The Stuff of Legends
Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda - just borowing.
Da Scribbler: I did say that I had another OoT oneshot idea coming soon, but I didn't think that it'd be done this fast. It's probably a good thing.
This is just a nice little irresistable scenario that popped into my head. I just had to get it down on paper. This might be a little rough because I was in a hurry to get this done as soon as possible.
For those of you who don't know what the Mudora is, check Zeldapedia (if you don't know what that is, google it. Google solves everything). It's where I get all my miscellaneous research done when fanficing in the Zelda universe. As a brief overview, it's kind of like the equivalent of the Bible in the Zelda universe.
By the way, the next chap for the Midna fanfic is about halfway done. Expect it up by possibly next week? No promises though.
Read, enjoy, and review!
"Hey, Zelda," Link said thoughtfully. He was sprawled onto the enormous armchair in Zelda's room, watching her as she pored over a thick volume. He'd taken one glance at the title of her book (The Book of Laws, VII) before completely ignoring it.
"Mm?" Zelda looked up from the pages of her book.
"You know the Mudora, right?"
"Do I know the Mudora," she snorted.
"Okay, so maybe that was a dumb question," he said sheepishly. Zelda, who had all but memorized the Mudora, rolled her eyes at him.
"You think?"
"Anyways," he carried on. "I remember you were telling me it was a complete history of Hyrule, or something like that, and whenever something important happened..."
"Whenever anything of historical significance happened, it would be automatically included in the Mudora?"
"Yeah, what you said," Link agreed.
"What about it?"
"So, what happened to us is in there right? The whole thing with the Triforce and Ganondorf?"
"Yes, I'm pretty sure that the Great Cataclysm and the Imprisoning War is in the Book of Mudora now," she said returning to the pages of her book.
"Oh, I see..."
"Is there anything else?"
"I was just wondering...it doesn't mention...us, does it?"
"Us? Of course it does."
"Are our names in the Book of Mudora?" he asked curiously. She paused a little at that.
"I don't think so...as far as I remember, you're called the "Hero of Time" and I'm just the "Princess"."
"That's it?" he asked incredulously, half raising out of the armchair.
"Yes, that's it," she replied, raising an eyebrow at him. "What did you expect?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Link slumped back into the armchair. "Maybe a bit more...detail? I mean, it could've at least said Link, the Hero of Time and the Princess Zelda."
Zelda closed her thick lawbook and turned her full, undivided attention to the green-garbed hero lounging on her armchair. "What's up with you today?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well, I was thinking," he said, eyebrows furrowed in thought as he propped himself up again. "I'm supposedly some legendary Hero of Time who saved Hyrule from the King of Evil, or whatever it was that Ganondorf called himself. It's hardly something I or anybody else is likely to forget. They're all still bowing to me in the streets," he grumbled slightly. Link did not take the whole "worship-the-hero" attitude that Hylians still had towards him well. Zelda tried not to smile but didn't quite succeed.
"Yes?" she gently urged him on. "You were saying?"
"D'you think, some centuries from now, when we're both long dead, they'll still be telling our story?" He asked her. "D'you think they'll still remember the Hero of Time, and how he saved the Hyrule and the Princess-" he grinned at her "- from the King of Evil?"
Zelda hadn't thought about it before. "It's possible. Probable, in fact."
"Just think – we might be the stuff of legends years from now!"
"You already are the stuff of legends," she reminded him. "There are whole prophecies and passages about the "Hero of Time" in the Book of Mudora."
"There are?" he asked in baffled amazement.
Zelda gave him one exasperated look. "Why do you think we Sages and Ganondorf himself kept calling you the Hero of Time? D'you think we just made it up because it sounded interesting?"
"I never really thought about it before," he shrugged.
"Yet here you are, wondering what they'll say about us years from now. I can't figure out if you're simple-minded or just dumb."
"'And Link, the Hero of Time, was often verbally accused by Zelda, Princess of Hyrule', that's what it should say," he said stoutly. Zelda laughed at that.
"You know it's true," he said mildly.
"Wouldn't they be more focussed on all the life-threatening things that you did? All those temples and monsters, solving puzzles and breaking seals?" Zelda asked. "I was thinking that any stories would be more along the lines of "And in his Quest to free the land of Hyrule from Ganondorf's Reign of Darkness, the Hero of Time did travel 'cross fields and lakes, deserts and forests, and even time itself. He sought the Six Sages, each of whom guarded-'"
"You have a talent for this, I see," he noted.
"Thanks," she said dryly.
"So, you think that's what they'll say about us?"
"All the passages in the Mudora read like that. Why not?"
"Hmm..." Link considered it. "Say, what do you think they'll call the story? There's the Myth of Creationism, the Story of the Six Sages, the Tale of the Picori – what will our story be called?"
"The Hero of Time?" she ventured. Link made a face.
"Bah, there's already prophecies, we don't need a downright Hero of Time legend," he said. "What about, I don't know...the Story of Seven Years?"
"Instead of that, what about the Ocarina of Time? Farore knows you used it enough."
"That sounds like a secondary title to me," he frowned. "Something that would come after the Legend of...the Legend of..."
"The Legend of Link?" Zelda suggested.
"Why my name?" Link asked, with half a smile on.
"Because it's you," she replied. "Hero of Time and all that."
"But Legend of Link just sounds...lame," he concluded with a shrug.
"I think your name is nice," Zelda objected. He grinned at her appreciatively.
"Thanks, but Legend of Link still sounds lame. What about...the Legend of Zelda?"
"Zelda? Why my name?" she asked, unconsciously echoing him.
"It sounds better than Legend of Link," he said simply. She waved that aside.
"The whole thing is going to be about you," Zelda argued. "It's always been you, going through temples, you, fighting monsters, you, the Hero of Time. Just how does that make it the Legend of Zelda? That doesn't even make sense."
"Maybe it doesn't," Link shrugged. "But I can tell you that I wouldn't have done half of that insane stuff unless you weren't breathing down my neck about it."
"I didn't force you to do anything; you agreed of your own accord to go looking for the Spiritual Stones!"
"I'm not sure if that's a good counter-argument," he said doubtfully. "I was a kid fresh from the Woods then and as I remember, I was lost, confused, and goddess damned gullible. You could've told me the moon was made out of cheese and I would've believed you. It's probably just a stroke of luck that Ganondorf hadn't gotten to me first."
"Okay, so forget the Spiritual Stones," Zelda changed tack. "But what about the other five temples you went through? That was to find the Sages so you could save Hyrule. You did that willingly enough, even without me "breathing down your neck" about it."
"Well, I did all of it for you," he said as if it was obvious. Zelda blinked in confusion, thrown off.
"For me?" she asked uncertainly. For a moment, she thought he was being serious for once but then his joking grin flashed onto his face.
"You're terrifying when you're not pleased, you know," Link said, his eyes roguish. "At the tender age of ten, you found me – a poor confused little boy – and all but forced me into searching for the Spiritual Stones, all to keep Hyrule safe from Ganondorf. And then, what do you know, but Ganondorf seizes control of Hyrule! Why do you think I hastened to find the Six Sages and save Hyrule? For fear of what you'd do to me once you found me, of course! This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, you see," he said as Zelda glowered at him.
"Will you please be serious?" she asked him icily.
"Spoilsport...alright, I guess I can try."
"Will you answer the question now?"
"Which question was that again...okay, okay," he said hastily as she glared coldly at him. "I don't see why you want me to repeat myself but I will; I did it for you."
"I told you to be serious."
"I am," he said earnestly. "Did you think I wanted to meet you like that? After all the hopes and plans you had seven years ago?" Zelda looked his face to look for the usual light-hearted mirth in his eyes and found nothing but conviction.
"For me?" she asked again.
"I wanted to save Hyrule for its own sake too, of course, but yes, for you."
"Oh," she said awkwardly; she felt rather flustered all of a sudden. "This is rather late in coming, but thank you?"
"Don't mention it," he said dryly as he sank back into the fat cushions of the armchair. "Saving Hyrule comes with the job description after all."
Zelda laughed at that as she reopened her book. She had read about half a page when-
"So, it's the Legend of Zelda then?" he asked her.
"Are you still going on about that?"
"Yep."
"You're so impossible..." she shook her head. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "The Legend of Zelda...the Tale of the Hero and the Princess."
"More like the Princess and her Hero," Link said. Zelda laughed.
"It is a nice name, isn't it?" she asked.
"I rather think so myself," said he who thought of it modestly.
"The Legend of Zelda," she said again, closing her eyes and relishing the sound of it.
"I think it makes for a promising legend name," he said pleasantly.
There was a small smile on her face as she turned back to her thick book. "Only time will tell."
I didn't put this in the fanfic because it would hardly sound in context but another reason why Legend of Link would have made a horrible name is that it appreviates to LOL. Yes, that's right. LOL, as in, Laugh-out-loud.
LOZ for the win.
Thanks for reading and please leave a review before you go! Go on...it'll only take a few minutes out of your life...
Ah...and they're gone. Curses. Well, at least your're still here. ...right?
Oh, screw it. Do as you wish.
~Da Scribbler
