The Hero of Hyrule and the Grim Stalker

Link and Zelda had their breakfast.

They avoided people for thinking she was the princess of Hyrule by claiming she's just a close friend of Link's. That's technically not a lie.

"When will we arrive at the beach?" She asks.

"By noon if we leave as soon as we finish."

The two kept eating, though Zelda can't help but giggle at Link's stuffing his face with eggs and bacon.

"Something funny?" Link asks, clueless about the food staining his face.

"Nothing." She lies with a smile.

Link shrugs and resumes.

"Faster, you fools!" Gangrel shouted.

He was in the back of the carriage assigned to bring him, his wife and her family, along with some of his guards.

The Hylian soldiers sent to pick him up were about as fond as his in-laws of him, as in not at all. His attitude was unpleasant. They picked him up last night, but he was impatient.

He noticed one of the guards expressing his lack of patience with his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me!" He shouted more. "We're to make it by nightfall!"

"Gangrel." Emmeryn said, holding one of his arms close. "Please calm down."

Looking to his side, Gangrel gave his wife a silent glare before taking a deep breath and calming down.

"Fine."

Emmeryn sighed with relief.

Her brother and sister, however, were more on edge.

They did not like this man. Not only did he kill their father and take over their kingdom, but he married their older sister the moment she was of legal age. Of course, they also knew what else that being married to him meant.

As such, Chrom wanted to just break this man's arm off just to avoid seeing his sister touch him.

"What exactly do you plan to do when you meet the king of Hyrule?" Emmeryn had to ask.

"Worry not, you and your siblings will not be harmed." He said. He then petted his wife's hand. "You worry too much… it will add wrinkles to your pretty face." He then turns to face her, taking his other hand and cupping her face with it. "And you are very pretty."

His words were meant to sound comforting, but his tone suggested something more possessive.

To make it seem more like the latter, he kisses her. It was not a kiss that most married couples would perform, rather on that made the wife come off as more of a possession than a person of equal footing. Emmeryn was even surprised by the sudden action and did not kiss him back at first. It's only when he saw how enraged Chrom was at this that she held a hand up to prevent her brother from attacking and kiss her husband back.

Gangrel ended the kiss, looking very satisfied. Turning, he saw Chrom and Lissa give him dirty looks.

Please don't fight with him. Emmeryn hoped.

"Does this bother you?" Gangrel asks before waving his hand at them in a dismissive manner. "Well, she's my wife, so deal with it. I've done more than kiss her, you know."

Chrom tightened his fists, wishing more than anything to kill this man here and now.

Gangrel relaxes, sitting with his arms behind his back.

By this point, those dark mages must be up and ready and will be on their way by the end of the day.

Link resumed his duty of managing the horses as the carriage heads to the beach. They left an hour prior and it was 2 hours before noon. That's when they pass the Lakeside Stable when they heard screaming.

"Help!" A man running from the rainforest called out.

Link immediately stopped and jumped out to stop the man.

"Sir? What's wrong?"

"Monsters!" He pointed back to the rainforest. "There are monsters and an evil sorcerer in there!"

"A wizzrobe?" Zelda, peaking out of the carriage, asks.

"No! Someone in black, I didn't get a good look before their dark magic started blowing stuff up."

Thinking quick, Link made his move as he pointed to the carriage.

"Hop in, we'll take you to the stable."

Without word, the man hopped in.

Link takes the reins and makes the horses go back to the stable they passed minutes ago.

I can't handle those monsters if the horses and Zelda are with me.

Once they arrive, the man jumps out from the side.

"Thank you!" He shouts.

Link gets out and walks to a nearby stable worker.

"Please keep my carriage and passenger safe for now."

Zelda sees Link and the man talk. She realizes what he's up to and gets down.

Once Link and the worker finish talking, he turns and heads to the rainforest when Zelda calls out to him.

"Link?!"

Link stops, looking back.

"Please don't stop me, it's my duty to help." Link says.

Instead, Zelda quickly hugs him.

Though flustered a bit, Link does hug her back.

"Please be safe." She says.

"I will. Please stay here."

Once the hug ends, Link nods and runs into the rainforest.

"Miss?" The stable worker calls out.

Zelda takes a breath. She's still glad people don't recognize her as the princess.

"Please stay in the carriage. I'm sure Link will be fine."

She nodded and returned.

At least they recognize him by his green. She thought.

Ebara Forest, a small rainforest in the south of Hyrule. Link's been here before, having seen many monsters here, namely Moblins and Lizalfos. He knew of Wizzrobes that sometimes cause trouble in the area, though it doesn't sound like a monster is the one causing trouble. It sounds like a human with magic. He's met a few, so he figured this one must be a follower of Ganon.

I took down Ganon himself, I doubt this follower is going to be problem.

With his sword unsheathed and his shield in hand, Link makes it in the center of the rainforest.

He looks around, looking for anything that seems out of place, namely monsters. However, he noticed it's oddly quiet.

"Quietness in a place full of monsters is never a good sign." He whispers to himself.

Suddenly, a rustling in the large grass occurs.

Squinting his eyes, Link sees a large figure rising up. It's a Moblin.

"See what I mean!" He shouts. He then rolls his eyes. "Who am I talking to?"

The Moblin pulls out a spear and aims it at Link. In response, Link aims his sword, ready for battle.

Unbeknownst to him, a figure hiding behind a nearby tree watches.

The Moblin charges at Link, ready to stab. Link responds by a quickly jumping to his side, rolling and then ending up behind the monster. There, he slashed it in the back.

Screeching in pain, it reacts by turning to face him. However, Link is too fast, ducking before it could swing its spear at him.

Once he got up, it tried whacking him, but Link used his shield to block the attack.

Seeing an opening, Link took his sword and stabbed the monster.

Once it received its bloodless injury, the Moblin screams in rage before collapsing and dissolving into nothingness.

Link took a breath.

"That's the end of that." He hears a horn blow, causing him to groan. "Spoke too soon…"

The figure keeps looking, impressed with what Link just did.

Four more Moblins arrive, each one brandishing large clubs.

Link groans before readying his sword and shield.

Three of them charge at Link, but he manages to avoid their attacks and heads to the Moblin that remained still. It started swinging at him, but Link counters with his shield, knocking the weapon out of hand. Link took advantage and slashes the beast in the chest.

However, he hears the other three coming in from behind.

He reacts in time to avoid their attacks and manages to slash one of the beasts into exploding into darkness.

The figure behind the tree smiles.

Link sees the three beasts ready for more.

"I seriously have someone I need to get back to… so let's hurry this up."

Link then sheathes his sword, puts his shield back on his back, and reaches into his pouch.

The figure sees him pull out a bow and quiver full of arrows. The quiver magically wraps around his leg while he holds his bow out.

"It must be magic…" She says.

The Moblin beasts walk to him. Thanks to their large bodies, they move slow. This gives Link a chance to launch an arrow at the face of each beast.

Each hit succeeds and the Moblins fall, exploding into darkness.

Link takes a breath, relieved. He puts the bow and quiver back in the pouch.

That's when the horn blows again.

"Seriously?!" He asks, sounding annoyed.

Looking to where it came from, he saw a Moblin holding a horn. To its side are two Lizalfos. Link gets his sword and shield ready.

He doesn't see another Lizalfos crawling in from behind.

He hears the sound of its noises and turns around. There, he sees a Lizalfos jumping in, ready to jump slash him.

Suddenly a blast of what looks like dark energy knocks it away from him.

Link turns to his left and sees who fired it.

His eyes widen

It's the figure from behind the tree, a young woman in dark clothes and a formfitting outfit.

The girl her allies know as Tharja.

Link remembers hearing of a dark sorcerer being seen, though no one mentioned the gender.

He took a moment too long to examine her. She had a shapely figure and an outfit that left little to the imagination. He actually blushed a bit before realizing he's staring now and shakes his head.

He decides to say something.

"Who are you?"

"You're welcome." She says, sounding deadpan and somewhat insulted. "Also…" She points back to the monsters.

"Oh yeah!"

Link turns back and the reptilian creatures come at him.

The two Lizalfos are knocked down by another blast of darkness.

Link looks to the sorceress again.

"Thanks?"

"Now you thank me." She says. "I'll handle the reptiles, take the pig!"

Link nods and heads to the Moblin.

With its club, the Moblin swings at Link. He responds by using his shield.

While that happens, Tharja fires more blasts of dark energy at the three Lizalfos.

She hits one, but the other two manage to avoid and run towards her.

Grunting, she raises her hand, causing lightning to fire around her. This causes them to pause.

Tharja smiles and raises her hand once again.

"You die!"

She fires another blast of darkness, one that is a stream of energy than a blast.

The blast destroys the two Lizalfos where they stand.

Link manages to dodge the club, jumping over it and slashing it in the shoulder. The injury causes it to drop its weapon and Link takes the time to strike it in the back. The attack causes the creature to burst into darkness.

Once its gone, Link sees the horn and uses his sword to break it in half.

He sighs in relief and sees Tharja. Suspicious, Link walks up to her, putting his sword and shield away as he walks.

"Who are you?" Link asks, pointing at her as he stops walking. "Why did you help me?"

"You're welcome." She says sharply before walking away.

Link stands there, recognizing he came off as rude. Taking a breath, Link walks to catch up with the grim girl.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to come off as rude." He said.

Tharja looked over her shoulder while holding her tome to her chest. She stopped, though made sure her face wasn't looking at him.

"No tears shed, swordsman."

"Anyway, I'm Link. And you are?"

She opened her eyed and briefly glanced over her shoulder before looking away.

"Tharja."

"Tharja… that's an interesting name." Link says. "I guess you're not from around here?"

Tharja doesn't look, but keeps talking.

"Would anyone live in a miniature jungle?" She asks.

"I mean Hyrule. Your name sounds a bit foreign." He clarifies. "Not that it's a bad thing or anything."

Link secretly is relieved at this. This mean she's not a Ganon follower, since he's not that well known outside of Hyrule. That's something the Royal Family makes sure of.

Tharja turns to look at him, smiling.

"Good to know. And yes, I'm not from around here." She says. "Just on an out-of-town job."

"Oh… so… what's that job?" He asks.

Tharja finishes turning, now facing him. She lowers her tome, revealing a part of her that her outfit doesn't cover. It causes Link to blush.

"Afraid I can't tell you." She says.

"O-oh. I see…" He says. He shifts his eyes away and keeps talking. "S-so… are you here alone? Like… with your family… friends… or whatever."

He started to blush, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.

She smiles.

"Just me… and a friend from work."

Link looks, now seeing Tharja is about less than foot away from him, smiling.

This causes him to be flustered. He tries to look at his feet, but the brief sight of her chest causes him to look up.

I'm with the princess. I'm with the princess. I'm with the princess.

This mantra tries to get his mind of this dark looking girl. It worked… at first.

"I don't have a boyfriend."

This causes Link to lose his focus.

"Wait a minute! I didn't say anything!"

Her smile becomes rather playful, though a bit creepy.

"You were undressing me with your eyes, weren't you?" She said with a hint of flirtation.

"I wasn't!" He said, his face now red.

"Really?" She asks, not sounding convinced.

"N-no! A-And besides, I- well, I don't have a girlfriend but I do like someone!" Link looks away. "In fact, I need to get back to her!" He turns and starts walking. "Nice meeting you!"

Tharja smiles before turning.

She whispers her thoughts.

"He lacks white hair, but the has a cute enough face. And those eyes… and ears."

She said, her face turning red.

She decided to return to the boat, which was some time away on foot.

Once Link was near the bridge, he sighed in relief.

That girl… the way she was dressed.

His face started to turn red, but he shook his head to get it out of his system.

He saw the carriage and smiled when Zelda peaked out and saw him.

She smiled and waved.

"Link!" She called out.

He smiled and waved back.

"There's my date. The girl I actually like."

He said this even though, or mostly because, no one could hear him.

Once he makes it, Zelda beams down at him.

"How did it go?"

"No problem, the Moblins were no threat."

"And what of the sorcerer?"

Link quickly gets flustered.

"Oh! There was…" Link thought quickly what to say next. "It wasn't a servant of Ganon, someone unrelated."

Zelda looked relieved.

"That's good to hear. Anyway, are we ready to go?"

"Yeah." Link said.

The sooner we're way from that girl, the better.

Link paid the stable for their watchful eye and he and Zelda left.

Link had his hand on the reins, looking briefly to Princess Zelda.

"So, nothing bad happened while I was away?" He asks.

"No one was hitting on me, if that's what you think." She says playfully.

Link snorted.

"I wasn't worried about that…" He said playfully.

"Don't worry… they thought I was your wife or something." She said.

They both laughed.

Once it was done, the two had an awkward silence after realizing what she said.

They both looked away from each other, both blushing.

Link darted his eyes around, thinking of something to say.

"So, I-"

"Look!" Zelda shouted. "Over there."

Link looked to where she was pointing. What he saw drained the color off his face.

It was Tharja. She was standing on the side of the road, waving at the carriage.

Link looked around, wondering what to do.

"You should stop." Zelda said.

"R-right."

Link used the reins to make the horses stop before they reached Tharja. She walked up to them.

"Hello, there!" She said. She was looking at Link in particular. "It's you again."

"Again?" Zelda looked to Link. "You're met before?"

"She's a sorcerer who… kind of saved me from some monsters in the rainforest."

Zelda quickly looked at Tharja and whispered into his ear. She used her hand to block her mouth from view.

"I can see why you didn't mention her… that outfit is rather… inappropriate." Link nods. Zelda looks to Tharja.

"You must be the girl he travels with." Tharja says. "I'm Tharja… mind if I get a lift to Lurelin Village?"

Link's eyes shot open.

She's going there too?

He wasn't sure if he could think with someone dressed like that who was flirting with him earlier around him and Zelda.

"Of… course." Zelda answered with a smile she tried hard to make look real. Link adopted a similar smile while his eyes darted to Zelda. "Come on in." She said.

Tharja smiles.

This outta be fun. She thought.

So, adding a pairing no one saw coming in fanfiction.

Tharja's got a crush on Link, and it looks like she's going to be messing with him and Zelda.