Chapter Text
Link was nine years old the first time someone stole from him.
It had been a perfectly ordinary day that lazed its way into a hot summer night- perfect for sneaking out. Earlier that week one of the kids in town had sworn they had seen a Hinox made out of nothing but bones, and Link had been dying to see for himself ever since. Of course, his mother would never agree to him going at all, nevermind alone, and his father was gone on some mission or other with the knights. So that left Link to climb carefully out of his bedroom window into the firefly lit night, trying hard not to wake his mother and ruin his plans.
He didn’t see the skeletal Hinox that night. Listening hard from where he crouched behind a tree, Link had sworn he could hear the rattling of bones in the distance- just before the noise was overtaken by the clamor of screams and alarm bells.
By the time he found his way out of the woods (because it was dark, and he was nine, so of course he had gotten lost), half of the village was in cinders. No bedroom window remained for him to climb back through, and no mother survived to ground him for the late night adventure. The last of a moblin hoard was being dispatched by a local militia, and the knights were nowhere to be seen.
Link ended up staying with some friends of his parents until his father made it back home. When the man finally did arrive, they stood together in the ashes of their home for quite some time. His father cried; Link just stood there feeling… empty? Numb? Neither of those were right. It hurt, but distantly, like it had happened to someone else entirely.
It didn’t hit him fully until they were settling into a new home in a new town- this one with taller walls and within fifteen minutes' ride of a military barracks- how much those monsters had taken from him. His home, his mother, his life in the town he had always known… all stolen away.
The next time someone tried to steal from him, Link swore to himself, he would be able to stop them.
---
The first time Link stole something, it was from his father.
One of their first nights in their new home, he had walked into the kitchen for a glass of water and found his father seated at the table, eyes distant. “Son,” he had said, shoulders hunched, “never become a knight.”
“But… you’re a knight. Aren’t they the good guys?”
His father had smiled sadly and ruffled his hair. “You would think that, and yet… kid, I’m a knight for one reason- so I can afford to take care of you . If I was any good at anything other than killing, I would have left the night your mother died.”
It had taken him some time to figure that one out- the knights stopped things like what happened to them, so why would his father want to quit? When it hit him, he felt like a fool. Yes, the knights were supposed to stop those kinds of things, and that night his father hadn’t been there. Nor had any of the rest of the king’s men.
That was the night that Link decided he didn’t much care for the knights, nor for the king. It was also the night that he decided he wanted to be able to fight back when the knights failed.
That was how Link found himself stealing from his father- not taking any material objects, but rather stealing information . The best teachers for learning to fight would be the knights, but he had no intention of enlisting. Simple solution: hide in the bushes and watch them train, practice in secret, and pray he didn’t get caught.
Simple.
It worked for a while. He prided himself on being half decent with a sword after a fairly short time. Of course, “half decent” was difficult to measure when there was no one to practice against without it getting back to his father, and his “sword” was little more than a well sized tree branch, but there were still moments when he could feel the strength behind a swing. Moments where he knew, instinctually, that his balance was perfect, or that the angle of a swipe could cut a bokoblin clean in half. So as far as he could tell, it was working.
His secret training was cut off abruptly one day when the sound of alarm bells rang out once again. (Attacks were getting more and more frequent, his father said. It was a sign of the Calamity, others whispered. Link didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded important.) The guards all went running to grab their things, then made to take a shortcut through the woods to reach town.
The woods, where Link was hiding to watch them train.
His father discovered his information-larceny rather inelegantly by tripping over Link where he crouched in the bushes. He stumbled and looked back to see what had tripped him, only to see... “Link?” he asked, eyes widening.
“Nope!” Probably not the best thing he could have said, but he wasn’t about to stick around to explain. He had just been caught around the one group of people he had been told to avoid, and that sounded like the kind of thing that came with consequences. Before his father could speak again, he was on his feet dashing like a madman back towards town, bobbing and weaving and sliding through the woods. He acted on adrenaline and instinct- his only goal was to not get caught . His father couldn’t punish him if he couldn’t find him. For now, at least.
Naturally, with his luck, he found himself running right into the center of a monster camp.
He skidded to a halt as he noticed the lizalfos, feet sliding on fallen leaves. Whatever stealth he had honed while sneaking around the knights had abandoned him- every monster in the camp turned to stare at him as one.
Well. Shit.
One of them started blaring a horn to alert the camp (a little overkill, considering the rest were already about to swarm him ) and Link took a quick moment to take stock.
What was it that the knights’ commander was always yelling? ‘Don’t lose your weapon.’ Right. Well, Link didn’t have a weapon, so that wouldn’t be an issue. New goal , he thought to himself. Find a weapon.
As the first of the lizalfos scurried up to him, tongue flailing and eyes bugging out of its head, he snatched up a tree branch. Not the most effective thing, but it would work. Before it had a chance to stab at him with its spear, he swung the branch with all his might. He made brutal contact once, twice, three times, before his makeshift weapon broke in half with a sharp snap .
Bad news: he had lost his branch. Good news: the lizalfos was dead, and now he had its spear.
Distantly, he could hear the sound of shouting and the clanking of boots, accompanied by an incredulous voice asking, “Who gave the kid a spear?” Link didn’t bother to answer. There were more lizalfos out for blood, and they weren’t about to pause for polite conversation.
The spear made things much easier, though the fact that it was taller than he was made it a bit difficult to manage. The next two fell before they got within striking range with their boomerangs, and Link took the opportunity to swipe their fallen weapons and send them flying at the remaining monsters.
The sound of the alarm horn went quiet. Spear ready, he scanned the camp once more to be sure. That was all of them.
That went… surprisingly okay , Link thought to himself, bewildered. He didn’t have a scratch on him. At least, not from the lizalfos. The forest had dealt him more damage than the monsters.
“What were you thinking ?”
Oh, right. Running from the wrath of his father. In the chaos of the fight, he had completely forgotten.
Well, there was no escaping this conversation now, was there? Link turned to face his father, letting the spear clatter to the ground. “I uh… wanted to learn how to fight?” he replied. Normally with his father, there was a right answer to questions like those. He didn’t know what the right answer was here.
“Not that,” his father said, waving off the response. “Running into the camp, not running away from the monsters! You could’ve been seriously hurt!”
“...But I wasn’t?”
In the end, that excuse hadn’t been enough to stop his father’s lecture, but it had been enough to put him on the knights’ radar- proven when they tried to recruit him that very evening, and then the one after that, and then never seemed to really let it go. Apparently, preteens fighting an entire camp of monsters on their own was a bit unusual.
His father never commented on the day’s events again, but he did begin training him properly, and Link began to realize that he was more than “half decent” with a sword. According to his father, he was actually “damn good with that thing” and “better than some full knights”. Unfortunately, while his father was willing to let the matter die, word spread fast, and from that day on Link couldn’t escape the stares. Admiring, envious, or sometimes even a little afraid- they came from all different people, itching on the back of his neck.
So stolen information became freely given information, and Link moved from sneaking around the knights to sneaking around… well, everyone. The stares were uncomfortable, even when they were well intentioned, so it was best if no one saw him at all. He made a game of it- how far could he make it through town before he heard a whisper of there goes the captain’s boy again . Link was pretty sure he looked like a ninja. His father told him he looked like he was hiding something.
At the time, he had found that unfair. He just didn’t want to be noticed so much, that was all. It wasn’t like he was hiding from anyone in particular.
Not yet, anyway.
---
Link was 13 when he found himself hiding for real.
He had been making his way to the local bakery when he heard the news, slinking through shadowed back alleys as he usually did these days. He paused behind a corner at the sound of clanking armor. The knights were patrolling- odd. It wasn’t the normal time.He would just let them pass, and then he would-
“So where are you headed? This isn’t your standard patrol.”
“The old captain’s place. We just received word that he was killed on that job up in Akkala a few days ago.”
Lin’s blood ran cold. They were nearly past him now, but instead of carrying on his way, he folded himself into the shadows and followed. He had to have misheard.
“No kidding? Hmph. It doesn’t surprise me, honestly. Anyone could tell that his heart wasn’t in it anymore.” That… that was it? That was all they had to say? His father was- “Anyone told his kid yet?”
“I’m on my way there now. Some of the guys think we can get him to join the knights if we offer him somewhere to go- the boy’s alone now, after all. He’ll be looking for somewhere to fit in.”
“Hm. Not a bad idea. It’ll be hard to say no to joining when he’s out of other options.”
No. Absolutely not. He wasn’t going anywhere with them, these people who talked about his father’s death like it was nothing . He wanted nothing to do with them, or the knights, or any of this. He just wanted to go home, but- no. The knights were on their way there now, and now that there was no one to stick up for him, they wouldn’t leave him alone. And on top of that… they were right. He was alone now. So no, he couldn’t go back home. He needed to disappear.
And so he did.
He took all of an hour to get some preparations together- part of his father’s training was to always be prepared, and while the thought of his father hurt like nothing else right now, he was still going to follow the advice to the letter. He bought food from the bakery like nothing was wrong; he snatched clothes off a drying line that looked like they would fit him; he snuck his way into the shed behind his house without being spotted in order to grab the practice sword his father had given him.
He could hear voices from inside the house. He didn’t go in.
When he felt ready, he made his way into the stables where his father had kept his horse. Unsurprisingly, the steed was gone. (Had it fallen with his father in battle? Had they simply given it to someone else, passed along like the previous rider had never existed? Had they-) No matter. Link picked another horse, one he had seen used before by one of the knights he had followed, and quietly led it outside. Within minutes, he was racing eastward on a stolen steed, not knowing where he was going aside from anywhere but here .
He made it ten days before being spotted- all the way to Zora’s Domain. The bread lasted the entire first two days; after that he had to risk any wild fruit he could find to avoid starving. Monsters were surprisingly unproblematic- his father had trained him well, it seemed- though he had to leave the horse behind when he reached a stretch of rock it couldn’t leap over.
When someone eventually found him, he was well on his way to starving and was unsuccessfully trying his hand at hunting in the clifflands of Zora’s domain. The Zora girl had taken one look at him and proclaimed that she was going to help him. Somewhere in the middle of the vague explanation about being orphaned, homeless, and on the run, he learned that her name was Mipha, and she was a Zora princess.
King Dorephan had been incredulous to say the least. When he tried to suggest Mipha leave him alone, she (despite only being as tall as Link’s shoulders at the time) had stared him down with the might of a seasoned warrior facing a Lynel. Likewise, when he suggested turning the lost Hylian over to the Hylian guard, Link had begged him not to profusely enough for the king to drop it entirely.
And so he stayed.
Mipha latched onto him immediately, and the two were near inseparable. She taught Link how to use a spear and how to swim; in return, Link’s stunts offered her plenty of opportunity to practice her healing. The two became synonymous with the word “chaos” in the Domain, particularly after an incident involving a wasps’ nest and the Lynel on Shatterback point.
It was fun. They were friends , and Link was free to grieve and laugh and explore without anyone trying to force him into becoming Hyrule’s prodigy knight.
Somehow, Link had managed to steal back a childhood.
---
Link was 17 when fate stole childhood from him once again.
It had been an offhand comment during one of his adventures with Mipha- the royal family of Hyrule was coming to visit, and they were having a hard time making accommodations for everyone who would be coming. “I’ll have to be watching Sidon the entire time,” she said, “so at least I won’t be too bored without you. Still, I wish you could be there. It will likely be quite dull with just the royals and the knights.”
Link froze. “The Hylian Knights are coming here?”
“A group of them, yes. Apparently they’re quite worried about a group called the Yiga Clan targeting their Princess Zelda.” Mipha continued on about all of the preparations that had to be made, but Link was no longer listening.
The knights were coming to the Domain. Why weren’t the Zora soldiers enough? Were the royals that worried, or had… no, they wouldn’t send knights all the way to Zora’s Domain because of him . But what if they saw him and recognized him? What if they tried to force him into joining them again and his father wasn’t there to say no anymore? What if-
“Link, are you alright?”
He plastered a smile on- small, reassuring, and entirely false- and faced Mipha. “Fine, just thinking. Who am I going to drag into my messes when you’re busy?”
It seemed to placate her for the time being. Internally, Link began to plan. He could leave the Domain for a few days- he thought knew the area well enough, and Mipha would be too busy to notice for a while. He would stay away until they left and then come back. It would be fine.
He left before dawn the day that the Hylians were due to arrive and somehow found himself lost within hours. By the next day, the rocks beneath him had gone from blue gray to red orange, and the heat was getting more intense by the moment. Nothing was familiar, but he could remember his father telling stories of Goron City, nestled in red rock and surrounded by fire. Somehow, he had made his way to the Eldin region.
He had no idea how to get back to Zora’s Domain from here. This was… not going the way he had hoped.
Just get to a river , he told himself. Mipha will go looking when she realizes you’re gone. As long as you stay near water, the Zora can find you .
With a new plan clear in his mind, he climbed to the highest point he could and scanned the horizon. High cliffs in one direction, red and yellow trees in another, Hyrule Castle Town to the west ( not that way), and… north of the castle, a distant forest surrounded by water. Perfect.
It took him some time to make it to the forest- about three days from the time he had left the Domain. The Royals would be leaving soon and Mipha would start searching for him. He just had to make it until then, he thought to himself as he followed a winding path in the direction of the woods.
He felt like he ought to be getting close to the river, but the fog was growing thicker by the second, swirling around the skeletal forms of trees like dancing ghosts. When he listened for the sound of the water he had spotted, he could only hear the sound of rattling windchimes and something like whispers.
He wandered a little further and the road beneath his feet dwindled to a thin trail before disappearing entirely. A glance over his shoulder revealed that the fog had already completely swallowed up the way back. Great, he thought. Just what I needed- to get more lost. But turning back would probably just make things worse, and he knew there should be water somewhere ahead. Probably. So he continued forward, feeling as though there were unseen eyes gazing at him with every step.
It wasn’t long before he came across a section of the forest that looked a bit different. The fog had lifted just slightly, and the trees had thinned out to reveal a brilliant blooming canopy arching over the entirety of the woods. The tree responsible for the blanket of pink petals stood before him, tall and proud as it overlooked an aged stone pedestal. Embedded in the triangle of crumbling rock was a shining blade unlike any Link had ever seen before.
Well that looks interesting, he thought to himself. The air around it seemed to be humming with a low vibrating energy. It seemed to tug at him, drawing him closer. He was struck by the uncanny urge to reach out for the blade and free it from the pedestal. Don’t be ridiculous , he chided himself. The pedestal was so decayed that the blade must have been stuck for decades, even centuries. It was clearly stuck firm.
And yet… What’s the worst that could happen? he thought. It’s not like it’ll come out. He gave the sword an experimental tug.
A wave of dizziness washed over him out of nowhere, draining the strength from his limbs. But he didn’t let go- no, he couldn’t let go, through either some force of the sword or of his own reckless curiosity. He felt his knees go week, but still he strained to pull upwards, even as he felt himself begin to slump forward, even as his vision began to grow dark-
It moved.
His energy returned to him in a rush, leaving him invigorated as he cautiously drew the sword from the stone. It seemed to glow with a faint blue light as he carefully swung it back and forth, eyes wide with awe. It was strangely light in his hand and cut through the air like no blade he had ever held before.
Who had left this masterpiece in a pedestal in the middle of the woods? And what on earth had happened to him when he tried to draw it?
A great rustling of leaves and groaning of branches pulled his gaze upwards, where the massive tree in front of him suddenly started moving . Branches lifted and parted with slow, unhurried movement until the grooves of bark formed themselves into a nose, a mouth, eyes- eyes that were looking at him curiously.
“How curious…” a voice as ancient as the woods rang out. “It seems we have a visitor. It is not yet the right season for the knights to arrive. What brings you here, little one?”
The tree was talking to him.
He stood dumbstruck for a moment. Blinked once. Twice. Cool, definitely nothing strange about this. “I got lost,” he said lamely. “And then there was a sword, and it looked cool, so…”
“A sword? Do you mean…” The tree’s gaze fell upon the shining blade in his hands. “So the sword that seals the darkness has chosen a new wielder. Interesting… the King was so sure it would be a knight who drew it. Are you…?”
Link wrinkled his nose. “ Not a knight. I’m just looking for a way back to Zora’s Domain.”
Branches creaked as the tree’s expression folded into a smile. “And yet, fate finds you here. You are certainly a long way from home, young hero.”
Home. Was that what the Domain was? It felt odd to think of it that way. To him, home was sneaking into firefly-lit woods to see a skeletal Hinox. Home was a solemn conversation over a glass of water that he didn’t understand until much later. Home was… it was struck down on a mission in Akkala, and burned into a pile of ashes by Moblins.
“I’m just…” How did one explain this to a giant talking tree? He scratched at the back of his neck, and opted not to explain at all. “The knights are visiting the Domain right now and I’d really like to avoid them.”
“Then you are in a good place for that. The Lost Woods are hard to navigate for most. Those who do not know the way can rarely find Korok Forest, and those who do know the way rarely visit.”
“Right…” Link glanced back over his shoulder to where the fog was swirling ominously. “You mentioned that the knights visit?”
“Yes, but not for some time yet. The king of Hyrule has been searching for someone who can wield that sword. He believes it can only be drawn by a knight chosen by the crown.” Laughter sounded through the forest like rustling leaves. “Clearly, he is mistaken. Every year, he sends a group through the Lost Woods to attempt to pull the sword. As you can see, none have yet accomplished the task.” Link looked down at the sword in his hands. It was comforting, in a strange way; the grip felt so natural, like it was meant for his hand. “The Master Sword is the one that chooses the wielder, not the king.”
Indeed, an alien voice echoed within his mind. Link jumped and nearly dropped the sword. Its light pulsed faintly in time with the words. You are Hylia’s chosen, and therefore you have been accepted as my wielder. Was it... female? The language was nearly gibberish, and yet he could understand it.
“The sword… talks,” he said, looking up at the tree. Which also talked. Because this was a perfectly normal situation that he wouldn’t be wondering about for a very long time.
There is a 98% chance that you are wrong about that, the voice said in a completely serious tone. I suspect that you will struggle to process the day’s events for quite some time.
“The sword talks and it doesn’t understand sarcasm,” he amended.
He later learned that the sword’s name was Fi, and the talking tree was the Deku Tree. Together, they talked him into sending a message to Mipha that he was leaving and staying in the Lost Woods for a while. It was around that time that the koroks revealed themselves, instantly explaining the feeling of being watched that he had felt entering the woods.
Fi passed the time by telling him of previous heroes- ones that had traveled between worlds or through time or beyond the clouds. It all seemed so much greater than him, but she assured him that there had been no mistake. Each hero’s story is unique , she said. It is my goal to make sure you are ready when your adventure comes for you.
He had been taught by many teachers in his life: the knights (who admittedly hadn’t known they were teaching him), his father, Mipha. Fi somehow managed to surpass them all. She had information of all kinds, gathered from countless generations of heroes. They could cover lock picking and claymore fighting and horseback skills in a day, and still not even scratch the depths of knowledge Fi carried.
Fi wasn’t the only one with something to teach him, though; the koroks proved to be great sources of information in their own way. The largest among them, called Hetsu, had roped him into a game of hide and seek that never really seemed to end. Occasionally, they would switch it up, and Link would be the one to hide. The koroks had all kinds of advice on how to go unnoticed- they were experts after all. No one saw a korok unless they wanted to be seen.
Within a month, Link was stronger than he had ever been. Not only that, but he could successfully sneak through Korok Forest without being spotted, scale trees with nearly no handholds, and spot a hiding korok from several yards away. And all the while, the Deku Tree watched over the woods with kind and patient eyes, always there to talk. Having someone like that to watch out for him, to care about him- it was… really nice.
Link was dashing madly away from a little Korok named Mook in a forest-wide game of tag when the Deku Tree warned them all that the knights had entered the Lost Woods. There was a chorus of awww ’s and we almost had him ’s, but despite the complaints, everyone was hidden within minutes. Link nestled himself high in the Deku Tree’s canopy, pressing himself flat against a branch so he could see while remaining unseen.
The knights arrived in perfect formation, armored boots squashing the whimsical flowers of the forest. They arrayed themselves before the platform, murmuring among themselves as realization set in.
“The sword- it’s gone!”
“Someone stole it? But how? No one knows where it is but us!”
“Someone is going to have to tell the king.”
“The poor princess…”
Link heard bits and pieces from his perch. Stolen? How could he steal something that was abandoned in the woods?
The princess they speak of, Fi spoke in his mind. Is this your Zelda?
“Not sure,” Link whispered back. The knight who seemed to be in charge was inspecting the platform, scanning the area. The Deku Tree had not spoken to them- for all they knew, the entire area was deserted. “I’ve never even seen her.”
We must correct that. She shares in this destiny of yours; your odds of success increase exponentially if the two of you are united when your enemy strikes.
“Yeah, about that,” Link said, scooting cautiously away from the edge of the wide branch. “Everyone keeps talking about this ‘Calamity’ thing. Is that the enemy? What do you know about it?”
I do not know anything on that topic, Fi admitted. It has been some time since I have had a wielder, so I am not aware of the current crisis that Hyrule faces. All the same, I would encourage you to meet with your Zelda. Perhaps she can tell you more.
Below, the knights were spreading out to comb through the woods. They wouldn’t find him- the koroks had taught him how to hide far too well for that- but he couldn’t stay hidden forever. He needed a plan.
“Hyrule Castle seems like the kind of place I usually try to avoid.”
Yes, avoiding the Castle would fit with your previous movement patterns. All the same, I would encourage you to engage her somehow. Perhaps we should investigate the area and create a plan from there?
Hm. That... wasn’t a bad idea. This sword was a whole new set of responsibilities that he knew way too little about, and if anyone had more information, Castle Town was a good place to start looking. As far as the princess… Link couldn’t deny that he was curious. It would be worth the trip just to find out more about the princess he was supposedly bound to.
It seems you have decided.
“Sure, why not? Let’s go to Castle Town.”