I don't even know what this is. Just a Breath of the Wild drabble.

Just take it (╯°□°）╯

One of the hardest things Zelda had to do while keeping Ganon's power at bay was watch her kingdom crumble around her while she could do nothing, stuck in the castle. Towns fell to ruin, people lost their livelihoods, monsters invaded everywhere, and the castle she'd grown up in was destroyed.

Over time, the people had built Hyrule up again, and she couldn't help but feel proud of her people. She may have grown to resent her father and the way he raised her, but she was still the Princess of Hyrule. She still loved her kingdom and was overjoyed to see it beginning to recover.

But the castle only crumbled more. There was no one to rebuild it. No one would approach beyond monsters and a few crazy adventurers, who would hardly go beyond the moat before deciding it was too dangerous and leaving, luckily. But that was to be expected, what with such an evil aura surrounding it. She was glad the people would hardly approach.

That didn't mean she wasn't sad, knowing how much the castle was falling into disrepair. It had been her home, despite her disdain for castle life.

She wished she had had the chance to mend things with her father before it was too late.

She'd been able to sense his regretful sprit, wandering on the Great Plateau in waiting for Link all those years. Their relationship had been volatile at best and she so desperately wished that she could've changed that. The fights certainly weren't all because of her own faults, but thinking back, there were some instances she certainly could've been less stubborn.

But it was too late to do anything to fix it now. She could only hope that her father realized she didn't completely despise him. At least not now that she'd had over 100 years of thinking to forgive him for his harshness and distance.

Looking back… there were quite a few things she wished she had appreciated a little bit more when she had it. She wished she had taken the time to look at every archway, every column, every rug, every tapestry, every piece of furniture… before they had become broken, faded, and terrorized by monsters.

The room that made her heart ache the most as the castle was wrecked was the library, of course. Some of the books were still in tact, but there were so many, a plethora, scattered across the floor, pages torn out, words and information sure to be lost forever. Several lizalfos had made the room their new base, breaking furniture and destroying the books their favorite pastime, and she wanted to cry out at every page torn and crumpled.

Link was becoming more daring, getting closer and closer to the castle every day now, but it seemed like the guardians terrorizing the ruins of Castle Town were just a bit too much for just one man. Luckily, she sighed in relief as she watched him, he had discovered the eastern passage in the back of the castle and was making his way through it at this very moment. She knew he probably wouldn't be facing Ganon quite yet, no she didn't think he was ready for that, but he was apparently going to be clearing out monsters and looting weapons. At least her books would be safe, for at least a short while until the next Blood Moon.

It wasn't too long before he was dashing through the crumbly library entrance. He had given a slight gasp of familiarity as he took the sight of the room in. This was the first real room of the castle he'd been in since he'd woken up, after all, hazy memories of being with Zelda in here coming back to him.

He didn't have too long to reminisce, however, because a lizalfos was quick to notice and attack him. Zelda smiled in relief again as he quickly dispatched the ones on the ground floor and then surprised the ones on the higher platforms with his bow. The lizalfos were all dead, and the rest of her books were safe for now.

Link walked carefully along the bookshelves as more confused images came back to him. He read a few of the book spines, recognizing some here and there as ones he'd helped carry for Zelda, a small smile gracing his lips as he recalled her ecstatic chatter about whatever she was researching.

This had been one of Zelda's favorite places, despite it being in the castle, he could remember. Of course. This library had been the largest collection of knowledge in the entirety of Hyrule. While she loved going out into the country and experiencing, he knew how much she adored reading, sitting down with a new book, absorbing the words and learning all that she could possibly learn from its text.

Zelda smiled as she watched him. He read a few of the open books, taking note of their contents in the Slate, apparently as favor to one of the citizens. He was so careful as he turned the pages, Zelda joyous that he realized how delicate and fragile the pages had to be after all these years.

And then Zelda was confused by his actions. He was picking up the books he found on the floor and setting them on whatever shelves he found them near. He would crouch down to observe the scattered pages on the floor, and it was then Zelda noticed he was gathering them up, just as carefully as he'd flipped the pages in the cookbook earlier.

Happy tears fell from her eyes as he took pictures of the scattered pages he'd gathered, trying to preserve at least some of the words, however faded the ink had become over the years. And then he was placing them into the binding he'd found broken off a book, attempting at a safe place for them as he placed the pages in his bag to be brought back to his home in Hateno at a later time.

Link was trying to clean up the library.

He was trying to keep her books from becoming too much more terribly wrecked.

He was trying to preserve the words she'd adored so much.

Link gave a yelp in surprise as the castle suddenly shook, Ganon roaring in apparent pain.

Zelda's face was stretched into a smile, more joyous tears lining her eyes as she felt a surge in her power, the light around her flaring.

Thank you for reading!