Chapter Text
A squirming, wriggling pod hung from the ceiling, fluid and sludge encasing the two figures trapped inside. One was destined to bring the end of the world, and would gladly be doing so right this moment, if it weren’t for this terrible sac it was trapped within. The other was destined to seal the ancient evil away, with a power they had discovered far too late to stop the destruction the first had wreaked across Hyrule.
A princess and a monster. Trapped in a castle, awaiting rescue by a knight in shining armor, who would save the day and be the hero for all the land. A tale as old as time.
Except this time, it was the princess keeping the monster trapped.
Zelda supposed every story needed a twist, after all.
After a century of waiting, with nothing but the endless struggle against the beast that was Hyrule’s downfall to keep her attention, she would’ve traded anything just for the chance to read one of those stories again. Anything to keep her mind occupied with something else than the dull, mindless, exhaustingly effortful struggle of keeping Calamity Ganon at bay.
After a century of waiting, she was ready to do just about anything to bring an end to this torturous existence. Not to end her own life, of course - she had spent far too much time here to throw it all away like that, to make those 100 years of struggling become all for nothing - but oh, what she wouldn’t give to make something happen, something she could witness, not just to know that the world was bumbling along without her.
After a century of silence, she reached out.
She wasn’t sure it would work - was beginning to grow worried he wouldn’t wake at all - but she could only try. She drew up her power within herself, feeling that burning, glowing, radiating light begin to grow, bursting out from the bubble she had trapped herself and this beast within, and reaching across Hyrule, across the plains, across the forests, up the insurmountable walls of a long-forgotten plateau, and into a cave deep underground, buried beneath a mountain in a desolate region.
“Open your eyes.” She began, quiet, at first, using a voice she hadn’t had need for in a hundred years.
“Open your eyes.” She repeated, growing more sure of herself, as she began to feel awareness growing through her light, not just a glow, but a sense of the world around her, a sort of sight of Hyrule. She reached farther, willing that light to delve further, through the doors and the vines, reaching into the furthest depths of that cave, the shrine which held the hero she’d had placed there a century before.
She willed her light inside, blinding and brilliant for a moment, and she began to gain a sense of the room. The bed, filled with water, with a sleeping hero. The receptacle hanging above him, glowing blue with Sheikah magic and technology. The Sheikah Slate, resting in its pedestal, awaiting the hero’s awakening much the same way she was, the way she had been for far too long now.
“Open your eyes.” She pleaded, seeing, now, the sleeping figure, the tiny Hylian, so feeble and frail. She couldn’t fathom how she hadn’t seen it before.
He had seemed almost invincible, like nothing could ever truly stop him. He was larger than life, in her eyes, an unstoppable force more than a person. She could only wish that she had noticed sooner that he was only mortal, just like her. That he would bleed and falter, that he could only take so many hits before he could not get back up. She could only dream that she had noticed before it was too late.
Her attention flickered back to the room, now, as she noticed a twitching movement. His eyelids, fluttering at first, barely moving, before slowly, ever-so-slowly, beginning to lift, revealing those blue eyes she had missed so dearly.
“Open your eyes.” She encouraged, softening her voice at the development that he might actually be able to hear her now.
He squinted upwards, remaining still and unmoving other than the slight flicker of his eyelids. Zelda desperately wished she could truly be there, with him, to help him awake, to help him recover and adjust to the world as it now was. She wished she could be the first thing he saw, as he opened his eyes, a comforting and familiar face. She wished she could be there alongside his journey, just as he had never left her side as she struggled to fulfill her own purpose.
...
Perhaps... she could.
Not in the same way he had, she could not leave this wretched castle or the beast within it. But perhaps she could watch over him, ensure he was safe on his journey. Perhaps she could be the encouraging voice she’d wished she had when she was completing her duty.
But he would have to get up, first.
“Wake up, Link.” She instructed, and his eyes fully opened, blinking a few times as consciousness finally made its way through Link.
The water began to drain from the bed as he awoke, the technology recognizing that its purpose had been fulfilled and that its patient was now revived. Link glanced around for a moment, not seeming like he was fully conscious yet, but Zelda supposed that was to be expected. He had been asleep for a century, after all.
...she wondered when he had stopped being dead, and started being asleep. How many years into his resurrection it had turned into healing and no longer revival.
Link sat up, looking around for a moment, before climbing out of the bed he had been placed in. Zelda was surprised just how easily he moved - despite the century of slumber, he seemed as agile as ever, not weary or stumbling as he moved. After just a moment of hesitation he resumed his normal speed, nearly jogging over to the Sheikah Slate, although he seemed to be getting used to moving again at first, taking a few steps in every which direction just to get the feeling of movement back in his limbs.
The pedestal reacted as he approached, raising the Sheikah Slate for him, but he hesitated, simply staring at the thing before him as though he had no recollection of it.
“That is a Sheikah Slate. Take it. It will help you after your long slumber.” She instructed, hoping she could help ease some of the confusion he must be having.
After all, the last thing he would remember would be in the middle of Blatchery Plain, dying in battle. She wondered how confusing it must be to wake up here, a place he had never seen before, completely devoid of life or sunlight.
Link followed her instructions easily, taking the Sheikah Slate and fidgeting around with it for a moment, before placing it on his belt and continuing into the next room, once the door opened.
She tried not to question how or when a belt had appeared around his waist, considering he hadn’t been wearing one when he had awoken mere moments before.
Still, she watched with mild amusement as he wandered about the next room, opening the chests left for him - and stubbing his toe pretty hard on the first one - and throwing around the empty, destroyed barrels. She wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this, but then, she supposed any good scholar explored their surroundings and investigated their abilities, and she was willing to give him some grace considering he’d only been awake for a few minutes.
She was curious though about the fact that the clothes from the chests just... disappeared once he took them. And by simply tapping on the Sheikah Slate, they appeared on his body, without him having to go through the effort of actually putting them on. Zelda felt a twinge of jealousy - she had spent months trying to decipher the functions of the Sheikah Slate, and yet within seconds he managed to discover a new one, despite having never touched it before - and Hylia, would that have been useful back then! Being able to simply tap a slate to get dressed, rather than having to spend hours getting ready, delicately donning her royal garb and all the jewelry and accessories that came with it... it was like something out of a dream.
Regardless, Link seemed stuck on how to get out of this room. She almost laughed; he could discover new features of the Sheikah Slate without even trying, but the few ones she already knew about, he was clueless towards.
“Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal. That will show you the way.” She explained, and then waited as he did just that.
It had only been a few minutes at most, but already, she could feel Ganon fighting for control again, struggling against her distracted mind to break free from her hold. She sighed, deciding that she would give one final burst of encouragement before relegating herself back to the castle, at least for now.
She wondered, though, if she could somehow keep watching Link’s journey, even without expending the energy to project her voice across Hyrule. She had the blood of the Goddess, surely something as simple as observing a single person wouldn’t be too far of a stretch, as a background task to set her powers to while the rest of her focus went to containing the Calamity?
She supposed she’d find out soon enough.
As Link shielded his eyes from the sunlight while the Shrine of Resurrection fully opened, releasing its ward to the world after a century of keeping him contained, Zelda prepared her final message to him, at least for the time being. As he stared out into the sunlight, she willed her own light to join it, becoming a glowing, radiating point for him to focus on as she channeled her message through that light to him, across Hyrule.
“Link...” He only stared, showing no response. “You are the light - our light - that must shine upon Hyrule once again.” She hoped he could sense her desperation, her utmost faith in him, her worry for his safety as he braved the world she could not protect him from the first time. But despite it all, she knew he must continue, that he must venture forth into Hyrule, if this ceaseless struggle against Ganon was ever to end.
“Now, go...” She commanded, and let her powers recess back into herself, gathering them all within her to restrain the beast that was threatening to destroy it all once more.