// NEW HOME. Link x Reader Fanfiction. //
\\ Currently undergoing revisions. \\
Home is very rarely a house, or a house alone; it is those who inhabit it, those who occupy your time and space in your heart... Those you love, and those who love you.
Home, for you, has not felt like home for a long time. In a house left to you by family, in which the family is very rarely present, in a village you'd never left...
It was as stifling as it was monotonous, and that was to say it's incredible, mind-numbingly, terribly monotonous.
Nothing happens in Hateno, the village of the normal, and it was a peaceful sort of calm, one in which you were a lone dreamer of something more, something exciting, something adventurous.
It's obvious to everyone in Hateno that you're growing restless, but to take only what you could carry on your back and an adventurous spirit and leave the only life you'd ever known... No one thought you could, nor that you would.
But that's exactly what you did.
However, that's not to say you didn't have help. Actually, those old stories about the heroes of legend, and specifically the one you felt was unfinished, of the calamity a century ago... perhaps you could go help write them an ending.
And really, who better to journey with than the hero of legend himself?
// DETAILS: //
First Person. Mild language, spoilers for the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Several liberties taken with Hyrule's landscape - don't expect a 1:1, exact representation of the map. Story is currently being revised, which is why it looks strange. If you read it before, I encourage you to take another look, and please, above all else, enjoy.
Amnesia was a funny thing. It strips you of all memories, both good and bad. But what it didn't take away from Link was his caring heart. He wasn't a man who had time to deal with or worry about things like memories anyway. All he cared about was doing what was right. But just because Link had no memories, or any interest to reclaim them, didn't mean they wouldn't return to haunt him.
Ever since Link woke up, strange things have been happening around the land. Horrific creatures, not quite monster and not quite human, begin appearing at night to terrorize the denizens of Hyrule. Link, not one to simply let such evils do as they please, decides to investigate into the matter as he travels across the land to find a way to destroy these creatures. It should've been just another job for him, just a problem the people needed solved, just another errand for the incarnation of Hylia's hero.
But as he investigates, he is haunted by his past. Link's mind cannot remember what happened. But his heart did. He still feels what he lost, what he failed to protect, even after one hundred years. That's what draws something toward Link, the very same evil that created the creatures he faces. It follows and watches him from the shadows, taunting him, waiting for him to remember the past he's forgotten, waiting for the pain to resurface, waiting for the time he can no longer carry the weight of it all.
As he journeys on his quest to defeat Ganon and save Princess Zelda, Link must learn to contend with another ancient evil that taints the land, all while facing the ghosts of his forgotten past. But how long can a disgraced hero last in the face of his failures?
Cover art designed by @DaybreakVision on Twitter.
Some themes may be upsetting to some readers. Viewer discretion advised.
Breath of the Wild and its characters are owned by Nintendo.