Hi, attempt #2 at another ghiralink fanfiction. This one is essentially breath of the wild, but I plan to add plenty of changes (not going to mention the scale of these changes, because while I have an outline, I really dont know)

Ive been exploring the idea of ghira and link in botw, so its kinda nice to share some of these ideas and such with you guys.

"Open your eyes."

The voice sounded thin and distorted, as if he were underwater. He could almost see the speaker, though she twisted and broke apart, then came back together again as a slight breeze disturbed the fragile surface of the water. But he could see that she was blond and wore a white dress. He tried reaching out to her, somehow certain that her safety was his responsibility, but he found he could not move no matter how hard he tried. His limbs were simply too heavy.

"Open your eyes."

All at once, the owner of the voice was gone, but he could still hear her through the blanket of cold, black water. He tried to call out to her, to tell her that it was too dangerous (what was too dangerous?), to wait for him, but alas he could not speak. He felt as if he were drowning—he couldn't draw in air or anything. He knew he needed to get out, but how was he supposed to if he could not move?

"Wake up, Link."

All at once, Link could breathe. Around him, the waters receded, but now they reflected a vibrant blue light. Whether it had responded to the woman's voice or something else, Link didn't know. A chill now set deep into his skin, even in areas that were supposed to be covered. It took him a few moments to realize that he was completely nude.

His limbs still felt heavy when he sat up, but he was relieved that he was able to move them now. He looked around the dark, cold room. There were strange, blue markings on the wall that somehow resembled stars and constellations, but he could discern no significance from them no matter how hard he tried. The floors were rimmed with strange markings that resembled waves.

A few feet away, a stone stood, embellished in more blue lights that now formed an eye with a teardrop. Concealing part of this eye was a pair of underwear.

Link climbed out of his bed, though when he looked back at it he realized that it looked more like a tub than anything.

Where even am I? How did I get in here?

He couldn't remember anything. He knew he was supposed to know, but he didn't know.

Link approached the stone, snatching the underwear and yanking it on, thankful that he at least had something to cover himself up with. He flinched when the stone shifted, and its surface rotated so that a strange, glowing stone tablet now stuck out. At first, it showed another eye with a teardrop, but this faded. Now, at the top were the words SHEIKAH SLATE. Below it was the words DOCKED, FULLY CHARGED. And in the center was UNDOCK TO WAKE.

For a few moments, Link hesitated, but he took it. Perhaps it was left there for him. And if not he would return it.

A small tremor shook the room, and less than a foot away two doors slid open to reveal a small tunnel illuminated by blue lights and strange writing. At the end, there was another stone. And on the wall to the left was a shirt and pair of pants that appeared too small, but was sufficient. He slipped these on then continued toward the stone at the end of the hall.

This too had an eye with a teardrop. Link looked down at the so-called Sheikah Slate and found that it said GUIDANCE STONE NEARBY. PLACE SLATE FACE-DOWN TO ACTIVATE.

Link did so, and another set of doors opened, revealing bright sunlight. Link squinted as he walked up the steps and into the outside world.

He found himself standing on the side of a tall cliff. Ahead of him the land stretched out eternally, like an ocean, and the hills and mountains were the waves. Standing among this land, seemingly taller than everything else, was a castle surrounded by four pillars. Surrounding this castle was a dark, swirling cloud that occasionally emitted a malicious purple light. Looking at it brought about one word—Demise. Overhead, the sun rose high into the sky, its bright light reflecting off the clear waters of lakes and streams.

Beside him, a trail sloped downhill and lead him to a tall, but decaying, temple. For as far as he could see, there was no one in sight. He began downhill, hoping that perhaps someone was nearby or in the temple.

At the entrance, a single red monster sat, its head drooping over a spiked club. It stirred as Link approached, but he was quick to smash it over the head with a piece of stone from the remains of the temple.

Inside, Link could see several decayed metal...robots. It felt surreal as he looked around at the unfortunately empty ruins, like he was standing somewhere between the future and distant past.

This temple doesn't even look like it was built that long ago.

Suddenly, he heard a rapid beeping, like an alarm.

Link turned around to find that one of the robots had come to life and now glowed a bright purple not unlike the cloud surrounding the castle. Its glassy blue eye had set its sights on him and directed a red laser toward his chest. That couldn't be good.

Link let out a gasp and took a step back, suddenly feeling cornered. He dove behind a pile of stone when the laser suddenly became a blinding blue light and the robot let out one final beep of warning.

Behind him, part of the wall exploded in splinters of wood and rock, and the area around it burst into flames. He didn't dare move despite the fire, lest the robot kill him first. To say he was terrified would be an understatement.

However, before he could even consider running, Link heard the sound of shattering glass. When he turned around, the robot had a black and red dagger stuck in its eye. Its head spun around hopelessly, trying to find its target once more without its sensors. He was just in time to see a cloud of diamonds that vanished within seconds.

Holy gods, what was that? Whose dagger is that?

He hesitated, but stood up. The robot turned toward him, but without its eye it could not target him. Eventually, it went still, and the blue light turned off. Link's savior was nowhere to be seen.

Hoping he would see them again, Link headed toward the robot and pulled the dagger out of its eye, pocketing it. Rust had collected at the edges, but perhaps it would come to be of some use. With that, he dashed out of the temple, not eager to burn with it.

So there was no one at the temple. Where was he to go? He had just woken up inside a mysterious room with nothing but his name and an outfit that hung on the wall, and now there were no people he could speak of. Nothing to inform him of what the hell he just walked into.

"You lost, Link?"

Link whipped around to find that the speaker was too close, much too close for a stranger. Acting on impulse more than anything, Link punched them as hard as he could. They stumbled back, holding their nose.

Now that Link was no longer face-to-face with their chest, he could see it was a man that was far from human, with deathly gray skin and shiny white hair. And he would have revealed less if they just took off all his clothing and drew a circle around his area.

The man rounded on him, dark eyes staring him down. Link held his ground, his hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles turned white.

"What the fuck was that for?" he exclaimed.

It occurred to him that the man had called him by his supposed name, so he must have known him. Still, he had been much too close for comfort.

Link relaxed, but only slightly. His hands remained balled up.

"Who are you?" he asked, his own voice sounding strange to him. It was the first words he had said since waking up.

For a few moments, the man simply stared at him, his hand falling to his side.

Then he vanished, leaving diamonds in his wake.

Link stared at the spot where the man had been previously, inexplicably angry. The first person he saw, and they disappeared again within seconds.

People. He needed people. He needed someone to tell him something about where he was and maybe even explain the Sheikah Slate to him.

Maybe there were hardly any people left. Maybe there were more of those robots, and maybe those robots had killed more people than anyone could count. The thought was irrational, perhaps, but it still managed to pierce him.

He buried his face in his hands, feeling a sense of panic sink into his skin. That was the last thing he needed.

Most of the robots were dead or dying, so perhaps there were people left. He hoped. Either way, he could not stay where he was. Otherwise the monsters would find him, and eventually the fires would spread.

In the distance, there were two mountains that appeared to have been sliced down the middle. Among the smaller hills and valleys, they stood out. Hoping that the two mountains attracted people, he grabbed the monster's club from the front of the temple and began his descent, carefully climbing down the side of the cliff until he found himself in a flat plain. From there, he found a road that lead toward the mountains and followed it.

–

By the time Link reached them, he was exhausted. Already he'd been ambushed by monsters several times, and with him being so poorly armed (the club had quickly broken), he was sometimes forced to run as fast as he could until he was certain he would collapse if he didn't slow down. He had to be thankful that most of the monsters were weak, stupid, and slow. So far.

Now, though, the twin peaks, as he began to call them, loomed over him, their black, rock forms casting a solid shadow over him. They seemed to be seconds away from crashing together, crushing anything between and cutting off the river that ran through them. For this reason, they intimidated him.

The mountain on which he'd woke on was miles behind him, concealed behind a curtain of fog.

When the sound of music reached his ears, Link smiled. Despite how exhausted he was, despite how much his feet hurt, despite how much his bruises and cuts hurt, he walked with renewed vigor, knowing that there could be nothing on the other end but people.

When Link reached the other side, he was ready to collapse again. Just a few feet away was a strange building with what appeared to be a head of a horse, carved out of wood, on the top of it. At the front there was a man behind a counter who gave him odd looks; considering how bad he must have looked, Link didn't blame him.

"Welcome," a man said. He stopped sweeping the ground just around the building to look at him. Immediately, he frowned. "You're looking a bit rough. You might wanna get a bed from that guy over there." It didn't take long for the man's eyes to trail down to the Sheikah Slate on Link's hip. "Is that from the Sheikah?"

Link only shrugged. His stomach growled loudly, enough for the man to wince.

"Maybe you should get some food too. There's a girl over there that'll make you something if you pay her to."

I don't have any money, Link thought, a sense of dread filling his empty stomach. Defeated by his current predicament, he trudged inside the building and slumped against the wooden wall, ignoring his growling stomach and throbbing head from when a bokoblin smacked him in the head with its club.

–

When he stirred again, Link guessed that it was sometime near the morning. Although any of the employees would say that he had been out for several hours, Link felt as if he hadn't slept at all, and it took his dull senses a moment to realize that someone stood over him. A pile of what felt like rocks sat in one of his hands, and something had been strewn across his torso.

"Pitiful," the person said. Link recognized his voice as the man he'd seen at the temple. "Can't even leave him any money or even any of his own clothes. What was she thinking? That society would just stop existing while she's in that castle? Ugh, even after an eon the Hylia incarnate is still a fucking imbecile."

Link shifted as he forced his eyes open once more. The man glanced at him to show that he noticed, but otherwise didn't look at him. He looked down to find a sky blue shirt and yellow undershirt sitting in his lap. The blue shirt featured white markings of what appeared to be a sword, among other designs he didn't recognize. It was much better than the shirt he currently wore.

"Shirt's yours. Had to wrestle five Sheikah for it and I couldn't get the pants, but it's better than whatever shit you're wearing. You look like a peasant." The man groaned as he set a bowl of stew beside him. "The princess said she loves you and yada yada but then she proceeded to be a bitch. It's her fault her arms nearly became your death bed and she didn't even give you basic necessities." The man clicked his tongue and glared at the bowl. "I scraped up a few Rupees for you, but unfortunately even high-ranking demons like myself have our limits. Green is one, blue is five, and red is twenty."

Link glanced down at the small pile of gems in his hand, then looked up at the man...or demon. "I still don't know who you are."

"Lord Ghirahim. You're supposed to know me, but I guess that's trivial now. Go ahead and eat. Don't expect me to do this again."

Lord Ghirahim looked appear angry enough to grab Link and clobber someone over the head with him.

Link was quick to dig into the stew. With that being his first meal in forever, he was quick to finish. Ghirahim leaned against the wall, looking down at a girl that had fallen asleep sometime before.

When he was done, Link looked up at him. "You said we knew each other before...Ghirahim. How?"

"Like I said, it's trivial. I would assume you know how to use that thing on your hip? Or did she leave you clueless to that, too?"
Link frowned at the change of subject, but looked down at his hip, at the Sheikah Slate. "No...I don't."

Ghirahim closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "This is fucking ridiculous. She even knew you wouldn't know shit. Do you even know what it's called?"

"Who're you even talking about?"

"My question before yours."

Link glowered at him. "Uh...a Sheikah Slate? Now can you-"

"Oh, good. You can still read. I suppose you should just mess around with it. It's nothing I know anything about." Link groaned. Ghirahim turned to look at him, still scowling. "Here's a sword, too. Since no one thought to give you a weapon."

He snapped his fingers and a simple, flimsy-looking sword, already in its sheath and attached to a strap, appeared and fell to the ground, clattering and clanging upon impact."By the way, if you follow this road the way you've been going, you should eventually find Kakariko Village. Find Impa, and unless she's just as shitty as Zelda, she'll explain."

"Can't you explain anything yourself?" Link said, temper rising. "Like, you know, that princess you were talking about."

Lord Ghirahim laughed as if Link had just told him a joke. "You'll find out eventually. Just remember: if you can, always go for the eye. That seemed to get some of your predecessors through life. I'm sure it will work for you."

With that, he was gone again, leaving Link hardly more informed than before.