided it was worth risking a venture outside, even amidst the lingering smoke. Her tongue was dried out and every breath of air came out in a wheezing hiss. But she’d done it.

The haze had been unpleasant and burned her eyes a fair bit, but when she stumbled into a water cooler that had fallen from a shattered car’s backseat and chugged every drink inside, she found other survivors along the side of the highway doing the same, and they all stayed together until they could reach safety.

Enter Mabe Village, four years later.

Zelda and her group had scavenged on the side of the road for almost a full year before they’d found the refuge. It was safe from the crazed bokoblins who once lived peacefully in their own territories. It had walls to prevent any of the fast-but-grounded lizalfos from scaling over. And each creature came at them with a vengeance, each fueled by contact with the Malice.

For a while, Zelda was the only engineer who could fix the solar panel garden and keep the power running. She developed as many mechanical skills as she could, fixing tools and maintaining the plumbing. She even began to learn carpentry to keep the houses upright.

Then, Dorian came in: someone with far more experience than her to help lighten her load. She slept more with him around, and he was full of energy to work through the nights when Zelda couldn’t.

“Would your mom ever let you do this?” Dorian joked as they made it to the wall and set their tools down.

Zelda, now in her mid-twenties, hadn’t seen her mom in years, but she’d learned everything from her. She thought about the blonde woman with blue eyes who used to sneak Zelda dangerous tools when she was too young to comprehend the danger. The woman who had her daughter assist her with live wires because she needed a third hand. Zelda knew how to hold a soldering pen before holding a real one.

“No,” Zelda snorted, always careful about her mother’s carelessness. “She’d let me watch, but she’d definitely be too worried about my hands.”

“Always the hands,” Dorian repeated with a joking smile.

“Always the hands.”

The two set out to fix a gaping hole in their fence, and while Dorian took the outside, the barbed wire that was laid over the wood planks to discourage any creatures from ramming into it, Zelda took the wooden boards inside.

When they were all in place, Zelda examined some of the old wood, intrigued by a perfect set of bite marks.

“Dorian! Was this Ms. Maple’s dog who did all this damage?”

She turned it over in her hand and set it down with half a mind to stride right over to the only dog owner in Mabe Village, but when she heard silence from the other side of the fence, Zelda stopped herself.

“Dorian?” When it was still silent, Zelda turned and grabbed the closest tool she could reach: a screwdriver. She glanced down to see if there was anything better, but there was only her ruler, a hammer, nails, and a second flathead.

Looking behind her, she tucked the flathead into her belt and gripped the hammer as tightly as she could before heading around the gate to check on Dorian.

He wasn’t there.

There was barely a moment to think that something might have happened to him before she was face first in the grass with a heavy pressure holding her down.

Zelda tried to buck them off of her, but they were too heavy. There was a sound of metal scraping against something, and Zelda let out a muffled scream into the grass, still trying to free herself.

“No, wait! Wait!”

Zelda’s head whipped up and she saw a large group walking towards her, each dressed in red bodysuits with a strange mask concealing their faces. The voice though… the voice was…

“Dorian!” she screamed, trying to move again. “Get help!”

His face contorted, and he bent down in front of her, but his words were addressed to whoever was behind her. “She’s useful. She’s smart, handy, talented. We need her. And she’ll understand why we did this. She smart,” he said again, nodding to her.

The man behind her hesitated. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. Positive. I’ve seen her work. I know her.”

A chill shot down Zelda’s spine, and she felt herself tugged upwards until she was sitting on her knees, face-to-face with Dorian in his red suit and a white mask atop his grey hair.

“Fine. Bring her with us. Tie her up.”

“Don’t fight, Zelda. I promise, this is just a precaution.”

She couldn’t help her body from struggling a bit, and she watched Dorian slide his mask into place.

“What’s happening? What’s happening?” Her wrists were tugged hard behind her back, and the rope was frayed enough to cut into her skin a bit.  

Dorian held out his hand, and Zelda, now bound, was handed off. “You’re with the Yiga Clan now.”

And with that, every other member of the group drew out their weapons and headed into Mabe Village while Dorian held Zelda still through her sobs for all the friends she’d never see again.

[awkwardspontaneity]

Battle for the Sky

Link x GN!Sheikah!Reader

Part 4 of Memories of You

Prev | Next

Summary: Link and Y/n are called to Rito Village when a dark beast has taken over Vah Medoh and Y/n’s biggest fear finally comes to light.

AN: I finally finished this part. May have gone a touch overboard with this one it’s like 2500 words. I just had a lot of fun writing the battle and the characters. Its got a lot of fighting and mayybe a teensy bit of angst. I rlly like Revali so I had to feature him. bit of gore so just a warning

regular= present    italic= memory

Link stood atop Revali’s Landing, eyes closed as he enjoyed the cool breeze. There was so much to do before he could save Zelda, but after having to sneak through the Yiga hideout and his fight to free Vah Nabooris he relished this quiet moment. Even if it was only a few minutes under the light of the moon, he would take the time to think.

So many memories were coming back in a jumbled mess. Like pouring the pieces of a puzzle out of the box. But he hadn’t been given the full picture yet. So much of who he was was in those few precious moments he had with his friends, all he wanted was to have that back. At the very least he wished to remember those he had lost 100 years ago when calamity struck.

And yet, a part of him almost didn’t want to remember. The more he recalled his friends, the more he was reminded that because of his failures they had been lost. Trapped within their Divine Beasts with no escape for 100 years. Forced to watch as the very things they were supposed to use for protection wreaked havoc across their beloved homes. Maybe Revali had been right about him not being up to the task.

Revali.

The last time he had come to the Rito Village had been for a monster attack on Vah Medoh too hadn’t it.

“Impressive, I know.” 

Revali hovered softly before landing on the railing. A smirk stretched across his beak as he looked down at Link. Although this level of bravado was normal for the Rito warrior, Link suspected he was playing up his capabilities in response to their presence.

“Very few can achieve mastery of the sky.” So this was how the trip would be then. “Yet I have made an art of creating an updraft that allows me to soar. It’s considered to be quite the masterpiece of aerial techniques, even among the Rito”

At this point Link was discreetly looking for Y/n. They had said something about asking the village chief for the key to Medoh before running off and leaving him alone. He was sure that they had done this to avoid Revali’s complaints. Still, Link wished they would hurry and save him. Revali responded better when they were present. Or at least, he was more capable of tolerating Link with Y/n around to deflect conflicts.

“Now then,” Revali hopped down from his perch, drawing Link’s attention back to him, “my ability to explore the firmament is certainly of note, but let’s not- pardon me for being so blunt- let’s not forget that I am the most skilled archer of all the Rito. Yet despite these truths, it seems that I have been tapped to merely assist you. All because you happen to have that little darkness- sealing sword on your back.”

Link looked down with a clenched jaw. Hylia he wished Y/n would come save him. 

“There you are!” He felt a breath escape him at Y/n’s call. There was only so much of the Rito warrior’s ego one could put up with. 

Y/n skipped over to stand beside Link and gave the two Champions a grin, “I got Medoh’s key from the chief so if the two of you are ready, we should head up.”

Recali scoffed at the smaller Sheikah, waving his wing in a dismissive manner, “There’s no such need for the two of you to board Medoh. As a matter of fact your presence here is quite redundant, so why don’t you run along back to the princess like the good little hero’s you are.”

Link stepped forward to stop Revali from taking off but was stopped by Y/n placing a hand on his arm. “If you’re flying off to the archery range to get in more practice you can meet us back here. We’re fully prepared to wait until you feel ready.”

“Excuse me?”

“The chief told me you haven’t been able to enter Medoh for nearly a week due to this monster.”

“I assure you I can kill it on my own.”

Y/n sighed, reaching out to carefully lay a hand on Revali’s wing. “We only want to help. There’s no shame in working alongside your comrades. Besides, consider it a favour from us for your future help in defeating Ganon.”

“I suppose, I have no choice.” The Rito warrior hardly looked pleased with them forcing his hand, er, wing. The feathers on his neck were ruffled up as the trio looked tensely at the flying beast above. “I’m sure that even if I were to fly off at this moment, the two of you would still go on up to Vah Medoh and end up getting thrown over the sides.”

Y/n let out a nervous laugh at his snide remark and Link found himself wondering if the tightness in their voice was due to Revali being correct in his assumptions… or maybe something else.

------

Link and Y/n appeared on top of Vah Medoh in a swirl of blue light. They were swiftly met by Revali pushing them to stay hidden. He was quick to explain the winged beast, how it crawled across Medoh with sprawling legs. Y/n had mused about winged octopi only to be flicked on the head by Revali. 

As the trio emerged from their hiding spot the two Hylians found Revali had not given nearly enough detail on the horrific creature. It was as large as he had described, with muscled legs sprawling across the wings of the Divine Beast. Its body resembled a Lynel, thick arms ending in sharp claws. Possibly the most terrifying thing were the wings sprouting from its back. They were dark and feathered, each one dripping with malice that ran down its body before piling across the ground like muddy footprints. 

Link heard Y/n draw in a sharp breath as they crept along the edge in their approach. He reached out to place a hand between their shoulder blades, a simple motion they had developed in their journeys to signal they were with the other. Whether in physical danger or an uncomfortable situation, they would handle things together. He wasn’t sure how much comfort he could offer at this moment, but he’d make due with the promise to be by their side. Even if he was worried about the feeling of their shallow breaths against his hand.

After carefully making their way to the center terminal of the Divine Beast, Revali gave a quick signal before crouching to take off. As the wind picked up around the Rito, Y/n took in a breath before squeezing Link’s wrist and darting out from their hiding spot. 

“HEY SLIMEBALL!!”

Apparently that was extremely offensive to the beast because as soon as it located the small Sheikah it tore off after them. Y/n sprinted away sending a wink as they passed the terminal and Link. Y/n reached the first pillar and slid to a stop behind it right in time to take cover from the bomb arrows exploding against the creature's torso. Mangled wings came up to protect the beast from further blasts giving Link the opportunity to lunge forward and strike down its legs. He managed to slash through two of the muscular appendages before the creature let out a screech and spread its wings, and with them, an attack of razor sharp feathers. 

Y/n had come out from their spot behind the pillar, luckily just in time to slash a feather in half before it could hit Link. The duo exchanged grins before taking off to continue their plan. Y/n would lead the beast away with their faster speeds while Revali would circle above, waiting for the moment when the Sheikah would twist the monster around pillars where he could strike it with a volley of bomb arrows. Then while it wrapped itself in its wings for protection, Link would unleash a flurry rush, slashing away at its legs until they disappeared in a haze of dark smoke.

They pulled off their barrage of attacks until the final leg dissipated giving it one option. 

To fly.

Fortunately, they had planned for this, and Revali struck the creature before it could get far. It crashed to the ground with such a force, it shook the entire Divine Beast in the sky. Y/n let out a scream as they lost their balance, reaching out to grab the pillar they stood beside. He knew he had a goal to complete but, as he slashed away at the fallen creature, all Link could think about was how he wanted to rush to his friend's side. 

The creature seemed to sense Link’s hesitation because it began to spasm, forcing Link to jump back. It seized the moment and took off into the skies screeching as Revali circled too close.

“We must finish this quickly!” Revali dove closer to the two champions, being mindful of the writhing beast in the skies. “That thing is getting desperate, and I only have so many arrows left.”

Link gave him a terse nod as he rushed over to Y/n who was still pressed against the pillar. 

“Y/n.” Only a small hum escaped them, although there was a comfort in the way they leaned into his touch. “Y/n, I don't know what’s going on in your head right now, but we need you. Revali’s almost out of arrows and I don’t think I can take it down alone.”

Their hand curled around his, shaky but tight. “I’m okay.” He was sure neither of them believed the grin that pulled at their lips. “Its wings are the only thing it has left to attack with, right? Keep its attention and I’ll take them out.”

“Are you sure?”

“I have to be.”

He nodded, although his expression betrayed his concern, something Y/n took note of. They smiled softly, albeit weakly, and out their forehead against his. “Relax Hero, we can do this.”

Link sighed softly, pressing his head against theirs with a little more force. They pulled away sharing nervous grins before Link took off. 

Fortunately, the beast had been distracted by launching feathers at Revali, who had been swooping around it with practised expertise. Link gave a shout to signal he was ready for Revali to shoot down the monster and, with an audible scoff, the Rito notched his arrows.

With a thunderous crash the beast landed on Medoh once again and, fighting the urge to look back at Y/n, Link rushed forward with his sword drawn. Link slashed and chopped away at the creature's muscular arms, trying to force it to spread its wings. It took longer than he had hoped for with far too many close calls before wings spread, throwing sludge along with it. If it weren’t for the glint off Y/n’s twin blades, Link almost wouldn’t have seen the young Sheikah sprint past. Before the monster could register their presence, Y/n had hopped from its arm, up to the shoulder, and flipped over to land on its back. 

What came next was a flurry of silver blades and the tearing of malice dripping flesh. The monster attempted to rear back and reach Y/n with its arms but it was stopped by Revali and Link each attacking an arm, preventing it from being able to knock off their partner. 

With a final flourish, Y/n thrust both blades between the beast's wings. A harrowing shriek escaped the beast as it trembled from the blow. The malice surrounding it began to bubble and swell up. With a grunt, Y/n placed a foot against its back and tore their blades free. They looked up at Link with a grin but, just as they opened their mouth to shout, the monster exploded.

The moment Link uncovered his face, he was met with the sight of Y/n sliding off the edge of Vah Medoh. Link took off as fast as he could, watching as they scrambled for a grip along the edges but came up with nothing. Link hit the ground, sliding towards them with an outstretched hand. The two made eye contact and Link’s heart twisted at the terror within their ruby eyes. He felt their fingertips touch before Y/n was gone, their desperate cry as they slid over the edge carrying across the wind.

Link stared at his empty hand. He would have thrown himself over the edge after Y/n had he not seen the flash of blue following Revali as he shot after the Sheikah like an arrow from his bow.

The moments Link lay there waiting for Revali to return were spent forcing himself to breath while his lungs were crushed under the weight of guilt. He could still feel his fingertips brushing against Y/n’s. See the expression of fear that had torn the grin from their face as they cried out.

Wind swirled around Link, forcing him to sit up as Revali soared past him. The Rito landed on Medoh and, in a surprisingly tender moment, laid a wing upon the Sheikah warrior clinging to him like a koala.

Link was quick to approach the two, getting a glimpse of the way Y/n’s brow furrowed as they hid their face in Revali’s feathered chest. Noticing the way Link watched the two, Revali scoffed before grabbing at Y/n’s arms. “You’re not falling anymore, you can stop tugging at my feathers.”

Y/n mumbled an apology as they shakily detached themselves and stepped to the ground. They managed a wobbly grin that was interrupted by Link crashing into them. Y/n let out the faintest sob as they buried themselves deeper into his arms. Link tightened his grip, carefully pressing his nose into their hair. The two heroes held each other tightly, hoping to ground themselves in the other. To remind themselves that they were together still.

“Ahem.” The bubble popped around the two heroes as Revali looked on in barely hidden irritation. He tapped his talons against Medoh, sighing as the two looked at him with wide eyes. “As wonderful as it is that we are all, in fact, alive. I would appreciate it if you could use whatever it is you brought to seal away that creature.”

“Right.” Y/n stepped towards the terminal, Link’s hand still held tightly in their own. They pulled a seal from one of their pouches before mumbling a few phrases. Deep violet tendrils of malice swirled around, collecting in front of Y/n. The seal they held began to glow blue, spreading its own tendrils of light outwards. The lights seemed to dance through the air around them. Gathering together until they spiraled into the paper seal in Y/n’s hands.

“That should be it. Now can we please get off this bird?”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

[headcanonsandhijinx]

I watched a few clips from ‘Black Widow’ and this au just popped into my head. (Be warned, this whole is incredibly messy and disjointed. I apologise for that. I’m just writing this as it pops into my head in a stream of consciousness because I’m kinda tired rn.)

Black Widow/Winter Soldier Wild AU

Can you imagine if when Wild’s really young and is discovered to be the hero, he’s just ripped away from his family and life to be trained as the hero. Except the training is pretty much just training him to be an obedient assassin who does whatever he is ordered to. He’s essentially got the training of Black Widow and the Winter Soldier and is just used by the royal family for whatever they want him to do basically.

***

I imagine parts of his training be things like…

1. The obvious weapons training. He’s trained with pretty much any weapon you can find in Hyrule until he’s a master at all of them. Sword, spear, bow and arrow, bommerang, etc.

2. Hand to hand combat as well. Again, he’s pretty much mastered it.

3. Pain resistance. He’s basically trained to ignore pain and they did this by beating him over and over until he learned not to flinch and show a physical reaction.

4. He speaks pretty much every language in Hyrule (Hylian, Goron, Gerudo, Rito, Zora, and Sheikah) fluently.

5. Any other stuff you can think of that he could be trained in basically.

***

Of course, as the hero he’s still Zelda’s bodyguard, they just never get along like they start to in the game before the Calamity awakens. Mainly because Wild has to follow her father’s every order and, like in canon, she hates that she has to be protected and feels useless because she can’t access her goddess given powers. And because Wild literally doesn’t even have the freedom to even think for himself, there isn’t really anyway for them to bond, so Zelda never ends up becoming nice to him like she is after he rescues her from the Yiga attack in one of the memories. (Yeah, this AU probably isn’t going to be super Zelda friendly, basically for more angst purposes when the LU boys come in).

A way to make the situation worse is by having all the champions, even Revali as much as he teases, be deeply uncomfortable by the way Wild is treated by the royal family. (I kinda imagine Revali still being a prick but he’s a bit nicer to Wild then he is in canon.) When they all first visit Hyrule Castle and see how he basically is treated more like a tool than a person, they are all absolutely furious. They all end up volunteering to train Wild in their various fighting styles as a way to get him away from the castle and his orders for a bit so that they can actually treat him kindly. But they treat him so differently to how he’s treated back in the castle that he’s actually confused by them treating him kindly. They’d all gotten back to their respective quarters that night and shed a few tears, the boy didn’t even know proper kindness.

The champions just see Wild as a member of their family and, although he doesn’t say it, he becomes fond of them too. He’s like a brother to all of them. They hate having to leave him to go and prepare the Divine Beasts and pray they see him soon.

Calamity Ganon rises.

The champions are killed in their respective Divine Beasts, and the makeshift family they had with Wild is broken apart.

Wild runs across a muddy field in torrential rain with Zelda’s hand in one of his and the Master Sword in his other. He’s running on nothing but orders and adrenaline. He has several cracked ribs, his left arm is broken even as he grips Zelda’s hand, there is blood pouring out of several cuts and gashes across his body, but still he keeps running. He has too, his body will not allow him to stop as he was ordered to run and protect the princess. She is his mission and he cannot fail.

But moments after Zelda finally unlocks her powers as she shields them from a guardian, he fails his mission. He collapses under the weight of his injuries and moments later, he dies in the middle of Hyrule Field. He has failed his mission and Hyrule has fallen. (Sorry, I don’t really know when I slipped into story mode there?)

But Zelda still manages to have him placed him the resurrection shrine as they still need him, and so, 100 years later, Wild wakes up.

The whole thing gets sadder if you imagine Wild’s training being so strong that it sticks after his resurrection. He doesn’t even understand it, he just hears a voice in his head yelling at him to not do this and not do that. (Extra sad thing, the reason he does all the side quests is because Zelda is the highest authority figure in Hyrule, but as she’s trapped in the castle and unable to give him orders, Wild just obeys anyone because he assumes that they’re a higher ranking than him, even though they are just normal people. And most of the time, they aren’t giving him orders they are asking for help, but he just doesn’t know the difference.)

Anyway, Wild completes his mission and defeats Calamity Ganon and everything seems okay. He’s still at Zelda’s side as she’s the current ruler and part of his programming is to obey the current monarch. They still don’t really get along, but Zelda is trying to be kind to him now, but I imagine that it’s just kind of too late for that now.

However, everything changes when the LU gang turn up (finally!) and look for this Hyrule’s hero, they do find him. But they just don’t expect him to be an emotionless 118 year old assassin. They talk with Zelda to discuss their quest and she says that Wild can go with them, blah blah blah. So they take Wild with them on their quest and just get more and more outraged the more they find out about him (oh, also Wild is mute in this and uses sign language.)

Since Time seems to be the leader of the group, Wild starts to treat him like he treats Zelda. Listens to whatever he says as Wild sees it as an order, protects him more during fights, that kinda stuff and it breaks Time’s heart when he figures it out.

Also i imagine that it’s also really strange for Wild to visit the other Hyrules and meet the other Zelda’s who have great relationships with their respective Links, because he doesn’t have that with his Zelda. (Although, I do see Malon immediately taking a liking to him and wanting to hug the poor boy, which would be super emotional for him as he hasn’t been hugged in years and can’t even remember his own mother).

***

But there are two times that the gang really learn how much his training messed him up and oh boy, are they fucking fuming!

The first time happened when Wild gets stabbed during a fight and doesn’t even flinch. Nobody notices until after the fight when they all sit at the camp fire that night and Wild just starts sewing his wound up as they all watch in horror. Hyrule asks why he never said he was injured and Wild says ‘it wasn’t important.’ And doesn’t understand why they make a fuss and insist he wastes a healing potion on himself (yes, Wild has an absolutely crap self-esteem here and doesn’t actually think he’s worth anything other than what he can do for people.) Hyrule has to be stopped from tackling Wild to check on the wound himself.

The second was when Wild put himself in danger during a fight to protect the others and when the fight was over Time yelled at him. It was out of concern for Wild’s wellbeing and asking why him had put himself in danger, but Wild thought he was in trouble and asked if Time wanted to punish him. Everyone, especially Time, was horrified and confused. Time asked what Wild meant by punishment and then almost wished he’d never asked. Wild just went into explanations of various punishments he’s had. They were all incredibly harsh, including being whipped, having to stand outside holding a sword outstretched in his hands all night while not being allowed to lower his arms, having to fight other full-armoured and equiped soldiers without any armour or weapons himself, etc. Wild is then the subject of a very big cuddle pile.

***

Basically this AU can be summed up as Black Widow/Winter Soldier Wild gets treated nicely for the first time in years and is very confused/uncomfortable, while the gang all immediately see Wild and are like ‘ahh yes, our amnesiac assassin now’ while they try to convince him that there is more to him than just being a puppet for people. Of course, while the quest with the black blooded monsters takes place as well.

[hyliascommonwealth]

How about drawing something spooky like what's a local folklore your ocs believe or think are silly from their home towns?

Nabora: the spirit guide of the haunted desert

“Many generations ago when the kingdom of hyrule was still young and the commonwealth hasn’t been fully formed, the Gerudo desert was full of mysteries and perils. But within all of that danger there was a mysterious guide who would lead lost souls through the desert to the colossus. None of the Gerudo knew where they came from, many elders believed that they were once Gerudo in life, no one knows!”

Uli: the ghosts of hyrule castle dungeon

“Although I don’t like to talk much about the past of my kingdom, like many others we’ve had our dark times.. all of the restless souls of the dungeons will assure that.. even in newly constructed castles in the past, the dungeon was always haunted.. it makes me wonder if something is following the Royal family in a form we cannot see.. that and it would explain why things in my office disappear without having to blame my aging mind…”

Vallo: the ancient well of old kakariko village

“When I was young, there was a man who claimed he could see the truth.. he divided my people and lead an insurrection against the Hylian Royal family..In the end my people were massacred.. driven out of our home, and the man who could see the truth sealed away at the bottom of the wall in the ruins of old Kakariko village. There are times that when I come across the old ruins I can still hear his screams from the well.”

Viri: has a fear of the hidden spike room of the old yiga hide out.

“Have you ever like gotten lost in your own house and fallen into a death trap spike room?? It really sucks! It’s haunted me ever since and i can’t just enter a secret room anymore without paranoia that I’m gonna fall into a spike pit!! It’s happened twice! Do you know how traumatizing that is!?”

Rika: the cursed glass beach house

“On the south east shore of Thunderis, there’s a nearly sixteen kilometer stretch of land that’s been struck by lightning so consistently and rolled by the ocean, so all the sand is varying sizes of seaglass, but with all the strikes that happen out there several people have died, and taking a piece of seaglass from the shore is said to give you incredible amounts of misfortune… so.. to go with that, there’s a house, in the wilderness, said to have windows made of the seaglass, it was never finished before it was abandoned.. i think the owner like.. died? Anyway now girls use it as a scary story spot and dare each other to sleep in it overnight.”

Tuto: the curse of Volvagia

“Every hundred years we Gorons offer a fake Goron to the death mountain crater to appease the spirit of an ancient Goron eating dragon so it doesn’t arise and eat us like it had thousands of years ago! But i haven’t seen a living dragon in my lifetime…not has my mentor..”

[airplanned]

Wait, I Got This

Ned does Whumptober wrong.

***

There was the time Zelda woke up feeling absolutely miserable.  Her head pounded and her body ached, and it took a long moment to realize that she was hanging upside down from her ankles.  From the looks of things, she was in the Yiga hideout.  She groaned and lifted her heavy hands to rub her face.  She might have been able to reach up and untie her ankles.  Maybe.  Honestly, probably not.  She was very sluggish.

"Oh good.  You're awake."

Her vision was spotty, and she rotated slowly until Link came into view.  He was also hanging upside-down, but unlike her, he was wrapped shoulder to ankle in rope.  He beamed at her, his face red.

"Swing over here and grab me, so I can get us out of here."

She blinked at him.  "Why are you tied up so much more than I am?"

"Because I've already gotten down twice."

She supposed that would do it.

"Swing over here."

"How would that help us..." Words were difficult.  "...In this situation?"

"Just--Come--more towards me."

She was still rotating slowly.  She let her arms fall and sagged into the gravity.  Her head felt so heavy.

"No, this way," he said.

When she came back around, he was giving her such an expectant look that she gave it a try, arching her body and tensing her core until she was swinging, then swinging more.  She managed to grab him, but nearly dropped him because her hands were numb.

She was tired now.

"Okay," she gasped.  "What now?"

He grinned at her.  From behind his back, somewhere under the layers of rope, his fingers snapped.  And lightning crashed through the room.  From below, a Yiga shrieked, and their ropes split, and Link bent in the air so she landed hard on her arm and her knee, but mostly on him and not on her head.

"Great," he said, sounding as though he honestly meant it.  "Now cut me loose."

"With what?"

"There's a knife in my boot."

She looked down at his boots, which were bound in rope just as tightly as the rest of him.  This was going to prove difficult.

There was shouting from deeper in the complex.  Link arched his neck at an awkward angle to look in that direction, then back to her.

"Gonna have to move a little faster," he said.

"Goddess save me," she muttered, and dug her nails into the knot by his ankles.

#

There was the time she was sitting in front of the house, dismantling a recovered skywatcher when Link stumbled across the bridge.  His movements were jerking, and his trail was serpentine.  Zelda rushed up to check on him. 

"I don't feel great," he said.  His words were a bit slurred.

She took his face in her hands to inspected him.  One of his pupils was a pinpoint while the other was blown wide, and she watched in horror as the one grew and the other shrunk until they traded sizes. She nearly screamed--furiously at him and his recklessness, or a high-pitched wild scream--which one was more likely to claw its way up her throat was a mystery.

But then he closed his eyes and rubbed the butt of his hand against his temple.  His face scrunched like a little boy as he grumbled.  "My mouth tastes like flowers."

"What happened?" she demanded.

"I don't know.  I fought the Yiga, but--"

He rubbed harder at his head, and his arm moved in such a way that she caught sight of his arm.  Grabbing his wrist, he twisted to reveal an arrow lodged in his bicep.  The shaft had been broken off.  He looked down at it and said simply "Huh."  Then grabbed it.  Before she could shout at him to stop, he yanked it free of his arm with a wince.  He held it up and grimaced at it.

The arrowhead was barbed and jagged, and from it rose a red, swirling mist that seemed to disintegrate into fine, red powder.  

"Oh," he said.  "That looks like poison."  Then he crumpled. 

She managed to catch him enough to slow his fall, and lay him out on the grass.

She rushed for the house and the fairy tonic on a high shelf, knocking down bottles of elixirs as she grabbed it.  She slid onto her knees beside him, pulled the stopper out with her teeth, propped up his head, and drained the tonic down his throat.  He spluttered and winced and opened his eyes so she got to see his pupils even out into the same size.

"That was a close one," he said.

In aggravation, she stood, letting his head flop to the ground with a crack.

#

There was the time, they were investigating the Sealed Temple.  She was taking notes straight onto the wall in chalk, diagramming the inner working of a guardian's eye, and Link was prowling around the perimeter, looking for something to keep him entertained.

She froze at the sound of a high-pitched laugh, and she jerked her head up the ceiling to find the source.  A boom sounded from a different direction.  From below her.  The bridge beneath her feet trembled, then shook, the roar of crumbling stone building ever louder.  The stone right under her jerked, pitching to an angle, and she lost her feet, and Link was running towards her.

The floor gave out.  She fell a split second before the floor under Link gave out too.  He was upside-down, but grabbing for her waist, and once he got an awkward hold on her, he pulled open his paraglider one handed, and they whipped around so he was upright and she was upside-down and nearly thrown away from him.  He grabbed her shirt just as part of the bridge hits him and the paraglider was knocked aside.  They tumbled, both scrambling for the paraglider, both pummeled by falling rocks.  The roar of the crumbling bridge drowned out her scream.

They hit the floor of the Sealed Temple hard, jagged chunks of rock biting into her side and arm.  She groaned and looked up to Link, who was half on top of her, when a shadow fell over his face.  He looked up, and the rest of the bridge fell on top of them.

...

It was too dark to see anything, but she could breathe, so she was still alive.  Her breath was loud and close, so she hadn't been flattened, but she didn't have much room.  She tried to take stock of her body: everything hurt.  She gave up trying to move.  She could lie here for a moment.

And Link--

"Link!"

She tried to sit up, but cracked her head against a rock that was only a foot above her face.  It was hard to move her arm to draw out her slate, but she managed it, and the glow from the stasis rune shed light on her situation.  A large, flat slab--possibly one of the pillars that once held up the bridge--was now a low ceiling with rocky debris sealing her into a low, narrow cave.  She heaved her leg from beneath a pile of fallen rock, and scooted down lower into her cave so she had more space to sit up.  Loose rubble fell around her as she moved.

Once she had some room, she was able to get a better look around.  Once she was closer, Link stood out in bright yellow.  He lay on his stomach, half buried in the debris, his head and shoulders visible, his arms limp.

"Link!"  She scurried toward him on her hands and knees, bending to pat his face.  "Speak to me."

He groaned and didn't open his eyes.  There was a dark, sticky mess in his hair that must have been blood but was the wrong color under stasis.

She couldn't tend to him while using the stasis rune, so she pulled up the brightest image she could find and used it as a dim light in the small space.  The picture was the two of them in the bright summer sun, her holding the slate out at arm's length, and him reaching to press the button to capture the image.

She propped up the slate and shoved debris off him.  At first it was easy, but when she actually started to dig him out, there was an ominous rumble. Link must have been load bearing.

"This would certainly be much easier if you were conscious," she huffed, grunting as she moved a rather large stone on his back.  Dust rained down on them.  The whole slab above them groaned as if shifting, settling, trapping them more completely or about to crush them, she couldn't say.

A sudden, green light exploded from Link's body, and she shrieked and stumbled back.  It swept above his head and swirled around him.  There was something liquid about it.  The flash of a fin.  The flash of a scale.  A gentle voice cooing words she couldn't quiet hear.

Link groaned and shifted, and Zelda scrambled back to him.  "Link!"

"'M k."

"You're most certainly not," she shouted.

"Can we get out now?" he muttered.

"Yes.  Yes.  I'm working on it."  She looked around.  It occurred to her that they may very well run out of air before she managed to get them out.  "I just need to...Here. I'll--"

"Use the slate."

"What?"

He groaned.

She grabbed the slate, her mind flying through all the runes she could use to move the rocks, to lift the ceiling, to--

Oh.  She was so foolish.

She grabbed Link's weak hand and warped them straight to Kakariko.

#

There were all those times, and so many more.  Zelda has seen how Link rolls with whatever life throws at him.  He views these obstacles as challenges that he's thrilled to prove he can overcome.

She can roll with it too.  She can see this as a challenge.  Yes.  A challenge.  She will get through.  That is assured.

The first thing is that she needs a plan.  Right.  Yes.  A plan.

Step 1. Stop the bleeding, which she can so if she tear a strip from her shirt, and wraps it around her head until she looks absolutely ridiculous.  If the Yiga see her, she'll have bigger problems than feeling embarrassed.

Good.  Yes.  That's a plan.

She blinks blood from her eye.

Step 2. Escape, which she will do...by climbing the wall hanging with which the Yiga have decorated her cell.  Foolish of them actually to leave that there.  The bars of her cell are only twelve feet high, and there's even a helpful ledge on the wall once she's reached that height.  Then she'll simply drop down, and the entrance is right there. 

Perfect.  Right.  That is completely...completely manageable for someone who loves challenges and climbing things and is not amazingly dizzy.

She clenches and unclenches her fists, trying to get more blood flow to her fingers.  She bounces on her toes, and feels immediately lightheaded.  She rolls her shoulders, gathers the whole width of the banner in a fist, and climbs.

[so-i-dont-forget-again]

So I Don’t Forget Again: A Breath of The Wild fanfiction

*My friend, much has happened. The doctors are keeping you on the sleep medicine to see if you can heal without eating, being able to heal slowly would be so helpful for you, they worry about you healing and trapping stones in yourself again, it shouldn’t happen because they are caring for you, but… It would be great to know should you retain injuries like this again. They say the medicine may make your memory fuzzy and I realized you were rushed off to get healed, you never got a chance to write, so I’ll do my best for you! I’ll wright down as much as I can so I don’t miss a single thing. I may not be able to capture your thoughts, but I can recall the moments we shared.

*It was a pleasant surprise to see Kass had come to visit the Domain once more. He spoke of his misadventures with you and Bossa Nova. I always love hearing these tales from him, they show just how much you do, how you’re always fighting on, seemingly without rest, it makes me feel you are nearby. Yet, his last tale, he spoke of how pale you were, how you were so distant, constantly getting lost in thought and how Bossa Nova kept bucking you to get your attention back. You just couldn’t concentrate long on the task he said. He also noted how you held your side stiffly. You’re footing was unsteady, you constantly swaying even when standing. He also told me how you slept for two weeks straight in the shrine. He knew he could not do much except try to find you help, so he came to me. He told me of your plan to come to Lanaru Tower and how you were to pass through Rutala River.

*I left with some fishermen who were going to do their work by Rutala River so I could go search for you.

*I’m so glad I did.

*I found you and Bossa Nova in a fight with some Yiga Clan members. Even with but a fishing spear and not a proper weapon, I believe I was of help, and we were able to drive them off. I was so relieved to see you both, I hugged you close, just so glad you were safe. I was not surprised to see that attack though, the Yiga had been camping by the waters, attacking any zora they see, I can only guess they wish for revenge against me for having a hand in their leader’s demise. Your expression, that horror, it’s etched into my mind and will not go. I assured you that we are all well, and simply sending a guard or two with any party fishing outside of the Domain is enough to protect them. We are all safe.

*I asked you to come sit by the shore with me to just talk for a while. I asked you if you were feeling well. You only said you were feeling very tired. I simply could not believe exhaustion was the only thing plaguing you, it had to be a sign of something bigger, you looked so sick. I realize zoras can withstand the cold better than Hylians, but surely it was not cold enough for you to shiver so violently, right?

*I��d never wish to push you into speaking, but I had to ask if that was all.

*You told me you were scared of yourself. You wondered if you were a monster like a Hinox or Lynel. If you were killed, if you’d turn to purple smoke. I answered sincerely, I don’t believe you’d turn to smoke. You asked me what I thought of them, if they were intelligent creatures like you and I. I think so, I know they can make buildings like us, they can fight like us, they seem to communicate in their own languages, I’ve even seen them horse around with one another before or playing a simple game of kick ball.

*You told me you think you’re a monster.

*You spoke of how the monsters relentlessly chase you, they never stop hunting you, they may be easy to beat, but they never give up, they fight to the death unlike the Yiga who on rarer occasion run. You told me you have that same drive as them, and that you’re weak like them, and you feared it so much. My heart broke hearing how your voice quiver and quaked, so quiet, so tired. You told me how you have this overwhelming need to keep going on this journey. This relentless pursuit you can’t let go of. Even when you feel awful, your thoughts go dark, you just keep going, no matter what. I know it’s not a mindless pursuit, it’s your courage. You keep going even when you're scared, you are so strong to make that choice every waking moment, so many in your place would have collapsed under the pressure of all this, of the Divine Beasts and the Calamity, so many would have been too scared to even consider facing all that you have, they would have run, but you keep choosing to do this no matter how hurt you are. That is your courage, choosing to do that even when you are scared. It’s like being a good person. Even a good person could think about not helping that stranger in need or to do bad things, but they still have the strength to choose to do so, and that’s what makes them good. You by far are the most courageous individual I have ever known… And that means something, to me at least, I knew my sister, Mipha, someone who’d race onto the battlefield to heal all who were injured no matter how dangerous, I believe you are even stronger than her, the strongest person I knew till you came into my life once more.

*You spoke of how weak you were, how you are unsure you’re strong enough to save us all. You told me that you don’t know what’s going to be different this time that will allow you to win your battle against the Calamity. You told me of how you feared that it’d simply take control over the Divine Beasts once more once you approach it. But things are different this time Link, the Princess is in the castle, even right now, holding back the Calamity so it shouldn’t do that, if it could, it likely would have done so by now. I told you if you weren’t strong enough to face the beast, you would not have been placed in the healing chamber that kept you asleep for a hundred years. If you weren’t strong enough, you would not have been placed there in order to beat it now. You asked why you fell in the first place. You said it was surely because you tried to fight it, and you failed, you couldn’t think of any other reason why you’d get so injured. You couldn’t remember why, but you couldn’t think of any other reason. I can think of one, and so I told it to you. You must have fallen when protecting someone, in your memories the princess was struggling with unlocking her power, I bet she only unlocked that power because of you. She must have seen how hard you were working to protect everyone, and when you fell, it ignited something within her allowing her to reach her power. I bet you inspired her; I at least know for certain you inspire me. She must be holding back the Calamity specifically for you, and she only can because of you. You are strong, but even the strongest person can’t handle the fate of the world on their own, no one can, and for a moment a hundred years ago, you did, but even as strong as you are, even you couldn’t handle it. But you are not on your own this time, so this time you can do it. This will work. I know this will work. I realize this may feel like I’m placing pressure on you and I apologize if I am, but I can not think of any other way to describe this.

*Link, you are a hero, a hero working with other heroes, and you all will succeed. You are not alone in this fight, even if you are from time to time in this journey. You are amazing, I know you are strong enough in so many ways to be able to do this.

*You told me you already failed in all those regards. Each and every last one, you had failed.

*You told me you killed Friend, and that you were just going to do so with everyone else. You told me you almost got Bossa Nova killed almost starving him, and asked what was going to stop you from killing everyone else, saying that if it indeed was courage and strength and not maddening pursuit and weakness none of that would matter if you got everyone killed before facing the Calamity. You told me that everyone in Hateno must be dead because of how the Yiga are pursuing my people to get revenge on me and how the villagers in Hateno have no one but you to protect them, but the Yiga are chasing you, so you’d only bring more danger if you left to check on them. You told me that if you went to Rito Village to save their Divine Beast, the Yiga would follow you and kill them all so there was no point in going, but you still find you need to go, that is the pursuit you fear, going anyway, despite knowing the danger you would be bringing. You were just going to get everyone killed, no matter where you went.

*It was like when you spoke of my sister. Your next words were just like that moment. Something within you just caved in and broke. You cried, begging me to not die, to not leave you. You told me you couldn’t take losing anyone else. I honestly did not know what I could do for you, other than hold you tightly and securely. I told you that no matter where I am my thoughts are always with you. Even if not physically, I am with you. I will never leave you.

*You fell asleep in my arms, so Bossa Nova and I took you to the Domain for a proper rest.

*You wouldn’t wake up. For so long. When you finally did, it seemed you had to fight yourself to do so. You needed to see a doctor, even though you can instantly heal by eating, clearly something was wrong.

*You have so many infections eating away at you, it likely spread from your arm to your shoulder, then your side. You told me you were going to be more careful with your arm, you said you’d take better care of yourself, yet this happened. It seems as though this was a long time coming, even before you gave your word, I believe it started back when you were chased by those guardians and your arm was crushed under ruble, that was when it started healing slower and always hurting, right? I would look, but it feels wrong to do so with you asleep, that’s even why I’m writing all this on separate pages. Your journal is your memory, I dare not tamper with it without your explicit permission. The doctors had found your flesh had grown around pebbles that were inside you, even getting attached to them with some connective tissue. When you first came here and were taken to the doctors, it seems your healing capability had already covered this up, so they didn’t find it last time. You also have so many infections they had a difficult time discerning one from another, there was even one they didn’t recognize, thankfully one of the Gerudo woman I had traveled with is a doctor and she decided to stay here a while and recognized what you had gotten, it was an infection she had seen many warriors get from battling with the Yiga, but your case was by far the worst she had ever seen, it must have been when that scythe was stabbed through you, keeping you pinned to the ground. It seems your healing ability more so quickly regenerates your flesh, trapping anything caught within its way, it’s likely how your infection was able to be within you without showing signs. With every battle you got hurt and ate, you healed some of the damage the infection had done, but you could not get rid of it, so it been able to so slowly build up. It was so slow you didn’t even notice how far the pain had spread; you body must have gotten so exhausted trying to fight it off constantly.

*And now here I am, sitting by your bedside, rattling my brain, playing these events over and over searching for even the smallest of details to add.

*The doctors fear missing a part of any of the infections should you heal quickly, they want to keep an eye on you to make sure they got everything. They also said your judgement on pain must be unreliable now, the only way you could have survived without getting help or any anesthetic sooner was for your tolerance for pain to increase, they explained it like going nose blind, smelling something so often you eventually don’t notice it getting so used to it, so feeling the same amount of pain in one place for so long, you likely wouldn’t notice if there was any new pain there so they have to keep an eye on you instead of you telling them what you feel.

*Bossa Nova has refused to get off the extra space of the bed.  On occasion he’ll lick your hand or use your legs as a pillow.

*Link, my dear friend, you are amazing to have gotten this far. I just hope you know that. You are extraordinary, the light of my life.

*I plea with any and all gods that you now finally have a restful sleep. You so deserve it and so much more.

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[jinmukangwrites]

Hope

Prompt: LU discord; Hope, even in the Worst of Times. Over 3k words, different Link than normal, and fight scenes are bonus points.

Warnings: blood, violence, normal Jin things.

Note: idk why I struggled so much with this one so I apologies now if this fic isn't as good as quality as my other fics. I kind of gave up 3k words in and just ended it at 5k. Just. Idk. This was very hard to write gosh darn. 

-o-o-o-o-

"Sun's going down," Wind announces for the third time in the past two minutes. Hyrule watches as Time sighs and looks up at the sky in a 'why me' expression as Sky agrees that the sun is, indeed, going down.

"We need to keep going for a little longer," he says and even Legend groans at that.

Hyrule would also complain but he also gets what Time means by the need to continue. In their travels they have somehow ended up in a deep canyon with cliff walls towering higher than anything Hyrule has seen for a long time. It's a perfect place for an ambush, a perfect place to be cut off and trapped, and even if there are no monsters waiting to attack them, nature could still just as easily kill them with falling rocks or a sudden flood. They need to find a way out of the canyon before they stop to rest.

Sadly, there isn't any way out so far.

No one knows whose world they are in so far, no one recognizes the canyon surrounding them, but that's not surprising either. Monsters and people are no longer in their correct place, structures and lands are starting to merge. Just a week ago, they found a house from Twilight's Kakariko Village smack in the middle or Wilds. This canyon could be a combination of everyone's, or something completely different.

Whatever the case, they need to get out, no matter how much Hyrule's feet hurt and how much he would rather be asleep.

"We'll go till sundown, just an hour more," Twilight puts in and Time gives him a look that he'd rather continue during the night, but Twilight returns a look and Time sighs. Their group are all tired, and if Time makes them travel through the night, Hyrule isn't sure he'll keep from complaining for long.

Wind groans and glares at the sun as if he could scare it into sinking faster while Four gives him a smile that's half sympathetic and half snickering while Wild offers to carry Wind on his back.

Wind doesn't complain then.

Hyrule's feet are aching by the time the sun sinks low enough to cast the world in shadow. The sky is a dark blue color and stars are starting to shine. Finally, Time let's the group stop and set up camp with the conditions that instead of one watch for the night, two at a time would go.

No one disagrees.

Hyrule rubs his feet and shakes dust from his boots as everyone begins to set up their bed rolls. Wild sets Wind—who has fallen asleep—down on some blankets and stands up, stretching his back. He looks at his bed and then sighs, wiping sweat off from his brow. He begins to walk away from the group but is stopped when Twilight grabs his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Twilight demands.

"Out of firewood. Going to go find some," Wild replies simply and Twilight gives him an upfronted look.

"You're exhausted," Time interrupts and Hyrule can't help but agree. Wild may have the most stamina of the group, but he's been carrying the dead weight named Wind for the last hour. He looks like he really needs a full night's rest.

Wild shoots Time an annoyed look. "We need wood-"

"I can go," Hyrule says as he forces himself to his feet. He may be aching but he has more endurance than everyone else in the group besides Wild. He's a better choice to go out than Sky or Legend after all.

"You sure?" Twilight asks just as Wild opens his mouth to protest.

"Yeah, it's no problem."

"You're not going alone," Time says.

"I'll go," Four volunteers.

Hyrule nods and begins to strap his sword and bow to his body. Soon enough, he and Four are strolling through the darkening canyon with nothing but tumbleweeds and half decayed trees as any source of wood. Thankfully, they have been finding sticks and branches here and there and they have piled up a good amount. They have been working in companionable silence for most of the task, only exchanging words here and there.

Hyrule hefts his small pile of wood and turns back to where Four is picking up another dried branch. "I think we have enough," Hyrule says. Four turns back to him and is about to reply, but suddenly he's stumbling back and calling out in pain and surprise as a rather large arrow hits his shoulder.

"Four!" Hyrule yells and drops his sticks. He pulls out his own shield just in time to block an arrow that had been heading right towards his heart. He sprints over to where Four is struggling to get out his bow, the only sign that he recognizes that there's an arrow in his shoulder is the painful pulling in his eyebrows.

Hyrule catches another arrow with his shield and looks over towards where the fire is coming from. Across the canyon is a red glow, fluttering paper, and a person materializing out of thin air.

"Yiga," Hyrule says, dropping his shield for just a second so he could shoot an arrow over to their attacker. He growls when the assassins disappears with a happy chuckle before the arrow can hit it's mark.

"No," Four growls and fires off in another direction. There's a screech and a leathery body falls from a hiding spot high up on the cliff wall. A Bokoblin. "Not just the Yiga."

There's a howl and a wolf creature that Hyrule has never seen before starts sprinting towards Hyrule, slobber dripping from it's snout and claws stained yellow. There's more than one enemy, all from different time periods.

The wolf jumps up at Hyrule and he's just able to bring up his shield, but an arrow whips past and slices through the top of his shoulder, sending waves of stinging pain up his neck. He shoves the wolf to the ground and whips his sword out and buries it into the skull of the wolf before it can attack again.

"Hyrule!" Four screams and Hyrule whips around just in time to see Four get grabbed by skeletal hands below him. Stalifols.

He starts to run towards Four, who is being forced down to the ground by multiple hands, but he's stopped when a body appears out of nowhere and kicks him in the gut.  Hyrule gasps and the Yiga assassin chuckles as Hyrule gets grabbed from behind. Hyrule struggles in the grasp, seeing that another assassin, a bigger one, is the one whose grabbed him.

He viciously tries to rip his arms out from the grasp, but a kick to the back of his knees sends him down and his sword is torn from his grasp. His wrists are grabbed and are eventually tugged behind his back, coarse leather begins to be wrapped around them.

Hyrule frantically looks over to where Four has been completely restrained to the ground by the stalifols, where the other Yiga is casually strolling over with a long leather cord in their hands.

They don't want to kill Hyrule and Four. They want to take hostages.

Hyrule snarls and in one last attempt to get free, he slams his head backwards and hits the Yiga hard, making them stumble back and weaken their grasp on Hyrule. He tears his hands free from the half done knots and snatches his sword from the ground. In the blink of an eye, he spins around and buries his sword into the Yiga's stomach. He let's the assassin fall to the ground with the sword still impaling him as he turns and loses an arrow all in a couple moments. The arrow hits its mark, violently slamming into the back of the other Yiga's neck.

The stalifols makes a distressed whine before they let go of Four and bury themselves back into the ground.

Hyrule is left standing there, breathing hard, as the two Yiga drop to the ground dead.

He's just killed two people. Monsters are one thing... but these are people. The urge to vomit climbs up his throat, but he forces himself to ignore it as Four groans and struggles to stand up. He has a hand clutching around where the arrow has pierced his shoulder.

"You okay?" Hyrule asks. Four shakes his head but he has a determined gleam in his eyes. He opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off from an angry roar coming from where the camp is set up.

"The others," Four whispers. Four grabs the shaft of the arrow and breaks off the the end before he turns and sprints away. Hyrule is close at his heels.

-o-o-o-o-

Hyrule does his best not to breathe too hard or gasp as he and Four hide behind a boulder. There are more monsters, way more than what they can handle. Proof of that? The others have all be captured, which Hyrule doubts was very easy to do. There are bodies of Bokoblins and other creatures littering the ground, but as many as there are dead there are standing. Some creatures Hyrule doesn't recognize, green troll like ones with large horns riding on boars, lizard like monsters with slimy skin and sharp claws. He can see more stalifols, more Yiga, more of those wolf monsters, all walking around the destroyed camp ground like the owned the place.

There's one more monster, the reason why Hyrule and Four hasn't even attempted to leave their cover and rescue them.

A Lynel, but one Hyrule has never seen before. It's fur is a bright gold and it's fangs drip with blood. A large club sits against it's back and the biggest bow Hyrule has ever seen is clutched in it's massive paws.

Monsters working together is one thing, but monsters working with a Lynel is a whole other ballpark.

"What do we do?" Four whispers and Hyrule shakes his head because he has no clue. There are enemies everywhere and the rest of their group are all bound hand and foot on the ground, separate and with guards by each of them as the Yiga go around looking through their stuff. Time looks pale as a Yiga soldier pulls out a collection of masks out from his bag and Legend is snarling and having to held down as a Bokoblin curiously dumps the contents of Legend's bag on the ground. No one looks too hurt, just scratched up. Hyrule's guess is that all the dead monsters on the ground were sent in just to tire everyone out, and then they sent in the Lynel. They were either captured or they surrendered after that.

The only one who looks really injured is Wild, and Hyrule's stomach drops when he understands why. The Yiga seem to be leading the ambush and there are more of them than the other monsters, they are more intelligent too. Intelligence holds grudges. Wild is lying exhausted on the ground, not even struggling in his bonds as blood drips down his various wounds. His hands are wrapped in rubber and the leather rope is already cutting into his flesh from the tightness. Twilight is constantly looking back and forth from Wild and the green, horned monster who sat on the largest boar from his group.

"I thought you changed," hisses Twilight, and the monster laughs.

"I told you," it says. Its voice is surprisingly clear though it's very deep and seems to be caught in its throat, "I follow the strongest side! You're no longer superior!"

The other green Bokoblin-like monsters gurgle lighter. Twilight looks over to the Yiga member who seems to be the leader judging by their stature and weapons on their body. Hyrule is wondering probably the exact thing Twilight is: are these assassins the ones who are more superior? Or is it someone else?

"Hyrule," Four whispers and Hyrule looks away from their captive members down towards Four. He's bleeding still, the arrow shaft still dug into his shoulder, looking painful. Hyrule knew they need to get some sort of health potion soon or Four will be more than a little pale and in pain.

"I'm thinking," he whispers back.

Wind swearing and spitting insults no young man should know brings Hyrule's attention back to the scene before them. A Bokoblin is lifting up Wind as the boy struggles and spits in his bonds, everyone starts snarling threats and insults but it goes ignored as Wind is placed stomach down on a riderless boar. Legend puts up more of a fight when it's his turn to be lifted, it takes three monsters to carry him and tie him down next to Wind. They begin to lift the others one by one.

They're packing them up. Taking them somewhere.

"We need all nine," the leader Yiga growls suddenly as Wild is carried like dead weight with Twilight and Time over to another boar. Hyrule swallows and he shrinks further behind the rock he is hiding behind.

"He won't be happy with seven," another Yiga says. Hyrule barely has time to wonder who "he" is before the leader sighs and waves at the large green creature Twilight has been snarling at earlier.

In seconds, the boars and monsters all start heading down further into the canyon as the moon begins to rise. Hyrule and Four and left there, wondering what in the world they are going to do.

-o-o-o-o-

Four hisses as Hyrule spreads a homemade paste on his shoulder. He had to push the broken arrow through Fours back, so now there are two serious wounds with little to no medical supplies to do anything about it. Four is pale, but the bandages and makeshift stitch work Hyrule managed to scavenge up from their destroyed camp has saved Four's life… for now.

"We need to follow after them," Hyrule says as he finishes up spreading the paste. He gets out the bandages and starts to unroll it.

"And do what?" Four growls and sucks in a breath and Hyrule moves his arm so he can get a better angle for the bandages. "There's too many of them."

"We can't just leave them."

"But it's suicide."

"We're heroes of courage, we'll find a-"

"So are they!" Four snaps. "You saw them, they were all helpless. Those monsters know how to fight us."

Hyrule scowls. "We will find a way."

"You saw Wild. All that blood on him and no wound. He was exhausted. You know what that means? They killed him. They know our powers, our weaknesses, our- ow!"

"Sorry," Hyrule says and stands up from his work. He glances around the camp and smiles when he sees something glittering in the moonlight. "We'll be just fine."

He walks over to the object and picks it up, admiring the way the light of the moon shines blue on the blade. Of course the Master Sword wouldn't let evil take her, she would stay behind to help rescue the others.

-o-o-o-o-

It isn't hard to track the monsters, they caught seven out of nine heroes, what do they have to be stealthy about? Hyrule and Four find signs of them everywhere as they go through the canyon and eventually out of it. There's footsteps in the moist ground from the morning dew, there's broken branches with tufts of fur when a boar rubs too close to a tree. The undergrowth is trampled and there's not a single sign of animal life around.

An entire day passes and Hyrule has resorted to carrying Four on his shoulders even though he himself is exhausted. The monsters may have not cared to cover their tracks, but they also don't seem to care about stopping for a break. The sun is sinking again and Four hardly has his eyes open anymore, the bandages on his shoulder are starting to turn brown with dirt and sweat.

For a second, he thinks that he should stop. That it's useless. There's no point in going on, if these monsters are able to take down Time and Warrior and Wild and all of them, there is nothing Hyrule and Four can do, even with the master sword.

He shakes his head, desperate to keep those thoughts away. He can't lose hope, especially now when everyone needs him.

He pushes on.

-o-o-o-o-

Hyrule is close to collapsing when he finally manages to catch up to the monsters and their captives. They have been trudging through the dark forest for hours on end, the moon is high in the sky once again. Four hasn't done anything but slowly blink and say one worded answers whenever Hyrule asks him anything, which Hyrule is worried about, but he is forced to push that out of his mind as he comes to a edge of a clearing against the face of a cliff. In the middle of the cliff wall is a giant stone door where two Yiga stand guard.

"Are… they in there?" Four asks tiredly.

Hyrule slowly lowers them both to the ground and Four groans when his shoulder is shifted. Hyrule has to find a fairy or health potion… and fast.

"You stay here, I'm going in," Hyrule says. He's about to stand up and take out the guards when Four grabs his sleeve.

"They're going to kill you…" he says, his voice is so quiet and weak. It's funny how a simple arrow wound could do that with time and no medical equipment. "You're exhausted."

"I can't just leave them."

Four gives him a disbelieving look before he lets out a groan and closes his eyes.

"Go kick ass," he says simply.

Hyrule nods and slowly pushes himself to his feet.

-o-o-o-o-

The two Yiga guards are easy to take out, which doesn't bode well since Hyrule can barely walk straight and he'd think a group who has managed to capture seven of his companions would have better security measures.

The stone doors take a lot of energy out of him, but he manages to pry them open enough for him to squeeze through. Inside, he is met with a long, stone hallway with torches hanging near the ceiling. It's eerily silent, nothing but a somewhat steady rhythm of dropping water to break the quiet. The hall is empty, yet long. A feeling of foreboding washes over him and he swallows nervously.

He wonders where the Lynel is.

He slowly walks down the hallway, his feet tapping the damp brick floor lightly and the Master Sword held out in his hands. He meets no one.

His heart is pounding, and it's force increases with each step. It's getting difficult to breath and he's sure he's about to hyperventilate when he finally comes to a hall perpendicular to main one. He tilts his head around the corner and is met with just another long expanse of walkway. Although, there's doors connected to this one.

He sucks in a breath of stale air and begins to walk down, but the sound of someone else's footsteps crash through the silence and his throat bobs with anticipation and fear. He grabs the handle of the nearest door and, thank Hylia, it opens. He closes it behind him and flattens himself against the wall as the footsteps and small chatter of his enemy walks past. He lets out a sigh of relief when it falls quiet again, and he's about to leave when a small whine reaches his ears.

He turns his gaze from the door and his eyes widen when he sees a familiar wolf tied down and locked in a small cage in the corner of the room. A muzzle is placed over its snout and a strange collar is wrapped tight around its neck. The Wolf looks up at him with wide, gleaming, tired eyes.

"Wolfie," Hyrule breathes out.

The animal lifts its head and lets out a small, muffled bark before it gets to its paws. It presses against the cage and Hyrule notices chains looping around its paws and the bars.

"You poor thing," Hyrule whispers as he crosses the room. He kneels down next to the cage and finds the latch. The wolf watches him with its blue eyes as Hyrule works on opening the door. It remains still as Hyrule begins to work on the muzzle and chains.

The moment the wolf is free, it jumps out of the cage and lifts its paws above its neck and scratches at the collar. Frustrated growls rumble through the air over to Hyrule.

"Let me help you…" Hyrule says as he puts his hands down on the wolf's neck. He whips his hands away quickly when the wolf turns and bears sharp teeth in a snarl. Hyrule swallows nervously and holds up his arms. The wolf has never been hostile to him before…

Suddenly, the wolf cuts off the growling and almost looks ashamed. It slowly pads towards Hyrule and lowers its head, ears flat against it's skull. Hyrule slowly lowers his hands back onto the collar and when the wolf doesn't attack, he gets to work at unlocking the uncomfortable looking equipment.

When the collar finally snaps off, something surprising and totally unexpected happens.

The wolf changes, and in a blink of an eye, Twilight is standing there and rubbing his neck angrily.

"Wh-"

"We'll talk about it later," Twilight growls, and for the first time Hyrule can recognize the voice of a beast in his friends speech, "the others, we need to find them."

"Y-yeah…"

-o-o-o-o-

"Over here," Twilight says and Hyrule struggles to keep up. The enemies base is a maze and Hyrule is honestly surprised that Twilight even knows where he's going. "Wild is over here…"

Hyrule swallows and follows after. He feels like his legs are going to give out, but the others are too important. They have to save them. Twilight has told him a little about what has happened, and none of it is good. Every single hero has been rendered powerless and they have been separated throughout the maze like base until Hyrule and Four could be found. Wild has received the worst of it though, with the Champion's powers, the Yiga have taken special care to render Wild completely helpless. One of the techniques they've used is killing him every ten or fifteen minutes, just to keep him exhausted. Hyrule doesn't think he can handle figuring out how many times Wild has been murdered in cold blood in the past day and a half.

"How do you know he's over here," Hyrule gasps. Twilight puts a finger to his lips and shoves Hyrule against the wall and shifts into a wolf again. Before Hyrule can say anything, Twilight lurches forward and jumps on a Bokoblin that Hyrule somehow hasn't noticed was walking around the corner. Twilight tears into its throat and the monster goes still a few seconds later.

For some reason, Hyrule feels sick to his stomach.

Twilight lifts his snout and sniffs the air before he turns back into his Hylian form. "I can smell him," he says simply as he wipes black blood from his mouth, then he continues his sprint down the hall. Hyrule follows after, not inclined to argue.

They turn multiple corners and dash down long hallways for what felt like hours until Twilight stops in his tracks right outside a door that looks like any other the the hostile maze. Twilight slowly puts his hand on the door, looking pale, and pushes it open. Hyrule instantly wants to gag at the smell of blood that hits him, but all he can do is stare with wide eyes as Twilight sprints across the room towards where Wild is hanging limp from the ceiling, his wrists bloodied from the tight manacles holding him a foot off the ground.

"Cub-" Twilight chokes out and reaches up to undo Wild's restraints. There's so much blood. It's painting the walls and pooling on the ground. It's soaking Wild's clothes and staining his skin. Hyrule wants to throw up.

Wild blinks his eyes like it's the hardest thing in the world to do as Twilight finally releases him and lowers him to the ground. There isn't a wound to be seen, but Wild looks like he's at death's door.

"Wild, talk to me-" Twilight says and brushes Wild's soaked hair from his face.

Wild looks up to him… and smirks.

Alarms scream at Hyrule and he gets the sudden urge to get the hell out of there, but he's rooted to the ground as Twilight is thrown across the room and slammed into the wall by a Yiga soldier, Wild is nowhere to be seen. Twilight looks horrified and Hyrule can't believe they forgot that the Yiga are experts of disguise.

Hyrule whips his hand down to the Master Sword and unsheathes it, but the Yiga pulls a knife out and shoves it under Twilight's jaw.

There's the sound of clapping behind him.

Hyrule spins around and sees nothing but shadows.

But then, the Shadows blink red.

"There you are," the Shadow says, smirking. It steps forward and a group of monsters follow after it. Hyrule's stomach drops when he sees Four and Wild, both unconscious and held up by the enemies. "Now, I have all nine."

-o-o-o-o-

"Dark Link," Twilight hisses and the Yiga soldier presses the knife further against his throat. Hyrule swallows nervously and takes a step back as the Shadow approaches further. A Lizalfols makes an excited gurgle as the Shadow pulls out a dark sword of its own.

"Are you scared of me?" The Shadow asks with eyes gleaming playfully.

Hyrule lifts the sword up higher and raises his chin even though he feels so very small. His heart is pounding so loud he's sure everyone can hear it, but he's going to stand his ground. He's not going to give up.

He's not-

The Shadow lunges and Hyrule just manages to block the blow. It's gotten better. Stronger than the last time he's fought it. Hyrule digs his feet into the ground and shoves the Shadow off of him, but the Shadow just whips it's sword forward again. The sharp blade slices through Hyrule's shirt and he stumbles backwards. He is just able to protect himself as another swing of the sword comes down on him. The Shadow leans forward, grinning.

"It's taken forever for my plan to come together," it says, "so many years of trying to kill each version of you, of trying to get here. You're death will bring him back to this world."

Hyrule feels chills run down his spine. Him?

"Ganon?" He whispers. He remembers, his last adventure when he set out to awaken Zelda from her sleep. The monsters wanted to catch him and sacrifice him to revive their leader. "You want to bring back Ganon?"

The Shadow laughs and kicks Hyrule in his stomach. Hyrule falls back and rolls out of the way of another kick.

"That loser? He's a disgrace," the Shadow yells and Hyrule scrambles to his feet. He can see Twilight glaring daggers but his attention is brought back to the Shadow as he blocks another blow with the Master Sword. "He's a failure. No, what will happen is that all nine of you will die, and the real evil will return. Demise. He will reign free."

Hyrule feels terror take control. Demise. The name sends shivers down his spine and he has no idea why, or who it is. Everyone talks about Ganon, or Ganondorf, or Calamity Ganon, but Demise? It sounds evil and dark, unbeatable.

The Shadow is grinning and the monsters behind it are chuckling and shuffling their feet in excitement and for a moment, Hyrule almost drops the sword and gives up there. He's terrified. He doesn't know why. He needs to fight but he can't. He's not like the others. He is just a simple traveler, he can't do this. He should give up there, save the energy…

But then, he sees Four weakly blink his eyes open and Twilight snarl at the Yiga assassin and glare at the Shadow with the power of a thousand suns. The sword feels heavy in his hands but he tightens his grip.

This time, he's the one who swings, the one to get blocked. Red eyes widen in surprise but Hyrule continues on. He's fought this demon before. He's beaten it before. He can do it again. He has help now, he has people he needs to protect.

He has hope.

[katedoesfics]

Shadows of the Yiga | Chapter 13

Revali didn’t leave until Aryll got home from school, and it wasn’t without him raiding Link’s fridge of most of his beer as ‘payment for babysitting.’ Link didn’t argue with him, and in fact, felt a sense of relief to know that there was less beer in there, which meant less of a temptation for him. Of course, nothing was stopping him from going out and restocking, but the idea didn’t really cross his mind as he was too anxious to see Mipha again.

At some point during the day, Kit had called to check up on him, making Link vow to never show his ‘ugly mug’ in his bar again. He seemed satisfied with Link’s promise, even going so far to promise not to serve him if he ever stumbled in again.

Aryll seemed genuinely relieved to see her brother when she got home, but otherwise, she said nothing about their interaction that morning. All in all, she appeared to be in a good mood, humming to herself in the kitchen as she made them both peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

It was then when Mipha poked her head into the kitchen. She stepped in and rolled her eyes at them as they turned to her from the couch. There was a box in her hands.

“Is this what your diet consists of?” she said with a frown. “Are you ten?”

Aryll bit into her dinner with a grin. “And pizza,” she said as she chewed. She took a moment to swallow before speaking again, looking between her and Link. “What are you doing here?”

She raised the box and sighed. “Pizza.”

Aryll threw herself over the couch excitedly. “It’s a good diet,” she said. “I’ve got all my nutrients.” She took the pizza from Mipha, setting it on the table and taking a slice. “So,” she started slowly between bites. “Are you guys back together or something?”

Mipha hesitated. She turned her gaze to Link, who was letting his arms dangle over the edge of the couch. He pointed at his sister.

“Pizza.”  

“Get off your ass and get it yourself,” she sneered at him. She made a dramatic display of shoving her own pizza into her mouth before turning back to Mipha. “Yeah?”

Link sighed and dragged his feet across the room, but before he could grab a slice, Mipha pulled the box away with a sly smile.  

“That depends,” she said.

“Gimme,” Link said simply.

Aryll looked between them, her brow raised. “Depends on what?”

“How badly he wants pizza,” Mipha said, grinning.

“An interesting ultimatum,” Aryll said, her hand on her chin. “But do you really want to force him to be with you for pizza?”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

“That’s a terrible relationship.” Link grabbed the box from her and yanked it out of her hands. He took a slice and immediately shoved it in his mouth. “But I accept your proposition.”

 “Congratulations,” Aryll said dryly. “You’re stuck with him, you know. He’s your problem now.”

“It was much more romantic the first time,” Mipha said.

“You conned me for pizza,” Link reminded her. “How is that romantic?”

“Should I get on one knee and offer you another slice?”

Link grinned. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Mipha sighed. She took a slice, got on one knee, and shook her head. “This is what my life has come to, apparently.”

“That’s so sweet,” Link said. He took the slice from her and pulled her back to her feet, planting a kiss on her lips. He pulled away quickly to devour his next slice.

“Did you miss that?” Aryll said, rolling her eyes. “Did you really, honestly miss this idiot’s bullshit?”

“Love makes you do weird shit,” Mipha said.

“Well.” Aryll picked up her bag from the corner of the room and swung it on her shoulder. “You guys have fun being weird. I have finals to study for.”

When she heard Aryll’s door close, Mipha pulled Link toward her, kissing him once more, but after a moment, he pulled away.

“You know the rule,” he said. “Pizza first. Sex later.”

Mipha rolled her eyes. “It’s like nothing ever changed,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “Honestly. Who puts pizza before sex?”

“You’ve had pizza, right?”

Mipha cocked a brow. “You’ve had sex, right?”

Link paused to consider this for a moment. “They’re comparable.”

“Well, see if I give you pizza or sex ever again.”

Link frowned. “That’s cruel. You’re a monster.”

“You know,” she started. “We’ve never had makeup sex.”

Link’s eyes widened. “I’ve heard incredible stories about that,” he said. “I thought they were just fairytales.”

Mipha smiled. “You sure you want to pass that up?”

Link look towards the pizza, then back to her. “I guess I can have pizza any day.”

Mipha grinned. “You’re an idiot.” She took his hand. “Come on,” she said. “I have a tiny apartment with a shared wall that doesn’t have your sister on the other side.”

“Good plan.”

*****

The rest of the week went without further incident. Link fell back into his usual routine at work, and though he originally found it dull, he came to appreciate the normality of it all, especially considering the depression he had fallen into. For once, life felt almost normal again. Though he was still working two jobs and barely keeping up payments on the house, the world felt right again. The weight of his responsibilities didn’t feel so heavy. A part of him knew the feeling would likely not last long, but he wanted to enjoy his moment of happiness for as long as he could. He wanted to forget his worries for as long as life would allow him. Mipha was back in his life, his friends were coming back to the city, and everything felt the way it should.

When Saturday finally came, he found himself in the company of his friends, standing around the firepit in the backyard as the first stars of twilight began to show themselves. Aryll was speaking excitedly with Mipha and Urbosa on one side, while on the other side, Revali passed out cigars to Link and Daruk.

“ Well, here we are,” he said with a sigh as he blew out smoke. “The boys are back in town.”

 “I heard you’re sticking around,” Daruk said. “I didn’t know you were so in love with Link.”

“What can I say?” Revali said. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

“He’s in the mafia or something,” Link said. “He’s here on business to bust some kneecaps.”

 Daruk raised a brow. “For real?”

“He tried to drag me into it,” Link continued with a nod. “I think he might be considering blackmail.”

“Why does everyone assume I’m doing something shady?” Revali whined.

“Because you won’t tell anyone what you do for a damn living,” Daruk said.

Revali grinned and brought his cigar to his mouth. “The less you know, the better.”

“He’s working for the Yiga Clan,” Link said. “I’m sure of it.”

“It makes sense,” Daruk said thoughtfully. “Getting some dirt on you. Trying to lure you into their trap.”

“Please,” Revali said. “What would they want with that dirtbag?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Daruk said dryly. “Maybe the Triforce?”

Revali considered this. “Wait. Let’s be real for a second.”

“We weren’t?” Link muttered.

“That’s a totally plausible explanation,” Revali continued.

Daruk raised a brow. “That you’re working for the Yiga?”

“No, no,” Revali said quickly, waving them off. “No, I mean. The Yiga were once Sheikah. They’re followers of Ganondorf. So, wouldn’t that be their main directive? Get the Triforce and bust Ganondorf out of his seal.”

“This is true,” Daruk said. “But, we’ve also never encountered them, even when we were running around Hyrule closing portals.” He shrugged. “Maybe they’re really not a threat.”

Revali shook his head. “I don’t buy it,” he said. “Dorian and Rusl had beef, remember? Dorian’s up to something. Maybe he’s keeping things quiet.”

Link stared into the flames. “I thought we agreed not to worry about the Yiga Clan?” he muttered.

“How about the Termina festival, then?” Revali pressed. “King Roham kept that real nice and quiet. Come on, Link, your father -”

“Enough,” Link snapped at him. He hesitated as Revali fell silent. He turned his gaze back to the fire. “I told him I would stay out of it,” he said softly. “Zelda’s convinced Dorian is innocent. I promised her I would drop all of it.”

“You sound like a conspiracy theorist,” Daruk said to Revali. “Link’s right. If they were an issue, they would be an issue by now. They wouldn’t be silent for ten years. They would actually be relevant.”

Revali didn’t press the matter further, mainly due to the fact that he did not want to upset Link any further. While he had not originally meant it to be a serious accusation, the more he thought about it, the more uneasy it made him. Still, he pushed those thoughts aside and changed the topic.

“So, are you gonna work for me or not?”

 “Not,” Link said.

 “Why not?” Revali whined.

“I have absolutely no skills worthy of any job,” Link said. “The fuck do you want me for? I don’t need the pity party.”

“Dude. I’m making you work for this money. There’s no pity party.”

“All the money in the world -”

“One hundred,” he said quickly. “One-double-oh.”

“Dude,” Daruk said. “Take it and run.”

“I’ll be running for my life,” Link said. “He won’t even tell me what the damn job is.”

“Fine,” Revali said. “Look. All I need from you is your signature. Sign the papers I give you, and that’s it. Literally all you need to do. You can sit in a big fancy office all to yourself for eight hours a day, sign some papers, and go home to bed on your pile of cash.”

Link stared at him for a moment, then narrowed his gaze. “Signing what?”

“Documents,” Revali said. “You just sign them. Don’t read. Just sign.”

“What the fuck…” Daruk murmured under his breath.

“That’s shady as fuck, man,” Link said.

“And that’s why we have lawyers,” Revali said with a grin. “To cover our asses.”

“Hylia, I don’t even want to know,” Link said, shaking his head. “Leave me out of your shady ass business.”

Revali shrugged. “You’ll come around sooner or later,” he said. He winked at him. “They always do.”

“Don’t do it, Link,” Urbosa said, shaking her head as she caught the end of their conversation. “I won’t let you.”

Mipha frowned. “Do what?”

 “Work for Revali,” Urbosa said, placing a hand on her hip. “I checked the contract you’d have to sign. You’d be lucky if you only had to give up your left nut.”

“That’s my favorite one,” Link said with a playful pout.

 “Who really reads contracts, anyway?” Revali muttered.

“I do,” Urbosa said. “That’s my job.”

“Hey, you’re my lawyer, not Link’s.”

“Free advice,” Urbosa said, turning her attention to Link. “Don’t do it.”

“Why you gotta ruin everything for me, woman?” Revali barked at her.

Urbosa grinned. “Why do you need to be working for such a shady company?”

“Because they know how to pay.”

“Revali, you could go to jail.”

Revali waved her off. “They keep me protected.”

“Come on,” Daruk pressed. “You gotta give us more than that.”

“Alright, alright,” Revali said. His voice lowered and he looked between his friends as if he were about to reveal kingdom secrets. “My company is the largest company in the industry of producing energy, to put it simply. They do everything from oil to gas to solar and other various clean energies.” He air quoted this last part.

The group was silent for a moment, staring at him.

“That’s… that’s it?” Daruk raised an unconvinced brow.

“That’s it,” Revali said simply.

“That’s it on paper,” Urbosa said. “But what they do in the dark is a totally different story.”

“So, what do you do, exactly?” Aryll asked.

 “I oversee all transactions,” Revali said. “Contracts come across my desk and I implement them. I send out jobs all over the world.”

 “So, why do you need Link?” Mipha asked.

“To sign off on contracts I can’t.”

 “And why can’t you?” Daruk asked, narrowing his gaze.

“Because I’m too closely involved in the company. Link would be acting as, say, an outside employee.”

“To sign off on the shadier jobs,” Link said. “So that when your company gets sued, I’m the one going down.”

“That’s why we have lawyers,” Revali reminded him. “To cover your ass.”

“You’re insane.”

 “I am not representing you,” Urbosa snarled. “Link’s right. You are insane.”

 “You would slander the name of the hero?” Link said.

“That’s exactly it,” Revali said. “There’s no way the hero would be involved in anything questionable. They see your signature and all their doubts and worries wash away.”

“Right,��� Link said dryly. “That’s exactly it. No problem at all.”

“What I tell ya?”

 “Not happening.”

“It’s not like it’s that big of a deal,” Revali said. “We have other people that do this. I just need someone in my new office.”

“So take whoever you had before.”

“Can’t,” Revali said. “He’s in jail.”

 Link just stared at him.

 “He’s in jail for trafficking drugs!” Revali said in a exasperated tone. “Goddesses!”

“Did your company have him do that?” Daruk asked.

“The point is,” Revali started, blatantly ignoring Daruk’s question. “It’s not as bad as ya’ll are making it out to be.”

 “No, I think it’s that bad,” Urbosa said.

 “Dude,” Daruk started. “How did you even get involved in that?”

 “Headhunters,” Revali said proudly. “They saw my skill and worth. I am a valuable asset.”

“What skill?”

“They had me doing the same shady ass job in my early days,” Revali said.

“So you admit it’s shady?” Urbosa said.

Revali ignored her. “I proved myself and I got promoted.” He crossed his arms. “If you don’t want the shit jobs, you gotta prove your worth.”

“So, now I get the shit job?” Link said.

“Don’t look at it that way,” Revali said. “See it as a stepping stone.”

 “To a future in jail.”

“Whatever,” Revali said, crossing his arms. “I don’t want you to work for me, anyway.”

 “So, how’s the apartment?” Urbosa said to Mipha. “Glad to be back?”

 Mipha frowned. “My neighbors are either having an affair with the pizza delivery guy, or they really like to roleplay.”

“Why don’t you just move in with Link?”

Mipha’s cheeks reddened and Link made a sound of disgust.

“Wow,” Daruk muttered. “Tense.”

“I don’t need to live with two women,” Link said, narrowing his eyes at his sister.

“Hey, fuck you, man,” Aryll said.

“He’s right,” Revali said, coming to his defense. “That’s double the PMS. Nobody needs that shit.”

“Move forward in your relationship!” Urbosa barked at them.

“We’ve been together a week,” Link said. “At that rate, we’ll be married by next weekend.”

Urbosa rolled her eyes. “You’ve been together forever. You might as well be.”

“Don’t do it,” Revali said. “It’s a trap. Teba got married, had a kid, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“That must be so hard for you,” Urbosa said dryly.

“Don’t worry,” Link started. “I won’t fall into that trap.”

Mipha sighed and turned to Urbosa. “Do you have any single guy friends?”

Urbosa grinned. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll get him to come around.”

“That sounds like a threat,” Revali said, and Urbosa winked at Link.

And under the stars muffled by city lights, the night went on.

[brownkamm]

The ‘Failed’ Sacrifice 

~ Ooooiii, hows it going fairies? I've been recently doing research & thought about BOTW 2 and the small cutscenes we get to see. And, of course, lots of theories have come out to figure out just WHAT exactly happened to Ganondorf & why he's dried out like a prune under Hyrule Castle 🏰 So join me in this semi-long theory of what I think happened to not only Ganondorf, but the Zonai Tribe as well... Also, your free to have your agreements & disagreements in the comments. Just...don't get harmful 😅 Alright, let's talk about the Zonai Tribe. Who were they and how did NEARLY their entire race mysteriously disappear? I say NEARLY because I believe their people still live, but I'll get to that a bit later. As we know, the Zonai were Ancient Warlike People during their time in Hyrule, though it seemed their people were pretty hidden from if not all, but most of those in Hyrule before Calamity Ganon struck. We also know that, thanks to the Barbarian Armor you can acquire in the game, that they were a strong Tribe and clearly from the 3 Labyrinths you can find in Gerudo Desert, Herbra Plains & behind Robbie's lab, they were clearly WAY more advanced than most Hylians, kinda like the Sheikah Clan, but... the real question is: if they were such a great and strong tribe...how did they go extinct (or to me, NEARLY extinct) ∆∇∆ - here's my main points I want to stick with: ONE: The Zonai & The Sheikah Clan had some kind of connection to one another. TWO: They "mysteriously" disappeared all at once because of a great sacrifice they made to keep Ganondorf locked away. THREE: The mysterious blue/green hand we see on Ganondorf heart before grabbing Link to help Zelda & him up was a way to stop Demise's cycle. Because...no reincarnation. No curse. FOUR: Someone, moreover the Sheikah, was close to the Royal Family who could have possibly tricked Ganondorf into going under the castle to "have the upper hand" on Hyrule. [C]∆∇∆ Okay, so let's start with the first. I believe the Zonai & The Sheikah Clan had some kind of connections with one another, though it seemed the tribe were seemingly standoffish to most of Hyrule. I say this because if you enter in any of labyrinths, what's the first thing you see? Specifically, in the air. [IMG=C8H] [CIU]Guardian Skywatchers. And I think we can all agree that sometimes these things can be annoying to shoot down, especially if you have terrible aim like me 🙂, but that's not the point. Now I know most may say: "Those could have been placed there AFTER The Zonai disappeared" And that could be true, which is why I'm not 100% sold on them working together, BUT, say for instance if that wasn't the case. Say if someone was so convincing to the tribe that they could help them achieve the one goal they had in mind: Stopping Ganondorf. Now, I say it may have been the Sheikah who leaned onto the Zonai because it was clear 100 years ago that Zelda's Triforce wasn't awaking & without a Royal Psychic ( which is usually ONE of the women in the Royal Family, possible Zelda's mother ) they were desperate for a way to get more time so Zelda could awaken her power since her mother couldn't teach her. Now, I say Zelda's mother could have been the one with the psychic ability because it's said that some females in the Hyrule Family have this magic stood upon them & pass down their knowledge of the next generation shows signs, meaning that not ALL princesses & queens of Hyrule have this ability. As we know, Zelda's mother died when she was only 6 from a mysterious illness & she didn't have a chance to learn her teachings. Some even theorize that she was poisoned by someone close to the Royal Family who could have been a Yiga Spy, but I don't know. It's not impossible considering the time era Legend of Zelda takes place in for if you were someone with such HIGH standard, you would have a lot of enemies & needed to watch who you kept close to you... Now without Zelda's mother's ability, the Sheikah were at a standstill. Their Clan was already split into two: The Sheikah and The Yiga Clan from their technology being thrown away because the Royal Family feared of them overthrowing them, so without their greatest inventions of this time era, they needed something that could assist Zelda while she searched for that THING to help unlock her power...which leads me to the Zonai. It's clear the Zonai were around before and during The Great Calamity, but not after..or so it's said. I believe that the Sheikah, without telling the King Rhoam or Zelda of their plan, went to the Ancient Tribe and realized they had the same idea of getting rid of Ganondorf once and for all to stop the endless cycle of this curse. Now, I can't fully say WHAT the labyrinths were for. Maybe a test for Link, but they feared others would go near it and enter themselves? (Which I think might have been possible because if you interact with anyone who notices the Sheikah Slate on Link's hip after awaking, they always say something along the lines of "That's A Sheikah Slate" And never really "THE Sheikah Slate". If there was only ONE in existence, wouldn't they say THE instead of A? Idk) Maybe they just wanted to keep outsiders out & insured that with a long & complicated maze? Or maybe they were doing their Ancient Art Magic in each area to see if it were a good place to hold the King of The Desert? ( and yes, I know, from one of Link's memories that Zelda tried to enter, but didn't have access. Could it possible that the shrines were only made for Link? Or maybe that particular Sheikah Slate is like the Master Sword and only responds to him because it only has one task: assisting the hero.) Regardless of what the labyrinths were for, it's clear that the Sheikah have left their mark on these ancient artifacts and knew of more knowledge on this tribe than anyone else.Now remember, the Zonai worshiped the Water Dragon, AKA Farosh 🐉 so they were clearly those who trusted somewhat in The Golden Goddesses...maybe. ∆∇∆ Now onto my second point. They mysteriously disappeared without a trace, which is strange considering they were clearly in a LOT of areas of Hyrule. From the sandy beaches in Lurelin to the hot desert all the way to the colder regions of the Hebra..it was clear their tribe might have been bigger than most expected....either that or they were just really sneaky. I like to say that their "mysterious death" was really a noble sacrifice. Remember that if this is true, it isn't the first time someone else, other than Zelda and Link, stepped in and tried to stop the Demon King. In Twilight Princess, the ones know as the Six Sages also took matters into their own hands & attempted to stop Ganondorf by stabbing him in the chest with The Sword of The Six Sages... But they failed miserably, even thinking that the gods were playing a cruel joke when seeing Ganondorf had The Triforce of Power on his left hand, leading to the king breaking free & killing one of the six Sages before they used The Mirror of Twilight to send him away and think of their actions. Which...if were being honest...the goddesses have some things messed up about them, but that's a different rant for another time. Now I say they had a noble sacrifice because one of things we see in the short cutscene of BOTW 2 is the famous Lumious Stone that can found just about everywhere in Hyrule, but specifically underground there's A LOT OF IT. And if we read the description of the material, it's clear that some of Hyrule like to theorize it glows so bright because their are souls trapped inside. Now, clearly, there's a LOT of lumious stone in this one area, and if my theory is right tat the Zonai were one of the people who used their ancient magic to try and seal away Ganondorf, I feel it would have taken A GREAT AMOUNT of magic to do so considering we know how strong not only Ganondorf is, but the Triforce of Power. Hell..it stopped him from dying by a goddess forged weapon! YOU TELLIN ME THAT AINT STRONG!? I believe that possible not only the Zonai, but some of the Sheikah Clan, died doing a noble cause of holding Ganondorf back, or at least his body, to keep him from a new reincarnation. Alright...I know this is a lot. Take a breather. Get some snacks and a drink because here's POINT 3: This caught everyone's attention. The Hand. Off the back, we can tell this clearly Ganondorf's newly found prison & a terrible and dark one at that. I mean, cmon, I personally wouldn't want to be mummified and have my heart grabbed at by a hand, but that's just me Now from this hand we can tell it's the same color as the ones that reside around Lumious Stone, The Fallen Champions, & The Monks when taking their Spirit Orbs to give to the Hylia Statues when exchanging it during prayer...kinda like Link is the key to setting their soul free for doing their deed for Hylia. I believe a lot of spirits were brought together in sealing away Ganondorf....a lot of ANGRY spirits, but as we see in BOTW 2 cutscenes that it's clear the hand not only moved itself (or the spirits moved themselves) to help Link and Zelda when they almost fell to their doom. And, even though this is a different game, I make the comparison of a lot of souls in ONE BODY to Noob Cybot from Mortal Kombat. Even though he appears as one person, there are lot of souls stood inside of him and one of his quotes are "We are many. You are one". The power of the hand, now given to Link, could be the spirits last attempt at helping Link and Zelda seal away Ganondorf considering it seems The Master Sword isn't as strong as it use to be ten to thousands of years ago. But in doing so, they released the seal that held Ganondorf captive for those past 100-10,000 years. I'm sure the only freedom Ganondorf had was The Malice that leaves his body (which is just a mixture of rage and hate..and honestly I'd be mad too if my only escape was a spirit form of myself) and his mind, if it wasn't already gone by then. Because of the seal now being broken, our beautiful demon king was up from his long nap 😅 I mean...cmon now...theorized to be bad or not, Ganondorf is FIIIIINNNNEEEE 😍 and I would give myself to him, but we're not here for my girly fantasies. And now was prepared to release havoc on Hyrule once more. Now, I say that this was a attempted by the Zonai and Sheikah to hold Ganondorf back because even though it's clear Ganondorf can still attack in spirit forms and smaller, puppet forms, as we see with the BLIGHTS, Ganondorf can't reincarnate if the DOESN'T HAVE A BODY FOR IT. Clearly when Ganondorf dies in his physical, Gerudo form, it takes Eons later for him to reform and be born into the world again, but...his body was still under Hyrule....and it could be possible, just like the Monks, that he was still alive, but had no ability to move, leading him to release so much hate in the world that it created Blights and Calamity Ganon, along with Dark Beast Ganon And now with that seal gone and nothing holding him back, the Demon King was Awaken once more, but...my final question is...how did he get down there in the first place? ∆∇∆ I'll try making this last part short considering this was longer than I expected. Also, no more pictures passed this point. I've already reached the MAX if you couldn't tell 😅 Now this is my own thought. I believe someone in the Sheikah Clan who served the Royal Family set Ganondorf up. I say this because I can't think of any other reason why Ganondorf would be hiding below the castle and not strike. There's also my thought that Ganondorf was either led there or possible kidnapped and brought to the sacrificial grounds below Hyrule castle. And I know some might say: "Ganondorf...kidnapped? That's impossible" But we have no clue HOW STRONG the Zonai's magic really was. Even in Twilight Princess, those who wielded a very strong and ancient magic had power great enough to take over Hyrule for their terrible desires, leading them to living in the Twilight Realm, so it's not as if it's not possible that this power was equally as great, but used for a different cause. Whose to say the similar green color of the Twilight Magic isn't being used once again, but this time for good and not selfish greed for the power of the Triforce? I believe that if Ganondorf was led to this area, he was clearly betrayed. Now, in many incidents  in past time eras, Ganondorf has been betrayed by many and his power was turned against him, which I hate, but this isn't about my personal feelings on the king. I have TWO ideas of how it could have happened: Say if the "spy" for Ganondorf was actually working for the Royal Family and tricked him to believe that they were getting as much intel as possible to keep from him being killed by Zelda and Link. What if the spy had been discovered by a fellow Sheikah member and eliminated them to keep things as they should have been? What if they gained so much of Ganondorf trust to the point where he thought they were a ally that they gave him the idea of going under Hyrule Castle, hiding for a certain period of time and was ambushed by the power of the Zonai and The Sheikah Clan? The other idea is that someone was ONCE loyal to the Royal Family, but betrayed them and went to Ganondorf instead. I think this is possible because it's clear the Royal Family has dumped the Sheikah Clan many times and doesn't trust them fully (which is understandable in that day in age, but still) and a few banded together to betray the Royal Family. Telling Ganondorf of the technology they created and how they were planning on using it against him, leading to him creating the Blights and attacking all 4 divine beast and the champions, but they were figured out, forced to reveal where Ganondorf was hiding OR someone followed them and found out the truth and set them up under the castle, but maybe not all, and this birthed The Yiga Clan in secret. It could have been possible that Master Kohga could have been there as well, or heard information of it, considering the Sheikah can live up to 100 years plus as we see with Impa, Robbie and Purah, along with the monks, but idk if it was Master Kohga in particular considering how goofy he is, but some like to theorize that he's a descendent of Zant because he mentions something of his great great grandfather's magic that was once sealed away was taught to him. Not to mention, they have similar personalities and fighting styles. So it could be possible...that the power of the Twili tried so hard to get rid of ten to thousands of years ago...still lives on, but now, used for good instead of evil by the Zonai. I could go on and on about this, but I clearly need more information on the whole thing. That and this is getting way too long. These are just my theories of what may be in the story line of BOTW 2. I hope you fairies liked this one 🧚‍♀️ PS: if you didn't notice, the same symbol that's on the walls in the cutscene of the SWIRL that can found on other works of the Zonai are the SAME as the symbol of Lurelin. This is what I meant when I said that it's possible that their people are still alive, but either the people of Lurelin don't know of their history considering most of their tribe died or was lost OR they know, hold some power, but keep it secret from outsiders of the village and disguise themselves as "noble fishermen" . I also think it's strange that Lurelin wasn't effected by the Calamity considering it was BEHIND that great defense wall where Zelda awakens her power & Link nearly dies. I say it's strange because I feel like Lurelins people & the Zonai have a very strong connection, but that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY ‼️

[katedoesfics]

Shadows of the Yiga | Chapter 39

It only took a couple of hours before they reached the edge of the Faron Woods. Daruk pulled the SUV off the road, following an overgrown dirt road as far as he could before it came to an abrupt end.

“Looks like we're walking from here on,” Daruk said as he cut the engine. They left the vehicle on the dirt road and began the hike through the forest, though they really had no clue where they were going. But time was not on their side, and they couldn’t waste any time trying to find the spring. Even Link had grown quiet by the time they reached the forest, another reminder of what little time they had left. His eyes had begun to darken slightly, and each step he took seemed to bring on a growing pain.

Zelda glanced over his shoulder at him as she lead the way through the forest. Daruk stayed at his side, his worried gaze on his friend, while Revali took up the rear, watching carefully, his expression a mix of fear and anger. She knew she could not rely on Link to help her find the spring, but as much as she tried, she couldn’t find any clear sign that they were even remotely close. For all she knew, she was leading them in circles. She forced her breathing to steady, straining to try to hear something - anything that could have been a sign from the Goddess herself, but her mind was empty. No voice called to her like Hylia had done before. No spirit guided her through the forest. She could help but to panic as a sense of desperation washed over her.

Link wrestled against the darkness that threatened to creep into his mind as they wandered the forest. He knew too well how the darkness worked, now; it came on silently until it suddenly overwhelmed him. And the more it happened, the weaker he became, and the more the darkness taunted him. It came on slowly, yet surely, making him sick to his stomach and bringing along with it a pain that seemed to overcome every part of him. It seemed to move slower each time, as if enjoying the torture, and Link had no clue when it would take him over. All he knew was that he couldn’t let it; he had to hang on just a little longer.

The forest seemed just as dark as his mind, despite the strong, warm light that broke through the cover of the trees. His body felt cold and numb, his knees barely able to hold his own weight until finally, he could move forward no more and he collapsed to his knees.

“Link!” Zelda tried to hurry to him, but Revali pulled her back.

The darkness flashed through him quickly, and just as it had done countless times before, it took over, his eyes flashing red.

“Shit,” Daruk muttered.

“Take him out!” Revali barked. “I'm not killing him today!”

Link lunged at them, and in one, swift movement, Daruk sent a fist flying into him, knocking Link to the ground. A hiss escaped his throat as Link scrambled back to his feet.

“You held back,” Revali said. “Idiot!” He pulled out the gun in his back pocket, and when Link lunged once more, he caught him long enough to slam the butt of the weapon against his skull, knocking him unconscious.

Zelda breathed a sigh of relief. “Fuck,” she muttered. “Is he alright?”

Daruk threw his limp body over his shoulder, gritting his teeth together. “Hardly the worst thing to happen to him.”

Revali pocketed the weapon as they moved forward once more. He shook his head. “There was a time when I would have enjoyed knocking him out. Dumbass.”

“I'll tell him you said that,” Zelda muttered.

“At least I can knock a guy out.”

“I had to hold back!” Daruk barked. “I would have killed him.”

“Hmph.”

They continued on quietly, hardly uttering a word to one another. Their pace quickened, and soon, Zelda’s eyes lit up as she felt a pulling sensation in her chest. It was just the sign she needed to tell her she was on the right track. The spring - it had to be close. She followed her instinct, stepping over fallen trees and rotted logs, and moving through brush until the entrance to the spring revealed itself; a mass of stone with the Triforce etched in deeply. It was barely discernible through the overgrown weeds and moss, but it was there nonetheless.

“How do we get in?” Daruk asked. He stepped closer, pausing only when the Triforce on Link's hand pulsed darkly.

“The hell does that mean?” Revali muttered.

“I got this,” Zelda said, stepping forward. She moved passed Daruk, raising her own hand in the air. The Triforce on her hand - still pure - glowed brightly, and with a long rumble, the door rolled open before them. They stepped through carefully, the cool air immediately rushing them. The rays of the sun seemed to find their way into the spring, giving it light, but not warming the air. They stepped down into the cool, sparkling water and gazed upon the large Goddess statue that stood before them, seemingly bathed in the light of the sun.

“Now what?” Revali muttered.

Daruk lifted Link off of his shoulder with one hand and let him drop into the water, where he immediately awoke upon impact with a groan.

“Nice,” Revali said with a grin.

But Link was still in his darkened state, and once he returned to his feet, his red eyes narrowed on them, and his lips pulled into a snarl. He lunged at them, but just as he did so, a bright, golden light shot forth from the Goddess statue, temporarily blinding them before plunging their world into complete and utter darkness.

The darkness swallowed him whole. He was alone in the emptiness. He spun on his heels, desperately searching for a way out, but he was trapped.

“No!” He shouted but could not hear his own voice. His heart raced and he dashed forward blindly. He ran and ran with no intent to stop. He would have kept running for all of eternity, but something pulled at him, slowing him. He fought against it, pulling his arms out of the grip of an invisible entity. He stumbled forward, but continued running once he regained his balance, stopping suddenly only when a bright figure appeared before him.

He gazed upon the woman as her features began to take shape. Her face was unmarked by age, yet something about her seemed very old, ancient even. Her smile was playful, her laughter and voice warm and comforting. He knew all of this before she even opened her mouth.

“You have done well to seek me out,” Farore said. “Hylia expected your arrival.” Her head cocked slightly, and she frowned. “But darkness clouds your soul. I fear there may be nothing I can do for you, now.” She stepped forward and let her fingers brush against his forehead. Her lips pursed.

“There has to be something!”

It was then that Link realized he was not alone. He turned to see Zelda behind him, her brows knit together angrily.

“I’m afraid the darkness has completely taken over,” Farore said. “It’s too late for him.”

“No!” Zelda barked. “Hylia would not give up like that.”

“You’re right,” Farore said simply. “She wouldn’t.” Her face softened. “I promised her if there was anything I could do, I would fix it. While her power dwindles, she only has us to rely on. We will do anything for her and for all of Hyrule, but even this is out of our control.”

“No,” Zelda pressed. “You can’t -”

“Enough,” Link growled. “It’s too late. You knew this could happen.”

Zelda stared blankly at him. Her heart started to race, and she had to hold back her tears. Her brows furrowed in determination as she regarded the Goddess before them once more. “What do I have to do?” she said. “Hylia can fix this.”

“No,” Farore said sternly. “Your Grace -”

“She can fix this!” Zelda snapped. “She said -”

“If you give yourself up to Hylia,” Farore warned, her voice strong. “You will lose your power. You could lose your life.”

“She is a part of me,” Zelda said. She pulled her shoulders back. “My very existence is to serve her and protect Hyrule.”

“Zelda,” Link hissed.

“Enough! This is what must be done!”

A strong, golden light enveloped her suddenly, and Link ran forward, his arm outstretched towards her, shouting her name, but his voice seemed lost in the emptiness. Though he ran, he could not get close enough to her to stop her. Just when it seemed like she was just out of his reach, the golden light burst forth. He felt the force of it against his chest, knocking him off his feet. He tried to shield his eyes with his arm, but the light was much too bright. It overwhelmed them completely before suddenly snapping back to darkness.

Link stood alone in the darkness, though he sensed a presence behind him. He turned to see a familiar figure that he had only seen a couple times before. She was pure and, though her features seemed otherwise nonexistent to him, she was beautiful. The figure that stood before him was not the Goddess Farore, but Hylia herself.

She reached towards him, and without hesitation, Link took her hand.

“There is no such thing as a good or evil power,” she spoke to him. “It only matters how we choose to use the power that was given to us. Your heart is pure, Hero. Your soul will never truly be darkened. Now go!” She released his hand and Link immediately felt himself fall. He fell and fell into a seemingly endless pit, but he did not feel fear, nor doubt. For the first time in his entire life, he felt at peace.

*****

“What the fuck just happened?”

The light had subsided, and Daruk and Revali found Zelda and Link motionless on the ground. Daruk dropped to Zelda’s side while Revali hurried to Link, though he hesitated as he neared, as if expecting him to jump up at any moment and attack him. But when he didn’t so much as take a breath, Revali dropped to his knees and searched for a pulse.

“Daruk.” Revali’s voice raised in uneasy warning. “What the fuck, man? What’s going on?”

“There’s no pulse,” Daruk hissed.

“Get the fuck up, Dude,” Revali sneered at Link, as if he would hear. “Get up!”

He gasped for breath. His eyes blinked as the world came to, and he fought against rising nausea as his mind slowly came into focus. He practically yelped when he saw Revali hovering over him, much too close for comfort.

Revali breathed a visible sigh of relief before backing away slightly. “The fuck was that?”

Link hesitated, still trying to process all that had just happened. He turned his gaze to the back of his left hand where the Triforce was glowing, pulsing softly, before disappearing completely.

“Dude,” Revali muttered.

But Link was hurrying to his feet, his eyes darting around until he found Daruk still kneeling beside Zelda. He ran to them as Zelda awoke suddenly, gasping for breath as she pushed herself up.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Link barked down at her.

Zelda sneered up at him. “You were going to give up!”

“You could have died!”

“What did we miss?” Revali muttered.

Link held his hard gaze on her. “What did you do?” he said through his teeth.

Zelda hesitated. She tore her gaze away.

“What did you do?” Link shouted at her.

“What the hell is going on?” Daruk hissed.

“She gave up her powers,” Link sneered.

Zelda was looking down at her hand. She turned it over, then made a fist.

“You what?” Revali snapped.

“It was the only way,” Zelda said softly.

“The only way for what?” Daruk asked.

“The only way to save him.”

“I told you not to,” Link growled.

“Hold up,” Revali said, raising his hands. “You two were practically dead on the ground over here. Where the fuck do you think you were? Fucking Goddess land or some shit?”

“It doesn’t matter.” With Daruk’s help, Zelda got to her feet.

But Link continued on. “You idiot. Now we have nothing!”

Zelda glanced at him. “What do you mean we have nothing?”

“Of the two of us, you were the only one with a damn chance to stop the Yiga.”

Zelda stared at him, quiet for a moment. “You don’t… you can’t…”

“No!” Link shouted. “I don’t have what you had! I can’t do shit!”

“But,” Zelda started, looking down at her feet. “Before… the Yiga…”

“It’s gone,” Link hissed. “You should have let me die.”

Zelda shook her head. “No, Link.”

“We don’t stand a damn chance against the Yiga Clan,” Link continued to yell at her. “You knew what needed to be done. You’re the fucking queen; it’s your damn job to keep Hyrule safe, and you just fucked everything up. You’ve sentenced everyone to their deaths.”

“Link -”

“I asked you to do one fucking thing, Zelda, and you couldn’t even do that!”

Zelda closed her eyes, a lump forming in her throat. “I’m -”

“There’s nothing we can do, now. You let them win. You fucking -”

“Enough!” Revali’s fist flew into Link’s chest, sending him stumbling backwards with a loud grunt.

Link sneered at him, but Revali pulled his shoulders back, ready to attack again.

“What are you going to do about it?” Revali snapped. “You can’t go Hulk on us anymore.”

“Don’t even get me started on you,” Link hissed. “You should have killed me!”

Revali took the gun out from under his jacket and threw it on the ground. “Fuck you. Take your fucking gun and -” He stopped suddenly and bit his lip. Instead, he kicked the gun across the ground.

Link cursed loudly and kicked at the water of the spring.

“Alright,” Daruk started. “Can everyone just calm the fuck down for two damn seconds so we can talk about this like normal people?”

“I’m sorry,” Zelda said softly. She glanced toward Link. “But you do not get to ridicule me for choosing to save your fucking life.”

“Yeah, well, you know what?” Link started. “I’m not in a position to be in anyone’s debt.”

Zelda smiled and averted his gaze. She shrugged. “Call it even.”

“So, is it true?” Daruk asked carefully. “You don’t have your power anymore?”

Zelda hung her head. “No,” she admitted.

“Are you sure?” Revali pressed.

“Pretty sure.”

“So, what?” Daruk pressed. “What does that mean?”

“It means we’re going to get our asses kicked,” Link said.

“We’re not alone in this,” Zelda said. “My father and Dorian - they were never expecting us to be able to handle this. We still have everyone - you guys, Urbosa, Paya. We’ll have all the Sheikah, too.”

“And, what?” Link sneered. “I’m supposed to hang back and watch?”

“Of course not,” Zelda said.

“What do you think I can do?” Link narrowed his gaze on her.

“I don’t know,” she said. She met his gaze. “But this is you we’re talking about. I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You always do. Never miss out on anything.” She offered him a smile, but he was not amused.

Revali sighed heavily. “Right,” he started. “I guess all that’s left is to take on the Yiga Clan. We have some planning to do.”

“Look,” Zelda said to Link as they made their way out of the spring. “What’s done is done. Are you going to be pissed off and resent me forever?”

“Yes,” Link said simply.

“I won’t apologize for my choices,” she said softly. She looked at her feet as they walked through the forest. “Too much depends on your survival. You’re right; it’s my job to protect this kingdom. And in doing so, you need to be alive.”

“You could have done it without me,” Link said.

“That’s the thing,” Zelda started. “No one can do this without you. We need you, Link. Aryll, and Mipha, and your father, and me… I know you think it’s your job to put your life on the line for this kingdom, but that’s where you’re wrong. Heroes need to stay alive in order to do their job. Dying for this world will not save it. You need to be here to do that.”

“You’re really pulling at strings, now,” Link muttered. “Because if I’m the one that was putting Hyrule at risk -”

“But you weren’t,” Zelda said. “You didn’t. I told you I wouldn’t let it come down to that, didn’t I?”

Link sighed. “Zelda.” He hesitated. “You let her act in your stead. You let her emotions get the best of you. She’s not exactly unbiased when it comes to me.”

Zelda’s cheeks reddened and she turned her face away, her pace quickening slightly. “I acted on my own accord,” she said. “To save a friend. To do what I thought was the best option for my kingdom. Simple as that.”