Chapter 10 – The Legend Never Dies

Summary: A play is held to commemorate the anniversary of Ganondorf's defeat in the other timeline, but things go a little off script...

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"You want me to be in a play?" Zelda asked incredulously.

"Yes, as part of a great celebration to thank the goddesses for bringing us the Hero of Time to save our kingdom," Impa explained. "The day of defeat from the other timeline is in just a few months and we want to pull out all the stops to celebrate it."

"But I don't have any acting experience, much less time to spare on something so frivolous!"

Impa seemed very disappointed with this response. "Zelda, dear, I urge you to reconsider. Almost everyone in Hyrule is expected to come to the celebration and it just wouldn't be the same if someone else played your part. I can assure you that no acting experience is necessary since you will essentially be playing yourself. Someone else will be playing you as a child and as a Sheikah since we can't allow you to do the sorts of dangerous stunts you did as Sheik—liability reasons and whatnot, you know. "

Zelda thought it over for several moments. "I really just don't want to..."

"Please?"

"Sorry, Impa..."

The white-haired Sheikah could see that she would have to resort to plan B...

"Link's already signed up," she announced abruptly.

As expected, this caused Zelda to immediately change her tune. "Really?"

"Yes. He said he was looking forward to acting alongside you. Guess I'll just go tell him you won't be doing it. I'm sure I can find a young, gorgeous aspiring actress to take your place at his side..." Impa turned to leave and slowly walked down the hallway. Three, two, one...she counted internally.

"Hey, wait!" Zelda shouted.

Bingo.

Impa turned around. "Yes?" she inquired, even though she was already fully aware of what was coming.

"So...uh...when's the first rehearsal?"

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Almost everyone reprised their real-life roles for the play, although only the people who had scenes together rehearsed together. Impa, being something of a connoisseur of the arts, essentially filled the role of director, advising everyone in the proper way to deliver their lines and to act naturally.

Link had a chance to meet the precocious young child who was playing him as a child. He was amazed by the kid's extensive knowledge of swords and the myriad other gadgets Link had collected on his quest. Sword skills had come naturally to Link—he had only needed a smidgen of training before he became proficient. From the looks of it, this boy must have the same goddess-granted gift.

The audience chamber of the castle was temporarily re-purposed as a rehearsal hall. The scene being rehearsed that day was the one from the Water Temple. Of course, Ruto was present to deliver her own lines.

"Hark! Who goes there?" she called out with much pomp and circumstance, even though Link had approached her from stage left and was already standing right next to her. Link couldn't help thinking Ruto's memory must be bad since he was fairly sure she'd never said anything like that in the other timeline. Nevertheless, Impa had taught him that any actor worth his salt will ad lib if need be, so that's what he did.

"It's me...Link," he said uncertainly.

"Link! My beloved fiance! You've come for me at last! I never forgot the vows we made to each other seven years ago...and now you have finally returned so we can live happily ever after!" she exclaimed with glee.

He sweatdropped nervously. "Um...Ruto?"

"Yes, my love?" She batted her eyes at him in an almost...seductive way.

"Have you completely lost it?"

Ruto's sweet, innocent demeanor suddenly changed to one of intense anger. She stamped an amphibious foot, pointed at him as if in accusation, and yelled, "This is how you treat the love of your life, the woman who waited patiently for you for seven whole years, a time in which any other woman would have thought you were cavorting around with some bimbos on the side and have left you already, but no—not me! I stayed faithful to you all the while, trusting that you would return to me some day and fulfill your promise to marry me, and yet this is the thanks you give me?! You know what your problem is? You never take any responsibility! Be a man! Don't keep a woman waiting until she's..."

While Ruto continued to prattle on and on, Link leaned over to Impa and whispered, "Are her scenes really necessary or can we just leave her out and pretend there were only six sages?"

Impa sighed, shaking her head in annoyance.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

Festival day had arrived. The only place that could reasonably accommodate the massive crowds anticipated was Lon Lon Ranch, which was fitting since it was the site of the first celebration of Ganondorf's defeat held soon after Link was sent back in time.

The scene in front of Link was an intimidating one. He had been prepared for a crowd, sure, but the words "half of Hyrule will be there" had no impact on him until he actually saw the seemingly endless waves of people. As he was now discovering, even the Hero of Time could experience stage fright. Considering he was the star of the show, he had no choice but to get a grip.

Luckily, the show started off without a hitch and the final act was fast approaching. This was Zelda's big moment and she was determined to give it her all—a performance her people could be proud of. Ganondorf's true form, an enormous pig, was represented by a large cardboard cut-out which was manipulated from behind to give it the illusion of movement during the big fight. This part of the play was much cheesier than Impa would have liked, but it couldn't be helped with the relatively small budget they had available.

Now it was time for the grand finale. Zelda feigned hurling a light spell at the cardboard Ganon, causing it to fall face-first onto the stage. Link, who was directly in Ganon's path during the fall, quickly side-stepped out of the way. Behind the first Ganon cut-out was another another, this one portraying Ganon collapsed on the ground. Link took this opportunity to deliver the (pretend) coup de grace directly to the tyrant's skull and Zelda fulfilled her duty by "banishing" Ganon to a faraway void.

Even a reenactment of the scene left them exhausted just as it had in the other timeline when it had all been done for real. They turned to face each other, wiping the quite genuine sweat from their brows.

A cloth decorated with a sky backdrop was unfurled in the background. This was it—the final scene. Everyone in the audience waited with bated breath for their hero and sovereign to wrap up the amazing events they had just witnessed. However...even though Zelda knew this was the cue for her victory speech, she could only draw a blank as she felt the weight of thousands of expectant eyes upon her. What was going on? She certainly wasn't so tongue-tied in the other timeline. How embarrassing!

"I...uh...I, um..." she stuttered, feeling herself sweating profusely. Being so nervous was completely uncharacteristic for her, a young monarch who was more than used to giving public speeches in front of large audiences.

Zelda suddenly realized what was causing this reaction in her. The sight of Link directly in front of her, golden hair tousled, clothing ripped and exposing fresh wounds (although these "wounds" were only the result of makeup this time around), gasping to catch his breath after overexerting himself, made her want to run to him, take him in her arms and comfort him, the boy who had selflessly risked his life to save her and all her kingdom, an incredibly perilous task for which he received so very little thanks.

Out of nowhere, a rowdy audience member shouted something that truly made Zelda blush. "Kiss!" He started chanting. Soon, a number of people were following suit. The chorus became progressively louder until it seemed nearly everyone in the audience was yelling it.

Is this what they really want...? she wondered, staring out at the audience, ...or is this just some sort of joke? She turned to observe the expression on Link's face—it was just as bashful as her own.

Zelda couldn't help but laugh at how preposterous this whole situation was. She was willing to do quite a lot for the sake of her role, but this was simply too much. Plus, it wouldn't be accurate to the way events had actually happened. So of course it was silly to think...

Unexpectedly, she felt her face being turned toward Link, who wasted no time in... Oh...wow...OK...he's...he's actually—wow... she thought almost incoherently, her mind a mess of emotions.

"I knew it! I knew there was another woman!" Ruto cried angrily from stage left, clenching a fist and holding it out in their direction.

Malon, standing near Ruto, simply looked away, disappointment clear on her face. I knew it was her...she thought sadly.

Their reactions however, were the exception. After a short pause to absorb the shock, nearly everyone erupted into spirited hand clapping, cheering and whistling...and all this in spite of Zelda almost blowing it by forgetting her lines.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

When it was time for the curtain call, all cast members returned to the stage to hold hands and bow as tradition demanded for such a spectacle. However, before Zelda could reach Link's side, two people rushed ahead of her to stake a claim on the spots adjacent to him. Naturally, those two people were Malon and Ruto, the latter of which was busy blowing kisses to the audience, giving a princess wave and thanking everyone excessively.

Ruto turned to her side, kissed Link on the cheek and hugged him while simultaneously holding one foot up behind her in a cute, girly way. Malon, becoming jealous, pushed Ruto away. "I met him before you and he likes me way better than you! You're just deluded into thinking he got engaged to you but he really has no plans of ever marrying a fish!"

"Take that back!" Ruto cried. The two began having a cat fight. While they were distracted, Link backed slowly away and came to Zelda's side.

"Women can be kind of...possessive, huh?" he asked before realizing he should probably keep his mouth shut about something like that around her.

To his surprise, thought, she actually laughed. "I really think it has more to do with you specifically than with the nature of females in general," she hinted with a smirk.

An old bearded man suddenly walked up to the pair, clapping his hands exuberantly. "Bravo! Bravo! What an excellent performance from all involved. I was so moved by what I saw that I've decided to write a book commemorating your exploits in the other timeline. I was thinking of calling it 'Hyrule Historia.' How's that sound?"

"Eh...a little too generic," Zelda commented. After giving it some thought, she added, "I think 'The Legend of Link' would work better."

"LOL, huh?" said Link. "I don't know...something just seems a little funny about that..." He pondered for a few moments. "I honestly think 'The Legend of Zelda' sounds better. After all, you have the light magic needed to defeat Ganon and the prophetic dreams that tell you things no one else knows. I'm just the guy who runs around stabbing things and pushing blocks around and stuff."

"Oh, you're far too humble, Link. The truth is, I just don't think I deserve having my name in the title because of how very little I do compared to you. It should have your name."

"No, I insist, it should be your name. You're the princess, after all."

"Yes, but being royalty alone doesn't entitle me to—"

"No, it should be 'The Legend of Ruto' because I'm the most beautiful of the sages and thus the most important one!" shouted, unsurprisingly, Ruto.

"No, it should be "The Legend of the brave, heroic Link and his trusty steed Epona who was raised with tender loving care by the lovely Malon of Lon Lon Ranch"!" Malon yelled.

"What the heck are you talking about? That's too damn long and you know it!" Ruto protested.

Link and Zelda sighed. No matter what name they picked, someone would always have something to complain about...

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

A/N: Although I still have ideas for more chapters, this will probably be the last. I dunno...tell me what you think.

A/N2: Props to Nintendo for posting a DLC with all the languages BotW has been dubbed into. Now here's to hoping they include LoZ stuff in the new Nintendo area being added to all the Universal theme parks (they've only confirmed a Mario-themed section so far...lame!)