#midna... did not turn out right at all

[yzafre]

An extremely messy drawing/coloring style experiment page. It got a bit ambitious, so everything's all in each other's space. I promise this isn't how I usually do art.

Featuring @sodaspons's Venus down there in the corner.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Sometimes I wonder what it had to have been like, being Zelda holding Calamity Ganon at bay. Like, we've seen Zelda get turned to stone in other games and I imagine that's like just being put in a coma. In Twilight Princess, Zelda's spirit is transferred to Midna to save her life, so I assume she's basically like halfway traveling with Link and Midna for the duration of their journey after that, in some kind of half haze but also vaguely following along. Other "imprisonments/comas" for other Zeldas include being put in a magical slumber in Adventure of Link, which, again, is sleeping. I don't know all the Zelda situations, but these seem to be the majority of them. Even Tetra gets the Coma Treatment.

So, it stands to reason, then, that BotW Zelda is just in a state of magical slumber then, right?

But she isn't. She wakes Link, she talks to him, can see where he is and what he is doing. This girl was awake and fighting for one hundred freaking years.

Now, granted, I do think that time felt very different for her. And I'm sure the initial phase, where her power over Ganon had him nearly entirely contained, was probably far more akin to some kind of trance-like state. But as her control slipped, she awoke more, and gosh how wild and awful that must have been.

But you know what else this makes me think of? Skyward Sword Zelda. To my knowledge, she's the only other Zelda who had to go into some kind of trance like state to maintain or seal something away, like purposefully enters that state rather than being imprisoned like that. And, again, it just seems like she's sleeping - she even asks Link to wake her up. But if BotW Zelda went through a similar state and started waking up on her own as her power faded, what if Skyward Sword Zelda had something similar happening to her? Did she start to lose her strength and come to consciousness a bit, despite having no ability to return to her body or break out of the prison she sealed herself into? She must have been starting to weaken in that regard, because how else was the Imprisoned breaking free and requiring Link to seal it away once more, multiple times? I wonder if this Zelda could have reached out to Link but chose not to so she wouldn't interfere with his mission?

And then I also wonder about the time differences, about the power differences. Because BotW Zelda was a powerhouse, subduing and fighting Calamity Ganon for one hundred years with no training, just sheer grit the instant she got her powers. But then there's Skyward Sword Zelda, who the moment she got her memories back, knew what she had to do, and maintained the seal and therefore fought Demise for thousands of years.

I don't know, I just have many thoughts.

[wellwornworldwalker]

I have an obsession with assigning theme songs to characters I like. Since Linked Universe is my current hyperfixation I realized I have a golden opportunity. Sleeping at Last is one of my favorite artists and he has an album called Enneagram. 9 songs for 9 personality types for 9 Links so without further adieu here is my totally flawed assignment of songs.

One - Warriors.

The list goes on forever Of all the ways I could be better, in my mind As if I could earn God's favor given time Or at least congratulations Now, I have learned my lesson The price of this so called perfection is everything I've spent my whole life searching desperately To find out that grace requires nothing of me

In the Swords comic Warriors admits that wielding the Master sword made him feel invincible and that nearly cost him his life.

Now Warriors has learned that his true strength is his ability to work with others, a strength he brings to the chain. I see Warriors as someone that likes rules, he needs the world and people to follow a predictable pattern. That puts him at odds with the chaotic members of the chain (That’s everyone, including Warriors.) He’s a perfectionist, specifically the type of perfectionist that believes if you want something done right you���ve got to do it yourself. He’s learned to work with others, and has overcome his initial instincts as The Hero.

Two - initially I thought Hyrule was the best match for Two but as I was writing this analysis I changed my mind to Twilight.

Sweetheart, you look a little tired When did you last eat? Come in and make yourself right at home Stay as long as you need Tell me, is something wrong? If something's wrong, you can count on me

You know I'll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat

Twilight is running himself ragged. He was pulling double duty as Wolfie and Twilight. He’s trying to make Time proud, then turns around and tries to mentor Wild. A thankless task because Wild is not interested in his mother Cuccoing. He's more used to the mature blue eyed wolf that pushed him to his limits and never coddled him.

And in Twilight Princess he became The Hero to save his village. Mayhaps Twilight is a bit of a people pleaser but…

I know exactly how the rule goes Put my mask on first No, I don't want to talk about myself Tell me where it hurts I just want to build you up, build you up Till you're good as new And maybe one day I will get around to fixing myself too

Twilight recently had his heart broken when Midna left and shattered the mirror. Maybe he’s trying to avoid those feelings by concentrating on everyone else?

Three - Time and Legend were fighting back and forth with songs Three and Eight. Those two are very similar . Both young hero’s that had their childhood stolen in a single defining moment. Legend watched his uncle die and went on the run. Time drew the sword and woke up seven years later having slept through his childhood. And they’ve become pessimistic and cynical because of that.

And a nice little detail that shows how similar Time and Legend are is when Legend and Warriors were betting on who Time’s wife was. War’s thought it would be the princess. But Legend correctly guessed it was someone different because he knew that wasn’t Time’s style.

But back to Time, because these two are different and maybe that just because Time has the advantage of years and age on his side but he settled in a way Legend hasn’t

Maybe I've done enough And your golden child grew up Maybe this trophy isn't real love And with or without it, I'm good enough

Time is who he is because he has Malon and the ranch. Malon loves the very normal man Time is not The Hero he had to be. The others immediately notice how different Time is when they get to the ranch.

He laughs, smiles, and jokes around. While on the road he’s tense and serious. He sees this quest as a duty and a responsibility, but he wants to be home. Makes you wonder why he’ll leave home and die to become the hero’s shade?

Four - Is FOUR

Jk jk it's Sky. The song Four is about ordinary touching divine. And if that doesn't sum up Sky I don't know what does.

Bodies fashioned out of dirt and dust For a moment, we get to be glorious

When Sky first encountered Demise the Demon King spends a lot of time pointing out that Link is human, brave for a human but still human.

Then there are these lines

But I've fallen in love with a ghost I lost my balance when I needed it most

He loves Zelda, a mortal incarnation of a goddess and in his quest to save her he is so often just a little too slow. He's there in the end and gets the job done but it's a close thing that haunts him.

Five - For real this time. This is Fours song.

The opening lines are

I want to watch the universe expand I want to break it into pieces small enough to understand And put it all back together again In the quiet of my private collection

He's a curios little guy and a smith. Always looking into the mysteries of the world, take them apart and remake them. Maybe that curiosity got him into a little trouble. He's got the four sword and one magic sword is more than enough for him.

The last lines of the song are

I finally feel the universe expand It's hidden in heartbeats Exhales and in the hope of open hands

Four has got the four sword but he is also the hero of Minish cap. He see's the large universe and the small important things that are closer to home. He's recognized this after the events of sunset and dawn. If this quest is to succeed he needs to let his brother's in. Wild knows his secret but that was more of a spur of the moment angry reaction. I'll be interested to see if he purposefully reveals his secret to anyone else.

Six - Six was originally my pick for twilight but I switched him and Hyrule. Fanon characterizes Hyrule as the healer but so far we've only seen him healing once. So I'm basing this off of his games, Linked universe canon and my hopes for his character arc.

We laugh about this line because Hyrule has what is considered the hardest game. Oh you sweet summer child. You complicated, pixilated little hero. Do you know what you've done? That's why I associate these lyric's with Hyrule's character

I want to take shelter, but I'm ready, ready to fight Somewhere in the middle, I feel a little paralysed Maybe I'm stronger Than I realize

Like Legend Hyrule lives in the fallen hero timeline. That's caused some serious problems for his kingdom. But unlike Legend, Hyrule seems to be open and friendly.

Is it courage or faith To show up every day? To trust that there will be light Always waiting behind Even the darkest of nights

It takes real courage to live in a dying world and still love it and it's people.

Seven - There was never any doubt in my mind that Seven was Wild's song. Some of these were difficult to nail down but not Seven and Wild. This song is about being restless and wanting to explore. Perfect for our Hero of the Wild

Then the song hits you with this sucker punch

But I want to be here Truly be here To watch the ones that I love bloom And I want to make room To love them through, and through, and through, and through The slow and barren seasons, too

Twilight has pointed out the Wild should talk to his Zelda about who he used to be and who he is now. But that means looking to the past and he's can't bring himself to do that yet. Instead seeing his life as two different people. The before and after.

Eight - I mentioned that I flipped flopped on choosing Time or Legend for this song but I finally decided that this is more Legend's song. Truth be told Eight could have been just about any Link's song. It's such a protagonist song. It's my favorite :)

Jojo has draw a picture of Legend with Marin and he looks so happy and playful. Something we don't see with the group.

But I can't let you see all that I have to lose All I've lost in the fight to protect it I can't let you in, I swore never again I can't afford to let myself be blindsided

He was open and loved once before but then he lost it. Not only lost it but had to be the one to destroy it himself, confront that maybe this happiness was never real to begin with. Now he's withdrawn and cynical. Legend is still all in on being a hero. (Unlike Time he's not looking to settle down.) But he wont be opening his heart anytime soon.

Can we talk about this panel from the bet

Are you talking about Time or yourself?

I'm standing guard, I'm falling apart And all I want is to trust you Show me how to lay my sword down For long enough to let you through

I can't wait to see his brother's break through that hard exterior and see the kind and empathetic person underneath. We see flashes of it.

(Memories is a gold mine for everyone's characterization, just saying.) He's emotional mature enough to know where to really lay the blame. I hope he can help Wild see that. But I think to really get through to Wild he'll need to be emotional vulnerable and he's not prepared for that yet.

But in the end Legend is a hero through and through. Since he was 11 he's been The Hero and he shows no sign of stopping.

I'ma shake the ground with all my might And I will pull my whole heart up to the surface For the innocent, for the vulnerable And I'll show up on the front lines with a purpose

He's grumpy and cynical but still a hero.

Nine - By process of elimination Wind is number Nine. I'm not really happy with this one but none of the songs really fit Wind . So I decided to speculate about Wind's future. Wind and Tetra are supposed to reestablish the Kingdom of Hyrule, a daunting task for a 13/14 year old. No wonder he admires the kings of Hyrule so much

Wake up Fall in love again Wage war on gravity There's so much Worth fighting for You'll see Another domino falls Either way

Quite the opposite of Wild , Wind is always looking to the past to build the future.

This ended up being longer than I thought it would be but I also didn't even talk about half my feeling when it comes to this album and Linked Universe. IDK how that possible. But I've said enough and I just needed to share my thought. And you guys should totally listen to the album.

[majorproblems77]

LU Update! So welcome back to the analysis corner with me!

We have another LU update! Called Moving forward we see the heroes leave the town and make their way to the location that Sky found. With learning a little more about the team as a whole.

With 10 pages there's a lot of information to work through so I hope you are sitting comfortably

As always Linked universe (LU) belongs to @linkeduniverse and Jojo, I own none of the pictures I'm using and please give the original post some love. It's very well done and I love this comic so much.

You can find the comic here!

And as always there are spoilers abound for the most recent update!

Now sit back, grab some water and snacks and let's do this!

So before we get started im just gonna say that the brain cell is pinging around this lot so much that I'm bound to miss some stuff. But I shall try my best to get everything I wanna say said.

It was only some of you, captain, dont forget that.

(Oblatory look at my blorbo picture, he's so sweet. Blorbo blorbo blorbo)

Okay I'll behave this time

(No i won't)

I can understand the concern from the captain, as a captain from the army during a time of war secrets are dangerous. He's probably thinking if Twilight has concealed this what else has he concealed.

And then we get snarky wars again

I missed the snarky captain, he's wonderful.

Also the line about double duty, Come on captain, you know full well that patrol is an important part of a group dynamic like this.

This also confirms that the group have had encounters with monsters outside of what we've seen. As the line from wars about missing fights implies that they've fought a bunch of stuff. But we've only really seen wolfie in a fight back in the sunset arc.

Twilight fondly mentioning Midna, I'm so proud of him.

These two are the goddamn brothers ever and I love them dearly. Also, the knowledge we are about to be given about how this works is very exciting.

The brothers ever

All of them

Twilight thinking Wild had more than two brain cells. I love him. And the hug? The hug gives me life.

Also the captain, the captain is a point to talk about here. This feels like an accusatory sentence. The "You dont say?"

Me trying to figure out how time travel works in LU.

Legend, why are you so grumpy about this? Like he looks angry to hear this.

Four thinking about the implications of this sentence. I can literally hear the brain cell bouncing as it pings from hero to hero as they try to figure out this time travel thing.

Wind is a small bean as well look at him. The youngest I love the eyes.

Ahh, so thats the explanation. A spirit wolf that helped guide him on his journey which he trusted so much that he thought that the wolf he saw here was just another spirit until twi changed in front of him.

But this line from him is so sad. "Right after my resurrection" and "we both would have known the grave." This feels like as a person wild is at peace with it but doesn't want others to have to go through what he did. He's a chill dude and i love him for that to be honest.

Meanwhile, my blorbo Sky is out here trying to get actual work done. This is 10/10 the sksw dousing experience if you've not played it. You just swing the sword around while it pings at you until you eventually find what you are looking for.

Fi is trying her best.

Lads all of you need to remember that not all of you have had things that perform transformation magic. Im surprised (But also not surprised) That Time doesn't have anything to say about this. Like my man has used a tone of different transformation masks that change him into various different things and has one that turns him into a god.

The magic users ganging up on the non-magic users, like please behave.

Ahh Time, Time is the disappointed old man that has to coral a bunch of kids. And Wild is like the most kid of them all. (Tell me why I'd love to know! :D) (Which makes sense if we take LU to be at most a few months after the end of his game. Wild would be 18 at most.)

the sort of conversation you dont want to involve yourself in Time trust me on this one.

JUST SOME GUY WILD JUST DESTROYED TWILIGHT OKAY RIP

Feels bad for twi man he earned that title and to have it reduced to just some guy.

Wild is gonna get told off by Time if he ain't careful, that's his blood descendant right there and we all know he has a soft spot for him.

This is important, because I'm pretty sure most of them did at one point.

Another thing that appears to be a constant amongst the team is the need to conceal an identity. Either from them or them to others.

I'm not versed in all of their games so I can't go into full details but these guys ain't the only ones. Pretty much all of them have. The spirit of courage does love secrets, doesn't it?

Thats my blorbo and he's so sad help he

Blorbo blorbo blorbo

Give him a hug and reboot Fi and it'll be fine.

To echo the words of Time.

Curious.

Now this depends on what exactly Sky was dousing, was he dousing the portal, the helmet outside the portal? The postman even?

My money is on the helmet outside the portal, so that Dink came back into this timeline to retrieve it before leaving. But I may be incorrect on that account because Fi is able to track people as well as objects (Sksw would often have you tracking Zelda directly)

OHHHH

I was wondering how they were going to do it. But with Twilight able to track it they'll be able to use a combination of dousing and him sniffing out Dink's scent to be able to find him no matter where he might be.

It's so distinct, twilight you know by saying that you're gonna have some of these guys asking questions. Just wait for the next campfire story time it's gonna come up.

I can see Wind and Twilight having a conversation like this.

"What does Dink smell like?" "What?" "You heard me."

Oh he's so excited look at him!

Oh four.

I wonder if we are gonna have a four and Twilight conversation about this, with four's past he's understandably worried about the use of dark magic in one of his friends.

Oh come on legend lighten up, the child has never seen something like this before.

I'm glad Hyrule is coming in for his defence and all but 5 minutes ago Hyrule you were with Legend and saying to Wild that there's a load of items that do it.

Why is wind just so wonderful?

Look at him go!

Thats gotta be Wind, He's been so excited about this I can't see it being anyone else.

Bark Bark!

Wolfie beloved.

Im here for more brotherly content from the team, they are wonderful.

Now lets go find us a Lizard, or iron knuckle or whatever he transforms into next.

And thats all from me! I loved this update and there was so much to unpack I know I've missed stuff! But I hope you enjoyed it! :)

(Also apologies for spelling mistakes I'm sick rn but wanted to get this done)

Have a great day!

[yourlocaltreesimp]

Yan!Chain Headcannons

part 1(Hyrule and Legend)

This episode is dedicated to @mushroomwoods and our conversation on how we want to marry Twilight

Tw: Yandarism and it’s accessories, violence, obsession, cannibalism mentioned, Twi has wolf mannerisms, Time has FD living vicariously in his mind

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Twilight

Absolute gentleman when you first got to know eachother, one of the more willing ones to give you trust without falling head over heels. Became close friends before he realised your part as his guide.

Speaking of, there’s a lot of guilt to say with Midna. He never really got to know if she loved him back. All he knows is that he fell in love with his guide and then, they were gone. If you see where this is leading then you know.

When Twilight rather abruptly remembers that you were in fact his guide alongside Midna, he doubts his own feelings. Especially considering all of the protectiveness he’d had to repress from the wolf which still made its place in his mind. But… you came back. And you cared. So, he must’ve loved you, right ? He’d be blind if he didn’t.

Main love language is probably physical touch and words of affirmation. It’s what he grew up with in Ordon and it’s what’s comforting to him. So, it’s what he extends when caring for you.

He also has the tendency for acts of service while he’s crushing. Will drop whatever he was assigned to do so you can sleep, talk, have company. Or do things you didn’t ask for like mending your clothes, restocking your bag, killing a man.

Absolute sweetheart. Cuddle buddy. Guard dog. Will cannibalise someone who’s rude to you as Wolfie and won’t bat an eye. Your safety is the most important.

Speaking on Wolfie and guard dogs, I mentioned this briefly before. Twilight has some left over effects from his wolf form. Keener senses, sharper attention, as well as various other side effects he’s taken in. They all manifest as an extra voice in his mind. Not like a separate person per say, just a separate intelligence. Like when you’re panicking and that primal voice tells you to run. He just has it all of the time. Especially in regards to you. As far as that little voice is concerned, you are his. Not shared with anyone. Not part of any other universe. Not by anyone else’s side. His. His love, his deity, his light, his mate (such term of endearment making the little voice keen with happiness). All his. And he’d do anything under the stars to keep it that way.

He’d love to just keep you in Ordon, where the people are tight knit, and where you can’t wander off without him knowing. He’ll work so you can stay at home and rest, maybe even look after the kids he’ll stick you with. It’s a dream of his, actually. The only thing him and his primal side agrees on.

They also agree that kidnapping you is Ay okay if it means that picturesque comfy living is the end of it.

Preferred nicknames for you: Darlin’, Love, Sweet Heart, Sugar, Babe, Honey

Bonus: He and Warriors had a bet on who could make you the most flustered. He’s a bit of a flirt with accent of his, especially after he learns of its affect on you.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Time

Absolute last when it came to falling for you. He doesn’t even know why in hindsight, he’d always taken a shine to you. He just… never noticed. dense as mf Anyway- You were definitely friends, or at least reliable source of comfort and calm. You’d talk him off the ledge of his panic attacks, cradling him like he was so precious and in turn, you never really worked as a part of the chain. Well, He never forced you at least. You always did anyway.

The deity was the first to point it out, being the one to live in his head. Pointing out his Time would never let anyone else do what you did, never. But alas, the deity still regarded you as a weak spot in Time’s bleeding heart, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

The others were next, teasing him about it. They didn’t think their suspicions were real, however, until they saw the frozen look he had on his face.

He was the last aside from you to realise it, coming swiftly after remembering your guidance. He’d always thought your caring nature as a rouse. But seeing how you never gave up on him, growing up alongside him, keeping him safe from dangers he was forced into… he was a fool for you.

Love language is Quality time and Acts of service. Loves just simply being with you, enjoying one another. He has to repay the favours of what you’ve done for him. A nice massage, a rest day, a nap. Anything your heart desires.

That said, you not only have one overly protective mf on your hands… but two! FD, while originally seeing you as an oversight, fell like an angel from heaven. I’m scared for whoever throws disrespect on your name because they will be delt with, By both the Hero of Time and the Fierce Deity of War.

Time would court you traditionally. Flowers, Gifts, Poetry. Whatever he could truly accomplish given the circumstances. You are pampered more an any of the Zeldas in any of the timelines. So much as make a single comment of how much you like something and his wallet is open.

Might genuinely think you’re a deity, you’re the only one FD likes enough to seek out approval from, so that must mean you’re something.

Worships the ground you walk on. Kills any nonbelievers. That’s his motto

Would definitely kidnap you. Between him and the deity, you’re not leaving. But depending on how cooperative you are, he’ll be a little more lax. Might even let you get a job if you’re good enough, so long as he can walk you to and from home like a good partner.

Preferred nicknames for you: my Love, my Beloved, Dearest, Darling, anything classy.

Bonus: He’s definitely thought about how similar Twi and you can be, down to comparing what traits were passed down the lineage to his successor.

[boysofhyrule]

Must be dead there’s a pretty woman

In warriors era a portal opens and as Lana walks up to it warrior and wind step out looking frantically around till they spot Lana

Lana: LINK! Where have you been? And why is wi-

Captain: Look Lana I’ll explain later, right now we have injured

Just then wild and time drag twilight through the portal who is life threateningly injured

Lana: alright follow me

———sometime later———

Twilight slowly wakes up

Twilight: ugh that was a dumb idea

???: you can say that again

Twilight looks over and see Midna sitting next to him

Twilight: Oh I’m dead

Midna: How did you know?

Twilight laying back down in the bed: I’m seeing the most beautiful woman ever and the love of my life who I’m doomed never to see again sitting next to me so there is no way your her, that coupled with stab wounds it’s pretty obvious.

Midna: Why is the woman I’m taking the form of the love of your life?

Twilight: she was- insert heartwarming speech about why he loved midna

Midna: wow sounds like you really loved her

Twilight: yeah I did so what happ-

He is interrupted by the door to the room busting open

Wind: YOUR AWAKE!

Wind and wild both dive pile on-top of him hugging him

Twilight: wait what do you mean-

He looks over to midna who’s giving her signature grin

Twilight: Midna you-

He is cut off when she grabs his chin with her hair hand and tilts his head up to look at her and presses an anchoring kiss to his lips before flicking his forehead with her actual hand

Midna: I’m here and I’m not going anywhere… Well I’m going to bed your dumbassery has cost this princess her beauty sleep, again.

Twlight: M-midna…

Lana burst in and starts yelling at all the links about hurting Twilight or reopening his wounds

Midna: That’s my signal to leave, now be a good boy and heal up, she goes to leave before turning back And I love you too my loyal wolf.

[a-sunlighthouse-lamp]

Brain started churning and I can’t stop it so have…

✨Reasons for a bunch of (all?) the chain to write in diaries✨ (from yours truly, a person who doesn’t write in diaries)

Chronological order, my dearly beloved:

Hyrule: I feel like Hyrule knows that this adventure will end. Knows it much more than the rest of the chain. Knows that once this adventure is over, it’s back to caves and aches (both of the body and of the monster) and having nobody in his corner besides people he barely sees in passing. He wants to make sure that when it’s all over, when he’s back securely in his era, he can look back on these good days with good people. That he can have something, anything, to keep him going that isn’t fear. Hope.

Legend: Keeps meticulous track of specifically what the people around him did. After Koholint, he wants to make sure that he has something from those he loves, even if they turn out to be fake in the end. He needs to have something of them for when they eventually leave, because they all will and they all do and if they don’t then he will. And for when that day comes, he needs something more than faint memories of red hair, a sharp grin, and a beautiful voice left of those he cares about.

Time: Time come at his habit of writing from an archival viewpoint; he’s experienced so much time fuckery, most of which from when he was a child, and what he remembers beyond the trauma probably isn’t much. Having a play by play of the events may do him good in the years to come, but can also stand as a warning to whoever comes after him.

Wind: 1) Tetra will actually kill him if he did something cool and didn’t a) invite her or b) tell her about it. 2) He wants to be able to tell his Gran about all the cool things he’s done and cool people he’s met. Makes sure he has track of it all in case he forgets something. (For an angsty bit cause I’m me and I can’t help it, Gran’s memory isn’t what it used to be and Wind wants to make sure he can tell the story perfect no matter how many times she needs him to tell it. He also wants to make sure he remembers. Just in case.)

Four: It was a habit that the colors made right after their adventure, to make sure they all knew what each other was up to if they needed to be Link or each other without someone knowing (Hyrule town was never the most fond of the colors and it was a safety net to fall back on). Four also keeps it up in case they ever are able to bring Shadow back, he can properly tell him what he’s missed.

Twilight: Midna left. Midna disappeared and never came back. It was such a hectic time in his life that he has more memories of pain and rushing and moving than of her and her smile and the laugh she made when she was mocking him or anyone else. So he makes sure that just in case he lost anyone else suddenly and without warning, he knows what they were like. Just in case.

Sky: Sky is always late. Late to save Zelda, late to wake up (late to go to sleep in any way that actually makes him less tired, in a way that swaps the exhaustion deep in his bones for anything else), late late late. One might say that it’s a waste of the time he so clearly doesn’t have enough of (because what other reason besides his own ineptness would there be for him to always be so late) writing things down. But he wants to make sure it’s there. That everything he’s done is tactile and there, for when if he fails to make it the next time. Be it for something to cling to to tell himself that he did everything he could, or something to use to berate and rip himself to shreds about how he wasn’t good enough (wasn’t fast enough), he wants it there.

Warriors: I honestly have no clue why, but I know for a fact he does it. He’s got 3 diaries, one that is pretty and pristine and perfect step-by-step recording of the journey: Which eras they went to and what they did there, which monsters they fought, strategies they used and if they worked or why they didn’t. Another is full of funny things the chain got up to, it’s a bit dirtier from the multiple times he’s gotten distracted remembering the funny quip someone made and dropped it in the mud. (That has happened a slightly embarrassing amount on times). The last and final one is not something you’d expect from the knightly man when you first look at him. It’s smudged, filled with scratched handwriting, some pages are burned slightly and have clearly been wet and died multiple times, warping the paper out of shape. It’s full of each and every worry he’s had. Every little thing someone in the chain did that set off alarm bells in his brain. Nearer to the start of their journey it was full of worries about being poisoned or stabbed in the night, but by the end it was full of worries about what the chain might do to him, and more what might happen to the chain. He only ever writes in it in the middle of the night watch, hunched over the campfire or in the dewy grass (though the water marks are mostly from tears) trying to see by moonlight. He’s either too panicked to care about what it looks like, or too tired.

Wild: After loosing so much of his memories, he wants to make sure he keeps what he does have. Also, the diaries and photos of those he cared about pre-calamity are pretty much all he has left of them. In case something like what happened to him happens again he wants to have as much as possible recorded for future use, be it for himself to remember his current day, or for someone who cares about him to have something to look back on.

:D

some of these feel mean (sky’s specifically I feel bad about but that may be because it was the last one I did)

I’m imagining that none of them know each other do it too and at some point they have a spider man meme of a “You diary too?!?!” :>

[imagineaspen]

Below the cut is a short one-shot written for the prompt: Constellation

This is meant to take place about midway through Twilight Princess (i.e. after zelda's sacrifice)

“Why do you spend so much time looking at the sky?”

Link, lying with his back in the sand, turned to her with surprise in his eyes.

“Is that a serious question?”

Midna winced.  Weeks ago, it would not have been; would have been the start of a quip, to berate him for wasting time, or for losing on sleep when he needed to be fully alert to find the Fused Shadows for her.  But now… she did not know if it was only the influence of Princess Zelda on her, but she wanted to try.  She wanted to know him, to understand him.

“Yes,” she said quietly.

Link rolled back to face skyward, letting out a peaceful sigh. 

“Not the sky,” he said.  “The stars.”

She looked up at the twinkling lights shining against the black of the night sky.  She’d never seen stars in the Twilight Realm;  its sky was always the same half-darkness of twilight, too light for stars.  The first time she had seen the stars in the Light World’s sky, she had thought them an ugly distraction, like thousands of tiny eyes following her everywhere she went.

“We’ve come all the way to the Gerudo Desert,” Link continued.  “The farthest I’ve ever been from Ordon Village. But I can see the same stars.”

“How can you know that?” she retorted.  “They all look the same.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, her face warmed in shame.  She was trying to be better, but she kept reaching for this rudeness and hostility.  Link, however, only chuckled.

“Not true,” he said.  “There are shapes in the stars, if you know where to look.”  

She frowned, looking at the sky and seeing nothing.   “Show me,” she ordered.

Link glanced at her again, before gesturing next to him.  She floated next to him, then positioned herself to lie at his side (hovering just a bit above the ground, of course.  She did not want to get sand in her hair).

“Alright,” he said.  He seemed to think for a moment, then pointed at something in the sky.  “See that star, there?  The one that’s sort of blue?”

Midna squinted, trying to look where he pointed.  “Maybe,” she said.

“Alright, so, if you follow up from that star, you can kind of make a line, see? And if you go right, to that small star there, then down, diagonally…”  He continued like this, tracing lines in the sky while Midna tried her hardest to follow, eventually ending at the same blue star they’d started on. 

“Then it kind of looks like a woman wearing a dress,” Link finished.

 “What? No, it doesn’t.”

Link snorted.  “You need to be more open minded,” he said.  “Anyway, it’s meant to be a goddess called Hylia.”

“Like the lake?”

Link shrugged.  “I guess so. I was never very religious.”

Midna continued to look at the stars.  Nothing about what Link had pointed out for her looked like a woman.  It looked more like a pair of triangles.

No, something whispered within her.  Look harder.  (Were they her own thoughts, that she heard sometimes in her mind, or Zelda’s?  She was finding it harder and harder to tell.)

“I see it,” she said finally.  “Sort of.”

“Now start from that star,” Link said, pointing to another one.  “And go left…”

He continued, showing her shape after shape in the sky. 

A giant whale, apparently a Zora god.

Death Mountain, spewing out a cloud of smoke and lava.

A hero of old, bow trained on an ancient entity remembered only as the Demon King.

A majestic ram, the light spirit Ordona.

So many shapes, and so many stories.  Midna had been wrong – the stars were pretty.

“And that one,” said Link, “is a cucco.”

“You just made that up!”

He laughed.  “Maybe,” he said.  “But it could be, couldn’t it?”

Midna smiled despite herself.  “How do you know all this?”

“Rusl taught them to me when I was a child,” he said.  “He used to say that no matter how far you are from someone, as long as you can see the same stars, you aren’t truly apart.  I like to imagine him looking up at these same stars, right now.  Him, or Colin, or Ilia…”  He sighed.  “That’s why I look at the sky.”

Midna was quiet for a moment.  Link’s eyes shuttered, and she realized, with a twisting in her stomach, that he was waiting for her to make fun of him.   She inched closer, then placed a hand on his arm.

“I think… that’s a beautiful thought, Link,” she said.

He turned to her, now grinning.  He looked younger when he smiled, boyish.  Midna hated herself once again for dragging him into what should have been her problem to solve. 

“I still haven’t shown you my favourite one,” he said.  He guided her once again, tracing a new shape in the sky.  “Can you guess what it is?”

How could anyone guess what any of these are?  She stopped herself from saying it out loud.  You are trying, she thought sternly, to be better than that.

Some kind of animal, she decided as she squinted at the sky.  Four legs, and a line of stars that could have been a sweeping tail.   She gasped.

“It’s a wolf,” she said.

Link chuckled.  “Actually, it’s a horse,” he said, then tilted his head.  “It kind of looks like a wolf, though, doesn’t it?”

“That doesn’t look anything like a horse,” Midna argued. “I say it’s a wolf.”

“Look at that group of stars just above its back,” Link said.  “As a kid, I always thought that looked like someone riding the horse.” 

“I guess so,” she said.

“If it’s a wolf,” Link continued, “that could be you and me.”

She glanced to him, at the content look at his face, and decided that she quite liked the idea.

***

There were no stars in the Twilight Realm.  So Midna made her own.

She drew them with paint on her ceiling.   

When her chambermaid came into the room to clean, she looked to the mess Midna was making and brought a hand to her chest in shock.

“My Queen,” she said, aghast.  “Whatever are you doing?”

“Redecorating,” Midna said, her hands and clothes covered in white and yellow paint.

“Redecorating… by putting random dots all over the ceiling?”

“They aren’t random,” Midna said proudly.  “They make a wolf.  Look, I’ll show you.”

That night, and for many nights after, Midna lay in bed, looking up at her makeshift stars, and wondered.  

She wondered whether somewhere far away, though broken mirrors and across realms, someone else was looking at the same stars and missing her too.    

[smilesrobotlover]

First|| <-previous next->

AO3

Chapter 8- A Soldier’s Visit to Faron

Link woke up to the sound of talking. He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window where the sun was shining through. He listened more carefully and recognized his pa’s voice speaking outside and he frowned. What was he doing outside? Link stood up and shuffled over to the window, looking out to see Rusl speaking with Auru. His pa’s arms were crossed, and a serious look was on his face while Auru had a more concerned expression. Rusl started speaking again and Link opened the window to hear him better.

“...I only wish I was stronger,” his pa said softly. Auru tilted his head.

“Rusl–”

“I know! I’m only human, I’m weaker than most of y’all but… I… he’s my son. I should be protecting him but… I can’t.”

Link frowned. Was he talking about him?

“Rusl, even a Hylian wouldn’t be strong enough to fight against a mysterious shadow monster. Be kinder to yourself.”

Rusl sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I know… I know… It’s just terrifying, you know? It’s terrifying to discover that you can’t protect your family. If that thing got closer to Ordon and took–” his breath hitched and Auru rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t think about that. The beast did not get to Ordon. It didn’t hurt Uli or Colin or Rela or anyone.”

“It did hurt Link though…”

“Well, fortunately it didn’t hurt him too bad, right?”

Rusl shrugged. “Not as bad as me… But I don’t want him to have the responsibility of saving me. Not again.”

Link’s feelings grew conflicted. Was his pa ashamed of having to be rescued by him? Link supposed he understood to an extent. Since becoming a father himself, he’s wanted nothing more than to protect Kori and Midna with his life. If Kori had to save him… he’d probably be ashamed of himself too.

“That’s what you get for raising a heroic boy, Rusl,” Auru joked, and Rusl gave him an annoyed smile.

“It’s not my fault he turned out that way.”

“Oh shut it, of course it is!”

“No it isn’t, Link turned out that way because that’s the way he is.”

“Colin and Rela are the same way though, I think it is your fault.”

“Spirits!” Rusl lightly punched Auru in the arm and the old man chuckled.

“Oh c’mere,” Auru pulled Rusl into a hug, which he melted into. “It sounds like you two went through a lot, I’m sorry.”

From Auru’s large frame and Rusl’s smaller stature, it almost looked like a child hugging his father from Link’s perspective. It made his heart ache for Kori.

He prayed to every deity on the planet to keep him safe from the shadow beast.

The two men pulled away and started to head inside, and Link pulled away from the window as well, letting out a sigh. He knew it wasn’t appropriate for him to eavesdrop on such a conversation, but he couldn’t stop himself. To get his pa to open up about things that bothered him was like trying to pry a deku baba’s jaw open after it closed. But Link didn’t know if he regretted learning how Rusl truly felt about everything. He felt guilty, sad, and mostly confused from it all. He almost wished he was the one to be attacked by the shadow beast, that way his pa wasn’t hurt and traumatized the way he was. Link had dealt with far worse in his life; it would’ve been no different.

He finally went to close the window until he heard shuffling beside him, and movement from the corner of his eye caused him to nearly jump out of his skin. A person was turning around on the bed opposite from the other one Link was in, and Link backed up in shock. How in Din’s name did he not notice this person? Based on the clothes, he recognized the person as Sheik, but when he saw their face, his heart stopped.

It was Zelda who was staring back at him with wide eyes.

“Oh–”

Zelda felt her face and her eyes landed on her discarded mark and headwrap on the floor, and a string of curses from her mouth left Link more shocked. He didn’t know Zelda was even capable of swearing. Zelda scrambled for the clothes and nearly tumbled out of her bed while Link remained paralyzed. She finally stood up, her face covered up, yet her stormy-gray eyes couldn’t hide her identity. How did he not know?

“You—” he started, but Zelda stopped him.

“N-no… no I—”

“You– you’re—” Link’s mind was racing, and he was finally able to string a full sentence together. “What are you doing in my room?”

“Th-this was meant to be my room! I didn’t– you– I–” Zelda let out another cuss word which felt like a punch to Link’s face. She never acted in such a way around him; she was always so proper and polite. He ran his hand through his hair and stared at the floor with wide eyes.

“I don’t believe it– oh Goddesses you–”

Rusl burst through the door, interrupting the two.

“Oh Sheik! Link! Glad you’re both awake!” He said cheerily, leaning against the door frame. Link and Sheik only stared at him in shock. “Ya know, Sheik. You scared the living daylights outta me when you came in last night. You poor thing—must’ve been exhausted!”

Zelda and Link continued to stare in shock, and Rusl frowned.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes, everything is fine,” Zelda—or Sheik—said breathlessly, before moving past Rusl towards the stairs. Rusl stared back at her for a moment before looking back at Link, clearly confused.

“What the heck happened there?”

“I… uh…” Link bit his lip, wondering what he should tell Rusl. Zelda had clearly kept this identity a secret for a reason—was it right to tell his father? “Uh… I was just surprised to see Sheik in here, that’s all,” he finally said, laughing nervously. Rusl stared for a moment before laughing slightly.

“Yeah, he must’ve been awfully tired, huh?” He chuckled, and Link nodded, forcing a smile. The two stared for a moment, Rusl’s smile fading more and more as Link’s fake smile grew bigger. “Well, Telma has some breakfast for us so… you can… come down–”

“Oh! Yes! Sounds great! Thanks pa!” Link said a little too loudly, and marched towards the stairs.

Breakfast was painfully awkward. Link couldn’t help but stare at Sheik, who looked terrified. She would glance at him and Link would look away, only for him to go back to staring at her. The others didn’t notice the tension between them, instead they were chatting happily with each other, unaware of the recent discovery Link made.

Did they know? Did Zelda want to keep it a secret from only him? Or were they just as oblivious as he was before? His mind wandered to Ashei, with their conversation about Sheik before. Did she know? She seemed to know about Sheik not being a man, but was it because she knew that Sheik was Zelda? His mind was racing as he thought about it, not paying attention to the other’s conversations.

“… and she just picked it up!” Rusl exclaimed, his hands gesturing in front of Link’s face, interrupting his staring. “I tell you, that girl was born to fight. We should start teaching Kori some sword fighting too, right Link?”

Link glanced at his father, then at everyone else staring at him.

“W-what?” He muttered, and Rusl raised an eyebrow.

“I was just telling them about Rela, and her first sword-fighting lesson! Kori is ten now, I think it’s about time he started learnin’ too!”

“Oh! Yes, right,” Link quickly said, going back to watching Sheik. Rusl continued to stare at him, the others doing the same.

“Uh, is everything alright, old boy?” Shad asked, looking between him and Sheik.

“Oh—“ Rusl adjusted himself in his seat and pointed at Sheik. “He just broke into our room last night and scared me stiff. I’m sure he must’ve shocked Link this morning.”

Link saw Ashei worriedly turn her head to Sheik, who remained unmoving.

“Oh my goddesses, Rusl,” Auru groaned, “did you take the first room? Sheik is always the one in there!”

“Since when did we have room assignments?” Rusl argued.

“It’s an unspoken rule! Sheik takes the first room. I take the third one, Ashei takes the second and Shad takes the room across, and you and Link take the room in the back!”

“But they ain’t labeled!”

“That’s—ugh, boy…. That’s why it’s unspoken!”

Sheik got up abruptly as the two argued and left the bar. Link stood up as well and followed. He had so many questions for her, and he wanted answers. He found Sheik right outside the bar, and she didn’t look surprised to see Link.

“Link,” she started, and he stopped right in front of her.

“Zelda.”

“Don’t… ah…”

“Oh—right. Sorry. Sheik,” Link pursed his lips and the two sat in silence. Every question he had was gone in an instant. It almost saddened him—they worked well together during the twilight invasion, yet their relationship was never strengthened. Zelda wanted him to be a knight and to be a representative for Hyrule, but Link didn’t want to be stuck with nobles doing useless things; much less being some trophy for the people to gawk at. It put a strain on their relationship, and he didn’t expect to be speaking to Zelda ever again.

Then again, they’ve been speaking for a while now, yet he didn’t know.

“Sorry my pa took your room,” he finally said.

“Oh… it’s alright.”

Link smiled awkwardly and nodded. Sheik nodded back. There was silence again between the two, and Link cleared his throat.

“So… Sheik. What—um—why?”

“Why what?”

Link huffed and ran his hand through his hair. “Why? Why didn’t you tell us? Why are you doing this? I just… I’m curious…”

Sheik’s brows furrowed together and she looked down. “I just… wanted to do more for my kingdom.”

Link frowned. “But you’re the queen. You do more for Hyrule than anyone else!”

Sheik shook her head. “Not enough.” She sighed and sat on a box, rubbing her eyes. “During the twilight invasion, I felt… helpless. I couldn’t do anything for anyone. I was a prisoner in my own home, and all I could do was trust you. I just… I never want to be out of control like that ever again. I want to personally save Hyrule myself if it were to come to it. I felt that… as Sheik… I could do that. I wasn’t a queen anymore I-I felt more like… I don’t know… a protector. I feel like I can actually make an impact doing this.”

Link gave her a sad look and joined her on the box, staring at the door that led to Telma’s bar. “You don’t give yourself enough credit,” he started softly. “You did so much during the invasion. You… you kept Zant from slaughtering everyone in Hyrule. You saved my life and you saved Midna’s life at your own expense. You helped me defeat Ganondorf,” Link looked up at her, but she didn’t meet his eyes. “I couldn’t have saved Hyrule if not for you.”

“But… I couldn’t do more—“

“Goddesses, Sheik, I thought you gave up your life for Midna’s! I thought you died! What more could you have done?”

Sheik finally looked up at him. “I don’t know.”

“Good!” Link crossed his arms and sat up straight. “Now you know. You’re good enough!” Link felt his face flush at the corny message, and he turned away. The two were silent again; the sounds of laughter and bottles crashing were the only sounds heard. Link let out a sigh and turned to Sheik again. “I can understand though, wanting to do things yourself. I guess if I had to give orders and then sit there and wait for it to get done, I’d lose my mind a bit too.”

Sheik looked up at him, and though he couldn’t see her expression well, he did see a glimmer in her eye.

“I’m glad you somewhat understand,” she said.

Link hummed and nodded, and he pursed his lips. “So… why didn’t you tell the resistance?”

“It defeats the purpose of a secret identity, doesn’t it? I can't go around saying that I’m the queen when I… look like this,” she gestured to her outfit. “If they knew that I was not on the throne, they’d probably think me to be lazy.”

“Well, you’re not. You’re a good queen.”

Sheik’s eyes had more of a smile to them from that. “Thank you.”

Link gave her a smile. For once, they were having a pleasant conversation. No evil trying to destroy the world, no enemies needing to be defeated, and no heart broken from a love supposedly killed. They were just two people. Seeing Zelda as Sheik, he saw her in a different light. A simple woman who was trying.

“How did Kori come to be?” Sheik suddenly asked, and Link’s eyes widened. The resistance only met Kori a handful of times, and he didn’t think about how it would’ve affected Sheik. She and Rusl were the only ones who knew about Midna. Rusl found out about Midna’s return, but Zelda never did…

“Uh…. Well… I don’t know what you’re asking specifically but… Twili’s bodies aren’t too different from ours,” he mumbled.

Sheik’s face flushed slightly and she shook her head. “T-that’s not what I meant.”

Link cursed in his mind and laughed nervously. “Oh! Well… sorry.”

“No no, I should’ve been more specific. I meant… How is Kori here? Midna destroyed the mirror, there should be no connection to the twilight realm.”

“Oh… well…” Link stared at the ground, watching bits of dust move with the light breeze. He let out a sigh. “I have no idea. One night, Midna came to my door with Kori in her arms… and now he’s here.”

Sheik studied his face for a moment. “Is Midna still here?”

Link paused. Should he tell her that Midna visited whenever she could? Would Sheik feel left out if she knew that she only visited Link and his family? Did she even care? He didn’t know how close the two were during the invasion; he knew they were acquainted before he came along, but Midna didn’t seem to like her in the beginning. In the end, they were more like allies than friends. But was he wrong?”

“She… visits,” he finally said, and Sheik’s saddened look made him regret saying it.

“I see,” she whispered.

“I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t… you guys… I didn’t know you were friends and—“

“We weren’t,” Sheik said bluntly. “I suppose we never were.”

That stung slightly, hearing that about Midna. He wondered why she wouldn’t tell Sheik about everything, but he shouldn’t be surprised. If Kori never got hurt in the twilight realm, she probably would’ve never come in the first place.

“If it makes you feel any better, she never came back for me,” he started in a cautious tone, “she came back for Kori.” Sheik gave him a confused look so he elaborated. “I don’t know if you remember, but he has a scar up along his arm,” Link traced his forearm to show where the scar was, and Sheik watched carefully. “Apparently, when he was two, an advisor hurt him because… he was scared Kori would doom the Twili. There’s only one female Twili, and she’s meant to give birth to the heir, who will also be a female. But Kori… not only was he a half Twili, but he was a boy. And… They hurt him.” Link frowned. It was difficult saying it all out loud. The familiar rage that he thought he moved on from began to bubble in his chest, and he had to clench his fists to control it. If he ever met the Twili that hurt his son…

“So… you didn’t know about Kori?” Sheik asked, and Link nodded.

“She knew he wouldn’t be safe in the twilight realm, so she found a way back to Ordon. I still have no idea how she’s going back and forth though. She refuses to tell me, but I think she’s afraid of another invasion happening and… destroying the mirror to be a waste.”

Sheik nodded, but she still had a sad look in her eyes.

“Look, Sheik, she’s very secretive. Only my family knows and that’s ‘cause my pa knew her and… she’s never made herself known to anyone. So…. Yeah…. And she’s never left Ordon either.”

Sheik looked down at her fidgeting hands. “I see…”

Link frowned, the silence entering their conversation again. They sat for a long moment, until Link had an idea.

“You know, Sheik… I’m sure Midna would love to see you again.” She looked up, giving him a confused look. “If you ever wanna… I dunno… turn into Sheik and visit Ordon… We’d love to have you. I make great pumpkin soup.”

Sheik stared at him with wide eyes, before turning away with a small laugh. “I might… take you up on that offer,” she said softly, and Link’s heart swelled. They smiled at each other, and Sheik looked like she was about to say something, but they were interrupted by the door opening. Ashei poked her head through the door and gave the two of them a look.

“Is everything ok out here?” She asked.

“Yes, Ashei everything is fine,” Sheik said, giving Link a look. “He… sort of found out about… me…”

Ashei sighed. “I was afraid that was the case.”

Link glanced between the both of them. “So you did know about her?”

Ashei nodded. “Don’t know if you remember when we were investigating the rogue Bulblins, but our queen here got herself injured. It’s kinda hard to take care of an injured person with a mask covering their mouth, yeah?”

Link shrugged. “I guess so. It certainly explains a lot.”

Sheik nodded awkwardly and sighed. “It was difficult for me at the moment, but I am glad that I didn’t have to hide my true identity from at least one person. But now I guess it’s two people.”

Ashei made a face. “I have a feeling the rest of them will be finding out soon.”

An annoyed sigh escaped Sheik and she nodded. Ashei shrugged and gestured to the bar with her head. “Come on inside, yeah? We’re going to start planning.”

Link and Sheik stood up to follow Ashei inside, but Link stopped Sheik before they headed inside.

“You ready to save Hyrule again?” He asked, his fist hanging in front of her. She stared at it for a moment, then nodded, bumping his waiting fist with her own.

“I’m more than ready.”

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

“Kori! Pay attention!”

Kori looked up at Rela who had her wooden sword resting on her shoulder. She glared at him, one hand on her hip and one foot tapping impatiently in the Ordon spring water. Kori glanced at his own wooden sword, pouting at his aunt.

“Rela, I don’t wanna do this.”

“Shut it! You’re old enough to learn sword fighting, and my pa ain’t here to teach you. So it’s up to me to do it!” Her sword was swung to the ground and she held it up against Kori. “There’s a monster out there in Faron woods, so we need to be able to defend ourselves and Ordon!”

“Isn’t that why Colin and Beth and Talo are here though?” Colin and the others had been patrolling Ordon, searching for any dangers that could threaten their home. Kori didn’t quite understand what was happening; no one told him anything when he asked. His pa and grandpa left to castle town before he had a chance to think, so he was staying with his gramma, confused about what was happening.

“Colin may need our help if we are attacked,” Rela started to argue, marching back and forth as the sword swung in her hands. “If we’re able to help them, we’ll be heroes! Isn’t that what you want Kori? To be a hero?”

“Not really. I just wanna be a farmer,” Kori said simply. Rela groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Why are you being so boring?”

Kori felt a sting in his heart, but he ignored it. “I’m not being boring! I just… I just wanna play with my toys!”

“Well too bad! Now, block this attack!”

Kori gasped as Rela swung her sword at him. He quickly brought his own up and staggered back as she hit it. He glanced at his sword, then glared at Rela.

“Don’t hit it so hard!”

“You need to block better! Stand your ground!”

Rela swung at him again and he squealed as it smashed against his own. Rela got closer to him and he started to run away, but Rela quickly stopped him.

“Don’t be a coward! Face me!”

“Rela, you’re so much bigger than me! I’m scared!” Kori pleaded, but she only charged at him again. She knocked into him and he fell backwards into the water. He gasped and looked up to see Rela swinging down onto him. He quickly brought his own sword up and was barely able to block it. Scrambling to his feet, he clumsily blocked a few more attacks. Kori grew more focused with each attack, planting his feet so he could stay unmoving in the sparring. She hit his sword a few more times until Kori slipped up, and Rela’s smacked his arm. Kori squealed in pain and dropped his sword, holding his aching arm.

“Ooooow! Rela! You hit me!” He cried, tears forming in his eyes.

“Oh you’re fine. This is why we train with wooden swords, so we don’t end up killing each other!” She took a step forward, her arms crossed. “If it were the real deal, you would’ve lost your arm.”

Kori huffed angrily at her. “I’m telling Gramma!”

Rela’s eyes went big, her tough demeanor dropping instantly, and she quickly jumped in front of Kori as he went to leave the spring. “N-no no no! Please don’t tell my ma! I’m so sorry Kori!”

Kori ignored his aunt’s begging, trying to push past her.

“Wait! Kori! We can play with our toys now, ok? We can do whatever you want! In fact—here!” Rela grabbed Kori and put her sword in his hand. “You can hit me back! Just please don’t tell my ma!”

Kori glared at her as she kept grabbing his arm, then he bit her hand. Rela shrieked and pulled her hand back, giving Kori a horrified look.

“You bit me!”

“Well you said I could hurt you back!”

“I said you could hit me back, not bite me!”

Kori crossed his arms and turned away. “Well you wouldn’t stop grabbing me! I’m tired of playin’ with swords! I’m going back home!”

Kori marched through the water, feeling Rela’s glare at the back of his head. He suddenly felt water splash onto his head, and he gasped as his clothes and hair got fully drenched. He spun around at Rela and snarled at her.

“What? You were wet anyways,” Rela said.

“That’s it!” Kori screamed as he charged at the Rela, and the two started to grapple and become tangled with each other. Rela was much older and stronger than Kori was, so she easily pinned him down, but he kept biting her hands which caused her to pull back.

“Stop biting me!” She yelled.

“Well stop pulling at my hair!” Kori yelled back as she tugged at his hair. The two wrestled for a while longer until they were interrupted.

“What are you two doing?”

The kids stopped and looked up at Uli who was glaring at the two. She was panting and her hands were balled up, a fire in her eyes as she watched the two kids. The two quickly scrambled to their feet, staring at her guiltily. Uli relaxed a little, then glanced at the bridge past Ordon worriedly.

“You kids aren’t supposed to be out here,” she scolded, walking towards the two.

“We’re still in Ordon,” Rela sassed, but she quickly straightened herself out with a glare from Uli. “I-I mean… you said we had to stay in Ordon so… we are still… here… in Ordon.”

“No, you’re staying in the village itself. We’re not gonna be out by the spring or by Kori’s house, ok?”

Rela and Kori glanced at each other.

“Why?” Kori asked, trying not to sound rude or sassy.

“Because it’s too far from the others. If something were to happen, no one would know. Now come on,” Uli gestured to the village with her head, and Kori and Rela quickly followed.

“I hope you two have done your chores,” Uli started as they walked past Kori’s home, “it’s pretty early in the morning, is it not?”

Rela gave Kori a worried look, then looked down guiltily. “Um…. We did some…”

Uli sighed. “Why did you do some and not all?”

Rela huffed and jogged in front of her ma. “Because! I know there’s a monster out there hurting people! It attacked pa and Link! I just want to make sure me and Kori are strong enough for when it attacks again!”

Uli stopped and gave Rela a sad yet proud look. “Rela, it’ll be fine. Your pa and Link are taking care of it, while Colin and the others are protecting Ordon. You don’t have to be responsible for our safety.”

“But—“

“I know you’re excited to use your sword techniques your pa taught you, but it’s not enough. For now—just—focus on your chores, ok?”

Rela pouted and glumly walked to her house, her head hanging. Kori stood by his gramma, leaning his head against her leg. She chuckled and ruffled his hair.

“Did you do your chores today, Kori?”

Kori pursed his lips. Rela had lied about them doing some of their chores. They actually did none of their chores. But unlike Rela, Kori was a horrible liar.

“N-no… we didn’t do anything,” he mumbled, but then quickly added, “I mean, I didn't do anything! Rela did though!”

Uli gave him a soft smile. “You don’t have to cover for Rela, dear. I know she was lying.”

“Oh…”

Uli let out a loud sigh and rubbed her head. “Go and do your chores dear, luckily there’s not a whole lot for you to do since you’re not at home right now.”

Excitement swelled within Kori and he nodded. He heard his gramma giggle as he ran to the home, barged into his room, and ran past Rela who was grumbling to herself. He quickly picked up his area in his grandparent’s home, plucked the weeds in the gardens, and collected the ripe fruit, though there wasn’t a lot. There wasn’t much else for him to do—he couldn’t help Fado with the goats since he was too small, and he couldn’t clean up his home since he wasn’t allowed in there. So he started to wander around Ordon, watching the villagers go about their day. He couldn’t help but focus on Coro, the man who started staying with Fado. Kori had rarely talked to Coro before, and the man’s carefree attitude and animals that hung around enticed him. But Kori was too shy to approach the strange man—he didn’t know how Coro would react to him.

The best way for Kori to learn more about Coro was to sneakily follow him around Ordon. It was always easy for Kori to stalk the humans in Ordon; their round ears didn’t pick up on sounds like his and his papa’s did, so he followed the man around for a while without being noticed. He watched Coro simply sit by the pond for a long time, talking to his funny bird pet who chattered to him back. Smaller birds floated around his head, and even nestled inside it, and the cuccos trotted around him. Kori wondered if birds generally liked him, and how he could make birds like him as well.

Kori’s stalking didn’t go unnoticed forever, however, and Coro spotted him hiding behind a bush. The two made eye contact, and Kori ducked for cover, but it was already too late.

“Uh, hello,” Coro called out awkwardly, and Kori shyly popped up from the bushes. Coro smiled gently and gestured for him to come closer. “No reason to hide, tiny guy.”

Kori looked behind him and shuffled over to the strange man.

“Hi,” he greeted quietly, and the parrot resting on Coro’s knee squawked a greeting back. Kori jumped at the sudden sound and Coro chuckled.

“Trill, you don’t need to be that loud,” he said.

“Sorry,” the bird squawked, not any quieter than before. Kori giggled slightly and held his hand out to Trill.

“Careful, he might peck at you,” Coro warned, and Kori drew his hand back, giving Coro a guilty look. Coro reached up and gently grabbed the smaller birds in his hair and offered it to Kori. “These guys are much nicer.”

Kori smiled and offered his hand again, and the tiny bird peeped, hopping into it. Kori giggled at the tickling feeling of its tiny feet against his palm and gently stroked its little head.

“That one is named Chickie,” Coro started to explain, “he was born not too long ago.”

Kori’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yep! His family is here somewhere,” Coro started digging around in his hair, pulling out different tiny birds from the nest on his hair and showing them to Kori. He made a whistling sound and the birds floated over to Kori and landed on his arms and head. Kori froze, feeling the tiny talons lightly digging into his skin. Coro chuckled again. “They’re friendly! Don’t worry.”

Kori grinned and watched the birds hop around, giggling as they tickled him when they moved.

“Yeah, Trill here is nice enough, but you need to be careful. He can be a little aggressive if you freak him out,” Coro explained, petting Trill gently. “He’s had so many people steal from him, he has to be aggressive, you know?” Kori nodded seriously. “Apparently, a few years ago, some green guy kept stealing his lamp oil and red potion, no matter how many times he fought back! Can you believe that? What kind of horrible person steals from a bird?”

Kori nodded again. His pa always taught him to not steal, so he knew to take that very seriously. One of the birds flew back to Coro’s nest-hair so Kori allowed the others to return as well.

“Um, thank you for letting me hold your birds,” Kori mumbled, and Coro grinned.

“Of course! It’s easy to be scared of animals, especially birds, but I always think we should be more understanding of them. It’s best to learn young, anyway!” Coro lifted the smaller birds to his hair and gave Kori a look. “So… if you don’t mind me asking, tiny guy, what exactly are you?”

Kori thought for a moment. “A Twilian.”

Coro frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that. Well, it’s nice to officially meet you, tiny guy.”

Kori nodded excitedly. “My name is Kori.”

“I’m Coro.” He offered his hand to Kori and he gingerly took it, letting Coro shake their hands. Coro pulled away and went back to petting Trill. “Do you like animals, Kori? I assume that’s why you decided to follow me.”

“Oh! Yeah, I love animals.”

“What’s your favorite animal?”

“I love kitties.”

Coro smiled warmly. “I think I saw kitties by Sera’s shop, did you see them?”

Kori nodded, but a sense of dread entered him when he thought about Sera. He hadn’t seen the kitties in a while.

“That’s good, they’re so cute and tiny,” Coro continued when Kori didn’t say anything. “But I’m more of a bird person myself. I forget how great the cuccos are here in Ordon.”

Kori nodded again and looked around him, spotting Rela who was stomping around the village. They made eye contact and his aunt began to angrily stomp towards him. Uh-oh.

“I think cuccos are misunderstood creatures,” Coro continued to ramble, not caring if Kori was paying attention or not. “As long as you respect them, they respect you. That’s why you should always treat animals with respect. Because respect is a two-way path and—”

“Kori!” Rela shouted when she got close enough and put her hands on her hips, glaring at him. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be doin’ chores?”

Kori glanced at Coro who was still rambling about animals. “I got them all done! There wasn’t a whole lot since I’m not at home right now.”

Rela huffed and said a bad word under her breath. “W-well, help me with mine so I can get done!”

Kori scrunched up his face. “I’m not gonna do your chores! You have to do them yourself!”

“But what will you do? You’ll be sooo bored.”

Kori gestured to Coro who finally stopped talking and was observing the two kids. Rela squinted her eyes and faced him fully.

“Weren’t you the guy who came here crying like a baby?” She sneered.

“Yes,” Coro said simply. “And if you saw what I saw, you’d be crying like a baby too.”

Rela seemed surprised at the response and she turned away, her arms crossed. “Well, Kori needs to help me with my chores so we can hang out—”

“No I don’t!” Kori shouted.

“Yes you do! You still need more training!”

Kori groaned. “We’ve been training all morning! I don’t want to do that!”

Coro glanced between the two. “Training? For what?”

Rela gave him a look but once again faced him. “Training to protect Ordon of course!”

Coro’s eyes widened and he nodded slowly. “Ok.”

“So I need to get done as soon as possible so we can keep training and—” Rela’s eyes widened and her hands shot up to her head. “Oh no! The swords!”

Kori raised an eyebrow and Rela suddenly grabbed his hands, pulling him away from Coro.

“H-hey, wha—Bye!” Kori called out to Coro, and the man waved back. “Rela! What’s going on?”

“I left the swords at the spring!” Rela cried. “They’re gonna get ruined in the water! And pa will be so mad if he finds out I left them soaked!”

Kori tried to pull free from her grip, but she was too strong. “But we’re not supposed to go to the spring!”

Rela stopped and spun around to face Kori. “We won’t be gone for too long, ok? We’re just gonna grab them and come right back! But I need to get those before they’re ruined forever!”

Kori frowned but was immediately grabbed and pulled behind Rela again. The two sprinted towards the spring, Kori feeling more and more anxious as he looked around the forest. Every bone in his body was telling him to leave and that he wasn’t supposed to be there. But he continued to follow Rela, not wanting either of them to be left alone in these woods. They made it to the spring and Rela sprinted to the water, grabbing the soaked wooden swords.

“Thank the spirits I remembered these!” She said, relieved. “Hopefully they’re not ruined…”

Kori stared at the wooden swords and sighed. “Can we go back now? We’re not supposed to be here.”

Rela rolled her eyes. “Ok, yes we can go.”

The two kids started to leave the spring, but Kori heard a strange noise. He frowned and turned his head to hear it better. It sounded like the trotting of a horse. He found himself wandering closer to the bridge, and he spotted something walking towards him and Rela.

“What is it?” His aunt asked, but Kori was frozen. Whether it was of fear or anticipation, he didn’t know, but he couldn’t move his eyes off of the moving figure. As the figure got closer, he recognized it as a rider on a horse, and he got filled with excitement.

“PAPA!” He shouted, running across the bridge and towards the horse. But as he got closer, he realized that the horse was not Epona, and the man riding the horse was neither his grandpa nor his papa. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the strange man with wide eyes, and the rider stopped, the five other horses and men stopping as well. The man stared back at Kori, his green eyes observing him. Rela caught up to Kori and quickly got in front of him, glaring at the man.

“Hello,” he greeted, “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“What do you want?” Rela spat, and Kori was surprised at her hostility towards an adult.

“Easy now, me and my men are just investigating some disappearances,” he explained. He hopped off his horse and took off his helmet. The man had brown hair that stopped beneath his chin, and Kori noticed his delicately pointed ears that labeled him a Hylian. His tan brown skin made his emerald eyes stick out and his mustache was curled up in a gentle smile. He bowed his head slightly with his right hand over his heart. “My name is Hoz, I am the captain of the Hylian guard. I just have some questions I need to ask the villagers near this area. May I speak with the adults there?”

Rela puffed her chest and crossed her arms. “You can speak to us.”

Hoz stared at her for a moment, then glanced at the soldiers behind him. “Uh… I’d prefer to speak to an adult. Where are your parents?”

Rela frowned. “We can speak just fine!”

Hoz began to look around, noticeably uncomfortable. “Right, well, is your village just down the trail?”

“I’m not telling you!” Rela yelled.

“Yes,” Kori answered softly. Rela spun around and shot him a glare while Hoz smiled warmly.

“Thank you. It’s quite a long walk isn’t it? Would you kids like to hitch a ride on my mount?” He gestured to his large speckled horse, but Rela quickly shook her head.

“My parents told me I shouldn’t ride with strangers.”

Hoz chuckled and bowed his head again. “Understood.”

“Hey now! You can’t go to the village!” Rela hopped in front of him as he started to move, pointing her wooden sword at him. “We’re on high alert right now! There’s somethin’ out in the woods, so me and Kori are here to keep it safe! You got that?”

Hoz’s eyes widened at the wooden sword and he gently redirected the sword and started to walk forward. “I promise we mean no harm to your village—”

Rela repointed her sword at him. Hoz took a deep breath and moved it again.

“We’re just investigating some disappearances and—” Rela insisted with her sword once again, and he gave up on moving past it. “Whatever information your parents may have will be useful for the protection of Hyrule.”

Rela squinted her eyes and Kori heard the soldiers behind Hoz groan.

“Will you just move, you little brat?” One of them called out, and Hoz shot them a warning glare.

“Listen, we don’t have time for this,” Hoz sighed, rubbing his eyes. “You said there was something in the woods, correct?”

Rela squinted her eyes, not saying anything. Kori walked up to Hoz and the captain glanced at him.

“I think my papa was attacked by a monster,” he said softly, and Hoz’s eyes went big.

“What monster?” Hoz asked, kneeling at Kori’s level.

Kori shrugged, staring at the ground. He heard more footsteps and he looked up, noticing Colin jogging towards the group.

“What’s going on?” His uncle asked, eyeing the soldiers with a threatening glare. Hoz stood up and gave him a slight bow, looking relieved.

“Hello my good sir, my name is Hoz. I am the captain for the Hylian guard.”

Colin's eyes widened and he nodded. “R-right, of course,” he turned his attention to the kids and grabbed Rela. “What are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be in the village!”

“I left the wooden swords in the spring!” Rela defended herself, gesturing to them.

Colin rolled his eyes and turned to Hoz. “I’m so sorry about my little sister and nephew, they’re not supposed to be out here.”

Hoz waved his apology away. “It’s no trouble. I’m just glad that…” he gave Rela a look, then cleared his throat, “I’m just glad that I can speak with an adult.”

Rela made an offended noise and Colin pushed her behind him.

“Of course! What do you need?”

Hoz straightened his posture and cleared his throat. “These men and I were requested by Queen Zelda to find information on disappearances that have been happening throughout Hyrule. I just wanted to ask if you knew any information on this.”

Kori watched the gears in his uncle’s head turning. Were these disappearances what Barnes was talking about? Colin ran his fingers through his hair and nodded.

“Yes, actually I think I do.”

Hoz’s eyes widened and his polite demeanor dropped instantly. He ran up to Colin and grabbed his arm. “You do? What did you find?” Colin leaned back slightly and Hoz quickly jumped back. “A-apologies. I just… I’ve been searching for a while and haven’t found anything.”

Colin smiled nervously. “I understand.” He glanced at Kori and Rela, then looked up at the captain. “My pa and brother were attacked by a monster a couple of nights ago.”

Hoz stared for a moment, almost looking disappointed. “A monster? Is that it?”

“It‘s not an ordinary monster,” Colin looked back at Kori and Rela again and stepped closer to the captain, speaking so softly that Kori could barely hear him. “Do you remember the twilight invasion, with the black beasts roaming Hyrule?”

Hoz’s eyes widened. “I do remember. They stormed the castle. I could’ve lost my life if Zelda had not surrendered.”

Colin nodded and Rela gave Kori a confused look, hoping he knew what they were saying. Kori almost wished he didn’t; black beasts roaming Hyrule… it sounded terrifying.

“My pa and brother were attacked by one in Faron woods a couple of nights ago. It could still be here, or it could’ve moved around,” Colin continued, looking around at the trees nervously. “But it’s what’s taking these people. I don’t know what it’s doing to them, but it can’t be anything good.”

Hoz nodded and smiled at him, resting his hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, young man. For once, we actually have a lead now!” He turned around to his men and nodded, gesturing to Faron. “We’ll investigate these woods, the rest of you should remain indoors—“

“No no no, wait,” Colin moved in front of Hoz, stopping him in his tracks. “I don’t think you should go hunting for it. It’s… it’s dangerous.”

“I know,” Hoz said, “I fought several of them and I don’t think I ever killed one. They were always revived before my very eyes.” Hoz glanced at the children. “But I think me and five other men can handle one.”

Colin shook his head, once again stopping the captain. “My older brother fought and killed hundreds of them. He couldn’t even defeat this one. It’s more dangerous; you need a plan.”

Hoz frowned. “Who is your brother may I ask?”

Colin fidgeted slightly and pursed his lips. “He—he’s the hero of Hyrule, sir.”

Hoz stared blankly, then he let out an exasperated sigh. “Alright.”

“I’m not lying!”

“I didn’t say you were lying,” he quickly defended, but his tone didn’t convince Colin. Kori’s uncle gave him a glare, clearly using his taller height to try to intimidate the man, but the captain didn’t waver. “Look, I know a hero of Hyrule existed during the twilight invasion; who else would’ve saved Hyrule if not?”

“Then what’s your issue?” Colin pressed, and Hoz finally began to shift uncomfortably.

“I–I… It’s nothing,” Hoz let out a sigh and looked around. “Show me where this monster was spotted. Me and my men will take care of it.”

Colin pursed his lips, the gears turning in his head as he thought of what to do next, but he finally relaxed and started moving towards Faron Woods.

“It was by a house in front of the caves where it was first spotted,” he started to explain, Hoz following on foot. Kori glanced at Rela who started walking with Colin, a determined look in her eye as she clutched her wooden sword. “It moved around as my older brother and pa fought it though, so I can’t promise it’s still there.”

“That’s quite alright, we can make do,” Hoz said, an excited gleam in his eye. The group was silent as they marched through the woods, and they stopped right outside a house. Kori had seen this place before, but he never visited it. He wondered if Coro lived here.

“Well… Uh… here it is,” Colin said awkwardly, gesturing to the home. “Faron Woods in general is where it was, but this place is where they found it.”

“Fascinating,” Hoz muttered, his eyes fixated on the home as he walked towards it. “Men, look around and let me know if you find anything.” He turned to Colin. “You may return home if you wish. We’ll handle this.”

Colin sighed and nodded, turning to Kori and Rela who stood watching. He began to nudge them back towards Ordon, keeping them from moving away from him.

“You two should’ve gone back home,” he scolded, his hand never leaving Kori’s back.

“But I want to help fight a monster!” Rela protested, but Colin shook his head.

“Trust me, Rela, you are not ready to fight this monster,” he said, a nervous look in his eyes. “I don’t know if these guys will be ready to fight it either….” Colin’s voice trailed off and he stared at the grass with a thoughtful look in his eyes. Rela grumbled and crossed her arms, glaring at the grass as well. Kori only stared ahead, spotting the Faron spring coming into view. But as he got a better view, he noticed something that made him freeze in fear.

A large, black creature stood out from the bright, colorful spring. Arms hung awkwardly on its back as it paced the holy waters, and it turned to the group, with its yellow teeth being the only visible facial feature. Kori felt Colin’s hand grip on his shirt, and he was slowly pulled backwards away from the beast.

“What are you doing?” Rela yelled, annoyed, but Colin shushed her, his eyes never leaving the beast. She squirmed in his hold and Colin gripped her tighter.

“Rela, stop moving!” He hissed, his voice shaking slightly as they backed away.

“Let go of me!” Rela began to shout louder, and Colin quickly put his hand on her mouth. The black beast began to move closer to them, moving just as slow as they were. Rela squealed as she was muffled, but it turned into a gasp when she noticed the monster. The beast got low, and Colin let go of the two, shoving them back towards where Hoz was.

“RUN! NOW!” He shouted, and Kori’s adrenaline spiked, causing him to sprint. He fell behind Rela quickly, and he felt like he wanted to sob, but Colin kept nudging his back. He heard crashing behind them, but he didn’t dare look. He saw Hoz who looked startled at the sudden action, and Kori gasped as he tripped over his own skirt. He felt Colin lean over him protectively, hugging him close to shield him from the monster. Kori twisted his neck to look behind him, and he saw the beast snarling down on them, black spit pouring out of its mouth. He curled into Colin who had his sword drawn, but his uncle was shaking uncontrollably.

“Good goddesses!” Hoz exclaimed, his own sword being drawn. Kori heard the men let out a battle cry as they charged the creature, and Colin finally scrambled to his feet with Kori in his arms. He was looking behind his uncle as he ran, and saw the black beast swatting away the soldiers as if they were annoying flies. Some of the soldiers who were hit got back up and ran away, soon leaving Hoz alone to fight the beast.

“Get back here, you cowards!” Hoz yelled as he dodged a swipe from the creature, and Colin reached Rela who was crying. He set him down next to her and gestured to the house.

“Hide yourselves in there, ok? I’m gonna go help him,” he said quickly before giving the two a quick hug. Kori felt himself freeze up again as he watched Colin run towards the monster distracted by Hoz. He didn’t know what to do; he was too scared to move. He just wanted his papa.

Rela grabbed his arm and ran into the home, trying to move the boxes in front of the door while Kori stood there shaking. She shifted the home around to the best of her ability, straining to move the heavy boxes to the door.

“Kori, help me!” She cried, but Kori couldn’t move. Rela was only able to move a couple of boxes to the door, with a chair under the handle, and she finally pulled Kori into a cupboard, hugging him close as they stared wide-eyed in the darkness. Kori heard the muffled shouts of men along with roars from the monster. He cried quietly with his head against Rela’s, the sounds becoming agonizing to his long ears. It felt like hours that they were in the cupboard, fear of being found making Kori feel sick, but it eventually went silent. He glanced up and stared, straining his ears to hear something, anything. But it was silent.

“What is it?” Rela whispered, her voice shaking. Kori continued to listen, and he screamed when he heard loud banging on the door. Rela slapped her hand on his mouth and the two whimpered and shook as the banging continued. Kori curled further into Rela, trying to keep himself from sobbing. There was one more loud bang, then a crash of Rela’s makeshift barricade, then groans from two men.

“Rela? Kori?” The two heard Colin call out, and they scrambled out of the cupboard, ramming into Colin’s legs. Colin melted to the floor and hugged the two, a sigh of relief escaping him. “Thank the spirits,” he muttered in Rela’s hair.

“W-what happened?” Rela asked after pulling away. “Did you kill that monster?”

Colin sighed and shook his head. “No, but we led it away.”

“One of my men distracted it further into the woods,” Hoz continued to explain, staring anxiously out the door. “Glad to know that they’re useful for something.”

Colin gave him a look and stood up. “Shadow beasts are terrifying, give them more grace.”

“They are terrifying,” Hoz growled, stepping further into the home. “I fought them when they first invaded the castle ten years ago. I know how they work and what they are. But it is my duty to protect Hyrule, and it is their duty as well!” He turned away in a huff and looked outside again while Colin remained quiet. “I will not give them grace. If they didn’t want to be soldiers of Hyrule, then they should’ve stayed in the comfort of their home.”

Colin sighed and stood up. “Well, we’re not safe here. Let me take my sister and nephew back to Ordon, and I’ll help you chase after it.”

Hoz’s eyes widened and he nodded. “Very well. These young ones do not need to see such action.” He gave them a sympathetic look.

“Yeah, I saw a shadow beast when I was about nine,” Colin muttered, ruffling Kori and Rela’s hair. “It’s terrifying… I know it.”

Hoz hummed. “Yet you still came to my aid when my own men abandoned me.” he let out a chuckle. “You are the bravest man I’ve ever met.”

“O-Oh! W-well… I don’t know about that,” Colin laughed nervously, beginning to nudge Kori and Rela out the door.

“No, without a doubt. Your courage exceeds most of the soldiers of Hyrule! Have you ever considered joining the guard?”

Colin let out a sigh and drew his sword, watching the trees with unease as Kori and Rela stuck to his legs. “L-look, there are more important things right now.”

“Right,” Hoz cleared his throat and walked out of the house, his own sword drawn. “Let’s get these children home, then.”

The group quietly walked through the woods; despite it being light out, Kori couldn’t help but feel the danger of a shadow lurking in the corners. He kept his eyes sharp, looking for anything that moved. They reached the Faron spring and Kori hugged Colin’s legs tighter. It was uncomfortably silent, but from a distance, Kori heard the sounds of screams. Hoz seemed to pick up on it as well, and he looked around him, a worried look on his face. Colin and Rela seemed none the wiser, however, and they continued onward. A snap of a twig filled the air, and he felt Colin tense as a horse burst through the entrance with a distressed whinny.

“Penelope!” Hoz called out, and stopped her from charging, attempting to calm her down. But right behind the horse, a soldier came running before falling to the ground.

“C-captain!” He cried, and he screamed as he was pulled away. “Help me!”

Hoz ran to him, but he slipped from his fingers as the large shadow beast lifted the squirming soldier. Kori gasped when he saw other soldiers inside its abundant hands—one having two uncomfortably squished together. The shadow beast observed the soldier, but its gaze turned, and it fully faced Kori. Though it had no eyes, he could practically feel its gaze burning through him. He whimpered and hugged Colin tighter. Were they going to die?

The shadow beast dropped the soldier in its hand and charged at Kori. He let out a scream as Colin grabbed him and Rela and attempted to dodge the beast. They were successful in not being trampled, but the beast’s hand snagged Kori, and he laid in between the monster and Colin. He was frozen while laying on the ground, too scared to move and too scared to cry as the beast faced him again. It went in for another charge, but Hoz scooped Kori up and ran out of the way. Kori didn’t comprehend that he was being lifted onto the horse that charged through, and the captain dragged Colin and Rela to the horse as well.

“Young man, get to Castle town, tell Queen Zelda and King Edmund about this. I’ll hold it off.”

Colin climbed onto the horse with Kori in front and Rela behind, and he frowned at Hoz. “I can’t just leave you!”

“You must protect these little ones.” Hoz turned to see the shadow beast recovering from its second failure. The soldier it dropped earlier charged at it, and Hoz turned back to Colin. “What’s your name, young man?”

“I—Colin, sir.”

“I’ll never forget your courage, Colin. Now go! Tell her Highness about this!” Hoz hit Penelope’s behind and she took off running. Kori turned behind him to see Hoz draw his sword, facing the shadow beast with his one remaining soldier, the others remaining in its hands. Kori faced the front and let out a sob, wanting so badly to go back home to his stuffed animals with his papa and mommy holding him. Colin’s arms wrapped around him and he gave him a small peck on the head.

“It’ll be ok, Kori,” he said, his voice shaking as the horse ran through the woods, the trees looking like a blur of green and brown. Kori closed his eyes, praying to the light spirits and goddesses of Hyrule that he’d soon be waking up in his home, with this nightmare behind him.

[st0rmyskies]

Can you rank your favorite Zelda games?

1. Majora's Mask

There hasn't been a game like MM since, honestly. I love this game so goddamn much--the music, the art direction, the time mechanic, the story, the allegory of grief, the delicious holes in the lore just begging for stories. Fucking Ikana Canyon. It changed my brain chemistry as a kid and I've never been the same.

2. Skyward Sword - It's the art for me, the soft colors and backgrounds reminiscent of pointilism make it a really lovely visual feast. And Link's expressive face. And his dialogue. The fucking sass. The real, genuine relationships between Link and Zelda, and with the other characters. Oh my god. There's a reason I put this blonde bitch in so many Situations.

3. Ocarina of Time - This is probably a function of my age, but. This game has been single-handedly feeding my brain since before I was a teenager. The lore is second to none. Although if you set OoT and a different title in front of me and asked me which I'd rather replay, I'm probably picking a different title. Mainly because of the graphics.

4. Link's (re)Awakening - My gaming equivalent of mental potato chips. It's adorable. It's simple. The battle mechanic is actually quite fun. Highly replayable, especially since I don't have the pressure of needing to remember much story or much about the commands when I pick it up again. I need to get a hard copy of this one.

5. Breath of the Wild - This game singlehandedly got me through Covid. Its open-world nature makes it so unlike the rest of the Zelda series, but the peaceful, somber feeling of traversing a healed post-apocalyptic Hyrule is exquisitely haunting. The music alone has this high on my list. The overworld theme is just this half-remembered piano music, and hearing Termina's clocktower chime in the final dungeon theme made me cry while playing through it at 1am. Ranks lower than the others mainly for replayability (dis bitch LONG).

6. Windwaker - This is the one I've replayed the most out of all the titles. It gets back to the classic "little kid on a big adventure!" vibe that was missing from the series since MM, but then we get jettisoned right back into that with TP. Talk about expressiveness, this is such a top tier Link model. The battle mechanics were great, the music was so fun (Molgera's theme, anyone??), honestly just writing this bumped the game up on my list another rank.

7. Twilight Princess - This one's climbing the list, as I'm on my first replay of it now. On my first play-through I really didn't appreciate the richness of the story, nor did I pick up on the subtleties of Midna's motivations and her evolving relationship with Link. But most of my interest in replaying this one was learning who the Hero's Shade is, and the fact that wolf!Link makes his BotW appearance. I was SO disappointed when I found out that was an amiibo thing.

8. Echoes of Wisdom - I've gotta pick this one back up, but honestly? I think the thing I like best about it is how much it reminds me of LA. The Wolfos are my favorite pokemon.

9. Tears of the Kingdom - I hATE building shit, but I did like the Depths. I turned off the game right before the fight with Mineru's construct and have had no interest in turning it back on.

[linksthoughtbrambles]

The Shade, the Cloud, and the Sunrise

@Mailrebel, thanks for the ask! Tumblr ate my answer, but it was the prompt "sunrise" for TP Zelink. This first part is 2K words and the next is partially written. I am very excited about where this story is going in my head. I hope you enjoy it! It's also here on ao3.

This fic was also partially inspired by these lyrics from "Cloudbusting" by Kate Bush: I still dream of Orgonon I wake up crying You’re making rain And you’re just in reach When you and sleep escape me. You’re like my yo-yo that glowed in the dark What made it special made it dangerous So I bury it And forget. But every time it rains You’re here in my head Like the Sun coming out I just know that something good is gonna happen I don’t know when But just saying it could even make it happen.

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

Chapter 1: I Still Dream

Sleepy Ordon creaked with the early footfalls of morning, squeaking as doors swung on reluctant hinges, Fado’s grumble and the plunge of his bucket into the stream as integral to the village as its horse-grass and goats, as its children nestled in their beds where they belonged—safe, and still sleeping.

Link sat on the largest rock near the base of the central path’s gentle slope and listened to his home stumble its familiar path toward wakefulness.

It was easy to know everything was alright. From baby Cora cooing in her cradle to the cuccos’ increasingly impatient clucking, each sound held a carelessness only possible in times of peace.

Everything was right with the world again.

Everything except Link.

He’d closed his eyes against the light, but it found him anyway—so he opened them and looked to the trees, dark against the rose of dawn, shimmering in a restless wind. It was a mistake.

There she was, like the Sun coming out, golden at the edge of some unknown horizon, a beacon in his every waking moment and every dream, so bright the world itself faded from view to leave only her.

He snapped his eyes shut.

The thoughts just kept coming.

It wasn’t even thinking, really. It was visions.

He was having visions of the Princess.

And it was even more than that. Feelings kept erupting in his chest, boiling in his blood, like his body was living a life somewhere else without him—he got to feel all of it, but he never knew why. In some far-away realm, intense joy, longing, loss, and heartbreak were happening on their own and finding him, and he kept getting paralyzed holding an Ordon goat’s horn, trembling while it bleated in his face and tried to get away again.

Whatever was wrong with him, it couldn’t be the Twilight. That cord was cut.

Right?

Besides—the Princess was right here, in Hyrule. And somehow, he knew those inexplicable, blindsiding  emotions also came back to her, like she was always in the corner of his eye waiting for him to turn and look whenever they took hold. She’d be the mirror that showed him wherever he really was, why he felt what he felt.

He wished he didn’t feel it—and he hadn’t turned to look.

He risked a peek up the hill. A quirked puff of smoke left the chimney on Ilia’s squat house. She had to be awake—Bo was never the first one up. The smoke seemed to rise with the falling of Link’s heart. At least this time he knew why, but Goddesses help him, he wished he didn’t. He tried to see Ilia smiling at him in his mind’s eye, but it changed like it kept doing and what the hell was it all for? If his promises didn’t mean anything, what did that make him? It would’ve been better if she didn’t remember him.

Link slouched and watched a beetle crawl curiously into the bowl of a bouncing buttercup, disgusted with himself.

He wished again for Midna. She’d have set him straight.

What’s the matter? she’d say with a snaggle-toothed grin. Who’d imagine a divine beast could look so mopey? She’d pat his back and lean in to whisper something droll in his ear—or maybe scathing, but either way it would make sense.

Link could hear her sing-song drawl, but he couldn’t make out the words. She wasn’t there, and he wasn’t smart enough to find them on his own.

--

A radiant cloud crested the treetops, orange and honeysuckle floating somewhere near a city in the sky no other living Hylian had ever seen, but Link’s sense of wonder had seeped from him on his journey home to Ordon all those months ago.

Now, with Epona’s steps retracing the path toward castle town, he’d hoped for some revival, or at least a flutter of relief in his chest. He was doing what the visions wanted, after all. Wasn’t he?

Maybe the issue was what everyone else wanted.

“You’re what?” Ilia’d asked, somewhere between a gasp and a whisper, staring at him with owl-eyes and a fist curling at the center of her chest.

“I’m leaving,” Link said. “At- at least for now.”

She just shook her head. Then she shook it harder.

“It’s hard to explain,” Link said.

“I didn’t ask you to,” she said, her voice returning with a frown. “I guess you’ll take Epona.” The frown deepened as her face began to flush.

Link fought the urge to squeeze his eyes shut. At the very least, he’d get a scolding. At most, she’d-

“I should’ve expected it,” she snapped, stepping past him to stalk through the tall grass between them and the fence.

He’d never seen her so upset. She wouldn’t let him lift her over the fence like he always did.

Bo and Rusl hadn’t been any happier, but they’d seemed less surprised.

“It’s hard,” Rusl said, “once you’ve got the taste for adventure.”

Link had tried to explain he didn’t care about that at all. Rusl just gave him a sad half smile and sighed.

He’d also officially bequeathed Link the sword and shield now on his back.

“The sword was meant as a royal gift, anyway,” Rusl said. “Might as well take it with you.”

“I’ll present it to- to the royal family,” Link said. “Like I was supposed to.”

Rusl’s eyes glittered as they flicked between Link’s. “I’d say you’ve earned them, Link.”

“Not up to me.”

Link had the distinct impression Rusl had held something back behind his grimace. He wondered if he’d ever find out what it was.

Epona tossed her head lightly with a nicker. Link’s hand went to her mane by instinct. “Shh, girl. Sorry. Can’t help thinking about it.”

He tried to watch the forest roll by him instead. The insistent tug on him hadn’t lessened at all—but his eyes, at least, seemed more trained on the present and less on the fantastical images he was surely mad to be seeking in reality. He’d told her no, for Godesses’ sake. She’d been ready to promote him straight to captain. What the hell did he think crawling back was going to look like?

“Hi Princess, I’ve been having visions of you glowing like the spirits of the springs. I figured I’d better come back and check on you.”

“Hi Princess. By any chance, have you been on fire lately?”

“Hi Princess. I changed my mind and would very much like a job, please.”

That last one might’ve been more like it, but also more like Ordon-him and less like the respectful person he should be in the presence of royalty.

“Greetings, Princess. I apologize for my indecision.”

Indecision? Indecisiveness? No, that wasn’t it. He was definitely being decisive right now. He’d just made a new decision, that’s all.

“Greetings, Princess. I’ve been taking time to think, and came to realize I would like to accept your offer to enter service as a Knight of Hyrule, if that possibility still exists. It would be my honor.”

That was better.

Was it still too Ordon? Did he need to be more formal?

Midna wouldn’t even have been helpful here. She’d have teased him too much.

“Greetings, Princess.”

Did “greetings” sound ridiculous?

“GREETings, PRINcess,” Midna would say with a haughty toss of her head. “Heheehee! You don’t know much about princesses, do you?”

He really didn’t.

He’d never have thought Midna was a princess. He’d never have thought princesses could be so irreverent, or so absolutely savage. But Zelda didn’t seem much like her, so that didn’t help him much.

The thought brought him up short. Zelda? If he started referring to her that way, he’d end up in the stocks.

Were there stocks?

Maybe there were only stocks in stories. And in Holodrum.

Link shook his head.

He didn’t know anything. He was supposed to be a village protector, a goatherd, and an amateur babysitter. He’d never bothered learning much about foreign affairs, or even domestic ones until recently (and forcibly).

At least he knew there was a dungeon—not that he wanted to end up there, either. And he damn well could if he kept feeling the things he was feeling. He supposed it could go either way. Whatever sorcery had him by the ribcage could calm down when it got what it wanted or it could double down and demand more. That would be a serious problem.

But the visions had to mean something. Right?  There had to be a reason some visceral instinct demanded he seek the Princess—something other than a strange, sudden obsession with the one surviving member of the royal family.

He let out a long, slow breath cooled between pursed lips.

Then he started again.

“Salutations, Princess.”

…No.

--

Zelda opened her eyes to her darkened canopy, veiled by night and the shadow of her dreams.

Tears slipped down her temples.

He and sleep had escaped her once more.

She allowed the cacophony of losses to pool in her eyes in the dark. No one of them could be blamed for the flood: not her people, her father, her allies, or autonomous command over her own body—not her own perspective as her dreams waxed more real than the stark light of a sunlit noon—not even the loss of the man who had freed her, whose shadow grew longer and longer in her dreams, stretching out from the edge of the horizon, his vague silhouette wreathed in a setting sun even though it hadn’t happened that way. Each night brought some new vision of him slipping from her life in a tangle of all the other sorrows.

She hardened her heart against herself.

In reality, they’d spent very little time in each other’s company. Strange that his loss should linger among those haunting her senses.

The tears  would leave a sign beside her, but they would dry before anyone arrived to see them. This was as it should be—for her, tears were and must always be the province of solitude.

She sat up, her jaw set, the satin sheets falling from her front. Slipping from beneath them felt as though through water instead: liquid—muffled. She stood, her bedside rug like the nebulous static at the edge of a thunderhead, the dressing gown she threw over her shoulders as formless to her as the Twilight, her fingertips running over her bedside table’s wood grain smooth and cold as ice. She’d have shivered if she could.

She took in these perceptions and knew them to be false.

She could not unfeel them.

She could not unfeel the fathoms of grief over goodbyes she’d never even said.

But she was the Princess.

She was Hyrule’s one heir.

She could not ignore her other losses, for those were Hyrule’s as well as hers.

Yesterday’s report flickered to awareness—of the creeping incursion on Holodrum’s border, of the Labrynnian ships making bold ventures into the waters off the northeastern shore.

She stepped onto her balcony and faced the precise direction of the sunrise. It was no longer at a perfect parallel with the edge of the castle to the east. The equinox had passed in the Twilght’s veil. Zelda stepped to the edge, resting her fingertips on the stone and peering around her tower, the rubble elsewhere in the keep nothing but indistinct outlines as she waited for the first paling kiss of blue above the distant treas.

She did not look south.

Longing had no business here.

She was the Princess.

She would see reality whether her senses wished her to or not, in defiance of her dreams and their wish to invade her waking moments.

And Link…

She drew a sharp breath, her set jaw pulling her features tight.

Link was free to live the life he wished—the peaceful life he had more than earned.

His shadow, it seemed, would live within her.

---

Read chapter 2 here

[sasoop]

Retribution

HW Link/Ravio

Summary:

“Can I kiss you?”

Link’s first thought is, ‘I’m pretty sure we’re doing this whole maybe-relationship thing in the wrong order.’, and his second is the realization of, ‘He took off his hood.’

Read on Ao3

Or read below ↓

“Mr. Captain Hero, sir?” Ravio’s voice sounds behind him. Link startles minutely before quickly turning around to face him, nearly knocking over his bottle of ink onto the reports he’d been reviewing. He must be especially tired to not have noticed someone entering his tent, he’s getting careless.

“What’s wrong, Ravio?” Willing his voice to not reveal how much he was just caught off guard, he lets himself calm down at the presence of the other. There’s no need to straighten up or stand at attention for an uncaring individual like Ravio. Although he finds himself growing concerned when Ravio lets the flap of his tent drop as he enters with a glaring lack of skip or bounce in his step.

“Nothing much,” The rabbit says with far less enthusiasm than what Link has gotten so used to, “Just wanted to try something.”

Link frowns and slowly places his quill down, now giving Ravio his full attention.

“This isn’t like you, did something happen?” He vocalizes his thoughts aloud. Ravio chuckles nervously, but shakes his head.

“No, my cowardice is trying to get the best of me, is all.”

Link gives a noncommittal hum. For a self-proclaimed coward, Ravio rarely shows any fears in social interactions. Unless he’s speaking to a particularly powerful individual whom he feared retaliation from like Impa or Midna, he has no qualms about pestering someone—or overall being a general pain in the ass. Seeing the ears of his rabbit hood lowered so far down and pressed against his back is an odd, unfamiliar sight.

Link decides he doesn’t like it at all.

“Well, I’m willing to hear you out, at least.” He offers, admittedly curious about what exactly has Ravio acting in this manner. Ravio has come up to him countless times with absolutely absurd requests that he had no shame asking him to do, to the point that Link had nearly believed him to be shameless.

Yet here he sits and watches how that very same man stands before him and wrings his hands together, the repeated glances at the entrance barely noticeable under his hood. Link isn’t too sure what he’s worried about, especially considering the fact it’s usually Link himself that’s the one worrying about people coming in, not Ravio.

“My meeting was not too long ago, and considering how late it is, nobody should come inside, sans an emergency. Anything important enough would’ve been told to me during the meeting.” Despite feeling like this situation is awfully backwards, Link attempts to reassure him. It doesn’t do much, judging by how Ravio’s shoulders are still so stiff.

“Right.” Is Ravio’s equally stiff response. Then it falls silent for so long Link half wonders if Ravio is just testing his patience. Regardless of the quite honestly uncomfortable silence, Link continues to wait instead of pushing him. It is rather difficult not to shuffle around, though.

“Can you close your eyes?” Ravio suddenly blurts out. Link stills and turns his attention away from a random crack on the ground back to Ravio.

“What?” Befuddlement leaks into his voice before he can stop it, but in spite of that, Ravio doesn’t give further clarification behind his request. Instead, he continues to wordlessly wring his hands together.

“I…” Surely Ravio notices how suspicious of a request that is, especially with the way he’s acting? He’s never doubted Ravio before, and he certainly doesn’t want to now. But the Rogue Forces have been growing in number as the war drags on longer and longer. Citizens and soldiers alike are tired of the war. Ravio is tired of the war.

He wouldn’t join the Rogue Forces, right?

“... Alright.” Link manages to say through his heart threatening to leap out his throat. It aches with betrayal that hasn’t even happened yet—with betrayal that won’t happen. He’s tired and being stupid, Ravio would tease him and point out this fact, demanding that he chill out and then help him do exactly that.

Yet the Ravio here only gives a sigh of relief and steps closer. Link reminds himself not to stiffen up because this is Ravio and Ravio wouldn’t betray him for some Force that he always complains about, and even if he did, he would never try to hurt him in such a dirty way after everything they’ve—

“You can’t open your eyes, okay?”

Link doesn’t trust his voice enough to verbally respond, instead he simply closes his eyes to obey Ravio’s request. More horrible silence before the faint rustle of fabric is heard. Despite his internal mantra of ‘Don’t flinch’, he does, and his eyes fly open to snap up to Ravio again. Ravio stands frozen before him, arms raised with aborted movement. The rabbit looks startled, but apparently Link isn’t doing as great of a job of looking calm as he thinks he is, because understanding quickly reflects on Ravio’s face.

“Oh.” Is Ravio’s breathed out response. Slowly, carefully, as if he were allowing Link to track his every movement, he lowers his hands to instead hold them out for Link to see.

“You’re jumpier than me right now, Mr. Captain Hero, sir. I’m sorry that I’m the one to have caused that this time.” Ravio softly murmurs as Link takes in the sight of the other’s completely empty hands. He’s both grateful and incredibly ashamed that he feels relieved by something that should be so obvious.

Nonetheless, Ravio’s voice holds no malice nor blame. Just as slowly as before, Ravio raises his hands up until he’s cupping Link’s jaw and tilting his head up to meet his gaze. Or rather, the hideous gaze of that horrible hood of his. Link snorts at the ridiculous sight and leans into the gentle touch.

“... It’s fine. Sorry for opening my eyes.” He’s still not sure why exactly Ravio wanted him to do this, but he has nothing to worry about. This is the same Ravio as always. If he couldn't trust Ravio, he couldn't trust anyone—and quite honestly, Link never wants to reach that point.

A chuckle, “Just listen to me this time.” Ravio playfully places a hand over his eyes to block out his vision. Link decides to play along with a huff and closes his eyes again, letting Ravio have his way with his little idea. But the hand doesn't retract and Link can feel Ravio’s heistance even without being able to see him.

“I will.” Link says, then upon realizing that there was probably too much of a gap between Ravio’s statement and his own, he clumsily added, “Listen to you, I mean.”

The giggle Ravio lets out sounds genuine, and Link tries not to frown like a child would pout, as he’d undoubtedly be called out for it. But his unintellectual response serves its intended purpose of relaxing the unusually nervous rabbit. Ravio finally pulls away but doesn’t step back. Instead, the faint rustling of fabric is heard again.

“Mr. Captain Hero, sir?”

“What?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Link’s first thought is, ‘I’m pretty sure we’re doing this whole maybe-relationship thing in the wrong order.’, and his second is the realization of, ‘He took off his hood.’ Link resists the urge to take a peek of the face Ravio so resolutely hides with all his might. Ravio has never broken his trust before, and Link absolutely refuses to be the one to be the one to break it instead. He pours so much determination into keeping his eyes shut that he’s late to notice he hasn’t given a response to Ravio’s request.

“Yeah, sure.” He nods, completely and totally smooth. It isn’t as if this is his first kiss, and he’s not the type to get nervous over something as minor as kisses. But also the thought of Ravio finally trusting him enough to remove his hood—even with the condition of him not looking—has him feeling like a teenage boy sitting alone with their crush for the first time. It doesn’t help that he’s pretty sure what he feels for Ravio has long since exceeded the mere casual interest he had before.

He's hyperaware of Ravio’s every following action. Fingers lightly graze along his jaw until his cheek is being caressed again—yet this time, it’s impossibly more gentle. He’s not used to such careful treatment and it only causes his nerves to intensify. He finds himself gulping as Ravio’s fingers bury into his hair, lightly scratch his lower scalp, and ultimately give their all to build up the most nerve-wracking kiss Link has ever felt in his life.

Which is over before he can even fully process the fact that it's happening.

It's quick and light, nothing more than a chaste peck and completely unlike what he was expecting from someone like Ravio. It also leaves his face beet red.

“Oh, if I'd have known I could've made you blush from something like this, I would've done it ages ago!” Ravio's voice is embarrassingly giddy and clearly more than eager to tease him. Link instantly realizes that Ravio is not going to let this go for a very, very long time.

“Alright, alright, laugh it up.” He groans, pulling away from the cradle his face is being held in, “You've had your fun, can I open my eyes now?”

“Absolutely not, I'm not done kissing you yet.” Ravio grabs his face again and forces it back up, Link grunts but doesn't fight it despite his put-on frown.

“You asked for a kiss, singular.” Link points out with a quiet grumble. Lips peck his forehead briefly to silence him.

“And now I'm taking more.” Says his rabbit in a singsong. Link’s lips quirk up in a smile to match the one he cannot see but can hear.

“Scammer.”

Ravio tsks lightly at his fond insult.

“How many times must I tell you that my business is honest and true, hm?”

“Absolutely nothing about your business is honest or true.”

Ravio gasps in mock offense, “I cannot believe the so-called Hero would do such a cruel and vile thing as slandering a good-hearted and honest man! I demand retribution!”

“Oh? And how exactly are you going to obtain that?” Link cocks his head to the side, brow raised in question.

“Well,” Ravio's hands free his face, only to slide over his shoulders as the rabbit settles down on his lap, “You can't slander me if your lips are too busy being kissed.”

“Hm.” Link hums as if pondering the statement, “I suppose that's true.”

“It is. So you're going to sit right there while I get my rightful retribution.” Ravio rests his forehead against his own. Link has long since stopped trying to fake a frown, instead he smiles and gently nudges back in an affectionate headbutt of sorts.

“I could live with that.”

[crazylittlejester]

maybe wars and twi talking about their interactions with midna?

I got a little carried away here, ngl 😭 I’m not sure if this is what you meant specifically, but here you go! (It’s 675 words)

It was a quiet evening, the rustling leaves and crashing waves consumed Twilight’s thoughts as he sat with his bare feet dangling in the river. He tried to let the sensations of the living world around him fill his mind so he didn’t have to focus on the ache in his chest where he felt something missing.

He’d stepped away from the group for a moment, overwhelmed by how loud they got when it came time to unwind from the day and tell stories, but he hadn’t been prepared for how far his mind would wander when he was alone. He almost wished he’d just stayed with his brothers.

“Twi?” A soft voice called and he jumped, whipping around to find the captain walking towards him. “Oh, there you are.”

Warriors had changed into his sleep tunic, and he looked a bit like he’d just woken up from a nap, his normally perfect hair was a bit messy and he blinked slowly like he was only half awake. He took off his boots before sitting down next to Twilight on the river’s bank. Twilight expected his brother to start rambling on about something, maybe to even start complaining about the frigid water they were both dangling their feet in, but the captain stayed surprisingly silent.

The absence of chatter allowed Twilight’s mind to drift further. Memories of his journey, his adventure with Midna came to the front of his mind, and he found himself fighting to hold back tears the longer he thought of her. He missed her so much some days his chest ached.

“Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?” Twilight whispered eventually when he was unable to bear the silence.

“Hm?” Warriors hummed softly, turning his head to look at him. Twilight couldn’t bring himself to look the captain in the eyes just yet so he kept his gaze trained on the water.

“They say it’s the only time our world intersects with theirs…”

“You talkin’ about the Twili?” Warriors asked, and Twilight’s head snapped so fast to look at him his neck hurt.

“You know about the Twili??” He choked out, eyes wide. The captain looked frustratingly calm, as if this were a very normal conversation for two friends to be having at dusk.

“Yeah,” the man shrugged. “I uh, I knew this one Twili girl. She absolutely kicked my ass once in a training ring, and I couldn’t look her in the eyes again for a week after because she bet me I couldn’t last five minutes in a fight against her and she was right...”

“Sounds like the one I knew…” Twilight said softly, looking back down at his lap. “

“Yeah, she rode around on this spirit wolf too,” Warriors continued. “Said it reminded her of someone she had to leave behind.”

He stared back up at the captain, unaware of how he’d stopped breathing. A spirit wolf?? Someone she left behind??

“H- How did you know her?” Twilight forced himself to ask.

Warriors let out a small sigh, leaning back and crossing his legs. “She came to help us fight a battle I don’t think we could’ve won on our own. She wasn’t the only one, a lot of people from across time came to help us.

“Across time??”

“Yeah,” the captain nodded, taking in a deep breath before he went on. “I… I know she was important to you, Twilight. I figured out it was you she was talking about all that time when I found out you were Wolfie.”

“You really knew Midna?” He whispered. Warriors smiled at him softly.

“Yeah, I did,” his brother told him. “She missed you a lot, I can only imagine how much you miss her too.”

Tears were blurring his vision, and Twilight had to look away, but when Warriors reached out to pull him close, he let himself melt into his brother’s side. He was glad the captain had come to find him, as much as he missed Midna, he felt a little less alone.

<- Prev. || Next ->

[lyrakeaton]

Chronicling The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - The Final Entry

Gosh, what a game huh?

I'm not even sure where I want to begin with this. The Final Entry. I have so much to say. So much I've been thinking about throughout this wonderful little game. Where do I even start?

Well, I suppose I'll start off by saying that I had a very wonderful time with this game. It's my first time playing a game with the secondary intent to analyze and write down my thoughts here on my blog. It's been a delight to do so, and I'm looking forward to analyzing other games in this manner going forward.

As for my thoughts on Twilight Princess: I think it's an excellent game, with a lot of heart and a commendable focus on story and emotional connections. This game has dealt me a few sour blows that stick out like an ugly blemish on an otherwise spotless surface. But those blemishes in turn give contrast to just how competent the rest of the game really was.

In fact, that's what I would love to call this game more than anything else. Competent. It was made by people who knew what they were doing, and were fucking excellent at doing it. It shows how much heart the people involved put into this title, despite how under cooked and rushed it felt at a few moments.

One of my favorite moments in the ending part of this game, which is also one of the clearest signs of how this game was developed, is what you see above.

Your allies come in to save you from a sticky situation. It's a lovely moment, showing the care and respect that these characters have fostered for you, after all the time you've spent working together for this common goal.

And yet, it also shows off how much this game wanted to do, but couldn't. What it tried to say, and what it left unsaid.

Because these people just show up. You don't tell them when or where you're going, and neither do they show up later to help you. They show up for this scripted event where they get to save you from a menial threat, so that they can show their appreciation for Link always having their backs. It leaves me wanting a bit more, and wondering what potentially was planned before or after.

And these moments aren't rare. There are many moments, that become more frequent as the game progresses, where it feels like the developers had more to say or do, but didn't have the time to implement it.

And I think no point shows this better than the presence of Ganondorf, and Midna's true form.

Ganondorf is name dropped once in the story, but isn't elaborated upon. Later, he shows up in this weird, incorporeal form, which Zant interprets as a god. This spectre then combines into Zant(?) to take over him as a sort of puppet. As such, Zant is kind of just thrown aside so that the player can have their badass final boss against Ganondorf. I was honestly a bit disappointed.

But not necessarily because it was yet another Ganondorf ending. But because there was so much more room to explore Zant and his relationship with Ganondorf, that I really wanted to see.

I think another sign of this was Midna's true form. Her true form was first shown in a cutscene, right before the second to last dungeon of the game. Before this, we have never even heard of Midna being anything but the imp we've known since the start of the game. And it makes me wonder a lot about what the developers wanted for Midna. Did they always intend for her to be this humanoid form? Or is their vision of Midna actually the imp we spend the whole game connecting with?

I ask this because Midna's imp form appears later in Hyrule Warriors alongside her true form, which makes me wonder if the devs couldn't decide which form they liked more. It's a bit of a weird moment for me because I love imp Midna a lot, but never got to see or interact with her true form self until after the journey was over.

What's more, Midna then destroys the Mirror of Twilight. This moment made no sense to me at all. I couldn't justify it, or understand how Midna would justify it. Why would she do this? Zelda just made a small speech about how their worlds are two sides of the same coin. Midna then says that as long as the Mirror exists, they may meet again, only to say "see you later" before destroying the mirror.

I understand this was likely thought of from the start, as Midna establishes that Zant could only fragment the mirror due to his incomplete power. But Midna, having regained her true power, is the only one capable of utterly destroying it. What I really wish though, is for the game to have explored why she feels the need to do this, because I think it would serve the game better if it were spelled out. It's a genuinely sad moment! I'll never get to see Midna again! Why is the credits continuing with the triumphant music!

It hurts, man. But it does make sense, after I thought about it. Because the mirror was what allowed the Twili to escape into the Light World and cause havoc, so, by destroying the mirror, that connection is severed, forever. No more evil forces invading each others worlds, causing problems.

Which makes Midna's words all the more tear-jerking. 'Cause she won't see us later. She'll never get to see us again. But she doesn't have the heart to say goodbye. So she says she'll "see us later."

I'm not sure how to feel. I think I feel sad, and a smidgen disappointed. I mean, all this time, we've been fighting to help Midna restore peace to her realm, and to prevent Ganondorf/Zant from wreaking havoc on the Light World. And then, only for Midna to get the reward she deserves so much, and yet she doesn't get what she seems to actually want, which is to stay with Link. She cries, knowing she'll never see him again.

I think that right there shows the beauty and magic of this game. No other Zelda game has grabbed a hold of me with its story, its characters quite like this. I felt emotionally invested throughout, and I truly wanted to make good for this world, and to help Midna. It even feels selfish to say that I wish she could have stayed an imp and gone on more adventures with Link. But I think narratively, it is not only perfect this way, but it also couldn't end any other way.

Because not all stories should end completely happy. I think it does a bigger service to showcase how meaningful these emotional connections truly are by taking something from us in this way, than it does if everything ended like a story book.

It hurts, because we care.

This is the best outcome, where everyone can be happy, with the clear exception of Midna's and Links relationship to each other. That meant something, which is made all the more clear because of them never getting to see each other.

In closing...

More than anything, I wish this game had a bit more time to fill in the empty rows before and after some of its more significant beats. But still, I am so grateful that what is here was fantastic from beginning to end. And I'm glad that regardless of what was lost before the print to disc, what was left was something forming a beautiful and complete whole. A whole that I love with my whole heart. Wholeheartedly.

Thank you Shiggy Miyamiggy for this wonderful game. Please don't shy away from this kind of narrative and emotional focus when making future Zelda titles. I want to cry when it's all over, they way Twilight Princess made me. What you've got here is truly special, and I'm so very glad I got to experience it.

[a-sin-to-be-rin]

When Shadow Meets Light

Midna knows very little about the Light world. She knows that it’s warm, almost insufferably so. She knows her eyes hurt if she stays there for too long. And she knows that any attack from a being of the Twilight would be devastating to a being of the Light. But she’s never known much more than that. She never needed to.

Until today. The Twilight is indeed devastating to her human, and she has no idea how to fix it.

---

Midna hates the Light world. She hates, hates, hates it with a passion. The Light is too bright, too hot, too intolerable on her skin. She’s relegated to shadows, restricted by the position of the sun.

So Midna knows how difficult - perhaps impossible - it is for a creature of the Twilight to live in the Light. She certainly can’t.

So it really can’t be her fault when she assumes that the monster that bites Link is simply a Deku Baba.

The monster jumps out from behind, catching Link off-guard. It clamps its jaws around Link’s sword arm. Gasping, Link grabs the sword in his right hand and slashes the demon plant’s stem. He pries it off and runs it through once more, just to be safe, but the damage has been done.

“Careful,” Midna warns. “Remember what happened last time?”

Link gives her a flat look, clearly uninterested in discussing the last time he was bitten by a Deku Baba.

“I told you it was venomous,” Midna says anyway. “But nooo. We aren’t going to waste a potion on that.”

Link sighs. Twists his lips. Glares at Midna for a minute. Then, resigned, Link digs a potion from his belt. He locks eyes with Midna while slowly, pointedly popping the cork from the bottle and downing the whole thing.

“Yes, very good,” Midna snipes. “You learned how to follow directions. Amazing.”

Rather than give her attitude, Link drops the bottle back in his pouch and brushes the monster plant goop from his arm.

And then they carry on. Link fights his way through the rest of the Forest Temple. Midna provides helpful hints and hilarious commentary. (Link seems to ignore her, but Midna tries not to take it personally. The guy clearly doesn’t understand comedy at all.)

Truly, nothing out of the ordinary happens until Link is saddled on Epona and headed for Hyrule Field. It’s subtle, the difference, but Midna notices it immediately.

“Link, what-?”

But Link must notice it too. He pulls on the reins, and Epona slows to a trot. He blinks a few times, but it does nothing to fix the paleness of his skin or the sweat running down his temples.

“Why are we slowing down?”

Link shakes his head. Reaches over to massage his left arm. He’s confused, and honestly? Midna is too.

“Did that giant plant guy get you? Or… Or did the monkey give you fleas or something?”

Another head shake, though Link brings Epona to a stop. Then he removes his left bracer and rolls up his sleeve.

And then Midna sees it. If she had a particularly strong bond to Link, she might feel scared. As it is, she’s just left curious.

Link’s arm reeks of death. Spiderwebs of darkness bloom in a crescent shape, lining up exactly with where the Deku Baba’s bite mark would have been.

“What is that?” Though Midna is pretty sure she already knows.

Link looks over at her. One eyebrow is arched in confusion. His eyes flick to his arm and then back to her again. He’s asking her.

“It’s not Twilight.” She’s certain of that. “But it’s obviously from the Deku Baba. Maybe it was actually a Shadow Baba? I don’t know how a Twilight creature could survive like that, but I’m not sure what else it could be.”

There’s a nod in agreement, though it’s not particularly enthusiastic. Midna doesn’t have to ask to know his next question.

“I’m not sure what could fix it, though. I’ve never seen a Light creature survive an attack from the Twilight.”

Link sniffs, turning away and grunting, digging his heels into Epona’s sides. The horse continues its easy trot forward.

“What, so you’re just going to leave it?”

He shakes his head. Points to the west.

“What is that? Your village?”

A sharp nod. But instead of raising his head at the end of the nod, like anyone else would, Link’s chin drops to his chest. He slumps in the saddle and topples over the side. There’s the stupendous crash of sword against shield as Link slams into the ground. Startled, the horse whinnies, taking off in a gallop. With its shadow gone, Midna has to rush to Link’s significantly smaller shadow.

“Wake up!” she yells. How is she supposed to find the fused shadows if her ride there is sleeping on the ground? “C’mon, you stupid, stupid wolf!”

She has no hands to shake him. No feet to walk herself away. She’s stuck in Link’s crumpled shadow.

“Link!” she shouts, thinking his name might rouse him. But his eyes are screwed shut, breathing halting and uneven. He’s paler than before, and it doesn’t look like he’s waking up any time soon.

Bold of Midna to assume anything about the guy, though. He’s dragging his eyelids open with his next breath, eyes hazy and confused.

“Ugh, don’t do that, you idiot,” Midna grouses. Because this really is Link’s fault. He shouldn’t have been distracted. That Shadow Baba shouldn’t have even gotten close enough to bite. “C’mon, use a potion or a fairy or something.”

Link’s good arm pats his belt, but all he finds are a few empty bottles.

“Well, I don’t know, can’t you just lick the inside of an old potion bottle? There’ve gotta be a few drops left in there.” Midna really is grasping at straws here.

Link appears to consider it. He turns a bottle in his hand before it slips from his grasp, his eyelids fluttering shut.

“Oh no you don’t.” Midna should be worried. But she doesn’t even know Link. No, she’s not concerned. She’s livid. “You wake up right now, you useless wolf! I am not going to just sit here and watch you die, do you hear me? If someone else comes along, I will abandon you!”

And then there’s a far-off shout. “Link!”

Midna freezes. Disappears completely within his shadow. With luck, whoever is looking for Link will find him. With extra luck, they’ll be able to fix him, and he’ll be back to finding fused shadows in an hour.

It takes a long time for the owner of the voice to finally stumble upon the glade. Midna had no idea voices could travel so far. That, or she had no idea humans could move so slowly.

“Link!” A man in strange, layered clothing hops off of Epona, rushes up, and kneels beside Link. “Hey! Wake up!”

Good luck, Midna thinks bitterly. He obviously doesn’t know what that means.

But apparently, Link does, in fact, know what “wake up” means. Because he’s groaning and reaching out for the stranger.

“It’s alright,” the man soothes, noticing Link’s injured arm and studying it with a thoughtful frown. “It’s alright. Can you stand?” Cautiously, he sits Link up and pulls Link’s good arm over his shoulders. They stand with a grunt from the man and a whine from Link. “Attaboy,” the man encourages. “Just to Epona, okay?” They hobble along, with the man doing far more legwork than Link, and Midna is forced to creep along at their excruciating pace.

“There you go. You’ve got it. Nearly there.” The man’s reassurances are endless and gentle. Part of Midna hates Link for getting himself into this mess. A bigger part of her hates him for having someone to get him out of the mess. Someone who seems to truly, genuinely care.

Midna hasn’t felt something like that. Not in a very, very long time.

“Okay, real easy now,” the man says upon arriving at the horse’s side. “One foot in the stirrup. And… There we go. Think you can stay awake ‘til we get to the village?”

Link’s response is to nearly fall from the saddle once more. The man hurriedly grabs Link’s shoulder, steps into the stirrup, and swings his leg over the horse’s back. He wraps one arm around Link’s middle, keeping him upright, and grabs the reins with his other hand. “C’mon,” he urges, nudging the horse forward. He doesn’t let her move any faster than a walk.

Once again, Midna is irritated by the fragility and speed (or lack thereof) of humans. Why is she trapped in this monotonous trudge forward? Would it kill them to go a little faster? Midna kind of has some very time-sensitive tasks on the agenda.

But whatever. Midna endures because she has no other option. They eventually make it to the village. A few women stand near the entrance, anxiously shifting from foot to foot and fiddling with their hair. The moment they spot Epona, they rush up, escorting the horse into the village.

“Rusl, what happened?”

“Is he… Is he alive?”

“Yes,” the man - Rusl - confirms. But there’s no comfort in his voice. It’s all tension and gritted teeth. “We need to move quickly.”

They wind down the path, passing a few small homes and shops. They stop at one of the last cottages, and Rusl slides off the saddle, quickly pulling Link down with him.

Link still hasn’t awoken, and though Midna has told herself she doesn’t care, the concern of the villagers makes her tense.

“Uli!” Rusl calls, dragging Link’s limp form into the house. “Get water and bandages!”

Suddenly, the tiny home is full of people, all bustling about. The women prepare supplies, while a large man helps Rusl carry Link to the bed.

“Should’ve told me,” the large man says. “You’re still hurt. I could’ve gone after him.”

“Not now, Bo, okay?”

Bo seems to respect this. “What do you need?”

“For now? Space.”

Two women set the supplies on the bedside table, and Rusl nods, dismissing them and Bo. Only the pregnant woman stays, hovering beside Rusl.

“Help me get his shirt off,” he asks.

The woman begins to cut the shirt off with a knife, but she pauses when she finds the chainmail underneath. “Rusl…”

Rusl doesn’t slow for a moment, wrenching Link’s uncooperative arms free and ripping the mail off. It looks uncomfortable, but Midna supposes Rusl understands just how severe an injury like this is.

Once the last of Link’s many layers are removed, Rusl wipes down Link’s arm. The decay seems to have grown, its tendrils branching up to nearly his shoulder and down past his elbow. “Looks like… The skin looks dead, Uli.” He looks up at the woman, fear shining in his eyes.

Uli looks herself, setting a lantern on the table to see better. But she seems to come to the same conclusion, grimacing. Then she places a hand on his forehead. “It’s killing him, Rusl. I… I don’t know if we should… if we can save his arm.”

Rusl swallows hard. Begins to wash the decaying area more thoroughly. “Tell Bo to go to the spring. Send Sera and Pergie too. We… I’ll hold off as long as I can, but until then, the best thing they can do is pray.”

They’re so serious about the whole thing. But humans die so quickly… die so easily. Why are they so bothered about losing this one? It’s bound to happen eventually.

It occurs to Midna that she knows nothing about humans and their sickly sweet sentiment. Truly, they’re bigger fools than she ever realized if they worry about something so trivial as another human’s death.

Uli disappears. Rusl tends to the wound, pouring different liquids and salves on it, which usually results in Link yelling or groaning or kicking Rusl in the gut. (Okay, so he only kicks Rusl once, but Midna still thinks it’s pretty funny.)

By the time Uli has returned, Link is stirring again.

“I’m here,” Rusl assures him. “Uli’s here too. You’re safe.”

Link’s eyes flit around the room. He winces, hand shaking as he reaches for his injured arm.

“No, no, don’t look at that,” Uli scolds, taking his free hand in hers. “We’re taking care of it, okay?”

Link looks up at them with something Midna has never seen in his eyes before:

Complete and utter trust.

“Just rest, Link. We’re not going anywhere.”

Oh. Midna feels… something. She’s not sure what exactly it is. “Jealous rage” comes to mind, but “grief” might be the more accurate descriptor.

“Think you can drink a potion?” Rusl holds up a canteen. “Might help.”

They had a potion? All this time, lamenting and worrying and whining, and they had a damn potion this whole time?? Midna nearly flies out of Link’s shadow. She can’t handle the incompetence much longer.

Link doesn’t seem to process the pair’s words anymore, but he’s compliant as Rusl helps him sit up and presses the canteen to his lips.

But it’s the strangest thing. After drinking the potion and settling back, Link doesn’t look any better. He’s still sickly and confused and gross. Did Rusl know the potion wouldn’t do anything? Midna supposes he’s right, because after Link was bitten, the potion only stopped the bleeding. But she really had hoped the potion would do something.

Because it would be inconvenient if her traveling companion died. That’s the only reason. She doesn’t care about him at all.

(She doesn’t care about him at all. She does not care, and maybe if she keeps telling herself that, she’ll actually believe it.)

Link’s eyes close, and Uli brushes the hair from his forehead. “You’re safe,” she repeats, over and over. All the while, Rusl watches Link’s arm. Midna wonders when he’ll give up and cut it off. It has to be soon, right? The deadened area must be close to his shoulder by now. What are they waiting for? A miracle?

“Rusl!” The door slams open, and Rusl is on his feet, sword in hand and standing protectively in front of Uli. Midna has never seen a human move so quickly. Not even Link.

But then Rusl realizes who it is. That big man from before. Bo or something.

“What?”

Bo is in a frenzy, shoving a glowing bottle into Rusl’s hands. “There was a… a fairy at the… spring.” He’s panting hard.

Rusl moves with purpose, striding back to Link’s side and opening the bottle above Link’s arm. All the while, he murmurs prayers under his breath. “Goddess, protect him. Goddess, heal him. Goddess, save him.”

The fairy - a ball of Light that makes Midna cringe as it approaches - circles around the wound. It takes a long, long moment, whizzing about like it has somewhere else to be. Midna wonders if this really will work. Finds herself wishing that it will, though the likelihood that a fairy can reverse decay is… low at best.

Finally, the fairy zips out the window, forever lost. Rusl leans over to check the wound, and Midna finds herself doing the same.

“It’s gone,” Rusl says, and he’s right. The dead skin is gone, once again healthy and unmarred.

“He’s still warm,” Uli notes, patting Link’s cheek in an attempt to rouse him.

Link is far quicker to wake up this time. His eyes still have a feverish shine to them, and he falls asleep shortly after, but the pallor of his skin is gone.

Midna is relieved. Because she doesn’t need to find a new adventurer, not because he’s looking healthier.

“The infection must still be in his system,” Uli suggests. “I guess even fairies have their limits.”

“How did you find the fairy?” Rusl’s expression is still grim, but his eyes belie his relief. “I’ve never seen one at the spring.”

Bo shakes his head. “I’m not… It must have…” He sighs. “The goddesses must have something big planned for him. Sera and Pergie and I went to the spring to pray, and all of a sudden, there was this fairy in my face. Just-” He holds a hand close to his face. “-like that. I never seen a fairy do that before. It was just…” He shakes his head again. “Link is favored by the goddesses.”

Rusl must know this already, and Midna wonders just how important this guy really is to the goddesses. He’s not all that special, really.

“We’ll watch him tonight,” Uli offers. “I imagine he can recover, but in case he gets worse…” She doesn’t finish the sentence. It must be unthinkable. 

“Good idea,” Rusl says softly, squeezing Uli’s hand.

---

The night passes uneventfully. Midna is bored the whole time, though she does listen to the humans occasionally.

“If Link is here, do you think Colin is…”

“I’m not sure. We can ask him when he wakes.”

It sounds miserable, this little village. The humans speak of missing children - Colin and Beth and some other names Midna doesn’t care to remember - and attacks from dangerous, boar-riding monsters. They talk about the fear of never seeing their son again. They cry and whine and…

They comfort each other.

Midna stops listening.

---

Link wakes the next morning. He looks better than the night before, though that’s a poor standard, because before, he looked dead.

“Link, you’re up!” Uli sounds surprised, and she looks like she desperately wants to say something. But whatever it is, she doesn’t say right away. “Are you feeling okay?” She presses her hand to Link’s cheek. “Your fever must have broken.”

Link smiles. Gives a thumbs-up. It makes Uli laugh, though it’s a sorry, broken little laugh.

“Link, I’m sorry to ask so soon, but I need to know. Colin, the others, did you… Where are they?”

There’s a heavy pause. Link looks at her with regretful ignorance. Sorry, I’ve got no clue, Midna bets he’s thinking.

“Oh. Weren’t you taken with them?”

Link shakes his head.

Uli swallows hard, nodding slightly. “Oh. Okay. So I… I guess you haven’t seen them.”

His expression is mournful. Earlier, Midna had been surprised at how much the villagers cared about Link. And now she’s realizing that Link cares about them just as much. She’d assumed that Link was… no one, really. Someone who was a convenient solution to her problem and nothing more.

Apparently not.

---

Link is fully healed and ready to leave the next day. Rusl and Uli help him pack, talking about missing children, important quests, dangerous monsters. At one point, Uli suggests Link stay in the village, so they don’t lose him again.

Thankfully, Link doesn’t seem to agree with this plan, though there are promises made to find said missing children. Midna hopes he doesn’t plan on looking for them before they’ve found all the fused shadows.

Link leaves the village on foot, unhitching Epona on his way out. It’s not until they’ve reached the bridge that Midna makes her presence known.

“Ugh, finally,” she groans, because she doesn’t want Link to think she was worried about him. (She was not worried, thank you very much.) “I thought you were gonna sleep all day.”

The slightest of smirks curls his lips. He shakes his head and puts a foot in one stirrup. But Midna speaks before he can hoist himself up.

“Hey, um… Back there… Those people really cared about you. I mean, I don’t know what’s to care about, really,” Midna adds quickly, folding her arms. “You’re a stupid wolf who got himself hurt and delayed us getting the fused shadows.” And then she hesitates, voice softer than before. “But… maybe there’s a reason they like you so much. Guess I’ll find out?”

Link tips his head. Considers her for a moment. Then shrugs.

“Yeah,” Midna hums. “Guess I’ll find out.” She disappears in Link’s shadow, and he mounts Epona, setting a course for Hyrule Field.

[mushroomwoods]

deep woods… [m.list]

last update : oct. 31

the chain…

Fear(less)

after a few months of travelling together it was only to be expected that they would catch onto your little habits, especially if it was one that put you in harms way so many times.

or... you tend to get in trouble

time…

like fallen leaves

they fell and left him behind, for he knew that no amount of time would ever be enough for him or you to remain.

twilight…

the works ran away like midna, oops…

warriors…

Alive and Breathing

the warrior was used to this setting, something that usually seemed so harmless, dragging things he cherished out of his hands, this time though, he wouldn't just watch as death tried to take what's his, not matter the cost or the amount of blood he had to bathe in, it would never take you away from him.

wild…

my my, it's a wasteland just like his hyrule.

wind…

by the shore...

A calming vacation in Wind's timeline, seashell picking, storytelling, braiding and the navigation the sailor waited for so long. The only downside? A vacation never last forever. 

never say goodbye

The sailor finally learned of a secret that roamed among the group and he wasn't happy about it, after all, who, if not him, would even dare to get so close to you? He would make sure it wasn't that wolf.

hyrule…

One Year, Eleven Months and Twenty Days...

Chapter 1 —

When Hyrule set off into yet another unfortunate journey, he didn't expect a sudden, skittish and nosy you to throw yourself into his life, much less for you to hang around him long enough for him to get attached. He believed he didn't need any company for as long as he lived as the hero, however as you proved him wrong, he started to fear for the possible time limit he could to have around you.

legend…

when the dawn comes

legend had always been overly suspicious, a little bit anxious and maybe a tad paranoid, but somehow, when you opened you finally opened your eyes at the break of dawn, he felt as if, for at least that moment, he could feel safe again.

alone

legend has always been keenly aware of what should happen, yet he still feared to be left alone most of the time.

four…

if you can't see, it must've turned into a minish.

sky…

Soft.

the inherently good guy, the one who'd sacrifice his whole life if it meant saving those he cared for, the one who'd turn into someone else entirely if that's what his love wished for. that's who sky was, and even when some said it was too overbearing, he'd rather say it was just the soft spot he had for you.

wounded bird

Sky is nothing short of loving, especially when his loved one comes down with a sickness.

Love me, Love me not

For the hero that you once thought that you knew, was never who he portrayed himself as, but really, did you expect that if the chains that bound him to good were to break, he would stay as the same old him?

fierce deity...

amidst the lonely nights

he would always remember your presence, and somehow it never got better like you said it would.

first…

devout

for all of those that you once loved and all of those that he would have to end with his own hands, he knew that a sinner like him would never be worth a chance of salvation.

silly offer

is that offer for a hug still up? because i think i need it right now...

calamity…

the calamity hasn't yet begun…

koridai…

the prettiest?

the hero of koridai, clingy, dramatic and very much comical. still, he was the prettiest in the world for you... not that you would ever tell him, but hey, it's not like your eyes didn't already say as much.

courage…

well, excuseee me, but there's nothing yet.