Chapter 1: first meeting?
Chapter Text
Twilight was starting to miss civilisation.
They had been walking for hours since passing through the portal and everything still looked the same. Trees, cliffs, grass, river, mountains in the distance, the occasional ruin or two. The only thing that was changing was the time of day.
Were they walking in circles? Had they been making any progress at all? Or was this new Hyrule really just as massive as it seemed?
If Twilight didn't get any answers to those questions soon, he thought he might as well spontaneously combust.
The initial excitement of entering a new Hyrule was long gone. The amazement and wonder at the overgrown, sprawling plains, rickety cliffs and nothing but wilderness around them had died down hours ago. No longer were they interested in sightseeing. There were barely any people around - the only person they'd met so far was a traveller who gave them directions to a town they'd yet to arrive at.
Twilight sighed. If only he could have just a few minutes of running through the dirt and grass as a wolf - the surrounding environment was so wild and perfect for a wolf that it was just begging for it.
It was a shame that he couldn't sneak away just to explore this new world as a wolf, lest he get lost or separated from the group. They were already having enough trouble with Hyrule getting distracted every five minutes by a bird or a butterfly or some cool-looking plant. Furthermore, Sky had almost fallen asleep on his feet at least two times, Wars had run out of complaints to make ("Why's the wind so damn harsh?") and Legend out of snarky comebacks ("Swooning at a little breeze, prettyboy?").
He was still thinking wistfully about running wild as a wolf when a subtle yet pungent smell stopped him in his tracks.
"What is it?" Time was the first to notice, as always.
Twilight's ears twitched. "Something hidin' behind the cliffs, I think."
"A monster?" Wind piped up.
"Most likely more than one." Twilight nodded.
"Everyone on your guard," Time called out quietly. Hands clasped onto swords, shields, bows.
One beat of silence. Two beats of silence. Three beats of silence -
Twilight turned just in time to see a Lizalfos fling itself off a cliff at Four, who barely managed to block it off with his shield in time. Several more monsters, fifteen or twenty at an estimate, launched themselves off the cliffs overhead at the group below.
A coordinated ambush.
It felt satisfying to finally stretch his muscles after so much walking. An acrid stench filled his nose as Twilight speared a bokoblin in the head with his sword, spurting jets of tar-coloured blood everywhere. Blood he recognised all too well.
"Black bloods!" He called out.
"Yeah, I think I established that!" Legend yelled back, splattered with splotches of ink-like blood.
"Focus on fighting, not talking!" Wars' sharp voice rang across the battle.
"Where's their leader?" Four shouted. "Why isn't it here?"
That's a good point. Twilight grimaced, narrowly blocking off a nasty slash to his side. The black Lizalfos - whatever it was - was nowhere to be seen.
But it's never too far away from the black bloods, so it has to be...
Waiting, watching. Keeping its distance. Hidden from view, observing, plotting, scheming -
"What was that?" Hyrule gasped at the same time Legend said, "What the hell-"
Arrows, flying faster than anything he'd seen, lodged themselves into monsters' faces. They were disturbingly accurate, many of them embedding themselves into eyes and necks.
Twilight blinked. Where had those arrows come from?
But before he could look, Wind shouted, "Twilight, look out!"
Twilight turned, and almost got his face carved off.
A wicked looking sickle flew past him, narrowly missing his nose as it curved around him and neatly sliced a bokoblin's arm off.
"What the hell!" He yelled, whipping around to see where it had come from, just as the black bloods suddenly turned and fled in unison. There was no warning, no signal - just monsters scattering like leaves in the wind.
"Oh, no you don't!" Legend snapped, and took off after them.
"Four, go with him," Time commanded. "Twilight, are you alright?"
"Yeah," Twilight shuddered as Four nodded, and ran after Legend. "That sickle just missed-"
"Twi, behind you!" Wars called sharply.
Twilight swivelled around just in time to see a figure gracefully leap off a cliff and land just a few metres away with a light thud.
A few metres too close for his liking.
Then it looked up, and instead of a face, he saw a horned skull, and in its grasp was a sickle.
In a flash, Twilight had his sword at its throat. "Don't come any closer," he growled.
"Woah, alright, chill!" The stranger held up their hands. "I was helping you!"
Unfortunately, they were still holding the sickle up, so there was no way Twilight was just going to chill.
"You tried to kill me!" Twilight snarled, inching his sword ever so slightly closer to their throat. "How is that helping me?"
Behind him, he heard Sky's voice. "Wait, Twilight-"
"I wasn't!" They backed a little further off. "Is it the helm? I feel like it's the helm. Hold on, don't attack me, let me just-"
The horned skull fell to the ground, and Twilight found himself staring at a Hylian girl with wide green eyes and shoulder-length golden hair tangled with leaves and grass. She was young, at sixteen or seventeen years of age (Twilight estimated), though it was a little hard to tell with the striking amount of scars on her face.
"...What?" He blinked.
"Yeah, I knew it was the helm." The girl grinned. "So listen, I was absolutely not trying to kill you - I was aiming for the monsters. Which I hit. Yeah, those arrows were me. So if you could, um, stop pointing your sword at me..."
"Why are you dressed like that?" Wars frowned as Twilight slowly lowered his sword. She was dressed very strangely - body paint, rough strips of fabric and animal skin, held together by rope and string, not to mention the skull helm currently lying on the ground.
"Don't mind it, I just like the way it looks." She shrugged casually, though her eyes were still warily watching Twilight as she walked over to the severed bokoblin arm and picked it up.
"Oh, eww," Wind shuddered as Hyrule looked on, fascinated.
"Were you after the black bloods too?" Time questioned.
"Yup." She examined the arm as if it were nothing but a very interesting tree branch. "Never seen them before. I don't think they belong here, so we're trying to get rid of them, or at least study them a little, but they keep running away."
She frowned, and picked up the bloody sickle lying next to the arm. "Wonder where they came from. You know anything about them?"
"Not much," Time said carefully.
"Just as I expected," the girl sighed, tucking the sickle and arm in her bag (Twilight tried not to gag). "Well. At least I've got a sample of 'em now."
"Actually, do you mind giving us directions?" Sky piped up. "We're trying to reach... ah, Hateno, was it?"
"Sure!" She grinned at them. "We're headed to Hateno, too, actually. You're currently in East Necluda. Hateno is-" She turned and squinted at the darkening sky. "Hm. That way. There's a road that'll take you there - actually, it's getting sort of late, and most people don't like travelling at night, do they?"
She tipped her head at them, clearly waiting for an answer.
"...No, uh, they don't." Sky said slowly.
She nodded. "Alright. Why don't you come and camp with us for the night? Don't worry, we have enough food for everyone, and it won't be too far away."
"We?" Twilight repeated.
"Me and my partner." She picked up the skull helm and tucked it into her bag. "I'm not going to wear this, in case you stab me. Don't do that. But yeah, we'd be happy to let you camp with us for the night."
Time regarded her. "Are you sure?"
"Can we?" Hyrule piped up. "She seems cool."
"Your definition of 'cool' needs work," Wind mumbled.
"It doesn't seem like a bad way to spend the night." Wars said carefully.
Time nodded. "Twilight?"
Twilight surveyed her. Apart from the rocky start, his instincts told him she was good - well-intentioned, if not a little strange. "Fine."
"Very well then." Time inclined his head. "We're thankful for your help."
"Right then!" The girl flashed a smile that seemed just a bit too toothy. "Name's Flora. Nice to meet you!"
"You may call me Time." Time rumbled. "This is Twilight, Warriors, Hyrule, Sky and Wind. We are currently missing two members, Legend and Four. Twilight, could you...?"
"Okay." Twilight nodded. "I'll go find them." He had been itching to be a wolf, anyway.
Chapter 2: bit of a chat.
Notes:
Kinda short one. Originally, this was going to be part of the previous chapter, which is why it's still in Twi's pov, but unfortunately, I don't have the time nor energy to sustain chapters of that length on a regular basis. :( Maybe in the future I'll get better at time management and write longer chapters though :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Where could they be...?
Twilight pushed his wolf snout into the grass and sniffed. The scents of Four and Legend were extremely faint, almost as if they had been flying instead of running. That didn't mean their trail was gone, it was still there, just stupidly hard to follow.
'Least they didn't split up. How'd they even manage to get this far?
He closed his eyes, and took another deep sniff.
It smelt of grass, grass, and more grass, with the faintest whiff of black blood and the two heroes.
Well, they can't be too far off now.
Making sure no one else was nearby, he shifted back to his Hylian form and whistled.
Silence.
Frustrated, he tried again.
Again, silence - wait, nope, was that a whistle coming back at him?
He squinted into the darkening horizon. Two tiny figures in the distance, waving at him.
He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Hey! Over here!"
It took a while for Four and Legend to run back to him, but once they did, Twilight could immediately tell from the pissed expression on Legend's face that they'd gotten nothing out of the chase.
"Damn," Twilight said. "Tough luck."
"We haven't even said anything yet."
"Your face gave it away."
"Shut up. But yeah, they got away."
"Anything happen while we were gone?" Four jumped in.
"Yeah, tons." Twilight sighed. "Stop laughing, Vet, I'm not joking. Y'all really missed out. C'mon, they're waiting for us."
"I'm sure they are," Legend muttered.
Four ignored him. "What happened?"
"Remember the sickle that almost took my head off?" Twilight asked. "Well, we met the owner of it. Some strange Hylian named Flora, also after the black bloods. She's letting us camp with her and her partner for the night."
"Wait, what?" Four frowned. "She tried to kill you, and now we're going to hang out with her for the night?"
"Turns out she wasn't actually aiming for me." Twilight shrugged. "But we both nearly slit each other's throats, so I guess we're equal now."
"Are you sure we should trust her?" Legend demanded. "Seems like an incredibly risky and stupid thing to do."
"My gut says yes," Twilight nodded. "I'm pretty sure she meant no harm."
"We can't just go off of gut feelings," Legend argued. "What if it's a trick?"
"Well, I trust his gut." Four chimed in. "Besides, it's two against eight. I don't think she could do anything against us."
Legend said nothing for a moment, emotions warring across his face. "I hate it when you're right. Can you stop doing that for a minute?"
"Absolutely not. It's funnier this way, don't worry."
"No, the hell it is not."
"You think there's going to be a new hero in this Hyrule?" Twilight said loudly over Four's response.
"Don't think so," Legend muttered. "Eight heroes is more than enough."
"But most of the Hyrules we've travelled to so far gave us a new hero," Four said. "Another one might be more likely than not."
"I thought I told you to stop being right?"
"Did you?" Four said innocently. Legend swatted at him.
"Hey, stop that." Twilight said sternly, placing himself between the two. "We'll ask Flora when we get back. She's bound to know, right?"
Four peeked out from behind Twilight's frame. "Time's probably already asked her already. How long do you think it'll take for us to get back?"
"Not too long, I hope." Twilight sighed. "You two ran an awfully long distance. I don't even know how you got that far."
"Oops." Four shrugged.
"Oops?" Twilight snorted. "Really?"
"Yes, really. Anyway, I'm sure we'll get back in no time. Provided we don't get lost."
"What's stopping us from getting lost?" Legend snarked. "We were already lost to begin with."
"Hey, I've got a pretty good sense of direction," Twilight said. "Plus, you ran in a mostly straight line."
"Black bloods didn't." Legend muttered. "Maybe that's why we got nowhere at all."
"And they ran unnaturally fast." Four agreed. "I doubt we could've caught up anyways."
"There was no way in hell we could've caught up!" Legend threw his hands up in frustration. "This whole - everything - it's been going nowhere!"
Twilight stopped walking, causing Four to smack into his backside with a yelp. "Oops - sorry, Four. Legend, are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Legend muttered, looking away.
Twilight exhaled. "It's just that you've been really tetchy lately. Not that you aren't already tetchy, just more than usual."
Legend snorted. "Thanks, ranch hand."
"Hey, everyone's frustrated." Twilight held his hands up. "We're all a bit sick of chasing down the black bloods. So, what you're feeling right now, I totally get it."
Legend rolled his eyes. "Are you done yet?"
"Hey, he's right." Four piped up. "I agree with you - this mission is going nowhere at all and it sucks more than the time I accidentally set fire to - uh, myself. But I think we'll be alright as long as we have each other. Blech, that was sappier than I intended."
"Sappy but correct." Twilight grinned. "You're stuck with us now - wait, Four, did you say you set yourself on fire?"
"Well, I - it was kind of a weird time for me, alright?" Four squirmed. "And that's really not the issue right now."
"No, I'm curious too," Legend jumped in quickly. "I gotta know-"
Four cut him off. "Absolutely not. You'll use it as blackmail against me!"
"Oh, it's that bad, huh?" Legend smirked.
"I'm not gonna blackmail you with it," Twilight promised. "You can-"
"No way, nuh-uh, no to either of you!" Four squawked, and ran ahead.
"I'll tell everyone at camp if you don't!" Legend called after him, grinning.
Twilight laughed, the first time he had in ages. "He'll get you back for that if you do."
"Ha, he can try."
Guess that helped a bit, Twilight thought, noting the tension bleeding out of Legend's shoulders. Out loud, he said, "You feelin' better, then?"
"...A little." Legend admitted. "Hey, where's Four going?"
"Oh no." Twilight cupped his hands to his mouth and hollered as loud as he could. "Four, that's the wrong way!"
Notes:
obviously I don't know how to end a chapter. my bad. anyways feedback and constructive criticism is always appreciated
Chapter 3: trust
Notes:
this got posted a whole week later than it should have. my bad. i had hella stuff happening in the last 2 weeks.
on the bright side, heres 2 chapters posted back-to-back
Chapter Text
Wars wasn't sure he trusted Flora.
Sure, she had been incredibly helpful in fighting off the black bloods, and had offered them a place and a meal for the night, but he couldn't stop thinking that there was just something off about her.
Or maybe he was just wary because she was dangerous. Her archery skills with the arrows had proved to be terrifyingly accurate as well as deadly - nothing like he'd seen before. And that sickle had sliced so cleanly through flesh, too.
No chance she was just some random traveller.
Normally, he wouldn't concern himself with such matters. He knew they wouldn't stay forever in this Hyrule anyway.
But the fact that Flora had shared goals with them meant she could be far more than just helpful to them. Wars knew competent people when he saw them, and he was certain there was far more to Flora than weird Hylian who doesn't know the dangers of travelling at night.
"Wars," Wind whispered, breaking his train of thought. "Wars. Are you gonna ask the question?"
"I will, in a bit," Wars reassured. "I'm just... thinking."
"More like brooding."
"Professional brooding. Now shoo, I need to work my charm."
"You don't have charm," Wind teased, but obliged.
Ignoring him, Wars turned his gaze to Flora, who was locked in excited conversation with Hyrule as he bombarded her with questions about her recently acquired bokoblin arm, such as 'can you cook it?' and 'can you eat it?'.
Hastily, he cleared his throat to draw her attention away from Hyrule's question so that he wouldn't have to hear the answer. "While we wait for the three of them to return, I'd like to ask you a couple things."
Flora tilted her head at him in that strange, animalistic way of hers. "Go ahead. I can't guarantee I'll know the answer, though."
"Right." Wars coughed. "Do you know anything of an ancient legend about a hero and princess defeating a great evil to save the kingdom?"
Instantly, the other heroes stopped talking and listened into to their conversation.
"Oh, uh," Flora blinked. "I'm - I'm very familiar with it. Why are you asking?"
Bingo. "We were wondering if something like that has happened recently."
Flora narrowed her eyes at him slightly. "You aren't from around here. I was wondering why I hadn't seen you before."
"...No, we aren't. But could you answer the question?"
"Well, fine." She huffed. "A couple of months ago, Calamity Ganon was slain when the hero and princess returned. Since then, they've been, uh, helping out around the kingdom. They've a house in Hateno, actually."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Sky clapped his hands together. "We can hopefully get an audience with them tomorrow!"
"That doesn't mean you'll find them at Hateno. They travel around a lot."
"Oh."
She turned her attention back to Wars. "Why are you looking for them?"
Luckily, he already had an answer for this. "Private business. I'm afraid it's confidential."
"Hm." Flora tilted her head at them. There was something piercing about her gaze that made Wars uncomfortable.
"Where are you from?" Her tone was still bright, but there was something in her eyes that made her question seem a little less friendly.
"Another kingdom, actually." He said as vaguely as he could. "What about y-"
"Are the black bloods from your kingdom?" She stared at him.
"What?" Wars frowned. "No, they're not."
"Technically, they kind of are," Wind piped up unnecessarily from behind Wars. "But we didn't bring them here, promise!"
"...Why are they here then?" Flora narrowed her eyes.
"Look, we know as much about them as you do," Wars explained, trying to defuse the situation. "They're not natural where we're from either, and we haven't seen them before as well. We were trying to get rid of them and followed them here."
Flora said nothing - her piercing gaze said enough for her. Wars folded his arms, wondering if Flora was about to take back her offer to let them camp with her. (He hoped not. She'd seemed really helpful and welcoming in the beginning.)
A long beat of silence passed.
Finally, Flora sighed. "You know what, that's fair. Who you are is none of my business. Unless it turns out you are my business, in which case I'll help where I can."
Wars breathed a sigh of relief. Looks like he hadn't derailed their only source of help yet.
Flora shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry for being rude. The only people who ask for the princess and the hero for confidential business-" she made air quotes with her fingers - "are Yiga, and you obviously aren't."
"Yiga?" Wars repeated.
"Clan of bonehead assassins dedicated to taking down the hero and the princess, loyal to the Calamity." Flora nodded. "Obsessed with bananas, often disguise themselves as innocent civilians. Activity's been low ever since the Calamity was defeated, but that doesn't mean they're gone."
"Ah, I see." Wars nodded. "Thank you for the information."
"You're welcome!" Flora gave him another one of her smiles that was more bared teeth than anything - it made him shiver uncomfortably just a bit. But at least it was a relief to see Flora back to her cheerful personality.
"When will your other group members be back, by the way?" Flora asked.
"Well, we're not sure. Soon, I'd say." Wars knew it was unlikely for Twilight to get lost. There was just something about him that made him perfect for tasks like looking for Hyrule after he'd snuck away from camp and taking him back.
"Good. As soon as they get back, I'll take you to where we've set up camp." She looked off into the distance, presumably at where her camp and partner were.
Wars shivered. One of Flora was already enough to unsettle him - was her partner just as strange as she was? Maybe even worse?
Or maybe he was just being paranoid. "Who's your partner, anyhow?"
Flora tipped her head. "Name's Wild. Hylian, about as old as I am."
She stared at him a little longer, as though deciding how much information to divulge, then added, "Good at cooking."
Great. That told him virtually nothing at all. He was starting to regret accepting her offer. Not like he could change it, though - unless everyone else simultaneously decided she was weird and creepy and gave them the heebie-jeebies and -
"Hey!" From the distance, Twilight's voice interrupted his train of thought (rude). "Found 'em!"
Wars opened his mouth to shout something, but Time beat him to it (double rude). "Were you able to catch up to the black bloods?"
"Hell no," Legend called back, a little out of breath. "Nothing but a wild goose chase."
Wind cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, "Why are you holding Four like that?"
"Tried to run away," Twilight grinned, Four spluttering incoherent protests on Twilight's shoulder.
Time raised an eyebrow, probably the closest Wars had ever seen the old man come to a smirk. "Really."
"That's not what happened!" Four barked. "I was defending myself!"
Legend smirked. "How, by running in the wrong direction?"
With a grunt, Twilight swung Four off his shoulder in one smooth move and set him on his feet before he could say anything. "Shush, Vet, or I'll pick you up."
"Alright, fine."
Hyrule stared. "Legend, did... something happen?"
"What- no!" Legend barked. "Why are you asking?"
Time cleared his throat. "Ahem. Four, Legend, this is Flora. She's agreed to let us camp with her and her partner for the night, then lead us to Hateno in the morning."
Flora smiled. "It's getting late. Ready to go?"
Wars noted the slight narrowing of Legend's eyes, and his slow, reluctant nod, but thankfully, he didn't say anything that could change Flora's mind.
He doesn't trust her. Neither of us do.
And judging from the vast amount of experience Legend had...
Just what were they getting themselves into now?
Chapter 4: wild
Notes:
this dang chapter fought me every step of the way. it used to be well over 2.5 words and still half finished. now it's marginally shorter, but at this point, i'll take ANYTHING as a win. how the hell do people write chapters with consistent word counts? like damn man. thats actually really tough.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Flora's camp was, thankfully, only a short walk away from the place where Flora had met them. Sky was incredibly, enormously grateful for that - any more walking, and he was sure he would have collapsed again by now (by Hylia, he missed his Loftwing). Beyond that, he was also grateful to have been promised a warm meal for the night - maybe it was part of the curse, but none of the heroes had any particular skill when it came to cooking (Four had once burned a salad and Hyrule was forever exiled from cooking duty).
But above all of that, it finally felt like they were getting somewhere. Instead of being rocked around randomly from era to era, chasing monsters that pretty much appeared and disappeared at will, they had a reachable goal now, or at least a town and a hero to find as soon as possible.
(Admittedly, he didn't feel too good about there being nine heroes - NINE! If he had known Demise's curse was going to recur this many times...
...he probably still would've killed him. Wasn't like he had much of a choice, anyway.)
Ahead of them, Flora led the group, which was honestly quite strange, as usually Time did. Not only did she get distracted every time she noticed a mushroom or an insect or a bird call in the distance, but she also had a strange, lilting gait that made almost no noise at all. Like she was constantly sneaking up on something.
Unfortunately, Sky was just way too tired to care right now. How the other heroes had no trouble walking for hours on end, he had no clue.
After a short while of walking mostly in silence (save for some whispered conversations he was too exhausted to be a part of), Flora stopped the group at what seemed like a small cliff.
"Here," she called, crouching on the overhanging rock ledge and peering into the nook below. "Hullo. I brought company."
"Hey," a voice greeted her back. "That's fine. I made extra anyways."
"You always do." Flora turned and beckoned to the group. "Under here." She haphazardly vaulted herself over the ledge, somehow managing to land perfectly on her feet.
Hyrule was the first to follow her, hopping down with a bit more caution. Sky was the last, so dead tired he almost walked off the ledge.
Under the ledge sat a Hylian, presumably Wild, about the same age as Flora, stirring the delicious-smelling contents of a large pot simmering over a campfire. He had long, messy hair, tangled with leaves and twigs, pulled into a loose ponytail that hung over his back. His clothing also seemed quite normal and sensible for travel - nothing like whatever Flora was currently wearing.
So far, he didn't seem too unfriendly. Sky groaned as he sat down on the ground, stretching out his aching legs to release the tension in them. He watched as Flora crouched next to Wild and started to speak in low tones, complete with hand gestures and signs - no doubt she was explaining how she found them, which Sky was completely fine with, until Wild's head snapped to Sky's direction, like there were springs in his neck.
Sky was just able to stop himself from blanching at the horrible scars enveloping half his face and neck and his eyes, so unnaturally bright blue that they seemed to pierce through the steam rising from the pot. Something like bile rose in his throat and he swallowed.
Wild smiled, almost baring his teeth - exactly the same way Flora did. "I'm Wild."
"Wild." Time pushed past Sky, breaking him from his trance and holding out his hand to shake. "I am Time. Thank you for letting us stay for the night."
Wild stared at his outstretched hand for a moment too long, then shook it lightly. Even under his travel-worn clothing, Sky could still see hints of scarred skin peeking out from his sleeves. He shuddered and tore his eyes away.
"That smells amazing," Wind peeked into the pot. "What are you making? I'm Wind, by the way."
"Just a simple meat stew." Wild poked at it with a wooden spoon. "It'll be ready in a minute or two."
"Simple?" Four gasped. "This stuff looks heavenly."
"Heavenly isn't hard to achieve when most of us can't cook," Legend muttered.
Hyrule pouted. "Hey, it wasn't that bad, was it?"
"I did not mention you, specifically."
"I know you were thinking it!"
A laugh bubbled up inside Sky's chest. Some of the tension started to bleed out of him.
(It wasn't as if he meant to be rude towards him, he was just... caught off guard.)
(Also, scars scared him. He couldn't help being involuntarily bothered by them.)
Wild grinned at the heroes' bickering, oblivious to Sky's internal monologue. "I could give you the recipe, if you'd like."
Hyrule smiled delightedly at him. "Oh, that'd be great!"
"Would only be great if we weren't so damn awful at cooking." Legend retaliated, only to be elbowed jokingly by a petulant Hyrule.
True, Sky reluctantly agreed.
"We're always happy to share a meal." Wild returned his attention to the thick, bubbling stew. "You're all headed to Hateno, then?"
"Yup." Wind sat on the ground right beside Wild with a sigh. "Finally a town in this place."
Flora answered for Wild. "There's lots of towns in this place." She sat down at Wild's other side. "How's my cape faring?"
"I've been working on it, but it's nowhere near finished." Wild moved aside to reveal an old and frayed dark grey hooded cloak sitting on the ground beside him. A large rip at the bottom had been sewed up halfway with thread.
Flora picked it up. "No, that's looking way better than before."
"How'd that happen?" Twilight asked.
"Black bloods." Flora laid it back down on the ground. "First time we met, one of them clawed a giant hole in my cape and in Wild. Horrible things."
Sky shuddered. He'd hate to think how Sun would react if the same thing happened to his sailcloth.
...He missed her. When he was tired, he couldn't help but think of her - her blonde hair falling around her eyes every time there was wind in Skyloft, the way her nose crinkled just before she laughed, that one tooth that stuck out a little too far in her smile. Every time, he'd think of her and even though his heart would ache a little he'd feel just a little more energised, a tiny bit more determined -
"Move over, Sky," the voice of Wars cut through his glassy-eyed daydream. Face flushing with embarrassment, Sky scooted a little to make room and Wars grunted as he sat down.
"So," Wars began in a low voice, "what do you think of Flora? And Wild, too."
"Huh?" Sky blinked. "Well, they both seem to be fairly nice people."
"You don't find them a little strange?" Wars pressed.
"Well, the scars scared me a little," Sky admitted sheepishly. "And they act a bit different from the people on Skyloft. But still, nice people."
"I see." Wars nodded. "I don't fully trust them. They just feel... off to me."
"Maybe everyone's a bit off in this era. Remember all the ruins we saw out there in the wilderness?" Sky suggested. They were all ancient ruins, overgrown and decaying, but he still felt they contributed to the overall sense of weirdness this Hyrule had.
"Maybe," Wars sighed.
For a few moment, they sat in silence, watching Wild explain to Wind and Legend exactly what was in the stew and how he'd used the ingredients, while Flora demonstrated to Hyrule the correct way to use a cooking knife, Twilight supervising him anxiously as Time and Four watched with amusement.
Sky smiled. It felt like forever since the last time the group had been able to rest like this.
"That's not going to end well, is it." Wars nodded at Hyrule and Flora with a snort.
Sky blinked. "What? Oh, I'm sure Twilight'll make sure nothing disastrous happens." Hyrule's seemingly natural ability to create catastrophes every time he was allowed near a cooking implement had been a running joke for some time.
"Sure, like he stopped it from happening last time." Wars joked, settling back further.
"Hey, he tried. Not his fault the pot exploded." Sky said, then dropped to a whisper. "Anyway, why'd you tell me?"
Wars frowned in confusion. "Tell you what? Oh, that I don't trust Flora and Wild. Well, you're probably the most sensible adult we have, and one of our best fighters. If something were to go wrong, I'd trust you to have our backs."
"Most sensible adult?" Sky questioned. "What about Time?"
"That rascal cannot be trusted." Wars snorted, seemingly completely serious. "Personal experience."
Before Sky could ask him to elaborate, Wild's voice cut through the air. "Hey! Stew's done!"
"Oh, thank the goddess," Sky scrambled to his feet, his empty stomach making him instantly forget all his exhaustions and aches. "I'm starving. Come on, Wars."
Flora was already passing out bowls of thick, steaming stew with chunks of tender meat drifting through them. The smell was so intensely mouthwatering it made Sky feel lightheaded. Around him, everyone was eagerly digging into their own bowls of stew.
"Here." Flora handed him a bowl filled with a generous amount of stew. As Sky accepted it gratefully, their fingers accidentally brushed, just the slightest touch, and -
The Master Sword, still slumbering in her scabbard over his back, seemed to glow with the faintest trace of warmth, the first time he had felt her presence in so, so long, so pale he could only just feel it -
Like she had been burned, Flora snapped her hands back so hastily, the bowl almost fell out of Sky's hands. As quickly as it had come, Fi's soft glow had faded, and the Sword was cold, stationary, lifeless.
Like nothing had happened.
"That's a... an interesting sword you have." Flora blinked. "Um. Where did you get that?"
"You recognise this sword?" Sky asked hopefully. What was the chance that maybe Flora knew the hero, that maybe they were allies, or friends, maybe that was why she claimed to be familiar with the hero's legend and the defeat of the great evil -
"Maybe." Flora didn't seem to be quite able to meet his eyes. "Well, your stew's going to get cold, so you should probably-"
"What do you know about it?" Wars suddenly appeared at Sky's shoulder, enough for him to fumble his bowl of stew again.
"Hey," Wild said quietly from behind Flora. "Back off."
Wars put his hands up. "I apologise, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wondered what you knew about the sword."
Flora glanced at Wild, who tipped his head ever so slightly at her. She said, "Not a lot. I heard it was priceless, though. Where did you get it?"
"I forged it myself," Sky said proudly. Technically, it was true. "Took me quite a long while, but it was worth it. Best sword I've ever used."
"Oh!" Wild exclaimed. "It's a copy, then?"
Sky opened his mouth and was promptly interrupted by Wars gently digging his elbow into his side and loudly saying, "Yes, it is."
Flora seemed almost relieved and turned away. "It's a brilliant sword, anyway."
Sky said nothing as he and Wars retreated back to their earlier position.
"Sorry about that," Wars offered.
"It's fine," Sky sighed as he sat down and stirred his stew. "I know, you don't trust them."
He took a bite of stew to collect his thoughts and immediately had them blown away.
The stew was nothing like anything he'd ever eaten - thick and rich with the faintest trace of sweetness. The chunks of meat were so soft, so tender they fell apart in his mouth. The flavour was abundant in excellence.
"I've never tasted anything this good outside of the castle premises," Wars' voice was low and dripping with shock and amazement. "What kind of sorcery...?"
Sky didn't bother replying. He was too busy demolishing the stew with the gusto of a rabid remlit. The stew wasn't just great, it was perfect.
Between gulps, he heard Wild's voice saying, "Flo, did you...?"
"Yeah, I did." Came Flora's reply as the acrid stench of black blood hit Sky at full force and he desperately tried not to throw up what he had just eaten.
One frantic glance at Flora told him everything he never needed to know - Flora had just pulled the vile, pungent bokoblin arm out of her bag. Eyes watering, Sky began to pray for his health.
"Yeah, that'll do." Not even batting an eye, Wild nodded his approval, completely oblivious to the gags coming from everyone around him.
"Put that thing away!" Legend sounded like he was choking on his own tongue.
Flora shrugged like it was no big deal and obliged. Instantly, most of the sour, rotting smell vanished, leaving only a faded stench remaining in the air.
"You couldn't have done that literally anywhere else?" Four squawked.
"I could, but I'd just remembered and I didn't want to forget about it," Wild said placidly.
"He's very forgetful," Flora chimed in, leaning on him.
Wild shook her arm off. "Last week you forgot I told you to restock our hearty radishes and you spent the entire day in Hebra."
"Still petty about that, I see." Flora countered with teeth bared into a grin. "How 'bout that time when you forgot my frog collection outside in the rain and half my frogs escaped?"
"That was one time!" Wild argued, pointing a soup ladle at her. "And three frogs escaped. Three."
"Yes, because I had seven frogs at the time."
"Three's less than half of seven."
"Close enough!"
Sky turned his attention back to his stew (and Wars, but mostly the stew). "That was... something."
"I told you there was something off about them," Wars whispered dramatically.
Sky just smiled. "Yeah, maybe everyone's a bit off in this era." He jokingly jabbed Wars with his spoon.
"Oh, come on." Wars complained. "I can't be the only one who doesn't fully trust them. Actually, I'm not, I know Vet doesn't, either."
"Legend doesn't trust anything, of course he doesn't trust them."
"My point still stands."
The rest of the night was, thankfully, uneventful.
Notes:
thanks for reading !!!
Chapter 5: getting somewhere
Notes:
sorry this was so late :( i went on holidays. i think i have to accept that i just have really ass time management and updates will NOT be consistent at all.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
When Four awoke, the first thing he saw was Flora, wide awake, crouching over a re-lit campfire, poking at something sizzling loudly over the fire. On the opposite side of the fire stood Time. Groggily, he squinted at them until his brain caught up enough for him to turn his head.
Orbs of dew glistened under a lazy morning sun. The sky was that familiar, awkward combination between light amber and pale blue. At the other side of the camp, as far away as possible from Flora was Legend and Hyrule, talking in low voices. The rest of the heroes were sound asleep, with Wild nowhere to be seen.
Time nodded at him. "Good morning."
Four's mouth replied before his brain could register Time's words. "Where's Wild?"
"Off looking for bird eggs." Flora replied, perfectly chipper despite the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. "He should be back in a bit. How cooked do you prefer your eggs?"
"Uhh, I don't mind." Four shrugged with a yawn, joints cracking as he stretched his limbs.
"So, how soon can we set off to Hateno?" Flora sprinkled something into the pan, then frowned. "I'm not being impatient, I just want to know how long I have to cook breakfast."
"No offence taken." Time answered. "And we'll head off as soon as we can."
"Which depends on how well Sky slept," Four added helpfully. "Do you need help with breakfast?"
Still focused on the eggs, Flora shook her head. "No need. Wild's back."
"Is he?" Four looked around and almost had a heart attack. Despite not having heard anything, Wild was only standing half a metre away from him, looking wide awake. With a small nod to grace Four's heart palpitations, he crossed the camp and settled at the fire next to Flora.
One by one, the other heroes began to stir, and Four began to notice that many of them had bags under their eyes, no doubt a side effect of sleeping in an unfamiliar Hyrule. Wars, specifically, seemed particularly tetchy.
It was very fortunate, then, that Sky had somehow managed to have a restful night of sleep. For a very long time, Four (and undoubtedly others) had been jealous of Sky's remarkable ability to sleep through anything and everything imaginable, especially in unfamiliar eras.
Breakfast was unremarkable, unless you counted the fried eggs being one of the tastiest things Four had ever devoured as abnormal, which Four did not, entirely because he was too focused on the food. From then on, it didn't take long for the group to pack up and set out.
It was a cold morning - the kind of cold morning typically only found in early dawns, the kind that got into your bones and dragged you down, the kind that Four (and probably everyone else) preferred to spend indoors, in a well-heated house, under an enormous heap of blankets.
Or at least, he thought it was that kind of cold morning, and evidently, so did everyone else - except for Wild and Flora, who were cheerily marching ahead of the group, energetic as could be. Several times, something would catch their eye - a plant or mushroom or even just a rock - and they'd shoot off to investigate. If Four thought keeping Hyrule on a straight path was difficult enough, then Wild and Flora were borderline impossible.
To be fair, though, Flora had literally warned them about it.
"There's a road that'll take us right to Hateno." Flora had explained over breakfast. "Unfortunately, I have no plans to follow that road the entire way, so you'll just have to trust that we'll get to Hateno in the end."
At least three people had expressed their thoughts about that (some of which may have been involuntary, such as Wind loudly yelling "What?!"). Flora and Wild had cared about precisely none of them.
At least we're getting somewhere, Four reminded himself. He shivered as a particularly frigid gale swarmed him.
"What's Hateno look like?" He heard Wind ask.
"Oh!" Wild smiled brightly despite the cold. "It's got lots of windmills. And shops, and a pond, and a ranch, with cows! You'll be able to see it if you climbed up here." Without so much as a warning, Wild scrambled up the side of a cliff in seconds.
"They've got a ranch?" Twilight gasped, eyes shining.
"What's a windmill?" Hyrule puzzled.
"What's a cow?" Wind frowned.
Legend spun around, eyes wide. "Have you never seen a cow before?"
"No," Wind admitted. "Is that bad?"
"Is that bad-" Legend cut off with a sharp inhale, muttering something under his breath. Four could very vaguely make out something about having an aneurysm.
"Yes, Wind." Four said gravely. "That's very bad."
"No, wait, seriously, what's a windmill?" Hyrule piped up. "Legend, what's a windmill?"
"It's like a - a tower? With spinning blades at the top?" Legend screwed up his face. "Does something with wind."
Wild dropped back down from the cliff. "Oh, those are windmills?"
"Yes?" Legend narrowed his eyes. "What did you think they were?"
Wild shrugged. "I don't know, but everyone else says Hateno has so many windmills. I just went with it."
"What about cows?" Wind called. "Do you know what cows look like?"
"Everyone knows what cows look like," Four grinned.
"I don't," Wind said.
"Apart from you."
"I don't," Hyrule said.
Four startled. "Wh- you too?"
Legend sighed. "Rulie, I don't even know how you manage to live like this."
Four was about to agree with Legend, when he noticed Wild freeze, ears twitching, staring off into the distance. Flora was doing the same, hanging from the tree she had managed to scale without anyone noticing.
"What is it?" Time demanded.
"Bokoblins in the woods again." Flora slung her bow off her back and slipped her fingers into her quiver.
"Not black-blooded," Wild confirmed quietly. "Shouldn't be too hard of a battle. And anyways, there aren't many." He spared the rest of them a glance that was neither reassuring or comforting. "We won't be long." With that, both he and Flora shot off ahead.
Both of them were terrifyingly quick and light on their feet, and unnaturally silent - despite their boots making contact with the ground, there were almost no audible footsteps.
Four managed to hear Legend yell, "Hey!" just before he took off after them (no way he was going to stand by and do nothing) and wind whistled in his ears, shutting out any other sound until he caught up with them (thank the goddesses for Pegasus boots) in a dense little thicket, trees casting their shadows over the forest floor.
Unfortunately, he was just in time to see Wild take a swing at a bokoblin's head with the very same ladle he'd used to serve them stew the previous night.
He watched, slack jawed, as Wild slapped the bokoblin with the ladle so hard, it broke.
Shattered into two, shards of wood flying everywhere.
And apparently, Wild wasn't finished tearing apart everything Four knew about proper battling etiquette and weapons, because as soon as the head of the spoon split from the handle, Wild grabbed it like he'd been waiting for this very moment, spun around and stabbed the pieces straight into the bokoblin's eyes.
With a pitiful squeal, the bokoblin keeled over.
Four stared. It did not get up, even as Wild grabbed a fallen tree branch from the forest floor and started to mercilessly beat up a second bokoblin.
"Four." Twilight's footsteps approached him from behind. "Alright, I know that was probably traumatic for you, but- oh my goddess Wild what in the name of Hylia are you doing?"
Wild did not answer. Probably because he was busy tearing out the horns from the corpse of the bokoblin he had just beaten to death with a twig like a deranged barbarian.
"Golden goddesses!" Wind ran up, hands flying to his mouth. "They're already dead! You don't need to kill them again!"
"I'm not," Wild replied placidly. "I'm just harvesting its parts." With quick, practised precision, he drove the knife into the bokoblin's mouth and began to dig out its rotted, yellowing fangs. Bokoblin blood spurted from the wounds and dribbled onto the ground.
"Sweet Hylia, Wild, that's disgusting." Wars shuddered.
"It's dead. It's not gonna use its teeth, but I am."
Flora flounced back, holding what looked like a handful of bloodied guts, still squirming (Four gagged loudly). "Still faster than you," she declared, smiling.
"That's 'cause guts are squishy," Wild argued, still wrestling with the bokoblin's mouth. "And easier to cut than teeth."
Legend mimed throwing up behind him. Four tried to stop himself from actually throwing up.
"What do you need teeth and guts for?" Hyrule asked, seemingly the only one not wholly disturbed.
"Making elixirs." Wild kicked the corpse away from him and thankfully, the others.
Wars blanched. "I don't think I know what that is. Nor do I want to know, no, don't explain it to me."
Time cleared his throat somewhat hastily. "Should we get back on the road, then?"
"No, this way." Wild began in a different direction, deeper into the thicket where Flora was already waiting.
"Wait, what?" Wind squeaked. "Where are you going?"
"Hateno!" Wild called. "Come on!"
Slowly, Four forced his feet to keep moving forward, even though he felt like something had chewed up his stomach and spat it out. At least we're getting somewhere, he reminded himself. AT LEAST WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE.
Then the sunlight hit his face, and he blinked for a moment, still trying to orient himself, and his vision cleared and he saw dozens of quaint little buildings, rickety windmills and more Hylians than he'd ever seen in this Hyrule. The lively voices of the townspeople filled his ears, yelling, gossiping, laughing, greeting.
Finally, they'd made it.
Hateno.
Notes:
god FINALLY we made it to hateno. that took SO LONG
anyways thanks for reading! hope y'all have a great day :)
Chapter Text
For what was allegedly the biggest town in the kingdom (except for presumably Castle Town), Hateno village sure seemed smaller than what Legend expected. Sure, Wild had described it aptly - windmills, check, shops, check, ranch, probably check, but there really didn't seem to be much else.
But for a quaint little village smack in the middle of nowhere?
Okay, he could admit this was actually pretty nice.
"Wow," Hyrule breathed at his side. "It's so... open."
"Bit small for my liking." Legend shrugged. "But I guess it's alright."
"Has - has anyone seen where Wild and Flora went?" Sky called from the back of the group, sounding more than slightly concerned.
No one replied for a moment while heads turned left and right, scouring the village for any sign of the two, inevitably turning up nothing.
"What the hell?" Wars erupted. "I was just looking at them! How are we supposed to find Link now?"
Time clapped his hands. "Okay, change of plans. Take a bit of time to stock up and ask around, meet back here in an hour and we'll look for Link. Someone around here has to know where he lives."
He eyed them all sternly. "You know the drill. Stay together. Don't go anywhere alone. Don't harrass the locals. Don't steal. Don't set fire to anything -"
"That was one time." Four complained.
"-And if you cause property damage, pay for it yourselves."
"Sorry." Sky scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"You never let us have any fun," Wind pouted, crossing his arms.
"I never let you get arrested is what I do." Time said, deadpan.
"Not yet, anyway." Legend muttered under his breath, yanking Hyrule by the arm. "C'mon, 'Rule."
They all stood outside a house that was plain, boring, and frankly, downright disappointing.
"This is the house?" Legend demanded. "Really? It looks even smaller close up."
"Maybe it'll look more majestic inside?" Hyrule offered.
"Maybe it's like a secret base, and it's actually bigger on the inside and has treasure inside!" Wind gasped.
"Or maybe it's just a house, and the housing situation is just a little bit awkward right now." Wars made his dry contribution.
"Yeah, so, we just... knock?" Legend frowned.
"Wait!" Wind squeaked. "What do we do if they're not here?"
"We wait, obviously." Four sighed. "Nothing else we can do anyway."
Wars cleared his throat. "Make sure to be on your best behaviour. Legend, just knock."
Legend made a face, but obliged.
Three sharp taps echoed on the modest house's door.
From inside, a voice rang out. "We'll be right there!"
Fabric rustling. A chair scraping. Footsteps on wooden floors.
Legend took a hasty step back half a second before the door swung open.
"Welcome!" A young woman with neatly braided golden hair smiled widely. "What can I do for - oh!" She stared at them.
Time cleared his throat. "Is something the matter?"
"Of course not, I was just... I didn't... expect so many people." She stepped aside. "Please, come inside and make yourself at home."
The inside of the house was decorated very modestly - not as flashy or elegant as Legend had expected. There were a few picture frames hung on the walls, as well as a small vase of brightly coloured wildflowers on a simple dining table, but not a lot of decoration otherwise. The faint smell of apple pie hung around the room.
"Unfortunately, we haven't enough chairs to accomodate all of you." Princess Zelda swept up a bundle of dark grey fabric off the table and set it down on a desk. "I apologise for that."
"There's no need to worry about it," Wars said smoothly (typical prettyboy, Legend thought). "If this is a bad time, your majesty, we can always come back later."
"No need," she smiled warmly at him. "This house is always open for everyone. And please, just call me Zelda. Sit where you'd like, I'll make tea."
"Oh, thank you, but you don't need to do that," Sky said.
"Tea warms the soul," Zelda replied. "Besides, it won't take long." A teapot was already boiling on the fire. She added something to it, and the aroma of sweet-smelling herbs filled the room. From dusty cabinets, she produced a veritable amount of modest tea cups, counting them one by one by gently tapping a finger on their uneven rims. While she worked, she hummed.
In half a minute, the soothing smell of home-brewed tea had overtaken the faint whiff of apple pie. She turned with an armful of teacups and a smile. "Now, what brings you here today?"
Everyone looked at Time, waiting for him to speak.
Time sighed. "Our request may take some time to explain."
Zelda nodded as she passed out cups of steaming tea, each with a fantastically warming herbal smell. "Then take your time."
Time cleared his throat. "Each of us are heroes from different times in Hyrule's history. We have all been brought together by either fate or destiny, tasked with the mission to defeat the black blooded monsters."
"...I don't think I understand." Zelda had begun to fiddle with her hands, her tea untouched.
"Do you recognise this symbol?" Time held up a hand, the triforce faintly glimmering on his skin.
One by one, the other heroes (save a few) held up their own hands - Wind proudly showing off his singular golden triangle, Twilight holding his with quiet reserve. Legend gave his a half-hearted wave (with the glove still on) and set it back on the table.
Zelda had an indescribable look on her face. "I see. And your request is?"
Time inclined his head. "We hope the hero of this era can join us on our mission."
"Unfortunately not." Zelda said slowly.
"I'm sorry, pr - Zelda. He may not have a choice in the matter."
"We - he needs to stay here." She made a move like she was about to stand up. "There is still much to be done - Hyrule is still rebuilding itself."
"I understand." Time said. "However, the black bloods may be a bigger issue at this moment - they can pass through the history and between the timelines of Hyrule. If we cannot rid this evil at once, more than just your Hyrule might be affected."
"He cannot. He cannot. I won't - I can't let him." Her fingers gripped her teacup so tightly Legend thought she might break it.
"Whatever the case, the decision will be up to him. But as I previously said, he may not have a choice in this situation."
Princess Zelda looked at him, her expression cold - and yet a fire blazed in her eye when she spoke. "Explain."
Time sighed for a long time before he did. "If the goddess Hylia sees fit, then he will be forced to take part in this mission."
"I do not serve Hylia." Judging from the subtle clipped tone of her words, Legend could guess what she really meant. I'm not Hylia's dog, if I don't do what she says, then she can SUCK IT.
...Probably a little more eloquent than that.
"That won't change the fact that we'll have to ask him." Time was starting to sound a tiny iota pressed. Knowing him, that probably meant he was as close to freaking about as he'd ever gotten. "Could you kindly tell us where to find him?"
Zelda shook her head. "He - well, he -"
With perfect comedic timing, the door swung open and a blonde Hylian walked in. Long hair tied back in a ponytail, horrific scars criss-crossing the right side of his face, eyes electric blue. (Seriously, why were his eyes THAT blue?)
This was, without a doubt in Legend's mind, the Link of this era.
In the shocked silence that followed, Link took in the scene with wide eyes, then offered a small smile and a silent wave.
"Excuse me," Wars said slowly, "but are you Link?"
Link nodded politely, and signed something Legend couldn't understand, and judging from the confused looks around him, no one else had.
Princess Zelda let out a long sigh. "He asked if you needed him for anything."
"Actually, yes." Time rumbled. "We have some very important information we need to discuss."
Link nodded, and shut the door behind him. Legend took the time to study him closely.
He held himself tall and confidently, but had slight crinkles from smiles under his eyes. His (burn? explosion?) scars were awful, yet old - how long he'd had them for, Legend couldn't say for sure, but he guessed at least a year. He seemed polite, amicable, even - if it weren't for his scars and his unnaturally blue eyes, Legend could've almost passed him off as just another stranger.
He did seem weirdly familiar, though. Why did he seem familiar?
"We have already told Princess Zelda this," Time started, after Link had taken up a position at Zelda's side. "And this may seem entirely fabricated, but we are, each of us, reincarnations of the hero's spirit, gathered by the goddess Hylia to investigate and exterminate the black blooded monsters. I trust you are aware of them?"
Link nodded slowly. He seemed to be taking it a lot better than many of the heroes once they'd first been brought together. (He was definitely taking it way better than Legend did.)
Time continued. "The black bloods have been passing through Hyrule's history and disrupting its timelines. It has been made our duty to stop them. I know this may sound like an impossible story and an impossible ask, but I assure you it is real." A breath of silence for dramatic effect.
Link signed something, slowly, warily. Zelda replied flatly, "They want you to join them."
That got a response out of him. He blinked, surprise written all over his face. Then came several quick signs, none of which Legend could understand.
"He wants to know how long it'll take," Zelda translated.
Time closed his eyes, looking deep in thought. Then he opened them again, and said, "I've been with the group for two months and twelve days. We do not know how long it will take - perhaps a year."
Another flurry of signs from Link. Zelda translated it as, "Will it be a lot of travelling away from this era?"
"Yes, a lot," Time confirmed. "But you will be able to visit your Hyrule occasionally."
"When will you be leaving?"
"Most likely in a few days, so if you need to get your affairs in order, there is time."
Link signed something at Zelda, who responded with, "You know there is much to be done here."
Something from Link. Zelda shook her head. "Of course not, but-"
Faster, more excited signs. "I can't translate that," Zelda frowned. "That'd be rude."
A final barrage of unfamiliar signing. "Oh," Zelda blinked. "He wants some time to think about it."
"We'd be happy to give you all the time you need," Time said. "However, as I've already warned you, if Hylia decrees it, then he may not be given a choice." Legend thought he looked almost bitter as he said that. (He probably was. Legend would be willing to bet rupees upon rupees that he'd had at least some life-changing decisions that would haunt him till the rest of his days. Who didn't?)
The princess nodded, a little stiff. "I hope that was all you needed from us, then."
"Yes, that was all." Time said. "However, could we check in with you tomorrow to hear your final decision?"
"Of course, of course." Zelda's eyes were hooded. She seemed eager for them to leave, which was fair, considering her (and Link's) situation. Leave it to Hylia to put her heroes in the worse possible predicaments, Legend thought drily as he pushed his now lukewarm tea away and stood up to leave.
Outside, he stretched his muscles in the gently warming sun. "Well," he yawned. "That didn't go too bad."
"Went better than yours, certainly." Wars jibed.
"A portal literally opened in my house. How the hell was I supposed to react?"
"I don't know, maybe not by throwing your furniture at us?"
"Hey now," Hyrule jumped in. "At least we got there in the end, right?"
In the distance, a far-off bird trilled and chirped. The rickety rattles of the windmills harmonised with the chatter of passersby. The wind was slight, peaceful, nothing more than a brush of sun-kissed gale.
"Yeah," Legend said finally. "At least we got there."
Notes:
woo i managed to get this chapter out in a timely manner. please imagine celebratory noises in your head as i parade around the room like a headless chicken.
Thank you all for reading! Wishing you all a very lovely week :)
Chapter Text
As soon as the sound of footsteps faded away, Link pried his ear away from the door and faced Zelda, sitting at the table, her head resting in her hands, breathing heavily. "You good?"
"Yes." Her voice was mumbled as she spoke through her hands, braided hair falling over her face. "I just hate having so many people in such a tight space."
Link regarded her. It was still so strange not to see any leaves or twigs tangled in her hair, let alone having it braided. It did the trick, at least. He hadn't heard a single uncomfortable rumour about the two of them, and as Wild, he knew all the rumours constantly. Even without looking the Rumour Mill.
He took a seat beside her. "Need anything?"
"I'm okay," she said, looking up. "But we do need to talk about... whatever just happened."
"Ah. Right."
"Yeah."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, Zel, listen."
"I'm listening." She rested her elbows on the table and crossed her arms.
Link sighed. "I really, really want to go."
"What?" Zelda demanded. "You don't even know these people, you-"
He shook his head. "It's been really stressful, all this- this responsibility, being Hyrule's future, royal knight this famous hero that -"
"You know I feel the same way!" Zelda snapped, starting to stand up. "You can't just - just leave me here to deal with all that crap alone -"
Link stopped her. "You don't have to! I was gonna suggest you come with!"
"I can't! I've got an entire kingdom to - to rule, or run or something-"
"Ask Impa or someone to help-"
"-and I'm not a legendary hero or whatever, I don't fit in, they're not gonna want me there-"
"I'd want you there-"
"There's still so much that needs to be done here-"
Link inhaled sharply. "Zelda."
She glared at him. "My points are perfectly valid!"
"Yes, but can't you just stop and consider what you want to do for a change?"
"I want to fix Hyrule and help the people-"
Link cut her off. "No you don't. I can see it in your face."
She hissed. "Stop reading me-"
"I know you think you're not built for this-"
"Link, no-"
"And I know you wish you didn't have to rule Hyrule-"
"Shut up!"
Link obliged.
Fuming, Zelda snatched her almost-mended Hylian hood off the desk, buried her face in the fabric, and screamed.
For a really, really long time.
Link waited patiently until she was done.
Finally, she removed her head from the dark grey fabric and sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I hate that you're right."
"It's not your fault," he said quietly. "I don't want to, either. But you've got it worse than me."
"Thanks," she snarked, tone dripping with sarcasm as she bundled up the cloak and set it on the desk again.
"You're welcome."
Silence.
"I know I'm being selfish. Won't stop me from wanting this anyways."
"I know," she groaned. "I really want to go, too."
"Just come with." His eyes lit up. "It'll be just like the old times, exploring and adventuring all over again-"
Zelda snorted. "And leave all the Hyruleans without a governing body again? I think not."
Link said nothing.
"Yeah, I know it'd be great for me to think for myself for once. I just can't. Trust me, if I could, I would."
"Imagine if you could, though." Link drummed his fingers on the table. "It's been so long since we explored someplace new."
He flopped his chin onto the table and sighed. "I miss the old days. Back when it was no one else but the two of us and we went wherever we pleased and fought all the monsters and did whatever we could and no one knew who we were, not even us. I haven't learned a new recipe since, like, two weeks ago. All the lynels and moldugas are in hiding. Nothing's exciting anymore."
"Yeah." Zelda bit her lip. "Do you remember that time we were on Hylia Bridge, and Farosh just - just burst out of the lake and you screamed and fell off the bridge and you opened your paraglider and just flew away with her?"
"You were so mad," Link smiled. "You kept saying how rude it was that I'd leave you behind, just like that. Even though you followed us till we landed somewhere in Faron."
Zelda snorted. "Pfft, like I'd ever let you go off by yourself. You're a danger to everything including yourself."
"As if you aren't a danger as well." He grinned.
She waved him off. "I'm only a danger when ancient Sheikah tech is involved. Which, considering our record, only means, like, all the time."
"Liar. You're a menace without Sheikah tech, too." He stuck a hand out and ruffled her hair until she looked like the Zelda he knew.
She made a face and returned the favour. "Innocent until proven guilty."
"Alright, fair." Link shook his head free of her hand. "But seriously, Zel. Come with me."
"I can't." She shook her head. "We literally just talked about this."
"Please," he begged.
"Link."
"I'm scared to go without you."
"And I'm scared of having you leave."
"Flora."
Zelda froze.
Link spoke the words so quietly he almost couldn't hear himself. "Flo would come."
The silence in the room was so thick he could have cut it with a knife. Zelda's gaze had dropped to her still-undrunk tea, now cold. Then finally, the smallest hint of a bared-teeth smile twitched on the corners of her mouth.
"Yeah." She looked at him, and he saw the familiar fire dancing in her eyes. "I would."
Link exhaled all the air he'd been holding in his breath, relief and hope and excitement and Zelda making him return that same smile she had. "You'll come, then?"
"I've got to ask Purah, first." She admitted. "I want to, and if she thinks I can, then I will."
"Yes!" Link leapt up, cheering. "Woo! I love you, Zel!"
"I know, I know, I love myself too." She laughed. "Hey, get over here, the Slate can't reach you all the way over there."
Link shoved the laboratory's door open, its path obstructed by stacks of papers and various knickknacks lying around.
"Purah?" Zelda called softly, ignoring Link's grunts for help.
"You got another sample so soon?" Purah turned to them, her free hand fixing the skewed glasses on her nose. "Actually, I don't know why I'm surprised. Nothing's ever unexpected with you two-"
"Actually, Purah, it's something different." Zelda said quietly, stepping inside the room as soon as Link had finished wrestling with it.
"Better be important, then." Purah huffed. "What is it, Zeldy?"
"I kind of... want to go somewhere." Zelda said.
"With me. For a long while." Link added, a little out of breath.
"What? Where?" Purah demanded. "When was this decided?"
"Like, just then." Zelda admitted sheepishly.
Link jumped in. "We're not leaving yet, and we might not even have to go, don't panic just yet-"
"But we most likely super have to, so-"
"It's apparently really important-"
"Stop." Purah said firmly, all traces of her childish behaviour completely gone. "Tell me everything, from the beginning."
The two of them shared a look, then Zelda sighed. "It's going to take some time to explain."
"Too bad," Purah pouted. "Symin, get over here!"
Purah tapped the work table with a pen. "Okay, so you're going on a journey across time and space, teaming up with the legendary heroes of the past and possible future, hunting down mentally, physically and ability-enhanced monsters with black blood?"
"Basically, yeah." Link gave her a thumbs up. "Flawless summary, by the way."
She pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. "...Linky. Zeldy."
"...What?"
"How the hell do you keep getting yourselves into these situations?"
"Oops," Link shrugged.
"Sorry," Zelda offered.
Purah exhaled. "It's fine. I can ask Impa to help with the legal stuff. And as for the Hyruleans, we can just say you two are leaving on a mission of utmost secrecy and importance outside the kingdom, and that it may take some time for the two of you to come back. Happy?"
"Yes, thank you, Purah." Zelda nodded in gratitude. Link said nothing, just reached over and squeezed her shoulder in excitement.
"Yes, yes, I know, I'm amazing and brilliant and nothing short of perfection." She adjusted her glasses. "Actually, I've been wondering if there was anything I could do to help the two of you settle, and now that I see it, this is actually kind of the perfect plan. The two of you have been literally so stressed for the past couple of months." She pointed her pen at Zelda. "Don't give me that face, Zeldy, I'd feel the same way in your position. And anyways, it's been peaceful here in Hyrule, and I've got a feeling it'll stay that way for some time, thanks to you two. So go, take that vacation. You deserve it more than anything else in the world."
Link smiled the brightest he'd smiled in months. Something lifted from his heart, exhilaration grew in his chest. He knew this feeling. It was that same feeling he'd come to recognise as home, that feeling he'd gotten, had always known, when he was no one but just Link the traveller, the explorer, the random Hylian who got stuck in trees and climbed anything taller than he was and ate crickets with his partner Zelda. One glance at her and he knew she felt the same way, because the fire had returned to her eyes and the left side of her mouth was twitching slightly like she was about to tell a joke at any second.
And Purah was smiling, too, and even Symin was nodding in agreement.
"Go on, have fun." Purah dismissed them with a wave of her hand. "But once you leave, don't forget to take pictures and send letters and samples of the black bloods and maybe bring back some flora so I can see if they're compatible with this era's wilderness-"
Link groaned and dragged Zelda towards the door. "Okay, okay, we get it Purah, we're leaving-"
"And stay safe!" Purah hollered. "Don't recklessly throw yourself into danger at every opportunity, you hear me?'
"No we don't!" Zelda called.
Purah's voice sailed after them, increasing with every second. "Yes you do! And no more forest fires, none of that, and stop terrorising the local deities-"
Link stuck his head back through the door. "We don't terrorise the great fairies, we collaborate with them-"
"Those are two completely different-" Purah's counterargument vanished as Link pulled the door shut.
"Ooh, you have shown great bravery in the face of danger." Zelda teased. Link stuck his tongue out at her.
Outside, the air smelled crisper, the wind was harsher still, and strong gusts blew locks of hair into his face, and the sun was fierce and radiant. Link took it all in, and breathed. It felt good.
"Well, what now?" Zelda ducked her head into his view.
He tipped his head back at her. "Wanna go shield surfing on Hebra mountains?"
Notes:
Hello!
I apologise for this, but updates are going to get hella slow from now on. Got lots of stuff happening and it'll get harder for me to find time to work on future chapters. Don't worry, I don't plan on stopping this fic anytime soon. Just give me a bit of time to fit everything in.
Thank you for all your support, every single one of you. Never would've gotten anywhere with this project without a community like you :)Ooh also I did not double check this chapter before I posted. If you find any mistakes or errors or typos, please tell me in the comments and I'll fix it as soon as possible, granted I don't forget about it immediately. That said, constructive criticism and feedback is just as welcome, since I'm still trying to get better at writing in past tense (why is it so DIFFICULT GHRRGGHRHGGH).
I wish you all an amazing week!!!
Chapter 8: Fate
Notes:
TW mentions of blood, but its ok, nothing too bad happens
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Ominous violet overlapping wisps of deep black. Distorted, mist-like whorls curling and entangled around each other. A portal.
As soon as Hyrule had discovered it near a pond at the edges of Hateno, he'd alerted the others to its location. A few of them had voiced concerns.
"That can't be," Wars had frowned. "We've been here for barely a day. What about Link?"
Wind, at his side, piped up. "Well, what if we look for him right now?"
"I already did," Hyrule had said helplessly. "There's no one home. I waited forever."
Neither Link nor Zelda (or anyone else) had answered his urgent knocks, nor had anyone shown up while he anxiously paced outside. The house had been silent.
Just as silent as it was now, with all eight heroes at its door.
"We shouldn't leave without Link," Hyrule worried. "Didn't he say he wanted time to think?"
"Well, we don't have time." Legend leaned lazily against the door, arms crossed. "That portal'll disappear if we linger too long." To no one's surprise, he didn't sound worried about it at all.
Silence. Everyone waited for Time to say something. Time inconspicuously elbowed Wars.
Wars cleared his throat. "If the Link from this era was truly meant to join us, then it will happen. It may only not be his fate."
"Well, that's settled, then." Legend pushed himself off the door. "And anyways, nine heroes is a bit overkill. I'm off to check if the general store has restocked its arrows yet - race you, Rulie."
"Wha- hey!" Hyrule ran after him, yelling. "Not fair! You got a headstart - you're wearing your pegasus boots!"
"Can't hear you!" Legend yelled back. "I'm too fast!"
Nevertheless, he let Hyrule catch up anyway.
They had only just confirmed no one knew what era they were in when a second portal opened up right in front of them.
"So soon?" Legend groaned, hands pressed to his temples. "We just got here."
Hyrule would've agreed vehemently if he wasn't so preoccupied with his own headache.
"Not so eager to get through these portals now, huh?" Wars teased.
"Shut up."
"Hold on, Wars, stay back." Twilight said quickly, pulling him away. "I don't know if anyone else can hear this, but it sounds like there's someone screaming on the other end."
One silent heartbeat passed. The screaming seemed to be getting louder.
Legend had just enough to time say "What in the ever-loving fu-" before he was drowned out by the screams of two Hylians going at speeds that should've been unachievable by any circumstances. They were going so fast, Hyrule only saw a blur closely followed by what looked (and felt) like snow spraying out of the portal in all directions.
One second they were flying through the portal at impossible speeds, the next they were tumbling over each other, limbs tangled as they rolled into a muddy ditch and came to rest.
They were not moving.
"Holy shit!" Wind yelped. "That was awesome!"
"No, sailor, that was bad!" Wars shouted. "Hyrule, come on!"
"On it!" He was already hurriedly making his way towards the two of them as fast as the throbbing in his head would let him.
It was a relief to see that the two Hylians were, somehow, miraculously breathing. Hyrule could see awful scrapes and cuts across their skin, spots of red staining their tunics, windswept hair tangled and sticky with blood. As far as he could see, there seemed to be no broken bones, no sprains, no life-threatening injuries.
But that was only as far as he could see. There was no way of telling if there were any internal injuries.
"Hyrule," Wars skidded to a stop beside the two Hylians. "How's their-"
"Wait, we know them!" Hyrule panicked. "Wild! Wild, what happened?"
"Hey!" Wars barked in his face. "You alright?"
Eyes still closed, Wild made a face and gave him a slow thumbs up. "Ow."
Wars sighed in relief. "Getting very mixed signals here. Can you tell me what happened?"
"Flora," Wild groaned.
"She's okay, she's right here." Wars reassured him. "Flora, can you hear me?"
"Unfortunately yes." Her voice was low and in pain, but not breathless or gasping. Hyrule took that as a good sign.
"Stay still. This might burn a little." Hyrule grabbed Flora by the arm. His magic swept haphazardly through her body, bright, harsh, electric, the kind of frantic magic that seared as it healed. Flora made a small gasp and her eyes snapped open, but the only movement she made was to slowly turn her head to stare at the shaking glow of his hands as they travelled over her wounds.
"Woah." She looked at Hyrule with wide eyes, the kind that only little kids like the ones in Ordon Village had when they looked at Twilight.
"Stay still, I'm almost done." He gripped her arm tighter as a dull pounding began at the back of his eyes, forcing him to squint through the dizziness.
"Wild, how many fingers am I holding up?" Wars' voice cut through his haziness and he shook his head and let go of Flora's arm.
"Like, three or something. I don't know, my eyes are closed."
"Oh, he's alright, then." Flora sounded relieved.
"Glad to hear you care." Wild did not.
Hyrule ignored both the banter and the ache in his head and anchored himself to his healing magic, now flowing freely into Wild's body. Luckily, Wild made even less of a fuss than Flora did.
When Hyrule released his arm, he had to fight to stay awake. It felt like his magic had been absolutely and entirely drained, which was not supposed to happen. Normally, he'd be able to use much more magic without feeling on the verge of collapse.
Maybe it's the side effects of the portal sickness, he thought numbly.
"Hyrule, you alright?" Legend's face suddenly came into focus in his eyesight. "You don't look great."
Hyrule hadn't even noticed that the other heroes were surrounding them. Since when did they get here?
"Wait, Hyrule, right?" Flora bit her lip. "If - if whatever that healing thing was makes you faint..."
"S'all right," he mumbled, waving them off. "I'll just... sit here for a minute." And not faint. Probably.
"D'yu need a potion?" Sky offered.
Wild piped up. "Or an elixir?"
"Woah, no." Twilight frowned. "Ain't that the stuff you make with monster guts?"
"Yep, works wonders-"
"Absolutely not. I don't think that's sanitary."
"It's fine, we drink 'em all the time." Flora interjected. "Hyrule, want one?"
He blinked. "Actually, I'm a bit better now, but I am interested-"
"No, no, no no no no, ew." Legend scrunched up his face.
"They said it was fine," Hyrule argued. "It can't be that bad."
"Hey-" Wars coughed.
Legend ignored him. "Rulie, do you want to drink monster gut juice?"
Hyrule deployed his specially curated puppy eyes. "Just a bit?"
"Hyrule-"
"Excuse me." Wars cleared his throat. "Flora, is this yours?" He handed her what looked like a pile of muddy blue pieces of... something.
"Oh, my hair clip!" Flora groaned, taking the pieces. "I don't think I can repair that."
"S'all good. We have a spare one in here, I think." From out of nowhere, Wild passed her one.
Flora went to take it, then froze. "Wild."
"What?"
"I can't wear that." She glowered at it ominously. "It's yellow."
"So?"
Legend rolled his eyes and gave Hyrule an are-they-seriously-doing-this-now look.
"I need a blue one to match." Flora pointed the clip accusingly at Wild. "I know for a fact we have a spare blue clip. You're just messing with me."
"Actually, I'm not." He showed her a strange, rectangular device with an illuminated blue screen. "See? Just that one."
"That's not possible," Flora grabbed it and flicked her fingers on its screen, then narrowed her eyes at Wild. "What did you do?"
Wild looked sheepish, but nowhere near sheepish enough to redeem him. "I might've let Tulin borrow it."
"Well, let's go get it back, then. Where are we?"
"Hey, hold on." Wars waved his hands to get their attention. "You can't just go back to wherever you came from. We're in a completely different place."
"It'll be half a minute, tops." Flora reassured him. "We'll be right back. We went through this weird purple glowy thing, so theoretically speaking, if we go through it again, it'll take us back to where we were, right?"
Hyrule considered this. "Um. Maybe."
"Not possible." Time said gravely.
"Think about it, Time. It's kinda like a doorway, right? So it makes sense that-"
"No, you can't." Time pinched his forehead. "I have bad news for you two. Portal's gone. You're stuck here with us."
The only sound in those seconds following what he had just said was the far-off screech of birds.
"Uh oh," Wild muttered as Flora took a deep breath.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" She exploded. "I LEFT MY FAVOURITE BOW AT HOME!"
"You'll just have to do without," Wild tried.
Flora dropped to her knees dramatically. "My multishot savage lynel bow!" She wailed.
"What's a lynel?" Wind whispered.
"You don't wanna know." Hyrule replied.
Wild patted her back. "Your bow will be missed. But we'll get it back, promise. When we revisit our Hyrule."
"A cruel fate. I have no patience whatsoever." Flora nodded mournfully.
"Wait, did you say 'revisit our Hyrule'?" Legend interjected. "How are you so sure about that?"
Wild froze, then shared a look with Flora, who nodded. Hyrule had the distinct impression that was not going to end well.
He was right.
"Hi." Wild said casually. "I'm Link. That's Zel."
Flora sighed and facepalmed.
No one said anything for what felt like an eternity. The awkward silence felt like a smothering blanket.
"No. No, you're not." Four swallowed uncertainly. "You're Wild."
"My name's Link, though." If anything, Wild - Link? looked completely and utterly unfussed.
"You can't be." Legend said the words slowly, like he was doubting every single one of them. "We met Link at his house and he was different - oh Hylia, you even said you were also headed to Hateno."
"I'm so flattered that you thought my acting was real. Thank you. I really worked on it." He seemed pleased.
"I don't understand," Wind scrunched up his face. "What happened?"
"What happened," Flora said tersely, "was that after we defeated Calamity Ganon, we needed to spread the word that the princess and hero had returned and everything was going to be okay."
Wild smirked. "Unfortunately, she once caught a frog and immediately ate it in full view of everyone at Dueling Peaks Stable, and that kinda stuff spreads fast."
"What my partner is saying," Flora interrupted loudly, "is that prior to defeating Ganon, we'd already kind of made a name for ourselves -"
Wild scoffed. "Yeah, by eating frogs in front of a live audience-"
"And I was worried that no one would want, uh, us-" she gestured to herself and Wild - "to rule over a kingdom that had gone into ruin after the Calamity happened. So, we just made new personas for ourselves, and that worked fine."
Twilight stared. "So, you're saying that the entire time we were travelling with you. Wild and Flora. We were travelling with Link and Zelda?"
"That's right." Wild nodded.
"...How did we not know the entire time?"
"Yeah, how did you?" Wild grinned. "We even have the same scars."
"Oh sweet Hylia," Wars whispered. "You even have the same scars."
"I knew it!" Legend hissed. "I knew you looked familiar. I knew it I knew it I knew it!"
Twilight clutched his head. "This can't be real. No, this is impossible. Time, am I - am I dreaming? Pinch me if I'm dreaming."
"Sorry, Pup." Time shrugged. "This is as real as my hate for the moon."
"Oh, you too?" Wild perked up. "Yeah, that thing sucks sometimes."
Flora looked scandalised. "Wild, it is a fascinating natural phenomenon, not a personal screw you from Ganon, how many more times do Purah and I have to tell you that?"
"Try telling me that when the blood moons disappear!"
"Can we focus on the main issue at hand?" Wars looked pained. "You know, the fact that you're actually Link and Zelda?"
"No, actually, I have, like, a billion questions for all of you and I want answers, please." Flora cleared her throat. "Such as, where are we? And when are we?"
Hyrule hadn't said a single word since Wild had revealed his identity. He didn't need to. The air was already thick with tension, confusion and the nonstop chatter of seven very befuddled heroes (with Legend's aggrieved accusations as a backdrop).
He groaned. Just when the headache had almost passed, he'd received a new one from a completely different cause.
It was going to be a long day.
BONUS (atp im just praying the image will load)
Notes:
GOD. when i said 'updates might slow from now on' i thought it'd be 'i'll post maybe once every 2-3 weeks' not 'im gonna stop posting for a month straight'. i am SO sorry.
but hey!!!! at least i updated!!!!! thats gotta count for something, right?
I'm also sorry i havent replied to any of your comments. i promise promise i wanted to, but i had things going on and i forgot and i forgot and i forgot. I love all of them, yall are wonderful people.
This update doesnt mean i'm gonna go back to my (comparatively) regular schedule of posting, just give me some more time ok?anyway lemme yap about that art. this is wild and flora shield surfing on hebra approximately half a second before they fly through the portal at heinous speeds and land in a ditch. i dont know how to draw hair. if anyone knows how to draw wild's luscious ponytail, or anything in general, please tell me. also btw yes those are what flo's scars look like. she got them from a wild boar on the great plateau and ever since then she's been scared of pigs, both wild and domestic.
thanks for being patient, thanks for reading. love and appreciate all of you and hope yall have fantastic weeks
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