#naydra likes kingdom hearts

[naydralikessoup]

"door to darkness" um yeah to you maybe. To me it's the door to light.

[fioreofthemarch]

yearnings

[✨ this was written for zelink week 2023 organised by @zelinkcommunity and is a companion piece to 'repast' and 'kin'] Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Pairing: Link/Zelda Words: 1140

Despite all that time has taken from her, the Light Dragon can still recall names.

The skies in which she swims belong to Hyrule, and her sister dragons that she shares them with are Naydra, Farosh and Dinraal. Yet the Light Dragon no longer has a name, and her heart cries out in search of one — though she does not know why.

Each day at sunset, her sisters join her above the clouds. Sister, they say, come with us, to where the land meets the sky and where the mortal beings dwell. Each day, for many years, the Light Dragon cannot accept. She awaits another, one who will awaken on the Great Sky Island that she dutifully guards. This purpose, though its details are lost, burns within her.

When the swordsman finally awakens, the Light Dragon senses him immediately. She watches with muted curiosity as he begins to explore her island in the sky. Why had he come to this place? Were all the mortal beings so small? Soon she finds him on the ancient circular landing behind the island’s temple, and watches as the sword in his hand disappears in golden light. She is drawn to him then, called by a voice within: the swordsman must have a sword. Perhaps on the surface, where her sisters call to her, he will find another. Determined, the Light Dragon splits the clouds guarding the island from the world below. The swordsman does not wait; he leaps, surface bound. The Light Dragon follows.

The vast lands below swallow the swordsman whole. There are deep valleys that cut the earth and mountains that pierce the skies. There are churning rivers and yawning bays. There are open plains, marshy swamps, and rolling deserts. He must be out there, somewhere, and across all four corners of Hyrule the Light Dragon searches.

In winding canyons flooded with water, she meets her sister Farosh. Have you seen a swordsman? she asks. Farosh answers: None with valour and courage enough to impress me, sister.

Among rocky crags and cooled lava, in the shadow of a great volcano she meets her sister Dinraal. Have you seen a swordsman? she asks. Dinraal answers: Hyrule has seen many, sister, for blood flows here as easily as water flows to the sea.

Between gentle mountains, as snow feathers down, she meets her sister Naydra. Have you seen a swordsman? she asks. Naydra answers: Yes, he flies as we do, sister. I am sure he will visit you soon.

But he does not. The sorrow the Light Dragon feels at this is powerful and achingly fresh. Against her will, tears well in her eyes. She begs them not to fall; each time they do, they take more of her with them. She tries to hold on, and hold fast, but the tears fall anyway. The Light Dragon forgets why she was crying.

It is not long after this that he finds her. And it was as Naydra said; the swordsman could fly like the dragons, capturing the winds to soar through the sky. He lands softly on her back, his footsteps tickling, almost pleasant. Then he is holding onto her mane, holding very tight; is he worried he might fall? Then she can hear weeping. She hopes he is not unwell.

After some time, the swordsman speaks: “Is that really you, Zelda?”

She does not understand nor does she answer the question.

“Gods… you have the Master Sword. You’ve really had it all this time…”

Then he is moving, light feet padding about her mane. “Sorry, old girl, I’ve gotta take it from you.”

She is just thinking that she likes the gentle weight of him when a blinding pain rips through her head and down the length of her body. She lurches skyward, roaring, but the pain doesn’t stop, and it’s like something is tugging very hard on her head. It is not nice! Whatever it is should let go! It is her fur there! It keeps her warm! Let go! Let go!

The sky suddenly flashes white, and next she knows she is enveloped in clouds of shimmering gold. Calm washes through her and she relaxes, allowing herself to float. The swordsman is still there, murmuring: Hylia help me, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that’d hurt— Are you okay?

Yes, it is all going to be okay. She closes her eyes and recalls the final piece of her memories that had not yet slipped away; she has the sword, which she guarded much as she guarded her island in the sky. How this came to be, and why, is lost to her. But it is no matter. Her purpose is fulfilled. She is at peace.

After this, the swordsman visits her often. He brings her apples cooked in butter, which she eats even though she can’t really taste them, doing so because it seems to make him happy. Then he brings her flowers, threading them into her mane, which she likes for the soft pull of his fingers through her hair. Sometimes he comes to talk, telling stories of the surface, using words she doesn’t understand but enjoys for the sound of his voice. Sometimes he just comes to sit, clinging to her mane, always clinging.

Then, the last time he comes, she is sitting with him on top of the temple on the Great Sky Island, dozing. Her sisters have teased her for this. Sister beloved, what need does a dragon have for sleep? The swordsman sleeps, she has told them, and often sleeps for entire days. It seemed a pleasant activity to try, and she has found it helps her to enjoy the feeling of the sun on her back.

On this final day, she awakens to find the swordsman brushing her mane, running his hands through the strands.

“I have to go soon, Zelda,” he says. “I’ve stalled for a long time. I need to finish what you started.”

He has an apple in his hand, which she obligingly eats. “If I don’t come back, old girl, you know I love you, right? If there’s even a tiny bit of Zelda in there, I want her to know…”

Zelda. She yearns to understand this word. Is that a name? If it was, could it be hers? She does not know how to tell the swordsman this — that she can be his Zelda, if he wants. Instead she pushes her snout into his hand, nuzzling against him.

In response he wraps his arms around her, holding tight. At his back is a noble sword, in a scabbard of blue and gold. Then he lets go, runs a gentle hand across her fur one last time, and departs.

The Light Dragon Zelda returns to the sky, unmoved. He has left her before, and always returns.

Content to wait, she flies away free.

[imaginethezeldaverse]

A little Zelink drabble - Tears of the Kingdom Spoilers mentioned!  Also just want to say as a disclaimer I haven’t finished the game yet if this doesn’t feel 100% accurate, my apologies! I just wanted to write something Zelink today lol.

------- Looking down at her cup, Zelda watched the swirls of fresh Hateno milk mix and lighten the original darker hue of her black tea. Milk and two sugars, exactly how she liked it. Her gaze shifted to the window, the sky boundless and blue in its vast stretch across the world. She almost wished she could remember basking in it the way she had.  “Link,” the princess called softly to her knight, who was pouring himself his own cup of tea. He looked up, cerulean hues moving away from the teapot and onto her. Zelda turned toward him wearing an almost wistful, but curious expression.  “What was I like when I was a dragon?”  The hero thought for a moment. So many memories he had of her in her temporarily immortal state. He remembered pulling the Master Sword from her head, the realization of who the Light Dragon truly hitting him square in the heart. Knowing the cost of her sacrifice held like a constant weight on him. He also remembered feeling light as a feather, laying in her golden mane as she traversed the skies; he remembered promising to get her back. Link realized his face must’ve read something sad when Zelda asked, “Not good...?” He straightened up, fixing his face to smile instead, “Big and scaly, that’s for sure.”  Zelda giggled at that, “I’m sure, of course.”  Link sat at the table with her and reached for the sugar, “You were always warm. I’ve ridden the other dragons before to grab scales and stuff, and I mean... they were always,” his eyes wandered as he tried to find his words, “Not cold, I guess - except for Naydra, he’s constantly freezing, but you - you were always pleasantly warm.”  Stirring the sugar in his tea, he continued, “Your scales were always so pretty, they shimmered in the light, just like your mane did...” suddenly his spoon came to a stop. Zelda caught the wisps of sorrow that flashed across his eyes for a split second, “...But your eyes always looked sad. Even though they were this crazy shade of violet and you had these giant golden lashes...there was this sadness in them that I just couldn’t shake seeing.”  Locking eyes with Zelda, Link felt a pang of hurt in his chest, the memory of her transformation still fresh in his mind, “I didn’t like seeing you so sad.”  The princess’s lip trembled at her hero’s softened voice, though her memory failed her of her time as the light dragon, she understood the impact it had on all those involved: especially Link. Without a word, she reached her hand out to cover his, her doleful smile willing to offer him some comfort,  “I’m not sad anymore, Link.”  Like a reflex, he flipped his palm to turn upright, his rougher fingers curling around hers. He took a deep breath, really allowing the warmth of her hand to register with him. Slowly, he matched her smile,  “I hope I can make sure you never are again, princess.” 

[kiltons-monster-manual]

Dragon Talk

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Fanfiction Gen, mild romance. Zelink, Past Link x Mipha.  Link, The Light Dragon  Oneshot / Short  HEAVY SPOILERS  Summary: Link is known far and wide as a silent warrior.  No words slip past his lips idly.  Beneath his stoic exterior insecurities and fears run rampant as well as opinions on everything from food to politics.  He finds himself “conversing” with a particular dragon that he likes to alight on and ride to try to unburden his heart.  Available also on Ao3:  Dragon Talk  

Dragon Talk It was the first time he was up here since he had retrieved the sword.  It had not been very long since he’d been to the Sky, but it had been a long time since he had been to this specific place… well, it wouldn’t be fair to call it a “place,” would it? Her body was certainly large enough to be a locale and Link wondered idly if one could make a home somewhere on a dragon, like one might consider a sailing-ship one’s home on a long voyage.  He concluded that any shelter would be unstable, given the undulations as the great body worked with and against the wind like a snake in the sand.   The young knight wondered if using her as a mode of transportation was disrespectful.  He had known all this time that dragons were thought of by believers as holy creatures and perhaps as one of the rare people who could actually see them, he ought to be more reverent.  How many loose scales and bits of horn had he plinked off of the creatures with well-shot arrows by now? Dinraal, Naydra and Farosh were a bit more dangerous, given their respective elements.  Link required no special armors to ride the Light Dragon, a beast who, up until very recently, had kept out of sight in the upper atmosphere, beyond a cloud-barrier that no longer existed.   A dragon’s sacred nature was the least of his worries now.  He had learned her secret and felt like he owed her something.  He certainly couldn’t give her anything he truly owed her anymore.  To receive any of it required being a person.   Link climbed the dragon’s mane and sat down gently on the patch of shimmering white fur on her head.  He rubbed gently the place where the Master Sword had once been stuck.  Given what it had taken to retrieve it, he worried that he had hurt her.  With anything immortal it was difficult to tell whether they reacted with pain and the usual instincts or if they felt nothing and were merely giving him a test of worth.  (Link remembered bitterly how the Master Sword, itself, had nearly killed him the first time he’d encountered it.  He was supposedly bound to it by destiny, yet it still didn’t fool around regarding an assessment of strength).   He sighed heavily, settling himself as he watched the sun hover on the horizon over the Gerudo Desert.  The little hovercraft he’d built to get up here was long gone.  He hadn’t been looking simply to get from Point A to Point B, anyway.   “Some way to get back to the future,” he said, stretching out and giving the fur beside him another gentle rub.  “I don’t know if some part of you is still there – I hope so.  I have no idea if you can understand me.  Anyway, Zelda, the sword reached me.  You did it and now it’s all up to me.”   The young man took a deep breath.  It hitched.  “What did you do to yourself?” He clenched his fist – no, the fist of a long dead king – and grit his teeth.  The world beneath them was waiting on him.  Every one of the people who knew even an inkling of his story – the Sages, the Sheikah researchers, even the Monster Control Crews who only knew him vaguely as the princess’ knight and accepted him as a decent fighter depended on him to be strong, to bear any burden without complaint.  He limited his facial expressions around almost everyone.  He threw back his shoulders and stood tall (at least as tall as he could given his short stature – he was rather small even for a Hylian) and presented himself as stoic.  He could not let people worry – or panic.  He was smart enough to know that he couldn’t bear it all alone, that he had friends, but he had to remain calm, for everyone’s sake.   High above the world, however, where no one could see and where no one could hear him but his charge’s bestial remains – he let tears be lost in the wind, leaving their frigid traces on the sides of his face.  Here and only here, could he allow himself to cry.   ______________________________________________ “So, you know, Sidon’s hitched now.  It’s been a while, but I guess I just left that out of our last little talk…”   It had been roughly a week, a little more, since Link’s last dropping onto the Light Dragon.   “I really ought to update you on everything, right?  So much has been happening.  A part of me thinks that you see it all, what with being a dragon flying around with nothing to do but look down and around… and you’ve certainly had enough time to know everything that goes on in Hyrule.  You would know if the other legends were true or not – you know, the other heroes, princesses, incarnations of demons, that kind of thing…maybe? Maybe you wouldn’t because of the thickness of the clouds?  Or because everything looks like ants from up here?”   Link chuckled half-heartedly.   “What Purah and Robbie would give for the data you’ve been collecting!  Well, if you can remember it, or even think about it.  Dear Goddess, Zelda, do you look derpy!  I came in for a landing right here and… your eyes – it’s probably an illusion from the perspective of someone as small as I am in comparison, but you look like… you aren’t there.  I wonder what it is like to be a dragon.  Do you have stories that you just cannot tell, your language and very thoughts incredibly complex and inaccessible to mortals or are you as dumb as a sheep?”   Link closed his eyes slowly and just as slowly opened them again, mimicking the slow-blink of the dragon.  He tried not to think about Zelda’s mind being absent. He hoped with everything in him that she was still there, inside, that at least some essence remained and this is why he could still talk to her, and did.   “Oh, where was I?  Ah, yes… Sidon… I didn’t peg him as the marrying kind, I guess. I kind of thought that maybe…he was… the way he’d look at me sometimes, but I guess that’s just Zora-manners.” Link sighed again, “Or maybe a simple desperation for a connection to his sister.  Anyway, it turns out that the last time we visited the Domain and he was off at another Domain on official business, he was courting the girlfriend.  Her name is Kona.  She’s very kind.  I think you’d like her.” Link stretched out, letting himself lay down with his hands behind his head.  Dawn was amazing when viewed from this height and angle.   “She’s a healer, like Mipha.  I… I miss Mipha.  My memories of one hundred years ago are still full of gaps, but I remember more about our friends every day.  And, of course, her spirit aided me for a long time… Ever since the Champions’ spirits departed, I’ve felt a lot of loneliness for them – and Mipha especially. I don’t know if you’d want to hear this, but…here goes… you’re…you’re a dragon now, so I doubt you care anymore – you’re beyond such mortal trivialities:  With the memories that have been coming to me, I know that I would have accepted the Zora’s Amor.  I was going to marry her, Zelda.”   He thought he felt the dragon lurch beneath him.  He kept steady.   “Hey! Hey, easy there!” he said, sitting up and gently scratching the fur where her skin joined with one of her glowing, branching horns.  “I’m not an idiot.  Well, I’m not as dumb as I look, anyway.  We… we had something, too, you and I – especially…recently.  I spoke not a word of it… it was improper with my position, wasn’t it? I was your knight – in your employ. I understood the way you looked at me. I felt it in the air between us, and of course… the little gifts you’d make for me.”  He patted the chest of his new tunic. “It’s good armor.  The lacquered leather works well – has saved my shield-arm more than once already. I kind of think of it as your answer to the Zora Armor, just a little.  Something made to protect a reckless man you care about – it’s the same sentiment.” He sighed, thinking about what could have been.     “It wasn’t even a royalty and commoner thing… there were not such rules for the Zora, just some concern about the interspecies stuff and lack of heirs, but, with us… it was different, it would have been different.  Conflict of interest – not a good look in politics for the people.  I mean, after the Calamity, it didn’t matter, did it? After I gave you my place in Hateno and we were just traveling on the rebuild-projects, it seemed like the whole ‘princess’ thing was merely a holdover from the past – not something that was the same as it once was… “Did you know that I decided the outcome of an election?  Yeah – in Hateno.  The challenger backed down – that was Cece, you know her, that odd fashion-designer that moved in right before our… trip back to the castle.  Rede remained in power after they made up.  The whole thing was very silly, but the election idea? That’s how the towns have been staying alive.  I’ve given thought to how it might apply to the rebuilt kingdom as a whole, in time. It’s not to say that you wouldn’t stay in power, I think you’d be elected in a landslide, it’s just… isn’t it an interesting idea for going forward?  Maybe the time for monarchy has passed?  My travels have given me a lot to think about.  I never shared any of this stuff before because I didn’t think it was proper.  In fact, I don’t breathe a word of this to anyone… a dragon makes for an easy conversation partner, I guess.”   ____________________________________________________ Link visited the Light Dragon again and again. Her forehead was the best place for watching the sunrise.  Every time he talked, it was a different subject.  Silent and stoic on the surface-world, he was rediscovering the “chatterbox” days that he’d had when he’d been a child in the gentle, silent presence of this holy creature.  He felt strangely at ease between her glowing horns despite who she’d once been, or perhaps because of it.   He was finally able to tell Zelda everything he’d wanted to tell her, it seemed.  Sometimes, it was something important, his strange theories about the future politics of the kingdom of Hyrule – or at least he thought they were strange – ideas regarding scaling up what had been working for the small settlements into larger plans.  He did not know if the princess would have listened to him as a princess, but he had an audience in a dragon.  One afternoon, he spent hours rattling on regarding his observations on monsters and some studies he’d taken part in with the help of Kilton: “Their power will diminish once I defeat the Demon King, just as with the Calamity, but they’re never absent from the land, are they?  Ever since the days of myths, at least a few of them have been around.  Kilton thinks that a few of them might be classed as animals – they bear a distinction from the class, but it’s… a borderline form of life. I know most people think they are born from evil thoughts and intentions, something that exists in nature, but becomes separate.  Josha, that young Sheikah researcher that Robbie and Purah have been working with I told you about? The one who studies the Depths? She came across some old writing that classed Lynels as mountain deities.  What I’ve witnessed spying on Bokoblin-camps has me thinking that, once freed from influences such as Ganondorf and that Ganon-projection of his, perhaps they could become reasonably peaceful if left alone. They’ll always be dangerous, but some aspects of them strike me as almost… a kind of people.  A lot of monsters are smarter than people think – the Bokos can tame horses and hunt in strategy.  The Lizalfos…” he winced, accidentally moving a fresh wound, “They’re… too good at ambushes.  “I’m…actually afraid that they’re becoming smarter, Zelda, and stronger, and that we will not be able to keep up…” “I’ve got a lot of blood on my hands if they can ever become anything more than servants of evil.  I try not to think about it.  I come down on thinking that there’s really no chance for them to be anything but a plague.  Gotta save innocent folk from being eaten alive.  It’s not a fate that I want, although I can’t say I don’t expect it.” He laughed bitterly.  “One day, the lost princess’ chosen knight screwed up and ended up in the belly of a Hinox. What a headline for the Lucky Clover Gazzette! ‘The Sacred Sword’s Chosen Hero Becomes a Burp!’ I wonder if I could still fight from within.  Sidon has that giant Octorok story of his.  Still… it’s so strange hiding in the bushes, planning a raid or looking for a way to sneak past… just watching a campsite with Moblins and Bokoblins eating around it – just like any Hylian and Gerudo travelers one might see out in the woods.  It’s only when I snap a twig or they get a whiff of me that chaos breaks loose. “I think someday, it might be nice to see peace come even to them.”   ________________________________________ “You don’t eat anymore, do you?”  Link asked, casually taking a small, wrapped warm package out of the data-storage on his Purah Pad.  “I suppose if you did, it would be something like clouds and sunlight. I’ve never seen any of the other dragons go after anything on the surface.”   He sat down cross-legged and pulled apart something stringy and gooey.  He savored small bites and licked sauce off his lip.  “This is something new,” he said after swallowing.  “The people in Hateno invented it.  It’s called pizza.  It’s a little hard to get the hang of making it at first, but once you do, it’s very simple.  It’s basically bread with a stewed tomato sauce covering it and…cheese.  It’s… solid fermented milk.  I know that it doesn’t sound too appetizing, but it’s amazing. I wish… I wish I could share it with you…”   To make good on this, he clambered over to the side of the Light Dragon’s face and leaned over, proffering a slice, dripping with cheese in the wind.  The dragon gave no response and simply did a slow blink.  Link took his slice of pizza back and solemnly ate it.  “I… I suppose you would have to be a person to appreciate it,” he concluded.   “I miss those nights in Hateno, sitting by the cookpot outside the house.  “You had some of those royal recipes that you’d show me how to cook and you were impressed when I took up dinner with my…inventiveness, yeah…that’s what you called it.  I had to survive out in the ruins and the wastes for a full year when I was building up strength to take on the Calamity.  I couldn’t be picky and had to come up with some interesting dishes.  You loved that venison and rice bowl I used to make.  It wasn’t as dainty as a fruit cake, but it was what you frequently requested.  Do you remember that, in this form?  It must be ages past to you, so long ago to you that you would forget… nights on the road, stopped at the stables, cooking and eating under the stars. I remember how your eyes looked in the firelight when the fireflies would come out in Faron.   “Is there a way to bring you back?  Is there a way to have that with you again?... “You’d love pizza, I know you’d love pizza…” ____________________________________________ He landed with a stagger and almost fell over as he alighted on the dragon’s nose.  Clutching his side and watching his latest hovercraft peel off to dematerialize in the distance, Link landed heavily atop his “therapist.”  The Light Dragon, for her part, issued a low groan. It was impossible to tell if she was responding to him, or if it was a random roar.  The clouds carried rain today – an easy disturbance to her scales. “Purah said I shouldn’t be out of bed yet… but I had to see you.”   The dragon was silent once again, slowly blinking and riding upon her never ending path.   Link sat upright and wrapped his hooded cloak around himself.  “Gloom swords…cut me up pretty bad.  Followed that unconvincing puppet of you into the castle.  I was overconfident, I guess, thought I was going to face the bastard down then and there.  The Sages saved my butt.  We won, but… ugh… “I’m supposed to be recovering, but I don’t think we have any time… I’ll apologize to Yunobo when I get back to Lookout Landing. He was on watch over me when he fell asleep and I managed to sneak out.  We… need to find a fifth Sage to add to our power… and… ugh… it’s the only way… I wish I could do this on my own, just finish it…” Link breathed deep, then let out a sharp cry as his movements pulled against some stitches under his clothing.  He winced back tears.   “I… I don’t know if I can do it, Zelda. The sword reached me…through time, but… it might not be enough… I might not be enough.  All of us… we may not win this time.  What if… what if all our friends die again?  What if the Sages fall like the Champions did?  I failed once.  And… and… the Calamity was merely a projection of…whatever that was we awakened beneath the castle.  He might win this time; despite everything we’ve been through.”   Link took a long look at the sky before him, on this dragon-path, it was sunset.   “A hero chosen by the Goddess and by the Master Sword isn’t supposed to doubt himself, right?  I am full of doubt. I cannot tell anyone how scared I am.  If I cannot best him, there isn’t another who can take up this sword.”   Link looked at his right hand, trembling.  “It will be all for naught.  If I am killed, the world dies with me, screaming.  I was just cut to ribbons and nearly killed by a mere shadow of that man! I just… I suppose I came up here to tell you that I’m sorry.  If it doesn’t work out and you are left watching up here as the world becomes bathed in blood and shadow, I want you to know that I will have done everything to spite it – that I fought to my last breath and that… I am sorry that it wasn’t enough and that I wasn’t enough.”   Link looked toward the east.  The moon was rising and it was wreathed in red.  He breathed deeply.  “We have to be enough.”   He shivered in the cooling night. Movement hurt.  Fatigue made his bones heavy.  Purah was right, he really shouldn’t have been out of bed yet.  As the Blood Moon reached its apex, his eyelids fluttered.  Link felt darkness clawing for him and tried to resist it.  He fell in a heap, resting atop the dragon. She adjusted her movements to keep him from rolling off.   Bright light greeted him as he awakened the next morning.  It was well past sunrise. He felt…alive.  Dragon hair and dragon scales shimmered beneath him in the mid-morning glare, but a certain light danced off of them of their own accord.  A glow pulsed along the brilliant horns.  Link stood to his feet.  No stiches pulled and nothing raw aggravated his skin.  He breathed deep and carefully walked to stand on the tip of the Light Dragon’s nose so he could at least try to look her in the eyes.   “Thank you,” he said simply.   _________________________________________ “I don’t really remember,” she’d said.   Everyone who knew what had happened agreed that it was a good thing.  Mineru, before she’d departed, confessed that her spirit had only kept its sanity while it was stored as data through centuries by going into a type of deep sleep. It wasn’t as though Zelda had much to remember of her years holding back the Calamity, either.  She remembered some of it, her power concentrated to hold Ganon back and a bond to Link that had awakened with him in the shrine.  She told him that she politely looked way during certain moments that he’d want to keep private, but he had no way of being sure about that. She was, however, in a type of sleep most of the time.   Centuries trapped in a bestial form went beyond this, however.  It was the kind of thing that could break the strongest mind if one remembered everything. And so, after the whole mess, life tried to resume for everyone who’d survived.     After their return to the surface and parting ways with the Sages, each returning to their lands, Link and Zelda wondered what was next.  Rest, of course, at the Landing.  Hyrule Castle was still in ruins.  Zelda, in the end, had simply wanted to go home - and, so it was, she and Link prepared to set out for Hateno Villiage.   “So, what’s the first thing you want to do when you get back?” Purah asked her.  Link was silent and making the last preparations for their travel by her side, getting bags ready to load onto their horses at the Landing’s small stable. “Oh,” Zelda said, answering quite casually, “I think I should like to try pizza.”   Link’s eyes went wide.  He stared.   She stared back at him.   “Pizza? What is that?  I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it,” Purah said.   Link and Zelda stood shocked and still, unable to take their gaze off each other.   “Is something wrong? Hey, you two, answer me!” “I…can make you some,” Link said softly. “Hey, Linky?  You just SPOKE!  And you look like you’ve seen a ghost!”   “You wouldn’t believe the story if I told you,” he whispered to Purah as he took Zelda by the hand.  

[jones-friend]

Thinking abt Bloodborne made me want to compile a list of my fave things video games have done/things they did that really stuck with me (feel free to add your own!):

Kingdom Hearts: being turned into a heartless and having to wander Hollow Bastion, and WHEN YOU WALK AWAY YOU DON’T HEAR ME SAY-

Kingdom Hearts 2: two! Keyblades and MY SANCTUARY

Kingdom Hearts 3: what if the final boss fights were multiple bosses at the same time?

HiFi Rush: the Invaders Must Die segment

Bloodborne: leaping into the moon’s reflection to slay Rom and revealing the nightmare

Zelda BOTW: flying through snowy mountains at night, finding and healing corrupted Naydra

Dead Space 2: getting pack tactics’d by charging necromorphs, the first necromorph transformation

Final Fantasy X: entering the ruins of Zannarkand with A Fleeting Dream playing over field and battle segments

Cuphead: every single boss transition but specifically Grim Matchstick getting 3 heads and the siren petrifying while her head fires lasers in close quarters

Monster Hunter Rise - Sunbreak: the vampire dragon Malzeno and seeing it blink for the first time

Dark Souls 3 - Fire Fades: entering the painted world and getting accosted by so many enemies, everything abt the Ringed City and slave knight Gael

Elden Ring: entering River Siofra, Caelid, and the Capital for the first time

Uncharter 3: waves of tarantulas

The Last of Us: lush post apoc aesthetic with acoustic guitar

Hotline Miami: Hydrogen, Do you like hurting other people, Richter’s press R to Restart, Flatline

Pokemon Scar/Vi: Area Zero and the endgame adventure

Final Fantasy IV: the archfiend of earth pt2

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: the opening sequence and ost

Persona 5 Royale: Rivers in a Dry Land, the DLC boss and maxing social links with party members

Night in the Woods: having a fight with Bea (all your options are bad) and Harfest, wandering town

Monster Hunter World - Iceborne: Coordinating the Fatalis fight

Overwatch: “I just got hooked from Venus”

Hotline Miami 2: Sexualizer and Le Perv

Pkmn RSE: The Regi Hunt

Infamous - Second Son: Neon power, the first fight with the big bad

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance: RULES OF NATURE

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: Shadow the Hedgehog

[xaq-the-aereon]

Tears of the Kingdom DLC idea: New Game + and SPOILER-based equipment

Spoiler-tagging this since it involves the end boss.

So basically, the idea involves letting the player start a New Game + file, wherein they start with whatever weapons (minus the Master Sword), shields, bows, and armors (minus the Zora Armor, Champion's Leathers, and Ancient Hero's Aspect; all Great Fairy enhancements remain intact, even on the equipment you don't start with) found in the previous playthrough. As if remembering the timeline that no longer is, however, a new addition is found in the skies of Hyrule: a translucent version of the Demon Dragon, the final form Ganon took on by devouring his Secret Stone. The ghost of your defeated enemy of your save file's past life silently circles the skies of Hyrule perfectly opposite the Light Dragon. Standing on the Phantom Demon Dragon's body does not cause any gloom damage unless it fully energized and ready to harvest parts from, which you can do like with any of the other dragons. Then, various parts of it do become unsafe to stand on. While riding on it, the "Corrupted" version of the Dragon's tune (heard when approaching Naydra for the first time in Breath of the Wild) will play. Another remnant of the defeated boss has crossed over to your new game file as well...a shard of his corrupted soul left behind when taken by the Bargainer Statues. Demon King's Aspect Armor (all 3 slots) (Appearance: Makes Link look like a shorter version of Demon King Ganondorf.) DEF: 16/32/64/128 Equip effect: NPC fear, Gerudo auto-arrest. Set Bonus (Lv 4): Gloom Heal (Gloom-based damage restores health and max hearts instead of draining max hearts). Found: Bought from Bargainer Statues for 1200 Poes. Must have found all of the statues (becomes available alongside Tunic of Memories) and be on New Game +. Will not carry over to a 2nd New Game +. Level Up materials: Lv 1: 2x Demon Dragon's Scale, 2x Dark Clump Lv 2: 2x Shard of Demon Dragon's Fang, 4x Dark Clump Lv 3: 2x Shard of Demon Dragon's Claw, 8x Dark Clump Lv 4: 2x Demon Dragon's Horn, 16x Dark Clump

A dark, sinister aura born of the Demon King's soul from another timeline. It fills you with an otherworldly, unspeakable power.

(Shard of) Demon Dragon's Scale/Fang/Claw/Spike/Horn Fuse Attack Power: 28/40 Durability boost: +25 Fuse Effect: Weapon randomly causes gloom damage to user. If fused to a Gloom Sword/Spear/Club, it always causes gloom damage to user but increases durability by 800 (making them as tough as the Hylian Shield) and adds double Attack Power. Fusing one to the Master Sword automatically saps it of all its power and causes the recharge timer to double. (So, you know...maybe don't?) Otherwise does the same thing fusing other Dragon parts does. Throwing one of these, or firing one from an arrow, will cause an explosion that deals gloom-type damage to you and heals enemies. (So, you know...maybe don't???) Found: Harvested off Phantom Demon Dragon. Side note: Yes, having the Demon King's Aspect maxed out and using a Gloom Sword fused with the Demon Dragon's Horn will restore health; a full heart with each hit, in fact. Have fun wielding the Demon King's nigh-unstoppable power to your heart's content!

[dawnedon]

Gloom Wreathed - TOTK

BOTW Verse

With the Calamity having been eradicated, and the scourge of Hyrule Castle successfully banished by the Hero and the Princess, peace prevailed in the kingdom for some time. Quelled the beast was, though it was not ousted from Dawn's body. The malice, the Calamity, the whispers of Demise himself still entwined itself in Dawn's very being. A great evil and great hatred remained within her psyche, using her as its home.

The great upheaval ushered in by Ganondorf's untimely return shattered the sanctity of Hyrule once again - a being that had once been sealed at the cost of the first King, Rauru's, life.

Dawn, in her time of laying low in Hyrule, had been trying to find ways to separate the festering malice from herself. Though it made the monsters of Hyrule docile towards her, the denizens of the land would only whisper when she drew near. Avoiding her gaze, avoiding too much conversation than what was necessary.

The wilderness was her home, the wheeling stars overhead keeping her company. Whenever she felt too lonely, she'd scale Mount Lanaryu, kept safeguarded from the frigid weather thanks to the power Naydra had gifted her years prior.

She was making her way down the mountain, crossing the Naydra Snowfield, when the Upheaval took place. A great thunderous roar, that made all of Hyrule feel as if it would shake apart. Though Dawn couldn't see the castle from where she was, something deep within her heart understood what was happening. The shattered pieces of the Calamity that had lived within her for a century stirred, the scar on her chest burning. The agony was so mind-numbing, that she had to stop walking immediately. The voice of the Calamity had never been so loud.

Before the pain could knock her unconscious, the ground beneath her would tear open. A new substance, gloom, lined the walls, glowing in time with her rapid heartbeat. With nothing beneath her so suddenly, Dawn would fall. The gloom almost seemed to reach out to her, but was unable to reach her as she tumbled into Hyrule's Depths.

It was a landing that, by all rights, should have killed her. If she wasn't tainted by the Calamity, touched by Malice, and imbued with the unshakable will of Demise, Dawn would have very well died. Immortality was one, of many things, she'd learned she had in the past few years.

Her fall was not without injury, however. In a pile of gloom was where she'd land, the substance immediately rushing to meet her. It was much like the malice a century prior in Castle Town - it moved to her side without hesitation. This time, however, the gloom moved into the shape of hands, with a glowing, single eye in each palm.

It lift her gently, like a broken doll, and whisked her away. Similar to the malice, the gloom would heal and mend her. The gloom, too, would find a place within her as the malice had before, coexisting as they both were spawns of Ganon. Dawn's necklace, imbued with Sheikah technology, would keep the worst of the effects at bay. The loss of strength and sick feeling that most reported did not affect her. If anything, the gloom made her feel stronger, much better than the malice ever had.

The Depths became a welcome respite for Dawn, believing them to be wholly empty and uninhabited besides the gloom-covered monsters that dwelt in various pockets. Later, she would come to learn that the infamous Yiga operated from the Depths. This revelation was one she made sure didn't sour this new place for her. Fanatical as they were over her, she managed to lay low and avoid making her presence known to them. Perhaps their leader wasn't dead like she had thought, as their hideouts and encampments were too fortified, and too vast for them to have ended up here at the same time she did.

With seemingly no way up and out of the Depths, the chasms that opened across Hyrule too far up and out of reach, Dawn initially resigned herself to this fate. While she wasn't monstrous nor evil despite her soul being touched by darkness, the people of Hyrule weren't warm to her. The Depths were a place she could live freely, without the stares of ire digging into her back, and without feeling like an outcast despite having done nothing wrong. The monsters left her alone, and the hands of gloom would come to greet her, gifting her various things they'd found scouring the Depths.

Dawn would soon come to utilize a new sword for herself, with the Eightfold Blade she previously used having been rotted by the gloom around her. This new sword was a weapon from the gloom itself. An ominous looking one-handed blade: the Gloom Sword. The toll of using such a sword on a normal wielder was similar to being around the gloom itself. A feeling of sickness, of the wielder's life slowly being worn away, however... Dawn did not have such ailments. It was a sword she could keep on her person, or summon from the gloom to avoid being seen with such a blade. She practiced on spindly, unnatural trees first, then sparred with the hands, before finally working her way up to sparring against a Lynel in order to hone her proficiency further. A rigorous, arduous routine of training that she committed herself to each and every day.

It wasn't until, one fateful day, she saw a familiar sight in the form of Naydra that her resolve broke - how much time had passed since she fell, she wondered? Hyrule's own dragons taking a plunge into the Depths surprised her. Seeing Naydra was more than a punch in the gut, Dawn soon realizing that the dragon had no idea what had actually happened to her. It was a much needed reunion, and Dawn wasted no time in climbing onto her back as the ice dragon soon lift to the air, taking Dawn around the Depths from a higher vantage point.

In a way, it was like catching up with an old friend. Dawn was able to recount her time to Naydra, the dragon listening to her patiently. In turn, Dawn got to learn what was happening on the surface. Great islands in the sky also came with the endless chasms, and the weaponry that the people of Hyrule utilized aged and decayed.

With Dawn's permission, Naydra took them up and out of the same chasm Dawn had fallen in initially. If Dawn ever wished to return back, all she needed was to ask and Naydra would take her both down and back up. Now back in Hyrule, Dawn deals with an internal battle of the self. She's lived with the malice, and now the gloom, for so long. Part of her wanted to still try to rid herself of it, while another part was fine with simply basking in it. Perhaps there was some way to use this power for good, to benefit someone or to be of help. Surely, an answer was out there for her somewhere. There was a vast amount of Hyrule she hadn't explored yet, as well as the islands that dotted the endless skies above.

For the first time in a while, she felt hope.

[quillandink333]

Sunrise

BotW Link X Zelda

Rating: M

Word Count: 4.5k

WARNINGS: suggestive themes, implied sex

Summary: Ten long years after her return to the land of the living, the queen of Hyrule takes her first steps out of her comfort zone with her groom’s hand in hers.

Masterlist

“Tighter.”

I suffered through my struggle to breathe as my lady’s maid tightened my corset to its limits. This was for an occasion that would occur once and never again. If ever had there been a time when I’d needed to look my absolute best, it was now.

My eyes constantly kept returning to the clock on the wall. There was only one hour left before the ceremony was scheduled to commence. I wasn’t even at the Temple of Time, and yet I already felt close to fainting. I looked in the mirror, and I still had the waist width of an obese hynox. “Honestly, can’t you make it any tighter?” I snapped.

“Your Majesty, please try to remain calm,” pleaded one of my maids. I nodded; she was right. I was really letting my stress get the best of me. “My deepest apologies if I’m speaking out of line, but, ehm...I feel it necessary to mention something that your lover spoke to us about.”

When had Link possibly found the time to seek out my own group of personal attendants to tell them something? “Not at all. Go on.”

“Yes. He told us to put your comfort at the highest priority rather than your appearance. He said, quote, ‘Today means more to us than any other day of our lives up until now, so it’s imperative that her memory of it is not plagued by discomfort.’ He was quite insistent about it, I tell you.”

My heart fluttered. It was just like him to go out of his way like that for my sake. I swallowed my pride. “Very well.”

“Would you like me to loosen your corset then?”

“Yes, please,” I heaved. “Thank you.”

I’d recently been blessed with the rare opportunity to be freed from my royal responsibilities for a few days. This was something that only happened for me once or perhaps twice a year. Luckier still, Link had managed to secure a week-long leave from his duties as general of the Calamity Defence Brigade in conjunction with my time off. Since it had been ages since we’d had the chance, we decided to go on a proper adventure like we’d used to in the days when our kingdom had still been in its early stages of restoration. I suggested we spend our few days of freedom in Kakariko Village to pay a long overdue visit to our old friends who lived there, and he proposed that we set out on a hiking trip as well just to make things more exciting and to get outside for a change.

However, I‘d neglected to discern that ‘hiking trip,’ in Linkish, translated to ‘long and arduous climb up a near vertical mountain range.’ It was now an hour or so past midnight, and the two of us were making our way up the side of the cliff just south of Lanayru Road. As one might expect from someone who’s spent roughly the last half decade cooped up in the castle and filling out scroll after scroll of political documents, I was remarkably out of shape. My partner, however, was just as full of energy as he’d been in those olden days, scrambling up the rocky hills with ease. Even by the time we’d reached a level where he was able to stand and walk, I was still trudging along on all fours, barely able to carry my own weight. The gracious gentleman he was, he offered to carry me on his back for a ways when he saw what a sad state I was in.

Not long after I’d recovered strength enough to walk on my own, I started to feel a chill in the air. It was already quite cold to begin with on account of the high altitude, but now my snowquill tunic was beginning to fail me. I stiffened, watching my breath come out in billowing puffs of fog. With Link just a few steps ahead, he looked over his shoulder and came to a stop, nearly causing me to walk straight into him. He smiled mysteriously.

I turned in the direction he faced and spotted the cause of the sudden drop in temperature. In the distance, but steadily drawing nearer, was none other than the spirit Naydra. My eyes probably looked like they were ready to pop out of my skull in that moment.

Before I could fully grasp the situation, he’d already begun retrieving his paraglider from his bag, which he’d propped up against one of the monumental stone pillars dotting the hillside. “Hold onto me.” He held his hand out, holding both handles of the glider in the other. The dragon of ice and snow continued her rapid approach. “Zelda, quickly!” I rushed to his side. He hooked his arm around my waist, and I clung to him tightly by his shoulders.

“Link, are you sure this—ahh!”

A biting gust of wind came our way, and then the feeling of solid earth beneath my feet vanished.

I cried out in terror as he and I were swept upward. I’d used a paraglider before—I even had one of my own—but I’d never considered the thought of sharing one with another. And yet, to my surprise, we were still alive. I summoned the courage to open my eyes, and the moment I did, I was mesmerized.

Naydra was gliding around the two of us, encapsulating us in a vortex created by her flowing, river-like body that shined in a brilliant array of colours the likes of which I’d never beheld up close before. Silently, I gazed up at Link, whose cheeks were coral-coloured from the cold and whose locks danced about his face in the breeze. He wore the serene expression of one who’d had many a chance to experience this sort of thing, but was still just as awestruck as he’d been the first time. Despite the arctic winds nipping at me constantly through my clothes, feeling his arm around my waist holding me fast to his familiar frame filled me to the brim with a tangible sense of warmth and safety.

Naydra guided us with her winds to the top of the stone pillar, and I relaxed at the feeling of the ground beneath me, which was covered in iridescent blue flowers of all different kinds. The spirit of wisdom looked at us with respect in her ancient eyes. Link’s arm stroked up and down my back passively, still wrapped around my waist. Her icy breath touched my face gently and gracefully before she turned and disappeared into the sky.

“Zelda...?”

I turned around in his hold and bumped noses with him on accident, making us both crack a smile. I hadn’t quite finished laughing when he cupped my face and touched his lips to mine. Our embrace lasted an age. A symphony of strings had burst into song deep within my heart. It almost felt like we’d left the ground again as the sound of the wind caressing the flora flew into my ears.

When we parted, he touched his forehead softly to my own. I mirrored his blissful smile, whispering an, “I love you,” and laying my palm over his hand which rested against my cheek.

“I love you,” he echoed. Behind him, the sky was awash with tears of the Goddesses. Down below, the lights of the village shined just as brilliantly. I no longer felt any hint of the cold.

Link let go of me and knelt down on one knee. He then reached into his pouch and pulled out a small box, which he opened to reveal a ring. My hand flew up to my parted lips.

“Will you be my wife?”

My eyes became damp with tears. Of course, there was only one answer.

“Yes.”

Six tireless months of preparation had passed, and the ceremony was now underway. My whole body was more tense than the string of a bow. After an eternity of holding my breath as I waited outside in my carriage, watching the parade of participants walk one by one through the temple doors, my moment had arrived. I made my way up to the looming Doors of Time, and I peered in to see a grand sanctuary decked from one end to the other with stunning floral decor courtesy of Magda, a lovely lady Link had introduced me to with a passion for gardening and flower arrangement. At the far end on either side of the Goddess statue were our bridesmaids and groomsmen all standing in a row. At Her feet stood the priest and, in front of him, my soon-to-be husband whose jaw had dropped to the floor at the sight of me in my full regalia.

I tried my best to keep breathing normally whilst I took in the vast number of attendees filling up the main floor and the gallery through my peripheral vision. They were all trusted friends of ours, of course. However, my level of acquaintanceship with them did not change the fact that most were important figures of society who had high expectations of me, the queen of Hyrule. It was with this in mind that I held my head high, staying vehemently focused on my posture and the way I put each foot in front of the other as I walked down the carpeted aisle.

I held my bouquet in one hand and lifted the skirt of my dress with the other as I ascended the stairs leading to the altar, my train trailing gracefully behind me. I took my place beside Link and turned to face him, allowing him to remove my veil. It was subtle, but I’d without a doubt caught his lips forming the word, “Breathtaking.” I wanted to comment on how he looked equally as stunning in his regal, ivory attire accented by the various bits of gold decorating him from head to toe, but I’d save that for later.

At this time, the priest opened with the customary “Dearly Beloved” speech. I spotted the blur of court painter Pikango’s brush out of the corner of my eye. Although photographs were commonplace nowadays, I’d requested that he do a small-scale portrait of the ceremony with the reason being simply that Link and I were fond of his paintings.

Once the priest’s heartwarming introduction had reached its end, he looked to us and requested that we declare our vows to one and other. We’d worked out ahead of time that Link would go first. Yet if I could have predicted the true depth and authenticity of the words that were about to pass his lips, I would have taken the lead, for his vows would set the standard for my own far, far above what I could possibly meet.

“My dear Zelda,” he began in earnest,

“I still often find myself looking back on the days when I knew nothing but the sweet sound of your voice. In those days that I spent scouring the land for little scraps of my life from one hundred and ten years ago, the thought of seeing your face with my own eyes and hearing your voice with my own ears was what gave me comfort during sleepless nights. I may never regain most of my memories of our past relationship, but that no longer bothers me, because since then, I have made countless precious memories with you that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Like the time we spent living in our little house in Hateno Village, where every morning I would make us breakfast while you’d try and think up new ways to use me as a test subject for your research.”

This earned a collective chuckle from the audience and put a crooked smile on my face as I tried not to laugh.

“Although I said, ‘Yes,’ when you first asked if I still loved you despite everything, I didn’t realize just how many things about you that I would later discover and fall in love with one by one: your brilliant mind, your kind and affectionate heart, and the true depth of your inextinguishable passion, just to name a few. These past years that I’ve spent by your side are what have shaped me into the man standing before you now. My hope for the future, as well as my promise to you, is that we will continue to set out on new adventures and forge new memories together for the rest of our days as husband and wife.”

To say his words had hit me straight in the heart would be an arrant understatement. It was all I could do to hold myself back from prematurely tossing my bouquet over my shoulder and kissing him to death right then and there. Instead, however, I retained my composure and proceeded to recite what I had prepared.

“Link,

“As you may have noticed, we are surrounded by silent princess flowers, a once rare breed that hadn’t yet found a place to thrive amongst civilization a century ago, but has now flourished into a prospering species that can be seen from every window in this beautiful kingdom of ours. Now, since I know you’re already renowned for your role as the hero of Hyrule, I’ll talk about something a little more personal between you and me. And that something is that you’re not just a hero to Hyrule, but even more so to me. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never once left my side willfully and I’ve always been able to rely on you in times of need. It’s thanks solely to your undying support over the years that my dream of taking a fallen nation and rebuilding it into something greater than ever before has since blossomed into reality.”

It was around then when I looked up to see tears forming in his eyes. He nodded curtly, urging me to continue.

“I promise to be there for you whenever you’re being too hard on yourself, and to turn to you for guidance when I do the same. I promise to remind you, when you lose sight of who you are, that you are perfect in every way no matter how many doubts you may have. I promise to always make time to spend with you, and to respect your need to be alone at times. And above all, I promise to you absolute love and trust, for although today marks the start to the rest of our lives together, I know it will not be enough time to spend with you.”

Link’s face was fixed in a sentimental smile that mirrored my own. He’d managed to hold back his tears, but it was clear to see how moved he was. Glancing around the room, I realized he and I weren’t the only ones who had gotten emotional.

With that, the time came for us to exchange rings and join hands.

“Link, please place Zelda’s ring on her fourth finger.” I raised my hand out, and he held it with the utmost care while he slipped the ring onto my extended finger. “Do you, Link, take Zelda to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in the good times and the bad, treating her as your equal for as long as you both shall live?”

He never took his eyes off me as he gave his answer. “I do.”

“Zelda, please place Link’s ring on his fourth finger.” I did as instructed, glad to hear the priest drop the honourifics for the occasion like I’d asked. Link’s ring fit perfectly on his slim, calloused finger as I put it on for him. “Do you, Zelda, take Link to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in the good times and the bad, treating him as your equal for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”

“Very good.” The priest closed his tome and placed it under his arm. “With that, by the power vested in me by the Goddess Hylia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may seal your vows with a kiss.”

Of course, we couldn’t just stay in our current positions and have a light, chaste kiss—absolutely not.

Link just had to set fire to all established formalities by sweeping me off my feet and dipping me almost to the point where I was parallel with the floor. Only then did he dive in for the kiss. Roaring applause ensued. Flower petals showered down from above. In the midst of all the excitement, I could’ve sworn I heard a stifled chuckle before someone mumbled the word, “‘Seal,’” under their breath.

During the procession following the ceremony, my subjects—soon to be our subjects—were all lined up along the route to the castle, waiting to get a glimpse of the newlywed royal couple in their specially fashioned horse-drawn carriage. Upon arriving at our destination, the butterflies in my stomach began fluttering up a storm when I noticed the throngs of people that had gathered. For years, I’d hesitated announcing our relationship to the public for fear of their disapproval. But seeing their smiling faces and hearing their joyous cheers from the balcony filled me with hope. On top of that, the proud smile worn by my husband as he waved to the crowd from beside me was infectious.

The reception was spectacular, which only made it all the more terrifying. For the whole of the afternoon, the castle grounds were open to the lucky winners of a raffle that people from all over the world had been given the opportunity to participate in. To kick it off, Link and I each gave a brief speech encouraging guests to make merry and celebrate to their hearts’ content. From then on, the great hall was alive with music coupled by the din of friendly conversation, and every so often, the names and titles of new arrivals would be announced from the main entrance.

My aversion to large social gatherings like this was no secret to Link. If not for royal traditions, we both would’ve preferred to have a nice, simple wedding in the countryside and to keep our invitations limited to a select few of our closest friends. Even so, he would not accept my perfectly appropriate inclination to simply preside over the festivities from my throne. Instead, when people were beginning to partner up in the middle of the ballroom, he dragged me down one of the soaring flights of stairs by force straight into the heart of the crowd. Everything came to an abrupt halt. My stomach sank. Link, clearly pleased as punch to be the centre of attention, bowed and offered me his hand as if to say, “May I have this dance?”

Given that all eyes were now glued to us, I was left with no choice but to digress and take his hand. The moment he drew me closer and placed his other hand on my waist, the orchestra raised their instruments and began playing, which prompted the dancers to begin dancing. The tumult of twirling and sidestepping and switching of partners that then ensued had my head spinning.

At some point when Link and I were back in each other’s arms amidst the whirlpool of dancers, we’d gravitated toward the rim of the ballroom floor where a few steps led up to an expanse of tables and chairs beyond which stood a doorway leading outside. My partner was looking around the room with intent. I glanced over my shoulder to see whatever he had seen, but I was swept off to the side as soon as my head was turned.

Half of me was filled with relief to be away from prying eyes as I followed him to Hylia knew where. The other half was filled with doubt that our absence would go unnoticed for long. And the second half was prevailing over the first. He didn’t answer any of my continuous demands to know just where he was taking me. All he did was continue along on his happy-go-lucky way. Perhaps even he didn’t know where he was going.

We hadn’t gotten far when we’d reached a small pavilion overlooking the castle gardens. He turned to face me with a worrying glint in his eye. “Wait, what are you doing?” He gripped my shoulders. “Link—”

Before I could get another word out, he backed me up into the banister and began slowly ravishing my mouth. I gave into him, my fingers weaving themselves into his modestly groomed locks out of habit. He drew away sooner than I’d anticipated, and my eyes fluttered open.

“Kissing my wife,” he finally answered, flashing that charming smile of his. My shoulders shook a little in laughter as I pulled him in for another kiss. He crooned happily, taking me by the waist. His hands roamed across the bodice of my gown, feeling every little intricacy embroidered onto its surface. “I must say,” he muttered, “I couldn’t have imagined something that‘d make you look so gorgeous.”

“Well, you really have the tailors to thank for all this,” I blushed, playing with the pleats of my elegant skirt. “I’m quite pleased with their work myself.”

“While it looks magnificent on you, darling,” he began, running a finger under where it scooped up and cupped my breasts, “I am looking forward to seeing you take it off later this evening.”

I pushed him away gently. “Stop it. Someone could hear—ah!” He grabbed my behind through my dress, without warning.

“Sorry,” he lied, snickering. “I just can’t help myself around you.” He gave me a quick kiss to the temple. I glowered at him, praying he’d get the message that this wasn’t funny to me anymore, but he paid no mind as he bent down and started hiking my skirt up my leg. My face burned as hot as the touch of his fingertips trailing up the skin of my thigh. I looked around frantically for anyone we might’ve been in plain sight of.

“Link,” I whined, “for the love of the Goddesses—”

“Hey, does anyone see the newlyweds about?” He and I both froze at Prince Sidon’s jolly and boisterous tones booming all the way from the great hall. “I figure it’s about time to roll out some old Hyrulian traditions!”

The next thing I knew, I was sat on a big throne that had been set up in the dead centre of the ballroom, and my groom was kneeling at my feet with an utterly victorious smirk on his face. Kass and the other musicians had stopped playing. All of the guests—every single one as well as some staff members—had gathered in front of us. I cursed Sidon under my breath, making Link’s grin grow wider. Everyone was cheering and whistling like they were watching the semiannual shield surfing tournament. I laughed halfheartedly, feeling humiliation sinking in.

With no hesitation, Link raised my right leg over his shoulder and ducked his head under my dress. I didn’t have time to react before I felt him nip gently at my inner thigh. I jumped, biting back a yelp. The audience hollered out in excitement. The ten seconds or so that it then took him to take my garter between his teeth and inch it along the length of my leg seemed like a century. When he emerged, he looked up at me with a sultry gaze that made my blood boil.

With the garter still in his mouth, he stood up and tossed it over his shoulder like a dog with a stick. This did me in. I erupted into uncontrollable bouts of laughter, and Link and the rest of the audience followed suit. Regrettably I was too hysterical to notice who had caught it.

The rest of the reception went on without a hitch. Immediately following Link’s grandiose display of shamelessness, I performed the long-awaited throwing of the bouquet. This time I remembered to take note of the catcher; it was none other than Impa’s granddaughter, Paya, whose complexion had taken on a shade similar to that of her Sheikah facial markings. After that, there were one or two more traditions that needed to be taken care of, such as the cutting of the cake. Link and I had to be given a ladder to stand on in order for us to be able to reach the top tier. Even so, the amount of effort needed was befitting of the delectable prize waiting for me at the end. My lovely husband even offered to feed me the fruits and berries off of his slice, and who would I have been to decline his generosity?

A short while later, I was out on the dance floor again. Compared to before, I was feeling a great deal more relaxed as I mingled with the the many, many partygoers.

Then I heard the thunderous crack of an explosion.

I looked out through the great hall’s lofty windows and witnessed the shimmering hues of fireworks painting the night sky. My plans for them had completely slipped my mind. By the time they’d begun, many people had already made their way outside. I scanned the room for Link and, upon spotting him, asked my current dance partner to excuse me and made my way over to him. Then he followed me to the balcony where we’d enjoy the show for as long as it would last, until the clock struck midnight and the celebration was drawn to a close.

The night had already progressed into the small hours of morning when my husband and I had made it back to our shared quarters. Our lavish ensembles were folded neatly away inside a box in our wardrobe, probably never to be worn again. I’d never revelled so much in the sensation of lying down on my bed and feeling all the tension in my body melt away. What a day it had been.

“I love you.” Link’s voice was low and warm as his fingertips combed delicately through the roots of my hair.

“I love you too,” I smiled, idly tracing each of the scars littering his chest one by one. “Be honest. How long did it take you to write those vows?”

He donned a prideful grin, saying, “Made them up on the spot.”

“I said, ‘Be honest,’” I giggled, giving him a light shove.

“I am! It’s the truth!” And yet his ear-to-ear grin did little to back up his claim.

“Really?” I gave him an incredulous look, which he challenged with a raise of his brow. “Well, I, for one, wrote out draft after draft and spent hours of my precious time memorizing and rehearsing them.”

“I figured as much,” he chided into my neck. A chill raced through my blanketed body followed by another bubbly laugh.

I rolled my eyes. “If you are telling the truth and you really did improvise that whole thing, then...I admit, I’m impressed.”

“Am I not brilliant?”

“Oh, yes,” I smiled, craning my neck to kiss his jawline. Then with a slight yawn as I laid my head back down on his shoulder, “Absolutely.”

[naydralikessoup]

after a long day of wallowing in existential dread and loneliness i'm very pleased to announce that it's TIME TO GET SADDER!!!!

*opens kingdom hearts 2*

[naydralikessoup]

shout out to sora kingdom hearts for literally killing himself on screen and living and being a symbol of hope and kindness and love. that's the emotion we're feeling these days

[naydralikessoup]

they don't tell you that when you turn 19 all your emotions feel different and are suddenly laced with nostalgia. what is this

[naydralikessoup]

beware the casual kingdom hearts fan to nonbinary and parasocial about hikaru utada pipeline

[naydralikessoup]

chat we're thinking about chain of memories repliku again. what if you were different from everyone around you and you and everyone else knew your normalcy was fake. what if your were created by people unlike you and never knew anything else. what if you were destroyed by the person they wanted you to be. what if you had no idea what you were or whether or not you were really a person or what would happen to something like you. i'll actually never be normal about him he is the character ever he is my niche pick fav he is my son

anyway my friends keep saying i should get an autism evaluation for some reason

[naydralikessoup]

this post is about roxas kingdom hearts

[naydralikessoup]

y'all my friends just gave me permission to make a slideshow about kingdom hearts and give it to them before finishing the second game 👁️👁️