Chapter Text
The Sword of the Hero Chosen by the Goddess.
The Sword that Seals the Darkness.
The Blade of Evil's Bane.
The Master Sword.
Fi.
The legendary sword with which the Hero was supposed to defeat Ganon and save Hyrule was known under many names but all Link could think about when laying his undignified gaze upon it was a pain in the ass.
“Ughhhhh” he groaned, laying face down on the stone triangle in Korok Forest which also acted as the Sword’s resting place. He had been trying – and failing – to pull out that damned weapon from its pedestal since he had spoken with the Great Deku Tree… which was eight hours ago.
Now, finding his way into the forest had been excruciatingly annoying in itself, so Link had thought that after that, he'd just pop in, talk with an old tree, retrieve his sword and then pop out. The Deku Tree had told him that if he hoped to extract the sword, he would “need to summon a hero's strength” and Link had prepared his mind, a little anxious but extremely hopeful and maybe even having the impatience of a giddy child as he grabbed the hilt, subconsciously longing to be reunited with an old friend.
So, it was a surprise when instead of the sound of metal scraping against stone, Link had felt the Master Sword literally sap his lifeforce away.
Conveniently, he couldn't even let go and had to almost die before whatever magic had been keeping him in place lifted and he had collapsed on the ground breathing heavily. His strength had returned to him in a few minutes, sure, but the legendary sword hadn't moved an inch. The Deku Tree then even had the audacity to compare him to the Link of one hundred years ago and tell him he had grown weak! (Not a very smart thing to say to a man who already has issues regarding self-esteem, kids, so don't do this.)
After the daily identity and existential crisis sprinkled with just a dash of depression, Link had decided he wouldn't go down that easily and challenged the Sword to a duel… or something. Long story short, the score was now 65-0 for the Master Sword.
Link turned his head into a neck-breaking position as he looked up at the legendary weapon in thought, mentally browsing through the list of things he wanted to try in order to get it out of the stone. He had already tried calmly pulling, aggressively pulling, bombs, hearty elixirs, stamina elixirs, sadly pulling, whacking it with a stone, whacking it with another weapon, whacking it with a Korok (the Deku Tree was not happy about that), putting a stick between the metal and the stone to try and dislodge it, tiredly pulling, punching it, kicking it, even eating it (it had a very addicting metallic taste which led Link to wonder if he was iron deficient) but all of these either led his lifeforce to be sapped away once again or just to… nothing.
Link was out of ideas.
He planted his face into the ground, hoping it would just swallow him up whole.
Link was tired. And cold.
He shivered as the stone under him lost the heat it gained thanks to the rays of the sun and only now realized that night had fallen. He yawned.
Deciding he would continue this hopeless quest the next day but not having the strength to move, Link took out some wood, flint and a metal weapon from his inventory with a few taps on the Sheikah Slate. He lit a fire, put the weapon away and curled up on the pedestal, savoring the heat of the light source. Link quickly fell asleep that night.
“Mister Heroooo~”
Link grunted as something poked his cheek. Still half asleep, he swatted the object away like one would do with a fly, which was met by a childish giggle coming from his left.
“Mister Hero, wake up! The Deku Tree wishes to speak with you!”
Another poke. Link turned on his side, mumbling a halfhearted “five more minutes”. He faintly perceived some more giggles and prodding on his body as something small climbed onto him. He did not think it would shout directly in his ear, though.
“Mister Heeroo! Wake up!!”
Link startled, the thing on him – a Korok, the awake half of his mind supplied – falling off with a small ‘oof!’ due to the sudden movement and he was left laying on his back on the stone pedestal. The only thing his half-asleep mind had processed was that he needed to wake up.
So, he sat and then stood up, blindly grabbing something in the process to help him pull himself on his feet. He yawned, lifted his arms to stretch and- wait.
Has his right hand always been that heavy?
Link looked down towards the object he had grabbed and had accidentally forgotten to release, which was none other than the Master Sword.
Not a thing could be heard. Everything was still. The wind didn't howl, the Koroks didn't play, it was as if every living being was staring at him in disbelief. Link could even feel the confusion radiating off the weapon in his hand.
The sudden creak of wood as the Deku Tree’s mouth fell agape split the silence like a knife. (Later on, Link would look back at this moment with pride, as he’d done something that rendered even an ancient all-knowing tree speechless. Yeah, it was by breaking the literal laws of physics, but still – or was it the laws of magic? Or reality itself? Point is, he was pretty sure he broke the laws of something important.)
For his part, Link’s eyes were glued to the Master Sword, no thoughts, head empty. After a pause in the life of Korok Forest that seemed like an eternity, he finally blinked.
“Are you fucking kidding me.”