BOTW, But Zelda Isn't Young at the End

Author Note: 6/28/18 I edited this fic and added some comedic lines and made a few superficial changes, especially to the first two chapters. I also fixed some of the concerns people had in reviews! Thanks so much for all the feedback!

Chapter One: A Wrinkled Ending

Link's eyes froze open. Then he blinked. Nope, didn't work. It was still there.

An old woman with blue eyes and a stained white dress stood before him. Holy Mother of the Triforce… this was… what he'd been fighting for?

"Link, the Hero of Hyrule," she said, smiling. The skin around her eyes was crinkled, and there were deep creases in the corners of her mouth. A little too much of her face resembled wrapping paper. Her hair was fine, white, and thin and blew in the wind about her face. Her dress was dirty and didn't fit her anymore. It was too loose, especially around her…chest. Her wrinkled hands were folded in front of her, joints knobby and blue veins visible on their surface. He gulped.

"Do you really remember me?" she asked. Her voice croaked.

Not like that, he thought. He almost dropped the master sword in shock, but it was not a droppable item. He sheathed it instead, nerves knotting in his stomach.

Zelda was old. And she looked it. A kind of strength emanated from her, but goddesses, she had aged. She still had the power of the Triforce in her, but she was, well, ancient. Sort of like the magic that flowed through her.

He winced. That look she was giving him, her eyes longing with a gaze that spent too much time scanning him up and down… He was pretty sure that she didn't know she was old.

Wait, Should I tell her? He swallowed hard. Maybe… maybe he had better not. Ignorance was bliss, after all… right? It didn't matter that a moblin with a rock dropped on your head from behind could still kill you, right? I should tell her, he thought, dread filling him. He opened his mouth a little, then closed it again, like a fish. His mouth went dry, and his voice failed him. So I guess I'm not telling her, he thought. Then relief filled him.

Zelda kept giving him the kind of look a 17-year-old boy did not want to receive from a 117 year old woman. Though, to be fair, they were technically the same age. He just didn't look—or feel—like a centenarian. Her gaze was creeping him out. She could have been his great-great-great grandmother, or some strange, long-forgotten and rather ancient aunt that came calling at family gatherings and you were too respectful of your elders to ask how the heck you were related, so you just let her trundle the wrong way through the food buffet.

Zelda wasn't an ugly old lady, and she was still regal, but still… Link curdled slightly at the sight of her. Something was wrong about this. Maybe something is wrong with me, Link thought. Was past me this terrified of elderly women? Didn't I have a grandmother? Wasn't I raised by one in a previous game?

Link rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"You do remember," Zelda croaked.

Link's eyes shot open. Oh, goddesses, he thought. Yeah, yeah, I remember all the subtext from the last five cutscenes. But, please don't say it, not like this.

"Link, thank you," Zelda said.

Link meant to sigh in relief, but a strange, nervous, squeaky groan came out of him instead.

Not knowing what else to do, he called for his horse. The Royal Stallion came trotting up. Link led him forward to Zelda, still embarrassed, and blushing. She stood there still watching him. He had never hated eye contact more. She was a little shorter from before, slightly hunched. Link helped her up onto the horse. He heard at least two bones crick as she climbed into the saddle. He then led the Royal Stallion towards the nearest stable, where he was going to get another horse for himself and then they would ride together. Just act natural. Right. I have a plan… no I don't.

The only thing he could think was to take Zelda to the only other elderly woman he knew. Maybe they could… bond? He didn't know.

But he had to put his hope in something. He had to turn around and duck or press RZ to put up Daruk's Protection before the moblin dropped the rock on him and they both died.

They stopped at Wetland Stable and Link chose his next-best horse (who had better stats than the royal stallion, if we were being honest), and they began to head toward the Wetlands. Zelda noticed his pressing silence. She knew it was characteristic of him, but it still made her a little irked. 100 years apart, and not so much as a "hello?"

"So, off to Zora's Domain then, to see Mipha's father?" Zelda asked.

Link got unto his horse and rode south, toward Kakariko but away from Lanayru, swallowing hard and grimacing.

"Will we be stopping to see Mipha's Father?" Zelda asked again.

Nothing.

"Impa, then?"

Zelda grew nervous. And all this riding sure was making her bones ache…how much farther were they going to go? And what in the devil had gotten into her appointed knight? Had he gone half-blind in battle? Why was he squinting?