A/N: It occurs to me now that it might be helpful to note that I've messed around with the timeline of this story a bit, and the story will be very open to changes as it molds itself.

I don't think any jumpscare will compare to seeing my old alt account jumpscare me, until I remembered I was letting a friend borrow it. comedy.

That is all. Enjoy 3


5.

12 years prior

The air around the castle was tense.

There was no surprise to that, as trade with the Zora had been completely halted after a problem with their King Dorephan falling ill. The queen set out in hopes to help the Zora King, along with her appointed knight, while King Rhoam stayed and watched over the castle and its own Royal Knights and their daughter.

He seemed to be paying great attention to the knights, and why wouldn't he; they had recently been enlisted! After nearly four year of harsh training in the far regions of Hyrule, rigorous exercising (with the enlisted help of the Gorons), and insane dedication, the Royal Knights had finally been brought forth, their shining dark outfits mirroring the light bows, blades and claymores they held strongly in their hands.

The King couldn't be prouder.

For nearly three decades, he had watched over the knights and carefully selected those he deemed worthy to rise in the ranks, and in most cases, it worked out heavily in his favor; such as the Queen's chosen knight, the best in all the land who had started as nothing less than a farmhand.

Indeed, he had every reason to be proud.

Alas, though Rhoam was proud, he was not careful, and he let his beloved daughter Zelda slip from under his gaze.

The young girl would set off in exploration of the castle, her small boots bouncing her all the way to one of the many halls, where she'd watch the "funny metal men" (she'd been calling them that since she was three years old) sit in front of the library and chit-chat about various topics.

"Did you hear about Igor?" The first metal man said, leaning on his halberd, "I heard his wife isn't too happy with him."

"Strange," The other metal man would say, "I thought they were love-stricken. What happened?"

The first metal man rubbed his funny metal chin. "Not too sure, something about the goats escaping. Old lady says she wants a divorce now."

"A divorce! They must have some golden milk, to be that angry."

Zelda didn't know what daforce was, but she hoped she never found out - it sounded scary.

She scrambled away as the metal men began walking her way, and she continued down the maze of corridors. She made it to the stranger room - a lo-o-ONG hallway full of weird people staring down at her from either side. She was old enough now ("I'm eight!" she would proudly exclaim to anyone who asked, puffing out her chest and hitting her fist to it like the funny metal men would do,) to know that they were just pictures, but even their strange gaze made her shiver in slight fear.

The eyes seemed to follow her, the mustached man, the mustached man, the mustache… okay, all of them have mustaches, she decided, but they were all different and very scary. She looked down to her feet, tears in her eyes, and she began running towards the nearest door.

That door, in fact, led to a staircase that she bolted down. The blur of - big surprise - another hallway rushed past her, and she felt her brain start to meld down into a puddle of whatever and her legs started hurting and…

Before anything, the smell hit her. It was strange; like the outside. It smelt of animals, she thought, like the stables her mother would take her to when camping. It reminded her of the nights spent around the fire, mother roasting apples over the fire and holding her close, of seeing the animals, but the animals were…

She stopped, suddenly, and realized:

The horses, it smelt like horses!

She had, simply, came into the large shed that Hyrule Castle boasted, having well over a hundred fed, trained, and ready to take either to battle or just to ride. Most of them had a knight that they were assigned to, whereas some were royal and some were… well, extra.

Zelda felt the anxiety leave her body as she walked past a few of the stalls. The creatures eyed her warily, not used to a girl so small in their midst - most of them had only ever seen their mothers, the ranch hands, and their knights.

Zelda's large, watery eyes went from animal to animal, taking in each of the creatures' aspects - their colorful manes, their strong armor, and their strong bodies. A few neighed at her, and she giggled. These horses were funny, not like those weird pictures in that hallway.

Her eyes were averted, however, when she heard the noise of footsteps. It was obviously one of the ranch hands to help the horses, or even one of the metal men, here to take her back to her father and watch the knights and…

She shook her head, and ducked into one of the spaces between the stalls.

The horses continued to watch her carefully as she snugly wedged herself in the hidden spot. She was comfy - a bit of hay had landed there somehow, and she fit in there perfectly. She watched as the ranch hands walked by, talking amongst themselves, and she let out a sigh of relief.

Her relief was short lived, however, when she realized that she wasn't all in the clear. Someone had begun walking by the stall, but had stopped, and was now looking in at her.

His shaggy, darker-blonde hair rested over blue eyes, which stared at her curiously. A green tunic fell over white pants, and he reminded her of the Kokiri; an ancient race of fairies that left Hyrule eons ago.

He awkwardly stepped into the space, a few feet away from her, and Zelda realized he must be about the same age - if not younger, due to him being a bit smaller. His eyes lit up when he realized that, indeed, she was also there and real.

"Hi." He said, a bit unsure of what to say.

"H-hi," Zelda said, a bit nervously. She had only ever interacted with a couple of the royal children before, and someone who looked so… normal felt a bit strange. She was nervous, through and through, and she wondered what her mother or father would think of her talking to this boy.

"My name is Link. My dad's a knight. What's yours?" He sat down and crossed his legs, like the grown-ups did. She followed suit, having a bit of trouble but eventually decided to sit with her legs under her.

"Daddy's the King." She said, her voice wavering slightly.

"Not your dad, silly," He said, giggling a little. "What's your name?"

"O-oh. My name is, um, Zelda." Her eyes looked down, to the hay that they both sat on now.

"Zelda… and your dad's the King! You must be a princess, then, huh?" His hand went to his chin. "Princess Zelda. That sounds pretty cool. I wish I was a princess too. Princess Link!"

This elicited a laugh out of the girl, and Link smiled. She crossed her hands on her lap, trying to think of what to say next.

"You wouldn't be a princess, you would be a prince. You're really nice." She looked down again, feeling a lump come up in her throat.

He scooted a bit closer. "You don't have to be scared. I don't get to talk to other people often, so it's… very nice to meet you." He put his hand out to shake.

She looked at it for a moment, before taking it into her own. "It's nice to meet you too. Daddy only lets me talk to my Royal Sisters, Impa and Purah. I don't get to talk very often either."

He shook her hand. "My dad's the same way. Except, I don't really have any sisters like that… or brothers." He stood up. "Dad lets me stay in the stable though, which is really cool. I love horses."

His hand reached up into the slats in the wood, and before she could warn him about the animals, the horse pulled its head up to his hand. He pet it, but right as he pulled his hand away there was a commotion above them.

Link looked at the roof of the stable. "I need to get back to the horses. I'll talk to you later, maybe, Zelda, okay?" He turned, leaving the small hiding spot and running away, seemingly to the end of the stalls.

Zelda heard her name being called and hoped that maybe it was just lunchtime - she was very hungry, right now. She stood up, walked out of the spot, and made her way to the door she came in from.

Right as she made it there, a metal man's hand made its way to her shoulder.

"Princess, please come with me."

She had no choice but to follow.

She didn't understand why, but something bad had obviously happened, because as she passed doors and halls, she saw people crying, holding each other, and talking angrily. There was a lot of emotion held high in the air, and Zelda wanted to swat it out.

It wasn't long before they were in her bedroom, and she saw her father sitting on her bed, head in his hands.

"My lord, your daughter is safe."

His head launched up, and he got off the bed, making his way to her instantly. His large arms wrapped around the girl, and she could feel the tears falling onto her hair.

"Daddy…? Why are you crying…"

She didn't understand. She wouldn't for a long, long time.


Present Day

Unknown to Zelda, Link had been awake for hours after she fell asleep.

A little bit after the initial… After the origin of the… after the two of them started keeping each other warm, Link had moved onto his back, and Zelda followed him, her arm across his chest and head buried in his shoulder. That's where she lay now, probably dreaming about something he couldn't even begin to imagine.

He felt his arms tighten around her, savoring this moment in all it's glory.

Link hadn't, for as long as he could remember, been one to let his emotions guide him. It didn't matter if he had the Darkness-sealing sword, or the greatest bow, or a million bombs, his greatest weapon lay in his skull - his brain.

He'd trained, for years, for so long training was all he knew. He knew how to feel the presence of someone behind you, how to feel the edge of an enemy's blade seconds before it hit you, and how to exact a perfect attack after dodging out of the way.

He was a tactical genius.

But as for his emotions? That was much more tricky to figure out.

For a long time, after awakening without his memory on the Great Plateau, he didn't understand why he did what he was doing. He felt confused, he felt scared out of his mind… but most of all?

He felt numb.

He felt barely any emotion, and all the power he had stayed within his skull. He worked hard in order to learn who he was, but the logical voice in the back of his mind told him it was worthless.

He was very explorative on his way to Kakariko village, despite knowing how important the quest to find Impa was. He didn't care. He felt like wandering, because it's what his brain told him to do.

Soon after he met Impa, and went to meet Purah. He upgraded the Sheika Slate, and conquered shrines, and explored, explored, explored, all over the span of three weeks.

Things changed, though, when he got a piece of himself back.

There was a spot, near Lake Hylia, where he recognized one of the images in the Sheika Slate, and investigating it led him to discover that something he had been missing for the entire time he'd been awake.

Purpose.

That memory stays dormant in his mind and his heart, of him and Zelda during a rainy day, when she asked him the question, and when he began to see her as more than just a princess, but as another soul locked away behind gates of emotion.

Emotion.

For weeks, collecting spirit orbs, dominating Divine Beasts, and defeating monsters is what he focused on. He wouldn't let himself fall to emotion, and every time he felt a memory come along or met an old friend, he pushed those feelings deeper and deeper, hoping to push them out.

That all came crashing down when he began remembering.

As he visited the spots Zelda had pictured in the slate, he felt the facade start to fall in his brain, the great swordsman who thought of nothing but saving the land. No, it wasn't exactly the land he was after, not exactly the twisted people within it he wanted to save.

He wanted her.

The girl, the princess, locked deep in his heart and his memories, who spoke across dimensions in order to lead him on his quest. He needed to find her. He couldn't fail her.

Those thoughts came back to him, as he stared at her sleeping form on his chest. Her mouth lay open slightly, and he could see the exhaustion in the face; dark bags under her eyes, and her eyebrows kept falling back into a frowning position. He wondered what went on behind those eyes, what thoughts lay dormant in the princess's mind.

Without thinking about it, he pushed a bit of hair out of her face again.

She didn't wake up, but her face tilted slightly, burying itself deeper into his shoulder, tightening her hold on him. He wasn't letting go anytime soon, either.

This girl… how odd. This girl seemed to have a hold on him, physically… and emotionally.


Zelda's eyes began to open, and two things occurred to her at once: she was alone, and she was cold.

She steadied herself on the bed, propping her weight onto her elbow, and looked around the cabin with heavy eyes. Her head felt… light? She had grown so accustomed to pain above her neck when she woke in the mornings, and this feeling of clarity was oddly refreshing.

She lifted the blankets to her face, taking in the soft fabric and closing her eyes. The smell hit her… the smell of wind, salty against her senses, and a hint of something wild… horses? She felt a large blast of nostalgia that she didn't understand.

She kept the blanket at her nose, thinking.

Had she dreamt last night, and that's where the feeling had come from? She thought deeply; all she could recall was a hallway, and the feeling of anxiety that it came with, but the rest of it was hazy.

She took one last sniff, and thought:

It smells like him.

Shivers trickled through her body as she let it fall, her eyes opening a little more.

Link was nowhere within the cabin, and Zelda felt a sense of relief in that; she realized that her little interaction with the blanket would have been nothing if not a little concerning. She was also pretty embarrassed, thinking about her and Link… being together, last night.

She slid out of bed, brushing through her hair with her fingers as he walked in, before she could even begin to worry. His nose was red, but there was a cheery feel to him. She could tell via his demeanor that he had some sort of good news, either that or he was just extra festive. She had seen him festive, though, during the Horse God's Festival, so she doubted he was happy with no reason.

They left the cabin very soon after a breakfast of Link's "Cooking Pot Rice Balls" (How in Hyrule did you make these things in a pot? Zelda inquired, the only response being a shrug from the swordsman). The thing Link was excited about, it seemed, was the fact that the snowstorm had hidden the fact they were a few hundred meters away from Rito Village.

It wasn't long before they made their way to the stable outside of the village, and were able to sit and rest. The walk had taken about two hours, trekking through cold snow, and by the time they sat at the table within the building it was somewhere around noon. Link ordered the stable's specialty, a warm concoction in a mug of something the ranch hands called "cocoa" that both them and Link swore by.

Zelda passed.

When they were done resting, Link walked up to the counter and waved to her, an obvious gesture meaning go on ahead. Zelda had learned well that he had his own way of speaking, a silent vocabulary consisting of hand and facial movements that she had down by now.

She moved on ahead as Link pulled out something from below his tunic - a medallion, which he showed to the man behind the counter. He nodded, and some Rupees were exchanged, and Link whistled.

Zelda looked back when he did this, and from the sky she saw threads of dark blue light appear, change, weave, and create the form of an animal - it was Link's horse, Epona. The stallion neighed loudly, and the swordsman placed his hand on her mane, a gesture that quieted the horse as she nuzzled into his hand.

Without a moment's hesitation, Link threw himself up onto Epona's back, and the horse bucked up; her feet kicked into the air majestically, throwing all the ranch hand's faces into awe. Link leaned forward, and in a few seconds he bridged the gap between him and the princess.

They galloped around her a few times, before Link held out his hand.

She looked up at him, but there was something… different, there. Something that they both understood. Normally her face would flush, and she'd attempt to climb on by herself (and fail) while he helped best he could. Normally she would do her best to balance herself, only holding onto Link when she had to.

Not this time.

She took his hand, kicking her leg over the side and resting firmly behind her knight. Her arms reached around his waist, and she held on tight as Link readied the reins, gave a "Hyah!" and they were off, a serene and oddly sweet scent resting above their thoughts.


A/N: I have a pretty good idea on how long I want each chapter to be, and what I want to have in each one. The rough estimate - that being, how much I wanna try and write in each chapter without getting burnt out. 3,000 words was a pretty good precedent to set, so that's what I'm gonna go with.

Thanks for the support, and I'll see you guys next time :)