Chapter Text
The first thing Link felt when he awoke was the pain in his arm. He could still feel the awful, biting agony of the Malice snaking up his arm, completely undeterred by the Master Sword. He hadn’t panicked, not really, not until the ground began to shake and Zelda was falling-
Zelda.
The second thing Link felt was the gaping ache in his heart. Link had jumped after her, sword forgotten. He had sworn long ago that if something happened, he wasn’t going to be without her again. That he would do everything in his power for her not to be alone again.
These pains battled as he came fully to consciousness, and his body won over his mind. As much as he wanted to spring up and search immediately for Zelda, Link knew wasn’t capable of it. His body felt exhausted, and though he didn’t feel the presence of the Malice like he had before, he could swear that something was still eating at him.
So he sat up slowly and took in his surroundings. Zelda wasn’t here in this room, which meant that if he had been put here to recover, she may not have been injured the same way. That was good. (That had to be good. She had to be okay, because if she wasn’t-)
His own arm caught his eye, mostly because it was very evidently not his own arm. The skin color didn’t match, the jewelry adorning it wasn’t his, and the musculature felt different as he opened and closed his hand. That didn’t hurt, the ache was coming from his shoulder, where bits of blackened flesh still peeked out from the edges of the arm. Link considered the idea that whatever had saved him may have just covered his original arm with the jewelry to heal it, and this was part of the process. But it felt too different. It wasn’t weak, but the proportions were off.
Besides, the more he looked at it, the more he was certain that it was identical to the arm holding the corpse in place, under Hyrule Castle. Not as skeletal, not as large, but the same. The arm, or perhaps the owner of the arm, had saved him and taken not only Link’s arm, but almost all of his clothes and equipment.
If Link had a rupee for every time he had woken up in his underwear in an unfamiliar place, he’d have two rupees. Which was a whole lot less than he usually carried on him.
A voice, warm but sourceless, greeted him. “Link, you’re finally awake. I’ve heard a great deal about you from Zelda.”
Zelda.
“Your wounds were severe. I am relieved to see you escape death. But your arm was beyond saving. I had to replace it to keep it from endangering you.”
Link waited to hear more, but it sounded like the voice was done for now. It had a familiar etherealness to it. He was now reasonably sure he had a dead man’s arm attached to his body.
He heard a weak hum, and found the Master Sword among the vines not far from where he was. The half of it that wasn’t in pieces anyway. It filled him with a deep dread to see it this way, the blade of evil’s bane, the weapon he had used to banish Calamity Ganon. The tool of countless heroes before him, and it was broken.
Even whole, he would trade it for Zelda in a heartbeat. Link knew, somehow, that she hadn’t fallen with him, that whatever shred of her power was left had protected her. Her golden light was the last thing he could remember. She had to be here somewhere, wherever here was.
It didn’t have the same musty feel as the chambers they had walked through before. This place smelled cleaner, and it looked like a tree had either grown through the ceiling above or been part of the design. It was old though, and not in great shape.
Link used the Master Sword to cut apart some vines that blocked the entry to the next room. It looked like the only entrance, which begged the question of how Link had gotten in here in the first place. The next chamber was more intact, and unmistakably Zonai in architecture. Zelda was going to love this, if she hadn’t seen it already.
A circular sculpture rested ahead, and as Link approached, it lit up green, displaying a handprint in the center. One that looked like his new hand. He touched the display and it dispersed, sending motes and patterns of green energy into the air. Something lit up behind him, something a familiar shade of Sheikah tech blue. A teleport marker?
That would be really helpful if he had a Sheikah Slate. The one he had used all those years ago had been dismantled for study, so Purah could make her new prototype and fix her aging rune. And Zelda’s Purah Pad was with Zelda.
The gear on the wall to his left began to move as well, and opened up the door just ahead. Desperate for answers, Link walked through. This part of the structure was also in disrepair, and filled with water in places. Traveling through though, some of this looked deliberate. It definitely looked like a sequence of diving platforms, which meant some of the water was planned. But the staircases had fallen into ruin, and the crumbling walls exposed cave stone behind, not unlike the Shrine of Resurrection. The eerie similarity was not lost on Link. If the goddesses really wanted to spook him, there would be a chest of suspiciously tailored clothing around here somewhere.
Which he found, waiting for him at the bottom of the largest dive platform so far. Wet, cold, and cursing fate, Link tied on the sandals and donned the skirt like garment, noting that it seemed much more durable than that ragged pair of pants had been. Not to mention more stylish.
He could see the outside here too, and the bright light of day. He followed the hallway outside, finding yet another diving platform. The difference was that the next pool of water appeared to be several hundred feet beneath him.
If he hadn’t been worried for Zelda, Link would’ve been excited at the challenge. As it was, he wasn’t a coward, and he felt guided to follow what had been set before him. Tired, but determined, Link dove off the side of the platform without a second thought.
Time seemed to slow in the long freefall. They weren’t on the surface, which had been his assumption at seeing the daylight, but Link could see it, far below the islands he was diving for. They were in the sky, where the dragons flew, if the one Link could spot in the distance was any indication. He couldn’t quite tell which one it was, but he guessed Farosh.
The golden foliage was beautiful, and though he could catch glimpses of Hyrule below that didn’t look quite right, the view was overwhelming. Link didn’t think he could get Zelda to dive like this, but she would have loved to see what he was seeing.
He felt a pang of loss for the paraglider, now lost with the rest of his equipment. It would have helped him adjust his trajectory, which was not in line to land in the water. But the fall was long enough that even with the sightseeing, Link could figure out how to lean and aim for a safer entry.
The swim to shore wasn’t too long, but it was much more tiring than Link was anticipating. His stamina, hard won from training and the blessings of the Spirit Orbs, seemed to be diminished along with whatever had taken his vitality.
Sighing, Link pulled himself out of the water and began to scavenge. His tendency to pick up anything that looked carryable often annoyed Zelda, though he didn’t think it was much different than her running off to take pictures of things at every opportunity. But it had kept him alive before, and it would do so again.
Within a few minutes, he had some nice sticks, a handful of apples, and a couple of unfamiliar mushrooms. It looked edible enough, and didn’t vary too much from the Hylian shroom in structure or appearance. Tasted pretty similar too.
A flash of red and a beeping sound froze Link to the spot, waiting for a telltale target to appear on his chest. It didn’t, but a green figure appeared from behind a tree, mechanical looking, levitating, and wielding a stick. It may not have been a Guardian, but it was definitely not friendly.
Link thought a good jab with the Master Sword would back it off, even with as damaged as the weapon was. But the thing was surprisingly fast, and Link’s movements felt as clumsy as a new recruit. He beat it into submission, but not before he had a handful of new bruises himself.
Looking through the pieces, Link found a blade edge that didn’t appear damaged and something that reminded him of an ancient Sheikah core. He tucked both in his pocket.
He trotted back to the path, following it to where a bridge should have connected two of the sky islands. Another of the green mechanical things sat dormant on the path, but began to stir when he approached. Even though it didn’t have any weapons he could see, Link stood warily, reaching for the sword at his back. Once awakened, it gave him an appraising look.
“Link,” it said, “I have waited for you. Princess Zelda left something for you in my care.” Its voice, sourceless, had a chime to it, and it whirred as it moved. It opened a compartment where, lying in a very old box on a very old cloth, was Zelda’s Purah Pad. The machine said something, but Link couldn’t hear it over his own thoughts.
Where was she? Why was the Purah Pad here? Why had she entrusted it to this thing? Why didn’t she need it, wherever she was?
Why did he need it if she could’ve just waited for him?
He pulled himself away from that thought because the machine had said something about Zelda marking a location on it for him.
Maybe she was just working on something important, something to combat that evil under the castle. That sounded like her, too involved in a project to wait. At least she’d left him a trail this time.
He activated the Pad and checked the map. It didn’t do a ton of good, he was having trouble orienting himself somewhere that he’d never been.
“Where are we?” he asked. The machine seemed eager to do its duty, which so far was not to attack him. The construct named this place the Garden of Time, overlooking the Temple of Time. There was a Temple of Time on the Great Plateau, but its ruin had nothing on the structure he could see now. Old as it was, there had to be magic or technology in its building, because he didn’t think it should be able to hold itself up. The tiers grew larger and stacked on top of each other creating a marvelous wonder of a building.
Yeah, Zelda was in there. He didn’t even have to line up the landmarks with his map to know.
Its information shared, the machine activated the control for the bridge, which Link had to unlock with his new hand. The stone moved slowly, but eventually interlocked into a sturdy walkway.
Across the bridge there was another unarmed machine. It awoke as well, and educated Link on just what it and the aggressive version from earlier had been: constructs. The Soldier Constructs had limited programming, and would treat him as a hostile.
He collected a few more apples for his supply and found another diving platform. Link hoped he didn’t have to come back to any of the higher platforms, there wasn’t a way up that he could see.
So down he dove. The path led him through small hills on either side, and more Soldier Constructs. Link wished he had a bow, it would save him a few bruises. But he was grateful for the practice, he needed to be in much better shape if they were going to fight that thing under the castle. Plus they gave him more materials, those small blades and the energy cores. If he could find some sturdy string, or longer grass, he might be able to turn his tree branch into something more foreboding. He didn’t want to overwork the Master Sword, it was in bad enough shape.
Another Steward Construct stood vigil at the base of the temple. It was tending a fire, already active, roasting the blue and white local shrooms. Link glanced up at the stairs he would need to climb. Zelda was up there, but he hadn’t eaten anything since before they’d entered the castle, an unknown amount of time ago.
He scooped up a shroom, the construct wasn’t going to eat it, so he didn’t feel bad even before it told him he was welcome. He took out the ones he had gathered and left them to roast while he ate this one. Experience told him he should roast some of his apples as well, but he only had so much patience. He burnt his fingers on the shrooms as he collected them, and then his mouth as he realized the steps didn’t start until a ways into the water. But he told himself it was worth it to be climbing those steps sooner.
Link also had to literally climb; the stairs had not fared as well as the temple itself looked to. There was a Soldier Construct guarding the door, and Link threw his tree branch and a sturdier stick hard into its face without hesitating. Both broke beyond use, but they did their job.
He was rewarded with a wooden shield in a design he’d never seen, and a rusty sword that was like every other rusty sword he’d seen. An upgrade, but still pathetic.
It didn’t matter. He was at the door. He had the key to unlocking it.
It turned a violent orange and sent a jolt up his arm.
“That door will open only to those with sufficient power,” someone said from behind him, in the same tone a dead king had once told him he couldn’t descend the Great Plateau without a paraglider. Link turned, angry and tired. “I’m sorry- I didn’t intend to startle you.”
He glowed that same pale blue-green that all spirits did. “It was I that spoke to you earlier. That arm originally belonged to me.” It glowed more translucently than the rest of the figure’s body. He wasn’t Hylian, and the anatomy was distinctive enough to match the stylized statues and imagery Link had seen. This man was Zonai.
“I am Rauru,” he said. Link waited for more. This man was dead, but powerful enough to linger and to work in the world. How did he know Zelda? “Forgive me for appearing to you in this manner. Unfortunately I no longer have a physical form. In any case, that arm should allow you to open this door. It seems to have lost the power to do so. You might be able to restore it, but you would need to enter a place filled with sacred light.”
Acting on instinct and a strange sense of deja vu, Link asked, “Like a shrine?”
Rauru gave him an impressed look. “Precisely. There are a few shrines on this island. Visiting them, yes. I’m sure that is the key.” He walked to the side of the platform, his gaze landing on a large boulder ringed by a stone fence. It began to glow as Link observed it, and Rauru faded to let him deal with it.
“I’m coming,” Link said quietly to the door. “I’ll be right back.”
_____
It took Link three shrines (complete with puzzles!), sixteen Soldier Constructs, ten Keese, fourteen Chu Chus (four of which were Ice types) and two horrific wormlike monsters attached to walls that had rings of teeth before he was standing in front of that door again. But he walked away with more weapons, including a bow, several mushrooms of more familiar varieties, seeds that glowed, real meat, some valuable monster parts, two frogs, a shirt, sturdier pants, a handful of gems, three fancy new powers and capsules of Zonai devices he wanted to show Zelda, and most importantly, three Lights of Blessing that he hoped would make him worthy to open the door. Since receiving those blessings removed some of the dark red Malice that was still eating away at his body, he figured that was the door’s problem. He was too full of evil to enter somewhere holy.
Zelda would’ve known he was worthy though. Unless she thought now that he wasn’t.
To Link’s relief, the seal dissipated when he touched it, and the door opened. The inside was smaller than Link had assumed, and he wondered if there were other rooms in the tiers above this one. A cascade of fountains flanked the staircase in front of him, and Link wondered if it was a common imagery among Zonai architecture; it reminded him of the series of diving pools in the structure where he woke up.
A large, curved teardrop shaped stone lay suspended on the altar at the center of the room. It glowed with the golden divine light that he associated with Zelda’s sealing power. He took the stairs two at a time to reach it. If she was around, or in there, and resting, like he had been, then all his questions would be answered. Link reached for it, and had to shield his eyes as her light surrounded him.
Link found himself in the same space, the room filled with mist that was hard to see through. But Zelda was there, in front of the altar, floating like the stone had been. She wore a strange dress adorned in jewelry similar to what Rauru had been wearing. It suited her, but it reminded Link of the white ceremonial dress she wore to the springs, before she had unlocked her power. She hated that thing.
“Zelda?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper. Her bracelets clinked as she offered him her hand, eyes still closed. She was here, she was safe, so why did his stomach twist at the fact she hadn’t spoken to him?
Link grasped her hand with his new one, her skin warm and familiar. She glowed herself, and as he watched, it gathered in the necklace she wore, in a miniature version of the stone on the altar. Link remembered it now, she had grabbed it after it fell off Rauru’s hand in the chamber under the castle. The light traveled, down her arm and into his, until it rested itself in the device on the back of his hand.
He let go of her hand to watch the process, and then wished he hadn’t. Without opening her eyes even once, Zelda faded from his view.
“Wait!” he begged, but she didn’t even react to his voice before she was gone completely. The mist overwhelmed him again, mimicking the panic Link felt choking him. When it faded, the chamber looked as it had before, and Rauru had returned.
“Recall,” he explained, gesturing to Link’s arm. “The ability to reverse an object’s movement through time. And Zelda has vanished as well. What you just saw, that’s a mystery even to me. It seemed more like an echo reflecting her will.”
Link realized with some horror, that Rauru was almost as in the dark about Zelda as he was. He had assumed the ancient king had spoken with her, or perhaps saved her as he had Link. But this kooky old man was just prompting Link with his best guess. He didn’t actually know where Zelda was.
“It must be important, if she wants you to have it.”
Link’s acerbic response died on his tongue when Rauru faded as well. Link would just keep all his frustration to himself then.
He picked a side to observe the water wheels churning behind the altar. There was more to the room behind them, but they were rotating the wrong way to climb. Link activated the arm with its new power, using it experimentally on the water wheel. It reversed the direction, and he hopped on. That brought him to the platform in the middle, and he had to reverse a third water wheel to reach the space behind that.
A familiar Goddess Statue greeted him. Link knelt in front of it, remembering the times he had prayed before, of the life and strength Hylia had fortified within him. He didn’t have that anymore, but he felt the warmth of the Goddess comfort him anyway.
He might have stayed to pray, had the door behind the statue not caught his attention. Link walked to it, bracing his hands against the indicated spots and pushing. He felt his strength drain from him, sapping everything he had until his hands slipped, vision red.
“The door stands as a test of your overall vitality,” Rauru mused. “You remain in a weakened state, you’re not strong enough to open it.”
“Thanks,” Link said dryly. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Worry not,” Rauru replied. “There is one more shrine on this island. There-”
“Just tell me where it is.” If the patterns of the past were destined to repeat themselves, he didn’t need to sit and listen to the exposition again.
“Very well. The shrine is near the Room of Awakening, where I first spoke to you. Using your Purah Pad, you can-”
Link had already navigated the map to the travel gate and begun the teleportation process. He could figure it out from there.
_____
The shrine taught him to control the finer points of Recall, and Link could see how it would be useful in many situations. Enough to leave with him without explanation? He was less sure of that.
He met another construct that explained how to consolidate crystallized charges. It held him up from going back to the temple, but Link thought Zelda would enjoy hearing about it later. He also learned how to use another Zonai device, and the Wing was almost as good as the paraglider.
Link made his way back into the Temple of Time, and stopped in front of the Goddess Statue to pray.
“Please,” he whispered to her. “I will not fail her again. I can’t. Please, strengthen me again.” Link felt it when she did, not just the increase in vitality, but the release of the Malice within him. Not all of it, but more than the Lights of Blessing did on their own.
He had explained to Zelda once how the Goddess Statues had communicated to him. She had been jealous, but Link never got specific directions or words. More feelings and impressions. The statues always left him with a prompting to bring peace, on a scale that felt like the whole kingdom.
Today, when he concluded his prayer, the statue impressed upon him that he needed to bring peace to the world, to a much larger scale. Something had changed, and it was no longer just Hyrule at stake. Link shivered.
Unwilling to waste anymore time, he braced himself to try the door again. It was as nearly as unpleasant as the first time, but the door opened before he could be entirely overwhelmed. His new arm glowed as he looked out at the long platform that extended from the temple, and Rauru appeared.
He took a breath as if to launch into another long explanation, then reconsidered. “I am glad to have finally met you, Link. You are exactly as Zelda said. I’ve done everything I can for her.”
Rauru sounded sad, and Link knew that feeling. He still didn’t understand the circumstances of how Rauru and Zelda would have met, but in that moment, he trusted that Rauru was telling the truth. The king had done everything he could. Which was more than Link could say about other kings more directly related to Zelda.
“Now it is up to you.”
Link nodded. Who else would it fall to?
Rauru disintegrated into shards of light, and Link was left alone outside the door. He proceeded carefully along the platform, parts of it had broken and he had to climb down a few chunks so he could use Ascend to other portions.
Another altar awaited him at the other end, with a ball of golden light. He reached for it, noticing the Recall power in his arm awakening as well. The Master Sword chimed from its spot on his back, and it pulsed with a blue light as he drew it. Link thought he understood what he needed to do, but he was reluctant.
The Master Sword had been broken in his care, the blade he had trusted to seal away evil. Even if Zelda had some plan for it, if it was Zelda’s power that was urging him to give it up, it felt wrong to let her take care of it. But Link had no idea how to help this blade that had been his friend and defense.
So he placed it in the ball of light and watched as it froze in place and vanished from his sight. For just a moment, he thought he could feel Zelda across the altar from him.
A vibration shook the platform as a dragon emerged from the cloud layer below them. Link could tell it was the same one from earlier, that he assumed was Farosh. It wasn’t, this dragon was more yellow than green, with light blue accents. Link hadn’t seen it before. Like the other dragons, it was beautiful, and he found himself so mesmerized by it that he almost missed it when Zelda spoke.
“Link. Link!” He turned to look back at the altar, where he thought she’d been. “You must find me!”
Zelda wasn’t there, just her words, echoing in the cool air.
“I’m trying,” he promised. “I will.”