~ Prologue ~

Murky clouds veiled the mid-afternoon sky. Rain poured down vigorously, plummeting its way onto the seething ground. An abundance of umbrellas gathered around a gravestone. All of the present attendees donned various shades of black, a color which symbolized loss and mourning. Some held their personal handkerchiefs close to them, while others had a blank face plastered on. A elderly priest stood near the sepulcher, his divided attention surveying the crowd who wept in complete silence. As the priest began to clear his throat, the scattered monotone murmurs which were exchanged amongst the numerous individuals subsided. All eyes gazed directly at him.

"Today we gather here to say our goodbyes to Sheik Nohansen. He parted from us at such a young age however, he'll forever live on in our memories. Now—I request those who are gathered here today that you provide your fullest attention towards Mr. Nohansen as he reads his son's eulogy."

The priest excused himself and scurried off to the side to join the crowd while a burly man took his place. His skin appeared to be as rough like faux leather, giving him a gruff appearance, yet if one was able to capture a close glimpse, they could see the heartfelt sorrow in his eyes.

A small blonde haired girl clutched on her mother's hand tightly, perking up at her own father. Zelda displayed no form of emotion on her face. Gaepora was silent for a minute or two before he began speaking.

"We knew this day was bound to come nonetheless, tragedy struck as it held its grip on every last inch of Sheik's life. Bidding farewell to anyone—especially if it's your own son is one of the formidable things you'll ever do. I honestly never expected this day to come so soon, especially seeing that he only lived his life to the fullest for twelve years."

Zelda heard the pain and melancholy in her father's voice as she frowned a little. She knew her twin brother would never be around to play with her again, all because she wasn't brave enough. It pained her tremendously to even assume he took his own life due to the underlying fact that no one stood up for him. Reminiscing Sheik, Zelda remembered he was the one who stood up for his classmates who were constantly bullied to no end, even going far to befriend them in return. It distressed her to never see these other children return the favor, especially for all Sheik had done. Unfortunately, Zelda knew they couldn't do anything—no, they wouldn't do anything, especially seeing how they were powerless, pathetic, meaningless little boys to begin with. It was such a dreadful conception for one to dwell upon, yet they were the ones who scourged the ravaging flames on Sheik in the first place.

If those boys had never been bystanders, she wouldn't be here today. Zelda would still be home, smiling, giggling and playing games with him. Instead, she was grounded at a funeration she had no prior knowledge or intention of attending in first place.

"It's their fault that's he's gone," Zelda thought, reassuring herself. "They didn't do anything and Sheik killed himself because of it! Those piteous weaklings took away not only my brother, but my best friend. I—I hate them!"

Gaepora's eulogy for Sheik eventually came to an end. Zelda snapped out of her violent sea of troubles. She tilted her head slightly and glanced up at the dreary sky, knowing it mourned for the unexpected loss of Sheik.

"Sheik adored his friends and family alike, protecting them from experiencing the same fate he endured. It is a testament to him seeing how many of you are here today to say farewell for the final time. Not only he was a son and a loving brother—he was a brave and goodhearted young man, always putting others before himself. Sheik was someone whom everyone admired and was such a pleasure to be around with."

"Lies! They're not even here! Those boys chickened out and abandoned him, just like they did when the bullies started going after him. I'll never forgive them, never!"

"To have lost Sheik was the most heartbreaking reality. It was a shock to us all when he took his own life away, especially seeing how many vast opportunities lie ahead of him."

Everyone in the crowd stared at the ground, bereaving the woeful death of the Nohansen family's son. It didn't help that some of these individuals knew their daughter's life will never be the same. They remembered how close Sheik and Zelda were. The two siblings were inseparable since they day they were born.

"My family wishes a heartfelt thanks to all of those who have given their compassion, love, and support throughout this extremely difficult time. I know that in my heart he will not want us grieving for too long. Rather, Sheik would want us to reminisce all the wonderful times we shared with him throughout the twelve years of his life."

Gaepora paused for a slight moment. It was almost as if he was about to break down for a split moment before taking a deep breath.

"Goodbye my son. You'll always live on in our memory and hearts forever."

Numerous families gathered around, taking turns to place gifts on Sheik's grave as they bid him farewell. Zelda's mother deplored into tears as she inched towards her son's grave and exchanged her final words with him. Afterwards, she placed her handkerchief over her face to prevent her overflowing sea of tears from smearing her makeup even further. Zelda stared dumbfoundedly at Sheik's grave. Not once did she shed a tear nor did she display any inch of sentiment. Instead, she had an upmost burning desire to be vigorous, courageous and full of wisdom, just like Sheik. He was absolutely everything Zelda aspired to be. From there on, she came to the conclusion that her goal was to accomplish all the enduring tasks Sheik would never have to face.

After that lamentable day, time crept its way up, freely passing by. Slowly but surely, her parents stopped grieving the loss of their beloved son. In fact, it was almost like as if Sheik ceased to exist. They moved on, devoting both their time and priorities on their daughter, even pushing their limits to inform others that they had only borne a daughter rather than twins.

It heavily pained Zelda to witness both her mother and father disregarding Sheik's existence as if he were nothing but a mere burden. She eventually came to terms with herself that she was only one who kept his memory alive. Just like her parents, the boys he protected simply moved on like nothing happened. It was as if Sheik's heroic triumphs held no significance in their hearts. As time continued to pass by, those boys continued getting bullied throughout their middle school year. This in turn, caused some of their parents to pull out of the school district due to its intensity. Zelda constantly reminded herself every day to aspire her brother's dreams but instead, she went with the flow of the crowd.

High school came around as Zelda engaged herself in a plethora of activities. She managed to become one of the top students in her graduating class, even joining the National Honors Society, student council to even the drama club. Zelda hoped she was finally able to escape the clutches of her uttermost deepest regrets to the faces which caused her brother's unwanted suffering, yet she spoke too soon. Once again, she encountered them during high school. However, instead of surveying those aggravating wimps as they suffered on their own, she joined her fellow peers, adding more than they bargained for onto their plate, thinking it would heal her wounds.

In spite of it all, Zelda's wounds only grew deeper.

Instead, she decided that she needed time away from them, graduating early with the other top student in her respective class. Thereupon, Zelda took a year off before settling down with the local community college nearby instead of attending Harlington University out of town like the rest of her friends.

Unbeknownst to the naked eye, around three years later, Zelda would eventually cross paths with her past once more.

After how long it's been, I've decided to revisit this and actually work on this story. I did try to make an attempt in 2015, however failed. Since I've decided to port this story over to my Wattpad account, I've decided why not update it here as well (I've been touching up a lot of old stories there).

Like I've stated five years ago, this story was inspired by the shoegaze mood I've been in. Also I wasn't too sure back then if this was going to be strictly Zelink or not, but now I'm definitely keen on it being a Zelink story. Note that the Zelda's appearance in this story is based off her BotW look but currently has the hairstyle of ALBW Zelda aka Smash Ultimate Zelda (her bangs will grow and she'll style it like her BotW counterpart later on).

Since Smash Ultimate had came out in December, it gave me a small muse to work on Smash stories once more. I feel that I should clarify a couple of things for this AU.

For starters, please keep in mind that Zelda is twenty when the story starts. While at it, do expect to see some non Nintendo smashers in the story as well.

Anyways, please note that this modern AU takes place in a fictitious universe (most likely a mixture of Hyrule and the real world) which utilizes real things such as musicians (no, they are not characters), websites (Facebook, tumblr, etc.), etc. Most Nintendo game titles (unless they're not really obvious) will be parodied or in some cases, will utilize their Japanese names (example: Kid Icarus would be referred to as Light Mythology: [Parody of Palutena's name] Mirror). In the older version, I had originally planned to have the characters keep their default species (Link and Zelda are Hylians, Pit's an angel, etc.), but decided against it for the remake. Instead, they're all going to be humans (most likely Hylian). So no, characters like Pit and Dark Pit will not be angels or have wings in this story.

Also note that there will be original characters in the story, but they're most likely throwaway characters.