open 🌻 a not so welcome return

[multidisciplinary]

Who: Zelda and OPEN
Which: Open log
Where: Around town
What: Zelda returns to Song after disappearing for a canon update two weeks ago.
Warnings: Major Tears of the Kingdom spoilers in the first prompt. (opt out of TOTK spoilers here.) Also minor descriptions of choking and vomiting.



1. choking hazard

This isn't how it was supposed to happen.

They had it all planned out, Zelda and Mineru. They knew everything that needed to be prepared in advance, every task to plan or delegate so that all the necessary tools would be available to Link in the distant future. It was just a matter of getting it all in order before the end. They had only this once chance to get everything right. There would be no going back, no correcting mistakes, once Zelda swallowed her secret stone.

They had tried to plan for contingencies as well. What if Ganondorf broke free too early? What if the Temple of Time were damaged? What if Mineru's spirit faded before she could meet Link?

'What if the Princess is suddenly spirited away to a strange dream world before she could transform?'—was not among those contingencies.

Hidden away in a quiet alleyway not far from the Plaza, Zelda sits on the cobbled stone and tries to take stock of her situation. The Master Sword—more a stump than a sword at this point, its brilliant blade almost entirely corroded away—lays beside her on the ground. The princess's right hand rests protectively over its hilt, ready to grab the blade at a moment's notice, should anyone intrude on her.

'Songerein.' She knows that name. It stirs recognition somewhere deep, deep in the back of Zelda's mind. She had a dream like this once, during the long century she spent sealed away with Calamity Ganon. To think it was not (quite) a dream after all...

But that doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that matters is getting back to Hyrule, protecting the Master Sword, and--

Zelda tries to swallow a lump in her throat.

--giving up her life for the sake of the future.

For the sake of Link.

Her brows furrow. She already tried (and failed) to use her power over time to return herself to the moment before she woke up here in Songerein. But she isn't willing to give up that easily. Zelda absently rubs the stone attached to her choker with her thumb. A mortal might be beholden to the rules of this realm, but what about a dragon? Mineru said that a dragon is unbound from the shackles of time, becoming ageless—deathless—an immortal shell of one's former self. Surely such a being could not be bound by the rules of dreams either. Perhaps the transformation will be enough to wake her and free her from this purgatory so that she can do her duty.

She'll do anything if it's for Link.

Clenching her jaw, Zelda yanks the stone from her choker and cups it in her palms. Such a little thing, and yet it's capable of such great—and terrible—things. It can draw out the greatest strength in anyone, allow them to build a kingdom of prosperity and paradise. But it can also draw out terrible evil, the cruelest of ambitions, the downfall of any goodness in the world. It is capable of allowing someone to live forever—at the cost of everything that they are.

She'll do anything if it's for Link.

Zelda clasps her hands over the stone and presses her forehead against them. "You must find me, Link. I may not know it's you... You may not know it's me... But you must come for me. You must protect everyone."

She raises her hands to her lips and swallows the stone whole.

The lump sticks in the back of her throat. Zelda swallows again and again, trying to push the stone down, but it holds fast. She tilts her chin up and strokes her throat, trying to coax it to relax. Come on, go down. Zelda tries to take a breath in order to swallow again, but only manages to suck in the tiniest hiss of air. The stone won't move.

The edges of her vision start getting dark. Growing frantic, she slaps at her throat with both hands. Please, just go down...

All of the sudden, Zelda lurches forward, falling onto her hands and knees. Against her will, she heaves. Up comes the stone, along with the contents of her stomach, splattering over the cobblestones.

It takes a minute for her to stop retching and catch her breath. When Zelda opens her eyes and spots the stone, her gut clenches up again and she lets out a wrenching sob.

"Why?! Why won't you let me go?"

What a horrible scene to come across, should anyone be so unlucky.



2. about town

It's the next day.

Zelda is still playing over the events of the previous day in her mind—she went to sleep in Hyrule, assured of her plans and ready to enact them. But when she woke, she was in this strange world, Songerein. A dream from long ago, a lifetime past, when the princess held back an ancient evil all by herself for one hundred years. Sometimes she was awake, watching over the land of Hyrule, watching over her knight as he slumbered. Other times, she slept, dreaming strange dreams about people from strange worlds and magic powered by the combination of dreams and emotions.

So it wasn't a dream after all.

Throughout the day, Zelda can be found wandering around town, looking lost and hesitant. She clutches the hilt of the corroded Master Sword with both hands, never once setting it down. She walks streets she used to know by heart, trying to stir memories that have been long dormant.

So lost in her thoughts, Zelda isn't entirely paying attention to where she's going, so it's very likely that she'll bump right into someone.

But even if she doesn't, she might stop you to ask for directions. Do you know the way to the library?—no, it was an archive. There's supposed to be a smithy around here, isn't there? Do you know of a place where they teach music?

Or maybe Zelda will make it to her destination—the smithy, the archives, dreambucks, the Plaza, or any such place. She'll linger outside, hesitant. Does she remember this place? Did she know someone here? Maybe she'll even step inside, milling around with the uncertainty of someone who knows they are looking for something but has forgotten what it is.



3. the wildcard option

Want a different prompt to meet or reunite with Zelda? Plot with me on plurk (knighted), discord (triforce1960) or DM.

Also, feel free to reply in brackets instead of prose if you prefer.

Comments

[multidisciplinary]

The unspoken message is received and Zelda allows herself to lower her guard. Heightened breathing slows and some of the tension fades from her shoulders.

"You are...." Complete sentences are hard right now.

Zelda carefully studies Kratos's face, her brows knitting together in that familiar look she gets whenever she's concentrating. Though only four years have passed for Link, it has been more than sixty for Zelda since she was last in Songerein. The memories that have been long buried from what feels like two lifetimes ago are surfacing in her mind and she rifles through them looking for a name to match this face. "...Kratos?"

There's that spark of recognition in her eyes.

[flamberge]

His words seem to have the intended effect of putting Zelda at ease. Her body language goes from someone posed to strike at a moment's notice to significantly more relaxed. Kratos patiently waits as she studies him, though with a note of how long it appears to take for that recognition to occur. They hadn't seen each other that long ago, after all. Questioning that can come later, however. The first priority now remains making certain Zelda is alright.

Kratos nods at his name. "That's right." He pauses briefly, weighing what to ask next. If she had difficulty placing his face, then determining what she knows might be a good starting point, "Do you know where you are?"

[multidisciplinary]

Zelda nods, this time with more confidence. She has already received her welcome greeting from the little tapir she met in the plaza.

"Songerein," she says. "Or Reverein, to be more specific."

Her head is starting to throb from the onslaught of memories returning all at once. Zelda shifts her position so that she can sit down, tucking her legs underneath her, then presses her free hand to her temple. The other hand, still holding the stone, settles in her lap.

"I dreamt of this place once, long ago..." Zelda's eyes drift from Kratos down to her lap as she sorts her thoughts. "I thought it was only that."

[flamberge]

Zelda being aware of her location is a good sign. An equally good sign is that added tone of confidence to her voice. The distress from earlier looks to be subsiding, much to Kratos' relief.

The mention of having dreamed of this place answers another question, namely what might've caused the distress to begin with. From the sound of it, she'd gone home then and only just returned. If so, then her present state can likely be attributed to something which occurred there.

One thing she says begs another question, namely the comment about dreaming of this place long ago. "How long were you away?"

[multidisciplinary]

Zelda continues to massage the side of her head with one hand as she tries to find the answer to Kratos's question. Her overtaxed brain protests the effort, but she pushes forward in spite of the headache. She only dreamed of Songerein early in her century inside the seal with Calamity Ganon, perhaps forty years into her imprisonment. And even then, it was a relatively short dream by comparison, a fleeting respite from a century of confinement.

"It is difficult to know for certain," she says, brows knotted in concentration. "Sixty years, perhaps more."

[flamberge]

A small flash of surprise crosses his face at the response. Given how immediately she replied, it's likely an accurate estimate. Any human who would've been gone 60 years would've been old and grey. Zelda, on the other hand, hardly looks a day older than Kratos had last seen her, some changes in hair style and clothing aside. Several questions play on his mind, but none of which feel appropriate to ask now.

Those questions thus get pushed to the side. Kratos instead refocuses his attention on what matters most right now, namely Zelda and her well-being. "Getting reacquainted with things may take you some time then." He pauses briefly before adding, "If there's anything I can do to assist with that, let me know."

[multidisciplinary]

Zelda nods in understanding. It doesn't occur to her at this moment how odd it must sound to announce that sixty years have passed for her, even though she doesn't look much older than when she was here before.

She considers his offer for a moment, absently rubbing her thumb over the smooth surface of the stone in her hand.

"Do you know how much time has passed hear since I woke?" Zelda finally asks. "Approximately. It need not be to the day."

[flamberge]

Her question is a rather easy one to answer, at least. Kratos does take a moment to recall when he had last spoken with Zelda. It hadn't been all that long since they'd worked together to try to fix that guardian, "I last saw you a few weeks ago so it hasn't been too long."

[multidisciplinary]

Only a few weeks ago.... No wonder Kratos doesn't look any different than Zelda remembers. Nor does the rest of this place (though she's only seen the Plaza and this alleyway since waking up).

The crease in her forehead deepens as she tries to call to the surface her last memory of him. He slew a rampant Guardian, then helped her try to fix it....

Zelda's eyes widen with panic as the related memories snap into place—the distortions, the elements of Hyrule bleeding into Songerein—

"The Malice—!"

Zelda tries to jump to her feet, but the motion is significantly less steady than she expects. If it's only been a few weeks, and the Malice is still here...!

[flamberge]

Nothing is said as Kratos allows Zelda to comb through her memories. Given the amount of time that passed, doing so is likely to take a few moments. He knows as much from experience. Recalling things from a few decades or centuries ends up taking some considerable effort.

Her sudden outburst about the malice interrupts his own thoughts on the passage of time. Kratos notices that immediate surge of panic on her face and how she quickly tries to stand. He immediately reaches out to again place a hand on her shoulder, gently but firmly pushing her back down.

"Has since vanished." Finishes Kratos, "The city is currently at peace." There's a very loud implication behind his words. Everything is okay. Take a breath. Relax.

[multidisciplinary]

Vanished? Kratos's words stop Zelda mid-rise and he will find that she doesn't resist being pushed back down to the ground. The panic that flashed across her features fades quickly into confusion as she sits.

But how did they get rid of the Malice? The last thing she remembers... wasn't it getting worse? It wasn't fading, like the other nightmares conjured by the Story Eater. The princess remembers her nightmares, that her seal on Calamity Ganon was weakening after a century (by Link's time) of holding it in place. She thought for certain that Ganon had found some way to enter the dream world through Zelda...

But she obeys Kratos's unspoken command. Relax. Breathe. Everything is okay now. Zelda takes a few seconds to do just that, consciously taking a few long, slow breaths. When she is sufficiently calm, she opens her eyes again.

"How did you manage to get rid of it?"

Kratos may or may not know that the source of the Malice was two Blight versions of Link and Zelda. Once the Blights were defeated, the Malice (along with the distortions of Hyrule) vanished in an instant and Songerein went back to normal. To many dreamwalkers, it probably seemed like the Malice and the distortions simply vanished at random one day for no discernable reason.

[flamberge]

Seeing her both not resist the push back and then allow herself to relax are a good indicator that she's listening to his words. Good. It mean the panic from earlier must have mostly subsided.

When Zelda asks him that question, Kratos shakes his head in response. The answer is, unfortunately, one he is not fully privy to.

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask someone else regarding the details if there are any." He pauses momentarily as he recalls those few weeks prior, "It seemingly vanished without warning and has not returned since."

One day it was present, the next it was gone. Could there have been more to it than that? Potentially. Something could have very well put an end to the malice somehow. That said, things can also end without warning in this world. Something putting an end to the malice or it ending by itself are both equally feasible.