#hylia have mercy

[ovegakart]

rendered the sketches

[bumblebeesfromvenus]

ALMOND AKSKAKSKALSKLS

I LOVE HIM 🩷

HE'S SO PRETTY OMFG

I WANNA BRAID HIS HAIR 🥺

My Linksona!!

Some more sketches!! 👀👀✨💖

I also made a sketch of Mystic when he was still mortal before he was given the gift of Immortality by Satori😫💞💓

I kind of have the just of his whole entire story too! His storyline actually eventually become Fierce Warrior's storyline from my fierce deity au!

AND MY FINAL TEASER FOR MY TOTK LINK X READER FANFIC COMES OUT TOMORROW!! AHHH!!

@peepthatbish @raiijinn 👀👀💫

I'll be responding to everyone and finishing my asks soon!

[librarygarten]

Holiday Special: Links x Reader - New Year's Kiss HC

Where I live, it's a tradition to kiss your partner on New Year's Eve. Let's celebrate with some Links (+Ravio)! Warning: pure, tooth-rotting fluff below the cut. Consult a dentist before proceeding

Sky

An absolute blushing mess leading up to it, but he manages to hype himself up. He’s the Hero of the Skies. He fought a demon and won. He can handle a kiss… right?

Gives you a firm kiss with his lips pressed together, kind of like a cartoon character

He’s a bit off-center and pulls away right after

Give you a nervous smile and a cute little half laugh

In his head, he’s kicking himself for doing that. In his opinion, that was probably the worst kiss he could have given you to start off the new year.

Until you pull him back in for a proper kiss

Boy just melts and lets you do your thing

Four

He literally cannot reach unless you bend down, but asking you to do that seems wrong to him

He tries to sneakily get you to sit down next to him so height isnt an issue

His kisses are surprisingly soft, especially compared to his calloused hands that cup your cheeks

He’s really hesitant to pull away

If he splits, though, my Hylia have mercy on you

All four of them try to kiss you at the same time.

Key word: try.

They end up headbutting each other and you. Ice packs are gotten. Apologies are said.

Time

He is lowkey not having a great time trying to stay up

He’s old. He’s tired. His knees hurt. Let him go to bed :(

At this point, the only thing keeping him from face planting into the mattress is the fact that he gets to kiss you at midnight.

The moment the clock strikes 12, he pulls you in by your hips and kisses you

It’s the kind of kiss people who have been married for years share. Neither of you pull away for a very long time.

He always tries to get closer to you when ya’ll kiss, and tonight is no exception. Ya’ll are literally hugging but he tries to hold you tighter and kiss you deeper.

Legend

It’s not a custom in his Hyrule, but hearing you talk about it makes him scoff

Why does he need to wait until midnight to kiss you? How is that different from any other time? He could kiss you right now!

Is huffing in annoyance watching the clock count down to the new year.

Then you bend down and capture his lips in your own as it hits midnight

“There! Now the first thing we did this year is kiss!” You smile happily at him

Legend.exe has stopped working

He's red as a tomato for the rest of the night. Maybe the tradition isn’t so stupid after all.

Hyrule

His Hyrule also doesn’t have New Years, but he’s very interested to learn about this custom

It sounds so romantic! He can’t think of a better way to kick off the new year

He’d be a blushing mess even before the countdown gets close

You want the very first thing you do next year… to kiss him

If it wasn’t obvious enough already, boy is smitten

When you kiss him, you swear his pupils turn into hearts

Will pull you back in for another one

Twilight

He pulls you in by your hips, places a hand on the small of your back, and kisses you for as long as you’ll allow.

He actually started a bit early. That way, the last and first thing he did that year was kiss you

When you finally pull away, his gaze is so soft

He holds you for a bit longer after that, just glad you’re here, with him.

If you’re with the chain, someone will yell at you two to get a room

Alternatively: Turns into Wolfie at the last second and licks half of your face

Super tender or absolute menace. There is no in-between.

Warriors

He’s a little shit about it

He’ll kiss you every hour, on the hour, because “It’s the New Year in a different timezone”

Even after it hits midnight, he’ll keep on going for as long as you two stay up

And he doesn’t even have the decency to give you proper kisses. Just quick pecks on the corner of your mouth.

He knows it flusters you, which only adds more fuel to the fire.

If you want to shut him up, just grab him by his scarf and pull him in for a bit harsher kiss. Leave him gasping for breath, then walk away.

He will go BEET RED and stop his antics… for a while

Wild

Forgot it was a custom. Like, full on forgot he was supposed to kiss you when midnight hit.

Someone else reminds him of it after the fact and he instantly feels like the worst partner in the history of the entire world.

Sprints to where you’re standing and just tackles you into a kiss

You, who was a bit bummed out and not expecting this, fall to the ground with him on top of you

He apologises profusely, first for knocking you over, then for forgetting to kiss you

Ofc you forgive him

He keeps kissing you the rest of the night and even the next day to make up for it

Wind (Aged Up)

He’s got his arm slung around your shoulder, drink in hand, watching the clock count down

Gets super into the 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 chant

As soon as he’s done screaming “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” at the top of his lungs, he plants a fat, wet kiss on your cheek

You push him away and wipe the honestly disgusting amount of saliva off your face while laughing

He laughs at your reaction, but it’s short-lived, as you also give him a big smooch on the cheek

Now it’s his turn to wipe off his face

Tetra filmed the whole thing

Bonus!

Ravio

Lorule hasn’t had holidays in a while, and even if they did, they don’t have this particular New Years tradition

So he is caught completely off guard when you pull him in for a kiss at midnight

A stuttering, blushing mess

Once you explain what the custom is, he blushes even harder

Pulls his hood down over his face to hide from the world. The notion that he is loved this much is still so foreign to him. What do you mean the first thing you wanted to do this year is kiss him?

You just kiss his hood’s bunny face as well

Please, have mercy on his soul. He’s not strong enough to endure this

Koridai (I have only seen a couple bits of his game)

I’m sorry, Link “how about a kiss for good luck” Koridai

Sooo smug about it. Expects a full make-out session at midnight

When the countdown begins, he closes his eyes and puckers his lips, stretching his neck out in your direction

His hands are folded near his cheek, and one leg is off the floor, toes pointed

It’s honestly a miracle he doesn’t fall over, especially considering he took the pose pretty early in the countdown

You give him a peck on the lips, then pull away

“Aww, babe, that’s it? :(“

[mirensiart]

*Points at pain share AU*

Ooohhh they're in trouble...

Oohhh they're going to be in more trouble when it's revealed that Four has a way to stop the migrane problem and isn't applying self care...

May Hylia have mercy on Four, because the responsible ones won't.

The Older Bro mama hens: wdym you've been suffering from painful crippling migraines knowing that if u split, they'll go away??? wdym you've been SUFFERING on purpose?!

Wind, being an annoying lil bro: ooooooh lmao you're in troooouble~ they'll scold you for hours now lmao

Four, having a small crisis cause half of the colors (blue, green) want to punch wind and the other half (red, vio) want to run away from the scolding: this is the worst day of my life

[that-vexaholic-cryptid]

King: Gentle people of Hyrule, I come today as your king with good news.

Crowd: 😃

King: The Queen and I are welcoming to our family, a child!

Crowd: 😃🎉

King: A beautiful little girl, to be your new Princess.

Crowd: ....

King: Princess... Zelda!

Crowd: 😱 *screaming, looting, more screaming* "THE END IS NIGH! THE END IS NIGH! OH HYLIA, HAVE MERCY ON HYRULE!"

King: Hmm.

[mailrebel]

"Lurelin" - A TOTK Zelink Drabble

Here's my final contribution for the "This or That" event @zelinkcommunity Link and Zelda’s visit to Lurelin is ruined by a thunderstorm 🌩

Prompt: Lurelin Words: 281

They just couldn’t catch a break lately.

The world nearly falls apart, once, twice, a thousand times. And Link and Zelda have had to sacrifice so much of themselves in order to make everything right again. So you would think, after everything they’ve endured, that the Goddess Hylia might be willing to show them a little mercy…

Apparently not. The white shores of Lurelin have turned cold and gray. The sky is enveloped in gloom, only brightening at the occasional lightning strike. The rain falls in cruel, heavy showers, making it impossible to see even ten feet in any direction.

Link and Zelda run for cover. They barrel into the hut where they are staying, only to shiver and sneeze and collapse into a wet pile beside each other. Their hair is drenched. Their clothes cling to their skin. It’s honestly miserable.

“So much for our day at the beach,” Zelda laments as she watches the storm continue its assault.

Link sighs as his shoulders fall. As it turns out, a single day of sunshine and tranquility was too much to ask for.

Zelda flashes him a guilty expression as she tries to wring the wet from her hair. “Sorry about this.”

“It’s not your fault. Storms happen.”

“But it feels like they happen to us a little too often.” She continues to gaze upon the veil of showers for a moment, but her lips soon curve into a smile. She leans her head against Link’s dripping shoulder. “You don’t mind though, do you?”

“Of course not.” Link’s head naturally falls onto Zelda’s own. He searches for her hand, only to slither their fingers together. “Because my sunshine is right here.”

[ladyrijus]

Sometimes I wonder how the Age of Calamity's Hyrule is faring in terms of The Upheaval, because if you think about it... The Upheaval takes place one hundred and some years after the Calamity has been sealed, until Rauru's hand no longer has the strength and vitality to hold Ganondorf and his Gloom in place.

Our Princess Zelda and her chosen knight, Link, have long since passed. They served their purpose in turning the Calamity away, a wretched evil that was the one and only of its kind. No one ever thought to question why the Calamity came from the castle, no one ever thought to look underground. Instead, everyone dedicated their lives to the mysteries the Sheikah technology held. It was an era of sacred peace and scientific progress.

But imagine: A princess whose stubbornness rivals that of her grandmother who sealed the Calamity, who refuses to listen to the warnings her father gives her and decides to go underground alone to satiate her burning curiosity about the Gloom plaguing their people. Was she not to seek wisdom, like all the women before her? She will not stand to let either her ancestors, or her citizens, down.

It's all a blur after that, really. The murals, the hand, the stone, the man. And now she's thrown into a different world, alone, and at the mercy of two strange figures. The founders of Hyrule they tell her, and really, she should be more excited. So much to ask, so much to know! But all she can think about is going back home, because what has she done? Her father is still in that castle. The last thing she remembers is the ground crumbling under her. Hylia help her, she must go back.

We don't know what becomes of him, or the people in that castle. All we know, is that the Impa we know and love and her family are still alive to deal with this fallout of a different calamity. This time, there are no instructions on what to do, no leads. Just another myth of the past turned to fact; this one, however, speaks of seven sages, which vastly differs from the four champions Hyrule has grown to dignify.

But where could they find sages, the Sheikah elder wonders, in a world where neither princess nor hero are to be found?

[ghosthoard]

PART 5

parts 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

CW: vivid descriptions of death/corpse

Waking up to cool air and a young sun, Hyrule blinked, trying to get his bearings. Beside him, Legend was still sleeping. There was something off, something missing, and Hyrule scrunched up his face trying to figure it out. 

Oh. The smell and sound of cooking breakfast usually accompanied by Wild’s whispered chatting with whoever was awake was absent. Instead, the air was wet with dew and the birds were starting to sing.

Could Wild have overslept? Hyrule snorted as he pulled himself up. Like Wild could oversleep, he hardly sleeps as it is. Is he sick? Or Hylia forbid hurt and kept it from him? If that’s what it is, Hyrule wouldn’t let him off easy this time. 

He searched around camp for the errant cook. His eyes narrowed in on the pile of Wolfie, Wind, Four, and Wild underneath them. Wild had his cloak over his head as if that would keep Hyrule from finding out. Grumbling, he stood and walked over. 

“Wild,” he called once he was crouched down beside him, poking his arm. “Why aren’t you making breakfast? You better not be hiding an injury or you’ll owe me a whole bag of honey candy and I’m making Time put you on laundry duty.”

Nothing, not even a fake snore, and Hyrule huffed. “Fine, if you’re going to be like that.” He reached over and snatched the cloak off of him. “Ha! Just give up and show—”

His breath caught in his throat. His heart stopped. 

Pale skin, no color, sunken eyes, a missing ear, a still chest.

Panic surged under Hyrule’s skin and magic spilled into his palms to press onto Wild’s chest, searching desperately for what was causing his brother to look so much like the dead only for the magic to find shattered bones, organ failure, blood sitting uselessly in their veins, rigor mortis. Distantly, he registered that someone was screaming. 

“Hyrule! Hyrule, stop!”

Somebody’s arms caught him around his chest and pulled him away from Wild, breaking his magic’s contact with his brother. He struggled, trying to get back to him. 

“Let me go! He needs my help!” Oh, that screaming was him.

“You can’t help him, Hyrule!” Legend screamed back. “You’ll only hurt yourself!”

“So you want me to leave him like that?!” Hyrule only had eyes on Wild. He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t moving! “I have to try!”

“HE’S DEAD!”

Everything stopped. The air in his throat choked him as his body seized up tight, at the mercy of hated memories rushing back to him as they ripped the normal morning away from him. 

Sky’s screaming, snapping his head around just in time to see Wild being dragged into a portal, running after him, the portal shrinking, magic swelling in a desperate bid to stop it, the feel of his magic uniting with Legend’s somehow thankfully freezing the portal in place, arguing, taking too long taking too long— Finally, they got the portal open wide enough. 

“Save the rest of your magic,” Legend had demanded with no room for argument before they all jumped into the portal, giving the Captain only a few moments to give them a gameplan. 

It was enough. Hyrule knew he had enough magic to heal whatever state Wild was in. He hoarded it close to his chest as he fought the yiga, as they ran down to the dungeon. He might not even need to heal Wild, his brother might still be able to fight alongside them as they worked to get out, depending on the situation he might need to heal him after getting out, or it might be smarter to heal one of the others so they could carry Wild out of there. 

“You need to get ready to heal ‘im.” Twilight had his back to him, reaching up to catch Wild. 

He’d been ready from the start. His magic had been waiting, eager to be used— 

“Hyrule can’t bring back the dead.”

Magic promised to Wild. With nowhere to go.

Tears came unbidden, drowning out the sight of Wild’s body — only a corpse, he can’t heal a corpse— and breathing became a fight. The hold on him quickly shifted into a hug as Hyrule buried his face in Legend’s chest, trying and failing to stifle his sobs. 

“S-sorry,” he gasped, “I’m s-sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Legend said, glaring at the others as if daring them to say otherwise.

Everybody else was staring at the pair with their swords out, having bolted awake and drawn them when Hyrule started to scream. 

Four sighed, sheathing his sword. Some of the others followed his example.

What a wakeup call, Blue said.

What a way to start the morning, Green added morosely.

Poor Hyrule, Red agreed.

Four thought he probably would’ve also for one blissful moment forgotten that Wild was dead if he had woken up first. Reaching over, he pulled the cloak back over Wild’s head. How he missed his smile. Just yesterday he had been cooking pancakes as a treat, pleased as an imp with himself for providing them a whole array of toppings as a surprise. A morning without Wild. The first of forever without Wild.

Four swallowed down his tears. No use making himself cry. 

He looked over at the wolf who had jumped to its feet, hackles raised, teeth just as sharp as a sword. Once he seemed to take stock of his surroundings, the wolf settled back into its tucked tail and drooped ears. 

“Twilight,” Four said, “change back and eat something.”

He was soundly ignored. Wolfie placed his head back onto Wild’s chest and closed his eyes. 

Sighing through his nose, Four turned his attention to Wind who still had his sword out and rubbing his eyes. “Come on, let’s wash up.”

The splash of cool stream water took away the last lingering drowsiness of sleep. With his hair tied back, Four diligently cleaned his eyes of sleep crust, behind his ears, and finally the back of his neck. If Green knew anything about grief it was that in order to push past it, they had to maintain routines including hygiene, food, exercise, and to seek the company of others. 

Rushing water was always a good sound to drown out racing thoughts. Four took a moment and closed his eyes to listen. Beside him, he could sense Wind, who had yet to start washing up. 

The sound of a sword shattering shrieked in his head. 

During the fight with the yiga, Four had been drawn to look over at Wild the exact moment his sword shattered. He’d been able to see how Wild’s eyes widened in shock, how he looked at his empty hands— sparkling with shards of metal that had embedded in his skin—and then look up to meet Four’s gaze with unnecessary and panicked guilt. 

“Idiot! Focus!” Four had yelled at him before the yiga descended upon both of them, separating him from Wild even as he fought to get back to him. 

That had been the sword Four had forged him. Turns out he hadn’t made it well enough. 

The apology in Wild’s eyes was just as shattering as the sound of the sword falling apart in his brother’s hands. It haunted every part of him. 

As if he’d be upset at Wild for breaking the sword. As if Four hadn’t made that blade hoping it would last long enough to protect Wild. As if he wouldn’t be more upset about it shattering when Wild needed it most. As if Four cared more about the sword than his brother.

“Idiot,” he whispered low enough for the stream to muffle it.

Four’s changed his mind. The sound of rushing water doesn’t actually do anything.

“What do you think Wild would want us to know? You know, like his last words.”

Four opened his eyes to look over at his brother. The young boy was staring off into the woods and picking at his nails. He still hadn’t washed up. 

Wind looked away from the trees and down at the water, sadness slumping his figure. “I’m sure something to do with Flora. To protect his Hyrule for him. He’d tell Twilight something too. The usual stuff like taking care of ourselves, watching each others’ back, eating well even if he isn’t there.”

Four could imagine Wild saying each and every word. The memory of his voice already becoming hard to reach. “Sounds like him.”

“But he wasn’t there,” Wind continued, “I know he doesn’t need to stay around if he doesn’t want to but…”

When Wind had revealed that he could see ghosts, Warriors and Time hadn’t been surprised, oddly it was as if they had already known. Legend had said, “that might as well be a thing” with the air of someone who’s seen everything and is never surprised anymore. Wild had connected with the young sailor by saying he’s also met his fair share of ghosts.

“A lot of them had unfinished business,” Wild had said to Wind, “and I was honored to help. Though,” a smile stretched across his face, “I think they helped me more than I helped them.” 

He had said it with a hand resting over his heart. “I wouldn’t be here without them.”

“I could’ve helped him if he did.” Wind turned his big brown eyes onto Four. “I would’ve done whatever he needed for his soul to find peace. He deserved that. Why didn’t he stay?”

At the first sight of tears, Four held his hand, squeezing tight. 

Wind let his tears fall into the stream as he continued, “He deserves to know we were coming after him. He deserves to know we found him. Why didn’t he stay?” 

“I don’t know,” Four said, with nothing else to offer. 

Wind scrunched up his face against his tears, trying and failing to hold them back. He held onto Four’s hand as he tried to get himself together. Four sat beside him quietly, keeping him company as he lost to his grief, never letting go of his hand.

“I want to see him,” Wind confessed over his cries, over the rush of the stream, loud and hurting. “I want to see him. I looked and looked but he isn’t here. He knows I can see him so why didn’t he stay?”

After Wind calmed down, he plunged his head into the stream, demonstrating his impressive lung capacity by staying under for almost 8 minutes. He emerged again with a huge gasp. 

Four handed him his towel which he used to violently dry his hair before the two of them returned to camp holding hands. 

“Hey, Smith, Sailor,” Warriors greeted with a tired but warm smile, still sitting by the fire.

Wind darted over to him to hug him. Warriors placed a hand over his shoulders, smiling as Four approached. “How are you doing?”

“Holding up,” Four returned the smile.

“You four doing alright? You don’t need to split?”

“Maybe later. Okay for now.”

Warriors nodded and lifted an arm to expose his empty side. Four lifted an eyebrow in question.

“I’d like to hug you.”

Four rolled blue eyes but went willingly over to the proffered side, feeling comforted by Warriors’s arm enveloping him.

The three of them were still sitting and hugging when everyone else started to go about their day.

First | Previous | Next

@seaotter-17

(thanks for all the comments guys! really keeps me goin)

((trade offer: let me know your favorite scene so far and I'll provide more pain))

[merriclo]

HYLIA HAVE MERCY HE’S SO DAMN FINE

[ from linked universe’s dawn part 7 ]

[legendofmorons]

twilight x gn!reader angst, involving a misunderstanding/argument? maybe one of the chain offhandedly makes a comment about twilight’s past feelings for midna (or ilia), and reader becomes convinced their feelings for him are unrequited, thus, acting differently towards him.

I'm so down for this! Sorry for the delay. School has been a real pain this semester.

Crush(ed) (Twilight)

Pairing: Twilight x Reader ("unrequieted")

Rating : G

Summary: When you overhear how Twilight feels for a princess ( you assume his zelda), you distance yourself in an attempt to save your own heart.

Warnings: angst, idiots

Other: If I missed anything, please let me know

-------

You can't really express how excited you are to be staying at an inn. The entire group has settled at a table, food set in front of them.

And you get an actual bed! To sleep in! Fuck yeah!

"I'm telling you, we have bad luck with love." Legend says, "Time and Sky are just flukes."

"Or you haven't lived long enough." Twilight challenges.

"Right because you and that princess of yours worked out so well." Legend says as he rolls his eyes. "At least you have that farm girl back home, you like her enough."

"Legend." Time says sharply.

"Ilia? She's a great girl." Twilight says, and that is all it takes to ruin your night.

You can deal with the mention of the princess. It's hard not to admire all Zeldas to a degree.

You've met a few, and they're crush worthy, at least. But the dismissal of the girl is nice still.

But a farm girl from his time and home? That's too much.

Because he dosen’t dismiss her name. He sounds so fond of her.

This sucks. You need to think.

You set your silverware down, having only eaten a few bites. "I'm headed to bed... I don't feel quite right."

Twilight turns to you immediately, "(Y/n) are you feelin' okay?"

"Just a bit under the weather. l. I should be fine later. Don't worry." You smile.

Sky shoots you a concerned look- which is fair since he's the only one you've told about your feelings for the resident cowboy.

You shoot him a soft smile, aiming for reassuring. (Based on the brow furrow you get back, you don't succeed. )

You stand up from the table, turning as you do.

Twilight grabs your wrist gently, "(Y/n), are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

You have to push back the swell of emotions. Obviously he's just being a good friend. There's no romance behind his actions.

(He really is a good friend. Thank Hylia you didn't tell him how you feel.)

You yank your wrist away because you know if you don't yank it, you'll do something stupid to let him talk you into staying, "I said that I'll be fine."

Twilight looks- hurt.

You're probably just imagining it.

(Right? Even if he is hurt, it's probably just cause he's worried about you. Like a friend would be. Like Sky is worried.)

You leave the room, already reevaluating all of the interactions you've had with Twilight. You have to stop letting him coddle you.

You have to stop asking him for help every time anything is slightly wrong.

You have to stop seeking him out for company and comfort so often.

And to get over him you should stop spending so much time with him.

Well, that's fine. You'll just stay busy and spend more time with Sky and Wind. Maybe Wild too, you'll stay busy with the cook around.

You find your room, the one you're sharing with Four. (Thankfully, if you were sharing with Twilight like you'd originally hoped, you would have considered running away.)

You collapse into a heap on your bed, eyes stinging as tears well up.

You're so stupid! Why would Twilight ever like you back?!

At least you found out he isn't interested before you confessed. That would have been so embarrassing.

Thank Hylia for little mercies. Or, however it is that the saying goes.

........

The past week has left Twilight feeling more blue than an icicle. His days dimmed dramatically by the lack of your presence beside him.

You're still traveling with them. (Where else would you go?)

But you are spending almost all of your time with the others. Mostly with Wind, Wild, and Sky.

And the few times you have interacted with him have been... well - distant and overly cordial. Like you're mad as a wet hen with him but don't wanna ruin the rest of the chain's days.

Twilight has tried to figure it out. But he comes up grasping for straws when he does. He can't find any reason for you to ignore him.

He hasn't done anything wrong. Not as far as anyone can tell him.

And he's asked. He's asked everyone! (Everyone except you.)

Though the look Sky gives is far too sympathetic for the skyloftian to not know something. Not that Sky would tell Twilight anything.

Not since Sky likes to stay out of confrontation when possible.

Right now though, you're stretched out over Wild and Wind, the three of you basking in the sunlight as the group rests for lunch.

"You're staring again." Hyrule says as he holds out a freshly filled canteen to Twilight.

"Am not."

"You really are, Twilight."

"Even if I am, what about it? Am I sposed to apologize?"

"No. You just look like a kicked puppy."

Twilight takes the canteen with a frown. His eyes falling to the ground between his feet.

"Hey, you could always just ask (Y/n) what's up."

"I'd sound crazy!"

"Not really."

"And how would I not sound crazy?" Twilight asks, and it'd almost be funny if hyrule weren't so done with this.

"You're just asking if you did something to upset them." Hyrule explains slowly, trying not to snap at the rancher.

"You don't get it. A week ago we were fine. We were practically best buddies! And now-"

"(Y/n) won't give you the time of day?" Hyrule finishes for Twilight helpfully. "You know it won't get better without talking. Right?"

"I know."

"Then talk to them."

Twilight does not do that. Instead he let's you have space. As much space as you want.

He's fine. Thank you very much. He isn't going to break just becuase someone He's so incredibly fond of stops being his friend.

(That would be stupid.)

So Twilight resigns himself to the way things are. And they stay like that. Becuase no one here believes in communication.

[triforce-of-mischief]

*warriors and legend begin their conversation. i sit quietly in the corner, writing their words. they pause, and i look up*

wars and lege: *stare at me with conspiring smirks on their faces*

me: uh. what is happening

wars and lege: this is your therapy fic, remember? we're going to do therapy and you are going to suffer through it

me: ...i forgot about that part

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Can you give a brief summary of your AUs please?

Sure! :)

Breath of the Sky: A year after Skyward Sword, the newlywed lovebirds are slingshot into the future just before the Calamity. They now have to navigate being in this place, revered as Hylia and the Hero of Myth, while BotW Zelda and Link figure out how the heck they’re supposed to accommodate and deal with it. Chaos and lots of drama ensue. Currently playing: the Lovebirds and the Anxious Duo travel together with the Champions to survey Hyrule and see the Divine Beasts.

Forsaken AU: Original AU with original characters. When Princess Zelda, known for her prowess with her magic and her confidence in her abilities, gets disturbing visions of an oncoming darkness, she tries to claim the Triforce for herself to protect Hyrule. However, the Triforce shatters at her touch as she isn’t worthy to wield all three pieces, and she inherits the Triforce of Power. Put out but not defeated, Zelda goes on a quest to find the fated Hero of Hyrule - she knows it’s usually a dude named Link, and he likely will bear at least another piece of the Triforce, so that’s two birds, one stone! Except… half the kingdom names their boys Link. But after going through half a bajillion Links, two of them are promising! One she can sense a strong magic in, even though he just says he’s a masseur and knows nothing about fighting. The other hardly says anything at all, but Sir Edgy and his faithful doggie companion can’t keep hiding his secrets from her forever.

Blood of the Hero: Ten years after the Calamity, the Shrine of Resurrection is damaged, leaving Link vulnerable and dying. Link’s parents, Abel and Tilieth, who were on the Great Plateau protecting the shrine, are now tasked with saving their son’s life by taking him to the Sheikah shrines across the land. Currently playing: Link’s still out of it but he’s about 5-6 hearts and one stamina vessel in and showing signs of improvement while his dad has a complete spiral from ten years of PTSD buildup and his mom tries to pick up the pieces and take care of them both. Oh, and Impa thinks they’re all insane.

The Imprisoning War: Millennia before Hyrule Warriors, Ganondorf attempts to steal the Triforce and it predictably shatters, starting a two year war that nearly destroys both Hyrule and the Gerudo. The other two Triforce piece bearers are HW Link’s predecessor, the half-Sheikah/half-Hylian named Link, who is madly in love with Ganondorf’s daughter and came to look at Ganon as something of a father figure, and Zelda, who has to overthrow her father to lead Hyrule to victory. Once Ganondorf is defeated, things only get worse for Link as he has to abandon Hemisi, the woman he loves who just helped him and Zelda defeat her father, and enter an arranged marriage with Zelda to save what’s left of their broken kingdom. (Backstory for Golden Mercy)

Golden Mercy: When Ganondorf returns during Hyrule Warriors, he’s on a mission to make things right, though what that means is beyond everyone around him. Kidnapping the Hero of Hyrule and telling him he’s protecting him from the Queen is not what anyone expected, and nobody can quite figure out what his ultimate goal is. Link sure is confused, though, and… starting tor realize there’s more to Ganondorf than just being a monster. Zelda, on the other hand, is quickly spiraling with panic and fear over losing her friend and Hero, as well as trying to protect her kingdom from such a threat that was so dangerous the previous Hero split his soul into pieces to prevent him from ever returning. (Lots of redemption arcs. Lots of them.)

Wild Spirit: When BotW Link is mortally wounded in the Calamity, Zelda decides that Hyrule can be saved more quickly if she lets the Spirit of the Hero be reborn in a new Hero rather than hope a potentially malfunctioning shrine can maybe heal her friend in a few decades and he might not even know what to do. BotW Link dies, but his spirit remains to guide the next Hero, a young man from Lurelin Village. This new Link is friends with his strange spirit companion, and slowly learns his destiny as he grows older. Now that he’s of age, he must take up th mantle of Hero of Hyrule, and his first task is to find the Master Sword, which was entrusted to his predecessor’s father, Abel.

Dad Squad: This one I share with @nancyheart11 and literally anyone else who wants to jump in and have fun with the Dads. When the Yiga use new magic to jump to different points in Hyrule’s history and kidnap Heroes of Hyrule, it’s up to their Dads to save them. Then again, Link doesn’t really need saving all that often, and putting a bunch of Links together is never a good idea for the bad guys, so the Links bust themselves out. But now they’re running around lost and confused, the Dads are still trying to find their Boys, and the Yiga are somewhere in the middle. As for their motives… well. There’s a dark magical mask, maybe a Bad Dad demon king, and a whole bunch of idiocy chaos.

LU in Healthcare: Basically what it says on the tin. The Chain is in modern land and they’re all involved in the world of healthcare! And somehow everyone tolerates my pittance of updates/lore.

Hero of Shadow: During the events of TotK, the demon king discovers the grave of someone he knew and loved dearly - a young Sheikah/Hylian warrior named Link. Using his powers, Gan resurrects him at a price, to ensure that his boy stays safe and loyal. Meanwhile, this young shadow warrior is trying desperately to break free of his father figure’s control while fighting his own feelings on the matter, and his only guide is a strange mystical voice that leads him to shards of a broken sword. In the surface, TotK Link is starting to figure out that something else is going on in the depths. (Essentially, I threw my Imprisoning War blorbos into TotK)

…I think that’s all of them. Wow, I have a lot of AUs lol. So much for brief. 🥴

[zelda-the-sacred-realm]

What is the biggest fear or person that links are afraid of?

Well, I would say them! For those who don't know them yet, they are my Oc, the Masked Gods and they are definitely the ones that the Links fear the most

They are the most powerful creatures in the world, ancient and evil gods who hate Hylia and heroes

Not to mention that they have already killed Twilight in the past without mercy

Thanks for your ask!💖

[linksthoughtbrambles]

You want a prompt? I'll give you a prompt!

"She stared at the sea, as blue as his eyes." Zelink, of course.

Thank you so much for this ask jdetan! This concept kept growing the more I worked on it, so this is chapter 1 of a longfic of... an as yet unknown total length. But I have thoughts 😄. A lot of them lol.

The Horizon Cannot Come To Me

Zelink, BotW, Pre-Calamity, Deserted Island AU, rated T for now (likely to be E at some point), 1st chapter ~4700 words. Also on ao3 here.

Chapter 1: A Nestled Wreckage or Two

She stared at the sea, as blue as his eyes.

His incredibly infuriating eyes.

“What?!” Zelda gasped, scrambling up from the sand, bleary and searching for their boat with wild snaps of her head. She saw him slip from one knee to his rear, his eyes on her instead of the beach. What did he think he was doing?!

“The boat!” she cried. “Where is it?”

His entirely inadequate “uh” arrived as she recognized the color of a shattered wooden plank nestled in wet sand, now-gentle waves frothing against its grain.

Her head turned from it as though dragged by the slow tide toward Link.

He appeared most undignified, bootless with his drenched clothing covered in sand and that look on his face, wide-eyed and grimacing, his hands splayed behind him with fingers buried to his third knuckles.

“I,” he said.

She waited.

He swallowed.

She glowered at him.

“Ohhhh,” he said with a strange little laugh, running a hand through his wet hair, depositing extra sand there with a wince.

“Do I take it we no longer have a boat?”

Link nodded and kept nodding, his hand having returned to his hair, and with a start, Zelda realized something else was missing.

“Where is the Sword that Seals the Darkness?” she asked, with a strange, dim sense of surprise at how small her voice sounded.

He peeked at her between the arm he’d rested on one knee and the hand still tangled in his hair as though steadying himself with it. “I dropped it.”

“How could you drop it?! It was sheathed!”

“I took it out. It was weighing us down.” He held a palm out as though to ward off whatever he saw in her gaze. “I had to.”

The Sword that Seals the Darkness.

Lost.

Like them.

“Merciful Goddess,” she whispered.

--

To his credit, Link had a lean-to built for her within the hour.

Zelda used the time to change into the spare shirt and trousers he apparently kept in his korok pouch. There was a small but very convenient freshwater pool with a gentle waterfall, and while she had reservations about drinking it without boiling it, she gladly rinsed the grain of salt from her skin.

She then began to check the flora and fauna around them against the slate’s compendium. They wouldn’t starve, at least—palm fruit and bananas appeared abundant, and as one paraglider cloth fluttered in the breeze behind her, Link deposited two large, round fruit unfamiliar to her on the other paraglider cloth she sat on. She frowned as he walked away, compelled, for some reason, to snap a picture of him with sand still stuck to his back. He’d discarded only his socks.

She indulged her compulsion. She then sniffed and pointed the Slate at the melons, which apparently were “cantaloupes.”

--

“Hylia’s sake,” Zelda fumed as she attempted yet again to force the Slate to emit an intermittent, high-amplitude electromagnetic pulse. “It’s not as though they won’t be looking for us,” she muttered (despite her uncertainty as to Link’s whereabouts, or whether he truly listened when she thought out loud), “but they shall most certainly begin on Eventide, and we are most definitely not there.” Her gaze rose to the horizon, utterly flat and entirely blue, which it shouldn’t have been in any direction on any island she’d ever seen from the shores of Hyrule. She shook her head, confounded. It was as though the gods themselves had sent that storm to hurtle them as far from home as possible.

Purah knew Zelda, and therefore would know to search for some sort of signal from the Slate.

How long it would take her to find the right one was the second question.

The first, of course, was whether Zelda could produce one before the Calamity came.

A clack and a spark drew her eyes to the firepit Link had dug. Zelda grimaced, as did he, at the humid wood and bark which had thus far refused to light. She imagined if Link had fire arrows in that magical pouch of his, he would use them only as a last resort.

--

Link’s footsteps approached her.

“You should sleep, Princess,” he said.

She squinted up toward where he must have been, her eyes adjusted to the screen, with only its meager light to illuminate him.

“I have yet to resolve the communication problem,” she said.

“It’ll keep til tomorrow,” he said. “You’ll think better on a night’s rest.”

She blinked as though it would speed her night vision’s arrival. “The longer I take, the longer til we are found.”

“You need to take care of yourself,” he said with a strange laugh. “If you get sick, I—”

There was a pause, and Zelda’s face pinched. She hugged the slate to her chest, attempting to see beyond it.

“—I don’t know what I’m doing,” Link said, “with that. I won’t be able to take over for you.”

It was more than he’d ever spoken to her in a day.

He crouched before her, his fingers steadying him just in front of the paraglider-mat, his face now strangely hollowed by the graze of Slate-light on his cheekbones.  “Please, Princess,” he said, holding a hand out to take the Slate from her.

She stared at it, rankling, somehow, at how reasonable a request it was.

She placed it in his hand and turned off the screen.

She curled up on the mat to the sound of him rummaging around, her forearm beneath her head.  Sleep arrived swiftly.

--

She awakened with a cloth rolled beneath her head and several more tucked around her body. She craned her neck to see korok and Rito designs alongside a rather childish-looking egg with pink spots adorning her, criss-crossing a bit in her bleary vision.

“Why do you have a myriad of paraglider cloths?” she asked.

A squelching arrived as though in answer, and she turned to see Link with his mouth expanded unreasonably wide around a kabob of roasted orange melon.

He stared wide-eyed at her, his face too occupied for speech.

Then he reached for another stick suspended over the meager fire, waved it in the air a few times, and held it out to her.

She sat up, stretched her neck, and accepted his offering with a plaintive squeal from her stomach.

The fruit was extremely wet. She did her best to conceal its sticky tracks on her chin.

Link was terrible at it.

--

While she pursued her critical task with dedication beneath the palms and the small shelter, and Link kept her dutifully fed and watered, she found herself increasingly distracted by his other pursuits.

He circled the immediate area at a brisk jog. She assumed him to be scouting (again), quietly approved, and paid it little mind.

He pulled a small shovel from his korok pouch and attempted to sidle away from her while shielding it from her with his body, disappearing into the treeline. Zelda sighed and tried not to think about what he was doing with it.

She later caught sight of him emerging from behind a huge rock far to her right and nearer to the ocean, side-walking on his toes, half-crouched, with his hands in the air.

She shook her head and returned her eyes to the screen.

When his feet invaded the upper right corner of her vision despite her attempt to concentrate, she looked up to find his head waggling as well. The slate lowered to rest in her lap as he made a sudden leap forward, then sprinted toward the sea. He stopped a few moments later, searching the area around his feet.

Zelda returned to her S.O.S. efforts when he began scratching the back of his head, and this time became quite absorbed. She lost track of Link entirely for at least a few hours.

When he reappeared, it was in the other corner of her eye, hauling a wide, dark, flat rock from somewhere in the trees far to her left down the beach. He dragged it further and further from the trees’ shadow, eventually letting it rest near to where they’d come ashore, almost directly between Zelda and the ocean. Link rose with his fists on his hips and a nod, and when he turned to walk back toward the treeline, he appeared quite pleased with himself. He also appeared to be sweating arrowheads. He’d draped his champion’s tunic on a nearby branch, but he was still heavily clothed.

“Sir Link!” Zelda shouted.

He squinted at her, the Sun beating on his face.

Zelda winced. He’d be quite burnt, wouldn’t he? “Your attire is inappropriate!”

His expression didn’t seem to change, but he broke into a jog. This seemed counterproductive if the objective were to cool himself down. Zelda opened her mouth to say so, then shut it. Surely, he knew this and was simply in a hurry to escape the sunlight. She returned to her work.

When he arrived, a flash of blue caught her eye once more: he’d taken his tunic from the branch. As it made its way over his head and onto his torso over his sweat-soaked shirt, Zelda’s eye twitched.

“Link?” she asked.

“Princess?” he said, panting a bit.

“What are you doing?”

His hands spread open at hip-height. Zelda had rather the impression of a shrug, though he hadn’t actually shrugged. “You cannot possibly be cooler like that,” she said.

His face mimed an “oh.”

“What did you believe I meant?” Zelda asked.

Link gestured at his front. “Well- I wasn’t in uniform.”

Her mouth went a little slack. It took her a moment to shake her disbelief free. “Did you- truly believe I value your formality over your health?”

His eyes shifted side to side and his face paled a bit, as though he thought himself in trouble.

“Sir Link,” she said. “You are overdressed and losing a significant percentage of your body’s water to sweat. I appreciate your extraordinary ability to rip palm nuts open with your bare hands—” (she truly did, he’d frightened her with the first one yesterday, it had cracked so mightily)— “and therefore keep yourself supplied with fresh water, but there is no need to exacerbate the problem. Those trousers are thick and heavy, aren’t they?” She blinked as he continued to stare at her, and a sudden suspicion struck. “They’re still the same ones? From the ocean?”

His throat bobbed.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You gave me your spare clothes,” she said—not that she hadn’t realized that—it’s not as though he’d handed her women’s clothing—"and kept yours on. Didn’t you? You didn’t change last night? Or bathe?”

The spooked look on his face was enough confirmation. She could only imagine the chafing.

“Sir Link, I order you to cease- whatever it is you were doing and take care of your clothing situation at once.”

“But-“

“The last thing either of us needs is for you to develop some-“ she waved a hand at him- “manner of- skin infection.”

He winced.

She sighed. Something about his expression almost made her want to smile, but that was certainly, absolutely not allowed. This was Sir-Knight-Who-Seals-The-Darkness, the bane of her every waking step, the shadow haunting each glance over her shoulder, the statue standing mute at her door in the night.

His usual stony silence seemed a far cry from the paralysis currently affecting him.

She sighed again, her face and voice softening. “Bathe, please. You’ll be glad you did.”

--

She shook her head when he emerged sometime later, his wet, presumably rinsed shirts and pants over one arm, and opened her mouth to say something about his extremely sunburned face—and failed to do so.

It hadn’t occurred to her how he’d look in nothing but trunks.

She should’ve known what kind they’d be, considering the spare undergarment he’d handed her. It was tighter on her, with her curvy shape, but it still clung to him—and he was all chiseled lines in muscle, everywhere (at least, everywhere she could currently see).

She turned her attention back to the Slate and flatly refused to look up when he returned to inspect the state of the (now nonexistent) fire.

--

She managed to keep her head down for a long time once Link walked off.

Then her sedentary status began to get the better of her.  She shifted her position to relieve the discomfort. She did so again—and again. She sat with one knee bent up and her elbow on that—then sat up on her knees, but that didn’t last long—then with both legs bent like all those prim court ladies riding sidesaddle. Eventually, she tried laying on her stomach with the slate before her face, and that was alright except for her bladder, which was becoming more and more difficult to ignore—and even more so in that position.

She rolled onto her back.

She managed to hold the Slate above her head for a while before that, too, became uncomfortable and she lowered it to her chest with a sigh.

There was nothing for it.

She rose, brushing the sand that had blown its way onto her mat from her (Link’s) clothing.

She quite liked the shirt. It was tight around her chest, but comfortable and soft owing to the close knit. She supposed she’d be too warm in it were she hauling rocks like Link in the sun, though.

She scanned the beach, then the trees behind her, for a sign of him, and saw none.

Zelda strode to the branch she’d hung her own things on and strapped her belts around her waist, then secured the slate at her hip. She’d not leave the Slate unattended, no matter how deserted the place seemed.

--

She emerged from the thick growth of low ferns she’d found feeling relieved but restless. Her muscles did not at all wish to return to her seat beneath the lean-to so quickly, so as she’d seen no sign of danger on the beach as of yet, she made her way what must have been northward, thinking to walk with her feet in the cool, wet sand at the ocean’s edge.

She jumped a solid foot into the air at the sound of “PRINCESS?!?!” being screamed at the top of Link’s lungs.

“Here, I’m HERE!” she shouted, her heart pattering like a rabbit’s hind legs and her right ankle in sudden pain from rolling on a rock. She hissed, her arms flying out for support, and caught herself on a thick, branch-like palm-stem. She already heard Link crashing toward her through the foliage, and she tested her foot, breaking into a sudden sweat of desperation not to appear as though she couldn’t take care of herself for twenty minutes without him.

She refused to be injured. Absolutely not—not in front of him.

Link burst from the ferns to her left, a rather spiny stick in one hand with the floppy remains of a ferny growth on one side and a wild look in his eye.

Zelda schooled her face practical despite his near-naked state and her ankle’s throbbing. “Sir Link—there is no need for panic. I am fine.”

He scanned the area, nodding and lowering his mostly non-threatening vegetation. He relaxed his arm and…stared at her.

She stared back.

He looked left, then right. Then back at her.

She raised her chin. “Something amiss, Sir Link?”

He waved his stick a few inches, still pointed toward the ground. Zelda once again had the impression of a shrug.

“You needn’t remain,” she said, still gripping the stem and assuring her foot flat on the ground despite its complaining.

His eyes drifted first to her hand, then to her feet. His head pulled slowly back, and though his expression didn’t change much, she suspected he suspected. “I should accompany you, Princess,” he said. “The area seems safe, but it’s better not to take the chance.”

She blinked rapidly, her chin rising even further. “It truly isn’t necessary. Have I ever been harmed on those occasions when I’ve- ah…”

“Slipped away?” he offered, one eyebrow twitching the barest fraction.

“…Indeed,” she said, his words considerably less inflammatory than the ‘escaped’ which had crossed her mind.

“…Not yet,” he said, voice flat as usual on the rare occasions he’d used it in Hyrule, but something grim lay buried in its lowered pitch.

Zelda gritted her teeth and doubled down. “And why should you expect this to be the first time?”

“I expect every time to be the first time, Princess.”

She paused at that, taken aback. “I- see. Then why have you allowed me to remain at the shelter unattended?”

“I’ve been keeping an eye out. But I can’t do that if I don’t know where you are.”

Her eyes narrowed at him. “I do not wish to be-“ she threw her free hand high in the air- “surveiled without cessation.”

His look became a cross between understanding and regret. “I- know, Princess. But I’m your appointed knight. I have-“

“A duty, yes, I am aware.” She glanced over his shoulder out of habit, expecting that glint of blue. It was missing.

He shook his head. “To you,” he said. “Not the sword.”

Her lips parted.

She hadn’t thought him so observant of her. Watchful, yes. Insightful, no. He had, after all, believed she wanted him fully dressed despite the risk of heat stroke.

She made the mistake of shuffling her feet.  Pain shot up her right leg and she jolted with a wince she attempted to pass off as a grimace at his words.

His shoulders slumped a little as he eyed her foot.

Zelda tripled down—she released the stem, both feet flat on the ground. It hurt—a good deal—but she’d had far worse sprains and a sense that this, while painful, would be fine.

She turned toward the ocean to walk it out.

She went step by step, far slower than her usual gait—he would know that, but her leg was usable, it wasn’t broken, and she wasn’t a child. She attempted to appear calm and as though she were simply inspecting their surroundings.

He stepped to her side—the injured one—his glorified twig in his outer hand and the other, she was certain, ready to grab her should she stumble—which, of course, she would not.

--

She walked down to the waves as planned and followed the edge of the wet sand, to and then past their little camp, all the way to where she’d seen Link drag the rock out of the trees, pain in every slow step, sorely tempted to seat herself and allow the water to soothe her foot. She didn’t.

Link accompanied her the entire way in silence.

The difficult part arrived when she turned to walk up the sloping sand toward the lean-to. It put extra pressure on that ankle, either to bend further back, to support the ball of her foot alone, or to turn sideways. She found herself stopping between each short step.

“Princess-“

“I am fine,” she said, flushing, as though those words hadn’t given the already-foolish game entirely away. She stood still a little longer, though she suspected the longer she did, the worse the following step would feel.

She heard Link shuffling beside her, and then a strange sliding sound. A furtive glance showed something bizarrely long emerging from the pouch belted to his hip. A moment later, he was holding a shining, silver spear exactly like those carried by the Zora guarding Dorephan’s throne room. He held it out to her.

“You seem like you’re getting a little tired, Princess,” he said. “I don’t have a walking stick, but this might help.”

Her hand curled around the shaft tentatively. It was cool and surprisingly light, with the tip well above her head. She leaned on it and took a step—it was more manageable.

“Thank you,” she said, and made her slow way to the lean-to.

She managed to collapse onto the paraglider-mat with some dignity and no sounds of surprised pain. She laid her bad leg straight out, then the other, and leaned back on her hands, rolling her eyes at herself behind her lids.

Link was rummaging again.

He pulled a knife from his pouch and began scraping the meat from half of a palm nut he’d cracked earlier. She watched him dully as he deposited the edible portion into the unscraped half, thinking she ought to get back to her work.  He then produced a blob of white chuchu jelly and placed it, the cleaned palm-nut shell, and his not-so-threatening stick on the mat beside her.

“If you’re hot,” he said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and his hair blowing in the perfectly pleasant cool evening breeze, “you can try the chuchu jelly. It stays cool a long time.” He then rose and disappeared into the treeline.

Zelda stared at the items beside her, sheepish. It took her several minutes to get over her embarrassment enough to burst the jelly into the makeshift bowl.

It felt blissfully cold on her ankle. She set the rest aside in reserve and propped her legs up on the rolled-cloth pillow from the previous night.

She returned to her work on the slate, picking for a while at the palm meat Link had mildly cooked, once again, over a meager fire.

About an hour later, he suddenly held a hand-sized meat pie between her face and the Slate. She goggled at him.

“You need a good source of protein, Princess,” he said.

The pie was very warm.

She stared at the fire, then all around her for a sign he had somehow constructed an oven.

And a rolling station.

And butchered a wild animal.

“Where did this come from?” she finally asked.

He pointed to his pouch.

“What?! How-“ she knew how, but- “how long has it been in there?”

He cocked his head, considering it. “About two months?”

“Two months?!” She thrust it at him. “Sir Link- that is- well beyond spoilage-“

He took it from her and took a hearty bite.

She fought a visceral revulsion sending bile up her throat.

He smiled a little and swallowed—then held it out to her.

The pie was not only warm—it was steaming inside. The filling appeared perfectly fresh—perhaps a wild boar or even beef filling with peas, carrots, and some manner of starchy root. It smelled not only edible, but wonderful.

“…How?” she asked.

“Magic,” he answered. “No idea how it works, but everything that goes in comes out exactly the same. No aging—no spoiling.” He huffed a small laugh. “No getting cold before you’re ready to eat it.”

He reached a hand in—and produced a second pie, nearly identical, which he held out to her.

She took it in a strange state of grateful shock and nibbled a corner. The pastry was excellent—flaky and deliciously browned. A larger bite very nearly produced a hum of delicious enjoyment, though she tamped it, feeling it would be somehow rude.

“Thank you, Sir Link. It’s- delicious. And fortunate, considering our situation. May I ask- ah…”

“How much I have?”

“Yes.”

He appeared to be fighting a smirk. “Way more than I should.”

He must have noticed her eyeing the spent sticks from roasting the melon. “It’s not infinite,” he said. “Better to go easy on it—once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

She ate her (quite satisfying) meal slowly as she worked, making it stretch. She endeavored only to listen to Link’s activity. He was busy with something at that flat, dark rock of his, but as long as he wasn’t turning it into a sacrificial altar, she wasn’t going to worry about it.

--

Zelda jolted awake, her arm flung haphazardly past her head, the Slate just beyond the reach of her fingertips, and paraglider cloth once again tucked around her. She could recall neither laying on her side to work nor intending to fall asleep.

The reason for her wakefulness protested with a throb.

She suppressed a groan as she sat up, gripping her injured leg’s calf to assist it. Her foot had been hanging uncomfortably, stretching the tendons in her ankle as it dangled past her other shin. Once righted, she reached first for the Slate—it read 2:37 am.

She used the screen’s light to search for the chuchu jelly. A dip of her index finger told her it was, indeed, still cool. She attended to her ankle (now visibly swollen) with a generous amount of the natural salve.

The moon must have risen recently, for the sea was lit in dim streaks rising and falling with the sound of waves. With a start, she realized Link was still sitting cross-legged before the firepit. She couldn’t tell if his eyes were open.

“Sir Link?” she whispered.

“Mm?” he hummed.

“Have you yet slept?”

He shook his head, his hair visible as a messy outline against the backdrop of the calm sea. “I can go a long time without sleep, Princess.”

She knew the truth of that. She’d been confused the first few times he’d taken a night shift at her door despite his daytime dogging of her footsteps. She half-supposed he slept standing up with his eyes open.

Seeing him sit there with his forearms balanced, wrists hanging over his knees, she rather thought that supposition to be at least partially supported.

“I… suspect I shall be unable to sleep for a while,” she said. “If your concern is to keep an eye out, as you’ve said, I have two eyes myself and am happy to use them. Two ears, even. Please, rest.”

“I am resting.”

“Sleep,” she clarified.

He took a swift breath—then another. “…Princess-“

“You have a duty,” she said. “I, too, have a duty as your sovereign. You are one of my people. Your welfare is therefore my concern. Please…take sleep while I am awake.”

“You’ve only gotten a few hours.”

“And you have had none. I insist,” she said.

He remained still and silent as the crests of waves grew from nearly-black to soft-blue-grey in the growing moonlight. She rather thought he might disobey her entirely, but at length he lay on his own mat, his elbow bent beneath his head.

She presumed he slept.

She allowed the Slate’s light to go out—she hadn’t the concentration to fiddle with its complex inner language—and found a less painful way to sit with her good ankle beneath her bad one. She listened to the sounds of the night, wondering that she wasn’t afraid of some creature stepping from the trees to menace her here.

They weren’t in Hyrule.

She had little idea what to expect, truly, and they didn’t yet know the size of the island—yet she felt unaccountably safe. She would not allow herself to sleep despite her impression. If she did so without waking Link up, he might never sleep another night, and she wasn’t willing to put him through that, regardless of his proficiency at standing, stone in a hall of stone, night after night.

Her face softened in the dark, as the waves seemed to in the fall of silver on their brief emergence ashore.

Surely, such attention from him personally was unnecessary, but she’d only ever spoken to him of it in the context of her own exasperation. What was his context? Did he believe her to be in extreme danger in her own castle? She’d rather thought-

She…

She scrubbed her face with her hands, trying to piece together a coherent thought from the wreckage of her feelings.

It didn’t work. Perhaps she was too tired.

The night’s gentle sounds made a gradual incursion against the noisy jumble in her head. She knew the Slate far better than she knew her knight, and she had yet to figure it out, either.

She settled for watching the sea, eyes as wide as she could make them, to catch whatever glimpse of light she could on the horizon. Inspiration would strike, Goddess willing.

~~~~~

[layraket]

Day 24 – Alt - Survivor’s guilt 

Character(s): Twilight (LU)

Words: 598

Summary: Time was something more than a leader, something that kept them together. Twilight doesn’t know how to replicate that.

Whump scale: 1 (see the full scale here)

Warnings: Major Character Death mention, grief

Part 1 in Day 14, Part 3 in Day 31

(I do not consider this too heavy, but mind the warnings.)

-

It’s been a week since they arrived at the ranch, maybe it was Hylia being merciful of them for letting them have a break. If that was the case, that’s one of the few things that he will be thankful about her.

They spent their time helping with whatever Malon needed, her dad not being able to do some chores that needed strength. They knew that she will need that help a lot now.

Wind together with Warriors helped to take care of the old Epona, the captain teaching the youngest how to properly brush her hair and how to help her muscles to not be so stiff, this being very important now with her age.

Sky was as always with the cuccos, now Legend joining him, maybe to try and learn from the chosen hero how to properly take care of them without being in a life-threatening risk.

Hyrule, Four and Wild were exploring their surroundings, that was something good, specially for the two adventurers of their group, them refusing to come out and do some activity was starting to worry them all.

And for Twilight, he didn’t know how to feel.

Everything was casual, normal if he could dare to say. But at the same time, it was not. There was a lack of a deep laugh, some sort of bad joke, someone to stop a jokingly fight already knowing that it would escalate to something more serious.

Twilight didn’t know how to fill that space. Even if he tried, there would be someone who will never have it filled.

Malon pretends, a lot. She plays this rough attitude to not worry them, but he knows more than she lets show. He had been there for her in sleepless nights, keeping her company and give her comfort. He knows its not enough, it will never be.

She will be a mother, of who? He already knows, the child who is growing inside her will become a strong rancher, someone that will search a new place for his new life, not daring to go too farm from his roots. Someone that will find a beautiful ordonian, blonde hair falling on her shoulders like a golden waterfall. Someone that will have a sweet boy, one who will grow up half of his life in a small village where he’s different, but accepted and loved.

Someone that will never know who is his father. And someone who will never be able to show his son who is his grandfather either.

He talks with the boys, distracting them from their current situation, still not wanting to forget who was the one who filled the dreadful empty space.

He needs to be there with them, even the captain can’t keep himself together, for Farore’s sake.

He needs to be there for them, keep himself together. Or else, they will crumble without a support.

When a portal appears, they all gather their belongings and say goodbye to Malon and her father. If Twilight stayed a little longer to tell her some extra things, nobody saw.

Before he went through the portal, he saw a silhouette, one too familiar.

Yeah, that’s right, he always had been there, Twilight just had chosen to ignore it. Behind Time there was always a too similar spirit when he was being Wolfie, and if Wind’s eyes drifting to something behind their old leader was a signal, that meant he wasn’t going insane these times.

He went through the portal, saying goodbye to this era, and his mentor. Doing a last promise:

He will keep them all alive.