We're back as a direct continuation of Ironic Technology but this has a different flavour so I decided to post it as a separate fic entirely - Thank you to everyone who followed that one and commented! Also this has already been posted onto Ao3 so updates here on will be quicker but staggered every couple of days or so.

The events of this fic are based around the Champions Ballad DLC but with Zelda along for the ride, limited spoilers and no details on the Shrines or how to solve the puzzles.


"Zelda, I love you, but if you drop me in the pond I am never making you fruit cake again."

"...fruit cake?"

"Oh. Looks like the food bribery does work both ways."

There was a gasp, followed by pleading, before a great splash was heard from a small pond next to an isolated house up in the hills above Hateno Village. A Hylian with long blonde hair was holding her Sheikah Slate with both hands and wearing a triumphant look upon her face. Moments before, it had been emitting a magnetic field to control a metal suit of armour to be suspended three feet above the surface of the pond. Within the no longer suspended armour was a smaller Hylian deeply regretting his choices and shaking water out of his hair like a dog. He looked up when he saw ripples on the water sweep towards him, and pushing his fringe out of his eyes he saw that his tormentor had waded into the pond with him.

"I take fruit cake very seriously," Zelda said, offering her hand down to Link to help him back up. "You know that."

"Yeah, I do," he sighed, accepting her hand and standing back up, small streams of water cascading out of his armour. "Thought I'd try teasing you once in a while. Never had the chance to do so before, not that I really wanted to anyway."

"How's that working out for you?" She asked with a placid smile on her face as water continued to drip off of the metal plates that made up Link's Hylian Soldier gear.

Link held his arms up at his sides, watching fat droplets drip into the body of water surrounding them, before looking back at Zelda, an uncomfortable look on his face. "It's a learning curve."

This made the researcher laugh, reaching for his hand again and walking them back out of the pond. As they left, the small fish inhabiting the pond came out of their hiding places to filter through the disturbed silt that had been kicked up with all the commotion. The two Hylians watched the tiny shoal flit about along the bottom of the pond for a while before Zelda tugged at Link's arm again.

"Come on, lets get you inside. You don't need to get sick again, and if we don't clean and dry this armour out it's going to get ruined." She looked back at the pond one final time before saying, "you know I was hoping we would get some frogs moving in, but so far I haven't seen a single one."

"Imagine that," Link said dryly, giving her sardonic look.

"I'm not above pushing you back in," Zelda warned and he responded by dragging his thumb and forefinger across his lips in a sealing gesture. She hummed before leaning toward him and kissing his hair.

"Wow. You really do love me, I'm soaked in pond water," Link murmured, a small grin growing as his partner's pleased smile distorted into an expression of horror.

"Oh!" She blew a raspberry in her attempts to remove any traces of water from her lips but to no avail, instead rubbing her mouth against her sleeved arms muffling her words. "Go and get clean you troglodite."

"You're the one who dropped me in there!"

Never the less, Link soon found himself up to his neck in warm water, the orange glow of the great flameblade in the bath opposite him bled across the surface of the water, lighting up his facial features in a fiery hue. The few luminous stone lamps dotted about the room provided a wonderful contrast of dim blue light, which almost made the room appear green in places.

Breathing in deeply, Link tilted his head back and closed his eyes as he faintly heard Zelda moving about in the main part of the house. The water was cloudy with bath salts and the heady scent of wild flowers was lulling him off to sleep. Despite the water obscuring most of his body from sight, the gently glowing designs of his prosthetic could still be seen, disembodied patterns of blue and orange, though they began to dim as his heart and mind slowed down. He relaxed to the point of almost dozing and therefore missed the sound of the bathroom door opening and closing.

"Mind if I join you?"

Links eyes opened quickly, even as his mind lagged behind still clinging to his previously sedate state and the glow of his arm picked up once more. He focused on the source of the voice, spotting Zelda standing in front of the door directly ahead of him, wearing nothing but a loose robe. He felt his heart rate increase.

"Uh," Link had to take a moment to actually register what she had asked him before he gave his answer with a nod of his head.

"Are you sure?" Zelda asked, sensing that Link had been blind sided a little bit – a lot – and she didn't wish to encroach if he was genuinely uncomfortable.

He just nodded again, sinking under the water a fraction more while she approached the side of the bath. She gave a soft laugh when the water was nearly up to Links ears.

"Oh please. Remember, I've seen you in your underwear," she said as she dis-robed and stepped into the water. "Hmm, this is nice."

The sound of water displacement echoed in the room as Link blinked a couple of times while he mentally analysed the fact that, yes, he had just seen Zelda completely naked for all of five seconds. The swirling patterns decorating his arm burned even more brightly. Ignoring this obvious tell, his eyes flickered over to her relaxed form, her eyes closed as she breathed in slow and deep. He nudged her leg gently with his foot to get her attention as he lifted his hands above the surface to sign.

[I'm not wearing underwear]

Zelda merely raised an eyebrow, contemplating him for a bit as his face was highlighted with blue and orange before she shifted towards him, now barely an inch away from his face. "Is that a problem?"

Link shook his head before giving it much thought, which allowed her to tip his face up above the water, her fingers under his chin, and place her lips over his.

While they had both settled into life as romantic partners fairly quickly, they still had yet to progress to levels of intimacy beyond heavy petting with some manner of clothing present. Neither of them had expressed any burning desire to do so, or voiced frustration that they were going too slowly, however. So, they were comfortable to go at their own pace, becoming accustomed to each other, and took comfort in each others arms whenever they fancied. Link would bet the damn Master Sword that Zelda had absolutely no prior experience with this sort of thing, except perhaps her own experimentation. If he himself had previously engaged in such activities he did not recall it, and he assumed that such an event would have come back to him by now. He did know, however, that prior to living with Zelda he'd had absolutely no interest in sex whatsoever, not that it stopped him from being curious as he overheard conversations in Gerudo Town.

Currently, Link could not recall anything other than how much he enjoyed kissing Zelda. Their liplock had progressed and hands were now involved, very adventurous hands. Unfortunately for Link, he could only feel with one of them so he had to choose whether he wanted to feel her smooth, unblemished, perfect skin, or tangle it in her long, soft, blonde hair. He decided on running his hand up her back until it reached her golden locks at the base of her neck, and his other unfeeling hand went to her hip.

Meanwhile, Zelda had no such dilemmas and buried both of her hands in his hair, tilting his head just the way she wanted so she could deepen the kiss. If he suffocated, it would be the best death he had ever experienced. Link would admit he was quite surprised at how forward Zelda was with their relationship, not that I would ever complain, he thought as she inched closer so that more of their skin touched.

She had been the one to make the first move to escalate their physical intimacy, and in typical Zelda fashion, she had approached the situation like she did everything else; an experiment. Determined to get results but unsure of the most efficient method. This led to the both of them having a very in depth and open exploratory session, with results the pair of them could utilise in the future.

For instance, Zelda liked her hips to be held. So, as Link gently increased the grip of his mechanical hand he felt her breathing hitch and a small pleased noise escaped from the back of her throat. She also took this as an invitation to move closer, now practically in his lap, and if Link didn't create some space between them soon they were going to be escalating their relationship sooner than anticipated. Placing the hand that had been lost in her hair now onto her shoulder, he gently but firmly pushed back a little and they broke apart.

"While a part of me would be happy to continue this," Link murmured, and the water rippled as Zelda withheld a laugh, "the responsible part knows we have places to be."

She sighed, dropping her forehead against his, "yes, I suppose. It would be better if we could take our time."

"Hmm," he nodded, nudging against her face.

It didn't stop them from coming together again for another kiss and staying in the water for a further quarter of an hour.


Walking hand in hand up the winding path that led to Purah's laboratory, Link and Zelda discuessed events that had occurred in their lives before the Calamity. With his prior memories now in his possession, he found that he only needed to be prompted about particular instances for him to be able to recall his thoughts and feelings at that time. It had been a delight to revisit the memories he had recalled from the Sheikah Slate and complete them with his point of view. The experience had made him realise how similar his thought processes and reactions had been to his previous self even without all of his memories. However, it also made him realise just how conditioned he had been at the time. Words and actions that now brought out strong visible emotions and reactions from him, previously had been contained exclusively within his own mind. Even then, the thoughts were entertained for mere seconds, causing a brief disturbance in his focus before he regained control. He was often glad that he no longer had to maintain that sort of persona, returning to that sort of blank mindset would kill him. Link still wasn't sure how the hell he had managed to create that sort of state in the first place. Sheer necessity probably, he thought, grimly.

Looking over at Zelda, as she cheerily recounted the first time he had let slip some of his actual personality to her, he was glad that the conditioning and expectations had been left behind. After having so much freedom to express himself and go where he pleased, he doubted he'd ever be able to achieve the same level of zen as he once had. He also doubted that she would have wanted to perpetuate such a stifling environment either.

"You know what I'd really like to know?" She announced, putting her hands behind her back and slowing her pace down as she turned to watch Link closely.

He tilted his head to one side, wordlessly encouraging her to continue.

"I'd love to know how you got the Master Sword."

Link paused for a second, "didn't I get it just before meeting you?"

"No, you'd already had for years." She shook her head and looked ahead of her, "you became my appointed knight after deflecting a wayward laser from a malfunctioning Guardian with nothing but a pot lid."

"Of course, I did," Link muttered.

"I did say, you hadn't changed that much. It's just that the true person you are, that I see now, had to be squashed down and written over to survive the expectations of day to day Castle life. I never really worked up the courage to ask you more personal questions. I was still paranoid that my treatment of you had destroyed any chance of that topic of conversation being discussed."

Zelda had to stop suddenly when she realised that her partner had remained a few feet back, staring off into the middle distance. His countenance differed from the times he had previously recalled memories by the slight squint of his eyes, and his slowly rising eyebrow. He was sifting through his jumble of memories.

"It hadn't," he said eventually, looking back to her again. "I knew why you were so frustrated and confrontational with me. I accepted it and tried to impact on you as little as possible. You had enough to deal with."

The former Princess's patient expression broke into a watery smile. I don't deserve him, oh I really don't deserve him, she thought as she rushed back to engulf him in a hug. His face disappeared into the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply and utterly content. It often surprised him just appreciative Zelda was of his honesty, it also surprised him when he realised just how happy he felt these days. He'd always had a positive aura about him and not much could slow him down for long, but this was something else. He was also glad that she seemed as equally inclined to being tactile with him as he was with her. One hundred years outside of your body might do that to you, his inner sardonic voice supplied.

"I would have been irritated too if I had been in your position, but at least I had people to turn to when in doubt," came Link's muffled voice, followed by a huge sigh.

The action tickled Zelda and she had to withdraw from the hug, but she didn't go far. "I'm glad you had a such a loving family," and he responded with a weak smile.

A few days after they revisited Fort Hateno he had recalled more about his family members, and made a startling discovery. Within those memories, there had been moments of a younger sibling. A sister.

He'd been very quiet that day, staying in bed until well after midday and trailing after Zelda listlessly. She hadn't known what was wrong or how to help him. Would he even accept help, or know what it was exactly that saddened him? Was it a delayed after effect of his pseudo death? Or had he rediscovered something about himself? It had taken about a week before Link's depressed state started to dissipate and Zelda was able to help him vent. His answers had completely thrown her for a loop and she became very glad that she had decided for them to settle under the covers in bed, as the wind howled past their window and the oppressive clouds overhead rolled across the sky. Tucked up in blankets she was able to cradle Link in her arms carefully, staying silent as he came to terms with the loss his new memories presented him. His emotions raw and unchecked. But, the true catalyst for his turmoil had been the revelation that he had been wandering around without memories of his much-loved little sister.

"My father was in Castle Town, I remember seeing him trying to get people out. He died there." A pause as Link got used to the weight of these words leaving his mouth. "My mother had been in Akkala."

Zelda had closed her eyes, and tightened her hold on him, sniffing quietly. There had been no survivors to be found from that place.

"But where was my sister – Aryll? What if she survived?"

Honestly, that thought had stayed with her for days and nothing she could say could remove that lingering idea that perhaps Link's sister had escaped and lived out her life. Without them.

Here in the present, Zelda's face mirrored Link's tenuous smile, glad that he was now able to look back and find fond memories despite how they all ended. Her expression eventually morphed into one of mock frustration, however, aiming to steer him away from paths that only led to sadness.

"Master Sword. Tell me."

Her ex-knight gave a short laugh as he drew away and turned to continue walking up the hill. He tilted his face up to the sky for a moment, getting his thoughts in order before speaking.

"I pulled it out of the pedestal in the Lost Woods..."

"Yes, I gathered that, I meant-"

"When I was twelve."

There was a very oppressive silence and Link decided to subtly increase his walking speed when he registered that Zelda was still at a dead stop. He braced himself to break out into a run as he heard a huge intake of breath several paces behind him.

"You WHAT?!"

Like the snap of elastic, the Hylian male propelled himself forward with the stored power of his tense leg muscles and shot up the grit path. Unfortunately, he could hear Zelda also kick into gear and launch herself after him, gaining an alarming amount of speed to close the distance between them. Link skidded across the sandstone chips as he pivoted to follow the bend in the path, whereas Zelda made the turn earlier and cut out the sharp change in direction.

"Get back here!" She screeched but he could hear the humour in her words.

Even as he laughed hysterically, he couldn't help but wonder where her sudden burst of energy came from. Has she always been this fast? I haven't met anyone who could catch me in- OH SHI-

He made the mistake of turning back to see where she was and was just in time to see her lunge for his legs, obviously realising she would not be able to reach him bodily. Clipping his back with her palms was enough to make him stagger forward and overbalance, causing him to stumble over into the lush grassy verge. He was immediately tackled by his partner, who had safely landed in a crouch behind him after her successful tactical manoeuvrer.

Her weight settled onto the small of his back, straddling his prone form as he twisted his upper body so he could she her. She looked exceedingly smug for having caught him, and Link was genuinely impressed so he didn't struggle. Much.

"Explain," she asked, imperiously, gazing down at him with a look that dared him to try and weasel out of it. He huffed and stopped fidgeting.

"I liked exploring as a kid." He shrugged, "one day I found a korok and he wanted to play, so I followed him into the woods."

"Oh, sweet Nayru," Zelda breathed, shaking her head in incredulity.

"And so, ignorant, tiny-ass me, just walks into the woods and follows the chorus of giggling koroks." He settles back onto his front, propping his chin onto his crossed forearms. "I get into the grove and immediately I'm drawn to the sword. It's like," he pauses, "it's like I couldn't imagine doing anything else."

"You were compelled?"

"Sort of, but it didn't feel quite so malicious, I just really wanted to. The tree warned me the sword would test me-"

"Wait, the Sword tests you?" Obviously, this had not been common knowledge and Zelda sat back on Link's hips as she processed this. "I'm afraid to ask, but, test you how?"

"It tested the strength of my spirit. If you do not have the strength of spirit and the right resolve, the Sword can knock you out or even kill you. Apparently, I was worthy."

He shrugged but he heard Zelda spluttering.

"Wait- but that means- You were a child! Why did the Deku Tree even let you attempt."

"He said that it was my choice whether I wished to try, but even back then, I enjoyed having a challenge. Sure gave my Father a fright when I walked back into the Garrison with it trailing behind me."

"How did I not hear about this? I should have heard about this."

"Father helped me hide it until I was fifteen. He said I was too young. I didn't understand what he meant until we brought it to Castle Town when I was older," Link admitted, voice muffled as he sunk lower into his arms.

Zelda couldn't help but draw the bitter comparison between Link's father and her own. While the claiming of the Master Sword no doubt heralded some manner of conflict within the wielders lifespan, his father had valued his son's personal well-being instead. Something her father never seemed to quite understand.

"Your father was right, it was the best he could do for you in that situation, I believe. Until it was absolutely necessary or you were old enough to deal with the ramifications… I was so sheltered... but I am a little glad I wasn't aware of it. The stress would have been unbelievable."

Her hand came down absent-mindedly to start stroking Link's hair and her weight on his back was actually quite comfortable. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the relative simplicity of this moment.

After settling for a couple of minutes in silence, he realised that Zelda had drifted off in thought and a smirk spread across his face. He slowly moved his arms close to his torso, trying not to jostle her, and then pushed up with his shoulder muscles, keeping his torso completely straight. Completely taken by surprise, Zelda could either hold on or roll off as Link essentially did a push up with her full weight still on his back; she rolled off. Free from his captor, he jumped to his feet and made a mad dash for the path again, just barely missing her take a swipe at his ankles.

He ran all the way, finally reaching the lab heaving in air as he tried to laugh and breath at the time same. He could hear Zelda having a similar problem as she followed. He crashed into the front door and threw it open, only to be sent careening forward as he was forcefully hip-checked into the lab.

"Domestic dispute already?"

"Good morning, Purah," Zelda said, brightly, albeit slightly breathless as she tucked her hair behind her ear and casually walked over to Purah's desk; the source of the voice. She completely ignored Link blowing a raspberry at her from where he had regained his balance in the middle of the room.

Leaning over the desk, she could see the small figure of Purah sat on the floor on the other side, her legs spread out in front of her and her petticoats billowing out all around her. She was surrounded by half a dozen dark coloured rectangular objects, and each were completely blank. There was also some sort of carving tool placed across once of them and a cradle, which held a small ancient blue flame. Purah looked up to see Zelda's flushed face and a slightly manic expression of forced casualness.

"... didn't think I would see you until this afternoon."

"It is afternoon, Purah," Zelda informed her gently, eyebrows raised slightly but she was not in a place to judge. She herself had experienced one too many nights of Link coming into her lab at two in the morning to ask – whine about – why she wasn't in bed.

"It is?!"

Link walked over to stand beside Zelda, taking a good look around the room and he realised he was unable to spot Symin. "Symin gone out?"

Purah climbed up onto her desk stool to see Link giving the lab a once over, "believe it or not, I do give the man days off, you know."

The young Sheikah removed her leather gloves and dusted off the front of her apron she wore over her dress. Adjusting her glasses to sit further up her nose, she inspected the two Hylians in front of her and then her eyes focused onto the Sheikah Slate that was being offered to her.

"Oooh hoo hoo," Purah clapped her hand delightedly before taking the Slate from Zelda and jiggling it in happiness. "Yes, now I can start to mimic the rune programming onto these blank slates."

"Oh, that's what you're doing," Zelda said, sounding intrigued as Purah indicated the items left on the floor.

"Hmm huh, and after that I want to look into the Slate's vitals recording function."

"The what?" Both Hylians asked, simultaneously.

"This device," she waved the Sheikah Slate for added effect, "monitors and records the vitals of it's imprinted user. In this case that would be Link."

"It can do that?" He asked, sounding a little amazed but also with a hint of trepidation.

The Sheikah scientist looked physically pained as she rolled her eyes, tapping on the Slate blindly to access the function she was describing.

"It will measure things like heart rate, metabolism, pulses along your nervous system, temperature, etc. For instance, this morning your heart rate nearly went through the roof. What on earth were you doing?"

With her eyes still fixed on the screen of the Slate she thankfully missed Link's face slowly turn bright pink while his eyes widened in utter horror as he stared off into the distance. Zelda on the other hand, feeling equal parts devious but also sympathetic, cleared her throat to inform Purah that she had been testing more elixirs on him.

"Oh? How did it go?" Purah asked, already moving on from the vitals monitor function and swiping through reams of data instead.

"I think it went well," Zelda said, with pride in her voice while she side eyed her ex-knight who was now looking at her in amazement. She tilted her head from side to side, a cocky smile set firmly in place.

It only made Link's blush worse.

"Well, while you two go and do … whatever it is you two do these days, I'll be here trying to duplicate some of these slate functions. So," Purah waved her hand flippantly at them, still not looking up, "off with you."

"Actually," Zelda said, glancing at Link to see him nod and his skin tone gradually turning back to normal, "we were thinking of exploring the Castle."

"Oh?" The Sheikah's interest was caught, her focus now on the two Hylians.

"I have some plans for the place, which I think you'd like to be invested in too. But," Zelda held up a finger to stall her white-haired friends queries, "I want to check that these plans are feasible and physically possible before I lay them out in detail to all relevant parties."

Purah sulked for a beat before perking up with a grin and a snap.

"Ok! Just remember, the Guardians have all shut down but the monsters will still probably be there."

Link coughed, "I, err, may have been a bit … thorough, last time I was there."

He felt two pairs of eyes on him and quiet reigned for a few seconds, causing him to fight the urge to fidget.

"Oh. Never mind then. Go, have fun."


The Hylian pair walked back to their house, without a scuffle or chase breaking out halfway, and collected the items they had dispensed from the Sheikah Slate that morning. Before Link had been dumped into the pond. They bundled them into a satchel bag each, and slung their paragliders onto their backs. Deciding to take horses with them instead of going by foot, Link fed – bribed – their two steeds that grazed on the patch of land next to the house.

They reached the Duelling Peaks stable in the evening and decided to settle there for the night. While they both enjoyed camping, being inside a well heated house had made them slightly reticent to sleeping outside, even if it was late spring.

Once their horses had been accounted for, Tasseren, the stable owner, had cornered Link to answer whether or not the blonde he was traveling with was indeed the legendary Princess. All Link could do was rub the back of his head nervously, not wanting to outwardly admit it and cause a fuss, but unable to lie to the man's face. His meek silence seemed to be all the answer the stable master needed, however, and he proceeded to gape in a daze. It took a good few minutes to explain the specific circumstances of Zelda's role in this era, but he was confident that Tasseren understood and he didn't seem to treat her any differently then he did Link.

They did get a few raised eyebrows though when she requested only one bed and then flopped down onto it next to Link who was sitting on the side, taking his boots off. Not that anyone dared say anything. After all, how does one go about calling out the two people who had literally saved the entire Kingdom? It just wasn't done.

They were left to sleep beside each other, in peace.


Some of the information in here is based on BotW Masterwork translations done by Cheru on tumblr! Specifically, the age when Link pulled the Sword, and the concept art of Link's family, that includes a potential younger sister. I love Aryll in WW so she had to come back.

You can find me at sarcastic-sketches on tumblr for companion art on this series #trial and error