Author's Note: Because I hate interrupting the actual story with a note, just use the beat from Dan Bull's song, RIME for Link's song. The youtube extension link is below.
watch?v=LPi-IRcs1u8
This song came from a suggestion, and won bet on my discord, which you can join below.
discord. gg / fgeV4ra
However, I now plan to start letting contributors to my vote on these stories, updated bi-weekly, and suggested by those a tier list above! Let me know if this sounds interesting, and we can get this moving!
Pa treon com /WizardofWords
Enjoy!
"This… this is dumb," Tatl spoke in what had to be the most unimpressed ring she had ever heard her bother to let out. It would have been impressive in most other circumstances. But for now, he just agreed. "As in… this is really really stupid. I didn't think they could do anything stupider here then teaching about monsters without knowing much about them, but this… this takes the cake. Hell, it takes the meal." She was drooping almost as much as Tael.
"I-It's not that bad…" Said brother spoke from aside his sister. He sounded no more convinced than Tatl was. "I-I mean… it's still something you can… listen to, right?" Of that, he wasn't wrong, but the idea of him missing the point was truthfully unavoidable. In fact, Link was having a difficult time himself trying to justify the fairies words as anything but avoidance behavior.
It was hard not to, in the young fairy's defense, when there were a pair of eyes looking up eagerly at him, near star-gazed. And all while he was holding a Scroll in his hand, one the young girl had put into it, showing a series of moving images that he could barely discern. IT was not the image of some attack or beast, as he knew the fellow knights of the Academy could show, but instead a musician on stage, performing an art that he was barely bale to discern between a dance or song.
Link was leaning towards song, because he couldn't make sense of the words.
"You like it?" Ruby asked him, hand still curled under her chin, practically hopping with excitement in front of him. "After Jaune told me how you and Lana sang on that stage without planning anything I knew you might something like this! I mean, yeah, it was mostly Lana who sang, but you were there! In Spirit, I guess, that count's right?" Her change from curious to excited to wonderous was a curiosity in itself.
"It is… something else, Ruby," Tatl answered, perhaps kinder than Link expected her to be. "I just… no, screw that, we don't understand what's going on." And there she was. "That guy he's… he's just screaming things. There's… nothing to it!"
"HUH?" Ruby's arms practically fell with the statement, jaw with it. For a moment, Link believed that even her cloak lost its billow when she stood still. "What are you talking about!? He's singing one of Yang's favorite songs! I mean, yeah, sure I don't really get a lot of it either, but… I mean, I'm not that good at singing or stuff, but Lana was, and you're good at that flute, too!" Not a flute, actually.
"Y-You mean the ocarina?" Tael corrected for her. It made the young squire snap her fingers and point up at him, still resting on Link's shoulder.
"That's the one!" She cheered again, before lifting her hands to her lips and pretending to blow into said instrument. Of course, before she started talking through her hands. "I know a guy like you can probably make up some really cool songs and stuff like that on the spot, and that's what this kind of music is all about. He's doing that right now." Her hands pointed back to the screen Link was still holding. It appeared the images had stopped and the sound with it, blessedly.
"Wait, hold up," Tatl rang as she bobbed closer to Ruby. "I thought you said this was the blonde's favorite song? How's this made up on the spot if its her favorite?" That was an odd paradox.
"Cause it was made up then, but its her favorite song now." She waved her hands from one side of her body to the other, like she was carrying a box. Link nodded his head slowly, even if Ruby's silver eyes rolled as she gave an exasperated sigh. "Look, the point I'm trying to make is this is the kind of music you'd be good at." It was not Link's turn to raise a brow, and he was sure it would have made the girl laugh otherwise. It at least made her smile.
"You're kidding me, right?" Tatl rang again, this time as she spun in the air before facing Ruby once more. "That's just… that's just some guy talking about what's going on in his head while acting like an enemy's trying to nab his feet with an arrow. There's instrument, no history, no story to it. It's just… what even is it?" The question came with the usual ring of exasperation. It took Link a moment to realize it came from Ruby as well.
"Okay, fine, the genre is called rap, kind of like how your ocarina stuff is called classical, and the singing is classical… and actually a lot of the stuff you probably do is classical." He didn't understand what was classical about instruments he and his friends played, or songs that Lana sung. "But Mikau is definitely into rock! Because he has a guitar, and electric one." That was rock? Wouldn't that be something closer to Darmani and the Gorons?
"I-I don't know what… what does rap mean?" Tael thankfully asked. "Like… wrap up something? The words are a spell about something? Is he casting a spell?" If that were the case, then the man would be casting the most long-winded chant Link had ever heard. The spell would have been fearsome. Yet, the giggle from Ruby, complete with her shaking her head till her dark locks shook, threw such an idea away.
"No no no no no no," she rapidly sped off. "Rap is… basically creating lyrics quickly to match a… a beat! Yeah, that's it. Kind of like how rock is, um… oh geez, Weiss would be able to explain this a lot better than I could." She was scratching her head, looking around herself. Link kept his eyes on her, waiting for her to finish. It would be rude to look away. "Ah! Rock is about having loud instruments create a beat, a-and the singing that goes with it is about adding to the instruments, not the other way around." Her hands twirled as she spoke, like she was trying to spin yarn.
Link nodded slowly, it made some sense after all. Not enough for him to claim it enough to solve a puzzle or mystery, but enough to discern the difference between shrubbery and forestry, and Saria had him do when he was young as well.
"But classical is… slower stuff? I guess? Slower paced instruments that don't, that, yeah, don't have any electricity behind them. Wooden instruments a-and pianos, stuff like that." That covered everything Link knew how to play. He supposed then he did play classical, even if Saria or Mikau would simply call it Hylian or Kokiri songs. "Look, the point is, I think you'd be good at trying something like this!" Her conclusion, however, threw him off far more than her definition of songs.
The soft laughter that came from Tatl was proof enough she agreed. Link was honestly thankful his friend didn't start embellishing her laughter. Then again, if it was one of the squire's teammates that came to them with this idea, she likely would. Tael, however, just remained perched on his shoulder.
"Hahahah! Okay, Little Red, seriously?" The fairy asked, ringing as she flew about the young girl's head. Silver eyes tried valiantly to follow the gold trail. "Appreciate the effort to get Link to try new things, seriously I do, but you're gonna have to start with something that at least makes sense, kay? Your books or movies, for example, would be good. They make sense." They did? Link was still trying go figure out how the pictures on screen could produce noise, let alone have so many of them from a single pictobox. Even the greatest he'd seen could hold 15 photos, no the thousands necessary. "This is not simple, or basic, or… well, still don't even know what it is."
"I-I'm not trying to say he'd be perfect at it!" Ruby hastily spoke as she threw up her arms. They weren't trying to attack her. Well… Tatl might verbally, which Ruby likely sensed. Her senses were better now thanks to Impa. "I thought he could give it a try is all! You know, like how he got me to try using my new powers." She pointed at her eyes again. He had no idea what he had done that involved her eyes.
Her sense, however, was partially him to blame, if only because Impa was not informed enough of the difference between the squires of Hyrule and those of this Academy. Far from a permanent position, it was almost encouraged for them to pursue other avenues, in juxtaposition to the knights of his kingdom. That was neither here nor there, however. What was here was Ruby asking to try this… odd dance called rap.
Her next action proved she was, apparently, prepared for it.
"I know how important it is to practice something new, or to at least try it out, kind of like how you don't know biking unless you have a bike, so I brought something you need to try rapping!" she spoke as she reached under her cloak, grabbing at something Link didn't attempt to see. Not when it would be swiftly revealed to him anyways. "Look! Just use this!"
This, apparently, was a the short wand that the man in the moving photos had used as well. Short enough to be covered by his hand with a single grip, but leaving large mesh-like ball on top. Threaded like chain-mail, but far too stiff to be like one. He reached out and grabbed it, at the same time that Ruby retrieved her Scroll from him. He took his time to look at the new object anyways.
"Huh, so that's this called then?" Tatl asked, the curious nature of her taking over. Tael listened just as diligently, but quietly. "The guy was using it, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them somewhere else before."
"It's called a mic, I guess, but that's not important." She guessed. "What is important is how that is what you need to use in order to practice your raps! And like I said, I bet someone as talented and amazing as you, especially someone who has done so much stuff, will be able to create some of the best raps in the world!" Now there was a surprising amount of encouragement, and for something he had never attempted.
"H-He could?" Tael asked his curiosity aloud. "H-How do… Why are stories and adventure important for… for this. I mean… is he telling a story?" The dark fairy's wings beat as he lightly lifted himself up, before dropping back down. From standing to sitting on his shoulder.
"Well, that's what Cardin told me." The Winchester boy. He had changed since the mine. "And Yang even agreed, even if I had to ask her away from Cardin. Still don't get along great, but neither of them are liars, a-and this is something that I know you should try! Here, I can even record you and show you just how good you are!"
That was when she held up the Scroll again towards up, facing up and away from her. Was it capable of that as well? Curious, but considering the titans of ships of metal floating across water or buildings that scratched at the clouds in the sky, it was hardly the most wonderous thing he had seen, just more proof of the unknowns in an unknown place.
"The heck would he even sing about?" Tatl, however, brought Link back to task. "Forget just doing it, what the heck would he even sing? That he's a five foot ten fairy boy." Link shut his eyes and focused on something brighter, perhaps where Tatl didn't bring up such horrendous memories.
"Sis, you promised not to say that again," her brother rang, though Link was aware it was unlikely for her to listen. The bob and ring was evidence enough.
"How about your friends?" Ruby, however, was just as focused on this 'song' idea. It appeared her mind truly was focused to the core on it. "I mean, a lot of these singers, I-I mean rappers, talk about, or sing I guess, about things that they don't like. Not uncommon, and not common, maybe rare, but not rare just… it just works, okay?" Her head titled and it was impossible for Link to decide if the look she was giving was a grimace of pain or a forced grin for encouragement.
He sighed instead, looking down at the microphone in his hands. His friends, and was he really going to do this? There were tales of many poets in Hyrule reliving the painful siege of Hyrule Castle through stories to inspire hope. If this was the same… perhaps. Though he still had no idea of how to do this.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Ruby shouted again, making Tael jump off of Link's shoulder. Any question Link had for what she forgot was rapidly replaced by listening to, perhaps, the first good piece of music in the past few hours. Better than the man screaming into this microphone or whatever. "You like it? IT's to help you create lyrics to a-and I knew you'd like something like this!" How she knew that Link had no idea, but he could only sigh again.
His hands flipped and rotated the device in his hands, wondering how effective it would be. Would this be something he wanted to create a skill for? Likely not, and even Tatl was doubtful of it, though Tael was more welcoming. It wasn't something he thought highly of, but if the young Ruby Rose had any unknowns to her that he could name, it would be this.
Those sparkling silvery eyes appeared to create ambition as well as her scythe cut monsters.
He bobbed his head to the song, already seeing Ruby's unsure smile brighten as she held back her own bouncing joy. He put the spherical end to the edge of his lips, like the man in the video, and, against all better judgement, began to sing.
"This… Its… It's the story of Hyrule… about the people who fought for new rule… in the land of Hyrule… and how they fought…"
"In a forest deep, against a mountain high, I grew up with a young girl with the brightest eyes. Caring and wise, social and kind, she taught me how to fight and to never tell a lie. That helped me I met the rest of my kind."
"The strong, the fast, the wickedly wise. The brave, the meek, and those who flew high. Those that lived where its unimaginably, unfathomably filled with painted heats and waves that beat with winds that whip and limber trees that snip at the unwavering and uncaring ventures."
"They do not care for it, because no matter they lived through they came through it. Against the monsters high or the terrors deep they fought back against the land and mans that tried to treat them like sheep!"
"So when the fire raised as the forest sang, the people of the land joined the cry. It was like running for the first time, feeling so free and sublime."
"So when the fire raised as the forest sang, the people of the land joined the cry. It was like running for the first time, feeling so free and sublime."
"I was thrown to lands of dreamers, where a nightmare was looking to squash the redeemers. A deku of roots through a throne, a goron of strong will and hard stone, a zora of great voice who played on fishbone."
"They lived through the forest and ice and then the swamps and mice, diggin' out a life that couldn't be seen without approval and guise, fighting the monsters that roared for more and took pleasure from them like a smorgasbord."
"It was my duty as a traveler with tools given to me to keep their homes alive and their tears dry by saving their lost souls… then moving on to where the sun glows."
"There was Wisdom to see, and Power to beat, traveling the lands and feelin so free. With Saria in trees, Elrora in the breeze, and Mikau sweeping the seas. Playing guitar."
"So when the fire raised as the forest sang, the people of the land joined the cry. It was like running for the first time, feeling so free and sublime."
"So when the fire raised as the forest sang, the people of the land joined the cry. It was like running for the first time, feeling so free and sublime."
Yang stared at the video screen for what felt like hours after it had finished. Her and everyone else crowded around her. Her sister was talking and jumping around in front of her, but she didn't bother to look up. Her eyes could dare look away, let alone blink. What she was holding, what Ruby had recorded, was a holy grail amongst the most valuable of relics, and she was showing it off in a way that she couldn't even process.
Yang wasn't the only one to realize it, and someone else, thankfully, was brave enough to say it.
"Ruby."
"-and then he, oh, yeah Blake?"
"… I apologize for every doubting your capabilities as a leader."
"Same."
"Yang! When did you doubt me!" Leadership? Never. Conversation and convincing? A lot.
This, however, blew it all away. Link of the Super Faunuses of Hyrule rapping to a beat that she found on CCTS search. It was… it was magical. Magical beyond any fairy tale she had heard growing up. It was so beautiful, sublime even. And Yang hated that word. That's what it was though, sublime. Just… perfect.
She guessed at this point it just proved it. Unknown's really did have the advantage, and her sister still had so much to explore.
Author's Note:
Well where to start on this one... I had the idea thanks to a few of the people on my Discord to do something like this, as the current Pat... that donation site, didn't have any patrons, so I figured the best way to get the interest up was to increase what you could get out. Hence this. Silly, yes, but I see this as more of UL: Chibi, because that show has no right to be as funny as it is.
Enjoy~