12Disclamer: I don't own the rights of The Legend of Zelda
A/N: In case anyone is interested, in Chapter 5, in the last section (The Legend of Zelda / Link's Adventure) I have changed the tone of comedy to a more serious tone. I think it's better and does the tribute that the first games deserve.
Chapter 7: The Legend of Zelda
"Heroes fade over time but legends never die."
"Not even time is capable of ending the love my heart still feels for you."
Breath Of The Wild
"Link ... are you completely sure of this?"
"You are the only thing I have left." You and my feelings towards you, that's why I'm sure of this decision ... only if you want to.
"Yes, I want."
ooOoo
Some years later…
"Let's worship the chosen one! Long live to the chosen one! Long live the heir of Demise!
The leader of the Yiga clan raised the gerudo baby while listening to the deafening chants of his acolytes. He could tell how dark magic flowed through that cursed temple, hidden in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. The ancient writings did not lie, that place was the one.
"Two years ago, those damn Hylians took our master from us: Grandmaster Kogg, but tod-…" The new leader of the Yiga clan realized immediately that no one was paying attention to him. "Silence! The last one to shut up won't eat a banana in a whole week!"
The chants, shouts and banal conversations ceased instantly. The new leader of the Yiga clan left the gerudo baby in a basket and after clearing his voice he continued speaking.
"As I was sayi-Aaarrrgh!"
An arrow just pierced his right hand. Before they realized, the dusty old temple was surrounded by numerous hylians, zoras, ornis, gerudos and gorons.
Two blond Hylians, male and female, came forward to the others and approached the Yiga slowly. The assassins recognized them immediately, especially when observing the sword that one of them carried in his left hand.
They were guilty that almost all the members of the clan were locked up, dead or had left Hyrule.
"Surrender and we will forgive your life." The woman's voice indicated that she was someone who wasn't going to admit no for an answer. "We do not want to shed blood, but we will do it if necessary. For once in your miserable lives, make the smartest decision."
The members of the Yiga clan watched the invading army. They were too many and seemed more than willing to fight. Moreover, they seemed eager to fight, especially the gerudo.
The members of the clan all looked at the leader at once, who only wanted the pain of his hand to stop. Honestly, he didn't care about everything else because he never came to believe that his plan was going to be a success.
"... At least you could have let me finish my speech ..." the leader complained.
ooOoo
Some days later
"I still can't believe it's been two years," Zelda said.
"Time passes very quickly, especially in peacetime," Link assured her. The king and queen of Hyrule were in the middle of the meadow in front of a monument that has just been built.
A monument formed by the Triforce, which was surrounded by the statues of the ancient Hyrule champions. The fierce Urbosa, the brave Daruk, the kind Mipha and the proud Revali.
Next to Link and Zelda were the leaders or warriors of different tribes that populated Hyrule. Riju, the gerudo matriarch. Sidon, current king of the Zora. Yunobo the goron. And Teba, the Orni warrior.
Everyone was there to pay tribute in private to the honorable warriors who had perished without being able to fulfill their mission.
"Hopefuly, their souls now rest in peace," Zelda thought.
"I hope they feel proud of us," Riju said.
"Of course they are proud of us!" Sidon said without hesitation. "Thanks to Link and Zelda we have been able to "rebuild" Hyrule and have dominated the divine beasts."
"Both hard tasks, I must add," said Teba.
"I-I don't think we've done it wrong," said Yunobo. "A-although that doesn't mean I thinks we're better than them!"
"Don't worry Yunobo, we understand what you mean," Zelda said smiling. "And Sidon is right. Everyone must be very proud of how much you have helped us."
Link used that moment to start the "ceremony", in which he and Zelda would tell stories about their friends, about how they met them and how they knew they were the ones to be the Hyrule champions. And above all, what it was like to live with them every day.
Despite having spent so much time since their deaths, Zelda could not prevent a couple of tears from escaping his eyes. Link felt bad about that but Zelda needed that, as much as he did.
After finishing, Riju asked a question that everyone had in mind for a few days.
"Link, Zelda...What are you going to do with the gerudo baby?" Riju asked. "I would like him to be raised among his people, but for centuries my people have not held Gerudo men in good esteem. Not to mention the rest of Hyrule. Also, the fact that his mother named him Ganondorf before she died doesn't help."
"I know," Zelda said as she looked down. In her arms was the baby, who had been sleeping for hours. They had brought him with them because apparently he was very temperamental and only calmed down when Link or Zelda were with him.
"The people of Hyrule are very superstitious and don't trust our words," Link said a little tired of the subject. "Ganon won't return, this child isn't an incarnation and deserves to have a family that loves him ... that's why Zelda and I have decided to adopt him."
ooOoo
Four years later
After the great Cataclysm of a hundred years ago, Hyrule became a divided land. Each race looked after its own interest and thus managed to prosper separately. However, the fear that Ganon would leave the castle and kill everyone was still there.
Therefore, every time the inhabitants of Hyrule saw the king and queen, they remembered that there was nothing to fear. Although many didn't see with good eyes that they had adopted a gerudo baby, they had to admit that they made a beautiful family.
The King and queen always took time to be with their son. It didn't matter the time or the moment. With him their melancholic and somewhat sad looks lit up instantly. Link loved to play with him and take him on a walk in the meadow. Zelda however preferred to tell him stories and when the baby showed magic skills, she decided to instruct him herself.
The baby was a blessing to the scarred souls of Link and Zelda, that couldn't be denied. And soon the couple gave him a little sister, whom they named Hilda. Thing that didn't seem to like the Royal council.
"Aren't all women in the royal family supposed to be called Zelda?" Link asked when Zelda proposed that name.
"Carrying Zelda's name is a great responsibility," Zelda said as she took her newborn in her arms. "This little girl doesn't deserve to go through the same thing as me. We are in peacetime and I want her to have the opportunity to choose her own destiny, just like Ganondorf."
"Adopting a gerudo baby and changing the legitimate name of the heiress to the throne ... We are breaking many rules, don't you think?" Link laughed.
"For years I followed rules that didn't help me at the most decisive moment. I think it's time to be a little rebellious," she said with a smile. "In the future, someone will surely restore Zelda's name in the monarchy, but today will not be that day."
Link looked proudly at his wife and kissed her on the forehead. She had changed a lot. Despite not having all his memories completely, if he was sure of anything, it is that the Zelda of a hundred years ago wouldn't have dared to do something like that.
Suddenly, their eyes turned to the door of the room. At the entrance was a four-year-old boy, brown skin and yellow eyes that stared at them but with some shyness.
"Ganondorf, come meet your little sister," Zelda asked affectionately. The little gerudo paid attention to his mother. When he was at his side, he looked curiously at that fragile creature.
"Now you are his older brother. You must take care of her and show her everything you know," Link said.
Ganondorf looked at the girl and felt something inside him stir. That baby was the fruit of love between his parents, the people who loved him most in the world. He would protect her with his life.
ooOoo
Six years later…
Ganondorf watched with a certain intrigue a beautiful old painting. In it, you could see the princess of destiny using the Triforce and on her side a brave knight dressed in green. Both were facing beast, the incarnation of Demise's hatred, Ganon.
The painting had been painted by a famous painter Sheikah more than a millennium ago. No one knew how it could be preserved so well, but everyone assumed that magic had something to do with it ... or perhaps the use of strange sheikah technology.
"Or maybe both," Ganondorf murmured.
He would never understand why everyone wanted so much to separate magic and science. Wasn't Nayru, the creator of laws of magic and science, supposed to be the living representation that both concepts could coexist and work together?
"People tend to divide everything," his mother once told him a few years ago. "Political, religious, social divisions ... Perhaps it is in our nature to want to divide things because we ourselves are divided."
"How is that?" Ganondorf asked.
"Mind, body and soul. Each person usually gives greater importance to each of them, but sometimes there are people who achieve a balance between the three. Those people are the ones who change our history for the better."
"That seems very complicated, the person who gets that would be worthy of being remembered as a legend," he commented enthusiastically. His mother laughed affectionately at his words.
"A legend, huh?" Murmured his mother. Pain, nostalgia and joy were reflected in her eyes, but Ganondorf couldn't understand the reason. At least not at that time.
ooOoo
Zelda watched her son as she stroked his red hair.
"Ten years ... It's been very fast." Nostalgia could be noticed in the mother's voice. "You have grown so much, my little one. It seems like yesterday when we found you in that temple."
"Where is your sister?" Link asked with a small smile.
"Hilda is asleep," Ganondorf replied.
"Asleep? But it's still too early," Link said, surprised.
"You were playing with Midna and Lobo until very late, right?" His mother asked in a stern tone.
"…Maybe…"
Midna was a kitten that Ganondorf had found a few months ago in the citadel. She was being beaten by some children when the young gerudo came to her rescue. He also suffered the wrath of the children but at least he could save the kitten, who became so fond of him that he couldn't let her go.
Wolf was ... a wolverine. His parents had found him alone and lost in a forest a few months ago. Something in that animal must have caught their attention as they returned to the castle with him and named him "royal pet" along with Midna.
"Mom, dad… can you tell me again about the Hyrule champions?" Ganondorf asked, trying to change the subject quickly.
"Do you like it so much that we talk about them?" Asked his father. The little boy nodded quickly while his parents laughed slightly.
"Your father and I have other matters to attend to, but I think nothing will happen if we stay with you a little longer," his mother assured him.
Ganondorf spent a couple of hours with his parents, listening to stories about Mipha, Daruk, Revali and Urbosa. The latter was the one that most caught his attention, since she was of his same race.
They also told him how Link had to go through Hyrule, almost without memories and weapons. Everything he had to do to meet Zelda, who was in a hundred-year battle against the Ganon.
"Weren't you afraid?" Ganondorf asked. Link and Zelda exchanged looks full of love and a smile.
"Yes, we had fear, and we still have it," Link confessed, surprising the boy because he believed that fear was not something his parents had known.
"Being brave doesn't mean not being afraid, it means knowing when and how to get over it," Zelda said. "Protect Hyrule and its inhabitants, that is your father's mission and mine. A mission for which we are able to accept our fears and overcome them."
"And my mission ... is to protect Hilda, right?"
"Yes, and when she is older she will also protect you, my brave warrior," said Zelda with love.
ooOoo
Every day, Ganondorf and Hilda played in the garden. Next to them was Link, behaving like a child. And when Zelda joined them, that was when everyone felt they were a complete family.
No more darkness, no more fears, no more prophecies, no more superstitions, no more sad memories, just the four of them and a kingdom to care for and love. They weren't going to forget the past or belittle it, but neither were they going to let the reign of light that was coming darken.
Hyrule Warriors
Hylia then closed her eyes while having her last thought as goddess.
"Link, we'll be together soon."
-o-
"Zelda, honey! What's happening to you?" Link asked, taking her in his arms and carefully placing her on the floor. The Hero was scared to see that his wife did not respond and had her eyes closed.
"... Link," Zelda finally said as she looked at him with a happy face that the young man had never seen. "The baby... has give me a kick."
-o-
Zelda separated from him and looked at him with an expression that mixed joy and surprise.
"I would also like to be able to accompany you, Link."
"Well, now that I'm your guardian, it's you who decides where to go, princess," Link said with a wide smile.
"While you are by my side I don't care about the destination I should choose, Minish Hero", she replied.
That night, only the stars and the moon witnessed how the red thread that united them since ancient times, began to be more and more visible.
-o-
Zelda's heart was going a thousand an hour. Was Link...?
"After Vaati, I realized that if I lost my life it would not make any sense, so a year later I gathered the courage to start courting you." continued the Hero. He released one of Zelda's hands and took a small box from his pocket. "And that's why now, three years later, I ask you to be my teammate in the greatest adventure of my life ... Zelda, do you want to marry me?"
Without giving him time to finish, the princess pounced on him as she repeated the word "yes" constantly as if it were a mantra. No doubt that was going to be a memorable day in the history of their lives.
-o-
"Link," she said, looking at the bluish sky. "I don't know how you will be or if we can be friends or maybe something else ... But I swear if you exist in this world, I will find you."
-o-
"I'm the chosen Hero, remember?" I'm invincible," he said jokingly. "I promise that I will return with you safe and sound."
Zelda blushed at his words.
"Is that a promise?" She asked shyly.
"Of course!"
"Then, it doesn't matter how long it takes Link. I will always be waiting for you."
-o-
"I thank you all for helping me and Link. Follow your instincts to overcome the wars that lie ahead. Your descendants will be key in the victory of Hyrule." Zelda said looking at the six Sages. They listened to her words without fully understanding them. Still none dared to interrupt her. "Goodbye, it has been a pleasure to be your princess, despite having failed you all..."
-o-
A wide smile formed on Link's face as he took Tetra in his arms and spun with her across the ship's deck.
"H-hey, get me down!" She exclaimed, surprised. "I'm still your captain!
"And the most wonderful pirate girlfriend in the world," Link added with a laugh.
-o-
"Link, I hope you and I can forge a good future together for New Hyrule," the princess whispered.
-o-
"Together in a new adventure" that masculine voice said.
"The biggest adventure of all ... And this time I will be able to accompany you, without tricks, costumes or time travels" Zelda replied happily. "Just you and me."
"Only you and me, my love."
-o-
Link took Zelda in his arms and placed her carefully on the bed without undoing the kiss. They were husband and wife, they were king and queen. That night only the Goddesses would witness how they completely reinforced the red bond that united them since ancient times.
-o-
"Do you see it as I am not always a clown?" Link joked.
"That is very doubtful," she laughed as she stood up and picked up her foil from the ground. "Come on Hero of the Four Swords, it's time for me to defeat you once and for all."
"We'll see that, Seventh Maiden."
-o-
"What have you seen?" Zelda asked curiously to see her husband's nostalgic look.
"Nothing ..." he replied calmly after taking a last look at the sky. "Just a link to my past."
-o-
"And we want the light of the Goddesses to always guide your path," Zelda said with a tender smile.
"Thank you so much for your blessings," Link thanked them.
"No, thanks to you Link, for helping us understand that things are never what they seem," they said at the same time. "We also thank you, Zelda, for being able to see with the soul and not just with the eyes."
-o-
"You are going to send a letter to Styla and the ministers of Hytopia telling them your reasons for rejecting their offer."
"W-but that would not be better if you did it?" Link asked, turning a little pale.
"No, my dear hero," Zelda replied with a mischievous smile on her face, "you better get used to doing this kind of thing if you ever want to be my prince consort."
"O-of course..."
In order not to leave him with a bad taste in his mouth, Zelda kissed him again and this time with more passion. The words that Link whispered would have made Impa faint, luckily only they were there.
-o-
You were beautiful. Even asleep. I couldn't help kissing you. Maybe I did wrong, maybe not. I only know that kissing you made my soul ascend to the heavens. I had never felt anything like that.
Your beautiful blue eyes watched me with surprise and joy. Surprise I can understand, but joy? Why? I only know, that when I saw your soul, my whole world was completed. I finally knew you, I finally remembered you.
"Link." That was your first word, uttered by a soft voice that pierced my whole being. "You have finally come back to me."
ooOoo
Link opened his eyes and rose slowly from the bed. Not wanting to wake Zelda, he left quietly and walked to the huge castle garden.
There he was several minutes, until he felt the presence of someone behind him. He didn't need to turn around to find out who she was.
"Can't you sleep?"
"Shouldn't I say that?" Zelda replied with a slight laugh. "She approached her husband and sat next to him. "You've been having nightmares for several days, right?"
Link nodded.
"Lana and Cia already told us they were a possible side effect," Zelda said. Unlike Link, she seemed to be doing all that quite well.
ooOoo
A few years ago…
"You should know that our era is in a kind of space-time crossroads," Lana told the group of Heroes of Hyrule.
"What's that?" Linkle asked confused.
"Let her talk," Link asked his little sister.
"When I used her powers to attract monsters and villains from other ages, it affected the reality as a whole," Cia said. "I fear that the damage is so great that even I cannot repair it completely."
"And what does that imply?" Impa asked, frowning.
"It will not affect us negatively if that is what worries you. What happens is that all the stories of Hyrule, and that includes that of other timelines, converge now here, in our era." Lana said.
All her friends looked at her with some disbelief and confusion in their eyes.
"Have you not noticed for a while that your knowledge of history is something ... contradictory?"
"Yes," Zelda replied without hesitation, surprising everyone. "The other day I found in the library books about events that may not have happened in Hyrule, such as the great flood or the death of the Hero at the hands of Ganon, creating an era of darkness."
"So… All the stories that happened or could have happened, have they already happened?" Asked Linkle, who, unlike most, didn't seem to have a hard time understanding that.
"So it seems," said Zelda.
"And not only that," Cia said very seriously. "Link, Zelda. From now on you will surely recover memories of your past lives. It won't be a painful process but we must not rule out that you suffer any sequel, especially now that the story is distorted."
"Good thing it wasn't going to affect you negatively," said fairy Proxy to Link.
"So… All the stories that happened or could have happened, have they already happened?" Asked Linkle, who, unlike most, didn't seem to have a hard time understanding that.
"So it seems," said Zelda.
"And not only that," Cia said very seriously. "Link, Zelda. From now on you will surely recover memories of your past lives. It won't be a painful process but we must not rule out that you suffer any sequel, especially now that the story is distorted."
"Good thing it wasn't going to affect you negatively," said the fairy Proxy to Link.
ooOoo
"Do you regret having these memories?" Zelda asked doubtfully.
"Honestly no. Being able to remember our past lives ... everything we live together makes me happy. Although they are so many lives and all different or even from other timelines, "Link confessed with a small smile. Still there was some sadness in his eyes.
"So ... what worries you?"
"The endless cycle," Link revealed. "I don't mind having to reincarnate at your side in every era. But our endless struggle against evil, not being able to remember what we were centuries ago ... sometimes I feel that we live trapped in an eternal curse."
"You're wrong," Zelda interrupted very seriously. She placed her hands on his face and forced him to look her. "The goddesses ... my sisters gave us a chance for which many would kill. Demise wanted to convince us that our opportunity is nothing but a curse but he was wrong."
Zelda kissed him at that moment. Putting in that kiss all her love, transmitting everything she felt for him without words. When they separated, Link looked at her ecstatic and somewhat surprised.
"It doesn't matter how many times I'm reborn, it doesn't matter if I'm a queen, a princess, the mayor's daughter, a pirate or a goddess… I'll always love you, Link. I will always look for you and find you. Neither Ganondorf, nor Vaati, nor Zant, or any other villain ca stop me. You better remember it."
Link didn't know what to say before that great statement. He just knew that he was surely the luckiest hylian in all of history. The two remained silent, enjoying each other's company on that beautiful night.
"You know, I've been thinking that we should write our memories and past lives," Zelda commented, breaking the silence. "So that our future incarnations can know how to fight evil and more about the history of Hyrule, and about their past lives. Besides, I think it will be a good way for you to have no more nightmares ... what do you think?"
Link looked at her, this time with a wide smile on his face.
"It seems perfect."
"Can you think of a name for the collection we are going to create?" Zelda asked, very glad that he liked her idea.
"Yes...The legend of Zelda."
"Although the trip has been short, my thanks will be eternal"
The end
Thanks to all who have read this story. If only one of you liked it, it would have been worth the effort to write it. Until next time!