* Arbiter's Grounds *

Link was convinced that the Arbiter's Grounds had been frozen in time. Not a single grain of sand looked displaced from his first visit. Even the same areas managed to bubble with the familiar threat of quicksand. And where there was quicksand, it was certain there were Moldorms. Link surveyed his surroundings, making sure no threats lay concealed within the silence of the sand. He eyed a clawshot target suspended in a cleft in the wall. It made him reminisce about the excitement he felt the first time he entered the grounds. This time around, he felt pathetic. Each temple he had traversed had a special code waiting to be cracked. They also had a boss at the end, waiting to test his skills.

Now the only challenge Link had where he could test his skills was the herding of Fado's surly goats.

He secretly hoped there would be some type of enemy roaming about. It had been too long since he felt the weight of his sword in his hands. He missed the adrenaline coursing through him as he thought on his feet through rigorous combat.

He also had a certain Twili snug beneath his chin. Whom he would like to show off for. She had heard so many tales of him in the Twilight. Link was beginning to doubt whether he could measure up to the legend of him that had been generated. In fact, it was a great fear that weighed heavy on his shoulders.

Was the fate of a hero simply to be a tale passed down through generations and eventually forgotten? He knew one hero who had suffered that very fate. 

"Link?" Y/N mumbled into Link's collar. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Link's ears seemed to perk up, adjusting to the room around them. All Link could hear was the faint rolling of the sand that swirled around them in the slight, dewy breeze.

We stopped moving. Why is there a breeze?   Another gentle slap of air met Link's face, rustling through his bangs.

Y/N gasped in alarm. "There it is again!"

What astute hearing she has. Link felt caution circulate through the air and nip at his skin. The wind only seemed to roll past the spot where they resided. The noise was focused precisely where they stood on the spinner. He also didn't favor that the room ahead was completely dark. Luckily, he had some spare lamp oil he never discarded when he visited with Midna. Link tended to hold onto things. He never knew when they would come in handy; this being one of those times.

"Y/N, I'm going to investigate. I want you to stay on the spinner. There's a lot of treacherous quicksand areas."

"Do you think there's still monsters here? Even after you and Midna crushed Stallord?" He could hear the slightest rattle of fear within her question.

"There shouldn't be. But you can never be too sure." Link fished in his tunic for the small vial of lamp oil. The lantern he had attached to him felt liberating to remove. He handed it to Y/N. "Put a bit of lamp oil in this lantern while I look around. We'll need it for the darker areas of the dungeon. A little goes a long way."

"Like with smelling cinnamon?" She pulled her head away from Link and met his eyes. A goofy smirk graced her face. How could he keep avoiding her after that? Link found himself imitating the same grin. Until he realized that once again, they were a hair's length away from each other's lips. Only this time, there would be no one to interrupt them. Aside from the distasteful eyes of the sages, who most likely were watching their every move.

"I-I should go find the source of that noise you heard." Link steadily backed away from Y/N, while his eyes remained focused on her glistening pout. He turned and jumped from the whirling spinner. Or so he had intended. Instead, he clumsily managed to get his foot caught on one of the nodules. He fell down, tasting a mouthful of putrid sand as he landed face-first.

"Link!" Y/N called to him. He slowly arose, spitting out gritty chunks of sand.

"Goddesses, Link, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Just an absolute ridiculous fool. He stood, brushing his hands down his tunic in an attempt to scrape off the sand that was now breaded to him. So much for showing off my swordsmanship.

Through the strands of his bangs, he could see Y/N. Her hands clasped over her mouth. A slight stifle of laughter was in the back of her throat. "Go ahead. Laugh." Link spat mockingly.

Missing the cue of his shame, she let out a gut-busting laugh. She grabbed her stomach as tears streaked her face. The fury of giggles never seemed to come to an end.

"I'm going to go find out what you heard."

"Link, please...let..." words evaded her as the laughter continued to roar on.

"I can handle it myself!"

"With all due respect, you just fell from the spinner." She clasped her mouth again in a feeble attempt to calm down. Y/N jumped off the spinner and walked towards him.

"With all due respect, I told you not to get off of the spinner!" Y/N put her hands on Link's shoulders, urging him to relax. The laughter from the well of her stomach had finally dried out. She cooed, "Link, don't be ashamed. You're allowed to be human. You are one, after all. That's why I-"

The dim, cracked concrete of the Arbiter's Grounds slowly morphed into his cozy kitchen. Y/N was looking at him, stone-faced, from across the table. "I wanted you to react." The same rhythm of his heart palpitating from the night before began to pang in his ears.

"That's why you what?"

"I..."  She hung a lip on her finger, unsure of herself.

A deep gulp rushed down his throat. The suspense was coaxing him to lose his calm exterior. He grabbed her face in his hands. "You said last night you wanted me to react. Are you sure that's what you want? Are you sure you want me to react to you?"

I'm not strong enough to keep playing this game. I'm not strong enough for much of anything anymore.

Then the unthinkable happened. Link wasn't sure if it was the comfort of holding Y/N's warm cheeks against his palms. Or the concerned flicker reflected in her eyes. Or the fact that he tried to be too strong for too long. A tear plopped down his cheek. A gargantuan teardrop. Within it was all the stress of this disagreeable wedding with Ilia. His mundane life, which consisted of fruit and goats. The fact that he too would drift away like heroshade, living the legacy of being a forgotten hero nibbled away by the cogs of time. And then there was his love for Y/N. For the first time, he was experiencing what love was without duty. He wanted to be by her side. Even in a crusty, haggard place like the Arbiter's Grounds. There was no place he'd rather be. Just by her side.

Y/N's mouth opened wide, alarm setting in. "Link?" 

She reached her fingers up to brush his tear away. Only for an intrusive crunching of sand to come between them.

A Stalkin had erupted through the sand. The explosion knocked Y/N backward into a patch of nearby quicksand.

"No!" Link bellowed in outrage. He leapt towards Y/N; his body once again coated with granules of sand. The Stalkin let out a miniature growl from its scraggly mass of bones. Stalkins weren't too much of a threat, just menaces of the desert.

Link held on to Y/N's hands tightly, attempting to pull her out of the quicksand with all his might. His footing was unsteady as he continued to skid towards the hungry bog. "Link! Release me! You can't pull me out!"

"No-" Before he could retaliate further, a swish of air, followed by a sharp pain, singed his back. The Stalkin had struck him with its blade.

"Curses!" Link winced in pain as he continued to pull Y/N's hands relentlessly. The sand was now at her waist. She continued to remain calm, not fighting against the current that was threatening to swallow her whole. "Link, you must let me go." The calmness in her voice did little to alleviate the panic he felt. He was the one who defeated her father and ousted Ganondorf. Now he couldn't even save her from a hole of wet sand. The anger of the disappointment he had become fanned flames of fortitude throughout him. He pulled harder.

The Stalkin took another swing. This time, he lanced him in the back of his leg. The sudden jolt of pain brought Link to his knees. He flopped onto his stomach, fighting against the might of the sand that continued to coerce Y/N further down. Without his feet planted into the sand, there was no traction for Link to pull from. Yet he continued to hold on.

"Please. Link. Please, let me go." She begged as she tried to release her grip from his. He grabbed her wrists instead. The sand was now at her chest. Time was mercilessly running out.

As time ran out, so did the Stalkin's patience. It let out another guttural growl, raising its blade above its head. Link wished it was slow motion, but the swiftness of the next cut landing on his forearm occurred all too quickly.

Then came another hack of his arm.

Then another.

"Link!" Y/N's cry echoed into his ears, incapacitating him.

"For the love of Hylia! Would you get off my ass!?" Link stood, the dimness of the grounds not able to sheath the wrath in his gaze. Link pulled his sword out. With a lightning quick slice the Stalkin's skull flew clean off of its neck.

Link watched as the head rolled across the room, hitting a wall and disintegrating back into the sand from which it came. The body hysterically jangled around in search of its head. Bloodlust seized him then. He couldn't stop at just the head. The Stalkin was technically no longer a problem without it. Link just didn't care. He was tired of holding back in every area of his life. He would not hold back on the battlefield.

He jumped up, driving his blade downright into the Stalkin's body. "Be gone, pest!" Link shouted in unabandoned rage. He landed on his knee, the sword piercing through the chest cavity that once held a heart. Droplets of his blood splattered the lifeless skeleton before him. He pulled his sword out, staring in satisfaction at his handiwork. Yet the rage that was cooped up inside of him wouldn't allow him to walk away. He drove his sword through the Stalkin again.

And again.

And again.

He couldn't control himself. Gasps of his breath wheezed out like thick cumulus clouds that hung in the sky.

"Link..."

"Y/N!" Link's malevolence had bested him and distracted him from the one he could never seem to save.

He ran over to her, but it was too late. The sand began to swoop over the last visible part of her face, her lips. As the quicksand claimed her, a few fingers stuck out of the sand like rogue flowers in mud. Link pressed his fingertips against hers before they finally faded from his sight.

I always let her fall. Why can I never save her?

"Y/N!" Link began to bang his fists against the sand. The imprints of each capable fist in the sand taunted him.

"Y/N!!!" The echo of desperation in his voice taunted him.

"Y/N!!!!" The copious tears that splashed the sand really taunted him.

A/N: Edited 1/18/23

Uh-Oh. Be careful what you wish for. It seems Link's wish for some lighthearted combat has turned into combat for your life. As you are helplessly swallowed into the relentless sand sea of the Arbiter's Grounds, is all hope lost?

Or will you live to die another day?

Check out my other completed OOT Zelda work- No Woman Beyond