ALTTP Zelink Rant
This ties into my Fable x Legend headcanons but it can be read as either or both :3
Word count: 1,778
Here's the rant below (btw this is a lot of headcanons. be warned.):
Zelda’s alone. Cold. The cell around her is empty. There’s one of her knights in front of this cell, maybe someone she’d seen around the castle—maybe a knight that had guarded the royal family—that now stands ready to keep her in here.
Her father’s gone.
She can barely wrap her mind around it. Agahnim turning on them, throwing her in this cell promising her death for the sake of her kingdom’s destruction. She calls out, maybe sitting on the stone floors of her cell. There must be someone—someone out there.
She’s met with silence for so long.
Yet she keeps calling out, keeps feeling the dread for when Agahnim’s footsteps come back, keeps feeling her hope slip through her fingers.
And then someone responds.
And their voice sounds like hope.
————-
One of the things I think Link does for Zelda is give her hope. She knows already so many maidens have been sacrificed. The king is gone. The knights under control of Agahnim.
I think even later on, even in small little things Link is good at encouraging her. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think either of them get jaded. But I think when people look back at the Hero of Legend, they see hope. Because isn’t that at least part of what a “hero” looks like?
So when Zelda looks back on the past or worries for the future, or faces hardships? She can know that Link will be there, that he will be her hope in the darkness. (Little does she know he thinks the same of her)
———
An unassuming boy in green shows up just beyond the cell bars. The knight guarding her cell has been taken care of. She gets his name. Link. He looks determined. Maybe he’s soaked from the rain. A little battered from previous encounters with knights, and his hands are a little muddy from trying to find the secret entrance. Maybe…there’s a little bit of blood from finding someone on the way here. But when he offers her his hand, she takes it.
——
Though I think Zelda doesn’t care I like to explore the ways the Royal Family is not a good entity. And I think the nobility, nor the king (when brought back to life at the end of alttp when things are reverted back to normal) approves of the princess courting any one that isn’t of high status. (I know, I know cliche)
I like the idea of them not even sneaking like kisses, but sneaking holding hands. And Zelda like, refusing any arranged marriages out of spite.
He is recognized as a Hero though so they kind of have to begrudgingly keep him around.
—————-
Zelda’s been stolen away. Sacrificed. The thing the princess so desperately warned him about, had been trying to stop.
Shame burns his cheeks as he registers he’s failed her. Failed his Uncle’s last wish.
But that doesn’t stop him.
It weighs on him as he does what he can to save the world as its barriers are chipped away at. As he gathers pendants, fights and learns. He met her for a brief moment, but her eyes were honest.
He remembers hearing stories of her when he was little, of the Royal Family, since his Uncle was a knight.
He wants to get to know her. That thought is of course crazy to him, considering he’s been a nobody, until now.
But somehow he’s sure that wouldn’t matter to her.
———
Skimming over *checks scribbles on my hand* most of alttp itself (sorry) after Link makes the choice with the legendary Triforce to restore Hyrule and its people, Link gets restless. He hadn’t accepted the offer of becoming as knight. He goes to travel, after spending a little bit at the castle (a feast was given to honour his deeds) and a little bit back with his Uncle he left for Holodrum.
Cue Oracle Games
and Link’s awakening :)
———-
It’s foolish, perhaps, but Zelda waits for him. She wants to scoff at herself. He doesn’t owe her anything. But he hasn’t come back yet in months. After going to Labrynna to thank Link for rescuing the oracles and their respective lands, she…kissed him on the cheek. It was impulse, but she wondered if it had meant anything to the hero. She finds out he was on a shipwreck, and immediately gets him to the infirmary.
He’s suddenly even quieter.
How can you know if someone’s changed when you don’t know them all that well?
Well, Zelda can tell whatever happened on that shipwreck was beginning to shape him.
She wanted to be there for him as he had been for her.
———
I think Link gets utterly heartbroken about Koholint being a dream and Zelda—though not good at comforting necessarily—sits beside him and hums and takes care of him in little ways. I think Link is all about grand gestures of care at first but Zelda prepares a glass of water for him every day. Tells him something she’s discovered. Checks on him when it’s been a tiring day. Makes room for him in her schedule.
He learns sometimes just those tiny little actions can be monumental.
So eventually, when his heartbreak is something he can begin to come to terms with, he bakes apple pastries for her. Writes down every recipe he knows, buys books he thinks she’ll like.
—
Link sneaks Zelda out of the castle if she wants to or is feeling overwhelmed. He has secret books for her in the orchard he and his Uncle lives in, and he’ll mend any clothing torn on the way. I think there’s a lot of pressure on, considering I bet the King’s disoriented from y’know, missing the kingdom falling apart and almost dying. (Eloquently put Uni 😭 )
OH unrelated when they confess/first start dating they’re young adults and really awkward. They don’t really fight all that much except when they’re trying to get each other to properly take care of themselves.
____
It’s too early.
Zelda lies awake in her bed, and it’s still. She can barely see a thing, only the stars illuminating the marble floor of her bedroom. There was a ritual on the tip of a clothed figure’s tongue, dawn bleeding red into the slowly declining land. Cracks, incandescent, create a hole in the land, its gaping mouth revealing a land of torment and suffering below. She’s helpless to stop it. Helpless to stop an army of beasts created by the skin of her suffering people, as Ganon’s greed moves to consume the entire kingdom.
She can’t shake the sight from her half-open eyes.
She doesn’t mean to reach out but she hears a voice in her head. And soon, Link’s projecting flashes of his most beautiful memories, and she’s able to close her eyes, that fear still in her heart but dimmed considerably.
_________
Love Zelda having telepathy and after causing some mischief with it for Link, Link is able to adapt to it and though he can’t use telepathy on other people, nor as freely, he’s able to communicate with Zelda.
Whenever Link goes too far that she can’t even slightly sense him, she starts to worry. She knows he’s more than capable of defending himself, of course, but she has seen him hide too many wounds and after the shipwreck she just can’t help but get restless.
What if this time no one’s there to find his body in the ocean?
(that turned dark sorry. Anyways—no not another angst/whump fic HELP ME—)
*ahem*
For love languages:
Zelda:
(Giving)
-Words of Affirmation. She likes to shower Link with compliments because she knows he’s too humble to accept one. She also finds it easier to express how much she cares in “smaller” ways like commenting on his hair or encouraging him. She makes little notes for him in places she knows he’ll least expect with hearts on them and a little nice word or two
-Physical Touch. She likes to rest her head on his shoulder on a cold winter’s day, or she’ll pat his arm when teasing him. She doesn’t really do it a lot publicly, but she’ll peck him on the cheek and walk away just to see him go bright red
(Recieving)
-Gifts. And okay, maybe that seems a little odd considering she has access to riches and she literally lives in a castle but when Link gets her a gift, it’s thoughtful. It’s personal. She knows he wasn’t looking to flatter her with jewels or money or whatever, it’s often handcrafted or sought for in a different land. It means a lot to her.
-Quality Time. -She appreciates even the moments where both of them have nothing to say and they’re just in each other’s company. With people she trusts the genuine nature of just spending time with her best friend really touches her.
Link:
(Giving)
-Acts of Service. May seem like a given, but he sees how stressful her life can be, with the nobility pushes her to get married to so-and-so and her father growing more and more ill. He likes getting to see her relax and so he does what he can, maybe with the help of a certain nursemaid to take things off her plate in any way or shape he can.
-Gifts. He very much enjoys running on little tasks to make some sort of gift for Zelda. He likes discovering new things, hoarding some, giving away some others. He loves watching her face light up.
(Receiving)
-Physical Touch. He gets very flustered but he does enjoy being snuggled up to and he often craves it though he never speaks of it. You wouldn’t think it, but if it’s someone he trusts it makes him feel safe.
-Words of Affirmation. Often, he can think he’s a little less than worthy of where he’s at right now, considering what he had done to Koholint and its residents. The smallest of compliments make his day, and fluster him. (which in Zelda’s opinion is very much worth it)
______________
Anyways yeah I also just like the picture of them growing old together. Maybe Zelda’s passed on her crown to a little one. They’ve both thought of their legacies. How they would die, when. Their estimates were way sooner. Link was sure he’d meet his fate in a battle, off in a foreign land. She was sure some evil would arise to take her at last. But no, they’re in each others arms in the gardens, or maybe in the orchid. Link made his apple cider for her and it sits nearby, still warm.
