Home, Where you Make It
They had done it: Ganon had been sealed at long last.
Link finally gets to see Zelda with his own eyes and not through the haze of long-forgotten memories.
He knows they have a lot to work through, knows their friendship had never been good, but Link hopes that it might change for the better now they no longer have this burden on their shoulders.
He hopes she likes the home waiting for them in Hateno.
Maybe they could finally start afresh.
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Chapter 1:
Victory, At Long Last
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The blinding golden light vanished. Silences filled the air.
Then all at once: the rush of wind returned, the crackling of dying fire, and the birds began to sing once more.
The scarlet coloured sky slowly fades away as the sun peeks through the stained clouds in a kaleidoscope of colours and…
…Link breathes, watching as Zelda basked in the sun for the first time in a century. He knew that feeling, that warmth and happiness that infected his chest the first time he felt the sun on his cheeks when he had emerged from the Shrine of Resurrection.
A felicity unlike anything else—the first feeling of bliss he had ever felt.
Finally, after a long moment, Zelda turned and Link meets those emerald eyes for the first time. Those hazy memories of Before did her no justice, Zelda was truly a beautiful woman even with the stained white dress, tangles golden locks and skin pale.
Link wonders what Zelda sees when she looks at him, her, they—what she sees when she looks him no matter what he felt at the time.
Link wonders what Zelda sees when she has to dip her chin to look at him.
Link wonders what Zelda sees when she looks at those scars.
A quiet and soft pregnant pause, like time had stilled to a stop but Link found, despite the deep fear of what Zelda thinks of him—for failing, for dying when he had a quest to fulfil—he's just so, so relieved in this moment that nothing could affect it.
He feels his eyes sting the longer they stare at one another.
Then slowly, a smile spreads across Zelda's face and those deeply hidden fears dissolve, even if for a short while.
She slowly approached, like her legs were rusty and Link didn't doubt it—he'd been like that too once upon a time.
"P'incess—" He begins almost breathlessly like all the air had been stolen from his lungs. He didn't understand, didn't know why but he knew it was from Before. Knew a part of Before still lingered deep inside him, actions his body had learnt and remembered where his mind didn't.
Zelda's expression broke into almost hysteric happiness.
"Don't—Please don't bother with niceties, Link!" She laughed as she lunged forward, arms curling around him, taking them both to the ground as her knees gave out. She trembled against him—or maybe it was him doing the trembling?—and her voice wobbled, "I've been keeping watch over you all this time," she sniffled, "I've witnessed all your struggled that you have been forced to overcome, been witness to the trials you're faced head on." She tightened her hold, "I always thought—no, I always believed—that you would find a way to defeat Ganon. I never lost faith in you over these many years."
Link blinks up at the clear sky, raising his own arms that had been limply laying at his sides to finally wrap them around Zelda, even when doing so pulled a wince from him, shoulders protesting.
A part of it didn't feel real, that despite the journey he had taken over the course of the year—a year of being awake, of living, of making new memories, of finding comfort and belonging in this skin of his—it feels like he was going to wake up any moment, back in that cursed void. That this had been nothing more than a figment of imagination his mind had conjured to stop himself from going insane for surely that would have been the way of things had he not been allowed to leave the void.
But the warmth Zelda extrudes, the feel of her grip and skin against his, it's a reminder that this is it, this is real—Ganon has been defeated. They had done it.
A hundred long year battle and finally, victory was theirs and Hyrule had been saved from annihilation.
The countless sacrifices—the countless number of deaths of the people that Link had failed—had not been in vain.
Link allows a grin to curl to life as he squeezes Zelda's waist, a sob of his own escaping, "We…we did it."
After all this time, he'd finally been able to fulfil his duty. His purpose. Death itself couldn't get in the way of his mission; he'd made a promise that he would save Hyrule, and it was finally fulfilled.
"We did."
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Zelda falls in love with Aoife at first sight, cooing and stroking his face when the stag grants her permission.
Link can't stop smiling.
He doesn't think he's ever smiled this much at once.
"We'll be going to Kakariko to see Impa," Link informs quietly, softly, not wanting to disturb the tranquillity filling the air, the earth, and nature all around them as, after a hundred years, it can finally, truly, breathe once more without Malice trying to taint and destroy.
The wild could finally breathe again.
Link felt it all around him, had in that strange way since he awoke. He knew Before he had never been so in tune with the world around him, couldn't lay on the earth, close his eyes and feel the way the earth hummed with magic, feel the way each and every animal within the world had a purpose to fulfil. But most of all, he felt at home in that wilderness.
A sense of home he'd never felt Before, it was like he was blind and a smokescreen had covered his senses but now? Now he felt it all. That thrum of magic, the way the trees breathed, the way the water rejuvenated, the gentle lull of the animals that inhabited the world…
"Impa," Zelda breathes and Link nods, swinging himself onto Aoife's back, Zelda following.
"Impa," he echoes.
They ride in silences, Zelda admiring the world around them softly, happily. Reaching out a hand when they brush by a low hanging branch or a high extruding rock.
He wonders if she's doing so to reminded herself—real. This is real.
Did she think it could all be a dream too?
The silences continued.
They do not stop at the Duelling Peak Stable, both desperate to get to Kakariko but they were greeted; Tasseran and Rensa raise their hands, expressions sombre but at ease. Darton and Shibo grin excitedly and cheer at the sight of them. Hino, sat at the wok, waves too, smile wide.
Zelda gave shaky breaths and Link can hear the faint muffled relieved sobs she gives. Link gently pats her hand holding the front of the saddle in silent reassurance. It's okay, it's over, you can finally relax.
The silences continued and night descends as they arrive.
They're hurried along to see Impa, hurried to get somewhere warm and safe to rest. Dorian and Cado bow as they pass them.
Zelda doesn't muffle the sob when she opens the door to see Impa, who slowly raised her head to gaze at them. The Elder's eyes are damp too and a type of peace Link hasn't seen on her face before is there.
"Princess."
"Impa," Zelda breathes and falls to her knees before their aged friend, "Impa."
"Oh, my dear Princess," Impa whispers, reaching out and taking hold of her hands.
Link backs out of the room.
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Kakariko is always so silent at night and this one was no different.
People still slumbered, now perhaps a little deeper knowing their safe; finally able to forget about the Calamity that had previously haunted the land.
The wind has only the slightest chill, the flags flutter quietly in the wind, the flames of lanterns flicker, Cado's Cuccos are mostly silent barring the occasional noise and Link sits on the edge of the Shrine that overlooks the village.
Injuries healed, Pink Fairies fluttered around him, wishing to comfort and soothe aches that they could not physically heal. They chime softly, their bell-like voices whispering gently with praise and love. It makes his eyes heavy.
But he's too restless. His body not ready for sleep—when it comes, Link knows he'll sleep deeply, so deeply in fact, that he might even sleep a day away. For now, however, he's content to sit and watch Kakariko Village until breakfast.
He's joined by the Bluepee, who chitters curiously up at him and settles in his lap, purring away as Link strokes a hand across her back.
Absently, he wonders how long Zelda will wish to stay…for a beat, he wonders if she will want to stay and live in Kakariko, if so, Link will admit he'll felt a bit at a loss. He hopes she agrees to join him to go to Hateno, even if just to visit Purah.
Absently and not for the first time, Link wonders if he'll have more memories return. He only has so many, he knows his friendship with Zelda improved in the last few months before the Calamity had struck but he also knows there was much turmoil between them from the start…
Start, ha.
He pulled the Master Sword aged nine. The entire kingdom pretty much knew in less than a month after doing so, and even before he'd been assigned as the Princess's Appointed Knight, it had been less than friendly between them. He would feel her eyes burning into him if they ever crossed paths and it was often because of their social and work circles.
Zelda had always been too bitter and angry at the way she failed and failed to call forth her Sacred Power. In turn, when Link had finally been made her Appointed Knight, that resentment was turned on to him full; he was the victim to her frustrations and anger.
It irked him, he remembers the feeling well. His own anger, sadness and a feeling of hopelessness at the cruel treatment from the Princess. But—he also excepted it, the hurt feeling had been numb long before he had been assigned to her.
He knew pain and anger aimed at him well; that turned twofold when he pulled the Master Sword.
His guardian had been angry when Link had pulled her; the man had felt he'd deserved it, not the damn tyke he'd only taken in to make himself look better.
It was irony at its finest, Link remembers thinking, despite the pressure that the situation had put upon his shoulders…
"Link?"
He startled, the Bluepee cheeped in worry but he soothed her with a stroke as he turned to see Zelda standing there hesitantly, wangling her fingers.
The Pink Fairies chimed once more, saying their goodbyes, before fluttering away to return to the Fairy Fountain.
For a moment, Zelda watched them leave before she let out a breath, "May I join you?"
Link blinked, staring for a long moment, no, I want to be alone for now, he wants to say, let me have this moment of peace.
But the word that actually leaves his mouth is the opposite, "Okay."
Zelda is still hesitant, awkward as she settles, turning to look out over Kakariko Village with him.
For a long time, there is silence between them. A distance cricket, the soft buzz of fireflies and the Bluepee continues to purr away happily in his lap.
Zelda glances at the spirit occasionally, confused. He wonders if she knows what it is and if so, how Link could get such a skittish creature to sit here, purring away as if a cat.
Link wonders if Zelda knows of what he is, knows of his heritage and magic.
Can she feel the divine magic that fills him? Can she feel the way he's so entirely in tune with the nature around them that sometimes, Link forgets he is even Hylian in the first place.
He wonders and wonders.
Most of all, Link wonders why Zelda had come searching for him instead of sleeping like she desperately needs.
Zelda finally seems to find the words she was trying to hunt for, "I'm sorry."
Link stilled.
"I…I feel like I owe an apology," she starts, "I don't know the extent of your memory recovery, but even before I met you personally, I was such a horrible person. Even when I came to learn to let go of my hatred to you, I never truly apologised for what transpired between us."
A beat.
"Our paths were a cruel one, it seems," she mused, "The Hero who had the weight of the world thrust upon his shoulders far too young and a Princess that couldn't do what was needed of her until it was too late. It seems like nothing more than a storybook, a piece of fiction and yet…"
"Th'at's what fate dealt us."
"Yes."
Zelda's sudden chuckle made Link still, "But, I've found…oddly enough, I'm strangely thankful, because now I'm not tired to a kingdom, no longer a princess and you have gotten a second chance at childhood. It's selfish isn't it?"
"I…I don't th'ink so." Link scratched his jaw, brows furrowing. "We couldn't go back 'ven if we wanted to. So why'd it be selfish? People are still dead, as cruel as it sounds, the coun'try in half ruin but Hy'rule has survived despite Ganon. May'be to some people, those t'at are still here that wit'ness the arrival of Ganon, but—after everything we've b'een though, why can't we be lil'elfish?"
"I don't think I've heard you say so much before," Zelda mulled
Link barked out a short burst of bitter laughter, startling the poor Bluepee who perked up. He scratched her head before allowing the spirit to hop away, bursting into small blue sparks, "Your far'ther forbade me from speakin' in your presence or around those that would reflect poorly on him or you in the case I did or said somethin' stupid."
It clearly startled Zelda by the way she turned to stare at Link, eyes wide, "What?"
Link scowled, "You re'ally thought I woulda put up with your attitude otherwise? I might'ave been raised by a bastard of a Knight, but 'is wife was one of the kindness women I'd ev'er met beside Mipha. I learnt to never allow anyone to treat you in such horr'en'dous ways, so I would'ave most certainly chew you out despite your status because I ab'so'lutely loathe people like that."
Zelda bowed her head, shoulders scrunched up to her ears in clear shame.
Link exhaled, "But I also, des'ite how I hated your attitude, unda'stood the pres'sure and stress you were under, as I bore that weight too. So it hurt and made me sad that you couldn't see that from the the start. But when you actually made an effort to fix the strained relationship, while it would never immediately fix everything you had done, was ah'ppreci'ated. I finally felt some sort of equality."
"I…Was that really how you felt?" she whispers and Link's chest aches at the dejected tone.
"It was. I…my mem'ories still 'ave large gaps, but vis'iting the places you'd taken pictures of, often left me angry and confused. The first thing I 'membered was you yelling at me for tryin' to do my job. I was so—bewildered because everyone I since met, had spoken of you in such a loving way that I just—" Link sighed, "I didn't understand, so some of the turmoil transferred to me. So if I'm short with you in any way, it's not meant, I promise."
Zelda doesn't say anything, but her face shows acknowledgement and that's all Link could ask for.