Chapter 16: Moving Forward

"My past is not a memory; it's a force at my back. It pushes and steers. I may not always like where it leads me, but like any story, the past needs resolution. What's past is prologue." -Samus Aran


Not long after repelling Dark Samus, the group thought they were in the clear once again. However, their relief was cut short when Link was exposed to phazon, putting his life in grave danger.

"Virginia, how long will it take to get the interior of the ship back in operation?" Samus asks while kneeling down next to Link.

"I've rerouted all microfactories to the interior; it should take no more than 6 minutes." Virginia reports.

"Copied. Come on now Link, I need you to hold on." Samus worriedly says while holding Links right hand, trying to get him to focus on her past his heavy breathing.

"Samus, what can we do?" Zelda asks while holding onto Link, the panic and fear present in her voice.

"My ship has a device that can purge phazon from an affected person. I need to get the interior back up to use it."

"Will it work?"

"The thing is that my physiology is different from yours (Hylians), I don't know how it'll affect him."

Link groans in pain as his veins glow blue, Samus uses her x-ray visor to see that the phazon is slowly but surely spreading through his body.

"Samus, do something!" Zelda shouts in desperation.

"I can't! The vaccine doesn't work on organics and the purging device won't operate until the interior has power again. We still have five more minutes before then." Samus looks down at Link with sorrow. "We're out of options…"

Link's discomfort subsides as the phazon briefly stops spreading. Wanting to understand how Link became exposed, Zelda checks Link for any possible entry wounds. She notices a peculiar wound on his chest, consistent with a left hand pointing forward, confirmed by Dark Samus having thrust her hand into his chest in their earlier conflict; this was how Link became afflicted with phazon poisoning.

"Virginia, how much time do we have left before power is restored?"

"I'm afraid that barely a minute has passed, Samus."

"Please Link, don't let go…" Zelda pleads while holding Link's left hand up to her forehead, letting a few tears loose. Samus looks on at Link's vitals in worry as they keep fluctuating and silently praying that he holds out until the ship powers up again, unwilling to lose another comrade to phazon corruption.

"Warning; there are various phazon markers on mobile sources approaching our location." Virginia reports, bringing them out of their thoughts.

"Dark Samus? The Yiga?" Zelda asks while gripping her rapier.

"No, they appear to be bokoblins. However, one of them has a higher level of phazon, as well as higher physical strength."

"Zelda, get ready. This won't be easy, I bet." Samus readies herself, followed by Zelda (after putting a barrier around the still unconscious Link). From the nearby hillside, several black bokoblins emerge (each holding phazite blades), followed by a pair of golden bokoblins on horseback (with glowing blue eyes and veins). The one up front screeches while holding its sword forward, signaling the others to charge and Samus shoots off several power beam shots, which barely do anything to stop the sturdier black bokoblins from advancing. Switching to her flamethrower, she forms a "fire wall" to buy them some more time. "What is that thing?"

"It's a golden bokoblin. They're stronger than regular ones, but I've never heard of them organizing others like this." Zelda answers. "It must have something to do with the phazon, am I right?"

"Everything reacts differently to it, maybe it augments their intelligence."

The bokoblins begin shooting arrows at Samus with her back turned, but they simply bounce off of her armor. Telling Zelda to stay back, Samus jumps over the flames, drop kicking one in the face and shooting off several plasma blasts at the others.

"Zelda, offer me some suppressing fire! I don't want you coming out here with your injuries!"

"I understand!" Zelda confirms Samus's command and picks up Links bow to shoot several arrows at the bokoblins. For a moment, Samus appears to have the upper hand, only taking longer than normal to eliminate the black bokoblins. This ends with the second golden bokoblin taking aim with a phazite arrow. The arrow zooms past the others and hits Samus on the right arm, penetrating her armor. Kneeling from the pain, the bokoblins gang up on her and, with their phazite weapons, start whittling away her armor. Soon, one of the bokoblins screeches as a sword erupts from its chest, drawing the others attention. Zelda removes her sword and quickly dispatches the other two bokoblins before Samus shoots down the one that was previously stabbed.

"I told you to hang back!" Samus shouts while holding on to her injured arm.

"I made a judgement call; you needed help." Zelda runs up and helps Samus pull out the arrow. Wincing in discomfort, Samus gets back to her feet, silently thanking Zelda. "These new weapons can penetrate your armor, meaning that you are now vulnerable to the enemy."

Nodding in acceptance, the pair ready for the next wave to approach. The golden bokoblins call out, making two phazon tentacles erupt from the ground and releasing more bokoblins and moblins. Before both sides can engage each other, they are stopped by a loud roar from the distance. Emerging from the hillside is a lynel, who calls out and a pair of blue maned lynels (left holding a sword and shield, right holding a spear) and a white maned lynel (holding a club known as a crusher) follow behind him. The main lynel looks at the corrupted monsters and orders the others to charge at them. Samus looks at Zelda and points out that it's probably the same lynel from Zora's Domain, to which Zelda agrees after having seen it previously when she last visited Tarrey Town. This is confirmed during their skirmish as all of the lynels ignore them completely and attack only the monsters. The white maned lynel soon gets overwhelmed by several bokoblins ganging up on it and Zelda shoots them off with arrows, after which that same lynel grabs and places her on its back, needing Zelda to be its gunner. Samus shoots at the golden bokoblins, but the combined issue of them on horseback and her injured arm make this difficult. Those same bokoblins now charge at Samus, who lowers her cannon, morphs into a ball and charges up (boost ball). Alarmed, they dodge the incoming ball, but its sudden movement spooks the horse and it begins running uncontrollably. Trying to get it back under control, the bokoblin archer sees a lynel (Zelda on its back with the bow aimed) charging at them from behind. Before either one can nock an arrow, the archer shoots one at the lynels left front leg, causing it to howl in pain before crashing hard to the ground, throwing Zelda off of its back. The barrier covering an unconscious Link dispels itself, Zelda's concentration which kept it active having been disrupted, and his eyes shoot open; his usual blue irises having an unnatural glow to them.

Getting back on her feet, Zelda runs over to the injured lynel. "Are you alright?" Zelda asks before the lynel roars, signaling to the other bokoblins closing in on them. She turns around and pulls out her rapier as the golden bokoblins charge at her, followed by a battle cry from them that has the others attack. "Get ready!"

Samus kicks a bokoblin into the air and a blue maned lynel cuts it in half before it hits the ground, before turning around to take aim at the golden bokoblins. To her surprise, a strong gust of wind blows towards the bokoblins and Link jumps on the horse, making them hit a few of the bokoblins zeroing in on Zelda.

"Is that Link?!" Samus asks in surprise.

"Affirmative. However, the phazon level in his body has not diminished; rather, it is increasing at a steady rate." Virginia reports, welling up a sense of dread within Samus. "There are less than two minutes remaining before the ships power is back on."

Back on the running horse, Link manages to kick the archer off and knocks the rider's sword out of its hand, resulting in a struggle between the two. After receiving several hits in the face, the angered bokoblin reaches Links left shoulder and scratches downward, leaving a laceration. Samus reunites with Zelda and helps her fight off the attacking bokoblins along with two other lynels.

"Samus, shoot that bokoblin!" Zelda shouts while pointing at rider.

"I can't, I might hit Link!" Samus counters while struggling to aim at the rider. Just then, the alpha lynel rushes in and throws the rider off the horse, allowing Link to properly mount it. Both Link and the lynel ride back to regroup with the others and Link falls off of his horse after they get there.

"Link!" Zelda rushes over to Link's side and sees his laceration disappear, without the aid of Mipha's Grace. "What is this?"

"It's the phazon." Samus answers. "It has regenerative properties; it's protecting its new host."

"Get out…" Link painfully says, drawing everyone else's attention as he gets back on his feet, gripping his head firmly. "Get out of my head!"

"Link, look at me! You're going to be fine, just don't stop fighting this!" Zelda shouts with her hands on Links shoulders in an effort to keep him focused.

"Look out!" Link moves Zelda aside and draws the master sword, vertically splitting an attacking golden bokoblin. The lynels (sans the injured one) go back to engaging the other bokoblins. Link looks down at the master sword in shock as blue energy flows on its surface, realizing that it was this power that let him gore the previous bokoblin. That same power flows throughout his body before erupting from several points, making him shout in pain. Zelda helplessly looks on as the phazon takes him over; the badge that holds Link's suit glows with blue veins as it reforms over his body. However, the suit has a very different appearance; the original blue colors have become dulled, the hands resemble claws instead of regular fingertips, the shoulders are more rounded instead of flattened and the helmets face resembles Dark Samus's visor.

"You are mine…" Dark Samus says from within Links mind. "Now, get rid of the princess…."

"Link?" Zelda cautiously asks and Link answers by rapidly charging with the sword, which she reacts by holding her hands forward. "Link no!"

Samus tackles him to the ground, dropping the master sword and grabs him in a chokehold. "We're not your enemies Link! You need to fight this!" Link outmaneuvers Samus, tosses her away and runs back to get to Zelda (recovering the master sword). Zelda instinctively blocks the slash with her rapier and tries to get through to her knight.

"Link, it's me, Zelda!" Zelda dodges a vertical slash and shoves him away. "Stop this Link, answer me!" The injured lynel grabs its crusher and slams it on the ground in an attempt to get Link to fall from the quakes. Zelda, however, takes the opportunity to tackle Link to the ground and cups his face with her hands. "You don't want to do this! I know you!"

Link forces her to the ground and points the rapier at her throat. Zelda stops struggling and looks at Link with a soft expression. "I said I know you; you could never hurt me."

"Kill her…" Dark Samus once again speaks to Link. "She's a threat… You must…" Link prepares to impale Zelda, her gaze not breaking from his once. From behind, Samus aims her nova beam at Link, struggling to pull the trigger. Soon, fragments of his memories of Zelda begin to resurface; the "ceremony" set up by Zelda and the original champions, Zelda's frustration with Link when she was investigating a shrine, saving her from the Yiga at Gerudo Desert, the three springs they've had to visit in an effort to awaken her power and protecting her until his last breath from Guardian Stalkers. "Do it…!"

After 8 seconds of being motionless, Link drops the rapier, stands up and begins ripping off parts of his suit, (which tries to reconstruct itself). In response, several tendrils erupt from the exposed holes in an attempt to regain control of Link.

Samus, seeing the struggle, changes to the annihilator beam and fires a sonic boom, causing a high pitched sound. Zelda covers her ears to drown out the sound, the lynels and monsters react violently and Link takes the full brunt of the soundwave, incapacitating him. Seizing the chance, Samus regretfully runs up and round house kicks him on the head, rendering him unconscious. The sound subsides and the lynels finish off the remaining monsters and Samus helps Zelda on her feet, finally killing the remaining golden bokoblin with a point blank shot to its face. Having been ready a while ago, Samus and Zelda carry Link to the ship to purge the phazon.

"Phazon level is at 84%, you must hurry." Virginia gives the report.

"Copied." Samus lowers a seat from beneath the ship and has Link restrained on it, deactivating the suit as well. "Begin the purging process." The ship lowers a pod that covers Link and administers needles on his arms and chest as they inject chemicals and absorb phazon particles. Link shouts in discomfort from the procedure, Zelda places her palms on the pod and tells Link to look at her.

"I'm here Link! Just look at me! You can pull through this!"

"This should only take a few more moments! We're almost done!" Samus says while looking at the monitor with Links vitals. The machine completes the procedure and Link loses consciousness once again. The pod retracts and Zelda grabs his cheeks, seeing that the blue veins have receded. Taking in the brief calm from the battle, the lynels gather around and Zelda turns around to address them.

"I don't know if you can understand me, but thank you all for helping us. Our ship cannot fly at the moment; can you please help us get to where we need to go?" The alpha lynel looks at her for a while before lowering itself, indicating them to "get on". One other lynel follows his lead and gestures for them to place Link on his back. Zelda thanks them before placing her rapier and master sword on the horse's saddle and mounts it, Samus gets on the alpha lynels back after tying Link onto the other lynel, these two follow Zeldas lead racing off into the distance. The third lynel stays with its injured comrade and waits for the others to return.


Hateno village

Barely an hour had passed and they reach the entrance to Hateno village, causing a stir for the villagers that witness a pair of lynels approaching the gate. Zelda explains that they were ambushed and the lynels helped them get away. The first ones to address them are Robbie, Bolson and Stannis.

"Your highness, good gods!" Stannis exclaims at Zelda's tattered appearance.

"Linky boy, we leave you alone for a few hours; what in the world happened?!" Bolson shouts in shock over the unconscious Link.

Samus dismounts and gets Link off of the lynel, who is then carried into the village by Hudson and Karson. After bidding the lynels farewell, Zelda and Samus are escorted inside as well (Zelda making particular note of the head lynel calling out as it and its comrade disappear from view).


Night

It has been 3 hours since the group had arrived at Hateno village. Zelda held a small meeting with Stannis, Hudson, Robbie, Jerrin, Symin and Purah, on the subject of the refugees taking shelter at Hateno.

"Not to worry, Your Highness; we built a two story shed where Link's house used to be." Hudson comments. "We were gonna use it to store construction tools, but we're using it to give the townspeople a roof."

"Ah, well that's very good to hear." Zelda says contentedly. "It's satisfying to hear some good news after today."

"Now, we should talk about what happened to you three." Robbie cuts in, pointing to Zelda's bandaged injuries.

"Yeah Zellie, what the heck happened?" Purah comments as well. Zelda explains that while on their way to escort the refugees, the ship was shot down by a guardian stalker, whereupon they were beset by monsters after they exited (Zelda decided to omit the encounter with Dark Samus and Link's near corruption, so as to not worry anyone).

"Well, it seems odd that Link would be defeated by mere monsters." Jerrin comments on a few incongruities of Zelda's account. "But, then again, a lot strange things have been happening lately. It shouldn't be that surprising, I suppose."

"Speaking of which, has Sir Link awoken yet?" Stannis decides to speak up, wanting to know about his commanding officer.

"No, I'm afraid. He hasn't been conscious since he was brought here." Symin answers, being the overseer to the trio's treatment. This information makes Zelda feel uneasy; why hasn't Link woken up yet? Is this an effect of the brief phazon madness taking hold of him? After a few more minutes of discussion, everyone decides to call it a night and get some sleep, leaving the lab and returning to the village.


Zelda sits at Purah's desk, she and Symin having left for a while to give her some space. Although reading some of Purah's old scientific journals proved to be a slight distraction, Zelda's mind keeps wandering over to the same thought; Link. Even though the phazon has been, presumably, purged from his body, he still has not awakened. She also feels that he wouldn't want to see her for "certain" reasons. Before she can ponder any further, she hears a sound of rustling grass outside and after exiting to inspect the cause, she sees that it's Samus sitting down and looking at the night sky, with her right arm bandaged and in a sling.

"Samus? I thought you were sleeping at the inn. What are you doing out here?" Zelda asks.

"Waiting for you." Samus casually answers, still looking up. "Your nights must be really starry, it's funny that I fly among them, yet I never stop to look at them; it's nice to just watch them shine."

"They are lovely, aren't they?" Zelda answers before sitting down next to Samus. "I used to look at them with the telescope in the lab. Never in my wildest dreams did I think there were other people past the stars, you're the evidence of it. Your world must be beautiful." Zelda wonders aloud, causing Samus to frown. "I am ashamed to admit it, but I'm envious of you."

"Why?" Samus asks in surprise.

"Because you can go anywhere you want, be whoever you want to be and no one can tell you otherwise. Link told me that this "K-2L" mission you had a while back ended badly, but you simply kept moving forward, without anyone telling you that you're a failure." Zelda looks to her right, Samus sulks down with her left hand pressing on her right shoulder. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like 'you failed, but it's ok', I meant to say that you never let it get you down. That's commendable."

Samus exhales deeply, stands up and walks a few inches away.

"Samus? What's wrong?"

Understanding that she's among a friend, Samus decides that it's time. "I thought that talking about it would be easier over time, but some hurts never really go away." Samus sits back down next to Zelda before continuing. "K-2L was never a botched mission; it was my home."

"Was? What do you mean?" Zelda asks, genuinely curious about Samus's declaration.

"My parents and I lived there for brief period of time with other colonists. It was a small number of people, but everyone got along well. They were mining for these crystals which can fuel ships, our colony made a living of selling it to other races. We lived a peaceful life...until he came."

"He?"

"Ridley, commander of the space pirates. They wanted the crystals and they slaughtered my people to get to it (memory: Get them all! Leave no one alive! Help us! Run!). My mother grabbed me and tried to get me to safety


"Mommy!" Samus shouts after being hidden behind some rubble.

"It's ok Sammy, you'll be safe now." Samus's mother, a fairly young woman with blue eyes, brown hair and the gray colony attire quickly says to try and calm her panicked daughter. "Someone will come and get you; I want you to be a good girl. Ok?" She strokes Samus's cheek while letting loose tears. "Mommy loves you." She stands in front of the opening to Samus's hiding spot and lets the full force of Ridley's plasma breath hit her, leaving the little girl to cry out for her deceased mother.

"Ridley never saw me, but I could see everything; I saw my mother die." Samus pauses to wipe her left eye, not noticing the horrified look on Zelda's face. "Seeing that there was no one left to save, my father, the chief miner, resorted to fight off the pirates in a last stand."

"You monsters! We weren't fighters, how could you do this?!" Samus's father, a fairly young man with brown eyes, short blond hair with a goatee and a grey and blue mining uniform shouts in anger and despair.

"We take what we want, it doesn't matter who gets hurt in the process." Ridley cynically answers, surrounding by his comrades. "But, I'm not without mercy; give us the crystals and we'll let you go."

Looking at the sheer number of pirates, Samus's father plans to go out fighting, but from his spot he can barely make out his daughters face. Realizing that she's still alive, he changes his plans; he moves his gun away from the pirates and aims it at the highly flammable crystals behind him.

"Take care, baby girl." He smiles softly and pulls the trigger, causing an explosion that engulfs him and many of the space pirates. Understanding that her father is gone too, Samus curls up and cries in anguish.


"Samus, how did you escape?" Zelda asks, trying her best to hold back tears.

"During the attack, they sent out a distress signal. After Ridley and his surviving forces left, my rescuers, the Chozo, arrived. They were close by and they heard the distress signal, they found me among the rubble and took me in. From there, you know the rest already."

Zelda is left speechless by the story of Samus's childhood, unaware that she went through so much before becoming who she is now. "That's awful...what happened to K-2L?"

Samus explains that K-2L remains abandoned and that after ascending to bounty hunter, she's been drifting from place to place. Zelda realizes that this means one thing; she doesn't have a home of her own.

"I lost my home. I don't want you to lose yours." Samus looks to her left, noticing the tears on Zelda's cheeks, and extends her hand. "I promise that we'll save it."

Zelda, instead of shaking Samus's hand, gives her a hug, much to Samus's surprise. "I understand your pain; you've lost so much just like us. But, you are not alone anymore, you have us now." Samus closes her eyes and returns the hug, genuinely moved by Zelda's kind words. Zelda separates from Samus, gives her a soft smile and walks back down to the village, saying that there is something she needs to do now, thanking Samus for opening up to her and that she'll do the same now.

"One more thing; may I ask for your parents' names?"

"Sure. My father's name was Rodney, and my mother's name was Virginia."

"Virginia? But, that's…" Zelda says in a stunned tone.

"Yeah, I named my A.I. after her. It keeps her close, you know?"

"No, I understand. It's a nice gesture. Thank you for opening up to me." Zelda smiles before continuing down to the village. Samus gets back up on her feet and decides to return to the inn, happy that she could talk about her past to a good friend.

Reaching the small hilltop where the cube like houses are, Zelda enters the one where Link is sleeping. Not showing any sign of consciousness, Zelda pulls up a chair and sits at his bedside and stays quiet for a few seconds before speaking softly.

"Hello Link, I'm sorry I didn't come by sooner but I thought you probably wouldn't want to see me. But, I don't think I should put this off any further." Zelda looks at Link's face, not seeing any semblance of attention. Sighing, she continues anyway. "Well, you've been wondering why I've been putting off the coronation for so long, so I'll just come out and say it; I'm scared, Link. I'm afraid that I'm not worthy anymore, when the Calamity came, the people looked to us for protection and yet we could do nothing. Even worse, because of my inability, you were left in that shrine for 100 years while the rest of the world suffered." Zelda grips the sheets tightly in shame. "How can I be expected to lead the kingdom when I couldn't even prevent so much death and destruction?!" Zelda moves from the chair and to the bedside. "However, seeing you like this makes everything else unimportant. I wanted to say this back on the ship, but the situation wouldn't allow it; Link, I'm so sorry." Zelda closes her eyes and lets her tears loose. "I'm sorry and ashamed for telling you that you never should've woken up from the shrine; I didn't mean any of that. Seeing your face after we sealed Calamity Ganon was the greatest relief I've ever felt. Now, you're like this because of me again. If you believe I can lead the people, then I'll do everything I can to be the queen they deserve. But I can't without you at my side." Zelda presses her face on Links chest. "Please Link; open your eyes. I can't do this without you, please don't leave me again…" Zelda softly cries while keeping her face pressed on Link, not caring that she might look undignified. After a few seconds, she feels a hand stroking her hair, making her eyes widen.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Zelda quickly looks up to see Link looking back at her and smiling. Overcome with joy, she jumps on the bed and crushes Link in a hug. Unbothered by the slight discomfort, Link hugs her back, relieved to see her safe and sound. He would tell her what he thinks about her understandable fears and apprehensions, but at another time; for now, the only thing that matters is that they're all here together.

To be continued


Author's note: And there you have it, the end of "part 2". I've been playing around with some ideas for the next part and hope that a lot of you will enjoy what comes next. Also from what I can tell, Samus has always been nomadic, so she wouldn't have a home anywhere. Additionally, I had Samus tell Zelda about the K-2L tragedy to show the common ground they share (Samus: K-2L. Link and Zelda: the Great Calamity). Now, stay tuned for the next chapter. See you soon. :)