Archive of Our Own ^beta

It started—like most days—with breakfast. Zelda should have known something was up when Link immediately left the Zora library after setting a plate beside her journal, but she had been up for hours by the time he came by and was too hungry to care. Zelda didn’t even think twice about taking a massive bite of the honey crepe, relishing the sweet taste.

Except it wasn’t sweet. 

It was sour.  

Zelda gagged and spat the mouthful out onto her plate. “LINK!”

Her dear partner was nowhere to be found, though the Sheikah Slate was also missing—and the distinctive sound of its camera going off echoed from one of the arched windows along the upper levels. That gremlin. I should have remembered the date!

Link would be long gone—probably running across the roof or something else dangerous—by the time Zelda could reach him, so she didn’t bother trying to pursue him. Instead, she organized the scrolls she’d been using in a huff, too irritated to continue trying to decipher the old Zora history texts. 

“Zelda?” Mipha appeared from outside the library, concern written all over her features. “I heard you yell, is everything alright?”

“Link has decided to live today’s date to the fullest,” said Zelda archly. Then she stopped, taking a good look at Mipha. “Er—is that-“

“Chuchu jelly? Yes,” said Mipha, wiping some of the gunk from her eyes. The blue goop stuck hopelessly to her scales and looked rather like it had been catapulted at her from the front. “He got me when I left my room. Goddess, Link used to be the worst on Spring’s Folly Day when we were younger—I suppose this is just his old self shining through.”

“And now he has the Sheikah Slate,” groaned Zelda. “He could be anywhere by now, doing Hylia knows what!”

Mipha sighed heavily, pinching the spot between her eyes. “The smart rupees are on Rito Village for that stunt Revali pulled the other day, but we couldn’t possibly make it over there in time. We’ll have to wait until he comes back on his own.”

Zelda vividly recalled the near miss involving a trick shot and the impaling of an apple Link was in the process of eating and shivered. “You’re probably right. I hope no one gets hurt.”

“It’s Link. He won’t hurt anyone,” said Mipha. “He will be a bit… chaotic, though. I’m sure it’ll turn out fine.”

—

Revali hated to admit it, but Teba was advancing quite fast in flight techniques—fast enough that he ended training a little early as a reward, though in reality Revali wanted to train on his own for a time. Teba seemingly figured that out all on his own.

“Why bother making me your only student if you’re just going to send me back after a few hours?” he grumbled, tucking the last of his spare arrows safely into their quiver.

“You’re the only one who dared ask,” said Revali primly. “Now shoo, I’m sure your son wants to hear everything.”

Teba rolled his eyes and flew off, though Revali caught the tail end of a muttered “only me?” as he did. It was true—the other modern Rito either feared his reputation or his sharp tongue (in some cases, both). He took a moment to watch Teba leave, wondering if that would ever change. 

Enough reminiscing, get to work.

Revali reached for his quiver only to find that it had somehow shifted from its place. He thought nothing of it, figuring the breeze from Teba’s exit must have jarred the lightweight quiver, and experimentally drew an arrow back on his bowstring to begin. He spotted the dye pack too late. 

POOF!

Bright orange dye powder burst from its package the instant Revali put too much pressure on the arrow’s fletching, completely coating whatever it touched. To make matters worse, it was glittery. His feathers would take days to be back to normal. 

Revali spat glitter (and several expletives) and whipped about for the culprit, sure that whoever-it-was remained nearby. A snicker echoed from the roof of the Flight Range, followed by a blond Hylian head handing over the edge. 

“Spring’s Folly,” Link signed upside-down, grinning.

“Get down here, you featherless cucco-!”

But Link was gone, dissolving into blue light before Revali could so much as shout at him some more. He sputtered at empty air for a moment before giving up.

“Honestly,” he muttered, trying and failing to clear glitter from his armor, “I could swear Zelda banned you from using that thing.”

It struck him that Zelda wouldn’t actually let Link have the Slate, least of all on Spring’s Folly, and a plan began to form in the back of Revali’s mind. It wasn’t as if he could go back to Rito Village in this state anyway… 

—

Urbosa knew perfectly well what day it was. She also knew perfectly well that there was no one alive in Gerudo Town who would dare try to take advantage of the date in her direction. Perhaps back before the Calamity… she certainly had several friends who would have disregarded the rules in favor of setting a prank. 

Of course, I wasn’t a legend back then, I was me.  

So Urbosa contented herself with merely watching what was sure to be a chaotic day as she stopped by the kitchen for breakfast, bumping into Captain Teake on the way. 

“Good morning, Lady Urbosa,” said Captain Teake, nodding professionally. The effect was somewhat ruined by the mustache drawn on her face in what looked like glittery ink. 

“Yes, you as well,” said Urbosa, schooling her features. She watched the captain leave, trying not to laugh. Whichever guard did that is going to regret it. 

After breakfast and her usual rounds of the city came midday exercise, which was mainly sparring with whichever guard was willing to test her skills. Urbosa stopped by the guardhouse to collect her sword and shield, slinging both into their proper place reflexively. The training yard was already full of noise by the point—mostly from Captain Teake. 

“-and double spear training until someone confesses!” 

Ah, she discovered the mustache. 

Urbosa stepped out into the wide training area, halting the scolding with her presence alone. She nodded in greeting to the closest guards as she passed. Lukan, the guard who tended to partner with Urbosa for sparring the most, held out her spear in a clear challenge. 

“Shall we, My Lady?”

“Let us begin,” said Urbosa, drawing her scimitar in a sweeping motion to the side. Normally, this was an intimidating move—at the very least, it made her look impressive. Normally, the blade of her scimitar didn’t fall off its handle and crack on the ground, revealing itself to be made of cleverly-painted wood.

Silence spread through the training yard like ripples in a pond as every guard stared either at the false sword or at Urbosa, trying to gauge her reaction. She spotted a bit of paper sticking out of the false handle and pulled it out, finding a note written in utilitarian Hylian.

Spring’s Folly! The real ones are in your room, it read. There was no signature—but Urbosa knew that handwriting.

To the utter surprise of every guard present, Urbosa threw her head back and laughed heartily. “That sneaky little trickster!”

Really, if he’s going to use my trick to get in, he should at least be nicer about it. 

—

“You know, goro, I’m really gonna have to teach you how to get back at people. I know all the tricks,” said Daruk, helping his descendant get the last of the Eldin ostrich feathers out of his hair. The poor kid had been baited into accidentally provoking the temperamental birds—not hurt, just chased across half of Death Mountain. 

“You used to get people on Spring’s Folly?” Yunobo’s jaw fell open.  

“I dunno why it’s so surprising! I’m old, but I’m not some cranky rock who doesn’t know how to have fun,” said Daruk. “Me’n Link used to-“

“The Hylian Champion?”

“What’s so surprising?”

“He’s just quiet all the time, I guess.”

Daruk laughed as they came up on his home, clapping Yunobo on the back. “It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch out for!”

Yunobo left not long after with some good suggestions from Daruk, leaving his ancestor to go inside alone. Daruk scratched his beard as he stepped over the threshold, vaguely wondering if he should get a quick snack or just call an early dinner for himself, and immediately bumped the edge of a low table. 

“Hey, what-“ Daruk tried to maneuver around the table before realizing that he hadn’t left it there at all. In fact, that table was normally on the opposite side of the door. Daruk stepped inside and spun in a small circle to confirm his theory—and yes, everything had been moved, right down to the Boulder Breaker. It was like standing in a mirrored version of his home. 

“HA! I should have known—this must’ve taken you a while, huh?” said Daruk to the empty room. It wasn’t empty for long—Link poked his head around the entrance (somewhat awkwardly, since not even he could move smoothly in hefty Flamebreaker armor). 

“Took me a week to get everything ready for today. Spring’s Folly,” he signed clunkily. 

“You’ve got it coming, you know,” warned Daruk jokingly. “Did’ya get the other Champions?”

“And Zelda.”

Daruk let out a bellowing laugh. “It’s been nice knowing you, brother! Her revenge won’t be pretty, that’s for sure.”

Link snorted. “She’ll have to get in line with Revali.”

“Don’t count Urbosa and Mipha out,” said Daruk. He jovially shoved Link out of his rearranged house with one heavy hand, waving him off. “Now git so I can get you back sooner than later!”

Link, surprisingly, disappeared into blue light instead of walking away. Daruk shook his head in equal parts amusement and exasperation and went to start moving his things back into place. It was a fond tradition of theirs he’d missed during the long years as a ghost, the pranking—but that didn’t mean he had to just take it. Link had even expanded his list of targets this time around.

He’s really gonna get it this time. Wonder if I’ll get the first chance or not?

—

Link chose to go back to Hateno as Spring’s Folly Day came to a close, figuring that Zelda could never have made it back before him without the Slate. Their house stood as peacefully as it always did on the very edge of the town, and as he crossed the bridge and made his way to the door, Link let his guard drop.

First mistake. 

Link didn’t even get to push the door open all the way before three arrows thudded into the doorframe and the multicolored dye packs attached to them exploded all over him. He sputtered and rolled back, trying and failing to shake the glittery dye off of his armor, but he only succeeded in wiping it away from his eyes. 

“HA! How do you like the taste of your own medicine?”

Cackling laughter reached Link’s ears as Revali landed hard behind him, looking quite proud of himself despite still having feathers full of orange dust. 

“Spring’s Folly!” Revali taunted, before calling his Gale and leaping into the sky. He couldn’t possibly have meant to fly back to Rito Village after making it all the way to Hateno in less than a day, but he certainly managed to make his point. 

Link shook as much of the dye dust off as he could and went inside, switching out his Flamebreaker armor for Hylian armor as he’d originally intended to do. He’d fully expected to face retribution—though not so soon. 

No escaping it. Link took out the Slate with some regret and selected the shrine within Zora’s Domain, figuring Zelda would want it back sooner than later. The now-familiar sensation of his body rematerializing on the shrine pedestal was rudely interrupted by what felt like an ocean’s worth of water being dumped on his head. 

“Spring’s Folly, old friend. I knew you’d come back here eventually,” said Mipha triumphantly. She released a rope which led through an improvised pulley system to an overturned bucket above Link’s head—a clever trap, he had to admit.

“You got me. But, you know, I got you first.”

“Only because you wake up at the crack of dawn like a madman. You shouldn’t have ticked off Zelda, by the way—she gave me the pulley idea,” said Mipha. “Speaking of, you stole something from her.”

Link handed over the Sheikah Slate with only a little bit of regret, checking behind Mipha for his partner. Oddly enough, Zelda was nowhere to be seen. He cocked an eyebrow at Mipha, who smirked.

“Oh, she’ll find you, trust me. Do you want help getting that… stuff out of your hair?”

Link assured her that no, he could get rid of Revali’s prank on his own, and set off to find Zelda before she found him. The library was likely a no-go, not if she was plotting, and so was the room she shared with Mipha. He checked the general store, the inn, and a dozen other places around the Domain to no avail. Even as the sun sank below the horizon, Zelda was nowhere to be found. 

Ominous… 

Link eventually gave up as stars began to show in the sky, aware that Zelda could handle herself and was probably watching him run around like a headless cucco even then. He began the trek back to the Domain proper from one of the outer bridges, but something stirred in the shadows and halted his footsteps. 

A hand covered in an inky-black glove shot up from beyond the bridge and clamped onto the railing, startling Link badly enough to make him stumble and fall right onto his back. Next came a head with red eyes and gray skin and white hair, looming like a ghost in the twilight gloom, grinning maniacally in the ghostly light of luminous stones.

“BOO!” said the ghost, in a not-at-all scary voice. In fact, Link knew that voice.

“You’re the worst,” he said aloud, though his heart still hammered.

Zelda huffed and swung herself over the railing completely. “You speak just to say that and I’m the worst? Come on, tell me it worked.”

Link shrugged and accepted the hand she offered somewhat warily, eyeing the strange outfit. “Where’d you get that?”

He had to repeat the question aloud after Zelda told him that the signs were indecipherable in the dark, but she answered soon enough. “Same… person I got the monster masks from. Here, it’s just a costume.”

She tugged at a seam near her neck and pulled off the gaunt appearance in one smooth tug, reverting to her usual rosy skin and blond hair. Zelda studied his face intently in the dark. “Ugh. That wasn’t as effective as I’d hoped, was it?”

“...No.”

“Hmph. I’ll trust the others to get you back effectively enough—is that glitter?”

Foolishly, Link took Zelda’s words at face value when she said she was done. Foolishly, he assumed that the end of Spring’s Folly Day would be the end of any further grudges. 

Unfortunately, making breakfast the next morning proved him very, very wrong. 

“Enjoying your fruitcake?” said Zelda archly, watching him spit out the offending bite. “I switched your spices. Have fun cooking!”

Zelda left, heels clicking on the floor, and Link was forced to admit that he hadn’t been expecting that. She continues to impress. 

(Days later, when every metallic object Link owned started zapping him after a visit from Urbosa and when his cooking supplies were replaced with heavy lava-rock replicas, the impressed feeling faded just a bit.)