I'm trying my hardest to keep up with the whole writing thing. I may need to slow down slightly I do have like 10,000 words in essays and reports to hand in and a pretty big presentation. I'm handling it okay at the moment but I'm a little worried I may burn out.

I realized the premise of the story isn't exactly a new one on this site but I think I'm okay with that, I'm writing more for my own peace of mind then anything else. We all probably have our own version of the story of BOTW that we play out in our heads and I feel like I'll go crazy if I don't see mine out.

Chapter 8- Innocence

Zelda shuffled through her notes uncomfortably. The open window above her seemed to call out from across the room. Fingers of light pulled her towards the door towards the bridge. The writing before her seemed more muddled more indiscernible than ever before, the words would mix and mingle before her forming strange words. The Shieka Slate made even less sense then it normally did and after fumbling with it for a while it had yet again yielded nothing.

She let out a frustrated huff of air and turned around on her chair to stare at the door. He was probably out there right now, having used some complex method to distract the guards, he was probably waiting under the bridge, on the tower or even in the courtyard below. A cool breeze entered the room and she allowed her eyes to close as it flew over her face. It reminded her of the outside and how even after a day she still yearned for it.

"I will kill him"

Not that he probably ever could, the guards had hardly been absent in attempting to catch the hooded boy, the bounty had risen to well over a few hundred rupees. Yet Link seemed to get past them effortlessly. A little more pressure wouldn't make much more of a difference right? And yet it felt so wrong to put that pressure on him, for her selfish actions to making his life that much harder.

I just wanted a friend.

There was nothing wrong with seeing him here though, perhaps he could just simply watch her study, help her even. The idea brought a rush a glee through her veins. Sure it wouldn't be what it was, but at least they would still talk regularly and the room she was chained to wouldn't feel so damn small all the time. The huge castle she was trapped in wouldn't feel so much like a cramped prison.

She allowed herself to smile and walked out into the sun lit bridge.

But Link was not there. She waited most of the day, almost jumping at every sound from the castle, turning expecting to see her friend there. Day after day Zelda would walk out onto the bridge and wait. She would wait for a friend who wasn't coming.

Bryne rushed into the King's secret study and slammed the door behind him. His legs ached from the long climb up to the castle and his eyes were hopelessly tired but, when a message came like this he knew it was important. He bent over pushing his hands into his knees and letting out harsh quick breaths.

The King, Alfonzo and the young Shieka advisor Impa were all there and stared at him quietly while he regained his breath.

"Thank you for coming in such short time friend, we have a grave matter to act on and we must act quickly," Rhoam said with a certain urgency often foreign to his voice. "Tell him what you told me Impa."

"Whether through rumour or through agents on the inside the Yiga network has suddenly sparked up. They think they know who the one chosen by the sword is and are moving to eliminate him. It will be but a matter of hours before they have managed to infiltrate the Castle guards and from there they'll have no trouble looking for and assassinating him." The Shieka spoke in that usual grave tone. It made he voice seem years older than her and was foreign to her more youthful face.

Most Hylians would be distrustful of any Shieka after the uprising but Impa was one of the few Bryne thought he could trust. At least he hoped he could trust.

"Who are they targeting? Even we don't know who he is." He asked Impa.

"Bryne… They think it's Link," Rhoam was the one to break the harsh truth and by the grim faces on the other two in the room Bryne knew it to be so.

"But we don't know that it's Link, how'd they-"

"It doesn't matter" Alfonzo cut in his hands were placed firmly on the table between them and he leant over to him. "The fact is that in a less than a day Yiga will find and kill Link. But we have something against them." He turned and looked piercingly at Impa.

"They don't know what the boy looks like or where he lives they know only his name," Impa said looking down, it was clear they had been discussing the matter for a while before Bryne had arrived. Perhaps they had considered even keeping him out of the plan.

The Senior Knight spoke up again. "That's right the Yiga know we know and are expecting us to transport the boy to our most secure stronghold."

"The Akkala Citadel," Bryne whispered.

Alfonzo nodded, "And so we will do just as they expect… We and a few of our best guards will leave with what they think to be the boy."

It was Bryne's turn to nod, "The real Link will be riding somewhere completely different but who will be escorting him."

"We cannot risk an escort, Yiga will infiltrate it in a matter of hours so we must send the boy with his mother sometime after the first escort leaves. They will head for their home in Hateno where they will hide until everything has calmed down," Impa said.

Bryne thought back to the conversation he had with his Nyssa a few hours earlier. It looks like they were going home earlier than expected, even if it was without him.

The King finally spoke, he had been staring at the Knight the whole time silent. "They don't know the boy is your son Link, when they arrive in Hateno you will be able to visit them whenever you please."

Bryne was done with talking.

"Okay, let's do this."

There had been no time for a goodbye or even a proper explanation.

The hooves of Epona hammered across Thims Bridge. It felt strange to ride so quickly headfirst into what you knew to be an ambush. He had to look as normal as possible despite the knowledge that there were eyes constantly watching him from all sides.

With one arm he gripped onto the small hooded figure between himself and Alfonzo he continued to push the horses harder and harder, the five knights behind him struggling to keep up. The further they got from the real Link the better, they were drawing the Yiga away from him. The thought of his wife and Link riding out into the open alone made the Knights heart seize up in fear but onwards they pushed.

Hills began to rise on either side signalling they were almost halfway to their destination. Bryne could feel it coming, the air felt unusually tense here and the trees either side were perfect for Yiga. Still no ambush exploded from the bushes.

Horses panted heavily from underneath them. Bryne looked up into the hills on the sides, they were perfect for concealing any number of archers. Yet no arrows rained down from above.

What was going on? His sword suddenly felt very foreign on his side for the first time. He hated the feeling of waiting and feeling completely useless, giving the enemy the advantage. Still it was necessary to keep his family safe.

The horse at the front reared up suddenly pushing all the riders into a stray of chaos.

In the middle of the road a hooded figure was lying on the ground holding an arm up to the approaching riders in desperation. The face was obscured but judging on the large body size the figure was male.

Bryne looked grimly to his friend who with a short nod confirmed his unease was not unwarranted. They both dismounted and approached the figure lying in the ground. He seemed to stare at them from beneath the hood.

"Are you okay? Are you lost? We need you to move aside." Alfonzo announced, the man unwavered his hand firmly outstretched towards Bryne.

With the other hand he glided it over the top of the hood to reveal that mask, the one that always seemed to make the Knights stomach churn, the unsettling elaborate single eye that seemed to follow you everywhere. Though his face was still obscured Bryne, could feel the sickening smile beneath it.

He stood now towering slightly above the two Knights. His voice came out like a rasp of air, pushed out almost too forcefully, "You are the one who has lost."

The five Knights behind them dismounted quickly a came forward unclipping their spears, Bryne also pulled his broadsword from his side as his friend drew his claymore from his back. They charged at the Yiga as he withdrew a long blade from within his cloak.

The man was fast, faster than any adversary Bryne had met. He threw an elixir at the men behind Bryne and within an instant they were all trapped in a sheet of thick ice.

Bryne held his sword in a high stance eyeing the challenger carefully.

"I apologise I just couldn't resist facing you one on one," his voice came out in a sickening rasp. "I will enjoy facing you, so many of my brothers have fallen to your blade.

The Knight allowed his grip to loosen slightly on his sword and controlled his breathing. "What's one more right?" he said.

The Yiga rushed forwards giggling as though he was enjoying every moment of this. He moved in an unorthodox manner but Bryne had faced many Yiga and this man was no different.

Bryne twisted his body to the side as the Yiga slashed upwards with his blade. Bryne brought his own blade down across his enemy's back, causing a sharp yelp. He disappeared in a puff of cards but Bryne was already prepared. As the man began to reform across the road Bryne launched his sword at him which buried itself into his shoulder and thetree behind him.

Howling with pain he had little time to recover before Bryne was already on him hand on the pommel of the embed sword. He pushed into it keeping him embedded firmly in the tree as one hand moved instinctively for the Yiga's throat.

It was too small for a proper ambush there had to be more coming. "Where are the other's?" he screamed in the face of the would be assassin.

The Yiga began to cackle and Bryne slammed him into the tree noticing the specks of red dripping from the mask.

"Where's the rest of the ambush tell me," he slammed him into the tree once again, the fear was beginning to grow within him. He felt it now seeping into every piece of him, every cell, it was the anger, the sheer lack of empathy. He feared it more than anything, it had been a long time since he had felt it.

He slammed him onto the floor and began to raise his fists abandoning his sword to the dirt to satisfy the more animal primal instinct.

The Yiga coughed madly. "We already knew you fool. They'll be dead before you find them, not even the bodies shall remain," he rasped up at him in glee.

The rage exploded in him and taking the Yiga's head in two hands he snapped it like a twig.

The ice on the other guards had thawed to the point where they were now able to break their way free.

"Bryne what's wrong?" Alfonzo gasped.

Bryne's heart was seizing up. He ran and leapt onto his horse.

"Bryne!" Alfonzo called out.

"Dammit, they knew it was a fake, they knew from the beginning." The thought of them lying dead on the ground of their home sent stabs of terror through him. "Link…Nyssa…oh goddess." He whipped the reigns hard and Epona reared up and raced off back in the direction they came. He leant forwards in the saddle ushering the horse forwards.

This is a nightmare it has to be

He was but a mile down the road from Hateno when the first plumes of smoke were noticeable coming from the village. When he entered its damaged gates it was clear the place was a war zone. Yiga, guards and village folk all lay dead in the streets, others rushed about the streets desperately trying to put out the fires. Some lay weeping over the bodies of loved ones.

Bryne recognised most of them. Usually when he visited the Village the people would come out in waves to see him and speak to him. He had hated it before but after seeing this he would do anything to take those times back. Now the calls to him had been replaced by miserable cries echoing through the otherwise silent town.

He put aside those memories, put aside that suffering and forced his likely exhausted horse further up the hill towards their house. The attack had already happened; he was just looking at the aftermath.

His heart sunk when he saw the house smoking, it was clear there had been a fire there. A mess of bodies led up to the house, the Yiga had known exactly where to go and had fought ferociously to get there. The guards in the village had put up an admirable effort but with a concentrated assault they could not have lasted any longer than ten minutes. He jumped of the horse and rushed forwards across the bridge.

There by the tree and the cooking pot lay Nyssa's father. He had a crossbow in one hand and several arrows protruded from his body. In the yard the bodies of several Yiga laid strewn about, the old man had taken out maybe five all on his own. Bryne knelt before him and placed two fingers to his rugged neck.

"You stubborn old fool, always had to be the strong one didn't you?" he smiled sadly at him and pushed the eyelids down. There would be time for his burial but there were more important things to think of. He looked apprehensively to the door of the house. It lay open to him calling out eerily, his throat throbbed in panic. He pushed himself up and out one foot in front of the other walking carefully as though these were his first steps.

As soon as he entered the house he saw the blood. There was no avoiding the crimson which painted the room in splatters. There was so much and to whom it belonged to was a mystery in itself. And yet there she lay. Her hair was matted with blood and dress was ripped slightly. There were cuts all over her and next to her lay a pitchfork. She had clearly struggled and attempted to defend against the attackers.

Bryne stifled the sobs coming from his chest, they would not make the situation any better. He turned her body over in his arms and was surprised to see she was still breathing.

"Bryne…" the words retched their way out her mouth but it was in her eyes that she was overjoyed in seeing him. She was clearly in a lot of pain. Bryne had seen wounds like this, there was part of him that wanted to throw her onto his horse and make his way back to the castle to the physician to save her, but these were not wounds you could recover from. In the order you had to come to terms with that sometimes, but leaving behind a comrade was beyond that of you wife.

"Hush," he began to untangle her hair softly, determined to bring some sort of comfort to her.

Her gaze softened on him, Bryne had seen it happen before, she was accepting death. "They took him, didn't kill him, dragged him away…you have to save him," she coughed up blood which he quickly wiped away. "You have to protect him, from himself too."

He knew exactly what she meant and nodded.

"Promise me Bryne, please promise me"

"I promise"

She had begun to close her eyes, exhausted with the strain of speaking. "So happy, we were…a family…again."

He held her close as her breath slowed to an eventual stop he wanted to stay here in this moment forever. It felt like moving away would tear his very heart from the chest and leave it there beating on the floor.

"Bryne?" Alfonzo called out from the door to the house.

Bryne didn't dare to look at him, he didn't want to show that desperate vulnerability to the Knight. He kissed Nyssa gently on the head and placed her down on the floor, promising quietly to himself that he would be back to bury them both. He hoped to the three goddesses that he would not have to dig three graves today.

"Bryne…"

"Let's just go,"

It was but a few meters away down near the river where they found him. Bryne's nearly broke composure and began to sob desperately when he saw the amount of blood surrounding the boy, it was almost enough to fill Lake Hylia. But as he got closer he saw that it wasn't the boy's. Six Yiga assassins lay dead around him, some of the bodies were almost slashed to pieces. As for the boy he laid in the foetal position retching what appeared to be sobs.

The child had taken on six of almost twice his size and had seemingly torn them apart. Bryne shuddered at the thought of what might have happened.

Bryne looked to his companion who immediately nodded and turned on his heel placing his back to the scene and planted his sword firmly in the ground in front of him.

The Knight Bryne moved slowly towards his son and places a hand on his shoulder. Link suddenly came at him like a tidal wave hitting him in the face over and over again. When he was a young child the Knight would take the blows even when they were from that damned wooden sword, but now the stung like never before. He took them though he knew with each one Link was releasing the emotions he had allowed to build up.

The child was enraged bringing blow after blow down on his face letting out a pure animalistic scream. His eyes were red and puffy and under them lay deep bags. With each hit Bryne saw the boy he knew slowly come back, the colour seeming to seep into his eyes again making them glisten with that same shinning blue. They were so much like Nyssa's, painfully so.

Link finally collapsed into Bryne's arms. "I couldn't save her Pa, I tried so hard why couldn't I save her?" his sobs throbbed through him, Bryne felt that pain. In this moment they would bare the pain together.

"I know how you feel child, you weren't ready. You mustn't blame yourself. I should not have left you both."

Link buried himself deeper into his father's arms heaving into him. It was as though it was those first months in Hateno when Link was first born. He was a rather loud baby but, when Bryne held him and allowed Link to grip onto him with those tiny hands the sobbing and the crying seemed to subside. That was a joyous time, there was so much love back then and little to worry about. The memories were almost too hard to think back to especially now.

"It's not fair." Link mumbled.

"It never is, do not push it on yourself." He whispered tightening his grip on Link cradling him like he had all those years ago.

"I'll kill them all Pa, I'll kill them," Link choked.

"Vengeance is not the path of a knight and you are not ready."

Link looked up at him, eyes still wet filled with shinning tears. "Show me."

Very well

Bryne's expression immediately hardened and he released the child. "If this is the path you wish to take child then wipe away your tears."

Link nodded and obeyed, his eyes were determined and with that same ferocity that his had once shown many years ago.

Bryne paused for a second. The child was not ready but by the end he surely would be and yet this decision would not be one to be taken lightly but it was the only way the Knight knew of dealing with grief and he wanted so desperately to reduce that pain for him. If it meant going against Nyssa's wishes for a little while so be it.

"This pain you are feeling now, I know it. It will not go away, perhaps it will never go away. It will fester inside burning at you fuelling your darkest nature. If you thought it hard to control your thoughts before then you will find it more difficult than most. " He paused for a moment studying the boy. "I can teach you to control it to make yourself powerful. To do this you must come with me on a journey, a trial of sorts." Bryne said.

Link looked up his gaze had hardened to the point where you could've almost forgotten that tears fell from his cheeks but a few minutes earlier.

"This is not a decision you can take lightly. On this trial you will be tested in every way imaginable. We will face attacks from every kind of enemy you can conjoure and more. Not only your body will be tested, but also your mind and your very soul. You will be not be the same person by the end."

"I am ready."

"Good, however the great trial will require one thing. You must bury the child you are firmly away, he will not help you where we are going. Where we are going you must learn to become something else entirely."

Link nodded.

Bryne picked up a short sword to the side of one of the assassins and passed the blade to the boy. Link took it as the Knight turned.

They dug two graves up on a hill far above their house overlooking the far stretching seas to the east and lay to rest the two motionless bodies. There was little that needed to be said, they were men of few words regardless. It was a good spot she would've liked it, it overlooked the calm blue sea as well as the seemingly peaceful tranquillity of the grassy plains to the west.

The prayers were said and they were all almost too eager to move on their way. The path they were to take was not one of ease and it was best to begin it sooner rather than later. Donning thick cloaks the two Knights and the Boy mounted their horses and made their way down the road and out of the village.