Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The statue is weird looking.

Was Link’s first thought when he first saw the status in the Depth.

And, is that it’s dick?

Was his second thought.

But no one needed to know that.

After getting the picture of the statue with Purah Pad, with Robbie’s help, he returned back to Lookout Landing to show Josha. Naturally she was thrilled to see that the statue proved her hypothesis correct about the statues in the Depth, or something, and moved forward to form an excavation team.

Unfortunately Josha was very picky on who would be on the team.

“She's a brilliant girl but she still needs to learn that you can’t be too picky with your volunteers,” Robbie muttered beside Link.

Link was munching on a baked apple by Robbie’s hot air balloon, Robbie was busy fixing it up in order to head to the labs in Hateno Village. From his small bench where he sat by Robbie, they watched Josha reject one volunteer after another. The volunteers were other archaeologists from different expedition groups, from what Robbie told Link. None of them really looked like the adventuring type to Link. All too lanky and fragile looking to do any real long traveling that is required for this journey to the Depths. Link ignores most of them until the last one reaches Josha, who he couldn’t help but notice, was a musical body, bronze skin, and black wavy hair that seemed quite soft to the touch. Quite the fine looking man.

Realizing that he was eyeing the man, Link quickly looked away, blushing in embarrassment for ogling so openly like that. What can he say, he had a type. A type that dwarfed him in size and could crush him with their thighs. The only thing that would have been the cherry on top is if they were more aquatic, and red.

“Ahh, she even rejected Tauro,” Robbie shook his head in disappointment, “I understand that Tauro can be a little flaky when it comes to Zonai artifacts but he would have been a good addition for her team.”

Link finished his baked apple, throwing his core behind him, before he signed to Robbie.

‘Maybe Purah can help out?’

“Purah gave her full range on this, as her first real investigation without her. She wont do anything to help unless Josha asks, and I don’t want to meddle either,” Robbie sighed.

‘Sounds like Purah wants her to learn from her own mistakes, if that's the case,’ Link signed.

“I suppose so,” said Robbie, “How is your new arm? Purah had you locked up in her workshop all morning doing tests.”

With Link and Zelda's sudden disappearance more than a month ago, and Link suddenly returning in ancient robes and with a brand new arm, Purah refused to allow Link to leave Lookout Landing. She wanted to know everything that happened under the castle and how Link just showed up one day out of nowhere with a new limb on top of that.

Purah did many tests on Link’s new arm, which apparently belonged to someone named Rauru, who had their ghost appear to Link. Who also strangely has the same name as the first King of Hyrule.

From Link’s tale it was clear his own arm was badly damaged, most likely lost, and the ghost of Rauru managed to heal Link and give him his arm, along with its abilities. So for hours Link had to demonstrate the arm’s powers to Purah as she took notes after notes and studied every inch of it, including its short fine hair.

Link was starting to go stir crazy here at the outpost. The only time that he was allowed out was to seek out Captain Hoz in the castle, which was a short trip, and to the Depths to help Josha. His trip to the Depths was all thanks to Robbie, who convinced Purah to let Link help their young prodigy study the Depths. If Link knew that when he got back from the Depths to show Josha the picture, and Purah was waiting to do more tests, he would have stayed down there longer.

There was a whole new land that was calling to Link to discover, all right under their feet. And he was itching to get down there again as soon as he could. But he was trapped here in Lookout Landing until further notice.

A large sigh came from Josha, making Link look up to see the girl’s shoulders slump in defeat.

“What am I going to do, Goggles? I don’t have enough members to form an excavation team,” Josha turned to Robbie.

“What else did you expect when you turned down almost all of your volunteers? Sometimes you have to work with what you have, Josha. I’m sure Purah has told you that before,” scolded Robbie.

“I know, I know. But they’re not prepared for the Depths, we don’t know exactly what is down there. What if they run into something dangerous?” she pointed out.

“I understand, but you need to have trust in your people too. Those men and women that wanted to join, I know them all well and they are more than capable of taking care of themselves.”

Josha groaned, not sure what to do. She turned everyone away that wasn’t up to her standards for this journey and was now paying for it. How was she going to tell Purah that she had no one because she didn’t heed hers or Robbie’s advice.

Someone tapped on Josha’s shoulder, making her look up to see Link behind her.

‘I’ll do it,’ Link signed.

“What?” both Josha and Robbie said together.

Link smiled, ‘I said I’ll go down for you. I want to explore more of the Depths myself.’

“Really?” Josha squealed in joy, “You were a huge help last time, and you are more than capable of handling anything down there. I would be happy to have your assistance once more for this!”

“Only if Purah approves,” Robbie stated.

“I’m sure Professor Purah would let him go again. As long as he comes right back,” said Josha.

Link groaned in annoyance. He was getting so tired of being locked up here all of the time.

“Hmmm, now that's a problem,” muttered Robbie.

“I’ll talk to her and tell her Link with be right-”

“That’s the thing, Josha,” Robbie interrupted her, “Link shouldn’t come back.”

“Huh?” Joshua responded for both her and Link, looking at Robbie in confusion.

Robbie turned and looked Link square in the eye.

“You have been here far too long in my opinion, Link. I know Purah has been worried sick about you and Zelda, and just wants to make sure you are safe, especially with that arm of yours. But she can’t keep you here forever, just for her own peace of mind. All of Hyrule needs you, as well as Zelda. It’s time you set out and start doing what you are meant to do.”

Link stared at Robbie with wide eyes, and a large grin forming on his face.

“Go and get ready for your trip to the Depth. When you get back I should be in the labs at Hateno Village, come and see me after you finish helping with Josha,” said Robbie.

“But Goggles. What do we tell Professor Purah?” Josha questioned, looking a little nervous.

“Do not worry, I will speak with her, Josha. You just focus on getting Link set up for his journey to the Depths,” he told her.

Josha wore a big smile, turning to face Link, who shared her atheism.

“I have Light Bulbs in my work area I can give to you for your journey, follow me Swordsman!”

Link nodded to Josha. Turning back to Robbie to sign ‘thank you’, and followed Josha inside.

***

The camera features were a goddess given gift! He’ll have to remember to thank both Purah and Robbie for adding this to the Purah Pad.

Returning to the Depths was much easier this time around. It seems that the large Lightroots send out the same energy signal as the shrines, making it easy for Link to lock onto them and teleport to the Depths. Plus it helped a lot for him to start where he left off since the statute he took a picture of was right next to the Lightroot.

The Depths were so exciting, and Link couldn't help but take everything in glee, taking pictures of all the weird plants and bugs that live down here while staying away from the Gloom and infected monsters, who were quite annoying when they hit him. He made sure to take a lot of pictures at Josha’s request, but he also took a lot of pictures to show Sidon when he saw him again.

Link missed the Zora prince very dearly and wondered how he and the Domain were doing. From what he heard around Lookout Landing, all of Hyrule was in chaos, which made him worry. He knew that Sidon was more than capable of not only taking care of himself, but his people as well. One of the many things that Link loved the prince for. But unfortunately being a prince also left him trapped in his own land and unable to see the rest of Hyrule that Link knows he wishes to see.

On his journey to stop Calamity Ganon back then, Link made it a habit of taking a lot of pictures for Sidon on his journeys so that when he returned to the Domain he could show them to Sidon. It always made his heart flutter when Sidon would scroll though the pictures with a face of awe and wonder with each picture he swiped, asking Link questions of each one. Seeing that face always made Link smile, making it all feel like it was worth it in the end. To be able to show a prince that was trapped in his homeland, a world beyond the Zora borders. And maybe one day they could journey out together to see Hyrule.

Link couldn’t wait to see Sidon and tell him about not just the Depths but the Sky Islands too. He can imagine the aww look on the prince's face, hanging onto Link’s every word as he tells him of his journeys.

He truly did miss talking to Sidon. It’s so easy for Link to be around him and not worry about their duties. When they’re together, he wasn’t Zelda’s appointed knight and Sidon wasn’t the Zora prince, they were just Link and Sidon.

A high pitch croak sound caught Link’s attention, making him look behind him to see a group of one eyed toad monsters, Frox is what Robbie called them, making a beeline right for him. Link pulled out his sword and shield, and prepared for the little bastards that were coming for him. The first two were easy to handle since they were further ahead of the herd then the rest, defeating them before the rest came. The rest unfortunately wasn’t so easy. Fighting off five of them all at once was proving to be more difficult than he thought. Their attacks seemed to be Gloom based for every hit he took, he grew weaker.

Only two remain now and sadly he didn’t know if he had the strength to finish them off. Curse that mummy for draining his strength! If it wasn’t for him, Link would have no problem taking these Froxs out.

With little choice Link was forced to retreat from the last two remaining Froxs.

For little guys they were determined, Link gave them that, but they were too slow to catch up on their little legs. Unfortunately they chased Link into the darkest, out of the Bright Bulbs reach, with only the effects of his glow potion to show where he was stepping, which wasn’t much.

After climbing up a little hill, Link finally lost the last two Froxs that seemed to give up and went back to their area. Taking this chance, Link sat down by a large Zonai rock, catching his breath from running so much with what little stamina he had.

Placing his hands behind him, Link leaned back and looked up to the darkest above him, wondering how far below the surface he was. And more importantly, wondering how people got down here.

“We must be at least several miles down from the surface,” he muttered to himself, “How did they get down… wait.”

Under his hands, Link noticed something strange.

Pulling a Bright Bulb out from his pocket, Link dropped the bulb down by his feet as the flower bloomed and released a large bloom of light around Link.

Revealing that the rock that Link was sitting on was not a rock, but a large scaly foot.

A large yellow eye popped opened in the light, and looked to Link.

“Crap!” Link quickly got off the foot and ran from what seemed to be a Giant Frox!

Not wasting any time Link hightailed it out of there, hoping it was just as slow as the little ones.

Sadly that wasn’t the case

The Giant Frox growled as it turned its large body around to Link. Leaping up into the air landing and right behind Link, causing the ground to shake violently at the landing. The ground under Link’s feet cracked and crumbled, giving away, and opened up under Link as he fell into the darkness below.

***

Slowly, Link came to, groaning a bit from the rough falling he took caused by the Giant Frox. His body hurt everywhere, but was able to move his limbs just fine, meaning nothing was broken, thankfully. The last thing he needed was a broken bone down somewhere in the Depths.

Link was greeted with darkness when he opened his eyes, making it impossible to see anything in front of him. Blindly he searched for the Purah Pad on his side, pulling it up and summoning some Bright Bulbs from it. Throwing a couple of them randomly around Link, the bulbs bloomed, lighting up everything around Link as he got a good look at where he was at.

He was in some sort of cavern, that much is clear, with old ruins all around him. The ruins were surprisingly in good condition, looking like they had been undisturbed for a very long time in this protective cavern. The only thing that showed any damage was the giant hole above that Link fell through that the Giant Frox created.

Summoning a few more Bright Bulbs from the Pad, Link began to explore the large cavern, spreading them around enough until the whole area was bathed in light.

In the center of the cavern, where the ruins sat were a little strange now that Link could see them clearly. Being in the Depths he’s found a few old minor Zonai mines and Zonai device stands that he has come across already. But these ruins were much different from the Zonai ones. In fact, they didn’t look like Zonai or even Hylian ruins in general. These ruins seem much newer than the Zonai mining ruins that he has come across. There was little hint of Hylian in them but not enough to be considered Hylian.

The stone pillars marked a staircase leading up to some sort of landing at the top that he found. Seeing that the stairs looked to be safe, Link started carefully walking up them. He ran his fingers over the dark stone pillars, noting how smooth to the touch they were, as if they were river stones. The stone was not familiar to Link as well as the carvings of swirl patterns on them. Link studied each pattern as he slowly descended up the stairs, taking in detail of the strange ruins that lead up to the large landing.

At the center of the landing was a large low pedestal with more of the same carving designs with a large black, gray, and blue treasure chest on the pedestal.

At the sight of the treasure chest Link couldn’t help but smile in glee as his treasure hunting instinct kicked in.

Link rushed over to the treasure chest, searching over it to be sure there were no booby traps of any kind. The chances of there being any were low but considering these were ruins that Link was not familiar with he didn’t want to chance it.

The treasure chest was old, but surprisingly in good condition. Touching the lock in front the lid of the chest it let out a loud ‘click’ as the lid cracked open. Grasping the lid, Link carefully opened it and looked inside to see what treasures it held.

His smile turned into a frown when he found it was not treasure that he was hoping for.

Reaching inside Link pulls out a large strange looking stone helmet, with long horns that the tips curled at the top inside, a single stone eye on the left, and covered in more of the strange markings as the ruins.

It was a very strange helmet, not quite a protective headpiece since the scalp was exposed for attacks, making it a useless headgear. It also wasn’t very heavy, even for it being made out of stone, but not fragile either in Link’s opinion from the feel and look of it. It was just very strange.

“What is this thing?” Link muttered.

A pulse suddenly vibrated through the helmet, startling Link, who barely noticed blue/green lines appeared on his normal arm and slipped into the stone helmet that lit up every carving. The light quickly rushed to the left eye, making it glow bright blue. The helmet suddenly jerked out of Link’s hands, glowing so bright that it was blinding, startling Link as he stumbled backwards, tripping and falling down the stairs behind him, and landing down at the base of them.

A fairy popped out from inside his clothes, dancing around Link, sprinkling dust all over him to heal his injuries from the Froxs earlier, and the fall. The fairy let out a little giggle once it was done healing him and flew up to the top of the cavern and disappeared. Link silently thanked the fairy for the save, but also cursed at it for not curing him from feeling the tumble he took.

Link groaned, lying flat out at the bottom of the stairs, before rolling over to his side, only to be greeted by a pair of bare feet in front of him.

Blinking a few times, to be sure his vision was fine, and he wasn’t seeing things. Link shook his head to clear his vision and looked back to still see the feet. Yep, he was indeed looking at a pair of bare feet, one black and the other a pale blue?

His gaze slowly slipped up to see a long black skirt, with a long side slit that revealed a pale blue thigh with blue/green mark. A bare belly and up to the face of a beautiful pale blue skin woman with red eyes, bright orange hair, and a jewel headpiece on her forehead and on the hood of her cloak, smirking impishly down at him.

“Well, that was quite the fall you took for me.”

Chapter Text

Link stared up at the woman, dumbfounded. Frozen in place of where he laid, eyes bulging out. How is someone down here? And why was she half black and pale blue? Where did she come from?

The woman raised an eyebrow at Link, smirk gone now as she looked annoyed at him gawking at her like that.

“As much as I enjoy leaving people in shock from my beauty, this is not quite the ideal place to be for that,” she muttered, looking around the craven, “Where the hell am I?”

Link came out of his shock and quickly got into his feet, feeling embarrassed for his gawking openly like that. She was right, this was not the time or place for it. But could you blame him? He was not expecting to find another person down this deep in the Depths, where everything looked to be dead or abandoned for a very long time.

Curiously. Link watched the woman, who ignored him now, as she looked around the cavern that they were in, studying her appearance. Her appearance was very strange to Link, he hadn't seen anyone look like her before, and her clothes were odd too. She didn’t seem to be Hylian, for she was too tall and her skin coloring was all wrong, but she didn't seem to be Gerudo either, lacking the signature nose and desert skin.

Suddenly Link noticed something was hovering behind her as she moved around, following her movements everywhere she went. It was the stone helmet he found from the chest, following her like a loyal dog. Did she have something to do with that stone helmet?

The woman grumbled in annoyance before turning to Link.

“You,” she pointed to Link, glaring down at him, “Where are we? And what year is it?” she demanded.

Link scrunched his nose at the woman’s rude behavior but answered, ‘I’m Link, and we are in the Depths, the year is XXXXX’

The woman stared at him, looking irritated by the second.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

‘What do you mean?’ he signed.

“Stop what you are doing and answer me.”

Now Link was confused. What the hell is she talking about? He was answering her like she asked.

That’s when it hit him. She doesn’t understand sign language and does not realize he’s signing to her. Meaning that he’s going to have to verbally communicate with her.

Goddesses, that’s just great.

He hated talking to strangers or people that was he not close with. It was so uncomfortable.

“It’s sign language,” he answered her quietly.

“Then why are you using signing when you can clearly talk? That seems dumb,” she asked, clearly annoyed.

“I don’t like to talk, okay,” he snapped at her.

The woman rolled her eyes with a big huff, “I’m finally released after so long and I get stuck in a cave with a moody little boy. Just wonderful.”

“Hey, I’m an adult, just so you know!”

“Uh huh,” clearly not believing him.

“I am!”

“Sure, whatever you say kid.”

“Why am I even trying to explain myself to you? I should be the one asking who you are, lady!” he demanded this time.

“And why should I answer you? The way I see it I asked you first and it’s courtesy to answer a lady, especially a queen,” she declared.

“A queen, you?” Link repeated.

“Yes.”

“A queen of what? Bitchness?”

She glared down at Link, towering over him like a wolf cornering their prey, making Link think twice if it was actually a good idea to insult a strange woman that just came out of thin air, trapped alone in a craven, where no one could find them. But he refused to back down and showed no signs of weakness. If she was going to strike him down, then damn it! He's going down with pride in his last moments.

Suddenly she burst out laughing, leaving Link confused.

“What’s so funny?”

“You got spunk, I like that,” she chuckled.

“Thanks, I guess,” he said.

“Little kids like you say the darndest funniest things sometimes.”

Link felt a vein popped in his forehead.

“I am NOT a kid, for the last time,” he growled.

“Really,” she eyed him up and down for a moment before smirking, “You sure look like a kid, short like one.”

“Well compared to how tall you are I’m sure everyone is shorter too you. You freaking giant,” he bit back.

“Aw, is someone tired and needs their nappy?” she cooed.

“That’s it I’m leaving,” Link declared, turning to leave.

But as soon as he turned around, she was already there in front of him.

“How-” he looked behind him, where the woman once was, before facing her in front of him again, “How did you do that?”

She smirked, “It’s rude of little boys to ask a young lady a question when they refuse to answer hers.”

“I’m not a little boy!”

“The way you are acting you could have fooled me,” she teased.

Link glared at her.

This woman was really irritating him.

He could just jump into the ceiling and swim up to where he fell, leaving her behind, and not have to deal with her anymore. But could he really leave someone down here alone in the darkest parts of the Depths? Sure she was a bitch and all but in reality she hasn’t caused Link any harm so far. And he didn’t know if he could live with himself knowing he left her behind like that.

Breathing through his nose, Link calmed himself and looked up to the woman.

“My name is Link. And the year is XXXXX,” he told her, “Happy now?”

He watched her reaction when he mentioned his name, noting that her eyes widened in surprise by it. Something quickly flashed in her red eyes, something that Link couldn’t place what it was, before it was gone. How weird, he thought he would get more of a reaction of the year then his name. Is it possible that he knew her a hundred years ago and he just doesn’t remember her?

She let out a groan, pinching the bridge of her nose, and muttered, “Goddesses, has it really been that long. I overshot what I hoped.”

“I answered your question, you can at least answer mine now,” demanded Link.

He got an eye roll in response.

“Touche’,” she said.

He glared.

“Fine. I am Midna, Queen of the Twilight Realm,” she introduced herself.

“Twilight Realm?” he repeated, wondering why that sounded familiar to him, “What’s that.”

“I’m not surprised if you are not familiar with the Twilight Realm, since it’s supposed to remain separated from the Realm of Light, your world. But to put it simply it is basically the shadow of your world. Two worlds that are the same but forever to remain separated, darkness and light,” she explained.

“Oh, you mean the Depths.”

“The what?”

“The Depths. That’s where we are right now.”

Midna looked around the cavern for a moment before looking back to Link, “This isn’t the Twilight Realm.”

Huh, really? Then what were the Depths exactly? To Link this place seemed like a mirror verse of Hyrule. But from what Midna claims that’s the Twilight Realm.

“But I will admit that I sense familiar elements of this place that is very close to the Twilight Realm. How strange,” she muttered, turning back to Link, “You said we are in a cavern, correct?”

Link nodded.

“Is it possible to see this so-called ‘Depths’ you speak of,” she asked.

“Yeah, it should be right above us. I actually fell down here because of a Giant Frox,” explained Link.

“A what?”

“It’s a monster that is found here.”

“Alright then, let’s get out of here,” she declared.

“I can get out of here, no problem but I’m not sure about getting you out,” said Link.

He didn’t like the idea of helping her, but he couldn’t leave her here either. Hopefully as soon as they get out of the cavern they can go their separate ways.

She chuckled, “Do not worry. I will follow.”

Link gave her a funny look. What did she mean by ‘follow’.

“You’ll understand soon. Just hurry up and do what you need to do. I don’t have all day waiting on your slow ass,” she said.

Bitch, he thought, activating his arm.

In a blink of an eye, Link shot up straight into the ceiling and disappeared into the rocks in a whirl of lights. Swimming up through solid objects was something that Link wasn’t sure he was ever going to be able to get used to. To be surrounded in a swirl of green and blue lights, as he swam up with such ease that he felt like he was light as a feather.

It didn’t last long, meaning he wasn’t that far down, as his head popped up to the surface of the Depths.

It was almost pitch black, much like before, with the only source of the light being the Bright Bulb that he dropped by the Giant Frox earlier. Speaking of the said monster, he didn’t see it anywhere and wondered if it moved on, or was lurking somewhere in darkness.

Link hopped out of the ground, and quickly pulled out a Bright Bulb from the Purah Pad, and dropped it on the ground in front of him. Once the Bulb chased the darkness away, Link was able to look around him to see if he saw the Giant Frox, or anything else, to find that the area was clear of monsters. The only evidence of the Giant Frox was ever here was the crater it created that Link fell in.

He signed in relief with no sight of the monster anywhere.

“So this is the Depths, huh?”

Link quickly drew his weapon out and whipped around to see Midna standing behind him, looking around the newly lit area.

“H-How did you get up here so fast!? I just left you!” Link asked in shock.

She raised an eyebrow at him, as if silently asking if he’s really asking her a stupid question.

“Seriously?” she muttered, “Did you not notice in your little magic box?”

Magic box?

“You mean my Purah Pad?” He pulled it out to show her.

“Yes, that thing.”

What was she talking about? And what did it have to do with the Purah Pad?

Curious, Link pulled up his inventory and began strolling through it. At first, he didn’t see anything usual, starting with his food and monster parts supplies, seeing that everything looked normal so far. It was only when he moved to his clothing did he find something odd in there.

Link had to blink a few times, being sure that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.

No, it was still there, he wasn’t seeing things.

Perhaps the Purah Pad was glitching? Yeah, that could be it. Link got out of his inventory and turned off the Purah Pad and then turned it back on a few seconds later before going back to his clothes.

And, nope, it was still there.

The stone helmet, the one that Link found earlier, the same one that is floating behind Midna, is sitting at the very top of his inventory.

“What the,” he muttered.

When did that get in there? And how?

Curious, Link tapped on the helmet, as a light shot out of the pad and went straight to the floating helmet behind Midna, doing nothing. He tapped it again and a light shot out of Midna’s helmet and went back into the Purah Pad.

“The hell?” he exclaimed, “What is happening? How did it get in there.”

“You found the Fuse Shadow and it made itself at home in your magic box. End of story,” Midna explained as if it were so obvious.

“But how!?”

“Ugh! Are you always this annoying?”

“Well excuse me for wanting to know how a stupid rock got into my inventory without me knowing it!”

“It’s Fuse Shadow! Not a rock!”

“Whatever! How did it get in there!?”

“You found it, therefore it’s yours now. So of course, it would be in your belongings. I don’t know how else it can be simpler for you,” said Midna.

That still didn’t explain anything!

Link sighed in frustration, running his hands down his face.

“Fine, whatever! It’s there because it’s mine now. But why is it right there behind you, while it’s also in my Purah Pad? Explain that!” he pointed to the stone helmet floating behind Midna.

She looked over her shoulder at the stone helmet for a moment before shrugging, “It’s the Fuse Shadow’s lingering essence.”

“What?”

“I recognize those mushrooms,” Midna ignored Link’s question, and walked over to the giant mushroom that was more like a tree.

“You know what, fine. Don’t answer me then,” Link has reached his wits end with her, “We’re out of that damn cavern and we can go our separate ways! So I wish you good luck getting out of here!”

With that Link stormed off, heading back to where he believed he came from before running into those Froxs. He had a mission he had to finish for Josha, goddamn it.

“Hey! Where are you going!” she called out to Link.

Link turned around, walking backwards now, as he yelled to her, “To finish my job, that has nothing to do-AHHH!”

Right on the edge of the Bright Bulbs range, where light fades, Link didn’t pay attention to his footing and missed the steep slope. Link tumbled down the slope, hitting rocks or small Zonai shards, grunting and yelping in pain with each painful tumble. Link rolled to a stop at the base of the slope, where the ground was level and rock free. Luckily the fall wasn’t very steep, possibly only ten feet high, making the tumble short but sadly not any less painful. But the damage was very small, and he at least was not infected with Gloom from the tumble.

He was pretty lucky it wasn’t anything worse.

A loud terribly sounding horn suddenly went off behind him.

Link jerked his head up, noticing lit torches around Zonai rocks in the darkness, where a group of infected monsters were harvesting the rocks. A whole camp of monsters turned to Link at the sound of the alarm from the lookout.

Scratch that, his luck was shit.

Chapter Text

The Bokoblin that was closest to him quickly charged at Link, club raised in the air, ready to smash in his skull. Link only had seconds to dodge the attack, pulling away just as the club hit the ground where his head once laid.

Link pulled out his fused wooden club, which sadly looked to have seen better days, along with a rusty knight’s shield.

This was bad. He already took a nasty tumble, nothing serious, but it was enough to leave him at a bit of a disadvantage. Not to mention that damn mummy sucked his strength from him, making him very weak to begin with. That’s why he tried avoiding the monsters in the Depths until he had the strength back to actually fight them properly.

The infected Bokoblins rushed at Link, weapons raised as they jumped forward to strike him. The first one Link was able to jump back and dodge their attack. The second attack he could only block with his shield, shattering on impact, leaving him exposed with his last shield now gone. Shocked at the loss of his shield, not expecting it to be destroyed that soon, Link failed to see that there was actually a third monster behind the second one, jumping right at Link and landed a solid blow on his head.

Link flew back, crying in pain, as his club slipped from his hand, landing hard on the ground.

The Bokoblin that hit him let out a loud cheer, followed by the others in the camp as they quickly approached him. Ready to finish Link off, who laid weak on the ground, weapon and shieldless, unable to even raise himself up onto his feet to run. All he could do is watch the monsters surround him, ready to finish him off.

‘It can’t end like this! It just can’t!’ Link thought, watching the monsters.

The Bokoblin that hit him, raised their weapon up above Link, ready to finish him off as Link closed his eyes.

‘I’m sorry Purah, Zelda, Impa… I’m sorry Sidon. I failed all of you again.’

A cry of pain from ta Bobokin was what greeted Link instead of the deadly blow he expected.

Opening his eyes, he looked up to see Midna standing in front of Link, back to him, as she stood in a defensive position with one hand raised out forward.

The Bokoblins shrieked in alarm, surrounding the Bobokin that tried to kill Link, thirty feet away from them now, laying on the ground as the Gloom suddenly disappeared from it. Once the Bokoblin wasn’t infected anymore, it stood up, looking at itself in confusion while the rest looked at each other, equally confused.

“That’s our queue to go,” Midna said low enough for Link to hear as she quickly helped him up.

Not arguing with her on that, he got to his feet as they two quickly rushed away from the monster camp without being noticed.

Link leads the way towards the Bright Bulbs he placed early, away from the monsters and towards the safety of the light. Once in the safety of the light did Link slow down, hobbling over to a large rock to sit down. He hissed a little as he tried, almost falling backwards until Midna caught him.

“Easy,” she said, helping him to sit down, “You alright?”

“Yeah,” he grunted, pulling his Purah Pad out.

“You took quite a tumble right into that camp, and a hit from that monster. Are you sure you are alright? That looks nasty,” She asked again, inspecting the wound on his head.

Seeing Midna being so concerned for him was kind of weirded Link out a bit. Link was so use to her bitchy and snarkiness that he didn’t think there was any kindness in her. But she jumped in and protected him from a camp of monsters when he was completely defenseless, risking herself in order to help him when he hadn't exactly been nice to her either.

“Yeah, I have a red potion,” he told her, pulling his potions up on his pad.

“Your little magic box can really hold a lot of stuff,” Midna said in awe when Link pulled a potion out.

“It’s pretty cool,” Link agreed.

He pulled the cork off the bottle and moved to drink it but then paused with a frown.

“What's wrong?” Midna asked, noticing his hesitation.

“The potion is useless,” he said sadly.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the Gloom,” he said.

“The Gloom?”

“It’s what we call that,” he pointed to a large red and black spot that covered a huge cliffside, “if you come into contact with it, it makes you sick and weak that even a red potion can’t fix it.”

“So as long as you are infected with the Gloom, you can’t properly heal then? Am I right?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Then let’s remove it.”

“I can’t. Without a Lightroot, which I have no idea where one is, and Sundelions, I can’t remove it.”

Midna scoffed, “Is that all? For a moment I thought it was something worse than that with you acting like a drama queen.”

Link glared at her, “I am not-”

“Now hush and let me help.”

Before Link could argue with her, Midna thrust her hand right onto Link’s chest. Link gasped in shock, feeling a powerful force shoot right through his body, forcing the air out of his lungs.

As quickly as the force happened, it ended just quick.

It took a moment for the air to return to his lungs, taking deep greedy breaths as he tried to regain his bearings.

“There,” Midna said, removing her hand from his chest, “Better now?”

It took a few seconds but he actually did feel better now. He felt great in fact, like he did before coming down to the Depths.

“W-What? How?” he was at a loss for words.

Midna chuckled, “What you call ‘Gloom’ is what I know as “Malice’ in my era. They’re very much similar to each other more than you think. It’s a form of dark magic, which my ancestors are very fluent in, that is the main root of our magic, Twili magic. Any form of dark magic, evil or not, I can counter it and repel it. Much like how you saw with that monster I saved you from.”

Repel?

Is she really capable of doing that?

“From the confused look on your face it might be best if I demonstrate it,” Midna stood up and moved over to the infected cliffside, “Now watch closely, since I will only show you this just once.”

Link remained silent as he watched Midna. Curious to see what she was going to do.

Just as Midna raised her hand out in front of her. The stone helmet, a Fused Shadow as Midna called it, suddenly started to pulse as light blue/green lines filled the graves of the stone as the single eye lit up brightly. Suddenly an invisible force ripped through the infected area like a tidal wave, parting it like the seas, as a clear safe path formed in front of Midna.

Link stared in shock.

Midna wasn’t kidding, she can repel the Gloom.

“From the way your mouth i s gasping like a fish, I can see you are more than impressed.”

Looking away from the clear area, Link saw that Midna was looking at him with a smug look on her face. Quickly he closed his mouth and tried to recompose himself.

He cleared his throat, “That’s quite a handy trick.”

She snorted, “If you think that was impressive you should see me at my full power back then.”

“You can do more?” he asked.

“That’s enough questions for now,” she said, done with the conversation, “Drink your potion so we can get going,”

“Oh, right,” he said, looking at the said potion in his hand.

Now that he wasn’t infected with the Gloom, thanks to Midna, he should be able to make a full recovery

Link drank the whole potion in one go, feeling the effects of the potion working instantly as his body made a full recovery.

“You good?” Midna asked.

Link nodded, standing up without a problem.

“Good.”

***

As much as Link was annoyed with Midna and her attitude, she really was helpful to have with on his journey through the Depths. They didn’t come across many infected monsters luckily and whatever monsters they did stumble on they were easily avoided. With Midna able to clear a paths through the infected areas made Link’s journey so much easier as they continued to follow the giant stone statues that seemed to be leading them somewhere.

As helpful as Midna was, Link still wished he could get rid of her and her snarky comments here and there that just annoy him. But she proved to be too difficult to be rid of as she refused to be left behind. Plus it didn’t help that he did owe her for saving him and helping him by clearing a path. So he hasn’t really tried too hard to be rid of her.

“What are these statues exactly,” Midna asked as they reached the newest one on their journey.

“Not sure. Josha asked me to investigate them and why they are down here,” said Link.

“To think a whole new land co-existed with our worlds for thousands of years, undiscovered until now,” she said in awe.

“Not quite undiscovered since there were people clearly down here at some point,” Link pointed out.

“True,” she agreed.

LInk pulled a Bright Bulb out and threw it ahead of them, lighting the area to reveal another Zonai equipment station.

“Zelda would have loved all of this,” Link thought out loud.

“Your princess of this era?” Midna asked.

Shit! He thought, did he really say that out loud?

“Yeah, Zelda is a bit of a history nerd. She loves to study and research anything new and unknown,” he told her.

“A scholar, huh? That’s a first,” said Midna.

“Her father, the king, wasn't pleased with it actually and would scold her for it. From what I remember. She did more research on whatever fascinated her at the time. I faintly remember being in the Royal Library for hours and hours, standing guard as she searched through one bookshelf after another. She even told me there were times she would fall asleep in the library and I had to carry her back to her room to rest.”

“That makes no sense! She’s the princess, it’s her duty to understand things and know what's going on to help her kingdom.”

“It wasn’t that simple. But I get where you are coming from. But that was long ago and now Zelda likes to spend her days researching and helping in rebuilding the kingdom.”

Midna looked to Link, confused, “Rebuild?”

He winced, “It’s a long story that I don’t want to get into.”

“I suppose it’s not a good time. That’s what I get for sleeping so long,” she grumbles.

“I actually would like to know what you were doing in that carven myself,” Link asked.

“Tch, it’s a long story that I don’t feel like telling right now either,” she answered.

Link supposed it was fair since he didn’t want to talk about the Calamity himself.

“So,” Midna started, wearing an impish grin, “It sounds like you are quite close to the princess.”

In a way they were, Link mused. Both Link and Zelda have been through a lot together, still going through a lot.

“We are,” he said, “I owe a lot to Zelda, I suppose. She saved me from death, long ago”

“You must love her, truely.”

Link stumbled over his feet.

“E-Excuse me?” he shuttered.

“I said you must truly love her. The way you talk about the princess, and it sounds like she loves you just as much.”

“Not like that!” Link’s face was red as a tomato now, “I mean I do love Zelda but as family, not as a lover. She’s far from what I’m interested in!”

Midna looked startled at his sudden outburst, “Alright then. If she’s not then what catches your interest?”

Ah crap! What should he say? There was no way he could tell her. They were strangers and hardly knew each other. And what he’s interested in isn’t actually acceptable to most. Both in gender, class, and species.

CLANK!

The sound of rocks breaking caught Link’s attention.

Up ahead was another infected monster camp, harvesting Zonai stone as their rock weapons chipped away at the said stone. There were three red Bokoblin, one blue Bokoblin, and two green Lizalfos in the camp from what Link can see. They were on the same ground level as him and Midna but far enough that the monsters' poor eyesight couldn’t see them. But Link didn’t want to take any chances. Grabbing Midna’s arm, he pulled her behind a large rock to hide.

Link looked around the rock, watching the monsters work away at the stones, right in front of a statue. Normally, like the other monster camps they came across, they would go around them without being noticed. But the passageway where the statues were heading towards were narrowing, making it impossible to pass this camp without being spotted.

“That’s a lot of them,” Link pulled back and turned to Midna, “In my state I’m not sure if I can take them all on. But we need to get through though.”

“So? Can’t you just summon something from your magic box to help?” Midna asked.

Link shook his head, “I don’t have anything that will help without gaining their attention over here. I’m not sure what to do.”

“So we’re stuck then.”

“For now. We just need something to help get them out of our way without them noticing us. But I don’t know what to do.”

Midna hummed in agreement. This was a predicament that they were in since Link was vulnerable to monsters down here. Perhaps they can use something down here to help them.

Looking at the bases of the giant mushroom trees, something caught Midna’s eye.

“Wait here for a moment,” she told Link before leaving him.

“Where are you going?” he called.

But Midna didn’t answer, disappearing behind a large mushroom tree.

“What is she doing,” Link muttered, with no choice but to stay put and wait for her.

It was only a few moments later that Midna finally returned with an arm full of strange purple/pink looking flowers, grinning.

“You went and picked flowers?” Link stared at the said flowers.

“These aren’t just ordinary flowers, these are Muddle Buds,” she informed him.

“Muddle Buds? I never heard of those before.”

“They are flowers that are found in the Twilight Realm. They are found growing at the base of those mushrooms, along with Puffrooms.”

“And you went and picked them, why?”

“Just put one of these on your arrows,” she handed a flower to Link, her grin transforming into an impish one, “And shoot it right at the base of the monster's feet.”

Link took the offered flower, giving Midna a look as if she lost it.

“Trust me on this,” she told him.

Sighing in defeat, he removed his bow from his back and took out an arrow.

“This better work. Whatever it is,” said Link as he stuck the flower onto the tip of the arrow.

With the arrow ready, Link stepped out from behind the rock, facing the monster camp, and released the arrow from his bow.

The arrow headed for one of the Lizalfos, landing at the base of it’s feet. The arrow released a large cloud of purple smoke around Lizalfos, who jumped in surprise from it.

“Now sit back and enjoy the show,” Midna told Link.

The Lizalfos swayed on it’s feet, stumbling for a moment before turning to one of the mining Bokoblins.

Link watched the clearly confused Lizalfos that was struggling to stay on it’s feet, wondering what it was doing.

His question was answered when suddenly it tensed up and lunged forward to attack the Bokoblin. The poor Bokoblin let out a squeal of surprise at the attack and turned to face the Lizalfos and attacked back. The two monsters got into a full on fight as the rest of the monsters stood on the side and watched in confusion until the Bokoblin was vanquished.

“Muddle Buds may be beautiful but be careful of their pollen. They make it difficult to tell friend from foe,” Midna chuckled in amusement, handing another flower to Link.

Link grinned, happily accepting the flower and quickly placed it on the arrow and shot it.

For ten minutes, both Link and Midna laughed at the monsters’ confusion. Stumbling around and attacking one another in their daze, not knowing they were attacking their friends.

In the end only the blue Bokoblin remained, shaking off the daze of the Muddle Bud as it looked around the camp in confusion. Link quickly took it out, hitting the back of its head as it went down and stayed down.

“Nice shot,” said Midna.

“That was perhaps the easiest and most amusing way to get rid of monsters ever,” Link grinned at her.

She nodded in agreement, watching in amusement as Link quickly rushed out from behind the rock and ran to the monster camp to collect his goods.

Sadly there weren't many monster parts found in the Depths, Link has learned. But they are always carrying Zonai, which is just as helpful. Plus, at their camps, they have crates that are sometimes filled with supplies, such as food and arrows.

Once he finished breaking the Zonai stones and gathering the materials, he broke the crates next. The first one had a bundle of arrows, which was what he needed. But the second crate was a surprise.

“Find anything good?” Midna came up from behind him.

“Kind of,” Link learned down and picked up a fresh bundle of bananas, “But good is not how I would describe it.”

Chapter Text

Bananas outside the Faron Forest is never a good sign as Link and many others all over Hyrule have learned. For when you found fresh bananas, laying out in the middle of nowhere, that meant one thing.

The Yiga Clan were nearby.

“So let me get this straight. These bananas are a bad sign of enemies nearby?” Midna asked, eyeing the bundle of bananas in her hand, not understanding what the big deal was with the fruit.

“Yep,” Link answered, eyes darting everywhere.

He’s been on high alert since finding the bananas in the monster camp. Keeping his eyes and ears open for any possible enemy attack.

Link took the lead, staying on guard, with Midna following behind him.

“What’s the big deal about these Uga people,” she asked, peeling a banana back and ate it.

“It’s Yiga,” he corrected.

“Uga, Yiga, whatever,” she mumbled with a mouth full of food.

“They’re enemies to both Zelda and myself,” he didn’t go into detail about how they wanted to support the Calamity.

Midna’s expression darken, “Enemies of the crown then?”

“Yeah, something like that. They’ve gone as far as to try and assassinate Zelda,” Link responded, eyes still forward, not noticing the Midna’s dark expression behind him.

“I’m familiar with treason all too well,” she muttered to herself, taking another bite of her banana.

If Link heard her, he didn’t comment and focused on their path ahead for enemies.

***

After walking for hours, while staying on high alert for the Yiga Clan, Link decided to call it a night.

Or was it still day? It was hard to tell time in the Depths.

Either way they have been walking for what feels like hours and Link’s feet are starting to grow sore.

They made camp in a small abandoned mine that was far from monsters and created a protective shelter. There was also a treasure chest he found at the center of it. Opening the chest, he held up an old green tunic that Link recognized that it once belonged to the Hero of Time. He wondered briefly how Time’s tunic was down here and how it held up so well over the many centuries. For now he put it away in the Purah Pad, where it will be protected.

At the main building of the mine, Midna made a fire for them, as Link started cooking. There wasn’t much Link could work with in the Depths without a large cooking pot, so he had to resort to cooking something very simple. Hyrule Bass, with some herbs and salt, rubbed into the skin, and cooked them over the fire.

“You look to be quite the cook,” Midna commented.

“I’m alright,” Link blushed at the comment, rotating the fish on the stick, “I just know the basics.”

“Considering how carefully you are cooking the fish, making sure they are cooked thoroughly all the way around. You seemed to know more than just the basics,” she said.

Link turned bright red.

After another five minutes, Link deemed that the fish were ready to eat. Carefully he removed them from the fire. He handed one to Midna, who graciously accepted it, before returning back to his seat and began to eat his.

“You know,” Midna started, catching his attention, “You didn’t answer my question from earlier.”

He looked at her, confused.

She smirked at his confusion, “About what interests you. Romantically.”

“O-Oh,” he shuttered, “That.”

“So.”

“So?”

She rolled her eyes, “You were going to tell me about your….” she left her sentence open to allow him to finish for her.

Link wasn’t sure how to even begin to explain the mess that is his love life, let alone just his life in general. Everything about him is just chaos. Nothing is easy, nor normal for him.

“W-Well, umm…” he looked down at his feet, nervously.

Midna watched him from across the fire, waiting for him to answer.

“I-I suppose at one point I did have a princess interested in me that wasn’t Zelda,” he answered.

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.”

“Who was she?” Midna asked innocently enough.

“Her name was Mipha, she was the princess of the Zora. We were friends for a long time. Grew up together, even in the Zora Domain when my father was stationed there for a while,” Link explained.

“The Zora huh? Are they… doing well?”

“Yeah, the Zora are doing fine the last time I visited there, during the celebration of the Waxing Moon.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” she smiled, “So the princess?”

“I was close with Mipha, so I heard.”

She gave him a questioning look.

“I suffered from amnesia and still struggle to remember things from my past,” he confessed.

“Oh! I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.

“Thank you. I’ve come to terms with it long ago, so don’t worry. But yeah, I’ve been told that Mipha held strong feelings for me, and from what I do remember of her. She was always there to help me when I needed her, healing me when I was injured.”

“She sounded wonderful.”

“She was. She loved me dearly and even went as far as wishing to marry me,” he confessed.

“How did you know she wanted to marry you?”

“In the Zora culture, it’s customary for the women to make and gift armor to the one they wish to marry,” he explained.

Midna suddenly tenses up, sitting up straight, while her smile tightened.

“Armor symbolizes marriage!” her voice suddenly tightens, her eyes hardening.

“Umm, yes?” Link conformed, not sure what was happening and wondered if he should be worried, “Are you okay?”

He watched Midna carefully, who was glaring hard down at her fish, as if somehow the fish greatly offended her. After a few seconds, she took a couple of deep breaths and slowly calmed down.

“I’m fine. I just remembered something is all,” she answered in a calm voice now, but Link could see that she was still tense.

“Okay,” he answered, not sure if he should continue.

She sighed, “Sorry, you may continue.”

He wasn’t sure if he should, but he didn’t want to upset her anymore.

He cleared his throat, “So, yeah. I honestly didn’t know about it myself until much later after Mipha’s passing.”

“Did you want to marry her?”

“Honestly, now? No. Back then? I don’t know. I still don’t have many memories of us. But I think it would have been no either way. I know I cared for her deeply but not romantically like she did for me.”

He knew it was true, deep down. What he did remember of Mipha, he looked at her as a dear friend, not a possible spouse. It’s one of things he truly regretted of not being able to tell Mipha, that he cared about her, but not in the way she wanted him too. Especially when he held such strong feelings for her brother.

“So, princesses aren’t your type then it sounds like,” said Midna.

Link laughed, “I guess so.”

“Any other admires?” she pressed.

“Well, there is Paya I suppose. She’s a Sheikah and her grandmother is chief of their village, which I heard she’s inherited the title of chief now,” he mused.

He remembered the first time he met Paya. How shy and timid she was, struggling to look him in the eye when they talked. And when she did, she would look to look at him she would quickly look away, face red, and made an excuse to leave out of pure embarrassment.

“Paya is very sweet, kind, and very smart. Always eager to learn things whenever she can and welling to help others. But goddess that girl struggles to talk to me face to face out of pure nervousness. She’s always nervous when she is around me, stumbling over her own feet and words, not knowing what to do or say,” he chuckled.

Midna chuckled with him, “Sounds like she has quite the crush on you.”

He nodded in agreement, “But I’m not interested in her. I apprenticed her for being a friend to me when I needed people to lean on when I needed them the most in the beginning of my journey. And I believe she knows that now and that it’s best that we remain friends.”

“So, from what I hear so far is that all three of these women, that care deeply for you, you only wish to be friends with,” Midna stated.

“I suppose so.”

She gave him a pointed look.

“You do realize that you haven’t even come close to telling me what you are interested in. In fact you just told me what you are not interested in,” she stated.

Link suppose she was right on that.

“I think… I know why you are avoiding it,” said Midna.

He tensed, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Midna smiled gently at him, a real genuine one, not her impish ones.

“I don’t judge, Link. It’s not my place, even as queen, to tell those of whom they should love. Even when they are of the same sex,” she told him.

Link stared at Midna, not sure what to think but just felt. And what he was feeling was shocked that she easily figured out that he was attractive to men, not to women. Something that many saw was not right and disgraceful, especially for the princess’s appointed knight and their hero. Shock that someone, other than Zelda, accepted him for who he was and who he may love. Then he felt relief that he didn’t have to hide himself from someone that openly accepted who he was.

Tears of relief started to form in the corner of his eyes.

“Now, let me ask this again. Who are you interested in?” she asked him gently, still smiling.

He wiped one tear away that did manage to fall, trying to gain control of his emotions.

“Take your time, you don’t have to answer tonight,” she told him, turning back to her dinner.

Link nodded, whipping away the rest of his tears before taking a bite out of his fish.

***

The next morning, or what they assume was morning, they left the small mine and continued to follow the statues.

Link didn’t talk anymore about his love life to Midna, after she managed to discover Link’s sexuality on her own. Thankfully she didn’t push after she told him to take his time and talk when he was ready. Link was very grateful that she didn’t bring it up the next day and seemed to have forgotten about it as they continued on. But knowing her, he knew she didn’t and was just respectfully giving him space.

Along the way they found a few Lightroots that helped light up their path, making traveling easier in the darkness. But they also seemed to harm Midna a little when she got too close to the light they produced. Making her hiss in pain, drawing away from the edge of blossoming foliage around the root. Apparently the Lightroots were basically the same source of light up above in Hyrule, or something like that, and that same source of light can actually harms the Twili people. Link made a note about that and made sure Midna didn’t get too close to the Lightroots when he awoke them.

After awakening another Lightroot, they were able to finally see the end of the trail of the statues that led to a large structure in the distance.

“What is that?” Midna asked.

“I don’t know,” Link answered, joining her away from the Lightroot, “But it’s the biggest building I have seen down here so far.”

“Let’s check it out.”

Link nodded, taking the lead.

The path to the structure was easy to get to. The ground wasn’t too infected, so Midna didn’t have to clear much for them, and there were no monsters around either.

It took almost an hour, on foot, to reach the large structure with no obstacles in their way.

The structure was much larger than they expected when they finally reached. The buildings looked to be like those they found in the small mines that Link came across but on a much larger scale. This must have been the main mine in the Depths for all the smaller ones.

“It’s amazing,” Midna said in awe.

Link could only nod in agreement.

Unlike the smaller mines, this one seems to have a sort of power source that allows the structure to be lit up that was not fire or BrightBulbs. Upon a closer look, and in the light, Link was able to see that the place was still in excellent shape despite it being down here for thousands and thousands of years. It’s possible that down here in the Depths, all the structures were protected from the forces of nature, so it never weathered down with time.

Link approached the large arch entrance of the mine, leaving Midna’s side, who wandered off to another part of the structure, to inspect it.

Moving deeper inside Link couldn't help but wonder what this place was like in its heyday, and how many people were here to run this place in the Depths. It must have been quite a lot from how big it was.

Moving closer Link could hear muttering of people within the main mine.

There were people down here!?

Ahead, there were two Hylians, standing on a platform, with the green glowing circle with a hand in the center. Upon closer inspection Link noticed that they were dressed in the same excavation gear that he has seen people wear around Lookout Landing.

Are they part of Josha’s excavation team for the Depths? He didn’t remember her mentioning there would be others down here. But he has been down here for a few days and has gotten sidetracked once or twice.

With caution, Link descended up the stairs and approached the woman first.

“Oh?” She noticed Link, turning to him with a smile, “Did you pass the interview too?”

He was right to assume they are part of Josha’s team.

“He obviously did. Why else would he come strolling into a place like this? Ugh, why did I even bring that up?” she muttered quietly to herself.

Kind of strange, he thought.

Last time he checked, Josha was very picky of who she wanted on her team. And from what he’s gathered from this woman, she didn’t seem to pass for what Josha wanted.

“Er… Just forget that. It’s not important,” she said with a bashful face, “What is important is this text we’re investigating. It’s fascinating. It claims that this stone statue should be able to grant us an ancient power.”

‘Ancient power?’ Linked sign.

“That’s right. This peculiar stone statue is nothing less than one of the fabled constructs. In fact, I have some writing here that explains this so-called ancient power in detail. It reads ‘This ability allows you to commit any structure you create to memory. Any object committed to memory can be instantly reproduced.’ Just think of it! If we can instantly re-create anything we’d ever made. The Yi- er, I mean, the survey team’s, uh…”

Link gave her a strange look.

“Investigation! This land would be swift and unstoppable!” she hastily said.

She’s quite strange, he thought.

“Anyways, the text further claims that this construct should be able to grant us that power. Oh, we just have to wake it up!”

***

“Whoa! It’s like I’m seeing double!” exclaimed the male researcher, after Link demonstrated the new memory power from his arm.

Link stared at his arm in wonder before looking back at the construction he built with it. This new ability is amazing, and quite handy!

“Built in less than no time too. This is exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you, ancient power!”

It was indeed something. On his journey to find Zelda and stop whatever evil threatened over Hyrule will surely help.

“The texts were right, after all!” the female researcher exclaimed.

“I’ll say. That power is incredible,” the male researcher agreed.

“Oh Maaaster!” the female searcher called.

Link looked away from his arm and up to the two.

Master? he thought, confused.

Suddenly the two researchers disappeared in a cloud of smoke, startling Link.

A deep chuckle from somewhere in the darkness above him came.

“Well, look at that… The legends are true!”

A loud sound of smoke exploding came from behind Link as he turned around to face not only two members of Yiga Clan, but their leader as well, Master Kohga.

“Great work, the both of you!” Kogha unnecessarily yelled in a smug tone, “And you, too, stranger. Credit where credit is due.”

Some part Link was glad to see that he didn’t accidentally kill Kogha way back then when they last faced each other. But another part was annoyed that he had to deal with this idiot again.

“Yes, credit where credit is…” Kohga suddenly lost his smugness, staring at Link.

There was a moment of silence in the air.

Suddenly Kohga stomped his foot on the ground, “If there’s one foe I’ll never forget, it’s the man who cast me from the Gerudo Desert hideout into these very Depths. It was YOU!”

Link stared at him, unimpressed.

“Now I live for vengeance. Both upon that no-good Zelda, and my sworn enemy! That means you, Link!” he pointed to Link.

Link glared at him for mentioning Zelda. How dare he talk about her like that when her wellbeing and safety was unknown to everyone in Hyrule.

“We meet again at last! And don’t try to tell me you’ve forgotten me. We are bound by fate, you and I!” exclaimed Kohga.

Yeah, Link highly doubted that.

“Hear my name and tremble in fear! I am the leader… of the Yiga Clan!” Kohga and his minions started to do a weird dance, “The strong! The Depths-defying! From the ashes, rising! MASTER KOHGA!!!”

Oh, dear goddess, Link groaned inside, Do I really have to deal with this idiot again?

“I saw it all,” Kohga started on another rant, “I saw the moment you obtained the ancient power we’ve sought for so long!”

It wasn’t Link’s fault that his arm belonged to an ancient Zonai king and that their ancient tech recognizes Zonai blood.

Kohga then crossed his arms, standing sideways as he tried to look cool in front of Link.

“The highlight of all the mushy old texts we’ve found in this land! It remembers objects you’ve assembled and can instantly reproduce them… A long-lost ability from the distant past! Then you… You! You’re cheating!” Kohga yelled, stopping his foot like a spoiled child.

Link could only stare at this man and wonder to himself ‘is he for real?’

His minions started to stump with him, as he shouted, “Here we are, working ourselves to the bone, building things by hand! And you just-”

Suddenly something from behind Link flew right by his head and hit Kohga and his minions, creating an explosion of smoke.

“What the!” Kohga yelled before coughing.

“Ugh, if I had to hear him talk for another second, I swear I was going to keel over.”

Link turned around to see Midna coming down the small flight of stairs behind him.

“You, okay?” she asked Link.

“Yeah, I’m fine. They just caught me by surprise is all,” he told her.

Midna joined him at the bottom of the stairs, “Are these idiots the Yiga Clan you were complaining about?”

“Yep,” he answered, watching the Yiga lost in the cloud of smoke.

Loud coughs and curses could be heard from the smoke, while a flagging arm would stick out for a second or two.

“What did you throw at them?” Link looked at Midna.

“Puffrooms,” she answered, holding up two little cream-colored mushrooms in her hand, releasing small little puffs of smoke at the top, “They grow with Muddle Buds most of the time around large mushroom trees. Puffrooms unfortunately are not good for consuming, but they release a large cloud of smoke that makes perfect cover, or diversions, if needed.”

“L-Link!” Kohga yelled with a loud cough.

Link turned to see that the smoke was starting to settle.

“How dare you not only take the power we were looking for but to try to blind us as well!” he yelled.

Midna rolled her eyes at him before she threw another Puffroom at Kohga, creating another explosion of smoke, making him curse louder.

“He’s quite annoying,” she stated.

“Tell me about it,” Link agreed.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Midna.

Link nodded in agreement, turning to leave, until a Stewart came up beside them.

“Excuse me, I apologize for asking. But we would appreciate it if you helped us rid of the intruders so we may return back to our tasks. In return, we would be happy to show you a blueprint for the ‘Memory’ technique that you have now.”

“What kind of blueprint?” Midna was the one to ask.

“A new structure that you can build in an instant. Each main mine has a blueprint, carried by a Stewart, that could range from vehicles or equipment,” explained the Stewart.

The offer was very intriguing indeed.

“Let’s help them,” Link said to Midna.

Midna groaned, “Do we really have to?”

“It won't take long, I promise,” Link assured her.

She signed heavily, “Fine.”

The smoke finally settled and Kogha can finally see Link again.

“How dare you!” Kohga exclaimed, “You little…” he trailed off as he noticed Midna standing beside Link.

Link noticed Kohga staring at Midna opening, and he was sure if Kohga wasn’t wearing a mask, you could see his jaw dropping.

“Uhhh,” was all that Kohga got out.

“Looks like you have an admirer,” Link teased Midna.

Her face scratched up in disgust, “Oh great,” just what she needed.

***

“Urgh! You pesky little… PEST! Why won't you stand still and let me squish you!” Kogha panted heavily, injured.

Link finished defeating Kohga by knocking him off his machine that he tried moments ago to crush Link with.

“Well, fine! I suppose I can let you off easy for today,” said Kohga.

If he wanted to think that, then sure. Whatever. It made no real difference to Link just as long as he leaves here.

“You think you are so smart. But I’ve already found a whole bunch of ruins down here!” Kohga boosted, trying to look cool again, “I saw your little trick there. You used-”

“Oh, for the love of goddesses already!” Midna shouted from the sidelines, annoyed, “We get it, already! You lost but you are trying to taunt us with stuff you think will make you feel better because you want it. But reality we don’t give a shit. So shut up already about it!”

Even somehow with a mask on, Kogha was blushing like a schoolgirl.

“She’s noticing me! I mean why wouldn’t she. I am the great Master Kohga after all of the Yiga Clan,” he whispered loudly to himself, that everyone heard him.

“Ugh, dear goddesses,” Midna groaned.

Link suppressed a chuckle in amusement.

Kohga quickly came out of his schoolgirl moment and summoned an aircraft, before jumping on.

“Don’t follow me to the Southwester Abandoned mine! Unless you wish to pay for your life!” he shouted over his shoulder to Link and flew away into the darkness.

Link stared at the spot where Kohga once stood, unable to believe that idiot told Link where he was heading off to next.

With a tired sigh, Link moved to a flight of stairs and sat down at the top of them.

Shortly after he sat down, Midna came up from behind Link, and sat down on the stairs next to him.

“Well, that was quite the fight,” she commented, “For a secret organization of assassins, he's a very weak and terrible leader.”

Link chuckled, “Yeah, I don’t know how he became their leader honestly.”

“Well, at least he makes your job easier,” she added.

Link nodded in agreement, with a smile, staring out into the darkness where another giant statue sat. This time of a woman, that seems to be leading away from this mine.

He enjoyed the silence for a moment before breaking it.

“His name is Sidon.”

Midna looked to him, “Pardon?”

“The one I love,” Link cleared up, “His name is Sidon and he’s the prince of the Zora.”

“A prince then, huh,” she grinned at him.

He blushed a bit, “Yeah. Princesses are not my thing, it seems. But Princes are.”

“I can tell,” she said.

“Sidon is very special to me… He’s always there to cheer me up when I am always at my lowest, making me believe there is more to me than what people believe. He makes me feel seen. He cares about the person that I am, and not for the title I carry.”

“He sounds like a good person,” Midna said gently, “Does he know how you feel about him?

Link shook his head, “No. I’ve never had the courage to tell him.”

“May I give you a little piece of wisdom? Never put your own feelings second before others. Because sometimes when you want to wait to tell someone, you lose that chance…,” she trailed off with a distant look in her eyes that held great sorrow, “Don’t do what I did and ignore your heart, Link. Until it’s too late.”

She was right. With this new journey he was on, who knows what laid in store for him. Would he be able to survive this journey?

“I’ll keep your advice in mind,” he told her.

She smiled, looking out into the darkness, before leading back against her arms.

“So, we given chase?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow, “We?”

“Of course. You think I’m going to let you go on your own and get killed? Hell no! It’s clear that you need my help down here,” she said smugly.

“Like a partner?”

“Yeah, like a partner,” she smiled, “It’s been a while since I’ve been on an adventure, I think one is in order for me. That and I want to know why so many elements of the Twilight Realm are down here.”

Link grinned back at her, “It would be nice to have a partner again in my travels.”

“But I’m in charge, and you are just a loyal pup that follows orders,” she teased, ruffling his hair.

Link rolled his eyes but still kept smiling.

Having someone with him again was something he didn’t realize how much he missed and needed. And if Midna was the one to tag along, he didn’t mind so much to have her along for the journey.