Chapter Text
The halls of Hyrule Castle were filled with a strange calmness. Even though the castle was in grave danger, it was an unexpected danger. Every inhabitant of Hyrule Castle was familiar with the threat of monster attacks or war, the dangers of something coming for them. What was strange was that the danger this time came from the fact that nothing was coming for them. They were locked inside a prison of endless waters.
It was a particularly strange situation for the hero Link. He had just finished his voyage across the Great sea. Although he certainly enjoyed his time exploring the seas, he was happy that he would never have to see the endless ocean around him ever again. He wondered if someone had cursed him, or if he had accidentally insulted the Goddesses. Why did he deserve this fate?
Although the Children of Ganon had a devastating hand, the people of Hyrule Castle had an Ace; the only way that they could survive this situation was with magic and a strong leader. Zelda was an incredible magician, the Triforce of Wisdom granted her immense magic powers. This situation also provided a perfect opportunity for Zelda to prove herself to her servants. It was the chance to establish herself as the next in line for the throne, and gain respect from everyone. And so Link eagerly awaited for Zelda to step up and prove how strong she really was.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, Zelda struggled to gain the people’s confidence and ran away at the first chance she got, leaving Link to pick up the pieces. Link and Zachary came together in Zelda’s absence to establish order. They quickly delegated roles, the cooks would be responsible for rationing out food, The guards were responsible for protecting their precious resources, and everyone else was given odd jobs to keep Hyrule Castle in order.
Zelda finally showed up again after a few hours doing goddess knows what. Link’s frustration had been growing for a while, so he lambasted Zelda for her failure.
Link honestly regretted handling the situation in the way he did. Snapping at Zelda like that was completely unwarranted, and the spat he had with Samus was a complete waste of time. Link resolved to apologize to Zelda when he saw her next.
When Link caught up with Zachary again, the guard captain was standing on a balcony, looking at the wide ocean that surrounded Hyrule Castle.
The sound of footsteps behind Zachary caused him to turn, "Oh Link, how did your conversation with Zelda go?"
Link sighed as he walked up to Zachary’s side. "Not good. I let my frustration get the better of me."
"It happens to the best of us," Zachary reassured. "Why were you frustrated?"
"Zelda isn't living up to her full potential. She should be taking charge and establishing herself. If she's going to be queen, she needs to put forward a good first impression."
Zachary scoffed. "I highly doubt Zelda cares right now about being queen. Right now she cares about making sure we get out alive. We all are."
Link slowly nodded, "Of course… That was a stupid thing to think."
"Don't be too hard on yourself son," Zachary spoke softly as he placed his hand on Link’s shoulder.
“I can’t help but think stupid things like that. What’s wrong with me?”
"Not your fault. You've been dealt a bad hand from the start."
Link’s head dropped. Memories flew through his mind, of a time long past that still stuck to him like glue.
"If we get out of this alive I never want to see the ocean again." Link joked.
Zachary suddenly burst into laughter. "I forgot you came back from a voyage! I'm sorry son."
"Let's just focus on getting everyone home," Link stopped for a moment to stretch, his arms extended up in the air and back. "How are you holding up?"
"Honestly the hardest part about all of this is that I don't know how I should delegate people. Besides rationing food and guarding our stores, there's nothing for people to do."
"We could have people build boats. Could be useful to get to an island or catch fish."
Zachary awkwardly paused for a moment. "Link, promise me that you won't tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you. Zelda and Samus are the only exceptions."
Link stood up from the sudden serious tone, "I promise."
"Do you remember how our best estimation for how long it would take to get to the nearest island was nineteen days?"
Link slowly nodded.
"Right now we barely have enough food to last everyone a week. We wouldn't make it."
Link gasped, "We can fish for more food at least!"
Zachary shook his head. “We don’t know if there are fish in this area of the ocean. It would be a shot in the dark.”
Link slowly stepped away from the railing of the balcony. "So there's nothing we can do?"
"The only solution we can rely on is a magic one. It's all on Zelda now to save us."
Link's eyes lit up in realization before he smacked his forehead. "Zelda had a plan and I didnt even listen to her! Goddess I'm such an idiot."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it!" Zachary dusted off Link’s shoulders. "Make it right! Find Zelda, apologize for what you said, and help her get us out of this mess."
"Right, thanks Zachary!" Link waved as he ran to find the princess.
Zachary chuckled to himself as he stared back out into the sea.
“How hard is it to build an antenna?” Zelda asked as she exited the storeroom she and Samus took a break in.
Samus thought for a moment before asking, “Can magic shape metal?” When Zelda nodded she answered, “Yeah, it should be easy. I should be able to whip up some schematics.”
“Perfect!” Zelda’s excited demeanor was slowly replaced by her more analytical side until she asked, ”How does an antenna work anyway?”
“Uh, I wouldn’t know.” Samus said sheepishly. “It’s not my specialty.”
Zelda sighed, “That’s too bad.”
"Zelda!" The sound of Link running up to the two of them caused Zelda to pause. After Link caught up he took a moment to catch his breath. "I wanted to apologize. It was wrong of me to expect you to lead in this situation. It was also wrong of me to speak to you in that way. Samus, it was wrong of me to accuse you of such things. I apologize to you both."
Samus was surprised, Link seemed like the kind of man that wouldn't be willing to apologize, but he just proved her wrong.
Zelda smiled and nodded, "Thank you for your apology Link."
Link and Zelda began staring at Samus. Were they expecting to say something? She guessed it was pretty rude to not accept the apology. So Samus nodded and said, "Yeah, thanks."
Link looked between Zelda and Samus with confusion. Was he expecting more? Samus accepted his apology!
"Samus is a person of few words. You fully accepted his apology, right Samus?" At Zelda’s question, Samus nodded. "There we go. So, I never got the opportunity to talk to you about our plan. We're going to make an antenna to communicate with Samus' ship, so someone back in Hyrule could pilot it to us."
Link looked confused for a moment. "Wouldn't any normal ship take too long to reach us? How fast could this ship do the journey?"
"Less than two days."
Link scoffed. “Of course, why would I expect it to be anything else? You need to show me that ship once we get out of this.”
“Alright, alright,” Zelda waved her arms. “Let's get this done. Come on.”
The three walked through the halls of Hyrule Castle with purpose. Zelda lead the group to the royal forge, Link and Samus tagged behind. It wasn’t often that Zelda became so determined, Samus was mostly familiar with this side of Zelda from when she would hyper focus on a scientific problem. She was dedicated to helping the people of Hyrule Castle. Zelda might not have a talent in leadership, but her sheer determination made her a force to be reckoned with.
“Alright, we’re almost there,” Zelda turned around as she rounded a corner. “Samus, do you have the plans ready for the antenna?”
Samus quickly nodded.
“Perfect. We’ll get this-” Zelda’s speech stopped as she turned around. Her face morphed into a shocked expression. Noticing something was wrong, Samus stepped forward to look around the corner. She spotted what caused Zelda to stop rather quickly, from a wooden door a few paces away, a puddle of dark red blood pooled at its base.
Samus lept into action immediately. She charged a shot in her arm cannon as she ran past Zelda to the door. With a high power kick she blew the door clean open and thrusted her arm cannon into the room. Her eyes quickly scanned the room looking for threats, the only person she could see in the forge was a single muscular man lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
Samus ran up to the body and pressed her free hand against the man’s neck. She frowned, the man didn’t have a pulse. Link and Zelda entered the forge behind her.
“Oh my goddess,” Zelda gasped, freezing in place at the horror in front of her.
“Clive!” Link yelled as he ran up to Samus’ side and kneeled over the body. “Is he alright?”
“No pulse, he’s dead.” Samus said simply as she studied the body. In terms of clothes, the man only wore a pair of dirtied trousers and heavy boots. Seeing no injuries on the body’s back, Samus used her free hand to turn over the body.
Link looked offended at Samus’s actions saying, “You're disrespecting the dead!”
“I need to see what killed him.” Samus focused on the bodies’ chest and found the problem quickly, a stab wound just above the abdomen. Samus looked around for anything that could be used to do the stabbing. Gripped in the right hand of the body was a blood drenched knife. “Looks like he stabbed himself.”
Link shook his head, “No, Clive wasn’t the type of man to do something like this…”
Zelda’s shock gave way to tears as she stared at the body. Her breathing became erratic, and she started leaning against a workbench. “No… This- this can’t be!”
“Breathe,” Samus consoled as she stood up. She walked up to Zelda and placed a hand on her shoulder. “In and out, with me.”
Zelda couldn’t hear Samus’ breathing so she matched with the small rise and fall of the Power Suit’s chest. Four seconds in, four seconds resting, four seconds out, four seconds resting. Samus learned the box breathing technique during her time in the Federation military. Eventually Zelda’s heartbeat slowly fell to normal levels. Zelda didn’t say a word as calmed down.
“Okay?” Samus asked quietly. Instead of verbally responding, Zelda wrapped her arms around Zelda’s waist and pulled her closer. Samus stumbled for a moment as Zelda pulled her into a hug. Her footing became uneven and she held her arms up in the air away from Zelda.
After a few seconds Zelda slowly separated from Samus. “I’m sorry, I’ve never seen…”
“D- Don’t blame your- yourself,” Samus stuttered.
Zelda didn’t notice Samus’ stuttering as she began pacing back and forth. “If only we were here earlier… We could have stopped him.”
Samus shook her head, “It’s no use thinking about that.”
“I know, but-”
“Wait,” Link interrupted the two. He had not stopped studying the body, continuing to study it while Samus reassured Zelda. He started rubbing his chin. “Zelda, wasn’t Clive left-handed?”
Zelda seemed confused at Link’s question. “He was, if I remember correctly.”
“Then why did he stab himself with his right hand?”
Samus rolled this new piece of information in his head. At first Samus would have attributed this death to suicide over the stress of the situation. Link claimed that Clive wasn’t the type to do such a thing. At first Samus didn’t take much stock in it. People were more complicated than the impression they left on others. There could also be plenty of explanations as to why someone would use a knife in their non-dominant hand.
Samus shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, we need to get back on track. Can you still shape the metal?”
“I should be able to,” Zelda nodded. “The metal should be in that closet over there.”
Zelda pointed to a wooden door in the corner of the forge. Without wasting a beat Samus marched over and tore the door open. What she saw left her stunned. Instead of being filled with bars of usable metal, the closet was mostly empty except for a few burnt bits of slag. When Link and Zelda looked past Samus at the empty storeroom, their eyes widened in shock.
“We should have had plenty!” Zelda exclaimed.
“What could this mean?” Link questioned.
“Something’s up. I don’t think Clive’s death was just a suicide now,” Samus spoke as she turned around. “Someone is-”
Samus stopped as she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. The door exiting the forge was just slightly ajar, and she could see someone watching them from the other side. As soon as Samus stopped talking, The person outside the door moved away. Samus lept into action immediately, running past Link and Zelda to chase after the observer at mach speed. Zelda and Link yelled after her as she ran, but she paid them no mind as she burst through the door into the hallway. Samus’ eyes scanned for any sign of the person running, but they were already gone from sight. The chances of catching them at that point were low enough that Samus just waited for Zelda and Link to catch up.
“Samus! What happened?” Link asked as the two quickly joined the bounty hunter.
“We were being watched. They got away before I could catch them.”
Zelda closed her eyes in concentration. “Clive definitely wouldn’t destroy the metal like that… And it’s just too unlikely that this would happen right as we were about to make use of the metal. I’m certain now that Clive’s death was not by his own hands.”
“Then…” Link looked shocked. “We’re not alone in Hyrule Castle. The Children of Ganon are here.”
“And someone saw that Clive is dead, Everyone is going to know soon.” Zelda shook her head. “This can’t be good.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Link reassured the two. “You two get us out of here.”
“You sure?” Zelda asked.
“This is a magic problem, we need a magic solution. I know you can do it Zelda,” Link said before he turned to Samus. “You better keep her safe.”
Link didn’t stick around for a response from Samus, quickly turning around and marching away. Samus’ gaze lingered after Link was gone from view, lost in thought.
Zelda rubbed her temples. “What are we going to do?”
And still Samus’ gaze lingered.
Never before have the halls of Hyrule Castle held such an ominous atmosphere. As if the threat of starvation from being in the middle of the ocean wasn’t bad enough, now there was a murderer on the loose. Someone from the Children of Ganon was here with them, with terrifying powers. What kind of magic would make a healthy and sane man take his own life? Could this magic make Link do the same?
Link’s search for Zachary took too long for his liking. He was terrified that he would round a corner and have a knife planted in his stomach. Images of him being stabbed in the back plagued his thoughts. The silence around him except for his footsteps against the tile drove into his soul. The sound of another pair of footsteps alongside his own stunned him. He jerked his body around to see what was following him, only to catch a shape moving around a corner out of his sight. Link stared at the corner for what felt like an eternity. Slowly he stepped away, before turning back around and breaking out into a sprint.
“Goddess above protect me,” Link prayed as he held his right hand to his heart. The warmth of the Triforce symbol on his hand comforting him just a little. “Goddess let me see the light at the end of this tunnel. Give me courage to see this through.”
“Link?”
“AAAUGH!!!” Link screamed at the sound of Zachary’s voice. Link waited until his rapid breathing slowed before saying, “Goddess Zachary, don't scare me like that!”
“What the hell has gotten into you?” Zachary stared at Link incredulously. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”
“I might be close to seeing one. It’s Clive, he-”
“Zachary!” A hylian man in simple robes ran up to the two of them. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“Davron, Is it important? I need to talk with Link about something.” Zachary addressed the newcomer.
Davron scoffed “I’d certainly say so! I’ve been hearing these dreadful rumors! People are saying that Clive the blacksmith took his own life in his forge.”
Link looked stunned while Zachary simply chuckled, “I can’t say I’ve heard anything like that.”
Davron chuckled. “Yeah, I thought it was so outrageous! But Teal was so worked up about it that I went to double check just for her sake.”
Zachary chuckled at Davron’s account. He turned to Link as Davron continued to talk. When he saw Link’s shocked face, his own face fell in realization. As his face morphed into confusion, Link silently nodded. Meanwhile Davron kept on talking, ignorant to the two’s silent conversation.
“-I told Teal she had nothing to worry about, but you know how she is. She can’t seem to keep her head on straight sometimes!”
Zachary coughed and put on as good of a fake smile as he could muster, “Yes! Well, Link and I have things to discuss so if you’ll excuse us.”
Davron sighed, “Please tell us that you have some sort of plan to get us back to Hyrule. Everyone is so worried.”
“We… We do. We’ll get everyone home safely.” Zachary grabbed Link’s shoulders and pulled him away from the somewhat satisfied Davron. Once he was sure Davron couldn’t hear them, Zachary leaned against the wall and held his head in his hands.
“Zachary… We don’t have a plan.” Link told the guard captain. Zachary didn’t respond to Link’s statement. “So you just lied? You lied to Davron?”
Zachary stood up from the wall and stepped in front of Link. “What was I supposed to say? That we didn’t have any hope of escaping this hell? Saying that would have just made things worse. Davron would go off and tell everyone and there’d be chaos. Do you understand?”
Link considered what Zachary said for a few moments before he nodded his head. “I understand.”
“Good… So Clive is dead? He killed himself?”
“Worse, it looks like someone tried to fake his suicide. The metal we were about to use to save us was destroyed.”
“Oh great. Not only are we stranded in the middle of the ocean, we’re stranded with a murderer.” Zachary ran his fingers through his hair. “They already have us on the ropes with the ocean surrounding us. Why send someone here?”
“Maybe they want to make sure that we don’t find a way out of this situation. As soon as Zelda and Samus arrived at a solution, they cut it off.”
Zachary shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe. Honestly I couldn’t care less about the motive, we just need to survive.”
“Right,” Link nodded. “Right right. Okay, so… We should let the guards know to be on watch for an intruder. We should also take a headcount of everyone to make sure that everyone is accounted for.”
“Good idea,” Zachary commended Link. The two walked through the empty halls of Hyrule Castle with measured steps.
Zelda frantically searched the library of Hyrule Castle for something, anything that could return them to Hyrule Castle. She poured over every section, searched through every book that could have relevant information, but nothing seemed to work. Could they grow more food with the help of magic? Unfortunately the math didn’t add up, It would give them a few days more food, but no more. Was there some way to use magic to sustain themselves? There were records showing that to be possible, but it seemed the health risks were too great. Magic could only prevent them from dying of hunger, they would still feel the weakness and pain hunger brought. In Zelda’s desperation for a solution, she came to the most ridiculous of ideas. What if they launched Samus through the air to the closest landmass and got help from the locals? Although Samus claimed she could survive such a feat (If it wasn’t for their situation Zelda might have been more amazed at this fact), They didn’t know in what direction the closest landmass was.
The days passed and they were nowhere close to a solution. Every day she would be woken up by Samus (Even in these trying times, Samus still insisted that Zelda keep a consistent sleep schedule), force down her morning rations, and make her way to the library. She would spend the whole day at the library, eating more rations in the mid day. It was only at the end of the day that she would leave the library, eat her final rations of the day, and fall asleep in her bed.
At every moment Samus was there, providing support and protection. Samus waking her every morning became a comfort. In some instances Zelda could sleep relatively comfortably knowing that Samus was always there to protect her. Having Samus’ input while working on different plans also turned out to be very useful. Zelda also found that simply describing her thought process to Samus verbally would help her catch any problems in her reasoning. When she described this to Samus, the bounty hunter mentioned that human society had named this process ‘rubber ducking’. Zelda had a good laugh over the silly name.
Lighthearted moments like those acted as a brief distraction to Zelda’s monotonous work. Right now her and Samus were situated deep into the Royal Library, Zelda sitting at a table, while Samus leaned against a bookshelf across from Zelda. Surrounding her were dozens of books, some propped open for her to scan through. She scanned through references at the back of one book, looking to see if any of the titles listed could hold any information. Her mid day rations were abandoned at the end of the table, she could only stomach to take a few bites of bread before she returned to the books. She could feel aches in her stomach and the titles stretched out before her looked like gibberish. In frustration she furiously closed the book and pushed it away.
“Frustrated?” Samus asked as she stepped up to the table.
Zelda massaged her eyelids and sighed. “My brain feels like mush.”
“Good time for a break then,” Samus commented as she grabbed Zelda’s rations and placed them in front of her.
“No, I want to keep working.”
“Your brain is mush, right? Take a break, it’ll help.”
Zelda sighed. Of course Samus was right, pushing through right now would only make her work worse. Samus was very good at recognizing such things. Knowing that Samus had very little regard for herself, Zelda wondered if Samus would apply the same thinking to herself as she picked at her rations.
Her rations included a piece of bread, two sausages, and a baked potato. It wasn’t exactly a meal fit for a princess. She was offered something more substantial, but Zelda insisted that she be given the same rations as everyone else. It seemed unfair to her that she would be the only one to eat more substantial food.
She bit into the sausage with a fervor unfit for a princess. It was only now that she noticed how hungry she truly was. She felt her stomach fill with every bite. Despite the lack of flair, Zelda found it tasty enough.
As Zelda finished her meal, her attention went to Samus standing ahead of her. Although she was offered rations, Samus refused. Many were confused as to how Samus could survive without food, but Zelda was familiar with this strange trait of Samus.
“When was the last time you ate anything?” Zelda asked Samus.
Samus stayed silent for a moment before answering. “I haven’t eaten anything since getting here.”
Zelda’s eyes widened in shock. “That won’t do at all! The cooks at Hyrule Castle are some of the best in the land, after this I’ll have them cook something for you! Let me know if you have any dietary restrictions.”
Another moment of silence passed. Zelda quickly realized something and quickly added, “I understand that you have reservations about removing your helmet, so we can eat together just the two of us, or you could eat on your own if you would prefer that.”
Samus nudged her head the briefest amount. What the movement meant Zelda was unsure. Slowly Samus began to nod. “Okay, yeah… I’ll think about it.”
Zelda nodded in excitement. “Great!... Wait, if you haven’t eaten anything since you’ve arrived in Hyrule, does that mean that you haven’t slept since then either?”
Samus shook her head silently.
“Have you drank anything? Water, cider, anything at all?” Zelda asked. Samus responded with another silent shake of her head. Zelda gasped. “Samus… Have you relieved yourself since arriving here?”
Samus snorted. “My Power Suit replenishes me in ways that don’t produce waste. I haven’t needed to.”
“That- it-” Zelda had trouble finding the words in her shocked state. “It cannot be comfortable for you to rely on your suit.”
“It isn’t.” Samus answered curtly. “I can deal with it though, I wanna focus on keeping you safe.”
Zelda’s shoulders slumped in exasperation. “Didn’t you just say that I should take a break or else my work would suffer? You should apply some of that logic to yourself, Samus.”
Samus sighed and stepped back. Zelda could tell that Samus wanted this conversation to end, but Zelda wasn’t going to have it. She motioned at Samus to come over to her, an order that she followed closely. When she arrived Zelda pulled out a chair to her right. “Sit down.”
Samus didn’t follow Zelda’s order immediately. Zelda was familiar with Samus’ hang up of leaving herself vulnerable. Eventually Samus slowly lowered herself in the chair.
“Can you remove your helmet?” Zelda asked. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I would just prefer to see your face.”
Samus’ head wandered as he considered Zelda’s proposition. Eventually she nodded. “No, it’s okay.”
Samus pushed a few buttons on her arm cannon, releasing a hiss of air from under her helmet. She grabbed her helmet and paused for a moment, Steeling herself for what she was about to do. With one quick motion she pulled the helmet up and over her head and set it down on the table.
As soon as her helmet left her head, Samus started breathing heavily. Zelda scooted her chair back to give Samus space, remembering how Samus reacted the last time Samus took her helmet off. But this time, her heaving breathing calmed to a more stable pattern. Samus looked confused, clearly expecting a meltdown similar to what happened last time.
Samus’ face was just as beautiful as Zelda remembered. Her hair was even more messy than it was last time, the long ponytail Samus sported now tangled up in a weave of unwashed hair. Her face was surprisingly clean, if a little sweaty. Perhaps the hermetic seal of Samus’ suit kept out any dust or dirt.
“You mentioned that your suit limits your emotions, right?” Zelda asked. Samus’ gaze turned to Zelda before she nodded. “Then maybe me being aware of your identity made your emotions less severe. Easier to handle.”
Samus turned her gaze away, lost in thought. “That’s a nice thought.” She eventually said.
Zelda smiled. Samus kept her gaze focused away from Zelda. Occasionally Samus’ eyes quickly glanced at Zelda before looking away. Her left hand fiddled with her arm cannon, moving components back and forth and tracing her finger around the end of the cannon.
“I’m sorry, are you uncomfortable?” Zelda asked Samus. “I shouldn’t have asked you to remove your helmet.”
“It- It’s okay.” Samus reassured Zelda. “I feel fine.”
Zelda frowned. “Are you just saying that because you don’t see your discomfort as worth fixing?”
“No, this- This is how I am normally, really.” Samus assured Zelda. “I- I was born with a condition humans call Autism. It’s uh… characterized by social anxiety, obsessive behavior, lack of social awareness, difficulty communicating… And a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember. You’ve probably noticed how I tend to be interested in history? That’s, uh, that’s a special interest of mine I fixate on a lot. You also probably notice how I don’t really like eye contact. It’s a common autism thing. I don’t really know why. Oh, and, uh…”
Samus raised her arm cannon into the air and showed Zelda how she fiddled with her arm cannon’s mechanisms. “This is called stimming. It helps me regulate my emotions. I, uh, I kind of do it automatically most of the time. The Power Suit limits my emotional responses so I don’t stim very often while wearing it.”
Zelda chuckled. “You explained a lot there.”
Samus’s eyes went wide as she looked away from Zelda. “S-sss- sorry.”
“Oh, no, it’s okay!” Zelda waved her hands, doing her best to reassure Samus. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”
“Infodumping like that is… Another sign of autism.” Samus sheepishly admitted.
Zelda nodded. “I see. You should take your helmet off more often, I enjoy seeing you like this.”
Samus looked at Zelda in disbelief. “Really?”
“Yeah! I enjoy it when you explain something you’re interested in.” Zelda nodded. “Your Power Suit takes away these aspects of you. You should feel free to express yourself how you are.”
Samus held a painful look in her eyes. She looked away from Zelda. The princess would describe the look Samus held as melancholic.
“I can’t do that Zelda.” Samus said sadly.
“Why not?”
Samus thought for a moment before speaking. “That… That helmet is just one mask I wear. The other is- more metaphorical. It’s the mask I wear to hide who I am. To hide what makes me autistic. To hide what makes me-”
Samus gulped. Zelda noticed how Samus held herself back. She remembered how Adam said that Samus had secrets that could lead to her persecution. Zelda could not even begin to imagine what kind of secret that could be. Samus clearly wasn’t ready to share that just yet, so she didn’t press the issue.
“Some are already off put by what I hide behind my helmet. When I remove my… Other mask… It just pushes people away. They’ll see me get interested in history, or misunderstand some social rule, and they’ll see me as a child. As a thing. A deviant they need to stay away from.” The venom that laced Samus’ voice was impossible to miss. After Samus’ speech, The two stayed silent for a moment, Unsure of what to say.
Eventually Zelda slowly spoke, “Is that what you’re afraid will happen if you take off the mask? Is that what you fear I will do to you?”
“No! N-nnn-nn- uh…” Samus' breathing became heavy. She stood up from her chair and stepped back from Zelda. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m really-”
“It’s okay, It’s okay! I can see how you would feel that way. I’m guessing you haven’t had many people prove your fears wrong.” Zelda comforted the frantic Samus. “You know, when I was younger, I would really struggle with focusing on… Anything really. My attention would shift from one thing to another. It would happen so rapidly that I would be stopped in place from my focus rapidly shifting from subject to subject. I couldn’t sit still, I was impulsive, and I couldn’t help but interject myself in any conversation. People hated me for it. The things they called me… But Father was different. He told off anyone that said such mean things about me, and taught me techniques to focus better. He was really understanding. I know it’s not exactly the same as my condition, but I’m sure Father would understand your autism. Like he does with me.”
Samus looked amazed at Zelda’s story. She stayed completely still, lost on some train of thought. Eventually her gaze turned back to Zelda and said, “That sounds alot like ADHD.”
“What’s that?”
“Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It’s the name humans give what you’re talking about.”
Zelda laughed, “Humans really have figured everyone out huh? But you know what I mean, right? There’s nothing to be afraid of! I certainly won’t think such negative things about you.”
Samus closed her eyes and a tear fell down her face. She quickly wiped it away. Her eyes slowly opened and she nodded. “Thank you, Zelda.”
Zelda nodded in return. “Once we get back to Hyrule, I’m going to show you that you have nothing to fear. You’ll eat all the food you want, you’ll get plenty of sleep, you’ll infodump about anything you want! All of the experiences we should have had when you first arrived in Hyrule.”
Samus was amazed. “You’d really do that for me?”
“Absolutely,” Zelda looked determined, but quickly turned sheepish. “First we actually have to get back to Hyrule.”
Samus laughed. “That is an important step. Let’s get back to that.”
Zelda focused on the books in front of her. Almost immediately she started feeling the same way as she did before her break! “This clearly isn’t working… Honestly the plan we had before with using your ship was the best plan we had.”
“It would have been, but then our materials for building an antenna to contact Adam were destroyed.” Samus said solemnly.
“So we can’t contact Adam directly…” Zelda rubbed her chin as she thought. “Could we have someone convince Adam that you’ve given him authorization? Like maybe you reveal some piece of information only you and Adam could know.”
Samus’ brow furrowed in thought, until suddenly her eyes widened and she slapped herself on her forehead. “R-right! Normally I’d use my ss-suit to send my authorization key directly to the ship, but theoretically we could totally just send the key over in a dream!”
Zelda nodded, “Would Adam accept that? It’s possible someone forced the key out of you.”
“Absolutely not,” Samus shook her head. “Adam knows I wouldn’t break like that. Plus, he’s probably confused why he hasn’t been able to detect my signal.”
“Perfect! Let’s update Link and Zachary.”
Samus made sure to put her helmet back on before the two left the library. Zelda frowned, she wished that Samus didn’t feel the need to keep her helmet on all the time. But Zelda also knew that Samus’ fear would take time to subside. So for the moment, she waited as Samus’ reactivated the hermetic seal in her suit. Once Samus was ready, the two began marching through the halls of Hyrule Castle.