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#some yiga memeber deadass was writing this while kicking their feet
kenneduck · 5 months
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I just spent way too long writing this, but here's a HC on what I believe would happen if BOTW Link found his OWN diary from 100 years ago.
At first, the diary's pages seem rather bland. Random stories about being in training, how Link misses his parents, how he's overwhelmed with the pressures of being a knight, etc. But, as Link reads through his old self, he finds himself caught on words. Words that seem... off putting. Words that make him feel a bit of fear of what he had forgotten about himself. Sentences that made him second guess if he should have been the Hero of Hyrule.
It's not apparent, but there's little sentences here and there that show a side of Link that didn't awaken after the 100 year slumber. Anger, envy, spite. Emotions Link DID encounter once he'd awoken, but... never directed towards the Princess. Never towards his role as knight. Never towards his friends who didn't remain any more.
Link felt a pit in his stomach form as he got further into his diary. Everyone he knows now recounts Link as a hero full of heart and determination. One who stands up for what was right, one who never questioned what he was told if it was to protect another. But these thoughts Link wrote... it made him feel guilty. He wrote about how he hated being a knight. Being HER knight. Being a chosen one who couldn't run away from what was forced upon him. He even... wished he would fail, so his duties would come to an end.
It felt heartbreaking to read these words he wrote 100 years ago. He wanted to help the Link who wrote this. Almost treating this Link as if it was someone he could comfort, but this wasn't another person he could reassure. It was him.
As Link got near the end of his diary, he didn't know what to think. He... hated himself. Who he was. It wasn't who Link was now. He never felt this anger towards his role in the Calamity since he woke. Link did feel anger, but it was towards his writing. How he could have possibly had such spite towards those he loved. Towards those he put his life on the line to protect. It angered him. Made him seethe as he got to the last written words.
"There's no winning against the Calamity. Only winning against those who use me for what I provide. I must leave, for I am fighting the wrong fight. I only have one place to turn to, one place that will truly accept me. No matter if I join them now, or many of years into the future, I must join the Yiga Clan."
Link stared at the last sentence. He began to feel anger, a different one than before. As Link recounted how he came across his diary, he grew frustrated. It was found neatly placed in the damaged knights' wing of Hyrule Castle. The diary itself had no dust, yet the room was caked in it. A room... that had a familiar scent of fruit lingering...
The diary was a pathetic ploy to have Link join the Yiga Clan. To turn him against his loved ones.
And it took him until the very last page to realize it.
He also now understood why previous pages would randomly recount his love for bananas. Why there was even a recipe to make banana bread on the 14th page.
He felt like an idiot for not realizing this sooner, but as he began to calm down from the overflow of emotions he got while reading, he realized the perfect way to release the frustration. It was time to visit the Yiga Clan.
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