Chapter Text
He waited until nightfall to do it. Link didn’t want to die in the cold but there was no better cover for sin than darkness and he didn’t think that Hylia would smile upon his actions. Not after all he had done to end the war, not after all the suffering. Everything he had gone through, all the trials and pain and misery, all of that just to end up killing himself in the end. It was shameful. And shame didn’t deserve the light of day or the warmth of the sun. It deserved to die in the cold.
Link stepped onto the parapets, confident in his actions for the first time in two years. He stared down at the hypnotic sway of the trees below, leading him over the edge like sirens on the shore.
Link steeled his nerves and jumped.
Legend found himself in a familiar place. Achingly familiar. Somewhere he hasn’t been in two years yet it still felt like a second home to him.
He walked the trail to Lon Lon Ranch. It was exactly as he left it. The cuckoos milling about the place, the crates of milk, and that sweet old house the old man shared with Miss Malon. All that had changed was a new young foal trotting around the paddock at the edge of the field next to its mother.
Leaning on the paddock’s fence, watching Epona and the little one run laps, was a group of seven figures, most of them adults but one still stubbornly clutching onto the remainder of his childhood. He smiled to himself even as he dreaded what this could mean.
He drew closer and one of the seven heads turned around, their eyes meeting. The man had shaggy brown hair, distinct black markings on his face, and a cursed amulet hanging by his neck. He was instantly recognisable despite the years of change. A wolfish grin made its way onto other’s face.
“Vet?” Twilight announced, his eyes lit up with affection. That caught everyone’s attention and instantly all heads turned to him.
Legend grinned at his brothers. “Miss me?”
It was not long before he couldn’t breathe, crushed in an unbreakable sevenfold hug. “Alright you buffoons," he wheezed out, “that’s enough. You’ve made your point.”
His brothers had the gall to laugh but relented, making do with short side hugs and firm pats on his shoulder. They all looked so much more experienced, Legend realised.
“We were startin’ to think you weren’t gon’ show?” Twilight joked, patting him hard on the back making Legend jerk forward. “We’ve been here for hours.”
“You’ve been here for hours,” Four corrected smuggly. “I got here yesterday.”
“Alright smithy, it’s not a competition,” Hyrule intervened, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “But if it was, I would have won because I got here two days ago.”
As the rest of his brothers competed over who had been dragged out of their homes first, Legend’s eyes found Wind among the group and he was shocked at the sailor’s newly acquired height and the beginnings of facial hair on the boy’s chin.
“Sailor?” he balked, tugging at the kid’s weak impression of a beard, drawing a sharp ouch. “Explain yourself! What's that on your face?”
Wind pushed weakly at the veteran’s shoulder to get him away and rolled his eyes as if this wasn’t the first time he’d received this sort of questioning. ”Not you too,” he groaned, clearly frustrated as he dropped his head into his hands and sighed loudly.
Wild, whose hair had grown inconveniently long at this point, laughed at the sailor’s expense, earning himself a fierce glare from the boy between his fingers.
Hyrule, even though he and Wind were now practically the same height, couldn’t stop himself from ruffling the kid’s hair teasingly even as the boy tried to swat his hand away.
“I know right?” Sky chimed in, admiring the boy’s maturity with nostalgic fondness. “So much has changed. We knew him when he was this small.” His hand raised to waist height, everyone but Wind laughing fondly at the memory of the cheerful but fiercely independent fourteen-year-old. The Skyloftian himself looked almost exactly the same but so so different at the same time. He was more confident, soft and huggable still but with an air of accomplishment now solidified. And one look at the man’s hand told Legend exactly why.
“You’re one to talk, Sky,” Legend interjected, a wide smile on his face. “You’re fucking married!” He took Sky’s left hand and held it up for all to see, the glinting wedding band now exceedingly noticeable.
Sky, caught off guard at what he thought was betrayal, smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, right,” he chuckled. “That. It’s been so long I forgot it would be new to some people.”
Everyone was too busy reeling at the new information to let Sky explain his silence on the matter and soon he was overcome by cries of indignation.
“How could you just keep that to yourself?”
“You’re married?”
“Is it Zelda?”
“Seriously, you’re married?”
“Yes, I’m married,” He shouted, an embarrassed blush spreading over his cheeks and ears. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
The old man’s deep laugh cut through the group’s curious questioning. “It’s not,” Time said, laying a hand on Sky’s shoulder, that distinct fatherly smile on his face. “We’re happy for you.” There were nods and cheers of agreement, though, behind it everyone was trying to hide their amusement at Sky’s flustered outburst.
Still bashful, Sky replied with a quiet, “Thanks,” and quickly changed the subject. “I wonder if the captain will show up.”
That caught them off guard. Yes, Legend had noticed that Warriors was missing from their party, but now he was forced to confront the very real concerns associated with why he wouldn’t be here. Yes, he could just be running late, but he could also be fucking dead.
“Maybe he’s not here yet,” Wind suggested, echoeing Legend's hopes. “He’s just running a bit late.”
“Yeah, like Legend.”
“Excuse me?” the veteran scoffed. “You all were early.”
“Please,” Sky said, finally getting some payback now that he was out of the spotlight, “even Hyrule got here before you and he’s always late.”
Before long Malon came out to greet him with a tight hug, pinching his cheeks and noting how much he’s grown. They all followed her inside for lunch, Wild promising to make seafood paella for supper later.
“It’s still your favourite, right?” he asked the sailor, amazed that he didn’t have to stoop to be eye level with him anymore. “A good meal for a growing lad.”
Four made a noise of protest. “Are we sure he’s still allowed to grow? He’s making me self-conscious.”
“Guys, stop,” the kid grumbled, “I’m getting tired of this.”
"Come now," Twilight teased, "It's an older brother's due to tease you once in a while. 'Specially since we ain't seen you in so long." Wind tried for a frustrated huff of disapproval but Legend would bet the rings on his fingers that the kid secretly loved the attention.
Malon looked over at Wild as she stepped into the kitchen, retrieving a bowl of dough that had been left to rise on the window sill. “You lads will have to fish after lunch if you’re planning to make seafood. We can’t keep it fresh for long but Lake Hylia is close by. Why don’t you go catch something after we eat?”
Wild nodded eagerly. “Sure, I’m great at fishing!”
Legend thought back on that time Wild threw a bomb in the river they were camped at and decided he didn’t like his way of fishing. “Lets do it the traditional way, Champion. I don’t think Hylia will be too pleased at you destroying the ecosystem of her lake.”
Wild pouted but conceded. “Fine, have it your way. But I don’t need a rod.” He flashed a dagger to make his point and Twilight swatted the back of his head, a fond smile on his face all the while.
“You’re a menace,” the rancher said. Wild glared at him but Twilight just laughed.
With all... most of his brothers seated again at the same table, joking and laughing and bonding, Legend couldn’t help but feel like he was home again.
They arrived at the lake while the sun was still high. It was a perfect day for fishing, the sun bright in a cloudless sky without it being too hot, the wind was minimal, and the company was just right. The lake was quiet except for the croak of an unseen frog chorus.
That was until a familiar portal opened up in the sky, swirling purples and pinks looming ominously high above the water, and a body fell through, diving straight into the lake with a high splash. The figure was definitely hylian. Time dove in before anyone had recovered from their shock and swam out into the middle of the lake to retrieve the body from below the water. The rest of them waited nervously on shore, whispering amongst themselves, speculating, hoping, knowing who it was but afraid to say anything conclusive before Time broke the water’s surface, the other figure’s arm draped around his neck as he paddled them to shore. The old man hauled them both onto the grass. Legend couldn’t make out much about the figure other than they were unconscious and obnoxiously blond. It had to be him.
Time laid the body down gingerly, getting him flat on his back and Legend’s suspicions were confirmed. It was Warriors, that was entirely unmistakable. That pretty boy face was instantly recognisable, but something was different. Unlike the rest of them he hadn’t aged at all. In fact, it was the opposite. He was younger. Warriors was probably around the age that Legend was now; nineteen– maybe even eighteen– an adult but barely, not even the shadow of a beard to speak of. His skin was marred by dark circles and the pink tinge of scars that had recently been acquired, scars that had faded to white when they had first met. It felt weird to speak of Warriors in the past tense. This was Warriors in the past tense. The person he knew was not the person laying unconscious in front of them.
Time was careful as he assessed the boy’s condition– gods, that was weird to say–unsure of any injuries he could have. Legend’s eyes drifted to a large pink scar on Warriors’ arm– a burn. It looked mature but not fully. About two years old he would say. He recalled the captain saying he was badly burned by a dragon knight. Never once did Legend consider how young he would have been when that happened.
“He’s so young,” Sky intoned, sharing Legend’s sentiment, looking uneasy as they all took in the person before them, someone they had never met before. The captain was twenty five when they met him. That was a lot of... Legend didn't know what to call it. Backstory? Context? Something this Warriors just didn't have yet.
“Why didn’t they wait until he was older?” Wind wondered. He knew what the kid meant. Why didn’t the goddesses bring him here when he became older like them? But Legend wondered something else. Why did they make a child fight a war?
Legend had long suspected that the goddesses chose to band them all together at the age where they would be most fit to handle the challenge. But from what he saw before him, he began to doubt that assumption. What could this Warriors possibly have that their Warriors didn't?
Time checked Warriors’ breathing then, after having obviously discovered worrying results, immediately began chest compressions. The rest of them could do nothing but watch and panic, whispering their concerns and fears among themselves. Surely he wasn’t dead. That would just be paradoxical. Yes, Legend thought, trying to soothe his anxieties, he had to be okay. But he knew that wasn’t how the goddesses operated. Warriors’ life was likely just as uncertain as it had been on their first adventure if the whole branching timeline thing had anything to say about it. He made sure not to voice those concerns.
As soon as doubt materialised in Legend’s mind Time jerked away, the captain coughing and sputtering water from his lungs. Instantly the tension released from the veteran’s shoulders. Time rolled the boy onto his side so he could clear his airways better and Legend breathed a sigh of relief along with the others.
The captain coughed and gulped down greedy lungfuls of air as Time patted his back, getting the last of the water out of him and after a worrying number of wet, phlegmy coughs Warriors flopped onto his back, his breaths now somewhat evenly spaced now if a little shallow. His eyes were closed tightly, a pinched frown drawing his brows together. Time positioned himself to block the sun from the captain’s face and the boy blinked his eyes open.
He looked awestruck as he took in Time’s looming figure, haloed by the sun’s rays. The captain cleared his throat and asked timidly, “Am I dead?”