#but man i really Really want to get totk soon. i just want to peel it back more

[1tsjusty0u]

also if anyone wants to see models in more depth (so far for botw but ill announce when totk is under my grasp) then i can get em usually with textures

[skyward-floored]

Breath of the wild Dark Link au

I’ve been playing with this au on and off for literal years, but haven’t posted much in the way of writing for it, and I wanted to change that lol. This is just a bit of it, so it’s a little out of context, but I really just wanted to finally post some.

The au takes place after botw, but only by a few months, so totk isn’t mentioned or referenced at all (plus I haven’t played it lol so I’m more or less ignoring it here). Here it is, enjoy.

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Link shivered as he absently plucked a stem of cool safflina and tucked it in his pouch, his breath coming out in a puffy cloud of steam in front of him. It was frigid up here, and even with the snowquill tunic’s gloves he could barely feel his fingers.

He’d been prowling around the edges of the Yiga base for a few hours now, and it was nearly dark, the temperature dropping to downright dangerous levels. He’d promised Zelda he wouldn’t sneak inside the base itself on this particular trip, but the lack of movement he’d so far observed was both concerning and boring. Nobody had seen any members of the cult since the attack where he’d been injured, not even the Gerudo, and they were practically next-door neighbors.

And that, along with the curse that had attacked Link, was too suspicious to ignore.

Link sighed, trying to rub some feeling into his fingers. Maybe since he’d survived the curse or whatever it had been in his injury, the Yiga had all decided to just give up on worshipping Ganon and trying to kill him, and were now living their lives as model citizens of Hyrule.

He snorted to himself. Right. And maybe they’ve started a shelter for homeless wolf pups.

A faint noise brought by the wind tickled his ear, and Link looked around for its origin, his hand going his sword. His eyes caught sight of a few figures far below him, and he felt a flicker of excitement, pulling out his slate and activating the scope feature. Flurries of snow were being blown around, making it a bit difficult to see, but when he zoomed in he could make out two Yiga footsoldiers standing next to a blademaster, the larger one holding a dark bundle of some kind.

Link frowned and tried to get a better look. This proved that the Yiga were still active, but what would they be carrying all the way up here? The soldiers below him weren’t very close to their base, and it was stupidly cold in this area. Maybe they were dumping banana peels or something? But why trek all the way up here?

The blademaster dropped the bundle to the ground, then reached for his windcleaver, lifting the blade high. Link startled as the bundle moved slightly, but a footsoldier put out a leg to kick it, and it fell still.

And that was when Link realized the bundle was a person.

Snapping his slate to his belt without a second thought, Link leapt off the ridge he was on, paraglider in hand. He was too far away to shoot any arrows without risking hitting the bundle, and all he could do was watch as the blademaster plunged his sword downwards. A muffled cry reached Link’s ears, and the blademaster removed his sword, crimson spattering the snow.

Outrage burned in Link’s chest, and now that he was close enough, he focused, drawing his bow and firing three arrows near simultaneously at the Yiga.

Two hit the first footsoldier as Link landed with a roll and unsheathed his sword in one swift movement, and the other arrow struck the blademaster in the shoulder. Link leapt forward at the large man, who deflected his blade with his own blood-stained one, and a small gust puffed from it as they clashed.

The first footsoldier had vanished into paper as soon as Link had hit him with the arrows, but the other had joined the fight, and the blademaster was stubbornly continuing to attack despite his own arrow wound, deflecting all of Link’s advances.

Link shot a glance towards the bundle on the ground, and felt a twist in his gut at the large amount of blood staining the snow.

Whoever was there didn’t have long if they were still alive.

He gritted his teeth and quickly swapped weapons, exchanging his royal guard sword for an ice rod. Ignoring the burst of cold that suddenly enveloped him, he dodged a thrust by the blademaster and flicked his wrist, sending a cloud of freezing magic in the Yigas’ direction.

It didn’t catch the blademaster all the way, but Link managed to get most of his left side, sending him reeling with the sudden freeze. The remaining footsoldier was frozen completely in place, and Link switched back to his sword as he jumped forward, whirling into a spin attack that knocked both of his adversaries backwards with a shattering crash of ice.

The footsoldier and blademaster looked at each other as they stumbled to their feet, then waved their hands in a complicated pattern, disappearing into the same paper as their earlier companion without a word.

Link breathed out a sigh of relief that clouded out in front of him, then turned to the motionless figure on the ground.

He wasted no time in sliding to his knees beside the Yiga's victim, grabbing in his bag for a fairy tonic. He didn’t have any of the actual creatures with him, a tonic made with their help would have to be enough. Pulling the blanket out of the way, Link prepared to give who he could now see was a teenager the bright pink liquid.

But he stopped short at the figure he’d uncovered, blood running cold.

His own face met him.

Link stared down at himself, brain refusing to believe what it was seeing.

Same nose, same mouth... the eyes were squeezed shut with pain, but he assumed they were the same as well. His skin lacked Link’s vast scar collection, and was a fair bit paler and gaunt, missing his own tanned color, but the main difference was his jet-black hair instead of Link’s own gold. And even then the color was really the only difference; it was the same length, though matted and dirty, even cut nearly the same.

Link swallowed.

This couldn’t be a coincidence. Not with everything that had happened with his injury and him and Zelda. This... this lookalike, must be connected somehow, to the wound, to him, to the Yiga...

...why had the Yiga tried to kill him?

His double whimpered, and Link snapped back to himself, shaking off his whirling thoughts.

Right. Injury. Questions could come later.

Link pulled the blanket further back so he could see what exactly he was dealing with, and breathed in sharply at the stab wound in his double’s stomach bleeding everywhere. He wasn’t wearing any clothes besides a pair of worn-out trousers, already stained with blood, and Link shook his head in dismay when he felt his freezing skin.

Link pressed the blanket back atop the injury with one hand in order to staunch the blood flow, and hopefully warm him a bit, and tried to ignore the unsteady gasp that came from his double at the pressure. He quickly uncorked the fairy tonic, then tilted his double’s head up to help him drink it. It took a few tries for him to coax his mouth open, but the pained noises coming from him slowed as Link finally helped him drink.

The hand that had been scrabbling weakly at the injury finally stilled, a weak sigh escaping him once the medicine was gone. One fairy tonic wasn’t enough to heal an injury of this caliber, but it would keep him alive long enough to get him somewhere safe.

...should he bring him somewhere safe?

Link hesitated as he looked at his double, biting his lip uncertainly.

He didn’t know a thing about the Hylian in front of him, other then the fact that they looked nearly identical to each other, and that the Yiga had tried to get rid of him. The second point was pretty indicative of the fact that they were at least both enemies of the Yiga, but... that didn’t necessarily mean they were allies either.

Was it safe to bring him to Hateno?

His double made a small noise of discomfort, and Link sighed, looking at all the blood in the snow. Even if he did mean them harm, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to them now, not with how injured he was.

Mind made up, Link made sure the flow of blood had truly slowed before gently lifting his double up, noting again with some worry how utterly cold he felt. He was also extremely lightweight, which he supposed made carrying him easier, but was yet another thing to be concerned about.

Link tucked the dry parts of the blanket as best he could around him, and started in surprise when his double’s eyes abruptly slitted open.

They were a bright, startling red from what Link could tell of them, and it almost looked like they were glowing in the fading light. His double blinked hazily at him, but then his eyes slipped closed again and Link couldn’t be sure if he imagined the glow or not.

He studied him again and was struck once more with how identical they looked, something squeezing his throat for some reason.

They could be brothers for all he knew.

Link swallowed, and decided that thinking about the implications of this wasn’t his priority right now, despite how much he wanted to.

Adjusting his hold, he pulled out the sheikah slate with one hand and continued to hold the clone with his other, tapping the shrine on the outskirts of Hateno, right by his house. Zelda was waiting for him there, as were more medical supplies. Hopefully she would know what to make of this.

Blue tendrils of light wrapped themselves around him and his double, and Link held tight as he felt the familiar sensation of travel with the sheikah slate warp him away into temporary nothingness.

The only sign that anyone had been in the area was the still-warm blood staining the snow.