Redemption (Link x Reader)

Chapter 28: The Hero's Son

Ray swallowed hard, rubbing his arm nervously. "I was supposed to wait until after we saved Hyrule... but I guess you deserve the truth."

He met Link's eyes. "Dad... I'm your son. Me—Ray." 

For the first time in his life, the Hero of Hyrule was speechless. The world seemed to stop around him as the weight of those words sank in.

The night in Kakariko was quiet, the soft hum of crickets echoing through the valley. Lanterns flickered gently outside the inn, their glow casting long shadows across the wooden walls. Inside, Link sat by the window, his Sheikah Slate dimly lit beside him. His eyes were distant, lost in the storm of memory and guilt.

Ray sat across from him, silent at first, watching the man who was both legend and stranger.

Link's voice finally broke the silence, low and heavy. "How did you survive? I thought (Y/n) said she couldn't... that she'd never be able to give birth again. That you would never be born. So how...?"

Ray's gaze dropped to the floor. "She kept it a secret," he said quietly. "She did give birth to me... during the Twilight era. I was just a baby then. Hylia took me in, raised me, but I never aged. I watched everything unfold."

Link turned slightly, his expression unreadable.

Ray continued, his tone trembling. "I saw you and Mom... she tried to move on after you fell into darkness. You were obsessed—with power, with Zelda, with trying to fix what couldn't be fixed. And Mom... she was broken. The Triforce was gone, the world was falling apart, and neither of you were yourselves anymore."

He swallowed hard, his voice cracking. "She used the Deity's Mask. She drove the blade into her heart to stop the corruption from spreading. I watched you hold her body, crying, begging her to wake up. And then... everything went dark."

Link's hands clenched into fists. His breath came unevenly, the memories clawing at his chest.

Ray looked up, eyes glistening. "A hundred million years later, I found you both again. Reborn. Different lives, same souls. I thought maybe this time... maybe it would be different."

Link finally turned to face him, his eyes shadowed with pain. "You shouldn't have had to see any of that," he murmured. "You shouldn't have had to carry our sins."

Ray shook his head. "I didn't come back to blame you, Dad. I came back because Mom's light still burns in you. Even after everything, she believed you could change."

The silence that followed was thick with unspoken grief. Outside, the wind whispered through the trees, carrying the faint echo of a dragon's cry across the night sky.

Link closed his eyes, a single tear tracing down his scarred cheek. "Then I'll find her," he whispered. "Even if it takes another eternity."

The moon hung low over Kakariko Village, its pale light spilling across the rooftops and the quiet paths below. The village slept, but inside one of the small inns, the Hero of Hyrule sat awake, his thoughts far from rest.

Link leaned against the window frame, his eyes fixed on the distant mountains. The faint glow of the Sheikah lanterns outside flickered like dying stars. His mind, however, was consumed by the image of you—your tears, your fury, your wings of flame cutting through the night sky.

He had tried. Truly, he had. To accept you for who you were—not as Ganon's puppet, not as a vessel of divine power—but as you, the Dragon-Phoenix who carried both light and shadow within her soul. Yet every time he saw your pain, every time your tears fell, it tore open the wounds of countless lifetimes.