Finally finished my second attack. I've had this waiting in the wings ever since @glidersdoodles drew my char Prometheus, and I've finally finished it! It's been hot minute since I started it, but it's finally done! XD
Anyways, this is Gaffen! I've been eyeing him ever since discovering him last year. I really like some of the ideas you got going on for your story, Glider, and I've enjoyed some of your takes I've seen on your blog! You've definitely given me a lot to think about for LoZ as a series and I still think about many of the things you've either blogged or reblogged. Hard to remember which now. XD But yeah! Happy ArtFight!
Thought I'd show off the thumbnail I did for it too. I really like making pixel borders. This one features fried eggs, kebabs, glass bottles, faeries, herbs, pieces of cake, mushrooms and various bubbles and sparkles and droplets and bits of salt. :) Think there's even gemstones in it.
"I didn't. We had scaffolding and stairs set up back then." Purah's head poked out from behind the ledge, followed by the rest of her body. She leaned over the rock wall, then jumped down with a grunt. Her eyes flicked over to the cane. "Isn't that Impa's?"
Link nodded, and dropped down. His leg slipped as his feet hit the floor, and he fell to his knees. "Ow."
"Noted! Shrine of Resurrection Test Five: subject is incredibly careless with himself and the property of others," Purah said. She picked up the cane, and walked to Link, holding her hand out for him to grasp as he stood himself up again.
"You're so mean to me," Link joked. She did her duty, so he couldn't complain much.
"Someone has to be," Purah said, striking a little pose. "Can I have the slate for a moment?"
Link placed the Sheikah Slate in her hands, exchanging them for the cane as they walked into the main chamber of the Shrine of Resurrection. It was as it had been: damp, the air vibrating with ancient energy. The top of the resuscitation capsule shimmered with the same power that floated through the air in tiny flecks, but he saw tendrils of gold pass through its glowing chambers. He squinted at them. They hadn't been there last time.
"Everything looks stable," Purah said, tapping away on the Sheikah Slate's screen. "Setup shouldn't be difficult. Go ahead and take your clothes off."
Sitting on the floor, Link kicked his boots away and began pulling his tunic off. Once he was finished with his clothes, he folded them and placed them against the side of the chamber.
"Are you serious."
"Huh?" Link looked back at Purah.
"You're still wearing those old boxers I gave you? They're fraying at the end."
Link stuck his tongue out at her, and crawled into the resuscitation capsule. It was just as hard and uninviting as he remembered. The cold blue light glared against his eyes, and the stone propping his head up pressed into the nape of his neck. This place was never meant for the living. He took a long, deep breath, and closed his eyes. Just a little longer, and he would be back to normal, back on his feet, back to helping people.
Freezing water rushed around his ears, clumping into a strange, jellylike substance that wrapped around his body. The room rumbled as the top half of the capsule closed in on him. Link squeezed his eyes shut even more tightly. His chest locked up, and his hands closed into fists. Just another hour.
"Alrighty, final steps done! It'll knock you out in three…two…"
White pillars hung over his head, stretching into the dark sky. It couldn't have been night. The sun stood there alongside them, golden hair flowing down like beams of light.
Link backpedaled, water sloshing against his ankles as he shaded his eyes with one hand. He glanced down at his leg, for some reason no longer twisted.
"Link…it has been so long since we last met face to face."
He gawked at her. Her white dress shimmered as she moved, and her voice was soft, familiar.
"Don't you have anything to say?"
His foot caught on something, and he fell back. Ripples from the pool expanded out, reaching her feet. "Who are you?" His voice felt hoarse.
She sighed. "I always forget your type isn't meant to be clever. Link, please, don't you recognize me?"
Link crawled back further. Her figure looked exactly as he remembered Zelda's. "Where are we?"
"Stubborn as always." She knelt down. "You're in a dream. Tell me if you remember who I am."
Link shook his head.
"It's me," she said, distress cracking her voice. As she ran towards him, clutching her skirts in one hand, she shrank to the size of a human, then hurled herself down onto her knees next to him. Before he could protest, she clasped her hands around his. Her smooth, warm fingers fell into the spaces between his own. "I thought the memories would burden you, but surely you've gotten the ones you need back now. It should have been enough— it should have done something."
He yanked his hand away. She yelped in protest, scrabbling forward as he backed up. Once he had made it a few lengths away he stood up, watching her with cold eyes. Disgust bubbled in his chest.
"Faithful knights bow to their princesses," she said.
"I'm not your knight. You're not Zelda. Leave me alone, demon."
Her head snapped up, still bright. "What makes you think such blasphemous things?"
Link turned around, and began to walk away. He'd find a place where the dream ended.
"Where are you going?" she shouted. He didn't answer.
"Link, I must talk to you. I don't understand why you've abandoned me— are you even listening!?"
His ear twitched, but he didn't turn to her or reply.
Something rumbled, and he heard a loud splash. Link broke into a run. He felt a cold wind against his face, a rush of energy—
A golden claw pierced through his chest, and his legs buckled. It didn't hurt at first. Even the pressure against his breastbone as she lifted him off the ground felt stronger than the pain.
"All I was going to do was tell you that I'm waiting," she said. "I miss you."
He looked down at the claw through his chest. "I'm here," he said quietly. "Why do you miss me?"
"Don't you feel alone?" she asked. "Doesn't it feel like something in you is missing, empty, waiting to be filled with love? Something always draws us back together, Link, and it is that emptiness we feel without each other, that hole in our breasts that never fills without the other's smile."
Link did feel alone, sometimes. The burning sensation from the claw flared up as he tried to pull himself off it. "Yes," he blurted out. "Let me go."
"Ah, so you're a liar, too."
"No. I'll rescue you, I promise."
"Liar."
"I'm not lying!"
"Why can't you admit to anything you've done!? I see why you've tarried. You don't want anyone to stop you from being an undisciplined wretch, doing whatever he pleases while the world suffers and dies. The goddess Hylia sees through you."
"Hylia? I'm sorry."
"You called me a demon!"
"I'm sorry, okay!? Why won't you believe me! I thought you were helping me!" he yelled.
"I am helping you! I'm still helping you!"
"Then let me go! Now!"
"STOP SHOUTING!" She slammed him into the floor.
Link screamed, thrashing in the water as he tried to pull away, but the claw pinned him down. Her other hand grasped his neck and body as she yanked her claw out, and turned him around in her hand. He scratched against her grip, digging his nails into the hard flesh of her claws. She didn't move. His scratching slowed, then stopped.
"I wish it didn't have to come to this," Hylia said, "but it's clear to me that you are in need of direction. This is for your own sake. Do you understand?"
His head jolted. Golden threads passed before his eyes, some like cords, some like spiderwebs. Hylia murmured things to him, her light flickering and fading until it finally burned out.
—
Sunlight shone onto Link's table as he opened the door, revealing a thin layer of dust on the wood.
"It's, uh, very tidy," Cado said behind Link. He cleared his throat. "Take out anything you'd like from the Sheikah Slate."
After a few more days of debate, Kakariko and the princess had finally agreed to let Link go home, under certain conditions. One, he would not be allowed use of the slate without permission. Two, he would have to stay in Hateno and be monitored.
Three, when the origin of the Malice around the castle was identified, he was expected to stand alongside the princess and assist her in defeating it. He hadn't told them he wasn't the hero anymore, and he was glad of that, for sure. The centipede demon had remained his secret as well, despite his suspicions, though he planned on asking any spirit he saw about it.
He unclipped the slate from his belt, and began browsing through his clothes. Tapping on his Flamebreaker Helmet, he tipped the slate over, and let the headpiece fall to the floor with a loud clunk.
"Mind if I sit down?" Cado asked, meandering over to a stool near the table.
Link pretended not to hear him, and let the Flamebreaker Armor and boots drop with an even louder noise.
Too preoccupied with Sheikah politeness to just do as he liked, Cado stood there and continued his annoying spiel. "Purah and Symin should be here soon."
Link couldn't find anything that would make a clatter as loud as the Flamebreaker set amongst his remaining clothes, so he had to settle for the sound of the Rubber Helmet bouncing off it.
After unloading all of his clothes onto the floor, he noticed that most of them were filthy from use. Link moved on to his weapons, pulling out a stack of swords and putting them on the table, savoring Cado's flinch. He flipped to the materials screen, and immediately realized that he couldn't take all of this out in his house.
"I need to sell some things," Link said, putting the slate back on his hip and walking out the door. Cado quickly followed after him.
As the two walked down to the general store, a turret accosted them, beeping and demanding they identify themselves. Link ducked down into the turret's eye, letting it scan him wordlessly.
"Did Purah build this?" Cado asked.
Link shrugged, gesturing for Cado to come closer to the turret so it could identify him. The man obliged, imitating Link and staring into its eye.
"A NEWCOMER TO HATENO VILLAGE. REQUESTING MANUAL ANALYSIS," it blared.
Cado raised an eyebrow, and tapped on the turret's head. It beeped at him in annoyance.
"WELCOME TO HATENO, CADO."
"Funny little thing," Cado said as he and Link walked past the turret and towards the general store. "They really have made themselves at home here."
Link shook his head.
"What?"
Rolling his eyes moodily, Link opened the door to the general store. The store's clerk, Pruce, greeted them, and Link nodded, pulling out a few gems he had yet to sell from his slate, fleet-lotus seeds and several dozen flowers he couldn't see himself using.
"Thank you very much! I'll hang these up to dry. Who's your friend, by the way?" the clerk asked, sliding rupees across the table to Link.
"Not a friend."
"Just passing through," Cado said.
Link moved on to the fruit and vegetables. With this many apples, he was going to need more room on the counter, but he trusted Pruce would move them out of the way as he went. He took them out, five at a time, stacking them carefully so they didn't roll away and fall. Then he moved on to the wildberries, voltfruit and hydromelon, peppers and rice and mighty bananas.
"Barrels and jars!" Pruce said. "I'll have to order some. These will make some fine preserves."
Link set a stack of five pumpkins on the table. He had twenty-five in total he wanted to sell, with one left over for lunch.
"More?" Pruce said. "I'll see what I can do..."
Pruce was clearly running out of space behind the counter, scrabbling around as Link dumped more and more produce there. Cado rushed over to Pruce's aid, helping him stack pumpkins and hydromelons on the ground as the man gave Link even more money. Food covered the back wall, all neatly stacked by Cado and the clerk-- now, they were working on a second layer.
"Link, that's enough," Cado said, trying to balance a pumpkin. "Sorry sir."
Link scowled. "I have more."
"It keeps in there, doesn't it? Ask Purah if you can have it later."
Link grumbled, and put the slate back on his hip, holding his lunch pumpkin under one arm.
"Thank you for the help! And for the food!" Pruce called out as Cado and Link left the store. Neither of them said anything in reply.
They walked back towards the house, the turret beeping at them in greeting as they went past. Two people were leaning against the front wall of his house, silently waiting for him. It was Purah and Symin, of course.
"Master Cado!" Symin leaned forward when he saw both of them, and waved. Cado didn't wave back, but he did quicken his pace, jogging ahead to embrace Symin and gently touch foreheads with him— the traditional greeting for Sheikah. Cado added to tradition by giving Symin an extra slap on the back as he pulled away. "Is Director Purah treating you well?"
"Yeah, he keeps messing up my stuff though," Purah said.
"Director—" Symin sighed. "Yes. We're thinking of a way to organize the lab that makes us both happy now."
"It's mostly for his sake," Purah said.
"How was your journey?"
"Quick," Cado said. "Is traveling by slate supposed to make you feel queasy…?"
"That's a common side effect," Purah said. "Hopefully we'll get some more insight into it once Mister Criminal Man gives it up for research. Speaking of—"
The three of them turned to Link. He huffed through his nose.
"No trouble on the way here, either?" Symin asked.
"He's been as well-behaved as he can manage," Cado said. "Master Link, give Director Purah the slate, please."
Not an hour with it and he had to give it up. He unclipped it from his belt, and held it out for Purah to take. Despite rolling on her heels with excitement, Purah took it with a slow nod, and attached it to her own belt.
"He can request things from it, correct?" Cado asked. "He wasn't able to sell everything he wanted."
"If we're not testing on it," Purah said. "We should discuss what we're doing, too. Link?"
Link grunted.
"I'll give you a heads-up on what will happen and what we expect from you." Purah placed one hand on her hip. "Impa and the princess wanted to make sure you were sufficiently monitored, but you had a reasonable amount of freedom to do as you please. With that in mind! Symin and I have decided to install a camera in your house."
Link's expression didn't change. He looked briefly off to one side, towards his front door, then stared at the ground.
Purah paused, fidgeting with the end of her coat. "It's just for now. I have a hypothesis about the Hero's Path mode that I think could lead to something later." She took a deep breath. "Sigh. Anyway! Symin and I will check in periodically. We expect you to stay around the area, and be inside at least once per twenty-four hour day. That limits you to a range of about the distance from Dueling Peaks to here, in a circle."
"You get two strikes before we reduce the range, and we will be telling the chieftain about any issues," Symin added. "The director and I think that sounds generous."
Link nodded. He knew he shouldn't expect much.
"Alright, then, that's settled," Purah said. "Symin, let's get to work."
Purah led the way inside, and Symin followed. Cado took a step forward, then hesitated, glancing back at Link, but relaxed after he saw Link adjusting one of his bracers like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. He rushed in after Symin.
Link stood there for about a minute, staring into the sky without a thought. Then he turned around and walked to the back of his house, placing his pumpkin off to one side. Lunch could wait until Cado, Symin, and Purah had left. His garden had weeds. He took a hoe the Yiga had snapped in half earlier lying on the ground, dropped to his knees, and began digging around a large piece of crabgrass.
It felt too quiet. Link hit the ground harder with the hoe, making a heavy, repetitive thud against the soil. The noise was calming, but his stomach still churned. Once the roots loosened, he pulled out the crabgrass and tossed it to one side, then crawled over to the next weed.
He heard a rustle in the foliage beyond the garden. His ears pricked, and he fell still, pinpointing its source to a patch of bushes a few paces away. Orange-patterned fur lay hidden in the leaves, and a tawny tailtip flicked just outside the bush's cover.
"Cat?" Link blurted out.
The cat, hearing acknowledgment of its presence, stalked away. Link stood up and took a few steps towards the cat. It vanished into the grass.
"Where's the cat?" Purah said behind him.
Link snorted, and ambled back over to the garden. "Gone." How long had she been behind him?
"Small, brownish-orange one?"
Link nodded.
"I think it's the mayor's. It likes to wander." Purah adjusted her glasses. "We haven't talked in a year."
Link crouched back down, plucking up a dandelion. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me."
"I didn't. Now I do."
"Why are you talking to me now?"
"I'm curious," Purah said, shrugging. "Why did you try to kill the princess?"
Link fell silent. He plucked a blade of grass, and twisted it in between his fingers.
Purah didn't move, but she didn't demand answers. She stared at him for a few seconds, and they locked eyes, but Purah glanced away after a moment to swat at a gnat. He watched a trail of ants making their way through the dirt. Silence hung over them, like spiderwebs trembling in a breeze.
Link snapped the grass blade in half. "Will you keep it a secret?"
"Yes."
"I didn't want to serve her anymore."
Purah's flat expression quickly flashed between surprise, confusion, and annoyance before finally settling down. "Couldn't you have talked to her about it after you saved her?"
Link frowned. "No."
"Why not?"
"What if you talked to her about it?"
Purah's face finally settled on annoyance. "Your relationship with her is different from mine."
"She is different now."
"Why would she be different? You said you were friends."
"I am bound to her. That is not friendship."
"When you're bound together you aren't inherently friends, no, but it's a natural thing to want to become friends. I think you cared about each other. Zelda still cares about you, too."
"Why would I be friends with someone who held my chain?"
"You sound like a Yiga clan member, Link."
Link glanced down at the dirt, nostrils flared, holding his tongue lest he incriminate himself more. So what if he did? They could be right about something, couldn't they? "You should understand."
Purah snorted. "I doubt it, but if I really should, then teach me."
"You know your place in this pattern. That is why you stay in the lab."
"What?"
"You never come down from there unless you have to."
"True, but that's not why. It's difficult to interact with regular Hylians sometimes. That's all."
Link sniffed. "You think they're beneath you. Just like you thought I was."
"That is not why I stopped talking to you." Purah crossed her arms. "Stop guessing people's motives."
"Then tell me what I did," Link said coldly.
"It was the attack on Kakariko you incited. I decided it would be better for me to leave you alone." She sucked in a breath, eyes glancing somewhere off into the distance. "I don't think that was the best course of action now."
"Robbie didn't leave me alone."
"He wanted to play mediator. You didn't go to him, did you? He never said anything about it."
"Why would I? You're a spineless servant waiting for guidance from someone who doesn't care about you," Link snapped. "She doesn't care about you. She treats everyone like garbage!"
Purah stared at him, tilting her head. She stayed oddly calm, but a spark of anger flickered in her eyes. "Spineless? Really."
"Everyone abandoned me."
"They were grieving."
"So was I! They didn't even— they told me— I thought she was dead, and they didn't say anything!"
Purah relaxed, and knelt down on the ground. "Who?"
Why wasn't she more upset? He wasn't sure what welled up inside him now, but he held it back, more out of confusion than self-restraint. "Paya."
Purah's head tilted again. "No one told you she was okay?"
Link stared at her in mute astonishment for several seconds, before shaking his head.
"What a mess," Purah groaned. "I wanted to apologize for not checking on you. Maybe things could have been different, but you need to stop thinking that way about people. No one here wants to hurt you."
"...But they did."
Purah looked away, parting her lips to reply, but nothing came. She rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, before placing her arms on her knees. "I'll make it up to you."
"What could you do."
"You don't have many people to talk to, do you?" Purah shrugged. "I know what it's like to feel alone."
A part of him wanted to lash out and say she could never understand. But he was desperate enough, this time, to nod slowly and turn his head away.
"So, if you're ever feeling empty and miserable, you can always stop by the lab for a bite to eat. It's the least I can do."
"Thank you," Link said quietly. "I am sorry for calling you spineless."
"I've heard worse things, but don't do that again."
"I will not."
They both stared at the pond, watching the ducks dive into the water and pop back up, shaking their little bills as they ate their catches.
It was quiet enough that Link could hear his stomach rumble. "May I have my slate?"
"What do you need from it?" Purah asked.
"Ingredients for lunch."
Satisfied with this answer, Purah handed it off. He pulled out some flint, meat, his chopping board, skewers he had whittled a while ago, a cooking knife, and a bottle of Goron spice.
Purah took the slate back. "You didn't pull those out earlier?"
"They are for traveling. I will put them back when I am done." He trotted to the cooking pot, heaving it off and placing it to one side. The wood under the cooking pot still looked good. Then he pulled up some dry grass, stuffed it around the edges of the wood with a few extra sticks, and lit it.
"You can go inside."
"I don't want to," Link replied, cutting into his lunch pumpkin to remove the stem, and chopping the rest up into chunks.
Purah watched him, disinterested, but not enough to leave. When he had gone to the lab in the past, she and Symin took turns cooking, but neither of them seemed invested in it. Still, they would always offer if they had anything, and prod him about how all their research funding was going into feeding the hero as he gobbled down a plate of rice balls. Link placed chunks of meat and pumpkin on the skewer, and seasoned them liberally with Goron spice before sticking the skewer over the fire.
The least he could do was be polite to the one that had promised him food. "Skewer?" Link offered the finished one to Purah.
Purah leaned forward in interest, then pulled back. Link frowned, and held it out further before Purah shook her head.
"You don't want it?" Link asked.
"No, thanks. I don't like skewers. It smells good, though."
He could not understand her at all. First the way she behaved during the argument, and now refusing good food? Link shrugged, and dug into the skewer. The meat was juicy, with a crisp exterior and tender interior, complimenting the mouthfeel of the soft but not mushy pumpkin.
They sat in silence again, until Symin and Cado left the house, chatting with one another about something Link didn't bother to tune into.
"I should go," Purah said, brushing her skirt off.
Link dragged the last piece of meat off his second skewer. He raised his hand, and waved at her. "Thank you."
"You're very welcome, Linky." Purah smiled. "We'll be okay, I promise."
