The only good thing about the nationwide monster attacks was that people were actually taking the suggestion to stay inside to heart. The roads were empty, allowing us to get up to ludicrous speeds on the highway. They only had to stop a few times to deal with packs of monsters that had wandered onto the road. Fortunately, monster bits made for great fuel for the Master Cycle.
"That continues to be super gross," Zelda said as I methodically tossed in the last few bits of demon organs for the bike to break down. A short 'hmm' was all the response I could muster. "At least we're almost halfway there," Zelda mused, looking at where we were on her phone. I 'hmm'd again, brushing the last of the now disintegrated monsters off my hands, hitting the button for the Master Cycle to close its fuel hatch again. I must have been extremely focused on what I was doing because I completely missed what she said next. I gave it another 'hmm' and called it good, climbing back on my bike, waiting for Zelda to climb on behind me so we could keep going. I waited for just a moment before a tap on my shoulder startled me out of my revere.
"Link, are you okay?" Zelda asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, sure. Why?" I was confused as to why she was so consternated.
"I was talking to you for the past two minutes. You haven't moved an inch since you sat down." She suddenly got right up in my face, making me blink rapidly and jerk back, nearly losing my balance and tipping the Master Cycle while I was at it. "Your eyes are horribly bloodshot," she said, snapping her fingers in my ear, startling me again. She waved her hand in front of my eyes and my hand automatically shot up to grab it. I held her arm tight until I saw her wincing slightly, at which point I immediately let go.
"I'm sorry, did that hurt? I didn't mean to- "
"It's fine," Zelda said quickly, shaking it off like nothing. "You are not fine though. You're clearly exhausted and in no shape to be driving, much less saving the world. You…we need to rest or we're not going to be doing anyone any good." I shook my head, ignoring how the world took a second to stop blurring together.
"We don't have time for that. Who knows what's going on right now? The castle could be under attack, or Ganondorf might be on our tail, or maybe Ruin is marching on Hyrule as we speak. We don't have time to rest. Besides, where would we go? We're in the middle of nowhere standing on the highway." Zelda quirked her head.
"Okay, well first of all, if any of that is happening right now, as we are right now, we're likely to be more of a liability than a help. Second, you've been running nonstop for almost three days," she said, pointing in the direction we had come from. It took me a moment to realize what she meant, but soon enough I realized that I could see the glow of the sun coming from behind the Dueling Peaks. "Third," Zelda continued, pulling my focus back again. "We're hardly in the middle of nowhere. There's an exit a mile ahead for the Temple of Time. Monk Koshia and High Priestess Imani both said we were welcome in the Temple if we ever needed help. I think this definitely counts."
I started to argue with her, not that she didn't have any good points, but she was quick to interrupt. "Please Link, you need to rest. You're about to fall over. You can't keep going like this." I vaguely shook my head again. Zelda huffed, before playing the dirty card. "If you won't do it for you, do it for me. I'm worried about you, Link." I sighed.
"You know I can't say no to you," I grumbled. Reluctant as I was to admit it, my eyes did feel rather heavy.
And the horizon didn't seem to be on straight.
"Scooch back," Zelda said, pushing gently on my chest until I reluctantly let go of the handlebars. "I don't trust you to drive anymore.
By the time I blinked, we were pulling up to the Temple of Time and Zelda was nudging me to get off. Quick thinking was all that prevented me from ending up face first in the dirt. More following Zelda than anything else, we stumbled into the Temple, quickly finding one of the priestesses to get the High Priestess. We were quickly ushered into the abbey portion of the temple.
In a last-ditch effort to stay awake, I refused to sit down on the couch in the room we were shown to. Once Zelda pointed it out, I couldn't stop feeling exhaustion creeping up on me. I could feel, down to my bones, that the instant I got comfortable, I would be out like a light.
Fortunately, Priestess Imani arrived quickly. I only realized how bad we must have looked when she visibly cringed. After a quick assessment that was none too quick, my lethargic mind picked up on why. I was the worse for wear, hero tunic torn and dirty, still in the middle of repairing itself. The Hylian Shield was scratched and scuffed, mud covered my boots, my hair was a mess, some of the ash and dirt from Death Mountain still present in it. Small scratches and bruises littered my arms, and a few were even visible through slowly shrinking holes in my pants. Zelda was somewhat better, less beat up in general, but still looked dirty and worn. It was evident that we could both use a good shower and a nap. Or five in my case.
"By the Goddesses' Grace, you two seem to have been through quite the ordeal." Zelda, somewhat more awake thankfully took care of the talking.
"We haven't had a chance to rest for the last few days. When did the monster attacks start?" Imani looked us over again before responding.
"They hit the news last night, though we first saw worshipers showing up to the Temple the day before that. Though it is somewhat unfortunate, it is a blessing all its own that, in times of trouble, the people turn to the gods and their faith is renewed." The High Priestess stopped for a moment, offering a silent prayer before coming back to herself. "Enough of that though, you two look terrible. Sister Metri here will show you to rooms where you can rest and recover.
"Thank you," Zelda said, a sentiment I tried to mirror while keeping my eyes open; a losing battle. Not to mention that I hadn't even noticed the mousy, black-haired girl until she was mentioned.
The walk to our rooms was short, their appearance very similar to the ones we had stayed in during our previous visit. Eager as I was to fall just fall into bed, Zelda forced me to at least wash off some of the dirt I had accumulated over the past several days. Not that I really noticed anyways. The sight of the cushy pillow and tidy bed danced in front of my eyes, as I washed the first layer of grime off my chest and out of my hair. I couldn't even enjoy Zelda doing the same and helping me, my eyelids were so heavy. Blindly following Zelda once again, I somehow ended up with a pair of sweatpants on as Zelda climbed into a bed wearing short shorts and a loose shirt. She was looking at me like she was waiting for my response for something, but I had no memory of even hearing her talk. Seeing a large portion of unoccupied bed and finally giving up any attempt at staying awake, I collapsed into the bed, managing to get an arm around my girlfriend more by accident than anything else, and promptly passed the fuck out.
Light was shining on my eye. Efforts to escape it failed, as something warm and slowly breathing held me tight from behind. Finally, I forced myself to move, if only to escape the constant irritation of the sun. Rolling over, I immediately bumped into Zelda's head, which started me enough for my foot to escape the warmth of the blankets we were lying under, all of which woke me up just enough to make falling back asleep impossible. Just what I wanted.
Zelda, to her credit, hardly reacted to my unintentional headbutt, only moving enough to pull me slightly closer, which was a good enough consolation to being awake. Glancing around at the room we were in; I saw that it was either the same room I had stayed in before or an exact copy of it. I spied my phone on the desk next to the bed. Without too much trouble, I managed to wrest my arm free and grab it.
Turning it on, I saw that it was about 4 in the afternoon. I felt surprisingly well rested for only having slept for about nine hours. At least, that's what I thought until I saw my unread texts. Multiple unread messages from Hunter, Sheik, Shade, and even Felia, all reading as received yesterday. None of which I remember seeing before I went to bed. A bit of quick math and I realized two horrifying truths.
I had slept for almost 36 hours straight. And I was devilishly hungry.
"What the hell?" I grumbled, dropping my phone onto my lightly bandaged chest. Someone had seemingly bandaged my wounds, since I definitely didn't before I fell asleep. The thought of it potentially being Zelda was both endearing and somewhat embarrassing. Who wouldn't love being doted on by their girlfriend? At the same time, Zelda trying to shift my unconscious body as I flopped around wasn't all that befitting of a hero.
A minute later, Zelda shifted again, slowly becoming more awake. Accidentally moving her face into another beam of light, her nose scrunched adorably as she tried to bury her face into my side to escape it. She made a small noise of irritation and tried to press her face between my side and the sheets to hide from the light.
"Link, the sun's bullying me. Make it go away," she mumbled into the bed.
"Can't, sorry," I said, gently running my fingers through her hair with a stupid smile on my face.
"Some hero you are," she grumbled, still fighting her losing battle with the encroaching sun.
"Some goddess you are," I shot back. "Foiled by a little bit of light. Aren't you a goddess of light?" Zelda slowly raised herself up from the bed, her hair messy and cheeks flushed. She shoved her long golden locks entirely over one shoulder, partially obscuring one of her eyes. In her tank top and shorts, she was effortlessly, adorably sexy.
I reached up, sitting up so I could reach her, but she pulled back, moving away before I could get to her. She shook her head.
"No, no kisses for you. You don't deserve it after being such a terrible hero."
"Because I couldn't turn off the sun?" I asked. She nodded, making a small noise of affirmation. "Hm, fair enough, I guess. It is truly my fault for not having the ability to control nature itself. How did you know I was going to kiss you though?" We both ran our fingers through our hair, trying to restore some semblance of order to our tangled bedheads.
"You had kissy eyes," Zelda said, as if it was the simplest thing.
"'Kissy eyes?' How do you know what that is?"
"Women know. How else would we be so good at kissing? We know when guys really want it."
"How badly do I want it?" Zelda smiled.
"You always want to kiss me. If it wasn't for the whole 'save the world' quest, I don't think you'd ever stop, if I let you at least."
"No, I mean right now." She looked at me for a moment before going back to running her fingers through her hair, restoring it to its usual neat sheet of gold.
"Oh, you're really desperate now. I think you're half-crazy with it."
"Well, crazy people do strange things," I said, inching my way across the bed towards her. "Do you think you can keep a crazed man from kissing you as much as he wants?" She quickly scampered off the bed.
"No, you're not allowed to get kisses. You left your poor maiden in distress. That means you failed as a hero. Failed heroes don't get kisses," she said, slowly backing up to keep the distance between us the same as I advanced towards her.
"You forget though, I'm desperate. Mad with love. Who knows what I'll do?" Without warning, I sprang towards her, attempting to grab her, but she moved away, letting out a small yelp. She kept dodging my attempts to catch her giggling and squealing every time I lunged for her. Both of us were laughing loudly when a short rap came at the door.
"Your Grace, Hero, we have some food prepared for you," came the voice of High Priestess Imani from the other side of the door. "I'd also like to remind you that this is a place for the gods and should be treated with respect." Our already flushed faces turned a shade darker as we realized just how loud we must have been being. "The food is ready in the dining hall," Imani finished. The sharp clack of her shoes signaled her departure.
Suitably reprimanded, Zelda and I dressed quickly. "That was embarrassing," she said the warm flush not leaving her cheeks.
"Yeah," I agreed, finishing pulling on my shirt, leaving the rest of my gear alone for the time being. "There was one good thing about it though."
"What's that?" Zelda asked, distracted by her shoes as she slipped them on.
"You stopped moving," I said, before ducking down and stealing a kiss from her pink lips. Ignoring her exclamations of playful outrage, I ran out the door, laughing madly.
As we were scarfing down as much food as we could, we were joined by Monk Koshia, who asked us about our journey since he had last seen us, showing particular in the Triforce when we mentioned it. He was awestruck when I showed him the two glimmering triangles on the back of my hand.
"This is incredible," he said breathlessly. "The Triforce has not been sought in ages, much less found and assembled into its whole form. For you to already be in possession of two of the pieces bodes well. Though I worry we are running out of time."
I carefully swallowed my mouthful of food before answering. "Yeah, I figure the sudden appearance of monsters means Ruin is summoning an army of some sort. He must almost be ready to make his move." Maz nodded in agreement.
"I feel the same way. We are dreadfully short on time. I'm glad you two had the chance to rest now. I'm afraid you may not get many opportunities to do so again until your task is done."
"Thank you again for your hospitality. We'd be far less prepared if it wasn't for all the help you've given us here," Zelda said, once again more composed than me when given access to an all-you-can-eat feast. Maz waved her words away.
"It is our honor to give you all the assistance we can. We would be betraying ourselves if we were to turn our backs to anyone in need, even more so the Hero and Goddess. I would advise you to stay as long as you need to, but…"
"We need to leave as soon as possible," I said, all too aware that the enemy was putting their plans into motion as we spoke.
"Dark is falling," Monk Koshia said warningly. "The resurrected monsters are much more active once the sun sets. You may have trouble making progress."
"That's a risk I'll take. We've spent enough time recovering. It's time to get the last piece and finish this," I said, finishing the last bit of my food. "We'll leave within the hour." Maz nodded.
"I suspect I'll not see the both of you until you have finished your quest, so I will wish you both well. Make for the desert with all haste and know you carry the hopes of all of us with you." With that, he stood and left, making for the temple sanctuary.
As promised, Zelda and I were driving out of the overfull parking lot of the Temple of Time half an hour later, continuing our trek west.
"That really is a lot of cars," I heard Zelda say from behind me as we drove. Lining the road on both sides was an unbroken line of parked vehicles that went on for ages.
"Makes sense though. Monsters out of myth start appearing, trusting in the gods makes more sense than usual. The Temple is probably serving as an evacuation center and sanctuary for everyone for miles around."
"Makes sense," she said, absently watching the variety of cars and trucks we passed. Suddenly, she hit me on the shoulder and pointed into the darkness. "Look!" I slowed down and turned to stare into the growing darkness surrounding us.
At first, I didn't see anything. "What am I look-" My question died in my mouth as I watched the earth moving. "No, not the ground," I realized. "Monsters. Those are monsters. And they're moving towards the Temple."
With a quick turn, I spun the Master Cycle around and started accelerating in the direction we had just come from.
"Link! What are you doing?!" Zelda yelled, forcing me to stop again.
"Those monsters are headed for the Temple!" I said, pulling my helmet off to look at her more easily. "There's no way they can beat all of them. We have to help them."
"No, we need to keep going!" she exclaimed, finally stopping me in my tracks. I looked at her incredulously. "Look," she explained, "if monsters have been roaming around for the last few days, they must have been attacked already. Plus, with the number of people there, they must all be coming together for better protection. The Temple has some magic warding, thanks to the worship there, and with the Sheikah monks and priestesses there, its probably the best protected place in the country after the castle. Besides, if they needed help, they would have asked."
"No, they wouldn't. Maz Koshia wouldn't keep us from retrieving the Triforce, no matter how desperate their situation, and I bet Imani is the same way. They know we're the only hope to end this all."
"Exactly why we need to keep going. If they didn't ask for help, they must be confident they can hold the monsters off."
"That doesn't matter. We can help, so we have to. I'd be betraying myself if I didn't help them when they're in need," I said, echoing the Elder's words from earlier. Zelda looked at me for a handful of seconds before her eyes softened.
"Yeah, you're right," she relented. Satisfied, I turned back and gunned the engine. I felt a quick press of Zelda's lips on my cheek before my helmet reformed and we raced back to the Temple.
Hello, hello, and welcome back to "Oops, This Chapter Is Really Late." On this episode, Aro continues his pattern of being a dunce and taking forever to actually write something, suddenly finding the inspiration to write most of the damn thing in a day or two (not to mention the one-shot he just posted), and then post the chapter with the absolute bare minimum in proof-reading. Tune in next time to see the exact same damn thing, because really, how many of us actually learn from our mistakes?
Anyways, thank you all for your patience as always. I'm very thankful for having such understanding fans of my stories. Good news, things are really ramping up, so I should, key word should, have more drive to write chapters and finally get this story finished. I'd like to make that happen before the story turns two years old in May, but I think we all know the chances of that happening. Still, before the end of the year is my goal. Just...don't hold me to that.
How 'bout some reviews then? Oracle, I try to lean into the studious side of Zelda as much as I can, even though you don't see much of it in this story. You would think she'd learn though...oh well, let's chalk it up to charm. I wonder...(no I don't, I already know, you're...hmm...spoilers...nah, its fine, you're basically right. I'll probably explain more in the future.) I'm glad to hear someone else likes Link's shameless ogling other than me. I usually put it in for me, but it's nice that you can get something out of it too. Twilit Lord, indeed we be back. In black, as the song goes. The gender equality thing...couldn't resist, especially after watching ScottFalco's speedrun videos. Y'all should watch them if you haven't, really interesting and even more hilarious, especially if you've seen some speedruns before. Which I also recommend (AGDQ!) Interesting predictions, especially with that last one...I don't even know what to do with you. It was not intentional, but cool accidental connection. The bike combo explains why I was so damn confused. I can now say again and with more confidence, yes. TwilightWolf, yes, continue to expect sporadic updates! Silverblood, yeah, water temple is only kind of a water temple, sue me. We can either have what I come up with or wait another three months for me to gather the courage to write the whole thing. I know which one I prefer. What do I have in store indeed? I have everything stocked, we're just waiting for the shelf date to come (what a weird analogy). That's a nasty cough you've got there, I'd...you know what, I can't really talk, so I'll leave that to you. WolfyPrincess (different from TwilightWolfPrincess, I sense a lot of TP fans), I don't know, it's your dog. You'd know better than I. Please note, I wrote that we have TP fans before I finished reading your review, but I'm glad to be proven right. It's a damn good game, the one that got me hooked. Friend said 'hey, this is a cool game, you should try it. Here I am...a lot of years later. Joe, if you're reading this, this is all your fault. Nightwing, you are so right. Just kind of in general. WW Ganon is pretty damn cool.
A'ight, it's time for class, so I'm going to try to wrap this up quick. Next chapter is the siege on the Temple of Time. I've got a decent idea of what I want to have happen, so that might come out soon-ish. All things are relative, I'll get to it when I get to it. Depends on how much I get done before the 20th. After that, it's rip and tear time. So hype for Doom: Eternal. So who knows what will happen, but we'll get there. In any case, look forward to a good fight next time. I've already got ideas and, provided I'm good at what I do, it should be pretty sweet. Until then, don't delete your system32 and have an above average day! Cheers!
~Aro