I DO NOT OWN ZELDA
OCs ARE MINE UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE
Welcome all to my sojourn into the world of Zelda fandom. I hope you stick with me throughout this journey. I truly hope you get as much enjoyment out of reading this as I do typing it up. Author's Notes at the end of chapter. I'd suggest you read them when you're done so you know what to expect out of this.
Sandstorm Vignettes
Tale 1: Meeting Again for the First Time
It was as hot as he remembered. As he trekked through the terrain that connected Hyrule Field to the Gerudo Valley, the boy wondered again just how he was going to gain entrance to the fortress.
"I suppose I could try showing the guards my membership," he murmured to himself, pace never breaking.
It wasn't until he saw the two guards did the anxiety begin to kick in. Not letting it reach the surface, he strolled up to the sentries and let the innocent charm of a twelve-year old take over.
"Hiya!" The boy waved in good nature and gave a mock bow that caused one of the guards to raise an eyebrow and the other to stifle a laugh. "May I be permitted to pass?"
"I don't think so, Little Hylian," one of them responded. She and her comrade were both garbed in the traditional purple of one lower-ranked in the Sisterhood, and for a moment, the boy wondered why an elite White wasn't guarding the entrance.
'It's a different world,' he mused.
Regardless, he decided to push the little boy act some more.
"Plllleeeeaaaasssseeee!"
"No," was the reply. It seemed as if they were in a bad mood already and he was grating on their nerves.
Undaunted, he began to rummage in the pouch attached to his belt until he found what he was looking for. He handed the slip of paper to the guard closest to him. "See? That proves that I can come and go as I please. So, if you'll let me through, I'll just be on my way." He looked between them, and judging by the looks that they were giving each other, he knew what was coming. 'Ah, shit.'
"I don't know where you got this," the woman said, "but it doesn't mean anything to us." With that, she let go of the slip of paper and it began it's long descent into the rapids.
"Now leave," the other said, "before you meet the same fate."
Cutting his losses, the young one retreated to wait for nightfall.
'Fine. I'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way.'
That night found the boy slinking through the shadows to the far side of the bridge. It was with some satisfaction that he noticed the same two guards that'd given him such a rough time earlier.
He grinned. Payback was a bitch.
He pulled the Hero's Bow from it's place on his back and two modified arrows. Nocking the first one, he then let it fly, striking one of the women in the forehead. By the time the other began to react, the second arrow had already caught her in the jaw. The sniper replaced his bow and made his way across the bridge and released the catch for the gate. Not sparing either guard a further glance, he continued on his way.
"Never knew what you were up against." And with a small laugh, he was gone.
Nabooru prided herself on having an efficiently run fortress. Everyone had their set jobs and everyone performed to utter perfection. Because really, that was all she expected from her sisters, and in turn, that was all they expected of her. Plus, as the leader of the Gerudo, she was their anchor; their pillar.
Since Ganondorf's 'disappearance', the Gerudo had been leaning on her. She had managed to make some small trade agreements with Hyrule Castle Town with the help of Princess Zelda, but, their main source of income still came from thieving, which tended to put them in a bit of a bad light with everyone else.
"Still, a way of life is a way of life. If they can't handle that, then screw 'em."
She moved to a small desk that held an assortment of knick-knacks: rupees, flints, various blades and other possessions. And away from it all, in it's own little corner, a bronze medallion. Inscribed with her crest. Her identity.
"We defeated one threat, but life doesn't really seem a whole lot easier."
She was about to move to look out the window when a frantic pounding came to her door.
"Sage Nabooru, are you awake?" The voice held a sense of urgency and Nabooru felt the pace of her heart quicken.
"Yes. Enter."
The red dressed woman did so and Nabooru recognized her as Zaana, one of the squad commanders. She was about as straight-laced as they came, and that was something Nabooru respected about her.
The woman stood at attention and then gave the Spirit Sage a deep bow. "Ma'am, we have reports of an intruder in the fortress. The bells are being sounded and sweeper teams have been dispatched as per standard operating procedure."
"Good," Nabooru said as she moved to the door, removing her scimitars from their stand and turning to her subordinate, a feral grin on her face.
"Let's go hunting."
One mistake. One tiny, novice mistake had cost him. For some reason he'd assumed the guard placement would be the same as before.
He assumed wrong.
He'd turned a corner without looking and ran into a sentry. Before she could draw her weapon, he'd already hurled a deku nut at the ground and was gone in a flash of light. But that didn't stop her from running for backup. Now, warning bells were going off and whole teams of Gerudo were looking for him.
He needed an exit. Crouched on top of a building he'd used the hookshot to reach, he tried to judge the distance to the gate leading to the Haunted Wasteland. "About ninety yards, give or take."
It was at times like this he wished he hadn't given the Ocarina of Time back to Zelda. He could've just warped straight out to the Spirit Temple and avoided this whole mess. But it was her family heirloom, and helpful as it was, it didn't belong to him. So he'd rough it as best he could.
With a grunt, he jumped from his perch and made a mad dash for the gate, but was forced to abandon his plan when a team of Reds came out of the building next to it. 'Dammit,' he cursed inwardly, 'they've never been this organized or quick. Things have definitely changed.'
He cut right and into the labyrinth of corridors and rooms that the Gerudo called a fortress. He was surprised that the passageways were as lightly guarded as they were, but didn't question his fortune. He came to a T intersection and was going to go left, but it was a dead-end, so he shot himself to the right. The boy continued his sprint and saw that left was his only option. He took it and immediately realized his folly: the room he was in had a cell and the only way in or out was the opening he'd just come through.
With a sigh of defeat, and hearing the sound of footfalls and muffled voices down the hall, he moved to the center of the room while drawing his sword and shield, waiting for the inevitable.
He couldn't help but feel the familiar buzz of adrenaline begin to pump through him, and he smiled at the prospect of a decent battle.
"May The Three have mercy on your souls."
At that moment, the innocent guise of the child disappeared, and a battle-hardened veteran took its place.
Nabooru walked through the throng of women to a specific building entrance, in which her second-in-command, Sherida, stood speaking with a soldier. Both women bowed as Nabooru strolled up to them.
"Exalted One," Sherida started, "this girl is a runner from Minana's group. They've cornered the intruder and Minana is about to engage."
"I understand." Nabooru was confident in Minana's abilities, as she was one the greatest warriors the Gerudo had trained, but she was hot-headed and a tad reckless. And something about the whole situation seemed odd. No intruder had ever remained at large as long as this one had.
"Did we get a description of the intruder?"
Sherida looked thoughtful. "Only that whoever it is, is short. The gate guards did say when they came to that they had an altercation with a small Hylian boy this afternoon."
"Interesting," Nabooru mused as she looked into the dark entry way, "I wonder…"
The boy didn't have long to wait before his opponent came into the room. She was wearing red, but the white trim showed that she was on the verge of promotion. She was a teenager, sixteen or seventeen by the kid's guess and was just now starting to draw her blades. Her mouth was covered by the familiar shawl, but he could tell by her eyes that she was smirking.
He was a bit disappointed. They hadn't crossed swords yet and she'd already began to underestimate him. Regardless, he kept himself at the ready even as she started to speak.
"I am Minana of the Gerudo. I'm the captain of the first squad of Devil Sands swordswomen - Hey! What the hell are you shaking your head at, you little bastard!"
Indeed, the child was shaking his head with a small smile on his face. "Look, spouting all that nonsense is fine and good if you're in a spar, but you're not. You should have been ready to fight the moment you entered the room. And another piece of advice for you: A true warrior isn't intimidated by names or titles. Let your blades do the talking for you."
He could tell she was livid by the way her shoulders were shaking, and he tensed in anticipation when he felt that aura from her; that wave of hatred; killing intent.
And sure enough, with a scream like a banshee, she charged.
The first swings were sloppy, and he merely needed to sidestep. But then she twisted and brought her right scimitar up, which was caught by the child's shield. Realizing she was open to his sword, she rolled backward and put some distance between them.
They circled each other, before the boy instigated the next dance.
He charged at her with a look of complete detachment on his face and caught her right blade on his own. She attempted to cleave him in half with her free sword but was stopped by his shield. For a moment in that struggle their eyes met: the fiery rage in hers, and the cold, unwillingness to bend or break in his.
And then time was moving again and so was their dance.
She spun to his right and, using his shield to her advantage, dropped low and slashed at his leg, catching his calf. He gritted his teeth and hopped back. The injury seemed fairly light, but the longer this continued, the more danger he was putting himself in.
As he was getting himself to bear, she rushed in once more, instigating a spin the boy had seen before. Knowing what it was, he back-flipped, and while she was disoriented, he brought his gilded sword down on her right scimitar, cutting it in half.
What he didn't expect was for her to jump backward and hurl what was left of her sword at him. He threw himself to the right, but the sting on his cheek told him he wasn't quite fast enough. Sure enough, seconds later and blood was coursing it's way down the side of his face.
On the outside, his calm demeanor was still intact, but on the inside he was beginning to get annoyed. 'This body is a hindrance. This should have been over before it started, but that's what I get for trying to do this without killing her.'
Then kill her, if it will get us out of this Goddess-forsaken place. Use my power and rend her asunder.
The voice was a very unwelcome one and the boy grumbled. 'No. I thought I told you that we don't use your powers against humans.'
You and your morals. If only you would -
'Shut up and let me concentrate. She's coming again.'
With the voice out of his head, he started to form a plan that could take her down without ending her life. But with her constantly on him, it was a bit difficult. He judged by his position in the room that the holding cell was behind him. As the pieces began clicking into place, he realized he needed to get her to back up. Summoning a bit of the innate magic in him, the boy performed a quick spin slash. What threw Minana was the ring of blue energy that was left in it's wake.
Confused and disoriented, Minana began to panic.
With a war cry she charged again, and he used her own momentum against her, dropping quickly to his back right as she impacted his shield, and used his feet to springboard her headlong into the front of the metal jail cell.
She got up slowly, and he noticed the gash on her right shoulder where she slammed into the unforgiving metal. She looked groggy, and he wanted to end this quickly so he sheathed his sword and ran at her with his shield in front of him.
She tried to defend as he came at her but she wasn't sure which of the two was the real one. At the last second, her vision refocused, and she drew up her scimitar in a last ditch effort to defend herself. But it was in vain.
When he got to her, he made sure to push her sword arm away with his shield, and jumping slightly with the forward momentum he had, drove his goron bracelet amplified left hand into her right cheek. A second later, his body crashed into hers and they both hit the holding cell with a resounding CLANG!
Slowly, the boy disentangled himself from the girl and moved to sit against the cell. Looking down at her, he slowly moved his left hand under her shawl to make sure she was still alive. Satisfied that her breathing was normal, he allowed himself a small smile.
"Good fight," he said. "By Din, that was a damn good fight." Looking at his left wrist, he gave a silent thanks to his Sworn Brother for the bracelet, before noticing a tingling in his left hand.
His triforce was reacting? To what? Zelda was in Hyrule Castle and he was SURE that Ganon was in the Sacred Realm. So what was it? He heard more soft footsteps and dragged himself to his feet, and was about to draw his gilded sword again when his answer spoke to him.
"There's no need for that, kid."
The sounds of battle had been intense enough that Nabooru could hear it outside of the compound. With curiosity nipping at her, she'd decided to go meet up with the remainder of Minana's team. Sherida implored her to take an extra squad with her as support, but Nabooru merely scoffed at the idea.
"Assuming whoever it is gets by Minana, I'll be sure to grind their ass into the sand."
Walking down the dimly lit corridors eventually led her to Minana's team, who looked understandably shaken up. No one had gone this long against her, but at her order, didn't interfere and took up perimeter positions in the narrow hall. When Nabooru had arrived, they'd all bowed and then informed her of the situation. It wasn't a moment later they heard a battle cry followed by something crashing into the holding cell.
Several seconds later there was the sound of running and an even louder impact of something on metal. What followed after was silence, and then a soft murmur that no one could make out.
What they were sure of though, was that it wasn't Minana's voice.
With a sigh, Nabooru informed the girls to hold their positions, which they reluctantly agreed to. And then she began her walk down the corridor. When she reached the last turn before the room, she drew her blades and gave a silent prayer to Din, then walked into the room, and another time.
The boy across from her had been etched into her memory, both as the child she saw now and the handsome adult he'd become. But at the moment he was going for his sword…
"There's no need for that, kid."
He stopped, and looked her over carefully before a look of realization lit his face up and he smiled. "It's good to see you again, Nabooru. You wouldn't believe the trouble your women have given me." He let go of the hilt of his sword and looked at his hand, before showing the back of it to the Geroudo leader, the triforce mark flickering like a candle.
"Should have known it was you."
Nabooru replaced her scimitars into the sheaths on her belt before strolling up to him. Something in the corner caught her eye, and she frowned.
He followed her gaze…straight to the unmoving form of Minana. Putting his hands in front of him in defense, he spluttered, "I didn't kill her, just knocked her out. You can check."
Nabooru knelt beside the girl, and put a hand to her neck. Feeling a pulse, she removed the girl's shawl, and waved a smelling salt under her nose. It was quickly effective.
The girl's eyes shot open and she moved to a sitting position, where she put a hand to her jaw and looked at her leader. "Lady Nabooru," she started, "I couldn't defeat him. Please forgive me. I'll take any punishment for this embarrassing display that you…" It was then that she noticed the other person standing there, innocent smile and all. "You little rat-bastard! I'll kill you!" She threw herself at the boy, only to be restrained by her leader.
"That's enough Minana!" With that, the girl ceased her struggling but continued to glower at the boy. "He's no intruder. In fact, he's a good friend of mine."
Minana gaped.
This boy? A friend of the Exalted Nabooru? Preposterous! But, that is what she had said. Right? Nabooru released her grip on the weary soldier and pointed at the boy.
"Minana, this is Link."
Link walked up to her and offered her a hand. "Nice to meet you, Minana. Can I help you up?"
She allowed herself to be helped to her feet and under her own power began to walk out to the hall. Link stopped her with a hand on her arm and she glared at him. He gave a nervous smile.
"Just hang on a second, okay." He began rummaging in one of his pouches and after a few seconds produced a bottle with red liquid in it. He offered it to Minana. "Ladies first, right? Just don't drink it all, please. It's all I have."
She drank half of the bitter concoction, before handing the bottle back to him. He pointed at her shoulder. "Check it out."
She did so and as expected of red potion, her wound had stopped bleeding and seemed to be scabbing up at an accelerated rate. She mumbled a thanks as the boy downed the rest of liquid and stuck out his tongue. Nabooru gave a hearty laugh at the look on his face. Within seconds the cuts on his calf and cheek were dried up and scabbed over.
Minana resumed her path into the hall. Link and Nabooru followed her out and after explanations and introductions to her team for Link, they walked out of the compound.
And into a mass of red, white, and purple. Link moved closer to Nabooru.
They were all staring at him. Some in disbelief, others in disappointment, and still more in anger. Link tapped on Nabooru's arm. "You might wanna say something," he whispered.
Nabooru gave a small chuckle and then cleared her throat. "Ladies," she started, "it seems that we've had a false alarm. Our 'intruder' turned out to be this boy," she pointed to Link, "who just so happens to be an acquaintance of mine." At that there were a few gasps and some murmurs in the crowd.
Nabooru continued, undaunted. "He will be given a full membership and be allowed to come and go as he pleases, whenever he pleases. Failure to comply with this order will result in the incurrence of my wrath." She looked over to Sherida. "Didja get all that?"
Her second was furiously scribbling on a piece of parchment. "…incurrence of my wrath." She looked up. "Yes, ma'am."
Nabooru smiled. "Excellent. Now I'm sure some of you have shifts to work, soooo," she drawled the last word out, "GET TO IT!"
And like that things were back to normal. The crowd dispersed as everyone either went to work or bed. Soon, the only ones left were Nabooru, Sherida, and Link. The boy looked up, and noticing the position of the moon, started to grumble. It didn't go unnoticed.
"What's the problem?" Nabooru asked.
With a disappointed look, he turned to her. "I was hoping to be at the Colossus by sundown. Now my whole schedule's thrown off." He looked thoughtful. "But I guess it wasn't all bad. I did get to see you again."
Nabooru pumped her fist in the air. "You're damn straight! Who knows, maybe this whole thing was fated to happen."
Link just shrugged. All he knew at the moment was that he was exhausted. "Think I could crash here tonight? I promise I'll be out of your hair by tomorrow afternoon."
Nabooru grinned at him. "Hell yeah, Link! Stick around! Besides, Sherida and I still need to write up your new membership card."
Right. The Gerudo Membership Card. His was probably in Lake Hylia by now. So he'd get that and try to get to the Spirit Temple by nightfall, tomorrow.
Nabooru then charged Sherida with showing Link to a guest room. As the two of them walked in silence, Link wondered if it was really necessary to rush off again. Only a couple of months ago, he'd saved an entire city from utter annihilation, and defeated an evil the likes of which he'd never before encountered. He deserved a break, right?
As Sherida showed him his room and left to fulfill whatever other duties she had, Link collapsed onto the soft pallet and as he drifted off, he came to a conclusion:
'Maybe, just maybe, I'll stay a while longer. After all, the world's not going anywhere, right?'
And with that, he fell asleep, intent on enjoying whatever the next day brought.
End Chapter
Notes from the author:
1) About Link and the ocarina. I'm of the opinion that the Fairy Ocarina, which Link uses in this story (as a child) does not have the teleportation properties of the Ocarina of Time. Therefore, I do not believe that any of the songs taught by Sheik, or the Song of Time, will work with the Fairy Ocarina. Everything else, with some exceptions (like Oath to Order), is fair game.
2) This story will progress kind of randomly. It is meant to be a series of one-shots forming an overall entwined story. It will be split into three parts: tales involving the child, tales involving the adult, and interludes. The tales involving the child and adult will more than likely be set somewhere in Gerudo Territory, be it the fortress, valley, Haunted Wasteland, or Desert Colossus/Spirit Temple.
The interludes however will be a different animal entirely. They will take place in the 7 years after he leaves the Gerudo Fortress as a child and returns as an adult. These will probably only mention the Gerudo and will take place in faraway lands. They will probably also contain special guest characters from other series.
3) Character ages. I'd just like to get this out of the way so we're all on the same page.
Link: The Child - 12; The Adult - 19; The Interludes - anywhere from 12 to 19
Nabooru: During The Child - 19; Add seven for The Adult
Sherida: During The Child - 25; Add seven for The Adult
Minana: During The Child - 16; Add seven for The Adult
Zaana: During The Child - 21; Add seven for The Adult
4) Don't be afraid of the O.C.s. They exist only to characterize Link. He will NOT end up in an intimate relationship with ANY of them! If I pair him up at all, and that's a big IF, it'll be with Nabooru.
Feel free to review if you wish. No pressure.
