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The Legend of Zelda

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-. WILD HEART .-

Link x OC

'for those who just can't forget'

Chapter 1

"The princess awaits you in Hyrule Castle."

"You must save Hyrule... You must save my daughter..."

The dying words of the king's spirit were still fresh on my mind as I landed safely off the cliff side of the Great Plateau. After a moment to kneel on the ground to recover, I looked to the paraglider the king gave me. It was bulky, and didn't seem to have any way of folding in on itself. I searched over it a few times, trying to figure out how to store it.

"Hey, quit blocking the road."

I froze, hearing a horse's hoof stomp behind me before spinning around. A tall horse was there, its rider covered in a full shroud. Their eyes were barely visible to me, along with the bridge of a rather tanned nose.

They were glaring at me.

I sucked in a breath as their bright red eyes darted to the paraglider I held firmly, before I took a massive step to the side. It was then that I glanced down to find I was, indeed, standing in the middle of a road. But the path was plenty wide enough for this person and their horse to easily get by me. To make a point of this, I then looked back up to them and narrowed my eyes.

The rider clicked their tongue, before grumbling under their breath something I didn't quite catch. I could hear the lilt of a feminine voice and watched carefully as she kicked her horse to trot off. Said horse moved forward easily, as if it had trotted this path a dozen times already.

I noticed, with mild irritation, that the rider was heading down the path to the Duelling Peaks. If I followed far enough away, would she notice me? After a bought of hesitation, I followed down the same path.

The ruins alongside the road looked... oddly familiar... as if I had been down this path before. Flags that had been weathered down, carts that were flipped over, even stone walls were piles of rubble to some of the buildings.

It felt... wrong...

Was this what I would see throughout Hyrule? Was this the result of the Calamity the king spoke of?

A loud groan alerted me to a figure resting in one of the fallen buildings. It was huge, looming over me as it stood up. It gave a long yawn as I lowered my stance.

A moblin. Not the hardest creature to fight. They were big and slow, but packed a powerful punch. It slowly began to scan it's surroundings as I backed behind one of the flipped over carts. If I could just get behind it...

I took a small step towards the beast, almost out from cover, when a sharp snort came to my ears. Tense, I slowly turned my head to look behind me.

Beneath the flipped over cargo that was between me and another broken building, a moblin had been resting. But it's eyes were open now as it stared at me.

It flailed before I had a chance to silence it, sending boxes and the cart flying as I dodged away. The other moblin noticed, turning it's body to let out a roar. I dodged the closer one as it struck at me again, moving around it to go in for the kill.

My traveller's sword nearly bounced off the creature, hardly cutting more than an inch into the tough hide. It roared in anger, swinging around to swipe at me. I dodged again, only for the second one to lunge at me. I gave a shout and swiped at the monster's wrist with the blade. It managed to break skin and the second moblin yanked itself away.

Except this wasn't home free, as I was now trapped between a wall and two moblins. What was worse, I was already winded. Something in my gut told me I was way fitter than this, but I couldn't get enough air into my lungs to settle my heart.

I would have to make it work though.

"The princess is waiting for you."

I raised my sword, ready to try again.

Something struck the first moblin in the eye, causing it to fall backwards as it screeched in pain. The second looked to it's companion before something hit it in the back of the skull. It pitched forwards in the direction it had been looking, to the other moblin. They landed in a heap, fighting and writhing.

"Don't just stand there!"

The voice was accompanied by a galloping of hooves. I was shocked to see the girl in the shroud speeding full tilt at me, a bow in one hand as the other reached outwards.

Was she... giving me a hand?

I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and reached out to grab it. With surprising ease she yanked me along as her horse hardly slowed down. I was pulled to sit right behind her and automatically held onto her waist to stay balanced. The large horse galloped through the road back to the great plateau, before coming to a staggering halt. It reared in a half spin before the girl kicked it to gallop back at the moblins. They roared at her, blocking the path.

"Outta the way ugly!" She shouted, and her horse responded by jumping at the beasts. It knocked them over easily, and continued to gallop away as though unphased. I held on to her waist a bit tighter, feeling her shift to keep her own balance, I matched my hips to hers as best as I could. She turned her horse off the road when another horde of bokoblins and moblins could be seen in the distance. She turned her mount northward, into the fields.

A few minutes later, we came to walk.

"You're really two for two today." Her grumbling made me tense up slightly, but she didn't make another peep towards me save for some words under her breath.

From our position I could see the castle beyond us. The girl sat just slightly shorter than me, so I could see the plume of malice rising out from the castle over top her head. She halted her horse in the field, seeming to sense where I was looking.

"That's Hyrule Castle, if you're wondering. Nothing but death around every corner there." She hummed to herself as if confirming her own statement. I half listened as my hands left her waist and I allowed my body to slide off the horse. My eyes never strayed from the looming castle, nor the great pillars that surrounded it.

"What are you doing?" The girl sounded suspicious, and when I looked at her almost completely covered face, I saw the narrowed eyes that confirmed this.

Instead of answering, I gave a firm nod, then promptly turned to walk off towards the castle.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" I didn't stop despite her words, my eyes dead set on my path. I heard her dismount as she rushed at me. She reached my right shoulder and yanked me to turn around.

"Didn't you hear the whole 'death and doom around the corner' part of my comment earlier?" Her eyes, despite her harsh tone, looked like they were pleading. I hesitated for a moment.

"Link...You are the light... Our light..."

I sucked in a breath and turned back to march across the field. I heard the girl curse under her breath as she stomped after me again.

"Look would you just-" As she reached for my shoulder again, I slapped her hand away and gave her a look. I hadn't swung hard; in fact, I doubt it was enough to shake her off. Yet she looked so shocked that I had essentially shoved her hand away that she just stopped and stared at me. Her eyes were wide, as if I had truly struck her.

Part of me wanted to apologize, because I didn't mean her harm. However, before the words could leave my mouth, those eyes changed. They were narrowed, the bridge of her nose, at least the thin strip I could see, looked pinched.

"Fine," her tone lowered from before. She sounded angry. "Find out the hard way."

With that, she turned on her heel and marched back to her horse. Easily jumping up, she took off back across the field.

What a stubborn brat...

I continued with my march, fuelled on by the attitude of the girl. She acted like I was a useless being, like I had no capacity to help myself at all!

Though... she had had to save me from a couple moblins not even an hour ago...

Perhaps if I was anymore prideful, I might've been angry at being saved, but the reality was whatever stamina and strength I once had had clearly dwindled in the 100 years I had been asleep. I didn't really have a choice in the matter, and would probably need to accept help sometime in the near future again.

My march brought me closer to Hyrule Castle, but I still suck in a large open field. It seemed safe, with nothing jumping out at me immediately.

Until a red dot appeared on my stomach.

I looked down at it, getting an immense sense of dread in my gut at the sight. No doubt, I had seen this before...

The guardians.

I saw them on the plateau, broken down and half buried in the ground without legs to drag themselves. But as I looked ahead, I found this one was fully mobile.

And heading straight at me.

I leapt to the side as it shot out a beam. The blast went flying past me, the heat licking my exposed skin. Instinct took over as I pulled out my sword and shield. The second beam was locked on target, but as if my body picked up on the memories that I forgotten, when it sent a blast at me I swung my shield and parried it back.

The blast hit it square in the eye, sending it reeling back. My legs buckled slightly; the strength of a fully operational guardian's blast was immense. It recovered far too quickly and came at me again. I steeled myself, ready to parry, when a red dot hit the side of my face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see another guardian marching across the field.

….. Well fuck.

This had definitely not been the plan.

And, as if the goddesses were laughing at me, I was saved yet again.

An arrow blasted at the guardian closest to me, and I dodged the blast of the second. The guardian shot by the arrow seemed to be short circuiting as it stood there, stunned. Small snaps of electricity were going off around it.

"Hey!" I didn't need to look and see who it was, nor did I get the chance as the same large horse came to a sliding halt beside me. The girl yanked at my collar, her voice dangerously low for something so soft.

"Are you done being an idiot or what?"

I yanked my collar away from her hands before turning to see her. She wasn't looking at me though, and faster than even I could, she pulled her bow out and shot an arrow again.

"We need to leave. Now." She shot another around, hitting the guardian that was approaching. Without waiting for assistance, I yanked myself up behind her. The moment my hands touched her waist she kicked her horse into a full gallop and then some. She weaved slightly, avoiding the beams blasting at us. I glanced behind to see the guardians giving chase. The girl changed course, moving to some ruined buildings on the eastern side of the field. She pulled her horse behind one building, finding a large gap in the foundation. Her horse trotted inside, minding the rubble as we ducked our heads.

She waited, ignoring the horse's heavy breathing and our own. The ominous sounds of the guardians could still be heard following us. Still, she waited quietly, before seeing through a small sliver in the stone wall that a guardian stood on the other side of it. My ears could pick up another one in the opposite direction.

"It's fine," she said, likely because my body had tensed against hers again. "They have no hearing capabilities. And their object permanence is very short. As long as they don't spot us, we'll be fine."

True to her words, the guardians seemed to have forgotten about us and moved away, wandering aimlessly through the fields. It was only after the fact that I realized my arms had still been gripping her hips hard. We had been galloping in zigzags across the field, but in the tense moment I had clung to her for dear life.

My fingers released their grip, almost cramping at having to let go. Whether she had been bothered by it or not, I couldn't tell. Slowly, she urged her horse to leave the safety of the broken building. After seeing that the coast was clear, a single click of her heels to the horse's side was all it took to get the steed off at a canter. With the easy movement I managed to keep with the rhythm without yanking onto her, opting to instead hold the seat of the saddle beside me.

My eyes roamed the fields, seeing guardians in the distance but none seemed to notice us. They were everywhere in the fields it seemed. Probably because they had clear sights for longer distances and could see movement from far across the land?

The horse eased to a trot. I looked forward to see the girl calming her horse further to a walk. She gave the horse a pat.

"What a good girl." She cooed, her voice changing to one that held great affection as she patted the mare's neck. I watched the back of her head, still completely covered and unseeable to me. It was only when she half turned to look at me that I could see the sharpness in her eyes still present.

"Still have a death wish? I'm not saving you a third time." She said it with such finality, as if her words would stop me. My eyes narrowed, a frown tugging at the corner of my lips.

"Don't you give me that look, you would've been fried to a crisp if I hadn't come along!" She turned back around, huffing lightly. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but you're not some legendary hero who can kill guardians. They take a lot of work to break, and it's just not worth the hassle."

I hated to admit it, but she was right. She had saved me twice. Although her comment about being a legendary hero stung me deeply.

Wasn't I supposed to be this big hero?

Hesitantly, I lifted my hand to touch her shoulder. There was a pause where I reconsidered, then I finally let the palm of my hand minutely rest against the point of her shoulder. Her head turned back around at the touch and she looked me dead in the eye. She looked ready for a fight, but I swallowed what little pride I had left despite the frown on my face.

"Thank you, for saving me." I spoke quietly, almost not wanting to say anything at all. Her eyes widened though; a shiver went through her as she stared into my eyes. She looked to be searching for something. Finally her eyes crinkled in the corners as though she were grinning.

"Oh, so you can talk." Her voice was sly, albeit triumphant. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole rather than listen to her gloat about something like my voice. It was strange though, as I hadn't spoken more than three words since I had woken up. Yet it felt strangely natural to speak to this girl. However, I would rather face the guardians again than tell her that.

At the stretch of silence I expected her to either fill it or feel uncomfortable, but she seemed at ease just looking at me. Her eyes softened after a while, and she tilted her head slightly.

"So... if not Hyrule Castle... where is it you're heading?" She asked gently, for the first time since I met her. I paused, glancing at the Duelling Peaks.

"Kakariko Village." I said shortly. When I looked back at her, there was a far off look as she looked over to the castle. I titled my own head and tried to see her face, but she turned around completely.

"Oh that's good, I was just heading back there. Might as well hitch a ride, who knows if you'd make it there by yourself." It was a backhanded kindness that both was very generous and also stabbed me in the gut. I almost wanted to launch myself off the horse and walk on my own, but the image of the guardians made me hesitate. The girl knew these lands better than I did. And at the very least, she knew where Kakariko was. For now I would just have to suck it up and deal.

"My name is Tal, and yours?" She asked suddenly. I looked back down at her, biting back any commentary I wanted to add.

"Link." Tal hummed to herself at that.

"Link huh? Well Link, you better hold on tight. Fylla loves to fly home." She chuckled to herself. However before I could ask what she meant, Tal dropped the reins that i hadn't realized were held tightly up to that point. The horse, Fylla, felt the slack in the reins and took off at a gallop. I grabbed the saddle with one hand, my other had my palm pressed flat to her stomach to try and anchor myself. Tal didn't seem to mind though, as her laughter was tossed into the wind. I wanted to make a comment about how obnoxious she could be, but as I settled into the movement and relaxed some, I began to enjoy the breeze and the cloudy day above us.

Perhaps the trip might actually be tolerable.

Hey y'all! Hope everyone is doing great.

This story idea popped into my brain a while ago, and I just was like 'fuck it, let's see what happens'. I have always imagined going on adventures in LOZ, it was the first game I ever play (Ocarina) and I always play the newest 3D console games that i can.

This story should be fun, and I'm honestly just writing it for myself and some practice in writing male characters. The entire story will be from Link's POV, which I thought was perfect since he's so bloody quiet. It may take me some time to really get into the rhythm, but we shall see where it goes from here!

I'm rating this story M more for the blood and mature themes. Tal also has a mouth on her. For context, Tal is 19, Link is... 20 as of this chapter (add on 100 years for the world record of longest nap but whatever). I genuinely don't want any limiters and just want to write freely, so here it goes! The story starts with Link just leaving the plateau (I imagined him taking about a month to complete everything up there tbh, considering he's supposed to be pretty weak at this point and not at all like a playable character who can run for days). It will go all the way until he defeats Ganon.

Thanks for reading, see you next time!

Iland Girl