"The deal is complete…"
I woke with a start, the dream already fading fast but the last words echoing in my head. Whatever that was, it had felt more real than any dream I had experienced.
Glancing over at my alarm clock, I groaned. It was only a few minutes until I would have to get up anyway, so I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled to the window.
Pulling open the curtains I took in the beautiful morning before me. Just over the treeline the first rays of light could be seen, and a thick fog still hung over the pond below my home. The other direction was a vast meadow, patches of snow dotting the frozen grass. No other humans for miles.
A glimmer from the treeline on the other side of the pond caught my eye, something metallic. Maybe there were some other people around, I thought to myself.
I desperately wished I could ignore the light but I had a job to do. Throwing on my uniform, I marched into the crisp winter morning, keys jingling in my hand as I approached the gator parked out front. The engine stuttered a couple times before the reassuring roar kicked in, and I was off.
Swerving along the lightly worn paths, I secretly hoped whoever was out here would get the message from the noise of the gator alone and leave before I found them. The path wound around the pond, giving some time for a trespasser to make it a good way back to the beach, where no doubt their boat was. I saw the glimmer again, alas I'd have to play the role of the asshole kicking them out of paradise before I got breakfast.
My expectations were dashed however when I entered the clearing the light had been coming from.
In the center of the clearing was a golden disk, at least four feet wide. Upon the disk were two statues of women facing away from each other, so life-like that I wouldn't have been surprised if they were actors holding perfectly still. What made me convinced they were statues was who they depicted.
One looked exactly like Princess Zelda from the Breath of the Wild dressed in white, while the other looked to be the female Pokemon trainer. I couldn't recall which generation she belonged to, but I had seen her often enough to tell what series she was from, even if her hair style seemed strange in a real life depiction.
I glanced around for signs as to how someone brought the statues here. What I was uncertain of was how they could have gotten it here without me overhearing. There weren't any signs of tire treads in the grassy opening, nor drag marks where the statues might have been slid.
As I approached I pulled out my work phone from the holster on my belt and thought of how I'd phrase the phone call to my supervisors. This was going to look bad, no matter how I tried to spin it, best to come clean and give an accurate description of events. Someone dumping a pair of statues on my watch was the exact sort of thing I was here to prevent.
Scrolling through my contacts list, I was about to hit call as I rested my hand on Zelda's shoulder.
I pulled my hand away just as a ripple of light flowed over the two statues in a blink of an eye. Zelda vanished into an angry red ball of light, and the Pokemon trainer gasped, coming alive before my eyes. Whatever she was about to do was cut short, when the light Zelda had become slammed into her back, consuming her in the red glow.
I didn't even have time to cover my eyes, wincing from the blinding flash. When I looked again the pedestal they had stood on was gone and a woman who looked exactly like Princess Zelda was standing in the wet grass. Shivering, eyes red, white dress splattered with mud and looking as if she had watched her whole world fall apart.
"Are you alright miss?" I asked.
The woman looked startled by my question, then her expression turned to determination, "Where is the sword? We need to get to the Great Deku Tree with haste, there is much to be done." Her accent was uncanny, identical to that of the game.
"Your dedication to character is impressive, really. I admire the Princess Zelda costume, but you are trespassing. I need you to leave the area." I said, pointing down the path that would take her back to the boat docks.
"Costume! I am Princess Zelda. Hyrule is under attack, we have no time for silly games." She all but shouted at me.
I took a deep breath, torn with how to respond. "Okay Princess, I'll drive you to the docks and from there you can make your way to the Deku Tree."
She continued to glare at me for a moment, before nodding, "Acceptable, let us go immediately."
I climbed into the driver's seat of my gator and gestured for her to take the passenger seat. She gave the vehicle a hesitant glance and delicately climbed in.
With a twist of the keys, the gator roared to life and I took us on the fastest trail towards the docks. The trail was dotted with roots and bumps, to the point I couldn't take my eyes away from the path ahead, but I could tell Zelda didn't like the roughness of the ride by how she occasionally grabbed my shoulder for support, not that she complained. She was silent for the entire drive.
Finally we turned the last bend, pulling onto the sandy river beach. There was the dock, and which to my surprise was as empty as it had been the night before.
"Did you remember to tie up your boat when you got here?" I asked, glancing down river for any sign of a boat.
"I didn't arrive by boat, I don't know how I got here. You must stop wasting time, with each moment Calamity Ganon grows stronger." She said.
I stopped looking for a boat and turned to stare into her intense blue eyes, the dirt and dust on her face marked with trails of recent tears.
"Okay, I want to believe you are who you say you are, so I'm giving you one last chance to come clean. At which point I will take you to my personal boat, take you to where you need to go and move on with my day. If you continue to insist you are Princess Zelda and it comes out that this is an elaborate prank, I'll be calling the Sheriffs and you'll likely be charged for trespassing at the minimum. If you somehow are the real Princess Zelda, we need to have a rather uncomfortable conversation."
"And what uncomfortable conversation would that be?" She said with no hesitation in her voice.
"You aren't in Hyrule anymore Princess, you aren't even in the same world if I understand the situation correctly."
"What do you mean, if I'm not in the same world, where am I?" She said, doubt entering her voice.
"Take my jacket," I said, pulling off my uniforms rain jacket and handing it her. She was shivering and her teeth were beginning to chatter. "Let's get you warmed up back at the ranch and I can explain everything there. If I'm correct, Hyrule should be safe for now."
She looked as if she was about to refuse, then took my jacket and pulled it over her arms, giving much more protection from the winter chill than her strapless white dress. "Thank you, warmth would be welcome now." she said quietly.
We drove in silence back to the ranch where I was living. It had been abandoned years ago and much of it was collapsing before the position of caretaker was established. The only intact building was the double wide trailer brought here for the resident caretaker of the island to live in while the rest of the buildings were being repaired.
I pulled the gator up a few feet from the front door and led Zelda into my home.
Pulling a towel from underneath my counter, I handed it to Zelda. While she dried herself off I turned up the heater, started to boil some water and went to find some clothes that would fit the young woman.
She was over half a foot shorter than I, so the only pants she'd be close to fitting were a pair of my sweatpants. I grabbed those, a long sleeve shirt, a wool sweater and socks and gave them to the Princess before leaving the living room to give her space to change.
I returned to the room, suppressing the thought of how adorable Zelda looked in an oversized wool sweater, I took the kettle off the stove. "Coffee, Tea or Hot Cocoa?" I said, wondering if Hyrule had coffee or cocoa at the time of Breath of the Wild.
"Coffee please, " Zelda said. I poured her a mug of coffee and brought it to where she was curled up on my couch and she took it from my hands. I settled into the chair across from her with a cup of coffee of my own.
"I haven't even asked your name. " Zelda said softly.
"Fossil," I said, " You can call me Fossil."
"Tell me Fossil, what did you mean when you said I'm not in the same world anymore."
I took a deep breath, "There is a story, a series of stories that many people in my world know as the Legend of Zelda. Most of these stories focus on three individuals who reincarnate over the generations, Link who with the assistance of Princess Zelda defeat Ganon in his attempt to conquer Hyrule. Except unlike the versions you might have heard, they aren't considered history or even really a legend, they are completely fictional."
I continued, "That's why I thought you were playing a prank or wearing a costume, your story is rather popular and a lot of people dress up like you for fun. Except I can believe that you are the real Princess Zelda of Hyrule, and that means you've somehow come from a world thought only as fiction and ended up here. "
Zelda looked down at her mug, a lost look on her face. Finally she spoke, "Thank you for believing in me Fossil. Though I'm afraid your belief in me might be misplaced. I am Princess Zelda, but I failed to defeat Calamity Ganon, I wasn't strong enough."
"Link just fell in battle protecting you didn't he?" I asked.
Zelda looked up from her mug, tears in her eyes, "You've heard my story then? What is it they say I didn't do right? Did I not train hard enough, pray hard enough, study hard enough? What more could I have possibly done not to lose everything?"
"You didn't lo.." I paused, "Let me show you something." I pulled out my phone, walking over to the couch. Selecting youtube, I found a video compilation of all the cutscenes from breath of the wild. Tapping quickly, I progressed the video to what I wanted to show her.
"Is that a Sheikah slate?" Zelda asked.
"Something like that," I said as I hit play.
Zelda gasped as the screen began to show Link's resurrection.
We watched the video play out, Link meeting the spirit of Zelda's father, Impa and finally, the permanent defeat of Ganon. As the music swelled and the camera zoomed out to the lone Silent Princess, Zelda sat up straight.
"If it is not too much trouble, I need to be alone." She said.
I nodded, "I'll be working outside if you need anything." I grabbed my jacket and headed out back into the cold winter morning.
My plan for the day had been to crush down a patch of blackberry on the southern side of the island, but given the circumstance I instead organized the tool shed, keeping a close eye on the house. Part of me still wondered if this wasn't an incredibly elaborate joke, and I was leaving a cosplayer alone in my home, but that part was shrinking by the minute. Zelda seemed genuinely surprised by the videos content. Thoughts about the implications of the situation raced through my head as I worked.
I was carrying a pair of shovels from the barn when I saw Zelda step out of my front door, waving timidly to catch my attention. Setting the tools down I walked over to her.
"What can I help you with?" I asked.
"I don't mean to impose further, but can I trouble you for some food?" Zelda said, blushing.
"Certainly," I thought about the state of my kitchen, "Fair warning though, the food will probably be worse than what you are used to at Hyrule."
Zelda smiled, "I shan't complain, you've been more than generous already."
My kitchen was a mess. It hadn't reached the level of health hazard, but without any reason to expect guests my cleaning habits had slipped back to those of my college days. The bowl I had eaten canned chili from last night still sat in the basin of the sink, along with the plates from yesterday's lunch and breakfast, and a few dozen other pieces of silverware and cups. Turning around to block the kitchen doorway, and the sight of messy sink I put on my best smile, "Eggs on toast sound good?"
"It sounds wonderful," Zelda said, resting on the couch and letting the oversized sweater pool around her waist.
I set about preparing breakfast, which I only now realized I myself had not yet had. Soon enough, breakfast was served. Zelda ate rather delicately, and I followed suit, though definitely for a different reason than she. Getting egg in my beard in front of my guest was not something I wanted to do.
Just as I finished my last bite Zelda spoke. "Fossil..Do you know of any way I can get back to Hyrule?"
"I don't Zelda, I know that some scientists have speculated that different dimensions or worlds might exist, but as far as I know it is all theory. If you weren't here right now I would be convinced travel between dimensions wouldn't happen in my life time." I said, meeting her eyes.
"I am here though, so we know it is possible. There has to be a way!" Zelda said.
"Yes, but it might not be accessible in this world, it could be something on your world that sent you here, or something from a different world entirely." Her shoulders began to fall.
"So you're saying I might be stuck here?" Zelda said.
"Maybe? Unless you know of anything magical that can get you back, my world probably doesn't have the means of getting you home now. In a few decades, who knows. We are in a period of technological growth beyond any in our history. I don't want you to give up on hope, but don't get your heart set on it happening anytime soon."
Zelda rubbed the back of hand, looking away from me with a contemplative look on her face."Take me to where I first appeared, there must be some evidence as to what happened."
We pulled into the glade, which looked about the same as when we had left it. The dead grass still showed our footprints from this morning, and the large circular disk marking from the pedestal Zelda had been standing on.
"Right there, you looked like you were frozen or a statue when I found you. There was another woman too, but she disappeared when I touched your shoulder." I said.
"Someone else? Why had you not mentioned that, it could be a clue as to how I arrived." Zelda said.
"You seemed to have more important things on your mind, I'm sorry for not mentioning it. There was also a golden disk that both of you were standing on that disappeared as well. It had some kind of marking on it, but it disappeared before I could inspect it further." I said, gesturing to the circular mark in the grass.
Zelda slowly approached the place where she had stood frozen only a few hours ago, raising her hand to the point. "There is something here." She said as the back of her hand glowed faintly in the pattern of three triangles. Slowly, she rolled her wrist, twitched her fingers, almost as if she were tuning an invisible dial.
"Zelda, I see something." I said, gesturing to the space next to her. Ever so faintly, I could make out the silhouette of another person, growing more visible by the second.
"I don't see anything, what is it?" Zelda asked.
The ghostly form of the female pokemon trainer was now visible, still frozen in place, while Zelda was glowing the angry red color that had appeared when I had touched her statue.
"The other woman, still as a statue, and there is a red light around you."
Zelda looked at where I was pointing, then glanced down at herself, "I can't see her, but I feel something, counting down. Something is coming. Soon, a few days maybe"
"It might be your way home?"
"I hope so," Zelda said, looking down at her feet, "I suppose we'll have to wait and see. It doesn't feel like I can change it in any way."
"Then we have a game plan, you are welcome to stay with me until the timer runs down, and we can plan from there." I said, watching the pokemon trainer and the glow around Zelda fade. "For the moment, I need to go do my job while there is still day-light."
"I meant to ask, what is your station? Your uniform implies military, but you don't act like any soldier I've met." Zelda said, eyes lingering on my badge.
"I'm a Ranger, it's a civil servant position not a military one. I'm stationed here to make sure people don't trespass on the island." I said, ignoring that Zelda's use of the word station probably meant class or caste.
Zelda smiled, "You seem to be failing in your duty Ranger Fossil, you've let me trespass all day."
I chuckled, "Helping people stranded on the island and making sure they get home is another part of my job, though I didn't imagine it would mean people from other worlds when I chose this position."
"Let's not keep you from your duties then."
I dropped Zelda off back at the ranch and did my daily patrol of the island. There wasn't any sign of people coming or going, but that wasn't surprising given that it was the middle of winter.
Routine complete, I returned to the ranch just as the sun was setting. Zelda seemed to want space to herself, so I set about tidying up the place, and setting up the bedroom for Zelda to sleep in. I insisted that I would take the couch and Zelda had no problem accepting, which made me wonder how much of a royal treatment she might be expecting.
As the night wound down, I found myself lying on the couch, looking out the window into the starry sky. Even if Zelda was able to leave in only a few days, I had a feeling my world had changed forever.
Author's Note:
For those of you who didn't come from the link on Reddit, this story is based on the SSBU NSFW CYOA V3.1 h-t-t-p-:-/-/imgur/a/NjDfgUO
If you haven't seen it and don't want potential spoilers, give it a pass, but if you'd like to get a hint as to what will happen and what characters might appear, check it out.