Chapter Text
With a creaking groan the three Guardians that blocked what was left of the east gate of Castle Town fell before her, their singular eyes flickering and fading as the Malice that infected them was obliterated by the light of her being. Shimmers of golden energy crackled across her upraised hand and all around her body before fading and receding back into her form. Receded but still there, right at her fingertips, ready to surge forward anew at her call. After all the bitter years she’d spent desperately trying to achieve this power it now came so easily to her. She could almost laugh at the unfairness of it all. But this…
This was no place for laughter.
She picked her way around the hulking Guardian corpses and entered the town she’d desperately fled with Link not all that long ago. She knew it would be bad, she knew nothing would have been spared. She’d already passed through the Rauru Settlement on her way here from the Lost Woods, she’d already seen how little the Guardians left behind, but it still didn’t quite prepare her. There didn’t seem to be any other Guardians in the immediate area now, despite the fact that they’d been swarming when she’d fled earlier, they’d likely scattered across the countryside to hunt… to hunt her people. But one thing was omnipresent.
Fire.
Fire and ruin faced her at every turn.
There were no intact buildings, only blasted shells, scorched stone and burning rooves where before blue shingled homes and shops had stretched all around. The paved walkways under her bare feet lay cracked and strewn with all manner of debris; It was almost surreal, the contrast of the everyday scattered amongst all the destruction. Bits of clothing danced in the sweltering, fire stoked breeze; small trinkets and other personal effects glinted in the flickering firelight. Toys lay all about, a stuffed bear here or a wooden horse there. Left where they had been dropped, likely by panicked children desperately trying to hold onto any bit of comfort, a favorite possession to shield them from the monsters. But the worst thing...
The worst thing was the bodies.
Dozens and dozens of bodies.
They were everywhere. In collapsed doorways, caught as they attempted to flee, huddled in corners or alleys as they tried to hide. Some lay in large groups, shattered and melted weapons gleaming beside them. They were the ones who had tried to make a stand. Tried to buy others time. Then there were the smaller groups, two or sometimes three or four. Usually the larger bodies in these groups lay overtop of much smaller ones.
Parents who had tried to shield their children.
Princess Zelda of Hyrule fell to her knees in the burning plaza of her hometown and screamed. Screamed from the sheer need to release the agony lancing through her chest. She’d come here with a purpose, the Master Sword had shown her that her role wasn’t finished, had helped her understand what she must do until Link could be restored. But for what? Hyrule was in ruins, so so many were dead. The champions, her father, her people, and it was all her fault.
“What point is there in this now!” she yelled through her tears, fists clenched and pressed against the shattered cobblestones as she knelt in the ruins of her kingdom.
“So Hyrule will have a tomorrow.”
Zelda leaned back on her knees, her sobs stifled by her shock. Who had spoken? The voice seemed to come from everywhere. She felt a warmth in her right hand, she looked down at the back of her palm. The golden seal of the Goddesses, the Triforce emblazoned on her hand, flared with a brilliant and blinding light. A light that was emanating from the lower left portion of the symbol.
Emanating from the Triforce of Wisdom. The very piece of the sacred relic that the descendant of the Goddess always wielded throughout the ages.
The light intensified and Zelda cried out as it overwhelmed her, she raised her left hand to shield her eyes and then something changed… The smell of smoke left the air, the searing fire driven wind was replaced by a cool and calm breeze. She opened her eyes and found herself kneeling in a courtyard within Hyrule Castle. But it wasn’t her Hyrule Castle… It was different. The architecture was darker and more subdued, towers stood where they shouldn’t be and the grounds were all wrong. The banners billowing in the wind bore the familiar crest of Hyrule at least.
Then she noticed the woman.
Zelda let out a small gasp as she examined the stranger. At least she thought she was a stranger… Much like the castle she now found herself in the woman looked different yet familiar. She was tall, taller than Zelda, and obviously Hylian. She wore a traditional dress of the royal court styled with a white skirt and a rich purple top. But she also wore armor? Golden spaulders adorned her shoulders, her long auburn hair flowing past them in orderly waves. A golden crown lay across her brow, completing her regal appearance and highlighting her piercing pale blue eyes. Zelda opened her mouth to ask the woman what was going on but before the words could pass through her lips the stranger spoke.
“You carry a heavy burden Princess, but it is within your power to bear it. It is your duty to bear it,” the woman said as she strode forward to stand before the still kneeling Zelda. Her voice was the same voice Zelda had heard just before she was brought to this place. Strong, imposing, firm.
“Who are you?” Zelda asked.
“I think you know,” the woman answered. She raised her arm then to display the back of her right hand to Zelda. Even through the long, white gloves that covered her hands and arms it was clearly visible. The Triforce.
“That’s...That’s not possible,” Zelda breathed as she looked up at the woman standing before her, at the sign that identified her as one who carried the blood of the Goddess.
“Why are you kneeling? Why are you shirking your responsibility to your kingdom and your people? Stand up descendant of the Goddess! Stand up and accept the burden placed upon you,” the woman suddenly snapped at her, her stern face growing even harder as she looked down her nose at Zelda.
Something within Zelda broke then. Her royal poise, her reserved and unsure demeanor, her despair and self-hatred, all of it washed away in a torrent of pure burning rage. She shot to her feet so quickly that her golden hair danced around her shoulders and she leveled a piercing glare up into the eyes of her accuser. She barely came up to the other woman’s shoulder, she probably looked as imposing as a newborn Rito fluffing out its feathers, but she didn’t care.
She was livid.
“Shirking my responsibilities!?” she roared into her counterpart’s face. “I’ve spent every moment of my life weighed down by responsibility. Every moment since my Mother’s death knowing that the very fate of my people lay upon my shoulders. I’ve accepted this burden with every breath I’ve taken, and you know what? I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!”
Zelda’s shoulders were heaving, the echoes of her rebuttal were still reverberating off the castle walls, but the woman in front of her simply smiled. At first it sparked her rage anew, but then she saw something in her eyes.
A deep sadness.
“None of us asked for this,” she said, and in that moment her voice seemed to contain countless multitudes. “But if we had never taken up this mantle in time out of memory then there would be no Hyrule, no Hylians, there would be nothing. Nothing but hatred and misery and suffering.”
Zelda was startled then as the taller woman stepped forward and wrapped her in a tight hug, pulling her close and resting her chin in Zelda’s hair.
“There is still fire in you yet, that I am happy to see,” she said with a small laugh and with it Zelda felt all the anger drain out of her as she returned the embrace, burying her face in her counterpart’s shoulder as fresh tears leapt to her eyes. “I’m sorry Zelda, none of this is fair to you, but it is something you must bear and it is something that I know you can bear. You are no longer a princess. You are a Queen.” Those last words were barely a whisper in her ear when Zelda’s world became golden light once more and the woman embracing her faded away.