Chapter Text
Warmth.
That’s the first thing Zelda feels after thousands of years when she hits the frigid water. The feeling of his arms around her body, clutching her as close as physically possible. Her face is buried in his neck, her arms grip his sopping wet tunic. Her eyes are bloodshot, her hair’s like a cuckoos nest, and she stinks like a dog after rolling around in the mud. Despite this, he still holds her as if she's the most precious thing in the world.
In a sense, maybe she is.
Ice.
That's the first thing Link feels when he touches her for the first time in three years. Her hair whips his face as they accelerate downwards, her body lying limp in his arms. They crash into the lake and Link stays frozen as he holds her close to his heart. He slowly gets up, carrying her out of the water and onto the grass.
She opens her eyes blearily, blinking a few times to adjust to the bright rays of the sun. Her eyes catch his face and is almost at the brink of tears once registers who he is. She mutters shakily, "Link? How are you..." She touches her necklace, voice cracking, "But I was..."
Link stares as she speaks, shoulders un-tensing slightly. He holds in a sob as he watches her marvel at the world around her. A world she can finally see instead of being doomed to drift for the rest of time.
This is Zelda. Not the Light Dragon, but Zelda.
She stares at him for a moment, searching his face for any trace of a hoax. After finding none, her eyes well up and she says, "Oh, Link... I'm home!" She smiles and looks at him like he's the embodiment of Hylia and not herself.
Link finally breaks, rushing towards her and pulling her into a spine crushing hug, hands cradling her neck. "I thought I lost you," he whispers into her hair.
"I thought I lost you," she parrots, face buried in his neck.
He pulls away, just a little, and speaks in the softest of voices, "We have to get to the fort." She nods and he drops his hands from her face, trailing them down her arms and to her hands. He brushes his fingers over her knuckles and lightly guides her to Lookout Landing. Link relishes in the feeling of her hands between his own.
The trip is technically not that long, around ten minutes, but it feels like an eternity to the two of them. They walk in comfortable silence, all they need right now is each other.
They pass by the crystal refinery and are immediately spotted by Purah. Her eyes well up uncharacteristically, their wet sheen accentuated by her ginormous glasses. She walks slowly towards them, as if they'll disappear if she goes any faster, before breaking into a full sprint. Purah engulfs both of them in a hug, checking for any injuries, and scolds Link for making her worry so much. She holds Zelda's face, checking her with a researcher's gaze. Eventually, she lets go and leads them to the bunker so that they can be properly looked over.
Hours pass by while they rest on the beds below the fortress. Various people pass in and out, tending to their wounds, asking for blessings from the divine pair, or just stopping by to say hello. But hours turn into days, and they are still at Lookout Landing.
Zelda’s been poked and prodded more times than she can count, and so has Link. Both their cases are nothing short of medicinal miracles; turning into a dragon and then back to Hylian? Having your entire arm grow back? Impossible in the context of modern medicine.
Despite them being confined to the landing, the past few days have been anything but uneventful.
Mineru's soul passed on shortly after the defeat of the demon king. Her zonaite limbs lie a heap on the floor of the Lookout Landing lab. Now in her spectral form, she thanks them for avenging her family, and kneels before them.
"I truly am glad to have called the two of you my friends..." She trails off and looks to the sky. "The Zonai thank you for your help. Hyrule is in good hands with the two of you by its side." Mineru fades off into mist, and the room
After Mineru's passing, Tulin is the first to come visit. He’s as hyperactive as ever, flying about the room, boasting to Zelda about how he’s a sage now and how he's improved his gust technique. Tulin wasn't as close to Zelda as he was to Link, but it still made her proud to see how much he'd grown.
Next is Yunobo. He bumbles around, fretting over the two hylians. The goron's newly acquired confidence leaves Zelda slightly stunned. The three of them chat for a while, until Yunobo eventually has to leave. The two watch him leave, and Zelda mumbles a joke about his goatee as Yunobo climbs the ladder. Link's laugh startles the goron and he almost hits his head on the roof of the shelter.
Riju follows shortly, enveloping Zelda in a hug, eager to see her best friend after so long, and punches Link on the shoulder before eventually pulling him in for a hug. She shoo's Link away, insisting on some 'girl time' and how Zelda's probably sick of his ugly mug at this point.
Finally, Sidon arrives. He nearly cries when he sees the two of them sitting together, mostly healed. The king recounts all of Link's embarrassing moments from the last three years. Zelda listens with poorly concealed amusement, as well as a hint of sadness. She's missed so much, and its pretty obvious at times like this.
The trio's laughter dies down, and Sidon takes this moment to spring some very important news. "Yona and I are getting married this year, at the end of summer. We would love it if you two could attend."
Link and Zelda say yes immediately.
Sidon chuckles at their enthusiastic reaction and mentions, "Link, you will obviously be my best man," Link nods in affirmation, "And I'd assume the two of you are coming together, right?" Sidon gives Link a very pointed look at that last part.
"Yes, of course Sidon. Now shoo! You have your fiancée waiting for you. Come busy yourself with us at a later time," Zelda laughs. Sidon says his final farewells and leaves through the ladder. Zelda mentions something about the bathroom and leaves Link by himself.
Now by alone, Link has to think.
He's not oblivious. Link knows what that look was supposed to mean. He’d spent the last few years in utter despair over the thought of losing Zelda. His nights were sleepless and filled with regret, with Sidon right by his side throughout the whole thing. And here he was again, still pining over the girl with whom he’d been glued to for almost a whole week.
In his defense, he just thinks the timing is too abrupt. Right? They just almost died, and Zelda was a literal dragon for the Hylia knows how long. Hell, he often caught her wandering in the middle of the night, staring longingly at the stars that were her home for so long. It's not like his mind was sound either, often waking up from night terrors of the horrors he encountered on his journeys.
So he kept quiet.
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
The first time Zelda stepped back into the house, everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. She gave him a questioning look and he just shook his head in response.
It was awkward settling into their old routine. Before the Upheaval, they had tried sleeping in separate beds, but it never worked. Nightmares plagued the both of them and always ended up in one of them crawling into the bed of the other. Yet, there was always a distance between them as they slept, neither wishing to take the first step onto the bridge of no return.
It's different this time around.
They tried to keep up the pretense for a while, but one morning they woke up in each others arms and just couldn't bear to sleep apart after that.
However, it takes two months after they arrive in Hateno for any actual development to happen. It's a lazy morning, the birds chirping through the spring dew covered windows, with Link and Zelda in tangled limbs.
Zelda wakes earlier than Link for once. Staring at his sleeping face, she wonders, “What’s the point in waiting any longer?” She’s tired of waiting! She’s been waiting for who knows how long for crying out loud! She’s had enough of being patient.
So she gets up and sits straight on the bed, and stares at Link until he wakes, which doesn’t take too long. Zelda barely waits for the poor man to fully open his eyes before blurting out, “I love you”.
If Link wasn’t awake before, he certainly is now. He stares up at her face. Her back is to the window, sunlight illuminating the back of her head, casting a divine glow across her silhouette. Her hair glows golden, fly-aways crowning her head like a halo. His jaw opens and closes like a fish out of water. Has he died? Is he still dreaming? There’s no way this beautiful goddess, mind you, the princess of Hyrule, just confessed her love to him. He just keeps staring. But Zelda does not wither away under his intense stare.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say something?” She leans over him, waving a hand over his face. “Come on, it’s not that shocking. We’ve known each other long now? It’s very statistically likely that two close friends will eventually become lovers, you know?”
Link turns red. Zelda rolls her eyes and grabs him by the collar to pull him in for a kiss. He squeaks and stays as stiff as cardboard before relaxing and resting his hands on her hips. They pull away and just look at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing.
“There was absolutely no need for us to have waited twelve years to do that,” Zelda giggles, her cheeks flushing pink.
Link smiles and says, “Don’t you mean a hundred and twelve years?”
Zelda snaps, “Well, for you! I’ve had to wait..." She takes a moment to digest how long it had been she'd waited to hear those words. "A really long time" She finishes lamely. She looks away as Link tries to hold in his laughter at her less than ideal retort. He can't hold it in for long, chuckling under his hand as he tries to tamper his laughter.
After he calms down, he pulls Zelda close embrace. Link puts his chin on top of her head, their chests facing each other, and murmurs into her hair:
“Hey, Zelda?”
“Yes, Link?”
“I love you too."