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Zelda only had him back for a year.
Only a year.
After years and years of heartache, misery, stress, and exhaustion, they deserved more than a few months of barely seeing each other. Their bones ache with mistreatment, and their bodies demand rest, as do their minds.
But Hyrule cannot thrive without a Queen.
After she and Link defeated Calamity Ganon once and for all, there were things to be done. She and Link rested for a few days before traveling to Kakariko Village to consult with Impa on what to do.
And there was a lot to do.
Zelda and Link barely had any time to think by themselves, let alone communicate with one another. They had little to no time for themselves to get Link’s memories back, to help Zelda with her trauma from the last 100 years, and to simply be friends again.
There was just too much work to be done.
But then, something strange happened.
After Calamity Ganon was destroyed, Lady Impa told them one of the wisest things they could do is take back Hyrule Castle and refurbish it back to its former glory. People could look upon the castle and hope once more, that Hyrule could thrive again. Then, they could move from there, from helping small towns to rebuilding the surrounding cities by scratch.
So for the past year, Hyrule Castle has been being rebuilt, and for the first time ever, Zelda finally has access to things her father would never have let her come close to, like the Guardians and secret passageways.
She’s ecstatic to see everything that can be done in their favor with the Guardians but is understandably anxious to face them, as is Link. She leaves them be, for now, letting only Royal Guards, Hyrulean scientists, and construction workers tinker with them.
As for the secret hideaways and passages, on their time off, Link shows her some he’s found during Calamity Ganon’s stay. A giant Stone Talus lives and hides beneath her home! What a wondrous discovery.
(She almost feels like a child again when he’s around. She almost feels like she could be happy.)
Hyrule Castle has been her home since she was a little girl. Nothing can change that. But she never got to roam the halls freely, nor had she gotten to see most of the underground. The fact that Link, her appointed knight who hasn’t even lived in Hyrule Castle for no more than four years, knows it more than she does is a little pathetic.
Zelda appreciates Link showing her the passages he finds, and she would still love for him to show her as he learns, but she would still like to find her own ways around the castle, as well. So, she goes off alone at times but is cautious around the Sanctum. She’s been there for far too long in her lifetime, for anyone’s lifetime. She would rather not set foot in it ever again if she had her way.
As Guardians slowly get put away in confinement, she wanders more and more paths that she’s known all her life, yet knows nothing about. Did you know that if you travel to the Dining Hall, there’s a secret room behind the fireplace? Link doesn’t know about that one yet, but he’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear it from Zelda.
Once, she hears of a Hinox loudly snoring, and quietly, but quickly, ushers the construction workers out of there and sends the Royal Guard to get rid of the problem. Now that Calamity Ganon is gone, the blood moon will no longer rise, and the evil monsters that lurk everywhere won’t suddenly come back stronger than before.
Good riddance.
As Zelda continues her work within the walls of Hyrule Castle, Link continues to travel to faraway places to continue to help others and finally rid the monsters creeping around every corner. He also wishes to consult the villages on what to do if there are suddenly any signs of Ganon or another deadly creature of the like if they ever show up.
Every place , he signs, slow and deliberate, seems so grateful, whether it’s a bigger village like Hateno, or a smaller one like Lurelin. It’s… great to see people finally relax and be safe. He comes back once a week to catch up, and each time Zelda sees him he comes back with a bigger smile on his face and a weight seemingly off of his shoulders.
She doesn’t understand why. He needn’t carry the weight of the world on his back any longer. He’s done far more than he needs to for Hyrule, for Hylia.
The days get longer in terms of more work to be done (for both of them), both in and out of the castle, and Zelda continues to travel further and further into the heart of the castle.
And that’s when she hears it.
The moaning-- no, groaning of a weakened man, “ Zelda… Help me… Please… Come find me…”
She asks the guards if they hear the voice, but they don’t.
A pit sits at her stomach like an anchor, weighing her down. She confides in Link when he visits back, and he immediately goes with her to Underground Hyrule Castle.
Only after a few minutes into the trek does he stop. His expression is curious but filled with horror. She knows he despises it when he can’t do anything about people who are in danger or being hurt.
Zelda , he signs, I hear it… But I think it’s coming from further below.
She sighs, half frustrated that he can hear it from a further distance than she can (“Does he have to be better than me at everything ?”), but curious.
+
After a few hours, the construction workers are mining their way down with no end in sight.
+
One week later, the voice gets stronger. She swears she can hear it in her dreams, from her own bedroom window, and she longs to free the man from his treachery.
+
Pretty soon, it’s unbearable.
The voice gets stronger, and he calls out to Zelda and Link several times a day. The ache in the man’s voice is pure torture.
It’s a good thing the construction workers are good at what they do.
+
They found… an opening.
It’s a long tunnel that stretches far out left and far outright. There’s no end in sight either way.
Zelda and Link pack their bags and take an elephant for the journey since it seems like there’s still a ways to go until they reach the voice.
They’re interesting, the tunnels. Zelda’s never seen anything like them in her life, and Link has only seen similar things in his adventurous life. The luminous stones light their path, but only to an extent. She and Link have to carry torches the whole way anyway, but she appreciates the effort and their beauty.
And the drawings on the walls seem to depict a scene, but she can’t quite make it out. She thinks they may be going the wrong way, but Link refuses to turn back. Zelda, frustrated but understanding, creates crude imitations in her journal, hoping to get another glimpse of them as they come back. So far, though, it seems to be a story of a young Gerudo man living his complicated life.
Things are going as expected (letting the elephant have a short drinking break), until the voice in her head feels like somebody is speaking right in front of her. Link calculatingly looks around with his hand on his sword before his gaze slowly sets on Zelda, questioning.
Zelda’s eyes rip from Link’s, and looks through the darkness of the tunnel ahead, “I think we’re close now. The voice is strong.”
Link only nods once before gathering up their things.
So close , Zelda thinks.
+
She may have nodded off for a few minutes, riding on the back of the elephant, but that doesn’t give Link the right to quietly snicker at her.
“We’ve been at this for hours now! Can you blame me?” she grumbles, crossing her arms.
She hears Link’s soft laughs but doesn’t give him the satisfaction of her smile in return.
She likes to hear him laugh.
He doesn’t need to know that, though.
+
Finally, they get to their destination. Or what seems like a destination.
The bridge is stable, thankfully, and the river beneath it rushes downstream quietly.
It would’ve been the perfect scene if it weren’t for the man’s voice, practically screaming in their ears.
They both run the last few meters until slowing down at the entrance.
But… the entrance to what?
As soon as Zelda glances at the scene, she knows in an instant that they were way in over their heads.
But they came all this way…
And the man wouldn’t stop screaming .
So, she and Link slowly step towards the platform. They step toward the magical green floating writing ( Gerudo writing , her mind confirms), that’s slowly spinning around in circles and towards the skeleton lying on an altar. She sees the hand coming from, what seems to be, a Sheikah Guidance Stone forcing it down by the chest of the body. Sheikah-like spikes come from all sides of the cave, as well.
Malice pours out from the platform, spreading from all sides, and she’s frozen. She can’t go near that. That’s… supposed to be gone. With the Calamity.
And that skeleton… That’s Gerudo jewelry, is it not?
As her mind jumps from object to object, trying to make sense of it all, she doesn’t realize Link wandering until it was almost too late.
The earth rumbles threateningly and Link gasps. He looks up at her from the ground that’s crumbling beneath his feet, and she can see the fear in his eyes. Fear? Link? Zelda has seen some things in her life (oh, has she seen some things), but she’s never seen Link look so petrified. Link is the Hero. He runs to the danger, not from it. He pushes his fear to the side instead of letting it define him. Seeing him scared like this chills her to her bones.
“Link!” she yells, and she runs and runs and leaps to finally, ultimately, grab his hand as the earth gives out beneath him.
But she’s not strong enough. Both of their hands are sweaty and their grasp is slipping. The earth that’s supporting her threatens to crumble. Link’s teeth are bared. She can tell he’s trying to come up with something, anything to help them. Zelda’s arm cramps. She yelps as their grip on each other slips and now only their fingers clutched together. Her mind runs from plan to plan, all of them ending in failure.
They can’t get out of this one.
“Link… I can’t hold on for much longer.”
They were chosen by the goddesses. Such a mundane thing taking their lives?
It’s pitiful.
Tears leak from the corners of her eyes, “I am so sorry, Link.”
Link’s eyes burn with rage and hurt and despair and all he can do is shake his head in disbelief.
She knows that he thinks there must be some way, but she knows there isn’t. She already ran the numbers, and they all came up empty.
Her arm is getting very tired.
With all options exhausted, she thinks, hysterically, there’s one more thing left to try.
She breaks eye contact with Link,
and she prays.
She hasn’t prayed in months, but she prays.
Goddess Hylia, save us.
She’ll wonder later if it was worth it.
Zelda’s left-hand gets pulled up by another and her best friend is no longer on unstable earth, is no longer dangling over the side.
Zelda looks miraculously over to where she once was and sees only empty space and dirt remains. She laughs once, short and tear-filled. She wildly turns to Link to give him the biggest hug she could muster, but the sight that greets her instead diminishes any sort of happiness or relief from her system. Instead, dread fills her being.
The skeleton… is moving. It’s hands…
Shivers run down her spine as its head contorts to face her, and its eyes glow an eerily familiar color.
She steps backward in shock but trips and falls on the loose foundation. She crawls backward, hoping to get near the entrance, eyes still on the skeleton when a bright light comes from her right. She peels her eyes off of the suddenly moving being to see Link curling in on himself.
She gasps. His hand... is glowing. A terrible, beautiful, awful green light is seemingly absorbing his hand, his arm, his body.
And Link screams. Oh, she would give anything to never hear that painful, heart-wrenching, disturbing noise. The ache she feels in her heart, as she hears the screams of misery coming from her best friend, is enough to bring tears to her eyes.
(She used to be so desperate for him to speak to her, with his words, not his hands. But at that moment, as she hears his callous screams from just a few feet in front of her, she would give anything to never hear his voice.)
Eyes still watery, hands shaking, and breath trembling, she slowly stands up, and takes a step--
She doesn’t know what to do.
She’s standing up, and walking to Link when she doesn’t even know what she should do.
She can’t look away. Link’s face scrunches up, his left hand clutching his right, and his screaming doesn’t cease as the light absorbs further and further into his skin, becoming one with Link.
With all options exhausted, she thinks, hysterically, there’s one more thing left to try.
There's always one more thing left to try.
And so she prays.
Later, she’ll wonder if it was worth it.
The screaming stops. Zelda breathes for a moment.
Link’s just… standing there. But it isn’t Link, not quite. It doesn’t look like Link, but it doesn’t feel like him more.
His hair is long. Down to his knees. Face blank. His eyes are glowing green, as is his right hand.
Zelda stares at this version of Link, unsure of what to do. She slowly takes a step towards the entrance of the cave, testing the waters. Link takes a step towards her, at the exact same time.
Her heart threatens to beat right out of her chest.
She weighs her options. She runs for the entrance.
It’s all a blur when she thinks back later, but all she knows is that she doesn’t run fast enough. One moment she’s running for her life, the next she’s on the floor with Link looming over her a few inches away from her face with a vicious grin on his face. He doesn’t do anything right then, just looks into her eyes and cocks his head. His eyes are wide as he calculates; curiosity envelops his features.
Zelda’s never been more afraid. She’s always had Link by her side to help her, to protect her, but not now. She’s alone.
Link raises his right, glowing hand and presses one, anatomical finger to Zelda’s forehead.
Pain erupts throughout her body. All she can taste is metal. Her skin is ripping apart. Ears are ringing. Her teeth ache, her bones abused, her toes are frostbitten, her stomach burns with acid, her legs have been severed, her fingernails are being ripped off, skin on fire fire fire--
And her head feels like it's shattering.
She doesn’t remember anything after that, except the thought that maybe Link went through this, too.
She doesn’t like that thought so much, so she goes to sleep.
+
When Zelda awakens, it isn’t fast. She’s ashamed to admit that it was a rather slow awakening. Her mouth is incredibly dry, and her head is throbbing. She finally takes a look around. She’s no longer in the cave. She’s outside… and it’s dark… and there’s a campfire… and there’s a man by the campfire?
A… Gerudo man?
He has Gerudo style jewelry, but from long ago. Ancient, perhaps. His hair is a deep red and pulled back into a ponytail. He’s sharpening a Gerudo Scimitar and a Gerudo shield sits at his side as well. His clothes look like they’re a few sizes too small on him, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
In the moments she takes to study him, he looks up at her with his piercing green eyes, “Good morning, Princess. Nice nap?”
That’s when everything hits her. Her breathing starts to grow faster and faster as her mind runs through the scene.
All she can think of is, Link Link Link, Oh Hylia, Link is in trouble--
Her thoughts get interrupted when the huge Gerudo man stands up and waves his hands at her. “Hey, hey, hey now, everything's okay, alright? Your friend's not dead, he’s just… a little occupied right now,” he says, then scrunches his nose up a bit, “Wow, too real.”
Zelda stares at him for 3.2 seconds before shaking her head. She angrily stands up, rushes towards the man, and pokes her finger at his chest, “Who are you, and what are you talking about?” She only reaches about the man's chest but meets his eyes straight on, anyway.
The man swallows a bit nervously and clenches his jaw, “Maybe it’s best that I don’t answer your questions just yet. All you just need to know is that I’m a friend, and I helped you get out of there alive.” He walks back toward the log and sits back down. He continues to sharpen his Scimitar, bathing in the light of the fire.
Zelda sputters and follows him, a little mindlessly, “What do you mean you can’t answer those questions? Who are you?”
The man clenches his jaw, “I can’t tell you who I am, Princess, I’m sorry. You’re just gonna have to trust me.”
“Okay, fine. Tell me this then: Where is my friend? Who-- What was that, that hand that was hurting him? And that… skeleton? What was that? And the Sheikah technology that was in there? What did the green writing say--”
“Alright, alright! Will you let me think for a minute?” The man pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply. He’s mumbling something under his breath.
Zelda waits patiently, a little out of her mind with worry.
“I can answer some of those questions, but not all of them. Just… trust me when I say nothing good can come out of knowing these things...”
Zelda doesn’t hesitate when she replies, “I want to know.”
The red-haired man just sighs again, “Alright then. Shoot. What do you want to know?"