Made For You | BOTW Link x Reader

Chapter 9

"Come on Epona, we can win!" Link shouted as he lowered down on Epona's neck to avoid the violent winds that pushed against his face. He glanced behind when he heard the sound of pounding hooves near him. When he noticed Zephyr gaining speed and matching Epona's he looked ahead and held onto the reins tightly. He wasn't about to lose this competitive race to you. He let out a 'hyah' as he softly kicked Epona's sides, which made her canter faster.

You grinned when you saw you were catching up to him and before long you were both racing side by side. You kept your eyes on the steep path you were both racing up. You could feel Zephyr get tired, and you didn't want to push her at all, but you didn't feel like losing. "Just a little longer girl," you told your horse. She neighed in response and continued galloping as fast as she could. Your grip on the reins tightened as you got closer to the top. The competition was getting tense, and when you successfully passed Link you felt a large smile spread on your lips.

Zephyr seemed to understand you were both close to winning. This caused her to use her last bit of vigor to dart up the remaining distance. You lowered onto her neck, your hair whipping crazily and finding its way onto your face. This didn't bother you because you were too focused on winning. Just when victory was within your reach, Link passed you, and there was a smirk plastered on his lips when he knew he had won. Once you both passed what you "marked" as the finish line he threw his fist in the air. You gently pulled back on Zephyr's reins until she came to a stop.

She was breathing heavily, and she snorted out when you rubbed her neck in a manner of soothing her. You sighed and sat straight up, fixing your messy hair.

"Ha! I won, again," Link exclaimed with a proud look. The two of you had, had several races over the past weeks. It helped make the journey to Kakariko more enjoyable. The only thing was that in every single race Link won. You rolled your head back, since you didn't want to look at his face.

"Yeah, I am well aware Link," you breathed out. You took a few moments to gaze at the colourful setting sky before moving your head back down to look at him.

"Don't worry (Y/n), you'll win another time. For now just accept the fact that I'm really good at horse races," he said as he puffed out his chest in a silly manner.

You playfully rolled your eyes and hopped off Zephyr, deciding to give her some food for the huge effort she had put into the race. You opened one of the saddle bags and reached inside, grabbing the first thing you felt. An apple. "This will do," you spoke to yourself. You took out the fruit and went to stand in front of your horse.

"Here you go girl," you said, offering the fruit. Zephyr neighed and happily took the apple from your hand. You smiled at the action and gently stroked her snout before turning around to face Link, who was just staring at you. "What?"

"Nothing," Link said as he shrugged. He dismounted Epona and followed your example by giving her a carrot. "We should set up camp around here, it's going to get dark pretty soon." His eyes rose to see the lowering sun.

"The sun isn't going to go down just yet, we can still cover some ground," you stated, calculating the position of the sun before directing your eyes to him.

"True, but I think Epona and Zephyr deserve a rest after all that running," he commented.

"That's right," you nodded to his words and quickly scanned the area, looking for a place to set up your things. There weren't many trees around, but you decided to make do with a small one that rested not to far from you. You grabbed Zephyr's reins and led her to it. "We can stay here for the night."

Link nodded and walked beside you. "Do you think there's a lake nearby?"

"I'm not sure... why?" You asked. Once you reached the tree you let go of Zephyr's reins and allowed her to graze on the grass. You started to take out some things from your satchel and the saddle bags.