Anger had always confused Twilight. Adrenaline and Rage, triggered by an emotional event, boiling through yourself before exploding out in a fury.
Anger was not just something he felt, everyone felt it of course. But it was built into him, his temper and hot-blooded nature only fueled the flames of it.
Anger was in his blood.
During his travels, he would often find Anger to be something to rely on.
It was Anger that led him to his first Wall of Twilight.
It was Anger that allowed him to save Colin from death.
And it was Anger that let him defeat Ganondorf himself.
The former hero sighed, sitting in meditation. He wondered if his temper which had defined him so much, had also passed onto his descendant.
He didn't know that he was right.
Zelda desperately tried to stop herself, being pulled along by Link through the underground halls. His face was flushed, annoyance and fury rushing through his veins as he navigated the maze-like halls.
Eventually, they reached Zelda's room. He pushed her inside, slamming the door. The Princess whipped her head around, opening her mouth to say something, she clamped it shut when Link grabbed a wooden chair and smashed into onto a table.
She watched slack jawed as the table and chair were reduced to splinters by her knight's rage. He began screaming and cursing incoherently, some was a little understandable, yet very crass.
The other parts, she swore he was speaking in Ancient Hylian, a language which had been dead for thousands of years, only used occasionally by the Royal Guard.
She slowly sat on her bed as he continued his mini-rampage, finally smashing the chair to pieces, and now deciding to punch and bang his head on the stone wall.
Predictably, he only got two headbutts in before he fell backwards, landing flat on the floor staring up at the ceiling, a faded look in his eyes.
"..." He muttered something after a second.
Zelda sat up and walked over to him, kneeling down to listen closely. "What was that?"
"..Zel..." He muttered again.
"Link, please speak up." She placed her hand on his forehead, his pupils were dilating rapidly.
"Zelda" He forced out, his voice hoarse and pitiful, pupils going wide. "Where...am I?"
"My room, in the Castle." She said, surprised to hear her name. "You dragged me here after all, don't you remember?"
"I...No." He also frowned. "I remember...the meeting...Riju and Sidon...Wait...AGH!"
He cried in pain, hands flying up to clutch at his temples. "My head! It's burning!"
Zelda jumped in panic as his eyes began flying around in search, his breath hitching as he began hyperventilating. He rocketed up from the floor, through the door, and out into the hall.
He managed to scramble about three feet before collapsing to his knees, clutching his pounding skull. "Ahhh!" He threw his head back, his screams echoed through the hall, yet nobody heard it since the two were still far from anyone. "Nnngh! Goddesses! Make it stop!"
Zelda was confused and frantic, she had never seen her Knight like this. She followed after him, kneeling beside him and attempting to ease his pain.
Her efforts proved to be fruitless as he continued screaming and holding his temples.
But then he stilled, expression changing from pain to anger, staring forward blankly at the long hallway.
"Stop yelling at me..." He growled to nobody, actual tears starting to flow from his eyes. "I've done nothing wrong."
"Link, I'm not yelling at you." Zelda said in a calming tone, trying not to make it worse. "The only one who has yelled is you."
"No. I have done nothing wrong!" He turned and screamed at her, voice growing hoarse as he began to break down.. "Nothing! Nothing!Nothing! Nothing...nothing...nothing..."
His voice gave way to mumbling, a stream of tears streaking down his face as he shook with great intensity. Zelda hushed and soothed him, stroking his hair and whispering sweet nothings. It seemed to help, now that initial screaming was over. After a bit, he seemed to be calm enough, having curled up into a ball on the floor. A pitiful sight that Zelda wished to not see her friend in at all.
"Link." Zelda spoke, a silent mumble her only response. "Who were you talking to?"
He didn't answer for a minute, sniffling and light hiccups the only sounds he emitted. After a while, he finally responded.
"Nobody, Princess." He muttered, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "I just...remembered..."
"What was it?" Zelda asked, confused, yet interested.
"The Court. The Nobles. They all argued." He shuddered. "The ones representing the kingdom, arguing like a pack of wolves. They looked down on me with harsh criticism and no praise."
"But you never said anything of the sort then." She held his face in her palm, forcing him to look at her. "You only bowed and listened."
"As they insulted me, my father, my heritage." He muttered, his tone one of defeat. "There was no therapy for me. No sympathy for my father's death. My own mother pushed me away from home."
"What?" Her eyebrows raised in shock. "I had no idea..."
In truth, she didn't. She had thought he had left his home out of grief for his father and planned on following in his footsteps as a guardian of royalty, not that his mother drove him away outright.
"Zelda, You and everyone else in that room, are the only people I can truly call friends. Everyone else is dead." He sat up, head dropped low to hide his face. "And yet, I watched two of them become the people who thought of me less than the dirt on their boots."
"Link, It's complicated-"
"It's bullshit!" He snapped loudly, voice raw with anger. Unfortunately, he used much more energy than he had planned and falling to the floor on his side once more, facing her. "...Why can it not be simple anymore?"
She couldn't answer.
"Link...Have you had any other...'episodes' like this?" Zelda asked, worried at her thoughts. "I'm afraid...I know what could be causing them."
He looked at her, his entire form defeated. He murmured some numbers to himself, counting four fingers. "Once, after I was revived. Two more while collecting my memories, and one final one when I regained the final memory, my death."
"I see...so it Is your memories..." She placed her hand under her chin, thinking. "I was afraid of this."
"Pardon?" He rasped, pushing himself up.
"Link, there was a reason I got angry with Twilight a few days ago, when he triggered a memory forcefully." She began explaining. "I have discussed your mental state with Impa, and I think I know what is happening."
"My...Mental State?" He asked, bewildered.
"Yes, I've once dedicated time to study the minds of various people, one group being the Hyrule Army and it's soldiers. Some of them, who had seen battle, were often traumatized and developed a certain mental...illness from their experiences."
"...And I have it?"
"Maybe, I think it's just stacking up out of your favor. Your incomplete memories, habits of a soldier, your true personality, and said illness are causing these...outbursts, often triggered by...well, many things, memories mostly."
"Great, so I'm scatterbrained, that's nice." He sighed.
"No, No. Like I said, It may just be minor, but your other problems are just making it worse." She clarified again.
He looked at his lap, contemplating. "Is there a way to make it stop?"
"Hmm...I'm not sure." Zelda scratched her head. "If the outbursts are triggered by memories, bad ones, just try remembering a...pleasant memory?"
He frowned. A pleasant memory? Those were...hard to come by.
"How about..." She put her finger to her lip. "Hmm...Oh, how about Mipha? I know you loved being around her." She smirked. "And vice versa."
He blushed a bit, looking away from her.
Mipha...
102 years ago.
He had not spoke for weeks. He had gone before the court for a weekly "Assessment" which was, in truth, various critiques for the boy. They held their noses up as they listed various ways to "improve", on top of the list of things he'd already done to improve last week.
Not one single praise.
Nobody cared for him or his fragile emotional state. His feelings of despair, grief, and self-doubt went unnoticed.
He looked much more different, he originally had his hair short and loose, but had now opted to grow it out and tie it into a ponytail. His blue champion's tunic shone brightly, as did the Master Sword on his back.
He was in Zora's Domain, downstream along the river. Mipha had accompanied him as he went about clearing out nests of monsters. He had to admit, Mipha was amazing with a spear, if he had brought something other than the Master Sword, she would've racked up more kills than him.
The Zora Princess sat next to him as he leaned against a rocky wall, underneath an outcropping in a cliff. A small campfire in front of them. Most days, he would be at full attention, keeping his eyes wide open. But today, the calming flow of the river and company of his childhood friend was just too much for his tired mind.
His head fell back, and he fell asleep.
When he woke up, it was to the cool night air. Mipha was tucked under his right arm, her head resting on his chest, she was awake however, her golden eyes staring at the river.
"Link, you have not lost your voice, have you?" She inquired in her soft tone. It was so pleasant, he wouldn't mind listening to it all day.
"Hmm..." Was his only reply, showing that, No, he had not lost it.
"So, you just refuse to speak then?" She asked. "Why?"
He frowned, leaning his head back to stare upwards. He simply shrugged, it wasn't important.
"Link, I know...I know your life has gone downhill recently, loosing one's parents is no easy thing." She sat up and stared at him. "But shutting everyone out is not the way to recovery." She looked at her hands. "My powers can only heal physical injury, not emotional trauma."
He frowned, feeling confused. "Hmph." He grumbled, looking in the other direction.
"I...I'm not sure if I should do this, it could only make things worse..." She stuttered quietly, his ears perking up at her words.
Her small hand grabbed him by the chin, forcefully turned his head to face her, her amber eyes gazing his sapphire ones. Link blinked at her curiously, her eyes beaming and lip trembling as she seemed to gather her nerves.
Quickly, she leaned forward and kissed him lips. The intimate contact sending shivers down his spine as he froze up, staring wide-eyed, blushing harshly.
She broke away, looking at him nervously. He simply stared back, emotions swirling through his head.
'Did that...seriously just happen!?' His mind screamed.
"Mipha..." He breathed.
She lit up upon hearing his voice, only to quickly shrink back down at his look of disbelief. "I...I had hoped you'd returned my feelings. B-But if you d-don't, I understand...I'm-mean...Well-"
He cut her off by placing his hands on her shoulders and kissing her on the forehead. It was her turn to freeze up and stare at him in confusion, blushing furiously.
"Thank you." He smiled, sitting back. "I'm sorry I've been quiet all this time, I guess that's normally your job."
"It's, haha...fine." She stuttered, chuckling. "But...Um, Can you tell me...why? Why the silence?"
He frowned, scratching his cheek. "After I pulled this damned Sword, my life was over. The death of my Father was just one step on that road." He huffed, blowing out a harsh breath. "You have people looking down or up to you, watching your every move. If you break, or show the tiniest of emotion. They'll tear you apart like animals."
Mipha only cocked her head. "So...you use a facade of stoicism to prevent that?"
He shrugged. "If Hyrule's Champion cracks, the people will loose hope. I can't allow that. Not now."
She stared at him for a moment, then leaned up against him, her right hand taking hold of his left. "I won't loose hope and certainly not in you, Link."
She blushed once more, gulping. "If it is not readily apparent..I want to admit it...I-I love you, Link."
He kissed her on the forehead again, leaning his head against her's. "I love you too, Mipha."
They snuggled for a bit, watching the river go by, then fell asleep holding hands.
His vision faded back in from the short, but nice memory. He felt significantly better. He was still on the floor, staring at Zelda, who in turn was watching him carefully, notably his eyes.
"...I miss Mipha." He murmured, scratching his head. "She always made things better."
"I'm sure she did." Zelda smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay now?"
"Yes, I'm fine." He replied with indifference, standing up. "Actually feel much better now. Feel like a million rupees-Ow!"
He held his forehead in pain, a bruise having formed there from the earlier rampage.
"A thousand?" The Princess smiled, his response was a quick nod.
She breathed out in relief. "We need to get back to the meeting."
"Right when the floor was getting comfy." He snarked, stretching. She gave him a questioning glance. "That was sarcasm, Zelda. Don't worry, I'm not crazy."
She placed her hand on her hip. "You called me Zelda, What happened to 'Princess'?"
"I am...In a pretty good mood now." He said. "So, to put it bluntly, I don't give a damn about protocol right now." He shrugged. "I might go back to it later, just saying."
They walked back to the Sanctum to see that everybody had left already, only Impa and Paya remained.
"Oh...Did they leave?" Zelda asked, worried.
Impa nodded. "Yes, but I wouldn't worry about it. Link's outburst helped them see reason for a while, so I took over. The roads will be clear for the supplies."
"Thank Nayru." Link breathed out in relief. "Twilight and I can definitely handle it now."
Impa looked at him cautiously, obviously wondering why he was so calm now. "I...also wanted to tell you, Purah came by Kakariko after you left."
Link and Zelda both snorted, covering their mouths to keep from laughing. "A bit on the short side, ain't she?"
"What?" Impa seemed confused. "If you call being younger 'short' than yes, I guess."
"Wait, so you aren't freaked out that she's a child again?" Zelda stopped giggling, surprised.
"Child?" Paya inquired aloud. "Aunt Purah was a young woman when she dropped by!"
"What!?" Zelda's jaw almost dropped.
"I guess she fixed the rune..." Link muttered.
"Yes, She was about in her twenties, I think that's what she said. She used a Sheikah Slate Rune to de-Age herself to her youth." Impa chuckled. "She offered to do the same to me."
Zelda gasped excitedly. "And will you?"
She smiled. "Of Course, After the meeting, Paya and I shall travel to Hateno to meet her."
"That's wonderful, Impa!" Zelda squeeled, hugging the old sheikah. "It'll just be like old times!"
"Indeed." Impa moved from the girl's grasp. "Anyway, We shall be off. For now, a carpenter came up from Castle Town. Said that the Stable and Inn were finished, and there was someone who wanted to meet with you."
"Alright, I wish you safe travels." After the Elder and her Granddaughter left, she turned to Link. "Shall we go see Bolson and this mystery person?"
Link motioned to the entrance with his hand. "After you, Princess."
Zelda laughed, rolling her eyes.
She loved this Link better.
Just a little something for this week. I have one more Final tomorrow, then I'm out for the summer! :D
Zelda's catching on to Link's problems, which are much worse than they were thought to be.
Just like she said, and I have mentioned, Link's natural laid back personality is conflicting with his incomplete memories and habits of a Royal Guard, combine that with the fact that he developed PTSD at some point during (or before?) the Calamity, and you've got an emotional dilemma on your hands.
As it turns out, loosing everyone you love, dying, getting revived with no memories, and then having everything flood back to you at random intervals can give you some severe mental trauma. Who knew?
I'll tell you from experience, I am extremely uncomfortable writing romance...It just...makes me cringe so much. But Mipha is so cute! I can't help it! Eeeeee!
Yay! Purah's "older" again! Her personality is completely the same! XD
Can't wait to have Impa back in her Prime too! :D
Link speaking Ancient Hylian during his breakdown is gonna play into the story, so be prepared and have a keen eye.