Fictober 2023: The Legend of Zelda Oneshots

This Story Sure Is Dragon On

Some things were different. Her hair, her eyes, her hands. Her massive, five-foot-long tail. The fact that she had scales and what could be called psoriasis, despite it being gold and teal and glowing in the dark. She had to exfoliate her cheeks and shoulders twice every day to keep them from becoming flaky, itchy rashes.

Also she was eight feet tall. That was a big difference.

Link loved all the differences. Every single one, just as much as he loved what they had replaced.

At first, when Zelda came back, he didn't mind the changes (she was still his Zelda, after all), but he was worried he would later. He feared that maybe he would soon miss his old Zelda. How awful would that be? To miss who she once was when who she is now stood right in front of him?

But no, the day he began to miss the old Zelda never came. After a while, he realized it wasn't going to, and he could relax. He was happy with who she was. He found happiness in the knowledge that he always would be.

She was the same Zelda, after all. His gorgeous, clever, kind Zelda. Having scales and spikes on her shoulders, horns on her head, and long, furry ears didn't change who she was.

Her nose stuck out more and looked more snout-like than before, her teeth were sharper and harder to brush, and her eyes were beautifully multicolored. Her fingers and toes were the same shade of dark grey that her legs were as a dragon, and her nails were the same color as her talons had been.

Her hair was harder to control and grew quickly, as if it were trying to remind Zelda of how long and glorious her mane was. She didn't let it, making sure she trimmed it weekly. The same went for her fingernails and horns, which still gave her good effects in elixirs. One painlessly-taken horn shard in exchange for 30 hours of an elixir working? Yes, please! It was almost worth becoming a dragon for.

Almost.

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When Link woke one morning, Zelda wasn't beside him. He listened carefully. He could hear sounds coming from the bathroom. "Zelda?" he called out. "You okay?"

"Link? Oh, good, you're up. Can you please come look at this? I, um, I found another difference."

He went down the stairs and into the bathroom. "Okay, show me."

She pulled up her shirt to show the scales on her upper back. "I have scales here."

"Did... you not know that?"

"I did not."

"They've been there since you became yourself again."

"Really?"

"You're only now discovering it?"

"I can't see my back. I only realized they were there it because it was terribly itchy."

"Need help exfoliating it?"

She sighed. "No, thank you. I can reach."

She pulled her exfoliating brush from its drawer and went to work, grumbling that the bristles were scratchy.

Link left to make them some breakfast. He decided to ask Purah to research ways to exfoliate that didn't involve scratchy brushes or itchy lotions. For science, of course.

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Zelda had a few personality changes, too. She was less patient, snapping at people who were rude to her. People tended to be less rude to her now that she had fangs and a tail as long as Link was tall. They seemed to get the message that she wasn't someone to mess with, despite the fact that she would never hurt them.