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Febuwhump Day 11: Time Loop (Time/Malon)

Continuation of Day 6

Ao3

Buckle up folks this one’s ANGSTY

CW for repeated temporary character deaths, blood, injury, and mild gore

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Three.

That is how many times he has lost her. Malon. His best friend, his beloved wife, fallen upon a bed of liquid rubies. Red like her fiery hair that gleams in the sunlight and glows beneath the moon and is so soft beneath his loving fingers.

Four.

That is how many times he has died. How many times her scream has been the last thing that he hears before the darkness comes. How many times he has choked, lifeblood gurgling in his throat, or spilling from his chest, or cascading from his abdomen.

Suffocating him. Drowning him. Soaking into the grass where he and Malon lay together as children, spotting shapes in the clouds. Stealing the life he never thought he would have and now fights so hard to keep.

He doesn’t want to die. But he can’t live without her. She is what makes it all worth it.

Seven.

That is the total number of times that he has restarted. The total number of times that he has relived the same torturous thread of moments. Felt his body break beneath the Shadow’s assault, felt a sword slice his throat…or seen it slice Malon’s.

He has time in a constant loop. It is fixed in it, stuck, and it traps everyone else within its orbit. But that is the way it must be. This is a battle he cannot win on the first try. That became abundantly clear the first time the Shadow had taken the person he loves most in the world.

And all because Link was once a hero.

It’s ironic, really, that nearly everyone has forgotten. Save, of course, for Zelda and Malon. No one else believes his tales. Never have, never will.

Except for this one monster. The one he faces now.

It is the eighth time.

He runs through it as quickly as possible, using time itself against the Shadow. It doesn’t work.

He saves Malon, he slays the monsters. But when time restarts, the Shadow is quicker than he could ever be. And Link ends up on the ground, Malon’s tears mingling with his own as she clutches his twitching body.

His lungs fill with blood. He dies hearing her scream his name.

Nine.

Time reorients, speeds back, slows to normalcy. Link opens his eyes and he is in the Shadow’s grip.

Claws dig into his scalp. A sword caresses his neck. Link can’t find it within himself to gasp at its touch. He has already done that more than once. And besides, he only has eyes for Malon.

Again, she is bound. Again, she thrashes, fighting with all her might (always the fighter, his Malon. By the goddesses he loves her).

“The Hero of Time groveling. Now, that is a sight that does me good.”

Swords glint in the sun. Link reaches out, takes time in his hands and yanks it back. It halts. He drags his aching body up, biting back the cry as his wounds scream for attention. Running forward, he grips his claymore in chained hands and brings it in a sweeping sideways arc.

It splits the air and the Shadow’s body.

When time returns to normal, a clawed hand grips his throat.

“Thought you had bested me, did you?” Hot breath smothers him. Crimson eyes bore into his soul. “You are not the only one with a mastery of time.”

A tightening of the hand that holds him. A flick of the wrist. The sharp crack of breaking bones.

This time death comes too quickly for him to hear Malon cry out.

Ten.

The Shadow has his own level of control over time, slight though it may be. That lowers the effectiveness of Link’s favored approach. But it doesn’t render it useless. Not in the least.

Still, he tries to be quicker this time, relying more on sleight of hand and trickery and less on his power to twist the flow of seconds and moments and hours.

He isn’t fast enough.

“You are providing quite the challenge,” the Shadow purrs. “I love it.”

Blood spurts in a graceful arc. Malon falls inches from him, a sword buried in her chest.

Link screams until his voice is hoarse. He sobs until the loop resets.

Eleven.

The deity’s mask is in his grasp. Somehow, he has managed to drag it to him from where it had fallen on the lawn.

He trembles as he raises it to his face.

“Link, no!” Malon screams.

The Shadow whirls. In the blink of an eye, he is before him, raising that cursed sword.

He carves the mask in half and takes Link’s hands off with it.

Twelve.

He surfaces with the pain of one thousand tears pounding behind his eyes and the cries of one hundred injuries screaming out for him to listen. The Shadow is talking as his claws dig into Link’s scalp. Blood trickles down his hairline.

But he doesn’t hear the words, nor feel the pain.

This is the one. This is the time when he wins.

It has to be.

Magic sparks to life at his fingertips, powerful and fierce. The spell is one he knows by heart. It twines around him, gentle, loving (suffocating). Then, it soars outward, traveling on the whispers of the wind.

The Shadow’s grip slips away as walls of crystal blue slip into existence. They seal together, enclosing the monster in a prison of serene cerulean. He pounds on them, once, twice, a growl of frustration in his throat. But they hold fast.

Link rises, forcing failing limbs into submission. Time slows, then stops. The monster that had been in the process of lunging at him freezes.

It is only him now. He and Malon and the beast that he has finally, finally caged.

Crimson eyes bore into him as he stands before the enclosure. Sharp teeth stretch into a mocking grin.

“So, you have managed it, at last. You have imprisoned a being of utter dark magic. How many times did it take you? How many times did you have to die?”

The grin grows. The Shadow tilts his head.

“How many times did you have to see her die?”

A sharp intake of breath sounds from behind him. Link can imagine her expression perfectly – fear and confusion and the sharpness of burgeoning comprehension churning in those sky-blue eyes. He refuses to look back to see it.

“As many as were necessary.” He steps closer, face set in a stern glare. “I am not here to answer your questions. Now is the time for you to answer mine.”

“Oh?”

“Whose power are you using to do all this? The portal, your control of time…you didn’t possess any such things when we last fought.” Link’s fingers curl in fists. Blood and dirt have cracked his flesh and turned it stiff. “How?”

The Shadow’s eyes narrow. “I could ask you the same, hero. You possess powers I have never seen before, only heard legends of. Terrible, awful powers. It leaves one wondering…” A glint of something dangerous shines in those blood-red orbs. “You are mighty, you are cunning. Yet, here you are, allowing me time to gain the upper hand.

“Again.”

He raises a clawed hand. Cracks snake their way through the magic binding Nayru’s Love. But Link is ready this time.

Once more, a spell weaves itself around him. This one is furious and explosive. It flies forward, lifting the edges of his tunic and blowing his hair into his eyes.

The Shadow’s eyes go wide. A grim smile lifts Link’s lips.

“A parting gift,” he says, as flames roar to life within the blue barriers, turning them striking shades of gold and red. “We’ll meet again, I’m sure. I trust that that meeting will not be here.”

There is a moment when all he can see is sheer panic, spelled out plainly across the Shadow’s face. Then, with a screech of agony and in a rush of magic, he is gone.

And for the first time in a long time, Link is certain he will not return.

Time slides seamlessly back into its normal flow.

He turns to where his wife awaits, slipped from her bindings and standing on shaky legs, looking at him with one hundred different emotions in those blazing eyes.

“Oh, fairy boy,” she chokes, adoration and exasperation and exhausted anger fighting for purchase in her tone. “A time loop?”

A smile of sweet relief lifts his lips, even as tears stream down his cheeks.

“I had to,” he whispers and the words are fire on his throat. “I never got to say that I loved you back.”

Link has just enough time to see the way her expression shatters before his legs give way. But when he crumples, she is already there, trembling and pale, yet so, so strong. That fire that is all hers still shines in her eyes, even past the cracks of grief and fear.

She wraps her arms around him and he draws her close, breath stuttering as her familiar warmth fills him.

“We’re safe now,” he whispers. His eye slips closed, exhaustion dragging him down. “You’re safe now, Mal. He isn’t coming back.”

She holds him tighter in response, inhaling an unsteady breath.

“We made it,” she murmurs, almost disbelieving. And then in a whisper, “I love you, fairy boy.”

A sob tears its way from his throat. But he manages a reply anyway.

“I love you too.”

#this opening was SO good!!!#the ANGST #that first paragraph is a masterpiece #there are so many brilliant lines in this one!!#stealing the life he never thought he would have and now fights so hard to keep!! 😭#SCREAMING!!#his sheer determination is killing me!#his love for her is everything to me #I LOVE the way you make it so easy to feel his devotion and desperation just through his thoughts!! he hardly speaks but you give him #so MUCH heart!! 💔#he can’t find it within himself to gasp at its touch #ouch #he’s so tired 😭#the part with the fierce deity mask is HORRENDOUS! i didn’t know if I wanted him to use it or not but you abruptly put an end to that line #of thought! you weren’t kidding about this one 😭#that feels like such a horrifying punishment I don’t know if it’s because despite being a sword wielding hero I always think him as gentle #hands for playing the ocarina for making music for people and frogs 😭 patting and taking care of epona you mentioned at the beginning #his loving hands and it really is true so it’s so hard to stomach that part 💔#the spells! oh thank god! 😭#i trust that meeting will not be here! I loved that!#I never got to say I loved you back! oh sweet fairy boy 😭#this was harrowing! but oh so good! that was a tough one I was getting worried this one wouldn’t have a happy ending either but #THEY MADE IT!!#your angst writing is sublime!#lovely adrift in thyme #lovely writing!!!!#injury tw #linkeduniverse #malink

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endlessartpumpkin · 1 day

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Febuwhump Day 6: "I Love You" (Time/Malon)

Ao3

This takes place pre-lu

CW for blood and injury, multiple threats of death, and temporary character death

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The worst dreams are always the ones where she can do nothing but watch. The ones where her body is paralyzed, the ground as uncooperative as quicksand. The ones where something terrible occurs. Something so horribly, vibrantly, gory that the only escape she has is to awaken from it, choking on hot, wet tears.

Never before had she realized how lucky she was to have that escape. To be able to curl into her husband’s waiting arms and let the images drift away, carried on the tide of his steadily beating heart.

Malon wishes she could do the same now.

This, however, is anything but a dream. The blood splotched across the ground, the sword lying useless amongst the green grass, the limp form crumpled beside it – it is all too real. As is the tall, lizard-like figure who stalks forward Link’s fallen body.

The Shadow grins and it sends shivers down her spine.

She thrashes again, straining helplessly against her bonds. Coarse ropes dig into her wrists, a tightly tied rag bites her cheeks until they ache. Somewhere behind her, a monster looms, claws slicing into her shoulder. Shards of pain travel down her arms, following the thin trails of blood.

But she has to get away, she has to. Link is right there, only a few feet away, broken and bleeding and helpless. She must reach him.

The Shadow extends talon-tipped fingers and drags Link up by his hair. He slumps in the monster’s grip, eye half-lidded and dazed. Blood dribbles from his mouth and nose and mars his clothing. He coughs and more splatters onto the lawn.

“So, this is the famed Hero of Time.” The Shadow shifts and his very being seems immaterial. Malon can see now how he got his name. “I’ll admit I’m disappointed. You went down so quickly.”

Blood-red eyes flick to Malon. A forked tongue zips out of scaly lips, quick as lightning.

“Love has made you soft.”

His grip tightens and Link lets out a sharp hiss.

“Let her go,” he croaks, “l-let her go or I’ll make you wish you were n-never born.”

The Shadow’s laughter rings out across the lawn, making the horses rear and dart further into the paddock. All except for Epona, who bucks and whinnies, trying desperately to reach her master. But the chain the Shadow had conjured around her ankle remains unmoving as ever.

“Make me wish that I was never born?” He jeers, tightening his grip on his captive. Link falls backward, bumping against his side. “Oh, my dear, dear hero! Are you unaware of your current situation? I recall you being smarter when we last met. Perhaps, you hit your head a tad too hard. That was quite the noise your skull made against my sword.”

The air flickers and suddenly, his ebony sword is back in his hand as though it had never disappeared. He fits it snuggly against Link’s neck, right over his jugular. Malon’s breath hitches.

“No!” She screams, kicking out, blindly. A clawed hand slaps her smartly across the cheek and her head snaps back. Before she can even recover, cool metal nips at her throat. She swallows, tasting icy fear.

“Malon!”

Link jerks in his captor’s hold, terror and fury battling in his gaze. The Shadow yanks him back, tilting his head in calm contemplation.

“Now, let me see. Which one of you should I kill first? I came here to slay the Hero of Time, but to find him with a wife…well, that was a pleasant surprise.” He pauses, that cursed gaze fixing itself firmly onto Malon. “Yes, I believe that is the answer. The wife goes first.”

“No!” The scream tears itself from Link, hoarse and desperate and agonizing, even as the words wash over Malon like spring rain, slowly seeping into her thoughts. With them comes a distant sort of terror, so close it turns her palms clammy, yet so far she hardly knows it is there.

Another monster grabs a hold of Link, claws digging into the wounds already marring his body. And the Shadow stalks towards her.

“Hello, dear,” he croons.

With a taloned finger, he removes the gag, allowing it to flop limply into the dirt. Malon fixes him with a glare.

“What makes you think killing us will help with anything?” She spits, straining to keep the fear from her voice.

He chuckles as he straightens, looking over her like an obsidian statue.

“Your husband is a hero, a blessed one of the gods. And as such, he has only furthered the relentless cycle that grips Hyrule. Without his demise, it will continue, unceasingly.

“As for your death, well — ” He shrugs — “that is merely for my own enjoyment. I wish to see your precious Link’s anguish before I slit his throat.”

“No!” Link screams again, fighting desperately against the monster who holds him fast. Chains have appeared around his wrists now, though Malon cannot remember seeing them before. They sing with every panicked movement.

“Don’t you dare touch her! It’s me you want, not her!”

A tear skitters down his cheek, glittering in the noonday sun. The sight of it breaks Malon’s heart.

Oh, fairy boy.

“I’m the hero,” he chokes, quieter now, defeated before his fate has even been set in stone. He raises his eye to the Shadow, a plea behind the fury in his gaze. “I’m the one who killed Ganondorf. Your vendetta is against me and me only. So, let her go…please, just let…let her go.”

The Shadow grins, all sharp teeth and shifting shapes.

“The Hero of Time groveling. It does me good to see a sight like that. I doubt anyone has seen it before, now, have they? Such a display of weakness is not to be taken lightly.” He gestures to the monster who holds the sword over her neck. “She is every bit as important to him as I hoped. So, go on. Do the deed.”

Something leaden and sickening and absurdly calm settles in Malon’s chest.

This is the end, her mind mourns. This is the end and there is nothing to be done now. Nothing to be done but to accept it.

“Link,” she calls and there is something hopeless in the way she does it. He looks at her, blood draining down his face, chest heaving with every panicked breath, pain and fear bright in his eye. But for a moment, she can see him as he was only this morning, gazing at her as though she is the most precious thing in the world, calloused hands cupping her face as he whispers that he loves her.

She smiles through her tears. His expression shatters.

“I love you.”

The Shadow grins, the monster begins to move its sword…

And the world comes to a screeching halt.

Malon remains still for a beat, waiting for the pain of metal slicing skin, waiting for the sensation of choking on her own blood. It doesn’t come.

The claws holding her are motionless. The weapon held against her neck doesn’t budge. The Shadow stays where he had come to stand, lips parted, fangs glinting, hand outstretched towards her. Off to the side, Epona remains reared up, hooves kicking at the sky, mane flying out in frozen strands of silken white.

The only person that moves in this strange place of living statues is Link.

He stumbles towards her, half-dragging his left leg. Chains still encircle his wrists, but now he holds his gilded sword in one hand. Behind him, a monster stands, a spurt of blood frozen in the space between his neck and chest.

“Link…what?”

She gazes around again, mind stuttering as it tries to catch up. She is no stranger to the oddities of her husband’s powers and adventures but this…this is something she has never seen before, nor heard of. As far as she knows, he has no power over time except by his ocarina. And that currently lies in a locked bedroom drawer.

He looks over her, fast and calculating and bitter. Then, with one swift movement, he drives his sword into the monster behind her. Malon cringes, awaiting a stream of gore that never comes. In fact, the monster doesn’t even budge. Like its companion, it merely remains where it is, gripped by the fate that does not yet have full reign.

Link kneels before her, now, knocking away the weapon that threatens her life, slicing at the ropes that bind her. He pulls and they fall away.

She raises her hands, rubbing dazedly at her aching wrists.

“What is this, fairy boy?” She murmurs, awed and terrified all at once.

“I’ll explain later,” he replies, quickly, shaking his head. And she knows that he will. “But we have time. Only…only a little, but we do.”

He reaches out, knuckles ghosting her cheek. She leans into his touch and draws a shaky breath. To feel him here warm and real is more than she could have hoped for after today’s events. In that terrible moment, she had believed that their only reunion would be in the icy embrace of death.

“They hurt you…again.” His voice cracks, shattering like a piece of pottery. “Malon, I’m…I’m so, so sorry.”

Lifting a hand, Malon rests it over Link’s, fingers intertwining with his.

“Oh, fairy boy, it’s not your fault.”

He gazes at her, broken and vulnerable. Then, slowly, he pulls away and gets to his feet. Holding out a hand, he helps her rise.

“I’ll fix this,” he says, voice growing tight and determined. “I promise you.”

And she has the strangest feeling that she has heard it before, that they have done this before.

What had he said earlier? That they had hurt her again?

“Link.” She steps after him, worry taking hold of her heart once more. Something is strange here. Something is wrong. “You’re keeping something from me. What’s going on? What’re you gonna do?”

He looks back at her, danger and grief in his eye.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers and time jolts back into normality.

No sooner has it done so, than the Shadow rushes forward and slits his neck.

#injury tw #that temporary character death tag giving me much needed reassurance at the last moment there 😭#I was not ready #T-T #this scenario is SO much worse than the others 😭#Link is always going through it but he’s always had a safe place to come back too #he knew Malon was safe #safe in the thought he’d never bring that part of his life back to her #but THIS #she’s in the middle of it #and all she can think about is getting to him!!#love has made you soft 😖#and epona trying to get to him!! MYCHEST!!#his girls!#the shadow is DESPICABLE #but I LOVE his dialogue he’s so cruel but in a charismatic way! I always love that about your bad guys #this last bit kills me #the way he threatens and begs in the same breath #offers himself 😭#the way she already knows!!#and accepts it just wants to tell him she loves him one last time #wants it to be the last thing he hears!!#link 🥲#how many times has he done this!#I need therapy #this was insane! in the best way! you know it’s incredible when you hate it but LOVE it at the same time!! and I do I always do 😭#lovely adrift in thyme #linked universe #malink

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