Chapter Text
Hyrule was once again freed from danger and the Princess returned to her people. It should be a time to celebrate but a silent sorrow filled the land. There was no festival to celebrate their good fortune. No parade or feasts. Instead the restless searches continued but no longer for the Princess, they now searched for the champion Link. Nobody was ready to face the reality that the champion that saved them for a second time was now nowhere to be found. All that was recovered were small pieces of his armor that were ripped off during his fight and a well worn blue hair tie.
His body was never recovered, giving Zelda a small bit of hope to desperately cling to that he would be found alive despite everything. It only took a few hours after she was saved for her to recruit a search team to start combing through Hyrule field searching for any sign of the lost hero. Hours quickly turned to days that turned to weeks, it had now been almost two months without a single sign of Link anywhere. If he was out there he did not want to be found, and his skill in the wild gave him the upper hand in hiding. It would have to be his choice to be found if he still remained.
Many people at Lookout Landing were starting to lose hope they would even find anything to bury. wanting to prepare a memorial for the fallen hero and lay his memory to rest. Despite the continued searches led by the Princess and her refusal to accept the hero was gone, a small shrine was created with the photo of all the champions before the calamity surrounded by a small handful of beautiful blue flowers and a tiny wooden figure of Hylia.
It was late into the evening. Zelda was sitting at her desk unable to rest despite being out with the search parties all day. one of the small scraps of Link's blue tunic lay beside her journal as she wrote. The scrap was only a bit bigger than her hand and burnt along one edge. It was both a comfort and a painful reminder of his absence. she kept it with her as she helped in the searches as if it could lead her back to its owner.
She glanced out the window watching the last rays of sun disappear over the horizon expecting one of the search parties she sent out to return at any moment. She watched a knight on horseback return from his search alone and her brow furrowed in worry, all the search parties were large groups to ensure everyone's safety while they were still working on reducing the monster population. He was carrying a small, thin bundle in his arms. She watched as he dismounted and frantically rushed into the building, moments later he was at her door knocking loudly "Princess we found something!"
That's all it took for her to leap from her desk knocking her chair to the floor and rush to the door dressed only in her white nightgown, a frantic expression on her face scared of what they could have found.
He extends his arms to reveal the contents of the thin bundle wrapped in grey cotton cloth that falls to the side allowing her to see. In the knight's arms he held the master sword. It was dirty with red smeared on the handle its scabbard missing. It seemed to have lost all of its shine as she gently took it from his hands carefully running her fingers over the dull blade. "Where..did you find this?" Her voice was quiet, shaking softly with anxiety.
"Not far from here actually.. At the edge of Hyrule field. There are some caves nearby that are currently being searched."
"Take me there. Now." She quickly turned on her heel gently laying the master sword on her table before throwing clothes on over her nightgown.
"But Princess it's very late and a storm is rolling in, we have people searching-" he was quickly cut off by her stern gaze
"We are going now if Link is there I have to find him"
The knight just nods quietly knowing the pain she's endured after losing her knight, there was no talking her out of it. closing the door to allow her to get ready quietly waiting outside. After a few moments, she burst out the door and down the hall leaving the knight to catch up to her.
It wasn't long before they were both on horseback riding out into the night, dark clouds swirling in the distance the smell of rain strong in the air.
-
Link had started to lose count of the days, too deep into a cave to see the light outside. He never knew if it was day or night. He purposely chose a cave with a large body of water separating him from the entrance figuring if anyone did bother to look for him they likely wouldn't go through the effort of crossing the large but shallow pool. he currently sat on a damp ledge next to the water a large bolder blocking him from being seen by anyone on the other side of the Underground lake, though it was so deep into the cave he doubted anyone would make it that far anyway. A small dying campfire his only light. He had a small bedroll laid out on the sand as a makeshift bed taking up most of the available space.
He looked down at his deformed right arm the flesh a dark red darkening to black at his fingers. He never thought he would miss the zonai arm he had been gifted. The entire time it was attached to him he had hated it, how alien it looked against his pale skin and the way people would stare. He constantly wished for his own arm back, it wasn't until seeing the twisted gloom ridden arm it covered that he had realized how much of a blessing Raurus's arm had been.
Immediately after defeating Ganon he was met with blinding pain like his arm was on fire, he had no control over his body and it seemed to move on its own, a voice that wasn't his coming from his mouth in a language he didn't understand. It didn't last long and the moment he was in control again he fled, tucking himself away in a cave like an injured animal to lick his wounds and try to figure out what had happened to him.
Since then every few days or so it happens again, usually as he's falling asleep or just waking up. Something takes over his body paralyzing him. The first few times it again spoke in tongues but Link was learning how to fight it, clenching his jaw tightly when he felt himself losing control. Whatever it was was getting stronger, in the beginning it was unable to force him to stand or move his body much. Now it could make him move a little despite him fighting it the entire time. It seemed to have the most control over his dominant right hand leading Link to the conclusion that it had something to do with his disfigured arm.
Recently during one of his episodes where he wasn't in control of his movement, he reached for the master sword, the moment his right hand made contact with its handle pain bloomed from his hand like it was burning him, causing him to throw it into the large body of water and get swept away by the weak current. He tried to shout, to jump after the holy sword but his body refused to move for what felt like hours. Forcing him to stare into the dark empty water. By the time he had control again, it was long gone.
He had tried looking for it, wading through the shallow water, it only came up to about his waist at the deepest part but found nothing. He cursed softly under his breath and followed the current that led outside the cave to a river. He silently slipped out into the cold night air expecting to see the master sword along the shore just outside but to his disappointment he found nothing, even if he did find it it had burned him, would it do that again? Was he no longer worthy of the blade? That wouldn't surprise him at this point. he'd been quite a terrible hero, he failed twice to keep the princess and hyrule safe, maybe this was Hylia punishing him for his failures.
The sound of people talking in the distance snapped him out of his thoughts, he quickly crouched down in the river thankful for the dark rain clouds collecting overhead to block the light of the moon. He knew he was too dangerous to be around people, something had been trying to control his body and he hadn't been able to figure out how to stop it yet. Slowly he sneaks back into the hidden opening at the mouth of the river making his way back to his hiding spot deep within the damp cave.
Once he made it back to camp he scrolled through his dwindling supplies with a heavy sigh, hunger pains in his stomach. he rests his left hand on his stomach trying to force it to settle, his ribs protruding out aggressively under his thin tunic. It didn't matter how much he had or how much he ate he was always so hungry. In the beginning he had a wealth of supplies and food, now not much was left but he didn't want to leave the cave to forage and hunt before figuring out a solution to his predicament. If he lost control while he was outside he had no idea what could happen, and whatever was trying to control him didn't seem to have good intentions.
His episodes were becoming more frequent and longer, he would claw at his arms and chest with his cursed hand leaving harsh red lines on his skin. Whatever was controlling him would talk using his voice. It had started to speak in Hylian, it would curse at him and taunt him for his insecurities. It wasn't anything he hadn't thought to himself at one point but hearing his own voice say it hurt more. It would threaten to force him to hurt more people, to hurt Zelda. The more he tried to fight it the more exhausted he became and the lack of resources was taking its toll on his body.
He took out a couple of mushrooms he still had leftover prodding at his fire trying to bring it back to life so he could rost them. After eating he tucked himself into his makeshift bed to watch the last embers die listening to the distant thunder outside. He was almost asleep when he heard footsteps coming down the cave, voices speaking softly about how they had looked here before and there was nothing. He recognized those voices from the search party for Zelda while she was missing, what are they doing here?
"The captain said someone found the master sword around here so we have to check again" a nasally voice echoed across the cave, they sounded tired and defeated
"He's been missing for too long there's no way he's still...." The second voice trailed off the two exchanging awkward glances. A long heavy silence followed before the first voice decided to change the subject, clearing his throat before he spoke. "I wonder if there's anything on the other side of the water.. It's too dark I can't see from here.. Last time we stopped here, could there be more over there?"
The second searcher peers over the water lifting a torch hoping to get a better view. "Do you smell..something?" The first searcher takes a deep breath pausing for a second before responding. "Now that you mention it yeah, that's really strange, like someone has been cooking"
Fear coursed through Link, he panicked trying to quickly and quietly snuff out the small red embers that remained of his fire. He should be blocked from view as long as they don't enter the water he should be safe-
There's a soft splash of water as one of the searchers steps into the underground lake testing its depth "It doesn't seem too deep we should be able to see the other side at least" There's a sound of agreement from the other as they also step into the water slowly taking each step careful not to go too deep, they stick together staying close to the wall where it's most shallow. It's not long before the dim light of their touches reach his hidden shelf at the edge of the water a soft gasp coming from both of them as they lay eyes on him frozen in place their eyes locked onto his.