New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Tears of the Kingdom Special - Part 1: A Little While Longer

I thought I knew Hyrule.

With the Hylian Champion at my side, I had scoured damn near each and every single inch of this land; I'd swam in its rivers, hiked up its mountainous trails, went by horseback across its plains. Up into the snowfields we went, and even through the sky I had gone, clinging to the paraglider after leaping courageously off of clifftops.

But this... this was not the Hyrule I knew.

The Hyrule I had traveled through before had been beautiful but dangerous, chaotic but peaceful. This Hyrule had gaping chasms and floating islands and... and the Hyrule I knew before had Link in it. This one did not.

He and the princess had gone beneath Hyrule Castle, and I had been with them up until the very last step where we could still see sunlight and I had... I had withdrawn. Something had called to me on the surface, urging me not to go down beneath the castle.

Inwardly, I was equal parts being grateful for and regretting that decision and the contradiction would give me a headache thinking about it, even now. The reason for my regret should have been clear; if I had gone, I might have been able to help. I'd at least know for sure what had happened to Link and Princess Zelda. It might have proved that I meant something in this tapestry of history they were weaving together. Instead, I had pulled away, removing myself from it entirely.

But I was grateful for it too, though that reasoning was a bit more complicated.

I was not Link, the Hylian Champion, the princess' guard, the one chosen by the princess and the Master Sword. I was not a hero, no matter what he said. I was also not Princess Zelda, the heir to an incredible power, a manifestation of all things wise and patient. I was not integral to this and their effort, no matter what she said.

No matter what they said, I did not have a real part of this.

So, during the Upheaval, if I had been down beneath the castle when it happened - because they must have unearthed something or set off a reaction of some kind to set it off - I'm sure that Hylia, the three golden goddesses, and fate itself would not have hesitated to do away with me.

Whatever had happened to the princess and the swordsman was unclear, but what was clear was that the Upheaval had uprooted Hyrule just as the Calamity had once before. And because I was no more significant than before, if I found myself reaching too far, if I dared to do more than I was ever meant to...

If I had gone with them, I would have died. I felt this to be true, deep in my heart.

So, I was grateful for it. And yet it was my deepest regret, because even if it cost me my life, I'd have wanted to make sure that Link was alright.

Dammit, I'd vowed to myself and to him that I would never leave him, that he would never be alone again and...

I let out a sigh. There was nothing left to be done about it now, but... but they'd been beneath the castle when it had risen up out of the ground, foundations and all. All that loose soil and rock would have crushed them for sure... wouldn't it?

Oh, but I couldn't just believe they were gone. They couldn't be. Of anyone, they were far too important. I'd been hard-pressed enough to dodge all the falling rock as I ran, ran from the castle only to double back because I couldn't possibly leave them...

I'd been cut off by monsters. Turning a corner only to find myself finding a trio of Bokoblins, I'd figured it'd be an easy fight, only for the earth to shake beneath me and the sky seem to split and suddenly I was facing something far larger, a Bokoblin but comparable in size to a Hinox. Heavy-set and with a huge club, and looking right at me, I'd had no choice but to focus up and fight it.