Archive of Our Own ^beta

“This is a rather somber trip. At least compared to the other adventures we had, is it not?”

Link just barely made out the sound of the princess’s voice over the ever-present thrum of his train’s engine. He nodded slightly, still shocked and flattered that she had entrusted him with such a trip in the first place.

“Yeah, it uh… it’s not as fun as us getting to save the world, so…” A brief pause as Link looked down at his now dirt covered gloves and coat before glancing at Zelda’s new, dark purple skirt. 

“Are you sure I’m dressed nice enough? I don’t wanna make a bad first impression.”

Zelda smiled, amused at Link’s unnecessary anxieties. She placed a gentle, black-gloved hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. 

“You’re dressed just fine, Link. My family is going to adore you so.”

The hero smiled shyly, turning back to gaze at the tracks as the two young lovers neared the graveyard.

When Zelda had first brought up the idea of visiting her family, Link was already made nervous, but when she clarified that she had meant the graves of her family… he felt like that was scarier than meeting her alive family. Zelda had seemed nervous asking, though, and from what he knew of Zelda’s devotion to her kingdom and its history, he knew that for Zelda to invite him to visit her family’s graves was one of the most important things to her.

There was only a moment of hesitation before Link agreed, kissing her forehead gently and then whispering “Am I going to have to talk to their ghosts or…?” and breaking the tension with a sparkling laugh from the princess.

Coming to a squealing halt, Link started getting ready for the visit at hand, dusting his clothes of dust and grime as best as he could. He eventually opted to simply remove his gloves, offering a hand to Zelda and helping her hop out of the train.

“Don’t forget your box,” He reminded gently, prompting Zelda to squeak as she reached over and grabbed the small, carved, wooden box she had brought with her for reasons unknown to Link.

“Thank you, sir,” Zelda winked, holding the box gently with both hands, but offering her arm for Link to hold. He took it gladly, walking up to the royal resting grounds with Zelda at his side.

The metal gate surrounding the grounds were beautifully crafted, and Link noted and pointed out how there were gears and train engine scraps welded into the ornate metal, creating beautiful patterns and designs encircling the sacred ground. Zelda walked in as she probably had a thousand times, respectfully bowing her head as she entered the area and treading gracefully over the pristine, green grass.

Link was led to a portion of the graveyard that was clearly older than the rest, yet full of an incredible sort of beauty fueled by the antiquity of it all. Clearly, this section was reserved for the kingdom’s most revered and loved, and he intuited correctly as Zelda finally reached the center of the graves.

At the foot of two gravestones shadowed by a large, stone statue covered in green moss and lichen, Zelda kneeled on the perfect grass and sat back on her hands, placing the box just in front of her and gesturing for Link to join her.

For the first time since entering the plot, Zelda spoke, voice reverent and adoring.

“Link, I want you to meet my grandmother and grandfather,” She pointed to the statue, and then the graves.

“The founders of New Hyrule…” Link mused in awe, taking in every detail of the statue depicting the two previous rulers.

“Indeed. Tetra, my grandmother; her visage can be seen throughout the castle’s stained glass and art. And Link, the original hero as seen in legends of old. Though, I think this kingdom forgets that they were not quite so ‘prim and proper’ as history makes them out to be.”

“Oh?”

Zelda laughed a little, giggling to herself. 

“Grandmother and Grandfather were pirates! They plundered and stole and wrought havoc across the seas. All in the name of good, of course,” She smiled at the statue just beyond the gravestones, a wistful look filling her expression.

Link took a closer look at the statue as well, the carving depicting a rather sweet scene of two young lovers–not much older than Link and Zelda themselves– holding each other gently. The man, former founder of New Hyrule, Link, had a flowing tunic and short, curly hair tied back with a cloth or handkerchief of sorts, and his statue gazed lovingly at the other, though the smile on his lips was… almost comically unserious. The same could be said for Tetra’s statue though, Link saw, as her smile was just as amused and teasing as that of Link’s. Her pirate regalia and hair pulled back in a tight bun made her look quite powerful, but the amused love she had for the other was clear, even in stone.

“They both kinda seem like dorks,” Link announced without thinking, before gasping and slamming his hand over his own mouth.

Zelda roared with laughter as Link began apologizing.

“Oh! Oh my, Link, you would not believe the stories Grandmother used to tell me!” She wiped a stray tear from her cheek. “The two of them were most definitely what you could call ‘dorks’.”

The little wooden box that had gone untouched the entire visit was finally opened as Zelda reached out for it, leaning it towards Link so that he too could see its contents.

Inside were pictures and papers, old yellowing letters and handwritten stories, and even a piece of an old, motheaten cloth. Zelda dug around briefly before fishing out a photo, showing it to Link with a proud smile on her face.

“My grandparents on Grandmother’s ship,” Zelda explained, pointing to two people who were clearly laughing too hard to notice they were being photographed. “They were by no means ‘serious’, that is for sure.”

She was right. The photo depicted Link and Tetra as young teens, Tetra looking more similar to Zelda than he realized laughing at a young boy who dangled upside down in the ropes of the ship while wearing a crudely made seagull costume. Tetra herself was sporting a thrown together set of wings made of seagull feathers and seashells.

Zelda smiled as Link laughed.

“Okay, so they were totally unserious then, got it.”

“Simply the most unserious.”

Zelda fished out another photo, this time of Tetra, a young girl, and Link wearing matching clothes, all three posing proudly together, though the boy had a humorous expression on his face.

“They were young and in love,” Zelda smiled softly, showing Link some more photos here and there. “They were not worried about looking powerful or serious. They were brave and playful, and I’ve always admired that about them.”

She rummaged through some more photos with Link, pointing out other people in the photos, some of whom even still lived in New Hyrule. She showed photos of an old woman and a young lady–presumably Tetra and Zelda’s mother–holding a small Zelda with bright curly hair and a pink dress. There was a photo of a toddler-aged Zelda holding a wooden sword, pointing it determinedly up at a frail looking Tetra who seemed to be bellowing with laughter. Dozens of photos of a middle-aged Tetra arm wrestling with her own determined daughter, strangers cheering them on in the background.

“Grandmother was rowdy and improper, albeit a powerful woman,” Zelda explained. “My mother would often reminisce on how as a baby, Grandmother had tried to teach me how to be a pirate, and I made food canons out of silverware and would drive my nursemaids wild with my antics.”

“I can see you doing that now, Zelda,” Link teased, eliciting a mischievous grin from the princess.

Looking through the box some more, Link couldn’t help but notice that although there were loads of photos of Zelda and Tetra, there were none with her grandfather, and no pictures of her grandfather in which he looked older than thirty or so.

“What about your grandpa, then?” Link carefully picked up a photo of the young man holding a beautifully crafted sword towards the pictograph. “I don’t see any photos of him with you?”

“Ah.. yes… well,” Zelda tilted her head, setting the box back down on the grass between herself and Link. “I… well… I never met him. Mother had said he passed very young, only a handful of months after she was born.”

Link felt his heart grow heavy at the news. 

“I–I’m sorry. He seems like an amusing person, it’s a shame you never met him yourself.”

Zelda sighed and shrugged, leaning into Link’s shoulder and wrapping an arm delicately around his waist.

“It is a shame. I wished to meet him so much as a child, what with all the fantastical stories Grandmother shared with me.”

There was a lull in the conversation, mainly due to Link not knowing what to say. He simply leaned down and kissed the top of her head, admiring the graves in front of him and waiting for when Zelda began to speak once more.

“You know, not many people know how Grandfather died. Grandmother was very quiet about it, y’know.” Zelda spoke up suddenly, voice more somber than before.

“But I know. Grandmother finally told Mother and I a few months before she passed, and I am one of the few remaining who still knows the story.”

Zelda sat up a little, cradling Link’s face in her gloved hand and leaning in for a peck on the cheek.

“I love you so, my Hero,” Zelda said earnestly, making Link blush in the process and avert his gaze. “There is no one in this world that I would trust more with my family’s legacy than you, Link.”

Link’s eyes widened. 

“Oh, Zelda, no–no you don’t have to–”

“I want to,” she said, holding up a hand to silence him. “It is important to me as it was to my Grandmother.”

Shuffling anxiously, Link bit his lip and pulled at one of the medals on his coat, before sighing and agreeing.

“Okay,” He spoke, taking Zelda’s hand. “I know it’s important, so if you want, I will always listen.”

Zelda smiled genuinely, hugging Link tightly. As she settled back into his side, she began to share her family’s tale.

“Grandfather was a hero, you know? He too saved his home and his family from that of great evil, just like you did.”

She poked Link a bit with a teasing smile. He blushed in response.

“Unfortunately, with his heroism and his and Grandmother’s powerful positions as pirates, came enemies. His enemies did not care for either Grandmother or Grandfather, but there were a special few who disliked him for his heroism alone, strange as it seems.

Not long after my mother was born and the creation of New Hyrule was pioneered, a particular group of rival pirates rose to the occasion of trying to end the reign of ‘Tetra’s Pirate Crew’ and gain riches in the process. They targeted Grandfather, knowing that he could be used as ransom for a generous sum of money should they capture him, more so than anyone on that ship other than my Mother.”

Link listened intently to the story, humming along and squeezing Zelda’s hands when she hesitated or seemed nervous.

“One day, he simply…he was just up and gone. No warning, no goodbye. Grandmother said she felt her heart stutter when her crew told her, her distraught wails so loud that the sound caused her child to cry with her for hours and echoed across New Hyrule’s unknown lands.

They received a ransom note days later. There was no proof that Grandfather was safe and no information concerning what had become of him while in enemy custody. There were suspicions that he was killed as soon as he was taken. Others assumed he had been tortured. But… no one really knows.

A handful of months later, his bandana was returned to Grandmother. Bloodstained and torn, and with a note detailing that of his death.”

Zelda carefully pulled the piece of old cloth from the wooden box, holding it up to Link and bowing her head in reverence. Link understood what the cloth was now, and he too bowed his head in silence.

“Drowned,” Zelda continued, voice quiet and hoarse. “He drowned in the ocean waters, the sea that had been his home for nearly two decades. Grandmother had said that they had supposedly tied him up and tossed him in and never looked back. And that was that.”

Another moment of silence, this one longer than any before.

Link breathed in, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“It’s a terrible story, then.”

“It is.”

Zelda squeezed Link’s hand, looking sad, but grateful to him for listening.

“Thank you. For listening. I know that it is a grim tale, but I wanted you to know my family. I want them to know you too. That’s why I wanted you here. I wanted to show them how loving and courageous you are. I wanted to show them that I love and trust you.”

Link blushed, smiling sweetly at Zelda.

“I’m honored, Zel,” He said sincerely, pulling her into a tight hug. “I think your grandparents would be very proud of the ruler you are today. Especially your grandfather. You’re a hero just like him, so.”

Zelda laughed shakily, eyes welling with tears.

“Oh, stop it, you’re going to make me cry in front of my grandparents!” She teased, voice wobbly. “But thank you…that… means a lot to hear.”

The two spent time talking back and forth with Zelda’s grandparents, telling stories and jokes and spending time together, even if the gravestones couldn’t talk back. As they packed up to leave, Zelda stood and turned to Link with a small, happy smile.

“I think they like you,” She said with an amused grin. “I told them lots about you, and you lived up to the expectations.”

Link laughed, turning and bowing to the gravestones as if they were people.

“I’m glad that I live up to what the princess has told you. It would be awkward to admit to you that I am courting her and have no plans of stopping if you both decided I wasn’t good enough for her, so.”

Zelda slapped his arm gently with a giggle. 

“Oh stop that, you dramatic boy! They like you plenty. I think they liked you long before they met you.”

“Woof, what a relief, then. It really would have been awkward if they decided I was terrible before I met them in person.”

“Oh hush!” Zelda laughed, playfully scolding Link as they made their way back to the train, both ready to head back to the castle and plan their next visit to see Zelda’s family.