Alright… so I was having a bit of writer's block lately and wounded up writing a One-Shot… I hope you enjoy it and I'll be sure to update some of my stories soon… Until then, I hope you all had a great and lucky Irish Day… and that nobody touched me pot of gold… I'm Irish so I can say that…
The plains of Hyrule were calm as a young man laid down in the grass that cushioned his body, his face hidden under the shadows of his navy blue hood as he continued to enjoy the relaxing scenery around him. His matching colored tunic as well as his cloud colored pants left him look a little out of place to some of the more common folks but he just enjoyed the lonely plateau he made into his home after things calmed down…
How long has it been since he could rest like this under the clear skies, just to relax and enjoy the simpler things in his life, one that was once so traumatizing and twisted by the Calamity Gannon that threatened his homeland and changed his life forever. One hundred or something… and that was another one hundred more years ago… Cursed with the gift of eternal youth… from the Shrine of Resurrection…
That shrine… it saved him from the brink of death after he fell to the Guardians that Gannon had taken over… but the princess saved him and no one knew the true effects of the shrine's true power… Still, being over two hundred years old and still turning heads… He knew some people that would have killed for this kind of aging… Those stupid fools
Eternal Youth and immortality were not something that he would openly wish on someone else… he could understand why the king, disguised as the old man that helped him on the very plateau he rested on, warned him of the consequences… still, he did miss the old man that made the near desolate plateau seem a bit fuller of life and social activity…
He was getting ready to strike a conversation with a Bokoblin at one point, just to have someone… or something to talk to. He might have preferred being alone… but he couldn't handle true isolation. Then again, he did continue his travels throughout Hyrule in his youth and even now he would occasionally visit those he had made friends with…
Still, it was a hard reminder that while he was immortal, they were not. He saw many of the friends he made grow old and die… the new generation now controlling the world as it was. The only ones still alive were Sidon, Riju and Yunobo… with Teba and Zelda passing away about a decade ago… but Sidon and Riju were both retired now, their daughters who were named after the late champions were ruling for their parents… with Queen Mipha being just as caring as her aunt and Urbosa being just playful as both Riju and her namesake…
Yunobo however worked as the Goron Boss of their time… leading just as well as he could but still, suffering from the effects of old age… and back pain… Ironic that he met the young Goron when he was going out to get pain killers for the former boss's own back pain. Teba passed away while his son took over while Zelda… his Zelda… rested in peace.
His heart stung for a bit, a pained expression showing on his normally calm face as he looked away… Zelda, the woman he promised to protect with his life… the princess that saved his life, guided him and fought alongside him against the Calamaty so long ago…
The woman… who took him and stood by his side at the altar, who helped him raise two young children and remained by his side through so many memories… both good and bad. The woman he loved, his late wife… his dear Late-Queen Zelda…
The Castle remained as it was, devoid of life and stood as a means for those to remember what happened long ago… instead, they settled on something else… a small house he himself bought in Hateno Village… It was perfect to raise a family, Paya often visiting while meeting with her aunt, Purrah.
Soon they grew of age and started their own family, Link giving his house to the newlyweds of his son while his daughter bought a small house in Kakariko… to live with her fiancé and future husband… a young man named Pedro… and Paya's son.
The young Sheikah did have a thing for him… that much was clear but she became like a younger sister to him and Zelda… as well as the God-Mother of their children.
But as time went on, Zelda and him grew and traveled as a small caravan for their later years, visiting the other races and holding up the traditions of the Champions…
The Champions… or at least what they stuck with, were renowned heroes that served a means of a council to discuss and reunite Hyrule under a council, with Zelda being the one to guide them. The Hylian Royal Family might be dead in name… but the Council of Champions stood strong, and stands strong now. It was seven people in total… eight counting the Deku Tree when he would be asked for his guidance. Still, with him, Zelda, Impa, Yunobo, Riju, Sidon and Teba… they created a fierce group and soon built a small building to talk and meet.
Now thinking about it… he retired and desired to rest while Purrah took over for her late sister and recently, Teba's son for his late father. Looking back he could tell that Hyrule was beginning a change towards peace… the burdens of the Calamity being faded into memories of what happened as the new generation was starting to stand on their own feet…
Heh… well so long as they don't just start fighting like their first council meeting… That was a memory that would be remembered the entire time the swordsman would live… Between Sidon's personality and giving Riju a bear hug out of happiness to meet the Gerudo, to Teba's bluntness and Yunobo's hesitance… Looking back it was looking like a trainwreck… Still they pulled it off, somehow… Maybe it had something to do with Zelda calming them down and reminding them that this was for the good of Hyrule's union…
It was also a good reminder for a laugh every now and then… seeing Riju's blush whenever someone would bring it up… almost made it worth the threat of being struck by Urbosa's Fury… The only one who did keep it up was Yunobo… who took a bit more after Daruk after becoming a Champion himself…
Going back to the Champions…
He didn't know why but soon after Gannon was defeated… the Divine Beasts and the Shrines… the Sheikah Slate and the towers… all of them started to lose power… It started first with Vah Ruta being on the fritz… then went to the other Divine Beasts and soon ended with the Sheikah Shrine being completely drained of it's power… According to Purrah… she claimed that it was working because of the threat of Gannon that was the reason the Shrines and Towers worked in the beginning. They could get the Divine Beasts and Guardians working because of Gannon's soon-to-be rebirth. Now that Gannon was gone… the Guardians were unable to function… the Divine Beasts were stored as historic reminders to the people of the champions and their sacrifices…
He'd have done the same… his friends; Revali, Mipha, Urbosa and Daruk… all of them fought so hard to protect this land… he would honor them as much as he could, praying for them whenever he was around their homelands…
Still, he did miss them, his wife most of all… He missed her green loving eyes and strong-willed persona… being so strong and gentle at the same time… He didn't know what hurt the most… knowing that he would never truly join her or the fact that he would be forced to watch the same thing happen to his own children…
She once told him that he wasn't immortal… he should be careful and be wary of his surroundings… If she would to see him get impaled in the heart… trampled by the Lynel or even that one time he was thrown off the Hebra Mountain into a gorge by a Yiga Ambush… she's either scream and terror and make sure he was alright first… then smack him for being reckless as her way of making sure it never happened to him again…
Heck, to test this Purrah placed him unarmed before a Guardian for several hours… And in the end… he was still alive… pissed off horribly at the Sheikah woman… but alive.
So, yeah… it wasn't like suicide was a true option for him… Still, while he was immortal… he wasn't indestructible… That Lynel still crushed his bones into dust… and he had to endure that before he would occasionally pass out… He still wondered what could actually kill him but was too afraid tofind out… Purrah offered suggestions… at the very least around fifty of them and if he was desperate or insane he might have humored her and wrestled the Stone Talus… or in her words… Idea Number Forty-Seven.
The skies were soon turning darker as the night began to settle… the old man in a teenager's body smirked as he headed back into his home on the Great Plateau… it was the same old cabin that he met the old man at when he was on his way to the Stasis Trial… a small cooking pot and a campfire under it. The holes patched up and a small closed window showing the natural wilds he once explored long ago…
Approaching his bed, he looked at three pictures that sat next to the bed… one was of the "First Generation" of Champions… with him and Zelda next to one another… Revali, Daruk, Mipha and Urbosa around them and taken back by Daruk's group hug… he would have to thank Kass for giving him it after finding it in his late teacher's notes…
The second picture was of the "Second Generation" of champions… mostly of again, him and Zelda… but with Sidon, Riju, Teba and Yunobo together… with Impa in the background…
Finally, he had a picture of his family… Zelda, himself… and their young children… probably around eight years old at the time… His son wanted to become a knight like him while his daughter, an explorer… To this day… that memory always lingered in his mind… happier days that he hoped his children would have had with their own kids… and was happy to say, they did.
He yawned… he sunk down in his bed peacefully and with a smile on his face… He had been growing a bit more drowsy lately… always going off to sleep earlier than he did the day before… always enjoying the quiet darkness of rest…
"…"
"Huh…" he muttered as he moved his head slightly disturbed…
"…eyes…"
Huh… eyes… what was that…?
"Open your eyes…" a woman's voice called out to him as he moaned, he didn't want to… he wanted to sleep… just to sleep… to dream… to feel something move over him tenderly, breathing into his ear.
"Wake up, Link" he heard Zelda say to him as he moaned and eventually sighed… seeing a young woman with familiar blonde hair and green eyes looking back at him… so tender, so loving… so… shocking to see in his house…
As the swordsman looked at his late wife, he reacted properly and screamed out in alarm, he wouldn't think twice about hitting the wooden floor… he never did. As he stared at the floorboards beneath him, he maneuvered the best he could to see the young princess look at him with a small smile… possibly enjoying his little scare. Still as she floated before him, he tried to reach the floor, grasping only open air before looking around.
"I was hoping that we would meet again… but I never thought it would be this soon" she said as Link looked around before trying to get up, stumbling a little, he gained his balance as he floated in the air, his lover before him walking towards him into an embrace filled with warmth and love.
He accepted it… returned it and savored it with everything he had… he was content now… he was ready to sleep… he was ready to live a dream that became once more a reality… He didn't know where he was… but he smiled as he was greeted by several familiar faces. Seeing Daruk nearly crush his spine in excited eagerness to see him again… Urbosa's teasing smile and Mipha blushing face… Revali and Teba's small smirks and Impa's soft smile… He was home… with one last breath… he was finally home.
No one knew how long exactly it was before they found him, laying on the bed with a small smile on his face, one of happiness… one of peace and one of acceptance. The heroic swordsman of legend that saved the world from the Calamity… the one who lead next to the princess and helped found the Council of Champions… sole son of a knight… father of two kids… gave his final breath in the wild…
And would be remembered and loved by all.
And here we go… I was originally going to make this another story but I decided it would have been better as a one-shot. That being said I hope you enjoyed it and I want to let you know that my schedule is hectic at the moment… between work, which I need more hours in… and another site I'm currently going to, not to mention some other stuff in life… I'll only be able to really write my stories every now and then… so just know that if I don't update a story… I don't plan on giving up on them unless I say I am…
So I'm going to finish the chapters of these stories around this order…
Sennin no Arcades:
Jikkan no Kishi:
Menma's Ultimate Encore:
A Hero's New Arc:
And try to get something on Helping a Hero… I'm also debating whether or not to delete the original Sennin noArcades and The Ultimate Encore since I have their remakes up already…
Well that's all from me so I'm heading out… PEACE.