Disclaimer: GrimGrave does not own any of the characters of their respective franchises; Metroid and Legend of Zelda belongs to Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo, while Soul Calibur belongs to Namco Bandai. GrimGrave does not make money for writing fiction.

A Hylian's Harem

Epilogue #5

Star-crossed Family

The bounty hunter stared bemusedly at the infinite void i.e. space, a sigh escaping her lips. It had been a tiresome four months of searching and destroying Space Pirate hideouts, but it was finally over for the time being. The Galactic Federation could handle things for now. Samus had somewhere to be – somewhere just as important.

She smiled to herself as she crossed the galaxy, her mind filled with nothing but thoughts of her family who awaited her at home.

Home. The thought was still odd to her, but Samus was happy about it nonetheless.

It was good to have a place to come back to, just like when she was little.

X.x.X

Link gazed up at the stars. He was prone to do that every night before he slept; silently watched the millions of lights which adorned the heavens.

The bounty hunter, dedicated to her husband as she was, couldn't give up her life of crossing the galaxy – especially not when Space Pirates were still on the loose. The Federation needed her, still.

But she came home. She always did. He had happily married her after some time, and Link stood by that decision; Samus Aran had always been a friend, then lover, and now wife for life.

He loved her with all his heart.

/ "I can't believe you're actually doing this…" she had said as she held a small, gem-embedded silver ring. "To think that we, from such different world are actually getting married… What a strange time we are living in. You better not go back on your word, Link. It's uncharacteristic of me to feel like this as it is…" /

Link softly laughed to himself. Samus was so cute when she didn't know how to respond at times.

The sound of the front door creaking brought him out of his thoughts and he turned around. He smiled, his heart melting. "Why are you still up, dear?"

A small girl with slightly pointed ears – clad in teal pyjamas, her neck-long blonde hair slight messy and sky-blue eyes stared hopefully – jogged up to him and clutched onto his leg. "I couldn't sleep."

He kneeled down and scooped up his daughter in his arms. "Couldn't sleep, or didn't want to?"

The girl pouted. "I wanted to meet mommy…"

He chuckled and patted her head. "I understand, Anya dear. But you need to get some sleep so you won't be too tired tomorrow."

"But I want to say goodnight to mommy," Anya admitted. She had always looked up to her mother and it was clear that she aspired to be like her as well – something Samus wasn't too happy about; she wished for her child to live the peaceful, innocent life she never had.

The Hylian kissed his daughter on the noggin. "I'm sure she will be happy to know that but you need your sleep, my dear."

The little kept pouting. Cute. Then, she beamed. "Can you tell me about mommy's adventures again, daddy? Please!"

´She's trying to buy time, huh?´ "Alright, but only because you said the magic word." Link cleared his throat. He sat down on the ground, his daughter sitting on his lap. "As you already know, Anya, your mother is a great warrior who is sailing across the stars above. Do you remember what she does?"

"Yes! She saves people and stop baddies!"

"That's one way to put it…" Link chuckled. But she was right; Samus was a heroine, despite her title. She was also brave, smart, and she exceeded normal humans in terms of strength and agility; qualities that made him love her even more. She and he worked well together in the Super Smash bros. tournaments, but outside of that realm Samus was the one who still went out on "adventures" as their child put it. Link devoted his life as a father and took care of things on the home-field.

And he was fine with that. He had no place up there, and neither did their daughter. His destiny had been fulfilled, but Samus was still needed out there in the vast cosmos.

"Your mother is a great woman who makes the worlds up there a safer place. She's very strong," he said and looked at his daughter. "And do you know the secret to her strength?"

Anya shook her head.

Link smiled. "She went to bed early."

His child gave him a sullen look. "Nuh-uh!"

"Would I lie to you, sweetheart?" Link queried playfully, and Anya couldn't stifle her giggle.

"Daddy wouldn't lie," she said and nuzzled him.

"I could never lie to you, my dear. Tell you what, we will wait for mommy together, but in return you must head straight to bed when you've said goodnight to her. Deal?"

Anya beamed. "Yay! Thanks daddy!" She hugged him and rested her head on her father's shoulder. "When is mommy coming back?"

Bless the inquiring minds of children. "I do not know, sweetheart. Mommy will return when she can."

Anya shifted. "…I miss mommy."

Link rubbed her back and hugged her, keeping her warm. "Me too, my dear. Me too. And I'm sure she misses you as well."

That seemed to brighten the little girl a bit.

"When I grow up, I'm going to be just like mommy! I want to go to space with her, too!"

Link softly laughed. "And leave daddy all alone?"

"No, silly! You will come with us!"

He laughed again. "That'd be nice."

A bright light suddenly appeared in the night-sky; it moved quickly like a shooting star, only to slow down as the light became brighter and illuminated the field. The large ship landed not far from their house, its engines purring and slowly quieting down until it became completely silent. The ship opened up from above, a pillar of light shooting out of it and revealing –

"Mommy!" the girl exclaimed and jumped out of her father's embrace. The bounty hunter jumped off her ship, her helmet dropped to the ground as she scooped up her daughter in her arms.

X.x.X

When the Hero had chosen such an outlandish woman as his wife, most people were sceptical. The princess silenced them, however, and spoke of the woman as a friend and heroine.

Samus regretted not being able to spend more time with her child, but her duties to the Galactic Federation required her attention. Nevertheless, she and Link shared a long and happy life together, and their daughter – despite her mother's wishes – grew up to become a bounty hunter, though she was happy to just explore her homeland.

Link and Samus were different in many ways, and yet they were equally similar.