Introduction to “Among the Ashes”

Welcome back to my world of Zelda and Fire Emblem crossover! If you’re reading this you probably read “Time Cannot Erase” and have an understanding of how I came to write these fics. If you haven’t read the predecessor to this story I will give a small summary in a minute. So, for those of you who don’t know, I have never played a Fire Emblem game. My only knowledge of Fire Emblem (Marth, Roy, etc…) comes from Super Smash Brother’s Melee and internet research. The rest I made up.

In this, the sequel to TCE I have delved deeper into the back-story of Roy. Thus, this is actually a cross over of five games: Zelda (based on the Ocarina of Time timeline), Marth’s FE games “Fire Emblem 1- Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi (The Dark Dragon and Sword of Light)” and “Fire Emblem 3- Monshō no Nazo (Mystery of the Emblem)”, Roy’s FE game “Fire Emblem 6- Fūin no Tsurugi (The Sword of Seals)” and the prequel to Roy’s FE game “Fire Emblem 7- Rekka no Ken (Sword of Fire). I repeat, I have never played ANY of these fire emblem games. I have simply picked and chosen bits and pieces of their plot-points and characters and mashed it all together with my own imagination to create this fan-fiction. I know some things are “wrong” but there’s no use in getting upset or pointing it out to me. I know I’ve changed, switched, left out and blended stuff together, etc… and if I did, there’s probably a good reason. I’m mixing a lot of stuff that really has nothing to do with each other, so things are bound to get shook up!

That being said, I hope you enjoy my story and thanks for reading!

Time Cannot Erase Summary

Zelda and Link defeated Ganondorf and sealed him away in the dark realm between dimensions. Zelda then sent them both back seven years, before Link pulled the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time. Since Ganondorf’s spirit was locked inside a realm that transcends time this meant that he was sealed away from Hyrule so permanently it was as though he had never existed. As the new timeline they had created began to overlap and erase the old timeline Zelda and Link began to lose their memories of Ganondorf and all they had done to fight him. No one believed their tales and Zelda’s father, a bitter and tormented man, banished Link from the castle. All of Hyrule seemed to turn on Link, seeing him as a liar who was corrupting their Princess.

Link, no longer welcome in Hyrule and thirsty for adventure, began to journey far and wide. Zelda was forced to live a life of isolation as the Princess, longing for Link’s companionship and her old life of freedom in the guise of Sheik.

As the years passed both continued to grow more miserable and lost in their existence, culminating in Zelda’s father attempting to force his daughter into marriage with an abhorrent man. Zelda fled the castle and came upon a badly injured man who turned out to be Marth, a friend of Link’s who had come to Hyrule searching for him. After being healed by Zelda, Marth asked Link to return with him to his kingdom, Aritia, and use the power of the Triforce to defeat Hardin, an evil sorcerer and King of Akanea who was on a campaign to conquer countless countries and form an Empire. Link refused, saying he could not wield the power of the Triforce, as he was its keeper only. Marth learned there were 3 pieces of the Triforce, all of which were needed to summon its full power. Desperate, he convinced Zelda, who was crushed by Link’s constant abandonment and infatuated with the dashing Marth, to follow him to Aritia. There, Zelda met Marth’s younger sister Elice (who had once been hopelessly in love with Link) and Roy, Marth’s best friend.

Once away from Hyrule Zelda’s memories began to fade completely until she could no longer remember Link, Hyrule or the Triforce and ultimately accepted Marth’s proposal for marriage. Marth secretly ransomed Zelda for Link’s Master Sword and Triforce and used Zelda to open the seal on Ganondorf, thus bringing all three pieces of the Triforce in close proximity once more. Hardin marched his army into Aritia and a great battle ensued in which Marth and Elice slew Hardin.

Zelda’s memories were jogged by her love for Link, and after a fierce battle Ganondorf murdered Link and Marth as they attempted to save Zelda. Zelda took Link’s Triforce and slew Ganondorf, taking the Triforce of Power for herself and gaining the True Force. Overwhelmed by the grief of Link’s death and unable to handle the power she now possessed Zelda became overwhelmed by Ganon’s residual evil locked in the Triforce of Power. She went on a path of destruction, decimating Hardin’s army as he destroyed Aritia’s castle and attempted to annihilate its people.

Strengthened by Link, Zelda finally purged the Triforce of Ganon’s darkness and brought the True Force into balance, thus having the desires of her heart granted by the Triforce. As she wished Ganondorf’s spirit was destroyed, Link was returned to life and the Triforce was sealed away. The power it took from her to accomplish this, however, left her nearly dead. Elice used a resurrection spell to bring her brother back to life.

Zelda nearly died but was eventually healed by Link lending her part of his life-force. Upon Zelda’s recovery she and Link finally expressed their true feelings to each other. Roy and Elice also reluctantly admitted they had feelings for each other. Marth attempted to apologize to Zelda for deceiving her, and though she forgave him in part she told him she could never love him and returned the necklace he had given her at their engagement. Link and Zelda left Aritia and returned to Hyrule.

Zelda tried to go back to her life of royalty but finally could deny her heart no longer and, against her father’s wishes, married Link and left the castle to live with Link in freedom. Before her departure, however, Zelda found that Marth had secretly returned to her the necklace he had once given her. Zelda left the necklace in the castle and rode off with Link.

Hardin’s son, Zagaro, had become consumed with thoughts of vengeance, and in the end hired a mercenary to bring Elice, Marth and Zelda to him so that he could make them pay for the death of his father and the destruction of Akanea’s empire.

That seems like a long summary, but condensing 33 chapters and approximately 1,000 pages of writing into a page and a half is pretty good, I think!

Whew, now, on with the story!