Chapter Ten

Link didn't even bother saying any departing words to the King. The conversation had left a sour taste in his mouth, and his mind was racing to keep up with his footing. Everything around him was a blur of blue and silver, the Domain seeming smaller than ever before as he followed Gaddison's lead.

"Princess Zelda wanted to see Vah Ruta," Gaddison spoke, running with Link towards the Divine Beast. "After the Calamity was sealed, Ruta walked back to the East Reservoir before shutting down, so we didn't think anything of it. How-" She took a second to regain her breathing before continuing, "How could it be dangerous when she can't even reach it through the water, right?"

"Well, then she just kept walking towards it. We figured she'd stop at the end of the dock, but she was in this weird trance. Next thing we know she was walking straight into the water. She disappeared under it. Prince Sidon and Bazz dove in but they couldn't find her body."

They soon were at the stairs leading to the pier Van Ruta resided by. She took the steps more carefully than Link, finding them harder to maneuver than the agial hero. "Then Vah Ruta lit up! This unimaginable bright light came from it's entrance and what looked like the Princess entered it! The doors shut and we can't get in!" She finished, having to practically yell the end of her story as Link had managed to get farther ahead of her than she could have expected to keep up with.

He continued down to the docks, barely registering both Prince Sidon's and Bazz's panicked presence next to him. He stopped right before the water, looking up at Divine Beast Vah Ruta and the light that was pouring from it.

"How do I get in?" Link questioned before turning sharply to both of them. "I need help getting up there."

"Without the waterfalls we can't scale it," Bazz started.

"And without Mipha piloting it, Ruta isn't even on! She's just a shell standing there." Sidon added quickly, staring up at the machine. There wasn't a good memory of the divine beast he could remember, and yet, he was so drawn to it himself.

Link shook his head, pulling off his tunic and producing his zora armour from the sheikah slate. He pulled it on in one quick motion, tossing his Champions tunic to the ground without a second thought. "I'll have to make my own, then, won't I?"

"Link, I don't think-" Prince Sidon started, but he was too late.

Link was already making his way across the water with the aid of cryonis. He jumped from one block to another, multiple of the ice cubes not even fully created by the time he'd started scaling the next.

To his surprise, Vah Ruta didn't fight back. No rushing water or ice blocks worked their way to him. The beast had no life in it at all. Was it a blessing? He wasn't sure, but he didn't have time to think further into it. He had to keep moving. He had to get to the Princess.

Finally he was directly under the platform that he'd need to use to get through the entrance door of the divine beast. He pulled out his bow, sending multiple bomb arrows into the water, causing a wave the size of Vah Ruta itself crashing against the ancient machine. He dove in, scaling the side with only a slight struggle thanks to the help of the zora armour he wore, and then paraglided down onto the platform.

Standing on the lifeless machine once more was odd. It felt wrong to be there, without a clear motive, or the voice of a past champion to guide him. His goal was unclear. For the first time in a year, he had no solid plan.

It was strange for him indeed.

The sheikah slate proved useless after that. No matter how he tapped the terminal, or inserted the device, the doors refused to open. The light coming from inside was growing more intense, and the power it produced was even making the hero himself dizzy.

Unsealthing the Master Sword, he went forward, intending to hit the thin gap between the door and platform, but something caught his eye. More like, someone.

Link turned his head towards the movement, unable to see where the individual had gone, and returned the Master Sword to its home on his back. Grabbing the grooved details on the side of Van Ruta, he started to work his way around the Divine Beast. It was harder than he had originally expected, losing his footing completely in one particularly slippery spot, causing him to dangle by the arms. It burned, his body flailing as he tried to regain his balance, but it would take more than a simple slip to stop the knight from his goal. He settled his feet back on the beast, making the last few steps before landing safely on what he'd come to understand to be the head of the machine.

And that's when he saw her. Brown hair tied with the same ribbon that hung from the weapon in her hand. Matilda. The nurse from their first night at the stable. The two stared at each other, and in any other instance he would have cared. He would have thought to stop and speak, but not now. He ran towards the trunk-like length of Ruta, only to be followed closely by Matilda.

"Oh, hero, get back here! If you go any closer you're going to get hurt!" Matilda called in a voice so sickeningly sweet it made Link want to vomit.

Halfway up the trunk, and he could feel her presence closing in. The familiar shape of a vicious sickle shining in the light produced by Princess Zelda herself. He swung himself by his legs to the other side of the beasts' trunk, scaling the rest with a new found urgency.

Matilda - a yiga it seemed - had worked on helping Zelda recover. She had treated the Princess with medicine. Herbs. A concoction Link hadn't questioned. She had known where they were headed. When they had planned to leave. Where they would most likely rest. Worst of all, she knew who they were, and what they were capable of.

Unfortunately for Matilda, Link wouldn't let her know much more.

Once he had finally made it to the top of the trunk he could see Vah Ruta in its full glory. He could barely make out the details inside the machine, but the floating, glowing Princess he'd seen a few nights before was clearly right smack in the middle.

Link pulled out his paraglider, jumping from the top of the trunk and soaring down towards the window made to look like an eye of the supposed elephant design. Whatever that was. Link didn't care at the moment, just glad the windows were free to enter.

But the second he did, a wave of unbelievable power threw him back against the ancient wall. He bit back a sound, touching his side at a sudden jolt of pain. He was sure he had broken a rib or two, but he had to push on. No amount of pain could stop the knight that had taken down the worst beast to ever enter the kingdom. This was nothing. He could handle it. He'd have to.

Looking up, he was met with the haunting appearance of Zelda. She looked nothing like herself. Her whole body was producing the bright energy that had saved Hyrule, but it looked as though it was paining her. Her body twitched, her mouth was agape, and her eyes were nothing but two steady beams of goddess power.

What was worse was the people around her. Yiga dressed up all in black. They were chanting some ancient hymn that made even Link's own skin crawl. He reached for the Master sword, pulling it from it's sealth and finding it glowing with the brightest of its own power.

And then.

Then it spoke to him.

Master, the sword begged, If you take down one, the ritual will end. Please, hurry, Master. It hurts.

"W-What-" The hero stared at the blade in his hand. It wasn't the first time it had spoken to him, not by any means, but the fact it felt pain...that was new.

Nonetheless, it's message was clear. It hurt. Every step he took ached more than just his sore ribs. It was like he was fighting the force of a thousand spirits, all trying to hold him back from his destination. His hair became free from the knot he kept it in, clouding his vision occasionally from the wind-like strength being pushed against him.

The hymns continued, his mind starting to waiver in ways he couldn't comprehend, but he pressed on. He had to, he kept reminding himself. For Princess Zelda. For the Master Sword. For those watching from outside the beast.

His freehand made contact with the center terminal, gripping tightly to it in order to steady himself. In front of the terminal knelt a yiga, chanting the same words as their comrades. Link didn't waste a second, using his other hand to go around the terminal and using every ounce of his strength to dig the sword into the yiga's body.

Even stabbed, the enemy continued to chant, and Link had no choice but to pull the sword upwards, slicing the individual from his stomach all the way up to his throat.

A choke. A cough of blood. Silence.

The others noticed instantly, the Princess falling hard from several feet in the air to the floor.

Link pulled the sword from the remains of the fallen Yiga, standing with ease now that the Goddess' power had stopped escaping the Princess, and he was ready to kill each and every yiga that had stepped foot in the room.

But all at once, they vanished without a trace.

A moment passed. Then another. And Princess Zelda was throwing up malice like the first day they had reunited following the Calamity. Blood spilled down her cheeks from her eyes. From her nose. Her lips. Even her ears.

And the second Link stepped to aid her, the overwhelming dizziness from earlier returned.

And he joined her side on the floor.

Eventually, Link awoke once more. His head was pounding, and he felt a chill coming over him. He used his elbows to prop himself up, looking down at his naked torso, wrapped up in gause. He groaned at the injury, flopping back into the bed and staring up at the ceiling. Where was he? It was clearly Zora's Domain. The bright luminous stones decorating the room told him that much, but what room exactly he couldn't pinpoint.

"Ah, you're finally awake." It was an elder Zora who spoke. One that had been in the meeting earlier, though Link didn't remember him ever speaking. "You're in safe hands. Prince Sidon, Bazz and Gaddison brought you and the Princess here yesterday."

"It's been a day?" Link panicked, attempting to sit back up, only to be pushed down gently by the elder.

"It has. Word was sent to Lady Impa. She is sending an entourage to escort you and Princess Zelda back to Kakariko, where your old friends Purah and Robbie will be waiting. She hopes you will take the time before their arrival to the Domain to allow your body some time to recover."

Link's hand immediately went down to touch his side. Oh, how he missed having Mipha's Grace. He turned his head, only to see Princess Zelda sat up on the bed next to him.

Her eyes were vacant, staring at the foot of the bed. She looked tired, like she hadn't slept in days, and her arms held tightly to the Master Sword itself.

"Princess," Link slowly sat up, not pushing himself too quickly this time, and the Zora elder allowed him to do so. His legs dangled from the side of the bed, and he cautiously reached towards her.

Zelda's eyes widened and her head shot around to meet Link at a speed near-impossible. She shimmied away, her grip on the sword tightening, like a scared child with a teddy bear during a storm.

"She's been like this since she woke up." Prince Sidon chimed in, walking over from the entrance of the infirmary to hand Link a warming elixir he'd left to retrieve. The air was chilled, despite winter being nowhere near. "She won't speak or let anyone near her."

"And the Master Sword?" Link questioned, downing the concoction in one shot.

"Don't even try. She's got a grip like I've never seen before."

The two looked to the Princess somberly, and she only stared back with frightened eyes. In all of his years, Link could never think of a time she had been like this. Although he was still regaining many memories, some oddity like this would have stuck out to him, he was sure. But here, now, he felt helpless.

"What happened there?" Prince Sidon lowered his voice, his eyes soft as he kept looking at the Princess. "For someone like her to become so shaken."

Link didn't bother answering. He'd learned his lesson already from speaking of Zelda to anyone else. He would wait for Impa before he would speak any words involving what he had witnessed. Only the four sheikah - Paya, Purah, Impa and Robbie - would learn of the terrors he and the Princess had just experienced.

"Princess," He tried again, reaching for his sword. She shook her head, shrinking back even more. "Princess, it's me, Link. Your knight. Your companion."

Prince Sidon sighed, watching the two hopelessly, but waving to the doctor to leave the room along with himself in order to give the duo privacy.

Still, the Princess didn't speak. In fact, left alone with Link only shook her more. Her body began to quiver, and her grip on the sword's details dug into her hand, causing blood to drip from her palms.

"Zelda." Link closed the gap between them, his hands wrapping around Zelda's on the hilt of the Master Sword. "Zelda, listen to me. You're okay. I'm here with you now. The yiga are nowhere near here."

Zelda twitched at first, her hands burning when Link touched them, but soon they cooled as she looked up at him. "L-Link?"

"Yeah, Zel, it's just me." He smiled a little, slowly moving her hands away from the sword. "You're safe, okay?"

"The Master Sword says i-it's hurting," Zelda breathed, finally letting go enough for the blade to be returned to its proper wielder.

"I know, I heard it too." Link set the sword down on his own bed before taking Zelda's bleeding hands between his own. "But you are too, and we can't have that, now can we?"

Zelda sniffled, looking at their hands before looking at Link and tearing up. "Link," She breathed, leaning forward and pressing her forehead to his shoulder, "It hurt. It hurt so much."

One of his hands remained holding Zeldas, the other settling on her back in an attempt to soothe her. "Do you know...what happened?"

"They're trying to pull the triforce out of me, Link." She wept, her hands gripping around his single one. "I could feel it being ripped from my body. It hurt so much."

"Triforce…?"

"Yes, Link, The Triforce." She paused, her tears momentarily stopped as she stared at him in sheer disbelief. When he said nothing in return, she angrily sighed and grabbed his hand. She tugged the gloves she had insisted he wear off, pointing to the marking on his hand. "Right, there."

"Princess…"

"Link, haven't you ever wondered why you have a marking on your hand? Haven't you pieced together the springs? Haven't you done anything in regards to understanding why-"

"Princess, there's nothing there. There hasn't been for days." Link blinked. This Princess was far more like the one who never spoke to him than the one who was laughing with him only the day prior.

"Don't be a fool! It's right there!" She pointed again, "Clear as day!'

"I...don't see anything."

Zelda sighed dramatically, falling back into his arms to continue to weep. Everything was too much, and she was quite done arguing.

Link fell silent after that, simply holding the crying Princess once more. He'd decided in that moment that she had spent far too much time on tears the past few days, and he intended not to let another fall once they left the Domain.

But the whole ordeal was unsettling, and until they had spoken to Impa he doubted either would shake off the anxious feeling coursing through them.

Who were the yiga dressed in black? What were their intentions with the triforce? Why had the mark on his hand vanished?

And how did Matilda tie into it all.