Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Zelda. If I did, I would have fired the person who came up with Darunia's 3rd weapon mission in Hyrule Warriors.
"Numb" is rated "K+" for mild language, violence, and adult themes.
Numb
A Legend of Zelda Fanfiction
There was a shriek, a desperate wail for help that filled the previously quiet air with a sense of urgency and danger. For most people, the sound would be a sure sign to dash in the opposite direction to avoid impending doom. For me, it was a battle cry, a sound to act, and an indication that my help was truly needed all throughout Hyrule.
You were careless.
Even after Ganondorf's defeat (by my hands, of course) monsters still reigned all over Hyrule, threatening innocent civilians in their mad scramble to regroup and launch another hopeless attack on Hyrule Castle. There was a damsel in distress almost daily. The only soul that could save Hyrule was the precious Hero that always came to the rescue…me.
That day was no different than the previous four hundred and sixty-seven since Ganondorf's defeat. I leapt onto my faithful horse Epona, gave a battle whoop of my own, and charged right into the fray with my sword raised high in a show of dominance, a huge, confident grin on my face. I was the Hero. No one could defeat me, not then, not ever.
You were cocky.
There was an overweight Bulbin on a dilapidated beast rudely running away with one of the village girls. I feared for what would happen to her, but only briefly. I was sure to save her in seconds flat, and maybe I'd get a small peck on the cheek—or the lips, if I was truly lucky—as thanks. Perhaps then I'd treat her to a nice dinner in order to help her recuperate from her ordeal, yes, and that was certain to make a certain Princess rage with jealous fury…
There was no need to think about any potential counterattack, all Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, and senseless monsters alike knew there was no defeating the great Link, Hero of Twilight and Commander (youngest ever!) of the Hylian Army. I rushed straight towards the beast, already thinking about my rewards as Epona jumped over an overgrown rock, feeling light as a feather and wanting to fly…
You weren't paying attention.
All of a sudden, Epona let a whinny out from below, legs buckling underneath me. The impact was enough to send me flying across the field. It wasn't the first time I'd be thrown by my horse, and I positioned my body to ensure I wouldn't get hurt…
I was aiming to land in a soft patch of grass, but just as I was about to hit the ground, mere seconds away from the damp moss, I felt a sharp pinch in my back, a pain so jolting and damning, one I'd never felt in my nineteen years of life…
I glanced back, staring straight into an eerily familiar glance of a monster's face, imbued with the same overconfidence that always flowed through my veins, a face with a mockingly gigantic grin stared back at me as the monster pierced my back with his spear. All I felt was pain…
You were stupid.
"NO!"
There was a shriek, a desperate wail that filled the previously quiet air with a sense of poignancy and desperation. I jolted out of my nightmare, beads of sweat streaming down my toned body, normally alert and steady blue eyes clouded from the haze and pain. I slapped my face, hoping that the force would knock the nightmare out of my body once and for all. It the nightmare could, it would slap me back, laughing in my face that my mistake would always be there to haunt my every waking moment.
"Link?" a concerned voice asked. I gasped for breath, pain just as real as it was that day, clutching my lower back with force so strong my fingernails cut into my skin, leaving drops of crimson in its wake. A gentle hand placed itself over my tense one, a soft, comforting voice warm on my cheek. I felt the familiar tickle of her milk chocolate hair caressing my cheek. Even with her sweet touch, my breath raced, hitching desperately as I tried to regain a sense of normalcy.
"Zel…please…" I begged in a voice very unbecoming of a Hero, trying desperately to restrain the childish tears that threatened to waterfall down my face. "Heal my back, I can't…I just can't…"
She gently placed her hands around my chin, guiding my head to face her gorgeous pools of blue. After a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose and rubbing my heaving body, she stared straight into the depths of my soul. Her face was placid, a serious and somber look she used to address the nation of certain injustices, and spoke in her most monotone voice…
"There's no need, Link. Your back is broken beyond repair. You are completely numb from the waist down. There is no pain for me to heal."
To some, it may seem cruel that she wouldn't at least make an attempt, just to heal my wounded soul, but I knew it was her way of trying to will my mind into shunning the pain from my brain. There was no physical pain, all that existed was the phantom haunting of that day one year ago…
There is no pain for me to heal.
But try as I might, the pain only worsened, my cry turning frustratingly and frustratingly louder. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out everything that threatened to overcome me, but even with closed eyes, I saw the striking silhouette of the beast's grin…
"Go away!" I pulled away from Zelda despite her protests, reaching for the sword that deep down I knew wasn't there. As I grasped air, my flight instinct kicked in, causing me to catapult off of the cage of pillows to the door of freedom…
I crashed onto the floor, my forehead stained with a trickle of blood as my damaged body refused to run, tired muscles not even moving an inch. I was a Hero. What was I going to do? Give up? No. I'll be damned if I let this phantom beat me, I never lost…
I crawled, using my still strong arms to pull myself forward to the door, gradually getting further and further from the cackling laugh that pierced the room like a cat scratching against a chalkboard…I could escape, I could do it, I could run away…
"Sorry, sweetie, but you'll thank me for this later."
Darkness took me again.
There was a lump the size of a silver rupee on the back of my head.
"What the hell, Zel," I groaned, wiping the sleep out of my eyes and frowning at the evil glare of way-too-happy sunshine peeking through the curtains. I shook my head and rubbed my face furiously, satisfied that I was in the present and not trapped in a nightmare anymore. I sighed. What a pathetic Hero I'd become, trying to crawl on my hands and knees to a door away from some sort of invisible enemy…
"Feeling better?" She asked, dressed and ready for the day. I assumed that she had been up for at least five hours or so—she was an insomniac and never slept more than two hours at a time, how she survived I would never know—and had probably come to the room sensing that I was awake. Although the Triforce of Courage was useless in my broken body, it still served as a beacon and resonated with Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom, connecting us on a level no normal person could ever hope to understand.
"No," I said with an indignant pout. "I have a bump on my head the size of Death Mountain. What the hell did you hit me with?"
"If you have the strength to complain about such a small flesh wound from a mere pot, you must be feeling better," she said in a sarcastic tone, voice never leaving its traditional monotone state. She flung open the curtains—please, no, the darkness is fine, really—and dropped my tunic on the bed. "Time to start the day. You have training exercises from 10 AM to 12 PM. After a quick lunch, we have a meeting with the Duke and Duchess from our dear neighbors from 1 PM to 2 PM. After that, a courtesy meeting with the Gorons…" I started to tune out her rambles—why she insisted I do all of this, I would never know—until I heard the words "marriage appointment."
My eyes went as wide as Jovani's sparkling jewels. "Marriage appointment!?" I bumbled out, tripping over my own words. "Wait, what marriage appointment!?"
Zelda sighed, placing her hands on her hips and giving me a rather annoyed frown. Whoops. I knew that look. She'd probably told me about it weeks ago and I mumbled "mhmmm" and never registered it. She tossed her brown braid over her shoulder, a reaction of annoyance with her forgetful and absent-minded fiancée.
"As I told you two weeks ago, we have a marriage appointment with the Council."
I raised my eyebrow. I never liked appearing before the Council—they were a bunch of rich, fat geezers who only cared about themselves and trust me when I say Zelda hated them more than I did—but what the heck did they have to do with our marriage? I proposed to Zelda a year and a half ago—before the accident, of course—and it was met with lots and lots of flowers and champagne bottles. Besides, why did they care who she married? She was a Princess but also a person. Didn't she have a basic right to fall in love with a good-for-nothing, useless Hero like me even though I didn't deserve it?
"I know, I'm not happy about it either," she sheepishly admitted, the tips of her ears turning pink as they always did when she spoke the honest truth instead of her usual diplomatic drawl. "But it's the law of the land. You're not just going to be my husband, Link, but the future King of Hyrule. It's only right that they at least get to approve."
Wait, approve!? You mean I gotta get a paper signed by them saying it was okay for me to marry Zelda!? What nonsense was this!?
"They have to approve?" I squawked, my voice fluctuating much more than hers.
Zelda gently massaged her forehead, another obvious key sign that I was exasperating and I never listened when I was supposed to. I'd have to make it up to her later. Waving my hands at her, as my obliviousness wasn't exactly the main point, I continued to ramble. "What do you mean, those old fat men who clearly hate me have to approve my marriage, and how the hell are they going to approve a useless Hero who can't even swing a sword to marry the most important person in Hyrule!?"
At my last outburst, Zelda's cold expression softened as she made her way over to me, cradling my head in her hands and laying me gently on her chest as she kissed the top of my messy blond hair. As skilled of a diplomatic speaker she was, she still wasn't the greatest emotional girl and preferred to let her actions speak louder than her words, something that made me love her even more.
"You are anything but useless," she said softly, her voice filled with more emotion than I had ever heard. She pushed my head deeper into her chest, refusing to let me look up at her, probably because she was crying or on the verge and she didn't want me to see. "Never say that," a small sniffle, "because you're not."
We sat in silence for a moment, her trembling arms massaging my head unintentionally. I relished her comforting hug and chose to keep my big mouth shut, knowing she'd speak again when she'd regained her oh-so-important bearings. After a pregnant pause, she slapped my head gently—right on my bump, to boot—and forced me to look up at her, confident that her red eyes wouldn't be noticeable even though both of us knew they were. I smiled, not wanting her to worry, and she seemed satisfied, at least for the moment. She reluctantly released me from her embrace and waltzed over to the closet, head held proudly in the air.
"For the record, you can swing a sword. You just have…a limited range, that's all."
She got an "A" for effort.
Goddesses, I'd forgotten how much I hate the Council.
I mentioned that they're old, fat, and ugly before, right? Add "extremely boring" to that fun list of adjectives. For the first two hours—the meeting was only supposed to be two hours in the first place—they rambled endlessly about how a perfect Hylian King should be strong, noble, and righteous. For the next two hours, they then proceeded to drill me on whether or not I had those qualities. Apparently "saved the world from imminent doom" didn't quite register high enough on the "righteous" quality. Even Zelda was at her wit's end, and that was saying something because the woman had a patience of a saint. She had to, especially since she not only dealt with these bozos but also me on a daily basis.
"Anyways, I think a demonstration of the future King's sword skills would prove to the public that he is capable of defending them from any attack…"
"Sir Conwell, Link can't walk," Zelda explained as if she was telling a two-year-old not to put a wooden sword in their mouth.
As if the whole "Link-can't-walk" thing wasn't painfully obvious. Emphasis on the "painfully".
"Yes, I know that, but even if he were to stand in place, I'm sure he wou—"
"He can't stand either." Zelda didn't even let him finish.
I gave a huff, resting my head on my hand on the corner of the arm of my wheelchair in a very undignified un-kingly pose. Hello. Idiots. Did they really think I was pushed around in this wheelchair all-day, everyday, just for funsies?
Given their track record for stupid questions in this interview alone, I'd gathered that they did.
"He can't even stand?" The entire Council gasped as if this wasn't yesterday's news. Usually, I'd be pretty offended and sulk for a good while about this—and I'll even admit it—but it was so preposterous that it bounced off me as if a Hylian shield was temporary covering my pride.
"Yes, Councilmen," Zelda sighed again. Yikes. The sigh count was over five hundred. That meant a very amusing rant was going to occur tonight and of course I'd be dead if I told anyone that she complained. "Link has been unable to move his lower body since the incident with the Bulbin King early last year. Hence the rise in monster attacks in the recent year."
"Well," one of the councilmen said, face aghast, "how in the heck is he the Hero?"
How are you the Hero?
In that specific instance, the wave of ridicule that protected me dissipated, striking a pretty heavy blow to my pride, and more importantly, my soul. Zelda cast a worried glance towards me and shook her head, as if to silently tell to keep my mouth shut and he was an idiot and to leave everything up to her, but despite knowing it would openly defy my princess…
"I'm not," I said quietly. "I was the Hero. But I am no longer deserving of that title."
If we were in some sort of futuristic fantasy land, the daggers that Zelda shot out of her eyes would have chopped my head straight in two. She was not pleased. She knew exactly what I did. There was no way that the Council was going to approve of our marriage now that they heard that. Zelda had probably told them some B.S. this past year to make them think that I was still capable of at least a little movement, and I wrecked all of her hard diplomatic work in one fell swoop.
I was a swordsman, not a politician. I didn't do political B.S. I spoke the truth, especially when the truth needed to be heard. I couldn't protect the citizens. Hell, I couldn't even walk. The extent of my help was reduced to me observing the army and giving advice as I sat in my wheelchair, trapped and bound to mediocrity. Take away my protective sword, and what do you get? A whole lot of nothing.
I was so busy feeling down that I didn't notice Zelda's eyes overflowing with tears, biting her bottom lip angrily and standing, asking hurriedly to be excused before she publicly humiliated herself by daring to show emotion in public. If the situation wasn't so serious, I would have encouraged it, as the people actually loved it when she proved she cared, but…
…within seconds of her sudden departure, I heard a scream, this time it was a cry of surprise and panic.
"ZELDA!" I screamed, pushing the wheels of my wheelchair so fast it almost rivaled my speed when I could run. Zelda was at the end of the hallway, backed into a corner by some shadow…
…how did such a beast get into the castle? No matter. The soldiers were at the ready, spurned on by their monarch's call…
I instinctively grasped for the sword I knew I didn't have. I couldn't help Zelda in my state. I couldn't run to her rescue and stab the beast clean in two. I couldn't use my body as a shield to protect her from harm. I couldn't physically do anything…
There is no pain for me to heal.
Zelda's words from last night echoed as I was stuck in my hellish nightmare reality. Pain? Physical…what…what made a Hero? Even the dreaded Councilmen's voices drawled in my head, repeating how a King needed to be righteous, strong, courageous…
Right now, Hyrule didn't need a Hero.
Hyrule needed a King.
Until early last year, I possessed great physical speed and strength to be sure, not to mention I was pretty fabulous at swinging the pointy end, but was that what made me a Hero? Was it just my physical technique, or was it the fact that I was willing to charge headfirst into a battle to save a helpless little boy? Was it just because I always dodged at the right time or was it the fact that I didn't complain about helping people? Why did the Triforce of Courage come to me? For my body, or rather, my heart?
I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't notice the golden light shining from my left palm.
The beast was some sort of insect, and the insects in our region focused on reproduction, finesse, and powerful laser beams from their eyes…their blind spot was located behind their second left leg…
"Soldiers on the right!" I barked out, the panicked soldiers in the hallway instantly freezing and eagerly anticipating my instructions. I was the Commander of the Hylian Forces, correct? Did I become a Commander based purely on my sword skills? Rubbish. I was elected because I was a leader. "The creature's blind spot is just behind the second left leg. Maneuver there and wait for my signal. The left soldiers, serve as a distraction and a diversion and attract that beast's attention. Soldiers to my front, guard the princess with your lives! You are Hylian soldiers, and we will show this beast never to step foot into our castle!"
With an empowered whoop, the soldiers obediently followed my command, and within moments, following my strategy, the beast was defeated not by my soldiers, but by an expertly shot arrow from the bow of my not-so-helpless princess. Contrary to what you'd believe after such a fright, Zelda's face was glowing from happiness. She gave one of her adorable giggles, brushing her brown hair back to face me and…
I was so busy staring at my beautiful fiancée that I didn't notice that the entire army, Councilmen, and Zelda alike were all staring at me as if they'd just seen a ghost.
"What?" I asked, a bit annoyed, ears turning pink from the slight embarrassment of being stared at. "You guys did the hard work, all I did was bark out a few strategies and…"
"Link," Zelda grinned, a childish grin so unbecoming of my princess that I could have sworn in that moment she was an imposter…
"You're standing."
A/N
I had three potential last lines for this story and all were gems. I ultimately chose to end it here because I thought it fit the tone of the story the most, although darn I wanted to write the other two in there, but it would take away from the impact. :P
This story actually came from a dream. I was playing Hyrule Warriors almost all day yesterday and my legs were numb (hate it when that happens in your sleep) so I dreamt about Link being paralyzed, and thought it was so interesting that I should write a story about it.
This Zelda/Link pair has to be one of my favorites. He's snarky, cocky, and a bit of a womanizer (since he was down most of the story you didn't get to see too much, though I wanted a little bit to shine through) and she's cold, serious, and seemingly emotionally numb. Ugh. It's so perfect and so much fun. I might have to do another little one-shot with these two because I love them so much. xD
Please leave a review! It would fill my heart with turkeys and rainbows. :) I hope you enjoyed the story and I'll see you all…sometime! xD