FINALLY! On to Hyrule Warriors! I've got some kiss scenes cooked up that I'm really excited about writing! But first, I have to get through yet another Link/Zelda fic. I make no secret of the fact that I find Link/Zelda pairings kinda boring. Very few of the Zeldas have much in the way of personality in-game, except for Tetra from Wind Waker, and even then, she only has a personality when she's in her workaday pirate persona. As a result, the Link/Zelda kiss scenes are always the most difficult for me to write, and never end up with the same quality as my other scenes. Yet, ironically, my Link/Zelda scenes inevitably end up being my most viewed! I don't get it...
Ranting aside, I've been excited to start writing scenes set in Hyrule Warriors for a long time, so hopefully this scene might be a cut above my other Link/Zelda fics. I hope y'all think so, at least.
As always, please be sure to leave a review if you liked reading this, or have advice on how to improve my kiss scenes. And as always, I hope y'all enjoy!
As seventeen-year-old princess Zelda of Hyrule stepped listlessly out of her spacious tent and surveyed the siege camp all around her, she couldn't help the ironic chuckle that came out. She remembered her tutors telling her tales of great sieges in Hyrule's past, but now that she was experiencing one herself, she was forced to re-evaluate everything she'd thought about them in her youth. Her teachers had always spoken of fierce assaults and gallant escalades. What they never mentioned - and what she'd been experiencing for the past few weeks now - was how utterly boring things could get for a besieger.
She'd been fighting this war for five months. The trouble had begun on her seventeenth birthday, when a horde of monsters had attacked Hyrule Castle under orders from the dark sorceress Cia. From then on, Zelda and her inner circle had led Hyrule's armies in a campaign to reverse the havoc the dark forces were wreaking. It had been a chaotic war, with no opportunity to employ the conventional tactics she'd been taught; all of the battles thus far had quickly devolved into confined scrums, the constantly-restricted terrain limiting the fighting to savage close combat. In such messy battles, skilled individual warriors had become more useful than disciplined soldiers. Thankfully, she'd managed to build around her a cadre of impressive fighters, who had been instrumental in driving Cia's forces into retreat.
One of these warriors in particular sprang suddenly to her mind. The thought brought a mild blush to her face, but also gave her an idea to relieve her present boredom.
She strode forward with purpose now, her armored boots making a dull thud with each step. All around her were tents and campfires, with Hylian, Goron, and Zora soldiers milling around, most of them seeming just as bored as herself. Farther out, she could see the sturdy palisade and openwork towers that faced the Temple of Souls, preventing Cia's armies from breaking out and (hopefully) starving them to death. The air was filled with chatter, the clangs of metalwork, and the crackling of cookfires. Through it all she strolled, headed for the camp's makeshift sparring ground.
Just as she'd guessed, her target was there, fortuitously just finishing a sparring session with one of the knights. Zelda had never met Link until this war had started. At that time, he was a simple knight cadet, not even finished with his training yet. He'd distinguished himself in the first battle, cutting through swaths of monsters with clearly-supernatural ease. She and her bodyguard Impa had quickly recognized that he was the latest incarnation of the Hero, here to aid the kingdom in its time of need. She'd instructed Impa to knight him on the spot and confer on him the battle gear made specially in advance for the Hero. During the course of the Hylian counteroffensive, Zelda had come to rely both on his skills in battle and on his companionship on the march, and the two had grown quite close now.
She'd dithered for a while over whether or not to pursue a deeper relationship with him. But a recent conversation she'd had with the mage Lana had firmly cemented her intentions. The blue-haired enchantress had a deep understanding of Hyrule's history and the deep magic that governed its people. Lana had informed her that the descendants of divine Hylia (of which Zelda was one) and the incarnations of the Hero's spirit were eternally bound to have their destinies intertwined. In fact, it was jealousy over this destiny that had driven Cia (who apparently had amorous feelings of her own towards the Hero) to start this war in the first place, ironically serving only to bring them closer together.
Now, as Link reached the edge of the sparring ground, parting ways with the other knight, Zelda walked up to him, having long since fought her blush down. "Thought I'd find you here," she opened cheekily.
Link grinned in return. "I'd be a pretty sorry Hero if I didn't keep my skills sharp," he replied. "What's up?"
"I was wondering," suggested Zelda, "if you might like to go for a ride today? There's not much to do in the camp, and sparring does start to get old after a while."
Link bobbed his head contemplatively from side to side; there was clearly a difference of opinion there, but he wouldn't argue the point. "Sure, I'm game for that," he answered.
It was a relatively short walk to where the army's horses were kept. When they arrived, Zelda was pleasantly surprised to find Link's sturdy chestnut mare Epona and her own feisty white rouncey Taranis grazing side-by-side. Besides the convenience of it, Zelda took it as a good omen for her and Link's relationship. Both mounts already wore their saddle blankets, and their saddles were loosely attached. It was a matter of only a few seconds for them to tighten the straps on their respective saddles, before the pair mounted up and trotted through the camp.
They headed away from the Temple, back in the direction the army had come from. Here they slowed their horses to a walk, enjoying the gentle breeze that blew through the ethereal valley that led to the Temple. Every so often they'd pass wains trundling through on their way to bring fresh supplies to the army, or on their way back to Hyrule proper. Zelda made sure their drivers paid her no mind, despite her status, so that she and Link could chat uninterrupted.
When there was a long break in the passing wagons, Zelda finally moved her and Link's conversation towards what had been on her mind these last couple weeks. "I had a rather interesting chat with Lana recently," she casually remarked.
Link looked back, intrigued. "What'd you guys talk about?" he prompted.
"About the reason Cia started this war in the first place," Zelda responded. "Apparently she has an obsession with the Hero, and it made her start getting jealous."
Link cocked his head to the side. "What would she have to be jealous about?" was his next question. His tone was one of genuine curiosity, not one of disdain as his question would normally be spoken with.
Zelda knew it was time to reveal everything to him, having led him to the question in the first place. "Lana told me that the souls of Hylia and the Hero's incarnations are eternally fated to have their destinies intertwined. For someone so enamored with Heroes like you, that destiny became too much to bear."
Link nodded a few times, digesting that. Zelda wondered if he'd come to the same conclusion she had. Instead, he made an interesting remark. "Funny thing is," he said, "if she hadn't attacked Hyrule, there probably wouldn't be a Hero. There wouldn't need to be one. So, this one's kind of on her, isn't it?"
Zelda hadn't been expecting that, but it was a logical conclusion. Still, it seemed like this Hero needed a bit more of a nudge in the direction she was trying to go. "Even so," she said, "the fact this is far for us would explain one thing." Link looked at her curiously, which she took as an indication to continue. "It explains why I've felt so drawn to you since this war started. I was wondering…once this is all over, would you accept my hand?"
There was no hesitation on her Hero's part. With a decisive nod, he answered, "Of course. Maybe it really is destiny, 'cause I've been feeling the same way for some time now. I can't even really put my finger on why that might be."
Zelda smirked. "Far be it from us to argue with fate, then," she concluded, nudging her horse closer to Link's and leaning in towards him.
Only now did Link's eyes widen, likely not expecting things to progress so quickly even now that their feelings were out in the open. He hesitated only a moment, though, before leaning in himself. His movement finally brought their lips together. Zelda was rather surprised how soft Link's lips were for a soldier. Instinctively, she leaned in further to get at him even more.
They couldn't hold their kiss for too long and keep their balance, though, so rather quickly they had to pull away. As they did, Zelda found herself wanting them to stop here and dismount so she could continue this, but with more intensity.
She was just about to suggest just that when a deep horn call sounded from the camp. Cia's forces must have been making another sortie. And while Zelda was confident that her own army could handle it on their own with Impa in charge, she also knew that her and Link's presence would make it so much easier.
It seemed Link had the same idea too. He was already turning Epona dutifully around. "We'll continue this when we send them packing," Zelda asserted. Link blushed, seeming somehow to catch on to what she had in mind. But he said nothing as he nodded in agreement. So the two of them wheeled around and loosened their swords in their scabbards - even on a romantic ride, neither could afford to leave their weapons behind. And with the war horns continuing to sound, the two rode full-tilt back to camp.