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misterewrites · 2 years

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Greyfield, Arthur Greyfield (Side Mirrors)

Hey everyone! E here with a surprising update for Side Mirrors. I still love and hate that name. alrighty since i didn’t make a post for the first chapter (which four people still found that was an honor) these are side stories that take place in the Mirror’s Edge universe/canonization etc etc. For the most part they just little fun side stories that are meant to either flesh out secondary characters, groups, background, lore or even the city itself. There’s usually no relevant timeframe to the main plot unless I say so (in which case i will mention the chapter it takes place around or parallel to). Still have fun! these are a blast to write and honestly helps me get some ideas i have out without disturbing the main story. I hope you enjoy them and feel free to share this if you like! thanks!

Side note: Arthur is a direct Descendant of a few characters of Welcome to the Underground. Special treat for you readers that read that project.

The world keeps spinning and sometimes you need a break. You need get away and just have fun and exist. Do that here, for now. Wear your mask, take care of yourself, be safe, get vaccinated if you can and push for the world to get it cuz we're in this together and it's not over, no matter how much we want it to be. Be safe and have a great week! the next mirror's edge chapter should be coming soon.

That's it for me! i sincerely hope you are enjoying not only this but any of my work that tickles your fancy. Thank you for the views, the kudos, feel free to tell me what you enjoyed and share with others you think might like it. Thank you. E is out for now! bye and take care!

If you want to read this on a site that doesn’t hate me you can check it out at ao3 over there https://archiveofourown.org/works/42464157/chapters/107640534

The previous chapter which is not connected whatsoever was published, but i just forgot to post it here, can be find right over here! https://archiveofourown.org/works/42464157/chapters/106647273

If you are curious about my non-original work that spans various fandoms that include but are not limited to Arcane/League of Legends, Owl House, Legend of Zelda and Owl house, the rest of my work can be found riiiiight here https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrE42/pseuds/MrE42

That’s it for this post. Have a great week! and everyone pass the keep out sign to keep reading

Summary: The Swift Silvers, a well renowned mercenary group that has existed for two thousand years. From their humbled beginnings founded in an underground society to their modern day counterparts, they'll take on any job with unrivaled skill and grace. Well skill at least as Arthur Greyfield, their top agent, attempts to retrieve on a stolen family heirloom for their client. But if nothing could go wrong then there would no need to send in Arthur.

-----

The phrase “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is an objectively subjective saying. Simply put it meant that definitions of beauty varied from person to person and each was entitled to their own opinion.

Of course the woman sitting at the bar all by her lonesome was nothing BUT gorgeous: Her long brown locks were tastefully curled in ringlets that ran down her back. She wore a strapless dark blue dress that caught the light of the club like glittering starlight with a white shawl snugly wrapped around her otherwise bare neck and shoulders. Tasteful but light make up gave her a regal aura of elegance. Beauty made real though her most lovely feature were her eyes: A light brown, the shade of honey and sparked with life. Her lips were curled into the most utterly enchanting smile that captivated him. Perhaps she would like some company, surely he could spare a moment to leave his table and...

“Arthur?” A voice crackled in his ear, breaking him out of his stupor “You are paying attention right? I don’t need to remind you you’re there to watch out for the necklace, not the newest love of your life.”

Questioned phrased as a statement: Classic Bethany.

Arthur resisted the urge to roll his stormy gray eyes “You really gonna start Beth? I can look for the future Mrs. Greyfield and keep an ear out for our prize. Besides who jumps straight into love?”

“Arthur.”

“That’s a bit extreme.” Arthur continued, giving no indication he’d heard her “First you find a spark then you go from there. You build up a relationship Bethy.”

“Arthur.” Beth repeated firmer.

“I know you’re not interested in the nuances of courtship but I am and I take great pride in….”

“Arthur!” Arthur flinched, resisting the urge to pluck out his earpiece “Is it even on the auction docket or you finding excuses to buy expensive wine with our coffers?”

Arthur gasped dramatically while he ignored the expensive bottle of wine he just ordered on the business credit card “How dare you? I am deeply offended you would think I would waste our hard work merc money on…”

“I just got a text from the bank.” Beth stated flatly before adding “Dumbass.”

“Well then why did you ask if you knew the answer? I mean really what was the point of all this?” Arthur pretended to be offended at the notion.

Beth answered dully “Messing with you. You’d take it out of your cut anyway. So it’s not up for sale tonight huh?”

“Nope.” Arthur clicked his tongue thoughtfully “It got taken off the list a few minutes ago. Emergency restoration is what was cited.”

“So someone’s buying it backroom.” Beth finished for him.

“Mhm. Probably wheeling and dealing as we speak.”

Arthur could hear his oldest friend rubbed her temples, trying alleviate the incoming headache “What’s the play? Going in hot?”

“By myself?” Arthur scoffed as he ran his hand through his white hair “I mean I’ll get it done but by the time I fight my way backstage it’ll be gone.”

“Ash and Blitz are nearby” Beth offered halfheartedly “I can pull them off their job but they’re not gonna be much help aside beyond stand outside and look pretty. It was hard enough to hack the company’s system to get you an invite and I had weeks to work on that. A last minute rush drop isn’t going to happen and we’re about to lose a huge paycheck if this goes south so we’re gonna need every little cent to cover the loss.”

Arthur scratched his clean shaven chin thoughtfully.

“I can hear you scratching Arthur. Give it to me.”

“You left yourself a backdoor into their system right?”

Her voice was neutral but he could the rapid keystrokes of her fingers gliding across the keyboard effortlessly “Yes I did.”

“Patch yourself in. Camera, communications and wait for the action to start.” Arthur explained while he waved down a waiter “How long till you’re ready Beth?”

“5 minutes. I’ll let you know when.”

Arthur nodded, more out of habit than anything else.

“Sir?” a young man in a stylishly plain white suit and holding a tray approached him carefully.

“Yes hello my good sir. I like to order something. Well two somethings actually.”

-----

“Arthur, I’m in.”

The auction room was less room and more well lit night club: various of Newton Haven’s wealthy class were on the floor below, each seated at a table that was not only catered to their specific taste but also positioned in a certain way that no one found themselves to a jilted ex lover.

Or spouse.

Or business partner.

Or family member.

As he himself was not from old money, or new money for that matter nor was he anyone of any level of notable fame, Arthur was stuck on the second floor landing. He was so far tucked in the back that he could cover the entirety of the stage with his thumb.

Which he had done repeatedly in the last five minutes.

Arthur brought his near empty drink to his lips, carefully positioning his posture to make it seemed like he was taking a sip.

“When I get in.” he murmured, the glass echoing his voice just loud enough for Beth to hear “When they call it in make a false report that I’m making a break for an exit. Don’t mention which one.”

He could practically hear her mocking salute on the other line “Hall of Mirrors, gotcha. Also Arthur.”

“Yes?”

“You wore that to the job?”

Arthur glanced down at his attire: a collared tattered dark red shirt tucked into a black vest, wrinkly black dress pants and dirtied black loafers.

“Yes? Problem?” he took an accusing tone.

“No, just funny.” Beth chuckled “No wonder they stuck you in the nosebleeds. Probably didn’t want to risk you offending the rich with your terrible clothes.”

Arthur gave a little laugh “Well they’re going to regret that.”

“Oh?” Beth asked curiously “How so?”

He grinned impishly “I’m about to offend a rich person.”

“Oh this I gotta hear.” Beth couldn’t keep the eagerness out of her voice.

“The easiest way you can of course. Acting like you’re on their level.”

Beth’s smile widen as she watched Arthur on the camera feed lean in closer to an older couple near by, their perfect faux smiles dropping within moments.

-----

“Sir.”

Arthur glanced upwards from his phone to find a rather serious man standing in front of him. He wore the same suit as the waiter but between his black shades, ear piece and muscular frame made it clear he performed a different duty here at auction night. With one hand he gestured for him to stand while the other reached for something.

“Is there a problem?” Arthur complied, pocketing his phone and pretending to adjust his clothing as he stood.

The clearly security guard tapped a baton against his leg “We’ve received a rather large amount of complaints involving you sir .”

Arthur dramatically pretended to be shock “Me? No. No no no sir I have been nothing but a well behaved, civil guest in your fantastically stocked place of business.” he motioned with his cup then to the older couple couple nearby “We just finished a pleasant conversation, right?”

The older gentleman gave a strained smile. The older wife decided to glare, her hands clutched tight around her cell phone made it obvious who had complained.

“Oh that hurts Karen.” Arthur clicked his tongue disappointingly “Real hurtful. I thought we were connecting over our shared wealth and our goal of donating to the less fortune. Shameful, shameful. Well he’ll vouch for me.”

The waiter, whom at this point had been minding his business, was taken aback by the sudden attention.

Arthur beamed, cheerfully pointing “Yes him! Tell your man here that I have not caused one ounce of trouble.”

“Sir I just work here.” The waiter raised a hand defensively as he desperately tried to slide his key card into the electronic lock barring his exit from the room “No need to get me involved.”

The lock’s light shifted from red to green, trilling loudly to let the poor waiter it was time to go. He bowed his head apologetically while he pushed open the door and hurried inside.

“Shit.” Arthur clutched his hand into a fist uneasily.

The security guard rubbed at his eyes tiredly “Last warning asshat . Don’t cause a fuss. Nice and quiet. These folks don’t like having their evening ruined.”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin their buying of illicit and wrongfully taken goods. Look mister.” Arthur scrunched his face as he eyed the I.D. card clipped to the guard’s belt “Is that Philips? Mister Phillips I never do anything quiet and based on my treatment here I am far beyond being nice now.”

The guard sighed but said nothing as he reached for Arthur.

Arthur, however, was ready. He gripped the unprepared guard’s wrist and yanked him closer with a mighty pull. The guard stumbled forward and using his free hand, Arthur grabbed the back of his head and smashed his face into the table as hard as he could.

The guard shot up, howling in pain while he clutched as his now bleeding nose with both hands. Arthur snatched up the baton and took a step back, planting his foot firmly against the table’s edge. With a barely audible grunt he kicked the table and slammed it into the reeling guard’s knees.

“Don’t be rude!” He gestured with the baton as he slid across the top of the table.

The guard was still too stunned by pain to react Arthur gently pushing him to one side to make his way past.

The two other guards stationed up here noticed the commotion but not the source. They approached slowly, eyeing each other warily as they drew near.

-----

“Miss?”

The beautiful woman at the bar was taken out of her thoughts to noticed a rather fancy drink placed in front of her by the bartender.

“What is this?” She asked curiously.

The bartender motioned behind her “The white haired man bought it for you. Sends his love .”

She turned around in time to find Arthur making his way to the locked side door. He caught notice of her gaze and shot her a flirtatious wink and grin. He slid an I.D card into the electronic lock and with bow, slipped inside quickly.

-----

Arthur gave an unsatisfied sigh , sliding the baton in between the doors handle to prevent anyone from entering “Good bye future Mrs. Greyfield. Tis not meant to be in this life.”

He looked around and noticed he was inside some storage room: To the left of him was an emergency exit complete with “do not open unless in case of emergency” sign. Some storage cupboards lay in front and to the right stairs that led down and further into the building .

“How’s it looking?” Arthur asked while rolling up his sleeves.

Beth took a moment to answer “They just reached the guard. He’s having trouble explaining what happened. I’d say you got half a minute before they sort out the story and go looking for you.”

“Best to hurry then.”

Arthur raced down the stairs and found himself backstage. Evidently word of his scuffle hadn’t been cal led in because the room was peaceful. Aside from the steady stream of waiters streaming in and out of the kitchen, there was not a soul in sight.

He glanced at the various doors that littered the room “If I were an illegal backroom office where would I be?”

He stopped in front of a door with a hastily written sign that read “Janitor’s Closet”

“Seriously?” Arthur sighed. He gave the sign an irritated tap “At least try guys. This is embarrassing.”

“Halt!” A voice anxiously called when he entered the room proper.

It turns out it WAS a janitor’s closet: Metal racks stacked with various chemicals and cleaning supplies hugged the walls of the room. Brooms, mops and buckets tucked into a corner. A plain metal container on a table sandwiched between armed guards.

You know usual janitorial things.

One guard asked, their voice tense “Who are you? You’re not allowed to be back here!”

“Access restricted! I-I mean restricted access!” The other guard stepped forward threateningly.

Arthur studied the pair : One’s grip was too tight on their weapon, the other was too loose. Both shared hunched frames as if they were trying to appear less of a threat. They were both caught off guard by his presence like they hadn’t been expecting anyone to show up. They kept stealing glances at the other, unease etched all over their face.

“Excuse me?” He answered with some steel in his voice “You did not just tell your superior officer where he is allowed or not allowed to be”

The duo flinched, stammering over each other.

“I’m sorry sir!” one said.

“Show me your identification!” The other asked.

Arthur flashed them his stolen I.D just long enough for them to recognize what it was.

“Okay that checks out but why are you in a different uniform?”

“Because.” Arthur began slowly “To clearly denote rank. If I looked like everyone else how would you know I’m in charge?”

“I guess that makes sense”

Their posture relaxed.

The closest one to him scratched their head in embarrassment “Sorry sir. We were told no one was allowed in this room and a superior would be along shortly to relive us.”

“Well I’m here.” Arthur made of show of gesturing to himself “You may go.”

“Sir.” The guards replied as one before hurriedly making their way out of the room.

Beth whistled appreciatively “That was lucky.”

“How’s it look?”

“They’re trying to get in through the door.” Beth typed something quickly “They’re not eager to call it in.”

“Of course not. Imagine inconveniencing the rich. Oh the horror.” Arthur scoffed dismissively.

“Well let’s not give them chance to ruin this. There’s no camera in whatever room you’re in. Confirmation?”

Arthur ran his hand over the container slowly: It was smooth and cold to the touch but it didn’t seem to be more than just a box. He gave it a shake for good measure yet nothing happened.

“No signs of being trapped. Opening the box now.”

Carefully he unlatched the lock and gingerly lifted the lid. It opened effortlessly and within lay an opal necklace the size of a fist.

“Confirmed.” he ran a hand through his hair “It’s the opal. Retrieve is a go.”

He latched the box and lifted it by the handle to get a feel for the weight.

“Good because it seems like they discussing what do next.” Bethy warned, urgency hidden behind her laid back tone.

Arthur paused for a moment before putting the container down. He began searching the shelves for something.

Beth could hear his rustling of objects “Arthur? Did you not hear me? They’re starting to panic. Any longer and they’re going to go crying to the supervisor.”

“You got access to everything in the building right?”

“Yes.” Bethy answered, unsure where this was going “They connected everything to the wifi and naturally there’s a dozen vulnerabilities I squeezed in through. How exactly is this relevant?”

“It will be in a second. Ah!” he exclaimed as he found a box of matches. He began dumping bundles of old clothes and towels onto the table quickly.

Arthur pulled out a match and struck it against the rough grooves of the matchbox “So in theory a place that handles artifacts and the like should have a really good fire suppression system in place right?”

“In theory yes.” Bethy replied slowly.

“Cool and if they don’t that’s on them.” Arthur smiled as he held aloft the burning match “Hit the fire alarm.”

“There isn’t a fire according to the sensors. I don’t think anyone will buy it.”

He tossed the match onto the pile he created “Well there is now.”

There was a moment of silence before a loud, high pitch shrieking filled the air. The alarm in the corner began flashing an eye catching flickering light.

Arthur picked up the container, made his way to the door and waited for the panic shuffling of yells and scraping of feet. He threw open the door, allowing it to slam against the wall with a thunderous thud.

“FIRE!” He cried, eyes wide as he wildly motioned behind him “FIRE IN THE JANITOR’S CLOSET!”

He broke into a mad sprint, slipping into the retreating crowd as a choir of voices cried out “FIRE IN THE CLOSET!” Despite being seen by more than a dozen witnesses, each found they had difficulty remembering what exactly happened let alone some mystery man who vanished into the night.

-----

“Thank you, this is indeed the opal I wished for you to recover.”

The following night was when Bethany and Arthur decided to conduct the debriefing/concluding of business.

Bethany Friar was an average height with long dark brown hair. Her green eyes took in everything with a bored, uninterested look. Both members of the Swift Silvers were dressed in their uniforms: Blue collared shirts tucked under silver vests and ties. Black work jeans (Skirt for Bethany as she did not own company issued pants because she did not do field work often.) and black combat boots. Completing the look was the standard issue silver trenchcoat.

Their employer was supposedly an older woman though she did not look it. Her long jet black hair flowed down her back like waves. Her black dress hugged her curves in an enticing way and short enough to show a lot of leg. She was inhumanly beautiful and clearly not a human given her dark red irises.

“Was it trouble?” She asked, her concerned spoken with a honeyed accent.

Arthur feel himself flush “No. Not at all. Just a standard job.”

“Standard my ass.” Bethany mumbled under her breath “Three weeks trying to find a way in. That’s like three times longer than normal!”

Arthur nudged her subtly.

The woman eyed them carefully “Well excellent work. Now about payment.”

Beth rolled her eyes “Here we go.”

“I have the money of course but perhaps you desire something more…personal?”

Arthur had seen it coming but still he was caught off guard by exactly how powerful the wave of lust washed over him and Bethy. Suddenly their client was impossible beautiful and even more alluring. Surely the others wouldn’t mind if he took one for the team? So to speak.

“Is this accepted” the client batted her eyes invitingly.

Arthur opened his mouth to answer.

“Yeah no. Fuck off with your magic.” Bethany was the one to answered with a dismissive wave of her hand “Hand over the money.”

The client eyed the woman carefully and Arthur could feel the wave of lust pass over them both once more. He nearly collapsed, his blood thundering in his ears.

“Surely there is someone you desire.” The woman swayed closer to Bethany in a hypnotic fashion “Man, woman. Both at once? Or are you more varied in your tastes?”

Bethy crossed her arms “None of the above. The only thing I desire right now is a burger and since you don’t seem to have one on you, money please.”

The client huffed, clearly unhappy about paying up. The aura vanished as quickly as it came and reluctantly she opened the briefcase at her side and showed the money all accounted for.

“You can’t blame me for trying.” She winced uncharacteristically with not a single trace of her accent to be found.

“Of course not.” Arthur agreed wholeheartedly

Bethy glared “Oh shut it. Pleasure doing business with you.”

The woman slunk into the shadowy night and vanished into thin air.

A moment passed before Bethany tapped Arthur’s shoulder.

The pair turned and began making their way back to the car.

“Do you really want a burger right now?” Arthur asked curiously.

Bethany scoffed “Psst, yeah. Let’s go to Ma’s.”

Arthur nodded in agreement “Oh Ma’s sounds good right now. I’m starving!”

And with a pep in their step and a briefcase full of cash, the pair made their way to a celebratory meal for a job well done.

#Mirror's Edge #Original Work #original story #my work

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ordon-shield · 1 year

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Whumpril Day 6: Painless Potion

salve | painkillers | bad coping mechanisms

ao3 link

(cw for discussion of/implied self harm)

“Link, I don’t think I can give you any more of this.”

“Why not!?”

“Keep it down, we’re still in the kitchen.”

It had been a few weeks since Zelda had gone missing, and Link was growing more and more worried with each day that passed. The last time he’d seen her was a few days ago at the Earth Spring, but that had only been for a moment before she was gone again. Now he was making his way through the Lanayru Desert, hoping to find her again. He’d found someone on Skyloft, one of the student knights in the year above him, soon after he’d first visited the surface, that was willing to sell him a painkiller potion that he had been using pretty frequently as he made his way past the monsters of the surface and the challenges of the temples he’d visited. It had kept him on his feet even through the worst injuries. Now, they were refusing to sell it to him at all.

“Look Link, I know that what happened to Zelda… it’s hard for me to even talk about it, so I can’t imagine what it’s like for you. Everyone’s been trying to give you some space, which is easy since you only seem to come back to the Academy to sleep but…

“What is it? You can double the price and I’ll still pay, I just need more of this stuff!”

“Link, please just listen to me. I went to talk to that couple who runs the potion shop at the bazaar. They said you’re coming in near-daily for heart potions. They assumed you were just picking them up for the Academy, but I checked our stores and they’re the same as they’ve always been. Why do you need those potions Link?”

They moved to sit down across the table from him, putting their hand over his in a gesture he thinks was meant to be comforting.

“I know we don’t really know each other, but you can tell me about what’s been going on. I promise I won’t tell anyone unless I think you’re going to do something you can’t take back.”

Link jerked back on his stool as he suddenly realised what they were implying.

“I’m not going off to hurt myself!”

“What are the potions for then?”

“They’re for… training.”

“Look,” they said, meeting his eyes, “I’ll be honest, I don’t think I can stop you doing whatever it is you’re going off to do. I can however, tell you that even if you’re not doing it directly, letting yourself get hurt that badly isn’t a good coping mechanism. Try to take a break sometimes, okay?”

Link nodded along, subdued by the conversation. He knew the others wouldn’t really understand, only a handful of people on Skyloft knew what had really happened to Zelda and where he was really going, but maybe they weren’t entirely wrong. The potion they’d been making him… it dulled his sense of pain, made it easier to keep going, but he’d be a fool not to notice that when it wore off he’d notice injuries he didn’t even remember getting, ones he should have treated long before.

He smiled at the older student as he left. He knew what he’d been doing wrong now, so he could fix it. As he called his Loftwing and flew over to the newest gap in the clouds, he started thinking about how to get the ingredients to make the potion himself, Fi providing its composition from his last bottle with a quick analysis earlier in the day.

All he had to do was be a bit more careful next time.

#my writing #whumpril2023 #whumprilday6 #skyward sword #loz skyward sword #loz sksw

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factorialsfandoms · 2 years

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Just saw the hurt/comfort prompts:

Time for hysterical strength? Either for one of the LU boys getting hurt or Malon?

Wolfie for toothache? Whether that's for LU or TP is your choice.

Midna, TP!Link, and tooth pain because I mean how could I not when you hand me that promt? Though Time and hysterical strength also has the potential to be fun. Someone gets crushed by a cow or something. I'll consider it.

So here, take some fluff! Its probably fluff? Maybe? Toothachey but not serious!

(Sorry these are a bit slow I get to write one each time I finish a chapter of a different thing as bribes ^-^)

"Come on Link!" Midna could hear her voice pitch in frustration. "Just grab the branch and pull yourself up!" The wolf turned his face to look at her, letting out a pathetic sort of whine. "What? You want treats or something? Silly dog, we can get something once we're out of here. Now go!" Instead of doing as he was told, Link flopped down to the floor, whining again as he rested his head on his paws. Something about him was the image of misery, looking up at Midna with such emotive eyes. "No Link, not nap time! Get up!!!" Frustrated, Midna grabbed at his ear and tugged. Instead of annoyed nips or Link huffing and obeying, he instead... Gave another whine. What? "Link?" She moved down to his face, squinting at him. "What's wrong? Don't you want to go see Zelda?" Link just stared at her again. Now she was by his face, though... Midna squinted. Link was always a bit gross, but he did not usually drool everywhere. Okay, everywhere was technically an overstatement, but... It was still a lot more than normal. And then looking... Was one side of his mouth swollen? She couldn't quite tell. One impish finger reached out and poked the wolf in the face. The wolf gave a startled - and pained - yelp, looking at her with utter betrayal. "You hurt your mouth or something?" Midna furrowed her brow, thinking for a moment. She did not know much about injuries at the best of times, let alone for a wolf pup! Ugh. Well, fine, she'd work it out. "Well, open up!" Link's only reply was to look a little distrustfully at her. Some part of Midna was offended, the rest of her tapped a foot, arms folded and waiting. After a few long moments, he opened his mouth. Midna peered in, but... She could not see anything. His mouth was just too big and her too small, and the angles were all wrong to get at where it seemed the swelling had come from. What to do now. She couldn't just leave him - physically could not leave him - but- Those two blue eyes looked mournfully at her again. "Fine, fine," Midna would have agreed anyway, but if he was going to be like that she'd do it a bit faster. "But, if you bite me, I promise I'll poison you." Link's tail waggled, slower than usual but still a clear indicator of agreement. He placed his head back on his paws, and opened up wide. Midna... Looked at his teeth. They were definitely teeth. Big teeth at that. And she was still only very small... Biting down the instinct of fear - it was only Link, and he would never hurt anyone - she hoisted herself up, and stuck her face into his mouth. Squinting against the dark and the dog breath now consuming her face, she narrowed her eyes in the dim. As the true Princess of the Twili the dark was no real obstacle, but the sharp teeth could be. The swelling was on the left, right? So the injury should... Ah! There! Between two teeth was jammed... Something. "I found it!" She called, all excited for a moment before remember where she was. "Now do /not/ bite me. I need my hands. Okay?" She waited for another whine before letting go of his jaw, and reaching forward. Metal. Not sure what sort yet, but definitely metal. And whatever it was, it was lodged very firmly between the teeth. With a sigh she wriggled it, then twisted to kick it. Every motion earnt her another pained noise, but Link was being ever so good about it. Maybe he could have a treat later after all. Finally, finally the metal came free. Seeing a disaster waiting to happen Midna snatched it out, and vaulted herself back outside. In the sunlight, the metal was far more clear - a small shard of a dynafalos' armour, clearly broken off in a fight. "I told you not to bite those things!" She snapped. Only then to look and see the utter dejection on Link's face. "Oh, fine," she moved back to sit on him, gently rubbing at the good side of his face. "I bet that still hurts a bit, huh? I guess we don't need to see Zelda that fast. Might be funny to make her wait." Link did not seem to think it would be at all funny to make her wait, but still did not get up. "What about... We go over there," Midna pointed to a small cave tucked nearby. "It's nearly dawn anyway; we can rest up and set off again tomorrow, hm?" Almost certainly for her benefit and not his own - Link was many things, but a bit stubborn was definitely one of them - the wolf rose and slumped his way over to the little cave. He checked it thoroughly, before picking out a spot and nestling dejectedly there. Once again Midna shifted down, looking at him. Big eyes started at her own. She stared back. After a long few moments she shuffled forwards, pressing herself against his warm, comfortable belly. Link shifted about, curling all the way around her, and yet keeping his sore mouth far away. She reached up, petting his fur. "Naptime." Her voice was strict and Twilight huffed in reply, but he did curl a little closer and shut his eyes. Hopefully now the metal was gone, he would feel better after some rest. Then they could be on their way, back to hunting down Zant and getting Midna her kingdom back! Stupid dog, though, getting his face hurt like that. How silly did you have to be to not only bite metal armour, but get a chip stuck in your mouth?!Obviously Link could not look after himself; Midna was just going to have to keep a much closer eye on him in future. Link gave another little whine. Midna reached up, petting his fur. "There there," she soothed. "Don't be such a crybaby; your tooth will be fine, and I'm not going anywhere." Even if she could leave, she wasn't going to leave the poor, silly boy to his own devices. Who knew what trouble he could get up to in that time! Link shuffled again, then lay still. Taking her cue Midna slipped from his fur into his shadow, fully intent on resting until the moon rose once one.

#fanfic #twilight princess #tp link #wolf link #midna

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c0smicsalt · 1 year

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🎮

LoZ Ask Game!

🎮 Favorite Zelda game?

I'm gonna condense your other three asks into this one, if that's cool! 👍 Oooh, and a pretty tough one to start!

I think at this point... It's a tie between Ocarina of Time & Twilight Princess, for me. I love BotW and Skyward Sword, but I also struggle to play them, personally. MM is another game I could gush about forever! But me playing it, personally... It's a struggle, too.

OoT got me loving LoZ, and it's a classic, "safe" game for me. Incredibly comforting and easy to get back into! Whereas TP's wolf Link holds a dear place in my heart, the dark, glowing style is charming (especially in the HD remake), Midna is SUCH a fun companion (in retrospect, the evolution to who Tatl was), and I really enjoy Zant, too. Everything design-wise of TP delights me!

...I could probably add Wind Waker to this, but I don't play it as much as the other two!! Maybe someday... (And when my bias for Zora finally chills out. The Rito are cool and Medli is one of my faves, but... I really do still prefer the Zora!)

😤 Any Zelda-related Pet Peeves?

I have weirdly strong beef with "wrong takes" over my favorite characters and theories, kdfhjdks-

For example, there were theories when Tetraforce was still popular, over how the fourth goddess could've been the Gerudo's Goddess of Sands or the Goddess of Time mentioned in MM. Both of these are wrong to me, and I wonder how an "evil" goddess could've been overlooked!? (How else did Demise come to be?? All his people?! He ranks the same as Hylia to me, so it's weird that he's treated as a "god" in his own right...)

A character example has been Ruto, with an extra dose of Personal™ cause I had this thought when I was younger...but the misunderstanding of her character. Mostly trying to say she's "only" love-focused when her growth as an "adult" was...honestly quite mature. Yes, she still had feelings for Link (and acknowledged them at their reuniting & when she ascended as a Sage), but also acknowledged that this wasn't the time for any of that; her people were in danger and saving the Temple was MUCH more important.

Also, maaaybe judging someone based on their bratty, 10-year old attitude (as a spoiled princess, no less) is. Hmm. Misguided? For such a stubborn, brat of a kid, she grew up really well and changed herself; likely without much aid of the adults around her. That should be appreciated more.

👊 Favorite Zelda Villain/Boss?

...Nevermind, THIS is the tough question! A favorite boss?! I have to pick one...?! I'll certainly try...

I would have to say Majora's Mask. Yes, the whole end boss fight, not even any particular form. As both a villain and a boss fight, they're just... Incredible. Truly summarizing the special brand of horror and mayhem you've dealt with in the titular game. The cause of all problems...and with their death, the end of it, too. It's poetic in a way.

Though I'll give some honors, too, to Bongo-Bongo, Demise, and [Wind Waker] Ganondorf. Bongo-Bongo I have a whole origin theory on, who gives a lot for people to think about. (Given the temple he resides within.) Demise was cool as hell, but I mostly hype up the beginning of all things LoZ (the reincarnation cycle) and the stage for the fight itself... And Wind Waker Ganondorf is one of- if not THE best- Ganondorf of the series. None have yet lived up to his depth of character, and it highlights his madness and brutal end all the more for it, I feel.

#warriorsofcrimsonrealms #Aki answers #hilariously MM made it back at the end anyways LMAO #honestly my LoZ theories fit into my Tetraverse lore anyways...#so I continue to feel like I should work more on that #sooner rather than later ofc but y'knooooww!!#I have SO much more work to do #(almost all of it art related)#so it'll happen! eventually!!!#(in the meantime I have a secret sideblog for my LoZ theory work LMAO)

0 notes

moirastuff · 3 years

Note

Hiii do you still take requests? If that's the case, could I ask for an Revali x reader where Revali was mean all the years to reader, but now they have to dance together on a festival because Revali's old dance partner broke her leg? (And the chief from the Ornis sad that revali have to dance with reader?) Thank you for reading ^^

The return of tsundere birb?????

I want tsundere birb.

Sorry if this took time, I was going back to my Otaku phase and I watched all Attack on Titan. Ngl, it's pretty cool and I believe in Mikasa and Levi supremacy. I'm not lying

Also, my teachers really said: don't let her rest, because I just had work after work every fucking day, but writing these was kinda refreshing.

I put a little bit of angst in this one, sorry~

I hope you like it ✨

Reader replacing Revali's old dance partner

I still have problem naming this hcs, help me please

Another appointed knight of Zelda, Revali can't treat you the same as Link.

But he can actually, he doesn't treat you any different, except he doesn't insult you... That much.

If he doesn't like you, well, you neither.

You, nearly, respect him.

But you still are in a clearly inferior position then Revali.

So you don't have another choice to respect him.

He teases you every day.

Making you angry makes him kinda happy.

He thinks you look funny when you're angry.

He doesn't take you seriously 99% of the time.

Basically, Link and you must go for, kinda, the same treatment.

The worst part for you is that you past for this for literally years, since your parents were travellers, you visit a lot of places, and you lived near of the Rito village.

So, you had to see Revali's face for a long time.

Something amazing is that everyone thinks you are close to him.

Y'all got it wrong.

Couldn't be more different.

At first you did wanted to be friends, but he treated you kinda like a joke.

Going back to the present.

Revali still treats you like a joke

But now that just makes you annoyed so you keep your distance from him.

You can't do much when you, literally, are with Zelda all the time and she's always working with the Champion's.

A festival is coming to Rito Village, the elder invites all the Champions, including you.

You weren't sure to go, but even if you didn't want to, you had to, because if Zelda is there, you'll go.

You already went to that festival, it was colorful, vivid and had a great sense of home.

But when Revali was there, all of that fun go away, you may have left the festival on the moment he appeared.

You helped with the decorations, you lived almost all your life there, so you weren't a stranger to them.

Revali, surprisingly, took part of the preparations, he did loved his people.

Every Champion helped with the preparations.

Zelda was excited, she tried to hide it though, Link was... Happy? He didn't care that much, he seemed happy for Zelda.

Urbosa was interested, she had never go to one, Daruk was as much excited as Zelda, he's just always happy to be part of the celebration, Mipha was also interested in the festival, maybe she can buy some gift for Link.

Revali explained to them what they do in the festival, some archery games, for starters and professionals, a lot of traditional food and a music.

You talked with Link if he wanted to try the archery games, he agreed.

Revali just entered the conversation out of nowhere.

“Oh you want to participate on the archery competition? Be aware that I always participate and everytime I end on first place, there's no use on trying” I think I got carried with it

“Whatever you say big cucco, let's go Link, I haven't seen Zelda for a while after she went with the Rito children”

What he said to you... Kinda hurt.

You tried not think much about it.

At the day of the festival, you were always with Zelda y Link, the Champions sometimes followed but the go to something else.

Daruk and Mipha was with some kids, playing with them, Sidon was also invited so he stayed with her all the time.

Urbosa and Impa were looking everywhere, they liked the decorations.

Revali was showing off in the competitions, nothing new.

Zelda asked what you and Link wanted to do.

“Well, we were thinking about participating on one of those archery competitions but, princess, you are our priority”

“May you please forget that? Just for today, have fun, you can take this as you training time”

Link was surprised and conflicted, so do you.

“Are you sure princess?”

“Of course! I'll watch and cheer for you two, I'll tell the others, wait here” and she stormed off.

“Wait! princess- And she's gone... I think we should prepare” and Link just nodded.

Zelda returned with all the Champions, Sidon and Impa, except Revali.

They all go to the competition place, Link and you registered.

I like to think that the reader used something like the stealth mask, just because.

“Come to lose? I'm not blaming you, it's cute you want to try”

You tried to ignore him.

The competition was rather simple, you had to hit the target on the center of it and you gained points, some of the target were only available while flying, some other target's were constantly moving, other were so far away that you couldn't even see the center.

The competition was hard-fought, the three of you were almost tied, but in the final, Revali won.

“Very well... What a pleasant surprise, I could never imagine me losing to any of you two, after all, I'll be always the number one”

Now, that hurt.

Link was, as always, unbothered, but you were... Sad and really mad.

I don't think losing was the reason.

I think I making him really mean

You and Link got back with Zelda, the others noticed you were feeling down, Zelda tried to cheer you up.

“What if we go to see more of the festival? I know there's gonna be thing's you like” you appreciate her attempt's

Y'all continue walking through the festival until they announce a special dance is about to start, you and the others go to see.

You see Revali there and your mood immediately change to chill to about to go feral.

Zelda go where he was, Revali ease up when he sees her, it's the princess after all.

“Something's wrong Revali?”

“Of course not, just thing's aren't going as expected”

“What happened?”

“You are aware of the dance isn't? Well my dance partner broke their leg and nobody knows the dance except me and them”

Well... You knew the dance, you had see it since kid, but there's NO way you're gonna save his ass from embarrassment.

“Actually, I think there is someone” Urbosa stepped in the conversation.

“Really? Who?”

“Is someone you were disrespectful with no reason whatsoever, maybe if you start treating them with the respect everyone deserves and truly apologize, they might help you”

Revali got the hint immediately... And you knew.

Now, this is the moment you'd been waiting, let's see how long can he go to be honest and respect you truthfully.

Urbosa just smiled knowing that he didn't have any choice, is that or announcing he failed, and Revali hated that.

“Tsk... Fine, if it goes wrong, it's all your fault”

“You sure? Why mine and not the one who was disrespectful from the start?”

And that's how you attack the ego of a Rito.

Revali started walking towards you, he seem kinda awkward and upset.

“Not a step closer Rito champion, I know what you came for.... I have a question”

“What now?”

“You are really sorry or you just want to save yourself?”

Revali stayed silent some minutes, he wanted to say something but it didn't came out of his mouth.

“I thought so... If you're not really sorry, then don't even bother, also, you have to apologize truthfully with Link”

What? I wanted that too

“Wait.. I'm actually sorry...”

“And...?”

“It's just, I'm not used to this, I'm not use to have friends, alright? And you at the start really wanted to be one of them, and I panicked, I didn't knew how to react”

“Alright... You're leaving someone”

“Yes I know, I'm sorry Link for what I have tell you, you're... Not that bad...”

You looked at Link and he just smiled a little and nodded.

“Good try cucco, alright, I'll help you with this dance”

“You'll have to change clothing”

“...What?”

After a quick change to Rito clothing, you and Revali positioned on their places.

When the dance started, the elder was surprised, he'll have preferred a Rito partner.

But let me tell you, none of you care about it.

Revali had really smooth moves and you were light on your feet.

You finally had some fun with him.

When the dance finished, everyone started cheering and clapping, the dance was perfect!

You two went to the champion's, everyone was happy.

“What a show you two did!”

“Thanks your highness, I wasn't aware the cucco was able to dance”

“Are you kidding me? I'm better than you, obviously”

“What improvement you did”

You weren't his friend yet, but things were looking well.

“I gonna regret this... But you actually look pretty on Rito clothing”

Now, that was unexpected.

Every single one of the champions just stared at Revali completely confused.

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little-lemon-lattes · 3 years

Text

The Scheme

🌛Zelda Spellman x fem! reader

—Word count: 1.9k

— Triggers: Mention of murder and burning in a non-violent context

— Summary: We have part 2 to The Set Up! You and Zelda spend a blissful day together since kissing the night before, and make the most of being together before the mortuary fills with life- and typical Spellman scheming- again!

You were on Cloud-fucking-9.

The previous evening, you and Zelda had kissed. It had been truly extraordinary, even better than the few times you had allowed your mind to indulge in that kind of imagery concerning her. You had never felt that good with anyone before; well, minding that you had neither felt for anyone like that of which you had been trying to cover for the astonishing woman.

She currently lay in the grass next to you, cheek resting tentatively on your belly, as you both just watched each other in comfortable silence. Gosh, kissing Zelda had felt SO good that it had been hard to stop at just one. Like now. Her stunningly bright and beautiful green eyes were boring into yours, but you really couldn’t tell if she was trying to send you a signal or was just unwittingly that gorgeous on the daily. Probably the latter. You also had to remind yourself that, EVEN though you two already lived under the same roof, you would take things one step at a time together. The last 24 hours with Zelda had been like a dream, and the Spellman mortuary had a new air to it now that you knew where you stood.

That morning, you had woken just before dawn (which was much earlier than you preferred), likely still on a high from the feel of Zelda’s lips. Rather than lay there attempting to force yourself back to sleep, you rose from your pillow. Perhaps it was your always-lingering insecurity pulling some strings, but it suddenly seemed desperately important to you- then and there at 4:56am- that you find a way of proving to Zelda that she hadn’t made the wrong choice opening up to you the night before. Just one more bonus of Hilda’s disappearance that weekend being that the kitchen was inevitably free, within a few minutes you had decided to make a spot of breakfast to share. You would never admit it out loud, but you were also buzzing to showcase your culinary ability; of which had been somewhat hindered by the unspoken acknowledgement that Hilda was the kitchen witch of the house.

With that, you were out of bed and clothed in a black turtleneck and mom jeans, as you put the finishing touches on a French braid: all by 5:15. THe next two hours flew by as you whipped up black coffee, almond cake, black sausage, eggs, salmon, bagels, mushroom, and tomato. You were just laying out bloody-fleshed plums and yoghurt when you heard gentle footsteps on the landing above you. Smiling softly, you stopped to admire as the woman padded down the stairs, wrapped in a silky black robe and wiping bits of sleep from her eyes. She stopped dead as she spotted the food on the table, hand still raised to her eye.

“Surprise...?” you peeped.

Zelda’s hand flopped to her side as she tilted her head adorably, treating you to a giddy smile. And you were hopeless to try not to smile right back. That there was enough to have made the last two hours worth it. “

“What’s all this, y/n?”

“I, uh... breakfast?”

Zelda couldn’t help smiling a little more at the cute way you had made it seem like a question. “I see that,” she laughed, “but why?”

You forced an expression of mock pain onto your face.

“I am hurt, Spellman, hurt! Does there have to be a reason?”

All she did was raise her eyebrows in disbelief. You supposed it was probably best to build any chance you had together on honesty.

“Okay, FINE. I just... wanted to show you that last night wasn’t a mistake, in case you were having any doubts.”

Zelda trotted, cat-like, down from her post against the railing, and came to rest just half a metre in front of you.

“Why, there was absolutely nothing of the sort. I hardly slept a wink all night; your lips have something of a memorable feel to them, if I am honest.”

And this time, it was her that closed the space between you, snaking her arms around your waist to pull you closer. One long peck later, the bubblegum-pink shade of your cheeks matched hers in perfect unison, as if in competition.

Breakfast was sweet and long, spent thigh to thigh next to each other, chatting about all the things you had been too afraid to ask each other until that point.

The rest of the day was passed laying next to one another in the winter sunshine, beneath an age-old willow tree. After what felt like just minutes since you had arrived (but had really been hours), you pointed to the sky with the hand that wasn’t clasping Zelda’s.

“Look, the sun!”

You received a lazy “hmmm” in response. Twisting to face her on your left, you couldn’t fight your sigh of content. The High Priestess was laying with her eyes closed in utter bliss, the final rays of Sunday’s sunshine dancing across those glorious lashes.

“It’s setting, Zelda. Everyone will be back soon.” you murmured to her. It was as if you had thrown a bucket of ice over her. Cloud 9 disappeared with the snapping open of her eyes. The soft expression that had occupied her visage all day visibly hardened into her more familiar, stoic one. She leapt to her feet, snatching up the open novel beside her and swinging out her hand to you with force. Time and Space closed in around you the moment you took it, and, the next thing you knew, the two of you were outside the mortuary once more.

You turned to her sharply.

“What was that about?” you demanded. Standing silent for a moment, Zelda’s ears visibly pricked. After a few more moments, she seemed appeased, and swivelled to you. Her shoulders were tense, and you took note of her fingernails digging into her palm.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I didn’t mean to be so abrupt. I just... I am enthused about where you and I are headed, y/n, and I’m terrified that others may not share my enthusiasm. I want to enjoy things as they are at present for a while longer, before having to think about who needs to be involved in our business.”

It was understandable, you supposed, and admittedly: there was a certain appeal to keeping things 007-style, like that fantastic mortal film. You relaxed a bit, and instantly felt awful for raising your voice at her.

You reached for the woman’s shoulder.

“You’re right, Zelds. I understand.”

She looked unconvinced.

“Are you sure? You have every right to want to murder me right now, if you so wished. Although, only if you were to bury me in the Cain pit...” she added as an afterthought.

You had to giggle at that one.

“You’re safe for now, Zelda,” you teased, “now, come on! I need to find a good hiding spot for scaring the BANSHEES out of them when they get back!”

Hilda, Sabrina, and Ambrose literally stomped their feet in sheer disappointment when they arrived back at the house and hadn’t caught the pair of you locked in some form of intimate embrace.

“Aw man! What will I tell my friends?! I had Roz totally excited about y/n finally getting some action... Like, she seriously admitted that she had this big crush on her when she first met her; whiiiiich definitely earned a few looks from Harvey, to say the least. The take-away from it all is that we now know exactly how fragile that guy’s ego is, YIKES, is all I can say.”

All the while, Ambrose was muttering a consistent string of “fuck”s under his breath, and Hilda was deciding whether to scald Sabrina’s ass to Hades and back.

“Sabrina!” her aunt admonished in disbelief, “how could you be so careless?! If any of this gets back to your aunt Zelda, we should consider ourselves excommunicated from her presence for good!”

All of them fought a cringe. Sabrina looked a bit sheepish.

Hilda turned to Ambrose.

“And what about you, mister? What’s with the constant profanities?”

Ambrose took a step back from his aunt, nobody was sure whether consciously or not. “Erm...hm. Yes. Well. I-” his sputtering was resembling a car trying to start up. Ambrose’s eyes suddenly seemed unable to reach past the witches’ knees.

“-um. Damn. Hecate, yes, I have... just lost a particularly large sum of money to one Dorian Gray.”

Hilda’s eyes were ready to pop out of her head. “I was so unequivocally certain that our plan would work! Now where I am supposed to come up with $1000?!”

He was a little manic. The only one of the three who seemed somewhat happy about Ambrose’s situation was Sabrina, sticking a finger at him. “HA! Now that makes what I did so much better!”

Her plum-coloured lips parted with glee, and without warning, her and her travel bag had disappeared. Ambrose made a furious mental note to pour formaldehyde in her evening tea for leaving him here alone. When he had finally built up the courage to look his otherwise cheery aunt in the eyes again, a flash of fear struck him at the murderous look in hers. A low growl exited her throat.

“Well,” she snapped, “I suppose there will be no more silly little attempts on our part to play Cupid.”

As quickly as it had started, her anger dissipated, and was replaced by a certain sadness. Her mouth raised just a fraction, into a tired little smile.

“ ’just thought that Zelds could do with something nice for once. We failed. It didn’t work.”

With that, she picked up her carpet bag and shuffled off up the stairs. Ambrose watched her go, now a lone silhouette in the entrance of their home.

Or so he thought. You waited until Ambrose had moodily trudged down to the embalming room before emerging from your spot in the broom closet. Sniffling a little from all the dust- those things hadn’t been flown for years, SO old fashioned- you felt a mix of emotion at what you had just heard. You hadn’t intended on becoming an audience to some type of scheme, and especially not one of which involved you.

At first, there was embarrassment. You hadn’t realised that your feelings were apparently so obvious! Paired with the fact that Zelda’s must have been too in order to warrant such a matchmaking scheme; along with that you had truly thought that you had done a superb job at keeping it all under wraps, you were left feeling a bit stupid. But then came the funny side of it all, imagining Hilda, Ambrose, and Sabrina sneaking about like the Pink Panther and holding secret meetings about your love life. And finally came the warmth, the realisation of exactly how much the Spellmans had grown to care for you- so much that they trusted you to love Zelda as much as they did.

The whole situation was entirely too much of an opportunity to just leave alone. Grinning with total delight and schemes cooking of your own, you rematerialised in Zelda’s study at the Academy. The loud CRACK that accompanied that particular piece of magic made the woman flinch. Her brow crinkled at the sight of you in front of her great oaken desk. She was a little taken aback, and (it delighted you even more) flustered to see you there.

“Y/n?”

“Zelda. I NEED to tell you what I just heard!”

A game was now afoot.

And your opponents weren’t finished yet either.

#zelda spellman #zelda spellman x reader #caos #Sabrina #lgbt #fanfic #hilda spellman #sabrina spellman #ambrose spellman #chilling adventures of sabrina #miranda otto #caos imagine #wlw #caos fanfiction #your pov

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cromwellharvests · 2 years

Text

@regnantlight said:

🎶

send 🎶 for a musical number for our muses

[rubs my little racoon hands together] good. splendid. alright—

Being Alive from Company (especially as performed by Voctave)

Someone to hold you too close Someone to hurt you too deep Someone to sit in your chair And ruin your sleep To make you aware Of being alive...

Someone to need you too much Someone to know you too well...

Someone you have to let in Someone whose feelings you spare Someone who, like it or not Will want you to share A little, a lot Is being alive...

Someone to crowd you with love Someone to force you to care Someone to make you come through Who'll always be there As frightened as you Of being alive

and, of course, the pleading reprise at the end, as the perspective shifts:

Somebody crowd me with love Somebody force me to care Somebody let me come through I'll always be there As frightened as you To help us survive Being alive

honestly I feel like it bears little need for elaboration, the proof’s in the pudding (and performance)— but I’ll go on and give some, anyhow: that they’re both so practiced at showing only parts of themselves to others, and finding ways to keep even the people they love very dearly at arm’s length; for fear of being a burden, of not meeting expectations, of not being exactly what they each believe they should be, every moment of every day... I’ll admit, I think it’s even more difficult for Zelda to begin to open up and ease those barriers than it is for Easy to do the same, but they certainly both struggle with it.

But that only compounds the need for someone to break through. To hold you too close; someone you have to let in... each of them coming to terms with how, as they do finally give leighway for the other to see the parts of themself they try to keep down, it lets them feel freer, fuller, and— indeed— more alive than they have in a long while.

It’s scary. Of course it is— life is. But it’s better together.

I think the realization at the end errs more from Zelda’s perspective, maybe after a pre-determined length of partnership ends which had brought them together, or maybe as she gears up to enter into a loveless political marriage, and realizes, oh! actually! that doesn’t sound nearly as tolerable as it did before because I’ve experiened what being alive (for myself) is actually about!

honorable mentions: Come What May from Moulin Rouge, Sunrise from In the Heights, (and of course: You Matter to Me)

honorable honorable mention: Legally Blonde from... Legally Blonde: the Musical... something, something, “someone in Hyrule’s court attempts to take advantage of / otherwise snubs the ambassador in a way which makes her feel foolish and small for ever believing she was good enough for such a high position, decides to pack it all up and head back to the small town where she ‘belongs’, much to the dismay of her highness’—

E: Thanks for your help and for all you've done Thank you for treating me decently Z: What's wrong? E: Maybe someday you can visit me Give me a call, say hello– Z: Wait, where are you going?

E: Sorry, I'm letting down everyone Z: What brought on this? E: You gave your best with a hopeless case Z: That's ludicrous Both: You are the best thing about this place Z: Emily, you should know-...

#☼'( sɪɢɴᴇᴅ sᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀᴇᴅ [answered] )#☼'( ᴘʀᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇs [saved] )#|| WOW this got long #|| i have the MOST thoughts

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lorelylantana · 3 years

Text

Compulsion

Ao3

This oneshot was inspired by this post by @snooze-zzz

Oneshot rating: G

His father wasn’t happy when Link was called to his office, a scowl etched into his brow. Link stepped in and stood at attention, expecting his father to grumble about some last minute change to the guard’s rotation before assigning him to a troop to fill in the gaps left by such shifts. Link had been knighted only recently, and as the most junior member in his unit he was expected to pick up this sort of slack. Link didn’t mind, a little sleep lost was a small place to pay to quiet that writhing feeling in his chest. It wasn’t silent just yet, but he was getting closer. When his father got up to walk around the room, Link made no move to maintain eye contact, standing at attention. It was a test of sorts, teaching Link to hold his position until told otherwise. It took some practice to tamp down the instinctive urge to turn towards the speaker, but he was getting it. So when his father walked behind him, he thought he was just checking his form.

“Do you think this is a game, son?” the Captain’s words were cold, dripping with the kind of disappointment that would make any child’s blood freeze. Link’s pulse began to race. His face flushed, but his training held and he stood rooted to the spot.

“Sir?”

“Do you know how many fourteen year old knights there have been in recorded history?”

“One, sir,” Link answered, bracing for a lecture.

“Right, one. You are the only knight to ever be sworn in so young,” his father continued, coming around to face him again. Link almost flinched when he saw the quiet rage in his father’s eyes. This wasn’t going to be the ordinary scolding for being late to the mess hall or having a spot on his armor.

“I had to jump through a lot of hoops for you to be allowed to swear in early. I stuck my head out for you because I had faith in you. You told me you could handle the responsibility and I believed you. I don’t appreciate you dragging my name through the mud with this little stunt and I definitely don’t appreciate you going back on your word.”

Link racked his brain, still completely at a loss to the ‘stunt’ the Captain was referring to. He’d looked after his armor meticulously, arrived early for morning drills, he even took time out of his break to have a barber crop his hair to match Hyrule’s military regulation, leaving his neck uncovered for the first time in years.

Then again, he did break one of the sparring dummies yesterday, a swing of a sword that landed a bit too hard. The drill sergeant laid into him for that, sending him to run laps while everyone else got a water break.

“I can fix the dummy, sir.”

That was the wrong thing to say apparently, because when his father’s face contorted even further. The Captain shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You knew perfectly well that tattoos visible in uniform aren’t allowed, let alone one blatantly disrespecting the royal family, so what possessed you to undermine the sacrifices made to get you here?”

Link’s hands were shaking behind his back. He couldn’t remember the last time his father was so angry with him, and he still had no idea what he was being reprimanded for. He didn’t get a tattoo as far as he remembered, and he didn’t drink, so it wasn’t a memory lost to wine.

Justified or not, the Captain’s anger stung after Link tried so hard to uphold the high standard his father held him to. He had been proud to meet that standard, but it was hard to hold his head high when his captain and his father looked at him with such disappointment, whatever the reason turned out to be. He felt his face heat with shame and his throat close.

The Captain sighed when his son failed to answer, and Link knew that he had fallen in his father’s eyes, and that thought alone was enough to bring tears to his eyes.

“I don’t understand,” he whispered, his knight’s countenance cracking at long last, “What did I do?”

His father shook his head, refusing to look him in the eye, “If you can’t be honest and own up to your own actions, then I have to put you on probation. Pack your backs and come back when you’re ready to stop treating the knight’s oath like a joke.”

Link saluted, maintaining his silence in a desperate attempt to regain his composure, though he couldn’t stop a few childish tears from leaking out in what would be his last show of emotion for a very long time.

The sun was setting as Link started down the road south to Castle Town where he’d stay the night, wondering what he’d tell his mom. His stomach twisted in dread. He didn’t want to see the inevitable disappointment on his mother’s face. He still didn’t know what he’d done wrong, but whatever it was had to be so obvious that any denial would read as insubordination, so he doubted she would believe any defense he could muster.

He wanted to scream that he didn’t think knighthood was a joke. In truth he wouldn’t even consider it an ambition. He supposed it was an instinct, if anything. Perhaps it was because he was the son of the Captain of the Royal Guard, but that answer tasted wrong in his mind, like it was far too trivial an explanation for the growling dissatisfaction in his chest.

He’d always had fun swinging the wooden swords his father brought home when he was small, but time and again Link would be overtaken by some deep set sense of urgency to learn and hone any skill he could use in battle. He would be seated at the dinner table or doing his chores when something that tasted like an elegant, tempered version of panic would consume him and demand he rush outside to practice his sword forms. His mother scolded him for it at first, but couldn’t bring herself to reprimand him after she saw how distraught he would be if she stopped him, so she left him be, only calling him in if it was bedtime or if he scraped a knee. If he couldn’t find a sword, he’d pick up a broom and pretend it was a spear, or he’d make a claymore out of an iron hammer. He’d go hunting even though he’d have to drag a buck along on the ground because he was too small to carry it himself because standard targets simply wouldn’t cut it. Anything he could use to practice he would.

At first it was just repeating basic swings and perfecting technique, but after a few years passed there chime began to sound in the distance when he took up his arms, and soon after that ring grew into words reverberating in his head. At first, Link had thought the voice, ancient and vaguely feminine, was that of the Goddess. He didn’t think that now though. She, if the voice was, in fact, a she, felt isolated, personal. Link had the distinct impression that the voice was interested in him and him alone, and he didn’t think the White Goddess Hylia would play favorites, least of all with him. There was no praise or scorn from the voice, only instruction flavored with an odd sort of affection that felt older and steadier than the land itself, and Link, still driven by a baseless devotion, did as he was told.

When she told him to hone his agility by shadow sparring on a fence, he obeyed. When she told him to climb Mount Floria to strengthen his body and spirit he obeyed. And when he was told to visit the Spring of Courage to pay homage to his predecessors he obeyed, whoever they may be. Then old and forgotten combat arts were whispered in his ear, and Link began to fight unlike any man or beast in thousands of years.

It wasn’t long after that his father returned to Hateno on leave and took note of his progress. The Captain made a blithe comment that Link could hold his own against a royal guard, and once again the urgency rose, not to take up arms, but to head towards Hyrule Castle. He’d begged and pleaded with his father, swearing up and down that he would uphold the knight’s standard both in and out of combat, the voice reassuring him all the while.

When he was sworn to Hyrule’s service and he settled into the Military Training Camp the voice quieted down. He felt a tad lonesome without her, though he didn’t miss the mind numbing sensation so close to terror that always preceded her voice. It had been relaxing to train and talk and go about his life without a sense of foreboding shadowing his every action. He was where he needed to be.

As he walked further and further south he could feel it growing again, pulling him back the way he came. Link thought back to his childhood, wondering when this feeling, so much like a sickness, first came to him. Now that he thought on it, he was quite certain the first taste of this compulsion came to him at the late Queen’s funeral.

Yes, he remembered it clear as day. He had been outside the cathedral in Castle Town bearing lilies on his family’s behalf, since his father was guarding the ceremony and his mother had taken ill that day. Once the priestesses had concluded their rite there was a bid for all those in attendance to leave their offerings if they so wished, and when it was Link’s turn to approach the coffin he caught sight of Princess Zelda.

She was so small, smaller than he was, and though no tears fell Link saw her quivering ever so slightly. The sight of her green eyes and sun bright hair was so familiar even though he’d never seen anything like it. She looked up to meet his gaze, and within her green eyes Link found a fleeting epiphany tinged with nostalgia. In that moment Link could feel something deep within the earth beginning to rumble awake, dark and devastating. He’s certain that’s where his fixation began, and after years of contemplation he deemed the swell in his chest at the sight of her protective, though the nature of such devotion was lost on him.

Link had come up on Hyrule Cathedral then. He stood there a moment, wondering if he should seek Hylia’s guidance before heading on his way. Who knows, perhaps the voice would return to him and give him an objective to work towards, something to drown out the devastation in his chest.

“You are not to leave that spot until dawn breaks, Zelda. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Father.”

And there she was again, all snow white and burning gold in the light of the setting sun. He could see her glowing faintly in the firelight of the torches around her, kneeling in the middle of the Cathedral’s garden to pray. Possessed, he stepped closer to the wrought iron fence that separated them, drawn to her like a moth to any warm, bright light.

It had been years since he’d seen her shaking at the loss of her mother, but she somehow looked more hopeless and alone kneeling there in the grass. That observation tore at him, momentarily eclipsing his own desolation. In that instance Link wanted to be there by her side, if only to provide a moment’s reprieve from the storm they were trapped in.

His wish struck through him light a flash of lightning as though granted by a higher power.

Link spun around on the street and walked right back to the gate, retracing his steps, though he had no intention of returning to the Military Camp. He didn’t know where he intended to go, only that there was a white hot tether curled around his heart and soul dragging him back north, relentless and daunting.

He walked on into the night, after the people of Hyrule settled in to sleep and doused the fires lighting his way. The darkness mattered little, because whatever drove Link’s feet, it wasn’t his sight. He walked past the Camp he’d left not hours before, keeping out of the nightwatch’s range. He didn’t know what he was doing, but he didn’t need interruptions, and the guard would just get in his way. No one entered the Lost Woods without a death wish, at least, not before tonight. The fog of the ancient forest was potent, laced with an old magic, but it parted for Link, yielding to a more powerful, primordial force. It was a familiar feeling, Link realized as he passed between two seas of swirling white. He could hear her chime as she led him into the warmth of the Korok Forest. He didn’t hesitate to walk up to the sword where it lay in stone. The massive tree before him began to shift, but Link paid it no mind as he took hold on the blade and pulled.

The blade came free effortlessly, but Link tumbled back, overtaken by visions of death and destruction and ruin.

He’d heard whispers of a fabled apocalypse brewing beneath the land, but Link hadn’t listened too closely. They were only rumors, inconsequential when compared to the mind consuming drive to become a better warrior. Link had trained himself for years, mastering every weapon he could find, all in preparation to wield this sacred blade of evil’s bane.

But it wasn’t enough. It was nowhere near being enough to stop the horrors the voice in his blade spoke to him of.

Link didn’t return home after that. He couldn’t, because he knew that if he faced his father and mother just once he would break down, and that wasn’t an option anymore. He needed every hour he could get, and with the Calamity looming over the horizon he couldn’t justify something so selfish. He had to protect the Princess, he had to protect all of Hyrule, and weak as he was now he didn’t stand a chance. With the blessing of the Great Deku Tree he remained in Korok Forest, learning skill after skill. He trained dawn till dusk, sleeping in the Deku Tree’s hollow and cooking meals from the mushrooms and herbs the Koroks gathered for him.

He appreciated the little forest spirits, their antics helped cheer him when the weight of it all began to crush him.They were helpful in small but essential ways. They mended and refreshed his clothes, told him their stories and sang their songs, and when his hair grew long they found him a band to tie it with. He asked them to send messages to his family that he was still alive even though he had no idea if they were successful. They would listen to the whispers of Hyrule and tell him which monsters were causing the most trouble so Link could gain some real battle experience. Hestu helped him pack enough provisions to make a pilgrimage to Thyphlo ruins, where he stayed day and night until he had mastered fighting blind, and then he returned to the Korok Forest to fine tune his skills until his seventeenth birthday.

He could slow time, and move faster than an arrow in flight, but he still wasn’t satisfied when the Great Deku Tree spoke, his voice painfully similar to his father’s.

“You must leave now, Hero, go and face your destiny.”

Link didn’t look up from his swings, the sword humming in his hand, “I’m not ready.”

“No one ever is, child,” the tree said, sadness and affection melting into one another, “you must go nonetheless. The princess needs you to be her strength. The land of Hyrule calls for your aid. You must answer their call”

The sword whispered in agreement, so he sheathed the blade and said his goodbyes to the forest children before emerging from the fog for the first time in months. He stopped to look at the Military Training Camp, wondering if he should visit his father. He thought better of it, continuing on his way. Even if they allowed a deserter within the barracks, Link didn’t think he could hold himself together in the face of the family he had left behind.

Link’s father stood at attention behind King Rhoam’s throne. He was Captain of the King’s Guard, which meant he had to watch over the weekly constituency. The King sat on a throne while the Princess occupied a plush, though less ornate, chair placed to the right of her mother’s vacant seat. He’d received the promotion a year after his son went missing and he accepted, since he no longer had a reason to stay at the Military Training Camp.

It took him three months to realize his son had disappeared.

When his wife asked after their Link’s whereabouts upon his return to Hateno on leave the Captain had been annoyed, at first. It was easier to believe that his son was simply acting out, surely to return once he’d felt he made his point, then to face the truth. That flimsy belief didn’t hold out for very long, because deep in his heart he knew better. Link had made a mistake perhaps, but he’d never run from the consequences of his own actions. The tears of his distraught wife hammered home the heartbreaking reality.

Whatever had befallen his son, he wouldn’t be coming home.

There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t regret how he’d sent his son off that final time. He should have told his son that he loved him, protocol be damned.

There were countless reminders of his son that tore at him. Small things. The Captain would be on patrol and he’d see a doodle of a young man wielding a winged sword that the children of castle town must have scrawled on a wall. He opened a drawer to find a scrap of fabric from the tunic Link was wearing when he left the Training Camp, and he would return to his office to find honeyd apples and other treats his son loved the most. The universe seemed intent on haunting him, and he knew he deserved it.

He was so proud of his boy, but his final act as a father was to push Link to tears.

A chill went down the Captain’s spine, and he snapped to attention, kicking himself for letting his mind wander when he was supposed to be protecting the most important people in the kingdom. His time as a soldier had tempered his instincts, and he could sense a quiet, oppressive strength that would make a Lynel cower spread throughout the room at the sound of light footsteps padding towards the center of the room. A quick glance around the room revealed that his subordinates felt the same, shifting from foot to foot and hand twitching towards their weapons.

“State your business, boy,” came the King’s command, loud but not enough to drown out the ferocity leaking out from the diminutive hylian standing in the center of the Sanctum, his feet planted on the royal family’s crest.

Link said not a word, only reaching over his shoulder to pull the Master Sword from its sheath. The guards moved to intercept him, but he drove the tip to the ground before they could come close. The Captain stepped forward, swallowing his fear while he drew his sword to face the intruder.

“Stop!”

The Princess’ voice rang out with an uncharacteristic authority, bypassing the King himself to halt the guards’ assault. The adrenaline seeped from the Captain’s blood, and he took a good look at the swordsman.

He knew those eyes, their tearstained image had been burned into his memory for years. His son was taller now, though still on the shorter side. His hair was longer, much longer and swept back in a ponytail. The scrap of fabric the Captain had taken to wearing around his wrist was a perfect match for the tunic his son wore. The Captain’s sword clattered to the ground. Link was alive.

His son was alive!

But as he looked at the man his son had become, he felt some of that joy slip away. It was still there, but it was tainted by the realization of just how much Link had changed. Children grow, the Captain was well aware of this fact, but his son wasn’t just grown, he was distant and restrained. He stood less like a man and more like a statue carved to scare off malevolent spirits and sinners.

“Go to him, Zelda,” the King’s voice barely registered as the Captain struggled to reconcile this stoic, intimidating figure with the giggling, infectiously bright child he had raised.

Link hadn’t expected to run into his father so soon, his resolve was beginning to crack at the sight of the hesitant, regretful joy on the Captain’s face. He clenched his fist around the Master Sword’s handle, suppressing the urge to throw himself in his father’s arms and never leave. But then Princess Zelda stood before him in all her gentle radiance, fate given flesh, and he held onto her. Her presence banished any doubt within him. Link could feel her slumbering power, pulsing softly with the rise and fall of her breath. She felt like sunshine, and looking at her reminded him that this is where he needed to be. She too had destiny woven into the very fabric of her soul, the only other one of his kind.

Link knelt on the stones before her, laying the magnificent blade he commanded at her feet.

“That’s it then,” the King said, and the Princess nodded.

“Yes, it’s the Sword that Seals the Darkness,” she said, voice shaking, “We’re running out of time.”

“Not necessarily,” Impa piped up, “the fortune teller stated that the wingcrest would appear on the Hero’s body when the time drew near, I see no such mark.”

The Captain made a choked, distressed sound, but no one paid him any mind. All focused on Link. His hand was indeed blank, but after a moment’s confusion the Hero lowered his head before his princess, brushing his hair to one side so she could see the back of his neck. Her fingers brushed across his skin, sending a warm shiver down his spine. Link found himself relaxing under her hand, the touch felt like sending water from a hot spring rushing down his back and soothing the restlessness writhing inside him.

“How long have you had this?” she whispered, her fingertips lingering on the crest. Link could feel them shake slightly and felt a surge of protectiveness course through him.

“Two years, eight months and six days,” the Captain answered.

The King turned to his Captain, nonplussed, “You know this young man?”

“He’s my son,” was his broken reply. King broke into a smile.

“Well what do you know? You must be very proud of your boy today!”

“I’ve always been proud of him, your Majesty,” the Captain replied, “Always.”

Link took a shuddering breath as he felt some of the guilt from the last three years melt away, but his face remained stoic.

“With such a son I imagine you’d have little choice in the matter,” the King laughed, deaf to the thick emotion in the other man’s voice. Link felt the Princess’ hand stiffen before she drew away, a chill replacing the gentle heat he was already starting to miss.

“Rise, Hero,” she commanded softly, and he obliged without a word, sheathing his sword and taking his place by her side, the disquiet that had clawed through him since childhood finally satisfied. The Captain followed the divine pair as they declared the constituency over and the arrival of the Hero of Hyrule was announced, hopelessly at a loss.

The night was quiet when Link was headed to his assigned quarters below the Princess’ tower, much like the evening he was called to draw the Master Sword. He had put his hand on the door’s handle when he heard steps approach.

The Captain approached his son with caution, consumed with hatred for his own cowardly hesitation. After years of grief, his son stood before him yet again, and here he was, trying to dredge up the courage to give his boy the apology he deserved. He didn’t know how to approach Link like this. He wasn’t his son anymore, it seemed, but the Hero of Hyrule, the answer to the prayers of thousands. Here stood the Knight who Seals the Darkness, the paragon all aspired to the second they took up a sword.

Looking at his son felt like looking over the edge of a cliff, but it was his eyes that concerned him most. The blue eyes passed down from his mother lacked the good nature and mirth once found there, a trait shared with her. Instead there was an emptiness, a great void between the Captain and the Hero far too wide to cross.

No. Now that he looked closer, it wasn’t a void, it was a wall, and that broke the Captain’s heart all the more. Deep down he knew that he couldn’t reach his son like this, but he owed it to his family to try.

“I’m sorry,”

He’s not sure what he expected, he still hadn’t heard his son’s voice, and drawing Link in for a hug felt like crossing some unspoken but no less potent boundary that legendary blade had cut around the Hero. The Hero of Hyrule nodded in acknowledgment of his words, and the Captain didn’t feel like pushing further would be fair on his son, so he nodded his goodnight and walked further down the path with a heavy heart to write a letter to his wife, not sure what exactly to tell her happened to their little boy.

#Link #botw link #angst #Link's father #Link's family #oneshot #zelink #when logical parenting decisions tragically backfire #Compulsion #call of destiny #The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild #loz #legend of zelda #loz botw

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sugurus-slxt · 3 years

Note

Hey congrats on your milestone!! If it isn't to much trouble may i have haikyuu(male) matchup please. My pronouns are she/her. Im a Capricorn, my Mbti type is infj-a/infj-t. I tend to be shy around new people but I can be somewhat loud with people who im close to. My aesthetic is cottagecore mixed with oversized sweaters, which isn't really hard to be oversized since im 5'0 lmao. Anyways Im not very athletic and im not a big fan of sports but i love to go roller and ice skating. I also love to read books and to also cook and bake food. I also like to garden. I've been playing the violin for 6 years. I love animals and im planing on becoming a wildlife veterinarian. I like to Watch nature/animal documentaries. I also like sweets. Some things i dislike are people who bend or ruin my books and people who speak over me when im trying to talk. I would love to travel to a lot of different countries. I also really love "cozy" video games like Minecraft, stardew valley, sims 4 and animal crossing. Im not a big fan of fighting games especially shooting games, but I do like fighting games like legend of zelda and genshin impact. I can listen to any music genre but my favorites are indie, bedroom pop and classic rock. I hope this is ok, sorry if i spelt anything wrong. Hope im not bothering you :)

Personality Matchup

One 𝑅𝓊𝒷𝓎 coming right up for @armin-ocean-eyes

A/Note: Hey thank you so very much for visiting THE VAULT. I hope you like your match up :) Sorry that I’ve taken so long, I’ve been preoccupied with school but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this. Sorry, I’m late. Love <3 ~ Sar-chan

I match you with

Runner Up: Kozume Kenma

Here are some Headcannons:

I think when you and Yamaguchi first met there was a bit of silence at first but little by little the conversations became more as both of you became close you were louder around each other.

When you guys started dating he first took you on a roller-skating date and he was surprisingly very good for explaining to you he had no experience in the early stages of meeting. The truth is he went the week before to practice with Tsukishima to practice with you and he has many bruises to prove it.

I think you and Yamaguchi match outfits sometimes because he has a similar style to you. A lot of times if he goes out he always brings something back he’s seen on the way that you’ll like.

I think Tsukishima makes fun of your height more than often but Yamaguchi is quick to tell you he thinks it’s fine and cute and that he should leave you alone. Note he will blush while doing so and ruffle your hair to kind of shield his embarrassment in a way.

I think Yamaguchi favorite type of date to take you on is a book shop date and after he’ll take you to a café so you can read and munch on something.

Yamaguchi will ask you to teach him to cook and bake things. If you touch him while demonstrating he’s going to turn red and mostly hum while trying his best to pay attention.

He’ll surprise you with the recipes you’ve taught him and so much more because I think he naturally has a knack for baking sweet treats.

I think when Yamaguchi needs comfort he requests you read to him of you’re up to it, he won’t push you to. He especially likes it if you let him lay his head in your lap and brush through his hair, its relaxing for him.

When you need comfort I think Yamaguchi will make you snacks and put on a documentary he had found and saved for both of you to watch. He’ll listen to you talk while holding you and give you a soft kiss on the forehead for reassurance.

I think Yamaguchi accidently ruined one of your books and instead of telling you first he kind of panicked and bought you a new copy and several other books he thought you’d like or had been on your reading list.

Yamaguchi got addicted to the games you introduced him to so much that he asks very often if you’ll lay against his chest while he plays If you’re not up to it.

He likes being near you and dedicated a lot of time to cuddles with soft music in the background, he really appreciates having you in his arms.

EXTRA:

I hope you liked it :)

The vault is closed.

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duskaris · 3 years

Text

The result of the LU writing competition is in and I didn’t win, which was the result I expected, but it does means I get to post it now. I’m mostly happy with how it turned out but posting actual fanfiction makes me a lot more nervous than completely original stuff. Anyways, here it is:

It's All in the Little Things

The plate handed to Legend looked like it belonged to the fanciest restaurant in his Hyrule.

"Salmon meuniere," Wild said as he handed another plate to the young sailor sitting next to him before taking the last one for himself. The pair immediately tore into theirs, but Legend stared at it, fork in hand, unsure where to start on the elegant dish. He poked at it, the perfectly cooked fish flaking at the slightest touch.

"Do you not like it?" Wild asked, a flash of disappointment briefly darting across his face.

"No, it's not that," Legend quickly assured him. "It's just so fancy. Why?" He forced himself to take a bite, the flavourful fish seemed to melt in his mouth. It certainly tasted as good as it looked, if not better.

"Because we're celebrating, silly," Wind said as though it was obvious. Legend looked at them skeptically, eyebrows raised.

"Celebrating what exactly? I don't seem to recall anything special about today." Legend retorted, forking more of the buttery fish into his mouth.

"Hyrule saw a multicoloured frog earlier," Wild replied matter-of-factly, like it was the most natural thing in the world to celebrate. Across the camp, Hyrule perked up at his name and gave a quick thumbs up to the trio before returning to his conversation with Four.

"Why in Hylia's name are you celebrating that?" Legend asked incredulously. "It was probably poisonous so please tell me you didn’t touch it. Or eat it." He sent a pointed look at Wild. Sometimes he found it hard to believe he had to travel with these idiots.

"Why not celebrate it?" Wind stuck out his tongue, daring Legend to respond. Notably, he didn’t acknowledge the second part of what Legend had said.

"Because it's dumb. Why celebrate something that has literally no meaning? Seems like a waste of time and effort to me," Legend snarked.

"Haven't you ever done anything fun for the sake of it?" Wild teased. Legend tried to come up with an example, and when nothing came to mind, his brow furrowed. There was something he did to cheer himself up, there must be, right? Heartbreaking realization crashed over him, breath catching in his throat as his stomach dropped. He spent so much time saving the world he never thought of taking a moment for himself. Even after overcoming Ganon there was always another trouble maker to defeat here, or someone to save there. He had found himself trapped in a never ending cycle. His hands started shaking involuntarily, accidentally sending his half-eaten plate onto the dirt below in a soft thud.

"Legend, please tell me you have done something in your life for your own happiness," Wild begged, ignoring the fallen plate as his smile faded to concern. Wind moved himself closer to the veteran hero, placing his hand comfortingly on Legend’s shoulder. He recoiled at the touch, shrugging off the young hero’s hand.

"What's the point of celebrating when the world is so terrible? Especially trivial things like some stupid weird frog" Legend lashed out, sharp words covering up the confusion he felt inside.

“That is the point. When everything is going wrong you need to do something to cheer yourself up!” Twilight wandered over from across their camp, appearing to have listened in on their conversation. “You gotta treat yourself,” he advised. “Think of something positive, or at least something neutral. Like a pretty goat.” Wild and Wind burst out laughing, even Legend couldn’t resist a small chuckle, though he quickly regained his composure and scowled at Twilight.

“What do you know, goat-boy?” Legend shot back.

“I know that I would’ve gone insane if I couldn’t get past the feeling that everything I did, every trial I passed, was only delaying the inevitable.” Twilight leaned down to be at eye level with Legend. “Is that how you feel, Veteran?” he asked, as gently as possible. Legend refused to meet his eyes, his slumped shoulders completing the defeated look that answered the question as clearly as if he had voiced it out loud. Wind threw his arm around Legend, squeezing him in a tight hug. This time, he didn't reject it.

“Do you think you could try something for me?" Wind asked. Legend managed a small nod. "Do you think you can name one not-bad thing that happened today?" The veteran hero thought for a moment.

“I didn’t die?” he said, unsure if something so plain would count.

“That's a great start!" Wild's grin returned, but pity hid behind his eyes, making his smile seem strained. "Do you want some cake? No celebration is complete without cake!” Wild pulled a few plates out of his Sheikah Slate. Looks of uncertainty passed around the small group. “It’s mostly fresh,” Wild reassured. “Probably.”

“Sure, why not." Legend relented, taking the plate, the others following suit. He sent a guilty look at the food he had dropped earlier.

"Don't worry about it.” Wild winked. “It gives me an excuse to make it again sooner. If anything, I should be thanking you.” Legend laughed, but it sounded hollow and forced.

“Y’know what?,” Wind started, talking through a mouth full of cake.”Not-bad things sounded kinda cool.” The sailor looked thoughtful for a moment. “How about whenever one of us is feeling sad or lonely, we get them to name not-bad things until they feel better?”

“That’s a great idea! It’s hard to kick monster ass when you’re sad.” Wild said excitedly. “Legend, what do you think?”

“I think-” he hesitated. His problems should stay his problems. But should they? His mind flashed to his Zelda, to Ravio. Marin. Having someone to talk to felt good, and here were people making an effort to break through his shell, as those three had done. “I think it’s a good idea too.” Legend smiled, perhaps his first real smile since he had started on this adventure.

Bonus: (aka, the original ending)

“Why are ya eating cake?” Sky asked as he and Warriors returned from patrol.

“Celebrating Legend’s non-death day!” Wild shoved a plate at him. “You want some?”

“Uh, sure, I guess?” Sky replied, wondering just how much he had missed.

#lu #linked universe #linkeduniverse #did I turn the prompt celebration into angst?#yes I did #I am allergic to writing anything happy #lu legend #lu wild #lu wind #should I post this on AO3 too?#I'm not sure if I will yet

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eggfucker-1 · 3 years

Text

Ai yah, I really have to respond to this post again, huh?

Well, for starters, I apologize for a mistake I made in my original post. In the OP, I insinuated that the Princess Zeldas we see in the series could have possibly had a role in the atrocities committed by the royal family. This is incorrect, and it was poor wording on my part. I should have clarified my intentions when writing that particular passage; however, I felt it was unimportant, given that the point wasn’t solely about Princess Zelda, but how the addition of the Goddess Hylia and the Demon King Demise not only invalidates Ganondorf’s character up to that point, but adds much greater weight to the terrible actions committed by the royal family, especially towards the Sheikah.

Given that tumblr user lorelylantana is the third person to make a reply by discussing the reincarnation cycle, rather than the actual point of my post, perhaps I should have proofread and double checked my post before sending it out into the world to cause problems on purpose.

With that said, after I read lorelylantana’s response, I felt it necessary to make a proper reply of my own. It’s going to be a rather lengthy reply, as I have many things to say and many images to post.

However, I’m going to do all that I can to avoid discussing fanon or fan theories. I don’t mind them, but adding fanon wasn’t the point of my original post, and it shouldn’t have been the focus of the responses I received. I want to stay as close to the canon Nintendo laid out as possible. Thusly, my sources will strictly be drawn from the games, game manuals, Creating a Champion, Hyrule Historia, and Hyrule Encyclopedia. Despite the latter two being dubiously canon, they were approved by Nintendo, so they’re worth mentioning.

So, without further delay, let us begin.

- “The original post seems to be based on the idea that Zelda and the royal family of Hyrule are synonymous, which is questionable for reasons I’ll get into later.”

For all intents and purposes, yes. Zelda and the royal family are synonymous, as she is the face of the royal family in almost every Zelda game featuring her. Even if she isn’t the ruler of Hyrule in that particular moment, she is our figurehead for the monarchy, by all means.

- “The games don’t hand wave the actions of Hyrule’s royal family, they just don’t go out of their way to hold a young girl personally responsible for the actions of kings […]”

While the actions of the royal family are briefly acknowledged, as is the case with the Shadow Temple and the Arbiter’s Grounds, the monarchy has never had to answer for their actions. Even in the case of the Sheikah’s massive exile 10,000 years ago, the royal family never answers for this, nor are they ever portrayed being in the wrong. In fact, the event in question is only mentioned by a single member of the Sheikah in Breath of the Wild, Cado.

Image credit goes to YouTube user Macintyre.

The royal family’s actions are never directly described as “these were horrible things that happened.” Instead, it’s simply, “yeah, it happened.” There is no acknowledgement that the Yiga was created by the royal family’s own hands, nor is there any emphasis placed on the impact any of these acts have.

For example, the exile of the Sheikah wasn’t even the first instance of the royal family of Hyrule mass-exiling a group of people and displacing them from their original homes.

After the events of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf is captured and executed for his crimes leading up to the events of the game and presumably the events of the Adult Timeline, given Young Link’s testimony. (I’ll get into why the King of Hyrule believes Link over Zelda later.) After Ganondorf was executed, the Gerudo were forced out of Gerudo Valley and banished from the Haunted Wasteland. Even during the events of Twilight Princess, the Gerudo Desert is completely abandoned. Once again, there is no discussion concerning the royal family’s actions, with the narrative instead being that the Gerudo, some of whom were actively against Ganondorf’s actions and many of whom were hypnotized during the events of OoT, are entirely at fault and have to atone for their sin of… having Ganondorf for a leader, I suppose.

Source: Creating a Champion, p. 405

Source: Hyrule Encyclopedia, p. 46

The royal family gets to punish an entire people for the actions of one man. Rather than the act being portrayed as negative or even discussed, it’s hardly even mentioned.

While I’m aware Encyclopedia’s canonicity is dubious at best, its material was still approved for publication by Nintendo. Thusly, I feel it worthy to discuss.

To summate, the royal family did bad things, and very select few acknowledge it.

Next point.

- “I think that the Zelda/Hylia = good Ganon = bad situation serves a narrative purpose that justifies the black and white nature of the games because it highlights the shades of gray in between installments…”

The Legend of Zelda is almost thirty-five years old. This series should have long evolved beyond the black-and-white-morality narrative, especially when the side we’re supposed to sympathize with literally used the Sheikah to commit war crimes. You don’t have to have stark white and pitch black in order to see shades of gray.

- “… And trying to assign Zelda a dark side is kind of missing the point, especially when no one seems to question Link’s morality even though he’s constantly stealing people’s stuff.”

Examples of Consequences to Link Stealing People’s Stuff

1. In Twilight Princess, stealing from Trill will result in the bird branding you a thief and pecking you every time you come near him, which will only cease when you finally pay up.

2. In Link’s Awakening, stealing from the old man’s shop will result in instant death the next time you enter his shop. If you steal, your name is changed to THIEF for the rest of the game.

Furthermore, Link is controlled by the player; thusly, his actions have no consequence to the story or Link’s character. Zelda, on the other hand, is an active participant in the story, whose actions and whose family’s actions weigh heavily on the games. That’s not to say Zelda is ever evil. However, as much as she is a victim of her own family’s history, she still has just as much power to change it.

- “If the games wanted to gloss over the sins committed by the royal family[,] they wouldn’t have designed entire dungeons around them.”

I reiterate: the sins of the royal family were mentioned once, and then immediately dropped shortly thereafter. It’s not there for you to dwell upon, merely window dressing as if to say, “Yeah, that happened.”

- “I believe The Legend of Zelda series is a critique of the Divine Right of Kings”

Until the events of Skyward Sword, the Hylian Royal Family wasn’t a divine lineage. A thirty-five-year-old series can’t be a critique of a concept that it barely even acknowledges. The only emphasis placed on the “goddess blood” part of the royal family is in Breath of the Wild, in relation to Zelda having to unlock her sealing powers. Despite the massive repercussions the revelation of the royal family’s lineage tying back to divinity should have, it’s barely even mentioned,let alone discussed.

As a side note, the divine right of kings specifically denotes that the monarch is chosen by God to rule. In contrast, the Hylian Royal Family continues to rule by, presumably, claiming lineage to the Goddess Hylia, which is closer to traditional practice in feudal Japan.

- “If the Divine Right of Queens is indeed present, does that justify a hereditary monarchy? As far as the Legend of Zelda is concerned[,] the answer is no.”

The Legend of Zelda series never questions the validity of the royal family’s rule.

- “Isn’t it funny that the Kingdom of Hyrule seems to be perpetually stuck in the dark ages?”

Ocarina of Time has neon lights, jukeboxes, and canned goods. The lakeside doctor’s chemistry is advanced enough that he is able to synthesize eyedrops. Given the newspaper articles strewn about shops, Hyrule also has pictoboxes in OoT.

By Wind Waker, pictoboxes have evolved to print in color. In Phantom Hourglass, Linebeck’s ship is steam-powered.

In Twilight Princess, pictoboxes now print higher quality images. In addition, with the introduction of Malo Mart’s Castle Town branch, TP is confirmed to have fully functional electrical lighting in some places. Cannons are so safe, you can get launched out of one for fun. Pyrotechnics have grown advanced enough that explosives can function underwater, and Death Mountain has become a functioning, refined mining facility stable enough for Hylians to safely walk in. Also, Auru has a bazooka.

SPIRIT TRACKS HAS TRAINS. THEIR AESTHETIC DIRECTLY REFLECTS THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

Hyrule is hardly stuck in the dark ages. It’s high fantasy.

Next point.

“For starters, I want to establish that I don’t agree with the assumption that what the Hyrulean Royal Family does = Zelda/Hylia would do. I don’t think it’s a mistake that almost every text in the OP explicitly mentions that it was a King that committed those acts, not Zelda herself.”

Once again, that was an error on my part. It wasn’t my intention to imply Zelda had any part in such actions. However, Zelda learns how to rule from her father, or her mother, or whomever holds the throne in that particular moment. These acts are never questioned in canon beyond “Yeah, that happened,” and the most conflict we have is the issues between Zelda and her father in Breath of the Wild boiling down to how to confront the Calamity—science vs. sealing magic— rather than anything else.

It’s a personal issue, and Rhoam treats Zelda terribly, essentially alienating himself from his own daughter and treating her as little more than a pawn. I agree that it’s absolutely terrible. However, that’s merely a personal issue. She’s complicit in how Rhoam addresses the Sheikah, possibly even fully aware of the anti-aging rune Purah was developing to force retired soldiers into battle against the Calamity, and from what we’ve seen in Age of Calamity, she doesn’t have an understanding of the Yiga Clan other than the snide remark Urbosa gives:

Image credit goes to YouTube user BeardBear.

It’s up to Zelda to develop a deeper understanding of her country’s history; not to take personal responsibility, but to understand where those who are suffering are coming from.

That said, acting with the Hylians’ best interests at heart is exactly something Hylia would do.

In the prologue to Skyward Sword, the Demon King and his army attack the Hylians, slaying many and throwing the world into despair. Thus, the Goddess Hylia saves the Hylians by sending a chunk of land up into the heavens, sparing them from the war to follow while she gathers every other race to fight alongside her.

So… How come Hylia only saved the Hylians?

I understand many were wiped out by demons, but if Hylia was fully prepared to spare people from violence, why not also send small numbers of every other race? Why only save the Hylians, her chosen people, while essentially dragging everyone else into battle with her? Furthermore, when Hylia’s immortal body suffered grave injuries, she opted to take advantage of this by choosing to be reborn as a person. Not only is it explicitly stated that Hylia reincarnated in order to utilize the Triforce’s power, as she could not do so as divinity, but she knowingly chose to be reborn as someone who would become close with her chosen hero, in order to influence him to follow her plan without hesitation.

Hylia used Link.

That much is certain, and it’s laid out clearly by Zelda shortly before she takes Hyrule’s longest beauty nap.

It must be noted that while Zelda states she is Hylia reborn, and has regained Hylia’s memories by this point, she still sees herself as a separate entity from Hylia. While she herself is immensely guilty and apologizing over and over for what she’d done in her previous life, we have no way of knowing if Hylia herself would react the same way.

In fact, according to a fan-translation by ZeldaUniverse user Yamikawa, Demise goes as far as to describe Hylia as “brave and so-prideful,” hinting that even a being who loved her chosen people so much to save them still saw them as beneath her, if being reborn as human is seen as such a drastic extreme contradictory to her supposed character. Now, this is merely reflection on the inner workings of the Demon King, so his word can’t be taken as gospel. But, like all things, I find it interesting.

From what I can gather, however, Hylia certainly cared more about the Hylians than any other being in the land of Hylia, not dissimilarly to the royal family.

- “I also don’t think that every princess Zelda is a Princess of Destiny or Representative of Hylia, I think that she reincarnates just about as often as Link and Ganon(dorf) do, because the logistics don’t really work out otherwise. This leaves hundreds, if not thousands of years where Zelda/Hylia isn’t on the throne.”

This is merely speculation. Moving on.

- “There’s a notable trend of the King of Hyrule getting in the way of Zelda’s attempts to save the kingdom. First[,] he doesn’t take Zelda seriously [in] Ocarina of Time, forcing her to rely on Link […] I don’t know why the King of Hyrule was willing to listen to a random boy claiming to have been from the future over his own daughter but whatever I guess.”

The King of Hyrule believed Young Link because he came back to the Child Timeline with the Triforce of Courage. Up to that point, the whole Triforce was supposed to be safely locked away in the Sacred Realm, which was supposed to be completely inaccessible without the spiritual stones and the ocarina of time, neither of which Link had. I’d listen to the kid’s story too if he came back with a God Dorito on the back of his hand.

- “And then again in Breath of the Wild when Rhoam bans Zelda from ancient tech research despite the fact that he has absolutely no reason to believe his pray the incompetence away method is the right one.”

The tapestry showcasing the events from 10,000 years ago depicts a princess possessing the blood of the goddess using her sealing magic in order to seal away Calamity Ganon. Link can swing the Master Sword at Ganon or whack him with ancient arrows or light arrows all he wants. Without the ability to seal away the darkness, as shown at the end of Ocarina of Time, all of this preparation and planning would have been for naught. That is why Rhoam is so harsh on Zelda. That’s why so much emphasis is placed on unlocking her power. Without it, defeating Ganon would be impossible.

On that note, Rhoam also had no idea what he was doing. Zelda’s mother was the one with the sealing magic, not him. She was supposed to be the one to train Zelda, but she passed away before she got the chance to even start. He puts so much emphasis on prayer rather than ancient technology because he genuinely doesn’t know what else to do.

I can’t believe this post forced me to defend Rhoam of all people I’m gonna have a stroke—

- “Also, this is purely speculation, but [I’m] pretty sure there’s an implication that King Daphnes Nohansen caused the flooding of Hyrule in Wind Waker […] This sounds like a wish on the Triforce that backfired[,] but I digress.”

Daphnes couldn’t have made a wish on the Triforce before Wind Waker because, when the Hero of Time left the Adult Timeline, that timeline’s Triforce of Courage shattered into eight pieces and scattered throughout the land—er, ocean. Even if he had Wisdom on him, Ganondorf still possessed the Triforce of Power when he was sealed away, and he wasn’t going to let go of it when he broke free.

Besides, if Daphnes did wish on the whole Triforce, it would have disappeared. There would have been no Wind Waker.

- “When she saves Hyrule in spite of interference…”

I’m not even going to finish the quote because the entire paragraph is too much for me to unpack. I’m assuming they’re saying that Zelda is never the one truly in power, and the royal family takes advantage of one Zelda’s good deeds to get brownie points.

However, concerning the first line…

In Ocarina of Time, Zelda going behind her dad’s back to try to “save Hyrule” leads Ganondorf straight to the Sacred Realm. Even though a time paradox leads to everything turning out okay in the end, the bleak future was created because Zelda wanted to play hero and pulled Link along with her. Even if Ganondorf managed to wrench the spiritual stones away from the Zora and Gorons, he wouldn’t have been able to access the Sacred Realm if Zelda didn’t send Link there to pull out the Master Sword, which Ganondorf would have never been able to touch. By all means, Ocarina of Timehappened because a little girl was in over her head and tried to take matters into her own hands when her dad didn’t believe her.

Aside from Breath of the Wild, there’s no other “interference” from the royal family that Zelda has to face.

- “Zelda is the representation of a deity, so it makes sense that people would worship her to some extent, and having a goddess on the throne [probably] blesses the land. So[,] while the kings of Hyrule have a tendency to screw things over, [it makes sense] for Hyrule to be a monarchy because Zelda’s power as the goddess incarnate is needed to defend against Ganon and other threats, [r]ight?”

I acknowledge the author is attempting to portray the royal family’s possible justification for their rule. However, until I reached the succeeding passage, I believed it was the author making this justification, given how the entire paragraph preceding this was pure speculation. Once again, this passage is speculative, as nobody in Hyrule has ever explicitly given any notable opinion concerning the royal family. Why try to justify your rule when nobody’s criticizing it?

Since the author brings up Zelda being a representation of Hylia, however, it does bring to mind a particular problem I have with the royal family suddenly being goddess-blood.

It completely recontextualizes the relationship between the royal family and the Sheikah.

According to Creating a Champion, the Sheikah have a deep devotion to the Goddess Hylia. Since the royal family is descended from the goddess reborn, the Sheikah thusly are deeply devoted to the goddess Hylia.

Source: Creating a Champion, p. 372

Now, the royal government using a minority group of people to do your dirty work is already scummy enough when you’re just a normal royal. In this case, however, the Sheikah are so devoted to their goddess that they will do anything for you. Whether it’s because certain monarchs are a “representation of a deity” remains to be seen, but the point is that they’ll do anything for you.

And the royal family takes complete advantage of a group of people unconditionally loyal to them, bidding them to do unspeakable things in the name of their religion, which for all intents and purposes is the royal family.

That’s absolutely deplorable, and it’s a wonder nobody’s brought attention to it yet, whether in-canon or in-fandom. What’s more, given how Impa is always Zelda’s attendant, this relationship is never questioned or criticized, whether it be by the Sheikah or Zelda herself.

And that’s terrifying.

- “The reason Ganon is always an antagonist is because he’s the vessel for the curse of Demise.”

Demise was introduced in Skyward Sword. Demise is the root of all evil, the creator of monsters and conjuror of demons. He is pure evil in every sense from the word, the Zelda series’ version of Satan. Naturally, he’s as simple as you can get in terms of character. Barebones characterization, providing only just enough to tell the player exactly what they need to know:

He’s evil, he’s powerful, and he wants the Triforce. You have to stop him.

Ganondorf existed before Demise. Ganon had over twenty years of development before Demise brought his progress to a permanent flatline.

Who was Ganon before Demise?

Allow me to remind you.

In The Legend of Zelda, first released on February 21st, 1986, Ganon is simply described as “the Prince of Darkness,” and steals the Triforce of Power when he invades Hyrule. After the Triforce of Wisdom is shattered, he kidnaps Zelda.

He’s evil, he’s powerful, and he wants the Triforce. You have to stop him.

Although Ganon doesn’t physically appear in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, released in 1987, his presence is still felt as his minions pursue Link in order to revive the Prince of Darkness. In fact, the game over screen is the successful revival of Ganon.

Now, given that these are the first two games in the series, it’s perfectly alright for Ganon to be as barebones as he was. After all, many villains at the time were the same way, with the most notable of Ganon’s counterparts being Bowser from the Super Mario Bros. franchise.

However, with innovation of technology comes innovation of narrative, and it’s with the release of A Link to the Past in 1993 on the SNES that we begin to see Ganon develop as a character. In the prologue to ALttP, Ganon is revealed to have once been human; he is given the name Mandrag Ganon—or Ganondorf Dragmire, as we now know him—and he was once the leader of a band of thieves who sieged the Sacred Realm and took control of the Triforce after murdering his own followers.

Source: A Link to the Past SNES game manual

Ganon is still irrevocably evil, but in this case, we begin to learn more about him. We begin to see a character starting to form. One who isn’t just mindlessly evil, but who has the charm and wit to infiltrate Hyrule Castle and earn the King of Hyrule’s trust in the guise of Agahnim. Ganon was also a very capable leader, having successfully led his band of thieves straight to the Triforce. Even after wishing upon the Triforce and corrupting the Sacred Realm, Ganon’s power attracted followers in the form of greedy, power-seeking people. He’s powerful not by brute force alone, but through his cunning use of intellect.

Ocarina of Time served to further develop Ganon in little ways. For example, this is the first game wherein, for the majority of the game, Ganon is seen and referred to by his human form: Ganondorf. Ganondorf is shown to be powerful enough and stealthy enough to infiltrate the homes of the Zora, the Gorons, and the Kokiri, and send dangerous hazards their way in an effort to seize the Spiritual Stones. At the same time, he is first seen at an audience with the King of Hyrule, as if there for diplomatic reasons.

Although Zelda sees Ganondorf as evil because of her prophetic dream, the King of Hyrule doesn’t believe her. Because of this, we can infer that Ganondorf has enough charm and charisma to, if not win over the King of Hyrule, not be seen as suspicious despite the horrible acts he’d committed, not just in the past, but at that very moment. He’s also shown to be highly cultured, shown at the end of Link’s ascent up Ganon’s Tower. Not only is Ganondorf playing his own theme, but he’s doing so on the pipe organ, which is notoriously one of, if not the most difficult musical instrument to master.

Once Ganondorf seizes the Triforce of Power, the kingdom of Hyrule is subjected to seven long years of his rule. During this time, normal people such as Ingo succumb to their greed and follow Ganondorf’s influence in pursuit of power and riches. Although Malon is naïve enough to believe Ingo was somehow under Ganondorf’s control, it’s clear to players that he was completely in control of his actions, and that Ganondorf’s rule brings out the worst in seemingly average people.

Image credit goes to YouTube user ZorZelda.

Even a Hylian knight can fall under this influence, with it highly inferred that the knight who once guarded a room of pots for Link to smash is now a twisted poe collector, the man even stating that he likes it better this way.

In Wind Waker, we finally see a more introspective side to Ganondorf. While he’s just as ruthless and fully ready to murder a child in the name of accomplishing his goal, he reveals the reason that started him on his path of darkness:

His people were suffering, and he wanted for his people what Hyrule had. He believed that taking Hyrule and taking the Triforce meant that his people could finally live freely, away from the harsh desert.

Now, I’ve seen this challenged time and time again. Was Ganondorf lying to distract or manipulate Link? Was he telling the truth? Is this what Ganondorf has convinced himself to believe, after so much time sealed away and in isolation? We will never know, and that’s part of what makes the game so interesting. Ganondorf’s portrayal is a large part of why so many people love Wind Waker, and it’s not hard to see why.

Perhaps the darkest the Zelda series has ever gone in terms of the Triforce’s power was in Twilight Princess. After freeing Lanayru, the Light Spirit warns Link of the dark power he seeks, the Fused Shadow. In order to do this, she explains the history of the Triforce, and the bloodshed brought by its allure to the darkness in the hearts of men. Before the construction of the Temple of Time, many battles were fought, and one of them was the “Interloper War” that inevitably resulted in the creation of, not only the Light Spirits, but the Twili and the Twilight Realm.

It’s important to note that Lanayru’s cautionary tale highlights that Link, the hero of the story, could succumb to the allure of the Triforce and dark magic just as easily as any other person. In this particular case, anyone could have fallen down the same path as Ganondorf. If anything, this tale is one of the most important bits of lore to take into consideration when discussing the series.

Anyone could have been in Ganondorf’s shoes. It could have happened to anyone.

Then, in one fell swoop, Skyward Sword ruined it.

In a single game, every bit of progress on Ganondorf is lost. Once again, we’re dragged down to the baseline characterization from the original game.

He’s evil, he’s powerful, and he wants the Triforce. You have to stop him.

Suddenly, everything the previous games had built up no longer matters. There’s no longer a need to question whether what Ganondorf did was solely out of greed, but also out of what he felt was necessity. There’s no need to wonder if Ganondorf was once a rational man, who succumbed to the irresistible pull of the Triforce like so many before him.

Ganondorf is, purely and simply, the reincarnation of Satan, so there’s no need to go any deeper than that.

And that’s why I hate this “vessel of Demise” thing. It completely undermines everything Ganondorf once was and reduces him to a single, cardboard cutout of a villain.

Moving on, before I get sad.

- “This curse is specifically tied to Hylia’s bloodline and the Link’s soul, which is pretty specific…”

Demise’s curse is essentially dooming the earth with a never-ending rebirth of his hatred; his malice, if you would. The wording of his curse is specifically “people like you,” which could mean that it isn’t Link and Zelda’s exact souls that are tied to his hatred. Rather, people possessing the blood of the goddess and a heroic, courageous soul are doomed to deal with this curse.

However, my thoughts on this matter are pure speculation.

Also, Demise specifically targets his curse at people like Link and Zelda because they were the ones to kill him in the first place. That much is obvious.

- “… [So] why do the clashes with Ganon always throw the fate of Hyrule into disarray? Because Zelda’s bloodline runs the country.”

Ganon would attack Hyrule even without Zelda’s family in charge. His pursuit of power and domination of the Triforce/Hyrule is therefore closely tied with the fate of Hyrule. Goddess blood on the throne has nothing to do with it.

- “If Zelda came from a small town the curse would probably manifest in peril for that one region which isn’t great but it’s better than an apocalypse.”

Firstly, this is a run-on sentence. Secondly, I reiterate: Ganon would attack Hyrule as a whole, regardless if Zelda’s bloodline was on the throne. It wouldn’t matter if Zelda’s whole family suddenly moved to the countryside. When Ganon inevitably comes back, he’s still gonna go straight for the Triforce or to conquer all of Hyrule. Goddess blood isn’t even part of the equation for Ganon. And if goddess blood isn’t there to stop him, then that’s even better.

Alright, so I’m not even going to bother gratifying the last two paragraphs of the response with an answer, because it’s all rambling that has nothing to do with the original argument. Relinquishing the throne would do nothing to right any wrongs dealt to the many people who were hurt, and evil doesn’t care about a single princess with goddess blood or a boy with a pointy stick.

In conclusion, the addition of Hylia made it so that the royal family’s power dynamic with the Sheikah is even more critically imbalanced than it originally was, making the exile of the Sheikah 10,000 years ago even more heinous than it originally was. Yet, because Hylia is portrayed as wholly good and incapable of doing wrong, despite in-game evidence to the contrary, the royal family, and Zelda by extension, will never be criticized for any wrongdoing. In fact, doing so may well be heresy, if the responses to my original post are anything to go by.

By comparison, the addition of Demise diminishes Ganondorf’s character, rendering him down from the makings of a complex, human character—where anyone could have easily been in his place and had the same greed and ambition for power—into simply the reincarnation of the literal devil, where of course he’s evil, and you don’t have to do any digging beneath the surface. Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise, or his hate, or his vessel, so he’s pure evil and nothing more.

And that’s the greatest disservice Nintendo has ever dealt to The Legend of Zelda.

#legend of zelda #ganondorf #princess zelda #breath of the wild #botw #loz #tloz #ocarina of time #twilight princess #zelda #link to the past #alttp #wind waker #ganon #the legend of zelda #hylia #goddess hylia #demise

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needs-to-stop-looking-at-yigas · 3 years

Note

Okay but now that Mipha has reeled Link in, what if she needs to consult her wingman/bff Kohga for sex tips??

One, fuck you for saying 'reeled him in', thats hilarious. Two, this can only end in total disaster. Let's go!

“Ah, don’t act like we didn’t catch that, you little guppy you!”

Kohga had invited Mipha over for their weekly tea, and she was escorted by none other than Link. Knight who wielded the Master sword, silent hero, and Mipha’s boyfriend. As in, hand holding, snack sharing, and as he just saw, smooching basis. Mipha covered the lower half of her face, blushing up quite the storm as she walked into their base. Kohga nudged her shoulder as he walked her inside, practically giddy to see his little fishy so happy.

“It’s n-nothing! Really it wasn’t!”

“He planted a big, fat smooch, right on your fishy face! I saw it! Sooga saw it too, right?”

Sooga, as ever, clung to his Master’s hip. He nodded.

“Plus your lipstick is just a pinch smudged, your highness.”

Mipha checked her lipstick, as if she was caught doing something so lewd. Kohga pulled her chair out for her once they sat down at the dining table, chuckling as he took his own seat.

“I remember MY first boyfriend. I was no worse than you were. All giddy and excited. Though, my first boyfriend wasn’t as cute as yours, so hats off.”

Kohga motioned for one of the blade masters to bring over their tea and afternoon crepes. Her favorite dessert, made from fresh whipped cream, wildberries, and some fleet lotus seed sauce to top it all off. She nodded in thanks, ever the polite thing.

“Well, thank you, Kohga. It’s very sweet of you, helping me talk to Link. I think I’d stil be pining, if not for you.”

Kohga waved his hand, taking a sip of his tea.

“Eh, you would’ve gotten him eventually. You’re a cute little thing, he’d have to be blind. Or gay. Kinda thought it’d be the second one if anything, but hey.”

Mipha chuckled at that, helping herself to a bite of the crepe. He could tell she loved his cooking, given the way her eyes just seemed to light up. Kohga honestly and truly loved seeing her so happy. Though, he could sense she was...distracted. He took another sip of his drink.

“Alright, what’s eating you?”

“Pardon?”

“Something’s on your mind. Talk to me. Is it Zelda? I can take care of her.”

Mipha shook her head wildly.

“No! No no no, it’s not worth killing her over!”

Kohga held his hands up a bit in defense.

“I MEANT setting her up with a date. Jeez, murder isn’t the FIRST thing I go to. Even though I do it with style, don’t I Sooga?”

“Yes, Master Kohga.”

Mipha sighed in relief.

“Oh, good. Well, no, it’s not Zelda. We’ve talked about this, and she said she was happy for us. Even though she looked saddened, I can tell her feelings are true and sincere.”

“So...what’s the problem, then?”

Mipha held onto her tail fin, hiding her face in it. Whatever it was, it was clearly something embarrassing. Kohga motioned for her to get on with it, and she groaned a bit.

“Well...Link and I...are planning to...uhm…”

“Make love?”

Sooga interjected. Mipha nodded, practically burning up in her seat. Kohga threw his head back in laughter, smacking the table.

“Seriously?! Thought you guys were gonna be total prudes and WAIT! I fail to see a problem. Is it your dad? He seems like a real ‘wed before bed’ kinda guy.”

Mipha shook her head.

“While father does think like that, it is not his body he is offering. It is mine.”

Kohga nodded in agreement, taking a sip of his tea. His own dad was kinda like that, not that Kohga ever cared.

“Good on you! Proud of you, lil’ Princess. Though, the problem is what exactly?”

Mipha fumbled with her hands, before forcing herself to come out with it.

“I’ve never...done that before. I’ve only ever kissed one other man before, and that was one time. I’m...worried I won’t please him. So, since you and Sooga are very comfortable with one another, I was wondering...if you’d have advice for my first time?”

Kohga sat there for a second, deep in thought. Sure he acted goofy here and there, but Mipha was trusting him with something HUGE. The first time was one you don’t forget, ESPECIALLY when it was someone you really, really liked. In Kohga’s opinion, the vibe of the first time could make or break a relationship. She was coming to HIM for this, and it wasn’t something he was going to take lightly. He polished off his tea, before nodding at her.

“Okay. First things first, stuff you gotta tell ANYONE for their first time. You know, don’t get pressured into anything you don’t want. Don’t expect something wild and perfect, you guys are BOTH learning and exploring. And have fun with it! It’s supposed to be a fun thing, so it’s okay to laugh, to mess up, to just do things wrong. Long as it’s comfortable for you.”

While his words were true, he could tell Mipha was expecting way more. He probably just recycled some stuff she’d heard from ANYONE on this subject. He looked around, as if he didn’t want to be caught telling her some kind of secret.

“But...if you want something more...helpful than that, I can give you a little tip.”

Mipha’s eyes lit up in interest. Kohga motioned for Sooga to sit down next to him.

“Put your hair down for me, imma show her something.”

Sooga looked puzzled, as well as Mipha, but he obeyed, untying his hair, and lightly shaking it to help it settle. Mipha was clearly a bit surprised by seeing his hair down, as it wasn’t a common thing for a yiga to do, but that didn’t matter right now.

“Okay, so I know Link’s type, completely. He’s the strong, silent pretty boy. I can tell he likes his hair played with by just that alone, but have you SEEN all the way he styles it? This is a trick he’s gonna love, guaranteed. Now, flat hand,you’re gonna run your fingers through his scalp, like so.”

“Master Kohga, I don’t think it’s app-”

The second he felt Kohga’s fingers run through his scalp, he silenced himself.

“Then you make a fist. Don’t YANK, but have a little bit of ‘oomph’ in your pull. Watch.”

Kohga ran his fingers through his scalp again, before grabbing a good chunk of his hair, and pulling it back, making Sooga’s head fall back. Sooga’s fingers gripped the chair below him.

“See? Sooga here loves that shit. Don’t be afraid to get a nice handful, really shrunch up some of that pretty hair. Now this is something SOOGA likes, but you should test it out on Link, I’m pretty sure he’s just as much of a slut as Sooga is.”

Sooga was about to retort against such a claim, when Kohga moved his mask up, just enough for his lips, and started to nibble at his ear. His teeth ran along his earlobe, slowly and steadily. It made Sooga visibly squirm in his seat, and had Mipha not been staring at them, aghast, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from moaning. It was so slow, so careful, so FIRM. He never wanted Kohga to stop. He pulled away however, finally letting go of his hair. Kohga put his mask back down, shrugging.

“Pair that up with some neck nibbles too, I can pretty much guarantee he’ll be fawning over you. That’s my advice. Okay, you can go now Sooga.”

“I...uhm...think I need to stay sitting down, for just a moment.”

“God, you’re easy.”

Kohga rolled his eyes. Mipha could only gawk as the man next to him sat there, legs closed, and mask into his shaky palm. Mipha opened her mouth to speak, but found her words unable to escape. Kohga chuckled, shaking his head.

“I know how to treat boys. You gotta have a nice, firm hand. In every case. Either way, you got it, Mipha. He clearly likes you for you. Right Sooga?”

Sooga gave a meek nod, still lost in the sensation of his hair in his master’s clutches.

Suffice to say, Link was in for quite the surprise.

#asks #kohga #sooga #mipha #suggestive #I didn't write it out #but a bit of a spoiler #kohga's advice was VERY affective ;)#seriously sooga and link have a LOT of the same kinks

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feverinfeveroutfic · 3 years

Text

chapter nine: pleasures of the flesh

Sam boarded that plane with Chuck, Tiffany, Alex, Eric, Greg, and Louie at about ten minutes to the hour.

On one hand, it almost felt wrong to do that when she should be on the plane back to Los Angeles. Bill awaited her and she knew that she would have to face the music with him at some point anyway. She figured that the sooner she would have to see him, the better, and as far as she knew, he had ruined his own house.

But then again, as far as she knew, he had ruined his own house. She would have to return home to nothing.

She settled back in the seat next to Louie, and right next to the window as well.

Given it was so early in the morning, she peered out the window at the stretch of mainland United States under the veil of darkness. Clouds dotted the lower part of the sky beneath them: the soft orange and pink shades that kissed the tops made her think of watercolor. Despite it being so early in the morning, she was still wide awake from that latte that Eric had bought for her. A three hour flight back to San Francisco and there was no way in which she could fall back asleep.

Louie stayed wide awake as well, and she realized that was the first time in literal months that she and him had been alone together as well. He turned his head and showed her a wistful little smile.

“Almost home,” he said in a broken voice.

“Almost home,” she echoed him; if nothing, she could make her way down the Central Valley into Los Angeles and then Lake Elsinore, but that was for another day when it deemed necessary. Louie sighed through his nose and turned his head back to where he stared straight ahead at the seats in front of them: Greg and Alex were right behind them and had long fallen asleep once again, while Chuck, Eric, and Tiffany were right across the aisle, all asleep as well.

“My dad's gonna be here eventually,” she told him.

“It'd be nice to see him, wouldn't it?” Louie replied with a twinkle in his eye.

If only there was a way. If only there was a way she could convince him that he and Zelda belonged together, but if only there was a way she could tell him that he had a family in the background somewhere there.

“Absolutely. Especially after moving out here, too.” She fell silent for a moment. “Have you talked to Zelda lately?”

“I haven't, no,” he confessed. “I mean, we did see her and the girls back in Europe but I didn't really get alone with her and talked to her, though. Probably should, though, don't ya think?”

“Absolutely,” Sam replied and she nestled down in the seat some more.

“You know, Sam, if I'm being perfectly honest with you—I love how concerned you are about these sorts of things.”

“I just try to be a good friend,” she confessed.

“Well—and this is something I've learned from being around Zelda, too—sometimes you have to let people live. Sometimes some things are just better left unsaid.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well—” He turned his head to the row right across from them, and the three of them sound asleep. Neither Greg nor Alex made a peep since they left the airport. “I told you she got it out of me, right?” he asked her in a near whisper.

“How could I forget.”

“I figured that there are times where it's better to keep secrets so no one can use them against you because that's—kind of what happened between me and her.”

“Oh, really?”

“Oh, yeah. She told me that if the secret gets out between us—and that includes you, too—there will be hell to pay. If Testament is going anywhere in the world, and we probably will, just knowing these two fellas right behind us right and Chuck's searing vocals, there are some things that need to stay private.”

“It's none of people's business anyways,” she pointed out.

“Exactly, right! So that said, I hope to god that things will stay under wraps with us—you, me, and her. I trust you, Sam. I trust you and I trust Zelda, too. I trust that these things will stay between us.”

Sam extended her pinky finger for him.

“Excellent,” Louie remarked as he hooked his finger around hers.

“I should ask—where should I stay when we get back to the Bay Area?”

“You can stay with me,” he offered her.

“For real?”

“Yeah, I'm kinda—by myself now.”

“Aw.” She tilted her head at that and he nodded with a solemn look on his face.

“Yeah—but I'll take good care of you, though. When we touch down there, I'll do the first thing I did for Zelda after I started frequenting Rhode Island more and I'll take you out to breakfast. I'll ask Thing One and Thing Two back here if they wanna join us.”

She giggled at that.

“If there's one thing I couldn't do for my old girlfriend but I learned to do, though, it's that. It's treating you girls right.”

“I just think of that sentiment Charlie told me when I was hanging out with Anthrax back home in New York: you guys embrace your female fans.”

“Absolutely,” he said. “We absolutely love our female fans—mainly because there's not a lot of you running around, especially with us and this... I wanna say it's a second wave of thrash coming out of the Bay Area in particular. There's us and Death Angel, and there's a few others—we'll have to introduce you to them once we land.”

“There's Exodus, too,” she pointed out.

“Exodus has been around almost ten years now,” he corrected her. “Formed in the last gasp of the Seventies straight outta high school like us and Death Angel. And of course, Anthrax have some now, mainly with the help of the Cherry Suicides, but they've got some. I've seen a few women at our shows wearing Among the Living shirts and shirts with 'NOT' written on the front in big letters. I dunno if you've seen them throw that word around lately, but they have, though.”

“Like a catch phrase of some sort?”

“Kinda, yeah. I don't know if you seen Scott with that word shaved into his chest hair before but it's kinda funny, actually.”

“I don't remember,” she confessed.

“And it's a select few women, too. Between you, the four of them, and Marla, I haven't really seen any for Testament aside from the odd small bunch over in Europe.”

“Yeah, I probably counted all of five women in the crowd last night,” Sam recalled.

“Exactly!” Louie chuckled.

Sam then reached down between her legs for her purse and she took out her journal, her pencil, and a couple of her pens.

“Ah, you wanna draw for me!” he declared.

“Well, I also wanna show you the thing I made for Greg last night on the night flight,” she told him, and she flicked open to that one page. He gaped at the sight of the black ink on the page before him.

“Wow! What is it?”

“It's Joey and Alex on either side of one of the trees from the Black Forest. They're like praying to the tree together.”

“Oh, yeah, that's Alex and the little bit of gray upon his head—and the one with the curls is Joey.”

“It needs a little more touching up, but that's what I get for drawing so late at night and being partially asleep all the while, too.”

Louie chuckled at that when a low guttural noise cut him off. Sam stopped right in her tracks.

“Was that you or me?” he asked her in a low voice.

One of them in the seat behind groaned in his throat: Sam craned her neck back at the sight of Alex shifting his weight in his seat. Even though he was still asleep, nothing could deny the pained look on his face.

“The young buck,” she told Louie with a nod of her head back behind them.

“Aw—oh, yeah, he's not quite yet a full grown man so he's still suffering from that teenage hunger.”

“You ever get that hunger where it feels like you're about to puke?”

“All the time! You ever get the kind that sneaks up on you? Like you're fine one minute and then all of a sudden, you're like, 'holy hell, I'm hungry.' I used to get it all the time even when I hit twenty years old. I had my daughter then, too.”

“So that's why you were always struggling for money,” Sam noted.

“Nah, I was struggling for money because there was no money to be made yet. Zelda was only making enough to pay our rent and buy groceries and that was it—no idea what they must be making now. There still really isn't at the moment, not with us. Our label isn't giving us squat and touring is only really keeping our lights on. Seriously, Sam, it's only every so often we can splurge on something like going out to eat—and in Alex's case, it's to keep him at his parents' house still. I figured I have enough for a cab ride back to my place and then I can get something to eat after that, but that's about it. Really, that's why we're all on this plane and not a private one like Metallica are.”

“Metallica have their own plane now?” She was stunned by that, and Louie nodded his head and tucked a piece of flat hair behind his ear.

“Yeah. Surprised me, too. But as we were leaving Munich for the first night, Alex was talking to Lars over the phone and they had flown to Copenhagen via their private jet.”

Sam brought her gaze down to the floor. To think Metallica were making enough money to have their own flight plan, and Cliff wasn't even there to witness it himself.

“Did he say how they got it?” she asked him.

“Nah, Alex was just like 'how in the world did you manage that one?' and Lars said they were just making enough money from their touring at this point that they were finally able to get it for themselves. Touring in the wake of losing Cliff, too.”

Sam shook her head. There was no way she could hold it against them for making money off of their dead friend because it wasn't their fault. But at the same time, merely addressing that the thing was a thing and going no further than that left her unsettled.

“I think it's interesting that Alex started wearing that skull ring, too,” Louie continued.

“Why's that?”

“'Cause Cliff had one himself. Remember that?”

Sam paused for a moment. Even though she only got to see him a handful of times prior to his death, it was such a vague little detail for her to remember altogether.

“By the way, when's everyone's birthdays again?” she spoke again. “I know Alex's is on the twenty ninth of September, and you're two days after me in January. I remember Chuck and Eric telling me once but it's escaped me.”

“Chuck is right after the summer solstice, June twenty third. Eric is May fourteenth and Greg is April twenty ninth.”

“All of us born later in the month, my goodness!” she declared.

“I know, right? Us Aquarians know how to throw people, you know?”

“We bear the water, after all,” Sam pointed out, “I bear the goat horns, too. I'm on the cusp.”

“I ain't getting in an argument with you,” Louie joked, “the goat horns and the bones, too.”

She giggled at that, and then she remembered the skull ring in question. And she began to wonder Alex's exact intent as the sun's first rays followed them all the way back to California.

They touched down in the Bay Area, right as the first wisps of that thick fog gathered right outside of the coast, and Sam was eager to step outside and feel the fog on her face and the crown of her head. Greg and Alex trudged behind her and Louie all the way to the area outside of the gate.

“Hey, you guys wanna join us for breakfast?” she offered them as she adjusted the straps on her purse and her overnight bag. “Lewis here is gonna take me out in a few minutes.”

“I'm ready for a nap,” Greg told her.

“Yeah, I'm probably just gonna mosey on back home and curl up in my bed,” Alex added as he rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. “Get on home and eat something, too. But I kinda miss my bed.”

“Exodus is playing tomorrow night, though,” Greg pointed out.

“Yeah, that's right!” Louie recalled. “Right across the street from me, too.”

“Oh, well, lucky us,” Sam proclaimed.

“Yeah, c'mon, Sam I am—I'll take ya home with me.”

She followed him out to the parking lot and towards the sidewalk on the far side of the black top. And then she realized that he didn't have a car.

“Are we taking the bus or—?” she asked him, but then her voice trailed off as he raised his arm up for a taxi, and the little green car pulled up to the curb before them.

“You know, the entire time I've lived in New York, I've only seen a few taxi cabs,” she told him as he held the door for her.

“Really? Well, you lived in the Bronx most of the time, though. Most of the cabs I've seen were down in Manhattan or over in Brooklyn. Like more so in the inner city part of it all rather than a straight up neighborhood such as that.”

“Right, and we lived in Hell's Kitchen, too! Down by the water and it was more like that, too. I always either hitched a ride with Charlie and Marla, or I took the subway or the bus with Bel, or I walked places.”

They climbed into the back seat together and Louie told the driver they were headed for Hayward.

“That's a name I haven't heard in ages,” she noted as they got rolling along the streets.

“What, Hayward?”

“Yeah. All the names out here on the West Coast, actually. It's astonishing, really. A few weeks ago, Chuck, Tiffany, Alex, Greg, and I all went to see Death Angel in Alhambra and the four of them were staying in Corona. When Cliff and I were together, and we visited my parents in Reno, it was kind of surreal, almost like a dream of sorts. To see all the street names and all the old neighborhoods again. And it's like visiting an old friend to an extent.”

“When Zelda and I split up, and I moved back here,” Louie explained, “the exact same thing happened to me, too. Like, wow, I can't believe I'm actually telling someone to take the 880 Freeway down to Fremont and San Jose, and the 92 bridge across the Bay over to San Mateo. Like, it wasn't that long ago, I was looking up directions from Narragansett to Boston. We're going to be a block away from the cemetery, too.”

The driver nodded in response: meanwhile, Sam peered out the window at the early morning fog as it collected all around the sky overhead. So much that Cliff hadn't shown her when he was alive, and at that moment, in the back of that cab, she witnessed it for herself. All the little shops that lined the streets and the small slivers of parks throughout the place all the way over to All Soul's Cemetery and the ramshackle apartment complex right across the way.

Louie kept his promise and paid the fare for them.

The two of them stood on the sidewalk together and he groaned.

“What's up?” she asked him.

“The place I wanna take you isn't open yet,” he explained.

“It is still pretty early,” she pointed out.

“True, true.” He led her up the sidewalk to the apartments: after he held the door for her, and she stepped inside, the fatigue of having traveled so much settled over her right then.

“We're just on the ground floor here,” he guided her down the hallway to the fourth room on the right and he unlocked the door for her.

A cozy one bedroom apartment with a small couch tucked in one corner and across from that was a small television upon a milk crate. To the right of her stood a large wooden armoir that looked as though it hadn't been painted with a coat of veneer once in its lifetime. Before her was a short hallway that led back to the bedroom in question as well as a bathroom and a closet: to the left was the small kitchenette with a narrow shabby table that needed a paint job in and of itself.

“Well, at least this place isn't dirty,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, I mean, it's just me here now—it's not like there's much to clean here anyway. You can set your things in my room if you wish.”

“You're gonna make me sleep on the couch, aren't you?” she asked him.

“Nah, you can sleep head to toe with me in my bed,” he offered her. “It's a comfy bed, I promise you that.”

Indeed, Sam showed a little grin and then she made her way into that little bedroom so as to set her things down. In one corner of the room was a small pile of laundry: on top was a black T shirt and inscribed on the front, in swirled sparkled red letters, read “The Cherry Suicides”. Right within the name was a pair of cherries with the stem split apart by a butcher knife: on the handle of the knife was a white bow.

“You have a Cherry Suicides shirt?” she called out to him.

“Oh, yeah!” he called back to her from the front room.

“I didn't know they sold shirts!” she declared. “All the times I saw them, there was like no merch to be seen.”

“Yeah, Zelda gave that to me when we were going out,” he explained as he stood in the doorway behind her. “She actually made that for me because they couldn't get a thing to make merch for themselves—well, they probably can now, but a few years ago, they weren't able to so she made her own. You can have that if you'd like. It doesn't fit me.”

“Aw, thank you. Yet another sleep shirt.” She picked up the shirt from the pile: indeed, she knew it would be a bit of a snug fit for her given she had far more curves than Louie at that point.

“I should ask you,” he began again, “have you shown Alex that drawing?”

“I haven't, no. I haven't shown him any of my art so far.”

“Oh, man, you should. You know those drawings you made for Charlie for this past tour? He was awestruck by them. Whenever Chuck and I asked him about it, he was like, 'dude, that's some of the best art I've ever seen in my life.'”

She gaped at that.

“But he couldn't put two and two together and realize that it was me who made them, though?” she asked him, to which Louie shook his head.

“Seeing as you're back out here on the West Coast, you ought to catch a moment alone with him when you can. Really show him your art, like do a demo for him.”

“He was heart broken when Jean Michel Basquiat passed away recently,” she recalled.

“Oh, I bet he was! He's more of an art nut than Lars and Charlie both. So you ought to do it for him. Anyways, I'm gonna change my clothes and I'll take you over to the place I want to take you for breakfast. You'll love this place, Sam. Best coffee and pancakes in town.”

“We'll be the judge of that,” she told him as she peeled off her shirt right there in front of him, much to his gasping. But she put on that homemade Cherry Suicides shirt for herself: the body hugged her breasts and her belly a little bit but it fit her as if Zelda had crafted it just for her. The neckline hung low upon her chest so it accentuated a bit of skin, and Louie nodded at that.

“My turn!” he said, and he took off his shirt as well. Sam kept her eye on his slender drummer's body as he stepped past her for a plain dark gray sweatshirt himself. He fixed his hair and then he gestured for her to follow him back outside to the restaurant in question.

Cozy and warm and a slice of life away from the deathly feeling right up the block from them, and Sam soon saw that he was right about the coffee and the pancakes: she helped herself to a large fat stack of five of them, each of them light and fluffy and loaded up with butter and a small kiss of fresh blackberries.

“So where are we seeing Exodus at tonight?” she asked him as she mopped up the rest of the blackberry syrup with a final bite of pancakes.

“Right over there—” He pointed out the window to the block on the other side of the cemetery, where she spotted a low but bright lit bar with dark stained glass windows. “Doors open at about five o'clock so we'll be meeting Alex and Greg over there around then. Since we're friends of Exodus, we get in for free. You'll probably have to pay five bucks, though.”

“Sounds good, though,” she assured him, and then she raised her coffee mug for him and they made a toast to one another. “Wait a minute, it's a bar, though,” she pointed out. “What's Alex gonna do there?”

“They sell food until about eleven,” he told her. “So he can go in there.”

“All the food his tummy could ever wish for,” she said as she took another sip of coffee. After breakfast, Sam settled into the apartment for a few hours with her journal and her pencil until Louie put on his Chuck Taylors and then his watch. She figured she had enough to not enough to cover the way into the bar as well as a drink for herself. She ran a brush through her hair and then she followed him back outside to the cool afternoon: most of the fog had burned off at that point, but a few wisps and thick clouds dotted the otherwise rich blue canopy overhead.

“The girls also played there,” he told her.

“Really?”

“When Zelda and I were first going out and I was trying to hide my old life from her, yeah. That was where she treated me to a show and she offered to take me home to Rhode Island with her.”

“So this is like coming full circle here,” she followed along as she put on her sunglasses; even though they weren't going very far up the street, she decided to wear them regardless of anythin g.

“Exactly! Right up the street, too, so it's oh so close to home.”

He led her up the sidewalk and all the way around the circumference of the cemetery, to the furthest point and under a row of tall oak trees. She thought about that night in Brooklyn and the Day of the Dead ceremony. She knew she would have to do it again for Cliff as they crossed the four lane road together: he reached the sidewalk first. A gust of cool oceanic wind sent a shiver down her spine but she figured the pancakes from that morning would keep her warm enough until they reached the bar.

“Hey, there's Eric!” Louie pointed out. Up ahead, wrapped in thin black leather and with his inky black hair down so it freely twirled in the wind, Eric lingered outside of the front door of the bar and shuffled his feet about. As they came closer to him, and Sam realized she had made a mistake by not bringing a coat with her, he flashed them a grin.

“Not in the Big Apple anymore,” he declared to her. “Bitchin' shirt, by the way.”

“Not even close,” she said over the whistle of the winds, “I literally forgot how cold and dry California is, even up here. And thank you! This is courtesy of Zelda herself.”

Eric held the door for them and she stepped into the big spacious room first. Given they were right across the street from a cemetery, small sugar skulls lined the walls around them. Old names from years and decades past there in the San Francisco Bay Area lined the phony bricks that were plastered upon the main wall to the left, all in thick calligraphy and block letters like the names in obituaries. Posted up at one of the tables by the wall was Alex and Greg, the latter of whom waved at her. Meanwhile, Alex adjusted the skull ring on his right hand and leaned back in the chair. He had dyed his hair jet black once more, albeit with a bit of haste, however this time around, it was hard to tell that he even had a gray streak there over his brow to begin with.

“Really, who says you can't be girly and badass at the same time?” Greg asked her as part of his greeting.

“I thought being girly was a part of being badass, dude,” Alex pointed out.

“It's badass to be manly, too,” Sam assured as she took her seat there next to him.

“Right?” He clenched his fist to show her the silver skull on his ring finger.

“I'm gonna check on the guys,” Louie told them.

“I have to pay the cover charge,” she retorted to him.

“Oh, yeah, do that,” Alex advised her.

But lucky for her, she found out that she could have half price for a drink, and thus she treated herself to an Irish coffee. A thick frosted glass of that light brown coffee with a thick foam up top and so early in the evening to boot, and she knew that the party would start. She returned to Alex and Greg, right as the former put his hands around a glass of root beer and the latter sipped on some actual beer.

“Why would you do that?” Alex was asking him once she returned within earshot.

“Why not? I could probably do it with one ball first and then work my way up to two.”

“You do that, it's just throwing a single thing in the air,” he pointed out.

“You're still doing it, though,” said Greg.

“No—?” Alex chuckled at that.

“What're you guys talking about?” she asked them with a bit of laughter herself.

“Juggling,” Alex replied, “apparently, he wants a shot at it. He wants to start I tout with one object, too.”

“That's not juggling, though,” she pointed out.

“See what I mean, dude?” He took a sip of his root beer when Eric returned with a plate with a slice of pepperoni pizza.

“Oh, yeah, you get pizza and I just get root beer,” Alex scoffed at him.

“Courtesy of the guys, little man,” Eric advised him and he gestured to the other side of the room behind him.

“I'll be right back,” Alex told the three of them and he bowed over to the table there by the bathrooms, where Louie was helping himself to a plate full as well. Indeed, Sam brought her attention over there and she spotted the man right in front of Louie. She almost didn't even recognize him from his now shorn hair and the fact his face looked as though it had been boiled in a vat of water.

“Oh, man, Zetro doesn't look good,” Sam remarked.

“I guess they haven't been doing too well,” Eric told her as he covered his mouth with one hand. “This last record they put out—last October, I think? It was a total flop—I thought it was pretty good, though. The guitars sound like chainsaws and Zetro's vocal delivery is just not for the faint of heart. I mean you heard him, when he was with us.”

“Oh, right, right! Real screechy, high vocals.”

“Indicative of thrash! But yeah, everyone hated it upon release, though.”

“Do you think maybe Zelda might have something to do with it?” she asked him.

“No clue, to be honest. Could just be nerves—you know, the sophomore slump thing, but who knows, really. That is a possibility, though, 'cause he was a wreck when she and him split and she made amends with Louie. One can only hope that their next one will be a bonafide masterpiece.”

Within time, Alex and Louie returned with plates, for themselves and for Greg and Sam in that respective fashion.

Within the hour, more and more people filed into the bar and Exodus prepared to take to the stage. Eric and Louie made their way over to the stage to check in on the band themselves, and Greg had gone off to the men's room. Thus, Sam and Alex were left alone yet again, that time with empty plates before them. He lifted his glass of root beer to his lips but he didn't take a drink for himself.

“Samantha, when you turned twenty, how'd you react to it?” he asked her.

“How'd I react to it?”

“Yeah, like—what was going through your mind then?”

“I just kind of—resigned to the fact that I was going to be twenty years old soon, like I wasn't going to be a teenager anymore.”

She dropped her gaze to his fingers as they curled around the base of his glass of root beer. She wondered what was going through his mind right then.

“Why?” she asked him as she leaned her head in closer to him. “Alex? Is there something you want to tell me?” She peered over her shoulder once again. They were alone yet again; she returned to him. “You can tell me. You are my best kept secret—you can tell me if something is troubling you.” He sighed through his nose.

“I'm just—kinda—realizing the fact that I'm not a kid anymore,” he confessed, to which he knitted his eyebrows together. “I haven't really felt like a kid in a long time, either. You know? I feel like I've had to grow up a great deal in the past six years. Hell, the past three years, I feel like I've had to grow up a great deal.”

“Well—you're still Alex, though,” she pointed out in a low voice. “You're just—a little older is all. My mom told me that when I turned eighteen in fact. She said, 'you're still my little girl regardless of how old you are.' So to that, you're still little boy Alex to me. You're still that chubby sixteen year old with the yarmulke, the one whom I first met in New York City.”

He raised his head at that and he raised his eyebrows: the softest she had ever seen him at that point.

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I bet your parents feel the same way about you.”

He paused for a second. “They do, actually. In particular my mom. They did a lot for me—they still do, actually. My mom helps me do laundry and sometimes there's just something about coming home and feeling her hug me. Feeling my dad hug me, too. You know?”

“Oh, yeah! That's one thing I miss about living close to my parents is hugs from them, especially my dad.”

He ran the tip of his finger around the rim of his glass.

“So do you know at all when he's coming out here?” he asked her.

“Who, my dad? I don't, no.” She paused herself. “Why, you wanna meet him?”

“If it's not too much trouble,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “I always introduced my friends to my parents growing up. That was actually the first time I really heard the word 'meshuggah' was when I brought one of my friends over to jam guitars with. My dad was like 'my kid's meshuggah!' to their parents. And I mean—you know, it's all of us out here in the Bay Area together now—it just—kinda makes sense that we all get together and hang out together when we're not on the road.”

“Which is quite often,” she followed along.

“Oh, my god, yes! We're supposed to be back in the studio soon, too. And we've got those shows down in Reseda before Christmas.”

“By the way, when's Hanukkah this year?” she asked him without a moment's hesitation.

“Hanukkah? Oh, god, I dunno. I do know Rosh Hashana is coming up here in like two weeks or something like that, but that's where it starts and ends with me, though. I couldn't tell you when Yom Kippur is or even—almost twenty years old and I know for a fact my mom's gonna take me over her knee and I'm gonna get spanked for this—Passover. Besides my family's non traditional Jewish. I don't always wear my yarmulke or my Star of David.”

“Still a Jew boy, though,” she pointed out with a giggle.

“Oh, yeah. This last name is definitely indicative of that. There's not a lot of us running around but it's there, though. I mean, if my dad utilizing a word like 'meshuggah' isn't enough indication, I dunno what to tell ya.”

He shrugged his shoulders and rolled those deep eyes a bit, and she giggled some more at him.

“Do you celebrate Hanukkah at all?” she asked him.

“We did when I was little! Like when I was a toddler and when I first started school, but like I said, my parents are non traditional. So it doesn't bother them in the least if we miss any of the holidays at any given time, and they usually do, too.” He picked up his glass and sipped on the rest of his root beer, and then he turned his attention back to her, that time with a thoughtful look on his face. “We do have a menorah, though,” he said in a low voice.

“A real menorah?”

He nodded.

“Oh, yeah, it's as real as the black dye on my head right now.” She giggled at that. “And I'll tell you what. When Hanukkah starts—whenever it does this year—you ought to come on over. We'll light up the candles for each of the eight nights, and I'll do it for you, too.”

Someone up on stage laughed out laughing right at that moment.

“It's not that funny,” Sam cracked, and Alex cackled at that. Someone else up there addressed Alex by name, and he turned his attention towards them with a twinkle in his eye.

“I dunno, man, why you asking me!” he called out in that big bold voice, and Zetro made his way to the middle of the stage with the microphone in hand. He pointed in their direction and Sam sank down away from the look of mischief on his face.

“I see exactly one Alex Skolnick out there in the audience,” he declared and his speaking voice filled up the entire room, “—twenty years old in a few weeks time—you know, he's only in here 'cause there's food.”

People in the audience chuckled at that. Alex bowed his head and closed his eyes, to which Zetro stuck out his tongue and flashed Sam a wink. She peered over at him and before she could even so much as put her hand on his arm, Zetro spoke again.

“Anyways, come on up here, little man—come on up here and give us a li'l kick in the ass and give the cherry a good poppin'. We could use it right about now to start us out.”

Sam and Alex glanced at one another, and she shrugged her shoulders at him. He rolled his eyes and downed the rest of his root beer, and then he stood to his feet. People applauded him as he took the walkway on the other side of the room. Soon, over the small sea of heads, Sam recognized his head of jet black hair against the overhead lights. One of their stage hands gave him a big white flying V guitar, much like the guitar which Dave gave Joey for auditions.

Her jaw dropped as she watched him take center stage next to Zetro.

Alex absolutely dwarfed the five of them. He didn't even need the gray streak upon his head for Sam to recognize him from clear across the room: he had that handsome oval face and those prominent features. Indeed, there was that indication she had for him: his hair could turn completely gray and she could still recognize him, but she made that sentiment when she locked eyes with him. But as she watched him up there on stage with Exodus, she realized that it was more than that.

The kid literally stood out like a monolith. Long lanky legs wrapped in those fitted black jeans and his slender little body accentuated by that black button up: at some point on the way up there, he had undone the top two buttons and revealed a sliver of his chest to the audience. He ran his fingers through his inky black curls and showed off a bit more of his neck.

She had never seen him like that before, such that it was almost too much for her to bear right then. She wanted another slice of pizza but she wanted to pay more attention to him.

Thus, she climbed off the stool and almost ran right into Greg, who gasped at the sight of her.

“Oh, my—hi,” she muttered to him.

“Hi,” Greg said back to her. One inch of clearance separated them. “Do you know where Alex is?”

“I don't, no—I was—I was just gonna ask you.” Sam peered down at his narrow legs and his belt as it poked out from underneath the hem of his shirt. “Oh, no, wait, he's up there with them.”

“Oh, yeah!” Greg clapped his hands over his head as Alex let his fingers do the talking on the guitar's fret board.

“Oh, my,” she muttered, to which she fanned herself.

“Practice it, man!” Zetro bellow into the microphone.

“Yeah, practice what you preach!” he shouted into the microphone right behind him, and his voice was even bigger for that room in comparison to that of Zetro. All Sam could think about right then was Soundgarden, the Seattle band at the show in Dusseldorf.

Her heart fluttered inside of her chest all the while. The way Alex stood there with that white guitar pressed against his body.

“Watch my purse for me, Greg?” she asked him.

“Sam, I will walk up and down the street with your purse over my shoulder if I have to,” Greg replied, and she bowed away from there, but then she doubled back for her glass.

The fact she was legally married to a man and the fact that she had a boyfriend back home in New York. It was almost too much for her to bear.

Sam shook her head. No amount of Irish coffee could soothe the warm feeling in her face: if anything, it only added to the feeling within her. That fluttery feeling in her chest and the way her hips wanted to sway about with his rhythms.

She sipped on the glass again and then she bolted from the table.

She couldn't even make it to bathroom when Alex himself bumped into her there at the corridor's entrance.

Not again. He hadn't even broken out in a sweat for a second. But his body lingered there before her, all big and tall and with two buttons undone, as if he had done it all for her.

Not again.

“Oh—hi,” she sputtered and he raised his eyebrows at her.

“Hi,” Alex retorted back to her. One inch of clearance separated them, just like with her and Greg. “Uh—I need a drink of water, I'm like dying of thirst right now.”

“And I gotta use the ladies' room—” He tried to bow past her but she went in the same direction as him. She went the other way and he followed her as well.

“Damn it—” he chuckled at that.

“Pardon me,” she told him as she finally bowed past him and into the women's bathroom. She shut the door behind her and she peered into the mirror in front of her. A light touch of pink crossed her face. She shook her head about and let out a long low whistle, even though that did nothing to settle the nervous sensation in the pit of her stomach.

Yet another moment where she hadn't seen Alex without that stoic expression on his face.

She didn't even have to use the bathroom but she needed to be away from the table, away from Greg's prying eyes. She washed her hands and splashed a little cold water on her face before she returned back out to the bar. Greg had gone off, and Alex was back in his spot there at the table. His face was flushed and he pushed his bangs right off of his face so as to keep himself cool.

“Are you okay?” she asked him once she took her seat again.

“Yeah. I just—wasn't expecting to see you over there.”

“I see.”

“What about you? You look like you're about as red as a cherry tomato.”

“It's this Irish coffee,” she told him with a tap of the glass. “I almost wanna Jew it up.”

“Jew it up?” he echoed her. “Why would you wanna Jew it up?”

“What's wrong—with Jewing it up?”

“You Jew it up, you make it kosher and dry. And you don't wanna do that to coffee.”

“Maybe I do,” she teased him. “Make coffee nice and dry.”

Alex shook his head and stuck out his tongue at that, and then he gave her that hearty laugh once again.

“I don't think I'm ready to understand you, Alex Skolnick,” she teased him once again.

“A lot of people don't,” he promised her. “I'm just gonna tell you this right now—really, listen to me, Samantha. A lot of people don't understand me, especially my parents.”

And yet a part of her told her that it was only just the beginning with him.

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