Author's Note: Hello! Welcome to my attempt at a romance story. (Haha) First off, I have a few things I want to get out of the way. This story had nothing to do with the Human Series or any of my other Metroid Fan fictions. It is in a completely different universe, completely different Samus.

Second, this feels more like a Metroid/Legend of Zelda crossover but it contains other Smash characters like Pikachu, and right now I think it is better classified as a Smash story. If that changes, I'll move it to a different category, but I'm happy with it here for now.

Anyway, I've done romance before, but this is my first multi-chapter romance story, and I think it will be a pretty slow burn romance all things considered. I really appreciate feedback with that and any other aspects of the story you wish to comment on. So please review and let me know what you think. I am going out on a bit of a limb with this one.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Enjoy the story! :)

Seven Wonders

Chapter 1: Battle of the Dragon

"Link?"

The Princess Zelda looked up from her reverie to see the young blond man running toward her. She had been seated in her courtyard in one of her rare moments free from the royal guards. Her only companion had been Impa, a tall, strong woman with dark skin and white hair who served as Zelda's personal bodyguard and near constant companion.

Her quiet times among the flowers of the tiny courtyard were rare and precious, and most at the castle knew to respect them, so it was all the more surprising to see Link, his green tunic smeared with mud, running toward her.

"Zelda!" he called, forgetting all manner of formality as he stumbled awkwardly into the private gardens. "There's been an attack! You need to close the drawbridges to Castle Town!"

The princess's blue eyes grew wide, but she quickly nodded before turning to Impa.

"I'm on it," the tall Sheikah woman said in her deep voice. She backed away a few steps before disappearing with a loud crack and a puff of smoke.

Though it may have looked like magic to those who knew no better, Zelda knew it was actually a technique of the ninja-like Sheikah warriors, and right now Impa would be running as fast as humanly possible to rally the soldiers and get the bridge drawn up.

"Link," the princess said, hiking up her pale pink dress and rushing over to the man's side. "I need to know more about what's going on. What's attacking?"

Zelda didn't question the truth of Link's warnings. The two of them shared a deep bond, and she trusted him completely when it came to the welfare of her kingdom.

Link was hunched over and panting, but as he looked up at her, his eyes were alert and ready. "A dragon."

"Which dragon?" There were several known dragons throughout the lands, each with its own domain and relationship with Hyrule. While they rarely caused any problems, Hyrule's army always had plans in place to deal with any potential hostile advances.

"None that I've ever met." Link regarded Zelda very seriously as he stood up straight. "This creature… if death took the form of a dragon, this is what it would look like. Gray, almost skeletal. With the most horrifying eyes that glowed amber. It was wearing some kind of armor… I think it may have been part machine."

Zelda searched her mind for anything resembling a dragon that might have been part machine, but she could not recall ever hearing about such a creature.

"It's burning the fields," Link continued. "I need to go back. The castle has the guards to protect it, but I have to get back to Malon and the ranch."

"Link, the drawbridge is up, remember? And even if you got past it, there's still all of Hyrule Field. Would you just run across that unprotected?"

"If that's what I have to do," Link replied, his voice growing lower and more serious, "then that's what I'll do. But I was hoping it would not have to come to that."

Zelda frowned. It was an odd shift to see the soft features she showed to the public turn so hard. She looked less like the soft porcelain doll she played for the masses and more like the future monarch she had trained her entire life to become.

"You want me to use Farore's Wind."

Link nodded. "I need to get back to Malon. And I need to get Malon to safety."

"Malon has horses. She can ride one of those if she needs to flee."

"Horses get spooked by fire." Link's features also grew hard and grim. "It could throw her off."

"Malon lives on a ranch, Link. She's been thrown from horseback before. We need you here. You're the Hero of—"

"Malon's pregnant."

Zelda looked like he had just reached out and slapped her. "W-what?"

"Are you going to cast Farore's Wind or am I swimming across the mote and running across the field to get back to Lon Lon Ranch? Your call, Zelda."

The princess wasn't sure how to respond to the news about Malon, and she was not even sure why it had shocked her as much as it had. "Fine."

"Thank you," Link said softly as he reached out his rough hand to Zelda and she took it in her delicate gloved one.

Without another word, the princess closed her eyes and focused on the spell to summon the goddess Farore's holy wind. She could feel the energy rising up from within her as she and Link began to glow in a soft green.

Within seconds, the light of the goddess was swirling around them, enveloping them until they disappeared from sight. Link and Zelda had never been quite sure how to describe the feeling of being transported by magic, but they knew it left them breathless and windswept when they reappeared, as though they had passed momentarily through the eye-wall of a powerful storm.

Zelda slowly opened her eyes once she could feel solid ground under her feet once more. She had expected to see Link looking back at her as he normally was, but he had already turned to face the entrance to the Lon Lon Ranch. She saw him just in time to see him drop her hand and make a dash toward the farmhouse.

The smell of smoke filled the air and clouded the sky. They could not see the flames from where the fields were burning or where the dragon might be.

It took Zelda a moment to get her bearings, still shocked at seeing how quickly the young man had deserted her in search of Malon. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised given their latest development, but she hesitated a moment before following him.

She had just hiked up her dress and started running after him when she heard a sound that made her hair stand on end. It was the most grating screech she had ever heard, unlike the dry of any dragon she had known. It filled her with a sinking dread as she looked over her shoulder and saw the outline of a massive dragon flying toward her.

Zelda gasped as she turned to run as fast as she could into the compound of the Lon Lon Ranch.

"Link!" she cried, choking on the smoke-filled air as she sprinted with all of her might. "Link! Malon!"

"Zelda!" she heard Link's voice call out in the distance, but as she tried to run toward it, all sounds were drowned out by another ear-piercing screech.

This time the dragon's cry was closer, and Zelda could feel her heart racing. She knew she could never outrun it.

"Zelda!" Link called out again, and she saw him, beckoning to her from the door to the farmhouse.

Thankful to have found him, she ran as quickly as she could toward where he stood. All she needed to do was take his and Malon's hands and cast Farore's Wind one more time to transport them all back to safety.

She was nearly there and already starting to call upon the powers of the goddess when suddenly a massive ball of fire flew over her head from behind her before slamming into the farmhouse and exploding.

"LINK!" she screamed as pieces of the building ignited and crumbled, the sharp crack of beams splitting filling her ears. She tried to keep running toward it, but another fireball flew directly into her path, cutting her off from getting any closer to the farmhouse.

Zelda froze where she stood and turned around to find herself face to face with the skeletal gray dragon. Its amber eyes glowed hot like the fireballs as it stared her down as though closing in on its prey. Armor plating lined much of its body, and mechanical components appeared to protect the joints of its wings. It was unlike any creature Zelda had ever seen in Hyrule.

With the fires raging behind her and the dragon before her, the princess was trapped. Without anywhere to run, she stood her ground and prepared to do the only other thing she knew how to do. Fight.

As the dragon opened its mouth once more, Zelda could see tongues of fire dancing in its throat and readied herself to cast Nayru's Love as a shield. It might not have done much, but it might have been enough to buy her time to figure what to do next. She couldn't leave Link and Malon to die here, and they were running out of time quickly.

But the dragon never fired its next flame ball. Instead, it lunged with lightning speed, snatching Zelda up into its grasp and taking to the skies on semi-mechanical wings.

Zelda screamed as panic gripped her. They were rising so high above the ground she didn't know what to do, and the dragon's grip was crushing her waste. She tried to think but her mind was clouded with pain and fear.

Then suddenly, a shot rang out. A fiery blast from the ground pierced one of the dragon's wings. It awkwardly floundered in the air for a moment as it turned to face its new assailant. But even as it turned, several more flaming shots rang out, each one hitting its mark as the dragon screamed and thrashed through the air.

It was losing altitude, and Zelda struggled as hard as she could trying to break free of its grip, knowing they were about to crash to the ground one way or the other. If she could free herself, she might be able to cast some kind of spell to save herself or at least soften her fall to the ground.

Something exploded into the dragon's chest, and Zelda thought it was some kind of projectile bomb. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for, and as the dragon screamed and fell, she used all of her strength to thrash and break free of her assailant's grip. She could see three more of the explosive projectiles strike the dragon midair, but now she was falling quickly and too close to the ground to cast any spell. Ears ringing with the pained screams of the dragon, she closed her eyes and awaited impact with the ground.

But that impact never came. Just when she was certain it was all over and she would die, she felt herself fall into two strong arms as some mysterious protector caught her midair before landing gracefully on the ground. Its movements felt effortless as it placed Zelda on the ground and quickly pivoted to return to its battle with the dragon.

The princess slowly sat up, though her body was trembling with adrenaline. She watched in awe as her rescuer pursued the dragon. It looked to be a man clad in the most unique golden armor she had ever seen. He wore a red helmet, and in place of his right forearm there appeared to be some kind of portable cannon. As Zelda watched this mysterious newcomer shoot the explosive projectiles from the arm cannon, she was certain he was some kind of foreign warrior, perhaps one from the same land the dragon had some from.

Just when it looked like the mystery warrior was getting ready to finish off his enemy, the dragon turned tail and flew away as fast as it could. At first, the armored warrior tried to follow, but realized he would be too slow on foot to catch up with the armored beast.

Instead, he turned and rushed back to Zelda's side, but the princess shooed him away with a wave of her arm and gestured to the burning farmhouse of Lon Lon Ranch in the distance.

"Link and Malon are inside there!" she shouted before choking as the smoke-filled air burned her throat.

The armored warrior, however, seemed unfazed by the smoke and quickly rushed toward the burning building. Zelda sat on the grass, waiting on pins and needles as she watched the mystery man run headlong into the burning building. The few seconds he was in there felt like hours to her, but he eventually emerged carrying both Link and Malon in his one real arm. As he ran toward Zelda, the farmhouse collapsed as the flames reared up into the air and claimed its destruction.

Zelda screamed. She knew Link and Malon weren't in it any longer, but they had been only a few seconds ago, and even now she didn't know if the warrior truly carried them or just their lifeless bodies or what he intended to do with them.

But the warrior simply returned to Zelda's side, and with a surprising gentleness, laid Link and Malon upon the ground before her.

Zelda looked up from where she sat trembling on the ground and stared into the green visor of the otherworldly armor.

"Th-thank you," she managed as she saw her friends' chests rising and falling with breath.

"You're welcome," the warrior said in a deep, hollow voice that barely sounded human at all, and it sent chills up Zelda's spine.

He extended an armored hand to her, and Zelda hesitated but eventually took it. He helped her slowly to her feet.

"They'll be all right," he said in that same unnerving voice. "My scans indicate minimal damage from the smoke inhalation. They should regain consciousness within a few minutes, but it would be best to get them to a hospital facility so they can be given oxygen."

Zelda stared curiously at the newcomer, not sure what half of his words meant, but understanding that he had intended to be helpful. Instead of saying anything back, she pulled a small satchel she always kept tied to the cords she wore around her waist. He deft hands pulled some of the silver dust from the pouch as her magic drew water from the grass beneath her. As she held the water suspended in midair, she mixed it with the powder.

Light began to glow around her hands as she took the mixture from the air and placed one glowing hand on each of her friends' chests. Slowly, she whispered the healing incantation and used her magic to heal the damage to their lungs and throats as she slowly moved her hands up from their chests to their mouths.

As soon as she finished, her hands stopped glowing with magic, and both Link and Malon began to awaken.

Link's eyes fluttered a few times before they opened. He coughed as she sat up, making a face at however he was feeling before looking up at Zelda. He started to smile and the princess expected him to say something, but instead, he immediately turned his attention to the other woman beside him.

"Malon," he said as he helped her sit up. She also coughed, but she looked more confused than he did and worried as one of her hands found her lower abdomen.

"You baby's all right," Zelda said, and the woman stared at her in shock as though just realizing the Hyrulian princess was there sitting on the grass beside them. "I could feel its life force as I healed you."

"Thanks, Zelda," Link said as he pulled the trembling Malon close to his chest. "I don't know how you rescued us, but thank you."

The princess shook her head. "It wasn't me," she said as Link and Malon's eyes simultaneously turned to the warrior in the golden armor who stood before them.

Slowly, Link got to his feet, holding Malon close beside him as he looked the warrior over. His senses were on high alert as he looked for any obvious weak points but couldn't seem to find any.

"Who are you?" the young man demanded.

"I'm a bounty hunter," the warrior replied, and Link flinched at the sound of the synthetic voice. "I've come in pursuit of Proteus Ridley, that dragon you encountered earlier."

"So you're just after a bounty on that creature's head?" Zelda asked as she also got to her feet. "If that was the case, you really went out of your way to save us since he got away like that."

The warrior tilted his head to the side curiously. "No bounty was worth him claiming more human lives."

"Well," Link began, eyeing the warrior skeptically, "thanks for your altruism then, Iron Bounty Hunter, but we can take it from here. Just get that creature out of here so we can go back to our regularly scheduled lives."

"That's what I'm here for," the armored figure replied dryly as he turned to walk off in the direction in which Ridley had flown.

"Wait!" Zelda called, grabbing the one human-like wrist the hunter had. He froze and turned to look at her. There was something unnerving about looking at the blank visor, but Zelda steeled herself and continued. "You're not going to catch him on foot, and I need to know why a creature like that is in my kingdom in the first place."

"What do you want to know?" the bounty hunter asked, surprisingly not putting up any resistance.

"Well…" Zelda stammered as she was caught off guard by the warrior's blunt openness. "What kind of dragon is he? What is he after and why did he come here?"

The warrior was quiet for a moment as though thinking over how to respond. "You're the monarch of this land?"

"The Princess," Zelda replied. "My father is the King."

"Then it would probably be best I have an audience with you and your father before returning to my hunt."

"You want to come back with us to the castle?" Link asked, eyeing the hunter suspiciously. "You? Mr. Cannon-for-an-Arm?"

The warrior simply nodded. "It's your land and your home, and I wish to respect it. I believe an audience with its rulers would be the best way to know how to go about doing that."

"All right," Zelda said, and Link stared at her in shock.

"Thank you," the warrior replied as Zelda turned and began to lead the way back toward Hyrule Castle.

The princess could sense Link's hostility toward the newcomer, but she ignored it. She knew he knew better than to try to contradict her in front of anyone, and she was confident that the warrior was indeed on their side. It wasn't something she knew how to explain to anyone, but she could sense the bounty hunter's intent, and there was no hostility toward them.

They had only gotten a little ways away from Lon Lon Ranch when the bounty hunter froze and turned to look over her shoulder. Zelda could feel Link tense up as they all stopped to see what the warrior was looking at.

"Pika!" something squeaked as a yellow rodent the size of a small dog ran out of the tall grass and over to meet them.

"Pikachu!" it said, looking up at them with it's little black eyes. Most of its body was yellow except for a couple of brown stripes on its back and the base of its lightning bolt-shaped tail. It had round red cheeks and a little bit of black at the tips of its point ears.

"Aw!" Malon squeed as she looked at the creature. "It's so cute!"

Link readied himself incase the creature was hostile, but Zelda just watched it in confusion. It seemed like she was just meeting one strange creature after another today.

But the little rodent had no interest in the three Hylians as it dashed over to the armored warrior and jumped up high onto one of his massive, rounded shoulders.

"Hello, Pikachu," the warrior said, giving the rodent a small pet on the head.

"Pika!" it squeaked happily.

"You know this creature?" Link asked.

The bounty hunter nodded. "Yes. Quite well. His name is Pikachu, and he was recently forced out of his home by creatures similar to Proteus Ridley. But I'd prefer to only explain all of this once, so I'll wait until we arrive at the castle."

"Sounds reasonable," Zelda said as she walked forward and once again began leading the way to Hyrule Castle.

Link gave her another look as though to ask if she was serious, but she ignored him. When he wasn't getting anywhere with the princess, the young man turned to give the warrior a warning look instead.

"I'm watching you, Bounty Hunter."

"Understood," the warrior replied as he continued forward unfazed. "And it's Samus, by the way."

"What?" Link asked.

"Samus," he replied. "My name is Samus. Samus Aran."