Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Under the full moon and neon signs decorating the various store fronts and tall buildings, the rain-soaked pavement glittered beneath Link’s brisk walking work boots.

He knew by this point in the evening, his sister Aryll’s dance class had been finished for well over thirty minutes, and she was likely the only kid left standing in the giant window waiting to get picked up. He was doing his best to hold their dinner still in the bag as he moved. Work had kept him late despite his best efforts to leave.

All of the lights inside the dance studio could still be seen illuminating the corner he rounded. Link began to pick up his speed when he saw her small figure pressed against the glass dramatically. Her teacher, a Rito woman named Melanie, could be seen sitting on a stool beside the wall length mirror from the street outside, waiting right along with the young girl.

When Aryll spotted her brother, she ran through the double glass doors, out into the drizzle to hug him around his uniform tight. “Sorry,” Link said simply.

“It’s okay,” Aryll replied, then tightened the strap of her dance bag on her shoulder. His job paid well enough, and it was the only reason they had the money to send her to these lessons. She never complained when he was late. After Link thanked her instructor, the two made their way back in the direction he came.

Even this late at night and with the workout she just had, Aryll was a wellspring of energy. She skipped around him with her shoulder bag swinging and he sighed. He knew she was just scared and eager to return home; it was dangerous to linger in their city at night. If their neighborhood wasn’t so close, he would have never agreed to these lessons at all.

“Aryll, stop. I’m not in the mood to run anymore,” He called before she got too far.

She quickly made her way back to his side and opted to hold his hand for protection instead.

“How was school today, brat.” He smiled at her.

Aryll smiled back hugely at him and the affectionate term he always used to address her.

“Mutah is my boyfriend now,” She replied.

“Oh, that’s great, grandma will be thrilled,” He replied with an eye roll. Link could remember hearing about the zoran boy last week after he’d gifted her some sour candy.

“How was work today, dummy,” Aryll mirrored his question with a grin.

“Fine,” He lied.

“Were you bored?”

“Always,” He chuckled.

Aryll shivered and pinched the edges of her thick coat around her torso and white tutu.

The alleyways they passed were dark and frightening to her, but Aryll felt safe with her brother. Although she’d never witnessed it firsthand, she knew he was a fighter. It angered their grandmother endlessly when he was still in high school, coming home with fresh bruises on his body and face every so often. He still made an occasional habit of it on the days he didn’t need to pick her up from practice.

“They were ganging up on someone,” He’d always say in his quick defense.

Home was minutes away to her relief. The drizzle was lifting just a bit as the chilled night air brushed their cheeks. It gave her a clear view of the strange reddish orange hue the moon was tinted.

“What’dyja make for dinner,” She asked.

“Take a guess. Bet you’ll figure it out.” Link handed the plastic sack over and she let go of his hand to peek inside.

“It’s fried rice. You spilled all the soy sauce when you ran here…” She muttered unhappily.

“We might have some at home. I can run back out if not.”

“No,” Aryll said quickly. “Please don’t. The walk is too far, and it’s dark out.”

He chuckled again and took her hand. “I’ll get the car fixed soon.”

She knew the likeliness of that was pretty low. They really couldn’t afford the repairs.

A shrill cry from the street adjacent made both of their heads whip around.

A teenaged sheikan boy wearing a kimono was running from two snarling, awkwardly sprinting figures. The pursuers were two enormous shark Zora adorning dark clothing and face tattoos. The smallest one caught up first and grabbed the boy aggressively before biting down hard on his forearm with sharp fangs, tearing into his flesh and ripping hard. The second one fell over him next, but the boy was kicking their shoulder back feebly and barely holding them away.

The struggling boy and Aryll both let out identical piercing shrieks.

Everything snapped into clear focus.

“Against the wall! GO!” He yelled at his sister, pushing her hard in that direction. She did exactly as he said with wide terrified eyes. The injured boy’s blood was spilling all over the wet pavement and mixing with the pooling rain.

“Unhand me!” The boy screamed again, and yanked something from his hip with the uninjured arm to stab whatever he could reach. Links' running kick came into forceful contact with the largest one’s head, and it knocked him back hard, but the recovery was immediate-the thug sat right back up. That was when Link saw the glowing yellow irises, and every single hair on his neck stood.

Link yanked the skinnier attacker by the collar, off and away from the screaming kid before delivering another face kick and knocking him back into his lunging accomplice. The kid jumped to his feet despite the downpour of blood and screamed, “They’re trying to fucking eat me!”

Link saw the kid had his injured arm tucked in tight to his body, and the weapon he’d been trying to fight them off with, a long thin sword, was grasped tight in the other hand and pointing at the two aggressors.

He didn’t have any time to focus on the strangeness of the attire or the kid’s choice of weapon.

They were nearly up again, and the unblinking stare that never left either of them filled Link with a sense of terror he’d never experienced. His eyes were darting around for anything nearby to protect himself with, and he settled on cylindrical metal scrap he saw sticking out from behind a wooden pallet.

The thugs were on their feet and lunging mindlessly once again. Link and the kid both swung their weapons and struck hard. Link’s metal bar had made contact with the larger one’s shoulder, but it only redirected his movement. There was no reaction to pain or aggressive words, only animalist snarling, and the glowing stare of death when the man’s crumpled form looked back up at him.

Link saw the kid was holding his sword horizontally against the zora’s neck in the desperate attempt to avoid being bitten again. He’d managed to slice his attacker’s arm clean off but it still made no difference. Link realized they needed to cause much worse damage than this if they wanted to survive.

Aryll had been trying so hard not to scream, but when the severed zora arm began to drag its way towards her, the one she let out was bloodcurdling.

Link’s head shot around in her direction, and he screamed at her, “RUN HOME RIGHT NOW!”

Aryll’s face was soaked with tears as she screeched back, “I’M CALLING FOR HELP!”

Link didn’t have time to watch her disappear; he had seconds to react when another lunge came his direction. His makeshift bat whipped so hard it whistled, and broke in half against the shark’s skull. The now collapsed body indicated to Link that they were now either unconscious or dead.

His heart was exploding in his chest and the adrenaline had him visibly shaking. He couldn’t believe what he’d just done. He abandoned the halved pieces of his weapon, and ran towards the screaming teenager’s pinned down body to swing his foot into his attacker’s temple. He managed to knock him to the side a few feet.

The thug snarled and bared his fangs upon his immediate recovery, but the snow-haired kid sat up and pierced his weapon straight through their neck. They were both completely wide eyed and shaking when at last, the attacker fell back.

The boy quickly crawled over to retrieve and sheath his weapon from the gurgling, twitching man, but Link was grabbing his shoulder hard and yelling, “It’s time to run!”

They were both on their feet and sprinting at full speed in the direction of Link’s neighborhood.

“Hi, I’m Jory!” The sheikan boy yelled at Link.

“What the HELL even was all of that!?” He yelled back.

“I’ll tell you what I know, let’s get away first,” Jory replied with a laugh. The kid was unusually upbeat for someone with a giant bleeding gash in their arm. He was wrapping it tight with the band from his kimono as they ran.

When the orangish white glow of the streetlamps decorating Link’s neighborhood finally illuminated the way before them, they both slowed their running.

Jory was panting a lot harder than Link when he said, “I was downtown…looking for criminals…when they came…from literally NOWHERE…and tried to rip me apart… they chased me…across seven blocks…I have no idea why this is happening.”

Jory stopped entirely, and threw his hands down to his knees, still trying to catch his breath. Link’s house was only a few away at this point. He stopped as well, and said, “Why would you go downtown alone and without something more realistic to protect yourself with?”

Jory let out an indignant scoff and said, “Nothing beats a sword…it’s the ultimate form of protection.” They began a slow walk down the street once more.

“That’s…ridiculous,” Link muttered. A sword wasn’t going to stop a criminal’s bullet.

“I’m not sure if you noticed, but this city literally sucks. There are gangs everywhere. My dad got mugged last month and the police did nothing, so I decided they were unreliable jerks and I’ve been taking matters into my own hands!” Jory declared.
“After I clean this wound, I’m going back out to investigate what that was. You saw they were dead, right?”

“Uh, yes, we literally just–”

“What I mean is, they were already dead before we took them down. There were gunshot wounds in both of their heads.” Jory said seriously.

Link didn’t want to believe it. The kid was clearly insane.

He had finally made it home and had stopped a few feet up his driveway to look back at the intense boy.

“I need backup, I've never met anyone else brave enough to fight back! Find a better weapon and meet with me in an hour,” Jory begged.

“Hard pass…I’m gonna go check to see if my sister’s alright, and uh, call the police. You should probably get to a hospital.”

“Nah I’m good. Please think about it!” Jory said before darting back out into the night.

Link sighed and shook his head. He needed to prepare another dinner for everyone since he’d abandoned the last one. He’d definitely be going back out to investigate later, just not with the clumsy kid.

. . . . . . . . . .

Rise.

The crumpled bleeding forms of the beaten down thugs began to tremble and jerk.

A curious resident of a nearby apartment complex had just made her way down the stairs to check things out after the horrific noises outside her window had died down.

She was a few feet away from the rows of parked cars when something enormous charged at her, and ripped into her neck with sharp, fanged teeth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have a debilitating, irrational fear of zombies in real life. Not a joke. I’ve had zombie related nightmares all my life. Imo they are the only monster with a realistic chance to exist and destroy society. I’m going to do my best to invoke that same level of fear in all of you when reading this.

I'd like to thank Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island for scaring the living hell out of four-year-old me. I don't CARE that the zombies were the good guys OK f*** that movie (NOT THE MUSIC THO) The chili pepper scene where the zombie's began rising out of the lake is literally the root cause of this psychological affliction of mine.

If you found this idea interesting and are curious to know the direction I take things, please consider leaving a kudos and/or bookmark!

Chapter Text

“Why won’t they talk to you?”

The seven-year-old Zelda sighed. “I dunno Peeks…I tried to sit with a group of girls at lunch but they got up. I hate this school.”

Zelda and her friend were sitting at the edge of the playground near the fence, watching the clouds roll by with the wind.

“But…if you hadn’t moved here, we never would have stumbled into each other!” The small Korok said with a pout.

Zelda smiled sweetly at him. “I’m so glad we’re friends. I like talking to you.”

Peeks was happy again, but suddenly he looked up. “There’s a boy coming over here.”

A hylian with red hair was approaching her with an amused expression. Zelda’s heart jumped in her chest and she quickly stood up.

“Hey, new kid,” the boy began, “I saw your drawing earlier.”

Zelda lit up. “Oh, did you like it?”

“Why do you always draw monsters and swords? It’s weird.”

Her heart squeezed a bit in hurt and embarrassment. “O-oh…sometimes I draw stuff I dream about.” Her voice had gotten meek.

The kid looked over his shoulder and then back at her. “Everyone saw you talking to yourself. Got an imaginary friend?”

Zelda stammered, “W-what do you mean?” She gestured downwards and said, “I’m talking to Peeks.”

The korok smiled at her sadly and said, “He can’t see me, no one can.”

The kid’s expression that greeted her when she glanced back up was cruel. He quickly ran back to his nearby standing group of friends to repeat the conversation. She watched as they all began to laugh.

Zelda quickly sat back down beside her friend as she fought the tears threatening to spill over. “Why can’t they see you?” She asked him, doing her best to cover her mouth so no one saw her talking still.

“My home was destroyed a very long time ago, I’m only a spirit now. I wander around because I have nowhere to go. Being able to see me makes you pretty special,” Peeks told her.

“I’m sorry your home was destroyed,” Zelda said as her tears finally fell.

“Thank you. I was pretty lonely until you came around.”

Zelda dried her face on her sleeve and said, “I don’t want you to be lonely. Visit me anytime you’d like.”

Peeks giggled. “Thank you, miss Zelda. ”

. . . . . . . .

‘You have to get up.’

Zelda stirred awake from the memory, and blinked up at her ceiling slowly. She’d fallen asleep in the middle of studying, she realized. She hadn't even removed her shoes.

Her eyes took in the dimly lit room, trying to figure out what she’d just heard. The orange light peeking through her blinds indicated to her that it was nearly sunset.

‘It’s very important that you leave. You have to leave right now!”

Zelda quickly got out of her bed and scanned the room again. She couldn’t see anyone, only scattered college textbooks and clothes strewn about her bedroom and desk. The voice was distinctly female.

“Where are you?” Zelda asked in a hushed tone.

‘Time cannot be wasted. The empty factory, near the gate and river that separates your city from the Forbidden Forest. Everyone is in terrible danger…”

Zelda could feel her heart begin to race. Usually when spirits visited her, it was to have some company or request a small favor related to their life before. This was new, and it was scaring her.

She grabbed her blue cellphone and pocketed it quickly before dashing from her room and down the stairs. Her father was at the kitchen table, highlighting things out of a thick packet that lay before him and an enormous stack of case files.

He didn’t look up from his work when she said to him, “I have to go.”

“You haven’t shown me your homework yet.”

She wrung her hands anxiously and said, “It’s almost done, I have a couple paragraphs left.”

“Sounds like you aren’t going anywhere then.”

“Dad,” Zelda said, trying to mask her distress, “I really have to go. I won’t be long,” She yanked her keys from the hook and ran out the door.

“Zelda!” He pushed away from the table to stop her.

She saw he was visibly fuming as she pulled out of her driveway with trembling hands on the steering wheel.

“Are you still there?” Zelda called out to her visitor. There was no response. She sighed deeply, and anxiously navigated her way in the direction of downtown. She knew it would be at least thirty minutes before she reached the factory.

The sun was just a slit on the horizon now. She didn’t know what to expect, but it was dawning on her that some form of protection should have been brought along. She cursed at herself under her breath. The neon signs that decorated the section of the city she drove through were all beginning to light up. Just a few more blocks away, and the dilapidated factory would be in sight. The drizzle was misting her windshield and windows, blurring the people on the sidewalks that she passed.

Zelda was able to see the desolate factory by the time she was a few streets away. She was scared to drive any closer, so she parked her car on the curb beside another abandoned business.

She retrieved the black hoodie from her passenger seat to shakily put on, as her quickened breath began to fog up all the windows. She knew she couldn’t delay, but it was a genuine struggle getting her body to climb out. She felt frozen.

“What do I need to do?” Zelda whispered. The response made her heart leap to her throat.

‘Do not be seen.’

Zelda stiffly climbed out into the icy drizzle, and made sure no one was around before following the route she hoped would keep her more concealed. The very edge of downtown was in the beginning stages of being demolished, as everything there was abandoned. The narrow alleyway she took beyond the ribbon was almost pitch black aside from the narrow slit of light at the end. She sprinted until she was about to round the corner that led to the side of the building.

‘WAIT!’

The sound of screeching tires and engines got distinguishably louder as Zelda held herself tightly to the wall out of sight. The haphazard drivers made their way directly in front of the factory to park. She heard three car engines die, before the shouting and screaming began.

She crouched as low as she could and peeked around the corner just in time to see six enormous screaming shark zora bound in rope and blindfolded, being dragged across the ground by gorons through the several stories high archway that led inside.

Zelda felt light headed. She rose to her feet and quietly made her way to the wall beside the smaller of the two openings that led inside. She got low to the ground just as before but refrained from looking yet.

“AS REQUESTED,” Came a thunderous voice.

A voice that made Zelda's blood run cold replied, “Do you three understand how much attention you drew coming here to deliver them?”

She knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

She couldn't stop herself this time from risking a peek. Luckily his back was turned and the gorons weren't paying attention to her.

“NOT OUR PROBLEM. WHERE'S OUR PAYMENT?”

She watched the Gerudo man stiffen where he stood, then approach them slowly.

“I would be happy to deliver payment,” the man said in a cold voice that made the three gorons laugh vivaciously. The six tied men were still screaming profanities.

Zelda heard the sound of squelching as the three were quite literally torn in half before her eyes. She couldn't comprehend how it happened, the man's arms barely lifted and there was no weapon in sight, only a faint red glow. She threw both hands over her mouth and repressed the urge to shriek.

Zelda pulled herself back out of view, right before the man turned around to address the now fully silent captives. She reached for her cellphone with trembling fingers to begin recording their voices from her place of concealment.

“Such a waste,” she heard him say, then sigh. “They would have been…excellent additions.” The terrifying man began to laugh before he kicked one of the kneeling zora to the dusty concrete ground.

“Our crew will find us and end you!”

“My hope is you'll find them.”

The man laughed again and suddenly she heard the sound of dragging bodies resume, as the tied up victims struggled and screamed, trying to break free. She could hear him punch several of them to shut them up. The others quieted voluntarily after that.

Zelda was crawling around the corner to the other arch to record what was happening. There was a gun she couldn’t identify from a lack of knowledge, gripped tightly in his right hand.

The victims were all lying inside of a large, strangely painted red circle she hadn't noticed from her position before. She tried her best to hold the recording still.

“This really is a manner unlike my usual…but…this is the way you all must die.” One of the captives that hadn't been silenced, began begging as they all struggled.

Zelda wanted to scream at him, run at him, anything to make him stop, but she was entirely helpless and certain he would kill her next if she did.

She held back a sob with her palm and watched the mob lord walk beside each one of his victims before delivering a fatal gunshot to the temple. Tears were falling like a ceaseless stream as she watched them all die.

‘Zelda, you're in grave danger. You received everything you needed, now please flee!’

Zelda couldn't bring herself to leave yet, she had to know what the hell this was and what he was doing. She needed this proof.

The Gerudo man Zelda knew as Drahlo had begun a disturbing chant in a language she’d never heard, right as he began the killings. The ground was beginning to rumble and quake beneath her feet as his voice progressively increased in volume and anger. The veins on his arms and legs were exposed and visibly popping out, with his arms bent outwards strangely. Reddish black mist was rising from the ground around him and the bodies.

Zelda nearly dropped her phone when she saw the jerking bodies quite literally levitate to their feet. They were all twitching and standing in a line before him, still blindfolded and tied up. Drahlo cut each of their bindings with a small knife, then removed the blindfolds from their shut eyes.

She was able to understand the last part of Mire Drahlo’s chant.

“It is time to resurrect my rightful power. Rise with the blood moon, my army of the dead…”

Zelda knew she had to leave, the voice was pleading with her, but she felt rooted in place. She watched as their haunting black eyes opened one by one. The glowing yellow irises locked directly on to her, and the breath in her throat instantly hitched.

“Get the stupid girl.”

She realized in absolute horror that he knew all along there she was watching. She was scrambling to her feet and running as hard as the adrenaline would take her, away from the growling runners with outstretched arms already closely behind her. Zora were not known for running, a fact that was likely saving her life.

Zelda did everything she could not to drop her keys. She was ripping them from her back pocket and holding each key between her fingers in case she needed to punch. The other hand was unlocking the car that was quickly getting closer. She risked a backwards glance and saw one of them was nearly on her.

“Please stop!” She screamed.

Zelda’s feet were pounding, then skidding as she rounded the front of the car, narrowly escaping a lunge. She threw open the passenger side door and leaped inside to swiftly lock herself in. All six of her pursuers began slamming themselves into the glass of her windows with eyes that wouldn't leave her face.

She was screaming and jumping to the driver's side, before jamming her keys into the ignition. Warm air was blasting in her face, but she couldn't focus on it. There was one climbing onto her windshield, so she put the car into reverse and slammed on the gas.

“Oh my god!”

She’d sped by the other five but the guy on top wouldn't let go. Putting it into drive now, Zelda veered sharply to the left to avoid them, as she drove forward and away from them. The snarling from the one gripping on and pounding the glass was loud enough that she could hear it through the glass.

When Zelda was at the very edge of the street, she slammed on the brakes hard and flung the shark to the street where he rolled, then immediately sat up once more.

She accidentally drove into him sideways trying to dodge the lunge. In Zelda’s review mirror was the sight of him and the others once again running after her, but in no time at all they were specks, then they were gone.

Zelda was shaking so violently that by the time she reached the highway, she immediately took the next exit and parked on the side of the road to retrieve her phone from her pocket. She realized she needed to word this carefully to be taken seriously.

‘Farelaw City Emergency Services, what is the nature of your call?’

“I witnessed a gang leader murder a handful of people at the uhm…I think it was a smelting factory of some kind? The abandoned one downtown on Mccaivr Road. Six of his thugs tried to attack me. I reached my car and drove away, but I'm worried they're going out to hurt other people as well. They're all male shark zora.”

‘We’ll send police right away to that location. What is your name?’

Zelda gave the police dispatch all of the remaining information she could, while repeatedly emphasizing the danger and for everyone to be safe. She then requested an officer be sent to her address to talk with her further.

Her father had absolutely no choice but to believe her this time.

The eerie red moon followed Zelda the entire drive home to her gated community. The time of night and horrible weather had everyone in the neighborhood inside their homes to her relief. When at last she rounded her street, the sight of the two police cars parked in her driveway made her heart jolt.

Zelda’s father was out the front door and banging on her window the instant her car pulled into the only available space.

“Inside,” Was all he could say through his pinched expression. Zelda was pushing past him and sprinting up the steps already; she couldn't delay any of this.

The two hylian officers at the kitchen table abruptly stood at the sight of her and the heavy way she was breathing upon her approach.

“I need to discuss my emergency call,” Zelda gasped.

She'd retrieved her cellphone from her hoodie pocket quickly, just as her father was reentering the house.

“Zelda what the hell–”

“I promise I'll explain everything if you give me the chance,” she pleaded with him. He just stared, the other two men simply nodded.

Zelda did her best to look at only the blonde and brunette officers as she spoke.

“I witnessed…Mire Drahlo…murder nine people in the abandoned glass factory downtown.”

“That mobster going on trial this Friday?” One of the officers asked bluntly and with a disbelieving tone.

“The one being acquitted this Friday, yes,” Her father interrupted. He looked directly at Zelda when he said, “I visited with my client this morning actually…in the prison they’re currently holding him. This really is a disturbing story you’ve made up.”

Zelda wanted to scream but knew it would shut down everything she said, to at least her father after that.

“I'm telling the truth, please listen to me! I don't know how he got there, but he's planning something terrifying and someone needs to find him and stop it!”

She remembered the cellphone still tightly gripped in her palm and began fumbling with the unlock function. “I have proof!” She cried. “I recorded him shooting six of his victims…”

“You just magically knew when and where to go in order to capture this?” Zelda's father muttered acidicly.

Zelda could barely keep her finger steady enough to hit the play button, but when she did, the sound coming out was distorted and incomprehensible, almost like it was plunged underwater. Suddenly it cut out entirely, and backed out before a message appeared that read, ‘File is corrupted.’

“DAMMIT!” She screamed. She was repeatedly pressing the play button to no avail.

Everyone was tensely quiet for several long moments. She glanced at her father's unreadable expression.

“You have to listen to me…” Zelda was so close to crying. “He sent six Zora after me…I almost died…”

“There were six of them?” The other officer said with a noticable shift in demeanor.

“Officers, look,” the criminal defense attorney began, “My daughter has a history of making outlandish false claims without proof and this time is no different. She's had it out for this particular client of mine for years.”

Zelda wanted to rip out hair from the frustration but balled her fists instead.

“There’s validity in some of what she's saying,” the brunet officer said seriously. “We've received dozens of phone calls in the last thirty minutes about Zora attacking and biting people, officers are being dispatched everywhere downtown as we speak. You're lucky you didn't get hurt.”

Zelda’s father didn't have a response. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“I gave you everything I have, now please go out and help them,” Zelda cried at the officers. She could sense their reluctance.

“We'd like to take your cellphone if you'll give us permission to do so. One of our specialists might be able to recover the video you captured.”

Zelda thrust it at the man and said, “This could be the evidence you need to finally convict him.”

Almost every cop in the city of Farelaw wanted to see the accused killer face justice. The officers both nodded in solid agreement with her, as her father briskly ushered them back out into the chilled night air.

The expression that greeted her when he turned around made Zelda swallow. She hadn't won him over despite the officer’s words.

“You were deliberately asking for trouble when you went downtown. How stupid can you be?”

“So you believe I saw him then!”

“I believe six thugs tried to chase you...and you found a way to weave Drahlo into it. I truly don't know anymore whether you say these things out of delusion or deception, but it's reached a dangerous level I can no longer leave be. You have proven to me that you cannot manage your mental health on your own. I've threatened it before, but tomorrow I'm bringing you somewhere for a psychological intake evaluation, and that's the final say on this matter.”

Instead of punching him like the violent urge beckoned, she said in a low, even voice, “You are the most miserable, worthless excuse for a father, and people are going to die because of you.”

Zelda knew the barrage of profanities and insults would be all she heard the remainder of her evening with him. She dashed out the front door with her car keys and didn't look back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ganondorf Dragmire was the OG Gerudo Ganon. Mire Drahlo is another Gerudo incarnation of Demise just as Ganon was. The spirit of Ganon was whispering his full name in his mama’s ear and she was like ??? My son is going to get bullied for being the only Gerudo boy in the city, I'm not fucking naming him ‘ganondorf’ Fight me ghost bitch

The actual truth is I used the name Drahlo as a placeholder until I read over it so much it literally just became his name. I came up with a name that reminded me of Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones and Ganon both. Then I panicked about accidentally using a curse word in a foreign language, but it turns out Drahlo means DRAGON in Zulu so it's fucking perfect, ty

At this time he's basically the Night King from Game of Thrones. Still many distinct differences between them we'll get into later.

They're shark, they're men. They're sharkmen. 🦈🧔

Chapter Text

Link could hear the hysterically yelling well before he opened the front door.

What he saw upon entering, to the right by the staircase, was Aryll literally fighting to pull away a metal baseball bat their grandmother was grasping tightly to her chest.

The wheels on her wheelchair had been locked, presumably to prevent the girl from successfully retrieving the weapon, but the chair was still dragging along the wooden floor towards the door as they struggled.

“GRANDMA, HE NEEDS HELP!” Aryll cried.

“Aryll!” Link and Kanna yelled in unison. Aryll screamed at the sight of him.

She ran and hugged his rain soaked apron tight, sobbing, “You stupid dummy! Why do you always do this?! That was so scary! I told the police you were about to get eaten by zombies!”

“You didn't…” He said in disbelief.

Link could see their grandmother laying the bat on the table. “I need you to apologize to grandma right now because that was ridiculous,” He told his sister.

“But I was trying to help you!” She argued.

He didn't reply. She glanced up and saw his expression was flat.

“I-I’m sorry gam,” she squeaked out.

“I need someone to explain what the heck is going on!” Kanna cried.

Water droplets were still falling heavily from the ends of Aryll’s blonde hair. When she turned to reply, he could see it fling in several directions.

“We were attacked by zombies, I already told you!”

Link released her from the hug to quickly grab towels from under the stairs, trailing water along as he did.

“They were not zombies,” his voice carried around the corner. “They were on drugs.”

“The zombie arm was chasing me!” Aryll screeched.

He could hear footsteps and the wheelchair following behind him. He didn't see the arm dragging on the ground, but he wasn't going to discredit her claim. Nothing about that fight made any sense.

“Well…it's not chasing you now. I'm just glad you're okay.” He handed his sister a pastel colored towel, and when he saw her terrified expression hadn't lifted, he added, “Everything is okay now, the kid and I handled it.”

He felt entirely unsure in his statement, but alluded to none of it. He was anxious more than anything now, about the inevitable conversation he'd be having with police later on in the evening.

“How does breakfast for dinner sound?” He asked with a forced smile.

Aryll nodded vaguely. It was clear she was still pretty rattled. He glanced up at their grandmother, and tried silently to convey his struggle to reassure the little girl.

“I'm in the mood for chocolate chip pancakes, what about you?” Kanna said, squeezing the young girl's shoulder.

Aryll lit up a bit. “For dinner? Really? I'll…go find the big bowl,” She said before shuffling off with the towel in hand.

The adults chuckled for a moment.

“I'm glad you helped that boy, but I'm still unhappy with you,” Kanna muttered under her breath.

Link sighed before pulling the rubber band from his wet ponytail and ripping knots of hair out in the process. “I know.”

“Handle the water, and get yourself cleaned up. I can handle dinner,” the older woman said before shakily attempting to stand. Link immediately went to assist her.

“Wait a minute!” He said in exasperation.

“Hush. I'm not in much pain today, and I'd like to stretch my legs while I'm able to,” She said as she rose.

Kanna’s smile was warm when he finally let her stand. “Stop playing hero out there and putting your life at risk like this. Be ours, we need you here.”

Link didn't respond, he was already on his knees wiping up the rain puddles.

Kanna gradually made her way towards the kitchen. “I know you're probably sick of hearing it, but you never listen,” she said to him.

“These situations find me, not the other way around,” he replied as he went to remove his boots at the door and begin the ascent towards the upstairs bathroom.

It was a relief to be out of the icy wet uniform at last. The hot water showering over his head and back fully alleviated his body shivers, and it was an impossible struggle for him, trying to pull himself back out to dry off. The dozens of police sirens wailing outside got too piercing to ignore however. They were just a few streets away and one was undoubtedly getting closer to their house.

He was quick to dress, and quick to run downstairs, right at the moment they all heard the knocking at the door.

“The bathroom’s open, you should run upstairs,” Link directed at Aryll. She scowled at him from the kitchen table.

“I'm not done eating.”

“Don't argue, just go upstairs. Wait for us to call you back down.”

She brushed against him as she rounded up the staircase. The uniformed officers that stood before him when he finally opened the door, were two Rito. Their expressions were somber.

“I'm officer Reid, and this is officer Doran. We're here in regards to a call placed at this residence. Are we right to assume you're the young man that got into the fight?”

Link stepped aside and gestured with his head for them to come inside. “Yeah,” was his quietly uttered response.

His heart rate had picked up considerably from the anxiety. He didn't know how his grandmother would react to the true severity of the fight he was in, and the likelihood that both attackers were now dead.

The officers were almost dry despite the rain as they hadn't been outside for long. They went towards the kitchen table to sit across from Kanna, only leaving faint wet footsteps. Link sat on the carpeted staircase.

“We'll make this short as we're needed back out on the field, but what started this attack?” Officer Reid directed at him.

Link did his best to recite the events from memory while nervously fidgeting with his hands.

The officers both nodded vaguely. “From what we've been told, the men resumed their vicious spree and killed two people before they fled the scene. We can't find them, so we're asking you now not to go back outside tonight. Other officers are currently out there looking for them.”

Link was almost too surprised to speak. “I-we…knocked them out. They really weren't there anymore?”

“Almost thirty other people have placed calls about shark-men attacks since your phone call.”

Kanna was rummaging through side table clutter for the TV remote. The news was coincidentally already on.

“ –this activity. The number of attackers is still unknown. I'll repeat this again for any people just now tuning in. If you are a Farelaw resident living near the downtown area, the police are requesting that all of you stay inside your homes at this time. Twenty seven people have been reported severely injured, as well as four that have been reported deceased. If–”

The television clicked off.

Kanna couldn't listen to any more, it was getting her extremely upset.

Officer Doran cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Like we said. Don't go back out tonight.”

She turned in her seat and gave her grandson a look through her tears that he was pretending not to notice. “We understand, sir,” she said.

“Any more details about your encounter that you're willing to share would be greatly appreciated,” Officer Reid directed at Link.

The young man hesitated.

“There's something…really wrong with them. Something’s wrong with their eyes. The kid literally sliced one of their arms off, and they didn't even react to it.”

Kanna gasped.

“...They scared the hell out of me. Just be careful.”

The men glanced at each other, then rose slowly from the table.

“The attacker’s arm was actually recovered at the scene, so you've cleared up that mystery for us at least,” Reid muttered.

They were quickly gone thereafter as promised.

Aryll was down the staircase quicker than he was able to rise from it. “Were you really scared?” Aryll asked in a tiny voice, tugging his hand along.

“Weren’t you?” He tried to say lightly before joining her at the table to eat. “Hand me the syrup.”

Link did his best to ignore the look of suspicion that never left Kanna's face the entire meal. He flipped on the TV and immediately changed it to Aryll's cartoon station.

Siren sounds were finally disappearing in the background, and it eased the tension in the room a bit. Link could see Aryll nodding off where she sat. He shook her gently and said, “Bedtime.”

She nodded and yawned, before sleepily replying, “‘Kay.”

He pulled Kanna’s wheelchair around to help her back to her room, and after all the lights in the house had been shut off, he made his way to his own bedroom up the stairs.

The sirens were off due to the time of night, but the police lights were still streets away and flashing through the cracks of his blinds. He immediately navigated to the local news website on his phone to see if the men had been caught yet as his current decision hinged on it.

It was stress inducing for him to see they still had not.

Link continued to glance at the time, until the thirty minute mark finally hit. The tennis shoes under his bed were quietly retrieved, and another metal bat from his highschool days was procured from the closet. He pulled his window open as slowly as possible, before slipping out onto the low hanging roof that overlooked the driveway. He decided it was probably better to leave the window open.

He'd only done this a couple of times, but he was pretty confident he could lower down onto the car without making a sound. The moment his foot touched down on the hood, he held his breath. Ten seconds went by before he hugely exhaled and lowered himself the rest of the way.

When he had finally reached the street in front of their house, the voice he was dreading shouted clearly at him from the living room window.

“GET BACK INSIDE LINK!” Kanna’s fury was thick.

He could hear Aryll’s small feet flitting down the staircase as she yelled, “I'll chase him down!”

“Holy sh-...you guys, stop yelling, it's midnight.”

Aryll was at the front door, waving him frantically back. He sighed and begrudgingly made the walk towards the porch steps and his little sister's outstretched hand.

The sudden unmistakable explosion of hundreds of gunshots carried out in the far distance, and both of them jumped where they stood.

Link quickly shut the door. They were all silent for several seconds.

“I…I'm sorry. You guys were right," he said.

“Go back to bed,” Aryll demanded.

Link sighed. “You too, brat.”

. . . . . . . .

The sound of the news downstairs awoke Link that following morning. A tired glance at his phone told him he'd slept in late and Aryll had already left for school. It was nearly ten.

Kanna was sitting in front of the TV and flipping through channels when he made it down. “Could you go back to the news a moment?” He asked her.

“They've been running the same story all morning long so I'll just tell you. There were six aggressive men, and they were all shot dead. A dozen police officers were killed before the thugs were stopped. Hospitals everywhere are full of injured people. The ground that was covered during all of this is honestly terrifying. I'm so glad you two got home safe and we don't have to worry tonight.”

“Me too.”

“They say it was drug induced psychosis,” she continued.

“I guess that makes sense.”

“What time do you need to get ready?” Kanna asked him.

“Basically now,” he said with a depressed sigh.

He went back upstairs to get ready. One of the many unfortunate things about having a broken car, was the extra thirty minutes he needed to give himself to walk to work.

His work clothing had all been shoved into one drawer, and it didn't take long to find everything he needed. He didn't bother looking in the mirror before pulling his hair into a bun, since he knew the hat they made him wear would cover it all anyways.

Kanna was standing by the door when he eventually made his way over to leave. She waved him over into a hug.

“I just wanted to thank you for everything you do for all of us. I know this past year has been really tough on you. It's been hard on us all.”

Taking care of his family was just his job, not something he was looking for recognition on. The gratitude left him feeling a bit awkward as he returned the hug.

Kanna smiled when she pulled away. “I spoke with my old boss this morning, and we're going to figure out a way I can work from home. Maybe we'll finally have the funds to fix the car this month.”

He felt a small wave of relief wash over him at this news.

“Let's keep that part a secret until we do it. Imagine the look on her face if we went to pick her up from school and took her to get ice cream.”

They both chuckled at that.

“I love you, sweetheart. I'll see you tonight.”

“Love you too, grandma.”

When he reached the sidewalk, she waved before shutting the door.

He was grateful it wasn't raining anymore, but the ground was still damp and the clouds were still thick overhead. Despite his desire to pass the time with music, he chose not to for the sake of retaining battery life. He looked around as he went, at the noticeable lack of people walking around.

The police station was one of the many places he passed during his walk to work. As he got nearer to it, the sound of angry shouting began echoing. He made his way closer.

“Listen to me dammit, I need you to grasp what I’m telling you! People are still in danger! This is not over!”

The source of the angry voice was a pretty girl with long, dark brown hair adorning a black University hoodie. She was beside the entrance to the police station yelling at who he recognized as the chief.

Link paused his stride to listen. He realized she was likely talking about last night's attacks.

“Stop calling the station, we've heard enough of your nonsense. What you're saying is completely impossible. It's crazy,” the chief snapped back at her.

“Thanks asshole, I’ll figure it out myself!” She yelled at him before abruptly turning and walking in Link's general direction.

The girl was visibly shaking with anger as she walked briskly past him.

“How do you know people are still in danger?”

She looked over and glared at him.

“Take a fucking shower, loser.”

The hostility now aimed in his direction left him stunned into silence, and horrendously self conscious. He trained his stare ahead, and his pace towards the restaurant began again quickly. He could hear the girl slam her car door behind him and peel away.

What the actual hell. I know my clothes aren't dirty. Ugh. Probably should have brushed my hair before tying it…or cut it three damn months ago. Why did she think I was mocking her?

He shook his head and began to jog. The last three blocks went quickly, until he finally made it to work.

The other cooks were perverted degenerates and Link rarely spoke with them unless it was necessary. He did his best to at least greet the coworkers that were friendly before sticking in his ear buds, but today he couldn't bring himself to do even that. The buds were in before he walked through the back entrance to clock in.

The routine of his work shift was always the same and he found it monotonous. The hours always dragged by agonizingly slow.

Fulfill the ticket that is printed in front of you, push the food and ticket through the window to the server. Occasionally fill a ramekin. Rinse, repeat.

The evening sunset was visible through the side exit window from where Link stood as he cooked.

He felt a few sharp taps on his shoulder, and quickly pulled out one of his buds. The general manager was visibly annoyed.

“I get that you don't like talking to people, but acknowledge the servers trying to get your attention.”

“Sorry,” He muttered, then pocketed the bud in his hand.

“Fix these tickets,” the manager said before leaving them on the counter and walking off.

“These weren't mine though,” Link replied in annoyance.

Todd, the goron responsible for the screwed up food just shrugged at Link unapologetically.

“I got high this morning and it feels like I haven't come down since,” Todd laughed.

“Whatever,” Link replied.

“Kinda annoying Benji called in today, these tickets are backed up pretty far,” the goron complained.

“Benji didn't call in sick you asshole, he was attacked last night,” a server named Rose snapped at Todd from the other side of the heating window.

The hairs on his neck rose when he heard this.

Todd seemed genuinely surprised, and upset by this news. “Not my boy!” The goron cried.

Another server refilling drinks overheard the conversation and said, “Last night was the scariest thing ever. A woman got jumped outside my window. First time I've ever dialed the police in my life. Told the managers but they wouldn't let me call out. He shouldn’t have opened this place today, things just don't feel settled yet.”

The restaurant was high end, and Link was hardly surprised to hear the money hungry owner made this deliberate choice.

The angry girl's words echoed in Link's head again.

“People are still in danger! This is not over!”

He hoped more than anything that he simply misinterpreted what she was yelling about, but the feeling was nagging at him relentlessly. He glanced out the window again and saw the sun had finally set.

Link finally spoke up. “Maybe we should tell the managers we aren't finishing our shifts. I don't think any of us should be here right now.” He saw a few heads nod.

The sudden yelling of people coming from the dining room echoed all throughout the kitchen, and several workers ran through the double doors in a panic.

One server ran towards the dishwashing sink, then profusely got sick into it. Another came through carrying someone who appeared to be on the verge of fainting.

The manager was amongst the runners. He dashed behind the counter and yelled at the chefs, “We're closing down, I think there's a carbon monoxide leak! Half the restaurant is getting sick or fainting! I'm calling an ambulance!” The manager then yelled, “EVERYONE EVACUATE THE BUILDING!”

Link had already been inching his way towards the door and didn't need to be told twice to get the hell outside. His feet were pounding against pavement as he ripped the hairnet substitute off his head and began the mad dash towards home.

He didn't bother turning off the music. He shoved his phone and other bud into his apron pocket along with his wallet and didn't stop running until he was completely breathless.

The madness was following him everywhere and the girl's warning had him on high alert. His eyes were scanning the dark surroundings as he moved. If there was something spreading around making everyone violently sick now, he wasn't sending Aryll to school tomorrow.

Link wanted to smack himself for not grocery shopping earlier in the week. If they were going to hole up for a few days, it was essential for him to do it now before he got home. The detour was frustrating, but he navigated it as fast as he could.

The grocery store was at least close to their house, and it was small and generally empty around this time. He only saw four cars when he rounded onto the street. He felt confident that he could avoid catching whatever illness was spreading if he didn't get close to anyone. He made sure the open sign was lit before he made his way inside.

Link grabbed a cart and passed by the empty checkout lanes. He took concerned note of the fact that none of the cashiers or other workers were anywhere to be seen.

His eyes were still darting around anxiously as he quickly grabbed everything they needed. The last thing on the list was more of a luxury, but he knew it would delight Aryll.

The ice cream aisle was near the back of the store and he was nearly there, but a woman’s voice from around the corner cried out in agony and it stopped him dead.

He waited and listened for anything else, but was met with silence. He released the cart and took a few steps forward, craning his neck trying to spot her.

The older Gerudo woman had her back turned, as she hunched where she stood at the opposite end of the aisle. He was able to recognize her as the manager, he'd seen her plenty of times before.

“Are you okay?”

She didn't react in any way to the sound of his voice. She was standing eerily still despite the awkward posture she'd taken on, and alarm bells were ringing off in his head.

He wanted to abandon the ice cream and just run straight to the self-checkout, but he was concerned for her. He left the cart behind and slowly approached her crouched form.

She was a few feet away now. He could hear her rasping.

“Ma'am?”

She jumped in place, as did he. He took four giant steps away when she turned to scowl. She was about to say something when she threw her hand over her mouth. It only took a moment for her to compose herself.

“We're closed, get out,” she told him flatly.

“I need this stuff, please–”

“Just take it, my cashiers are all gone. I have too much to deal with right now. My ASM was supposed to lock the doors.”

Link turned and bolted away. He was racing down the store now with his cart. When he went to at least grab a few bags for their things, he noticed the clear reason the store was closed across the belt and floor. He was being careful not to get close to any of it now. He went all the way to the last belt covered in clutter, and grabbed a handful of bags.

It vaguely felt like highschool again with all the running he'd done in the last twenty four hours. Track and baseball had always been his favorite sports. He wasn't feeling the same elation from the running that it brought to him back then. He was only stressed as his pounding feet finally ascended their front porch stairs.

The house felt cold when he entered. He spotted Aryll sitting in their grandmother's wheelchair in front of the bathroom door.

He could hear the sounds coming from inside it, and dread washed over him.

“Grandma's sick. She's been in there for a long time.”

Link dropped the bags at the door and went over quickly.

“Gam, did you leave the house today?” He asked her through the door.

“No,” she croaked back.

“What do you think could be causing this?”

She couldn't reply.

“She told me she doesn’t know.”

“Maybe we should get you to the hospital,” Link said.

It took her a few moments to say, “No dear, we don't have the money, you know that.”

“It doesn't matter!” Link said, his voice raising in an uncharacteristic manner.

“No,” she said more sternly. “Bring me a pillow and blanket.”

He did so quickly. She grabbed it through the crack, and shut the door.

“What should we do?” Aryll said through tears.

“Go back and finish your movie, I'm going to take care of grandma.”

The couch for the TV was perpendicular to the bathroom. She hopped down onto it, but didn't hit play on the remote. She was watching him with worried eyes as he disappeared around the corner to put away groceries and retrieve nausea medicine from the kitchen cabinet.

When he returned and glanced at her, he said, “If you won't watch it, put on the news for me.” He once again handed the item over through the crack.

The story was the same on nearly every channel they flipped to. “A record number of people are being hospitalized across the city, and police are currently investigating, what they say seems to be, a deliberate act of meticulously organized domestic terrorism.”

Aryll was crying now. “Grandma, please let us bring you to the doctor,” she said beside the bathroom door.

They could hear her voice closer against the door this time when she replied, “I told you both no. Leave me be.”

Link sighed and looked at his sister.

“Go get our pillows and blankets. We can sleep on the couches tonight and watch over her.”

Aryll wiped her eyes. “I hope we don't get sick too.”

He squeezed her shoulder and smiled. “It'll be okay. I'll do my best to take care of you both.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Zelda YOU'RE BEING REALLY MEAN, BE NICE TO THAT SWEET DEPRESSED BABY, HE ONLY WANTS TO HELP YOU. *Sends her to her room*

We'll get into what happened to their parents, as well as the reasoning for their financial struggle at the moment. There's a reason Link is pretty quiet in this universe. He's a good parental figure, his interactions with Aryll are so sweet.

Can you tell I used to be a restaurant worker? I really conveyed through Link, the absolute dread that always washed over me on the days I woke up late and realized I had to open the restaurant in an hour. It would give me panic attacks. TIP YOUR WAITRESS. Lol

I stole a grandma name. Kanna is Katara’s grandma from Avatar. My Kanna has Multiple Sclerosis FYI

Is grandma sick with the plague or is it something else? We'll find out soon.

Chapter Text

After storming off that evening in an effort to calm down, Zelda made the stubborn decision to stay in her car all night in the Hilaw University parking lot. It was a choice her father would undoubtedly punish her for later.

She woke up stiff and with a massive headache, to the sound of tapping glass.

“You can't sleep here,” came the campus security guard’s loud voice through the window.

The sun had barely lifted beyond the horizon, so she knew it was extremely early.

Zelda turned on the car so she could roll down her window and respond. “I have class in a few hours.”

The officer rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Don't let me catch your car here at five a.m. again though.”

Zelda didn't watch him leave, she was already powering on the laptop from her backpack to look at the devastating news updates. There was entirely no mention of Mire Drahlo, or the Goron murder victims in any of the articles she read. The only focus was the number of police and citizens injured and killed, and that military intervention arrived too late.

The police were genuinely under the belief that this was drug related behavior and the public was now safe from threat. Two details in particular connected in Zelda’s mind, and a horrifying realization came to her.

‘This really is a manner unlike my usual…but…this is the way you all must die.’

Bullets weren't going to stop a person that was already deceased. They'd been shot in the head, and the reign of gunfire was going to fully disguise this fact. Drahlo wanted people to think the threat was handled.

Zelda knew the campus had a phone booth to call for security but in cases like this where a cell phone wasn't available, you could place outside calls too. She slammed the car door, not even bothering to retrieve her shoes. The dewy grass saturated her socks as she ran.

After many frustrating attempts to reach the chief of police, the call was finally redirected to the detective in charge of the case.

“Miss Hicrest, your evidence was our technician’s top priority after last night's events, but unfortunately, we were unable to recover the footage. If you would like to retrieve your cell phone, I'll be at the station around ten. We found no trace of your claims at the factory but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. My forensic team is on it as we speak, and the bodies are being tested so we can identify the narcotics that caused this.”

“Please hear me out for just a moment. I have new information,” Zelda said close to the receiver.

“Yes, your ‘new information’ was already relayed to me. Magic brought six murder victims back to life after an incarcerated inmate magically teleported to a factory sixty miles away.”

“That is not at all how I said any of this!” She snapped, despite the perfect accuracy in everything he repeated. It sounded so ridiculous being worded in this way. She had asked everyone who she spoke with prior, if all the bullets had been examined from the bodies, because she witnessed someone else already kill them. She didn't mention Drahlo this time. Everything else she said to law enforcement that night had been condensed into this.

“Please excuse me if my tone is curt, it was a very long night, and many of my colleagues died. Let me shut down for a few hours.”

The line disconnected.

She was already phoning the non direct emergency police for the seventh time in the attempt now, to reach either of the men who visited her house. The single woman that answered this particular line clearly knew the number at this point, because she refused to answer again.

Zelda couldn't control the palpitations of her heart the entire time she sat through her philosophy lecture. Eight dragged agonizingly slowly towards nine. An hour and thirty minutes of class to go.

She glanced at the clock so many times, Mr. Evans eventually paused his lecture and frowned at her from the stage. “Have somewhere more important to be, miss Hicrest?”

She couldn't understand the point in calling her out this way. The man just wanted to humiliate her, clearly. She snapped back, “Now that you mention it sir, I actually do.” The expression on the Zoran professor went blank. He hadn't expected her reply.

Zelda threw the laptop and textbook in her bag and walked briskly towards the room exit as her classmates silently watched.

“I don't want any of you offering her notes from today,” the professor’s voice directed at everyone else.

She realized at some point while running back to the car that she really should feel embarrassed, but she was beyond the point of caring.

The radio was already off when she turned on the car, and it stayed that way throughout the drive towards the police station.

Just like the night prior while she sat in the dark, Zelda attempted once more to speak with the unnamed voice that aided her.

“Tell me if you're here,” Zelda pleaded. The roar of her engine responded back.

Inside the building, the detective was already waiting for her with the phone in hand. He looked exhausted.

“Ma'am, please leave our chief alone. Enough of us have heard what you have to say. We already relayed it to him.”

“Where are the bodies being examined?”

The detective sighed. “I'm going to assume they're no longer at the coroner's office and the families are arranging funerals as we speak.”

Zelda felt the panic rising. There were many different Hyrule deities and hundreds of churches across hundreds of towns and cities that funerals could be held at. She had little hope she'd be able to locate all six before Drahlo launched another attack.

“Did anyone even check to see if Drahlo–”

“Is still in a locked cell? Yes, ma'am. Listen, I recognize your concerns but–”

“You absolutely fucking do not!”

“You're holding up my time and I have a lot to catch up on.”

Zelda’s angry rebuttal was paused when she spotted an approaching figure outside the tinted station windows.

“Kay,” was all Zelda said before sprinting out the doors towards the chief. She hoped he would recognize her, she had met him at least three times when she was younger while attending a few of her father's trials.

“Sir, my name is Zelda Hicrest. I have reason to believe the city is still in danger, the same as it was last night. Please hear me out.”

“About the zombies?” The chief let out a bitter chuckle. They were all laughing at her.

Zelda’s jaw tightened, as her voice raised in volume and pitch. “Why are you detectives so stubborn?! None of you are willing to even consider the possibility that drugs didn't cause all of this!”

“Let me just humor you by saying, even if this wasn't a drug induced rampage, and they really were what you claim, they're really dead now, so I need you to stop so we can finish this investigation.”

“Listen to me dammit, I need you to grasp what I’m telling you! People are still in danger! This is not over!”

“Stop calling the station, we've heard enough of your nonsense. What you're saying is completely impossible. It's crazy,” the chief snapped back at her.

“Thanks asshole, I’ll figure it out myself!” She yelled at him before abruptly turning and walking back in the direction of her car.

A different voice from the sidewalk caught her off guard.

“How do you know people are still in danger?”

The voice belonged to a disheveled looking, dirty-blond haired boy who had clearly never heard of a hairbrush before. His bun was sloppy with stands falling out and draping to his shoulder, and the black apron he wore had the name of a restaurant she didn't recognize stitched across it.

He came across as the type of guy who spent all his free time and money on video games and smoking weed. He clearly didn't care about his appearance, and the fact that he was walking instead of driving solidified her assumption that he'd rather spend his money foolishly than on a real necessity like a car.

Just like everyone else, he would think she was delusional. If he was the hedonist he appeared to be, he'd probably pretend to believe her before making some disgusting sexual pass. That was a situation she'd already experienced once before. She had absolutely no desire to confide in this boy.

“Take a fucking shower, loser,” Zelda sneered at him.

She didn't linger on his surprised expression. She was peeling out of the parking lot and screaming her frustrations at the windshield as she navigated the hour-long drive towards the Hilaw City Penitentiary.

She had dozens of questions for Drahlo that needed answers, though it wasn't clear to her if he would really offer any. She didn't know if he'd speak to her at all. He could decline the visit, then she'd have wasted two hours for nothing.

Zelda had to force a distraction on herself to calm down. Music filled the small car after the radio was unmuted at last.

. . .

“Dave, can you please tell me what's taking so long,” Zelda repeated for the third time to the prison guard stationed behind the glass booth. The wait was becoming absurd.

The guard being a close personal friend of her father's apparently made no difference in the treatment she was going to receive, as the man could only stare at her in response. If he wanted a staring match he'd get one.

“I asked him to call me if you showed up here, Zelda. I've been stressed out all day trying to find you.”

Zelda jumped in her seat at the sound of her father's voice. She couldn't turn to face him. She was mentally screaming at herself for not considering that this might happen.

“Dad–” her voice shook. She heard his shoes against the tile approaching her. His voice sounded tired.

“You drove all this way to see him, correct? You were going to ask him how he escaped?”

“I-I…”

“In any case, I just want you to get these ideas out of your head. Maybe seeing him here will do just that.” Her dad nodded at Dave, who just shook his head and sighed before walking around to let them both through.

The posture she subconsciously took on while they walked was stiff. She was still avoiding eye contact with her dad.

“Has he eaten today?” She heard him ask his friend.

Hearing this concerned question over an actual killer as opposed to her boiled her blood. She finally glared at him only to realize it had been deliberate and he was grabbing her attention.

“He never eats, you know that,” Dave said obliviously.

They arrived at the furthest door down the hallway, and once again, Dave went to unlock it. Zelda had stopped breathing. The man was just around the corner now, and she was truly terrified.

“Maybe he has superpowers,” Her dad said with a laugh.

“Okay dad, I get it,” she said evenly. She remained expressionless when the man came into sight on the opposite end of the long metal table.

Two other guards were standing behind him but it offered her no reassurance.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Drahlo,” her father said.

“Alain, my friend,” came his baritone reply. He was chained at the ankles to the floor and seat in which he sat.

“Our visit will have to be brief as I've brought someone along with me today.”

“I can see that,” Drahlo replied with a deep chuckle as his amber eyes fell on her. She shivered involuntarily.

He spoke again, to her directly this time. “For what reason have you come?”

Zelda could only stammer. She had anticipated a private phone call between glass with him, not this group conversation in the same room.

“It's alright young lady, I don't bite…”

His deliberate wording was infuriating. He was untouchable and he knew it. Subtly wasn't really an option for her anymore.

“I saw you kill all of those people last night. I don't know how you escaped here, and I don't know what you did to my fucking phone to destroy my video but–”

“How are you still hung up on this with him sitting clearly in front of you? Calm down, and stop swearing, I don't like hearing that from you,” her father directed at her sternly.

“Why? Why do you treat a murderer with more respect than you do me,” she choked out.

“I am the furthest thing from. Your father is fighting to prove my innocence. I'm sorry the media has gotten into your head. I'm simply a victim of poor police work,” Drahlo said.

“I don't say these things to be harsh on you. I've gathered more than sufficient evidence to prove this Zelda, and I'm asking you to please trust me on it. Drahlo is an innocent man.”

“I…” Zelda was beginning to falter now. She wondered with heart sinking despair, if she really was a crazy person.

‘It's not him.’

Zelda jumped in her seat.

'The man before you exists because of the dark magic that resides within Drahlo. He is a hollow vessel. A puppet.’

“Have your concerns been quelled?” Her father asked her.

Zelda feigned a smile and said, “You were right, dad. I'm sorry.”

He seemed pleased by this response. It was clear he and the guard were already finished with this visit. They were by the exit and giving her an expectant look.

She went through the door ahead of them, and began to pick up her walking pace to get away when a hand grabbed her forearm and stopped her. Her dad was giving her an unhappy look.

“There's a mental health clinic that accepts walk-ins at three, and you'll be coming there with me. We can pick up your car later this evening.”

In every other instance in Zelda’s life when her father made the decisions for her, she simply allowed it to happen to avoid conflict. She didn't protest when he picked every class she took throughout highschool. She didn't fight it when he told her she wasn't allowed to get a job. She held back her sob when he decided an all girl's college in the desert was simply too far and she'd be going somewhere local instead.

His absolutism was suffocating. She felt entirely powerless under his rule. She needed to escape. She didn't have the courage to argue, but the gasp of air was within reach.

“Let GO,” she screamed. She shoved him away and ran.

“ZELDA, GET BACK HERE–”

The heavy doors slammed behind her, swallowing the sound of his voice.

A fantasy had always been tucked away in her mind for years of stealing her father's emergency debit card and withdrawing all the money possible before disappearing. The thought was comforting but it was never something she intended to act upon, until this very moment.

There was a chance society needed a few days to collapse with Drahlo operating behind the scenes and money would certainly assist in her attempt to prevent that from happening. She wasn't going to save the world with an oppressor overlooking her every move.

Her dad was still busy working and she knew he wouldn't follow her home. She'd never stolen anything in her life, let alone from him. This wasn't something he’d expect coming from her, and it was likely to go unnoticed for a while.

The flood of texts from her dad were coming in now, and every phone call she received was promptly ignored. She quickly blocked his number when she reached the light.

Zelda felt numb while packing her clothes and toiletries in the smaller bags she had sitting in her closet. She knew the debit card was in a jewelry box her mother once owned, sitting in her father's closet. It was anxiety inducing once she finally found it. Retrieving the machete from the garage amplified that emotion further.

She didn't want to spend all the money just on a room to sleep. The decision was then made to pack blankets and a pillow so she could sleep in her car's backseat. Anything to stay away from home.

One car door slammed after another until she felt everything she needed was loaded up. Zelda’s eyes searched for any neighbors who may have noticed each time she returned to the car. Luckily no one seemed to be out on this dreary day.

Zelda felt so purposeful when she started this effort, but her hope began sinking when she realized she still needed a definite plan of action. As if reading the thoughts directly from her mind, the voice said,

'I can still sense Drahlo's presence somewhere near the factory, though I'm not sure exactly where he is. I fear another ritual is going to take place. He must be stopped before his next spell is cast.’

“How were you able to find him before but not now?”

'I’ve spent many years looking for him. I knew you were the one to tell once I did. His magic is very powerful. He does not want to be found this time.’

Zelda saw the hairs on her arms raise while she gripped the steering wheel.

“Who are you?” Zelda asked. She really didn't anticipate a response.

‘I wish I could remember.’

Hearing this made her heart hurt. “I could try to help you remember,” she offered.

Her visitor was silent once again.

“How do you know so much about him? How did you know about me?”

There was no reply.

She left it be. There was a new objective for her to focus on. She was going to search the streets around the factory, after visiting a few ATMs of course.

. . .

Zelda’s stakeout had eventually led her back to the factory that evening. She stood before the police tape for so long, her legs began to fall asleep. She felt rooted in place.

“You can go in, they've all left.”

Zelda cried out. Her stance was defensive when she turned and faced the young sheikan boy who was also defensively posed with a katana angled towards her. His kimono was tattered.

“Cool machete. Swords are cooler, though,” the kid said.

“Why did you do that?! You scared the hell out of me!” Zelda hissed. They both lowered their weapons. She took a closer look at him then said much softer, “How old are you?”

His expression was apologetic. “Fourteen. I'm Jory, by the way.” He flashed her a goofy grin that made her guard lower.

“I'm…Zelda. It's really too dangerous for you to be out here, even with your weapon.”

He jutted out his arm to uncover the white bandaging beneath his sleeve, and Zelda gasped.

“I was attacked by dead people last night. I'm not convinced they're gone, so I'm out here looking for more.”

Zelda took a moment to respond. Her eyes were wide when she said, “Y-you…They went after me last night too…I can't believe you were able to fight them off. You’re exceptionally brave for someone so young.”

“Well, I think cops are useless so I do what I can. A guy actually saved me from getting eaten. We took them down before we escaped. ”

“Were you hurt pretty bad?” She asked.

“Don't worry about it. They tore some skin but I cleaned it up. I'm taking antibiotics now.”

“You're pretty young…I suppose there's really nothing I can say that will make you return home?”

Jory laughed. “I have an actual real life opportunity to fight monsters. This is a dream of mine. I was caught off guard before but this time I'm ready. You kinda seem ready too.”

Zelda sighed. She didn't feel like arguing with him. “Alright Jory. I'm going in there, so I guess let's go.” He flashed her another childish grin.

The dilapidated structure seemed to almost swallow them whole as the darkness encompassed them. The overhead moonlight struggled to make its way inside, and Zelda wondered to herself how Drahlo had managed to illuminate the decommissioned factory the night prior.

She and Jory had out their phone flashlights and were aiming cautiously around at the conveyor belts and machinery as they passed by.

“I don't get it. Why were the police all over this place?” Jory asked her.

She wondered how much information she could trust him with.

“The man who…changed those Zora, did so in this building last night. Apparently the evidence was gone when they got here because they haven't found anything,” she muttered at the end.

“They're useless,” Jory repeated with a scowl she vaguely saw in the dim light. She'd ask about his hang ups later.

“Well, I honestly feel ridiculous being in here. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but we aren't going to find anything if the police didn't, especially in this darkness,” Zelda sighed.

“Not ridiculous if this is really where it started,” he told her. “I haven't seen a single person walking the streets tonight, aside from you. It's too quiet, y'know?”

She nodded.

There was another arch identical to the entrance she could now see getting closer. The moonlight was entirely shadowed at this end of the building. Despite that, she could still see the chain link fence past the concrete and gravel leading outside.

It was the fence that bordered the Nydrin River at the very edge of the city. On the other end of the river was Gandeur Forest, or as it was most commonly known to everyone across Hyrule, Gloom Forest. The spirit had even referred to it as forbidden.

Whatever people called it, one thing was universally understood across every city as the stories had been passed down for years. Entering the haunting overgrowth that was the thousand miles long forest was an undeniable death sentence.

No one that tried it ever returned, and the fear it induced prevented any attempts at deforestation. It was as though the forest was protecting itself with the thick fog that layered it.

They were nearly outside once more, and an unsettling feeling was beginning to wash over her. She could see the forest much clearer now, as well as Jory and his weapon in hand.

“Do you hear that humming?” She asked him. The change in her voice raised a small wave of panic inside him. He shook his head no.

Their shoes were beginning to kick gravel now. Jory watched the strange expression that was overtaking Zelda’s features. He began to ask her if she was alright when a sudden look of terror came across her. His head whipped around to look in the direction she was, but he only saw thick trees and the fog billowing across the edge of the water.

“What? What do you see? I still don't hear anything,” Jory said anxiously.

So much blood.

Zelda’s voice was almost indiscernible when she replied. “Jory, you must return home. I… can't explain why, but I have to go in there. There’s something I have to do.”

“Are you crazy!? Y-you can't. If you even try, I'll follow you,” Jory said with sudden angry conviction.

“I couldn't forgive myself if something–”

The humming became deafening and it silenced Zelda at once. She was looking intently towards the woods in the direction it seemed to be coming from.

“Please tell me you can hea–”

The young boy abruptly dropped to his knees.

“Jory!” She cried, kneeling beside him quickly.

“I-I…” Jory tried to say. His body began trembling, then suddenly he puked. It was black in color, a dangerous indicator to her that he was experiencing internal bleeding.

“Jory, nevermind everything, I'm taking you to the hospital right now.” She pulled him to his feet.

“What's wrong with me,” Jory uttered. The humming was assaulting her ears. She couldn't focus enough to reply. She pulled most of his body weight and navigated them around the building instead of through it.

“Jory, you can't close your eyes, you have to push yourself,” she told him sternly. He was sagging more than before.

“I’m trying…it really hurts…” he stopped in his tracks, the body shakes were getting worse. She pulled him along anyways, while encouraging him more softly this time to push through it.

“My car is a few blocks away…” she told him through tears.

They made their way underneath the police tape and through the alleyways she'd used before. Jory was undoubtedly losing consciousness by this point she realized. She stopped and tapped his cheek, trying to stir him, but suddenly all of his weight fell on her. She did her best to hold him up, while pleading for any kind of a response. There was none.

She lowered him gently to the ground as his weight was becoming too much for her to handle.

Nothing she did made any sort of difference. Jory's eyes remained shut as the gurgling in his lungs worsened.

Zelda had her phone out and the emergency service number ready when the boy’s entire body went completely stiff. Her heart leapt into her throat. “Jory…?”

The phone was dialing but a full minute went by with it still ringing, and Jory still stiff. No one answered. She was nearly at the point of screaming when the boy's posture suddenly fell. The whole world froze.

Open eyes were staring at her, but they didn't belong to Jory. They were the same eyes she saw before. The black and yellow eyes of the dead. Zelda scrambled backwards, only narrowly dodging Jory's swipe.

He carelessly abandoned his katana as he rose. The boy wasn’t moving with any coordinator as he charged at her, and the fear nearly made her drop her own weapon. She began to run as fast as her feet would possibly carry her as the much more running capable aggressor made his way after her. His guttural noises were inhuman. They were animalistic.

Zelda knew calling his name was pointless but it didn't stop her from still trying. She didn't want to believe he was gone. Only twenty minutes prior, he'd been perfectly fine. He seemed like a genuinely good kid to her. It was causing her heart unimaginable pain.

“Please don't do this! You aren't a monster, you have to fight it!” she screamed at him over her shoulder.

Zelda slammed against a wall and dropped her weapon. She sank down and tried to retrieve it but he fell over her and tried to bite into her neck. Zelda forcefully kicked him away with both of her legs, knocking him onto his back, then scrambled back up to resume her flight. She hissed a string of profanities at her own clumsiness. Now neither weapon was available to her.

Jory was a fast runner, but the uncoordination had him stumbling over things and barely missing her each time. Zelda begged him relentlessly to stop to no avail. One block became five. Her lungs felt ready to explode. A tight grip finally reached her, and both of them tumbled to the ground.

Zelda held Jory back with only her arms to stop him. His teeth were inches from her face, and all she could do was scream.

“Stop!” An unfamiliar voice shouted.

Someone shoved Jory's body aggressively off of her.

“Oh no…Jory…” The other person said when the haunting dead eyes locked back on them. A baseball bat whipped around and slammed against Jory’s shoulder, flinging his body instantly.

“Are you okay?”

It was a genuine shock to her that of all people, this was the boy that saved her. Zelda was wide eyed in disbelief.

“You're the asshole from this morning…” Zelda said without even thinking.

“I'm…sorry?” He replied. He withdrew his hand when she didn't take it.

“Excuse me? What did she just call you?!” A little kid’s distant shout came.

Zelda’s eyes fell on the adorable girl that was running towards them. Just like the boy, she was wielding a bat.

“Aryll, you cannot be–”

“Oh be quiet! You weren't supposed to sneak out!” Aryll yelled at him.

Link knew the attitude that earned Aryll the title of ‘brat’ was about to unleash and there was no way of stopping it. He braced himself.

“Who the heck even are you, lady? My brother is literally the nicest person in the entire world and he just saved you!”

“Aryll, please stop,” He muttered in embarrassment.

“Tell him you're sorry right now!”

Zelda was at a loss for words. She blinked at the little girl humbling her, then at the boy that was momentarily squeezing his eyes shut. She looked at Jory's crumpled form, then began to quietly cry.

“You knew him too. You said his name.” Zelda choked out.

Before replying, Link scooped up Aryll under his free arm and took the bat from her hold. Zelda saw that the little girl was also crying now.

“Du– Link saved him yesterday,” Aryll whispered.

“We have to go, he's not going to stay down for long,” Link said to Zelda who had shakily risen to her feet.

Zelda’s heart skipped in her chest. “So you know then, you know–,” She began to say, but Aryll’s sharp gasp made them all look at the now convulsing figure lying on the ground.

Zelda and Link immediately took off running. Jory’s disturbing snarling began again as the pursuit resumed.

“I told you it was zombies!” Aryll screamed at Link. “How do you stop someone that keeps getting up!?”

“If amputated limbs can move, so can headless bodies,” Link breathlessly said back.

“They can do what!?” Zelda shrieked.

“We could tie him down or lock him inside of something,” Link suggested above the sound of gravel and glass as they ran past the abandoned businesses.

“He's going to bite one of us if we even try!” Aryll said. She looked behind and saw Jory was very distantly behind them.

“There's a gas station a street away, we can lock the doors and figure out what to do,” Zelda told them. They quickly agreed.

“Do you know why this is happening?” Link asked her.

Zelda swallowed thickly and kept her eyes on the road they were about to round. “You're not going to believe me.”

“Give me a chance to hear it out.”

The signs and lights from the next street were making their surroundings much clearer. Link could see the blood running down the girl's cheek from when she fell. She just shook her head.

The despair when they fled from Jory was overwhelming for them all, but it utterly paled in comparison to the terror that befell them next.

Their thudding feet skidded to an abrupt halt before the very gas station they'd gone to for sanctuary, when twenty pairs of black and yellow eyes pressed around the outside windows, turned and fell directly on to them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From Link's point of view, Zelda was a cute girl who clearly knew something important and needed help. Theeeeen we saw Zelda’s perspective. >_< THEN ARYLL SWOOPED IN LIKE “Apologize tf now" lmao

Zelda’s anger is misdirected. She curses out everyone else because she's too scared to yell at her dad lol.