Work Text:
The kid's pretty quiet by the time they make it back to camp.
The day managed to pass them both by, the sun creeping low into the horizon and the golden light of pre-dusk coloring everything all honey and amber. The early summer air is still warm, but it doesn't stifle him none. Overhead, reds and oranges break through the clouds too, so breathtaking he wishes he'd nicked his Cub's slate just so he could bring the sight home to Rusl.
The sunsets in Orodon are downright breathtaking, but there's something about this one that catches his attention. It's in the way the clouds wisp and curl like the heavens done split, maybe. Whatever the reason, it's a beautiful sunset, even if he seems to be the only one appreciating it any. The quiet doesn't last long, the reluctant peace between them replaced by a heavy silence that's broken every few moments by stifled grunts and hushed hisses as they approach the boys and their beginnings of a campfire.
The Rancher turns away from the sky just in time to nearly trip over Hyrule's prone sprawl as he steps into camp. He finds himself going still under Time's weighted, judgemental stare, and he knows without a doubt it ain't because of his clumsy walking. Twilight pulls a face, and he looks just as guilty as he feels. Wilted like a flower in a drought, he is. It's a little pathetic, but luckily all the only ones wont to call him out on it are sleeping, pretending to sleep, unconscious and buried under nearly every blanket the camp has, and fixing the fire.
Twilight pathetically tries, "This ain't what it looks like."
Time locks eyes with the Rancher and then, pointedly, looks down at the thrashing child in his arms.
"No, I think it is."
Twilight winces. Yeah, he can see how it don’t exactly look great. He's certainly got a lot of explaining to do. In his defense though--what, was he just supposed to leave the kid to go back to the forces of evil and whatnot?
Wild sounds pleased as a peach as he teasingly exclaims, "You've been gone for ten minutes and you already kidnapped a child!?"
Twilight huffs. He’d be wrestling that smug look off his Cub’s face if his hands weren’t busy keeping the Dark Smithy from biting his throat out. Going off of his downright evil grin, Wild seems to be very aware of this fact.
The Rancher huffs again. "It’s been hours, ya lyin' lil brat."
"You still kidnapped a child, though," Wild says, unrepentantly gleeful. He stresses his words just a hair too much.
The Dark Smithy snarls, a guttural and animalistic sound, and an elbow slams into Twilight’s gut. Barely a beat later, a clawed hand snakes into his hair and tugs so tightly Twilight’s surprised it doesn’t rip right outta his head. He curses under his breath, then he curses over it as the kid finally squirms out of his grip.
"I am not! A child!" the Dark Smithy snarls, and he backs up on his heels instead of lunging forward and lashing out. His eyes are wide, breaths fast, and presence faintly nightmarish as the shadows under his feet start to writhe.
The Chain goes very still. Most of the Chain, at least. Wild is snapping a picture on his Sheikah Slate before Twilight can so much as blink, muttering something about "Zelda," "research," and "compendium." He decides right then that he don't even wanna know.
"Is that…Four?" Sky asks, tilting his head to the side. His eyes narrow, more in a confused scrutiny than suspicion. His gaze flicks over to the mound of blankets and the tiny hand and strands of unruly hair sticking out from under 'em.
Still seated on the ground by the fire, Warriors’s knuckles are ghostly around the hilt of his sword. Even so, he keeps his metal in its sheath, his eyes diggin holes into Twilight. Time, too, eyes him before takin any action, and the Rancher makes sure to stand all relaxed like as the Dark Smithy hisses at the lot of ‘em.
"Twilight," Warriors demands through gritted teeth, "what is this?"
"Don’tcha worry ‘bout a thing, cos," he says, trying for a reassuring smile, "He’s harmless."
"Harmless!?" the Dark Smith demands, whirling on Twilight but not putting his back to any of them, "Harmless!? I’ll show you harmless!"
And yet, the kid don't move to show them squat. Course he don’t; he’s weapon-less and surrounded by Heroes on all sides now. There's a fire between him and the two bulkiest Heroes--barring Twilight himself, course--but Sky and his shimmering blade are in lunging distance, and Wild is already only a hair's breadth from crossin into the kids space. Plus, the kid ain't got no clue how many of the sleepers are pretending or if there's more of 'em hiding in the trees.
Yeah, the kid ain't going nowhere.
Twilight gauges the situation for barely a beat and, with a satisfied hum, steps away. The Dark Smithy shoots him a nervous, almost betrayed look as the distance between them grows. His heart picks up in speed even more, his breaths stuttering as he stares at the Heroes like they're makin to eat him. Again, Twilight reasons the kid'll figure it out soon enough.
Surreptitiously, Twilight circles the group, Dark Smithy included. It does not go unnoticed by anyone.
"Pup," Time says, sounding equal parts exasperated and amused, "Are you sure about this?"
Well, as sure as he's been of anything on this adventure. That ain't much, but it ain't nothing neither. He comes to a stop a bit behind the Dark Smithy again, the circle completed and the feeling in his chest finally, blessedly still.
Twilight admits, "Hylia led me to him. Figure ‘s gotta be for a reason, yeah?"
Sky relaxes so quickly it's like he's falling unconscious, the few worries he did hold sinking straight outta his bones. He looks at the Rancher and the kid both with a warm, pleased smile. Warriors doesn't relax the same way, not that he'd expect the man to, but he holds Twilight's gaze for a long, intense moment and lets a tiny fraction of the tension slip off his shoulders. Time looks like he clocked what was happening well before Twilight herded the kid and the group together.
"Of all the things for Hylia to lead you to…" Wild says, with that shit-eating grin of his.
Warriors snorts his agreement, still wary but undeniably amused.
The Dark Smithy pulls a face. His heart's started slowing as the focus shifted off of him, his stance steadying too. He snaps, "The fuck's a Hylia?"
The camp pauses. Legend's soft snore sounds a bit like a snicker.
Sky tries, "The Goddess?"
At the kid's blank look, Warriors turns his wrist to show the golden gleam of the Triforce. Wild shows his, too, and the Dark Smithy laughs near-hysterically. It's an unnerving sound, more desperate than dangerous.
The kid levels him with an incredulous expression. "You’re in a cult!?"
Protests fly from all sides of the camp, at that. Except for Legend, who starts sleep-laughing into his elbow.
"We're not a cult," Sky firmly cuts through the chaos, though he seems more distressed at the thought than offended.
"Then what are you?" the Dark Smithy demands, "Cause from where I'm standing you sure look like one! What, do you hear your god talking to you, telling you to kidnap helpless kids!?"
Time huffs a breath, faintly amused.
Twilight raises a brow at the "helpless kid" comment, and the Dark Smithy flushes something furious at his own comparison, but he glares him down all the same.
Warriors explains, tense as a bowstring, "We aren't a cult. We're Heroes from across the ages. While this quest is for the Goddess, few of us actually serve her."
"But some of you do?" the kid prods.
Time hums lowly. "Some."
Half under his breath, Sky murmurs, "Not that it's easy, when she doesn't give us anything to go off of."
Twi shoots a concerned look to their most pious member, and Sky wilts with an apologetic grimace.
Sky adds, "Worth it, still, of course, but--"
The Dark Smithy cuts him off with another laugh, and it's full-on hysterical now. "Let me get this straight! You're following the 'will of your god' on some crazy 'quest' you know nothing about! You think you 'talk' to your god! You have fucking brands!"
Wild looks unnervingly contemplative. "...are we in a cult?"
Legend sounds a bit like he's dying as he gasps for air. Poor thing. Probably dreaming about drowning. Or, he will be once Twilight empties his canteen over the kid's face.
The Rancher turns to the sky for patience and pinches the bridge of his nose. "No, Cub, we ain't in a cult."
Time hums indecipherably.
Twilight eyes him. "We ain't in a cult, old man."
Time raises a brow. "I didn't say anything."
Uh-huh.
"You don't even know if you're in a cult?" The Dark Smithy laughs. Again, it's a deeply unsettling sound. "That's, like, step one of being in a cult!"
"We're not--" Sky sounds somewhere between desperately lost and ardent. Wild pats his shoulder consolingly as his whole world flips upside down.
"Just my luck," the kid mutters under his breath, "Rainbow’d get a kick outta this shit. Kidnapped by a bunch of fucking cultists."
"We’re not cultists!" Warriors finally snaps, abruptly more offended than paranoid as he shouts, "This is not a cult! And language!"
The Dark Smithy predictably yells back, "Well, it sure fucking seems like one!"
"Shut. Up," comes a quiet, but terrifying protest from Hyrule's bedroll.
The camp shuts up. Quickly.
Even Legend--still breathless--sleep-chokes his way back into sleep-silence. They all know better than to piss of their only healer, especially when their potion maker--elixirs! Potions! 's basically the same thing, Cub, come on!--sides with him nearly a hundred percent of the time.
Even the Dark Smithy goes quiet.
"Sorry, 'Rulie," Twilight says softly.
Hyrule groans and flops over onto his back, propping himself up a bit on his forearms. He blinks blearily at the group, clearly awake and very unhappy about it. His focus flickers around the fire.
" 's 'at a Dark?" he asks, expression disgruntled but only vaguely conscious.
"Don't worry about it," Wild says, leaning down and patting the healer on the head, "He's cool."
"I am not," the Dark Smithy snaps, but he honestly seems more bewildered than hostile and terrified. His heart still beats a few touches too fast, but at least his breathing's a little more even now. Of course, the second the kid's started calmin down--
"You better be," Hyrule says, pointing a wavering hand at the kid, "I'll kill you."
The Dark Smithy stops breathing for a second.
Satisfied, Hyrule huffs a breath and drops the few inches he'd held himself upright. He starts snoring before his head even hits his bedroll.
The Dark Smithy murmurs breathlessly, "What the fuck?"
"He's just like that," Twi explains, waving a hand. "Dont'cha worry 'bout it none, cos."
"What the fuck?" The kid repeats with a laugh, quiet and unhinged.
"Yeah," Wild agrees, quietly standing up with a disturbing creak in his knees, "Rulie can be pretty terrifying when he wants to."
"No shit," the Dark Smithy agrees, a bit breathlessly, "Reminds me of Zelda."
Twilight sighs. He ain't touching that with a ten foot halberd. Mostly 'cause it's true.
"Can somebody try to wake Four?" he says instead, "Figure he’s probably part o’ all this."
The camp quiets, some of 'em considering and some of 'em tense.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sky asks, conflicted, "Didn’t you say Darks usually…"
Time and Warriors share a pained, wary expression.
"Who's Four?" the Dark Smithy all but demands.
"He looks like you!" Wild says. At the kid's nonplussed look, Wild flicks his Sheikah Slate open and moves to the pictographs. "Here, see!"
Four, perched precariously atop Wind's shoulders with Wind barely balancing atop Warriors. The Captain looks fondly dead on his feet, but Wind stares down the camera with determination, and Four's own concentration has his brows furrowed and tongue poking from the corner of his mouth.
The Dark Smithy stares at the slate blankly.
"I don't think that would be a good idea," Warriors says tensely, watching the Dark Smithy twitchily.
"Captain, I understand your reservations, but if it were you, wouldn't you want to know?" Sky asks, "If Hylia and the Rancher are both vouching for him, then I think we should get Four."
Right on cue, as if by divine intervention, Four’s voice mumbles sleepily, "What’s this about getting me?"
"Well, we wanted ta get yer insight on somethin' real quick, Smithy," Twilight says as relaxedly as he can.
Four hums sleepily and sits up slowly, shoving the mountain of blankets off. His eyes scan across the group before settling on his Dark. Suddenly, he jolts, his eyes blowing wide as saucers. He rises in a mad scramble of limbs. A stray knee--or is it an elbow--clocks Legend right across the head in all the chaos. The Vet curses, rolling over with a groan and giving up on the pretense of being asleep.
"Four, what the fuck--" Legend snaps, but he cuts himself off at the look on the Smithy's face.
"Oh," Four breathes, his bleary eyes brimming with tears.
"...Four?"
Four stumbles forward almost absently, like a moth swerving toward a flame. His voice is breathy and near-silent when he says, "I'm still sleeping."
Come again now?
Four keeps moving, step by step, and he rubs the sleep--and the tears--out of his eyes. He mumbles, waving a hand distractedly, "Don't worry, Vet. It's okay. This--this's a good dream."
Legend only looks more alarmed at that, honestly.
The Dark Smithy looks alarmed, too, and a little confused. Hesitantly, the kid tries, "...Vio? Is that you?"
Vio?
"Cause if it's not, this is really weird," the kid adds, laughing nervously.
"You're close," Four agrees with a breathless little laugh, "It's all of us."
Twilight narrows his eyes, trying to piece together whatever that means. He doesn't get it, clearly, but the Veteran seems to, eyeing the Smithy with a look of uncomfortable realization.
"Ah." The Dark Smithy nods sagely, just as realized, and a bit more tension adds to his posture. "Rainbow."
Four's approach pauses mid-step. "Rainbow?"
The Dark Smithy shrugs with a false air of casualness. His hesitance is as obvious as his uncertainty. "Ya'know, cause the colors?"
The Smithy laughs, stopping right before the Dark. "You are such a loser."
"Yeah, but I'm yo--" the Dark Smithy cuts himself off with a sharp breath. He tries, and it's painfully awkward, "I--uh--I'm not a loser."
"You are," Four says, just as tentative and awkward, but unwaveringly steadfast, "You're my loser."
Ah. Yeah, that'd do it.
The Dark Smithy splutters, "You--I mean--all of you?"
Four shrugs. "Individually? I don't know. But together, right here, right now? We'd kill Ganon a million times for you."
"Oh," The Dark Smithy blinks, lost like a stray kid that'd wandered too far from the rest of the herd. "Can I…"
Four nods, smile softening. "Of course."
Twilight expects the Dark Smithy to lean in for a kiss, maybe, but when the kid tips forward, it's to pull Four into a crushing hug. Four's mind visibly stutters, frozen for all of a second before he wraps his arms around his Dark and hugs back just as tightly.
They only get a moment before their audience cuts in.
"As sweet as this is, I think we could use an explanation."
Four sniffles, teary eyed again, but he waves the group away. He says, distracted, resigned, and pleading all at once, "It doesn't matter. It's not like this is real anyway. Just…just let me have this."
Legend's lips press thin. He contemplates the situation for a moment.
"Yeah, no," he decides, sounding as exhausted as he does unnerved, "Absolutely not. I am not fucking with this shit again. Smithy, you got ten minutes, then I'm checking."
Four hums distractedly, too busy trying to melt into his Dark to even bother with the specifics of that. He doesn't seem to care about anything but the figure before him; Twilight supposes it makes sense, in a roundabout sorta way, specially if he don't think it's real.
"What does 'checking' constitute?" Warriors asks under his breath, watching the Smithy and his Dark with a keen eye. His hands don't linger on his sword hilt, which is a marked improvement.
"If we're asleep, it'll wake us up," Legend says, expression indecipherable even if the curve to his shoulders speaks to some inexplicable combination of fear and guilt.
Twilight checks, "An if we ain't?"
Legend snorts. "Then you had to listen to my shitty music skills."
A song, then. It ain't that surprising, really; the Rancher's got a handful of those up his sleeves too. More than a handful, really. He's got melody after melody, from Epona's Song to the Ballad of Gales to any number of those Twilight tunes Midna had distractedly hummed into his ears.
"I'll be honest, I'm surprised you gave them any minutes," Warriors says, eyeing Legend appraisingly.
With how freaked the Veteran clearly is, the Rancher's a bit surprised himself.
"Yeah, well, it's like he said," Legend says with a shrug, feigning nonchalance and failing to reach it, "Even if it isn't real, he wants us to let him have this. It--" His expression pinches. "It's his choice."
Twilight snorts and bonks the kid's shoulder with his own.
"Yer actin' awful soft there, Vet."
Instead of scowling like they all expect, Legend's expression crumples in on itself. "...I've been where he is."
From where he's been pleasantly watching the Smithy and his Dark cling to each other like they're drowning, Sky sucks in a quiet breath.
"Yeah?" Twilight asks.
Legend swallows. "Yeah."
"An'--I hope you don't mind me askin, Vet--but if we were ta find ya in a similar state, would ya want a minute 'afore we woke ya?"
Legend's breath hitches. Sky shoots him a worried glance. Whether Time and Wild are just too busy to pick up on it or if they're politely ignoring it remains to be seen.
"You don't have to answer that," Warriors says quietly.
Legend shakes his head fervently. "No, I--" he stumbles over himself, "If she--I would. I would want that."
'She.'
For a moment, Twilight feels the space between himself and the Veteran pull itself into nothing. In an instant, they're standin in the same shoes, lookin outta the same eyes. The Rancher knows himself, knows the kinda things he'd do for even a second more with her, just a glance between them. Legend knows himself too, looks like.
Wars's arm lands over the Veteran's shoulder, the kinda touch the kid woulda squirmed away from most days.
Today, he leans into it like he's drowning, eating at the touch like a starving wolf. He sinks to Wars's hold like he's trying to melt into it, and the man lets him without protest, comment, or tease. As the minutes slowly drag pass and the Vet's shoulders start to shake, he pulls him closer. Legend turns his face into Wars's tunic and they all politely pretend they can't hear the quiet, choked sounds of his tears.
As the ten minute window draws to a close, Time starts to stand a little straighter. He doesn't say anything, and Twilight doubts he would even if Legend missed it completely, but the Vet composes himself just a few seconds before what the Rancher reckons marks ten minutes.
With a shaky breath and a quick rifle of items, Legend pulls a small, pale ocarina from his bag. He raises the instrument to his lips and a peaceful, haunting tune rings out. It almost feels empty, like a duet sung solo, but the Vet's desperation fills whatever gaps there are. By the time he plays the final note, they're all waiting with bated breath.
Nothing changes.
"It's real."
Thank Hylia.
Legend's shoulders stoop with relief and he nearly collapses with the weight of it. Sky catches him by the shoulders before he can so much as stumble, and Legend shoves him off before quickly putting the ocarina back into his bag. He presses at his eyes and takes a deep, shuddering breath before dropping to a seat right there on the dirt. Sky drops to a seat right beside him.
Eyes blazing with color, Four checks, "You're sure?"
Legend breathes shakily into his knees. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure."
Sky's hand gently brushes up and down his spine, a soft and grounding move he's only seen the Chosen pull out a couple times before. None of them usually like being touched where they can't see, least of all the Vet, but it seems to help some.
With a wry grin, the Dark Smithy asks, "So I'm not just a figment of this loser's imagination?"
The aforementioned loser whips around with wide, transfixed eyes.
Breathlessly, Four realizes, "You're actually real."
The Dark Smithy snarks, "Obviously."
The kid's completely oblivious to the very real danger he's in, raising a brow at the Smithy and grinning with his teeth. Four narrows his eyes. The call of a predator twists the air and the Smithy shifts on his feet. Then, he lunges.
The Dark Smithy shrieks as his Hero smacks him to the ground.
"Hey!" he complains, "What the--"
He tries to get up, the fool, and Four flops on top of him with all of his weight.
"Uh, Rainbow?" the Dark Smithy tries, "What are you doing?"
Four sniffs, indignant and teary all at once. "Trapping you."
The kid blinks slowly. Then, as he tries and fails to itch his nose, the situation begins to dawn on him. He sighs, boneless on the ground. "Yeah, alright."
"...I'm surprised you're not fighting this," Four says with narrowed eyes, "You don't usually like being told what to do."
The Dark Smithy shrugs exasperatedly. "I'm already kidnapped."
Four pauses for a long moment.
"Sorry, did you say kidnapped!?"
Twilight snickers.
Yeah, he reckons they're all gonna be just fine.
---
Well, most of them.
The Sailor's shriek sends birds scattering from the treetops.
"You let me sleep through what!?"
---