They asked for Tears of the Kingdom Link being corrupted by Gloom.
I have never gotten around to playing the game, but I knew more or less what they meant and what to expect while I watched my brother play the game from the other room.
It's 4500 words long (around 11 pages). Please enjoy.
Masterlist
Content under the cut!
Some people say that the worst days of their lives were paralyzingâsoul-crushing. Crippling, even.
Yours was nothing short of heinous.Â
You and Link met in what could only be called âless than idealâ means. As a painter, you had been traveling the lands of Hyrule, cataloging the sights you had seen with nothing but a canvas and a dream. Being armed for self-defense was a must-have, but that didnât mean you were attempting to get into trouble day in and day out.
You had stumbled onto a nest of lizalfoes and were forced to run for your life. Nest being quite literal. You hadnât known that was where the lizalfoes laid their eggs! There was no obvious sign to warn you to avoid them, even if you tried.
Link had appeared, also quite literally, out of the woodwork. Like a madman, he cut them down and gave you a wide enough berth to get far enough away to catch your breath. It was incredible to witness. It was also over quickly, much to your surprise.
Admittedly, you hadnât recognized him as the hero at first.
The hero had been missing for years. You were told he was about âyeâ high, with blond hair and blue eyes, and covered in scars. Proficient in swordsmanship was a large one- something about carrying a Master Sword? You didnât know the details.
Not exactly a lot to work with, if someone were to ask you.
Needless to say, you two got along like a house on fire.
While he was searching for the missing princess, you tagged along on his journey, helping him through areas you had already gone through and giving him the information you learned in your own travels for the sake of convenience. It wasnât until he had met up with his old friends that it had occurred to you that he was, in fact, Link the Champion of Hyrule.
You had felt quite silly for not catching on faster and had apologized profusely.
Link⌠didnât seem to care. His mission came first, but better that than actively insulting the man to his face for not knowing better.
When everything was said and done, and Zelda had returned⌠You were a bit at a loss. You had seen and done so much together; was that truly where your friendship ended?
Link didnât think so and all but dragged you along as he continued moving from place to place, helping everyone he could while he had the chance.
You think he felt bad for leaving the people for so long. Again.
But now a familiar, dreaded battle loomed before you. Bokoblins, moblins, and taluses trudged ever forward now that the both of you had put yourselves front and center of their path.
âOk, same olâ, same ol?â You had asked naively.
It had been such an innocent question.
Link nodded, adjusting his grip on the sword in his hand. The Master Sword glowed bright blue, facing off an entire horde of monsters and curses alike. It was a group that had been steadily coming closer to a nearby village. Concerned and frightened, the villagers had naturally asked the hero to lend his help in either redirecting the troop or taking care of the problem by any means necessary.
Such means included complete and total annihilation.
Link was completely on board with this.
âStay close.â He said under his breath, his free hand hovering just shy of the Purah Pad should the need arise. Monster supplies had been low, and Link was itching to replenish them. âThis might get ugly.â
âIâd argue they already are.â You quipped. Link gave you an adoring, if exasperated, look. You laughed shyly and cleared your throat. âSorry, just trying to lighten the mood.â
A small smile, the last one for a while, although you had no way of knowing that.
He ran forward, slashing as he went. He carried himself confidently, taking on the brunt of the bokoblins and moblins singlehandedly. You followed on his heels, taking out anything that had made it past him, covering his back, culling the numbers as you both tore through their forces.
Despite their combined skills, there were too many to keep track of purely on your own. Too many to properly keep at bay and knock back with just the two of you.
You barely register the pain when the cuts happen, but you can categorize each injury against your skin on the fly. A slash of guts on your cheek, a nick to your upper arm, a bite to your calf, blunt force against your ribs- youâd certainly have to get that checked because, while not broken, youâre sure that a bone had fractured, regardless- and multiple bruises over your shoulders and legs.
One bokoblin grew cheeky and took a heavy swipe at your feet, knocking you directly onto your back. The wind was knocked out of you, stunning you in place. Arms raised, the bokoblin approached, axe in hand, to deal the final blow.
Only to be met with an arrow pierced between its eyes. It exploded on impact, and the creature burst into familiar purple smoke, leaving nothing but some fangs and its weapons behind.
Link stood up above you, appearing nothing short of feral.
His hair was flying over his face, held back by the mask. His teeth were bared, eyes wide and wild with various monster murder evidence splattered over his body, staining the armor beneath.
Like you, he also had many injuries that would need attending to later. There was an arrow lodged in his shoulder, blood trickling down his temple, an alarming amount of shredded pants on one leg, and five large gashes on his sword arm that should have, by all means, taken off his hand.
Your lungs screamed for air. You gasped and writhed on the hard ground, gasping like a fish out of water. You tried to roll over, unable to get your limbs to cooperate, not at the rate your body was responding to. Naturally, it prioritized the need to fill your lungs once more.
Link lunged forward, continuing to slice at the beasts in front of you. You wanted to speak, to cry out, to help, but everything refused. You watched as he hacked at the creatures who relentlessly crawled forward. One by one, they fell to his blade. The ferocity with which he fought back was nothing short of unrestrained, untamed fury.
To your unrestrained horror, gloom coagulated and seeped from the bloodied ground beneath his feet. It swirled and twisted, building upon itself until a massive, sickly hand was formed.
âLINK!â You screamed before you could stop yourself, your entire body nearly seizing in protest. The shriek of pure fear and terror wasnât a completely conscious decision. The shout hadnât registered until after the fact, when Link looked over in your direction.
You had distracted him.
The gloom hand swiped at him, snatching him up and lifting him clear off the ground.
His own screams rang in your ears as the dark matter of the gloom began to burn and seep into his skin.
A new surge of adrenaline was a pure hit to your system, giving you power beyond your own force to move out of the way, rolling to the side. Your knees were bruised and bleeding, rocks digging into the torn flesh. Your feet failed to get under you.Â
The hand dropped Link, his body slumping into the stained grass below like a puppet with the string cut, and buried itself back under the ground, as if the damage had been done.
It had.
Linkâs blond hair had been dyed a sickening gray, and one of his eyes was marred by a familiar yellow catâs-eye. His clothes had turned black with the burns of the gloom. Slowly, his gaze turned to you. The monsters roared and resettled their defensive stances against you.
Link pushed himself up robotically, moving one limb after another disjointedly until he was back on his feet. His eyes never strayed from yours. The yellow eye was nothing short of malicious, murderous intent, laced throughout every fiber of the unnatural shade. The blue eye, which once held nothing but devotion and loving intention, was doused in fear.
A warning. A silent cry for help. Run, he tried to tell you, knowing what the evil corrupting his veins was about to do next and dreading it with every fiber of his being.
Link unsheathed his sword, lifting it sky high as it charged.
The Mastersword glowed brighter, but Link, with a twisted cry of anguish, dropped it before he could strike. Smoke curled off his fingerless glove; the glowing seeping sting on his palm from the Mastersword was a vibrant blue. Link looked down, seemingly confused by the turn of events. His own sword had never rebelled against him before.Â
You leaped forward, grasping your fingers around the hilt of the Blade of Evilâs Bane.
Tears, whether from the pain or the sight of your beloved hero in front of you, turning into a monster, rolled down your cheeks. Your grip on the blade was tedious at best, and non-existent at worst. It visibly trembled, and every lingering monster locked onto the fact.
Link took a step toward you.
You flailed back, your injuries nearly sending you straight onto your back.
The sword dropped like a dead weight. You pushed and crawled away, unable to take your eyes off of him. There was no love, no remorse, no recognition in either of his eyes.
It broke your heart.
And there was only one thing left to do.
Grabbing the sword in a much better grip, you ran.
A strategic retreat, you told yourself. You were injured. Link was compromised. Link had lost the Mastersword. Link had tried to attack you. Link was hurt. Link was hurt. Link was hurt.
And you were running away.
âNo⌠No. No. No. NononononoâŚâ You repeated to yourself as you tried to create distance between you and the one you loved. The monsters gave chase and were actively approaching from behind. They were gaining ground, and the thundering footsteps were throwing off your own unstable balance.
You took out the travelerâs amulet and pressed it, stepping into the blue glyph and appearing in front of your house. Quickly, you turn off the glyph and slump against the front of the house. Your bones and flesh were aching with the sort of soul-sucking, heart-stomping torment as you fought back the urge to scream.
You had seen nothing like it. You werenât aware it was even possible.
The gloom? The corruption? The fiercer than typical monsters?
Link⌠Your Link. You had promised to always help him, but when he needed it most, what did you do? What did you do?
You abandoned him.
You left him.
â...oh my godâŚâ You whispered to the wind, horror interwoven with every breath you took.
This couldnât have been happening.
Shaking, you turned the knob and dropped into the safety of your house. The hollow thunk on the wooden floorboards echoed throughout the empty house.Â
It shouldnât have been empty.
It was never this⌠quiet.
Link, while never one for many words, had always filled the space with noise. Either he was cooking, organizing his weapon collection, or even humming to himself as he worked on whatever recent task he had been given, there was always background noise. You dragged your body into the house and dropped your head to the floor with an equally heavy thunk.
A mistake.
Your stomach began to roll, and you began to cough and heave as your insides twisted into unfathomable knots from the inside out. You instinctively pushed yourself up, holding just enough energy to wipe your hair from your face before you vomited onto the floor below you. The stink was enough to recoil even the bravest of soldiers. Blood, gloom, and sickness permeated through the air until your stomach and everything below was thoroughly emptied. Afterward, you continued to cough and gasp, fighting for breath and air, hacking up your lungs for good measure.
At the end of it all, you rolled yourself to the other side, fighting to keep the lingering acid from your stomach down where it belonged, attempting to catch your breath.
Slowly, you began to feel numb. All your emotions were locking down into one solid train of thoughts, where you would focus on one thing, and one thing only.
Healing.
You fumbled one hand into your traveling bag, searching blindly for the familiar glass bottle. You find it, uncock it, and down it without another thought. It does nothing to settle your nerves or your heart, but the aches and cuts that litter your body begin to dissipate, leaving you a puddle of flesh on the floor as all the tension within left in one fell swoop.
You take another moment to breathe.
The Mastersword pulses beside you with a dull, blue light.
The sun begins to set on the outside, bathing the room around you in warm orange light. The hues are inviting and gentle, an illusion of peace and tranquility after the nightmare of a day. You blink, and the shades change. Darker. Darker still. Â
At some point, you fall asleep.
Youâre unsure when. The Mastersword continues to pulse that gentle blue light beside you.
Pushing yourself up, you robotically begin your routine. Clean, wash, brush, lace up- you clean up the vomit without a second thought, all while avoiding looking at the sword youâve pointedly left on the floor. It wasnât your to hold, after all. You canât stand the sight of it. What it stands for, what it means, the person it belonged to- the sight of it sends sirens blaring through your psyche.
Itâs wrong. Wrong. Wrong. WRONG.
You screamed, throwing the plate you were cleaning out of the window. It shattered on impact, the plate itself shattering promptly after it landed on the rocks beside your house.
That wasnât your Link.
That couldnât have been your Link.
You had to go back, you decided. You had to fight. You had to find your Link. You had to make this right. They had to pay. You had to save him. You had to do⌠something.
Like a beacon, you dived toward the ulsing blue light. The sword was heavy in your hands. It didnât feel right either. A power and a duty that was never yours to carry. You hooked it around your shoulders, the weight heavy and unfamiliar.
The Mastersword ceased pulsing its blue light, as if agreeing with your decision. There was little option otherwise. Youâre not sure how it knew, but it knew. In the time youâve been traveling with Link, you have seen many wonders and miracles and things beyond mere mortal understanding. Something was pushing you to do this. It had to be you. There was no one else.
You had to save Link.
You left your house without looking back, a single-track mission on your mind.
You remembered where you were. You remembered how to get there. You remembered how to track. You remembered what Link taught you.
You didnât stop moving. Not for food, not for a break, not when the direct path brought you too close to other monsters. You barely paid any attention to it. Itâs what Link would have wanted you to do.
Heâs pushed himself harder than anyone would dare attempt to do for far greater causes.
It was about time someone did the same for him.
Finding the monsters again was relatively easier than you thought they would be.
They hadnât traveled far from where you had left them the day prior. They stayed huddled together, minding their own business, causing a ruckus between themselves like drunk frat boys on a Friday night. You readied your arrows, keeping yourself hidden on the hill above them. You didnât have the seemingly infinite supply that Link usually had, but you could make do with culling the hoard before you went to the real meat and potatoes of the job.
You were relentless. Arrow after arrow, they made their mark, hitting their targets with lethal precision. It was a shame these particular monsters were stronger than the rest; you would have done far more damage to the hoard with your meager supply.
Thwp, thwp, thwp- POOSH
Air rushed past you, landing none too gently on the grass behind you. It growled, low, wild, and tainted.
You jumped, rolling over to face whatever landed behind you, arrow poised to fire with reckless abandon.
Link, with his golden eye and his corrupted form. The Gloom had seeped further over his body, covering his face and his legs, dripping off of him and withering the grass below with every single drop. His clothes were stark black, unrecognizable from the brilliant blue. His silhouette had all but vanished in a gelatinous mass of Gloom. His hair was still in the ponytail behind his head, drooping and limp, matted with the oily slick of the corruption around him.
But his eye.
His remaining, unwavering blue eye stayed strong. It was the final remaining thing that you recognized.
Link didnât recognize you.
This was not your Link.
Enraged, you hoisted the sword over your shoulder, dropping your bow to the ground beside you, scattering the last of your arrows in the process.
Link screamed, a feral, duel-layered screech that you felt more than you heard.
The Mastersword beamed once more. No longer a soft, pulsing blue light, but rather a beacon of pure energy that only grew as the monster in front of you charged forward. You swung as hard as you could straight down.
Link jumped to the side, making a swipe toward your unguarded middle. You parried, spinning with him.
He lunged again. You dodged.
You swung the sword. He flipped out of the way.
You were not meant to wield the sword. This sword was not yours to use.
Strength slipped from your fingers like water from a stream. There was no way you could keep this up or feasibly fight this off without wearing yourself down to the bone.
You were going to lose before you even started.
The thought burned behind your eyes. In a desperate move, you hold the blade up high, mimicking an attack youâve seen Link do a thousand times before. Your blade glowed impossibly brighter. Despite the distance between you and your enemy, you strike down, bringing the sword to the ground as hard as you possibly could.
It worked.
A large arc of light swiped off the blade toward the malevolent creature. Contact was made. Stunned and likely injured, the beast fell to its knees, clutching itself as if in pain.
The sword continued to glow.
Powering through with sheer determination alone, you raised the sword once more, summoning its power with as much force of will as you could; you struck down once more. Another scream tore through the monster, sending it prone onto the floor.
This time, you charged.
Your arms felt like lead, and you realized you were just shy of dead on your feet. But this was your chance. Your only opening to strike true.
You werenât entirely sure what happened first.
Was it the scream of the beast? Or the jolt to your system? Was it the way the blade plunged into the ever-dripping mass of Gloom? Or the way your hand slipped from the hilt?Â
You fell beside the monster, the blade deep in its side.
The Mastersword gleamed vindictively.
Screaming.
He was screaming.
Gloom slothed off of him in chunks, falling to the grass and singeing it on contact.
Bit by bit, pale flesh was revealed from beneath. It was red, irritated, burned, but alive.
The Sword miraculously missed everything vital, too far to the side, but close enough to purify the Gloom surrounding him.
Link wouldnât stop screaming.
You were frozen in place, sapped of your energy, and too horrified to come closer.
You did this.
This was your fault.
Link slumped over on his side when it was over. The Gloom seeped traitorously into the soil as if it had never been there to begin with. The Mastersword was stuck, pierced between his layers of leather and cloth, held in place by Linkâs arm. You ran toward him, pulling the blade from him with very little fanfare.
You nicked him. That much was obvious when the body jolted and hissed, whimpering pathetically in pain.
You dropped the sacred blade without a second thought.
Blood began to seep through his once bright blue tunic, staining it beyond the sickening purple gloop the gloom had left behind. Link, with all the strength left in his body, pinned his arm to his side to staunch the wound. He hissed and tried to push himself back up with his good arm, keeping his head down, breathing heavily, and looking worse for wear.
You dropped to your knees beside him. Your hands reached out as if to touch, but you found yourself hesitating. Was he back? Was this your Link? Had the gloom truly left him? Was he going to attempt to attack you again? You had just injured him. Would he remember you? Would he allow you to help? Did you have the right after everything that had happened?
Link mumbled your name, fumbling over his feet as he pushed himself higher up. The sound that left you resembled a pained animal as you lurched forward to catch him. You grabbed him by the arm, slinging him over your shoulders and bracing him with your hip. You, without waiting for more time to pass, began to drag him home.
âYouâre alive.â You told him as you both gasped for breath beyond your exhaustion. âThatâs all that matters.â
Link grunts out your name again, the sound crawling through thick gravel in his throat to make it out past his lips.
âShh.â You tried again, tugging him alongside yourself as you hobbled in the direction you came from. âWe need to get home. We need to heal. You need⌠You need-...â
Your legs began to fail you.
Together, you both collapsed onto the grass, not having gotten far from the original battleground. You groaned, pushing yourself up to the best of your abilities. No dice. You were too weak, pushed beyond what you could physically bear. Link fared no better, hardly able to keep a grip on you as he toppled beside you.
â...Iâm sorry.â You said instead, having just enough energy left to roll over to face him.Â
It was quiet at the very least.
The monsters were dealt with, and you were far enough away that it would take more than a heartbeatâs minute for them to reach you if they tried hunting you down to finish it off.
But you doubted they would.
Linkâs hand found yours, lacing your fingers together in slow, lethargic movements. â...Youâre hurtâŚâ He grumbled, using his other hand, no matter how much he strained and hissed to access his Purah Plate. â...You needâŚâ
âStop.â You hissed. Your other hand stopped his, pulling him closer to you despite your injuries. â...I canâŚâ I can get it myself, you wanted to say. But your eyes suddenly grew heavy. The adrenaline crash was swift and ruthless, adding lead to your limbs no matter how stubbornly you tried to fight it.
Darkness cradled you within moments before you so much as warn Link that you were passing out. It was a gentle goodnight, soft, almost sweet in the way it dragged you under.
Something delicate and flirty swept over you. A cold breeze. A warm embrace. The heaviness in your limbs lifted like a blanket, and all your aches and pains were kissed away with a butterfly's touch.Â
When you opened your eyes, the moon had long since risen once more. Link was sitting up beside you, a small fire at your feet, something warm and hearty cooking over it.
Completely healed.
You jolted to your feet, swaying from the sudden rush of blood from your head to your feet.
Link jumped with you, steadying you with his hands on your shoulders. âEasy, easy.â He said gently. âYouâre ok. Weâre ok. Everythingâs ok.â
âYou were hurt!â You blurt, quickly mirroring his position. With your hand on his shoulders as well, you looked him over, never mind your lack of balance. He looked tired, but otherwise unharmed, as if nothing had happened. Your eyes dropped to the spot where you knew you had cut him earlier with the Mastersword.
His tunic was sliced, but the blood was gone, along with any other hint of Malice or Gloom that had otherwise been staining him before.
You stared long and hard, trying to come to grips with what you were seeing versus what you knew. Link gave a gentle smile, giving you time to process everything. It didnât make any sense to your somewhat still sleep-addled mind. You blinked in confusion, taking a single step back as if seeing him as a bigger picture would answer more of your half-baked questions. â...What?â
Sheepishly, Link held up an empty glass bottle before pointing to a few others around the fire. Your spit lodged in your throat.
âYour fairies?â You whispered in further surprise.
â...And healing potions.â Link admitted with a shrug, and he unceremoniously dropped the glass bottle onto the grass. âWe took⌠a lot of hits, didnât we?â
You stared at the collection once more, the pieces moving slowly and sluggishly in your mind. You rubbed your eyes, tapping your cheeks to wake yourself up faster. âYeah. Yeah, we did. I guess. I⌠I didnât realize-â
âIâm cooking.â Link said simply, guiding you to sit down beside the fire. His movements were also slow. A bit robotic if you looked close enough. He was still sore, you realized. He must have used more of his healing items on you. âJust wait, ok?â
You bit back the sudden retort on your tongue, wanting instinctively to scold him for pushing himself, for taking care of you first, for not healing fully when he was the one who took the most damage after whatever it was that the Gloom did to him. You barely managed to hold yourself back.
He was fine.
He was going to be fine.
Your Link would have done the exact same thing.
It was the proof that he was himself again before you even got to ask or put him to the test.
Taking a deep breath, you accepted the bowl of stew that Link held out to you, cradling it between your hands and knees. It was hot, steaming with whatever Link had left in his Purah Plate.
Link sat next to you, not hesitating to scald his throat, as he took a large gulp of the soup.Â
They asked for Johnny Storm being childhood friends with (supposedly) one-sided feelings.
I don't usually write for superheroes, despite them being one of my special interests, much less for anything Fantastic Four related, but I did my best.
Content under the cut!
You hated this.
You had known Johnny Storm since forever, and it was the bane of your existence.
First, it was his status as the most popular guy in school. Always flirting and taking nothing seriously in the history of forever. He would tease everybody and seemingly get away with murder or daylight robbery, minding the poor choice of words.
Then he went ahead and decided to go into space without telling anyone, much less you, and came back with the ability to set things on fire, including himself, and proceeded to be a superhero in the process.
Which was fine, you kept telling yourself.
You had known Johnny Storm forever.
Childhood friends, as it were.
He always came back to you.
Right?
You wiped down the counter of the bakery you worked at as if it owed you money, too lost in your own thoughts to notice the customers coming in.
Johnny has always been a shining light in the darkness.
Always quick with a joke, always smiling, always making other people feel better one way or another, no matter how much his jokester nature got on your nerves from time to time. It was the status quo growing up. Sure, his mom died in a car accident, and his dad killed a loan shark in self-defense and horribly lost himself on the sauce on the worst of days, but you never saw Johnny let it get to him. Always putting other people first.
You admired him a lot.
He was always taking something dark and lighting it up.
It was ironic, you thought to yourself, that he took on the name The Human Torch.
A torch lights up the way for other people so they can keep going forward.
A torch can give hope.
A torch means new beginnings.
A torch is bright and good and useful.
Which is precisely what Johnny decided to be when the Fantastic Four was created.
Useful.
Always helping.
Still Johnny.
Never mind that he could fly, you sighed heavily. The counter was clean enough as it was. It was borderline shining so much that you could see your own reflection.
You looked away, adjusting your headphones, and you decided the next reasonable step was to check if the coffee maker was still functional and working as intended.
It was, but it made it look as if you were busy with something.
Of course Johnny could fly, you continued your mental tirade. Why wouldnât he be able to?
Johnny was always a dreamer. He aimed high. He leaped over expectations. He soared above the competition. It was frustrating to see someone dodge every obstacle while assuming everyone was on the same page. He was untouchable.
No, that wasnât fair. You gently bonked your head against the coffee machine. Johnny was incredible in every way that mattered. You shouldnât let your own insecurities get the better of you like this. You should be proud of Johnny. In fact, you are proud of Johnny.Â
He was the best version of himself right now.
Brand deals, fancy cars, media coverage, local stardom, saving the world, being well-liked by so many people- Johnny was at the top of the game and killinâ it.
He was untouchable.
A living sun, giving his light and letting it reflect off of others, so everyone else shone brighter as a result.
A hero.
Youâre just⌠you.
Knuckles rapped on the counter beside you. Red, covered in black like webbing- Spider-Man. You managed to smile to yourself. He was a regular.
Without looking up, you bent down and picked up an order you especially set aside for him and let him take it without charge. Spider-Man does a little finger salute as per usual and goes on his way without another word.
âWhat!?â That familiar voice shouted indignantly.
That time your head popped up.
Johnnyâs head kept snapping from the front door, where Spider-Man left, to where you were behind the counter. âSeriously!? For free?â
âYes.â You say bluntly, quickly trying to brush away your thoughts before the bitter tone could seep into your voice and tip him off. âI cover him. Itâs fine.â
âYou cover-!â Johnny cut himself off, pressing his hands over his nose as if taking a deep breath. âOk, thatâs stopping. Youâre not covering for him anymore. He can buy his own burrito and coffee. Heâs a grown man.â
âHeâs my favorite hero!â You say with a bright smirk, knowing how much it was going to set Johnny off as it was. âHe can have a free coffee. Sometimes I throw in a donut or a croissant for him as a little extra thank you for what he does around the city, you know?â
As expected, you visibly see the twitch in Johnnyâs eyes before he changes tactics and leans over the counter. He throws on a smirk and what you assume to be his version of âThe Smoulderâ as he rests his chin on the back of his hand. âWhat about me? How come I donât get a free coffee as your favorite hero?â
âBecause youâre a celebrity.â You fire back without missing a beat. You smiling grows, blooming more easily at the familiar banter. The earlier note to your thoughts quickly becomes a distant memory. âThat, and Iâm fifty percent sure that Spider-Man is homeless.â
Johnny quickly deadpans before he straightens up, holding his palms out placatingly. âOk, ok, ok- Valid point. Iâve seen the manâs apartment. Youâre not entirely wrong.â
You nearly dropped a glass at his casual response, but Johnny keeps talking. âI can understand why youâd say Spider-Man is your favorite hero. Solid choice. Heâs mine too. I canât get mad at you for that one. So, whoâs your favorite Fantastic Four member then?â
âSue.â You blurt without thinking much of it.
Johnnyâs eye twitches again, and you bite your tongue to keep yourself from laughing at his expense. You begin to make his usual while he stares at you hard enough to combust you on the spot. Your cheeks grow warm, but youâre sure thatâs because of his fire powers.
â...Another fair answer.â He says slowly. âWhoâs your favorite fire-based hero whoâs named Johnny?â
You can feel the lack of poker face. A mischievous smile grows on your face before you can stop it. Johnny narrows his eyebrows, daring you to continue teasing him, but he makes it far too easy.
âGhost Rider.â
âOH COME ON!â Johnny slams the counter with his palms and takes a frustrated little walk around the bakery as he rakes his hand through his hair. âNow youâre just being mean to me.â
You start laughing.
âH-... How do you even know his name?â Johnny gapes at you as he makes his rounds to return to his spot, shaking his hands free of the little sparks that danced off his fingers so he wouldnât accidentally damage the establishment.
You shrug, easy smile on your lips. âHeâs a regular.â
âHeâs a regular?!â Johnny snarls, palms on the counter, leaning in again as if the Ghost Rider has somehow infringed on his territory.
âI donât know. He just comes in sometimes.â You say, shrugging again. You hand Johnny his coffee. Itâs enough to shock him out of his little scene.
He takes the coffee, calming down at once. âBut I didnât order-â
âBest friend privileges.â You wave him off with a wink. Youâve teased him enough, you decide. âIâll cover for you, too.â
Johnny instantly softens and sits at one of the stools beside the counter. âWhew⌠You almost had me going there for a moment. I was actually worried youâd stopped caring about little olâ me.â
You roll your eyes. His ego, you swore. Leaning over the counter on your side, you flicked his nose, then his forehead for good measure. Dork. âAs if anyone is going to stop caring about you any time soon. Now, donât you have some robot to take down or some other scheme in Latveria to stop?â
âNo, I⌠actually had some downtime for a change,â Johnny says, rubbing the back of his neck. âI was wondering if youâd be willing to ditch this place and join me for that new movie I told you about last week.â
You pause.
You wrung your hands on the towel you kept in the pocket of your apron, trying to buy yourself some more time before you answered. The idea was tempting, and it had been a while since the two of you hung out like you used to. Still, you were working, and you didnât have the means or comfort that Johnny did to just leave your shift whenever you wanted. You opened your mouth to answer when something blew up a few blocks down from where you were.
In an instant- âFLAME ON!â -Johnny was flying out of the bakery, off to take on whatever threat there was this time.
The time it takes me to write them however, has gotten a lot longer than 2 weeks. I have yet to update the time on my ko-fi page. (Not that I have a particular time frame in mind- it's more of a "I'll get there when I get there" unfortunately.)
Do you think the boys know the difference between âFairyâ and âFaerieâ or would reader have to explain the difference?
Now see, this one I had to think on because part of me was like," I don't even know the difference- wait, yes I do. Do they? Of course they do- wait." So I completely understand why this would be a question to begin with. XD
Ok! SO! This can go many different ways.
Obviously, they all know what a fairy is. But I don't think Hyrule necessarily has FAE. Ergo, this might be one of those moments where they assume they are the same thing and don't question anything. However, some of these boys have more magic knowledge than others and experience that would negate that as a debate point and would therefore know the difference, even if they would likely use a different word.
So let me put it like this.
Assumes they are the same thing:
Wind (actual child, he can still learn),
Wild (literally lost his memories and likely doesn't care to know the difference),
Knows they're different but can't explain it:
Twilight (country boy, he knows but doomed if talked about),
Four (the picori were cool but not what he'd call fairies),
Time (Blame the Kokiri, they didn't explain much because they were also children),
Warrior (Cia and Lana vs. the fairies, but homeboy never asked questions. He was busy fighting a war)
Knows they're different and can explain it:
Legend (it was burned into his skull, this poor guy has been through so much, he's so tired),
Hyrule (isn't it fanon that he's part fae? He'd know),
Sky (His girlfriend is literally a goddess, I refuse to believe he doesn't know)
I guess this is how we're going to be labeling our chapters now. This was not my idea. Nor do I know where I'm going with my storyline until someone sends Riddle to the nurse's office. Or Softie. Whoever comes first, I suppose. -Pinky
Masterlist
First chapter/ Previous Chapter/ Part 1
Enjoy the chapter!
<3
I sucked in a breath, looking at the small dingy room the school staff had given me to work with. It was supposedly my new office. The nurse's office, I mean. Crewel decided it was best for me to get a feel for what would soon be my work station before my real work started.
It... wasn't much.
There were all sorts of bottles lining the walls, with a small stash of folded cloth on the table on the far wall. There was a dusty bed on the side with a single flat pillow and a lone chair by the door.
I grimaced and sneezed again.
"Does no one clean here?" I blurt, stumbling over to the window to open it up and get some fresh air. Pain laced every step, and I had to bear my weight on the wall before I fell.
"We haven't needed the nurse's office in a while," Crewel said impassively. He was bored. The nerve. "At least you're not immediately being put to work, seeing as you only arrived yesterday. I take it you slept well."
I did not. I bit my lip and looked away.
The room I was given was surprisingly opulent. It felt straight out of a fairy tale with high ceilings, a canopied bed, elegant furniture, and a large enough tub that I could swim around if I wanted to. The bath I took to help my nerves felt heavenly; everything that followed ruined it further.
Aside from learning that I hardly looked like myself, pink hair, scales, a TAIL that emerged once I was fully submerged in the tub, and a gross inability to pronounce my given name, I was once again bowled over by the pain that followed once I got out of the water.
It hadn't gone away since.
"Right, well..." I took a deep breath. "I'm... thankful for your generous hospitality."
Crewel got a strange look in his eyes, regarding me with what I could only assume was contempt. He was leaning on the doorway, studying me. I didn't care for it. A click of his tongue later, and his gaze turned impossibly colder.
I bristled but said nothing. It wasn't my fault the headmaster saddled him with making sure I was settling in. It sure felt like he blamed me, though.
"You're welcome." He said, voice quieter than before. Another beat passed before he pushed himself off the doorway and turned to leave. "If that is all-"
"Wait!" I blurt, pushing myself off the wall as well. My knee nearly gave out, but I caught myself before Crewel could move to catch me again. "This can't seriously be everything! No bandages? No painkillers? Am I even allowed to give the students painkillers? Just a dingy bed in a closet? This is seriously all that this school has?"
"I'm aware it's not... ideal." He said, looking me over once more as I righted myself. "But like I said, there was never a need for a nurse before. Most students can use their own magic to heal their own injuries, and you can heal them just the same as you healed Ashton-"
"I don't think that was me!" I cried out, panic on my face clear as day. I hated this. I hated getting emotional. I could feel it coming. This felt like too much and too little for too long. Everything was wrong. "I've never done magic before! I don't know why I'm here! I don't know how I did that! I don't know what to do!"
"Oh, for heaven's sake." Crewel grabbed my shoulders and sat me on the bed, kicking up a healthy plume of dust between the two of us. "I can make you some healing potions. I will also make an order for newer, cleaner cloth for bandages and the like. Ok? Quit fussing. This isn't ideal for anyone. Just... don't ...cry."
I took another deep breath. Healing potions. Right. He... He was the potion teacher. He knew how to do that. That was ok. That... That would help a lot, actually.
I felt my hands shaking, but I nodded. "...Right. I-... Thank you. Again. I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. This is... This is too much. I don't mean to unload on you."
"...When was the last time you ate something?"
"...huh?"
"You know? Food." He leveled me with an unimpressed stare, the grip of his hands on my shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly. "It occurred to me that I hadn't seen you in the mess hall at either meal time, neither yesterday nor this morning."
I stared intelligently at him for a moment. "...I don't know what that is."
"You bumbling fool." He groaned and shook his head. It messed up his hair, and I had to grip the dusty bed tighter to keep myself from impulsively fixing it for him. "No wonder you're all out of sorts. Fine. I will also show you where the mess hall is. Breakfast is served at seven. Lunch is served at noon. Dinner is at six, sharp. Don't be late. But if you are, there is also the staff lounge to the right of the mess hall, where you can get tea, drinks, and an assortment of snacks."
"...oh..."
"Come on." He grumbled, guiding me back to my feet. I winced again, my ankles nearly rolling from under me. Crewel hissed again, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me steady. "Whatever spell you're using to maintain this land form isn't strong enough. It's going to give the students a bad idea to see you flinch with every step. It won't get you much of their respect to see you weak."
"I don't know how I'm-"
"Yes, yes, yes." He cut me off, moving us together with a strong confidence about him. "I will also find a way to help stabilize your form. Happy? Goodness, you're absolutely helpless, aren't you? Must I do everything for you?"
"I'm not asking you to do anything for me." I hissed back. Genuinely hissed. Fangs bared and all. It took me by surprise, and given that he seemed just as confused, I knew that it showed on my face. I grimaced internally, turning away from him as we walked.
A beat of silence.
"...But I appreciate it anyway," I grunted, a low rumble in my throat. Another new thing that wasn't completely in my control. I was going to have to figure out this new body and STAT.
I saw his mouth open to retort, but I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot any more than I already had. "And I really liked the room I was given... It was... pretty... I felt like a princess."
Another beat of silence.
The murmuring of chattering students grew louder in the distance, signaling our impending destination.
I sighed. I've made a mess of everything, haven't I?
Crewel let go of my waist. His hand fisted, squeaking the leather of his gloves as he put distance between us.
I'm going to reblog the masterlist of the blog soon for anyone who wants to read what we have in succession. But it's so early that everything is still disjointed.
We're working on getting to a point to start overlapping plotlines.
Hai hai hai!!!!! I just wanted to tell you your writing is amazing! And that you were one of my inspirations to start writing!!! I hope you have a good day or night! ŕ´Śŕľŕ´Śŕ´ż(･â˘Ě ,<)~âŠâ§â
â @sicklysweetheartz
I'm so happy to hear that!
I hope you have a wonderful day/night as well, friend!
The portal land the group to what appears to be underground. Wild immediately pull out torches but light them proof to be difficult til reader lit the torches thanks to being half monster so the group have few torches and now they're on the move to try find a possible exit of this situation.
Reader look around while follow the group yet having a very bad feeling til wind yell out that he see a door ahead. Wind was going to touch the door but hyrule stop him to tell him that the door might be a trap but warrior join and say he'll carefully open the door and once open show a giant area that's have statues and the walls have murals which the group carefully check out the area. Reader look at the murals and notice that it shows their kind orgins from protector of gods/goddesses to guide of sages til the last murals made reader bite back the emotions seeing their kind being slain by the hero and what's left dissapeared from hyrule history which wild see reader looking at the murals, walk over to silently grab their hand and give them comfort til a click noise caught everyone attention and look to see what was that notice only to see that twilight step on a hidden trap on the floor that the statue in the middle to be what look like legend open his eyes which have crystals that glow blue turn red and a unsettling magic fill the area. Hyrule cover his mouth feeling the unsettling magic drain him yet making him felt very ill, he feel like he's slipping away by this unsettling magic that his eyes turn red as well under the influence of this magic. but reader held their head in pain and wild asking what's happening only being push back as reader turn to their monster form which the group notice that the gem on their head is red.
Time: everyone arm yourselves now!-
Reader breath out a breath and growling their eyes now red let out a battle cry as everyone realizes now their in serious danger and twilight try run to the statue of legend to try to destroy it but get tackle by warrior to the ground as a fireball miss his head and the two look to see hyrule pull out his sword and his other hand is fire.
Legend: shit! He's under control by -
Monster reader let out a roar as hyrule let out this time lighting now the group divide have to fight the two. Wild for the first time is shaking not of fear or cowardice. It's that he facing the person he loves and knows their under the magic control.
Time: well need to destroy that statue! But they're block us from getting near it.
The group nod seeing that the two are keeping the chain from coming to the statue and just as the chain were about to anything the other statues came to life and go to attack the chain.
I-... I've lost the plot. This is completely my fault. I took too long. ^.^*
omg I know requests are closed so please don't feel like you need to do anything with this but I need to share this idea with someone who can appreciate it. reader immediately clocking Twi in his wolf form the first time they see him but not saying anything because they miss petting animals and this is the perfect opportunity to get their fluffy fix at least until Twilight comes clean about his alternate form himself
Hey, the way I see it, that's a win-win.
Twilight gets to keep his secret, and Reader gets to receive all the fluffy cuddles their heart desires. :D
I really want to show the Chain that worm game where you have to eat the apples to grow your worm and exit through the black whole to advance to the next level.
...Like Snake?
Is this an updated version of that game?
I think the Chain would be mildly obsessed with it. And by mildly, I mean, you're never getting your device back. XD
Heaven forbid there be a high score, because then everyone would want the top spot, and everyone would be trying to figure out the best way to get the longest worm/snake possible.
hi i just wanted to let you know whenever i get back into a Zelda mood (about every couple months) i come to your blog and reread your stuff <3 so thank you for posting them!
You're most very welcome!!! :D
It's why I never plan on deleting this blog. Maybe I'll come back to writing for LU. I kept all of the old requests, but if anything, my life just lost even more free time because I recently got a new job. But I'll keep my commissions open!
Third Author here! My twist is that I actually know next to nothing about the game/series so my journey is playing out simultaneously throughout the other two. Please enjoy -Pinky
First Part/ Previous Part
"Where am I?" I groaned, lifting my head. My hand brushed through my hair. My skull was pounding. I don't remember how I got here.
I should have been on top of the pavement, asphalt, and concrete. No, I was on top of carpet and tile. It was dark and cold.
I sneezed.
"Such dreadful manners." A man hissed above me.
I looked up. My limbs felt heavy and sore. Pink hair fell over my hair and I gasped, shock bypassing the stranger in front of me entirely. I pushed myself up, trying to get to my feet.
Sudden pain spiked under my feet. Despite wearing shoes, it was as if I were barefoot walking on shards of glass. My knees gave out, feeling extraordinarily weak.
The man caught me. Fur tickled my nose and my cheeks. The texture felt strange as well. Brushing the fur away, I realized I had scales on my skin instead.
Everything new and unfamiliar crashed into me at once. Panic began to rise along with the familiar burn of bile in my throat. My heart rate rocketed up, and I choked for air.
"This isn't happening," I whispered. "This can't be real. What kind of nightmare is this?"
"Well, you're certainly out of sorts, aren't you?" The man said, disdain switching into a more concerned, if judgmental, tone. I finally got the sense to look at him.
Black and white hair, a black-and-white striped coat, the most stormy gray I had ever seen. His expression was nothing short of unimpressed. "Can't find your land legs, hm?"
"I... beg your pardon?" I managed. My whole body felt dry, unfamiliar. "Can you tell me where I am?"
"Perhaps." He all but dropped me. I managed to catch myself and stood on my own. Fire licked in my veins as lightning struck every nerve ending, but I tried to breathe past the pain. It was a welcome distraction to the panic ever bubbling up inside me. "If you can tell me your name, Pinky."
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Well, that was an untrue statement. A bubble popped into existence when I tried to speak my name. I tried again and again, but bubbles gently floated around us instead.
"Pinky, it is." Said the man, waving his hand dismissively, not caring for the current strange turn of events.
I gulped. There were worse names, I suppose. "S-sure... Go ahead."
"We'll have to escort you to the headmaster." He said, motioning me to follow.
Dread pooled in my stomach, the pain with every step unable to be ignored. I followed slowly, trying to hide my actions by taking in the surroundings around me instead.
The hall was nothing short of gothic. Candles and mirrors, grand archways and stained glass mosaics- It was beautiful... if eerie.
"What's your name?" I asked him instead. Silence. Fill in the silence. Don't let anyone see weakness.
"I am Professor Crewel De Vil." He arched an eyebrow. "And before you ask," ignoring that I already did, "this is Night Raven College, an all-boys academy for talented young mages. But I'm sure you knew that already."
...I didn't know that...
"Crewel!" A tall, lanky man with a crow's mask followed by another more bulky, muscular fellow cornered us almost instantly. "We've been searching all over for you. The students were beginning to wonder where- oh, hello."
Their eyes darted to me. The muscular man whistled and winked. "A sight for sore eyes. Not often the fish folk come above water to mingle with the land lovers."
I couldn't hide my astonishment if I tried. "...huh?"
"Ashton Vargas! At your service!" He stuck his hand out. There was a bandage on it, a bit of the blood from under it seeping through a this point.
I eyed it warily and naturally, he noticed. "Nothing to be concerned about! A big, tough and terrific man like me can handle anything!"
"...Right..." I took it dumbly. He all but crushed my hand, shaking it, nearly toppling me over in the process. "I'm-"
"We're calling her Pinky." Crewel rolled his eyes. "I found her trespassing in the main hall. I was just about to bring her to you, Headmaster."
"Trespassing-!?" I squeaked, turning to Crewel in minor betrayal. "No! That's not what happened at all!"
"Well, another from beyond **did** happen to arrive shortly before you." The man in the crow mask mumbled to himself. "I am Crowley, headmaster of Night Raven Academy. I shall have to look at the portals. Something is surely amiss, Miss Pinky."
"My name is-" Another bubble floated between us all. I hissed to myself, nearly cutting my tongue on sharper-than-usual fangs. I shut my mouth at once. I needed to get to a mirror pronto.
"Hey! Look at that!" Ashton ripped off his bandage. He laughed triumphantly. He turned to me with nothing short of a smirk. "All healed! You have my thanks, little lady."
I sucked in a breath. "That wasn't m-"
"A healer." Crowley cut me off, nothing short of awe in his voice. "I have a brilliant solution! Why don't you work as the school nurse while we recalibrate the portals once more? A short-term solution, I assure you. It would only be for a few days. A few weeks, or a month at most. The portals are finicky and temperamental after a while, and we've had a rather large influx of new students. Speaking of, the new years tend to be wary of their magic, causing all manner of injuries, and we're frankly understaffed."
Panic flurried in my heart for a separate reason entirely. Have I no say here? I still haven't remembered where I was before all of this! I scrambled to explain myself, to explain the context, to get any sort of word in. "But I can't do magi-"
"Splendid!" He cut me off again, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as he led me through the hall. His grip was stronger than I anticipated, and despite digging my heels in, he pulled me along anyway. "I'll bring up the paperwork. Crewel, set a room for the mer, would you? Something to make her comfortable during her stay."
I heard a long, suffering sigh behind. "As you wish, headmaster."
"Excuse me?" I said breathlessly, ignored entirely by all three men.
They asked for something more Wind centric after Reader wakes up the LU world. It's cute, short, and all in all feel good fic.
Masterlist
Content under the cut!
Plunging into the river was a quiet affair.
It was swift, steady. Exhilarating, almost.
Waking up was anything but.
Cold, disoriented, and confused, you fought to steady yourself amidst the chaos around you. You were dazed. Who were these boys around you? What did they want with you? What are they doing here? Where is here?
Hyrule. The Mastersword. Chosen Heroes. Link.
This made no sense to you.
Monsters. Evil incarnate. Moving between space and time. Reincarnations of the heroesâ spirit.
That made even less sense.
âWhat even is my life?â You whispered, rubbing your temple as you walked in time with the group. The youngest held onto your hand. They called him Sailor, Wind, Pirate. Each boy carried a multitude of names, if only because not a single one of them was allowed to go by their true name.
Wind trudged alongside you, rubbing his eyes ever so often as the sun began to set. It was getting dark. It was getting cold. It felt nothing like the river, however. While the river was an all-consuming blast to your core, the air was a creeping sort of chill. Something that was slow and crawled deep into your bones before it made its home in the marrow and ached from the inside out.
âItâs getting late.â The Captain, Warrior, Pretty Boy- albeit that one was not entirely in good nature- looked up at the sky, holding up two fingers, and measuring the distance of the sun.
âItâs getting dark, more like it. Fast.â The Rancher, Twilight, Pup, Goatman- also a name said with less than friendly terms. The young man was built and dressed in leathers and furs, looking more wild-like than the one they named Wild himself. âWeâll have to stop to make camp soon. It wouldnât be good to be caught out in the open on a night like this.â
âWe might have to go hunting. We donât have a lot of food for dinner.â Wild, Champion, Wildchild, Cub spoke up, looking through the magical tablet he called a Shiekah Slate. You didnât have the heart to tell him it was just a fancy iPad, but then again, it had an interdimensional pocket where he seemed to have an endless space for inventory. Which⌠was not a normal iPad function, last you checked. And that wasnât including the strange reality-altering abilities it seemed to carry, like stasis and something he called cryonis.
âIâm tired.â Wind spoke up, yawning for the nth time that evening.
âWe know, Wind.â
âIâm hungry.â
âWe know, Wind.â
âLeave him alone.â You growled, tugging your hand out of his to wrap around his shoulder anyway, taking more of his weight onto your own. âHeâs just a boy. Besides, weâve been moving all day. Thatâs not mentioning the weird attack from those dumb lizard skeleton things.â
âYeah, that was pretty weird,â Wild said absentmindedly, tapping his chin in thought. âThey usually only show up at night.â
âThatâs how we know they were from your world.â The Blacksmith, Four. Smithy, Shorty- they were quite mean to one another, you realised, grinned with a blinding smile. âYour monsters are so weird.â
âWhat do you mean? Theyâre pretty standard.â
âThatâs exactly our point.â
âEasy, boys.â The Hero of Time himself, also known as the old man, held up a hand, silencing the slowly growing restlessness of the group. âWeâll camp here. Let Traveller and Legend start the fire. Wild and Twilight can go hunting if need be. Captain, take the Knight of Skyloft and secure the perimeter.â
âYes, sir.â
âOn it!â
âAgain?â
Time gave Four a rather pointed look, which had the younger man coughing and looking the other way.
â...I just want to be included.â
Time rolled his eyes. âYou can help me instead. Come.â
âHaha.â Legend snorted, âGive him hell, Smithy.â
Four gave a two-fingered salute.
You felt a small tug on your shirt and looked down at Wind. âYes?â
âDid you see my mail?â He mumbled, voice rough from his impending sleep. âI got one from Tetra and Aryll and Grandma and Beetle-â
You smiled and ran your hand through his hair. âYes, I saw them. You showed me when the mailman came by earlier, remember? Come on, let's get your bedroll out, and you can go to sleep early tonight.â
âAlright.â Wind all but slumped against you. âThanks mom.â
You froze. This wasnât part of the cold around you, nor was it part of the cold from your first breath into this world.Â
It was a shock of ice into your lungs. It was stunning, disarming, and nothing shy of painful. Memories of your childhood flash before your eyes, and you could only think to yourself, how could this have happened? Worse yet, the boy hadnât caught his mistake to begin with.
âOk.â You said after a heart-shattering beat, guiding him to the bedroll on autopilot. You set up his bedroll, letting him crawl in without another word. To his, or rather, your benefit, nobody else seemed to catch it either. The night went on as usual; everyone carried out their respective duties, dinner was made, and everyone went to sleep.
Morning was a different beast.
Wind refused to look at you while everyone held knowing smiles on their lips.
You wanted to crawl into a hole and never come back out. You kept your head down, you refused eye contact, and you barely spoke a word.
âI didnât mean to.â Came from the small voice of the boy.
Like a gunshot.
You could have choke but you simply nodded.
Embolden, Wind scooted a little closer. âAre you mad?â
You shook your head.
âPromise?â
You made the effort to open your mouth, taking his hand in yours once more. âPromise.â
That seemed to settle even further over the strange tension that had seemed to creep over what was supposed to be an easy-going breakfast.
A soft pink carried over his nose and cheeks, but he swung your hands together with a smile.
