Heart Of Darkness (Link x Male Reader)

A Visit To Hyrule

(Y/N)'s POV

After a considerably short journey, Link and I hopped off Epona, leaving her underneath the roof of the stables at the entrance of the kingdom. I'm not gonna lie - I'm somewhat anxious given my reputation as the son of arguably the most evil dark lord this world has ever seen but be that as it may, steps must be taken to put my family under a better light.

Link seems to have caught on to my sudden hesitancy.

Link "Hey, you okay?"

(Y/N) "A little nervous..."

As usual, he brought up his endearing smile.

Link "Don't be! Ever since we freed you from Ganon's grip, I've been clearing your name of any crime."

(Y/N) "W-wait, you have?"

Link "Yup! Now come on."

Link offered his hand to me. I guess the small pep-talk we had didn't quite convince me as Link still caught on to my uncertainty. He grabbed my hand and gently pulled me a bit closer.

Link "Hey... I'm here for you, and I'll be with you the whole time... okay?"

Feeling a little safer with him, I nodded. As hand-in-hand, we walked into the kingdom.

To my surprise - Link was right. The people here were surprisingly pleasant. Every now and again, we'd meet someone who asked if I truly was under Ganon's control. Even after confirmation, I didn't get much in the way of vile language or harassment- I even received a few gifts from those who sympathize with my upbringing.

After touring much of the kingdom, Link decided to take me to the castle. The walk was surprisingly pleasant given the beautiful view everything had. Mid-way through the journey, we reached a long bridge that leads to a separate island where the castle stood. I stopped at the middle of the bridge, prompting Link to also halt a step ahead of me. He looked back and I sense the concern he had at the entrance of the kingdom arose again.

Link "(Y/N)? You okay? Are you tired? We can sit down for a little while if you want to rest."

(Y/N) "Link, I... I don't think going to the castle is a good idea."

Link "Huh? Why do you say that?"

(Y/N) "I don't know. I have a bad feeling about it."

Link "Hey, It'll be fine. Like I said; I've been clearing your name."

(Y/N) "Hrnn... I don't know... I still have a bad feeling that I can't shake off."

Link "It'll go away by itself, come on."

(Y/N) "I said I don't want to go!"

Link backed off from due to my accidental outburst. He put both hands in front of him in defense and approached me again, slowly.

With a gentle voice, he spoke to try to try calming me down.

Link "Okay, okay... no castle visit today. Let's just... go home. You're probably tired."

I nodded. He grabbed my hand once more and brought me all the way out of the kingdom and helped me up Epona, himself joining shortly after. With a pull of a rope, Epona began galloping at a fast but steady pace en route to Link's house.

In the time passed, I was able to shake off the bad feeling I had and everything went back to normal, with Link being chirpy as ever, pointing out certain landmarks or areas that he wants to explore, and myself remaining mostly quite safe for the occasional remarks I make so that he doesn't feel like he's talking to nothing.

Back at Link's house, we saw a worrying scene. Another horse was already parked outside, and the house looked to be occupied...

Link stopped Epona a good distance away and we both dismounted. I originally guessed that maybe it's my mom, but upon closer inspection, the horse didn't look like Wonder at all. In fact, I dare say I never saw this horse before. We hid behind a bush and observed the house for a little while, smoke bellowed out the chimney which indicated that the fireplace had been re-lit, the window was opened and I could hear the sound of cooking oil crackling from within, along with the smell of cooked meat.

Link gave me a hand gesture and slowly, we approached the premises. We stood on either side of the door and waited. I heard a woman's voice humming, but one that I don't recognize and judging by the face he's making - neither does he.

Link grabbed the hilt of his sword, meanwhile I readied a containment spell in my hand. He grabbed the handle of the door looked me in the eye. I nodded and he began turning it slowly before quickly opening it and entering.

I locked my attention to my target and activated the spell. A rune appeared under her feet before it rose up into a cylindrical force field which kept our suspect sealed within.

(???) "Whoa! Huh? Oh hey there you two are!"

Link "Huh? You know us?"

Wait...

(Y/N) "*gasp!* You're one of mom's sisters!"

(???) "That's right!"

Her bright smile threw both of us off guard but it's clear she isn't trying to do anything bad. In fact, judging by her position, the assortment of food-stuff on the table, and the fact that she's holding a cucumber, I'd say she was just cooking dinner.

I disengaged my barrier spell and Link sheathed his sword.

Link "Sorry, we thought you were a bad guy."

(???) "No biggie! It's my fault anyway, I guess I should have left a note or something to tell you I was here."

Link "Why are you here anyway?"

(???) "Hm? Oh! Big sis told me to check up on you two, but when I got here, the house was empty and the horse was gone so I assumed you were going out. Not wanting to risk you coming back to an empty table, I thought I'd cook something for you!"

Link "Big sis?"

(Y/N) "Mom."

Eir "Yeah. Your mom and my other sisters are still busy with cleaning up your father's mess but they'll be done in a few days. In the meantime, I was told to stick around here and make sure you two were okay! Oh! I'm Eir by the way, but feel free to call me auntie - that goes for both of you!"

The sheer amount of kindness that she radiates honestly reminds me of Link.

In the end, we all sat down to a warm and comforting dinner. Once the last traces of the sun were gone, and the hour drew late, Eir left and told us that she's staying at the inn in the village and that she'll come back tomorrow to make breakfast.

With quite the eventful day, Link and I agreed that it was time to call it off. Being already drained of energy, I got into bed first and closed my eyes. I felt the bed shift and a warm comfortingly warm presence which moved around a bit in front of me. I didn't open my eyes as I already knew who it was. Link's hand locked onto mine and we said a quick "good night" before drifting off to sleep moments later.