Chapter Text
Legend, to his credit, only swore once when the dizzying feeling of being dumped in a new world overcame him. He teetered, almost falling over, but caught himself on - something, at the last second. He managed to open his eyes - to their major protest - and found that he had his hands on Warriors, and had apparently just pushed him over. He watched him fall in vague apathy, and turned to survey the surroundings.
All eight of them were there, to his relief. They had never lost anyone when they travelled, but Legend would be the first to preach that there is a first time for everything. The group had appeared in a wooded area, not unlike where they had been taken from (Twilight’s Hyrule, for the second time), and Legend knew off the bat that this wasn’t his Hyrule. It felt… odd. Alive with the sounds of nature but silent in a way he couldn’t explain. Also, he was certain he’d never seen those mushrooms before.
The group collected themselves, and Twilight hefted Four onto his back (He had been knocked out - he always ended up in a bad way after transitioning). After Time checked with everyone, none of them seemed to feel like this was their Hyrule.
“So a new Link?” Hyrule suggested to the group.
“Ah, hold on. I mean, we are just in some woods. Let’s scout around a little, make sure none of us are familiar with the terrain.” Twilight said, shouldering a slipping Four and jerking his head to signify that they should start moving.
After three hours of walking, they came to the conclusion that no, this was none of their worlds. The sick feeling in Legend’s gut when they stumbled out of the treeline and onto ruins wouldn’t be one he forgot anytime soon.
“What… happened here?” Sky thought aloud, his eyebrows creased.
“We should keep moving. We don’t know what’s out here.” Time was frowning, but he turned away from the group and back to the field in front of them.
It felt like the land stretched on forever. The grass was the softest Legend had ever touched, and the trees the greenest he’d ever seen, but no matter how much he bullied Warriors or listened to Wind talk everyone’s ears off, that strange empty silence overshadowed.
And then there was music.
“Is that an accordion?” Four asked, blearily, from Twilight’s back.
“I - i think so,” Warriors replied, baffled.
Sky jogged up further ahead, paused, and yelled back “It’s coming from this way!”
They all picked up the pace, Four squirming until he was dropped, and followed the noise. They came across a large and colourful… birdman? Standing on a boulder, playing his great accordion with incredible skill.
“Uh, excuse me!” Wind called, waving up at him.”
“Oh, hello! Travellers?” The birdman replied in a deep voice, halting his music.
“I suppose you could call us that. Sorry to bother you, but we have lost our map and are all turned around. Could you tell us where we are? Give us directions to the nearest settlement?” Time stepped forward, the practised lie woven in a perfect tone of sheepishness and politeness. They had had to tell this story a few times before.
“Oh, of course! Were you coming to Kakariko, perhaps? Well, you’re very close, just follow the hill up to the cliffs and look for the break in them. That path will lead you right there!”
“Thank you very much, Mr! And your music is simply wonderful!” Wind called, as they turned to face the hill.
“Why, thank you, young one!” the bird chuckled.
They made their way further up the hill, until they found the break in the cliffs. As they passed through, a man was heading out. He had a dark cloak wrapped around his shoulders, and a crease in his brow, but walked quickly and didn’t engage them. All of them took in the scars littering him in an instant, and averted their gazes.
When they got into town, the first thought in most of their minds was how small it was. There were people milling about outside, tending to farms, guarding a building, children playing, but there couldn’t have been any more than twenty houses in the whole space.
Legend pulled aside and walked up to a woman tending to some small statues with basins that held apples. “Excuse me, i don’t suppose you could help us? We’re looking for a man named Link.”
The others had come closer, and were flanking Legend. The woman’s head shot up very fast, up to face Legend. “O-oh! You’re looking for m-Master Link? He just left, through that wa-way there. If yu-you want to catch him, you better move quickly, or you pro-probably won’t find him again for a few we-weeks. He moves quick.” as soon as she was done talking, the woman ducked her head again, her cheeks burning.
They shared a glance. “Thank you very much, ma’am,” Time said, and motioned everyone back the way they came.
“Well that stay was short lived. Shame, I would have liked to explore a bit,” Warriors said, and received hums in return.
“Let’s pick up the pace, you heard the woman.” Twilight ushered, and they all took on a jog.
“Do you think that guy, with the scars?” Four wondered aloud, to which he got no reply but troubled expressions.
They hurried down the hill, back to where the birdman stood, and caught a glimpse of a form retreating into the trees. Four stopped for a second, and verbally swore that there was a structure that stood that most definitely wasn’t there before. It freaked Legend out a bit, but he kept moving. This Hyrule was unsettling in a few ways, apparently.
“Excuse me, that wouldn’t happen to be Link over there, walking away, would it? Sky puffed to the man on the rock, when they came to a stop in front of him.
“Oh, why yes! A good friend of mine, that boy. I have no idea what his destination may be, so if you wish to catch him you best move quickly!”
The second piece of the same advice had the boys running into the treeline, Hylia was obviously shoving them together, and sometimes they just stayed in a Hyrule for just a few hours. They needed to catch him before he disappeared.
The woods here were thick, and had many roots and rocks to trip you up and turn you around. Warriors almost face-planted, and whilst legend was busy laughing he almost did the same.
It struck Twilight that they should probably be making less noise right as an arrow whistled past his ear. He stopped dead, and the others quickly caught on. He tried to find the source of the projectile, but there were so many shadowy branches that he couldn’t pinpoint anything.
“Guards up, guys. Don’t know what’s out there,” Twilight murmured to the others, in time for another arrow to whistle by, this time aimed as a warning shot for Hyrule, who had taken a step.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Time said in a commanding tone.
The forest stayed silent for a few more seconds, before there was a rustling in the trees the direction they came from.
A voice came from one close to them “You’re looking for Link, why?” The voice was rough with disuse, but suspicious and warning at the same time.
“We need to talk to him,”
“Yeah, right. Yiga, are you?” The voice replied.
“What’s.. Yiga? Who’s he?” Wind asked, his eyes scrutinising the trees. He lifted his foot to take a step, but an arrow lodged itself in the ground in front of him, and he decided against it.
“Then who are you? Merchants? Messengers? Impa wouldn’t have sent you, i was just there.”
The voice seemed to realise it had revealed itself to belong to the new Link at the same moment the others did, and there was a quick creak of a bow being loaded.
“We’re not here to hurt you! We just want to talk.”
“Oh yeah? Why are you so armed up then? You mercenaries? The Yiga finally got bored of chasing me themselves and send you? The Zoras finally tired of dealing with a ‘murderer’?” They could hear the sneer in his voice, even as it cracked and failed. slightly concerning.
“We don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re just trying to figure out why in Hylia we were sent here.” Legend told him.
A body slid down from the trees, and the boy they had passed earlier neared, his bow still drawn.
“If you want to talk, then talk.”
“It’s a long story. We need to make camp for the night, anyway, the sun’s setting.” Time said, knowing even as he was saying it that he was pushing his luck.
“There’s still about an hour until it gets truly dark, and i have camp supplies on me, if i feel you deserve it. Talk.”
Time sat down on the floor, taking the sword from his back and laying it down within arm’s reach, to signify that he was not intending to use it. The others followed his lead, which lead to the new Link dropping his bow to his side, but keeping his distance.
“Well, for starters, we’re all also called Link.” Time started, and there was already an incredulous look on the new Link’s face. Good start.
“Hylia, dude, you’ve done this talk seven times before and you’re still shit at it. Basically, we’re all you. We’re all the incarnation of the Hero’s spirit, throughout time, and for some Hylia-forsaken reason we’ve been lumped together.” Legend said, not so gracefully.
“That sounds... incredibly fake.” the Link said.
“I know, man, but when you’ve suffered through jumping Hyrules a couple times, you get your head round it,”
The Link sat down. Progress, Legend supposed.
“Why in the hell should I believe you?”
“Because there’s a darkness coming. Sickness, that we’ve seen everywhere we’ve travelled, infecting monsters, making them bigger threats, much more dangerous,”
The link’s eyes widened slightly.
“We need your help. I’m sure if you don’t join us now, we’ll just be forced together again,”
He still looked suspicious. Sky scooched to the front, ready to pull the trump card (they’d had to use it on a couple doubtful links).
“I also carry the Master Sword,”
“What-” He choked, but then paused for a very long moment. “Okay,” he said finally. He pulled a weird rectangle off his waist, and seemingly summon some wood and a piece of flint. “We better make camp, then.”
---
They wandered further into the forest to find a clearing before they actually made camp, but the Link helped. He lead them there and helped dig a fire pit, and rested a cooking pot over it when it was lit, which he also pulled from his strange device.
"You can cook? thank Hylia! none of us can, we've been living off hot mushroom water for weeks!" Wind exclaimed, which managed to get a small smile out of the man. Wind considered that a victory.
The sun had well and truly set by then, and they were all circling the fire. “Right, okay, what do i call you, if we’re all called Link?”
“We go by our titles,” Time said. “I’m the hero of Time, so everyone calls me Time. That’s the Hero of Twilight, so Twilight, you’ve got the Hero of Legend, Warriors, Wind, Hyrule, and then there’s Hero of the Four Sword, who just goes by Four, and the Chosen hero, who we call Sky.”
The Link’s eyes darted and shifted to follow Time’s finger to each of the men in turn.
“Do you have a title?” Sky asked softly.
“I- i don’t know. Impa calls me ‘champion’, but that always felt wrong.”
Sky hummed, and after a second pulled the master sword from his back. “Don’t worry, Fi usually knows these things, i’ll ask her.”
The link practically jumped out of his skin. “You can hear it? The voice of the sword?”
Sky smiled kindly. “Yes. I forged this sword myself, and the soul inside is a very dear friend.”
A quiet settled over them as Sky listened to what the sword was to tell him. An odd whine swept over them, along with a blue flicker, before Sky looked back up at the new Link.
“Hello, Hero of the Wilds.”