#idk who else people are slobbering over but this is a start

[roseate7]

Pens fans and Sid fans are great at holding our faves accountable - you’re probably not

If you’re inflamed by that title then this post is for you. Flouncing away from it makes you look like a clown who can’t handle criticism and correction. I’ll go ahead and preface this by saying my disability limits my usage of screens to only the absolute essentials so I won’t be back here to see if you’ve done either so please save yourself time and any huffy replies you’re bristling with. I’m not interested in returning to tumblr, trust me.

I shouldn’t be surprised considering this fandom’s selectiveness when it comes to politics and hockey but it’s still not great to get an anon message that huge swathes of fandom are now treating the topic of racism not with regards to Akim Aliu or BLM, but as a popularity contest of performative white men. Oh and their eagerness to once again remind anyone they think cares that “humph they don’t wike Sidney Cwosby and their fave is superior! Take THAT Cwosby fans!”

Again, y’all should’ve saved yourselves the trouble but fortunately I and Pens fandom have a nice history of protesting and holding our team and Sid accountable for you to learn from. Especially Caps and Blues fans recently, also anyone gross enough to be Ovechkin fans, but especially if you consciously decide to have anything to do with supporting the Blackhawks and not smacking yourself in the eye every time you type or utter the team name. Like, holy shit are we really out here on the brink of saying you can be best friends with Patrick Kane and still be... jesus christ. (Start here and work backward - any other Pens fans, rb and add your own history of it) I’ll try to keep this brief but I couldn’t really care less if anyone finds it too long lol. If you’re all willing to post about this shit then you can sit and listen.

1) If any of the gestures made by these white men has turned your head or made you think they’re better than other white men in hockey then a) you’re obviously biased towards them in the first place and are jumping on any fucking crumb cast your way, and b) you’re wrong. They do not care about you. They do not care about BLM. They have known all along when they and others have done wrong and they have done nothing until pressured to do so. They do not care about anything beyond hockey. 

2) I have watched multiple rotations of PR efforts to Make Hockey Players Seem Like Great Guys over the decades. This is the latest. They pretend to atonement. They donate. They make statements. They wear tape on their sticks. They put on special jerseys for fifteen minutes. They pose with the minority they have offended (or attend Pride parades and get nothing but praise for it and the unearned mantle of having saved gays everywhere). And yet as I am here to attest, it has never done anything. It is intended to make you like them and do exactly what you’re doing now - buy into their cultivated hierarchy of goodness that has zero relevance to real world ideas of goodness or morality. 

3) The bar is too low to call any white male hockey player a good man. “But you stan Crosby!!” Yep. Read through my blog and I absolutely go nuts with the narrative of this guy’s career and his impact or lack of action in hockey. I balance a fascination with him as a hockey player with real life criticism of him as a person. You can too! 

4) Lastly, if you think “omg my guy is SOOOOO much better than Crosby because of x, y, and z” then you are a fool. You’re playing precisely into what the NHL and it’s teams have been pushing - especially on female fans! You’ve been fed a version of a white man, you’ve been given a tamping down in terms of your expectations, and now you’re in love. You’ll take anything he throws you and carry it like a banner over the heads of any inferior hockey men! You’re the loser in this exchange.

Ironically for the latest batch of “I hate Crosby”, Sidney Crosby has in fact done far more to improve the diversity of hockey than your white faves - the Little Penguins was his baby and spread league wide as the Learn to Play program and his focus has been to push management of his teams toward making tickets and events accessible to lower income families. Most of your dudes wait for initiatives from Head Office to be handed down via PR. Here’s the kicker! that absolutely every Pens and Sid fan I know is aware of! Neither Sid’s proactive work nor most players’ going along makes them better than each other in a real world sense! Because none of them are doing a fraction of what they could easily be doing to tackle real issues in an up front and direct way! And they all know it and hide from it! They’re all white boys who don’t like to rock the boat unless enough of their brothers do it with them!

None of them spoke up for Akim Aliu in any actual supportive way!! They waited for human trash bag Evander Kane to say something and slowly trickled in!! they all waited!! They waited their whole careers and they’re gonna keep you waiting!! 

Jonathan Toews is not better than Sidney Crosby. You are the ones who are upset by that fact - we’re the ones who’ve never questioned it. Johnny being best friends with a racist and abuser (and defending him openly!) and never answering for his racist logo on his chest or his notoriously brazen racist fans DOES NOT GO AWAY just because in this instance Sidney Crosby was later than him. It does not disappear just because his fans read a silly and utterly empty, self-serving mansplaining text post and decide that he is suddenly better than Sidney Crosby’s equally empty statement days later. Judge these men intelligently!! Stop making it a teen magazine bestest boy rating!! DO NOT TELL PEOPLE TO BRUSH OFF A MAN’S FRIENDSHIP AND DEFENCE OF A RACIST ABUSER RAPIST JUST BECAUSE HE WROTE A NOTE SAYING HE’S FOUND OUT ABOUT RACISM AND BOY IT’S NOT GOOD EH.

Please, just for a second, just think of how stupid it is to take an issue like systemic racism and actually sit down and actually turn it into whose boy is better than whose. For the love of god please if nothing else stop doing that!!

THE TIME FOR STATEMENTS TO ACT AS BROWNIE POINTS IS DONE. THE TIME FOR WHITE MEN COPPING TO RACISM IN THEIR LEAGUE AND THE WORLD AS SOMETHING WORTHY OF PRAISE IS DONE. THEY ARE TOO LATE. STOP ACCEPTING SO LITTLE JUST SO YOU CAN ENGAGE IN STAN WARS. 

THE PEOPLE DOING THE WORK TO IMPROVE SYSTEMIC RACISM IS ALL YOU SHOULD CONCERN YOURSELF WITH. NOT THEIR SEEMINGLY BENEVOLENT OPPRESSORS. STOP TALKING ABOUT THEM. STOP PRAISING THEM. IF THEY REALLY MEAN WHAT THEY ARE SAYING THEY WILL CONTINUE WITHOUT PRAISE AND WE WILL SEE IT IN REALITY OVER YEARS TO COME. THEY GET NOTHING FROM US NOW. NOTHING.

NO ONE CARES THAT YOU DO NOT LIKE SIDNEY CROSBY. WE CARE THAT YOU ARE INSISTING THAT WE REDUCE OUR SOCIAL AWARENESS DOWN TO SLURPING ON ANY WHITE MAN’S EGO IN THE MIDST OF INEQUALITY AND ABUSE THAT HE - WHOEVER HE IS - HAS SILENTLY AND ACTIVELY PERPETUATED, JUST BECAUSE HE DONATED MONEY OR WROTE STUPID FUCKING WORDS IN NOTES APP. 

[jinmukangwrites]

Hope

Prompt: LU discord; Hope, even in the Worst of Times. Over 3k words, different Link than normal, and fight scenes are bonus points.

Warnings: blood, violence, normal Jin things.

Note: idk why I struggled so much with this one so I apologies now if this fic isn't as good as quality as my other fics. I kind of gave up 3k words in and just ended it at 5k. Just. Idk. This was very hard to write gosh darn. 

-o-o-o-o-

"Sun's going down," Wind announces for the third time in the past two minutes. Hyrule watches as Time sighs and looks up at the sky in a 'why me' expression as Sky agrees that the sun is, indeed, going down.

"We need to keep going for a little longer," he says and even Legend groans at that.

Hyrule would also complain but he also gets what Time means by the need to continue. In their travels they have somehow ended up in a deep canyon with cliff walls towering higher than anything Hyrule has seen for a long time. It's a perfect place for an ambush, a perfect place to be cut off and trapped, and even if there are no monsters waiting to attack them, nature could still just as easily kill them with falling rocks or a sudden flood. They need to find a way out of the canyon before they stop to rest.

Sadly, there isn't any way out so far.

No one knows whose world they are in so far, no one recognizes the canyon surrounding them, but that's not surprising either. Monsters and people are no longer in their correct place, structures and lands are starting to merge. Just a week ago, they found a house from Twilight's Kakariko Village smack in the middle or Wilds. This canyon could be a combination of everyone's, or something completely different.

Whatever the case, they need to get out, no matter how much Hyrule's feet hurt and how much he would rather be asleep.

"We'll go till sundown, just an hour more," Twilight puts in and Time gives him a look that he'd rather continue during the night, but Twilight returns a look and Time sighs. Their group are all tired, and if Time makes them travel through the night, Hyrule isn't sure he'll keep from complaining for long.

Wind groans and glares at the sun as if he could scare it into sinking faster while Four gives him a smile that's half sympathetic and half snickering while Wild offers to carry Wind on his back.

Wind doesn't complain then.

Hyrule's feet are aching by the time the sun sinks low enough to cast the world in shadow. The sky is a dark blue color and stars are starting to shine. Finally, Time let's the group stop and set up camp with the conditions that instead of one watch for the night, two at a time would go.

No one disagrees.

Hyrule rubs his feet and shakes dust from his boots as everyone begins to set up their bed rolls. Wild sets Wind—who has fallen asleep—down on some blankets and stands up, stretching his back. He looks at his bed and then sighs, wiping sweat off from his brow. He begins to walk away from the group but is stopped when Twilight grabs his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Twilight demands.

"Out of firewood. Going to go find some," Wild replies simply and Twilight gives him an upfronted look.

"You're exhausted," Time interrupts and Hyrule can't help but agree. Wild may have the most stamina of the group, but he's been carrying the dead weight named Wind for the last hour. He looks like he really needs a full night's rest.

Wild shoots Time an annoyed look. "We need wood-"

"I can go," Hyrule says as he forces himself to his feet. He may be aching but he has more endurance than everyone else in the group besides Wild. He's a better choice to go out than Sky or Legend after all.

"You sure?" Twilight asks just as Wild opens his mouth to protest.

"Yeah, it's no problem."

"You're not going alone," Time says.

"I'll go," Four volunteers.

Hyrule nods and begins to strap his sword and bow to his body. Soon enough, he and Four are strolling through the darkening canyon with nothing but tumbleweeds and half decayed trees as any source of wood. Thankfully, they have been finding sticks and branches here and there and they have piled up a good amount. They have been working in companionable silence for most of the task, only exchanging words here and there.

Hyrule hefts his small pile of wood and turns back to where Four is picking up another dried branch. "I think we have enough," Hyrule says. Four turns back to him and is about to reply, but suddenly he's stumbling back and calling out in pain and surprise as a rather large arrow hits his shoulder.

"Four!" Hyrule yells and drops his sticks. He pulls out his own shield just in time to block an arrow that had been heading right towards his heart. He sprints over to where Four is struggling to get out his bow, the only sign that he recognizes that there's an arrow in his shoulder is the painful pulling in his eyebrows.

Hyrule catches another arrow with his shield and looks over towards where the fire is coming from. Across the canyon is a red glow, fluttering paper, and a person materializing out of thin air.

"Yiga," Hyrule says, dropping his shield for just a second so he could shoot an arrow over to their attacker. He growls when the assassins disappears with a happy chuckle before the arrow can hit it's mark.

"No," Four growls and fires off in another direction. There's a screech and a leathery body falls from a hiding spot high up on the cliff wall. A Bokoblin. "Not just the Yiga."

There's a howl and a wolf creature that Hyrule has never seen before starts sprinting towards Hyrule, slobber dripping from it's snout and claws stained yellow. There's more than one enemy, all from different time periods.

The wolf jumps up at Hyrule and he's just able to bring up his shield, but an arrow whips past and slices through the top of his shoulder, sending waves of stinging pain up his neck. He shoves the wolf to the ground and whips his sword out and buries it into the skull of the wolf before it can attack again.

"Hyrule!" Four screams and Hyrule whips around just in time to see Four get grabbed by skeletal hands below him. Stalifols.

He starts to run towards Four, who is being forced down to the ground by multiple hands, but he's stopped when a body appears out of nowhere and kicks him in the gut.  Hyrule gasps and the Yiga assassin chuckles as Hyrule gets grabbed from behind. Hyrule struggles in the grasp, seeing that another assassin, a bigger one, is the one whose grabbed him.

He viciously tries to rip his arms out from the grasp, but a kick to the back of his knees sends him down and his sword is torn from his grasp. His wrists are grabbed and are eventually tugged behind his back, coarse leather begins to be wrapped around them.

Hyrule frantically looks over to where Four has been completely restrained to the ground by the stalifols, where the other Yiga is casually strolling over with a long leather cord in their hands.

They don't want to kill Hyrule and Four. They want to take hostages.

Hyrule snarls and in one last attempt to get free, he slams his head backwards and hits the Yiga hard, making them stumble back and weaken their grasp on Hyrule. He tears his hands free from the half done knots and snatches his sword from the ground. In the blink of an eye, he spins around and buries his sword into the Yiga's stomach. He let's the assassin fall to the ground with the sword still impaling him as he turns and loses an arrow all in a couple moments. The arrow hits its mark, violently slamming into the back of the other Yiga's neck.

The stalifols makes a distressed whine before they let go of Four and bury themselves back into the ground.

Hyrule is left standing there, breathing hard, as the two Yiga drop to the ground dead.

He's just killed two people. Monsters are one thing... but these are people. The urge to vomit climbs up his throat, but he forces himself to ignore it as Four groans and struggles to stand up. He has a hand clutching around where the arrow has pierced his shoulder.

"You okay?" Hyrule asks. Four shakes his head but he has a determined gleam in his eyes. He opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off from an angry roar coming from where the camp is set up.

"The others," Four whispers. Four grabs the shaft of the arrow and breaks off the the end before he turns and sprints away. Hyrule is close at his heels.

-o-o-o-o-

Hyrule does his best not to breathe too hard or gasp as he and Four hide behind a boulder. There are more monsters, way more than what they can handle. Proof of that? The others have all be captured, which Hyrule doubts was very easy to do. There are bodies of Bokoblins and other creatures littering the ground, but as many as there are dead there are standing. Some creatures Hyrule doesn't recognize, green troll like ones with large horns riding on boars, lizard like monsters with slimy skin and sharp claws. He can see more stalifols, more Yiga, more of those wolf monsters, all walking around the destroyed camp ground like the owned the place.

There's one more monster, the reason why Hyrule and Four hasn't even attempted to leave their cover and rescue them.

A Lynel, but one Hyrule has never seen before. It's fur is a bright gold and it's fangs drip with blood. A large club sits against it's back and the biggest bow Hyrule has ever seen is clutched in it's massive paws.

Monsters working together is one thing, but monsters working with a Lynel is a whole other ballpark.

"What do we do?" Four whispers and Hyrule shakes his head because he has no clue. There are enemies everywhere and the rest of their group are all bound hand and foot on the ground, separate and with guards by each of them as the Yiga go around looking through their stuff. Time looks pale as a Yiga soldier pulls out a collection of masks out from his bag and Legend is snarling and having to held down as a Bokoblin curiously dumps the contents of Legend's bag on the ground. No one looks too hurt, just scratched up. Hyrule's guess is that all the dead monsters on the ground were sent in just to tire everyone out, and then they sent in the Lynel. They were either captured or they surrendered after that.

The only one who looks really injured is Wild, and Hyrule's stomach drops when he understands why. The Yiga seem to be leading the ambush and there are more of them than the other monsters, they are more intelligent too. Intelligence holds grudges. Wild is lying exhausted on the ground, not even struggling in his bonds as blood drips down his various wounds. His hands are wrapped in rubber and the leather rope is already cutting into his flesh from the tightness. Twilight is constantly looking back and forth from Wild and the green, horned monster who sat on the largest boar from his group.

"I thought you changed," hisses Twilight, and the monster laughs.

"I told you," it says. Its voice is surprisingly clear though it's very deep and seems to be caught in its throat, "I follow the strongest side! You're no longer superior!"

The other green Bokoblin-like monsters gurgle lighter. Twilight looks over to the Yiga member who seems to be the leader judging by their stature and weapons on their body. Hyrule is wondering probably the exact thing Twilight is: are these assassins the ones who are more superior? Or is it someone else?

"Hyrule," Four whispers and Hyrule looks away from their captive members down towards Four. He's bleeding still, the arrow shaft still dug into his shoulder, looking painful. Hyrule knew they need to get some sort of health potion soon or Four will be more than a little pale and in pain.

"I'm thinking," he whispers back.

Wind swearing and spitting insults no young man should know brings Hyrule's attention back to the scene before them. A Bokoblin is lifting up Wind as the boy struggles and spits in his bonds, everyone starts snarling threats and insults but it goes ignored as Wind is placed stomach down on a riderless boar. Legend puts up more of a fight when it's his turn to be lifted, it takes three monsters to carry him and tie him down next to Wind. They begin to lift the others one by one.

They're packing them up. Taking them somewhere.

"We need all nine," the leader Yiga growls suddenly as Wild is carried like dead weight with Twilight and Time over to another boar. Hyrule swallows and he shrinks further behind the rock he is hiding behind.

"He won't be happy with seven," another Yiga says. Hyrule barely has time to wonder who "he" is before the leader sighs and waves at the large green creature Twilight has been snarling at earlier.

In seconds, the boars and monsters all start heading down further into the canyon as the moon begins to rise. Hyrule and Four and left there, wondering what in the world they are going to do.

-o-o-o-o-

Four hisses as Hyrule spreads a homemade paste on his shoulder. He had to push the broken arrow through Fours back, so now there are two serious wounds with little to no medical supplies to do anything about it. Four is pale, but the bandages and makeshift stitch work Hyrule managed to scavenge up from their destroyed camp has saved Four's life… for now.

"We need to follow after them," Hyrule says as he finishes up spreading the paste. He gets out the bandages and starts to unroll it.

"And do what?" Four growls and sucks in a breath and Hyrule moves his arm so he can get a better angle for the bandages. "There's too many of them."

"We can't just leave them."

"But it's suicide."

"We're heroes of courage, we'll find a-"

"So are they!" Four snaps. "You saw them, they were all helpless. Those monsters know how to fight us."

Hyrule scowls. "We will find a way."

"You saw Wild. All that blood on him and no wound. He was exhausted. You know what that means? They killed him. They know our powers, our weaknesses, our- ow!"

"Sorry," Hyrule says and stands up from his work. He glances around the camp and smiles when he sees something glittering in the moonlight. "We'll be just fine."

He walks over to the object and picks it up, admiring the way the light of the moon shines blue on the blade. Of course the Master Sword wouldn't let evil take her, she would stay behind to help rescue the others.

-o-o-o-o-

It isn't hard to track the monsters, they caught seven out of nine heroes, what do they have to be stealthy about? Hyrule and Four find signs of them everywhere as they go through the canyon and eventually out of it. There's footsteps in the moist ground from the morning dew, there's broken branches with tufts of fur when a boar rubs too close to a tree. The undergrowth is trampled and there's not a single sign of animal life around.

An entire day passes and Hyrule has resorted to carrying Four on his shoulders even though he himself is exhausted. The monsters may have not cared to cover their tracks, but they also don't seem to care about stopping for a break. The sun is sinking again and Four hardly has his eyes open anymore, the bandages on his shoulder are starting to turn brown with dirt and sweat.

For a second, he thinks that he should stop. That it's useless. There's no point in going on, if these monsters are able to take down Time and Warrior and Wild and all of them, there is nothing Hyrule and Four can do, even with the master sword.

He shakes his head, desperate to keep those thoughts away. He can't lose hope, especially now when everyone needs him.

He pushes on.

-o-o-o-o-

Hyrule is close to collapsing when he finally manages to catch up to the monsters and their captives. They have been trudging through the dark forest for hours on end, the moon is high in the sky once again. Four hasn't done anything but slowly blink and say one worded answers whenever Hyrule asks him anything, which Hyrule is worried about, but he is forced to push that out of his mind as he comes to a edge of a clearing against the face of a cliff. In the middle of the cliff wall is a giant stone door where two Yiga stand guard.

"Are… they in there?" Four asks tiredly.

Hyrule slowly lowers them both to the ground and Four groans when his shoulder is shifted. Hyrule has to find a fairy or health potion… and fast.

"You stay here, I'm going in," Hyrule says. He's about to stand up and take out the guards when Four grabs his sleeve.

"They're going to kill you…" he says, his voice is so quiet and weak. It's funny how a simple arrow wound could do that with time and no medical equipment. "You're exhausted."

"I can't just leave them."

Four gives him a disbelieving look before he lets out a groan and closes his eyes.

"Go kick ass," he says simply.

Hyrule nods and slowly pushes himself to his feet.

-o-o-o-o-

The two Yiga guards are easy to take out, which doesn't bode well since Hyrule can barely walk straight and he'd think a group who has managed to capture seven of his companions would have better security measures.

The stone doors take a lot of energy out of him, but he manages to pry them open enough for him to squeeze through. Inside, he is met with a long, stone hallway with torches hanging near the ceiling. It's eerily silent, nothing but a somewhat steady rhythm of dropping water to break the quiet. The hall is empty, yet long. A feeling of foreboding washes over him and he swallows nervously.

He wonders where the Lynel is.

He slowly walks down the hallway, his feet tapping the damp brick floor lightly and the Master Sword held out in his hands. He meets no one.

His heart is pounding, and it's force increases with each step. It's getting difficult to breath and he's sure he's about to hyperventilate when he finally comes to a hall perpendicular to main one. He tilts his head around the corner and is met with just another long expanse of walkway. Although, there's doors connected to this one.

He sucks in a breath of stale air and begins to walk down, but the sound of someone else's footsteps crash through the silence and his throat bobs with anticipation and fear. He grabs the handle of the nearest door and, thank Hylia, it opens. He closes it behind him and flattens himself against the wall as the footsteps and small chatter of his enemy walks past. He lets out a sigh of relief when it falls quiet again, and he's about to leave when a small whine reaches his ears.

He turns his gaze from the door and his eyes widen when he sees a familiar wolf tied down and locked in a small cage in the corner of the room. A muzzle is placed over its snout and a strange collar is wrapped tight around its neck. The Wolf looks up at him with wide, gleaming, tired eyes.

"Wolfie," Hyrule breathes out.

The animal lifts its head and lets out a small, muffled bark before it gets to its paws. It presses against the cage and Hyrule notices chains looping around its paws and the bars.

"You poor thing," Hyrule whispers as he crosses the room. He kneels down next to the cage and finds the latch. The wolf watches him with its blue eyes as Hyrule works on opening the door. It remains still as Hyrule begins to work on the muzzle and chains.

The moment the wolf is free, it jumps out of the cage and lifts its paws above its neck and scratches at the collar. Frustrated growls rumble through the air over to Hyrule.

"Let me help you…" Hyrule says as he puts his hands down on the wolf's neck. He whips his hands away quickly when the wolf turns and bears sharp teeth in a snarl. Hyrule swallows nervously and holds up his arms. The wolf has never been hostile to him before…

Suddenly, the wolf cuts off the growling and almost looks ashamed. It slowly pads towards Hyrule and lowers its head, ears flat against it's skull. Hyrule slowly lowers his hands back onto the collar and when the wolf doesn't attack, he gets to work at unlocking the uncomfortable looking equipment.

When the collar finally snaps off, something surprising and totally unexpected happens.

The wolf changes, and in a blink of an eye, Twilight is standing there and rubbing his neck angrily.

"Wh-"

"We'll talk about it later," Twilight growls, and for the first time Hyrule can recognize the voice of a beast in his friends speech, "the others, we need to find them."

"Y-yeah…"

-o-o-o-o-

"Over here," Twilight says and Hyrule struggles to keep up. The enemies base is a maze and Hyrule is honestly surprised that Twilight even knows where he's going. "Wild is over here…"

Hyrule swallows and follows after. He feels like his legs are going to give out, but the others are too important. They have to save them. Twilight has told him a little about what has happened, and none of it is good. Every single hero has been rendered powerless and they have been separated throughout the maze like base until Hyrule and Four could be found. Wild has received the worst of it though, with the Champion's powers, the Yiga have taken special care to render Wild completely helpless. One of the techniques they've used is killing him every ten or fifteen minutes, just to keep him exhausted. Hyrule doesn't think he can handle figuring out how many times Wild has been murdered in cold blood in the past day and a half.

"How do you know he's over here," Hyrule gasps. Twilight puts a finger to his lips and shoves Hyrule against the wall and shifts into a wolf again. Before Hyrule can say anything, Twilight lurches forward and jumps on a Bokoblin that Hyrule somehow hasn't noticed was walking around the corner. Twilight tears into its throat and the monster goes still a few seconds later.

For some reason, Hyrule feels sick to his stomach.

Twilight lifts his snout and sniffs the air before he turns back into his Hylian form. "I can smell him," he says simply as he wipes black blood from his mouth, then he continues his sprint down the hall. Hyrule follows after, not inclined to argue.

They turn multiple corners and dash down long hallways for what felt like hours until Twilight stops in his tracks right outside a door that looks like any other the the hostile maze. Twilight slowly puts his hand on the door, looking pale, and pushes it open. Hyrule instantly wants to gag at the smell of blood that hits him, but all he can do is stare with wide eyes as Twilight sprints across the room towards where Wild is hanging limp from the ceiling, his wrists bloodied from the tight manacles holding him a foot off the ground.

"Cub-" Twilight chokes out and reaches up to undo Wild's restraints. There's so much blood. It's painting the walls and pooling on the ground. It's soaking Wild's clothes and staining his skin. Hyrule wants to throw up.

Wild blinks his eyes like it's the hardest thing in the world to do as Twilight finally releases him and lowers him to the ground. There isn't a wound to be seen, but Wild looks like he's at death's door.

"Wild, talk to me-" Twilight says and brushes Wild's soaked hair from his face.

Wild looks up to him… and smirks.

Alarms scream at Hyrule and he gets the sudden urge to get the hell out of there, but he's rooted to the ground as Twilight is thrown across the room and slammed into the wall by a Yiga soldier, Wild is nowhere to be seen. Twilight looks horrified and Hyrule can't believe they forgot that the Yiga are experts of disguise.

Hyrule whips his hand down to the Master Sword and unsheathes it, but the Yiga pulls a knife out and shoves it under Twilight's jaw.

There's the sound of clapping behind him.

Hyrule spins around and sees nothing but shadows.

But then, the Shadows blink red.

"There you are," the Shadow says, smirking. It steps forward and a group of monsters follow after it. Hyrule's stomach drops when he sees Four and Wild, both unconscious and held up by the enemies. "Now, I have all nine."

-o-o-o-o-

"Dark Link," Twilight hisses and the Yiga soldier presses the knife further against his throat. Hyrule swallows nervously and takes a step back as the Shadow approaches further. A Lizalfols makes an excited gurgle as the Shadow pulls out a dark sword of its own.

"Are you scared of me?" The Shadow asks with eyes gleaming playfully.

Hyrule lifts the sword up higher and raises his chin even though he feels so very small. His heart is pounding so loud he's sure everyone can hear it, but he's going to stand his ground. He's not going to give up.

He's not-

The Shadow lunges and Hyrule just manages to block the blow. It's gotten better. Stronger than the last time he's fought it. Hyrule digs his feet into the ground and shoves the Shadow off of him, but the Shadow just whips it's sword forward again. The sharp blade slices through Hyrule's shirt and he stumbles backwards. He is just able to protect himself as another swing of the sword comes down on him. The Shadow leans forward, grinning.

"It's taken forever for my plan to come together," it says, "so many years of trying to kill each version of you, of trying to get here. You're death will bring him back to this world."

Hyrule feels chills run down his spine. Him?

"Ganon?" He whispers. He remembers, his last adventure when he set out to awaken Zelda from her sleep. The monsters wanted to catch him and sacrifice him to revive their leader. "You want to bring back Ganon?"

The Shadow laughs and kicks Hyrule in his stomach. Hyrule falls back and rolls out of the way of another kick.

"That loser? He's a disgrace," the Shadow yells and Hyrule scrambles to his feet. He can see Twilight glaring daggers but his attention is brought back to the Shadow as he blocks another blow with the Master Sword. "He's a failure. No, what will happen is that all nine of you will die, and the real evil will return. Demise. He will reign free."

Hyrule feels terror take control. Demise. The name sends shivers down his spine and he has no idea why, or who it is. Everyone talks about Ganon, or Ganondorf, or Calamity Ganon, but Demise? It sounds evil and dark, unbeatable.

The Shadow is grinning and the monsters behind it are chuckling and shuffling their feet in excitement and for a moment, Hyrule almost drops the sword and gives up there. He's terrified. He doesn't know why. He needs to fight but he can't. He's not like the others. He is just a simple traveler, he can't do this. He should give up there, save the energy…

But then, he sees Four weakly blink his eyes open and Twilight snarl at the Yiga assassin and glare at the Shadow with the power of a thousand suns. The sword feels heavy in his hands but he tightens his grip.

This time, he's the one who swings, the one to get blocked. Red eyes widen in surprise but Hyrule continues on. He's fought this demon before. He's beaten it before. He can do it again. He has help now, he has people he needs to protect.

He has hope.

[itheelephant]

#metoo? Groomed By My Karate Teacher

This one's probably gonna be long and rambly. It has taken years for me to even realize how much was wrong. I thought I was content with my conclusions, but apparently I'm still kinda stirred up about it, so I think it needs to be worked through some more.

When I was 15 years old, I started taking karate with three of my younger brothers. We happened to be buying a couch at a garage sale around the corner from our house and the guy had converted his garage into a dojo. He was in his 40s, was a 2nd degree blackbelt in taekwon do, and a blackbelt in kenpo although he said he couldn't prove that because his psycho ex girlfriend burned his certifications in a fit of rage. (Idk how well that story holds up, but he did know his kenpo, so.) He was close to home, not super pricey, and focused almost entirely on self-defense, which was what my dad was interested in. My brothers were required to join, and I, being a girl, was given a choice. I wasn't sure how far I'd go, but I knew I was gonna feel left out if I didn't give it a try, and I was thoroughly impressed by this man who told my dad and I, as he stood on our porch delivering the couch, that he specifically felt it was important to teach females how to defend themselves, and in fact he liked teaching girls better than boys because girls don't automatically think they know how to fight when they don't.

I don't remember too much about my first class except that I loved it, and that he totally buttered me up. I mean, I felt (/was) stupid and clumsy as all get-out, but he said as were leaving that I had natural talent. I was hooked.

I got better, some friends joined, we all teased and laughed all the time...I felt like what we had as a group was special. He pushed me harder than I had ever been pushed before, but it never seemed like too far. Which made me trust him. He made us feel like we were the real deal and no other dojos were worth a flip--he made fun of all kinds of things, like certain ways other systems tied their belts, pullover uniforms tops, sport systems...I know I felt so lucky. I became the head student and my brother Nathan was kinda right under me--we led warmups, helped teach the lower belts, our instructor consulted us on other students' progress and test scores, and he frequently talked about his dreams of opening a big town dojo and my brother and I teaching there after we became blackbelts. I never had intentions of continuing martial arts after I earned my blackbelt, but I didn't want to disappoint him, so I didn't say much and figured we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

He and my dad became good friends. He came over for several holidays and when we joined a new church, he even attended my younger brothers' baptism ceremony despite not being a Christian. But our friends who had joined the class, two families, quit suddenly at around the same time.

--Everyone else in the class got birthday "treats" like, "Oh you're turning fourteen? Spar with 14 people in a row." "Oh, you're turning 15? Get in a horse stance so we can all line up and kick you in the thighs 15 times." Not me--I got presents. He gave me a volume of the complete works of Jane Austen, an apron handmade by his mother, and a gi top also handmade by his mother with lapels customized to my belt color which she changed every time I passed a belt test. He made a big deal about sparring scores. He said none of us should ever expect to get a 5, because 5=as good as him (which we weren't). I'm terrible at sparring by the way, I always end up a slobbering, sniveling mess by the end. I got an underlined 5. I KNOW I didn't earn that 5. Oh, and then he gave me a belt. Yep. A belt. Some lower belts were testing that day. There they stood, on the mat, waiting for their belts and certificates. Teacher came out. Called me up with them. There I stood, in my denim skirt, as he handed me a red belt. (Equivalent of 4th Brown in taekwon do--since we were doing a tkd/kenpo mashup he played with the ranks a little) He told me it wasn't honorary--that I would still be earning it, but he...wanted me to have it early because I was a good teacher? Yeah. Charmed my socks off though.

-In spite of having mocked sport karate ever since we began training, he started talking about some of us competing. My brothers did a couple of times. I had no interest at all. But he pressured me until one night, in the warm after-class atmosphere I loved, I gave in. He cheered loudly, and I was so proud to please him, but I felt sick to my stomach that night getting in bed, because tournament training is a huge commitment for weeks before the event, and I literally had zero interest in any part--the training or the competing. (I'm not a competitive person.) I felt (on a small teenaged scale) like I had signed my life away. I talked to my parents though, and they said I could change my mind, and I hated telling my teacher (who was very gracious about it) but I did, and I was SO thankful my parents allowed me to bow out. Now, looking back, I am even more thankful for it. I feel like that was a significant moment in my relationship with my teacher and if I had allowed myself to succumb to the pressure, he would have had complete control. I do remember one dayI regret-class was just me and my brothers.I was pulling punches, so my assignment for the next day was to randomly punch my brothers. I did, until Dad got home from work and said no, that was ridiculous. I still feel awful about that day.

So at 17, I got engaged to be married, in a year-long engagement during which my fiance would be completing his sophomore year of college in another state. He was mildly uncomfortable about my karate training, I think we both agree he was feeling overprotective out of ignorance, haha. So my dad invited him to watch a class to ease his mind. It didn't. In fact he says now that class is what made him really concerned at all, because when he met my teacher, it was like when two territorial male animals do that glare of death thing. My teacher clearly gave him major "stinkeye." And my fiance left with predator-alert warnings going off in his head. After I got engaged, my teacher's behavior towards me did a complete 180. No more of the cozy, "dojo-family" vibes, no more joking and teasing. Pure professional karate instruction. I was trying to make blackbelt in 1 year instead of two, so it was definitely crunch-time, but his change in behavior was much more than that. I was hurt, honestly. I remember a class conversation before the shift in which we were all discussing a news story in which a martial arts instructor had taken advantage of a female student, and we were discussing the trust in the student-teacher relationship. He said something, I don't remember if it was in the article or if he was describing another story, about a student in that relationship trusting their martial arts instructor so completely that they would jump off a cliff if he instructed them to. My brothers and I all scoffed, and he said, "Now wait a minute. What would you do?" He spoke in a cautionary tone, and I left chilled because when I thought about it, I did trust him so completely in a way I didn't trust anybody else, because of how well he knew me--how my body worked, and how my brain worked too. How he always seemed to know exactly where my limits were, and when to push them/when to let up. The bond was stronger than I knew for sure I liked.

So when he suddenly stopped the playful familiarity, the affectionate hugs and, "darlin'"s, I did feel hurt. And when his girlfriend moved in with him and we stopped going (my parents didn't approve), I hated the instruction we switched to. I felt like we had lost that one-of-a-kind atmosphere that was so much more than karate. My martial arts world was drained of color and life.

Through the next years, my feelings are what convince me more than anything else I've mentioned that I was being groomed. I wasn't "in love" with him, I was completely head over heels for my fiance/husband. That wasn't the issue. But I thought about him constantly. I invited him to my wedding and was disappointed he didn't come. Every time I went to town, I hoped to run into him. Every time we passed a motorcycle, I checked to see if the rider was him. For years. If I still lived there, I think I would still check motorcycles (not hoping anymore, but it's THAT automatic for me). That's so scary to me now.

Then I started talking to my friends, the other women who had been in the class. Two families had left suddenly, and I knew they had a problem with our teacher but I didn't know what. It turns out, he acted inappropriately with every one of them--one he pretty much stalked, showing up at her house repeatedly, despite being asked not to. I remember him showing up at one of our homeschool park days, but of course I didn't know how inappropriate he was being, I was just pleasantly surprised. It ended when he visited her house one too many times. She gave him an ultimatum about disrespecting her boundaries, and he told her students and instructors shouldn't have boundaries. They never went back.

I suddenly remembered the photos he had of former students on his wall when we first joined. He said they were a family a lot like ours, but they had suddenly up and left.

I also remember having a reoccurring nightmare throughout my time training in his dojo. In the nightmare, I would be attacked at night in an alley. I would execute my self defense technique, but it would suddenly be as if I were underwater. My moves in slow motion, with no strength.

I check his Facebook every now and then. He is an outspoken Donald Trump supporter, and at one point his cover photo was that famous quote, "Grab 'em by the pussy."

Most recently, I've realized I can't roughhouse with my (5 and under) children without starting to panic, and wanting to curl up in a fetal position and cry. I've been through other traumatic situations since then, so I don't know if my karate teacher gets all the blame for that, but I do know it has been deeply troubling since piecing together his character to realize those two years I so valued, those techniques and self-discipline I thought I would be able to use to protect myself and my little brothers or my children, were all taught to me by someone undermining it all by worming his way past them all.

So, #metoo? No, thankfully, but it could have been me. I was directly in his sights, and nobody, me or my parents, or anybody, had any idea.