Chapter 62: Reunion - Five Year Assembly
Nation of Domination Arc – The World Championships
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda; this is just a Fan Fiction
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Tadpole Dance" – Black Lagoon OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Royal Capital Grancel" – The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky OST. Scene 1 (Second Half) and 2 (First Half).
"Black Winter Night Sky" – Tekken 2 (Arranged) OST. Scene 4 (First Half).
"Now or Never (Instrumental)" – The King of Fighters XV OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).
In his ten year long quest to find an answer for finding more power and strength in martial arts without relying on the satanic strength of the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai, Link once and for all has finally found the answer he was searching for; such a simple and basic answer to his incredible conundrum that can only make him grateful he found it.
To let go of his hatred.
In the revelation that Kage Narumono is a personification of the rage, anxiety, dread and hatred of those who have manipulated him in the past, Link finally grows as a person and decides to let go of this hatred; including of his current and former companions, such as Sheik, the Great Deku Tree and even of one of his closest – the Hylian princess Zelda herself.
With this, and with his two year long training with Sun Hui finally complete, the old woman tells him of her history with Ragnar and her very first student; the world's greatest living soldier. She opts to review his progress, sees that he has fully mastered the 'one-inch punch' technique and even teaches him one final art – a craft of martial arts said to be the greatest and most dangerous in all of martial arts itself. She calls it, 'Kiss of the Lynel'. She reveals, in all her wisdom having taught both Ragnar and Sathryon, has never taught this particular technique to any one of them.
A revelation that leaves Link eternally grateful and shocked, if only at the level of trust he has gained with the old woman that once despised even the sight of him for his race and gender.
In only two short years he has achieved all this, leaving him with a profit of three years left with which to prepare for the world championships – the culmination and final contest of martial arts led and organised by the Prima World Tour. Link chooses with great deliberation, after Sun Hui encourages him to, to spend the rest of his time in travelling the remaining country of Draerith; a great adventure that sees him growing ever further in meeting other foreigners and getting into even more exploits across Aurelia.
In another three years following his final days of training from the brutal but super-skilled Sun Hui, Link at long last makes his way to Draerith's main capital for the world championships – Liushui City. With it in sight, he can't help but think of his group of close companions led by Impa, having missed them in his five year long adventure across eastern Aurelia's Draerith and its incredible landscapes.
As he begins to approach the Draerith capital, so too do his group of close friends, all led by Impa…
Scene 1
"All participants are required to check in at the front desk of the Great Hall of the People! Please do not miss check in or you will be disqualified from the world championships!"
The sound of rain pittering and pattering calmly and serenely, yet neverendingly against the ground all around them made the surrounding group all turn their heads in the direction of the calling voice of the staff member, standing in amidst the long queue of fighters applying in line for the qualifying preliminaries of the world championship. Impa, leading the small group of three, craned her neck in the direction of the queue and held back a wince, opening up her mouth to voice her inner thoughts.
"Am I glad you all qualified for this thing…," she murmured out, holding up a Sheikah umbrella-like device crafted from Gossip Stone material, successfully absorbing the rain up as it dropped down to meet her silver-haired head. "Just look at that line…"
"No kiddin'…," the older Barkner grinned back in amidst the rain, squat down on his haunches as he placed his rocky-skinned arms across his raised knees. "Imagine being subject to that…"
"After all the training we've done the past five years…?" Alwyn batted back to his close Goron companion on Impa's right, his own blue-skinned arms folded as he tilted his head in a small grin of his own. "That's what travelling helps with."
"It's just a shame most of it was boring."
Barkner turned his head on his far-left to find the smirking Vassia, now much taller and sporting a silky-white dress, marked with a light-red ascot in the top centre of her neck. She wore her white-red boots and fingerless similarly-coloured gloves upon her hands; familiar sights that had merely been altered to fit her new taller and slimmer form. Her long violet-shaded hair, now in showy curls and a little longer than the last time they all met up, was just as flamboyant as the watching Barkner remembered her for.
He couldn't help but crack another grin at her as he craned his neck in her direction, noticing the similar Gossip Stone device used to ward off the rain in her left hand as she leant against the wall behind her. "I can't ever remember a time when you weren't bored," the Goron fired back knowingly, drawing a half-amused smirk and small shut-eyed smile from the listening Impa and Alwyn respectively. "What'dja think guys? Good memory? Or bad memory?" He threw in the grinning directions of his other friends, drawing out a rolling-eyed smirk from the leaning form of Vassia.
"Oh ha-ha," she bounced back, pushing herself off the stone wall to begin marching toward them all. "I have missed you all… for what it's worth."
The newly-frowning Alwyn nodded back down at her, still taller than her, though not by much. "We missed you too, Vassia."
"Is this where everyone's meeting…?"
The group of four swung their heads to the front and, walking in lightly with a Gossip Stone device of her own to ward off the rain came in the ever-frowning Veronika, fairly recognisable.
Like Vassia, Veronika had also grown significantly taller in the five-year gap, though she still wore a similar garb to the original everyone remembered, if only upgraded to suit her older self; she wore long tights across her legs that almost seemed to act as a sheer bodysuit itself, reaching up around her torso and arms, marked with light blue Stralanavian markings. A short dark-blue skirt sat across her hips fairly well, similar to the one she liked to wear in her seeming earlier youth.
Jewellery of course sat all along both her legs, ears, arms and fingers; a staple of her fashion. Her long black hair was sat simply across her head and back, opting to merely leave it down her shoulders, melding rather well with the eye shadow and lipstick she now chose to wear in her teenage-to-adult years.
"We missed you!"
Surprised by Vassia's sudden display of affection, Veronika could only raise up both her dark-raven haired eyebrows, opting to let the Palashian princess rush at her with a sudden embracing hug. The watching Barkner, Alwyn and Impa all exchanged grins together.
"I… I missed you all too…," Veronika murmured out, shocked as she nervously attempted to return the gesture, exchanging a curious-eyed look with the rest of the amused watching group. As Vassia pulled back to bring back up her Gossip Stone-shaped umbrella, Veronika re-opened her mouth to address the group as they both approached them. "Where's everyone else?"
"Well we're still waitin' on our boy I'm afraid…," Barkner tilted his rock-skinned head toward the approaching young women. "Mal and Zel I can't remember. Didn't they go out for-?"
"Got your coffee!"
The group of five swung their heads 'round to find two more members of their group; the smiling Zelda and Malon, both holding small plastic trays of warm cups, their figures glowing with light magic presumably from the Hylian princess herself as if to protect against the rainfall. When they approached, wearing similar clothing to one another to suit the summer season, the group all stood to attention and stepped toward them to assist the two.
Malon held her long fiery-red hair in a similar fashion to Veronika, flowing down her shoulders beautifully. A simple bright-yellow scarf sat across her neck, holding up a small red jewel to rest on her top chest, just over the creamy-white top she wore over her torso. Down her lower half she wore a pink dress with a light brown poncho over the top of it; all recognisable clothes and fashion from her adult self in the original timeline.
Zelda instead opted to wear a much more casual outfit; opting to go with what seemed to be a light-white creamy-like shirt that hung on her quite well, hanging over two yellow straps dangling across her shoulders. A small pair of light-blue shorts hung on her small hips, fitting snugly and fairly well with the sandal-like shoes she wore, light-orange in colour. Her hair, though still a light and bright-blonde, had seemingly been cut to hang down the sides of her small ears and shoulders, a little spiky to match.
"Damn, girls," the grinning Barkner shot over to them, still squat down. "Took ya both long enough!"
"Shut up Barkner," Malon called back over, half-irritated in her embarrassed little frown. "It's coming."
Zelda smiled back, amused as she marched forward carefully, plastic tray in hand. It was only when she began to approach the Goron however that a stray child splashing through the rain ran in her direction that she began to stumble; her ocean-blue eyes widened together as she gasped and tripped, her figure staggering dangerously with cups of hot coffee. Barkner widened his eyes and made to move but, for the poor Goron, he was simply too late.
Surprising all within the group however, an eighth figure stepped into the rainy scene just in time to catch the wide-eyed and gasping Hylian princess; rather remarkably, the cups of hot coffee never even managed to spill either – the group watched on in awe as the eighth figure shot up his free fingers to cast forward quick Aegir-arts in order to invisibly catch the cups.
With ease of use and success the figure, seemingly a man wearing a peculiarly-normal Draerithian dark-blue tunic and light-shaded rice hat upon his head. Resting on his back appeared to be a long silver-gold double-edged sword and a familiar-looking mirrored shield atop it, both held up by a strap and belt at the man's torso. As Zelda hung down in the man's grasp, she turned her eyes up to match his own gaze and found hers widening in slow realisation, finding an instantly-recognisable pair of oceanic ones staring straight back at her.
The man's face, young and weathered with light dark-blonde facial hair upon it, was one that she knew somehow; a pulling at her insides in the surgery she received five years prior was all the proof she needed to the man's mysterious identity.
He smiled back down at her, keeping expert control of the hanging cups of coffee in the air with his Aegir. "Hey Zel."
"Link!"
As she called out his name, she managed to embarrass him further by pulling him toward her, wrapping her slim arms 'round his neck to yank him down into her, locking lips with him as quickly as she laid eyes on him. In shock and surprise, the newly-introduced Link's oceanic eyes widened to match the abrupt fiery-crimson his cheeks took, leaving the rest of the watching group similarly gobsmacked.
"I knew I felt you nearby…"
As the embarrassed Link pulled back from her in a half-surprised blink, he could only furrow his brow back down at her in genuine curiosity before both dark-blonde eyebrows rose up in realisation.
"Oh… yeah…," he murmured out, a sheepish little grin on his face as he did. "Yeah I guess you would, wouldn't you." He smiled back at her, pulling his arms back as she took a step from him, allowing him to rub at the back of his neck in a similarly diffident manner.
"No way…,"
The shocked response that Barkner gave as he stood up in the lashing rain from his previously-squat position made Link turn 'round to face him, as the young Hylian man returned the coffee cups to the plastic tray Zelda once carried, now resting on the ground below them all.
"Pipsqueak…," the amazed Goron murmured out incredulously, taking a step toward the young Hylian. "Is… izzat you…?"
Link faced his Goron companion of old before upturning his blinking-faced frown into a light-eyed smile. "Of course it's me; who else would I be?" He batted back, drawing out shocked stares from the rest of the group. He noticed and exchanged stares with them all before raising an eyebrow.
"You can't be mon amour!"
He swung his surprised-faced frown on the owner of the Palashian soprano that exclaimed over at him, pointing a finger, finding only the older Vassia directing a finger at him accusingly as if he had just committed some kind of crime of impersonation.
"Mon amour is much better looking than you!"
The listening Barkner, amused, could only throw his head back in uproarious laughter, eliciting a similar response from the watching Zelda and rest of the group. Link, by contrast, could only dip his eyelids halfway in humorous display of his irritation with her.
"I missed you too Vass…," he groaned back, tilting his hat-wearing head at her as he did. His eyelids soon re-rose when he pawed up at the rice hat. "Is it… the clothes…?" He murmured out this time, reaching up to pull off the Draerithian headwear he wore. "Hold up."
It didn't take him long to pull off the well-constructed hat, revealing his ever-messy head of long dirty-blonde hair, well-timed with the slow and gradual stop of the rain above them. Although the front was still somewhat neat in its curtained state they had known him for, it – as well as the back half – had grown noticeably longer and thicker; it was enough to make most within the watching group smile in recognition.
"There…," he sighed out half-frustratedly, frowning as he rubbed the back of his ponytailed head. "What about now Vass? Happy?"
The shocked Palashian princess had simply been knocked headlong into a wide-eyed stupor; her raven-shaded eyes widened incredibly as she could only stare back at him, her mouth opened up rudely. Soon, the rest of the group swung their heads in her direction, staring back at her; when Vassia soon realised they were all watching her, she quickly darted her raven eyes in their directions before lowering them in embarrassment, a deep shade of red hitting her cheeks.
"Oh I think she's happy all right…" The watching Malon spoke out in a mildly-irritated frown, furrowing her brow over at her as she did, drawing out another boisterous laugh from the listening Barkner.
"You grew so tall…,"
Link blinked, turning his head to find the smiling Veronika stepping toward him, having similarly grown since he last saw her.
"You must have been all over the country in the past five years…" The deceptively-old Stralanavian spoke up again, tilting her long and raven-haired head back at him. He could only crack a small grin back at her.
"So did you," he indicated, nodding back as if to point out her own five-year growth. "In fact you all did," Link chose to smile this time, directing it around the rest of his watching companions, his words of praise drawing out embarrassed little smiles from the listening Malon and Zelda. "I missed you guys…," he admitted, frowning as he did. "I really did."
He held back from stiffening when he felt the lightly-smiling Impa and Alwyn approach him from the back, swinging his blonde-haired head 'round to face hers when she placed an armoured hand on his shoulder in greeting.
"Welcome back, Link." The Sheikah smiled back down at him. He gave her his own smile, reaching up to shake both his first mentor's hand and his close companion Alwyn's.
"We missed you too," the former Zoran soldier smiled rarely back at him, drawing out a wider grin from the listening young Hylian. "How was your training?"
Link smiled back politely, his old mischievous demeanour seemingly having vanished from his expression as he began to turn, presumably to begin marching toward the entrance to the Great Hall. "Wait 'til I tell you all…"
2
"I still can't believe you have muscles now…"
Link rolled his oceanic eyes at Malon's comment as he sat still on one of the many seats in the boys' room, opting to stay completely still for the smiling Zelda behind him as she reached down with a pair of scissors and a comb, all to cut his now untied mass of long blonde hair.
Impa, in all her wisdom, purchased a set of rooms within the luxurious Great Hall of the People; the gigantic building being used to host the world championships and also fairly luxurious lodgings. Link forced himself not to twitch when he felt the smiling and curious-eyed Malon poke at his bare abdomen and chest.
"Can you not?" He requested, giving her a firm look as he placed his similarly muscled hands upon his raised tunic-wearing legs. Although the watching Malon gave him a briefly mildly-irritated look, she soon returned to her usual smirking-faced cheer, perhaps grateful for the long-awaited reunion they were all looking forward to for the past five years.
"So… come on, spill it!" The ever-grinning Barkner shot over from one of the beds in the large room, sitting crossed-legged atop it. "How the hell was yer training? Was Sun Hui as scary as Impa was tellin' us?"
Link's hardened frown softened a little as he 'rounded it on his Goron companion, soon exchanging a lightly-amused smile with the folded-armed Impa herself, found leaning against the wall next to Barkner's bed.
"It was… challenging, yeah," Link answered his close friend with, the sound of Zelda's small scissors clipping away at the long mass of thick blonde hair he carried atop his head. "Impa-sensei was right… Sun Hui-sifu's easily been the most brutal teacher I've ever had," he answered this time with a light frown on his face, his baritone turning grave and serious. "I'm lucky I'm still alive, to be honest."
"I was wondering what that injury was…,"
He blinked and swung his head up as Zelda briefly halted cutting his hair to comment on his words, a pleading look in her deep-blue eye.
"On your arm…?" She hung the question forward, nodding her light-blonde haired head down at it. He blinked a second time before chuckling knowingly and nodding.
"Yeah that was uh… my fault," the young Hylian admitted, raising up a left hand to rub the back of his half-cut head; an old habit. "Sorry Zel." He apologised, knowing of their powerfully-deep Aegir connection.
Whatever he felt, she felt; almost like a psychic force they shared together.
While it had its benefits, it certainly had its detriments.
"I'm just glad you're back…" She opted to smile down at him warmly, lowering her hands to softly cup his face into them, drawing out an initially-surprised blink from the young man before another bout of embarrassment drew itself across his cheeks; he turned his frown zig-zagged and wandered his oceanic eyes from hers in discomfort before swinging his head back 'round, presumably to allow her to continue cutting.
"So…,"
The curious soprano that spoke, drawing over his – and the rest of the group's – attention, made the zig-zagged Link turn his frown into a more neutral one as he faced its owner; the newly-smirking Vassia walked over from the entrance to the large room, fingerless-gloved hands resting upon her creamy-white silk dress as she approached them.
"Learned any killing techniques, mon amour…?" She spoke over quietly to him, violet-haired eyebrow raising up curiously as she did. The room turned, again, to eye the frowning-faced Link before his expression soon upturned into a half-knowing smirk, re-opening his mouth to respond to the pushy Palashian princess.
"I guess y'all have-ta find out tomorrow mornin' then!" He shot back knowingly, his old faithful smirk of overconfidence plastered across his face, drawing out laughs and even a similar-faced smirk from the watching Vassia.
"I've missed that…," the grinning Malon spoke, sauntering over to join Barkner by the foot of his bed, sitting down upon it and resting her hands back across on it as she faced the blonde youth. "Did Sun Hui beat out your personality down there too?"
Link couldn't help but laugh back, cocking back a grin of his own as she spoke. "She did, actually," he answered the farm girl with, re-opening his mouth to elaborate further. "Impa-sensei told me never to talk back to her… and she was right. I saw a guy get killed just for insulting her."
Silence.
"Oh my god…" The listening Malon murmured out in response, her amused grin falling in favour of a shocked-faced frown.
"Sun Hui has been renowned the world over for that kind of treatment and attitude," Alwyn spoke up from his own position against one of the room's many walls, situated a few feet from Impa, his own blue-skinned arms folded. "You got away lightly I think."
"Yeah…," Link agreed with his close Zoran friend, eyeing him on his left as Zelda's scissors lightly clipped away quietly behind him. "Whatever she asked me to do… I did it, without question."
"Wise words…," Impa agreed on gravely, a hardened look in her fire-red eye, leaning her silver-haired head to watch him carefully. "I'm glad you listened; it would have been a shame to have you killed so late on in this quest."
Although Link gave his first mentor smile of gratefulness, it was Malon that surprised the youth – and the wide-eyed Zelda mid-cutting – by bounding forward and throwing her slim arms 'round the blonde Hylian. He held back a gasp and turned his frown zig-zagged again, wincing.
"I don't know what we'd do without you…," she admitted, hands wrapped 'round his neck. He rolled his oceanic eyes and, though made ready to push her off, opted to leave her in favour of a quiet life. "I can't imagine a future where you die."
Before Link or anyone else could even think of responding, the door opening up to their room pulled their attention, soon revealed to be the frowning-faced Veronika staring back at them all.
"The tournament begins at ten in the morning Impa; you were right." The young-looking Stralanavian opened up with, drawing an understanding nod from the Sheikah.
"Good," she responded, unfolding her armoured arms as she stood up from her position against the wall to begin marching past the blinking Malon. "We should let the boys rest then; come on, it's getting late."
"Impa, should I…?"
She turned her head 'round to face the Hylian princess behind her curiously before soon realising she was still mid-cutting in the young man's hair. She nodded in response.
"Finish his hair and then come back through to our room," she ordered, drawing out a grateful smiling nod from the watching Zelda. "Come on everyone."
Malon rolled her eyes but did not object, dragging her arms off the half-grinning Link as she followed the rest of the female side out of the door. It was only when Zelda, still standing within the room shot the remaining Barkner and Alwyn quick frowning looks that they realised her intentions. Barkner rolled his own boulder-brown eyes but this time in light amusement.
"Yo Al, let's go downstairs," he grinned out as he hopped off his bed, beginning a march toward the door. The frowning Zoran eyed him before briefly watching the two Hylians; finding an embarrassed look in Link's cheeks he held back an annoyed roll of his own eyes before following his close Goron friend. "You can treat me a couple drinks with those rupees you save up."
"You can treat me you mean," the former soldier shot back knowingly and half-irritatedly. "I'm always buying the drinks."
"Come ooon," the Goron shot back in a humourful manner, shrugging his rock-skinned arms back at the older man. "You're my senior! You gotta pay!"
As the door shut behind them both, finally leaving the two fate-paired Hylians alone together, Link prepared his inner anxieties for the inevitable embarrassment he was about to no doubt suffer.
"How um… how long has it been…?"
Link stiffened when he felt Zelda's softly-spoken mezzo soprano hit into his ears, making him dart his oceanic eyes to the side of his head.
"Ah… five years…," he answered uncomfortably, lowering his eyes again back down to his weathered boots. "It felt longer… I gotta admit."
Zelda smiled back down at him as she snipped away at his hair. "Yeah…"
It was awkward, downright foolish even; to be asking a question to an answer of which they both knew…
But they also both knew of why she did.
Sometimes it's easiest to break the long-standing ice between them with a basic answer.
"Do you remember… the last time we were in Gylomecia?"
Her sudden prodding; an odd question to match the first to be fair, made the listening Link's uncomfortable frown take a genuinely-curious switch. He turned his eyebrows up and his eyes to his left.
"Yeah…? I think so? When exactly?"
"When… you turned into… that thing."
The Fierce Deity, he thought in realisation.
That's what she means.
Instinctively, he almost reached back into his inventory for the mask he had once received back during his Termina travels before soon remembering it had vanished as a result of his final encounter with Kage Narumono.
And thus his very connection to the Fierce Deity itself; a fact that now sat well with the young Hylian.
"Yeah," he at last answered her with, his eyelids lowering as he did, sighing quietly. "I do, unfortunately."
A small corner of Zelda's mouth upturned into a tiny smile as she re-opened it to speak, her small scissors clipping quietly. "There's… something you said to me then that's important to me now,"
He could only furrow his brow forward, staring directly ahead of himself in genuine unsure thought.
"Do you remember it…?"
Link narrowed his eyes to match his furrowed brow of confusion, holding back the urge to shake his blonde-haired head for obvious reasons. She very skilfully and softly used her fingers to move his head for ease of use in cutting before he at last re-opened his own mouth to respond.
"Nah… sorry Zel," he answered her with, re-raising his eyes to face forward. "I can barely remember the stuff I did when I was the Fierce Deity… let alone what I said."
The Hylian princess' smile lowered into a kind of half-disappointed little frown before it soon returned, if only in a lesser, weakened and wan state. "Oh well…"
Link's left eyebrow shot up again in curiosity and he held back from turning his head for fear of interrupting her work. "What? What'd I say to you?"
"It's… it's okay… it wasn't anything important…"
Link's eyes darted back to his front and, with all his might, he attempted with great effort to think back to their life-or-death battle five years prior.
Unfortunately for them both, it was near-impossible due to his own consciousness having been tampered with at the time.
"But… Zel you just said it was import-,"
"All done!"
He blinked when she stepped around finally to his field of vision, her slim and tall form sweeping 'round him and wafting him with her sweet-smelling perfume. It was only when she did that he realised just how much his hair had grown in the past five years; now littering the ground surrounding them.
"Goddamn…," he muttered out crudely, wincing as he got a good look at it. "I owe you Zel… thank you so much."
She smiled back down at him, shaking her shoulder-length spiky-blonde hair back down at him as she joined her hands behind her as if to hide the tools with which she used. When he re-raised his eyes to meet hers, he found a strange kind of sad look in them; a look that concerned him.
If I let her go like this, he began in thought.
"There's gonna be a wall between us."
But I can't remember what I said!
What am I supposed to do?!
Suddenly, however, as she briefly turned her eyes from his before re-facing him, it came to him when she began to turn and leave.
"Wait, Zel!"
She stopped mid-march, just as she was about to reach the door, opening up her mouth and raising her thin-blonde eyebrows as she about-turned to face him. Link approached her, standing up from his seat and cast her a hardened frown on his face, fighting back the great discomfort and embarrassment that was inevitably about to hit his cheeks.
"I still can't remember what I said to you five years ago…," he began curiously, brow furrowing at her. "But I know it's important to you; you just said so yourself."
Zelda lowered her sea-shaded eyes from his, pursing her lips as if to keep the answer he was seeking close to her chest.
"And… this ain't much of an apology…," Link started again, this time lowering his own eyes as he murmured out his words, thinking back to a good couple of minutes prior in their first meeting in five years. "But… here."
Hyrule's princess widened her eyes and held back a gasp, dropping the scissors and comb she carried clattering to the lavish floor as her childhood companion reached forward to grab at her. Dipping her in a manner similar to their meeting just outside the Great Hall, he stared down at her for a good second or two, gulping down nervously-gained saliva before reaching down. Finally realising his intentions, Zelda held back the smile from her face and shut her eyes as she reciprocated gladly, opening up her mouth slowly and carefully to lock with his.
It didn't last awfully long, perhaps a couple of seconds, but it was enough to make her raise up her slim arms to softly wrap around his neck again, pulling him closer to her. When he finally let go, an odd mixture of relief and regret panging at them both, he wiped down at his lips and looked at anywhere else in the room but her.
The smile on Zelda's face seemingly couldn't help but merely grow and, as it did, she took one more step forward and returned his initial proposal with one of her own; opting to wrap her arms around his neck a third time that day, this time bending them vertically to hang the front of her soft palms across the back of his long-haired head, drawing it to graze and caress very carefully against her own forehead.
She shut her eyes and opened up her mouth.
"I loved you once too… Link."
The insides of his stomach jumped and his frown turned zig-zagged for the third time that day, before his eyes widened and they snapped up to match her gaze; his wide-eyed open-mouthed frown with her closed-mouthed smiling stare.
Is that what I said to her, he wondered silently.
"As the Fierce Deity?!"
He wasn't given exceptionally long to respond to what she said however; she let go of his head and, giving him a final platonic kiss against the forehead, she turned and left this time for good. The wide-eyed Link could only watch her go, attempting with great effort to think back to their last interaction in Gylomecia. Meanwhile, as Zelda slowly walked out of the boys' shared room, her hands joined at her back and her slow walk soon became a subtle little skip in her step; one that revealed the growing beam on her face as she let her ruminations carry her on to the girls' section of the Great Hall.
"And still do…"
3
The rain that had fallen earlier that day dropped harder a few hours later, coating Liushui City's streets in its deep, dank wet; the sound of the city's main huge clock rung out loudly and emphatically, having hit the hours of eight o'clock at night. The numerous locals of Draerith and large number of tourists, visiting presumably for the upcoming world championships. A small Palashian girl, led by her mother, began to approach one of the many open-glass windows of the large marketplace's range around them all, and all to scan their eyes across its open contents.
It didn't take long for the weather to get worse during the small family's exchange however and, as it did, it managed to take not just them off guard but the rest of the poor travelling denizens walking around its main streets.
DROOOOOOOM
CRASSSSHHHH
With an incredible potency, a huge bolt of lightning struck the top of the Draerithian city grand clock, essentially destroying it and silencing its bells once and for all; in response, huge chunks of rock and wreckage dropped down all around the yelling citizens of Liushui, forcing them to evacuate.
Thankfully, most of the people running managed to get far enough to safety; it was only the wide-eyed young girl that refused to move, opting to double-take at the huge pieces of debris falling down on her, frozen in place like an animal in the road. The girl's mother, shouting and screaming at her, found little success in moving at such a late juncture and opted instead to shield her with her own body in hopeless despair.
KERAAAACCCCK-CRASSSSSH
The pair of tourists kept their eyes scrunched shut in horrified frowns but, as their seemingly inevitable death never came, they could only turn their heads 'round to get a good look at the source of the second noise; an intruding interruption in the form of a single person that somehow managed to save them both. The nameless mother could only widen her eyes at the figure, staring at the back form of what seemed to be a young man wearing a powerfully-weathered dark-brown tunic, iron-plated boots and similarly-armoured greaves across his shoulders and arms.
Hanging across his back was a tattered and mild-cream cape, dancing and whipping wildly in the wind as he stood staring back up at the Draerithian clock high above him. The blood-red bandana he sported across his head fit well with the untamed lock of spiky-raven hair upon his head, the only weapon hanging on his back a similarly weathered steel halberd.
"Th-thank you… thank you so mu-"
The young man swung his scowling-faced glare on the Aurelian pair below him, revealing his hateful-laced chestnut-brown eyes and the small and pointed ears resting across the sides of his head; seemingly a Hylian of all things. The mother, shocked into a light stupor mid-sentence, could only widen her eyes back at the glower on the young man's face and, thinking wisely and quickly, she grabbed the young girl in her hands and ran off from his scowling-eyed glare.
Now having been left alone in the sheerly-deserted marketplace, the young black-haired man turned his head back 'round to his front only to find a second figure suddenly appearing before him. He narrowed a single chestnut eye at the figure before marching forward to meet him, seemingly another man, this one much older.
"Scaverin-sensei…,"
The man, wearing robes even out in the powerful rain shower, could only swing his bald-headed scowl back on the similar-height Hylian behind him, eyebrow rising up curiously.
"Was that really necessary…?" The nameless young man questioned firmly, lightly tilting his head at the older Hylian as he did. "You said we had to keep a low profile…"
The older man swung his scowl into a smirk before opening up his mouth to respond. "Hardly," he began. "I just wanted to see how they'd react…"
The younger man's single eye narrowed a second time even further; a kind of scathing and disapproving look in his chestnut eye that told a lot of their odd relationship.
"Lighten up Raynard…," Scaverin admonished the Hylian youth with, casting him another little self-satisfied grin as he did. "I have achieved all that I set out to do…"
"All but one," the listening Raynard corrected his mentor with, pacing around him to step toward the freshly-laid rubble and wreckage in Scaverin's wake. "The more attention we gain, the harder it'll be to get what you want when we reach the end."
"Hmph…," Scaverin muttered out in his throat, his grin falling a little as he re-joined his hands together inside his robes. "You have learned much of patience these past five years Raynard… I'm impressed."
"Not really…," the black-haired youth disagreed lightly, his hardened frown twitching as he turned it down on the smouldering wreckage below him. "I've still been impatient for this… for tomorrow…," he began again, drawing out another curious-faced frown from the listening Scaverin. "I've never wanted anything more in my entire life."
"Hrm…," his frowning-faced mentor murmured out before soon upturning it into another light smirk. "Keep your morale high, boy…," he began again, turning his hazel-shaded eyes up to the destruction of Liushui's grand clock; marvelling at his own mark as he re-opened his mouth again. "You'll most certainly get an opportunity to kill that little rival of yours…,"
The listening Raynard nodded back, staring down at the wreckage in his own glower as he did.
"And I…,"
Raynard took his eyes off the debris very briefly, if only to give his mentor a curious-eyed look as he did. Scaverin's hardened scowl soon upturned back up into a knowing and hungry-faced smirk.
"I will do what the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide himself once failed to do!"
4
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, to the one, to the only…"
"The world championships!"
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
Old time favourites of the Prima World Tour, co-commentators together, Mr. Marshall and 'Tasty' Seth sat next to one another on a rather lavish Draerithian table overlooking the huge ring below them in a separate room, their voices having been boosted and transferred magically through Gossip Stone technology.
"It's been a long while since you've heard our voices… hasn't it folks?" The smiling Mr. Marshall began, drawing out another near-deafening cheer from the surrounding seated thousands watching in the stands littering below them. "Five years on in our incredible world tour through Aurelia, we had to cancel our visit to Gylomecia," Marshall began again, this time in a saddened-faced frown, shaking his brown-haired head as he did. "What a terrible tragedy."
"Gotta hate those civil wars, am I right Marsh?" The younger man grinned back at him carelessly next to him, leaning back in his seat, drawing out a half-annoyed look from him in response.
"It's just a shame for the poor people involved… we can always hope for a better future."
"And to fight on in their memory!" The grinning Seth exclaimed out this time, pulling off his legs from the table ahead of him and pumping a fist forward.
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
"Right on!" Marshall chose to smile this time in the younger man's direction before re-facing forward into the great distance. "We have the best… only the best for all here today ladies and gentlemen; this here, is the culmination of the Prima World Tour. Only those with sufficient Prima World Tour points can even qualify for it."
"It's a real select club Marsh." Seth grinned back in a light chuckle, drawing out half-amused pity laughs from some in the audience.
"Now for all those of you who have been following our world tour… you'll recognise a lot of these names…" Marshall smirked this time, tilting his head at the glass window he spoke into through his small Gossip Stone. Almost as if it were cued up by his words did a series of pictographs and text shine up on the windows high above the crowd of watching Aurelians; seemingly the very competitors themselves.
RAGNAR ROMANOV
VASSIA PALASHIA
LYCIDAS MARINO
ALWYN WEIRSON
VERONIKA FEDOROA
BARKNER ELBRUS
RAYNARD VAN GARRICK
LINK FIRBRAND
Seemingly having recognised these names displayed on the windows before them, the watching Aurelians all erupted into a third cheer that vibrated the very stands they sat on.
"Yooo… these are all finalists and top eight qualifiers Marsh!" The ever-grinning Seth commented on excitedly, eliciting another cheer from the audience around them.
"That's right Seth…," Marshall chuckled back knowingly, nodding back at the brown-haired youth as he did. "We've got one hell of a show this weekend for every single one of you here!"
"A weekend? But we only do these in a day Marsh!"
Marshall quipped up a low smirk before raising up a knowing index finger as he did. "Now normally you'd be right Seth… but not today!" He exclaimed out excitedly, re-opening his mouth to elaborate further. "This time… we're fighting in double elimination!"
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
"Aw hell yeah!" Seth called out above the din of the yelling Draerithians and Aurelians below him. "So now we got an upper and lower bracket?"
"You bet we do Seth…," Marshall grinned back in a head-tilting nod, grinning as he did. "We have national champions here, we have former champions, we have finalists, we have the world's greatest martial artists all gathered here today… for your enjoyment!"
The crowd all screamed this time in approval, their morale rising.
"It's been five years Marsh… I can't wait to see what they all learned!" Seth smirked over at the older, well-dressed man. Marshall nodded back at the much more informally-dressed Seth before re-opening his own mouth to respond.
"Indeed my young friend… indeed," he began in a light smile, re-facing the audience. "Friday, Saturday and this Sunday; the world championships of Aurelian year 712 is broadcasting here at the beautiful gardens of Draerith! The Nation… of Domination!"
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
Link tilted his newly-groomed head to both sides of himself in cricks and cracks, as if to ready himself, as he stepped down the staircase at the bottom of the group he travelled with. He turned his blonde-curtained head 'round to his mentor as she marched alongside him, opening up his mouth to address her.
"Impa-sensei… did you remember to bring my old karate gi with you?"
The Sheikah looked fairly insulted, as if she couldn't believe his cheek.
"No…," she answered with, shaking her silver-haired head back at him, a disapproving glance as she did. "I'm not responsible for holding your uniform… and besides… it no longer suits you."
Link's face fell as he blinked back at her. "W-Whaddya mean?"
She rolled her fire-red eyes back at him, lightly-irritated. "I mean you've surpassed everything I could have ever taught you by now," she answered with before re-setting the firmness of her frown into a softer one. "What you wear now… is your own… and that goes for every one of you," the Sheikah began again, turning her walking gaze around each competitor, drawing grins, nods and mixed looks from each one. "Make yourselves proud today… no-one else."
"Yes Impa!"
Link nodded back, a little sad and melancholy at the prospect of finally growing up. "Yes… Impa-sensei."
It was only when he felt the smiling Zelda's touch on his calloused right hand that he double-took in her direction that he re-set the saddened frown into a light smile of his own, nodding back at the bangs in her eyes as he returned the soft squeeze she gave to his fingers.
"Welcome, one and all, and thank you for coming."
As the group all got into the event room and its preliminary room behind it, all chatter around them, including the large number of participants littered around them, soon died; leaving all but one man's voice – an old one's that stood on one of the many large rings stationed inside the preliminary room, speaking into a small Gossip Stone to enhance the background of his bass.
"I'd like to thank each and every one of you here for your continued support of the Prima World Tour, and of its audience members, who all greatly appreciate your efforts here today," the old man began, joining his hands behind his back as he cast his light frown forward. "As you all here know, the world championships are such a prestige event that only those with sufficient PWT points can even qualify to attend."
The listening Link, grateful to be able to even witness, could only upturn his curious-eyed frown into a light-faced smile.
"Therefore… I think it's safe to say that these remaining fighters here for this weekend's Nation of Domination tournament… are of the highest calibre," the old man spoke highly of the top eight finalists. "Please… all those fighting in today's tournament… step forward."
The smiling Impa cast her nod over at the curious-faced Link, almost as if to give him permission somehow and he nodded back gratefully, oceanic eyes briefly shut. He gave the similarly warm-faced Zelda on his right a likewise smiling nod before joining most of his companions qualified for the final top eight in their march forward. The surrounding martial artists littering the preliminary room all stood aside to allow them all room, some even murmuring in awe and shock at their young and old-looking ages.
"Alwyn Weirson…,"
The former Zoran soldier himself rose up his blue-skinned head as he was named, nodding in his usual objective-faced firmly-held frown.
"Barkner Elbrus…,"
His closest companion, Goron hailing from Death Mountain, could only smirk back socially at the old man above them all as he issued a thumbs up in response to the elderly staff member in acknowledgement.
"Vassia Palashia…,"
Palashia's princess tossed back her long violet-shaded hair in her usual overconfident-faced smirk in her own display of acknowledgement, raven-coloured eyes shut as she did.
"Veronika Fedoroa…,"
Young-looking Stralanavian woman Veronika bowed her own long and black-haired head in a contrasting display of respect, simple-faced frown on her expression.
"Lycidas Marino…,"
Former Palashian champion himself stepped out from behind a group of the littering martial artists around the room and, as he did, cast his ever-hardened faced frown over at the group of companions he once fought with. Link and his close party of friends offered their silent greetings of smiles and waves, eliciting the Palashian man to rise up his armoured-braceleted fist to briefly face them as if to give them his own kind of oddly-warm greeting. Lycidas whipped his braided-ponytailed head up to the old man on stage, nodding back in acknowledgement as he did.
"Ragnar Romanov…,"
Second student to Sun Hui and last son of the Jade Dragon walked out to join the rest of them, as toned, shirtless and muscled as last time the smiling Link remembered in their last fight. Ragnar shot Lycidas and the rest of the watching group a scowling-faced nod of respect and acknowledgement before at last facing the old man on stage.
"Raynard Van Garrick…,"
The listening Link's oceanic eyes widened and the smile dropped straight down from his facial expression as that single name crossed his small Hylian ears.
"Ray…"
He let his thoughts carry his curious stare as he double-took to his top-left, only to find the firmly-scowling Raynard himself, now five years older than he remembered. Although the Zelda of his timeline sent him to this particular one, Link couldn't help but stare back at the hateful-eyed Raynard's appearance, finding it strikingly similar to the very first time he met him in Kakariko Village, all under Sheik's command as soldiers of the Hylian rebellion.
Raynard himself, current Hylian champion, kept his hardened scowl on Link before tearing his gaze away to nod very briefly back at the old man on stage.
"And Link Firbrand…,"
Still somehow shocked by Raynard's appearance, Link had to double-take a second time and this time in the old man's direction; it was only when the lightly-smiling Barkner edged him in the side that he realised his mistake and regained his sociable smile to respectfully nod back at the staff member.
"You have all displayed incredible strength in your respective arts… and an exceptional level of diligence to have attended previous national championships all around the continent of Aurelia… in our world tour," the old man began again, choosing this time to cast them all with an appreciative-faced smile. "Regardless of this weekend's champion… you will all be entered into our Hall of Fame for your bravery in battle… for your strength and skill in art…," he began again before soon re-gaining the smile on his face. "And… of course… for your sportsmanship. Now… as always, please take a number at the front desk and you will all be paired for today's bouts."
Link, Barkner, Alwyn, Veronika, Vassia, Lycidas and Ragnar all exchanged smiles, frowns and nods together, excitement nagging at their ends roughly.
The old man let his own smile carry him on as he re-opened up his mouth to finish his speech. "May fortune smile on you all."
