eliotwritesgood

[eliotwritesgood]

Been playing too much OoT and was possessed to revive a fic that I sent to the grave a while back in the name of Mask angst. 

Rating T, gen, 8.4 k words

Summary:

Captain Link got blown up, and Mask wasn't worried about it even a little bit.

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Rating M, gen, chapter word count 3.7k

Chapter Summary:

Warriors wakes up.

Read fic from beginning

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The people stared at Warriors. It wasn't hard to understand why. He was on a massive horse that towered over the sure-footed Hebra horses that they had heard so much about. (...) Warriors had the scarf and a strong wind to make it flutter behind him. His armour and weapons were in perfect condition. The green of his tunic might as well have been an aurora against the dark browns and greys of the townspeople's undyed wool.

Second time drawing something for Steel Can't Carry Me Now by @elle-rosewater

I read this part and it immediately had a hold on my mind. Like, come on. Look at that. How do you read that and not picture a majestic warrior (hehe pun intended) on his faithful steed?

Also apparently this took me over 7 hours so PLEASE consider clicking for better quality

I canNOT draw horses, I ripped Epona off of an image I found on the internet.

Special shout-out to @technologyvoid thanks for bearing with me🫶

[eliotwritesgood]

OFFICIAL STEEL FANART!!! yes they are in a liminal space. me and backgrounds aren't friends

From Chapter 29 of The Warriors Fic Ever, Steel Can't Carry Me Now, by @elle-rosewater. I think this is my favorite scene in the entire fic (so far). I love you so much, HW Impa. I would sell my soul for you

Mostly failed practice in coloring loosely, LOL, also

[eliotwritesgood]

What It Looks Like

Rating G, gen, 1362 words

a short written for @legendoflinkficfight using prompts by @ok-pop-1 ""This isn't what it looks like--" "No, I think it is."" and @doomed-era "It was about as regular of a day as it could be at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab."

Every year, Purah made the journey to the Great Plateau to visit Link in the Shrine of Resurrection. She'd go as often as she could, but as her body got slower and the ache and fatigue of age began to settle in her joints, it was harder to manage anything much more than once per year. The monster camps got larger and stronger. The guardians seemed to grow faster at the same rate that she came slower.

It was a risky route that became more difficult every year, but not once did she think that it wasn't worth it. Not even when she had to spend days on the cool ground of the shrine, cleaning and dressing the wounds she'd taken just to get there. Purah looked on the bright side: It was more time she got to spend with Link.

In the beginning, in those first few years after they lost everything, Link's father and uncle would come with her to visit the shrine. The three of them would sit in silence a lot of the time. Other times they would talk and talk and laugh, sharing stories about Link and telling each other what they'd say to him when he finally rose from the basin.

No one knew how long that would take. No one really knew anything about how the shrine worked. But between the unknown and certain death, Purah knew that Zelda had made the right decision. Link's father and uncle agreed.

His uncle died first. He was trying to rescue some kids who'd been taken by monsters. There was no body left for them to recover.

Purah and Link's father had a few more years of visits together before the man told her that he wasn't going to leave. He was going to stay in the shrine with his son. There was nothing else for him out there. Purah didn't try to change his mind, and she buried his body on the plateau when she found it the next year. It was a pretty little plot. Not far at all from the entrance to the shrine. When Link rose and left this place, it would be one of the first things he walked past.

A few times Impa could be convinced to make the journey. Her intentions were good, Purah told herself, but her sister was deep in her grief for Princess Zelda. She saw as a means to get the princess back, wherever she had gone. Impa was always like that, and Purah had always hated it. Link was a person. They fought about it, and Purah asked Impa to never come with her on these shrines visits ever again.

So it was just Purah making the journey before long. She was determined to understand the shrine. She needed to know that a day would come when Link would leave it, and she decided that she was going to be there to meet him when he did—no matter what.

Blessed as they were with such long lives, they were not immune to the deterioration that came with age. Purah didn't leave home without a healthy stock of bandages and a few elixirs. Wounds became commonplace for the journey. But still she went to the shrine. The harder it became for her, the most important it was that she went. It was worth the risk to her. Every year. No matter how many monsters or how close the blood moon. No matter whether another one of those treacherous storms lashed down on her. Alone or with company, Purah made sure that she went to the shrine at least once each year. Every creak of her joints and line on her face was time running out. She'd made Link a promise that he'd have a friend still when he woke up, and Purah meant to keep it.

Sheikah were blessed with good health and long lives, but it wasn't enough. She needed more time.

"I might not be back next year, Linky," her ninety-nine-year old voice told him. It was damp and chilly in the shrine. There was another storm raging. Purah ran her hand along the side of the basin. Blue veins stood up prominently under her thinning skin. She gave him one of her mischievous smiles. "I got an idea for a new project, and I think it's going to take up all my time. Don't you worry though. I'll show it to you when I'm done. You're going to love it."

That was her last visit to the shrine. She told herself that Link would understand. They would more than make up for the lost time when she figured this out. And she threw all that remained of herself into research. If it weren't for her family and friends reminding her to eat and drink and bathe, she might not have done any of it. Some had enthusiasm for the project, though Purah never fully explained to anyone what she was doing. But when she asked Robbie to help her with something without giving him the full context, he eagerly agreed.

It took several years. Progress was definitely slowed by her failing eyesight and her increasing need for rest, but Purah thought she finally had something that would be workable. Something that would give her more time. She tested it on a few plants first, reducing apples to blossoms, sunflowers to seeds. When she planted them again, they grew, which was a pretty important part of the study. She wasn't a plant, but it was a promising start to trials. Insects were reduced to larva.

The door to Purah's lab was flung open one day. She was on the floor, cuddling a puppy. Moments before, it had been the faithful old stray Hylian retriever who had frequently visited her at the lab; he hadn't been to see her in a while because his hips made travelling up the hill difficult.

Not anymore.

Purah watched Impa's old, keen eyes take in the sight. She knew her sister recognised the dog's markings. She saw the realisation. Saw her sister put it together.

And that unshakable impulse to deceive her older sister and avoid harsh judgement flooded Purah. Some things never changed, did they?

"This isn't what it looks like—"

Impa sighed. Closed the door behind her and came to laboriously lower herself to the floor besides Purah, the lab table and chair aiding her. She was even older than Purah. It was a wonder that they could even see each other. Side by side, Impa reached a hand out and scratched the puppy behind the ear.

"No, I think it is."

"You're not mad?" They could have been young girls again.

Impa hummed in thought. "No. I understand. Suppose I should be grateful you're testing it at all. You usually skipped right to experimenting on yourself."

Purah smiled. "I can't afford for this not to work."

They sat there in silence for a while, the only sound was the joints of their fingers cracking as they scratched the dog.

"I miss them," Impa admitted.

"I do, too."

"She was my best friend. I think about her every day." Impa looked up from the dog and smiled at Purah. "And Link was always willing to help your untested experiments."

"He's a great person. And he shouldn't be alone when he gets this second chance."

"When are you going to do it then?"

Purah would have shrugged if she were younger, but age had put pain in her shoulder blades. "Soon."

"Will you let me know beforehand?"

"Maybe." She grinned her shit-eating younger sister grin. "I'll tell Robbie, and he'll tell you how it goes if I'm not able to."

Impa sighed, but it wasn't the same as all of her old, disappointed sighs. "So it'll be just another day in your lab?"

"Just another day." Purah bumped her sister's arm. "If it works, do you want me to use it on you, too?"

She laughed. Nudged Purah back. "Little sister, this one life has been more than enough."

"Not for me."

Purah started her life over a few months later, and Link wasn't far behind her.

[eliotwritesgood]

Post-War Warriors with his brothers potted plants

Close-ups:

Based on Chapter 13 of @elle-rosewater 's fic Steel Can't Carry Me Now ! I highly recommend reading it especially if you like Warriors angst!!!

[eliotwritesgood]

Kids These Days

Rating G, gen, 646 words

a short for @legendoflinkficfight using the prompt by @capritux1189 "(Linked Universe) all of the Links have accidentally become children via Purah's deaging rune from BotW... except for Wild"

If it were anyone else, they'd probably be panicking. Well, maybe not the traveller. He was pretty good about rolling with whatever circumstances he rolled into. But if it were any of the other heroes besides Wild, they would definitely be panicking about being faced with their eight companions being suddenly reduced to their child selves.

But it was Wild who was still himself here. He might be afraid of a lot of things, but he wasn't afraid of children. Not even tiny heroic children. Because the smith really wasn't any smaller than he usually was. The veteran? He actually looked so sweet. He was helping up Sky, who looked the most worried about the current predicament.

Wild lunged to the side to get a hand on the traveller; he was already starting to wander off.

The sailor might be one to worry about. If Wild had to guess, he'd say that it looked like the younger ones had been least impacted by the de-aging rune. It would explain the smith's minimal changes and why the sailor was wearing an expression of mischievous glee as he looked down at the heads of the captain and Time.

"So, uh, did you guys keep your minds, or are you kids on the inside, too?" Wild asked them. Keeping the amusement out of his voice was just too difficult of a task.

"Um," the rancher's little voice squeaked, "both?"

"They should still mostly be themselves as they were!" Purah's voice chirped.

There was still too much smoke in the lab. Wild couldn't actually see where she was. But the answer was reassuring enough. He smiled at the kids around him.

"Can you all still wash your own asses?"

Traveller squirmed, but Wild adjusted his grip to keep hold.

"Wanna test it?" he challenged.

"Not particularly. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Wild looked across the lab again. It was a little less hazy. Enough for him to make out the silhouettes of Purah and Robbie. "How long d'you think all of this will last?"

Purah arched a brow over her glasses. "If it's anything like mine, until they grow up again."

"No." That was the captain.

"Relax! We'll get working on it. Few days at the longest! Enjoy your second chance at childhood!"

"Second," Time scoffed.

Wild had the Sheikah Slate out and the camera rune active quicker than lightning. Elation flooded him: He'd captured all of their pouting faces reacting to that. Goddesses above, the Hero of Time had an unbelievably cute scowl. Those round cheeks definitely had something to do with it.

"You guys sure you have a handle on things here?" Wild called.

"We always do!"

Something sparked menacingly.

"Sounds good!" Wild said back. "I'm gonna take them down to the beach!"

"Sounds good! Look out for the monsters!"

"Are you kidding? We'll be fine. I've got eight heroes with me. If anything goes wrong, they can blow snot bubbles." Wild laughed at his own joke and then said to the others, "Help me out, Sailor, you're probably the oldest here."

"Gladly, Champion!" He picked up Sky and grabbed the captain's tiny hand.

Furious, the captain grabbed Time's even tinier (but pudgier) hand.

The rancher took hold of veteran and then took Wild's hand that wasn't still holding on to Traveller. Smith sighed but consented to the Link between Veteran and Time.

"See you later then!"

It was a good thing that the door had been blown off, because Wild didn't have the extra hand open it anymore.

"Look alive," he told them as they started down the path (Time kept trying to kick at the soles of the captain's boots between each of his steps, but at least he was looking amused and not homicidal anymore). "There might be monsters. And while I don't want to see anyone hurt, I am curious."

[eliotwritesgood]

WIP Wednesday

have a very rare and very serious look at my notes and working title for chapter 53 of Steel Can't Carry Me Now

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Furr

a short written for @legendoflinkficfight for this prompt from @hytiaa: "Twilight, and the chaos unfolding in his Hyrule politically and socially after Zant, and the true experience of living in a Hyrule that is falling apart more than it appears." And this prompt from @faerynova: "(Twilight Princess) Sometimes Link thinks he enjoys being a wolf more than a person. He's not sure he knows how to feel about that."

Rating T, gen, 1242 words

It's a bit miserable, y'all im sorry lmao

They were pulling bodies out of the rubble for weeks, those of their allies and of foes. At first there was hope. Sometimes there was someone alive under there, and Link was able to help save them. Sometimes it was a monster making pitiful noises, begging for mercy. Either way, it was slow work. One wrong move and the wreckage would shift, crushing anything that had been lucky enough to survive the castle's initial collapse.

Over and over again Link wondered if they would have been able to win without breaking the seal over the castle. What if it had been there to contain the collapse instead of letting it spill over Castle Town? What if there was another way? What if he'd been better?

Still, some people they were able to save. Some survivors were awake enough to tap on the stone and guide the digging crews to their location. They were able to tell them if anything was moving or if they were pinned in a certain place. Or if they were injured.

Link used his wolf form and its enhanced sense of smell to direct the crews to survivors who weren't able to communicate with them. Some of those noises came from trapped monsters. Their scent was sharp in Link's nose, hard to ignore because of how revolting it was. Impossible for his ears to not hear their pained whimpering. His senses insisted he acknowledge it all.

Link made a choice and prioritised Hylians over monsters. As the hours stacked up into days, the scent of blood and infection beckoned him. Still, they found more survivors than bodies. They were injured. A lot of them would likely never recover: Limbs crushed beyond saving or blows to the head that would forever change them.

Still, Link told himself as he pulled them from their prisons made of the ruined castle, they're alive. It's worth it.

But they weren't fast enough to save everyone. There weren't enough people left to move enough rubble. There wasn't enough food to keep the digging crews fed and strong enough to carry on at speed. There was too much grief when they came upon a face that they recognised. Too much nausea and horror when they came upon cavities where Hylians and monsters had been trapped together; the evidence of a struggle to survive painfully clear. Sometimes they could tell that a victim had survived the initial collapse and had suffocated after too long. Or they'd died of infection or wounds which they should have been able to heal from if only Link had gotten there soon enough.

He didn't know if it was worse as a wolf or Hylian at first. The smell of death and decay was so strong to his wolf form's nose, but the rest of it was simpler. The grief didn't sit so heavily. His thoughts didn't get stuck in the same furrows he'd worn into his mind. The limit of everything he could feel at once was lower. Link found himself spending more and more time between shifts at the castle ruins as a wolf.

Even Midna's absence was easier to take when he was transformed. The weight of her on his back, the echo of her voice in his ear—it was all just easier. He needed it to stop for just a moment sometimes. To get his head above water long enough to take another breath. The transformation was the closest he could get.

It wasn't enough.

He lost it after a few weeks. He couldn’t do it anymore. He sat on the ruins of the castle and cried over a young girl curled protectively over an even younger girl. He could find no wounds on them. It was as if they'd been there under that fine layer of dust forever.

Zelda told him to go home. She told him that he'd done enough.

He pretended not to see the tension in the corners of her eyes when she said it. The strain in her voice. As if she were pleading him to just leave. She had to win back the confidence of an entire kingdom, prove that she was a competent ruler who would not allow her people to be stolen and their lands destroyed. She had to bear witness to their suffering, experience it beside them. Why else would they remain loyal to a monarch who had no shelter, food, or water to offer them? A crown without a castle was susceptible to another usurper.

She didn't need Link here as a reminder of all the ways they'd failed.

It's just the way she's coping, he told himself. She's been through a lot. She's going through so much. She died. She was used as a puppet. She was betrayed. Everyone is looking at her to lead them out of this. They want answers. They want to know where their children are; so many of them were still unaccounted for.

So with Zelda's dismissal, Link went back to Ordon Village.

Calls for his helped dogged his every step. Their missing kids. Their empty stomachs. Their partners needed medicine. Not even Malo Mart could offer any relief to the rampant price increases. There was simply no supply to be found.

Link could do nothing for them, but he still tried. The looks on their faces when he wasn't able to give them what they needed was worse than the disappointment when he outright refused to even look. So he stopped trying. He travelled while transformed just to keep them away.

Don't make me say no. Don't ask.

He went home to the goats, but fields grew mostly ash. There wasn't even enough grass for them. He had to watch them become thinner and thinner. If any milk could be collected, it would cost a fortune. The once great and powerful Ordon goats wasted away before his eyes. The cuccos’ feathers dropped and then fell out. Their eggs became prizes.

It was no easier with his family. Anguish filled Colin and Rusl's eyes as they watched Uli grow gaunt, giving everything she had in a losing battle to spare her baby girl.

That wasn't winning. This wasn't success. Surely this wasn't what it looked like to triumph over evil.

Link couldn't bear to watch. The lack of food was taking its toll on him, too. He could feel it in his bones and the way his clothes began to hang. New holes were poked into his belt. His shield felt heavier on his back. Even so, he stopped going over for meals. The scarce servings left them hungrier than they were before sitting down. His portions could be put to better use for Uli and the baby.

So he changed into a wolf and hunted what he could. He brought what kills he could make to the ranch and then crunched bones beneath a tree. He slept out there, nose tucked under his tail. It wasn't freedom, but the shame was so much easier to bare when his wolf mind couldn't hold it all at once. Perhaps he didn't deserve the relief, but the shame wasn't enough to call him back.

Days turned to weeks. He wasn't sure when he decided to give up and wander into exile, but he had. And it didn't worry his mind. The last thing he'd consciously think before surrendering his mind entirely to instinct was that Rusl would take good care of Epona.

[eliotwritesgood]

Rating M, gen, chapter word count 4.8k

Chapter Summary:

Wars shows signs of consciousness

Fic Summary:

Nine bearers of the Hero's Spirit once went on an adventure together. At the end of their natural lives, eight of them were reunited in the goddess's eternal Hall of Heroes. Nothing so trivial as their own deaths would stop them from finding out why one of their number was missing.

In other words: "Warriors isn't canon."

Or read fic from beginning

[eliotwritesgood]

Come get some war trio propaganda!!! 

Rating T, gen, 11.5k words

Summary:

War was hell except for when it wasn't.

Link and moments from the War of Eras

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One of Us, One of Us

Rating G, gen, words 360

A short for @legendoflinkficfight based on a prompt by @firesidoni: "(Links Meet AU) The newest hero to join the group is a Deku Scrub (or other non-Hylian)."

“Watch it!” 

It's the only warning Link gives before instinct kicks in. Muscle memory brings his shield to bear. Instinct makes him grab his strange new companion with whom he shares a name and drag him behind his shield.

“What are you doing?” Other Link whisper-shouts.

“Deku Scrub,” he whispers back, voice strained to be quiet.

“Excuse you?”

“These guys are so annoying.”

They're both crouched behind the shield, and Link stays braced for impact. 

But it doesn't come.

Link waits a little longer. Other Link waits less. He ducks under Link's arm and peeks around the shield.

Link squawks at his companion but slowly rises to look over the edge of his shield, too.

Nothing. Except—

In the patch of tall grass just a handful of paces away from the trail they'd been following, something was rising. It moves at the same speed as Link as he peered over his shield. Deku Scrub for sure, but it was unlike any he'd seen before. It had the same woody body Link expected, and there was a cloth strung about its waist. Strange: The cloth wasn't made of leaves. And it had hair. Blonde hair was sprouting from its ligneous head, and there was a lot of it. Way more than the leafy styles usually covered a Deku Scrub's head. Much of it was tucked under a long green cap.

They stare at each other for a long minute. If it was going to spit a Deku Nut at them, now was the perfect opportunity.

Other Link stands up and dusts himself off. He looks between Link and the odd Deku Scrub. The matching colour of all their outfits. The caps.

“I think it's one of us,” he says cheerfully. “I bet you a purple rupee its name is Link!”

The Deku Scrub's eyes narrow. Link's shield begins to rise reflexively. He only gets it halfway before the Deku Scrub turns and flees. It skips across the pond behind it. Other Link is already in pursuit and laughing.

Link sighs and stows his shield, hurrying to catch up. This is far from the oddest start to an adventure, but goddess damn.

[eliotwritesgood]

No Fall Damage

Rating G, gen, 762 words

a short for @legendoflinkficfight based on the prompt from @amayis-bigtower "Wild shows his motorcycle to the rest of the Links" and fourtwilighskies "(Linked Universe) The chain takes a week-long break from adventuring to relax, but as usual, some of the Links have other plans."

"And I call it the Master Cycle Zero!" Wild threw his arms out wide as it appeared in a wash of blue light before them.

"It's a metal horse?" Twilight asked while scratching at his head and leaning in for a closer look.

"Basically, yeah! But this is faster!" He slapped the neck of the bike. "Er, sometimes."

"If it's a horse, then it…eats?" Sky said with scepticism.

"Uh huh!" Wild pointed toward the rear wheel. Twilight, Sky, and Four's eyes followed his direction. "Back there! I just chuck some apples, flint, wood, whatever in there and it's ready to go for a good while."

Four's brows jumped. "Flint and wood? It's some type of furnace?"

Wild shrugged. "Maybe. I wasn't too worried about how it worked. Just throw some stuff in there and it ride. It's great! Not as nice as a horse, but there are some advantages. Easier manoeuvring. Oh, and the jumps! Best part is that there's some magic in it that prevents you from falling."

It didn't seem possible, but Four's brows climbed even higher—up into his headband. "No damage from falls?"

"None."

"Bullshit."

"I swear!" Wild's grin took on a new edge at the challenge. "I'll show you!"

"Hey, no, wait." Sky put his hands up. "We're supposed to be keeping a low profile. On break, remember? You can't go riding that thing through a resort village. It, uh, looks loud?"

"It is! Louder than a horse! But it won't tear up anything; that's what I'm trying to tell you."

Twilight crossed his arms. "I'm not sure this is a good idea. The others really need the rest. We shouldn't risk being kicked out. Wind's leg still isn't healed up. Warriors hasn't shaken that cough yet. And Time—"

"OK, alright, we get it. There was a great spot just outside of town. We won't disturb anyone out there," Wild decided. "Anyone want a ride out there?"

"There's not enough room," Twilight said.

Wild pointed to the space between the bars he used for steering and the neck of the bike. "Right here!"

"Four, you're smallest."

"Not a chance."

Sky's mouth just started to open and his hand started to raise when Twilight spoke over them, "We agreed that we're not going to make any noise through the village. We'll walk. Take it out again when we get outside of the city."

"Ugh. Fine."

There was a swirl of blue, and the Master Cycle disappeared. As they walked past steaming hot springs, saunas, delicious-smelling taverns, and shops selling all manners of items, Twilight counted himself lucky. They were on day four of a much-needed week-long break, and those of them who were in better shape were beginning to grow bored of the lack of movement. It was annoying the rest of the group that had been carrying more damage. What had at first been minor wounds (wounds, not injuries, as Warriors was so fond of correcting them) that would have healed without issue had become nagging, lingering due to their chronically low supplies. Others became so rundown they became ill and couldn't shake it. Legend had been making noises of a person three times his age every time he stood up or sat down. One time he'd needed Hyrule's help to get up off a toilet.

So, really, it was lucky that those of them capable of mobility outside of the hot springs had not caused the resort village to burn down yet.

Really, Twilight was being responsible by making them take this Master Cycle outside of the village to explore. It was the safest option. He didn't think anything of the snow or half-melted patches of ice that filled the many low spots on the road.

"There!" Wild said, pointing to a hill just outside the boundary of the village. "I'll show you guys how it works, then one of you can try!"

Sky perked up.

Another wash of blue and the bike appeared in their midst. Wild mounted up and kicked the thing to life. The beast snarled, and he took off toward the hill. He didn't get far though, not even to the peak of the hill where he presumably intended to jump the bike from. The wheels bounced in the ice-water potholes and tipped. It should have been a spectacular wipe out requiring multiple red potions and maybe a fairy, too.

Alas.

"I told you!" Wild shouted, snow and ice chunks in his hair and seeping into his clothes. He sounded as if he'd done all that on purpose. "No fall damage!"

[eliotwritesgood]

WIP Wednesday

Have a bit of Chapter 52 of Steel Can't Carry Me Now!

Time crouched down, and Sky sat up to make room, adjusting his appearance back to what they were all used to. Neither he nor Hyrule broke their contact with Warriors. Time put a hand to the side of Warriors's head, looking at something beyond that which Legend could see. His thumb gently stroked Warriors's ear before he shifted his whole hand up to push through his hair, hyperaware of not nudging the mask the whole time. "Hm," he said again, then got both hands under Warriors's arms and picked him up out from between Sky and Hyrule. "You feel it?" the traveller asked again. "What is it? Is he alright?" One of Time's hands pressed circles into Warriors's back; something that might have been soothing for both of them if this were normal. Legend couldn't help but think that the way Time held him actually looked comfortable. Like Warriors was something important to him. "Well?" Four prompted. A little impatience had bled into his voice. That didn't happen every day. Voice low, Time said, "He's OK." "But you feel it, too?" Hyrule's impatience wasn't nearly as rare. "Mmhmm," he confirmed. "It's awareness. He's trying to come back."

[eliotwritesgood]

Hyrule Warriors and AoC Impa nonsense!

Rating G, Gen, word count 1.3k

Summary:

Seeing Mask follow Link around was one thing. It was something else entirely for Impa to have a second version of herself here in the midst of war.

[eliotwritesgood]

Phantasm

Rating G, gen, word count 471

a short for @legendoflinkficfight based on the prompt from @lou-is-sleepy: (Spirit Tracks) Link starts a ghost hunting business.

Another decree needs Zelda's signature. And another. And another.

She told him to write her and post the letter before he moved on to another job.

How quickly she'd forgotten the paperwork that running a kingdom required. The policy. Endless documentation.

She told him that he didn't need to do this.

He told he that he wanted to help people.

She told him that he could be a knight, could be an engineer. They help people.

He told her, "I dunno."

Her eyes drift up to the only portrait that she allows herself on her desk. Her and Link and the Spirit Train. She misses the adventure. That much she can admit. It's harder to say aloud, but she misses Link even more.

He told her that there are other spirits out there. Stuck or suffering—all needing help. He told her that he wants to be the one to help them.

Zelda forces her eyes back down and signs another decree. This is how she is supposed to help. By wearing the crown and being who she was born to be.

He told her about tools he'd found. Things that would help him track down lost spirits. He even showed up in person one day. He told her about all the tools. This one allowed him to hear spirits which might be invisible! This one told him if they'd recently touched something!

She told him that she was proud of him.

Her gaze goes to the open window without her permission, but there is nothing but rain clouds to see. She doesn't mind the cool, damp air that blows in, but she wishes that she could hear something else. Perhaps the sound of the knights doing their drills. Perhaps the whistle of a train.

He told her in letters about the spirits he found, the ones he helped find peace. They were sad, he told her. He told her that he felt like he was really helping, really making a difference.

She signs at the bottom of another piece of parchment. She hardly even read that one. Then she looks out at window again.

The time between his letters grew longer and longer. He told her that there were violent spirits, but they weren't anything that he couldn't handle. It's because they're scared, he told her, but he found a way to reach them eventually.

A sigh forces its way out of her, and she stands, slamming her legs into her desk in the process. Her chair clatters backward.

She thought that he was leaving a lot out of the stories in his letters, but she didn't tell him that.

She leans against the window and looks out into the rain. She feels so heavy. Painfully tangible. There's nothing to see.

No one has heard from Link for two years.

[eliotwritesgood]

Legend of Zelda (BOTW/TOTK), Rating G, Gen, 391 words

Prompt fill for the Legend of Link Fic Fight

SUMMARY:

He doesn’t remember how he lost her, but Link finds her for the first time in the house outside Hateno Village.