Small content warning up top for a bit of the sexy times throughout. Its the worst at the end. Read on! ~~I have since edited this chapter slightly~~
It took Zelda and I another two hours to get back to the 'safe' part of Death Mountain. I guess the Triforce didn't think practically getting melted warranted any super-magical aid. Which was fine, except for the whole 'almost melting from the heat' part. By the time we made it back to the established path, I was more soaked with sweat and covered in dirt than I could ever remember being. Zelda didn't look much better. We decided to have a quick break to try to recover. With our backs to the warm rocks, we watched a cart trundle past.
"Damn this mountain," Zelda said, looking up at the dust-choked sky.
"Who's cursing the Goddesses now?" I said between heaving breaths. She just shot me a dour look before going back to staring at the sky. "You know," I said after taking a heavy swig from one of our last remaining water bottles, "I've heard the hot springs up here are fantastic. Rejuvenating, cleansing, relaxing, the whole deal. And since we have a while to catch a tram back down, I think I need a soak." Zelda turned her head slightly to look at me.
"If this is some joke to get my hopes up and then crush them, you are not going to survive the punch line. I feel like I rolled across this stupid mountain instead of walked." I nodded in agreement and, after just another minute to gather ourselves, we walked towards the Goron city to find the springs.
Of course, the hot springs were even further up the mountain, but this time we had Goron architecture to look at during the walk. Unsurprisingly, there were large amounts of rock involved, but also metal beams, swaths of fire-resistant cloth, and even traces of heavily darkened wood. Gorons comprised of most of the foot traffic, but there were a scattering of Hylians and Gerudo and even one adventurous Zora who appeared to have a large refrigeration unit on their back. No Rito ventured here though, as the fine ash in the air was extremely hazardous to their delicate lungs.
Eventually, and with the help of a very friendly Goron, we found the hot springs and hurried to change out of our filthy traveling clothes, wrapped some of the provided towels around ourselves, and made our way to one of the more secluded pools.
I expected the water to be hot, almost too hot, but was surprised when nothing but gentle warmth met my cautious foot, practically the perfect temperature. I quickly slid the rest of my body into the cloudy, slowly bubbling water, releasing a content sigh as I did. Whatever people said about those pools absolutely did not do them justice. It was so much better.
As I settled myself onto one of the rough-cut ledges in the pool, Zelda took her own tentative step into the pool and had much the same reaction as me. We both quickly got comfortable and, a moment later, let out twin groans of pleasure as the water soothed our aching bodies.
"I redact everything I said before," I said, closing my eyes as the water lapped at my chest. "Everything was worth it. Everything was absolutely worth it."
"Even the countless almost deaths, psychological trauma, injuries, and frantic fights?" Zelda asked from somewhere to my right.
"Absolutely. I'd do it all again. Because this is just.….ahhhhhhhh…." My mind followed the rest of my body and melted into bliss as the mineral-rich water washed away my worries.
"Yeah, me too," Zelda said, sinking slightly deeper into the water. I let myself float there for a few minutes before gently scrubbing at my skin, freeing the dirt and dust from it and exposing my growing collection of scars.
I traced over them as I cleaned, somewhat morbidly fascinated by the change between original and healed skin. They ran along my shoulders, arms, chest, and abdomen. I found what must have been either a recent one or an old one on my upper arm since I didn't remember getting it. Finally, my calloused hand trailed across the long scar I had gotten fighting the Inferno Centipede that Zelda had healed.
"I don't think you appreciate how scared I was when you got that," Zelda mumbled from her portion of the pool. I looked up to see her watching me as I touched my uneven skin. "When you got all of them, really. Even the small ones on your forearm from some Keese. I was terrified every time." She lapsed into silence before closing her eyes and laying back again. "But I'm glad."
"Zelda, I think you forget that we are on top of the largest mountain in Hyrule, not to mention the fact that it's an active volcano. If me getting hurt makes you happy, I have plenty of ways to do just that readily available," I said teasingly.
"Link, you are unbearable," she said, some measure of resignation in her voice. "I don't know how you possibly managed to charm me into liking you."
"I'm not sure I had as much to do with it as the soul bond did."
"Maybe for the 'liking you' part," she said, before slowly standing and wading through the pool towards me. Her long light hair was loose down her back and the sodden towel showed exactly how fine her figure was. I remained transfixed by her as she came to stand and then float in front of me before sitting on my leg and leaning against my chest, her mouth extremely close to my ear. "But the 'loving you' part was definitely all your doing," she said, slowly kissing me on the cheek.
"You sure?" I half mumbled, far too taken by the beauty in front of me to have time to worry about silly things like speaking.
"Positive," Zelda whispered before capturing my lips with her own. My mind lost track of time as we kissed gently, half-floating in the warmth of the hot spring. She was as feisty as ever, sometimes nipping at my lips or tightening her grip on my shoulders as her warm tongue twisted around mine. That's not to say I didn't have my moments too. I took full advantage of what I had learned about her weak points in our previous make out sessions to make her twist in delight.
It didn't take long for her to reposition herself so that she was kneeling on either side of my torso and resting her bottom on my legs. Her kissing became more insistent and her hands roamed around my shoulders and across my back and neck before twisting up into my hair, tugging at the long strands and rubbing into my scalp. I hadn't known just that could feel so good, but I wasn't going to be complaining. I only gripped her tighter to me, only her towel keeping our bare skin separate.
We grudgingly recognized our need for air and separated to catch our breath. I opened my eyes to see Zelda's still closed, her tantalizing chest heaving from our efforts. My eyes roamed upwards, across her pale collarbone, and up her delicate neck, past her flushed, sculpted lips before coming back to her eyes, which slowly opened, revealing their twinkling azure depths.
"Goddesses, you are beautiful," I whispered, our lips barely an inch apart. I felt the fluttering of her breath in the humid air as she whispered back.
"You say the sweetest things." Without a moment of hesitation, she dove back in, our lips and embrace tightening around each other. She shifted slightly, the rough fabric of her towel rubbing against my flushed skin. A second later, with the little bit of my brain not caught up in trying to force my tongue past Zelda's own, I noticed her wrap loosen a tiny bit, then a not so tiny bit.
"Zelda," I gasped out between her insistent kisses. "Your towel is- "
"I know what it's doing," she murmured before resuming what she was doing before. "I don't care," she said gently before a hand left my shoulder, I heard the soft splash of something falling into the water, and she leaned back in, pressing our now even more bare bodies together.
My pruning fingers roamed the newly exposed skin of her back, feeling the muscles tighten beneath my touch. Tugging her gently against me, the soft flesh of her breasts squished against my skin, which only made me want to feel more of her. My palms wrapped around her waist, slowly trailing upwards, waiting for her to tell me to stop, but she never did, so they kept going. The only response I had when I reached the base of her mounds was a throaty hum urging me onwards.
Zelda and I were still kissing, and her hands were far from inactive, but most of my attention was on my own as I poked, prodded, explored, experimented, and overall worshiped her supple feminine chest. Zelda's groans and hums told me what she liked and what she didn't, though to be fair, the first category was pretty all-encompassing. I was about to kiss my way down to her firm chest when I realized we were going to have a bit of a problem if I wasn't careful.
My hands reluctantly moved to Zelda's shoulders and pushed her back. "Zel, we've got to stop," I said breathlessly. She looked at me with clouded eyes and a look saying she thought very differently.
"I don't see why," she said, darting forward to kiss and tug at my lower lip with her teeth. I struggled to keep my eyes on hers and not let them drop down to her bare chest.
"Zelda, we have been making out mostly naked in a somewhat public place for…wait, what time is it?" It occurred to me that I couldn't see the sun on the peak of the volcano and that the sky was rapidly darkening. Shifting Zelda off my lap as gently and modestly as I could given our situation, I pulled myself partly out of the pool and reached for my nearby phone. "What time do the trams stop running again?"
"Seven thirty, why?" Zelda asked, with just a hint of irritation in her voice. I glanced back at her, holding my illuminated phone aloft. Fortunately, she had seen fit to cover herself again, leaving me mostly able to talk.
"We've got thirteen minutes to get down to the station." We both sat in silence for a moment before I dunked my head, scrubbing frantically at my blonde tresses to shake any remaining dirt free. I burst out of the water, scrambling out of the pool and scooping up our pouches. Tossing Zelda hers, we ran for the changing rooms. In the span of four minutes, we were dry (kind of), clothed, and sprinting through Goron City, dodging the almost exclusively Goron foot traffic as we ran.
We ran as fast as we could, but I could tell Zelda didn't have the stamina I did. At that rate, we weren't going to make it in time. As we ran, my eye caught on my left hand, or more specifically, the glittering symbol on the back of it. I quickly grabbed Zelda's hand and yelled to her.
"When I say to, run as fast as you can!"
"Link, I already am!"
"Just trust me!" I turned my focus inward, looking for what I knew had to be there. After a moment, I felt it, golden energy bursting to life within me. Snapping my eyes forward again, I let the golden energy fill my legs and leak across to Zelda. "Now!" I yelled, practically leaping forward with a burst of acceleration. As I hoped, our pace increased, and we hurtled down the mountain at a ludicrous speed.
Our burst of speed was just enough to get us to the tram station in time. We hopped aboard the almost entirely empty vehicle just as it started moving, barely slowly ourselves before we slammed into the seats, nearly knocking the wind out of us from the force of our impact.
We sat there, catching our breath for a moment before Zelda started to laugh. I only lasted a moment before I joined her, both of us giggling as the tram made its way down the mountain. Eventually we calmed down, resting against each other and enjoying the passing scenery in each other's presence.
"Was that the Triforce?" Zelda asked after a while of silence. "That burst of speed?" I gave a brief nod. "How'd you trigger it?"
"It was kind of instinctual," I said, trying to remember what I had been feeling through the adrenaline. "I just focused on needing to go faster and managed to activate it. I guess I just…well, for lack of a better word, wished for it to happen."
"Interesting," Zelda mumbled from beside me. I could tell she was deep in thought, probably trying to analyze it as best she could. Watching her face scrunched up in concentration was nothing but endearing to me. Her only response when I wrapped my arm around her was to move slightly closer, not breaking her thousand-yard stare for a moment. Content to leave her to her thoughts, I rested my head on her own blonde locks, letting my eyes slip closed as I inhaled her fresh scent mixed with that of the hot springs.
We didn't do anything else that night when we got to the small town at the bottom of the mountain. The proximity to the volcano had made it a small tourist town but had kept the permanent population low as well. Because, you know, volcano. We easily found a nice restaurant that served a killer bowl of pasta and a hotel to stay the night at. We kept our shenanigans to a minimum, both out of embarrassment from what had happened at the hot springs and to save our energy for our continued trip. Of course, we still slept next to each other, which inevitably to a few goodnight kisses, but you can't win them all.
We left early the next morning, driving south. Our plan was to head through the Lanaryu Wetlands, Kakariko Village, and Necluda to where we hoped the Triforce of Wisdom was hidden. In theory, we could probably make it in a day, but since we weren't exactly sure where our destination was, we decided to take it a little easier and rest in Kakariko for a night.
Our stay in Kakariko was about as uneventful as we expected. We hung out at our hotel for a little while and then hit the town. We ate at a traditional Sheikah restaurant that had us sitting on the floor and made us feel very out of place in our modern clothes when everything about the place, from the décor, to the serving dishes, to the waiters' outfits made us feel like we had stepped back in time.
We decided to walk around in the traditional part of town as well, getting a taste for how the Sheikah had lived in ages past. We even bought a few things, mostly baubles, but Zelda walked out of one particular store wrapped in a magenta-colored traditional kimono, her hair delicately tied up above her head. She was an absolute vision and I mostly managed to suppress my urge to kiss her on the spot.
She only got one as opposed to the countless she would have received had we not been in the middle of a busy street.
We walked the streets, admiring the buildings and the lights that started glowing once evening set in. We strolled around, enjoying the atmosphere and the temporary escape from reality that permeated the place. Evening slowly turned to night and the sky darkened from navy blue to near black, only interrupted by the pinpricks of the stars.
Eventually, we found our way back to the hotel, hand in hand. Zelda's kimono was the perfect combination of form fitting and concealing and it had been steadily driving me crazy for the better part of the night. I could hardly wait to get back.
The hotel room door swung shut behind us and Zelda was quick to sit down on the bed, leaning over to massage her legs.
"You wouldn't think these things would make your legs cramp up," she groaned out, trying her best to work her muscles and remain leaning over at the same time. Judging from her uncomfortable face, it wasn't working very well.
"Here," I said, tossing our magical pouches to the side and kicking off my own shoes. "Lay back, I'll work the kinks out; you'll never get anywhere like that." She nodded, flopping back on the bed. I slowly eased her shoes off her, followed by her socks. "Do you want me to do your feet too?" I asked, to which she gave a short 'sure,' and I got to work.
Over the course of my weeks of training, I had gotten pretty good at identifying cramped and tightened muscles. I won't claim I was as good as any real masseur, but I at least knew where to push. A fact Zelda quickly learned when I started going over her feet, pushing gently before working my way deeper into the muscle as she started to relax.
"Weren't you wearing pants earlier?" I asked as I started up her long, sculpted legs. I was all too aware of the work of beauty I was currently running my fingers along. Furthermore, the jeans she had been wearing earlier were conspicuously absent under the purplish fabric of the traditional Sheikah clothing.
"I…took them off," she said slowly, barely stifling a groan as I worked one particularly stubborn spot. "The saleswoman said it'd probably be too hot to wear both."
"Makes sense," I mumbled, intently focused on my task. I briefly took a moment to thank the mystery woman for her foresight and wisdom before I started on the calf of Zelda's other leg. A relieved sigh left her lips as I felt the muscle under my hands loosen and become more pliant.
I slowly moved up to her thighs, tugging the edge of the kimono to the side as I did. I could feel the garment loosen as I worked, becoming looser and looser around her waist as I steadily worked my way up. I delicately edged around the small pair of shorts she was wearing, not wanting to push my luck. Even an idiot knew jumping directly into the deep end was a bad idea.
"Would you do my back too?" Zelda asked, her voice hushed. I quickly said I would, and Zelda flipped over, loosening the robe further as she did. "I suppose I should take this off, huh?" she said over her shoulder, looking both embarrassed and coquettish with her flushed cheeks. She slowly dragged the fabric off her shoulders, exposing the creamy skin beneath. The band of her bra briefly came into view before she paused, it loosened, and then fell away. "I'd just get in the way," she said, almost to herself. I almost asked what exactly it might get in the way of, but I held my tongue.
She laid back down on the bed, her bare back exposed to me. I slowly traced my hands from her shoulders towards her neck before starting to knead the underlying muscles. Whether intentional or not, Zelda groans and grunts of pleasure quickly became more frequent and less subtle. On the plus side, it made my job a little easier. Any slight squeak was a sure indication I was on the right track. The more vocal she was, the better it felt. I worked my way steadily down her spine, teasing out every kink I could find until my girlfriend was nothing but a soft, humming blob on the bed.
"Hmmm, how'd you get so good at that?" Zelda asked as I continued to rub her back. I had already seen to all of her aches and was really just satisfying my desire to touch every inch of her immaculate skin, but given her lack of protest, it didn't seem like she really cared.
"Lots of practice," I said, only half paying attention. I found myself alternating between continuing to massage her lower back and running my fingers through her long hair. The silky strands threaded through my fingers like cool water, tickling my fingers as they passed. I was quickly becoming further entranced by Zelda's beauty. Her slim shoulders gently sloped up to her neck and arched spine, individual vertebrae standing out as tiny peaks running down her body. Her curving outline thinned at her waist before flaring back out until the kimono still around her waist hid her form from sight.
"See something you like?" Zelda murmured, peering over her shoulder at me, flirtation and seduction layered in her voice.
"Have I ever told you you're gorgeous?" I said quietly, brushing her hair off her exposed back again.
"It's come up once or twice," she mumbled into the bedding. "It's been a while though." She grabbed an edge of the blanket and pulled as she rolled over, wrapping her still mostly bare form up in the sheets. "Well? Going to join me?" she asked.
I hesitantly laid down on the bed, still fully dressed with the exception of my shoes. Zelda rolled her eyes, wrestling me closer to her.
"At least take your shirt off, dumbass. Or were you planning on sleeping like that?" She efficiently pulled my shirt off me, somehow quickly followed by my pants and socks for good measure.
"You do realize you have just put yourself in the same bed as a teenage guy, mostly naked, and completely without adult supervision, right?" I said nervously.
"I'm an adult, you know," she said somewhat petulantly. "I can supervise you…" she whispered, not letting up for a moment. She pressed in closer, her naked breasts pressing against my own chest for the second time in as many days.
"You are being really pushy, you know that?" I said, slowly (not that slowly) warming up to her mood as Zelda peppered me with kisses.
"Is that a 'no'?"
"I didn't say that; I'm just wondering why you're so…forward suddenly." A small wrinkle appeared between Zelda's eyebrows.
"Can't you just enjoy this? Is that too much to ask? I thought guys were supposed to be up for sex all the time." A hint of venom had slipped into her voice, and we had spent enough time together that I knew something was up.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on Zelda," I said, finally pushing her back and off me. I had to make a specific effort to not look at her exposed chest, but I managed. "Is something wrong?"
"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong," she said, breaking eye contact with me as she did.
"Come on, I may have my moments, but I'm not an idiot. What's wrong?"
"I told you, it's nothing!" she said, her voice getting louder and louder. She wrenched her shoulders out of my grip and laid down on the bed as far away as she could with the limited space available.
"Zelda, c'mon, would you just tell me what's up?" I couldn't just ignore whatever problem she was having like she wanted to. I'd been in enough fights with Shade and Sheik to know that wouldn't end well. "We're not doing anything until you tell me what's bothering you, and that includes sleep. So either tell me what's wrong or this is going to be a really long night for both of us."
"No! You can't make me!"
"I don't have to make you, but I won't let up until you tell me."
"I said no!" she shouted from beneath the covers. "You'll just think it's stupid," I heard her mostly whisper. It was just the hook I needed.
"I'll think what is stupid?" I saw Zelda's hunched shoulders beneath the blankets sag as she admitted defeat. She slowly pulled the covers down until I could see just her bright blue eyes.
"I…you…you killed that last boar-pig-monster all by yourself. You didn't need my help even if I could have offered. I…Suddenly I was back to being useless. And now you've got one of the most powerful sources of magic in existence. We don't even know what the Triforce of Courage is capable of, let alone what it can do when its combined with the other two pieces, but if the stories are true, you basically have the power of a god with the whole thing. I just…didn't want you to not need me anymore. So I…figured I'd make sure you needed me." I couldn't help but sigh.
"Yeah, you're right, that is stupid." I half expected Zelda to disappear back beneath the covers, but she just looked at me with vulnerable eyes. "Zelda, I don't care how powerful or whatever I get, I will never not need you. I would give anything to see you safe and happy. You are the most important thing in my life and you are an idiot for thinking I would stop needing you." I didn't think I said anything particularly endearing, but the shimmer in Zelda's eyes before she launched herself at me, grabbing me in a smothering embrace, showed that it apparently meant a lot to her.
"I'm sorry, Link. I've just…I don't know, I've been in a weird mood. I knew it was dumb, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. It doesn't help that we've hardly had a day of rest for the past month. We're always running around doing something and...it's just getting to me. I just...I wanted to feel normal again."
I couldn't help but laugh quietly at her frustration, despite my attempts otherwise. She gave me an annoyed grunt before smacking me on the chest. "And here I thought you knew what you were signing up for when we started." She smacked me again, justifiably so. After a minute, I managed to get her calmed down again. "I'm sorry it's been hectic. I'm not a fan of it either. In fact, I'm really not looking forward to getting out of this bed tomorrow to just keep traveling. But," I said quietly. "the way I see it, we're the only ones who can do this. So we have to suck it up." I let my words hang in the air for a minute before trying to break the somber mood. "But I bet Felia would be happy to give us as many days off as we want after we save the world." I could tell it worked, as Zelda relaxed again and snuggled up next to me.
"Fine," she mumbled into my chest. "But I'm not just going to be satisfied with days off. I think I deserve ice cream too. A lot of ice cream." I laughed, stroking her smooth hair.
"I think we can manage that."
~~As mentioned above, I reedited the ending of this chapter because it really wasn't sitting right with me. Too much sexiness for the sake of sexiness. Thus, a reedit.~~
Well slap my momma and shoot me sideways, that took a while. Any of my fellow writers out there, I know you know the feeling of just not being happy with a chapter, so maybe I can get some sympathy from you for making you wait so long. But I think I made up for it, right? I feel like I'm just flinging fluff everywhere with this one. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. This chapter and the next one were supposed to all be one and I was going to literally only mention Kakariko, but I realized that would be moving a little to quickly for my liking and be missing out on one of the best opportunities for some chill time in a while. So the excitement is going to wait until next time. Instead, we get a...different kind of excitement. Hope you're not too disappointed or horrified by the rampant teenagery. And yes, I made that word up, but as Thor so wisely pointed out, all words are made up. So zip it.
Let's get those reviews going, eh? Twilit Lord, no Fire Slime Behemoth. Not only is that boring, but it doesn't serve the plot. So out the door with that. As far as the dimension thing goes...eh, I kinda see what you mean. I guess I just don't see it that way. Was that Ganon? Maybe. We don't know. Maybe we'll find out? I guess we'll see. I'll consider writing in a small character like that if it makes sense for the story and helps with the flow. But no promises. I serve my own ideas above all. Oracle of Hylia, I think you missed the sarcastic part of my advice. I don't think I'm really all that qualified to talk on how to write much of anything. Much smarter people are way better at it. Hell, I didn't even follow my own advice with this story. I started writing it and came up with the framework afterwards. All the same, I'm flattered you think so. That said, I've got more advice if you guys want to hear it (for some reason). If you do, let me know and maybe I'll write something up. Silverblood, I have been absent for a while and I continue to apologize for that. I too love the small bits of humor I manage to fit in. Zelda continuing to kill Link was totally something I came up with on the spot and just had to throw in. Remember to take your time with your writing and don't rush anything if you don't think it's ready. I had this chapter written last night, wasn't completely satisfied with it, and came back and retooled bits of it, resulting in what I think is a much better chapter. Write for yourself! Everyone else can wait. WolfyPrincess, thanks for reading! I'm really glad you enjoy it, especially the dungeons that I've poured my blood, sweat, and tears into. And yes, I will get a piece of cake, and you can't stop me! Know why? 'Cause you're not my mom, hah! On another note, I hope I haven't driven you too crazy yet. I was hoping to save that until later. Sand Seal, you should be careful with deep inhales like that, you'll attract flies. On another note, that sounds disturbingly like something a tsundere would say. Not sure why I thought of that, but I'm nothing if not honest. And that trebuchet threat is not helping. Foopuff, it has indeed been a while, but it's been a while since I posted anything too, so I guess we're even. In my opinion, anything requiring swinging on bars is basically a jungle gym of death, so go ahead and take that description with a grain of salt. Though, for Link, it was pretty bad, so whatever. Yes, Link is the baddest of asses, I think we've well established that by this point. I shall indeed check your story out at some point, the small bit I've read already looks promising, so you'll definitely hear from me about it at some point. If another Slime Behemoth had been in the works, I think Link and Zelda would have just been kind of resigned. Like a 'not surprised, just disappointed' type of thing. But kicking giant piggy ass is way better, so I went with that.
How do you guys always make me write so much? I don't get it, I try to keep it short, I swear.
~~This kind of still applies~~
Anyways, I hope the sexiness didn't break any of your poor, probably underage minds. Who am I kidding, this is fanfiction we're talking about. I'm sure you've all come up with worse. Surprisingly difficult to write and keep somewhat out of the range of just straight terrible. Not that I want to write that, I like to think of myself as better than that, but really it's all the same. Just so you all know, I think I'll be changing this story to an 'M' rating, not that anyone really cares, but I want people to know what they're getting into. If you don't think that's necessary, let me know. Even though I immediately change the search parameters to 'all' when looking for new stuff, I'm sure not all of you do. That 'T' rating helps my reader base grow. Whatever, probably not a big deal either way.
I've got a party to go to, so I'll be cutting this off now. Hopefully should have plenty of time to do some good writing soon, so maybe it won't take a month to get a new chapter out this time. As usual, no promises, but you never know. Check back frequently, write some nice long reviews, watch some good tv (make it anime, I generally hate American tv. Though we are getting more Stranger Things...), don't blow you hands off celebrating America Day if you're American (and if you're not American, I don't discriminate), and haaaaaaaaaaaaaave a great day! Cheers!
~Aro