#and at some point i do plan on watching Calamity. but i have heard how utterly heart crushing that is

[voxofthevoid]

Time for Role Reversal Fem!Goyuu Wednesday 1!

I'm one(1) chapter into the story. It's only 3k, but given that it's got 0 sex despite how this story was supposed to be a pure pornfest, I think we can all see the writing on the wall. I will, however, bitch and whine all the same. The current plan is seven chapters, all fully outlined, but if the sex scenes or setup gets too long, the number may grow; that's what happened to Chapter 1.

The funny part is that I'm sure this chapter became...well, a chapter, as opposed to an intro scene or two, because this is my first time tackling goyuu role reversal from the inception instead of leaping into a point where Yuuji and Satoru are established teacher and student.

Anyway, it's been fun writing fem!Yuuji with Sukuna's OG form. I think this may end up catering to the folks who want to fuck Lady Dimitrescu—which would be great tbh.

Venture forth to find a 7-ft tall woman whose muscles ate you for breakfast 🍑

Satoru doesn’t have heroes.

Humans in general aren’t well suited to pedestals, and sorcerers in particular are worse. Satoru is a clan child, born blessed and grown only more so; she has seen all extremes of what their sequestered world has to offer. There’s more bad than good, more horrors than miracles, and that’s as true of sorcerers as curses.

It’s just as well.

She’s Gojou Satoru; she does not need heroes.

What she does have are stories. Two, specifically—a woman who was once a calamity and another woman, a thousand years later, who ate that calamity piece by piece. It’s been barely fifteen years since Itadori Yuuji’s name was burned into the history books alongside that of Ryomen Sukuna, a footnote that became the master title, and Satoru’s been alive and aware for nearly all of them.

Her childhood obsession was the King of Curses and her vessel-turned-devourer. She’s ingested every neatly bound book and dusty, disintegrating scroll in the Gojou clan’s possession that so much as references the Sukuna. Itadori has fewer records, but she’s alive and thriving, the strongest sorcerer in the world. Her name is voiced with equal parts fear and revulsion, the worse fools daring even condescending disdain, but Satoru’s heard more in what they don’t say than what they do.

Itadori Yuuji is a monster; she is a sorcerer.

She is—

“Are you some kind of pervert?” Satoru asks.

Itadori blinks all four of her mismatched eyes, the lower pair a few milliseconds slower than the primary one. She tilts her head, looking not unlike a puppy—an oversized, three-headed puppy.

A seven-foot-tall behemoth of a woman with her tits out has no business looking cute, but that doesn’t stop some small, senseless part of Satoru from swelling like she’s bring pumped full of sunshine and roses and other sicky sweet things.

Itadori asks, “Do you want me to be?”

Suguru makes a choking noise. Her hand snaps around Satoru’s wrist, squeezing tight in silent warning.

“What? No!” Satoru snaps, digging an elbow into Suguru’s side. She thinks she’s being subtle, with how the two of them are pressed so close together, but Itadori’s lower left eye drops to where the pointy edge meets Suguru’s flesh. Her expression doesn’t change from that pleasant smile that only reaches half of her eyes, and she doesn’t say a word in censure, but that eye stays there, even as the other three bore into Satoru like Itadori’s waiting for an answer.

Satoru drops her arm and takes a slight, shuffling step away from Suguru.

“Please forgive Satoru, sensei,” Suguru says, her voice the same deep, blandly pleasant thing it was when she introduced herself to Satoru a year ago. “She doesn’t think before she speaks sometimes. A lot of the time.”

“Hey!”

“That’s alright,” Itadori says, her smile widening enough to make her eyes crinkle—only the main pair, the lower two a ringed red that watch them unblinkingly. “I was worse at your age. But I’m curious now. What did you mean, Satoru-chan?”

Satoru wrinkles her nose at the address; no one’s dared to call her that in a long time. At least it doesn’t sound particularly patronizing coming from Itadori, not that the inexplicable fondness there is any less weird.

“Your tits are out,” she tells Itadori.

Itadori looks down blankly at her own chest, her expression growing quizzical as if the swell of her breasts is some sort of surprise when she’s the one going around wearing nothing but a haori up top. It doesn’t cover shit either. She hasn’t even put her arms in the sleeves, and alright, maybe it’s tricky when she’s got four of those too, but like this, the fabric draped across her shoulders and falling limply down her back only serves to emphasize everything she’s not covering, the blood red of the haori unsettlingly striking against her sun-warm skin tone.

And there’s a lot to see. Her sheer mass is blinding, and it’s all muscle, from the four bulging biceps to the abs you could break a bone on. The haori also does nothing to hide the mountainous breadth of her shoulders, and with every breath she takes, the fabric shifts, exposing new slivers of skin and flesh. The offending tits are the only points of softness on that torso, and even they’re firmer than Satoru’s used to seeing on women.

She can’t look away.

They’re big, objectively the biggest Satoru’s seen, except all of Itadori is immense and her bulk makes the breasts seem like they’re on the smaller end. They suit her, curving sweetly out like plump fruits, the nipples and the surrounding skin a mouthwatering dark.

Satoru tears her eyes away, swallowing wetly.

There’s nowhere that’s safe to look. If Satoru glances down, she’s treated to the sight of the mouth curving across the middle of Itadori’s stomach, distinct lips demurely closed but promising stranger sights beyond. If she looks up, there’s Itadori’s face, scarred and four-eyed and strikingly pretty, framed by a spiky mane of hair that’s offensively pink except toward the end, where it blends with a few strands that are a tame black.

Satoru makes furious eye contact with Itadori’s feet. They’re bare too. Of course they are. The nails are jet black, and maybe it looks like nail polish to normal eyes, but the Six Eyes know they’re pure keratin, only a color more suited to death than life.

Itadori is alive though. She’s flush with it, her cursed energy pulsing with a hunger that’s the unfiltered essence of life.

This woman, she’s—

“—stand now,” Itadori is saying, the words taking a moment to coalesce into sense in Satoru’s ears. “You’re shy.”

Satoru’s head snaps up. “Huh?!”

[chromochaotic]

I got into it two years ago. I almost didn't keep watching it after the first episode, but I'm glad I did. I love hearing Midoriya's thoughts when he's planning things out, many of the characters in the show feel like they could be the lead as much as Midoriya is, the music is one of the best I've heard in a show, and it has it moments of humor. Speaking of the mass of characters in the show, all very unique, would liked if we spend more time with them but there's so much going on at the same time. Especially if you're following the current manga storyline, it seems like the author is trying to give everyone moments to shine, but I kinda just want this damn story to end at this point. It feels like it's dragging. How would you like MHA to end? An epilogue? Etc

Oooo hmmm I feel like ending a series is the hardest thing to do, and something I really wouldn't know how to pull off 😂 All I can think of is how other shonen series have handled their endings, so like... it would be cool if there were one of those classic scenes where Midoriya (with Bakugou? maybe a combo move?) is charging up one last enormous attack, and the main kids from UA get a reaction panel/moment of encouragement (like in the first 30 seconds of this video from Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity haha). Other than that, I don't know how I want the themes from the story to wrap up, like everything related to the politics of the world... The whole system falling into anarchy would sure be something, I'll root for that!

tbh I love epilogues, if only because the fandom can have a lot of fun analyzing it. Other long series with epilogues seem to use them as a chance to finalize all the main het ships as canon, which is kind of boring, but I won't be surprised if MHA does that. What I would like is getting to see what all my favorite characters do as pro heroes, like, I wanna see Mina kicking ass and Monoma and Shinsou maybe still teaming up. God, there's 0% chance of it happening but it would be so fun if an older Monoma got to show up in the epilogue and clearly demonstrate that he's like, grown and dealt with some insecurities, but is still super sassy and has all that original attitude that made him stand out. He would steal the scene!

I also love seeing revamped character designs after timeskips... I bet Horikoshi could really tell a lot about how the characters have changed just through updates to their costumes and hairstyles. Guess we'll see!

[mcbex]

**Living in the hard reset. **

If the birth of Jesus taught us anything, it's that sometimes it takes 400 years of waiting for a miracle. I can't tell you how I feel this! Sometimes I pray for my struggles to be over but then I think that doesn't make sense. If I'm tired and rich with anxiety now, how might I feel if he stops trying to teach me things. So here I sit resting in the patience he so elegantly reminds me I need. Although I'm not fond of the hard reset, I understand that part of allowing guidance is to live in this place more often than I am comfortable with and not just to pass through.

Patience. Christmas is approaching and I feel the urge to hurry about. The affect of this has been a series of calamities. Instead of grasping for His peace I've been letting my emotions rule my roost and fighting against my better judgment that tells me I should enjoy the season. After falling down my stairs this past weekend, after limping with a badly sprained ankle for weeks, and successfully navigating my bout of vertigo I think I've finally heard the hush and may just be willing to pause. Then last night it happened, the reminder I think I've been waiting for.

In the tree over where I parked my car there was a murder of crows. Needless to say they had their way with my vehicle and left defecation all over my freshly cleaned black car. While I am annoyed by it, this was a reminder of God's love. You see over the last summer I remember the flock of sparrows that followed me and guided me daily along my runs. I remembered all those times it felt like God was speaking to me about his plans and goals. I felt so centered in the face of a pandemic with these pretty black birds at my side. They were beautiful overwhelming moments filled with probably a runners high, but mostly I think just peace. No hurry. Just love. So I had to laugh out loud as I thought of the excretion now present in my view. I muttered to myself about the attitude they took with my belongings and while thinking about when I could wash it off those little summer black sparrows came into my memory. Suddenly again his love was all over me just like His grace and mercy and yes, just like the fresh poo that adorned my car.

It's dangerous to ask God to guide us. We have to stand at the ready to be changed. Finding acceptance in the calm, and strength in the waves. I know I've had both, and will again. I often question if some of it is my own doing but then I realize that it's life. I'm human. The condition of life is a state of transition. Which I think is why I stumble when made to be still. Patience. Just because we stand ready, doesn't mean that we are ready for the next thing he has in store. If that seems a little deep for Christmas Eve, eve ,eve well maybe it is. But it doesn't change that I need to just think about the next thing. When I get 10 steps ahead, that's when I get in trouble. Because I notice the redundancy that my nemesis likes to point out.

So the next thing I'm going o do is get up, ice my ankle and wrap presents. I'm going to watch that Christmas movie for the 900th time and be at peace knowing today and everyday is planned. Although most of them will be quiet or dull I plan to be ready for the action should it ever come.

Luke 1:78-79 Our God is merciful and tender. He will cause the bright dawn of salvation to rise on us and to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death, to guide our steps into the path of peace.”

1John 3:24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

[orcelito]

Confronting the fact that I'm partway through episode 93 of critical role campaign 2 and theres only ("only") 140 ish episodes

I very realistically could end up watching the entirety of the second campaign of critical role. Holy shit lmfao

[smallraindrops-blog]

Call It Calamity.

4.2k

Hypnos/Zagreus, unrequited Thanatos/Zagreus

Warnings:just some kissing and alcohol uses. No beta at all.

Hypnos just wanted to be a good brother.

A/N: This is an au but it will run pretty close along the game, just with some differences.been wanting to write for this pairing for a while but wasn't sure I could get it right. Still don't, to be honest. Oh well hope you enjoy it.

The rumor mill was alive and well, even the underworld.

But this was a new one. And not one that Hypnos really believed.

Hypnos wasn't sure what to say when he heard that Zagreus had politely but firmly rejected Thanatos.

No one had told him really what happened, every worker shade Hypnos asked, he got a different answer.

A mistake surely. Even if Zagreus had rejected Thanatos, maybe he meant as a 'Not right now' while he worked though some family issues. And darkness knows with Hades as a father, there were issues.

Hypnos tapped his quill on his ledger, trying to listen to the shade that was telling him it was a bull shark, not a tiger shark that ate him and it was a common mistake really.

"Okay, just let me cross this out." Hypnos said, not really remembering what the shade told him. He just wrote tiger with a question mark.

His eyes kept going to the pool of Styx, waiting for Zagreus to come out. It took an hour before Hypnos just gave up. He made excuses as he quickly floated to his mother.

"Mom, have you heard?" Hypnos said quietly. He went to touch one of her flowers to fidget with something but she batted his hand away. She had gotten very fond of her purple flowers, and even taken up to watering them.

Hypnos wasn't entirely unconvinced that she didn't talk to them when no one else was around.

"Have I heard of what, my child?" Nyx asked. Her eyes watched him carefully, never leaving his face.

"About Zagreus and Thanatos. I've overheard some stuff." Hypnos leaned forward to whisper, "I doubt it is true but I haven't seen either of them."

Nyx sighed, and gave him a very pointed look. "It would be best not to bother them. This is a very personal matter, my child."

Hypnos crossed his arms, not liking the look she gave him. "I just wanted to know if you knew if Thanatos was okay since he isn't talking to me right now. I mean everyone but Zagreus seemed to know how Thanatos feels about him."

"I haven't heard anything, but even if I did this would be a matter best left alone."

Hypnos pouted, "Boo, you're no fun."

She shooed him away, a slight smile on her face. "Now go back to your work, and I will see you later."

Hypnos waved goodbye, a new plan on his mind already.

💤

It wasn't often that Hypnos traveled the underworld itself. Only when he knew Charon could see him for a chat and maybe buy something.

Thankfully for him, Zagreus left a breadcrumb trail of ruin, upset shades and broken urns everywhere.

Elysium was just as beautiful as Hypnos remembered. The lushness of it made him think of his cave with the soft as a cloud grass and poppies everywhere.

Darkness, he missed his cave. And having Thanatos closer and actually being friends with his own twin.

There was a lot he missed.

However, he didn't missed the sound of Zagreus's screams of rage. He drifted into the field and he ducked when an arrow went sailing past his head.

Zagreus in battle reminded Hypnos of the storms of old, more powerful than gods yet desperate with how little time they had left. Beautiful yet terrible.

Zagreus' sword swung down on an unlucky shade and shattered it. Zagreus stumbled backward, panting and sweating. His mismatched eyes darted around, looking for the next fighter.

Zagreus didn't see the two shades behind him, with their spear at ready. Hypnos bit his cheek for a moment, he didn't want to take the spotlight from Zagreus but he already made the trip and it would be a shame if Hypnos didn't even get to talk to Zagreus.

With a snap of his fingers, Hypnos casted a sleep spell over the shades. Zagreus whirled around, surprise on his face at the sleeping shades. After a moment, they melted away without ever waking up.

"Wow." Hypnos dragged out the word and grinned when Zagreus saw him for the first time. His mismatched eyes blinked, not quite believing what he was seeing. "Just some advice, always check behind you."

For a moment, Hypnos thought he saw a flash of hurt before Zagreus' face hardened. This was new, Hypnos mused but so was his presence.

"Hypnos, has Father sent you?" Zagreus asked quietly, his fingers curled tightly on the helt of his sword.

"Oooh, no. I came on my own will, Zagreus." Hypnos waved his hand. Zagreus didn't relax, his eyes still on Hypnos.

Hypnos rolled his eyes, "I just wanted to talk, really."

Zagreus held his battle stance for another moment, his eyes studying Hypnos' face. Then he relaxed, his lips twitched into a small, tired smile and his sword rested against him. Hypnos sighed, while this wasn't the happy, polite Zagreus he knew; this was better than the battle one he just met

"Hypnos, what could be so important you need to come out here to talk to me?" Zagreus froze, "Is everything alright at the house?"

"Yes, yes everyone is fine." Hypnos held his hands up, "I would have been waiting at the house but lately you've been taking too long to die."

Zagreus scoffed, "Excuse me?"

Hypnos wagged a finger, "You used to come back so quickly, but not anymore! Now I've to go forever without seeing your pretty little face, it's so cruel Zagreus." Hypnos joked.

He didn't see the faint blush on Zagreus' cheeks. "Haha, very funny. Alright, Hypnos what can I do for you?"

Hypnos smiled nervously,"I heard a rumour. Of course, I doubt it's true. But just in case, I heard that Thanatos had… talked with you." Hypnos hoped that Zagreus would get the meaning without Hypnos saying that his twin had hit on Zagreus.

The guilty look on Zagreus' face told Hypnos everything.

"Oh. So it is true." Hypnos said. "I mean you don't mean like forever though right?"

Zagreus ran his hand through his hair, his eyes not willing to meet Hypnos' and for some reason, it made Hypnos think of a little boy who did something he was told not to do.

"Really, I thought-" Hypnos spoke but the sharp look from Zagreus cut him off.

"Yeah, so did everyone else. Everyone but me." Zagreus snapped.

"I didn't… I just…" Zagreus struggled to find the words. "I just can't, not for Thanatos, not like that."

Hypnos didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything. For once in his life he didn't have a smartass reply.

"I'm sorry." Hypnos said finally, "I didn't realize we put this pressure on you. You know you don't have anything to feel guilty about, right?"

Zagreus shrugged, "Is this the only reason you came out?" His toes curled in the grass, leaving burn marks there. Hypnos crocked a brow, he hadn't seen Zagreus do that since they were children.

"I think I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay. I mean I know Thanatos doesn't want to talk to me anymore but I wanted to make sure he and you, of course, were alright. I just happened to find you first."

"Oh." Zagreus said softly. Almost sadly.

Hypnos frowned, he hated when he knew there was something he was missing and he didn't know what to ask or do to get the missing piece.

"You're a good brother, Hypnos." Zagreus said, trying to sound like himself again. He glanced at the chamber's door, Charon's bag gleamed in the glass. "I have to get back to this but I will let Thanatos know you were looking for him if he even shows up..."

After a moment of just studying Zagreus, Hypnos spoke. "Alrighty, but just one more piece of advice."

Zagreus turned back to look at Hypnos, his brows raised.

"I would suggest trying not to die. Crazy, I know." Hypnos said, not able to stop his lips twitching in amusement.

Zagreus laughed,"Oh fantastic advice, like always." He smiled, a real smile and not the tired, sad one he seems to always have lately. "Even if it means you will have to suffer without seeing my pretty face?"

Hypnos places his chest on his chest in mock agony. "Anything for your happiness, Zagreus."

He grinned at Zagreus' laugh. It has been while he heard Zagreus express some else behide urgency or anger.

"Oh, and here." Hypnos tossed Zagreus a small bag who caught it easily with one hand. The obels rustled noisily and Zagreus stared down at the bag.

"Are you sure? Three hundred is a lot of obels." Zagreus blinked, his face unreadable to Hypnos.

Hypnos waved the question away, "Think of this as a bonus of dealing with me taking up your time."

He yawned loudly, "I've better get back before your father notices I am missing. Good luck!"

And with a wave that Zagreus returned, Hypnos vanished.

💤

Of course, Hades noticed the exact second Hypnos abandoned his job.

After much yelling and banging his fist on the desk, Hades freed Hypnos.

He made his own escape quickly. When Hades got like this, It was best to stay out of sight until he got angry with something else.

Hypnos realized that he had missed Zagreus' return amist Hades' raging. He felt a pang of disappointment but shrugged it off. It's not like Zagreus won't be doing another attempt soon after he had some time to lick his wounded pride.

With a sigh, Hypnos returned to his much hated duty and waved forward the next shade.

💤

It was during Hypnos' napping that Thanatos finally showed up.

Hypnos tugged his sleep mask up, "Thanatos! I haven't seen you in forever. Or weeks since the whole you know what." He beamed until he saw how cold Thanatos looked at Hypnos.

"Is everything alright? I mean I heard what happened. I think everyone did. Um, forget I said that. I tried to find you but couldn't and mom wouldn't tell me where you were-" Hypnos rambled nervously.

Thanatos closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Like Hypnos was an annoyance that he wished he could be rid of. Which hurt but Hypnos would move past the hurt if it meant he could talk to his twin again.

"I need to talk to you. Alone." Thanatos said between gritted teeth.

"Are you going to kill me?" Hypnos eyed him. "Because even though you're our mother's favorite, she would be upset with you."

"Hypnos." Thanatos snapped. "Alone. Now."

"Fine! Fine. At the old hangout?" Hypnos asked.

When Thanatos vanished without another word, Hypnos rolled his eyes and murmured "Drama queen." And without even looking at the long line of shades, he followed his brother.

When Hypnos saw his old cave, he sighed happily. The bedchambers at the house were very luxurious and all but he missed this.

Thanatos stood in the middle of the field inside the cave, his arms crossed and his eyes on the river Lethe, the mist that covered the water drifted slowly, hiding the fast undercurrent under it.

Whenever someone tried to drink from the river, Hypnos had to warn them how easy it was for Lethe to pull someone under. And there were quite a few rescues he had to make. Not all of them were successful.

Hypnos floated next to his twin, he tried to decide what to say but settled on waiting for Thanatos to speak.

"Zagreus is getting closer to the surface." Thanatos said quietly, breaking the almost comfortable silence for the first time.

"So, he is." Hypnos agreed. "Once he gets a handle on the damn Satyrs, I don't think anything will be able to stop him."

Hypnos looked at Thanatos as he talked. "Hades had been leaving his desk more often."

Thanatos just nodded, the weight of the unspoken words, of their knowledge, of what hurt that Zagreus will have to face alone weighed on both brothers.

Hypnos stopped floating and stood, they were of equal height and for some reason, Hypnos felt this would be fair for both of them.

"Is this the only reason why you wanted to talk to me? Not anything else, you know like why don't we talk anymore?" Hypnos asked.

"I just don't understand." Thanatos said.

Hypnos tilted his head in confusion. "We all know why he really wants up there, Mom told us, remember? We would do the same in his place."

Thanatos shook his head, "Maybe not all of us. But that isn't what I'm talking about."

For the first time since coming into the cave, Thanatos looked at him. Hypnos was surprised by how sad he looked. There weren't tears but there didn't need to be.

"I don't understand what I don't have but you do." Thanatos said, his mouth twisted.

"Okay, now I don't understand." Hypnos said, "I don't have anything you don't. Unless you count our powers."

Thanatos rolled his eyes, like Hypnos was being dense on purpose. "Haven't Zagreus talked to you?"

"Sure, you mean about your feelings, right? He felt guilty, brother. He really did." Hypnos tapped his fingers against his belt, just to be able to touch something.

Thanatos didn't say anything for a few minutes then he sighed. "So he hasn't then."

"No we did, I found him in Elysium. We talked some." Hypnos watched Thanatos' face carefully, for any hints of what to say.

"Tell me brother, why did you, upon hearing Zagreus rejected me, seek him out?" Thanatos' eyes narrowed at him.

"I was worried! For the both of you. We all thought you guys were it, you know?" Hypnos pushed away the guilt he felt, he had no reasons for it. He never did anything to wreck Thanatos' chances. Not that he would be able to anyway.

"Oh, is that it? Do you really think I would buy that? I saw how your eyes followed him, you know."

Hypnos closed his mouth with a clink of his teeth, and both brothers stared each other down.

Hypnos crossed his arm to match Thanatos. "I have never said or done anything. I knew you cared for him, Thanatos. I wouldn't hurt you like that."

"Not even if Zagreus wanted you?" Thanatos asked.

"It is not really a problem since I can assure you that is not the case." Hypnos said dryly, not happy that Thanatos brought up the impossible.

Thanatos scoffed a laugh at him,"You're an idiot." And he stepped away, not even looking at Hypnos anymore. "I've been away from my job long enough and so have you. Goodbye, Hypnos."

"Hey-" Hypnos reached for his brother but was already gone.

Hypnos gave a shout of resentment, of hurt and kicked the grass. It didn't help the anger so he kicked again and again.

He sat down next to the river, crossed legged and head in his hands.

He loved his brother, really he did but blood and darkness he wanted to shake him sometimes.

💤

When he made it back, Hades wasn't at his desk. Hypnos' heart sank, and he just hoped Zagreus would be able to push through this escape.

Thankfully it wasn't that attempt or the one after that.

It was during Hypnos dealing with two shades, a pair of sisters, arguing over who was at fault for the cart tipping over when Zagreus' name appeared on his ledger. Next to his name, the word Redacted appeared.

Hades did it. The bastard really killed his own son. Hypnos' mouth twisted, anger burned hot in his chest. He would have to play dumb, the less Hades knew what Hypnos and his family knew, the better.

Hypnos looked over the still arguing sisters and noted down, 'killed by inability to communicate with their sibling.'

Hypnos totally wasn't projecting his own issues.

He saw Zagreus step out of the Styx. Even bloodied, Hypnos could see what his brother liked about Zagreus. Zagreus shook off the blood, and Hypnos' eyes unwillingly followed his movements.

Nope, Hypnos tore his eyes away. He didn't see anything, he told himself. Just his brother's crush, he reminded himself. Even if Zagreus didn't return Thanatos' feelings, Hypnos wouldn't do that to his brother.

"Hypnos." Zagreus greeted him and before Hypnos could respond, Zagreus shoved a bottle of nectar in his face. Hypnos grabbed it before he knew what it was and blinked at it.

"Oh for me? You shouldn't have!" Hypnos grinned. He shook the bottle gently, the liquid glittered in the candle light.

"It's my thanks for the gift you gave me before. It was a huge help." Zagreus said softly.

"Anything for you, Zagreus." Hypnos grinned. He could see a sadness that cling to Zagreus, and wondered if he should say something. His chest twisted with how helpless he felt. He wanted to take away the sadness and make sure he never felt it again.

"Do you want to go see my old hangout?" Hypnos said before he could stop himself. Zagreus perked up a little, "The cave, right?"

Hypnos grabbed Zagreus' shoulder and pulled him along for the ride. The sisters are still loudly arguing in front of the line.

💤

It was nice to return a second time. It was much calmer than the house. The house carried a heaviness to it that made it hard to call it home. And Hypnos had no plans for staying forever in that place.

Inside the cave, it was lit only by the numerous candles that floated about and the river Lethe's own light but it was enough to see most of the field inside.

Zagreus immediately began walking around, his eyes drifting from the river to candles to the little poppies dotted the land to the cottonwood that lined the cave's wall. Hypnos just watched him explore.

"This is much more calming than the house." Zagreus said as he turned back to Hypnos. "Why do you stay at the house? This seems much more like you."

Hypnos floated closer to Zagreus, "It was part of the whole deal, me and everyone else had to stay at the house. Or close to it, so Hades could 'keep an eye on us'. Charon is the only exception because he bonded too close to the Styx to stay long."

At his father's name, Zagreus sighed bitterly. "I swear, that old man causes everyone problems and for no good reasons."

"You telling me." Hypnos agreed. Normally he would try to be nicer but the word Redacted flashed into his mind. And an overwhelming sense of anger for Zagreus who just wanted to see his mother again.

"Come on, I know where the comfortable spots are." Hypnos floated toward the river, waving Zagreus along.

He and Zagreus sat close to the river, where the most plush grass grew. It took Zagreus a few minutes to settle, as if he had forgotten what it was like not to move all the time.

Zagreus's fingers dipped into the mist as Hypnos worked the cork out the bottle.

One loud pop later, and the sweet nectar was his. He took a sip from the bottle and hummed. "Thanks. Do you want some?" Hypnos wiggled the bottle, thinking Zagreus would say no like he normally did.

But Zagreus didn't this time. "Sure, thank you." He took the bottle from Hypnos and hummed at the taste.

Hypnos tried not to think about the fact Zagreus' mouth was where he was a moment ago.

Zagreus grimaced as he handed back the bottle, "I forgot how strong those are."

"Lightweight." Hypnos teased, his tone fond and Zagreus shoved at his shoulder with a laugh. He took a big sip and handed it back to Zagreus.

It's not weird if you don't make it weird, Hypnos told himself.

They passed the drink a few more times, until it was close to being empty. "Want the last bit?" Hypnos asked, feeling a slight buzz. Zagreus shook his head, his cheeks were more flushed than Hypnos.

Zagreus looked good like this, flushed and relaxed, and it took all of Hypnos' willpower to pull his eyes away.

Hydnos tossed the now empty bottle next to him and sighed. He bit his cheek, this was probably a mistake but Thanatos' words had been haunting him.

"Have Thanatos checked up on you?" Hypnos tugged at the grass, trying not to think about how close Zagreus was.

Zagreus shrugged, "Not really. He had been helping in some of the fights but he disappeared before I could talk to him."

"He had a weird conversation with me. First time in months that he talked to me and it was about you." Hypnos grumbled.

Zagreus' shoulders tensed up and he wouldn't look at Hypnos. "I have to apologize, Hypnos. I think I might have made it worse between you and Thanatos."

"Zagreus, whatever is going on with Thanatos and me has been going on for a long while. There was nothing you did to cause this rift." Hypnos leaned back on his hands. "I know he cares for you, always has. It was a weird conversation. He sounded like- like… I don't know. I can't explain it."

Zagreus said nothing to that. Hypnos noticed how Zagreus' toes curled into the grass. He almost said something about it but he didn't want Zagreus to get self conscious and stop so he kept his mouth shut.

Zagreus plucked a nearby poppy, full bloom and a vivid red. He spinned between his fingers before he turned to Hypnos who crooked a brow at him. Zagreus very carefully placed the flower on Hypnos' ear and smiled, "That is a good look for you."

Hypnos snorted, "Your highness, I do believe you're a little drunk right now." He grinned at the pout Zagreus gave him.

Zagreus simply plucked another poppy, and placed it in one of Hypnos' curls. His hand stopped and Zagreus lightly stroked his hair.

"Hypnos, would I upset you if I try something?" Zagreus asked softly.

"Probably not, you are already putting flowers in my hair." Hypnos said, alarm bells were going off in his head but he couldn't be bothered to listen.

Zagreus cupped the back of Hypnos' head, fingers buried in his curls and pulled him into a chaste kiss.

Hypnos' heart stopped for a moment and suddenly the talk he had with Thanatos came back in sharp clarity.

But all Hypnos knew at this second was how nectar tasted on Zagreus' lips and how warm the prince of the underworld felt.

Hypnos knew he was going to hate himself for this. But he did it anyway. May the fates and Thanatos forgive him, but Hypnos knew this would be the first and last time.

Hypnos pressed into the kiss, pleased at the soft gasp Zagreus gave and slowly they both deepened the kiss.

Hypnos wrapped an arm around Zagreus' waist and pulled him closer. They broke the kiss for a moment, for breath but Zagreus quickly returned.

Hypnos felt like he was drowning. Between the sweetness of Zagreus's kisses, the shared heat between them and his guilt of doing this, Hypnos was sure he might be going mad.

After somewhere between an eternity and a few minutes, Hypnos pulled away. He and Zagreus stared at each other, lips full and cheeks equally flushed.

Hypnos stared, trying to remember everything of this moment. His heart felt so full but he already could feel the cracks forming.

Zagreus was so beautiful, so unlike anything or anyone else he ever saw. Hypnos loved him for that reason alone.

"Zagreus-" Hypnos' voice cracked, "I can't, you have to understand. I really can't, not to my brother."

Zagreus shushed him, cupped Hypnos' face in his hands. "I know. You're a good brother."

And Zagreus kissed him again. Hypnos went along almost mindlessly.

"If I could, I would." Hypnos murmured against Zagreus' lips.

Zagreus pressed a quick kiss before pulling away. "You can, I'm willing to deal with whatever happens, are you?"

Hypnos hated how much he wanted to bend to Zagreus, to give in. "My brother will never forgive me.* He said weakly.

"He will, he is your brother and he loves you too. He just has a different way of showing it."

Hypnos mutely shook his head and Zagreus sighed.

"I will wait then. However long it will take." Zagreus said decidedly.

"What? Zagreus, no I can't do that to you." Hypnos looked into Zagreus' eyes as he pressed his forehead against Zagreus'. "Listen, I don't know if he and I will ever be friends again and I don't want you to lose out on something because you are waiting around for me to get my stuff together."

"I already decided. You're not the only with stuff left unfinished. I still need to find my mother and deal with my father. Will you wait for me?" Zagreus asked softly.

"Centuries-" Zagreus kissed him but Hypnos kept talking. "Millenniums. Zagreus, I didn't know this was a possibility. I thought you wouldn't even look at me twice."

"I thought you didn't notice me, Hypnos. I thought you just saw me as someone bothering you with how paperwork I must create."

"How could I not notice you, Zagreus? I just couldn't do anything about it." Hypnos said helplessly.

His and Zagreus' eyes meet, and Hypnos' heart shattered. He knew it was decided the moment they kissed, they would have to deal with the consequences of their actions. With his brother, with Zagreus' own family and everything else he couldn't think about right now.

But at least, it would be together.

This time Hypnos pulled Zagreus into a kiss.

All in due time. For now, Hypnos wanted to enjoy this time for as long as he could.

Fin

[silentprincess17]

A Proposal Gone Awry

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Summary: Link has been touring the breadth and width of Hyrule to clear out the remaining monster camps, and soon enough, he reaches Zora’s Domain. Mipha asks him to wait before he heads back to the castle, which he was intending on doing... but some mischievous children may have other plans.

Thank you to @braidy-maidy, @zeldaelmo and @zeldadiarist for your help betaing!

Relationships: Link/Zelda Link/Mipha- Onesided Link & The Zora Children Mipha & Revali (Legend of Zelda)

Contains spoilers for AOC. This is my take on the Heart's Escort Mission- specifically what you get at the end of that.Basically- I turn my angst gun on another character whoopsie but I don't leave Mipha high and dry I promise!

Tags: Unrequited Love, Heartbreak, Healing, Emotional angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending

Link had just got back from the battlefield, and he’d left Mipha there, albeit reluctantly. She insisted she would be the one to check over the Zora troops, alone, “I’ll be able to heal them as I go along Link. Why don’t you go back to the Domain and rest whilst I finish up? You’re not wounded, are you?” He replied in the negative, or well, he’d shaken his head anyway. He’d remained with her still, but she’d sort of stammered for a while, something about final preparations, and it was okay for him to leave. Link wasn’t entirely sure why she didn’t want him to stay, but he hadn’t heard her clearly through what seemed to be perpetual rain on Ploymus mountain, and Mipha had become particularly jumpy around him lately, so he opted to leave her be. He just assumed she meant preparations for the healing she was going to do- and maybe that was a private thing? Or maybe she wanted to ask him to train at some point and it was preparations for that? Not that there was much need for it anymore, with the Calamity destroyed and sealed away, but he missed his childhood friend and would like to help her if she wanted it. Just before he left, she’d clutched his arm, and had asked if he could wait until dinner for her because she wanted to tell him something. He saw no reason to decline, so he’d given her a slight nod and then moved to leave.

As he meandered back through the twisting pathways, he realised that it wasn’t that late, but for some inexplicable reason he felt tired. Sunset had just fallen over the Domain, and now the luminous stones started to glow and fluoresce. It truly was a beautiful place, although… he wasn’t a huge fan of the way the water flowing the walkways had started to creep through his metal boots. He sighed, it had been a spur of the moment decision to wear his Soldier’s Armour, he had put his Champion’s Tunic through the wash multiple times since the Calamity fight and it was still drying in his Guard’s Chamber. He felt strangely bare without it, and he certainly missed the increased perception he had whilst wearing it. And, well, for other, uh, sentimental reasons. No, not because the Princess had made it for him. No. Not at all. He was pulled from his thoughts when his foot squelched uncomfortably in his now soaked socks into the metal plate of his boot. The flow of water had never been a problem as a child because he could run barefoot everywhere and no one would care, but now as the Hero it wouldn’t be seen as proper. He would have to polish them later, to avoid rust forming. And change his socks.

He slowly exhaled, it had been a long week of fighting off the remaining hordes of monsters from Calamity Ganon’s revival, today being the day that he had decided to help clear out the remnants in Zora’s Domain. It was funny, because before he wouldn’t have seen a weeklong absence from the Castle as a bad thing, but now… He blushed slightly, before shaking his head. He still had to go clean up, and then eat dinner, because by the Goddesses he was starving, and then meet Mipha… And perhaps he’d teleport back to the Central Tower and then to the Castle. Just to see her again. He missed being by her side, and it left him restless to know he wasn’t protecting her. Somehow over the course of their journey together those feelings of friendship and wanting to protect her had slowly morphed into something else. Or perhaps, he reflected, his reasoning for wanting to do those things had changed. But he could start to smell the aroma of freshly made hasty meat skewers made using the abundance of fleet lotus seeds around the Domain and Link’s stomach audibly grumbled. Ah, food was close, so he hurried the last few steps to reach the Dining Hall.

Just as he was about to go inside, four small bodies ploughed into him, and he let out a startled gasp. They tugged at his boots, and he only belatedly realised it was the members of The Big Bad Bazz Brigade. Bazz was at the forefront with the sword Link had gifted him when they were children proudly strapped to his back. The sword was barely off the ground, though, with the tip jutting into the passageway with every jump he made.

“LINK!” Bazz shouted, a huge smile plastered across his face.

“Hey Link!” Rivan jostled with Bazz and they flailed their arms at each other, with both of them gripping one of his legs. Link looked down and wasn’t sure what to do exactly. Did he try to separate them? Or peel them off him? He couldn’t help but smile at their antics though.

“You’re coming down to our Domain an awful lot recently, aren’t you?” Gaddison, The Heroine, had both hands on her hips but then moved to pull the two squabbling friends off his poor boots. He hadn’t realised how heavy Zoran children were.

Behind them shyly stood Sidon, he was smaller than all of them, and he gripped his Lightscale Trident with shaking hands.

Link nodded at Gaddison, pointed back towards the mountain where the monsters had been. She nodded sagely, understanding what he meant. Link moved to pick up Sidon, he hadn’t been allowed to join Bazz’s group because he was too young, but he still followed them everywhere. Actually, he tried so hard to prove his worth to be allowed in, he’d even climbed Ploymus mountain to face the Lynel there in an effort to prove his courage. Link found him to be adorable, Sidon reminded him of what he was like at that age, keen to please and prove he was capable, but too reckless for his own good. Sidon smiled his trademark smile and wrapped both arms around Link’s neck. Link smiled; aw he was so cute.

“Hey Link! When will you go swimming up the waterfall with us? You’re older now right, do you have your scales yet?” Rivan asked.

He shook his head. He didn’t have scales, and he wouldn’t ever get them because he wasn’t Zoran.

“HE’S A HYLIAN you ninny! He’s not a Zora! He won’t ever get scales like we will!” Ah Gaddison, ever the voice of reason in the group of rowdy boys. She mothered them all, he could remember that from when he used to play at the Domain, and she sprouted logic that the Zora-equivalent of a ten-year-old Hylian probably shouldn’t have, but who was he to judge.

Rivan looked traumatised. “So, we can never swim up the waterfall with Link then?”

“NO.” She paused, “Well, unless someone gives him armour with their scale on it.”

Bazz shoved his shoulder into hers, “Why don’t you do it then?”

She shoved him back, doubly hard, so much so that he ended up slipping in the water and skidding onto his bum. Link suppressed a bout of laughter at his enraged face. “Do I look like I have a White Scale yet Bazz? I can’t give him one if I don’t have one myself!” She bent down and whacked his arm again. “AND ANYWAY, did you not listen to the history lessons we’ve had- you only give your scale to the person you want to marry, basically as an engagement present.” She fluffed her fins around, “And I guess by association love.” She shuddered, “What a disgusting concept. Imagine loving a boy. How desperate do you have to be?”

Link suddenly felt ridiculously embarrassed. He tried going to the shop on the way here, but they didn’t sell the actual chest plate part of the Zora armour and had looked at him strangely when he’d showed them the Greaves and Helm he already had and pointed at his chest. Then again, maybe he should have actually voiced it. He found it bizarre, considering all the other races seemed fine with selling their complete armour sets. He chalked it off as just a Zora thing. But now he knew better. Farore, he had been such an idiot. How had he apparently missed this piece of information? He hadn’t known the Zora Armour was only given as an engagement gift! And to someone you loved no less. No wonder the staff in the shop had looked at him as if he had grown an extra head!

Bazz looked sheepish, scratching the back of his head. “Well, that was the girl side of things, Heroine.”

Rivan looked confused, “Then you don’t love Link?”

Gaddison blushed bright red, “NOT IN THAT WAY! And I’m only 52! That’s not appropriate at all!” She punched them both, “Do you not remember anything about our plan?”

Bazz scratched his chin. “We want to go swimming up the waterfall.”

Gaddison took a deep breath. “Well done, Bazz, son of Seggin. That’s the whole point of this venture, none of the adults will let us go on the waterfall by ourselves because we aren’t that strong.” She huffed and sat down, her legs crossed and both hands holding her face up in what Link recognised as classic-moody-child-face, “We just need some supervision is all. That is what Link would have been ideal for, but he doesn’t have the armour, it was a longshot really.”

Rivan piped up. “WAIT I remember now! Wasn’t this to do with Kodah?”

Up until that point, Link had been watching the three of them squabbling with amusement mostly. He’d been surprised with the revelation of the Zora Armour but how was he supposed to know the intricacies of Zora… courting (?) rituals. It struck him as weird that they hadn’t changed a single bit since when he was a child and when he played with them. Although, it made sense, that they had remained children whilst he had matured, because Hylians aged much faster compared to the Zora. As soon as Kodah was brought up though, he winced. He could still hear her screeching LINNY when he had walked into the Domain with the Princess who had come to recruit Mipha as a champion. It had been mortifying.

Gaddison sighed. “Yes, she said she was making the armour for a Hylian remember! And then that gossip that my mother heard that she was in fact going to propose to the Hero? In case you’ve been living under a rock- that Hero is sitting right there!” She pointed at him, and Link went red-faced, his eyebrows raised high. Oh, thank the Goddesses Kodah hadn’t done anything. He had no idea what he’d even say. How had she ever thought he’d agree anyway- it wasn’t like he’d talked to her properly since when he was four! But then, time passed differently for the Zora… “I thought she would have given it to him by now.” She huffed, “We should have realised that flaw in our plan.”

Bazz was uncharacteristically silent as the three of them sulked over not being able to go up the waterfall. Link felt bemused that all of their extensive planning was over this armour that apparently a lover, in this case Kodah, was meant to give to their loved one (him haha what a joke) so that he could wear said engagement gift and take them to the waterfall. He shook his head, children’s priorities and means to achieve those were always… entertaining to listen to. Bazz suddenly perked up, “Baby Prince!” Sidon looked up from where he had been resting his head on Link’s shoulder. “Didn’t you go blabbing around the other day to the King that Princess Mipha was making someone armour?”

Rivan enthusiastically nodded, “YEAH- you said that King Dorephan was worried about it, so he commi-ssioned someone to get the materials, and he gave them the Zora Greaves!”

Link swallowed; he had a small inclination of where things were going but he wasn’t sure. He pulled out the Greaves anyway and after a round of ohs and ahs, a hushed silence fell over the group, everyone watching Sidon as the small red spots on his cheeks flared a darker red. He sucked in a small breath and slowly nodded.

Bazz nodded, and immediately stood up. “This is a mission for the The Big Bad Bazz Brigade. We hereby announce that we will go searching for this Armour- this is your pre-pre-liminary mission, Rookie Comrade Sidon. We cannot go find Kodah’s armour because we have no clue where it is so that would waste valuable time, but you know where Mipha’s is don’t you?”

Sidon nodded, much more enthusiastically this time. Link held his hands up, trying to get them to stop.

Gaddison stood up then, “Wait, what if she made it for a Zora?”

Bazz shook his head, “We’ll make do. You want to go swimming tonight, don’t you Heroine?”

Link was vehemently shaking his head, and opened his mouth, but the words died in his throat. What were they doing? What was he agreeing to?! No, he had to say something, he might not know much about courting rituals, but he didn’t want to wear something meant as a present for an engagement!

“Hey!” They all looked at him, “Is this… okay?”

“We need to ask Comrade Gaddison for that information because we, ahem, didn’t, uh, study the particulars.”

Gaddison paused. “Well, I don’t really know. Do you just propose once in your life and that’s it? I mean technically the scales grow back right? It’s not like you have a gaping hole in your chest. And really, everyone seems to be making one at the minute, so it probably doesn’t hold all that fancy meaning anymore. And Lord Jabu Jabu knows we have so many traditions that no one other than the oldies bother with.”

Rivan piped up, “Princess Mipha is nice too, so she won’t mind right?”

Gaddison nodded, “True, and theoretically, we’re just borrowing it. It’s not like Link here will take it forever or something. It’s just so we can practise going up the waterfall a few times on our own, and then we’ll give it back. She probably won’t even know we’ve taken it!” She shook her head, “I surmise no issues Comrade Bazz. We may proceed.”

“Comrade Rivan?”

“Sounds good! It means we can swim with Link, right?”

Bazz sighed, “Yes it does. Good so, last person, Comrade Link?”

Link blinked. This whole situation had gone from zero to one hundred so fast. He wasn’t even sure what he was consenting to, and he was really confused. Did this armour really matter to the Zora? Apparently, it did to the shop keepers, but maybe he’d just confused them? That was highly likely considering he hadn’t even said anything to begin with. And Kodah had made him one and he’d last seen her when he was four- she couldn’t genuinely believe he would agree to marry her right? But even ignoring that, it made the whole thing seem a bit like a joke- surely the Armour doesn’t mean that much if you’d make it for someone who you haven’t talked to in years? Plus, the way Gaddison was talking, and she was really the only source of actual knowledge on the topic, made it seem like it was something all the Zora did in their spare time. But stealing Mipha’s potentially specific armour for her future husband? That felt really wrong. And he knew Mipha was a very serious person, not at all like Kodah, so he had a feeling this meant more to her. Plus, why exactly was he agreeing - because the kids wanted to go surfing vertically? That just felt ridiculous. He shook his head. No. He wasn’t going to ruin Mipha’s gift for her, um, future husband. It’s not what friends would do.

Bazz’s eyes widened, “Please Link. You don’t… play with us anymore. I know you’re all grown up, and you have like responsi-si-”

“Responsibilities you fool.”

“What she said!” and then Bazz opened up his pouch, “AND we got you a gift! Your favourite from the Domain, Hearty Salmon Meuniere!”

Link sighed, about to decline, but his stomach rumbled again and Bazz shoved the plate into his hand. He always was too susceptible to food. And, they made a valid point. He hadn’t spent much time with them lately and they seemed desperate to go up a waterfall. Maybe this was a Zora rite of passage- he knew when he was younger, he’d been desperate to duel with soldiers, but everyone had laughed at him because he was so young. Perhaps this was the same for them. And who was he kidding- he just couldn’t say no. Especially to food children. And he couldn’t deny a small part of him was intrigued as to what the Zora Armour looked like after all. It was the last one he had yet to collect, having received the Greaves from who he now knew was the king, and the Helm from when Mipha had been recruited. So, even though he felt like it was probably not the right thing to do, he agreed, the reckless and hungry side won out. “One ride up the waterfall. And then we return the Armour.”

A series of exclamations and happy cries of “YES! LET’S GO!” rang out through the Domain.

Next (Part 2)

[headcanonsandhijinx]

Breaking Point

Edit: this was originally called ‘Wild Angst Oneshot’ as I couldn’t think of a name, but due to a great suggestion by Narutofan8762 on AO3, it’s now titled ‘Breaking Point’.

I was scrolling on tiktok and saw an acting video with an audio that was from Supergirl, basically yelling at someone who had abandoned her and my brain immediately went ‘Wild yelling at Hylia!’ So I had to try and write this, and then I turned it into a Linked Universe fic because I’m kinda obsessed.

Under the cut, because as usual, my oneshots tend to get pretty long, pretty quickly...

***

She was cold.

That was all he could think as his heart thundered in his chest. She was cold in his arms.

He had finally defeated Calamity Ganon and as the beast finally disappeared from the land that it had long tormented, she had appeared. Zelda was finally free.

He had been running towards her before he even realised and had pulled the princess into a hug with repeated apologies falling from his dry, cracked lips.

Zelda had wrapped her arms back around him and managed to speak into his ear before she went limp in his arms. He had let his body move down to the ground to keep her cradled in his arms, but it was too late.

As soon as he took her face in his hands, the light left her eyes and she breathed her last.

That was how he stayed for hours. In the middle of Hyrule Field, with the body of the woman he was supposed to protect as he cried and her final words repeated over and over in his mind.

“You have nothing to apologise for, Link. You saved us all”

***

Several hours later, found her body draped across his lap, with one of his hands gently holding the back of her head and the other wrapped around her back, while he rocked back and forth as he cried out his grief to the world. He had sat there and screaming and crying for hours over her body.

Then when morning came, he picked up Zelda’s body, called over his horse and began the long trek back to Kakariko Village.

***

Impa had been distressed to see the princess’ body, and it wasn’t helped by the state of Link’s injuries that he had neglected in his grief. A broken arm, 4 cracked ribs, scrapes, bruises, and a concussion.

Impa had insisted that he stay in Kakariko while he healed and the funeral was planned. The time seemed to go by in a blink and before he knew it, the day of the funeral arrived. In a strange turn from the blur of the past few days, the ceremony seemed to last longer than the hundred years he’d slept as Link watched the body of the one he swore protect be laid to rest.

Link was just thankful that the gravesite had been moved from the original plan to bury her near the remnants of the castle, but he couldn’t bear to lay her body to rest in the place where she’d been trapped for a hundred years. She was being buried by the pond atop Satori Mountain. Link had regained a memory of visiting it with Zelda and she’d been amazed by it, so he had brought up the idea of burying her there with Impa, who had agreed to his signing and changed the plans.

Once the ceremony had concluded, Impa had invited Link stay in Kakariko and after a while, he had surprisingly accepted the offer. However, Impa didn’t tell him that she was scared he may do something drastic and he did, just not in the way anyone expected.

He just stayed in the spare house he was staying in, seemingly okay with secluding himself away from the rest of the world. Thoughts of his failure and weakness became his only constant companion as he wouldn’t leave the house for anyone. No matter who came to see him, he wouldn’t answer and if someone journeyed inside, he wouldn’t reply to any questions. And the more they tried to help, the more he pulled away. Eventually, Impa had to ask everyone to keep monitoring him but to leave him alone, out of fear that he may run away and never been seen again if they pushed too much.

They still tried to help, but in little ways that included minimal interaction, if they even saw him. Food would be left outside the door for him and it would be eaten, but only just enough to keep himself alive. He would train and practice constantly during the day and the nights where he couldn’t sleep for fear of failing Hyrule again, often passing out in the middle of the floor sometimes for desperately needed rest.

And that was the way it stayed for six months. A constant cycle of self-loathing and punishing himself for not being good enough.

Until a gang of travelers had walked into Kakariko.

***

“We’ve been walking for ages.” Wind complained as he panted with his hands on his knees and he wasn’t the only one. The group had been walking for almost an entire day and still hadn’t found a settlement or village to rest at, and they’d found this Hyrule’s Beadle who had given them directions, but the group was questioning how accurate they were.

“Well Beadle said Kakariko was this way and he said it wasn’t far, but I think he was just trying to get rid of us before Sky bought all his bugs.” Warrior joked as he stood beside Sky, who elbowed him in the side.

“Come on, he said we should be there by midday if we were quick enough and then we can rest there.” Time chimed in from his place walking at the front of the ground. There were several groans but no more complaints as they continued walking.

It was around two hours later when they finally saw the entrance to this Hyrule’s version of Kakariko Village and upon seeing it, the groups let out several sighs of relief as they journeyed inside.

There were only a few people around the village from what Twilight could see. As he walked in, he spotted a man painting, a little girl sitting by a fire, another younger girl running around and some guards standing in front of a set of stairs that lead up to a building.

“Okay, we should ask later and see if we can find this Hyrule’s hero.” Twilight suggested as he turned around to face the rest of the group, who were all surveying the village as well.

“You’re looking for the hero?” A small voice came from behind him and as he turned, he saw the little girl that was running around a moment ago.

“Yeah, we are. Do you know where he is?” Wind asked the girl.

“Yes, but daddy says he’s ill so he never leaves the house.” The little girl answered before they heard another voice and a man came over to join them.

“I’m sorry sirs, I hope my daughter wasn’t being any trouble.” He said as he looked down lovingly at the girl.

“Oh no sir. She was just telling us where we could find someone that we are looking for.” Time replied.

“Well, perhaps I may be able to offer you some more assistance. Who are you looking for?” The man asked kindly.

“We’re looking for the hero, presumably goes by the name ‘Link’.” Legend spoke up and it was quite jarring to see how quickly the smile left the man’s face.

“You should all come with me.” The smile didn’t return.

***

They’d been herded into a house at the top of a long staircase after that and introduced to this Hyrule’s Impa. She had quickly filled them in on the situation as much as she could and it was a lot to take in.

The land had been decimated by this Hyrule’s Ganon and had suffered for a hundred years, until Link could finally defeat him. (she hadn’t told them about Wild’s death. That would be something for the boy to explain on his own terms. Impa tried to give him control over the very little that he had a say in. She wouldn’t take this explanation away from him too.)

They’d then been left alone in the room and were trying to think of how to approach this new Link when Legend spoke up.

“You heard how they talked about him! How are we supposed to break it to him? Huh, just dump it on him when these guys have said that he’s ill.” Legend snapped. “Hey, we’re all reincarnations of the hero and we’ve all defeated some kind of evil that has threatened our Hyrules. Now Hylia is grouping us all together on a new quest so we can figure out who is behind all these black blooded monsters and stop them. If she’s brought us here then we need you to help us. You’ll probably need to say your goodbyes because she’ll make you join us whether you want to or not. How does that sound?” He snapped sarcastically, already done with the situation.

But nobody spoke, not even to scold him for his outburst and Legend turned around to see this Hyrule’s Link standing in the room’s doorway, presumably having just heard his rant about their quest.

Fuck.

But that wasn’t the worst part of the situation. The worst part of the situation was this Link’s appearance.

The group didn’t know what was worse about it. The painful looking scars that covered part of his left cheek creeping up to cover his ear and snaking down his neck to presumably cover his body as well, or the blank look of numbness on the boy’s face. He had walked in with Paya as he stared into the distance at nothing, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings as he stood there. Warriors had been closest and he recognised the look in this Link’s eyes. It was the look of someone who had completely given up and retreated from the world. He’d seen it on lots of fellow soldiers on the battlefield and off it. Men who’d retreated into their heads because the war was too scarring.

That was when the new Link had pulled something from his belt and vanished in shards of glowing blue light, teleporting away before anyone could even say anything.

“Great. Now what do we do?” Wind questioned, unsure of how to precede.

“I fear there is nothing we can do, apart from wait for his return.” This Hyrules Impa spoke up. “Link knows how to hide when he doesn’t want to be found and the more we try to force our company into him, the more he resists it.” The group were reluctant to accept this at all, but eventually conceded after Impa told them that he would probably return soon, once he got his head around what was going on and came up with a plan. (She didn’t tell them that she was even more worried about Link then they were.)

***

Link walked through Hateno Village as he headed towards the house he had bought almost a year ago, hoping that one day he may be able to take Zelda there. However, that would never happen now.

The wooden bridge beneath him creaked as he moved across it. His eyes now set on the item before him that was his reason for coming here at all. He strode fowards and wrapped his hands around it before it vanished in streams of blue light into his slate. He opened the map, selected his next location and disappeared.

Leaving Bolson and Karson behind as they looked at each other worriedly. They hadn’t seen him in months and he hadn’t even seemed to hear them calling his name.

***

He walked inside with the sledgehammer he had taken from outside his house as he set his sights on the aim of his journey.

The statue of the goddess Hylia, in the Temple of Time.

The goddess who had ignored her peoples suffering. Who had left her people to die. Who had let everyone he knew die. Who had ignored Zelda’s prayers and pleas for her help with her dormant powers, and had ignored his silent pleas for years.

Who was now demanding his help again, threatening to rip his world away from him once again if he refused.

Walking to the base of the statue and shifting his stance, he swung the hammer into the side of it. Before pulling it back and hitting it over and over and over again, parts of the ancient statue crumbling to the ground as the hero released his fury.

“You were supposed to protect us! You were supposed to protect your people! Protect the land and people you created!” He screamed the first words he had said in months, his voice hoarse and rough in his throat. “You were supposed to protect her! She trusted you, she believed in you!” His voice cracked and his throat ached as he yelled, unused to being used at such a loud volume.

Then he stopped and let the head of the sledgehammer rest on the floor as Link realised something.

“I... I believed in you.” It was practically a whisper.

“I trusted you.” It was louder now.

“I trusted you! I thought you’d help us. I thought you’d help me, but you abandoned us! You just left us all to die! You let me die!” He couldn’t breathe because he had trusted her and look where that trust had gotten him.

Nowhere.

“I lost everything.” He thought outloud.

“Do you hear me? I’ve lost everything because of you and your stupid quest!” His ears were ringing as he started screaming again as the hammer was back striking at the statue of the goddess even harder then before.

“I lost my family!” A family he couldn’t even remember.

“I lost my home!” Another place thats memories were lost to him.

“I lost everyone I’ve ever cared about!” That was something he could only assume. He must of had a family at some point, maybe even some friends? He just didn’t know.

“Daruk” His back throbbed with phantom pain in memory of how hard his congratulatory back ‘pats’ were. How loud his voice was, even when he was trying to be quiet.

“Revali” Even though they had mainly been at odds with each other, Link still remembered a few things. The way he would preen whenever he got any amount of attention, or the sound of his wings gliding through the air.

“Urbosa” The sound of her voice rang through his ears, how she’d always sounded so confident and sure of herself. How proud she was of her people and her culture.

“Mipha” The girl he was supposedly in love with, and he could barely remember anything about her. He could remember how soft her voice was but how she was also incredibly fierce in battle when defending those she loved, but that was it. There was practically nothing left.

“Ze-Zelda!” He hit the statue so hard that his hammer shattered into pieces, as he thought of the few things that he could actually remember about her. The way her eyes light up when she talked about the Shiekah technology or a rare species of animal or flower. The way her nose would slightly scrunch up and her eyebrows would furrow when she was annoyed at him. The way her hands shook when she held him as he died in her arms.

“I’ve lost everything because of you! I have nothing left anymore! I’m done. Do you hear me? I’m done with you!” He was no longer screaming, but he wasn’t done yet.

Looking up at the partially ruined statue before him, he dropped to his knees among the stones that now littered the floor. And dropping his head into his hands, he took a deep breath, before he threw his head back...

And screamed.

It was long and loud and every time he ran out of breath, he just took a deeper one and started again. The screams were haunting, heartbreaking and full of grief because Link, after years of mounting pressure, trauma and incapacitating grief, was finally breaking down.

***

When Link awoke he hadn’t realised that he’d fallen asleep, or more accurately, that he’d passed out after screaming for hours. His throat was sore and he felt like he was drifting in that weird feeling numbness that usually occurred when he had a breakdown, although they had never been this bad before.

He looked at the destruction around him and to his surprise, he didn’t feel guilty about it. He’d expected to feel guilty like he always did these days, blaming himself for everything that went wrong. Even if he knew that, logically, there wasn’t any possible way that he could be responsible for it.

But this? This left him feeling hollow instead. Because there was nothing left of him anymore.

He was tired and emotionally drained and he wanted to stay here in his Hyrule. He didn’t want to be forced into being the Goddess’ pawn again, and yet he had no choice. He never had a choice when it came to the Goddess and her will, that was a lesson he learned a long time ago.

He took a moment to breathe and took out the sheikah slate to teleport back to Kakariko.

‘Time to face the Goddess’, he thought as he tried to prepare himself to once again succumb to the Goddess’ wishes and relinquish any thoughts of freedom.

It wouldn’t do any good to imagine a luxury that he would never be granted.

[robininthelabyrinth]

AU where the Nie clan has dragon blood in their lineage, and usually it just manifests as bad temper and a generally martial inclination. Except, once in a rare while, generations apart, an actual dragon will be born among them... (aka nobody really expected that NHS was the latest Nie dragon).

The Nie sect’s ancestors were butchers; that lowly heritage is well known and widely celebrated, much to the not-entirely-concealed disdain of some of the more refined, gentlemanly sects. Butchers at home and butchers at war – everyone knows that.

What’s rather less well known is that the third sect leader, colloquially known among his descendants as ‘that idiot’, rather heroically saved an imperial princess in battle and then – and this was why he was that idiot – married her. She was a proper princess, too, the true-born daughter of the emperor; other sects might see that as a good thing, since for all that cultivation sects saw themselves as being above petty things like the politics of the common folk, a princess was still a princess.

The Nie did not.

The reason for this was quite simple. What does a cultivation style that already incorporates an increased chance of death through anger most assuredly does not need?

The blood of the eight-clawed dragon, that’s what.

Arrogant, explosive, unruly –

It was a mess.

The sixth sect leader came up with the saber halls to honor his father and grandfather – most especially his grandfather, who’d had a bad tendency towards slit-pupiled eyes when he’d been especially enraged, and whose saber had absorbed every ounce of his ferocity – and the next few generations made a point of finding especially meek daughters or sons for their children to marry, and that was that; everyone hoped that that idiot’s mistake could be diluted out of existence.

It was, for the most part. 

But every few generations, imperial blood ran true, and not only in terms of majesty or arrogance, and then the entire sect had to close its doors to the outside world and pretend with all their might that no, of course there wasn’t a rampaging beast of an especially draconic variety raging behind the extremely sturdy walls of the Unclean Realm, what nonsense that would be.

Still, if Lao Nie had to wager on one of his children being a dragon, he probably would have put money on it being his firstborn: already far too tall for his age, a brilliant prodigy with his saber, and a temper that rivaled some of the older members of the clan.

Certainly not Huaisang.

The only time that child hadn’t been a disappointment was when he was a baby: he’d been remarkably lazy even back then, sleeping more hours of the day than he didn’t even past infancy, and what had been a relief to his nursemaids quickly turned to annoyance by everyone else. It was commonly believed that such a weak and unlively child was likely to grow up to be slow-witted and dull, and, worse, the doctors confirmed his muscle tone was underdeveloped; even with a great deal of practice, he would likely always be a bit behind those his own age.

As he grew older, his penchant of sleeping twenty hours out of every day got even more noticeable, and the family largely lost interest.

Well, most of them. His older brother, who’d quietly taken on the responsibility for caring for Huaisang when no one else in the family had had the time or, truthfully, the interest in the disappointing son of an especially fortunate (unfortunate?) family maid-turned-concubine, indulged him far too much, even carrying him from place to place.

“You’re not a mule, Mingjue,” Lao Nie scolded one day, reinforcing the lesson through swipes of the flat of his saber. “Have some dignity! If Huaisang wants to go places, he can damn well walk there himself!”

Nie Mingjue bowed his head, obedient and filial in every way except for the fact that he didn’t listen; if anything, it got even worse from that point on, the boy barely being seen anywhere without a napping toddler as an accoutrement.

“Did you hear what I said?” Lao Nie roared at him.

“I’m not a mule,” Nie Mingjue recited. “If he wants to go places, he can walk there himself.”

“If you heard me and persisted regardless, you’re undisciplined,” Lao Nie said, arms crossed.

“I accept whatever punishment is appropriate,” Nie Mingjue said, and that was most irritating of all: why would his otherwise perfect eldest son insisted on being beaten once a week when all he had to do was leave that useless lump behind in his rooms, where he’d be happier anyway? It wasn’t as though Nie Huaisang even wanted to be outside: sometimes it seemed he’d only learned to talk in order to complain about how uncomfortable he was, how hot, how sweaty – and he even had the gall to keep complaining even after his older brother fetched a fan for him, like a loyal dog.

Discipline was paramount in the Nie sect; to be undisciplined is to risk being monstrous, and with their cultivation style they could not tolerate such a thing. That was why their punishments were so strict, even if the rules were relatively sparse - more principle than rule, really. But on the other hand, their family had always been the sort that would rather break than bend: if Nie Mingjue wanted to pay for his willfulness by accepting punishments, he was entitled to do so.

Still – there was punishment, and there was wanton cruelty; at some point, one of the men in the punishment hall abandoned the former for the latter. He was a popular man, the son of another sect’s diplomat that had married a close cousin of the main family and stayed in Qinghe; for some reason he’d developed an intense dislike of Nie Mingjue – a dislike which was mutual, and likely to cause trouble in the future when Nie MIngjue became Sect Leader, but which currently put Nie MIngjue in a very bad position given the man’s status as his elder.

Lao Nie only learned about the whole matter much later, and when he did he was so spitting mad he grabbed his saber and would have spitted the man on it, cousin or no cousin, if he hadn’t been held back; but at the time he had no idea, busy as he was defending the borders of his lands against troubles caused by that ever-smiling bastard Wen Ruohan.

When he did hear about it, though, he was infuriated: his son and heir had been beaten three times the usual amount, a compilation of a thousand little offenses that could only technically be termed breaches of discipline, forced to complete several dozen of their most demanding exercises, and then made to kneel outside on the hottest day of the year; to no one’s surprise, he had eventually collapsed rather than yield and beg for mercy, his skin cracking and lips starting to bleed as his consciousness left him.

He was after all a Nie. 

Who knows how far that bastard might have gone, his eyes fixed on a prize he would never inherit with his outsider’s surname, if Nie Huaisang hadn’t been there, tucked away curled up underneath a shady tree and made to watch despite Nie Mingjue’s request that he be sent back to his rooms.

Those who were near enough to see – and Lao Nie had plans to punish the whole lot of them for not having interfered: what was the point of a clan motto that prioritized justice and suppression of evil no matter what the consequences if they would allow it to happen in their own damn home? – said that it didn’t happen at once, that there was a pause when Nie Mingjue’s body hit the ground; perhaps it was only that Nie Huaisang was slow to realized what was happening.

Perhaps it just took a while for the change to happen.

Either way, everyone agreed on what happened next: the unfurling of a serpentine body twice the length of a fully grown man, although only about as wide around as a goat, a red-eyed glare that was backed with teeth and claw, and a roar of challenge at anyone who even thought about pulling Nie Mingjue’s body away from the center of those coils.

Apparently Nie Huaisang had needed all that sleep because he was still growing. Who would have known?

It was the youngest full transformation they’d ever had in their clan by far. The boy hadn’t even reached the age of three!

“If he’s stopped sweating, he has heatstroke,” Lao Nie told his apparently not useless younger son, having been urgently summoned to the training field. “He needs to be taken inside at once; you’re only making things worse.”

Nie Huaisang bared his teeth at him, and Lao Nie bared his teeth right back.

He might not be a dragon, but his son’s blood had come from somewhere.

“I am your father,” he snarled. “You will listen to me and obey. You hear me? You will get off of him this instant. If he doesn’t get water soon, he will die.”

Lao Nie will never know if it was the demand for filial piety or the threat to Nie Mingjue’s life that got Nie Huaisang to comply – he suspected the latter – but Nie Huaisang gave in and backed off, allowing the clan’s medics to rush over and take Nie Mingjue away.

Lao Nie looked at the dragon, thinking to himself that the vastness of the underground caverns beneath the Unclean Realm weren’t for nothing: if this was what a two-year-old dragon looked like, he’d be a full-fledged calamity when full grown.

His saber itched in his palm at the thought, but he ignored it. The embarrassing yao-derived portion of their bloodline aside, the Nie sect set itself against evil, and Nie Huaisang was lazy, not evil.

“This is going to be trouble,” he finally said. “It can’t be allowed to get out.”

You can’t go out, he meant, but maybe Nie Huaisang in all his laziness wouldn’t mind being restricted to the Unclean Realm. Maybe, if they were lucky, they could teach him to like paintings and books instead, since he could never be allowed out to join a proper battlefield.

He’d be locked at home forever, unless the Sect Leader decided otherwise - and that meant Lao Nie would be the one responsible for it.

Ancestor or not, damn that idiot. 

In the end, Nie Huaisang didn’t respond to him at all, merely took to the air – flying must be inherent, since he didn’t seem especially bothered by what should be something brand new – and headed inwards, aiming towards…

His brother’s bedroom.

Not really a surprise, that.

A bit of a surprise that he could find it so quickly, though, from such an unfamiliar angle…

Lao Nie’s eye twitched.

If his stubborn older son had known about this, he was going to wish he’d died of heatstroke.

[annakie]

I started planning my homebrew D&D campaign world in approximately 2003.  The world was built on the fact that there was a “cataclysmic event” that split a continent in two.  This is the map I mspainted way back then.

 The basic premise was that all of civilization lived now on the western continent and that nobody had been to the eastern continent in a long time, for Reasons, and the map was just an extrapolation of what the other half could look like based on what it once looked like.

I started DMing this campaign in D&D3.5 though we didn’t make it past like level 5.  I tried to resurrect it a time or two but it never came to be.  But in my mind, and in like a notepad document, I kept adding little ideas and turning the world over and over in my mind.

More below the cut on D&D, creativity, and experiencing other people’s version of a similar vision to yours.

Eventually, that idea morphed into making the left continent the only part of the world remaining, for other reasons I’m not getting into right now to protect my story and campaign.  So I ended up with this map, which I made in about 2017 when I started actually DMing this campaign in 5e.  Some friends at work wanted to play D&D so I started DMing them during our lunch hour. 

I made a new world map, which I also posted about.

What remained though, was that the Cataclysm still happened.

We played the D&D game for almost a year at lunch at work, and then that company got bought out and everyone left and the game fell apart. 

Two and a third years later, Covid hit and no one had anything to do anymore so we restarted the campaign online, which I talked about amongst other things in this long rambly post.  It’s still going strong!  We play every Sunday night for two hours and the players are level 13 now!  I love it, they love it, it’s so much fun.

The above was just to say that I’ve had this world and this idea in my head for many years.  Sometimes, someone else has a very similar idea completely independent of your idea.  Sometimes that person’s idea is a lot bigger than yours, and that’s totally cool.

I’d heard about Critical Role when it started getting popular, but I didn’t start actually watching it until 2018, it was a big distraction for me in the time period right after the in-person portion of that campaign ended.  It got me through a big 5e withdrawl.  Really my main obsession with CR was like, from right when everyone left when that job fell apart and I was looking for a new one, until... not long before Covid.  I still watch it and love it, but I’m not like, rewatching it again like ever. 

I thought it was pretty funny that I had the Cataclysm in my game world and Exandria had the Calamity.  The circumstances of both things in our separate worlds are vastly different.  

But there are Reasons that the Cataclysm happened in mine, and it had always been my plan that at a certain point in the campaign that my players would roll up high-level characters and we’d take a side-quest with them into the Reasons that the Cataclysm happened.  That point in the campaign hasn’t happened yet.

Annnnd now, hilariously, we have Exandria Unlimited: Calamity.  It is like, very much similar so far (and I only made it maybe halfway into last night’s episode) to how I’d always envisioned the Cataclysm Sub-Game to look.  In the very off chance any of my players ever see this I don’t what to post details, but watching EXU last night was like, a little brain-melting for me.  It’s already VERY GOOD.

But I don’t know if I want to keep watching it for now, literally because my heart kept sinking thinking “Oh no, oh NO.  This is so close to my ideas for the Cataclysm!”  And I want to stress here -- I am in no way saying one has anything to do with the other. They’re very independent ideas and I had no idea who Matt Mercer was when I came up with my game world and obviously he has no clue who I am. Creativity just happens like that sometimes.  Similar ideas exist all the time.

But now I’m faced with wondering if... I want to watch EXU at all?  At least until I run that similar arc for my players in Arvola’s Cataclysm?

One of my players watches (or watched? I don’t know if he still does) Critical Role.  I should ask him if he still watches.  I may ask him to pause watching it til we’re done.  Even if that’s like, a year from now, which it might be.

I don’t want EXU to influence the vision that I’ve had for the Cataclysm for like, ten years.  I want to see it, badly.  But should I watch it and always wonder if mine was good enough if any of my players see both and compare? 

I think what’s really making me feel this way is that for about 5 years I played in a D&D4e campaign and grew to really love my character.  She was a very religious rogue, dedicated to her goddess, with a strong personality.  I loved her so much that I wrote basically a full-length novel of her backstory, and then had started revising it and was wondering if I could publish it.

And then, not long into the revision, book three of a popular fantasy book series that I LOVED came out and introduced a character... who was almost a clone of my character, down to major details of her backstory and physical description.  I was gutted.  I never finished that book and I loved the previous two in the series so much.  And obviously the author of those books didn’t know me, or my character.  His creations were his own and mine are mine and were never published outside of my friends and campaign.  Every time I open that document I was working on, and I’ve tried many times in like the last decade, I think about that, and it kind of blew the love of my project out.

I know it’s probably a personal issue for me.  But writing that book about my character and DMing this campaign are literally the two most ambitious creative projects I’ve ever worked on.  And it’s a bit gutting to feel like this is happening again. If I ever wanted to do something awesome with this campaign world and bring it out of my head and the D&D table I run it on, instant comparisons with Exandria would likely happen because of these events.

I know I need to get over it.  And I love CR and really want to watch EXU.  I just also want to keep feeling like Arvola’s Cataclysm is clearly mine, even if just in my head, if that makes sense.

[butgilinsky]

rebellion // rc

warning; language, violence, drugs, drinking, pretty much everything that comes with rafe cameron 

summary; where rafe and y/n are the couple on figure eight. 

word count; 2.6k+

let’s pretend like rafe’s coke problem isn’t a problem for just a second. don’t do coke! but just pretend for a sec that the reader and rafe talking about doing coke together isn’t the end of the world

living on figure eight had its perks. sure, most of the people sucked, and pretty much everybody’s parents sucked, but it wasn’t all bad all the time. there were times where having money without working a 9 to 5 job came in handy, and y/n knew it all too well. 

she lived a double life, and all of her friends knew it. when the sun was out, and her parent’s eyes were on her, she was a good girl that wore a bright smile and followed the rules. she’d tag along to business dinners when she was asked, and would stay in her room or leave the house when people too important for her came to the house. she did everything her dad asked her to, when he was present.

however, as soon as the sun fell behind the trees and her parents turned a blind eye, y/n was off doing practically everything your parents teach you to stay away from. she could practically out drink and smoke everyone on the island at this point. 

it started as a rebellious phase. she’d smile politely to her parents and their business partners, and then she’d climb out of her window and change in the back seat of her friend’s cars while they drove off to the biggest party on the island. 

she’d sneak in after curfew, or tell her parents she was staying at a friend’s house, and it worked for a while. she never got more than a single question or a questioning glance. 

but then she started dating rafe cameron. rafe got her into more trouble than she usually put herself in, but that wasn’t the problem at hand. their friends, along with everyone else in their age group saw the two as ‘kook royalty’. the king and queen of figure eight was often put on their heads. 

it was a fun life to lead, until her dad had gotten on her case about rafe’s less than commendable life choices. it was a growing argument between her and her father, and her father had no problem making it crystal clear that he didn’t like rafe. 

so rafe stopped coming to family dinners, and y/n stopped sneaking out. she’d walk straight out of the front door, telling her dad exactly who she was going out with, sending him and her mom a bright smile and a little wave before climbing into the truck that her father grew to despise. 

when she moved off to college her father loosened his leash. he stopped asking her where she was all the time or who she was with, since he wasn’t even on the same soil as her anymore. he hated that she went to the same college as rafe, and hated it even more when they came back to the obx at the same time. 

but now it was summer, and y/n swore up and down that she would have the time of her life. so she did. 

she walked across the yard, pinky locked around carly’s while she waved to people that she knew. she raised her hand to point over at topper who stood a few feet away from her and shot a finger gun at him, which made him laugh. 

she squeezed carly’s hand gently before running off to where topper stood and threw her arms around his neck loosely. he wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to the side of the girl’s head. 

“what’s up, shorty? finally got daddy to cut the leash?” she rolled her eyes and punched topper softly, head whipping around at the sound of her name piercing through the air. 

she smiled brightly and turned her body around before rafe lifted her off of the ground and wrapped her legs around his waist. he held her thighs while she grabbed both sides of his face and kissed him quickly, smiling at the soft hum that left him. 

“hi beautiful.” she hummed at the nickname and locked her fingers together behind his neck. 

“hi handsome.” she smiled brightly as he leaned in and kissed her one more time before dropping her back to her feet. 

she turned back towards topper and leaned her back against rafe’s chest, smiling when his arms fell over her shoulders and she grabbed both of his hands in her own. she listened to topper talk about something with his mom that had happened just a few days prior while waving and winking to people that passed by her with a greeting. 

she spotted carly a few minutes later, holding up a bottle of something and pointing to it before pretending to chug it as a sign. y/n laughed to herself before tapping the back of rafe’s hand a few times. 

she leaned her head to the side when he dug his face into her neck, letting out a soft laugh when he started leaving chaste kisses on her skin. 

“i’ll be right back, okay?” she whispered softly and turned her head so she could leave him with a short kiss. 

“i’ll find us a bump?” she nodded and patted a hand on topper’s chest as a silent goodbye to not interrupt his conversation with some other guy. 

she skipped over to carly and smiled at the squeal that left her friend. she sat with carly and a few other girls that she went to high school with and drank for a bit. they went on and on about what had been going on on the island since she’d been gone, and what had stayed the same. 

some rambled to her about they couldn’t believe her and rafe were still together, while others went in the opposite direction and swore the two of them were made for each other. she laughed at both, claiming that they were practically perfect, although they definitely weren’t. 

the couple were thick as thieves, but that came with repercussions. while they knew each other like nobody else did, it allowed them to get under the other’s skin like nobody else. rafe and y/n knew each other’s ticking points, and just how far they could go before everything ended in calamity. 

it was a love story, some say from hell and others say a match made in heaven. it was all about perspective, and not many people got to see the real thing. carly seemed to be the only person y/n would spill everything to, while topper and kelce had seen and heard everything front and center. 

after what seemed like forever, y/n offered the girls a polite goodbye, but she needed to find rafe. she convinced carly to give her two drinks, though it took a bit of convincing since carly swore that rafe didn’t deserve her good alcohol. 

y/n made her way around the backyard, diving into a few quick conversations with people that wouldn’t let her pass with a simple goodbye. she found sarah, who looked like she absolutely did not want to be there, which made her laugh gently. sarah gave her the quick run down on her boyfriend switch, and y/n told the girl she wasn’t completely surprised. she’d spent a lot of time with sarah since she started dating rafe, and she swore that her and topper were temporary. 

once she finally made her way into the house, topper was the first one she found. she figured kelce would be with rafe, especially if rafe found coke. she squeezed herself into the group of boys gently, rolling her eyes when the few boys were making jabs about y/n joining the party. 

she laughed softly but wedged herself in front of topper. he put a hand on her back to pull her away from the other boys, who he ultimately did not trust around his friend, and turned his attention down towards her. 

“you know where rafe is?” he looked back up at the crowd and looked for him but shrugged gently. 

“i think him and kelce ran off somewhere, but i haven’t seen either of them in a bit.” she rolled her eyes but nodded, knowing topper didn’t know where rafe was at every minute of the day. 

“you want a sip of this?” she raised a cup up to topper who looked in the cup, his eyes lighting up at the sight. 

she laughed at his excited demeanor and let him take it with the hand that had previously been laid on her back, taking a few sips of the liquid and letting out a relieved sigh. 

“thanks shorty.” he pressed another kiss to the side of her head and she bid him a quick goodbye before searching for rafe. 

after a while, she saw the back of kelce’s head, knowing it was him when he threw it back softly and laughed into the air. she walked up behind him and threw an arm around his shoulders, laughing when he jumped at the contact. 

“oh shit, hey mama.” she laughed at the nickname and wrapped kelce in the best hug she could provide with a drink in each of her hands. “i take it that’s for me?” he sent her a sly smirk as he pointed to one of the cups in her hand, but she laughed and nudged him with an elbow. 

she looked over her shoulder and saw rafe standing over a counter. he threw his head back and rubbed at his nose, telling y/n all she needed to know about the situation. there were a few girls and a couple of guys around rafe, which made her slightly more comfortable with the situation. 

“he’s been a good boy, don’t worry.” she rolled her eyes at kelce’s words, laughing along with him. she knew rafe wouldn’t do anything, but that doesn’t mean she trusted those girls. 

she gave kelce a knowing look, to which he nodded and made a gesture with his hand to tell her to walk over there. she left with a wink and kissing the air in his direction, to which he laughed gently. 

she caught rafe’s attention quickly, watching a smile stretch across his face, which in turn, made her smile back. he pointed to the cups in her hands and she held them up, watching him clap at her. she laughed, watching the head around rafe turn to look at her in question. 

she walked between the bodies surrounding rafe until she was standing right in front of him and handed the cup to rafe, watching him bring it to his lips immediately before humming out in satisfaction. 

she smiled at the feeling of rafe’s hand pressing itself against the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. she heard disapproving noises behind her, though she planned on ignoring them until,

“who are you?” she looked over her shoulder at the girl she’d never seen before, who now received a slew of different reactions from the other people in the room. 

“you must be new here.” y/n smiled sarcastically at the girl who gave her a disgusted look when y/n turned towards her and pressed her back against rafe’s chest like she had done just an hour prior. 

“what’s it to you? i’ve lived here for a year and i’ve never seen you before.” the girl was trying to size her up, and though y/n found it quite comical, the people in the room that had grown up with her were silently hoping that it wouldn’t reach the point they suspected. 

“i go to college on the mainland, sugar. but you see, i’ve lived here all my life, so these people,” she pointed around the room, before pointing over her shoulder towards rafe for a lingering moment. “these are my people.” 

“they don’t look like your people, sugar.” the name fell out of her lips with an emphasized attitude that struck a chord in y/n, which made her lips stretch up into another smile.

“you can ask them, if you’d like. kelce over there, i’ve known kelce since we were in diapers. kelce knows about everything there is to know about me, including how many fights i’ve been in before, and how many of them i’ve won.” she tried to stress her point, but the girl in front of her seemed to brush it off as if she had barely heard it. “and rafe here,” she pointed over her shoulder again before taking a sip of her drink. “rafe’s been my boyfriend for three years.” 

“could’ve fooled me. looks like he was pretty comfortable without you.” y/n rolled her eyes, setting her drink on the counter between mounds of white powder before looking back at the girl. 

“listen here, sugar. you can shove your tongue down just about any throat in this joint and stand a better chance against any of those angry girlfriends far more than if you tried to lay a single finger on rafe.” the girl cocked her head to the side slightly, sending y/n a reluctant but tempted look. “please, by all means, try it.” 

the girl let out a scoff, looking around to the few people that seemed to be on her side. 

“y/n, you alright?” y/n’s head snapped up to see topper standing over by kelce, eyes locked on the two girls that were almost chest to chest. 

“yeah, just trying to explain to sugar here that rafe’s off limits.” y/n shrugged softly, a small smile ticking at her lips when topper sent her a knowing look. topper was her hype man in situations like this. he liked watching the girl fight. she almost always won, and it was surely a sight to see. 

y/n looked back at the girl and almost laughed but a fist flying in her direction made her hand spring up and grab the girl’s wrist a few inches from her face before y/n’s fist cocked back and went flying into the girl’s face. she’d been off just a few inches, snagging the girl in the jaw, but it was enough. 

“try it, bitch.” y/n spit at the girl, smiling at the fire behind the girl’s eyes. 

the girl could only take another step before y/n shoved her harshly, planning on landing another punch before rafe stepped around her quickly and built a barrier between the two girls. although rafe couldn’t wipe the smile from his face, he backed his girlfriend into a wall and put a hand on either side of the girl to lock her in. 

“you’re just looking for something to scratch your rebellion itch, huh?” y/n rolled her eyes at the question from rafe, though she smiled up at him. 

“you love it, stud.” 

“oh baby, do i.” she snaked her arms around rafe’s neck and leaned up to kiss him, this time letting rafe slip his tongue between her lips as she pulled him against her. 

“show off!” the girl yelled at the sight of the two, which only made y/n laughed into the kiss. 

rafe leaned down ever so slightly, never disconnecting his lips from y/n’s, and grabbed her thighs. he hoisted her off of her feet and wrapped her legs around his waist before pressing her back into the wall. 

she practically forgot about the girl, diving deep into the feeling of rafe’s lips and tongue pressing against hers. her fingers combed through the hairs at the bottom on his head, smiling at the soft hum that bubbled in the boy’s throat. 

“alright, she’s gone, you can stop dry humping each other.” topper yelled out, a loud laugh from kelce paired along with it. 

y/n pulled back, a soft laugh passing her lips as she stared down at her boyfriend, both wearing bright smiles. 

“you want that bump now?” y/n laughed at the question, watching rafe’s eyes shine brightly at her. 

“fix a line for me, cameron.” 

[rwbyvein]

Firen Lhain: Chapter 811: Pretender:  Part I / III

Neo's eyes flew open and quickly sat up in her bed, quickly looking around. The door was closed, and the room seemed exactly as she had left it, except for the daylight streaming in from the window. She rushed over to the door and tried it, finding it still locked. She let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure what to do until the light caught her eye. She rushed over to see the mountains around her, but turning to the side she could see what they called the garden. They acted as if having something that was potentially a garden was something to celebrate about. Annoying children. She saw the chameleon walking through the so-called garden, disappearing and reappearing at a whim. She seemed to stop to enjoy the sun for a few minutes before there was a knock on her door.

Neo slowly moved over to the door and heard a second knock. She knocked on the door. "Uh?" Ruby asked through the door, "Breakfast?" she asked. Neo paused for a moment before knocking again. "Uh, okay?!"

* * *

Ilia sat down next to Jaune's empty seat, and he and Taiyang walked out with trays of food.

"How come she gets the good seat?" Yang asked, and Jaune sighed.

"Because we're not doing the official seating plan where everyone has a spot based on precedance. I mean, seriously."

"Well, how come Weiss gets the other seat next to you?" Yang asked.

"You want to know why?" Jaune asked, "Because you are really distracting, and I would constantly be turning my head, and that just makes me dizzy."

"Then what about Weiss?" Yang asked, "Are you saying she's not worth looking at?" And Jaune sighed once again.

"You know what? I'm not doing this." Jaune replied. "You're all gorgeous. You're all wonderful. You're all beautiful. And I'm not enforcing seating. I really don't want to see you guys fighting about it."

"To play the dragon's advocate." Weiss quipped, "Should your wives not get priority?"

"Do we want to talk about what happens at night?" Blake asked.

This caused Weiss to flush blue and develop a blush, looking around nervously.

"When you put it that way..." Yang trailed off, as her scales flushed orange. "Alright, I'll admit, I've been a heel. Can we save the spanking for later tonight?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Weiss asked, and Ruby Petal Burst into the chair next to Yang.

"So?" Nora asked.

"I don't think she's going to come down." Ruby stated.

"Kind of expected that." Jaune added, as he was putting the trays on the table.

"You did just adopt her." Taiyang stated, "You have to give her time."

"I know." Nora huffed. "But we were orphans, too, and we were eager to have Jaune-Jaune take care of us."

"You were what?" Jaune asked.

"We found each other with alarming alacrity." Ren said with a smile.

"Okay?" Ruby asked, "We know what happened to Ren's family, but what about Nora?"

"Oh?" Nora asked, "She ran away when the Grimm attacked. Fucking bitch." she huffed.

"What-what-what?!" Weiss asked, quickly standing up and pointing at her. She then stood properly and heavily breathed in. "Pardon my exuberance?"

"Your what?" Nora asked.

"My candor." Weiss stated.

"What's a condor have to do with this?"

Weiss developed a frustrated look that quickly turned into a smile "My apologies, but, we had assumed your parents died in some calamity."

"Nope." Nora simply stated. "She just ran the fuck off, leaving me to fend for myself. Ren saved me, and we've been together ever since. And then we got to Beacon, and, you know?"

"Despite his many faults." Ren stated, "Many faults." he repeated, "Jaune gave us something we had never had for a decade, stability and familiarity. From the earliest moments, Jaune put our own sake above his own."

"It was kind of funny to watch him always struggling." Nora stated, "But he was trying to take care of us, so, you know?"

"I know." Yang simply stated.

"Right?" Nora asked.

Weiss then breathed in deep and sat back down, "And Ciel, I must ask how you are handling this?"

"Handling what?" Ciel asked.

"Maybe suddenly becoming Jaune's minion?" Yang asked, "Just sayin'."

"I am unsure how I should find it." Ciel stated. "I have been accepted far more readily than I was expecting, I have spent a good deal of time training with skilled combat instructors, the food is more than adequate. The only thing I have trouble adjusting to is the expectation of self-determination."

"The what?" Ruby asked.

"She wants to be told what to do." Yang replied.

"Indeed." Ciel stated.

"So do you." Ruby said to Yang.

"But only by Jaune." Yang stated. "Wait..."

"Too bad." Blake replied, "You already said it."

"I am used to a more regimented training." Ciel added.

"Unfortunately," Weiss said to her, and paused to let everyone look at her, "if you are to be a Huntress, you will be entirely self-determined."

"Unless she's a Specialist." Yang added.

"Speaking of?" Jaune asked.

"She insists she remain on standby." Weiss said as she elegantly sat down, "Though I suspect it is simply that she has grown accustomed to living in our hangar."

"She's also not the friendly sort." Yang added.

"Maybe we should help her?" Blake asked.

"I did hug her." Jaune stated, and then looked at the far end where Qrow and Raven were sitting.

"I don't know why you're looking at us?" Qrow asked, "We don't exactly have a good track record with this. I honestly don't know how I'm part of this group."

"We took a vote!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Indeed." Weiss added, "We have decided that Qrow is an honourary Uncle."

"And me?" Taiyang asked.

"You have definitely earned your place as an honourary father." Weiss stated.

"Not a dad?" Taiyang asked.

"I have only have one daddy." Weiss stated, and then developed a shocked look, using her hand to cover her mouth.

"I think, at this point." Yang said, and everyone looked at her, "The Cat's out of the bag, right Blake?"

Blake quickly looked back and forth a few times.

"I've got a question." Qrow stated, and everyone looked at him. "What about Rae?" Raven scoffed at him.

"She is still married to Mr. Taiyang." Weiss stated.

"Dad." Taiyang replied.

"Father?" Weiss asked with a bright smile. "As such, she is an honourary mother-in-law."

"That doesn't make any..." Qrow tried to say.

"No, it's fair." Raven stated. "I didn't expect Yang to welcome me back with open arms, like Tai did. I'm happy with how far we've come."

"Why does that sound like you're giving up?" Yang asked.

"Did you want her to try harder?" Qrow asked.

Both Yang and Raven looked at each other, not sure what to say.

* * *

Taiyang walked up the stairs carrying a couple plates of food. When he hit the third floor he stopped in front of Neo's door, put the plate on the ground, and knocked before walking off.

* * *

Neo heard a knock and walked up to the door. After a moment she knocked, but heard nothing in reply. She stood there staring at the door for a few minutes until finally creaking it open. She saw the plate on the ground, and carefully looked around. No one was there, so she quickly opened the door, pulled the plate in, and quickly closed and locked it once again.

* * *

Taiyang carried the plate into the hangar. "Hello?" he called out.

"Hello?" Winter replied, and he could hear the clack of heels as she approached. Winter walked around a corner and looked at him curiously.

"I didn't want to just barge into your room."

"My, uh?" Winter asked, "My quarters?" She then breathed in deep, folding her hands in front of her, "These are not my quarters."

"This is where you are sleeping." Taiyang said, and handed her the plate.

"Thank you." she said to him, "But the reason I am sleeping here is that I am on standby."

"Why?" Taiyang asked.

"Mr. Arc asked me to?" Winter asked.

"But Cinder is gone." Taiyang stated.

"Well, yes, we still have another escaped prisoner they are trying to reform."

"That's not it, is it?" Taiyang asked, and Winter looked at him curiously. "You haven't been asked to stand down." Winter just stared at him, unsure of what to say. "If that works for you, that works for you, but we need to understand what we do."

Winter looked lost for a few moments before her eyes focused on him. "Thank you once again." she distantly said.

* * *

Cinder flipped through her scroll. "What's making you so happy?" Emerald asked.

"Oh?" Cinder asked, "With the CCT restored, there are so many wonderful bounties nearby. Without the CCT, they had trouble getting them fulfilled."

"Don't you have to be a bounty hunter?" Mercury asked.

Cinder played with a scroll for a few moments, before turning it to Mercury and Emerald. The display showed a Vacuan bounty hunting registration with her face, but for Eleanore Gunn.

"You used a fake name?" Mercury asked.

"This is Vacuo." Cinder replied, "They expect you to. It's really only about making sure the right one gets paid."

"What does it mean?" Emerald asked.

"Eleanore is my middle name, and Gunn is a name usually used for bastards."

"You're hardly a..." Emerald voiced.

"I certainly don't remember my father." Cinder stated. "Or my mother. And I do plan to become the queen bitch of the badlands."

[syilcawrites]

A prompt (dunno if I should've messaged or sent a note, but eh, I'm used to asks):

Following the defeat™ of Ganon à la Link and Zelda, our favourite pair have settled in Kakariko Village for a bit as a temporary reprieve.

Then disaster strikes.

It starts with spaced-out sniffles. Then as hushed whispers come on the light snorts of a nostril attempting to impede the flow of an oncoming river of muscus. Rising to a crescendo, a throat reddens and sputters in an attempt to relieve an unending roughness that hinders speech and catches on food.

Link has the common cold.

Never has the hero felt so demeaned, so disrespected by the gods. His bones and blood and mind were forfeit the moment he drew the Sword as a child, of that he came to know and accept. But to now be impeded by snot and sebum - no affront could be greater.

So, stubborn as he is, he attempts to go on about his day, training, cooking, collecting - but, of course, fails spectacularly, his condition worsening. Looking from afar, Zelda finds that she's had enough and tends to the matter directly.

Ensue whatever great stuff you wanna write about.

TL;DR: Link gets mildly ill, worsens it by overexerting himself and Zelda has to force him to rest; magic ensues.

Sorry if that was way too detailed or exact for a prompt... I just have so many ideas of my own that I want to write but I just don't have the time right now. Sho, I'm keeping to plans aplently. ☺️

a/n: i loved this prompt and how detailed it was thank u for sending me this it was so fun to write sfauihhaifs sobs... I hope to see your writing someday!!! And hope you enjoy this lil fic (’:

ao3

to chase away a cold

It's been a little over two months since Calamity Ganon had been defeated. Paya had been kind enough to let them stay in her room for the time being, while Zelda recuperated from… well, everything. And it had been quiet around Hyrule since—the significantly decreasing amount of monster attacks had been a blessing for their short trips; they had run into little to no problems, fortunately, ever since they reunited.

But then, it started with a sound that Zelda could only affiliate with to a mouse squeak.

Her wide eyes flit to the ground, where Link was sitting atop of a futon that Paya had laid out for him. He didn't look at her as he continued shining away at his weapons, his back still facing her, pressed against the mattress of the bed Zelda was on.

She shrugged it off, resuming to mess around with the Sheikah Slate in her hands. Perhaps she was just hearing things… it wouldn't be surprising, since she hadn't officially settled into being back in her own body yet—

Zelda's ears perked up as the peculiar squeak happened again. But this time, the bed shook a little. She quickly lowered the Sheikah Slate from her view once more, her eyes narrowing.

"Link, was that you?" she asked, poking his back with her big toe.

He shook his head and shrugged.

Suspicious.

——————————————————————

The next morning, Zelda awoke at noon.

Which was, of course, normal for her. She was never an early-riser to begin with, even before the Calamity.

But Link? He was always up the moment the sun rose. She was a light sleeper, and always heard him get up, despite his best efforts to be quiet. And he never missed a day to leave a couple of fresh wildflowers in the vase next to the bed for her before she would get up to start the day.

But today, the wildflowers at the bedside had been the ones from yesterday—beginning to grow flaky and brown.

And Link was still sprawled on the futon next to the bed, obliviously sleeping away.

"Link," Zelda whispered, leaning over the bed. But he didn't budge. Weird. "Link!" Zelda leaned over a bit further to shake his shoulder. "Get up!"

"Hah?" He flinched, startling himself awake. He sniffled as he looked over at her with glazed, sleepy eyes.

"It's past noon. I thought you were going to help Cado—"

"Noon?" he gasped, scrambling up from the futon. "I told him I'd come by at eight," Link mumbled, fumbling for his tunic and trousers. "We might have to go to the Great Fairy Fountain tomorrow instead, I promised I'd help him find his cuccos today." His voice sounded a bit heavier than she remembered.

She waved her hand at him, shrugging as she stifled a yawn. "It's okay, go help him. I'm sure he's waiting." Zelda quirked an eyebrow up as he sniffled again—he was doing that a lot more recently. "If you need a hand, I can help."

"No, you're still recov—" Suddenly, Link's face contorted up in a way that she had never seen before—he whipped around and sneezed into the crook of his elbow.

"Did you catch something?" Zelda asked, shifting off of the bed to place a hand on his forehead. But with each step she took closer to him, he took one away from her as he shook his head fervently.

"I'm fine," he insisted, pulling his cloak over his shoulders, still facing away from her.

Suspicious.

——————————————————————

Zelda sat outside on the steps of Impa's home, eating pickled plum with her as the both of them watched Link run around Kakariko, trying to find Cado's precious, missing cucco's.

"It is beyond my understanding as to why Link even tries," Impa scoffed, handing Zelda the plumpest pickled plum of the batch. She still didn't have much of an appetite, but Impa had been as observant as she always was, and usually only offered Zelda bite-sized foods that she knew she wouldn't have trouble eating. "Cado loses his cuccos as least twice a month."

"Maybe we should build him a bigger fence," Zelda murmured, giggling as she watched Link wrestle with a cucco he was trying to drag over to Cado's little coop. "They wouldn't be able to fly as easily."

"Those little buggers will always find a way," Impa scoffed, shaking her head. "And—"

A loud sneeze caused the both of them to flinch—Link's well-fought battle against the cucco ultimately failed, and Zelda watched the aftermath of it with pity. He stared in defeat as it scampered away, back into the bushes.

"Link's been a little weird, hasn't he? He hadn't even stirred by the time I was awake," Zelda inquired, plopping another pickled plum into her mouth, chewing slowly. His jog was a little slower than usual, and he had to pause every five minutes to catch his breath—that never happened before.

"He's been staying up a little later than usual, hasn't he?"

Zelda nodded—he wanted to take her to several locations that were a bit further than their usual trips, so they had been mapping out the most efficient way to go about their mini excursion. While Link was an early bird, Zelda was more of a night owl… it did make sense that he would be a little off recently, with a shift in his sleeping schedule.

After he spoke to Cado, probably to apologize for not getting them all today, Link stumbled—he stumbled—a bit on his feet as he made his way to the cookpot, since dinner was just around the corner.

Suspicious.

——————————————————————

By the time Link went into the room to retire for the day, Zelda had already situated herself on the futon. She was lying on her stomach, humming, as she plotted out the last of their destinations for the upcoming trip. She craned her head to the door when she heard it creak open; he looked even worse than earlier.

"How was your bath?" Zelda asked, sitting up.

"Good…" he said, sniffling, a little confused. He pointed at her, quirking an eyebrow up.

"You're sleeping in the bed tonight—and!" Zelda pointed at the cup of tea sitting on the desk next to the bed. "You should drink this up before you go to sleep. The trip can wait until you get better."

"What do you mean? I'm fine," he muttered, rubbing his nose.

"Link, having a cold is a perfectly normal thing to catch—and you just made it worse by trying to hide it. Which you were terrible at doing, by the way." Zelda grabbed the cup and held it out to him, waiting. "Plus, I added some extra ingredients that I think could possibly increase the potency of the medicine—"

"I'm not sick," he said, shaking his head with noticeable effort. "I don't need it, I'm fine. I—I feel better than I've ever had before, actually." He sneezed—and the cough that accompanied it sounded just as painful.

"But I made this specifically for you," Zelda muttered, lowering the cup a bit. Before she could continue to convince him to drink it, he had already grabbed it out of her hand and taken a large gulp out of it.

"You didn't put something weird in this, right?" Link asked, sniffing it. At least he tried to sniff it, but his nose was closed up. She laughed at his scrunched up face as he continued to try to smell it.

"It's a secret," she said, patting the top of the bed. "It's been a long day, you should rest."

He took one more long gulp before handing the cup to her with a satisfied sigh, his smile a little woozy. Zelda quickly grabbed it from him and stared into it—he had drank the whole thing in two gulps. He was supposed to drink it slowly.

He flopped over on top of the bed, burying his head into the pillow.

"This bed is really comfortable," he said, his voice muffled as he rubbed his face into it.

"Hey, you're going to get snot all over my pillow if you do that!" Zelda scoffed, tugging at his sleeve as she twisted around.

"It smells like you," he murmured, looking at her with half-lidded eyes as he strained to keep them open.

"Oh? And how do you know what it smells like if your nose is clogged?" She brought her arms over the bed and folded them together to rest her cheek against them. She had never witnessed him getting sick, even before the Calamity. And to see him acting a little aloof brought warmth into her chest—even though he hadn't recovered every memory, he still treated her with familiarity, which she appreciated. She was afraid of being thrown into a world so familiar, yet different.

But he stayed, even though he didn't have to.

"Hmmm... I can just feel it," Link muttered as he closed his eyes, pressing deeper into her pillow.

"You can feel what my pillow smells like?" Zelda snorted, trying to hold in her laughter. Instead of responding to her, he began snoring.

Zelda would have to remember that including a few sprinkles of nightshade acted as an excellent way for someone to fall asleep quickly.

[sleeplesscenarios]

Jealousy is a Bitch

Characters/pairings: FengQing (background HuaLian)

Genre: fluff and fun with a hint of jealousy

Word count: 3117

Summary: Mu Qing has a new friend. Feng Xin is suspicious. Xie Lian is giving out advices while sipping tea. Hua Cheng is annoyed. Feng Xin and Mu Qing realize that no matter what, the both of them are just big idiots whose love language is fighting.

“And then do you know what they fucking said?” Feng Xin’s aggravated tone echoed all around the room of the freshly renovated Puqi shrine.

Xie Lian, put his teacup down and patiently asked, “What did they say?”

“Those assholes had the nerve to say that I’m overreacting and there’s nothing wrong with General Xuan Zhen having a new friend. I swear I’m not going to help them the next time a ghost tries to eat them.”

“You’re kind of overreacting, though,” Hua Cheng commented, sounding extremely bored and mild annoyed after having to listen to Feng Xin’s problems for so long.

“Shut the fuck up, I’m talking to His Highness, not you!”

Xie Lian cut in before those two could have continued arguing.  

“Feng Xin, what exactly is bothering you about this new friend of Mu Qing?”

“Can’t you see it, Your Highness? We’re talking about that Mu Qing! He’s the opposite of friendly, how could he suddenly get so close with that guy? Something isn’t right about this!”

“I mean... I agree that it’s unusual but even he could have a friend or two.”

“He already-” Feng Xin stopped himself, sighing and demolishing the ridiculous he already has me, he doesn’t need anyone else thought that was threatening to slip out of his lips. “Anyways, I’m telling you that something is fishy about that guy.”

Hua Cheng spoke up again, “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You came here to bother us because you’re worried about your crush leaving you for someone better, didn’t you? So I’m asking what you’re planning to do. Don’t tell me that you’re just going to whine to His Highness and then sulk in a corner.”

The eyes of Feng Xin twitched, “Your Highness, can I punch him just once?”

“I’m afraid that if I let you punch him; I would have to let him fight back too. And if San Lang beats you up, who would make sure Mu Qing’s new friend is harmless?”

“I hate the both of you.”

With that, Feng Xin burst out of the door, slamming it behind his back.

“Tch, gege is kindly giving him advice and he’s not even thankful...”

Xie Lian poured fresh tea for both Hua Cheng and himself. “Well, I’m sure he took the advice to his heart.”

Hua Cheng raised his brow. “Do you really think so?”  

“He didn’t deny that he has a crush on Mu Qing, did he?” Xie Lian smiled and took a sip of his tea.

*****

Feng Xin was so angry that the passing heavenly officials swore they could see steam coming out of his ears. That damned Crimson Rain Sought Flower! How dare he?! Assuming ridiculous things! He does not have a crush on Mu Qing!

Who would even have a crush on someone as boring, apathetic and hostile?!

Not Feng Xin.

Definitely not Feng Xin.

He merely visited out of worry and suspicion. But if nobody was willing to listen to him then so be it!  

“Don’t come begging to me for help when things go wrong!” Feng Xin yelled at nothing in particular and stormed into his golden palace. He passed several alerted subordinates before arriving to his bedroom where he slammed the door shut and punched the wall for good measure.

This was ridiculous.

Everything started a few months ago when the Heavens shook signaling that somebody ascended. The brand-new heavenly official was called Mo Huan and he was a martial god. Apparently, he came from the southern territories and after defeating fearful demons and selflessly protecting the mountain village where he lived, he passed a heavenly calamity and ascended. He seemed like a common little martial god, nothing too special.

Feng Xin would have never bothered to spare more than a glance to newcomers of his kind and so did Mu Qing however, this particular newcomer obviously had other plans. From the first day, he expressed great interest in General Xuan Zhen in particular. He kept babbling on and on about how he’d always visited his temples in the mortal world and that if he ever ascended, he wanted to meet him first. As expected, Mu Qing listened to him indifferently then walked off. Nothing out of the ordinary.

What was out of the ordinary was that from this day onward, Mo Huan kept following Mu Qing around like an enthusiastic puppy, claiming that he wanted to learn from him. Feng Xin expected for Mu Qing to roll his eyes and tell him off but instead what he said was, “Do as you wish.”

And thus, the suspicious friendship between the newly ascended little marital god, Mo Huan and the god of southwest, General Xuan Zhen began. At the same time, the god of the southeast, General Nan Feng’s misery of watching while seething in jealousy also began.

After the battle with the ex-Heavenly Emperor, the relationship between Feng Xin, Mu Qing and Xie Lian gradually started improving. Even without the supervision of Xie Lian, Feng Xin and Mu Qing were not always at each other’s throat. Of course, saying that they argued less would be a stretch, but instead of threatening to kill each other every time they got into an argument changed into merely fighting with words. After a year or two, the missions they took together had also increased and they found that their teamwork was actually very good so they didn’t oppose too much when they had to share the merits. They’d slowly come to realize that going together just meant that they would be able to finish earlier.  

Soon, the public relationship between the two generals wasn’t that of two generals fighting for dominance over the southern region but that of two generals guarding the southern region together.

They were almost something like partners.

And maybe, just maybe Feng Xin started to quite enjoy the company of his partner.

And now it was getting stolen away.

By that suspicious, shady asshole.

Whatever!

If Mu Qing would rather hang around that newbie, Feng Xin wouldn’t stop him. If Mu Qing was too stupid to realize that there’s something wrong with that guy, Feng Xin wouldn’t care.

*****

“I definitely do not care, I’m just giving a last warning,” Feng Xin muttered to himself while pacing in front of Mu Qing’s golden palace. “If he still won’t listen, he can die for all I care.”

Steeling his resolve and organizing his thoughts, he turned to the door, raised his hand and-

The door opened before him as Mu Qing stepped out. Their gazes met for a moment, and both of their eyes widened in surprise.

Mu Qing collected himself first, asking as he closed the door behind him, “What do you want?”

“Be careful with that new guy. He’s definitely scheming something,” Feng Xin stated. Mu Qing rolled his eyes and Feng Xin could feel the irritation growing in himself again. “I’m warning you for your sake!”

“Don’t you think that I would notice if he was ‘scheming’ something?”

“W-well... maybe you’re being a dumbass and he deceived you!”

Mu Qing’s brows twitched. “Yeah? If you’re done with calling me a dumbass then I’m going. I have a mission with him.”

Feng Xin’s entire face turned red from anger, frustration and a sense of betrayal. It was a well-known fact in the Heavenly Capital that General Xuan Zhen never ever goes on missions together with someone. He’d always been working alone. He’d only ever joined hands with Feng Xin, claiming that it’s only because their territories are very close and it’s unavoidable. Now he was saying that he was about to go on a joint mission together with that shady newbie who kept sucking up to him?  

“What’s so good about him anyways...” Feng Xin muttered through gritted teeth, a second away from exploding.

“Well for starters, he’s a lot less annoying than you.” Mu Qing turned his head to flash him a taunting smirk before leaving, his grin widening as he heard the string of curses flying from Feng Xin’s mouth.

*****

Of course, Mu Qing knew that Mo Huan wasn’t hanging around him out of the pure goodness of his heart. He had been a god for more than 800 years now. He wasn’t that easy to fool. Some might call him the most unapproachable man, why would he blindly trust someone after a bit of flattery?  

Feng Xin was truly the most annoying out of all. Mu Qing didn’t trust him for a whole 800 years, why would he ever begin to think that he’d lost all sense of reason for this new guy? Was he out of his mind?  

In any case, as the saying goes: keep your friends close and keep your enemies even closer. He would find out what Mo Huan wanted from him and deal with it himself. In the meantime, he might as well entertain himself with watching Feng Xin lose his mind over it.  

However, what Mu Qing didn’t expect was that after that warning last time, he wouldn’t be able to see Feng Xin lose his mind and flap around in frustration anymore.

*****

“And then do you know what he fucking did?”

Xie Lian took a sip of his tea as he listened to Mu Qing, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu wash over him. “What did he do?”

“He slammed the door against my face! What the fuck?” Mu Qing slammed his own teacup harshly down on the table, spilling its contents.

Hua Cheng shot him a glare, daring him to waste even a drop of the tea His Highness generously gave him. Xie Lian quickly interjected to dissolve the tense atmosphere.

“And what happened to this new martial god?”

“What do you think happened? I knocked him out. Fucking bastard, trying to steal my merits.”

“If I recall, something similar happened before, didn’t it?”

Mu Qing snorted, “It’s the third time this century. These newly ascended brats have no shame, I swear. That’s not the point. The point is that dumbass Feng Xin is throwing a temper tantrum again and if he keeps at it, I’m gonna smash down his golden palace. What the fuck is even wrong with him?”

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng shared a look.

Xie Lian nodded.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Hua Cheng asked.

“What does it have to do with you?” Mu Qing glared.

“Gege, can I punch him just once?”

“Come at me, you bastard!”

“No fighting in my shrine.”

The two of them kept glaring daggers at each other but otherwise didn’t do anything. Finally, Hua Cheng sighed, “You came here to bother us because you’re worried about your crush refusing to talk to you, didn’t you? So I’m asking what you’re planning to do. Don’t tell me that you’re just going to whine to His Highness and then sulk in a corner.”

“None of your business, I’m leaving,” Mu Qing downed the remaining of his tea in one gulp, angrily slammed down the cup again and stormed out of Puqi Shrine.

Hua Cheng grinned. “I can’t believe this actually worked.”

“He didn’t deny that he has a crush on Feng Xin, either,” Xie Lian chuckled then poured another cup of tea for himself and Hua Cheng.

*****

Mu Qing rammed his fist on the door of Feng Xin’s golden palace, yelling, “Open up, you bastard!”

Crushing the whole thing down was a last resort but if anyone doubted that he would dare to do it, they were horribly wrong. Feng Xin had three more minutes left before his beautiful palace became one with the ground.

Who did he think he was? Giving unneeded advice, taking Mu Qing for a naïve fool then refusing to see him and sulking. It was way too unreasonable even for someone as stupid as Feng Xin. Just what the hell was wrong with him? Fucking dumbass making him think about him and worry. He totally deserved having his door bust down.  

“What are you doing here?” Feng Xin’s voice came from behind and Mu Qing turned around as fast as a strike of lightning.  

Turns out Feng Xin wasn’t home…  

In any case, Mu Qing stomped his way over and unceremoniously punched him in the face.  

Feng Xin flew a few meters back but it only took him a second to jump up to his feet and yell, “What the fuck was that you bastard?! Did you finally go insane?!”

Mu Qing caught up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his robe with two hands. “It’s the least you deserved, you shithead! Try avoiding me again and I’ll beat up your sorry ass!”

Feng Xin looked away and spat through gritted teeth, “You didn’t seem like you need my company…”

“What?” The rusty clogs in Mu Qing’s brain turned around and around before a light bulb suddenly lit up. The fists around Feng Xin’s robe loosened and his eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous…”

Feng Xin’s cheeks reddened and his voice faltered for a second. It was only a minuscule gesture but it was more than enough for Mu Qing. “W-why would I be jealous?!”

“Are you scared of me replacing you with the newbie?” he taunted.  

“Fuck you, I don’t care who you’re hanging out with.”

“If you don’t care then why are you avoiding me?”

“Because I don’t want to see your stupid face!”

“What if I want to see your stupid face?”  

“What?”

Feng Xin saw a flicker of light passing through Mu Qing’s dark eyes and in the next moment, he felt a pair of lips press firmly against his own. His mind was wiped clear in that second and he only regained his senses when the absence of the warm lips left him with a sense of need.  

“W-w-w-what the fuck was this??”  

“A kiss, idiot,” Mu Qing rolled his eyes.  

“I’m asking why you k-k-kissed me?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Fuck, Mu Qing would it kill you if you used your words for once?”

“Would it kill you if you used your brain for once?”

“…”

Mu Qing sighed, “Anyways, you don’t have to worry about Mo Huan anymore so stop avoiding me.”

“What happened?” Feng Xin got successfully side tracked. His brain was really too simple.

“Left him in a forest in the mortal world after beating him up,” Mu Qing shrugged, his grin reappearing by the sight of Feng Xin’s gaping. “What, I told you I can deal with him myself.”

“But weren’t you guys getting along? You said he’s less annoying than me?”

“Feng Xin, literally everyone is less annoying than you.”  

“F-“  

“But at least you’re not insufferable…” This time, it was Mu Qing’s turn to look away as a blush crept up on his face.

Feng Xin stared at him, completely dumbfounded before his cheeks also took on a pink hue as he slowly realized that this, in fact, was the nicest thing Mu Qing had ever said to him. He couldn’t stop his heart from fluttering.

“What’s the stupid grin for?”  

Feng Xin quickly cleared his throat and muttered a “nothing” but for some reason, he couldn’t quite wipe the smile spreading on his face even wider. In the end, Mu Qing’s embarrassment got the better of him and he promptly decided to leave.

Seeing his retreating back, Feng Xin collected himself and jogged up to him, saying, “No need to be embarrassed, I like you too.”

“Shut up.”

Feng Xin followed Mu Qing back to his golden palace.  

“Do you really like me, though? I mean... you don’t really... like people...” Feng Xin said, closing the door behind himself and meeting Mu Qing’s glare head on.

“You know what, I don’t really mind if you ignore me. Get out of my palace.”

“No way, you already kissed me.”

“So what?”

“So there’s no turning back. Finish what you stared.”

“It was you who started by being stupid and jealous.”

“That’s not the point.”

Mu Qing felt a headache coming up. “That’s exactly the point. You were a jealous sulking little bitch instead of using your nonexistent brain to figure out that I’m not a dumb 10 years old who’s so easy to fool.”

“Who are you calling a sulking little bitch?” Feng Xin’s short fuse was once again ignited.  

“Do you see anyone else here? Are you not only brainless but also blind?”

“Shut the fuck up!”

A glint flashed in Mu Qing’s eyes. Arguing with this man was really the best thing in his life. It was fun, it was interesting to examine his reactions and the way his expression changed, it kept him on his toes, it made him feel excitement instead of apathy and disgust. Above everything, it was comfortable. The two of them had been at it for more than 800 years without a break, they knew every single one of the other’s buttons to push. They were on the same level so neither of them got hurt and even if it escalated to a fight, they could just fight it out and release stress without having to worry about gravely injuring their opponent. For Mu Qing, Feng Xin was just the perfect partner.  

So when Feng Xin told him to shut the fuck up, he only smirked and said two words, “Make me.”

And as if it was all according to a script, Feng Xin grabbed him by the collar and smashed their lips together. The kiss was messy, their teeth were clashing but it was filled with unsaid passion and a weird sense of comfort.

It was only then that they could confirm what they had begun to feel already.

They’re feeling the same for each other.

They’re dealing with those feelings in a similar way.

They finally understand each other without words, and they could understand the hidden meaning behind each word.

That whatever they had to give, the other would accept it readily.

That they were equals.

*****

“Gege, they started making out,” Hua Cheng reached out a hand to show Xie Lian the image the wraith butterfly displayed. Xie Lian stared at it for second before smiling.

“It was time.”

Hua Cheng quickly dismissed the butterfly and pulled Xie Lian into his arms. “Gege’s so kind and patient for helping those two fools, they don’t deserve you.”

“I didn’t do anything. If anything, it was you who gave them a little push.” Xie Lian’s eyes sparkled with fondness. “So, that means you’re kinder and more patient than me.”

“...” Left speechless and embarrassed, Hua Cheng opted for capturing Xie Lian’s lips, feeling quite content with how everything turned out.

[lorelylantana]

Spontaneous Chapter 1: Step One

Last fic post in 2020! It's been a wild ride y'all but here's one last beginning before the year ends.

Next

Ao3

Chapter rating: G Overall rating: T

What-

What in Hylia’s name did she just watch?

During her captivity, Zelda imagined several different scenarios for Link’s clash with Ganon. It gave her hope to think about standing before him as he smiled at her once again. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would take her into his arms, reunited at last before riding away to rebuild Hyrule. But never, in her wildest dreams, did she think of this situation.

There was the Hero of Hyrule, walking toward her in all his barely dressed glory, giving her the most roguish smile she’d ever seen on his face. A horse walked up to him, unsaddled and almost identical to Epona, his steed from a century ago. The mare nuzzled his shoulder, and he grimaced, looking down at the side of his ribs where one of the Blights must have nicked him. He moved to cover the gash with his own hand but she smacked it away.

“Now you stop that!” she scolded. His hands were covered in all manner of grease and dust and no doubt several other kinds of dirt you kept away from open wounds at all costs. She turned him around and batted his arm away so she could take a closer look at the cut, her hand coming to rest on his stomach as she did so, an inch above the waistband of his shorts. She felt more than heard him suck in a breath.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Did he have internal damage? His face was flushed and he shook his head. Did he have a fever? That’s a bad sign. She turned her attention back to his bleeding side to look for signs of infection. It didn’t look too bad, actually. Still, without Mipha’s Grace, may her soul rest, Zelda wasn’t comfortable leaving it alone. She grabbed his arm, which was noticeably thinner than it was 100 years ago, and dragged him towards the Sacred Ground Ruins, where the water thankfully still ran clear. It was a short trip, but she was still shaking with exertion but the time they reached what was left of the stone platform. The Epona horse followed without instruction, which implied some measure of domestication, but without any tack to speak of she couldn’t be sure.

She sat him down and began tearing at some of the cleaner sections of her dress. Link scratched the back of his neck.

“You don’t need to-”

“If I never wear this dress again it will be too soon,” she huffed,  sitting on the lip of the fountain. She dipped the cloth into the water and wrung it out. She turned back to him and patted her lap, “Come here.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. She wasn’t amused by his hesitation, especially when the growing flush on his cheeks could be indicative of a fever.

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure. Now lay down so we can see to that cut.”

He waited a beat longer, as if waiting for her to withdraw her offer. Then he settled in her lap, letting out a soft sigh as he relaxed. He wasn’t shivering, so perhaps it wasn’t as severe as she feared. She pressed her hand onto his cheek, which was warm, but not alarmingly so. Perhaps it was a reaction to the warm summer’s day rather than illness. She hoped so. In a perfect world she would have a Hyrule herb poultice to spread around the cut, but for now they’d have to settle with a simple bandage.

“Tell me,” she prompted as she began rubbing the blood away, hoping to distract him from the pain a little, “What happened after you woke up?”

“Not much,” he admitted, “I woke up, followed the old man’s instructions, and then he gave me a paraglider, and then I flew to the castle. I made my way to the top, and then I was here.”

She paused, “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

She needed a moment to process the implications. “Exactly how much time has passed since you woke up?” Her perception of time was a bit skewed when she was imprisoned. For all she knew, he’d been running around Hyrule for months, but that didn’t explain his conspicuous lack of pants. He considered a moment before answering.

“A day. I think?” he looked sheepish when he clarified, “I may have spent more time necessary exploring the plateau.”

Zelda wasn’t about to complain about his response time when he single handedly beat down the apocalypse mere hours after his return to the living, so she focused on their next steps. She had him sit up while she tore off more of her dress to wrap around his torso. 

Her first thought was that he needed to get dressed, but he made it this far without clothes, so he’d probably survive a bit longer. Infection or no, she wanted to get the cut taken care of as soon as possible, and without any degree of medical equipment, their best option was a hot spring. There was one inside the castle, but with monsters still lurking with the walls it was hardly an ideal, despite its proximity.

Zelda looked to the sky, it was still late morning, so there was enough time to ride to lakes at the foot of Death Mountain and have an hour or two to soak before the sun went down. 

“Alright,” she said, standing to stretch. He followed her to where the Epona horse stood. “A hot spring would do us both a world of good, and the closest one is to the northeast. Is that agreeable to you?”

He shrugged, content to follow Zelda’s plan. He helped her mount before settling behind her, and though she couldn’t be certain, she would have sworn she could see a solitary spirit wave them goodbye as they passed. It looked like her father.

 The guardians were still walking about, lit up a bright orange. Even if her mind knew they posed no threat now that they were freed from Ganon’s control, she couldn’t help how her heart sped at the sight of them. Link must have noticed, because he insisted they urge the Epona horse into a canter, despite Zelda’s reservations. It seemed that his skills as a rider weren’t lost to time, which was a relief. The roads were empty, even when they left Hyrule field, but Zelda was too exhausted mentally to ponder it for too long. They passed Foothill Stable as the sun began to set.

As they came up on the turquoise water, she swung a leg over the Epona horse’s neck, a move made possible by her freshly shortened dress, and slid down. Zelda untied the bandage  around his waist and dipped her feet in the water. She put her hair in a ponytail while he sank into the spring with a moan. Link had offered his hair tie, but Zelda wasn’t going to take an accessory from a man wearing only his undershorts, so she declined, opting instead to tie it with a spare scrap of dress. She absentmindedly brushed his hair back before taking stock of the meager inventory.

It wasn’t as sparse as she’d assumed. There were a few odds and ends, bundles of wood and various herbs and mushrooms. She also came across a few gems and a handful of rupees, which she set aside. She tried to make the best camp she could, listening to Link paddle around idly. She built a fire and arranged the mushrooms and found a stick to skewer them with. Once she returned she found Link by the fire, slicing a trout into chunks to cook. If he’s quick enough to catch a fish with his bare hands, then his skill hadn’t depleted, only his strength.

Yet still strong enough to best Calamity.

They ate in relative silence, until Zelda finally scrapped up enough courage to ask the devastating question she already knew the answer to.

“What do you remember?” she asked. He shifted next to her, his shoulder brushing against hers.

“Nothing.”

She nodded, taking a bite before speaking again. She didn’t have the strength to face reality as a whole. Not yet, so instead she addressed the small pieces she could handle.

“Can I have these?” she asked, pointing to the gems. He nodded, tossing his empty skewer into the fire before going to sit in the water again. Zelda took the gems and walked back to the stable.

She made it as far as the sign marking Death Mountain's ascent before she had to stop and rest, huffing as she sat down on the warm rock. She tried to adjust her sandals, only to have them come apart in her hands, so she just tossed them aside. If Link could fight six different abominations in quick succession barefoot, surely she could walk to a stable. 

But as she stood up on shaking legs she felt a gentle bump against her back. The Epona horse had come for her, and Zelda was not proud enough to refuse her assistance, using the rock as an impromptu mounting block. 

“You’re a brave one, girlie,” Ozunda said, walking up to the counter, “walking about after the day went red like that. Everyone’s been buckled down since.”

“The disturbance has since passed,” she replied. She didn’t tell them the Calamity was no more because she didn’t think she could handle a celebration surrounded by her kingdom’s ruin. Instead she walked to the merchant sitting on the floor, placing the gems on his makeshift table.

“How much can you give me for these?”

He ended up giving her 210 rupees for the stones, which she in turn used to purchase a set of Hylian trousers and a sturdy tunic. He even threw in a hair comb he had in stock, though she suspected he pitied Zelda for her tragically bare feet and disheveled hair.

Zelda walked out of the tent to where the Epona horse waited patiently. She looked around for a rock to help mount, but a stable hand came to help her up. Zelda focused on thanking the young woman instead of how frail she must look to warrant unrequested assistance.

“You want to register that horse, miss?” Ozunda called as she turned to go, “It gets you a stable issue saddle and bridle, just twenty rupees.”

“It’s not my horse,” Zelda answered, “We’ll come by later.”

She returned to their campsite with the bundle of clothes to find Link already stretched out, fast asleep. She tucked the clothes under his head and set the boots to the side and placed her fingertips across his chest lightly, only removing them when he felt him take a breath. She ran the comb carefully through her hair. Letting it down from it’s braid for the first time in one hundred years. Then she ducked behind the rocks to give her some measure of privacy while she stripped off the dress. After several careful tears Zelda was able to separate that dreadful outer layer from the rest of the gown. She set them aside while she finally stepped into the water, letting it melt away some of the physical strains weighing on her.

And then Zelda was alone with her thoughts, without an activity to occupy her thoughts. Zelda was left to grieve.

She hated herself for it, but she felt a flood of relief overpower that grief. Granted, she’d had a century to come to terms with devastation of Calamity, but it felt wrong to rest when the Champions, her dearest friends, were tethered to this world, not allowed to pass on. They would have to visit each Divine Beasts and release them of their duty. 

And then what?

Things didn’t go at all as she’d expected them to. She wasn’t so foolish as to believe everything would go according to plan, but she never would have thought Link would charge the castle before he had a chance to remember himself. A trip to Kakariko was in order. Impa would be able to tell them where to go from there. Perhaps Purah lived still, and she could share some of her findings with Zelda.

For the time being, she had to help Link get back to what he was. She knew it wasn’t fair to put her beloved Champion through all this to begin with, much less without so much as a memory to guide him. He might not want to travel with Zelda, perhaps only freeing her out of a lingering sense of duty before exploring the wilds at his leisure. She owed that to him, if that was his desire. She could make her own way once they reached Kakariko. At the very least, she was obligated to point him in the right direction.

Before all else, though, she must rest. Her eyes were closing of her own accord, and her mind grew hazy.

She pulled herself out of the water, using the torn cloth to wipe herself down before slipping back into the revised dress, now coming to a stop right above her knees. Zelda sat down beside the long dead fire. She leaned against the warm red stone, Link’s sleeping figure the last thing she saw before falling asleep.

[akkalatechlabs]

Attack at the Akkala Citadel

Summary:

Robbie and Purah had to split from the Royal Tech Laboratory when the Yiga Clan snuck in. Barely making it out alive, the two had to separate; Robbie to Akkala Citadel and Purah to Fort Hateno. Filled with worry and paranoia, Robbie hopes his last moments here means all the threats are to him. Meaning Purah is safe from any danger...

Notes:

After MONTHS of thinking of this Robbie POV for the mission in Age of Calamity I finally finished it! Here's to hoping it was worth the wait! There WILL be a Purah's POV but will be written by my fiancée as a collab thing. I'll be posting it here when she is finished. This is just a big ol’ PuRobbie drabble. A long one at that. This was months in the making, hope you enjoy?

--

Akkala Citadel; The last stand against the Calamity some say. Perhaps... in another timeline. Here however, it still stood tall. Cannons ready for fire. Soldiers gathered all around inside and on top. They scattered around like frightened mice stuck in a cage as monsters from all sides surrounded the citadel, battle cries from the soldiers were heard echoing and there he stood at the top of the tower waiting. Watching...  

    Praying.  

Robbie and a couple of Hylian soldiers stood on top watching cannons go off, hitting and missing monsters. Some stayed down - more came along. It looked like it the course was set - they were going to die here. Placing his pen under his chin, Robbie frowned. Swallowing nervously, he watched in silence, the usual upbeat Sheikah was focusing on the view. Hoping to Hylia herself someone would help them. The divine beasts perhaps could fix this? Where were they? Millions of thoughts going through his head all at once.  

The fate of Hyrule.  

The Calamity.  

Her-      

      Purah.  

She was at Fort Hateno. Gods, he knew she would be safe, or so he told himself as such. He wanted to go with her, he truly did. But he knew he couldn't. After the ambush in the Royal Tech Laboratory, it would be unwise to stay together. They barely escaped there together as it was, having no choice but to split up... If only he was more careful. This was his fault and he knew that. He let the Yiga sneak in - he was so damn careless and it pained him.  

Suddenly, the Hylian soldier captain chimed in, "We don't stand a chance of defeating them, and what's more-"  

Robbie interrupted him immediately, "Our chances of rescue is slim to none and it's likely for the rest of Hyrule?" A pause. He needed to bring some light to this situation. "...Rule one of the researcher's code is to never give up."  

Another pause, in the distance he swore he saw a divine beast, "Personally? ...I think our chances are higher than you think."  

The soldier looked over at the scientist, "Huh...?"  

Suddenly as if by a miracle, another soldier comes running towards the two and falls over in a panic, "Report! A divine beast from the western waters!"  

Robbie couldn't help but to grin. They were right on time.  

"Hm! Well..." the Sheikah turned to the Hylian soldier captain beside him and pointed his pen at him, "See that? What did I tell ya?" He turned back to his place, sighing to himself. Looks like Hylia was on their side. His side to say the least.  

The Hylian solider captain turned back to Robbie, "We should head inside, it is getting dangerous out here, Master Robbie." He drew out his sword ready to escort Robbie inside the citadel. The scientist turned to look out once more, hoping this wouldn't be the last view of Hyrule he had. Turning back to the solider he nodded, following after him and a couple of other soldiers. They headed into the building into a giant room with a bit of shelves loaded with books and notes from the history of Hyrule to ancient technology. It wasn’t as broad as the Royal Library in Hyrule Castle, but it was good to get lost in nonetheless. In the front of the room there were two giant desks, led by simple small steps. On each side there was giant torches that were still burning brightly, lighting up the room slightly as the sun quickly set – darkening the room with the use of sunlight they had.  

Lastly, there was a single large table lit by a lone lantern in the middle of it. Robbie walked to the table, turning to look back at the soldiers. Watching them close the door – leaving him alone.

The Hylian Captain stood outside the front doors along with the other soldiers. Robbie kept himself busy stacking up some books that he knows he has read multiple times already. Clicking his pen nervously he couldn’t focus. Couldn’t read. Couldn’t do anything.  

He wanted to know if she was doing alright. The thought of her being in danger because of this... because of him. That damn Yiga clan. Even if he was more careful about their separation... would it still come to this? The monsters invading here. Him and Purah becoming separated...

Robbie slammed his fists on the table, knocking books over onto the table and some onto the floor. He stood up pacing around the room. Never in his life has he felt so...

   Lost. Scared. Useless.

         Worried.

“Uh, Master Robbie, sir, are you okay in there?” A Hylian soldier spoke from the other side of the door. Robbie paused.

“I am fine!” Robbie lied however; he used his over euthanistic voice as a simple cover up.  

“Alright.” The soldier replied and it went silent again.  

The scientist needed to calm down, he couldn’t lose hope. Sighing he looked out of the window, watching the soldiers fight against the monsters outside. Wait.  

There!

He saw them.  

He saw Zelda, Link, and Impa... A wave of relief hit him suddenly. Sighing he sat back down at the table, clicking the pen again. He could finally calm down a little.

Just a little.

“If they are here then...” Sudden panic flared up again, “...No one is at Fort Hateno.” He told himself.

“Guards! Prepare your weapons!” The Hylian captain yelled from the other side of the door, Robbie stopped and looked over at the door. He ran over, locking it now. Robbie couldn’t let anything come in if monsters broke into the citadel.  

The scientist leaned against the door, slowly sliding his back down and fell onto the floor, covering his face. This was going to end badly, wasn’t it? Maybe if the worst was here, Purah would be safe at Fort Hateno. He’d risk his life if it were to save hers – any day. She was... She is – the most special person to him.  

“Stand your ground, soldiers!” There was a scream with a giant slam of something right after. Monsters. They were drawing near. The sword of swords clashing, footsteps running on the hard floor. Stomping of what he could imagine; Moblins. More screaming. Roaring. Soldiers screaming for help; for more backup.  

He couldn’t take it. The Sheikah covered his ears, holding his head down. Trying to drown out all the chaos on the other side of the door. Robbie swallows nervously and pulls his legs close to his chest, his back against the door.  

   Quietly.    

     Trying not to listen.  

       Humming to himself, drowning out everything else.

This was pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. He was sitting here, scared out of his mind and couldn’t do a thing to help. He wanted to help but he would get in the way...  

Robbie slowly stands up, back still against the door. He was going to do something.  

    He had to.  

Pacing back to the table, he ripped a piece of paper out of a notebook and quickly writes something... A plan.

“If the monsters are getting through here from the bridge... we could destroy it with the cannons and there would be no way for them getting in...” If his calculations were correct, the cannons could fire straight down all at once with extra power.  

Eureka! That would work!  

If the others got to the citadel, he would tell them personally. That was a huge “if.” There were so many monsters out there, many guardians that were going haywire. He knew the dangers in this situation. Everything he put his life’s work into all fell right in front of him. The guardians losing control, attacking his comrades... This wasn’t what they were built for...  

Robbie clenches his fist just by the mere thought of all his research wasted... all for nothing. If he could, he would grab the nearest weapon and attack one on his own. He was furious.  Rip it apart. Part by part...  

He slams his fists on the table again, his arms trembling as he slowly moves his goggles onto his forehead, letting the tears building up in his eyes finally just drop down.  

He was just so... angry. Everything was wrong.  

Wrong!  

 Wrong!  

   Wrong!

He should be at the lab with Purah... Wait... No.

He should be with her at Fort Hateno. She could be dead for all that he knows...

He cannot do this to himself. His paranoia creeps up on him, the thought of her dying out there...  

“Oh, Hylia... No... No!” Robbie covers his mouth, doubling over as he sinks slowly onto his knees, resting his head on the table in front of him. He couldn’t stop thinking of her... He was going to lose her.  

He was going to lose her, wasn’t he...?

“Robbie! We are here to save you!” Impa’s voice broke Robbie out of his panic attack. His head jolted up from the table and he put his goggles back over his eyes. Wiping the tears from his cheeks.

No one would be able to notice how weak he was just being just now. He takes a deep breath and straightens himself out.  

“Oho...! You’ve come to save me!?” There was his over enthusiastic voice again, “Hang on...” Robbie rushes to the door, “Opening the door!”  

He unlocks the door, opening it and sees Link, Impa, Zelda...  and even Mipha there. Relief washed over him – not for long though. Something made the hairs on the back of his neck stand. He couldn’t put his finger on it.  

“Whew...” He exhales, rubbing the back of his neck and looks at the rescue group in front of him.

“...You really saved my day!” He snaps his fingers happily at them.  

There was that feeling again and his ear twitches. There was something above them.  

    Something...  

“Although...” He slowly looks up, “I feel like something coming nearby...”  

“I sense it too...” Impa nods, gripping her weapon tightly, looking at Link. He nods and stands his ground quietly and intensely. Impa nodded her head towards Zelda’s direction and without a word, Link holds out his shield and sword ready to defend Zelda for whatever was coming. Impa walked closer to Robbie and Mipha.

Mipha frowned, holding her hand to her chest as she looked up, preparing her trident.  

It was suddenly quiet. A deafening silence. Not even the cannons or the battle cries of the soldiers and clashing weapons were heard.  

Robbie could hear his own heartbeat as the five in the room all looked up. Waiting – listening.

Suddenly without warning, a guardian came crashing from the ceiling in front of the five of them. This one was different from the usual guardians Robbie worked with... it was drenched in malice. The magenta and black ooze poured from it all around them.  

“No!” Mipha gasped, “How did it get in here?!” She rushes in front of Robbie, looking up at him, “Robbie, stand back!”

Robbie gasped, jumping backwards and there they all were – the four of them defending him. Even the Princess was there risking her life for him. Ridiculous...

Robbie shook his head; he wasn’t allowing this. He pushed them aside and rushed towards the maliced guardian about to punch it when Impa pulls him by the backpack and shoved him onto the ground, standing over him.  

“What are you doing, Robbie?! Stay over there while we deal with this! Go somewhere safe!” Impa quickly drew her attention back at the corrupted guardian, leaving Robbie there on the ground. He watched them all fight the guardian while he just sat there.  

He shook his head, snapping out of the thought and crawled over behind the table all the way in the furthest wall away from the guardian. Poking his head up time to time to watch.  

They were all fighting, giving it their all over there. Link dashing up on the guardian’s legs and as if all time stopped, he drew his bow hitting it right in the eye just like Robbie taught him to do with guardians. The fact Link listened to him back at the Royal lab made him proud... Freezing the guardian with multiple arrows to the eye.  

Then as quick as a shadow - right behind him, Impa rushes in with her duplicates all attacking all at once. Cutting at the legs while it is still collecting itself from Link’s arrows. A fantastic strategy! Robbie snaps his fingers happily just watching them.

Mipha and Zelda tag teamed their attacks – with a swing of Mipha’s trident, casting a wave of water towards the guardian. Zelda uses the cryonis quickly after, climbing up on top of each block of ice to get closer to the guardian. Zelda taps away, using the stasis - freezing it in place as it twisted its mechanical body about to shove Mipha and Impa’s copies away. With the help of Mipha’s wave of water, it scooped up Zelda to land safely back on the ground. Zelda nods at Mipha as a thank you, Mipha nodding back at her with a gentle smile.  

The stasis was running out – However Link ran in yet again, jumping up and slams his sword into the maliced guardian’s eye, piercing through it and twisted the sword, making sure it hurt.  

Link back flips away from the guardian as its head quickly turns left and right, stomped all its feet in a frantic state. The malice quickly poured out of the eye and it began to glow and shoots multiple beams.  

One. Two. Three.  

   One. Two. Three.

Each beam destroyed the ceiling above them, walls quickly crumbling around and above them. The citadel was falling apart by the seams.

“Zelda! Stasis, quick!” Robbie yelled from behind the table as he stood up pointing at the guardian as it’s beam was aiming at him.  

“Wait-” Zelda screamed as she tapped away too late as the beam fired straight at the Sheikah. Robbie covered his face subconsciously – as if that could block a beam from a guardian alone...

    All time froze.

Robbie expected his demise yet he slowly looked over at the Hylian, parrying the beam just by his shield alone.  His eyes widened in sheer awe as Link looks back at Robbie over his shoulder – his blue eyes filled with determination. Link gave a simple nod as he ran back to the others.  

Robbie swallowed nervously, processing how fast that went. Link was fast. Too fast. How did he make it on time like that?  

The scientist smiled to himself, shaking his head – He was the chosen one by the Master Sword, of course he would be fast to the rescue...

“Princess Mipha!” A Zora soldier captain yelled, rushing in with several other Zora soldiers all ready to attack the guardian, “We apologize for delay!”  

Mipha jumped back from a swing from the maliced mechanical beast, pausing to look at them, “Thank you for your service, all of you! Let’s all work together, shall we?” There was her gentle smile as she ran to them, healing their wounds.  

All of them now, fighting this one guardian while Robbie just stood there.  

“This is getting ridiculous... They are all going to die at this rate...” Robbie mumbles to himself as he looks around for something to do. Getting out of their way wasn’t good enough in his mind, he wanted to be helpful.  

“Aha!” He snaps his fingers and points.

He grabs a chair and slams it against the table, breaking the legs off of it. Yeah, a piece of would will definitely help... to distract it! Robbie rushes over to the torches and lights the piece of wood on fire and waves it around, screaming on the top of his lungs.  

“Robbie what are you doing?!” Impa turns to look at him, her attention off the guardian for a moment.  

The guardian stops and looks at Robbie, quickly crawling towards him.  

“Link! Now!” Robbie yells as he looks up at the guardian aiming its beam at him once more, hoping Link would get the hint of his plan. Link without hesitation hopped on top of the table, jumping over Robbie with a quick movement he took out his bow, drawing it.  

“...Tsch!” Link muttered as he put his bow away, changing strategy last second. Drawing out his sword again he focuses all his inner strength as he thrusts his sword into the guardian eye, twisting the sword deeper, watching the sparks and malice fly.

“You saved my skin! Thank you very much!” Robbie grinned as the guardian lost its momentum and fell, the light of the sword glowing bright through it as it quickly explodes. Robbie smiles at Link, he was truly a wonder. The Hero Hyrule needed... Perhaps if anyone could destroy the Calamity it would be...

Link grabs the sword and jumps back, breathing heavily staring at the parts of the beast flying around them.  

“You are a wonder, Link! I will do all I can to live up to the example you set...” Mipha smiled as she closed her eyes to heal him.

Impa sighs, walking over to Robbie and punches his arm, “You almost got yourself killed! We were here to save you and you... You!” She grumbles, trailing off as Zelda walks over, smiling at Robbie.  

“Oh! I have a plan-” Robbie holds up his finger pausing in thought, running over at the window and gasps at the hoard of enemies manifesting, all scurrying towards the Akkala Citadel.

Zelda runs beside him, gasping at the sight, shaking her head, “Enemy reinforcements... again? And to top it off...” she swallows nervously, “Guardians...” Zelda glances back at everyone, “A lot of them...”

Robbie smiles to himself, this was perfect.   “Right- If you draw the enemies to the bridge...” he points at the monsters and guardians out the window and points at the ceiling, “We’ll destroy enemies on it with the citadel’s cannon!”

Everyone fell silent, thinking it through. Robbie looks at everyone and sighs, shaking his head as he points outside, “Come on guys, we are timed here! The citadel is all we have right now.” They couldn’t see it, but his eyes were tearing up, he was desperate. He needed them to listen to him. He needed them to. The faster they got rid of these monsters, the faster they could get to Fort Hateno...

Zelda nods and glances at the others, “Yes. Let’s go defend the citadel, everyone. With Robbie’s plan we may have an advantage!”  

“If you guys can get the enemies to draw back from the door and we have a clear shot of the bridge? We’re stellar!” Robbie snapped his fingers, grinning widely. This plan had to work... it was their only shot.

Mipha nodded, drawing back from healing Link’s wounds while everyone was going over the strategy, “Very well...” the Zora made her way to the door and turned towards everyone while holding onto her trident tightly close to her, “I will combat their force to the south...”

“Let Link and I join you, Mipha.” the Princess nods as Link was already by her side, nodding, “You cannot face them alone...”

Impa nods along, “I think Daruk is by the bridge as well. He will definitely be a huge help! I think I’ll stay here in case any other monsters show up. Is that alright, Your Highness?”

Zelda smiles, nodding, “I’ll be alright Impa. Please support Robbie while we get the enemies away from the main door and clear out the bridge... We’ll get it ready for the cannons.”

Link glances at Robbie while Zelda spoke to Impa, something made him want to say something to the scientist but held his tongue. Robbie caught a glimpse of Link’s gaze for a moment as Link turned away. He tilted his head curious but... there was no time to linger about it.  

“Okay, we’ll be as quick as we can!” Zelda smiled and runs out alongside Mipha and Link. Impa sighs shakily while she stood in the large room with Robbie. Turning around she looks at him.

“I hope your plan works...” Impa whispers quietly enough for Robbie to hear, “I know the Princess is strong but I just...”

“...Purah’s at Fort Hateno right now. Alone. Probably fighting for her life as we speak.” Robbie cut off Impa’s thought, “If Purah’s out there... without us, then Zelda can manage with Link, Mipha, Daruk... all of them by her side. Stop worrying.” Robbie’s tone was almost snappy – he didn’t mean to sound so bitter but his paranoia took over.  

“The Princess is okay – she will be fine. I believe in her and everyone else, Impa. You need to believe in her too.” He looks over at Impa, smiling slightly, “You cannot be by her side all the time. Just like I cannot be by Purah’s... We both need to believe in them.”

Impa’s eyes widened, “Purah’s at Fort Hateno...? I was hoping she would be here with you...” Impa’s voice was shaky again, “We need to make this quick and hurry to Fort Hateno.”

Robbie nods, looking down at the floor while crossing his arms, “When this is over, please... please bring Purah back safely. I know it’s stupid asking you; Purah’s sister that but I-”

“I will. I promise you that.” Impa interrupted Robbie, “She’s family. Our family. I know that she means a lot to you as well...” Impa walks over to Robbie, looking up at him, “She’s all you have, I know...”

Robbie’s eyes widened behind the goggles – did Purah tell her about them? Or was he just that obvious?  

“... But enough talk. Let’s head for the top, alright? Get the cannons ready for when they clear the bridge.” Impa smiles reassuringly as she walks towards the door, “We shouldn’t keep Zelda or Purah waiting...”  

Robbie felt a wave of relief for a moment, nodding back as he quickly followed Impa to the top of the citadel.  

Soldiers came running towards them, shaking their heads side to side and waving their arms, “No! There are guardians and more monsters on the roof!”  

Impa immediately clicked her tongue, “How did they get up there so quick?” She turns to Robbie, “Stay here for just a moment while I get rid of them on top!”

“Mipha is already there fending them off, she needs backup!” a soldier spoke, running back over to where he came from. Impa nodded and ran off to the south where some of the cannons were.  

Robbie bit his cheek – once again having to sit out on this one. Shaking his head, he looked out a nearby window, watching more monsters crossing the bridge.

“Yikes!” Robbie yelled while poking his head out now, “Enemies are making it over the bridge!” Link’s attention from the bottom of the citadel caught Robbie’s voice and looked up.

Robbie waved his arms and pointed down at the bridge, “Hurry and stop them!”

The silent knight gave a quick wave to Robbie as he rushed back to the bridge, fighting off the multiple monsters crossing the bridge. Robbie clicked his pen nervously as he watched from the window. Seeing Link fight them off one by one. He was great at what he did, sure... but at the end of the day – that boy was younger than him. He was just a kid out there fighting and could easily be killed right then and there.  

Robbie felt sick to his stomach thinking about that. Zelda and Link were just kids and there they were fighting guardians, hinoxs, moblins... He looked away; he couldn’t watch anymore with that dreadful thought in his head.

Breaking his dreadful thought and the other noises of the monsters and battle cries; he hears the mighty roar of Vah Ruta – along shortly after, the citadel shaking. Robbie holds onto the window's ledge as the soldiers behind him use their spears to hold themselves. He looks around frantically then back at the soldiers who also look troubled.  

“Was that...?” A soldier pauses while the other one beside him speaks, “Vah Ruta – Sidon is piloting it while Mipha is down here fighting...”  

Robbie nods and looks up. Did he use Vah Ruta to strike some of the enemies down in the south? That would be a huge help for them for sure – but another strike like that and the citadel itself could fall. After the maliced guardian’s beams from before, the citadel was in rough shape inside and out. The floor could crumble at their feet at any moment given if the hit is strong enough. He really needed to be careful.

Robbie swallowed nervously as he tightened his grip on the ledge of the window, trying not to fall over from the aftershocks of Vah Ruta’s attack. Looking up, debris of the wall crumbled above them. He inhales between his clenched teeth – the citadel was really holding on by a thread at this rate....  

Mipha’s voice chimed in as she runs down with Impa right behind her, “All clear in the south!” She smiled, “All thanks to Sidon and Vah Ruta...”

“Without him it would have taken longer. There were multiple flying guardians over there.” Impa added as she nodded to Mipha while she ran to the front gate to help Link, Zelda and Daruk. Impa as she said she would – walked over to Robbie to stay with him and the two other soldiers, nodding her head as thanks as they nodded back.

“You don’t have to stay with me, Impa... I’m fine.” Robbie crossed his arms as he leaned against the spiraled hallway. Sighing she also crossed her arms.  

“Do you realize the mouthful I’d get from Purah if she found out you were hurt and I was there with you and didn’t help? You think I’m bad when I vent? She’s worse!” Impa cracked a small smile and punched Robbie’s arm a little too hard – but all in good, playful nature.  

“I want to make sure you’re okay. Plus, the Princess has Link and the others on her side... I’m all good here.” She looks up at Robbie for a moment and spun on her heels, pointing towards the south, “... and don’t forget. We got cannons to set off. Your plan, remember?”

Robbie smiles and tilts his head to the side; he saw a bit of Purah in her at that moment. It was a nice change of pace...he shook his head to snap out of the thought as he saw the soldiers already heading to get the cannons ready.  

“Let’s get this plan in action!” Robbie happily snapped his fingers, running towards the south where the cannons were. Impa quickly followed him.  

Making his way outside he looked down below. There was a giant hinox by the bridge while his friends were down there fighting it all together. A soldier walks over to Robbie, “The cannons are just about ready to fire!”  

Robbie winces at the thought, knowing they are still all on the bridge down there.  

The soldier yells from above, making sure the others heard him, “Everyone! Fall back to the citadel!”

As the soldier moves back from the ledge, more maliced guardians scurry towards the bridge – at Link and Zelda. Robbie gasps and leans over the ledge himself, slamming his fist on the cold, hard stone.  

“It’s dangerous for you to hang out there!” He grits his teeth, they needed to get out of there... why were they just staying around there? Was something wrong?  

“Quickly!” Robbie screams again, hoping Link will hear him again at least, “.... return to the citadel!”

Link, a little spec from all the way down there looks up at Robbie once more, shaking his head as he draws out his bow, quickly shooting at the hinox and the guardians. Falling back, he grabs Zelda’s hand and runs east, where the door to the citadel was. There was no time to keep fighting and Link realized it while more enemies drew closer – it was overwhelming even Link.

“Come on little guy!” Daruk’s voice carried from the door, Robbie looks down at Daruk and Mipha watching the two Hylians nervously as they rush back towards the citadel with three guardians and a hinox right behind them. There was barely any time. Robbie quickly snaps his attention to the soldiers.  

“We need to fire, now. Right now.” Robbie thought to himself and snapped back to looking at the bridge. Link and Zelda made it to the other side.  

Robbie holds up his finger and grins, “Looks like we got them in our sights! And...” He snaps his fingers, points at the soldiers, “...FIRE!”

The soldiers immediately pulled fire as Robbie yelled fire. Robbie, covering his ears watched the cannonballs fire down on multiple monsters, crumbling the bridge along with them down. All of the falling all the way down. The hinox grabs onto the edge of the crumbling bridge for a moment until debris of the bridge cracks, making it fall to its demise along with the rest of the monsters.  

Impa runs over, skidding to a stop and gasps at the sight.  

“You did it! You really did it, Robbie!” Impa’s eyes beam while looking down at everyone cheering and celebrating from below.  

Robbie grins, looking at the broken bridge, “The results are astounding!” He leans over, looking more closely, “They are mere fish food now!” Cackling to himself, Robbie takes a long, deep breath and sighs in relief. His plan really did fall through...

Zelda’s voice chimed in, “Time to strike down the remaining enemies. Let’s glide down the cliff into the exercise yard!” Zelda, about to run down was stopped by Link. Quietly nodding he went alone this time to finish off the monsters that survived the drop.  

Robbie slammed his hand on the stone again and grinned, “Come on Link... you can do this.” Holding his breath as he watched Link run and jump down, gliding down with the paraglider Link without any effort – finishes off the remaining guardians that survived the drop. They did not have much left in them since they were already highly damaged from the sheer force of the drop. Most of the were on their sides unable to get back on their legs.  

Link, drawing his sword focuses all his strength and slashes through them leaving that same blinding light from before with the first maliced guardian. Something about that sword made malice react to it...

Robbie, smirks as the last corrupted guardian explodes by Link’s sword work. He was quite the knight.

Zelda looks down, watching Link climb back up to where they stood, “With this... we were able to defeat all the enemies...” she pauses and glances up at the top of the citadel where Robbie and Impa stood, “I’m so glad we succeeded in defending the citadel.”

Mipha chimes in quietly, “Commendable, Sidon!” the Zora looks over at Vah Ruta’s direction, “You deserve our thanks... As Vah Ruta, of course.”  

Robbie and Impa make their way down to the east gate, meeting up with the others. Link walks up to Robbie, looking up at him. There was that look again – as if he wanted to say something. Robbie blinks behind his goggles and tilts his head, “Link, you got something to tell me?”

Link glances down for a moment, pausing to think. He looks back at Robbie, glancing at Impa and Zelda smiling at each other then back at Robbie, “...You’re amazing.”

Robbie froze.  

“... You are quick to plan things and while some doubted you, I knew exactly what you were doing. You’re amazing.” Link smiled slightly and nodded, walking back to Zelda and Impa’s side.  

Robbie fell silent, that boy barely spoke at all and hearing him say that to him hit him hard. His words were so much more impactful that way...  

Wait...   Wait!

Robbie runs over to them, “Guys there’s no time to celebrate just yet. While the citadel may be safe and all, Purah... She needs your help. Please.” Impa turns to Robbie and looks back at Zelda, “That’s right! Purah’s at Fort Hateno. She needs out help right away.”

“We were separated when the Yiga Clan attacked the lab. We barely managed to escape... I’m glad you guys came to save me but... we need to save her, if she is gone... I-”

Zelda reached her hand out gently patting Robbie’s arm, “We’ll save Purah. We’ll bring her safe and sound, Robbie...” Her voice was calm, gentle. Robbie looked at her, tearing up being his goggles. Looking away for a moment he quickly lifted up his goggles to wipe the tears away as fast as he could.  

Zelda held out her hand more for a mere moment and drew her hand back, turning towards the other as her expression changed. “Let us make our way to Fort Hateno. Our mission is to save Purah and bring her back safety, for everyone’s sake and... his.” Zelda took one final glance at Robbie while his back was turned.

Everyone nodded.  

Robbie gasps under his breath while adjusting his goggles back on. He shouldn’t show so much weakness like this... Taking a deep breath he nodded.  

“Please bring Purah back to...”  

Me.  

   Me, safely...  

Oh, how he wished he could say that. Perhaps once all of this was over, he could. Until then, Robbie continues, “...to us safely.” Robbie finally spoke again in an almost defeated tone.

  It killed him.

The others nodded and started to make their way to For Hateno.  

Taking a deep breath, he watched the sunrise peeking from the horizon.  

Akkala Citadel; The last stand against the Calamity some say. Perhaps... in another timeline. Here however, it still stood tall even with the bridge completely destroyed. Cannons all fired out. Soldiers barely making it from the citadel, all were left were limping soldiers left and right. They stood triumph as monsters from all sides collapsed defeated around the citadel, cheering from the soldiers were heard echoing and there Robbie stood at the top of the tower waiting. Watching... as Link, Zelda and the others made their way to Fort Hateno.

Praying for Purah to come back safely...

[cascadena]

Rekindled - Prologue & Ch 1

SUMMARY: Post-BotW. Zelink. Hyrule now turns to an exhausted Princess Zelda to pick up the fragments of the fallen kingdom. Link, who is still piecing together his own past and traumas from his own journey, realizes that he has to be the one to help Zelda back on her feet. Together, they travel the land to begin the rebuilding process, and uncover a new, mysterious threat along the way...

GENRE: Adventure, Romance, Hurt/Comfort

WORDS: 44K

STATUS: Complete

RATING: T for Teen | Contains Action/Violence, Blood, and (Of-Age) Alcoholic Beverage Consumption, Kissing Scenes.

[Read on FF.Net] - The ENTIRE story is already posted there for your reading pleasure!!

[AO3 Posting coming soon!]

-

PROLOGUE

Link

The clouds of malice curling above me dissipated upon the Princess’s eradication of Ganon, leaving behind an untainted sky that shone with a more vivid blue than I had seen since awakening from my slumber. Rising from where I’d landed with my paraglider after sending the final ancient arrow right into Ganon’s core, I rubbed a particularly sore spot on my right shoulder where Calamity Ganon managed to land a more severe blow with an ancient blade in our duel at Hyrule Castle. The bleeding had slowed from my adrenaline rush but it would only hold off the pain for so long. I gripped my arm as I cautiously approached the girl whose voice I had only heard in my mind since my revival. Though we’d just destroyed the malicious Calamity Ganon, my heart still beat quickly in anticipation of the reunion with the beautiful girl from my memories.

The Princess lowered her arm, facing away from me as she took a slow, deep breath. I flinched when she began speaking. Her soft voice was just audible over the whips of wind as the last of the malice storm cleared around us.

“I’ve been keeping watch over you all this time… I’ve witnessed your struggles to return to us as well as your trials in battle. I always thought—no, I always believed—that you would find a way to defeat Ganon.” She paused for a moment as she seemed to consider her next words. “I… never lost faith in you over these many years,” she said. 

Finally, she turned. A strangely familiar warmth pulsed in my chest as she faced me for the first time since I died in her arms a hundred years ago. Her small smile was familiar to my memories. I wondered how in the world I’d ever been able to keep my focus on the demands of my duty to protect her in the past. 

“Thank you, Link...the hero of Hyrule.” Her expression softened. I nodded and swallowed a smile, unable to speak as hot tears welled in my eyes. Zelda seemed to notice, and a weight visibly lifted from her shoulders as she clasped her hands in front of her. “May I ask… Do you really remember me?”

“Yes, Your Highness, I do,” I managed to reply, but my voice cracked as a tear escaped down my cheek. Zelda smiled as she clasped her hands over her face as she suppressed a cry.

“We’ve finally done it,” she breathed, and then her balance shook. 

Within a second of seeing her waver, I leapt forward, just in time to catch her in my arms as her legs gave out beneath her. I cushioned her as the weight pulled us both to our knees. I wondered if holding Hyrule’s Princess so close was proper for her Appointed Knight. However, when I felt her arms tighten a little in gratitude around my shoulders, I knew it was acceptable in this circumstance. “Even now, you protect me from any harm when it threatens me,” she said into my shoulder. 

A smile dared to cross my face, until I realized my wound had begun to bleed onto the back of her dress. I inhaled sharply as the pain began to throb. The adrenaline was wearing off for both of us.

“Link!”

My head flipped to the right towards the source of the voice. A covered wagon charged towards us from the East. I instinctively reached to the hilt of the Master Sword at my shoulder but relaxed when I saw a familiar girl hop out and run ahead of the caravan to meet us.

It was Paya. The Sheikah had come to help us.

-

-

CHAPTER 1

Link

Everything that happened next was a blur. The Sheikah caravan halted and Dorian and Cado jumped out to assist Zelda into the wagon. A million pains began pulsing through my body.

“M-Master Link… We left as soon as we heard the rumble of Vah Ruta’s laser,” said Paya. She took one look at my arm before she fetched a makeshift bandage from the wagon and handed me a water skin. “Please, let us assist you…”

We began the journey back to Kakariko Village, where the Sheikah could help us. I insisted on riding Epona, my horse, to give Zelda more space in the wagon, as the exhausted Princess had passed out shortly after being helped inside. Epona was a tough girl, and though she was exhausted from the battle with Ganon, I knew she could make it to Kakariko after Paya fed her a hearty mix of swift and endura carrots.

Epona followed the wagon on a lead as we made our way towards the Dueling Peaks. Hyrule seemed so peaceful as usual, and I briefly wondered if any of the civilians were even aware yet that the calamity had finally been destroyed. Surely, the Sheikah weren’t the only ones to witness the Divine Beast lasers fire. 

I glanced into the open flap on the backside of the wagon and could see Princess Zelda sleeping in a shaft of sunlight. Her mouth hung open as she curled up on the cushion inside. After a hundred years of fighting off Ganon, her nap was well deserved. Looking upon the exhausted Princess in her dirtied, bloodied prayer gown, I felt a wave of guilt pass through my gut and my jaw clenched. If I hadn’t fallen a hundred years ago and just slayed Ganon back then, she would not have had to suffer and fight for so many years. 

Her pain was a result of my own failure.

I knew I would have to apologize to her at some point. But how could one possibly apologize for a hundred years of suffering and a fallen kingdom? My thoughts began to drift as my consciousness faded away with the rhythmic thud of Epona’s trotting. The shadows of moblins, guardians, and lynels flashed through my mind in a hazy dream as my brain processed all I’d just endured. I had fallen asleep on horseback a few times previously, but never for very long stretches of time. It was a miracle that I didn’t fall off Epona and drown in the river right there. 

The golden light of the sunset fell over the mountaintops surrounding Kakariko Village, casting the village in shadow so that only the warm illuminance of the resident’s windows brought light into the streets. When our caravan arrived in front of Impa’s house. I jolted awake as Dorian’s small children called my name. A few other curious villagers crowded around before Dorian shooed them away. 

Zelda awakened, and I was grateful that the evening light would prevent us from drawing much more attention from the villagers as we ascended the steps to the elder’s home under the cover of darkness. Only as I climbed the steps did I begin to realize how exhausted my body felt: navigating through the rubble of Hyrule Castle, defeating Calamity Ganon, and then riding all the way back to Kakariko all in the same day had done a number on me. However, I couldn’t complain, because the girl stepping up next to me had just fought off the ultimate demon for a hundred years straight.

We had not even reached the top of the stairs when the doors to the house flew open. Zelda gasped from beside me, faltering before she whispered. “...Impa?”

Impa grinned down on us. “It has been a long time, Your Highness.”

-

Before she began preparing food, Paya fetched a red potion from Impa’s cabinet for me. I felt  the pain in my arm and head dull considerably with the first sip. I then went to sit down with Princess Zelda where she kneeled beside Impa’s cushion. We briefly made eye contact and she smiled, though I could see fatigue clouding in her emerald green irises. I offered a crooked grin of my own in return. A flash of surprise crossed  her face, though she said nothing of it.

“You look like you haven’t aged a day,” said Impa as she placed a hand on Zelda’s own. “Some of us aren’t so lucky, unfortunately… At least Link has all those scars to prove he battled in the calamity, even if his memory is still imperfect.”

I almost choked on my potion with Impa’s joke. Robbie must have talked with Impa about how he confirmed my identity. 

Zelda glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow before she shook her head. “I was locked in a state of stasis. Even now, I don’t fully understand how everything has changed since I last walked through Hyrule.”

Impa chuckled softly then nodded. “I am sure it will take quite a while for you to process everything that has come to pass.”

Zelda clasped her hands on her knees in front of her. Her white dress, though stained from the events a hundred years ago, still fell around her in graceful, unwrinkled folds. “We… we must immediately plan the next course of action,” said Zelda.

“Indeed,” said Impa, shifting to lean forward in her seat. She put her hands on her knees and leaned forwards. “Hyrule looks to you, Your Highness.”

“Well, yes…” Zelda’s eyes flickered wide for a moment as if it had only now occurred to her that the leadership of the kingdom now fell solely on her shoulders alone. I frowned as the memory—though still a bit broken in my head—came back to me. A hundred years ago, we’d fled the castle in a hurry when the Guardians corrupted around us. Zelda had not seen her father die in the castle that day, but I knew of his fate from speaking with his spirit. 

She may have not had any time to even consider his death at all, until now.

“Impa… tell me, as my Royal Advisor, what do you think we should do?” Zelda asked in a low voice. Her hands fidgeted with the folds of her skirt.

Impa tightened her lips. “I believe we should start with the restoring of the castle. It is the heart of Hyrule Kingdom.”

Zelda swallowed and looked down at her hands. “Right, the castle…”

“There are monsters everywhere inside,” I said. Zelda glanced at me when I spoke. “We will need to get them out first. I also think there are some things inside that could possibly be salvaged.”

A hint of hope glimmered in Zelda’s eyes but it was lost a moment later. “Who will help us do this? The entire army is gone. The last of our soldiers fell in the battle at Akkala Citadel.” She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. “We could do nothing to save a single soul.”

“The Sheikah have always served the Royal Family,” said Impa. “I will see to it that we do everything we can to assist. Perhaps you can ask the other races of the kingdom for help too.”

I could tell Zelda’s mind raced as her fists clenched the fabric of her dress. “Perhaps. Thank you, Impa.”

“I am sure they will be willing to help,” said Impa. Zelda nodded but fell quiet. 

A few minutes later, Paya placed a tray of steamed vegetable skewers in front of us. My mouth watered at the sight of the colorful vegetables. I hadn’t eaten since I swiped some  raw mushrooms from a moblin’s hoard in the castle’s ruined dining hall. Zelda reached out to take one of the skewers, and I suddenly remembered something.

“Eat slowly,” I said before she even touched the hearty radish on the skewer. She sent me a questioning gaze. I blushed when I realized I’d given an order to Her Highness. I needed to clarify. “Uhm… when I woke up after a hundred years, my stomach rejected food for a few days.”

Zelda nodded, now understanding, and narrowed her attention as she delicately pulled off the radish on the end of the spear. I dug into my own skewer without much regard for table manners, savoring the sustenance while Paya and Impa watched me, a hint of amusement evident on their faces. Apparently, I used to be a slightly more... refined eater when I served in the castle.  After only a few bites, Zelda put a hand on her abdomen and offered the rest of her skewer to me. My hunch was right—her body was still fragile from her long stay in stasis.

Paya served the rest of the meal to us: meat, rice, and fortified pumpkin pie for dessert. I ravenously enjoyed the meal, much to Paya and Impa’s entertainment—but Zelda only took a small taste of each dish to be polite before she said she felt too nauseated to continue. After the meal, I cleaned my hands and asked Paya if I could assist her in washing anything, which naturally sent her into a flustered frenzy as she declined any help whatsoever from me or the Princess. 

-

I found Zelda outside on the back porch later that evening, leaning against the wooden guardrail, her head inclined up to the starry sky. Her dress, though stained with the blemishes of battle, still reflected the silver light of the moon.  The trickle of the nearby waterfall and stream broke the silence of the night. She glanced over her shoulder when she heard me approach. “May I join you, Your Highness?” I asked. 

She nodded. I stepped up beside her and leaned against the railing. “Are you feeling alright?” I asked.

She bobbed her shoulders and I knew that probably meant ‘no’ but she would not admit it. “I am…” She paused, considering her words, before continuing. “I am worried… the races of Hyrule will be angry at me as I am responsible alone for the state of the Kingdom. I owe them all an immense apology for failing them, and I do not think I can ever repay them for it.”

My heart sank with hers. I leaned an elbow on the railing. “I believe the ones who helped me cleanse the Divine Beasts would each take up the role of becoming Champions—leaders to assist in leading a rebuilding effort—if you wish to designate them.”

Zelda tightened her lips. “It is because of me that our old Champion friends, their greatest warriors, perished in battle.”

“That was because Ganon corrupted the Divine Beasts before we even knew what happened,” I reminded her. “Besides, they will all warmly welcome you with the news of Calamity Ganon’s defeat. That is good news for all.”

Zelda nodded and looked down at her folded hands. A frog jumped into the water below us with a splash. A quiet beat passed before Zelda spoke again. “Thank you for the prompt warning about eating earlier,” said Zelda. “I suspect I would have become quite ill had I forced too much food on myself so soon after coming out of many years of stasis. I’m sorry you had to experience that.”

“You’re welcome, Your Highness,” I said. “I wouldn’t want you to feel sick either. Fighting Ganon was more than enough pain for one day, let alone a hundred years.”

Zelda cracked a small smile. “You know, we never spoke nearly this frequently a hundred years ago. You used to be so quiet. I always wished I had more opportunities to talk with you like this.”

I straightened up a bit and stared at Zelda as I processed this information. Had my personality really shifted that much since my memory reconstruction?

If so… What would she think of me now? How would she feel about me?

Zelda drummed her fingers on the guardrail as she continued. “I do wonder how we will both fit into this world now. We have not aged like those around us who are left that we knew before the calamity.” She shook her head. “I’m still processing the drastic difference of Impa’s age, to be honest. When I first saw Paya, I thought she was Impa because she has such a striking resemblance. But no, she is her granddaughter.”

I nodded. “It’s been strange meeting people who knew me from before, though I didn’t remember most of them at first.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the shriek of one of the villagers in the plaza behind us, followed by the cry of a bokoblin. 

Instinctively, I grabbed Zelda’s hand led her into the safety of Impa’s house. I pushed through the front doors to view the commotion in the village below. I halted when I saw that Dorian and Cado, Impa’s guards, had already taken care of the stray bokoblin and its body disappeared into thin air.

Several villagers gathered in the area below, nervously discussing the monster. Zelda appeared beside me and I heard her exhale heavily in stress. One of the villagers noticed her and called up at us. “It’s the Princess!”

All of the Sheikah turned their heads to look up at us. A few cheered in delight as the crowd migrated towards the base of the stairs. Several people began yelling things at us at once.

“Princess!”

“Did you finally defeat the Calamity?”

“Are you really Princess Zelda?”

“Why are there still monsters attacking us?”

“What was that giant laser?”

“Will you defeat all the monsters around the village too?”

Zelda held a hand to her chin and took a step back as the villagers yelled all of their questions at her. Dorian and Cado waved their arms in an attempt to quiet down the excited villagers.

“Enough.”

Impa’s voice boomed over the village and the crowd fell silent. I glanced over to find Impa at the top of the stairs. She crossed her arms and frowned down at her villagers. 

Zelda cleared her throat and I could see her hand shaking as she lowered them. “I assure you I will see to the concerns you have,” she called down to the crowd. “Please know that Calamity Ganon is defeated, and Hyrule will rise from the ashes.”

Several of the Sheikah cheered upon the news of Calamity Ganon’s defeat. However, one of the young child villagers ran forward in the crowd. “Then why are there still monsters attacking the village?”

Zelda pursed her lips. “We will investigate,” she said.

More villagers began to ask all kinds of questions. I glanced at Impa and she nodded at me, as if to understand my thoughts. I reached over to Zelda and grabbed her hand before I gently pulled her back towards the door to Impa’s home.

“I will take all of your concerns for the Princess in due time,” Impa called as I pulled the door open. “For now, good night, and stay on your guard for stray monsters.”

-

Zelda let go of my hand when we reached the sanctuary of Impa’s house. She paced around in a circle and sighed. “Why did a monster come into the village? Monsters should never come into a village on their own, right? What are we going to do about this?”

“Your Highness, it was just a stray bokoblin—“ I started.

“The monsters should all be tame now. We defeated the calamity. They have no reason to feel irrational anger and come to attack people now. We should be able to live in peace with them.” Zelda held her arms to her head and leaned over as she panicked. “I did seal it away, right?”

“Your Highness…” I tried again.

“I must research this. The Calamity may not have been properly sealed away—“ Zelda stopped when I placed a firm hand on her shoulder. She flicked her head around and faced me. Though she was slightly taller than I, her green, anxious gaze pierced directly into my eyes. I prayed I was not acting out of line by touching her without permission.

“It was just a bokoblin. They aren’t very smart. It probably just wandered in behind us when it saw the caravan. Dorian and Cado took care of it,” I said while looking into her eyes. “Everything is fine. You don’t need to worry.”

She looked straight into my eyes with such great intensity that I wondered if I should step away before she broke the eye contact and looked down at the ground. She sniffed and nodded as tears began to form around her eyes. “I’m sorry, I think I’ve… overreacted…”

Impa cleared her throat. “I think the Princess needs to get some more rest. How about we clean you up and then send you to bed? We can continue talk of Hyrule Castle and monsters when you wake up in the morning.”

Zelda nodded slowly and Paya escorted her upstairs to her personal quarters. I wanted to follow and give her a tight hug, although I knew that would probably be way out of line to my duty as her appointed knight. Impa told me I was welcome to stay as well but I decided I would stay at the inn that night to offer them all a little more privacy. 

I attempted to fall sleep early that evening but my mind kept drifting to the events earlier with Calamity Ganon. I decided to instead use the time to address my arm wound once more. I probably should have been seen by a doctor but I was not in the mood to answer a million questions about the battle yet. I retrieved a fresh bandage from Epona’s saddlebag and walked to the peninsula at the pond where Kakariko’s Goddess Statue resided, and sat myself down under the light of the torches. 

The red potion had luckily healed much of the delicate internal damage I’d acquired but the wound from Calamity Ganon on my shoulder would take some time to heal completely. I removed my tunic and undershirt before I applied potion-infused ointment to several minor wounds all over my torso that I accrued from monsters and malice burns in the castle. I smirked when I looked down at my abdomen. A Gerudo woman had once scoffed at me for not even having visible abs early on in my journey but there was… some muscle defined there now from months of climbing Hyrule’s mountains and cliffsides. It was clearly enough muscle needed to defeat Calamity Ganon, anyways.

My ears twitched when footsteps treaded on the grass behind me. I instinctively thought to grab my sword, but then came a quiet, “Link?”

I looked over my shoulder, and relaxed immediately when I saw the figure behind me. “Your Highness, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

Zelda folded her hands in front of her. Her golden hair was tied up behind her head in a bun and she wore a blue sleeping gown underneath a Sheikah robe that Paya must have lent to her. “I...wanted to thank you for calming me down earlier before I settled in for the night. I was just a little overwhelmed at how suddenly everything has changed.”

I turned around and wiped the remaining healing ointment from my hand onto my arm. “Nobody else seems to understand exactly what we’re going through right now.” I muttered. 

She nodded and pulled the collar of her robe up around her chin as a chilly breeze floated between us. If we weren’t having such a serious conversation, I would have considered more how it was quite a cute thing to do. She held her palm to her face as she sighed. “I...I do not think I am ready to go anywhere near the castle yet. Though it’s been a hundred years for everyone else, the memory of the destruction and loss is still too fresh, too painful in my mind...”

I stepped closer to her and she looked into my eyes once again. The light from the torches behind me flickered shadows onto her fair face. Fear and exhaustion plagued her face. 

My heart ached for her. 

She had just fought an unimaginable horror in the castle for a hundred years and now was expected to immediately begin facilitating the reconstruction of Hyrule. The villagers didn’t understand how they had set off this expectation in her mind, of course. Impa was correct that the castle needed reclaimed as soon as possible—but did Zelda really have to be there immediately?

I realized she had said something to me again but my mind had been lost in my thoughts. “Sorry, can you repeat that, Your Highness?” I asked, shaking my head.

“I said, I can see all of your scars... You have collected so many, if you don’t mind me saying. You’ve endured so much pain for us,” she said with a frown.

I looked down. The scars, a mix of the severe mortal ones I’d endured a hundred years ago and newer ones from my journey, littered in violent slashes across my body. I tightened my lips. People so easily understood I had been through pain when they saw my scars. However, nobody else seemed to notice Zelda’s struggle right now. 

I was probably the only one who could even somewhat understand what she went through with the events of the calamity. And now, she faced the immense pressure to rule Hyrule by herself. Such pressure on a single person was incredibly difficult to bear. In the past—as Zelda had reminded me earlier—the intense pressure of being the chosen wielder of the Master Sword had driven me to silence. I could not let Zelda fall to a similar fate of anxiety. 

  “Your Highness, would you like to go somewhere? To get away from everything for a bit?” I blurted before I could consider my own words.

She blinked in mild confusion. “Leave here? What about the castle? Hyrule?”

“With all due respect, Your Highness, you won’t be assembling the castle by yourself. You just defeated Calamity Ganon. Let some other people begin work on the castle.” I put my hands on my hips. “Your Highness, you need a rest, even if a brief one. To be perfectly honest, I need one as well.”

“What about my sworn duties?”

I laughed. “The land has lasted a hundred years without an active ruler. The people can wait just a little longer for you to recover. A lot of people don’t even know that you’re still alive.”

Zelda folded her arms and tightened her lips. “Where would we go?”

I thought for a moment. “Hateno Village? I have a house there. It’s very safe there, and nobody would bother you. We could visit Purah’s Lab.” I tapped my jaw as I considered the other perks of Hateno. “There’s also a beach nearby, so you could see the ocean.”

Zelda furrowed her brow as she considered my proposal. “It does sound like a lovely place... I’ve never visited there before, actually. I would love to see Purah again too.“ A smile graced Zelda’s lips as she nodded. “It’s decided then. I will direct Impa to lead the Sheikah to begin the reclamation of Hyrule Castle, and inform her that I will be taking a short rest before I begin the rebuilding process.”

I smiled back at her and nodded. “We’ll leave at first light in the morning.”

“Wonderful,” She bowed her head lightly. “Good night, Sir Link, I’ll see you in the morning,” she said cheerfully before turning away and retreating back to Impa’s house.

My cheeks heated against the cool air when she used the formal title. It only then occurred to me that she’d never used any kind of title with me before that I could remember.

...Exactly how close had we been before the calamity?