[fic][Legend of Zelda] for sometimesamuse
sometimesamuse made me this absolutely amazing DW icon a while back (it's the one I'm using on this post); at the time I promised her fic in return, and she requested Legend of Zelda fic.
It took me ages (and I'm so, so sorry), but here's a little something-something. It's nothing amazing, I regret to say; writing Link is incredibly difficult to me!
Time Warp Again
LoZ:OoT; Zelda, Link; G; the second time around
She turns and looks at him with a gasp of surprise. “Who … are you?”
*
There’s this fellow, they say - a rumor in some towns, a regular visitor in others - with blond hair and blue eyes and a Hylian shield strapped across his back. He doesn’t say much, all ears and gentle smiles. But wherever he goes, peace seems to follow in his wake - a plague of Stalfos fades away, a lost child turns up on the parent’s doorstep, bandits disappear and never return.
Nobody knows his name. Whenever it’s asked for, he merely smiles or laughs and turns away his gaze, and so he is Nameless.
This is the rumor that reaches the ears of the Queen. She turns hear head and smiles. “Do you know of this man, my Queen?” the emissary asks.
“Aye, I do,” the Queen says. “But if Nameless is how he wishes to be, then Nameless he shall remain.”
*
“You see that man?” she asks. “That’s Ganandorf, the King of the Gerudos. I just know he’s the evil in my dreams.”
*
He was called the King of Thieves, the Lord of the Gerudos. He was revered as a god amongst his people for the simple fact of being born male in a tribe of females. He came to Hyrule to establish trade between their nations.
He came to Hyrule to lay his hands on the Triforce.
He passed three months within the castle walls, and another three escorted about the land, and the trade for spices and metals was good. But the Princess shunned him, and for a short time a shadow stretched over the land as if the King of Thieves was in fact divine.
In the seventh month he stormed Castle Town and sought to cast down the Temple of Time stone by stone. The Princess was spirited away and the King went to battle. War waged for three days in the streets of the city.
The Gerudos withdrew on the night of the third day. The King of Thieves, the Lord of Gerudos, was seen on a horseback, dead, a Gerudo knife in his back.
The Temple of Time stood strong, as if made of something more than stone and mortar.
*
“Please,” she said, “Find the three Spiritual Stones. We must not let Ganandorf lay his hands on them!”
*
“Impa,” the Princess asked sleepily, “what happens to heroes when they aren’t needed any more?”
“Well,” Impa said, with a sad smile, “they pass into history, and then into legend.”
“Not the stories,” the Princess protested to her nanny. “The hero!” She frowned.
Impa laughed. “Would you prefer the truth or a nice lie?”
The Princess sighed. “Is the truth sad?”
“More like … unsatisfactory,” Impa replied. “After all, the stories don’t tell us! So I suppose you have to make up your own ending for the heroes.”
The Princess closed her eyes and smiled. “Then they live happily ever after.”
*
The boy smiled shyly at her and put a finger to his lips; she leaned in closely, and her visitor opened the satchel at his side. Within glowed three stones of emerald, ruby, and sapphire, and she gasped.
“You have them!”
He pressed his finger back to his lips and shook his head, looking beyond her to where the King of Thieves stood in the chamber.
“Quickly,” she whispered, “Go to the Temple of Time! I’ll give you the Ocarina of T-“
The boy shook his head again, and she thought, I have never seen such sad eyes.
*
The Princess waited. She waited through her birthdays, and through her coronation, and through the years that followed. She knew whom she was waiting for, but not for what.
The Nameless Boy was hers, but she was not his. And so the senseless waiting continued.
*
“Why not?” she asked, the beginnings of a frown on her face.
“You told me you regretted it,” he said, his eyes cast away. “So I promised you I would bury them.”
She cocked her head, confused. “I have never seen you before today … except in my dream …”
He smiled fleetingly, flushing.
“Where would you bury them, wise Kokiri child?” she asked, humoring him.
“I cannot tell you.”
“How would you keep the Triforce from the hands of the King of Thieves!?” She made fists at her sides.
The boy bowed his head. “I promise you: the Triforce will not fall into his hands.”
“Lofty words,” she accused, offended that he would not take her advice, that he claimed to have dreamt of previous instruction. “Swear it to me,” she commanded, her voice shaking just a little.
The boy dropped to one knee. “I swear it,” he said, soft and convicted, and his voice did not shake at all.
*
There is a rumor, or perhaps fact, but more likely legend, that in the Lost Woods there is a place where three flowers grow: a rose, a bluebell, and a honeysuckle, and if you pray there, you might glance the Sacred Realm. But of course, it is only a rumor. No one leaves the Lost Woods alive.
The Young Deku Tree might know, but he isn’t telling.
*
“What will you do?” she asks.
“There’s a friend I wish to find,” he answers, his gaze sliding towards the garden’s exit.
“Will you come to see me again?” she asks. “To tell me if the Jewels are safe …?”
*
In another place, he sets the jewels in a pedestal and seizes a sword that will always be his; a man follows him and steals the greatest treasure the earth has to offer. In another place, a princess becomes a Sheikah and a boy becomes a man in a breath, a land is ransacked and made whole again, good people die and lend their power to a worthy cause. This is the place that endures, a land of heroes and princesses and evil things.
Here, a herald announces an audience and a man steps forth, dust on his cloak and his shield on his back, his hair dirty gold and his eyes blue.
She stands. He bows.
She says, “Link.”
“My queen,” he says. “Zelda.”
“I almost forgot to expect you back,” she says. “Did you find your friend?”
When he lifts his head, his smile is that of the Kokiri boy in her dream and her memory, sweet and uncertain.
“The Jewels are safe,” he says.
Fin
It took me ages (and I'm so, so sorry), but here's a little something-something. It's nothing amazing, I regret to say; writing Link is incredibly difficult to me!
Time Warp Again
LoZ:OoT; Zelda, Link; G; the second time around
She turns and looks at him with a gasp of surprise. “Who … are you?”
*
There’s this fellow, they say - a rumor in some towns, a regular visitor in others - with blond hair and blue eyes and a Hylian shield strapped across his back. He doesn’t say much, all ears and gentle smiles. But wherever he goes, peace seems to follow in his wake - a plague of Stalfos fades away, a lost child turns up on the parent’s doorstep, bandits disappear and never return.
Nobody knows his name. Whenever it’s asked for, he merely smiles or laughs and turns away his gaze, and so he is Nameless.
This is the rumor that reaches the ears of the Queen. She turns hear head and smiles. “Do you know of this man, my Queen?” the emissary asks.
“Aye, I do,” the Queen says. “But if Nameless is how he wishes to be, then Nameless he shall remain.”
*
“You see that man?” she asks. “That’s Ganandorf, the King of the Gerudos. I just know he’s the evil in my dreams.”
*
He was called the King of Thieves, the Lord of the Gerudos. He was revered as a god amongst his people for the simple fact of being born male in a tribe of females. He came to Hyrule to establish trade between their nations.
He came to Hyrule to lay his hands on the Triforce.
He passed three months within the castle walls, and another three escorted about the land, and the trade for spices and metals was good. But the Princess shunned him, and for a short time a shadow stretched over the land as if the King of Thieves was in fact divine.
In the seventh month he stormed Castle Town and sought to cast down the Temple of Time stone by stone. The Princess was spirited away and the King went to battle. War waged for three days in the streets of the city.
The Gerudos withdrew on the night of the third day. The King of Thieves, the Lord of Gerudos, was seen on a horseback, dead, a Gerudo knife in his back.
The Temple of Time stood strong, as if made of something more than stone and mortar.
*
“Please,” she said, “Find the three Spiritual Stones. We must not let Ganandorf lay his hands on them!”
*
“Impa,” the Princess asked sleepily, “what happens to heroes when they aren’t needed any more?”
“Well,” Impa said, with a sad smile, “they pass into history, and then into legend.”
“Not the stories,” the Princess protested to her nanny. “The hero!” She frowned.
Impa laughed. “Would you prefer the truth or a nice lie?”
The Princess sighed. “Is the truth sad?”
“More like … unsatisfactory,” Impa replied. “After all, the stories don’t tell us! So I suppose you have to make up your own ending for the heroes.”
The Princess closed her eyes and smiled. “Then they live happily ever after.”
*
The boy smiled shyly at her and put a finger to his lips; she leaned in closely, and her visitor opened the satchel at his side. Within glowed three stones of emerald, ruby, and sapphire, and she gasped.
“You have them!”
He pressed his finger back to his lips and shook his head, looking beyond her to where the King of Thieves stood in the chamber.
“Quickly,” she whispered, “Go to the Temple of Time! I’ll give you the Ocarina of T-“
The boy shook his head again, and she thought, I have never seen such sad eyes.
*
The Princess waited. She waited through her birthdays, and through her coronation, and through the years that followed. She knew whom she was waiting for, but not for what.
The Nameless Boy was hers, but she was not his. And so the senseless waiting continued.
*
“Why not?” she asked, the beginnings of a frown on her face.
“You told me you regretted it,” he said, his eyes cast away. “So I promised you I would bury them.”
She cocked her head, confused. “I have never seen you before today … except in my dream …”
He smiled fleetingly, flushing.
“Where would you bury them, wise Kokiri child?” she asked, humoring him.
“I cannot tell you.”
“How would you keep the Triforce from the hands of the King of Thieves!?” She made fists at her sides.
The boy bowed his head. “I promise you: the Triforce will not fall into his hands.”
“Lofty words,” she accused, offended that he would not take her advice, that he claimed to have dreamt of previous instruction. “Swear it to me,” she commanded, her voice shaking just a little.
The boy dropped to one knee. “I swear it,” he said, soft and convicted, and his voice did not shake at all.
*
There is a rumor, or perhaps fact, but more likely legend, that in the Lost Woods there is a place where three flowers grow: a rose, a bluebell, and a honeysuckle, and if you pray there, you might glance the Sacred Realm. But of course, it is only a rumor. No one leaves the Lost Woods alive.
The Young Deku Tree might know, but he isn’t telling.
*
“What will you do?” she asks.
“There’s a friend I wish to find,” he answers, his gaze sliding towards the garden’s exit.
“Will you come to see me again?” she asks. “To tell me if the Jewels are safe …?”
*
In another place, he sets the jewels in a pedestal and seizes a sword that will always be his; a man follows him and steals the greatest treasure the earth has to offer. In another place, a princess becomes a Sheikah and a boy becomes a man in a breath, a land is ransacked and made whole again, good people die and lend their power to a worthy cause. This is the place that endures, a land of heroes and princesses and evil things.
Here, a herald announces an audience and a man steps forth, dust on his cloak and his shield on his back, his hair dirty gold and his eyes blue.
She stands. He bows.
She says, “Link.”
“My queen,” he says. “Zelda.”
“I almost forgot to expect you back,” she says. “Did you find your friend?”
When he lifts his head, his smile is that of the Kokiri boy in her dream and her memory, sweet and uncertain.
“The Jewels are safe,” he says.
Fin