daymare
-sequel to daydream-
i. Zelda has began to cook a little more. She is still not the best at it, but she has been presenting a few meals a week to Link so that he can try them. These dishes have started to cross over above a negative rating, but are nowhere near the quality that Link has perfected. And she's resigned herself to that.
At first, Link wasn't too worried about this sudden change, but sometimes she runs herself ragged with trying to perfect recipes and techniques. He's had to stop her from burning her hand when she angrily reaches for the pot in an unmistakable move to throw it. She's broken spoons. Smashed cups.
He's being patient, only because trying to get her to focus on something that isn't cooking doesn't seem to be working out.
ii. Since her return, Zelda isn't very fond of waking up early. Instead, it is Link waking up with the rising of the sun to tend to the cuccos that have started roaming around his house. He leaves the princess wrapped up in blankets, a small horse plush made by one of Hateno's residents clutched in her arms.
Link makes sure there's a small breakfast ready to go for her, either ready to eat or ready to be warmed up.
She prefers to wake alone. To ground herself.
iii. Her first night officially back in their home was a transition. Her clothes were in tatters, she was exhausted, and she had an awfully strange case of sky legs.
Link was incredibly patient, helping her into the tun for a soak. He briefly wondered what she wanted done with her Zonai dress, but set it aside for then in favor of his old Champion shirt—a favorite sleeping garment.
Their first dinner was silent.
It is still an adjustment.
iv. They continue to go on patrols together, but Zelda walks next to the horses instead of on one.
The guards discuss Link's quest with him, and he watches the princess for any reaction or triggers. So far, he hasn't seen any, but he has noticed that even their guards are hyper aware of their ruler's mood.
She refuses to ride horseback every single patrol they take.
v. "They're sages now," Link explains. "They fought with me. Just like they fought with you."
Zelda blinks, seemingly lost in though. "Right. I've nearly forgotten that you've seen that."
"I'm sure they'll be so excited to see you again."
He steps away, picking up a stack of logs to put in their fireplace. But he catches her say, "I can't believe I've dragged our friends into his mess."
vi. She doesn't raid his never-ending closet anymore. In fact, she barely looks at her own closet.
Link has caught her rubbing her palms obsessively over her skin, as if itchy. It's always when she wears longer sleeves or thicker clothes. He's stopped her while they're in public, this new habit evidently being more subconscious than anything else.
"I'm not used to it anymore," she says one night, staring at the angry red rash she'd given herself. Link looks wearily at the ripped pile of clothes in the corner of the room. "Clothes are too… constricting. Compared to—" she swallows hard—"nothing, I guess."
He can spot her Zonai dress among the shreds.
vii. Initially, she refuses to share their bed, and Link respects it. After all, she's spent so much time in a body different from her own, it's only obvious that this would be an
But after a month, he is still in the cot downstairs, his back aches, and he misses his soft pillows a bit.
When he peeks at her as she sleeps, she is curled up in a tight ball right at the edge of the bed, as if trying her damned best to take up as little space as possible.
Almost as if she still has the habits of being far bigger, Link thinks sadly, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
viii. The large black horse scares her now. Reminds her of a tall man with dark skin and red hair.
ix. She loves how Lookout Landing came out. It's unfortunate that Purah is no longer in Hateno, but it gives Zelda an excuse to leave the now-mushroom village and look longingly towards the castle.
Link spends his time discussing the Depths with Robbie, and it's during on of their conversations that the princess realizes the pits leading to the Depths have not disappeared. The malice is gone, however.
Heights, for obvious reasons, don't bother her. But being underground? Absolutely not.
x. When they see other Hylians, Zelda hides behind the Hero.
He's still not completely used to the popularity, and he probably never will be, but now it's even worse that his guide through this foreign experience chooses to avoid crowds if possible.
She apologizes and explains the extent of solitude she'd faced, flying in the sky for so many years—so many centuries. Suddenly going back to being surrounded by everyone is not going to come easy.
xi. Sidon and Yona come to visit Hateno, and for the citizens, it is a crazy big moment. They've accustomed to Zelda living there, but only because she and the Hero are the destined couple and he was here first.
Sidon and Link go on a walk through the village, and Yona sits by the small pond by the house, Zelda standing a short ways behind her. "I'm pleased to see you well," Yona says. "Both Prince Sidon and Sir Link were very worried about you."
"I've heard the same from many people. I'm sorry we couldn't visit you both at the Domain."
Yona waves that off. "We're still fighting the mud. At least we've been able to clear Mipha's statue completely."
The blonde stares at the water. "Mipha. Right."
She'd nearly forgotten.
xii. Link is convinced Zelda's eyesight got a lot better after her stint as a dragon.
(She's asked him to stop calling it a stint, so he only does it to himself.)
She's accompanied him on a hunt a few days ago and he still hasn't gotten over the fact she took out a crane from over several hundred feet away.
xiii. Yunobo rolls into Hateno with an entourage of Gorons.
The effects of the cursed meat are still visible in some of their beady eyes, and Yunobo himself looks worse for wear. But he still smiles with glee at the sight of them. "Princess!" he calls happily, and Zelda winces. "The real princess!"
"Real…?" she whispers, and Link shrugs.
"It's a long story with an even longer climax."
"The malice created a fake Zelda and gave me this weird mask and then we all ate tainted rock roasts and were hypnotized! And then we went underground to a temple, and saved Goron City together!" Yunobo says.
Link blinks and he can sense the unease seeping from the princess. "Okay, so maybe it was a short story after all."
xiv. Zelda is afraid of her magic.
"The power that coursed through me when I turned…it was like nothing I've ever felt before," she tells him one night in front of the fire. "I'm afraid that the secret stone's power might still be somewhere inside me…as if waiting to be unleashed."
"You don't know that until you try," Link tries to assure. "The stone might have been destroyed when you changed back."
"But I shouldn't have been able to change back," Zelda says. "I only did because of whatever Rauru and Sonia did. Draconification is typically permanent."
Link doesn't respond. Zelda looks at her hands. "If that stone is still just inside me and waiting for me to use my magic, what would happen?"
xv. He finds her diary in the burn pile outside, haphazardly tossed into the old wood and paper.
He picks it up, dusts off the cover, and places it gently into his knapsack before heading off to the nearby stable. Should he meet Impa along the way, he'll pass it onto her, because it is too important for the princess to throw away without a second thought.
But he doesn't bring it up, because he knows she is going through more than she can manage and doesn't need any added stress from him picking up her perceived garbage.
xvi. Zelda is purely under the impression that Teba was the one that was chosen to be the Sage.
Instead she looks in horror as Tulin runs up to Link, a small stone tied to his ankle. She clenches her hands together, knuckles turning white, and she forces a smile upon her lips. Tulin shows Link his bow, saying something about how it's a new one that his father gave to him and Teba sighs wistfully. "He looks like a grown up Rito already," he says.
"Grew up a little too quickly," Zelda replies, "and it's my fault."
"No one blames you, princess."
"If I had been more careful—"
"Majesty," Teba says. She looks up at the elder Rito, who stared at her with an unwavering gaze. "No one blames you."
Her lip trembles.
But she blames herself.
xvii. "Mineru helped a lot," Link explains as they sit at the dinner table. "I don't know how the two of you sealed her into the Purah Pad but I'm glad you did."
"She was the one that told me about draconification at first," Zelda says around her bite of food. "I don't think she expected me to go through with it after she died."
Link stews on that. "Ganondorf was relentless. Killing everyone he could. But he didn't reach you."
"Only because I escaped before he could. I still had to watch them all die. Sonia, Rauru, Mineru. I could have saved them but I didn't."
"Hey, the Gods did things the way they did for a reason."
"Their reason is wrong." Zelda slams her fork on the table, excusing herself and going up to the loft where her bed is. Link remains at the table in silence, picking at his chicken and contemplating going fully silent again.
xviii. He is selfish, but he misses the feeling of her lips against his.
Link has respected her wishes for distance but at the end of the day he is still a man and as a man, he has his desires. He wants to hold her while she sleeps, to brush the hair from her face, to hug her, to embrace her, to tell her how much he loves and adores her.
He's returned to being her shadow, in a way. When her confidence is up a bit, he allows her to lead, and there's no problem with silently going back to the way things were before the Upheaval.
He travels to the fairy fountain near the Dueling Peaks to pick a Silent Princess to surprise her occasionally. It's one of the few things she still likes.
xix. Link insists they at least go to the Spring of Power, to get out of Hateno on a slightly longer trip than they've been taking before. It'll just be the two of them, away from the eyes of the other guards, and she can be herself without having to worry about what the others think.
She agrees, albeit begrudgingly, but she refuses to bring her white gown, and Link frowns. The water will make her normal attire incredibly heavy.
Zelda solves it by stripping bare before entering the water. And Link, ever the gentleman, immediately turns around to hide his red face.
The wind is chilly, but she prays, voice shaking as begs the goddesses for forgiveness. She pleads to them for safety for Hyrule, for Link's protection, and the prosperity of her people.
Link realizes sadly that she doesn't pray for herself.
xx. "Patricia would have loved to come," Riju says around an apple. "But she doesn't understand that she doesn't like not having sand."
"Makes sense," Link replies.
Zelda sits there stiffly. "I'm glad she survived the Upheaval."
"That girl?" the Gerudo scoffs. "She's resilient. I don't even think an earthquake could kill her."
Zelda chuckles uncomfortably. "Let's not be too crazy."
Riju snickers, throwing her apple core into the grass. "I'm sure if she wanted to, Patricia would take on that Queen Gibdo by herself and win."
"Are you kidding?" Link asks. "That thing was terrifying."
The princess stares off, letting the two jest with each other, unable to keep up with the conversation. Link had told her about the temples and enemies he's faced, but it's different to the two of them who have fought against this Queen Gibdo together.
xxi. She sends Link into an absolute panic one day when she decides to walk to Kakariko Village by herself. No guards, no protection, no horse (obviously), just a small journey for herself to see the fallen pieces of the Sky Islands.
Link told her about them, and about how they were being secured and a safety hazard so the guards weren't letting anyone near them because another fake Princess Zelda forbade it.
So when she approaches, and the guards nervously ask her what she is doing there, she replies that she wants to take a look at the ruins more closely. They share a look, and let her pass.
The Zonai marble is warm to the touch from the sun, and reminds her of Sonia. She hates it.
xxii. Sometimes she can't hold his gaze anymore. Or won't, he isn't sure.
When they talk, just the two of them, her eyes dance away from him and on the occasion they meet, she immediately turns her head away, or finds something else to look at, or plays with her hair in a way that it covers her face. He doesn't mention it.
She's ashamed. Ashamed of herself for not being here when Ganondorf woke up, so that she would be able to help her people fight against him and all the evil he unleashed. Ashamed that she once against left Link on his own to save the world.
Ashamed for once again failing her people.
xxii. "Did…did you see them? Their graves?"
Link looks up at the sky. "He buried her in that Forgotten Temple, right? It was surrounded by sundelions."
Her green eyes well with tears. "So it survived. Until now. Thank the goddesses."
"I left her one of your silent princesses. The room warmed up when I did."
"You would have loved her. She was the sun. Her kindness knew no bounds. And Rauru?"
Link nods, looking down at his hand. "He's up on the Great Sky Island. Protecting the rest of us."
Zelda simply sobs.
xxiii. Link walks up to her, the same shears from some time before in his hands. "Zelda," he calls, and she turns around. "Mind giving me a trim?"
"Me?" she squeaks.
He shrugs. "Only fair, I cut your hair that one time."
Her hand stops before she can grab the shears, eyes losing focus for a moment. "Yes, I remember."
"I don't want to go as short as you did all of a sudden, but my bangs are starting to fall into my eyes."
She doesn't move.
"And when we're done, we get to relax."
"Relax?"
"Yep," he smiles up at her, big and toothy. "No adventures, no evil. Just you, me, and our house. If that's okay?"
Zelda smiles, running her thumb against his cheek. Link looks at her in surprise, and for the first time in a long time, he can see her smile reach all the way to her eyes, wrinkling the corners. His heart flutters in his chest, and he leans into her thumb.
After the trim, she initiates a hug. Link holds onto her tightly. Afraid that if he was to let go, she'd disappear again.
xxv. She is still healing, but ever patient, Link is by her side to push her forward little by little. Their lives are drastically different, and a lot still needs to be done, but for now, the Hero is content with being the Hero again, and the princess is learning how to be Zelda after thousands of years being the Light Dragon.
someone asked for a sequel to daydream? why
zel has some serious ptsd from being a dragon, prove me wrong
please dont ask for sequels if you dont wanna be sad