I had this great idea to make a Link X Ruto fan fiction and illustration to put on deviantart . com for April Fool's Day. How funny would that be? Pretend like I'm in favor of the pairing the game obviously intended as a joke! Ha ha ha ha! Then I wrote this… and honestly…

(Oh gosh they would be so cute together)

Wow. I try and make an April Fool's joke and suddenly I don't even know who I am anymore. FAIL.

Anyways, ENJOY!

Link surfaces and looks around the Water Temple.

He is tired. He has gone through many temples.

He walks through the opening hallway and swims to the platform at the center. What else can he do? He is the only one willing or able to find the sages and free the land from Ganondorf's rule.

Hm.

There is something funny about the water, but he can't think of what that might be.

Also, there are surprisingly few enemies.

Zero, to be precise.

Not zero—Link hears the soft sound of a tapping foot. He turns around and sees himself standing in the entryway.

It is not himself. It is a shadowy figure that shares his basic shape but wears an evil smile that is all its own.

The figure is not alone. It is holding its sword against the neck of a Zora woman.

"Link," she mouths, not daring to speak.

Link draws his sword.

The figure laughs.

"I wouldn't try it," he says. "Do you think you're good? Well, that's how good I am. Only much better, ha ha. But do you know what I'm best at?"

Link stands there, gripping his sword and glaring.

"It's a question," the dark figure says. "You can answer it if you'd like."

Link says nothing.

"I'm best at what you're best at," the figure continues. "I'm best at working my way through dungeons."

"Link, run," the zora woman whispers. "You don't know—"

But the dark figure makes a little movement with the sword, and she is frightened into silence.

"She's not allowed to talk right now," the figure says. "But she's right. You should run. Because when I get to the boss room, I don't fight the boss. When I get to the boss room, I let the boss free."

Suddenly, all around the room are tentacles, (impossibly) made of water.

"I was going to challenge you to a sword fight," the dark figure says. "But I got bored while I was waiting. I decided it would be much more fun to solve this temple's trivial little puzzles and let my buddy Morpha do my dirty work for me once you got here. When this zora showed up and saw what I was planning, she was going to run and warn you. I was going to kill her, but then she told me that she loves you. If that's true, I figured that she'll be happiest if she gets to share your fate."

He throws the Zora woman into the water, right into the waggling mass of tentacles, and dives into the pool of water where the temple entrance is.

Link dives after Ruto.

Of course that zora is Ruto.

He feels sick, like so twisted up inside that he might be in danger of turning inside out.

She still loves him. She was trying to help him. And she's the only zora who isn't frozen solid in Zora's Domain. If no one can figure out how to unfreeze Zora's Domain, she's the last zora left.

Ruto is currently high above the water. She is screaming.

Screaming his name.

Soon Link is caught and lifted up as well.

What was he thinking, diving in? How could he expect to be of any help by willingly entering his enemy's element? He swings his sword desperately. He doesn't know how to fight water. His sword goes right through the tentacle. How can water hold him but not be affected by the sword?

Another tentacle grabs the sword from his hand, and this becomes a non-issue.

Link and Ruto are thrown across the room.

Link jumps to his feet and runs to Ruto, ignoring the pain in his shoulder from striking the wall. She hasn't gotten up yet, but she is trying.

A tentacle gets to her first. Soon Link is yanked off his feet as well.

They are thrown again. And again.

Morpha can only harm its prey by constricting and by throwing. It has chosen the less deadly option. It is playing with them.

Finally, Link lands close enough to Ruto that he can scoop her up before the tentacles can. She is crying but still very much alive. He runs along the ledge they have landed on, looking for shelter, something. He doesn't know how badly Ruto has been hurt. He needs time to think of how to defeat watery tentacles. Without a sword. His head is spinning. The Master Sword is nowhere in sight—it has probably sunk to the bottom of the temple by now.

They are on the ledge that leads into the room where the boss used to be confined. Link sees the key lying next to the open door.

If that door could keep this creature from escaping that room, wouldn't it also prevent it from getting back in?

Link runs to the door. He sets Ruto down inside, then goes back for the key. When he slams the door shut, a tentacle smacks into it. When he locks the door, more tentacles slam into it. But nothing comes in.

"Link, I'm sorry," Ruto says. She is crying. She doesn't look badly hurt. Not too badly.

Link shakes his head and puts his hand on her shoulder. It wasn't her fault. It was the fault of… who or what is that dark figure? Why does it look so much like me?

Water starts to flow in under the door.

How is this happening? Why did the dark figure have to set Morpha free in the first place?

Alarmed, Link and Ruto shrink back to a corner of the room.

They watch the water.

Watch the thing that might soon take their lives.

"I never know how to act around you," Ruto blurts out. Her crying has lessened in intensity. She cannot say all that she has to say while she is sobbing.

Link looks at her gently, compassionately. She is not a bad person (zora). She has her faults, but under them is a loving heart. He hates himself for not being able to save her or himself. He accepted the role of the hero. He has defined himself that way for a while now. If he can't save her, if he can't save all of the people he set out to protect, what is he?

"I do love you," Ruto continues. "I might be a little over the top about showing it, but… it's real. It was the worst day of my life, down in Lord Jabu Jabu, and then you were there, and you helped me, even when I was mean to you… Link, no one else in the world has ever been that for me. Could ever be that for me. But you…

"You…look, I'm really bad at figuring out how to act around people. I'm the princess. I can get away with anything. No one ever corrected me for bothering people, getting in their faces about things. I know better a little now, but it's just become who I am… it's awful, really, not knowing whether people like you or hate you when you talk to them. They smile and nod and smile and nod, and you just want to punch them… I'm a terrible mess when it comes to communicating things."

Link is listening, looking into her eyes and absorbing her story like his clothes are absorbing the water of the puddle he is sitting in. He is a good listener.

"I was so scared that I'd drive you away if I ever met you again," Ruto continues. "I was scared that you'd show up and I'd launch into an awkward rant about how you were going to marry me… I was scared I wouldn't have the courage to tell you just how important you are to me… that I missed you every day you were away… that I snuck away to look for you once and got in big trouble… that none of my suitors have a smile like yours… I was scared I wouldn't have the courage to tell you anything real… but now that it looks like we're going to die… I have to tell you, Link. You don't have to love me back. But I have to tell you that I love you, really loveyou, more than I ever…and now my father and my people are frozen, and there's no one to save them… and… and… Link, I..."

She is done talking. Now she is crying again, more than before. She does not need a listener. She needs a hug.

Link gives her one.

They sit there together in silence, holding each other, as water trickles into the room.

The pool in the middle is filling up.

Small tentacles rise out of that mass and flail blindly.

The creature cannot see. It needs more than tentacles to see.

But it knows they are here.

It will find them eventually.

And it is not likely to play with what it cannot see.

And Link knows that they are not finished yet, that he will not let her die, not while he still has any strength left at all.

"I've got some things besides just a sword, Ruto," he says. "We're not finished yet."

"You talked!" Ruto says, surprised.

"Yeah," Link says in a small voice, like maybe he shouldn't have said anything?

"I got Link to talk!" Ruto shouts gleefully. "I got Link to taaalk!"

The monster can hear from outside. The tentacles point in their direction.

"I got Link to glare at me," Ruto says sheepishly.

Link gets up and takes her hand. They walk to a different part of the room.

"Hey, listen, Link," Navi says, coming out from under Link's hat, "I took a look at the monster for you while it was attacking you in the other room. Its brain and all of its vital organs are concentrated in a small nucleus floating in the water. I'll bet you anything that that's its weak spot. But the nucleus can't fit under the door. If you want to beat it, you'll have to leave this room first. Otherwise, you're just fighting water."

Link nods, and his brow furrows as he thinks.

For one thing, this explains how the creature could be trapped by a closed door.

"Thanks, little fairy!" Ruto says. "Aren't you a cute little thing! Have I seen you before? What's your name?"

"I'm Navi," says Navi.

"I'm Ruto," says Ruto. "Nice to meet you!"

"Princess Zelda's gotten Link to talk before," Navi says.

Ruto takes a swipe at Navi, but the fairy darts away and she misses. She hits Link instead.

"Sorry!" Ruto says.

All Link says is, "Navi makes life hell."

"I just helped you!" Navi shrieks.

Link takes out his hookshot. He walks to the door and jumps over the incoming stream of deadly water. He is trying to be quiet. He picks up the key. Morpha will know what he is up to once he starts to unlock the door. Morpha has only one logical strategy (assuming it is done playing and ready to kill). Once the door is unlocked, it will all come flooding in at once, filling the room until its pressure crushes them. It has a lot of water at its disposal. They will be dead in minutes.

But this can easily happen anyway if Link doesn't unlock the door. It will just take more time.

Link motions Ruto to follow him, and she does.

"Don't fight it when we leave the room," he says. "Save yourself. I'll be fine."

He puts the key in the lock and rattles it but does not open the door.

Morpha is too eager. Its senses are not especially keen. It pours itself at the closed door. Then the rushing water stops. Morpha has realized that the door was never opened.

Then Link opens the door.

He and Ruto run out.

The tentacles come for them.

Link has very little time.

He scans the room quickly.

Finally, he sees it.

A bobbing organic mass, just like Navi said.

He fires his hookshot at it, barely dodging a tentacle.

The hookshot connects.

The water begins to writhe.

Another tentacle curls around Link's chest, and he is lifted into the air.

The organic mass is close to him now, speared on the hookshot, faithfully returning.

But he can't do anything.

Not with his arms pinned to his side.

Not barely able to breathe.

Not when the tentacle is pounding him headfirst into the hard stone wall.

Repeatedly.

But something else is close to him.

Someoneelse.

Ruto pulls the mass off of the hookshot and squeezes it, pulls at it, hits it, anything to destroy it before it can use the tentacle to hurt Link any more.

"Ruto!" Link croaks. He is barely aware of where he is anymore, of what is even going on. She is doing something she shouldn't, that is all he can piece together. "Ruto, stop!"

She moves out of his vision. Sharply. Pulled by an outside source.

Then his head hits the wall again, and everything goes definitively black.

Link wakes up in Zora's Domain.

He sits up and immediately regrets it. But he doesn't lie back down. He waits for the Zoras to notice. Usually all it takes is getting people to notice you doing something they can comment on. Then they'll start talking to you, tell you anything you want to know along with five things you didn't. This is how Link gets information. He is an adult in appearance, but he doesn't know how to act like one. His few social skills come from observations of kokiri, ageless forest children who hide their faces from the outside world. But he could only ever observe. He was never one of them. Not really. He was only ever good at being Saria's friend. And Saria likes to talk a lot.

Link sees the Master Sword propped up against one wall. This is good. But he doesn't know what happened to Ruto.

He could just ask Navi what happened. But he's not speaking to Navi, and not just because of her behavior towards Ruto at the Water Temple. This arrangement has been established a long time ago. An event like the Bombflower Incident is not soon forgotten.

The thought occurs to him that perhaps Navi didn't survive, and he feels bad for thinking ill of her. He doesn't want to call her out and check, though. He doesn't want to risk that conversation. He will find out what has happened to her in due time.

"Link! You're awake."

It is the zora king. His face is sad, but he seems happy enough that Link has woken up.

Link nods.

"I sent a search party to find my daughter," the king says. "Once we unfroze. We thought she might have gone to the Water Temple, so they went there first. They met her halfway, and she was carrying you."

Link opens his mouth. He is going to ask if Ruto is okay, but the king beats him to it—

"Ruto is fine," he says. "She… left this for you." The king looks even sadder now. He hands Link a letter.

It reads as follows:

Hi, Link. You were truly amazing back there, even though Morpha kind of got you in the end. Don't you dare feel bad about that because you did everything perfectly and epically, and I can't believe how wicked cool you were, through that whole thing, even though we thought we were totally going to die. The hero I dreamed you to be since I met you is real. My heart dances for joy. But don't worry—it's fine if you don't want to marry me. I may have made up the tradition about the Zora Sapphire, actually, because I didn't want you to get away and I thought you were really cool. You were awesome back there, but I realized, maybe for the first time, that that's just who you are. You would have done the same for any girl. Maybe you don't even like me at all. It makes me happy to know that there is such kindness, such courage in the world. It makes me realize that maybe I could be doing better things with my time than wasting away after someone who doesn't love me back. It's really strange, meeting you again after all these years, because I was disappointed a little. I realized that it wasn't entirely you I'd been longing for. It was your confidence. I wanted to be more like you. But since you've shown me how it's done, I think I'm in a good position to start being courageous on my own. My father probably told you already, but I killed Morpha, and that freed my people from the ice! Once I got a hold of the brain part, I held onto it and didn't let it go until I'd killed it! Ha ha, isn't that something? We made a great team back there, even if we don't necessarily make a great team in general. But wow, what a long ramble—I'll get to the point. I've left Hyrule to be a sage. I'm done traumatizing my heart. I don't think I'm cut out for being in love—not a little weirdo like me. I'm going to be someone who helps people instead, like you are. I am happy with my decision, and I'm okay with not getting to be your wife… but I will say I would have liked to get to know you a little better.

I love you, and I always will. Please remember me kindly. I'm

nevergoing to forget you.

-Ruto

Link looks up at the zora king once he's finished reading.

Has the king read it too?

Of course he's read it.

"She's not coming back," the king says. He looks older than he ever has. Much smaller too, despite his expansive girth.

Link doesn't know what to say. For once, he is in a situation where no one else would, either.

Ganondorf is dead.

Ganondorf is dead, and Link has returned to his original time.

Link and Zelda observe each other.

It's like they're meant to say something? Do something meaningful? Destiny holds is breath.

Nothing happens.

An instant before Link sits down in the grass and puts his face in his hands, destiny covers its face in embarrassment, the end, the story is over for all intents and purposes.

"Are you okay, Link?" Zelda asks.

Link doesn't want to be here.

He doesn't want to be in this sterile garden, being stared at by this young girl who is more serene, more mature, than most adults. There's nothing wrong with Zelda. But there's a lot of pressure on anything in the path of that piercing, intelligent gaze.

It has been a long day. It has been a long several weeks. For Link, fewer than seven years have passed, but feels like more.

"Should I have Impa escort you back?"

Escort. Who says "escort" in normal conversations?

Link just sits there.

Impa comes later, and he's escorted back.

Soon he's standing on the drawbridge just outside of Castle Town, not sure what to do or where to go next.

He's not a kokiri.

But he's not a hylian either, not really. Their customs and mannerisms are still so very foreign to him.

He's hardly even a child anymore. He has stabbed a gerudo man in the chest with a sword. And again, when the man became a giant beast and threatened him once more. Other children do not want to play with someone like that.

Saria would still want to play with him.

But he will have to leave Saria one day, even if he comes back to her now. Like all kokiri, she is deathly afraid of hylians. She will find out what he is soon enough. Will things still be the same once that happens? Will things be the same if he tells her outright?

He doesn't know.

And she lives with the other kokiri. Surely they will not permit him to live in their midst once they know, regardless of what Saria has to say about it. Especially since the great Deku Tree, their traditional protector, is dead.

Protector.

He has no parents. Where will he find food? Shelter?

He shivers. He has seen a lot of the world in his travels. All around are friendly faces, none of them belonging to friends.

They smile and nod and smile and nod, and you just want to punch them… I'm a terrible mess when it comes to communicating things.

Link still remembers Ruto's words, and they illuminate everything that seems to be stifling him.

He is no one.

He has nowhere to go.

Well…

Then everything clicks, and he realizes that there is one place he can go.

The young zora princess flings her arms around the visitor.

"I knew you'd come back," she says happily. "And it's so amazing that you're going to live in Zora's Domain for a while! We're going to have SO MUCH FUN! Of course, it's only right for us to go on dates and—"

"Ruto," Link says. "Stop."

"HOMIGOSH!" Ruto screams. "I got Link to talk! Guys! Guys! I got—"

"You can just act like yourself," Link says tiredly. He speaks with authority. As someone who has a voice. Who is meant to speak.

Ruto looks at him. Her face has changed.

"It's okay," Link says. "I never act like myself. Not around most people. But let's try it out for a while and see how it works."

"You like me now?" Ruto whispers.

"I didn't say that," Link says, smiling mischievously. "But I do want to get to know you better."

THE END