#this could've gone wildly different had link mentioned groose was chucking eggs at him

[pastelsandpining]

Firstly, congratulations bb for the 400!! You deserve more! 🥳🎉💕

Than bots lol

For the prompts may i ask for our blonde children to have fight and make up? Maybe just me that rarely see these 2 fight lol

WILD I LOVE YOU!!! enjoy some Sky babies! <3 I don't think they would stay upset with each other for very long

enjoy my take on "hey, what if link didn't win the wing ceremony?"

special thanks to my beta @badmoonbuns !!

Masterlist | 400 Requests

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flying low

Skyloft was quiet.

The air was colder high above the small expanse of her world. Zelda tugged her knees to her chest and tucked the hem of her skirt under her feet so no wind could pass through. There was a heavy sense of sadness sitting on her chest that afternoon, a plaque that had built up since the morning: since the Wing Ceremony had ended and the little wooden statue of the winner did not sit in Link's hands. 

It hadn't been the time or the place to confront her best friend, and the expression on his face should've been enough to make her realize he was just as disappointed as her, but she couldn't help herself. She was hurt, furious, because the Wing Ceremony wasn't something of luck. Link was a natural flyer, the best she'd ever seen, and she longed to know how he'd lost to Groose. How he could let himself lose to Groose, let her have to endure the ceremony at the top of the statue with Groose.

She'd looked at him on the landing platform, at the lost look in his eyes, and she couldn't help herself. She hadn't exactly been level headed. Zelda stepped up to him, voice low and quiet and sad, and asked,

"Oh, Link... Did you even try?" 

They'd never argued that badly before. Well, maybe she shouldn't use the word argue, because that implied a heated conversation between two people. In their case, one person had been conversing and the other had been receiving all of the heat. Link had always been a quiet boy, never one to stick up for himself because nothing ever really seemed to bother him, but his quiet compliance in the face of her disappointment had angered her even more.

Cruel. It was a cruel question; of course he'd tried. Maybe he was a sleepyhead, sometimes a bump on a log, but he gave his all to everything he did--being upset was no excuse. But she thought he'd win. She'd planned for him to win, because her gift had been specially crafted for him; her song and all of her practice had been with him in mind! She'd had so much faith in him.

Zelda had turned on her heel, her back to him, and stormed off to get the ceremony over with.

It was a dumb ceremony.

It wasn't a big deal.

But it was, because she'd only get to be the Goddess Hylia this once, for her class, and Link didn't win. He wouldn't be the one on the statue with her. He would have another chance to compete, to win, to take on the role of the Chosen Hero before his official knighting, sure, but it wouldn't happen with her, and Zelda was jealous.

Jealous and bitter.

She hadn't come down from the statue. She'd sent Groose on his merry way after a song and some convincing, but the peaceful quiet at the top had given her the space to let herself feel. She'd sunk against the goddess and buried her face in her hands, cried until her head ached and breath heaved, and even when she calmed down, she didn't move.

It was over now. There was nothing she could do to change what had happened. Not the race, not the ceremony, not the things she'd said. Zelda could admit she'd been irrational all day: pushing Link off of Skyloft, not believing a word he said, nagging him about practice--and she crossed a line. After the race, he looked like she'd slapped him. She couldn't help wondering where he was now.

She leaned her head onto her knees and closed her eyes. The breeze cooled off the stinging skin of her puffy eyes and tear-streaked cheeks, and she was so exhausted that for a moment, she understood Link. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep. Maybe she would've, had the sudden footsteps not startled her. An awful feeling hit her when she told herself it could be Groose again, coming back with the ego she'd squashed when she disrespected the ceremony by giving it the least amount of effort possible. Or maybe he'd told on her to a professor or her father, and they were coming to scold her for it. Reluctantly, Zelda turned her head.

Maybe she'd prefer the sight of her father right now, rather than a windswept and hesitant Link.

"Hi," he said. It was a wonder she could hear his whisper over the wind.

"Hi," she replied.

"Can I... Um. Do you want company?" he asked, one of his hands gesturing awkwardly to the space beside her. Zelda shrugged her shoulders halfheartedly. When he didn't move, looking like he was still unsure of himself, she said.

"Sure."

The air between them felt horribly wrong. He sat down, leaving a decent gap of space between them, and she tightened her hold on her legs. For a moment, neither said anything. She watched him trace mindless patterns in the dust with his finger.

"I'm sorry I didn't win," he said while. He was avoiding her gaze.

"It's okay," she told him--and that was when he whipped his head to face her.

"It is not," argued Link. "I promised you that I was going to win and then I didn't."

"Things happen." Promises got broken, but Zelda didn't want to be mad at him. She wanted to have her best friend again, so they could march around Skyloft and soar through the skies. "Groose needed it for his ego."

Link's nose wrinkled and he replied, "What for? It's already as big as his hair."

She would've giggled if she hadn't felt so sad.

"I'm sorry for saying you didn't try," she said. "I was just upset and-"

"No, you were right, Zelda. I should've practiced more. I didn’t take it seriously before today and I’m really sorry I let you down.”

“I wanted it to be you so badly,” she admitted quietly, leaning her head against her knees again. “Did I put too much pressure on you…?”

“What? No. Gods no, you didn’t-! Zel, the only thing you did was believe in me.”

Zelda gazed at him, at the look in his eyes, and offered a hand. There was no hesitation this time when he took it, making a tiny smile curve on her lips.

“I’ll always believe in you. Even next year, when you’re flying for some other Goddess.”

Link made a face. It was half a wince, half disgust.

“I’d rather never be a knight at all than be knighted by someone else.” 

It was a stupid thought on his part, but it made her heart swell no less. An idea brewed in the depths of her mind; she’d already disrespected the ceremony once, what harm would a second time be? She scrambled unsteadily to her feet, dragging a confused Link with her in the process, and both of her hands grasped wildly for his.

“What if we did it anyway?” she suggested, her grip tight. “What if… What if we redid the ceremony, right now?”

“But I didn’t win?” he replied, brows furrowed. Zelda shook her head.

“Does it matter? I don’t— None of this is real, right? I don’t have the power to knight anyone. So what if I just…did it? With you this time?”

He looked at her as if she’d suggested throwing Mia off of Skyloft, but both events would have no real repercussions. Link thought, and thought, and to her utter delight, he nodded.

“I owe it to you,” he decided. “For sticking you up here with Groose.”

And it felt so much better, so much more natural to see him kneeling before her, his head bowed and hand in hers. Like he belonged there, looking every bit like the hero she knew he could be. It felt so good to remove the sailcloth she’d refused to give Groose from around her shoulders so she could hand it to Link instead. Something in them had healed, soothed by the ridiculous giggles of a secret ceremony, and when he stood up to meet her, she had the wild thought to kiss him. 

Instead, Link offered her his hand and gave her a smile that could melt ice.

“Will my Goddess bless me with a race through the skies?” he asked and her face burned.

“You’re on,” she declared, and without warning, she leapt from the Goddess statue.