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triforceangel13 · 2 years ago

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Love Across Time Ch. 23 (A SidLink Story)

Chapter 23: Unlikely Allies

To Sidon their time at the Domain was short lived. He had wanted to stay in the familiar, settle there again but he knew if he was staying with Link they couldn't.

He could get in the way of everything with his younger self growing up. He still saw himself as a prince and the others treated him as such that knew where he came from. It would just be a conflict of interest.

Besides maybe it would be nice to not be a prince for once in his life. Not have any royal duties or act a certain way. He could do what he wanted.

He was excited to see what this life would be like. He could bid the others from his own time farewell and live out the rest of his days with Link like he had wanted to.

They could live anywhere...well almost anyhwere. Staying near water was a must for Sidon but they still had east of Hyrule they could stay in.

Granted they stayed out of the Death mountain area they would be fine.

Though something bothered Sidon a little but that he had yet to bring up to Link. Sidon was willing to give up his prveious life to stay there with Link.

But would Link still be Zelda's personal guard? It was made clear that he was intending on keeping his relationship with the Zoran prince but would she stand for it after all this mess? Did she think this was just a quick relationship while they were trying to win their country back from the clutches of evil that surrounded them?

“Sidon if you think any harder your brain is going to start smoking,” Link laughed next to him on horse back. Sidon looked to his lover and snorted, rubbing a hand over his blonde locks out of affection for him. Link laughed.

“Something on your mind?” the blonde asked.

Sidon shook his head and rubbed his head again before focusing on their travels. They were nearly at their destination so he needed to stay focused.

“Nothing serious. We can talk about it later,” Sidon said. Link seemed a little displeaed with the answer but let it slide for now.

He would get it out of him one way or another.

“Alright, but if it's bugging you this much we should talk about it sooner rather than later,” Link said to him. “Remember. We're in this together.”

Link reached out and touched his arms. Sidon gave him a soft smile and nodded.

Yes, he would talk to him about it.

The large camp of Hyrulian soldies was not hard to miss. It looked as if they were the last ones to arrive which had Link flushing a little.

He supposed their spent extra day at the Domain had made them a little late but other than that the others were happy to see them all.

They were all just awaiting orders.

But there was something amiss. Something that wasn't sitting right with Sidon.

He could have sworn he saw a Yiga member sitting among some of the other soldiers around the campfire.

Probably just his eyes playing tricks on him.

“Alright, I was told this is our area,” Link said, sliding off his horse and hitching her to one of the rails so she wouldn't walk of. After taking off her reigns Link pat her back as she leaned down to start grazing at the hay that was left there for the horses.

“It's odd to think that this is pretty much almost over. If the princess hadn't received her powers and we hadn't found her I don't know what we would have done,” Sidon commented, following Link towards the biggest tent to where they were sure Zelda was. “Well we can only thank the goddess for that,” Link said, stepping into the tent. Sidon nearly collided with his back when Link had stopped short.

“Link, what is it?” he asked, looking to see what had spooked his lover.

But one look into the tent and he realized what it was. There sitting with the princess was none other than Kohga, chatting with the princess and sucking on a cup of tea.

Sidon put Link immediately behind him, drawing his trident with a growl.

“What in Hylia's name is he doing here?” Sidon growled. Link looked up at him, a flush forming on his face but he took the gesutre and put himself behind Sidon.

“Oh, Prince Sidon,” Kohga said, Sidon pointed one of his tridents in his direction in warning. How could this man be sitting here so nonchlantly?

He wasn't even in a disguise. This man had led so much problems, taken away so many people, and had even contributed to the torture that Zelda had gone through.

And yet here he was chatting up the princess and sipping tea like they were life long friends. Needless to say he was so angry.

“You do not get to speak my name, nor anyone else's,” Sidon said, taking a step forward. Zelda stood up, approaching the prince with caution.

“Sidon, it's alright,” she said to him.

“Hardly,” Sidon snapped, but looked down at her a little confused. Why in the world was she defending him?

A few Yiga clan members in the room looked hesitant, unsure what to do since Kohga made no move to signal them to protect him.

“It's alright,” she tried again, looking at Link. Link slowly came out from behind Sidon and rest a hand on his arm to lower his trident.

Reluctantly Sidon did so and let out a sigh.

“Please explain princess,” Sidon said, closing his eyes, gripping the handle of his trident tightly. “I do not understand why our enemy is sitting at the table with you having tea.”

“We're post ponning calling one another enemies,” Kohga said

“You do not speak for her,” Sidon growled at him. “Princess, please eleborate. What does this man even mean by that?”

Zelda let out a sigh and urged Sidon to take a seat at the table. He did reluctanty but he sat down and thanked for the cup of tea.

Link settled down next to him, a little wary of Kohga of the Yiga Clan sitting there.

“He is right,” Zelda said. “For now we are not enemies and we are making a truce through the rest of this battle.”

“Even after everything he and his clan have done?” Link asked. He remembered what they had done to him.

He remembered the images that the small guardian had showed them while his friend had been begging someone, anyone for help.

“Oh I haven't forgotten,” Zelda said with a small scowl on her face and Kohga actually seemed to shrink in his seat a litle in fear and guilt. “Nor have I forgotten what he and his clan had done. But we are not innocent either. We spilled much blood of his clan as well.”

That was very true as well, not like Sidon wanted to admit it. They were the good ones here but...she had a point.

“That terrible man that had taken me is gaining much more strength. He is going to make his final move soon,” Zelda said. “We need as much help as we can get.”

“We have a common enemy now. He had taken many of my men and my friends,” Kohga finally said. “I want him stopped. Our biggest goal is not what he wants. He is summoning something terrible that would destroy anything in its path.”

“Like Ganon,” Link grumbled under his breath. Sidon rest his hand on Link's leg and nodded his head a little.

“That doesn't matter right now,” Kohga stated. “All that matters is that he is stopped. Even at the cost of our own plans.”

“That is what we agreed on. We will have the numbers if he is as powerful as we think he is. Now that you are all here we can start up telling the plan and heading out for our hopefully final battle tommorrow morning,” Zelda stated.

Sidon grumbled as he walked away from the meeting tent together with Link and the small guardian that had seemed to attatch itself at the hip to Link.

“Sidon, slow down,” Link said as he followed him. He knew that he was upset. Very upset. The plan that they had he discussed with everyone was not something Sidon was fond of at all.

It was dangerous and there was no way of knowing if it would work.

Not to mention that they had to now team up with the Yiga clan. But if they were right and that their enemy was even worse than whatever they had done than this was serious.

“Forgive me Link. I am just not in a good mood,” Sidon sighed heavily, slowing his gate. He had short legs but he still could move pretty fast. Link had been having trouble keeping up when he had practically stormed away when the meeting was over.

Link closed the gap between them and the two went to make their way to the water nearby so Sidon could soak his scales.

The small guardian followed closetly behind. If Sidon wasn't so angry he would have thought it looked like a small dog of sorts.

At the water's edge Link took a seat as Sidon waded in. He got himself to go underweater and he let out a small sigh as the coolness relaxed him.

He had to keep a level head. His own emotions could not get into the mix of all of this. This plan could only work if all members were willing to give it a try.

After a moment he came back to the surface and came back to Link's side. The blonde had removed his shoes, dipping his feet in as he relaxed and waited.

“Better?” Link asked.

Sidon rest his arms on the bank of the lake and then rest his chin on his arms, looking over at his lover with a soft sigh.

“I suppose,” Sidon said. “I just worry. What if this is all a trap?”

“I think we got that covered,” Link said, reaching over and ran his head over Sidon's head fin. Eventually he manuevered it a bit and rest it along his legs, running his fingers over the damp rough scales.

Sidon let out a hum at the touch, closing his eyes as he shifted closer and relaxed.

“I don't think we trust them enough to let out guard down,” Link said. “They still are ones for Ganon so I agree to keep an eye out on them.”

Especially if they were teaming up with that man and just trying to get them when they vulnerable. But they wouldn't know what hit them until it was too late.

Ever since Zelda had been taken they didn't trust anyone, sometimes not even eachother and had to implement different things to get their plans to run smoothly.

“That does make me feel a tad better,” Sidon said, cracking one of his eyes open. Link continued to pet his head fin and smiled.

“Good. Because you need to relax,” Link said to him, the small guardian beeping next to him in agreement. Link snorted a bit at that and pat it's head.

“We'll be staying together as a group and we'll be winning,” Link said with confidence. “I'm not going to let anything bad happen again.”

Sidon lifted his head up a little bit so he could lean in closer to the hero.

“I'll hold you to that,” Sidon said.

“Good,” Link said, leaning in and kissed his lips softly.

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#age of calamity #sidlink #love across time

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achitka · 2 years ago

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Title: A Day in the Life

There's really no reason for this, just got stuck in my head, so I figured I'd let it out all those years ago. The point of this... well, I have no Idea. I think I just needed a break, so I wrote about breakfast. Anyway it can be fun to find new and exciting ways to 'wake up link' maybe that should be a sub genre of the Zelda section.

Chapter 1: Morning

"Hey! Come on you, this is the third time I've had to wake you up." she said as she gently pushed the small body. Wrapped up with only a small tuft of blond hair stuck out of its wooly shell, the hair shifted a little then settled back into its slumber. "You are never going to be ready in time." smiling she sighed. "My son the rock. Looks like more drastic measures are needed here." She looked over at her daughter who had been watching with great interest, she pointed back at the boy saying "Okay Sweets, you know what to do."

The little girl laughed and ran to the bed as quickly as her short legs would carry her. Grabbing hold of the blanket she tugged at it until the sleeping body within was dragged unceremoniously to the floor. "Hoy!" she yelled as she leapt onto her half awake brother. Sitting on his chest she bounced while pulling at his shirt. "Link! Link! Link!"

"Mom!" he whined as he lifted his head, "Get her off me!"

"Sorry Honey," she said turning back to the kitchen, "you had your chance for a peaceful morning. Maybe next time you won't wait so long to get out of bed."

"Link! Link! Link!"

"Auugghhh!" he let his head drop back to the floor. "Jeez! Aryll I'm up already!"

"Be nice to your sister," his mother called back to him, "this is your own fault." He rolled his eyes. "I saw that." she said without turning around.

He looked back up at his sister, she had stopped bouncing. Smiling she put two small hands on his face and said one last time "Link." laughing she vacated her perch her job here was done. He got up and untangled himself from his blankets, pulled out some clothes and got dressed. Yawning he walked over to the table just as his mother put a small plate of food in front of him. His sister was already enjoying her breakfast; abandoning her fork she picked up a tidbit with her fingers and wiggled it before putting it in her mouth. Watching her, he crinkled his nose at her and thought, "Ewwwww."

"And you think your manners were better at her age?" his mother said watching him from the other side of the table. "You'd better get a move on," she said between bites "We still have to wash that mop on your head."

"Wash your mop." Aryll chided.

Link just glowered at her. "Why did you have to teach her how to talk? She was a lot cuter when she was quieter."

"Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed today," his mother said picking up some of the dishes. "Aryll, please use your fork."

"Okay." she said snatching up her utensil.

Link picked at his breakfast, pushed his plate away and laid his head on the table. "Mom?"

"Hmmm?"

"When's Dad supposed to be back?"

"In a day or two."

"Oh."

She looked over and noticed he wasn't eating, "Link, why don't you take your sister outside for a bit while I finish these dishes. Then we'll get to your hair okay?"

"Okay," He sat up "Come on Aryll."

"No."

"Aryll, gimme a break will ya?"

"No."

"Okay then I guess I'll have to look at the gulls all by myself today."

"Gulls! Gulls!"

"Yeah right, gulls, gulls. Lets go."

He opened the door and she shot past him, almost tumbling down the porch step in her excitement. "Hey slow down or your gonna fall!" She came back to him, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the stairs. "Come on we'll go over here," he said pointing at the beach. As she was singing and chasing after the crabs, he walked through the shallows, keeping an eye on her to make sure she stayed out of the surf. It wasn't long before his mother appeared.

"Link!"

"Yeah Mom, I'm coming." He stood in front of his sister to stop her. "Come on, Mom wants us." she looked at him but made no protest this time. She took his hand and they walked back over to the house.

"Link do you think you can do this on your own? I'm afraid your sister has made a mess of her clothes."

"Sure!"

"Alright here's the tub, the soap is in there along with a towel. Make sure you actually use the soap Link."

"Got it."

"I'll be back to check on you shortly," she said picking up his sister.

He ran over to the spring setting down the tub, pulled off his shirt and dunked the tub in the warm water. He dumped it on his head. Drawing out some more he set that aside and picked up the soap. After a few minutes of scrubbing he knelt next to the tub and stuck his head in. With most of the soap out he dumped the remainder on some nearby flowers and dunked the tub again. While dumping it on his head his hand slipped and the tub came down with a thunk on his head. Throwing it off he snatched up his towel and started to dry his hair. He looked up to see his mother watching him from the porch steps while she braided Aryll's hair. Leaving the towel on his head he snatched up his shirt and grabbed the tub and soap.

"Looks good." his mother said peeking under the towel. "Aryll play up on the porch alright?"

"Okay" she said with an exaggerated nod.

He watched her as she hopped up the steps. His mother turned back to him and smiled. "Come here," he stood in front of her. "Let's see if we can straighten this out," she said running a comb through his hair, "I think you're due for another haircut."

"Can't I keep it long?"

"Why?"

"So I can have a pony tail like Dad has." he turned back and smiled what he hoped was his charming best.

"How can I resist such an adorable boy? Alright," she said laughing and turned him back around, "we'll wait for the back, but that front, I can barely see your face, that will have to be trimmed."

"Okay." he said bouncing a little with excitement.

"It's certainly long enough, and you'll be starting your lessons with Sturgeon and Orca soon. That might not be a bad idea." she finished the job and pulled him up into her lap and tickled him "but if your father says of it goes, no arguments right?"

"Right!"

#tetra #tww ftw #link #wind waker #breakfast #little sisters are the worst #wake up link

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gloryseized · 1 year ago

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It almost feels like a dream, coming back here to so much being changed. Or perhaps waking from a dream. So much as fractured since he lost Zelda underneath the castle and found himself shortly after in a floating island in the sky with an arm that did not belong to him. Somehow both mere moments and centuries have passed (again), and he found himself running towards the castle as soon as he landed from his dive off the sky island.

Of course he didn't find her. His life has never been that easy, but it was worth a shot. Even if it is expected, he tries not to let this defeat show in his posture, schooling his face to something closer to determination rather than despair. It helps that everyone seems to have a task to do, something keeping them occupied rather than swarming him with questions he can't answer.

So he approaches the Sheikah researcher slowly, his steps showing the dread more the anything else. And he stands awkwardly for a beat, unsure how to begin. Does he apologize for leaving? For trying to run back into the castle again? Does he explain that Zelda is gone and he still doesn't know what happened to her?

But his smile is genuine instead as she starts speaking, cutting off any explanation he might have given with an arched eyebrow. As impressive as Link knows Josha's research is--although some of it does admittedly go over his head, that has always been Zelda's domain--he doesn't think she'd be the most qualified for a rescue mission. Then again, Link is usually the one sent on rescue missions, so that does complicate things.

Nonetheless, he waves a small greeting before his eyes follow her gaze up to the castle and further skyward, smile shifting to a grimace. He fingerspells Ganon's name. << It's Ganon. >> he signs, refusing to add 'again' to the statement. That wouldn't be helpful. Pointing back towards the castle, Link's hands then clamp together, fingers interlacing. Right hand lays flat while his left palm circles underneath it. Pointer and middle fingers of both hands form 'V's, wiggling slightly as they part in front of him. Fingers of both hands curl in, leaving his pinky and thumb out, which he settles down in front of him, palms facing upward. Left fisted hand settles on top of his right before turning sharply. Then both fisted hands settle next to each other before flipping apart. << He was trapped under the castle but now the seal is broken. >>

@gloryseized !

cultures of all kind, from land - sea - air. . . from the farthest reaches of hebra to the unknown scourges of the faron sea. lookout landing prevailed modern times as the epicenter of all races, living as one. ( if tarrey town could survive, so could purah's little provincial town! ) of course, mainly used as a base encampment to combat the upheaval. . . but now was a time more necessary than ever that the people of hyrule needed to band together.

stood atop her telescope tower, purah leans against balcony rail, staring off into the sights of tainted gloom keeping hyrule castle afloat. a sigh, doubtful of her chances, seeps heavily past nose. . . alone in her thoughts, she weighs her options. to continue to sit still and stand by while the gloom only worsened was like subjecting her group to be sitting ducks. but if they jumped in blindly, who knew what awaited them in the depths below? awful, truly awful.

the subtle footsteps of impending company distracts royal researcher long enough to stir from her dread, eyes lifting into a settled surprise as armor-clad knight meets her gaze and steps up onto her platform. just who she needed to see, no doubt returning with news on the princess's whereabouts. ( purah thinks back fondly, albeit briefly, to the days where she once dreamed of working alongside the valiant protector. . . now a faded memory in a long list of duties to fulfill. ) it's almost record-breaking, the silence that follows. she breaks through the dead air with a stifling roll of her eyes.

" took you long enough! almost had me there, thinking i had to send poor lil' josha on a rescue mission. " typical purah, always with her eccentric melodramatics. " good to have you back, linky. always a pleasure having you around lookout landing. "

she turns, faces the anomoly skyward, head craning back to peer through the sun's glare and peep for any view of movement. " so! any leads so far? we're kinda in the dark on this one. "

#bldmnrises #the awful upheaval #mute courage || link #im rolling link is just so oblivious bless his heart #but also like so comfortable with her? much more open with his emotions than he is usually

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cluelessmoose · 2 years ago

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Unfriendly First Meetings

Okay so today I posted the /actual/ whump fic for the Many Follies of Mortal Existence for Twilight, but this is the one I had pre-written but ended up trashing because I didn't like it -reasons completely unknown- and couldn't stand to make myself fix it so I /did/ like it.

Instead, I'm throwing on here in all its unfinished misery, so that it isn't a complete waste of my time.

So here it is: Jaws that Bite

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Summary:

Twilight meets the Chain.

It’s just too bad he was scoping these armed strangers out in his wolf form, and that several of the heroes have lupine enemies that they’re all too accustomed to killing without hesitation.

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When Link came across the group of armed hylians as he was burning off some excess energy in the woods he immediately began following them, suspicious of them and their weapons and the way they seemed comfortable and accustomed to a wandering life, lost but clearly unconcerned by it.

He’d seen it often enough, even with the kingdom on the mend after Ganon’s defeat: brigands, taking advantage of the still unorganized army and weakened forces of the crown, attention focused on settling matters in Castletown before it could be turned farther out. They seemed to be trying to decide which way to go before settling on south.

Ordon lay that way, and with so many armed raiders the village wouldn’t stand a chance of escaping without casualties. That said, eight was a bit many for even Hylia’s hero to take on at once, especially with two kids involved that he wouldn’t want to risk hurting. When the group settled down and sent three out into the woods, he had his chance at last.

Link crept closer, trying to get a better read on them before he shifted and tried to talk the duo down before resorting to violence, though he doubted they’d listen. They never listened, it seemed.

Too close, maybe.

He’d made not a sound to give himself away, and yet he was forced to lep back as an arrow sang through the air from the trees behind him, a third hylian stepping into view with another arrow settling on his bowstrings, his scent was near untraceable: forest-y and natural and most importantly, downwind.

The archer lets out a warning whistle, and just like that the whole group’s attention snaps their way.

Retreat would be the better option, wiser, but-

There was only so much distance left before they hit Ordon, and who knew if they’d split up again knowing a wolf was on the loose. This would be his best chance at wiping them out, and that thought was all he needed to growl and duck behind a tree, determined to take out the archer first. He was already alone, and arrows would be a pain to deal with when he’s trying to take down the other two. He darts out the other side and lets the next arrow trace a line of pain down his side with a yelp of pain in favor of maintaining his forward momentum, slamming the slender hylian into a tree with a snap of bone, grabbing the bow as he does so and severing the string with his teeth. He skipped back just in time to avoid a blind swipe of a sword, the other gasping for the breath Link’s full-grown wolf form had knocked right out of him.

The one in red is on him before he can follow up on the openings of the injured archer, and it's surprisingly all Link can do to avoid the vicious stabs and looping swipes of the other, the swordwork at play much better than he’d have expected of common raiders.

Zelda had said that they had more desertions than usual though, and none knew better than the knights and soldiers just how ripe the kingdom was at the moment for highwaymen and their ilk. He snarled at the deserter, and in a move faster than any mere wolf could accomplish leapt forward, swiping aside the shield and burying his teeth in the bare knee before him. He nearly missed as the other almost dodge out of the way, snagging more of the calf than intended before the shield was brought back down upon him and he let go with a single vicious wrench of his head.

Another one out of the fight, hopefully- the grim face had done nothing to hide the youth of this fighter either, to his dismay. He was loath to kill them, but if they weren’t retreating from a wolf he doubted they’d surrender to a single hylian, either. Rolling his shoulder where the edge of the shield had buried in it, he paced around them, looping the last hylian as he took up a defensive stance by the red garbed one.

“Definitely infected,” he gritted out as he staunched the bleeding leg, glaring at Link viciously. “Fast fucker- good thing there’s only one.”

“Don’t jinx it, goddess above, Legend,” the armored one said irately, his single eye fixed on Link. Behind him the archer was getting to his feet as well, though clearly dazed based on the way he was leaning heavily on the tree.

Link wasted no time; he sprinted in a zig zag towards the eldest hylian; with a sword so big he’d never catch-

The blade caught him across the ribs, the only thing that saved his life was the quick twist that let it catch upon bone rather than gutting him any deeper. He rolled back up onto his feet, wobbly but alive, though a low whimper escaped him as blood began to pour in a sheet from the long, deep cut.

The armored raider stepped forward, face empty of emotion, eye pitiless as he flicked that massive blade with terrifying ease.

Link had made a terrible mistake, it seemed. If he was lucky, he’d survive it yet, though. The hylian brought the sword down in a diagonal strike, and Link followed the momentum of the blade, looping back and around the other in a bid to escape and warn the village, to burn the bridge down if that’s what it took to keep these swords from spilling his family’s blood.

An arrow buried itself in his shoulder with a blast of lightning that sent him reeling and convulsing, blinking awake upon the ground and rolling to his feet with barely enough time to tackle the legs out from under the armored hylian as he raised his sword to end Link’s life. It was utterly graceless, leaving them both tangled and sprawling, his claws scrabbling harmlessly over the other’s armor as he pulled himself free in a limping run.

He can make it, even if he can see the archer drawing another arrow -where did he get a second bow from?- and sighting him.

There’s the hum of a blade whistling towards him, broken by a chime and a scream as the sword arcing in from an unseen caped hylian behind the tree went completely awry, missing him cleanly as he tried to dodge away. Link’s arrow-pierced shoulder refuses to bend that way under his weight with a shaft lodged in the joint, though, and with a shriek of pain his leg snags on itself and he tumbles head over heels to the ground, all too aware suddenly of how many raiders have him surrounded at this point, all around him with their swords out and their faces void of compassion, determined to see him die.

“Legend, wait!” He hears through the agony in his shoulder and his own grim panic, his head turning just in time to see the incoming blast of ice without being able to do a single thing to stop it. A sheet of cold immediately sinks deep across his torso, leaving him thoroughly immobile, trapped with ice coating both forelegs and his entire body from hip to neck.

Link can’t shift like this, not unless he wants to risk crushing something important if the magical ice proves stronger than his bones. He snaps helplessly as they draw in, concerned for their injured friends, directing far more attention towards threatening their wounds than the now incapacitated wolf in their midst.

Link twists his head, teeth scratching harmlessly from the ice, twisting immediately to snap at the scarfed hylian walking a circle around him with a naked blade, moving away from his jaws to his unprotected hind legs. I

No, he won’t die like this, he can’t leave his family and friends to face these men without warning!

“Shit,” the scarfed hylian winces, sheathing his blade as the caped raider joins his side, holding a glowing sword tenderly in his hands, face tight with pain and remorse.

Oh fantastic; at least he’d feel bad about killing a wolf. That’s more than Link usually got, to be honest, and it had to come from a brigand. Speaking of, the kid who most looked the part was leaning in as close as he could before the scarfed hylian snagged his arm and pulled him well away from Link’s warning snarls, though he couldn’t bring himself to snap at the kid.

“Oh, we fucked up,” he said, hissing between his teeth.

The white caped hylian crouched down on his heels before the wolf, laying the sword to the side and revealing badly burned palms as he lifted them in a show of harmlessness.

“Hi Link,” he said, causing the hero to immediately still and go silent. “I… think we owe you some apologies.”

And that? That almost sounded like he might just get out of this alive yet.

#The Many Follies Of Mortal Existance Series #LU fic #Ugh #Kind of anyways #edited the name #because an update email just let me know exactly where the title idea came from #stupid brain remember your SOURCE MATERIAL NEXT TIME

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lorelylantana · 2 years ago

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Savageries of the Heart Chapter 9; Interruption

Tears of the Kingdom Title dropped and I’m back y’all

Chapter rating: T Overall Rating: E

First Previous Next

Zelda stretched her back with a sigh before settling back into the couch in front of the hearth. Noodle was curled in her lap while Link rubbed her feet gently as he was scrolling through something on his slate. He’d called it ‘social correspondence’ but she’d declined learning more about it until she had a firmer grasp on her new duties. It took her a few days to name this warm, soft feeling in her chest that always grew in the evenings when Link settled down with her for the day. Currently, her top contender was ‘contentment’, but she still wasn’t certain.

She didn’t have much experience with this strange absence of anxiety, but it left Zelda feeling very fulfilled. She’d been apprehensive upon first learning just how much influence the Mother of the Dragonlands truly held. She never expected to have much power in her life, and learning how to wield it was a delicate process. It was a heavy load to bear, but she found that she enjoyed the weight of it. After years of stagnation in the shadow of her parents’ early deaths, she knew the euphoria of progress. Rather than kneeling idly in prayer, now she could help people. It made these soft, silent moments all the sweeter. She had earned this respite.

Her slate screeched on the side table, stirring Noodle in her lap. Zelda reached around to grab the it, wanting to silence the unpleasant noise as soon as possible. It wasn’t fast enough, apparently, because Noodle was so agitated she grew to the size of a Zonai constrictor to expedite her path to the door. The second her head cleared the doorway she shrank back to cuddle size, tail disappearing down the hall a moment later. Zelda had never heard this particular alarm before, a far cry from the soft chimes that woke them every morning, but it must have been important, because Link seemed to have the same issue. She answered the call to see what the fuss was about. A Sheikah appeared on the screen that Zelda hadn’t seen before, but he did wear the uniform of the border patrol.

“We have a security breach. An unauthorized Hylian has been found along the road to Kakariko.”

“Where?” Link asked, swiping his finger up the Slate. In response, the screen’s image transferred from their slates to the smooth marble slab above their fireplace. The larger surface now sported a map of Zonai. A red dot flashed on one of the roads to the southeast of Mount Lanayru.

“They’re skirting around the Wetlands as we speak, Impa advises all Wardens to be present to give their verdict, preferably before they reach the city.”

Despite her expectations, they couldn’t simply warp to the council chamber, they would be riding something called the Zonai Railway.

“We can only warp to our respective homes and public venues for security reasons, but there are a few extra steps when the council meets to lower the chance of a possible threat,” Link had explained as they descended on a strange staircase that moved on its own.

Zelda was fascinated. She’d read about the Zonai Railway after Amali had mentioned it one day. The idea of going from one end of the continent to the other was exciting, so much so that she’d asked for blueprints. Zelda was meticulous in her examination, but there was an ocean of difference between a schematic and the machine itself.

The station itself was a marvel, underground but to a torch in sight. Instead, passengers idled their way throughout the station under the cool turquoise glow of luminous stones. The Zonai love of stonework clearly wasn’t a thing of the past, there were thousands upon thousands of lines and curves etched into every square inch of stone. Every walk of life was etched into stone, from farmers to weavers to warriors challenging Lynels. Even the paths underfoot held its own beauty, crevices had been filled with luminous ore and polished to a shine, making Zelda feel like she was walking on water.

A quiet hum filled the cavern, drawing Zelda’s eye to the tunnel. A pinprick of light grew into headlights as she watched the train come closer at an incredible speed. Zelda practically flew across the station, weaving between other passengers to get a better view. Link had to hold her elbow to make sure she didn’t fall off the platform as she looked at the train car pulling into the station.

“You have to stay behind the blue line,” he said, a tad worried.

“They really don’t touch the rails,” Zelda breathed, shocked to her core as several cars came to a stop in front of them with barely a whisper. “How does it work?”

“We could ask the conductor,” he suggested.

Rather than take one of the public cars, Link guided her to a secluded section seemingly intended for the Zonai leadership. There were only two cars as opposed to the long processions she saw used for public transport.

It was just as well, as the more secluded nature of their trip gave Zelda ample opportunity to grill the conductor regarding the railway mechanics, which turned out to be magnetically powered. Somehow.

Before he could elaborate, they arrived at their destination. It felt as though the journey only lasted a moment, but it was difficult to measure any time that passed when she was researching, so she couldn’t be sure.

“How long was our trip?” Zelda asked, incredulous.

“About fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen!?” Zelda scrambled with her slate to pull up the map. Where were they? Fort Hateno perhaps? Her icon had shifted out of Necluda in its entirety.

“We’re under the Temple of Time?” Zelda eyed the ceiling, straining to hear any of the typical bustle that she expected of the storied temple after her few visits. She couldn’t sense anything, but there was no telling how deep they truly were. Link led her to a platform that began to ascend slowly.

“We’re not entirely sure what happened, but we think that the Great Plateau served as a base of operations during the Calamity. We lost access to most of the chambers after the Rift, but we’ve repurposed some of the rooms for our uses.”

Zelda wasn’t quite sure what he meant by Rift, but they finished their ascent before she could ask further. They seemed to be the last to arrive before a massive circular stone table. Zelda could see Urbosa and Impa, as well as a few of the other Wardens she had been introduced to at her wedding, but didn’t know very well beyond that. Not one for pleasantries, Impa ran a finger along the table’s edge, revealing another interactive map of Hyrule, or perhaps Zonai, and addressing the room.

“Kakariko’s proximity alarm has been activated. Whoever’s approaching the city, they aren’t one of us.”

The table’s map shifted, zooming in until the road itself came into view. There was a shadowy figure creeping not on the road itself, but crawling through the bushes next to it. A few paces behind them three Sheikah guards were walking upright on the road, awaiting orders and not feeling particularly inclined to put any effort into staying hidden. Abruptly, the shadow fell below into the foliage and a string of curse words could be heard over the live feed.

“Oh, sweet Hylia,” Zelda muttered, recognizing that most grating of voices.

“It’s your dipshit cousin,” Link gasped, brow raised.

Admittedly, Zelda hadn’t heard that presumed expletive before, but the sentiment seemed clear enough for her to consider it an apt description.

“That’s your cousin?” the Rito Warden, Revali, said with surprise and condescension.

“Unfortunately,” Zelda sighed, shaking her head in disbelief.

“He falls under your jurisdiction, then,” Impa declared, relief tinging the undertone of her voice, “What would you have us do?”

The council turned to look in her direction, and she suppressed the anxiety of being put on the spot. After all of her cousin’s tirades about his disdain for the Zonai, and if he came without an escort, then she wanted to know what he was up to.

“Exactly how much does he know about Zonai’s . . . resources?” she asked, not wanting to reveal any more than necessary.

Impa huffed, “He’s already passed one of the more rural outposts we have along that road, so he’s seen some of our agricultural equipment and how they move on their own. I’d say the cat’s far enough out of the bag that contacting him over Slate isn’t that much of a risk.”

“Detain him in the nearest facility equipped for remote questioning. Before all else, we should know what his intentions are.”

Though she doubted it, there was a possibility that Hyrule needed help, and she couldn’t outright ignore that likelihood, however low it may be. Impa relayed her orders to the Sheikah standing around the bush Nohansen still hadn’t managed to disentangle himself from. One of the guards reached into the leaves to pull him out while the other fiddled with their slate. Nohansen was still squirming when they dissolved into blue strings and Impa cut the feed to connect with their nearest police station. Zelda could see the tail end of the teleportation, the last bits of their silhouettes converging until they were back in the real world.

“What are you doing, Nohansen?” Zelda asked, switching to Hylian for the first time in a while.

His head whipped around, eyes darting like a madman’s until he finally caught sight of her image.

“You savage wretch! Give back-”

“One of you smack him,” Link snapped, his usual expression of gentle kindness replaced with a cold, hard rage that sent a shiver down Zelda’s spine. He didn’t specify which of the two guards should be the one to carry out his order, but both of them seemed eager to waste time disputing who would do the honors. Two black eyes later, Nohansen seemed a bit more willing to cooperate.

“Let’s try again,” Zelda said, exasperated, “What are you doing here?”

“The crown.”

Zelda reached up to her head, where her headdress was resting with its ethereal blue glow. “What about it?”

“Not that you-” he flinched as the guards shifted behind him, “My crown. The one you stole.”

It took Zelda a few moments to realize he meant the golden circlet she used to wear as the Princess of Hyrule. That was more of a tiara, really.

“You mean the circlet I wore for ten years? That ‘crown’?”

“It’s not yours anymore! You stopped being the Crown Princess of Hyrule when you married that beast of a-”

“One of you smack him,” Zelda said, irritated and wanting this conversation over as soon as it could be.

“A thousand apologies, your royal majesty,” he quipped, dripping with just enough sarcasm to rival his bloody nose, “But you had no right to take it and I want my birthright back!”

Zelda racked her brain to see if she knew what he was talking about. She didn’t take much in the way of jewelry with her after her marriage, aside from a pair of bracelets and necklace that belonged to her mother. Most of her luggage was research equipment and her old journals. She wasn’t wearing it during the ceremony either. She didn’t remember unpacking it either.

Perhaps Owlan knew something about it? He helped in her packing before she left Hyrule Castle. If she had put it with her other things by mistake, he may know about it. She opened the messaging thread she had with Owlan.

Zelda: You wouldn’t happen to know anything about my old tiara, would you?

Owlan’s reply came after a few more minutes of Nohansen’s insufferable screeching in the form of a picture he’d taken.

Owlan: Just sent it your way :)

Zelda pinched her nose while she tipped her slate to show her husband, and Link threw his head back and roared with laughter, which Nohansen didn’t appreciate in the slightest.

#link #zelda #zelink #Savageries of the Heart #writing #my writing #loz botw #botw #zonai link #zonai zelink #arranged marriage AU #botw zelink #racial tensions #there are a couple of racially motivated 'barbarism' themed insults #minor racism but still racism

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luimagines · 4 years ago

Note

RQ: He’s upset and needs comforting

Masterlist

Ya'll want angst? Because I have some angst.

Very hurt/comfort

Set platonically and within the group since there was no specification. Hope that’s ok! Sorry it took awhile, it got away from me again. I think this may be a trend.

Scenario under the cut! It’s super long so take caution!

Sky

It took a while for you to notice but eventually you do.

Sky has been acting weird all day.

It was only clipped responses at first, then it was was the lack of attention where Sky would have been the first to comment or act otherwise. What really tipped you off finally was how he seemed to be evading the whole group. Not necessarily stepping away and out of sight but he didn’t interact with anyone and when they approached him, he didn’t make eye contact, seemingly trying to cut the conversation short.

No one has said anything.

You mention it to Twilight about his out of character behavior but he says that it maybe a bad day, or he slept wrong, or some other reason that you stopped listening to because it didn’t make any sense.

Sky was always trying to be friendly no matter his mood and it took a lot to shake him up.

What was eating at the Chosen Hero?

Soon, the uncertainty begins to eat at you too and you wait for night fall, once everyone is asleep to strike.

Strike up a conversation that is.

Sky usually takes the last watch because he’s usually the first one out regardless of what activities for the day so you strive to wake up early.

It works for the most part, your internal clock doing what you want it to do when you blink your eyes open. Part of you begins to drift off again so you sit up and nearly fall asleep that way.

A hand comes up on your back and rubs a small circle. “Nightmare?”

It’s Sky and he’s looking at you with mild concern.

You smile and shake your head. “No. I’m alright but I think I’ll stay up with you if you don’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t mind the company.” He moves out of your space and back to where he sat.

You follow, still groggy from just waking from your slumber but succeed in not stepping on any of your friends or waking them up as well with the added noise. you sit next to the Hero of the Skies with little fan fare and let the moment settle on the both of you before looking skyward.

“Can I ask you something?” You don’t look at Sky and continue star gazing even if they’re a little harder to spot as the sun travels closer for it’s shift.

Sky hums in agreement and follows your gaze upwards.

“Are you ok? You seemed a little off lately.”

Sky doesn’t say anything for the first few seconds and you suspect that maybe he didn’t hear you. With him spacing out so much and the fact that you whispered for the sake of your still sleeping friends, you’re inclined to repeat yourself but Sky answers in time.

“Just thinking a lot, I suppose. Nothing serious.”

“Yeah?” You don’t look his way. This is casual. This is friendly. This is not a big deal. “Rupee for your thoughts?”

“It’s not that interesting.”

You shrug. “Hit me with it anyway. It’s got to be something if it’s throwing you off your rocker. Maybe a new perspective will help clear some of it up?”

Sky frowns at your attempts, once again retreating into his mind. You let the offer hang in the air and let it sink in.

You’re disinclined to bring it up anymore. Your brain is still tired and you’re wondering your effectiveness when half of your thoughts are still muddled with sleep and fatigue. You could have totally slept in some more. What on earth made you think this was a good idea?

“Time mentioned something earlier that I can’t seem to let go of.” Sky begins.

You hum back and let him keep talking.

“I never fought this Ganon guy they all so talk so much about. I fought the God Demise. Before I could land the final blow, he cast a curse on me, on us, that some cycle would continue. His hatred would last forever and my blood line and Zelda’s will be cursed to deal with constant darkness caused by him.” Sky admits, looking now at his intertwined hands. “I finished him soon after that but... I wonder... Am I the cause-... Is this all my fault? Am I the reason that we’re all here right now? That everyone has gone through so much? So many thing happened that should have never occurred. Time and Legend and Wild have all suffered so much.... more than I can possibly ever imagine and it seems like it’s never ending. Everyone starts they’re adventures so young... If I had killed him sooner... If I had just got it over with... If I had just shut him up-”

“Hey.” Your hand lands on his shoulder, cutting off his tirade. “None of this is anyone’s fault. The only people to blame are Ganon and now, this Demise guy. You did what you could. You still got the job done and no one here will ever blame you for what has happened to them or to Hyrule. You were young too... you’re still young. Give yourself a little kindness and understanding, just as you do with everyone here. You didn’t deserve it either. It’s not like you asked to fight a God.”

“Well...”

“Sky you know what I mean.”

“I should have been faster. If-”

“There’s no use in worrying about what if’s.” You shove him slightly. “This is our life. Even if you ask, no one is capable of giving you the answers. I get it. It’s hard to know if the path you took is the right one if it’s all you’ve ever known and you can’t see where the other would have lead... But... Even if horrible things happen, I’m still glad to have met you. I’m glad I met the others. I’m happy to be here with you and with them, and I’m glad that it’s not just me anymore.”

You let the words sink in before leaning down wards and trying to get him to look you in the eye. “I can’t answer your questions. But what happened, happened and the best thing we can do is learn how to play with the cards we’re dealt.”

He take a deep breath and finally looks in your direction. “I know you’re right.”

“Naturally.”

“But I can’t help but feel responsible for being-”

“But you’re not responsible for their pain or any of this Sky. If Ganon has anything to do with Demise then it’s all Demise’ fault. His and his only. Understand?” You stress. “I wish... I wish I could do something more to help.”

Sky places his hand over yours where you still have it on his shoulder and sends you a small smile. “I know. Me too.”

Wild

“Zelda, would you please drop it!” You hear the Champion yell, his voice carrying over the wind and somehow getting louder. “We’ve had this conversation before and it’s not the time to have it again. I have things to do excuse me.”

Wild storms into his house and shuts the door behind, blocking it with all his weight and waits for the indignant shrieking on the other side to go away. The voice ends with a frustrated huff and after a moment of silence, Wild relaxes and steps away from the door and further into the house.

You’re almost scared for the moment. You’ve not known Wild to yell, even less so for a Link to be on bad terms with Zelda no matter the universe. To make matters worse, you were the only that was actually within the house at the moment and you weren’t entirely sure how to proceed from here.

“Trouble in paradise?”

That probably wasn’t the way to go, if you were being honest with yourself.

Wild groans, loud and exaggerated and sits at the table in front of you with as much fan fair.

“Do not...call it that.” He sounds tired.

“Sorry.” You amend with an apologetic shrug. “That-” You reference to the scene outside. “-Didn’t sound ideal.”

“No. It’s not.” Wild sighs and places his face in his hands with his elbows on the table. Bad table manners, a small voice in your head pipes up. But it’s his house, so you bite your tongue.

“Can I ask what it was about?” You hesitatingly venture.

Wild takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. “I wanted to live a simple life.” He starts. “Everything was over now, right? That was the idea I had. Defeat the evil and get to finally live as a normal man. Maybe explore more of my home and show Zelda all the cool things I’ve seen and done. Everything I knew, everything I remembered is gone and has been gone for a while. No one alive misses it. No one alive even knows about it. This is the world they were born into and they wouldn’t have it any other way. I was prepared to accept that and join them.”

Your face twists in sympathy as you nod along. “I take it that’s the issue here.”

“When I defeated Calamity Ganon and reunited with Zelda, she seemed so full of hope and purpose.” Wild continues. “I saw it in her eyes. She wanted a different thing to what I wanted.”

“And what’s that?”

Wild gives you a pained look. “Zelda wants to try and rebuild the kingdom. Make it into what she remembers it to be. She wants to strengthen relationships with the other nations and reestablish the royal family and a whole lot of other things that I cannot begin to think of how long it would both take and last considering all the damage that already been done. She wants to be Queen. And over what? Hyrule Kingdom is no more. Can’t be a Queen without a kingdom to rule and there’s not a lot of Hylians left that would agree to being ruled over or even enough of them to count as a kingdom to begin with.”

“I suppose it’s not a bad goal to have but you do make a point.” You try and add to the conversation, feeling wildly out of your depth. “Does she know that you-”

“Yes. And she thinks I’m crazy for it. She thinks that I’ve given up on my friends and the past and the future and- uugghhh.” Wild leaned forward and slams his head on the table with enough force to make you jump.

“That look like it hurt.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“I believe you.” A small smile covers your face.

A beat passes before Wild continues to talk with his head still on top of the table. “I don’t think she realizes that I’ve changed after everything. Maybe if I had my memories to begin with, or maybe if I had managed to defeat Calamity Ganon sooner, I’d be more inclined to agree with her, but I’ve experienced so much and done so much that I don’t want to go back to how things were. I’m a different man now.” Wild looks up at you. “She’s different too but I don’t think she’s ready for that conversation.”

“So you’re stuck with this one?”

“Yes.”

“That sucks man.” You shift in your seat. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Not if you can change the past.” He pouts.

“Shame. I’m fresh out of past changing wishing powder.”

“That’s not a thing.” He pouts even more.

You chuckle at the display before sobering up ever so slightly. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

“What good will that do?”

“Maybe a third person party has to step in. It could be that it’s because you’re the one who saying that she isn’t listening.” You shrug. “I think you’re right but I’m willing to give her chance to tell her side of the story while you cool down in here. I can be a distraction so you can sneak out quietly and she won’t know you’re here anymore! It’s a win win! And maybe you guys can come to an agreement when you both see each other again with new perspectives.”

Wild gives you another tired look and leans into his hand. “I doubt it would work. Zelda is incredibly stubborn, one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met. But if you think it would help, I won’t stop you. I’ve run out of arguments and I’m done hearing hers.”

“Ok.” You say getting up and moving around the table. “I think it’s worth a shot. There’s a saying where I’m from that goes, ‘it’ll all be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, then it’s not the end.’”

You give Wild a hug around his shoulder and squeeze him tight. “I have faith that you’ll pull through and get to live peacefully, but until then, you’ve got us on your side ok?”

He leans in your direction and wraps his arms around your own. “I know. I figured as much.”

“Good man.”

“I’m definitely sneaking out of here though.”

“That’s fair. Go hide.”

“I will... And thanks for listening to me. I didn’t mean to go off like that.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

Four

"I'm sorry, what?" Four snaps his head up to stare at the Champion.

"What?" Wild tilts his head. "What? There's no stuff in the grass in my Hyrule. Just crickets and lizards...you know normal stuff. I don't know why there's tools and rupees in all of yours."

"You don't-" Four cut himself off with a click of his teeth, a piece in his mind clicking into place. He stands suddenly, clearly upset and tense as he processes the information.

"Four?" You call out to him but he doesn't respond to you, nor does he look back.

"Four!" Hyrule calls as well. "Where are you going?"

No reply.

"I'll go with him. Just in case." You stand up in a rush and nearly knock over the equipment at your feet in the process. "Don't wait up for us."

You follow him.

Four is fast and quiet and it takes very little time to lose him- or rather, for him to lose you.

Before you knew it, there's no trace of him and there's nothing within the forest that would give you a hint to his whereabouts.

"Great." You hiss and look around.

Nothing.

"Four!" If he won't show himself, you'll just have to make some noise. "Four! Four! Show me a sign so I know you're not dead!"

You wait.

"Don't make me get Wolfie!"

Nothing.

"Four!" You scream a little louder and begin to run. Now that you've said it out loud, despite being a joke in the beginning, the thought of Four being dead somewhere spikes your panic and anxiety and it fuels your quest.

It's only been a few minutes and Four can handle himself just fine but you don't think about that.

"FOUR!"

"Why are you screaming?" A voice come just beyond you.

You sprint toward it and find Four in a small clearing, crouched down and appearing to hold something in the palm of his hand.

"I was calling you." You don't know how you find it in you scold him. "A response would have been nice."

"Sorry." He shrugs. "I was having a conversation, it would be rude to drop it."

You get on your tip toes to look around him and find nothing. "With... With what?"

Four looks down into his hand and places it, ever so gently, on the ground, pausing and standing up to see you. "You can't see them?"

"See who?" You step over to him. "Four? Are you ok?"

His face twists in annoyance before sighing. "I'm fine."

"No offence, but I doubt that."

"It... a group of creatures that can only be seen by good children. They were important on my quests and have helped me greatly. Children usually stop seeing them around the time when they turn sixteen."

"Would it be easy for me to chalk it all up to magic?" You bit your lip.

"Probably. If it'll help you sleep at night." Four sighs and looks down to the ground, a small smile on his lips before it twists into a painfully and... he looks seconds from crying.

"I did so much to help them... and they helped me.... They leave gifts in the grass to help travelers and us heroes alike and yet... Wild says it doesn't happen anymore..." Four gulps and looks away from you and what ever is by his foot. "They wouldn't stop.... They're incredibly kind and hospitable and... There's no reason for them... Why are they gone?"

"Four." You reach out and place a hand on his shoulder.

"What happens to them?" His Adam's apple bobs a bit as he sucks in a breath. "It just means there was no one to help them."

"Oh Four." You pull him into a hug and nearly crush him with it.

"There's nothing I can do to help them, is there?" He sniffles into your chest.

"No, I... I don't think so Four. Not that far out into the future." You shake your head and begin to rub circles on his back.

You don't think he's crying but he might be fighting it because he does begin shaking.

He doesn't say anything else and you're loath to let him go when he's so emotionally charged. So you hold him. You hold him for as long as he needs and you wait for him to pull away first.

When he does, you keep your hands on his shoulders and he stays within your reach. Four begins to take deep calming breaths with his eyes closed and you instinctually run your hands through his bangs and push some of the loose hairs from his face.

Minutes continue to pass and the sounds of nature around you fill the void.

"I'm sorry." You say. "I wish I could help you but I don't know how."

Four nods and rubs his eyes. "I don't doubt that. Thank you. I'll be ok."

You don't think he's ready to go back to the group just yet, not after all that. "Tell me more about these friends of yours. How did they help you? How did you help them? What are they exactly?"

It earns you a small laugh and he grins up at you with a watery smile. "Sit down. And let me tell you about the Picori."

Twilight

“You almost died and for what?!” Twilight screams at Wild for the umpteenth time.

It startles you to hear his voice reach such volumes but you’re inclined to agree with him this time around. After Wild’s stunt with taking a hit to the head for Wind, you’d been on the look out for his more... self sacrificing behavior. You knew he wouldn’t think twice to do it and you tried to make it so there wouldn’t even be a chance for him to make such a decision.

This time though, in this last fight, you took your eyes off of him for only a moment and that’s when he broke his streak of uneventful fights.

Twilight, of course, is livid and has no regard for the poor creatures of the forest that have to endure his tirade as he unleashes his concern and worry in the form of rage and over exaggerated gestures.

When Hyrule finishes healing your more minor wounds, you slink away from the soon to be screaming match since Wild is very much still conscious, if a little roughed up. You don’t intended to stray as far as you go but you don’t find it in yourself to care for the time being.

Being around so many people for so long is taxing. You make the executive decision to remove yourself for the time being while tensions are high, to both cool off and to avoid getting hit in the crossfire.

There’s a small creek nearby, you find, and decide to make a small space for yourself there until dinner comes rolling around. The birds and the babbling waters calm your soul and snuffle out the last of the adrenaline. You don’t know how long you sit there, but you can faintly hear the screaming match in the distance that you dipped out of.

You don’t regret it.

More time passes and you find that you may or may not have taken a small nap in the meantime. If the position of the sun is anything to go by.

Despite the pain in your back from sleeping against a tree, the slight ache in your neck from the angle you slept in, you feel better. Clearer, even.

You hope your absence wasn’t entirely noticed but you can’t seem to regret leaving either.

Footsteps creep closer to you and you huddle into a small ball out of habit to avoid detection.

It’s Twilight.

He walks near the creek and takes a heavy seat next to it. He looks both pale or red faced at the same time but exhaustion is laced in his entire body from what you can tell.

He doesn’t notice you.

You uncurl and set your legs out in front of you. Leaning forward a little, as quietly as you can, you see that he’s upset. It doesn’t surprise you. But seeing as you don’t how to deal with an upset Twilight and you can’t really sneak away without crossing his line of sight or making any miniscule noise, you still yourself and wait.

And wait.

Twilight calls your name. Quietly and hollow- like he’s not all there. Or in the way one would talk to a memory.

It’s immediately unsettling. Both in how he sounds and how he knew you were there without you doing anything. But you suppose Twilight can just sense things like that from times to time. It’s certainly not the first time he’s done it.

“I’m here.” You reply.

“How long?”

“A few hours I think. Longer than you were here that’s for sure.” You shrug and slowly crawl out of your hidey hole. “I think I fell asleep....The sun wasn’t over there when I first got here.”

Twilights hums in what you think is agreement but it’s really only a sound. “It’s a nice spot.”

You smile. It’s tense and little fake, but he’s not looking at you so you don’t care for authenticity. “Good thing it’s big enough for the both of us huh?”

“Yeah.” He looked into the distance again, noting that the sun is beginning to set and takes a deep breath. “Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?”

“Can’t say that I have.” You move closer to him, aiming to sit by his side. “I’ve always enjoyed sun sets and I find them calming to watch but hearing someone finding them sad is a new one. Do you feel sad as dusk falls?”

He hums again. “They say it’s the only time their world interacts with ours.”

“Whos?”

“Lingering spirits I suppose...” Twilight tilts his head upwards before twisting it to look at you. “It’s nothing. I’m just reminiscing about my life before my adventure is all. My... father told me those words and I haven’t forgotten them since.”

You hum this time and lean back to mirror him. “Wanna tell me why?”

“That Champion reminds me so much of myself and yet... he’s ten times worse.” Twilight falls backwards with a soft thump. “I know why he does it but I...”

“You care about him and don’t want to see him hurt.” You shrug. “It’s not exactly a new concept.”

“Tell that to him.”

“Maybe I will. He gets just as upset as you do when this happens, you know.” You shift your weight to make it easier to stand up later.

“Does he? You’d think that he’d get the point to stop doing then.” He growls.

“Maybe he’s scared of losing more friends.” You blurt before you can stop yourself. That was something Wild told you in confidence and while he didn’t say you couldn’t tell anyone- that was kinda implied.

Twilight stills for a moment, the fight leaving him again in a single breath as he considers your words. They don’t seem to be new news to him.

Wild is pretty close to Twilight...Maybe he already knew.

“I still think I’m entitled to not like it.” He settles.

“It’s not he’s asking you to be ok with it. I know I’m not.”

“I guess that’s fair then.” Twilight sits up again and stands up in one fluid motion that you envy. With a turn on his heel, he holds his hand out to you to take.

You take it and feel him effortlessly lift you off of the ground with that one hand.

You don’t comment on it.

“Come on.” He says. “I’m going to need you for moral support.”

“Why?”

“If I yelled in front of him of the whole group, I should apologize to him in front of the whole group.” He admits and wraps his arm around your shoulders. “But I might need an excuse to get close to him again after all the things I’ve said.”

“I get your desert and you’ve got yourself a deal. I left to not get involved and here you are... involving me.” You tease. “I demand payment.”

“One desert? I can do that.”

Hyrule

“I can’t do this.” You snap your head to the sound of the voice and see Hyrule with his arms cross and shaking.

“What? What’s happening? Hyrule?” You step closer to him as you’re the only one within arms reach. “What do I need to do? How can I help?”

“There’s nothing. Nothing you can do, that can make this better.” Hyrule takes one ground step before throwing his arms down. “Don’t you see them? With all their tools and experience and then there’s- me. Just me. Some magic later and a old man with a sword and I found myself trying to save my princess and defeat some evil, but these guys...”

You look around, trying to see if Legend or Sky are close enough to give you back up, or better yet, take over. You suppose it’s better than a panic attack but it’s so left field that you’re stunned and floundering to catch this hot potato of a conversation.

He keep talking.

“For all that is good and holy, they are heroes. Do you see them? Some of them have training, and families and skills and I....was just a boy in a grave yard. How can I even compete with them? I don’t, that’s how. But how can they consider me an equal? When I was in town and listened to the elders and their stories, they would tell me of a legendary hero from the past who courageously defended our home until the very end and who was virtually undefeated in all his adventures. And then I meet Legend....and he’s so much cooler than all those stories combined.”

“Link.” You call out to him and back to the real world. “You need to slow down for me honey because you’re too fast for me to keep up. What do you mean how can they see you as an equal? You defeated Ganon just as they did. You stood up for your home just as they did. You did it all on your own just as they did. Why wouldn’t they consider you an equal? No one cares about where you’re from, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

“But they can do so many things even without the sword!” He exclaims. “They all have a place to go to, a person who cares about them, a title or a skill and a world that’s not on the brink of collapse-”

“Ok, whoa, hey.” You step into his space and take his face into your hands, bringing it up for him to look you in the eyes.

“I have no idea what brought this up but I won’t stand for anyone talking bad about you. And that includes you. We... can talk about your home with clearer heads later, ok? Maybe the others can help with that when we get there, yeah? And well....” You’re sinking. You don’t know what to do with all this information and you have even less of an idea about how to address it.

“Good golly, when it rains, it pours with you lot, doesn’t it?” You hiss under your breath and bite the bullet. With a strong grip, you wrap your arms around the Traveler and pull him close. You try to keep your grip strong without fear of hurting him, but it hits you then how thin he is. How light he actually is. You can feel the hint of armor under his tunic and it does little to quell your fears.

“Clearly there’s a lot on your mind. And... I’m probably not the person to help you through this. If you want to talk about not belonging though, I’m free to listen. I’m the only one here who’s not a Link, if you haven’t noticed.” You try to joke but it falls a little flat. “You though... You belong here with all of us... all of them... And if you need more convincing then I’m bringing this up with Legend who’s is over the moon proud of you and what you can do and he told me himself that he couldn’t be happier to have you as his successor-”

“Really?”

“Not in those exact words admittedly,-” You gulp as the word vomit continues to bubble out of you in waves of panic. “-but I know that’s what he meant because he doesn’t stop talking about how cool you are.”

“Hm.”

“And everyone has a different background, ok? Everyone has skills and people that the others don’t have. That’s ok. It’s not a competition. I get worried that one day you guys are going to create some game out of all your trauma. Like... who had it worse and just go around in a circle listing off all the things that happened to each of you... Whoever runs out of things to say or can’t think of something as bad or worse than the others is out. Last man standing wins.”

“Don’t give them ideas.” You feel him chuckle. It’s breathless and small and it doesn’t reach your ears despite your closeness but you feel it.

“Good thing it’s just you and me right now.” You sigh a little in relief and loosen the hug. “Look, just.....whatever you think you can’t do, just know that there is someone who is confidently doing it wrong right now. In the group or not, just keep your eyes and watch. They don’t plan on doing it better either and people are celebrating them for it. Please believe in your own excellence as much as they believe in their mediocrity.”

“Big words.”

“You’re awesome for trying. Others are not and don’t plan to. You’re already better than them.” You amend, stepping away to look him in the eye again. “The group can’t do magic like you can. That’s all you. They all have items sure but no one can do what you do... and you’re self taught, right? That’s incredible! You have just as much as a reason to be here as the others. I swear it.”

Hyrule sighs and gulps. He doesn’t believe you. It’s not enough.

You knew it wouldn’t be and it’s definitely doesn’t scratch the tip of the iceberg of the bomb he just dropped on you but... step by step. Little by little. you have a plan.

“Screw it. Let’s catch up with Wind and Warrior and get them to tell you how awesome you are, since you won’t listen to me. And if you’re still a nonbeliever then we move on to the next pair. We’ll go down the line if we have to.” You nod and grab his hand, beginning to drag him along.

He laughs after you, a little hysterical and in disbelief. “You’re crazy.”

“That is not new information.” You reply, hiding your grin. “I say it’s Hyrule loving hours and I’m gonna get everyone to join.”

“You’re not joking are you.” It’s a statement. He already knows the answer.

“Nope!”

Legend

It was your turn on watch for the night. In an hour or two you were supposed to wake the Veteran for his shift and finally catch some sleep.

The others snored and slept away without a care in the world. It was just you and cackling fire that was active but you’d kill for something to help your mind get passed the boredom.

Anything but monsters or an attack that is. You’d hate to jinx your good luck so far.

In the corner of your eye, while fighting to keep your head up, you see Legend shift. Not necessarily unusual. You’re inclined to ignore it.

But then he shifts again, whimpering like he’s been hurt and a white knuckled grip on the blanket.

You still and begin to wonder what’s your level of care here.

Part of you, in kindness, wants to go wake him. The lack of sleep seems more merciful than letting him suffer a prison of his own making.

But you also don’t know how he’ll react.

You know he’d hate to be seen as weak for whatever normal reason and he’s been inclined to wake up swinging in the right circumstance.

Twilight suffered a broken nose for the whole night because he was disinclined to wake up Hyrule or take a potion.

Not you’d make the same decision and suffer the whole night in the same manner but it certainly fails to sound appealing.

Just as your about to appeal to your better nature and force yourself to go wake him before it gets worse, he shoots up into a sitting position with a strangled scream. The job seems to have been done for you- but in the worse way.

He’s breathing hard with his hand gripping his chest. Legend begins to frantically look around and slowly begins to piece together where he is and what’s happened. He never looks behind him, where you are, before running a hand through his hair a little harder than you think reasonable and getting to his feet.

You cough slightly, leaning away from the fire and back into previous position. You hadn’t realized you leaned into his direction as you watched him, inches from putting your face into the flame.

He startles at the sound and whips around, one hand poised to reach the sword he’s not equipped with.

“It’s just me.” You wave. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

He calms somewhat and you can see his jaw flex. “Well, goodnight to you.”

His voice is croaked- from disuse or an overwhelming emotion, you’re not sure.

“For me maybe. But you? That was quite a scare you gave me as well.” You play it off. You can at least pretend that you weren’t watching him. That you would have saved him a little earlier and took your sweet time doing it. You offer a peace offering to your morals. “Want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” He snaps, furiously rubbing his face. “It’s nothing new. We all deal with it one way or another.”

“True. But it’ll be easier to let it go, and let the experience float up into the air and never return. Otherwise it’ll fester and grow.” You shrug. “But I won’t force you. I know you’re not exactly fond of me.”

Legend glares into the fire as you talk and refuses to look at you. Once you finish though, he moves his head away, still not in your direction but visually drops more tension from his shoulders.

He doesn’t say anything.

“There’s a spot next to me with your name on it if you want it.” You offer. “A little company wouldn’t hurt.”

He takes more time to respond and you resolve to go back to staring at the fire.

A moment or two passes and you hear the faint sound of crunched foliage. It takes of your will power to not look up as he approaches and even more so when he decidedly sits next to you.

The fabric of his tunic brushes your leg for a minute and it strikes you odd that he sat that close despite the rest of the log at his disposal.

It must have been bad if he wants to be close to someone right after. The thought enters your mind. Once it’s there you don’t chase it away and instead casually lean back with your hand behind you.

If the angle causes you to lean closer to him in the process, you don’t say anything.

And if Legend notices, he doesn’t say anything either.

A moment of time passes in silence, the only sounds through the whole forest are crickets and a passing owl with the occasional whisper through the trees.

“How do you do it?” He asks.

“Do what?” You tilt your head in his direction.

He’s still not looking at you.

“Keep going.”

The answer shocks momentarily but you’re not surprised that it’s coming from him out of the whole group. “Legend-”

“I’m tired.” He says instead. “I hate this. I hate that sword. I hate that pig demon. I hate that I can’t be done.”

You hand comes up to his shoulder and you force him to look at you.

He lets you and he looks up to you with tears building up in his eyes and for a moment you’re struck by the odd balance of how old he sounds but how young he looks- is.

You stuck floundering for a response to answer him with but he asks one more thing. “Why can’t I be done?”

You pull him into a hug before you can stop yourself. “I don’t know. I don’t know Link.”

You find yourself wanting to cry as well once Legend collapses into the hug. He’s not hugging you back but he’s being held for the first time in... you don’t know how long. Your grip tightens.

“But I do know is that you’re not alone. Not anymore. And maybe....maybe this is the final fight. That’s why we’re all together right? A darkness so evil ahead that every hero is required and then....rest. For each and every one of you.”

You sniffle, carding your fingers through his hair without a moments hesitation. “If it’s not then I’ll fight everything for you from then on. I’ll take your place you hear me. I’ll take your job and title and you won’t have to do this anymore.”

“I’m the Hero of Legend. That’s not exactly an easy thing-”

“No. I am the hero now. I’ve decided it.” You hide the tears in his hair to the best of your ability.

Legend snorted, loud and wet but you elected to ignore it just as you were ignoring the ever growing wet spot on your shoulder. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“It does now. I said so.”

A beat.

“...Ok.” He sniffled and rubbed his head on your shirt. He took a deep breath and exhaled, letting the night take over the atmosphere again. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

He nods once, definitive and final. Your expecting him to let go now and return to his roll, already electing to take over his shift as well and just push through the next day.

Except he doesn’t.

Legend calls your name, testing the waters and lifts his head up ever so slightly. “...It’s not that I’m... not... fond of you-”

“Save it for a rainy day.” You grin. “I think you’ve had your fill of emotions for the night.”

He nods and eventually slips into sleep with his head on your chest, no doubt lulled by your heartbeat.

With tearful eyes, you stare back into the fire.

Time

Time marched from the stunned group the same way a parent does after making a scathing remark instead of a lecture.

You know the one.

“I’m not mad. Just disappointed.”

The poor boys suddenly didn’t know what to so with themselves or how to get back into Time’s good graces.

You felt for them and their awkward meandering through the camp. So, with your pride swallowed, you follow in the vague direction where Time went off to and decided to at least talk him down.

He is... decidedly harder to find than you previous imagined.

Just as your starting to think the Old Man doesn’t want to be found, you hear subtle swing. It’s to your left and it sounds heavy.

So naturally you follow it

Which leads you to a small clearing just beyond a bunch of bushes.

Time is there, full armor still on and swinging his giant sword forcefully, each swing stronger than the last. It’s as if it weighs only as much as Four. You’ve wondered in the past what it would like if he decided to actually throw the smallest ones of the group but out of fear, do not voice your ideas.

Just because Time won’t doesn’t mean that the others won’t try.

It’s hard being the responsible one when there are nine Links to take care of, each as much as a gremlin as the last. It must be hell on Time’s back to carry the group.

You see where he’s coming from and yet...

“You can stand to be a little more patient with them.”

The words are out of your mouth before you can actually stop them.

Time stops abruptly, in both the figurative and literal sense, before the man turns to you with that same face of neutral disappointment.

“They are heroes.”

“They are also children, Time. I think that it’s because they are heroes that they deserve to act their age every now and then.”

“Slacking won’t divert the evil away from our home.”

“Running face first into the problem won’t solve it either.” You sigh and walk up the man. He tenses as you approach and slowly lets his weapon down. The Hero of Time is an intimidating creature but you refuse to let that dissuade you.

“Look, I know why you’re upset. I get it. It’s hard to get a job done when you feel like you’re the only one it’s important to... But have a little faith in our group. Please.” You plead and stop right in front of him. You have to look up at him slightly due to the angle but he was forced to acknowledge you here.

His arms cross and he opens his mouth to respond but you cut him off.

“You’re right, they are heroes and there is a job to be done and an evil to be done away with. But they were even younger when they earned the title. They still vanquished the darkness even for their age. You have to trust that they will do the same here.” You reach up and put your hands on his shoulders, getting onto your tip toes to look him in the eye better. “And they will. Because they are heroes. Because they have the spirit of courage. Because they are Link... Just like you.”

He softens his stance ever so slightly but he still doesn’t look pleased.

“It’s not easy I know.” You get down again. “But they look up to you. I think all of them do. And I can’t stand to see how hurt they look when you get upset when they act their age. It’s not like they can help it.”

He takes a deep breath and uncrossed his arms. He takes a minute to respond. Time stared at you intensely before he drops all the tension in his body and finally lets his weapon go. A single hand comes up to pat your head.

“Let’s head back to camp.”

He says nothing else and continues to walk past you and back the way you came.

You don’t ignore the sense of accomplishment and refuse to dampen it when you catch the tiniest slivers of a smile before he turns away from you completely.

Wind

You’re lying peacefully on the dirt when you hear someone sit beside you with more power than would ever be needed.

You don’t open your eyes for the sake of the other person, not really thinking much of it and even forgetting that they were there until you heard the smallest of sniffles.

Now, you’re sitting straight up with wide and concerned eyes locking directly onto the crying form of your beloved pirate.

It’s hard not to feel for him and while you’re not sure what sprung this up, you don’t have it in you to turn him away, or to ignore that he was upset.

Neither of you say anything and you’re almost afraid it make the picture in front of you a little too real.

Instead, you move yourself closer to him and open up your arms.

Wind doesn’t hesitate to throw himself onto you and let his body sag with unwanted emotion.

As sobs silently rack his body, you begin to feel yourself rock back and forth for both his comfort and yours. Soon you start running your hands through his hair and rub small circles on his back.

He cries for a long time and never once gives you a clue why.

You don’t ask either.

Still, once the moment has passed, you continue to hold onto him. He doesn’t make any moves to let go of you any time soon and you’re happy to be there for as long as he’ll let you.

That doesn’t stifle your concern over the cause but you’re loath to bring it up.

Minutes pass with the boy in your arms and it’s only when you shift positions, does he look up at your face. His eyes aren’t as red anymore with the amount of time that’s passes since he’s stopped crying but his face is still a little puffy and his cheeks are both stained in tears and incredibly red.

A small smile creeps onto your face when you look back at him. “Feel better?”

“A little.” He admits and sniffles the last of the tears away, wiping his face with his sleeve. “Thanks.”

“For you? Anytime.”

Warrior

It struck you as odd that it was dinner time the group seemed to be missing someone.

Earlier that day the group had split up to take down some troublesome monsters on the border of some tiny town defenseless town and that was that.

It didn’t seem like big deal nor was it a particularly hard thing to do. The monsters weren’t infected and they didn’t have numbers on their side so your group took care of the pests in a matter of moments.

And yet, when everyone regrouped there was a visible tension.

Some thing had happened on the other side of the fight and no one wanted to fess up, even less so when Time mentioned it.

It worried you.

Now, as it stood the tension was still there but Warrior didn’t want to come out of the wood work. He had left earlier claiming to need to check up on his appearance and no one had questioned him. No one offered to go with him.

It was always dangerous to go alone.

“Hey, has anyone seen Warrior?” You glance around again, hoping it was just a miscount on your part. “It’s been awhile since he left.”

“He takes his sweet time.” Legend snapped. “And you know how narcissistic he is. He’s probably trying to get every single little hair in the right place and working out every little blemish in his stupid uniform-”

“I’m going to look to him.” You stand, placing your cooling food down by your foot. You don’t know what happened or what caused it but at least an idea begins to form. “It’s been too long regardless. Keep my food warm for me, yeah?”

You don’t wait for a response and walk away into the tree line where you think Warrior might be.

“It’s getting dark. Be careful.” Someone calls from behind you, mouth clearly full of food.

“Yes sir.” You reply.

You march on.

When you’re sure you’re far enough away, you begin to call out to Warrior.

It takes a minute to get any results but you’re starting to worry about your friend. The sun is lowering in the horizon as time goes by and you’re beginning to feel silly and frustrated and-

“I’m here.” A tired voice replies.

“Oh thank goodness.” You cross the distance between you two. “I was really starting to worry.”

Warrior puts on a brave face and a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes greets you when you stop in front of him. His look a little puffy and you think his eyes might be a little red but it easily be the lighting- or lack there of.

“Are you ok?”

“Obviously.”

You doubt him and it must have shown on your face because he immediately begins walking away. “Well look at the time. Crazy how fast the sun goes. Let’s get back to the group and eat. I’m starving-”

You grab his wrist as he pasts you and get a good look at him. “Are you ready to go back to the group? They can wait a little longer if you want them too.”

It irritated you that it’s come to this. How no one went to check on him. How no one offered to go with you. How no one seemed bothered by this. How long that he was alone dealing with something that’s been bothering him. How it took you so long to do something.

“No. It’s fine.” He says. Lying. It must have really bothered him, usually he’s better than this. “It’s about time to head back anyway.”

“They can wait.” Your grip tightens. “The sun can wait. We’re not obligated to be there. What’s wrong? ...If you want to talk about it that is...” You trail off uselessly. It only occurred to you that near the end that he may not even speak about with you. You weren’t the closest in terms of grouping but you can’t stand the thought of someone hurting alone.

“I’m fin-”

“You look like you were crying.” You cut him off. “If you don’t want to talk about it with me, that’s fine, just say it. But you might need more time before you head back anyway if you actually want them to believe you when you say you’re fine.”

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

“Warrior?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“If it bothers you then it’s not nothing.” You push. “But....fine. I won’t force you to talk to me. I just wanted to see if you were ok... You’re not but it’s better than seeing you bleeding I suppose.” You grit your teeth, annoyed by the lack of results. You did tell him that he didn’t have to talk to you and you don’t hurt him further but part of you wants to fix this. Even if you don’t know what it is, your heart calls for justice at his pain.

But he is unwilling.

“Camp is this way by the way.” You mention, looking at the ground. “You were actually farther away than I thought, so it’s a bit of a walk.”

“I just think it’s easier for people when I’m not around.”

You still and slowly turn to face him.

He’s looking at the ground as well, unable to say it and look you in the eye. It’s not what you were expecting and you’re not sure how to follow after that.

It’s a rare moment of vulnerability for him- even rarer that he’s showing it to you and you don’t want to squander the show of trust.

“Back home...there was a lot of... attention on me. A lot of blame... for starting the war. Or at least being the cause of it.” He admits, scuffing his shoe against the dirt. A little bit kicks up and sticks to the toe. He does nothing about it. “People listened to what I had to say because I was some destined hero. At first I didn’t think anything of it because I had thought it was one big mistake and sooner or later people were going to see that I was just some soldier not worth the time of day. It happened to be pure luck that Impa got it right when she gave me this uniform. Zelda made me a captain because of it and suddenly I had all of these men I had to give orders to. And if anything failed or if we lost, it would all have fallen on me. The blame, the guilt, the responsibility of the war...and then we found out why Cia was even opening these portals to begin with-”

You hug him.

“Please don’t cry.” You say into his chest. Your throat is tight and it a little hard to breath but you power through. “I’m not good at this. I never have been.”

“I’m not going to cry. It’s not worth crying.”

“I’ll cry for you then.” You admit and hug him tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It was no ones fault.” Warrior hugs you back and rests his head on top of yours. His voice seems a little tight too and you’re sorry for all the things that he must have gone through.

You hug him for as long as you deem appropriate before letting your arms go lack and stepping away.

Or... at least you try to.

Warrior suddenly has a grip on you and refuses to let you leave.

“Please... Just stay a little longer.”

You do.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #linked universe x reader #I had no idea where exactly to go with this one #believe it or not I wrote Legends first.#I didn't know it would get as long as it did #are these a bit generic?#yes.#warrior's is also very long #sorry not sorry #should I have split this one?#probably.#did I?#no.#it took days ya'll #next time I'll split it again

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zeldaelmo · 3 years ago

Text

Stitches — Day 28 — "Good, you’re finally awake" and "It's not just in your head"

Warnings: dealing with memory loss, recovery from injuries, social awkwardness

My friends @braidy-maidy and @silentprincess17 have helped to make this series better! Be sure to check out their works as well. :)

Zelda spent the hours of the night checking on Link, dozing, and tinkering with Link’s equipment. Listlessly, she began to fix the rips in her prayer gown, just to give her hands something to do other than making sure that his condition wasn’t deteriorating. She stopped soon after, the motion of sewing too freshly tied to her attempt to close Link’s wound.

Her gaze lingered on Link often. His face resembled one of the old dolls she used to admire in her mother’s room as a child. The pale moonlight filtered through the window of the outpost and hit him in a way that made his skin look like porcelain and his hair waxen. Over and over again she had to tell herself that he was breathing and stable.

As soon as he stirred she tried to bring him to drink a bit of water. She couldn’t remember the exact treatment of blood loss, it had been so long that she had read about it and frankly, her mind was so fuzzy that she had trouble concentrating on anything. But he had lost a lot of blood, that must mean, his body had to replace it somehow. That would need water, at least. If he didn’t overdo it with drinking, it should be fine.

The sick moonlight was replaced with the orange glow of the morning sun, and although she had rested at least a few hours, her bones felt like they were made of lead. Her mind had been in some kind of stasis during her fight with Calamity Ganon, as if Hylia had lulled her into a light sleep. She had caught glimpses of Link once he was awake, yes. She had grieved, despaired, and raged until she had reached a strange place of acceptance. But that was only her mind. Her body, however, felt like she had just picked up after the day she went into the castle to fight Calamity Ganon. The bruises on her shins were fresh, the cuts in her skin red and angry, and the grime sticking to her was real. And so was the tremor in her hands, the rock in her stomach, and her wobbly knees, but she needed to keep going for them both. As if she hadn’t done exactly that for a hundred years and more.

She darted a last glance to Link before she rubbed her face and tiptoed outside. He had slept calmly for a while now and hopefully, he wouldn’t wake up while she was tending to her morning routine and looking for some herbs and more fresh water.

He didn’t wake up, so she developed a pattern. She never went far away, always within earshot in case he would stir awake, but she couldn’t stand sitting next to him and doing nothing. What should she do, anyway? Hold his hand? Would he want that? He couldn’t remember much of his old life when he had forgotten how he got the majority of his scars. His body was full of them! Maybe he had been confused due to the blood loss and his comments couldn’t be taken seriously. But what about the kiss then? Was it… an action on the spur of the moment? What did he mean, not making the same mistake twice? Oh, her heart had an idea, but could that be? Hylia above, he couldn’t just kiss her and then pass out for hours! That was unacceptable!

She shrieked and let go of the Hylian Herb that she had discovered when she heard ruckus from their camp. It must be around midday.

Link sat upright on his makeshift bed, fingers cramping around the sheath of his sword, eyes wide open.

“Hey.” She approached him slowly, avoiding every sharp movement. “You are finally awake.”

His eyes darted to her, to the walls, back to her. “Who are—what?”

She swallowed the fact that he didn’t recognize her. Forcing a Bladed Rhino Beetle down her throat couldn’t be worse. Step by step, she approached him and crouched down. Finally, his eyes settled on her. Voice purposefully calm, she explained, “You were injured during your fight against Calamity Ganon. I tended to your wounds.”

“Goddess, Zelda.” The sword plummeted from his grip. “For a moment I thought you had enough of me and just left me here.”

She decided to cover his white lie to spare them both the humiliation of the truth. “I won’t go anywhere. I was just outside to collect some herbs for tea. How are you feeling?”

“I... “ He moved his legs and touched his body. “Raw. And my head hurts. And...“ He frowned, more to himself than in her direction. “I’m cold?”

“You lost a lot of blood. I can’t tell how much since you waited to tell me until you nearly collapsed.”

“Have had it worse.”

“That’s what you said, yes.” She grabbed the Rito jacket and waggled it. “Let me help you to dress this. But before we do that, I would like to change the bandages and look after the wound.”

He agreed and together, they set to work. Link needed a lot of help, every motion of his torso caused him pain. Both the stitched wound and the bruise didn’t look worse than yesterday. She wasn’t sure when the risk of an infection was over, but for now, it was a good sign. In his pack, she found dried meat, and she could convince him to eat at least a strip. Then, he was so exhausted that he dozed off again.

They repeated this structure over the course of the day. Sometimes, Link was awake enough awake that they talked a while and she was amazed by how easy his words came. He had become almost chatty. His stories, however, were a bit odd. Sliding down a mountain on a shield? Climbing the Dueling Peaks? He even claimed to have ridden the Lord of the Mountain, a solely mystic creature. She would have to interrogate about that one once he was in a better condition.

Meanwhile, she tried hard not to think about the kiss. When she changed his bandages, he endured her treatment with a blank face. No warm smile, no lingering gaze, no drawn-out withdrawal of his hand. Maybe she had imagined everything.

The next night followed mercilessly and toward the evening Link's condition worsened. Sweat beaded between his lips and his nose and he became twitchy every time she touched him. He insisted on changing out of the jacket alone. Since he didn't let her feel his temperature, she was left with assumptions. And that wasn't good for any of them.

"Let me at least look at the wound so I know that it isn't infected."

He rolled his eyes. Her former knight rolled his eyes at the Princess of Hyrule. Button for button, he unclosed the jacket, slipped it open, and gave her a pointed look so full of spite that Zelda closed her mouth too late.

"What?" he hissed. "I'm stuck with you here for a whole day, is it too much to ask for a bit of space?"

She shook her head, pulled her bedroll over, and spent the night with her back to him.

The next morning, he was smoother than silk. "Did you know that the Great Deku Tree says you have a smile like the sun?" He beamed at her when she sat up. "Old bark might be onto something there."

What on Hylia’s green earth? She shot him a half-smile and fled outside to relieve herself.

The rest of the day… was uneventful. He let her change the bandage, ate some fruits and a bit of dried meat, and cracked some puns.

Again, she tried not to think about the kiss. Or about his rudeness the night before. In the end, all she thought about while he napped the afternoon away was… his rudeness and the kiss. In her despair to keep her mind off of him, she picked her prayer dress up again. She wasn't even sure what to do with it when it was fixed, but that was secondary now.

Stitch, stitch, turn.

Link woke up when she made tea. With her help, he propped himself up on the rolled jacket. The color slowly returned to his skin and with a smile, he accepted the hot beverage.

"I realized something earlier." He blew the steam over the brim of the mug. "I should have offered you my gratitude for caring about me and helping me so much."

"Oh, I…" she stammered, unsure where he was going with this. "I am happy to help. You have been through a lot, it's the least I can do."

He took a sip, cursing when the tea was still too hot.

"Yeah, I'm always alone, so I… kinda forgot to say ‘thank you.’ Sorry. I’m not good with, er, humans. Yet. Maybe..."

"It's alright, Link." She circled her own mug. "But say, why are you alone? You told me about Sidon and Beedle."

"They… they are friends. Or something like that. But I'm often out in the wilderness without seeing someone for weeks. The snow and the desert sand expect no thanks or apologies. And the Yiga... they disguise as travelers, so sometimes it’s dangerous to talk to strangers."

He rubbed his face.

Well, that would explain his urge for being alone. "I'm honored that you put up with me, then," she said and grinned over her mug to lighten the mood.

"Maybe I'll try to run from you this time." He winked at her, sending a pleasant shower of sparks down her back.

"No need to run, just talk to me. It's interesting how talkative you are now, by the way."

"The old… I mean, Impa said that as well. Must be true then."

Couldn't he even recall these central parts of his character? It was hard to believe, but he had no reason to keep anything from her.

"Is… is it difficult for you to deal with the fact that you might be… different from before?"

"Nah, I don't care so much about before. But what bothers me is that my mind,” he gestured in the general direction of his forehead between two sips, “is a bit patchy. I still try to sort everything out.” Putting the mug back, he added, “Sometimes I do things that people consider… well. My common sense seems to differ from the rest.”

“For example?”

He let a beat pass, raising his gaze to her before he shrugged one shoulder. “When my horse is too far away to hear me whistling, I just ride a deer. Or a bear. The stable hands think I’m insane.” Leaning as far forward as his bandage allowed, he licked his chapped lips and added, “Sometimes I fish by throwing bombs in a pond. Works too well to not do it.”

The split-second Zelda’s gaze lingered on his lips was too long to allow her common sense to kick in, so she blurted out, “You kissed me.”

She expected him to shift or at least to blush, but he only hissed in pain when he leaned back on his make-shift pillow.

“Yeah.” His voice was oddly calm. “Things like that.”

She should let the topic rest. He was weak and needed to recover. They had just reunited after 100 years and both of them still had no idea how to deal with each other. The time he had been conscious, they shifted between practiced gestures and misunderstandings. And if that wasn’t enough already, she still had no idea how much he remembered about her. But her stupidity was bottomless today, so she raised one tousled brow, asking, “That’s all you have to say to that?”

The mug he had lifted halfway to his mouth paused and he tilted his head to the side before his eyes widened. “I… I should apologize.”

Zelda swallowed, the realization of how deep his memory loss had influenced his mind, how fuzzy it had made convention and customs for him, hitting her like a Stone Smasher. “No, it’s alright,” she whispered, “it wasn’t… unwelcome.”

“Huh.” There must be something outstandingly interesting on the bottom of his mug because he failed to tear his gaze off of it. At last, he drank the rest of his tea, putting the mug aside.

She shouldn’t have asked. Not the question if he remembered her, not the question about his new personality, and not the question of why he kissed her. And most of all she shouldn’t have forced her feelings upon him so soon.

His hiss made her cringe when he tried to lay down again and she hurried to his side, stabilizing his torso until he was comfortable. He caught her wrist when she withdrew.

“Zelda. I… you are upset. Because… because of me?” His eyes flew over her face and she looked at the floor, hard. “Yes. I made you upset.”

"No… I have no right to be upset with you. It's just…"

"But you are," he interrupted her, frowning, "I'm doing something wrong."

Why didn't she let him be? Why bring the kiss up? He had hardly been himself when he had pulled her down to meet his lips.

"No, you aren’t." She inhaled and pressed her eyes shut. "I just keep asking myself if it was just your delirium or if you would do it again."

"Doing what again?"

"Kissing me," she breathed, her heart utterly unprepared for the speed with which he declared, "No."

Her exhaling breath stuttered more than she would have liked. He didn't owe her anything, not after what he had done for her. Whatever role he offered her for their new lives would have to be enough.

The tenderness with which he stroked his thumb over her wrist made her eyes fly open. She met his gaze.

"I'm doing this wrong. Excuse me, I only ever buy arrows when I deal with people. That doesn't require any subtlety." His deep inhale turned quickly into a hiss and he withdrew his hand to cover his mouth. "Look," he whined, "I'm a mess. I'm covered in blood and grime and so are you. I'm still lightheaded from the blood loss." Taking her hand again, he squeezed. "I need a little more time, but then we go home and…"

"Home," she echoed before he could finish his sentence. Home. She hadn't thought about that in an eternity. Uncertain, she lifted her gaze to the stone walls of the outpost.

"No, no," Link chuckled as lightly as he could, "Hateno is the place to be."

"Hateno."

"Yeah. And after we both have bathed, I'll cook a stew, bake a fruitcake, and then… well. If you still like the mess that they call your Hero, I'm going to kiss you until you tell me to stop. I’m not going to die, there is no rush.” His gaze settled on their fingers. “I want to do this properly, Zelda."

She curled her fingers around his, and whispered, "So you do remember me."

"I’m yours, Zelda. That’s what I remember. I don’t care about the rest." He smiled weakly and plopped back to the bedroll, but then his eyes shot open. "Wait. Was that wrong again? You are crying."

Her smile was watery, but it hadn't been so genuine for a long time, not even before. "No, it's perfect. You are perfect."

He muttered something illegible in protest before he met her eyes again. "I like how you stitched me up, Zelda. It's a little out of square, just like me. Maybe you can do that with my mind, too. Help me to patch it, I mean."

"I will. Under one condition."

"Hm?"

"You will teach me how to ride a bear."

He looked at her for a very long moment before he snorted, followed by a wince. "Count me in."

#whumptober2021 #no.28 #good you are finally awake #it's not just in your head #legend of zelda #recovery from injuries #zelink #zeldaelmo writes #stitches #caretaker!Zelda #whumpee!Link

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oceanera12 · 4 years ago

Text

Linked Darkness

Four wanted to scream. All four of him.

So. Apparently something called “Dark Link” was behind their meeting or something or other. He was the one infecting monsters. And he looked like a Link. Most everyone didn’t even flinch at this revelation. If anything, most people were angry and threw their nearest weapon at the time in the general direction of the creepy red-eyed guy.

Dark Link just laughed, all evil like and made some comment about how they’d have to do better than that to catch him.

And then he ran off into a cave.

And everyone chased after him, sans Four. He was a little busy trying to keep his four selves from murdering something because for a brief second they had all thought...

Never mind what they had thought. This “Dark Link” gave a bad name for all shadows and by Hylia, they would not let that stand. And so they dashed, a bit late, after the group.

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

Warriors was hitting his sword against a stone wall, when Four finally found the group. Blue had to admire the angry yelling that was also being shouted. Legend and Time were panting from exhaustion from something and it seemed like they had all determined to leave Warriors alone. For now.

Time nodded at Four, “I was about to send someone to look for you.”

“Sorry,” Four shuffled, “Dink caught me off guard.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Dink?”

Vio smirked. It had been his idea for the name. It was every bit demeaning as that cursed shade deserved. Red had clapped politely for the name but Blue had expressed how proud he was of Vio for such an idea. Green had to be the “normal” person but he wanted to pat Vio on the back and determined to let Vio be heard by the other Links more often.

“I am not calling him Dark Link. It sounds wrong on so many different levels,” Four replied. “Dink is short, easy to remember, and gives him the right amount of respect. Which is none.”

No one spoke for a moment. Warriors began to laugh, soft and low. His sword stopped hitting the stone and he sank to his knees. Wind took a very hesitant step away from the Captain. “Guys, I think he’s lost it.”

Warriors turned around and rested against the stone wall. His laughter turned into a chuckle and he shook his head. “Four... don’t ever change.”

Vio frowned, puzzled. Green forced a stiff nod. Red bristled with pride at the compliment. Blue just rolled his eyes.

Twilight sat down in front of Warriors, “You okay?”

“Yeah... sorry. Dark is a touchy subject with me.” Warriors shrugged. “He taught me a very valuable lesson.”

Time nodded slowly, “I believe he taught all of us something.”

“I haven’t met him... at least, I don’t think I have.” Wild said.

“Consider yourself lucky, cub,” Twilight sighed loudly.

“We should get moving,” Time finally said. “Dark Link--

“Dink!”

“--is long gone.”

A chilly wind suddenly blew through the cavern, chilling every hero to the bone. “Be careful what you wish for...”

And that was when everything went black.

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

“Four!”

“Present,” Four grumbled into the darkness. “I think Dink decided a cave in was the best way to kill us.” At least he hadn’t crushed anyone... or even tried to. Four was worried about that last part.

Wild’s Sheikah slate was currently the only source of light, but he was working on getting some torches out.

“Only two,” Four had told him. “We need the oxygen as much as the light.”

“You been in a cave in before?”

“No, but I read about it.”

Vio was in charge at the moment. They had all determined the cool, calculating, smartie pants was the best bet at the moment.

Fire sparked and suddenly the cavern lit up a few feet. The torch was passed to Time, who held it aloft to get a look at everyone. No one appeared injured and satisfied with the well being of the group, he turned to the far wall. “We need to find a way out.”

“Great...” Legend grumbled.

The second torch flared to life, illuminating the group enough to see Legend’s displeasure. Wild shrugged, giving the second torch to Twilight. He fiddled with his slate for a moment. The eye on the front suddenly illuminated so brightly that Four shut his eyes for a second. “Wild! A little warning next time!”

“Sorry!” Wild turned the light outward. “This was something my Zelda figured out shortly before our journey. She called it a portable light or something.”

And with that, the group set out on their trek. The cave system was relatively safe, compared to other caves the various Links had gone into over the years. A few keese here, one wizzrobe there but nothing out of the ordinary. They were not even enhanced, which was definitely weird. Alarm bells were ringing through Four’s mind and all four of him were on the highest alert.

They finally found the exit door after two hours of wandering into dead ends. And that was when Legend began to curse. Loudly.

“Language,” Time scolded.

“Don’t!” Legend hissed. “You don’t even know why I'm cursing.”

Siy asked, “Why are you cursing?”

“Because I know where we are. And we are not getting out.”

Dink’s cold laughter echoed through the cavern and everyone drew their swords, standing back to back to each other. “Enjoy your suffering heroes...”

Four bit back a few choice words. “Legend, where are we?”

“An old prison of some ancient tribe of something or other, I don’t remember. But here’s the thing: the tribe were traitors to Hyrule. They got a kick out of taking loyal citizens and soldiers and tossing them into this prison to fight and eventually die. The only way to open the door is to have the blood of a traitor of Hyrule.” Legend cursed again. “I’m many things, but a traitor isn’t one of them.”

Four felt Warriors stiffen to his right and heard Time utter his own curse under his breath.

Wind spoke up, a bit hesitant, “There’s another way out, right?”

Legend shook his head. “I have chased after traitors to this prison. They used it as a hideout. I searched for weeks for another entrance. Nothing I tried did anything. And I tried everything from magic to brute force.”

“But didn’t Dink cave us in?” Wild asked. “That was another exit!”

Legend shook his head. “I don’t think it was a cave in. I think he shut the door. Do you remember a large crash of rocks?”

No one spoke as Dink laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

Well, that certainly put a damper on the situation.

Four looked about the room, glaring into the darkness, “Shut up, Dink, I’m trying to think!” He put his sword away and marched forward.

Dink stopped, probably from the shock of the name. Or maybe he just wanted to watch Four pace back and forth. When nothing happened to kill Four, the rest of the group relaxed (mostly) and began to run through options of how to get out.

Four had a different kind of debate. This one took entirely in his head.

Green was hesitant to start. Vio just sighed. “We have a way out.”

“But do we?” Green argued back. “No one knows about the whole ‘split situation’ and I don’t feel like now is a good time to show that off. And even if we were, you were not an actual traitor, Vio.”

“If I recall, you all called me such,” Vio argued back. “And I did nothing to deny the fact. And I did a few things that would be considered treason to many people.”

“But you were faking it!” Red yelled back. “You were not a traitor.”

“For once, Red, I need you to think I was,” Vio would have glared at his brothers. “It is our only way out of the cave.”

“We can find another way!”

“Blue, you have been awfully quiet. Something on your mind?” Green asked.

There was a pause. Then, “We can’t throw Vio under the horse.”

“... Aw, Blue does care,” Red sighed.

Vio growled back, “Now is not the time to be sentimental. This is our way out.” Vio paused. “It would be best to split. The group will see you as heroes and me as the traitor.”

“We are not just going to let you take the name traitor in this group!” Blue practically shouted.

“WELL ,YOU DON’T HAVE A CHOICE!” Vio roared back. He paused, collecting his thoughts. “It is fine. For once, being a traitor is turning out to be a good thing.”

No one spoke for a moment. Green then hesitantly asked, “Would it work if we did not split?”

“Why would we do it as Four?” Vio huffed. “No need for the group to hate all of us.”

“Would it work?” Green pressed.

Vio sighed, “It most likely would. We are one as Four. All our blood is the same.”

There was silence.

“No.” Vio growled.

“All in favor?” Gree asked. He, Red, and Blue chimed in. “All opposed?”

“I can handle this by myself!” Vio protested.

Red spoke up, soft and slow. “But you don’t have too. We do this together, or not at all.”

“They will see all of you as traitors. They will not see you as a hero.”

“You’re a hero too, Vio. You’re our brother and we stick together. Got it?” Blue demanded.

Vio was quiet for a moment. “It is illogical and sentimental and will be detrimental to the entire group.”

Green sighed, wishing for the ability to hug all three of his brothers. “But it won’t be to you.”

Silence.

“We love you, Vio,” Red said softly. “You did what you thought was best and it hurt you. And you were alone. You are not alone anymore.”

“... I still believe it to be a poor decision. But very well.”

“Alright,” Green sighed. “How are we going to do this?”

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

Four had been quietly pacing for over an hour. Warriors watched him out of the corner of his eye that entire time.

Most everyone had settled down. Dark Link had left them alone again, thank Hylia. The group had been listing off various actions that they considered “treasonous” or ideas on how to get through the cave. All of them had been shot down, one after another. The familiar feelings of despair had settled over the group.

Four stopped pacing.

Warriors looked over at him. He caught the blacksmith’s eye. For a brief second, he could have sworn it flashed purple, but then it turned back to it’s usual green color. Warriors blinked, but shook the situation aside. “Any ideas, Four? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

He really hoped their smallest warrior would have a better plan then throwing remote bombs at the door.

Four didn’t respond. He tore his eyes away from the group, looking down at his belt. A small dagger was produced and Four marched over to the door.

Time sighed loudly, “Four, we already tried that.”

And they had. Warriors had been ever slightly relieved that his blood hadn’t done anything.

Four ignored the group, making a shallow cut on his hand. The smallest bit of blood oozed out of his hand and Four pressed it against the door.

Nothing happened.

“See?” Time said. “We’ll need-”

The door suddenly flared red. The writing glowed of pure malice and the old magic hummed. The air felt “wrong” and Warriors found himself gripping his sword hilt as the door opened.

No one moved for what felt like a century.

The sun had set at some point while they had been in the prison. Four was illuminated by the night light outside. His back was turned to the entire group. He was looking down at the blood on his hand, but Warriors was unable to see his face.

Four finally turned around. He appeared very nervous, but he squared his shoulders and stood as tall as he could. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He closed it, paused, then tried again. Nothing. Finally, the words came. They were cold, calculating, and felt hollow. “There was a moment in my adventure where I found it necessary to pledge loyalty to a dark lord, who was trying to overthrow Hyrule. Many people in my life, including my family, branded me a traitor of Hyrule. I turned against him in the end, but I did still do it.” He paused. “There were some... actions I had to take to ensure Vatti believed I was on his side. I do regret that I had to do them but I stand by my decision.”

No one moved.

Four shifted uncomfortably. “Think of it this way: if I hadn’t done it, then we’d all be trapped in here for eternity. So... yeah.” He turned on his heel and marched out of the cave, calling behind him, “You might want to move. I don’t know how long that door will stay open.”

There was another pause and then a mad dash for their supplies and for the door. It shut behind them with a grinding sound, leaving the prison dark and cold.

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

No one had spoken since they left the prison. Camp had been set up in silence, Wild had cooked without his cheerful humming, and no one was looking at Four.

Four tried to ignore it. He knew what he was doing. Vio was yelling at the others for being idiots and not allowing him to take the full force of eight heroes disapproval, but they paid him no mind.

This had been for Vio. Not for them.

It was Wind who broke the silence, with a question “What kind of actions?”

Everyone looked at him, clearly confused. Wind gestured vaguely at Four, “You said you took actions to ensure what’s his name thought you were on your side. What kind of actions?”

Four thought for a moment. “Mostly the passing along of information. Battle formations, dates and times of when and where Vatti’s enemies would be, etc.”

“So...” Warriors said slowly. “You were a spy.”

“Of sorts,” Four shrugged. “I also had to appear to try and kill some of my... comrades. I failed, obviously, but it looked real enough that they believed I actually turned against them.”

Warriors didn’t reply to that.

Time cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. He turned to Four, “It was very brave of you to admit that to us.”

Four shrugged, “I did not see another option out of there. It was the logical decision.” He paused. “I am unsure if Dink knew about my past or if he was just as shocked as all of you. I would like to think the latter.”

“Wait,” Hyrule raised a hand. “Wouldn’t Dink know about it if you know him?”

“Uh...” Four paused again. He was quiet for sometime. “I don’t know him.”

“But you have had some experience with something similar?” Time asked. “You did not like Dark Link. That hatred did not come from nothing.”

“... I told you that there were reasons I had to swear allegiance to Vatti,” Four wrung his hands, avoiding eye contact. “It is... complicated but the short version is there was someone who was like Dink. I called him Shadow because he... well, he came out of my shadow.” Four appeared lost in memory then snapped back. “Shadow was loyal to Vatti, but he would often seek me out to simply... talk. I found myself confiding in him and he in me. Being the hero was very... difficult on my mind. It was good to have a friend.

“It was Shadow who asked me to join him and Vatti. I refused, at first. But the more time we talked the more... human, Shadow felt. It is hard to explain but I wanted him to be free of Vatti. To have a life of his own. So I told him I would help him.” Four looked into the fire for a moment. “He took my betrayal to Vatti... very hard. But something must have gotten through to him because he shattered the Dark Mirror, which was Vatti’s source of power. It was also... Shadow’s life force.”

Someone gasped softly. Four didn’t look up. “He gave his life for mine. Even after... I hurt him.” He paused, “I killed my own Shadow.”

No one spoke again for some time. The fire sputtered and turned from a roar to a crackle. Wild pulled a log from somewhere and placed it on the fire. The light caught and everyone watched the log slowly wither away.Another log was added some time later.

Warrior let out a heavy sigh, “You’re really something, Four.”

Four titled his head to the side. “I know.”

“That’s not... Four, your shadow turned away from the darkness it came from.” Warriors smiled bitterly. “Mine never spoke and killed many good men. It was born of my own pride and overconfidence. Yours was born...”

“I had to pull the Four sword to rescue Zelda. It was going to release Vatti, but I couldn’t let her die. When I pulled it, Vatti stole my Shadow.”

“Well, no wonder it turned to the light,” Warriors shook his head. “No matter what anyone tells you Four, you’re amazing.”

That was... not what Four had been expecting. “I’m a traitor.”

“Maybe,” Warriors conceded, “But I don’t think any of us ever gave our own darkness a chance to change-- or even had a chance to try. You are a hero in my book. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Four bent his head, hiding the tears pricking his eyes. Vio’s voice was shaky, but it carried. “I... you... what?”

Warriors moved across the clearing and pulled the smallest hero into a hug. “Four... don’t ever change.”

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

This got way to long way too quickly but eh. I woke up this morning with this idea and put off homework for almost three hours to write it so now I need to go work on that. Thanks brain. Thanks for nothing.

Warriors was the one who needed convincing. Everyone else can just accept Four’s actions with his explanation. Warriors is the one who needs the explanation and I will die on Warriors and Four being friends. I just love their dynamics with one another.

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fatefulfaerie · 3 years ago

Text

Domesticity

Zelink Week 2021 prompt #5/7 @zelinkweek2021

Word Count: 1,951

Incarnation: Breath of the Wild 2 (post)

Additional Prompts Followed: Hearts, Family

No Trigger Warnings

“Is one of us dying?”

The feast was definitely unsettling to Wendie, and although she was mostly joking, she couldn’t help but think that such a nice dinner at such a random time of the year was odd. Of course her dad was a great cook, but this was a step above, despite there being no family birthdays for at least three months and no holidays for five.

“No,” her mother said as she placed on the table a large bowl of goat-buttered mashed potatoes, one of Wendie’s favorite foods. She had said it with a slight motherly laugh and a warm smile. “No one is dying. We’re just having a family dinner.”

The mother, who went by the name Zelda, had aged gracefully over the past twenty years, blonde hair highlighted with streaks of white that her husband would often call angelic and ethereal when she would doubt her beauty. At the moment, her age-hued hair was swept into a single braid behind her head, messy yet secure.

“Our family dinners aren’t usually this elaborate,” Wendie observed. “You made mashed potatoes and seafood rice balls—which is Elyjah’s favorite food—grilled carrots, meat pie, mushroom skewers and you have an apple turnover on the counter for dessert!”

“Nothing gets past you,” her father said, putting a bowl of baked and salted radishes on the table. His blue eyes looked over to Zelda. “I think we raised them too smart.”

“Nonsense,” Zelda said, walking forward and using the rag that was just draped over her shoulder to wipe a smattering of flour off of Link’s forehead. “Where’s Elyjah?”

Wendie made a sound that sounded a lot like a lazy “I don’t know” while shrugging her shoulders where she sat at the table.

“He can just eat when he gets home,” Wendie reasoned. “There’s more than enough food.”

Wendie didn’t see her parents exchange glances, the seventeen-year old not caring in the slightest that her twin brother wasn’t here to ruin her first dibs on dinner.

“I’ll try and find him,” Zelda said with a sigh, Wendie looking back up at her parents. Link nodded as Zelda departed. Wendie once again questioned what was going on.

“Ly!” The father and daughter heard outside, Zelda from just the doorstep of their modest Hateno home calling out to the entirety of Hyrule. Link sat down across from his daughter, elbows on the table and arms folded into each other. The deep thought he was in concerned Wendie greatly. He wouldn’t even meet her glance. Was she in trouble?

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”

Elyjah.

Of all the people to be in trouble, surely it was him. He had never gotten into anything truly bad but he was the biggest prankster in Hateno. The only shop he wasn’t banned from was the dye shop. The green-eyed troublemaker was here nonetheless and Wendie prepared herself for another fun show. Zelda moved to sit down next to Link at the table but Elyjah stopped as soon as he saw the table, mouth popped open and body frozen.

“Is someone dying?”

He had looked over to his sister when he asked the question.

“Yeah,” she said. “You.”

“What?” Elyjah asked, almost believing it.

“Wendie, that’s enough now,” Zelda said, before looking over to her son. “No one is dying. We would just like to talk to you both.”

Elyjah sat next to Wendie with the same bewildered look as her, trying to figure out what it was before their parents spit it out. It was like Hylia’s Day presents except they didn’t have a good feeling about this, especially when Link took Zelda’s hand and looked at their children, ready to address them.

And yet it was Zelda who started.

“Do you two remember the fairytale we used to tell you?” Zelda inquired, her voice shaky. “The bedtime story? Of the princess and the knight?”

Neither Elyjah nor Wendie had any clue of the relevance, but they both remembered the tale well.

“The one with the weird ending?” Wendie asked nonetheless. “Where he rescued her and then that was it?”

“Yeah,” Elyjah said. “Didn’t they just stare at each other in silence? After all they had been through, it seemed like there should have been more.”

Link dove his hand into his forehead.

“Zelda, you could have given them a better ending,” Link suggested.

Zelda scoffed and put her hands on her hips.

“It was a lesson in imagination,” she said. “And clearly none of you have any.”

“But that’s besides the point…” Link said, prompting Zelda in a different direction.

“Yes,” Zelda said, nodding at Link and returning her gaze to their children, confused as ever. And yet she smiled at them.

“You both have grown up so fast,” Zelda said. “We both love you very much and cannot believe that you have blossomed right before our eyes into adults.”

Zelda’s smile became sad and she bowed her head.

“You see it’s a lot easier to lie to children.”

Wendie’s brow furrowed.

“Lie…” she repeated from her mother.

When Zelda’s head tilted back up, green was glazed with waves of coming tears, making the emeralds that Link fell in love with a hundred years ago shine even brighter.

“That fairytale…” Zelda said. “The princess who used her sealing power to keep away Calamity Ganon and the knight who slept in a ruined Hyrule for a hundred years in order to recover from his injuries and save her…”

Zelda stopped herself. Twenty years of keeping it in and it seems it wanted to stay in. She wrestled with her conflicted heart, kept it at bay long enough for her to blurt it out.

“It’s true,” Zelda said, no weakness in her voice, no lie, no apprehension. “The knight and the princess really did fight the calamity, really did survive a century to see it through and then some. Once they tracked down the cause of the anomaly, destroying the true form of Ganon, they settled down in Hateno. They got married and eventually gave life to twins, a boy and a girl.” Zelda’s eyes were proud as she looked upon her children, although they glistened with tears. Her heart hurt to see their faces in shock, but the outspoken truth felt better than she could have imagined. She felt Link’s grip tighten around her fingers.

“You both have royal blood in you,” Zelda said. “Even though I stepped away from the throne in the search of a simpler, more fulfilling life, you both still have claim to the titles of Prince Elyjah and Princess Wendie. We wanted you to know in case that path would prove fulfilling for you and…well, now that you’re adults you have the right to know the truth.”

Wendie stood up and walked out of the house, her parents not daring to stop her. Elyjah, however, just sat in shock, piecing it all together in his mind. Link and Zelda both could see his green eyes working, much like his mother’s did when she went over schematics or theorized about plant life.

“The story,” he finally started, “everything you went through…the pressure…you wanted to protect us from that…you wanted to give us the childhood you never had…that neither of you had.”

Link nodded.

“That’s right.”

Elyjah pursed his lips and nodded. Sometimes he was just like his dad. He shrugged.

“Okay,” he said, replacing his empty plate with the one filled with the seafood rice balls meant for the whole family. “Cool,” he continued, or at least it sounded like the word “cool”, his mouth mostly filled with rice.

Link raised his eyebrows and looked over at Zelda.

“Apparently we’re…cool.” Link said the last word as if it were completely foreign.

“Not all of us,” Zelda reminded her husband. She started to stand up. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”

Yet Link placed a hand on her arm.

“I’ll go,” Link said. “You stay and enjoy the food.”

Link found his daughter on the banks of Firly Pond, knees hugged close to her chest and water lapping at her bare toes.

At first he waited with his hand on the bark of the near apple tree, pursing his lips. Sometimes he was thrust back in time twenty years, when he felt he had no idea how to be a dad. This was one of those moments.

Link saw in his mind’s eye Wendie’s big blue eyes staring up at him, stubby arms reaching for him. He smiled. She grew up so fast.

“I know you’re there,” he heard Wendie say. She didn’t turn her head away from the pond. “Did you come to give me a speech?”

Link walked towards her.

“Maybe.”

He sat down next to her and Wendie only gave him the smallest of glances.

“I feel like I don’t know my parents at all,” she finally said.

Link nodded.

“I understand.” He said. “I don’t agree, but I understand.”

Wendie looked over to his profile, trying to ascertain how he could be serious. The calamity was real and her parents fought it. Sheikah technology really could heal fatal wounds and the goddesses power really was wielded by a mortal, not to mention her own mother, who never seemed like a princess in the slightest. Her father was a knight in a kingdom that really did exist and she?

Well she was a princess. This whole time, she was a princess. The girl who was called the “ugly duckling” of the family as a child was a princess in peasant’s clothing. She almost wanted to go brag to the town, but that seemed petty for just a small ounce of appreciation from the people her age who used to tease her when they would play as children.

Her parents were legends and in comparison, what was she?

Definitely not a princess.

“You know us as what we became after everything we went through,” Link finally said, having taken the time to get his words together. “The people we were before…”

He hesitated.

“We were nothing more than what the kingdom wanted us to be…statues, legends, weapons…we were never fully ourselves, and we could never afford to be ourselves with an entire kingdom looking at us to save them from a calamity. The slivers that were left of us found a friendship in each other, one that grew into love in time. After everything was settled, we began to truly find ourselves, basking in the freedom to do so. It’s something that usually occurs in a fifteen year old but your mother and I were a hundred and twenty years old when we solved the identity crisis. She did not want to be royalty and I did not want to be a knight. When we finally did not need to be those things, we took our first breaths as Link and Zelda. We wanted our children to take those breaths from the very second they were born, and that is why we let you grow up before we told you the truth. We wanted royalty to be an option for you two, not a necessity. We wanted you to become yourselves, not tiny versions of us. I only hope we have…at least I think we have.”

Wendie smiled.

“You have,” she said. “If you want your daughter to have absolutely no idea what she wants to do with her life.”

Link brought his daughter closer by hugging her far shoulder, bringing her close enough to kiss the top of her head.

“That’s exactly what I want,” he said. It sounded strange but Link didn’t mean it as a bad thing. “Because finding out your passion for yourself is the most exciting thing in this entire wild land.”

#zelink #zelink week 2021 #zelinkweek2021 #botw #botw 2 #but like twenty years after #hateno

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kintatsujo · 3 years ago

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LoZ AU- The Courage of Running Away Part THIRTY

Previous Post Is HERE

This is the last outline post! But like I said before I’m probably gonna take a run at NaNo with this story this year because of how thoroughly it got out of hand lmao and probably will keep doing smaller art posts and shit at this point.

And again there’s already ideas for a sequel in the works, although that’ll probably trickle in MUCH more slowly for the time being.

Next week I’m probably going to take a break from Tumblr altogether bc of Real Life Stuff and the fact that this project turned So Big. Maybe. Possibly. Don’t take me at my word lmao

This is a text heavy post and I apologize but there was a lot to cover; each section is separated by headers.

Content warning for mention of hanging used as a metaphor.

#AU August

#LoZ AU: The Courage of Running Away

Astramorus’s Sentencing

Astramorus is stripped of his rank within Hylia's Church, although he's allowed to keep his home at the sky commune since he and Catena had shared it since before her death and Zelda isn't cruel. She assigns him a Shiekah escort-and-therapist on Impa's recommendation, someone he's not allowed to leave the Sky Temple Commune without until further notice, and Astramorus tells her it's generally much more generous than he expected even considering the help he'd offered.

Link doesn’t go home with him, at Astramorus's insistence.

"Listen to me, Link," he says, touching Link's face gently. "For all that I'd LIKE to undo the last twelve years of our lives, do it better, you're still healing from everything I did wrong."

"Uncle Seren was-" Link starts.

"Giving me the rope with which to hang myself," Astramorus finishes. "I still took it in hand, son. We both need a little distance to start, you to heal and me to sort my own head."

Link frowns at him. "You need to heal too," he says. "You wouldn't have taken that rope if Mama had been here to stop you."

"Probably not," Astramorus agrees. "But that's why her Majesty is assigning someone to follow me around, isn't it?"

[Image Description: Link throws his arms around Astramorus, to his father’s surprise. When Astramorus hugs him back, looking like he’s ready to collapse into the hug, Link opens one eye and tells him sternly, “Take CARE of yourself, Father, or we’re gonna have WORDS.” “Mhm,” Astramorus mumbles. End ID.]

(Hilda, it should be noted, tells Astramorus and Link that they’re both welcome to visit Lorule Castle at any time, trying to hide her eagerness until finally admitting; “You both know what having Serenumbra in your head is like.” And Astramorus and Link agree with that and promise to meet there in a few months, once they’ve had that time to sort themselves out.)

As for Serenumbra, for now Eltani decides to let him “enjoy” some solitude in the Gerudo City prison while she deliberates more thoroughly on what to do with him. He did quite a lot, after all.

What to do About Ghirahim

Eltani and Zelda Sr discuss what to do about Ghirahim more privately, with Aldway, Impa, and Vaba (Eltani's oldest advisor) there to offer input.

"You say he froze upon being presented with the mere image of his old master," Aldway says. "I'm not sure I trust that."

"It wasn't like-" Zelda starts, then starts over. "He was like a frightened child, darling." She pauses, reevaluates. "Or like a dog expecting to be beaten."

"Like Link?" Aldway asks mildly.

She shakes her head. "Much worse than even that, my dear."

"Even knowing he's half mortal he has trouble stilling his tongue towards me," Eltani notes. "Faced with his former master, he was struck silent."

Vaba speaks up. "You say that Serenumbra called the thing he summoned a god's nightmare, correct?"

"The boy Link saw a figure he couldn't hope to live up to. Your Majesty saw a figure from history you've tried to avoid being since you were her age. Whose nightmare was Demise? Dinravi didn't know his face, and you tell us Ghirahim stepped in the way. Dinravi only faced a copy of Ghirahim's master because he was reflected from Ghirahim's half human heart."

They decide to let him stay.

What Dinravi Would Like to do About Ghirahim

And in the meantime Dinravi and Ghirahim are having their own discussion somewhere else in the castle, partly because Eltani asked Dinravi to keep Ghirahim away from where they're discussing and partly because of course they are, it's been a lot, the last day and a half or so, between Ghirahim saving Dinravi from assassination and Dinravi punching Nightmare Demise in the face. And finding out that Ghirahim is definitely around half human now, there's also that.

There's a bit of an awkward silence, at first. It's so, so much. Ghirahim is stealing a lot of glances and Dinravi seems to be collecting himself.

And then Dinravi asks: "Can I kiss you?"

Ghirahim stares at him for a moment, eyes wide, mouth small in surprise, bright red, and then he smiles a little and looks away and says "You still don't... my prince, you don't need to ask PERMISSION to do whatever you PLEASE with me."

Dinravi goes quiet. "... Is that how it was with him? Demise?" he asks. His face is gentle and open, nonjudgmental, but Ghirahim sputters.

"Of course it was," he says, "is there a problem with that?"

Dinravi studies him. "Apparently there is," he says. "Because you're shaking."

Ghirahim jolts in horror and stares at his hands, which are indeed trembling, almost as badly as at the sight of Nightmare Demise, and he screams: "DAMN this frail useless human body!!"

Dinravi takes a step backwards, watching him, and says, "Ghirahim." And at getting his attention, he asks, "Does this mean that you came to me, tried to seduce me into conquest... Knowing that might mean you, too?"

Ghirahim stares at him for a breath, vulnerable, then looks away, frowning. "Of course I did," he says.

Dinravi sighs. "Of course you did," he echoes.

"I was FORGED for this," Ghirahim says helplessly. "To serve Master Demise, or the one who inherits from Him. Whatever that might mean."

"Ghirahim," Dinravi says gently. "You're almost half human now. I believed in your choice before, when we were thinking you entirely demon, but... Being human means getting to choose."

Ghirahim is adrift and he looks at the floor, the ceiling, out the window, and finally back at Dinravi, trying to find solid ground.

His voice is small. "Please kiss me?" he asks. Dinravi smiles and steps forward, leaning into him, brushing his lips tenderly with his own. Ghirahim whimpers and surges forward, and Dinravi puts his arms around him and steadies his stance, chuckling, soothing him, kisses him again. Ghirahim gasps as his knees buckle and he slides downward, almost ragdoll as Dinravi catches him again.

"Are you okay?!" Dinravi asks, holding him against his chest.

"I'm fine," Ghirahim whispers, hanging on for dear life. "C-can- Can we take this somewhere your MOM won't stumble on us, or worse one of the BRATS running around the castle? I'm about to become very embarrassing if we keep this up." He gives Dinravi a significant stare, face crimson. "Maybe with a bed?"

Dinravi's eyebrows shoot up. ".... Would you like me to carry you?" he finally asks.

"I think you're going to have to," Ghirahim admits.

We're going to give them some privacy. XD

[Image Description: Dinravi is tilting Ghirahim into a kiss, the sun setting through the window behind them. Ghirahim’s eyes are open but he’s pliant in Dinravi’s arms, one hand curled against his chest. Dinravi is smiling, eyes closed and his grip gentle but rather thoroughly in control of the situation. End ID.]

Back At the Sky Commune

Maurice and the other priests/monks at the Sky Temple Commune had some word of what was going on by the time Astramorus returns, and Maurice has more or less been put in charge now, in recognition of his years of service and care of the commune’s day to day.

He’s a bit annoyed at Astramorus about the whole thing, if he’s honest, which he is, but he also does care about his former superior, and once Astramorus has settled back in and the Sheikah escort is being shown around he approaches him in his quarters, finding him by the window thrown open, chin resting in his hand, looking out of place in the kind of civilian clothing Astramorus has barely worn his entire life.

“So what are you going to do with yourself, Astramorus, once the Queen’s man has decided you’ve moped around here enough?” he asks. Maurice is kind but he’s also gruff. Birds don’t tend to care about your word choices, and Maurice spends much more time with pigeons and cuccos and loftwings than with people.

Astramorus shrugs, not turning from the view of the blue sky. “Honestly Maurice, I was raised by Hylia’s Church. Mayhap I’ll find something else, but. Well, it was kind of the Queen to let me keep these quarters for more reasons than memory of my wife.”

Maurice bristles his mustache, and then he says, “You know... she stripped your rank. There’s nothing about your sentence as I read it that says you can’t start over from the beginning.”

Astramorus finally turns to him, and Maurice is struck by how... well, how much happier the other man looks. He’s lost nearly everything, and yet it’s like a great millstone’s off his neck. And Astramorus smiles:

[Image Description: “Maybe,” Astramorus says, smiling against his hand. He looks relaxed and happy, and maybe like he’s considering it seriously. The sun shines on him gently. End ID.]

What Now, Link?

And perhaps at the same time, now that he’s said his goodbyes and everything’s settled down, Marla finds Link sitting on a balcony rail of Hyrule Castle, looking out at Castle Town and looking pretty peaceful himself.

She comes up behind him and folds her arms against the rail, smiling up at him.

“So, Link, we finally got your father to listen to you,” she says, and she’s thinking of that conversation at the Shrine of the Furious God when she says it. “What now?”

Link shrugs. “I suppose I’ll stay here for a little while,” he says. He wants to see Gray recovered, and to spend more time with the Royal Family, and it’d be nice, if he’s honest, to rest a while himself. “The Queen says my mother’s family are probably still running around the continent somewhere, so I might look for them after that.” Adventuring runs in the family, apparently, because Zelda Sr. only has some idea of where his grandparents have gotten off to, only some idea of where to find his mother’s younger siblings.

“Sounds like a plan,” Marla says. She looks out at Hyrule Castle Town for a quiet moment, enjoying the sound of Link breathing.

“Do you think,” she says, “That we could take a few weeks to check back at Windfish Isle? I have this horrible suspicion that the Mayor has filled Tonbo and my house with fishing nets and I’d like to let him know to find someone else to live there before the walls take on a permanent stink.”

We’re staying with you so we should let them know goes unspoken, but Marla has known for a while she’s tying herself to Link for the rest of his life the same way she’s tied herself to Tonbo for the rest of his life, and the world’s a bit wider than it was when she and Tonbo left with Link, and if Link’s going to be in the wide world, Marla and Tonbo should be too.

And Link knows what she means. Because family means the people you don’t need so much courage around.

He smiles. “Yeah,” he says. “We can do that.”

[Image Description: Link and Marla. Link is sitting on the balcony rail while Marla is leaning on it. They’re giving one another fond smiles. The sun shines on them gently, giving the image a slightly faded look. End ID.]

#my art #loz au #loz #loz au: the courage of running away #au august #at last!!

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triforceangel13 · 3 years ago

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The Royal Guard’s Secret Ch. 24 (A SidLink Omegaverse Story)

Chapter 24 :Treaty

Sidon kept his shoulders squared as he sat at the table with Link. His own father, sister, as well as Zelda, Urbosa, and the king were settled around the table as well.

Zelda looked comforatable and content, even holding onto Urbosa's hand despite the king having sat right near them at the head of the table.

The king had called a meeting for them to all come, having tea and some sandwhichs and snacks set out on the table as well to bring down some of the tension.

His father however was still bitter, making sure he put his large frame between the king but his own children and Link.

He wasn't sure if it was because he actually cared for Link or that he was protecting the heir to the Zoran throne.

Either way though for now Sidon was grateful for the added security to his mate.

Link was nervous next to him, the heavy cirlces under his eyes and his arms wrapped around himself to hide and to protect his bump.

He was tired and he was nervous but he did his best to put a strong front on in front of his step father for the time being.

He didn't know what Zelda had done. All he knew that was that things were not in his favor as far as he knew.

Link even felt jealous with how hoped. Why couldn't he be like that? Why couldn't he not have a worry in the world when his life had been nothing but stressful.

“Easy Link,” Sdon whispered, thinking a moment but then reached to rest his hand on Link's. The blonde looked up at him and then let out a breath that he hadn't even known he had been holding until now. They knew of their relationship. He shouldn't have to hide it.

Plus Sidon was there to protect him. It was odd knowing he could rely on someone else. He was used to being alone, not being able to rely on others for help until Sidon came into his life.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered, taking the food that Sdion had offered to him. He mumbled a small thank you and bite into it. He needed to feed their baby.

Finally the king felt the silence had gone on long enough, wanting to address everyone instead of them staying in their own little conversations.

“You all must be wondering why I had asked you here today,” Roham has said as he stood up at the head of the table. “First I want to thank all of you for coming.”

The small conversations died down and all eyes turned to the king. Link tensed, shifting a bit where Sidon was able to sit closer to him.

The prince rest his hand on Link's shoulder to give him some comfort but also to ground him. That one moment when Link's truth had come to light he had been so stressed Sidon had been afraid for his well being and their little baby.

Getting no response from that King Roham continued. “Now that the formalities are out of the way I think we should discuss the situation at hand. The original plan King Dorephan and I had was to have my daughter Princess Zelda, and his son Prince Sidon, to wed to bring peace with our kingdoms.”

“We all know the original plan Roham,” Dorephan said from his seat. “We need to bring up the...new developments that have occurred.”

“Yes,” the other king said, the tension starting to form. Link swallowed, watching the two. These men were not getting along but being civil together.

He hoped that civility remained and a fight wouldn't be brought. If that happened what side would he be brought on?

“In a terrible turn of events of my formar advisor, Link had been put through terrible things, your daughter and son as well, to which you have my sincerest apology.”

Dorephan was silent next to him and it took Mipha nudging him a bit to at least nod is head to acknowledge his words.

“Partially because of these events we have....” the king said and then he let out a breath. “We have two blessings upon us.”

Link's eyes widened as his eyes went to Zelda. She flushed and rubbed her stomach, nodding her head a bit.

Dorephan looked down at his son and he quickly shook his head. No, he was not the father of the other child.

Seeing this Zelda rose from her seat and smiled to them all.

“I had spoken with father about it but I am with child. The sire is Urbosa, my trusted guard,” she said. “And I intend on having this baby and raising them as the next heir to the throne.”

With those words said she settled down back on her chair again and Link looked to the king. Well now he wasn't sure what was going on. He had seemed so angry about Link being with child but he didn't look any different now that Zelda spoke so freely of it.

Jealousy burned through him and he felt his breathing quicken as he scowled. Noting the sudden bitter smell next to him Sidon rubbed Link's shoulder.

He knew he was upset. Zelda got everything she wanted. Zelda was never punished for anything. Link was the one taking the fall for everything.

Link clenched his fists under the table and turned his attention back to the king.

“That being said this is where we need to discuss things. The fate of these children hangs in the balance when it comes to the final descision,” Roham continued.

“What do you mean fate Roham? You're not telling me that you're looking to rid them of their children some way are you?” Dorephan spoke up. “If that is the case any indication of this treaty working will be over. Even if Link is not royality, he still carries the heir to the Zoran throne inside of him. I will not have you take the child away.”

“Father..., Sidon said with a small smile on his face. “Thank you.”

Dorephan nodded but never took his eyes off of Roham. “Any harm that could come to Link from your actions can be taken as a declaration of breaking any peace.”

“And that is what I'm trying to prevent,” Roham stated firmly. His eyes finally went to Link and the blonde tensed, feeling the urge to flee brewing again.

“While you are not my biological son, I still consider you my son. I apologize for it taking me so long to get to this,” Roham said. Link shook a bit but nodded his head.

What was going on? He was being so nice to him now? Call him parinoid but after everything he had been through he wasn't surprised at this point.

“I will officially be stating here and now that you are a Prince of our kingdom, but the next choice is up to you,” Roham continued. “You may stay here but as a prince and be able to raise your child here, even taing the throne should Zelda not want it, or you can return to Zora's Domain.”

His eyes widened. This was the deciding factor?

“If he comes to the Domain with us but as a prince, does this mean that the treaty is settled and we will be at peace?” Mipha asked from her seat.

The two kings looked to one another, debating about what they would say or who would speak first. Dorephan was the first to break the silence.

“That is what I would take as a treaty but I would like to know who is to be held responsible for what happened to my children under your watch,” Dorephan stated. “They both nearly lost their lives by the hands of that man.”

Roham took his seat and claspsed his hands in front of him on the table in thought. “We have apprehended the man who has done those things to your children. I do find it seeing fit that you determine what his punishment will me. Would that be sufficient?”

“I suppose. But Link needs to to weigh in as well of what is to happened to this man. He was the one who suffered the most,” Dorephan agreed.

All eyes went to Link and he swallowed. He was getting such whip last he wasn't sure what to do. Not long ago he had been panicking he would lose himself and his child, as well as seeing Sidon possibly going to the dungeons.

Now here he was decinding the fate of Ganondorf and deciding the fates of the kingdoms. He wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to see Ganondorf brought to justice but if what he chose would that be enough to satisfy Dorephan to keep the treaty in place?

Noting that all the pressure was falling on Link's shoulders Sidon rose up from his seat and rest his hands on his lover's shoulders.

“I think you should give him time to consider his options right now. This is a lot to put on one person,” Sidon said. He'd protect his omega no matter what.

“I have to agree,” Mipha asaid as she rose up too. “I know you want Link to choose the fate of the man who had harmed us all, but what if his choice does not sit with you and you change your mind about everything?”

“You make a fair point Mipha,” Dorephan said. “Spoken like a true leader. My selfishness should not be the thing that weighs in the most.” “Perhaps it should be decided on a vote,” Urbosa chimed in. “Whatever is the unanimous vote will be the deciding factor.”

“Who gets to vote?” Zelda asked her alpha next to her. “Should it be all of us here at the table or say just Link, Sidon, and Mipha? They were the ones affected the most.”

“That may be true, but that man was willing to use whatever information against myself and I'm sure against King Dorephan as well. Everyone here in some way is affected, though there are three that have been affected much more,” Roham added in.

“I agree with the king,” Dorephan said and looked down at his son to gather what he would want to do in this situation. “This affected the three of you the most. What do you say?”

Sidon gazed down at Link who was trembling a bit as he looked around the table at the others. Mipha took a deep breath and gave a nod.

“That does sound fair,” she said.

“Then let us put it to the vote,” Roham said. “Those in favor of seeking the ultimate penalty of his life say aye, and those who wish to have him serve his punishment by others means say nay.”

“Aye,” both kings declared.

“Aye,” Zelda and Urbosa said after a moment of silent contemplation as they looked at one another. It did surprise Link a little with that.

“Aye,” Sidon stated firmly. Sidon wanted justice for his mate, even more than himself even when he had been run through with a sword. “That man needs to be brought to justice and no amount of another punisment will be enough for me.”

“Doesn't really matter what Mipha and I pick now is it,” Link said with a half hearted laugh. Mipha shrugged a little.

“I was going to say Nay...only because I'm tired of the violence ..” she admitted. “But I see my brother's point.”

“Link, what was your verdict?” Sidon asked softly. Link looked up at him and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

“I suppose to be truthful I would have said nay,” Link admitted. “I agree that I did want him to suffer as much as I had but there is no way to do that. So in the end...”

All the eyes were on him again but he only kept his eyes on Sidon. He would only focus on Sidon right now to keep himself from freaking out.

“In the end I choose Aye,” Link said, finally pulling his gaze from his mate and rest his hand on one of the ones on his shoulders. “I agree with Sidon that there is no other punishment capable of meeting just how much pain he had caused all of us.”

“Then is it decided,” Roham had stated and stood as he held a hand out to Dorephan. “Does the treaty stand?”

Dorephan looked at his hand and then shook it.

“The treaty stands.”

I’m open for written commissions

want to support? my patreon (triforceangel)

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#breath of the wild #sidlink #the royal guard's secret

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airplanned · 3 years ago

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Trill AU part 4

Sad times on the bridge, and I get to write technobabble

***

Part 1

They hurried down three corridors before Zelda said, "Does it seem strangely quiet to you?"

It did. In the dim light, Link was trying not to ask himself the obvious question of where everyone was. He made a sorry attempt to explain it. "It's late and this deck is all personal quarters."

"But no one's reporting to emergency stations but us?"

So of course they turned the last corner to find a body on the floor.

Ensign Bogts. Zelda checked his pulse and rolled him over while Link popped open a nearby locker and pulled out a tricorder. She took it out of his hands before he could start taking readings. Lifting an eyebrow, he let her rudeness pass.

"He's...fine? His vitals are all normal."

His body did look relaxed, his face at ease and his chest softly rising and falling.

"He just passed out here?"

Her eyebrows pinched together as she continued to scan. "He has an abnormal delta wave pattern. It looks like a kind of artificial sleep."

"Is everyone on the ship like this?"

She looked up at him in concern.

He swallowed, looking down at Ensign Bogts as all the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

"So why not us?"

The bridge crew was passed out at their stations, and Link went straight to check the commander's pulse where he was slumped back in his chair. Ensign Xik had fallen out of his seat at ops, and Zelda stepped over him neatly to take his seat. "I should be able to get main power up," she said. Link headed for the con, removing Lt Tate from his chair as gently as possible and laying him out on the floor.

A low hum built under their feet and the lights blinked back on. Link took a relieved breath and pulled up a status report.

"I have thrusters," he said.

"Bringing the main engine back online."

"We need shields and sensors."

"Give me one...you've got sensors."

He immediately ran a sweep. "Sensor report coming in."

"On screen."

It was as if a sheen of oil was draped over the ship, a shimmer of green and pink dancing like the northern lights. Zelda pulled up an image on her console and turned the whole thing so he could see. It was as if the ship had run into a flat sheet, dragging it with them until it wrapped around the ship's nose and trailed behind them. "It's giving off delta wave pulses. That's what's putting everyone to sleep. At a higher amplitude it could have knocked out main power. Probably when we first hit it."

"We're caught in a net," he said.

She nodded. "It doesn't look natural."

He turned back to the con. "Let's not stick around and find out who caught us. Can we get the shields back up?"

"Raising shields."

The lights went out. The gentle, omnipresent rumble of the floor stilled as the engine shut down again.

Link tried to bring up a status report. "Well, that didn't work. Main power's back out."

She sighed. "Bringing it back online."

Lights turned back on and they both held their breath, waiting for power to fail once more.

"No sudden moves," he said.

He checked the sensor's image of the phenomena. "If we use minimal thrusters, it looks like we can back out of it."

"Decrease thrusters to quarter power."

That made it slow going, but there wasn't really a rush. He eased the ship back, back, watching the power read outs and the sensor image on the side of his console.

"Down two degrees," she said, and he adjusted course, hissing as the edge of the net caught around the port nacell, sending a tremor through the ship.

They froze. He let the net settle, then tried again, pulling up and forward, only to strain against part of the net draped over the saucer section.

"It's tightening," she said. And sure enough where before it looked like they were dragging an inanimate sheet behind them, that sheet was now tangled, adhering to the hull.

He lifted his hands from the console in surrender.

Zelda had out her tricorder again, this time running it over herself. "I think it's the symbionts."

"Their brains aren't affected by delta waves."

"They must be keeping us conscious."

Link looked down at his terminal, running through his options. Then he narrowed his eyes at her.

She straightened. "What?"

"You come aboard and the ship gets attacked by something that doesn't affect bonded Trills."

Her brief anxiety melted into annoyance. "You think I did this."

He gave her a blank stare.

"Why would I do this?"

"Handing over a Federation vessel could be profitable. Risky. But you've gotten away with worse."

She folded her arms over her chest, giving him a scathing look. "Everyone on board is asleep and you're still going to pretend that it was me that gave away the defense codes."

"Only two people knew those codes."

"That's right. And of those two people, one of us vanished in the night. The other stuck around and cleaned up your mess."

"The mess of my dead body? That mess? Tell me, how much blood was there? Did you cut Fi out yourself or did you get someone like Groose to do it for you?"

Her change in expression was subtle--a barely noticeable stiffening, a faint drain of the color in her cheeks. She looked horrified. Haunted. She turned away, and tapped out some new controls on the console.

"What are you doing?"

"There's no point explaining myself to you." Her voice shook. "You're..." Her fingers faltered. She covered her mouth with a hand and took a shaking breath. "You're just going to torment me until whoever comes to collect us shows up. You're just going to blame me for everything you've done until I feel like I'm going crazy."

Link frowned. When a tear skipped down her cheek he started to panic.

"Wait."

She shook her head, her trembling hands back at work.

"Zelda." He reached for her, and she jerked away, spinning to glare at him, her arms gripping the console as if ready to run, her jaw set in a way that looked so much like Sheik--Sheik when she tried to look threatening to hide her fear.

He lifted his hands in surrender, searching her face.

He couldn't see the lie. He'd never been able to see the lie.

But it must be there. Right?

"What...what do you think happened?"

He didn’t have to specify when, which of the many incidents in their shared past was at the forefront of both their minds.

She stared at him for a long moment, gathering all her righteous indignation to power herself through her speech. "Ravio vanished. Everyone searched for days. We didn't know what had happened. And then suddenly...Suddenly the defense grid just dropped. And one little shuttlecraft flew past. Up and away toward the warship. What I think happened was that Ravio sold us out so Fi could return to Trill."

Return to Trill.

He stared at her, shaking his head over and over as if that would make it stop.

He had to fight to find his voice. "Tetra sent Ravio a message to meet at tower 2. She said she had good news, and he thought... He was looking out the window, and the door opened behind me and I saw your shape in the reflection of the glass. And then you shot me in the back. I woke up four months later in an asteroid mining facility in a different host. It took me days to get news and by then it was too late."

"Tetra never sent you any message."

"Ravio didn’t cut a deal to go back to Trill."

Her eyebrows pinched together. "Fi wouldn't have survived for four months without a host."

"Yeah, but Pipit was a hot mess of a host. It was an unstable bond. He started off in a comma and then he was confused and panicky for more than a year before he calmed down. He'd think it was the wrong year, that he was the wrong host. He had disordered episodes for the rest of his life. He lost time so often that four months is nothing." Link caught himself. "I say all that with love. He went through a lot."

It startled a croak of a laugh from her.

And then they were staring at each other again.

"I would never have killed you," she said. “Please don’t make me think about his body.”

He quirked a sad smile. "I want to believe that."

"I want to believe you, but...that might be me who wants that. It might be someone else. Someone younger. Less wise. Someone who still looks at you and feels..."

Warmth lit in his chest, and he hated it and loved it, and maybe it wasn't so messed up after all that he wanted so badly to trust someone who had hurt him so thoroughly.

"Yeah," he said. "That about sums it up."

They stared at their consoles. She wiped her eye with her wrist in a way she thought was discreet and he thought was endearing.

Carefully, he asked, "What's your next plan?" and gestured at the tricorder.

She cleared her throat. "The EM pulses from the symbionts neutralize the delta waves, so if I can adjust the deflector beam to the same frequency modulation--"

"--With a wide enough confinement beam, we can neutralize the delta wave net." He was already on it, his fingers flying over the console.

"We need to lower the power so we don't cause another blackout."

"It we adjust the--"

Something dinged on his console. Proximity alert.

He shared a look with her, trying to tell if this was the moment she'd shoot him again. It was that same fierce look to protect herself, and who knew what that meant.

Another ding, and her voice turned tight as she said, "They're hailing us."

"Putting them on screen," he said.

A pair of Trils stared back at them. "Oh," one of them said. "We were wondering how you had power, but this makes sense."

Link tried to sound calm as he said, "This is the Federation Starship Naboris. How can we help you?"

The Trills scoffed. "I don't think you're in any position to help anyone."

Part 5

#Zelda #my fic #Trill AU

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aurathian · 3 years ago

Text

Life in a Dead World

My submission for @zelinkweek2021 day 5, prompt Domesticity: Family.

read it here on AO3!

When she gazes at the castle for the first time in one hundred years, when she takes her first good look at it in forever, she sees nothing but despair. Loss. She sees nothing but memories she once held dear, long dead and buried under the rubble. She sees nothing.

He is her guiding hand through this new, foreign world in which she is blind. The way he takes her hand ever so gently and leads her across the stepping stones of the future is comforting, but her steps are uneasy still.

“Zel,” someone calls. “Wake up.” A gentle shake rumbles her shoulder and she turns over to face the voice.

“I’m up,” she manages to say, though hoarsely, and wrenches her eyes open to meet Link’s face. He swipes a finger across her forehead, brushing back stray strands of her sunshine hair. Taking his time studying her face, his blue eyes dart around before settling on her lips. He places a chaste kiss upon them.

Most mornings spent in their house in Hateno Village were like this. She’d be woken up by him saying her name softly, like it’s a prayer, and he’d kiss her before rolling out of bed. He’d make them breakfast, something simple like eggs and rice, and then he would head out to the fields for work. She’d stay curled up inside, reading books on their bed and tinkering with whatever ancient scraps Link found on his adventures.

Zelda doesn’t really like the mornings. The sun rises and casts its bright rays on everything ugly in the world and the daytime forces her to face it. She remembers her last sunrise before the Calamity, though the memory is blurry and faded now. It was a quiet morning when she was sent on her way to the Spring of Wisdom to offer her final prayer to the Goddess Hylia, full of apprehension and fear—fears she fulfilled.

On this day, however, he makes pancakes topped with berries he had picked after work the day before. He serves her orange juice in one of the fancy glasses they reserve for company—though they never get visitors anyway—and sets the table nice, with placemats and flowers in the center.

“What’s the occasion?” she asks, finally lured downstairs by the sweet smells and clattering utensils. Sliding into the chair across from him, she takes up her fork and digs in.

“Nothing special,” he replies nonchalantly with a raise of his brows, but she can feel his gaze on her as he takes a sip of his own juice. Zelda is able to indulge in a few more bites of soft, buttery pancake before he speaks again.

“Will you come into town with me today?” he requests, his hand drifting across the table to gingerly grasp hers.

“That’s what the occasion is, then,” she mumbles bitterly. Her appetite is lost and she sets the fork down. “You know I can’t.”

The few times she stepped foot into Hateno Village, the few times she saw the faces of the men and women and children walking through town and living, she turned around and went back to their house on the edge of the village. Link would follow suit some time later and find her gripping the photo of them and the Champions, staining its glass cover with tears.

The village is bright and lively. He tries to make her see the good, but she is blinded by memories.

“Why not?” he prods, taking a step into where he’d never dared to go before, opening the door to her heart just a little more.

“You know why.” Her voice is shaky now. “When I look at them—when I see their faces, they… they remind me of the people I killed all those years ago.”

“You didn’t kill anyone.” His tone is the opposite of hers; certain and sure, and his foot is planted steady in the doorway now. Though his memories are few, they are vivid with color and life and they feel real each time he relives them, whether in his dreams or by traveling to the places he uncovered them in the first place.

“Killing isn’t just about who you strike with your blade, Link,” she scolds. “It’s about what you fail to do that causes their deaths.” Her hands rest now in her lap, leaving his empty and open atop the table. “In my case, I failed to awaken my power in time.”

“But they’re not the people you killed.”

“They look like ordinary citizens. People, innocent people, going about their lives. The very people affected by my incompetence.”

“But—”

“There is no reason for me to go into the village anyway.”

Link sits back in his chair. “Why?” he breathes. The door is closing and he’s fighting to keep it open now.

“Hyrule is dead,” Zelda says plainly. “It died long ago, with all those people. When I looked upon the castle, when we were traveling back here through ruin after ruin, I saw no life.”

“There’s life right outside our house,” he counters.

“We have experienced two different kingdoms, Link.” She stands from her chair and wanders to the stairs, fingers lingering over the banister. “You do not remember my Hyrule. In comparison, this land is dead.” The conversation is over. She walks up the stairs without a word and he can hear her shuffle into bed. Then, it’s silent.

—

He tries again the next morning. This time, he coaxes her outside with the promise of a morning spent picking the flowers growing in their yard. It’s peaceful and they can’t hear the sounds of Hateno Village from their quaint house across the bridge, and he watches her face as she plucks the white flowers from the ground. Her eyes are lidded and mouth curved into a small smile.

He wishes he could show those grass green eyes the beauty of the Hyrule he knows, from its snowy mountaintops to its humid jungles; wishes she could meet the people who helped him along his journey, the people he considers Champions of this new age.

When he’s accrued plenty of flowers in his basket, he calls out to her, “Hey Zel, come here!”

She crawls over, bringing her own basket alongside her. “What?”

“What do you want to do with all these flowers?”

She hums, then says, “I don’t know.” Pulling one out of her basket, she twirls it around by the stem.

“I was thinking we could go into the village and give them to the children,” he offers, standing up and holding out his hand.

“Is that what this was all about?”

“Well…”

She scowls, taking her basket and marching toward the house. He winces as the front door slams shut behind her.

Link, however, is persistent, and if he has anything, it’s the audacity. Every day he tries something new to get her to go into the village with him—getting water from the river, buying a new dress, even visiting Purah at the lab—but each attempt is turned down by her.

“I can do my own research right here from my bed,” she argues when he suggests visiting Purah. Never in his lifetime did he think he would witness Princess Zelda of Hyrule, ancient Sheikah tech extraordinaire and science nerd, turn down an opportunity to go study at a laboratory.

Then, one day, something strange happens. He leaves the house to go work in the fields like usual, bringing along a pitchfork and his lunch. He lets Zelda stay in the house to eat her breakfast and read her books. As he’s walking down the trail from his house, over the bridge and into the new developments that continue to creep ever closer to them, a hand grabs his sleeve.

“Zelda?” he asks when he sees her. “But I thought…”

“I don’t appreciate how often you tried to trick me,” she interjects, “but I did some thinking, and I want to try.”

He’s looking at her like she’s crazy, one eyebrow up and his mouth popped open.

“Please?” she begs.

Taking her hand into his, he nods, and together they walk into the village.

—

Zelda finds a comfortable spot on the edge of the well, legs dangling off the side and face shielded from the bright sun. She sits there, watching the children of the village run around and play, swinging at each other with sticks and throwing pebbles, while Link is off working in one of the farm fields. There are women behind the well gossiping a little loudly for her liking, but after a few hours she manages to tune them out.

One of the children approaches her grinning, missing teeth and all. Zelda’s world stops for a moment, forced to recall the faces of the children she aided in killing. She remembers running through Kakariko Village, drenched and dirty, and seeing the agonizing faces of the village youth while she desperately searched for Impa. She remembers the bodies—Goddesses, the bodies—both young and old, strewn across the cobblestone streets of Castle Town. Of all the memories she can visualize the best, it has to be that one.

“Hello, miss,” the child greets with a slight lisp.

Her world unpauses and she swallows hard, forcing herself to look into the child’s eyes. “Hello,” she replies.

“What’s your name? I’ve never seen you before.” There’s a booger under the child’s nose and a leaf in his hair.

“My name is Zelda.”

She’s staring at this child she’s never met before, with his big round eyes and missing teeth, and she pays special attention to the sound of his breath and the rise and fall of his chest. This child is alive, she knows, yet she can’t help but think of all the children whose blood stains her hands.

“Woah!” His eyes widen and his mouth drops open in shock. “Like the princess?”

“I suppose,” she sighs. In reality, she hates the title. It stings like a thorn even when it’s just an echo inside her head. Hearing the word forces her to recall the countless tales and rumors spread about her through the castle halls one hundred years ago, of her failures and incompetence.

“My mom has told me all sorts of stories about the princess! Like how pretty and nice she was.” Scowling, he crosses his arms. “Though my mom wasn’t alive then, so I don’t know how she knows that.”

“What are some other stories she’s told you?” Zelda raises a brow and leans in curiously. Does her memory survive on a different breath in this new Hyrule? For all intents and purposes, she doesn’t recognize herself from one hundred years ago as truly her. When people speak of the princess, they speak of a woman long dead.

“I don’t remember all of them, but she’s behind the well you’re sitting on. You could ask her.”

She glances back and winces. “Um, I think I’d rather have you tell me.” Zelda hops off the edge of the well and kneels down in front of the child. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Nebb,” he says. “Say, I don’t remember much about the princess, but I can tell you about this one guy I know.”

“Sure,” she replies, sitting on the ground next to Nebb.

“There was this traveler who came by our village a lot,” he begins, “and I asked him to show me a ton of weapons! I don’t know how he was able to find all of them, though. I think he lives in the old house outside of town.”

Zelda hums, resting her head in her hands. She thinks of Link, of the various weapons on display in their house, and there’s no doubt in her mind that she knows exactly who Nebb is talking about.

“I might know him,” she says.

“Really?” Nebb shouts. “He’s so cool, isn’t he? I’ve seen him totally demolish the Bokoblins that come too close to the village before.”

“He’s very cool,” she agrees, trailing off as a little girl approaches them. “And who is this?”

“I’m Narah!” says the little girl. “This is my brother.” She gestures to Nebb and he groans before running away to go play.

“Well, Narah, I’m Zelda.”

“I like to talk,” Narah states. “Ask me some questions!”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You’re the one asking them.”

Zelda can’t help but laugh. It’s a bright and healthy laugh, one that enraptures Link as he approaches her, sweaty from a day in the field.

“Someone’s enjoying herself,” he chuckles, helping Zelda stand from the ground. Narah gets bored with the attention no longer on her and chases after her brother.

“The children are very sweet,” Zelda admits. “Apparently people share stories about me.”

“They do,” he says. “They’re nothing like the stories you heard all those years ago.”

“What do you mean?”

Her steps as they walk back to the house are more confident, and her grip on his hand is sure.

“I know how people talked about you back then, Zelda. I figured it out through my memories.” He pushes the door open for her, setting his pitchfork against the outside wall before stepping inside. “But these people… they look up to you. You’re a beacon of light to them.”

“But I didn’t do the one thing I was supposed to,” she argues. “They don’t look up to me. They look up to the princess of a century ago.”

“They know you as that princess—that princess who valiantly sacrificed herself to the Calamity to prevent it from reaching their homes. You are what kept Hyrule alive all this time.”

“I’m not a princess anymore,” she mumbles, climbing up the stairs. “It’s just Zelda now. Besides, they don’t even know I’m her. We are two different people now, Link.”

He says nothing, only steps up to the kitchen counter and rummages through the cupboard.

“What do you want for dinner?”

—

She ventures into Hateno Village with him every day now, sitting at her usual spot along the edge of the well and talking to the village children. They are healing, she finds, with their wide smiles and innocent, naive eyes. After some days, she starts playing with them, chasing them around the village and tossing balls back and forth.

She would give anything to go back in time and have the childhoods they have. To frolic in the outdoors, to have both parents, to play and wish and dream and be a child. If Zelda wasn’t so wary of the statues of the Goddess Hylia, she would pray at them once more, pray for a real childhood.

One day, she finally talks to the mothers behind the well. Or, rather, they talk to her.

“Miss,” one of them prods, “why do you come watch our children everyday?”

“Oh, um.” Zelda fiddles with her fingers. “They’re very sweet.”

The women exchange strange glances. “You’re not trying to snatch up my little boy, are you?”

“No! Of course not, no,” Zelda hastily replies. “Nebb introduced himself to me. I enjoy playing with the children.”

The women still aren’t satisfied, and she can tell, so she asks, “What’s it like to be a mother?”

“Oh, it’s something, alright,” the woman with her brown hair tied up groans. “Every day is a struggle. Wake up, get ready, yes, you do have to finish all your veggies!”

Zelda smiles a little but wonders if it is really so much of a struggle to gossip behind the well every day.

“But there are times where I relish it,” the other one pipes up. “My children gave me a purpose when I had none.” A dreamy look casts itself upon her eyes. “They are my pride and joy, as difficult as they can be. My guiding lights, so to speak.”

And something clicks inside Zelda’s mind.

Link picks her up again at the well, sweaty and hot and tired as he normally is after a long day of moving hay and harvesting crops, and as they walk over the bridge to their house she stops him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looks over to her, frowning with concern.

“Link, I want a child,” she states, and his jaw drops.

Normally, he would try to keep her out of bed for as long as possible. That night, however, he wastes no time in helping her into it.

And so their life continues on exactly like that—days spent working or playing with the village children, rubbing her belly in the hopes she may have one too, nights spent panting in bed, kissing, hot and sweaty and intimate. They’re not strangers to making love, but they are new to doing so with a purpose.

Zelda is suspicious when she misses her period, but what solidifies her hypothesis is when she wakes up one morning with a sick feeling in her stomach before leaping out of bed and rushing outside to dispose of last night’s dinner all over the grass. Link awakens only moments later, finding her outside hunched over and gripping one of the house’s posts. He holds her hair back while she retches some more.

“Zelda…?”

She can only look back at him and smile, nearly laughing with joy, before jumping up to hug him.

“I still don’t get it,” he says while she peppers kisses all over his face.

“Link, I missed my period a while ago,” she explains, finding her footing on the grass. “And feeling sick in the morning, throwing up… do you not know what it means?”

His face contorts in thought, eyebrows furrowed and nose scrunched. His blue eyes drift off to something in the distance as he racks his brain for a possible conclusion.

Zelda whispers into the ear of her lover, “I’m pregnant.”

She can’t see his face light up because he hugs her so tight she’s struggling to breathe, but she lets it happen. Her wish, her one prayer she had ever bothered to offer to the Goddess after the defeat of the Calamity, comes true.

—

The nine months go by like a breeze, her bump growing week by week, having to stay home and rest more often because of it, but she’s happy. She spends her evenings in the rocking chair Link constructed for her, singing to her belly as she rubs it with her soft hands. Her cravings get weirder, too. One week, she’s asking for delicious fruitcake, and the next, she’s asking for soup but instead of meat, it’s monster parts.

Still, Link obliges, going out and picking (or slaying) whatever he needs to to satisfy her. Eventually, the doctor they visit in the village has to start coming to them when it becomes too backbreaking for Zelda to walk, and by some will of the Goddess, the doctor is present when she goes into labor on a rainy autumn morning.

Even as she’s pushing and screaming and grunting, Zelda thinks Hylia must be apologizing, because according to the doctor, it was one of the easiest deliveries he’s ever assisted with. He hands Zelda her baby, wailing and wriggling, small and pale, with a head of soft, thin hair, colored like Link’s. The doctor leaves them alone, lingering downstairs in case anything else needs to be done.

Link kneels by the bedside, watching as Zelda coos at the baby and pokes at her tiny hands. “What will we name her?” she asks him.

“Do you have any ideas?”

She hums, but her eyes never leave the baby. “I would like to name her Impa,” she says.

“I think that’s a great name.” His voice is a whisper now, quiet and hushed as he marvels at the sight of Zelda and their child, and for the first time in a long while, his beloved’s green eyes shine once more.

She smiles down at her baby, because even in a Hyrule she thought long dead, new life still prospers.

#zelink week 2021 #zelink #botw #zelda #link #breath of the wild

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minty-mumbles · 4 years ago

Text

One Last Journey

Summary: Link has felt death before, and knows how it tugs on your bones before it claims you. He’s known for a while that it was nearly time. Well past time, in his opinion. Every man owes death his dues, and his are nearly two hundred years late.

Author's Note: You can read this on AO3 Here

Content Warning: Death from Old Age, Angst, Not exactly a happy fic, but not super sad either? Bittersweet Ending.

~~~

The funeral of Zelda, the former queen of Hyrule, is a quiet affair. The only ones there are her family and a few close friends. Normally, such an event would warrant a much larger crowd, and at least a few dignitaries, offering their condolences. And it wasn’t like the former Queen was disliked. In fact, she was beloved.

However, she had stepped down from the throne many years ago, so her daughter could take the queenship. To the general public, her death meant little more than a town crier announcing the news, and a day of mourning. Besides that, the woman had also expressed the wish for a quiet send off. Just her family and friends, no strangers from distant lands.

Slowly, after the dirt is well and truly settled over the casket, and the day grows longer, most of the funeral goers drift off, to attend to their duties, or mourn in private.

The last one to leave the cemetery is an old, aged man. He approaches the gravestone form where he had been standing at the back of the crowd. He looks, contemplatively at the cold, unfeeling stone. He did not cry during the ceremony, and he does not do so now.

He simply nods to the stone, as if saying ‘farewell, see you later,’ a dear old friend. Out from a glowing slate at his hip, he draws a flower crown of silent princesses. He places the crown around the top of the gravestone, then leaves without a word.

Although he has a room in the castle, he does not go there. He turns instead towards the city gate. He speaks to no one on the way out of town. Although he is well known, and has many friends here, no one tries to stop him. They know well the grief he feels, and leave him alone. They know, despite his age, and less than spry appearance, he is no push over, and can look after himself. There is no need to stop him from leaving the safety of town.

He first travels to Gerudo town. The vai outfit he wore in his youth hasn’t worked in many years, and he doesn’t even bother. Despite this, he’s let in with little fuss. He is, perhaps, the only man in memory to be freely let into this town. He has done so much for the Gerudo throughout the years, and has been nothing but polite. They could hardly refuse him.

He presents to the Chieftess Riju with a gift of a nearly legendary scimitar, and a beautiful shield. Both are well cared for, and seemingly untouched by age. He doesn't stay in the town for long. It’s hard for him to walk on the shifting sands in his old age, even with the help of his well-worn sand boots, and the heat is getting to him in a way it never did when he was young.

Next, he travels to Rito village. This town, like most of the other settlements, has grown since the defeat of the calamity, and is more of a Rito City. He speaks with the Elder Teba, presenting him with the Great Eagle bow. To pass on to a Rito that Teba thinks has the skill to wield such a renowned weapon, the man says.

The two sit and speak for a while, reminiscing on years past, but eventually, the man hauls himself to his feet and sets out. He has to use the rope bridges now, much too old for the paraglider he used in his youth, a fact which he curses internally.

Next, he stops by the Lost Woods. He doesn’t speak to the Great Deku Tree. The two have known each other for years, and the ancient tree had been a source of wisdom whenever the man had felt troubled. There was nothing left to say to each other, only silent understanding. The man plunges an ancient sword back into its rightful place in its pedestal, and leaves, letting the mists on the forest whisk him back to the entrance.

Although the castle is close, the man turns away from the structure, heading east instead. He has no business there anymore, and something deep within his bones tells him that he won’t be seeing it up close again any time soon.

The next stop on his path is Goron City. The flamebreaker armor has been long retired, heat resistance potions much more easy on old bones. The Elder Yunobo greets him with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm, leaving him with aching ribs. Laughing, the Goron suggests a dip in the hot springs to help soothe sore muscles and bones. They spend a good afternoon speaking amiably in the warm water, sharing stories and tales.

When it’s time for the man to move on, he silently hands over the weapon that Yunobo’s grandfather himself once wielded. In return, he received another bone bruising hug, and copious amounts of tears. He quickly excuses himself from the Goron’s presence, in fear of yet another hug.

From here, it’s only a short journey to the Zora Domain. Here, he is welcomed with more warmth than any other settlement he has visited. Not that the other places were cold, but the Domain has always seemed like a second home to him. The Zora here haven't seemed to change much since the man wandered into the Domain for the first time, all those years ago. They welcome him with the same familiarity as always.

He is led directly to speak with King Sidon, who now sits on the throne, as his father once did. The man stays in the Domain for the longest time of all the places he’s stopped on his journey, but after only a week, he can feel the urge to move off again. Before he leaves, though, he presents the Zora king with an invaluable gift. The Lightscale Trident is entrusted into the Zoras’ capable hands once again. He leaves with only a small smile and nod to the statue in the courtyard of a beautiful young healer.

From there, the man travels to Hateno. He sells the house he owned there. It had been a faithful place to rest, a good place to fall back to and recuperate at for many years. It had been rarely used in recent years, and the man did not have much to retrieve from inside of it. He sells the building to a young man named Jaxson, who owns the Bolson Construction company. He supposes that the house will be torn down and rebuilt now, as it was about to be when he purchased it.

He makes the climb up to a laboratory on top of the hill, to speak with farewell to a middle aged sheikah scientist. He leaves her with his most prized possession which has been with him since nearly before he could remember, the Sheikah Slate. He can tell that she would find much more use from it than he ever could. Perhaps she could even replicate it, and start the widespread use of Sheikah technology again.

His second to last stop is Kakariko village. He greets the leader of the town, Paya, with the kind of easy camaraderie that is forged out of years of friendship, and fighting side by side. He hardly stops to talk though, before he’s moving on.

His final destination is the Great Plateau. This place alone had been left untouched by the restoration efforts after the fall of The Calamity; Zelda had declared it a sacred place, and besides that, it was too inaccessible to most races, except perhaps the Rito.

The Temple of Time was even more run down than he remembered from when the man first saw it. The roof had nearly entirely collapsed at this point, the bell tower barely clinging to where it’s supported by a few rotten wooden boards. The North faring wall has crumbled by now as well, leaving open view of most of Hyrule. Despite the continued ruin slowly overtaking the place, the goddess statue still sat at the dais, whole and untouched.

The man did not kneel in front of the statue, standing proud in front of it. He doesn't even show the reverence of lowering his head. Instead, he looks off to the side, at the restored Hyrule Castle. The man would never grow tired of the sight of this symbol of Hyrule standing proud once more. “The first time I spoke to you,” The man says, “You told me to ‘go, and bring peace to Hyrule.’” With a sigh, he refocuses his gaze back on the statue's unmoving face. “I think I’ve done that, don’t you?”

If anyone were to observe this scene, they would hear or see no reply, the statue remaining as still as ever. But the old man smiles, as if receiving a confirmation, and turns away.

The climb up to the Shrine of Resurrection is not an easy one, but the man has undertaken far more difficult treks in his life, and he makes it all the same. He stops to admire the view from the entrance for just a moment. His first memory is seeing Hyrule spread out before him as it is now. The sight had nearly brought him to tears. Although he hadn't known what the feeling was at the time, now he knew it to be awe. The feeling of love for this wild place never truly left, even after all these years.

Though he did not kneel before even the goddess, when he makes it the final chamber of the shrine, he does kneel. He gazes reverently at the bed he once spent one hundred years laying in, and shuts his eyes. He knows that his journey has at last come full circle.

The man has felt death before, and knows how it tugs on your bones before it claims you. He’s known for a while that it was nearly time.

Well past time, in his opinion. Every man owes death his dues, and his are nearly two hundred years late.

It is not clear when he passes, but he does. Far away from any Hylian life, deep in the Shrine of Resurrection and where his journey truly began, the Hero of Hyrule dies. The aches and pains fall away from his body like water off duck feathers, and his grey hair turns blonde once again.

He is welcomed in death with countless, open, familiar arms.

#mint’s writing #Legend of Zelda #Breath of the Wild #LoZ Fanficion #botw fanfiction #bittersweet #death from old age #death #angst #sad #My Writing

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