A/N: Hey guys, my bad for the longer update. Been real busy the last week or two with some things that made writing take a little bit of a backseat, but we're back!
"How... How did it come to this?!" cried out Zelda as she huddled over Link's listless body.
She knew something was off, but this?
She thought she was prepared, but even after seeing this scenario once before the feeling never changes. If anything, it worsens.
Cradling his head into her lap, Zelda started to wail. Unable to keep her emotions in check any longer when she seen just how bad things were.
It was starting to become a list of the many times that Link put himself in harms way for her well being. She was tired of it. Tired of feeling this way. Tired of seeing him in so much pain. Tired of feeling useless in situations like this. Tired of having her feelings toyed with by some unknown force. Because, it always seemed that whenever something good happened to her, despair was soon to follow.
She was sick of it.
However, what could she do in this situation? The entire village was up in flames, death was around every corner, and she could hear the screams of the women as the monsters had their way with them. She was terrified.
Zelda had no combat experience, there was no way she could just fight her way out of it. And what of Link, who was on deaths doorstep? She couldn't just leave his side for her own sake, it was out of the question.
"Link, what do I do? Please... tell me..."
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"Take this," he said when handing her the Sheikah Slate.
"Why? Won't you need it more than me?"
He shook his head, "That's your only way into the shrine. The monsters won't be able to get you once you're inside."
She looked down at the slate, then back at him hesitantly.
"I need you to do this for me. I don't want you coming up, no matter what."
"Then how will I know if you're alive? If everything is okay?"
"You're going to just have to believe in me, like you always have."
That was exactly what she didn't want to hear. She hated the fact of Link putting himself in harms way for her sake. But at the same time, what could she do to help? She would only be a liability in the field of battle, she knew that, but...
"I don't want to do it. There must be something I can do to help!" she pleaded.
"By staying safe, it makes me able to focus on the task at hand, and fight without holding back. You are helping."
She cast her eyes downward, "That's not what I meant."
"I know," he planted a kiss on her forehead. "You were never meant to be a fighter, and I hope the day never comes that you have to. Stay the pure, innocent woman that you are."
Her grip on the slate tightened, "Right..."
He tilted her chin upwards, forcing her to meet his gaze, "Taking a life is never easy, even if you know they've done bad things to other people. Once you go down that road, there's no way to come back. I never want to put you through that sort of thing."
There was no fighting him on this. Link had always been very protective of her, even when she was cold to him. It was a side to him that she always held mixed feelings towards.
Grabbing his hands, "You did this once before, and I spent 100 years mourning you. I need to know that you're coming back this time. Promise me."
"I don't know. That's a pretty big promise to make."
She smirked at him, "Oh is it?"
He leaned in next to her ear, letting his breath tickle her skin, "I have to have something special to come back to."
Her breathed hitched, "I'm... open to suggestions..."
"How about... this?" he said, before picking her up and carrying her upstairs to the bed.
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The plan was simple.
Link was going to direct traffic to Zelda; who was waiting at the shrine, and her task was to take them inside to hide. There was maybe less than 30 minutes before it became nightfall, meaning there wasn't a lot of time. Because once nightfall hit, that was her cue go inside and not come out until morning.
So she would wait until then.
And wait...
And wait...
There should've been people coming by now. Why isn't anyone coming?
Link, what's going on?
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It's pretty late, people are already starting to turn in for the night. I hate having to disrupt them, but there's no other choice.
He knocked on the first door.
"You're Link, the young man that lives up the road. What can I do fo you?" asked the middle aged woman.
"I know this rather abrupt, but I need you to head to the shrine. Hateno Village is about to be attacked, and-"
"Hold on," she cut him off. "You mean to tell me that we're about to be attacked, at this hour? Have you lost your mind?"
"This would be the perfect time for them to strike, when everyone is at their most vulnerable."
"Listen Link, you seem like a great guy. And you're always helping out when you can, but... I got a big today tomorrow, and I can't have you or anyone else distracting me. Sorry, but this is good bye."
And with that, she shut the door in his face.
Why didn't she believe me?
It didn't matter, he didn't have a lot of time left, he would just have to come back for her later.
Next was the general shop keep.
"Ah, the young adventurer. Come to stock up on supplies again?" he asked in a friendly voice.
"Unfortunately, no. I need to ask you to go to the shrine to meet up with Zelda. Monsters are about to attack this place, and I want to get everyone to safety."
The old man's expression turned annoyed, "Zelda? As in the lost princess? Fool, she died along with other Champions 100 years ago. Besides, not even the Great Calamity was able to reach our village, and we were able to easily dispose of the few stragglers that did make their way here. There isn't anything to fear."
"It isn't just a few stragglers this time around, it's dozens of them, and if you stay here then-"
The old man cut him off, "Do not speak to me of childish fantasies, boy. Your delusions are disrupting the peace of my store. I now have to ask you to leave."
"But-"
"Leave! And don't come back until you've sorted yourself out."
0-2, and he was rather adamant of his position as well. Still, I can't let the setback faze me, time is of the essence.
From door to door Link went, and one by one they shut them in his face. Not one person would listen to him it would seem, no matter how he worded it, or convincing the argument.
Why won't anyone listen? Don't they realize the danger they're in?
But that's when it hit him, the fact that they don't know what kind of danger they're in. Hateno Village was barely effected by the rise of Calamity Ganon. That kind of fortune would cause the villagers to become complacent.
They assume that if even Calamity Ganon can't reach them, then no type of evil can. That way of thinking... it's what caused the downfall of Hyrule in the first place. And now it's happening again...
He heard a Boko horn blow in the distance.
It's time...
Rushing towards the entrance of the village, Link's new plan of attack was to meet them head on. He had hoped to be able to play things out methodically and pick them off one by one, but with none of the people leaving their homes it changed things drastically.
Once he got to the entrance, he readied his bow. Prepared to take out as many as possible before the need for close quarters, or until he ran out of arrows.
There's more than I expected...
The Gold Lynel roared and pointed forward once he saw Link, "Go minions, take what is rightfully yours!"
The monsters all let out a battlecry before charging towards Link.
Zelda...
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Zelda went into the shrine once she heard the horn, but she felt sick to her stomach for doing so. Seeing as how she was the only that made it inside, it felt like she was betraying everyone. Why was she able to stay safe, while everyone else was fighting for their lives? She didn't see how that was fair or justified at all.
She wanted to go back to help, but when push came to shove... she couldn't do it. She was scared, terrified. Zelda knew what the monsters were capable of, and she was very aware of what they did particularly to women. Just the thought of becoming a brooding mother made her gag and tremble in fear.
It begged a question.
What could she do to fight back? What were the chances that she could legitimately take on a Bokoblin, let alone something more fearsome like a Moblin.
The answer was that there was no way. Link made it look easy, but she knew how truly taxing it was on him. She witnessed first hand the amount of hours he put in each day at the castle and so on. She knew how many years he was beaten, and forced to survive endless torment. He was a different breed of warrior. Where as she never so much as lifted a weapon. Besides, Zelda disdained violence, which was one of the reasons why research and exploration spoke to her over knighthood. After all, it wasn't uncommon for royalty to be inducted into the royal guard. However, it was at times like this; similar to that time at Ash Swamp 100 years ago, where she wished that she had chosen a different path. That feeling of helplessness always ate away at her heart, even more so when it came to being helpless in Link's time of need.
As the hours of deafening silence went on, Zelda's sense of rationale started to falter. Link warned her about letting her mind linger in the realm of possibilities for too long, but she couldn't stop thinking about what was going on up there, and eventually...
I can't sit back and hide any longer. There... there must be something I can do to help. The village needs me, Link needs me, I have to try! How can I call myself a princess of this land if I can't even try to defend it? I'm coming, Love.
Zelda headed up the elevator. She couldn't believe that she was actually doing this, the adrenaline pumping through her made her ears tingle. However, once she reached the entrance and stepped outside, she immediately regretted her decision.
Hateno was up in flames, and completely overrun with monsters.
What in Hylia happened?
The first thing she had to check on was their home.
Please be safe, please be-
Zelda was greeted with what was left of their home when she made it to the bridge, along with a group of scavengers rummaging through their belongings.
Our home...
She dropped to her knees in disbelief.
This- This can't be happening... My eyes must be playing tricks on me.
But the longer she looked at the rubble, the more reality settled in.
No, no, no! How could they take our home away?! I... I wanted to...
She slammed her fist into the ground, as the tears started to free fall.
It wasn't supposed to be like this! How could they take that away from us?! Those... fucking monsters!
This was turning into a repeat of-
Link! Where's Link?!
She could hear the faint sounds of battle coming from within the village, and from there her instincts took over as she scampered towards it.
Zelda's mind began to betray her even further as she couldn't help feeling that this was déjà vu. Memories of Link's injuries from that time resurfaced, causing her to stumble to the ground and empty her stomach.
No! This time is different, it's different! It's going to be different!
Zelda fought the feeling of nausea away as she pressed on towards the clashing of of weapons. But was soon forced to hide behind some rubble when she seen a monster heading her way.
"Please no, stop!" yelled a voice from the burnt down house in front of her.
Zelda peeked over cover, and seen that the Moblin found another woman trying to hide. He picked her up by the leg, and ripped her clothes off while she dangled helplessly. He then grabbed a leg each, and slowly lowered her onto his pulsing member.
"Anything but that! Stop! St-"
The woman and the Moblin both howled as he penetrated her. Zelda had to fight off the need to vomit as all she could do was watch as the Moblin raped her relentlessly.
This was Zelda's chance to run since the monster was distracted, but she didn't. Her eyes remained transfixed on what was happening.
I'm being punished. This is a punishment. For being too weak to help, too scared to do something to stop this.
It wasn't long before the Moblin roared his release inside the woman, the cast her aside to find another. Once she was sure it was safe to move, Zelda took the opportunity to crawl towards the woman lying face first on the ground.
"C-Can you hear me? Are you okay?" she asked, then quickly cursed herself when she realized how dumb of a question that was.
When she rolled the woman over, Zelda once again emptied her stomach.
Goddesses... To think that this is happening all around Hyrule...
The thought made her vomit once more.
The woman looked up at Zelda with one thing, lust. But, that feeling quickly turned to disgust as the pathogen began to eat away at the woman's mind. Now, seeing anything besides a monster would initiate nausea.
Because, once the seed of a beast has been planted, there was no coming back.
"I'm sorry," choked out Zelda. "All I could do was watch as that... thing... violated you... I-"
The woman turned away from Zelda, unable to look at her any longer.
Zelda's frown deepened. She desperately wanted to reach out to her, but she knew that if she didn't move soon, she too, would share the same fate.
"Forgive me," she whispered before leaving to find Link.
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With how preoccupied the monsters were with inflicting chaos. It didn't take her long to find Link.
She breathed a sigh of a relief.
Thank the Goddess that he's okay.
However, those feelings were short lived when she realized what situation he was in. She easily recognized who he was fighting against, and memories of their time in the Gerudo Highlands caused her to tremble in fear.
The Lynel pushed Link back, then snapped his head towards her.
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Link handled the first wave of monsters with ease. The traps he laid out, along with his usage of arrows didn't allow for a single enemy to even make it halfway up the hill.
As the second wave made their advance, so too, did Link. He hopped onto his shield, and used it to slide down the hill while firing volleys of arrows into everything that moved. Once he was nearly at the bottom, he kicked his shield into the snout of a unsuspecting Moblin before unsheathing his sword to take care of the few stragglers that managed to make it past him. He shot three arrows into the back of one Moblin, point-warped to the group of three Bokoblins; disposing them with ease, before finally using a blade beam to cleave the other Moblin in half before it made it to the entrance.
Shaking the blood off the blade, Link causally ripped his shield out from the Moblin's snout before taking a defensive stance in front of the Lynel.
The Lynel rubbed his chin, seemingly amused by what he witnessed. He then snapped his fingers, which caused three silver class Lynels to surround Link.
They all attacked Link simultaneously, however, by using his special ability Link's perception of time slowed by 90%. Landing on one of the Lynel's sword, Link slit open his throat, then did a backflip and thrust his sword through another's skull, before point-warping to the final one and doing the same thing. Before the Gold Lynel could even blink, Link had disposed of his three better warriors.
The Lynel laughed, "It would seem that your reputation precedes you, Hero of Time. I expect no less from such a worthy adversary."
"Why are you here?" retorted Link through gritted teeth.
"Of course it was to fight you. We never got a chance to finish our match, and everyone else I've faced since that time have been no challenge at all."
"Then why attack the village? Why put innocent lives at stake?!"
"Isn't it obvious? To lure you out."
"Wha-"
Before he could finish the thought, he heard a Boko horn followed by imminent carnage. When Link looked back towards the village, he could see that it was already up in flames.
"Do you think you should take your eyes off of your opponent?!" yelled the Lynel as he swiped at Link with his massive sword.
He barely managed to parry the attack, and the unexpected knock back sent him flying into a nearby tree stump. Link didn't have the luxury of a slow recovery either as the Lynel was already charging at him. The Lynel swiped at him again, and this time Link executed a perfect dodge to activate his special ability.
Link went in for the counterattack, however, when he went in for the punish he realized that the Lynel was expecting him to do that. Quickly sidestepping the elbow coming down for his skull, he created some distance between them to regroup.
"I've caught onto your skill since our last battle. Don't think that'll work on me again."
He can react faster than I can?
That changed things.
The two clashed swords again, and again, and again. Seemingly at a stalemate. Every attack one made, was countered by the other. And the opening that was made from a good read, was closed off with another counter.
"Excellent! This is exactly what I wanted. Show me more, Hero!"
Link point-warped above one of the Lynel's attacks, and managed to get a small jab in. The Lynel quickly pushed him off, and smacked the hovering sword back towards him. Link countered by kicking the hilt back towards the Lynel, where it was deflected back once again. Catching the sword this time, he threw it back at the Lynel where he easily managed to parry it. This back and forth became so intense that sword began to gleam orange from the metal reaching its melting point.
"Enough!" bellowed the Lynel, as he slammed his fist into the ground to try and stop this sequence of trading. Leaving a small crater as a result.
Link took this opportunity to point-warp above, and slice down the entirety of the Lynel's arm.
He roared in frustration before backing off. Suddenly, the jagged stripes on his body glowed a sinister purple before the cut Link inflicted was no more.
"Now... where were we?"
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The battle had lasted several hours, still at the stalemate like before. Both combatants were only able to get to a few small shots in, but nothing more was given from either side.
They had worked their way into a farmers field so there was nothing between them or to distract them.
An even playing field.
Both of them were out of breath, and both of them were feeling the strain of such a gruelling 1vs1. The glow of the Master Sword was beginning to flicker from having so much of its power drained, and the ominous glow from the jagged stripes of the Lynel also seemed to be dwindling.
The fight was about to come to a close.
The two charged at each other again, and amidst the clash, the keen hearing of the Lynel picked up unfamiliar movement. Pushing Link back, his head snapped towards the noise, locking eyes with none other than-
Zelda? What's she-
"Fool!"
The Lynel used the timely distraction to punch Link in the stomach, then swipe at his head. Using his special ability, Link managed to dodge the blow that would've taken off his head, but it wasn't without its repercussions. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to stop the blade from slashing something else.
Why is it so dark? I... I can't see!
He could hear his name being screamed in the distance. He knew it was Zelda, but he couldn't see her.
He tentatively put his hand over his face, and it was then that he knew...
"To be done in by some girl... You've grown soft from the last we met."
"You're wrong!" Link barked back. "This isn't over!"
"It's over," said the Lynel.
Link had no idea that the blow even came. The Lynel chopped off his sword arm, then punched him through the fence nearby fence.
Zelda instinctively ran to his side, hovering over him protectively.
"Don't touch him!" she screamed.
"Stupid girl! You realize that you are to blame for this. If it wasn't for your interference, he may have had a better fate."
His voice was loud and intimidating, so much so, that it caused Zelda to wet herself and shrink in fear.
"P-Please... don't k-kill him. I'll do anything..." she begged.
He raised an eyebrow, "Anything you say?"
He looked back at the group of monsters that had been eyeing her this whole time. The thought of turning like that woman caused her entire being to shake.
I don't want to turn out like that, but if it means protecting Link...
"You know what? I won't feed you to the monsters. As fun as it would be to see you become a mindless brooding mother. I'm a respectable man."
"T-Then-"
"Silence!" he yelled, causing her to flinch. "I think I'll keep you alive. It would be much more entertaining knowing that the guilt of what you've done is eating away at you."
"What...?"
He leaned in to whisper, "I wonder how long you will last until you lose your mind. How long do you think it will be until you can no longer look at him? How long can you remain at his side until the guilt drives you away? Yes... this is what we'll do."
Zelda's eyes went wide as he said this.
"I'll be back when he's ready. I only wonder if you'll be there this time around. This has been interesting girl, what's your name."
"My name? M-My name is... Zelda."
"Well then, Zelda. If you can make it out of here alive, I look forward to the day our paths cross once again."
The Lynel then snapped his fingers, and vanished from sight. Leaving her alone with Link.
"How... How did it come to this?!" cried out Zelda as she huddled over Link's listless body.
She knew something was off, but this?
She thought she was prepared, but even after seeing this scenario once before the feeling never changes. If anything, it worsens.
Cradling his head into her lap, Zelda started to wail. Unable to keep her emotions in check any longer when she seen just how bad things were.
It was starting to become a list of the many times that Link put himself in harms way for her well being. She was tired of it. Tired of feeling this way. Tired of seeing him in so much pain. Tired of feeling useless in situations like this. Tired of having her feelings toyed with by some unknown force. Because, it always seemed that whenever something good happened to her, despair was soon to follow.
She was sick of it.
But, what could she do in this situation? The entire village was up in flames, death was around every corner, and she could hear the screams of the women as the monsters had their way with them. She was terrified.
Zelda had no combat experience, there was no way she could just fight her way out of it. And what of Link, who was on deaths doorstep? She couldn't just leave his side for her own sake, it was out of the question.
"Link, what do I do? Please... tell me..."