Hey, it's me, TC. I know I haven't updated in a while, so I thought I'd get my author skills up and running again by bringing you all a christmas story with LinkxMidna fluff. :3
Although, I do think it's fair to warn yu that this is my first serious fic, so bear with me. If I made any mistakes, or need to improve my writing, let me know in the reviews. Again, this is my first serious attempt at a fic, so my writing may need more practice.
Chapter 1
(Hylian Airlines Flight 316/ 3:30 PM)
"Link…Link, wake up." said Zelda, nudging her brother awake.
"Hmm?" said Link, opening his eyes for the first time in two hours.
"We're about to land." said Zelda pointing outside the window, indicating the ground below, which was getting closer as the plane descended.
Link's family had decided to go spend Christmas at a ski resort on Snowpeak Mountain in Northern Hylia, so they all got on planes and would meet up at the Snowpeak airport at the base of the mountain. From what Link had heard, they wouldn't be the only ones going there, his aunts, uncles, cousins, and even his grandparents would be there, all in the same place, which excited him since he normally didn't get to see his grandparents, or his cousins, Joel and Zill, since they lived on Outset Island, down in the Dragon Gulf, and when he did go to see them, his other relatives stayed behind in Ordon, but at least this Christmas would be different.
Link thought of this with fondness as the plane came into contact with the runway and began to slow down. Soon after, everyone got up out of their seats and either stretched, or got their luggage out of the compartments above their seats.
Zelda was going through her various utilities; ipod, laptop, gum, making sure they were all there while she waited for everyone to start leaving the plane. As she put everything back into her bag, she heard several distinct popping noises and turned to see Link bending and twisting himself in several different positions. He sure was a stiff.
"Too much time sitting down?" she asked, closing her bag.
"That, and I haven't used the bathroom in almost 4 hours." said Link, pulling his own bag out of the compartment.
"Poor baby." said Zelda sarcastically.
Right about then, everyone aboard started moving toward the exits. The twins followed in suite. After worming through the jet way for what seemed like several minutes, they finally made it out and had to wait several more minutes before some familiar faces began to emerge from said jet way. The first was Link and Zelda's younger brother, Colin, followed by their parents, Rusl and Uli.
"Did you see your aunt Sera or anyone else, yet?" asked Rusl, approaching them.
"Not yet, we were near the door when we got off, so they're probably still getting out." replied Link.
No sooner had he finished when a small blond girl charged out of the crowd and jumped into Link's arms.
"Will you carry me the rest of the way?" she asked.
"Sorry, Beth, you're heavy enough, already." joked Link.
Despite being his cousin, Beth often told Link she was his number one fan. Why she behaved this way, Link did not know, though he assumed it had something to do with him "being the big brother that she never had" as her mother, Sera, put it.
"I see your number one fan caught up with you again." said Sera, exiting the jet way with her husband, Haunch.
"And he's got you to take her off his hands." laughed Uli.
"So where's Gramma, isn't she supposed to be here?" asked Colin who was standing next to his mother.
She said she'd be in C5, so we'll check over there." replied Rusl as Jaggle, Pergie, and their sons, Talo and Malo exited the jet way.
They were about to head over to section C, but before they could even turn the corner, Granny came around and nearly bumped into them.
"Age sure hasn't slowed you down." said Rusl.
"You're only as young as you feel, my boy. Besides, it's not often I get to see the entire family together in one place." replied Gramma turning her attention to the children.
As always, she needed a hug from everyone, which took almost a full minute. Afterward, Link had to introduce to Gramma his cousins from the other side of the family. Gramma was Rusl, Sue-Belle, and Abe's mom, so Joel and Zill were cousins to Link from Rusl's side of the family, while Uli and her sisters, Pergie and Sera, were from the other side, which meant that Talo, Malo, and Beth had never met Link's Gramma from Outset before, but from what Link could see, the old woman seemed just as delighted to see them. Talo and Beth quickly warmed up to her, especially after she handed them candy, while Malo, still a baby, looked uneasy being around what he perceived to be a stranger, so Gramma handed him back to Pergie before he started making a scene.
"Wait a minute, where's Grampa?" asked Zelda noticing Gramma was the only one who had met up with them.
"Oh, that's right, I left him back at the exit." replied Gramma turning and heading back toward Exit C. Everyone else had no choice but to follow.
They made their way past E and D and finally made it to C, but with so many people standing around, it was hard to tell where Grampa Sturgeon was since Link had never seen him, or anyone from Outset, wearing a winter coat before.
"So where'd everyone run off to?" asked Zelda.
"They're over there." said Gramma pointing to the baggage claim where everyone was picking bags off a conveyor belt. It was still hard to tell who in the crowd was from Outset since no one knew what coats they were wearing until Gramma walked up to a bald man who was the same height as her and must have told him about the rest of the family because then he turned around, revealing himself to be Grampa Sturgeon, and rushed toward everyone with his arms outstretched, wanting to hug everyone in the group, too, but he wasn't the only one. Link could also spy his great Uncle Orca, Grampa Sturgeon's brother, standing next to his shorter sibling. He could also see Aunt Sue-Belle with her husband, Mesa. There was also Uncle Abe and Aunt Rose. Link knew that someone was missing but couldn't quite put his finger on it with so many family members to keep track of, but then, out of nowhere came two small tots slightly younger than Talo and Beth. Link recognized them as none other than his other cousins, Joel and Zill, and barely had enough time to brace himself before they pounced at him, wrapping their arms around him.
"OOF! You guys weigh a ton. Last time I saw you, I could almost hold you in my hands." said Link.
"How do you know? You haven't even tried lifting us since." said Joel grabbing Link's right arm while Zill grabbed his left.
"Okay, here goes." said Link lifting both his arms up slowly. With little effort, he lifted both siblings off their feet and had one kid hanging off each arm. Everyone around him applauded.
"Whoa, I wanna be just like you when I grow up, Link." said Joel, thoroughly impressed.
"I see you haven't lost your popularity with the kids." said aunt Rose who had just returned from the baggage claim with her husband, Abe, both carrying backpacks, presumably Joel and Zill's.
"I can take those." said Link taking both backpacks.
"Thanks, Link, you're the best." said Zill.
"So that's why they love you." said Uncle Mesa with amusement.
After everyone finished exchanging greetings, the pack got their luggage together and headed out the exit where a pair of vans awaited them.
"You Mr. Faron?" asked one of the drivers.
"That would be me, and this is the rest of my family." replied Rusl.
"Gotcha, one way trip to Snowpeak Mountain." said the driver as he and his partner helped everyone load their bags onto the vans. Then everyone climbed aboard one van or the other and the vehicles took them up a path through the mountain until they reached a mansion looking house, more than halfway up the mountain.
"Whoa, a mansion? I thought it was going to be some log cabin type place." said Talo.
"Are you kidding? None of the cabins are big enough to house all of us. Not to mention the mansion looks a lot nicer." replied Rusl.
Everyone got their bags out of the vans and brought them inside the big house and set them down in the front room where two staircases where located opposite of each other.
"This must have cost a lot." said Sera in astonishment.
"Actually, I had a bit of help." confessed Rusl. Orca gave him a wink.
"Well, first things first, we should get our stuff set in our bedrooms." suggested Zelda.
Everyone then set out looking for their bedrooms while Rusl grabbed Uli's hand and led her to a secret bedroom located in a stone tower on the other side of the mansion's courtyard. The bedroom had everything, from a king size bed with fancy interior, to a Christmas Tree with wine and grapes underneath it. It even had a large window overlooking the courtyard.
"Wow, you really know how to impress a woman." laughed Uli.
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(Link and Colin's Room)
Link had just finished putting his spare clothes away in his dresser and was helping Colin put his away when Talo and Beth burst into the room and hopped onto Link's bed. The first thing Link noticed was that they were in their snow suits. Talo had a red coat and black snow pants with a brown ushanka hat on his head, while Beth had a purple coat and white snow pants.
"Let's go sledding down the mountain!" they shouted.
At least they're not asking me to tell them stories. thought Link, "Have you asked your parents, yet?"
The smiles faded from the children's faces.
"Not yet." replied Talo.
They obviously weren't planning on asking for permission.
"I'll ask them, myself." said Link.
Their faces lit back up.
"What about me?" asked Colin putting away the last of his clothes.
"Depends on how fast you can get your snow suit on." replied Link.
Colin quickly slipped on his blue coat and orange snow pants.
After getting permission from Talo and Beth's parents, Link told Zelda where they were going and got his own snow suit on, which was a dark green coat with black snow pants like Talo's, and the four headed outside.
"How high are you planning on going?" asked Link.
"Let's try up there." said Beth pointing to a slope up on a hill nearby.
They scurried up the hill and Beth went down the hill on her skis, followed by Talo and Colin who both rode on the same sled. Link, however, brought a snowboard, which required a bit more skill. He hoped all the practice he had put into it last Christmas had paid off as he set his boots into the restraints and clicked them shut around his ankles before shifting the board into position.
"It's go time." he muttered as he squatted down and leaned forward slightly, causing the board to slide, carrying him down the hill.
It was all coming back to him, but he still had yet to fully adjust to the momentum and nearly fell but was able to counter himself by leaning to the other side and stayed on the board, but as he saw the three children below him approaching him at high speed, he had another problem: slowing down. Now how was he supposed to stop, again? Link frantically searched his mind, trying to remember how to stop himself on a snowboard when a familiar feat flickered inside his head. For a moment, he knew how, so he quickly turned the board to the left and leaned back slightly to stop, but only succeeded in falling over.
"Ooh, wipeout." said Colin and Talo in unison, their hands in the air.
It was only then that he remembered how to stop and then realized his mistake; he hadn't squatted while turning. This would have allowed him to slow down and then turn sharply in the other direction so he would stop without falling over.
"Are you alright? You don't need me to give you CPR, do you?" asked Beth, looking down at Link who was on his back.
"No, but at least I know what I did wrong." he replied.
"5 rupees says you can't do it again." said Talo holding up a small blue gem.
"5 says he can." said Colin producing a blue gem identical to Talo's.
"You're on." said Link as he trudged back up the hill, set himself onto the snow board once more, and came flying down the hill even faster than before, and without so much as tripping.
Colin and Talo both knew the result even before Link skidded to halt in front of them, covering them in snow.
"Awesome, the ice wolf is back." cheered Beth, referring to the nickname she and Talo had given to Link because of the snow board he used which had a wolf painted on it, hence the nickname.
"Pay up." said Colin with his gloved hand outstretched.
"Errggh." growled Talo as he forked over the blue gem, "I'd like to see you do it from the top of Snowpeak."
As crazy as that sounded, it wasn't what surprised Beth or Colin. What did surprise them was Link's response: "I don't see why not."
"Are you serious?" asked Colin, "It's almost dark."
"It's not that far off. I even have a cell phone and a flare gun, so if something happens and I can't contact you, I'll just shoot the flare up in the air and you can go get help. Just wait for me to get to the top and I'll shine my flashlight down so you'll know I made it and then I'll slide down with my snow board and if I make it down without wiping out, Talo has to run around the snow in his underwear for 20 seconds." said Link.
"Uh, no way. I'll tell everyone you're the coolest guy on earth, but I'm not going around in my underwear." said Talo, crossing his arms.
"Fair enough." said Link as he started walking up the mountain.
At first, it wasn't too difficult. Just trudging upward through thick snow, but as he got higher, the snow seemed to get steeper and steeper until it felt like he was climbing up a wall. Thankfully, he had plenty of fluffy snow to dig his arms and legs into, so he kept going up, though not without stopping to catch a breather every few minutes, but finally, after what seemed like hours of climbing, he found himself staring at an entire mountain range from 25,000 feet. He could safely say he had reached the top of Mount Snowpeak. He glanced at his watch and was surprised to discover he had only been climbing for about 30 minutes. Normally, he would have been impressed, but he had been climbing up the side of the mountain which had been snowed in, so it was only a matter of climbing up a large snow bank. As he sat there catching his breath and staring at the sun setting behind other mountains off in the distance, he felt something move in his pocket. It was his cell phone. He flipped it open and placed it against his ear.
"Are you actually climbing to the top of Mount Snowpeak?" asked Zelda on the other end.
"I made it to the top about a minute ago. Been climbing for a half hour." replied Link.
"That fast? That must be a new record." said Zelda, impressed.
"For speed, maybe, but it wasn't that hard." said Link casually.
"What do you mean?" asked Zelda in disbelief.
"Well the mountain got snowed over, so all I had to do was climb up a big snow hill and now I'm at the top."
"Wait a minute, how do I know you're not lying." snapped Zelda.
"Does your phone take images through email?" asked Link.
"Yeah." replied Zelda.
"Kay, here goes." said Link snapping a shot of all the other mountains and mailing it to Zelda's phone.
"I stand corrected." replied Zelda after a moment of silence.
Just then, Link's phone screen told him that Talo was calling.
"Talo's ringing me, do you mind if I take that call?" asked Link.
"No problem." said Zelda hanging up.
Link pressed the green button on his razor, switching to Talo.
"I just made it to the top." said Link before Talo could even ask.
"Prove it, hot shot," demanded Talo, "show me the light."
"I got a better idea." said Link emailing the same image to Talo's phone since he knew it took pictures like Zelda's.
After a moment of silence, Talo spoke.
"I don't get it, what are you doing?"
"Check your email." replied Link in annoyance.
"Oh…ooohhh." said Talo looking at the picture Link had sent him.
Link could also hear Beth and Colin oohing and aahing with him.
"So you gonna come back down, soon? Everyone will be wondering where we are." continued Talo.
"In a moment, I already told Zelda where I am and I still need to catch my breath. I haven't even been up here for 5 minutes." replied Link.
"Ok, well tell us when you're ready so we can watch you wipe out." said Talo.
"Right." said Link closing his phone. Right now he did not have the energy to think of a clever comeback.
Link dropped his snowboard and fell backward and exhaled sharply as his back hit the soft snow. It was so soft that he felt the tension leaving his back muscles as he writhed around on his temporary mattress before laying perfectly still for a while. He nearly fell asleep, but a cold snowflake on his eyelid woke him back up. He looked at the sun which had almost sunk completely behind a mountain off in the distance. About another 10 minutes till dark. He'd better get going. The rest of the family would definitely be steamed if he waited any longer.
He turned around and saw what looked like a cave etched into some large stones. He had been distracted with the sunset and hadn't noticed the cave behind him. He really needed to get going, but his catlike curiosity got the best of him. He had to at least see what was in it, if anything.
Switching on his flashlight, Link entered the small hole in the rock and saw what looked like a dead end, but upon closer inspection, he saw the floor in front of the wall was missing. He shined his light down the big hole and saw a floor 10 to 15 feet below. This definitely was not an ordinary cave. He was eager to explore the area below, but he wasn't sure if he'd make it back up. As he sat there contemplating this, he heard a faint noise coming from deep within the cave. He listened, and sure enough, he heard it again, except it sounded more like someone gasping.
"Hello?" called Link.
The only reply Link got was sharp, choppy inhaling, what sounded like someone shivering, as the person was trying to respond, but was too cold to say anything. Either way, there was someone down there, possibly a fellow climber, and Link would have to try to help that person.
Grabbing the edge of the floor he was on, Link hoisted himself over it and hung on while searching for a foothold, hoping to find a way back up, and surprisingly, his foot caught onto a small stone that stuck out of the wall. That was easy, but now if he could just find another one. It seemed impossible, but after very little searching, Link found another stone that stuck out, allowing him to lower himself a bit, and to find yet more stones sticking out. By now, it was becoming evident that the wall he was climbing down was dotted with climbing stones, so he was able to lower himself about 10 feet before dropping down the rest of the way and landing on his feet without injury. He shined his light around the room and found himself in a narrow corridor. Only one way to go. He headed down the stone corridor and became blinded by a bright light.
Startled, Link fell backward, but quickly regained his composure and shined his light at whoever had been there a second ago, but to his confusion, the other person mimicked his movements. It seemed strange until Link shined his light up to his own face while the other person did the same, revealing a face identical to Link's. It was a mirror, much to Link's relief, but what was it doing here in a cave on Snowpeak Mountain? Link stuck his hand out and touched the surface of the mirror. Nothing. It didn't seem to be cursed, though Link had his suspicions about the strange runes etched onto the mirror's surface.
As he contemplated this, his cell phone vibrated again, snapping him out of his stupor. He flipped open his razor and placed it to his ear.
"Link, where are you?" asked Rusl on the other end.
"I climbed up to the top of Mount Snowpeak and I found a cave on top with some weird mirror inside, but I'll be coming back now." replied Link.
"Hold on, you found a cave?" asked Rusl.
"Yeah, it was sitting on top of the mountain and I could see it very clearly." said Link.
"Okay, well hurry up and get back, your Gramma is making that soup that she used to make for you when you visited her on Outset island, the kind you said you really liked." said Rusl.
"You mean that elixir soup?" asked Link, excitement in his voice.
"That would be it." replied Rusl.
"Awesome, I'll be right there." said Link.
"Okay, see ya in a bit." said Rusl, hanging up.
Link clicked his phone shut and placed it in his pocket, but as he turned around, he heard that same shivering noise from before, only this time it was coming from right in front of him. Link's blood ran cold as he raised his flashlight, nervous about what he might see, and switched it on, but was surprised to see nothing. Then that noise came again, and Link looked down to see the source of the noise and nearly jumped out of his skin.
Lying at his feet was what looked like a little girl with black and white skin with fiery red hair.
After calming down again, Link took a closer look at her and saw that she looked to be about 2 and a half feet long and had blue runes on her skin that were identical to the ones on the mirror. He could also see why she was shivering: she had nothing on, save for a few torn rags. She looked like she was asleep, though barely, so Link scooped her up in his arms and was shocked to feel her ribs through her rags. The poor girl was starving to death, not to mention freezing, too. No wonder she was half dead. He'd half to get her back to the mansion and get her some hot soup, pronto. Link tucked the small imp into his coat and carefully climbed back up the rocky wall and exited the cave.
He spotted his snow board lying where he'd left it and realized he'd have to leave it since he couldn't ride it down the mountain while holding onto the girl. He needed his arms free to balance himself on the board, which would be impossible to do without dropping the small girl, so he'd have to leave the board for now.
With one arm, he held onto the girl, who had curled up into a ball inside his coat, and with his other arm, dragged the snow board over to the cave where he set it against the wall inside the entrance and then began making his way down the mountain side.
After tumbling and sliding for a good two minutes, Link was finally on solid ground again and could see the mansion a few yards away, so he cradled the imp in his arms and brought her inside to his room and tucked her into his bed and pulled his heat blanket over her and turned it on. He placed his index finger against her neck and was relieved to feel a pulse.
"Link, dinner time." called his mom from the kitchen.
Link hurried to the kitchen where his mom and gramma were making elixir soup in the big stone pot over a fire, doing it the old fashioned way. The aroma of fish, pumpkin, and cheese brought back memories of visiting Gramma and Grampa on Outset Island during his childhood when he used to stuff himself with helping after helping of the stuff, but now it would save a life. Without a word, Link scooped some of the soup out of the stone pot with a bottle and ran back to his room with it
"Where'd he run off to?" asked Gramma in confusion.
"I was hoping you'd know. Usually, he's the one complaining about us never being together." replied Uli.
"Well dinner's almost ready, I'd better find out what's keeping him." said Gramma, putting down her cooking utensils and leaving the kitchen.
"Not without me, you're not." said Uli, following her.
They both followed Link to his room and found him sitting on his bed, but they couldn't see what he was doing.
Link seated himself on the bed beside the Imp who was half asleep and held her head up as he tipped the bottle against her lips so she could taste the soup as it poured into her mouth. Upon tasting it, her eyes opened fully. They were a calm amber, unlike any color Link had ever seen before. The girl quickly lapped at the soup and grasped the bottle with both hands and gulped greedily. Link quickly pulled the bottle out of her feeble grasp before she could finish it all. He was no expert on starvation, but he did know that after starving for so long, if she suddenly stuffed herself, her stomach wouldn't be able to handle it and she would almost literally eat herself to death, so he would have to help her regain her strength slowly, and since she already drank half the bottle, he'd let her sleep it off and see how she felt in the morning.
The small imp didn't seem very pleased at having her only food snatched from her, but soon the soup began to digest in her stomach and she calmed down. Link watched her panting slow to a soft breathing as she dozed off in the warm bed. He had never seen anything as bizarre as the imp that he had taken under his wing, but he was glad she was okay, at least.
"Link, what's going on?"
Link turned to see his mom and Gramma standing in the doorway.
"Dinner's ready and everyone's waiting for you." said Gramma.
"I'll be right there, I just need to make sure this girl is okay." replied Link.
"Girl?" asked Gramma.
"What girl?" asked Uli.
Both women moved over to the bed to get a closer look and gasped when they saw the otherworldly imp in Link's bed.
"I found her on top of Snowpeak Mountain. She was freezing to death and she looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks." said Link.
"We should probably get Sturgeon. He's a doctor." suggested Gramma as she headed toward the dining room.
A moment later, Gramma came back with Grampa Sturgeon, along with Zelda and the children, who were all curious about this girl that Link had found on Mount Snowpeak.
"Whoa, she must have frost bite." said Joel, eyeing the Imp's black and white skin.
"Was she wearing anything else when you found her on Snowpeak?" asked Sturgeon as he examined the girl's ragged clothing.
"That was all she had on, although I found her in a cave, so she was shielded from the snow outside." replied Link. "I also fed her some soup since she looked like she was starving, though I had to stop halfway so she wouldn't hurt herself."
"A wise decision." said Sturgeon as he continued to examine the girl before coming to his conclusion.
"Well, it looks like she only suffered some bruises, though from what, I do not know, but she's also been without food for sometime, so she'll need time to digest the soup you gave her, as well as rest, so the best thing we can do for now is let her sleep and see how she feels in the morning." continued Sturgeon.
"Hold on, you say you found her in a cave. What else did you see there?" asked Zelda.
"Oh yeah, there was also a mirror, one with markings on it that were similar to the ones on the girl's arms." said Link.
Sturgeon turned to Link.
"A mirror with markings?" he asked, as if it sounded familiar.
"Yeah, it had the same markings etched into it's surface as the ones on her arms." replied Link, pointing to the Imp.
Sturgeon stared back at the markings on the girl's arms and took out a notebook he kept with him and copied down the markings and left the room.
"Well, Sturgeon's right, we'll have to wait until morning. Until then, we should probably get back to business since dinner is getting cold, and I wouldn't want Uli's and my mom's hard work to go to waste." said Rusl.
Everyone agreed and began to leave the room. Link, however, couldn't help thinking about Sturgeon's reaction to hearing about the mirror, and why did he copy down the markings on the girl's arms? The only conclusion Link could reach was that Sturgeon knew more about the girl than he was telling.
There you go. The first chapter to my first serious story. R and R.