#now zelda has ALL of it; but Link and Ganon are drawn back due to the machinations of Hylia & Demise | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ashleyswrittenwords · 4 years ago

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Hatred

Corrupted!Link Oneshot

Uhhh, @intangiblyyourswrites made me do it. Zelink, sorta.

I’m moving back to college soon so take this as payment for my absence!

(Very small, if you squint, non-sexual noncon thing in here. Also blood cw. Don’t want to spoil it, but if things like that make you uncomfy I wanted to let you know.)

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The blade was dipped in red.

He died but his smile was no proof of that.

Behind him was hellfire screams as the Calamity burned its hatred for her into the sky. Zelda’s sandals pounded against the grass beyond Fort Hateno, fear reaching her throat. The grasses of Hyrule Field hid its unevenness and the lip of her shoe quickly caught a jagged rock.

Her ankle grew warm with the slick heat. She didn’t bother to check if her skin tore.

For days she was able to evade whatever had become of the Hylian Champion. Calamity Ganon had resurfaced just as the prophecy foretold and Zelda was unable to save anyone. Not even the one who swore to protect her and refused to follow their own fate to save hers.

Footsteps lumbered over to her. The Master Sword was slung over his shoulder lazily and he wore his amusement on his sleeve. The sight of Link always shocked her. Scraps of malice crawled up his limbs and left the clothes he had died in tattered. Zelda couldn’t recall if the blood that marred his tunic was there when he was lifeless in her arms.

“Predictable,” he laughed bitterly. “A failure even in saving your own life.”

Zelda’s chest heaved and she fought her own primal instincts. Red glowing guardians verged on the edge of the field with eyes spinning rapidly around. This man, someone she refused to acknowledge as her friend, didn’t seem to favor them despite their obedience to his whims. She began to believe that their distance was learned from seeing their own kind be victim to his anger.

“How could you say that?” she demanded. “How could you when you’re the one who has told me I was worth so much more than destiny?”

That was when his smile slipped. His bicep flexed as the sword slipped from his shoulder and he held it in a set stance.

“Did you think you could run from me long? Because this game is beginning to bore me.”

Zelda scrambled back, gasping pain when she attempted to put weight on her ankle. The tears that threatened to spill weren’t due to that, however. “You disgust me.”

“There we go, goddess!” Link harked, drawing closer. His hair was carefully drawn back, neater than the last time he had almost caught her. The blue in his eyes was void of any shine they once held, they were darker. “Those are the words that excite me. Pray tell, dear Zelda, what else do I do to you?”

“Your cruelty sickens me,” she spat. Zelda tried to mirror in approach with receding steps, but stumbled from injury. In a second’s time, he sank his sword into the soil and gripped her forearm harshly. She yelped and sagged against him.

His expression was darker, drunk on whatever power was possessing him. “What else?”

“You’re repulsing, vulgar, irreprehensible.”

He forced her hand up to eyesight and wretched it palm down to where he could clearly see three golden triangles growing bright gold against the dark. Against him. The light danced in his eyes, duller than it was days ago - the time between their meetings had blurred as she desperately tried to pull together the severed kingdom.

Yet containing Calamity Ganon with her magic was taking its toll, especially when it was unpracticed.

Zelda was never a good judge of character when it comes to people. It made her a poor courtier when the court still existed and now she scorned that fact about herself because the expression on his face was indescribable. All good sense and reason her mind could muster told her that this man meant to kill her just as he attempted to when she went to put Link in the Shrine of Resurrection.

His grip on her was cemented as she tried to pull away, so weak that she couldn’t heal herself.

When he spoke, she flinched. “Do you hate me?”

She tried to search him. Any ounce of what had been was null to a wild, utterly corrupted being. At one point, there was a man who brought her calmness from one single glance. Now, she was kept awake from fear of this new inhabitant. His eyes saw too deeply and there was nothing humane in his mannerisms. This being thrived on sorrow, even more so when he was the source of it.

Zelda once craved his smile, but now it only spoke of foreboding demise. She should hate him for everything he has done. To wield the sword of legends against his own countrymen was damning enough. Murdering, pilleging, and seeming to enjoy every second. From the second he laid eyes on her, she felt a chilling fear that stays with you. That scratches into your skin and makes you think of it in the darkness of your dreams to convince you illogically that morning will never come.

It was all a game of cat and mouse to him.

She still felt shame to find herself preferring this Link to a dead one… but he was still dead, right? Whoever this was couldn’t possibly be him.

“Yes,” she said, her throat scratchy and dry from overexertion. Green eyes met icy blue. “I hate you. I hate you, but the more I hate you the more I hate myself.”

Pain welled in her heart. How dare he use that body? I dare he take from her and continue to remind her of what could have been?

She yelped as he drug her to eye level.

“Strike me,” Link implored, shaking her slightly. “Just as you did when at the fort. Raise your hand to me and strike me.”

Zelda scowled. “No.”

“Why?”

“I’m not your dog to command.”

He was put off. The reason was beyond her. The man swallowed thickly and tried to look through her. “Do it.”

When she didn’t, he grimaced. His words came out with gravelly anger, “If you hate me, then do it.”

That was when she saw a new kind of rage that bubbled thick and hot. His breath came short and uneven, fanning over her as she stared back defiantly. If he were to kill her now, she wasn’t going to be complacent.

Then, without warning, he brought his mouth over hers and kissed her. His lips were rough like the way he touched her; completely untamed and only able to take, take, take.

She wanted to lash out, scream at him, anything that would hurt him. But his lips clouded her mind and only the screams from Calamity Ganon brought him away from her. The goddess’s child felt the monster beat against her seal over Hyrule Castle and Link released her. Suddenly without his support, she crumbled to the ground. Above the woman was Link yelling curses towards the cloud of malice.

“Shut up!” he snarled, stopping shortly to listen to words she couldn’t hear. “Does it look like I care?!”

The one-sided shouting match continued to the point where Zelda scrambled to ignore the pulsing of her joints. The Master Sword didn’t reject her when she grasped it, nor did it fight her when she wielded it against its rightful owner and slashed it into his side.

It took everything she had not to follow it into the dirt, spinning slightly to the side with its momentum. Link paused mid-insult, bringing a hand from his side to his face. He stared at the blood as if it were an annoying hindrance instead of debilitating injury, then found her eyes.

First, he smiled a twisted and gnarled grin before devolving into a bout of laughter.

She ran.

#this is kristie's fault not mine #au where link wears eyeliner #corrupted!link #dark link #?#i guess #loz #legend of zelda: breath of the wild #legend of zelda #zelink #sorta #link #zelda #fanfiction #zelink fanfiction #loz fanfiction #blood

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mysmashplaythroughs · 5 years ago

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Ocarina of Time Link Playthrough

Fighter: Link (Ocarina of Time Incarnation)

Game: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Wii U virtual console (N64). First Released on November 21st 1998.

Fighter Bio.

Having drawn the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time, roughly 9-year-old Link finds himself flung 7 years into the future, now a 16-year-old standing in the Temple of Time. He meets Rauru the Sage of Light who informs him that he had been put into a slumber for the past seven years in order to grow into a state in which he could effectively wield the Master Sword, and that in that time Ganondorf had taken the Triforce of Power and conquered Hyrule. Rauru tells Link that he must now find the other seven sages in order to gain the power needed to defeat Ganondorf and save Hyrule. Stepping out of the Temple of Time Link finds before him a far different Hyrule Castle Town to the one he had left behind, buildings in ruin, Hyrule Castle destroyed and replaced with Ganon’s Tower and Redead Zombies the only residents now in the town square. Link later finds out that most of the surviving citizens of Hyrule Castle Town had escaped to Kakariko Village, with it being a more bustling location than it was seven years before, with many of the shops from the Castle Town now found there.

Link meets many characters he’d met in his childhood once again. With seven years having passed many of the children he’d met such as Malon of Lon Lon Ranch have aged similarly to him. It is on Lon Lon Ranch Link also meets the now grown up foal Epona who he had met seven years earlier. With the help from Malon’s song she had taught Link as a child, he manages to save Epona from being given to Ganon by the new corrupt owner of the Ranch, in the process breaking Ganon’s hold over him and saving the ranch. With Epona now helping Link he can travel across Hyrule faster as well as using her ability to jump over fences to access areas he couldn’t before. During his travels Link often meets a mysterious character called Sheik who teaches him various songs that Link can use to warp to locations related to the sage’s temples. After a long difficult quest Link manages to awaken six of the seven sages before being reunited with the seventh, Princess Zelda who had been in hiding for the past seven years. However, once she reveals herself, Ganondorf locates Zelda and captures her taking her to his Tower where Link must travel to with the help of the sages in order to finally take down Ganon and bring peace back to Hyrule. Following his adventure, Link is sent back to the past, to the moment he left seven years ago and is never seen again in this specific timeline in Hyrule’s history, being regarded as the legendary Hero of Time and passing into myth.

Friends: Link in his travels as a child met many characters throughout Hyrule and following his journey seven years into the future met many of these characters again as an adult. Saria is Link’s oldest friend having lived with him in Kokiri Forest as a child before he left on his adventure, following this Link met Princess Zelda and Impa who helped guide him on his quest. He met Darunia leader of the Gorons, Princess Ruto of the Zora as well as Malon during his travels as a child as well as being reunited with them in the future. Many of these characters with the exception of Malon would turn out to be sages when Link met them again, with Rauru and a Gerudo called Nabooru being the other two sages Link meets and befriends. The sages all help Link during his quest to take down Ganon, using their powers during his journey to and through Ganon’s Tower. Link has two more key friends who help him, Epona the horse who he can ride to travel around Hyrule Field and a couple of other locations such as Lake Hylia and the Gerudo Training Grounds, and Navi his loyal fairy companion who travelled with Link from the very start of his quest. Navi was sent to help Link by the Great Deku Tree, the guardian of the Kokiri Forest where Link grew up and who acted as a parental figure to Link and the Kokiri living there.

Enemies/Rivals: Link’s main enemy is Ganondorf the King of the Gerudo who, in the seven years Link was in stasis, took the Triforce. Due to the imbalance in his heart however, he could not hold the full Triforce and it separated leaving him with only the Triforce of Power. The Triforce of Wisdom went to Princess Zelda and the Triforce of Courage went to Link. As such, Ganondorf seeks Link and Zelda in order to reclaim all three pieces of the Triforce and rule Hyrule without opposition. With the Triforce of Power alone however Ganondorf has already managed to conquer Hyrule when Link arrives, controlling many monsters who have captured the Sages and spread chaos throughout the land. Link battles many of these creatures, from Volvagia the ancient dragon of Death Mountain to humanoid foes such as Phantom Ganon and Twinrova, the twin Gerudo witches. This Link also canonically is the first to encounter and battle Dark Link, a shadowy reflection of himself who appears from his reflection in the Water Temple.

Link also fights the assorted creatures and soldiers making up Ganon’s army such as Octoroks, Stalfos, Moblins and Lizalfos. Link doesn’t make many enemies of the people of Hyrule with mostly his enemies being monsters. The only exceptions to these are the guards in the Gerudo Fortress, who are more attacking him for intruding in their fortress than as enemies and the majority of them will simply throw him in a cell when they catch him, Deku Scrubs who, sometimes when defeated offer to sell Link things (although other variants will fight to the death) and then there are Gorons who can accidentally damage Link if they run into him whilst rolling around their city or down Death Mountain.

Crossovers with other Smash characters: This Link has not specifically crossed over with any other characters outside of Smash Bros unlike his younger incarnation. He has been represented as an alt costume for Link in Hyrule Warriors however, being able to fight against and with other versions of Link, Zelda and Ganondorf from throughout the series. EDIT: And now, this is probably the first post I’ve gone back to alter following a new character being revealed. This is a tenuous connection really overall, but it’s a very notable event in gaming that I’ve finally had a chance to bring up so I decided to at least mention it. With Kazuya Mishima revealed for Super Smash Bros Ultimate from the Tekken series, Link with this specific design has had a connection to Tekken before through another series. In Soul Calibur 2, a decision was made to have an exclusive character to each platform the game was on, Xbox got Spawn the Image Comics character, Playstation got Heihachi Mishima, the father of Kazuya and Gamecube got, as you may have guessed Link in a rare role as a guest character. This was fondly remembered and I believe the Gamecube version of the game actually sold the best possibly due to Link’s inclusion, however Link and Heihachi were mutually exclusive and as such could not directly fight each other. What still makes this worth mentioning however, is that Soul Calibur as a series is related to Tekken, to the point it’s been hinted at if not outright confirmed that the series takes place in the past of Tekken’s world, with Yoshimitsu being a fighter in both series, and the one in Tekken being said to be a successor to the one in Soul Calibur. There is one other link directly between Link and Kazuya, however that one involves another incarnation of the hero, so therefore I will go over that in a later post.

Why this game?

With the first Zelda character I’m covering comes a key factor the main characters of the Zelda series have which makes them somewhat unique from other characters in Smash. Instead of Link and Zelda being characters who appear throughout the Zelda series there are many different versions of them, with the Link in Twilight Princess for example being a different character to the one in Ocarina of Time. They all tend to share various characteristics, the most obvious being their name and in all cases so far Link has been the main playable character in each game. As this covers the Link in Ocarina of Time, a character who has both an adult and child form, the main game to represent this Link therefore is the only canon game this Link appears in as an adult, being Ocarina of Time. Because this is his only appearance the vast majority of equipment and attacks Link uses in Super Smash Bros come from this game as a source. It’s also important to note that this version of Link only appeared as a fighter in the original Super Smash Bros and Super Smash Bros Melee, being replaced in Super Smash Bros Brawl onwards with other versions of Link from later games. I will cover those versions of Link later down the line so for now the Link here is only drawing from his portrayal in Super Smash Bros and Melee.

My past with this game.

So this game is the first example of something I had with a few games back in my childhood and probably is the one that I think of first when it comes to it, which is it wasn’t a game I owned but one which I played at my Cousin’s house when I’d visit. My history before this with the Zelda series actually was rather brief which is funny to me today as it’s definitely one of my top personal series now, still as a child the only game I had was the very original Legend of Zelda on the NES, which I never got very far on. I will go over that game further down the line, but it’s never been one of my particular favourites so it was probably the worst game for me personally to start with. Since my only games really at the time my Cousins had OOT were Super Mario 64 and possibly Mario Kart 64 this game always felt like a lot more of a ‘mature’ game than I was used to, with various dark elements and a world that unlike Peach’s Castle was a bit more hostile. This also brings me onto something I remember from my childhood, which would often happen with games that you don’t get today really, getting a game second hand that had a save file already on it. I wasn’t good at games at this time (I mean, not to say I am now necessarily.) and I was more interested in just running around in the worlds than actually doing the main story and challenges in the game. The save file on my Cousin’s copy of OOT had gotten to the future Hyrule part of the game, which meant we could run around a lot of Hyrule already as well as having access to the past version of Hyrule as Child Link. As such, my earliest memories of this game aren’t really about the story so much as the locations and talking to all the various NPCs. I remember this was probably the first game I played which had things like towns you could go to and talk to random characters in as well as sidequests. It was also the first game I personally played with a day and night system which I found fairly amazing at the time. Finally, this game was also the first I remember playing where music was more than just something in the background, with playing the Ocarina being a big part of the game (it’s in the title afterall) a lot of the tunes even now hold a lot of nostalgia for me, as I’m sure they do for a lot of other people.

After playing the game quite a few times at my Cousins and I believe borrowing the game a couple of times I finally got my own copy, second hand also which similarly had a save file in the Adult Link portion of the game. I did I believe make an attempt to play the game from the start now that I had it, but the furthest I think at this time I got to was Death Mountain where I think I ran for the first time into something I’d like to refer to as the ‘Zelda Pitfall’. I’m sure it has already been given a name as it’s not something unique to me, nor to Zelda games specifically, I’ve just found it happens to me in a lot of them. This is where you get to a point in the game where you just cannot work out how to continue. You’ll explore every area of the dungeon, try out everything you think is ‘obvious’ you can do with the items you have, but you just cannot figure out how to go forward. It’s even worse when you run into this outside of dungeons as then you have the whole world to explore in order to find a solution. The final nail in the coffin that makes this ‘the Zelda Pitfall’ is when the solution turns out to be extremely simple and you were overthinking it the whole time, such as having the item you needed already and you forgot, actually being able to fairly easily proceed because a door you thought you’d checked you actually hadn’t or finally the answer being given to you and you immediately forgot it and started overthinking the solution.

Due to this I didn’t get very far into Ocarina of Time for a while. Gradually other consoles with newer games came out and I didn’t revisit Ocarina of Time as often, but one thing I find interesting is it was somewhat of a constant presence for me. First came the Gamecube and because I was playing it as my main console at the time, I didn’t like to have to plug my N64 in again to play older games. During the Gamecube era however, there was a special release with Ocarina of Time, the new Master Quest mode and Majora’s Mask all on one disk. I got this and played Ocarina of Time again, this time managing to get to the Adult Link part myself rather than using the previous owner of the game’s save file. I did not get any further than the first adult dungeon however, the Forest Temple which is where I left the game off. At this point I had played a few Zelda games, however I had not completed any of them at the time. When the Wii released one of the big selling points to me was the Virtual Console, allowing me to easily play all sorts of older games without having to get those consoles out and setup again. Due to this I was able to download Ocarina of Time on my Wii. At this time, with the launch of the Wii also came Twilight Princess, which I thoroughly enjoyed and became the first 3D Zelda title I’d completed (I believe I possibly beat Minish Cap on GBA before this as my very first completed Zelda game overall.) I would over the next few years return to Ocarina of Time sometimes hoping to complete it, however often as with so many games over the years, there’d be other new games would come out which would take my attention away.

In June 2011, Nintendo in a similar move to their remake for Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo DS came out with a remake of Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 3DS fairly early into it’s run. This version of the game boasted redone models with a lot more details, redone environments and various changes to the item setups making it much faster to equip certain ones than in the original game, which managed to improve upon a largely criticized dungeon I will detail later. There were other changes such as the option to use the gyro sensor when aiming items such as the bow and slingshot which I found a great improvement. With the game portable and it being one of the few big releases at that period of time for the 3DS I finally managed to play through Ocarina of Time from start to finish, I believe beating the final boss whilst on holiday in this case. This remake is one I would highly recommend, it doesn’t make many controversial changes to the original game, looks very nice (Although I have heard the criticism it looks too nice and takes away some of the edge of the original game as it looks too clean.) and in my opinion the gyro controls are a very nice addition for aiming certain items etc. I’ve included in this post a single screenshot I got of OOT3D which you can compare to the other pictures here to see the difference in Link’s model for example. So, finally I had beaten a game I really should have beaten many years earlier, at least, I had beaten the remake. A few years later however, I decided to replay the game for my Smash Bros list. I felt rather than replay the remake even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I wanted to finally beat the version from my childhood that I should have beaten so many years earlier.

My Smash Playthrough.

So the first thing I want to go into with this game is the introduction that plays when you start a new game. If you read my previous section you’d realise, I’ve started this game from scratch a few times now, and honestly I feel this game has probably one of the most standout openings I can think of. Every time I’ve restarted the game (or watched a person starting a Lets Play of it) the scene with Link sleeping in his home in Kokiri Forest, with the text narration of the Great Deku Tree and the complete lack of any sounds until his nightmare begins has always felt like the start of something special to me. In a sense, given how Ocarina of Time is such a big nexus point for everything that happens in the series (even if it’s not the very beginning of the series canonically) the really understated opening always feels sort of epic for me. Of course, having played this opening many times before, a lot of this specific run doesn’t stick in my head particularly, although I personally find it a nice relaxing start to the game, exploring Kokiri Forest and talking to everyone, taking on the first dungeon and onwards until I reached the Temple of Time and the Master Sword.

Since this post will focus on Adult Link in the game, I believe it’s best to not go too in-depth on the first parts of the game which I will get to in a later post. Reaching this point in the game isn’t too difficult, but it’s still three dungeons in with the last one being a somewhat irritating one so it feels an achievement to reach this point. With the Master Sword in hand it always feels like you’ve had a powerup, beating enemies you had more trouble with in the past somewhat more easily such as Lizalfols. The first Temple as an adult, the Forest Temple I remember gave me a few ‘Zelda Pitfall’ problems. I’ve found when I come across these issues now there are various steps I take which often lead to the solution. The first step is simply to check my map and see which rooms I haven’t visited yet and see if I can enter any of them, if I’ve found the compass also it’s key to track down every chest I can find/reach. The next step is to check my inventory to double check every item I have, it’s important to try and remember all the functionality of them, I’ve had a few times I’ve forgotten some specific additional effect an item has that is required to solve a puzzle that is, due to this, fairly simple. The third is to remember what the most recent item or ability I’ve gained is. Some equipment is always equipped so when checking the item menu won’t show up, it’s important therefore not to forget you’ve already got this equipment and that if you can use it’s ability it might be the key to get through. Next up it’s important to check every room thoroughly, it can be easy to overlook something in some cases as simple as a door that you just assumed for some reason didn’t actually lead where you want to go. You should also test things out, sometimes a texture or object you think your item won’t have any effect on is actually the solution to your situation. Next is taking a break, sometimes you can get so focused on solving something you miss an obvious solution that with a break you realise was right in front of you the whole time. Finally there’s the cheating loser’s way out, which is if all else fails look up a walkthrough, it’s perhaps not honourable, but it’s up to you if you want to lose motivation in a game because you just can’t work something out or take that extra help. I personally tend to nowadays do everything I can to work it out myself until it’s taking almost a week, which luckily for me rarely happens anymore. With this in mind, this doesn’t always work as there have been a few times I’ve found guides that unhelpfully completely gloss over the obvious thing I’ve been making a mistake on the whole time, which is why in these cases I’ll usually check out someone’s video playthrough to see just how they reach the next section.

Following the Forest Temple, I didn’t have many problems until I reached what many consider the worst dungeon in the game, the Water Temple. This is the dungeon I said earlier was improved somewhat in the 3DS remake of OOT. The key issue with it in the N64 version is you having to equip the iron boots, which require pausing, moving to the equipment screen and selecting the iron boots every time you want them on to weigh you down in the water, then doing the same and selecting the Kokiri Boots every time you want to float to the water’s surface, which is required a lot in this dungeon. In the 3DS remake you can instead equip the iron boots as an item, which you can simply press the assigned button to equip and de-equip. With this said, personally I found the Water Temple, after years of hearing just how hated it is to be fairly unremarkable. Honestly, I think I had more trouble with the boss than I did with the actual temple, which I will get to later. Personally, I actually found the mini dungeon which is an Ice Cavern more irritating to get through than the Water Temple. The Ice Cavern has naturally, ice physics, however, it often has sections that require slightly more precise platforming than usual, has ice statue enemies who breath clouds of ice that freeze you if you make contact with them which coupled with the ice physics can make them irritating to get close to to take down, although you can use fire arrows if you’ve found them at this point which cost magic and arrows each time. Then there are the block puzzles which aren’t particularly difficult, but if you mess them up often require you to leave and return to reset. Following this, the only dungeons that stick out as difficult to me were the Gerudo Training Ground, which was more difficult to navigate than particularly tough with it getting slightly confusing working out where you had and hadn’t gone, and the Spirit Temple, the second last dungeon. The Spirit Temple definitely is an interesting place and I didn’t dislike it, however it had a fair few moments where I fell into some ‘Zelda Pitfalls’. Ganon’s Tower has a few tricks but I didn’t find it particularly difficult, however I did like going through it, especially the final ascent of the main tower facing various enemies on each floor as Ganon’s theme plays.

When it comes to the bosses, this is the game that first translated bosses into 3D for the series. As such, it takes a lot of it’s cues from the earlier games, something the series has had a long tradition of to this day. The bosses often will be weak to the item you’ve found in the temple they’re in with them having a weak point of some sort that you have to use the item to expose. After this you’ll move in whilst they’re stunned and slash as much as you can with your sword. Whilst this is the case, the bosses were still fairly big spectacles in each encounter, the first being Phantom Ganon who has a fun battle involving him charging on horseback at you from one of several paintings in the room, Volvagia the dragon of Death Mountain who flies through the air before giving you a game of wack-a-mole. Morpheel, a liquid tentacle with an eyeball floating in it was probably the boss I had the most difficulty with, more than the actual Water Temple itself as I found it difficult to get the hookshot to effectively pull the eye out of the water so I could strike it leading to a long irritating battle from what I remember. Bongo Bongo and Twinrova were also both fun and somewhat challenging battles. With Twinrova even though their tactic was fairly simple to work out (use the mirror shield to reflect their attack back at their twin) it was still challenging to actually pull it off. Before I go onto the Final Boss, the Mini Bosses were in most cases simply strong enemies you’d have to defeat to proceed, there were two standouts however. Dark Link is a fairly iconic fight from the series with him mirroring your every move and in some cases even jumping and standing on top of your sword when you thrust it at him. You have to use somewhat unconventional strategies against him that he cannot replicate, using items such as the Megaton Hammer, Biggorons Sword which is longer than his copy Master Sword, or if you wish to and have the magic energy, Din’s Fire, a magical attack that engulfs the whole room that he cannot counter. The second standout mini boss isn’t iconic so much as one of the creepiest things in the game, a corpselike, blood spattered (except in the 3DS version) bizarre being called Dead Hand. This thing sprouts from the ground along with many hands around the room. The hands will grab Link if he goes near them and hold him in place in order for Dead Hand to shuffle over and take a bite out of him. It’s not a very hard boss but it definitely stuck out in my mind (and nightmares).

The final battle with Ganondorf is fun. This takes the form of something referred to in Phantom Hourglass as “Dead Man’s Volley” where Ganondorf will fire a ball of dark energy at Link, Link will hit the energy with the Master Sword sending it back before Ganondorf with a swipe of his cape sends it back again, it going back and forth until one person misses their strike and gets hit by the energy. If Ganondorf is hit, he’ll fall to the ground stunned, it’s then Link can use the Light Arrows to fully stun him before jumping in to slash away at him with his Master Sword. There are a few variations Ganondorf uses in this fight and Phantom Ganon earlier in the game did a more simple version of this fight but following it Ganondorf is defeated and Link must escape the collapsing tower with Zelda. Once they escape however, from the ruins of the Tower, Ganondorf, now transformed by the Triforce of Power into a beast called simply Ganon has his final battle with Link. This battle can be somewhat challenging as Ganon can hit for a lot of damage, but as long as you know what you’re doing it should be doable without too many problems, leading to the ending. Future Hyrule is freed from Ganon’s grasp at last with him being sealed away and Link is sent back to his own time leading to the Zelda timeline being split forever more… but I won’t go into that too much. The ending has an overview of all the areas around Hyrule. The characters around Hyrule all being shown celebrating together, having a big party on Lon Lon Ranch, although some who were close to the Sages who have left them such as Mido of the Kokiri and Princess Ruto’s Father King Zora are sat together looking sadly at the ground before noticing what seems to be possibly the spirits of the sages flying overhead. The whole time some very nice music is playing with some characters such as Malon and the Carpenter group who appeared in the Gerudo Desert singing along with it. Overall it’s definitely a nice ending and fairly iconic amongst a lot of Nintendo fans.

Seeing this ending again, even if I’d seen it recreated in the 3DS version was still very satisfying for me, having played this game on and off for probably about roughly 15 years by this point and finally properly finishing it was a great feeling which definitely increased the impact of the ending credits for me. Overall the game is fantastic I’d argue even today. I feel this is one of those games that has had so much praise over the years that sadly, people lose perspective of how good it really is choosing to instead focus on its flaws or call it basic. It definitely isn’t perfect, no game is of course, but I disagree personally when I hear it being talked about as a basic generic Zelda game or just A Link to the Past in 3D. A lot of the ideas in the game are fairly unique such as the two different time periods you can travel between, various interesting locations with new races such as the Gorons and Zoras (who have a somewhat complex history with them having a species related to them with the same name who act as regular enemies in other games) having Link playable as both a child and adult as well as just how much lore we get to see take place here with the origin of Ganondorf, the creation of Hyrule being explained (things only really detailed in instruction manuals and dialogue in older games) and other fairly iconic scenes. (A standout scene to me has always been when Link leaves Kokiri Forest for the first time running away after speaking with Saria for what could for all he knows be the last time.) Yes it’s not got a focus on story as such, but I feel people do tend to gloss over what actually is here a lot now. Another big thing to me regarding the game is the atmosphere. I mentioned earlier this was the first game I knew of and played with a day and night system and exploring areas at night in the game is still one of the most atmospheric experiences I personally can think of in games. I think it’s because at night there’s not any music and instead you hear sounds such as crows in some locations, the wind or other background sounds. When I do these articles I tend to play the games again for a little bit just to try and jog my memory about how the controls feel etc, and one thing I remember this time was going to Death Mountain as the sun was setting and looking down at Kakariko Village. Now… yes, it is just a flat texture when it comes down to it off in the background, but I personally just found it nice watching how the lights on the houses came on once the sun had gone down, nothing compared to watching the sun set over a world in modern games, but it still has its own charm to me. I suppose one final personal thing I’d like to mention which I realise is pretty archaic now but I just found fairly charming in a nostalgic way is the areas which are static backgrounds, one of the key ones being Hyrule Castle Town with its back alleys. There’s something about wandering around these static locations that look more like paintings than actual locations that I just like for some reason. It sort of reminds me a little now of some of the old point and click adventure games I’ve seen over the years. Anyway, in conclusion all I can say really at this point was it was great to finally beat this game properly.

Specific aspects about the game relating to Link in Smash.

When it comes to Link’s portayal in Smash, this is the first character I’ve written an article for who has equipment. With that said his equipment isn’t overly customisable and there are one or two aspects that aren’t possible to replicate from Smash. For his primary equipment, Link has the Master Sword, Hylian Shield and Kokiri Tunic. These can all be swapped out for other equipment with the Biggoron’s Sword, the Mirror Shield and two other tunics available, however this equipment unlike some later and earlier games can still be switched between so there is no point where you cannot equip Link with his gear from Smash Bros. When it comes to items, Link has his Fairy Bow, Hookshot and Bombs available. Despite being from this game however, Adult Link cannot use the Boomerang. Link can also charge up his Master Sword to unleash the spin attack which is replicated in Smash. When it comes to physical appearance, there is a point where Link will gain something which visually changes his outfit for the rest of the game, being the Silver and later Golden Gauntlets. These are received at the Spirit Temple which is one of the very last dungeons in the game, therefore it is possible if for some reason like me you’re doing some sort of weird Smash Bros recreation of Link in the game to make a separate save file just before you acquire them and still have all the other relevant equipment (Sword, Shield, Bow, Hookshot, Bombs etc). Beyond this, I suppose one final thing of note is that Link’s entrance in the original Smash Bros comes specifically from this game, being a recreation of the animation when Link enters and leaves a cave found inside a hole in the ground, with him dropping down from the light beaming from the hole and then ascending back up it when leaving.

Credits.

For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to Zelda Wiki.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using Miiverse before it shut down, the picture for Link in Melee I’m afraid I cannot locate currently.

#Link #The Legend of Zelda #Ocarina of Time #Super Smash Bros #Nintendo 64 #Wii U #Virtual Console #My Smash Playthrough #My Smash Playthroughs

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botwriter · 6 years ago

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A New Normal, Chapter 11

FF.net & Ao3

Zelda, Day 16

When she followed Link into the sanctum alongside the few guards that remained, and when they looked upon the remaining yiga that clustered around her throne, Zelda felt a fire rise in her chest. She wanted to fight. She wanted them gone. The intruders looked at the group quizzically, and she removed her hat, realising that Link had done the same at exactly the same time. It must have looked ridiculously dramatic, but she didn’t have time to think about the humor in it at that moment.

“What!?” one of the men exclaimed, and jumped up, having been lounging across the royal throne a moment before. “How are you- you-” he hissed, pointing at Link, “alive?”

“I did ask you if you’d killed me before,” Link replied, and Zelda could hear the smile in his voice. “I don’t go down that easily.”

“I put a sword through your fucking heart,” the yiga snapped back, and Zelda’s eyes widened, looking at the way the man’s black hair was parted, his squinting green eyes, the blood-tipped sword hanging loosely from his waistband.

“How dare you,” she spoke, walking forward and ignoring the hand that Link put out in attempt to stop her. “This is our castle. Calamity Ganon is defeated. There’s no purpose in worshiping him any longer.”

“We are preserving real Sheikah culture,” the yiga spat back, turning his attention to her, and as he walked towards her, she saw Link move closer in her peripheral vision. “Kakariko Village has lost all touch with what the Sheikah were supposed to be. We had technology that could change the world - and the only one who put it to any purpose was Calamity Ganon, while the rest of you shunned us!”

Link was getting restless beside her now, but Zelda stood her ground, even as the yiga came barely five feet away, hand resting on the hilt of a sword at his waistband.

“I would kill your chosen hero a hundred times over as revenge for what he did, not just to Master Kohga, but Calamity Ganon as well,” the yiga snapped, and spat at Zelda’s feet before tilting his head. “Maybe… we could keep you alive… I’d make a great King,” the yiga sneered then, and finally something he’d said had gotten to her. She felt her stomach twist, and Link moved ahead of her then, sword drawn, pointing at the yiga’s throat within a second.

The few other yiga in the room drew their weapons, and as they did, so did the guards that Link and Zelda had brought with them.

“You say anything more and I’ll kill you the way you tried to kill me,” Link said, his voice quiet and low. The yiga swallowed, looking clearly uncomfortable, but spoke anyways, his gaze passing Link to look back at Zelda.

“How do we kill your invincible boyfriend, then? Over and over? What if we just take him apart, piece by piece?”

She was so angry she was shaking, and wondered how Link had managed to stay so calm, but even he seemed to be running low on patience. He struck forward, but the yiga disappeared in a flash of fire and smoke, along with all the others in the room. When they reappeared, hovering inexplicably midair, each fired two arrows.

Zelda fell backwards as Link pulled her, though one struck his leg as a result. His guards had responded quickly, and were already fighting the yiga behind them.

“Something we say strike a chord? Didn’t you forget all about him anyways? Some couple,” the voice jeered, and when the yiga reappeared again, he had a blade at Zelda’s throat, and pulled her away from Link, who wheeled around in shock but staggered slightly due to the arrow in his leg.

“Let’s play a game. If you don’t stand down, we’ll see whether the Princess can come back from the dead just like you did,” the yiga snapped.

Everything stopped. Eyes wide, Zelda looked at Link, shaking her head in a panic. Her thoughts were muddled. She desperately wanted to go back to a few seconds ago when she was safe by his side. Why was it that she could have made a mistake, not covered her six, at a time like this?

Frustrated, Link threw his sword down, and the guards at the other side of the room dropped theirs in turn. One of the yiga pushed Link down to his knees, and another came to help pull Zelda to the ground.

“I don’t think it’s a problem with the sword, but there’s no harm in testing it,” the yiga said thoughtfully, pulling out the blade still stained with Link’s blood from earlier. He held it down at Zelda’s chest as the other yiga pinned her knees down. She grasped the blade with her hands; one of them was already cut from earlier, and although pain seared through her arm and blood dripped down the sword onto her dress, she didn’t let go. Her strength was nothing compared to the man standing above her. But she couldn’t die. Not after all of this.

She looked sideways, panicked, to find Link. If she was going to die, she at least wanted his face to be the last thing she saw.

“No silly powers to get you out of this one, hero?” the yiga chuckled, and as Zelda watched him, his eyes widened.

“What do you want?” Link asked, head still dipped. Zelda glanced up towards the yiga.

“I don’t want to kill her. Really don’t. Not now that we have her. I mean, look at that face,” the yiga replied, smirking down at Zelda, who winced and looked away. “But we’ll take you and figure out exactly what makes you tick. You know. Torture and all that. Maybe - what did you call her before?- Zel and I can come and see you now and again.”

“Fine,” Link said, standing up slowly. “Don’t touch her, and you can have me.”

The yiga pretended to think it over, and then laughed.

”Hmm… no. I’ll just have both of you - right now.”

He lifted the sword. Began to strike it downwards. Zelda wanted to close her eyes tight, to not look, to disappear somewhere else, but she looked at Link instead. He was grinning at her. She didn’t have time to make sense of what that meant; didn’t even have time to finish her thoughts. What-

Link spun. At a ridiculous speed, he’d spun, and snapped his fingers in the process. An image of Urbosa flashed in Zelda’s mind as a thunder filled the room. Lightning struck from all directions, and she shut her eyes tight, lifting her arms above her face. When the onslaught of sound and electricity finally stopped, the room crackled a little before settling. The blade that had been above her fell sideways with a loud clatter.

Swords and sickles hit the ground, followed by the yiga’s bodies, as if there’d been a sort of comical delay of them waiting in the air. Zelda lifted her head warily, and as her eyes met Link’s, she scrambled to her feet to meet him in an embrace. The two of them fell to their knees, holding each other tight and breathing heavily. One of Link’s hands rested on the back of her head, and she shut her eyes, still trying to convince herself that this was real.

It was quiet for a little bit then, and as Zelda finally lifted her head from out of the crook of Link’s shoulder, all she could ask was:

“Is it over?”

He laughed weakly and pulled back, nodding once.

“It’s over.”

Link, Day 19

It took a few days before life settled back into a comfortable groove. Waiting was hell, but Zelda had asked Link to give her some time while she brought the castle back up to speed, and he’d needed time to help the guards as well. Many had been injured, and others wanted to train harder for the future. He had a lot of explaining to do when it came to the rumors of him coming back from the dead, and summoning lightning within the sanctum. There was some skepticism regarding his ‘powers,’ but the kingdom could do nothing but accept it when their own Princess vouched for him. One way or another, the yiga had been defeated, and that was enough.

A day finally came when she felt she had some time off, and though she desperately wanted to see Link, she figured he still had work to be done. She left for her room, thinking that a nap would be perfect. Part of her wanted to simply go to bed, but it was only three in the afternoon, and that seemed improper for the ruler of a kingdom.

When she finally got to her room, she shut the door behind her and leaned against it, letting out a long sigh. If she skipped dinner, would anyone from the kitchen really notice? Maybe she could send a message saying she was tired and going to bed early, but then they’d surely ask to make sure she wasn’t sick, or find out if she wanted something sent up, or-

Amidst her thoughts, Zelda had begun taking off her dress when something caught her eye, and quickly she turned to look at her bed. On top of the duvet, cross-legged and perfectly still, was Link.

She gasped, startled at the sight of someone else in what she assumed had been an empty room, and then tripped over the hem of her skirt, falling back against her bookcase. A few tomes tumbled out above her, and Link rushed over from the bed to help her get her footing.

“Hylia, Link, you completely scared me, I didn’t know you’d be in here - what are you…?”

She trailed off as she looked up at him, noticing the way he was looking down at her. Her heart jumped to her throat seeing him so close, seeing the freckles on his nose and his blue eyes watching her evenly. The air between them was tense, as if he was restless, and immediately she felt an energy in the room that hadn’t been there before. Thankfully, he spoke before she’d gone flush with colour.

“I miss you.”

Miss. Not missed. He was currently missing her, like he knew this moment of privacy was short-lived, like he had no idea how long the two of them would have to continue sneaking glances at each other from afar as the citizens of Hyrule continued to drag them away for more and more tasks to do. But she knew something he didn’t, and when the corners of her lips twitched into a small smile, he noticed. Link tilted his head at her, asking her a wordless question.

“I actually… don’t have anything left to do today,” Zelda answered him, keeping eye contact as she spoke, hard as it was. She was sure her cheeks were bright red by now. Having him so close was intoxicating, and now the look in his eyes had changed. He seemed almost… hungry.

“You don’t?” he asked, voice soft, and finally he broke his gaze from hers, trailing his fingers along the side of her face and moving closer.

“No,” she replied, her eyes falling shut as Link bent down. She could feel his breath hot on her neck, his hand moving further down to her waist and finally cupping her hip. His other hand left her arm, clearly distracted, but it had been holding her up. She tried to catch herself from the fall, but tripped over the hem of her skirt, and grabbed at Link as she went. The two of them tumbled onto the floor and hit the bookcase again, which dropped more tomes and scrolls atop them.

“S-sorry!” Zelda stammered, feeling one of his arms beneath her; he must have wrapped it around her last minute to help break the fall. She looked up at him in a panic, but he only laughed and shook his head.

“No, I’m sorry. You tend to distract me.”

“Sorry then,” she said again, and Link gave her a skeptical look.

“Why sorry? That I’m in love with y-”

He was smiling, but it disappeared quite fast; it was clear he hadn’t meant to speak so brazenly. His eyes, bright and wide, looked down at her with an emotion that took her a moment to place. Was it fear?

“Link-”

She reached for him as he went to get up, and he paused, but didn’t look back at her. She shuffled to try to get a look at him, and he seemed embarrassed and frustrated, cheeks red as he tried to hide his face.

“Link, I- it’s just hard, because-”

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have said anything,” he replied, voice shaking, as he tried to get up once again.

“For Hylia’s sake Link, listen to me!”

She’d spoken a little sterner than she’d wanted, but it worked, and Link stopped and looked back at her in surprise.

“I just want to make sure you love me, not just… her.”

She prayed to the goddesses in that moment that he wouldn’t ask her to explain any further, because she knew that doing so would make her cry, and she was sick of crying. Still above her, he swallowed, no doubt partially wondering why this incredibly emotional exchange had to happen while they were on the floor of her bedroom, surrounded by books and spilled scrolls.

“Don’t make me say it again if you don’t feel the same.”

His voice was low, and a little bit pleading. He’d answered her question - and happy as she was to hear it, it hurt. Even now, part of her wanted to hold back - part of her was saying it wasn’t enough yet, that it had only been a few weeks, that there was no way she could know for sure. Doubt was nagging and pulling at her, but her heart was full and there was a stronger voice within her that was telling her: jump.

He’ll catch you.

She could have told him all the ways he confused her, told him all the ways she confused herself and how hard it all had been. She could have said how difficult it was to separate herself from her past self and how impossible it was - for now - to accept any of it. To accept that she would never be the Zelda from before, but also to accept that that Zelda... was gone. To accept that it was just her, to be happy with herself. To accept that there was nothing else to be done, and to accept that her heart flipped when she thought of him, that her stomach twisted in knots at the sight of him, that his simple presence made her feel happy and safe and comfortable, and that she just wanted to be with him all the time; she could have worked through every little thought and doubt she had, given him a disclaimer to her feelings, but she’d had enough of that. Enough, now.

“I love you.”

The words left her lips more as a decision than a statement, but were honest nonetheless. She knew Link was happy despite his trembling as he used his arm behind her to scoop her up towards him.

“I’m sorry it’s been so hard,” he whispered, “Zel. I’m so so-”

“I’m sorry I took advantage of you before I’d figured out my feelings,” she interrupted him, and pulled back slightly, hoping that the way she looked at him would tell him exactly what she was thinking about. She hadn’t wanted to bring it up at all, but it had been bugging her. He looked confused, but only for a moment.

“Hebra?” he asked, and she nodded ashamedly, but he only laughed.

“You have to be joking. I was confused, sure, but -” he cut himself short. “Maybe we should just… not talk about all of this now. Maybe we should get off the floor.”

“Ah- right,” Zelda laughed, smiling up at him. He stood slowly, but as she went to follow him he tucked another arm under her legs and lifted her princess-style upwards. She gasped, grasping at his shoulders in surprise.

“What were we doing before all of this?” Link asked, but in a tone that told her he already knew the answer. She, however, had to take a moment to remember; he set her down on the edge of the bed, and looked at her again with an expression that spread heat through her chest and face.

At the same time she remembered, he kissed her.

#a new normal #breath of the wild #botw #zelink #it's done!!!#the ending is abrupt but it's FINALLY DONE

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wildlingknight · 6 years ago

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So like I wrote this stuff down around September 2017 with the intention to write a fic about it (I might still do that when I have more time) but it’s just sitting and festering in my drive so I’ll put it here for now and build on it when uni is done. It’s a super long post but I did put a cut in.

There’s a whole bunch of mind vomit stuff here:

I was talking to my discord group about things that could have been added to Botw because I’d gotten to a point in the game when I’d done mostly everything and was just putting off facing Ganon because I didn’t want it to end. So I came up with gods and spirits that you might meet in random places and sometimes they have quests for you or something. Taken directly from the server:

“This isn't really a hc more a random idea but what if there were time specific places on the map in botw? Like I just found place on the side of death mountain called shadow hamlet ruins, what if you go there and it's just some ruined houses with a meteor wizzrobe in any other time but on the night of a new moon there's like creepy shadows that kinda come out of the wood work and shadows of the ruins and they don't exactly attack you but make you super uneasy and circle you a bit and it's like the people who lived and died there as a result of the calamity, like we know it corrupts the living but what if it doesn't let the dead rest either?

Like there are places all over hyrule that are just places until you visit them on a specific night or day or when certain parameters are met and you have a unique little event happen like a person you wouldn't meet any other time with items you can only get from them or maybe the dragons rest somewhere and you can just stumble across them, or more spirits and godlike beings who you wouldn't come across any other time apart from this one random spit of woodland halfway up the dueling peaks on a night where it's raining you come across an ethereal glowing woman or something who watches over the plants and mushrooms like glow like her, and you can't really interact with them because we are insignificant to them, they are so indifferent to us with our mortal comings and goings that the most we can hope for is a glimpse of them, just to make the world feel even more alive than it already does

I think Link is more aware of them because he is goddess chosen, goddess touched, and he's a gentle and pure soul who they in turn are drawn to, I like that he has a connection to them through having being dead but I personally like to think they're a bit afraid of him, he was brought back through science like magic without the godesses interference or hands, that shouldn't happen he died and by all means should have stayed dead but here he is, wandering hyrule saving people and dragons and riding gods across plains and placating giant mechanical creatures that will only listen to him, in their eyes he's a fucking monster or demon

And they know you don't piss off a demon who denied death so they're cautious but curious in equal measure”

And then neatened up and made less mind vomity:

Ruins

On specific nights- different for each ruin- the ghosts of the people who lived and died there during the calamity come out on the night they were wiped out. Different for each place depending on how close they were to castle and what the actual cause was, e.g. castle town would have been hit first and hardest by the Calamity itself so that would get spooky on the night of Zelda’s birthday every year. If they are fairly far away from the castle e.g. Shadow Hamlet ruins on the far side of Death Mountain, it would be a different night and they would feel different due to the nature of their deaths, such as being wiped out by monsters fuelled and powered by the Calamity. They don’t attack but most travellers accidentally come across them and fear for their lives saying ruins are haunted at night so they try to avoid them, preferring to go to living villages or taking their chances with monsters out on the roads or in the woods. When Link (and later Zelda) enter the ruins on the specific night they act up the spirits hiss and circle him and lament their passing in groans and wails but they do not come close because he is light and they cannot touch him. He died for them and Zelda cried for them, they are Goddess chosen and Goddess touched.

Lesser Gods and Spirits

Found all over Hyrule, again during different specific times when certain parameters are met.

A lesser Goddess who watches over plants and mushrooms that glow with the same ethereal light as her- can only be found where they grow in abundance, like the pillar in Kakariko on a rainy night during a new moon, and also conversing with Cotera the great fairy there.

A giant stag with two faces who watches over the life and death of animals, seen all over Hyrule as long as there’s a moon showing, so not on cloudy nights. Eyes like miniature galaxies and coat the colour of moss, fur appears to be made of grass and hooves of wood and several times the amount of antlers normal deer have that are white like bleached bone and strung with what looks to be pearls.

A woman with long black hair, horns like a Lynels and the face of a wolf who’s snout ends turned up like a Moblin’s, with three eyes that constantly glow like the reflection of a cats at night and who’s mouth doesn’t move when she speaks in a growl and smoke and sparks emits from her open mouth over her lolling black tongue- the Mother of Monsters and she hates Link.She doesn’t attack him when he meets her but she is unkind to him and she growls and snarls at him, threatening to curse him and his children’s children for as many of hers he has killed. Found in Akkala in Rok woods and Tempest Gulch most commonly but also occasionally other places, can take the form of a monstrous wolf when the need to escape arises.

A child made of water that swims with the fish, watches over everything that lives and breathes in water. The Zora refer to them as ‘The Child of Nayru’, and offer to them to keep the fish they eat good and plentiful. Seen by Link on the banks of the Rutala river when he stops for a drink after tackling the Rucco Maag shrine. Ripples like water constantly so it’s difficult to pin down specific features or gender, and voice is almost gurgling sounding

A giant scarab beetle, white and iridescent, often seen in the desert around Dragon’s exile and known to Tera, the great fairy at the Gerudo Great Skeleton, the god of all insects. (There’s a joke going round Hyrule that Beedle is the god of all insects.)

The spirits that are just going about their work are cautious but curious about Link. Usually they are indifferent to mortals, their everyday motions and wants insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The Calamity was a tragedy, but nature still goes on so they can’t afford to abandon their work.

Link and Zelda

The Gods are frightened of them. Link died and should be subject to the laws of all living things but here he stands, blemished but alive, and yet it was not the Goddesses who chose this, it was without their aid, a magic forged by man. Instead he wanders, alive and well, helping who he can, man and spirit alike, Dragons take notice of him, Gods allow his burden upon their backs, abominable machines who listen to only him, at his command. And Zelda isn’t dead either, they should be dead, they had their time, had their chance. They carry too much light within them it hurts the spirit’s and god’s eyes to look upon them.

Once while I was playing with my friend we were talking about the koroks and I came up with a hc on how they’re born I guess:

“Maybe they're branches that fall off the deku tree when they start to rot because hes old as balls so I bet he loses branches like old men lose hair and then because of like forest magical bullshit they become the new children of the forest and they grow up to be like Hestu and it takes thousands of years for them to reach like 'maturity' but when it's time for the deku tree to die one of the korok will take his place but all those who grow to maturity before he dies go out into the lost woods and set up root and become the ogre trees”

And then because I like to hurt them while they’re all sleeping:

“I'll just leave this here for when y'all wake up, what if the reason Wild likes to eat so much is because he is trying to fill the void of loneliness left behind after his friends in the army start treating him differently after he becomes the chosen one and because of Zelda's initial dislike of him then after he wakes up from the shrine of resurrection he doesn't know why he's so hungry all the time until after he starts remembering zelda and then realises he's doing the same thing, trying to fill the void left in him after losing everyone he loved and half his memories and having to wait until he's strong enough to see Zelda again”

Enjoy!

#Random stuff I write #I have so much stuff on my drive that I need to do something with #But uni is taking all of my time #Botw #Legend of Zelda #Breath of the wild #Link #Zelda

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serenityindefinitely · 7 years ago

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Silent Prince 2

More of this shit! https://serenityindefinitely.tumblr.com/post/163887686027/silent-prince (Im on mobile due to computer issues im sorry TTvTT) ___________

Link wandered the southern part of the castle, casting a glance through every window before moving on.

A sound caught his ear, steps, approaching down the hall. He turned to the sound, it was Zelda. They nodded to each other in a silent hello.

“You can’t give up the forest, can you?” she looked out the window. “I don’t get it, why are you so bound to kill yourself over a sword?”

Link took to the hall ahead of them, walking forward, Zelda followed in tow. Zelda knew the day, she knew the time, her thoughts answered when he motioned for her to stay.

_________

Link was the first to leave the room, he glanced at Zelda with a face she was all too familiar with, she balled her fist, huffed a breath and crossed her arms. “I give up with him, if he dies due to recklessness, It’s not my fault.”

“Hmn,it’s been awhile. Hasn’t it, Zelda?”

“Urbosa! Oh! It has!” she spun around to look at the chief. She noticed a small girl with long braided hair stood beside her. she waved and smiled at Zelda. “Oh! Riju, you’ve gotten so big!”

“I can see that you have been struggling with him, Link, I mean.”

“Well- Yes, I have, he refuses to open up to me. I just, have given up.” She looked at the ground, tracing the tile floor’s pattern with her eyes.

Urbosa smiled at Zelda, taking a hand through her hair, and holding her chin.

“You have come so far, sacrificed so much, so that you could be prepared if Ganon returned, but you also took time for yourself, despite your father’s disagreement.”

Urbosa took Zelda’s hand “Link, has struggled so much. He has fought with himself internally, trying to do whats right. He is persistent because that was what he was told to be, he takes risks because that is what he think the Kingdom needs, not because he is reckless. Perhaps,” she looked to Riju, who continued her mother’s sentence. “Perhaps, you need to show him that it is okay to take a break.”

Urbosa nods in agreement.

Zelda stared at Urbosa, into her rich green eyes, “but, how?”

Urbosa smiled, a warm, gentle smile, and crouched so she could look eye to eye with the guard captain. “Take him someplace, that he would enjoy. Someplace where the sword, and ganon are far from mind.” she looked down the hallway.

“Show him what it’s like to be happy Zelda.” Without another word, Urbosa stood upright, looked to Riju, and then walked the other way.

Zelda was left breathless and confused.

__________

A knock sounded through the small room, Zelda peeked in through the door.

“Link?”

She shut the door behind her.

Link turned to look at her, a gentle breeze ruffling his hair. He wore his night clothes, a simple shirt and pants.

Zelda had never noticed how slim he was, how drawn his features were, the circles under his eyes, the slight scar on his chin.

“I didn’t mean-”

“You didn't”

The sudden, forced sound of his voice caught her off guard, she wasn’t expecting to hear him speak.

“Tomorrow, we are saddling up the horses. We are going somewhere important.”

Link looked shocked for a moment, before his face returned neutral, he tilted his head slightly, eyes filled with curiosity.

“It’s a secret, but you need it.”

He rolled his eyes, and flopped onto the window sill, turning back to the scenery.

Zelda walked to join him.

Zelda watched the birds chase each other with the breeze, diving and soaring with one another.

After a while, Link stood and went to make his bed.

Zelda, now upright, shut the window and looked to the Prince, whom had a hair tie in one hand as he gathered his hair. As he wrapped the band around his hair he looked over to Zelda, the sliver of remaining sun lighting up his eyes, which seemed to glow a fierce blue.

Zelda averted her gaze to Link’s bed, which was large for one person, there were pillows that formed an almost curved shape, one that would fit someone of Link’s size perfectly.

She never thought he was the type that enjoyed being surrounded by pillows.

Her hand began to itch again, and she looked up at Link, before taking her leave, moving rather quickly.

Link wondered if he had done something wrong, maybe he should have said something to her.

________

Link looked up at the passing stars, and the twisted face of the moon. The wind carried salt, and the sky drifted birds in twilight.

He looked at the raft he floated upon, rickety and unsure, moaning with every wave that crossed under and around it.

The boat gave in, dropping link into the sea, dragging him down. It tore at his lungs, and played with his hair. It grew dark, and silent, heavy, with grief and doubt.

Something grabbed at his arm, pulling him up. Bringing light upon the waves and undertow, clearing his eyes, that something had a name.

_________

Link woke with a suffocating panic, struggling to move his body. He was on the floor of his room, wrapped in blankets, pillows strewn on one side of the room. He must have fallen at some point during the night.

He went about his morning routine, making his bed, changing into his day clothes, splashing his face with water, he let down his hair and combed through it with his hands, running them through water before hand.

It wasn’t long before he was joined by someone, their presence alerted by the creak of the door just before it shut, he turned to the person, on edge, nervous. His muscles tightened with anxiety.

“Link?”

Relief washed over him, and he shook the water droplets off his hands. He stepped into the main portion of his room, Zelda looked at him, hands clasped and thumbs twiddling.

“You step so quietly, and always look on edge.”

Zelda swiveled her head towards the bed.

“Did you sleep well?”

Link shrugged and emitted a sound that could be determined as an indefinite answer. He wasn’t sure. He always felt tired, regardless of how well he actually slept.

“Are you ready?”

Link replied with a hesitant nod.

“Let’s go then, the horses are already prepared, and I’ve already talked to the council.”

Link followed Zelda for once, a rarity for someone so anxious.

_______

The black and white mare had a surefootedness, at a canter, it followed the trail loyally. Link sat upon that horse, patting it gently in praise and admiration.

The Stallion at the hands of Zelda, moved with a trust, knowing that if it were to accidentally stray, its owner would reassure it of the path to take.

“I never thought of you as the horse type, I didn’t think you would trust an animal so much as to let it take its own path.”

Link shrugged, he always thought animals were easier to trust. They wouldn’t force you or leave you behind if you cared for them well.

“I suppose you are full of surprises….”

“Hmn..” was all he could manage to mumble.

______

They stopped and set up camp for the night.

Zelda helped Link gather for dinner, noting how he had a good eye for the best of ingredients. As Link cut the radishes, she became familiar with what he was cooking. They ate Creamy Heart Soup, to of which there was no protest.

“You are a really great cook.”

She spoke between spoonfuls

“ why don’t you cook more often?” she looked up.

Link stirred his soup a bit, and sighed.

“Don’t tell me- they don’t let you, do they?”

Link shook his head and looked away

“Wow, you’re kidding me…… that’s awful.”

Link, still looking away, nodded slightly in agreement.

“You know,” she poured more soup into her bowl. “If I hadn’t gotten this power, I would have gone into science, like Purah and Robbie….. I was hoping it’d skip me…”

Link blinked and looked at her, his head tilted like he was astonished “I-” he paused and cleared his throat a bit, forcing the words out “never knew…. S-” he took a breath, moreso frustrated “I’m sorry…”

Zelda blinked and waved her hands “I-It’s not your fault! You had no cause of it. You don’t have to apologise…”

Link nodded, rubbing his throat a bit, he didn’t like the vibration his throat made when he talked, it made his voice shaky, and left his throat numb. Zelda stood up and got out the mats and sleeping bags.

“I-I at first, was mad when you talked to me, but now, I appreciate that you open up to me, of all people….” She said, as she prepared the mats, smoothing them down and making sure there wasn’t anything sharp underneath.

Link nodded in agreement. “M-maybe I should,” he coughed a bit “I should learn to sign”

Zelda shrugged “That’s not a bad idea, I’ll have to learn it too….”

Link laughed at that, sending bolts through Zelda.

“Well, the mats are ready.” She said as she got ready for bed.

Link took of the overcoat he wore and folded it neatly before laying it in the horses travel bag, he pat his mare gently, to which she snickered slightly, bobbing her head in his direction, he smiled gently and readied for bed.

________

UGH HELL IVE STRUGGLED SO HARD WITH THIS ONE.

LIKE I ACTUALLY REWROTE THE ENTIRE CHAPTER AT LEAST TWICE.

The struggle is real with me.

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princelesbian · 8 years ago

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Sidlink Fic: Connecting Chapter 3

Ao3

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4

The Princess leaned over the lower rail of one of Naboris’ legs, gazing over the expanse of Gerudo Town. She let out a long sigh as she watched the lights of the town as they began to appear, the sun hanging low in the sky and casting an orange hue across the desert. With the coming of nightfall, the air became frigid. She ignored the shivering that threatened make itself known, rather focusing her thoughts on another wasted day. A hand fell lightly upon her shoulder, soft yet sure.

“Don't worry, Princess. You'll get it. It won't do you any good to be brooding about it here.” Urbosa’s voice carried strongly across the silent night. Zelda looked up solemnly at the Gerudo Champion, and then dropped her gaze. She studied her own hands, useless hands that held not a drop of sacred power despite her efforts. She clenched them into tight fists.

“How do you know that? I've worked every day of my life and poured every ounce of energy and effort into unlocking these supposed abilities and yet… I have nothing to show for it. Urbosa… what if I fail? What then?” The Princess sighed, desperation and exhaustion parting her in one evident breath. She collapsed against the rail, as if the weight she bore was too much to stand. Urbosa placed her hands on both the Princess’ shoulders, turning the Hylian gently to face her. The Gerudo Champion knelt to her level, expression soft.

“You won't fail us, Princess. Even if you never unlock these powers, you will not have failed us. Your determination and drive is all you need, and I believe you will. And if Ganon does show it's face anytime soon, you’ll show it what a princess can really do. One day you'll rule Hyrule as the queen who saved the world. I believe in you.” Urbosa held her firmly, expression stern. Zelda looked down, a light smile gracing her lips. It diminished after a moment, falling away as soon as it appeared. She sighed once more.

“Say I do get these sealing powers and say that I do lock Ganon away… Someday I will be queen, but I do not know how. All I have ever done is train to become a princess of legend, to fulfill my destiny and duty. A life of endless yet fruitless prayer and meditation. I haven't the first idea how to run a kingdom. Will we defeat Ganon and then fail the kingdom from my ruling as queen?” The Princess frowned deeply, a troubling expression lining her features. Urbosa remained silent, watching as Zelda spoke freely her troubles to the tiring night air.

“There have been members of the court discussing a match for me. Thus far Father has dismissed them all as to not disrupt my training, but I cannot keep from courting forever. I will have to marry one day and restrict my freedom further, I will be tied as the queen I do not know how to be. What if I do not get a say in who it is? And if I do not like them or they dislike me? I fear I would be a terrible wife. What if-”

“Princess, deep breath.” Urbosa cut her off, stilling her with the roughness of her voice. “Come, sit. You need a break from all of your worrying.” She guided the Princess to the floor gently, wrapping an arm around her back. Zelda opened her mouth as if to protest, but closed it once more.

The sky had since turned black, and the luminous lanterns of Gerudo Town lit and emanated a soft glow over the surrounding desert sands. Princess Zelda fell to rest within moments, leaning against the Gerudo Champion for support.

~*~*~

Link’s feet dangled from the edge of the quay, leaning back with a hand pressed flat against the slick stone. His other hand shielded the sun from his eyes as he watched the Zora prince cut through the waters of the East Reservoir Lake with grace, almost silently. The sun beat down warm on the Hylian Champion’s skin as he basked in the scenery of the lake and the jagged rock of Ja’Abu Ridge across the way.

Sidon came to a stop, pulling himself to the edge of the quay next to Link with ease. He propped his elbows on the stone, looking up at the Champion with a smile.

“I did not invite you with only the intent of giving you a show, you know.” He chuckled, grin deepening. Link stared at the Prince for a moment, slick red scales nearly shimmering in the daylight. Sidon, happy as always, seemed even more so than usual. Though he couldn’t tell if that was because he was in his natural environment or because of the arrangement of marriage. Link rolled his eyes, smiling, and with one fluid motion pushed off the quay and into the frigid waters.

“There, happy?” He chattered, rubbing at his bare arms to circulate warmth. Sidon laughed, full and boisterous.

“Oh, do not be like that! I simply wished to swim and talk, after all, the last time we swam wasn’t very leisurely wouldn’t you say?” He moved away from the edge himself, and wrapped the Hylian Champion into a full embrace. “Warm yet?”

Link’s eyes widened as he clung to the Prince’s shoulders, unable to keep afloat otherwise. He clenched his jaw, pressing his lips into a firm line.

“Ah-! Yes, warm.” Link gave, expression oddly remiss of pouting. Sidon laughed again, and released the Hylian.

“I apologize, you are just so charming! Truly!” Sidon grinned, leaning forward. Link looked away and coughed, frowning.

“A-anyways. What did you want to talk about? The engagement I’m guessing?” The Hylian offered, to change the subject. The Prince’s eyes widened, and he jumped away.

“You are right! Thank you for reminding me!” Sidon clasped his hands together, splashing the water around. Link sighed inwardly, for once thankful for the Zora prince’s attention span and energy.

“As you know, the court has agreed to this union and my father is to send for Princess Zelda. Her arrival will take approximately three weeks, as we have only Zora guards who cannot ride horses and must take breaks often for walking in the sun will dry their scales. Should we decide to go through with this engagement, the council will allow us to adjust the courting period for our current situation.” Sidon explained freely, leaning his back against the side of the quay.

“What do you mean ‘should we decide to go through with this engagement?’ Are you unsure about it?” Link peered up at the Prince, attempting to block the sun from his eyes.

“Oh, of course not! I am very confident in this arrangement! I know that you had offered initially, but I had not asked yet if you are really willing to go through with this.” Sidon stated, waving a hand for emphasis. Link furrowed his brows. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He couldn’t quite recall a time he’d had a choice in a decision such as this, and his mind drew a blank. Link then looked at Sidon, really looked at him. An ever-present smile graced the Zora’s lips, and an air of comfort surrounded him. One of the friendliest and most supportive faces he’d met on his journey to conquer the Divine Beasts and destroy Calamity Ganon. Link had never been more sure of anything in his life.

“I am.” He said after a moment, giving a single determined nod.

“Wonderful! Are you aware of Zora courting customs?” The Prince beamed, a gleam in his eye. Link shook his head slowly, brows drawn.

“As you may know, love is a very important aspect of our culture. Typically, a Zora royal may marry to any status they would like, however there are some added customs when it comes to an arranged marriage or marriage of convenience. There is a courting period of six months before the union, to assure the couple is compatible and sufficiently paired beforehand. However, due to our circumstance I was able to get one month and cut the time significantly. I must present you as my intended to the kingdom, although the courting process will begin immediately.” Sidon stretched out his shoulders as he explained, speaking of the matter with such ease that Link found he wasn’t nervous at all. Though one detail stuck.

“What if they don’t think we’re a good pair, though? What then?” Link looked down, his reflection in the water distorting with the current.

“You are perfect and charming, I have no doubts that we will be deemed compatible!” Sidon grinned widely, teeth gleaming. He placed a hand atop Link’s shoulder, assuring. Link’s eyes widened at the comment, color creeping to his cheeks.

“O-oh, thank you. So does this mean we have to be in love in order to be allowed to marry?” Link pressed his lips together, gazing up at the Prince. Sidon shook his head, smiling still.

“Not necessarily. Any form of positive connection may be sufficient to be wed, though it is the council’s final decision. You are already my most treasured friend, and I am happy to marry you over any other!”

Link looked away, the blush spreading to his ears. He frowned at his embarrassment, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Is there anything specific that needs to be done during Zora courting?”

Sidon thought for a moment, humming. He tapped his chin lightly, and after a moment his eyes widened. “Ah, yes! There is one thing that I must do. It will take a few days at the very least but it will not be long I assure you! Until I return you may do whatever you'd like in Zora’s Domain but please do not stray far.”

Link snapped his gaze back towards the Prince, arms falling limp to his sides. “Huh?”

“Yes, yes… Now, you'll be here for quite some time so I've taken the liberty of having a room prepared for you. You know where my room is, yes?”

“Wait, Sidon, what-”

“What am I saying, of course you know where my room is. Now, the room to the right of it will be your quarters. If you have forgotten, I'm sure you can ask one of the guards out front.” Sidon continued on, ignoring the Hylian in his own excitement.

“Sidon-”

“Am I forgetting anything? No, I believe that should be all. I will be back in a few days. I will return soon, Fiancé!” The Prince finished exuberantly, taking Link’s hand in his own. He gave it a light squeeze, and met the sputtering Hylian’s gaze momentarily before turning and ducking under the current and towards the rock ridge. Link stared gaping after the stream of water that followed the Zora prince as he left.

~*~*~

A rapid knock sounded at the door, alerting the Hylian awake very suddenly. He shot from the waterbed, reaching immediately for his sword at the bedside table with uncoordinated and clumsy grasps. Pushing the hilt out of his reach with his fingertips, he slipped from the bed and collapsed onto the ground in a heap of blankets.

“Linny? Linny what are you doing in there?” Kodah’s voice muffled through the door. From the stone ground, Link groaned, blinking away sleep as he stared at the ceiling. As he stood, he recognized his surroundings as the guest quarters in the palace he'd been offered during his stay. It was strange to imagine wandering Zora’s Domain without the excitable prince’s presence, wherever it was he had to go to on such short notice.

Link stretched his arms over his head as he made his way to the door, flopping them to his sides like dead weight with a long sigh. Wrenching the door open, he blinked up at Kodah tiredly as she looked down at him with a smile.

“Linny, you're up! Finally. I heard you were here still but you didn't come by the inn last night so I asked around and found out that you got a room here. Lucky you, Champion.” She winked, putting a hand on her hip. “Anyways, I wanted to invite you to have breakfast with Finley, Kayden, and I. You will, won't you?”

Link sniffled, nodding groggily. “Yeah, just give me a moment.” He shut the door slowly, yawning.

“Great! I’ll meet you back at the inn!” Kodah called as the door closed.

Link tied his hair back slowly and half-awake, only moving to dress quicker when his stomach growled loudly.

.The Hylian Champion made his way to the inn once he as presentable as he was willing for the day, receiving a number of curious glances on his way. He shrugged them off, more focused on finding breakfast than the oddities of others.

“Link! Good morning!” Kayden gestured for the Hylian to come inside. Link nodded, following him in. Kodah smiled from where she sat, pushing forward a plate of fresh chopped porgy and steamed rice. Link wet his lips he came closer.

“I figured I might put my cooking pot to use since I knew you were coming.” Kodah patted the seat next to herself and Finley, grinning. As soon as Link was seated, he picked at his fish hungrily, wolfing some chunks down whole. “So Linny, I’ve heard some interesting rumors about you lately.” She continued leaning forward, watching the Hylian with amusement. Link grunted in response, barely nodding. “Regarding you and a certain prince?” She tapped her fingers on the table, grinning.

Link choked on a spoonful of rice, coughing. Kodah and Finley laughed, the former patting him lightly on the back.

“What have you heard?” The Hylian Champion asked, wiping his mouth.

“Well, some are saying that the Prince stole you away to swim in the East Reservoir Lake yesterday. What was that about?” Kodah asked, a curious glint to her eye. Link paused, unsure of what he was able to tell. Despite the fact, his rapidly warming cheeks were telltale of his turmoil.

“Sasan said he overheard Trello ranting about someone marrying Prince Sidon.” Finley spoke, looking up at the Champion from her seat. Link pursed his lips and remained silent, for fear he'd stutter if he spoke. He looked down.

“Come on you two, give the guy a break.” Kayden laughed lightly, coming from the small kitchen area and patting Kodah on the shoulder. She pouted.

“You’re no fun.” She stuck out her tongue, before picking at her raw porgy like a punished child. Finley piped up once more.

“I also heard Prince Sidon isn’t around though, his fanclub was whining about it earlier. I wonder why that is? Maybe he’s-”

“Finley,” Kayden warned. She snapped her mouth shut, and Kayden gave the Hylian a wink. “Don’t give Link any silly ideas.”

Finley huffed, returning to her meal. She scarfed it quickly, darting out the door soon afterwards with the excuse of meeting up with Sasan. Kodah sighed and shook her head as her daughter left. As Link finished, he sat back in his chair, sighing contentedly. Kayden left to tend to the inn, giving Kodah a quick kiss before setting up inside.

Kodah leaned forward, propping her elbows up on the table. “So, Linny. What are your plans? Are you going to be taking off today?” She asked him. Link shook his head.

“I’ll be staying for quite some time, actually.” He stood, taking his plate and hers with him. She looked at him with wide eyes, surprised.

“You never stay longer than a day or two, Linny. How long is ‘quite some time?’” Kodah asked, her voice taking on an excited tone. Link smiled sheepishly, shrugging. He set the dishes into the sink connected to the wall.

“Well, Zelda will arrive in about three weeks, so until then at the very least. Though I’m told it will be much longer than that” He twirled a stray bit of hair between his fingers as he leaned against the wall.

“I wonder why you’re staying so long?” Kodah gave him a knowing smile. “I won’t push, but you had better tell me what’s going on soon, Linny.” She reached out and pinched his arm lightly. Link batted her away, and nodded.

“Well, I’m off the the general store. Feel free to hang around here if you’d like, but you might find more interest around town.” Kodah said as she stood, stretching. Link lingered for a moment, assuring the kitchen was tidy before making his way down the smooth stone paths of Zora’s Domain. As he watched Mipha’s statue from afar, a Zora child ran up to him. He recognized her to be a member of Sidon’s fanclub.

“Link! Link! Did you hear, did you?” She said frantically, pulling at his hand. He frowned as the Zora girl pulled him along the steps to the upper level of the domain. She dragged him to the rest of the fanclub, Tula and Tona. As they noticed Laruta with Link in tow, their talking ceased and they jumped up.

“Link! You’ll know what’s going on, won’t you?” Tula beckoned him over frantically with waving arms. Tona nodded, her hands balled into fists and eyes wide.

“Tell us, tell us!” She said, nodding. Link looked between the three of them, raising a brow. The youngest huffed, crossing her arms.

“About Prince Sidon!” She elaborated, throwing a hand out for emphasis. He pressed his lips together firmly. Word got around quick.

“What about him?” He asked, flicking his gaze to the ground. Laruta frowned.

“Yesterday Tona and I were walking home, and Muzu was talking with Dento-” She began.

“And they were talking about marriage! Like, Prince Sidon’s marriage!” Tona finished. Tula nodded sagely.

“Plus today, Prince Sidon hasn’t been around, so maybe he really is getting married?” Laruta continued. Link frowned, once more wondering why the Prince's absence would indicate an engagement. “But Link!” She jumped up. “You’re really good friends with him, is he getting married?”

“And to who?” Tona demanded, taking hold of one of Link’s arms.

“Is he marrying Princess Zelda?” Tula asked, grabbing his other arm.

He looked at her and opened his mouth, but closed it again when Laruta tugged at the front of his tunic.

“Is it true that Princess Zelda is on her way? I was talking with Keye who said he was talking with Dunma who said she had an important mission to escort Princess Zelda to the domain!” She stood on her toes, scrutinizing him curiously. Link gaped at them, finding nothing to say to their bombardment of questions.

“Link, you have to tell us!” The trio exclaimed in unison. The Hylian Champion blinked, and found his face heating up again. His mind drew a blank as to how to answer them, and he only stared on with a panicked expression. He let out a long sigh of relief as he saw the familiar figure of Muzu approach, hands folded behind his back.

“Don’t you girls have anything better to do than to bother the Champion?” His gruff voice called out. Link smiled desperately, and Muzu nodded in understanding. He watched in amusement as Sidon’s fanclub clung to the Hylian Champion for a moment, before shooing them away. Link sent a silent thank you to the Goddess as the girls released him, all mumbling apologies as they hurried away from Muzu’s stern gaze. He walked towards Link in an unhurried manner, smiling lightly.

“It is amazing what rumors can spread in a single day.” Muzu commented, gesturing for Link to walk with him. Link nodded, quickly falling in step with the Zora.

“Sidon didn’t really tell me whether I should be telling people or not. I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be doing, to be honest.” Link admitted, scratching at the back of his neck. He walked slowly, keeping his pace in match with Muzu’s. The elderly Zora sighed, shaking his head.

“What is that boy thinking? I will give him a stern talking to once he returns...” Muzu said to himself bitterly, and Link smiled at the thought of Sidon being scolded. “While it is under normal circumstances fine for the townsfolk to know, I think it would be wise to keep it as much of a secret as possible until he decides to present you as his intended.”

“Keep it a secret. Got it.” Link nodded, then frowned. “How do you suppose I do that? Everyone’s been rather… persistent today.”

“That is for you to decide, Champion.” Muzu said with a grin before waving Link away. Link stopped with a frown, watching the Zora leave. As he disappeared into around a corner, Link groaned inwardly. He’d completely forgotten to ask why Sidon was even gone in the first place.

Link stood for a moment, still, and shook his head. The day was still young, and he still hadn't the slightest idea when the Prince would return. He had said a few days, though with Sidon one could never be sure. Link’s fingers itches for the weight of his sword, and he found himself heading towards the Zora training grounds off the trail from Zora's Domain.

As he neared the grounds, he found himself nostalgic for the feel of the blade, and he began to feel content for the first time that day. Even just a few days from a little adventure and sword practice left him feeling antsy, especially after how recent the fall of Calamity Ganon was. His thoughts wandered to his engagement to Sidon. He was to be consort of the Zora prince, and he wondered what freedoms he was allowed once married. The Hylian Champion sighed, finding himself missing the excitable prince in his disappearance.

“Master Link!” A voice called out from behind him. Link turned, and saw Rivan with his hand up and waving. Link paused, waiting for the Zora to approach.

“No guard duty?” Link asked as he neared. Rivan shook his head, smiling.

“Gaddison is on duty right now, I thought I should come train. I should not be surprised to see you headed to train as well!” He said, and they continued walking down the path together.

“I don't want to get rusty.” Link nodded.

“Of course!” Rivan agreed, and they walked in silence before Rivan spoke once more.

“My daughter, Dunma, is on an important mission to escort Princess Zelda to Zora’s Domain. She is always one for adventure of course, but it does pose a question. Why are you not the one to escort her, as the princess’ personal knight?” Rivan asked, glancing to the side at Link as they walked. Link remained silent for a moment, unsure how to answer.

“I'm required to remain at Zora’s Domain until she arrives.” He supplied, clenching his jaw.

“What a strange situation! Our prince disappears, some of our rank leaves to fetch the Hylian Princess, and her appointed knight is needed here.”

“Must be coincidental?” Link spoke, sounding more like he was asking a question. Rivan chuckled.

“I have been hearing talk of marriage. Do you know anything about that, Master Link?”

“Sorry Rivan, I really have to go train.” Link slipped away as they neared the training grounds. The architecture was similar in extravagance to that of the entirety of Zora's Domain. Luminous stone spires lit the patch, illuminating the azure stone walls. The main floor held stack of training dummies, recruits already training there with practice spears. To one side was the armory and to the other the resting and medial house.

Link found his way to the armory, a picked up one of the few swords on the rack. He weighed the blade in one hand and tossed it to the other with ease, feeling it. Satisfied with the quality of the weapon for the purpose, he set the the main floor and got to work mutilating the dummies with smooth ease.

A hand fell upon his shoulder before he could lunge forward once more to attack his fifth or sixth dummy. Snapping up, he whirled around with the worn blade in hand. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and he panted heavily from the exhaustion. Bazz stepped backwards, hands up in defense.

“My apologies, I'd forgotten how concentrated on your swordplay you can get. Excellent work though, as always!” The Zora smiled lightly as Link let out a heavy sigh, dropping the sword.

“Sorry, sorry.” He groaned.

“No worries! I was told you were out here and I came to see if you'd like something to eat, assuming you haven't yet.” Bazz, captain of the guard, nodded, holding forward a grilled stealthfin wrapped in a Korok leaf. Link’s stomach growled loudly.

“Thank you.” Link was barely able to get out as he shoved a large portion of the fish into his mouth. Bazz laughed.

“You really haven't changed!” He said joyfully. Link shrugged, swallowing.

“How much changing could I have been doing when I was sleeping?” He pointed out. Bazz laughed again, and then paused.

“So…” He began, and Link groaned inwardly in anticipation of the conversation topic he'd been having all day. “I suppose an unofficial congratulations is in order.”

Link snapped his gaze up, surprised. “You know?”

“I am the captain of the guard, they can't very well send my best off to fetch a princess without telling me why. Do not worry Link, I know my place, I will not tell any others. It's strange, though, I always imagined you would be with Lady Mipha or Princess Zelda.” Bazz said, wistful. Link shrugged again, finishing the trout.

“Say, would you like to help train new recruits? They need some work, and I know from experience that you are an amazing tutor.” Bazz grinned suddenly.

Link spent the rest of his day teaching the new Zora recruits the proper way to wield a sword, and the usefulness of proper timing. He sparred individually with each them, and in the end made for a real match with Bazz. By the time he'd returned to his bedroom in the palace, the moon hung high in the sky and his feet dragged on the paths back. Though he had to admit, Zora’s Domain was certainly beautiful at night.

He fell onto the bed, like waves rippling beneath him. He drifted to sleep soon afterwards, his last thoughts wandering to the Zora prince and hoping for his return.

~*~*~

The next two days passed much the same, suspicion of the Prince’s whereabouts growing with each day. Link barely managed to evade all of the questions by the time the third day came around.

On the fourth day, Link wandered out of the palace, prepared for the next round of bombardment of questions. None came, however, in fact there was no one around at all. He frowned, making his way quietly to the center of the domain, every possibility running through his mind at once. As he neared, the loud chatter of the Zora people could be heard and echoed off the walls. It wasn't difficult to see what the excitement was about, as Sidon was the tallest Zora in the domain save for his own father. Link paused with wide eyes as he watched the Zoras welcome their prince home.

Sidon was laughing full and clear, and Link stared at him with his mouth agape. As the Prince turned, he caught sight of the Hylian Champion, and stopped with a sharp intake of breath. His mouth suddenly split into a wide grin as he waved.

“Hello there! Link!” He shouted above the crowd. Link smiled, chuckling as he covered his face with his hands and shook his head.

The crowd of Zora stepped out and to the side, allowing their prince to make way to the Hylian Champion. Link stood still, shocked as Sidon nearly barreled though and gathered the Hylian into his arms, lifting him off the ground.

“Ahh!” Link yelped as Sidon squeezed him tightly, face flaring an embarrassing shade of red as the other Zoras watched on.

“I apologize for leaving you in such a haste, Link, but I had some business to attend to.” The Zora prince said quietly, lowering the Champion to the ground. Link cleared his throat and looked away.

“I-it's fine.” He muttered. The excitement of the Prince’s return had died and a new chatter of the scene before them erupted throughout the dispersing crowd. Sidon grabbed hold of Link’s arm gently, guiding him away.

“To be perfectly honest I left in such a hurry that I had not told you why I was leaving in the first place. I will show you, although I would prefer a bit of privacy first.” The Prince spoke as he lead the Hylian Champion towards his study and away from the still present crowd. Link nodded dumbly, still barely processing that Sidon had returned in the first place.

“Oh, and pardon my affection if I've scared you! I have been working tirelessly on what I'm about to show you, and the excitement has gotten to me.” The Prince pushed the door to his study open, ushering the Hylian inside and closing it again behind him. Link shook his head, then paused.

“You've been working on something?” Link asked, looking curiously at a small box the Prince had produced. Sidon nodded, beaming.

“I have! Oh, I do hope it is to your standards. Though it will not match your charm, I have poured my greatest efforts into this gift.” He presented the box to Link, who took it gently with cheeks dusted pink. He set the box down on the desk, and removed the lid with care, peering into the contents acutely aware of the Prince’s hopeful gaze on his back.

Inside set so elegantly it may have been made of glass, was a silver metal full choker, much like the Zora’s own. The details were pristine and intricate, swirling and weaving smoothly into a heavy blue stone set into the throat of the piece. Link’s breath caught, unable to take his eyes off of it.

“It’s… It’s beautiful.” He breathed. Then, he turned his attention to the Prince, meeting his gaze reluctantly. “You made this?”

Sidon nodded, grinning widely. “I’m so happy that you like it! Here, would you like help in putting it on?” He took the necklace from the box delicately and unhooked the back.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.” Link turned fully, lifting his hair from the back of his neck.

“It is actually quite sturdy, because the metal is Silverscale. In Zora culture this is actually a sort of symbol of engagement much like your armor gifted by my late sister... I hope this union is not too strange for you, having nearly been engaged to her but a century ago.” Sidon began as he placed the jewelry around the Hylian’s neck. “This is a Zora’s Sapphire, although they are very hard to find.” He continued contentedly, allowing his hands to linger on Link's neck.

“A symbol of engagement? I had no idea, was I supposed to make something for you in return? I love it, I really do.” Link turned, waving his hands frantically. Sidon laughed, and settled on a smile. Link continued. "And to be honest I don't know how I'm supposed to feel, being engaged to you while Mipha once loved me. Knowing her though, she's likely supporting us even now."

“Perhaps you could tell me of her heroic deeds one day, I fear I was too young to truly recall her now." He spoke somberly, before brightening again. "Oh, but do not worry! This is just an old custom that used to be done by royalty. Now the only set tradition is for the princess to make her intended armor with a scale of her own woven into it. Hardly anyone uses the Zora’s Sapphire to represent marriage anymore because they are so rare, however it is something silly I have always wanted to do for my own intended and everyone will know what it means. Because it is so rare it will embody my trust, respect, and devotion to you, as my intended.” Sidon bowed forward, hand to his chest.

“O-oh, ah, thank you.” Link breathed, staring at the Prince with wide eyes. “How does it look?” He could feel the tips of his ears heat as Sidon looked up with a warm gaze. He broke into a soft smile.

“You are beautiful.”

Chapter 4

#sidlink #link #sidon #botw #myfic #connecting

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heartofhryule · 8 years ago

Text

Heart of Wisdom - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - It has begun!

WARNINGS: Possibly Teen+ - Contains suggestive themes. Contains Hyrule Warriors spoilers and story items. I highly recommend playing the game if you haven’t! It’s complete fluff, but fun fluff…. minus Lana. ______________________________

Heart of Wisdom - a Tale after Hyrule Warriors | Chapter 6 - Fear’s Icy Grip

Well, it was official, Link despised the North.

Not the North-ish, where Volga was from. No, that had been lovely with a few inches of snow, and green pines surrounding the roads and buildings, were warm fires and pumpkin soup chased away the chill. Snowpeak had been beautiful, and the night they’d stayed to rest on the journey had been spent under a pile of warm furs with a beautiful princess cuddled to him for warmth. Really he would always think fondly of his time there for that alone.

This however, The Outlands and their ice covered rocks, where no trees grew and the wind was made of frozen daggers was some kind of hell.

Of all their travelling companions, Volga and Epona seemed to mind it the least. Volga, his nature as a warlock-knight, seemed to have the internal furnace his alternate form of the dragon wore on the outside. The sideways snow melted before it hit him, puffs of steam radiating from the warmth of his armor. His horse was far less pleased, but seemed warm where her rider touched. Epona, Link’s faithful horse, bore both he and Zelda with determination. He could tell the harsh and extreme conditions had an effect on her, but his sweet mare refused to let it conquer her. She trudged forward, head down into the wind, refusing to give up as if she had to prove to nature itself she would not give in.

Zelda fared far less well, yet no less stubbornly. She had been shivering for hours against his back despite her fur lined cloak and heavy winter clothing. He’d asked her a dozen times if she wanted to stop for a little while to build a fire and warm up since they’d set out that morning, but she’d refused. Even Volga was keeping an eye on her, and he and Link shared concerned glances every now and then.

But their destination was in sight. The Mountain hall in which the Warlord had taken residence loomed barely visible through the snow storm ahead of them, the orange light through the windows like strange stars in the gray distance. Volga said that from here it would only be half a day’s ride if the wind let up, though it was a steep climb. Fearing them to be late due to weather, Zelda begged them to press on without harming the animals. Her own comfort seemed not in her concern.

As it stood, Volga and his magic, the ability to breath fire, cleared a path to make it far easier for the horses to make better time. Perilous and steep thought the mountain was, the three Hyrulean diplomats made it in time for the supper before the next day’s Summit.

To Link’s irritation, but not his surprise, there wasn’t much of a welcome - it seemed all horses were being kept in the foyer outside of the main hall but out of the blizzard… but being groomed and watched over by moblins. He detested them so much… They were also lead by a bobkin with a non-verbal grunt to the main hall, set with table and a feast of boar, berries, and other winter vegetables where the other diplomats were already gathered.

Filled with orange red light from the many fireplaces around the room, the hall was echoic with the clamour of conversation. There were many folk gather - the blue-skinned and scale Zora of the Western lands, who favored the old merfolk of lore, to the tanned and elegant Rito of the east with their long, straight hair on men and women alike ranging from black to brown and shock white who were believed to be descended of the birds of the Goddess, or so the legends said. It seemed they were not the last to arrive, as there was not a Goron in sight, but at the far end of the table, and from whence the most of the noise came, were the Gerudans who had passed through Hyrule Castle.

Zelda was wrapped in her cloak under his arm. Link rubbed her shoulders to try and get the blood flowing to warm her, and a few of the Diplomats nodded to them as they entered. Link nodded back, but found his eyes drawn down to the far end of the room. At first he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but when he met eyes with one man in particular, he knew - and knew they were no longer safe. Pushing Zelda slightly behind him, he ignored her protest and motioned to Volga without taking his eyes away from the Gerudan Warlord - because it could be no one else.

“Hero?” Volga asked quietly, looking around to make their discourse seem less suspicious.

“We can’t stay.”

“We have to,” Zelda said softly. “Or there will be war for certain.”

“There will be anyway,” Link said as she watched the warlord, who still held his gaze, stand slowly. “It’s Ganon.”

***

The moment she walked in the room with her two escorts, Griffin knew. He knew who she was, what she could become, and he felt something roiling inside him. Lust, Anger, respect, desire... hatred. At first, he wondered if she too felt it. The more dreams that plagued him, the more Griffin believed that he had once been Ganon of legend and that this divinely beautiful creature who’d just walked through his doors was the Goddess reborn. She was at least the angel who’d haunted his dreams of late. What he’d not realized was that it was the same woman who had once, long ago condemned him to this frozen hell - the Princess Zelda herself.

He stared, his old friends from Gerudo continuing to talk but he heard none of it, nor could he have described her companions. Yet burned into his memory was every detail of her existence, down to the very last thread of her clothing.

“Griff?” Baqi, his friend the representative from the Gerudo deserts said trying to get his attention. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost...”

“Not a ghost,” he said softly, “A

Goddess.” Handing off his goblet, he started to take a step forward, but her guard, who looked no more than a boy, wearing his green tunic and cloak against the cold with sword and board on his back, caught eyes with him and Griffin stopped. There was something about that icy blue stare...

Whatever it was, both their attentions were drawn when a shrill greeting of happiness broke the moment. Princess Ruto of the Zora kingdom squealed and greeted the Princess-goddess, who he assumed was the Diplomat from that region. The Guard followed as the mermaid swept the angel off, and Griffin felt his fist clench. He would speak with her later. They were all on his time now.

***

“Princess Ruto,” Zelda said warmly with a respectful nod, relieved to have the strange tingling between her shoulders lifted by the Zoran girl’s welcome. “It has been quite some time. We were only what, six summers? Seven? When last we met?” Zelda fought the urge to grab Link’s hand at her uneasiness, but Ruto truly was a blessed and welcome distraction. She was not like the Ruto with whom Zelda and Link had spent time recently - no Ruto from the Era of the Hero of Time was safely where she belonged. This Ruto, from the Western Oceanic Kingdom, was covered in beautiful blue and coral scales, the fins atop her head giving the illusion of hair as they fell to her shoulders, and he eyes were the most lovely shade of green that lit up when she was smiling as she was now.

“Something like that, yes,” the blue skinned Zora said happily. “I hate to do this, but could you please come to the side of that tub? We’ve been freezing and without salt water for too long and I don’t feel well. I want to catch up!” As the Zoran princess didn’t wait for an answer, tucking Zelda’s arm in hers and tugging her towards a large wooden tub near one of the fireplaces and away from the Gerudan Warlord. Zelda reached back and grabbed for Link without looking, hooking fingers in his belt rather than getting his tunic to pull him along.

Glancing back, she noticed her Hero blush despite his eyes never leaving the opposite end of the room. She too had seen him and knew. She felt the Triforce in her possession thrum faintly even from this distance. If she knew, and Link knew, Griffin no doubt had to know, whether he understood it or not.

Ruto slipped into the tub with a grateful sigh, but kept her grip on Zelda’s hand. “So, how have you been? What’s the news from Hyrule Castle? Tell me everything!”

Zelda thanked a serf who brought she and her companions chairs. “Princess Ruto, allow me to introduce the Hero of Hyrule, Link, and our dear ally Baron Volga, the Dragonknight,” she said. She had told Ruto about dreams of a boy named Link when she was young, but she was hoping Ruto didn’t remember.

Ruto blinked, but she didn’t otherwise indicate whether or not she remembered the childhood incident. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I hope your journey wasn’t too difficult. Ours was an absolute misery I tell you! We got lost in that dreadful storm and wound up miles from where we were supposed to be. It was simply awful. I just wanted to die. And then we almost did! We’d been out of the water so long all our gills were getting dry despite wetting them with melted snow-water. Oh, heavens, I don’t even like to think about it.”

“We were also lambasted by the storm-” Volga started, but Ruto was eager to interject.

“Oh, it was! It was! Oh, you poor dears. Have you eaten? Griffin said to make ourselves at home.”

“You’re... on a first name basis with him?” Zelda asked quietly in disbelief.

Ruto blinked again. “Well what would you have me call him, dear?”

Zelda shrugged. “Lord Griffin? Warlord Griffin?”

“Oh please,” Ruto said waving a dismissive hand where she leaned over the edge of the tub, “Warlord is so gauche. It’s the name the nasty little goblin-kin gave him. And he’s not my Lord, nor is he yet a king or a prince or a baron or anything of the like, and well there’s not much to be even a Mayor of here, is there, dear?”

“I suppose not,” Zelda sighed.

“Well what are you going to call him?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Ruto. Sir maybe?”

“Well you’d better decide,” Ruto said nodding behind the three friends.”Because he’s coming this way.” With that she sank beneath the warm water and the surface moved where she swam around. The wooden tub really was huge, almost like a man made pool.

Zelda turned to look just as Griffin stepped around Link’s chair and took her hand with a smile. “Charmed, my lady,” he purred in a thick southern accent. Surprised and upset that she’d not felt him coming, she was confused that the Triforce was not thrumming more powerfully and Zelda knew her face paled quite a bit in spite of herself. There was no denying the feeling of Darkness’s spirit… albeit a bit weak. Nor was there denying those sharp, gold eyes. It was Ganondorf reborn… but he didn’t seem to yet fully be aware of that.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Warlord Griffin and your host. But then, I assume you would recall such, your highness?”

The way he stood over her impeded her ability to stand and feel less… trapped. She maintained her cool and collected demeanor giving him a nod. “I do, Warlord Griffin,” she said choosing the name he’d introduced himself by. She did not need to tip her hand if there was still room for them to escape this and prepare for what was coming. “I see you have made quite the stronghold for yourself.”

“One does what one must in the Outlands,” he rumbled, and the way his eyes traced over her left Zelda feeling in need of a bath. His lust radiated from him clear as the fire’s warmth around them. Her mind raced like a rabbit from the wolf looking for any excuse to duck away from him.

“Sir, if I might introduce my companions,” she said ducking up and around Griffin to Link’s side - Link who was glaring and fuming and not at all even trying to hide it. Taking his hand and hiding it between them so it was not seen, she smiled, trying to lend him some of her composure. “May I introduce Link, Knight of the Realm and Captain of my personal guard.” No reason to mention the Hero and risk awakening Griffin more than he might already be. “And you have met the Baron Volga of Snowpeak.”

She thought she saw his lip twitch in the beginning of a scowl when Griffin looked over Link, but could not be sure as he turned and gave Volga a slightly tighter grin, taking the Dragonknight’s hand instead and shaking it politely. “A pleasure. I know the journey was hard on everyone, and you are all my honored guests. Please, make yourself at home and should you need anything, do not hesitate to ask.”

He was enormous, standing hadn’t helped the intimidation factor the reincarnation of Ganon had achieved. His fiery red hair fell in dreadlocks adorned with golden trinkets around his shoulders not unlike a lion’s mane - similar to the Ganondorf they’d fought recently, but remarkably different. His neatly trimmed beard was groomed and completed the mane appearance around his dark and in places scarred skin.

His hands came up rapidly and clapped, causing Zelda to startle and Link to twitch and reach for his sword, but the Warlord's booming laughter accompanied his words, “Minstrels! A song!” His eyes returned to rest on her, and Zelda forced herself to relax… since Link wasn’t and looked as if he might try and take the man’s head then and there. “Would you like to dance, your Highness?”

Zelda shook her head politely, trying to swallow the lump in her throat that was trying to get her to run from the building or at the least hide behind Link. “No we’re quite exhausted. Thank you anyway, but I think she would.” Zelda nodded politely to the Gerudan lady who’d threatened her in the throne room of Hyrule, Naburoo, who was currently leaning against an opposite wall glaring daggers in their direction.

Griffin looked and chuckled. “Ahh yes, my second in command. Well,” he said and bowed to them shortly. “Another time then.” and with that he went to pull the woman into a dance.

“Are you sure we can’t leave now? Link asked through clenched teeth, tugged zelda behind him slightly, his eyes never leaving Griffin as the Warlord began to dance.

“He doesn’t recall everything,” Zelda said softly, hoping Volga could hear as well, not daring to raise her voice more. “We must play this out, and hope he does not ever recall.”

Link’s teeth ground together so hard, Zelda could hear it. She squeezed his hand and tried to urge him to look at her, but the Hero would not release Griffin from his eagle-eyed gaze with a dangerous growl.

“He can’t remember anything if he’s dead.”

#zelink #zelda #link #hwzelink #hyrule warriors #fanfiction #fanfic #legend of zelda #romance

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