cutegirlmayra
Prompt:
Giggles and childish laughter could be heard from under the castle, as two mischievous but adventurous youngsters sneak under the dirty and dark floors of the mossy ground towards the secret chamber of legends.
"You're going to love it, Link! But we must be silent." A young Zelda, turning around to place a finger on her mouth in the universal sign of 'shh', was speaking much louder than the boy ever uttered in his life.
He looked up, used to crawling into small and dirty places, but banged his head against the top of the floor, rattling some things above as a few maids in the night scrambled. Clearly, they were worried about mice…
"Just a little ways further… Father only let me in there once… but I swear, Link, he looks just like you!" she tapped the palm of her hand against the floorboards, before finally finding a rickety one. "Ah! Link! Help me move it, will you?" she looked behind her, seeing her young friend obediently move to her side.
They held the board with both hands bent above them. Link gave her a silent look, as if waiting instruction.
"Alright. Now I know we're both children—" she couldn't help but giggle in-between her sentences. For a princess, she was daring and exciting, and she loved to live her small, sheltered life in the moment of discovery. It gave her a rush, and Link couldn't help but be fascinated every time he saw her smile light up from her adventurous spirit taking wing.
"But I think we can push this!"
Link gulped.
The sides of his mouth pursed together and bent in as if he was keeping a secret.
"Don't fret, Link. We can do this!" She had no memory of the future he had known, but he knew. And he knew what he could accomplish with strength and…
Her faith.
"Ready?"
..In him.
"1…2…Ah!" she was surprised how quickly he lifted the block, all by himself, and the board slid as the open room became available to crawl up into.
"Oh." She stared up into the shadows, then looked to see Link standing and smiling down to her.
"…Well, you can be assured I'm well pleased." She leaned up, dusting off her dress and then trying to attempt to help him lower the board.
Without hesitation, Link placed the wooden blank, which truly looked like a cinder block and probably weighted as much too, down to the side and jumped out with a 'hyup!' before reaching down to help her through.
She blinked, "Do… Do all kokiri's have this strength?"
She took his hand…. Some magical feeling of security leaped through her, and she had to pause a moment to recognize it.
"Strange… it's like… I've felt this before. This moment… in a dream I think." She looked a little baffled, before shaking her head and getting ready to lift her foot. "Nevermind, I'm coming out."
Link's face had changed. A slimmer of hope passed his face but he said nothing, per usual.
He helped her out, but held her hand… hoping…
He squeezed it so lightly, it was almost unnoticeable.
Almost.
Nervously, Zelda giggled and to her hand.
He let it go and looked away, embarrassed as she turned away and blushed, hiding her touched hand behind her back like a silly lovestruck girl.
"Oh look! The mural!" she pointed towards the legend, the one her father had only shown her once, before locking the door.
"Isn't it… just… what words could you give it..?"
They walked around the room, quite large with little furniture, simply lots and lots of bookshelves.
"It's a beautiful piece… I wish we turn the light the candles and get a better look." She was amazed when light appeared, and turned around. "Oh, Link!" she stared at the flickering light, wondering where it came from. "It's as bright as Din's fire! But… how'd you manage a candle?"
He was holding a stick that lit up the room. He once again ducked his face a moment, before holding his achievement up in pride.
It was though he was confidently saying—Happy to be of service.
"Ah, a deku stick?" she examined it as he pulled out some milk too. "My! You really are the 'prepared for adventure' type, aren't you?" she laughed, and decided to let him keep the milk.
He looked down at the milk, wondering if he had done something wrong as she wondered around to gaze at the now lit up scenes of legends, trying to find a face as he put the milk away and stumbled over to her.
With a sincere wish to be of use to her, he held the deku stick with the burning flame like a solider, making sure to keep up with her and look dutiful.
She barely noticed this considerate nature though, although she knew it was very much ingrained in him, but stared at the face she was longing to see again.
"There! The handsome one! In green!"
Link, noticing the descriptor, looked to her and then up. He was in awe at the mural's depiction.
She sat down, moving to tuck her legs under her long nightgown dress and hugged her knees close to her.
"I've dreamed of a hero like this… They call him… The Hero Of Time."
Link's eyes widened, shifting around before looking back at Zelda's expression again.
In a sense of lulled ease, she dropped her doting head to her legs and tilted it every so slightly. She sighed, "Look how his face is completely towards his princess… It's said they never parted, always together… in all the legends… they seem to be close friends."
Link was looking back at the man… and felt a sense of belonging. As though fate would have it so, he silently made a prayer to the Goddesses that his destiny would go much like it should.
He wanted more than anything… to be next to Zelda.
He looked back to her, a goofy and content smile at his silent wish before being spooked back a bit.
She was staring directly at him… the flames flickered her blue eyes into a beautiful, trance like enchantment that stole his breath.
"O…wah…" He couldn't help but vocalize his absolute entrapment within their blue, radiant oasis…
She giggled.
"You stare at me as if you've never seen me before."
He looked away, embarrassed again.
He fidgeted, lifting a leg to scratch behind the calf of his other leg, keeping some wobblily, but decent balance as he held the stick in place.
It had been a while… for him anyway, since seeing Zelda like this…
The world was serene again… and he couldn't help but be moved by how peaceful it all was.
How… beautiful it was.
"Isn't she lovely?"
He turned his attention back to her as she now stood more upright on the ground, smiling with an odd sense of being bound to the princess in the mural. "…It's alright, you can think she's prettier than me." She laughed again, "After all, she is a woman." Zelda patted the spot next to her. "Want to stare at it a little longer? I hate looking at the black and red monster… but I do like the princess and hero's faces…"
He obliged, carefully sitting down before holding out the burning stick like a fishing pole.
She stared at Link as he admired the mural again, stretching out in a circle across the room and up to its roof.
She examined his face, and then nodded, "I had once thought my dream… would happen." She looked away.
Almost instantly, he knew what she meant, and his face turned a little more serious…
He slowly… moved it down, away from the mural.
"I worried what calamity would befall hyrule… but I had hoped to meet the hero. There was a boy, like you, in my dream-" she stopped herself. "Anyway, father thought it silly, and the evil man never came so…" she looked away, "…I was so sure of it, though."
He quickly turned his head, mouth open… before closing it.
Oh, Zelda… you were right.
He wanted to say.
You are always right…
His eyes turned softer, thinking back on her as a woman.
…And … you are beautiful.
Her sorrowful expression at sending him back to his world still stayed and lingered on his mind… even in his dreams, she was a vision of heavenly divinity.
"…Link…?" she scooted closer.
His whole being spiked into a sudden, electrified jolt at the contact of her shoulder touching his.
His face was now brighter then the glow of the flame above their tiny heads…
She yawned, and leaned her head against his shoulder.
He almost dropped the deku stick and quickly recovered.
"Could we… stay here… just a bit longer?"
He had stopped the terrible calamity she spoke of. He had lived the legend…
But his hero days weren't exactly over.
He took a gamble… and slowly moved his head to look down at her.
She seemed to softly be breathing…
He leaned his head down, and lightly kissed her forehead, breathing out the words he wished he could voice as a grown man.
"…You are beautiful…Zelda."
"Emm…" she squirmed slightly, the hot breath making her slightly uncomfortable. But with a quick adjustment, she was back to silent breaths of slumber…
He pulled out his ocarina, the one made specifically for him, and although not as magical as his last Ocarina he held…
He played her lullaby.
If she was awake, she may have been surprised he knew it.
But while she slept… she dreamed of a man in green by her windowsill, sitting with one leg up and leaning against the frame. Her, a much older woman lying in bed, hearing his beautiful lullaby to her while she drifted into a peaceful rest…
It was so serene… the dream so perfect…
From that moment on, she had renewed faith in another dream. A better dream.