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#zeldaelmo
chimpukampu · 1 year
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Royal Sunrise for Skyward Sword zelink?
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"Wake up, sleepyhead."
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aurathian · 1 year
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Give me the shittiest soulmate scenario you can come up with but with a happy ending for zelink, please. 😆
hi zelmo!!!! happy birthday!!!!! i decided to go ahead and write your request (finally...) since its ur special day!!! when u said soulmate scenario i immediately thought of those tiktok povs so i tried to write something silly. I hope you enjoy!
For some reason, allergy-less Zelda found herself sneezing quite a lot during the spring. She knew she didn’t have allergies; when the problem first presented itself when she was a child, her father had her checked by the royal physician right away.
“No allergies.”
“That can’t be true,” her father, the king, argued.
“She may just be a sneezy kid. Children are not all that hygienic, you know. Princess Zelda will grow out of it.”
She remembered something else about sneezes, too, something from a long time ago when she was still a small child. She was sitting on her mother’s lap, rocking back and forth while being read a bedtime story when she had a sudden sneezing fit.
“You know, little bird,” her mother began gently as she closed the book, “I’ve heard a saying that when your soulmate sneezes, you sneeze too.”
“Does that mean it’s my soulmate's fault and not mine?” Zelda managed between achoos!
Her mother said nothing but only chuckled.
Zelda never did grow out of her sneezing, but she persisted anyway. Her determination to study the wildlife of Hyrule, including the flora and fauna that thrived only in the spring and summer seasons, overrode her debilitating sneezing. It was truly a shame that the most tolerable times of the year for her were fall and winter, when everything began to wither and die and her favorite flower, the Silent Princess, went away until the first melt.
On this particular spring day, the sneezing was pretty awful, but she insisted she venture out into the field anyway to study some of the Silent Princesses. She was determined to unlock the secrets of the soil, sunlight, and environment that helped them thrive so well. Every Silent Princess she had ever taken to her study had died within the night. Because of her insistence, her personal knight Link was forced to go with her as well.
“I won’t force you to eat a frog this time, I promise.”
He only smiled uneasily. It wasn’t the frogs he was worried about.
Link had what was possibly the most vicious and violent pollen allergy in all of Hyrule. When spring rolled around, he figured it might as well be over for him. Despite his great amount of outdoor duties, he did his best to stay inside, away from the flowers and the grass and all the budding greens that emitted pollen that could invade his system. Once he sneezed, he wouldn’t stop for a long while. It had gotten him in trouble during training one too many times.
But duty called, and he went out into the spring field with Zelda, that spring field teeming with malicious flowers and fatal pollen and the evil bees that spread it. When the princess told him the goal was to study some Silent Princesses, he would have fainted had he not been a disciplined warrior.
Zelda did notice his relentless sniffling from the back of her own horse, the way his grips on his reins tightened every now and then and his face contorted into something grotesque every few moments.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Fine,” he choked.
She shrugged and onward they went, deeper into Hyrule Field, before stopping at a single Silent Princess Zelda had spotted. Link stayed atop his horse, wary, fighting his inner mechanisms while the princess dismounted and cheerfully knelt near the flower. He admired her in a lot of ways, but mainly her capacity to appear unaffected by the pollen wafting into her nose as she examined the flower.
“Come down here, Link,” she beckoned, voice as light as a feather and full of wonder. “This one’s rare. The colors are switched around–how peculiar.”
“I think I will stay up here,” he said. “Better view.”
She groaned, shot up, and tugged on his sleeve to get him off his horse. He stumbled down and then he was on his knees next to the flower with her, noses nearly pressed to the petals.
ACHOO!
“Ugh, I’m sorry–” But Link was quickly cut off by– ACHOO!
And now she was sneezing too, and back and forth they went, practically taking turns, trading sneezes, until they finally mounted their horses and swiftly rode away from the field. Link felt less bad about sneezing now and let the occasional one out, to which Zelda would respond similarly into her sleeve.
Link wasted no time when they returned to the castle, apologizing profusely and interrupting with another apology anytime Zelda tried to speak. He put the horses in the stable and made sure Zelda had everything she needed before he sprinted away from her, still sneezing, into the barracks.
As she watched him take refuge in one of the castle structures, sneezing and coughing and covering his mouth with his arm, she remembered what her mother said as a small smile graced her face.
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srahviola · 1 year
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After falling off the map for a while, here's a drawing I did for @zeldaelmo's ZeLink Advent calendar fic! This is for day 15 (tomorrow), It May be Winter Outside (But in my Heart it’s Spring). Y'all should totally check it out when it comes out tomorrow because HOLY SMOKES IT'S ADORABLE 💜💜💜💜
Merry Christmas, y'all! 💜🎄💜🎄💜🎄💜🎄💜🎄
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HOLY CRAP I wrote something! For a prompt that was posted in August! But @zeldaelmo did say there was no deadline so, yanno, I made it eventually. Thank you for the prompt, Zelmo! This was super fun to do.
Anyways, please enjoy some domestic Zelink post BOTW fluff.
Memories After Midnight
Read it here or on ao3! (Gen, domestic fluff in Hateno, established relationship)
A storm was raging fiercely overhead, thunder and lightning echoing through the hills. Link had repeatedly assured Zelda that Hateno was used to such storms, that the warm summers on the coast often brought whipping winds and lashing rain. But even now, months after the Calamity’s defeat, the roar of thunder still gave her shivers. 
Link had built up a small fire, and was busying himself making a pot of warm safflina tea while Zelda curled up on the floor cushions by the fireplace. He hummed to himself as he sprinkled a pinch of a Gerudo spice mix into the tea. Zelda smiled. He never used to sing, in the before times. Link had such a lovely voice; it was such a precious gift to be able to hear it every day. 
She sat up as he walked over to her, two steaming mugs in hand. “Thank you, my love.” She smiled as he handed her a hand-made mug glazed with a deep blue lacquer. He had acquired a stunning variety of new skills in the time since waking up in the Shrine of Resurrection two years ago - throwing pottery, woodworking, sewing, among others. Every month it seemed she discovered something else that he’d made for the house they shared.
He sat down next to her, crossing his legs and draping an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into this familiar gesture of comfort. One of the many luxuries she was now content to freely indulge in. 
“I never used to be scared of thunderstorms. But every clap of thunder just sounds too much like the roar of the Calamity...” A shiver ran down her spine, and Link pulled her in closer, tucking her more deeply into her blanket cocoon. 
“You know, I often wonder if this is how Lion must have felt,” she mused. 
“Lion?” Link’s brow furrowed. “Do you mean a lynel?”
“No, Lion. He was... your dog. Your family’s dog. Before...” 
Link froze. “Oh.”
Zelda silently cursed herself. This was not the first time she had done this, accidentally stumbled over a painful reminder that everything from Link’s life before had been ripped away—the only exceptions being the scant few memories she had been able to leave with the Sheikah slate. They had both lost everything, but at least she still had memories of life before. Every time she’d done this before, they had both immediately dropped the line of conversation. But tonight, something shifted. 
His voice was small, and so soft she could barely hear it over the lashing rain. “Can you tell me more about him?”
Her heart ached, but she blinked back her tears and swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “Of course. You told me about him on a night like this one, while we were camping out during a sudden downburst. He was golden brown and very friendly and absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. When you were a little boy, he would come running to you and curl up under your bed every time a storm rolled through.”
“Okay,” he said, his voice somehow even smaller than before. “Was there... Do you know anything else?”
“Link, we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t–”
He cut her off. “I want to.” Her mouth snapped shut. 
“...Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I... I don’t know a lot about Lion. You only mentioned him a few times, but you would often come back from a visit home absolutely covered in dog hair. I remember Captain Rusl reprimanding you about it once. That was before we were friends.” She remembered laughing about it with her maids, mocking one of his few moments of carelessness. She regretted that, now.
“Hmm,.” he muttered, his eyes closed, safflina tea long forgotten on the table beside him. 
“You told me he was big and friendly, and he would play with the children in your village.”
“Where was my village?” he whispered.
Zelda froze, steeling herself for what must come. “Deya.”
He nodded. “I... I had a feeling that might be it. There was something about it that hurt more than the other ruins.”
“Link, I’m so sorry...”
He slumped down to the floor, head falling into her lap as he stared into the fire. “Tell me about my family?”
She paused, stroking his hair and trying to dig up those little details that slipped out on long days in the saddle. 
“Well... Your mother was named Gineve. She was a wonderful cook, used to make a freshwater fish fillet that you complained you could never get quite right when you tried to make it yourself. I think she learned it from the Zora, but put her own twist on it. You fed me several of your attempts at recreating it while we were on the road. I never got a chance to see your house, but you told me it was small. The other guards told me that when you got your own quarters after becoming my knight attendant, you were uncomfortable with the amount of space you had all to yourself. You shared a room with your parents and your little sister, Malia. She had just turned 10, before...”
She paused. Before the Calamity. Link had been frustrated that he wasn’t granted leave to go home for her birthday, but given its proximity to Zelda’s 17th birthday and the looming threat of the Calamity, the generals had determined that it would be “an inappropriate breach of responsibilities” for him to take leave at that time. 
She couldn’t tell him that. Already she could hear him softly weeping.
“Do you want me to keep going?” she murmured, resting her hand on his shoulder.
A slight nod.
“Okay.” She took another deep breath, dredging up every possible detail she could. “Your father, Tonu, was a knight in my father’s service. Competent, but not high ranking. He was so proud when you drew the sword. I think he didn’t realize how much pressure he put you under, but he loved you so much and wanted only the best for you. I do know that he was particularly impressed with the pay raise you got when you entered my personal service.”
That got a laugh, though one that was admittedly quite damp.
“Every time you travelled, you would bring back something for Malia. I only met her once, at the ceremony for the champions we had at the palace. She was a squirmy little one, hair just like yours, but a little bit curlier. I had thought that she was going to try and run up to you in the middle of the ceremony. She wouldn’t stop fidgeting in her seat, I think it drove your mother to near distraction.”
Zelda smiled to herself as she recalled the story. She remembered Malia quite well, having been fixated on this fidgety blonde girl, half hoping she would disrupt the entire melancholy affair. She herself had done her best to disappear as soon as the ceremony was over, only rejoining the champions in the courtyard much later. 
She shook herself out of that reverie. This was for Link, not her own musings. 
“Whether it was Goron City or Gerudo Town, you always had something for her. A pressed flower, an interesting rock, a little toy from Rito Village. You always made sure to send something home, wherever we were.”
“I think...” Link started, pausing to take a few shuddering breaths. “I think I remember that. Being at the Rito general store, seeing a colourful little pinwheel, and thinking ‘this would be perfect for her.’ I couldn’t remember who ‘she’ was.”
“That must have been it.” Zelda said. “I remember you trying to figure out how to package it so it wouldn’t get squished in the post.”
Link was still gazing into the fire, but even from this angle, Zelda could tell his eyes had the glassy stare of a memory washing over him.
“My father died,” he said simply. “Before... before it all happened.”
“Yes,” she whispered. 
“...Yiga?” he asked, waiting for her confirmation. 
“Yes,” she said, shivering. “It was the closest attempt they made on us after the desert. It happened while we were on our way to the Spring of Courage. Your father was in the scouting party that discovered their ambush...” she trailed off. Link looked glassy again.
“Funeral,” he murmured. “You held my hand, covered it with your sleeve so people wouldn’t see.”
Zelda almost laughed. She had been so afraid that someone might see them, but Link had looked so wretched. He needed some comfort, even if back then he couldn’t possibly have admitted it. 
That was only three months before the Calamity struck. How small any other fears seemed in retrospect. 
She reached down, lacing her fingers in between his own. “I’ll keep holding on to you.”
He brought their clasped hands up to his lips, pressing the softest kiss onto her knuckles. “Thanks, Zel.”
She didn’t sleep that night. Link was always exhausted after any memory overtook him, and he had nodded off in her lap not long after their conversation. She had gently lifted him out of her lap, shrugging off the blanket that had been around her shoulders and draping it over him. 
She carefully started rummaging around in her desk, looking for... there it was! The sketch paper she had bought for making field notes and drawings. She knew she couldn’t rest until she finished this. He lost his memories in service to her. It was the least she could do to hold on to everything she could, to give back everything she still had.
Her hands trembled as she sketched under the weak candle light of the dining room table and occasional flashes of lightning. She was far more used to drawing interesting insects, curious mushrooms, and technical diagrams. This was a true test of her skills, and she cursed under her breath every time her charcoal went awry. She sketched and sketched, until her eyes blurred and the candle burned all the way down.
...........................
Link woke early the next morning, the sun just starting to peek through the shuttered windows. He stretched, turning to see Zelda slumped over, asleep on the dining room table. He smiled to himself. It was hardly the first time she had fallen asleep while going over field notes, or working on some project or other. He walked over to the kitchen to start boiling the kettle. She always appreciated some electric safflina tea to get her going after a long night of work. 
He came back over to the dining room table, wondering what work she could possibly have been doing last night during the thunderstorm. She had a small pile of crumpled papers around her, evidence of what was undoubtedly a frustrating project. He leaned over to see what she had been working on.
He froze. There, outlined in rough charcoal, slightly smudged from where her face was resting on the page, was a sketch. A man in the uniform of the royal guard, sporting a mustache that couldn’t conceal a mischievous smile and a twinkle in his eye. A serious looking woman, strong from years of farm work, holding a little girl on her hip. The girl had curly hair valiantly held back by a couple of ribbons. She was holding a pinwheel in one hand, the other wrapped around her mother’s shoulders. And at their feet, a big dog with shaggy, mottled fur. 
Link sniffled and wiped his eyes, suddenly aware that he was crying. Zelda, always a light sleeper since the Calamity’s defeat, startled awake at the sound.
“Link!” she yelped. “What time is it? Are you okay? What..?” She blinked the sleep from her eyes, focusing on what was in front of her. “Oh Link, I... I’m sorry, it’s not very good, I just -” 
He cut her off with a kiss, and she melted into him. 
“Zelda,” he whispered. “Thank you.”
She looked at him, green eyes full of grief and love that he knew all too well. 
“The least I can do is try to give them back to you.”
Thank you @ladyhoneydee and @alucanid for betaing. Genuinely the fact that y'all jumped into this story for me after not having written anything for MONTHS means so much :') Also, if you love one shots, Dee is currently doing a month-long daily fic challenge and it's DELIGHTFUL.
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jimmyjims · 1 year
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My illustration to accompany @zeldaelmo’s fic titled “Fairy Magic” <3
Check out their Advent Calendar!
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The Mortal Who Carved His Heart for a Goddess
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A warm sea breeze blew across deep green blades of grass, sending gentle ripples across the starry surface of a heart-shaped pond. A faint yellow glow drifted by in the distance, weaving through the clouds in a lazy, eternal route, sparks drifting on the wind from the dragon’s glistening hide. Far below, ocean waves crashed against the silent stones at the bottom of the long climb to this hidden pond. Night rested as a comforting blanket over the kingdom, cloaking the frozen tundras of Tabantha to the cool sands of the Gerduo Desert, the radiating heat of Eldin to the gentle waters of Zora’s Domain, all of Hyrule wrapped in a night so perfect, so lovely, so peaceful that the whole kingdom slept at ease.
All, of course, except its Princess and her Appointed Knight.
Bare feet on soft grass, stepped slowly around the edge of the pond. Bangles of gold clinked around strong ankles, shimmering in the light of the full, white moon. Her hands, so soft in his, led him toward the edge of the pond, pulling him everywhere he already wished to go.
She stopped upon the lip of the pond, the grass tickling their toes, the lapping of water dampening the earth. Her golden hair, the wind playing with strands like a lover’s teasing, smelled of coconut as he pressed a soft kiss to her temple.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” She sighed, her gaze affixed to the reflection of the night. “You’ve heard the legend, I’m sure.”
Link hummed softly, wrapping his arm around Zelda’s waist and resting his head on her shoulder. “Tell me again.”
Her soft touch upon his cheek sent shivers down his spine. “Have you forgotten, or do you want to hear me tell a story?” She teased, her fingertips gliding down his jaw and neck.
Closer still he held her, his smile pressed into her shoulder with fleeting kisses. “Both?”
Her laughter carried over the hilltop, drifting down the well-trod path. “Very well, my knight. I’ll tell you.” She let her hand drift down, tracing the shape of his collar up and down, back and forth, hypnotic. “This pond was carved by a love-struck man, one who fell in love with a divine goddess. She was eternal; he was fleeting as the morning mist. She told him that their love could never persist, because he himself could not endure all of time for her. Though he was mortal, and his years were few, he dug this pond to prove his love. So deep and perfect was this pond that it became eternal. He declared his love for her upon this ground, that his love would be infinite as her divinity. The goddess, so moved by his words, came down to earth to wed the mortal man. She blessed the pond with lover’s luck, so that any who traveled to it would be destined to love as deeply as they.”
“Mmm.” Link hummed again, trailing his affection up her neck to her ear as she told the ancient tale. “I’d dig a pond for you.”
“I am no goddess, Link.” She teased. “I have no need for a pond.”
He drew back, tilting his head to one side to study her lovely, elegant features in the midnight glow. “What do you need, Princess? Say the word, and I’ll fetch it for you.” He raised his eyes heavenward, a grin on his lips. “I would snatch every star in the night sky for you, if you asked!”
“Would you?” She cupped his face in her hands, bringing him back down to earth. “There’s an awful lot of stars.”
“There are.” He agreed. The urge to kiss her rose so quickly that he couldn’t fight it off even if he wanted to, the satisfaction of her lips on his at once so necessary and so divine that he thought, for a moment, he understood the mortal lover. Between desperate, whispering kisses he spoke, “No task is too great for your love.”
Such sweet laughter bubbled from her chest, bidding him to cease his ceaseless caresses. “No task, darling?”
“None.” He swore, the vow long-branded on his soul.
She took his hands in hers, setting one upon her waist. “Will you dance with me?”
While that wasn’t the task he thought she’d ask of him, he could not deny her. “To what music?” Though the night sang in its own way, gentle hoots of owls and cricket violins, it followed no tempo with which to lead his princess.
“Sing to me.” She asked, her sparkling eyes catching the light of infinite stars above.
Sing to her. His mind rolled through a thousand words, trying to reach one which conjured a song that he remembered. Patiently she waited for him, the night still young, the sea still crashing as waves against the rocks below.
He parted his lips, his voice unsteady, the first steps of a dance beginning.
“‘My love is as the sea, wide and deep as midnight waves’, Says the lover to his beloved, so fair and lovely formed.
‘The more I give, the more is gained, infinite, strong as storms.’
At this first verse, his beloved blushed, her smile as bright as the moon.
‘My love is as the skies,
Zelda’s voice, clear as the deep waters, soon joined his, singing the part of the beloved.
boundless, blue’ his beloved sighs, her hand upon his breast.
He wondered if she could feel the thundering of his heart beneath the palm of her hand.
‘Sunrise to set, to stars above, ever-present is my love.’
He spun her slowly around the pond, leading her in rhythmic step.
‘I swear upon the moon’ says he, ‘my love is full and bright’
His voice jumped as she pressed her soft lips to his throat before she took up the next verse.
‘Swear not upon inconstant moon’ his beloved soul confides ‘whose face changes with the days, Pulling on the tides.’
The moon, he thought again, could not truly compare with the brilliance of her smile.
‘Shall I swear upon the sun?’ says he, ‘In all its constant ways?’
Ooh, too close to the edge. She almost slipped. He didn’t think she noticed, though led her away from the banks of the pond and up toward the peak of the hill just in case.
‘Swear upon your loving heart only when it ceases shall we part’”
As the song ended, so too did the dance, Link holding his beloved firm to himself. He rested his forehead upon hers, wondering where his breath ended and hers began.
“No.” He whispered. “It doesn’t cease then.”
Zelda’s parted lips, as if to voice the confusion evident on her face, did not speak what his heart understood already.
“One lifetime is not enough to love you. Our lives are as brief as the night.” A breath, stolen from her lovely lips, filled him with the courage to speak again. “I will love you in the morning.”
For @zeldaelmo's prompt "Just After Midnight"
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hyylia · 10 months
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Hey there!
Some random questions for you to get to know you better! 😄
Do you like AUs (modern, pirates, vampires, etc)?
Show me (reblog) your fav Hylink and Zelink art (for all incarnations if you're feeling extra lol)!
A story that has stayed with you and why?
Do you binge longer fics or tag allowing while they're posted?
Feel free to ignore questions that are not your thing 😅
💕💕💕
Zelmo
hi zelmo! tysm for the ask & also happy zelink week! 1 - i LOVE aus so much! i don't read as much modern as i used to, but i'm a sucker for a good fantasy au, especially when there's lots of fun worldbuilding tidbits included. aus are my favorite to write too! i like trying to turn a world that already exists into another--it really sparks my creativity. 2 - i have so many favorite pieces of art that this might be difficult to do LOL but i'll try to queue some up with the tag #fav. maybe that'll cut through the amount of zelink week i'm about to reblog LOL 3 - i'm a lover of stories so there are SO many that i hold in my heart. i'm definitely one of those people where, when a story has touched me, it stays with me for a long time. it's hard to pinpoint just one, but i'll say the chronicles of narnia because that's the first to come to mind and probably the first story to ever really HIT. i read them all in the span of a week when i was younger and i think that was the first book series where i bawled my eyes out at the end. even that young, the themes of growing up and life and forgiveness and faith and having courage just really hit me, and i felt so connected to all of the characters. i know i didn't understand it all then as i'm able to now, but it still does something to me when i think about it. i don't know if that answers this question but yeah LOL 4 - it depends on the fic and what kind of mood i'm in! if i'm in the mood for something long, i tend to look for completed works or longshots that i can devour in one sitting. i'm a very impatient person when it comes to stories (i can't stand being left on a cliffhanger, i always need to know what happens next!), however, if a story sounds interesting enough, i'll follow along as it updates!
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srah-the-violist · 1 year
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I laughed so hard, thank you for this. 🤣
I'm asking for number 5. 😎
You're welcome, fam haha 😂😂😂 Anyways, here's wip #5. It was pretty much just me practicing sketching WW Link in my style in my sketchbook, and then I got an iPad and decided to load it into Procreate to practice digitally with something I'd already done 😁 I love Wind's sassy expressions, haha 😆
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spacebeyonce · 1 year
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💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language
it's a three way tie for me between characters, technical stuff and worldbuilding! I try my best to add onto worlds that aren't given a whole lot to work with (looking at you kingdom hearts) and I feel....ridiculously proud when people say my characterization is close to the canon material.
the technical stuff is self-explanatory honestly like....I have read too many fics with poor grammar, poor punctuation, poor formatting....and like I try to give some grace nowadays but damn if fics like that don't give me a headache sometimes. so I always try and make sure my fics look as best as they can so they aren't a pain in the ass to read.
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uncleskyrule · 1 year
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2 and 6 for the ado game!
hi, @zeldaelmoo!
2) How many works did you publish this year?
32! One is Atla fanart and the rest are fics, mostly Loz and Star Wars. I actually just posted a Mario x Peach fic today too, haha.
6) Favorite title you used
every home's a kingdom! i love this title so much. it gives me warm feelings when i read it and i'm proud of how it captures the double meaning of the fic itself, with Zelink being the main characters of their kids' fave story about the knight and the princess, and then with them being the leaders of their own home in Hateno
thanks for the ask!!
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drsteggy · 2 years
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Uh... Tail. 😄
I have a story about cats so…
Louise flicked her long fluffy tail and strode to the end of the bar, stretching out as she did.
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aurathian · 6 months
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Yes, I'm asking about 'love me (and leave me to die)', what about it? 😆
How did you come up with the idea? What's your favorite part of the story (mine is Impa lying to Zelda).
thank you zelmo this fic is like a beast lying dormant within me waiting to be unleashed i need to talk about it so bad 24/7 (read it here)
TOTK SPOILERS AHEAD BEWARE <;/3
i don't remember entirely how i came up with the idea, but i was inspired by the carvings the player finds underneath the castle in totk, ESPECIALLY when you can go back and unveil the rest of the carvings covered by rock. i found the lore it revealed so intriguing, and it inspired my favorite part of the story, the scene where link and zelda secretly meet in the middle of the night underneath the castle. (this is the excerpt below the cut!), which in turn inspired the whole fic.
this is usually how most of my fics come about--i get inspired by something and have a scene in my head that i base the story around, which is what happened here. i played around with ways i could fit it into the various zelink week prompts and had to do some tweaking to make it work, but i am so so proud of this fic and everything that it is. like... my planning doc has SO MUCH worldbuilding in it that i just couldnt ultimately fit into the final fic i put so much thought into it.
i also got the idea from botw with zelda's struggle to awaken her powers. she knows what she has to do but she can't do it. the zelda in this story has a similar but not identical dilemma--she (thinks she) knows what she has to do and is willing to do it but when she finds out the truth, she doesn't know if she can. but in the end she accepts it and angst occurs lol.
i already mentioned my fav part of the story but to elaborate. ow they hurt me so much i love angst and tragedy and oh my god they are sooooo in love and sad. this is such a quiet and tender and lonely scene and i love it. here it is (very long excerpt):
“You are much more hopeful than me,” she teases with a grin. “I don’t dare fantasize.” And even though she has convinced herself there is no point in imagining a future, she pictures it in her mind. The tension in her muscles starts to dissipate and she worries she’ll melt. A sparkling blue lake brimming with fish, surrounded by dense forests, in the middle of nowhere, where nobody can reach them…
“You should try it sometime. It’s good for you,” Link suggests, and although his expression is teasing, his words are sincere. So, Zelda tries. 
“On warm days, we can swim in the lake,” she musters, entertaining the idea. “Then we can go home and enjoy some tea afterwards, before turning in for the night.” Imagining such a peaceful scene feels like a sin, but when his palm comes to rest on her face, cupping her cheek, all notions of divinity leave her mind. With a sigh, she relaxes into his hand.
“We can get married,” Link dares to say. “Just us, by that lake, with only the birds and the water as our witnesses.”
Her breath catches in her throat and she wants to say yes right then and there, but her holy senses return for just a moment and she blurts, “And the Goddess Hylia.”
“No.” The Hero, chosen by her, shakes his head. “By that lake, there are no goddesses or calamities. There is only us.”
Then surely this lake is fictional, Zelda thinks. For so long she has tied herself to the Goddess and her wishes that to even think of a world without her is blasphemous. But something about the idea is charming… alluring, even, something she desires deep within her. A land, green and lush with sparkling blue waters, untouched by divinity or holy, otherworldly ambitions, a land where the Hero and the Princess are no longer tied to destiny or fate or duty. A land where they are simply Link and Zelda, where they are in love and they hope.
“I would like that,” is all she whispers.
“We have children.” Link strokes her cheek with his thumb. “Two of them, and a pet. A cat, maybe. And we live on that lake and teach them what normal kids are taught and we play with them, raise cows and ponies.”
“They are carefree.”
“Yes, and we live there for the rest of our days.”
Tears are pricking her eyes and she angles her head so he can’t see through the fickle light. “And those kids grow up, have children, and they spend their days there until we become part of the Long Ago, too.”
“And they are not Princess or Hero. Simply our sons and daughters.”
A silence looms, floating in the dusty air between them, and Zelda cannot bring her teary eyes to meet his once again. Because she knows–she knows it's wishful thinking, and that such a thing will never come to pass. For this eternity and the next and the next and the next, there will always be a Hero and a Princess, doomed and destined to save the world. The Princess and the Hero, by blood and soul, bound by fate, were doomed to a life of calamities. In the Now, in the Long Ago, and in the Far Away Future, there would never be a lake void of calamities and goddesses.
“Not in this life, Link.”
“No.” He looks down. “Not in this life.”
“And not in the next, either, or the one after,” she proceeds. Her posture straightens in an effort to hide the shaking she feels in her hands and the quivering in her lips as tears threaten to fall. “Perhaps it is not meant to be.”
She curses herself as his thumb swipes away an escaped tear and he moves to pull her in close, his other hand finding her back and nudging her into him. He is warm and strong, arms firmly wrapped around her, head placed atop hers. He knows it cannot be, and still he fantasizes, bringing her into his head and allowing her to live peacefully if only for a few moments, even in the shadow of her fate.
Her regrets are amplified when she is in his arms, the guilt washing over like a strong wave. In his arms, she is reminded of the talks from her mother and Impa that if she were to be romantic with him, as so many Heroes and Princesses had been before, it would spell the world’s doom. And yet she can’t help it. From such a young age they have relied on each other, understood one another in a way no one else could. It’s only natural, Zelda knows, that sharing a fate so deeply intertwined through thousands and thousands of years would result in, perhaps, a small kiss that became much more over the years; a kiss that turned the Princess and the Hero from an obligatory pair to a couple utterly devoted to each other.
As duty-bound and destiny-aware as the Princess of Hyrule is, she cannot deny her heart.
Link murmurs something in her ear and it makes her heart flutter and sink into her chest all at the same time, so full of love but also brimming with despair.
“My Zelda,” he sighs.
Not in this life, she thinks.
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cl9ire · 2 years
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Tell me about 'post-oot MAYBE'?
i wrote a small post-oot thing for zelink week BUT i’ve always wanted to write something bigger for post-oot. kinda like my post-botw fic i want it to be super long and jsut everything i’d wanna see after oot leading to the hero’s shade stuff and whatnot :) thanks for the ask!!!
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zeldaelmo · 10 months
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For @zelinkcommunity ‘s zelink week 2023 - forbidden
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Summary: Link joins Zelda’s class so that her students can learn first hand about the knights of Hyrule. Turns out they aren’t as prepared for the children’s questions as they thought...
Set between BotW and Totk. 
No warnings apply, rating: General. Words: 3031. Big thanks @mistresslrigtar for editing this for me! Check out her zelink week pieces!
Rumors have wings
"Oh, but just look at him! He even has a red feather thing on his helmet!" Aster, one of the four children shifting on tiny benches in front of Hateno’s school, whispered behind her hand.
"That's a plume, Miss Zelda explained it last week, you doof—", another child, Karin, started to answer, but was interrupted by their teacher.
"Children! Please calm down," Zelda exclaimed, raising her hands to get her students' attention. The small smile the children managed to elicit from her whenever she saw them adorned her face. While the morning sun warmed her back, she observed them fondly and waited until they were ready to start the lesson. "As you've already noticed, we have a special guest today. Link is kind to attend our lesson so that you can learn firsthand about the knights of the kingdom that ruled over Hyrule 100 years ago."
"A new mission for our spy team, I'm sure, Sefaro!" Azu whispered to his bench neighbor. "My A-zoom senses are tingling!"
"Miss Zelda?" Aster raised her hand so high in the air that her behind nearly left the stool. 
"Yes?"
"Is Link the reason that the lesson is outside today? You said weapons aren't allowed in school, and he has this"—she gestured toward the spear in Link's hand—"thing."
"You can't call everything 'thing'," Karin hissed out the corner of her mouth. "Miss Zelda will surely tell us the correct name if we wait."
Link cleared his throat and moved his weapon from his back to rest the tip on the ground in a motion done so often that it had become subconscious. 
"This is a Royal Halberd,” he explained. “Only the most trusted knights who guarded Hyrule Castle's throne room were equipped with it. Its ornate design was applied by a craftsman in service to the royal family." 
A lot of 'ohs' and 'ahs' came from the children's mouths, and Zelda giggled into her hand. She could not deny that Link was a sight to behold in his full armor, and these kids had never seen a knight before. It was a shame that Link wouldn’t wear it more often. He only bothered with the full armor when he accompanied Hoz’s Monster-Control-Crew and they had their eyes set on a particularly nasty bunch of enemies. He claimed it was for their morale and not for his protection, but she knew he had become gradually more responsible about his well-being with every year that had passed after he defeated Ganon.
"How do you know that about the knights?" Sefaro asked, his eyebrows drawn together in a skeptical frown. He was a spy; he wouldn't easily fall for this story. "I've seen weapons like this hanging from a Hinox's neck. So how would you know they were given to the knights who guarded the throne room?"
Link made eye contact with Zelda and winked. As always, it made her stomach flutter. Then, he turned back to the kids and leaned conspiratorially closer, all of his armor clanging together. "I was one of them. And Zelda's father, King Rhoam, gave it to me."
"No way!" Aster cried. "You're the weird guy who lives with Miss Zelda in the house behind the bridge! No way you're a knight! You can't even remember the Bolson dance! I bet you just bought the armor in the Ventest Clothing Boutique!"
At these terrible (but not untrue) accusations, all four children jumped from their places and started to inspect Link up close. They tugged at the gauntlets and pricked at the chainmail, all while Link hid his face in the little stand-up collar so that only his eyes twinkled under the helmet, and nobody but Zelda saw him chuckle. 
After they had assured themselves that at least the armor was authentic, they strolled back to their seats. 
“Alright, kids. Now let’s review what you already know about knights. Who wants to start?” Zelda asked and looked expectantly from one to the other until Azu raised his hand.
"They were responsible for guarding the royal family and the kingdom. I heard there was a horrible test to pass if you wanted to become one. Something about a monster fight that only half of the candidates survived." He paused. "That's why I'm a spy and not a knight."
"It was a Stalnox," Link explained quietly. "And the older knights jumped in to beat it back if it was obvious a candidate wasn't ready. But, of course, it was still dangerous. One of my fellow knights got his nose broken and lost his sense of smell."
Azu snapped his mouth shut, and Sefaro shifted uncomfortably on his bench. The story was a little too detailed to be fake. Right? Aster, now also hooked, raised her hand, and at Zelda's nod, she asked, "So just everyone who could beat that monster could become a knight?”
“Goddess, no!” Zelda laughed. “Only the best soldiers could become a knight. Not only combat skills were important, but character, too. Only those of a pure heart and extraordinary courage were offered the opportunity to reach knighthood."
Karin scrutinized Link. "You don't look very courageous."
Link choked on a laugh when Zelda said, "You'd be surprised," and he added, "Some prefer the term reckless instead of courage." 
Zelda giggled and shot him a playful, warning look. 
Karin's eyes went from one to the other. She crossed her arms and said, "Well, I heard that knights and princesses weren't allowed to court. So since you are courting Miss Zelda, this is clearly a fabrication to pull our legs. You can’t be a knight."
"What—what if—" Azu shot forward so quickly that he nearly fell from his bench. "What if it's a secret relationship? Se-sefaro! We've got a new case!"
"Some spy you are," Sefaro murmured, rolling his eyes in mock disinterest. "The rumor that Miss Zelda is courting him has been around forever. There's no secret about this. At all."
Link pointedly stared at the tree behind the children in the courtyard. If he took one glance at the grinning Zelda, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from breaking into a fit of laughter that would last several moments. After being the center of the rumor mill a hundred years prior, the gossipers here in Hateno were so refreshingly harmless that they never felt the need to clarify any shift in their relationship with anyone. Zelda preferred it that way and insisted her private life was hers and didn't concern anyone. Link couldn’t care less about what they said about them, but the whole topic had become a bit of a tender subject ever since Impa had the guts to ask Zelda about an heir to make sure the bloodline of the Goddess wouldn’t run dry. 
Zelda clapped her hands. "Back to the topic, please! Any more questions for Link or me?"
Karin raised her hand again. "So, is it true that a knight wasn't allowed to be with a princess or prince?"
Zelda sighed. "This really interests you, hm? Alright. It's a bit more complicated than that. Link was not only a guard who watched over the castle, but he also became my appointed knight. That means he accompanied me everywhere and—"
"Sometimes she ran away from me, so not everywhere, but pretty much everywhere," Link whispered, the back of his hand directed toward Zelda as if only the children were supposed to hear him.
"Hey!" Zelda cried, boxing his armor (regretting it instantly), and laughing.
"It's true." Link winked at the kids.
"Well, who constantly stared at me judgingly without uttering a word?"
"That was my job!"
"I think they're married," Azu whispered toward Sefaro, who gravely nodded. Maybe he had been wrong, and there was, indeed a spy mission in disguise at hand here.
"And?" Karin pressed on.
"Uh, and? Ah, right, the rules. Yes, my father was very strict about us not being allowed to court. Link had to write reports and all that. I think they feared I would distract him from keeping me safe somehow."
"As if I would let anything happen to you," Link murmured, but nobody had heard him this time.
"Forbidden relationship, write that down," Azu hissed from the corner of his mouth. Sefaro chewed on his pencil, thinking, before he nodded firmly and jotted a few words down—definitely a new mission.
“I don’t know.” Karin crossed her arms. “Both can’t be true because if you were a knight, you wouldn’t be courting Miss Zelda.”
Slowly but surely Link was becoming overwhelmed by the situation, and tipped his head toward Zelda. She would know what to do; she always did. He didn’t mind the children knowing about their relationship status and hadn’t the point of coming here in full armor been so they learned about knighthood? That effort would be in vain if they didn't believe that his knowledge was firsthand. But then again, if the children knew… not soon after, the whole village would know, and then the whole Kingdom and the pressure was back on their shoulders.
Zelda paused and tapped her index finger on her chin — a gesture she had picked up from Purah during the countless hours they spent in the lab. The children regarded him with various stages of skepticism; Karin pouted with her arms still crossed, Azu frowned and licked his lips, and Aster outright made a dismissive hand gesture and rolled her eyes. Only Sefaro still scribbled in his notebook, but bullet points like ‘patrol’ and ‘scouting spot’ didn’t hint at his eagerness to follow the lesson's topic. 
"Okay…" Zelda started. "We need to go a little farther back than I anticipated, but it's alright."
She put a hand on Link's pauldron. "You're correct and, at the same time, not. Link made several oaths and promised to follow the rules my father, King Rhoam, set. But you all know that the kingdom no longer exists, so the rules hold no value anymore."
A click of fingers, urgent.
"Yes, Azu?"
"Is that like the thing when you don't have to do what your parents say when you're all grown up?"
"I—" Zelda swallowed, and Link shot her a concerned gaze. These children didn't know that talking to their parents and not to a cold stone was a luxury. "Yes, a little bit."
"Oh."
Zelda glanced back at Link, sighing in resignation. Kids immediately knew if they weren't taken seriously, so there was no way around it.
"So… yes, Link and I are a couple. But…" She stepped closer and crouched at the benches, waving them to join her. The children gathered around her, eyes wide, knowing instinctively that they were about to hear something important.
"You know that I'm not only a teacher, but the princess of Hyrule, too, right?"
The children nodded eagerly, and Aster opened her mouth but got silenced by Karin's elbow in her side.
"As a princess, I have a lot of responsibilities, and a lot is expected of me... if everyone knew that Link and I are together, people would expect even more of us. And Link has given so much already for Hyrule…” She chuckled. “I want to give him the opportunity of being the weird guy I share the house with a little longer.”
“Heh!” Link laughed, crossed his arms over the handle of his halberd in mock offense, and tipped his chin up.
The children chuckled but turned back to Zelda the moment she spoke again. “Don’t worry about him; he’ll come around again,” she said. “What I wanted to ask you is… You’re a team of spies, right?”
“Not all of us,” muttered Sefaro, and Zelda winked at him. “Well, now you all are. My team of royal spies, how does that sound?”
“R-royal spies!?!” Azu nearly fell from his bench again. “Sefaro, this is the coolest day ever! We’re so having a new mission!”
"All of us?" Sefaro mumbled with a side glance at the girls.
"Yes, all of you. And the rest of the village kids, too," Zelda added, knowing very well how the kids who were too small for the lessons lurked around the school and pretended to be spies, too. 
"We will be the best spies around, Miss Zelda, I promise!" Karin said with sparkling eyes before she leaned over to Aster, whispering, "What exactly is the job of a spy?"
"Why, spying, of course!" Aster answered. What a stupid question!
Zelda, satisfied with the children's reaction, took another look around. “Ok, so your most important task is…” she beckoned them even closer and whispered, “...that nobody finds out that Link and I are married, alright? This order is in effect as long as I don’t give another, contrary order, understood by everyone?”
“Yes, Miss Zelda, understood,” Sefaro hissed. “Your team of royal spies is at your service! As the head of the spy team, I assure you we will do everything in our power to ensure the success of this mission.”
“Who said you are the boss, stupid Sefaro?” Aster was not happy about this development and tried to kick Sefaro’s shin. 
Link stared at the tree behind them so intently that he feared the leaves would turn red and fall to the ground. Countless years he had trained to school his face into a stoic mask, and had endured several situations that had put him to the test, but these kids were giving him trouble not to burst out laughing.
"Ok, I'll take that as your word that I can count on you all." Zelda smiled at their eager nods. Perfect. She had struck a chord in them. Maybe they could keep up the fog surrounding their relationship like the lost woods a little longer. They both weren't against the idea of their own children, far from it, but they had lost so many years to prepare for the return of Calamity Ganon that they both wanted to live a little first. There was so much to see in the world; just the other week, they had discovered a whole new species in Faron! They would continue to help rebuild where they could, and one day, they would make their relationship official. And yes, then they would talk about children, potential consequences for the monarchy, and whatnot but not a moment sooner. 
Well, that was if the village children managed to keep their little secret…
“Link actually has another set of armor we want to show you,” Zelda said. “It’s the set of a royal guard. I’ll help him change, and you can take a break here in the school yard so that you’re well-rested when we’re back.”
The children cheered and ran off — who didn’t love an unscheduled break?
Inside, Zelda fumbled with the strap of the helmet under Link’s chin while he chased her cheek to give her a kiss. “Hey!” She laughed. “Stop messing with me, or I’ll never get you out of this thing. You’re lucky I don’t mind doing a squire’s job!”
“Oh, messing with you, is it now? I remember when we got married, you were much more—” Link stopped, frowning at the voices that came through the window.
“...tell everyone who says they’re courting that they’re plutonic friends!”
“You mean platinous.”
“Yeah, pla-pla— what you said! Just friends.” They could practically hear the quotation marks that Aster made with her fingers. The children must have gathered directly under the window sill. One of the kids started to toss a ball against the wall, the tap-tap-tap allowing Zelda an undiscovered giggle about their little confusion.
“But that’s boring. Nobody is going to believe that,” Sefaro’s voice now rang through the open window. “We’re going to tell everyone she kicked him out of his house, and they’re loose acquaintances at best.”
“What?” Karin’s voice was high-pitched — she must have even gotten on her tiptoes to be more intimidating. “Miss Zelda would never! She’s the nicest person in Hyrule! She saved his life 100 years ago; she would never kick him out of his house!”
“But that’s the point,” Azu argued. “We want to distract from the rumor of them being together. But maybe you’re right, and it’s too crazy. What about he's just her swordsman running around Hyrule and doing errands for her? You know, because she's his superior or whatever it was called 100 years ago.”
On the other side of the window, Zelda helped Link pull the royal guard uniform over his head so he didn't need to bother with the buttons. "Hmm… taking advantage of your duty to me," she whispered into his ear when his face was free again and chuckled. "That's a new one." 
Link snorted and pulled her closer, softly biting her earlobe. Raising his mouth a few inches higher, he whispered, "You dramatically overestimate the motivational factor of duty, my love. I wouldn't have made it off the Great Plateau without your sweet voice beckoning me like a siren."
Zelda blushed at the implications of that, but any risque answer was cut off by the ruckus the kids made outside. She quickly placed the spiffy cap on his head and winked at him.
The children surpassed each other with propositions now.
"There has been an evil Oracle!"
"An attack of cuckoos!"
“She got captured by the bad Sheikah, the… Yoga!”
“Stop! How should that help to distract? You’re all so mean, I don’t know if I want to play spy anymore,” Karin pouted.
“Hm, ok, nothing evil anymore. What about if someone spots Link walking around the house in his undies again, we'll tell everyone that’s a new order of Princess Zelda to… to… keep the spirits up!”
Everyone giggled at that idea, and their laughter coaxed Link to grin. 
“Oh, hush!” Zelda cried quietly, not without suppressing a smile herself, and adjusted the red cord of his armor. “This was a bad idea. They’re going to spread so much nonsense about us!”
“Oh, no, this was one of the best ideas you ever had,” Link whispered back and kissed her, well hidden from the eyes of the village, from Impa, and the rest of Hyrule, thanks to the newly-established royal spy team taking their duty very seriously.
Edit: Link to Ao3
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bahbahhh · 1 year
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All three parts of Dismissed are finally out! I was able to score an early reading of this fic so I could create some artwork for it and, well, I liked it so much, I made three!
This is a AoC holiday fic with a few twists, great use of comedy, and the classic ZeldaElmo finish. A stand out line to me:
How do you fix something if you don’t know what’s broken?
Check out Dismissed, and the rest of @zeldaelmo ‘s 2022 Zelink-filled Advent Calendar which you can read on her tumblr or Ao3.
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adrift-in-thyme · 1 year
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Congratulations on the milestone! 👏🏻
What about— "why didn't you tell me the nightmares are back? you know I never minded helping you with them." for skyward sword zelink?
Thanks so much!! <3 And thanks for sending this great prompt!
Nightmare | Skyward Sword Zelink | T
“Zelda!”
His shout splits the air as Link catapults upright in bed, arms outstretched to catch someone who has already slipped through his fingers. 
Or really, someone who isn’t even falling.
His breath hitches and he tips forward to rest his head on his knees. When he squeezes his eyes shut the gaping maw of darkness is there once more, opening its jaws to devour her. 
A dream, he tells himself even as tears roll hot and fast down his cheeks. Zelda’s alive, she’s safe. And Demise–Demise is dead. He can’t hurt her anymore.
But the curse…
Desperately, he grasps at the soft fabric of his sleep trousers, making fists of the material. 
Don’t worry about that now. It’s just a dream. It’s just–
“Link?” 
He looks up and she’s standing in the doorway, clutching a shawl about her shoulders. She looks so worried, so tired, and his heart aches because of it. 
“I’m okay, Zeldie,” he manages, sounding anything but. “You–you can go back to bed.”
She’s beside him in an instant, easing down beside him and reaching out to rub his back.
“You think I’m just gonna leave you like this? Come on, Sleepyhead, you know me better than that.”
Link inhales shakily. More tears cascade down to plunk onto the sheets, and he stares at the little wet spots, shadowed in the dim light. 
Zelda scoots closer so their bodies are pressed together, and drapes one-half of her shawl over his shoulders. He can’t resist leaning in and resting his head against hers. 
“I heard you shout,” she murmurs. “The dreams are back, aren’t they?”
Slowly, he nods. 
“For how long?”
“A month or two.”
At that, Zelda pulls back. She reaches up and grasps his chin, turning his face toward her. 
“Why didn’t you tell me? You know I never minded helping you through them!”
He swallows, hard. A lump is still wedged painfully in his throat and looking into her eyes, so filled with love and concern, only makes it worse.
“I…I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Link!” she chides, but he shakes his head.
“You’ve been through so much, Zelda. I didn’t want to put you through more.”
Her gaze softens, and she rubs her thumb along his cheek. “You’re not putting me through anything. Whatever happens, we go through it together. That’s how it’s always been and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
She leans forward and presses a gentle kiss to his lips. “So, please, Sleepyhead, let me help you.”
That’s all it takes to bring his resolve crashing to the ground. Something between a hiccup and a sob tears its way out of him, and Link collapses into her waiting arms. 
“I’m s-sorry,” he manages between shuddering breaths. “I–I’m sorry I let you fall.”
Gentle hands guide his head to rest against her chest. He can hear the beat of her heart, feel the rise and fall of her chest. 
“You didn’t, Link,” she murmurs. “You saved me. I’m here with you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
And though he knows she can’t guarantee a promise like that, he clings to her words like a lifeline.
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