#zelda getting the hang of her time powers so she might return to her time on her ow- NOPE dragon lol her powers are irrelevant actually

[tendertendrils1]

🌠

An open book! Funny enough, this makes it hard to know what topic to choose.

Let’s go with a character we only get glimpses of in the peripherals. Let’s talk about Hilda.

Early Rupees and Rods Hilda is in a very, very bad place.

She’s been betrayed twice over. By Ravio, who was trying to help her but did it by actively working against her. And by Yuga, who promised to help her restore Lorule, who convinced her this big plan would work… and who, it turns out, was only after personal power. Lorule is saved only by the grace of a foreign power and Ravio, who convinced her to give up on her plan, leaves. Again. Right after coming back. To go back with his lover to that oh-so-perfect land of Hyrule.

She’s doubting herself. Her pride and self confidence are in absolute tatters. She’s questioning her own morals. She can’t show any of it because she’s hanging onto political control by the tips of her fingers. Lorule’s triforce is restored but the land has a very long way to go before it’s recovered. She’s running herself ragged just to keep the political climate from falling to complete chaos. She is so very, very alone. 

And then, weeks later, in the middle of a random day, there’s a magical knock. 

Zelda and Hilda are mirrors, you see. Counterparts. And unlike Link and Ravio, they are both telepathic. It’s enough connection for Zelda to reach out from the other side. 

Hilda had told Ravio he needed to find a way to send reports. 

Still, she’s incredibly suspicious. She’s also both lonely and of the mind that potential enemies are best kept where you can see them. She and Zelda start working on re-establishing an open connection between their worlds. A stable one, this time. They’re communicating entirely telepathically, especially at the start, where thoughts and emotions sometimes slip through. Zelda really does want to help. Ravio had a huge hand in saving Hyrule just as Link did, he misses his home, and she owes them both. Zelda also wants to keep a potential enemy where she can see them, which is a motive Hilda can understand. 

…Zelda is very, very pretty.

Zelda and Hilda spend a lot of time in each other’s heads over the next months. Hilda comes to realize that Zelda really is as kind as she seems, but it doesn’t make her naive. She’s more cunning than she appears. Hilda is able to send a letter to Ravio, and gets one back. He doesn’t hate her. He wants to mend their relationship. Hilda and Zelda start exchanging little gifts. Then bigger gifts. They’re courting. Their first sexual encounter happens before they can even truly touch, watching each other from opposite sides of an open mirror. Ravio is getting married, and Hilda wants to attend. Hilda and Zelda work hard. She’s able to be there. Not just be there but Ravio wants her to stand in as his family. He really doesn’t hate her. 

Slowly, Lorule is getting back on its feet, and Hilda is too.  I don’t quite know yet where her story goes. I do know that Hilda is able to find her pride again. Lorule’s crops start yielding stronger returns. Eventually the flora recovers enough to support the domestic livestock Hyrule sends as aid. Larger and stronger varieties of plants start to grow. The day will come when Lorule is able to export food: truffles and sweet onions and delicate mushrooms. Ravio stops looking quite so cowed when he’s speaking to the nobles of her court, he and Link spend more time there, and she’s so proud of him. And I think Hilda and Zelda are going to make it work long term, if in perhaps a less traditional way than a shared household. Zelda is a shining sun to Hilda’s silver moon. They are constantly in each other’s heads; sharing gossip, advice, complaints and sly remarks and humor and love. Hilda might have had a harder time believing it except she can feel it, how genuinely Zelda delights in her company. She comes to love Zelda back just as fiercely. She’s going to be okay.

[botwild-track1]

The full Zulip story pre-calamity ~

To start, Tulip herself is not a Hylian. She travels to Hyrule wanting to visit everything she can. She first visits the Rito and sees their ability to create updrafts and soar into the air, and she wants to do that too. However she obviously doesn't have wings. But shes tries to find a way to fly. So, she ends up creating the paraglider. vv

once she creates this, she continues her travels through Hyrule. She soon makes her way to Gerudo. But on her way, she gets attacked and is only saved because of the yiga clan. After being saved by them, Tulip becomes one of them.

She soon learns however that they attack the town of Gerudo, and she wants to do something to help. She sneaks into Gerudo at night to inform the women of any attacks the yiga might be planning. However one day, before she is assigned her knight, Zelda is kidnapped by the Yiga clan. And thats the first time Tulip ever sees Princess Zelda...

Tulip knows she has to do something to help. So while they have her captured and their all in one place, Tulip sets off smoke bombs to blind them, grabs Zelda, and flies both of them out of there. Zelda is grateful but also amazed by the paraglider she made, and asks all about it. Tulip is amazed at her interests as Zelda is the only other Hylian that understand how it works or even cares. After showing off the paraglider a bit more, Zelda returns to Hyrule and informs her father of what happened. Her father is happy for her safe return, but is also curious about the invention Zelda speaks of, thinking it could be useful to their kingdom. So, Zelda invites Tulip to Hyrule castle to meet her father and help develop more paraglider, and have her teach some of the Hylian knights how to use them. During this time, Tulip and Zelda often sneak out to hang out with each other, and Tulip starts to fall head over heels for her. They go on little field trips where Zelda gets to study, forget about being a princess, and gets to hang out with her friend.

but as the threat of Ganon looms closer, Zeldas dad, king Rhoam, becomes more serious. He sees how much the two of them enjoy each others company, and how much of a distraction Tulip has become for Zelda. So once he understands how to make the paragliders on his own, he bans her from speaking with Zelda so she can focus on unlocking her power. The both of them are heartbroken, but agree. Zelda tells Tulip that she needs someone she trusts to watch over the smaller villages of Hyrule that have less protection, and intrusts Tulip to do so. She happily agrees. She also tells Tulip to meet her at the spring of Wisdom on her 17th birthday. On that day, Tulip tells Zelda that she believes in her, that she knows she'll unlock her power in time, and that it'll be amazing. Zelda laughs, says thank you, and walks away. And thats the last time the two of them will see each other for 100 years. Later that same day, Ganon comes back and starts destroying Hyrule. Tulip does all she can to protect people in need, getting super beat up in the process. Eventually she makes her way to Hateno village, where she fights off a hoard of monsters alone to save everyone there. But just when she thinks its over, she sees a guardian making its way to the town. So she quickly rushes everyone in the village underground or anywhere where they will be safe. And when it arrives, she vows to strike it down, or die trying. And just as its about to kill her, a blinding light can be seen from across the kingdom. Zelda unlocking her secret power. The blast is enough to destroy the guardian, and Tulip falls to the ground knowing that the girl she loved achieved her dream... and thats it for pre-calamity! If u read all this thank u sm 😭

[luckywolfsbane]

Hang on. I'm being a turkey again.

⚠️Totk Spoilers/timeline speculation ahead.⚠️

I know it's a commonly held belief that all the timelines merged for BOTW/TOTK. But like... what if they didn't?

Follow me here.

What if, for the TOTK ancient past, we're looking at a timeline split so far back that it DOES pre-date Skyward Sword? We see a good amount of ruins, and there's enough technological overlap between the ancient past in Skyward Sword and Tears of the Kingdom, to conclude that the tech in Skyward Sword is old Zonai tech.

Now, this also means the "Ancient Robots" are actually constructs. This makes sense. There's some overlap in functionality and tasks there.

The timeline split isn't with Ganondorf's attack, and it isn't with the Zonai. It's with Zelda, who causes a butterfly effect the moment she arrives in the past. Her existence in that time causes the chain reaction that leads to her own birth.

Her presence leads to the sealing of Ganondorf; on that, I digress. The sealing of Ganondorf leads to the first Calamity, as mentioned in Breath of the Wild. The battle leads to 10,000 years of peace(no Ganon). Then Zelda is born. Her birth leads into the second Calamity, but doesn't directly cause it. They must coincide because she must go under the castle. She must go under the castle to awaken Ganondorf* and pick up the secret stone that causes the split in the timeline and her very existence(Oraboris anyone?).

Now, to elaborate on what I previously digressed: Zelda's presence in the ancient past led to Ganondorf being sealed. You might hate this part, but it's vital to this theory, so I'm sorry in advance.

Zelda's arrival causes Ganondorf to revolt in the way that he does. He uses the puppet of her to bait Sonia into turning her back to him so he can kill her and take her secret stone. W/o Zelda, he doesn't do that, Sonia lives, and he never gets a secret stone. He does still revolt in an attempt to get better resources for the desert, he's easily stopped without a secret stone. Thus leaving his reputation intact with the Gerudo when he fails, leading us into the timeline with which leads to OoT where the new King of the Gerudo bears his name and attempts a similar coup d'état.

Now, Skyward Sword happens anyway. Because Demise still rises, he still gets sealed as the Imprisoned, and the Link/hero of that era kills him and gets cursed.

Whether or not the timeline changes much from here is up to the theorist. However, I think it does only a little. Instead of things happening in 3 separate timelines, it happens in one very tangly timeline where everything happens from Ocarina to Twilight Princess, from Twilight Princess to the Downfall timeline, from the downfall timeline to the Great Sea timeline.

Somewhere along there, the sea levels fall, they return to the historic lands, and the setting we know for Breath of the Wild starts to take shape.

Another important bit: Sheikah Tech is a reinterpretation of Zonai tech. After Rauru and Mineru are killed in the ancient past of ToTK, the Sheikah attempt to recreate and continue the technological legacy of the Zonai. They create the Shrine of Resurrection with a specific tragically lost queen in mind(Sonia), and the Divine Beasts in the vague image of the helms of the Sages, to honor the non-Hylian races who survived the Demon King's attack. Naturally, they're intended as protectors. They didn't have enough might to defeat the Demon King, so they made the guardians in case Zelda's warnings came true sooner rather than later.

The guardians proved useful the first time, but someone(read "a noble") panicked and had them bury the tech. Likely because they feared they might be used against a corrupt monarch to sieze power for the people--because honestly, after that display of strength, what power-hungry ruler wouldn't want to destroy it?

That leads us into the set up to Breath of the Wild, where they're researching and digging up Sheikah Tech.

Post Breath of the Wild, Zelda, Purah, and Robbie(and maybe even Link and a few others), discover that Zonai tech are the more stable roots of Sheikah Tech. In an effort to expand the capabilities of their own technology, they nearly abandon Sheikah Tech in favor of Zonai research. Purah uses Sheikah Tech and some Zonai methods to build the towers.

Now we reach the set up to Tears of the Kingdom.

Circling back to Ganondorf and Demise and how it could make sense for Ganondorf to be there underground while other Ganondorfs make chaos and nightmares on the surface: The Ganondorf of the ancient past isn't Demise. No, he's a priest of Demise. He doesn't hold Demise's spirit. He's his own, terrifying bastard. At the start, in the ancient past.

Demise's curse doesn't involve him. He's sealed, biding his time under the castle. He can't, however, reanimate without power that not even a secret stone can bestow. When it's time, it's Demise's spirit who reanimates Ganondorf's body. It's no longer Ganondorf you're fighting, though he is most certainly in there somewhere.

And where's the triforce?

Well, I have no clue. For this to work, the dragons can't be in the ancient past if they swallowed it, they also can't be Zonai. Unless there's other shenanigans we don't see... maybe there is no triforce in this timeline, because it was swallowed by three Zonai at the start to protect the world from Demise. I... can't come up with anything else for that. Good luck.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

A Promise of Armor (Breath of the Wild Miphlink story)

I’m a sucker for these two, really.

Summary: Mipha planned on giving Link the Zora armor, yet 100 years later it was found in Zora’s domain in her family’s safekeeping. So what happened on that fateful evening when she was to offer it? Did she gather the courage or decide to keep her feelings to herself?

The sunset glittered on the water’s surface, a wavy disc of glowing gold and crimson that cast watery patterns of light all over the rock walls. The air was warm, but not uncomfortably so, and the coolness of the breeze and Vah Rutah’s trunk beneath him balanced it well. Link remained still as Mipha continued to heal his arm, watching her work. The glow of her magic illuminated her face like the stones that glittered around the Domain, and Link found his eyes lingering on her face for far longer than he’d intended.

 By the goddesses, she’s beautiful.

 Mipha was talking softly about the past, singlehandedly carrying the conversation as she often did. Link sometimes felt bad at how quiet he’d grown around her, but at this point he could barely make himself speak around anyone. The Calamity was coming closer, doubt was greater than ever about Zelda’s abilities, and more pressure was being put on him. He wanted nothing more than to be able to make Mipha smile and speak with her, but he could barely get more than two words strung together around anyone outside of those who could directly relate to what he was feeling. Mipha was a Champion of the Zora – she understood the pressures as well, which was honestly why he could speak to her at all at this point, but she was to act as support. The duty was Link’s to end things.

 The anxiety was crippling, and he wasn’t sure he could take it much longer. He hated this tense anticipation that had been hanging over everyone. A part of him wished Ganon would just arrive so they could get it over with, as if it were a simple knight academy test, and he wanted to smack himself for it.

 “I was always willing to heal your wounds, even back then.”

 Link felt his arm grow warm as if dipped in a hot spring, the muscles relaxing. Mipha’s supporting hand on his skin had made his entire body react, and he felt a little relieved as she pulled away, the healing finished. His heart rate slowed, and he examined his arm, still in awe of the power she had.

 “So if this Calamity Ganon does, in fact, return, what can we really do?”

 Link shifted, trying to take a relaxed posture beside her. He felt his chest tighten at the question, at hearing doubt from someone who he wanted least to utter it.

 “We just don’t seem to know much about what we’ll be up against,” Mipha said uncertainly. Link glanced at her, worried and confused. He wished he could reassure her, tell her it would be fine; he honestly didn’t know where this worry was coming from. Mipha had always been determined and eager to help, always happy to see him and wanting to catch up, but she seemed so serious this evening. He supposed maybe she was feeling the pressure as much as he was.

 Mipha’s eyes grew determined as she continued, “But know this: no matter how difficult this battle might get… if you—if anyone tries to do you harm, then I will heal you.”

 Link’s anxiety melted a little at the reassurance, at the sheer absolute certainty of the statement. Mipha looked him dead in the eyes when she spoke, wanting to ensure he knew she was serious. He wouldn’t have doubted her anyway.

 “No matter when, or how bad the wound, I hope you know… that I will always protect you.”

 Link swallowed, his throat dry. This was both something he didn’t want to hear and was exactly what he wanted to hear. He didn’t know how to feel, his mind was whirling, they were so close and she was pledging to protect him. He felt so safe in the knowledge and so terrified at the same time, like he didn’t even want to ponder the idea that she’d be anywhere near the danger… but more than anything, her words felt like an embrace, a promise that he wouldn’t be facing this alone.

 Tears began to sting in his eyes, and he swallowed again, biting his tongue in an attempt to keep himself together. Thankfully, Mipha was looking at her own clasped hands in her lap, so she didn’t see the emotional hurricane that was tossing his heart and mind in twenty different directions at once.

 “Once this whole thing is over…” she said, and suddenly her posture shifted from the sincere and heartfelt promise to something far shier. “Maybe things can go back to how they used to be when we were young.”

 Link marveled at the thought of it, at the thought of anything after it was over. He hadn’t given a single moment to considering such a thing, too wrapped up in what was happening at the moment. Had Mipha been thinking about it a lot?

 When we were young… Link remembered his time in the Domain as a child, running around and playing with the other children in the area, laughing and spending hours with Mipha, exasperating Muzu to no end. He almost felt a ghost of a smile trace his lips at the thought of it, but it didn’t quite reach his face, because those days were so long ago, and they felt impossibly far away.

 “You know… perhaps we could spend some time together?”

 Raising his eyes from her lap, he saw her smiling at him, and his heart fluttered at the sight. By the goddesses, he wanted nothing more than to be able to spend time with Mipha and not constantly worry about his destiny. It was the reason he’d decided to return to the Domain, to get away from all of it while he still had small bits of time to do so.

 Link tried to speak, tried to say he would love to spend time with her. He wished he could stay with her now right here on Vah Rutah and never leave. He looked into her eyes and wanted to say so much, but he just couldn’t. She looked so sincere, so hopeful, and his throat tightened up. Mipha let out a small, nervous laugh, looking at the sunset, and Link wanted to punch himself for leaving her hanging like that.

 “I guess I’m just rambling,” she muttered, looking at her clasped hands again.

 That was it, he had to do something.

 Reaching over, he took her hand in his own. The touch made her blush, but for Link it was a gesture of kindness more than anything. However, their arms brushed for just a moment, and her cool skin against his made the hair on his arm stand up. He cleared his throat, trying to figure out what he could do or say, his heart already racing once more.

 Mipha seemed to take courage in the gesture, and she squeezed his hand. “Link, I… I want to give you something.”

 Link turned to face her a little better, cocking his head to the side. Mipha reached behind her for a bag, and she hesitated. He watched her for what seemed like an eternity as she debated with herself, and he wondered what sort of a gift this could be that she would be unsure about giving it to him. Did she think he wouldn’t like it?

 Did she think he didn’t deserve it?

 Link bit the inside of his cheek, chasing the doubting thought away. She had literally just promised to protect him and be there for him. This was likely related to that. So why would she hesitate after making such a declaration?

 Taking a deep breath, Mipha reached into the bag and pulled out a blue article of clothing. She held it out to him with her head bowed, not making eye contact. Link slowly took the clothing from her, touched that she would make something for him. He traced his fingers over the garment and realized it was a form of armor, which made him even happier. This was tied directly into her promise to protect him, and he found himself completely at a loss for words even if he were able to speak them.

 And then he saw the scale.

 Link had spent years at the Domain. He knew their lore, their history, their culture. He knew what that represented.

 This was Zora armor that princesses gifted to their betrothed.

 Link felt his heart seemingly stop. His world grew quiet, his mind numb. He stared at the armor, unable to take his eyes off the beautiful, precious scale in the center of the chest piece.

 Mipha’s scale.

 Movement caught his eye, and he saw Mipha’s hands fidgeting in her lap. His eyes slowly traced their way up her figure, looking for where the scale could have come from, wondering if it had already grown back, wondering if it had hurt to remove it, and then his eyes met hers.

 Gold looked into blue, waiting for an answer. Blue looked into gold, shocked that it was even a question.

 Link leaned forward and seemingly melted into her, his hands reaching for her face and pulling her into a kiss.

 His body was screaming. His heart was going to explode. What am I doing?!

 Pulling away quickly, he felt his cheeks burn with horror and embarrassment. He briefly caught a glimpse of her own blush, her wide eyes, and he looked down. His gaze landed on the armor, and he felt his world spin around him.

 Mipha loved him. Mipha wanted to marry him.

 This was… this was too much. This couldn’t be happening.

 Did he love her? Of course he did. But could he emotionally handle this? Would this even be possible? She was a princess, he knew the difference between him and her, the protocols, the expectations, the—

 The fingernails tracing under his chin, small calloused hands pushing his gaze back to their owner.

 Mipha watched him, her face a mixture of so many emotions. She glowed with happiness, her brow creased in worry, she bit her lip with anxiety, tears glistened in her eyes with hope…

 Link let out a sob, catching himself and his friend off guard. He covered his mouth immediately, horrified and panicked. Another sob tried to push its way out of him, and he bit his lip until it bled. The sob escaped anyway, though with his lips closed it sounded more like a choke. His vision swam with unshed tears.

 Stop, stop, stop—

 He didn’t know what to do, his body completely foreign all of a sudden. He looked down, squeezing his eye shut, his entire body shaking with each cry that silently tore out of him. Somehow, despite the fact that he was bawling, he was still silent.

 And then he smiled. He looked up and he smiled at her, his face stained with tears, his lips trembling as the cries still escaped them in soft gasps.

 She loves me. She wants to be with me. She promises to be with me, to support me, to help me.

 Link had felt so isolated, so alone this entire time. Zelda had been opening up to him, and they’d become good friends in that time, but there was still a distance between them, a formality that had never existed between Mipha and Link despite how they had to behave in public around each other.

 More than that, Link had loved Mipha this entire time. Her gentleness, her caring nature, her determination, her laughter, everything about her he had loved for what felt like years now. Age and the times had tempered his mannerisms around her, but not his heart… if anything his body had become more reactive around her as the year had gone by. And though he’d gotten stolen glances from her, though she’d been attentive and caring, he’d never suspected it was anything more than their dear and close friendship from childhood.

 Mipha finally moved, interpreting his reaction correctly. She smiled, tears freely falling, and pulled him into a hug. Link let out a laugh mixed with a sob, completely out of control, collapsing into her small frame.

 “I love you,” Mipha whispered as she held him tightly, her body trembling.

 I love you too, he thought, too overwhelmed to speak. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her in return. He pulled away to look her in the eye, his tears finally subsiding. Mipha’s gaze drifted to his lips and she made a soft noise.

 “Your lip,” she noted, and Link vaguely remembered biting it to the point of breaking the skin. He hadn’t noticed the bleeding, his face already wet with tears running down his cheeks and chin. Mipha returned her gaze to his eyes. “Let me heal it.”

 Link leaned back a little so her hand could touch his face, and she put a hand on his cheek, her thumb tracing his lower lip. His entire body shuddered, and goosebumps rose all over his skin. He couldn’t look away from her, the air stolen from his lungs.

 A faint glow emitted from her hand, shining in both their eyes as they refused to break contact, and Mipha bent forward slowly as they both leaned into another kiss. The hand that had been on his face stroked his cheek, the long nails tickling his skin.

 As they pulled away, both hovered close to each other, not yet ready to entirely let go. Mipha finally broke the silence, whispering, “Take your shirt off.”

 If it was possible, Link’s heart raced even faster, his eyes widening. The immediate statement that came to mind was, I’ll take everything off if you want, and he felt his cheeks burn at the mere thought of it. It was a good thing he couldn’t speak at the moment.

 Mipha also suddenly blushed, stuttering, “W-wait, I meant—like so you can try the armor—I—I—”

 Spluttering, Mipha leaned away from him entirely, burying her face in her hands. The heat in Link’s body diminished, replaced with affection, and he let out a small laugh as he also leaned back. He slipped out of his Champion tunic with ease, respectfully folding it and putting it aside while Mipha still tried to rationalize her statement. He picked up the armor and marveled at the sensation of it once more before slowly slipping it over his head. The fit was perfect, snug and comfortable without clinging, and it slid over him like water over a stone. He cleared his throat to get Mipha’s attention.

 Looking up, Mipha was about to say something else when she gasped instead. “You… you look…”

 Link smiled at her as she was suddenly lost for words, and he found that he had the strength to fill the void. “Thank you.”

 The rest of the sunset was spent in silence, side by side as they watched the vestiges of light drain from the sky. Stars came out, sparkling and shimmering, winking at the couple. Eventually the night air grew chilly, and despite huddling together for warmth, both recognized that it was time to go.

 “I… have another surprise for you,” Mipha said as Vah Rutah’s trunk lowered to the water.

 Link looked at her curiously. What more could she possibly give than herself? What more could he possibly give in return?

 “I suppose you noticed the… the new accommodations at the dock. They’ve been there for a while.”

 Link looked over at the dock where the stairs fed into the reservoir. Yes, he’d noticed the beautiful overhang, a seeming little protective area with chairs, a desk, and a bed. It had been there for a few months now, and he’d seen it on his last two visits. He’d wondered what it was about; Mipha didn’t need a bed to sleep in, though she could do so if desired. He couldn’t think of who else would need a bed by her Divine Beast.

 “They’re for you.”

 His eyes snapped back to Mipha.

 The Zora princess’ white, glossy cheeks were so stained with red they were almost indistinguishable from her red scales. “I… I had it made for you so we could spend time together here. I just… I—I wasn’t sure if, well, you know, if you’d… it was just a lot, and it seemed like a weird thing to say if you weren’t—well, what I mean is—”

 Link planted a quick kiss on her lips to save her from herself. The sensation was still so new, so electrifying, so amazing. Mipha giggled in relief, understanding the gesture. Without another word, both dove off the trunk of the Divine Beast and swam to the dock.

 Walking to the small bedroom, Link examined the area. There were multiple elixirs and ingredients for cooking on the table, as well as serving dishes and cups. The bed had multiple warm blankets and was clearly a water bed, much to his delight.

 Laughter made his ears perk up, but it wasn’t Mipha’s. It was somewhere else, distant, off in the main part in the Domain.

 Reality suddenly came crashing down in an instant.

 Link was a lowly knight, whether he was chosen by destiny or not, and he was a Hylian. Mipha was a Zora princess, beloved by her people, one of whom was the king’s closest advisor and was not a fan of Hylians. Whether they loved each other or not… this was not a simple matter.

 Heaviness crushed him, and he felt the happiness drain out of him.

 “Link? What’s wrong?” Mipha asked, worried.

 Surprisingly, he could choke out the word. “Muzu.”

 Mipha paused a moment, and then sighed. “I know. But that’s not something to worry about right now. We’ll figure it out after everything is over.”

 Yes. Yes, they would. After everything is over. For once, Link could actually consider such a thing. But it didn’t last long, and he was back in the present, destiny waiting for him to fulfill his duty.

 But he wasn’t alone.

 Link nodded and smiled at Mipha, at his friend, at his fiancée.

 She smiled back. “Do you like the room?”

 Link gave a single dip of his head to heartily answer her, and she beamed. Then he glanced at the armor once more as he realized that this beautiful gift would have to remain hidden while he was in the Domain… and probably beyond the Domain’s borders as well. He was still the Hylian Champion, and that was his biggest priority right now.

 Though perhaps people outside of the Domain wouldn’t understand what the armor meant. Perhaps he could wear it into battle.

 But no. He should respect the effort Zelda had put into the Champion garb she had made for everyone. It was only fitting that he wore that instead. It spoke of a different promise, of a duty to fulfill, one that he hadn’t done yet.

 And so, with loving and reverent movements, he slipped out of the armor Mipha had made for him, and folded it, holding it out to her. “Keep it safe?”

 Mipha, face now somehow redder than her fins, cleared her throat. “O-of course.”

 Link put the Champion tunic back on and smiled at her. The two settled into a comfortable silence for a moment, and then Link sank into the bed, patting the empty space beside him. Mipha’s eyes widened, but she didn’t argue, slipping under the covers, her body pressed against his. Despite her quickened breathing and their proximity, Link felt relaxed, comfortable, safe. He exhaled slowly, planting a small kiss on her head and then closing his eyes. Mipha’s muscles eased beside him, and he felt her pull the covers tightly around them.

 With consciousness fading away and worries held at bay by the woman he loved, Link finally had the courage to say it. “I love you.”

 He didn’t have to look at her to know she was smiling. “I love you too.”

[lemonlurkrr]

@aureateart​ ok. My favourite parts of twilight princess  (and some other random thoughts about TP sprinkled in there) taken from my monster TP word vomit google doc :

Link lmao

Ok but for real, I like this incarnation of Link :)

I love Ordon (it just seems like such a chill and cozy village)

ALSO love how easy it is to interpret Link as being a sort of older brother figure to the Ordon kiddos. It’s just,, super cute? AND GHHH nice nice good thanks nintendo for giving me characters to care about/characters that I can imagine Link caring about

He didn’t sign up for any of this (tbh, none of the Links really signed up for this jshdjsd). But I mean like, dude was just going to take a trip to castle town, drop a gift off for the royal family, and come back. But haHA oopsies he did get to castle town eventually but definitely not the way he expected hsjdhsd

He’s just a little dude?

AND FUCK. HE REALLY HAD NEVER BEEN OUTSIDE OF ORDON UNTIL ALL OF THAT

everything is new for the player AND Link

Midna

She’s cool :)

she really just

*teleports into your jail cell* hello whore.

I am no master at writing but AYYYY she do got a character arc!!!

She was actually pretty helpful sometimes, I ALWAYS checked in with her before turning to a game guide

Other NPCs

NICE

Love all of the TP character designs (ASHEI’S ARMOUR??? AOWOAOAOOAO)

Saving Zelda and all of Hyrule was important yea but thinking back maybe it was more like, the Ordonians and the kids were what was pushing Link to keep on going

I like the Resistance members :) Very video gamey of them to have one NPC assigned to each dungeon but hey!!! Kinda cool getting to see a little glimpse of each of em

Idk, it’s just fun to imagine Link popping into Telma’s bar after each dungeon and taking a little rest :) (or to celebrate? maybe just chat, idk, give this man some downtime!!)

Honestly it was just kind of nice that Link wasn’t entirely alone. I mean, I know Midna was there the whole time, but I am always for giving Link a big group of friends (see my love for hyrule warriors, age of calamity, and LU LMAO)

Hero’s shade, very very cool, kinda sad he died with regrets but HEY. He got to pass on his knowledge eventually

AND the connection to OoT?? AND assumed to be related by blood too????? GOOD SHIT

Ilia, I REALLY really wanted to like her (er, it’s not like I dislike her, she’s just,,, kinda there for me).

It definitely seems like Nintendo was pushing to make her the romantic interest, but GHHHHH they really threw that out of the window for me by having her lose her memories

I saw a text post a while ago that said it would have been interesting if Ilia was Link’s sister instead and YES!! That would have been cool too :0

Wish we got to know Zelda a little more

I feel like we barely know anything about her

Idk man, like I said earlier, I never really had any sort of drive to save Zelda during my playthroughs

She obviously knows Midna, so maybe if they gave us just a little bit more of that relationship I’d be more interested in her?

TP WORLD BUILDINGGGG

Botw has good world building too, but each race felt kinda,,, isolated? I absolutely love the different architecture and vibe each town has (and all the the weapons too) but ghhh yea everyone felt so separated. As far as I can remember, we don’t see tooo much of the races interacting with each other? Now that I’m typing that out maybe that’s to be expected because of the calamity but KLSJDKJFD ANYWAYS THIS IS ABOUT TP

The world feels nice and alive, love how populated everything is

Castle town I like castle town a lot, it feels dense and busy and I really like how you can’t talk to every NPC you see

Very cool very fun that we got to see the Gorons hanging out in multiple spots

kinda wish we got to see the Zoras a little more (I guess they are a bit limited since they need water but GHHHH the tp zoras are so prebby,,)

BUT HEY, I do remember seeing a zora or two hanging out in the hot springs around death mountain after beating the lakebed temple (I think, might have been a different dungeon) 

but aaaa would have been nice to see them in at least a couple of other places. I think it would have really added to the “congrats Link!! You’re restoring peace to Hyrule” feeling you get from seeing the Gorons hanging out in Kakariko and Castle Town

ORDON

Love how chill it is and how it’s kind of separate from Hyrule proper

They really do seem to be doing their own thing apart from the rest of Hyrule

Just kinda adds onto the “he’s just a regular dude minding his own business” kind of vibes I get from TP Link

Also I like Ordona :)

THE LIGHT SPIRITS,,

Love their design

And love how they’re not exactly like a pure white?

Different spirit representing each aspect of the triforce my beloved

But yes hi I think Ordona is very cool

Who are you, how did you get here, which goddess do you represent? Do you even represent one of the three golden goddesses? Do the Ordonians know about you? Have any of them ever SEEN you??? Do they worship you? Does anybody even know about the existence of the light spirits?? FUCK so many questions but ghhh I like how they broke the status quo a bit by throwing in a fourth spirit :)

I feel like this one is kinda weird but I like that voice sample they used in the light spirit music. It’s spooky and pretty at the same time :)  

cutscenes mmmmm

Ok ok, the spooky lanayru cutscene is very good

BUT THE “Link, Chosen Hero! Lend us the last of your power!” CUTSCENE MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM LOVE IT SO MUCH

IT just

Idk man

It just hit different

I like the music

And seeing the light spirits swimming around in the light juice water whatever it is

Summoning the light arrows?

AND HHHHH “Lend us the last of your power!” THIS IS IT. This is the final battle.

Seeing Zelda bow down, and then Link putting his hand out 👌👌👌

Link: ok bud, let’s do this together :)

Connection to OoT (did I already mention this? Maybe., Whatever)

Very cool nintendo :)

I love seeing connections between all the diff zelda games.

Because like, on one hand, they’re all separate from each other because of yknow, individual hero stuff. BUT ALSO, they’re all connected because of the reincarnation stuff

Grrrr walking through the sacred grove and going “The Hero of Time walked around here a long time ago” FUCK THATS SO COOL

Is the Hero’s Shade watching me? What does he think of me? DIsappointed? Proud? The Hero of Time went through HELL so this timeline didn’t have to deal with any of the shit Ganon was gonna pull with the triforce, better not fuck this UP Link!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Midlink is cute

Kinda hurts that she smashed the mirror but that was probably so Nintendo didn’t have to worry about people going “but what about the twili??????” for any of the other games LMAO

BUT ALSO LIKE SKJDKLJFJ There are some pretty massive plot holes in TP anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ whatever it’s fine we’ll just use this for angst because GOD do y’all like angst

So is Shadlink

Honestly don’t know where this ship came from but it’s cute so whatever

THE MUSIC??

Love Midna’s theme and how they referenced the dark world theme from ALttP (I remember trying to learn the dark world theme on the piano and doing the Leonardo DiCaprio point meme at the little jingle I recognized from Midna’s theme)

Hyrule field theme SLAPS.

Apparently references a couple of the other over-world themes from the previous zelda games (I got this from 8-bit Music theory’s video on the over-world zelda themes, he talks about TP at around 11:40 but def recommend watching the whole video if you’re into music analysis stuff)

So there’s this bit of the Hyrule Field theme, I don’t know the official name for it but I remember seeing somewhere it being called the “at an advantage theme” since yeah, you hear it during the boss music whenever you expose their weak points. FUCKINGGG LOVE THAT. Didn’t notice it during my first playthrough, but hearing it during my second was like a little easter egg for my ears every time :)

Midna’s lament is very pretty (and fun to play on the piano)

COURAGE THEME.

I didn’t care for it too much when I started playing the game but hearing it in ZREO’s arrangement of the Hyrule Field theme literally makes me turn into a puddle of emotions. Also hearing it around and of the Ordon kids (I think it plays after Link saves Colin) AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Orchestra piece #1 and #2 HOLY SHIT???????????????? 

Literally, the first time I listened to those I just,,,, plugged in my headphones, volume 100, layed on the floor/against my desk and silently vibed. I don’t know what the hell it is, but those two just fit so well with TP?? I still avoid listening to them nowadays cause if I DO I definitely will get overwhelmed with the “god I love this game so FUCKING MUCH” kind of feels.

Wolf link sucks at singing

the first time I heard him howling Zelda’s Lullaby I lost my shit because LKSJLDKSGLKJFSKG god that was.,, Bad. Anyways, hearing him howl some of the songs from OoT was cute :)

TP STAFF ROLL??? 

VERY GOOD. IT’s like 10 minutes long and GOD do I love every single second of it. It doesn’t have the same energy as the skyward sword staff roll or the orchestra pieces but GOD does it hit good??

Nice and calm after that big exciting adventure. Maybe it would have been more fun or emotional to have a higher energy piece but it was really nice getting to sit back and watch the camera fly around Hyrule. Seeing like, the Gorons and the Zoras having a good time, the kids returning to Ordon? GOOD SHIT.

and AAAAA that end, when you hear the main Zelda theme and see Link riding off out of Faron woods on Epona… good shit. It gets you thinking, where the hell is he going? What is he doing? Off ot do more adventuring? Going to help out the resistance or something? Going to help Zelda? Or maybe he’s trying to figure out a way to restore the mirror of twilight? Whoooo knows.

hhHHHHhhh it’s just that final reminder that YES!!! YOU JUST PLAYED A ZELDA GAME. JUST ANOTHER STORY APART OF THE WHOLE EPIC OF THE ZELDA SERIES AS A WHOLE

I also want to acknowledge the instrument/samples they used for all the twili stuff.

They’re all just so unique and contrast SO well with the rest of the TP OST. LIKE FUCK!! Anytime I hear the screech from the Twilit Kargarok? Sends a shiver down my spine. I associate those sounds SO strongly with the twili realm. (Like, the same way you associate the BSHEWW VVWWMMM sounds with light sabers)

I love it so god damn much

literally any time there’s a certain sound or motif associated with something I lose my shit

Sacred grove sacred grove sacred gro-

lovely lovely lovely so much fun playing that on the piano. AND again, I did the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme when I heard the theme from the lost woods come in GHHHHHHHH

shoutout to TP Faron Woods for helping me study and get through all of my schoolwork

BLEGUUHHH can you tell that I really love music?

and also yea I guess TP is kinda cool too :\

IF YOU READ ALL OF THAT THANKS I GUESS

[fatefulfaerie]

Guilt

Fic-art trade with @rebuildingkonohaonceagain !! You sent two pictures so here is 2,000 words. I hope you like it!

Trigger Warning: mention of death

The whirring of guardians always made Zelda feel at ease, the way their inner-workings clicked, the way their mechanisms whistled. It was something Zelda felt she understood, and something that gave her great hope in their prospects of victory.

Her pride in the prowess of ancient Sheikah technology could be seen in the way she looked at them now, smiling at their apparent perfection. 

The blush on her cheeks, however, came from the knowledge of who was standing behind her, pensive in his duty and yet ever-vigilant of danger. He saw no danger in these skulltula-like machines, and thus allowed Zelda to run excitedly to peer at them with no word of caution passing his lips. Zelda loved looking down from the bridge of her study and seeing the Sheikah’s progress with the Guardians. Although she often felt Hyrule doomed with her sealing power still locked deep inside her, her hope returned when she saw the Guardians or the Divine Beasts.

“Amazing,” she remarked. “We’re at a point now where we can actually control them.”

Zelda turned around to face Link with a smile.

“At this rate, we’ll be well-positioned to defend ourselves, should Calamity Ganon return.”

Link’s expression moved slightly out of its neutrality, betraying Zelda’s expectations of her knight, and yet she welcomed the tease of emotion with open ears.

“Are you sure about that?” Link asked.

Zelda felt something grip her heart, like the cold hand of an Icy Moblin.

“Of…of course I’m sure,” Zelda said. “What…”

“I mean who are you kidding?” Link asked rhetorically, with an edge to his voice Zelda had never heard before. “We all know we’re missing a pretty big piece of the puzzle. Everything else is in line except you. Do you not care about the kingdom?”

Zelda’s eyes stung with betrayal and the cold hand seem to pull her heart down, farther and farther into unknown caverns below the castle.

“Of course I care, Link, what…” Zelda said trying to find her breath. She backed away in fear, her hand meeting the cement ridges of the bridge. “What has gotten into you?”

“I’ve trained all my life,” Link continued, his brow furrowing in his rising anger, “tired myself to constantly better for Hyrule to what? Serve a Princess who sees the Calamity as a joke? Who frolics around and pretends to pray to goddess statues? It’s time to wake up, Your Highness. Own up to your failures and we might even get out of this alive.”

“Link, I…” Zelda said, shaking her head. “You know better than anyone how hard I…”

The ground suddenly shook violently beneath them, Zelda looking down with wide, green eyes to see the bridge under her feet crack.

“Come on,” she heard Link say as he grabbed her hand and started to run towards the innards of the castle, towards perhaps more stable ground.

Yet the floor buckled beneath him at his next step, Link slipping off the bridge, hanging by the hand that connected him to Zelda’s.

They both looked down to what Link was hanging over and Zelda didn’t quite understand what she saw.

It was a large hole, with Calamity Ganon swirling in his own malice like a fish in a small pond of blood.

Link looked back at Zelda, whose gaze was panicked as she started to lose her grip on Link’s hand. She gritted her teeth trying to get a better hold, but it was no use.

Link’s gaze, in contrast, was rather settled for someone whose life was in danger, as if he weren’t surprised in the slightest.

“This is your fault,” he said before Zelda accidentally lost her grip.

“No!” Zelda exclaimed, reaching down with tears in her eyes as Link fell, lost to the darkness of the calamity.

Zelda stood up quickly onto what remained of the bridge, Calamity Ganon’s burning yellow eyes and pig-like snout rising to face her, it’s wispy red and black emanations trailing behind him.

Zelda, with panting, heavy breaths and cheeks endlessly replenished with her tears, held out her hand palm-first towards Calamity Ganon, wishing with all her might that luck would grant her the sealing power she sought, if not the endless years of prayers to cold and unyielding goddess statues.

Yet no power came, even on repeat attempts extending her arm.

Calamity Ganon gave a growling chuckle, smiling insidiously at such a failure.

“Finally,” he said in his groveling voice before surging forward with an open mouth. Zelda crouched in defense, her last resort before darkness succumbed her as well.

She didn’t know where she was falling from or to, nor how long she had been falling or long she had until she met the ground. She had no idea how she was changed from her royal blue dress to her white prayer dress, or what to do about it as the wind whipped through her long, blonde hair, almost tugging at it.

She felt almost dead, like she could fall, float, drift, drop for a hundred years until time became eternity.

She felt herself torn apart, like the Ritos, who pluck the feathers off their deceased before offering the body to the goddess Hylia.

She felt herself chocking on rocks and dirt, like the Gorons, who bury their deceased in the rich grounds of Death Mountain.

She felt herself rocked by unforgiving waves, like the Zora, who dispatch their deceased on a small boat lined with violets.

She felt herself dissipate, like the Gerudo, who burn their deceased to ashes and make them one with the sands.

“Zelda,” She heard a voice echo, surprised she could hear it, surprised someone could still know her, remember her.

“Zelda!” She heard again, louder.

“Zelda!!”

Zelda jolted awake to Link shaking her, Zelda grasping her hands on his arms as she gasped for air.

Her green eyes were absolutely panicked, looking everywhere but at Link, her head twitching like a shaking leaf.

“Zelda,” Link insisted. “Zelda, look at me!”

Link placed his warm hands on either of her cheeks, suddenly aligning her gaze with his with a soft gasp. Her shaky breathing calmed as her eyes filled with recognition, as her ears heard the cracking of a nearby campfire, as her skin felt a blanket fall from her shoulder to her lap.

As soon as Zelda distinguished the line between nightmare and reality, she hurriedly embraced Link, diving her head into the crook of his neck.

“It’s okay,” Link said, clutching the back of her head, her blonde hair entangled in his calloused and yet gentle fingers. “You’re okay.”

He held her and he rocked her as she cried into his tunic, whispering over and over into her ear soothing words that assured her safety, and his safety, and their safety, and their victory, their final long-awaited victory after a hundred years of insurmountable loss.

Link ended up leaning against a nearby tree as he held her in his arms, neither caring at all that their proximity would once, a long time ago, have been scandalous. Their titles were something they were glad to throw away.

Zelda drew circles on Link’s chest as he stared at the campfire, his head leaning on hers.

“Was it like your nightmare last night?” He finally asked, after probably hours of Zelda being awake. Zelda had observed that Link was good at knowing exactly what to say and when to say it.

Zelda nodded against his shoulder, her green eyes sad and frankly haunted, despondent as she lamented her nightmare.

“How do you feel now?” Link asked, looking down at her with a soft, blue gaze.

“Better,” Zelda answered quietly, as if she could barely manage to find her voice. “Safer.”

Link kissed the top of her head before leaning his own head on it again.

“Good,” he said.

A distant cicada started to chirp, Zelda immediately sitting up, ears penned and alerted.

“It’s okay,” Link said as he softly rubbed her arm with the backs of his fingers. “It’s just a bug.”

Zelda’s shoulder deflated from their tense state as she took a calm exhale. She nodded and yet didn’t return back into Link’s hold.

“I don’t think I can do this,” she said.

Link’s gaze moved downward.

“I suspected you might say that,” Link said. “The good thing is that Dorephan doesn’t know we’re coming, and neither does Sidon, turning back is an option. We can always visit Zora’s Domain later.”

The fire crackled as Zelda considered Link’s words, and yet her mind veered off in another direction.

“Do you feel as I do?” Zelda said, turning her head to her shoulder. “This…guilt?”

Link nodded, sitting up.

“I do,” Link responded. “But then I remember what we were able to do because we survived.” 

Zelda turned around to face Link, who was distracted by her beauty in the light of the fire until he saw in deep pain in her green eyes.

“Do you ever think I should have died instead of them?” Zelda asked. “Do you think it’s what I deserve? For failing them?”

“No,” Link said with sunken blue eyes and a shaking head. “No. Zelda, we all did the best we could. You know better than anyone how hard it was to unlock your sealing power. Everything was in place. We just ran out of time.”

“So…” Zelda started. “You don’t…blame me?”

“Of course not,” Link answered. “Why would I blame you?”

Zelda lowered her gaze.

“I’ve ran through it all a hundred different ways in my head, over a hundred years and, the loss is always my fault. A hundred different ways it could have gone, a hundred things I could have done different and…it’s always me.”

Zelda looked up at Link, who was shaking his head. He even graced a small smile.

“See, that’s where you are wrong.”

“Am I?”

Link chuckled, bowing his head before he raised it again.

“Who possessed the Guardians?” Link asked. “Was it you?”

“No,” Zelda said matter-of-factly. “That was Calamity Ganon.”

“And the Divine Beasts? Who possessed those?”

“Calamity Ganon,” Zelda answered, not sure what the trick was, what sort of test this was.

“Who came completely unannounced from beneath the castle and started attacking Hyrule by summoning all sorts of monsters?”

“Calamity Ganon,” Zelda answered again. “Link, what are you even getting at? Of course he--”

“Oh,” Zelda, realizing what Link was doing.

“Who saved my life by awakening her sealing power?”

Zelda sighed.

“Me.”

“And who, may I ask kept Calamity Ganon trapped inside the castle for hundreds of years, thus allowing Hyrule to flourish and grow because they were protected.”

Zelda was starting to blush.

“Me, again.” She said.

“And who finally sealed him away once and for all, bringing Hyrule to peace?”

Zelda rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

“Me.”

“Nope,” Link said jokingly.  “That was all me.”

Zelda scoffed and hit him playfully, them both giggling and laughing.

“All right, I get your point,” she said with a smile. “How do you always know what to say?

Link shrugged.

“Maybe it’s part of being the chosen hero,” Link said, Zelda glaring at him in disbelief with a tipped head. “Hey, you never know.”

Zelda laughed and her heart felt full as she looked into Link’s eyes, that were just as joyful and warm as hers.

They both smiled at the unspoken invitation between them before mutually leaning into each other, meeting their lips in an indulgent kiss that expressed their love.

Link cupped Zelda’s cheeks as they rescinded with a smile borne straight from pure happiness, admiring her for a lingering second before he spoke.

“It’s your choice,” Link said. “Whether we continue our journey to Zora’s Domain. It doesn’t make you weak to wait until you are ready.”

“I know,” Zelda replied, placing her hand where Link’s was on his cheek. “But I’ll have to face Mipha’s father and brother eventually. I would have trepidations no matter what…I think I just need to work through this.”

“Then I’ll do anything I can to help you.”

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1968

The X-Men, those ever-so-slightly exhausting mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 40 - 51) - written by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich and Arnold Drake. Drawn by Werner Roth, Don Heck, George Tuska and Jim Steranko

Did you know Frankenstein’s monster was an android, sent to earth by aliens as an ambassador?

My English Lit professor LIED TO ME! (X-Men 40)

Whereas last year served up a cohesive narrative by making it all about Factor Three, 1968 gives us a hodgepodge of clumsy and confusing storylines. This might be due to the different writers at the helm: last year was all about Roy Thomas, this year we’ve got three dudes pulling it in different directions.

What doesn’t change is the prose. So much purple prose.

Anyway, this year is all about THE DEATH OF PROFESSOR XAVIER and THE RETURN OF MAGNETO! (If you think this is terrific foreshadowing and not something that kills all narrative tension, boy howdy, you’ll love reading comics from this era.)

The best kind of foreshadowing drags you into an alley, punches you in the nose and steals your shoes. Fuck subtlety and proper twists. (X-Men 41)

Anyway, Xavier is acting all out of character: cranky, angry, impatient, barely using his powers for immoral purposes… He pushes the X-Men to the brink and continually sequesters himself with a troubled Jean.

Meanwhile, Bobby and Hank’s date with Zelda and Vera is interrupted… again. At this point, I just have to believe that Zelda and Vera are embroiled in some torrid lesbian relationship, while Hank and Bobby serve as their beards.ANYWAY, their date is interrupted by the Grotesk, the last remaining heir to an advanced subterranean species who have recently been slaughtered by an earthquake machine of human making. Look, how many underground societies does the Marvel Earth even have? Did these Grotesks live next to the Molemen? I…

In defense of Grotesk, spinning him around like a fucking bola is one of the top three things I´d like to do with Angel too. (X-Men 42)

The X-Men try to stop the Grotesk from sinking the Eastern seaboard into the Atlantic, and in the end, the Professor sacrifices himself to stop him, paying pays the ultimate price!

OR DOES HE

To make it even more tragic, apparently Xavier was dealing with some mysterious illness that neither human medicine nor mutant powers could cure. But before he died, he somehow transferred his powers to Jean. (Either pretend this happened or retcon it him awakening Jean’s latent telepathy.) Anyway, Chuck wanted to prepare them for the return of… Magneto. (Also Pietro and Wanda.)

Quicksilver crashes Xavier’s funeral, unsure whether he should ask the X-Men for help. He doesn’t. Meanwhile, Magneto somehow has duped some hapless time-displaced TikTokker into filming the grisly affair. (X-Men 43)

What follows is a sort of confusing crossover with the Avengers where the X-Men mostly get sidelined in favour of some drama involving the House of M. Wanda has some temporary mental damage that only Magneto can cure? Also, Pietro hates humans now, which, given the state of the world in general, I can only concur with.

Magneto captures the X-Men in customized cages, designed to be unescapable, but Angel escapes by simply pushing the right button. He flies off to get help, stumbles upon a weird and ultimately meaningless side quest and finally returns with the Avengers!

But! Magneto turns the X-Men against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Just kidding: the X-Men pretend to go along with Magneto’s mind games, but this was all a plot concocted by the heroes to make Magneto feel like he’s winning. Instead, the heroes attack and drive Magneto back. Toad, who finally is fed up with Magneto’s abuse, emancipates himself and defies Magneto, kicking him out of the helicopter he, Wanda and Pietro flee in. Magneto seemingly falls to his death in the water.

OR DOES HE.

First of all: why would Magneto just make a non-ferrous aircraft? Second of all: why would he then BRING IT ALONG? Big mad. (Avengers 53)

Following Xavier’s death, Foggy Nelson reads his will. The Professor bequeaths the school to the X-Men! Fred Duncan, Professor X’s FBI liaison is also there! And then! Juggernaut briefly returns from the dimension of Cyttorak, stirs up trouble and is then sucked back into the ruby of Cyttorak thanks to a Professor Ex Machina from the grave. This somehow convinces Fred Duncan that the X-Men should split up, fearing they may be too big a target for evil mutants and thinking they might be better at responding to threats spread out over the continent.

Yeah, Angel will be so much more effective when he isn’t part of a team of much more powerful individuals. (X-Men 46)

So, the X-Men split up! In NYC, Bobby and Hank battle Warlock, the most forgettable villain ever, when he interrupts their date. They also get into a fight with hippies because of… poetry?

Yeah! Put the slam in poetry slam, odd beatniks! *aggressive finger snaps* (X-Men 47)

Jean and Scott ‘go undercover’ in California, with Jean becoming a model and Scott ‘pretending’ to be her superjealous boyfriend. So, instead of actually forming a relationship, they just pretend to have one? Fuck, these two are exhausting. Jean also forgot she attends a university, apparently. Which is just as well, because it means boring Ted and his boring brother disappear from the narrative.

They are attacked by an increasingly silly string of villains and it’s obvious that nobody really knows what to do with this book. They even skip an issue: the preview for issue 49 is something completely different than what we’re getting.

The year ends of a sort of high note, however, introducing two familiar faces. Mesmero,a hitherto unknown follower of Magneto, is amassing an army of would-be mutants by… hypnotizing them? Through their… X-Gene? Among them is a curious gal named Lorna Dane, who is rocking the brown hair. Bobby saves her from her drone-like state and keeps an eye on her while the rest of the X-Men investigate Mesmero.

Lorna meanwhile takes a shower, washed out the cheap dye and is revealed to have green hair. (Fuck yeah! But also maybe buy better dye?) Bobby and Lorna are captured by Mesmero and his cronies, and Bobby warns the other X-Men telepathically. They let themselves be captured by Mesmero too, figuring it’s the easiest way to find his lair. There, Mesmero awakens Lorna’s latent magnetism powers, and bestows on her two sweet titles:

Somewhere in Kenya, Storm is upset and doesn’t know why. (X-Men 50)

And, in another shocking twist (gasp²), Magneto’s alive!

You say ‘aura of unspeakable evil’, I say ‘prime dom top daddy’. (X-Men 50)

He fights the X-Men while Polaris tries to determine who she holds allegiance to: the father she just met or these other randos she just met. You’d think she would maybe not want to hang out with the raving demagogue, but hey. Maybe it’s magnetic attraction. The X-Men flee, forced to regroup, and we end the year there, with the ‘innocent’ Lorna Dane under Magneto’s thrall.

Didn’t you take Art History? Oh! Issue 50 has the familiar logo for the first time, created by Jim Steranko!

So one cape tassel goes over the shoulder and one goes under it? Why is there a little skull with horns in the middle? Why the strappy sandals? Mesmero, sashay away. (X-Men 50)

Ugliest Costume: It’s a toss-up between Mesmero and Polaris, but since I assume Mesmero designed Polaris’ outfit, we’ll just give it to him.

Best new character: I didn’t think she’d earn it, because I’m not the biggest fan of Lorna Dane (most writers use her as a plot device, rather than a character), but otherwise this would go to Grotesk and that’s never going to happen.

Most audacious retcon: Jean is able to psychically penetrate Juggernaut’s helmet, which used to protect him from Charles’ influence.

It’s also kinda funny how after years of retcons where Polaris, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver sometimes are and sometimes aren’t Magneto’s kids, how it is right now is the same as when it started: Lorna is Magneto’s daughter, the twins aren’t.

What to read: Nothing. This is not a great year.

Death proof: ‘Chuck’ kicks the bucket for the first time.

[creativenicocorner]

Slides a ⭐ for a star person :p

Holy shit it took over a year and I barely remember which fanfic ask this is about...I think it's like a director's cut one? REGARDLESS! I do remember the star was to like talk about whatever - and while looking for a WIP I came across an attempt to answer this WITHIN a wip? Past Nico what were you thinking?!

I do know this was written sometime before Ch15 of Terpsichore came out, because there were a few references? But I rephrased the wording a bit.

Forgive me for using this as an excuse to just babble on about how I choose the music titles for chapter sections in Terpsichore, but also, I'm not entirely sorry haha Without further Ado! Here’s hoping this rambling makes sense haha!!

⭐ AN ANSWER!（♥￫ｏ￩♥）

So it’s taken me a long time to figure out how I wanted to answer this. For a while I was going to ramble about M*A*S*H how it was a rather formative show for me growing up, especially in its anti-war message as well as how it feels like a comedy played in a minor key. There was even going to be a link to a video essay on the show, and then I was going to hint at a want to write a series following the changelings in a pre-show context in the sort of vibe M*A*S*H gave.

But it got lost, and weighty…and…idk, I can’t seem to stick to a lot of things these days? I don’t know.

But there’s always been in me the want to attempt to explain why I choose the music pieces I choose to title the sections in each chapter. Cause despite the little message at the bottom of the first chapter and the last chapter talking about motifs leitmotifs…writing prose is nothing like composing music.

And not only that I’m sure less than half of the people reading the fic will listen along with the playlist. Which is 100000% fine! I anticipate it even!

Because at best, those sectional pieces serve less as soundtrack more like a silent movie’s musical medley.

Because it’s the written word, and I’m not Andrew Hussie ldgj though the day I find out how to put a little ‘play button’ to listen to music during a fic, I might do that. But at this point in time Hell No haha.

Despite this, there is a process behind my music selections.

There is a difference between what I consider ‘corpse de ballet’/ ‘ensemble’ sections, and ‘leads’ / ‘duet’ sections.

Or what my poor readers go through as ‘a shit ton of prospective shifts’ and two prospectives at best, at the same time. I don’t know why I’m such a fan of bouncing between perspectives so much that you probably feel seasick. I always consider it a miracle anyone understands what the heck is going on dfjglk The answer is probably because I like third person omniscient writing, and am a sucker for situational/character irony. But I’m also a grammar school drop out haha and don’t actually know the rules of writing by heart? I’m just a fool with a bunch of vibes and a dictionary doing their best lol.

[ stressed coffee sip ] Fake it til you make it baby

But yeah! Enough borderline weird self deprecating! Let’s talk music!!

So! Usually when writing a section I try and think about who are the central characters in the section, and or what is the theme/emotion I’m trying to call on. Is there a motif, or a reference I can play on musically? An idea or concept I can echo or even enhance? Will it be a specific genera of music tied to a character because that character embodies and or is known for a specific genera (example: Nomura and Opera- more on that at during ACTII )

Once I answer those questions, I’m able to narrow down my music choices. Which, again, acts more like a book of suggested musical medley orchestras and musicians would purchase during the silent movie era as like a cheat sheet of what they could play during a specific scene.

So…for instance, for a character like Barbara Lake I wouldn’t use video game music -or maybe I could…but it would only be in terms of perhaps referencing her son.- who I would have a higher chance at choosing to select a video game music piece for (hang on to your butts ACT II Zelda soundtrack).

In the fic I’ve built the idea that in order to explain Barbara’s ability to paint, that she not only took classes but was part of the production team in putting on a play, mainly in set design painting props. Which opens me to a world of musical options when it comes to Barbara’s character. Especially when certain musicals hold songs that can be really fitting to her character later on. An example of this can be seen in ch3 “Aquarius”, and ch14 “Julia”.

Ch3 is Barbara’s big planned picnic date. The first date she and Walter go on after she ingested the binding spell. The two of them coming together, but also the magic of which awakening something magical inside.

And Ch14 in which the binding spell is broken, but also whatever was holding Barbara’s potential to reaching towards that magical something inside her is also broken. And in a sort of my own attempt at written diegesis between the narrative and the song selections in the sections, the lyrics to Aquarius is written out as Barbara depends into the water. In which it is no longer the dawning of Aquarius, Aquarius is starting to take center stage. Their cue is played.

That would be my example on a very character driven musical choice.

Not only that, but it is at Ch3 where Walter is influenced more and more to Barbara’s appreciation to musicals, so much so that it begins to influence his own array of music pieces. His dreams no longer dialogue from movies he fell asleep to, but sometimes full on reproductions of staged musicals and plays. An example of this can be seen in Ch11 On the Right Track from Pippin the Musical - which oof I could go into a full dissertation on in regards to changelings/Pippin and The Pale Lady/Leading Player.

Not only that, but due to influence from Barbara’s love we get the moment of Walter’s ‘I want’ section piece in the form of Ch9 “Corner of the Sky” (aka Pippin’s I want song as well). The moment before this happened there was the interaction with Angor AND Otto AND the repercussions of Angor attacking the school. It is clear to these characters that Strickler is not giving his all in killing Jim, and perhaps never tried to give his all. Something that Otto proclaims as Strickler making excuses, and Strickler insists is tact.

Then there is the situational character driven choice.

I’m going to continue to use Barbara as an example here, and say that THIS can be seen in Ch2 “No. 9 – Finale Andante” and ch12 “Le Lac Des Cygnes Introduction: Moderato Assai”

Both of these music pieces come from Swan Lake. The reasoning behind the choice is probably asinine in thought process (Barbara Lake, Swan Lake), but also thought out in the sense of the following:

In Season3 of Trollhunters Morgana, in order to attempt to reacquire her shadow staff from Strickler (“The Exorcism of Clair Nuñez), transforms herself to take Barbara Lake’s physical form.

IN THE BALLET SWAN LAKE The wizard Von Rothbart, in order to obtain what they want, transforms (granted someone else) Odile to look like the hero Odette in order to trick the prince into proclaiming this imposter Odile as their one true love. In which Odile is the mirror to Odette, and while looking similar (in fact typically the ballerina who performs as Oddette would also perform as Odile) are opposites in spirit.

And, at least in Terpsichore, what near primordial eldritch force can rival that of the Eldritch Queen that we know from cannon will inevitably impersonate Barbara Lake?

But wait, there’s more.

In chapter 2 the piece used in section 2 is the end of ACTI from Swan Lake. The music hints not only the arrival of Odette, but also her inevitable tragedy. What is written in this section, briefly at that cause we watched how the scene plays out in the show, you don’t need me writing that back at you, but I digress- What is WRITTEN in this section is Barbara sipping the enchanted tea that binds herself to Waltolomew Strickler. Something that you, the viewer and fan will know ends in tragedy, as do I the writer and also fan knows will end in tragedy. The only people out of the loop here are the poor poor characters.

And then the revolving door of bad situations that is ch12 happens, and we return to Swan Lake with “Le Lac Des Cygnes Introduction” In which Barbara is introduced to Jim Lake’s Trollhunting world, finally. But wait! There’s EVEN more.

Because not only is Barbara introduced to Jim’s Trollhunting world, Barbara begins to allow herself an introduction to that weird magical more that’s inside her via dream. And YOU/WE the reader/writer/audience, are introduced to the strange figure Giselle is talking to on the beach of Lake Superior…who…well, you’ve probably already have an idea as to who that figure is ;)c

There are also moments when I just select a song piece because I think it fits Thematially well - ch11’s “Powerhouse” section. Aka the music that plays in Looney Tunes whenever an assembly line montage occurs - to which in that section Jim Draal and Walter are putting together the booby-traps to thwart Angor Rot (as well as try to reassemble some sort of emotional connection between them). Or it could be a reference to a meme I really enjoyed, example Ch12’s “Roundabout” aka the music piece known vernacularly as “The Jojo Meme” but also like…meme aside it’s really good and fits and just lkfgjkgsdj I have a lot of feels about Roundabout and I won’t apologize for it haha

And yet, something I pride myself in, is that you don’t need to know all of this to enjoy the story. It isn’t necessary to listen to the Swan Lake pieces or even the Musicals, or even the Jojo Meme. Because, if I did my job right, those echoes ought to be in the writing. The pieces to the section have always been optional. Just little markings in a booklet to be given to you the reader/composer as a suggestion and you can choose to play those pieces along to the silent film, or boot up a ragtime. And that’s the power you have. And that’s equally as wonderful!

[alaffy]

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Ep. 27 – The Judas Kiss

Sabrina and Ambrose run out of their rooms after they hear the gunshot.  They find Zelda on the floor, in grave condition.  Fortunately, Prudence and Mambo Marie are still there to help.  Mambo Marie asks where they can operate and Ambrose says that can do it downstairs.  Mambo Marie pulls out the bullet and says that Zelda’s spirit is trapped somewhere between the world of the living and of the dead.  Right now, all they do is wait.  Suddenly, they hear the wail of a woman.  Ambrose, Prudence, and Sabrina go outside to see a Banshee, it’s an omen of death and that someone will die soon.

At Mary’s, Lucifer wakes up in the bath.  He’s separated from Blackwood and plans to kill Lilith.  Okay, this is disturbing.  Lilith has given Blackwood the Mark of Cain so that no one can hurt him. In return, he…to paraphrase Lilith, gave Lilith Lucifer’s seed.  So, yes, Lilith got pregnant, she says a boy, from an unwilling Lucifer in order to stop him from killing her.  It’s horrible demons doing horrible things and I’m moving on.  Anyway, Lucifer is about to take control of Hell again.

Meanwhile, Pan is angry as four of the Pagan’s are dead and Cersei is gone.  At that point, Blackwood is brought into the tent.  Pan pulls a knife, but Blackwood shows him the Mark of Cain.  Pans asks why Blackwood has come and Blackwood says wants to help them destroy the Church of Night. He knows as secret way into the Academy. They ask what he gets out of it, he says that they stole something from him and he’s going to get it back.

Quick scenes. Robin and Theo are hanging out.  Robin has one secret left to reveal.  He’s actually a Hobgoblin.  Robin and Theo decide to sleep together.  And, at Harvey’s, it look like Harvey and Roz are doing the same.  But, suddenly, Roz has a vision of Harvey and Sabrina almost having sex.  So, Roz asks him if he still loves Sabrina.  Harvey says no and then asks what Roz is seeing.  Roz tells him and he tells her he’s all in with her, no matter what that stupid spell says.  Roz asks what spell. And we cut to hell, where Lucifer has returned.  There’s a few that aren’t sure they want him back, but after one is killed they soon agree.  Except for Caliban, who Lucifer has never heard of and can’t figure out how he’s the prince of hell.  One of the three kings says the contest must be finished and they must find Judas’s 30 pieces of silver to sit on the throne.  Even Lucifer can’t stop this.  So Lucifer wants to know where his daughter is.

Back at the Spellman’s, Sabrina recaps part 3 of the series to Ambrose and Prudence.  Ambrose says they could get the Hedge Witches into the circle and syphon off their energy for the coven.  However, it would likely kill the Hedge Witches, so Sabrina nixes that idea.  But Sabrina thinks of something else she belongs to that might work.  AND CAN SOMEONE SHUT THE BLOODY BANSHEE UP!

Downstairs, Mambo Marie prays and Zelda dreams.  She remembers being shot.  Hilda is there as well.  Hilda, it seems, doesn’t necessarily want to go back, but Zelda knows they have to. At this point, Edward comes into the house.  

At Baxter High, Sabrina tells Roz that she and Ambrose have a plan to energize the coven with the power of, God help me, Cheerleaders.  Roz agrees to this.  Sabrina asks what Roz wanted to talk about, but Roz says it can wait.  I mean, it’s clear that Sabrina has lost her mind, so….Anyway, they end up at the school, surrounded by the students of the Academy and two dolls representing the Aunts.  The only one who’s not there is Dorcus, who can join in later.  I clearly blocked this performance out of my mind, hopefully I will again.  And, yes, this works.  

And just in time, because Blackwood has broken in. Everybody huddles together and teleports away.  The cheerleaders find themselves in the locker room, with Roz trying to come up with an explanation.  Sabrina brings the Coven to hell.  They realize though, they left the effigies of the Aunts behind, so Sabrina goes and grabs them.  She talks to Blackwood for a minute and then leaves.  Meanwhile, the Carnival extras bring in Cersei and a dead Dorcus. Agatha appears and says that she’s the one who killed her.  She asks if Blackwood will take care of her and that she’s good at killing things now. Blackwood says she can be of use to him and that he wants the Spellmans dead.  

Sabrina, meanwhile, tell Ambrose that Blackwood is no longer bounded with Lucifer and you know what happens next.  Lucifer and Lilith walk into the room.  Lucifer tells Sabrina that she must complete the third quest and take the throne. Sabrina says she needs to save her family.  Ambrose says that he will take the effigies back to the Aunts and keep watch over them. Prudence will go with him.  Sabrina is surprised that they want her to complete the quest, but Ambrose points out that the unholy regalia would give Sabrina the power to defeat the Pagans absolutely.  Sabrina also finds out that he taking the throne would be temporary assuming the baby that will be born is a boy.  

Meanwhile, in Limbo, Edward admits to his sisters that he always knew who Sabrina’s true father was. He didn’t say anything because Sabrina need to find her own path, just as Zelda needs to find hers.  It turns out that Edward has been watching over Zelda since he died.  Zelda believes that if she finds her purpose, then she and Hilda can leave Limbo.  They go into the past where we see a teenage Zelda and Blackwood reading.  Blackwood tears a page out of a book calling it rubbish and throws it away.  Zelda asks what was on it, but Blackwood said she doesn’t need to know.  They leave the room and the modern Zelda takes the paper from the wastebasket. It’s a drawing of the moon, with text that is unreadable.  Zelda is unsure what it means.  

Meanwhile, in Hell, Lucifer tells Sabrina that Caliban won’t win the last challenge.  Sabrina asks how he knows and Lucifer tells her that only Judas knows where the silver is and only Lucifer knows where Judas is. Lilith points out that Lucifer has to be careful, if the court were to see Lucifer helping Sabrina her claim would be forfeit.  The court announces the third trial is to begin and Lucifer telepathically tells Sabrina where she can find Judas.  And, again, just to wrap this story up a bit a going to skip ahead in the story, Sabrina goes to where he says and finds Judas trapped in stone.  If Judas tells her where to get the silver, she’ll give him water. There’s an easy way and a hard way. The easy way is she betrays someone she loves with a kiss.  Sabrina goes to Baxter High and talks to Harvey.  He mentions to her about what didn’t happen with Roz.  It’s clear Sabrina plans on kissing him, but can’t do it. The hard way, is to go to the fields of blood and deal with the first vampire, who lays in the crypt where the silver is buried.  But she needs to make sure she has all thirty pieces.    

Going back a bit in the story, THAT DAMN BANSHEE IS STILL WAILING.  *Ahem* Ambrose tells Mambo Marie about the effigies and how they have energy for the Aunts.  He also tells her that Blackwood has taken over the Academy and may come to the Spellman’s next.  Ambrose asks her to watch over Zelda while he protects the house with Prudence.  Mambo Marie agrees.  Prudence is going to protect the house, while Ambrose will be the first line of defense.  However, Ambrose promises that Prudence will be the one who gets to kill Blackwood.  

Later, in class, Miss Wardwell walks in clearly in a mood.  Then, there’s an announcement over the speakers saying everyone is invited to a free, final night at the Carnival.  Also, Theo, Roz, and Harvey need to go to the office to collect prizes. It’s a trap, of course.  By the way, only Harvey is suitable to be sacrificed now.  However, Robin comes and helps them escape.  Robin says they need to leave Greendale and take as many people as they can with them because the Pagans plan on raising the Green Man now.  Roz says they need Sabrina, but she believes she’s still in hell.  Fortunately, Roz also remembers that Sabrina left the enchanted magic maker (which she used to write on her hand to send a message to Nick) in her locker.

Meanwhile, in Limbo, the aunts flash back to the day where they got Sabrina.  On her blanket is another picture of the moon.  I’m just going to skip to the end, this is leading up to the moment where Zelda decides that the Coven will now worship Hecate.

At Dorian’s, Sabrina is about to jump into another picture, when Nick (who’s watching the bar for Dorian) asks her what she’s doing.  Sabrina tells Nick what has transpired in Hell and with the Coven.  And Nick proves he’s a bitch once again by completely missing the point as to why Sabrina is doing what she’s doing, because he’s to petty to think about anyone but himself.  However, after she leaves, he gets the SOS from Roz (I guess the marker only sends messages to him).  

Sabrina goes to the crypt and takes the silver and starts to count it.  However, Vlad the Impaler puts her under his thrall and asks if his father sent her.  She says Judas did and it turns out he’s the father of all vampires.  Anyway, to cut this short he tries to feast on Sabrina’s blood, but it burns him because technically she has the blood of a Celestial. Sabrina leaves.

Meanwhile, at Harvey’s, the group is waiting for Sabrina.  Nick comes instead.  Robin says that the Green Man will bloom when he gets the blood of a local virgin and that he will harvest the spores that are placed inside the locals (probably from the free caramel apples).  Then, he kills everyone.  However, the Pagans arrive at this moment and everyone is captured.  By the way, Robin is Robin Goodfellow, which is another name for the trickster Puck.  

Back at the Spellman’s, JUST KILL THE BANSHEE ALREADY!!!  Even the characters are tired of it.  Salem is guarding the grave of Hilda.  Meanwhile, in the house, Prudence realizes that Agatha is there.  She sees her covered in blood.  Prudence asks who’s blood it is and Agatha tells her it’s from Dorcus.  Agatha tries to stab her, but Prudence stabs her instead. (Well, it’s more she hold the sword out in front of her hoping Agatha will back off, but Agatha runs into it). Agatha lies on the floor and says the name of Blackwood.  Blackwood comes up behind Prudence and stabs her.  He asks her where she’s keeping the twins, he needs them to find something of his.

Outside, Ambrose hears Prudence’s voice in his head and finds her dying on the floor.  Prudence tells Ambrose that Blackwood is here and he must stop him.  And Prudence seems to die, which would by more dramatic if it WEREN’T FOR THE DAMN BANSHEE!  Also, it’s at this point when Zelda realizes about Hecate and wakes up.  But the Banshee stands before her, Mambo Marie is dead, and Blackwood is there with a blade.  He stabs Zelda and kills her.  

Sabrina returns to Judas, who asks to feel his coins one last time.  Trick.  It’s Caliban, who takes the coins and seals Sabrina into the stone.  Turns out, while Sabrina got the silver, there was a coup and Caliban froze Lucifer and Lilith in rocks as well.  Caliban is now king and he’s going to take control of the mortal realm.

At the Carnival, Robin and Nick are dead and Harvey is sacrificed to the Green Man.

[the-soupiest-artist]

The Legend of Zelda: Lost and Found

Chapter 1: Searching for the Missing Girl

In celebration of the 2 year anniversary of Song of the Healers, my webcomic, I decided to start a new journey!! Please be warned this trail of stories will have MAJOR SPOILERS for the comic, so if you want to stay pure I’d advise you to stay away....or stay....There are some pretty nice art pieces scatter throughout  this fic. ANYWAYS! Thank you all so much for your love towards my OCs in SOH! I hope you enjoy this new tale!

~ The Healer Palace was in a crisis. The tailors and servants alike were searching the palace high and low for someone of the utmost importance. Most people were searching by themselves but some chose to travel in groups as they covered as much of the palace ground as possible. One of the palace tailors, the head tailor to be precise, met up with one of the other frantic servants. Her jewelry jingled as she halted to a stop. 

“Azalea! Have you found her yet?!?!” The head tailor asked.

The servant shook her head, her eyes plastered with worry, “No Sister Iris!”

Sister Iris, the head tailor let out a groan, “Oh for Akane’s sake! Of all the days to go missing!” 

“Keep searching!” Iris shouted, turning on her heel and running in the opposite direction. 

Azalea continued on her path, running through the crowded inner courtyard of The Healer Palace. The round marble structure shielded the inhabitants of the palace from the hot evening sun. 

Running through the crowd Azalea spotted the familiar uniform of someone who might be of more help. 

Sprinting towards him Azalea called out towards the young soldier. “Link! Link! Thank the gods I’ve found you!” 

The young guard turned around and pushed some of his blonde hair from his eyes. “Azalea? What’s wrong?!”

Azalea halted to stop her words spilling from her as she explained the crisis that she and the palace staff were in, “we can’t find Mara anywhere! We were going to do her final fitting for her outfit! The Choosing is in less than twenty-four hours and if the tailors don’t get her fitted soon they won’t have time to make any alterations!” 

Link sighed and encouraged the frantic servant to sit down and rest a bit. “Are you sure it’s not just Mara being her classic self? She is late for quite a few things.” 

“That’s what we thought! But when Camilla showed up before her we knew something was wrong! Please help us Link! If anyone knows where she is it’s you!” Azalea exclaimed her tired eyes begging the guard for help. 

Link looked out beyond and to the outer courtyard of the palace. The orange glow of dusk teasing the white city. He stood up with a sigh.

“I know where she is.” 

The turquoise blue of the bay clashed with the orange glow of the setting sun. The water started to darken as the light of day fled the land. 

Letting out a sigh Mara stood in front of the divine statue of the goddess, Din. Who watched over the city in line with her sister gods, Nayru, who was in the heart of the city, and Farrore who watched over the ships that docked in the bay. 

It was a beautiful sight, just how small the city looked from here, Mara could see the entire capital. She looked out over the sea, she could see beyond the great thorn wall that protected the fisherman’s ships from the outside world. The sea beyond was still barren. No ships, no people, not even whales graced the waters. It was empty, just as it had been for the last well...however long her people had been in hiding. 

She looked up at the face of the goddess Din. It was hard to spot her eyes because of how tall she was. Still, they looked out onto the city, towards her sisters. Her power unwavering, just like the flame that’s held in her hand once the night falls. 

If she could just climb it. Maybe she would be able to see what lies beyond the great thorn wall towards the land. 

Her train of thought was cut short as a familiar voice broke the peaceful silence Mara was enjoying. 

“Don’t start...you know how it ends…” 

At the sound of Link’s voice, Mara jumped, a bush along with several hosts of white flowers erupted from the earth and landed gracefully in uniform on Mara’s head.

She turned to him with a frown. “LINK! You scared me!” 

He laughed, “I’m aware! But I’m glad I stopped you from doing something stupid….again….” 

“Again? There had never been an ‘again.’ The last time I tried to scale The Golden Goddess Din’s statue was when I was six!” Mara huffed. “And I distinctly remember a plucky little boy chasing after me in that great climb!”

Link gave her a knowing look, “Yet you were the one who broke your arm.” 

“Yeah…” Mara groaned with a defeated sigh, “I still remember Aunt Amarylis’s glare.”

She shivered, “It haunts me to this day.” 

“Speaking of your Aunts.” Link folded his arms across his chest, “You know everyone is in a panic looking for you. Apparently, someone is missing a very important fitting.”

Mara kicked a stray rock, “I know…”

She climbed up on top of the platform of Din’s statue, joining the space where the marble folds of the goddess’ gown dropped over the sides of the great platform. “But then I would miss the sunset.”

“Mara, I know you’ve heard this speech a thousand times already, and I know I’m the last person you want to hear this from, but The Choosing is tomorrow. This is what your aunts have been preparing for your whole life. A lot is riding on you being the next Leader.” Link climbed up with her, his legs dangling over the edge as dusk kept its hold on the city. “You could be chosen by the Goddesses themselves one day. You’re the hope of our people’s future.”

Mara laid back onto the platform, “Augh….I know I know...I’m not sure I’m ready...I just feel like well….Like I’m meant for more than this…”

Link gave her a puzzling look, “what do you mean by that?” 

Mara sat up and looked out to the sea beyond the wall, “I’ve been feeling this call.” 

“Like a voice?”

“No!...Maybe? I don’t know but it’s like….a yearning in my heart for….more.” Mara sighed. “Like there’s more beyond the confines of the great thorn walls. I can feel it...It’s like something beyond it is….calling for me…” 

Link looked back, towards where the land wall separated the city from the land beyond. “You want to go out?”

She nodded, “I know we’re not supposed to, and no one has ever tried since….ah…”

“My mother.” Link muttered, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. 

“Right….but I just keep feeling it in my blood..like I’m supposed to venture beyond it just….just once in my life...before I’m doomed to…” she gestured towards the city, “a life full of leading and social gatherings.” 

There was a long moment of silence between the two friends before Link got an idea. A wide smile appearing on his face.

“Hey Mara, remember at our Coming of Age Ceremony where I promised to take you on one more adventure before adulthood struck us for real?” Link’s eyes sparkled and Mara frowned.

“I believe you still owe me that trip.” Mara turned to him, her eyes softening. “Link, what are you planning?”

“I’m getting you over the wall.” Link stated standing up. 

“Wait...YOU ARE!?” Mara smiled and Link nodded.

“Should be easy enough, we’ve got the skills!” Link rested his hands on his hips, “and if we die we won’t have to face adulthood anymore.”

Mara laughed, “Let’s hope we don’t.”

“Well, throw a bead into the ocean.” Link laughed, “For luck.”

Mara jumped up and hugged him, “Thank you so much! Thank you, Link!”

Link hugged her back, “Ah it’s nothing for my best friend. However, you still gotta face your Aunt back at the palace.”

Mara pulled away and whistled for her horse Elias. The stallion whinnied in almost an annoyed tone. He was rudely interrupted from his peaceful grazing of mountain grasses and such. 

“Come on Elias we’re going back,” Mara shouted, running to him. The Horse huffed at her as she climbed the stallion’s back and rode off down the mountain trail. 

Mara indeed got a scolding from her Aunt Amaryllis, and the same speech about growing up and her being the next leader

Amaryllis was the second of Mara’s aunts, yet she was the leader of their people. Her icy stare was legendary and everyone feared her...in the best of ways.

Amaryllis’s younger sister, Camellia was the life of the party, she passed down her habit of always being late to things to her dearest niece, she belongs to no person but would rather float from person to person whenever the mood struck her. 

Lilija was the second eldest. She was a powerful Healer who focused much of her time on being a midwife and nursing injured Hylian’s back to health. 

Even though Amaryllis was their named leader, chosen by the Goddesses themselves, the sisters all considered themselves to be a council of rulers in their own rights. They were all still family and they all still loved the people their bloodline had been governing for thousands of years. They hoped Mara would take to heart the guidance and training the Aunts had given her...even in this unfortunate moment when Mara was getting an ear-full from the cold monotone voice of Leader Amaryllis. Mara looked back at Link as she was dragged away to fulfill the last-minute preparations that Mara had been working so hard to avoid. 

Link shook his head and returned to the guard room. The Head Guard, Atlas, smiling at him as he entered.

“Good work on finding Mara.” Atlas chuckled, setting his helmet on his armor stand. “It seems you two always know where to find each other.”

“You’re just now noticing this?” Link laughed, “Damn Atlas you must be getting old.”

Atlas smacked the boy across his back playfully. “This ‘old man’ is still able to beat you in a spar.” 

Link threw his hands up in surrender, “Aw come on Atlas! I was really close to beating you last time.” 

Atlas nodded, “no one likes a sore loser, boy.”

“Don’t you boy me!” Link grumbled, throwing his chest plate at him, with quick reflexes Atlas caught it and laughed. 

Hanging the armor on Link’s marked peg the rivalry dwindled.

“Are you looking forward to The Choosing tomorrow?” Atlas asked, his eyes gentle. 

“Yeah of course.” Link smiled, “I get to see my best friend take on what she’s been training for.” 

“Is Mara nervous at all?” Atlas asked

“Well, it’s Mara. She’s nervous about a lot of things but this….” Link let out a long sigh as he finally managed to free the last part of his uniform from his tired body. “I think she’s just scared of not doing a good job if and when The Goddesses chose her.”

The Head Guard nodded, “all reasonable fears to have. She’ll be a fine Leader.”

“She will be. Once she learns to be on time for things.” Link chuckled and Atlas laughed with him. 

“I’ll stop keeping you.” Atlas waved as he headed towards the exit. “Your father’s probably expecting you, and you need rest. It’s a big day for us Healers.” 

“And for us Hylians.” Link remarked setting his satchel over his head. Atlas nodded in agreement as his dark brown dreadlocks disappeared down the hall. 

The nightlife of the Healer capital filled the streets as the gondoliers were tying up their boats for the night. Some counted their coins and others playing music softly for the people of the town.

Link arrived at his father’s bakery. The windows were closed and dark. The day was done and Learen was probably inside making him a delicious meal. He opened the heavy wooden door and called out to his father.

“Papa! I’m home!”

Learen’s head appeared from the kitchen, his hands scratching his blonde scruff, white from flour and age. “Ah! There he is my brave warrior!” 

Learen welcomes his son into his arms, patting his back each with wide smiles on their faces. 

“So did you save the world from ultimate destruction today?” Learen joked, pulling the lids off of the dinner he had made. 

“If you call saving Mara from the icy scolding of Leader Amaryllis saving the world.” Link sat down at the table. “Then yes, I absolutely saved the world from total annihilation.” 

Learen shivered serving some of the hearty stew to his son. “Gods Leader Amaryllis. That woman even scares me half to death with the mere flash of her eyes.” 

“You got that right Papa.” Link snickered, slicing himself a large portion of bread. 

“The Choosing is tomorrow.” Learen sighed, “the hopeful new leader of our people will be presented to the public.”

Link nodded, “I wish Mama were here to see it.” 

There were a few moments of silence between the father and his son as memories of one loved and lost filled their minds. 

“She’d be so proud of Mara.” Link sighed. 

Learen rested his hand on his son’s shoulder. “I know she would’ve been.” 

The two started to eat and Link entertained his father with stories from the palace. How he chased a stray cat from the kitchens, saved a young girl’s guardian familiar from drowning, and how he got to enjoy the sunset with Mara before returning her home. Shortly after dinner and a lovely little dessert. Laren and Link said their goodnights and went to bed. Both of them sharing the same feelings with the rest of the city. All of the city hardly slept, for the excitement of tomorrow’s gathering was near and the people were so looking forward to meeting their hopefully new leader. 

The following morning was met with the bells from the harbor ringing. Signaling that today was a day of celebration. Everyone filled the streets with much dancing and singing as they waited for the command to meet at the palace. So their chosen leader could be anointed in the eyes of her people. Today was The Choosing and the entire capital expressed their joy. 

Mara exited the chamber, her Auntie Camellia greeting her.

“Why the long face flower?” She asked with kind eyes.

Mara let out a deep sigh before answering her aunt, “I just got done bathing in olive oil and rosemary. I know it’s ceremonial and supposed to feel relaxing...but I just feel like a batch of focaccia bread ready to be thrown into the fiery depths of an oven.

Camellia hugged her niece, “Oh Lily complained about that too...it’s just nerves Mara”

Mara melted into her aunt’s embrace.

“The worst of it is almost over, flower. Then it’s just partying until the sun rises.” Camellia smiles and twirled Mara around. Mara laughing before linking her arm in her aunts as she was led to her room, Camellia shooed the rest of the servants out of her niece’s chambers. Mara looked at her aunt puzzlingly, but before she could speak Camellia answered for her. “This is a special moment for me personally. I designed every part of your garb for this day ever since your mother brought you to us. The design changed over time as you grew older and you changed.”

Helping Mara into the pure white dress, Camellia continued to explain, “I was going to ask Lily if I could help her dress you for The Choosing, but, now knowing that she won’t be here for it….I feel almost guilty.”  Picking up the gold and navy waist scarf, the gold metal coins jingled as Camellia fastened it around Mara’s waist, “she’s so proud of you. You know that I know that.”   Mara nodded and kept her head down, the anxiety of what was to come was getting to her, “ do you think I’ll be ready? If the Goddesses choose me?” 

Her Aunt rose back up onto her feet, cupping her niece’s face gently. “I know you will be. You will be the finest ruler our people have ever seen.” Camellia’s compassion-filled eyes sparkled with a bit of mischief, “you’ll be more kind and compassionate than Amaryllis that is for sure.”  The two softly laughed, lightening the mood of the serious conversation. 

“Now remember,” Camellia smiled as she went back to dressing Mara up for the ceremony. “When you enter the hall, don’t look at the people, stand tall, and pretend you know what you’re doing.” 

Mara scoffed, “you know you’re sounding more like Aunt Amaryllis the more this conversation carries on?” 

Camellia smacked her niece’s backside jokingly, “oi! This ceremony, believe it or not, is the only time ‘Serious Camellia’ is awakened. Once Akane’s Token hangs ‘round your neck, your Auntie will be dancing and drinking with the rest of our people.” She pinched Mara’s nose and shook her head gently the two bursting out into laughter.  

Camellia took her niece’s hand, twirling her around her room, the two of them singing a loud Healer tune. They both sounded like drunken fools, spinning and wobbling around the room as the two grew dizzy. The Aunt and her niece collapsing on Mara’s bed in a heap of laughter.

Once the laughter had died down, Camellia rolled over and kissed Mara’s cheek. 

“Flower you are so loved. I love you so very much Mara.” Mara hugged her aunt, “I love you too Auntie Camellia.” The two sat up and Camellia kissed Mara’s forehead, “you are going to make a wonderful leader. Our people are lucky to have you.” 

Mara smiled bright the two of them hugging tightly, “Come.” Camelia sighed, “it’s time. Remember, pick a spot on the back wall. Don’t look at the people and you won’t feel sick, or like running away.” “Thanks, Auntie Camelia,” Mara muttered

“Of course Flower.” Auntie Camelia sighed giving Mara one last peck on the forehead, for luck. 

~~~~~~~~

This fic couldn’t have happened without the wonderful help and guidance of @ridersoftheapocalypse Truly this story would’ve never happened without the beautiful work you and @s-kinnaly have made! Your universe is a huge inspiration to me and thank you so much for letting me take part in it!! It’s an honor!! Of course none of this would’ve ever happened without @figmentforms their comic, ATOTR was the reason I even started scripting SOH in the first place! And I honor their work by doing my own comic in greyscale as well! And it’s because of that comic I even fell in love with greyscale in the first place!!

All of you are huge inspirations to me! Thank you for your creations, and please keep making them!! They never fail to give me the truest of feels!!

There’s more to come from this story!! And I am excited for ALL of it!!

🌸Next Chapter🌸

[elstreem]

Shard’s Castle Adventure

A little fanfic about Shard (Baby Shadow, more info about him here!) But if you don’t feel like reading 4605 words have this little art ^_^

Summary: With the Four Swords away doing their duty, Shard is left alone at the castle. One whole day without his family, but he has Zelda, a cat, and two strange men wandering around the castle to hold his attention. 

Five knights on their horses ran out of the castle gate, stirring dust and excitement in their wake. Castle soldiers raised their spears in salute, and villagers waved and cheered -

“Go get them boys!”

“Go, Link!”

“Still with the Link…” the knight in green sighed, though barely anyone in the cheering throng heard him over the sound of the horse’s hooves. However, his fellow knights still heard, and the one garbed in red smiled, “Well, it’s easier to just cheer ‘Link’ than say a bunch of colors, right?” 

“Well yeah, but it’s kind of annoying me!” Green said.

“That or you’re worried about something else?” Vio asked.

“Me? I think you’re the one who was most worried about leaving,” Green said back.

“Well…” Vio said.

“Oh, come on guys, the sooner we do this the sooner we can get back.” This was said by the knight clothed in black, who looked a little different from the rest of the group.

“Shadow is right - so, come on!” Blue said.

“Yeah, you’re right - let’s go!”

By this time the group was already on their way along the path, and the people they served were oblivious to the group’s worries. Everyone was all too happy to see the Four Swords on their way to stop a rough group of bandits. Everyone, except for two figures standing at the window of the castle’s tower, watching as the kingdom’s finest knights left. 

One of the figures was known throughout the land for her grace and beauty, but at the moment there was a frown of concern on Princess Zelda’s face. Beside her, barely tall enough to peer through the window, was a small child who looked very similar to knights of the Four Sword. However, his eyes were like opaque glass with no pupils. They looked like blank spheres to any passer-by, but Zelda could see the worry in them. The princess sighed and put a hand on top of the boy’s hair.

“It’s always hard, waiting for them like this,” Zelda said. The boy turned his face to look up at her, and Zelda couldn’t help but ruffle his hair.

“Don’t worry, Shard. They’ll be fine,” the princess said. Shard dipped his head in a small nod, but his mouth was also pulled into a frown. Zelda crouched down to see his face better.

“I guess you must feel lonely without them, huh?” Zelda said. Shard stared at her - no one was sure just how much he was able to understand speech, and for that matter, Shard could only speak in a garbled approximation, sounding very much like a baby with his high-pitched voice. But even without words, Zelda felt Shard’s loneliness, so she gently took his hands.

“Well, staring out there won’t help them come back quicker - could you come with me? I’m no substitute for Vio, but I would like to read to you, and I think I have a few books you’ll like,” Zelda said.

In answer, Shard gave her a sunny grin.

~~~~~

The hours of the morning passed pleasantly. Sitting together in the princess’s office, Shard watched and listened as Zelda read books to him. In a little while they also took a walk in the garden, observing the bees and ladybugs that flitted among the plants (once, Shard chased after a ladybug and caught the little creature, and proudly presented it to Zelda). And it was also Shard who accompanied the princess to the hidden room in which the seal of the demon Vaati was located. In the silent room, Shard stood guard, holding a small sword and shield he had made from spare wood. Normally Zelda would be accompanied by her handmaidens, or the Four Swords, or if neither of the two were available, a whole troop of soldiers would be assigned to her. But the threat of Vaati’s return was literally shattered in pieces, and so Zelda felt that Shard would make a suitable companion.

It was a good day for the pair, but unfortunately, the princess also had her duties to fulfill. Much as she would like to spend more time with Shard (of whom she was very fond of) Zelda was called away to royal duties during the afternoon, leaving Shard alone. 

While no one would dare say it against the princess or the Four Swords, Shard’s uncanny looks drew him a lot of suspicion. And so, Shard preferred not to draw attention to himself, using his small size and fleet feet to dart around the shadows of the hallways. He was hardly noticed in the busy corridors, and this suited him just fine.

Shard eventually made his way to the busy kitchens, where Red sometimes took him to do some baking. When the two got permission to “mess about in the kitchens” they were given a small space to their own, but on a regular day the kitchen staff were hard at work, preparing meals for dinner or cleaning dishes that had been used. Shard decided to avoid the main cooking area and went around the back, observing the errand boys and girls who brought in, or tossed out food. It was not a very clean place and bits of leftovers were always in the area, and this attracted stray animals. 

Shard watched in interest as a cat snagged a fish from an unguarded waste pile. Curiosity piqued, Shard followed closely. He was not familiar with too many animals as there weren’t a lot within the castle, though he sometimes helped the Four Swords tend their horses.

Aware of being followed, the cat slowed down and turned to face Shard, the fur on its back bristling. Shard stopped and the two stared at each other for some time. Seeing as Shard was not making any moves to steal its food, the cat decided to continue walking. The two wandered on and ended up near the castle wall. Shard passed the time observing the cat as it ate its meal and cleaned itself. Seeing that the curious boy was no threat, the cat decided to brush up against Shard’s side, and the boy looked with fascination at the soft fur touching his skin. With a meow, the cat decided to walk on and take a stroll through its territory, and Shard followed. If he was able to voice what his thoughts were, it would be to say that the cat reminded him of Shadow.

When the cat ventured beyond the castle’s wall, Shard waved the feline a good-bye, not willing to leave the only place he knew. He then turned towards the tower, intending to watch for the Four Swords’ return from the window. Moving silently through the lesser-used passageways, Shard was surprised to find a pair of men wandering about. They were dressed like the castle’s staff, but they were not moving purposefully and seemed lost. 

Shard decided to hang back and watch the pair closely. They grumbled to each other and kept looking around as if they didn’t want to be seen. Being an expert in keeping himself hidden, Shard was able to keep out of their sight while following them. 

Eventually, the two seemed to figure out their bearings and began to walk towards, of all places, the rooms where the Four Swords lived! Shard knew, of course - he lived there as well. In his determination to find out what the men were up to, it didn’t occur to him to call for help, and perhaps it was for the best - apart from the princess, the Knights of Hyrule, and the Four Swords, no one else could understand Shard.

Eventually, the pair reached the rooms of the Four Swords and began to search through the area, alarming Shard. It felt wrong that these strangers were poking around in the belongings of Shard’s family. The men even pocketed some of their findings, like the little pouches that held the shiny Rupees Shard liked to play with. Like the wary cat bristling its fur, the end of Shard’s cap floated upward and curled in the air as the boy’s anxiety increased. As silently as he could, he picked up his own sword and followed, and what he saw next made him freeze.

The men had stepped into Shadow’s room.

Shard peered around the door and let out a quiet gasp. The thieves were standing in front of the Dark Mirror! Well, a piece of it anyway - a piece that was only powerful enough to give Shadow a physical form once more, and more importantly...it was the piece of the mirror from which Shard himself came from.

“What’s this old thing?” one thief muttered.

“Might be some valuable artifact. Those accursed knights have magic weapons stuffed up who knows where, this might be one of them,” the other replied. The man reached forward and touched the mirror piece…and shouted in pain as Shard had given his shin a mighty blow with his own sword. The wooden sword, more like a toy than anything else, broke into splinters from the blow. Shard had felt such a sharp stab of fear that he swung the weapon with more force than he had ever done.

No one must touch the Dark Mirror!

“Wh-what’s this...freak!?” the thief gasped, staring in shock at Shard’s odd features. Shard bared his teeth and hissed - something deep inside him told him that he had to do something, anything, just to keep strangers away from the Dark Mirror. 

“Quit standing there and grab that brat!” the thief that Shard had struck bellowed this as he hopped about in pain.

“N-no way! It’s a monster, can’t you see?” the other gulped, frightened at Shard’s teeth (which happened to be pointy).

“Don’t be fooled, that brat is just some weird kid! He just surprised me, that’s all,” the thief said. Shard jumped back as the thief aimed a kick at him.

“Come on - get him!” 

And so Shard backed away as the two men chased after him, leading them out of the room, and away from the Dark Mirror, which was all that mattered.

It was at this moment that there was a sound of horns in the Castle - the main gates were being opened, which could only mean one thing.

“Oh no! We’re too late, the Four Swords are back!” one of the thieves gasped. Shard knew that sound well and looked in the direction of the main gates with a smile on his face.

Unfortunately, the thief saw the boy’s attention waver, and with a lunge he grabbed Shard by the neck and held him up. Shard gasped and struggled to escape the hold, but he was a child against a grown man. He looked into the face of the raging thief and tried not to cower from the fury he could see in the man’s eyes.

“The others promised they’d keep those brats busy until nightfall! We wasted too much time getting lost - and then this kid - !”

A sharp smack echoed in the empty room, and Shard’s head turned limply toward his side. Dizzy from the blow, the boy could barely comprehend what was going on, unaware that the thieves now had a dilemma.

“Oi, leave that kid alone! They’ll know something’s up when they see him injured!” the more cowardly of the thieves said, wincing on seeing how limp Shard was.

“I don’t care! We gotta get out of here somehow - and this kid here can be our ticket,” the other thief said.

“You mean -”

“I’ll take him hostage, you dimwit! Now, come on,” the other thief said, and spotting an empty sack in the room, he stuffed Shard into it and swung it over his shoulder, carrying Shard as if he was merely a bag of grains rather than an injured child. Ignoring his partner’s complaints, the thief hurried out, and after a moment, his partner followed.

~~~~~~

Zelda hurried down to the Castle Gates, and saw a welcoming throng of Castle soldiers blocking the path of the Four Swords. None of the knights looked too injured, which was a relief, and while they conversed with the soldiers politely enough Zelda could see they were getting antsy. Shadow in particular kept looking around, the floating end of his cap twitching like the tail of an impatient cat. The princess stuck up her hand and waved, and the soldiers nearest to her hastily cleared a path. 

On seeing her, Green came forward. “Hello, princess!”

“Thank goodness you’re all back,” Zelda said. 

“Why, is anything wrong?” Green asked, getting down from his horse.

“Well...I can’t seem to find Shard anywhere. I expected he would be at the tower window waiting for your return, but he wasn’t there when I was on my way,” Zelda said.

Green frowned - it wasn’t like Shard to miss their return. Sensing his worry, the other four followed.

“Zelda hasn’t seen Shard,” Green said. 

“I asked the staff on my way here, but you know how Shard is, he likes to keep himself hidden,” Zelda said.

“Well, let’s start with our rooms, he might have taken a nap there or something,” Blue suggested. 

“Alright. Green, help me take the horses?” Red said. Green nodded, and so the group separated.

Zelda, Shadow, Vio and Blue hastily made their way to the Four Swords’ quarters, with Shadow arriving first.

“Someone’s been here,” Shadow observed - the doors were open and some of their stuff was out of order.

“Shadow, wait -” Vio said, but Shadow had already darted into his room. There was a gasp, and Blue found himself drawing his sword and sprinting in.

Shadow was looking at a pile of wood splinters on the floor. “This is Shard’s sword!” Shadow said, looking up at Blue.

“He must have seen someone here, a stranger…” Blue speculated.

“....and if they were this close to the Dark Mirror he would have attacked them - but where is he now? And who would have come here?” Shadow said.

“Thieves! Look, our wallets have been taken,” Vio said.

“Did they also take…” Blue said, gripping his sword tightly. Shadow paled as he realized what other precious thing might have been taken. 

Just then, a servant came up to the door of the room, all out of breath. “Princess, we appear to be missing several items of interest throughout the Castle!” the servant reported.

“Oh, no - have the wall guards been alerted?” Zelda asked.

“Yes, your Highness - we’ve sent soldiers to every entrance and exit,” the servant said.

“We have to go too! They might have taken Shard with them,” Shadow said.

Zelda nodded. “Let’s go together - surely with all of us we’ll be able to find him!”

~~~~~~

“I sure hope Shard is alright,” Red said.

“Shard’s not the sort to get into trouble, he’ll be okay,” Green said. Red nodded, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. It was a relief to be able to put the horses in the care of the stable hands and start going back. 

But as the pair was walking, some soldiers came up. “Sir Li - er, Green, and Red, we have reports that there might have been thieves inside the castle,” one of the soldiers said.

“Some items were reported missing by some castle staff, and there were reports of unfamiliar men being seen sometime during the day. The princess has been informed,” another soldier added.

“Alright - thanks for informing us,” Green said. Red gasped and came forward.

“Wait - has anyone seen Shard by this time?” Red asked.

“Er, no - no one has seen him,” the first soldier said.

“Green! What if Shard had run into those thieves?” Red said.

Green frowned. Surely, with a Castle as big as this, there was little to no chance of some thieves running into a boy…but he couldn’t help but feel anxious as well.

“We’ll just have to find him and make sure he’s okay. Soldiers, please keep an eye out for Shard too,” Green said. The soldiers nodded and went on their patrol. The two knights also went on, praying that no harm had come to Shard.

~~~~~

It had not been a good day for the two thieves - first, getting lost in the castle and only being able to swipe a few trinkets here and there, and they were even unable to sabotage the Four Swords in any way. And now they were skulking by the back of the kitchen, dismayed to see soldiers running about and raising an alarm.

“Told you we should have left them treasures alone until we were about to leave,” the cowardly thief mumbled.

“Aw, shut it! That won’t help us now,” his companion said. Even with a hostage he wasn’t feeling sure of their chances against the whole of the Castle.

Running around the kitchens were various servants and soldiers - but also a cat, who was mystified by the frantic mass of people. The cat sat well out of the way, flicking its tail in disappointment as it found no leftovers in the area. There was however, the scent of something familiar…

The cat looked around, smelling the scent of the strange boy with blank eyes. The cat had been around the castle long enough to know that the boy was like a sweet little kitten, of no danger to anyone - but with no claws to defend himself, too.

Curious, the cat followed the boy’s scent, and found it led to a sack hanging over a strange man’s shoulder. The cat did not like the look of the man - he seemed like the type to give cats a good kick if they were in the way - and the kitten-boy was surely not safe in his hands.

The cat ran towards the thief while screeching, startling the man and causing him to jump out of hiding. The noise attracted the attention of some soldiers, who quickly noted the man’s suspicious looks.

“Halt! You there!”

Before the thief could think of some way to talk out of the situation, his high-strung companion gasped, “We’ve been found!”

Which is really not the best thing to say in that situation.

The thieves looked around and found a group of soldiers coming close. With a grunt, the thief drew Shard out of the sack and held him up, causing the watching staff to gasp in dismay. Shard, who had recovered somewhat, struggled and kicked out his feet, but was helpless to do anything. 

“Get back! We have a hostage and I will hurt him if you get too close!” the thief shouted, shaking Shard. The soldiers lowered their weapons in uncertainty - no one wanted to see Shard hurt. Even the cat stayed still, though it hissed in defiance all the same.

“Let go of that child,” one of the soldiers said.

“Not until we’re free of this castle - make one wrong move, and…” the thief drew a dagger. The soldiers looked among each other - they couldn’t risk harm to Shard.

“Send for the Four Swords,” one of the soldiers further away whispered to his companion, who nodded and quietly ran away. 

“Alright, we’ll let you out,” one of the soldiers said with a scowl. 

~~~~~~

Red and Green had just reunited with the princess when a soldier came running up. The soldier gritted his teeth and prepared to be the bearer of bad news. “Princess, sir knights! We’ve located the thieves, and they have a hostage with them!” 

“Oh no,” Zelda gasped.

“Who is the hostage!?” Green asked.

“It’s the boy,” the soldier gulped, feeling very much like he’d rather be doing anything but deliver that piece of news.

“THEY HAVE SHARD!??” Shadow exploded, red eyes flaming.

“A-afraid so...the man holding him is refusing to let him go until they’re well free of the Castle,” the soldier said. Shadow tensed as if preparing to run over there, but Vio caught his arm.

“We can’t just rush in there and show our faces - if they get spooked, Shard might get hurt,” Vio said.

“But we can’t just stand here and do nothing!” Blue argued.

“No, we won’t - come on, plans, what can we do?” Green said.

“Well, first of all, what is the situation looking like right now?” Zelda asked the soldier.

“There’s only two of the thieves, but the man holding the hostage has a dagger and we’re certain he will use it,” the soldier reported, hoping to be useful. “Oh, and they were last seen in the back of the kitchen area, so perhaps they’ll be escorted out that way.”

“That’s the exit that leads out to the farm roads - if they get there, we’re gonna lose Shard. We have to hurry,” Green said. 

“Oh! We might be able to jump them if we get ahead. The area just outside of that gate has plenty of cover,” Red said.

“Then we have to go, now!” Shadow said. 

~~~~~~

Shard did his best to keep still, though he couldn’t help but hiss in anger at the situation. He hated being trapped! But he couldn’t get away either, with such a tight hold on him. But if the man’s grip shifted just enough....Shard knew he had to take a chance. He had some very pointy teeth and he was not scared to use them.

The thieves walked as fast as they could while warily looking out at the guards around them. Though all the soldiers had lowered their weapons, they didn’t put it past a quick archer to attempt to stop them. Busy with looking around at the surrounding soldiers, they failed to notice that Shard had turned his face forward. Shard could feel the presence of the people he loved best nearby, hidden, but close.

The thieves walked out of the castle’s gate and this caused the one holding Shard to relax a little. His grip also shifted, and that was all that Shard needed. Without wasting time, Shard chomped down, biting through the thief’s glove and drawing blood. 

“Arrrgh - cursed freak!” the thief screamed unable to stop himself from flinging his hand - and Shard was launched into the air. He tumbled onto the ground and got up to run, crying out in his high-pitched voice as he did so.

“SHARD!” came the answering cry and within moments a boomerang flew out of the trees, smacking into the face of one thief and causing him to stumble. Red and Blue came out of the bushes, Fire Rod and Hammer at hand, and the cowardly thief gulped and cowered. Shadow darted forward and caught Shard in his arms as Green and Vio stepped out, a bow and a sword at ready. 

Behind the thieves, Zelda directed the soldiers to cut off the path, and now the thieves realized they were at the mercy of five furious knights, a princess who was also looking like she’d strangle them, and a company of soldiers who did not like having someone threaten the security of the castle.

“We surrender!” the cowardly thief squeaked. 

~~~~~~

Much as Shadow would have liked to personally deal with the two thieves he had something more important to handle at the moment. Shard was holding tightly onto him, his small hands gripping the fabric of his tunic.. 

“Shard, are you okay? Are you hurt?” Shadow asked. Shard pulled back and looked at Shadow’s face. To Shadow’s surprise, tears were falling from Shard’s eyes - crying from relief? He hoped that was the case, because if Shard had gotten hurt - 

“How is Shard?” Vio asked, still holding his bow even as he kneeled down to check on Shard.

“He’s crying, I can’t tell if he might be hurt,” Shadow said. He gently brushed the hair that had fallen over Shard’s eyes, but as his fingers brushed against Shard’s cheek the boy hissed and pulled back a little.

“Did they hit you!?” Shadow said with murder in his voice - it was hard to tell, but it did seem that Shard’s cheek was swelling as if it has been struck. 

“Let’s get him over to the infirmary to be sure,” Green said. Shadow tersely nodded and scooped Shard up, who then rested the uninjured side of his face on Shadow’s shoulder. 

“Let us deal with this - you go on ahead,” Green said. Shadow nodded, and accompanied by Vio, they walked back to the castle, pausing to give Blue and Red a brief nod and say, “We have to get Shard checked out.” 

As the three went past Zelda, Blue took a deep breath and asked, “Care to explain what you did to Shard?” 

Red tapped the orb of the Fire Rod and made the instrument flicker with light for a moment, just as a small encouragement. The thieves gulped in fear and lost no time spilling their stories.

~~~~~~

Later that night, it was with much relief that the Four Swords found themselves settling down within their quarters. There were a few crazy hours as Shard was assessed and found to have a few bumps and bruises from his adventure and given first aid. The thieves were found to be working with the bandits that the Four Swords had dealt with earlier in the day - the bandits were a distraction to draw the knights away, but they didn’t count on the Four Swords being so efficient with their jobs and the supposed thieves to be so careless. But now the ruffians were rightly imprisoned, Shard was having a well-deserved sleep on Shadow’s bed, and the five knights were sitting close, wordlessly expressing that they wanted to be close to Shard. 

When Zelda dropped in to check, she found them talking in low voices, but seeing her they gestured for her to sit among them. Zelda smiled and whispered, “Carry on,” before sitting down.

“Well, as I was saying, I don’t know if I can ever leave him alone like that again,” Shadow said.

“Oh...about that...I’m sorry, I should have watched over him,” Zelda said with a wince.

Green patted her hand. “It can’t be helped, you have your own duties to fulfill.”

“Don’t blame yourself, your Highness,” Red said.

“Very well,” Zelda sighed. She looked at each of their faces and said, “But only if you don’t blame yourselves for this incident.”

“Yeah...I’m just glad Shard is safe here, and that those two idiots didn’t succeed,” Green said.

“How is he?” Zelda asked.

“Exhausted. But it seems like he was only struck once in the face, and he has no other serious injuries” Vio said.

“It could be better, but it also could have been worse,” Blue said.

“I suppose at least one of us should stay behind and look after him if something like this happens again? Shard must have been so lonely,” Red said.

“We could try that, but we never know if we’ll need each other in full strength,” Vio said.

“Well...he did handle himself well today,” Shadow said, turning a fond smile onto Shard.

“He did, didn’t he? He’s a knight, just like us,” Green said. 

“An excellent knight of Hyrule indeed,” Zelda agreed. She stood up to leave, “We should all take our rest. Good night, my heroes.”

~~~~~~

The next morning, Shard woke up to see his family sleeping around him - the best type of morning he could ask for. He smiled and turned closer to Shadow’s side, and within moments was sleeping peacefully once more.

Outside the room, a new wooden sword lay on the table, quietly delivered by a soldier earlier in the day. It was small, more like a child’s toy than a practice weapon, but all the same the royal crest was carved into its hilt, with tiny words written, “For a Knight of the Four Swords.”

Whew! This was meant to be a quick little thing but my brain decided to keep on going. If you finished this, thanks for reading and have a bonus full art of Zelda and Shard ^_^ Also please notify me if the formatting needs adjustment!

[valhallanrose]

Lakehouse

Rolling up to @arcana-echoes​ a week late with Starbucks in hand

Anyway, have a glimpse at Zelda and Tamryn’s relationship with one another pre-canon - it started as the Friends prompt but it might be a looser interpretation of it. 

1.1k words. No CWs apply. 

As soon as the carriage stopped at the cottage on the edge of the Sea of Persephia, Zelpha had thrown the door open, barrelling out of it with a squeal of delight that made her mother sigh heavily and chuckle to herself. At thirteen, Zelpha was a veritable ball of energy, and the Olenevs knew that at this point, it was better to just let her get it all out rather than get her to settle down.

“You got her, Tamryn?”

Tamryn was only halfway through climbing out of the carriage, their mother already halfway toward her husband to help him down from the carriage seat after the journey from port to the cottage itself. 

“Yeah, but I’m not promising I’m not dunking her head first into the ocean when she settles down.”

He snickered to himself as Zelpha stuck her tongue out at him, the nineteen year old sending her a rather rude gesture in return as soon as both of their parents’ backs were turned. Zelpha gasped, but she was grinning all the while as she bounded up to him and tugged on the edge of his shirt to get him to look at her. 

“Hey, Tam, come on - let’s go swimming!”

He pretended to mull it over, casually draping his arm atop her head and leaning into it as she grumbled. “I don’t know, It’s going to be sundown soon...you know mom has plans for tonight, and she didn’t want us swimming after dark.”

“Well yeah, stupid, but the sun isn’t down now.” Zelpha shoved his arm off her head, smacking at his hand when he tried to ruffle her hair. “Just admit it, you’re a chicken because you can’t swim.”

Tamryn’s brow quirked up, and as the smirk pulled across his face, the younger girl realized she was about to eat her words. 

“A chicken, am I?” Tamryn mused, taking a single step forward as Zelpha took about four backwards. “Would a chicken do...this?”

He lunged for her, and Zelpha screeched in indignation, bolting toward the beach and away from Tamryn as he made another grab when he got within range. But given the difference in speed between them both - Tamryn making good use of his much longer stride to grab her around the backs of her legs and throw her over his shoulder. Despite her flailing, he kept a firm grip around her thighs, only loosening it slightly to push her further over his shoulder and closer to the tide with every step he took into the surf.

If he’d thought for a moment that she was actually upset with him, or actually wanted him to put her down, he’d have stopped - but Zelpha was laughing as her hair got more and more soaked, head dipping dangerously close to the water as she continued to squirm. He paused when he was about thigh deep in the water, the crown of Zelpha’s head barely skating the water’s surface when a voice cut through the sound of the waves. 

“Tamryn!”

His head snapped back toward the beach, where Galen stood with arms folded across his chest, but his face betrayed nothing but amusement as he watched the two of them. When Tamryn tilted his head, confused as Galen only gestured to the beach and grinned at them both. 

“Don’t track sand into the house.”

Zelpha let out a shout of playful dismay as Galen walked away, their father’s shoulders shaking with laughter as he returned to unload the bags from the back of the carriage with Evalina. Tamryn snickered to himself as he glanced over his shoulder toward Zelpha, who was trying to pout with arms folded across her chest despite the ridiculousness of being upside down. 

“Want me to put you down?” He asked, and Zelpha snorted, smacking his side with one hand, which made him grunt slightly at the impact. 

“Pretty please? With a cherry on top?” She asked sweetly, and Tamryn shrugged, releasing his grip on her legs. 

“Sure.”

What Zelpha hadn’t accounted for was the fact that he was barely hanging onto her in the first place - at that point he’d been holding her by the backs of her knees over the water - which meant she dropped into the sea with a massive splash. She came up spluttering, wiping saltwater out of her eyes and glaring at her brother as he barely stifled laughter behind his hand. 

So, Zelpha did what any thirteen year old with magical powers would do as payback - she reached out with it to the sand beneath his feet, yanking it out from under him and sending him crashing down into the water with a shout of his own. She laughed and bolted as fast as she could - not fast at all, in water that deep - before Tamryn could get upright and chuck her into the surf again. 

They didn’t know how long they’d been out there, but by the time their mother called out to them from the shore, they were soaked from head to toe and starting to shiver as the warm summer air turned cool and the sky darkened slowly overhead. 

“Zelpha! Tamryn! Come back and dry off - I want to go into town to pick up dinner for us.” Evalina called, tugging her shawl a little tighter around her shoulders and smiled at them both. “We can pop by the bakery you both like if you hurry up.”

In the exact same moment, Zelpha and Tamryn looked at each other, identical grins spreading across their faces as they realized exactly what bakery Evalina was talking about. 

“Cheesecake.” The both said, and Tamryn grinned, crouching down to let Zelpha climb up on his back to bring her back to shore. Once she settled, she playfully smacked his shoulder, then pointed ahead toward the beach with a delighted shout of “Mush!”

Tamryn stopped dead in his tracks, turning his head back to give Zelpha an unimpressed look before she smiled sheepishly and kissed his cheek. “I’ll give you the whipped cream off my slice of cheesecake?” She offered, and Tamryn laughed, shaking his head and starting off toward the beach.

“It’s always food with you.” He mused, feeling her set her chin on his head and yawn as the exhaustion of their water fight hit her full force. “You fall asleep on me and you owe me three bites of your cheesecake.”

“Hmmm….one.”

“Two, but I’ll give you the strawberries off mine.”

“Done.”

Tamryn chuckled softly as he hiked the short walk from the beach back to the seaside cottage, listening to Zelpha chat with their mother about the kinds of things they’d have for dinner that week - body cold, but heart warm as their father greeted them all at the door with warm cups of tea to ward of off the chill and towels to try off with. 

And, thankfully, ignored the sand they tracked into the house for the time being. 

[maximumsnow]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Toon Link, Linebeck Additional Tags: Ciela - Freeform, She's mentioned a few times but I didn't think it was enough to tag her as a character Summary: A sort of rewrite of the build up to and the final battle in Phantom Hourglass but from Linebeck's perspective.

When this whole arrangement started, Linebeck was to take the kid wherever he wanted, and he’d get some treasure out of the hunt for the ghost ship.

After the ghost ship was revealed to be a ruse to lure in victims, he tried to leave. Entities that feasted on the life force of minor gods in addition to any people they happened to trap was not what he had signed up to deal with. Someone more foolhardy could take up his position as overglorified transport.

If asked, he’d take them back to land, but given Oshus’ abilities, they didn’t really need him.

He had to turn away to avoid looking at the hurt look on the kid’s face. It wasn’t Linebeck’s fault that Link’s friend had fallen into the trap and was now a statue, but the danger involved was too much for him.

Hell, it was too much for a kid. There was a passing thought that maybe without a boat, Link would accept that something irreversible had happened and make Oshus look for someone older than Link and braver than Linebeck.

But Oshus knew him too well.

A wish. A blank check for anything Linebeck could ever want.

…. The kid was going to do this with or without him, wasn’t he? Might as well help him along.

Link was the better dungeon crawler, and he never saw a reason to change their arrangement. Linebeck could ensure the boat was fixed after any excursion, and they both knew he would be a liability in a fight.

The kid had proven himself enough for Linebeck to trust in his ability to take care of himself, and with the fairies keeping an eye out, he rarely had reason for concern.

Rarely.

I’m not supposed to be here.

The thought kept playing on repeat as Bellum shattered the remains of the ghost ship and knocked over the mast which crashed onto Linebeck’s ship with Oshus still on it.

He was now standing on barely connected planks, with Tetra and Link in Bellum’s grasp. The kid’s grip on the Phantom Sword loosened and the blade landed not too far from where Linebeck and Ciela were looking on in horror.

The movement startled him out of his horrified daze, and he quickly glanced between the sword and Bellum.

The largest eye was flickering between the two children as if it was trying to decide who to savor first. Tetra was still unconscious and hanging limply, and Link was struggling as best he could with his arms bound to his sides.

Linebeck went against everything his instincts screamed at him to do, and picked up the sword. He had never handled a sword like this one, and it had clearly been made with a smaller person in mind.

It didn’t stop him from clumsily jabbing it through the eye of the tentacle hanging in front of him.

His knees nearly gave out on him when the beast turned its eye towards him, but despite his visible tremors, he stood tall.

He pulled the sword out and swung it again, and this caused Bellum to fling Link and Tetra away from it as it tried to deal with the nuisance he was making of himself.

He kept swinging as Ciela tried to wake the kid, and when he thought he saw Link sit up, he shouted and tried to run over to him.

It was a fatal mistake.

He realized this as a tentacle grabbed his arms, and he tried to struggle away from the creature as it latched more tentacles onto him and pulled its body closer. He knew a losing battle when he saw one.

As a last ditch effort, he had to get the sword to Link. No matter what happened to Linebeck, Link needed a way to fight back. Yanking his arm back, he threw the sword, and the kid somersaulted in midair as he grabbed it.

It was such a show off move, but in that moment, Linebeck couldn’t be more relieved.

The fear returned as Bellum eyed him up and down before it made some sort of decision.

The pain and pressure on his back was unexpected and dropped him to his knees, and his thoughts could only focus on how much it hurt. It felt like a sword had driven itself deep into his back and along his spine, and it pulsed with his heartbeat.

Why was it so slow?

A foreign hunger that felt wrong invaded his mind and everything started to go foggy. He could barely string two thoughts together as something that wasn’t him commanded his body to get to its feet. Standing far taller than he ever had as a human, he looked down at Link.

The kid looked so small. But the new puppeteer pulling his strings wanted the child dead, and Linebeck couldn’t fight the control.

“Link...” He couldn’t finish what he wanted to say before a weighty helmet covered his face.

I’m sorry.

He could only watch as his arm swung a huge blade around with more skill than he ever possessed. His legs carried him towards Link no matter where the kid ran, and always kept the armored front facing Link.

He blocked attack after attack from Link, and even if he missed, the heavy armor blocked anything the kid could land.

Link couldn’t keep this up forever, but despite all the movement, Linebeck felt no tiredness in his own numb limbs.

The control fumbled for a brief second when Ciela fluttered behind him, and Bellum opened its main eye as it used one of its tentacles to grab her.

It wasn’t enough for him to do anything but… It did give him a faint idea. He had to keep that idea hidden from the entity invading his mind, but it was thoroughly distracted by Link continuing to come at him with failed attacks. The thoughts of the being who had no control of this situation weren’t very high on its priority list.

Especially since every now and then, the attack would drop him to his knees, and it would let Ciela release a small burst of power.

After a few seconds, he finally spiked his thoughts with a feeling of unease. I can’t see behind me, what’s going on?

The entity never turned his head. It wanted him to watch what happened to Link and keep him in sight at all times.

Instead it opened its main eye just make sure there was nothing back there.

Ciela yelled something, and in an instant, he could feel a distant pain as Bellum took damage.

Smart kid.

He had to be careful with repeating the process, but without fail, at some point, Bellum would give in to his fake paranoia, and have to check.

The fight kept going and going, and with each meeting of their blades, the entity was getting more desperate.

Link was also getting tired. The kid’s heavy breathing was audible even through the armored helmet.

He didn’t even have to fake fear to spike his muddied thoughts. The fear of him killing this kid flooded through him, and Bellum opened its eye on reflex.

The last mistake it needed to make.

The hold on his mind and body suddenly disappeared along with the armor, and he collapsed forward.

Good job, kid.

[goldleafacrossyourlips]

Uneasy Lies the Head - Dark Lord/OC - CAOS - Chapter 1

Chapters - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13

Chapter 1 - Foxglove and Mint

Traveling had never been Samara’s favourite activity. Well, that’s not entirely true. Samara loved to experience different cultures and sights, however the long distance teleportation was always bothersome. The disorientation mixed with the power drain always made for a rough landing. So needless to say, Samara avoided long distance travel like the plague. This time though, avoidance was impossible.

Samara loved her Aunties, more than anything. Aunt Hilda was like the mom she never had; always there with a warm hug and sweets. She gave the best advice on matters of the heart. While Aunt Zelda was much the opposite. Aunt Zelda was the one Samara went to for quick, cold-hearted solutions to problems she was having. Aunt Hilda was the heart of the relationship while Aunt Zelda was the head. Both strong women had helped shape Samara into the young woman she was today.

So when Auntie Z had invited her to her wedding during their weekly mirror scrying, Samara had been quick to agree. Rarely had she ever seen her severe Auntie, glowing with happiness and pride. It made Samara warm with joy to see her Aunt Zelda so content. However, that warm feeling soon drained with dread at hearing the name of who her Auntie was marrying.

Faustus Blackwood was a worm of a man; at least in the eyes of Samara Spellman. With ridiculously misogynistic ideals and bullheaded to boot, he was the reason Samara had fled the Greendale witch community. Her Auntie Z, however, held the High Priest on a pedestal in her mind. In an abstract way Samara understood why Aunt Zelda would be proud to marry Faustus. The honor of marrying a High Priest on top of the power he held, would be attractive to any smart witch. His deplorable behaviour was enough to outweigh any positives there might have been by marrying the slug; in Samara’s opinion at least. Her Auntie Z, obviously, held a much different opinion. 

Knowing of the disdain Samara held for Faustus Blackwood, Zelda made her promise to be on her best behaviour and to not ruin this important event. The love and respect Samara held for her Aunt far outweighed the disgust she held for the High Priest; so Samara agreed to her Aunt’s request. Thus began the wedding preparations and planning. Samara was to arrive the day before the wedding and would be staying in the Spellman house with her cousins Ambrose and Sabrina. Aunties Z and Hilda would be staying at the Academy of Unseen Arts that night.

Which brought Samara to her current standpoint. A travel bag rested in the crook of her elbow while her familiar, Phlox, leaned against her calf. The red fox had become used to teleportation with his witch and assumed his usual position. Samara offered a small smile down to her familiar and adjusted the lapels of her long dark grey travelling coat. She ran through a mental checklist to make sure she had everything she would need and that everything in her tiny home was safe to stay. The fresh foxglove and mint hanging in the kitchen would hopefully be dried by the time she returned home. She had ideas for enhancing some potions that she wanted to try. For instance perhaps the use of mint would help mask the sickly sweet flavour in all sleep potions. Maybe dried foxglove was more potent in those sleep potions after it had a chance to dry and get all the unnecessary moisture out.

Samara shook her head as her thoughts tried to run from her. She was avoiding teleporting. 

“Say goodbye to Vail, Phlox. We’ll be back soon. Lanucae magicae,” As soon as the words left her lips, the world around them blurred and they were specs coursing through time and space. Teleporting felt simultaneously like the weightlessness of falling from a height and being shoved inside a tube that was 4 sizes too small; and the further the teleportation was, the stronger that feeling became. Altogether it was a very disorienting and unpleasant experience. Which was Samara’s excuse when she landed on her knees in the Spellman’s living room. The first sounds she heard were her Auntie Hilda’s squeal of excitement and her Auntie Z’s scoff of irritation.

“Honestly Samara. You’ve been teleporting since you were 16 and you still can’t land standing? What are you learning in Colorado?” Auntie Z’s voice was full of exasperation and fondness.

“Oh never you mind your Auntie Z. My darling Samara! My gorgeous girl! Look at you! All grown up! Oh my, you look famished! Come come, let’s get some yummies into you.” Aunt Hilda grasped her hand and coaxed her to the dining table. Zelda followed close behind. Before Samara sat, she encased her taller Aunt in a tight hug.

“I know I’ve already congratulated you on your upcoming nuptials but still, I’m happy you’re happy Auntie Z,” Samara’s grin was wide as she looked up at her stiff Aunt. Affection had never come easily from her Aunt Zelda. It was always a hard earned reward. Once Samara had grown older, she found it amusing to initiate gentle affections with her cold aunt and watch the woman grow uncomfortable at the suddenness. 

Samara had taken after her Aunt Hilda in many ways. Many of those being her ease with comfort and affection. Samara was always quick with a warm hug and soft words. She also took up after her Aunt in ways of cooking and potion making. Her Aunt Zelda had passed along her rational mind and Samara was ever thankful. It would’ve been too easy to let her caring nature rule her life if it wouldn’t have been for the sensible thinking that Zelda had drilled into her from a painfully young age. So Samara was able to keep her soft heart available for those who needed it most and not every bleeding thing she saw. Her family, though, would always be ones that she held near and dear to her heart.

“Yes, yes. The Spellman name will once again hold greatness and honour. The Anti-Pope himself is blessing us at our wedding. Isn’t that just marvelous?” Zelda’s head was held high as she spoke and expertly extricated herself from Samara’s hold. The young witch internally rolled her eyes. As far as the witching community cared the Spellman name was not in turmoil or despair. However in her Auntie Z’s eyes, with her cousin Sabrina’s recent antics, their name was. 

Samara had been kept abreast of any and all activities and schemes her dear cousin was up to. Between refusing to sign the Book of the Beast, her antics at the Academy and her troubles with her mortal friends, the rest of their small family was in quite the tizzy. Samara couldn’t blame the young witch though. 

She remembered her own hesitancies when she had to sign the Book. Much like her cousin she didn’t want to lose her freedom and choice. But at her Aunts’ insistences she had reluctantly ambled to her Dark Baptism. She could recall the night beginning bitterly cold. Her black lace dress had brushed the sides of her thighs as her bare feet crunched the dead leaves beneath her feet. The forest was abysmally dark besides the glowing in the grove she was headed. The arch of branches had lit and waited to deem her worthy of entering. Samara could remember the prey fear she felt tightening her spine and settling like a stone in her belly; the anxiety that constricted her chest and made her mind tingle. She had stopped before the branches, her eyes wide as they consumed they blue hellfire scared that she’d be deemed unworthy and burned for her troubles. Her thoughts had left her and all that’d remained was worry and fear. She’d been ready to turn and run. Run from the Coven and their expectations. Just as her foot had begun to step back, she’d frozen. In what seemed like a heartbeat, her anxiety and worry disappeared. In their place sat warmth and reassurance; like an ivy vine curling around her body. She could breathe. Where once she worried about her loss of self as a person, there was something there assuring her that she’d be safe, always. It had been enough to straighten her spine and walk through the hellfire that caressed her skin like feathers. She had stood beside her Aunties, two beautiful pillars of strength that they were. She had looked upon Father Blackwood, her mind screaming wrong, bad, stay away as the man approached her. She knew it wasn’t to do with the Dark Baptism but rather the man itself. Her shoulders had tensed as he drew a sigil on her forehead. Her teeth had clenched as he drew the blade across her palm. She had ignored his curious gaze as the wound healed near instantly once the blood had dropped onto the Book. Just as she had picked up the quill and readied it to sign her name, she felt it. The lightest caress at the junction where her shoulder met her neck. Knowing it was something otherworldly since Blackwood stood across from her. Samara had taken comfort in it and assumed it was what gave her strength to enter the clearing. With that renewed strength, she signed her name with a flourish. Intense joy and contentment has filled her as the sky ricocheted with bright lightning. In that moment, she had never felt more at home.

Her reminiscing was brought to a halt as her Aunt Z drew her attention once more.

“As glad as I am to see you Samara, I must head back to the Academy and prepare for tomorrow. I will see you then.” Her Aunt had nodded and away she went. Samara watched her walk away with fondness; able to see the nerves beneath her aunt’s skin.

“She really is happy to have you home, Samara. We all are.” Aunt Hilda placed a little cup of tea on a saucer with sweets. Samara happily nibbled on her Aunt’s offerings. She missed her Aunt’s cooking and baking the most when she originally left.

“I’m happy to be back Aunt Hilda. I’ve missed all of you so much.” Samara had looked up at her Aunt to show the earnestness she felt. Hilda was quick to smile and squeeze her hand at her seat beside her. Her smile turned slightly pleading.

“Perhaps, what with Zelda marrying the High Priest, you might be convinced to join us again. I’m sure there’s loads of things you could teach Sabrina. And we would be overjoyed if you’d stay!” Aunt Hilda squeezed her hand again, rubbing her thumb back and forth over Samara’s hand. Samara had chuckled and looked away.

“I think it’s for the best that I stay in Colorado. As much as I miss and want to stay with you guys, I couldn’t become a part of the Church of Night here. Besides, I’ve made a home for myself in Vain. The Coven there and the townspeople wouldn’t know what to do without my herbs and brews. On another note, even with Auntie Z marrying Blackwood, I doubt I could stay in the same room as him for long.” Samara’s tone had taken on a darker quality. Phlox had quickly come to Samara’s side as her mood started to shift. He was quick to rub along her legs and nip the cookie from her fingers. Succeeding in lifting her mood, he settled down with her snack as Samara laughed and lightly scolded him.

“I figured it was worth a try. No matter, luv. How do you feel helping me get rid of a problem for Zelds?” Hilda was pleased at the mischievous smile her niece shot at her.

“Anything for you guys. What’s the plan?”

“Well first, we’re going to have to visit the potion pantry, then we’re going to bake some biscuits.” Samara’s mind was quick to shoot off possibilities her Aunt was meaning. She had always loved helping her Aunt cook and bake. It was what got her so interested in potion making and with her Aunt’s help she had quickly excelled in that area. Samara was quick to gesture to her Aunt to lead the way.

“I’d be thrilled to share with you some of my experiments I’ve done with potions and food.”

“Well my darling, I’m open to suggestions.”

[mountainleafuniversity]

Linneaus: Undertow Pt 1

Artwork by: @warrior-kitty

Special thanks to: @gemellath

This story is rated PG-13 for content. You have been warned.

It was a beautiful day for the citizens of Charluftton as the Wild Waves Festival was in full swing. The plaza was full of vendors selling t-shirts and frozen ice, the bar was full of all kinds of live music, including bands like Boil, The Lost Tapes and Art House, and even the beach was full of fun events such as volley ball, sailing, and even a beach 5k obstacle course. Boaters were out fishing and tubing and just all around having a good time. However, for the shapeshifting vixen, she was lying home in bed wearing her work cap, a buttoned jacket and khaki work pants. On her nametag was the name “Kit Rouge”. She was a shy fox who was diagnosed with a disorder that caused her to have trouble controlling her shapeshifting powers, and today, due to the events that occurred at work, was no exception.

“All I did was get grossed out…” she muttered. “Yet of course I turned into a fox bug like I always do when I’m disgusted. And of course, everyone thinks I’m too old for this to happen. I can’t control it…”

Kit had a busy day at work with lots of fishermen and families out buying things from pool toys to bait and couldn’t even stop the lines from the shoppers just itching to get their stuff and hit the water. She swore if she saw another sailor she would transform into her angry form and chuck them off their boat.

Her cellphone rang, and Kit answered.

“Hey Vixie!” Coin started, wearing sunglasses. “Work was rough today wasn’t it?!”

“Oh! Hello Coin! It was rough! Like the time that giraffe all jacked up on cocaine went up to you and-“

“Didn’t you remember our plans for today?!” he interrupted.

“What plans?” the khaki-clad kitsune asked.

“To go tubing with us!” Rio said.

“But I thought we were going to go to the beach!” Kit cried. “I want to lie down, get a sun tan and eat all the cannolis I can think off!”

“The beach is tomorrow and the next day!” Coin replied.

“Just get changed, pack some sandwiches and don’t forget the tube! See you in a half an hour.”

With that they hung up.

Kit thought about it for a second and decided to just go embark with her friends on the boat.

The young vixen put on a yellow one-piece swimsuit and covered it with a Zelda t-shirt and her khaki shorts from her work uniform. She then put on her special waterproof contacts, so she doesn’t turn her friends into her clones again. Finally, she made her friends sandwiches to eat on the boat while they hung out. Kit opened the garage to find Coin’s boat tube and sighed, knowing that none of their days out ever go well.

When she arrived, she saw her jackelope friend in his salmon trunks, purple t-shirt and sunglasses, with Rio harvest mouse perched on top of his antlers. She was in a little sailor’s outfit with a cap.

“First mate Rio! Ready to embark!” she said with glee.

“Hey Kitty!” Coin blurted. “Just put the tube in the back, were going to go fishing for a little while.”

“I thought you had a fear of fish.” Kit replied.

“My dad wants us to get fish for the Braun’s fish recipe!”

“You hate the taste of fish as well!”

“I’m getting paid if I do this.”

“Fair.”

And with that, they entered the boat.

Kit untied the ropes from the hooks, while Rio and Coin brought the buoys into the boat.

“Hey um Kit…” Rio said. “I think you might want to put your sunhat in the cabinet, so you don’t lose it.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Kit said without concern. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

As Coin and First Mate Rio pushed it to thirty miles an hour, Kit began to scream as her body grew more multicolored fur, whiskers grew, and her body became feline. The scared cat held onto her hat as hard as she could while the boat tore through the river.

“I retract my previous statement!” screamed Kit. “This is way too fast! My hat’s gonna fly away if you’re not careful!”

“Too fast?” replied Coin, seemingly unaffected by the rip-roaring speeds they were currently travelling at.

“No way! Calm down, will you? If you didn’t want your hat to get blown off, you should’ve at least stored it in the compartment.”

Begrudgingly, he and Rio slowed to boat down so that Kit could hand the hat over to Rio.

“Honestly,” she said, “We should’ve insisted on it in the first place.”

As they continued to sail, the trio began to develop an appreciation for the architecture of the waterside houses. Rio would wonder aloud who lives there, or there, or there? Enough time had passed for Kit to have calmed down; one tug of her tail later, and she was back in her fox form.

“Right then,” she said, retrieving her hat at last, “What are we up to first?”

“Sandbar, of course!” replied Rio as the boat sailed towards the spot where the ocean embraced the shore.

The little stretch of sand was surprisingly full of people sunbathing, dipping their toes in the water; anything to make the most of the fresh heat.

“Oh, nice! We can all have a game of keepie-uppie!”

Kit casted her line out towards the water and waited. Soon enough she had something on her line, reeling it in as hard as she could to discover she had caught a gar.

“Nice!” she said, pleased with herself.

“Hey, look guys I caught this cool long-billed thing!”

The crowd looked over, but only saw the fish worth jack squat and laughed.

Kit became slimier and turned grey, with white hair growing until she was now her sad form, the fox slug Granny.

“Dang nabbit!” she muttered to herself before casting the line once again…only to this time catch a sea bass…

“Did you bring the football?” Rio asked.

“Sure did!” Coin said, holding the old pigskin.

“I said the football!” Rio growled.

“This is a football!” Coin responded, perplexed.

Soon an argument erupted between the two of them, until they decided to just toss the ball around. The jackelope through a spiral throw towards Rio, who then responded by nailing her personal perch in the chest. Coin got up, picked the football off of the bar and tossed it again. After a while, he was getting nailed in the face, chest, and even in the groin by the sailor mouse’s throws. He called for a time out to see Granny still trying to catch fish.

“Hey bud.” She said. “Could you give my tail a pull?”

Coin turned her back into Kit.

“Thanks”

“So what’s going on here?” Coin asked.

“I”ve been catching nothing but sea bass and gar…”

Coin looked at her in disbelief.

“Kit there aren’t any sea bass in here…you mean sea trout.”

Kit blushed a little.

“It’s alright, you caught like five of them already!”

So, they waited and caught a decent amount of fish to put in the cooler.

After sunbathing for a bit, the Trio decided it was time to go tubing. They packed up their chairs, their belongings and the fish, which were placed in a water tank on the back of the boat.

“Alright guys!” Rio shouted with excitement. “Time for tubing!”

Coin took off his shirt and glasses, leaving him with only his trunks, while Kit dressed down to her swimsuit. Both of them then put on life jackets and hopped onto the tube.

“Um…” Kit said, somewhat nervous. “I’m not sure I want to do this…”

“Oh we’ll be fine. I’ve gone tubing dozens of times.”

“Get ready you guys!” First Mate Rio shouted as she pushed on the gas. She pulled it forward and the two cryptid creatures were yanked screaming. They narrowly missed other boats and shores, but soon the wild mouse got carried away. At a wedding reception between two mice on a dock, the two burst through and destroyed the dock the mice were on, leaving Coin with a face full of tiny wedding cake, and Kit with the groom in her mouth. Next, the two of them flew over another boat’s wake, which was sunk as soon as the tube landed on it. Finally, they neared an exclusive gated community residence, and ended up going through the yards of the tenants. Statues, trees, and rocks pelted them with pure bruises and scratches. At one point, they broke in through a beaver business man’s house and destroyed his kitchen, his teenage daughter’s bedroom, and his priceless wine cellar.

After breaking out of the last wall, a ramp was seen straight ahead for the duo, and with the ramp, Kit flew off of the tube and belly flopped into the water. Coin, luckily, stayed on, but ended up getting dragged through marsh grasses and oyster beds. He was all chopped up, so when Rio stopped, Coin fell into a million pieces. He healed himself, as always when he got this injured, and pulled into the boat.

“Hang on, where’s Kit?” the crazy driver asked.

From a groan they heard, the two saw her bobbing in the water. Coin spun it back around to collect Kit, who wasn’t very amused about the whole situation once she climbed back on board.

She was trying her best not to snap at Rio, as the jackelope got her a towel to wipe off the water.

Rio than then tried to fire up the engine but called Coin over. After a brief and worried discussion, the rabbit sheepishly confronted his fox friend.

“Umm…Kit….”

“What is it?” she snapped with her eyes already glowing.

“The boat…it’s out of gas…”

Suddenly Kit screamed as she transformed into DemKit, with his voice deepening into a roar. He picked up the cowering and flailing jackelope and chucked him off the boat. Then moved on towards Rio and held her up, shaking her around.

“WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW FIRST MATE RIO?!?!” he roared.

“Calm Down!” Rio said. “Coin can just call the boat tow.”

DemKit dropped Rio and blushed a little embarrassed.

“Sorry Coin!” he yelled out.

“Try to grab the tube.”

Coin swam towards the tube, failing to notice the fin behind him. He climbed onto it, but as he was being pulled in by the fox monster, a shark leapt from behind him and bit down on his swim trunks, ripping them and pulling them into the water. His two friends screamed with DemKit frantically pulling on the rope harder, but it was fruitless as he pulled it in to find the shark had cut it in half. Coin, meanwhile, had a censor bar over his special area and watched as whale watchers and fishermen boated by laughing. The shark returned and pulled the censor off of him, causing DemKit and Rio to blush and look away.

“How can this get any worse?” the mouse said to herself.

“There they are!” an angry woman said, with a crowd of people on a police boat. The officer looked to see a sailor mouse next to a steering wheel, some fox monster, and a naked jackelope behind them.

“Oh crap.” DemKit said to himself, embarrassed.

Later on, Kit, now back as her normal self, and Coin were eating the fish they’d caught in the estuary with their families at Coin’s house.

“I’m glad they found out I was just transformed.” She said. “And they found the shark with Coin’s compressions lodged in its throat at the hospital. He said he needed clothes to deliver to someone.”

“Who?” Gunda asked

“We don’t know yet, but because he pulled my censored bar away he now has to register as a sex offender.”

“As for Rio?” Kit’s father asked.

“Well because she was recklessly driving to the point of bodily harm and property damage, and we didn’t do anything wrong, she has to spend the Festival in jail.” Kit replied.

“It’s a good thing you guys called to get the trout out.” Jonas said. “Proud of you son!”

“Thanks dad! How was the nautical golf tournament?”

“Well, we placed second.” He declared to Margaret. “We have to go to the plaza tomorrow. You are performing tomorrow night correct?”

“Yea, I’m meeting Harry and Roxie at work tomorrow, and D’Arcy is setting up her clothing tent at the beach market.”

“Apparently someone sent a threat to her earlier this afternoon.” Kit’s brother told them. “They’re investigating who sent it.”

“Well, it’s probably nothing we should worry about, but we should tell D’Arcy once we get to the beach.”

Meanwhile the salmon trunks sank into a cave where a sea serpent sat waiting and grabbed it.

“Nice…” she said. “A sample of clothing from one of that jersey devil’s friends.” She smiled with glee. “He could be useful to me… in finally bringing her down…” she laughed as her factory workers continued to work…

[scaredofheroin]

Captain N - Chapter 12: Passing Through

The first of the group to wake from their slumber was Captain N. As he groggily regained his bearings and remembered he slept on the grass previously occupied by Castlevania, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Glancing around, he found Pit, Falco and Zelda still lost in slumberland. Pit laid splayed out on the ground, Falco slept propped up against a tree and Zelda maintained her regal demeanor even in her slumber. Captain N slowly and quietly got up onto his feet, further surveying the area. The sun was only just visible over the lush tree line, transforming the scenery from a dark, foreboding maze of fauna to a lush and vibrant forest. Morning dew formed on the grass and leaves, save for the patches of grass taken up by the four. Captain N stepped away from the four, stretching his arms with a deep groan. With the occasional sound of birds chirping and the gentle breeze brushing through the tree branches, he gratefully drank in this rare moment of peace and tranquility in the middle of such a chaotic few days. The chill of the early hours still haunted the air, so he picked his varsity jacket up off the ground, shook the few stray blades of grass off it and put it back on. Patting his jacket down, his heart skipped a beat when he felt a familiar rectangular shape in his right jeans pocket. Hastily removing the object from his pocket, he found himself holding his phone. His heart racing, he impatiently pressed the power button on the side, but to no avail. His heart sinking, Captain N surmised that the battery died in between being transported to Yamajiro and now. He sighed in defeat, knowing that the hope of recharging his phone is scant in such a strange and foreign world. He sat down on a large rock nearby, still clutching his phone as if he was expecting it to dissipate like Dracula's castle. How long was he gone on Earth, he wondered to himself. Three days? A couple hours? Did anyone even know he went missing yet? Surely his mom or dad would have tried texting, but would anyone else worry? His cousin might, MAYBE a couple of his lab partners whose numbers he acquired to communicate during a group project, but that's all. Captain N sighed to himself, idly rubbing the smooth, near flawless screen of his phone. Everyone back home was probably too busy celebrating Jeremiah Coleman getting another touchdown, or Kimberly Sparks submitting another award-winning art piece to notice that he went missing. The more his mind ran through these thoughts, the heavier the tear in his eye felt.

"Whatcha got there?" Suddenly came Pit's voice, snapping Captain N out of his depressing train of thought. He tried to mask his true emotions towards the phone with a casual shrug, answering with "My phone.". Pit squinted his eyes a bit, walking over to get a better look at Captain N's phone. "Something from your home world?" He asked him, getting a simple "Yep." in response. Pit sat down next to him, further analyzing the strangely simple device. "...What does it do?" Pit asked. Captain N chuckled a bit, never having expected to have to explain the details of something so omnipresent in his home world. "It lets you communicate with people far away, get information from anywhere near instantly, take pictures and videos, write down notes, play music, and pretty much everything else you'd need it to do." He explained, Pit inquisitively nodding along. "How does it work?" Pit asked further. Captain N laughed a bit, shrugging. "I don't know, I didn't build the thing." He remarked, his mood having lifted somewhat. "It looks kinda like the Sheikah Slate." Pit noted. "...'Sheikah Slate'?" Captain N repeated, confused. Pit smacked his head, remembering who he was talking to. "Oh yeah, you don't know about that yet. If you ask Princess Zelda, she'll- actually, you better not." He quickly stopped himself. Captain N was more confused than before but knew better than to prod further. "You wanna show off how it works?" Asked Pit. Captain N shook his head. "Can't. Battery's dead." He explained, hoping Pit knew what that meant. Pit groaned a bit. "Dang, that's never fun." He noted.

"Good morning to you guys too." Falco grumbled, still lying on the ground. "We just didn't want to disturb your beauty sleep, that's all." Captain N joked, eliciting slight snickering from Pit. Falco rolled his eyes as he got up, arching his back with a groan. Zelda woke up soon after, roused slightly by the conversation. "I assume everyone slept soundly last night." She said, sitting up as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Captain N didn't, really. Sleeping on the ground covered only by his jacket proved far less than ideal. Hiding this, he nodded along with Falco and Pit as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Well, good, as we've a long day ahead of us. We'll have to return to New Leaf Town before making our way to the warp zone in the Mushroom Kingdom." She instructed as she got up and made her outfit more presentable. "Speaking of which, how are they doing? The town wasn't attacked while we were dealing with Dracula, was it?" Captain N asked. "Thankfully not. From what I can sense, they've been as safe as when we left." Zelda answered. Feeling a slight feeling of relief, Captain N looked across the lake to the path they initially traversed through. "We all feeling ready?" Captain N asked the group. "Yep!" Pit eagerly answered. "Ready when you are, Cap'n." Falco spoke up, adjusting the blaster at his side. Zelda only nodded in agreement, closing her eyes as she drew upon her magic to conjure the path back to New Leaf Town. It took a moment, but she finally opened her eyes back up, eyeing a specific opening between a pair of trees on the other side of the lake. "Follow me." She instructed, taking the lead. "Wait, I gotta do something." Captain N suddenly spoke up just as Pit and Falco started walking. "What is it?" Falco asked with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. Captain N didn't answer that question, instead searching the nearby tree line. Finding the same branch from last night, he drew his Zapper from his pocket, aimed at the branch, steadied his breath, closed his right eye, and pulled the trigger. Opening his eye back up and assessing the tree, he found that the branch fell to the ground, slightly smoldering near the end where he aimed for. A smile growing across his face, Captain N pumped his fist and cheered "First try!". Zelda let out a slight laugh from his display. "Nicely done, Captain!" cheered Pit. "Yeah, yeah, great stuff, care to get going now?" Falco asked, humoring Captain N. Clutching the Zapper, Captain N nodded, rejoining the three as they began the trek.

The day felt more welcoming as the four traversed the land. Captain N felt much more at ease as he hiked, due to the fact that they're heading towards a familiar and friendly town, as opposed to the mysterious castle of Dracula himself. However, the absence of Simon Belmont made the group feel slightly more empty. Despite Falco's assurance that he made it out alright, Captain N couldn't help but worry about his well-being. Hopefully he'll run into him again sometime in the near future. Conversation was light between the group as they hiked over the grassy hills and through wide valleys. Zelda remained focused on following the correct path, still rattled by Dracula's manipulation in Castlevania despite there being no similar forces overshadowing them now. Falco exuded an aura of annoyance which Captain N picked up, which he surmised had to do with not being able to fly his Arwing back to town. Which reminded him of a question he'd been meaning to ask.

"Hey Pit, can't you fly?" He asked, making Pit feel immediately uneasy. "Uh... kind of?" He awkwardly answered. Instilling only confusion in Captain N, he followed up with "What do you mean? You flew me to Peach's Castle and inside Castlevania.". "It's, uh, tricky actually. Even though I've got wings, I can only really FLY when Lady Palutena's directly helping me. Other times I can just kind of "boost" a little bit." He explained, making Falco roll his eyes. Captain N nodded, knowing that being flown across the sky was a little too much to ask for. "Well.. what about you?" Captain N asked Falco. "...What about me?" Falco asked in return. "Can you, you know... fly?" Captain N clarified. Falco let out an annoyed sound and responded with "No, I can't. Not without my Arwing.". Realizing he should have known this already, Captain N felt flustered realizing how that was kind of a dumb question. "Look!" Zelda suddenly spoke up, pointing at a nearby tree. Upon closer inspection, Captain N and Pit found the tree was populated with plump, ripe orange fruits hanging from the branches. "It's incredibly rare we find a tree of Wumpa Fruit outside the Wumpa Islands!" She excitedly explained, examining the fruits. "Looks like we found lunch." Falco noted, followed with Captain N feeling a rumbling emptiness in his stomach upon hearing food mentioned. "Allow me." Zelda stated, raising her hands at the fruit in the tree. Shortly after, four of the Wumpa Fruits were delicately removed from the branches and floated down to each of the four's pairs of hands. Taking it in his grasp, Captain N noted the firm yet slightly soft texture of the fruit. He looked back to Pit and Falco, waiting for them to take the first bite of their fruits. After Pit's initial bite was followed with a sound of him enjoying the fruit, Captain N took a careful bite of his fruit. His senses were immediately rewarded with this action, as the fruit tasted incredibly sweet, with the juices seeping out of the newly-made opening. The taste was difficult to place further than that, not being comparable to peaches or mangoes or any other fruit he ate back on Earth. His sense of taste, his brain and his stomach voted unanimously to continue eating, which he quickly obliged to, greedily scarfing down the Wumpa Fruit. "You don't have these on Earth, do you?" Pit asked, which he answered by shaking his head. Falco and Zelda ate theirs slower and more carefully, in direct contrast to Pit and Captain N. The fruit disappeared into Captain N's stomach disappointingly soon, left with only a sticky mess on his hands and mouth area. "Looks like Cap approves." Falco smirked at the display. Slightly flustered, he cleaned himself up as best he could to make himself presentable. With a slight giggle, Zelda floated two more Wumpa Fruits down to Captain N, which he graciously accepted with a polite "Thank you, Princess.". The three only had just finished their first fruits, whereupon they were granted two more fruits by Zelda. "I'm confident you gentlemen can eat and walk at the same time, so we should continue our journey." Zelda instructed. With a mouthful of Wumpa Fruit, Captain N could only respond with a less-than-polite "Mm-hm.". Pit nodded along with a hearty "We sure can!". Falco agreed with a determined "Yeah, let's move it.", stowing his fruits under his arms. Satisfied with their answers, Zelda continued leading the group to town.

It took the vast majority of the day to reach New Leaf Town. The handful of Wumpa Fruits only did so much to provide sustenance for the adventurers, eventually feeling the growl of hunger return. The sun sank further and further towards the horizon, the sky slowly shifting colors to match the rapidly approaching evening. Captain N could sense Falco envying the birds flying freely throughout the sky, chirping happily to each other as they soared across the warm breeze. Pit stretched his white, bird-like wings out to take in the nice breeze. Zelda remained as determined as ever to follow the determined path, assigning the task of eating food to the secondary priority. Just before the sun dipped below the horizon, Zelda led the group over the hill overseeing the entrance to New Leaf Town. The townspeople could still be seen walking about, enjoying their peaceful lives without a Kremling or other minion of the three kings in sight. "Ugh, finally!" Falco groaned, quickly hastening his pace towards the entrance, followed closely by Pit. "Thanks for being the guide, Princess. I never had a doubt." Captain N complimented Zelda, which she accepted with a soft yet gracious "...Thank you.". Captain N looked to the side and saw the warp pipe leading to the Mushroom Kingdom in the distance. He felt a strong feeling of uneasiness upon remembering what his true duties entail, separate from enjoying free stays at hotels. Zelda remained at his side, silently understanding his inner conundrum. "...I understand your struggle, Captain." She quietly said to him, feeling the weight on his shoulders as his eyes remained on the large green pipe. He sighed and hung his head, avoiding her gaze. "...Really?" He asked her. Zelda moved to his side to meet his eyes. "I know the pressure of having to live up to everyone's expectations in the face of such dire odds and consequences." She went on. Captain N took in a deep breath, straightened his posture and turned his gaze back towards New Leaf Town. "We better catch up with them, shouldn't we?" He asked, motioning towards Falco and Pit. "Indeed." She agreed, feeling slightly off-put by him suddenly diverting the conversation. "Well then, we better not keep the townsfolk waiting." He said, making his way towards the entrance with Zelda following closely.

The four approaching town was immediately noticed first by young Timmy and Tommy. "They're back! Princess Zelda, Captain N and the others are back!" Timmy shouted to the nearby townsfolk. This immediately caught the attention of Tom Nook and Isabelle, who was meeting with a dark brown owl male with a bow tie and checkered torso, the three of whom made their way over to the two youngsters. "I thought I taught you two better than to cause so much ruckus." Tom scolded his nephews. "But it's true! They're over there!" Tommy insisted, pointing to the field in front of town. Sure enough, the three saw Falco, Pit, Captain N and Zelda approaching. "Oh, goodness! I wish we could have known sooner! We could have prepared for their arrival!" Isabelle fussed, growing worried about pleasing such famous guests. The owl quickly made himself presentable, adjusting his bow as Tom quickly got his two nephews to the side so they could enter. With Pit and Falco having slowed to allow Zelda and Captain N to catch up, the four found themselves crowded once more by the anthropomorphic townspeople. "Welcome back to our humble town!" Isabelle happily greeted them. "What happened?" Timmy eagerly asked. "Didja beat up Dracula?" Tommy asked further. At this point, more townspeople noticed the four had returned, and quickly formed a mob around them. Feeling the pressure, Captain N raised his hands to create some space. "You all can rest easy knowing that Dracula's no longer a threat!" He announced, earning a joyous cheer from the townspeople. "I hate to ask, but would you happen to have retrieved anything of value from Castlevania?" The owl asked the group. "Unfortunately not, aside from that which was meant for Captain N." Zelda politely answered. "Oh, what a shame. It would have made a wonderful addition to the local museum." The owl grumbled. Just as Captain N was about to ask for his name, he perked back up and introduced himself with "Oh, my apologies! My name is Blathers, and I am the curator of the town's museum." with a slight bow. "Well then Blathers, I'll try to snag you something to show off the next time I break into someone's home." Captain N joked. "Wait... where's Simon Belmont?" Tom asked. Falco quickly answered with "He took on Dracula himself, letting us escape with the goods. Don't worry, he's fine". "What did you escape with?" A navy-blue cat with exotic head wear asked Captain N. The eyes of countless townspeople began boring themselves into Captain N, their interests piqued by the prospect of some hidden treasure hidden inside Castlevania. Instead of offering a verbal answer, he stepped back, drew the two Boosters from his back pockets and shot two brilliant beams of fire and ice into the sky. The townspeople were amazed by this display, cheering victoriously as his pride swelled, drinking in the sensation of an entire town cheering him on. "What brings you all back here?" Isabelle asked in the midst of the cheering. "Perhaps you decided to take up my offer on-" Tom tried to ask in return, but was interrupted by Pit explaining "We're just staying the night here. Tomorrow we set off for New Donk City!".

"Well, it's an honor to host such esteemed guests! Our mayor is currently off fishing, but K.K. Slider's playing in the center of town!" Isabelle beamed. Falco rolled his eyes at such an absent mayor, but Pit was eager to take her up on the offer. "Sounds great! And I bet K.K. does do!" He quipped. Captain N and Zelda happily followed Pit and Isabelle to the center of town, Falco straying a bit farther behind. Upon arrival, K.K. Slider was playing a song reminiscent of an old western movie from Captain N's home world. Some of the townspeople were too absorbed in the song to notice the four arriving. Captain N found himself taken into the song, soaking in its intricate melodies. But when the song ended, the presence of the four became immediately known, with Isabelle, Blathers and Tom with his nephews standing nearby. "Well well well, looks like our heroes came back champions." K.K. casually noted. "Got any requests?" He asked the group. Captain N, Falco and Zelda remained quiet, while Pit quickly responded "Something smooth!". "You got it, bird dude!" K.K. happily accepted, adjusting his guitar before beginning another song. As the expertly-played song wafted throughout the crowd, Captain N felt much more at ease with his mission. Still feeling his phone in his pocket, he felt stronger and more determined. His chest felt bigger and his height felt greater than before. Zelda and the others enjoyed the song as well alongside the happy crowd, noticeably more relaxed than before. But eventually, the song had to end, resulting in Captain N's tiredness making its presence known. "We ought to hit the hay. Got a big day tomorrow, after all." Falco suggested. "Seems like all my days recently are big days, but yeah, sleep on an actual bed sounds good." Captain N agreed with a smile. "Thank you all for hosting us, you've all been truly wonderful." Zelda thanked the townspeople. "Of course, Princess! You're always welcome here!" Isabelle replied, slightly flustered. "Everyone wish our heroes a good night!" K.K. spoke up, earning a collective "Good night!" from the crowd. Captain N awkwardly thanked them for their kindness, and he quickly made his way back to the hotel with his three allies. The host graciously handed the four room keys to the group as they entered. Ascending the staircase and arriving at their doors, the group quickly exchanged farewells for the day, more eager to sleep on a soft mattress. As soon as he locked the door behind him and fell onto the bed, Captain N succumbed to slumber once more.