#wild that it happened twice

[needlebeetles]

the frostkettle shippers are really out here making Nightpetal: the sequel, huh.

[evilkaeya]

THIS IS HOW I FIND OUT KAITO AND SHINICHI ARE COUSINS??

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

you want a new kind of guy, fine, i raise you: the lady i was briefly roommates with in college who once smoked a blunt at a party and then spent an hour confessing earnestly to me that she genuinely preferred reading detailed episode recaps over actually watching the tv show in question

[aventuras-de-andre]

No thoughts just Kou and Mitsuba finding each other in every world

[commander-wame]

i feel so welcome

[camifornilla]

It’s wild when a kdrama has an A-Plot that’s a cute and sweet romantic drama and a B-Plot of Murder??? Espionage??? Crime of the century?????

[woadfriedrice]

If I had a nickel for every time Kristen Applebees said a girl had a dog’s name in junior year, I’d have two nickels!

Which isn’t a lot…

My girlie is really radiating the hostility with that insult 😂🥲

[goldenpinof]

We really don't talk enough about how quick dnp's relationship moved. Dan said their first proper conversation was about the new Muse album. That album came out in September of 2009, so that means they must have only been talking for like...2 weeks when Phil invited him to stay with him in Manchester.

no comment

[deadqueernoldor]

Thinking thoughts about those from Cuivienen and how they later treated the Valar, especially after Cuivienen was destroyed.

I imagine a foundation of sorrow and a layer of betrayal and pettiness. They had promised safety. And how did it turn out? Kin of Tata and Tatie their first leaders, slain in Valinor by the Dark Hunter from which the Valar promised protection in Valinor.

And then, the War of Wrath comes and with it the destruction of Cuivienen.

If any of those were re-embodied in Aman, I wonder if they make it a point to always turn their back to Valar and Maiar. I wonder if they only speak in the tongue they had first devised all those millennia ago and spoke in Cuivienen before time and different kindreds changed the tongue, not Sindarin or Quenya from the Great Journey's time or later. I wonder if they sing songs in their ancient tongue, songs about the beauty and unsullied health of Cuivienen every time any of the Ainur are near.

I wonder if the Valar feel any shame when those who they once looked upon in wonder and love gaze back at them with indifference or disgust.

[christiangeistdorfer]

STIRLING MOSS pushing his car to the pits during the 1953 FRENCH GRAND

[ravaging-angel]

Hiiiiiiii TTCC fandom these two have had a vice grip on my brain for the past month <3

(non-transparent version under cut in case tumblr messes with the image bc i don't trust like that)

[quackle]

clearly nobody reminded him 😐

[goatsandgangsters]

god I've never had so much fun watching doctor who, spent the entire hour grinning, no notes

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Breath of the Sky Ch 12 (Skyward Sword meets BotW)

Summary: When Princess Zelda goes to the Spring of Courage to pray, accompanied by her appointed knight, a giant magical cog spitting out a goddess is the last thing she expects, but it is what she gets. Meanwhile, the Spirit Maiden Zelda is trying to figure out what the heck is happening and where her missing chosen hero is.

(AO3 link)

Chapter 11: A Goddess' Promise

The crisp breeze and bright sunlight cut through the air in the outdoor corridor of one of the courtyards as a royal guard passed through it. He was doing his usual morning rounds, patrolling from station to station, checking in on the others and ensuring the safety of the castle. With the ever-growing ominous shadow of the oncoming Calamity, security had steadily grown tighter, but now that such esteemed guests were housed here, it was all the more paramount.

A familiar whirring noise emitted from the courtyard, and the guard glanced outside, squinting against the sunlight. Guardians were twittering, their blue eyes swirling like a whirlpool as they skittered to and fro, testing their legs. Their claws, sharp and heavy, dug into the earth, much to the local gardener’s dismay, who gestured his displeasure towards the Sheikah technicians. The guardian flopped unceremoniously on its large base, legs sprawling out lazily at the Sheikah’s command so it would cause less damage.

Abel marveled at it. Such technology was astounding. To think the Sheikah had made this mechanical creature ten thousand years ago, and they could still revive it. Knowing they would have a veritable army of mobile cannons brought him some peace; he and his men were more than willing to fight the Calamity, but it was foolhardy to not utilize all available resources.

Such as their guests.

Then again, the captain of the royal guard supposed, perhaps Hylia and her Legendary Hero were here for other reasons. Though they did petition for their help. Though…

Honestly, he couldn’t help but wonder. With the way the two had behaved in Castle Town that night… with the questions they had asked… with the way Hylia bounced around the castle hallways with Link in tow…

Abel looked away from the guardians, doubt filling his heart, and he felt unsure over it all. The goddess had always protected and watched over Hyrule, and he knew she had heard his prayers time and again. The fact that his wife hadn’t died all those years ago from that terrible illness had been a testament to Hylia’s grace and love. But the girl whose smile shone like the sun was not quite the picture he’d been painting in his mind, and certainly not the one carved in stones across the country.

He had honestly been tempted to pray about it, but it seemed too strange now. Would the girl hear him? Perhaps he should test the theory.

Of all the prayers he could come up with, though, the only one that truly sank in his mind heavily was for Link’s protection. The image of Hylia dragging him around by the hand was both reassuring and… disconcerting.

After all, she had already claimed a Hero in every way possible. She had created a Hero. Had… what did she want with Link? Yes, he was chosen by her, but…

Abel bit his lip, resuming his walk, nervous energy driving his feet and body to move.

The stories told that Hylia had created a Hero and taken a mortal form, creating the royal bloodline. Perhaps… perhaps this was Hylia from the past, then, rather than the goddess in the current time, and therefore she didn’t know about Hyrule or its sufferings.

Would that mean there were two Hylias right now? One in mortal form and the one Abel had been praying to?

The whole affair was otherworldly and bizarre, and that was far out of the captain’s comfort zone and understanding. He was a simple man, admittedly – he understood his duty, the need to protect Hyrule and its people, the importance and honor of such a task. He’d instilled that into his son as well. Anything beyond that… the matter of the divine, of magic and technological wonders from an ancient past… well, frankly, it consisted of matters that he had little knowledge of. Hylia had heard his prayers in the past, so why could she not hear the princess? Was Her Highness doing something wrong, or did Hylia wish for another path to be taken instead? What of Link and his destiny? Everything had been going according to plan for his son, honestly.

Until all of this had happened, at least.

But perhaps Hylia and her hero’s appearance were a blessing. He was sure they had to be – what else would they indicate?

But the way they behaved… they acted like carefree children running through Hateno while avoiding farming chores.

Was it sacrilegious to think such a thing? He wasn’t being struck down, so he had to assume it wasn’t that bad. Abel found himself wishing he had a better frame of reference to work with, but there was no frame of reference for the divine. He was no sage, no royal advisor, no Sheikah. He was simply a knight who was trying to fulfill his duty.

Logic demanded answers, but duty demanded other obligations. Worry demanded assurances, but rules demanded silence. He could keep an eye on his son and ascertain what he could from a distance, he supposed. His duty did involve protecting the royal family – the king had ordered that obviously it extend to the goddess as well.

Abel did wonder what kind of protection a goddess could possibly need, though. She looked young, but even so, she didn’t look frail. Rumor had it she even drew a sword upon her arrival. And today she wore armor.

He turned the corner and froze.

The courtyard was encased by four outdoor corridors, windowless openings to the outdoors allowing the scent of morning dew to waft into the stony area and hover in the arched ceilings. Ivy grew along the sides sometimes, curling around the framework of the architecture and providing the occasional shade from the morning light.

Apparently, it could also hide a legendary hero fairly well.

While Hylia had been running around with a skip to her step with Link at her side, the Hero of Myth and Legend was seemingly brooding in the shadows. The young man—boy, really, but Abel wasn’t sure if that mattered—watched the guardians tiredly, shifting in a similar fashion to the mechanical beasts as if he were too restless to stand still.

This was not the goddess. Abel didn’t have to kneel before him. But he was a mythical figure nonetheless, was he not? The king’s advisors did not give any information on protocol for this matter. Then again, he had spoken with both of them the night they had run amok in the city.

Yet another example of how nothing quite seemed to fit in place.

Perhaps their godly ways were just beyond his comprehension, but… they just seemed like kids to him. No different than how Link had been before the impending Calamity had molded him into the silent, stoic young man that he was now.

Abel wondered how this Hero could be so different. After all, he was created by Hylia for the sole purpose of eliminating the Calamity, was he not? If Abel recalled the mythology correctly, he had originally defeated it, even before the Ancient Hero of ten thousand years ago. He was the Spirit of the Hero, the legendary figure that imbued the current Hero with his strength and wisdom. Some said that the Spirit would possess the new Hero when the time came for battle. Others said he reincarnated and lived the Hero’s entire life. Abel’s wife had fretted over the matter when the boy had first drawn the sword.

It’s not a possession, Abel had assured her. He is simply guided by the goddess and protected by the Hero of Myth.

Not that he actually knew that for certain, but it made more sense than a possession. Perhaps it was reincarnation, but that thought—the idea of raising a legendary hero who had been created by Hylia—had frankly been too terrifying to contemplate, and so he pushed it aside. Abel said his prayers and honored the goddess, but unless he had some kind of actual proof on the matter, he wasn’t going to accept most of the far-fetched beliefs people spread on the matter. He had tried to look up as much as possible on the Hero once his son had come into his sight wielding a sword from legend, but there unfortunately wasn’t much to research beyond hearsay.

That aside, though, the character of this Hero was a mystery to him. He didn’t particularly care for pondering how everyone’s minds worked, or their hearts on matters – that was his wife’s preference. But he did want to know more about this Hero, this Link, the original Link.

More to the point, he wanted to know why he was here. He wanted to know what his plans were with his son.

The real matter, he supposed, was how he went about figuring that out. Although this person was not the goddess Hylia, he was her creation, an immortal being forged from Light and Sky, born of the clouds and imbued with an unbreakable power to fight an unbeatable foe. Ancient and immovable, such a being should—

Abel bit the inside of his cheek, brow furrowing. Such a being shouldn’t be playing with puppies while sending the entire castle into a frenzy because he busted out of a room through the window. Such a being shouldn’t be bedridden and writhing in pain and delirious with fever, clinging to Abel’s arm for comfort because he didn’t even know what was going on as the healers attended to him.

Honestly… it was… he didn’t know. He should keep his head down and not ask questions.

Let’s see how much I can push my luck.

He really shouldn’t. That wasn’t his duty.

But Link is.

Link was fully grown, though young. He could take care of himself.

He’s still my boy, though.

Abel sighed. Then he walked forward. “Can I assist you with something, Hero?”

The ancient one jumped, startled, and looked at him with wide eyes. Abel tried to ignore the fact that he looked so incredibly young.

He looks like he’s Link’s age.

Were all heroes this young when destiny called them? Abel knew the goddesses would protect them, of course, but… why? Muscle and bone were young and supple and strong, but the mind… Abel recalled his first battle against beasts when he was barely sixteen, and he recalled the absolute terror of it. Perhaps… he supposed it was a frightful affair no matter the age, though by this point he was far more accustomed to it. Bokoblins were hardly a threat to him – about the only beast that made him nervous was a hinox or a lynel.

And those blasted taluses. He’d yet to best one of them, though he’d heard that Link had managed to do so. It made him swell with pride at the thought of it. But that wasn’t being addressed at the moment.

Hylia’s Immortal One watched him a moment longer, seeming to get his bearings, and he looked back outside, shaking his head.

The pair stood in silence for a while, and Abel was painfully reminded of his own son. An unsettling feeling pulled at him, whispering maybe your boy is actually the same as this one, and he shoved it down so hard he felt his body grow cold.

Well, if there was something to be taken from this, it was that he was certainly accustomed to silence. He took another step forward.

“Is something wrong, Hero?”

The ancient one’s eyes looked at him, seeming haunted and exhausted. Abel swallowed, shifting uncomfortably. Perhaps he had grown too bold. His anxiety only increased when the Hero faced him fully and didn’t say a word, eyes piercing into his own.

Abel took a less assertive posture, stepping back a hair and clasping his hands behind his back.

The Hero sighed, eyes tracing to the floor. “I didn’t want this.”

Abel blinked. He… what?

“I’m sorry,” the Hero mumbled. “I’m wasting your time.”

With that, he sighed again and turned back towards the window, hands settling on its rim as he watched the guardians once more. Abel looked between him and the machines uncertainly. Should he pursue the matter, or was this a dismissal? This felt very much like a dismissal. He’d dealt with diplomatic situations enough to know.

Abel opened his mouth to speak and found himself losing his nerve. This went against everything in him, pushing beyond necessary, questioning a superior, conversing with someone so entirely out of his station. He bit his lip and turned to walk away, gaze lingering on the seemingly forlorn legend.

Well, this left him even more bewildered and concerned. Great.

As he reentered the castle proper, he nearly ran into someone else, though he could hardly blame himself for it – Princess Mipha’s small steps were so quiet they were practically silent.

“Your Highness,” he acknowledged with a bow.

“Oh! Sir Abel!” Princess Mipha gasped and then smiled. “How are you? I didn’t get to see you at the festival, but I imagine you must have been busy.”

“Quite busy, Princess,” Abel replied with a small smile in return. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people gathered in one place.”

“I’m glad it all went smoothly,” the Zora girl said genuinely. Abel relaxed under the kind princess’ gaze – he’d known her since she was a child, and she had one of the kindest hearts he’d ever seen. He almost felt like he could act somewhat naturally around her, but he still recognized he was just a simple knight and she was royalty. For her part, Mipha was used to leading conversations in general, and so she continued, “Have you… have you seen Link? We were sparring and things… well…”

Abel’s smile vanished in an instant, and the princess hastily threw her hands up to deter his worries. “Oh! Oh, no I—nothing went terribly wrong, I assure you, but—well, we ran into the Hero of Myth, and it was quite the ordeal.”

Oh?

Abel waited patiently to see if the princess would privy him to what she meant, and she obliged, explaining, “Well, you see, when we saw him, we of course went over to him, but he suddenly got quite ill. I went to fetch some water for him, but by the time I was back they were both gone. I’ve been looking all over, I wanted to make sure they were alright. Have you seen either of them?”

What a strange morning this was turning out to be.

“Link is with Her Grace,” Abel answered. “The Hero of Legend is outside in an adjacent corridor.”

“They—Link’s with the goddess Hylia?” Princess Mipha gasped. “Oh, my. That’s… that’s quite an honor!”

“Yes,” Abel answered neutrally, his eyes scanning the cavernous hallway.

“Sir Abel…”

The hesitancy in the princess’ voice made him look back at her. She wrung her hands nervously, as she often was wont to do when with people she trusted. It was a testament to their own relationship that she acted this way in front of him – she was the picture-perfect princess in public, usually. Abel felt his heart warm a little, as well as feeling strangely privileged and a little unsettled. The Zora certainly were more casual than Hylian royalty, he supposed. King Rhoam would never act this way around him, despite having known him for years.

Then again, Link and the Zora princess were friends.

“What’s the matter, Princess?” he prompted, his tone softening.

“Do…” Mipha spoke hesitantly, quietly, as if discussing a secret. “Do you really think they’re here to help us? I… I do believe it. But Link… he… he seems so uneasy about it. I don’t understand what’s wrong, but something most certainly is.”

It was honestly hard to tell if anything bothered Link anymore. Abel certainly wasn’t good at reading him these days. The boy used to be very open, but maturity had tempered that. Abel was a little glad for it, honestly, as it would assist him in handling the matters he was thrown into, but…

Well. He supposed it was expected that a parent would be sad to see their child grow up. He just hadn’t expected to feel so utterly useless to the boy once he did.

“What makes you say that?” Abel asked, crossing his arms unknowingly.

“He was so distracted at sparring this morning,” Princess Mipha said. “And at the party… well, he seemed a little happy, but he mostly just seemed overwhelmed. I suppose that’s reasonable; as you said, there were many people there. He was probably as on edge as you were, Sir Abel.”

On edge was one thing. Losing focus in a fight was another matter. Abel would have to find Link, but… that meant he would have to find the goddess as well. And he had a castle to protect.

At least one thing was for certain – if the Hero of Myth and Legend had gotten ill earlier in the day, that meant protecting him was higher on Abel’s priority list. Which meant that keeping an eye on him was on his priority list. And perhaps figuring out what was going on.

“If I see him, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him, Princess,” Abel finally replied with a bow.

XXX

Zelda had to admit, she hadn’t felt this anxious and jittery in a long time.

Sure, her journey in reviving her memories of the past had been a lot, but it had been beautiful and fun as well as overwhelming. The farther along she’d gone, the harder it had gotten, but it had never felt so… out of control? After all, the more memories she got, the more things fit into place rather than made less sense, even if it was…

Well. It had been out of control, in a sense. She’d set all of it up, but had forgotten it, and suddenly she was losing herself to… herself.

It still didn’t make sense. It was still uncomfortable and confusing. But at least it had been planned.

As she wandered the halls with the knight from the future, she found herself getting gnawed away by worries over how to handle this situation. But she also was jittery with excitement, rather like she had been on her journey. New places to explore, new people to meet, a chance to help this Link and the princess, a chance to kick Demise’s ass once and for all… but with absolutely no plan in place.

Well. At least not one she’d made. The king seemed to have a plan.

All Zelda knew of that plan was that the princess was supposed to seal away Demise as she had. Not kill him. Seal him. Was this why he kept coming back? Had no one else tried to kill him? What about the Triforce? Where was it?

She shook her head. Maybe she could just help the princess with sealing Demise away and they could figure out the rest after. The reassurance from the knight beside her earlier had been helpful, had calmed her nerves, had reminded her that despite the difference circumstances, she wasn’t alone.

And it wasn’t like she hadn’t done this before.

So instead, she took a deep, calming breath, and tried to focus on the people around her. She wanted to get to know them, this new hero, her family. Why had Fi chosen another Hero, anyway? Zelda only remembered… choosing Link.

This one was named Link too. That still bothered her; it was like the goddesses were trying Zel—Hylia’s plan, over and over until it could actually work.

She was changing that. These two new people weren’t just—just replacements.

“I guess we’re going to have to make up nicknames since we all have the same names,” Zelda surmised aloud as she and the knight walked. “It’s only fair that we all do it. Not sure what to call myself, though. What about you and my Link?”

The knight shifted uncomfortably.

“Oh come on now,” Zelda prompted with a smile. “You’re not going to upset me.”

“Maybe… Cloud? For your Hero?” he offered quietly.

Zelda felt absolute delight radiate through her. “That’s perfect! He adores the skies, and he’s the reason the cloud barrier’s gone.”

Not to mention he was an airhead, so it worked twofold. Zelda laughed out loud.

“So how about you?” she continued.

“Whatever suits Your Grace,” the knight answered, looking towards his feet as he walked.

Zelda pondered it for a second. If her Link was of the sky and the clouds, then this one was of the soil and the earth. What nickname would work? The idea of Kikwis popped in her head briefly, but she had to stop herself from laughing – this poor boy was insecure enough, she doubted naming him after soft, cute, little creatures would be appropriate.

As she debated the matter further, though, something suddenly snapped in her mind, a cold, shuddering, sinking feeling, like an ice dagger that stabbed into her heart and bled into her stomach, spreading frigid poison throughout. She stopped dead in her tracks, surroundings forgotten, breath stolen away, eyes wide, lost in the pain and panic of the sensation.

The temple was in ruins, the land scorched. She walked over the dead, blood dripping down her arm and off her sword.

He laughed. Cruel, heartless, gleeful. He wasn’t just causing all this destruction; he was enjoying it.

She—he—

It was cold wherever this was. Her body ached, landing barely cushioned by the flora, by her desperate attempts to make a sailcloth out of her now torn dress.

She hadn’t expected the cold. She hadn’t expected any of it. But her bones froze, her heart fluttering with terror, something so innately wrong permeating the air.

She heard footsteps stop beside her, and the quiet knight gently prompted, “Your Grace?”

The knight. Link. Zelda gasped, breathless, and turned to him with a startled twitch in her step. If he had spoken up to get her attention, she must have been zoned out for a while.

But what had—what was—

“I—I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I… we were looking for the princess, right?”

Zelda walked ahead without waiting for acknowledgement, without even really knowing where she was going. That feeling – she hadn’t—she hadn’t felt that since—since the Sealed Grounds.

Surely—Golden Three—

The king had already confirmed it. She’d known it. She’d known.

It didn’t make the sensation any better, it didn’t eliminate the fear, the sheer horror. That monster was not only still alive, but he was breaking the seal. It had to be close if she could sense it – but where? They weren’t at the Sealed Grounds anymore, right? The Gate of Time had led to a place that looked eerily like one of the springs she’d visited.

But the Gate had never been at the springs. So what…? Was the castle built over the Sealed Grounds??

No. No, no, no. They wouldn’t. That seemed… too strange, too wrong. They would make a fortress around the seal, not a city full of innocent people. Zelda blinked the images of bodies away, of fallen men, women, and children, of those slaughtered by Demise’s demons during the war that had nearly destroyed the world.

A sense of urgency filled her, but she didn’t even know where to place it. A plan, a plan, they needed a plan.

“My daughter is destined to seal away the Calamity as you once did.”

What part had gone wrong?! How was he still alive when the Triforce had killed him in the present and Link had done so in the past?! Link had killed him – Zelda’s soul had been freed, which meant that there was no way he was still alive. She hardly remembered the possession, the awful sensation, but…

She’d have to talk to Link to figure out what had truly happened. He’d never spoken of it.

Either way, if the princess was supposed to seal Demise away as Zelda had when she was Hylia…

But she’d… she’d died doing that. She’d been mortally wounded, so she guessed maybe it wouldn’t be that bad, but…

Zelda turned corridor after corridor in a mild frenzy, not looking where she was going, until she nearly ran face first into a colorful chest plate.

Gasping, she stumbled back a little, just as she got a full view of the person. It was that woman from the festival – one of the champions. The woman bowed before her. “Your Grace.”

“H-hi,” Zelda stuttered, regaining her footing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—do you—do you know where the princess is?”

“I believe she’s in her quarters,” the champion replied. “I trust Link can show you the way.”

Right. She’d been ignoring the poor knight. She looked at him now, waiting for him to lead. He seemed to take the hint, though his neutral façade was half crumbled as his eyes watched her with worry. She brushed by the champion as the pair moved on.

Champion. Champion.

That Urbosa woman was a champion of her people. The others had been introduced as champions as well, including this Link. They were champions, chosen or proving themselves to be worthy to fight against Demise.

They were preparing for a war. A war Zelda had seen as Hylia, a war she and Link had helped prevent to save Skyloft and everyone on the Surface.

A war repeated over and over.

The poisonous ice that had frozen her before was long gone, but she wished nothing more than to latch on to it and use it as a rope to trace back to its source. She wished nothing more than to walk into that abyss alongside Link and stab Demise in the throat.

“Champion,” she said softly.

The knight paused, glancing at her.

She looked at him, eyes filled with fire. “That’s your nickname. Because that’s what you are. A Champion for Hyrule. We all will be. I promise you that.”

The fire slid out of her easily, though, remorse and fear intermingling in the void created from its loss. She hugged herself. “Come on. Let’s keep going.”

It didn’t take long for them to get to the princess’ quarters again. The cheer and mischief from earlier long forgotten, the room feeling empty and uninviting. The princess was in a pretty blue dress, far less disheveled than before.

“Your Grace,” the princess acknowledged, though there was a touch of a blush to her cheeks as she and the knight—Champion—pointedly ignored each other.

“Where’s Link?” she asked, eyes searching the room. She’d figured the pair would have still been together, and she wanted to talk to him about what she’d sensed.

“He… he left a little bit ago. I thought maybe he was looking for you. He didn’t say where he was going.”

Great. She’d lost him again in this enormous place. Was this how he’d felt when he’d been following her? It was beginning to grow frustrating.

Impa’s voice came to mind, reminding her to focus on her mission and not her heart. She could talk to Link later.

“Y-Your Grace, about earlier,” the princess said awkwardly. “I—the Hero—”

“Don’t worry about it; Link falls asleep everywhere,” Zelda interrupted dismissively. “That wasn’t why I was here anyway.”

She really hadn’t wanted to cut right to the chase. How had Impa introduced herself to her? She’d assured her she was safe first. But safety wasn’t an issue here. The circumstances were so different. This wasn’t Zelda falling into a foreign world, scared and wounded and overwhelmed and hunted. This was a princess in her kingdom, in her seat of power, surrounded by protection and loved ones and subjects. Zelda was still the foreigner in this scenario.

She didn’t even know how to approach this.

“Your father… he talked to me about the Calamity,” she tried to start.

“From long ago?” the princess added on. “I… I do have questions about your fight, about the past, about all of it.”

“I do too,” Zelda muttered. “Listen, I—I…”

Great heavens, she did not want to talk about this right now. She didn’t even know how to start talking about this. She wished so desperately that Impa was here. She would know what to do.

It seemed she didn’t have to say anything at all, though. Some kind of realization seemed to hit the princess, whose hesitant curiosity fell into a crestfallen despair.

“My father,” she said softly. “He talked to you, you said?”

Zelda nodded.

The princess bit her lip, looking at the floor. “I… I understand.”

She did…? “So… about the Calamity, then… what’s the plan?”

“P-plan?” The princess repeated, looking up at her with surprised eyes.

“Yeah… you said you understood?”

“Did my father not talk to you about… about me?”

“He did,” Zelda answered. “He said you needed help sealing the Calamity away.”

The princess swallowed, hands clasped tightly in front of her. She looked… well, for lack of a better word, ashamed.

Why would she look upset like that? Sure, Zelda hadn’t been happy at the realization of her destiny, but… wait, did the princess have to seal herself away alongside Demise? But that would mean she was scared, not embarrassed, right?

Wait. What exactly was entailed with this, anyway?

“What does he mean?” Zelda asked slowly. “Back… where I’m from, I… I sealed him away, and Link helped maintain the seal, but… but the end goal was to kill him, not just keep him imprisoned.”

“K-killed?” the princess repeated. “O-oh. Your Grace, I… I don’t… none of us even considered that a possibility. Calamity Ganon was defeated time and again, but… never killed. It’s… not something mortals can do.”

Link would beg to differ, Zelda huffed internally.

“Okay…” she acknowledged uncertainly. “So the plan isn’t to kill him, then… what’s the plan?”

The princess sighed heavily, hugging herself and looking out the window. She was silent for a long time, so long Zelda almost asked again, but she finally explained, “The guardians will help hold the Calamity at bay from the innocents. The Champions will support Link and I… each with their own divine beast. Link with the Master Sword will fight the Calamity, and I…”

“You…” Zelda continued when the princess grew mute. “…Seal it away?”

The princess bit her lip, closing her eyes. She looked on the verge of tears. Zelda felt like she did and didn’t know where this was coming from, but she was going to get to the bottom of it. She looked to her right to see the knight watching the princess with worried eyes. When he noticed Zelda’s scrutiny, he looked at her abruptly, startled.

“Please leave,” she requested. When she’d had to face this herself, Link had been left in the dark until all the pieces had been in place. She wasn’t sure if the situation was the same here, but she didn’t want to make the princess any more uncomfortable than she already seemed.

The champion nodded, bowing, and departed.

Zelda took a fortifying breath, walking towards the princess. “Hey… it’s… please tell me what’s wrong.”

The princess turned away from her, her body rigid. “I-it’s… I… just… I just wanted to learn. I’m… I’m so sorry, Your Grace, I’m so sorry.”

This was getting even more confusing. “Sorry?”

“I tried,” the princess continued shakily, though the more she spoke, the harsher her voice became. “I tried, I prayed, I begged. I—I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong, I—and you’re here, unaware, from the distant past, and I—I thought maybe—I’m such an idiot.”

Zelda’s brow furrowed as she felt her own frustration pulling at her. She took two swift steps to the princess, grabbing her firmly but carefully by the shoulder to make her face her. “Princess, I have no idea what you’re talking about. All your dad said to me was that you were having trouble with your powers and he wanted me to help you. I don’t get where all this is coming from, but I… when I had to do what I did to maintain the seal… look, I get it. It’s… it’s terrifying. I…”

I didn’t want to do it. But I deserved it. And I had to do it.

She… she couldn’t ask that of anyone else. She couldn’t ask this poor girl to clean up her mess.

The princess’ eyes filled with tears, but her face was flushed with something that was far more passionate than whatever had been there before. “Terrifying? W-what could possibly scare a goddess? At least—at least you have your abilities, I—I don’t understand, you won’t listen, or, well—not you, but—well, maybe you, but—”

The teenager let out a growl of frustration, hands flying to her face to hide it and scrape the tears away. She grew rigid in a heartbeat, seeming to catch herself, and stepped back, eyes wide with horror. “Your Grace, I—I’m so sorry, I—I didn’t mean—I didn’t mean any disrespect—”

“Please stop,” Zelda cut in tiredly. “I don’t even know what’s wrong.”

The answer burst out of the girl. “I’m a failure! A princess to a throne of nothing! The entire country is looking to me to be the final piece, the final warrior, to seal Ganon away, and I can’t access my powers to do it!”

…Oh.

The princess fell to her knees. “I—I didn’t mean to yell, Your Grace, I—I mean no disrepct, you—I know you are benevolent and powerful and—”

“Stop, stop it,” Zelda nearly cried. “Stop talking to me like I—”

Like I’m responsible for this.

Because she was. She was.

The princess had nearly curled into herself so much she was practically on all fours. Zelda’s heart was racing. She wanted nothing more than to leave, but doing so now would destroy whatever trust she could build and she knew it. She tired to regain control of her breathing, and knelt in front of… in front of her descendant.

She tried to remember the joy of that thought from last night. She tried to remember the joy that had happened after. She tried to remember the beauty of what came of their settlement they were building, the wonders of the festival, the magnitude of the country. She tried to remember that this was her daughter by countless generations.

Zelda, ancient and young, old and new, couldn’t entirely wrap her mind around it, but goddesses, she tried. She tried to think of the good while her heart screamed, she tried to get herself together when she wanted nothing more than to curl up as the princess had and cry.

“Please,” she whispered. “I’m… I’m not…”

Not what? Not responsible for this? Wasn’t she, though?

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she burst out, her own voice shaking. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. Link and I fought him so you wouldn’t have to, the fact that he’s still here—”

Darn it, get it together! She screamed at herself. This wasn’t helping anything!

Zelda reached forward as the princess began to look at her with hesitant curiosity, and she took her hands in her own, feeling the soft cloth of her white gloves under her own calloused fingers. “Whatever’s going to happen, we’ll figure it out together, okay? I… I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t understand what you mean that you can’t access your powers, but… but I won’t… I won’t let anything happen to this place, or to you. Okay?”

Princess Zelda watched her, frozen in place, eyes wide, filled with wonder, hope, terror, hurt, and Zelda couldn’t even read what else. But a dam finally seemed to break, and she hiccupped once, twice, thrice before next thing Zelda knew the girl was sobbing, hands desperately trying to wiggle out of her own to hide her face.

Zelda watched her for a few moments, lost and scared herself, and she remembered that Champion had just given her the same reassurance outside. She felt her heart warm at it. No matter the generations, Zelda would always have Link to support her. But here she could support her own descendant just fine. She reached forward, pulling the princess into a hug, trembling herself but strong enough to bear the grief and terror they both were drowning in.

I promise, she vowed. I promise I will protect Hyrule. I protected this land before…

I will do it again.

[aimlesspixel]

If I had a nickle for every star themed time loop game that made me cry on multiple occasions that you don't wanna spoil like your life depends on it I'd have two nickles.

[accirax]

Charles Tawaki: a DRDT Crack Theory

(Spoilers through DRDT Chapter 2 Part 1. Also for Star Wars Episodes 4 and 5, somehow???)

So… I know this sounds crazy (it is), but hear me out, okay?

After rewatching all of DRDT for a second time (as you do), I was left puzzled by Teruko’s final conversation with Veronika before the Chapter 2 motive reveal/body discovery. Y’know, the one about prosopagnosia.

Because, under my current understanding of the case, Teruko’s possible face blindness is completely irrelevant.

Now, I know my comprehension of the crime is nowhere near perfect, and that many popular theories include a culprit either dressing up as or swapping places with Arei. The person who makes the most sense for this is obviously J. She’s the same height as Arei, they’re both girls, and they have similar eye and skin colors. Additionally, J has one extra advantage that no one else does: her talent. J is the Ultimate Effects Artist, specializing in practical theater effects as opposed to digital post production.

Out of everyone in this cast, if someone was going to disguise themselves as Arei, J would have the best chance at being able to use makeup to disguise her face. Maybe her history with actors would even give her a better shot at acting like Arei, if worse comes to worse.

However, there’s a major problem with this premise at its base: even if Teruko is face blind, not everyone in the cast is. If Veronika can see the similarities between Teruko and the actress, wouldn’t she also be able to tell the differences between J and Arei? Moot point, Veronika could notice and still choose to conceal that because it would make the trial more interesting. But, Whit is still a pretty observant guy when he wants to be. Arturo has a particular eye for people’s faces, and has spent a lot of time with J specifically. Rose has a photographic memory. While it’s possible that Teruko wouldn’t be able to see through a disguised killer, between the twelve-or-so other innocent students in the rest of the case, it feels like it would be impossible for the killer to actually get away with dressing up as Arei for any meaningful amount of time, or in front of a meaningful group of people.

But this conversation with Veronika is so suspicious!!! The fact that DRDT’s creator chose to give Teruko prosopagnosia, or at the very least to suggest it, means that it has to be relevant to the story in some way, right? That’s, like, mystery writing 101.

So, I have an alternate theory as to how it could come up: if Teruko has failed to notice that her long-lost missing brother is amongst this cast.

And, that that brother was someone who was present for this very conversation: Charles.

Sound unbelievable? Well then, let me start off with some of my best evidence to get you more on board. That being, their character designs.

Charles and Teruko have pretty similar faces, all things considered. Their eyes are both pretty narrow, and upturned at the end. They also have really similar hairstyles: two bang spikes in the middle, with two longer pieces framing the face. The side opposite their long ponytail has a tuft of hair overlapping the side of the hanging piece, while the other side is more plain. Charles and Teruko also have really similar skin tones, with Teruko’s skin only being slightly redder and darker than Charles’.

Obviously, the two of them have different eye and hair colors. However, as Veronika already pointed out, that doesn’t matter:

(Teruko brings up skin color too, but it’s treated as secondary to eye and hair color.)

Inadvertently, Veronika is telling us that if two people have different eye and hair colors, they can still look similar as long as they have other similarities. Thus, while having different coloration can throw us off the scent, Charles and Teruko can still look similar, and remind us of the other.

Speaking of which, the personality similarities between Charles and Teruko have been highlighted in the story multiple times before. The most obvious one in my memory occurs at the end of the scene where Charles entrusts Teruko with the secret he received, right before Teruko decides to use a Monocredit to get rid of him.

Here, he calls Teruko out for her hypocrisy, directly pointing out that Teruko holds the same apathetic attitude that he displayed in Chapter 1. Beyond that, I think it goes without saying that both Charles and Teruko have displayed some majorly antagonistic qualities throughout the story. Both are intelligent, guarded, and a little sassy. When they banter, they’re able to trade similar insults.

Also, they both have a particular fondness for cacti.

Obviously, siblings do not need to have the same personality, especially if they didn’t even grow up together. I bring this up more to say that these are ways in which the author is intentionally drawing parallels between Teruko and Charles, showing us that they are similar and connecting them in our minds.

Now, let’s take a look at what we know of their backstories. As previously shown, Teruko was an orphan who lived at an orphanage with her brother. When she was five, her brother was adopted, and she was not. She had a pretty rough life after that, with “no family to speak of” while sneaking into schools to get an education, forced to choose between food and rent. Very unlucky, but not particularly relevant to this theory.

Charles’ life, on the other hand, seemed a lot easier.

Charles claims that both of his parents are alive. Additionally, while I don’t think it’s been confirmed, the fact that Charles doesn’t know how to cook or do his own laundry implies that either his parents are very caring and attentive to his needs, or he comes from a rich enough family that they have some sort of housekeeper to take care of their chores. My money is on the latter based on Charles’ overall demeanor, but that’s just speculation.

However, anyone who’s read Charles’ secret knows that his past wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

While Charles believed he had no siblings, in truth, he actually had a brother who died when he was young. Many characters, including Charles himself, also connect his forgotten past to his fear of blood and dead bodies. That means that whatever happened to his brother, it wasn’t pretty.

So, that’s great, right? Another similarity between Charles and Teruko: both of them have a brother! Except, really that’s more of a problem than anything. If Charles and Teruko are siblings, then Teruko should remember having two brothers, and Charles should believe he has a sister. However, there is a way to get out of this.

Here’s my proposed theory for Charles and Teruko’s intertwined backstories. Charles and Teruko Tawaki are born to the same parents, likely as twins, given that they appear to be in the same year in school. While it’s a little odd that Teruko only said she had a brother as opposed to a twin brother, it’s possible she doesn’t remember the details herself, as she doesn’t cite the brother as older or younger, either. Anyways, at some point, their parents die, and the two of them are sent to the orphanage.

Then, when Charles and Teruko are five, Charles is adopted by the Cuevas family– a mom, a dad, and an older brother. I can’t speculate as to exactly why the family would adopt only Charles and not Teruko, but considering that Teruko getting left behind is a canonical plot point no matter who her brother is, clearly the author believes it’s possible. Once Charles is adopted into the family, tragedy strikes, and his new older brother dies in a terribly bloody accident. This event forges Charles’ phobia of blood and bodies. And, in a desperate attempt to save itself, his brain wipes his memory of his older brother… as well as his adoption and his twin sister, too.

Even if Teruko seeing a dead body happened after she left the orphanage, it’s clear that her past was pretty bleak. Having your parents die and being sent to an orphanage at such a young age must have been a traumatic event. So, if Charles was already in the process of developing childhood amnesia about the trauma of his brother’s death, I think it’s possible that his brain could have decided to shut out the trauma of being adopted, too. It’s childhood amnesia. Obviously he didn’t forget enough of his childhood to concern him or tip himself off that something was wrong, but who has super crisp memories from age 5 or prior anyways? And, if Mr. and Mrs. Cuevas simply hadn’t chosen to tell their son that he was actually adopted (possibly for fear of triggering him by reminding him of his adopted older brother), Charles could grow up thinking he had an exceptionally normal childhood.

Thus, while it requires a bit of creative interpretation, I think it’s possible for Charles and Teruko’s backstories to fit together. And, once you clear Charles’ brother dying, the two of them never saw each other again until the killing game began, so anything that happens afterward can still fit under the siblings theory.

This includes their secrets, as well. While we don’t know Teruko’s secret, I’ve gone on the record saying that I believe that hers is “How could I even select what secret to make your motive? Just about everything you’ve done in your life is worth killing for. The killing game is all your fault”. This secret isn’t specific to one event, so Charles being her secret brother would still totally fit. It’s a little weird for Charles that they wouldn’t roll the other half of his forgotten siblings into the secret. But if they wanted to limit it to one secret per person for the sake of fairness (for instance, not having Whit’s secret be that he omits the death of his mother AND that he’s bisexual), I could see them cutting it out.

And that’s not even operating under the theory that Teruko could be the mastermind. In that case, she could have A) chosen to not talk about that secret because it mentions herself and her past, or B) not known it herself, and therefore not have been able to make it Charles’ secret.

From a meta writing perspective, I don’t know how the creator would tell us that Teruko and Charles are twins now that the secrets motive has passed, but I believe they could come up with something.

So, have I convinced you at all that it’s possible yet? I would hope at least slightly, if you’ve gotten to this point in the theory. Sadly, however, that means it’s time to discuss some of the… large potential holes in this theory that almost prevented me from writing it in the first place. Here we go.

Let’s go back to Charles and Teruko’s similar appearances, my “strongest point.” Well, Google tells me that the last name “Tawaki” is most commonly found in Japan, while “Cuevas” is Spanish in origin. Thus I, as well as likely many others, have assumed that Teruko is Japanese, and Charles is Hispanic. If Teruko and Charles are twins, that would mean that Charles’ ethnicity is actually Japanese, and he only gained the Hispanic last name “Cuevas” after being adopted by the Cuevas family. Through the magic of anime stylization, Charles and Teruko might look the same to us. But, in reality, if Charles was the only Asian looking member of a Hispanic family, wouldn’t it be pretty easy for him to realize/remember he was adopted?

While it’s a bit of an uninformed cop out, I did come up with a solution. If Charles and Teruko are both mixed race, specifically Asian/Hispanic, it’s possible nobody could have remembered. Charles could have been born a Tawaki, taking his Japanese parent’s last name, but when he was adopted, his Hispanic heritage amongst his new fully Hispanic family caused him to forget his Japanese roots. Like any child, some mixed race people look more like one parent (or therefore, one parent’s race) than the other. For example, as a mixed race person, I believe this is true of myself. I also think this is true of Whit, who appears to be Asian and white, but passes more as a white person.

(Obviously, it’s a little hard to tell exactly how white passing Whit is when he dyes his hair and we live in multicolored anime land, but the point stands.) So, this theory could be especially viable if Charles happened to look more like his Hispanic parent, while Teruko looked more like her Japanese parent.

Additionally, this could be a bold (mis?)characterization of the Cuevas family, but it is an explanation of why Charles could have been adopted while Teruko was not. If the Cuevas family was Hispanic, they may have wanted a child that “looked more like them,” so they only took the more Hispanic looking kid of the pair. If true, that would also potentially be another reason why Charles’ parents wouldn’t tell him he’s adopted.

For what it’s worth, I also do think Teruko is an American. While she was initially wearing a Japanese school uniform, and MonoTV confirmed she’s been to Japan, the fact that she “hasn’t been in years” makes me think that she currently lives in the US, where it really seems like the series is based. It would make sense if she now resides in the country in which she was born, and she’s never mentioned being a foreigner. She also speaks perfect English with no accent, which implies that she grew up in an English speaking country. If Charles is Teruko’s twin, and Teruko was born as an American, it would make it much easier for Charles to wind up in the United States.

Again, I don’t love this point, as it is extremely speculatory (what about this theory isn’t), but it is an answer. If Mr. Ultimate Chemist could take a DNA test for me real quick, that would be extremely helpful.

Point of contention #2: the existence of Charuko.

Speaking of which, please please please do not let this stupid theory stop you from shipping Charuko. There’s a 99.9% chance it is not true.

Anyways, Charuko is a big problem for this theory, given that I doubt the creator wants to incorporate incest into their story. While it obviously isn’t canon, Charuko is a decently popular ship, and that’s likely because of how their relationship is presented in the story. What was previously cited as sibling-like banter could easily be read as flirtatious teasing, and their similarities could be showing how compatible they are. But obviously, it could be totally platonic as well!

…Okay this is kind of a problem.

Even as more of a CharWhit enjoyer myself, I can’t deny that this is a particularly shippy moment. If you don’t recall, in this part of this scene Charles details how he likes talking to Teruko because she’s never pitied him, blushing all the while. The biggest blow to the theory is the sprite choice in this particular scene.

He has a version of this sprite with no blush. And yet, the creator chose to use the blushing version.

Now it is true that blushing can just be a sign of being flustered, which Charles often is. He could be embarrassed by merely complimenting Teruko at all, especially to her face. However, as any Owl House fan could tell you, blushing is often used as a shorthand for one character experiencing attraction to another. And, if Charles and Teruko are secretly siblings, I can’t understand why the creator would decide to imply the possibility that Charles could be crushing on Teruko. If the creator is a fan of… well, anything, they could probably expect that two of their most relevant characters have a possibility of being shipped together. They wouldn’t need to add any fuel to that fire– if anything, they would need to be throwing the firewood into the trash.

To be honest, I don’t really have much of a defense for this one. More than anything, this is what convinces me that this theory couldn’t be true. Really, all I can come up with is another example of something like this happening before, point at it, and say “if it happened there, it could happen here too.”

Said example is found in Star Wars, with Luke and Leia. At the end of the first movie, they kiss, but in the second movie, they learn that they’re actually twins, and cease romantic relations. Especially if this theory is true, I doubt Teruko and Charles would get to the point of sharing a kiss, but it would be a similar plotline to Star Wars.

Of course, I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan, but I’m pretty sure that when George Lucas wrote the first movie (in which Luke and Leia kiss), he didn’t know at the time that the characters were siblings. Meanwhile, if Charles and Teruko are twins, I would have to assume that it was in the creator’s plans the whole time, similar to Charles’ phobia of blood.

On that note of confidence, the final issue I could come up with: so what?

You’ve just spent 2.8k words+ trying to convince me that Charles and Teruko are siblings. Who cares? What does that actually have to do for the story? How would it ever become relevant?

Good points. Truly, I struggled with this myself. Like many others, I fear that Charles will die in Chapter 3 (after all, he was already pronounced dead at that time). And, given all the other drama that’s already going on with the other characters, and all the additional drama that the end of the second trial may cause, I wasn’t sure that a Charles/Teruko sibling reveal could really fit in that time. Even if Charles makes it past Chapter 3, I wasn’t sure how or why it would make sense for the story. But I did come up with a couple of ideas.

First of all, it could give Teruko another character to trust.

Charles is probably already the character that Teruko trusts the most (yes, even despite the above knife), but if she learned that he was her brother, she might feel even more connected to him. Or, she could pull a classic Teruko, and back even farther away from him in fear that she would come to trust him. At the very least, it would give Teruko an interesting dilemma. It would be interesting for Charles, too– he just learned he had a sibling that he lost, so how would he feel if he had a second sibling who was trapped in this killing game with him?

If Charles dies as an innocent victim, too, Teruko would have to face the loss of another person who’s important to her, but in a situation where he did absolutely nothing to betray her. This could happen even if Charles isn’t her brother, too, but I digress.

Secondly, it could force Teruko to talk about her past.

Given this scene, we know that there are aspects of Teruko’s past that she’s hiding from us, the audience inside her head. And, if she’s not telling us, then she definitely doesn’t want to tell other people.

But if Charles somehow learns that Teruko is his twin sister from a past he has no recollection of, after just receiving his dead brother secret, he would almost certainly want to start pressing her for answers. Although Teruko puts up a tough front, she has had moments of breaking down and showing “weakness” in the face of things that catch her off guard. It’s possible that if Charles genuinely came to her seeking answers about his own life, she would feel obligated to at least tell him something. And in that something, we could find some info relevant to the plot at large.

That is, if she actually knows anything about the situation. If she doesn’t and, say, MonoTV is the one who had to tell them about their siblinghood, part of Teruko’s backstory could also be rolled into the way that MonoTV would tell them that fact. That could be interesting, too, if Charles alone is privy to extra information about Teruko’s life beyond what happened when she was 5.

And, that’s about all that I have to say. As I’ve hinted at throughout this theory, despite being the one who came up with it, I really have my doubts that this theory is true. However, with the apparent lack of face blindness in this case, I can’t help but speculate as to how it could apply to something in the story in later chapters. I feel like I might be onto something, even if “Charles and Teruko secret siblings” isn’t it.

I would love to hear what anyone has to say to bust or support this theory, or if it inspires any other similar crack theories in its stead. Despair Time is a crazy enough series as is, so I wouldn’t be surprised if one of our shots in the dark makes it close to a target.