Insomniac’s Lullaby

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Characters: Link (Legend of Zelda), Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Additional Tags: if you want to interpret this as romantic be my guest
Summary:

Zelda is having nightmares, and Link wants to help her sleep. Short Oneshot with Link and Zelda being cuties.

Princess Zelda sat at her vanity in silence, a tired, troubled look on her face. As of late, she’d been plagued with frightful nightmares consisting of images of her kingdom’s future. They started off as sweet dreams, the sight of a bright blue sky over Hyrule with few passing clouds. Then, they’d all of a sudden turn sour when a thick blanket of darkness fell over the sacred land. Hyrule Castle would burn to ashes, and through the flames would emerge the demon king atop a pitch black horse, an arrogant aura of triumph oozing from his being.

The nightmares often woke Zelda up in a cold sweat, and after the first few times she grew convinced they were premonitions. She alerted her father and the Sages to tell their successors to be extremely careful when the time came to execute Ganondorf. All but her father took her seriously.

She talked to Link about her nightmares one day when he came to visit after asking if she’d been getting enough sleep. He played for her the lullaby she taught him years before, and Zelda slipped into a slumber lacking in nightmares. From that day forward, Link would sneak into her room every night to play Zelda’s Lullaby until she fell asleep. Then he’d be out her window before the guards doing their nightly patrols around the castle came to check on her.

That all changed, however, a month after Link began coming to Zelda’s room. On this particular night, the day’s previous events left the Hero of Time weary, and once Zelda fell asleep he followed suit soon afterwards. They were awakened by the shouts of angry guards, and despite Zelda’s protests the King ordered tighter security around the perimeter of the castle to ensure there be no more intruders, and to add insult to injury, she and Link’s visits were limited, and only if there was someone else present were they allowed to see each other.

So, to keep from falling asleep too often, Zelda stayed awake as long as she could. This has been her current situation for the past few weeks, and while it was detrimental to her health, it was better than having nightmares.

The princess continued to sit at her vanity, clad in her night gown, listening to the distant sounds of the castle beginning to wind down for the night. She inhaled and exhaled sharply through her nose, getting a whiff of the many perfume bottles in front of her. After a couple minutes she stood abruptly and walked over to her window, opening it and inviting the chilled winds that blew through Hyrule to caress her face. With a small smile on her face she turned and reseated herself at her vanity.

A while later a few taps at her window got her attention. “Hello Zelda,” came a voice all too familiar to her.

Zelda turned to see Link standing in her window sill, most of his weight shifted on one foot, hand on his hip, and a slight smirk on his lips. He jumped down from the window and walked her way.

“Link!” She exclaimed, running towards him and engulfing him in a hug. “You finally managed to find a way in.”

Link hugged her back just as tight and spun her around. “It was tough, but I don’t mind. It’s been awhile since my last stealth mission,” He said with a laugh. He cupped her face to examine the dark circles under her eyes. His smile faltered. “When was the last time you got any sleep?”

The princess paused to think. “I think it was about an hour two days ago.”

A sigh escaped his lips. “I’ll fix that. Go lie down.” He said, walking towards the window to take off his scabbard, shield, and other weapons he came equipped with.

Once she was settled in bed, he sat on the edge and pulled out the Ocarina of Time. Giving her a sweet smile, Link put it to his lips and began playing Zelda’s Lullaby.

When a couple minutes of him playing the lullaby went past, Zelda sleepily put a hand on his arm. “Link, you’re such a good friend… thank you. I…”

He stopped playing to shush her. “Just go to sleep.”

She happily obliged, quickly falling asleep before she could remove her hand from his arm.

Link played her lullaby a couple more times before he carefully stood up to look at her sleeping frame for a moment. He leaned in and brushed his lips on her temple. “Goodnight Princess.” He whispered.

The Hero of Time reequipped his weapons and disappeared below Zelda’s window right as a guard opened her door to check on her.