Devotion

by moonphoenix23

Summary:

Despite the young Hero of Legend’s best efforts, the spirit of the Master Sword faded after Ganon was defeated (the first time). Some years and five other adventures later, Link discovers a book that will allow him to help and guide the heroes that come after him like Fi did for him during his first adventure.

AKA my Sword Spirit Legend fic

(also on my tumblr @occasionallyprosie if you prefer that format)

Chapter 1: Nightlight

Summary:

Link discovers immortality, he has to die to achieve it and soon learns why it is just as much a curse as it is a blessing.

Notes:

Introducing... Dev!

A loud thump sounded through the room and Zelda jumped. A book dropped on her desk by the teen who stood before her.

"It can be done," Link said, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "I can help them."

Zelda gave him an unsure look as she pulled the book toward her and flicked it open.

"Page 55," he told her.

She flicked through the book, finding and soon reading the aforementioned passage. Her eyes widened and she looked at Link in surprise.

He grinned. "We can do it. I can—I can help them."

She nodded slowly. "Right... Right. Between my sealing powers and your guidance, any future heroes and maidens can handle whatever comes for them. When do you want to do it?"

"I... As soon as you'd let me." He added in a far quieter voice, "I don't think I'll live much longer, anyways."

Zelda frowned, looking down at the book with a clear melancholy.

"Please, Zel. Do this for me?"

She sighed and nodded. "I will." She shut the book and stood. "Let's go."

 

 

Inside a clearing of thick forest, a large pedestal of stone sat. A golden sword with a hilt of green was laid down on the stone and two blond teenagers stood there, one holding the book, the other holding a knife.

"You're ready?" Zelda asked, looking over at Link.

He nodded, tightening his grip on the knife in his hand. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready. My house is locked up tight with all my stuff inside, and at worst, you'll come down with some guards and personally make sure everything is put somewhere safe, at best I'II be back to handle it myself."

She inhaled shakily. "Yes... Link— You really don't need to do this. You're still young."

"Zel. It's either this or... I don't know, but this will let us make sure that no matter what attacks Hyrule, what tries to destroy it, someone will be there to stop it. Forever, I'll be here to protect our kingdom." Link insisted. "And the other kingdoms too."

"But..." she sighed, shaking her head. "Alright. This is your choice... Kneel?"

He moved over to the sword and he knelt down, facing the blade. She stood behind him and held her hand out, her palm pointed to the back of his head.

Her hand began to glow a soft golden light.

She murmured lowly, words falling into a senseless stream that rolled over Link's mind and ears, filling it like cotton.

She slowly, gradually grew louder, repeating some sentences and others that were new. The light grew brighter and wrapped around him and the sword.

The light became thicker, swirling almost spherically around him, Zelda chanting in an ancient language far predating their ancient Hylian. The golden flecks within her eyes seemed to glow, mirrored exactly in Link's eyes despite them being squeezed shut and such luminosity being left unseen.

Link lifted the knife to his throat. Zelda's voice trembled as it rose and the golden magic thickened. The sword rose up in the air, lifted by the golden light.

Zelda's voice hit a high and Link slit his throat.

Bright light erupted. Zelda closed her eyes but did not move, nor did her voice falter. A long moment passed before the beaming light faded.

Zelda crumbled to her knees, book clattering to the ground and she covered her mouth as she choked out a sob. The sword was on the ground and gleaming in the sunlight, unblemished. A single drop of blood and a bloodied knife laid by her knee, that was all that was in front of her.

There was no body.

 

 

 

Warmth was the first thing he noticed. Then the light.

It took a long time to be aware of anything else but that. Warmth and light, darkness and cold.

Then he was in a light place, an area of warmth and cold, of light and darkness. There was more light than dark, only remnants and residue of the dark remaining, only the ghosts of the cold lingering. Winding tall things and bulking low things, opulent and bright.

He had no form, no conscious memory, nothing beyond existence. Golden power was within his reach and pure curiosity drove him to push it out, to mold it and see what it could do.

Flames exploded, sparkles erupted, the center of his awareness would shift its placement. Then things would form, colors, or the absence of it, small things that seemed to have minds of their own, animals was what he subconsciously called them, conjured, he identified them without purposeful thought.

Curiosity pushed him to see what else he could do with the power, the golden warmth that made up his awareness.

In time, a long time, he discovered something colorful. Suddenly he was no longer placed in the warm and light place that was distantly tainted by dark and cold, but in a green place on a platform of gray, with blue in the far above and a great yellow and white circle.

Just as colors exploded, memories slammed through him.

Link would have screamed if he could. He would have gasped and hyperventilated at the least. Yet he couldn't.

It worked. It worked, he—He was a spirit, a sword spirit.

All that curiosity that was usually tempered by wisdom and wariness had done one good thing for him.

He could see, it was obvious that the golden warmth was his magic, was his soul, and only through pushing it out and sensing and creating a magical image of the world allowed him to see. He could hear, as air pushed through the reach of his magic, the vibrations made sound that he just subconsciously translated to the sound of wind.

Next was just figuring out how to change form from sword to something more mobile.

 

 

In time, he figured it out. In time, he was in the same outfit he'd worn when the ritual took place. He could change his features and his clothes with a thought, not perfectly, he couldn't exactly create matter without active conjuration, so his clothes were limited, though color was not.

He returned to the castle. Zelda was a few years older, Impa had passed in his absence, Ravio was elated to see him, but they could see a difference between them now beyond their color schemes.

Ravio was getting older, Link stayed the same. In no time, for the first time, they were mistaken for father and son when going out, rather than brothers or twins. Link could feel his heart slowly crushing.

He grew older mentally too, keeping up with them in that regard, but physically?

He watched Ravio fade away first, then it was Hilda... then even others passed away, Din, Maple, and Ralph years before Ravio, then... then it was so many others. So, so, so many others.

Then it was Zelda.

Link stayed in Hyrule, watching over her daughters, doting on them, teaching most of them how to fight and helping them learn and harness the sealing power that Zelda spent years merging with the divine magic in their blood. He knew it too, as a result, but her daughters were naturals. Then their daughters too, there was a son and when the kingdom rioted, Link took that son and raised the boy himself, taking him to his orchard, which Link still owned, and raised him on. That boy maintained that orchard, wanted to expand to a whole farm that Link didn’t hesitate to help with, and even though he was aware of his identity as the prince, he wanted to stay a farmer.

Link worked between both, he kept close to his family at the orchard, and he was the royal family's secret advisor, guide, and protector.

He fought for princes to be given a chance and not be hunted. It took years before it was finally done and then there was a prince and a little princess not long after. For the first time, Link didn't have to take that little boy away and raise him away from his parents just so he wouldn't be thrown into the river or to the dogs.

Link did a lot, but it was all within the castle or at the ranch, it was all official work.

 

 

Then came a point when it became too much, seeing Hyrule change rapidly around him, and he had to leave. The temptation to just become a sword and rest in a temple or the woods was strong, to just wait until the next hero, but he was far too adventurous for that. He never could stay still long enough for that.

"Uncle Link," the young princess rushed up to him as he was about to leave the castle. "You'll come back, right?"

He knelt down, glancing at her father and brother. He was happy that the kingdom hadn't tried to kill this prince, even if he was a bit arrogant and sharp.

"One day, I will be," he told the young Princess Zelda. "But it will be a very, very long time. We may not see each other again, little nightlight."

She frowned. "But... I'll miss you."

"Don't worry, I'll be out there worrying about you and telling the goddesses to protect you," Link promised gently. "Go on, have fun while you can."

She hugged him before he left.

Notes:

Yes, the Zelda at the end is Aurora, so yes, the first prince of Hyrule who wasn't immediately called to be executed is the same prince as the one from Adventure of Link. The moment Legend leaves them, everything blows up.

Chapter 2: Saccharine Sweet

Summary:

Link meets a certain ex-guidance fairy, one of the few souls in existence currently who is older than him.

She asks Link to stay.

Link roamed the depths of the forests, searching for a place he could start again. Someplace he could maybe build his own house, maybe start a small farm, really just live quietly and individually.

"Look! Look! He's magic!"

"And old! You see it! But he looks young!"

"Sir! Sir!" 

A crowd of fairies fluttered around him, many colors but mostly shades of pink or blue or even yellow and green. A pink one darted up to him.

"Are you old?" She asked him.

Link laughed, smiling warmly at them. "I am very, old, ma'am."

The fairies grew excited and a lavender one appeared in front of his face.

"Are you immortal?" She asked excitedly.

Link kept a warm smile but it faltered in his confusion that he let show. "I am, why?"

"Oh he's perfect!" The fairies squealed.

"Come! Come!"

"You have to meet her!"

"The Great Mother has been waiting for someone like you!"

Without many options, Link let the fairies drag him off to a Fairy Fountain.

He wondered at the forest as it grew more magical, more doused in sugary magic.

He was pushed in front of a pond and a fluttering blue fairy flew to the center of it. In a flash of sparkling light, the blue fairy transformed to a young woman, a fair height taller than Link, but physically seemed to be about his physical age.

"Hello," she said, her voice clear and smooth. "Who might you be, that my daughters brought here?"

"He's immortal, great mother!" One fairy exclaimed, flying colorful circles around Link.

"And pretty too!" Another tapped Link's nose and he startled.

"He looks strong!" One darted between his arm and side, he jerked to hold his hands against his chest, a bit alarmed.

"He would be a great lover!" One said and Link's eyes went wide.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh..." the Great Fairy held her head. "Begone with you all! Go!"

Squealing and cheering, the other fairies all rapidly disappeared and Link was eyeing the Great Fairy warily.

"My apologies for them," she said. "I fear I made a mistake in telling them that I crave intimacy and love. I am Navi, the Great Fairy of this spring to which you have been brought. Might I know your name, immortal soul?"

Link hesitated a moment before he nodded. "I have been called many names, Great Mother. I currently use the name Raven."

"Raven," she repeated. "Welcome to my spring, I hope you find it to your liking, Sir Raven. I hope to grant you rest from your travels." She hesitated before drawing closer, eyes roaming his figure as if inspecting him. "You... Are not Hylian, not if you are immortal."

"I'm a spirit," he confirmed. "A sword spirit taking Hylian form."

"So you are." She came even closer, her hand reaching out and almost touching his arm as she grazed her hand down it. "A man... immortal... but not filled with ambition and hatred?"

"My only ambition is to guide the future generations," Link said carefully, managing to shift away from her slightly. "For them to be safe and happy. But I have done that for some centuries now, and would like to rest and take... take a vacation from the world of politics and... hylians."

Navi smiled. "Then I bid you good luck on your endeavors and I offer my spring as a sanctuary of rest for you."

Link almost thanked her and moved on, but he hesitated. Though he had no intentions of giving the Great Fairy what she apparently wished for, he wouldn't deny that a companion, a friend, who wouldn't fade away wasn't... wasn't incredibly tempting.

"For how long?" He decided to ask instead.

"As long as you wish."

"You might get sick of me."

"I doubt I could."

Link was fine with being Raven for a while. He would prefer to be able to live out some time with people who wouldn't rapidly age, mature, and then die in the blink of an eye. If only for a little while.

Link liked Navi, he thought the world of her and she was a good friend. She was friendly, engaging, and kind. He found her to be a kindred spirit, not unfamiliar with loss.

It went on for a while, a couple centuries, before he couldn’t stay anymore. He had to move, go somewhere, do something. He'd spent a long time with the fairies, doing a variety of things between learning magic, protecting the forest, and hunting monsters nearby, but he needed something new and even the enticement of someone who wouldn't disappear and leave him could make him stay anymore. His wanderlust was far too strong to ignore anymore.

Though there were tears shed, he did leave, and instead returned to the greater lands of Hyrule only to find it desolated.

It was destroyed, the golden age he had left in in had fallen to ruin. Of course the kingdom was still there, but... it was truly a fallen kingdom.

 

A couple years passed and he sensed it. He sensed the Sacred Realm tremble and some whispers entered his mind. Someone warning him about...

The Triforce of Power.

It was happening. It was repeating. The cycle was repeating.

There was a hero, the whispers told him. Your hero would come... and you will seal the darkness as you are meant to.

Link prepared himself. He gathered items, stocked on potions, he was a true veteran of this hero business and he wasn't letting some kid have to deal with it unprepared.

 

He met someone unexpected, a young boy who was soaked in familiar sugary magic.

Their name was Link, he supposed he would have to come up with a name to call himself to avoid confusion.

Under the guise of an old man, he gave the boy many things and each time he told him, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”

He had shadowed the kid, Link, protecting him often and saving the kid a fair few times without his knowledge. He was scared of letting them get hurt, he quickly figured out that the kid wasn't just who he thought he was.

Though the sugary magic that shrouded the kid was undoubtedly Navi’s, and Link could pin the goddess’ divinity in the kid’s blood that mixed with courage, that courage wasn’t just inherited.

The kid had the Triforce of Courage. This was the next hero, the current hero.

"Hey kid," he called when he met the kid again in a cave. He hid his face with a hood this time and didn't dawn the appearance of an old man. "You know, it's dangerous to go alone."

The kid laughed. "I know! You said it before!"

He chuckled and he walked over to him. "I know. So why don't you show me where we're headed next?"

"W-What? But—"

"Link, let me help you." He knelt down in front of the kid, eleven years old, and he pushed his hood back. "I'm not an old man, I'm not a Hylian either. I'm a spirit, and I'm here to protect and guide you. Let me do that, please."

Link stared at him. "O-Oh... But..." he slowly nodded. "Okay. What's your name, Mr. Spirit?"

He hesitated before ruffling the kid's hair. "You can call me Dev, how's that?"

"Dev... Okay! Come on, Dev!"

Dev smiled a bit sadly and he went along with the kid, the little sprite... a mix of fairy and divinity.

 

“Between the two of us, Ganon doesn’t stand a chance!” Link exclaimed, energy hiding the terror Dev could see so clearly.

“Sprite,” Dev said, stopping him. "You know you--" of course he didn't, Dev hadn't really told him, had he?

Link faltered, more confused than anything. "Is something wrong?"

"Link," Dev started, "I can't fight with you, I'm sorry--"

"What?! Why not?!" Link yelped and that terror he'd previously hidden was clear and on display. "No, no, I can't face him alone!"

"Hey, hey, you won't be alone," Dev promised, guiding Link to sit as they spoke. "I told you I'm a sword spirit, right?" Link nodded, listening raptly. "I'm the sword spirit of the Master Sword, the Master Sword is the weapon that is used to fight the darkness. You won't be alone, but I can't fight with you when you're wielding me."

"Wielding... you," Link said slowly. "Wait, then--I don't want to wield you!" He exclaimed, he looked almost affronted. "You're my friend! My-my-- My mentor and guide and-- I don't want to wield you! Why can't my sword work?"

Dev sighed softly, but with a glance at the Magical Sword he did hesitate. He was going to tell the sprite that no other weapon would be powerful enough, but... the Magical Sword was imbued with divine magic, he had forged that sword specifically to replace the Master Sword because Dev couldn't exactly wield himself. Of course that was before he decided to put down swords altogether and take on a far more supportive role, but...

"I suppose it could. It would be far harder and your blows would not be as strong, but..." he chuckled and ruffled Link's hair, "with a bit of courage and stubbornness, I think you could do it."

"We could do it," Link corrected, smiling widely as he looked up at him. Dev hid his sadness upon seeing just how much of a child Link was, barely even twelve now. "We can do it."

Dev chuckled softly. "As you wish."

 

 

Dev was a bit surprised by Link's second adventure. Zelda didn't quite recognize him at first, she was young when he left after all, so he couldn't blame her at all.

"So you're the spirit of the Master Sword," Zelda said slowly.

Dev rolled his eyes. Link was over with... the Zelda who hadn't been cursed, and therefore unaware of their conversation. "You don't have to be so formal, nightlight. But I do go by Dev now, if you don't mind."

She smiled. "I suppose that would make things much easier." She glanced at the other Zelda. "Perhaps I should think of one... where did you think of nightlight from?"

"Wow, taking away my special nickname for you?"

"Of course not! Just... taking inspiration." She smiled warmly.

Dev laughed softly. "The northern lights, because of that time your mother took you to see them and I came along as protection. I don't know if you remember that, but your mother called them nightlights for you, and you didn't stop drawing them for months after."

She nodded. "Aurora then," she decided. "I can be Aurora."

"I think that suits you," Dev said softly, giving her a warm smile. "Though, that kiss..."

Aurora went red. "Y-You saw that?!"

"Nightlight, I see everything," Dev deadpanned, though he was smirking. "I should warn you though, you're related."

Aurora's eyes went wide as she looked rapidly over at Link, who was unaware of the conversation. She looked back at Dev.

"He—Truly?"

"Mine," Dev lowered his voice. "Apparently. I can sense it, at least, he's inherited wisdom and courage and his mother is definitely an old friend of mine, I haven't figured the logistics, but... He also doesn't know. I haven't mentioned it at least."

Aurora frowned. "I see... He's my little brother them," she said decisively. "Even if he's unaware. I'm not telling him for you Un— Dev."

Dev shot her a grin. "Of course not. I'll do it eventually... Soon. I'll do it soon."

He had to, whether he wanted to or not. Link deserved to know, even if he may hate Dev for it.

Dev still didn't know how Navi had Link. He was a sword spirit for Nayru's sake, he shouldn't be able to procreate! Beside that, they never even did anything that would've logically resulted in a child. It had to be magic, but he also didn't know of any spell or ritual that would do this.

 

 

Link was just talking. Dev was listening to his Sprite just talking animatedly about a plant they'd found.

Then he was gone.

"LINK!" Dev dove for Link when that portal appeared suddenly, but it shut right behind Link, who had yelped as he suddenly fell right through it.

Dev hit the ground, horrified and shaken by what he'd just witnessed. Link was gone, taken by some portal that screamed darkness and divinity.

"No, no, no—" he couldn't sense him. Even when they were separated by practically the whole country, he could sense him. That specific mix of sweet, saccharine magic dousing the clear, natural courage and underlying wisdom. The magical fairy forest that marked Link.

He couldn't sense him.

Where was his kid?

Notes:

We’ve met our first hero—oh, oh no, he appears to be missing. A dark magic, purple portal snatched him up. I wonder what happened. :/

Chapter 3: Flickering Lights

Summary:

Dev searches for Link for years before the sprite just appears back from another portal, older, more confident, and with more information than Dev remembered giving him.

Dev had searched far and wide, he couldn't find anything that even had a similar magical signature to the portal that had formed, and the portal hadn't even left any kind of residue for him to track. It was temporal magic, he had managed to determine that much, and it was dark magic, but that was all he could determine.

For two whole years, he searched the whole country. He tracked down every instance of magical temporal magic and only finding monsters or closing portals. He took care of the monsters with assorted magic rods and spells, noting to himself to take some time to refine those spells. His lack of mortality was nice though, these monsters were oddly powerful and he knew he was very out of practice with fighting as he took hits that --while they didn't harm him-- would have killed him.

He sensed the temporal magic spike not ten feet from him and he whirled around. A rounded, purple triangle lined in gold --something divine sourced this, Farore's divine magic, not dark magic-- formed in front of him.

Before Dev could try to run through it to get his kid back, Link was stepping out, eyes a bit red and puffy but otherwise he seemed fine.

Link was older, unsurprising as two years had passed, but he was older.

"Sprite?" Dev called, a bit wary and unsure. It felt like his kid.

Link turned toward him quickly and there was this look in his eyes, emerald flecked with gold, as he ran up to him and hugged him.

Dev hugged him back, he couldn't not, but he was a bit freaked out, "Sprite? Sprite, are you okay? What happened? Where were you?"

"I'm fine," Link promised, clinging to him tightly. "Just..." he pulled away and held onto Dev's arms. "It was a great adventure. I see why you went on so many."

Dev blinked as Link let go.

"What?" He questioned. "What do you mean? You were on an adventure?! What do mean I went—" It hit him what he meant and it just further confused him. "Since when did you know about that?!"

"You'll understand later." Link laughed. "Come on! I missed everyone! Can we go visit Mom?"

Dev gaped. "Wha—I mean yeah you can visit your mother but—"

"No, you're coming too, I know she misses you."

"What—Since when did you know about that?!"

Link laughed, mischief clear in his eyes as he rushed off.

"No, get back here! You disappear for over two years, you need to explain more than that!"

Link looked back with a grin. "You'll understand when you're older!"

"Excus — Excuse me?!" Dev chased after him. "You— Okay, stop." He grabbed Link's arm and made them stop. "I need you to slow down a bit, Sprite. Take it from the top—You were on an adventure?"

Link sighed softly, though it was nothing but fondness and warmth. He smiled and nodded. "I was. I... I met some people I'll never forget."

Dev nodded slowly. "Okay. You're okay, right?"

"All healed. Nothing hurts, full magic stores, I'm good ve —Dev."

"Good. Good." He lot out a soft sigh of relief. "What's this about me and adventures?"

Link grinned at him. "You're the Hero of Legend." Then he looked even happier somehow. "The Hero of Legend is my dad."

Dev gaped at him. "How..."

"You'll find out," Link promised and this time it was far less dismissive, teasing, or condescending. It was just a simple fact and he was being soft about it. "Come on, you should come visit Mama."

Dev let Link lead him off. "I... Okay."

 

 

Link was instantly pestered by several fairies as they entered a familiar grove. Dev lingered back, leaning back as he floated a bit.

"Link?"

"Mama!"

Link ran and hugged a very familiar fairy, who took a more Hylian form as she hugged him tightly and quickly began to fuss over him. Fluttering and flitting around him, asking if he'd had enough sugar, if he had made friends, if he was staying long or for good or if he was leaving again soon.

Link giggled and answered all her questions with immense patience that Dev knew for sure was new. Link hadn't had the patience for well-being questions like that.

"As for friends," Link started and he looked over at Dev.

Navi looked at Dev, surprise clearly appearing on her face.

"Raven?"

"Navi," he greeted in return, giving a small grin.

"I... see you've met Link."

Link snorted. "Mama you didn't tell me that my father was the hero!"

Dev winced. Navi's eyes widened.

"Probably cause she didn't know that Sprite," Dev said as Navi quickly turned on him.

"You're a— A chosen of Farore?!"

Dev didn't like the accusatory tone she had but he couldn't help but wince. Navi was his friend, for hundreds of years they were friends, and he really didn't want to lose that because of the first not-even-twenty years of his millennia-long life. She had been a constant and he hoped she would continue to be a constant in the upcoming centuries.

"Yeah? Is that a problem?" He asked carefully.

She spluttered before in a flash of blue was flying off.

"I guess so," he muttered.

Link looked confused. "What— What was wrong?"

"I'll find out."

"Is that a good idea? I mean..."

"Won't fix it if I don't try."

He went after Navi. It was easy to find her. She was trying to hide up in an old, flourishing tree above a stone slab that was grown over with moss and ivy. It was hard for her to hide when Dev's senses were pure magic.

"Is there a reason why you hate that I was a hero or is it just me?" He called up to her, leaning back on one leg.

She didn't respond.

"Navi," he sighed, "973 years. You swore pasts didn't mean anything."

"You said your past was nothing!" She flew into his face. He leaned back a bit. "You said you were an average nobody!"

"I may have skipped over half my life, but for the first few years I was."

"First few— how old? How long?" She demanded.

"I was called to fight at eight," he said softly, she instantly recoiled back to the stone slab on the ground. "I became a sword spirit at nineteen."

"You..." she flew up to his face again, but was far less aggressive about it. "You were just a boy."

"Maybe, but nobody else was going to do it."

She recoiled again, he could almost see her tears but it was hard to see on her current form.

"He said that too," she whispered. "My hero," she flew down to the slab, "he was Link too. I named my boy after Link."

Dev didn't mention his name had been Link. Meaning she knew one of the heroes who came before Dev, likely the Fallen Hero with how she spoke of him, and she named the sprite after that hero.

"He was nine," she told him. "Nine years old, and he had to fight the king of thieves..."

"King of thieves?" Dev repeated mostly to himself, he hadn't ever heard Ganon be called that. He was sure she meant the Fallen Hero, but Ganon wasn't a king.

"Ganondorf," Navi turned back to him. "He was a man once, a Gerudo, called the King of Thieves. After he killed Link he— became that monster, Ganon. You were the one who came after, the Hero of Secrets."

Of course the fairies would've known him as that. Farore had told him only the wilds would know him by that.

"I was," Dev confirmed. "I'm sorry." He glanced at the stone slab, realizing what it was.

A grave.

He knelt by it, brushing moss to read the epitaph.

"Link of the Kokiri," Dev read aloud. "He was ten?"

"Turned it the day before he was killed," Navi said, standing on his shoulder. "He was a sweet boy... kind, smart, he would've done anything if you'd ask."

Dev felt his trained mask of emotion and humanity fade. "Sounds like a hero." He'd heard stories, he knew himself and Link.

"A great one," Navi agreed. "Just... not strong enough."

Dev raised a hand to his shoulder, doing little more than resting his fist by Navi, he felt her rest her hand on top of his.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "That you lost him. He was your charge when you were a guidance fairy, I assume."

"He was."

"You named Link after him... it's a bit funny to me, my name's Link too. It was, at least."

Navi did laugh a bit, it was choked and strained. "Is that the requirement for heroes? A heart of gold and the name 'Link'?"

"Maybe..."

"I'm sorry," Navi said softly. "About not telling you about Link, now's Link." Dev glanced at her and then behind them. Link was back in the grove, with some other fairies but otherwise alone. "I used your blood, from before you left. I'd asked if you could bleed and..."

"And I let you cut me to test it out, I remember," Dev assured. "I know. How'd you do it?"

"Many ancient and brand new spells, and sheer will," Navi explained. "I... You left, the fairies here, they're not companions, not even children. They are my children but not... it's just different."

Dev had seen that relationship. "I know. I get it. You wanted something more real and when I left, you lost it."

"Yes," her voice came out a whisper. "Link, he was... he was my blessing. A true blessing. I love him so much, Raven."

"He's a great kid, you should be proud."

"As should you. He'd spoken of you last he visited. You've been there whenever I could not. It was... a joint effort."

"Parenthood," Dev laughed softly. "I never expected to come near that."

Navi faltered. "I know that relationship is important to hylians... I apologize for using your blood that way, and for not informing you of it."

"It's alright," Dev assured, looking at her. "I've met him, and I don't intend to let him go."

 

 

As a huge horde of monsters hunted them down, Dev fought beside Link to keep them back and keep him safe.

Monsters flocked to their location, deep in the woods, days of running. Link was exhausted but still fighting. Dev was managing to thin the horde, to hold them off and defeat a lot of them, but there was more coming constantly. He already used both the Bombos and Quake Medallions, yet more came.

More kept coming.

He saw Link fighting them off. He was incredible, fighting in ways Dev hadn't seen him fight before, using moves Dev didn't remember teaching him, but it was a way that was now familiar as Link had been fighting like that since he returned from that third adventure.

Even Dev couldn't keep up with the complete horde that was flocking to them.

He saw Link get cornered. The moment he saw it he was moving, near teleporting across the field to get to him.

A blade sunk into his chest. Link's mouth fell open as he gasped, eyes widening slightly, horror and fear winning out against all else.

No.

Link fell to the ground, blood pooling under him as his whole body trembled and he choked out a strangled, choked-off shriek of pain.

Dev didn't know he could teleport, but in that moment there was no other explanation for how he'd appeared across the battlefield and now stood above Link.

"GET BACK!" He yelled, fires and magic blazing around him.

The monsters tried to get close but the heat and power grew as Dev held them back. He redirected some of his magic to Link, coaxing his own magic into healing himself, encouraging him to mend the wound but...

"No, no, no." Dev dropped his magic rods as he knelt down beside Link. A golden dome formed around them that the monsters couldn't break. Dev poured all the magic he could spare into Link, coaxed his into working but--even fairy magic could tell when nothing could be done.

Link inhaled shakily. "D-Dev—"

"Hey, hey Sprite look at me," Dev encouraged gently as he let magic flow and he cupped Link's face with his hands. Link gasped, his eyes fluttered but he managed to look vaguely in Dev's direction. "There you go. Hold on, Sprite. Just a bit longer, please, just hold on."

"N-No, I'm not..." Link coughed, blood beginning to trickle from the edge of his mouth. "I-It's okay."

"No! No, Sprite, just hold on. Stay with me."

Link smiled at him, his eyes dazed and awareness faded.

Dev had never felt more terrified. Not even facing Ganon had instilled as much fear as watching his kid bleed out in his arms despite everything.

"No, no, no— Link!" Dev begged. "No, Link please! Sprite just hold on— you're..."

His magic was fading. He couldn't hold out much longer, much less maintain the shield above them.

"D-Dev?" Link choked out and Dev wanted to sob, he wanted to scream. He was barely in his twenties! He was still a kid!

"I'm right here, I'm here Sprite, please just hold on," Dev begged.

He was just a kid.

"B-Burn... me?" Link asked. "N-Now... f-fast s'... so 'm done. No... no revival."

He was just a kid!

"Sprite..." Dev breathed.

"P-Please?" Link shuddered. "They're... They'll be waitin' f'r me... the others... Sky an' Tim'... they'll be... wai'in' f'r me. They'll ta'e care o' me. Don' worry... don't worry, please."

Link faded, breathing slowly trickling out, heart slowing to a halt, and Dev gathered up his remaining magic for one last burst.

He raised his head to the sky, ignoring the monsters that banged on the golden shield. "Zelda, please," he begged softly, eyes falling shut even if did nothing to limit his vision, even it did nothing to stop the tears. "Please take care of him."

Flames erupted around him.

When all was said and done, that clearing was nothing more than ash, monsters and trees and Link alike, all ash and dust.

A dormant sword laid amongst it all, it's gleam dulled.

Notes:

So... Rulie dies young. Thinking about it realistically, do we actually expect anything different? I mean, he goes back to his hyrule, and continues to try to escape monsters trying to hunt him down to revive Ganon (if you subscribe to the blood curse ig), he isn't going to live a long life. It's just not happening.

Navi tho, she did not expect to find out her best friend and (uninformed) baby daddy was the reincarnation of her first child lol.

Chapter 4: Four More Heroes

Summary:

Some people face their internal troubles... others adopt children so they can ignore it. (Aka, Dev is basically batman in that way)

Notes:

Apologies for the delays, finals season somehow started early? I'm disliking everything. Statistics sucks and if it was stabbable I would stab it.

Dev stayed dormant for a little while, just residing in the sort of mindscape of the Golden Sword before he reached out and began to wander the Sacred Realm.

The Sacred Realm was... dull by now, after the time he spent there when he had first become a sword spirit, and just the sheer brightness of it... Even if the light rapidly replenished his magic and therefore his energy, spirit, and his ability to function, it was a lot.

Then he heard whispers.

"You think he's real? Or another lost ghost? — I don't know... I don't know how he could've even gotten here."

Dev turned, eyes landing exactly where the voice came from. It was just one voice, though disjointed and a little staticky, broken apart and shattered yet mended as one. The voice went silent the moment he looked the direction the source was.

"You're not as quiet as you think you are," he said bluntly. "Who are you? How and why are you here?"

Nobody should be here.

A kid came out from around a corner. Dev stared at the kid in the Sacred Realm. His soul was familiar, but it wasn't one he knew.

The kid stared at him, giving a weak smile. He wore a multicolored tunic and looked a bit unsure.

Dev softened. The soul was—that alone led him to being kind, to trusting them. There was divine courage, though it had faded and was just a ghost of itself, but it was there and it was inside this boy.

"Hey, are you alright?" Dev asked.

"I... Well, umm..." they glanced around. "I... Don't know."

"You don't know if you're alright?" Dev chuckled softly, he moved closer very slowly and carefully.

They made a slight face. "No, it's... Where am I?"

"You don't know?"

"No... sir."

Dev knelt in front of them. "My name's Dev. What's yours?"

"It's..." they hesitated, looking confused before it visibly hit them. "I don't know." They looked at Dev with maybe a bit of fear and grief in their eyes. "I don't know my name."

"What do you remember about yourself?" Dev asked softly.

The kid shook his head. "I... We don't. We were... just here."

"Well, kid. You're in the Sacred Realm, regular hylians shouldn't be here, so why don't we figure out how to get you out, okay?"

The kid nodded slowly and took Dev's offered hand. Dev led them out of the pyramid and he, with a gentle warning about what he was going to do, he prodded at the kid's magical signature.

What he found was... shocking.

They turned out to be a sword spirit, Dev had to search Hyrule just to find their sword form. After a while of Dev teaching them and coaching them into leaving the Sacred Realm, he was there on the other side and helped them to change forms.

The kid looked a bit shaken. Dev knelt in front of them.

"Hey, you alright? I know it's a bit disorienting."

"N-No, I'm fine, it's just..." he stared at the ground before shaking his head and looking at Dev. "I wasn't ready for the memories."

"Oh? Can you tell me about you then?" Dev asked. "Your name?"

"Link," the kid said. "My name is—was Link, I'm—I was a blacksmith, and the Heroes of the Four Sword. It's... it's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Dev stared for the briefest moment before nodding. "It has. Around... 2300 years."

The kid inhaled sharply.

"I'm sorry," Dev offered.

"No, it's... not your fault," he managed, clearly shaken. "I just... over two thousand... goddesses."

Some centuries later, everything suddenly warped. Everything changed, ripping and pulling and pushing and stitching back together.

He was back. Back in that light, that warmth, that lackluster realm that was just him, his awareness, some mindscape formed. But it was wrong. It wasn't just his, there were things here that weren't him.

It wasn't the familiar forest, the endless, sunlit forest with unending changes that he was trying to map out and always finding new things, a true paradise for an explorer like he'd been.

This was a sort of temple, a forest beyond the windows but also an ocean and mountains, but there was no way out. The windows were stained and depicted different people, heroes, he'd realized.

"How are you here?"

Dev whirled around, well not really, he redirected his awareness to the spirit behind him that had evaded his notice... somehow.

"Fi?" He breathed.

The woman, far more Hylian-like than he had ever seen her, standing not far from him, cloak billowing around her. Blue hair, pale nearly-white skin, purple and blue eyes, otherwise she was the same as he remembered, just... less broken, less decayed.

She floated toward him, landing neatly in front of him. She visibly studied him, eyes flicking up and down his appearance. An oddly human action for a spirit that claimed to have always been a spirit.

"This is... unforeseen."

"How are you... What do you know?" Dev asked.

"The timeline split," she surmised. "There were three. I decayed in one of them, and that is where you are from."

Dev nodded. "Yeah, I... I wanted to help the next hero, like you did for me. Help and protect them."

And he'd failed, he added bitterly to himself.

"I see." She seemed thoughtful for a moment. "There were two other timelines, myself in each, we became one as did with the Master Sword of your time."

She paused for a moment. Dev mentally traced this supposed timeline, a singular line that split into three, remaining separate for centuries, and was now clicking back into a single line. One of the three lines was him, the other two was Fi.

"There is a new hero."

"We can find him."

She shook her head, a bit of a stilted movement, but Dev remembered her becoming more human for him as a child.

"I don't have the power to take physical form anymore."

Dev decided not to just say that he did. Instead he shrugged. "Alright, let's wait then."

He didn't like it. He was worried, but Fi wanted to stay put supposedly. The kid, Link, Heroes of the Four Sword in singular form —he found out that there was actually four of them, unsurprising since he'd read their stories dozens of times— had been with Dev when everything warped and he ended up with Fi. He hoped the kid, wherever he was, was safe.

"Thank you, Link," Fi said.

"Dev," he corrected her. "The heroes are Link, I'm... more of a guide now."

There was something behind those heterochromatic eyes, he wanted to say pride or something similar —but wasn't that odd? Within the confines of the sword, Fi looked Hylian, but every single time he saw her outside, she was crystalline. How... interesting.

"You determined my full designation."

"Fidelity?" He guessed, giving a small, wry smile.

Though it was unsurprising that she figured his out so easily, it was surprising when she returned his smile with a small, uncertain one of her own. "Yes, and yours is Devotion?"

He hummed and nodded.

The newest Link was a soldier, barely an adult. He was prideful at first glance, but Dev could feel, sense, and see the way his hands trembled as he grabbed the hilt of their sword.

There was a fierceness behind those sharp, cobalt-blue eyes. A ferocity that vowed protection, but also a meekness, a fear hiding beneath that ferocity, a need to prove— no, a determination to prove themselves. It was a weak determination, one forged out of a fear of failure, not a necessity to succeed.

He let Fi act as she wished, and to his own surprise, because it was something she never did for him, she tested him.

She denied him her loyalty for the briefest moment. For a brief moment that had the fierce warrior faltering and a fear that already existed, that fear of failure, becoming far stronger behind cobalt curtains.

Then determination steeled in front of the fear and he pulled again, harder.

Fi gave in.

She said nothing, so Dev stepped up. He let some of his power seep into the blade, giving it some encouragement and letting it glow slightly golden.

"Hello, Link," he greeted gently, the name coming to him without any real logic as to where, his words a hum in the boy's mind. The boy startled but there was no time for that, something appeared behind him. Dev gave a sharp warning.

The boy's eyes widened and he spun, slashing the Master Sword through a blast of magic that had been shot.

Dev stepped back, studying the way the boy fought. He was skilled, it was undeniable. He was trained, a knight, but there was so much that he could improve on.

This Link was fairly respectful, easygoing, and calm, but Dev could recognize fear and determination in his eyes. Dev offered guidance where he could, whispering battle strategy in Link's mind during meetings and helping him learn to find the best way himself.

He didn't take physical form, too many people and he didn't want to deal with being a person just yet.

Fi told Dev she didn't like to speak to her wielders if she did not need to. Though her words were different, Dev was good at reading between the lines: She didn't want to get attached, likely so the parting wouldn't hurt more than necessary.

Dev couldn't care. Not that he didn't care, but he could not. He refused to care about getting hurt. He learned during his mortal life that you couldn't avoid people for fear of hurting when you lose them.

He also promised Zelda he wouldn't avoid people to avoid being hurt, so he refused to do that.

The first time he took a true physical form was when Link had passed out after a battle and one of the little displaced heroes had grabbed his sword.

"Hi, you remember me?" Tune asked, eyes filled with curiosity as he set the sword on the table and sat on the chair to stare at it. "Captain Link says you can talk, but you never talked to me... I'm sorry I left you under the ocean."

Fi offered some quiet insight, giving Dev some context and her thoughts on the matter.

In a moment, the sword was replaced by a person and Tune yelped, jumping back as Dev took form, sitting on the table. He stumbled back, staring at him in shock.

"Don't apologize for that, little pirate," Dev said, lighthearted and warm.

Tune gaped. "Y-You—You're the sword!"

He laughed. "I am. I am part of it, at least. I have not met you before this war."

Tune looked confused. "But..."

"My partner did." Dev slid of the table and knelt in front of Tune, the young boy was fairly short for his age, not even coming up to Dev's shoulder when he had been standing. If Dev understood right, and he had been getting good at telling age from magical signatures, Tune was about twelve, maybe thirteen.

Tune nodded. "Yes—please."

"Well, a very long time ago, the timeline split into two, and then it split again. Not too long ago, there were three separate timelines." Dev informed the young hero. The courage in his heart was unlike even that in the current Link or Dev's dear Sprite. "When this war began, that changed. The timelines merged together, a convergence."

In the air, Dev drew a line with some magic lingering behind his movements to let that line remain visible, then he split it into three and brought them back together at the bottom.

"Fi is the other spirit of the Master Sword, she is who was with you throughout your journey. She is weaker than I, as she is much, much older, and sealed many, many more evils than I have."

Tune made an 'o' with his mouth, drawing the sound out. "And you?"

"I'm Dev. I am very young in comparison to Fi, and my power replenishes independently whereas hers is bound and limited as a result of our different creations. I used to be Hylian, she has always been a spirit." He tapped one of the timelines. "I formed sometime in one of the three, where Fi had faded away, and when the timelines merged, Fi and I now share the space of the Master Sword.

"Grabe!" Tune gasped, almost startling Dev with the use of a once familiar island language, then Tune visibly realized something as he beamed. "Do you know Mask? Or does Fi know Mask?"

Fi made a slightly pained and guilty chime. Dev gave a soft smile.

"Fi does. I've never met Mask."

"Then you have to! Come on, I'll introduce you. Captain Link's healing and I bet Mask is probably super worried, so we should distract him."

Dev could feel the older brother energy that Tune just radiated. He nodded.

"Lead the way, little pirate."

Tune led the way out and Dev followed him. He wove through the crowds of the military camp and Dev ignored the questioning looks shot his way.

Tune lit up and he ran and tackled someone. A small boy, in green just like Tune was, though this boy's was a darker green.

"Gah! Tune no!"

"Hey, Mask!" Tune wrangled the kicking child under one arm, stealing his floppy green cap and mussing yellow-blond hair.

"Oh—Ge'off!" Mask struggled until Tune released him.

"Cap'n Link's in good shape, Mask, stop being such a worry wart," Tune teased lightly, though it was clear his words were genuine.

"Who's this?" Mask demanded instead of addressing the chide. He eyed Dev warily.

"This is Dev! He's..."

"A sword spirit," Dev offered. He tilted his head a bit, recognizing the very faint sugary magic on the kid. "You like fairies?"

Mask startled. "Huh?"

"You have a bit of fairy magic on you," Dev tapped his nose and Mask scrunched his face up, annoyance joining the shock. "Do you like them?"

"I... I was raised by the Kokiri," Mask offered carefully. "But— Yeah, I like them. They're nice."

"Hmm, how about we do some plotting?" Dev looked over at Tune with a glitter of mischief in his eyes. "So when Link's all better and back to being reckless on the battlefield, we can give him a little... scare."

He knew he had their full attention with that suggestion. Two little gremlins these two were. He should be too old for this sort of thing, but he had a soft spot for kids. Especially ones where he could feel a connection that went deeper than sword and wielder.

The three heroes, Tune, Mask, and Link, they reminded Dev of the kid, the younger sword spirit had that same curiosity, the same determination, the same determination to help out, and the same steadiness that the three had displayed. Tune also looked a lot like the kid. Dev knew, objectively, that the kid wasn't going to get hurt, he was a sword spirit after all and almost nothing in existence could even hurt him, but that didn't stop him from worrying. It only stopped him from going out and abandoning this war to find the kid.

Notes:

I'm a little unsure about this chapter, I may come back at some point to improve it, but it does introduce most of the rest of our boys.

Chapter 5: Tight Knit

Summary:

Dev has adopted the three heroes... and then runs into a rather familiar face

Aka, Dev teaches Tune and Mask how to make Link question all his decisions while also providing therapy for Link... oh and he meets a certain displaced companion.

Link was getting better but Dev found himself keeping the two young heroes out of harms way and entertained. He taught them music as a result, Mask had an ocarina and Tune loved to sing, and he had good pitch along with tempo, so Dev taught them songs and he also started teaching them the harp.

Tune told a longwinded story about his friend Medli and her harp.

Link found them late the third night, Tune had given up on the harp mostly out of sleepiness and Mask was determined to get the song that Dev was teaching them correct.

"That sounded a lot better," Mask said, a bit happier. Dev saw Link approach and noticed him tense, his eyes narrowed as well. "What's the next chord?"

"What's going on here?" Link questioned and Mask startled. Tune startled up at the voice.

"Captain! You're okay!" Tune exclaimed. Mask visibly relaxed but he still rolled his eyes and huffed.

"About time you got up," Mask grumbled.

"Hey now, Link's been recovering," Dev chided, partially having to force himself to do so.

"That's Captain Link. I'm sorry, do I know you?" Link demanded, a bit sharper than necessary.

Tune laughed, Mask gave Link an incredulous look though he was suppressing a smirk.

Dev looked over his shoulder at him. "Quite frankly, I could not care less about titles. And even if I did, I very much outrank you in every possible sense of the word. I'm not sure though, boys. Do you think he knows me?"

"Maybe he hit his head harder than we thought," Mask deadpanned.

Tune cackled.

Dev stood up. He was decently shorter than Link, he didn't mind that much though.

"Dev, at your service, Master Link," he bowed extravagantly before flashing a shocked Link a smirk. "And if you'd like to know, yes, I do outrank you, mainly in experience. Though," he propped an arm on Mask's head, "the boys also outrank you when it comes to heroic experience, so that's not saying much."

Tune was in hysterics, rolling on the ground. Link gaped in surprise and even Mask couldn't pretend to be unbothered as he broke and laughed a bit.

"So, are you going to join us?" Dev gestured to the open area. "I was teaching them how to play the harp."

Link blinked. "Uhh... How is that conducive to the war effort?"

Dev shot Link a sharp look. "It's not. It's encouraging hobbies and keeping the arts alive in a time it's so desperately needed... Come on, sit down. The Sapling here is getting pretty good, you should listen."

Link hesitated but Mask quickly grabbed the harp Dev loaned him — the Harp of Ages, long incapable of using the temporal magic that it was filled with — and sat back down. Tune grinned and tugged Link down to sit.

Dev smiled softly as Mask plucked away at the harp, the song of the hero thrumming into their area of the camp. He was good with music, Dev noted, and seemed a bit at peace while doing it. He glanced at Link, and the plain scarf around his neck.

An idea hit him.

Mask finished the song perfectly. Link clapped and Tune whistled.

Link easily encouraged the kid and Tune jumped up to praise him. Mask definitely preened a bit.

 

"Here."

Link startled as Dev dropped bundles of yarn onto his lap along with knitting needles.

"What is this?" He demanded, more confused than anything.

"Link," Dev knelt in front of the teenager, "you need to do something that lets young unwind, that lets you disconnect from the war effort. Not every moment has to be dedicated to it, especially not when we are here at the castle, when you don't have any responsibilities at the moment, and you have so much time to kill."

"I should be training."

"No, you should be taking a break. Take it from me, a break is always worth it." Dev pressed a pair of knitting needles into Link's hand. "So I'm going to teach you how to knit, unless you have something else that has nothing to do with fighting that you'd like to learn."

Link rolled his eyes. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"Nope."

He groaned. "Fine. Fine! How do I knit?"

Dev sat him down and started coaching him through knitting. Despite Link entering it with a clear intention to hate it, Dev smirked a bit as Link began to focus on it and really get lost in it. He leaned back and let Link go at it.

He had been helping the young hero train for a while, but he knew as well as anyone else that everyone needed hobbies outside of their jobs.

 

 

 

Some time later, when the time was safe and opportune, the kids struck.

Dev called at them. "Go! Go!"

"Tune! Mask!" Link roared. Tune ran and climbed onto Dev's shoulders. Mask ran up to them too and Dev scooped him up, kicking off the ground and floating in the air out of Link's reach.

Link glared daggers at them. 

"I thought you were more responsible than that, Dev! Get down here right now! All three of you—and give me back my scarf!"

"Sorry, Link! No can do!" Tune cackled, waving his pilfered scarf in the air. 

A scarf that Dev had handmade —knitted— while sitting with Link and knitting together with him, it was a dark blue just like his other one but with an embroidered Hyrulean crest and golden tassels. 

Mask stuck his tongue out, clinging to Dev's neck.

"Not until you promise to get some sleep," Dev called down in a taunting, singsong tone. He added in a telepathic link, "It's been seven hours since the last fight, that lasted five hours, you were up exactly 6.2 hours before it began, and have yet to sleep since! You also have only had two meals, only one of which you managed to finish half of. Is this really the example you're going to set for the boys?"

Link scowled. "Get. Down."

"Promise!" Mask ordered him, wriggling and Dev helped him rearrange so he was just hanging from Dev's hands. "You haven't slept in days, I swear!"

"Fine! Fine. Just get down from there!"

"Promise?" Tune insisted.

Link sighed heavily. "Promise."

Dev hummed and then he let them drop down, setting Mask down first and then letting Tune climb down. Mask took the scarf and he marched up to Link.

Link crossed his arms.

Mask threw the scarf up, managed to wrap most of it around Link's head, and proceeded to drag him toward his tent cursing out the Captain about his sleep schedule and how stupid he was for letting it happen.

Dev chuckled. "Go on," he told Tune. "Go join them and get some sleep."

Tune hesitated, looking after them almost longingly, but not quite. "I... Can I?"

Dev furrowed his eyebrows and knelt down. "What do you mean? Of course you can."

"No—Link likes Mask," Tune said softly, watching them disappear into the tent. "They..." he chuckled, "they're like brothers."

"You know you're in that too."

"Not as much. Yeah, Link treats me like his little brother sometimes, same he does to Mask, but it's not the same. And then Mask... I know he looks up to me, but it's not like Aryll, he looks at Link like Aryll does for me. I'm... Link is... I don't think I really compete, with either of them."

"So you're the middle child." Dev tugged Tune's hair lightly and made Tune look at him. "That doesn't make you less their brother. That just means that you get the best of both worlds. Of course Link dotes more on Mask, he's younger and frankly, considering what we do know about his childhood, that kid needs it." Tune snorted and nodded his agreement. "For Mask, there's a larger difference between him and Link than you two, he wants to connect to him and so while you two just get along innately, as much as brothers do, he has to push for Link because there's just that age gap. Plus, Link's bigger and I'm sure you get the benefit of being able to hide behind someone bigger than you."

Tune sighed softly and nodded. "I know... You're right. I'm not excluded or anything, it's just..."

Dev softened. He put his hand on Tune's shoulder. "Come on, bunso. We got Link to go to bed, now it's your turn."

Tune blinked, eyebrows furrowing slightly as he looked at Dev in surprise.

"What did you call me?" He asked, voice small and hesitant.

"Bunso," Dev repeated, a small smile forming on his face. He knew a bit of the island language Tune spoke innately, he hadn't realized it was the one he knew until Tune started cursing in it.

Tune's eyes welled up with tears as he quickly fell against Dev's chest, clutching his top. "You speak..." he mumbled into his chest, most of his sentence lost to mumbling. 

Dev hummed softly, holding Tune close. "I do. I speak a lot of languages."

When Tune clung to him tightly, he resigned himself and picked him up easily. He went to the kid's tent that he apparently shared with a few other displaced people, an imp called Midna that Fi knew, and probably the new one that he heard mentioned but never caught the name of. He hadn't paid attention and no, Fi, he didn't need to know. He'd find out later when Tune decided it was time to introduce him.

As Tune had a tendency of doing. He'd insistently introduced Dev to Midna and Linkle so far the moment he learned he hadn't met them.

Tune was very easy to just hold, Dev discovered. Midna saw them come in and she snickered.

"Getting adopted, Tunie?" She teased quietly, pointing to a bed.

Tune flipped her off, not yet asleep and Midna cackled.

Dev tried to just lay Tune down but the kid was strong and clingy.

"Stay please?" He asked him quietly.

Dev rolled his eyes but he laughed softly, he had such a weak spot for kids... they deserved to have someone have a weak spot for them. He pulled a thick purple cloak from his pouch and wrapped Tune in it with him. It was far more comfortable than the scratchy military blankets and Tune curled into his lap. He was so small, Dev noted fondly as he carded a hand through his hair and hummed a quiet ballad that once upon a time would've put him to sleep. Tune drifted off fairly quickly, Dev knew the kid also didn't sleep since the battle and had stayed awake all through the exhausting thing.

"You know, the new guy kinda looks like you," Midna said, her scratchy voice a bit quieter now. "He's a bit skittish. I don't think he's shown anyone but me his face yet. Twi-Lo' solidarity and all that."

"I'll meet him eventually," Dev assured. "I won't rush anyone."

"Kinder than most," she muttered loudly. "I'm going out for the night, be back later."

Dev waved with his free hand and Midna left. He rearranged his position with Tune, happy to just let the kid cling.

 

 

 

The fabric of the tent door rippled as someone else entered.

Dev looked up and he froze, meeting viridian eyes that were mirrors of his own amethyst ones. Black to his once blond but currently violet hair.

Ravio stared at him, eyes narrowed as he finished pushing back his hood.

Notes:

💜💜💜

Chapter 6: In a Minute

Summary:

Dev reunites with one person from his past, and watches another from afar.

Meanwhile, instead of getting therapy himself, he gives it to his new kids AKA Captain Link, Mask, and Tune.

Notes:

Y'all really have to remind me to update this gosh

"I know you," Ravio said near instantly.

Dev shakily inhaled—a useless habit—and nodded.

Ravio walked over, noticing Tune curled up and asleep with his head in Dev's lap, then his gaze raised back to Dev's face.

It visibly clicked. "Link," Ravio breathed. "Mr. Hero?"

"Ravio." Dev reached toward him and Ravio moved closer. Ravio took his hands but steered them, both Dev's and Ravio's both, to hold Dev's face.

"Look at you," Ravio whispered, studying his face. "You look like I did when we first met. Wrong eye color though, and not pale enough... Why so different?"

Dev blinked and his form quickly changed. 

Lately, he had been using a form that better reflected his sword form, or rather a sort of mix between the Golden Sword and the Tempered Sword. He had violet hair that barely reached his shoulders but tied it up in a green ribbon, another green strand wrapping around a bit of hair by his face. He'd given himself a darker tan, one he had when he'd spent months at a time working in his orchard when he was still human, it turned out the sun couldn't tan sword spirits. Then he wore a pale, golden-yellow jerkin over a faded, burnt orange undertunic, the fabrics and style more reminiscent of a dream long ended than his once-favored red mail.

Suddenly, he was paler, still freckled but distinctly paler and those blemishes harder to notice as they nearly faded. Purple hair turned golden blond and a pink streak on the same side as the green ribbon, which remained. Gold and orange became dark green and red.

Ravio smiled almost blindingly. "There you are. How long, Mr. Hero?"

"Over three thousand," Dev managed. "Oh goddesses, Ravio."

Ravio squeezed his hands and pressed their foreheads together. "It's alright. You've done so well, Mr. Hero. You've gone so far. You're so incredibly strong."

Dev couldn't help but let out the small laugh that bubbled up. "Don't do that."

"But it's true. You've lived so long and I can't imagine you just hid from everything the whole time. You've must've saved the world so many times, met and lost so many people, and you're still making friends." Ravio nodded toward Tune's sleeping form. "You're so strong."

Dev closed his eyes and just relished in it. In Ravio's touch, his voice, he committed it all to memory.

"I remember this," Dev whispered. "It was while I was first—After we did the ritual, during that first year or so, right? You disappeared, stopped visiting for a while and I panicked so much. Then you came back and told me about this war and-and all these people you met and you had changed and I was so proud of you."

Ravio smiled at him. "Then I guess I don't have to worry too much about not going back home."

"You will," Dev swore. "I'll make sure of it."

"You haven't changed, Mr. Hero," Ravio laughed. "Not a bit."

Dev chuckled. "Maybe a bit. I don't fight with a sword anymore."

"Oh really? How do you fight?"

"If all goes well, I never will again. I... I've had to, but I don't want to fight anymore. Not myself."

Ravio smiled. "You know, that is different."

 

 

 

He did. He did have to fight.

A battle later that month went south. Mask got hit and downed, and Tune was with him, across the battlefield, desperately trying to protect him. Soldiers were spread thin across it, other displaced individuals fighting for their lives. Ravio would basically be playing wack-a-mole with the monsters, as more kept appearing no matter which he hammered into the ground. Midna was handling herself but that's as far as she could do.

Link got isolated and was getting overwhelmed.

"Dev, no," Fi intervened, her spirit wreathing around Dev's in a way to sort of stop him though they both knew it was ineffective. "We should not interfere."

"I'll interfere if I want to," he snapped at her. "They're going to die!" 

She went silent at that.

Link brought tried to parry some attack and was disarmed, the Master Sword flying through the air as Link frantically brought his shield up as his only defense.

A huge, axe-wielding monster was about to break that shield in half, and Link as well. Fear shone clearly in his eyes.

A wall of flames suddenly exploded and Dev was standing between them. His hand held up, catching the giant axe, and looked like golden crystal and unbothered by the sharp blade. He held a fire rod in his other hand and a vicious grin was on his face.

"Don't touch my kit," he snarled and shattered the axe with a blast of magic.

He'd done some practicing since his sprite.

Flames roared around them as he turned to Link, pulling the Magical Sword from his pouch and offering it to him. "Get to the boys. I'll help clear the way."

Link just nodded, clearly a little bit awestruck and there was an odd warmth to his face that Dev couldn't quite place.

Dev burned his way through the battlefield, slashing and burning everything down around him. The bottoms of his fire rod had a sharp stiletto at the end and he used those to take down monsters and usurpers alike. He pulled out his tornado rod to help expand the reach the flames had.

Link made it to Tune and Mask's side, Dev trusted him to keep them safe as he began to thin the herd.

He couldn't let another hero die on his watch. Not another one, goddesses please.

His own magic helped the flames curve around soldiers and allies, shielding them even from the brunt of the heat no matter how close it came to them.

 

In minutes, the tide of the battle turned and Dev was standing back as the young ones finished the fight in favor of Hyrule. He let out a sigh and was about to return to sword form when he was assaulted.

"Mr. Hero! That was amazing!" Ravio gushed as he appeared beside him, robes torn and clearly exhausted yet alive with adrenaline. Dev offered him a red potion the moment he noticed the blood. "You know, I've said it a thousand times, but you do look like a dancer when you fight!"

Dev laughed lightly, attention flicking across the field to account for everyone as Ravio drank the potion.

"You have, and every time I've said that you should see Cadence," Dev reminded him and Ravio grinned.

"Dev! Ravio!" Link walked over to them, Mask unconscious on his back, arms loosely hung around his neck. "We're going back to camp. You... You know each other?"

"You called him, Mr. Hero," Tune said, half leaning on his sword. He was clearly exhausted, Dev guessed the kid, even for his alleged two adventures, was not used to fighting for hours on end, days at a time.

Dev chuckled. He went over and picked the pirate hero up. "Did he, bunso? I dunno..."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Ravio declared.

It took no time after he picked the not-quite-a-teenager up, that Tune slumped into his chest. "Y'er warm," he muttered, clearly about to fall asleep.

"That's what happens when you burn things, you tend to be a bit warmer. Proximity to fire and all that."

Ravio snorted beside Dev as Link gave a long, suffering groan. Midna yelled for Ravio to join her and Linkle, and Ravio soon ran off to join the other dark-worlder.

Link smiled at Dev, offering his sword back.

Dev shifted Tune to his back and took the Magical Sword, letting it disappear into his pouch. 

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine," Link assured, his voice a bit softer than usual as they fell into step. "You know, you're scary when you're protective."

"Hmm?"

"When you appeared. You looked ready to burn the world to the ground... just to protect me," Link explained, looking down. "I don't get it. You also called me your kit."

Dev blinked, then he chuckled softly. "You are mine, you know that? The moment you pulled me from the pedestal, I adopted you. That's just how it works. And... And well, I would."

"You would what?"

"I would burn down the whole world just to keep my kids safe. You, these two..." his Sprite, "I'd do anything for you."

Link looked surprised, but he didn't continue the subject any longer. Instead just falling silent as they headed back to the camp. 

 

 

"Come on! There's another new person, she's so cool! She knows the same language we speak on Outset!"

Tune dragged Dev through the field of tents, Mask perched on Dev's shoulders.

"We're coming! You don't have to run," Dev teased, one hand on Mask's leg as the kid rested his chin on top of his head.

"Hurry up then!"

"He's always in a rush to meet people," Mask grumbled. "It's weird."

"Maybe, but you're weird for hating them," Tune responded cheerily.

Dev chuckled amusedly. He tagged along and as they finally came up to the mess area where a bright voice was singing some jittery tune alongside the slamming of mugs and stomping of boots.

He knew that voice.

Standing atop a table, shaking and hitting a tambourine, was the girl from his dreams.

Marin.

Dev didn't breathe, he didn't have breath, but even so it felt like his was stolen. Tune laughed and went up to join the singing and dancing, Mask even lightened up a bit in the cheery atmosphere. Dev watched Marin dance on the tabletop, he saw her pull Tune up to join her. He hadn't noticed it before, but the two had similar energy, similar warmth and enthusiasm, they had the same bright smile too. Dev found himself smiling.

She looked happy... He'd let her live this. If she recognized him, then he'd talk, but if not... He wouldn't bring up old wounds, because she was older. She looked to be at least in her twenties and they'd been sixteen when Link--when Dev had washed up on her island.

If it was a dream for her too, then... Then best she live on and forget about some boy she knew in a world they'd never get back.

He was far too old and much too immortal to let her dwell on that.

 

 

 

"Kit," Dev sat down on the castle wall beside the Captain, who glanced up at him, "what's wrong?"

"You know, why do you call me kit?" Link asked, the nickname apparently distracting him from whatever turmoil was in his mind.

"You remind me of a lion, a prideful, protective, ferocious, fierce lion. So kit," Dev gave him a soft look, one that generally got his kids to talk in the past, "what's got your mane in a mess?"

Link rolled his eyes with a soft laugh. "I... I'm tired, Dev. I know you probably wouldn't get it, being an immortal spirit and all, but..." he looked up at the moonless night sky. "How... How am I supposed to keep fighting when I'm leaving them all behind? There's... It's my fault. If I just gave myself over to Cia, this wouldn't be happening. They wouldn't be dead. Everyone around me is dying, Dev," he choked a bit, "how am I... Why can't I save them?"

Dev sighed softly. "I do get that, actually." Link looked at him. "I'm immortal, kit. I'm young in comparison to Fi, she's had many other wielders than you, like Mask and Tune, but I only had one and I existed for centuries before he was even born. I... I helped the royal family for a while, helped raise the princesses, hide the princes, saved the country a couple times by telling the ruling body to use some common sense. I raised those kids into great kings and queens, Link. They all died. My wielder, he died too, bled out in my arms, I half raised him too."

Link was silent.

"Then there was a mage, a long time ago, multiple but that's not the point. This one mage wanted this specific child, two of them actually but more specifically he wanted the Princess. If, theoretically, we had given him that girl, it wouldn't have mattered. He still would have destroyed all of Hyrule and killed its people." 

Dev looked over at Link. The teenaged war captain was still watching the stars, but clearly listening.

"If you gave yourself to Cia, it wouldn't end this war, kit. All it would do is make our side lose you, our captain and leader, our friend and ally, our brother." Link looked at him at that last one. "She isn't alone, those monsters wouldn't stop attacking. She has ancient evils on her side, evils that the heroes of the past had to fight off. All that would happen if you gave yourself to Cia, is exactly that. You'd be with Cia. The war would not end, peace would not be won or bought, everything else would continue, they would keep attacking, and you'd be trapped in the heart of it at the whims of a madwoman."

Link flinched a bit, tugging his sleeve slightly. Impulsively, Dev set what was now his signature purple cloak around his hero's shoulders.

"I know it's hard, people are dying around you and you believe you're responsible for saving them." Link nodded slightly to Dev's words. "But this is war, Link. This is bigger than just you, even if Cia is obsessed with you, that's not how this works. Something else would have been corrupted, someone else, Lana maybe, maybe some random mage who decides to raise an ancient evil, something would have happened. Maybe you would've had to travel across all of Hyrule to gather some magical items from dungeons deep in the ground to come back and fight them alone. But I speak from experience when I say the death toll would not have been better. Without the armies to protect them, monsters would've flooded villages, flooded the castle even, or maybe the armies themselves would've been mind controlled and men you know and trust would be turning against you."

Link grimaced. Dev knew he already hated having to kill the men who had willingly betrayed the crown, to kill men who had done it unwillingly was...

"Frankly, there are dozens of other ways this could have played out," Dev continued. "But it played out this way, and when I look at our status, the statistics from battles, how you're managing your men when you're barely an adult yourself," Link flinched at that, "you are doing incredibly, Kit. Better than I would have ever done, even if I were my age and not your age."

Link tugged the cloak more around his shoulders. He let out a long, shaky sigh and silence lingered for a good few minutes. Dev just stayed at his side.

"Thanks," Link whispered into the air. "Thanks Dev."

He hummed softly. "Of course."

 

 

 

Dev crossed his arms as he stood in the entryway of a certain tent, Link was leaning over at table, scarfless. Dev knew that both Mask and Tune were curled up on their bed in another tent with the scarf wound around and over them both.

"You faked them out," Dev said and Link startled, reaching for a weapon only to raise Dev's own sword form against his intangible spirit form.

Link sighed, sheathing the Master Sword. "I don't know what you're talking about.

"The boys are out cold with your scarf around them. You got them to sleep and then left. You know they hate it when you don't sleep too," Dev chided. He moved over to look at the map on the table.

"I have to finish this, and finish that report," Link said as he gestured to a stack of papers on the nearby desk. Dev moved over to it and flicked through them. "I don't have time to rest."

Dev sighed. "Goddesses... you have no idea how often I told myself that."

Link made a confused noise, looking at him.

"Just—When I was younger, I had a lot to do and little time to do it. I was right of course, I didn't have time to rest, but the difference was," Dev placed a hand on Link's shoulder, "I didn't have people who could take my burdens from me."

Link looked confused and Dev chuckled softly.

"Let's finish those reports together and then you need to get some rest. What helps you relax?"

"I... doing things with my hands. Knitting, training, braiding my sister's hair, stuff like that," Link said quietly. He unsheathed the Master Sword and set it out. It disappeared in a slight flash and Dev let himself become tangible and he picked up the reports.

"Well we're currently out of yarn," Dev noted, "and training is absolutely out of the question..." he hesitated and sighed. "Fine. Sit."

Link looked a bit confused but he sat on the edge of the bed and Dev sat down on the ground in front of him. A bit of magic had the papers floating in front of and around him, and he changed his form a bit.

The green ribbon fell into his hand while his violet purple hair grew out to his mid-back. Link startled and Dev combed one hand through it.

"If it helps you relax," he said softly.

Link made a small noise, something a bit strangled but deeply touched. Fingers slid through his hair and Dev worked on the reports, murmuring what he was reading and doing to Link while the young captain braided his hair.

 

 

"When'd you have long hair?" Tune asked after a battle.

"Because Link needed to calm down and he said braiding hair helped," Dev answered, cleaning the blood off Tune's face with a rag. "Goddesses, bunso, you either gotta clean up your act or you're joining me for training after this."

Tune grinned. "Can I braid your hair?"

Dev shrugged. "If you want, sure. Not now though. Later."

Tune lit up.

After that, Dev just kept his hair long, usually braided by either Tune or Link, and then he became Mask's practice as the fairy boy wanted to learn how to as well.

 

 

 

It was the nature of all things to end, and war was counted among them.

Dev pulled Ravio into a tight hug, as the merchant was one of the first to go back home.

"I'll see you in a minute," Ravio joked weakly.

Dev wanted to cry. "Bye, Ravi."

"Bye, Link," Ravio whispered, his words unheard by everyone else. "Be happy."

Dev tightened his hug before finally letting go. Ravio squeezed his hands before he gave another boisterous goodbye to everyone. Declaring they'd get discounts if they ever visited his shop.

Then he was gone.

Dev stepped back beside Link.

"You knew each other," Link said.

Dev gave a strained laugh. "You could say that."

Midna had insulted them all on her way out. Marin left with a promise to never forget them. 

One by one, everyone returned home, then it was just four three heroes remaining.

Mask did the best at staying strong. Link pulled them both into tight hugs, Tune clung to him but declared that Link would be alright and now Tune had plenty of stories to tell Aryll when he got home.

Mask had quietly told Link that he better take care of himself from now on.

"You hear me?" The little fairy boy glared weakly at Link. "You take care of yourself! You eat every day and sleep properly! We-We—We won't be here to make you do it anymore, so you—You gotta do it."

Link was in tears. "I will, Dev's still here to be annoying. I'll be alright, Sapling. Just—Go home and be happy, okay? Promise me that you'll find something to be happy about."

Mask's facade broke and he was in tears, crying against Link's chest.

Tune stepped away from them and he turned to Dev. He approached and hugged the spirit, and Dev wrapped the young pirate in a tight hug.

"How... How do you and Ravio know each other?" Tune asked, his face against Dev's shoulder.

Dev smiled into the boy's hair as he tilted his head. "I was just like you once," he admitted in a quiet whisper, so quiet that neither Mask nor Link could hear him. "A hero. I was younger than you, maybe even younger than Mask, when I first started."

Tune's eyes widened and he stared at him as he pulled away. Dev gently brushed his hair from his face, keeping eye contact.

"I saved Hyrule so many times, bunso. One of those times, I met this merchant... You may never visit this place or hear of it again, but there's a land called Lorule, and it's the opposite of Hyrule."

"Ravio said he's from Lorule," Tune recalled.

Dev nodded. "He is. But just as Lorule and Hyrule are mirrors, so are its people. Ravio is my mirror, he is my Lorulean counterpart. If you ever saw him without his hood, you would've seen the resemblance."

"But if he's from your past then... He's died," Tune realized. "That's why you were crying."

Dev chuckled softly. He kissed the top of Tune's head before mussing blond hair and dislodging the green cap.

"I've seen a lot of loved ones die, bunso," Dev admitted. "Ravio was one of the first, but he didn't die during my adventures, nor while I was Hylian. He died of old age. That's better than some fates I think we've both seen."

Tune nodded. "You're... you're a hero?"

"Not anymore. Now I guide the hero so they can succeed. If I have my way, I'll never have to raise a sword again... Magic rods are okay though."

Tune laughed wetly and he hugged Dev. "Love you, Dev," he muttered. "Thanks for being my big brother."

Dev hugged the kid as tight as he could. "No, thank you."

They pulled apart and Dev squeezed his shoulder.

"Now go conquer that ocean of yours, little pirate. And tell Aryll and Tetra hi from me and Fi."

Tune nodded rapidly. He hugged Link and Mask one more time, telling Mask he better take care of himself or he'd time travel just to make him do it. Mask had laughed wetly and teased Tune that he better tell Tetra he had a crush on her. Despite the prompt argument, they went through the portal holding hands, only letting go at the very last moment.

Dev spent that night talking with Link and hugging the young hero until he passed out from crying and losing the two kids he adored.

Notes:

It's a bit implied, but the idea here is that Marin is Wind/Tune's ancestor. Maybe his grandma, maybe his mother, maybe much farther back, I don’t know nor will I specify. Is Dev his corresponding ancestor/Marin's baby daddy? For the sake of Tetra/Wind, no he is not. (Dev being Hylia's descendant and Tetra the same would kinda make Wind and Tetra cousins so...)

Chapter 7: Started Young

Summary:

Dev finds an old friend, who apparently had spent the entirety of the war in a battle on another plane of existence with himself... or rather, eight other versions of himself.

Dev sensed him. Finally, that faded divine courage came into his senses and he whirled around and was running.

"There you are!" He nearly slid across the ground as he found the kid, dropping to one knee in front of him as he held his face and checked him for injuries on instinct. "Where have you been?! Are you alright? There's so much dark residue on you!"

The kid, the hero and spirit of the Four Sword, barked out a slightly strained laugh. "I don't even know, Dev. I'm so, so confused."

Dev grew concerned before it hit him. He let out a small noise of relief. "The timelines merged, kid," he said gently, and the kid startled.

"They what? There was multiple?!"

"Three, and you remember how I told you there was a spirit that inhabited my sword before me?" The kid nodded. "She's back because she didn't die in the other timelines."

The kid's jaw dropped. "IS THAT WHY I'VE SPENT THE LAST —HOWEVER LONG FIGHTING EIGHT OTHER VERSIONS OF MYSELF?!“

Dev winced. "Probably."

He stared at him. "What the—Okay. Okay this is fine. Just..." he held his 'breath' and Dev watched him slowly calm down. "Right," the kid looked at him again, "what did I miss?

"Want to come meet the new hero?" Dev asked. "We just ended a war."

"You what."

"His name is Link, so we really need to get you a nickname, kid."

"I—Fine."

"Rainbow? Prism? Spectrum?"

"Do not call me Rainbow," he threatened. "Spectrum is fine."

"Great."

A beat passed.

"I cannot believe you fought a war without me."

"There it is."

 

 

Dev was leading Spectrum to meet Link, only to see a dauntingly familiar portal and Link disappearing through it.

It shut almost the moment Dev saw it. It took everything in Dev to trust that his Sprite was right, that it was okay, that it'd be fine.

"What was that?" Spectrum questioned.

"That... That was a portal," Dev said a bit shakily. "A temporal one, time magic. It... I've seen it before, it either takes the hero, returns them, or brings monsters. Want to go hunt some oddly strong monsters?"

Spectrum blinked and stared at him. "That's an option? Absolutely."

 

 

 

Soon enough, a couple years later, Link returned and he had a knowing look in his eyes when he came back. He grinned when he met Spectrum. A few days later, he'd made a passing comment on Dev being a hero when they were alone.

"I'm no hero." Dev chuckled when Link said it.

"Really?" Link challenged, looking over at him. "Labyrnna, Holodrum, Hytopia? None of those rings a bell?"

Dev hummed slightly. "Oh, they ring bells." He stood up, and he saw Link raise an eyebrow with a bit more gall than Dev was used to from him. "Yes, a very, very long time ago, I was a hero. I was born Hylian, called to save the world, got a sword, and a triangle on the back of my hand. Then I killed the incarnate of evil, and I did it again. Yes, once upon a time, I was a hero. But I'm not a hero anymore."

"Not anymore?" Link prodded, seemingly a bit confused.

Dev just laughed softly. "Kit, I'm millennia old. I've seen Hyrule rise to its golden age, fall into decay, and it is still trying to rebuild itself. I've watched friends and family live, die, and be born again. My time as a hero ended the moment I became a spirit. That doesn't mean I'll stand aside, I still fight, but I am here to protect and guide you." He tapped Link's chest. "You, and other kids like Mask and Tune. Heroes who are still heroes, who have lives to live. I. Am. No. Hero. And by the mercy of the goddesses, I never will be again."

Link caught his wrist. "Dev, you're a hero to me. And to all of Hyrule."

"Let me live my retirement in peace," Dev teased lightly. "You may be a little lion with all that energy, pride, and strength to protect those you love, but let me just be a guide and helper, not a hero. I did my time."

Link stared at him and there was sadness in his eyes. "Okay," he said softly, letting go of his wrist. "Yeah, okay."

 

 

 

Link died of old age. Dev was a face amongst the masses and Spectrum tugged his arm to lead them from the funeral.

Fi wanted to go dormant, so Dev let her. He refused to do the same.

He and Spectrum went out to explore, slaying monsters and forging something new, building magical weapons and jewelry then Dev ended up having to carry.

They went out to other countries, Dev knew he'd sense the birth of the next hero, Fi said they would, and they explored the far reaches of the world.

 

 

 

Thousands of years passed, and they came back just in time.

There was no hero in this cycle. Well, there was, but...

A six-year-old child tugged his sleeve. "Can I go home now?"

A great calamity was about to befall Hyrule and though there were guardians and a princess with Zelda's sealing power learned and ready, the hero was a tiny child.

He and Spectrum shared a look.

"Link?" Dev knelt by the boy. "Thank you so much for meeting us. Go home now, we just wanted to say hi." The parents were crying, they knew the fate their son had been called to, but Dev wasn't about to let a six-year-old fight this battle.

Little Link lit up and ran back to his parents. Fi murmured to Dev about it, but they had long since handled any differences in their methods a while ago.

"I'll do it," Spectrum said as they headed toward the castle.

"You'll have to. Have fun," Dev said as he took Spectrum's hand and transformed.

Spectrum went to the castle and the guards let him through. A green and blue tunic, bright red hair, a violet sash around his waist and matching ribbon in his hair to hold the long locks back, Spectrum marched up to the throne room and he knelt in the center of the room.

In the end, it was a quick and simple fight. Over before it was finished.

Dev disagreed with the decision to just seal the darkness; he would have much rather destroyed it.

Spectrum agreed, but neither were allowed back into the castle after the battle.

Little Link grew up happily, not a single other calling to adventure took place. Dev and Spectrum made sure of that.

 

 

 

Ten thousand years passed before the next one happened.

Dev had let Fi win for the past five thousand years. While Spectrum went off and did goddesses know what, Fi and Dev fell dormant within the Korok Forest beneath the protection of the Great Deku Tree.

He roused when a presence approached and was instantly aware of the thick darkness in the air. It was coming back and...

The boy who drew him was no older than twelve. He stopped Fi from even testing the boy, he saw the fear but also clear determination, not in an arrogant way, but this boy had come here, gotten through the Lost Woods, and was trying to draw the sword because he had to. Dev could see it, Fi faltered near immediately and they went willingly.

"He looks like you," Fi said. "You came to me just like that, scared, but determined. I knew you wouldn't take no for an answer, not because you wanted to wield me, but because you knew you had to."

Dev had made a slightly affirming sound. This kid already had the weight of the world on his shoulders... and Dev had every intention of lightening that load as much as he could.

 

 

"You're not bad," Dev said after Link beat a guard in a fight and was left to train alone. Link didn't talk and Dev was invisible to everyone but his wielder. "Incredible for your age, actually."

He stood beside Link, who gave him a curious look as he pulled out a fire rod and held it like a sword.

"Copy my moves," he told him. Link nodded and Dev guided him through battle techniques long forgotten to the people of Hyrule. He taught him how to execute a spin attack, how to do a downward thrust, and many other things. He taught him to fight with precision.

Link was a natural, a born fighter, and after a point, Dev started teaching him other things.

The boy was isolated from everyone, partially but not wholly by his own choice. The princess whom he had to protect outright hated him, then the champions who he was meant to fight alongside were distant from the boy that Dev got to know. Mipha was closest, and Daruk tried, but Revali drove Link deeper into his corner purposely and Urbosa did it accidentally due to her protectiveness over Zelda.

Dev would sit with Link in his quarters, coaching him through peaceful things. He taught him to knit and to sew. He taught him how to crochet too, then how to dye wool. He taught him how to cook in the kitchens, and how to cook over a campfire. He took Link out to the forests one night and taught him how to forage and make food good for eating. He taught the twelve-year-old boy how to read, horrifying himself with the knowledge that literacy and education wasn't the standard even in the most rural parts of Hyrule anymore.

Link opened up to him.

He'd grin and giggle and even sometimes quietly ask questions or make an almost sassy comment. Dev was determined to get the kid out of his shell just a bit more.

Then it struck. After accompanying the princess to the base of Mount Lanayru and to as far as an underaged individual could go, after coming down to the base of the mountain, and then the sky lit up red.

Not a day later, in the twilight before dawn, Dev was feeling his magic drain to a point it had only once before.

He poured his magic into Link, into Fi, the former managing to stand up again and the latter giving her all to keep him alive. Even for all that, even after destroying dozens of guardians, Link couldn't do it.

The Master Sword chipped, it cracked, and Link couldn't quite stand back up.

The power of the Triforce saved him from immediate death. Fi and Dev panicked, and they had Zelda put Link in the Shrine of Resurrection.

They lasted long enough for Zelda to ask them to give Link the memory of her leaving them in the forest. After that, it all faded and for the second time, Dev was forced into dormancy as he had drained himself completely just to keep one boy alive. Something he had done thousands of years ago... and had failed.

 

Notes:

someone tried to call a hero younger than Dev had been on his first quest, and he and Spec just went: No <3

Chapter 8: The Wilds Reborn

Summary:

Dev wakes up to a familiar boy... one thing leads to another, and somehow he ends up co-parenting with a wolf.

Notes:

Has it been months? Yes... Sorry.

Dev roused when a presence approached and was instantly aware of the thick darkness in the air. It was still there, and it was strong.

"Wow," a soft voice breathed. "No, Wolfie, stay back."

A whine. Footsteps.

A hand around his hilt. A familiar soul—

He went willingly. Maybe if it had just been Fi, he would've expected her not to even allow him to draw her. She was barely strong enough to keep shape, and Link was weak, extremely so.

Dev was maybe half capacity. He let the sunlight go to Fi and he took form in front of Link, kneeling in front of him.

Something snarled and lunged.

Dev didn't flinch, just went intangible and the wolf flew past him. He couldn't help but snort a bit.

"Wolfie!" Link scolded. "I'm sorry—You... I know you."

Dev looked up at Link. He gave a sad smile. "Hey, Cub."

A glazed look fell over his eyes and Dev looked at the wolf, which looked at him oddly.

"I'm the spirit of the Master Sword," Dev told the wolf, a past wielder who Dev had never met. There was awareness behind those midnight blue eyes, a sort of understanding, recognition even. Dev looked at Link, who was staring at nothing. The scars on his face...

Dev cupped his face, wanting nothing more than to soothe such injuries, but he sensed no pain in his wielder. 

How he wished he could've prevented him being injured at all. How could everything have gone so horribly wrong?

 

 

 

"This is your fault."

Whine. "How is this my fault?!"

"You've been with him since he woke up. This is completely your fault, you're his responsible adult!"

A blazing fire behind the wolf and sword spirit was all that remained of a monster camp, Link cheering happily as he walked over to gather the spoils.

"Not my fault!" Huff.

"It so is. When he used my methods, the fire would already be out. The trees wouldn't still be burning!" Dev froze. "The trees!"

Ice rod drawn and soon the air cooled from blazing flames.

 

 

Dev started making Link train with him.

He used his tornado rod, tapping Link’s leg and arm gently into place.

"Your form is off, you have no knowledge of how to hold that sword much less manage to wield it without breaking it. I'm not letting you wield me and Fi until you can use a regular broadsword without breaking it."

Link groaned, swatting his magic rod away. "Oh come on, Dev! You're a legendary sword! I doubt it’s even possible to break the Master Sword.”

No. None of that. Dev grabbed Link's shoulders. "Fi died once. I had to replace her, cub. I was a regular Hylian once, and I tried to fix her, goddesses I tried. All I did was fix the blade, her spirit decayed, and after a few years I became the new spirit. Right now her spirit is fine, just exhausted, but the blade won't be able to take much abuse."

Link visibly faltered.

"I'm not telling you that you're wrong or that you're a bad fighter, honestly, you're a wild one." Wolfie made some sort of huffing noise that sounded almost like the dog equivalent of a laugh. "It's incredible what you can do. But you treat your swords like a club and don't even do basic weapon maintenance."

"Weapon maintenance?" Link questioned.

Dev gave Wolfie a disappointed look. He pointed his ice rod at him. "Your fault."

Bark. "Stop blaming me!"

"I'll show you how to do weapon maintenance, then how to use a sword without breaking it. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be able to fight hordes of monsters with only one sword... and a wolf."

Link snorted.

 

 

Link beat Ganon, Wolfie disappeared before the end of it, and after a few months, Link disappeared.

Dev was used to it by this point, both of his former wielders had disappeared too. He hunted those portals again, burning and slaughtering the monsters that came from them. 

Eventually, far earlier than the last two times, a portal formed near him and it wasn't monsters that came out of it.

Link was back, and in tears.

"Cub!" Dev spotted him near immediately.

Link saw him and he ran to him, collapsing into his arms and sobbed.

Dev gave a worried look but he wrapped his cub up in his arms and cloak, cooing softly. "Hey, hey what's wrong?"

"I had to leave," Link cried. "She called me back and we're not done."

Dev didn't understand, not completely, but he could figure it out. He rubbed Link's back. "If there's anything I've learned, she never lets you leave things half finished. You'll—You'll go back, okay?"

He inhaled shakily. It took some time before he was breathing stably and not breaking down.

 

 

Several years later, Dev was carrying a torch as he followed Zelda below Hyrule Castle, just beside Link. He raised the torch higher, scanning the walls and its engravings. It was new, or well, newer than the ruins that remained from when he was alive. But still ancient… had he really been around so long? That some things called ancient were far, far younger than him.

"Recognize anything, Dev?" Link asked.

"Nothing," Dev admitted. "Some of the architecture a few floors up was familiar, but this is completely new to me. Not older than me, probably from a time I was absent from Hyrule or dormant."

“How interesting," Zelda breathed, brushing her fingers against the stone walls. “It’s… incredible, truly incredible.”

They went deeper. Dev sliding ahead of Zelda, as they moved things were getting… darker, something dangerous was deeper in these catacombs. As much as he wanted to have them both leave, handle the problem himself like he would have so long ago, that wasn’t an option. He wasn’t the hero anymore, he could help and protect, but he’d retired a long time ago.

“Something dangerous lurks below,” he said lowly. “If you wish to avoid battle, then we should turn back.”

Link and Zelda shared a look before shaking their heads. Dev nodded and he moved on deeper, the young hero and princess behind him.

At the base of a set of stairs, the walls opened up into a huge chamber. A large circular chamber, one with a dais at the middle of the room with some skeletal creature on it… one he didn’t recognize. It was no monster he had faced before, but the malicious darkness that enshrouded it was familiar. Too familiar… and far stronger than what he recognized it.

A green hand, one in a magic completely unfamiliar to Dev, ceased holding the skeleton down, it and a golden stone falling to the ground. The skeleton’s head turned, and from that moment, everything went by so fast.

The skeleton spoke, something about a Rauru and trusting Link.

Then the malice around it reared up, swarmed around, its power exploding around them. Dev dove forward, it was his job, his and Fi’s duty to protect the hero from darkness, and his duty to protect every scion of the goddess, every one of his Zelda’s descendants.

He pulled his energy into a shield, blocking both his spirit and Zelda from the attack. Link disappeared from Dev’s senses as he focused them to hold back the barrage of power—

It suddenly reared back, pulling back into nothing before attacking again far more powerfully.

It swarmed, carving holes into his shield and then cutting into him. He almost screamed, all his energy rapidly diverting to protect Fi. She was still in need of more power, she was still weaker than she should be. He had to protect her, he had to keep her safe like she used to do with him—

The malice tore through him, he lost all senses.

He couldn’t even protect Zelda and Link anymore. As the attack let up, he fell, pulling what remained of his energy together quickly. He had plenty, he had enough.

Link grabbed his arm. “Dev—“

The malice reared up again, twisting and diving toward them.

Dev snarled, shoving Link back, and he threw a splitting blast of his own magic at it, trying desperately to protect his—

Everything went white, senses shattered, energy drained in an instant.

Chapter 9: A Kingdom Over Light & Time

Summary:

The Era of the Wild comes to a close

Notes:

im alive haha

Dev didn't know how it happened, but next thing he knew, he was inside the sword and with Fi. He had been forced into dormancy… that wasn’t new, it had happened before, once with… with his sprite, and again not at all as long ago, with his cub.

He couldn’t remember, was Link okay? Was he hurt? What about Zelda? Did they defeat that… thing?

Then he noticed that there was someone nearby, a presence they could access internally. Fi led the way there, she was stronger than him at the moment.

Zelda, she had been startled by their presence, but had greeted them warmly.

“It’s okay,” she said after he asked what had happened. “Link had used his magic on me.”

“His… magic.” The minor time manipulation he used to speed himself up, so he could strike multiple times in a single moment? “The flurry rushes?”

“The exact same,” Zelda confirmed. “He used the Secret Stone, the gold gem from the hand and it increased the power in his natural magic. I don’t believe it was intentional, but I had taken you when you reverted to sword form, Dev, and I fell.”

“You fell?” Fi repeated, Dev could almost see her frowning. “Master Link watched you fall?”

Zelda nodded. “He almost caught me, but I fell from reach. That’s when a golden light came from him and engulfed me. Next thing I knew, I was in a field and met an ancient ancestor of mine, an ancient queen, her name was Sonia, did you ever meet her?”

Dev thought back, through every woman of the royal bloodline he had ever met. “I knew a couple Sonia’s,” he admitted. “It was a popular name just before the first time Calamity Ganon arose. If I remember right, that was an ancient name even by then. Not as old as Zelda or Link, those transcend time and never reach popularity.”

“She and her husband, Rauru, fought a evil Gerudo king known as Ganondorf. That was the man in the cave. He killed her, but before she died… she taught me more about my sealing power.” Zelda held her hand to her chest. “I used that power to seal us, myself and the Master Sword, in a stasis of light far, far above Hyrule Castle. This way, you can regain power through my own.”

“I cannot track the passage of time within this seal, my lady,” Fi spoke.

Dev frowned. Normally while dormant, he had a vague sense of the passage of time. “Wait, she’s right. How will we be able to help Link?”

Zelda smiled fondly, clearly thinking of Link. “He will find us. I’ll sense him, and I’ll release the seal then.”

So, basically, it was time travel and then waiting… his least favorite things in existence. Great. 

 

 

 

It felt like forever, Dev had forgotten how hard it was to just wait. Normally, he had something he could do, be it drifting into dormancy and forgoing all senses, even the passage of time, or exploring and seeking out monsters to slay.

But no, this time, they just waited. Zelda probably became the most knowledgable person to ever exist purely due to how much Dev info-dumped as a way to pass the time, and Fi eventually joined in at their mutual prodding for information about times before Dev.

Then Zelda froze. “He’s here.”

“Master Link?” Fi clarified.

“And Ganondorf,” Zelda breathed, looking to them with wide eyes. “He’s powerful, more powerful than before. It’s… No. We must help Link.”

The seal shattered.

 

 

Dev watched. Zelda fell from the sky clutching the Master Sword—in pristine condition, he’d forgotten how long it had been to feel Fi beside him in equal strength. It was almost like when they first united, back with his lion kit, but she was even stronger than back then.

Link was in the jaws of a great dragon, one of pure malice and darkness. He was released from the jaws as it roared, spiraling through the sky. Zelda called out to him, trying to slow her own fall as he immediately dove toward her.

The dragon twisted in air. Link reached for Zelda, who reached back. The dragon turned down toward them, hatred radiating off it in waves, stronger than any other incarnation of hatred Dev had met before.

“Not stronger than Demise. This is a mere two-thirds of his power. Stronger still than any other I have battled, none of them reached one-half, but still weaker.” Fi informed him.

“My respect for your first master has skyrocketed, that thing is strong and Demise was still even more so? That…”

“My friend Link was powerful. I would have claimed him the most powerful of all the heroes throughout time, if it were not for you, the Link who was the Hero of Legends, and I wonder how strong your son and successor was, I would still accolade him as such.”

Link reached Zelda, taking her hand in his. He pulled her into his arms as the dragon lunged past them, only missing because of a sudden gust of wind throwing them to the side.

Zelda pressed the Master Sword into Link’s hand. “You can do this, Link. I will strike him with you.”

Link stared at her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks to you,” she returned.

They fought the dragon during a freewill, Dev calculated them to be mountains above sea level, the longer and longer they fell. Link swung onto the dragon itself, Zelda doing the same. They would gain altitude as they did so, their combined power weakening the writhing, attacking dragon time and time again.

All until they were just above Hyrule Castle. Link grabbed Zelda’s hand and opened his paraglider as the dragon hit the tallest tower, leaving behind a large enough floor for them to land atop the stone.

It was a place Dev recognized a dozen times over, a place Fi showed him in brief images along their connection, a place constantly overtaken by darkness and always purified.

Zelda and Link stood side by side until Link stepped forward, Master Sword drawn to the side and Zelda placed her hands together, head bowing in some mimicry of prayer.

The dragon, dripping black ichor, turned to look at them both.

“Raise your sword skyward, Master Link,” Fi instructed.

Dev could almost feel her excitement. Link followed her instruction, and a lightning bolt of pure divine magic called by Zelda fell down to them, the Master Sword a conduit.

The dragon of hatred and darkness stood no chance to the strike sent by Link directly at it, shattering the stone that was slowly sinking into the dragon’s head.

Following promptly after was a flash of red light, disappearing into the golden horizon of the rising sun.

 

 

Hyrule had changed a lot since Dev’s time, but all the centuries between them meant those changes were gradual. Faster than they should’ve been, sure, but still much slower than the three years that now resulted in the—according to Fi—re-emergence of sky islands and deep chasms.

He called Spectrum back, or tried too, reaching out some of his magic as far as he could and hoped it would reach the kid. If it did reach him, it would update him on the newest hero and the absolute chaos involved with him. If it didn’t, Dev still looked forward to whenever he returned from whatever far off land he decided needed to be investigated and explored this time.

Not even a week after, Link was gone again, vanishing through a portal. Zelda had shaken her head while laughing fondly, before turning to Purah and asking what she could do to continue the rebuilding effort.

Dev was not waiting around again, not for a while, which meant he and Fi got to run off and do what Link would’ve been doing, which was hunt down all the monsters in Hyrule that they could find and kill them.

When Link came back, he returned a bit lighter, a bit older, and he hugged Dev as soon as he saw him. He lived until he was middle aged, Spectrum returned sometime in Link's forties having received Dev’s message and worked his way back.

Link had that knowing look on his face that Dev recognized from both his previous wielders. A look that still confused him, he seemed so much more familiar with Spectrum than he logically should’ve.

It wasn’t something he ever prompted, after all, his lion kit and his sprite had done the same.

When Link passed, and Zelda soon after, Dev was still very against sitting down and waiting until next time.

Chapter 10: An Early Demise

Summary:

The First Hero, The Fallen Hero, and now...

Notes:

haha look ma! I updated!

Y'all have got to yell at me if I don't update for a while my goodness. my sense of time is horrible I forget it's been...--you know who's counting??? 😀

Fi was strong enough to take physical form. It took many years of practice and a lot of work before they could both be around at the same time, but now they could work it so he could wield her and vice versa.

She turned out to be a terrifying force, though she refused to act in such a way outside of the spars he and Spectrum managed to beg her into participating in.

After a long time, Dev leaning against Fi, her singing softly, and Spectrum sitting in some vines tied to be a swing, they had been sensing the darkness growing for a long time. They were waiting in a grove deep within the forest, they hadn’t been waiting long and often took excursions to pass time.

Then it came. The boy who wandered into their grove was no older than Dev had been.

"Oh!" The boy squeaked upon seeing them. "Umm, sorry, I... I was looking for... the singing lady."

Dev could recognize a wielder when he saw one, but Fi moved first. Her draping cloak brushing the ground and she knelt in front of him.

"You have found her, little one," she said. "What is your name?"

"Link," they answered.

"Do you have something or somewhere to be, Master Link?" She asked.

Link hesitated, then a fierce determination lit in his eyes. One born out of desperation, out of fear, it was a fire that Dev knew intimately. "I need to kill Ganon."

Fi smiled. "So you do. Then allow us to help you, Master Link."

"I... Do you know where a sword is? The old man said I need to find a sword. I… I have to do this.”

There was so much fear in him…

Dev gave a soft laugh. "We can get you a sword, kid, don't worry.”

“And we can help you kill Ganon,” Spectrum added, smiling warmly from his side. “Don’t worry, things will be okay.”

 

 

Link held two swords as he faced Ganon. He was so small, almost ten years old, just like Dev had been… so long ago. Just like the Fallen Hero had been, like Spectrum had been against Vaati.

They watched, Fi calling out warnings to Link like she once did with Dev, like she did with their kit every now and then, like he was certain she had done with her first master.

They watched Link take hits, pouring their energy into keeping his body strong. They watched him fight back and strike down the creature of hatred. He stumbled but stayed standing.

The malice coalesced. More and more darkness swarmed the battlefield, more and more came together. It was like a dying star, a great explosion, a supernova of malice swiftly pulling back together into a nebula and then into a brand new star.

"What... is that?" Spectrum questioned.

“It’s powerful,” Dev realized. Far stronger than even the dragon his cub killed.

“No… It’s impossible," said Fi.

“Fi?”

A large being took place, a man similar in stature to Ganondorf. Only this one was far larger, with skin as black as night and a large white ‘X’ on his forehead. Red lines followed his skin like a web of lightning.

Link, out of potions and fairies, a hero too young to be fighting but no younger than others, stood straight again. The boy inhaled carefully, and he took stance.

“A child. This is who you have sent, Hylia?” The last of the malice finished flying around. The last of the malice combined into a huge, jagged sword. “A mere boy to do your bidding? Go on, boy. Flee while you are able. All this land will lay wasted at my feet, and all its life slain to water these grounds in blood.”

“Nononono—LINK RUN!"

Fi never sounded more terrified.

“I can’t. He-He’s strong,” Link whispered shakily, his eyes were filled with fear, blood trickled down his arm and sweat across his brow. He was too young for this. Fi begged and pleaded—she should never sound so emotional—with Link to just run, to escape.

"Fi, who is that?" Spectrum demanded.

"Demise."

Link--in all his idiotic, stupid, reckless, goddess-given courage--stepped forward with his sword raised.

“I won’t run,” Link declared, his voice steady and betraying the fear that shook his body. “You won’t win.”

“Please… Please, just run. He is far too powerful for you.” Fi continued to plead.

Demise laughed. “Really, boy? Tell me, which of those four fools sent you here?”

Link trembled, but didn’t falter. “I am a hero, and I won’t let you win.”

Dev wanted to get between them. He couldn’t let Link face this alone. Link please—

Demise hefted up his sword and stepped forward. “It will be fun to carve you apart like I did her first hero.”

Link lunged.

 

 

It all happened so fast.

Link had fought well, he fought so well. But Demise just… he was terrifying. Dev forgot what it was like to feel true fear for his life.

As he knelt over Link’s bloodied body, pouring all his energy into Link and hoped and pleaded that the little fawn--the kid was skittish, ever curious, ever kind, ever energetic--would get back up again. He watched Spectrum, all four of them, split into the Colors. They fought desperately to hold Demise back; they struggled badly.

Fi was beside him, her own energy pouring into Link as she cradled his broken body. His glassy eyes stared dazedly at her.

“‘M sorry,” he whimpered. “I didn’ lis’n… m’sorry.”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Dev assured gently, looking quickly over his shoulder. Demise sent Blue flying across the ground and Red darted into his place. “It’s going to be okay. Just hold on, little fawn. It’s going to be alright.”

Link’s eyes fluttered, he turned his face weakly into Fi.

“Dev.” Fi looked away from the hero. “You must seal him.”

"But Link—"

"I have tried too many times. Without something else to resurrect him, our power will only prolong his suffering." 

Vio screamed as Green taking a hit of malice for him. Blue, covered in his own blood, snarled viciously and ran back in.

He couldn’t. Dev hadn’t ever tried to use the magic he was born with since he was alive. How could Fi expect him to do it now? It had been millennia—

“Link.”

He startled. Fi’s voice softened, the same tone she’d taken when she first told him he had to be ready to kill the guards who helped raise him.

“You must do this.”

He didn’t want to. If he stopped now, there really would be no hope for the child in her lap. Already, his chances were slim, but if he stopped giving his body energy…

“You are the only one who can do this. Go. Now.”

It was his duty to protect the hero as the Spirit of the Master Sword. But before that, it had been his duty to protect the sons and daughters of the goddess, as their ancestor.

Before even that, it was his choice to save the world as the hero.

He never wanted to make that choice again.

He ran. Watching Red scramble forward between Demise, and Green and Vio. Blue was both trying to move back in. Neither would reach them in time, and Red was barely standing--blood dripped down his leg, soaking his trousers. Green was unmoving on the ground and Vio trying to lift him to get them to safety. Dev grabbed Red’s shoulder and pulled the other spirit out of the way.

Demise's giant blade swung toward Dev. He wasn't faster really, not as he felt the blade make contact with his arm, but he struck in the same moment. That was enough.

Golden light consumed the battlefield.

Demise’s curses fell on deaf ears as a seal as powerful as Dev could manage locked him away. He shouldn’t have been able to access such a magic only granted to him by his blood when he no longer had any blood, but that didn’t seem to matter.

Vio visibly shuddered, dropping back to his knees with Green in his arms. Blue ran over to Red who stared at where Demise had been a moment prior, about to kill him.

Dev dimly felt pain blooming from his bicep. Link’s life faded behind him. Another too-young hero killed.

"Why does it drain you so much?" Spectrum asked, the three of them looking at the pulsing seal on the ground.

"Because I'm not supposed to be able to use that magic," Dev said. "It's in my blood, but I don't exactly have that blood anymore, you know? If I were still alive then, it'd be fine.” Or that was what he was choosing to believe, it made sense at least.

"Damn..." Spectrum muttered. "Even between the six of us, we couldn't win."

"He is far stronger than he was the first time I faced him," Fi revealed. "I suspect that he left some remnant of his hatred aside from his main form, and it has been regaining strength, and only now has revealed himself in attempts to destroy everything."

"We can't give in," Spectrum said firmly.

"Of course not, we just—We're not strong enough," Dev grumbled.

Spec shook his head. "How can we improve? The three of us are equals, we spent years training each other and we are as good as we can get without—more help."

"Master Link fought differently, perhaps learning a more variety of methods will help you improve," Fi suggested.

Dev snorted. "That'd be helpful. There's at least... seven?" He counted on his fingers. "Sprite, Tune, Mask, Kit, Cub, Wolfie, and Fi's first wielder. Then just get them to help us, even if just learning a trick or two."

"Didn't you train half of them?" Spec pointed out.

"Sprite used magic at the same time as a sword, and I only helped Kit and Cub improve. They knew crowd control, I taught them precision."

"You have yet to return to your peak skill in sword fighting. If it were possible, I believe their influences would be positive for both of you to improve," Fi agreed. "The chances of that taking place is..." she paused. "Perhaps we should spar once more before finding more monsters to defeat."

Dev sighed. "Alright, yeah, sure."

Fi transformed into a sword and Dev picked her up. Spectrum stood, the Four Sword manifesting in his hand.

"Unfair you can just manifest it."

"There's two of you and four of us, but only one of us."

Dev rolled his eyes, thinking idly to himself: soon enough there will only be one of us too. Then their blades were slamming together.

Fi wasn't going to live much longer. She lasted as long as she had because of Dev, because he funneled energy and power to her, but it wouldn't last. She was only meant to live as long as her original master, only meant to defeat Demise the first time and be done with it. There would be no use for a sword that was only wieldable by one spirit that should've stayed dead. Her survival this long was a feat unforeseen, she was decaying again.

She warned them about that not long ago, that she would probably only survive to see Demise killed again.

While sparring, a portal suddenly formed under their feet and both of them fell.

Notes:

Another baby hero dead... how sad...

So LU finally happening right?? :D

Also Demise is like, 2x as powerful as before? a couple millennia of hatred to feed off and possessing various gerudo kings to increase the hatred in the world sorta overpowers a being of hatred, ya know? New baby Link was plenty prepared for the Ganon he faced, with all three sword spirits backing him? He had it handled. Demise? Well, maybe if he knew in advance it was a possibility.

Chapter 11: Courage in Abundance

Summary:

A portal snatches three sword spirits, a portal that Dev recognizes extremely well. He, Fi, and Spectrum, also recognize the abundance of courages spirits on the other side. Or just one spirit?

Notes:

The long awaited beginning of the LU story--forewarning, I will not be going into depth of the LU storyline, just including snippets of situations that arise as a result of it being Dev and Spectrum and not Legend and Four.

“Dev. They are here.”

The portal dropped them right to the ground, and as Dev first threw out his senses to form an image of their surroundings, Fi reached much farther. The first thing he noticed was the world felt younger, the forests sang as if Farore was still around. The second thing he noticed, and it was in part due to Fi alerting him to it, was the immense amount of souls filled with divine Courage nearby. Several were painfully familiar.

Spectrum got to his feet quickly, his sword vanishing his as it appeared. The sunlight glanced off his prismatic hair, Dev wondered how long it had been since they had seen sunlight. Ever since Demise's return, dark clouds blocked out the sky. It had been... a little over a year now.

“Whoo, that was weird,” Spectrum said, looking around. "Where are we? Err--When are we?"

“It’s a gathering,” Dev breathed. “It’s…”

Spectrum shot him a confused look. “Huh? A gathering? Of what?”

Dev wanted to cry. He wanted to go to his Sprite and wrap him in a hug, protect him. He could feel him…

He swallowed past the bubbling, centuries-old grief, guilt, and regret. “A gathering of heroes.”

Spectrum stared at him. “Oh… Wait, you were a hero?”

Thoughts screeching to a halt, Dev turned to just look at the other spirit. He ran through every moment, every bit of information he’d relayed to Spectrum, the stories and… “Yes? I—Kid, I have told you about my adventures!”

“No you haven’t?!” Spectrum gaped at him. "Since when?!"

“I have?!" Dev insisted. "The-The—Island! Koholint? Uh—Ravio from Lorule was my doppelgänger? Labrynna and the time travel to meet my ancestor?! Holodrum and manipulating the actual seasons themselves! Or-Or—Cadence and how she dimension-traveled here because of an idiot musician?! My sister was Zelda?!”

Spectrum spluttered. “I thought those were other hero’s adventures and they wielded you during them!”

“Oh golden three.” Dev threw his hands up. “You literally recognized me as the kid who killed you!”

“Hey! We’ve stepped in and replaced the hero before!” Spectrum argued. “I thought that’s what you did!”

“I—No?!”

“Well sorry for assuming!”

A beat of silence passed before Spectrum realized something.

“Wait, if you were a hero… How did you become a sword spirit?”

Dev shrugged. “Ritual. How did you?”

“I don’t know, I was killed by some psychos, and next thing I knew I was in the Sacred Realm. I know I was there for a while, and I remember… I… I remember Ganondorf.”

“Ganondorf?”

“Yeah, definitely.” The kid’s entire being became distant and faded, reflective features turning matte and muted. He crossed his arms and closed into himself. “He… In every timeline, he came into power at some point. The earliest in yours and… and then really quickly after in another. But the third, it had been a long time before he came into power enough. That one wasn’t as bad, it wasn’t as painful, but I still…” His brows knit together, the distress clearly etched onto his face. “I still remember being corrupted, every time. It hurt, malice and darkness all around me, dragging me into it, I only… I only remember coming out of it once, and that’s when I saw you--When I met you."

Dev wondered who out there used the spirit of the hero and bound it to the Four Sword, what psychopath did that? The amount of power it had to of taken to do something like that to a person, especially post-mortem…

“But yeah,” Spec shook his head and came back to the present, “I don’t remember how I became a sword spirit. Did… Did the same happen to you?”

Dev shook his head. “No… No, I…” He sensed the heroes all around them, none were nearby, none would come closer to interrupt. They had time. “I chose this path, kid. Fi was with me on my first adventure, without her, I probably would join those who fell.”

Link, the little boy who Demise killed. The Fallen Hero, a young Mask who never had the sages.

“But, well, she was decayed when I found her, she died shortly after I killed Ganondorf the first time. I had restored the Master Sword itself, but her spirit was destroyed.”

Spectrum looked horrified. “Oh. That’s what you meant.”

Dev nodded. “After all my adventures were over, I wanted to find a way to help the heroes who came after me. I found a book that theorized how to make a sword spirit, involving a necrotic ritual that binds a freshly-freed spirit to a physical item. Zelda—My sister, she helped me do it.”

“Oh,” Spectrum breathed. “That’s… Huh.”

Dev laughed. “Yeah.”

“You were hylian then.”

“As hylian as they come, Hylia was my ancestor.”

“What… What did you look like?”

“Well, it’s a gathering of heroes,” Dev said, looking over at Spectrum, “shall we look the part?”

Changing appearances was easy. He changed the violet hair--once to share features with the Tempered Sword, now to remember his brother/doppelgänger--back to the golden blond he once shared with his sister, and let his eyes regain the golden flecks that acted as the physical representation of his innate magic. His skin faded from the bright, vivid bronze-orange he sometimes adopted, usually when he didn't care to blend in. Orange tunic and purple cloak and boots became the red mail he struggled to remember, it wasn't exactly right, so he took creative liberties. Red, gold detailing, and black underclothes. And his Pegasus Boots, obviously. Fi chose to materialize on his back, as the Golden Sword.

Spectrum gaped. "That's... a change."

Dev laughed. He fixed his hair, brushing a finger through the bangs and watching those strands turn pink. "I didn't want to be recognized as the hero I was, and after so long, it felt wrong to go back."

Spectrum hesitated, then he snorted. "They're going to have no clue, even the ones we've met before."

As he spoke, white-reflective hair dulled to a natural shade of blond, styled with a middle part and held back by a green headband rather than the side part he usually sported. His bronzen-yellow and white clothes, which like his hair changed colors frequently, became a tunic split into quadrants of color. His eyes no longer had that prismatic look to them, and instead appeared a calm, cool gray.

"Sometimes I wonder why you decided to walk around like a literal rainbow," Dev mused.

“Hey, the Four Sword literally glows rainbows, how else what I supposed to embody the blade I inhabit?" He huffed. "I guess we should probably act like we aren’t centuries old too if we want to sell it."

Dev sighed. “Probably. Right, let me just channel my teenaged self.”

“Uggghhh,” Spectrum groaned. “I don’t want to be a teen again.”

“Great, you’re already in character. How about we split up? Herd everyone together. Can you sense them?”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay. I’ll go… for that one. This is going to be hilarious."

Spectrum wandered off one way, toward probably the only hero here that Dev didn’t recognize in the least.

Well… he knew which way he was going.

 

 

 

He was there. Right there. Right down the path was his Sprite, seventeen, a kid... alive.

““You’re predictable," mused Fi. "…So this is the Hero of Hyrule… I see you in him. He’s something else entirely.”

Dev stared down the path at his Sprite. To Fi, he explained, “The child of a sword spirit and a fairy, even if you want to say he’s the son of my living self, that would make him a descendant of Hylia as well as the child of a fairy.”

“It makes an interesting combination…" Fi agreed. "He seems distrustful.”

Practically one cue, his Sprite’s eyes narrowed and Dev realized quickly what was most likely to happen. Then he searched his memories for how he would’ve acted all those eons ago, how Link, the Hero of Legend, would have acted.

He stepped forward, Sprite matched his movements, then swords were drawn and locked.

“We want it to be realistic, right?” Fi sounded almost amused, then heat and pain shot through Dev from where he held Fi.

Dev quickly dropped the Master Sword, reeling back at the actual pain he felt. He shot Fi a betrayed look.

Sprite didn’t hesitate to drop his own sword and throw a fist.

Dev jerked backward, dodging away and searching his memories rapidly for fist-to-fist combat. It was messy and their fight turned dirty fast. Sprite knew how to fight with his surroundings in a way Dev never re-learned, only ever taught. At some point, they ended up semi-standing, Dev faking pants as Sprite gave his own real ones.

“Why’d you drop your sword?” He had to ask.

“I don’t need a sword to beat some bandit,” Sprite spat.

Dev blinked. “Bandit? I’m not a bandit.”

“Don’t lie—Huh. You’re not?” He lowered his fists. “Then why…”

“You’re one to talk! With a sword like that, you look like a thief!”

“I calculate a 93% chance that you are awful at acting like a teenager.”

“Shut up.”

“I do not! What are you even doing in a deserted forest like this?” Sprite demanded, blatantly offended.

Dev scoffed, teens do that right? “Dropped by a portal.”

His Sprite did a double-take, jaw dropping as he pointed at himself. “Hey, me too! Who are you?”

Dev picked up both their swords and held out the Magical Sword to its owner. “I’m… I’m Link, you’re a hero, aren’t you?”

Sprite frowned, eyes narrowing as he took the Magical Sword. “Excuse me?”

“My sword—She… was protective, I guess it lingered. It burned me when I raised it against you.” Dev lied, somewhat, there was enough truth to his statement.

Enough truth that it didn’t flag as a lie to the fae child before him.

“There’s probably others like us around here,” Dev continued before anything else could be said, sheathing Fi at his side. He looked around. “Whatever brought us here wouldn’t leave it at just two, I know of two other heroes before me, a third who died in battle. A—You the Hero of the Skies? Or of the Four Sword?”

Sprite shook his head. “No, I don’t have any fancy name, not like the heroes before me. I’m just… just a traveler, really.”

He was the Hero of Hyrule, the Hero, the Hero who came and fought not for his land, but because it was the right thing to do. He was not just a traveler… but... Link, the Legendary Hero, wouldn’t know that, would he? “Fair enough. Well, Traveler, shall we see what other heroes were dragged here?”

 

 

 

Dev managed to lead Sprite to run into his Cub and Wolfie without drawing any suspicion. 

“Someone’s coming,” Sprite hissed. Dev gestured upward, and Sprite didn’t hesitate to scale a nearby tree.

They moved up quickly, vanishing behind lush leaves. Dev watched as Cub followed the hero who must be Wolfie below them. Cub looked the same as he did when he first vanished, scarred but not missing any limbs. Wolfie turned out to be a buff, young man, wearing a green tunic not completely different but still distinctly unlike Sprite’s green tunic, though he also had a fur pelt over his shoulders. Behind them trailed a familiar auburn horse, Epona, though it wasn’t one that Dev knew.

“—So… Have you ever time traveled before?” Cub asked, leaning around to try and engage with Wolfie.

“No?” He made a face. "Who do I look like? The Hero of Time?”

“I don’t know! You’re some ancient hero, who am I supposed to guess? The Hero of Wolves?”

“Ordona help me.”

“Hero of Wolves?” Sprite mouthed to him. He shrugged.

“Do you feel that?”

Both of the heroes on the ground stopped in their tracks, hands rested on their weapons. Dev snorted a bit, Sprite rolled his eyes. He didn't need to speak telepathically with him to know that they were both amused and unimpressed with their observation skills.

“Someone’s watching us,” Wolfie hissed to Cub. “Be on your guard.”

Dev sighed. He raised an eyebrow at Sprite, who seemed amused though reluctant. He tried to tacitly convey—we were looking for other heroes…— and seemed to succeed as Sprite’s shoulders slumped.

“You know, if we wanted you dead, it’d been harder if you weren’t yelling your way through a silent forest,” Dev called down.

Both jumped, Wolfie pushing Cub back and both looking up.

“What—“

“We were not yelling—“

“Yeah, you were,” Sprite interrupted.

Dev jumped from the tree, remembering partway through his fall that oh, he’s supposed to be pretending to be hylian. How do you soften a fall?

Thankfully, he’d only been about a single story up and it was well within a hylian’s capabilities to jump from that height and land unharmed.

He did, however, receive a sword to his face as he stood back up.

“Oh calm down.” He rolled his eyes. “I heard that hero comment. You guys get snatched by a portal too?”

“How did you… We did.”

“Fun. So did we.” Sprite landed on the ground just behind Dev, and when the swords were shifted toward him, Dev adjusted to body-block him.

“So, why don’t we put the swords down and talk?” Dev suggested, glaring sharply at Wolfie.

Slowly, they lowered their weapons. 

“Uhhh, hi? My name’s Link?” Cub offered.

“Another one?”

Dev really struggled not to laugh at Sprite’s surprise.

 

 

He could sense Spectrum having gathered the others together, a group of five, three of which were close together and the other two being Spectrum and the one hero Dev didn’t recognize.

Leading the two groups together was hard, as it seemed Kit was leading Spectrum’s group south, while Cub was insistent they head east, and Sprite thought north was the better option.

How they managed to get the groups together, Dev really didn’t know, but they did and the meeting was extremely chaotic. Many threats were made, Dev had to search his memories for reactions and ended up throwing a few insults at his Kit.

Mask was much older, older than Kit who kept shooting him unsure, hesitant glances. As if… As if they didn’t know that they knew each other yet. Tune was a little older, still young though, and for how he was at Kit’s side, both were fully aware.

Fi’s first wielder was there, he was who Spectrum found. Fi had hummed quietly when he entered their senses. Dev wanted to get to know him, someone he knew secondhand from the spirit who practically raised him.

Eventually, things mellowed out and someone tiredly—Mask—suggested they find nicknames for one another.

“What would we even call each other?” Sprite made a face. “What we’re the hero of? I don’t want to be called Hyrule.”

Dev snorted. “Well, according to you, you’re just a Traveler, Rulie’s cute though.”

“I don’t think that’s a good option,” Fi’s first wielder said, frowning. “I mean, what if we share these… titles? If I get what you mean, I’m the Chosen Hero of the Goddess, but wouldn’t everyone be?”

“Maybe we should stick to things like Traveler,” Spectrum suggested. “I’m a blacksmith when I’m not doing—“ he waved his hand vaguely.

“Wouldn’t we probably have overlap then? Likelihood of us all have different occupations is not that high,” Kit pointed out. “From the looks of you all, I doubt I’m the only knight amongst us.”

“I was a knight too,” Cub said. “But I got promoted to the princess’ personal guard, and then the Champion of Hyrule.”

“I’m a knight,” Fi’s first wielder spoke up. “But I don’t know this ‘hyrule’ place you guys have mentioned. I’m a knight of Skyloft.”

“I guess I am a captain,” Kit sighed.

“I’m a rancher,” Wolfie said, patting Epona. “From Ordon.”

“I’m a sailor! I man ships across the Great Sea,” Tune declared, grinning. “How about you, old man?”

Dev recognized that. He was fishing for information, Tune knew it was Mask, but he was seeking confirmation.

Mask didn’t give it. Instead he hummed. “Considering how young you all look, I suppose that works just fine.”

“What? Old Man?” Dev snorted. “Don’t judge age on appearances.”

“What about you?” Sprite asked.

“Eh, I’m just an average nobody. I’ve been doing hero-related stuff my entire life,” he shrugged.

Spectrum hummed. “So you’d be kind of a veteran at it?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

“I’m not calling a teenager a veteran,” Kit denied immediately. Wolfie nodded his agreement.

“Rude. Fine—I… know things? I have a lot of items? Look—“

“Scholar,” Spectrum offered. Thank the golden three for him. Dev had no idea what else he could say, he was not using his heritage, no, he never would’ve admitted that when he was alive, not to heroes, not to anyone. 

“Okay,” Kit agreed. "Scholar's fine."

“So…" Dev prompted. "Where are we? Anybody recognize this place or are we just lost?”

“I do.” Heads turned to the Old Man, who was looking around distantly. He moved over to one side, brushing low-hanging branches aside. “I grew up in these woods. We’re not lost but—Something isn’t right.”

“The forest is too quiet,” the Traveler said.

“We’re lost in ways other than a direction,” the Captain pointed out. “It seems like—“

Something appeared.

The Scholar whirled, there was a rip in the world, a barrier his senses couldn’t cross, and from it came something dark.

A huge, dog-beast charged into the path they stood on. The Old Man was thrown back as the beast stabbed him in the side with a huge spear. The Rancher reacted quickly, a chain grabbing the beast’s arm and preventing it from immediately killing the Old Man. 

The Traveler dove in first, striking its legs as the Sky Knight ran to the Old Man. The Captain went in close to aid with the Traveler, but when he struck the beast deeply, it didn’t fall. It spun and backhanded the Captain aside, his sword left inside the beast and laid unmoving across the area.

He was fine. Only injured, and not lethally. Focus, Dev. The Scholar formed the Titan Mitts over his hands. He grabbed the chain to help the Rancher restrain the beast. 

The Sailor swung low and slashed upward. He took the beast’s hand with him as he jumped back. An arrow flew past him from behind, hitting true.

“He’s not backing down!” The Smithy cried, drawing back another arrow.

The Scholar felt his grip loosen. “This chain is gonna break!”

The Champion ran around the beast, and using the Captain’s sword as a stepping stone, leapt onto the beast’s back to attempt and drive his sword through its neck. The beast grabbed his arm and threw him. The Smithy dropped to check on him— The Traveler leaped into the air higher than what should be possible, and with his foot against the hilt of his sword, drove his blade into the beast’s nape.

The beast fell, the Traveler stood, and the Sailor ran to cheer for him.

The Scholar forced a calm feeling over himself, the Captain was fine and wiping his face clean of blood. He walked over to retrieve his sword…

It was a sword that the Scholar had reforged from a soldier’s sword, one he forced the hero to keep on him at all times in case he wasn’t nearby for one reason or another.

The Rancher had rushed to help the Old Man, who waved him off.

“Don’t fuss over me.” He got to his feet, seemingly unhurt. “So much effort to take a single one down…”

The Rancher looked slightly hurt by that.

“Is that how you thank us?” The Scholar teased. “You’re as bad as I am”

“You were all quick to act,” he conceded. “Nothing less than commendable to be sure. But this one. This kind of beast… A single one of you should have been able to take it down. This is not normal. Stranger still, these kind are only found deep lost in the woods.”

“You think this has to do with—“

“The Shadow,” The Smithy finished, also cutting the Scholar off.

“The what?”

“We ran into some shadow thing after meeting up,” the Sky Knight said. “Didn’t you guys?”

“No?”

“A shadow thing?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It was a shadow,” the Smithy deadpanned. “Shaped almost like a person, it was hiding and watching us, only reason I saw it was because of the red eyes. They glowed. It was creepy. I’d bet my best blade that it is behind this.”

“I’d believe it,” the Captain said, he held out the cloth he used to clean his sword. It was stained black. “Look, this creature’s blood.”

The Scholar almost froze… were those monsters connected to this? The monsters he'd been killing for the past... however many centuries? The only things out there that gave him--and Spectrum--a challenge anymore?

“It was sick?” The Sailor questioned.

“From what we saw, more like empowered,” the Traveler corrected.

The Rancher cut in sharply. “This can wait, we have wounded.”

“Not necessarily,” the Old Man said, a fairy emerging from the trees to fly up to him. “We are far too fortunate to be in these woods. It’s safe now, the beast is dead.”

The Scholar watched fairies flock from all angles, healing the Captain, Champion, and the Sailor quickly opening a bottle to catch one that fluttered up to him. The Traveler greeted the fairies warmly.

“This forest is full of life now, strange that they hid from it,” the Traveler said.

“Something to be feared I guess,” the Smithy pointed out. “Even they knew something wasn’t right.”

“If it’s not the shadow we’re looking for—“

“It’s at least a lead,” the Captain interrupted the Scholar. “Seems we are on the right path to understand the cause of our meeting.”

Notes:

For clarification on the nicknames:

Hyrule --> Sprite (fairy)
Warriors --> Kit (Lion/any big cat kit)
Wild --> Cub (Fox cub)

Chapter 12: Heroes Again

Summary:

Legend (Dev) and Four (Spectrum) settle into their acting careers (LU Adventure) as their past selves!

Wind reveals just how well he knows and can recognize people despite differences, ages, etc. Legend is still emotionally compromised when it comes to Hyrule; Wild pre-Calamity is not a totally different from current Wild and now he knows it.

Notes:

I… am not in a great position in life rn, just a lot is going on. Thank y'all for your patience and thank you (you know who you are) for reminding me to update this. With how much is going on, updating frequently slips my mind so thanks for reminding me today.

“So… How are you handling this?” Four asked.

Legend was on watch, first watch, currently. He could tell none of the heroes had been sleeping, most were doing a good job of faking it though. He couldn't blame them.

His Sprite was there, he had chosen to put his bedroll somewhat near Legend though still far from everyone else and not as close as Four was. His Sprite was right there... It was different from his Kit and his Cub, they had lived. Warriors, his Kit, had actually lived a whole life, had a wife and kids, had met his grandchildren before he died. Wild, his Cub, was the same, though he'd been far younger than Warriors, he and his Zelda had two kids and he'd raised them, sure he never met his grandchildren, but he saw his kids to adulthood.

His Sprite, Hyrule, had died at 20, with only Legend and Navi to call his family.

"Just fine," he finally responded to Four.

Four nudged his boot, faking being asleep due to it being first watch. "Oh calm down. We're displaced in time anyways. We'll be back in, what? Two years? Besides, weren't we talking about how this exact thing could be beneficial?"

Legend sighed softly, just lightly shaking his head.

"Something wrong, Veteran?" Wind asked, sitting down by him, something behind his eyes. They were both on first watch.

"Nothing, just —I was a bit busy when that portal decided to pick me up."

"Mhm," Wind hummed. "Yeah, I can see how that'd bother you. You seem very devoted."

Legend snorted and rolled his eyes. He shifted a bit and opened an arm. Wind grinned and lodged himself into Legend's side.

"Missed you," Wind whispered, quiet enough even Legend strained to hear him.

He sighed and pressed a light kiss to the top of his head. "Missed you too... Keep it secret."

Wind glanced at him, head tilting curiously.

"I'd like to see which of them can figure it out." He offered as explanation.

Wind grinned and mimed zipping his mouth shut.

As their watch came to an end, Wind went back to his bedroll beside Warriors, and Legend woke up Wild and Twilight. He went to his own bed roll, distanced from everyone with Four being the closest.

It surprisingly wasn't hard to find nor revert to the mindset he had immediately into his... revival.

He would see how far he could take it. Be distant, untrusting, but kind and warm to those who managed to push past the defensive walls he remembered building as high as the sky. Walls he'd let down as he grew older and learned to offer a bit of trust to everyone and not be heartbroken if that trust was broken.

 

 

Hyrule tried to approach him and Legend could tell why.

He didn't tell his Sprite that he was the hero before him, not until he was about eighteen and Hyrule was probably about sixteen or seventeen. However he did tell him stories when Hyrule learned about the Hero of Legend from others and asked him if he knew the stories. Actually, now that he thought about it, it was after his Sprite disappeared that he discovered not only that Dev was the Hero of Legend, but also that he was his father... That made some sense. He supposed that he'd have to let that be revealed at one point or another.

But despite that reveal approaching, Hyrule wasn't aware of that connection and the lack of genuine recognition meant that he didn't quite recognize Legend. Ultimately, that meant he knew Legend from stories and wanted to get closer to his predecessor if Legend had to guess.

He didn't know how to face the sprite, his sprite, who he held bleeding in his arms, pouring magic into healing him, and still failing while trying to heal him.

His sprite, who didn't even see twenty years

Maybe that's why he let the kid get close, why he let him in quicker than his younger self would've in this situation.

 

 

 

"You wouldn't know propriety if it hit you in the face!"

"At least my whole livelihood wouldn't be ruined because someone hit me in the face!"

"Yeah, cause your whole livelihood was built off the fact that nobody liked looking at your face."

"Yeah well, your mom liked it well enough last night--"

"Stop it!" Wind shoved between them, stopping Warriors from retorting.

Four sighed heavily. "Why?" Four voices chorused in Legend's mind.

"I'm channeling my younger self and my younger self has sick-ass insults."

Two-fourths of Four laughed at that, while another quarter sighed and the remaining facepalmed.

"Stop fighting," Wind glared at them. "Aren't you supposed to be adults? Ya know, like mature?"

"He—"

"Fine, fine," Legend backed off where Warriors tried to argue. Warriors shot him a glare and Legend returned a smirk.

Wind rolled his eyes. "I'm separating you two."

He grabbed Warriors' arm and dragged him over to Time at the front, then came back and grabbed Legend's arm and full on dragged him over to where Sky and Hyrule were walking by the back.

"Aren't you supposed to be responsible?" Wind demanded quietly.

"This is who you would've been stuck with if I got dragged onto this quest while still Hylian... also it's fun and frankly this whole quest is acting as a break for us."

Wind rolled his eyes. "Well don't make us all have to suffer with your arguing... good your mom joke though."

Legend shot him a grin. "Thanks."

 

 

"TRAVELER!"

Legend spun at Wild's cry, Four moving to cover his lapse in awareness.

Nearly teleporting across the battlefield, Fi rang loudly as Legend blocked the huge blade that was about to come down on his kid, who had a deep gash in his side.

The monster's head was rolling in moments and Legend knelt by Hyrule

"Hey, hey Sprite look at me," Legend encouraged gently as he let magic flow from his hands. Hyrule gasped, eyes fluttering but he managed to look vaguely in Legend's direction. "There you go. Hold—Stay awake for me, okay? I'm going to give you a potion."

The wound began to stitch together and blood replenished, Legend used one hand to pull out a potion and uncap it. Four was shooting past beside him and taking out a bokoblin that was on its way toward them. Sky slid across the dirt as he turned around and took a defensive position about them.

Hyrule's pain-contorted face relaxed after the potion. He reached for Legend's arm and Legend pulled him close.

The battle ended soon after without any casualties.

 

Hyrule leaned into Legend's side at camp that evening. Legend was still calming down from the fight, feeling his Sprite fading while bleeding in his arms was—

"Dev?" His Sprite murmured sleepily. "I thin' I used too much magic... 'm tired."

"Get some rest, Sprite," Legend murmured into his hair. "I got you."

Four shot him a smirk as Hyrule fell asleep against him. Legend raised an eyebrow.

"He called you 'Dev'," Four told him and Legend froze a bit. "Either the Scholar reminds him of Dev, or he's figured you out."

Legend wasn't sure which one it was. But considering that the next day, Hyrule was near glued to his side, he'd wager the latter, especially after Hyrule gave him a knowing smile during the following week's conversation.

 

 

"So, Sky," Wild spoke up, leaning over toward the Chosen Hero. Dinners were normally fairly quiet, everyone relaxing after a day of travel. "You know the spirit of the Master Sword, right?"

Sky looked surprised. "Yeah, I do!"

"They're probably much younger in your time, are they any different?" Wild asked curiously.

"Well... I don't know what Fi's like in your time, but for me she's... she's a little distant, emotionally at least, very... programmed," Sky said carefully. "But she's still kind, she cares a lot even if it doesn't seem like it, and she is very smart, always calculating things..."

Legend couldn't help but nod his agreement. Fi hummed in his mind.

"She's amazing," Sky finished, his voice soft and fond.

There was a very long pause.

"What about Dev?" Warriors asked, leaning back.

"Dev?" Sky repeated, confused.

"Yeah... the other spirit of the Master Sword? The overprotective, snappy one? Likes creative arts?" Warriors prompted.

Wind snorted and Wild cackled.

Hyrule giggled softly from his place beside Legend, Four shot Legend a smirk.

"There... isn't another spirit," Sky said slowly.

"What? But—"

"Dev doesn't exist yet for Sky," Wild told Warriors. "He told me he replaced Fi."

"Oh! That must've happened before me," Hyrule spoke up before Warriors could respond. "I don't know this Fi person but I have Dev."

"He hasn't told me that," Warriors commented.

"Well, he told me he used to be Hylian," Wild confirmed. "And that Fi decayed and so he became the new spirit. He said he knew most of the heroes that came before me."

"I've never heard of any spirits," Twilight admitted.

"I didn't wield the Master Sword," Four added, Legend almost laughed at the way he evaded the subject.

"We met Dev when the Captain was wielding him—but Fi was there, but she didn't like to chat," Wind said. "Me, M—the Old Man, and the Captain."

"Dev basically raised me for most of the second half of my life," Hyrule admitted.

"Oh... that is most, okay," Wild realized.

"What about you, Vet?" Hyrule prompted with a knowing smirk.

"I only had Fi," Legend said, knocking his knee against Hyrule's. "I have to agree with Sky, she was amazing, basically raised me too."

Wild glanced at him, eyes narrowed, more confused.

"Oh..." Sky murmured.

"So there's two timelines," Twilight concluded. "One where this Fi dies, and another where she doesn't."

"Actually there's three," Wind spoke up. "Mine with the Great Sea, then there's... I guess Hyrule's, and then..." he narrowed his eyes at Twilight. "I'm going to guess the Rancher's."

"Yep," Legend spoke up, leaning his head against Hyrule's. "Fi said so. One's the Sailor, then the Rancher, an' Sprite."

"Three?" Time repeated, eye wide.

"Mhm."

"Wait if you're from just one timeline and so is your Fi, how would she know?" Warriors asked. "Unless you come after me or the Champion —but then you'd know Dev."

"Fi knows everything," Legend said in lieu of a real answer.

Hyrule snickered and Wind shot him a knowing look. Four rolled his eyes. Everyone else just mostly looked confused. Wild was figuring something out, Legend recognized that look in his eyes.

 

 

Wild walked by Legend the next day while traveling.

"So you didn't have Dev but you had Fi," Wild said, Legend let them trail a bit behind the group. "But you know about all three timelines."

"I only really had Fi for my first adventure," Legend admitted.

"Mhm..." Wild narrowed his eyes at him. "You sure? You know, Dev used to be Hylian... and he saw Fi die..."

Legend chuckled softly. "And, Cub? What does that mean?"

"I knew it!" Wild hissed, lowering his voice with a glance at the others. "You never said you were a hero! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I put the mantle down," Legend admitted lowly. "I stopped being a hero when I became a sword spirit, Cub.

"Then why are you here?"

"Because sometimes you don't get a choice," Legend sighed softly. "And I didn't say anything because I want to see if you guys could figure it out."

"Oh... Who else knows? Am I the first?"

"Rulie and the Sailor. The Sailor had me pinned fast, and, Rulie figured it out after he nearly died and I called him by an old nickname."

Wild nodded. "Not the Captain?"

"Nope. He's smart and observant... but he's actually really bad with faces and with puzzles. Strategy is where he shines... opposite of you, actually."

Wild snorted. "Wait, so you know the Rancher..."

"Yep. He doesn't yet."

"I noticed," Wild frowned slightly, glancing at Twilight. "I've been getting there though. It's nice getting to know him again."

Legend hummed, glancing at his three wielders, the two kids he once knew, his fellow spirit, and his co-parent. "Yeah, it is."

"You act so different," Wild murmured softly.

Legend chuckled softly. "It's surprisingly easy to revert back. I'm acting how I would have had I still been Hylian and haven't lived as long as I have... with the exception of certain situations and interactions."

"You wouldn't have liked the Captain much?" Wild seemed to realize.

"I would have absolutely hated him, I had so many bad experiences with knights that were mended through exposure and time," Legend admitted. "Helping raise a knight didn't hurt either."

Wild smiled softly, but sadly. "I don't remember all that... I remember that you called me Cub back then too though, and you taught me something. I don't know what."

"I taught you a lot of things," Legend mused. "I offered once when we first were... reunited, I suppose, and you denied it then and I hadn't asked again, but I will extend it once more. If you'd want me to, I can give you my memories of those times that I was present for. It is not everything, you did not often but occasionally you'd go places without me and I do not know about your childhood, but—"

"Please," Wild cut him off as he grabbed his arm. "I was scared last time and I didn't want to ask. I-I've been waiting for you to ask again."

Legend nodded. "Tonight."

Wild beamed.

That night, Legend got him and Wild on watch together. The process was fairly easy, transferring memories from himself to Wild.

 

The next morning, his Cub looked a lot lighter, though he moved a bit more rhythmically and he responded to Warriors' captain voice far quicker, he was still Wild. Especially around Twilight. Dev knew the importance of memories to self, but he also knew that his Cub had kind of always been the same.

Chapter 13: Let Kids Be Kids

Summary:

Through stubbornness and will, the three kids (those aware that Legend is in fact Dev) convince the adults (those unaware) to leave them alone for an afternoon.

Of course that is the same afternoon that certain heroes are sent to complete other quests.

Notes:

haha, so life is better but still stressful, but at least summer is almost here and I have vacations coming up :)

The adults left the kids alone.

Legend got put in charge, as the oldest of them, Warriors wanted to investigate the town but wanted to do so safely, Time chose to accompany him and Wind nearly did too before suddenly changing his mind and pushing Twilight and Sky to go in his place. Both Warriors and Time had instantly been untrusting but Legend waved them off.

"I can keep them in control, don't worry."

"Do you have any experience with kids, Collector?" Warriors challenged.

"Yes, actually," Legend retorted. "And they've turned out pretty good if I do say so myself."

"Vet and Smithy are responsible enough, let the kids have some fun," Twilight told him. Wind glanced at Four.

"Hey Smithy—"

"I need to grab some stuff from town," Four said, voice briefly overlapping with Wind's. "So I'll tag along."

"Smithy—

"I'll tag along."

Legend snorted.

Soon enough, with a lot of back and forth, Time lost the battle with Four and all of them left, leaving Legend alone with Hyrule, Wild, and Wind.

Unsurprisingly,  Wind ran at him from behind and clambered onto his shoulders. "Hi!" He leaned over Legend's head, looking him in the eyes from above.

Legend chuckled and smiled, letting his mask down. He held Wind's legs in place to keep the kid from falling. "Hey, bunso."

Wind beamed.

Wild tried to tackle them to the ground but Legend side stepped and twisted in time to partially trip Wild, catching his cape to stop him from slamming into the ground.

"Oh come on!" Wild pouted.

"You know better than that," Legend chided, tugging him back to his feet. "What do you crazy children want to do?"

"Explore!" Hyrule said instantly, appearing on Legend's other side and grabbing his arm. "Please, Dev?"

"Yeah! Please!" Wild hung on his other arm.

Legend raised an eyebrow at them both and they let go of his arm, standing up straighter.

"Please?" Wild repeated.

Legend rolled his eyes. "Fine. Go on, stick together."

"Yes!" Hyrule and Wild darted off, Legend followed after with Wind crossing his arms over Legend's head and using them as a pillow for his chin.

"You know, the Traveler looks a lot like you." Wind commented idly as they watched the other two heroes run into the forest and then just begin searching every bush and around each tree for mushrooms and critters. "Brown instead of blond and then change the bangs, green instead of purple; he looks like you."

Legend smiled a little. He tapped Wind's leg a bit. "Fi says you're very observant."

"Wait... you're related?!"

Hyrule and Wild looked back.

"Who's related?" Wild called.

"Rancher and the Old Man," Legend replied and Wild barked out a laugh.

"Everyone knew that one, Sailor," Wild said and went back to exploring.

"He doesn't know?" Wind demanded once they were gone, eyes wide as he looked down on Legend.

"Haven't told him. It actually kept me from realizing he was the hero in the first place."

"What?"

Legend smiled sadly. Wild scaled a low cliff and helped Hyrule up in. He floated over it to keep an eye on the two running ahead.

"His mother was a Great Fairy. She was lonely, most fairies don't live as long as she did and even if there were younger fairies, they lived and died before she hardly aged. She asked me to stay at her spring and at the time... I wanted someone who wasn't going to age and leave me within a couple decades. I was tired of death."

"You stayed and she had the Traveler?" Wind guessed.

"I stayed, but after a few centuries I couldn't stay put anymore. I left and then a few years later I met a little boy, covered in sugary fairy magic and divine courage underneath all that sugar."

Hyrule grabbed Wild's arm and they ran head first toward a cave in the nearby hillside.

"I thought that it was just the result of being my kid," Legend admitted, "the divine courage, I mean. It took a bit too long to realize he was the hero. He was the first other hero I'd met, I didn't have Fi either, it was hard to tell in the first place."

"It's kinda cute when you notice," Wind giggled. "He looks just like you except the hair and eyes." Then he snorted and dissolved into soft laughter

"What?" Legend aimed a glare up at him.

"Cap'n tried to tease you about being able to handle kids when you raised those two."

Suddenly they heard someone crying out.

"Guys?! Portal!"

Legend frowned. He didn't feel a portal, sure, now that he looked, the temporal magic discrepancy was there but he didn't feel the pull.

He jogged down the cave, Wind clinging to his shoulders.

"It feels wrong," Hyrule was saying as they entered. "I don’t feel it at all."

"Are you kidding me? It's a strong one," Wild huffed. "How can you--"

"Oh, Cub," Legend breathed. Already? So soon? Now that he thought about it, the timeline was just about right, but really?

"What? What's wrong, Dev?" Wild asked.

Wind slid off Legend's shoulders. Legend moved forward and grabbed Wild's arm.

"Cub. Cub, look at me, breathe."

"It's really strong--do you guys really not feel it?" Wild asked, clearly becoming a bit shaken.

"No, we can't... right," he remembered this, "look at me, it's going to be alright, okay? You're going to be okay. The goddesses don't let you leave a quest unfinished."

Wild's jaw dropped. "What?! No--I don't want to--I don't want to leave!"

Tears formed in the corner of his eyes and Legend moved to swipe them away.

"What? No! He can't!" Hyrule pleaded. "He can't just go!" He was in tears, covering his mouth.

"He has to, Sprite," Legend whispered. "I'm sorry, Cub, but it'll be okay. I lived through it, remember? Just do everything you can, do your best and don't fall into complacency. The timeline can break, things can change. Whatever you do, don't give up, do everything you can to survive and save everyone."

Wild nodded. "R-Right."

"We'll tell the others, we'll tell them you said bye and that you'll see them later. Breathe, Cub. You faced death and won, you can handle anything else that comes, I promise."

Wild nodded. He staggered a bit before lunging and hugging Legend tightly. Then he reached for Hyrule and Wind.

A moment later, with tears streaming down his face, he went through the portal.

Hyrule and Wind both turned to him, the former clutching the latter close and Legend found himself cradling two kids as they cried their hearts out for their stolen brother.

He couldn't even really promise to be there for him this time around, because he wasn't. He'd almost died himself on that quest.

 

 

 

They were back at camp. Hyrule had literally cried himself to sleep and Wind ending up nodding off while being hugged by the older hero.

Legend left his cloak over them as it grew dark and cold, starting a fire and then dinner. He heard the others approaching just in time.

There was one missing, and a somber feeling over the arrivals.

Legend looked up and met Warriors' eyes, the Captain visibly upset as he arrived and then looked over the campsite.

"Where's the Champion?" He asked.

Legend noted Twilight was gone. Time looked grim and Sky's eyes were bloodshot. Four refused eye contact.

He glanced back at Hyrule and Wind, who were still out cold at his side. He sighed softly, carding a hand through Hyrule's hair.

"Sit down," he said quietly, not making eye contact. "You'll want to sit."

"Veteran." Warriors voice was low. "Where is the Champion?"

Legend gave Warriors a sharp look. "Sit down."

Time slowly complied. Four flinched and he led Sky over to a spot to sit. Warriors remained stubborn. 

Legend took a breath. "He was called back to his time to go on another adventure."

Sky choked and dropped his head into his hands behind his knees. Four made a slightly strangled noise.

Warriors went still while Time looked away.

"You... You let him—"

"Watch. Your. Words." Four interrupted, aiming a sharp look at Warriors while rubbing Sky's back.

"How could you know?!" Warriors demanded, his voice low and sharp as he stormed right up to Legend. "How do you know—How do you know that he went back? How do you know the Shadow didn't take him?! That it isn't trying to separate us and get some of us alone?!"

Legend stared at the pot of rice and meats and vegetables he'd thrown together from over two hours of searching the area for food while Hyrule and Wind slept. He stood and turned his gaze on Warriors.

Four was stopping him.

Legend narrowed his eyes before looking back away. "Because."

"Because what, Veteran?! How could you possibly—"

"Vet," Four warned. "You can't take words back."

"Because, Captain, I just do. And it's not a blind hope either. You'd do well to stop and think before your pride gets the best of you again. Wild will be fine."

Warriors scoffed, but he stood down. Legend looked at Four, who let go of his arm.

"What happened, kid?" He muttered.

"A portal came and took the Rancher," he reported lowly. "It was only there long enough to take him, but it was divine in nature."

Legend nodded, glancing at how down everyone was.

"Help me hand out food," he sighed and Four nodded. Warriors had a calculating look in his eyes as he grabbed Legend's arm.

They stared one another down, Warriors trying to figure something out while Legend just waited. Four watched warily.

Legend sighed. "Sit down," he murmured, pressing a bowl into the Captain's hands and guiding him to the side and down. He fixed his scarf while knelt in front of him. "It's not your fault. Just breathe and eat, we'll figure out what to do about the Rancher later but we can't exactly follow him across space and time."

It visibly hit Warriors. "Dev—"

"Take a deep breath and eat some food, drink some water. I'll handle the boys."

It was nice, letting the prickly mask down and speaking familiarly to his kids. It had been entertaining to pretend otherwise, but even a fun kind of pretend got tiring at some point.

Warriors seemed to hit some kind... he hit the end of his rope. 

Legend brought Time some food too and he and Four managed to get Sky to focus on taking care of Hyrule and Wind, who woke up during the arguing and the two were wrapped up in Sky's sailcloth, He took his cloak and set it over Warriors' shoulders before he took the now empty pot—he and Four didn't get dinner, not that they needed it, they would need to be careful about food without Wild's preservation magic in his slate— to a nearby stream and cleaned it out, Four followed.

"It's the second quest, isn't it?" Four asked quietly.

"Mhm."

"He comes back a lot older."

"Five years. He'll be twenty."

"And the Rancher?"

Legend dumped the pot out and filled it again, scrubbing it once more time. "I'm hoping he's meeting Champ for the first time. He was there with the Cub on his first journey, guided him those first two years, I'm hoping that's what he's doing."

"And not what the Captain says?"

"Goddesses, I hope not." Legend sighed as he stood up. Four followed as they moved back toward the camp.

"Are... Are you okay, Dev?" He asked quietly, concern seeping into his ocean-shaded voice. Legend had long, long since been able to tell who was speaking. It happened after centuries of being stuck with the kid.

Legend shifted the pot to one arm and ruffled his hair, leading him to squawk and swat his hand off.

"I'm fine, Blue. Just worried about the Rancher and Cub."

Four glared for the hair ruffle, but he seemed to take that answer.

The camp was quiet, Time changed out of his armor and was now with Warriors under Legend's indigo cloak. Sky had fallen asleep with Hyrule and Wind still clinging to him. Four went to fix up the camp and organize it before he settled too. Legend settled on a log, one leg up and perched as he propped his chin on the hilt of the Master Sword, Fi stirring beneath his fingers, and kept vigil over his kids.

"You fear for him." Fi spoke in his mind.

"Of course I do, he's my friend," Legend responded. The trees above were swaying as a storm approached.

"I still fail to find the logic in befriending and growing attached to those who will pass... specifically when you have those who will not."

"I know," Legend sighed. "And I'm sorry for that."

Fi hummed softly and her voice faded.

Time was the only one awake besides the two sword spirits. Legend noted the placement of the stars and he pulled out his ocarina, the original color faded from age and painted over not too many centuries ago by the young sword spirit who had sat down against the log by his feet, a soft pastel rainbow from red to purple to blue to green.

An old lullaby, one his older sister taught him some millennia ago filled the air, magic following its sound as it fell over the others in the camp.

Time drifted to sleep within the hour, Four leaned his head against Legend's leg. He used a bit of magic to encourage the younger sword spirits in one into a gentle sleep.

The song played throughout the night, he blended it seamlessly into the song of healing that Fi taught him, and another song that Nayru taught him to bring peace and serenity to minds so that wisdom could flow easily.

As the sky began to brighten, he put his ocarina away and set to begin some breakfast for everyone.

Four stirred very quickly without the magic to keep him drowsy. He gave Legend a small smile that he hadn't seen since they joined this quest and sat at his side, leaning into him and stirring the wild vegetable and bird egg dish.

Warriors roused next, and as he seemed to realize how Time was curled against him, he softened immensely.

"Mornin', kit," Legend murmured softly and Four let him moved over to Warriors with a bowl of food in hand. Warriors looked a bit startled.

"Morning... Dev?" Warriors said hesitantly.

"Mhm," Legend pressed the bowl into his hands, "eat up. I'll guess we have about an hour before anyone else wakes up."

He didn't elaborate or even specify the offer he extended, the chance for Warriors to ask questions.

"Wha... You're a hero?"

He smiled softly. "I guess so. Started at eight, have basically done it since even if I had a lot of breaks... long breaks."

"Why... Why didn't you tell me? Why did—Why did you let me insult you? Why have you acted so different?"

Legend adjusted the cloak around Warriors before mussing his bedhead of hair. "Because. I... I wanted to be reckless and stupid, for a bit, who I used to be when I was younger. Before I became the spirit of the Master Sword. And because I like arguing, I like to fight with wit and I'd feel bad insulting any of the younger ones, Sky is Fi's, and the Rancher and Old Man don't do arguing. You do it back, and after the first few weeks, it was just fun.... I also wanted to see how long it'd take you and the others to figure me out. Mask's the only one who hasn't."

"Really?" Warriors looked surprised, glancing at the hero who was still out cold against his shoulder. "He's normally so observant. Who else? Obviously the Smithy... I didn't think you'd have met him, or Sky."

Legend glanced back at Four, who was keeping the food stirred.

"I'm a spirit too," Four admitted. "You'll see me again after this, same with Dev, neither of us will have a clue what's happened here."

Warriors nodded slowly.

"I've never met Sky before," Legend admitted. "He's the only one. Champion is back in his era, and I know that because I remember it. He came back in tears and he wanted to know why he had to come back and I didn't know what happened, not a single clue, all I knew is that you and Rulie disappeared too and were a bit older, a bit smarter, a bit different, when you guys came back, and then he came back in tears, basically the same age."

"And the Rancher?" Warriors sounded hopeful.

Legend gave him a sad look. "I don't know. But he guided Cub on his first journey, so I am hoping that he is there."

Warriors let the conversation end there.

Everyone else roused soon enough and Legend sat back against the log he had perched on all night. Four stuck by his side.

"Thanks for making me sleep," he said quietly.

"Anytime, kid," Legend responded in equal tone.

"Where's the Rancher?" Hyrule asked, voice wavering.

"Sprite," Legend spoke up before anyone. "Breathe."

Hyrule inhaled sharply and then slowly exhaled.

"The Champion and Rancher both disappeared, taken by portals," Legend said, shedding the teenaged veteran hero mask to reveal his normal aged sword spirit self. "The Champion is fine. He's back in his Hyrule and he'll be facing a new quest. He'll be back, a fair few years older and a bit more hurt, but he'll be back. The Rancher, most likely if my gauge on his age is accurate, is also fine. He was about this age when he joined the Champion on his first quest and guided him through it for the full three years. He'll also be older and properly panicked based on the time that he left."

Time and Sky were the only ones confused.

"How do you know that?" Time asked.

Wind giggled. "Does that mean Mask's the last to figure it out?"

Legend nodded, giving the old man a lazy, fond smirk. "Really, Sapling, even the Captain beat ya to it."

It took a second before it clicked and Time did a double take before looking at Warriors.

Wind and Warriors both broke into loud laughter, Four and Hyrule soon joining them. Legend couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled out of him. Sky still looked so confused.

"What?" The first of them spoke. "I don't get it."

Legend gave him a smile. "I've met just about everyone here before this quest, Chosen. Centuries apart though. I met Rulie in a cave, Smithy in a pyramid, Captain in a temple, Sailor in a tent and the Old Man at a military camp, I met the Champion in the woods, and the Rancher tried to maul me when we met."

Sky stared at him, so blatantly confused.

"I'm immortal, Sky," Legend told him as gently as he could. "A sword spirit."

Sky figured it out fairly fast. "You're that-that--that Dev person they talked about?"

Legend nodded.

"But... You said you knew Fi."

"She was with me during my first quest, but she had been dying, she barely survived to the end of my fight with Ganon and she faded not long after. Years later I discovered a way to create a sword spirit, to turn a soul into one, and my Zelda did that for me when I asked her to."

"Why?" Sky prompted.

Legend looked at Hyrule. "So the next hero wouldn't be left alone to handle whatever came next."

Hyrule smiled at him, a bright beam on his face, Legend glanced at Warriors too, who had soft smiles on his face.

Four cleared his throat and stood up. "With that finally out of the way—can we spar? You guys against us?"

Everyone gave Four a rather confused and startled look.

Legend snorted and tugged the back of Four's hood. "They might know about me, but they don't know about you, kid."

Rose-hued eyes blinked. "Oh! Sorry, I'm a sword spirit too! Spirit of the Four Sword. Been hanging around Dev for a long time now. Met a couple of you guys when you're older, just Wars and the Champion, but yeah. Spar?"

Legend tugged him back again. Four scowled at him.

"Give them a sec to think," he chided. "Though a spar without any bars would be nice, none of them even had a clue about you."

Four huffed, roses dancing with violets. "A five v. two would be so fun! Plus it gives you the chance to get back into swordplay."

Legend shook his head, letting out a soft laugh. "How about we spar and if they want to join in they can?"

Four rolled his eyes but complied. Legend waved him off to the side, grabbing Fi as he stood and following.

He was aware of the eyes on them as they took places distant from each other. As per usual these days, with ivy curling around bluebells, Four lunged first.

Legend dodged and parried the following strike. He remembered how to fight, but that muscle memory had never been ingrained into this form no matter how easily it could resemble his former self. He danced out of reach and twisted into Four's guard. Fi hummed as she chidingly reminded Legend on proper movements.

He heard the others grow a bit concerned as he and Four's spar grew faster and harder. Blades sang as they slammed together, neither breaking a sweat but Four was losing ground.

Four caught Legend off guard when he jumped over the slash of his blade, but it didn't do much exactly when Legend twisted away from his downward thrust and was sweeping his legs out the moment he was landing.

Legend spun around and Fi thrummed approvingly as he stood above Four, the tip of her blade at his throat.

Four groaned. "Come on!" He tapped the ground three times and Legend helped him up.

"You still fight the same way you do the first time," he chided. "It's not bad, just predictable after so long."

"So I need more variety."

Legend shrugged. "Eh, nobody's going to be fighting you as often as I have. But it wouldn't hurt."

Four nodded decisively.

"My turn!"

Wind bounded forward, Warriors dragged with him.

Legend smirked. "A two v. two or three v. one?"

Four lit up. "Three! Oh I'm so going to win."

"You haven't won against me since that first day I picked this sword back up, Spec," Legend taunted as he shifted into position. "Alright, bunso, kit, keep up won't you? And don't be scared of hurting anyone."

"Is this a good idea?" Sky asked warily, staying to the side with Time and half keeping Hyrule back.

"Oh it's fine," Legend assured, spinning the Master Sword in his hand. "Spec and I have very good control and neither Cap nor Sailor have weapons that can really do any damage to us. As long as they're not against each other, injury is quite literally a non-option."

"Can I join too?" Hyrule asked hesitantly.

Legend nodded. "Yeah, come on, Sprite. You should know that your sword can hurt us though, not much but enough that if you tried really hard you could genuinely injure and eventually kill us."

Hyrule nodded, humming as if to say he expected that.

"Wait what makes his sword different?" Four asked before either Warriors or Wind could, amethyst crossed with emerald eyes shifting toward Hyrule's sword.

"Oh I made it," Legend said casually. "I made it for myself originally, since I can't exactly wield myself and no weapon ever felt right like the Master Sword does. I made that but before I finished it, I'd actually come to the decision to give up the whole hero thing and just focus on guiding whoever comes next. I still finished the sword though, and it came in handy when I met the Sprite."

Hyrule was beaming, clutching his sword to his chest.

"Why didn't he just wield you?" Warriors asked.

Legend hesitated, he glanced at Fi in his hand. "Because I didn't know he was the hero. And when we did know, he didn't want to."

"Wait how?" Four questioned, making a face. "I can sense divinity radiating off him, all of them, and I was magically null before the whole spirit thing."

Legend shrugged. "I was new to it and hadn't ever met another hero before."

"And I didn't want to wield my friend and mentor!" Hyrule chirped. "It felt wrong to me, besides, the Magical Sword works perfectly fine!"

They seemed to take that and they got back onto task of sparring.

Wind and Warriors lunged at Legend, Wind going low and Warriors high. He nearly laughed. He had taught them this plan, their usual method of fighting together was the result of Legend teaching them to use each other to their advantage.

Four was an added newness to that particular fight though and Legend enjoyed it, but Four was still familiar. Even so, it was a genuine struggle to keep up with them, especially as Hyrule dove in as well.

He was fending off all four at once, having to utilize some fighting methods he realized he hadn't employed since he was human. A spin attack drove them back, a quick roll let him escape Warriors. He was constantly on the defensive, evading and avoiding, he managed to trip Warriors up and send Four tumbling away, but beyond that he couldn't quite manage anything.

They managed to go on for an hour before the hylians had to call a break and rest.

Legend managed to keep his exhaustion hidden. The magic he had to use to keep up... and the amount of times he had to react to things based on ancient memories that weren't ingrained into his 'muscles'? That was his new goal, fighting those four alone and winning outright, no draw or running out of time.

They settled for lunch and Legend cooked again, acknowledging Wild's absence was a bit easier with familiar food, things he taught the cub to make.

"Since when'd you know how to cook?" Warriors asked.

"Since before I met any of you," Legend said, stirring some wild herbs he'd found the other day. He didn't mention that he taught Wild the basics of what he knew. "We'll need to go back to Castle Town for food supplies, rations too. We won't be able to have fresh food as much anymore."

He had a lot of preservation spells on his pouch, he could probably set aside an area within its infinite storage for food, but that was for later.

 

 

 

Legend couldn't win against them once he and Four managed to convince them into sparring without fully explaining exactly why.

He was getting better, Fi was tracking everything and she assured he was having a gradual increase. Four was also getting better as he switched teams when Sky and eventually Time joined in on the spars. Everyone was improving.

Legend cursed as Sky held him at sword point, Sky's Fi had reluctantly agreed not to burn him with some convincing from Legend overnight.

"You guys are really good at this," Sky commented as he helped Legend back to his feet.

"Not good enough," Four huffed as he took his sword back from Wind.

"You're too hard on yourself, Smithy," Warriors said, leaning back against a log.

Four shot Warriors a glare. Legend sighed.

"Anyone up for another round?" He offered.

"We need a break," Time told him.

Wind passed Legend a waterskin, as if he needed water, but he didn't deny it, just didn't drink it. "Why are you so insistent on more sparring?" The kid asked.

Legend shrugged.  "More battles will come our way, is there a problem with wanting to make sure everyone can handle it?"

Wind hesitated. He fidgeted with his own cup. "No, but—you said once that... You said you never wanted to pick up a sword again."

Legend noted that Hyrule and Warriors both looked up when Wind said that while Four grimaced and looked down.

He tightened his grip on Fi's hilt as he sheathed her at his hip. "Yeah well, wants and needs tend to clash."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hyrule asked.

Legend hummed. "It means that the darkness came back and a light had to meet it."

 Wind frowned. "You... What about the hero? The goddesses didn't abandon the whole timeline did they?!"

Legend shook his head. He didn't want to say it. "Sometimes the hero falls, Sailor. Sometimes our best isn't enough."

Wind stared at him. "But—If you and the Smithy were there—"

"Sometimes our best isn't enough," Four repeated, still glaring at the ground, fire and water crashing together.

Time moved forward and placed a hand on Wind's shoulder. "This is why you keep asking to spar."

Legend nodded, he didn't offer further explanation and nobody asked for it.

Notes:

Thank you for reading! And thanks for waiting millennia for new chapters lmao

Since I've seen some people say that some writers take offense to weird or inquisitive comments:

Blanket permission to comment whatever the heck you want (requests for updates, grammar or spelling corrections, questions about the story, etc.), I will (eventually) respond. I reserve the right to delete insulting/mean/disrespectful comments, but I will inquire about the heart behind the comments if I interpret it to fall under that category.