Hello!! New fic just posted! Wasn't going to post it yet, but I love this hurt too much to ignore.
Summary: Link, the Hero of Time, has become nothing more than the Queen's Hand of Death. A rebellion has made it their goal to take his and Zelda's head. He was supposed to be done with these sort of things, but a threat turns into a forced contract. Link dons his armor once more for the Queen, sealing his hatred towards her. She demands lines to be crossed that he can't go against, tearing him apart from the inside. His family is on the line. Meeting the Chain, he has found a secondary family, young boys that for some reason look up to him. Link, now Time, only hopes the truth will never come out. Wishful thinking... This hero doesn't know rest, in life or in death.
Chapter Summary: The love for your children will make you do things that you thought you never would. Link knows this and uses it. He hates everything about this.
Snippet:
H searched with his single eye for the youngest member among the men.
Found him.
The fighting came to a stop as the traitors looked at what was being held against them. Link had snuck up behind a young boy, no older than sixteen- Link’s masks still were a handy tool- clasping a massive hand over the child’s mouth, another blade pulled and held to the young throat. He could feel the boy tremble, trying to pull away and his breath coming out frantically. He was afraid, rightfully so.
“Let him go, please.” One man said as he dropped his own blade without being prompted.
Link was always up for negotiations and taking prisoners. He may have killed hundreds, but that didn’t mean he liked it. This was just part of the job he hated. “I assume this is your boy?”
“Yes, he is. Please, spare him.” The man looked weak in the knees as he stood there, facing off with death that went by a different name.
“How old is he?”
“F-fourteen.”
For fucks sake…
“You brought a child, a fresh teen, into your quorum of rebels?” Link’s tone was harsh, the air around him seemed to chill and the light in the building went dim. The man flinched back as Link continued, “You believe in your cause enough to risk your son’s life? To willingly let him participate in this bloodbath you all started, knowing the consequences? What kind of man, father, encourages such conspiracies in a child when he should be off at school learning or running around carefree? Instead, he is here-”
“I know! I know, but please-”
“Tell me what I want to know.”
“O-okay.”
The remaining men began to protest, weapons in their hands trying to cut down the father talking. It only took a slight head nod to the side for Link’s men to get the message. They dispatched the men quickly, leaving the father and son.
“How many people make up you rebels?”
“It grows every day, but there’s at least another hundred left.”
“Who is the leader?”
“We don’t have one.” Link didn’t believe that answer, pressing the knife into the boy’s skin, causing a dribble of blood to fall. “There’s many! A leader for each area of Castle Town and Hyrule as a whole.”
Link lessened the blade's pressure. “Who is the leader of this area?” The man hesitated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. “Who?!”
“Me! I-I am.”
The child began to fight, clearly not wanting to be used as leverage. Link removed the knife, favoring a firm chokehold while the blade’s tip was pressed to the sensitive skin at the ribs. “If you want your Father to stay in one piece, stop moving.” He growled into the boy’s ear. He was glad that the child listened. He had no true desire to harm the man, at least not in front of the young boy.
Link looked up at the man once again, saying, “I have orders to kill every traitor to the crown, by the crown, but I also know that mercy is valuable. It is something I have convinced our Queen that we need now and again. I am showing you mercy tonight, but only due to your son being here. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you out for the crown and I?”
“What? You know why! Our Queen has single handedly turned the country into something unrecognizable. People are afraid to speak their minds, to come to her with their problems, to suggest new ideas that would help all. She demands that all boys starting at sixteen be taken to the castle to be trained. Trained for what? The greatest threat the world has faced, you killed. Ganondorf is no more, but for some reason, we still treat the Gerudo as thieves and murderers.”
One of Link’s soldiers took a step forward. “That is because they still are.” The soldier was known for being a hot head, the first to draw blood and the last thing Link needed was this to get out of hand.
“Step back.” Link ordered.
The rebel turned towards the soldier, arguing, “They are not! They are people that also strive for a better life and we have the chance to help them. Instead, Zelda-”
“Your Queen!” The soldier took another step.
“Stand down!”
“-is choosing to ignore them. She is not fit to rule. She is vile-”
“Watch your mouth!”
Link saw what was happening and had no time to stop it.
“-and she is every bit the monster Ganon was, if not worse! The things she has ordered-” the man sucked in a studded breath, the soldier’s sword ran clean through him.
“No!!” the boy screamed. Link let him go as his father collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood.
As the boy hit his knees to try and save the dying man, Link angrily marched to the soldier who was smiling at the two on the floor. He quickly grabbed the smaller soldier around the throat and pinned him against the wall. “What part of stand down do you not understand?!”
“You heard him. He threatened-”
“He said only what he believed to be true. I gave you an order and you disobeyed it. Doing so is treason. This isn’t the first time you have done this under my command.” Link knew what needed to be done. “But it is the last time.”
“What? You can’t get rid of me, dismiss me from duty.”
“I have every right to.” Link really did. He and Zelda were the only ones that could. The captains’ in the army were required to report problematic soldiers and the Queen decided what to do with them and when Link took on his new role as the Queen’s ‘hand of death’, that power was given to him too and she never questioned his decisions when it came to it.
“That would be a mistake and you know it. I’ll make sure you regret it!”
Enjoying the irony that was in his hands, the once hero asked, “Did you just threaten me?” His white fanged smile peeked through.
“That wasn’t a threat.”
“Neither is what the rebel said.” Link took the blade that was still in his hand, sticking it between two ribs, directly into the soldier’s heart. He let the man fall limply to the flood, ordering his remaining men to follow behind him after he grabbed the papers from the table and his weapons from the bodies left behind. It was time to leave, to go home. Reporting to Zelda could wait for the morning.
What couldn’t wait was a red haired woman that was standing out on the covered porch as he rode Epona back to the barn. One of the ranch hands took Epona for him, letting him walk across the lawn to his wife who had out reached arms to him, ready to embrace him as if they had been apart for days.
