AUTHOR'S NOTE: I came across an ongoing story about Link having been raised in the Yiga Clan, and thought, what if it was Zelda instead? So, here we are! If you enjoy the premise, I highly encourage you to check out the story "Through Traitorous Eyes'' by novellelune & PepperJam, because it's a very good read! Aside from the idea, their story (from what I've read as of 8/15/21) is very different from mine.

I also wanted to make clear that Age of Calamity has no influence on this story. While set in the "100 years ago" pre-Calamity timeframe, this is its own alternate reality. I only used Sooga as a character out of convenience.

For anyone worried about the next chapter of Dawn's Early Light, it's coming. I try to stay a few chapters ahead when I write because I don't like to go back and make changes once a chapter is published. The muses decided that THIS NEEDED MY ATTENTION instead, and, welp, it happened. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Title: Treasure of the Yiga

Chapter 1: The Intruder

Author: Sailor Song

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Guard duty. Again. Always fucking guard duty. Just once, maybe, they could send their best archer out on an ambush. Perhaps she would stand a chance against the blasted menace that keeps ruining our plans to resurrect our king. But no, I've been assigned to watch over the treasury yet again, which I cannot help but notice is near-depleted because of the lack of success happening on the raids.

It can not be helped, I suppose. The Gerudos and Hylians have become close, formidable allies, more so than we could have anticipated given their history. That, coupled with the ever increasing threat from that odious beast who wields the magic sword, and it's understandable that in order to rebuild, my great people have been forced into hiding in the heat of the Gerudo Desert.

I heard a noise down below, and from my hidden perch, I watched a cloaked intruder sneak into my sanctuary. My fingertips grazed the string of my bow, but I couldn't just shoot without announcing myself first. Besides, for this person to have made it in here, past several highly skilled blademasters, he or she must be talented, and perhaps very stupid.

"Ahem!"

He, and I could tell he was definitely a he when he lowered his hood, gave a start and looked up in my direction. Quicker than my eye could perceive, he had pulled his sword to defend himself, but upon determining that he was in no immediate danger from me - little did he know - he sheathed it again.

"Yiga, I'm only here to investigate something. I'll be gone in a moment."

The arrogance was infuriating. It was almost as if he believed he was doing me some sort of favor by not fighting me.

"Can I get you a Noble Pursuit while you're at it? Or a hearty durian?"

"You can, but all I see is an insane amount of mighty bananas," he said smugly as he continued to look around. He wasn't wrong about how many there were, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him.

I'd had enough toying with him. Drawing my duplex bow, I decided to put an end to his intrusion and aimed for his leg. Given what he was about to face from the elders, killing him on the spot would be too much of a mercy. I gave no warning before I fired, and yet, with reflexes faster than lightning, he had again drawn his sword and deflected both of my arrows away without even looking. Filled with a mix of astonishment and curiosity, I dropped down to his level.

"How did you do that?"

He laughed a little. "You must not know who I am."

What a pompous ass. "Why would I?"

He seemed genuinely surprised by my response as he asked, "You don't get out much, do you?"

Well, no, I didn't, but he didn't need to know that. Thoroughly infuriated by that truth and his arrogance, I took out my sickle and swiped at him. His disinterest in engaging was evident as he blocked my advances one after another. I was becoming fatigued while he had barely done anything.

"Aren't you going to fight back?" I asked, surreptitiously trying to catch my breath.

"You would not want me to," he said, pushing me backward. There was no hint of playfulness in his voice now, only a slight hint of caution, warning me that I needed to back off. "It's been interesting, Yiga, but I'm leaving now."

At full charge, I rushed him with my sickle in one hand. He appeared to be bored, ready to deflect it yet again, but I was expecting this and pulled an arrow with my free hand, plunging it as deep as I could into his side. The look of utter shock on his face would have been hilarious were he not so insufferable. He staggered backwards and yanked the arrow from his flesh, becoming transfixed by the red liquid adorning his fingers. His demeanor changed almost instantly, and I could tell he was not playing anymore. I twirled my sickle tauntingly and readied myself as he raised his sword and rushed toward me. This time I was the one toying with him as I ducked his swings. He was becoming increasingly irritated, exactly as I had hoped. We Yiga thrive on enemies who are distracted by emotions, and it seemed this swordsman was no different. Unfortunately for me, as he was about to strike, I slipped on a damn banana and lost my hold on the sickle. In my defense, I did mention before that my skill is with stealth and a bow, not outright combat. I braced myself and waited for death, but it was he who screamed, grabbing his arm as though in great agony before falling to his knees. Beside him, his sword landed with a heavy thud on the packed earth.

He looked at me, obviously in great pain but the confusion on his face was apparent. "Who are you?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"You don't know who I am?" I asked, throwing his own words back at him as I scrambled to my feet. I quickly nocked a pair of arrows and aimed for his heart as I kicked his sword away from him, and called out to my comrades, "Blademasters, come quick! I've caught an intruder in the treasury!"

The others appeared in seconds, although I could not help but find myself feeling less than satisfied as I watched them knock him unconscious and drag him away. I had to tell myself it was the lack of appreciation, but there was something else nagging at me about this situation.

I was left alone to survey and tidy up the room. Half hidden from where I'd kicked it away, the blademasters must not have seen the intruder's weapon as it had been left behind when they took him away. In a momentary lapse, I grabbed it, thinking I might claim it for my own trophy. There was a jolt of energy that coursed through my hands, but it wasn't painful, just surprising. The sword itself was beautiful, made of a metal I had never before seen. As I swung it through the air, it seemed to sing. This was a treasure worth keeping. My first spoils of combat.

After being relieved from my duty, I headed straight for my room and leaned the sword in the corner before heading out for the evening meal. I had barely gotten a few steps out of my room when I was stopped by a blademaster.

"You. Follow me."

I knew I was being taken to my commanding officer, General Sooga. Perhaps I was finally about to be recognized for my efforts and sent on a real mission as a reward.

"Zee, I've been told that it was you who stopped that intruder," he said. "Can you tell me why you did not outright kill him?"

Nevermind. Of course I would get criticism instead of praise. It is the Yiga way after all - nothing is ever good enough until we achieve our goal of seeing our savior, our Dark Lord, return to cleanse the land of Hyrule.

"He said he broke in to investigate something. I thought you and Master Kogha would want to interrogate him."

"So you did speak with him," the general said. "Is there anything else we should know?"

I was getting irritated. It was as though I was the one who was on trial here. "No, sir, nothing." I probably should have told him about my hidden prize, but he already seemed to be mad at me for some reason. There was no reason to make things worse.

"Very well. And Zee, I'm ordering you to stay away from that Hylian."

…

At night, the hideout is very quiet. The whole of my life, my almost seventeen years on this earth, I have never been permitted to leave it, so I knew it well, every nook and cranny.

There was only one spot where I would need to avoid a guard, meaning it was easy enough to sneak into the cells. I made my way in the shadows, only so I could observe the Hylian before he saw me, but I was not expecting to see him chained by the wrists in a way that would prevent him from sitting. He had been stripped of all possessions aside from the pair of undershorts he was wearing, making it very easy to see his side was still bloodied from where I had pierced him with the arrow. To my knowledge, we had never before treated any prisoner in this way.

He put his head up and looked in my direction, but that was impossible. There was no way he could have seen me in the darkness. My stomach jumped, and without knowing why, I fled back to my room. As I threw myself upon my bed, I wondered why I was so frightened by him.

No, not frightened. We Yiga fear nothing and no one. What was it then? Caution? Intrigue? Maybe if I knew more about him, I would better understand why I found him so fascinating.

…

As I headed to breakfast the next morning, my childhood roommate stopped me as we passed each other near the mess hall. "So, Zee, I heard a rumor that you were there when they caught the intruder who broke in here yesterday."

No way. That was the rumor? Not that I had single handedly disarmed him? No, according to my comrade, I was only present.

"I'll have you know, Elle, that I took him down all by myself, thank you very much."

"Yeah," she said with an unhidden scoff. "Sure you did."

"What? You don't believe me?" I didn't have to prove myself to anyone, but I wondered if showing her the prisoner's sword would be enough evidence of my victory.

She laughed at me. "Of course not. Don't you know who he is?"

I hate being laughed at. And why does everyone feel the need to keep asking me that question when I so clearly do not? "Tell me," I replied with a shrug.

"It's... " She stopped and looked around, leaning in closely and whispered, "It's him."

The vagueness, which would normally be irritating, was instantly understood. There was one Hylian we all refused to call by name; the murderous hero, the goddess's chosen champion who wields the sword that has time and time again been used to shed the blood of our savior.

I had to be sure. "You don't mean…" I looked around to make sure no one was within listening range. "...him?"

She nodded. "So you see, I have trouble believing that you alone could bring him down when a number of others have fallen to him."

I couldn't hear anything else she said after that. My vision went black, my head was swarming with rage. I had been given the chance to execute the villain who killed countless members of my clan, the murderer who took Gee away from me, and I didn't know.

At some point I realized I had walked away and returned to my room. I had forgotten to eat. I don't think I even said goodbye. When I came back to my senses, I was pacing back and forth in my tiny quarters. There was a strange music coming from somewhere nearby, and although I wasn't sure the source, it soon lulled me into the deepest sleep of my life.

…

Sometime in the middle of the night I awoke feeling calmer, my mind focused on only one clear thought: I had to see him again.

Once more, I made my way to the cells, peering at him from the shadows. He was still chained up, but now bloodier from the second day of our interrogation techniques. Although seeing this murderer wounded and in pain should have made me happy, it is impossible to describe how I felt at seeing him like this.

"Are you there?" he asked. This time he did not look in my direction, and I realized it was likely because he was tired and the act of lifting his head would take a great effort. "Yiga?"

"I'm here," I replied. I don't know why I said anything. He didn't deserve the respect.

"I thought that was you." His voice was strained, and I wondered if he had been screaming. "Were you here last night too?" I stayed silent this time, but it didn't matter. "Knew it."

"You're pretty arrogant for someone in your situation," I said, unable to help myself.

"You aren't the first to think so." He moved his shoulder, and I could tell he was trying to hide how much pain he was in. "Can you come closer and help me with something? Just a little more. My nose has been itching all day."

My impulse was to walk over and smack him hard across the face, but when I made it to the cell door, I was stopped by a pair of eyes staring in my direction. Yiga faces, and therefore our eyes, were always hidden beneath our masks. Up until now, I'd never seen any but my own in the reflection of a looking glass. His eyes were the color of the sky.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" I asked him. "And don't give me your funny answers this time. Tell me the truth."

He looked up at the ceiling, bored as he gave his answer. "I'm a knight of Hyrule, and I was sent here to investigate rumors of a secret weapon or treasure being kept here."

He stopped talking, so I looked at him expectantly. "Well, which one was it?" I asked.

"Not sure," he shrugged as he looked back at me. "I never found anything but bananas."

I turned and began to leave without warning.

"Yiga, wait. Where are you going?"

"Leaving. You're lying."

I heard the chains rattle as he gave a physical jolt. "I'm not," he said, his voice betraying him with a slight hint of emotion. "I just left out some information. How did you know?"

"Doesn't matter. Tell me what I asked. Everything."

"Okay, fine, just stay with me, please? My name is Link. I am a knight, and I am here to investigate rumors, but nobody sent me."

"Because?"

He sighed. "Because I don't answer to anyone. I am the wielder of Hylia's holy blade, which I'm assuming is still in the room we first met in?"

"No. I hid it," I replied.

"You moved it?" he asked suspiciously. "You moved my sword?"

"Yes, I moved your sword. I'm not as weak as everyone seems to think I am."

"I never said that," he said, and I think he was being genuine. "You put up a good fight. I was impressed."

"I outsmarted you, you mean."

He laughed, even though it seemed to physically hurt him. "Okay, bragging rights are yours."

"Yes, I defeated you in combat. You won't live for long, but I hope it's the last thing you remember, Hero."

For some reason, I could tell that something I had said bothered him. Given the notoriety of his skills, perhaps he had never before been faced with his own limitations and mortality. Regardless, he asked, "Can I at least know the name of the one who bested me?"

My name? We were forbidden from having any sort of identity, which is why we only had letters for names. Dee, Elle, Gee… and so on. The Yiga were meant to be anonymous, without number. Names gave us an identity and made us unique, so they were awarded only to those with status such as commanding officers and our great chief. There were only rare occasions where Yiga were named in death or exile, which for us is really one in the same. "I will only tell you who I am once you have been sentenced to death."

…

I returned the third night, despite having spent the full day guarding the treasury. Seeing the condition he was in nearly made me vomit as I approached his cell. His nose was most likely broken, his eyes were swollen shut. His wrists were rubbed raw from the metal shackles, and there was blood all down his chest, but it was impossible to tell if it was from his nose or if there was another wound.

I found no pleasure in seeing him like this. As much as I wanted revenge for the countless lives he had taken, upon hearing his pitiful "Yiga?" as he called out to me made me feel hollow in the pit of my stomach. I left, and once I had composed myself and gathered a few healing items, I went back.

I had to be careful about what I was about to do. If I was discovered, I myself would face a beating just as severe as the one he'd been subjected to.

"Yiga?" he said again, and I shushed him as I entered his prison.

"You are going to have to be quiet so I don't get caught."

Amazingly, he listened, and in silence, I assessed him to see what I could do to heal or at least provide some relief without it being obvious. Realizing it was impossible with him barely standing, I decided to take a new approach. I dragged in a crate so he could sit, and then got to work on applying salve to the wounds on his wrists. I had to look away because I thought I could see white and I wasn't sure if it was blister or bone. The thought of either was nauseating, but I wrapped them all the same and then began inspecting the damage on his face.

"Thank you," he whispered to me in a broken, strangled voice.

For some reason I was taken aback by his appreciation. "We aren't monsters," I said, adding spitefully, "unlike you Hylians."

He didn't try to correct me or defend himself. Instead, he said softly, "If only you had been born Hylian. Or if I had been born a Yiga. Whatever the circumstance, I'd like to think there's another life in which you and I are friends."

Friends? I could barely comprehend the idea as he took in a breath and gave a painful wheeze, causing me to suspect he had at least one broken rib.

He seemed to have fallen asleep at some point while I worked. When I finished doing whatever I could to give him some relief, I hesitated to wake him up, but I knew I needed to remove the crate before I left. Deciding no one would show up for a while, I shut my eyes just for a moment.

"Yiga?" I felt my body being nudged, startling me awake. I looked to see the Hylian peering down at me with his blue eyes. Amazingly, he already looked far better than I would have expected any healing medicines to accomplish. "You were sleeping so soundly, I hated to wake you, but now you probably need to go so you don't get caught."

I jumped up. He was right. I started tugging the crate from the cell, putting it approximately back to the spot where it had been.

"The gauze," he said.

Pulling it off would mean potentially seeing those deep wounds again, but after he assured me it would be fine, I began unwrapping them. I had only barely pulled off the last bit when I heard someone approaching. As his cell door clicked into place, the last thing I heard before I slipped away was his voice saying, "I'll see you tonight."

…

"You know my feelings on this. I've been adamant from the start: he should be executed. I don't understand why he's been allowed to live this long." General Sooga was speaking with other generals while clan members looked on. The only person missing from this seemed to be our chief, Master Kohga, though he was likely going to be briefed once they had finished this forum. He rarely made public appearances.

A meeting had been called to discuss the fate of the prisoner. Though it was during my shift, I left early and slipped in the back where no one could see me.

"We've only kept him alive to get information about why he was here in the first place."

"He's just toying with us. He is a threat who needs to be eliminated."

Link was toying with them? Seriously? He looked almost broken when I saw him last night. He was our prisoner, yet they still regarded him as a dangerous threat.

"Killing him won't stop anything. The ancient legends say that the Hero's Spirit will just be born again. This would only give us about ten years until the next one emerges on the scene."

The ancient what now?

"Do not forget, we have already taken measures to disrupt the cycle. The Hero is only one part of the equation. He is nothing on his own, without-"

"Then there's no reason to keep him here, nor should he remain alive," Sooga interrupted. "In my opinion, the only safe Hero is a dead one."

There was a rumbling consensus all around, and as it came to a vote, the decision was made, his fate cast. The first chance I got, I slipped out and ran to the prison. Why, I could not say, but I had to make sure he knew. Behind my mask, the tears were welling up as I approached his cell.

"Yiga, you've come early," he said. He looked bad again, but they hadn't tortured him as heavily as the day before.

"I can't stay," I whispered. "I just wanted you to hear this from…" From what, a friend? We weren't friends. "...from me. They've decided-"

"They're going to kill me?" He took a moment and blew a strand of hair out of his face. "Took long enough."

I flinched. He knew?

"Honestly," he continued, "the torture was getting boring, so this will at least be a change."

This guy. "And you think death will be better?" I couldn't hide the incredulousness from my voice, so I could only imagine what my facial features were displaying behind my mask.

"Listen, Yiga, I learned a long time ago that death was chasing me. If I spent my life fearing it, I would just hide inside a cave, wasting away as the world passed me by."

Something about his comment angered me, whether it was his dismissal of the finality of death or the reminder that I had never left the hideout, I couldn't be certain which. He called out after me as I turned and ran, making it as far as I could outside. I was going to prove to him, to everyone, that I was free to go where I pleased, and that I was not afraid.

I made it a little ways down the road before I realized I had nowhere to go. Plus, it was impossible to see in the dark when I did not have the training to use the magical incantations. Not wanting to return so soon, I found a pedestal and some glowing rocks and sat. The tears were welling up in my eyes again, but why? I didn't care if he died. He was the enemy.

General Sooga found me sometime later.

"How long have you been out here?"

"Not long," I replied, though to be honest, I had no idea.

"You were warned to keep away from him," Sooga said, and I knew I'd been caught. "He's a Hylian. They are deceitful and cannot be trusted."

"I know," I said.

Sooga gave a grunt, but his demeanor changed and his voice became a bit warmer as he spoke. "I think you heard the final decision, but I came to tell you that he will be executed tomorrow at dawn. I am only telling you because I am hoping you will listen to me this time and keep away. He has confused you, and I want you to find some closure in his death."

"I understand," I replied and my body shivered. "I have no interest in ever seeing him again. Alive or dead."

"Glad to hear it. Now, Zee, it's best you get in before you are chilled by the cold night air."

I stood and felt my legs wobble a little.

"When was the last time you took your medicine?"

With all of the recent excitement of the intruder, it was really hard to say, but as I felt myself starting to slip, I realized it must have been a while. Sooga was ready, catching me like he had countless times when I had forgotten before. As he carried me back inside, I could hear him scolding me, and suddenly I was a child again.

Back in my room, I swallowed the bitter fluid as I was told and felt myself quickly drifting off to sleep.