Gathering Dust

by FlowerOwl

Left behind as the sole survivor after death descended on the world, Zelda cannot deny that she is fleeing from more than just the memories haunting her as each passing day adds to the weight of her despair, and when a chance meeting allows for her path to cross those of two strangers, it soon becomes clear that they all have more to make peace with than merely their own past.

10. Chapter 10

Much like Hyrule Castle Town, Clock Town was surrounded by a town wall. Zelda wasn't exactly sure exactly when or why it had been built, only recalling a vague memory of her former history teacher having talked about some great Sealing War, nor did she care all that much about the reason for its construction as they reached it, the three of them just standing there for a moment, Epona neighing from her spot next to Link as if to express her sympathy with them. Zelda could understand why. The wall was tall, tall enough to make her abandon the, in hindsight ridiculous, idea of being able to climb over it within moments as the trolley forced her to realise that that would not have been an entrance that would allow them to bring their supplies into the city. But even then, it still took a moment before they were prepared to admit defeat to instead follow Ganondorf's suggestion of searching for the nearest gate into the city.

When they had been looking at the maps of Hyrule, Clock Town had almost seemed like a small city, at least when compared to Hyrule Castle Town. Zelda supposed that that might still be the case given how she had at least known the layout of the latter and been able to leave the city without a problem, but as they walked along the wall, it felt like the city would easily have been able to house half the world's population.

Finally, Link letting out a victorious yelp, they saw the wall open up in front of them, the asphalted road that lead into the city almost giving off the impression that the city itself was welcoming them and telling them to head inside to enjoy the protection that would come with being able to have a solid wall between themselves and the night.

However, for as much as Zelda knew that she should be happy that they had actually been able to reach Clock Town and not found themselves lost somewhere just east of it after discovering that their navigational capabilities were not as good as they had thought, she could not shake the feeling of there being something wrong with how they simply walked right in, pushing their trolley along as they continued to walk in the middle of the street rather than the pavement next to it. There were no cars that might possibly hit them, but even then, there was something about the situation that made Zelda acutely aware of every breath she took, how the little hairs at the back of her head moved to rise, none of her attempts at telling herself that she was overreacting, that everything was fine, succeeding in calming herself.

Still, casting a glance towards where Ganondorf and Link had walked ahead, bringing the trolley and Epona along with them, Zelda made up her mind not to tell them. Though she could not hear them, seeing the way Link pulled at Ganondorf's sleeve, pointing towards something to his left, was enough to let her know that, for once, they might fully get to enjoy themselves for a moment. After the tense silence and the way Link had seemed near tears for the past three days, Zelda would have faced every last wolf in Hyrule before she would begin to burden them with her nervous feelings.

So they made their way through the city, the more obviously tourist-oriented shops that dominated the buildings next to the streets near the entrance, Zelda spotting several sculptures that depicted a moon with a frowning face carved into it in the windows they passed by, soon being replaced by more official-looking buildings, a sign above one particularly modern building they passed before turning right at an intersection letting them know that it was Clock Town Library, Zelda finding herself moving faster to catch up with the others as the memory of the last time she had been to a library alone rose up from where she had tried to shove it down into a box to keep it from bothering her. Shaking her head, Zelda tried her best to keep it from being able to succeed at just that, pushing herself to ignore the stiff feeling in her legs of having slept in the trees and beneath the bridges that Link had deemed the safest for days as she instead moved to catch up with the others who had stopped about half a hundred metres ahead.

Even putting herself those few metres closer to Ganondorf and Link that a couple of seconds of running was able to carry her, the fact that they had stopped speaking in addition to moving was still noticeable, especially with how she had only noticed their conversation through their gestures towards each other before. In another world, she might have bothered to stop and wonder just what the reason for that may be, but that world had been taken away from them in a matter of hours, so at it was, Zelda ignored the uneasy feeling in her stomach and ran up to join them.

"Hello—" Zelda began, the question of why they had stopped dying in her throat as she followed their line of sight, turning left to look down the street in front of them.

It was an unassuming street, buildings lining both sides of it, the cars having suddenly stopped in the middle of the road just as they had come to expect when navigating a city. In truth, there was nothing out of the ordinary to be found there, or at least there would not have been, had it not been for the fact that Zelda could see the flicker of light that escaped from the windows of the building rising up above them at the end of the road, the large letters above the entrance proclaiming it to be Hyrule National Museum.

If she were to be asked later, she would not have known how long they stood there for, Zelda having to rub her eyes to know that what they were seeing was really real. Perhaps they would have stayed there until the end of times if it had not been for the light flickering again, the warm glow of it along with the way it seemed to move from window to window slowly allowing the growing suspicion that it might be the glow of torches to form in Zelda's mind as she turned around to look at how Ganondorf and Link were still staring intensely at the museum, the look on their faces something between awe, joy, and pure fear.

Zelda could not blame them. To think that they might come across someone in Clock Town would have been a hopeless dream only a moment ago, and with the numerous sources of light that had to be present within the museum with how she could count almost ten illuminated windows, the flickering light and the fact that it would sometimes move from window to window disproving the idea that it might belong to candles that had been left in the windows, there was still something about it that felt almost like it must be a sign that she was dreaming, seeing what her mind desperately wanted to be true rather than the actual truth. But even then, they could not stay there, not when the people inside the library could leave at any moment, and so, Zelda forced herself to return to reality around her.

"We have to let them know that we are here." Zelda waited for a moment, not continuing until she saw both Ganondorf and Link tear their gazes away from the museum to instead look at her. "Look, they have no way of knowing that we are here, and we can't just count on luck to have them look out the window and spot us from all the way over there. We have to head over to them and let them know that we are here. Who knows, they are probably going to be overjoyed that we are here as well."

It made sense. After all, the fact that both of their little groups were there, Zelda doubting that the people making up the group inside the museum could all somehow have known each other before and simply been lucky enough to have them all make it out alive, had to mean that they all shared the hope of finding fellow survivors to help take away the pain of being the only one still left alive. But despite it making sense, Zelda being able to think of countless reasons that she should be happy that they had reached Clock Town when they had, her attempts at explaining away the fear clinging to the air around them did not take away the heavy feeling in her stomach, nor the sensation of the hairs on her arms rising as she shot Ganondorf and Link a hesitant look.

Ganondorf was the second of them to snap out of the daze. Looking from the museum and down at her, the sight of how he clenched his jaw let Zelda know exactly when he made his choice even before he had nodded at her. "You're right. We have to. Link, are you coming?"

It took another couple of seconds before Link seemed to realise that they were still there, that there existed a world outside the museum in front of them, the white stones that made up its exterior making it look like it had been built specifically to draw the attention of any passer-by towards it, but at last, he mumbled something that sounded like a vague confirmation.

They left Epona and the trolley behind, hiding both behind a truck just down the road. Though neither of them seemed to be willing to voice their reasoning for doing so, Zelda did not have to look at the others to know just why they did it. As they made their way up the stairs towards the set of double doors leading into the museum itself, she could feel how the knot in her stomach grew even tighter, making her have to count in between breaths to not worsen it as Link pushed open the door with his shoulder, waiting for her and Ganondorf to enter before stepping inside himself.

Zelda had, if she were to say so herself, seen plenty of museums during her life. But even then, there was something about the sight of the entrance hall, how the room seemed to continue on for far longer than what should have been possible, Zelda craning her neck to look up at the ceiling high above her that had been decorated with a swirl of colours that bled together to form the outlines of the Golden Goddesses, Nayru's blue gown moving gracefully from the green of Farore's hair and into Din's deep red fire, that made her have to pause for a moment to take it all in.

"And who might you be?"

The unknown voice came from a point to her right, but before Zelda got the chance to do more than jerk away, her arms already halfway raised in an attempt at protecting herself, she felt Ganondorf's hand on her shoulder. A second later, she had been pulled backwards, Ganondorf not wasting a moment before stepping in front of both her and Link. From the way Link blinked a couple of times, seemingly unsure about where to look, Zelda knew that Ganondorf had also just grabbed him to shove him behind himself.

But for as much as she appreciated the attempt at protecting them, the curiosity was quick to defeat the fear rising from the pit of her stomach, making Zelda take a step to the side. It wasn't much, not enough to fully render Ganondorf's attempt at protecting her meaningless, but even then, that short glimpse of the person who had only just entered the room was enough to allow it to burn an impression of itself onto her eyelids.

They were wearing some sort of jumpsuit. That was the only word Zelda had that was able to encompass the patches of grey and reddish orange that had seemingly been sewn together in a hurry to create the clothes they were wearing, Zelda already seeing a couple of holes where stitches had seemingly come lose, and even then, it did not come close to fully describe the way the sight of the person made her blood feel like it had become ice in just the short moment it took for her to note that very detail, the mask that covered their face, the symbol of the Sheikah that had been painted onto it with clumsy strokes turned on its head, somehow only serving to make it all even more like a scene from out of her nightmares.

"Uh." from how Ganondorf was standing, having squared his shoulders, it was clear how the hesitation in the word was not what he had meant to show and he was indeed quick at regaining control, far quicker than Zelda would have been, standing up a bit straighter to stare down at the person in front of them. "We were just passing through the city when we noticed the light in the windows here. That made us wonder—well, who it might be that are in here."

It took a while before Zelda was able to name just what made it so eerie to look at the other person, but once she did, she could not understand why she had not realised it before. It was the mask, the mask and the way it covered their entire face, leaving Zelda unable to try to guess what they were thinking as they stood there, their head turned towards Ganondorf, but the mask giving Zelda no way of knowing whether or not they were indeed looking at him or ability to properly try to gauge what his reaction would be.

It felt like a year might have passed by the time the stranger finally bowed their head, the gesture seeming oddly stiff as they stood up straight again. With a tone of voice that did not reveal any emotions, neither joy at seeing that there were still other people left alive as well, nor the possibility of disappointment at the realisation that they were there, having walked into the museum Zelda was only just then beginning to think might have been claimed by the group, the person gestured towards a point behind them. "I see. In that case, I believe that an introduction is in order. We—" the motion grew, the hand making a grandiose sweeping motion before the person let it fall back to rest against their side, "are the Yiga Clan."

They turned at once, Zelda already knowing what she would see from the way it felt like tiny needles were poking at the back of her neck, the sensation of being watched sending a shiver down her back. It was too late, Zelda knew that, but even then, that was the moment she realised just why she had been feeling so on edge since having first entered the city, what the atmosphere around her had reminded her of. It had been the days she had spent looking over her shoulder, convinced that she was being followed and observed, but without a way of proving it to herself. That was the feeling that had washed over her upon entering the city, just as it was the sensation that overwhelmed her now that she spun around to see that about ten other people dressed in the same orange and grey clothes as the person in front of them, all of them wearing the same mask with the upside-down symbol of the Sheikah, had sneaked up behind them while they had been too preoccupied with trying to guess who the person in front of them was and what they might do next to notice anything else. They had moved so silently that even now, Zelda looking directly at them, she could not recall any moment where the sound of footsteps against the stony floor underneath her feet should have alerted her to the fact that they were not alone anymore.

Behind her, Zelda could feel Ganondorf tense a bit more, his attempt at figuring out what to do next seeping into the air around him as they stood there, surrounded by the unknown people whose expressions were not visible to them at all, being outnumbering by them by more than three to one. He must have reached the same conclusion, have taken in the situation and realising that, no matter what, even if the group would turn out to be hostile towards any outsiders, their best option would be to act like they were not aware of the possibility to at least try to create a moment of surprise in case of an attack, for even though Zelda could see the twitch that ran along his arm as he sent a short glance in her direction, there was nothing else about Ganondorf's demeanour as he turned back towards the first person to have spoken to them that would suggest that he was worried about the risk of them being attacked.

"Ah," Ganondorf said, adding a slight chuckle onto the sound, "I see that you have already found fellow survivors. In any case, we are happy to see that, truly. I—I know what it must have been like before that happened, how lonely it can be when you are on your own out there."

The person in front of them remained silent and still, and, not for the first time, Zelda found herself wondering if this might be their way of handling what had passed, if they had somehow stumbled upon some sort of cult formed in the aftermath of the old world being destroyed. Though she would by no means pretend to be an expert on the subject, there was something about their voice, devoid of any emotion, and the way they moved silently, dressed to form a single impression rather than wearing three different sets of stained and sweaty clothes the way she, Ganondorf, and Link did, that felt like it was an apt description for the impression they gave off as they stood there, Zelda finding herself twirling on the spot to try to keep track of all of them, both the group that had come to form a semicircle behind them, their heads turned towards the person in front of them, and that very same person who was still an unreadable presence in the room with their mask and general lack of body language.

"I see." the stranger said the words without any chance to their intonation. It could perhaps have sounded bored if it had not been for the chilling effect of Zelda not being able to look into their eyes to see if she would see the same blank expression in there as the one that was dripping from their voice. "However, we are not like you in the slightest."

"Oh." taking a step back, Ganondorf was quick to recover, once again letting his voice grow firm. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean," the stranger said, "that we were never separated. We always knew that the rest of our group was out there, waiting for us to find them. Once the hourglasses turned to let the cycle begin anew again, it was simply a matter of us reaching out to find the rest." they turned around, pointing towards the hallway they had just been blocking. "We can tell you more about it while we show the three of you our work."

It was not an offer they could decline. That much became clear as Zelda turned to grab Link's hand, only to see that the people behind them had moved forwards, leaving them with no choice other than to follow the person Zelda assumed must be their leader if they wished to avoid finding out what might happen if they managed to reach them and found that they moved too slowly. With the feeling of being watched still lying right beneath the surface in her mind, Zelda obeyed the implicit order without a word, pulling a frozen Link along as the leader of the Yiga Clan began to lead them down the hallway. If nothing else, perhaps seeing the building the Yiga Clan appeared to view as theirs might be able to grant her more knowledge about them, and so, Zelda made sure to remain alert as the rest of the clan moved to follow along after them, forming a barrier between her, Ganondorf, and Link and the nearest escape route.

For all that had happened outside, the museum was in a surprisingly good condition. That was the first thing Zelda noted as they began to move down a hallway lined with paintings, some of them consisting of the yellow and orange hues of flames as they showed a castle burning, the flames rising up against a deep blue sky. There was no dust beneath her feet, no cobwebs as she risked a glance up towards the ceiling, nothing to suggest that all upkeep and money towards repairs not to even mention actual repairs must have stopped the moment the disaster had struck. With how the people around her moved without a sound, none of them seeming to feel the need to ask where they were going, Zelda was sure exactly who had been the reason for that. But that still left her with the question of why, why a group like the one behind them had decided that their new task after the end of the world should be to come to Hyrule National Museum to protect and care for it. Granted, with how she had been willing to follow Ganondorf across Faron Sea, Link joining them after minimal discussion, Zelda had no right to begin to question the decision, nothing that would give her the ability to speak out against finding hope in something that was, objectively, not helpful in their current situation, but even then, she could not help to look at the almost garishly orange colour that covered patches of their leader's clothes and wonder what it all meant.

At her side, Link had yet to let go of her hand. Sneaking a glance out of the corner of her eyes, Zelda found herself wondering if he was really aware of what was happening around them. The empty look in his eyes as he walked alongside her, the lax grip he returned her attempt at giving his hand a little squeeze with letting her know that the only reason he was even following along was that she refused to let go of him, would certainly seem to indicate that that was note the case.

She should do something about it, Zelda was aware of that. Should things take a turn for the worse, they were already outnumbered. The last thing they would need was for one of them to not be fully aware of where they were or how they had got there. But try as she might, Zelda could not bring herself to say something, not in the suffocating quiet of the museum, the sound of three set of footsteps being all that brought a rhythmic pause to the silence.

It must have begun to affect her mind, for as they reached the end of the hallway, the stranger in front of them turning left without a word, the paintings of destruction and flames soon giving way to sculptures Zelda could not remember having ever heard about before, giants rising up next to her, so tall that they almost touched the ceiling, she found herself having to reach over to scratch the back of her hand. It made no sense—with how they had spent ages simply walking next to one another for the past couple of days, Zelda knew that she would have noticed it if she had touched anything that might explain the itchiness covering the back of her right hand—and still, she continued to scratch it, Link soon looking down at her hand, the movement having seemingly pulled him back to the reality around him.

Frowning slightly, Link lifted his gaze, soon looking directly at her. In his eyes, Zelda almost thought she saw a question, but before she got the chance to try to figure out just what it might be, Link had torn his gaze away from her again, once more going back to staring straight ahead at where Ganondorf was still forming a barrier between the two of them and the possible leader of the clan. With the people walking behind them, it was a gesture that would probably turn out to have been in vain, should the worst happen, but even then, Zelda still found herself thankful for it as the leader broke through the silence.

Nodding towards one of the statues to their right, a man standing with one foot on a stone, a trident in his hand as he looked towards what Zelda assumed to be an unseen enemy from the way his face was contorted into an expression that was not quite a frown nor a smile, the stranger turned towards them, not letting the fact that they could no longer see where they were going slow them down. "As you might have noticed, we have moved quite a few pieces from museums throughout Hyrule over here. That statue, for example, used to belong to the Museum of Mythologies in Deya Village."

So that was what had made it feel like there was something deeply out of place to be found wherever she looked in the room. Glancing back towards the statue as they passed it, now that she was aware of it, Zelda could see how it was not placed as parallel to the walls as the rest of the exhibits. She had not known exactly what the reason for that was, but as the leader fell silent, Zelda instinctively knew not to mention her confusion, instead nodding at them with what she hoped was a smile that did not reveal the tense knot of anxiety in her stomach.

It was impossible to know whether or not she had succeeded, the person in front of them merely continuing without acknowledging her reaction. Or, at least, they did not react in a way they would have been able to see. Passing through a hallway, they led them all into a room that opened up on both sides, the walls rising up high above their heads.

Turning her head to the side, Zelda tried to guess what might have been grand enough to create the need for such an imposing room, but either the Yiga Clan had also moved pieces out of the museum, or she was missing something, for no matter how much she tried to spot a statue large enough to warrant the grandeur of the room, she could not see anything as the leader of the Yiga Clan held up their hand, gesturing for them to stop just in front of where a couple of steps led up to a slightly raised stage.

They obeyed immediately, Zelda walking up to stand next to Ganondorf as they all stood there, silently watching the stranger in front of them. There was no need for her to ask to know that they were all waiting to see what would happen next, whether or not they were right to feel like they were only waiting for an attack to be directed towards them.

"See," the leader said, turning from them again, "after the cycle began again, we knew that it would fall to us to prepare for what would need to be done. We could not allow the relics of Hyrule to remain in dusty rooms in museums scattered across the lands—they had to be found and retrieved so that they could fulfil their destinies."

So they were trying to save the relics from becoming ruins. Looking around her, Zelda tried to bridge the idea of them being harmless hobby-historians with the clothes and the masks, the connection unable to fully let her forget about the feeling of having been observed. If she was to believe that that, the wish to protect and keep the relics, was all that drove them, then what would they have come to Hyrule Castle Town for, granted that they were indeed the very same people as the ones she had felt staring at her wherever she went? Try as she might, Zelda could not think of an answer.

Perhaps the same was the case for Ganondorf and Link, their attempts at making sense of what was going on around them coming to an end, unable to produce an answer, or at least, none of them said anything. Instead, they all simply stood there for a moment before the leader began to speak again.

"I see that none of you understand what I am referring to. Maybe the times have robbed you of your sight… or, maybe…" though they could not see the face of the leader, their voice made it clear that they found the idea reprehensible, "perhaps it will take fate even longer to lead the chosen ones to us. In that case, I suppose that you are simply the pawns in this game." everything about the way they let their intonation drop a little, just barely enough to bring an end to the monotonous tone that had characterised their words before, let Zelda know that they did not wish for that to be the case, but as much as she knew that it all depended on her being quick to refute the idea she did not known what meant, she could only stand there, silent, as the stranger continued. "Still, I suppose that we ought to give you a chance to prove us wrong. After all, if we are right, it would mean that our leader has returned." with a flourish, the stranger stepped aside, revealing that the little raised section of the floor behind him had not, as Zelda had assumed, simply been yet another part of an empty room.

Instead, there was a pedestal rising up from the floor. It wasn't tall, barely noticeable on its own as it rose up a few centimetres from the tiled floor. The thing that really made it stand out, what made Zelda understand why the stranger had been so careful to position themselves just in front of them, was the sword that seemed to have been trust into the stone, the hilt sticking out of it, blue and a deep purple twisting around it. As they stood there, Zelda knowing that both Ganondorf and Link had found themselves in the same kind of frozen awe as her, a ray of the sun found its way in through the windows above them, bathing the sword in a golden glow.

"Link!"

Zelda was brought back to reality by the sound of Ganondorf hissing the name. Looking towards him, it took a few seconds too long for her to realise the connection between Ganondorf's outstretched hand, his furrowed brows, and panicked look and the fact that Link had moved, no longer standing next to him. Instead, he was already halfway across the floor, walking towards the pedestal and the sword with steps that seemed so even, so precise, that Zelda could almost not believe that the body of the person in front of her really belonged to the same person who had been able to chase off a bear, the one who had pushed the trolley to get it to the block of flats in time, the trolley almost veering off the road when he had pushed it. But it was Link. There was no mistaking the duvet jacket, nor the dirty blond hair that caught the light the moment he stepped up onto the platform.

He wasn't stopped.

Waiting, torn between the sense of not being able to bring herself to breathe as the seconds became longer around her and knowing that she might have to prepare herself for a fight any moment now, Zelda waited for the second the Yiga Clan would move, either to protect their relics or to attack them specifically, but turning towards them with hostility either way.

Only, it did not happen. Rather than rushing forwards to try use their numbers as a weapon against Link before he would be able to reach what was undoubtedly a source of pride for them, as Zelda looked towards the one she had deemed the leader, they were still right where they had been a moment ago, their mask keeping her from being able to guess their thoughts. But there was no need for it. It took a fraction of a second for it all to come together, the days of paranoid conviction that she was being watched, their behaviour and the way they had made sure to surround them the moment they had entered the museum, the cryptic way of referring to the relics, and now this, the fact that they did not do anything to keep Link from advancing towards the sword, reaching out for it, the sunlight he was bathed in almost seeming to grow sharper, to form the single thought of 'danger', but even that was enough to make it all too late by the time Zelda felt herself being pulled forwards, towards Link, raising up her hand in a desperate attempt at stopping him, the words catching in her throat as he reached out to touch the sword.

The world exploded in a flash of blindingly white light.

All Zelda could do was to close her eyes, the light still following her as she pressed her hands against her face. From somewhere next to her, she heard a yelp, but there were no thoughts left in her brain that would have been able to try to analyse who had been the one to make the sound, what it meant. All that existed to her for those moments was the light. The light and then the feeling of being torn on multiple directions all at once, spinning through the air as she struggled to find a foothold.

And then, above it all, there was voice ringing in her ear, the feeling of being pushed forwards, towards the pedestal and the sword, of being told to reach out towards Link even as the light filled every last part of the room, carried along as an echo of its whispers, words Zelda could not understand but still knew the meaning of whirling around her.

Finally, then the light abated, disappearing just as quickly as it had first appeared. Blinking to get rid of the afterimage of the flash, Zelda found that she had fallen to the floor in her desperation to rid herself of the sensation of being lost, the coldness of the tiles soon returning to flow though her hands as she pushed herself back up.

It was then that, almost like the world had decided to let the moment of total blindness be followed by a kick to the stomach, Zelda felt how all air left her lungs.

Link had pulled out the sword. Rather than standing in front of her, leaning down slightly to hold onto the hilt of the sword, he was now standing up straight, the sword raised up above his head, the metal of the blade itself catching the light and leaving them with no delusions about the possibility of the knife edge being dull.

Slowly, looking almost like he could not quite believe what had happened either, Link lowered his arm, the light around him fading as he did so, to instead bring the sword up in front of him to study the hilt like the answer to just what had happened would be found there.

"What…?" his voice was small, but in the silence of the room it was as audible as a yell would have been.

Zelda would have had no trouble imagining that the universe itself was stretching and bending time to make up for the long seconds of blindness, as several things happened all at once the next moment.

"It's them!" the leader of the Yiga Clan waved towards Link. "They are here! You know what your duty is!"

Metal flashed, and the next thing Zelda knew, the wall of silent people that had implicitly let them know not to turn around or try to leave the museum again, had become a row of individual people, all of them jumping back into a fighting stance, all of them armed with a kind of rounded blade, leaving Zelda to, for a brief, illogical moment, wonder where they had kept their weapons to keep them from seeing them before that second.

However, the sight of the grey of the metal did not give her another moment to ponder the question, not as the adrenaline filled her body in an instant, making her already have begun to sprint by the time Ganondorf had turned around to grab onto her arm. Spinning around so quickly that Zelda felt almost like she was about to fly through the air as she fought to follow along, Ganondorf ran through the room, leaping up the couple of stairs leading up to the platform to grab Link before jumping down on the other side, Link and Zelda both trying their best to follow along as he pulled them with him down another hallway.

Behind her, Zelda could just barely make out the sound of footfalls. With how the Yiga Clan had moved without making a sound before, she tried her best to keep herself from wondering just what it might mean for their chances of escape, not even to mention what might happen to them in the event that they were caught, the gleam of their weapons in the sun seeming like a picture she would never be able to rid her brain of again. But she had to. As they bolted down the hallway, Ganondorf barely avoiding stumbling over a vase on a pedestal, Zelda hearing how it fell to the ground with a crash behind them, it could not have been more evident that there could be no room in her mind for any thoughts that were not directly related to just what they could do to escape the museum and the Yiga Clan.

"Watch out—around here!"

Letting out a strangled warning, Ganondorf tugged at her arm, bringing Zelda just close enough to him to keep her from running headfirst into the tall stone tablet in front of them as he made a sudden turn to the right to bring them down another hallway. As they dashed past painting after painting depicting various scenes during the Hyrulean Civil War, Zelda slowly began to let her body move of its own accord, allowing her to try to see through the layer of adrenaline and fear to assess their chances.

Fact: the Yiga Clan outnumbered them. Also fact: they had no way of knowing whether or not they would even be safe if they were to make it outside. As much as Zelda wanted to believe that the Yiga Clan was so dedicated to the museum that they would not dare leave it, as she turned around yet another corner, desperately trying to figure out just where they were in relation to an exit, she knew that it would be foolish to assume that that was the case. And then there was the cryptic talk of cycles and the indication that the Yiga Clan had awaited their arrival. The latter was not something Zelda could do anything about, but from what she could see, the only possible answer to the two first points would be to try to put as much distance as possible between their group and the Yiga Clan behind them to allow them to flee the city without being followed.

Forcing herself to push through the feeling of her legs being about to give up on her, Zelda pushed herself to run faster, soon allowing her to not only keep up with Ganondorf, but also move past him, motioning for him and Link to follow her as she found herself sprinting down another hall of statues. "Follow me! I think I have an idea!" she did not bother to turn around to make sure that they were indeed following her; the sound of heavy footfalls, the slightly wheezing sounds of all three of them struggling to continue to run, and the Yiga Clan right there behind them, sounding like they were not even getting a little bit tired from running, echoing in her ears as Zelda sprinted down the hallway.

If they could just get outside, if they could reach Epona and the shopping trolley, though not completely even, at least their chances would not look quite as grim when compared to the numbers and the weapons of the Yiga. Granted, an axe was in no way comparable to the metallic glint that flashed behind her, the reflection of it visible in a display case containing what seemed to be an ancient sculpture of the Triforce as Zelda ran around it, ducking through another doorway, Link and Ganondorf following right behind, but at least they would have a chance.

Zelda realised her mistake the moment she entered the room. Rows upon rows of what appeared to be weapons from the first war with the Zora's Domain lined the walls, little stands enclosed in glass cases that had been scattered throughout the room displaying the weapons that could not find a home against the wall, their sharp edges and spearheads not allowing Zelda even the slightest hope that they were not still as deadly as when they had been used, perhaps even a little bit more deadly now if the bacteria that must have gattered in the room would have been able to reach them within their exhibition cases. But more than any of that, she knew that they had just lost all chances of escape as she looked towards the far end of the room where she had expected to see a doorway leading into the entrance hall to instead see a solid wall.

The seconds they had left before the Yiga Clan would be upon them were running out, that much was clear from the sound of metal cutting through the air, but it seemed that there was more truth to Zelda's theory of how panic would make people freeze than to her father's adage about how a bit of panic always made the fear of failure have to let go of its hold, for as she stood there, seeing the fear that must be visible in her eyes reflected in Ganondorf's and Link's expressions, Zelda had never felt as lost as she did right then, the realisation that if she did not figure something out now, they were going to die, washing in over her.

"I—I am so sorry." Zelda winced the moment the words left her mouth. The apology felt hollow, but then again, what could she have said that would have made the situation any better?

But, somehow, rather than looking down at the ground, giving in to the same kind of hopeless apathy as Zelda had, Ganondorf looked over at her, the fear giving way to another emotion entirely, the expression in his eyes becoming fiery in a way she had never seen before. "Don't." Ganondorf looked over at her, his attention not leaving her for even a moment as he continued. "Don't apologise, and certainly not in a way that makes it sound like we are going to lose. They are out here, but we have the weapons. Link." turning to look over at Link, Zelda followed Ganondorf's line of sight, instantly spotting what she had missed before as Ganondorf continued with a gesture towards the sword in Link's hand, the purple and blue design of the hilt making it stand out against the weapons around them. "I don't know why they were so interested in that sword or why you pulling it out of the pedestal was the thing that convinced them that we are the people they were after, but fact is that we have a sword. Use it. As for the rest of us, we will have to make do with antiquities."

There was a fraction of a second where Zelda was almost certain she could see Ganondorf steel himself, squaring his shoulders as he spun to size up the exhibition case next to them, the glass separating them from a couple of sleek spears, the long lines of them instantly marking them as being made by the Zoras in the late twenty-third century, before the very last of her thoughts had to leave to instead make space for the sound of glass shattering beneath the impact of Ganondorf's foot and the sharp grunt of pain as Ganondorf, not wasting even a second, rushed directly into the shower of falling glass, picking up two spears, to throw one towards Zelda while keeping the other one.

Zelda was barely able to catch it in time, her mind still fighting to catch up with what had just happened. All in all, they could barely have been in the room for more than ten seconds, and yet, it felt like she had lived out an entire life in there. However, she did not get a chance to work through everything that had just happened, for the next second, the Yiga Clan was upon them.

They attacked all at once, rushing into the room as one big wave of grey and orange, the blades in their hands already positioned for an attack as they reduced what little distance still separated them to mere metres, centimetres, and then nothing at all. Barely managing to bring up her spear, using it to block an attack the fatality of which she had no illusions about, Zelda felt how the metal connected with the spear, the vibrations almost being enough to instinctively make her drop the weapon as they travelled through the metal. But she held onto it. Gritting her teeth and forcing herself to find every last bit of strength in the adrenaline that came to fill her entire world, Zelda pushed back against the Yiga, taking a moment to find her balance before delivering a kick to the Yiga's abdomen. Or at least, she would have, had it not been for the fact that, by the time she had gone through with the motion, the attacker was no longer where they had been just a fraction of a second ago. Rather than muscle, all Zelda's foot hit was air, and even though she hurried to follow through by letting the momentum carry her a step forwards rather than attempting to fight it, Zelda already knew that she had been thrown off balance.

The next attack came much quicker than the first, this time aimed at her legs. Once again, Zelda barely managed to deflect it with her spear, the feeling of metal against metal making her arms shake. She was exhausted. It was simple as that. The days on the road, all of it preceded by weeks of eating solely to not disrespect everyone who had not been lucky enough to survive, it was all was catching up with her now as she found herself forced backwards, the wall behind her coming closer and closer with every second. Before long, there would be nowhere to go in response to the attacks, nothing to do other than to let the Yiga member continue to chip away at the last bit of energy she had left. And she was only faced with one attacker. From what Zelda could see, risking being taken by surprise for a moment to cast a glance across the room, her eyes instantly finding Ganondorf's bright red hair and Link's green jacket among the sea of grey and orange, it would appear that most of the Yiga Clan members had focused on Link, forcing him to back away, the sword catching the light in the room as he swung it back and forth.

"Don't attack his highness!"

Even as Zelda felt the spear slip out of her grasp, the horrible second being made even longer by her stomach feeling like it had left her stomach as she threw herself forwards, barely managing to catch it and spin around to meet the next slash, she could still recognise the voice of the person she had assumed was the leader of the Yiga Clan.

They were yelling, their voice carried up above the fight to reach all of them, and still, it felt just as monotonous as before. "The goddess is not important, but don't let any harm come to our leader! As for the hero, he is the one he truly wants dead! Go after the one who drew the Master Sword, for he is the one whose destruction we are dedicated to!"

Zelda sensed the change before she felt it. She had been distracted, torn away from what was right in front of her by the words, and now, she paid for it. Moving backwards, Zelda felt the glass case against her back, the edge of it just barely reaching her head as she steadied herself, trying her best to prepare herself for the next attack.

It never came.

Slowly allowing herself to focus on anything that was not the spear in her sweaty hands or when the next attack would come, Zelda felt how the world expanded around her, now consisting of more than just the person directly in front of her and the blade they wielded.

She felt it, felt everything happen, but still, there was nothing she could do to change it. From across the room, Zelda saw how the Yiga member she had been fighting mere seconds ago was already rushing through the room, joining the rest of the Yiga Clan as they launched a united attack against Link who was still swinging the sword he had pulled from the pedestal—the Master Sword, perhaps, Zelda's mind supplied her with, the implications of what it meant for Link and just whom the leader had been referring to a moment ago making her blood run cold—at them when one of his attackers was able to duck beneath the blade, reducing the distance between them to one they could cover with their own weapons.

Barely dodging the attack, Link stumbled. It was only a moment, but it was still more than enough to give the Yiga Clan the opening they had been waiting for, the one that made the attacker's swipe towards Link's legs hit him directly in the hollow of the knee, sending him tumbling to the ground.

A wordless scream tore its way up Zelda's throat as she watched the Yiga Clan step aside, allowing their leader to step forwards, their blade raised skyward as they bowed their head. Even from where Zelda stood, both the angle and the mask of the Yiga member keeping her from being able to see their face, she knew that they were enjoying it, the slow, almost catlike movements of them letting their blade reach an apex above their head showing how they revelled in it.

"And now, dear hero, I think that it is time that we let you depart from this world to let the cycle reach its end." their voice was low, but what truly sent chills down Zelda's back was that the fact that, for the first time since they had met them, she could hear actual emotions in their voice, the glee practically dripping from their voice as they stood there.

All that separated them was what could barely be more than twenty metres and a couple of display cases, but as Zelda saw the blade begin its descent, she already knew that she could do nothing but watch. Searching for Link's gaze to give him one last apology for having been the one to lead them into the room, Zelda saw the fear shine in his eyes, and had it not been for how she doubted her body had retained the knowledge of how to do anything other than stand there in silent horror, she was sure that she would have vomited. Perhaps she should have closed her eyes, but even if she had been able to, she could not deny that she owed it to Link to at least look at him one last time.

"Get away from him!"

A blur of red and the sound of metal clattering to the ground filled the room.

Blinking, Zelda knew that she must be dreaming. There was no other way to explain what had just happened. But she blinked and blinked twice and the scene in front of her did not change to reflect her fears. Ganondorf was still standing there, his spear raised, silent fury clear on his face as he looked at the leader of the Yiga, letting a heartbeat pass before he turned the weapon in his hands to let the spearhead point directly towards their heart.

"Don't touch him!" Ganondorf growled the word. As Zelda looked at him, she could not spot even the faintest trace of the man she had come to know. Where his eyes had always seemed soft beneath any steely look or harsh glances, there was now only pure fire and anger to be found in his expression, and just as the certain softness that had always accompanied his movements had now disappeared, leaving him to stand like a boulder between Link and the Yiga Clan, his voice had changed as well, becoming as sharp as the blade Zelda knew had been the thing to produce the metallic clatter as it had fallen to the ground.

Inching closer to the scene, Zelda made sure to regain her grasp on her spear. The rest of the world might feel like it had stopped, but even then, Zelda would have been a fool to ignore the lines of tense muscles that were visible beneath the greys and oranges that made up the Yiga Clan's clothes.

The next second proved that she was right.

Letting out a sound that was halfway between a chuckle and an outright snarl, the leader of the Yiga Clan stepped back, away from Ganondorf, voice rising once again. "I should have known that you would have fallen to the turn of the time as well!" turning towards the rest of the people around them, the stranger made a sweeping gesture, seemingly trying to encompass every last one of them as they spoke. "They have been able to corrupt even the strongest, a crime we must not forgive! Attack!"

The effect was immediate, Zelda soon finding herself faced with two members, the flashes of metal coming every second, Zelda having only barely enough time to block them, her arms still shaking from the last impact by the time she had to bring up the spear once more to stop another attack from being able to meet its intended target. But the moment where pure adrenaline and panic would not be enough to save her anymore was coming closer and closer with every passing second and every attack that forced her to push what little strength she had left out into her arms to keep herself from dropping the spear, and as Zelda found herself once again having to back away to give herself enough time to ready herself in between attacks, she knew that the battle was about to come to an end.

It the middle of all that, the sound of glass shattering around her barely registered in her mind, the pain of the window behind her breaking to let glass fall down on her mild in comparison to the scream she heard echo through the room. A single glance in the direction of the source of the sound was all she could risk, but even that was enough for her to see the long, red line that had been drawn onto Ganondorf's upper arm, the blood dripping from one of the spikes that covered the blade his attacker still held above their head.

And then grey, blue, and white appeared in the never-ending sea of grey and orange.

Blocking another stroke, all Zelda could do as she saw someone rush past her, moving so quickly that had it not been for the clatter of metal meeting metal, she would not have known that they had drawn their weapon in time to meet the raised blade of the Yiga who had been about to attack her. Squinting, still lost in the hope that the attempt at blocking out anything that was not the action of the person directly in front of her would help her answer the question of just who the person who had so willingly put themselves between her and her attacker was, Zelda had to admit defeat as the figure in front of her continued to move, a bright, blue light flashing as the Yiga member fell to the floor in a heap of grey and orange, the unknown person who had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere but probably through the window that was now left as a gaping hole in the wall behind her not wasting a moment before moving away from her once again. Instead, she grasped the opportunity to finally get a chance to try get a general view of the situation with both hands, rising to the tip of her toes to look out over the violence that continued to move back and forth through the room, the blues, greys, and whites that had just been mixed into the sight making it seem less like lava coming to melt everything in its way and more like ebb and flow of an ocean, alluring while still being deadly in its own way.

She spotted Ganondorf near the wall. Kneeling down on the ground, he had his arm pressed against his chest, his right hand coming up to hold it there, the long red line that ran across his triceps already dripping with blood. Next to him, Link had moved over to stand between him and the immediate danger of one of the Yiga thinking to turn around to attack them once more, sword held high and stance balanced, ready to strike.

However, the seconds passed, Zelda slowly beginning to feel like she was capable of things that exceeded the immediate reaction of ducking and moving away from the sharp edge of a blade, a thought that allowed her to run to the others, keeping herself close to the wall to avoid having to take another unnecessary step towards where the violence seemed to have gathered in the middle of the room.

Crouching down next to them, Zelda saw the brief second where Link's eyes flashed with anger, his grip on the sword growing tighter before he recognised her, but, for as much as part of her wanted to assure him that all would be well, there was no time to handle any of it, leaving her to instead reach out towards Ganondorf's uninjured arm, trying her best to be gentle as she pulled him up from the floor, letting him place his weight against her shoulder as she began leading both him and Link towards the door. Behind her, the sound of swords meeting swords continued, drowning out her words as she tried to make herself heard above the cacophony of noises. "Link! We are being followed—let me speak—I am going to lead them away from you two! Take Ganondorf, go find Epona, and get away from here!"

She had hoped that he would not notice what she had not said, but of course, Link did, tilting his head to the side as he stepped forwards, holding up Ganondorf as Zelda ducked beneath his arm. "And then what about you?"

"I will be fine!" already halfway running, Link and Ganondorf following along after her, their steps against the tiled flooring echoing around her, the sound soon joined by another set of footfalls as she pushed Ganondorf and Link through a doorway, Zelda tried her best to sound like she was able to believe that herself. "Just go—I will catch up with you in a moment!"

After that, Zelda did not bother to make sure that they had understood her. All that mattered was the fact that Link obeyed her, moving away from the doorway, Ganondorf leaning against his side as Link wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him upright as their little group parted ways, Zelda continuing on her own down the hallway.

In the relative quiet that filled her surroundings as she turned around the corner, moving out of sight of both the Yiga Clan and the unknown group that had appeared moments ago, Zelda knew that she had been right to think that they were being followed. The footfalls were soft, and perhaps she would not have heard them had it not been for the adrenaline flowing through her veins, letting every second appear to be slightly longer, making her even more aware of the crash that followed her spear no doubt knocking some priceless artefact to the floor as she flung it to the side, trusting herself to flee more than to fight as she turned around corners and ran through corridor after corridor, the follower never more than a few seconds behind her. A couple of times, Zelda was almost certain that she saw a flash of blue out of the corner of her eyes, but she did not stop to make sure that it was more than just a product of the fear of being caught, instead throwing herself to the side and continuing to sprint away from every last sound and movement around her.

The museum was a labyrinth. In the world before , Zelda might have been able to see the wisdom in the twisted hallways and the way she would move from room to room, making her way through the centuries of battles, art, and culture, some of the objects clearly out of place, but without leaving her with a way of knowing whether it was due to them having been brought there by the Yiga Clan or having been knocked over by either herself, Ganondorf, Link, the Yiga Clan, or the unknown group, nor did it matter to her as she pushed herself to reach her limit. In those minutes of bolting through rooms of relics and paintings, the only thing that held any importance to Zelda was the fact that she had to find an exit that would not take her towards Ganondorf and Link and the risk of her pursuer changing their target to instead go after Ganondorf now that he was hurt, so Zelda pushed it all aside to instead focus on the placement of the windows in the rooms she passed, counting to herself as she entered a new room to find that, rather than the windows being located on her left-hand side, they were now directly in front of her. In other words, she must be near the corner of the building.

Turning right, Zelda found herself in what appeared to be some kind of gift shop, souvenirs covered in dust being on display all throughout the room. But more importantly, the unlit sign above the door to her left let her know that she had finally found another exit. Rushing forward, giving herself a moment to grab onto a rack full of colouring books and pull it towards her as she passed, Zelda could only hope that it would not turn out to be a dead end as she reached for the door handle. It was like ice to the touch, but Zelda could not have cared less that as she wrapped her hand around it and pushed. The door sprung open, and with the sound of the person behind her trying their best to make their way through the mess of colouring books and crayons still only a couple of metres away from her, Zelda continued forwards, stepping out into the streets of Clock Town.

The city looked the exact same as when they had first decided to enter the museum. Though it felt like a lifetime had passed in there, as Zelda wasted a precious fraction of a second taking in the sun's position in the sky, it was clear that, despite everything, it was a matter of minutes since they had last been out there with both Epona and the promise of their shopping trolley full of supplies to give them some sense of security. As she turned left, putting as much distance between herself and where Ganondorf and Link had hopefully reached Epona and the trolley, Zelda could only hope that they would be able to go back to that moment in time again.

Not for the first time, she was struck by how large the city was, but now, rather than being a source of annoyance as they tried to find an entrance into the city, it was what allowed Zelda to try to hold onto the hope of being able to outrun the person chasing her, never running straight for more than a couple of seconds before she would turn to the side to continue down some alleyway or any other path that allowed her to increase her chances of losing her pursuer.

Little by little, her plan seemed to work, the sound of footsteps behind her slowly growing less and less intense as she put more distance between them. But even then, Zelda did not slow down, did not allow herself to think of anything that would have broken her focus or allowed her to stop to notice the feeling of fire in her legs and lungs or the exhaustion settling into every last cell of her body. Instead, she continued, soon reaching what she deemed to be the western gate.

There, Zelda stopped for a moment, giving herself a second to try to go over her options. Outside, Zelda could see the flat expanse that was Hyrule Field, the grass not providing her with any cover as it lead down towards the rushing waters of a river, her mind connecting the sight of patch of tall grass separating the river itself from the rest of its surroundings with the memory of Regencia River, Zelda unable to tell whether it was true or not. It was a bad idea to go out there, one that might render those last few minutes of putting distance between herself and the person chasing her meaningless, but as Zelda felt her feet carry her forwards, she knew that it was a risk she would have to take, regardless of what the consequences might be. No matter what, staying in Clock Town where she had already come closer to dying that when she had found herself face to face with a bear was not an option. So, trying her best to stay low in the landscape, Zelda sprinted away from the town walls of Clock Town, a halfway thought-out plan taking her across the field and towards the river, the sight of the tall grass next to the flow of water thankfully providing her with just a sliver of hope that her plan might work as the sound of another set of footsteps behind her pushed her to move even faster.

Zelda reached the river in moments, continuing to run next to it, the tall grass hitting her in the face as she tried her best to push it aside. Though it should not have been nearly enough to hide her, as Zelda forced herself to go against the instinct of moving in a straight line, instead waiting until she could not see anything other than green as she looked to the side before making a sharp turn towards the river, allowing herself to move just a bit slower, just enough to not break the blades of grass as she pushed them to the side and for her to place her feet carefully in front of her, letting the mud soften the sound, stopping the moment she could no longer see her own footprints behind her, she heard how her pursuer continued running forwards, towards the direction of where Zelda would have been if she had continued to run without thinking.

It would not last long. As much as Zelda wanted to pretend that she might have lost the pursuer, fact was that believing that someone who had been able to stand a chance against the Yiga Clan would not realise that she had somehow moved around them was a laughable idea, and so, Zelda looked down at where she had already left deep footprints in the mud that covered the river bank, a plan forming in her head.

Turning towards the direction she hoped would be north, Zelda began to run, giving herself just enough time to run what felt like kilometres but was probably just a few hundred metres before stopping. Then, careful to only step where her own footprints had been pressed into the mud, Zelda began moving back, walking for a few minutes before turning towards the river.

Without giving herself a moment to question both the plan as well as her ability to cover the distance between the fake lead she had just created and the river in a single jump, Zelda mustered up everything tough she could find within her soul and threw herself forwards, leaping directly into the water.

It felt like she had plunged directly into a bucket of ice. For a moment finding herself unable to do anything other than to sink down, her arms coming up to envelop herself in a hug that did not provide her with any warmth, all thoughts in her mind came to a stop, leaving Zelda unable to remember just why she had thought it would be a good idea to head towards the river in the first place. However, it did not take long for it all to come back, Zelda forcing herself to let go and instead allow the icy water to surround her as she pushed against the muddy ground beneath her feet, using her arms to put more distance between herself and the footprints as she let the current carry her downstream, staying underwater for as long as she could, only coming up to breathe before pushing herself under again.

It was quiet down there. Though Zelda had no illusions about the fact that she was still very much in danger and needed to get as far away from both Clock Town as well as the point where she had jumped into the river as she could before the person trying to chase her down would realise that she had both been able to sneak around them and left a fake track for them to follow, the waves around her throwing her around in the river, pushing her down as she would come up for air so that, rather than air, Zelda would find herself coughing up a mouthful of water more than once, there was something almost peaceful about simply following the direction the current took her in. But she had to focus. Though she might have figured out a way to escape, there was still the matter of whether or not Ganondorf and Link had been able to do the same. If they had only been able to reach Epona, then Zelda was certain that Link, with all his talk about having grown up on a ranch with a dream of becoming a horse trainer, would have been able to get them away from the danger. Still, that knowledge did not do much to calm her when Zelda had no way of knowing whether or not they had even got that far, not even to mention the fact that there had not been any time to plan just how they would be able to find each other again.

The river came to a bend, a hill rising up above her to the right and the bank becoming less muddy to her left just as Zelda made the decision that if this was not enough to make the pursuer lose track of her nothing would be.

Pushing against the muddy ground beneath her, Zelda swam to the side, feeling how the act of trying to swim in a line orthogonal to the current was even quicker to drain her of her energy than the cold had been. But she had not come so far just to let herself be carried away by the stream, so Zelda clenched her jaw and refused to give in to her sore muscles and the need to close her eyes for just a second to instead force herself to continue swimming.

It hurt, the water hitting her face as she came up for air, but soon, Zelda could see the river bank only a few metres away from her, the sight bringing with it the hope that she might have made it.

The feeling of solid ground beneath her feet was glorious, Zelda managing to walk the last few metres to reach the riverside before collapsing right next to the river, unable to do anything other than to roll over onto her back and look up at the sky.

It was blue. It wasn't the dusty blue of a rainfall waiting to happen. Instead, the deep colour seemed to reflect the way the sword had blinded her for a moment, deep and brilliant as Zelda stared up at it. At the back of her mind, the thought that she would have to get up, that she would have to try to head towards the road leading away from Clock Town to try to track down Ganondorf and Link had already formed, trying its best to make her aware of its presence, but perhaps it was yet another result of having just spent ages in the icy waters of the river, or maybe it was merely a side-effect of the exhaustion that had washed in over her, settling into every bone in her body, but as much as she tried to find the strength to sit up, to push herself off the ground, Zelda could not bring herself to move a finger as she lay there, watching the clouds rush by, making the sky seem like a river as they passed by to give off the impression of foam on top of the waves.

She had no idea how long she had lain there when sensation of the ground shaking beneath her alerted her to the arrival of someone else, nor could Zelda bring herself to make a guess, much less to find the strength to sit up or make any effort to prepare herself, should the sound of distant mumbling be a sign that either the Yiga Clan or the other group had been able to circumvent her attempts at hiding her tracks and had now found her. Instead she remained exactly where she was as the sound of rumbling grew louder, the thought that it was far too loud and heavy to belong to the same people who had been able to move almost without a sound registering in her mind without allowing her to truly recognise it for what it meant.

The next thing Zelda knew, the sound of something hitting the ground was followed by a couple of footfalls and then Link's face appeared in her field of vision, his hair falling in front of his face as he stood there next to her, looking down at her.

Looking back up at him, it took Zelda a moment to realise that he was really there, that the hand she could barely see when she tore her gaze away from the sight of the sun hitting his hair, creating a nimbus around his face, belonged to him and that he was holding it out for her to take.

It felt like it should have been impossible for her to move, but she must have been wrong, for somehow, Zelda saw herself reach out towards him, letting him grab onto her hand and pull her up from the ground. It took another moment of looking blankly at him before she realised that his mouth was moving, Link talking to her, the tone of his voice barely registering in her mind as urgent, but without giving her any chance of making out just what he was saying.

Holding up her free hand in front of her, the energy it cost her making her sway slightly, Link reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder to steady her, Zelda tried to piece the sentence together, her mouth feeling like it refused to cooperate to form the right sounds.

"Are you…?" Link looked at her, something in his eyes telling her that he was halfway expecting for her to collapse if he were to move even slightly. "Zelda, are you all right?"

That was what finally allowed her to find the energy to speak, the fact that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was not going to stop acting like that, his gentle way of stepping towards her to place more of her weight on himself by slinging his arm under hers yet another reminder of what he must see when he looked at her. Trying her best to nod, Zelda put whatever energy was still left into her voice. "Yes, it's fine—I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

Already, she knew that she was not going to fool anybody into thinking that was really the case. If the mud she knew was clinging to her skin after she had thrown herself onto the ground the moment it was safe for her to do so was not enough to make that obvious, then it was the water still dripping from her, drawing trails of ice down her back, that was certain to let anyone who took the time to cast even the most fleeting of glances towards her know that she was not in any way shape or form all right and that she would not be okay before she had got the chance to sleep for ages, but Zelda still tried her best to keep herself from swaying as Link's eyebrows rose.

"O—" he interrupted himself, instead shifting slightly to the side, taking an unsure step forwards.

Seeing what he was thinking from the look he sent towards where her shoes had already sunk into the mud, Zelda followed along. Now was not the moment to show any weakness. That would have to wait for when she knew for certain that both Link and Ganondorf had made it away from Clock Town without any further injuries.

Moving slowly, not once loosening his hold on her, Link began speaking again. "Ganondorf's all right, just so you know it. Him and Epona—we all managed to make it through the city without any of the groups following us—all thanks to you distracting them, of course." he paused to send her a smile that Zelda did not have the strength to return, the awkward tension between them growing as he seemed to realise that. "We—or well, Epona, really—uh, we rode through the streets towards the same gate we entered it through. But… we had to leave the trolley behind. I know that, in hindsight, we should have thought to bring it along since you were able to take the focus away from us, but, at the time, I could not justify the minutes it would have taken for me to figure out a way to get it out of the city with us."

The water. The food. The tent. The memory of everything that had been in the trolley, the books and maps she had taken from the library, flashed in Zelda's mind as she tried to take in just what it meant. There would be no putting up the tent once they were certain that they were safe from the Yiga Clan, no food heated up over the camping stove. But as much as she tried to feel even the slightest bit of annoyance or fear when thinking about what it would mean for them exactly, all that went through her mind was the relief that they had made it out of the city in one piece.

"Doesn't matter," Zelda heard herself mumble, Link leaning towards her, no doubt to better be able to make out what she was saying, "we'll figure it out."

It seemed like Link was about to open his mouth, most likely to protest her blasé response, but he closed it again without a word.

They continued in silence like that, Link holding her up as Zelda felt her foot catch on a stone sticking up from the ground, the last bit of strength leaving her entirely as he led her up the hill, Zelda only just barely able to keep her feet from dragging after her, instead continuing to totter forwards as they made their way up to the top of the hill. From up there, Zelda could see that Link had told her the truth. Just a couple of hundred metres away, Ganondorf was sitting beneath an oak tree, Epona grazing next to him. She was still too far away to be able to make out any details, the blur the world had turned into not making it any easier, but at least it proved that they were really there and that Link had not tried to spare her feelings.

Crossing those last few metres between themselves and the rest of their little group proved to be one of the hardest things Zelda had ever had to do. Barely managing to make it all the way over there before feeling how her knees buckled below her, sending her crashing to the ground the moment she knew that Ganondorf was truly real, Zelda could only push herself up into a sitting position against the tree as she reached out towards him. Catching herself before she would have touched the injured shoulder, Zelda saw how Ganondorf lifted his head to look at her. In his eyes, she could see a kind of exhaustion that was no doubt visible in her own gaze, and as she looked down towards the angry, red line, the blood that had seeped into his sleeve making it look more muddled than before, the cut in the sweater still letting her know just where the blade had hit, part of her could not believe that he was even able to do that.

Bowing her head at him, Zelda could only find the words to form a simple sentence. "Hi. It's… it's good to see you—here." saying that it was nice to see that he was all right felt almost like making a mockery of the bloodied sleeve, and so, Zelda made sure not to.

Still, Ganondorf must have been able to tell what she really meant, for his gaze followed hers down towards the cut sleeve, a humourless smile forming on his face. "Yeah," he said, using his right hand to gesture towards the wound, "not looking as great as it could have."

There was nothing for her to say in response to that, Zelda already knowing that any attempt at convincing both him and herself that she was not already thinking about the risk of infection as she looked down at the wound would have sounded dishonest at best and like an attempt at lying directly to his face at worst. So she stayed silent as Link walked towards Epona, reaching up towards her to untie what looked like a piece of rope he had used to tie something to her side, moving carefully and with the air of someone handling a dangerous object, the flash of metal clear in the sunlight that reached them down there as he gripped onto the object with one hand before pivoting to head over towards them.

He had brought the sword along. It took a moment for Zelda to make the connection, to look towards the blade in Link's hand and realise that she was not imagining things. He had really brought the sword that had seemed to be the catalyst for the Yiga Clan's decision to try to kill them along when he had fled. For once, the exhaustion that kept her from being able to move felt like a blessing in disguise, for had it not been for that keeping her sitting there, leaning against the tree, Zelda was certain that she would already have jumped to her feet to ask him just what had possessed him to think that it was a good idea to bring the sword that had got them into this mess in the first place with him.

It did not appear that she had to say anything at all though, for as Link sat down in front of them, his eyes finding hers, maintaining eye contact for a moment before looking down at the sword in his hand, it seemed that he knew everything she could have said to him about her opinion on the presence of the sword.

"Look…" Link's gaze flickered back and forth between her, Ganondorf, and the sword, "I know that it was a bad idea to bring it along with me. I know that it endangered every last one of us—you don't have to tell me any of that. If—if I am honest, I know that I can't even give you a good reason for why I did it, but…" Link shook his head, "there was just something about it that made it feel right to take it, like there was this—this voice in my head ordering me to bring it along with me as we fled the museum. And I know that it was dumb; I know that it was reckless, both to take it and to tie it to Epona, but I just… I could not bring myself to leave it behind, not with the Yiga Clan, not with how they…" he let the sentence trail off, and as Zelda watched, she saw how his eyes became unfocused as every last bit of his focus seemed to turn to be directed solely towards the sword and nothing else.

The Master Sword. That was what the Yiga Clan had called it. With how her mind felt like she had just simultaneously been awake for years and had all of her thoughts thrown into a whirlpool, the mess of half-finished ideas and thoughts being put inside her brain again, it took a couple of seconds longer than it perhaps should have for her to figure out where she had heard it all before. The ancient legends. They might have lost the books on mythology in relation to the history of Hyrule, but Zelda had heard the stories of the different heroes of Hyrule far too often for her not to be able to recognise the name from all the descriptions of the different young boys and men who had drawn a sword with the same name. If she had had the energy, perhaps she would have let out a laugh, but as it was, the only thing Zelda could do was to close her eyes and lean back against the tree as she tried to make peace with the fact that, out of all the people who could have survived the end of the world, the one group they happened to stumble across had to be some kind of almost cult-like group obsessed with the ancient legends, that, rather than finding other people who, like themselves, had found each other in the wake of what was undoubtedly the hardest period of their lives, they had spent time talking to people who had turned against their fellow survivors, even going so far as to delude themselves into thinking that they really had a mythological sword in their possession, using the delusion as a reason to attack them. It was really what they needed now when hope was the hardest to find, proof that other people had already lost their sanity in their search for a way to make sense of everything that had happened.

Link must have interpreted her silence as some kind of implicit acceptance of his decisions, for he did make another attempt at explaining his thought process, instead unzipping his jacket, the green colour appearing almost brown with all the mud that had dried in cakes to cover every last centimetre of fabric.

Deep down, Zelda already knew what he was trying to do, but that did not make it any easier for her to keep herself from protesting the idea as Link pulled at the hem of his shirt, holding it as far away from his body as he could before holding up the sword, the lack of distance between himself and the object he was trying to cut through clearly exacerbating his difficulties with angling the edge of the sword so that the risk of him accidentally injuring himself would be as low as possible. The shirt was dirty, and as much as Zelda could recognise the fact that, with how Link's jacket had protected it from coming into direct contact with the very worst sources of dirt and bacteria, it was perhaps the cleanest article of clothing they had to work with right then and there, it did not change the fact that being the cleanest piece of fabric they could get was not synonymous with clean enough to use to bandage a wound or to allow them to act with any degree of confidence that it would not lead to an infection. But a single look in Ganondorf's direction was enough to let her know that they had not choice, that the blood seeping into his sweater was a larger and more pressing issue than an infection that was likely to happen either way if they did not cover the wound, so Zelda kept her fears to herself as Link cut off a wide strip of fabric, working slowly to not fray the makeshift bandage more than absolutely necessary.

Folding the fabric once, Link crawled over to sit directly next to Ganondorf's injured arm. "This is probably going to hurt, but I promise you that I am working as quickly as I can to get this finished." from where she was sitting, Zelda could only see the back of his head, but even then, she could still hear the apology in his voice as he leant in with the bandage.

With how he had sat with his eyes closed for all the time it had taken Link to cut off the piece of fabric, Zelda was surprised when she heard Ganondorf mumble something, the individual words being indiscernible from one another, but the overall meaning clear: it was all right; Link could go ahead.

Despite having just got permission to move forward with the attempt at keeping the loss of blood at a minimum, Link still hesitated for another moment before he began working. By then, however, he also stayed true to his promise of getting it over with quickly, and although Zelda knew that the exhaustion was probably also part of it, there was still something about the way his movements blurred together as he began wrapping the fabric around Ganondorf's arm that told her that he was pushing himself to work as quickly as he could while still making sure that the bandage was tight enough to minimise the blood loss, Link tying two knots on top of each other as he reached the end of the piece of fabric.

"There." Link rose to his feet, looking down at them for another moment, looking almost like he was about to make a remark on the fact that Zelda could already see the green fabric of his shirt begin to turn a reddish brown as the blood began to seep into it, but rather than saying anything, he spun around, walking over towards Epona without another word.

Zelda could hardly blame him for that. Though she was sitting right there next to him, as she looked over at Ganondorf and took in the way he sat with his head tilted back, looking so tired that Zelda instinctively knew that the tree trunk behind them was the only thing keeping him in the sitting position and with an greyish undertone to his complexion that grew more and more pronounced as the red blotch of blood on the bandage became larger, Zelda could not think of anything to say that could make the situation seem even just a little bit less hopeless.

Instead, she let herself give in to the exhaustion, closing her eyes despite knowing that the little voice that told her it would just last for a moment was lying to her. She had been right to doubt it, for it barely took her a second to find herself falling back into a dreamless sleep.

Zelda woke up to a kind of coldness she had never thought she would have to experience having settled into her bones and with a harsh stench in front of her. Shivering with cold, it took her a moment to realise that the smelly thing in her lap was Link's jacket, the folds in the fabric letting her know that it had been covering her shoulders at some point in time, no doubt having been pushed down by her shaking in her sleep.

Blinking in an attempt at forcing her eyes to grow used to the darkness around her, the sound of fabric rustling next to her made Zelda turn her head towards the sound so quickly that pain shot up through her neck, a strangled cry of pain escaping her before she was able to regain control over her body.

"Zelda!" the word was whispered, but as Link placed his hand on her shoulder, Zelda heard it as clearly as if he had yelled at her. "Everything's fine. Just go back to sleep again."

He was lying. Zelda did not have to be able to see as well as she could during the day to know that, not with how his words were slightly slurred, the sound of it combining with the bags under his eyes that was an unmistakable sign of sleep deprivation as he sat there in front of her to let Zelda know that he had not been sleeping at all in the time that had passed since she had fallen asleep. The way she slowly began to be able to make out the outline of Ganondorf next to her, the slightly darker colour that bloomed near the centre of the bandage around the wound visible even in the darkness, only served to further prove the thought as she pushed herself away from the tree, ignoring the way her head felt like it was going to split in two as she looked over at Link. Everything was not fine, far from it. Not only had they just lost everything, tent, food, water, and any information that she had not thought to take a picture of, there was now also a group of people out there willing to go to great lengths to see them dead, all because of the sword Link had taken, leaving them here, Ganondorf breath sounding shallow in a way that left Zelda unable to tell whether or not it was more than a product of her own worries as she recalled the grey tone that had slowly grown more and more evident in his face the longer they had sat there. Glancing towards the slight shine of metal reflecting moonlight, Zelda tried to search for the right words, finding herself coming up short and instead settling for simply spitting out the question.

"Link?" she whispered the word, but Link still leant in closer, clearly directing every bit of attention that was not preoccupied with the bandage around Ganondorf's wound towards her. "Are we going to be all right?"

The way he looked away from her, the two of them united in a moment of taking in the appearance of the red blotch against the green colour of the makeshift bandage, betrayed his real thoughts as Link bowed his head. "Yeah," he whispered back, "yes, everything is going to be fine. Just go back to sleep, Zelda."

She felt like a she was a child again, telling Urbosa that she was scared of the dark when she would come to visit, relieved as Urbosa had sat down to tell her that there was nothing out there, that, other than making it more difficult for her to see, the night was really just like the day, only a bit darker. Later, she had learnt to fear the things that might be out there in the dark, sneaking books on Re-Deads and other mythological creatures into the house, but at first, Zelda had allowed herself to calm down after being assured that it would be fine. It was the same thing now. The Yiga Clan was out there, a real and tangible threat in a way the Re-Deads had never been, but she still found herself pulling the jacket back up towards her shoulders to shield herself from the cold once more, somewhat comforted by the thought that there was someone there who would watch out for threats the same way Urbosa had done back then.

It was not the same. Zelda knew that, but she felt like there was a bit of the same sentiment in the way Link set down next to her as she tried to make the jacket cover as much of her body as she could.

The freezing cold made her movements slow and clumsy, Zelda dropping the jacket once, then twice. By the third time, Link reached out to help her, tucking the sleeves in between her and the tree trunk she was still leaning against with a little smile.

"Sleep well."

She should have asked him when he was going to sleep, should have offered to take the watch to let him sleep, but she could not bring herself to do it, not as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier as she fell asleep again.