The Heroes' Rebirth - REVISITED | BOTW Sequel/Zelink (The Legend of Zelda)

Chapter 2: Reflection

Link figured that Zelda would need her privacy before getting into bed, so he quickly went into his "room." He took off his boots and his snowquill clothes, leaving his white undershirt on, and simply changed into a pair of hylian trousers. He set the slate next to his pillow as he did every night and placed the Master Sword to the right of his bed just in case. He sat on the mat for a few seconds, thinking... about something. Taking a deep breath in, he pulled his undershirt off for good and got under the covers.

He found it hard to believe that Ganon was nearly six months ago. Everything had gone by so fast and he hadn't really had a chance to reflect on all that had happened. Him and Zelda barely had time to, well, connect after the battle with Dark Beast Ganon. Before he went to face Ganon the people of Hyrule had caught word that he would be doing so, so they flocked to Hyrule Field in hopes to see the beast beaten. They also found it hard not to notice the giant pig-looking monster that caused the sky to turn dark. Right after Zelda had asked, "Do you really remember me?" hundreds of Hylians from Hateno and Lurelin as well as Sheikah from Kakariko rushed the pair and praised them for saving the land.

Shortly thereafter, they were both taken to see Impa in Kakariko Village. Impa ordered Zelda to stay and talk with her while Link went to tell the Zora, Gerudo, Rito and Gorons that the beast was finally slain and that peace and rebirth would soon follow. This task took him about a week because each race wanted to celebrate with Link, but he hurried the fastest he could to get back to Zelda. It shocked him how much he had missed Zelda's presence. He had forgotten what it felt like to be around her.

On his return to the village, Zelda was deep in preparation of the rebuilding of the castle and Castle Town. Link assumed that that was what Impa had talked to her about so he told her about Hudson to help her out.

Over the next months, Zelda was almost always at the castle and Link was wherever he was needed, which was mostly clearing monsters. There was one occasion where Vah Ruta was having some problems so Zelda had found Link to go with her to investigate. But other than that, they rarely saw each other. Link tried to visit the castle when he had time, but Zelda was either deep in work at the castle or somewhere in the town below.

Although Link found it a little annoying that Zelda never made time to try and see him, he understood that she was putting her all into rebuilding the kingdom, and he respected that. There were sometimes Zelda would use her telepathy to tell Link if something out of the ordinary came up and he enjoyed those. He really didn't understand how it worked: there were sometimes where she started soft and then became clear later, other times she just popped in his mind. It was almost like a feeling he would receive.

With helping the races of Hyrule, Link had grown very close to all the champions' descendants. When he needed encouragement, he went to Sidon. When he wanted to train, he'd stop by Teba. Teba would help Link with archery, and Link would teach him about swordsmanship. The Rito Warrior had been the most serious out of the four descendants, but Link had gotten him to open up more. Yunobo always made Link laugh. He found that Yunobo was almost the opposite of what Daruk was: while Daruk wore his confidence on the outside and shoved his fears inside, Yunobo didn't hide his fears, and kept his confidence to himself. And Riju, well, Riju was much like Urbosa was. She'd always ask Link about Zelda. He found it humorous that she always wanted to know what she was doing because Zelda never came to see her. When Link had told her that Zelda was staying with him she turned the deepest shade of red he had ever seen. "Like, together together? Where do you two sleep?" Link had died laughing at those questions. It was obvious to him that the thought of him and Zelda together excited the young 13 year old chieftain.

Link had thought about them together himself, and was thinking about it even now. He ultimately decided that he would prefer it to be the same as it was 100 years ago. Back then they were best friends, although it took a long time for it to become that way. After the Yiga attacked her that one night, they bonded and they understood each other. They both had the weight of the world on their shoulders and they had helped lift it off each other.

But, there were times he would think about her and he would have a feeling, or rather a memory of a feeling. He usually just brushed it off and thought it was nothing, yet he felt like it was important. Maybe it was a sign or... something. And it wasn't just the feeling. Every time they were together flower petals, seemingly from out of nowhere, fell around them. They were there after the battle with Ganon, walking from the castle afterwards, and when they were together to check on Vah Ruta.

Through it all, he had faith that they would finally have time to catch up now that things were slowing down.

This was one of the first nights where they were actually able to say goodnight to each other. Link smiled to himself as he easily drifted to sleep.

—————

"Hey, Link."

Link could feel someone subtly shaking his body. He attempted to open his eyes, but the weight of his eyelids were so heavy, so he just gave a little, "hmm?"

"I'm going to the castle now. Depending on what needs to be done I might be back a little earlier tonight."

His eyes flew open at Zelda's words and looked to meet hers. Her eyes were big as she was crouched at his feet and dressed in her usual blue shirt and black pants.

"Hudson has been working nonstop. He predicts that the castle and the town will be done within the next month. They won't need me around that often," Zelda replied rather hastily.

Link sat up out of his bed, letting the covers fall off of him, to face her. He didn't want to seem too excited, so he gave her one of his signature nods. Zelda was used to these. She knew Link wasn't the biggest talker so she came to know that his nods were the best way to express himself in a short amount of time. She smiled at his response and quickly stood up.

"So I'll hopefully see you tonight. Goodbye!" And she left through the door. She looked like she was in quite a rush to get out the house and Link didn't really know why. He then looked down at his bare chest.

"Oh."