Chapter Text
The world spun as Sky’s surroundings disappeared. Portals sucked.
Though he had been upright when he walked through, the magic didn’t seem to care as it tossed him to the ground as if he’d jumped into it. Cold winds were the first thing that met him. They tugged at his sailcloth. A breath of the thin air revealed that he was somewhere high up.
The lack of his soul singing immediately ruled out his own time, however. No loftwing here. He could only hope they’d hit Skyloft soon.
He looked out at the new location. Some kind of field surrounded him. The grass around was dying. He could spot maybe three trees in total on the rolling plains. All of which were sparse and leaned over to the east.
No other heroes were in sight. Sky huffed. It was getting more and more common for the portal to split them up, rather than together or even in groups. Whenever this happened, they agreed to all head for the greatest landmark they could see, which was usually close enough to the others.
However… Sky saw no such landmark in any direction. Only the empty horizon and scraggly trees. That might be a problem.
He frowned, knowing that it would do him no good to simply stay here. To pick a direction and start walking was his only option, in hopes that something would appear to act as a landmark.
But of course, the sun was just setting, meaning that not only would he be missing the dinner that had smelled so nice only moments ago, but he would have to traverse in the dark of night. Of an unknown land. In the dark.
Sky was not afraid of the dark by any means. Though he was certainly not fond of the other Heroes’ nights. On Skyloft, lights and lanterns were strung over all the buildings and pillars, especially by the island’s edges and landing platforms. They were lit nightly, illuminating the island. It was necessary for the safety of the soldiers and their loftwings while also providing warmth from the high altitude’s bitter air. It just made sense. In the other heroes’ times, however, their nights were overcast and grim, unsettling in their darkness, and only made Sky wary.
He glanced over his shoulder at the Master Sword’s hilt, already beginning to glow softly. Fi would be his only source of light. She would be an undeniable help, but she was no lantern.
He unsheathed her anyway. Then, he walked.
The winds were running east, tugging at his loose clothes. Instinct told him to walk with the wind, as he might on a loftwing, using the current to carry him along and boost him forward. However, he was not with his mount, and he didn’t quite trust the unknown terrain to be kind to him. If it pushed him too far, he might tumble down the little hills. He would head west instead.
Having chosen a direction, he then decided to tuck his sailcloth into his bag, seeing little use for it at the moment- It would get quite annoying to have it blowing over his head this way and that as he walked.
It didn’t take long for Sky to start missing the company of his companions. Fi, of course, he dearly missed. It barely felt like an adventure without her voice at his side. Sure, she could be a bit too much of a realist, but Sky had shown her that odds meant nothing as he beat them again and again. Zelda had said it was the highest honor of being able to use the Master Sword again. Perfectly balanced. Lightweight yet a force to be reckoned with. The worn handle was made to fit his hand.
It was torture in and of itself to carry the sword that lacked her spirit.
And then there were his new traveling companions. The other heroes were often loud and boisterous, as young men should be, breaking any pretense of silence before it had the chance to settle. If he wasn’t spacing out, he could listen in on the wide scope of conversations around him. They’d talk of their journeys before this quest. Their homes. Their lives.
Only Four ever cared to hear of Sky’s own home. Skyloft was too easy and carefree to make a compelling story for the others. His adventure was hardly ever asked about. The surface far too different from what they experienced to make for relatable adventures, yet not quite big enough to make for a thrilling narrative. Perhaps Sky was just a poor storyteller.
While Sky himself loved to hear of the heroes’ lives, each story they told of before only drove another nail into his heart. Their lives held peace before they had to become heroes- Before the curse on Sky’s bloodline dragged them away from it all. Loved ones died. Or got hurt. Childhoods ended.
Each and every scar on their bodies was directly caused by Sky’s weakness to properly kill Demise. The others knew as much.
‘Maybe if you had been better at your job then none of us would have to suffer.’ Legend’s pain-filled voice rang out in his ears. ‘You could’ve stopped evil in its tracks before it had the chance to terrorize the rest of us.”’
And somehow- they knew. But this was not new information. From the moment he’d met the others, he could tell that something was off. Their complex gaze when he locked eyes always held emotions that he couldn’t ever place. They went quiet when he lingered too long. He felt like a stranger in the group that acted as a family. If it weren’t for this whole adventure, he wasn’t sure he’d have lasted this long among their midst.
Sky stumbled from a particularly strong burst of wind. He took the moment to reassess his surroundings. Still nothing of note in any distance. Perhaps they’d be better off…
He shook his head at the thought. Four, at least, tended to stick around him, although being much of an introvert himself. Warriors loved sparring with him, perhaps a little star-struck by his swordsmanship. And Time, though he seemed to loathe the very idea of the Chosen Hero upon their first interactions, had recently promised that he ‘loved him.’ Sky was still very conflicted with that statement. The Old Man’s show of affections were very obvious: Physical touch- a hand on a shoulder, a gentle nudge by the campfire; and affirming words- though everyone blushed when he praised them. On one hand could he count the amount of times that Time had expressed either to him.
But, he supposed, love was very complicated.
It didn’t used to be so, however, as everyone on Skyloft was very comfortable with each other, and very outward showing their affections. They had been around each other their entire lives, after all.
Then his adventure changed all of that. Ever since he’d learned the truth of Zelda’s identity, the relationship had been profoundly complicated.
Zelda, his Sun, loved him. Sky knew this.
Zelda was Hylia, therefore, Hylia loved him too, in a way. It should have been simple. But as he learned more and more about Hylia from the other heroes, Sky wasn’t so sure.
He’d heard it all: the goddess sending mere children into adventures that had changed them. Into wars that had scarred them. Ripping them from hearth and home and throwing them into a cold, unforgiving world. Much like Sky blamed his own spirit for doing to them. His cursed spirit.
However, each of the others’ relationships with Hylia were very different and varied.
Wild still held adoration for her, though in a distant, impersonal way.
Warriors fought for her, but did not fully condone certain actions that pulled dozens of others into the war. He did not agree at all with the bloodshed; though he did not blame her for all of it.
Then, the next few either did not know of or did not interact directly with Hylia: Wind claimed that he knew about the goddess, that she once ruled the lands. Hyrule was similar, knowing the name from stories, but not in any personal or important way. Four did not know her at all, only knowing what others spoke about her. He claimed to be indifferent to Hylia.
Twilight grew up with Ordona. Hylia was who the ‘townsfolk’ believed in. He held her in no favor, though did not disregard her.
And lastly, Time and Legend held no love for her. Both spoke of her with disdain; Time with distant coldness and Legend with great resentment and abhorrence. That she used them as ‘playthings,’ or ‘toy soldiers,’ uncaring of their fates.
There was a lot of discourse about Hylia between them and Sky.
And after all he had heard from the heroes, villagers, townsfolk- Sky was finding it harder to defend Hylia’s actions. The idea of her in Sky’s mind was becoming further and further from his Zelda. There was no world where Zelda, his Sun, could be this cruel and unloving. They could not be the same entity. It was impossible.
Maybe they simply were two entirely separate people. And if what the others said about the goddess was true (he was beginning to doubt them less and less), then Sky was becoming content with that.
Maybe Sky had always been just a soldier to Hylia. Meant to fight a battle he might not have won. Chosen with the intention of suffering. Favored because of his abilities.
Sky did not like these lines of thought one bit. The idea hurt. That Hylia, who he thought must have loved him because another version of her did, used him as though he was something to be discarded afterward.
But it was the better option of the two.
And then -Perhaps since Sky had long-gotten stuck in his own head thinking too hard, or maybe because it was too dark to realize the difference between shadow and void- Sky’s next step landed nothing. Momentum was his downfall as he stumbled into a gaping hole in the earth, unable to grab an edge. He fell. His mind spun from the unexpected drop, but muscle memory took the lead as the moved next-
He had dove numerous times on his adventure, meaning he could sheathe Fi and tug his sailcloth into action in mere seconds. Air blew past him as the Master Sword found its way into its sheath, safely pinned to his back. Her light snuffed and left him in darkness. But when his fingers reached for his sailcloth, only a bare shirt collar met his grasp.
His sailcloth was packed neatly into his bag. Useless.
Sky plummeted into the earth. Mind reeling. Hands clumsily grasping for the buckle of his pack. A quick prayer was sent into the heavens, and he had no spare thoughts to wonder if it would even be heard.