Hey, remember this li'l thang that ya girl posted two chapters of and then skirted for like eight months? ...Yeah, sorry about that.
Different was the word Link had used to describe the way teleportation felt. If there were a stronger word, Emilia would have used that. It was unlike anything else she had ever felt before, like her body was liquefied and poured away. While it hadn't hurt, as Link had promised, it left her feeling unsteady.
She was on the hill overlooking Kakariko Village when her body reformed from the droplets, her feet on the cool surface of the base of a shrine. The sight of the village and the shrine up close made her heart begin to race again. Though they were so close to the animated versions she knew, they were startlingly real.
As she and Link started down the hill, she thought that the village wasn't quite as close to its game counterpart as the shrine was. She could easily identify some of the structures below, but there were more she knew hadn't been there. Though the village was still small, the additions made the game version seem much smaller, much less accommodating to the people who called it home.
Emilia wrapped the blanket tighter around herself when they made it down into the heart of the village. A few people were out that she could see along the way—an old man tending to a pumpkin patch, two young girls playing, the greeter at the clothing shop, and one of the guards of Impa's house. The greeter called out as they passed her by that Enchanted had cute clothes and that it looked like Emilia needed some. Flustered, Emilia muttered that she had no money.
They stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading up to Impa's house. The guard there—she wasn't entirely certain which one he was, but she guessed it was Cado—looked her over, and she shrunk behind Link. It was hard to look into his eyes, so Emilia instead settled her sights on the stunning waterfalls and cliffs that framed Impa's house and prayed for him to just let them through.
"Is this the girl you spoke to Lady Impa of?" the guard asked.
Link affirmed that she was, and the guard nodded and stepped aside. Head down, Emilia stole one last glance at him before ascending the stairs with Link.
Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest when they got up to the double doors and Link knocked on them. An old voice called from inside, permitting them to enter. Link strode in without any hesitance. It took Emilia an extra second to force herself to follow him in, and she stopped right in front of the doors, taking in the sight of the house. Aside from the addition of a short-legged table with several cushions on the floor around it, it didn't appear that far off from the house she was familiar with. They were nearly identical.
Right down to the tiny old lady sitting atop a pile of cushions toward the back of the room.
Impa's mouth spread into a grin, showcasing what few teeth she had left and making the countless wrinkles on her face sink even deeper into her skin. She gestured with her knobby fingers for Emilia to come forward. "I invited you in, didn't I?" her voice crackled.
Reassuring herself that she had no reason to be so nervous, Emilia approached her. Impa gave her the same scrutinous eyeing that the guard had, and Emilia again pulled the blanket tighter around herself. The grin on Impa's face faltered when her line of sight looked to fall right on Emilia's neck. The lump in Emilia's throat rose again, and with it came a burning hot awareness of the scar there.
"So, you're the one Link found alive in a casket," Impa said. "Milia, is it?"
"Emilia." She wondered how far the mispronunciation of her name had spread in the day since she'd slurred it out while virtually unconscious.
Impa turned her attention to Link. "Thank you for bringing her to me. Why don't you go spend some time in the village and let us speak in private for a while?"
Link nodded, gave a quick little smile to Emilia, and turned to leave. As soon as she heard the doors shut behind her, Impa's eyes met hers again. Her expression was serious, grave. Emilia wasn't sure she wanted to hear what she had to say anymore. That look alone gave her the feeling Impa had no good news to give.
"You were murdered," Impa said.
The words hit Emilia like a truck. They were so blunt, so certain—and so wrong. "No, I wasn't," she said firmly. "I was almost murdered."
"You truly never died?" Impa asked, curious but unconvinced. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get to be in that casket, then?"
"Um, well—I don't remember how I got in there, but... It wasn't because I was dead. Whoever buried me just thought I was. Obviously, I wasn't, if you couldn't tell by—y'know, me being ... not dead."
Impa blew air out of her nose. With her straight face, Emilia didn't know if her half-hearted laugh was meant to be derisive or not. "So, the only reason you believe you never died is that you're alive?"
"Yes...?" It was such an obvious answer, but the way Impa had asked as if it was a stupid question made her confidence waver. "That's ... kinda how dying works."
"Under normal circumstances, it is, yes. I do not know if Link told you, but you are not the only one to have been found alive in a casket recently. Just days ago, one of our townspeople heard muffled cries for help from under the ground; and lo and behold, it was my own grand-aunt, who died 154 years ago. There is no doubt that she rose from the dead."
She felt a twinge of dejection. Not only was the mystery girl not from her world, but from the sounds of it, she could probably hardly even be called a girl—being the previously-deceased grand-aunt of the extremely elderly Impa likely meant that she would be another old woman. Emilia had been hoping that the mystery girl would at least be close to her age, in the case that she wasn't from her world. If she was neither—if their only common ground was that they'd both woken up in caskets—Emilia knew she'd end up feeling so much more alone.
"But..." Emilia swallowed heavily, trying to reroute her mind back to the topic at hand. "It's different, with me."
"Are you sure?" Impa said. "Tell me this—what year were you born?"
Emilia floundered, unsure of how to answer. She didn't know what year it was here, but she knew Hyrule had been around for over 10,000 years. If she admitted to being born in the year 2000, Impa would take that as proof of her having been dead and buried in Hyrule's earth for thousands of years, when the reality was that she wasn't from Hyrule at all.
"Did you not hear the question I asked you?" Impa said, interrupting her contemplation.
"I did, but I was—I was just trying to ... do the math, in my head," Emilia forced out. She looked down and wrung her fingers, then moved them to fiddle with the blanket instead when her stomach twisted from the look and feel of the scars across her skin. "I'm from—I'm from another country. And, um, we count years differently. I was born in the year 2000 there, eighteen years ago, but I don't know what year that would be here... I, uh, was never really good at math."
It became uncomfortably silent, and it stayed that way for an uncomfortable amount of time. Unable to handle the tense atmosphere anymore, Emilia peeked up.
Impa did not look angry as she had feared she would; her face was devoid of any readable emotion whatsoever.
"...You are a terrible liar."
Emilia's entire body went hot and the beginnings of sweat drops formed on her nape. "But—but that is the truth. I'm from another country, I was born eighteen years ago in 2000, and I don't know what year it is here."
Impa leaned forward on her cushions, and the way she looked at Emilia made her feel that she could see right through her soul. "That much may be true, but you and I both know there is something you are hiding. I don't know why it is that you don't wish to share the full truth with me, but you must. It is of utmost importance that you are cooperative and offer any information you have that may help us find what has caused this to occur. Lying will not help any of us."
"I'm not lying, I'm just—"
"Perhaps not entirely," Impa interrupted curtly. "But a lie by omission is a lie nonetheless. Surely you must understand why I hesitate to believe that you are telling me the whole truth. Your scars tell a story that your words do not—and the story told by your scars matches with the story I know to be true of my grand-aunt."
"But our stories are different. I don't..." Emilia huffed frustratedly. "I don't know how I can prove it to you, but I swear, it's just a coincidence that we both were found in caskets. I didn't die like she did."
"Is that what you truly believe, or what you want to believe?" Impa mused quietly.
"It is what I believe," Emilia said, a bit too quick. "I didn't die. I didn't."
"Incredulous, aren't we?" Impa said under her breath. She let out a long sigh and readjusted herself, sitting upright and smoothing out her skirt. "Whatever you say. Let's not focus on whether you died or not. Regardless, am I correct in assuming that you do not know the reason for your awakening in a casket here?"
Finally, a change in focus—Emilia didn't want Impa grilling her on her not-death any longer. She nodded. "Yeah... I really have no idea how I got here. I mean, even if I died like you seem to think I did, my casket never should've ended up here. I should be buried in Arizona."
"Arizona, hm? I don't recall ever having heard of such a place in my 120 years on this earth... Where is it in relation to Hyrule?"
...Shit.
There were so many questions Impa could've asked her—why couldn't she have chosen a question where the answer wouldn't make Emilia sound like a crazy liar?
Just say it and get it over with. So what if she doesn't believe the truth? She won't believe you if you try to lie or hide anything, either...
Emilia squeezed her eyes shut, too embarrassed to look at Impa while telling her the ridiculous, unbelievable truth. "I know how crazy and fake this has to sound, but—but Arizona is in another world. Or another dimension, or universe, I don't know which. A-all I know is that in my home, in my world, there is no Hyrule. There just isn't. Hyrule is a place in stories, and that's it. It's not real," she said, voice quivering more with each sentence. "No one from my home could have, or would have, buried me in some country that doesn't exist to us. It's not possible for me to be here."
"...And yet, here you are," Impa gently said.
When Emilia opened her eyes to look at her again, her vision was blurred. "You ... believe me?"
"I understand now why you wished to omit this information. Your story is quite far-fetched, indeed. But it is just as far-fetched that my grand-aunt has risen from the dead." A smile grew on Impa's face. "I believe you. My people have always had an eye for the truth, and I sense no deception in what you've told me."
Relieved at the faith Impa had in her, she let out a shaky breath and blinked away the wetness that had started to form in her eyes. "So... Do you have any clue how I got here? Or how I could get back...?"
"I'm afraid not, but whatever force is responsible for your appearance here is a mighty one, to be sure. In the face of such a powerful force, I believe your return might be impossible."
Emilia felt her heart drop in her chest.
"But all hope is not lost," Impa continued before she could dwell on that thought too much. "I find it very unlikely that you and my grand-aunt are alone in your awakenings here; perhaps if we find others like you and her, we can figure out what is responsible for this, and from there we can see if there is some way to send you home. I've planned for her and Link to start searching for others awoken across this land, and for them to make a trip to someone who has resources which could potentially uncover the reasoning behind this phenomenon. I would like for you to travel with them."
It took a second for Impa's words to properly register within her. She wanted her to travel around Hyrule—the actual, real Hyrule. It was something straight out of a fantasy, the sort of thing she would've daydreamed about while bored at work or school, and it was real.
But of all the daydreams to be made real, why, oh why, couldn't it have been one in any other version of Hyrule? She just had to wind up in the one with Lynels and Taluses and Hinoxes and Guardians...
Guardians.
Impa's brows drew together. "Are you all right with that?"
Mind still caught up on monsters, her first thought was a sharp No. She would never survive out there, and as long as she did, she would only be a burden on Link and whoever else they would be traveling with. If she couldn't even defend herself from an average-sized human man, then she stood no chance against monsters. She was going to end up getting herself killed, for real this time, probably before she could even find out what had brought her here—so why even try?
Yet, even if her quest would put her in the heart of danger ... it was likely better than the alternative. Maybe she couldn't help them fight monsters, but she could still help, help them figure out what was going on. She could not just sit around, especially not when she was dying to know the answers herself. Beyond sating her intense curiosity and desire to be of use, staying busy would also make it easier to push everything down, to distract herself from thinking too much about what had happened that night.
And besides... This was, after all, a scenario she couldn't have ever dreamt of actually happening—so why not make the most of it all?
It wasn't like she had anything to lose. She'd already lost everything.
"Nothing to lose," Emilia breathed out, more to herself than Impa. She nodded resolutely. "I'll go."
"Good. Once you've readied yourself for your travels, we'll all come together to have a quick discussion, and then you shall make your leave. There is a bathhouse stocked with towels and soaps next door to my abode that you are welcome to make use of. And..." Impa motioned to her left, where a tiny stack of folded clothes sat on the floor next to the staircase. "These undergarments are for you. We do not usually share any of our clothing with others outside our tribe, but I could not in good conscience send someone out into this world in only their skin."
Emilia grabbed the clothes from the floor. It was just a bandeau bra and boy shorts that looked like the feminine counterpart to the underwear Link had. Her cheeks were already warm simply imagining walking around Hyrule in only them. She'd never minded showing some skin beforehand—her love of swimming and her summer job at a pool meant she spent a decent chunk of the year practically living in a bathing suit—but after what had happened...
"I promise you, they're clean," Impa said.
"I wasn't... I wasn't even thinking about that, but, um, thanks for the clarification. I'll get going to the bathhouse now."
Impa nodded once, and then Emilia turned and left. Her tension eased as the doors shut behind her and a refreshing gust of wind blew by.
She looked for Link as she walked down the stairs, but the only people she could see from where she was were the guard and the greeter. It wasn't until she was almost at the bathhouse that she saw Link. The bathhouse was in the spot where the cooking pot and eating area had been, and both that and the produce store next to it were farther over. Link was at one of the tables, tapping away on the slate's screen.
Emilia peeked into the bathhouse to make sure nobody was in there before she entered. Though currently empty, it was clearly meant to be communal. A divider ran down the center of the room, and each side had shelving with toiletries, numerous taps and small stools lining the walls, and a shallow pool of water toward the back. She could only guess that one side of the room was meant for males and the other for females, but as far as she could see, there was nothing to indicate which was which. Hoping it was the right one, she chose to go to the right side.
Her fangirl pulled through and allowed her to read the bottles on the shelves easily enough to figure out what was body soap and what was shampoo. While grateful that they had running water and cleansing products at all, she was a bit let down that she couldn't find any conditioner. Detangling the absolute mess of her hair was going to suck without it.
After much work getting the majority of the knots out, she was satisfied enough. She would've liked to have vigorously washed herself for hours to try to get rid of the grimy feeling that covered every inch of her skin, but she became antsy to get back into clothes after so long without them. She dried herself off as much as possible with a towel when finished, lamenting the absence of her much-loved hair dryer with its diffuser—it was already chilly enough without having wet hair, it would take forever to dry, and it would dry all frizzy—and then she got dressed. The bandeau, to her surprise, stretched to fit her chest perfectly, and it didn't seem like it was going anywhere unlike the strapless bras she'd had no luck with back home.
She threw the blanket from the stable around her shoulders like a shawl and pulled her hair over it before going to leave the bathhouse. Emilia opened the front door—only to jolt and yelp at the sight of someone on the other side.
"Oh! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you!"
As quickly as panic had struck her, Emilia's nerves began to calm—it was just a girl. She drew her outstretched hand to her chest and hung her head, looking at Emilia with big brown eyes full of far too much repentance for an unintentional scare. If her mannerisms alone weren't enough to go by, Emilia was certain it was Paya judging by her hair and tattoo.
"It's—it's okay," Emilia said, voice trembling with the remainder of shock in her. "I'm, um, I'm sorry if I frightened you, too. I didn't think anyone was gonna be at the door."
"N-no, you're all right. No need to apologize. I-I understand, you must be very beside yourself right now," she said. Her eyes widened suddenly. "Ah, I haven't told you yet—I-I'm Paya. The woman you met with, Impa—she's my grandmother. She told me about you. And she asked me to come make sure you were all right, because you've been in here for a while..."
"I'm all right. I've just ... got a lot of hair," Emilia said, pulling one long, wet curl down, and letting it spring up. "And it was kind of a mess, so..."
Paya gave her a weak smile. "I see. So, are you all ready to go? Master Li-Link has already gone back inside, and he's waiting for you with Grandmother and her grand-auntie."
Emilia nodded, and Paya led her out of the bathhouse. The man standing guard at Impa and Paya's house wordlessly moved out of the way to let them through to the stairs, to which Paya quietly said, "Thank you, Cado"—so, Emilia had been right that it was him. At the top of the stairs, Paya called out that Emilia was there, and Impa's voice rang through the door telling her to enter. Paya motioned for her to go in.
"You're not coming?" Emilia asked. She felt a bit weird about walking in on her own, even with the permission of both of the house's inhabitants.
"No. I-I don't believe I was invited. Not that Grandmother would mind me sitting in, b-but, ah..." Paya looked away, and added in a quiet voice, "Really, it's a bit hard to be around M-Master Link when he's dressed s-so ... immodestly."
Just speaking of him made Paya's already-rosy cheeks redden further. Looking eager to distract herself from the thought of Link's immodesty, Paya hurriedly urged Emilia to go on inside, bid her farewell, and scurried off. Emilia took in a deep breath before entering the house alone.
Impa was not at the back, but rather sitting on her cushions at the head of the small table. Sitting to her right was Link, and to her left was, apparently, her grand-aunt, who didn't look anything like Emilia had resigned herself to expect. She wasn't an old lady after all—she was a cute girl, close to Emilia's age, who must've simply died young. As the girl's eyes met hers, Emilia's heart fluttered. They were a striking blood-red, in stark contrast to their doe-like, innocent shape. Three red triangles were tattooed under each eye to go with the Sheikah symbol on her forehead. Her snow-white hair was partially in a bun, the bun struck through with red sticks and the lower half falling to her shoulders, with long pointed ears keeping the thick strands of her side bangs hanging in the front.
"Welcome back," Impa said. "Please, come sit."
She obliged and took a seat next to Link, continuing to soak the girl in all the while. Emilia knew she hadn't met anyone that looked quite like her back home—as far as she was aware, it wasn't really possible for an Asian girl to naturally have white hair, red eyes, and elf ears—but there was something so familiar about her. It was hard to look away.
"Emilia, this is my grand-aunt Avera. Avera, this is Emilia," Impa said, gesturing to each of the girls.
"Hi, Emilia," Avera said. Even her voice—sweet and warm as the smile she gave her—was familiar.
The corners of Emilia's lips raised in a small returning smile. "Hi," she said, the word unintentionally coming out so quiet she might as well have whispered.
"Now that we've all been introduced, shall we begin?" Impa said. Once everyone showed agreement, she went on. "To start with, I have some potentially unfortunate news, Avera. While we know that you were revived in the very same place you were buried, Emilia does not seem to be quite like you. She did not die here. She's from a foreign country, and her being buried and awakening here should have been impossible."
Avera's white brows creased, and she tilted her head. "I don't think that changes much of anything," she said. She looked at Emilia again, and again Emilia's heart fluttered. "Whether or not you were originally buried here, we are connected, somehow. I can feel it. Can you?"
Emilia grimaced. "I... I don't know. I feel ... something. But I don't understand how we both could've been awakened by the same thing. It makes sense for you to wake up here, because you died here, but..."
"Regardless, this being but a mere coincidence is simply inconceivable," Impa said. "And as I've told you both, I find it just as improbable that you two are the only ones to have something like this occur to you. By finding more people who've been revived and comparing your experiences, we may be able to find the cause. Truth be told... I've had one small, unlikely suspicion as to how you woke up, Avera. But you arriving here is nothing short of a mystery to me."
At that, Emilia finally pried her eyes away from Avera and looked at Impa. "How do you think she woke up?" Emilia asked, wondering if Impa's idea could also somehow apply to her in a way she hadn't considered.
Impa pursed her wrinkled lips, stalling. "...How much has Link told you of himself?"
"Uh, just his name, and that he has no memory, really," Emilia said slowly, worried she might accidentally say something about him she shouldn't have known yet. "Is there something I should know...?"
"Do you mind...?" Impa said to Link.
Link waved his hands out in a carefree motion. "Tell her whatever. I don't mind."
Impa nodded and turned her attention back to Emilia. "You see... Link fell in battle 100 years ago and was placed into a medical facility known as the Shrine of Resurrection to be revived. We knew very little of the Shrine of Resurrection before he was placed in there; we didn't even know it would work at all. I've wondered ... if, perhaps, the shrine is more powerful than we ever thought—if its abilities have spread beyond its walls, seeping out into the world around it and resurrecting others." Impa shook her head. "It's quite unlikely, but it was all I could think of when Avera was first revived. If that were the case, I would imagine the dozens of people in our graveyard would have all awoken, not just one—and your arrival cannot be explained by that.
"But, as I've said, I do believe there is someone out there who could potentially help us figure out what happened," Impa continued to the group. "She runs her own research lab in Hateno Village. I would like for you three to go visit her."
"Is she the same person you said would be able to fix my Sheikah Slate?" Link asked.
"Yes, that is her. If you leave immediately and get yourselves some horses, you have a chance at making it to her before nightfall."
Impa slowly stood up, and the others followed her lead. With Avera having been sitting before, Emilia hadn't noticed how tall she was, and noticing only made her feeling of familiarity surge. She had to have seen her before.
Maybe there is something connecting us.
"I'd like to see you all again once you've spoken to her," Impa said. "Tell the leader of Hateno to listen for anyone in their graveyard, and listen for others yourselves along the way. And please... Be safe."