It was a full two days after her birthday and Zelda had finally recovered. She'd never been hungover before, and she couldn't say she wanted to experience it again. In her defense she hadn't intended to get drunk.

Still, she yawned and stretched and prepared to go from the work of planning her party to just the work of preparing her kingdom to fight the forces of evil. Awesome.

Her maids dressed her, and Paya started with her list of to do's for the day. The list was long. She let her hair be brushed and styled, and nodded along trying to focus. The problem was she had the feeling she was forgetting something.

"Princess, are you sure you're feeling well enough?" Paya asked, brow furrowing with concern.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine as I can be. Just… getting lost in thought."

Paya didn't comment and let her finish getting ready. Zelda, on second glance at her friend, noticed the dark circles under her eyes, and nearly asked her the same. Paya never gave her the chance and pushed through to start the day.

Zelda prepared for a meeting organizing troop movements, alongside Guardian tests. It was quite dull. After that, there was an inspection of said troops, and then more weapons practice that she had to be present for as she was the only one besides Darlas and Link who could actually hear the machines. And if she was being honest, Link wasn't much help.

It was late afternoon when she was distracted from a relaxation period by her most handsome guard. Zelda glanced at Paya who to the untrained eye seemed fine. She wasn't. Zelda could see that clearly in the slight slouch in her form, and the tiredness of her eyes. It wasn't Link's time to take over yet, but surely it wouldn't matter if she swapped guards a little early.

Link waved at her from down the hall.

"Paya, I think Link's here to take over," Zelda said. Paya glanced down the same way and Link waved again.

She could tell Paya wanted to argue, but the bags under her eyes stopped her. She bowed, and left to nap. It must've been serious if she left without protest. Zelda wondered what had gotten her to that state, as Paya was fastidious about her own health, but the Sheikah guard was already down the hallway towards her room.. Zelda made her way down the hallway to join Link.

When she got to him, he smiled.

"How do you always know the right place to be?" she asked.

He shrugged and started walking forward. She quickened her pace to keep up. "So," she started, happy to be able to speak with him as she remembered not being able to find him at her party and then only dancing with him for a short while. Or at least wanting to tell him something very important. As she tried to ask the question, she realized she didn't know what it was. "My birthday a success?"

"It certainly was something," he said.

Something was off. Zelda frowned slightly. She couldn't tell what it was. Had she said something rude at the party? Oh no, what if he hated her now? Watching the stern face he held, though, Zelda figured he just must be tired too. He only ever stayed so stoic with her in private when he was tired.

"If you're in need of rest we could relax somewhere," she suggested.

He started slightly and almost denied it, but then relaxed again. "Tired. Right." he nodded. "I have an idea of a location."

"Ooh, idea of a location," Zelda repeated, "Have you done more exploring?"

"Something like that," he muttered.

Even still, Zelda could tell there was something more off.

"Is there something on your mind?" she asked.

Once again he jumped slightly like she was accusing him of something. Eventually he said. "No, nothing, I just… worry.."

Worry? Zelda pinched her brow. Link wasn't one to worry, or at least he wasn't one to tell her that he worried. Still she followed him. They were in a more isolated wing of the castle she noticed. Link wouldn't normally take her to this part of the castle. If they wanted to relax they usually went to the gardens or library, somewhere with people for decorum's sake.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she finally said, "I suppose I can't blame you, these are times with worries. Does speaking of the future put your mind at ease or burden it?"

Link didn't answer.

"Because we could speak of after if that would help. It sometimes helps me."

"I don't wish to burden you," he said. Now that sounded more like Link but still…

It was then that she noticed it. There was a lack of spark between them. Something was missing. Pushing with this new idea, she said, "It only has to be for a short while, we could talk about wedding venues. Do you still think that the royal cathedral is the only place you want?"

He was quiet. They had spoken of this before not long ago at all. His ears didn't blush, and his face was still. With confidence he said, "I'm sure I could be convinced otherwise."

It wasn't him. She summoned her bow.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

He looked taken aback by her sudden threat, but a cruel smile made its way to his face. Too late did Zelda realize he wasn't alone as a dart embedded in her shoulder. Link melted into a smokey figure. No, it couldn't end like this!

From her body, a wave of light emitted. Her last act before her consciousness slipped from her.

…

Link was working hard at helping a servant girl find a ring that was a family heirloom or something. He was late to take over Paya's guarding duty, but he couldn't exactly find a polite way to excuse himself. Sorry little girl, your grandmother's ring must stay unfound because I have to go hang out with the princess. Yeah, that was totally fair.

"Have you found it yet?" she asked.

"No, I was just going to–"

He was cut off by a jolt going through him. He looked up to catch just a glimpse of a flash of light. A bad feeling sunk in his gut. Something was wrong.

"Sorry, I need to go," he said, standing from the ground.

The girl's eyes widened and she grabbed onto his arm, exclaiming, "No! If I don't find that ring, my mother will beat me!"

"I'll return to help you, but I need to go." He removed her arm and walked away. Before he could feel guilty about possibly allowing a child to be abused, a feeling of urgency hit him and he started running. Where would Zelda be? A study? On her rounds?

He checked her study only to find it empty. He closed the door to see Paya with a cup of tea in her hand.

The two guards froze when they saw each other.

"Is Zelda okay?" he asked.

Paya, for once, was caught off guard. "I thought she was with you."

"But I haven't– I was running late!" Link explained.

Paya's eyes widened. "You were running late? But–"

"But what?"

"I definitely handed her off to you…" Horror gripped Paya's face. "... Or someone who looked like you."

"Looked like me?" Link's blood ran cold. "We have to find her." he exclaimed, "Which way were they headed?"

Paya didn't need more prompting and took off down the hallway. Link followed her through the maze that was the castle. Paya shouted out orders as she ran, putting the castle on lockdown. With the help of some servants they were able to find the direction that the imposter had taken Zelda. A less occupied part of the castle, of course.

"And no one thought it would be odd that she was going with you there?" Paya asked.

"Her and I have only been alone-alone a handful of times in the past two years," Link argued, but still he felt at fault. If only he'd been able to have a more at least outwardly professional relationship. Eventually they made it to a hallway that held an energy Link noticed immediately.

"Stop, Paya," he said, studying the scene.

Paya stopped and surveyed the hallway for whatever it was that Link noticed. The worst part was Link wasn't sure what made him know that Zelda had been there. Just that she had been there. He walked methodically throughout the space, trying to find something. It was as he passed a certain place that he felt a slight burning from the back of his hand. Something in him told he needed music.

Feeling half mad, Link whistled a tune that he knew was a favorite of Zelda's.

And low and behold, a golden glowing patch lit the floor. Paya audibly gasped, not an easy response to illicit from her, and Link inspected the spot closer.

"She was here," Link said, "she weaved some magic, though…"

The light trail stopped at a certain point where she must've been picked up. So the kidnapper would perhaps be easy to find since he or she would be glowing, if the kidnapper tried to hide in plain sight.

The two body guards stared at their only clue and tried to find the next step.

...

Zelda woke up with a bag over her head. She froze in panic.

"Well, good going," she heard a voice say, "now we're stuck in the castle because someone couldn't keep a certain princess from glowing."

"She's never been able to keep up passive magic like this before. It's hardly my fault," said a second male voice.

"She wouldn't have activated it if you had been a better actor." The first voice again, a young sounding girl.

"Better actor? The only one who really knows how they act together would be Paya and we definitely would not be able to get her to defect. I even tried to get her to tell us about the two of them and she was decidedly tightlipped. Members of the main family are so honor bound."

"If we could get Paya to defect we wouldn't have needed this farce."

"If someone could've kept the Hero's attention the alarm wouldn't have been raised so quickly."

"I hate you."

"Yeah, well we're all in it now."

A poof and a third person entered the room. The newcomer cursed loudly. "I knew you two would fail. Why is she still here?" She sounded like a woman.

The other two tried to argue until the newcomer sighed. "It doesn't matter why you failed, but that you did. I figured something like this would happen and we do have a way out." Her confidence faltered when she must've actually looked at Zelda. "Why is she glowing?"

The first voice was quick to blame her partner in crime. "That's thanks to someone being slow on his feet."

"I resent that," the second voice spat back. "She has the blood of the goddess. Wouldn't it be weird if she didn't do things like glow?"

"We understood her powers were limited. If they've been unlocked to an extent…" the newcomer trailed off.

"Why don't we just kill her?" the first voice asked, "She's the last of her line, Ganon would be free to rise."

"He doesn't will it." the newcomer, probably their leader, said.

"Why is it okay to try and kill the Hero but not the princess?"

"While I can't claim to be of one mind with our lord Ganon, I can see why. He's kept her hostage perhaps for political reasons, or perhaps just to make sure she can watch her hero fail. He also needs her triforce before he can kill her."

Zelda shivered at the thought. Link wouldn't fail though, he couldn't.

"Easy, then we can just take the triforce!" the younger girl said.

"It's not that simple. You need to be a great wizard to do such things. There is one Sheikah who could do such a thing, but he is sickeningly loyal to the royal family."

The three made noises of disgust.

"Goody two shoes," one muttered.

"It's late, Yerva, you need to return to your guard duty," the newcomer said.

Yerva? Zelda felt her blood run cold. She knew Yerva. Yerva was one of the few Sheikah guards younger than her. Yerva who secretly loved to eat cakes on duty, an active sheikah guard no-no.

Yerva hated her? Hated her family?

And the other two– she probably knew the other two, or at least Paya did. It was good to hear that Paya and Impa were loyal, Koshia too, if their comment about a great magic user was anything to go off of.

Zelda wasn't sure where they were, but with renewed effort she tried to think of a way out. The whole castle would be looking for her. If she could stop them from leaving the castle, it sounded like they couldn't kill her. She wasn't sure on her chances to escape on her own. She'd have to use magic, since her own fighting skills were far below that of a Sheikah. If she were to fight at all…

Zelda thought about how all she needed to do was not leave the castle. If she didn't move from this spot…

…

Link knew this energy, it was almost subconscious, but–

"Paya, do you have something I could use for dowsing?" he asked.

"You want to dowse for the princess," Paya said.

He didn't answer and looked for a tree outside with properly forked branches. No, none were right. He drew his sword and glanced at Paya expectantly. She would've put up more of a fight if she had a better plan than his. With her Sheikah sword in his right hand and his own sword in his left, Link closed his eyes. He had a feeling with the proper sword it would be easier, but he's done dowsing before. He was pretty good at it.

"Is there any credence to dowsing?" Paya asked, "Impa made it seem like it was more superstition."

"It's only superstition if you don't know what you're doing," he said, eyes fluttering open as he realized he'd wandered back to the spot she'd been last. He focused on the princess in his mind's eye. Every detail. The curve of her neck, the flick of her hair, the weight of her step. He started walking again, the swords making their way to cross.

They clanked against a wall and Link opened his eyes. They were down the hallways a ways facing what appeared to be a blank wall. It, however, was not a blank wall.

Link hummed the song needed to open it and the wall slid down opening the way into darkness.

Paya was speechless. Link handed her her sword back and faced the entrance again. After Paya pushed past her shock, she took point. Most likely due to the fact she could see in darkness much better than he could. The two descended into the secret passageway, ready for whatever force they may have to fight.

In his year at the castle when he was younger, Link had spent a large amount of that time exploring the secrets it held. He vaguely remembered this one, but it had also been years, not to mention how the tunnels seemed to shift around on their own.

Still, Paya led surely, and the path didn't fork as far as they could see. It was dusty and smelled stale, like the air hadn't moved in a long time. It was because of that dust, that Paya was able to catch the first real trail of the kidnappers.

Paya pointed at the ground, and from the slight light of his Sheikah slate, Link could see a footprint in the dust. The clear track of a Sheikah sandal. Paya's demeanor turned cold with fury, and Link wasn't far behind. So it was a rogue Sheikah. There must've been a group of traitors to the royal family, but why? Why would they do such a thing?

"Hero," Paya said softly, gripping the hilt of her blade tighter. "I'm going to want to kill these traitors. You have to capture at least one. I'm not going to let any escape."

Grimly, Link nodded. He could do that. As long as Zelda wasn't harmed. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd do if that happened.

They continued on, ready for anything.

They weren't ready for a glowing Princess Zelda with a bag over her head trying to be lifted by two rogue Sheikah. Despite the fact that Zelda was most definitely lighter than the maximum weight Sheikah guards were required to be able to lift to graduate training, the two were struggling. Paya, not wasting any chances, threw two throwing knives, striking one of the traitors fatally. The other was able to dodge, though Link dove in right after, pinning the woman to the ground.

She struggled and cursed and bit. Link grit his teeth and knocked her on the head. She passed out, or appeared to pass out and Link was quick to motion Paya over to tie up their new prisoner.

Paya restrained her with clinical accuracy, relieving her of all her weapons while Link checked on Zelda. Paya had already pushed the body of the other kidnapper aside and off of Zelda. She was breathing heavily and he could see the perspiration on her still glowing skin. As gently as he could, he lifted the hood off of her and tried to lift her up, but she weighed much more than she should. "Zelda," he said, "are you okay?"

Her eyes were open and staring at him like he was telling a lie.

"Link?" she asked, "How do I know it's you?"

Right, the imposter, Link had forgotten. "Because," he said, "It's me. If you were to hold my hand my ears would probably turn red."

She seemed to take that as a challenge and released whatever spell it was to hug him tightly. True to his word, his ears did blush, though Zelda couldn't see. She still knew it was her Hero. He wrapped his arms around her in return and breathed in the fact she was okay.

Paya asked, "Is she okay?"

"I'm just tired," Zelda answered, and withdrew from the hug, though not his arms. "I had to keep that spell up for… for longer than I've ever needed to before. Did you get them all?"

Paya looked pointedly at the corpse next to them. "He's dead, this one is captured. Were there more?"

Fear filled Zelda's eyes. "Yes, there was one more. It was– it was Yerva."

Once more, Paya grew furious. She contained it better than Link would've. Zelda's glow started to fade. Paya huffed, and hefted the captured rogue over her shoulder. "Hero, take the princess back to her quarters and let no one enter, not even me until I give you the password."

"What would the password be?" Link asked.

"The princess knows it. She can tell you once you sweep her chambers. We are not lowering the alarm until we find this third traitor."

Link nodded, and helped Zelda to the exit. Paya took point, probably looking for an excuse to drop the rogue Sheikah, and Link followed with the light activated on his Sheikah slate. Zelda muttered something about light magic, but Link only shushed her. She was in no state to do such things. Finally, they made it to the sunlight, and Paya poofed away with her captive. Link then began the task of returning Zelda to her rooms.

It was… well people were going to talk after this. Should he try to avoid people? Or would that just look sneakier? He could walk like there was nothing wrong, but then he also didn't want the rogue Sheikah to know they had rescued Zelda. Sneaky it was. Zelda was dead on her feet, so Link crouched so she could climb on his back.

"A piggy back ride?" she asked, but got on all the same. He stood and could feel her breath on his ear. He crept through the hallways avoiding the guards and servants as he went. Somehow they made it to her door where two guards stood. Out of sight of the guards, Link set Zelda down on her feet. She looked at him questioningly.

"I'd like for you to approach them if you can."

She only smiled slightly and nodded. Taking advantage of her escort, she held tightly to his arm and walked to the guards at her doors.

She said nothing, only nodded to them to signal one of them to open the doors. Neither guard commented on her state of dishevelment. With the doors shut behind them they both let out a sigh of relief. Zelda locked the doors, as good as that would do to stop an assassin.

"I want to take a bath…" Zelda started, "but I suppose I should wait on that."

Link nodded.

"I should do a sweep of the wing," he said. Zelda followed him as he did so, even though he knew she was weak from all of the magic she'd done. Finally, satisfied they were alone, they sat down in her solar.

She at least had been able to wipe down her face with the water basin, though her eyes were still tired, and her hair limp with sweat. "Are you feeling alright?" Link asked. "Did they shoot you with a sedative?"

She nodded. "I think so. They shot me with a dart and that was how they were able to capture me. I think my body was actively using magic to heal that, and now it's just the magic has taken its toll." She clasped her hand together and stared at them. "I heard them talking." she said quietly.

"What did they say?"

"They… they want to kill you. They are aligned with Ganon, that's for sure. I'm not sure why though."

"We always knew he wanted me dead. But I assumed they tried to kill you and couldn't. Were they not trying to kill you?"

She shook her head. "They were trying to kidnap me. Even they were unsure why Ganon wanted me alive. I'm worried Link, If even Yerva is in on it… Anyone could be. And they'll try again."

"Paya is going to root them out," Link said.

"That's what they said when they found that one assassin two years ago. Didn't stop him from dying before they could get anything worthwhile out of him."

"We've learnt from our mistakes," Link said.

"Right."

"Like I've learnt that we need to be more professional."

"More professional?"

"We…" he tried to think of a way to word it correctly. "We have a special relationship. If more people accepted it was just professional, perhaps you wouldn't have gotten too far before someone questioned you."

"I think it's too late for that," she said quietly, "even I think about you in a biased way. We need to be proactive."

For another moment that day Link felt his heart stop. She thought about him? He'd guessed from how she'd behaved at her birthday party that she was at least favorable to him, but he hadn't thought she would acknowledge it while sober.

"All this to say, we need to end this sooner rather than later." Her voice was stronger even if her body still was weak. "Before we become more caught up in each other. Before these traitors can regroup and try again. We need our counter attack."

"You mean to take the fight to Ganon?" he asked, "How? He's not due to break free until a few years from now, unless you've seen something new."

She shook her head. "No, I haven't seen anything new. I haven't for a very long time. That also concerns me… but what I meant is we should take the fight to Ganon. By having you draw the Master Sword again."

Link didn't know what to say. Draw the sword again? It had only been years after the fact that the effects of that were known, the effects being Ganon's seal was less effective for whatever reason. Zelda had been confused due to the fact the sealing power of the sword usually was because of how it could weaken the embodiment of evil, only a few times he had been sealed with the sword. The last calamitous event presumably NOT being one.

The distress must've shown on his face, and he sputtered for a way to respond. If him drawing the sword would release Ganon, all the deaths caused between then and Ganon's defeat would be his fault.

Finally after a long while, Zelda continued, "I know I never told you, and I'm sorry, but it didn't seem important."

"Didn't seem important?" he asked, "Zelda, I could've accidentally brought on the apocalypse had I not replaced it. We were nowhere close to being ready back then."

"I know."

Of course she knew. It was probably why she never said anything. His frustration left him as he sat on the couch in a slump. He really couldn't be mad because the idea of trying to fight Ganon on his own, as foolish as that was, had only been hindered by the fact he didn't know where he was sealed or how to release him early. Not that he believed he was foolish enough to actually try, but… Perhaps Zelda didn't know that.

"Link, it's not that I didn't trust you," she started, probably seeing the disappointment on his face. "Important perhaps isn't the right word… it hasn't been pressing. Not like everything else that's been happening. But now, now I think it should be discussed."

"Fine. I guess it's not like we weren't ever going to go get it." Link said, "A small party, just you me and Paya. We get in, we get out,"

"You've thought about this."

Of course he had. Grabbing both her hands in his, he gazed into her eyes. "Zelda," he said, "Let's finish this."