"In the darkness is the light" -Mackenzie Phillips

In the (once again) ruined castle ballroom, after a few minutes of apprehension, Link decides to investigate the ship that had crashed into the castle.

"Alright everyone, I'll check it out. Stay here; just be ready to jump in if I call." Link instructs the others waiting in the entrance to ballroom as he cautiously walks towards the ship.

"What is this thing, lady Impa?" One of the Sheikah asks.

"I don't know..." Impa answers as Zelda walks towards the ship, ignoring Link's warning altogether. "Princess! Get back here! We don't know what that is!"

"I know. That's why I'm going to find out." Zelda answers while readying the Sheikah Slate.

"Why does that girl never listen...?"

"Maybe I can break this." Link has approached the cockpit and draws the Master Sword to break the damaged glass. "Here goes- *shutter click* what the?!" Link turns around to see Zelda taking pictures with the slate. "Princess? What are you doing here? I said to hang back."

"I wanted to see what this machine is. The curiosity got the better of me. Now let's take a look, ok?" Zelda says while smiling.

"Ugh....Just stay alert." Link readies the sword. "Stand back please."

Link hits the cockpit several times before finally breaking the glass, revealing even more complex machinery within, along with the unconscious pilot.

"What is all this? What do these markings mean?" Zelda says with intrigue and she takes more pictures of the ship interior.

"Wait a minute Princess, there is something else in here." Link says while reaching out to the pilot. "Give me a minute."

"Well, what is it?"

"You're not going to believe this. But it's a metal human." Link says with amazement while pulling out the still unconscious Samus from the ship.

"What in the name of Hylia?" Zelda asks in complete astonishment. "Impa! Everyone, come here, you have to see this!"

Impa runs over with the Sheikah to the ship. "What is the matter Princess- what is that?!"

"It's some sort of humanoid machine. Is it some unknown type of Guardian?" Zelda asks.

"I've never seen anything like this before. If there is anyone who might know anything, it would be Purah. She's been studying our ancestors longer than anyone else." Impa comments.

"Purah? Oh my gosh, PURAH!" Zelda realizes that her communication with Purah was interrupted following the trouble with the Guardian. She hastily pulls out the slate to call Purah.

"ZELLIE! What happened?! Where is Linky and Imps?!" Purah asks with panic and fear.

"I'm so sorry Purah, I meant to contact you. Don't worry, they're both fine. Link, Impa come here." Zelda calls out to the two so that they are in Purah's view.

"I'm right here Purah." Link says

"Sister, I am well." Impa reassures.

"Whew, talk about giving a little kid a near heart attack. Anyway, where's the Guardian?"

"It's destroyed, thankfully." Link responds.

"Linky, you look terrible." Purah says, earning a small disapproving glare from him. "Did you destroy it?"

"Kind of..." Link says hesitatingly.

"What do you mean, 'kind of'?"

Link takes the slate. "Uh, this finished it off." He points the screen at the crashed ship, which Purah looks at in shock.

"WHAT. THE. HECK IS THAT?!" Purah exclaims.

"We were hoping you could tell us, dear." Impa cuts in.

"How should I know what it is?! I've never seen that before! Where did it come from anyway?"

"I don't know exactly, the only thing I can say is that it came from the sky." Zelda says

"The sky?"

"Yes, it came down and obliterated the Guardian. Then it crashed into the ballroom."

"Wow, that's one heck of a story..."

"Actually, that's not the only thing. This was inside of it." Link lowers the screen down and Purah sees Samus on the ground.

"A machine human, or something?" Purah asks with intrigue.

"I guess it is. Its face is just a green T-shaped light with a red head; it has orange-yellow armor and some sort of cannon on what should be its right hand." Link says.

"Hmm, I see. What are you going to do with it?"

"We haven't decided yet. Why?"

"Can you put it someplace where I can check it out in the morning?"

"Wait, you want us to keep it in the castle?"

"Just until the morning, after I take samples of its metal in the morning we can take it apart and then dispose of it."

"I don't know if the Princess would want that-"

"We can have it placed in the library." Zelda interrupts.

"Of course she would..." Link says dejectedly.

"Oh come on Link, aren't you curious as to what this is or where it came from?"

"In a sense I am, but what about the security of the castle? What if it activates while we're sleeping?"

"We'll have sentries posted outside the door to the library just in case something happens. Would that calm you down?"

"Hrmm.....Alright, but just one problem from it and I will destroy it. Are we clear?"

"Very well. Purah, we're going to put it in the library. Will you be here in the morning to check on it?"
"That's right. I'll be there first thing in the morning to see it and the machine it came in."

"Good. We'll have it moved now. We'll talk in the morning Purah. Good night."

"Be careful you don't throw out your backs carrying it!" Purah jokingly says before ending the communication.

The group exits the castle, two of the Sheikah carrying Samus out towards the library, with great difficulty as her suit is surprisingly heavy (Purah had a point). On a side note, both Link and Impa had to escort Zelda out of the ballroom, mostly because she wouldn't stop taking pictures of the ship or trying to get inside of it to see its mechanisms, much to Zelda's disappointment.

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Back in the Princess's room, which was once the king's room but is now occupied by both Zelda and Link, with a large curtain dividing the room so that they can have their own privacy in it. Zelda's side of the room contains a bed, bedside drawer, a large closet with many different outfits (Which Zelda kindly allowed Link to store his armors as well, that he acquired throughout his quest to stop Calamity Ganon) and shelves containing many, many journals which Zelda had written on many subjects and several plants which Link had collected for her. On the other side, Link has a bed, a desk, a small rug, four mounts containing the weapons of the champions that were gifted to him by their respective village leaders (which Link had thankfully managed to retrieve from his destroyed house), which he treasures as they are all he has left of them and finally a shelf containing the paraglider (as a memento from the king), Hestu's gift (which he mostly regrets in hindsight), a pet hot-footed frog (which he had comically put a sign over its cage reading 'Princess, this is not for tasting') and finally the bow of light that allowed him to defeat Calamity Ganon (which, of course, Zelda bestowed to him).

"Ahh, darn." Link winces in pain as he dresses his wounds from his earlier fight. Not having attended to them due to the appearance of the ship.

"Link, do you need any help?" Zelda says from the other side of the divider.

"No thank you, I'm almost done." After finishing, he puts on a white tunic for sleep. "Hey, what did you think about tonight?"

"You mean with the Guardian and the machine?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I don't really know what to think. That Guardian, for one, fired its laser in a rapid fashion; I thought that they couldn't do that. Also, its markings glowed blue, what was that about?"

"You have a point, that was very out of the ordinary. It had more capabilities."

Now, that machine crashing into the castle. What is that?"

"Well, hopefully Purah can give us some answers about it tomorrow." Lightning strikes outside again. "Argh, what is it with this lightning?"

"You still don't like the rain, do you?" Zelda says in a sympathetic tone.

"It just reminds me of...past failures."

Link remembers the aftermath of Ganon's attack in which the king tragically lost his life, along with the four champions and an unspeakable number of soldiers and civilians, resulting in him and Zelda running for their lives in the pouring rain. Seeing Zelda in pure agony over failing everyone who counted on her was carved into his subconscious. Moreover, before losing consciousness after Zelda had awakened her power to save themselves from the attacking Guardians, the last thing he saw was her distraught face, pleading for him not to leave her. She only heard one sentence from him:

"I'm not going anywhere..."

The next thing he knew, after recovering his memories, 100 years had passed.

"Hah...." Link lets out a heavy sigh.

Zelda walks over to the divider and moves it aside so that she can speak to Link directly, who is sitting on his bed.

"Link...apart from my father and the champions, do you...remember anyone else that was lost in the calamity?" Zelda quietly asks.

Link looks down for about 5 seconds before finally facing Zelda. "I remember all of them." He quietly says with melancholy.

Those words hit Zelda like daggers on her heart. She now sees that she isn't the only one with haunting memories of the past, that no matter how hard they try, do not want to go away. Zelda looks at Link with sadness in her eyes.

"If it's all the same to you, Princess, I think we should get some sleep now. It has been hectic evening after all."

"Yes, you're right...." Zelda walks up and places a hand on Link's shoulder, causing him to look up in surprise. "I will see you in the morning. Good night Link." Zelda smiles slightly.

"Yes, good night. Princess." Link responds with a small smile as well.

Zelda closes the divider once again and puts out the candles after Link lowers the chandelier from the ceiling. She then walks over to her bed to sleep. Link had fallen asleep almost immediately, but Zelda had trouble doing the same; Link's last words ringing in her ears and making her anxious about his turmoil. Two hours pass and she had not fallen asleep yet. Fed up with this, Zelda sits up and looks at the Shiekah Slate and decides to occupy her mind with another subject; the machine human in the library.

"If it will help me find sleep again, I might as well give it a look." Zelda thinks to herself as she removes her white nightgown and puts on a blue-white tunic with yellow designs (omitting the gloves altogether), black pants, brown boots and tying her hair into a basic ponytail. She then quietly walks out of the room without waking Link and makes her way to the library, being extra quiet as the guest room, where Impa is sleeping in, is along the same path. Finally arriving at the entrance to the library, Zelda sees the two sentries have fallen asleep on their seats, much to her relief.

Zelda approaches the doors and begins opening them. "Don't creak, don't creak...." She silently says as she opens the door enough so that she squeeze through and slowly closes them, being careful to not make the handles click when they close.

"That was close, now then; let's check out our metal friend."

Zelda walks up to the still unconscious Samus, who is laid out on a table. Zelda begins writing down notes.

"Subject is a humanoid machine. Origin unknown; only known fact is that it came from the sky in a larger machine. Subject has a red head-like apparatus and chest, yellow lower abdomen and inner thighs and orange legs, outer thighs, oversized shoulders and left arm (side note: unknown device underneath said arm). Right arm is some sort of cannon; projectiles that it fires remain unknown for now." Zelda puts her journal down. "Now let's see if we can open you up."

Zelda looks around Samus's suit, but can't find any way of opening it. After a few minutes of not finding anything, she unintentionally strokes the left side of Samus's helmet, causing air to exit from underneath it and allow Zelda to see the silhouette of her face in it.

"I don't believe it. This isn't a machine at all; it's a person." Zelda says with quiet surprise. "Then, this is just a helmet. Time to see who you are, mister."

Zelda slowly removes the helmet and is left speechless by what she finds; an attractive young woman with mostly pale skin, blonde hair in a fairly long ponytail and a small beauty mark under the left side of her lower lip.

"My word....She's almost as tall as a Gerudo." Zelda puts the helmet down and updates her notes. "Addendum: subject is not a machine as previously thought. It is actually a, admittedly beautiful, woman in a rather complex suit of armor. This person is currently unconscious and will be monitored until she awakens." Zelda then picks the helmet up and decides to wear it. Unbeknownst to her, Samus begins to stir.

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Back in the room, Link awakens from a small nightmare.

"Ahh, stupid Lynels, why do you have to appear in my dreams?" Link says in an annoyed tone before lying back down. He turns his head to the side and notices that Zelda's bed is flat, indicating that she's not here. "Princess?" Link parts the divider and sees Zelda's nightgown on the bed, a drawer open with some clothes missing and the Shiekah Slate gone. Link realizes where she went. "Oh, Princess....." He says in with an exasperated mood as he puts on his boots and slings the Master Sword over his shoulder, exclaiming in discomfort as his wounds are still fresh before finally walking out. "Sometimes, this girl can be quite the handful...."

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Back in the library

"What does all this mean? HUD. Energy. Miss-ill capacity. I don't understand why this is written." Zelda says while wearing the helmet and commenting on the visors interior. She finally takes the helmet off. "Well, maybe you'll explain better when you wake-" Zelda turns around and sees that Samus is missing. "...up."

Zelda holds the helmet tightly and slowly walks toward the exit. Soon however, fast footsteps catch her attention. "Uh, Link? Was that you?" She asks nervously before walking in that direction towards the bookshelves. "Come on out, I just want to ask you some things. Are you from this land? Did the Goddess send you?" Zelda then gasps as the footsteps get closer and her eyes widen in fear. However, she relaxes as it was a cat that caused those footsteps. "Hah, don't scare me like that, little one. I thought you were-" Zelda stops abruptly as a cannon is pointed directly at the left side of her head. She moves her eyes to see the woman from before pointing her cannon at her.

"Don't move." Samus orders; her blue eyes flaring with seriousness.

"There is no need for that." Zelda answers nervously. "I just-"

"Shut up." Samus moves her cannon closer. "Give me that helmet."

"This?"

"NOW." Samus extends her hand.

"O-of course." Zelda slowly hands the helmet back to Samus. "It's yours after all."

Samus puts on her helmet and then moves in front of Zelda with her cannon still ready. "Hands where I can see them." Zelda complies and puts her hands up. "And where is my ship?"

"We don't have any ships. They were all destroyed a long time ago."

"I meant the one that I came in."

"That was a ship?" Zelda asks with bewilderment.

"Where is it? Tell me!"

Suddenly, Link pushes the door to the library open, with the added effect of waking the sleeping guards, and has an irritated look on his face. "Princess, I thought we agreed that this would wait until morning-" He stops suddenly to notice that Zelda is being threatened and draws his sword. "What is going on here?!"

"I could ask you all the same thing." Samus calmly answers.

"Get away from the princess!" Link orders as the one of the guards readies himself and the other runs off to wake the others. "Wait a minute, you're a machine; but you can talk?!"

"I'm a human. Mostly."

"Whatever! Lower your weapon now! We're taking you to the dungeon!"

Soon a squadron of Sheikah arrives and readies their weapons behind Link. Samus assesses the situation and decides to lower her cannon and then looks at Zelda. She nods her head towards the group, indicating Zelda to go with them. Zelda quickly walk off to the group and Samus speaks up.

"I'm not going to any dungeon." Samus switches to the light beam and shoots a fast shot of light into the air, causing a blinding flash. The entire group reels back to cover their eyes as Samus effortlessly jumps over them and runs through the halls to escape. Link recovers from the flash and tries to run after her. After running through several corridors Samus finds the entrance and hears the shouts from the group behind her and motions towards the closed gate. To everyone's shock, Samus jumps over the entire 30 foot gate and runs off into the rainy night.

"Lower the gate!" Link shouts after snapping back to reality and the guard complies in opening the gate. "Everyone stay here, I'm going after her." Link then runs off after her.

Zelda arrives 6 minutes later. "Get our horses! Now!"

"But your Highness, he told us to stay here." The guard comments to her.

"He's going to get himself killed! He's injured! Now I order you to bring our horses immediately!"

"I-As you wish." The guard gestures to two other Sheikah to retrieve Link and Zelda's personal horses; Soren (a white stallion with the royal saddle and bridle) and Epona (a chestnut brown mare with the same saddle and bridle). Zelda mounts Soren and guides Epona out of the gate and towards the field. "We'll be back soon!"

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Central Hyrule field, by the sacred ground ruins, Link had managed to run all the way here before collapsing from exhaustion, his wounds continuing to plague him.

"No...I can't let her get away...." Link says while dropped to one knee and breathing heavily.

"Link!" Zelda shouts from behind on her horse and reaches Link, she then dismounts and kneels down next to him. "Come on, we're returning to the castle."

"Not yet...She's still out there!"

"We can worry about her later! You're wounds haven't healed yet!"

"But..."

"She'll come back on her own, we have something she wants, remember?"

"That large machine?"

"Yes."

"Hah....Alright. Let's go back."

Zelda helps Link onto Epona's back and before they can go any further, an arrow hits Link on the shoulder, knocking him off Epona. Zelda shouts to Link in horror before kneeling to his side.

"Princess, look out!" Link screams as he grabs Zelda and rolls them both out of the path of a Yiga Blademaster's sword. Soon they are both surrounded by twelve other Yiga clan members.

"Who would have thought that both the princess and hero would be out here, ready for our blades?" The Yiga commander says. "Ganon is good to us; your deaths will be talked about for years to come."

"Ganon is gone!" Zelda shouts. "You have no more reason for this!"

"You're right; you made us lose our reason to fight, so now the hero is going to lose his. How does that sound, 'your majesty'?" He says while waving his sword in front of Zelda's face.

"Get away from her, you- argh!" Another Yiga knees Link in the abdomen, quieting him.

"You'll get your turn, don't you worry hero." The Yiga commander then prepares to run his sword through Zelda's stomach. "But first, I think you should watch her die"

At that moment, all of Links fears were made into light; as he knelt there, restrained by the Yiga, they planned to execute Zelda, the only one he had left in this world, in front of him. As Zelda shook in complete terror, Link couldn't stop looking at her eyes, as if he were saying, 'I failed you, again'. Tears began to leave Links eyes as he faced the inevitable.

"Goodbye princess." The commander readies to impale Zelda. In that instant, the commander's right arm is encased in ice and another shot shatters it. The commander drops to his knees and screams in pain as an orange flash drops from the dark sky into the center of the Yiga.

"I despise those who prey on the weak." Samus says in quiet anger.

"You..." Zelda says in shock.

"KILL HER!" The commander shouts in pained fury. The twelve other Yiga drop Link and Zelda and charge at Samus with their sickles and she fires her grapple beam (from under her left arm at one of them and swings him around, hitting the others. A blademaster gets up and tries to hit Samus with a wind blade, but she jumps over it, wraps her left arm around his neck, swings herself around, driving him down to the ground and blasts him in the face, killing him. She then engages the others with several power beam shots. Zelda rushes over to the injured Link and tries to get him up on his feet during the commotion.

"Link? Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Link says half-heartedly before noticing the fight. "By the Goddess...."

Of the twelve Yiga that attacked them, eight have already been eliminated. Not wanting to risk anymore losses, the commander orders the remaining four to retreat. Before Samus could react, they all left in a flash of red lights.

"She beat them, incredible power....." Zelda comments.

"Just what are you?" Link adds.

Samus looks at the pair and then walks toward them, earning apprehension from them. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Here." She says as she extends her hand and after a few seconds, Link accepts her help.

"Why did you help us?" Link asked.

"You're injured." Samus says as she scans his concealed injuries once again. "Attacking a wounded soldier is pathetic. Also, I should repay you with this for not attacking me while I was unconscious." She adds as Link and Zelda relax themselves.

"Thank you for saving our lives." Zelda says while bowing politely.

"Now then, you both should head back to your castle."

"Yes, we should. Oh, please come with us!" Zelda says with enthusiasm.

"That won't be necessary, thank you."

"We insist. Besides, your machine is there as well." Link replies.

"Ah, right." Samus says embarrassingly.

"Please, it's the least we can do for your help tonight." Zelda says

"Hmm, alright. Thank you."

Zelda dresses Links new arrow wound and helps him onto his horse. She then gets on her own and they head back to the castle with Samus walking beside them.

"Oh, we haven't introduced ourselves yet; my name is Link and this is Zelda, princess of Hyrule." Link declares.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Zelda politely says.

Samus looks at them both and smiles. "Nice to meet you, Link and Princess Zelda. I am Samus Aran."

To be continued