It was only a year. A year after he had left, and Link's most terrible nightmares had come true.
A year that he had spent tucked away in the Lost Woods, buried behind forest giants that he had known all his childhood. In a forest of emerald green, Link had stayed amongst the Kokiri and Forest Spirits, raising his daughter as best he could. For only a father, without a mother, and always keeping the truth from her.
He had taught her all that he could in that time, all the while looking beyond the forest to the plains he had lived upon for just as long. Watched the darkness of Zelda's claim roam over the rolling hills, and her new title as Salem taking root. Listening to it spill from the mouths of soldiers as they marched past, listening to it as he heard of travelers discussing where to sell their wares. Listening, but always careful.
Link never took Zelda beyond the forest. He only ever stayed at its edges, watching what Salem was planning from a distance. The fearful yet active members of the Hylian race slowly falling into contemptuous marches. Soldiers energetic but cautious falling into marching orders not unlike the redeads he had faced before. So much life was being drained from the land around the forest, and he dare not step out and see who else suffered.
It would be careless to look for the Zora, the Gorons, the Watarara, or even the Gerudo. If Hyrule Field was being choked to death, they would fare little better. And Link could only watch. He had to be careful.
He had been careful, but Link was never one who knew how to live with peace.
It was something Zelda noticed quickly. His kind and thoughtful daughter always at his heels to ask how she could help. Looking up to him and wondering what could be done to help him out. He had spent every moment she tried to help him instead spent helping her.
Teaching her how to shoot her bow, using it around the forest giants and to Saria's infinite amusement. Arranging pots to play hide and seek in, then bowing to the children of the forest when his daughter inevitably smashed them to pieces. Even so far as to play with the old masks he once held so dear, using them in the most confusing game of hide-and-seek he had ever participated in.
It was all absurd, but it all made Zelda laugh. That was what Link wanted more than all else. To see his daughter smile. But without Zelda, her mother, there by her side, he knew it would not last. The legend to his name made it so.
And so, fate pushed forward that cursed legend once more.
In a surprise in the night, a fire overtook the Kokiri Forest, spreading with an ill natural ferocity. Link had jumped to try and save the woods in the dark of the night, firing as many arrows as he could to freeze the trees, to stem the fires before they spread. But his suspicions of intent were made clear when the fires bore through the ice like a blade through flesh. They stood no chance. He spent the night doing everything he could to simply keep the forest from being burned down.
And it was all for nothing. Destruction had found him, and as it always did, it was followed by misery.
Destruction came with the forest burning. It stayed with the cursing of Saria.
It took hold as he watched the Forest Sage, the only among the many to survive the war with Ganondorf, becoming rooted to the bark she had stood upon, form writhing in pain as everything that she was being twisted and contorted. No longer a fae of the woods, but now an entity of unholy intentions.
Link could not bare the sight of her, but he wished to stay. Wish as much as he could to help his childhood friend, the girl who had raised him and helped his daughter, he could not.
Because the destruction that bore down upon the forest didn't just claim the sanity of Saria. It came with the stealing of his daughter. There was no question as to why.
Salem stole Zelda. And Link was going to get her back.
He walked through burning trees, smoldering as rain finally choked them out. He trudged across the long Hylian plains, kicking the few monsters who thought it wise to attack. He marched through the streets of Castle Town, the few lives left already fleeing. He did all of that, before he ascended the stairs and pathway of Hyrule Caste.
"This is… wrong…" Tael hummed next to him, refusing to take flight.
"Don't be baby about this," Tatl quickly reprimanded her brother, without a flitter of her wings. "We have to do this. Zelda's in danger."
"That's not wrong… everything else is…"
There was nothing wrong with the fairy's observation.
Blue eyes reflected the dark interior of the building he once called home. No longer the pristine alabaster stone that he had known as a young man, where he and his wife had sworn themselves to one another, and he was honored in knighthood. Now it was stained with darkness, writhing with it, no different than Ganon's Castle of old. The carpet darkened, the stones stained, the glass tinted, all of it leaving the Hero of Time with the foreboding feeling of dread inching up his back.
"I really don't like this."
"You're not supposed to, just… just keep your wings flat."
"I-I'd rather be in the forest. Its warmer there."
"We'll go back, as soon as we get Zelda." No arguments were made from Link.
There were no organs playing in the halls as he walked ahead, no rooms of enemies to stop him. Not even the crackling of fire to break the silence. Only his feet wrapping against the stones as he walked, blade in hand and marching on. He knew where to go, no matter how twisted the castle had become.
He reached the double doors he long since recognized. BANG! And kicked them open.
The doors slammed open, revealing the court and high throne before him. The same stone as before, the same stains as the rest of the building, and the same dark energy that had swirled about the castle, seven years in a very different future.
Link paid attention to none of that.
All he saw was the figure standing before the throne, back turned and black dress reaching towards the floor, standing beneath a billowing amount of dark power, swirling like a storm above her.
Tatl and Tael ducked with a ring behind Link's head. He took strides forward, lips raised in a snarl as he bore at the alabaster hair of the woman.
"You came slower than I anticipated. I supposed I should be thankful for that." Her voice was calm and cold, no different than the castle walls. "Is it another show of your fidelity for me? Or perhaps fealty to my reign?"
Link said nothing. She deserved nothing.
"I must assume you are because of what happened to the Lost Woods. A pity that, more so for the last Sage of the Forest. Her end should not be so slow, even if her life is so long." Link's grip on his blade tightened, leather crying in defiance. "But you are not here for Saria. You are here for Zelda."
"Where is she?" Tatl managed to speak, never taking off from Link's hat. "She's here, we know she is."
"Sh-She… wouldn't be anywhere else."
"No, she wouldn't be. I would never allow my daughter to be without a parent." Salem's words were chilled still, even as she lowered her hands, folding them in front of herself.
The storm of power continued to swirl and billow above her, like a whirlpool sucking in the sound that rippled around it. It churned, making his ears burn, but Link never let his blue eyes drift from the woman before him. The one who had fallen so far, from so on high, that he could see her as nothing short of cursed.
Especially when she turned to face him, and for the first time in a year, he bore her blood red eyes, sitting just above a gentle, icy, smile.
"You took care of her by yourself for over a year Link. You cared for her, taught her, raised her, and in the same forest you grew up in no less. I know that many sonnets have been written for far fewer moments of beauty." Salem smiled at him, the same way he was sure she did years ago.
He felt no adoration or wanting. He felt only ire and displeasure.
"Quiet? I'm not surprised. You spoke little even when we lay together, making your every word a precious gift to me." She hummed, leaning back as if treating it like a purr. It let link bare witness to all the black lines that clung to her pale skin, crawling up her neck and edging around her face. "Days gone by I dream of often at night. A miserable truth that even Time will not let me experience such pleasures again. Even the memories of them softening, blurring, with each day she takes from us."
Her long alabaster hand came out again, reaching for Link, beckoning towards him. Tatl and Tael hovered at his hat, clearly making themselves small. He did not fault them. Navi trembled and nearly fell to Ganon. He did not want more of his friends harming themselves before… before another monster.
"How fare your memories Link? Not just of this time, but the time before." He knew exactly what she meant, but he still didn't answer her. "Would you believe me if I said that memories were the most precious thing in all the land? More than the magic we hold or the gifts of the Goddesses. Time is what is most precious, and what we should all hold most dear."
"You've ruined a lot of good memories!" Tatl yelled now, and her brother jumped on her. They rang out before silencing one another, the soft laughter from Salem's lips more mocking than any ire she could have passed on the fae.
"Memories are memories, neither a boon nor ill," her words flowed as coolly as before. "They are the things that any man or woman can make, and too many realize too late in life are the few things that cannot be taken from us. Even with a kingdom that now stretches beyond Hyrule's borders, memories of what was once there still persist."
Link's breathing was slow, measured, focusing forward. He knew what she was talking of, and what she implied.
There was no more of Zora's Domain, Goron Village, Gerudo Desert, or Watarara nests. There was just Hyrule, far more than when he left a year before.
A year, with the powers of Wisdom and Courage, and she had taken them all.
"I spoke to you once, Link, that I needed Power to save this land, to keep even more alive while the fruits of the labors spread. You denied me it then." Her had did not reach out for him now. "And as you said it would, thousands did die. Many more, I suspect, beyond my gaze."
"Th-that's horrible…" Tael whimpered behind Link's ear. The Hero growled in agreement. Shutting his eyes hid none of the truth from himself.
"It is, though I do stand that it was necessary. Without sacrifice, there is no gain. Even to raise a child, on must sacrifice their freedom and time. To raise a nation, the lives of those children must often be lost." Were she not his once beloved, her head would have rolled on the ground. "But those memories are a precious thing that cannot be sacrificed, that should never be forgotten."
"What are you talking about? A-And where is Zelda!?" The rumble in Tatl's voice was unaddressed.
"She is nearby, but I assure you she is safe. I do want the kingdom to prosper, and I hardly can say I devoutly believe in such if I give up my own child."
"Careful…"
"And as for memories… I ask, is there anything more important to you?" The smile had not fallen, her chilled voice had not dipped, but Link bore Salem's gaze as he did an enemy's arrow. "If I am to surmise, you have not attacked me because of the memories we share together. Saving this land, uniting races, restoring the Triforce."
Salem held up her hand, letting the pair of golden triangles bloom. Point to point and parallel with her wrist. The golden light it bore beat away the decrepit nature of the dark room.
Link's palm glowed as well. A triangle that stood atop two unseen similar shapes, casting a dark shadow between the three. It resonated with the power Salem put off, but he did not gaze at it, even as he saw his wife's red eyes trail them, wonderous for them.
"Memories are a precious thing, but I will confess, only recently have I learned of their value. Something that we dare never to willingly give up, something we hold sacred as the world changes, and the one thing that if lost can never be regained."
Her heels clicked as she took steps back, slowly putting herself underneath the black hole of magic, hanging in the center of the room. Step for step, Link followed her, unwilling to put distance between the pair of them.
"But as I united the kingdom, gathering the land together, I realized a truth that was, if not lost, then hardly spoken. I learned of it as we gathered artifacts that I dare to say have never been seen before. I found bells that sounded across the ocean, shards of a mirror that would not reforge, and even replicas of the Master Sword, still latched onto your back."
He never lost step with her, not even when she stopped herself. Standing beneath the ball of darkness, keeping herself there as she stared at Link, red eyes a brimming expression against the horror of her darkened soul.
"None of those things told me what they were, and only experimentation would reveal their truth to me. But even if I discovered every aspect of those divined tools, I would not know how they got there. I would not know who forged them. I would not know who held them before. Why?"
"Because they were forgotten, right?"
"Correct, young Tael. You are a listener more becoming than your sister." The rings of the pair were heard by Link, but nothing else. "Memories that were lost, but I wondered as I thought of those memories, what happened to them. Those tools that we held, carried now in the chambers of this castle, were lost before, but now they were found. So where now are the memories that we lose?"
Her hands extended outwards, motioning towards the castle around them.
"Where are the memories of those who built this castle some hundreds of years ago? Where the memories of the Gorons who first dug through Death Mountain and awakened Volvagia? Where is are the memories of the Gerudo who birthed Ganondorf, let alone that man's memories alone?" Link stared… and understood.
Namely as his hand swept over his tunic, where the mask of the king resided.
"You understand now, more than before at least. Memories may be lost, but they must go somewhere." Salem's smile was growing. "And with luck, with Wisdom, I was able to divine to where. More than that, I was able to discern why." Her eyes looked up. Link did not. "They are not lost to a place in this world, nor are the kept in a chamber across some kingdom's lands. They are kept by one entity, her and those who know her power. Beings… such as you, Sir Link."
The thin digit of her alabaster hand rose and curled. Tatl and Tael shivered behind him.
"You keep memories of those you love close… because it is a blessing Time has given you."
The ring from the pair of fairies was more of a tell than if Link had spoken.
"I believed so. I am fortunate Wisdom ahs granted me such knowledge. I may otherwise have done all this work, spread the boundaries of Hyrule for nothing." She sounded neither upset nor pleased with confirmations given. "That known and said… I would have you know that though I did not invite you here, I am glad you came."
"Zelda is here! There's no way we wouldn't show up!"
"I don't believe you would, any of you for that matter. But that is not what I am referring to. Zelda is someone precious to me, to you, and we to her as well." Her lips finally parted her smile, and the rows of teeth, white as her skin, looked sharper than a wolf's canines. "The memories she has are like gold in sand, twinkling amongst the stars, brimming during the day, and treasured no matter the season, desperate to not be buried."
Slowly, Salem raised her hands, holding them up above her head. Her long black dress pooled around her, and Link drew the Master Sword with a shink. Not because she moved, but because the ball of darkness was.
The ball of darkness rumbling as it rose and fell, like a bubble looking to burst from the foam of a river. The deafening silence it made around it seemed to shake, interrupted with the shiver of Hyrule Castle's stone walls, only to create a vacuum of air. Rolling waves of silence and trembling stone, making Link's feet unsure on the ground. But he did not look away.
Sword raised, shield out, he kept his eyes sharp on Salem, on the ball, and what she was doing to it. It was then that he saw her. Saw Zelda.
Swimming, unconscious, in the ball of darkness above Salem.
"Zelda!" "Princess Zelda!" Tatl and Tael cried out. Link took a step forward, cracking the stone with the blow.
"Do not worry." Salem calmly spoke. "She is unarmed, undamaged… I would never willingly harm my own child." Circumstances saying otherwise. "No no… I have her here because she is a critical part of my bargain. One that I have spent many moons perfecting, Wisdom abound, and only with Courage have I reached the assurance that it will work."
Link aimed his blade at her, tightening his stance against the floor. A single jump, a thrust, and he'd impale her. He could do it.
But the spell could implode, it could fail, and Zelda… he growled at the thought, like a wolf staring down a bear hovering over his child.
"Memories can be lost to Time, but so too can they be traded." Salem spoke as if there was not the assurance of her demise. "Wisdom has granted me the assurance of what memories she will need, and I have Courage to let me choose this path, the pursue it with certainty."
Dark eyes fell back to Link, and her smile grew like an aggravated wound.
"Zelda's memories are precious things." Salem repeated again. "I am sure Time accepts them as a trade."
Then… tragedy.
CRAA-KOOOOM!
Sound erupted from the ball of darkness. With it a veritable tidal wave of force.
Like Ganon's tower falling down, shattering against the air and cracking with the force of a thousand bolts of thunder. It made his ears ring, even as the little furniture in the room tumbled through the air, blown away by the blast. His feet skated across the ground, trying to hold himself up as the explosion rained on him, through him. It overcame him, and his friends.
Shrieks against the wind were all Link heard of Tatl and Tael as they were swept from his shoulders, falling somewhere in the backdrop of the room. They would be fine. He cared, but they would be fine.
Zelda and Salem might not be, would not be.
Through a whirlwind of force, Link grit his teeth and stared forward, Master Sword held forward, shining as the wind and force of the erupting magic continued to blow upon him. His teeth grit, his hands clenched, but he would not give up, he would not give in!
His footfalls carried him forward, drudging a path into the hall as if up a waterfall's torrent. His hat nearly tore from his head as he bared through it, staring at the ball of darkness, its shimmering and crackling surface, erupting with more and more of its mass, coating Salem as she stood beneath it.
Link watched her get swallowed by it, watching the woman he loved grin upwards into the maelstrom of magic that swallowed her, any laughter in her voice crumbled to nothing as she was pushed from existence. Her alabaster features swallowed, surrounding her in the darkness. Link watched it.
Link watched as Salem disappeared.
He watched as the rest of the castle began to follow.
Lunging steps, slow and tormenting in pace, as he felt the castle giving way beneath him. The walls were crumbling, glass shattering, as the darkness spread outwards, exacerbating the already reaching tendrils. The stone was being swallowed, the castle was being consumed, but Link pushed on, he forced himself to. He couldn't stop, he could not stop!
Blue eye stared up through the dark, teeth grit as he bore the sight of his daughter.
Princess Zelda, heir to the kingdom, silver eyes cracking open, blonde hair staining black, outfit being consumed, her entire body coming undone! He stared at her, screaming for her, but he didn't know what to do. He wasn't going to make it… he…
"HYAAAAGH!" Link yelled out as he planted his foot, reeling his blade back, eyes focused on his little girl.
The Master Sword was the blade of Evil's bane. It was the purification of darkness to light! He… he just had to have her hold it! She just had to touch it!
"GYAAAA!" He screamed, body falling forward, as he threw the blade with all of his strength.
For a brief moment, glorious even in the face of horror, he saw it working. He saw the blade reaching his daughter. He saw it being grasped in her hand. He saw her holding it. He saw light shining in the darkness.
"Daddy…?"
Then the world erupted. And everything was black.
Link wasn't aware of up from down when he was consumed. He flew through the double doors, falling through where the carpet was, tumbling into the darkness of the walls, and losing his place in the world. His limbs flailed, his screams were mute, and he tried to grasp onto something, anything. He reached, and scratched, but the darkness didn't so much as offer a foothold for him.
There was nothing at all around him, just complete darkness.
Then he was gasping on wet grass, spitting out mud and blood.
His long ears were ringing, balance offset badly enough he couldn't even rise to his knees without swaying violently. Fingers crumbled into the dirt, falling over and finding his back damp and wet. No shield, no sheath, nothing. He groaned in pain of it all.
Link's eyes blinked past dark circles, swirling messes that clouded his vision like a blanket. Shivering fingers tried to peel the cover off of him, but only succeeded in scratching his face. He knocked his chest, hard fists smacking it to try and force air into his lungs. Finally, barely, it worked.
Enough to force him to suck in a gasping breath of air, wrenching his form back, before curling up with a hacking sound. Soil and blood poured out of his mouth, a split lip ruining him, but he stared at it for short time. He stared more at himself, how he was whole.
Missing his sheath, missing his shield, but possessing everything.
Everything but the castle he had walked in on.
Link looked up, and saw nothing.
Nothing but a field of green, sitting beneath a stretched blue sky, holding in the center of it a vision of the heavens.
Link stared up at it, short breathing already failing him. He looked around, seeing no cobblestone streets or homes, no pillars of the castle or ramparts to match. No moat or drawbridge, no outposts or gardens, nothing. He saw nothing of Hyrule Castle.
Looking up, he saw the sky split as if shot by the arrow of the Goddess's design. He saw the endless blue pierced by a hole of darkness, showing the stars beyond. He stared at it, staring at the display of power, at the shredding of the sky and revealing the night beyond. The hole above him ripped upwards and beyond.
And likely with it… everything else.
They were gone… them and… everything.
There was no castle beneath his feet.
There was no pillar of darkness swallowing the kingdom.
There was no Salem standing in cheer of it all.
There was no Zelda, hands out for him.
There was no blade.
There was nothing… nothing at all.
Link had nothing. He had lost everything.
Beneath a sky torn through a hole in time, in a field vacant for the first in centuries, Link raised his head, wet with tears, and did all that he could.
He screamed.
Ironwood's finger wrapped on the table, hitting with perfect chimes to the ticking gears beneath them. Head resting on his hand, he stared at Link, this leg of his tale concluded.
The tale was concluded, but internally, his gear ground with more force than the clocktower entire.
"That's… that's horrible…"
"Quiet so… and I have little in the way sympathize, even with years behind me."
General Ironwood watched Link's gaze look from Ms. Rose to Ozpin, watching them. A sharp gaze, a sure gaze… but one tinted with sadness. He was by no means a master of conversation, as up front in speeches as he was on the field of battle. He only recognized the look the Faunus gave because he had seen it before.
"How long ago was this?" The question earned him many eyes. "When did Salem do this to you?"
"James."
"No no Glynda, I have a point for this." He held up his hand towards the secretary. "I am curious, because you have not appeared to us as a man who was mourning his wife and child. Let alone a man who has lost so much. You have always felt, and still give the Aura, of a warrior who has been through war. Many wars in fact."
"No kidding." A whapping sound came after the blonde's words. James ignored it.
"I'll add an apology for my mockery of your decisions earlier, as you clearly were, if not tricked, then still overcome with the desire to save someone you love. For all the faults I admit to have, I'll never dare say that trying to save a loved one is a poor action."
"You kind of did earlier."
"I said what I said when I thought the villainy clear, and he was a part of it," his eyes looked towards Tai now, the magically armored man looking back at him uneasily. "But now I recognize the difference."
The general looked at Link, the Faunus leaning forward on the table, mouth drawn as he stared. Saria, the Spring Maiden of another name, looking between them, ready to intervene. The Atlas old guard drew in a long sigh, trying to temper himself before speaking on.
"Though I cannot claim to know if Raven thought the same as I-"
"Bite me, creep."
"I called you many things, from fool to deceiver, because you gave what amounted to uncontrollable power to a woman who we know today as the Mother of Grimm. As a monster incarnate." He ignored the whispering children. Tai could handle the girls. "But it is clear now that was not only never your intent, but you held onto power, creation," he corrected with a glance towards Ozpin. "Because you knew how much worse that would be."
"You gathered much from that tale," Saria answered in place of Link. "More than I did the first I heard of it."
"I am benefited to have heard much of it before, and to know of Salem far before this meeting. That does not change that I was wrong, and I apologize for calling you a fool. You were not a man desperate and cowardly, throwing all that you could at a problem. You gave everything that was needed to save a life, and then used all you had left to protect the child left from it."
"Yes, that child, Princess Zelda," Dr. Oobleck interjected himself. "Maternal naming scheme, no suffix to indicate age of ancestry, first implication ancient practice, second being purposeful. Mother changed name, Queen Zelda to Salem. Predictable?"
"No… there is never an instance for the royalty of Hyrule to change their name." Saria answered. "Why would one so willingly change their name for their daughter? Why would one, more properly, wish to change their name?"
"Answer obvious, change who they are." The doctor, tapped on his many scrolls, the pages crinkling. "Observation of self-change, desire to alter one's self, alteration inevitable conclusion. Must wonder why, how… how possible, how likely." The ramblings in the man had returned. "Princess Zelda… not her name. Name changed, for she changed." Or perhaps not.
"Bartholomew?"
"Implications there. She changed name. Willing? Perhaps. Forced? Possible. Necessary?" His quill had started to splatter ink against the page. "It is far more likely that Princess Zelda is no longer Princess Zelda, just as Queen Zelda is now Salem. Salem who now rules out of the Badlands and controls the Grimm, trying to destroy the Kingdoms. A bid for power, searching for the relics."
"That is way too much to dump casually!"
"Not Zelda, not her, but suspicion of who, heavy suspicion. Given knowns, given facts, highly likely." James watched his eyes flitter, mostly because his head spun with the action. He looked at Ms. Rose. He looked towards Link. James sighed on the outskirts between them.
"I think before we make assumptions on something so extreme, something that has a great number of variables, we first need to affirm a few facts." His comment was made to draw Link's attention, and he earned it. "So, Link, assuming you may forgive me for my… let's call them more verbose words, can I assume that on that day, you did lose your wife and child?"
"Again, James."
"Please, Glynda, I am not trying to be offensive, but if the tale was given, I assume I can ask questions about it?" His eyes never left Link, nor watching as the emerald clad Faunus nodded. "I see, then assuming I am right, I offer my condolences, Sir Link."
He bowed his head, and he heard sighs from around the table as he did so.
"I have been the leader of many men who have lost their loved ones to forces beyond their control. And though you did have a part to play, a role I will not downplay, it is more than evident to me you did all that you could for your wife and child, and I am sorry to hear that they were taken from you in such a way."
"Yeah, ripped up so hard and fast that not even the castle was left." James sighed at Raven's tone.
"No chance of following something that, what, was ripped into the sky?" Her hand waved, red yes narrowed at Link.
"Raven, seriously?"
"Yes, Yang, seriously. What am I supposed to think happened? I'll give it that it was Magic, since this is Salem we're talking about here, but I'm not buying that this is either all real or all of the story." Her palm slapped the table.
"Well yeah, he's not done yet. Link's still gotta tell us how he got here."
"No, not that," Raven dismissed her ex-husband's words. "I meant how this Faunus was able to see that monster literally being born, but now somehow was also finding Oz for the better part of his entire life!" Her hand may as well have been her blade, how dangerous the point of it was.
"Did you not listen to the tale?" Saria gathered the attention once more. "Link did say, uttered in so many words. What did you believe Salem was talking about in reference to Time? What do you suppose she was speaking of?"
"I thought she was a mad woman completely swallowed up by the magic of whatever power that Triforce of yours used." Her words were sharper still. "Maybe you wished for it and creation made it so, maybe she wished for it, and with two relics in her hand, she got what she wanted. I don't know, but I know-"
"Nothing, you know little to nothing." Raven's face bloomed in anger, and Ironwood would be remiss to say that, even in the present circumstances, it wasn't a humorous sight. He was sure Qrow would agree, raising a flask in cheer. "I know you have little in your mind, because Link and I know the answers to your questions. All of them. And I know that the end of his tale will answer many of them. Would you like him to finish, knowing that he will prove you wrong?"
"Will he explain the jump of thousands of years in age? Because unless the answer is 'he looks good', I'm not gonna buy it."
"He does look good."
"Shut it, Tai." The growl she gave of was nearly feral. "But not only that, but how about the fact that we've still got nothing to go on with this other than your word! I know I'm a forest thief, but even I know better than to take someone at their word alone! It's considered the lowest form of evidence."
"You are… not wrong," Ozpin admitted. Ironwood rubbed his metallic hand above his brow. "But with recent events witnessed, and my own memories to put his tale against, I have yet to find any evidence of falsehood. Or so to say, I doubt this story was something as childish as made up on the spot."
"Maybe not that bad, but are you seriously gonna expect me to believe that this is all true? That he was married to the literal worst thing in existence then had a fucking kid with it!" This time, Link glared.
"Raven!" Ironwood interjected.
"No!" She shouted back. "I have been hiding in fear of that thing for… for over a decade now, and you're sitting me across from the person that basically helped her come into existence? You're giving him credit because he didn't see it coming, but that's not good enough!"
"Are you saying it would be braver to abandon one's family?" Saria's question was as damning as ever. "Do you dare suppose that the man who throws away his children for self-preservation is a braver one than the man who gives all he has to save them? Are you such a brave soul, Raven Branwen?"
Ironwood did not know Yang Xiao Long well, but he knew that her grin couldn't be any brighter.
"I think we are still making guesses when we have no need to." Ozpin put himself at the front of conversation once more. "Even if it is only the testimony of one man, Link's tale is the only lesson we have to go off of. And I must say… I would be a liar to say I'm not curious where it ends."
The man's eyes turned towards Link, the Faunus's silver gaze reflecting off of the wizard. Ironwood stared, not tense, but patient.
"Link, if you please, can you tell us how you left Hyrule and came here." That was the question.
He hummed as Link began to speak
Once the castle had gone, and everything in it, everything else began to follow.
He buried the bodies of the few friends he had left, ceremonial graves in the Lost Woods with Saria watching over him. A hole dug for his daughter, for his wife, and for her. Three graves for the only three people left to him.
And when Saria had helped him cover the graves, she fell away with it.
Cursed by Salem, and dying without her present. The forest was soon to follow.
Link marched through the Lost Woods repeatedly, directionless, looking for any new land the woods would deem appropriate to send him to. Where he had walked through before and ended up in a land unknown to all but Time, now he only lost himself, the forest guiding him back to where he didn't wish to be.
His home.
The cruel, empty, and silent Kokiri Forest. No smiles were at his lips when he saw them.
Only Tatl and Tael accompanied him now, the pair of fairies clinging to him through the worst of it. He never spited them, though filled with anger, only too happy to know that not everyone he loved was gone. But they were close, and no one new left to find.
Because even beyond the forest of the Lost Woods, the land of Hyrule no longer prospered.
The rivers began to dry up, turning to sludge before seeping into the soil, then caked with clay. The warm embers of Death Mountain cooled, turning the burning summit into a chilled peak, the cloud one of ice rather than fire. The endless plains of Hyrule turned from lushest of green to decayed tan, their life bleeding from them. Even the wind, once the home of the free, stilled until it was unbearable to breath.
All of it, and Link endured. Even with Tatl and Tael by his side, he endured alone.
His feet cracked the grass as he walked, aimless and destination unimportant. Moving to move, for there was nothing else to find. Link stared at the dying land with eyes filled with matching life.
"Link… maybe you should rest," Tatl offered to him. "Tael and I can watch for a while you… you don't need to move."
"We can handle it. It's alright." Her brother offered as well. Link only breathed deep, heart weighed with regret. "I know… it's not okay but… but you can rest."
"Just lie down. Just rest, just… just take some time." Time… the thing that Link now had plenty of, and no one to share it with. No one but Fae who would perish with the forest when the last of its life was bled from it. That was all.
Link sighed at nothing, marching on despite his fairies' requests.
"Link please! This is… you don't have anywhere left to go!" The honesty did not stop him, even if it fell as brutal as a hammer's blow. "Just… Just stop! Just stop and rest and… and just stop this!"
"L-Listen to sis, Link. She knows you a-a-and I do, too! This isn't what you have to do. You can just… you can stop!" He could, but he didn't want to.
Even as he pushed through the decaying forest, ancient trees falling to casual brushes of his shoulders, he didn't stop. Stopping felt like giving him, and despite everything he lost… he couldn't do it. He had to keep moving.
"There's nothing left to save Link!"
That did make him stop.
"There's nothing… e-everyone's dead, or dying." Tael's words flickered with his light. "You don't have a-a-a kingdom to save or a princess… they're all gone. She took everything. You don't have to keep moving just… Just stop. Please."
"You have to. Because you're hurting us." Tatl's words were as damning as her brother's. "There's nothing to struggle for. Don't… don't keep doing this to yourself… please…" Her words were finished as she settled on his shoulder, head pushing into the collar of his tunic. It dampened a moment later, despite rain being a distant memory to the dying land.
And despite how long it had been since the sky fell, Link felt a pair of patches develop on him. But still, he did not fall. He did not cry. As passive as he was when he left the Lost Woods decades ago now, he remained stern, even as the last friends he had wept on him.
Through a crumbling canopy high above him, light fell on Link. He felt its warmth, the little that didn't burn him as it did in the field. He let it sit on him, the simple moment of peace while his friends more for his life. Link listened, waited… until the fairies rang no more.
Curious eyes looked towards them, only to see they were no longer there. Panic ensued. His arms swiped through the air, legs pivoting on dead earth, looking for the flickering light of Tatl or Tael. He couldn't see them, no matter which way he looked.
Fearing the worst, almost knowing it to be so, he made to run in search for them, shouting for them.
"Link." Only for a voice to speak and sway him from running. A voice that rang from above. The hero looked up and saw what he thought was impossible.
A Goddess.
A Goddess, falling like a feather from the trees above, walking across the ray of light that fell from the heavens.
"Link."
A Goddess shown in gold, wearing a robe untainted by nature, and purer than any mineral of the earth.
A Goddess that looked down upon him with a frown, not a scowl, with tears, but not of misery.
Looking at her, staring up at her, on broken knees and shattered hope, Link uttered the only name that he thought appropriate for her.
Zelda.
Golden hair waved, sad and somber, even floating as she was.
"No, Sir Link, I am not," her voice echoed endlessly, as if the forest were a cavern, and she was the flow of water through it. "You speak of the Golden Child who holds my visage, but I am not her. She is not me. No more than you are the masks you wear."
Gently, as if the ground were fearful to catch her, her feet graced the earth. Flowers bloomed where she stepped, and grass parted to keep her clean. Link noticed only when she stood above him, and the air was softer on his ruined features. His cool tears warmed, even as her flawless hand reached for him.
A thumb brushed upon his skin, and the trails of his tears were slowly pushed away.
"You are not any of those who came after or before you, and I am not the royalty of this land, though twisted as she has become. I am only who I am, and I am here to speak with you." Link's breath was short as she spoke.
Even as she settled to the ground, feet dancing on the dead earth. Her robe billowed, her eyes softened, and the light that radiated around her was blinding, but he still stared on.
"I am the Goddess of Time, her name being Hylia."
Link knew her well. Without ever hearing a tale of her.
"You have suffered much because of my ignorance, and you have endured much more." Her hands ghosted over his cheeks, massaging his skin with careful swipes, soothing him with grace alone. Link breathed deep the air around her. "For that alone, and knowing that it is more than blind ignorance and mournful blame, I will offer you what I have offered no one else before. My deepest apologies."
Her apology came with her fully settling on the land. And even still, she stood above him. Link was enamored with her gaze and voice, but he forced himself to compare her to anything, no matter how distant.
The closest he could name was Ganondorf, were he a demon of light. Both imposed an Aura that was deafening and numbing, and both towered above him. Only this Goddess Hylia was full of grace, and none of the rage and anger that consumed the Great King of Evil.
"You have suffered, Sir Link. And Time itself begs your forgiveness."
And Ganondorf would never offer such sympathies. With great effort, he forced himself to speak, asking what it was she was asking forgiveness for.
"Because Salem, the former inheritor of my power, used the gifts of the Goddesses to twist my power into something else, and bore open a portal through my realm." He stared as her eyes, endless blue as the ocean, misted as she stared at him. "You know some of what I speak. My visage on this land has long held a tool of power that borrows from me. You used much in one of your travels, and depended on it with your life for another."
Without speaking to him, her hand drifted down his tunic, reaching into its folds. Knowing what was there without sign or indication, she grasped at an object, long and oval, and pulled it from its recesses in his pockets.
The Goddess of Time produced the Ocarina of Time. Her ocarina.
"A gift I gave the Royal Family, to ask of me my power, and to offer it when it is needed." She held the object before him, her palm neatly folding around it, fingers fitting into the holes with clear ease and design. "One that only those I bless may use. The Princess of Destiny and the Hero of Time." Her eyes were keen on him.
He teared at the sight, but he didn't look away. Not even as Hylia, Time, put the Ocarina back into his tunic, patting his chest, holding her head over his heart. Her fingers curled against his cloth, head dipping with the action. Link watched unable and unwilling to speak.
"None were meant to be able to abuse my power. Only by calling on me could one be able to move through rivers of my domain. Only then would one be able to move through me. But my former visage, Salem, she found a way to cross without it." Her eyes were mournful as she stared at Link. "Cross and bar the passage for me to remain tied to this land."
Link did not understand. He shook his head, confused.
"The Goddesses of Hyrule tied themselves with the Triforce. It is the bridge between this land and the Sacred Realm." Link knew this. It was the legend passed down by the Royal Family. As the Messenger, he knew it well. "But mine is the body of the princess, the royalty that is eternal to this land. Ever to be reborn, and ever to be a link. Salem took not only my tie, but the Goddess's as well."
The implication swiftly fell over Link. It was only because he was bathing in the light of Hylia that he did not shiver, still on bended knees. She nodded, either seeing the knowledge link in his eyes, or knowing through an omniscient power.
"You are correct. She severed Hyrule from the Sacred Realm. And with it, she severed the blessings that may be tithed to it." And the land for it was dying.
He had seen it, witnessed it, and now bore it. It was everything that was wrong, and Zelda… Salem had done it with little issue. Even a year of thought, and she still went through with it. Could she… could she have not known? Link was desperate to hope so.
But knowing the woman he once loved, knowing the one who had birthed and then stolenhis child, he knew it was impossible. Link knew that Wisdom would not forsake such an important lesson.
How?It was the only question that mattered.
"Because she knew what I hold dear, and she used it to use me." Link did not understand. Hylia could tell. "The only thing I can hold are memories Sir Link. They are the only thing I may have." His body trembled at the misery in her voice. "Everything else I lost to me. Everything. Either it changes through the flow of the world or it is taken and used until it is no more. Only memories are what I hold dear, when they are lost to you who made them."
Salem had said as much. She had something very similar in the very least, yearsago now.
"I hold memories of the past, I know all that was, and how it came to be. I know of the future, and what memories will be made there for me to hold. They are all I have." Her hand rose from his tunic, cupping his cheek. "Nayru holds onto the souls of the courageous, the thoughts they make and the intelligence they share. Din keeps safe their bodies, their feats of strength echoed through her realm. Farore keeps the tales of the courageous, writing legends from what they accomplish, and creating law with the deeds they commit. But memories… memories are all that I have."
And Salem had done something to them. But what?
What?
"Salem… she used the memories of her daughter, yourdaughter." Even in the presence of the Goddess, hope began to fade. "Her powers were near destroying them, stealing away the foothold that I had in this world, tearing apart the past and future of the one I'm linked to. She was about to destroythem Sir Link… and because of that… I had to do as she asked. For else of fear of rending myself."
Rending Time, and destroying that all that was.
The idea was far worse than anything Ganondorf had ever threatened, and Link did not even know of the threat. He knew it now, but he still knew little. His breath was short as he looked up at the golden mane of the Goddess of Time, even as her sorrowful expression bore down on him. He managed to ask it, once more.
How?
"Through power that the Goddess's once asked me to seal, with their blessing and power." A powerful force not her own. "And I sealed it, only with the assistance of many others… all of them led and aided by my hero."
Her hand was tight on his chest again, her and other was attempting to soothe him still, finger brushing over his cheeks, tracing his lips. Link did not understand.
Not until tears fell from her eyes and landed upon him. Not until he realized she was not referring to him as the Hero of her visage, or as the guardian to the people. He knew himself to be the Hero of Time, but only now did he understand what it meant.
He was her hero; he was her chosenhero. He was the one who first sealed that power.
You are why I am forever reborn.
"I am," she admitted. Link heard the words, but more than that, he heard her voice.
He heard it shake. The idea of a Goddess's voice, of Time itself, shaking as it spoke, unnerved him. Even with all that he had seen and lost. The idea that he was staring down the entity of all Time, knowing that she was on the edge of her wits and nerves, made him tremble.
"Do you know the history of Hyrule, Sir Link?" She asked. "Do you recall how it was this land came to be? You were there when I gave myself to this world, and you were the reason why I stayed. For you were the one to first fight, and seal, the darkness that even the Goddesses fled from."
Link recalled none of this. He had little idea of what Hylia was referring to. She smiled upon him, content with the answer.
"Long long ago, there was a Great King of Evil." He knew of that man. "A king that was born of his own desire, and made in the darkness of demons." Or perhaps not. "That monster wrought a terror upon the land so great, all races of the world fought against him and his ilk. They fought for decades. They fought for centuries. And I was flooded with the memories and terrors of every man, woman, and child that he and his creatures killed."
Her hands trembled against him. He cupped them, suddenly overcome with the sight of a weeping Goddess, staring at the face of the woman he loved, even if she was not truly her.
"The Goddesses asked of me to find a great hero. They asked me to find a man who would sacrifice all despite himself, and to gift him with their power and my will." Her eyes shut, for the first time since she descended. "And I found you Sir Link. I found you locked away in a chamber, and I freed you, for I knew you had courage unbound, and a will to protect unimaginable."
The world was still around them, dying and frozen, but Link was absorbed in the warmth and light of the Goddess that all but embraced him. He let her take breath, then he waited for her to speak.
"What followed is a legend forgotten. A legend, because of that, only I know. And now, I share this tale with you."
And in those moments, the Goddess of Time bequeathed to Link his legend. Tales he had forgotten.
Of being born on an island in the sky. Of fighting the mad subordinate to the Demon King. Of meeting Demise. Of being cursed with his hate. Of the future that he shared with Zelda. Of the destiny they were intertwined with. Of the Shiekah's history for ancient crafts. Of the races that followed. Of the land of Hyrule. Of the Master Sword. Of the Triforce.
And of himself. All of it.
He wept as he heard it. The truth of time laid bare.
"It is much, so very much," Hylia answered him. "I bore it alone to know the world, but I share it with you now, my hero. Be it the Triforce of Wisdom or the memories intwined with mine, Salem learned of them, and she used them. And with that torturous magic, she was able to use it to speed herself through my realm. Time was a river she conquered."
Link understood. And Link was terrified.
Demise owns Zelda's Soul.
"Yes." The terror deepened.
She corrupted our daughter's memories.
"Yes." The fear toke place.
All of this… is because I continue to be reborn.
Hylia did not answer. Not immediately.
For the first time, he grasped her now. His hand reaching up and pooling her golden gown in his hand. She did not react in pain or surprise, even while his dirtied palm ruined her clothing. Even with all his strength, he pulled at her gown, and she did not move, but he forced himself to rise. Even still, she did not speak.
Link looked at her, needing an answer, knowing what it would be. He was no wise man nor wizened sage, but he was just as much a fool. He knew the legend the Goddess spoke of now, and he knew what it meant.
You are born to follow me. Demise is born to follow you. And I am born… when conflict arises.
"Yes." Her voice answered the same.
Standing now, Link was still shorter than the goddess, much like a great deity should be. But he was unable to think of words to say.
"The first you is not you of now," Hylia cryptically began. "Your soul is tied to the world, and you are forever reborn. The hero that I chose, the one the Goddesses have blessed, and the one who will always raise his blade when evil marches. Be it the hatred of Demise or another terror lurking in the shadows. It is you who arises, and it is I who follows. My visage, given Hylian form, to follow you."
Then he was right.
His very existence was the source of misery. It was he thought for many sleepless nights, but now a Goddess had confirmed himself, descended from the Sacred Realm and told to him in as many words.
Zelda's corruption was his fault. His daughter's fatewas his fault.
All of it… was…
"This is not your fault, Sir Link. It is only… it only one you must bear," Hylia's imploring voice spoke to him. "To the you you are now, it is not fair. For you were made to bare a burden a you of the past decided upon. A choice that transcends me, and is bound by the will off the Goddesses. One of the few, if the only, to exist in this land."
Her touch was warm, her smile broken.
"It is why I chose you before, and it is why I tied myself to you then. It is my decision that forced this forward, not yours. Because you were my hero, but a mortal at that. That was all you were, so I tied myself to you as one as well. My decision to lose myself weakened the hold I have on Time, and it allowed for Salem to take advantage. My decision, not yours."
His hand slowly uncurled from her dress, trailing up her arm to her fingers. They were soft as flowers, but as strong as bark. All that, and hotter than any heat he'd endured through his life, even on the fires of Death Mountain.
"But you… you are the one that must bear my burden. For you are my hero." The tears told him how dearly she believed, and how much she loathed it.
His own were spilling again. The gears in his own mind falling into place. The pieces of the puzzle he thought forever broken, finally falling into place. He understood what she was referring to. And he knew there was no other way.
Link gripped her hand a bit tighter, but Hylia did not stir. She only smiled, still down upon him.
"You know what must happen now." It was a statement of fact, not a question. "And I will be the one to send you there. I will send you to Salem, so you may stop her. So, you may do as you have done for all of my existence. So, you may be my hero." Her words were strong, but her voice was weak.
Link, slowly releasing her hand, fell to bended knee. Bowing his head towards the woman who was all but his liege. Her hand rested on his head, loving, patient… remorseful.
"You will not be traveling towards a distant future now, nor only a few moments into the past. Salem took herself to a far distant past, to before you became my hero, and when two brothers, not three sisters, ruled this land." Link did not know this legend or tale. "You are to go there, and find the Three of Three's."
Link did not know that either.
"Be at peace, hero, for I will tell you."
And she did. Link heard and memorized it all, as diligently as the sages he searched for when he first left the Lost Woods, or the giants of Termina the second. He listened, and kept it close to his heart.
So close and so focused that he did not know that the Goddess of Time, that Hylia, was kneeling in front of him. Not until he felt her long ethereal hair ghosting over his tunic, her warmth like a blanket heated by a fire. He breathed deep her scent, and she rubbed circles upon his head.
"I cannot tell you all that will happen, or all that has happened. I cannot lose these memories." Link understood. "But I can tell you what many others know, and what you deserve to hear. I can tell you… about your daughter."
He looked up at her. And for the first time since she descended, she smiled. A smile that he would believe more vibrant than the sun and more promising of a future. Hylia's fingers traced his head, stopping at his cheeks, holding him steady as she spoke.
"Your child will have lost all of who she was, but she did not lose her soul. Her courage was as strong as yours, and no less vibrant and determined." He was finding it hard to see. "She grew up in a world with your blade in her hand, but unable to wield it. She used tools in the past that were more fitting for the time, but she never gave up the Master Sword. She always held it close."
His body was shaking, and he bore with it. Link listened with as fierce a determination as the Goddess proclaimed his daughter and he possessed.
"She grew up, she found friends, she found love, and she eventually found a family."
Link's chest ached.
"Though she did one day pass, she did so leave behind a daughter, one that carries on the memory of her mother. Not of you, for you were forgotten, but of your blood. For that is something I cannot even begin to trace. The immutable truth of the spirit, passed from parent to child. From you to your child, and her to hers."
Heavenly fingers combed his hair. A difficult task even for divinity, as he shook with hardly contained sobs.
"The magic that Salem used altered your daughter, but she was not cursed. Changed, twisted, but not broken. Losing the illustrious gold of her hair, ruining the edges of her Hylian heritage, but not her spirit, not her soul. Sir Link… she is still your daughter, no matter how much she may have changed."
She always will be.
The answer was automatic, and it made the Goddess of Time nod in agreement. Her smile was somber, and he blinked at it, slowly.
"Sir Link, it is time to go." Hylia's hands cupped his face, holding him close, tightly. Love reflected in the endless blue of her eyes. "Salem's plot continues, and as my hero, I need you to stop her. Stop the woman wo was corrupted by Demise, and save me once more." It was a wish she had for him, a prayer from Time immortal.
He nodded, for he washer hero.
"Thank you, Sir Link." She spoke simply, and he felt the ripples of time open beneath him. He did not fight it. No more than he did when Queen Zelda sent him through all those decades ago, back any of this happened. "Now… please… save me."
Then the light of the world grew brighter, and Link was slowly consumed. He did not fight. He only watched. He kept eyes on a Goddess he was sure he'd never see again.
"Tell your fairies I am a he, and let them know what you must do," Time's smile was broken, as Hylia said she was becoming. "Let them know what you need to find, and I will be watching."
The light glowed about him, and he felt his legs lighten. He felt the pull of Time.
He felt like he was falling, as he did through those endless three days before. He felt like he was being pushed forward, when he first drew the Master Sword, hisblade. He felt it all at once, and he still looked up at Hylia, as her face slowly became something ethereal, and then melded into the light that surrounded him.
Link as falling again, and he felt time flowing as he did so. He felt the weights of Tatl and Tael on his shoulders, he heard them screaming, and he heard the clocks of time churning. He felt it, he looked around and saw it.
But he still gazed up, to see the remnants of Hylia staring down at him.
"Good luck, Sir Link. And remember…"
Her voice was trailing away, distant as the bells of the Temple when he was in the Lost Woods. Far, nearly mute, but he focused. Even through the halls of clinking gears he was shoved into, Link strained. Even as Tatl and Tael rang like the chimes in the wind, Link did his utmost to hear the Goddess one more time.
"I am always on your side."
"Then you just… arrived? In the Forever fall?"
"I don't know if just is the way to say it. He just… Link… a freaking Goddess?!"
"Amazing! Stupendous! Factual statement only by personal observation, dastardly! Likelihood of occurrence, momentous!"
"Dr. Oobleck, control yourself. Link, one more time, you are swearing, that is how you came here? You were sent by a Goddess… of Time?"
The woman's question, the blonde wound tighter than Cinder's heels, posed it. The half-Maiden listened to the query through her Scroll, staring at it sitting on her nightstand like an unruly viper.
"That can't be real. He has to be lying about it."
"I… don't think so," Ozpin, the mad wizard in the tower argued. Cinder was almost thankful for him saying such. "All that Link has told us, and with what we have seen, it explains much… and still leaves me uneasy about much else."
"I-Is that why you and… Tatl and Tael kept calling out like that?" What was that girl speaking of? "You always said… in the name of Time…."
"Yes! Correct! Common curse, similar to our denotations of Dust and Grimm. Not equal, far from equal, but similar. Air for birds to fish and water. Mediums of travel, words of cursing! Tatl, Tael, explained, deity, reality. Never considered possibility of consecration and meeting." Neither had she.
"Is this… real?" Cinder did not even glance at the girl by her side. She could flit her legs and wallow in confusion for all she cared. "That Link guy he… he was capable of all that?"
"No way, I know a liar when I hear one. And the dude may be good at it, but he's got too many tells." For once, in the fair amount of time she'd known him, Cinder wished to believe Mercury's words. But she was far more intelligent than to believe in something, not when facts and evidence were so apparent.
"They're right though, it does answer a lot of question."
"Throw in the gods and mystics and stuff, and you can answer 'bout any question."
"Then you're seriously suggesting-"
"Quiet," Cinder spoke. Simple, but it made her subordinates stiffen. "I cannot hear with your whining."
"You were literally sent by a Goddess through time, through herself if what you're saying has any sense to it. And she… wants to fight Salem. Guess that's one way of making you clean up after yourself."
"Raven!"
"Oh c'mon, like you're not thinking it? If this idiot hadn't used a freaking relic on this Queen Zelda, then we wouldn't be in this mess! I can't fill in all the cracks, but its pretty damn obvious that Salem used whatever power she could to skip into the distant past."
"Altering time's flow with it. She literally threw a dam up in that river of time the Goddess was talking about. And… what?" The question was met with silence. "What is she trying to do then? Get back at Time herself? Rule? Because if what I'm hearing is right, then she already was ruling."
"Ruling a dead land, because she didn't have Creation. And Link would not hand it over to her." A slow breath from the headmaster filled the room. Cinder was pregnant with patience. "In a bid to collect what she could not, she came to the past, before the artifacts were altered… the sense is there, but not the how to create it."
"Ozpin?"
"How were those artifacts changed? How did a Lantern of Knowledge turn into a Crest, a Triforce, of Wisdom? How were the sources of Creation and Choice so similar? And what of Destruction." Cinder took what little pride she could in the tired sigh the man let out. There wasn't much, as she was close to letting out a noise very similar. "And worse, I don't believe you'll have any answers for that Link. As the Goddess told you, it is something forgotten to her."
"You're believing him about that?"
"I am."
"Rubes, you'd trust him if he said he fell out of the sky and turned into a wolf."
"Well… did he?"
"Tai, I do believe Link, because nothing he has said contradicts what we know, there is a character witness who has shown no tells of surprise or deceit… and the tale fits too well with what I know of Salem. At least, after she was transformed."
There was silence then, long enough that Cinder thought the transmission had cut out. Her foot lightly wrapped at the flooring, nearly burning a fire between her boot and the carpet. Grit teeth kept her from grinding.
"I suggest, before we begin asking unanswerable questions, we reverse and look at what we can confirm." Glynda spoke. Even through the Scroll, Cinder could hear her tapping on her Pad. "Facts that I believe are highly relevant to state… Link, you don't come from another land, but the future of this land, correct?"
A soundless action was made on the other end of the line.
"You think Blake would be happy to hear the Faunus rule in the end?"
"Yang!"
"Another fact, Salem was pure of heart and your lover, a queen, before your act of resurrecting her allowed a dark force to corrupt her."
"Demise."
"Pardon?"
"The name of the dark force, Demise." The Spring Maiden answered. "The beast of old legends, fallen before even the first trees of the Lost Woods were planted. A legend to even myself. One so powerful his hatred alone could corrupt a king, and so fearful the goddesses sent others to fight in their place. How was a Queen, a mortal though powerful, to face against a King of Demons?"
"She couldn't, and that makes it all the more impressive that she did." Something grated on the other line, and it sounded like a chair across glass. "She did, at first, until Link here gave the bitch the Relic of Choice. Literally handed this evil god the power to choose whatever it wanted."
"Ma'am, i-is that-"
"Quiet," was her quick return to Emerald's query. But for once, her subordinate was unwilling to stay silent.
"I-I only mean to ask, those pieces of power you said Queen Salem has… they are Knowledge and Choice?" Cinder finally turned a burning eye to the thief, who shirked on her bed. She didn't answer the question. Namely because she had not known until now.
Without the breath or effort from her Mistress, she was being given the secrets of her lady's origins. And what was more, though she would never dare to speak to any in that room in a cordial or forgiving manner, she could add more to show Link's tale was proving true.
Were it not, how else would he know about the two relics of time that her mistress possessed? Or more than that, about show even she warned her about him coming. They did know one another, and it even added credence to that memory she saw in Saria's Lost Woods, some month or two ago.
Over ceremonial graves, the dying Spring Maiden begged Link to kill Salem.
She thought he resisted because he knew of her power, or he had been loyal to her before, but now she knew it wasn't so cut and dry. It was less of him being loyal to her because of her power, and more because they had loved one another. But through witnessing the end and beginning of life, her mistress had learned the futility of it, and from it, had grown. Link had resisted, he had made excuses not to follow her, and Salem had been wise to take what she needed instead.
Link was the coward who was merely capable, and her mistress knew he was not to be underestimated. Now she knew why.
"Actually, there is a question I have for you Link. What are the three of threes?" The Forest Maiden's question was earning Salem's rapt attention. More so than even lectures from her Mistress. "Are they things? Are they ideas? Are they events? Are they people? What are they?"
"Hold on, you don't know?"
"The order given to Link was done so after my demise. How am I to know what was spoken when I had already returned to the woods?"
"That is a good question. What are these things? If a Goddess asked you to find them, I think it rather important that you tell us just what they are." Cinder agreed, immensely.
"No! Not yet!" The smallest, and now clearly the most immature in the room, interrupted.
"Rubes, seriously?"
"Yes! Seriously! I mean, I know that those are important, but I want to know something else."
"You can ask questions following this meeting. Please do not forget you were invited as a courtesy for Tai and the Spring Maiden."
"Forest Sage."
"That said, it is inappropriate to try and impose a question yourself." The general was speaking for Cinder, it seemed, without any manipulation on her part.
"I-I got that, but… but we started talking about this because we defeated Roman, a-and that evil mask thing. But you're all forgetting why it was so important." Something waved, and the half-Fall Maiden was sure it was the girl's cloak billowing as she moved. "Link has Mom's sword… a-and we just heard about how he lost it and… and what happened Zelda, little Zelda so… isn't that important to know as well? What happened to her?"
Cinder retracted her earlier praise for General Ironwood. Apparently even an immature rosebud had a bit of bloom to her thoughts.
"That is important… yes, you are correct Ms. Rose. Though I am not sure where to start the train of thought. With respect to your tale Link, you said that Salem used her to drive open a portal through time, using her memories as the collateral."
"Something the Goddess wasn't happy about, but leave it to that monster to find the one thing to literally blackmail divinity with."
"Helps that she was the literal embodiment before the girl."
"Link, knowing what you told us, and where the sword ended up, I believe the conclusion is quite clear. That said… I am sure it is also something you are resistant to accept."
The silence was deafening even from Cinder's end of the line. She nearly burned Mercury as the boy adjusted himself, the scratching of the chair like feedback ono an active line. Enough to make her think his charred corpse worth less than a second of this conversation.
"Zelda is not a name that anyone knows, and Hylia, the Goddess, said that Salem used her memories as ransom. She took them, so that she could move through her river, and she told you of your daughter's fate. I do not know any Zelda, but I do know a nameless girl who went through life much like the one you described. One that named herself something different."
"With silver eyes… golden hair turned black, and… carried that sword with her wherever she went, even if she couldn't use it." The dread the man spoke with was palpable. Cinder would have loved it, were it not something she felt boiling inside her as well.
"That describes Summer to a 'T'." The other Spring Maiden spoke, snarling even. "Even during training she'd take that sword everywhere with her. Enough so that I know that it's her blade, even if I haven't seen it in years. And for the happy family?" Something scrapped again. "Your goddess missed out on the happy part, cause all you got is that over there."
Someone gasped, then two, then grumbling. Cinder imagined what the raven-haired thief was doing.
Doubtlessly, pointing at the youngest girl in the room.
"That's right, Summer didn't raise a happy go lucky family for years and years. She got two. Two lousy years after she was with Tai and then everything went to pot. That Hylia Goddess person said that she'd leave a happy life? Doubt that! Who the hell would be happy leaving their kid behind?!"
"You're one to talk, mom!" The bimbo's outburst was ignored.
"In case I'm talking over your head. I'll lay it out a bit thicker for you. Summer Rose is dead. Gone. And years ago, at that. All that's left of her is that sword and that girl." Another whimper through the Scroll. "Just the one kid she did bring into the world, before she was sent out on a mission by that man over there and killed-"
"Raven, enough!" It clearly was not.
"By Salem!"
Something was crushed on the other end of the line. Cinder didn't know what. Only that it was being, and sudden enough that it had everyone in the room scrambling. Shouts and chairs being brushed aside, and maybe even weapons drawn. Her optimism, the bit of it she had left, had her looking out the dorm window at the tower, hoping to see an explosion of some kind. No such luck.
"While they're in a mad panic, can I just throw out how important what that lady said is?" Mercury bravely put forward. Cinder allowed it, because there was no sense in a battle that could only be heard through a filtered line. "If we're taking what that guy is saying at face value-"
"We are." He paused, wisely, at her interruption.
"… Then that means not only is the guy we're trying to steal from at least on par with the Big Bad of the Bad Lands… it means she killed her own kid to get up that high." He was not wrong, but that was not what Cinder was thinking about right now.
The diluted fool, too many beatings as a child ruining his mind. He couldn't see past what was and look at what was important. The dead were dead, and the only thing they could offer was what they left behind. And in the tower was something far more important.
The girl she had dismissed so many times, and still could not see as much higher than a nourished flower, was the kin of her Mistress.
"Link! Please calm down!"
"Listen to them Link! This isn't the time to-"
"Let him go! I wanna see him fight! He's so high and mighty with that story, maybe he can explain why he's a colossal failure at protecting his family!"
"Raven, shut the hell up!"
This time, Cinder felt the thrum of power. She was sure everyone did, the rumble falling from the Headmaster's undeserved tower. She hoped to hear glass shatter, but nothing so much happened.
"Do not miss use the power that way!"
"I will use it however I want! Especially if its against some dense man who literally gave the tools of the Gods to a freaking monster! One he even created!"
"If you do not calm down this instant Raven, I will see to it you are shot on sight by every member of the Atlesian army!"
"The same for the Hunters of Beacon!" Cinder wasn't sure Glynda had that kind of power.
"You gotta calm down, too Link! Seriously! She's not worthy it! I know that better than anyone!"
"Yeah! She's just a big meanie that's trying to get you angry! L-Like bullies and she's just-"
Is Zelda dead?
The question was the first Cinder heard the man speak. Not so strictly a question, but one so loud the room was silenced. Even she felt her focus drawn back to it.
Is Zelda… Summer… is she dead?
She was. Cinder knew she was. She knew she was if not by the grave and mourning, then by the simple nature she hard Tyrian talk about killing a silver-eyed woman for Salem before. Back when there was at least a miniscule amount of intelligence in his maddened mind. It was something she praised him for often, and Cinder wasn't sure why.
Now, the reason was beyond obvious.
She was congratulating the man for killing her own daughter.
"Yes… Summer Rose is dead." Ozpin's voice would do funeral bells proud. It warmed Cinder's malicious heart.
She wished near desperately to be a fly on the wall, perhaps even to have a Seer hidden some alcove of the room, then she could see the warped torment across the Faunus's face… the Hylian's if she was being correct. Instead, she had to settle for imagining. Dreaming up what the man looked like as the news was told to him.
That his former lover had not only robbed their daughter of a future with him, but had taken her memories, then her life, and leaving what was left of his family in shambles.
The torment of it must be immense, especially for one who had traveled through time by a Goddess's command. If only-
"Link! LINK!" The sound of pounding footsteps was unmistakable. "H-Hold on!"
"Rubes, leave him-"
"Let them go." The Spring Maiden spoke. The oldest as far as Cinder could tell. "Unless you know of fine reason to keep Link here? Unless you think Ruby Rose is in danger?"
"No, I… I just…"
"It's alright Ms. Xiao Long, Ruby will be alright." The tired sigh from General Ironwood was patient. "Never try and tie a soldier down after he has been informed of loss. Never keep him from family when he is beginning to mourn."
Family… the idea of it now was starting to grow on her. That Link of Hyrule was related to Summer Rose and Ruby Rose. That her Mistress was related to them.
She could only hope they were not revelations that would lead to her suspicion from her Mistress.
"While they are gone, I believe there is another important matter to discuss. One that we cannot ignore." Cinder listened well. "Though I have long known that Salem had power beyond what she was born with, I believe now it is clear why she has it. Or more accurately, where it comes from."
"A literal demon, and with the avatar of a Goddess behind her." Ironwood scoffed. "I suppose now I should be less insulted she had been so strong a foe against all the kingdoms. Divinity and demonic natures behind her, and then the relics she took from another time. It is a small mystery now why she is always steps ahead of us. We should be thankful she has been patient all this time."
"That is what my curiosity rests on. Why is she so patient? There has to be something that has been keeping her from simply using the relics she has."
"If I had to guess, I'd say it would be knowing you're literally sitting two each." The father of the girls spoke. "Think about it, she's got Choice and Knowledge according to Link, however they chanced. You can grab one of those each. The heck would it look like having the same relics of power going at one another?"
"It would not be a marshal of forces having them combat one another Tai, but I recognize your point. She has been looking to secure those first, likely to remove the possibility of victory." The long sigh from Ozpin was foreboding. "I suppose that makes the decision to find a new Fall Maiden all the more pertinent. And the protection of our resident Spring Maidens."
"Don't talk to me like I'm not here," Raven spoke back. "But yeah, knowing that she's gunning for me now, and with this whole mess she's gotta know something up, I'll… I'll be hanging around. Not like I have much of a choice."
"I have no intention to leave, or issues to stay. Link will need me, and I don't suppose any will keep me from helping him?" No one spoke otherwise. "Very good, I have suspicion… he will need much comfort."
"Yeah… can't argue with that."
The conversation fell after that. With the main source of information gone from the room, to wherever he would run to, Cinder rose from her own seat, turning off the Scroll.
"You think there's nothing else left to listen to, boss?" Mercury's question was as blunt as ever.
"They will be talking about coddling a man who lost is daughter. Nothing important. Our time is better spent using what we have learned, and planning on what to do next." Her fingers thrummed against her palm. "Another Spring Maiden, understanding the importance of gathering the Relic of Choice, and getting the information of the Triforce of Power… of Creation to Mistress Salem. I am sure Watts or one of the others will be able to gather the remnants of that man."
"Should we tell them… about that mask as well?" Emerald's question came with some pause. "That wasn't a small battle and… if it got out again, I-I don't know if it'll help us." Her point was sound.
"Not to mention Ganondorf. If he is not soothed by the powers from before, he'll likely fight against us, and he would be far above us." She loathed to admit it, but Cinder was not foolish enough to consider herself more powerful than a man who could hold up the reformed moon. "Plans will need to be made, doubtlessly. In the meantime, I want the two of you to keep a close eye on the people of interest. Shadowing if you can, but otherwise talking to those who they interact with. Get close to them, without revealing yourself."
"Aside from the little green girl and big dark and gloomy, who else are we talking about?" Mercy asked. "Is Link on that list? That guy's not exactly in an approachable place right now." No, he was not.
"Though of interest to me, I don't want either of you to speak to him, not readily. Not until we can think of a way to use his daughter's memory or Salem against him. Speaking improperly could incite suspicion, and that may encourage the Spring Maiden to act as well. Though Ganondorf was far stronger, I dare to think she would be a match for anyone of us."
"Hard to forget the forest she grew before." Mercury flopped back in his chair. "That asked, who is the other person." The fool he still was for not knowing.
"Who else but the only other person to carry the blood of divinity in them." She quired a smile at his blinking expression. The subordinate of hers playing catch up with the obvious, far behind her thoughts. "Someone we must keep track of, if only now to show Mistress Salem about who else is present."
"You think… she doesn't know?"
"I believe she has suspicions, but I doubt she'll care for someone she threw away," Cinder answered. "If Summer Rose, or princess Zelda, was discarded before, I cannot image she'd care greatly for her kin. That said, her former lover is now returned, and clearly about to become far more involved in his grand daughter's life." She could not see him, but she could feel it.
Cinder just knew Link was about to become an entity unto himself in the family of Roses.
"If Ruby Rose is the daughter of Summer, then it would be in my best interest to keep track of our Mistress's family."
Author's Note: So I did have this whole multi-chapter story planned to show Link's history, like over 120k of it, but then a few reviewers said they didn't wat that, so I cut it up into this and hit the high points. Because of that, I may have altered some plot points that were set up WAY back in the first chapter. Just a few.
But don't forget what Dr. Oobleck is saying. Testimony is the literal LOWEST form of evidence. A 50 year career doctor who has saved thousands of lives through surgery and proposes a new method for surgical intervention can be immediately over ruled by a novice researcher who has a two-year prospective study on the efficacy and follow-ups of said procedure.
With that… please don't rip me a new one too harshly. I know this story is getting boring, so I hope I can bring it back for the finale.
