Chapter Text
Link slowly opened the door to the house he bought in Hateno Village, peeking his head out to make sure there was no one around.
One would think Link would feel at peace being in his homeland, in the house he had bought himself, the house he had decorated and took care of as best as he could... but the context is important to understand the complicated situation he was in.
After defeating Ganon and freeing Zelda, Link quickly realized that the princess needed to readjust to Hyrule after spending 100 years containing the Calamity. And since the castle was in ruins and uninhabitable, Link decided to take her to his house in Hateno Village so she wouldn't have to worry about being a princess for a while... That time only lasted 6 months, barely, but at least she recovered, which was what Link wanted.
In any case, Link decided to gift her the house so she could truly settle in, refusing to let her get near a castle that would only bring back bad memories. Zelda, initially refusing, eventually accepted on the condition that he would stay with her, and he preferred to agree rather than argue... because 90% of the time, he loses the argument.
Up until this point, everything seemed fine, right? Well, that changed when Link received his invitation to Super Smash Bros.
As he told the Zelda from the tournament, he received his letter feeling bewildered, and before he could process what it said, he had already been transported to the front of the mansion. The fact that barely a year had passed since he defeated the Cataclysm didn’t help at all.
The day Xander gave the sign for everyone to go visit their home worlds was the same day he surprised everyone by revealing that he had already brought some visitors. And, for better or worse, Zelda wasn't among them. The ones who had come were Sidon, Yunobo, Riju, and Teba, who, besides being happy to see him, had to explain that, well, Zelda didn’t take the discovery of that letter very well, and Link was nowhere to be found.
Knowing he needed to explain himself to her, Link decided to go back to Hyrule the next day. Zelda... well, she was somewhat changed. On one hand, she had cut her hair: it used to literally reach her waist, but now it barely reached her shoulders, almost like Pyra. Also, physically speaking, she seemed to have improved significantly compared to the state she had been in when she sealed Ganon.
...Oh, and the first thing she did when she saw Link was slap him and then shout in his face. At first, she was spewing nonsense in her anger, saying that he couldn’t just leave for an interdimensional tournament or whatever it was and then come back as if he hadn’t left without saying goodbye. Link didn’t say anything; he let her vent completely because, even though it was all a misunderstanding, he knew what him nearly dying 100 years ago had done to her.
When Zelda finally broke down and started crying, Link held her, not letting go until she calmed down. When she finally did, when she was calm, Link explained the truth: he didn’t leave by choice, he was literally transported out of Hyrule without warning, and he had no way of returning until now.
Even though Zelda had every right to feel like Link was making excuses, she knew him well enough to know that he was telling the truth, and in the end, she apologized for blaming him for something he had no control over.
Again, there were no problems here because the one they had was resolved... except it wasn’t resolved at all.
Because once Link explained—vaguely, hoping to let the topic die—where he was living in the Smash Universe, what he was doing, and who else lived there, Zelda's curiosity about that place grew. Because only Link would tell the princess, whose curiosity is endless, that he was temporarily living in a world surrounded by strange creatures... oh, and yes, he slipped and mentioned he knew one of Zelda’s ancestors, which was the trigger for her to insist every time Link went to Hyrule that he take her to see the mansion.
And why did Link refuse? For a very complicated reason: saying that he only "knew one of Zelda’s ancestors" was his way of avoiding talking about the elephant in the room... meaning, that that Zelda is his LOVER, not just an acquaintance. He didn’t want to bring it up because he knew that his Zelda had feelings for him, and he feared what her reaction would be if she found out he was dating one of her many great-grandmothers.
So, why was Link in his world and entering his house so discreetly? Because he ran out of arrows in the last fight he had recently, and he needed to restock before going into combat again. He could just buy more in the Smash Universe, but he had plenty at his house... and he didn’t want to spend money.
Link opened the door of the house with almost exaggerated care, making sure not to make the slightest noise. The creaking of the wood as it was pushed open was the only thing breaking the silence of the night, but fortunately, it wasn’t enough to alert anyone. The darkness enveloped the house, and the cold night air flowed through the cracks in the windows. Link breathed carefully and took one step after another, moving down the hallway like a specter.
He moved to the back of the house, to the closet where he kept his supplies. His steps were light, and for a moment, it seemed like everything around him was frozen in time. There was something about that stillness, something about that darkness that made him feel like everything was under his control, like his life, for a brief moment, was in his hands again.
However, when he opened the closet door, a knot formed in his stomach. The arrows, which were always there, neatly arranged with the precision only he knew, were gone. The empty space where they used to be seemed to mock him, and Link, confused, began searching in other parts of the closet, convinced he had left them there and that they hadn’t been moved at all.
Suddenly, the house light turned on, illuminating the room with a dim glow. Link froze, his heart skipped a beat. He didn’t need to look to know who was there.
"Did you come to greet me, or did you lose something?"
Zelda’s voice shattered the silence like a bell, and Link squeezed his eyes shut before closing the closet and slowly turning to face Zelda, who was watching him with a slight smile at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor.
"Looking for this?" she asked, holding a leather quiver with a handful of arrows inside... exactly what Link had been searching for.
The Hylian tried to relax his posture a little, nervously laughing as he walked towards Zelda.
"Hi, prin... Zelda," he said, nervously, as he approached her. Sometimes he still called her normally, even though she had asked him to stop. "I just came for some arrows because I ran out. Let me just..."
Link reached to grab the quiver, but Zelda was quick and pulled it away from him.
"And here I thought you had made time to come visit little ol' me..." she said dramatically, causing Link to let out a heavy sigh. "One of these days you're going to have to take me out of this old house, you know?"
"...The last time I came, you said Purah had you busy," the Hylian pointed out, raising an eyebrow despite his bored expression.
"Yeah, that was two months ago. My schedule's free, and I'm sooooo bored here locked up..." Zelda exaggeratedly made a show of melting into the wall, slowly sliding down to the floor.
Link sometimes wondered how he had the patience to put up with Zelda 100 years ago, because nowadays it felt like he was always a step away from exploding at her.
He refrained, however, because he knew it wasn’t her fault for being like that.
"Zelda, I’ve already told you that I can’t take you to the mansion without prior notice," Link reminded her, feeling like it was the thousandth time he’d said it. "There’s a process for everything, and there might be people who’ve already reserved visiting space. You’d have to wait, and I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon."
"There’s also the possibility that there aren’t as many people as you think and I only have to wait a few days, a week at most," Zelda said, smirking triumphantly when she saw Link’s expression grow even more irritated. "I’m not asking to stay a whole month, I just want to see the place where you’ve been for the past year. Is that so bad?"
Link knew the answer was, frankly, no. There was nothing wrong with wanting to visit the mansion. Hell, he had wanted to show her around himself, especially the library, knowing that place would become her favorite.
His problem was that he feared what might happen if his Zelda and the one from the tournament met.
Ancestor and descendant, coexisting at the same time... nothing serious would happen in general, Simon and Richter were proof of that; but if either him or the Zelda from the tournament slipped up, they'd end up confessing they were together, and he didn’t even want to think about what Zelda might do if she found out.
"...Look..." Link sighed in the end, starting to feel guilty and, in part, like a bad friend. "I’ll try to work something out with Xander, but don’t expect me to say you can go tomorrow or something like that, okay?"
When Zelda heard Link’s promise, she stopped her theatrical drama and slowly stood up. Her smile, though still mocking, softened a little. In the end, she knew Link always kept his promises, even if sometimes his way of doing so was a bit more stubborn than she’d like.
"Alright," she replied with a much more relaxed tone, as if the tension from before had completely vanished. "It’s not like I’m going anywhere, right? Sometimes I think you don’t even know how to say no..."
Link, seeing her relax, finally let out a nervous laugh. He was already used to how Zelda could go from furious to calm in a matter of seconds. It was one of those moments when he felt a bit grateful to have someone so... predictable, for lack of a better word.
"I’m not very good at saying no," he admitted as he finally took the quiver from her hands, this time without her pulling it away. "But you know how this goes. Like I said, I can’t promise Xander will say..."
"She can come tomorrow without any problems," Xander said, not lifting his gaze from the papers he was signing at his desk.
"...This has to be some kind of joke..." Link muttered, incredulous.
"It’s not," the announcer assured him, still not taking his eyes off his papers. "There have been no records of visitors this week, so she can come."
Link sometimes felt like fate itself was against him, and today was one of those days.
He thanked Xander before leaving his office and banging his head against a wall.
"I just wanted new arrows..." he murmured to himself, frustrated.
Link guided Zelda, holding her hands, asking her to close her eyes as they both approached the mansion's entrance after being transported from Hyrule to the Smash Universe.
The Hylian didn’t have time to think of a plan to explain... well, anything Zelda might ask about the place, so he was going to have to improvise on the way. And if they ran into the Zelda from the tournament... well, he’d pray to Hylia, if she was listening, that she would have mercy on him when the time came.
"Okay... here we are," Link said when he stopped. "You can open your eyes now."
Zelda did so, gasping when she saw in front of her a gigantic mansion at least 7 stories high, with a huge entrance closed by two doors with a strange symbol in the middle.
Zelda was speechless for a moment, staring at the mansion with a mixture of awe and curiosity. It was much bigger and more complex than she had imagined, and for a moment, she couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by its magnitude.
"Wow!" she finally exclaimed, her eyes shining with fascination as she scanned the structure. "This... is huge. You’ve really been living here all this time?"
Link, still feeling a heavy knot of nerves in his stomach, tried to remain calm as he began walking toward the door.
"Me and several people, though some of them aren’t exactly... normal," he said, trying not to sound too evasive. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to give a complete explanation, especially if they ran into someone who could complicate things even more.
Zelda looked at him with a raised eyebrow, sensing the uncertainty in his tone. However, she didn’t say anything and simply followed his steps as he opened the door.
The first thing that greeted her as she entered the mansion was some sort of lobby, more like a hotel than a mansion, with two doors on her right—one of them had the same symbol as the entrance, and it seemed to be on the rug as well—and a hallway to the left that seemed to lead further into the mansion.
Link guided her down the latter, and as soon as they peered into the kitchen, Zelda finally understood what he meant by not everyone being normal there.
She saw a kind of pink ball with very small hands and... were those shoes or feet? They were red, and the creature was opening its mouth and swallowing at least three plates in one bite. Not far away, a woman in black cook’s attire with her arms completely wrapped in what seemed to be yellow ribbons with green bracelets on her wrists was cooking something in a large pot, when suddenly, she stretched one of her arms like a spring across the kitchen to grab what looked like pepper before tossing it into the pot.
The last person in the kitchen was... how would she describe it? A blue creature with red shoes, a green coat, large spikes on its head that looked like quills, she wasn’t sure if it had two eyes stuck together or one with two pupils, and white gloves. This creature was standing next to a sort of metal box that seemed to have something inside, and the creature was desperately stomping its shoe on the floor, arms crossed.
"The gluttonous ball is Kirby, the girl who’s cooking is named Min Min, and that’s Sonic," Link explained to Zelda when he saw her confusion. "If you’re wondering what he is, he says he’s a hedgehog."
"...Can he talk?" Zelda asked, both fascinated and bewildered.
"Unfortunately, way too much," the Hylian huffed before taking her hand to lead her somewhere else.
This time, Link took her to the garden, and Zelda’s eyes sparkled when she saw how enormous and well-maintained it looked.
"This is the garden," Link smiled. "People come here sometimes to hang out or clear their minds."
Zelda looked at the garden with a mixture of awe and curiosity, her eyes shining at the sight before her. There was a strange calmness in the space, almost as if every corner had its own life. Although she initially focused on the well-kept vegetation and the perfectly paved paths, it didn’t take long for her to notice the strange inhabitants that seemed to live there.
Near a tree, two children were playing with a ball. One of them had dark hair, was wearing a cap, a blue and yellow striped shirt, and shorts. The other had blonde hair and wore a yellow and red striped shirt. Both children were playing excitedly, tossing the ball to each other, and as they did, it seemed like the air around them was shifting. In fact, Zelda saw how small electric sparks came from the hands of the dark-haired boy, while the other one gestured with his hands, generating flames out of nowhere.
Zelda blinked, surprised, as she watched the phenomenon.
"Who are they?" she asked, pointing at the children.
Link, who had been watching her reaction, gave a slight smile.
"Those are Ness and Lucas," he said, with a somewhat more relaxed tone. "They have... psychic powers of many types, which is why they can control certain elements."
Zelda nodded, still incredulous, before shifting her gaze to something running across the grass. Two small yellow creatures with pointy ears, one larger than the other, were running and chasing each other. Both sparked a few times as they ran before stopping for a moment to look at each other, as if playing some sort of game. Zelda watched as one of them stood still, looked at her, and waved its hand before continuing their play.
"What are those?" she asked, almost amused by their behavior.
"Those are Pokémon, Pikachu and Pichu," Link replied, not showing surprise at the question. "They're like electric mice, pretty playful."
"I’ve never seen anything like them," she said, before blinking and turning to Link, confused. "What’s a 'Pokémon'?"
"...To be honest, I’m not sure," he admitted. "But from what I understand, they’re a kind of animal from the world they come from. Though if I were you, I wouldn’t be fooled by how cute they look. They can be lethal if they want to."
Zelda nodded, somewhat incredulous at that last part. To her, they seemed harmless despite the small shocks they left behind while running.
As they walked a bit more, Zelda found herself facing an even stranger scene: a large plant, fierce-looking, rooted to the ground. Its huge mouth, which seemed never to close, was open, showing a row of sharp teeth. In a bizarre scene, a few small creatures approached the edge of the plant—one of them bright red, another blue, and a third pale yellow. The plant watched them attentively, almost as if waiting for something, and suddenly, it moved quickly to try and trap them, only to see how the creatures swiftly escaped its reach.
Zelda blinked a couple of times, not sure if what she was seeing was real or a dream. The plant was as strange as it was dangerous, and the little creatures... well, they didn’t resemble anything she had ever seen.
"What is that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Link turned toward her, seeing that her gaze was fixed on the plant.
"The plant is, well, a Piranha Plant... but nothing common or ordinary, like everything else here," he explained. "And the little ones are called Pikmin. They're like... tiny plants with life. It’s the best way I can explain it, really."
Zelda nodded, with the feeling that there were more surprises hidden in this garden than she had imagined. And just when she thought she had seen everything, a floating being appeared in front of her. It was large, with an imposing posture, and its eyes glowed with an unsettling intensity.
Floating in the air, the being sat in a sort of meditative position, but as Zelda stared at it, she felt something strange about it. She couldn’t see its face clearly, but the energy emanating from its presence was palpable.
"And... who is he?" Zelda asked, not taking her eyes off the floating figure.
Link sighed, knowing the question would come sooner or later.
"That’s Mewtwo," he said with a certain tone of warning. "It’s a Pokémon, and it has psychic powers. It’s not hostile, but... it’s not exactly someone you’d want to mess with."
Zelda didn’t answer immediately, watching the figure with fascination. Was this place really full of such powerful and strange beings? As they walked deeper into the mansion, she realized that what she had seen so far was just the tip of the iceberg. And with every step they took, her curiosity only grew more.
Link didn’t know it yet, but he was about to regret bringing Zelda to the library, a place he knew could very well become her favorite.
He knew the library would be the perfect place for Zelda. Her insatiable curiosity would likely make her get lost among the shelves for hours, exploring every corner and every book with the same fascination she once had for the secrets of Hyrule.
"This is... impressive," Zelda commented, looking around as she walked down the hallway. The place seemed bigger than she had imagined, with a mix of antiquity and modernity in every corner.
Finally, they reached the huge door of the library. Link opened it and let Zelda enter first, hoping she would get distracted enough by the books to not ask too many awkward questions. It wasn’t difficult for Zelda to feel like she was in a sanctuary. The air of knowledge floated in every shelf full of books, some so old they seemed impervious to time’s wear. Soft lights illuminated the spaces where books were stacked in endless rows.
Zelda was about to take another step inside when a sudden noise made her stop dead in her tracks. She turned instinctively, and that’s when it happened. Their backs met in such a synchronized way that it almost seemed like fate had intervened.
Zelda quickly spun around, surprised by the coincidence, but instantly found herself face to face with another figure of blonde hair and a serene face. The other Zelda, so similar and yet so different at the same time, stared at her with the same surprised eyes.
And Link... well, he once again felt like life itself hated him for allowing him to keep living in that instant.
Both Zeldas stared at each other for a long and uncomfortable time. One of them, the one with Link, had short hair to her shoulders, wearing travel blue clothes and fabric pants, with brown boots and fingerless black gloves. The tournament Zelda, on the other hand, had long hair down to her waist, earrings shaped like the Triforce, a golden crown with a ruby in the center, a pink dress with the Triforce embroidered multiple times along the edges, a large yellow coat, and a necklace in the shape of a heart container.
After staring at each other for what felt like an eternity, both spoke in a confused tone:
"Who are you?"
They both blinked again, as they sounded very similar, though not identical.
"I’m Princess... Zelda..." both of them stopped when they finally realized what was happening.
Link also noticed, and he was so tense and still in his spot, looking between the two of them, afraid that this would go south...
To his surprise, and for better or for worse, that wasn’t going to be the case... at least not today.
"It can’t be!" both exclaimed... incredibly excited, even holding hands.
Look, now there are two of them, so I’ll refer to the Zelda with Link as Zelda 1 and the one from the tournament as Zelda 2.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" said Zelda 1. "I’ve always wanted to meet my ancestors! I never thought it would be possible, but it is!"
"Are you kidding? I’ve always wanted to meet my very, very, very distant reincarnation!" said Zelda 2, just as excited as her descendant. "I know you’ve probably had visions and voices whispering things all the time because I get it more often than I’d like, but this is still so exciting!"
"This is the best thing that’s happened to me in years!" exclaimed Zelda 1, jumping slightly with joy as she took Zelda 2’s hands. "I never imagined I could meet such an... important reincarnation! I mean, look at that dress, that crown, everything! We look so incredibly similar but at the same time so different! It’s fascinating!"
"I say the same!" replied Zelda 2, letting out a nervous laugh as she admired her future self, as if she were looking at a superstar. "How did I never know you existed? I always imagined the Triforce must connect our souls somehow, but I didn’t expect it to be this direct!"
Both Zeldas looked at each other with shining eyes, the excitement visible in their gestures, while Link simply observed from the side, completely stunned, as if he’d fallen into a cosmic trap with no way out.
Zelda 1 seemed completely unaware of everything Link had said in the last few hours about his life in the Smash Universe. Her mind was caught up in the overwhelming interest of meeting the tournament Zelda, and it was obvious she’d completely forgotten all the reasons why Link didn’t want her to meet her.
If you’re wondering what’s going on, well, both are the same person, just from different reincarnations. There are things Zelda 1 doesn’t remember because she isn’t supposed to until the moment is right, which explains why she didn’t recognize anyone Link introduced her to, but did recognize Zelda 2.
Zelda 1 looked at her "ancestor" with fascination as though she were a heroine from the legends she had heard as a child.
"I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to be a Zelda so... important!" she said admiringly, as she examined every detail of Zelda 2’s outfit. "And look at all you’ve done, it’s amazing! The whole kingdom, the battles, the Triforce... it’s all a legacy!"
Zelda 2, for her part, didn’t hold back. She gave a curious and radiant look, clearly excited by the idea of talking to a version of herself that lived before, though a bit confused.
"I know all of this is a bit... weird to explain, right?" laughed Zelda 2. "But, for some reason, I feel like you’ve had that... ‘strange’ feeling of connection with Hyrule, with everything we are, right? Like you’ve been looking for something, someone, something to explain all of this. I know you probably don’t remember, but... the moment will come." Zelda 2 made a gesture as though anticipating a very specific moment, though she didn’t give much importance to the fact that Zelda 1 didn’t immediately understand.
Zelda 1 laughed and nodded, though with a slight expression of confusion.
"Oh, yeah, definitely... something always tells me there’s more. Those voices have always whispered to me, like echoes of another life, another time. But I’ve never met anyone so close, really!"
As the Zeldas continued talking nonstop, exchanging stories and visions of their lives, Link stood there, looking back and forth between them, feeling completely out of place. He thought this would be a huge confusion that would lead to them getting mad at each other, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.
"Uh... sorry to interrupt," Link finally said, drawing the attention of both Zeldas. "It’s just... I have to admit, I was nervous about the idea of you both meeting, but now I’m really confused. Do you know each other from somewhere, or...?"
Both Zeldas stopped instantly, as if Link’s words finally brought them back to reality. They both looked at Link with a somewhat amused expression.
"Know each other? Of course we do!" exclaimed Zelda 1, with a smile full of pure fascination. "We’re... we’re the same person, just from different times! It’s like an ancestral connection! Don’t you see?"
Zelda 2, with a light laugh, nodded.
"Yeah, but I think... we know that in theory." She looked at Zelda 1, as if appreciating what she had just said. "The Triforce has always had this ability to unite us somehow, but until this moment... I never imagined I’d see my future self, who at the same time is my distant descendant... It’s complicated to explain."
"...I have thousands of questions, and I don’t think I’ll understand the answer to any of them," admitted Link, drawing a laugh from both Zeldas.
And as if things couldn’t get worse, Ganondorf appeared, though for once, he didn’t seem to want conflict. The Gerudo King came only to look for something to read to pass the time, to kill the boredom.
However, his misplaced serenity disappeared when his eyes met the two Zeldas before him.
Ganondorf paled, his usual contempt for everything Hyrule-related momentarily vanishing as he faced what seemed like an impossible vision. He stood still, completely bewildered, watching the two Zeldas, before quickly turning on his heels.
"It can’t be..." he murmured to himself, with a tone of frustration. "I can’t deal with this. Two Zeldas, that’s enough! I don’t even want to think about dealing with a third..."
Link and Zelda 2 couldn’t help but laugh at the scene. The laughter escaped their lips naturally as the poor Ganondorf made his way out, hands raised in defeat.
Zelda 1, however, frowned and watched Ganondorf as he walked away. Her expression shifted from confusion to a slight hint of disdain.
"...I don’t know who that was, but for some reason, I don’t like him."
"Eh, don’t worry about it," Link said with a sigh, though with an amused smile, and Zelda 2 couldn’t help but share it.
Meanwhile, at a nearby table, Mega Man and Pac-Man were sitting, watching the scene calmly. Mega Man, seemingly a bit distracted, broke the silence with a question that seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Hey, do you think Link and the Zelda from his world know that Breath of the Wild is getting a sequel where they’ll probably face Ganondorf again?" he asked Pac-Man.
Pac-Man, with a calm expression, bit into a piece of his pie as he responded in his usual relaxed tone.
"Let them be happy while they can," Pac-Man replied with a knowing smile. "Something tells me they’re going to need to enjoy that peace while it lasts."
On the other hand, Zelda 2 leaned a little toward her younger version, lowering her voice to a whisper and wearing a mischievous smile.
"Listen, Zelda 1..." said Zelda 2, with an enigmatic look. "You’re going to start remembering some very... intimate things with Link. Things you haven’t experienced yet, but you will. So don’t worry if you start feeling a little weird... It’s not something you should force."
Zelda 1 immediately blushed intensely, like a ripe tomato. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a slight stammer escaped her lips, unable to respond immediately.
"W-w-what...?" she began to stutter, while her face burned.
Link, still watching the interaction between the two Zeldas, raised an eyebrow, not fully understanding what had just happened. Seeing Zelda 1’s confused expression, he asked curiously:
"What are you two talking about?"
Zelda 1, completely nervous, tried to calm down, although the red color on her cheeks didn’t disappear. With an awkward little laugh, she rushed to give a hasty response:
"I-I-it’s nothing important, Link. Really... It’s not relevant, at all..." she stammered, unable to look him in the eyes.
End of Chapter 173.