towerofanimus | ▲ 002 ▲

Characters: Prequel!Link and YOU!
Setting: Floor 25
Format: Prose preferred, but action is A-Okay
Summary: Link takes some time to relax and breathe the fresh air. The perpetual springtime of floor 25 is much preferred to the dank depths of the castle dungeon, or the barren wasteland that became of his home
Warnings: SS prequel manga spoilers

Link inhaled deeply, letting the scent of flowers and life fill his lungs as he took in the sight of floor 25's seemingly endless meadow. There was something magical about this place, there was no doubt. Of course he had been warned about its more sinister corners. In every light there was also a shadow.

But that did not mean that Link couldn't enjoy the light. It had been years since he'd been able to stop and, literally, smell the roses. The wildlife of Hylia had been burned to the ground by the Demon King. Damn him, his obsession with the goddess' sacred power. It was difficult to keep in mind that it did not matter anymore, especially not here. His people had been saved, and they had flourished in the sky as well as on the surface afterward. The young princess's words had served him a great comfort.

Link set his sword down in the grass, lying on his back and enjoying the breeze. For the first time in a very long time, bliss.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Link sits straight upright when the shield fades. At least that wass what it seemed to have been...?

"That was impressive! Defensive magic?" Link has never even wielded a shield in his life, never mind one of magic.

Edited 2013-04-10 02:28 (UTC)

Riku offers him a small smile and a nod, just a little relieved maybe - while he doesn't deny his affinity to the Darkness, he knows that there is a bias towards the Light, back home and probably here too, too many people that automatically associate Darkness with Evil.

"It's a work in progress."

As Link probably saw. For the really impressive magic, go see his Master... once he is back in the tower anyways.

"It is a rare gift where I come from. What will it withstand?" The fact that it is a work in progress means little to Link. The need for practice is a given. Honing any skill requires it.

Of course. Riku and magic has been an up-hill battle for a long time though, one that's only recently reached more even grounds, and so he's over all pretty satisfied with how he's progressing.

As for rare... well, the only other person he knows to be able to create shields like this is Aqua, so it probably holds true for his worlds as well.

"...Most advanced class magic- and battle attacks. It will probably hold off some damage of anything beyond that too."

His shield does after all, and this is just the more advanced form of it.

Link sticks his lower lip out, impressed.

"Interesting... I apologize, I must be constantly repeating myself." He taps his chin thoughtfully for a moment.

"Tell me, do you have goddesses where you come from?" It isn't a matter of if people believe in them. To a Hylian, they simply exist. It isn't faith, it's fact. And Link has yet to realize that there are people here who do not exactly hail from his home world.

"Huh?"

Riku looks a bit confused at the question - he doesn't really get the leap from his magic to his faith, but he is willing to go with it for now.

"Well... many people in my homeworld pray to the goddesses of the sea and the fire mountain. I've never been much of a believer though."

Not before he had left the Islands... and even less after; in the last two years he has pretty much figured out his faith and believes and they certainly aren't related to any gods.

Sea goddesses and a fire mountain... No, there is no match there. Link shakes his head, smiling.

"I apologize. I simply wanted to know if you come from my home. I have come to understand that the matter of gods is variant in different places. Most of the people I have spoken with here are from my own home, in some way or another."

Riku snorts and raises an eyebrow - Link can't have seen all that much of the tower and the people trapped here yet then.

"I could have told you that outright. Overall you'll find the people not from your homeworld vastly outnumbering the ones that are, if you look around long enough."

"I have been beginning to pick up on that, yes..." Link says thoughtfully. He isn't sure how to explain that it was a difficult call to make, with the Hylians being pulled from such scattered time periods.

"Are there others from your own home, here?"

"A couple of people, yeah."

Riku frowns in thought, gaze turning to the far.

"A lot less than there used to be."

In some cases that is very good that way. In others...

Link is pensively watching the grass when Riku mentions the loss of his friends.

"I am sorry." He can only hope that leaving the Tower meant going home... It is not a hope he puts much strength behind, but a hope nonetheless.

"Nothing you or I can do about that."

Riku unfortunately knows where they have likely been returned to, what state the worlds are in - he has been sent back once and almost despaired in the time he had been by himself in the wasteland.

That was months ago though and now Riku has come to apply the mindset he has chosen for the battle against the administrators to the whole of the tower: Choose your battles well. Fight those you do to win.

And have faith in those closest to you.

And so Riku really has no choice, but to believe in Kairi (both of them), in the other Xion, in all those that he had known that had disappeared. Believe and hope that they are strong enough to endure until they have managed to fix things here.

(There has to be a way. Riku refuses to believe otherwise.)

"That is true, but there is nothing worse than losing the people one cares most about." It had become a near-daily occurrence toward the end of Hylia's days. Link knows it well.

Then, of course, there had been the peoples' ascension into the heavens. There is a bittersweet ache whenever he thinks of them.

True... thinking of them, the ones that matter to him, is rather bitter-sweet, but...

"Our hearts are still connected. That's all that truly matters."

They are not lost forever. Riku refuses to believe that.

"Of course." Link offers a peaceful smile, now. One never loses close friends. Not truly.

"They will return to you someday. When all of this is over."

A nod.

"Yours too."

Someday, somehow. They just have to hold onto that.

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