#zelda HATES her and that hatred is going to keep growing

[sokkas-first-fangirl]

The more I read about the Queen in “You used to tell me” the more I want to understand her motives. Why did Lianna not perform the ritual or send Lia? It sounds like this ritual was considered an important rite for the Royal family and while Link was a prince it seems connected to magic so wouldn’t it make sense that they should attend as well? Even if only for the sale of appearances

In regards to the ritual at the springs, Lianna sends Link when she doesn't want him in the castle. Simple as that. She's an abusive mother trying to push her son out of the way.

She and Lia do sometimes pray at the springs, though it was more common when Lia was a kid and training with her magic. The ritual wasn't to unlock Princess Lia's magic, but to help her focus and control it. Nowadays, it's reserved for special occasions, such as any particularly holy days/celebrations that Hyrule might have. Most likely a festival for Hylia.

Hers and Lia's rituals have a lot of the same steps: traditional prayer outfits, praying in the water all night, generally asking for victory and safety. However, Lianna and Lia would be actively using their magic and trying to communicate with Hylia and/or the Spirit Realm. Link, lacking magic, is expected to just pray for Lianna and Lia's safety and success.

If Link was doing this willingly, it would be seen as a show of support for his mother and sister. As it is...A part of him still hopes it will make Lianna soften towards him.

We'll see some Queen Lianna POV soon(ish), but there's a description of her and her worldview under the cut.

Being a descendent of a goddess could easily go to someone's head and it certainly went to Lianna's. Lianna is, above all, arrogant. It's her way or the high way, and she doesn't really see why she should "pander" to expectations. As far as she's concerned, she sets the expectations. Others don't get to expect things from her, not in her mind. She's the Queen of Hyrule, she carries the blood of the goddess, she's been successfully using her magic since she was seven years old. The nobility likes her and that's enough for her. She'll use "tradition" when it suits her and ignore it when it doesn't.

She is not popular with the masses, not at all. Outside of the nobility (well, most of them), she's considered a harsh, unfair and domineering queen. On the other hand, her mother was beloved by all; Queen Lianna Senior (or "Anna") fought side-by-side with her knights and was known for her charity work. Our current Queen Lianna is too much like her father and maternal grandmother: arrogant and cold. Queen Anna tried to break the cycle, but didn't manage it in the end. The ones to break the cycle of viciousness and abuse will be Link and Zelda.

After the Calamity, Queen Lianna is remembered as the woman who was supposed to stop the disaster and failed. (By the Zora especially.) Stories of her attitude spread far and wide. Add on the rumours that Link somehow activated the sealing power and (supposedly) died holding Ganon back, and now she's remembered as the woman who abused the boy that saved Hyrule.

She may have been a little kinder once, but that time is long gone. (After all, if she started out at her absolute worst, Oberon would never have loved her, and Urbosa never would have been her friend.) She did improve for a while...Until the twins were born. Then she backslid and only got worse.

In regards to Link, she didn't want a son; she only wanted Lia. Then he was a very sickly kid, which she considered a further disappointment, and King Oberon favoured Link over Lia (because, as he'd argue, someone had to.) Lianna and Oberon's marriage was falling apart at the seams. Due to her treatment of the family, Oberon didn't love her anymore and Lianna was determined not to lose him...Except for changing her behaviour. She believed she could make him "see sense." Then, of course, Link was present when the Yiga killed Oberon. Oberon actually died shielding Link. Logically, Lianna knows that's not Link's fault...But logic doesn't exactly win out with her. Impa was actually spot-on when she wondered if Lianna blamed Link for the king's death.

In Lianna's eyes, Link is:

A boy

A reminder of Oberon (and low-key a reminder of her own mother)

Not what she wanted (quiet, shy, anxious, spends too much time with the commoners, etc)

Present when Oberon died

And...Too much work. He saw his father die and she never helped him with that trauma. He lost his voice and Impa's mother had to suggest learning Hylian sign. That wasn't Lianna's idea.

To Lianna, Link doesn't fit her narrative and his biggest "sin" is reminding her of Oberon and not fitting into her idea of how the story should go. He's not a Champion, he's not capable of using Hylia's magic (so she thinks), he's not the Chosen Knight. He doesn't have a place in the narrative as far as she's concerned. She just wants him out of her way, where she doesn't have to think about him. His battle skills nearly rival Zelda's, but that's not enough for her. He doesn't fit the mold, he reminds her of Oberon, he's dealing with trauma and she's actively piling more on. She wants him out of her way.

Frankly, Lianna had to die. Utter failure and a hundred years to see the aftermath of her screw-ups was the only way she'd open her eyes. (Or the near-death experience of Age of Calamity.) Even then, she didn't tell Zelda everything. She left out her own treatment of Link, of Zelda, and the Champions. She implores Zelda to save Link, making her look like a caring mother, only for Princess Lia to immediately tell Zelda the truth. 100 years later and she's still trying to control the narrative.

Zelda's going to have a lot to say to her as she remembers more. A new experiment: can you punch a ghost in the face?

The answer: yes.

[sonicasura]

SonicAsura's Doodles #70

There once was a loving family consisting of a writer, his beautiful wife and sweet child. Despite his kind heart, the scribe held a vengeful nature deep inside. A soul daring enough to call out the wrongs of any who slight him despite the danger such actions wrought.

One day he would accidentally uncover great sins wrought by the Royal Family, purposely buried away for untold time. Vengeance slowly overcame his heart with every vile deed he found. The scribe soon fled carrying this knowledge in tow unaware of the dark fate he would soon wrought on his family.

He would create a set of wooden tablets bearing every taboo dug from their grave. With every page finished, this small family would crack. Love between husband and wife shatters as the boy's mother dies first. Innocent to the suspicion of treason. A father cuts off his love to his son as he perishes with one last ink stroke.

The boy is hunted down for days on end holding the very tablets that ruined his life. And he would perish by these very same writings with a deep plummet into the bottom of a maze-like forest. Heart impaled on broken written plates.

Yet, he didn't fully die that day. The grudge held deep in his father's forbidden texts, the strange magic of the woods around him and the mysterious divine mark's power took their respective hold. Clay-like earth replaced his flesh as tree roots became bones.

Skin exchanged for wooden trunks whilst dried grass and leaves become hair or fur. Those very cursed writings shifted into hands alongside a mighty tail as that ink would become sap like blood. A once innocent boy now a beast stained by hatred that doesn't belong to him.

You guys were wondering what I did to Warriors so here it is. It was originally going to be a Pokemon piece involving a certain new Legendary but end up as this instead. Link died when he was 7 years old and transformed by the Lost Woods' magic.

It didn't stop him from physically growing to this 18 ft behemoth once he reaches his canon age for Hyrule Warriors. However, Link's mindset is akin to an 8 year old which stems from minor interaction with people and the limited stuff he remembers before his death.

The Triforce of Courage keeps the malevolence from his father's hate filled writings at bay. Such wicked nature taking the form of those eyes on top Wars' head. Although personality is akin to an oversized playful yet lonely child, children can be guided to do bad stuff with a whispering devil in their mind.

Cia will open the rift between eras but it's even more unstable as Warriors doesn't get involved at the start of HW. His untimely demise immediately stopped her from watching him, partly cause of grief, so she's unaware of his current state. Zelda is still looking for the hero as Link doesn't join the military.

Warriors isn't going to be alone for long as two particular blonde youths find him: Wind(Wind Waker) and Mask (Majora's Mask). A development which will throw whatever remains of the canon plot out the window. Even moreso when the golem in the group can quickly tell the child shaped adult among them.

If this Wars gets dragged into LU with canon Warriors in the group, his nickname would be Hedge. (Wild mistook the hiding wood revenant's hair for a hedge.) Mask will also be with him so double whammy.

That's all I have to share for now! Until next time folks, I'll see you back in Hyrule!

[binkus-bonkus]

It’s So Much…

Breath of the Wild; Link

Word count: 684

Angst, mentions of death and suicidal thoughts, post resurrection Link

Link should have died on Blacthery Plains a hundred years ago, he now knows this. His body over worked, bruised and beaten, his mental state wilted and shrivelled. He had devoted everything within him to protecting the Princess and yet somehow she was okay to make it back to Hyrule Castle without him after his death. He wasn’t upset that he lived only to protect her, that he died while doing so. He was upset that now, a hundred and some odd years later he was still living this horrible existence. He’d remember things, in odd places. He remembers his death, he remembers her awakening her powers. Yet, he wasn’t buried with the master sword, he wasn’t given the tools he would need to seal the Calamity. When he encountered the King on the Plateau, he had known about Link’s amnesia. If that’s what the shrine was meant to do to him, why would they put him there? He had so many questions.

Link spends his days searching, looking endlessly for the Master Sword. Everyone he had encountered, everyone he had saved, had doubted that he was a hero due to his lack of “the sword that seals the darkness”. He remembers the pressure he felt while wielding the sword, the memories flowing as the flood gates opened. He hated that cursed sword, the very thing that stripped his life away, pulled him from Mipha all those years ago. The responsibility, the immense burden, his mental state could barely handle the comments. The derogatory attitude the nobles had towards him, the comments and the hatred and the uplift of their noses at his presence. Like he was not worthy of such a sword, or of the title of knight itself.

Now though, he felt… free. Sure Zelda called to him, but no one was aware of who he was, no one except Impa. What was there to stop him from living a free life, starting over again? It would be irresponsible of him to neglect his fate, his destiny, for him to just abandon Hyrule, but he was so tired. The divine beasts took it out of him, he was worn. On nights where he was cold and alone, restless, he’d sit in the fields and cry. He missed his father, his sister. He remembers the pendant his sister had given him, a symbol that she would always love him. He clutched it and he would cry. He never got to say goodbye to them, and here he was, awake and very much alive. They were gone, everyone he once knew was gone.

The days were long but the nights were longer, as he gazed upon the ruins of the land, the state of the Castle. Link was growing numb, like he had all those years ago. The silent state of bearing the weight of the world on his weary shoulders. It was hard to breathe, it was impossible to stand. He had spent days, weeks, months, traversing across Hyrule, at Zelda’s and Impa’s instruction. He was tired.

The joy he once got from cooking, from riding a horse, from taking lonely pictures with the sheikah slate. All of it was gone. Link wished to be dead, so he could join his family, be with his loved ones. The trials of the shrines, the endless monsters, the overwhelming burden of the Calamity. He was worn.

Another night, another bowed head. His heart had been weighing him down, it was too much to keep going, to keep breathing. He would fail, he would fail like he did a hundred years ago. He was weaker, that fire in his heart to protect the people he loved, to make them proud. There was no one left to be proud of him, no one left to protect. The tears fall, they fall and they don’t stop. Link can’t hold them all in his two hands, sobbing an ocean of sorrow into existence upon this dry, dry land. The sword in his hand, an endless, merciless taunting that everything relied on him, everything was counting on him.

It’s so much…

[magaprima]

Part 4 One Shot: Meeting Baby Adam 

The memory of the sheer fear and desperation she’d felt the night she’d...infected herself with the Dark Lord’s seed wasn’t one she was ever likely to forget. She’d known he intended to kill her, and it would neither have been quick or painless. But, as always, she’d found a way to survive, as...unpleasant as the entire arrangement had been. She’d known Lucifer’s ego wouldn’t have been able to resist the promise of a son, especially one that wasn’t diluted by mortality as Sabrina was. A stay of execution he’d called it, and that was exactly what she’d expected; after all, thirteen months was more than enough time to come up with a plan, to finish Lucifer once and for all, and ensure her own life was protected in the process. She’d hadn’t come so far only to...retreat all the way to the beginning once again. 

The baby therefore had been a means to an end. She’d birthed demonic creatures before-- not traditionally, she’d never actually been pregnant, but they were all still her children, she had given something of herself each time to make them, and they did all call her Mother. But she didn’t love them, she didn’t...excessively care for them. She’d had no reason to think this child, this Morningstar would be any different. And any sickness she’d felt, any...over-whelmining nausea he’d caused had only cemented the idea in her mind. Anything that caused her to feel this sick, this weak, at any point was not exactly going to earn her affection. 

But....whenever her stomach was settled, whenever she didn’t feel ill, when she’d finally developed a particular potion that eased those symptoms, she couldn’t deny that being aware of something growing inside her was oddly...connecting. She’d even, on occasion, found herself smiling, even humming to herself in private contentment. She decided it was due to the fact she was slowly forming a plan, that everything would, eventually, come together. The fact she flinched in displeasure whenever Lucifer named the child ‘my son’, however, was something she hadn’t really wanted to explore. Besides, there had still been many months to go, almost a year, in fact. 

If not for what happened. 

It had been a twinge at first. A muscle spasm. A brief shot of pain that had hurt but wasn’t of any real concern. But then it came again. Bigger. More painful. She’d known instantly that something was wrong and it wasn’t merely her witch instincts that told her that, but something else, some...intuition telling her there was something bad happening to the tiny life growing inside her. The pain quickly became unbearable, even in its initial short bursts. She’d tried to swallow it, to breathe through it, but something inside her was ripping through her, pushing at organs, all of her insides. Pushing them violently. 

The sudden, accelerated growth had been agonisingly fast, ripping through all of her, kicking through every part of her relentlessly, carelessly, destroying and cutting through parts of her to make room for the life inside her that was growing so much faster than was possible, even by infernal standards. And the sudden weight, the sudden change of weight of what had been  nothing more than an almost imperceptible fetus becoming a complete and whole baby, had brought her to knees, unable to balance anymore than she was able to bear the pain. 

Her concern should have been for herself and only herself. The baby was killing her and she should have thought of nothing but how to stop it, how to survive it...and yet, despite herself, her first flicker of a thought was to her son. My baby. If it was ripping her apart, then that meant he was being torn apart too; growing too fast, ripping out of her, would kill him as much as it would kill her....and not only did Lilith hate that she knew that, she hated that she cared. 

She’d known where she needed to go, the only people who could actually help her-- and her son. She’d known it even if she didn’t like it. The last time she’d gone to the Spellmans for sanctuary she’d be turned away, but if they did that this time, Lilith knew she’d die. The Spellman Sisters were not just witches, they were skilled midwives, with centuries of experience of delivering babies of all varieties. They'd been her only hope and one that, thankfully, hadn’t been misplaced. 

As she’d lay writhing on that bed, she’d known her baby was tearing apart. She hadn’t just felt it, she’d known it. She’d known then that that was what was meant to happen, someone was tearing them apart, someone was trying to kill them both, and Lilith wanted to hate the child for giving her this vulnerability. If she hadn’t been pregnant, if she hadn’t been carrying him, no one could have used this spell on her, she would have nothing to exploit, no vulnerability. The pregnancy might have, briefly, saved her life, but the baby had made her weak. It had made it possible for her enemies to not only attack her, but to succeed. She’d be ripped apart on this bed, she’d be dead and everything would have been for nothing, all of it. She’d be gone. Dead because her baby had made her weak. 

And then the pain faded. Gone. Nothing but a dull hum as all around her the witches screamed in agony, taking on her pain. She’d been bewildered, confused, not just by the power of the spell, of how it had been possible in the first place, that a mere prayer of a spell from Zelda Spellman had compelled the Goddess of Witches herself to intervene, but also that any of the coven would be willing to do it, that they’d want to spare her the pain. And she felt them pushing, all of them. All of them pushing with her, physically pushing, all of them joined to get the baby out of her, to share the pain and the suffering, all of it, to help her survive. It gave Lilith time not only to realise that she wouldn’t die, that these people were not going to let her die, but that her baby wouldn’t die either, that she’d see him, that in minutes she would, actually, see him. And she didn’t want to. She should be hating him, she should be cursing his existence for what he’d done to her....but she wasn’t. She tried, she tried so hard to hate him as she pushed, but that hatred, that oh so familiar and comforting emotion wouldn’t come. If she couldn’t hate him now, for all this, when she’d never even seen him, held him...Lilith had dreaded what it would mean when she did. 

This had not been part of her...emergency plan to save her own life. The baby had been nothing but a means to an end. A pregnancy to spare her life and a child that could, potentially and possibly, be used as some...bargaining chip at a later point. Caring for the child was never her intention nor was it her desire. And as she’d felt the creature finally slip out of her, she’d felt a cold dread grip her. She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want to see him. But she knew Hilda would make her, that, inevitably, he would be brought to her. A son to his Mother. She didn’t want it. She didn’t want him. She didn’t want what it would mean. She was the Mother of Demons, not a mother of some actual baby. She didn’t want to be that. She didn’t want to care for something other than herself. It would make her weak, make her vulnerable, just as the pregnancy had. She wanted Lucifer gone and she wanted the throne. That’s all. She wouldn’t have some....satanic miracle change that, interfering with it.

She could hear him crying and she’d still refused to look, instead keeping her eyes on the ceiling, avoiding everyone in the room, all of it. Trying her best to ignore as Hilda cut the cord, as she wrapped him in a blanket with the clear intent of....presenting him to Lilith. She didn’t want this. She’d never wanted this. Take it away, she thought silently, take it away, even as her head turned to look, to watch Hilda. She could see a hand, just the tiniest glimpse of a hand....and she wanted to see more. She’d delivered him, it had nearly killed her, she should at least see the cause of that, to put an actual face to her near cause of death. 

But the nearer Hilda grew, the more Lilith had felt the desire to do more than see him. She wanted to hold him. He’s mine, she thought silently. He’s mine and I should be the one holding him. He’s mine. He’s mine. Without even realising what she was doing, Lilith reached out for him, her arms stretching towards Hilda, encouraging her to hand him over. She just wanted to see him, that was all, to know what it felt like....what he felt like. They’d both been attacked after all and they’d both been through the pain and trauma and....searing agony of this...unexpected delivery. Both of them. Together. 

Lilith reached out more eagerly, feeling Hilda was not being...prompt enough. And then she saw his face. Crying, upset by everything that happened and she’d felt an overwhelming desire to soothe him, to remind him he wasn’t alone in this, and to make him feel better for it. Please, give him to me, she thought, and the moment he was in her arms the....wariness disappeared, the attempted resentment, all of it, giving way to something entirely different and entirely...overwhelming. 

She loved him. There was no escaping it. She loved him. He was perfect. Instinctively, she hushed him gently, rocking him a little, wanting to soothe his cries and dry his tears. I know, she thought, I know. We were attacked, we suffered...but we survived. We’re both survivors. This love was different than anything she’d ever known; it didn’t feel like it was taking from her, it felt felt like it was giving. She’d worried that being even remotely attached the child would mean she would be weak, that she would...give up on certain goals in favour of newfound motherhood. Instead, it was the opposite. Lilith felt a flame inside her burn brighter than ever as her determination became fiercer than ever too. For him, for her son. Her son who she loved and who she would protect at all costs. He’d started his life in suffering, but she’d make sure he wouldn’t live that way. Lucifer wouldn’t come near him, none of Hell’s Court would...not until she and her son were both ruling over it. 

She’d never known love could be such a...rallying strength, how powerful it could really be, until now. She loved him and she had no desire to deny it, not to herself, not to anyone.

“He’s perfect” She declared, “A perfect little devil”

[fatefulfaerie]

Blades of the Yiga (Pt. 1/3)

Zelda kicked up sand with every tumultuous step, gasping for breath and feeling as if her lungs would tire.

She panted every breath. Even a short, forced swallow made no difference, her dry throat not soothed in the slightest before her breaths became heavy again.

She took no care to her lightly fisted hands, her impropriety as she ran as fast as she could, shadows of palm trees flitting past her.

Zelda continued to run as she took a look behind her she knew she couldn’t afford, the sight of red making her turn her head back and run even faster.

The outside of her right foot suddenly rolled in the sand, curling in such a wonky way that the oddity was only outweighed by the subsequent and sudden pain. Zelda closed and opened her eyes as it happened, reacting with a deflation of her shoulders, but she readily ignored it. She was determined to survive this, to get back to Gerudo town, to any one of those warriors who would offer her aid.

She kept running with a slight limp, but it was no use, two Yiga warriors sliding in front of her and readying their vicious sickles.

Zelda inhaled at the sight, her breath shaky as she staggered back. She turned quickly around at the mere hope that they were alone, but she only found another red-clad mask-covered Yiga.

She fell backwards onto her hands, softening how hard she hit the sand as her knees bent in front of her. Zelda looked desperately between the two sides, in her green eyes a plea for mercy she couldn’t bring herself to voice.

They approached her and she felt her hope wither away, a single tear dropping upon her cheek as one of the Yiga loomed before her, readying his sickle to strike.

Everything her father said about her being a failure, everything she felt about being alone, it was all true. This world that would grow to hate her for her lack of sealing power, that was endlessly disappointed by her, had left her alone for dead.

She bowed her head and clamped her eyes shut as the Yiga moved his arm to strike forward, preparing herself for pain, for a death and assasination she couldn’t escape.

She heard the cool, slithering, metal graze of a weapon, yet no harm came to her.

Zelda looked up to see why, the movement of her head slow and cautious until she saw not tight, red fabric, but brown leather boots. Her eyes widened and, in her shock, a soft and sharp gasp parted her lips.

It was him, that boy, that knight, that one who was given everything, who pulled the sword that seals the darkness with ease while she still cried before statues upon statues of the goddess Hylia. It was that swordsman who was assigned as her knight attendant and yet seemed undeserving of everything he was given. It was that knight who kept his silence, who she assumed hated her for her incompetence and couldn’t even bring himself to utter a word of anything more than hate.

It was the knight with whom she acted the most improperly, her anger childish and the resentment she felt towards herself lashed out towards him.

It was Link.

He was protecting her, the self she knew deserved protection the least, and by his hand even more so. Yet Link stood there nonetheless, with the light of the sunset shimmering on his sword, scowling at his enemies, all because Zelda was in danger. With one movement of his sword and a flaming threat in his blue eyes, the two remaining Yiga assailants backed away in fear.

Zelda couldn’t stop staring at his determined expression, his courageous battle stance, his beastly blue eyes, his whole being, his whole life devoted to her safety. She felt a jolt in her heart as she watched the gentle breeze run through his dirty-blonde hair and studied his stance that absolutely radiated courage. Nothing would move him, would budge him from how he protected her.

The assailants had fled to the horizon, Link watching them until they no longer could be seen, hidden in cowardice by rampant desert winds. Link turned to Zelda as he lowered his sword.

He looked at her and it looked as if he were choosing his words carefully, the slight furrow in his brow ensuring Zelda that she must prepare for words of hatred, berating her for her defenselessness, for her carelessness, for her powerlessness.

But with a single blink, Zelda saw his eyes change. She had known them as neutral, having adopted the practice of endlessly searching them for any emotion and becoming frustrated when she found none, none to relate to, none to confide in. He was just so perfect that next to her, the failure, she had no choice but to hate him for the comparison the kingdom made. But in one single blink, Link’s eyes changed from a neutrality that burned--that to her, read like hatred--to something just a bit softer.  

Zelda was completely flummoxed as she tried to read it, Link sheathing his sword and taking a slight pause before he knelt before her, meeting her eye-line.

“Are you okay?” Link asked, Zelda recognizing the emotion as concern. Link was concerned for her. These bright blue eyes weren’t filled with hate or contempt or anything of the sort. And yet, that is exactly what she had thrown towards him. Her guilt bubbled and rose.

Zelda nodded, figuring she needed to respond in some way, the first of many things to make up for her childishness.

“I��m so glad I was here in time,” Link said. He didn’t blame her at all.

Zelda took a deep breath. She could hardly believe she was actually talking to him, having a conversation with him.

“So am I,” Zelda said in reply, Link standing back up. He offered his hand.

Zelda’s hand was hesitant as she reached to take it. Their fingertips brushed and that jolt in her heart returned. Their palms met and his fingers, his secure clasp felt like the safest thing in the world.

Link obviously took not notice of her newfound revelations as he pulled her up to standing.

He was about to detach his hand when she crumbled at the weight upon her two feet, Link hurriedly catching her other arm to keep her up.

“Your Highness?” Link asked, searching the pain in her face before his gaze went down to her foot, floating around her other ankle.

“I think I hurt my foot,” she said. “When I was running.”

Her face winced again as she tried to put weight on it. Link felt the way she clamped his hand.

“Don’t try,” he insisted. “We’ll get back to Gerudo Town, don’t worry.”

Zelda nodded as Link looked at how far it was. The distance wasn’t too great, but it was nothing he would ever force her to walk in her condition.

“Your Highness,” he said, returning his gaze. “Is it alright if I carry you?”

Zelda gave quick nods in affirmation.

Link brought one arm around her upper back and another behind her knees. Before she knew it, Zelda felt Link sweep her off her feet and into his strong hold. She slid her arms loosely around his neck.

“I’ll leave you with the guards at the front entrance,” Link said as he walked holding her. “They’ll take care of you. It’s obvious you feel I’m not the right knight attendant for you. I’ll go ahead and inform the king. The Gerudo will protect you from the Yiga until the king finds someone better suited to your standards.”

“No,” Zelda said. Link looked at her with a very slight surprise. Zelda wondered if she was getting better at reading those calm waters of his or if he was getting better at expressing them. “I want you.”

Zelda watched his neutrality return as his glance shifted beyond her to Gerudo Town. She wondered if he heard her before he spoke again.

“There’s a way for me to get into Gerudo Town,” Link said. “Urbosa told me about it and it does work. If you would like me to stay with you--”

“I do,” Zelda interrupted.

Link said no more, but Zelda could feel him changing from walking a straight line to veering away, likely to avoid the main entrance.

She stayed in his arms in silence, eventually tipping her head against his chest and waiting until the rhythm of his steps subsided. Zelda’s head popped up as he placed her against the outside wall of Gerudo Town.

Zelda could tell they were at the very backside, Link bringing a single finger to his mouth. They may not be seen but they could very well be heard, the throne room very close. Urbosa may know of the secret way in, but her own attendants and warriors did not.

Zelda watched with her back against the stone wall as Link dug in the sand, unearthing delicate Gerudo vai attire, hued with blues and greens. Link brushed off lingering sand as Zelda figured it out, Zelda’s hand going to her mouth.

Link stood up with the folded clothes in his hand, seeing Zelda’s silent reaction, the way her green eyes danced with an encroaching laughter.

He slightly tipped his head to one side.

Link put down the clothes, pointing at her before placing his hands over his eyes, his hands returning to his sides once he felt his point was made.

Zelda bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she covered her eyes with her hands and closed her eyes. She heard the rustling of fabric and surprised herself by wanting to sneak a peek.

Before long, she felt his foot tap hers, the non-injured one, of course, Zelda opening her eyes to see Link standing over her.

Only he was so separated from the stoic knight she saw just a few moments ago. He was dressed in light, Gerudo fabrics and in fact made quite the convincing vai to the naked eye. Zelda in particular found herself staring at the muscles exposed by the revealing garb, his arms, his abs…

She rid herself of that train of thought by remembering he was dressed in clothes meant for a woman. Zelda stifled a laugh as best she could.

Link shook his head as he picked her back up. Zelda inwardly questioned her composure as she felt her cheeks warm at how close she was against his skin, her arms draped around his bare and, admittedly strong, shoulders.

“It’s the only way in,” she heard Link whisper as they approached a smaller entrance, a Gerudo guard nodding as they entered the town.

“I get it,” she said back, now actively resisting leaning against his chest.

“Take me to Urbosa,” Zelda said. “She will know where we can stay, and fetch a doctor. Not to mention she is likely worried sick.”

Link paced the steps up to the throne room, Urbosa standing up immediately.

“What happened?” She insisted as she walked forward.

“Link saved me from a Yiga attack,” Zelda explained. “But I hurt my ankle beforehand trying to run.”

“Take her to my chambers upstairs,” Urbosa said, addressing Link. “I’ll fetch a doctor immediately.”

Link nodded.

[only-by-the-stars]

the annotated Tome of the Wild

Part 7: The Wild!

- Link didn't open his eyes. A twist on the beginning of BOTW, where you hear Zelda telling Link to open his eyes. I couldn’t resist.

- Hestu’s cameo was a lot of fun to write too. I always found him adorable, first in BOTW and then in AOC as well, and the idea of him waking up Link with his maracas was too amusing not to do. I also had to include his “shimmy shimmy” battle cry from AOC because I always laugh my head off whenever I hear it.

- This also reveals that Midna brought Link to the Great Deku Tree, a character that debuted in OOT and made further appearances in WW and BOTW.

- Something tickled her arm, breaking her out of her gloomy thoughts. Midna lifted her head and looked down. New growth was sprouting from the branch she was sitting on, wriggling its way up onto her. Nothing like this happens to Beatrice in the show, but I had to put in this chilling little moment of Midna nearly succumbing to the dekuwood. It provides a way later to introduce Rhoam’s presence in his scene, as well as some horror at what could’ve happened to her here.

- Note to self: never visit Tabantha if you can help it... Tabantha, of course, being a very cold region in BOTW’s Hyrule. Link’s newfound hatred of snow mirrors my own, and now he’s going to associate it with this horrible experience.

- “It's a bad habit, I guess.” He laughed softly. He’s referring, of course, to how he casually greeted Riju and Medli back at the school pool and they gave him a bit of a hard time about it.

- “You...” Midna stared at him for several seconds, stunned. “You...” She slapped his hand away and starting swinging her tiny fists at him, which he easily dodged. “You oaf! You idiot! What the hell—what the hell is wrong with you? How can you forgive me so easily, when you're still in a shit situation because of me? Neither one of us would be out here groping around blindly in the fucking snow if not for what I did!” I set up Midna and Link to be parallels of each other in a couple ways. One of which is that while Link has isolated himself from Mipha, hurting and confusing her, Midna is on the other end of something similar with Zelda. And here we see something they both struggle with: forgiving themselves. Midna can’t understand how Link can so easily forgive her actions towards him, while Link utterly despises himself for his actions towards Mipha and cannot forgive himself for causing her pain. He’ll later struggle with the fact that Mipha forgives him easily, just as Midna is having trouble understanding his forgiveness of her here. All of them find it easier to forgive their loved ones than to grant that same grace to themselves.

- “She told me that while she appreciated how much I cared, I should think a little more and be less reckless. I know she'd never call me stupid, but...” Link shrugged. “Honestly, I kind of am.” Another reference to Mipha calling Link reckless, and how she hates seeing him get hurt. He is indeed not the smartest guy around, but she does describe him as being very kind and determined to help those in need, so I tried to emphasize that aspect of his personality in this story. Although the “I kind of am” line is also intended to be a subtle red flag. We’ve already seen that Link thinks very little of himself and his abilities, even when it’s clear from the words of others that he’s very talented. And we’re about to soon see him use a bit of intelligence he very much does have, in order to save the day. He would never believe himself capable of such a thing, but he does it anyway.

- “Even just a few branches could be processed... enough to get us through this storm...” Note the use of the plural here. This is leading up to the revelation about his belief that Zelda is in the lantern. His desperation to find more oil anywhere is because, of course, he believes that if the light goes out she will die. And he wouldn’t be in this scarcity if not for what happened back in chapter one, with Link and Aryll and the dog accidentally wrecking the mill and his oil supply.

- He was soon rewarded with a most welcome sight: a single dekuwood branch, growing out of that of a normal tree. It seemed sickly, withered, and it waved feebly in the air, but he rushed forward and hacked it off anyway. The very same branch that tried to attach itself to Midna, sickly and withered precisely because of that failure.

- And now we come to the confirmation that the dekuwood is made from the people who succumb to despair and exhaustion in the woods, right as we see it growing all around Aryll. Rhoam has been unaware this entire time of all the souls he’s sacrificed over the past several months, and now that he knows, he refuses to do it any longer. For he, like Midna, recognizes that Zelda would never want anyone to be harmed for her sake.

He’s also right that Link would never leave Aryll to such a fate, recognizing Link’s love and protectiveness towards his little sister. This is a point where my characterization of Link wildly diverges from that of Wirt, the protagonist of OTGW. I pulled some things from Wirt for Link and his arc, but one thing I didn’t keep was the resentment and initial callousness that Wirt displays for Greg, who is revealed in the tavern sequence to be his half-brother thanks to his mother remarrying, something Greg frowns at when Wirt mentions it. Aryll is also technically Link’s half-sister, as I revealed in the letters that his mother remarried some years after his father’s death and had Aryll with her new husband, but I could not for the life of me see him being resentful or unkind to his little sister. Whatever his faults, I’ve written him as being, at his core, an incredibly kind and deeply loving person, and his adoration of his sister is a part of that. He doesn’t view her as a “half” anything, she’s just his sister and he’ll do anything to protect her. Which of course is a big part of what led to his breakdown: his feelings of guilt over not doing as good a job of that as he thinks he should be doing.

- “Link, I don't... I don't think that's natural light. It looks more like...” This has a double meaning. The fire in the lantern is not the “natural light” of the sun, and it is also deeply unnatural, given that it’s the Beast’s soul in there.

- Speaking of that! The confrontation with the Beast plays out a bit differently here than it does in the show, thanks to Midna’s personal connection to all this. Rhoam’s mention of Zelda gets her attention, and the Beast uses her love for Zelda as a way to try and turn her and Link against each other with his attempt to make them choose which soul will go into the lantern. He’ll get fuel and kill Aryll either way, but why not pit these two against each other as a way to manipulate them into doing what he wants? Except it backfires, because Midna won’t harm anyone for Zelda’s sake, and Link figures out what’s going on anyway, thanks to remembering the words of Rhoam and Telma.

- Link stood up, his mind racing. It was like when the solution to a puzzle finally presented itself in a moment of stunning clarity. For all that he’s not that bright in so many ways, it’s important to remember that he’s canonically able to solve all those tricky puzzles we do, without benefit of a guide, just using his wits and the tools he has at hand. And so too does he solve this particular puzzle, by remembering what he’s been told and piecing it together with what he sees here, thinking about the fact that the Beast’s story doesn’t add up. Which saves the day, in the end.

- “Am I wrong?” Link repeated, his voice shaking with barely suppressed fury; he took a few more steps, forcing the Beast to retreat further. “No more lies. Tell the truth for once, Beast.” Referencing, of course, the fact that Telma told him the Beast lies. He’s absolutely furious right now because of the attempt on Aryll’s life; you do not mess with Link’s loved ones. The Beast, too, fucked around and found out the hard way.

- In the show, Wirt gives the lantern back to the Woodsman to blow out after the delivery of the “Are you?” line that I kept (and had Link nail the delivery of on his first try, unlike Wirt, because that’s what makes sense for both their characters). Here, I chose to let Link kill the Beast, because he is, after all, the legendary hero who slays the villain. But even more importantly, I felt he deserved and had earned such a moment with his growing courage over the course of the tale.

- “See you later, Link.” Hey, remember how Midna broke all our hearts by saying a similar line to Link in TP as she broke the mirror and went back to her world? I sure do!

- “Sleepers wake, dreams will fade... although we cling fast..." This, and the lyrics that close out this section, are the first few lines of the vocal version of Ballad of the Wind Fish that was done for the LA remake.

- There were lights and shadowy figures coming closer, and voices—was someone calling his name? As I would later reveal in the prologue of a place to start, Mipha was screaming his name as she ran down the hill towards him.

- The words he wanted so badly to say to her hung on the tip of his tongue And it shows on his face, that desire to express the love for her that is all but bursting out of him in this moment, and Mipha sees it. She sees that love shining in his eyes as they stare at each other, giving her her hope back and then some. In a way, Link was right: if he hadn’t hidden from her, she would’ve realized what his real feelings for her are. He just didn’t know how happy it would’ve made her. But he will soon.

- “—and that's how we got away from the evil possessed lady!” Out of the corner of his eye Link saw Aryll shake the frog triumphantly, and Mipha, distracted by the sudden commotion, looked away from him. A small, muffled chime sounded, and the amphibian's stomach glowed. “The ringing of the bell commanded her! Though she wasn't really evil, just...” The series is never clear on just what the otherworld the brothers enter is, but it is clear that it really happened to them, and I preserved that ambiguity in the same way, by showing the bell as still being in the frog’s stomach.

- Link nodded. “Yes.” It didn't matter anymore how it'd gotten into her pocket; he'd made it, and brought it with him tonight, with the intention of giving it to her. There was no more question of taking it back or denying it. Courage has been achieved; he’s no longer going to hide or pretend, or try to take back the gift he worked on so hard. Midna is right: he’s been so brave in the Wild, and it’s time to apply that bravery to confessing his feelings to Mipha and letting her know that he loves her. The words will have to wait till the next day, but for now he’s doing all he can to face his fears and stop running, by hugging her and holding her hand and wiping her tears away, letting his love show in his expression as he looks at her without avoiding her eyes. Plus, of course, admitting to his intentions with the tape and inviting her over to listen to it together. They’re finally getting a breakthrough after two months of separation and pain.

- The doctor, Syrup, is a recurring NPC throughout the series, a witch who brews up helpful healing potions for Link to use on his adventures.

- I'm home, Mipha. Calling back, of course, to Midna’s line about there being someone waiting for him and to go home to her. Not only that, but in Mipha’s letters, I had her mention wanting him to “come back to her”. And now he finally has.

and that wraps this up, as the epilogue is composed strictly of Miphlink fluff and sweet, sweet payoff. if you took the time to read the fic and these write ups, thank you, I hope you enjoyed them! ❤

[elizabethemerald]

Dreams of Drowning: Chap 12

There is a world where Jim Lake Jr enters a bathtub filled with a black potion and emerges...changed. In this world, Jim is dragged into a black potion and emerges...changed.

AO3

Please Reblog!

Consciousness returned slowly. No. That wasn’t right. Not consciousness. Awareness. It was aware. Again. It had previously been aware, it thought, so it was now aware again. It was aware of hate, anger, fear, disgust. It felt like it was being torn apart by all these emotions, it couldn’t survive, even non being was better if awareness was such a cruelty. 

“No! Don’t focus on them!”

It was aware of the voice. It couldn’t say that it heard the voice but somehow it was aware. The voice struggled to make itself known through the tides of hate it was drowning in. 

“Focus on me!”

“You? Who are you?”

A new emotion was added to the flood. Pain. Its question had pained the voice. Why? Why did the voice care, when everything around it was anger and hate. It felt disgusted with the voice. Disgusted with itself. It let the pounding waves crash over itself. 

“Think...of your mother!”

It raised its head before it drowned. 

“My mother?”

It had a mother. It remembered her now. It could see her through the ages, when she was a child, when she first put a bandaid on someone’s knee as a teenager and felt a connection to her destiny. It watched as its mother grew, found what she thought was love, then cried when that love left. It watched as she became a doctor, furthering her connection to her destiny. She found another partner, but moved on, then found love again. It saw her now, she was crying again. More sadness, now a bone aching grief. Even its mother was filled with grief and fear. The tides around it felt higher than ever. 

“Look closer.”

It looked again. It saw its mother hold something small. She was in a hospital. It could sense her exhaustion and lingering pain. However those were overwhelmed by love and joy. It looked closely at the bundle. 

“That was you. When you were first born.”

It was the bundle! A baby. A human. A boy. He was a boy. The doctors might have disagreed when he was born, but he knew the truth, and he knows the truth now. He watched again as he grew up, learned to ride a bike, wept when his father left, learned to cook and found joy there. He saw his high school relationships. A girl. Her name was Aja. A boy. His name was Steve. He had liked them. But he hadn’t loved them. 

The memories faded and he could see his mom again. She was crying. Crying over him. Yet, another woman came and wrapped her arms around his mother. Zelda. His mom’s wife. He could see even now the lines of love that flew between them. Never ceasing. Never slowing. Only growing. They loved each more every day. And they both loved-

“Well done Emerys. As all your treacheries are.”

The voice overwhelmed the memories causing them to fade. The voice was laden with malice. Disgust. Hatred. 

“I haven’t gone by that name in centuries Morgana.”

Another voice. Gravely. Filled with anger and greed, tinged with regret. 

“And I haven’t cared in just as long!” A whip crack of venom swamped his awareness. “Why even come back? You can’t pretend like you care about me, or what I’m doing here.”

“I care about my magic same as you, Morgana. Our kind are vanishingly rare now. It would be a shame to see our power go extinct. I would see us return to power if I could.”

He felt a rumble around him, his senses seemed to flare to life as around him lines of magic burned and scorched around him. 

“Why? To watch the mortals beg for their lives?” More magic flared against his awareness. “To have them worship us as gods again?”

He shrank in fear. He didn’t want to make people beg, or to be worshipped. 

“No, you don’t have to! You can be more, you can do so much more!”

He hesitated, pulling his awareness away from the conversation and tried to focus on the voice. He still had so many questions. 

“I was a boy before. Am I still a boy?”

“You’ve changed so much over your life. In so many ways. Think of you friend!”

Friend? Oh, of course, the other boy. The one he had grown up next to. The one he had spent so many hours with. His name was Tobias. He went by Toby. His best friend called him Tobes. He watched the two boys play and grow. Comforting each other when they mourned the people who left them too soon. 

As he watched he remembered a new name. James Lake. Junior. He had named himself after his father. His mom called him Jim. Toby called him Jimbo. 

He watched Toby and Jim. As they grew to be teenagers. He watched Toby fall in love with a girl, with dark skin and dark hair. Darci was her name. He watched the three of them grow up together. Through highschool into separate colleges. Then back into the same town. 

He saw himself as an adult. Flitting from job to job, never satisfied, always looking for something else. He saw right up until the guys night with Toby where he said he could get him a job at his work. 

And he could see the lines of love, just like his mom and her wife he could see them flowing between Toby and Darci. And some of the love seemed to flow somewhere else. To someone else-

"I'll kill him!" A voice suddenly roared. 

"Gunmar what are you doing?"

"He killed my son! He killed my only son!" The voice roared again. "I'll kill him for what he did to my son!"

"Gunmar stop! Killing him will set us back on years of our research!" 

"I don't care! He killed my Bular!"

Waves of hatred and an inhuman rage poured over his senses. And then pain. Pain tore through every part of his existence. It was a pain he had remembered feeling, secondhand, but this was the first time he had felt it himself. The pain shut out everything. 

Pain. Rage. Grief.  Pain. Fear. Pain. Hate. Pain. Pain. Rage. Pain.  Hate. Pain. Pain. PAIN. PAIN!

Then it stopped. In its absence he couldn’t find anything to hold himself. He could feel himself starting to slip away. Into unbeing. Existence was too much pain for him to handle. 

Then he felt a comforting touch. The first pleasant emotion he had experienced. The soft caress across his awareness. 

"I'm so sorry they hurt you."

"Is this all existence is? Why should I keep suffering?"

"No, no its not!" There is a desperation to the voice. Fear. But also joy, and compassion. And love. "There's so much more to existence than pain.  There's joy and light and roses and dancing and endless amazing things. You can't let them break you."

"But what am I?"

He saw the adult, James Lake Junior. 

"Is this what I am?"

"Not anymore. You're...like me."

"But what are you?"

The voice hesitated for a moment. 

"Let me show you."

He saw her at her beginning. Was the use of 'her' accurate? No. But neither were any of the other words humans had created. But she had accepted 'her.'

He watched her first moments of existence. She came into being as a brilliant light. There were others like her, before her. Luminous beings that burned, flowed, echoed and shone with power. With magic. 

They welcomed her into existence, wrapping her in warmth and love. Showing her how to shape her existence like they had. Then when they felt she was ready, they disappeared. They shed their luminous forms to take on the lackluster forms of humanity. 

He watched her, as she grew and changed in her own way. She teased her way into the dreams of those around her. Those who were kind had pleasant dreams and restful nights. Those who were cruel, who took pleasure in hurting others had nothing but nightmares. Slowly she shaped herself into what the people thought of her. La Dama de la Noche. The Lady of the Night. 

Eventually she longed for the company of her own kind. Even the human forms of those who had come before her had long returned to the earth. She searched, following a distant call, until she found...something. A stone. It held a warmth and light, like the memory of her kind. 

Before she could explore the stone more, a door closed behind her. She waited, bemused, while she was transported inland, away from the ocean. She wasn’t truly bothered, only confused. She was brought to a facility, placed in the basement out of sight, but that didn’t stop her from being able to sense the auras of those around her. 

He recognized the facility. 49B. They had captured her and brought her to Arcadia. At first the researchers had not been cruel to her, only curious, trying to understand her nature, trying to use it for their own benefit, that was until she sensed a new presence at the facility, someone who shone with a familiar golden light-

“Calm down, Gunmar!” A wave of magic crashed against his senses. “Do you think I don’t know what its like to lose a child to one of their kind? We have all the time in the world to make them pay, but killing them out right ends their punishment.”

There was a moment of silence, filled with roiling blasts of hate and rage. Then the same voice continued. 

“The shock therapy works. That black stone works. Merlin’s potion works. We can create these things ourselves. We can drain their power, and bend it to our will. We can make ourselves immortal just like they are. And we can punish them for the rest of their existence. Why do you think I was so insistent on torturing the Entity? It deserves to punished for killing Mordred.”

He turned his senses back to the voice that had comforted him. He could sense she was scared, guilty. 

“What are they talking about?”

A long silence followed. At first he thought she wouldn’t answer. Then another wave of sadness washed over him. 

“I’ll show you.”

He watched as the golden figure rushed into 49B. He recognized her. Doctor Morgan Le Fay. Morgana. She had many names. She pushed past guards and researchers, her sole focus on getting to the basement level. Fear and worry radiated off her. And almost hidden underneath her emotions are another’s, this one filled with pain, and fading fast. 

The body was pushed into her presence.  Pain overwhelming her senses. Not her own, but belonging to the body before her. Young even by human standards. He was hurt. Badly. A car crash the other humans said. His life was fading. 

She was ordered to heal him. They had seen her heal small cuts and scrapes before. They ordered her to heal him. To save his life. She tried to argue, but didn’t have the words they understood. She tried to show them that she didn’t know how to do that. That she didn’t know this person. She was ordered again to heal him. And she tried her best. 

His mind was again filled with images of bones healing wrong. Torn blood vessels made whole while blood still filled the surrounding tissue. Skin closing over pieces of gravel, dirt still embedded in the wound. She didn’t have the knowledge of healing that could repair the mangled body before her. 

He died. Slowly. Painfully. His injuries made worse by her attempt to save his life. She felt every last shred of pain coming off him. She felt Morgana’s grief slowly turn to rage. 

It was not long after his death that her torture began in earnest. Dr Le Fay constantly worked to find new and inventive ways to hurt her. To punish her for killing her son. She tried to reach out, tried to explain, but couldn’t. Instead she suffered. The cursed stone that sapped her magic. The electricity. The foul food she was given. The stretching of her limbs by the chains on her wrists. 

It was so bad, existence so excruciating that she began to lash out. To trap those who held her in nightmares each night. To drown them again and again in their dreams. 

She sensed Toby’s aura. Found his dreams and drowned him there with his loved ones. She saw how much he loved his wife. He was willing to give his life to try and save hers. They had so much love for each other. Toby, Darci and the other he saw. So she spared him further nightmares. 

She grew weaker. The constant pain. The draining of her magic. The poisonous food. It was becoming too much. 

And she sensed him. When the food was given to her she sensed a new aura on it. That night she punished the new person who worked to create the food that poisoned her. She saw him look at the people he loved and strive to save them. And she felt something. There was something different about this one. 

He watched her as time flew forward. The new recipe he had tried, slowly getting closer to something that no longer hurt her to consume. He had asked her name and she had pulled one from his memories that she liked. She traveled into his mom’s dreams so he could say goodbye. She felt his love for her grow, and she felt something grow in her in return. 

Then he disappeared. The food returned to its previous toxic state. Terrified she reached out for his mind, dragging him into sleep, so she could see him again. She healed his sickness, desperate not to let him get hurt. And she made a body for herself to see him. To look at him with her own eyes. She startled in fear and couldn’t stay to tell how she was starting to feel, when she saw Gunmar and Morgana, the two who wanted to hurt her most. 

She could sense their hatred of her. And she could sense a threat. Not to her, but someone else. His mother. She could see through her eyes the men who gathered at her door, and could feel her fear. She again dragged him to sleep so she could warn him. She joined his mother’s body so she could fight them off. She couldn’t join with him because his own growing magic protected him from such incursions. She did her best to help his mother heal from her injuries, even though she had expended more energy than she had in years. 

She felt him awaken to his own power. Her joy overwhelmed her and she felt more powerful than she had since she was first captured. She could feel her connection grow with him, and the feeling inside her growing as well. When Morgana next ordered her torture he sensed her pain. She had been filled with terror at the sight of him. If he was there they could hurt him as well. However his magic protected him. And he was able to use it to protect her as well. 

Morgana had sensed the strange magic, but didn’t have a source for it. So she ensured corrupted heartstone never left the side of the tank in the basement. Morgana thought she was getting stronger, and wanted to drain that magic to keep her weak. When she tried to torture her again, again he came to her rescue. This time destroying something physical. 

And now he could remember his own memories as well. She created a body again to leave 49B. They ate dinner together. Awakened his mom’s magic. Saved Toby’s Nana. And they danced together. He could remember his love for her burning through him. And her love for him flowing through her. 

In that instant he could finally see it all. The lines of love that connected them. Claire and Jim loved each other. He could see it as clearly as if it were one of his mom’s paintings. He could see the love his mom had for her wife, and the love they both felt for him. He could see the love his former teacher had for him. He could see the love that tied him to Darci and Toby and their love for him. He was James Lake Jr. And he was loved. 

Jim opened his eyes. 

At first all he could see was darkness. Then blue flames roared to life around him. He looked down at himself and could see his skin had been turned to stone almost like Bular’s but different. His was a dark blue. He felt his face and could feel that it was changed, massive tusks jutted from his mouth. His nose felt flatter than he remembered. He had horns sprouting from his head that curled back. Whatever he was now, he was no longer human. 

He let his fire expand filling the small space with blue light and was answered by matching purple glow. There. In front of him, pressing herself as closely to the glass of her enclosure as she could. Claire. He reached for her and was surprised to feel the weight of chains on his wrists. The same chains that bound her on the other side of the glass between them. 

“Hello.” Jim whispered to Claire.

“I was afraid I’d lost you.” Her voice came to his mind. Sounding small, and scared. 

“No. You saved me.”

Jim looked at the blue flames around him and began to shape them creating a form that he recognized and felt familiar to him. He watched the smaller, human Jim form from the flames around him. The sensation was odd. He was aware of the copy’s senses, but they felt muted, and he could also feel his own senses. He pressed himself further into the copy. 

He stepped forward then turned to look at himself. He was massive. He filled the chamber and his horns almost touched the ceiling. Under his stone skin he could see the fire raging, just like he could Claire’s magic through her skin. 

An answering swirl of magic brushed his skin and he turned to face her. The smaller Claire, the one who had gone to Toby’s party with him stepped up to him. He put a hand out to her. She hesitated, but took it. 

“I’m sorry for what they did to you.” She said. 

Jim pressed himself against her, kissing her softly. When he drew back he could feel her magic and love thrumming beneath her skin, and his own mirrored her’s like a heart beat. 

“I’m sorry you had to spend so long here. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to break you out.” He replied. 

They held each other tightly. Then Jim began to hum. Claire looked at him with wide brown eyes. He smiled at her. 

“You said you had wanted to dance?” He said. “Well no time like the present.”

She smiled up at him and joined her magic with his. Together the music around them seemed to grow and swell until it filled their minds. And they danced. Slowly at first, just gently rocking back and forth. Than faster and faster. Their copies danced together while their bodies dance in their own prisons. 

Whatever Morgana or Gunmar had planned for them. They had each other. They had their love. And no one could ever take that from them.

[ashleyswrittenwords]

How To Be A Queen [Part 12]

Summary: Princess Zelda is at a loss. Her handed royal responsibilities have begun to weigh heavily on her and she is eventually backed into a corner. Live a life she loathes or run away from everything she’s ever known? Navigating life is hard, and Link forces her to learn that she doesn’t have to do it alone.

Warning: Blood. Slight scary like stuff. Lmk if you think I should add more.

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Part 1 Here

How To Be A Queen

No, it wasn’t Link.

A shout was already in my throat, but it quickly died to the sight of a horse’s snout staring straight at me. My eyes drifted up to the rider and my breath froze in my lungs. The man from the festival. The older gentlemen, except his eyes weren’t as soft; instead he looked like he had just heard a joke.

“It’s her alright,” he was grinning wryly, exposing his teeth.

I needed to run.

Link was too far; I couldn’t scream and hope he’d hear. It had to be me to save myself.

I turned to do just that. Adrenaline coursed through me, making my fear more intense. The only sound I could hear was of hooves on dirt. More than one? I can’t outrun a horse. I can barely outrun a tortoise. He was toying with me. Right over left and for the love of Hylia don’t trip.

My mind raced with what they could possibly want to do with me. Ransom was what first came to my mind. Father had many enemies that masqueraded as allies; I wasn’t blind to see truth in that. My family had volumes of meaningless bloodshed commanded by their hand. If anything, it could just be a group that hated the monarchy and simply wanted to see me hanged from a tree. My eyes flickered to the forest. It was dense, not exactly too dense for a horse, but I didn’t have a choice. I was going to be run down. I put all my weight onto my left foot and took a sharp left into the woods. Twigs snapped past me and I heard a female shouting not far behind. The air felt like sharp knives in my lungs. It hurt and I wanted desperately to stop. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t.

The snow was thicker here and my boots felt like weights. I was panicking. Goddesses, no. The horses behind me didn’t seem to be hindered much. There was a steady stream of shouts and clickings that guided them. New tears pricked my eyes. With every fiber of my being I felt pure fear resonating. In this moment, I understood what it felt to be a fox being chased by hunting dogs. Branches raced past and I knew I was being scraped to pieces. Somehow, I couldn’t feel anything. My throat felt numb and my muscles struggled to get the oxygen they needed. A pasture opened before me and I didn’t stop.

A sharp sound flew through the air and I felt sudden pressure around my arms and neck. Then, I couldn’t breathe and I saw the stars above. Their beauty felt mocking. My head hit the ground before the rest of my body and I couldn’t move. My arms were paralyzed to my sides.

“Nerissa!” The man screamed, “Don’t kill her!”

I can’t breathe.

“She’s fine.”

Crunching snow.

A woman came into view above me, replacing the stars. My mouth gaped like a fish for air. She was glaring at me but crouched to released the tight knot. My breath came it small gasps, but it didn’t last long. Her foot hit my stomach and the little breath I had left once more. I turned to my side, squeezing my eyes shut and waited for another blow. I was yanked upward and hit the ground again. My backpack was cut off at the straps.

Then, she took to binding my arms and legs.

“Who are you?” My voice wasn’t my own.

She snickered. “Oh, you don’t recognize me?” Her face came into view fully now. The woman from the fire. The same woman from the bridge. I didn’t say anything, but the shock showed on my face by the looks of her satisfied smile. I shouldn’t be surprised at this point.

I was thrown over her shoulder rather roughly and then over a horse’s back. Thick tears were caught in my eyelashes. The horses began moving back to the path.

“What if she screams?”

Nerissa made a noise akin to a chuckle, “She won’t.”

I felt every bit of movement and I was jostled around quite a bit. Every now and again one of them would ask if I was still breathing. Which was pointless, I refused to talk to them. It had gotten to the point where she had pushed me off the horse and listened to my pained grunts as I hit the cold dirt.

“Leave me alone,” he mocked with a squeaky voice, “Go away, Link.” My brow creased and I felt my throat close painfully. I choked on my sob.

“Don’t say that name,” Nerissa hissed.

“Can’t you at least agree how pathetic that is? We surprised her on horses. The princess-”

“Shut up! The job isn’t done,” she sounded pissed, “Don’t get cocky.”

The rest of the ride was spent in an uncomfortable silence. My restraints hurt terribly and by the time we reached the destination my skin was rubbed raw. I stayed silent as the man pulled me off the horse. A large Goron man stood in front of the house’s door, shock flickering on his face. Several other odd people stood around, staring at me as if I were a piece of meat and they were starving wolves. I tried keeping my head high retaining what bit of dignity I had left. That was hard to do when you’ve been tossed to the ground like rubbish.

Nerissa wasn’t afraid to drag me inside without another word being said to our audience. She was taller than most of them and by the looks of it was regarded with respect as well. I was taken past the main room and into a side room. It was windowless and I assumed they were using the abandoned house as a temporary headquarters. The house was stripped other than the bare furniture, trash that littered the floor, and the windows boarded up. A bright lantern offered some light and I was able to finally make out the state I was in. As she untied my wrists, bloody rashes lined my skin. The glimpse didn’t last long because she pulled my arms behind the chair and retied them. I cried out, one of my wrists flared with pain. She also made sure to gag me with a long piece of cloth as if now I would think this is the optimal time to start screaming. The coat was ripped, and my pants weren’t in any better shape – probably worse. My face was wet with tears and mud. I felt disgusting.

Nerissa didn’t say anything as she rummaged through my bag. I thought she had to at least be partially Gerudo. Her skin was pale, but her stature was not anything Hylian. A man, not the older one from before, walked in. He had stark black hair and his eyes just as dark. I hoped I didn’t react, but his gaze made me freeze. He was smiling.

“Well,” he started, “I’m pleasantly surprised, Nerissa.” He sounded as such. I decided that I despised him.

“You shouldn’t be,” she responded lamely, throwing my pouch of gold coins on the table.

“Princess,” the man addressed me now. His voice disturbed me. It was silky and deceptive.  He strode closer. “We are so humbled to have you under this roof.”

He expected me to reply because he removed that cloth in my mouth. His rough fingers grazed my skin. When I did not speak, he knelt and looked at me with falsely kind eyes. His hand traced my jaw gently like he was savoring the moment. “Don’t fret, Highness. We’re heading to a nicer quarters soon enough.” I gathered the saliva in my mouth and spit in his face. The smile wavered, if not a little and it gave me a sick satisfaction. He stood, turned away from me and towards Nerissa who was staring hatred at me. So much so, that I looked away.

“Crow told me it went smoothly, yes?”

She looked bored, “Like you asked, sir. He wasn’t necessary.”

He made a gesture, glancing back at me, and they both left the room. Whether it was the pain that brought me to tears again or the suddenness of being alone, I broke down. My body heaved with sobs and even that hurt. Each tug at the ropes was pointless, it did more damage than good. I felt a deep pit of regret growing. I should never have left Hateno like that. I shouldn’t have left Anju nor her family. Most of all, I shouldn’t have left Link. If I was already useless on my own, how was I supposed to trek across Hyrule alone? I sat in solitude with my thoughts for a long while. Whatever they stepped out to talk about must have been heated because I could vaguely hear shouts reverberate into the room. The dry wall was cracked and decaying and I shivered at the thought of bugs creeping beyond the lantern’s flame.

The door opened again, revealing Nerissa. She looked agitated, even more so when her eyes laid on me. Regardless she pulled up a chair with the small side table along with it. “You looked like a snot nosed, brat.”

I swallowed another sob that threatened to surface and met her gaze. It was full of distain and I wondered what I did to deserve it. She opened her mouth, “I knew it was you when you got to that stable.” The woman flipped a switchblade in her hand and smacked the hilt on the table. I winced at the sudden clank. She reached over and yanked the gag from my mouth and over my chin, letting it hang uselessly like a necklace.

“I knew beforehand too. I was going to try to take you that night if you were alone,” she twisted my hair in her finger. “Would have,” she pulled at it, forcing my head forward and I yelped, “yanked you by your pretty yellow hair all the way here and we would have been done with it.” She hummed, “And if I had it my way, scalped it off you as a trophy. But no.”

Nerissa let go, letting the lock fall back in front of my eyes. “Of course not. You had to bring someone with you. Had to… make everything more difficult for me, huh Zelda?” She said my name as if it were a hot knife.

I sounded scratchy, “Why do you hate me?”

There was a pause and she laughed boisterously. I breathed inward, suddenly hit with the alarm of how afraid I was of this woman. “What don’t I hate you for? Your entire family has given my people and I nothing but anguish,” Nerissa flat-lined, “I hate you because of who you’re destined to become. Don’t take it personally, puppet. It’s a professional hatred.”

“Besides!” She waved off her last comment, “I love hunting you Hylians for sport. Makes it much more exciting when I’m being paid by these idiots to hunt down a princess. You made it fun, too. Gave a chase. Albeit not a very long one, but a chase nonetheless.” She unknotted the rope to my hands, freeing one, and laid my injured wrist onto the table. The woman acknowledged my pained whimpers and spread my fingers out delicately, surely not to relieve the pain but to prolong whatever she planned. My hand was shaking.

“However, you’re not the one I want. The Yiga love you for other reasons. I want another,” she took her time and made sure each digit was equally apart. My wrist throbbed. “I want you to tell me about everything you know about him. His family, his lovers, his friends. Everything you know. And while you keep that information from me, we will play a little game I call the Knife Game.” Nerissa smiled to herself as she picked up the knife already laying on the table and looked at me expectantly. “You may begin.”

I stared dumbly at her, “Who are you talking about?”

The knife’s sharp blade embedded itself into the wood between my thumb and point finger. I had screamed, thinking she was going to take a stab at my hand.

“Wrong question. You shouldn’t ask things you know that answer to,” she finally looked down at where the blade landed, “Oh, you got lucky. Worse luck next time. Surely.”

“I-I don’t,” I started hyperventilating as she yanked the knife from the wood again, “The King? Why would-“

“I don’t give a shit about your dad. Stop playing stupid.”

The knife nicked the skin of my middle finger’s knuckled and I cried out. It wasn’t a deep pain, but it was sharp. She wouldn’t let that man say Link’s name. Is that who she’s talking about?

“Link?” I asked it more as a question to myself, but the name made her look up sharply. Her knife stayed imbedded in the wood. She offered a thin-lipped smile, “So, I wasn’t wrong. Such delicate little fingers, not a callous mars them. I bet you’ve never seen a day of work in your life. It would be a shame if you lost one for careless reasons. Come on, puppet, explain who he is to you.”

I didn’t want to. Whoever she was, this Nerissa was filled with malice. A deep seeded hatred that shook me. I couldn’t expose the people I had come to love to her, right? Whatever she was doing to me in this moment, I didn’t want them to go through. They did nothing to deserve that. Link didn’t deserve that.

“I don’t know anything about him,” I squeaked. My heart leapt as the stab missed again.

“We can do this all night,” Nerissa growled.

“He’s a captain in the Royal Guard,” I cried out and there was another slash to my pinky. I prayed it wasn’t bad. The new wound seered. “That’s all I know! That’s it!”

“Bullshit!” She was livid, her voice screeching. “You know more than that. Stop playing stupid. I’m not blind, Princess. I’ve seen you galivanting across Hyrule with that monster from the start! Tell my where,” She started puncturing backwards now without waiting for me to talk, “he is.” She kept going like the ticking of a clock.

“I don’t know,” I stared in horror as my fingers reddened with my own blood. I pleaded and begged but it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t stop. But I wasn’t going to tell her that his family lived in the town they were just at. It would be too easy for them. What if Link had already left for the capital? There would be no one in that house except Aryll and her aunt.

“God damn it, Nerissa!” The dark-haired Hylian man shouted as he burst into the room, “You said you weren’t followed!” The door smacked against the wall behind it.

He growled a curse and Nerissa scowled. I almost cried in relief when she paused her stabbing. The aftermath bled onto the table and I couldn’t look away.

“I wasn’t. You know I should at least be able to manage that. What are you on about?” She set down the switchblade and stood from her chair, annoyed that our exchange was interrupted. As an afterthought, she roughly yanked the gag back into place.

“Crow just told me the fucking mercenary was found behind a tree half alive. Of course, you were followed. You had to have been.”

She looked bewildered and spared a glare at me. “He’s a Goron. Probably just drunk himself under the table.”

“Yeah, with a dented skull.” He flung his hands behind his head and paced the floor. “Makes sense. We only kidnapped the high fucking princess of Hyrule, Nerissa,” he shoved a dagger into a scabbard hidden in his boot. “It’s fine,” she said, “Probably just a straggler that saw us.”

The man looked me up and down. I squirmed under his gaze and tried shouting a curse at him through my restraints. “Or it’s her fuckin’ guard dog.”

Laura shook her head, “Impossible. They split at the last village. I saw it.”

“Maybe you should reevaluate. No one else would be able to take down that meat head without us hearing. I’m surprised you of all people could overlook that.” He shouted orders outside the door, hearing muffled voices back.

The man shook his head, stepping from the doorway. “They found another one. Tie her back to the chair. We can’t have her try to leave.” She did, ignoring my muffled cries.

“We’ll search the perimeter then, station someone at every angle in pairs,” Nerissa was interrupted by her counterpart.

“I’m the one making order here. Not you.” He looked at her hard, then they left.

The door was left ajar and I with my bleeding hand. I tried listening in on their conversations to get a gauge on what was happening, but they were too far away at this point. I tried tugging at the ropes again, but my wrist was in too much pain. My hand, as well, for that matter. It was still bleeding, and I could feel it drip onto the left as I attempted to add pressure to the cuts.

There was a weird smell. Smoke?

My heart raced. They were coming back for me, right? Something crashed loudly outside, splintering. Then, I heard it. Flames licking up walls. There was a lot of yelling and then nothing. I yelled out, forgetting the cloth in my mouth and hoped desperately for help.

“Hello?” It came out smudged and I felt frantic, squirming in my chair. I tried anything to make me mobile again. The chair tilted and eventually I toppled over. The smell was more intense now, distinctly smoke. I screamed, praying someone will hear me. Anyone. There was no chance now to get out of this chair.

My throat felt raw and it hurt with each scream.

The door flew open and a pair of boots stepped into my vision almost soundlessly. An arrow was pointed in my general direction but was loosened. Smoke billowed in and I kept yelling. My feet kept kicking.

I stopped my flailing at the movement of the ties being cut. First my wrists and then my ankles. I watched as the ropes at my feet were being pulled. I almost didn’t recognize him. His hair was matted and he moved with a measure of preciseness and purpose. Link’s face scared me. He didn’t look like himself. I yelled his name through the gag. He kept mumbling and finally untangled them from my feet. There was a lot of smoke now that came into the room and the sound of fire was outside the door. Link looked at the wall behind us and went to it, tugging on the boards harshly. I tried to come to my feet and gasped at the added pressure on my injured hand. My knees didn’t feel normal either. He pulled the boards off the open window and tossed them to the side.

Link came back to me and untied the gag. “Can you walk?”

My legs were shaking, and I had to grab onto him in case they gave out. Either he got the message or I took too long to answer, because he held onto me and carefully picked me up. We went threw the window and immediately in the forest. He kept looking back every now and again. Link took long strides. Anything to get as far as we could from that house or what was left of it. He looked at me occasionally, taking small assessments and his eyes reminded me of blue fire. Link was guarded and it was hard to read him, not that it was easy before – but now it was somehow different. Blood was soaked into his shirt and he gripped me as if I’d slip through his fingers.

Eventually, he seemed to be comfortable putting me down. There was a large rock he sat me on and knealt in front of me, giving me a hard look. Link was angry. He studied my face and his brows creased in concentration. “I’m sorry,” he said.

I felt a deep sense of anguish hit me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I cradled my hand in my coat. The bruises marred my skin in more places than I could see. Because if I couldn’t see them, I could feel them and I felt broken. I felt utterly and truly broken.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. Then another time. He went to apologize once more, but I interrupted by saying his name. He looked at me in shock at the sound of my voice. It sounded like I went through Hell and back. Link looked worried; his eyes softer than what I had seen at the house. As if finally out of energy, his forehead touched my knees and he leaned forward into me. The tenseness in his body slipped away.

“I thought I lost you,” Link spoke.

The bow and quiver came into view. I brought a hand to his blond locks. He became rigid to the touch for a moment but eased as I combed through his hair. Despite my aching body, I felt suddenly at peace. The fear and anxiety of but an hour earlier dissipated slowly. Link was warm and familiar.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly, echoing his earlier sentiments. His eyes met mine. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was apologizing for. Everything from leaving without telling him to simply dragging him from his place in the castle filled me with regret.

“I left you,” he was touching my side of my calf now with a hand. Even in the state I was in, his touch sent a light flush to my cheeks. “I,” Link faltered, seeming to search for words, “I thought that you’d be okay if I left you for a little bit. I went to grab some things and see if you’d understand.” He looked frantic as he thought it through. The hand on my leg tightened its grip. “It didn’t matter how far I ran to catch up. You weren’t there.”

He shook his head and let out a shaky breath.

“…but I’m here now,” I voiced. A faint ghost of a smile crossed his face and he only nodded, then drew his eyes to my right hand. He held his own out, gesturing me to release it from my side. I swallowed and gingerly put it in his hand. As he took it, he watched my pained reaction at the movement. The cuts had stopped bleeding, but it was an ugly sight. My wrist was blue and bruising up. His face was hard. “Who did this?”

“The woman from the stable.” The semblance of a sob bubbled in my throat. Looking back at it made the cuts more sore as if they were still fresh. “She wanted me to… to talk about you.”

Link’s brow furrowed, “About me? They were Yiga weren’t they?”

Were? I frowned, “She didn’t seem to be. I think she was hired.”

“Mercenary,” he mumbled, annoyed. Link seemed to want to ask more, but relented by noticing the tears in my eyes. Instead, he dropped my hand in my lap for a moment and shuffled over to behind the rock. Our bag was there. Apparently, this stop wasn’t as coincidental as I thought it was.

He came back with white bandages. “I think your wrist is broken. Did she do that too?”

I shrugged, “Probably when she threw me off the horse.”

His brows creased. “She threw you off a-!” Link was yelling but stopped himself and closed his eyes. He took a moment to collect himself, “Okay! We’ll have to see someone for that.”

I tilted my head to the side as he started wrapping a bandage around my index finger. The cuts bled slightly at the added pressure. A realization hit me, “Wait, you’re not taking me back to the castle?”

He looked up, confused. “Do you want to go back to the castle?”

“No. I just. I thought that-” One of my shoulders shrugged and hope caught aflame in my chest.

“If you want to we can. It might be safer,” he said, paying my attention to the bandages.

“Safer?” I would think it would be the safest. Link sighed as he secured the finger and examined the nest, “I don’t suppose that they’ll let me be your personal guard anymore if we went back. I think that you’d be safest with me.”

A smile played on my lips, “Is that an ego, I hear?”

He scoffed, “No, I’m just saying I’ve never lost in a dual and I’m not planning on starting that streak anytime soon. Plus, it’s not like we’re heading to any rebel territory.”

“Well, I was going to Gerudo Town,” I said and his eyes darted to mine. “Do you really want to go there?” His fingers stopped rolling the bandages.

I shrugged, “If I’m going to be queen one day, I want to understand different cultures. Father has a difficult enough time talking to the Gerudo. It seems like a good opportunity to learn.”

“You know they don’t let men inside the city walls, right?”

“Oh, yes, that was a big motivator actually.”

He grew quiet for a moment and ran a hand through his hair.

“I want you to know that I do want to be here. With you and following you and being here with you,” Link paused to read my expression. My heart felt like it stopped and my lips clumsily communicated that, “What about… what about what you said to-”

He looked down at our hands and shook his head, “I-I don’t know! I was tired of the questions, I guess.”

“Listen,” he breathed in deeply, “I don’t know what I think of you, Zelda!”

My brow creased and I went to voice my question, but he continued with exasperation in his words. “When I first saw you it was in a portrait when I was 15. It was at the castle right after I enlisted. You weren’t smiling or anything so my first thought was, ‘Wow she looks stuck up.’ And then before we deployed, the King did his speech during a military parade and you were there. I had never seen you in person until then. You looked calm and even and you didn’t look as stuck up as in the portrait.

“Then during my knighting, you looked just every bit of a princess. Everything everyone said about you was in front of me. I didn’t believe them and, goddesses, I hoped you didn’t see right through me in that moment. I thought you were holy. Like you had just stopped by from heaven and for some reason decided to give me the time of day.” He took a breath, his eyes flickering to mine for a moment and his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. “And two years ago after when I was promoted, I didn’t know what to expect. A part of me told me to turn down the offer. But when I met you and you smiled at me. And when you tried to get me to laugh or when you tried scaring me. When you laughed at your own jokes instead and when you looked disappointed at my lack of fear… everything I had ever thought of you was turned upside down again.”

Link’s hand gripped my own just enough that I noticed. “The night that we first stepped into Castle Town and you stopped to see everything,” he smiled, “It was like seeing that town for the first time all over again. It was when I knew I had made the right choice not only with joining you but with this whole personal guard thing. Even if I don’t know, you make me want to know. I want to keep seeing the world through your eyes, so wherever you decide to go I’ll come with you.”

He focused his eyes on me again and I felt my heart beating fast at his closeness. Link wanted to be with me. “So,” I started, my face feeling redder by the second, “So, you’re not doing it for the money?”

“Zel,” he laughed lightly, “I haven’t seen one rupee since the day I enlisted. The majority goes straight to my aunt and sister. No, I’m not doing this for the money.”

“I’m not a job to you?”

“If you were, I wouldn’t have let you out of your room that first night.”

I smiled widely and he smiled back.

“Gerudo Town, right?” He asked, starting again at my injuries. I nodded, feeling happier than I’ve been in a long time.

[mrneighbourlove]

Oc-Tober: Day 30. Who they could have been/Alternative Future

Rinku tightened the bandages around her arm, her anger fueling her will to keep pushing forward. Although Hyrule Castle was descending into chaos, all she had to do was follow the laughter. Running forward to the East Wing, she cut down a few redead that tried to get a swipe at her. Skidding around the corner, the Hero of Hyrule found her target. “LEERE!”

The Mortuus turned to her, smiling from ear to ear. “Rinku, darling~ You finally made it to see me off. I’m so thrilled~”

Rinku steadied herself with the Master Sword and her shield. “I trusted you. I trusted you, and it turns out YOU’RE the Shadow Dealer!”

Leere felt her heart beating fast, the thrill of decades of planning this revenge finally coming to fruition. How she longed to see that pitiful anger on the Hero of Hyrule’s face. Now all she wanted to see was despair. “Guilty as charged. I didn’t think it would get farther then helping Vul’kar, but look at you. You managed to find a way to survive. Luckily, there’s always a Lich or too that needs a necromancer backing them back.”

“You helped the Frost King wipe out Uskar!”

“And I did it while sleeping in your bed. Imagine that. While you stayed in Hyrule, your little baby sister was off dying alone. Imagine how empty she must have felt, in her final moments.” Leere tapped the red gem on her necklace, getting an almost sexual thrill from the thought. “Kanisa’s in here with me Rinku. Along with 1/2 the souls of Uskar. And there’s nothing you can do as I tear apart the rest of Hyrule’s royal family apart.”

RInku had enough of her bullshit, charging in to gut her from the groin up. Leere snapped her fingers, waving her hands for a command. “Go get her!”

The Hero in green saw two Hell Hounds come out of the blue, their skin burnt from hellfire. She hated fighting dogs. Smacking one away with her shield, she quickly dispatched the other, stabbing through it with her sword. Pulling out, she couldn’t get the motion fast enough to stop Leere from hitting her in the face with a mace from the wall.

Leere smiled as watched the blood race down Rinku’s face. “I bleed. You bleed. Then all of Hyrule bleeds.” 

Rinku kicked the legs from under Leere, sending her crashing into the ground. Finish this. She had to finish this. Punching the Mortuus in the gut, she quickly climbed on top, squeezing her neck with both hands. 

Leere gasped as her breath was being taken away. Her red eyes were becoming blood shot, stained with a yellow strand. Yet her smile didn’t break. Even if she didn’t complete her ultimate goal, she still gutted Rinku and Hyrule well enough. “H-harder.”

“What?”

Leere laughed as she took her knife, plunging it into Rinku’s abs. The princess cursed herself for her carelessness. But she wouldn’t stop. She had to put an end to this madness. 

The Mortuus silently congratulated Rinku for continuing to squeeze the breath out of her. Too bad she didn’t have the conviction to just snap her neck. With the snap of her finger, a Wall Master silently fell from the ceiling, snatching the princess from finishing her job. Leere slowly got her breath back as she watched Rinku slowly be dragged into the darkness of the roof. “G-good job. So close.”

“No! I won’t let you get away!” Rinku struggled as best as she could. There was no telling where the Wall Master would take her in the castle. 

“Shame I won’t be around to see your kingdom fall. But I’ll hold onto that face of despair you have. He. Hehehe. Haha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” 

All Rinku could do was see Leere, this madwomen who had torn apart her family with her chaos, point and laugh at her as she swallowed up in the darkness. 

~

Alternative Leere comes from a timeline where she was taken to Hyrule by after the death of her birth parents, yet was never found by Zelda. Without being adopted into a loving family, Leere’s fate was to suffer at the asylum, being violated and labeled as a freak by the doctors and staff. On a fateful encounter, it was Ganondorf and Rinku who took a tour through the asylum, that they saw Leere. To them, she was another patient. To Leere, they were a light that was so bright, arrogant, and free, it poisoned her mind with hatred. It wouldn’t be until she was sixteen, during the War of Fire, that she’d be set free. She knew then that she wanted to see Hyrule turned into an empty waste land, to be turned into a void, just like she felt her soul was. 

She took her time, practicing her natural talent in necromancy. When the Abyssians came to invade, Vul’kar saw her hatred, and knew he could grow a powerful weapon. He taught her abilities of darkness, blood magic, and various evil incantations. Leere acted from behind scenes in the invasion, helping cause more casualties then the normal time line, but Vul’kar was still defeated. 

With this loss, but still having her identity secret, she traveled to Malus, discovering the heritage of her people, and dark powers untapped all for her purposes. Over the years she would raise monsters and undead for crime lords, demons, and any who bring pain to the world, and especially to Hyrule. Leere even infiltrated the castle, becoming a servant, all to learn how she could effectively hurt the royal family. Her greatest act of revenge came from when she dated Rinku. The Hero Princess didn’t even recognize her. With this information, she discovered that Rinku had a Gerudo sister who was living in a country under the siege of Lich...

Alternative Leere is Leere at her most evil, most vile, and most corrupt. She’s also a women who desperately wanted love, but never received it. Her vow is to take her Emptiness, and share it with the world. 

Art is done by the fantastic @maldreathezora​. She does an amazing comic called @anewcalamity​. Give it a read! I highly recommend it! And if you want to know where the original time lines come from, read from @ridersoftheapocalypse​ and @s-kinnaly​.

[tfloosh]

Fire

Ever seen pictures of Texas A&M’s student bonfire? That was the basis for the bonfire in this fic, so follow the link if you need a visual :) Hope you have fun reading!

The fight between Prince Link and Princess Zelda continues, but it’s been almost a year, and Zelda is tired of being angry. Will they be able to forgive each other in the face of the public announcement of their courtship?

Light | Forest | Fire | Water | Shadow | Spirit | Time

Sheik stood before a circle of training dummies, kunai strapped to her legs and a tanto on her lower back. Her mind drifted to the women’s gossip at court the previous day.

They’ll be such a handsome couple.

Can you just imagine the heirs?

Sheik struck out at the nearest dummy faster than the blink of an eye. The straw arm and head barely hit the floor before she moved to the next dummy.

How did she snag such a good-looking Prince? She’s such a prude.

But I hear that Prince Link is quite the flirt in Calatia.

Not enough of a flirt to soften the Princess’ hard heart.

Another straw head hit the floor.

She’ll just refuse him like she does with all the others.

She’s not going to find anyone better than a Crown Prince.

She’ll refuse him; just wait and see. No one is good enough for our prissy Princess.

Sheik decimated the rest of the training dummies in seconds. She hated court. She hated the gossip. And most of all she hated the fact that after six months of research she had found no plausible way of annulling the Courtship and Marriage Contract Clause of the alliance treaty.

Later this evening would be the official announcement of the courtship of Princess Zelda and Prince Link, but as was tradition in Hyrulean Court, everyone already knew. It was all anyone could talk about at court for the past week, yet no one could technically say anything aloud since it wasn’t official. She was plagued by whispers wherever she went, and she was sick of it.

Sheik cleaned and returned her weapons to their closet, changed back into her gown, and reluctantly removed the cloaking spell that turned her eyes red and darkened her skin. Zelda took the servants’ passages from the training room to her bedroom to avoid the many visitors that were pouring into the castle for the announcement. The Bathory’s were already making themselves at home in the visitor’s wing.

Zelda shuddered at the thought. In the six months since the Ordon Village Harvest Festival, she and Link had attended four other events together, and their relationship had only gotten worse. Goddess’ Day in December was filled with awkward small talk and being overly polite with each other. Their outing in February ended in another fight. Calatian National Day in March was essentially a contest to see who could sass the other more. And at the State Dinner held in Hyrule only two weeks ago, Zelda took every opportunity to stomp on Link’s toes whenever he subtly insulted or embarrassed her.

It was a contest of wills, a test in stubbornness, and Zelda was growing tired. It was more exhausting than she would have ever thought to stay mad at one person for so long, not that Link made it very hard. He was so insufferable and infuriating; every time he spoke, Zelda just wanted to punch him in the mouth. But that was only when they were actually together. When Zelda wasn’t having to tolerate Link’s presence, she remembered how kind his smile was and how open and sweet he had been with her. But the pride and arrogance she had seen during her very first meeting with the Prince had taken over. He hardly seemed like the same person she had brunch with on the garden terrace in Kakariko all those months ago. As much as Zelda hated to admit it, Ilia had been right; she wanted to go back to the time when she thought it wouldn’t be too bad being friends with and even courting Link, the time when he would make her smile and be willing to defy contracted law to make her happy.

It had been so easy, then she had to go and screw it all up by lying to him.

“Princess?” a tentative knock sounded from the door. “It’s Lana.”

“Yes, come in,” Zelda sighed.

Lana slowly peaked inside the door before walking in, “Are you feeling alright? Your aura is very sad.”

“Sad,” Zelda sat in one of the chairs in front of the fire. “Angry, frustrated, confused.”

“Is it the announcement tonight?”

“And Prince Link,” she nodded. “I just don’t know what to do with him, and I’m tired of our stupid game.”

“Why don’t you tell him that?” Lana tilted her head.

“I can’t give in first,” Zelda gasped. “He’s the one who started all of this; he should be the one to apologize first.”

“You know Prince Link is thinking the exact same thing,” Lana laughed quietly. She sat down next to Zelda and put on as serious a face as she could muster. “But you two are bringing out the worst in each other right now. I’ve never seen you act so hostile outside of a debate, and all this fighting will simply lead to more hatred.”

“I know,” Zelda rested her head in her hands. “But I don’t know how to stop this fighting. Every time I’ve tried, Link just sees it as an opening to attack.”

“What if you just ignored him?” Lana suggested with a giggle. “Only respond to him when he’s kind.”

“Or just start crying whenever he insults me,” Zelda started laughing with her. “Then he would have to apologize, in front of everyone even.”

They sat laughing for a while, thinking up even more ridiculous ideas to disarm Link. Eventually Queen Elaina came in to make sure Zelda was getting ready for the announcement. She sat talking with the girls while Alice, the maid, put up Zelda’s hair in an elaborate bun.

“I do see what you mean though,” Elaina said. “Prince Link is quite arrogant.”

“See,” Zelda looked to Lana through the mirror. “Mother agrees, so he should have to apologize first. His pride could stand to be taken down a notch anyway.”

“But wouldn’t it make you better than him if you humbled yourself and apologized first?” Lana countered.

“I already tried that, and it didn’t work,” Zelda rolled her eyes.

“Let me tell you, Your Highness,” Alice said around a mouthful of hair pins. “As a mother of three boys, I know they can be the most stubborn, hard-headed beings on the planet. Sometimes it takes humbling yourself to make them see they should do the same.”

“See,” Lana clapped happily. “Alice is on my side. Thank you, Alice.”

“Anytime, Miss Lana.”

“When is my next outing with Prince Link after this, Mother?” Zelda asked as Alice moved around to freshen up Zelda’s make-up.

“Not until Midsummer,” Elaina answered. “You’ll be going to Calatia City for their Midsummer Bonfire.”

“A bonfire in the summer?” Zelda asked confused.

“It is slightly colder there than it is here,” Elaina shrugged. “And it will be at night.”

“Then I will see how things progress today and at the bonfire,” Zelda stood as Alice finished her make-up and began helping the princess into her dress. “And maybe I will seek an end to this ridiculous fight.”

“That sounds fair enough for me,” Lana smiled.

Half an hour later, Zelda was walking down the stairs with her mother to meet with the other royals in the receiving room off the Grand Hall. Zelda smiled and greeted King Clement and Queen Adalynn before walking over to Prince Link.

“I have an idea,” she whispered to him so their parents couldn’t hear.

“Faking illness so we don’t have to go through with this?” he asked.

“Close,” Zelda glared at him. “During the proceedings you will tell my father you wish to court me. He will ask if that is truly your wish, and you could say no.”

“Will that really work? Even with the contract.”

“It might since you are stating it publicly,” she replied with a shrug. “My father may uphold your wish before the contract and refuse to enforce it.”

“Intriguing,” Link smirked. “I can see all the shocked faces now.”

“It’s up to you though,” Zelda said as she walked to the door that led into the Grand Hall. “I hope you make the right choice.”

Zelda entered through the side door after the butler announced their presence. She gracefully sat on the throne to the left of her father’s and kept her eyes on the main entrance of the Great Hall. It couldn’t have been five minutes, but it felt like an eternity waiting for the Bathorys to be announced. They walked up the aisle created by the standing courtiers and bowed respectfully before the royal family of Hyrule.

“King Gerrik of House Hyrule,” Clement announced with a flourish. “I formally present my son and heir, Crown Prince Link of House Bathory.”

“Well met, Prince Link,” Gerrik stood and nodded in greeting.

Zelda tuned out the trivial small talk that was spoken just for the pleasure of the court. Her stomach began to sink as the inevitable drew near.

“Now Prince Link, what is your reason for visiting Hyrule?”

“I have come to ask your permission to court your daughter, Princess Zelda,” Link stated.

Zelda stared at Link and tried to keep her emotions off her face.

“And is that truly your wish?”

Link turned his gaze to Zelda. He tilted his head as a small smirk spread across his face.

“Yes, Your Majesty, it is.”

Shock struck Zelda like a bolt of lightning. He said yes. Why would he say yes after all this time they’ve spent fighting? She was so stunned, she almost missed her father turning to her.

“Princess Zelda, do you consent to court Prince Link?”

Zelda stood and joined Gerrik at the front of the dais to buy herself time to think. She could deny her consent like she did with all the other suitors that came to call, but then what would the court think? She looked to Link, and this brilliant, mischievous smile was spread across his face. It was the same smirk that graced his face on that first day in Kakariko Village. Zelda’s answer came without a thought.

“Yes, I consent to court Prince Link.”

“Then you have my blessing. May your courtship prosper.”

Link swept forward to kiss Zelda’s hand before leading her out among the courtiers to be congratulated. It was a whirlwind of emotion. Everyone was smiling and congratulating, and all she could do was nod and say thanks. Drinks were handed out in celebration, but Zelda felt light headed without the alcohol.

It wasn’t until almost midnight that everything slowed down enough for Zelda’s thoughts to catch up to her feelings. Link was escorting her to her room when she finally asked.

“Why did you say yes?”

“The shock finally wearing off?” Link smirked.

“You could have said no, but you didn’t,” Zelda stopped just outside her door.

“You could have said no as well,” he countered. “But you didn’t.”

“I, well I,” Zelda stammered trying to remember just what she was thinking when she consented to court the Prince. “I didn’t want to say no,” she finally whispered.

“Then for once,” he raised her hand to his lips. “We are of the same mind.”

Link gave her a quick bow before heading to his own room, leaving Zelda more confused than ever.

***

April ended in a deluge of rain, and May flew by in a rush of qualification exams and parties celebrating the end of qualification exams. Too soon for Zelda’s liking, it was mid-June, and she was due to leave for the Midsummer Bonfire in Calatia in a week. She had talked at length with Lana about what Link had said to her after their courtship was announced. Lana saw it as Link’s way of offering up a white flag in their on-going war, but Zelda wasn’t so sure. Her mind went round and round in circles as she packed for her trip.

Did this mean they weren’t fighting anymore?

Should she make some sort of peace gesture?

Why did men complain about women being so confusing?

Obviously they were the impossible-to-read sex!

It was a two day trip to reach Calatia City from Castletown. Zelda tried to calm herself on her ride by reading her favorite book, but she couldn’t keep her mind focused on the pages in front of her. She eventually got so exhausted of sitting in the carriage, she insisted on riding a horse for the first part of the second day. When they finally reached Calatia’s capital city, Link was there alone to greet Zelda. She couldn’t help but notice that was exactly how she had greeted Link on his first visit to her home. Prince Link gave her a quick tour of the castle before showing her to the guest chambers.

“The library is on the second floor,” he continued as servants brought Zelda’s luggage into her room. “Biggest set of double doors you can find. And the gardens are quite pleasant this time of year if you wish for some fresh air.”

“Will you be free to join me at all this afternoon?” Zelda asked. She sounded too hopeful and needy to her own ears, but Link simply smiled.

“I’m afraid I have to polish my mask collection,” he smirked. “Father wishes for me to still attend court this afternoon.”

“I should go with you then,” Zelda said. “The nobility will want to see me anyway since I’m here.”

“No, I wouldn’t force this torture on you,” Link smiled sadly as he turned to the door. “Hyrule’s nobles are puppies and kittens compared to the asinine, old fools I have to deal with. Enjoy your freedom, and I’ll see you at dinner.”

“See you at dinner,” Zelda called as Link left. She felt a little dazed and disoriented. That was honestly the most civil conversation she’d had with Link in almost a year; she didn’t know how to react to it. Maybe a walk will clear her head.

Zelda wondered around occasionally asking for directions to the nearest garden. She was directed to an older part of the castle, a place that was more wood than stone. She pushed open a solid door to see the most beautiful cloistered walkway. Window-like openings that would have looked out onto a courtyard were completely obscured by a waterfall of pink flowers. Zelda made her way to the door-like opening that led into the courtyard. Her smile grew. The large courtyard was filled with cherry trees in full bloom. Zelda was amazed; the summer was far past the peak blooming period for cherry trees.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice called.

Zelda turned to see a dark-skinned woman with short white hair. The woman was scantily clad, exposing a lot more skin than even Calatian standards found acceptable. She also carried a staff that Zelda could tell was imbued with magic.

The woman chuckled in a way that was far from mirthful, “I work year-round to keep these trees in perpetual bloom. It’s not a difficult spell once you get it down, but it does take a lot of time and practice.”

“The beauty of the trees must make the effort well worth it,” Zelda replied evenly. The awe she had felt earlier was frosted over. The woman’s presence seemed to suck the warmth and light from the garden.

“I do agree, Princess,” the woman smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “But the real reward is when I let the trees actually bear fruit. Cherries grown with magic are said to have the most tantalizing taste. My dearest Link counts them as his favorite.”

Zelda’s suspicions were confirmed; this woman must be the Sorceress Cia with whom Link had a previous relationship. She needed to proceed cautiously then.

“It is a shame I cannot try some,” Zelda pursed her lips into a smile.

“Yes, a true shame,” Cia’s eye lit up with a strange fervor. “I only harvest them for Link’s birthday. Cherry crepes are a staple at the State Dinner held in his honor.”

“I look forward to the opportunity to taste them,” Zelda looked around at the trees. She wanted to leave, but she knew Cia would just see it as a weakness.

“Yes, it will be interesting to see if you make it that long,” Cia replied. “Court can be quite vicious here, you know.”

“I have been warned,” Zelda narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like the sound of that threat at all. “Now if you will excuse me, I must get ready for dinner.”

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Princess.”

“Likewise.”

Zelda hurried as quickly as she could back to her room. It wasn’t until she was safe on the bed did she realize how heavy her chest felt, how difficult her breath came to her. The change was subtle but enough for her to notice. Cia carried a dark aura, a very powerful one that could even effect Zelda despite all the protection her light magic offered her. Zelda forced herself to calm down and began her meditation practices. Obviously no one else could sense the dark aura otherwise something would have been done to stop the sorceress. Or possibly use of dark magic wasn’t as stringently regulated in Calatia as it was in Hyrule. Either way, Zelda could think of no way to approach the matter, so she let it go. There was enough on her plate with her precarious relationship with Link.

After an hour of meditation, Zelda finally got ready for dinner. Link knocked on her door a little while after to escort her down to the dining room.

“Are you ready for dinner?” Link asked.

Zelda nodded even though she felt far from prepared to deal with a social conversation.

“Just to warn you,” Link said quietly as they walked down the stairs. “Some of the nobility insisted on joining us for dinner, so the best survival tip I can give you is to not be offended by anything they say and show no emotion.”

“So basically how I’ve tolerated you the past few months?”

“Exactly.”

To say dinner was interesting would be an understatement. Zelda had spent many a day jumping hurdles for the Hyrulean Court, but that was nothing compared to what she had to endure during dinner. The Calatian nobles were snobbish and rude and infinitely worse than dealing with Link on his own. By the end of the meal, Zelda’s cheeks were hurting from the fake smile she had plastered on her face all night. Thankfully, Link helped excuse her from the traditional after dinner chit chat by saying she was still tired from her long journey.

“I want to attend court with you in the morning,” Zelda said suddenly as they walked back up the stairs. She didn’t know what made her say it, but after her encounter with Cia, surviving Calatian court felt like something she needed to prove she could do.

Link’s eyes looked like they would pop out of his head, “Are you insane? They’ll eat you alive. I don’t care how easy you think dinner was; court will be ten times worse.”

“All the more reason to prove I’m not weak,” she replied. “We are courting now Link, and they need to see I’m not some silly Princess they can manipulate.”

“But,” Link began to protest, but Zelda would have none of it.

“But what, Link? I’m not as weak as you would like to think. I’d have thought dealing with you all these months would have proven it.”

“I may not be able to protect you if something goes wrong,” his eyes hardened.

“You mean if I do something wrong?” she fired back accusingly. “Good thing I don’t need your protection anyway.”

Zelda stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her. Despite her anger, she almost laughed when she heard Link grumbling about stubborn women all the way down the hall.

***

Link had never felt more nervous in his life. The thought of Princess Zelda attending court that morning was eating away at his stomach. Why did she insist on putting herself through that torture? It wouldn’t prove anything except to show that she was too frustratingly stubborn for her own good. She couldn’t even see that he was actively trying not to fight with her. She should be grateful he was trying to keep her away from the lion’s den that was court.

But, damn, he absolutely hated that he loved the fire that sparked in her blue eyes whenever someone challenged her. He had learned very quickly that the quickest way to get Zelda to do something was to tell her she couldn’t. Loath as he was to admit, he admired her tenacity and strength. Link had never met anyone quite like Zelda, which is why his selfish brain refused to give her up.

Link made his way to the guest room Zelda was using. She insisted on taking breakfast in her room, probably so Link wouldn’t have time to try and persuade her from her plan. He knocked on her door dreading the next three hours of his life. But then he saw her. Zelda had gone all out wearing an elegant dress in the navy blue of House Hyrule and a formal tiara in her braided hair. The crest of Hyrule could be seen in her intricate necklace and bracelets. She looked every inch like the future Queen she was born to be.

“You look beautiful,” Link breathed. His brain was incapable of thinking anything else.

“Is it too much?” Zelda’s face dissolved into a worried frown. “I thought the extra jewelry was a bit overboard, but my mother would have insisted.”

“It’s perfect,” Link smiled. “You look like a Queen. There’s no way the nobles will be able to touch you now.”

“We’ll see,” Zelda rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind her. “I’m sure you’ll find some way to embarrass me like you always do.”

“Only if the opening is just too tempting,” Link smirked as he led the princess down to the first floor.

“Don’t make me stomp on your foot.”

They remained silent until they reached the doors to the Grand Hall. Zelda squeezed his arm when he moved to open the door, so he stopped.

“Can I ask you for a favor?” she whispered. Her voice trembled slightly; Link could say nothing but yes.

“Will you promise not to leave me alone with them?” her eyes turned to his, and Link felt his heart jump in his chest against his will.

“I promise to not leave your side.”

“Then let’s get this over with,” Zelda turned to the doors, her emotions fading from her face, and they entered court.

The three hours didn’t drag as much as Link would have thought. He led Zelda around introducing her to all the nobles of Calatian court. She was a pro dealing with those who snubbed her. She ignored those who only called her ‘Princess’ instead of the more respectful ‘Your Highness’ and had a razor sharp comeback for every subtle insult thrown her way. Slowly but surely, she was winning their respect. What had taken him years to accomplish, Zelda made quick work of in hours; Link was impressed to say the least. Zelda had definitely come with a plan to conquer the court and win over the begrudging hearts of the nobles.

Once it was time for lunch, Link whisked Zelda away so they could eat privately. They sat in the Private Dining Room silently staring at each other until Link broke the silence.

“You were fantastic, you know?” his smirk evolved to look more like a genuine smile. “You were born to be a Queen.”

“I do believe that’s the first genuine complement you’ve given me,” she smiled back.

“Come now, I must have complemented you at least three times on our way to court,” he laughed.

“Yes, but were they genuine?” Zelda countered.

They dissolved into easy banter as their food arrived. It was refreshing for Link to talk with the princess without fighting the whole time. Even though he had come to realize some time ago that his anger was directed more at his father for putting him in this situation, Link still felt the childish need to lash out in rebellion. He had gotten over Zelda lying to him ages ago, but he still fought with her because she was the only one who could be affected by his anger. He couldn’t direct his rage at his parents effectively because of their status, so all of it fell on Zelda, which he knew was unfair since she was just as stuck in this situation as he was. But despite realizing this, Link just couldn’t let go of his anger. He hated being forced into decisions he didn’t want. He hated having his entire life planned out for him. He hated the expectation to be perfect all the time.

“Hello? Link?”

Link shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts and turned to Zelda, “I’m sorry; I was lost in thought.”

“I just asked when we would be heading to the bonfire tonight?” she smiled.

“The Midsummer’s Feast will start at six o’clock in the castle, and we’ll head down to the bonfire before it’s lit at sunset,” he explained.

“I’ve never actually seen a bonfire before,” Zelda said as a servant came to clear their dishes. “I know it’s a common tradition in Hyrule for them to be lit in remembrance of loved ones fallen in war, but we haven’t had a major conflict since before I was born.”

“Then you’re in for a real treat,” Link smiled. “The Midsummer Bonfire is an unparalleled spectacle.”

“I can’t wait to see it then,” Zelda stood and furrowed her eyebrows slightly. “Do we have to go back to court?”

“I think we can excuse ourselves on the grounds of resting for the bonfire tonight,” he smirked mischievously. “Would you like me to take you back to your room?”

“Actually,” Zelda’s voice sounded timid, and she looked everywhere but at Link. “I was wondering if we could take a walk, or something. Just an outing would be nice in this weather, you know?”

“But what would the nobles think?” Link asked in a mock scandalized voice.

“Let them think what they wish,” Zelda’s blue eyes twinkled with that fire.

“Then lead the way, Princess.”

***

The rest of the day passed by in a blur for Zelda. Her plan to gain their respect had not crashed and burned like she feared it might. And she couldn’t believe she had spent a whole day with Link without fighting once. Zelda never thought it was possible. Even as they walked to the bonfire together, she was still waiting for some huge fight to break out between them.

The Midsummer Bonfire was being held in the fields on the outskirts of Calatia City. The walk from the castle to the city gate was pleasant. The streets of Calatia City were filled with booths selling everything from food to jewelry to toys for children to play with. As much as Zelda wanted to just window shop through all the booths, she and Link had to stay close to the King and Queen. It was strange being a part of a royal entourage. The tradition of nobles following the King and Queen around during outings had never really been common in Hyrule, and Zelda was definitely sure she didn’t like it. There was no escaping the sideways glances the nobles gave them, and it was far too easy to overhear any gossip, especially if it was directed at her.

But it seemed that Link was determined to keep the smile on her face genuine. He bought her jewelry she thought was pretty on the grounds that she needed more green to wear and indulged her with sweets she had never seen before in Hyrule (her favorite was the macaroons). It was easy to pretend they were in their own little bubble until Zelda caught the smug expression on King Clement’s face. She had never understood the King’s sudden transformation from a spineless insect to a manipulative snake during their visit to Kakariko, so she had become deeply mistrustful of him.

As if he could sense what gave her pause, Link whispered in her ear, “Just ignore my father. He’s being too much of a smug bastard these days.”

Zelda had to laugh at that, “It tends to happen when people think they’re getting their way.”

“I believe your mask collection is growing,” Link smirked. He placed a hand on the small of her back to guide her. “We should be able to slip away from the rest of the entourage once we get to the bonfire. Come on.”

Zelda didn’t understand how they’d be able to slip away. Surely even if there was a large crowd they would still stick out. But then she saw the bonfire. Once they exited the city gates, it immediately caught her eye. Zelda didn’t entirely know what she was expecting, but it surely wasn’t this. The bonfire was made of hundreds of logs stacked in tiers that created a giant cone shape that had to be at least fifty feet tall.

“I told you it was awesome,” Link laughed at Zelda’s expression. “Come on; we’re missing out on all the fun.”

He grabbed her hand and started running down the road toward the bonfire. Zelda could hear voices calling after them, but she couldn’t understand them over the sound of her and Link’s laughter. They didn’t stop until they were breathless at the foot of the giant bonfire.

“Told you we could slip away.”

“I don’t know why I thought you had something more subtle in mind,” Zelda laughed breathlessly.

“It’s as you said though, isn’t it?” Link raised an eyebrow at her. “Let them think what they wish.”

They walked around the growing crowd surrounding the bonfire as the sun went down. Zelda stopped to mingle occasionally with the common-folk, and Link entertained her with stories of all the different Midsummer Bonfires he’d been to.

“My parents wouldn’t let me go when I was younger,” he said. “They thought I was sickly while the doctors insisted I just needed time outside to play like any other boy. But I couldn’t see the bonfire from my rooms because the city wall was too high, so I would sneak into the highest tower and sit and watch the bonfire burn all night.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Zelda smiled.

“Not as wonderful as actually seeing it up close,” Link pointed to some men carrying torches. “They’re going to light it now.”

Zelda stood in awe as the men walked around the massive base of the bonfire setting fire to every other log. From the other side of the stack, she could hear a voice talking of passion and the will to fight and invoking the name of Din to aid them in their future endeavors. They stood and watched the fire slowly make its way up to the top of the bonfire, only moving when the heat became too much.

They walked in silence for a while after. Zelda got the feeling that Link, much like herself, wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start.

“I forgot to tell you I found an interesting garden yesterday,” Zelda finally said. “And it made me wonder if you liked cherries.”

“Cherries?” Link looked taken aback at the randomness of the question. “No, they are too sour raw and too sweet when cooked. They also remind me of, oh.”

He stopped and turned to look at Zelda with an expression that was half fear, half guilt.

“Did you meet her? Was she there in the garden?”

“Yes, actually,” Zelda smiled wanly. “She sent me some thinly veiled threats and tried to assert some sort of claim over you.”

Link’s eyes filled with anger, reflecting the bonfire shining next to them.

“I should have been there. I shouldn’t have been at court; I should have been with you so that this wouldn’t happen.”

“Link, it’s alright,” Zelda placed a hand on his shoulder to help reign him in. “Look at me.” She reached up to cup his face in her hand, hoping that focusing would help him calm down. It took a second, but the fire in Link’s eyes changed to something else, something Zelda couldn’t quite name.

“I should apologize for my actions,” he whispered.

“There was nothing you could have done,” Zelda shook her head. “You had to obey your father, and I’m perfectly fine fighting my own battles.”

“No, I mean,” Link fidgeted nervously. “My actions before now, at that State Dinner and National Day, all of it really.”

Zelda couldn’t stop the small gasp that escaped her lips. Her hand fell from his face.

“I wasn’t mad at you. I was mad at my father and the situation,” Link broke eye contact and ran his fingers through his hair as if he was frustrated. “And I took out my anger on anything I could because that’s what I do, and I’m sorry.”

He looked back at her nervously as if expecting her to reject his apology, but Zelda could only smile.

“When did you finally come to your senses?” she asked with a giggle.

Link snorted before turning to fully face her, “During that courting ceremony, actually. I thought of you eventually courting another man, and despite knowing you would be just as miserable with that poor chap as you would with me, my selfishness and I couldn’t just let you go.”

He reached up to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

“I figured that at least with me, that fire in your eyes wouldn’t go out.”

Zelda felt warmth fill her at those words. The hope she had lost after the Ordon Harvest Festival so many months ago suddenly returned.

“It was the way you smiled,” she said without thinking. “That’s why I said yes. You reminded me of the Link I met in Kakariko, the Link I wouldn’t actually mind courting.”

She looked up into his eyes. Zelda was scared to ask but also feared leaving it unsaid.

“Can we go back to that time? Can we put aside out anger and stop fighting?”

“Yes,” Link smiled. “Fighting you is far too exhausting.”

“I beg your pardon?” Zelda gasped in mock annoyance. “You are far worse. Dealing with your court this morning was easier than dealing with you alone.”

“I beg to differ,” he smirked mischievously. “You are more stubborn than is reasonable.”

They went back and forth for what seemed like an hour, circling the bonfire and avoid nobles wherever they could. It wasn’t until the bonfire’s light began to wane that someone came looking for them.

“Your Highnesses,” a page called out to them. “The court is preparing to leave.”

“Alright, thank you,” Link rolled his eyes after the boy left. “I guess we’ll have to head back now.”

“Yes, I’ll be needing some sleep before I head home tomorrow,” Zelda yawned.

The walk back to the castle was a quiet one. Zelda found herself leaning more and more on Link’s arm as they walked, and by the time they reached her room, she felt dead on her feet.

“Until next time, Zelda?” Link brought her hand to his lips. His brow was quirked in a silent question.

“Until next time, Link.”

[acedesigns]

The Archaeologist - Chapter 6

“I’m going to get some supplies considering there’s more of us,” Ahura said to those she was traveling with. Her eyes landed on the Hylian that was bound with ropes. “I’ll need some help carrying everything. I need him to come with me.”

“He’ll run off and tell the guard what is going on!” Impa protested and moved in front of the Hylian. Link remained silent with his head hanging down. His blond hair covered his face.

“He won’t,” Ahura crossed her arms over her chest. “I have faith in him.”

“You have faith in a guard that was sent to execute us!” Impa growled. “You don’t even know him! Why do you trust him!?”

“He’s the hero reborn!” Ahura yelled. “The hero is supposed to protect all of Hyrule, not just the royal family! The royal family is the one that’s starting a genocide against all others!”

“That’s not true,” Link spoke. “It can’t be.”

Impa turned to him with a fierce glare. “Your people have killed all of my people that didn’t hide in time. Your people are killing all of the Zora. Your people are enslaving all of the Gorons! If the Gorons disobey they are killed! How is that not true?!”

“But, you all were supposed to be trying to kill us.” Link’s fists shook. “The king said--!”

“Have any of the other races tried to kill you, Link?” Ahura pushed Impa aside and place a hand on his shoulder. “And don’t count when the Sheikah did earlier, they were doing that out of self-defense.” Link shook his head. “Have you seen anyone being attacked by the other races?”

“N-No!” Link hiccupped.

“Even if one Zora did attack a Hylian, would that be enough to start a genocide? Where use the Zora’s corpses for Zora fin soup?”

“No, it’s not!” Link sobbed and fell to his knees. Tears streamed down his face. “I can’t believe I helped them!”

“Did you kill anyone?”

“No, I didn’t,” Link whimpered. “I didn’t get the chance to.”

“Then, it’s fine,” Ahura spoke softly and knelt down to his level. “But this genocide isn’t just going to stop. We need all the help we can get, Link. What do you say?”

Link rubbed his eyes with the back of his arm. He sniffed and calmed his breathing down. He looked up at Ahura. His blue eyes fierce with determination. He nodded silently and rose back to his feet. He walked over to Impa and held his hands out.

“Please release me.”

Impa glared at him and then at Ahura. Sighing, she took out a dagger and cut the rope that bound him. She looked back at Ahura, “You better be right about him.”

Ahura nodded and turned back to the direction of Castle Town. “You all hide while Link and I gather supplies. We’ll come back here and wait for you to come back, that way you know it’s not a trap.” She motioned for Link to follow her.

“How are we going to stop them?” Link questioned. His despair was gone, it was replaced with determination. “If we wait too  much longer, the other races will be killed off.”

Ahura glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “I was hoping that neither you nor Princess Zelda would have to get involved, but it looks like it will have to be this way. I was wanting to start the rebellion from within. You and Princess Zelda, and possibly me,  would be in charge of that. We’d have to have a strong following of the Princess, stronger than the King.” She made her voice quieter as they approached the heavily guarded town. “We’d then get everyone else to go in. I don’t know who would then rule Hyrule.”

“What do you mean? Why not Princess Zelda?” Link asked with confusion lacing his voice.

Ahura’s mouth formed a thin line. She couldn’t speak of Ganondorf, not yet. If she spilled all of her plans, and Link did happen to betray them, then there was a strong possibility that everything would fail and all except the Hylians would perish.

“There are many reasons, but I can’t talk about it here,” Ahura replied as she walked into the market place. Quickly, she started to pick a variety of foods, mostly foods that wouldn’t perish for a while. She handed over the rupees to the shop owners. Link and Ahura carried equal loads as they progressed through the market. They gathered mostly food, but also clothes, rope, and weapons.

“What do you think you’re doing?” an enraged voice shouted from down the path. Link and Ahura shot their heads in the direction. A group of guards held a Goron down while its master looked down at it with fury. The master continued yelling. “I told you to make sure the water was hot! Did I not?”

“But M-master, the hot spring is too far away for it to stay hot here,” the Goron pleaded. “Please, forgive me.”

“Kill him.”

Ahura dropped her basket. A hand shot to her mouth out of horror. Before either Link or Ahura could snap out of their shock, the guards pried the Goron’s mouth open and forced a lit bomb in. They got off of the Goron and ran. In a matter of seconds, with the Goron choking the entire time, the explosion rang through the market.

“Oh my--,” Ahura trailed off as a tear ran down her face.

“Let’s get out of here,” Link spoke quickly and picked up the basket. He managed to grab Ahura’s arm and dragged her out of Castle Town.

When they reached the meeting area, Ahura remained silent. She numbly followed the rest of them to the desert. She wouldn’t eat when they stopped and couldn’t sleep at night.

When the group finally arrived at the desert, she ignored the bulbins. Ganondorf was hiding, probably observing the Sheikah before he made himself known. Even if he was there, she wouldn’t have said anything to him. Instead, she slunk away to a rocky hill that held a cave – a cave she explored and found weapons that dated to the age of Twilight. She stayed there until night fell. She couldn’t sleep. Not with what had transpired. Tears built up in her eyes and she hung her head towards the ground. She slowly curled into herself and focused on keeping her breathing steady. The moon cast a shadow behind her as she felt a million emotions crash into her: fear, anguish, sadness, and rage. Her hands formed into tight fists.

“It’s not fair,” she murmured to herself.

“Nothing is fair in life. It’s something that you’ll come to know, but never get used to.”

Ahura jumped and looked back at the solidified phantom. She quirked an eyebrow seeing how his body was able to manifest a solid form in the full moon’s light. The Hylian opened her mouth to question how, but closed it before she could. She shook her head and looked back up at the moon.

“You haven’t said anything since you got back with the Sheikah and that Hylian. What happened?”

Ahura sighed and hugged her knees closer to her chest. “I made a quick stop at Castle Town to gather supplies for all of us. I,” she paused. She felt a tight knot grow in her throat. Tears started to cascade down her face. “A, A Goron stepped out of line. Th-they forced a bomb down his throat and.” Her breathing quickened. A sob escaped her throat. Her entire body started shaking. “He b-blew up!” she shrieked.

Lord Ganondorf stared down at the Hylian who could no longer hold back her sobs. Sighing, he sat next to the Hylian. He looked up at the moon. His golden eyes seemed to glow in its light. “I have seen my people die off in two lifetimes.” The Hylian’s sobs became quieter as she tried to listen to the man sitting next to her. “Both times were my fault and due to a singular mistake.”

“I decided that my people deserved something more than the scorching heat, the cutting winds, and the dryness of the desert. Life couldn’t grow here. I yearned for the green fields, the soft winds, and the infinite amount of water that Hyrule had to offer. I was envious, but at the time I didn’t hate Hylians.”

“What changed that?” Ahura hiccupped and sniffed while rubbing her eyes.

“At the time, I thought it was the war. My people and a subset of the Sheikah were fighting against the Zora, Gorons, Hylians, and the rest of the Sheikah. I thought that the war was what started to fuel my hatred.” Lord Ganondorf’s right hand clenched tightly and his eyes narrowed. “Then the extermination of my people, in two different time lines, only made my hatred grow more.”

“It’d do that to anyone.”

“It didn’t help ease my hatred.” Lord Ganondorf sighed. “When the hero time was young, he warned the king and prevented my attack. I couldn’t gain access to the sacred realm, and there was no chance of my people winning the war. We tried, but it came to when I had to end it. I turned myself in on the terms that my people would not be harmed. The king accepted my proposal.”

“He lied, didn’t he?”

Lord Ganondorf looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Yes. He imprisoned me and forced me to watch as my people were slaughtered like pigs. They started with my mother and aunt. Those two were powerful sorcerers, and the king figured that if he took them down first, the rest of my people would be easy targets. He wasn’t wrong.” Ahura watched him with half horror, half sadness. “I was filled with so much rage. I prayed to my goddess and then to the goddesses of Hyrule. In that time, I was granted the Triforce of power.” He lifted his hand in the air and looked at the glowing symbol. It started glowing more brightly after Link arrived, something he was both enraged and relieved by.

“Then what happened?”

“I attempted to break out and stop them. They realized they had to execute me or I would destroy everything. So they went to kill me. I went into a blind rage and killed one of the sages. They then banished me to the Twilight Realm. There, I found a Twili that lusted for power and used him. Hatred blinded me into conquering Hyrule. I was its ruler for a short time before the Hero of Twilight killed me.”

“And that’s the last time you made an appearance in our history until now.”

“There was the four swords incident,” Lord Ganondorf looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I…I was not in full control of myself, however.”

“I thought Vaati was the one that was said to have done it.”

“I manipulated him, but I suppose I was destroyed before anyone could have realized it was me. It was after that I was able to regain full control, but I ended in a different timeline all together, when the Hero of Time defeated me as an adult.”

“What happened then?” Ahura questioned. She regained control of her emotions. Her red, puffy eyes watched him with curiosity.

“I was sealed in the sacred realm by the sages. It took a while, but I was able to regain enough power to escape and the Sacred Realm weakened. I found that my people had all been slaughtered. Enraged, I began to attack. The people of Hyrule prayed and Hyrule was flooded. My army was sealed along with Hyrule. I manage to escape, but I was weakened. And so I spent my time planning. Hundreds of years past before I went into action.”

“Hundreds of years? How did you live that long!?” Ahura looked at the phantom before her with shock. She questioned just how old the phantom in front of her was.

“This.” He raised his hand in showing the glowing Triforce symbol to her. “It holds many powers to it. It did help in slowing the aging process. Members of the Gerudo tribe can live a long time as well. But there was something else.” His gaze darkened and he seemed to withdraw into himself. “The hatred I had was not all mine. As I aged, I came to realize that. But it was already too late.”

He sighed and stood up, done with the conversation. He looked at Ahura before saying, “It’s getting late. You should try to get some rest. Death Mountain awaits you.”

Ahura watched him as he began to walk away. More questions ran through her mind, but she didn’t want to pry too deep. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know the answers that he burdened himself with.

“Wait,” Ahura spoke. Ganondorf stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at the Hylian. She took a deep breath. “Thank you for sharing that with me.” He nodded once before retreating to his tent.

--

“If we set him up with the Princess there’s a very real possibility that the Hylian army will invade this place,” Ganondorf spoke with calm authority. “We cannot risk my army to an invasion when I haven’t gained my full power.”

“That’s why we won’t set him up until after you can leave the desert. We can relocate your army and the Sheikah elsewhere. Impa set out several scouts to check out Ordon Ranch and the Lost Woods.”

“Why those?”

“Ordon Ranch has served as a safe haven for those being persecuted. They keep everyone well-hidden so no wandering Hylian officers will find them. The Lost Woods are well connected to Death Mountain and Lake Hylia through secret routes. The Hylian army hasn’t found them yet. I’ve excavated different areas in the forest, so I’m familiar with the layout.”

“As am I,” Ganondorf responded. “How would we move entire armies there without being noticed? There is no link between here and there.”

Ahura nodded her head and examined the map that the two of them were hunched over. She tapped her finger and bit her lip while thinking. “Lake Hylia is the closest, but it’s also heavily guarded. We could potentially go around on the cliffs, but that terrain is highly unstable making it dangerous.”

“We could use that to our advantage,” Ganondorf spoke quickly with an idea forming in his mind. “We could set up explosions and have the cliff block off the Hylian army from where we need to be after we pass it.”

Ahura chewed on her lip. “We’d have to be extremely fast. I’m not sure how the water levels are with the army trying to drain the lake if we had to jump off the cliff and into the water. We need to get the Zoras out of the Water Temple, too. I don’t think we should attack the army just yet. That would put too much attention on us.”

“There are places around here that we could hide. The Fairy Fountain, Cave of Trials, and the Spirit Temple can hold multiple armies at once. We could use Poes to watch over Hyrule in case an army starts marching our way. If that were to happen, we would have plenty of time to prepare.”

“How would you command the Poes?” Ahura looked up at Ganondorf.

“With this,” he spoke. He pulled a large, black sword from behind him. Red symbols glowed ever so slightly and voices seemed to be emitted from it. “I’m sure you recognize it.”

“You got it during the sand storm,” Ahura confirmed. “But how does—. Never mind.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Magic stuff and you being a phantom, I bet.”

Ganondorf paused for a moment. “It seems I am gathering power again. I am not a phantom in the light any longer. I am still bond to the desert, however.”

Ahura looked up at him with shock. Although he has been kinder, she suddenly realized that she was no longer safe in the light if he were to change his mind and kill her. His docile nature could change in an instant. She retreated into herself ever so slightly. It was something that didn’t go unnoticed.

Lord Ganondorf watched her carefully. He sighed to himself, but decided to ignore it. Fear was something he used for those that followed him. It made things easier.

The flaps to the tent opened. Both of their attentions shot to who was intruding. Impa looked at them with scrutiny. She walked in and looked at the strategy table before them. Her hand twitched as if she was just waiting to withdraw the sword she carried on her back.

“What’s the plan?” Impa settled for crossing her arms over her chest.

“Ahura will leave tomorrow for Death Mountain. A Poe will keep us in contact with her.”

“A Poe?” Impa narrowed her eyes and glared at Lord Ganondorf. “Those monsters will--!”

“Those monsters will be under my control,” Lord Ganondorf stated while matching Impa’s glare.

“All the more reason to not trust them!” Impa raged.

Ahura quickly moved between the two that seemed as if they’d fight to the death. She looked between the two nervously. Lord Ganondorf gazed down at the Hylian. He sighed and moved away. He went back to strategizing. Impa continued glaring before looking at Ahura.

“Are you okay with this?” Impa spoke.

Ahura slowly nodded her head. “I don’t really have any other choice. We can’t let this genocide go on any longer. Besides, I think I can trust him.” Lord Ganondorf looked out of the corner of his eye at her. ”If this is going to work, we all need to learn to trust each other.”

“I will cooperate, but I will not blindly place my trust into him.”

“I do not expect you to,” Lord Ganondorf spoke. “Trust is something that is earned.” He looked over to Impa. “I do not trust you either. Not yet, at least.”

“Where’s Link?” Ahura questioned, trying to ease the tension in the tent.

“The big green one is watching him,” Impa replied.

“His name is King Bulblin,” Lord Ganondorf sneered. “He is the leader of his people, just as you are the leader of your people.”

“Just as you’re the leader of your people? Oh, I’m sorry, you have no people!” Impa mocked.

“Impa!” Ahura yelled out of shock. “Out of everyone here you should understand what he went through seeing as you are currently going through it! Now, leave!” Her finger pointed towards the exit of the tent. The Sheikah scoffed and stormed out of the tent.

Ahura turned towards Lord Ganondorf as he simply moved pieces on the bored. She watched him carefully. He acted as if he didn’t hear the woman. Ahura opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. She wasn’t sure what would make up for what Impa said.

“I,” she started but paused. “I’m sorry.”

“Do not be sorry for the actions of another,” Lord Ganondorf firmly stated. “She will come around with time. I am sure she is remembering that it was my people, no, me that had half of her tribe killed off. It will take time for her hatred to diminish.”

“And what about your hatred?”

“My hatred is different,” Lord Ganondorf said with a sigh. He glanced over at the Hylian looking at him with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity. “What do you know of demons?”

“Not too much,” she admitted. “It’s…It’s difficult to classify them among monsters that existed.”

Lord Ganondorf nodded as he went to grab a scroll. “This has the basic lineups of demons. However, before the kingdom of Hyrule existed, there was one demon called Demise. He drove the goddess Hylia towards the sky along with her people, your people. After sometime, Demise was released from his seal. Hylia, who was reborn as Princess Zelda, and her hero fought of Demise. Before Demise was killed, he laid a curse that his hatred would continue to be reborn, forcing the princess and her hero to be reborn with it. It was meant to be a curse for all Hylians, but…”

“Whoever inherited his hatred would also be cursed,” Ahura spoke softly.

“I wonder if I didn’t have this curse if my people would still be alive,” Ganondorf muttered to himself. As he moved more pieces on the board, Ahura watched him with a newfound understanding and a new determination to end his hate.