The Hero Of Hyrule

Link Faces A Possible Mental Breakdown

"Duck, duck, duck..." Link repeated the word in his mind over and over again. A bow in his grasp and an arrow ready. The stinging cold of the Hebra Region hardly affected him and it certainly didn't affect the local fauna. Link continued thinking that same phrase until he spotted a good sized buck. "Goose." He grinned as he let the arrow fly. A single hit to the head and the buck was down, now he had a meal for the night, now all he had to worry about was the small possibility of freezing to death up in the harsh snow. Ever since the encounter with all four Divine Beasts and the sudden and traumatizing funeral of all his friends Link has spent his time up in the cold cold mountains where there were no people. Only him and snow for miles around.

He loved it up there. He loved how he could bundle up in layers and layers of warm clothing and wear his jewelry, which he acquired from Gerudo Town, to keep him from freezing to death. He loved the way any little cave with a fire in it felt safe and like home. He especially loved climbing the gigantic mountains and finding more and more interesting areas. So far he found two hot springs and a house that looked more run down than destroyed. At the moment he was gathering the food he had hunted to take back to his measly looking camp (which was basically just a torn up cloth held up by a couple of sticks) and have himself a nice meal.

God, Link sure loved a nice hearty meal. His favorite meal was probably his meaty stews. He loves those stews. The monster stews were a close second (the monster extracts added an extra flavor that Link loved) along with the skewers. However his most favorite dish was (which didn't count as a favorite in Link's mind, it went from "Goddess" level favorite to first to second and so on) the wild berry crepes. He loved the wild berry crepes. He loved just how sweet they were and how filling the could be. Those crepes reminded him of slower times whether it was relaxing in a run down and abandoned house in the middle of the forest or sitting at his table in his home at Hateno Village. Those crepes were the world to Link. His mouth watered just at the thought of them and how deliciously sweet they were. If only had had found a camp with a cooking pot...

Link sighed and stared at the ice cold raw meat in his hands. He was spoiled by the thought of gourmet meals and crepes to even think about eating seared steak for dinner. He looked down at the Sheikah Slate on his hip. The warm orange glow inviting him to take a look at what mysteries it held. The Hylian set his meat aside and uncoupling the device from his belt. The eye symbol appeared on the screen for a moment before being replaced with the entire map of Hyrule. Link swiped to reveal his little photo gallery. Aside from the pictures taken a century ago, his personal photo gallery meant a lot to him. On it was pictures of horses...dogs...more horses...Link with his horse...ah, and his beloved wild berry crepe. His stomach rumbled and Link groaned, he really wanted a crepe. The idea of perhaps using the many shrines around Hyrule to transport himself to a place where there was a cooking pot. The Zora's Domain instantly popped into his mind but he dismissed the idea of it. That was the last place he wanted to be. He didn't want to witness Sidon pretend to be his usual optimistic self after seeing his dead sister sink into the ground and sobbing his eyes out in Link's arms moments after that.

Wild berry crepes...

Link dismissed the thought of Sidon and completely ignored the tears that wanted to begin to form when he began thinking of the sad memory of Sidon. Instead he just smiled pleasantly at his picture of a beautiful and delicious wild berry crepe. God how missed those. It's been a while since he's had them. He usually made himself one once he managed to complete a shrine. He also gave himself permission to eat two after he reclaimed the Divine Beasts. In fact...he remembers planning on making a whole dining room table full of those little crepes after he defeated Ganon...he wanted to eat them with Zelda. He's sure she would've liked them.

Link swiped away from the picture of the crepe only to come across another picture of the same desert. He stared blankly down at his Sheikah Slate before setting it onto the snowy ground, face down. He grabbed the raw meat again and stared at that too, remembering the delicious kinds of meals he'd make with meats and vegetables. Meaty rice balls, salmon meunière, seafood paella... all those different dishes he cooked for himself on this long journey. A tear rolled down the champion's cheek.

He recalled staying at Zora's Domain one night. He was isolating himself from the Zora which, at the time, was understandable. He had barely woken up and had also just defeated Vah Ruta. No one expected Link to come out of his shell so quickly so they gave him space. He had gone fishing earlier that, wearing his Zora armor he managed to catch one pathetically tiny fish. He had no food other than the little ironshrooms he had found earlier and a couple of radishes so he was basically forced to eat the tiny little fish or else he'd starve. Link had built himself a camp fire in some far corner of the Domain and there he sat with his skewered fish. The fish was eventually cooked and he did eat it but it left him dissatisfied. He eventually decided to just sleep away the hunger. When he awoke early the next day a plate of professionally prepared salmon and a wild berry crepe with some warm milk was waiting for him on the ground, just feet away where his head was resting.

Link didn't know why but food was always his happy place. He loved cooking and watching as the oils in his cooking pot made the food jump up and down. His meals were a big part of his adventure, the helped not just healing wise but they also became a sort of nice little protective blanket for him. As long as he had the access to a nice meal he always felt happy and safe. But now here he was crying, knee deep in snow up in the mountains where the cold froze so many Moblins that it made the few, snow-covered roads look they were purposefully decorated with pretty ice rocks because he was staring at pictures of his favorite desert and instead of feeling happy he felt like utter crap because he was scared.

Link wiped the tears away, kind of afraid they'd freeze, and sniffed. He was admittedly scared. "At least I acknowledged it..." Link thought as he laid down on the snowy ground. King Dorephan's comment about him not being alone rang through his head. He wasn't quite sure he believed the older king. He sure felt alone right now. Looking back at the meat and his Sheikah Slate, Link sighed. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on top of them. In his perspective he had a couple different options. He could stay up in the mountains forever. He could live life in the snow and hunt for food and snowboard and not have to worry about anything ever again. However if he did that then he'd be letting all of Hyrule down...he was still a knight and as a knight it was his job to get the tasks assigned to him done. Even if the tasks terrified him more than any Lynel ever could.

The Hylian sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe he could sleep this all away. Maybe for some strange reason this is all some nightmare. Maybe he had failed again and was taken to the Shrine of Resurrection once more and this was an incredibly vivid dream that he was having. A pang of guilt shot through his body, he felt bad that he was hoping he had failed at stopping Calamity Ganon. Maybe he wasn't cut out to be a true hero of legends like his ancestors were. Maybe this is where the legendary bloodline stops, another more prepared person could take over. They could defeat Ganon in their next life and be forced to continue this long and draining process for years to come whether it be themselves or their descendants. 

Link stood up and began quickly walking down hill. He was frustrated and he was crying and he didn't know what else to do and the only thing to do was what he could do best, which is fight. So he went looking to do just that. However he would come to find that after an hour of trudging around in the snow there were very little monsters around. He eventually was forced to angrily cut down trees while simultaneously crying. As unusual as that was it actually helped him, especially since no one was around to witness it. That would be embarrassing. Once he eased his nerves he found a cave with an old campfire in it. And there he was again, back at square one. Sitting alone in the cold. He was getting nowhere like this and he knew it, however he didn't exactly know what to do. 

Link pulled the Master Sword off of his back and examined it, thinking of how many times this legendary sword got him through some very tough battles. It was a beautiful and deadly weapon. Link absolutely adored it. It often times felt like it was made for him specifically, which it technically was but not in the sense that Link wished it was. It was funny, all his life he heard of the previous Heroes of Hyrule. He would listen to their stories time and time again and how they would never fail in doing what had to be done. He didn't think he'd be the one to ruin everything. But he supposed that's probably how Zelda felt so many years ago when she would stand in the freezing waters and pray for hours on end so she could access her Godly powers.

 Link stopped and blinked. He felt pretty...idiotic to say in the least. He smiled and gave the sword a kiss before putting it away in its sheath. The Sheikah Slate was then slipped off his waist and before he knew it, Link was standing in front of the oldest Goddess statue in the History of Hyrule.