What You Look At, You Change

by Telemna_Hyelle

Summary:

The group gets separated after a particularly nasty battle, and Legend, Twilight, Sky, Wind, and Hyrule stumble into the first shelter they can find. Unfortunately for Legend, that shelter is the Palace of the Four Sword--but not the one he knows all too well.

Notes:

I own nothing. Just a laptop and a brain.

Chapter 1: Five Heroes Walk Into a Palace...

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

This… was a nightmare.

And not just one of Legend’s regular nightmares, bad though they may be. A terrible, horrible, empty-aching-pit-in-the-stomach of a nightmare, the absolute worst nightmare of them all—because Legend knew nightmares, and he wasn’t asleep for this one.

It’s the nightmares that stare you in the face under the waking sun that hurt the most.

“What is this place?” Wind chirped curiously, poking at the ugly stone skull-statues that Legend would recognize anywhere.

Legend couldn’t respond, couldn’t dredge the words up past the dryness in his throat.

He hadn’t realized it, at first, because they weren’t in the Dark World and there wasn’t a pyramid attached to it, so he hadn’t protested when they decided to duck into the entrance for shelter. It was the middle of the night and pouring down, and the four of them—Twilight, Sky, Wind, Hyrule, and Legend himself—had all gotten separated from the others in a skirmish in the forest. With Twilight injured and stranded in an unknown Hyrule, any sort of shelter was welcome—and Legend couldn’t exactly explain why he didn’t want to stay here.

To speak up would be to expose the blood that soaked his hands. A hero’s blood. A brother’s blood.

Legend felt his lungs begin to collapse and shrivel from lack of air as he watched his companions make themselves comfortable in the foyer of the Palace of the Four Sword.

Sky hummed thoughtfully as he maneuvered Twilight to the ground. The rancher had taken a bit of a glancing blow from a moblin’s club, and he was a little out of it still. “I don’t know, the architecture doesn’t seem familiar to me.”

“M’either.” Twilight grunted.

“I don’t recognize it either,” Hyrule said, already digging through his bag for a potion. “And stop talking, Twilight, it’ll make your head hurt worse.”

“N’hurt.” He grunted in response. “Feel fine.”

Hyrule stopped digging through his bag, instead giving the rancher his flattest look. “And you think any of us are going to believe that?”

Twilight was suspiciously silent.

Sky ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, his smile a strange mixture between exasperated and fond.

Hyrule, on the other hand, simply looked enraged.

“If you didn’t have a concussion, I’d probably smack you.”

Wind laughed, momentarily distracted from poking at the room. “He’s lucky, I’m surprised Legend hasn’t tried to, I dunno, kick his shins until he submits or somethin’ already.”

Sky and Hyrule laughed at the offended look on Twilight’s face.

Legend knew he should say something to that. He should laugh, at the very least. It’s what he normally would do.

All he could manage was a pained wheeze, and three sets of eyes immediately snapped to focus on him.

“Legend? You okay?” Wind asked, his voice struggling to hide the faintest hints of hesitation.

Legend stiffened for one moment, and then dragged up a grin, hoping it wasn’t so shaky that the others would notice. From the expressions on their faces, they did. Crap.

He shoved a hand though his bangs, shrugging. “Y-yeah, I’m fine, it’s just—” He glanced about, looking for some sort of excuse, but the too-familiar stone walls made the dread and guilt rise anew, a sudden wave breaking upon the shores of his conscience. He shuddered, and they all saw.

“Legend.” Sky’s voice was firm, and when Legend risked a glance in his direction, his brows were furrowed, a faint frown of-of-of—of Legend didn’t know what that expression was. Irritation? Concern? Suspicion?

He could feel his heartbeat fluttering inside his chest, as frantically as the wings of a trapped bird. He swallowed hard, and his mouth felt even dryer.

“Do you know where we are?”

Legend opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

The room was filled with a suffocating silence. Hyrule looked at Legend once with lips thinned with concern, before he bent his head and focused on helping Twilight down the red potion. Twilight was cooperating silently, as if even in his delirious state he could sense the tenseness in the room.

Wind was shifting anxiously from foot to foot, glancing back and forth between Sky and Legend with wide eyes.

“Legend…” Sky spoke again, and the veteran stiffened, as if anticipating a blow. Carefully, Sky shifted Twilight’s weight onto Hyrule’s shoulder, and he stood up, taking careful, measured steps across the room until he stood face to face with Legend.

Sky reached out and settled one hand on the veteran’s shoulder, blue eyes shining with concern. “Are you all right? What’s wrong?”

Legend’s gaze darted about wildly, unable to face the compassion radiating from the chosen hero’s face. He didn’t deserve it.

If he didn’t look at it now, he wouldn’t miss it so much when he revealed what he had done, and that compassion drained all away.

“I—I—” He gulped, feeling as if a thousand tiny knives scraped his throat on the way down. “This place is cursed.”

Wind and Hyrule tensed, gazes snapping to the shadowy corners of the room, seeking out hidden threats. That… was an interesting thought, Legend realized. Shouldn’t he be able to hear the chain chomps from where they stood.

“Legend.” Sky said, voice firm and soft and warm. “Can you tell us how?”

Legend glanced up at Sky, his gaze drawn as if almost against his will, and the kindness and faith there struck him like a Lynel sword to the heart. He ripped away from Sky’s hand, stumbling back a step and half turning away, shoving his hands into his bangs and gritting his teeth. “I—I, I’ve been here before.” Better get it out, get it all out right away. Delaying would only prolong the pain. Much better to give this… this fellowship, this brotherhood with them a quick death, rather than a long and lingering one.

The words rushed out of him like a river released at last from a dam, an unstoppable current that destroyed everything in its path. “It looked different then—it was built into the side of a pyramid in the Dark World—but the interior is exactly like it. It was haunted by four cursed swordsmen, and I had to defeat them in order to clear the place, but—but I didn’t realize it at first, I had suspicions but I didn’t know…” He had to tell them. He had to get it over with.

But the final, damning words wouldn’t come, and he ground his teeth against the silence.

There was a faint tug on his sleeve, and he looked down to see Wind. His eyes were wide, but his shoulders and chin were set with stubborn determination.

“Don’t worry, there’s four of us here. We’ll be able to take on the Darknuts, no problem!”

“You don’t understand.” Legend’s voice came out flat and harsh, and he saw Wind flinch back. Legend’s heart ached—he hadn’t meant to sound like that, but it was too late now.

“Then make us understand.” Hyrule said fiercely where he still knelt next to a slowly-coming-around Twilight. “We can’t do anything to help you if you don’t tell us.”

“Legend.” Sky said, one more time, his tone caring yet strong. It brought to mind Uncle’s hugs long ago, and Legend’s chest heaved with an attempt at a sob.  

This was it. Legend swept his gaze around the room once last time, frantically imprinting their faces, still full of concern and caring, into his mind like a pictograph. Like flowers pressed between the pages of a book; faint, withered memories of long ago summers and good times.

It was time: if he had to burn the bridges, might as well do it with a fire rod.

“It was Four. I killed him.”

Nobody moved. Nobody breathed, excepted for Legend, who kept rambling on. “The Quest has to end sometime, right? And were all going to go home and something’s going to happen to Four. Someone’s going to seal him here in this palace, and he’ll wait, and wait, and wait for someone to rescue him. And I’m going to show up, but I won’t know him. And I won’t know how to help him, I’ll just assume he’s a regular enemy that needs to be killed. And I’ll cut him down, and only wonder it’s done, after it’s too late if it might have been the Hero of Men from the old stories. And then I’ll end up on this adventure, and I’ll meet Four, and I’ll realize exactly what I am.”

Legend glared around the room. They all stared at him, silent and wide-eyed—well, except for Twilight, who was staring at the wall, face pale.

“A murderer.” He spat, the words burning like acid on his tongue. “A brother-killer.”

Wind glanced around frantically, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles seemed white. “Are… are you sure this is the place?”

“I’m sure.” Legend shoved his hand into his hair again, pulling, as if the pain could ground him. “I know the place pretty well. I keep seeing it in my nightmares.” He peered into the darkness behind the statues, though, a frown twisting his mouth. “Though it does seem empty. Maybe…” he swallowed hard. “Maybe I’ve already murdered him, in this time.”

Wind, Hyrule and Sky exchanged a helpless look, but Legend wasn’t paying attention. He was distracted by a new thought, one that loomed over him like the specter of doom.

“Or…” he said slowly, his voice tight. “Or maybe it’s early days, yet. All the monsters haven’t moved in. But… but he could still be here. Trapped. Cursed.”

“Then we—we could save him?” Hyrule asked, a faint edge of hope tinging his tone.

Legend shook his head sharply. “No. Because he still has to be here later, when I—when I—so, if he is here, that means there’s nothing I can do.” His voice began to climb sharply with every couple words. “I was here in time and I still couldn’t save him! What kind of hero am I—"

“Legend, stop panicking.” Twilight said, still slowly but clear than before. “This isn’t your timeline.”

Legend’s head whipped around, a glare shooting towards the rancher with the speed and deadliness of an electric arrow. “How can you say that, you have no idea what—”

Twilight shook his head stubbornly. “I’m not just saying it. It says so. On the wall.”

Everyone stared. Legend blinked. “What?”

The rancher pointed towards a nearby wall. “See?”

Legend looked. There, on the wall, scratched into the stones, first in Twilight’s and then with poorly formed letters in Legend’s Hylian were the words “LEGEND, STOP PANICKING. THIS ISN’T YOUR TIMELINE.”

Legend blinked again.

“WHAT IN THE BLOODY HECK IS THIS????”

“That…” Hyrule narrowed his eyes. “That’s weird.”

Wind, eager to seize on the distraction, ran forward and squinted up at the writing, despite the fact that he couldn’t read either version. “Do… do you think one of us wrote it?”

“Legend?” Sky said, his voice suddenly urgent. “Do you realize what this means?”

“What?” Legend snapped, his voice still strained. “That even the walls have it out for me now?”

Sky shook his head sharply, clenching his fists in order to restrain the urge to reach out and try and comfort the veteran. “Don’t you see—if this isn’t your timeline, then, you’ve never been here.”

Legend stilled. Slowly, he turned to look at Sky, his eyes wide. Sky reached out hesitantly, and when Legend didn’t flinch or shy away, he gripped Legend’s shoulders firmly—but not so firmly that Legend couldn’t easily duck out of the hold.

He didn’t, though. Instead, the contact seemed to ground him, to soothe the very edges of his jagged nerves, helping his breaths come smoother and more easily.

“And if you’ve never been here, you’re not too late this time—”

Legend met Sky’s gaze, something unexpected struggling to swim upwards through the all-encompassing ocean of guilt—struggling and kicking and somehow determinedly clawing it’s head above the surface—hope. “I can save him.”

A wave of something swept over the room—Twilight sat up, Hyrule set his hand on the sword, eyes flashing, and Wind bounced excitedly with a fierce grin, sword already drawn.

A smile spread across the chosen hero’s face, and his brows furrowed with determination as he nodded, squeezing the veteran’s shoulders. Legend found himself smiling back; somewhat shaky and uncertain, but still there.

“We can save him,” Twilight said, pushing to his feet and rolling out a stiffness in his shoulder.

Hyrule jumped to his feet after him, scowling. “Excuse me? You just got over a concussion.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Sky muttered, sharing an exasperated glance with Legend.

“Yes, I just got over it, which means I’m good to go,” Twilight said, grinning savagely; a grin that promised death for whatever unfortunate monsters that decided to put themselves between him and his goal. “The potion fixed me right up. What’s more, I’m not going to sit around while one of our brothers needs my help.”

He picked up his shield and drew his sword, giving it an experimental twirl. “What do you say, veteran?”

Legend stepped back, slipping out of Sky’s grip. His hand went to his own sword, the enchanted handle familiar and warm beneath his palm. He lifted his chin and grit his teeth, gaze sweeping around the room. All his companions stood ready on their feet, hands on weapons but eyes on him. They looked at him, and he didn’t see a single twinge of distrust or fear. Just confidence and determination and courage.

Maybe he should have expected that, though. After all, courage was what brought them together.

Legend drew his own sword with a flourish and held it out towards Twilight, crossing their blades in the formal salute. “Let’s go save our smith.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Chapter 2: Better the Enemies You Know Than the Empty Room That You Don't

Summary:

...according to Legend, anyway

We get a glimpse of what Four, Time, Warriors and Wild are doing right now.
Meanwhile the Palace Group puts their heads together and try to figure out what's going on, and find their road ahead seems to be easier than anticipated.

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

The fire crackled, the sound blending pleasantly with the drumming of the rain without. The firelight danced, filling the cave with shifting swathes of light, casting its own sort of spell; somehow managing to make the cave they were hunkered in feel welcoming and warm.

Not too warm though, I hope. Four frowned slightly, and laid a hand on Time’s forehead. He’d caught a bit of a fever with his injuries, the rain, and his general habit of running himself to exhaustion; and while the red potion had fixed the wounds well enough, the fever remained. Time had gone rather obligingly to bed as soon as they’d finished eating, and he’d hardly stirred since.

Time’s forehead was hot and clammy. It wasn’t worse, but it wasn’t better, either. Certainly not ideal.

Hopefully he’d be able to sleep it off, and the fever would be gone by morning. Until then… Four picked the rag from the bowl of cold water (courtesy of having one of Wild’s ice rods stuck in it), wrung it out, and folded it precisely, laying it neatly across Time’s forehead.

Until then, they’d watch over their leader and make sure he was well.  

Time shivered, and Four’s frown deepened. He reached out, snagging the end of the blanket and tugging it higher over his shoulder.

Time still shivered, curling in on himself slightly, seeking warmth.

“Hey, Captain, can you toss me my blanket?”

Wars was pacing nervously nearby, but at the sound of the smith’s voice, he paused, spinning on one heel to face him. “Yours is on the smaller side, though, do you want mine instead?”

Four bit his lip, considering, before finally shaking his head. “No, I have first watch, I can spare my blanket. You need yours.”

Wars wrestled with this fact and his need to be of use, and finally dipped his head in a bow. With three quick strides he was at Four’s bedroll, snatching up the blanket and tossing it through the air. Four caught it easily, snapping it out and draping it over Time’s form.

Four examined the effect with a rueful quirk of his eyebrow. It was… a little short, admittedly. When he tucked it up under Time’s chin, the hem fell somewhere about mid-shin.

Wild glanced over from the stewpot at the cave’s entrance (where he was cooking very industriously to distract himself from the situation) took in the scene, and snorted.

Four stared flatly back at him, unimpressed.

“Are you sure…?” Warriors voice piped up, a note of pleading in his tone.

“Yes.” The smith replied, his voice firm. “You need your blanket. Mine will serve just fine.”

The captain sighed and ran his hand through his hair for what might have been the hundredth time in the past hour.

With Time down, Warriors was de-facto leader, but with half their group missing… well, Warriors needed all the rest he could, to help combat the stress. Besides, Warriors wasn’t the only one who wanted to be of use.

Wild was keeping them fed. Warriors was looking out for them.

Four wanted to be of use, too. To his brothers. To his family. To their leader. To Time.

Yet all he could do was this, and by all the gods, he was going to do it.

“Do you think they’re all right?” Warriors said. His voice was pitched low, so as not to alert Wild nearby. The cook was stressed as it is, with Time down and the others missing; the last thing either of them wanted to do was ruin his attempts at distracting himself.

Four eyed the way Time seemed to settle underneath the extra warmth of the second blanket, reaching out and smoothing down the cold cloth on the hero’s forehead. Time’s breath seemed to come slightly easier now, his shivering stilled, and it eased a tight knot clenched in Four’s chest.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” he said in return, just as lowly as the Captain. “They have each other, and they’re all capable heroes. I’m sure everything’s fine. They know what to do.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“I have no idea what to do.” Legend said, staring at the carvings on the wall. “I don’t even know where to start. What in all of Hyrule are we supposed to do?”

“Let’s think through this.” Sky said, a pillar of serenity compared to Legend, who was fairly vibrating with nerves. “What do we know?”

“Four’s cursed, this isn’t Legend’s timeline, and someone wrote a note on a wall for us?” Hyrule rattled off, ticking off fingers as he went.

“Yeah, but who wrote the note?” Wind piped in, standing on his tiptoes, trying to get a better look. “Do you…” He bit his lip, bouncing on his feet a little as he thought. “Do you think… it’s one of us?”

Silence fell. The heroes looked at each other, questions in their eyes.

“It’s… possible.” Sky said, slowly.

“This whole adventure has been a twisting mess of time travel, of course it’s possible.” Legend crossed his arms and scowled, his knee bouncing nervously. “Just what we need—more time insanity.”

“It could be any one of us.” Sky mused, cocking his head thoughtfully as he considered the message. “At any future point during our adventure.”

Twilight groaned, shoving a hand through his hair. “My head hurts too much to think this through right now.”

“Well at least I think there’s proof the potion did the job and your head comes out all right.” Hyrule stated, squinting at the wall.

The rancher raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

“Well, you probably wrote it, right?”

All heads swiveled to face Hyrule. Twilight’s hand dropped from his hair, eyes wide and blinking. “Me?”

Hyrule rubbed the back of his head, confused. “Yes, you?”

Twilight opened his mouth, sorted through his options, and decided on, “Why?”

“Why’d you write it?” Hyrule blinked again. “Uh, probably to help us save Four, right? I thought that was pretty obvious—”

“He means ‘why do you think it’s him’?” Sky cut in helpfully.

“Oh! Well.” Hyrule coughed and turned to point at the wall. “So I can kinda sorta read the one script—it’s like an earlier version of mine, but it looks really badly made. The letters are all kind of wonky.”

Everyone looked at Legend. Legend shrugged. “It’s true. The guy has bad handwriting.”

“But he doesn’t!” Hyrule said, waving a hand emphatically at the second pair of script. “It’s in Twilight’s Hylian, and just look at how neat all the letters are! He knows what he’s doing!”

Everyone stared at the wall again. It was true. The letters in Twilight’s Hylian were formed neatly and precisely, while the ones in Legend’s were of wobbly and poorly-formed, only barely legible.

Twilight frowned at it. “Huh.”

Wind tipped his head to one side. “Can it even be called handwriting if it’s carved on a wall?”

Sky hummed thoughtfully, “Depends on how it’s carved, I’d say.”

 “All that aside, do you think we can agree that Twilight wrote—writes—whatever—this?” Legend cut in, his knee bouncing with frantic energy.

Everyone exchanged glances, then turned to stare at Twilight. The rancher blinked, then threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “Fine. I could have written it, but I don’t know, as I haven’t done it yet. Will that suffice?”

“It’ll do.” Hyrule said cheerfully, then turned to Legend. “So what’s the plan?”

The veteran bristled. “Why are you asking me?”

“Well,” Sky said, and beamed cheerfully in that rather intimidating way of his that could cow nearly any opponent instantly and make them agree with his plan, “You do know this place best.”

Legend scowled back at him, feeling the mantle of leadership hovering over his shoulders and wanting nothing to do with it, thank you. Unfortunately, he was also very aware that Sky was also very right.

“Fine.” He grumbled. “Everyone, get your swords ready and follow me. I’ll fill you guys in as we go.”

However, when they stepped out of the small, statue-lined antechamber, the twin rows of chain chomps were nowhere to be seen. The only thing hinting as to their existence were the pillars they once would have been chained too, but now the pillars were half-ruined, their facades crumbling, cracked, and covered in dust.

“Huh.” Legend said, narrowing his eyes at the pillars distrustfully. “Someone back me up.”

He marched towards the pillars, Wind a half step behind him. The sailor had been hovering around the veteran since his moment of panic earlier, and Legend was gracious enough not to bring attention to it.

Not to mention that Wind’s nearby presence was soothing, a balm on his anxieties in a way Legend couldn’t quite explain, though Twilight would probably call it big-brother-instinct.

Legend stopped in front of the nearest pillar, waited a moment for Wind to take up a ready position behind him, and poked the pillar with his sword.

Nothing happened.

He poked it a second time, just for good measure.

The room was still.

“Huh.” Legend said, his voice dripping dislike. “Let’s move on, then.”

He stomped back to the group and then proceeded to lead them down the hallway, Wind trotting in his wake. His scowl only deepened when they stepped through the doorway into the dungeon’s central chamber, only to find it completely devoid of stalfos.

“I don’t like this.” Legend hissed, gaze darting about the room, daring the skeletons to show themselves. “Where are they all?”

The other heroes shuffled about. Twilight and Sky exchanged glances, silently volunteering the other to speak up. To Twilight’s annoyance, Sky had surprisingly forceful elbows, prompting him to stumble forward and catch everyone’s attention.

He cleared his throat. “So, which way, veteran?”

Legend stared at him with narrowed eyes for a second longer, huffed, and turned in the direction of the leftmost door.

This room was also empty, but instead of the echoing silence that emptiness brought, this room was filled with the rushing of water. Legend peered around the room with a critical eye, shoulders relaxing slightly.

“Alright,” he said, with a surprising amount of natural authority for one who deliberately avoided the position of leadership in the group. “While the turrets are absent, it looks like the trap is still functioning.” He pointed at an empty brazier in the corner. “The current’s too strong to swim, but if we light that, we’ll have a window to swim down the hallway to the other side, diving to avoid the rolling spike trap.”

He propped one hand on his hip, eyeing his brothers thoughtfully. “Right, who can swim?”

He raised his own hand, followed quickly by Sky and Twilight. Wind flip-flopped his hand in a so-so gesture. Hyrule coughed and looked sheepishly off to one side.

“I can share my water dragon’s scale.” Sky said, pulling a necklace out from his pouch and holding it out. It hung in the air, gleaming blue in the dimness of the temple, pulsing faintly with an ancient power. “It helps you hold your breath for longer, and gives you better maneuverability in the water.”

“That’ll help me, but Rulie can’t swim at all!” Wind piped up, frowning in concern.

“I have an idea,” Twilight said, already pulling a large bundle from his bag. “Here’s how we’ll do it.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“All right, ready, Sky?” Legend stood next to the brazier, holding his lantern aloft.

Sky shifted his stance at the pools edge, the water dragon’s scale shifting from where it hung about his neck. “Ready!”

With a well-practiced swipe of Legend’s lantern, the oil in the brazier burst into flame, and in the same moment, Sky dove into the water. He clearly knew what he was doing, barreling through the water with a fierce spinning motion, completely avoiding the spike trap and rocketing up onto the landing on the far side in a total of thirty seconds.

Legend let out a long, slow whistle. “I think that completely ground my best time into the dust. You’ll have to wait a bit for the trap to reset before you can go, Twi.”

Twilight grunted in acknowledgement, stretching his arms above his head, getting used to the feeling of the Zora armor. “I’m ready when you say the word.”

It took another minute for the fire to burn out, then Legend lit the brazier again and Twilight was off. He took twice as long as Sky, but was climbing onto the landing in good time.

With a grin and a reassuring slap on the back, Sky passed off the dragon scale to the rancher, who dove back into the water. The current reactivated, sweeping Twilight back down to the far end.

“Right,” Twilight panted as he pulled himself back onto solid ground. “Who wants a tow first?”

Wind’s hand shot into the air, practically vibrating with excitement. “ME ME ME CAN I GO FIRST TWILIGHT PLEASE?”

Twilight grinned and shot Hyrule a raised eyebrow. “How ‘bout it, Rule? Mind Wind going first?”

Hyrule gave the water a complicated look. “I don’t mind waiting.”

Twilight nodded, and tossed the dragon scale to Wind, who hurriedly slipped it around his neck. “Ready?”

Wind bounced a little at the edge of the water, ready to jump in. “Ready!”

Legend swept the flame across the oil, and Twilight and Wind jumped into the water with twin splashes. Since Wind and Hyrule weren’t familiar with the use of the dragon scale, everyone (meaning, Sky, Twilight, and Legend) agreed that it’d be best if they simply use it to breath and swim faster, and let Twilight do most of the hard work.

Wind did use it to rocket up onto the landing, though, and let out a whoop as he rolled to a stop next to Sky. “That was awesome. Can I borrow that some time?”

Sky grinned and laughed a little, extending a hand to help the sailor up. “I think that can be arranged.”

Twilight, who took the slightly longer way up onto the landing, shook his head, scattering water from the long tail of his Zora armor’s helmet. Wind giggled. “You look like Wolfie when you do that.”

“Hmm, do I?” Twilight grinned, and ignored the sharp look that Sky shot him as he held out a hand for the dragon scale. Wind passed it over with a regretful look, and Twilight jumped back into the water with a terrific splash and rode the current back down to the start.

Hyrule was waiting for him, face set and fists clenched with determination. Twilight took a moment to rest and breathe, bending over and setting his hands on his knees, and eyed Hyrule thoughtfully.

“You sure you’re up to this?”

The traveler’s expression didn’t even so much as waver, and he nodded firmly. “I’d face a whole lot of worse things to help Four. And besides,” and he shot Twilight and Legend a grin, “I have my brothers to back me up, right?”

Twilight and Legend shared a look, before Twilight swept Hyrule up into a bear hug that lifted him off his feet. Legend meanwhile turned away and grumbled about the oil levels in his lantern, pretending as if his heart hadn’t melted like the incurable softie that he was.

Hyrule let out a squeak of surprise, and burst into laughter when Twilight plopped him back down onto the ground only to give his curls a wild ruffling.

“I’m proud of you, Hyrule.” The rancher said, and Hyrule’s shoulders straightened, his determination bolstered with confidence. Then Twilight pressed the dragon scale into his hand. “Ready?”

Hyrule nodded, and when the brazier once more caught fire, they dove into the water.

This trip went just as smoothly as Wind’s, Twilight smoothly towing Hyrule down below the water to avoid the spike trap. Their landing was a bit less spectacular, as Hyrule couldn’t quite get the courage to rocket up and out. Instead, they pulled themselves up the steps onto the landing, where Twilight promptly collapsed onto his back with a gasp to recover from three back and forth trips.

A minute later, Legend joined them, smoothly jumping out of the water and onto dry ground. Wind could’ve sworn he caught a glimpse of something flickering in the water as Legend did so—something scale-like—but whatever it was, it was gone when Legend’s feet touched land.

“Still got it.” The veteran said smugly, “Though that was a lot easier without the turrets raining rocks down on my head.” He glanced around at them all.

“Got through all right, Rulie?”

Hyrule nodded, toweling his hair off with a spare cloth from his pack. Legend nodded back, satisfied, and toed a still-collapsed Twilight none-to-gently with his boot.

“Up’n’at ‘em, rancher. Do you always spend all your time going through dungeons taking naps?”

“Kick me again and I’ll bite your foot.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Twilight was the last one to step through the door into the next room, and the instant he stepped through, the stone door slammed shut behind him.

The heroes all exchanged glances, hands flying to sword hilts. And not a moment too soon, for a gigantic monster materialized in the middle of the room. It appeared to be a giant one-eyed jellyfish, with a cloud of electric Baris hanging around it.

“Finally!” Legend shouted. “What a relief!”

Sky shot him a look as he raised his sword. “Why are you happy that we have to fight a boss?”

“Because I didn’t know what to expect in all those empty rooms,” Legend responded, already digging in his bag for his hookshot. “With this ugly sucker, I know exactly what to expect. Twilight, Sky, you’re on hookshot duty with me.”

“They’re clawshots,” Sky and Twilight muttered in unison, but Legend cheerfully ignored them.

“Rulie and Wind, once we pull the Baris towards us, wait a second for the electricity to go off and then hit them.”

He grinned wildly, aiming his hookshot at the monster. “Honestly, Arrghus II here gave me a bit of trouble when I first came through, but with five heroes?”

His hookshot sank into the Bari, ripping it away from Arrghus II and dragging it towards it’s doom, where Hyrule waited eagerly with his sword at the ready. The electricity went off, and then the silver blade of the magic sword was arcing through the air, instantly dispelling the monster into mist.

Legend grinned and aimed again. “This’ll be a breeze.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Legend’s plan went off flawlessly—between the five of them, Arrghus was wittled down quickly, and with a final swipe of Sky’s sword, was dispatched into nothingness.

Wind looked around the room thoughtfully. “Isn’t it funny that the boss was left while all the other monsters were cleared out? Why do you think that is?”

Everyone turned to look at Twilight. The rancher threw his hands wide, voice dripping exasperation.  “Don’t look at me! I haven’t done it yet!”

“Nayru’s bleeding heart, I hate paradoxes.” Legend muttered, and headed for the door into the next room. “Come on, guys, the first sword in the next room. We just need to grab it and move on.”

They obediently trailed after him, a slight hush falling them as the realization that they’d achieved the first step of their goal. Only three swords left, and they could save Four.

They stepped through and saw the sword, sticking out of the pedestal. The golden hilt had a green gem that sparkled faintly in the dimness.

“Who’s gonna draw it?” Wind whispered into the quiet, and Legend let out a sigh.

“No reason to just stand around,” And with a few quick strides he was at the sword. He sucked in a deep breath, grasped the sword, and drew it out of the stone in a swift motion.

There was a brilliant flash of light and magic, and all of a sudden Four was lying at Legend’s feet, clad entirely in green, and oozing black blood from a wound in his side.

“Farore’s roaring winds!” Legend screeched, and stumbled back, eyes wide. The others cried out and rushed forward, Sky and Hyrule falling to their knees besides Four’s crumpled form.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?” Twilight gasped, looking down at Four in horror, and Legend shook his head frantically, face white.

“This didn’t happen last time! I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Hyrule!” Wind cried out, peering over Sky’s shoulder, tense with nerves. “Look at his blood, I think he’s cursed!”

Hyrule’s face pinched as he looked. “I can try the life spell, but I don’t know—"

Sky’s face settled into a grim line, fire blazing in his eyes. “Cursed, is it? Well, I can solve that.”

With a swift movement—so swift it was as if Fi herself leapt into his hand—Sky had the Master Sword drawn and pressed the flat of the blade against the wound in Four’s side.

There was a flash of brilliant blue, beating down a dull pulse of black, and Four jolted and screamed. Then the blue obliterated the black, the flash died down, and the heroes all gasped.

The blood was flowing red again.

“Now this I can solve, no problem,” Hyrule said, ripped the cork off a bottle of blue potion with his teeth. Twilight bent down and pressed open Four’s mouth, and in a twinkling the potion disappeared down Four’s throat.

Four fell still, and the heroes all froze, not daring to so much as to breath, and waited.

The blood flow slowed, stopped, and Four’s breathing eased.

As one, they sucked in gasps of air, like they’d just burst past the finish line and collapsed in relief on the far side.

“Wait---did—did we do it?” Wind grabbed Sky’s shoulders, shaking him a little, dampness gathering at the corners of his eyes. “Is he gonna be okay now?”

Sky carefully lifted the sliced edges of Four’s green tunic, peering at the skin beneath. It was hale and whole, the blue potion having done it’s work well.

He let the cloth fall down again, a tenseness he’d been carrying since Legend had first shared his story slowly eking out of his shoulders. “It seems like he’s out of the clouds, now.

Four jerked, a strangled yell bursting out of him. Green eyes flew wide open, and Sky narrowly avoided being smacked upside the head by a thrashing arm. Hyrule wasn’t so lucky, and let out a pained grunt as a knee slammed him in the gut.

Sky somehow managed to wrestle Four’s arms down against the floor, while Twilight firmly wrapped his arms around Four’s shoulders, holding Four’s upper torso against his lap. Meanwhile, Wind and Hyrule rushed to grab Four’s legs, and Legend stood by, hands full of Four’s sword and getting antsier from a desire to help by the second.

 Four need to calm down, Sky thought frantically, exchanging panicked looks with Twilight. Hyrule may have had healed Four’s injury, but Sky remembered how exhausted Sun had been after she awoke from her long sleep. Magic and curses and seals sapped one’s energy. Four need to lie still, and Sky was going to make sure he did so.

Four didn’t seem to agree, if the constant attempts at moving indicated anything.

“Calm down, Four,” Twilight said gently, keeping his tone firm and soothing, somehow managing to conceal the panic roiling within. “It’s us. We’ve got you, you’re safe.”

Something seemed to get through to the smith, for Four stilled for a moment, his breath gasping, gaze darting about wildly. “Who are you—I don’t know—what—”

Sky shared a nervous glance with his brothers.

…had Four lost his memories, just like Wild had?

Suddenly, Four let out a ragged gasp. The next moment, there was abrupt surge of movement as Four bucked furiously in their grip, forcing Twilight to clutch him tightly. “Let me go!” His voice was a snarl, raging and wild. “WHERE IS HE?”

“Where is who?” Wind piped up.

Four refused to stop struggling, nearly managing to kick his legs free from Hyrule and Wind. “The King! Where is the Gerudo Kin---”

He froze, his face going white. “ZELDA!”

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Chapter 3: And Here's What Lies Behind Sword Number Two

Summary:

Green comes to some unpleasant realizations. And then they wake Red up, and everyone comes to some unpleasant realizations

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

“Zelda?” Sky stammered, glancing up at Legend.

Legend shook his head, eyes wide. There’d been no trace of Zelda whatsoever in his Palace. But then again, this hadn’t happened either.

Just what was going on?

Meanwhile, Twilight felt his stomach drop into a pool of frozen dread, and he looked up to see Wind staring at him with wide eyes, similarly stricken.

Legend, Hyrule, and Sky hadn’t seemed to notice, but Four’s words were echoing around his head.

The Gerudo King.

Had… had Ganondorf been the one to do this to Four?

Four had fallen still, however, when Sky had uttered Zelda’s name. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the chosen hero, and while he was no longer thrashing, every muscle was tense as a bowstring, ready to spring into action at a moments notice. There was an air about him, a desperate panic and rage that had all the heroes on edge.

“Where is she?” Four said, his voice hard as iron and sharp as a blade, fury coating each word like poison. “What have you done with her?”

Sky didn’t even so much as flinch before the anger in the smith’s voice, meeting his gaze with sincerity and strength. “I do not know where Zelda is, but if I did, I swear by all the gods that I would never so much as lay a finger upon her.”

Four glanced around the other heroes, and saw the same determination and resolve in their faces.

They were all Heroes, after all. Their job was to protect Zelda, to fight both for her and by her side—the thought of ever causing harm to her was sickening.

He relaxed slightly, but only slightly. His gaze still darted around them, sharp and wary. “And the Gerudo King? Where is he?”

Sky shook his head. “The Palace was empty when we came here.”

Four could clearly see the honesty in his expression, for he relaxed even more—but a look of confusion crossed his face, and he shook his head. “I don’t—that doesn’t make any sense—” He paused. Then he sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes widening. “Who are you? How—”

He swallowed hard. “How long have I been here?”

The heroes exchanged glances, then turned to look at Legend. The veteran clutched the hilt of Four’s sword tightly, his shoulders tense and hunched, a grimace on his face.

“I…” he looked at the pain and dread in Four’s face, and swallowed hard. “I don’t know. But the magic in the sword, that was keeping you sealed away? It feels old.”

Four stared. When he spoke, his voice was a dry rasp. “How old.”

Legend wanted to glance away. He didn’t want to see this, see how his answer would twist Four’s expression into something terrible. But he couldn’t hide form the truth in the remnants of the seal that he could feel even now in the sword in the sword in his hand, and nor would he hide from the pain he was going to inflict upon the smith. Four was his brother, and didn’t deserve his cowardice. “At… at least three or four centuries. If not more.”

Four’s face went utterly white. “Oh goddesses.”

He shook his head frantically, the tail of his green cap flying. Sky and Twilight shared a look, and they released their grips on Four, Wind and Hyrule following a moment later. The instant they let go, Four’s hands flew to his head, gripping his hair so tightly the knuckles turned as white as his cheeks.

“Centuries?” He gasped, squeezing his eyes shut, a note of hysteria beginning to slip in. “Then—my family—and Zelda—what… what happened to them?”

No one spoke. Twilight and Legend stared grimly at the ground, while Hyrule looked away. Wind’s shoulders were tense as he bit his lip, desperately trying to hold himself together.

Sky closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again, his voice solemn and pained as he spoke. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Four let out a choking sob, and gipped his hair even tighter, pressing the heels of his hands into his forehead. “I—don’t—how?”

“I don’t know.” The Chosen hero said, voice gentle. “What do you remember of what happened to you?”

Four didn’t respond at first, focusing instead on steadying his frantic breathing. After a long moment, he finally let out one final, shuddering sigh. He slowly unclenched his hands from his hair and swept one sleeve across his eyes, before letting his hands fall and lie limply in his lap.

“Zelda sensed something wrong with the seal on Vaati.” He stared down at his hands as he spoke, his voice hollow. “She said that it was as if there was a dark, cursed magic prodding at it, seeking a weakness to exploit. So we went to discover what was happening, only to arrive and find it was a trap. The magic was bait to lure Zelda and I to the shrine, bait left by Ganondorf, the young Gerudo king.”

His voice took on a hint of emotion again, a shiver of rage seeping into his words. “He was lying in wait, in hiding, and the moment our backs were turned he leapt out and shot a bolt of cursed energy at Zelda. I—I didn’t have time to think, so I—”

He swallowed hard. “I pushed her out of the way, but…” his hand rose involuntarily, pressing against the torn edge of his green tunic.

“We fought, and I hurt him-but then something came over me and...I couldn't fight. Then..." His fingers curled into a fist, twisting the torn fabric together.

"...I remember hearing Zelda screaming.” He squeezed his eyes shut, his voice growing hoarse. “And then there was a brilliant flash of power, and Ganondorf bellowing in pain—and then…” he shook his head. “Zelda’s voice. She was crying, and saying something and then everything went bright. I don’t remember anything—”

His breathing hitched. “No, no, that’s not true—I dreamed. I remember that. Not--not clearly, everything’s hazy, but I—” he fell silent.

Wind shifted, his voice tense. “Were… they good dreams?”

Four silently shook his head. Wind’s shoulders slumped, and he wrapped his arms around himself. Hyrule quietly swung to his feet and slipped an arm around Wind’s shoulders, tugging him against his side.

A little tension eked out of the Sailor, but his gaze remained fixed on the ground.

“I wish I was back there, dreaming nightmares.” Four finally said, his voice barely above a whisper. “This—this is almost worse. Zelda—and my ch—everyone is gone.”

Sky’s face twisted in pain. Twilight clenched his fists. Wind bit his lip again, a bead of blood dotting the edge of his lip.

Legend shuddered, closing his eyes.

“I…” Hyrule swallowed hard, gaze darting about the room. “I don’t think Zelda’s gone?”

Four’s head snapped up. “Don’t—” he snarled. “Don’t give me false hope—”

“It’s not!” The traveler shook his head frantically, stepping away from Wind slightly in order to gesture about the room. “I can feel the magic that cast your sealing spell on the sword—it’s good magic. Light magic, but it’s old. But,” And his smile was a tentative, hopeful thing. “I can feel the light magic in the air, too—and it’s fresh. Present. I think… I think Zelda sealed herself too.”

Four stared at him, then pressed a hand against his face and choked on a sob.

“That’s—that’s great!” Wind gasped, brightness beginning to return to his eyes. “And now that we’ve rescued Four, we can go save her too, right?”

There was a moment of silence, then Four lowered his hand, ignoring the dampness on his cheeks to stare at WInd. “You rescued—Four? You… do you mean you’ve already rescued the rest of me?”

There was utter silence in the chamber.

“The rest of who now?” Legend sputtered.

Four blinked. He pointed at the sword in Legend’s hands. “The Four Sword—it has the power to split me into four parts, to grant me strength in fourfold. I… you don’t know?”

Sky pressed his lips together. “…no?”

“Then—” Four pressed a hand to his forehead, sliding his fingers into his hair, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t—you made it seem like you know me, but… but it’s been centuries—” He stiffened, dropping his hand, tensing again.

“Who are you, and how do you know me, and yet… not know me?”

They exchanged looks. Wind looked at Hyrule. Hyrule looked at Legend. Legend looked at Twilight. Twilight looked at Sky.

Sky sighed, and drew the Master sword, balancing it on his hands.

Four sucked in a gasp, eyes wide as he stared at the blade.

“You are the Hero of Courage, are you not?” Sky said, his voice solemn. Four nodded slowly.

“Well, so are we.” Sky glanced around the room. “We all are. And we have been called on an adventure through time to stop a dark shadow.” He looked down, shoulders slumping slightly. “You are one of us, but it seems that after we part, this is your fate. I’m…” His voice hitched for the briefest moment, before he soldiered on, “I’m sorry that we came so late.”

“I—” Four glanced around the room, confusion glimmering in his eyes. “You’re all heroes of courage? But—but there are only two, aren’t there? Myself, and the Hero of the Skies.”

Wind gasped. “Wait, you’re Sky’s successor?”

Sky blinked, pausing half-way between sheathing the Master Sword. “You are?”

“Hang on, how didn’t we know this?” Legend furrowed his brow. “Has Four not figured out his timeline placement yet?”

“Wait,” Four’s brows furrowed, “You say I went on a quest with you, but—but I don’t remember—”

Twilight reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder, but thought better of it, pulling his hand away and letting it drop. “That’s all right. You’re not the only one of our number to sleep for a rather long time, and he has memory problems, too. You’ll probably remember once you give it time.”

Four dropped his hand again to stare at Twilight. “I’m not—how often does this happen?”

“More often that it should, that’s for sure,” Legend grumbled.

“I still can’t believe he’s your successor, that’s so cool!” Hyrule said to Sky, and Four’s head snapped around again, eyes wide.

“You’re the Hero of the Skies? Hylia’s Chosen Hero? The first Hero-King of Hyrule?”

“The first what now?” Wind gasped.

Sky blinked. “I—King?—what—” he blinked again, and shrugged helplessly “…yes?”

Four seemed to relax, somehow, and swiftly pressed a hand to his heart, bowing his head. “It is an honor to meet you, sir.”

“Sir?” Sky gargled.

“You seem to know him pretty well,” Twilight said with a faint grin, and Four nodded.

“Yes, he—the hero of the Skies was my favorite story growing up. I strived to emulate him once I—I became the hero, myself.”

Sky took this in. “Huh.”

“Wait, wait, hold on,” Legend waved the sword in the air, trying to grab anyone’s attention, before pointing it at Four. “Earlier, you said—you said ‘the rest of me’. Are you only part of Four?”

Everyone stared at Four.

He nodded. “…yes. I’m Green.”

Legend raised an eyebrow, looking Green over. It was strange, seeing Four in just the plain green from cap to tunic, though now that he looked closer, he looked strange. He wasn’t in the clothes Legend was used to seeing him in. For one, he was wearing a cap instead of his hood, and the cut and design were simpler, reminding Legend of the hero’s tunic he used to wear himself.

“Green? Well, that’ll be easy to remember.”

“So…” Wind furrowed his brows, twisting his face up as he thought. “Do you think that means that we’ll have to find and heal the other three of you?”

Green frowned. “I… suppose so?”

Wind rubbed the back of his head. “I hope we have enough potions, then.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Sky and Hyrule broached the idea of Green going and resting in the Palace antechamber, as he had just recovered from a cursed wound and centuries of magical sleep, not to mention the mental wounds of waking up and realizing you’d left nearly everything you’d ever known behind.

Green would not hear of it.

He simply took his sword from Legend, slid it into his sheath, and raised a commanding brow at Legend.

“Shall we go?”

Legend nodded a bit hastily, pointing out the transportation tile in the corner. “Uh, yeah, this way.”

They appeared in the far upper-right corner of the central chamber, and Legend them straight down to the bottom right corner, but refused to go through until they were all gathered around him.

“Right” he said. “The next room is one that won’t open unless all the enemies are killed, but since they are all killed, it should be open. I say should because I can’t know for sure, because I don’t know what to expect because someone killed all the enemies.”

Twilight rolled his eyes.

“Anyway, part of the floor falls in so follow right behind me, move fast, and don’t hesitate.” And with that, he plunged into the room.

The door was open, so Legend charged straight for it, five heroes following frantically in his wake. Sky was bringing up the rear, and had to leap forward once just before a tile disappeared beneath his feet, but a moment later he was through the door and bending over and breathing a sigh of relief.

Then he straightened up, glanced around the room, and grinned. “Is that a conveyor belt? I love those!” he paused. “Except when I don’t.”

“Trust me,” Legend grinned, and kicked a skull blocking the way into oblivion. “This one’s a fun one. But first, anyone wanna boomerang the crystal switch over there?”

Hyrule shot his hand into the air, already holding his boomerang.

Legend bowed slightly, extending one hand with a flourish. “Be my guest.”

“Don’t mind if I will,” Hyrule grinned, and the boomerang went spinning through the air. It collided with the switch and the blue fence blocks receded into the floor, making it easier for them to push the rest of the blocks out of the way and cross the room.

There was another fence block in the way, however, this one orange. Hyrule squinted at it. “Should I throw the boomerang again?”

Legend smirked. “You could, but that would be boring. Here, I got this.”

He dug into his bag and pulled out a red cane. With a flick, he summoned a glowing orange block into being.

“Rancher, if you please?”

Twilight grinned, hoisted the block into the air, and with incredible ease tossed it onto the conveyor belt. It swept across the room, and then at the right moment—Legend flicked the cane again.

The block exploded, sending bolts of fire in four directions. One flew right over Green’s head, and Sky, who was standing behind him, ducked only just in time.

One, however, flew in a straight line right at the crystal switch. The switch turned orange, and the orange block sank down while the blue rose up again.

“And that’s how it’s done.” Legend said smugly. “C’mon, next room is a boss fight, so here’s the plan.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

In Legend’s words, King Helmasaur II was a bit more annoying than regular old King Helmasaur, as he had the irritating habit of regenerating his helmet once. There was also spikes piled in the corners and his extending, swinging tail to deal with.

Luckily, with Wind’s skull hammer, Sky’s, Legend’s and Green’s sword skills, and Twilight and Hyrule’s arrows, the beast was down, and access to the sword chamber was granted.

The instant King Helmasaur II dissolved into dust, Green had sheathed his blade and was sprinting through the door. The other heroes chased after him, bursting into the room to see him skid to a halt in front of a red-hilted sword, hand outstretched and face conflicted.

Twilight walked up to his side, propping one hand on his hip and eying the sword thoughtfully. “Want me to pull it?”

Green nodded. “I’m not sure if there might not be some sort of magical risk if I were to draw it.”

“No problem, I have it.” And Twilight reached out and smoothly drew the sword from the pedestal.

The flash of light came again, but only Green cried out when a version of Four, clad entirely in red, appeared, limp and bleeding black onto the stone below.

“Red!” Green cried out, slamming to his knees besides his fellow. Hyrule skidded to the ground next to him, already withdrawing a second blue potion from his bag.

“Sky!”

“Already on it!” And Sky was kneeling besides Red as well, lowering the flat of the Master Sword onto the wound. The blue light blazed, and Red jolted, a hoarse scream torn from his unconscious throat.

Green flinched, but grit his teeth and pulled Red’s torso up against his chest, wrapping his arms around his shoulders like Twilight had done to him. Seemingly he remembered enough of his own wakening to guess how it went.

Except, once Hyrule had poured the blue potion down Red’s throat, Red didn’t jerk, or thrash. He lay very, very still, and let out a sob.

The other heroes gathered close, ready to act on a moment’s notice if Red ended up trying to flee, but after a long moment, the red-clad smith spoke. His voice was thick and warbled with tears.

“Green—Is that you?”

Green squeezed his eyes shut and clutched Red a little closer. “Yeah. It’s me.”

Red swallowed hard, still keeping his eyes firmly shut. “…Zelda—did we stop Ganondorf?”

Green bit his lip. “…I don’t know.” He said lowly. “But I think Zelda’s all right.”

Red sucked in a deep breath. “All right.” He reached up and swiped a hand across his eyes, sniffing loudly. “You can let me go now.”

Green loosened his grip, and Red leveraged himself up. He swept at his eyes again, and then attempted to square his shoulders against the persistent shake. “What—what happened to us?”

Green looked down, his hands slowing curling into white-knuckled fists. “Zelda---I think she sealed us away to save me from the curse, and apparently…” He swallowed hard. “She—she sealed herself, too, and—”

His voice died.

Legend gritted his teeth, knowing what needed to be done. He stepped forward, folding his arms in an attempt to hide his agitation. He spat the words out before he could quail and stop himself.

“You’ve been sealed away for several hundred years.”

For a long, long moment, Red didn’t move. His head slowly turned to look at Green.

Green nodded once.

The next moment, Red had exploded onto his feet and seized Legend’s tunic, shaking it (and the veteran) violently and with surprising strength. Legend was not expecting this, and froze like a rabbit before a hunter, paralyzed with discomfort and fear and guilt.

Red shook him again and shouted, “But what about Link and Zelda?? What happened to them?”

Legend’s mind blanked from confusion.

The other heroes stared, wide-eyed, shocked, and utterly bewildered.

Sky was already on his feet, leaping to defend Legend, and at Red’s shout, Green went white again and leapt up too, hand outstretched in panic.

But he didn’t act soon enough. As tears began streaming down Red’s face, he gave Legend one last shake and screamed, “WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CHILDREN?”

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

Notes:

....
been thinking a lot about the last two panels on this post

https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/post/171028569634/based-on-these-guys-it-wouldnt-be-as-fun-if-i

Chapter 4: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Summary:

Red has woken up and does not handle the situation well. This becoming a trend, as Time also wakes up and does not handle the situation well.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

“WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CHILDREN?” Red screamed, and the last thread of control and sanity holding the situation together snapped like a dead twig.

Sky, halfway through leaping to rescue the trapped and bewildered Legend, tripped, nearly falling flat on his face. Hyrule jumped to his feet, not realizing Wind was standing behind him, and smashed into the sailor, sending the both of them crashing to the floor. Twilight dropped the red Four Sword with a resounding clang.

Legend’s face had taken on a grey pallor as the blood drained away, his eyes wide as his brain struggled to process, to understand. “I…I don’t know.” His voice was rasping and dry.

Red bowed his head, tears continuing to stream down his cheeks. He was no longer shaking Legend; instead, he’d curled in on himself, clinging to the front of Legend’s tunic like a lifeline.

“Please,” he sobbed. “Send me back. Please. I have to—they’re—my babies—”

Green grabbed Red’s shoulders from behind. “Red. You need to let him go, he doesn’t know anything.”

Red obediently dropped his grip on Legend’s tunic, causing Legend to stumble back a few steps. Red didn’t notice, however, and instead spun to face Green, grabbing his arms. “How can you be so calm? Link and Zelda—they’re—several hundred years,” The words were strangled, barely managing to squeeze themselves out of Red’s tear-clogged throat. “You—you know what that means.”

Green squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his teeth so tightly his jaw ached.

“They’re dead.” Red gasped. “And they—they were barely over a year old!” He sobbed again, his whole body shuddering from the force of it. “We told them we’d be home soon.”

Green crumpled. A raw, anguished cry was torn from him, his voice scraping and tearing like shattered glass against his throat. His knees gave out, and he fell, dragging Red down to the floor with him.

They clung to each other, like children huddling for warmth and refuge from their nightmares. And nightmare it was, but a waking nightmare, one which the light of day only illuminated into dreadful relief, rather than banishing it into nothingness.

The other heroes stood, paralyzed by chains of shock and misery, experiencing a worst nightmare of their own. For what can be more terrible to a hero than standing by and watching someone suffer, and know there was nothing he could do to help?

Someone stepped forward. Slowly, carefully, like approaching a pair of skittish birds, Wind walked up to where Green and Red knelt. He eased himself onto his knees besides them, and wrapped his arms around their shoulders, sniffling as tears of his own sprang to his eyes.

“I’m sorry. That we couldn’t help you more. But…” He sniffed. “We’re here for you. Promise.”

A sailcloth draped partially over Wind’s head, and Sky’s arm wrapped around all three of them, as best as he could manage. “Promise.”

Hyrule knelt, and then Legend, and last of all Twilight, until Red and Green were in the center of a knot of heroes.

“Promise.”

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

Four looked up from his whetstone when Time let out a faint groan. Only years of experience as a swordsmith prevent him from acting on the urge to drop his tools and rush over. Instead, he laid them down nearly as swiftly and made his way over to Time’s side, checking his forehead cloth and slipping a hand around the back of Time’s neck.

The skin there was still incredibly warm; the fever was holding fast. But Time let out another groan, his eyelids fluttering, and Four bit his lip.

“I think he’s waking up,” he called softly to the front of the cave. Warriors immediately looked up, dropping his spoon of stew back into the bowl with a plop. In moments he was kneeling by Four, jaw clenched.

“Is this a problem? Weren’t we hoping he’d sleep off the fever?” He ran an anxious had through his hair, breathing tightly through his nose. “What should we do?”

“I don’t know,” Four said, striving for calm, striving to push down the slimy, lukewarm fingers of anxiety and helplessness clawing at his insides.

“Well,” Wild said, peering over their shoulders. “Since he’s waking up, why don’t we try and give him some stew?”

Warriors and Four turned to look at Wild. He was standing behind them, shoulders tense and a hint of strain in his stance, but a hopeful smile on his face and a bowl in his hands. The Champion gave the bowl a little encouraging wiggle. “What do you guys think?”

“It could work,” Four said thoughtfully. “You need energy to heal.”

“But wait,” Warriors furrowed his brows, “aren’t you supposed to feed a cold while starve a fever?”

The smith frowned. “I’m pretty sure it’s starve a cold, feed a fever.”

They turned to look at Wild. Wild shrugged. “I usually just feed everything and hope it helps.”

“We don’t really have any other options,” Four added, and Warriors huffed out a sigh.

“I suppose you’re right about that.” He leaned down and slipped an arm under Time’s shoulders. “Up you come, old man.”

With a bit of leverage, Warriors hauled Time up, leaning his torso against the captain’s chest. Time slumped against Warriors, head lolling loosely, and the sight caused the knot in Four’s chest to clench again.

Wild wiggled the stew bowl again. “I’ve got to get back to the pot, would you—”

“I got it,” the smith said, and smiled wanly. Wild gratefully pressed the bowl into Four’s hands and sprinted back to the pot, quickly whipping out his spoon and stirring it, squinting at the liquid to make sure it hadn’t burdened in his absence.

Time groaned, snapping Four’s attention back to the matter at hand. He looked back just in time to see Time’s eye flutter open, the normally bright blue hazy and unfocused.

“Where—” he rasped, and Four managed to somehow drum up a reassuring smile.

“We’re safe. You’re sick, so you need to eat something.” He scooped up a spoonful of stew and held it out for Time to take.

Time didn’t take it. He shook his head slightly, expression screwing up into a scowl, eye darting around the cavern. “Where are the others.”

Four exchanged a tense look with Warriors over Time’s shoulder.

“We don’t know.” Four said slowly. “But we’re pretty sure that they’re together, so until this rain clears up and you get better, we’ll have trust that they’re all right.”

Time blinked, let the words slowly filter through his cloudy brain, then let his scowl deepen. “Not acceptable,” He growled, pushing slightly against Warriors, trying to leverage himself up, “need to find—”

“I’ll tell you what’s not acceptable,” The captain said sternly, “and it’s you trying to stand. You can’t sit up on your own, so there’s no way you can go out to look for them. So settle down, Sprite, and get better soon so we can go and look.”

Four raised an eyebrow. Sprite?

Time slumped back against Warriors, but managed to twist his head enough to send the captain a rather mulish glare. “Then leave me here, I’ll be all right—”

“Absolutely not.” Four felt a scowl of his own beginning to form on his face. “No one’s getting left, especially not someone who’s sick. Now, eat, please.”

He proffered the spoon again.

Time glared at the spoon, clenched his jaw, and shook his head.

They stared at him in disbelief. Warriors’ voice climbed high with incredulity. “Refusing to eat won’t make us go find the others any faster, Time.”

Time glared, pressed his lips into a thin line, and refused to budge.

Frustration bubbled up inside Four. “Very well,” he ground out, “If you’re going to act like an toddler, I’ll treat you like one.”

And in a swift movement, Four struck out with his free hand, bopping Time lightly on the nose. Their leader’s mouth dropped open in surprise, and before anyone could blink, the smith shoved the stew-laden spoon into his mouth.

Warriors’ mouth hung open in awe. Wild, happening to glance over at that moment, burst into laughter.

The two combatants ignored the commotion, however.

Time glared at him over the spoon. Four glared back.

“Are you going to eat now? Because if you don’t, I’ll keep doing this until you’ve eaten everything.”

Warriors grinned, highly entertained. “Well, Old Man, what’s it going to be?”

Four raised a challenging eyebrow. Time sighed, rolled his one eye, and swallowed, opening his mouth to let Four withdraw the spoon.

The rest of the meal proceeded without incident, with Time obediently, if a bit grumpily, swallowing every spoonful Four presented to him. By the time the bowl was scraped clean, Time’s eyelid was drooping with exhaustion, the fever combining with a full belly to cast a spell of sleepiness.

“Allll right, down you go,” Warriors hummed, slowly shifting to one side and lowering Time back down onto the bedroll. Four set the empty bowl aside and assisted him, situating the pillow and rearranging the blankets back over his torso.

“I can’t believe that worked,” The Captain said quietly, once Time was properly arranged in the bedroll. “Where did you even learn that trick?”

The corner of Four’s mouth quirked up. “I knew a toddler once who was incredibly stubborn when it came to meal times, and that was the trick his father used when the ‘horsie-going-to-the-stable’ didn’t work.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure it’d work on Time but it was worth a shot.”

“Farore, I wish I’d known that back in the war.” Warriors shook his head and chuckled. “Would have made a lot of fights trying to get a certain kid to eat his dinner a lot easier.”

Time’s eye, which had just drifted shut, lifted a fraction, just enough to send the captain a glare. “You kept burning it, why would I want to eat it?”

Four looked at Warriors, then Time, then back at the captain again. “You—knew Time as a kid?”

Warriors blinked, a hand rising to rub at the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah, you know…” He made a helpless gesture with his hand. “…time travel.”

Four blinked back. “…Oh.”

“Aaaanyway,” Warriors’ voice was suspiciously chipper, attempting to distract the smith from the conversation at hand, “I’m still impressed with your little trick.” He raised an eyebrow, a smirk crossing his face. “Keeping it in mind for when you and Dot—?”

Four felt the flush burning on his cheeks, and he looked away. Warriors let out a knowing chuckle, and reached out to ruffle the top of the smith’s head.

“I mean it though, I’m very impressed. I’ll bet you’ll be a good father someday.”

Four shrugged, cheeks still burning, a faint smile on his face. “…Someday, maybe.”

There was a tug on the billow of Four’s sleeve, and he glanced up to see Time looking at him, his eye blinking, clearly just barely clinging to wakefulness. “…are… you certain the others…”

Four slipped as much confidence as he had to give into his smile, setting a hand on top of Time’s. “Don’t worry about them. They’re there for each other, so they’ll be all right.”

Time let his eye slip shut, but he gathered up the strength for one more word. “…promise?”

Four carefully laid the hand down onto the bedroll and tucked the blanket around it firmly. “Promise.”

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

After a long while, Red and Green’s tears finally died down. By that point, not a single eye was completely dry, some shedding more than others. But the lethargy of mourning had fallen over them all, and none of them seemed to have the energy to get up at the moment.

The silence slowly began to shift towards awkward. Every hero was very aware of the moblin in the chamber, and someone was going to have to address it.

That someone was going to be Sky, if the looks the others heroes were sending him meant anything. The knight took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and took the plunge.

“I don’t want to pry, but… is there anything I—we—can do to help?”

There was a long, painful silence, before Green sudden stiffened. “You said—you said you were adventuring through time. Could you—”

“I don’t know if we can.”

It was like a bucket of cold water splashing onto a tiny spark of hope, dousing it instantly. Everyone turned to look at Twilight, who’s voice had spoken.

The rancher didn’t turned to look at them, instead, he remained in his seat, staring up at the ceiling with a grim face.

As one, they looked up.

There, carved into the ceiling were the double layer of separate hylian—one in Twilight’s, one in Legend’s.

Wind shifted nervously, his voice hushed. “What does it say?”

Legend blinked up at the ceiling, scowled, and looked away, crossing his arms stubbornly. “I’m not doing it again. You read it, rancher.”

Twilight cleared his throat uneasily, his voice slow and hesitant as he read the words. “To return Four and Dot to their own timeline would fracture an already fractured timeline. The three timelines could cease to be.”

For one terrible moment of frozen dread, no one spoke.

“Our Hyrules—” Wind twisted his face up in thought, gaze frantically darting about the room as he tried to process this. “They would disappear?”

Hyrule swallowed hard. “We would disappear?”

Twilight let out a long sigh, his eyelids falling shut.

Sky reached out, dragging both Wind and Hyrule against his side, as if his grip could prevent such a thing from happening.

“If our timelines disappear, that means they weren’t meant to be in the first place.” Legend’s voice was harsh, and he stood up, taking a step closer to kneel before Green and Red. He bowed his head, the blue tail of his cap sliding over his shoulder, a hand upon his heart

“I’m speaking for myself, but the ceiling said could.” He swallowed hard, before gritting his teeth with determination. “I’m willing to risk it, if it means I could help my brother.”

“Me too.” Wind piped up, wriggling his way out of Sky’s grip to scramble forward and kneel besides Legend. “You’re my brother too!”

“And mine!” Hyrule said, escaping Sky as well.

Twilight grinned, faintly weary. “Do you even need to ask at this point?”

“And while my timeline isn’t at stake,” Sky said, bowing his head as well, “I will gladly do what I can.”

“No.”

It was Red’s voice who spoke, faint and quiet. Everyone’s heads snapped up to look at him. He was frowning, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes, but his shoulders were set with determination.

Green matched him, a stern look on his face that brooked no arguments. “We won’t let you risk the fate of three entire timelines just to help us.”

“Thank you,” Red said with a nod, “But we refuse.”

The other Links exchanged tense glances, but after a quick Look from Sky they all sat back, trying to ignore the urge to help grating against their Hero’s Spirit.

The urge bubbled up inside Hyrule, and finally spilled out of his mouth, tone tinged with a faint desperation. “If we can’t do that, then please, is there anything we can do?”

“Can…” Green rubbed one arm anxiously, looking up at the writing on the ceiling, despite the fact that he could not read it. “Can you look for our children, and make sure they’re all right?”

“Please?” Red said quietly. “I just… I want to know if they lived happy lives.”

Sky felt a part of his heart crack, but he mustered up the courage to press on.

“You… you said ‘children’, right?” The knight awkwardly rubbe the back of his neck. “How many—”

“Two.” Green swallowed hard, focusing his gaze on a scruff mark on the floor. “Link and Zelda—they were twins.”

“And who’s the mom?” Hyrule asked tipping his head to one side thoughtfully.

A matching expression, warm and wistful, crossed the twin faces of the split Smith.

“Zelda.” Green said, and that seemed to be all he could manage, as his voice broke on the word.

Red reached out and took Green’s hand, his voice falsely bright with cheer, “Course, when little Zelda and Link were born, it got confusing at times. So, we started calling Zelda ‘Dot’, because her middle name is Dorothea.”

The other Links blinked as one, suddenly bestowed with the hitherto-unknown knowledge of how Four had picked his Zelda’s nickname.  

Sky fiddled with the edge of his sailcloth, desperately grasping for something to say. “How… how long have you guys been married?”

Red squinted, trying to think. “How long has it been? Four years? Five?”

Green cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly to bring himself back into focus. “About four years now. We married a year before we were crowned, remember?”

Mouths dropped open in shock. Legend leaned forward, eyebrows raised. “You’re a king?”

The two aspects of Four blinked. “…you didn’t know that?”

As one, the other Links shook their heads.

“Well,” Wind said, “Our Four probably isn’t a king yet, so there’s no way we could know.”

“Oh.” Green nodded, his brows furrowed with confusion. “I… suppose that makes sense? I think?”

Legend snorted, nodding sympathetically. “Time travel. I’d say you get used to it, but that would be mostly a lie.”

“But—” Hyrule frowned suddenly, sorting through his thoughts, “If you and Zelda are the King and Queen, who’s been ruling now that you’re sea—”

An instant too late, the traveler realized he was dining on a liberal helping of foot-in-mouth, and snapped his mouth shut. The damage had already been done, however.

Red flinched, eyes going wide, shimmering with sudden tears. Green turned a pasty shade, tensing every muscle in his body as if he could hold himself together by sheer will.

“Uh—” Hyrule tried, gave up, and shrank in on himself. Wind looked frantically around the room. Legend was scowling, though that may have been his attempt to hide his immense discomfort.

Sky and Twilight looked at each other helplessly.

“It’ll be all right.” Green said, his voice clipped and determined. “Daltus is there. He would’ve come out of retirement and taken up the crown again, once—once we’ve been gone long enough. And he’ll raise Link and Zelda for us.”

“But…” Red’s voice was very small. “But Link and Zelda are still young. Don’t… don’t they need a mother?”

Green squeezed his eyes shut. “They might… they might be young, but remember, Daltus raised Dot after her mother died in childbirth, right? He… he knows what to do. And they have the nursemaids. Impa and Purah will take care of them.”

Twilight frowned, narrowing his eyes. Something… something seemed almost…

An elbow jabbed into his ribs, knocking him out of his daze. Twilight jerked, glancing up to see Sky’s desperate gaze, wide eyes screaming Please take over the question-asking responsibilities, I can’t take it any more.

Twilight met Sky’s pleading gaze for a moment too long and cracked like an egg.

Sky saw the submission in the rancher’s gaze and backed off, relieved at having passed the burden on. After all, he, like any good brother, was ready and willing to throw Twilight under the metaphorical boar.

Meanwhile, Twilight squared up against his foe—uncomfortable conversation—and gulped, not wanting to voice the next question and knowing it had to be asked. “And… and how old were they--?”

“Just over a year old,” Green said, his voice quiet, still not looking at the assembled group. “But they were still quite small.”

Red hugged himself tightly, biting his lip. “They came early. The physician said that happens sometimes, with twins. It was really scary, but they and Dot all came out all right… but they were really small. And Link… he was the smallest. We, we were worried that…” His voice broke.

Green spoke up hastily, trying to distract Red from the memory. “His nurse said she almost wondered if he let Zelda get bigger, to make sure she would survive. Said she bet he’d take after his father, protecting everyone right from the start.” His expression twisted into something faintly bitter. “I hope not. I’d rather he take after my father, or Dot’s line, and the first king.

“I wouldn’t wish my failures on my son.”

“…I’m sorry.” Twilight said softly. It was the only thing he could think to say, and it didn’t seem like anyone else could come up with anything better.

Red smiled, a twisted, broken thing. “So am I.”

There was a little while where no one quite seemed to know what to do. At last Hyrule shifted nervously. “Shouldn’t we be going to the next sword soon?”

Legend swung to his feet, brushing off the hem of his tunic. “Probably, so let’s be off.”

Everyone began to clamber upright, stretching out stiff limbs and situating their gear, when Green suddenly paused. He spun to face the veteran, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Which color are you heading for next?”

Legend blinked, frantically scrolling back through his memories as he tried to avoid the most painful parts. “Uh…. Blue?”

Green and Red exchanged a grim look.

“No, I’m overriding that,” Green said firmly. “We’ll need all the manpower we can get if we don’t want Blue to murder someone when he wakes up.”

The other Links exchanged nervous glances at this announcement. Red’s face brightened faintly. “Does that mean—”

“Yes,” Green said with a determined nod, raising an eyebrow and daring anyone to challenge him. “We’re going to get Vio, next.”

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Notes:

Twilight-Time-Travel-Shenanigans is very useful when it comes to pole vaulting potential plot holes.

EDIT 6/7/22 (later on posting day): So apparently I happened to post this chapter on Four Swords Adventure's Birthday, which I find rather fortuitous. I wish I could say it was planned but that would be a lie. Anyway, Happy Birthday, FSA! Here's to many more!

Chapter 5: I'm Sorry, But You've Thrown Off the Veteran's Groove

Summary:

Nothing like a dungeon crawl as a way to learn about people.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“So which way is the purple sword?” Wind bounced on his feet, excited to be moving again and even more relieved to have left the very painful conversation behind.

“Violet sword.” Red piped up, sounding slightly offended.

Wind blinked. “Aren’t they the same?”

“No!” Green, Red, Legend and Sky said at the same time, with different levels of scandalization and emphasis.

Over Legend’s shoulder, Twilight quietly mouthed yes, basically.

Hyrule coughed, covering his mouth (and an amused grin) with his fist. “So which way is the violet sword?”

Legend cleared his throat, running a hand through his bangs, as if he could sift his hand through his memories to find the answer. With the sudden shift in his plan, the veteran felt off balance. It’d been years since he’d last been here, after all.

“Uh… upper right corner. We’ll need lanterns. Who has one?”

Green, Red, and Twilight each raised a hand, while Sky and Wind shook their heads. Hyrule pulled something out of his bag. “Does a candle count?”

“I mean, it lights stuff up, right?” Wind pointed out.

“I’d say so,” Legend said, already digging in his bag for his lantern. “We shouldn’t need too many. I’m taking point so I’ll use my lantern. Who’s up for rear guard?”

Twilight opened his mouth, but Green beat him to it. He lifted his chin, squaring his shoulders. “I’ll take up the rear.”

The other heroes shared solemn look. Green’s muscles were tense, his jaw tight; tonight’s revelations were still haunting him, like a particularly persistent poe. He was clearly seeking an out, needing the sensation of doing something to ground him.

They knew, because they were heroes, too. And for a hero, there was nothing worse than helplessness.

Sky smiled, careful to hide any sympathy behind his expression. Right now, sympathy would be the last thing Green wanted. “Thank you, that’ll be a help.”

Green nodded, sharply, and pulled out his own lantern. Red picked up his sword from where Twilight had dropped it, running his thumb carefully down the blade, checking for dents and knicks with an apologetic expression.

Legend sent a glance around the group, eyeing each hero up and down, checking their readiness levels. “Right, everyone sorted?”

Wind saluted, Hyrule cracked his knuckles. Twilight, Green, and Sky nodded, and Red sent the veteran a tremulous smile.

Legend sighed, rolled his shoulders, and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Let’s go then.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The entrance to the path of the Violet Sword was a staircase spiraling down into darkness.

Sky peered through the doorway. “Well, that certainly looks inviting.”

“Can’t get cozier than torchless rooms and bottomless pits, right?” Legend turned the knob on his lantern, the striker and flint connecting with a faint click. A warm glow instantly sprang to life, illuminating the first curve of the stairwell before them. “All right, follow me and stick close.”

He headed off down the stairwell, and the others silently followed after him. First Sky, then Hyrule, then Twilight, then Wind, Red, and last of all Green, holding his own lantern aloft.

They were a third of the way down the stairwell when Red finally broke the silence. He turned to look at Wind, a look of confusion on his face. “I’m sorry, I’ve been trying really hard but I can’t remember any of your names?”

Everyone came to a halt. Finally, Hyrule spoke up. “…Did we explain who we are to Red?”

They looked at Red.

Red shook his head once.

Sky let out a sheepish laugh. “Whoops.”

“I can explain!” Wind turned to Red and eagerly stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you! I’m Link, Hero of Winds!”

Red took the hand but stared at Wind with wide eyes. “You’re a hero, too?”

“We all are,” Twilight said, leaning against the wall. “I’m Link, Hero of Twilight.”

Wind pointed down the stairwell. “And those two are also named Link, and they’re the Hero of Hyrule and the Hero of the Skies!”

Red’s eyes went wide. “The Hero of the Skies is here?”

Green nudged his shoulder. “It’s really him.”

Red’s eyes grew even wider.

Legend’s voice came up around the curve in the stairwell. “And I’m Link, Hero of Legend-and-waiting-in-dark-staircases-for-the-rest-of-you-to-get-moving-again.”

Wind coughed sheepishly. “We all go by our hero titles because it gets too confusing, so you can call me Wind.”

“No problem, I’m used to nicknames like that.” Red sent Green a grin, which the other smith mirrored faintly. “That won’t be hard at all.”

Legend’s voice sounded again. “I’m waiting.”

Twilight huffed out a laugh and reached out, laying a hand on Wind’s shoulder. “C’mon, sailor, if we wait any longer the vet’s gonna turn into a second version of the old man.”

“I resent that and I’d make you pay if it didn’t hold us up any longer, so let’s go.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The dark staircase opened up into an equally dark room. Legend wasn’t fazed, however, and simply gestured for them to follow him while he stuck to the right side of the room. They followed him quietly, the darkness of the room feeling heavy, dampening any wish to start a conversation. In the middle of the room the walls extended to near the room’s center, yet still leaving a gap. Legend walked through this before veering to the left and following that wall, instead, curving around until he reached the lower right-hand corner.

In that corner was a door, and when the heroes stepped through, they all breathed out a sigh of relief at the illumination.

These sighs were quickly transformed into groans when the realized the were on a small section of floor surrounded by bottomless pits.

“What’s the plan for this one, veteran?” Hyrule asked curiously, attempt to lean forward and look down into the pit. Sky calmly reached out and tugged him away from the edge by the back of his tunic.

Red and Green shot each other looks, memories of chasing after a little boy who was determined to climb and investigate everything. Memories that had, before an hour ago, had been filled with nothing but joy.

Green grit his teeth and looked away, trying fiercely to not let his control slip. Red’s face whitened, and he looked down at the ground, biting his lip and clenching his fists uselessly.

A hand reached out, knuckles brushing against Red’s hand, and the smith looked up in surprise to see Wind smiling tentatively at him.

A tightness eased in Red’s chest. It might have solely been because of his age, but there was something about Wind, something in the blonde of his hair or the wide blue of his eyes, that brought to mind the little boy the smith had kissed on the forehead yesterday, six hundred years ago.

His fist relaxed, and Wind’s smile gained a little strength as he slipped his fingers into Red’s and squeezed. Then he turned to Green and held out a hand.

The green smith stared at it for a long moment, before slowly reaching out and twining his own fingers with the sailors.

A tiny bit of tension seeped out of Green’s shoulders, and Wind beamed at the sight.

Legend caught the exchange and took a deep breath, digging in his bag and forcefully injecting cheer into his voice, hoping to distract. “This puzzle is pretty simple,” He pulled out the Cane of Somaria and gave it a little twirl. “Do you see that skull over there?” With the cane, Legend pointed directly across from them, to a little ledge where a skull was resting. “There’s a pressure plate under it. Destroy the skull and press the plate down, and voila, open doors.”

He gave the cane a little flourish, and said, “Sky, if you please?”

Sky grinned and pulled out his bow. In a moment an arrow was slicing through the air and across the pit. It struck the skull, and the ancient bones crumbled from the forceful impact, leaving the pressure plate free. With a flick, Legend summoned a block, and Twilight seamlessly seized the block and tossed it across the gap. It landed neatly on the pressure plate, and on the left-hand wall of the room, a door slid up into the stone.

There was a significant ledge across the door, fairly littered with old skulls, blocking any available surface for a hookshot or clawshot to latch onto. This was dealt with in short order, through the use of Twilight’s Gale Boomerang, and then spare clawshots and hookshots were distributed to those without them. In a matter of minutes, everyone was filing into the next room.

“Lovely,” Green said with a sigh. “More bottomless pits.”

“Yep,” Legend said with the aplomb that sprung from his veteran status, “nothing to top off that dungeon atmosphere than bottomless pit. At least there’s a stone block for our hookshots to latch out to.”

This was very true, and this block was swiftly taken advantage of, with all the Links shot their way across the chasm.

Unfortunately, there was another bottomless pit between them and the door, with no convenient blocks to hookshot on too.

There were several long moments of silence as each Link attempted to think through the puzzle, before Twilight ran a hand through his bangs. “We don’t have the time to figure it out, what’s the secret, Legend.”

Legend crossed his arms and tapped his fingers thoughtfully on his bicep. “Well, there is a way, but how many of you have Pegasus boots?”

Three hands shot into the air; Wind, Red, and Green’s.

“Farore’s blistering winds,” Legend scowled. “That’s far less than I hoped for.”

“Maybe Pegasus boots only come in sizes that fit short people,” Hyrule muttered, and Twilight and Sky sputtered laughter.

Legend’s ear twitched, and he sent Hyrule a baleful glare. Hyrule smiled back innocently.

Legend was not so easily fooled, but had a bit more important things to attend to at the moment.

“Well, for those of you with Pegasus boots, here’s what you do.”

He stood at the edge of the pit, tapped the toes of his boot, and then broke into a sprint, straight at the block they’d hookshotted to earlier. Just as he was about to crash into it, he kicked out, pushing himself off the rock and flying backwards through the air, landing neatly on his feet on the other side of the pit.

“Holy Hylia.” Sky’s eyes gleamed. “I wish I had Pegasus boots.”

Wind was already kicking off his normal shoes and pulling his boots on.

Twilight let out a sigh. “I’m… just going to close my eyes and pretend this isn’t happening.”

Hyrule patted him on the shoulder, not quite managing to hide a smirk.

The next moment Wind was sailing backwards across the gap with a “WHOOOOO!”

Twilight opened his eyes long enough to ensure Wind had landed safely on the other side before promptly shutting them, because Green was gearing up for his go.

The rancher’s eyes snapped open a moment later when Green let out a yell—only to see Green land safely on the ledge. To Twilight’s utter surprise, the shard of the smith was grinning widely.

Then Red was soaring through the air, a giggling shriek escaping him like air from one of Wild’s octorock balloons, and Twilight shook his head with a rueful grin. He’d have to keep a closer eye on the smith in the future, it seemed.

As soon as he processed the thought, his grin froze, stomach dropping.

He had far more serious things to worry about in Four’s future than a buried tendency towards daredeviling, things he couldn’t possibly prevent.

Or… Twilight chewed his lip … or could he?

“How are Sir Sky and the others going to get across?” Green asked, looking at the gap between them in concern, grin already vanished to the pale tenseness that had been painting his features since he awoke.  

“Sir Sky?” The chosen hero slowly mouthed to Twilight. Twilight broke out of his thoughts to smirk at him.

“And we’re ‘the others’.” He nudged Sky’s ribs with an elbow. “Someone clearly has a favorite.”

Sky returned this sally with a slightly more forceful elbow to the ribs, but Twilight snickered at how his ears had turned distinctly pink.

Hyrule was busy eying the gap, a contemplative light in his gaze. “Hold on, I think I might have an idea.” He set down his pack on the floor, and started digging, tongue poking out as he shifted through stuff. “Here it is!”

He stood up, and pulled out a short ladder out of his bag. He held it triumphantly in the air, grinning. “I use this to cross gaps and streams when I’m stuck, and I think it’s long enough to use here.” He spun around, setting the ends of the ladder on the ground, and carefully lowered it down.

The ends of the ladder clunked onto the stone of the far side of the ledge, and Hyrule’s grin widened. “Perfect.” He stepped back, sweeping an arm out in a clumsy bow. “Guys, we have our way over!”

Everyone stared down at the ladder.

“You know.” Legend said slowly. “If I’d know you had that, it would have made this whole room a lot easier.”

Hyrule considered this.

“…whoops.”

Once everyone was safely over onto the far side and Hyrule’s ladder was once more stowed in his pack, Legend gestured them to gather close.

“All right, next room is the boss room. This time around it’s Mothula II, which is normally a bit of a pain, but with our numbers, I can’t imagine it’ll take long to bring it down.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“lege—ky—rule--inND—LIGHT--!”

The cry was slurred and garbled and yet loud enough to startle Four from where he sat by the fire, focus intent on the mouth of the cave and the sounds of the rain without. He spun around, expecting to see Time awake and intent on being stubborn again—but Time was still on his bedroll, his eyes closed fast in sleep.

It was not, however, a restful sleep. He tossed and turned, sweat beading on his forehead and distress written in the lines of his face.

Four’s stomach knotted, his heart dropping to his toes. He knelt by Time’s side, reaching out to feel his forehead, frown deepening.

The smith glanced around the cave, noting that both Warriors and Wild were fast asleep, exhausted from the earlier battle and what injuries they had sustained. It was just him.

He bit his lip, then tentatively reached out and laid a hand on Time’s shoulder. “Time.” He said, his voice firm. “There’s nothing to worry about. The others will be all right, and we’ll see them soon.”

Time let out a pained grunt, shuddering under Four’s hand. Four swallowed, glancing towards Warrior’s bedroll, contemplating getting reinforcements—but then Time gasped, a mix of terror and hate in his voice—“Ganondorf!”

Four froze, staring down at Time.

“I—” Time’s breath came in heaving gasps, and he twisted slightly, fingers clutching at the blanket. “I won’t let you—”

Four had no way of knowing what Time was dreaming about; whether it was his adventure, or his worry for the others, or some vicious amalgamation of the two, but he wanted it to stop. He couldn’t bear to see the pain and fear on Time’s face for a moment longer.

A thought stirred in the back of his mind, and Four frantically fumbled for his pouch.

A little clay instrument, the color of a clear summer sky, was lifted to his lips, and the soft strains of a lullaby filtered into the air. Four’s eyes slipped shut, letting himself get lost in the song he’d learned to impress Dot.

The final note faded into the air, and Four lowered the ocarina, glancing down at Time, his heart in his throat.

Time lay still, his features relaxed, his breathing deep and even, despite his forehead still feeling warm to Four’s hopeful touch. Still, Four let out a sigh of relief, picking up the cloth and wiping away the sweat on Time’s face.

If only the fever could be chased away with a song as well. Still… and Four allowed himself a tiny, hopeful smile. At least he’ll be able to rest now, right?

He sat back, eying the darkness yawning from the mouth of the cave, beyond the cheery yellow glow of the fire.

Hopefully the others will return soon.

But for now, Four thought, he had better keep watch from beside Time’s bedroll.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The heroes followed Legend into the next room, swords bristling. Legend’s plan was very good, and would work excellently against Mothula II.

You see, Legend was a creature of habit. He disliked being unprepared, and with his vast wealth of experience, this very rarely happened. Unfortunately, the sudden switch from the familiar route through the dungeon unsettled him slightly. Legend was only Hylian, after all, and Hylians can mis-remember things under stress.

It wasn’t a giant moth in the center of the room.

Red curls bounced as a young woman tilted her head, lips curving into a smile. “So, how do you like it? It’s really touching, isn’t it? Does it stick in your mind?” A giggle wafted onto the air. “Please, don’t ever forget this song… or me…”

Legend dropped his sword, the metal clanging across the floor.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“You’ll have to be careful,” Old Impa said, shaking her head as Hyrule’s eyes widened in shock, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. “The Eyes of Ganon are coming after you. They want your blood, and if they get it, Ganon will return.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“Many have said them to you thus far, but I now wish to say them for myself...” Sky stared, soaking in the once familiar minute changes in Fi’s expression. There was water running down, down, down his cheeks, but he could not move to wipe it away.

“Thank you, Master Link.” Fi fluttered, leaning forward slightly. “May we meet again in another life."

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“This is the only world your ancestors were able to leave you,” King Daphnes bowed his head, though Wind could hardly see it through the tears welling in his eyes, his fingers fairly strangling the hilt of his sword.

“Please… forgive us.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Dread swelled up in Twilight’s stomach, cold and cloying, freezing him to the bone. His lungs were lumps of ice, and all he could do was stare at the single red eye peering out from the shadow of the tarnished, broken helm.

“Although I accepted life as the hero, I could not convey the lessons of that life to those that came after.” A great sigh rattled the Shade’s—the Hero’s Shade, Time’s Shade, the Old Man’s Shade—

“At last, I have eased my regrets."

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Tears were streaming down Red’s cheeks. Green was frozen, stiff as stone, his face white as paper, the bloodless-ness threatening the edges of his vision with black.

But he could still see her, clearly, as if she were branded on his mind. Light gleamed on soft, red-gold waves, blue-green eyes shining with warmth and happiness. Gloved hands rested delicately on the curve of her stomach, large for how far along she was, a hint that she carried more than one within her.

“I can’t wait for them to meet you,” She murmured, love and anticipation woven into her voice. She smiled down at her belly, and then looked up, her sweet expression piercing both parts of Four right to their soul.

“After all, you’re going to be a wonderful father.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Notes:

I wonder if all the smirking and chuckling evilly under my breath is a good or bad sign?

Chapter 6: A Sword in the Hand is Worth a Vio on the Floor

Summary:

The heroes take issue with the old adage that love is truly Blind. Also Vio wakes up, and there's some talking.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The thing was, Wind had loved the King of Red Lions. He’d been companion, captain, mentor, friend… all the things he imagined his father might have been, if the seas hadn’t taken him.

He was also dead. Wind knew that, deep in his bones, with an aching pain that never seemed to go completely away. A shadow clinging to the edges of the back of his mind; often not thought of, but always there behind him.

So seeing him there, standing in front of him, alive when he wasn’t, filled Wind with unspeakable rage.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Sky had mourned Fi. She had been there, steadfast at his side, during the darkest time in his life. She’d fought for him, and even now was fighting for him, deep in her blade; striving to keep the evil of Demise sealed and away. His faithful sword, who he had loved and cherished as a friend, and he… he had left the burden of defeating Demise on her shoulders, and she had thanked him.

And here she was, with that faint smile on her face, and his stomach rolled with anger and disgust and hatred, all for himsel—his shoulder burned, and an echo of a chime reached his ears—

And Sky realized this wasn’t right. Fi was asleep, in the sword on his back, and he’d been through this before.

The self-hatred turned to simple hatred, but a hundred times hotter, burning like the crater of Eldin, and all aimed at whatever was toying with his bond with his sword. His hand went to the hilt of his blade, and he drew it with a ringing sound—and the illusion shattered, just in time to see Wind sprint forward with a bellow of rage.

His target was obvious, the hulking demon with the burning arms straight ahead. Sky glanced around at his brothers, still frozen, expressions of pain carved on their faces, and Sky felt his own features twist into a furious snarl as he sped after Wind.

The enemy they were facing might be a demon, but that was all right. Sky had beaten demons before.

Wind struck the enemy first, a furious yell ripping from his throat as he brought the phantom sword down, even as trails of wetness flowed down his cheeks. The enemy let out a bellow pain, recoiling away from the youngest hero, trying to glide away from Wind’s attacks.

Sky’s gaze darted about the room and saw the wound had seemingly done nothing to break his brothers out of their trance; each one was staring at some vision of their own that Sky could not see, each face twisted in pain, tears running down some cheeks.

The sight only served to fan the raging inferno in Sky’s heart hotter, and he darted to one side, blocking off the enemy’s escape with a swing of his sword. The demon tried to dodge, but he was no match for the swiftness and control of Sky’s blade. The strength of Sky’s swing sent him staggering back, and Sky was upon him again before he could recover, the Master Sword swinging in a furious arc straight at the demon’s neck.

The demon’s body collapsed to the floor, leaving his head spinning and hissing in mid air.

Sky yelped, nearly dropping the Master Sword in surprise.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

This was wrong, Hyrule knew. He’d… he’d been here before. He’d heard this before. This wasn’t news, this was the reality that had haunted him for years.

He—whatever this was, it had to be a trap. And he couldn’t let something like this stop him from protecting the others.

He had to find a way out of this.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Twilight wished he would stop looking at the skeletal face of the fallen Hero, trying to find the resemblance of a living man in a long-dead spectre.

His chest felt as if an iron band was squeezing it, and a frozen lump of lead had settled in his stomach, and Twilight knew that what he was seeing—the Fallen Hero standing before him once again, like he had used to wish for so hard—had to be an illusion. His parting words had been branded onto Twilight’s brain, after all.

Twilight had to focus. He had to remember his ancestor was not dead, not now. He was living, breathing, and he was waiting for Twilight to come back to him.

And Twilight had never let anything prevent him from reaching his family before.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

It’s not real. Green thought, feeling the sharpness of his teeth pressing ever-harder against his lip. It’s not.

But he was having trouble moving his feet. Ever since he had woken up, he had felt so, so empty, his arms aching to hold his wife, his children close. And they were right there, in front of him. All he had to do was go to her, and reach out, and cradle his family so tightly that nothing could ever separate them again.

But it was a lie.

“I’m sorry.” Red whispered, the words wavering through the flood of tears. “I’m sorry for failing you. For failing the babies. But—” he lifted his sword, despite the gasping breaths heaving his torso, “You’re not Zelda.”

Green put a hand to his own sword, feeling the tiniest bit of clarity brushing against the fog in his mind, brought by the swirl of anger beginning to grow in his stomach. “And we’ll make you pay for all your lies.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

“I remember now.” Legend smiled, sharp and bitter, “this is all my fault.”

He looked at the image of Marin in front of him, his heart aching, like a still-healing wound that had been agitated. “Marin is gone.” He said, the words painfully scraping from his throat. “…you’re not real.”

Were you ever real? a voice whispered in the depths of his mind, but those were words he could never bring himself to say.

He reached into his pack, fingers seeking out the cool, smooth ceramic of his ocarina.

Marin tipped her head to one side in apparent confusion, but Legend shut his eyes. He wouldn’t give Blind II anymore satisfaction.

A melancholy rise of notes slipped into the air, and Legend felt Blind II’s magic break , the last pieces of it brushing against his face like feathers, before it faded away.

Then he opened his eyes, just in time to see Wind and Sky drop to the floor to avoid Blind II’s flying head.

He darted forward, his Pegasus boots lending him speed, and swung his own sword at the head, smacking it into a nearby wall. It bounced off, careening across the room.

Legend glanced about, trying to take stock of the situation. It seemed like the song had worked—all the other heroes were aware, upset, and very, very mad. Legend thought the look in Sky’s eyes could have set a dragon on fire.

“Legend, what do we do?” Twilight yelled, viciously smacking the head away with his blade.

“Hit it back into the body, and get ready for round two!”

“How many rounds are there?” Hyrule asked, glaring at the flying head.

“Three!”

“Lovely!” Sky shouted.

Legend, despite himself, managed to shoot a grin at the chosen hero. “And the number of heads goes up each time.”

“DIN’S FIRE!”

The sheer volume of Sky’s anger would have been highly amusing if Legend hadn’t been so mad himself at the moment.

Hyrule jumped forward just as the head was about to sail past, swinging his sword like a bat and sending the head flying back into the body.

It fit itself back on, and Blind II turned to attack again.

Before it could move, however, Red and Green had fallen upon it with twin cries of rage. Within moments, the demon had sustained enough damage that his head popped free again—but this time it wasn’t alone.

The heroes were prepared, this time. Hyrule knocked one head towards Legend, while Twilight batted the other towards Wind, who passed it on to Sky. Sky smacked his with impressive strength, sending it flying all the way back to the body, where it disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

Legend passed his head to Red, who immediately redirected it to Green. They kept this up, passing it back and forth as they swiftly worked it across the room until they had the body trapped between them. Red smacked the head sharply, and it followed it’s match and crashed into the body, but this time it fit itself on. Before Blind II could do so much as swing it’s flame covered hands, Green had ducked underneath it’s guard and dealt it a terrible blow to the chest.

Blind II’s body collapsed to the ground, and this time three heads floated above the crumpled, ghostly robe.

“Last round, guys!” Legend yelled. “We’re almost there!”

The heads flew across the floor, expressions twisting into snarls of terrible hate, but the heroes met them with courage unflinching. Sky struck one first, the master sword gleaming blue with rage that matched that burning in his eyes, sending it immediately straight back towards the body, which had just risen up from the floor.  The body stumbled backwards.

Legend’s golden sword seemed to gleam a little as well as it struck at the second head, sending it to Twilight,  who flung it across the room to Red.

Red’s strike sent that head crashing into the body. The head vanished, and Blind II’s body shuddered.

Wind darted forward and swung his sword. The last head flew towards Hyrule. The traveler’s sword flashed to meet it.

“Green, head’s up!”

The head’s snarl was fearsome as it careened towards Green, but Green’s was fierce. He spun, catching the head and sending it spinning straight at the body, a feral scream wrenching it’s way free from Green’s throat.

The head hit dead on, and Blind II exploded.

A silence fell across the room, the only sound being the echoing of their heavy breaths.

Legend let his shoulders slump, closing his eyes against the slight burning he felt pricking at their corners. He didn’t dare reach up to check to see how successful he was.

“I hate that guy.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Twilight looked about the cave, checking on each of his brothers.

The usual aura of victory that followed a boss' defeat was neatly completely absent. Wind was scrubbing furiously at his face with his sleeve, his nose red. Sky was still scowling, a faint aura of rage still clinging to his shoulders like his sailcloth. Legend's gaze was distant, his hand still white-knuckled on the hilt of his sword.

Hyrule was managing a smile, but there was a faint brittleness about the edges of his smile and behind his eyes.

Twilight wondered if the other could see that same brittleness in his own expression, and shut his eyes, pushing down the clinging memory of ivy-draped armor and whitened bone.

Sky was already moving to wrap an arm around Wind's shoulders, so Twilight turned to where Red and Green stood.

Green was turned away, arms tightly folded across his chest, his face twisting as he tried to keep himself together. Red was nearly curled in on himself, his shoulders shaking and tears glimmering at the corners of his eyes.

Twilight let out a sigh slowly, letting it drag the aches and bitterness from his chest. This wasn’t the time to dwell on what he could not change; not when his brothers needed his help.

He sheathed his sword and strode up to Red and Green, going down on one knee so they were more of a level. There was a lump in his throat, thick and painful, but Twilight swallowed hard and forced the words past.

“I’m sorry.” The words stabbed, and he bowed his head. “We wanted to save you, but it only seems we bring you more pain. I—”

Arms wrapped around his shoulders, nearly knocking him back with the force of it, and Red was suddenly sobbing on his shoulder. Twilight’s hands came up automatically, big brother instincts kicking into overdrive, his hands settling on Red’s back.

“Don’t apologize.” Red sobbed. “Thank you. Thank you for waking us up. Zelda—Zelda needs me.”

A hand settled on Red’s shoulder, and Twilight looked up to see Green there, his face set with determination. “Yes, so let’s go get her.”

Red shuddered out one last sob, and then stepped back, wiping roughly at his cheeks. “Yes!” He pumped a fist, a shaky smile on his face. “And Vio and Blue!”

“You don’t need to keep Vio waiting any longer,” Legend said, having wandered over. “He’s right through that door.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The heroes huddled around the violet sword, sending each other uneasy looks.

Legend folded his arms, cocking an eyebrow. “Well? Who wants to draw it this time?”

Hyrule glanced around the others and shrugged. “Why not?” and he reached forward, smoothly pulling the blade from the stone.

The next moment, a man clad in a rich violet tunic was there, spilling stained blood onto the stone. Sky dropped to his knees, immediately laying the flat of Fi’s blade against the wound.

The blade blazed blue, and Vio jerked, a terrible, grating moan rattling from his throat.

“Ready?” Hyrule said, quickly passing the blade to Wind. Twilight, Green, Legend, and Red quickly took ahold of Vio—Twilight holding his legs, Red and Legend his arms, and Green his torso.

Hyrule pulled a bottle from his bag and quickly pulled the cork. “Help me with his head—"

Green quickly angled Vio’s torso and head, and Hyrule took ahold of Vio’s face and coaxed the potion down his throat. Then he sat back and waited.

For a long moment, nothing happened, then Vio tensed, and his eyes shot open, sharp and narrow.

“Green,” he said, his voice low, “What in Farore’s name has happened, who are these people, and where is Zelda?”

Red’s face, which had lit up slightly at seeing Vio, immediately fell. Vio’s eyes were darting sharply around the room, sizing up each of the unknown heroes, didn’t miss the change.

For one moment, Vio’s eyes widened and he sucked in a sharp breath—

Then his expression closed, like the shutters of a window slamming shut.

“What happened?”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Green and Red did their best to explain, the others chipping in when they floundered. Vio took all of this in silently, looking down, the only evidence to his emotions were the tenseness of his shoulders.

When it was done, he took in one long, shuddering breath, then looked up. His face was still closed off, but there were cracks in the mask, a look in his eyes that spoke of emotions Vio did not dare to indulge in.

“You said,” He said slowly, looking at Twilight, “That the ceiling claimed that sending us back would ‘fracture an already fractured timeline’. Do you know what that means?”

Twilight, Legend, Hyrule, Wind, and Sky exchanged nervous glances.

“Sort of?” Twilight rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s really confusing, but… there seems to have an event that shattered the timeline into three at some point. I’m from one branch.”

Wind’s hand shot into the air. “I’m from one too!”

Legend jerked his thumb at Hyrule. “We are too.”

Vio’s gaze darted to Sky, an eyebrow arching. “But not you?”

Sky let out a sheepish laugh, mirroring Twilight’s earlier gesture. “Oh no—I’m a bit before that in the timeline as far as we can tell.”

Green leaned down and whispered something in Vio’s ear. Vio’s eyes widened. “You’re the hero of the skies?”

Sky’s face flushed. “…yes?”

Vio blinked once, twice, and then bowed deeply. “It is my honor to meet you, majesty—”

There were some unintelligible noises issuing from the chosen hero, accompanied by irreverent snickers from Hyrule, Legend, and Wind.

“The h-honor is all mine,” Sky managed to stammer out. “Now, uh, shouldn’t we—the timelines--?”

Vio lifted up from his bow at the reminder, nodding briskly. “Yes, the timelines.” He glanced at the four others, his gaze sharp and assessing. “What can you tell me about them? What caused the split?”

Twilight glanced around, saw the hesitance on the faces of his fellow heroes, and sighed. “I’m honestly not sure. But I think—it had something to do with one of our fellow heroes—the Hero of Time.”

Wind broke it, pointing a thumb at himself. “I’m the Hero of Time’s successor in my timeline, and Twilight’s his successor in his!”

Green and Red had wide eyes, but Vio nodded slowly, brow furrowed in thought as he tried to fit the pieces together. “And what are your legends of this… Hero of Time?”

Twilight chewed his lip, thinking. “I--there’s some legends that have been passed down, but they’re all… muddled.” He shoved a hand through his hair in frustration. “I think—There was a queen that died, and it sparked off a succession crisis. There was a war… and then there were two attempted invasions by Ganondorf, before he was imprisoned.” Twilight glanced away, feeling the familiar ache at the reminder of the mirror… and the most recent time it had been used. Most recent and the last. He shrugged, trying to forcefully knock the memories away. “A lot of details and information was lost, and only bits and pieces of tales have survived. Some of them contradict each other. It’s awful confusing, honestly.”

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Legend grumbled. “It’s always the worst record keeping.”

“My version’s completely different!” Wind said, bouncing a little bit, waving his hands. “The Hero of Time appeared out of the forest one day and traveled back and forth across time and beat up Ganondorf and sealed him for a really long time. Then he left! I talked with Time about it and he said that he was sent away to stop Ganondorf before he could rise up and cause all the problems!”

Vio’s brows furrowed further. “…I see.” He turned to look at Legend and Hyrule. “And your timeline?”

“We don’t have any tales like that,” the veteran shrugged, folding his arms tightly. “Just stories of great devastation and…” his gaze darted quickly to one side and back again. “…death.”

Hyrule glanced down, frowning.

Vio sucked in a slow, thoughtful breath.

Red and Green exchanged a glance. “I don’t understand, though.” Red said quietly. “What does that have to do with us? Why would we risk the timelines?”

“I don’t care if we understand or not,” Green shook his head sharply. “We can’t risk destroying three timelines. That’s all there is too it.”

Twilight shifted, the declaration chafing at him. The thought that he couldn’t do anything, even with a way to help right to hand—it didn’t sit well with him. From what he saw from the other hero’s expression, he wasn’t the only one suffering.

“Maybe…” Vio said slowly, his eyes slipping closed, “These events clearly follow sometime after our time. Time continued on without us, and if we were to return, our presence might alter the course of history in some way, so that the path of destiny would fall differently.”

He sighed, and a silence fell, the heroes looking around at each other, unsure what to say. Vio opened his eyes, and looked around at them all, his gaze finally settling on Wind.

A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. “That’s a nice shield you have.”

Wind perked up, pulling the shield off the shoulder he’d slung it over after the fight, and holding it up, a grin on his face. “Yeah, isn’t it?” His shoulders puffed up. “It’s a family heirloom! My Grandma says it belonged to an ancestor of ours who was a hero long ago.”

Green stiffened. Red froze.

Vio reached out and touched the shield, but to Twilight’s eyes, the smile looked sad.

“It’s impressive an heirloom is in such good condition. You’ve done a good job taking care of it.”

Wind blushed a little bit, chest puffing out even more.

Twilight stared at Vio, then Green, and Red, then back at Wind.

He caught Sky’s gaze, the same thought mirrored in the chosen hero’s expression.

Wait—could—

“How long are we going to sit around here while there’s still stuff to do?” Legend pushed himself to his feet, dusting off his hands. “We’re going to have to go over everything again once everyone’s awake, so might as well save most of it for then, yeah?”

But Twilight caught the quick glance Legend sent Wind, and wondered if the veteran had noticed something as well… and thought that such revelations were best saved until all those involved would be present.

“He’s right,” Green said, and his shoulders relaxed as he stood. “Blue’s waiting.”

Vio snorted softly as he got up. “And we all know he doesn’t like to do that.”

Red laughed, getting up and joining his counterparts. The five other heroes stood, adjusting swords and shields, packs and belts.

Green looked at Red and Vio. “And when we get Blue—”

Vio’s thumb stroked along the gold ringing his fourth finger. “There’s only one person left to rescue.”

Red clenched his fists, raising them in the air. “We’re coming, Zelda!”

“Ready?” Legend said, rocking back on his heels restlessly, gesturing towards one corner of the room.

Green glanced around at the two other colors, then glanced back at the veteran, determination writ in every inch of his body. “Then lead the way!”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Chapter 7: One Link, Two Link, Red Link, Blue Link

Summary:

Our heroes are ready to take on the fourth boss and rescue Blue... or at least they're ready for one of those two things.
Meanwhile, we check back in with Four and Wild as Warriors sleeps and Time has a hurty tummy.

Notes:

I'm SO glad i finally got this out, i've been working on this for nine hours straight.
Be careful, peeps, very slight trigger warning for nausea! I tried super hard to be vague but I want to make sure you're warned.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

“So the boss you told us about last time, he’s the one we need to face?” Hyrule asked, tilting his head thoughtfully.

“Yeah.” Legend nodded, folding his arms tightly and drilling into the ground with his gaze, avoiding his brothers’ eyes. “Mothula II. I’ll go over the plan for him again once we’re outside his chamber, so Vio’s up to speed, and we’ll all be prepared.”

“Being prepared is good!” Wind said, bouncing a little on his heels, injecting a little extra cheer into his voice in the hopes it would lift the mood.

Legend flinched, and turned away a little, and Wind’s smile slipped. He bit his lip.

A shoulder bumped against his, and a hand landed on his head—Red was now pressed up against the Sailor’s side, shooting Wind a kind smile, and Twilight ruffled Wind’s curls, the weight of his hand warm and bolstering.

“Sounds like a plan,” Twilight said, with a thoughtful nod. “Lead the way.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Legend led them across the main room of the temple to the stairway that led to the path of the Blue Sword. It led down, and down, and down, into a lightless blackness.

“Oh great,” Sky said. “More darkness. Just what I wanted.”

Legend cracked his knuckles and dug into his bag. “You know the drill, same as last time.”

The others assembled into a rough approximation of the same order they had taken last time they’d descended down a dark staircase—Sky after Legend, then Hyrule and Twilight, then Wind, Red, and Green at the rear. Red and Green seemed to cluster a little closer to Wind, and Twilight saw the considering look the veteran shot the trio, before lifting his gaze and glancing meaningfully at Twilight. Twilight’s mind spun at how he was supposed to respond to this look, but his brain was derailed when Vio slipped into line behind him.

Twilight glanced down at the smith out of the corner of his eye, but kept his mouth firmly shut. Vio’s face was mostly reserved, with only a faint furrow between his brows betraying his agitation.

Twilight knew how it was, they were both Links, after all. If Vio wanted to talk, he would. Until then, Twilight wouldn’t press him to break out of his thoughts and silence.

Chatter filled the air. Wind was nearly bouncing down the stairs, waving one arm with a wild grin on his face as he spun out the tale of a confrontation with… a giant floating head and hands, apparently? That didn’t sound familiar at all to Twilight, but Red and Green were nodding along and chiming in, comparing a fight they had with a similar boss.

Hylia knows Twilight had seen his fair share of weird stuff on his adventure, but apparently there was far more out there.

Though, the ‘attack the giant eyeball’ part of it was refreshingly familiar—

“So, there are other Heroes of Courage on this quest?” Vio’s voice sounded suddenly, sliding through Twilight’s train of thought. “Ones that are not here?”

“That’s right. We have four more Links—or, well. Three more, I guess, if we don’t count your past self.”

Vio hummed thoughtfuly, ad was silent for a long moment. “Can you tell me about them? They are our comrades, after all. I should like to… remember them again, I suppose.”

“Sure.” Twlight shrugged. “Though I warn ya, ‘m not the best storyteller.” He grinned, and looked over his shoulder, as Wind thrust an imaginary blade forward with a cackle. “That honor goes to him.”

Vio looked back, and his eyes and mouth softened. The faint shadow of an impossibly sad warmth passed over his face, but only for a moment. “So it seems.” He turned back to look at Twilight and smirked, and that unbearably tender warmth was gone as if it had never been. “But best or not, you’re the one I’m asking.”

Twilight chuckled. “Well, there’s the Captain, and the Champion, and the old man—or Warriors, Wild, and Time. Time is our… leader, I suppose. He keeps us focused and gives us advice. We all look up to him. Wars helps him a lot—he’s an army captain, so that’s no surprise. He’s always got a plan, and he works really hard at keeping our spirits up, even if he and I butt heads a lot. And Wild…” He grinned at the thought of his protégé. “He’s a free spirit, and one of the best cooks I’ve ever met.”

Vio nodded thoughtfully. “And… do you know anything about their timeline placement?” Twilight’s gaze darted to him, and Vio smiled, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around this whole split-timeline business.”

That may be, Twilight thought, but something told him there was more to it—a sharp glint in violet eyes that his smile couldn’t quite hide. Still, it wasn’t exactly a secret, just… confusing.

He gave it his best attempt, explaining what he had been told of their adventures, and what the heroes had pieced together. Vio listened intently, nodding now and again… and with that sharp glint never leaving his eyes.

Somehow… Twilight felt as if he were missing something important.

He’d just finished when they reached the bottom of the staircase—it wasn’t like he had a lot to relate, after all—and the narrow stairway opened up into a vast dark room.

Legend turned, lifting his lantern high so he could see his brothers. His gaze lingered on Wind’s shield for a moment—only a moment, but Twilight caught it. “Watch your step! There’s some more stairs straight ahead, and then ice at the bottom, got it?” There was various nods and mutters of assent, and Legend nodded. “Good, so none of you better slip and break a leg or something.”

And with that, he turned and swiftly leapt down the stairs.

Someone, Twilight thought ruefully, was in a mood.

But then again, after a day like today, weren’t they all?

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and the lantern light glinted off the smooth white-blue surface of truly thick ice.

“All right, this room is really simple.” Legend pointed into the darkness across the room.” If the golden Octorocks are already defeated, that means the ladder will already be there, so we only need to slide across the ice to it.”

Wind let out a whoop, elbowed Hyrule and Red on either side, and shouted, “Last one to the other side is a rotten fish!”
And he took off at a sprint across the ice, immediately losing his friction and shooting into a wild slide. His arms windmilled as he screeched, a manic grin on his face.

Hyrule, the Colors, and Sky all shared a single look; a look a that immediately transformed into identical gleeful smiles. The next second they were sprinting off across the ice, slipping and sliding as they tried to avoid the de-iced platform in the center of the room. Sky quickly approached Wind, his height working in his favoring against his fun-sized compatriots, but Wind’s head start managed to hold for the moment.

Sky was not to be outdone, and pulled the gust bellows out of his pack. He turned it around, flipped the switch, and went flying across the ice with a whoop.

“Here, take this!” Vio tossed something in Wind’s direction, and Wind barely managed catch it without falling on his face.

It was a white jar, with a band of blue swirls decorating the middle.

Wind’s grin turned maniacal.

Within moments, he was shooting across the ice, hot on Sky’s tail.

The other Colors quickly dug in their packs, pulling out their own gust jars. Vio pulled out a pair of boots instead, and Red saw this and grinned, pulling his own pair of boots out of his pack.

“Pegasus boots may only come in sizes for short people…” He wiggled the boots enticingly at Hyrule. “But wanna see if you can fit in them?”

Hyrule grinned. “Sweet Hylia, do I!”

Red tossed him the boots, and Hyrule quickly fumbled them on. Somehow they fit just right, which Hyrule supposed was because they were magical boots. He stood up, slid his foot forward, and rocketed across the ice. He flew past the colors, and passed Wind and Sky in a wild blur.

His wild shriek of joy was abruptly cut off when he slammed into the ladder. He slumped to the ground, groaning.

Sky let out a yelp of mingled laughter and dismay. “’Rule, you all right?”

Hyrule lifted his hand into the air, sticking up a thumb with a grin. “Heck yeah I’m all right,” He wheezed. “I’m not a rotten fish!’

Yells of protest arose from the other heroes, and they redoubled their efforts, jostling each other back and forth with the gust bellows as they strived to avoid a fishy fate.

Twilight and Legend watched from the far side of the room with amusement. Legend folded his arms with smirk. “Didn’t realize we were so forgettable.”

Twilight smirked back at him. “As if you wouldn’t normally be out there, trying to outdo them with all your little magical gadgets and gizmos.”

Legend arched an eyebrow. “Same goes for you, rancher, don’t think I don’t know about your competitive streak.”

Twilight shrugged. “Well, I would, if someone hadn’t lingered behind while giving me significant looks.” He raised both eyebrows at the veteran, and they stood staring at each other for a long moment.

Legend’s knee began bouncing, but Twilight continued to stare him down, steady as stone, if stone could smirk.

Finally, the Veteran’s hero’s-spirit-ingrained-curiosity could take it no longer, and he exploded.

“I’m not going crazy, right? Four’s shield—!”

Twilight cut him off with a sharp shake of his head. “This isn’t the time to discuss it.”

Legend stared at him, then threw his arms in the air. “Well then, why did you just stand there until I gave in and asked the question?”

Twilight grinned. “Because it was funny.”

The veteran’s teeth ground audibly, and he turned away, muttering under his breath. He muttered for a good minute, before finally sighing and turning back, folding his arms. “I get it. There’s a lot going on right now.” The words were grumbly and reluctant, and Legend sniffed at Twilight for good measure. “Still, good to know I’m not crazy.”

Twilight grinned wider. “Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that—”

Legend kicked him and stuck out his tongue. “Have fun being the rotten fish!”

And with a kick of his Pegasus boots, he was flying across the ice.

Twilight yelped and took off after him, yelling after the veteran all the way.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

It was drawing near the end of his watch when the sound of retching caused Four to jump into action. In a quick movement he turned Time on his side and pulled the blankets away—and just in time.

He shoved a hand through his hair and sighed at the mess, trying to decide what to do—

“Four?”

The smith turned to see Wild sitting up in his bedrolling, yawning and scrubbing at one eye with the heel of his hand.

Four felt his shoulders slump in a sigh. He should have known the noise would wake Wild up—the Champion always slept lightly and woke early: he claimed it was because his body had stocked up on sleep for a hundred years and he didn’t really need it anymore. Four didn’t know if magical sleep worked like that for sure, but, well… he wouldn’t be surprised. After all…

He shook the thought away and grinned a little sheepishly. “If you’re awake, uh… I could use some help?”

Wild slipped out of his bedroll, wandered over, and winced. “Yeah… what do you need me to do?”

Four frowned thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “Can you make him something to eat? He really needs something in his stomach.”

Wild gave Four a lazy salute and a wink. “I can certainly do that. Anything else?”

Four considered again. “Can you help me move him to the far side of the fire?”

After a hasty discussion of strategy, and the application of Four’s power bracelets. Wild took Time’s head, Four took his feet, and they slowly dragged him around to the other side of the fire.

“Thank Hylia…” Wild said with a wink, “That he doesn’t have his armor on right now…” He shuffled carefully, slowly but surely edging Time around the firepit, “…or this would be a nightmare.”

Four giggled, his breath hitching with the edge of hysteria. Wild caught it, and gave Four a knowing look. “You need sleep, don’t you?”

Four shook his head. “I’m fine. What I need is to look after Time.”

Wild looked very skeptical, but Four ignored him, focusing on carrying their leader with minimal jostling. Finally they reached a spot that was relatively smooth and just the right distance from the fire, and they set him down carefully. Time stirred fitfully despite their care, but that was all right. He needed to be awake to get something in his stomach again.

Wild bent over the pot while Four used his fire rod to quickly “sanitize” the mess. No sense dealing with the yuck when you could just incinerate it into oblivion, after all.

He wasn’t quite sure how he would explain the huge black scorch mark on the cave floor to Wars when he would up, but Four would jump that chasm when he came to it.

Then he returned to his place by Time’s side, wiping his face with chilled water and trying not to count each fitful breath.

After a half-hour or so, Wild carefully carried over a bowl, a piece of bread tucked under one arm. Four reached up and took it, taking a deep sniff of the warm aroma rising from the wooden bowl.

“What’d you make?”

Wild plopped down beside him, giving Time a complicated look as he bit his lip. Four could see the antsy movements in hands and shoulders—he knew how this had to be affecting Wild.

Wild had lost companions before, and even though this was just a simple fever, even simple things can make old fears grow in strength.

“Creamy heart soup—though I left out the milk and used a water broth instead cause it’s easier on the stomach. And I left out the voltfruit too for the same reasons. And the hydromelon.”

Wild paused.

“Maybe it’s just hearty radish soup, then.”

He took the bread out from under his arm and wiggled it. “And remember when I baked bread a few days ago? I warmed up one of the loaves by the fire, so you can maybe dip that in the soup? Give him something a little solid in his stomach? Bread always helps me.”

His words were getting a little rambly, spinning out like thread from a spindle, as if speaking could distract him from the thoughts lurking deep below the surface. Four knew that too well, so he simple smiled. “Thanks, Link.”

Wild blinked, gave Four a strange look, but finally shrugged and smiled. “You’re welcome!”

Four turned and set a hand on Time’s shoulder, shaking it gently. “Time? Old man?”

Time groaned, but it was more a groan of protest than discomfort, and his eyes opened to bleary slits.

Good enough.

“Can you help him sit up?” He whispered to Wild, and the champion nodded, scooting around to help prop Time up.

Once Time was in a sitting position, Four scooped up a spoonful and offered it with a grin. “Now, are you gonna let me do this the easy way this time, or…”

Time blinked slowly, squinted and muttered, “…captain?”

Four almost dropped the spoon. Wild choked. “He must be really out of it if he mistook you for Wars!”

The smith let out a short laugh. “Yeah, I guess he must be. Maybe it’s because the Captain apparently raised the old man.”

Wild’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? HOW?”

Four shrugged. “Time travel shenanigans, apparently.” He focused on spooning the soup into Time’s mouth, who took it without protest this time. “You’d have to ask the captain.”

They fell into silence, Four concentrating on his task and Wild on keeping Time’s rather heavy torso upright. Finally, the bowl was empty, the bread consumed, and Time was laid back down on the bedroll and tucked in.

Wild stood up and stretched, puling out his slate to check the time. “Why don’t you go to bed, smith? Your watch has been over for a bit.”

Four stirred and looked up at Wild, before glancing back at Time. “But—”

“Hey.” Wild held out a hand to Four. “We’re all brothers here. I’ll keep a watch on Time, promise.”

“I…” Four glanced down at Time, then back at Wild’s face, which was determinedly smiling despite the anxiety still lurking in the tenseness of his muscles. He sighed, and grinned, taking Wild’s hand. “All right.”

Wild lent him his blanket, since Four’s was still draped over Time, and Four climbed into his bedroll, lying on his side and pulling the blanket over his shoulder.

His eyes slipped shut, his last thought a wish for a dreamless sleep.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The next two rooms were tricky, and the heroes were quiet as they followed Legend’s instructions, watching their feet lest they step on the wrong tile and send them all plummeting to their doom. The next room was less difficult, but still had one of the traps active.

Legend frowned down at the blue fireball. He frowned at Twilight. “Why didn’t you get rid of the fireball while you were getting rid of everything else and giving me anxiety?”

Twilight looked at him, unimpressed. “How am I supposed to get rid of a fireball.”

Legend refused to be suppressed. “I dunno, but that seems like a you problem.”

Wind grinned. “Well, now he can’t, can he? Cause it’d be a paradox, right?”

Legend scowled.

Sky frowned thoughtfully. “Well, I know I went back in time and changed stuff that I knew happened, so maybe it’s possible—”

“Anyone else getting a headache?” Hyrule whispered to the Colors, and Red and Green raised their hands.

VIo set his hands on his hips. “Is this really the most important thing at the moment?”

Legend coughed sheepishly and pointed at the switch across the way. “Someone hit that, please?”

Wind quickly pulled his bow out of his pack, aimed, and fired, turning the switch from red to blue. With a flick of the Cane of Somaria, Legend placed the block, and then flapped the cane at his companions. “Alright, hurry up! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

The heroes hastened down the stairs to the lower level, sprinting before the fireball could catch up to them. It was a narrow hallway, and there was a lot of them, and the fireball barreled towards them before they could all get up the steps.

Legend, who had reached the top of the stairs, turned to check on his brother’s progress, and paled. “Hyrule, Red, watch out!”

Hyrule saw the brilliant blue blaze bearing down on them, and acted quickly. He grabbed in both arm, frantically gathered magic, and jumped. The pair of them soared through the air, whooping excitedly as they passed over their comrades, and landed neatly on the top of the stairs next to Legend.

Legend propped his hands on his hips and nodded admirably. “Nice.”

Hyrule set Red down on the steps. The smith grinned wildly. “That was amazing.”

Twilight reached the top of the stair, quickly sweeping both of them into a bear hug—or would it be a wolf hug? Legend mused thoughtfully—lifting them up so their feet dangled. “That was some jump there, traveler.”

Hyrule beamed proudly. “I love that spell.”

Twilight laughed and set them back on the ground, and Wind and the other two Colors quickly gathered around. Vio was asking Hyrule the specifics of the spell, Green was ruffling Red’s hair, and Wind was excitedly asking Hyrule if he could jump next time.

Legend cleared his throat.

“Ready for the last boss?”

It took them a moment, but the heroes calmed down and settled down to the business of checking their gear and tallying supplies. Legend waited until it seemed they were all ready.

“Alright. The next boss is Mothula II, and here’s the plan.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The door slammed shut behind them, and a giant moth rose from the floor, spreading it’s massive wings as it glared down at the heroes with eyes glowing with hostility.

Sky stared up at Mothula II and whistled. “That’d take some bug net.”

Twilight nodded solemnly. “I think Agatha would faint from joy.”

Legend spun the sword in his grip, glaring up at the bug. After… last time.. He didn’t really feel like playing around. “Ready to kick some bug butt?”

The other Links tightened their grips on their weapons, letting their silence be their answer.

With a mighty flap of it’s wings, two more giant moths spawned, and they began circling each other, spitting rings of sizzling energy.

“Arrows!” Legend called, and Twilight swiftly sent an arrow darting through the air, squarely piercing the moth’s head.

The moth exploded in a poof of dust, revealing a swarm of bees. A symphony of enraged buzzing rose as the swarm descended upon twilight—only for Sky to dart in front of the rancher, sword moving so swiftly it was almost dancing in his hand.

Bees fell in clumps, not a single one managing to get past the Chosen Hero’s guard.

Vio pulled back his bow, aiming and firing in a smooth, long practiced movement. The arrow thudded into a mouth’s eye, and the whole creature shuddered, flashing a dusty grey.

“That’s the one!” Legend yelled, grinning fiercely. “Great shot, Vio! Everyone, focus on him and ignore the others!”

He charged forward, stabbing his sword into the giant moth. Green, Twilight, Hyrule, and Sky were on his heels, blades flashing, and Wind had busted out a giant hammer, beating and battering the moth with glee. Twilight eyed him as he ducked an energy ring.

Maybe he still has pent-up rage from the Blind II fight. I wouldn’t be surpised, after all…

He charged at the moth with a savage yell, thrusting his sword into the moth’s abdomen.

…I know I do.

Vio and Red hung back, shooting off arrows and fireballs at Mothulla II in between calling out warnings about the clone. Mothula spat more and more energy rings, roaring in rage in concert with his flashing grey.

He seemed to be slowing, the wind stirred by the great flaps of his wings beginning to die off. Green noticed. He charged forward with a shout, eyes burning with emerald fire. The Four Sword swung in a glittering arc, slamming into Mothula II’s abdomen. The moth roared and flashed grey again, only to flash once more when a blazing fireball slammed into it, accompanied by a triumphant yell from Red.

The next moment, an arrow slammed into it’s other eye, and Mothula II screeched. It shuddered, froze, and turned a deathly grey all over. After one dreadful, silent moment, it slowly crumbled into dust, vanishing forever.

Vio lowered his bow with a grim smile.

Legend took a deep breath and whooshed it out in a sigh of relief, sliding his sword back into it’s sheath.

“We’re done.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

The Blue Sword stood proudly in the center of the room, the center of attention of every eye gathered there.

“So…” Wind crossed his arms, tipping his head to one side curiously. “…how badly is …Blue?... gonna react?”

Red’s shoulders drooped. “Very.”

“It’s not like you reacted well to the whole situation yourself,” Legend said, raising an eyebrow. “Is Blue really gonna be that different?”

The colors exchanged a glance. It was Vio who spoke, folding his arms and looking to one side. “Blue… is my passion. He feels deeply, and is not the best at keeping those emotions under control. Losing our—” He swallowed hard. “What happened hurts all of us, but because of his nature, it will hurt him the most.

“If we don’t stop him, he’ll try to take that hurt out on any perceived threat.”

There was a long beat of uncomfortable silence before Sky spoke up. “We’ll just have to be ready for anything, then.” He glanced around. “Who want’s to draw--?”

Wind shot his hand in the air. “I haven’t gotten a turn yet!”

Legend waved a hand towards the sword. “Be my guest!”

Wind stepped forward, and the other heroes gathered around, weapons set aside to leave hands free, muscles tensed and at the ready.

Wind pulled the sword, and a small figure clad in a blue tunic and cap appeared, black blood spilling out onto the stones below him, flowing in rivers from his side.

“Quick, grab him!” Twilight called, which was a mistake.

Blue exploded into action with a snarl. Before Twilight could get ahold of him, Blue had leapt forward onto Legend, spitting rage and clawing at his face. Only the instincts of six adventures enabled Legend to react in time—he reached up and managed to snag Blue’s wrists, but not before several stingling lines were drawn down his cheek. Blues hands flailed furiously in Legend’s grip, simultaneously trying to throttle the veteran and gouge his eyes out.

“HELP, PLEASE!” Legend yelled, and the rest of the Links, who had been frozen in shock, were galvanized into action. Twilight seized Blue around the middle, and despite Blue’s frenzied thrashing, managed to haul him off the veteran. Legend kept his hold on Blue’s wrists, trying to force them down before the smith managed to score a hit on the rancher, while Green and Vio grabbed Blue’s legs, but not before Vio took a boot to the face.

“Are you okay?” Red yelped, but Vio shook his head, wincing. His jaw ached and he was pretty sure his nose was bleeding, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

“Quickly, heal him before his wound gets worse! All this thrashing could cause internal injuries!”

Sky had already drawn his sword, and Blue’s screaming increased. “I’ll kill you, just wait until I get my hands on—”
The Master Sword blazed, and the blackness in the blood vanished, purified and incinerated. Blue cried out, whether in pain or rage they could not say, but before he could spit more vitriol, Hyrule grabbed his jaw and poured blue potion down his mouth. Blue tried to spit it out, but Hyrule clamped his jaw shut with an apologetic wince.

“I’m sorry but I don’t have a choice!”

Blue’s eyes blazed at Hyrule over his hand, but he was forced to swallow. Then he let out a gasp of shock when he felt the potion take effect, knitting the torn sinews and flesh together, smoothing the skin out once more.

Then he sunk his teeth into Hyrule’s hand. Hyrule yelped and tried to jerk back, but Blue’s grip was too strong, his eyes glaring the hatred of a thousand moblins.

Red dropped to his knees beside Blue, grabbed either side of Blue’s face, and shouted, “ZELDA’S OKAY!”

Blue instantly stilled.

He was still tense, but his eyes darted around the room, taking stock of everyone’s faces—and of the blooming angry swelling on Vio’s nose, foretelling a possible future of a double black eye.

Slowly, carefully, Blue relaxed his jaw. Hyrule snatched his hand away, shaking it ruefully and pulling a little on his Life spell to erase the teeth marks.

“Someone had better explain what is going on,” He growled, “And they’d better explain it fast.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Despite his request, it took a long time to explain it to Blue, mostly because Blue would devolve into angry yelling and accusations if something seemed suspicious even in the slightest. Finally, though, after Green, Red, and Vio had vouched for the other heroes and what seemed to be happening, and after the evidence of the Hero of the Sky and the Goddess Sword of Legend, Blue seemed to believe it… though he certainly wasn’t happy.

“Why can’t we just use their… time travel quest whatever to get back home?” He flung his arm out. “If you think I’m just going to abandon my CHILDREN you are absolutely out of your mind!” He glared at Green, Red, and Vio. “I can’t believe you would just go along with this!”

Green gritted his jaw and looked away, Red’s head drooped, but Vio crossed his arms and cooly stared back at Blue. “Are you truly all right with the possibility of fracturing three flourishing timelines and dooming billions of lives to oblivion?”

Blue was tense as a drawn bowstring, glaring still at Vio for a long moment, before finally he deflated like a popped octo balloon.

He shook his head and looked away. “No, and you know that.” He ground his teeth, before rallying for a second round. “But how can you be sure it would do that? All you have to go off of are some words on a wall—it’s not like you know what happened to Link and Zelda—” his voice abruptly choked off, for he had seen the slight flinch in Vio’s expression, the tightening of his lips and the tiny movement of his violet irises glancing to the side.

Blue’s eyes widened, his breath catching in his chest, burning cold swirling in his chest. “You know.”

The accusation was low and hissed, shock and betrayal dripping like icicles from the words.

Everyone’s gaze snapped to Vio, who had gained control of his expression once more, his mien stern and cold as stone. “No, I don’t,” he said calmly.

Blue stepped forward, eyes narrowing. “Yes, you do,” he snapped. “I know you, Vio, you’re me. I know when you’re hiding something. You KNOW, or at least you have a guess, don’t you?” He snarled. “That’s it, isn’t it? You have a guess, and you don’t want to tell us until you know. Guess what? As soon as we join again every part of me will know, so why are you holding back when wE COULD BE RESCUING MY KIDS.”

“Blue, settle down!” Green called, but Blue ignored him.

He grabbed the front of Vio’s tunic, shaking him, but Vio stared back at him, his jaw gritted. “Because it’s just a guess,” he snapped. “I don’t have any proof, and I don’t want to build up false hopes or—” his voice faltered.

Green had stepped forward, trying to break the two of them apart, but Red had caught the note in Vio’s voice. “What is it, Vio?” He stepped forward, his voice rising with stress and fear. “What’s wrong. You’re acting like you think something…” he swallowed. “…terrible happened to the babies.”

Blue twisted his fists in Vio’s tunic, vibrating with rage. “This isn’t your time for games, Vio! You’re not solving anything, you’re just making it worse! What could possibly be worse than this situation? They’re already dead in this time, so how could it be any—”

“DON’T ASK ME THAT.” Vio yelled, his own eyes blazing, his cool façade finally cracked. “Don’t you dare ask me that, unless you think you’re prepared for the answer, because you’re not.” He was shaking now, with rage or sorrow or something in between, and he grabbed Blue’s tunic in return, matching Blue glare for glare.

“Answer me, Blue,” he said, his voice frantically trying to stay smooth, despite the cracks forming in it’s foundations. “Ever since you woke up, you’ve been trying to forget something, haven’t you? I can see it in your eyes, and in Red’s, and in Green’s. You don’t want to face it, so you’ve been running away from it. But I haven’t.”

Blue’s eyes widened, his grip on Vio slackening, but Vio pressed on.

“Tell me this,” he said, low and with the tenseness of a man hanging onto control by the fingernails, “from while we were sealed… what did you dream.”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

Notes:

hehehehheheheheh

Chapter 8: Four's Dream Isn't Real, It Can't Hurt You (Four's Dream: ______)

Summary:

In Four's case, at least, a dream *really* isn't a wish your heart makes. But it might clarify a few things, in the end.
The Boss Chamber gates open.

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

Blue’s hands dropped numbly from Vio’s tunic, his face pale as ice. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice rose, brash and loud, but it could not hide the stutter that started the sentence.

“Lying isn’t your strongest point, Blue,” Vio said, his eyes narrowed and jaw set. “You can’t hide from yourself.”

Eyes blazed with blue fire, burning cold as ice. “I CAN TRY!”

“Are you saying our dreams were real?” Green said, his eyes narrowing, his fingers digging into the flesh of his arms.

“But—but that doesn’t make any sense.” Red was shaking, just slightly, his gaze bouncing back and forth between the other colors, his eyes wide and confused. “The dreams—they were just nightmares, right? They, they contradicted each other, so there’s no way they could be true!”

“They did.” Vio said, voice low. “They did contradict each other—but there were only three roads. As in…” His voice died off, and he swallowed. The chamber was quiet, even Blue was biting his lip, shaking in rage or sorrow or stress as he clenched his fists. Vio looked around slowly, at the other colors, and then… at the other heroes, standing there and watching in confusion.

Except for Twilight, who had a glimmer of understanding horror in his gaze. “Three.” He said quietly, his voice falling like stones into the temporary silence. “Three, as in three timelines.”

“Yes.” Vio said, and turned his head away. “Timelines that would not have been, had we never been sealed away.”

“And…” Twilight shoved a hand through his hair. “The succession crisis, the queen that died—that was, that was Dot, wasn’t it?”

Vio’s gaze dropped to the ground.

“But I don’t understand…” Sky said, tilting his head to one side. “Why would that cause a succession crisis? You left the little ones behind, right?”

Green flinched. Red let out a whimper. Blue ground his teeth. Vio didn’t move, only letting a long sigh slip free.

“The dream was hazy and confused, but with Dot and me gone, different groups tried to claim either Link or Zelda as the true heir, trying to get control of the throne.”

Green’s voice was quiet. “We dreamed of civil war. A war that ended, only… only for…”

“Ganondorf.” Blue’s growl dripped venom.

Wind’s eyes went wide. Hyrule’s eyes darted around the circle of hero’s, brows furrowed in confusion.

Sky’s expression was tight, a premonition of unease tugging the corners of his mouth down.

Legend’s arms were tightly folded across his chest as he scowled down at his boots.

Twilight wasn’t watching, for he’d closed his eyes, mind scrambling to remember what scattered facts of history had been passed down to him. The Veteran was right—Hyrule’s record keeping really was terrible.

“I… don’t know anything about your son, but that doesn’t really mean anything—hardly anything is remembered of that era outside of the key players. The siblings of the Queen or King are hardly ever mentioned, unless they did something really memorable.”

All four colors flinched.

Twilight saw it and gulped, galloping forward with the rest of his sentence, “S-so that means he probably was all right, e-especially because your daughter would be the Princess of that time period, and the Hero saved her from Ganondorf! So even though you were sealed away, there was still a Hero who protected—”

Red burst into tears.

Twilight’s mouth shut with a sharp click, his mind scrambling, trying to figure out just how he’d put his boot in his pie-hole.

Wind’s face was screwed up in obvious calculation, and Hyrule and Sky exchanged concerned looks.

Legend’s face slowly whitened, his fingers digging in his arms.

Blue was rigid as a rock, his eyes burning with a cerulean fire. Vio’s expression was pained, his head turned away, but Green reached out towards Red’s shoulder.

Red jerked away, crouching down and hugging himself miserably. His small frame shook with every gulping sound, his eyes squeezed tight as he sucked in painful gasps in between wet sobs.

“Red…” Sky said, gently, and Red flinched. Finally he dragged his gaze upward, tears spilling messily down his cheeks, his eyes the color of his namesake.

The words were garbled, barely understandable, squeezed out through a throat wet and tight.

“After… after everything,” There was a blank despair in his face, causing Sky’s stomach to drop down to his toes, “after all that he did.” The word came out a strangled sob, he gasped, choked, and hacked again and again until he could continue, and everyone watching could only stand there, a swamping feeling of dismay freezing them in place as firmly and dreadfully as a redead’s cry.

“Why did it always end with him…” he swallowed hard, and the final word was squeezed out in a whisper, almost unable to be heard at all.

“…alone?”

Blue shook once, a violent jerk almost frightening to look at, and then exploded with a yell. This time, his unfortunate victim was Green. Blue grabbed his shoulder and shook him, yelling loud enough as if he could hide the shake in his voice. “Purah promised she’d look after him! Impa and Purah were supposed to work together to protect them both! It shouldn’t—he shouldn’t—why’d it end up this way?”

Green didn’t even try to get out of Blue’s grip, his eyes burning into Green’s. “You know why.”

His voice hurt to hear, like ashes and rust. Blue faltered, but he didn’t let go. He tightened his grip on Green’s shoulder, jaw clenched, teeth gritted.

“I’m supposed to be the bearer of Courage,” Vio’s said from behind Blue, his voice almost unnaturally cold and hollow. “You know what the answer is. Don’t try to run from it, hero.”

Everything froze for a moment. Blue sucked in a sharp breath through his nose.

Then he turned and in one smooth movement, punched Vio in the face.

Everything erupted. Red cried louder, jumping up and trying to pull Blue off of Violet, who instead tried to knee Blue in the gut. Everyone else started yelling. Legend, Wind and Hyrule jumped on Blue, and Twilight and Sky seized Vio, tugging them apart.

Blue was spitting curses that were too mangled and angry to even be words anymore, and Vio glared back at him, blood trickling from a split lip.

“STOP IT!” Wind yelled, mainly into Blue’s ear, but somehow, it did the trick. Everyone froze, and in the sudden stillness and quiet, Green stepped forward.

He glared at both Blue and Vio, hands clenched into fists. “This isn’t helping anything.” He spat. “We’re supposed to be united, not tearing myself apart trying to avoid the answer we all know! We all dreamed the same thing.”

The heroes stared at Green, hardly daring to breathe. Green took in a deep, shuddering breath, and glared at the floor.

“It’s my fault. It’s all… my fault. If I had noticed Ganondorf was there, if I had been faster, stronger, good enough so that Zelda didn’t have to seal us away—if I had simply been there, NONE of it would have happened.”

He dragged his head up, and there was a depth of despair in his eyes that chilled to the bone. Green’s eyes locked onto Wind, who froze, still holding onto Blue. “My son never would have had to be a hero.”

He dragged his gaze over to Twilight, who stiffened, his grip reflexively tightening on Vio. “He never would have had to grow up alone.”

Green turned back to Legend, but the veteran met his gaze head on, a dark look in his eyes and tenseness to his shoulders.

Green swallowed, and blood welled between the fingers of his clenched fists.

His eyes burned as he squeezed the words past the dryness of his throat. “My son wouldn’t have died alone.”

Legend closed his eyes and sighed.

“I hate being right,” he muttered.

“Then—” Twilight swallowed hard. “Your son—was the hero that fought Ganondorf?”

Red let out a quiet sob.

Wind’s eyes were very, very wide. “Wait—that means—” Somehow they got even wider. “Your son was TIME?”

For a long moment, no one spoke. Blue had gone limp, glaring angrily at the floor with damp, reddened eyes. In the frozen lull, Red slowly stepped back from the huddle that had been holding Blue, arms wrapping around himself. “That… that was what they called him, in the dream.” His voice was quiet, desolate.

“Those that remembered him.” Vio added, the torchlight gleaming redly on the blood on his lip as his mouth twisted sardonically.

Twilight swallowed hard.

Then suddenly, Wind spoke. “We remembered him.”

The four Colors looked at him, and Wind met their gazes head on; his shoulders set, his chin raised, his eyes burning with determination. “We remembered the Hero of Time. We wanted to be like him!” He faltered for a second, shuffling a foot. “I don’t know about the other stuff, but—” he grabbed the fabric of his tunic, twisting it in his fist, remembering the green tunic he had once wore as he traveled across the sea. “But to us, even when we forgot Hyrule, we didn’t forget our hero.”

Vio let out a shuddering sigh, and covered his eyes with his hand. Green sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “…Thanks.” He said.

The words scraped like glass in his throat, but he meant them. The next moment, Red tackled Wind in a hug, and Blue shrugged himself free from Legend’s and Hyrule’s grip—but all he did was nod once at Wind.

Wind met it with a slightly tearful smile.

“Wait,” Hyrule said, screwing his face up in thought. “If—your son was Time, then that means Time’s Zelda—”

Sky’s eyes lit up. “Your daughter is Lullaby!”

The Colors stared at him.

Sky smiled sheepishly, the expression slightly awkward but earnest all the same. “We all have a Princess Zelda of our own—”

“I have two,” Hyrule said, sounding incredibly proud.

Sky rolled his eyes. “Yes, and Hyrule has two, which makes ten Princess Zeldas in all. We gave them all nicknames to keep them straight.” His smile strengthen and deepened, and he looked warmly at the pieces of Four.

“Your daughter’s nickname is Lullaby. She’s grown into a strong, lovely woman, and she rules Hyrule wisely and well as it’s Queen. She and Time are good friends.”

“And…” Legend added, slowly, shoving a hand through his bangs, “If Lullaby is your daughter that means…” his gaze darted to the side, his expression wondering, “That… I’m you’re descendant.”

Every head snapped to look at Legend. He crossed his arms. “What?”

Sky grinned. “I guess being vertically challenged runs in the family, huh?”

“WHAT?” Legend spat, face turning pink as his bunny form. He was distracted when Red tugged on his sleeve, eyes wide.

“You’re descended from Lullaby?”

Red’s eyes were wide and wet, desperate. Legend’s face was still bunny rabbit-pink, but his expression softened at the sight.

“Yeah,” he said, and even quirked a smile. “My house was founded by Sir Raven, your daughter’s younger child. He strove hard to be a knight worthy of your legacy.”

The Colors exchanged looks, something beginning to peak past the fog of despair in their gazes.

“Heck, guess I am, too,” Twilight said, a rueful grin blooming to life. “Time’s my ancestor.”

There were several loud gasps, all from the heroes who were not a piece of Four, and Twilight smirked at Legend. “Guess my line took all the tall genes, huh?”

Legend scowled back at him. “I’ll have you know Sir Raven was as tall as Time.”

“That’s a point,” Sky murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Why is Time so tall?”

“Well,” Hyrule piped up, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I got the short genes, then.”

Four gazes bounced to him, now. The traveller laughed sheepishly and shrugged. “Uh, I’m descended from Legend, apparently…?”

“Wait,” Wind said, propping his hands on his hips. “Am I the only one here that’s not descended from Four?”

“Well, I’m not,” Sky chuckled, and he, Twilight, and Legend exchanged a glance.

“Yeah,” Hyrule grinned at the chosen hero, “You’re just his great-grandpa-in-law,”

While Sky was sputtering to recover from that, Green, Red, and Vio exchanged a glance, too, and Vio stepped toward the sailor.

Vio smiled at him, and reached out, tapping the shield slung on his back. “Dot gave me this shield, a long time ago. I’m glad you’ve taken such good care of it.”

Wind stared at him for a long moment, mouth hanging open.

Then, Vio let out an oof as the sailor tackled him with a hug. Wind squeezed Vio as tight as he could, and Vio wrapped his arms around him in return.

“I’m sorry about everything,” Wind whispered into Vio’s ear, “but I’m glad we got to rescue you.”

 

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

Now, really and truly, the only thing left to do was rescue Zelda.

After… everything that had happened in the Chamber of the Blue Sword, no one felt much like talking. They quickly administered what red potion they had saved to everyone that had sustained injuries after Blue's... multiple outbursts, and were on their way (Vio got most of it). Then, they set out, be-lining for their final objective. Almost no words were spoken as they made their way through the last chambers of the dungeon as quickly as they could, disabling an electrified gate and sprinting across an invisible floor to the other side.

Finally, they stood in front of the boss’ chamber. One finally barrier between Four and his wife.

“What’s waiting for us,” Green said, fingers tightening on the hilt of his sword.

Legend frowned, fingers fidgeting with the clasp of his pack, staring up at the door.  “I… don’t know,” he finally said, the words bitter in his mouth. “In my timeline, well…” his shoulders slumped. “the seal had been poisoned and cursed, and you… were long gone. You were the enemy I had to face.” Legend swallowed hard.

“I killed you.”

The colors exchanged grim looks. Legend stared down at the toes of his boots.

Then, red filled his vision, and warms wrapped around him. “It’s all right,” Red said, hugging Legend tightly. “We know how badly things went in your timeline. That’s our fault, not yours. We…. Must have suffered a lot in that timeline. There was no rescuing us.” He squeezed even tighter, his voice thick with tears. “Thank you, for setting us free.”

Legend let out a shuddering sigh, and slumped in Red’s arms. He stayed there for a long moment, before he finally slipped out of Red’s grip, swiping an arm quickly across his eyes. He cleared his throat and propped his hands on his hips, narrowing a glare at the door. “Long story short,” and he paused to clear his throat again. “I have no idea what’s on the other side of the door. It shouldn’t be you guys, because we freed you. Hopefully nothing, but this dungeon hates me, so I doubt that’s the case. Are you ready?”

The Heroes exchanged glances, each one finding determination writ on their brother’s faces. Green nodded.

“Lead the way.”

Legend sucked in a breath, let it out again, and stepped forward, and the great stone door lifted up.

Beyond was a vast room, tiled with stone, and a great mosaic of four swords in the center—red, green, blue, violet.

Wind peered into the room. “…it seems empty.”

Legend twirled the sword in his hand, expression tense. “Always seems like that, doesn’t it. I’ll believe it’s empty when we’ve made it through to the other side.” He cast a glance at the group. “Follow me.”

In a wary clump they followed him into the middle of the room. The chamber echoed with an eerie emptiness, and Twilight and Hyrule stiffened, shooting each other a glance.

“Do you feel that?” Hyrule whispered. Twilight nodded.

“There’s a strange magic in the air,” he said. Strange, but almost familiar, in a half-forgotten way. He cast his mind back to all the enemies he faced, trying to divine what the source could be—

Legened stepped into the very center of the chamber, and a figure appeared.

The heroes froze.

It was a diminutive figure, about the same height as their smith. It seemed like it could be mirroring the Color’s appearance, but it was hard to tell—the figure glowed gold, so brightly that making out any features was nearly impossible.

The only thing that was clear about the figure was his drawn sword, pointed at the ground.  

Eight heroes drew their swords, the sound ringing across the chamber, a bright song of battle.

The golden figure was unmoved, standing still as a statue.

“Stand back, Heroes of Hyrule.” The voice that rang out seemed to surround the heroes, as if it was coming from the chamber itself and not the figure before them. It was a strange sound, outwardly young, but strangely double-toned with an echo of an old, deep voice. “If you have found true courage, and you wish to wake the Sleeper from the horrors of her dreams—”

The sword moved with a flourish, pointing straight at Green’s chest. And as it did, the golden figure blurred, and suddenly three more figures split from its body and arrayed themselves in a line. “Come at me, Hero of Man!”

*-/-*-/-*-/-*-/-*

 

Notes:

well, well, well
we're finally here, at the reveal.
congrats to all of you who figured it out, it's been a fun ride watching all your theories. Thank you for sticking with this fic for so long--only two more chapters to go until the happy ending!
I swear there is one, guys. Really.

Notes:

SO HERE WE ARE AT LAST! I've been planning this AU for SO long but I was finally hit with a burst of inspiration last night and wrote 90% of the chapter.
This story originally started as a Happy-Ending-Fix-Fic because I was tired of seeing all the angsty "Legend Kills Four" stories (which are very well written and interesting, but that's just not my speed. My speed is sunshine and bunnies and happy-ever-afters). So I came up with this idea, and it snowballed into this: quite possibly the angstiest thing I've ever written.
Go figure.
Great job, me.
Anyway, LOTS of thanks to AnAdorableKiwi, who helped me SO much with this AU--in fact, it's the reason we became such close friends, because I offered to spoil it for her wayyyyyy back when i first made a post about this AU, and she agreed so she'd be prepared for the angst train I'm taking y'all on.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story!