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Legend will never admit how excited he gets as soon as he recognizes the landscape the Chain steps into.
“This is my era,” he announces, shaking off the vertigo from the portal.
The others, in varying stages of recovery themselves, look around in a mixture of relief and something like sadness. Relief, because it’s nice to know where they are, for once, and sadness, because they all have that little hope in the back of their minds that the next portal will take them home.
Legend is the lucky one this time around, and he immediately takes point. “We’re pretty close to my house, we should be able to get there today if we hurry.”
“Lead the way,” Warriors says with a nod, and Legend does. He tries not to hurry too much.
It’s always soothing, in a way, to be back in his era. The magic is comfortable here, soft against his skin like a well-worn tunic, and the knowledge that he’s almost home is just as comforting. Legend is still trying to get used to that feeling, to really considering his uncle’s house his home again. But he does. It is. And there’s someone living there who will be happy to see him.
He was right about how long it takes - it’s about three hours of walking before the forest around them gives way to spaced out fruit trees, carefully maintained and humming softly with nature magic.
Time chuckles and nudges Legend’s shoulder. “Go on.”
Legend hesitates, just for a moment. Should he? He can wait for the others, it won’t take that long, really. But there’s a tug in his heart, and he can see a roof beyond the orchard, and with another knowing nudge from his brother, he’s running.
He holds onto one tiny scrap of dignity: he doesn’t activate his pegasus boots.
His heart leaps into his throat as he sees Ravio, outside, kneeling in the dirt of the vegetable garden. His roommate looks up as he hears Legend’s footsteps, and with his hood down for the yard work, Legend can see the way his face lights up.
“Mr Hero!” he shouts, jumping to his feet and running over to collide with Legend in a tight hug.
Legend buries his face in Ravio’s shoulder, taking a moment to just breathe.
He’s home.
“I’m glad you’re back,” Ravio murmurs, and there’s a note in his voice that gives Legend pause. The concern only deepens as Ravio pulls away, putting his hands on Legend’s shoulders, and Legend can see the worry in his eyes. “There has been, ah. A recent development that I was hoping you would be able to help with.”
“What’s wrong?” Legend asks as the others start to filter out of the orchard. He was hoping for a bit of a break before they had to fight anything else, but if it has Ravio this concerned…
Ravio’s hand twitches for his hood, though the others have seen his face before, so he leaves it down. “Well. A, um. A creature has sort of… taken over the house. There’s a reason I’m outside, you see.”
Something settles like a lump of coal in Legend’s gut at that, and then it starts to smolder with fury. Something has taken over his house? His uncle’s house? How dare it.
“What sort of creature?” Warriors asks, jumping straight into strategy mode, as usual.
Ravio holds up his hands, indicating something the size of a small pumpkin. “About this big? Very jumpy, big eyes, lots of teeth.”
The others all exchange glances, shaking heads or voicing “not mine.”
The description pings, very softly, at the back of Legend’s mind. Something about it sounds familiar. But he can’t place it, so he shakes his head as well. “If I’ve fought one, I can’t remember where or when.”
“Well, it was very loud, and very bitey,” Ravio says with a nervous little chuckle, tugging up the hem of his robe to show them his leg. There’s a bandage wrapped neatly around his shin. “So I decided to let it have the house for now, and see what I could think up to get it out. I thought I would maybe raid the basement.”
“No need.” If the coal was smoldering before, it’s blazing now. How dare this thing not only take over his house, but bite Ravio? Legend’s hand itches for his fire rod. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Need help?” Twilight offers.
Legend thinks for a moment, then nods. “It’ll be hard to corner it on my own. I’m taking point, though.”
They all draw their swords and make sure they have their shields handy, and then Legend leads the way through the back door and into the kitchen.
The house is in a bit of disarray. Chairs are out of place, some things have been knocked over, and Legend sees a sack of flour split open on the kitchen floor, full of jagged puncture marks.
“That does look like a lot of teeth,” Wind whispers, making a face at the flour.
It does. They look like dangerous teeth, too, and it only strengthens Legend’s resolve to get this thing out of his house. He adjusts his grip on his shield and heads further in.
One of the pillows on the living room couch has suffered the same fate as the sack of flour, and Legend scowls at the fluff coating his carpet. He liked that pillow.
There is also a pile of blankets heaped on the floor near the fireplace, and they’re wiggling slightly.
Legend holds up a hand to his brothers, signaling there. They fan out around him, slow and careful, trying to block off possible escape routes without alerting the creature that they’re there.
When the others are in place, Legend takes a few careful steps forward, intentionally stepping on a creaky floorboard. There’s an explosion of movement and snarling and snapping teeth as the creature shakes free of the blankets, and the others all shout to each other, and Legend -
Legend’s knees hit the floor, sword slipping from his hand.
The little round creature launches itself into Legend’s lap, and he distantly hears cries of alarm, but all he can do is wrap his arms around her and murmur a disbelieving “CiaoCiao?”
It is her. Somehow, impossibly, the little ball wiggling in Legend’s arms is the same dog from Koholint - she’s wearing the bow, he realizes a little dazedly, leaning back to get a look at her. The same pink bow he’d given her while running around and helping the villagers.
She yips, nuzzling into Legend’s hand, happily snapping her teeth.
“Hey, girl,” he breathes, torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to cry. “How - I didn’t think… What are you doing here?”
“Uh, Legend,” someone says, and Legend glances up to see several of the others hovering anxiously. Wild is the one who spoke. “What is that?”
Legend gives CiaoCiao little scratches to keep her from growling at him. “This is CiaoCiao. She’s a dog I met on - on one of my adventures. It was a long way from here, so… I mean, I never thought I’d see her again.”
“… That’s not a dog,” Warriors says cautiously. He still has his sword ready.
“Sure she is,” Legend says, giving CiaoCiao more scratches. “Look at her.”
“I am looking at her.”
“Dogs usually have… fur,” Twilight points out, more diplomatically. “An’ a separate head ‘n body. An’ legs.”
Legend considers CiaoCiao for a minute. She… doesn’t have those things, does she? He’d never noticed before. The more he looks, the more uncertainty starts to creep in.
“Well,” he says eventually, gently straightening her bow, “she’s my dog. That’s the important part.”
CiaoCiao preens under the attention, then yips at him. She hops off of his lap, causing the others to start backwards in surprise, and hops toward the front door, turning back to give Legend a very expectant look.
He chuckles, scooping up his sword and pushing himself to his feet. “Alright, alright, what is it?”
She wiggles impatiently, waiting for him to open the door for her, and as soon as he does, she’s bouncing toward the treeline. Legend follows, and his brothers trail behind them. He has no idea what CiaoCiao wants to show him, but if she’s this insistent about it, it must be important.
Then, off in the trees, there’s an answering bark to CiaoCiao’s yipping. The sound is deep, like it came from something large.
Legend sucks in a breath, hope swelling in his chest, and starts running.
He doesn’t even make it to the treeline before there’s a huge WOOF and a familiar, much larger dog crashes out of the trees.
“Bow Wow!” Legend shouts, crashing into him with a huge hug. He realizes with a pang that he’s grown, just a bit - Bow Wow isn’t taller than he is anymore. They’re about equal in height. But that’s not enough to dampen the joy of Bow Wow nuzzling into his chest, and CiaoCiao hopping excitedly around his feet.
He hears the quiet click of a pictobox behind him, and for once, he’s in too good of a mood to care.
(The others see them, too. This is real.)
“Hey, buddy,” Legend murmurs, giving Bow Wow a few big pats. “How did you get here, huh?”
Bow Wow woofs at him, giving him a few happy snaps of his teeth.
Legend chuckles, letting go so he can give Bow Wow the big pets he really likes. “I missed you too. Thanks for hanging back, you would’ve scared Rav half to death.”
CiaoCiao yips, headbutting his ankle.
Goddesses, he missed these two. Legend picks her up and settles her in his arms the same way he’d done back on Koholint. It’s a little harder, now, slightly more awkward, but Legend realizes with a warm hum behind his ribs that it’s because this is real. There’s no dream to soften the edges. The dog nuzzling contentedly into his stomach is real.
“Mr Hero?” he hears, and he turns to see Ravio leaning around the edge of the house, hammer in hand.
“C’mon over, Rav,” Legend calls. He’s smiling so hard his cheeks are starting to hurt. “I want to introduce you!”
Ravio is wary, eyeing CiaoCiao’s teeth and Bow Wow in general, but he comes over, fidgeting with the ends of his sleeves. “I didn’t know there were two of them.”
“This is CiaoCiao and Bow Wow,” Legend tells him. “They’re really friendly, when you get to know them. I met them a while back.”
“… And they won’t bite me again?” Ravio asks hesitantly.
“Of course not,” Legend says, looking down at CiaoCiao. “This is Ravio. You be nice to him, alright?”
CiaoCiao wiggles agreeably.
“Here, scratch her like this,” Legend instructs, demonstrating the way CiaoCiao likes her scritches, then holding her out enough for Ravio to try.
Ravio likes to pretend he isn’t brave, in the same way Legend likes to pretend they aren’t close. Legend knows the truth, though. It takes a moment of hemming and hawing, but Ravio does give CiaoCiao careful scratches, and returns Legend’s delighted smile with a much smaller one of his own.
“Can I try?” Wind asks, from closer than Legend was expecting but far enough away that it isn’t really startling.
“Sure.” Legend turns CiaoCiao toward him, showing the sailor the proper way to pet her. The others drift over, too, slowly accepting that the dogs are not, in fact, going to bite one of their limbs off.
It’s just… nice. CiaoCiao is delighted by all the attention, and Bow Wow is patient and friendly as ever, and Legend’s brothers are all quickly charmed. Wind and Wild race Bow Wow up and down the yard, laughing. CiaoCiao finds a place in Warriors’ arms and neither of them seem inclined to change that arrangement. The air is gently bubbling with delight and a peace that Legend has been sorely missing.
“I suppose we have two dogs now,” Ravio sighs, though his eyes are sparkling. He nudges Legend’s shoulder with his own. “I hope, at least, we can train them not to chew on the furniture.”
“CiaoCiao’s a little lady when she’s not stressed out,” Legend snorts. “She’ll be fine. And Bow Wow is a great guard dog, he eats moblins for breakfast.”
Ravio laughs. “With those teeth, I certainly believe you!”
Legend chuckles along, watching his brothers play with two dogs that he’d never thought he would see again.
(There’s a soft flutter of hope behind his ribs. If they’re real, then maybe, just maybe… But no, he can wonder about that another time.)
“I’m glad they make you so happy,” Ravio adds, much softer. “I… well. I haven’t seen you smile like that in a while.”
Legend feels a small pang at that. “It’s… It’s not complicated, with animals. You know? You can just… be happy to see each other, and that’s fine. And I thought they were dead, sort of, so it’s nice to see them. That’s all.”
“Well, they’re here now.” Ravio is brave like Legend cares. He takes Legend’s hand and gives it a tiny squeeze. “What do you think, could I use CiaoCiao to help me intimidate customers into buying more?”
Legend snorts a laugh, and squeezes Ravio’s hand back. “Rav, you can turn anything into a way to make more money.”
“It’s a gift!”
Legend wouldn’t describe his roommate’s tendency to see business opportunities as a gift, per se, but the rest of this? The laughter, the care, the lightness fizzing in his chest? Gift sounds about right.