Chapter 12: Initiation Part 2: Zelda
The Remnantians stood in complete shock, eyes still glued on their scrolls, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Link had just taken out an Ursa Major like it was nothing. The only damage he sustained was a single lucky swipe but other than that, he was in control the entire fight.
"That… was… AWESOME!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping up and down, bursting with excitement.
"Did he seriously just do that?" Yang asked in shock.
"I didn't know he had any ice Dust on him." Weiss said in surprise.
"Ooh, did you guys see the other creature there?" Nora said.
"Yes we did, and that isn't a semblance." Pyrrha answered the group's previous confusion.
"Wait, why not?" Jaune questioned still.
"A person can only have one semblance and as of now, Link has displayed at least two different abilities." Ren answered, "Also there were those creatures that he summoned as a result." Weiss had a look of thought on her face when she heard what Ren said, remembering the Schnee glyphs and it's summons similarities to what she had seen.
"He knows more than he's letting on." Blake said with eyes still on her scroll as everyone looked towards her, "Just what happened in their world for him to have such powers."
Ozpin and Glynda looked to each other, contemplating the words the lone faunus said. "While I agree with Ms. Belladonna, there is likely a story they wish not to tell. All we can do is respect that wish." Ozpin said, bringing himself into the conversation as a guide for the students.
"It would appear that Ms. Zelda has just touched down." Ms. Goodwitch redirected as she was looking at her scroll.
Gliding past a few trees, Zelda landed safely on a hill overlooking the forest below. Once she was stable, she returned the paraglider back into the Sheikah slate and started looking around.
"A temple to the north." She said to herself, looking up to the blue sky.
The sun rose above her left shoulder as Zelda went into thought. Birds sang their songs and critters scurried around. Back when she was young, Zelda heard of an old verse that helped travelers who didn't know their way that also doubled as a telling of a story of a hero.
"In the east, there's a beast;
they rise as a demise;
a force to destroy, and a man to toy
a hero stands high, as the sun won't shy;
they fight to end, neither will bend;
while dusk begins to fall, the hero shall give it his all;
for they will fight, deep to the night;
and as it sets in the west, the beast is best;
fighting for Hylia, he stands in gloria."
Turning herself around, Zelda looks and sees the shine of sun on something in the distance. "Temple to the north." She once again said with optimism. As she starts to walk north as a camera drone watches and follows her.
"Interesting." Ozpin said to himself, he made sure he was quite enough that no one else, not even Glynda, could hear him. The tale that Zelda spoke of just now intrigued the headmaster. The hymn sounded like that of a tale that occurred in the very distant past. Something that could be considered a fairytale if he were to take a guess. If that were the case, who wouldn't like a good old fairy tale.
"Well… that was unexpected." Yang said to her team.
"Hylia…" Weiss trailed off, "that name, it sounds familiar."
"Yeah, I remember that too." Blake added.
"What? Who's this Hylia person?" Jaune asked.
Team RWBY's eyes widened with realization. Ruby was the first to speak in revelation, "Wasn't that the name of…"
"I'm sorry, I'm not following." Pyrrha said after the apparent pause with a curious look.
"So he was telling the truth." Blake spoke softly.
"Hey, you're leaving us in the dark here." Nora complained. "What are you guys talking about?"
Looking back to Ozpin and Goodwitch who were watching their scrolls, Ruby whispered, "The god we met."
"Wait what?" Jaune shouted in surprise, "That was actually true?"
"SHH!" Yang loudly hushed. "Yes, but Oz doesn't know."
"A god that's not the Brothers?" Ren questioned skeptically with arms folded.
"Yeah, but he said they exist as well and he's much less powerful than them." Blake answered. "We don't know much about him other than what we told you yesterday. He just appeared after summoning some robot creatures from their world as some kind of test."
"If it was a forced combat test, what was he testing for?" Pyrrha asked the group.
"That's what we're still trying to figure out." Weiss said as the conversation devolved from there.
While the students were discussing, Ozpin couldn't help but overhear the conversation going on nearby. Even if he didn't show it, he was going through a range of emotions at this hushed revelation. While he himself was curious as to what they were truly implying, he would let it be and let who or whatever run it's course, for now anyway.
Zelda continued her trek through the forest. A calming breeze danced between the trees as the birds sang their song, it reminded her of Hyrule. The expansive wilderness that surrounded her kingdom, the many creatures that called it their home. These were all things that brought her comfort and joy, she wasn't on another world, she was back home. That was until she heard a creature cry out in pain from the west, then silence. Now the princess started to remember, this was not Hyrule, this is the world of Remnant. A world where the creatures of Grimm get drawn to any and all negative emotions.
Turning back to where she was going, she was stopped in her tracks as a pair of red eyes that were held in a bone mask appeared in front of her accompanied by a low growl. The creature stood just in the shade of darkness, obstructing it's details as it stepped towards her with murder on its mind. With dread building up inside her, Zelda slowly pulled out a sword from the Sheikah slate, the royal sword she used before came out of the slate with blue light coming from where the two tools meet. Her sword held to her right and the slate in her hand on the left, she stood ready, like how Link showed her and prepared for battle.
The Grimm stepped forward into the light in acceptance of the challenge. As it came closer, the shape of a Beowolf came into view. As it moved on its four legs, it started to circle Zelda, sizing up what it thinks to be its next meal. In return, she circled opposite of the beast, keeping her distance as she was shaking with fear as the two faced each other. The beowolf was to make the first move with a lunge towards the princess who was just able to dive away before the Grimm landed. Moving to get back up, the beast charged again forcing Zelda to roll away. With a feeling of pain on her chest, she brought her hand to where the pain was to only feel a flowing liquid. Looking down she could see that the Beowolf's second attack hit and that she was now bleeding.
Dropping to her knees in pain, Zelda looked into the slate and spoke with terror, "Come on, where is it?" Her eyes then went wide as she found what she was looking for but unfortunately the Beowolf charged her for the third time. As it leapt through the air with an open maw of death, "There." Zelda yelled out as she looked away the moment before contact. Magical yellow chains came out of nowhere while the beowolf, now drenched in a golden light, hangs in midair. It's fangs mere centimeters from the princess' turned head. As she slowly turns her head back to face the monster, Zelda let out a sigh of relief before the pain of the claw strikes coursed throughout her body. Scrambling away as quickly as she could, she moved to the creature's backside right before it broke free from the stasis. As soon as it was released from its magical hold, the Grimm fell to the dirt of the forest floor with a small yelp.
The beowolf was slow to get up, likely hurt from its unexpected fall as it wobbled onto its legs. Raising its head with teeth being brandished in full, it started to sniff the air for its prey. After a moment of work, it seemingly picked up on something, suddenly snapping its head around ready to pounce only to be greeted by nothingness, only a few leaves in the wind passed by. Sniffing again, the beowolf could tell that someone was nearby as it turned itself towards whatever it smelled and started to growl menacingly. Moving forward, one excoriatingly slow step at a time, it focused on a nearby tree. The fear and terror could nearly be felt to not just the Grimm but anyone. But Just as they are drawn by negative emotions, the Grimm are repelled by the good. Though it requires an enormous amount to dissuade them, they could still feel it and this Beowolf was smelling what? Bravery, courage, determination. No, something more. It smells like... Resolve. That was when the Beowolf heard something behind it. Quickly turning itself around on a dime, it saw a rolling blue orb bounce in front of itself. Taking a step towards the ball, a voice was heard in the trees behind it.
"I will not fail." Zelda said with remorse but filled with determination from within the trees pressing the Sheikah slate in one hand the other on her wound.
The remote bomb exploded in an expanding ball of blue light, launching the beowolf into the air. Upon the top of its apex it now looked right into the eyes of its attacker, Zelda quickly used stasis and froze the Grimm in mid air. As it watched, frozen in place, she could feel something inside her, not the pain she was feeling before, but something different, foreign yet familiar. Focusing on it, she felt power flow through her and in a sudden, small ball of light, the aptly named bow of light sat in her hands. The very same bow she had given Link in his battle against the Dark Beast Ganon. Not dwelling on that fact, she quickly pulled back on the string, a light arrow forming in her hold as she aimed and spoke once more.
"Not this time." With those words she loosed her arrow as it hit the Beowolf right between the eyes. The arrow caused an explosion of light the size of the Grimm as the darkness within was taken away. After the light dissipated, nothing remained, the creature of Darkness was gone in an instant like the guardian she killed previously. Once finding that she was safe, Zelda let out a sigh of relief, she had killed one of the Grimm in one on one combat but before she could relish in her victory, the pain of her wound returned in full force.
Gripping her chest wound, she fell to her knees once again, quickly looking into the Sheikah slate, Zelda was hoping that Link had made another Fairy tonic because her vision was starting to fade. Getting to the food and elixir she was able to retrieve Link's last tonic before she passed out, tonic in hand.
The Remnantians were left in various states of shock and surprise. Zelda just fainted after obliterating a Beowolf and she was bleeding, bad.
"W-what?" Yang questioned.
"No." Weiss said.
"D-Does she not have an Aura?" Blake wondered.
"We, we have to help her." Ruby said, getting choked up which turned to yelling, "We have to help her."
"No," Glynda said firmly, "We are not to interfere with any portions of the initiation."
"But she's dying!" Ruby shouted at her teacher. "She's going to die if we don't do something!"
"Unfortunately Ms. Rose, that's just a part of life." Mrs. Goodwitch said.
"Ruby," Blake said to her leader, "What can we do? She's deep within the forest we won't be able to make it in time."
"And if we could, we wouldn't be able to do anything without the proper medical equipment." Weiss added in resentment.
Yang now was getting angry and stepped in, ignoring Weiss and Blake, "That's a part of life!?" She screamed, eyes a fiery crimson. "Are you kidding me!? They have been on Remnant for just over a day and now you're just going to let her lay there and die!?"
The professor took a single step back as the brawler was nearly on top of her.
"They have power that is far greater than that of anything on Remnant and you're just going to let that go." Yang argued, now directed to Ozpin.
"Regretfully, there is truly nothing we can do." Ozpin said in sorrow and regret.
"I don't care, I'm going in." Yang said violently. She shifted Ember Celica to their gauntlet form before someone stopped her from firing.
"Yang wait," Pyrrha said with worry, "Look."
Everyone then looked to the scrolls to see Link sliding next to Zelda.
She laid face down, a loose grip on the potion that was intended to heal her. Link could see the blood pooling around her stomach and knew there wasn't much time. Slowly and carefully shifting about, Link turned Zelda over onto her back, the claw marks barely visible due to the amount of blood. Thinking fast, he grabbed the tonic that she had retrieved before she passed out, but before he opened it up, he looked at the bottle and started thinking rapidly. There was a high chance that the fairy tonic would work but there was the small chance that it was too late and Link would not take that chance if he could avoid it. In his mind an alternative idea formed, an idea that would work because it worked before.
Quickly scrambling for the Sheikah slate, Link went to its inventory and searched through the pages. After a moment of searching, he found what he needed. Pulling the small item out, he cupped his hands to make sure it wouldn't escape. Moving back to the princess, he put his hands to her wound as the thing within his hands worked its magic. One second, two seconds, three seconds, nothing came. Four seconds, five seconds, this had to work, it just had to. Six seconds, seven seconds, eight seconds, "No... Princess." he spoke softly, nine seconds, ten seconds, nothing. "Zelda."
With a sigh of regret, Link stood with a blank face. He walked over and retrieved the sheikah slate that lay by the body. Placing the slate to his hip, he then grabbed the sword that lay by her side. Holding it in front of his face, the stern image Link saw in his reflection started to crack, a tear flowed from his eye as his knees felt weak. Looking away, Link buckled from the emotions he was feeling, Zelda's sword digging into the ground from his weight. Now his head hung low as nature seemed to grieve with him, the blue sky replaced by gray clouds thundering through the air. "I-I'm sorry." Link said as the tear fell to the ground. "You died... because I couldn't… I couldn't save you." he was now choking up with more tears threatening to fall.
Grabbing her corpse bridle style, he lifted the body and started to walk slowly, eyes closed, sealed by grief. After a moment, Link opened his eyes, they were now filled with anger and rage.
"I swear that I won't rest until we can return to Hyrule, far away from this goddess forsaken world."
As Link was declaring war upon the gods, the native Remnantians were nearly as distraught as he.
"N-no" Weiss said with despair.
"D-did she really just." Yang said, not finishing her thought.
"Th-this can't be." Blake added.
"This, I…" Jaune tried to say
"H-how?" Nora asked.
"S-she's g-" Ren attempted.
"Gone." Pyrrha finished.
"Zelda." Ruby said before falling to her knees, soon followed by all the other students, one after another. Not even Yang had the strength to argue now, it was too late.
Ms. Goodwitch had to look away from the scenes, from both the students and her scroll. The sadness they're all feeling was completely understandable. Even though she didn't show it, she herself always took the death of initiates on herself. They died to prove themselves but that was the cost to fight the Grimm, survival was never a guarantee. There was always the chance of death and the girl from another world paid the price.
Ozpin looked down from his scroll in respect. No doubt the loss of his companion and friend will be hard on Link. Stuck on a foreign world with the only other person he knew, gone, now cursing at the gods. It would almost be poetic in a way but he will help him from now on. Not wanting to see what his grief can do.
Link walked through the woods, Zelda in his arms. He didn't know where he was going but he would continue walking. The princess deserved better than to be left in this god forsaken forest. He at least will give her that.
"We'll return to Hyrule, I promise." Link said as he nearly teared up again until he heard a faint noise.
"Htmw htmw, L-Link." That sound, those words. Link looks down to Zelda as she coughed and saw her eyes start fluttering open, "I-I'm sorry."
Seeing the princess alive and talking made Link's eyes widen in sheer surprise and elation. She survived, just barely but she'll live. Quickly but gently, he lowered her to the ground as she started to sit up. Her breathing still labored as she turned towards Link. Coming from behind the princess was a pink orb, fluttering in the air, combing over the princess and stopping in front of the two for a moment before flying away into the trees. Both Hylians watched the fairy leave their sights as they turned back to each other, smiled and started to chuckle. They will survive this new world, together.
A/N: That was probably my best chapter and writing yet in my opinion. You really think I was going to let a main character die this early on, I think not. They is still much story to tell and Zelda is needed for that. I hope you've all enjoyed even if emotions may have been moved, I don't know what you felt but hopefully there was some roller coasting all things considered.
So Zelda is alive but no one knows that, Link's cold exterior grew a tiny crack and we have some more of Hyrule's act. (heh that rhymes) Now that both of our Hylians have faced a solo battle and are now together, we will see how this initiation will end next week and if the two can truly reach the halls of Beacon Academy.
If you wish to say anything, anything at all, complaints, complements, ideas or random theories, I'd love to hear it all. Even if your reading this in my distant past, I'll still enjoy anything you wish to say, anytime of this story's life. See you next Wednesday.