They were sitting in an old, dimly lit cellar within the castle dungeons, Zelda having summoned Link upon the pretence of finding something amazing.
It wasn't the first time she shared with him her discoveries. In her free time, Zelda worked on restoring historical documents made or acquired by her ancestors and stored in unused parts of the castle, now gathering dust. She wanted to make more accessible the accounts of both New Hyrule and the Great Sea, as both lands had rich history and she didn't want to lose any of it, as well as learn from the mistakes of the past.
Link arrived as soon as both of them had the time to spare. After Zelda led him inside the castle into the vaults of sorts, she showed him the treasure: relics and mementos of her predecessors. Namely, Queen Tetra and King Link — more commonly known as the Hero of Winds. It was definitely an unusual find.
Many of these items were not something the two had seen or imagined before but Zelda split them up to divide the work and quicken the process. She kept to browsing through her grandmother's items, such as letters, battle trophies, or personal keepsakes, as she told Link to dust off the Hero's weapons because she wanted to put them on display in the castle. And there were a lot of them. A lot.
Link couldn't help being amazed by how many unimaginable and incredible items there were or what some of them even were. Especially the magical ones that thrummed with ancient magic, uncommon to find in New Hyrule. He wondered how much Zelda knew about any of these items.
There was a giant leaf that was weathered and very clearly overused (even though he had no idea what it was used for) but still in a surprisingly good shape, radiating intense energy that tingled his fingers. He was too self-conscious to hold it for long. A pair of large iron boots too heavy to even lift. An enormous skull-shaped hammer which looked like it had seen more battles than the cracks and chipped spikes on its rim. It was followed by a second hammer, in appearance plain and wooden but enchanted to be light as a feather and hard as a boulder.
Glistening under the lamplight was also a pair of golden bracelets that, yet again, zapped with magic upon touch. Link set them away carefully, mindful not to let them get separated. One other wonder was a blue-rimmed shield with a mirror for the surface, which, to his confusion, had scratches and other signs of being used but wasn't broken. How could a shield be used if it was a mirror? What could it even be used for? What kind of magic kept it from breaking?
Among these possessions was a bow with different kinds of arrows. They glinted with gems on their tips, tempting to tap into one's magic energy to activate their power. Or, at least, that was what Link assumed —Zelda once told him her ancestors had vast magical reserves and could draw power from such elemental stones. Her grandmother had taught her the properties of each of these azure, crimson, and golden jewels, and maybe even more.
Link wondered if such arrows required anything specific to be used or if only a person's magic energy sufficed. If the Lokomo's Bow of Light turned a plain arrow into a light one, would it impose its effect on the elemental arrows or would something else emerge as a result?
Even the weapons that were not so prominently magical were rather uncommon. Like a worn but good quality grappling hook with a sturdy rope that didn't fray after a century. Link weighted in his hand a boomerang similar to the one he had found in the Snow Temple — it looked almost the same. There was a bag with safely stored bombs and another with ones that had strange mouse-like design; both looked like they could blow up if dropped. To think they were preserved so well up until this time was mind-boggling. Other bags carried various items inside, one with letters Link set aside to give to Zelda later. Miscellaneous treasures and little baubles littered the others.
Then, Link happened upon a pictobox. Cameras were not a novelty in New Hyrule, many improvements had been made since the time of the Hero of Winds. This model was old and simple, however it had a precocious function to take pictures in colour and enhanced storage space. Unusual even for the current times. He couldn't help looking into the information it hid. After all, he needed to check if it was working.
No matter when was the last time the pictobox had been used, the film was undamaged and still stored pictographs. Link switched the device on and displayed the first picture and, for a moment, he didn't quite register what he was looking at.
Three people stood on a sandy beach with waves rolling behind and shadows of seagulls overhead: a young boy with bright blond hair and a big grin splitting half of his face, a younger girl in a blue dress and a sweet cheerful smile, and an old lady much shorter than the first two but with joy immeasurable.
This had to be the Hero with his family, grandmother and little sister. The girl had a very familiar looking grin that even with wrinkles was always warm and kind and—
Link skipped to the next picture before he could spend too much thought on it.
There was the late Queen —though, at the time of the picture probably not a Queen yet— aboard a large ship commanding a group of pirates. Even one hundred years later there wasn't a person who didn't know the tale of how the pirates became leaders of a new kingdom. Niko made sure of that.
On the other pictograph was an island on the Great Sea, its peak rising tall into the sky, something sitting at the top but it wasn't visible from the distance the picture was taken from. Maybe if they could print it to a larger format…
Another one was of a cluster of grassy islands with trees growing out of them. One of the islands seemed to be one giant tree cut at the top and deprived of its crown. The next one showed a different island whose main feature was a large windmill amidst smaller buildings, the rotating wings visible even from the water.
Niko would surely recognise them. He told stories from the Great Sea but there were too many islands for Link to remember all of their names. He knew they tended to be named after their shapes or other characteristic features.
The next one took Link more time and effort to figure out.
The Hero of Winds was standing indoors; it seemed like a rather large structure too. The stonework reminded Link of the Hyrule Castle, but it was even bigger. It had to be a castle somewhere else because there were no castles on the Great Sea, and definitely not one like this in New Hyrule. Another clue was a giant statue at the Hero's back in front of which he was posing with a tired but satisfied smile.
It clicked after a moment: the Hero was inside the Old Hyrule's Castle, in front of the statue of the Hero of Time. Link froze, holding his breath in revered silence.
The legend of the Hero of Time was well known to the descendants of everyone that lived on the Great Sea. Even if they moved to a new land, the people passed the legend to the new generation so it wouldn't be lost to time.
But the Hero of Winds wasn't just a legend. He was real, everything described in the books and stories about him was true. There were people that still lived to tell the tale, people that knew him personally, who were witnesses to his trials and battles and success. Link lived with one of them and knew the Hero's direct descendant.
Here, the Hero of Winds met his own hero — had it also been as real to him as he was in New Hyrule? The picture was one of a kind, showing two legends separated by an uncountable amount of time, preserving their memory for the future. Old Hyrule was lost, probably forever. This would be the only reminder of its existence.
(Link always wondered how it would be to go there but it was just a speculation. It was impossible; Old Hyrule was at the bottom of the Great Sea. Even the underwater Tracks didn't go that far.)
There were a few more pictographs but Link stopped on this one. There was something...strangely familiar about it, nagging at the back of his mind. He searched the picture until he found it — the clothes. Both the statue and the then-living Hero were dressed in what was the castle guard uniform, but the picture was taken ages ago…
"Zelda?" He called out to his friend, searching for her in the cluttered room.
"What's up?" The princess glanced up from one of the letters, a smirk on her face. She sat on a chair sideways, one arm propped on the table and head resting on her palm.
Link stood up and approached her with the camera in hand. "Did you know that the guard uniform was based on the legendary heroes' clothes?" He showed her the picture.
Zelda stared for a moment, surprised. "I...might've heard about this but I completely forgot about it." She smiled, taking the camera from him to look closer. "I see you found a wonderful treasure too. It's a shame the display screen is so small."
"I was going to ask Ferrus what we can do about it. I think he knows how to print pictographs."
"That's a great idea. Oh!" She got to the picture of Queen Tetra and immediately beamed. "This is amazing!" She grinned. "That's exactly how I remember her. It's interesting that she didn't change at all."
"Yeah." Link smiled weakly, unwanted memories springing forth to contrast the innocent statement. He was glad Zelda had good memories of her grandmother. He just couldn't say the same.
"But you're right, Grandpa was wearing this green tunic because in their tradition they wore clothes inspired by the Hero of Time. That's why it must've been made into the guard uniform, to honour them and the tradition." She looked up at him with a mischievous smile. "Don't you want to wear it again?"
Link instantly stepped back. "I already did once, that's enough. And it's the guard uniform now anyway. What's the point of wearing it?"
"Because I'm sure you'll look just like him!"
"Well... Why don't you wear it, then?"
Zelda made a surprised sound before she looked back at the pictograph, thinking. "That's right! I will!" She dashed away to rummage through one of the chests and pulled out some green fabric out of it. "Be back in a moment!" She rushed into another room, slamming the door behind her.
Link just shook his head, picking the pictobox back up again as he slid into the chair next to Zelda's.
He was definitely not staring at the first picture with tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, remembering the past and comparing it with the present of the pictograph (It was unfair how much the person he knew changed from the one in the picture), when Zelda returned. He wiped his face before she could notice and took her changed appearance in.
She had her hair up, green hat atop, and donned the worn, matching green tunic and her own white leggings. The tunic seemed a bit small for her.
"It's pretty warm, actually, but rather comfortable. How does it look?" She picked at the sleeves before swinging her arms to the sides.
"It suits you. You look just like the Hero," Link said because it was true. She had the Hero's genes after all.
"Of course!" Zelda beamed, punching him lightly in embarrassment. "How could it not?"
She threw a glance around before clapping her hands, struck with an idea. "Help me set some of these things up and take a picture of me!"
Pushing aside a cluster of papers and small miscellaneous items, they arranged a few weapons around. Zelda took the Hero's sword and shield and raised them in a victorious pose and Link pointed the camera at her.
With the picture taken, they sat next to each other to see the rest.
After another pictograph on the pirate ship, the next one was more recognizable to the two. Still on the seas, it bore a large land in sight, its most striking feature right in the middle — a familiar tall tower.
Link and Zelda exchanged amazed glances. This picture had to be taken on the day the crew had discovered New Hyrule. This was another historical find.
In the next picture, Link's eyes involuntarily found the Hero's sister. She was a bright golden-haired spot with lightly coloured clothes, maybe it wasn't that surprising. Link looked away, trying to distract himself with the items they left strewn about.
Zelda nudged him. "Hey, Link, look at this. Do you recognize these people?"
He looked back and it was still the same picture but he noticed more people on it.
The blond girl was talking to a group of differently coloured individuals, each had clothes matching the colour of their hair. They were mostly young, some a bit older, but they were unmistakably familiar. Even without their instruments Link recognised the Lokomo right away.
"They look so young!" Zelda said with a breathy laugh. "Oh wait, here!" She pointed to one person in the group in particular. This one seemed to be one of the youngest with similarly themed robes in dark colours that the kids didn't recall ever seeing. He didn't have a shawl obscuring the lower half of his face or an artificial metal arm, but his dark blue hair and narrow eyes were telling enough.
"What do you think they thought about him?" Zelda wondered. "You think they knew he'd betray their trust?"
Link shrugged because his guess would be as good as any. The Lokomo didn't. How could newcomers predict something like that?
The next picture had the pirate Queen Tetra with a smirk but a fierce look in her eye as she stared down a young woman around her age, copying the former's expression and body language. The Lokomo's light lavender hair was styled differently back then, otherwise they would've looked like mirror images. There seemed to be some sort of comradery or friendly rivalry between these two.
"Isn't this Anjean?" Zelda gasped but quickly grinned. "She looks like a brat!"
"Don't let her hear you," Link muttered, smirking. Zelda's good humour rubbed off on him already, which was no surprise.
Zelda jabbed him in the side in answer. "I think she would agree."
She switched to the next picture and her smile instantly grew. "Would you look at that! This must be the first Linebeck!"
The pictograph showed the Hero on a dock, conversing with a man alike the treasure hunter Link and Zelda knew, a spectacular steamship behind them. The man and the Hero looked like they were great friends.
The last picture was taken after what looked like a few more years must have passed for it showed older Queen Tetra and the Hero of Winds from a little distance, standing in front of the current castle in the process of being built, many other people in the background.
It was poetic; the two Founders stood as equals, companions overseeing how their kingdom was coming together. Their future was bright and promising and it was clear on their faces.
Link and Zelda spent a few minutes staring at the picture, trying to catch all the minuscule details on the tiny screen. It was the last pictograph before the one they had just taken, and Zelda wondered why their heroes didn't take more. They were probably busy with establishing the kingdom.
"Link?" Zelda spoke quietly as if it would shatter the moment the picture had caught in time.
"Yeah?"
"What do you think about our future?" she asked in concern. They didn't have a hopeful prospect of a new kingdom ahead of them. The only thing their future expected of them was to make sure the current one wouldn't fall.
"It'll be alright. The kingdom is reunited and developing and everyone is helping out too. You'll make them proud." Link smiled to encourage her but she looked down instead.
"About that..." She trailed off, uncertain how to say it. Link didn't know whether he should wait for her to continue or prompt her. "Recently, Teacher has been telling me to find, or start looking for, someone suitable to be the next king." She grimaced at the weird way it sounded. The entire topic sounded weird to her.
"Why, though?" It took Link by surprise, wasn't Zelda too young for that? She still had a few years before she would be crowned as a queen. "You're doing really well with the Spirits guiding you, and with a lot of people working too. You don't need any more help, unless you think you do? Where does he think you should search anyway?" It's not like she didn't know who lived in her kingdom.
"Well...that's true. He says that since I'm still young, I should start considering it. And…he says there already is someone suitable," she said in a quiet and awkward manner which made Link dread the follow-up.
"Then, who is it?" He tried not to raise his voice in panic.
"W-well—" She covered her embarrassed face with her hands. "you, obviously."
Despite having already suspected that, the horror wasn't any less. He spent a moment to clear his head. "Zelda, is that a joke?"
She didn't say anything to that.
"You know you don't have to listen to him on everything."
"I—I know! But he's so stubborn and says it's so important!" she cried helplessly.
Link shook his head. "Then tell him it isn't. He's wrong and that's it. The Spirits lead you, They would tell you if They expected that of you. You're doing fine so far."
She sighed. "I don't even want to think about it yet either."
"Just tell him that." Link looked back toward the door, half-expecting the Teacher to come. He frowned. "Actually, that's unlike him, always worrying about you doing things without his knowledge. He should know you're still young, so he's unnecessarily hurrying it up. You don't have to hurry it up, unless…" A sudden realisation came to his mind. "Unless he wants to know that someone will take care of you when he can't. Maybe you should ask him how he's feeling recently."
Zelda looked at him in horrified comprehension and nodded slowly. "You have a point." She pursed her lips in worry.
"Look, we'll get that idea out of his head so you don't have to think about it. To ease his worries, we can tell him the Spirits will help you find someone suitable in due time. I mean, it's Their land, They would want to have a say in who should rule it, right?" He placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to lighten her frown, and winked. "Who knows, maybe someone comes from over the sea and sweeps you off your feet."
"Really, now?" She made an incredulous face at the absurdity but her expression was that less distraught.
"And on the off chance that we couldn't convince him, I'd run away and you'll never find me." He leaned in with a conspiratorial smirk.
"Oh, yeah?" Zelda quirked up a lip, the gears in her head turning at the challenge. "You'd go to Rabbitland Rescue."
"How'd you know!?" He gasped in feigned shock as she laid bare his plans. It thankfully made her brighten up.
She smirked, lifting up her chin as if she had an ace up her sleeve. "Sometimes, I think you love rabbits more than your Train!"
He caught his breath, hand on his chest as if struck. "How could you say that!?" Zelda knew there was nothing he loved more than Spirit Train. Even if she made fun of that, he didn't mind as long as she felt better.
She laughed, punching him in answer. "Say what you want, but you're the one who blushed when we first met." She wiggled her eyebrows at him pointedly.
"T-that's— I was a boy from a tiny village, it was the first time I've seen a girl my age. A-and you were really pretty." He looked away, his voice coming out higher than he expected, his face warm. It was unfair she was bringing that up now. Zelda kept giggling, which gave him time to take a breath. "Give this poor village boy a break. You're still pretty so better keep it as it is. If you were to go into marriage, that would ruin it."
She smiled, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Of course. I'll make sure to tell Teacher that."
"Maybe not everything." He chuckled, hoping the crisis was averted.
Zelda sighed, letting the embarrassment fade. "Speaking of the Rescue, I have something for you." She pulled out a little bundle from her pouch and gave it to him with a dramatic flourish. "Here."
Tentatively, Link peeled off the layers of fabric to reveal a small metal pin/badge in a simple shape of a rabbit head. "What is this?" he asked, confused.
"It's a badge of a rabbit hunte—rescuer—" She quickly corrected herself, grin wide to show teeth. "—to go with your engineer's badge. It's a proof of your contribution to the Rescue. It's one of a kind!"
"Why?" He turned it this way and that, watching the polished metal reflect the light.
"I thought Bunnio would give you a membership badge or something like that. The Rescue would still have two rabbits total if you didn't go all over the Realms for them, so I decided to make one for you." Taking the badge from his hands, she gripped the fabric of his uniform and pinned it above his heart.
"It was a shared effort," he protested.
"Not really. I only helped you spot them but you did most of the work. I was with you every rabbit of the way, so I know the great lengths you've gone to to catch them. I want others to know about your contribution to the cause," she said with an air of finality as if she was talking about promoting him to the highest office, and not a reward for catching rabbits.
"But— I can't wear it! How am I supposed to be taken seriously with this?" He motioned to it but she swatted his hands away. It would be too embarrassing to walk around with a rabbit-shaped badge.
"You can hide it under your coat if you can't stand the thought of people seeing it," she teased. "But you have to wear it, that's an order from your princess. You better think twice before taking it off."
Link had no idea if she was serious or joking, if she would take legal action if he didn't wear it — her smug grin could mean anything. He bowed his head, placing his fist on his chest, resigned to his fate of embarrassment. "Of course, Your Highness. Your wish is my command."
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it quickly. You'll forget you even have it," she added convincingly.
Fingering the badge and conscious of the neckerchief tied on his neck, he couldn't help noticing a certain pattern. "You really like forcing me to wear things, huh?"
She shrugged. "It just happens. You're like a sibling I always wanted. Well, you kinda are. I really appreciate that we can joke around together. It's fun. And you never say no, so there's that."
Zelda's beaming smile made her shine and Link loved seeing that. To him too, Zelda was like a long-lost sibling. They found each other by finding out they were related and, with such an awkward beginning to their companionship, it helped them be much more at ease. He couldn't disprove her argumentation.
And...well. He didn't know he could say no.
"Come to think of it, Link, do you have your certificate with you?"
"Yeah, why? You're not going to stamp it with a rabbit head too?" Of course he had it. It was proof he could drive a train; he needed to always have it, no matter where he went. He took it out.
"I just thought it might be missing something." She took the document from him, barely containing her mirth, and unfolded.
"Wait, is it even valid without it?" he asked aghast, looking over her shoulder. The certificate had his name and title, Zelda's signature and stamps; it didn't look like it was missing anything. If it was, how was he allowed to drive?
"Of course it is." She grabbed a pen from the table, turned the paper so it faced down and wrote something in the corner. After a short moment, she leaned away with a proud huff.
Link took it to see what she had added.
"Certified trainiac,
signed by Princess Zelda of New Hyrule."
His jaw hit the ground. "Zelda," he spoke under his breath, horrified. Was she crazy? On his certificate no less. It was inappropriate. Even more so than the badge.
"It's fine. No one will see it, anyway." She barely held back from full-on laughing at his reaction, her eyes twinkling.
"First the badge, now this. Do you hate me?" he asked cautiously, although he was trying not to laugh too, the chuckles escaping from behind her hands were infectious. It was great she was back in a good mood but why did it have to be at his expense?
"No!" She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, giggling. "I don't want you to forget about me while you're travelling out there without me!"
Link's smile froze on his lips when he realised he didn't have anything like that for her. Her gifts were strange, but he never really gave her anything, did he?
Zelda looked back at the added inscription. "Maybe I should make one like that for Ferrus, too?" she thought out loud. "He loves trains and he came up with this term after all."
"He'd definitely appreciate it, you know, the Princess of New Hyrule acknowledging he knows everything about trains. But… I don't think he would know how you know about that." Link raised an eyebrow because the princess knew about things she had no way of knowing. At least to most people.
"I can just say you told me." She stuck out a tongue at him. It was an argument she used often, but Link wondered when it would stop working.
"So that's another thing to do," muttered Zelda, filing the idea for later. Then she yawned, stretching her back. "It's gotten late and we didn't finish. You'll have to come by another day. Do you want to go talk to Teacher with me?"
"Well, it's going to be necessary. But under the condition that you tell him I won't be living in the castle," Link said, playfully nudging her arm.
Zelda snorted. "Wow, aren't you getting ahead of yourself, Mr. Engineer? Who said anything about you living here?" She made a show of scrutinising his very appearance, raising an eyebrow and wrinkling her nose in distaste, characteristic for stuffy nobles.
Even though Link knew she did that all in good humour, he couldn't help feeling very self-conscious, the skin on his arms and neck starting to itch uncomfortably. "I just get a feeling that once he finds out we're related, that'll be the case."
"And you don't want to live here with me?" the princess asked, flabbergasted, hand on her chest in an obviously exaggerated manner. She snickered at his mortified expression before humming, back to serious. "Well, I can't deny he'll probably try to convince you. Or give you something to eat." She poked his thin arm pointedly to which Link just moved his hand away. "By the way, will you stay for supper or are you too busy?"
"I wanted to get back if it won't be too late yet."
"Oh, then let's go talk to Teacher right away!" She jumped from her spot, deciding that if they hurried, Link would stay for the supper before leaving. She whirled around and pulled him from his seat — unfortunately for him, she was strong and managed without trouble. Before she could go any further, he stopped her.
"Wait, shouldn't you… change first?" Link suggested, motioning to her appearance.
Zelda blinked, realising she was still wearing the green tunic. "What, you think no one will recognise me? Maybe I could shirk my duties this way." She shook her head, smiling fondly. "Or it could help Teacher realise I do have heroism in my blood."
"In that case, wear the guard uniform. These clothes are old and torn." Link pointed out the various rips and stitches that littered the tunic. "And a bit small."
Zelda sighed. "Alright, I'll go change then. Wait for me, please." She disappeared again, but not without muttering, "will have to get myself a new guard uniform, more similar to the hero's tunic, though," as she went.
Link put away his engineer's certificate that was still lying on the table. The added inscription was embarrassing but it prompted him to think of what he could give Zelda. Something to remind her of him? Or of their travels together? He had lots and lots of treasures collected but they all seemed like nothing, just shiny trinkets. Zelda had enough of expensive jewellery, dishes, clothes; she didn't need any more of that. Nothing he could think of sounded right.
If he didn't have anything to give her, maybe he could make something.
A pictograph? But what could he take a picture of? A temple, the Tower of Spirits? She could see the Tower of Spirits every day. Taking a picture of some location didn't seem like it either. But a picture was something that Zelda could look at.
He could ask Niko to make one of his brilliant artworks to give her, but using someone else's work as a present seemed insincere. Crafting and anything of the sort was never Link's forte, he only ever drew trains and engines, machines, projects, and all that.
A drawing of a train for the princess was an absurd idea but...the Spirit Train. It was so much more to them than a simple train.
The Train was the best part of their mission.
Riding the Train was their break between fighting monsters, between scouring temples and the Tower. Between the chase across the Realms and looking for Zelda's body. Even when they were ambushed on the Tracks, the Spirit Train always kept them safe. When their lives were upturned, It lessened the impact. When Zelda lost everything — her own life — and only had him to go to, and when the world was near destruction, It was their safe haven. They could take a breath of relief once they climbed aboard.
The Train was where they talked, got to know each other and shared their lives. Where Zelda asked about his family and they found out they were related and unofficially became siblings. Where they shared their dark secrets; Zelda told him how it was to grow up under the demon's cruel watch. Link told her about how he lost his grandmother.
The Train was their break, their comfort, something that pulled them closer and changed their broken lives for the better.
It was their home, temporarily.
And It was their Spirit — their companion who traversed the blizzards, the raging volcano, the depths of the ocean with them. They wouldn't have been able to go anywhere without It. Wherever they went, Spirit went with them. The three of them together made that mission a success.
Link thought it was a good idea to draw the Spirit Train for her…or try to. He could try drawing all three of them. That was something that if she looked at, she would remember the good parts of their travels, be reminded she would never be alone again — not in spirit. Because their bond was forever.
He had pulled out his notebook and started sketching his idea when Zelda reappeared. Link jumped at the door clicking open, quickly shutting and stashing the notebook away.
Zelda was back to her regal dress and a subtle smile on her lips. She brushed off the skirts of her dress and clasped her hand tightly around his, throwing proper princess manners out the window. "Let's be off!"
Link let himself be pulled along, smiling, but couldn't help the dramatic sigh. "Guess I won't see the light of day again..."
"Oh, shut it." Zelda grinned, waving him off.
They left the dusty old room and all the discovered treasures scattered around, the princess complaining to the entire world,
"I can't believe my only family doesn't want to live here with me~!"
AN
Thanks for reading!
Zelda's like:
"Forcing you into things reminded me of something else I wanted to force you into. Do you have your certificate with you?"
"Yeah, you're not going to do something stupid about it, right?"
"No, don't worry. I'm going to do something worse :D"
Friedly reminder: their relationship literally started with Zelda forcing Link to wear some silly uniform and he just complied. There's no way she wouldn't keep doing that xD
This little thing happened a while ago, when i was wondering what would be Link and Zelda's reactions to all the items their predecessors had. There's so many references to both Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass in Spirit Tracks, and many are implied, it's difficult to ignore. I just love thinking about the possibilities of mixing these games, finding things in common and differences. This doesn't cover everything, there's much more up for the taking.
And why did i make them cousins? i don't mind when people write these two as a couple or something, there are so many sweet fics and fanarts of them, some are just absolutely adorable! But personally, i think of them as best friends- in this oneshot cousins but close like siblings. That's for a few reasons if you wish to know:
I don't deny Link had a crush on Zelda, he blushed when they first met. But that quickly changed, I think his crush died when he saw ghost Zelda. (like, his crush -Zelda- was dead. If i was Zelda, i would say this pun is killing me xP anyway) To him Zelda was dead, she was a ghost, a lost soul and now his responsibility that he had to do something about. Find her body and send her to the afterlife maybe? They didn't know she would be given another chance, she was as good as gone. So the only thing they could do was become friends, at least. (or soulmates)
And i really love the idea that they would be cousins, it's pretty much the only Zelda game where this is possible, because we know their predecessors (WW Link has an actual sister, that isn't just a mention or a theory, and Tetra as a potential and very real love interest (i mean, who doesn't love Tetra?:P)), the games are so closely related. They could bond over this and become close like siblings during their whole journey.
Not to mention, it would give Link's parents another reason to name him after the Hero of Winds because they're related. (It's very cool to me because in my country it's common to name your children after someone from your family)
You do not have to share this view, of course, but i'm sharing it here because that's the relationship Link and Zelda will have in most of my works.
Another thing i tried to imply but maybe it was confusing, about the headcanon of Aryll being Link's grandmother- she died some time before the events of the game (and Niko took Link in) so it wasn't a good time for Link, but... that's a whole other oneshot that i'm still undecided about posting...
And there might've been more references to other oneshots i have yet to complete and post.
I think that's all, you may tell me what i messed up, if you'd like, but otherwise -
Thanks for reading!
