Chapter 27: Dream (Rewritten and Re titled because the old one sucked)
Zelda was in her study. It had been two days since the Yiga attack, but Link still hadn't woken up. The medics in the infirmary said that he had lost a lot of blood, but that he should wake up sometime in the next few days.
She tapped the feather of her quill to her chin. She hadn't had much time alone to think in the last two days. But now she was conducting a sort of test.
Link's past was so mysterious. But maybe it wasn't as mysterious as she thought.
First, both of his parents were dead. Purah had let that slip a while ago, so that one was still standing firm.
He had a strong relationship with Liari. Not like they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but like siblings. Perhaps Liari's family had taken Link in, and they actually were raised as siblings. Or maybe they grew up together. Or maybe they were somehow blood siblings? But Link didn't look like a Sheikah. Maybe they were cousins. After all, Liari's dirty blonde hair was a similar shade to Link's. She could pass for half Sheikah.
And he had a past with that Yiga. That had to be important. Perhaps the Yiga had killed his parents? Or maybe he was just mad that the Yiga was the one that had been beating him for years. That one was a little iffy.
And if the Yiga had killed his parents... why? There was no way they could have known he would become the hero...
Right?
But maybe they did find out somehow. Zelda thought. But if so... why didn't they kill Link while they could?
If both of Link's parents had died, how had Link survived? Had he been rescued by someone? How had he escaped? Had he defeated the Yiga on his own and scared them off? It depended on how old he had been. And this was all assuming that his parents had been killed by the Yiga.
There's so much I don't know about him. Zelda realized. Even after those little meals to get to know him. She knew small things, like how he really liked food, and his possible cooking hobby. He knew his horses, too. He had even named his horse Epona, after the seldom known steed of the Hero Chosen by the Gods. It was kind of ironic, considering that Link ended up being the new hero, too.
Wait a second... Zelda backed up her thoughts. Why did the Yiga reveal himself? I didn't have any idea...
Then again, she remembered him saying something about a Sheikah having figured him out. Perhaps Impa? But if it was Impa, how did he know that she had figured him out? How did Impa figure him out in the first place? Perhaps the abuse within the ranks of the Royal Guard had given her a hint?
Zelda hadn't realized she'd been pressing her quill into the parchment at all until the end of the quill snapped. Zelda let out a groan and threw the quill aside a bit too aggressively.
She should probably go to sleep, but with the rampant thoughts running through her head, she doubted it would happen.
Instead, she grabbed a random book from the shelf and made her way to her bedroom. Legends of Hyrule... interesting.
The imp on his back swung the sword around blindly, the shield covering her eyes. "How do you humans use these things?"
Well, we don't put shields on our faces and swing randomly, Midna! He thought angrily. But unfortunately, he was incapable of speaking at the moment. Stupid wolf form. Instead, he ducked his head underneath Midna's blind slashing, and let out an annoyed bark.
"Well, I obviously can't use them." Then why did you make me steal them? From my own neighbors- no, family! Who attacked me! Midna snapped her fingers, and the weapons vanished. "I'll hold onto these for you, Wolfy."
He let out a bark of a laugh, and looked down at his paws. And when will I use them? I'm a wolf.
Will I ever turn back to normal?
Link cracked open his eyes slowly, momentarily confused. In that dream it was almost as if he had been a different person. He had had all of their memories, but they were fading quickly, completely erased before long. And he had been a wolf. What was up with that? Who was this Midna? Just some character formed and molded by his overactive imagination?
His sight slowly blurred, and he opened his eyes wider. He was atop a soft bed, and if the light filtering through the window to his right was any indicator, it was later in the day, the sun seemingly high into the sky.
Where am I? As he grew more awake, he could feel an ache all over his body. His thigh was burning. Why am I hurting everywhere?
Then the memories came back to him. The Yiga. The one who had killed them. The Yiga had stabbed him in the thigh. It was no wonder he hurt everywhere, considering the battle Link probably shouldn't have taken part in.
But everyone else had been standing there, not wanting to hurt the princess. And I had the element of surprise.
Link remembered when he had yanked the knife out. Probably not one of my best ideas. But fighting with it in could have risked it digging deeper. It would be better to let it bleed a little than have it DIG into my FLESH.
So this must've been the infirmary. But they had given him a private room, for some reason. Strange. No one was there at the moment, but if Link knew his infirmaries, there ought to be some medic or something bursting in at any moment to check on him.
Link was proven right when not even a minute later a certain blonde-haired Sheikah waltzed in with a solemn expression.
Link quickly pretended to be asleep, resting his head on a very comfortable feather pillow.
He heard Liari sit with a sigh. "Link, please be okay."
Link looked over at Liari, who was busy staring at her hands.
"If I had gotten the king there earlier, maybe you wouldn't have gotten so hurt." She mumbled.
That's not necessarily true. I'm too reckless for my own good, and the king didn't really do anything except order his guards to... what was it, again? Bring the Yiga to the prison? Link's memories were still a bit fuzzy.
"And if I had persuaded Princess Zelda not to interfere… but then you would've kept getting beaten… Oh, I'm sorry Link. I should've helped sooner."
"If you had tried help me sooner, I would have punched you in the face." Link said with a slight twitch of his lips. Liari quickly looked up, her eyes wide in shock. "It's a good thing you had the excuse of it being a certain princess's orders."
Liari stared at him for a moment, before leaping up from her chair and throwing her arms around him. Link let out a small squeak and Liari quickly got off and went back to the wooden chair with tears in her eyes.
"With the way you're acting, you'd think I was on my deathbed." Link mumbled. Sure, his body ached, but he didn't feel like he was dying. Liari. Always exaggerating things.
Liari blinked at him, before wiping the droplets from her face. "You've been asleep for three days." She blurted out.
Link stared at her for a moment.
"You're messing with me, right?" Link asked quietly. It had felt like he had just passed out. How could it have been three days?
Liari shook her head. "I'm not messing with you."
Link hadn't noticed he had been slowly moving towards the edge of the bed until he fell off.
Edit: Yes, I rewrote the chapter. Why? I decided I hated the other one, and it SUCKED. Is that weird? Any-who, this took a while rewrite, and it still isn't very long. SORRY! If you want, tell me what should happen next chapter! I may or may not have any ideas...!
Well, here we go! REPLIES! (Edit: These are the replies to reviews on the previous chapter, NOT the deleted one.) (Edit: I deleted the Author's note that wasn't replies. Oops Wrote a 22 page narrative in two days, made cookies, sorry it took so long, blah, blah, BLAH. Anyway, secret review phrase is cookie!)
MeaninglessMayhem: Well, to be investigating Liari's background would be to investigate Link's, right? So hopefully that will be revealed sooner or later. I have a kitten and an eight year old chihuahua doggo named Bolt. ...Don't judge me. I LOVE animals! That's unfortunate that you've only had a fish! I had a goldfish once. Got it at a carnival game when I was... uh... three? I don't remember. Any who, it died in less than ten hours. I have since learned that carnival fish have a reputation for living shorter lives. Oops.
poplasia: So like the phrase "Actions speak louder than words?" Yeah, I could probably use actions a bit more. I tend to do a lot more thoughts with Link because he does everything he can to hide his emotions and such. Yeah, I'm not very good at writing around the dialogue! I think that's the main thing I need to work on. But at the same time, that sort of padding made my essay 22 pages long. So there's a time and a place for it, I guess. LESSON LEARNED! Yeah, I need more of the champions, for sure. I'm thinking that after Vah Ruta I can start doing gatherings with all the champions. I'm planning on including winter in this story, so maybe I can have them have a huge snowball fight. Then again, I HAVE seen other fictions on pre-BoTW do the same thing. Well, everything is revealed in time. Even to the author. Link and the bow... hmm. I want him to be good at it, but I think Ravioli is still better. Three arrows at once, all three hitting their targets? And with BOMBS on them? Sounds far more skilled than me when I play BoTW. Then again, that isn't a very high standard. I actually hadn't heard of NaNoWriMo until you told me! I'm still a bit confused about how it works, but I'm looking into it! If not this year, than maybe next year! Glad you enjoyed my nonsense! XD
The-Fallen-Spirit: Blue in the face. Hah! Glad you enjoyed it! Sneaky? Obviously I was trained by the Sheikah! NOT A YIGA! I REPEAT, NOT. A. YIGA.
aimeegreenwood1: I'm so glad you like it! FanWings unite! I'm so glad you like my characterization of Link! I think it's really fun to write what's behind his silent hero mask. His thoughts are really entertaining to write! Don't worry. I might be in love with him too. No judgement over here! Making Link suffer hurts me, but it makes for a good story. Yeah, we need to boost his self esteem. I'm still not sure how long it will take, but this chapter shows that he's coming out of his shell a bit! Even though I was really trying not to side with Link, I feel the same. Zelda feels bad about it though, so it's all goodsies. Some fan fictions turn her into a little BRAT. Do they have any idea how that makes me feel? Furious! Outraged! Sick with anger! Anyway, I'm glad you can see her side of it! And I'm also glad that I didn't turn her into a brat! If I did, it was on accident! Link destroying the guardian was epic? Well, I did try to make it epic! Glad it worked! Fi? She was a last minute addition, but it was VITAL! This story would be NOTHING without Fi! You hear me?! NOTHING! I'm so, so, so, so, SO glad that you like it so much! So! Did I mention so? It's alright. I'm bad at criticism too! Like, REALLY bad! Unless I'm criticizing myself. Then I can be kind of harsh. But isn't everyone? SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT! 😀
Just-AWESOME-Old-Me: I think that people are too sensitive. Not that I'm trying to be mean to them or anything. I know a lot of people that get really offended about small things, but they're my siblings, and I still love 'em! But still! People need to grow a tougher skin! Criticism is one of the best ways for one to learn and grow! Me getting a lot of positive reviews? Yeah, I guess so. But even if a lot of people criticized my writing, I would still do as much as I could to fix it! And if people are even taking time to suggest a better way to write, that should mean they like at least SOME part of the story! I've seen some.. uh... not so great stories, and people didn't even bother reviewing them! Okay, enough of my ranting nonsense. I'm not sure if I plan on rewriting this or editing it or whatever yet. The last time I did that to a story, I literally changed EVERYTHING, from the plot to the main characters! Oops. Anyway, do keep reviewing! Suggestions are welcome! And have fun planning out that story of yours!
SmokeyMirrors: Hmm... welp, right on the money right there (edit: I screwed up what could have been good suspense last chapter! I could have kept dragging it out! WHYYYYYY?!)! Why DID they make Zelda's eyes green? ACK I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! STUPID ESSAY!
Amerika Knight: I'm glad you like it!
Replies on the removed chapter/after removed chapter was removed:
MeaninglessMayhem: Uh... the minimum may or may not have been three pages. I have a SERIOUS problem. My poor teacher! RIP Fish. May he rest in pieces.
The-Fallen-Spirit: Hey, Link? Did you eat all the cookies? I can't find them ._.
Just-AWESOME-Old-Me: I hated that chapter, so I deleted it. Sorry you had to write that long review for nothing! XD Hope this one is better! And makes more sense! And is just better and doesn't SUCK like the deleted version!
SmokeyMirrors: Nice idea! I wasn't ever planning on putting a ball or anything in here, but maybe something like a Winter Solstice ball? And I could bring all the champions... OKAY, can't tell you ALL of my ideas! More Epona? Yes. Sorry I deleted the old version of this chapter, but at the same time I'm not XD
Guest: Considering that you reviewed on chapter 14, I'm not sure if you'll see this, but whatever. In BoTW, there was a LOT of stuff missing from the memories. This is kind of me trying to fill it in. If that makes sense. So it isn't really cannon, and not in the game. Hope that makes sense! I'm usually bad at explaining stuff XD
im here too: Did you walk through a doorway? It's scientifically proven that doing so makes you forget stuff. Weird, right?
SmokeyMirrors (2.0): Sorry! XD Yeah, I deleted it because I really didn't like it, and there were quite a few people in the reviews that didn't like it, either. So I took my time on this one instead of rushing like I did on the other one.
Catseye: ...Yeah, I don't really know how those work, either. The point was to just include the word so I could tell who actually read the Author's Note, but you can include it however you wish (XD)! I'm so glad you've liked the story so far! Fi... hm. Maybe I could have her appear in his dreams in physical form? We'll see. I THINK Link might get better, but maybe something really awful will happen and make him worse than he was earlier! MUAHAHA! The captain... we'll see about him. Link and accepting being Mr. Hero Reincarnation... Maybe. Not sure quite yet. SHEIKAH TRAINING! HEYAH! I'm glad you like my take on his past! Sometimes it confuses ME, but sometimes it doesn't? You know what I'm saying? No? Yeah, I don't know where I was going with that. Haven't seen errors? Good! It's nice to have people proofread this stuff for me! Add more details and stuff... I'll try. Despite being a "Detail-Oriented" person, I'm bad at fitting it in. I'll work on it! Yeah, I do like getting to the point. Sometimes I'm a bit TOO blunt. Patience is a virtue! Glad you're excited!
So, we had lots of good reviews last chapter (edit: And some nice reviews on the sucky one. THANKS!)! Thanks, you guys! Every comment is appreciated!
Thanks again!
Sincerely (probably),
Ari
