It wasn't difficult for Link to get into the routine of visiting Zelda.

On that first day, he'd learned about her home life. As a noble, she was far more engaged in public service than anything he'd ever been involved in, but he liked learning about the events she'd organized, and hearing about the friends awaiting her in Castle Town.

He'd dared to ask if she was promised to anyone back home.

She wasn't.

The next day, he'd gone early and found her attempting to eat solid food again. The bruise on her throat was much better, and she no longer looked quite so tired.

And her voice.

Link wanted to listen to her talk all day. Her voice had healed, and he reveled in its melodic sound, like one of the goddesses themselves were talking through her.

"Link?" she asked when he'd simply been focusing on her too intently. His name on her lips was selfishly one of his favorite things to hear her say.

"Yes? Sorry, what?"

"Your parents' names... I don't know them."

"Oh, what have you been calling them?" he chuckled.

He was on the bed with her, lounging on the opposite end. For the first time, he didn't feel like she was a stranger at all. It had always been in the back of his mind: a familiar stranger. But not any longer.

"I've been saying ma'am to your mom, and your dad I haven't needed to address directly."

He slouched down, getting more comfortable. "Thressa and Alannon."

The next time they'd visited her, she'd been sure to address them by name. Their eyes landed suspiciously on their son, but they'd otherwise had a good time.

Aryll had brought her friends to see the mysterious girl from Central Hyrule. Zelda was unsurprisingly good with the kids in the village. She was good with everyone.

Other villagers visited, but Link was a constant. He'd begun eating his meals with her, and staying until the sun had set. He'd leave to train or to take care of a few things, but he returned. He always returned.

The next day, she'd been determined to stand up.

Her unused legs wobbled as she clung to the bed. Maiamai was already out doing her daily morning chores as usual, and Link had yet to arrive. But Zelda was determined to finally start moving again. Now that her energy was back and her body was recovering, she wanted to move. She wanted to see where she'd landed. She'd never even seen the ocean before having her face shoved into it. And she wanted to start living again. She'd spent so much time in fear or ill that she'd feared kylo was something she'd forgotten.

As for her body itself though, it had been days of disuse, and before that, overuse. Her legs weren't ready to suddenly become weight bearing at once, and she hit the ground hard, her knees banging roughly against the planked wood flooring.

For a long moment, Zelda just sat there. She wondered if there had been permanent damage. She wondered if the gods' warnings from her dreams would come true. She hadn't slept well, after all. Her dream had been of death. Death in this small hut. Perhaps that was her fate.

Zelda couldn't bring herself to her feet, but she managed to crawl to the doorway. She grabbed the wooden doorframe and hoisted herself up to one foot, breathing heavily and panting from the effort.

"Whoa!" Link hissed, hurrying up the steps of the hut when he saw her struggling far away from the bed.

"Wait!" she called before he could help her. "Let me do this."

Link's hands hovered near her, though he didn't grab her. He watched her take a deep breath and pull again, making it up to her feet before she stumbled into Link.

He caught her, and she rested her head against his shoulder. "Yeah, now you can help. I needed to stand up on my own, and now I feel accomplished. And this feels much better than falling."

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping her upright, though he angled her towards the village that she'd gotten so poor a view of thus far.

"Thanks," she muttered, leaning into him some more.

He couldn't be sure if it was because she needed to, or if she simply wanted to. But either way, he held her upright and began explaining where everything was: his house, friends, shops, the best fishing spots, the weapons.

Zelda wanted to see it all, and the distance no longer satisfied her.

Link spent the day literally by her side, making their way around the village slowly and steadily. He'd earned smug glances from half the villagers, his own family included, but he almost didn't mind. In many ways, it was worth it just to spend some more time with her.

The next day, Link learned that Zelda was able to walk on her own again.

He was on the beach with Aryll. He'd done most of his chores for the day, and those he had left required the fish that his parents would bring back to the house in a few hours. His father was on the dock, his lines on the other end of the beach. He needed more bait. So he watched, laughing at his children as they both choked on wet sand that they were throwing at each other.

"Watch your sister's eyes!"

Link rolled his; no one was concerned for his eyes.

Aryll tackled him into the sea, and he wiped sand from his hair. But when he narrowed his eyes, she knew she was doomed. He was too fast, and he had her around the waist, tossing her into the deeper waters and pulling off his shirt that kept riding up and catching all the sand before he dove under the water, clinging to the bottom to keep himself down low. His eyes stung from the salt water, but he found Aryll's small foot kicking to keep her afloat and pulled her under with him.

Bubbles blurred his vision from her surprise, but he wasn't concerned as soon as she retaliated by pushing at his shoulder. It had no force to it while under the water, but Link laughed, more bubbles rising to the surface as he did. He hoisted her back up to the surface so she could get some air and cough it out.

But he's spent years in these waters, and he could hold his breath for longer. He made a circle around Aryll, letting himself rise to the surface, though he kept his face under, much like a shark. Her feet kicked him in the ribs, and that was enough for him to spit the rest of his air from his lungs.

He popped back up and took a breath, pushing his hair from his face. He pulled the elastic out and re-tied it behind him, keeping his legs kicking as he did.

And when he blinked the salt water from his eyes, he saw Zelda standing at the water's edge, her arms crossed, watching Link with a fond smile and a not-so-hidden look of amusement.

Link was thankful he was already neck-deep in the ocean. It allowed him the freedom to blush deep without worrying if she could see. He just ducked his chin under, intent on covering every part of himself that he could until he could calm down, wondering just how long she'd been there.

Zelda walked onto the dock, smiling at Link's father as he passed with his bait to return to his reels. He flashed Link a knowing look.

"Aryll, come help me bait!"

"Okay!"

Gods, his parents.

It left Link alone with Zelda.

She sat on the wooden dock that bobbed with her weight, and tucked her feet into the water, giggling at the unfamiliar feeling.

"It's much nicer when one isn't having her face forced into it," Zelda mused.

Link's brows scrunched together, and he shook his head, leaning against the dock. "How do you joke about it?"

"I either joke, or I remember it as a traumatic kidnapping. There's one narrative I prefer over the other. One will ruin me internally, and the other helps me heal."

"I wish I could do that."

"It's a talent," Zelda joked, giggling nervously.

Link leaned up on the deck, stretching his arms as he did. He didn't miss the way Zelda's eyes followed his bare skin as far as they could. And she began to turn red.

Link knew the pain all too well.

"Come in," he said, stopping himself before he could do something stupid like run his hand along her leg that dangled just in front of his face.

Zelda's face tightened into a concerned look, and she shook her head quickly. "I can't. There's no ocean in Central Hyrule. It's rivers and dirty ponds or places where swimming isn't allowed because we get our drinking water and food from there."

"You can't swim? Is that what you're telling me?"

Zelda shrugged. "Not everyone has the luxury of growing up by the oceanside."

Link bowed his head. "Forgive me, Lady Zelda. I forgot that growing up as a noble isn't actually a luxury."

Zelda grinned at his sarcasm. She knew it was a playful jab: true, though not ill-intended. "Besides, I'd have been scolded for burning my skin in the sun." She looked over his tanned skin, though she once again got stuck on his muscles.

He could see a group of his friends walking by, watching him. They'd all made it known that they thought Link was hanging around Zelda because of her looks, but Link didn't know how to explain to them that, though it had only been a short time, there was something more.

If he took Zelda out of the village right now, intent on showing her a place where he thought she'd feel happiest, he was almost positive that he could find that place. In all of Hyrule, he'd be able to pinpoint the place that made her happy. If she were to tell him she was hungry, he was sure he could make her favorite meal. Something inside him knew her, and it knew her well.

It wasn't the prickle of seeing someone familiar; it was a deeply rooted knowledge of who she was as a person, like he'd known her for many lifetimes and not just days.

Perhaps that was why he ended up losing control of himself and lightly grabbed her calf, tugging without any force, but enough that it was indulging in the temptation he felt. His fingers burned at the contact, and Zelda seemed to feel it too, tensing and breathing faster.

"I won't let you drown," Link promised, feeling his chest tighten as he ran his fingers up her leg, teasing her with his touch.

Zelda scooted forward a hair. "Are you going to do to me what you did to Aryll?"

"No. I promise. Besides, you can stand from here, if you really want. Just move to the left a step, and you're completely on your feet. Trust me."

With a silent curse and a prayer to the three Goddesses, she grabbed his shoulders and pushed off the dock, grabbing him immediately.

She started giggling uncontrollably, nervous laughter bubbling over as she wrapped her arms around Link's neck, brushing against his necklace, which was the only thing he wore above his waist.

She'd seen the villagers already. Very few of them seemed self-conscious. Men walked around without their shirts, and women looked ready to jump into the water at any moment. It wasn't the stuffy dresses and tight-laced corsets that she was familiar with. It wasn't silk and satin. It was makeshift rope as a necklace string and never wearing shoes. It was letting their skin burn in the sun and floating through the ocean like they were born for it.

She pulled back to look at the shark's tooth necklace, gratuitously running her hand along his neck so she could cup the tooth in her palm. She felt Link shiver, despite the harsh sun and warm water and held on tighter with one hand so she could run another along the tooth.

He winced as she accidently pulled his ponytail in the process of adjusting herself to stay mostly above the water, but he made no move to ask her to move her arm. Instead, he held her tighter.

"Sorry," she said, smoothing his hair down.

"Don't be," he murmured, far too smitten for his own good.

For the next several days, Link and Zelda grew closer. She'd opened up to him about home, and he'd been intrigued by every she told him about noble life. Likewise, he showed her the day-to-day tasks that happened in the small village. They fished together, and she watched Link and the others train. When she wasn't with him, she with someone else, learning about basket weaving, or—as Aryll liked to show her—painting. Link especially liked when Aryll made Zelda paint, because each time he'd return to the hut, they were both covered in colors. Zelda had even caught his leg with the tip of her brush, leaving a blue pattern on his knee. And Link had grabbed her, returning the favor with by taking Aryll's brush and running a yellow line down Zelda's face, both laughing all the while. The light feel of the brush had nothing on the softness of Link around her, though. And his every touch made her shudder until he graced even her waking dreams with his presence.

It was the several days later that he found her sitting on the docks as the sun rose over the horizon. He considered letting her be, to give her some solitude, but there was a pull towards her. There was always a pull.

He stood behind her, wondering if he should announce himself or just sit. But it turned out neither was necessary.

"Sometimes, in Central Hyrule, I feel like the Goddesses are just stories." She never looked back at him, but she knew he was there. She knew it was him. "But not here. Here, it's so easy to feel them all around. That sunset. That's Farore. Gods, she's beautiful out here."

Link smiled. "We pray to them a lot out here. When you're removed from everyone else, you rely on yourselves, and the gods. You can feel their hands on you often."

"Is it bad that at times, I can feel Din's hand? Like with the Yiga. I could feel her hold on me, ready to pull at any moment. I'm so afraid of dying that sometimes I can feel it all around, taunting me."

"Well," Link said, casually holding his hand out. "You can keep her at bay with some exercise. Care to join me for a run?"

She finally turned to him, her eyes lit by the rising sun. She stared longingly at his hand, but her gaze quickly drifted to his feet. "You're barefoot. You can't run."

He shook his hand in front of her face until she took it. "You city-folk are all wimps. We're on a beach."

"Wh-what if we step on a shell? Or a sharp rock?"

"Then one of us carries the other back here to get it wrapped and stitched."

Zelda laughed, shaking her head as she weighed her options. "Don't make that sound so appealing, Link. I might just find a rock just so you'll carry me back."

He didn't let go of her, even as she was on her feet. Instead, they walked hand-in-hand to the far side of the beach. "How do you know I won't find a nice sharp shell first? I'm intrigued at the thought of you trying to get me back here."

Zelda pursed her lips. "Okay, how about just a short race? I only just started walking again."

"Where t—"

Link didn't get the chance to finish before Zelda took off, a giddy laugh following where she ran along the sand. Her heels dug into the sand with every step, and a spray of pebblets shot up each time.

Link chased her, throwing his head back in the wind and the rush that drove him forward. He gained on her quickly and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her backwards. She yelped and started to laugh harder as they both went backwards.

Link willingly took the brunt of it, letting out a hard breath first when he hit the ground, and again when Zelda's full force landed on him. But just having her close was enough to intoxicate him until he forgot the throbbing soreness in his elbows, or the stupid way he'd fallen on his back. He felt none of it.

Not when Zelda turned so she was hovering over his face, her hair cascading down to frame her face that was already backlit by the orange of the rising sun. She looked like a goddess in that moment.

Zelda ran a hand through Link's hair several times, completely entranced by how soft and light it was. And she liked how he looked up at her with hooded eyes, equally mystified.

"Link," she said in a low voice, as if she were being careful not to wake someone or shatter the spell they felt like they were under. When her hand stilled, he leaned into it in response, acknowledging her. "Thank your for finding me."

"No," he breathed, "Thank you for finding me."

Link felt himself arching up at the same time that Zelda came crashing down. Their lips met, and it was like the world had both stopped and started all at once.

Like a dream suddenly remembered after it had been long forgotten, Link felt like he'd done this with Zelda countless times. She was familiar against his lips, though that made no sense to him. He'd never kissed anyone. He wasn't even sure how he knew what to do. He'd only ever kissed his family. And this certainly wasn't the same.

Zelda pulled away first, her head jerking back like she realized what she'd done.

"Goddess, I'm so sorry! That was… I was just so… that was forward of me."

"No," Link said quickly, managing to sit up, bringing her with him. "Don't be sorry."

"No?"

"No."

Zelda smiled this time, running her hand through his sandy hair. "I've never done that. At all," she admitted. "So I guess… maybe that's what I'm sorry for: that it wasn't good."

"What?" he asked, this time moving her fully off of him so they were both leaning into the sand. "I've never done that either, so obviously I don't have much to compare it to, but that was incredible. And it felt familiar."

"You've never…? And I felt that too. I…" she trailed off, trying to stop herself from stuttering further. "That was nice."

That had Link laughing. His chest was still madly fluttering, and he couldn't help that it came out in amused and anxious laughter. "It was nice."

"Nice enough… to want to do again?" she inquired. Her face contorted as she processed her own words, the painfully awkward way she phrased them.

But if Link noticed, he kindly ignored it and nodded instead, wrapping his hand behind her neck. He could feel her pulse trying to break free of her skin, and he gave her a gentle push towards him as they met in the middle once again.

This time, it wasn't rushed or a starving ache that only the other could satisfy. This time, it was slow and languid. It was the way they couldn't get enough of the slow torture they were each inflicting on the other. It was the buildup that had them gasping into each other as they both needed air, too intoxicated with the other to remember to breathe.

It was Link laying her back, hovering over her this time as he moved his lips to her jaw, and then her neck, and her shoulder.

"Hey!"

This time, they did collide, banging into each other with a hard thud while they scrambled to sit up.

Numan was standing over them, too smug. "Saw you two head off this way a while ago, but there are some monsters camped further down the beach that we're taking care of later this week, right Link? Don't want you getting hurt."

Link glanced first at Zelda, relieved to see her as red as he knew he was, and then at his friend. "You came over here to tell me something I already know?"

Numan took a few steps back. "When I saw you two head this way, I figured better I see anything amiss than Aryll, who also volunteered to remind you not to stray."

Zelda covered her mouth, fighting back a laugh as she turned to Link. He let out a relieved sigh and turned to Zelda, unable to bite back his own. He threw his head back and let all his happiness bubble up. It was unfamiliar to feel so light and so perfect, even if just for the moment.

He'd never known the feeling of being whole until he'd met Zelda. There was little doubt in his mind that the Goddesses had sent her, and that she was his other half, the one who completed him.

She'd had no trouble making her way into Link's life with ease. The more she did that, the more he wondered how he'd ever return to life without her. She had to return home someday.

But to his selfish pleasure, she took her time with that.

Link found that at some point, his subconscious self had been coming to terms with a brutally obvious realization: he was beginning to fall in love with Zelda.

And he didn't want to fight a second of it.


Reviews: zViridian: I feel like Link is either very confident, or an awkward mess around Zelda. There is no in-between with him. Same with Zelda. They kind of swap off with one really feeling it, and the other not functioning hahahha! And yeah, this isn't going to have the Yiga as any prophecy-related things. I just used them because you get the vibe of who they are because it's a BOTW AU. Guest: YES! I really liked having them role-reverse for that! Queen Emily: It won't let me put a heart thing here! NOOO! Imaging there's a heart there! 3 It's just a THREE!