#(ey's my aoc au link)

[bloomingbluebell]

no i don't have a favourite link ahahaha what makes you think that *pointedly not looking at the copious amounts of evidence that says it's botw/totk link*

[kholnt]

I just wanted to say how much I looooooovvveeee your Lost Link fic! I love the idea of what would happen if Wild remembered his past. I wanted to know how you think his knight training went? I definitely think that it was a terrible experience that gave him a whole wagon full of horrible coping mechanisms and bad habits(and from where the fic is going, I'm guessing you think similarly), but I wanted to know how you thought his training went. Anyway, just wanted to say how much I appreciate and love your work, Thank You!

WAAAH THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS!!! (but give all of the writing credit to @/eponatheestallion <33 cannot emphasize that enough) BUT! you basically got it in one! his knight training was NOT kind to him in the slightest. i mean, even with the canon material we HAVE it still doesn't particularly spell a good time. (staring at mipha, zelda and purah's diaries respectively. and creating a champion. and possibly aoc but thats a different timeline + i barely know anything abt it so its there In Spirit) i will warn you that this ones gonna be long bc botw diaries TEND TO BE YAP SESSIONS! AND im a yapper so i'll just give you the tldr:

lost's knight training was abhorrent for his mental health and plays into a LOT of his mannerisms and why he is the way he is

ANYWAY! i'll just talk abt things that have been established either in the au or in botw canon :) any blanks you can fill on your own

as for canon things heres some things that stood out to me (formatted to be paragraphs for my sanity):

"A youth named Link was brought to me a hundred years ago, covered in wounds and on death's doorstep. Link… So young, yet so courageous. He was the youngest knight to have ever been appointed to the Imperial Guard at Hyrule Castle. He was also a gifted swordsman who was selected as captain of Princess Zelda's personal guard. I thought his skills would be enough to defeat Ganon in glorious fashion…

It was the best we could do…" -Purah's Diary

~~~~~

"When I finally got around to asking why he's so quiet all the time, I could tell it was difficult for him to say. But he did. With so much at stake, and so many eyes upon him, he feels it necessary to stay strong and to silently bear any burden.

A feeling I know all too well… For him, it has caused him to stop outwardly expressing his thoughts and feelings. I always believed him to be simply a gifted person who had never faced a day of hardship. How wrong I was… Everyone has struggles that go unseen by the world… I was so absorbed with my own problems, I failed to see his." -Zelda's Diary ~~~~~

"At the request of Hyrule's king, a group of outsiders came to greet us at the domain. One of them was a Hylian child of only about four years of age. His name was Link. He made quite a first impression. He was curious and full of energy, with a ready smile. Are all Hylian children that way?

One thing that surely sets him apart is his swordsmanship, which I hear is exceptional. He has even bested adults. He must be somewhat reckless, however, as he was covered in bruises. Wishing to be helpful, I healed his wounds for him." ~~~~~

"Link came to visit the domain. It feels like forever since he was here last. He no longer resembles the child I first met. He is now an accomplished knight and keeper of the sword that seals the darkness. I am so proud. However… He hardly speaks anymore, and smiles even more rarely. He is still the kind soul I knew, but something has changed.

I asked him if something had happened, if something was wrong. He merely shook his head. Perhaps it is his newly acquired height, but I feel he is ever looking past me, into the distance beyond…" -Mipha's Diary

~~~~~ "The details of how Link obtained the sword a hundred years ago have been lost to the mists of time, but since he was in possession of it for a number of years prior to becoming a Champion, he was likely around twelve or thirteen years old when it happened."

~~~~~

"After the Champions for the Divine Beasts were chosen, there was an incident at Hyrule Castle. A Guardian went berserk during a test run. Link deftly defeated it, earning himself a great deal of recognition. Impressed, King Rhoam made him Princess Zelda's appointed knight. With no regard for his own personal safety, he loyally fulfilled his duty to guard Princess Zelda with his life." -Creating a Champion

(there will be another thing later but its separated for a Reason.) ANYWAY! these are like. BIG things in canonical material that I feel like are important, especially if they're highlighted. i'm not really going to elaborate much since its kind of spelled out already but i'll say a few things nonetheless (also for consistencies sake i'm going to say lost but do know this ALSO applies to wild) he was the youngest knight appointed in history. like even that alone is FUCKED??? i don't remember if it was something in canon, fanon or something kay n i made up (but it doesnt rlly matter since its canon to the lost hero au ANYWAY!) but he became a knight at TWELVE soon after pulling the sword. then proceeded to become a royal guard at 17. this is a kid surrounded by adults in a generally Unsafe Environment, that alone is enough for some level of fucked. ill explain the "hes been training since he was four" later since i have Thoughts about that, but on a unrelated note do notice that mipha makes the assumption that lost is reckless and not through actually seeing him being clumsy. hyrulean guard when i get you now, to me the vow of silence was something that stemmed from before the calamity and started up in his training. because thats a twelve year old being forced to be a hero when he never got the choice to. OBVIOUSLY hes going to shut down. again, this will be expanded upon later also. lost is canonically self sacrificial. VERY self sacrificial. no further comments, just saying OKAY. NOW ITS LATER BC ITS TIME TO YAP ABT THE "inspired by canon but like. its canon plus." canon is bent in specific ways bc the way link is characterized (in cac specifically) makes him very uh,,,, inhuman i suppose. i love looking at scenarios where decisions have consequences, and it's that specific reason why i enjoy "what if" aus so much.

yes, lost was still trained when he was four. no it was not formally. to me, lost had an interest in swordsmanship because his dads a knight! hes going to be exposed to at least a little bit at an early age. he was insistent on wanting to learn, so with the power of sticks, pot lids, and a lot of positive reinforcement, he learned how to do the movements of swordfighting. he'd never been given a proper sword until the guard brought him to zora's domain. lost's dad never wanted to force the position of hero onto him, so he never gave him a sword. everyone knows that he's the hero except him, and lost's dad would rather keep it that way until he's old enough to climb mount lanayru (it happens much earlier than that) now abt the fucking "According to tales told by the long-lived Zora, Link visited Zora's Domain when he was younger and formed a bond with them, defeating a Lynel and teaching various skills to Zora children. This story sheds light on both his physical abilities and his strength of character." from creating a champion just like. isn't canon in this. the only other recorded time lost fought a lynel in zoras domain was when he was already zelda's guard and he was not younger. so by proxy it must've been when he was four WHICH ISN'T HAPPENING SORRY GUYS!!!! i'm not having a four year old fight a lynel hero or not!!!! it's referenced in lost hero canon (the soldiers accompanied made jokes and tried to egg lost on but it got shut down real quick since a. his dad was there and b. literally anyone who have thinking caps would go "yeah um... no actually!") and now its fanon time :))) when lost was in the army, he was usually trained separately from the other knights, mostly because of skill difference. as a CHILD he was able to clear soldiers, he needed different training period. as for the actual formal training, it was extremely strict. terrible conditions stemmed from an awful reward "system" (that usually led to lost being extremely fatigued and starting an endless loop of punishment. there is a reason why lost can push through awful conditions: hes used to it) all blanketed with the justification of "he's the hero of hyrule." they trained him to be a weapon, not a person. he doesn't have a sense of self nor an identity outside of "hero" "champion" or "weapon." things like "brother" got stripped from him when he joined the academy. they didn't bother with setting up a future for him. he eventually figures his shit out but thats YEARS down the line, and even then he's still suffering from this,,,, self objectification? idk how else to describe it when he wasn't getting grilled for "not swinging his sword hard enough" or having his foot a centimeter off even though he hasnt had the privilege of Basic Necessities To Survive in (insert timeframe) he was usually doing something in the coliseum. as it turns out, having the hero show off in front of an audience by fighting a lynel (or multiple) is a GREAT money maker! shame he wasnt usually told beforehand!

being forced into heroism is a big reason as to why hes the silent knight. he never wanted this. being separated from his family (whom of which i have Many thoughts about. same for his childhood honestly) and surrounded by strangers who have no care for who he is but rather what he stands for was absolutely awful, and only made worse by his age. being silent and just dealing with it is how he coped, and its eventually going to boil over (just give it a few years) his knight training was one of THE worst things to happen to him, right under failing to save his kingdom and inadvertently being the cause of hyrule's demise. it's the reason why he acts the way he does. he wasn't allowed to forget, so instead it influences almost everything he does, says and thinks. SO YEAH IT WASNT A GOOD TIME

[sciencelings-writes]

My tLoZ and LU Masterlist

UPDATED 11/19/2023

Of Dubious Sophistication: 6/? posted chapters, Wild meets the chain on a day when he has to act like an important person and decides to fuck with their initial misconceptions of him. Mostly formatted to give each of the Links to come to their own conclusions about Wild, a Compilation of oneshots with a vague overarching plot.

Another Second Chance: 2/? classic Wild gets pulled into the AOC timeline and is tasked to help prevent the calamity. But he looks different enough from his counterpart that he doesn’t reveal his true identity. He accidentally parallels Astor in the whole mysterious sorcerer/ seer vibes as he both knows the future and popped out of nowhere in a dramatic cape and ancient technology. Lots of interaction between Wild and the champions and there is both angst and hijinks. There’s also stuff about the new champions as most of it follows the plot of AOC. Also Wolfie is there because I thought it would be funny for him to bop around the baby egg guardian.

The Silence of the Knight: BOTW pre-calamity fic that’s mostly an introspective fic about why Link went silent and how everyone around him reacts to his lack of outward emotions. I just saw the concept of people seeing him as not quite human because of his refusal to show any emotions and wanting to catch a glimpse of how/ if he reacts when tragedy strikes, just to see if he has the ability to feel anything at all.

Heavy in Your Arms: Wild hated getting his memories back. They could be triggered by seemingly anything, they forced the entire group to stop or have someone stay with him until he got over it, which mostly ended up being Twilight, and he tended to end up feeling terrible. Even the good ones were bittersweet, when he saw glimpses of a family that was long gone or a fleeting moment when his life wasn’t destined to be a nightmare, only to open his eyes a century later having lost everything.He knew it was starting to become a hindrance on their quest and the last thing he wanted to be was a burden. (part of a series focused on the Wolf Trio)

I’ve Seen Hell (But This is a Bit More My Style): BOTW Fem!Link fic focused on how being the first female incarnation of the Heroes Spirit would be treated with a little bit of Zelink as a forbidden relationship. Link is angry and all of her past lives are just as pissed as she is. She’s seen as a harbinger of the calamity rather than the hero sent to stop it. And she’s seen as a mistake of the goddess and proof that the 10,000 years of peace was now at an end. General woman problems you know? (Sequel incorporating LU in progress) also please mind the tags.

Swordcrossed Lovers: Fluffy oneshot of the above au, Link and Zelda go to Gerudo Town and flirt while sword fighting. Zelink Week 2022 prompt: Sparring. 

Champions Possessing Wild Oneshot Collection: The champions possess Wild sometimes, it leads to some shenanigans 

The Unironic Magical Properties of True Love: totk role swap, Zelda find where Link has been hiding since being stuck in the past.

*NEW* Forever Changed: post totk zelink, where they both come back a little differently and have to deal with the immediate aftermath of... everything.

Requests/ short oneshots:

The Idiots of the Wind: Wind makes friends with the spirit of Revali and they team up to mess with Wild, mildly traumatizing him in the process. 

A Waste of Pretty Faces: Wild and Warriors bond over something they didn’t expect (mind the warnings and tags)

To Kill What’s Already Dead: Set after sunset pt.7, Wild deals with not being allowed to see Twilight and with the very real possibility that his mentor is dying.

A Mosaic of Broken Glass: Link has a lot of scars, they don’t like them very much. Zelda is determined to help them work on loving themself. Non-Binary BOTW Link and I accidentally made Zelda asexual.

On Top Of The World: Day 1 prompt for Zelink week 2022- One Last Look, Link and Zelda reunite after the final battle with the calamity. Idk what to say it’s just pure fluff. 

Frightful & Delightful: Wintery LU fic that is Hyrule-centric for a secret santa. Hurt/comfort, but mostly fluff. 

3 Sentence Fics: Lots of short fics in one place, including LU, botw Zelink, and my own AUs!

The Many Duties of the Princesses Appointed Knight: Fluffy pre-calamity zelink hair braiding, not me basing a whole fic off of a vague idea... 

The Caretaker of Holy Things: OC fic made for a zelda creators collab, the Priestess of the Temple of Time remains at the great plateau while the calamity rages around her, unfortunately, she’s due to have visitors. 

Whumptober 2022:

Prompt 2: Nowhere to Run: Aryll from my priestesses AU meets the Fierce Deity for the first time.

Prompt 5: Hypothermia: Link and Zelda from my Golden Priestesses AU journey up to the Temple of Nayru to the spring of wisdom.

Prompt 9: Caught in the Storm: Zelda spends one hundred years fighting the calamity, even though he’s slumbering in the shrine of resurrection, Link still finds a way to help her keep her head above water.

Prompt 10: Whipping: Wild from my Fem!Wild AU has to reveal some things about her past after having a panic attack post-battle. Kind of a rewrite of part of the comic where Wild throws himself in front of Wind during a fight, you know the one. 

Prompt 15: Emotional Damage/ New Scars: Wild visits the forgotten temple after the events of LU, he mourns. 

Zelink Week 2023: 

Day 1: Yearning: All In Good Time: Fem! Zelink AU during the events of LU, Wild misses her Princess. 

Day 2: Forbidden: The Ballad of Frost and Flames: Fem!Zelink AU, pre-calamity while Link is still in hiding, they meet at a masquerade ball. 

Day 4: Hand in Hand: The Fable of the Dragon and the Phoenix: MAJOR TOTK SPOILERS, Zelda makes and eternal choice and Link learns to rise from the ashes.

[science-lings]

okay I’ve been inspired, time to list all my versions of botw/totk/aoc link lets go

Wild (He/They): Nonbinary, LU Wild adjacent, generally who I write whenever I write for LU, kind of his own thing bc I feel as though I tend to stray when it comes to lu characterization to fit my own wants. Has the most trouble with memories and their past, has the least control over his emotions. Things like sorrow and anger hit really hard for them and they have more trouble regulating it. Still silly and GNC though, just not as confident about their gender presentation yet.  

Sage (They/She): Genderfluid, HSFR botw/totk Link, really leaning into the whole death/rebirth/reincarnation thing with this one, accidentally picks up a spooky vibe because they have a skeleton horse and a big comfort cloak and is extremely good at making potions. This whole vibe what I’m leaning into for Another Second Chance, even though in that one the botw Link is still called Wild lol. 

Guardian (He/Him): Too anxious to think about gender rn but is a aroace queen. HSFR AoC Link, half sheikah and it is important to his story. His life is kinda dictated by his dedication to the throne by being descended from a long line of royal knights and sheikah who have vowed to serve the blood of the goddess. Also he’s betrothed to his Zelda and on his way to becoming King/Prince Consort.  

Aryll (She/Her): Cis woman (but with complicated gender feelings as she was discouraged from being feminine for a long time and has trouble feeling valued while enjoying typically feminine things, you know the vibe) My Fem!Wild/ Link AU, is the most likely to commit regicide. Had an easier time recovering memories during botw bc of her large amount of shared moments with Zelda. 

Linkle (She/Her): Trans woman Link au, has a bit of an egg cracking moment when she was getting into gerudo town, don’t have much for this one, it might be where I put all my Link being close to the Gerudo hcs. Like, after sealing the calamity, she and Zelda go to live in Gerudo Town instead of Hateno and they’re real close buddies with Riju and Linkle goes to the nearby great fairy to get her gender magically transed. idk i love the gerudo and think they deserve better. (also her name could be changed i kinda made this one on a whim...) 

Spirit Sage (They/Them): Fem leaning enby, totk role swap au where Link gets sent back with the spirit stone instead of Zelda, they lost their arm but the stone lets them summon a ghost version that they have to learn how to control (a feature also seen with HSFR Sage), trained under Mineru and tries to assasinate Ganondorf a few times. 

Time Sage (They/He): Masc leaning enby, pre-calamity was a trans man but then their gender got pickled for a century and their ideas on gender changed a little. They lose their arm but don’t get a replacement. The secret stone they had with them amplifies their time manipulation abilities (bullet time/ sitting by the fire, that kind of thing) They have to learn to fight just as will with their left side and not wield any sort of shield. The story is closer to the canon version than the Sage of Spirit version of the au. 

Gladiator (He/Him): trans man, ssbu Link, pulled from his quest pretty soon after botw. Older brother/babysitter to Young Link (MM) and Toon Link (WW), Eyes have been opened to the multiverse and he’s kinda just vibing with being kind of immortal and meeting the strangest people. ssb lore is wacky so he’s at least allies with all of the other characters, including ganondorf at in the end. Has the least amount of fashion sense and cooking ability but at least he has little brothers and is buds with Kirby. 

[linked-through-the-centuries]

Hey! I was looking through the information about your Links, and I really like the direction your AU is going :D I'm always a fan of some HW brothers content and I love the potential of having totk/botw Link with AoC Link :D

I do want to let you know though, that some parts of the character information can come off ableist. I'm confident it was never your intent, but I highly encourage doing research before representing disabled people--mentally and physically. (Pardon, this might run a little long, I'm rambly and I'm very passionate about doing your own research before you represent communities, since we're a system with BPD, PPD and chronic pain. Misinformation only hurts the communities you try to represent, and disability is NOT an aesthetic).

With that in mind, I would like to point out that Tears "traumatising the others by taking off his arm" can come off incredibly misinformed about Prosthetics. Amputees do not wear their prosthetics all the time, they aren't surgically attached to their bodies and "traumatises" implies that the act of taking off an assistive device can be scary/unsettling when it should not be. Many amputees will actively go days without wearing their prosthetics, and a lot of them even have wheelchairs or canes to suffice :D wearing a prosthetic all day every day without taking it off can be extremely unhealthy.

The other thing I want to point out is Tune answering with "for the aesthetic" when asked why he wears an eyepatch and that he actually didn't lose an eye. Respectfully, but partial blindness is not an aesthetic 😭😭 I understand that its the "pirate" aesthetic but...those pirates...usually actually have lost their eyes. For light sensitivity, there are real assistive devices called "Blackout Glasses" which are used to reduce incoming light to the sensitive eyes. Though, I can also understand that since this is his answer and not a narrative excuse, it's possible it's just ableism that the character displays but the narrative doesn't excuse but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

That all being said, I don't think you were intentionally ableist and I'm not calling you ableist either /clar I mean no disrespect and I love your AU so far, I'm interested to see more of it, but I'm coming from a place of care when I say that there's aspects of it that can seem misinformed. Disability is already so vastly misunderstood in the internet sphere and it's a serious problem that inhibit millions of people; not an aesthetic or something you can put into stories to make characters more interesting or push traumatic backstory.

(Also, feel free to Not post this, there's no obligation to! My tumblr is just heinously broken and I can't send DMs.)

Thank you for sending this! It was absolutely not my intent at all to cause harm or misrepresent. As someone who is disabled myself, I believe representation is so so so important and I try my best to do as well as I can. I’ve done a lot of research to write characters with experiences different from my own correctly and as respectfully as possible.

I fully acknowledge I was in the wrong by using the word ‘traumatized’ to describe how Tears suddenly taking off his arm makes the others feel, and I deeply apologize for that. The word I meant was ‘startled’, and I have fixed that. Thank you for bringing that to my attention! I struggle with tone and words and that is no excuse, and I definitely used the wrong word so thank you so much for pointing that out. I know it is uncomfortable to wear prosthetics for long periods of time which is why Tears takes theirs off, however the reason I said it’s a bit startling to the others is because they had no idea it was a prosthetic the first time it happened. Tears wears a lot of long sleeves, especially at first, and the prosthetic simply isn’t visible, and he didn’t warn the others, he just simply took it off. It can be quite shocking to see your friend suddenly remove their arm. The others also often forget he has a prosthetic and worry if that arm of his gets ‘hurt’ before remembering Tears is completely okay. Again, I am so sorry, I did use the wrong word, that is my fault, I have fixed it.

As far as Tune and his eyepatch goes, I haven’t had the opportunity to write out a full post about him, but he is based on me. To explain it further: one of his eyes is very sensitive to the light, the other is fine, hence why he only covers one. It is very hard for him to see in bright lighting with his right eye, so he covers it to protect it. There’s nothing “wrong” with it, it was never injured, it’s just always been that way. He takes the patch off when he’s in dimly lit rooms or areas because his eye can handle low levels of light, so he’ll take it off when he goes below deck in order to see because that eye is adjusted to darkness. Again, his vision situation is based solely off of myself and the way I experience highly and lowly lit areas, though I have also done some research on the situation in addition to using my own experience. I’ve had to wear eyepatches, I know how uncomfortable they are. He wears it for a functional reason, but he doesn’t like to explain that to people because they don’t tend to understand, so he jokes around abut it. He may say it’s for that pirate aesthetic, but without it, he’s in immense pain. His eyepatch protects him

If I have upset anyone by Tune still having an eye and wearing an eyepatch I am truly sorry /gen. It was never my intention to cause harm or make anyone upset. Thank you for bringing this to my attention though, if you have anything else, please let me know and don’t hesitate to reach out, /gen, I know you said your dms weren’t working

I try my best to do research on the things I am unfamiliar with, but for the most part, I tend to write about things I have personally experienced :)

[plum-pitt]

Brief bit of context before jumping in, i wrote this lil guy years ago with intents of making a oneshot or brief multi chapter fic of it, and it never got past the planning stage. It doesn’t contain any totk lore for obvious reasons, mainly that it was conceptualized damn near 3 yrs ago. I found it while looking thru my notes earlier today and decided i’d clean it up a bit and post it on my tumblr like a sad little orphan baby with the rest of my deranged ramblings. Its a Breath of the Wild AU that borrows the everything’s great and everyone’s alive concept from Age of Calamity(if only to ruthlessly tear it to shreds), but not much else, so don’t worry about spoilers or confusion with that game’s lore or anything. With all that said, enjoy

So i suppose this is for anyone who thought Age of Calamity went just a *little* bit too well. So, hear me out, a what if scenario where AoC was all just a wish fulfillment fantasy created from Links fragmented subconscious being affected by Ganon’s Malice, in a last ditch attempt to pacify the hero and slowly kill him from the inside? And in order to break free Zelda uses what little remained of her power to manipulate the illusion just enough to give his subconscious a chance at fighting back? Well dear reader, i bring you (the vague conceptal ramblings of) a harrowing tale of this poor boy living the life he always(?) wanted, having to watch it crumble all around him, trying to fight reality every step of the way, and finally coming to accept the harsh truths of his reality and finding hope in its future.

We open in the castle sanctum with Zelda and Link standing in the center of the room. Zelda hands him the sheikah slate with an almost apologetic look on her face, only for Link to discover a peculiar set of photos, the very same photos Link used in the failed future to rediscover his memories of the past. She then tells him that he must head to the Great Plateau and investigate, explaining she has reason to believe the visual data is linked to that location and that her duties with rebuilding do not allow her to do so herself. Link, of course, agrees and sets off immediately, but as he leaves the room, the scene focuses in on Zelda’s face in the final moments, twisted with guilt before fading out.

The scene cuts back to the present with Link back at the plateau, except, something is… off. Structures from all corners of Hyrule are scattered haphazardly across the terrain, mixed in with decimated ruins completely overtaken by nature. The time of day and the weather fluctuate erratically as he wanders, and thick, hazy fog that his legs refuse to carry him through envelops countless areas, paired with an ever present feeling of eyes boring into his back. Eventually he finds the ceremonial grounds that should have been in Hyrule field, now half destroyed and covered with moss and decaying guardian shells, also the site of the first photo on the slate. In a flash he finds himself experiencing the subdued ceremony memory, where he is appointed as Zelda’s knight, except, this isn’t his memory. It isn’t right. Just like that he is thrown back into his body, and the ceremonial grounds that were once in front of him had vanished completely.

After such a rattling experience, despite the job he was given he finds himself looking for the place he entered, only to find it too had vanished, leaving him no choice but to keep looking for the other locations in the photos. Each time he encounters a new memory location, he has another vision, and with each one, the land further warps and distorts itself around him. Vaguely familiar faces begin to fade in and out of the spreading fog like phantoms, almost taunting him as he progresses, while the feeling of eyes watching him only grows more and more intense. These strange visions don’t line up with his memories at all, yet the foreboding and heavy feeling in his gut leaves him feeling more anxious and confused with each passing moment. Eventually, after he sees them all lose, sees himself die in Zelda’s arms, sees her go to the castle to face Ganon alone, he finally arrives at the entrance to the Shrine of Resurrection. There he sees himself, mutilated and deathly still, laying in the chamber, and collapses to his knees, the yawning feeling of dread and emptiness hitting him full force.

He looks up once more and finds himself in an empty, eerie lost woods with an unresponsive deku tree and nary a korok to be found. His eyes catch immediately on the master sword, decrepit and broken like everything else in that place, sat lifelessly in the pedestal he had just pulled it from not a month earlier. The feeling of being watched increased tenfold, making him turn around only to see the cloaked form of… himself. But, no! This couldn’t be him. This person had countless burn scars the same ones as the corpse in the shrine marring nearly every inch of him, long unkempt hair spilling out of his oversized hood, and a wild undead glint in his eyes. Link is given barely a moment to take in the appearance of his stalking shadow before the figure’s weapon is drawn and he’s flinging himself at him.

Imagine an epic, symbolic ahh fight scene where these mfs duke it out, that i’m too lazy to describe. The dynamic i’m imagining is that our POV Link is a manifestation of the Malice’s temptation. The one who wants to stay in the happy dream provided to him by the Malice invading his mind, pacified by the fake memory. The Link he’s fighting (let’s just call him Wild cuz LU brain and also it makes shit easier) is the part of his brain that wants to move forward, accept his true past, and face the future. Each time Wild lands a blow on POV Link, he’s bombarded with more memories that bring him closer to true clarity and acceptance, knocking down his resistance to the truth. Conversely, every time POV Link lands a blow, his resolve to fight the temptations of this fake happy ending weaken. The fight stretches on, and for a moment it looks like POV Link might win, but Wild being a shifty fuck manages to turn the tide and land a killing blow.

In that moment, our POV Link finally feels clarity, enough to accept what he knew in his gut all along. That none of this was real, and that the one he’s been fighting all this time was none other than himself. Still, he can’t help but feel mournful over this happy dream, even as it literally falls apart all around him. In this moment of weakness he looks up at Wild, the grief written across his eyes drawing a look of sympathy from his other half, before the cloaked figure spoke in a gravely timbre

“We can’t run from the truth anymore.”

“…Why not? Can’t we just have this? Don’t we deserve a happy ending? After everything?”

“We do, and we can find it outside this place. But only if you have the will to get us there.”

“….Okay.”

With that exchange, our POV Link finds himself fading away with a small, hopeful smile as he metaphorically rejoins with his other half. Leaving just one, reunited Link left in the clearing, smiling up at the sky as the illusion begins to completely break down and collapse under his wholehearted resolve to escape. From one of the fissures in the sky, he hears Zelda’s echoing voice call out to him, and he takes a moment to thank her for the wake up call and apologize for the wait. Ending it off by saying he’d be there soon, before he too fades away. The golden light where he once stood, gently floating upwards toward the fissure in the sky.

Was this any good? Fuck if i know dawg I wrote this my junior year of highschool and just cleaned it up for shits n giggles. But hey! Let me know your thoughts on this strange blend between outline of a oneshot and actual oneshot. Or if you’d wanna flesh it out more and write it for yourself, then by all means do so! Just uh, credit me ig? Oh and send me a link cuz i wanna read the hell out of it.

[sciencelings-arts]

“Wow Andromeda a lot of your characters are aroace” maybe I’m just projecting huh?

[itcantbe]

WIP tag game

I was tagged by @michpat6 and @zeldaelmo for this! Thanks!

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs (or as many peeps as you want, really- 'tis just for fun!)

Look. My WIP folders are. a whole mess. So here's some random WIPs, some are smut and some aren't. I really love AUs, so sue me. See the fall out from me coming up with a title for a WIP before I've written it.

line my eyes and call me pretty (Maid AU, NSFW)

play the field, keep it real (ganzelink sugar daddy AU, NSFW)

AOC Astor AU

nightmare crackfic

popular mechanics for broken hearts (a high school AU)

show cat AU

and we did it just like that (convenience store AU, NSFW)

back to the future AU

feral Link AU

Outlander AU

Feel free to ask me questions! I have so many ideas and I'm having difficulty wrangling them into a coherent story, alas.

[tortilla-of-courage]

Describing it as being like home is actually pretty accurate yeah.

And YES! I am totally willing to talk about my modern AU.

I've been calling it the Adoption AU because Time ends up adopting all of the boys. It mostly started as, I saw an edit for a tweet someone did with Wars and Wild that involved Taco Bell (cannot remember the blog or post for the life of me though), and so I wrote a thing about Warriors sneaking out of his university dorm to pick up Wild, who snuck out the window despite his broken arm, and then got extorted by Legend in exchange for silence at 3am.

This was followed by a fic where Groose decided spray painting a public building was a good idea and got himself and Sky arrested, set earlier in the timeline.

So then I made a timeline. Twilight is Time and Malon's biological son, and he found Wild on the side of the road one day (Wild's backstory involves a bad car wreck and an underground hospital, but no conspiracy bullshit. Yet). Wild has no memory, so they keep him. Wild brings home Legend, who was told his uncle died at school before a holiday. They then also keep Legend. Malon finds Four in her barn one morning for complicated reasons, and they keep him too. Twilight finds Warriors, who is in his class, hiding in an alley one day after he ran away from an abusive home and brings him home too. SS Impa (who I've nicknamed Shield because there are enough prominent Impas here that they should get nicknames too) is a social worker who's trying to find Sky a home and has run out of options, and turns to Time, who has a record of successfully housing 'unhousable' youths, and asks if he can take one more. He can. Wild finds Hyrule and brings him home because 'Rule needs a shower even more than Wild does. Hyrule stays. Wind's grandma ends up with Wind and his sister but can't financially take care of both and so Wind ends up with the boys and everyone is +1 Grandma.

Twilight has a fic detailing how he knows Midna and Dusk and I ended up shooting him (oops) but at least their social project gets handed in on time.

Then I started hashing out Time's backstory and suddenly this AU had plot. And organized crime. And a conspiracy. And secret societies.

The summarized version is that the gems from OoT are like, Idk what they do yet. Haven't gotten to a point where I need to figure that out yet. But they are Important and have to be carefully guarded. The Great Deku Tree (just called Deku because he's not a tree here) was Time's foster father before Ganondorf killed him. Also, Ganondorf is Deku's half brother. Because. However Time 'stole' the Emerald and he and Navi ran until OoT Impa (Sage) and Lullaby found them. So Time got adopted into Lullaby's family. Ruto inherited the Sapphire from her mother who also died from mysterious circumstances, and Darunia has the Ruby. Lullaby got the Ocarina from her late paternal grandmother.

Then Ganon finds them and tries to steal the Emerald from Time, so Lullaby goes looking for help and thus finds the sages. Saria is an anonymous hacker who uses the screen name 'Kokiri'. Time reveals he didn't steal the Emerald, he was Deku's heir, and then Navi goes missing. Time is home worried enough that he's physically sick, and Ganon decides to try and attack the home. Only Lullaby's family is Olde Money, and they live in a big, old manor, so Lullaby as Sheik decides to play 'Home Alone' with the secret passages in the walls and they piss off Ganon because when did that brat get a sheikah bodyguard??? Sage and Rottla (Lullaby's mother, who is fully sheikah as well) rush home from a thing and Kokiri is running a play by play watching the security cameras.

I pull in my headcanon that Time was killed in the Downfall Timeline by getting impaled on Ganon's tusk and Ganondorf stabs him with the tusk of a mounted boar head and then Sheik shows up to protect his brother, and then Mama gets home and is not happy to find this man in her home attacking her kids. Time is fine, but Navi stays missing. (She's alive tho.)

Also, Time's foster dad was the last leader of a secret society known as The Order of The Lost Woods, and Time learns this upon meeting Tatl, who gets him sucked into another event that would probably make a good action movie. I have thought too much about the Order and it's hierarchy, but what's important here is that Time ends up with a standing job offer and Tatl and he remain friends and we find out how I fit FD into this AU. It's not pretty. This is where Time loses his eye too.

The AoC came out and I added that Link in as Wild's twin brother and he shows up during the main plot.

Which starts with Twi getting kidnapped. (I'm not really meaner to him than the others, I swear, he's just the most logical choice to be Time's heir. Which he is. He doesn't know this though.)

So he's kidnapped by Ganondorf, who broke out of jail, Zant, who shot Twi in highschool, and Ghirahim, who has some history with Sky I haven't fleshed out yet and a very public rivalry with Warriors over twitter. About six weeks later Sage finds him in an abandoned warehouse (because of course) with a shackle on his left arm and a lot of new injuries. He ends up fine, but he tells Time later in the hospital what happened and he's both message and messenger and Time is this close to just committing murder. Tatl talks him down.

Somewhere here is the half finished fic where I introduce AoC Link as Luke/Knight, and this is as far as I've plotted thus far.

Other tidbits: Wild and Lullaby/Sheik are both genderfluid, Lullaby/Sheik married Ruto, Wild has a very popular YouTube channel, Twi does drag racing sometimes, Sky has a pet bird, Four has DID to explain how the Colours are here too, and Wolfie exists in the form of a random wolf-dog Wild found and brought home that Legend somehow convinced half the family was Twilight. Also, Warriors has somehow befriended an entire sorority and he doesn't know how this happened.

This... got long. As you can see I have a lot of thoughts about the Adoption AU. It's gotten a bit away from me, I'll admit. This went from 'Wild does stunts on his motorbike and keeps breaking bones but somehow not the bike' to 'Twilight got kidnapped and Time is the target of a mafia that Ganon runs and also maybe killed a man once' and I don't know how that happened. Also, this is the condensed version of the summary. My actual summary/outline is much, much longer than this. So if there's any detail you want more on, feel free to say so and I'll happily go into more detail (there are so many things I didn't even mention....)

And yes, Robbie having a bong is very important to my best friend, for some reason. He has one in a modern AU and he probably invented one in canon. I happen to agree that this makes sense for his character, if anyone would invent a bong in LoZ it's Robbie (this is such an anticlimactic end to this ask after the stuff about the modern AU...)

Also, sorry for the long ass ask. I genuinely don't know how to condense the Adoption Au down any further. There's a lot of important plot beats to cover, and I still skipped things.

-Attllhak

oh my GOD???? if you ever write and post this somewhere id love to read it, the level of "crazy" conspiracy/action movie elements implemented sound sosososo cool, from Ganondorf being Deku's half brother to trying to "send a message" via Twi and- just- all of this is SO good.i sat here and reread this ask like 3 times as if that would magically spawn more info about it ahaha

there's so much to unpack here but it's honestly so worth it i love every single detail!!! i can imagine the actual outline being way longer, nad honestly that just makes me the more excited/curious about all that might be missing from this ask - i cant believe it started with Wild and Wars going to Taco Bell of all things

also i can totally see Robbie making a bong, no matter the setting or AU. fits him a lot I'd say

and dont worry about long asks!! i adore opening up my askbox to see one ask take over the entire thing, it makes me really happy aha

[echogekkos-writes]

au where link was born as a zora, still the champion of hylia just a zora now! or botw au where hylia and demise switches places, where demise is good and hylia is bad!

OOOOO! Thanks for sending these my way! They're both really good au ideas! I’m going to do both cause why not! Okay here’s what I got.

Zora Link AU:

Follows BoTW/AoC

(fair warning, these headcanons read out more like a story outline than actual headcanons. But hey, new fic idea?)

Link still grows up in Zora’s Domain. In fact, he is born around the same time Mipha is, just a few years shy of her. They grow up together and become inseparable friends, from childhood to their young adult years. Although, their friendship starts taking a hit as Mipha becomes busy with her duties to the Domain, and Link undergoes knight training for the Domain’s Royal Guard. They start seeing each other far less than they like to.

By the events of Pre-Calamity, Link is now serving in the Zora Royal Guard, youngest ever to apply! Mipha has officially taken on her princess duties. They still maintain a close friendship, but an attraction to each other has started to grow (yes, I’m a sucker for childhood friends to lovers, especially in this capacity for the AU). Their friendship has re-kindle thanks to a certain Zora King. Link has been serving as Mipha’s personal knight for nearly a decade now, appointed by Dorephan because he knows what’s going on between the two, and just like any best dad, wants to help nurture their growing affection for each other.

Link hears the call for the search of the Hero. He can’t explain it, but he feels like he must answer Rhoam’s request. This feeling grows stronger every time he passes by the Domain’s Goddess statue. Like a whisper on the wind, coming from the bust of Hylia herself. Mipha is concerned for him, as no other Zora will answer...everyone knows it has always been Hylians who have been the hero in ages past. Link tries to explain to Mipha that he doesn’t know why he must do this, only that he has to. This causes some contention in their relationship.

When Link pulls the Master Sword from the pedestal there is a political shitstorm. Hyrule isn’t too happy that a Zora pulled the sword from the pedestal. It’s unheard of, preposterous even. And yet, Rhoam understands these are trying times, and with the Calamity at their doorstep, he will take all the help from Hylia he can get, by any means. The Zora rejoices as one of their own is the Hero, but Mipha, while happy for Link, can’t join in their jubilation. She’s afraid for Link, of the destiny he has been set on. Yet she resolves to support him in any way she can.

Then Hyrule comes in to claim the hero. Hylia is the providence of Hylians, and being the Blessed Hero of the Golden Goddess, Link must serve Hyrule in their eyes. The Zora are not about to let one of their own go. There is a political fallout between the two kingdoms and the sparks of conflict begin to rise. Link, knowing his duty and what must be done, plans to surrender himself to Hyrule. He confides his worries with Mipha, his concerns and although she begs him not to go, they both know he has no choice. Dorephan is informed of Link’s plan, so a political agreement is made with Hyrule that Link will serve Hyrule and cut all ties to the Domain.

This makes Link the Silent Knight as we know from AoC/BoTW. And he serves Zelda in the same capacity. His silence comes from everything he has had to sacrifice as well as the weight of duty on his shoulders. Zelda herself doesn’t change much, only her initial opinion on Link changes a little more swiftly when she eventually learns what Link had to sacrifice to destiny. She actually becomes his biggest defender against the belittlement of some of the Hyrulean noble court and her father at some points.

As you can imagine, Mipha being selected as Vah Ruta’s pilot is even more controversial after losing Link. Dorephan puts his foot down and refuses to budge on the matter. The monster attack ala AoC forces Dorephan’s hand, but not before reinstating Link as Mipha’s personal knight (stealing this from you Ebony). He knows Link is Zelda’s personal bodyguard, but he is not about to lose his daughter and the Zora he basically views as his son-in-law already, to Hyrule.

I have another idea based around @deusexananas Hylian Mipha art, but those are headcanons for another time!

Demise and Hylia swap:

Ganondorf is the chosen hero. Obvious answer there. Born into the Gerudo Kingdom, he is the Prince of the Gerudo, chosen of the Ancestor (Demise) to help seal the coming Light. Demise’s very blood flows through his veins, giving him access to god-like powers once awakened.

Gerudo is not all female in this AU, but the majority of the population is female.

Gerudo Zelda! She is a humble warrior of the Gerudo Kingdom, her father served in the Gerudo Royal Guard before dying to the blessed hordes of Hylia. She grew up in Rito village, becoming close friends with Prince Revali, before training to become a knight and stopping the coming Calamity from evil incarnate.

The Hylians are a lesser kingdom, established on the Hyruelan Steppes. Once a blight on the land from their ceaseless warring and banditry, the Hylians have stopped their violence, settling down after a decisive defeat by the Gerudo in ages past. They are ashamed that one of their own became the Champion of Hylia.

Calamity Link! In the past, he was a warrior who simply wanted to do right by the Hylian people, and was consumed in his quest for power; corrupted by the will of the Triforce, for though in his heart he wanted to help his people, he craved Courage above all else. Prophecy says that He will return, bringing with him a flood of Light and an end to all things.

[kintatsujo]

LoZ AU- The Courage of Running Away Part TWENTY-SEVEN

Here’s the previous post, sorry this one took a couple days ^^;  I keep overextending because I’m as excited to get to the denouement as I am to be writing the boss fight.  (The denouement has some fun character moments)

These next couple posts are mostly more like prose with illustrations.

#AU August

#LoZ AU: The Courage of Running Away

Astramorus manages to get back to the altar and the stone beds the girls have been laid out on; despite having had to dodge whipping tentacles a number of times the God's Nightmare in the middle of the room seems a little more concerned with its Manifestations and the Triforce bearers.

Serenumbra is nowhere to be seen, but there's a door ajar to the side, leading to the Sanctuary sacristy (a sacristy is a little room off the side of a church sanctuary that is basically a combination storage room and prep room.)

Astramorus has to get these Princesses out of the way of these tentacles anyway, so he gets Hilda into a fireman's carry and tucks Zelda under his arm and drags them both over through the door, making note that there's another door in the back of the sacristy leading somewhere dark.

[Image Description: Astramorus has Hilda along his back and Zelda tucked under his arm and is attempting to walk fast while dragging them; it’s awkward because while Princess Zelda is fairly little for fourteen, Princess Hilda is taller than he is and her feet are dragging behind while her head droops over his shoulder.  They are also both completely dead weight.  End ID.]

(The girls have been spelled asleep; they’ll be fine eventually.)

 After that he goes back to the altar and grabs the heavy book of magic at the book stand, because Serenumbra left that behind as well.

He makes sure neither Hilda or Zelda are too uncomfortable, then he heads down the dark tunnel after Serenumbra, book in hand.

It's certainly dark enough to give a man pause, no evidence of light any further down the corridor. Astramorus knows this probably leads to the castle throne room, eventually, but who knows how many other tunnels and caves may also be connected.

But Astramorus is a priest, and Link shoved a few fairies on him before they came here, and he knows a few things about fairies most people don't.

He pulls one of his little fairy jars and a silver rupee from his pocket, and he hums a little prayer as he unstoppers the jar and drops the expensive little gem inside.

"Please, little one," he says to the fairy. "Guide me through the dark and help me find the one I seek."

The fairy puts her hands on the silver rupee in acceptance of the offering, absorbing its magic into herself and spiraling up out of the jar.

"Let's go!" she says, zipping ahead, and Astramorus smiles and follows her.

[Image Description: Astramorus holds his hand under a brightly glowing fairy, a faint smile on his face.  She’s mostly obscured by her own light but appears to be a tiny woman with antennae, and she’s saluting him cheekily.  End ID.]

If you’re not familiar with Legend of Zelda, this is not a mechanic in any game, but it should be. 

"You're awfully confident for a shadow from a bad dream," Dinravi says to Nightmare Demise, shaking out his hand from the punch and drawing his sword.  "Mama, please check on Ghirahim, I'll call for you if I need help."

Nightmare Demise snarls, pulling a sword from shadow that only barely resembles the form Ghirahim himself once took.  Eltani nods at her son and goes to Ghirahim still on the floor, using her sword to bat a tentacle away from him as she arrives at his side.

"You know that's NOT your old master, demon," she says, shaking his shoulder as if to rouse him.

Ghirahim closes his eyes, still shaking.  "It's not- It's not that simple," he whispers.  "I... I can't."

[Image Description: Eltani is staring at Ghirahim in some shock and concern.  He’s gone flushed, and he’s shaking, staring at the floor, his mouth tense.  End ID.]

Queen Zelda's Nightmare warps from OOT Zelda to a dragon, and Zelda takes it out with a blast of light in the mouth.  It shifts from the dragon to a massive Moldorm and she casually strikes its tail with a hand.  "I can do this as long as I have to," she tells the writhing shape.  It becomes a man with a boar's head and she wrinkles her nose, grabbing the spear it strikes at her with.  "Stop that," she says, and now she goes ahead and burns her magic reserves for one massive blast, burning her Nightmare completely away.  She looks up to see that Astramorus is dragging the princesses into the safety of the sacristy and nods grimly at him, then turns to the nearest other fight in the room, which is Dinravi against Nightmare Demise.

Queen Zelda fishes a magic replenishing potion from the pocket of her skirt and then joins Eltani next to Ghirahim as she drinks it.  Eltani gives her a helpless expression as she kneels beside them and puts a hand on Ghirahim's shoulder.

[Image Description: Queen Zelda drinking from a blue bottle as she walks.  A legend reads: “Magic Replenishing Potion: It’s the Blue One!”  End ID.]

"You cannot face the shade of your first master?" Zelda asks Ghirahim.

Ghirahim looks down and shakes his head.  "I know it's not him, I know it's not him," he whispers harshly, and then repeats: "It's not that simple."

"It's fear," Zelda concludes, and he inhales sharply, shakily.  "Lord Ghirahim, listen to me.  If you cannot face him, look instead at the man you would call master now."

Dinravi is a flashy sort of fighter but this isn't some graceful sword duel; it's a brawl and a bullfight wrapped in one. Nightmare Demise and Dinravi are taunting one another in turn, but Demise is focusing on Dinravi's youth while Dinravi's jibes are laser focused on how fucked up it is that Ghirahim, Demise's most loyal lieutenant, is so afraid of him, what that says about Demise and how this thing isn't even the real Demise, just a ranting shadow.

It's when Ghirahim really looks up and is seeing this, though, that Nightmare Demise mimics something he recognizes, and calls down lightning to throw at Dinravi's face. He panics, calling out Dinravi's name.

[Image Description: Dinravi catches the lightning in one hand with a “CRACK,” the lightning overflowing around him.  "One of my ancestors was the Lady Urbosa," he says, his hand sparking.  Sparks overflow from his eyes like tears, but he’s smiling.    "You think I've never fought with lightning?" Cut to Ghirahim, who’s blushing so hard the tips of his ears have gone red, the sparks reflected in his wide eyes.  A legend informs: “Ghirahim is REALLY doomed.”  End ID.]

(For the record getting to namedrop Urbosa as one of Dinravi’s ancestors is the major reason CoRA is post-AoC timeline.  We have stepped into rule of cool territory but it’s the climactic boss fight, it’s allowed.)

Queen Zelda smiles in Dinravi's direction fondly, then says, "Lord Ghirahim, I understand if you aren't ready to face a shadow of your past. But perhaps you can help me with the main Nightmare and we'll see if that helps Prince Dinravi in turn, yes?"

Ghirahim looks at her, and then he stands.

Link, meanwhile, is sharing no taunts with the Nightmare of the Fierce Deity, though the Fierce Deity is certainly continuing to offer unnervingly calm and gentle commentary, on his form, his fears, his accomplishments.

Link is doing his damndest not to actually listen.

(and this post is long enough so we’re getting into THAT in the next post, which is already mostly written)

[ranger-kellyn]

The gif reaction! 🤣

Okay, so in my AU (They were made for the BOTW AU, but I could make a version for AoC as well.) they have two kids. Rylo and Prestille. (One day when I can draw humans and kids I will draw them, but for now have a little description of how they look.) I wanted the tradition of every female being named Zelda to be broken because let's be honest, that's just weird..

I made their middle names references to "Wild" and "Silent" (As in the flower, silent princess.) So their full names are "Rylo Wilde Hyrule" and "Prestille Silant (Pronounced more like sil-lahnt.) Hyrule"

(I had to use the royal family's last name because Link doesn't have one. I should make one up sometime.).

Rylo is the oldest, they're twins but he was born first. He has his mom's eye color and his hair color is in between Link and Zelda's hair color.

Prestille has Link's eye color and her hair is a couple shades lighter than Link's.

I was thinking that, depending on how BOTW2 ends, they would have powers carried over like the (Most likely) Zonai magic.

Prestille would probably have the sealing power despite not being named after her mother. I feel like naming them the same name over and over isn't necessary and it just started as a rumor that the royal family listened to. (She probably won't be needing to use it in her lifetime, but at least it'd be carried over for any other future Zeldas.)

Rylo and Prestille are friends with some other OCs that I haven't mentioned (That's a whole other ask for another time.). I will say that they are Zoras though.

Link, Zelda, Rylo and Prestille live in Link's house in Hateno, that's where the twins were born.

One day they found a stray Hylian Retriever puppy and brought him to Link and Zelda. Zelda tried telling them that they can't keep a pet right now, they proceeded to use their own puppy eyes and even Link joined in because IT'S A PUPPY! Zelda eventually gave in and the kids got to name the puppy. Since they're kind of addicted to sweets, and the puppy was a little sweetheart they decided to name him Cupcakes. He wears a little red bowtie instead of a collar. He follows them everywhere.

Their favorite foods are (Like I said before.) sweets. So the fruitcake, monster cake, etc. Actual meals they like though are omelets, cooked meat, soup and apples. They LOVE apples. (Who doesn't stop to pick all of the apples in BOTW?) So they aren't as big of a glutton as Link, but if you place some food in front of them they will most likely eat it.

Link and Zelda have an adopted daughter too. There was an ambush in a Rito settlement (Built after BOTW and BOTW2) and when Link arrived there seemed to be no survivors. He found an egg (I mean, I assume they lay eggs like normal birds. They are bird people after all.) that seemed unscathed and took it back because there seemed to be nobody else around. Zelda tells him to bring it to Rito village, but before they could it started hatching and whoops, now they have a baby Rito. They name her Veena. She looks like a pileated woodpecker. (We had them back home and they are big and so cool! They're like little raptors flying around.)

So now they have three kids and a dog to look after.

Paya babysits them when Link and Zelda have to go do some important stuff. Either by now she has left the village before or they drop them off at Kakariko for her to look after them.

The kids love her and always comment about how pretty, nice and cool she is. Asking her if she also has magic (Again, depending on how BOTW2 ends, they could possibly have the Zonai magic.) because they've been told about the Sheikah and their magic a little bit. Luckily they don't cause too much trouble for Paya.

Their favorite foods that she makes them are pumpkin stew and vegetable curry. (Yes, surprisingly they DO like some veggies. In fact, they only really eat them if she makes the dish.)

They LOVE the horses that Link and Zelda have. They like brushing their hair and they even get to go riding on them once in a while (As long as Link or Zelda is riding on the horse with them so they don't fall.).

That's all I have so far, but that's still a lot. 😅

so sorry for the late response!! i went to bed early last night and went straight to the office today and i just. have barely had time to breathe today djfhldk (i swear every time i finish scanning one folder i return to my engineer's office to find two more in its place lmaO)

but!!!!! aaaaAAA!!!!!!! I love them so much!!! i absolutely agree that zelda would very likely break the "naming the firstborn daughter zelda" thing. because like. if ANY zelda would do that, it would be her. there's no way she would want to pass off that "curse" of a name to her own child. (THO also from what little i've seen people mention about TP Zelda, she might be willing to do the same as well but that's a whole different game i've never played lm a o)

they seem like such a lovely mix of both their parents i aDORE THEM!! and an adopted rito child i- I Am Emotional (AND what a pretty bird to be based on!!)

this is all just so lovely and sweet and i am! Experiencing An Emotion!!!! thank you so much for sharing with me!! i hope you draw them one day, bc you can dEF expect some fanart from me after you do :D

[only-by-the-stars]

the annotated Tome of the Wild

Part 6: Into the Wild!

- I have no regrets about torturing you all with that dream at the beginning. Not just because it was a bit cruel, but because it’s a nod to the series tradition of Link starting his adventure by oversleeping.

- Anjean is a character from Spirit Tracks. A game in which you use a train to explore New Hyrule. Which I put into the chapter that has a speeding train play a pivotal role in Link’s accidental fall into the river, without realizing it till after the chapter was up. THIS WAS HILARIOUS TO REALIZE.

- A pale yellow half-moon and a canopy of stars presided over it all THERE’S THAT MOON AGAIN

- Teba! I like that guy. In BOTW it’s established that he looks up to Revali a lot, and is trying to master his Gale; this is understandable, given that Revali was a legendary hero of the Rito, who fell tragically in battle a hundred years ago. But when he gets to meet him during AOC, he’s... less than impressed with Revali’s behavior towards Link. He still admires his skills, of course, but that hero worship has been tarnished a little by the actual personality of the Rito Champion. It’s like that old saying about how you shouldn’t meet your heroes. So for this, I wondered: what would he think of him if that “hero of legend” factor were removed and Revali was just an exceptional student who also happened to be a major jerk? And thus you get his veiled references to behavior he won’t tolerate regardless of a person’s skill level.

- Aryll put one hand on her hip and thrust her other arm into the air. “Experiment time! OH YEAH!” She giggled. “He says that every time we get to do science stuff.” Another reference to Robbie being Aryll’s teacher.

- And we have our first onscreen appearance of Riju and Medli! I’d mentioned them in passing in one of the letters in things I didn’t send, but now they’re here. I chose them to be Link and Mipha’s friends for a couple reasons. One is simply that I really like both of them; another is that they’re close in age to those two, so it was easy to make them all the same age without it being weird. Medli is one of my favorite characters in the series, and I really liked Riju a lot, especially after being able to fight as her in AOC, so I have a lot of fun bouncing them off Link and Mipha.

- “Yes, we do see.” Riju sounded like she could barely contain her glee. “Thank you, Aryll. You've just helped us solve a very irritating mystery.” And thus is Aryll inspired to play at being “Detective Aryll”, thanks to Riju’s thanking her for this. She and Medli have been just as confused as Mipha about Link’s disappearing act, and very angry, particularly on Mipha’s behalf, as they’ve seen firsthand just how hurt she is by his behavior. But now, seeing that he made a mixtape for her? That changes everything. As soon as they see it, they finally understand: he’s been acting this way not because he suddenly dislikes Mipha, but because he’s got romantic feelings for her and is unable to talk to her about them. And as I established in Mipha’s second letter in things i didn’t send, they’re also aware of her love for Link, and so they really want to get the two talking to each other so this can be sorted out at last.

- “Don't they have to be somewhere wet?” Link glanced back at where the school was getting smaller and smaller as they kept walking. “I know they need a lot of water.” Yeah, like the river you’re about to fall into very soon.

- “You're right! I almost forgot! It talked about that in a show Mom was watching last week about people who catch frogs for making medicine and stuff. Did you know some people actually like to eat them, and think they're a delicacy?” A reference to how you put them in elixirs in BOTW, as well as the Akkala Buns that Midna loves. Link’s disgust here is a callback both to that and to his refusal to eat a frog in that memory in BOTW with Zelda trying to get him to eat one for science.

- Could this night go any more downhill? It can, actually. Literally, in your case, Link. Another bit that was completely accidental and I found myself laughing about later when I realized during the editing process.

- Look. Riju and Medli absolutely want their friends to get together, and they’re more sympathetic to Link now that they know what’s behind his recent actions. But they haven’t completely forgiven him yet, and so they kinda got their revenge by fucking with him a bit when he came back for the tape. Which they did genuinely put in Mipha’s pocket as a way to try to help the two start talking to each other and confess their real feelings.

- “Just think of us as mail carriers!” Medli piped up. Also this is a reference to how the Rito delivered mail in Wind Waker.

- Link's heart skipped a beat as he saw who was standing next to it, her sweater stuffed into the elephant's head-shaped basket as she put her helmet on and climbed onto the seat. Mipha’s bike is Vah Ruta.

- Bazz and Gaddison are, of course, two Zora who were friends with Link in the Domain when he was a kid there, who along with Rivan all formed the Big Bad Bazz Brigade. So naturally, they’re his fencing team teammates.

- “Oh yeah, that fucking guy.” Gaddison rolled her eyes. “Mr. 'I'm the best at everything and don't you forget it, you chumps can't hope to keep up with me, wah wah how asinine'.” She flapped her hands in a mockery of wings, and Link had to struggle not to choke on his water. Two things here. First, I really enjoyed writing Gaddison mocking Revali and using his ‘asinine’ catchphrase. Second, Link seems to keep choking on water, doesn’t he? First when Midna reveals her favorite meal, and now again. Hmmm...

- She laughed too, but something about it sounded strangely off. There was a long pause, as if she was weighing what to say next, and then she took a deep breath. As I established in the final letter in things i didn’t send, Mipha is well aware that Link was at her practice, and is trying to find some way of asking him about it, figuring that the walk to the graveyard will be a good opportunity. She’s also been trying to hide how hurt she’s been at Link’s behavior, so that’s why her laugh sounds off: she’s startled by him acting like himself for that brief moment, but doesn’t want to let it show, so Link is unaware for now of just how deep her pain goes. He’ll find out soon enough, though. And of course, Mipha is also unaware of the tape that’s so, so close, something she later feels a lot of horror and pain over.

- “... Oh. I see.” He looked up in time to see Mipha turn her head away, an unreadable expression on her face. “I understand, of course...” This is the moment when she all but gives up on him, which shatters her heart. It’s perhaps the most agonizing missed opportunity in the whole chapter, as the tape is right there and she doesn’t know, and Link fucks up by pulling away again. He does reach for her, which might have changed things if Revali hadn’t picked that exact moment to walk in and interrupt. If not for that, Link would’ve touched her arm and started a conversation that would’ve led to a breakthrough that didn’t require a near-death experience. All these points of divergence are going to haunt them both later.

- Mipha tries to be outwardly polite, but she can’t stand Revali because of how he treats Link and never would’ve dated him. She goes to the graveyard because she wanted to try and get a reaction out of Link, even if she can’t bear to look at him for fear of what she’ll see on his face, something she feels ashamed of later, but that attempt at politeness just feeds into Link’s insecurities, unfortunately. “The love is requited, they’re just idiots”, indeed.

- To fill out the graveyard group, I chose Yunobo and Komali. As a descendant of Daruk, it stands to reason that he’d still be related to him here, and attending school with Link and the others. Plus his anxious personality makes for a perfect fit for such a scene. And Komali is another Rito from Wind Waker, who is friends with Medli, so that was another no-brainer.

- Mipha's expression was closed off and neutral as she stared down at her own hands in her lap She is trying her hardest to conceal how heartbroken and miserable she is, the poor girl.

- “Give it a rest, Revali!” Riju, sounding remarkably like her mother. I went ahead and made Urbosa Riju’s actual mom in this AU, and this is my little hint as to that.

- “Hey, what's all this ruckus, then?” bellowed a loud, croaky voice. “Buncha Poes sneaking into my graveyard? I'll show you what for!” Another reference to Poes, and though I don’t mention his name, the gravedigger is of course Dampe from OOT, MM, ALBW, and the LA remake.

- “Link, look!” She held it out as he walked over to join her. “I got a frog!” Which means you’re close to water! ... oh shit.

- Which brings us to the cliffhanger, with the reveal that Link and Aryll are drowning while the events in the Wild are happening. I was so excited for this, it’s what so much foreshadowing has been leading up to. I even stuck it in the first letter of Link’s in things i didn’t send, when he compares the effect Mipha has on him to drowning. Which is easy to mistake for yet another use of water imagery in connection with our lovely Zora princess, a recurring element in my work, but becomes more sinister when you know what befalls him here.

and that covers part six!

[science-lings]

LU & BOTW Fic/ WIP List

UPDATED 11/5/2022

Of Dubious Sophistication: 6/? posted chapters, Wild meets the chain on a day where he has to act like a person and decides to fuck with their misconceptions of him.

Another Second Chance: 2/? classic Wild gets pulled into the AOC timeline and is tasked to help prevent the calamity. But he looks different enough from his counterpart that he doesn’t reveal his true identity. He accidentally parallels Astor in the whole mysterious sorcerer/ seer vibes as he both knows the future and popped out of nowhere in a dramatic cape and ancient technology. Lots of interaction between Wild and the champions and there is both angst and hijinks. There’s also stuff about the new champions as most of it follows the plot of AOC. Also Wolfie is there because I thought it would be funny for him to bop around the baby egg guardian.

The Silence of the Knight: BOTW pre-calamity fic that’s mostly an introspective fic about why Link went silent and how everyone around him reacts to his lack of outward emotions. I just saw the concept of people seeing him as not quite human because of his refusal to show any emotions and wanting to catch a glimpse of how/ if he reacts when tragedy strikes, just to see if he has the ability to feel anything at all.

Heavy in Your Arms: Wild hated getting his memories back. They could be triggered by seemingly anything, they forced the entire group to stop or have someone stay with him until he got over it, which mostly ended up being Twilight, and he tended to end up feeling terrible. Even the good ones were bittersweet, when he saw glimpses of a family that was long gone or a fleeting moment when his life wasn’t destined to be a nightmare, only to open his eyes a century later having lost everything.He knew it was starting to become a hindrance on their quest and the last thing he wanted to be was a burden. (part of a series focused on the Wolf Trio)

I’ve Seen Hell (But This is a Bit More My Style): BOTW Fem!Link fic focused on how being the first female incarnation of the Heroes Spirit would be treated with a little bit of Zelink as a forbidden relationship. Link is angry and all of her past lives are just as pissed as she is. She’s seen as a harbinger of the calamity rather than the hero sent to stop it. And she’s seen as a mistake of the goddess and proof that the 10,000 years of peace was now at an end. General woman problems you know? (Sequel incorporating LU in progress) also please mind the tags.

Swordcrossed Lovers: Fluffy oneshot of the above au, Link and Zelda go to Gerudo Town and flirt while sword fighting. Zelink Week 2022 prompt: Sparring. 

Champions Possessing Wild Oneshot Collection: The champions possess Wild sometimes, it leads to some shenanigans 

The Unironic Magical Properties of True Love: totk role swap, Zelda find where Link has been hiding since being stuck in the past.

Requests/ short oneshots:

The Idiots of the Wind: Wind makes friends with the spirit of Revali and they team up to mess with Wild, mildly traumatizing him in the process. 

A Waste of Pretty Faces: Wild and Warriors bond over something they didn’t expect (mind the warnings and tags)

To Kill What’s Already Dead: Set after sunset pt.7, Wild deals with not being allowed to see Twilight and with the very real possibility that his mentor is dying.

A Mosaic of Broken Glass: Link has a lot of scars, they don’t like them very much. Zelda is determined to help them work on loving themself. Non-Binary BOTW Link and I accidentally made Zelda asexual.

On Top Of The World: Day 1 prompt for Zelink week 2022- One Last Look, Link and Zelda reunite after the final battle with the calamity. Idk what to say it’s just pure fluff. 

Frightful & Delightful: Wintery LU fic that is Hyrule-centric for a secret santa. Hurt/comfort, but mostly fluff. 

3 Sentence Fics: Lots of short fics in one place, including LU, botw Zelink, and my own AUs!

The Many Duties of the Princesses Appointed Knight: Fluffy pre-calamity zelink hair braiding, not me basing a whole fic off of a vague idea... 

The Caretaker of Holy Things: OC fic made for a zelda creators collab, the Priestess of the Temple of Time remains at the great plateau while the calamity rages around her, unfortunately, she’s due to have visitors. 

Whumptober 2022:

Prompt 2: Nowhere to Run: Aryll from my priestesses AU meets the Fierce Deity for the first time.

Prompt 5: Hypothermia: Link and Zelda from my Golden Priestesses AU journey up to the Temple of Nayru to the spring of wisdom.

Prompt 9: Caught in the Storm: Zelda spends one hundred years fighting the calamity, even though he’s slumbering in the shrine of resurrection, Link still finds a way to help her keep her head above water.

Prompt 10: Whipping: Wild from my Fem!Wild AU has to reveal some things about her past after having a panic attack post-battle. Kind of a rewrite of part of the comic where Wild throws himself in front of Wind during a fight, you know the one. 

Prompt 15: Emotional Damage/ New Scars: Wild visits the forgotten temple after the events of LU, he mourns. 

Zelink Week 2023: 

Day 1: Yearning: All In Good Time: Fem! Zelink AU during the events of LU, Wild misses her Princess. 

Day 2: Forbidden: The Ballad of Frost and Flames: Fem!Zelink AU, pre-calamity while Link is still in hiding, they meet at a masquerade ball. 

Day 4: Hand in Hand: The Fable of the Dragon and the Phoenix: MAJOR TOTK SPOILERS, Zelda makes and eternal choice and Link learns to rise from the ashes.

Unpublished fics under the cut, please let me know if any of them interest you so I can prioritize what I should focus on writing!

Free to Hide: Zelda and Link attend a festival in disguises unbeknownst to each other and they end up spending the whole time together without knowing that there are eyes in the darkness watching them. Spy thriller/ romcom vibes. Also there’s gender stuff because Link wears a dress and Zelda is almost exclusively referred to with neutral pronouns.

The Last Champion: Wild gets all the champions abilities after their spirits move on, but in a more similar way to how they used them, mostly just Hyrule and him becoming magic buddies and Wild learns how to use his new magic abilities.

Between the Doors of Death: A mix of both LU and BOTW as it takes place while Wild is dead and he hangs out with his ghostly incarnations and dead family members. Lot’s of family headcanons and an appearance from the 10k hero.

No Goodbye is Forever: How the last day with the chain happens and everything after. Meeting up in the afterlife and a little bit of keeping Wild company during BOTW2.

Tainted Blood: Time, Twilight, and Wild are related. How they find out and how the magic that they used affects the bloodline. Malon as Malanya because I love the idea that she just turns into an eccentric horse god and was waiting for a child she had already met.

Son of the Storm: BOTW fic centered around Urbosa and Link because I love her and her mom energy is perfect. Definitely some gender stuff and found family vibes. Link deserves a mom and Urbosa saw this short blond child and didn’t even ask if anyone else was going to adopt him she just did it.

Hylia’s Chosen Children: BOTW Link and Zelda catch up on being shitty kids after the Calamity and preparing for it stole their childhoods from them. Pure fluff, let them be kids please. Lots of pranks and sleepovers with Riju and stuff like that. They’re both trying to learn how to be regular people without absolutely massive responsibilities.

The Bloodline of the Wolf: Similar to the one before as it’s focused on Time, Twilight, and Wild and how they’re biologically related but this one is more about their canon relationships and answering questions that the comic gave me. Like why only Twilight and Time know about Wild’s memories despite how we are to assume that the entire chain kind of came together at once, why them and all that.

When You Can’t Die: Wild and his strange relationship with death, as someone who has been resurrected countless times and literally cannot die. He still has the champions abilities and kind of forgets that it is very much not normal to die as much as he does.

What was Killed for Good: Wild and his struggle to be human, the shrine took more from him than his memories and replaced them with something else. He’s just very odd and the people around him notice more than he does. He doesn’t know what’s normal and he feels alienated because of how people react to him. He just wants to vibe in the woods and ride bears.

Breaking, Broken: You know how all the weapons in BOTW break and it’s super annoying? What if that was a curse and also applied to people? Anyway, Wild is touch starved and desperate not to accidentally hurt his friends. Fortunately, magic has loopholes.

A Strange Kind of Self Reflection: Wild has identity issues and gets stuck in beast form after catching Twilight’s Shadow crystal. I have the perfect idea for what animal he would be and you guys are not ready.

The Heroes Before: Pre-Calamity Link learns about his predecessors through artifacts and very old records in his attempt to prepare for Ganon’s return.

Damaged: Literally every Link is a little fucked up and this fic is an exploration about how it manifests.

Some Kind of Sauce: Wild Genderfluid fic featuring Lullaby/Sheik and sexism.

Age of Heroes: AOC but with the entire chain, idk, I don’t have much for this one other than wanting to have my own take on the trope.

Untitled fics ideas:

Kid!Wild series- Giving the child champions powers and accidentally touching the shadow crystal

Modern with magic AU

Wild gets sick and mistakes Four to be his long forgotten little sister

Pride fic

Gerudo Town fic

Masquerade Ball fic

Soulmate/ Soulmark fic

Cursed Animal fic

Superhero AU

Once Upon a Time AU (mostly in the way that it’s a mixture of a modern au and a fantasy world kind of thing)

Indiana Jones/ the Mummy AU: Zelink but Zelda is an archeologist and Link is an Adventurer/ Explorer type and they need each other but go from reluctant allies to lovers due to plot

BOTW roleswap AU: Prince Link and Champion Zelda, maybe I’ll add some trans vibes but who knows, not me

[regnantlight]

⚠️ (aoc au)

|| Random Act Prompts || ⚠️ clean up my muse after a fight ||

   The Sheikah Slate was a useful tool indeed, far beyond what any of them had imagined possible, and for that Zelda was grateful. It had saved her life, in truth. Perhaps saved a few others as well. She liked to think so, at any rate. It was comforting to think that she had somehow been useful, somehow contributed, wielding the ancient runes just as Link did his sword or Impa her symbols. The thought made her wounds sting just a bit less. 

    Gentle hands pressed a wet cloth to the gash above her brow (the result of a stone thrown by a Bokoblin,) dabbing away the bit of dried blood and dirt. The stinging returned, and she breathed against the sensation. It was the medicine, she knew, that made the pain sharp, for the wound itself wasn’t terrible— but infection did not need a terrible wound to fester. The liquid solution that soaked the cloth would ensure her gash remained clean, and a bit of pain was well worth that. 

    “Thank you,” Zelda murmured as Robin quietly moved from her brow to the side of her forehead— had she been injured there, too? Everything seemed to happen so fast, Zelda hadn’t noticed. She opened her eyes when the patting ceased and caught the woman’s stare, searching for signs of discomfort.  

    “Are you certain you aren’t hurt, Robin?” 

[kintatsujo]

LoZ AU- The Courage of Running Away Part TWENTY

I wanted to make this section a bit longer than it is but I have to go to bed earlier on Saturday nights for work and it’s a decent length anyway.  On the 29th I am 35, just like The Legend of Zelda!  I have been oddly giddy about this ever since realizing I’m six months younger than one of my favorite things.  XD

#AU August

#LoZ AU: The Courage of Running Away

Back in Hyrule Castle Town, Princess Zelda and Gray are having a relatively normal day out about town; Zelda Jr likes to take walks around the city and particularly likes to visit the local bakeries, flower shops and the potions apothecary closest to the castle, because the younger craft witch there answers all her questions and Zelda Jr has quite a few.

[Image Description: A cute lady in a witch’s outfit and hat is gesturing to a conical flask with one gloved hand, cheerfully explaining its black, bubbling and sinister contents while Princess Zelda is listening intently, one hand to her chin thoughtfully.  Gray, meanwhile, has turned very thoroughly away from them and the viewer, rubbing the back of his neck, and appears to be sweating uncomfortably.  End ID.]

(Craftwitch is saying something like "but if you need this one we really recommend booking our overnight bed so we can monitor you, even if only for the emotional support")

It's while he's trying to not pay attention to the craft witch's potion explanations (they can get pretty TMI) that Gray realizes that he noticed some of the same people in the middle distance when they were at the flower shop, too, and-and wasn't that burly fellow buying a breadroll when they were at the bakery? He could swear he saw that woman with a scar at the seamstresses' place, even, where they were taking some of Link's clothes to be mended.

[Image description: A woman in her forties with a formerly broken nose and a scar on the right side of her mouth, as well as more scars on her forearms.  Her left eye is brown, her right eye is bright blue.  She has black hair in an undercut and ponytail and two turquoise earrings in her left ear.  She is wearing brown gloves and a brown vest over a purple turtleneck with billowed sleeves, which end below the elbow.  She is holding a dark golden mask by her shoulder, of a stylized fox. End ID.]

I just wanted to have an interesting looking character to draw in this role I don’t know where this character design went off the rails lol

This group of characters is loosely inspired by the fox-thieves from ALttP, and call themselves by the same name, Pikku (which apparently comes from “pickpocket” lmao).  In CoRA they’re basically sellswords based in southern Hyrule and through most of Lorule.  This lady is more or less the ringleader of this specific group.

Gray leans in to Zelda's side and tells her, in no uncertain terms, that they need to get back to the palace NOW, probably giving her a code word that makes it clear to her that he's noticed something wrong. Princess Zelda responds by rather loudly suggesting that she would really like to see what's going on in the apothecary workshop, and the craft witch lets them sneak through the back door in hopes of throwing off the people following them.

It gets dicey.  The Pikku aren’t Shiekah, but they’ve stolen tricks from all over, and Gray is seventeen and less experienced by years, outnumbered, and trying to prioritize Princess Zelda over himself.  They’re finally driven into a corner, and all Gray can do is tell Princess Zelda to hold on to him:

[Image Description: Gray uses a teleportation circle while Zelda clings to his torso as the Pikku, wearing their fox masks, are closing in.  In the wake of the teleportation circle’s lingering smoke, the woman with the scar turns to the burly man, who has muttonchops that show at the sides of his mask and is covering his hair with a bandana, and says, “Well, so much for the EASY WAY.” Meanwhile, King Aldway is writing at a small desk, sitting in a high backed chair.  Suddenly Gray and Zelda appear before him with a loud humming, landing from the teleportation spell.  “KIDS?!” Aldway shouts, standing.  Gray says, “Your majesty-” and is interrupted by Zelda, who says “Papa ALERT THE GUARDS, we were just ATTACKED-” She cuts herself off as Gray suddenly groans, curling down and grabbing onto her for support.  “GRAY!!” she cries, trying to hold him up.  Aldway joins them on the floor, putting a hand on Gray’s head.  Gray says, ragged, “I must’ve... taken a HIT from one of them without REALIZING...” Aldway answers him soothingly, “You did WELL, son, we’ll get you an ELIXIR.”  They are interrupted by a loud crash outside of Aldway’s study.  End ID.]

Aldway, for the record, does actually think of Gray as his other kid.

Don’t judge my fuckin woobly teleportation circle symbols I was doing this on a time budget and just looked up the Yiga circles themselves instead of the Hylian script letters that are supposed to make them up.  And the Yiga circles are fuzzy and hard to follow what the symbols are actually supposed to look like.  The Yiga clan exists in CoRA but has mostly reconciled with the Royal Family because the last time Ganon appeared in this setting is based on the events of AoC.

Anyway!  Sorry for it being this particular cliffhanger but this post is probably long enough!