Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Joan, I really don’t want to do this.” Peter followed after his partner through the desert, which proved that their choice of attire - his suit and her dress - were not the appropriate attire for blisteringly hot conditions, yet she ignored him. “We really shouldn’t have lied to Agitha.”

“Who cares about what she thinks?” His wife sharply faced him, her angered look making him shrink down in fear. “Let her have her fun with the bugs she holds so dear to her. She’ll soon be distracted, and she won’t even know how long we’ll be gone.”

“But that’s the problem,” the meek man replied. “We could be here all day looking for the remains of these people and we might not even find them.”

“All archaeologists take that risk.” Joan turned around and continued walking across the vast dune, her intimidated spouse following her. “We’ll find either little to nothing… or the truth as to what happened here years ago. Legend has it that the Golden Goddesses themselves trapped these people under this very desert they are named after, but why?”

“They were thieves,” Peter reminded her. “Maybe it was punishment.”

“Were thieves,” she emphasised the word. “Only when they were controlled by a man, and who would want that? I think there was something bigger that led to their disappearance. Imagine the fame and glory we shall receive for uncovering it. We may even be able to nab some of their goods, too!”

“Whoa!” Peter almost fell over as the ground beneath them began to shake. “Is it an earthquake?” He looked down at his feet, the sand slowly falling into cracks that were forming in the rocky ground. “Joan, we have to get out of here!”

“NO!” she barked back. “We must find the lost tribe! We have researched this for the last few months, and I refuse to-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the ground beneath her grew so many cracks it broke and she fell into the dark abyss that was deep beneath her. Peter screamed her name as she suddenly fell down, deciding that he was going to flee the scene and call for help, but after he turned around and lifted one leg forward to start running, the ground gave way beneath him and he too fell into the deep chasm that had just been uncovered.

17 months later

Telma happily hummed to herself as she carried a paper bag that contained an item she had just bought. She often took a break during the middle of the morning, and while Auru and Rusl managed her bar, she visited the market to see what it had to offer. Once she was happy with her purchase, she made her way to visit Agitha in her home to see how she was coping. It had been over a year since she adopted her due to the disappearance of her parents, and while she had bonded with the eleven year old in a mother/daughter-like relationship, it was never simple for her because of the bugs that were a part of the child’s life. Sometimes her home had very few or even hundreds of the small creatures, something that worried Telma about Agitha’s mentality, as she believed she was the ‘bug princess’ who ruled over them.

“Agitha.” The bartender knocked on the door before slowly opening it. “I bought something off the-”

She cut herself short when she saw the large number of bugs, insects, and other small creatures that were inside the house, the total number of them together easily being greater than any other times Agitha had hoarded them. The young girl climbed down the ladder from the top floor to the ground and approached Telma with a stick insect on her shoulder.

“Morning Telma!” she cheerfully smiled. “How are things at work?”

The bartender only stared at her with wide eyes, indicating she was shocked.

“Is something wrong?”

Breathing in deeply through her nose and shutting her eyes, Telma restrained herself before she spoke. “Agitha, exactly how many bugs do you need before it is enough?”

“What do you mean?” The girl with the pigtailed hairstyle was confused.

“Look around you.” Telma scanned her eyes across the room. “There must be at least hundreds of bugs, maybe even thousands of them. Surely you don’t need that many.”

“I’m their princess,” she asserted. “They are all my subjects.”

“But a princess doesn’t always live with their subjects,” she was told. “Not all of them, especially Princess Zelda.”

“This princess does. Ralis does, and he’s a prince.”

Telma gave a frustrated sigh before deciding to walk over to the ladder Agitha had climbed down from. “These holes belong to termites.” She pointed at the ladder, which was made out of wood. “One day, you are going to climb down this ladder and it will break, leading to a nasty accident.”

“That won’t happen,” the girl defended the animals. “I spoke to the families that live in there. They promised they would make those holes only to live in there.”

Telma raised her eyebrows. “And how do you know that?”

“Because we’re friends and we talk to each other.”

“What about all these other bugs?” She watched as a butterfly flew past her. “Do they listen to you too?”

“Of course they do,” Agitha stressed. “They’re all my friends.”

Telma carefully thought her words through before deciding to speak. “Agitha, I’m going to have to be blunt. You can’t be friends with bugs for your entire life. It’s nice to have them as pets and companions, but you need a real friend in your life to speak to, like Ralis.”

“But Ralis is often busy,” she was told. “He is visiting the Gorons of Death Mountain today, he visited Princess Zelda yesterday, and for the last week, he’s been tending to the needs of his people.”

“Agitha, he is a prince,” the bartender reminded her, which made Agitha reply “and I am a princess to the bugs of my kingdom.”

“Agitha, you are not a princess.” Telma was once again blunt, making the girl looked appalled. “No offence, but I am surprised you haven’t grown out of these phases yet at all.”

“These are not phases!” Agitha’s voice squeaked slightly as she spoke. “I am a princess, and they are all my friends!”

“Agitha, I am now going to put my foot down on this matter.” Although she never had issues with disciplining Agitha before, this was going to be the most painful one for her. “When I visit you later this evening, I want to see all of these bugs gone.”

“No!” the girl shouted. “They’re my friends! They have time for me, unlike you, Link, and Ralis!”

“They are to be out the house by tonight or I shall do it.”

“If you touch any of my bugs I will go to your bar and break every bottle of wine and beer that are there.”

“If you do, young lady...” Telma stared down at the angry child with her hands on her hips. “You will undoubtedly regret it.”

“You don’t threaten me!” Agitha yelled back. “You’re not my mother!”

“I may not be the woman who gave birth to you, but I am your legal guardian who wants the best care for you.”

“You’re not my father either!”

The stick insect jumped off her shoulder as Agitha clenched her fists with anger. She then pointed at Telma and screamed “YOU WILL NEVER REPLACE MY PARENTS, YOU FAT BARTENDING LOSER!”

Telma stared back at her with a heated expression, her eyes wide with fury. She straightened her back, breathing in deeply before walking to the door.

“I’m going to remember that,” where her gentle words as she opened the door. “If you don’t want me looking after you, then I might as well leave you alone, so don’t come looking for me with teary eyes expecting help or forgiveness.”

She dropped the paper bag next to the door before walking out, leaving Agitha with the hundreds of insects she had accommodated in her home. The girl gave a quick “humpf!” before climbing back up the ladder to continue what she had originally been busying herself with before her carer visited her.

Chapter Text

“It truly is a remarkable place,” Shad noted as he walked through the desert with Ashei by his side. “The Arbiter’s Grounds.” He identified the ruined building they were going to be investigating. “To think that’s where the mirror to the Twilight Realm was once kept until it was relocated to Kakariko Village.”

“Wasn’t it a prison or something?” his comrade asked him. “Didn’t they try executing Ganondorf in there?”

“Yes.” He glanced at her, peering over his glasses. “It took the sages seven years to decide what to do with him, and after that failed, history became a massive blur. This very desert is named after his people, yet we do not know what happened to them.”

“They just disappeared?” The young gothic woman leaned forward slightly with intrigue. “Was he behind it?”

“Ganondorf?” Shad briefly looked at her. “Possibly, but we just don’t know. Perhaps they died out. I mean, they were a one gender race barring the one male birth every century. I doubt there disappearance would have been through divine means.”

“The goddesses did give him the Triforce of Power,” Ashei reminded him. “Although why they did is even more a mystery.”

“Definitely. Now, we’re almost there, so let’s remind ourselves that what we might see will-”

“HELP!” A female voice cut the Hylian off, but the cry did not come from Ashei. The duo looked at each other with silent confusion, listening for the voice to be heard again. “HELP! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?”

“It’s coming from this direction,” Ashei pointed before walking towards the area she had identified with Shad closely following her. “Hello?” she called back. “Can you hear me?”

“I CAN HEAR YOU!” The voice grew stronger in volume, and before they knew it, they were looking down an abyss that was at least twenty feet deep. At the bottom stood a young woman who was in the middle of her teenage years, but she was not a Hylian; her dark skin, red hair, and golden eyes were the signs.

“I say.” Shad was taken back by what he saw. “You’re a Gerudo. Your race has not been seen in this land for more than a century.”

“You have to prepare yourselves.” The teenager was clearly scared. “There is a great threat after both my people and the rest of Hyrule.”

“Well, let’s help you out of there first.” Ashei removed her backpack and pulled a grappling rope out of it. “Can you climb ropes?”

“Yes, why?” The mountaineer threw part of the rope down while she placed its grappling hook firmly in the ground.

“Tell your people to come with us,” Shad told her as she started climbing up the large hole’s walls, but she soon replied “I can’t. I’m the only free one so far.”

“What do you mean by free?” He was perplexed by her statement. “Are the other Gerudo trapped?”

“Yes, but they can’t escape.” She was fearful. “I need to find someone who can remove them from the prison that’s holding them before the Phantom is released.”

“Phantom?” Ashei repeated the word. “You mean, a Poe?”

“No, it’s… made of magic.” The Gerudo was now on the surface, and frantically shook Ashei with fear by grabbing hold of her shoulders. “We need to save them! We need to save Hyrule before it’s too late!”

“Hey, hey - calm down.” Shad placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. “We’re going to take you to the princess. Her army will help your people out.”

“Princess?” The teenager repeated what she had been told. “Is her name Zelda?” Shad nodded back at her to confirm the detail. “The legacy lives on.” She was stunned at what she had been told. “The name remains after all these years.”

“What about your name?” Ashei asked her, a reply of “Ali” soon following.

“Your royalty.” A royal soldier entered the throne room with a comrade of his escorting Shad, Ashei, and Ali behind him. “There appears to be an imminent danger coming from the Gerudo Desert according to this young lady.”

“She’s a Gerudo.” Link, who was by Princess Zelda’s side, recognised the same traits Ganondorf had on the young woman. “And there I was thinking when I defeated Ganondorf, they had become extinct.”

“He returned to Hyrule and you defeated him?” Ali looked up at Link with awe. “No wonder why you are by the princess’ side. Wait - you’re him.” She pointed at the Hylian. “The hero of the goddesses. You’ve been reborn, just like the princess. My grandmothers had worked with your previous reincarnation.”

“Sorry, but now is not the time to reminisce.” Zelda stood up from her throne. “I was told that an imminent danger is coming to Hyrule.”

“Yes.” Ali nodded. “Fifty years after Ganondorf’s plan to take over Hyrule failed, a being of magic he created in his image, the Phantom Ganon, emerged from the temple within the Lost Woods. It had been designed to kill Link’s previous reincarnation once he set foot deep inside the temple, but due to the hero saving an alternate future, he prevented it from happening, so the Phantom never battled him. When it emerged from its hiding, tired of waiting, it wielded an evil sword the previous Link had placed there called the Dark Sword. It wanted to know why Ganondorf’s plan failed, and after it learned of the defeat of both him and his carers, he perceived all the remaining Gerudo as traitors and wished to kill us before claiming Hyrule for itself. However, the goddesses intervened, imprisoning all the Gerudo beneath the desert, sparing one of my grandmothers since they were a Sheikah.”

“Oh, dear lord.” Shad was now horrified by what he had heard. “What are we going to do?”

“Stop the Phantom Ganon, obviously,” Link told him. “Wait a second...” He looked at Ali. “You said your people are imprisoned beneath the desert. How come you’ve been able to escape?”

“It’s some kind of magic bubble,” he was told. “It’s frozen us in time, but it’s growing weaker. If I was able to escape, so can the other Gerudo and the Phantom. We need to save my people first before stopping it from taking over Hyrule.”

“Will that be possible though?” Ashei asked. “This is divine power we’re talking about. There’s nothing physical that can stop it.”

“The only way to know,” Zelda specified, “is to investigate the desert itself.”

Chapter Text

Accompanied by Ali, Link led a small group of soldiers to the Gerudo Desert to locate the time bubble. The soldiers carried a long ladder with them, which became useful for when they descended into the abyss Ali was originally located in.

“It’s in that direction,” the Gerudo pointed as she climbed down the ladder before Link and one of his men. “Well, that’s where I came from, at least.”

“We better have a look.” The hero removed his lantern from his belt once he reached the bottom and walked forward. “How long would you say you walked?”

“Not long. Twenty, maybe thirty yards.”

“Sir!” The soldier almost jumped with fright at what the lantern’s flame had picked up. “Look!”

Link held his lantern slightly higher to see what the man was pointing at, only to see a rounded green wall of energy. Within it were the surviving Gerudo, the stasis of the goddesses’ magic making their faces appear frozen with fear at what they were encountering many years prior. He then removed his claw-shot from his belt and aimed it at the closest Gerudo, launching it through the bubble and grabbing her before pulling her out. As soon as she emerged into real-time, she was about to run away with terror before she stopped, realising how the environment around her had changed.

“Ali.” She ran over to the young woman breathlessly. “What’s happening? Where’s the phantom? Is Hyrule safe?”

“Not yet,” the frantic woman was told. “The hero is going to save us and stop it.”

“The Hero.” Her voice hushed with awe when she saw the eighteen year old Ali was pointing at. “The Goddesses have brought him back like the legend says.”

“And this hero is going to make sure your race lives to see another day.” Link slipped the claw-shot onto his belt and then faced the soldier who accompanied him. “Take them both back to the castle, and tell the Princess we need half of all the soldiers here with bombs, mining tools and claw-shots.”

Link’s words were followed closely, with exactly half of Hyrule’s army following his orders by carrying claw-shots, various mining tools and crates of bombs to the Gerudo Desert. It was not until near the middle of the afternoon when the laboured digging with tools and detonation after detonation of bombs exposed the time bubble the goddesses had created. The soldiers all surrounded the now slightly smaller bubble on the surface, looking down into the abyss to see the perfectly intact fortress that belonged to the Gerudo. Link stood in the unaffected area of the chasm, starring straight on at the tall and muscular Gerudo who was fleeing from one of the many door-less openings to the grey-bricked fortress.

“On my command!” Despite his young age, Link had the respect of all of the soldiers, and they all listened closely to his orders. “Position yourselves… NOW!”

The sounds of the chains that propelled the claw-shots claws into the bubble created a loud and repetitive noise that could be heard miles away since they were all fired simultaneously. Each soldier pulled out a Gerudo one after the other, young or old, and they repeated their actions until the large crowds were on the surface. Panicked cries were soon heard once members of the one-gendered race had returned to reality, and within less than a minute of the task starting, all the Gerudo that could be seen had been saved, with Link rescuing the tall and muscular one he focused on first.

“The Hero of the Goddesses - you’ve saved us from their power.” She firmly shook his hand. “I am Trellen, the leader of the Gerudo.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” he nodded. “We need to do a quick head count with your people to see if everyone has been saved.”

He guided her up the ladder to show her the rest of her people on the surface, where she soon expressed concern.

“Ali.” Her face went white. “My daughter. Where-”

“She’s with our princess,” a soldier reassured her. “She’s with another person, but we never caught her name.”

“That’s fine.” Trellen breathed a sigh of relief. “This is everybody. There’s no one else left down there besides the phantom.” Her panic soon returned. “The Phantom Ganon - do you know about it?”

“Because of your daughter, yes.” Link calmly reassured her so he did not have to repeat himself. “She was the first person found because she'd escaped the time bubble. Fortunately, some friends of mine were passing by here and brought her to us.”

“Sir.” A confused soldier gained Link’s attention. “There are some other people down there.”

He pointed at the back of the fortress, where two people that were not Gerudo, but Hylians, could be seen.

“Are they who I think they are?” Link could not believe his eyes. He had never met the two people in person, but he knew of their existence - or rather, the lack thereof. He quickly used his claw-shot to pull the first person, a man, out of the bubble before grabbing their partner, a woman.

“What happened?” the man asked. “I was falling down a hole, now I’m on the surface again. How’s that possible?”

“I saved you,” Link told him. “Seeing you two out here says a lot about why you’ve been missing for so long.”

“Hang on a second.” A female soldier walked forward a step. “They’re those parents that vanished just over a year ago.”

“What?!” The woman was shocked. “A year? What have we been doing?”

“Stuck in a time bubble, it would appear.” Link sneered at them. “Peter and Joan, the parents of Agitha, believed to be out at the market are all the way here in the Gerudo Desert. The Princess, let alone your daughter, requires an explanation for where you’ve been.”