Hi, my name is Sun, and my pronouns are she/her or he/him! I'm pretty new to posting, but I'm a long time fan of Linked Universe and the LU community here on Tumblr!
I'm mostly a fanfic writer and reader, though I occasionally do some fanart, too. I have an AO3 account under the name Asocial_Lobster.
More info under the cut :)
Rules for Asks
ASKS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED since I'm taking a hiatus from Tumblr.
I have three requests for asks:
Be kind. This is a safe space for people of all sexualities, genders, religions, and ethnicities.
I'm not that good at reading tone, so if your ask can be understood in multiple ways, consider using a tone tag ( /gen for genuine, /j for joking, etc).
Some important tags:
Please don't send political asks. This blog is created for the sake of having fun with you guys. So please help me keep it that way :)
#sun answers 》》 answers to any ask I might have gotten.
#sun theorizes 》》 my headcanons or thoughts regarding LU, the Chain, etc.
#sun writes 》》 my fanfics or snippets from wips. I'm unsure how many of my fics I'll post on Tumblr though, as they have a tendency to grow rather long. Whoops.
#sun informs 》》 practical information like this post.
#whumptober2024 》》 all of my Whumptober fics from 2024. The masterpost can be found here.
#sun's prompts 》》 posts which have made it to my already mile long prompt list. This one is honestly mostly so I can find the posts again if I get inspired to write one day
Current WIPs
I have two main WIPs at the moment. Both are on AO3.
Linked by Fate is about how the Chain met. There will be 10 chapters. The first nine will feature a version of how eight Links met the last Link. The last one will be about how the entire Chain met at once. In other words, the chapters aren't continuations of each other and can be read independently. Currently there are two chapters posted (Chain meets Wild and Chain meets Time) with a total of 31k words. Chapter 3 will be out sometime in January, I think.
Twelve Months of Brotherhood is a series about all the small and big things that happened during Linked Universe. The fics are a mixed bag featuring both angst and more light-hearted silliness, but the main theme of the series is, as the title suggests, the brotherhood the Links share. So far the series has 42k words and it's far from done.
Other than those two, I have some shorter standalone fics. The Adventure of Eras 2.0 is a crackfic inspired by the Echoes of Wisdom trailer. In the Wake of Desperation is a fic about Wind becoming a villain (this one is also posted to Tumblr). I also have a Whumptober 2024 series (all of my Whumptober fics are on Tumblr too). All my fics can be found on AO3.
Rules for reblogging, fanart etc.
Fanart and reblogging of my fics/drawings is always much appreciated!! Actually, receiving fanart makes my day!!
I just have three requests:
Credit my original work
Reblog, don't repost
Tag me so I can see it!!
Anyway, thank you for reading this far! All of y'all are amazing!
When the captain finally returned he wouldn't meet anyone's eye.
He’d done what he’d had to do. He’d had to do it. He couldn’t take it anymore. She was dying—
She was dying. She would have died either way; he’d ended her suffering. It’d had to be done.
But his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
The day passed in a blur of just trying to stay alive after that. The siege continued on throughout the night, but nobody fought well when exhausted so shifts were instated and when Link was pushed from the front lines, he didn’t resist. He was led away to a sheltered outcropping of rock, still too in his own head to fully realize what was happening.
“Cap’n. Are ye with me?”
He blinked and Tune’s concerned face swam into view. Then he looked down at the dried blood still staining his own hands and his stomach flipped.
“Hey, no. Focus on me.” Tune ever so gently lifted his head back up so their gazes met. Link flinched, his breath catching in his throat at the quiet understanding shining in the sailor’s eyes.
“I killed her,” he muttered.
The words came out in a rush, without thought; then the horror of everything that’d happened caught up with him. She was gone. She was dead, he’d killed her and this was all his fault, he hadn’t been able to protect her or any of the other children, this was all his fault he—
He hadn’t even realized he’d stopped breathing until he choked on a gasp. He sputtered, wheezing and shaking as his wearied mind struggled to come to terms with it all.
Tune pulled him into a hug, squeezing him with a sudden sort of fierceness. Link stiffened at first, but his brother’s arms felt safe and comforting and he found himself melting at his brother's touch.
“You didn’t kill her. Link, you saved her. She ain't sufferin’ no more, that’s what she wanted.”
Link shook his head miserably. He still couldn’t stop shaking, even with the warm weight of the sailor pressed against him.
“In a war, hard decisions have to be made,” Tune continued. His voice sounded distant, as if he were remembering something. “I understand that now, Cap’n. And you will too.”
Tune kept holding him as his gasps turned into full on sobs, then faded into hitching breaths as the exhaustion of the day’s events hit him full force. And when he finally succumbed to sleep, his brother’s arms remained tightly around him.
in botw the longer you play the longer links hair should get because ive played this game for like 60 hours already and link has never once cut his hair. also i think a braid would be cute on him
havent thought about this post in months but i read @alostbeast‘s reply last night and could Not sleep until i’d sketched out hairstyle concepts for each location in the game
apparently i’ll just draw anything anyone adds to this post now but here’s rapunzel link because since making the og post i’ve played another like 300 hours of botw
Everyone leaves something behind. Sky knows this better than most. He has left eight amazing brothers behind in favor of going home to his own era.
Or perhaps it was them who left him?
There is a vacuum in his life. A certain chill to the air in his lungs, unspoken jokes bubbling painfully in his chest. Sky has known a lot of grief in his short life, and he recognizes this feeling for what it is: love turned lonely.
His brothers have not just left emptiness behind, though. It is Zelda who points it out first: Sky has begun wearing his sailcloth like Warriors carries his scarf. He scratches his neck like Hyrule when he is nervous, and his words are thoughtful and mature like Time's. His snarky wit has become more pronounced, honed from months in Legend's company. When he cooks, his fingers expertly find the correct spices without thinking.
Sky's brothers have left a gaping hole in his heart, but they have also left a thousand small habits and gestures. Like driftwood, they keep Sky afloat as he grieves. And if he sometimes cries when a memory of his brothers rises to the surface, then what of it? He is not ashamed to have loved and lost.
So Sky writes down everything he remembers about his brothers and clings to it, remembers. He wonders if he has left a lifetime of odd habits and joys with them, too.
XXX
Four is a scholar, and he takes pride in that fact. He is a scholar and a blacksmith and an adventurer, a husband and an uncle. A brother. Four has always been good at filling his life with meaning.
There are many people Four loves, many of whom he'll never see again. Still, he holds that love securely in every part of his tattered soul; it fills him, keeps his life worth living. He thinks of them often and must reconcile with the fact that he won't ever know what became of them.
All except one.
He has only been home for a year, when the need to know what became of Sky gets too strong to handle. Four is a scholar. He knows how to search for old myths and half-forgotten tales. Four is an adventurer. He knows how to carry himself with confidence on the roads, how to avoid danger and how to escape alive when the danger can no longer be avoided. Four is a brother. He knows how to mourn someone who isn't dead, just out of reach.
It is on this adventure that Four meets Aaron. Aaron is a scholar like Four, but also a baker and a petter of cats and a kind soul. Aaron's soul is whole and unblemished unlike Four's, but he doesn't mind. He is not a brother. He is both something more and something less, because Four knows that brotherly love and romantic love are entirely different things. It's not less, not more. It's just different.
Aaron follows when Four keeps travelling. Hand in hand, they scour the small towns for clues. They flip through old, dusty books and sneeze when it tickles their noses. Aaron makes hot cocoa and apple pie for Four's late-night studies.
Hundreds of years have passed since Sky's era, but Four finds what he is looking for at long last. It is not much, just a few lines in a grimy tome about the first rulers of Hyrule. King Link and Queen Zelda who descended from the heavens. According to the tome, they had two children. Only the oldest, Dinah, is mentioned by name.
Four leans into Aaron's embrace and smiles. He always expected something like that from Sky's future - they all did, really. Sky knew his place in the world long before he met the Chain.
Out of all of them, Sky has changed the world the most. The first hero, the first king. Four wonders if Sky knows just how many good things he has left in his wake.
XXX
Time's life on Lon Lon Ranch is uneventful compared to his adventures but never boring. He likes how small his life is these days. He is allowed to care only about those closest to him instead of the whole kingdom. It is nice to walk into the barn in the morning and know that the horses and cows are dependent on him to feed them, not to save the world.
At night, Malon's body is warm against his, a comfort he has been sorely lacking during his last adventure. Her hair tickles his cheek, but he doesn't brush it away. After so long apart, he cherishes the moments when they are close.
He misses the boys often. Not as they were on their adventure, high-strung and anxious, but as they were during their breaks and on Lon Lon Ranch. He misses Warriors' jokes and Legend's sarcastic remarks. The sailor was always so full of energy, mouth running faster than his mind – an impressive feat, given Wind's intelligence. Twilight was quieter, but no less funny or mischievous than the others.
Time misses them, and in his ideal world, they would all be living on the ranch with him, Malon, and Talon. But the boys have their own lives in their own eras.
Time doesn't go looking for stories about the others. Only Sky and Four come before him in the timeline, and he feels fairly certain they have led happy lives. Sky had both Sun and Groose waiting for him at home, and the skyloftian was mature and kind. He will build a life for himself, Time is sure of it.
Four was well-balanced, a man in tune with his emotions. He had Dot and his grandfather. Four has adapted to sudden changes before, Time knows. He will adapt to this, too.
The person Time longs to see again the most is Warriors. Not because he loves him more than the others, but because he is worried about the captain. Warriors has been through so much already, and he was depressed when they parted. Time can't stand the thought that he'll never know if Warriors fought his way out of depression and into the happy life he deserved.
His adventure with the Chain has left Time with many happy memories, but it has also left a nagging worry in the back of his mind which he fears will never disappear.
XXX
Legend has spent a lifetime searching for weapons and items and answers to a thousand problems. He has fought and bled for a kingdom which never held any particular fondness for him - a prince in a line of princesses and queens. Still, Legend has risked his life many, many times on adventures.
What is a few more?
This time, it is not adventures of Hylia's kind. There is no returning king of evil, no nefarious lizards or scheming mages. There is only Legend's desperate wish to reconnect with the brothers he has left behind.
He finds old, forgotten dungeons filled with treasure. Most of it has nothing to do with his brothers, but some of it has. He finds weapons of Four's making. He even finds a quiet stone chamber with cracked gravestones. The fading text reads:
Her Majesty Queen Zelda Hylia Hyrule
and
His Majesty King Link Hyrule
Legend pays his respects and leaves. Sky deserves a peaceful rest.
The biggest prize he finds is a ratty notebook. It is buried deep within a dungeon, and Legend has no idea how it wound up there. But the title page reads Link in Four's neat handwriting, and that's a miracle in itself.
The small book is filled with sketches of weapons. Comments fill the margins. Some are about the swords' blades, observations on how well the metal folded or how durable they turned out to be.
But some comments are of another kind. Recipes and grocery lists are scattered across the pages. A recipe for apple pie stands out with a small heart next to the A. Legend wonders if maybe it was Four's favorite.
Ravio helps him bake the pie with apples from the tree in their garden. It's a perfect mix of sweet and sour. Almost like life, Legend muses. Happiness is always intertwined with grief. Sweet and sour.
He likes to read the book, again and again, when nightmares chase his sleep away. There really are a lot of recipes in the book. Did Four take up baking? Or did he marry a baker? Legend has no way of knowing, but he likes to speculate. The book lies on his nightstand when he goes to bed.
He writes his own little book, too. Maybe Hyrule will find it someday.
XXX
After a whole year with the Chain, Hyrule's era feels colder than he remembers it. But Hyrule can deal with it. He is used to the cold.
There's still a lot of work to do. Hyrule may have saved the world again, but his kingdom is still healing. The poison from the curse lingers like stains in an old carpet that can't be washed out.
Hyrule is young. He was even younger when he went on his first adventure, fingers gripping uncertainly around a sword too big for his childish hands. Hyrule's grip is no longer awkward. Now, his fingers curl around the hilt like they were made for it. Maybe they were.
How young is too young to be Hylia's chosen hero? Some of his brothers were younger yet when they were called by their first adventure.
Hyrule is cold, but he carries a flame in his heart. It is nursed by Wild's steady hands, shielded by Twilight's broad frame. The memories are painful, but Hyrule chases them anyway. They're the only thing he has left of his brothers.
Sometimes the flame is a roaring fire, devouring everything in its path. Other times, it is but a candlelight, barely enough to stave off the cold. He tells Aurora about it one day, and she helps him search the royal archives for old tomes and ancient scripts which may provide him with the closure he yearns for. But the curse has not been kind to old relics, and a lot of information has been lost to time. Legend is mentioned many times in the scripts, saving the kingdom again and again. It does not mention anything about his life after his last adventure. Hyrule hopes this is because Legend settled down to live a quiet life.
The archives do not mention neither Four nor Sky at all.
The flame burns in Hyrule's chest, and sometimes he fears it will devour him, too.
XXX
The deck rocks gently beneath Wind's feet. He rarely spends time on land these days, instead chasing the blue waves and playing tag with the salty sea breeze. He has been on many adventures during his short life, but he is not yet tired of the wonders in this world. The ship is a gateway, it is a magical portal. There is only one place it cannot take him, and that is the one place he most desperately wants to go.
Wind stares into the blue water and wonders what is hidden deep beneath it. Are you out there? He wonders. Has the ocean claimed your bones?
The sea is vast and infinite. Some days, she is kind, other days an angry, roaring beast. Wind's brothers lived in this world once, but the ocean has long since scrubbed the world clean of any remnant of them.
XXX
Twilight does not need to look for clues to know what happened to Time. The Old Man's regrets turned him into a stal, and he only found peace after Twilight met him. It hurts Twilight's heart to know that Time will yet have to suffer so much.
But there are still things to discover, unanswered questions lingering on his tongue.
Twilight has visited Lon Lon Ranch many times during his adventures in Time's era. The world may have changed since then, but not much. Once he starts looking, it is easy to find his way back there.
He spends an entire day just looking at the ranch from afar. The stable has been painted in a light brown, and the fences have been moved so that the cows have more space. Smoke rises from the chimney.
An old woman sees him hiding in the tree line. She approaches him with a surprising confidence despite her age, demanding to know why he is lurking around on her farm.
The woman's hair is gray save for a few red strands which she has brushed back into a braid. Her eyes are sharp, and her face is lined with dimples and sorrows alike.
At first Twilight can do nothing but stare at her, taking in the embroidered cuffs on her shirt, the apron which covers her skirt. He manages to tell her that his family once lived here. The Lons. He asks if she knows what became of them.
The woman goes still. At first Twilight thinks he might have said something wrong, but then he sees the tears in her eyes.
The woman is his grandmother. She ushers him into a kitchen which feels familiar and wrong at the same time. The dining table is too sturdy. There are more shelves than there shouod be.
She finds cookies and milk – Lon Lon milk – in the pantry and sits him down in a chair. She tells him the story of her daughter and son-in-law who took their little son with them to the market and never came back. She tells him of the boy's brown hair and gentle eyes, of how he answered to the name Link.
She cries as Twilight tells her of his life, and at one point she grabs his hand in hers. Twilight lets her do it and cries a little himself.
The woman's name is Eva. She only had the one daughter, but she has a younger brother who lives in Castletown and a twin sister who lives with her on the ranch. The sister's children live on the ranch too, though they and their mother are out for the day. Twilight has more family out there, and Eva promises to introduce them soon. In turn, Twilight agrees to take her to meet Rusl, Uli, and Colin.
Eva is Time and Malon's daughter. She speaks very fondly of them and listens to Twilight's tales with interest. Unfortunately, Malon passed away a few years ago, and Twilight feels his heart break at the news. Eva is relieved to hear that Time has found rest.
The sky is rapidly darkening outside the windows, and the ranch's other inhabitants come home. They greet him with hugs and teary smiles. Twilight stays for dinner with the family he has never known. There is a lot of lost time to make up for, but that's okay. He is more than willing to put time and effort into getting to know his family.
Twilight knows he will never see Malon or Time again. But they have left him a wonderful family at Lon Lon Ranch which welcomes him with open arms. And though his heart still aches, he has found his peace with that. Twilight sits on the roof of the stable and looks at the setting sun, thinking of the family he has lost and the family he has gained.
XXX
Warriors regrets a lot of things. He regrets being unable to save many a friend during the war. He regrets how distant he has grown to his mama and sisters during a decade of depression and struggles. He regrets a thousand words and moments he wanted to share with his brothers but never got the chance to.
It's odd. Back during the war, he visited many of their homes and met their friends. He didn't know most of his brothers back then and didn't think twice about visiting the unfamiliar eras. But now, as desperate longing swells in his chest, he finds himself confined to his own era. No swirling purple-black portals show up to whisk him away to another time. No familiar blond or brown or pink heads bob into sight from behind a tree, a joke and a friendly smile ready on their lips. No one is there to release a frog onto his pillow or ruffle his hair while he yells indignantly. There is only Warriors and his grief. His heart has been ripped to shreds, and though he is supposedly the field medic, he cannot find it in himself to stitch it back together. To heal feels like betraying everything his brothers mean to him.
So Warriors clings to his memories. He carefully preserves Mask's and Tune's drawings between sheets of glass and hangs them on his walls. He scours the castle archives for information about his predecessors and when he finds little to none, he takes it upon himself to fill the gaps in Hyrule's history. He documents everything he can remember about the others and their adventures. He keeps the more private details of their lives to himself, scratching stories of Hyrule's kindness and Four's levelheadedness onto paper with a crooked quill during the long hours of night. He tries his hand at drawing, and he finds that he rather likes the version of Time which stares back at him from the paper, though he didn't quite manage to capture the mischievous glint of his eye. Still, the drawings are better than nothing, and he doesn't give up before he has all eight of his brothers committed to paper. There are only few things Warriors truly fears, and one of them is forgetting even the tiniest detail about the brothers he has lost.
XXX
Wild leans back against his arms and looks at the kingdom spreading out beneath him. There is no reason for him to visit The Great Plateau anymore, but he likes being there. It is the first home he can truly remember.
There is something magical about the world far beneath him. There was a time when Wild looked at it and only saw his own shortcomings, the ruins covering the landscape like his scars cover his skin. But the wilderness is thriving down there, horses and deer and goats running rampant among lush grass. There is a beauty to it, one which Wild understands better than most.
Besides, Wild has won a newfound interest in old ruins. When he and Zelda aren't busy rebuilding the kingdom, they explore forgotten mysteries and solve ancient puzzles.
Sometimes they are lucky enough to find an old relic from his brothers' eras. An old stone carving depicting a great battle. A sword. The ruins of Lon Lon Ranch.
It is crazy to think that these things have survived for so long, just waiting to be rediscovered by Wild's curious eyes. But that is the nature of his brothers, he supposes. Each of them changed the world forever, like ripples spreading across calm water. A seed lying dormant in the ground only to suddenly sprout come spring.
Everyone leaves something behind, Wild has learned. And while he may never see his brothers again, there is a comfort in knowing that the echo of their existence has carried on through thousands of years. His brothers may be gone, but their memories are everywhere. And, Wild thinks as he stares into the endless blue sky, maybe that's enough.
Literally nobody asked, but I really like the idea that Hyrule was the first of the chain to be brought into the whole adventure.
I know a lot of people hc that Wild is the last to join the group, and my brain adores the symmetry of having Hyrule be the first link in the chain. Because his game was the first released and Wilds game is the last.
The poor lad was so confused to be dropped in Legend’s Hyrule. He and Leg spent a week trying to figure out wtf happened before rinse and repeat, they end up on Oot Hyrule.
@tortilla-of-courage I haven’t stopped cackling the entire time I wrote this, and it is entirely because of you.
———–
Link didn’t mean to slam the door in the strangers face. Well, no actually he did. He didn’t mean to be rude about it, but he definitely meant to slam the door.
It’s just…of all the ways he thought his morning would start, having green clad stranger knock on his door was not one of them. Never mind a stranger, armed to the teeth, asking him about his name of all things.
He takes a deep breath, steadying his heart rate and pushes himself away from the wooden surface behind him. Though only in his mid teens, Link likes to think he has a keen eye for trouble– Damned Goddess knows he wouldn’t have lived this long if that weren’t the case – and right now his better sense is screaming at him to walk away and ignore the shadow he can see shift awkwardly under the door gap.
But hell if he isn’t a little curious.
Link is a little dissapointed in himself with how short his internal debate lasts, before caving to his worse judgement, and with a groan he turns around and pulls the door back open.
The man is still there. Honestly, Link isn’t sure why he is suprised.
“Sorry,” he says, arms crossed and not sounding the least bit remorseful, “Can I help you with something?”
“Uh-”
The brown haired traveler blinks wide eyed, taken aback by either the curt tone, the door slam or some combination of the two. Guilt from his rudeness laces through the pit of Links stomach when it becomes clear that the stranger doesn’t know how to respond, and he drops his arms, stepping aside and gesturing for the brunet to come in.
“I was just about to start breakfast, we could discuss whatever it is you have come for over toast.”
It is by far the most uncomfortable meal Link has ever had in his life. They don’t actually do any talking, each man munching on the slightly burnt pieces of bread in total silence. His visitor spends the majority of the meal looking everywhere but at Link, eyes darting from one object to another in poorly disguised fascination before looking away as if afraid to be caught. For his part, the blonde takes the time to observe the newcomer. He can’t be much older then himself, his limbs gangly in the way of a teenager still coming into their body. With the plain green tunic over worn brown undergarments and hair that looks like it has never seen a proper haircut in it’s life, Links guest looks alarmingly…simple. If it weren’t for the arsenal of weapons piled by the door and the faint sense of magic emminating from the teen, Link would think the stranger normal.
“Thank you for the food,” the traveler says after he has finished eating, and Link is struck by the genuine gratitude over what was an admetedly poor meal.
“Don’t mention it.” He shrugs. “So what can I do for you?”
The teen shifts in his seat.
“I saw your sign out front. Is uh, is your name Link?”
The blonde nods.
“Yeah, but the shop is closed. My-” he pauses for a moment, considering how best to describe Ravio other then as a sometimes roommate, “-my business partner is out of town, and he does most of the running of the store.”
“That’s- that’s not what I wanted to ask about. I’m a little lost.” The teen admits sheepishly, “Things look familiar but I can’t quite place where I am and I was wondering if you-”
Link misses the rest of the question, mind caught on the way the other man said ‘things look familiar’. His sense of trouble is tingling again, urging him to acknowledge the growing familiarity at the situation.
“Hyrule,” he states, cutting the other off. “You are in Hyrule. Not far from the castle.”
“Oh,” the traveler deflates, and Link finds his hope for a normal morning slipping further from his grasp. With dread gnawing at his stomach, Link swallows and steels himself to ask the question he is absolutely certain he doesn’t want to know the answer to.
“What did you say your name was?”
The stranger sucks in a breath, expression pained and slowly, watching for how his host will react, responds.
“About that…”
Link doesn’t try to remain polite, and wails as his head hits the table.
Link was having a very strange day. Not the new one, the old one. The one who had a door slammed in his face. That one.
It had been a normal day, or as normal as things ever were for him, though a normal day by his standards already involved a considerable amount of hijinx and thus what most would consider to be a normal day would have been a very strange day for Link due to the uncharacteristic lack of hijinx.
Malon was enjoying a perfectly normal day before the knock came to her door. A normal day where she and her husband got up at their normal time and did their normal chores, ate an average breakfast and went through their normal morning routines before Link left the main house to feed and water the horses. Malon had stayed inside to finish cleaning up the breakfast dishes before the not-so-normal knock sounded. She put down her wash cloth after drying her hands and went to answer the door.
She opened the door to a very particular sight. Two young men both armed to the teeth but with different mannerisms. One was dressed in green and brown and looked very relieved to see her for reasons Malon couldn’t comprehend. The other was dressed in a red, green and blue combination and had far too many rings and an odd pink streak in his hair. This man was glaring off into the middle distance muttering angrily about a door stealing his door so Malon decided to address the first stranger.
“Good morning to you, how can I help you?”
The green clad lad rubbed the back of his head in an uncanny resemblance to her husband. A uncertain grin spread over his face and Malon internally braced herself for something out of the ordinary, she had developed something of a sixth sense for these things. (She’d have to with a significant other like hers.)
“Good morning ma’am. My name is Link and my-” he paused, as if he was uncertain in how to refer to the other as, “traveling companion and I are a bit lost.”
Malon opened the door wider for the two of them, she had a feeling they’d end up staying for longer than Link or his friend thought they might be.
“Why don’t y’all come on in and I’ll go save Link from the horses. I think y’all might have some things to discus.”
Both Malon and the younger Link jumped at the sound of a loud thump and turned in unison to see the red clad boy smacking his head on the wall of her house. The wife of Link was more than certain his name was also Link too.
So much for her normal morning, but she was used to it. Her fairy boy was a hero after all.
Link’s halfway through cleaning Epona’s horseshoes when Malon walks out to the field. Immediately, he can tell something is up. She’s walking too calmly, and her smile is tight. There’s only a few things that can get his wife to look like that, and the first is her lying about his cooking tasting good. The second, however, is whenever he decides to do something dangerous.
It’s strange because he hasn’t decided to do anything particularly dangerous today yet.
All in all it had been a pretty normal day for Link. The sky was blue, the ocean was calm, and he hadn’t a care in the world. He was laying on his bed planning his latest adventure with Tetra, when his grandma knocked on his door.
“Link, sweetie, I think there are some people here to see you.”
He would have to be a fool to miss the confusion in her eyes.
“Do I know them?” He asked, tilting his head.
She just shook her head, and motioned for him to follow her down the steps.
Looking back he really wished he hadn’t.
Sitting at the table were three men, a blond, a brunette, and was that pink hair?
( He mentally gave them names: one-eye, freckles, and pinky)
One-eye looked wildly uncomfortable in the small bungalow. Freckles eyes darted back and forth across the walls, taking in what Link could only assume were foreign sights. Pinky just looked pissed.
Grandma broke the awkward silence.
“Well, Link,” she began, “these are our visitors who wanted to see you so badly.”
He gave a little wave, mentally kicking himself for not having a weapon on him in the presence of three heavily armed men.. “I mean, who just waltzed into a kids house unannounced with weapons like that? Link thought. ”They could be pirates, they could be servants of Gannon, and for goddesses sake who dyes their hair pink? Link figured things couldn’t get any worse from here, and hey, hospitality went a long way.
“My name is Link!” He stated brightly, trying not to look at One-Eye’s sword. “What brings you all here?”
This had apparently not been what the strangers were looking for. One-Eye closed his eye and tilted his head up to the ceiling like he was praying. Pinky on the other hand gave a large groan and slammed his head on the table over and over. Freckles gave him a sheepish look.
“Actually…” he began, in a tone that never led to anything good.
When he had finished, Link asked politely to be excused to his room. He went to his bed, picked up the fluffiest pillow he could find, and screamed into it.
Link should have taken the day off. Dot had literally given him a reason (“Royal ball that I don’t want to go to by myself, the colors are all invited, I miss them all, etc, etc)
But Link also didn’t want to go to the party, especially not with the colors, no matter how much he enjoyed having his brothers out of his head. Too many questions and too many stares for Link’s comfort.
So he kept the shop opened and waited for customers.
Now, Link was used to strange customers at his blacksmith shop.
(There were too many questions that evolved around his adventure and whatever happened to his “brothers” and they could have sworn they heard him talking to himself in the back–)
So yes, it was odd when a group of clear warriors walked into this shop for some repairs and tune-ups on their weapons.
@technicallya1manband tagging you so that I can be confident this won’t be lost in the void.
————–
Link took a deep breath, standing with the door open to see a group of men doing their best to all fit on his front porch.
One of them, who looked uncomfortably familiar to someone else he’d known, was talking at him, something about portals and dark magic, but he’d stopped listening the second he found out they were all named ‘Link’.
@technicallya1manband is this how we’re doing this? idk I just saw this and got excited so
Honestly, the weirdest part of Link’s day so far was that he hadn’t met any of the group of Links standing before him.
so we seemed to have skipped Sky and I had a Warriors bit waiting in the wings so I’ll just drop it here.
~~~~~~
Link was used to portals. He has fought an entire war around, through and in between portals to different eras. Seeing a pulsing purple portal on its own wasn’t that odd, what was odd was that said portal spawned in the middle of the palace throne room, right as Link was giving his latest progress report of the Queen and General.
since Wild is one of the few I’ve actually played the game for, I decided to contribute.
~~~~~~~
Link was at Lurelin Village when it happened; he’d gone to the beach-side town to collect hearty blueshell snails for his dinner.
He hadn’t been expecting the swirling vortex that appeared in the ocean’s shallows, spitting out eight people all armed with various weapons and equipment.
That was long. Keeping this short. Not sure about this one. Thank you to @/runecatwrites for this [Click] analysis post as it was pretty helpful for the Wild and Wars dialogue (though I think the analysis is better).
So I was rolling around your modern au in my head. (I love it btw! It's amazing. No notes. 10/10) And I had a thought.
Sky makes friends with wild geese. It just feels like something he would do. He would just sit down in the park and the geese would all come and chill with him. No one else is allowed near, just Sky. Sky is just the magic goose whisperer.
Obviously you don't have to do anything with this I just had a funny thought that I figured you'd also find amusing.
Happy holidays and I hope you're doing well. Make sure to drink plenty of water. Especially if you live somewhere that gets very cold and dry.
HE WOULD. hes a bird whisperer, the pigeons dont run from him either. he can sit in the park for HOURS just chillin’ with the birds and they like his vibe so they all hang out by him
happy holidays to you too!! you take care of yourself as well :)
Warriors and Wild are LITERALLY child soldiers, Sky is in middle school (and is more than happy to travel as it means he has less homework to do…)
Twilight is a fresh adult and doesn’t know what he’s doing with his life
Four is still as short as he is in the comic. Also much to Sky’s dismay Four basically becomes his teacher so he doesn’t fall behind in his studies.
Wind finally can legally drink…. He’s the wine aunt. He’s a nut case. The kids love him. He and Time were babysitting Warriors during the WAR and they’re both still mad they put a like, 9 year old into a war.
Time is freshly married…. He’s as bad (if not worse) then Sky ever could be when it comes to being lovey dovey.
Legend is mad he has to go on another adventure after he’s been comfortably retired for a decade. He becomes the new old man, despite Rulie being older…. And btw Hyrule is still his little brother.
Hyrule is aging wonderfully much to everyone’s surprise. He looks 25. He still can’t read btw but he has mastered life in the wilderness. He is like a mountain lion, he can hide behind anything and sneak anywhere now. Give him a leaf and he’ll find a way to hide behind it and you’ll never see him….
They would’ve never found Hyrule if they didn’t have Warriors and Wild with them, and even then them finding Hyrule was more so Hyrule allowing them to find him so he could check on the kids.
Day 03: Nature walk and "I'm sorry, when did we step into paradise?"
“It’s just a little further up ahead!”
“Wild, you said that an hour ago,” Warriors protested. “I’m starting to think you’re just leading us in circles.”
The teen grinned down at him from a ledge, his blond hair snapping behind him in the wind. The champion always looked the most at ease far from civilization, but sometimes he could pass for a mischievous forest spirit with the crooked grin and the way his feet and hands could find purchase on even the steepest hills. Warriors had long ago stopped worrying – okay, worrying too much – that the teen was going to fall. The kid must be half mountain goat.
Twilight, on the other hand, was shooting Wild worried looks from his place in the group. He hadn’t said anything against it when Wild scuttled off, unwilling to take away something the younger kid clearly found joy in. He just wasn’t as good at hiding his unease as Warriors, and Four had valiantly thrown himself into the task of keeping Twilight distracted. Right now the smithy had claimed half his attention by telling some story about the forge in Four’s home.
“Where are we even going?” Hyrule asked. He was eyeing the cliff like he desperately wanted to take a shot at climbing himself, which had Warriors feeling much more alarmed. The traveler was a great adventurer and liked running off with Wild whenever they got the chance, but he wasn’t much of a climber. Luckily, Legend was keeping a keen eye on his brother’s back. Warriors had no doubt the veteran would intervene before anything happened.
“You’ll see!” Wild yelled mysteriously back and turned back to face the cliff. In the blink of an eye, he had scaled another twenty feet and was out of yelling distance.
“Well, that’s not ominous at all,” Legend remarked dryly.
“Don’t be so grumpy, Vet,” Wind complained. “Come on!”
He grabbed Legend and Hyrule around the wrists and dragged them with him. Warriors shared an exasperated look with Time. Some of the younger heroes had so much energy. They’d been forced to deal with one of Wild’s lynels just earlier today, and it was getting late. And yet Wind and Wild’s excessive energy still had them running circles around the group.
“You don’t get to complain,” Warriors told him. “You were just as bad when you were a kid.”
Time just chuckled.
Wild suddenly appeared from behind a boulder and nearly scared poor Sky to death.
“Wild! What’s going-”
“We’re here!” Wild exclaimed cheerily. He sprang down in front of them and spread out his arms.
“Welcome to-” he walked backwards under an arch of stone and gestured to the place behind him, “Mount Satori!”
The Chain scuttled closer to see what he was pointing to. When Warriors caught sight of it, his jaw dropped.
It was a small plateau at the heart of the mountain. A shallow lake filled most of it, the still water a perfect mirror of the starry sky. A tree with pink blossoms stood on the far bank, the moonlight filtering through the leaves like silvery magic. Fairies fluttered around the flowers, and small, blue creatures with golden antennae cuddled beneath the tree canopy. Blupees.
“I’m sorry, when did we step into paradise?” Legend asked quietly, awe shining through his voice. “What is this place?”
A nearby blupee cracked open an eye, and for a moment Warriors thought they might have ruined the peaceful scene. But the rabbit-like creature didn’t turn to run, instead just staring warily at them from its cuddle pile.
“It’s home to the Lord of the Mountain,” Wild said. His eyes had always been eerily blue, but right now more so than ever. They shone like the blupees’ fur, bioluminescent in the dark. He looked back at them with a gentle smile.
“Wait here for a moment.”
Wild took a few steps forward while the rest of the Chain held their breath. He reached the shore of the lake and stepped into it. Everyone was watching him now, even the blupees.
“Lord of the Mountain,” Wild said. “We come to your home in peace. Please grant us sanctuary for the night.”
Suddenly, the lake lit up with blue light. Wild stood as a silhouette against it, in Warriors’ eyes more akin to a spirit than ever. Then the light pooled together in the middle of the lake, slowly rising and taking the form of a four-legged creature.
It had shining, blue fur and golden antennae that looked like a wreath of laurel leaves. Its face was flat with a white mane and four burning eyes. Perhaps strangest of all, its hooves didn’t touch the ground. Instead, it stood on the surface of the water.
The spirit – because even Warriors, who didn’t have a lot of experience with such things, could recognize this creature as a spirit – bowed its head towards Wild. The young boy seemed to have anticipated this and opened his cupped hands to reveal a wildberry within them. He offered it to the spirit, which nimbly plucked it from his fingers and swallowed it. It looked at the Chain, and Warriors could almost feel a physical weight from its intense stare.
“These are my brothers,” Wild explained. “They mean your family no harm.”
The spirit turned back to Wild and blinked slowly.
“Thank you,” Wild said and bowed to it. The spirit lightly trotted away – making no sound as it walked – and laid down to rest under the tree. A gaggle of blupees immediately settled down in a pile next to it. One of them climbed up its neck and laid down on top of its head between the antennae.
Wild walked back to the rest of the group, grin wide on his face.
“We can stay here tonight,” he said. “And we won’t have to set a watch. The Lord of the Mountain will look out for us.”
“This is a sacred place,” Sky stated the obvious, eyes still locked on the Lord of the Mountain. “Are you sure we won’t disturb it?”
“Maybe no yelling, pranks, or wrestling tonight,” Wild answered. “But other than that, we’re welcome to stay.”
Warriors glanced at Time. The Old Man had already attracted the attention of two fairies, and they were currently circling his head. He had that odd, wistful look on his face, which meant he was thinking about Kokiri Forest. Time had healed a lot since Warriors first met him during the War of Eras, but the older man still longed to return home sometimes.
“Well, someone’s popular,” Legend remarked. Warriors turned to see Hyrule being mobbed by fairies, several of which were already using his hair as a nest. Hyrule blushed.
“They can sense that I’m part fairy, I think.”
A few of the less magically attuned Links stood awkwardly to the side, unsure of how to approach the situation. Wild smiled gently.
“Come on! Sit down and relax. They’ll come to you if they want to.”
They followed his advice. Warriors sat cross-legged and watched as his brothers slowly settled down. It was a nice evening. The mountainsides shielded them from the wind, and a summerly warmth coated the place.
A blupee waddled over to Legend and sniffed at his clothes. Apparently pleased with what it found, it wiggled onto his lap and laid down. Legend cautiously lowered a hand to scratch it behind the ears, and it purred. Warriors didn’t even know a blupee could purr.
Another blupee came to join it.
“Do you want to borrow the crystal?” Twilight asked and held a hand to his neck. Legend frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I think your new friends would enjoy getting some cuddle time,” he smiled and nodded towards the piles of cuddling blupees. “And I’m not using it right now anyway.”
Legend and Twilight kept eye contact for a solid moment before the veteran relented and held out his hand. He transformed when the crystal touched his fingers, leaving behind only a small, pink bunny in a vest. Just as Twilight had predicted, the blupees stockpiled on top of him the moment he changed forms. Soon, Warriors could only see a single pink ear through the pile of purring blupees.
Click.
“That better not be Wild or Wind taking pictures,” Legend grumbled from somewhere beneath the blue fur. Wind ignored him and took another picture.
Warriors laid down on the grass and relaxed. Ever since the war, he’d hadn’t felt safe, but a night like this one was about as close as it got. The idea of anything bad happening at a place like this felt almost absurd.
He didn’t notice the blupee until it was right by his face.
“Oh, hello there,” he whispered. “Did you come to say hi?”
It hopped closer and nuzzled against his neck. Normally, something like that would have been enough to induce a panic attack, but Warriors felt strangely calm, like the water of the lake had made itself home in his mind, too. The blupee’s fur felt so different from human skin, and that made it much easier to bear.
The blupee crawled onto his chest. It looked down on him from up there, big orange eyes staring into his blue ones.
Click.
Warriors sighed happily and ignored the clicking of Wind’s Picto Box. It had been a long day, and he was finally allowed to rest. He was safe and warm, a blupee with soft fluffy fur purring on his chest.
A night like this had to be cherished. Warriors closed his eyes and let himself enjoy it.
Link reached out blindly toward the other side of the bed and frowned when he found it empty, the sheets cold beneath his fingers. He blearily cracked an eye open. Zelda was nowhere to be seen.
"Ready to get up, Sleepyhead?"
Link turned toward the melodic voice. Zelda was standing in the door, her white bathrobe slung around her shoulders. Her blonde hair was lazily braided.
"Mmpf," Link breathed and sunk deeper into the mattress. "Five more minutes."
The surface beneath him suddenly tilted as Zelda sat down at her side of the bed. She put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Groose will be here any minute now," she said. "We promised to help him with his new project."
"Groose can wait," Link protested, his voice muffled by the pillow. "Come back to bed."
He reached out for her and caught the rope which tied the bathrobe around her hips. He tugged it lightly towards himself.
Zelda finally let herself fall down on the mattress. She snuggled up close to Link, his arms wrapping around her. They sighed in unison, taking a moment to simply be with each other. Link could feel her slow and steady heartbeat against his. Two hearts beating in sync.
"We're gonna be late, you know," she mumbled.
"Mhm."
A loud knock came from outside, and they startled.
"Zelda! Link! Get out here!"
Groose's voice sounded clearly through the walls between them. It carried an amused undertone like their friend had guessed exactly why they were late.
Zelda sat up, swinging her legs off the bed and going to find a dress in a drawer.
"Coming!" She yelled back.
Turning back to face Link, she smiled softly. "Time's up, Sleepyhead. Let's go."
Link grumbled but dragged himself out of bed. He couldn't help but return the smile. Zelda had that effect on people.
He hurried into his clothes, then grabbed her hand.
"You have the worst bed hair I've ever seen," Zelda teased. She ruffled a hand through his hair. "Come on. Groose is waiting."
They walked to the door together, Zelda's hand warm in his.
Wind stepped through the portal and into something cold and wet. The landscape in front of him sparkled in the sun, a gentle sea of white covering the ground. He looked down at his boots. The white stuff covered them, too. He lifted a foot. The white powder fell off his boot and disrupted the perfect white layer.
"What is this?" He asked.
The eight other heroes turned to look at him in various states of bewilderment, and Wind almost felt self-conscious. He didn’t like it when other people knew something he didn’t. It only worked to reinforce the idea that he was a helpless child, inexperienced compared to the others. Then a look of realization dawned on Warriors' face.
"You live on a tropical island," he said. "Of course you wouldn't have seen snow before."
Wind frowned. "Wait, how did you know my island is tropical?"
Warriors' eyes widened like he'd been caught in a lie.
"It's called snow," Time said. Wind sent the captain one last suspicious look before giving in to his curiosity and turning to face Time. The Old Man had bent over – his armor creaking like the hull of a ship all the way down – and grabbed a handful of the white powder.
"When it gets very cold, it snows instead of raining. That's why there's so much of it here."
The sailor gasped. "This stuff fell from the sky?!"
Time smiled. "It did."
"That's amazing!"
The other heroes smiled now, too. Wind wasn't childish by any means, and he could certainly hold his own in battle. But there was something endearing about how the young boy lit up as Time explained.
"I remember the first time I saw snow," Wild said, a wistful glint in his eyes. "It was on Mount Hylia just a few days after I'd woken up in the Shrine. The view from up there..."
His voice fizzled out, the champion apparently unable to put his thoughts into words.
"Does snow mean something different in your eras?" Hyrule asked, tripping nervously like he was trying to keep his boots out of the snow and failing. "Because I'm not really looking forward to dealing with poison today."
"What?" Sky asked. "What does poison have to do with anything?"
"Snow is poisonous? I still have the scars after last time it snowed."
Hyrule wilted a little under the stares that followed.
"Rulie," Legend said, "with every thing I learn about your era, I get more concerned."
Wind frowned. "So is snow poisonous or not?"
"It's not," Warriors reassured. "At least not normally. Your era must be an exception, Hyrule."
"Snow is actually rather well-liked," Time said. "Many children like playing with it because it can be shaped into small sculptures."
He pressed a handful of it into a ball between his hands in demonstration.
"It's a lot of fun."
He blinked at Wind. The small sailor barely had time to realize what was happening before Time launched the snowball directly into Warriors' face.
Everything was completely still for a moment while everyone processed what had happened. The captain blinked slowly like his brain was still catching up to the situation, snow dripping from his face. He raised a hand to wipe it away.
"Sprite," he said carefully, "you're a dead man."
He bent over and grabbed his own handful of snow, shaping it into a ball in the same motion. He threw it after Time, who ducked behind Legend. The snowball, which had been aimed for the Old Man's chest, hit the much smaller Legend in the face.
Warriors held his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry, Vet, I wasn't aiming for..."
"Oh, it's on, pretty boy!"
The others were quickly roped into the fight as they were hit by the fallout of Legend, Time, and Warriors' fight, and suddenly, the snowballs were flying left and right. Wind had never made snowballs before, but he had a good aim. Soon, he and the others were covered top to toe in snow. It was cold and wet, but a lot of fun, he decided. And afterwards, they found a little cave and got a fire going. Wild made something hot and sweet for them to drink, which Warriors insisted was tradition after a snowball fight.
It snowed more that night, and Wind sat in the cave and watched the white flakes float through the air in gentle swoops. It was cold, but with the campfire and a blanket around his shoulders he almost didn’t feel it. Wind had missed his home a lot since the first portal carried him away, and with the frequent monster ambushes, it felt like there was always something wrong or something to quarrel about. But today the Chain had felt like something more than a group of heroes on a business trip. It had felt almost like ... a family. It was nice to think of the others like that, Wind thought. He had a sister back at home. Perhaps he could have eight brothers while he was away.
That was Wind's last thought before he went to sleep that night. And it was with that thought in mind that he threw a snowball in Four's face the next morning when they woke to even more snow.
Participating in Whumptober has been a lot of fun, and I'm really happy I did it. I'm gonna post some fics for Fluffvember, too. I might not post every day like I have this month, but I will (eventually) get around to do the entire prompts list! Thank you to those of you who have read, liked, or reblogged my Whumptober fics. It always makes me really happy ^^
The portal closed behind Legend, and he had to sit down for a minute, head in his hands. The ground was damp, the evening’s dew already fallen. The first few stars of the night blinked above the tree canopy, and Legend leaned back against the nearest tree trunk and looked at them. The cold of night was somehow amplified by his brothers’ absence, and he shivered, rubbing his hands against his arms. What he wouldn’t give to be back in the Chain, sitting around the campfire and sharing stories from their adventures.
But that was the point, wasn’t it? And verily, it be the nature of dreams to end.
Legend opened his pouch and pulled out his ocarina. It wasn’t sparklingly blue like Time’s had been, but there was a beauty to its polished surface anyway. He gripped it with practiced fingers and put it to his lips.
The notes flowed from the instrument, dancing through the night. They rose and fell with the music, almost reminiscent of the waves which had brought him to Koholint Island long ago. Legend tried to imagine Marin’s sweet voice accompanying the melody. He didn’t quite succeed.
The Ballad of the Windfish came to an end, and Legend lowered the ocarina as the last note fizzled out. The night looked no different than it had before. Not a dream, then.
That meant he really was home again. His adventure with the Chain was over.
The weight of the realization hit Legend, and he curled in on himself. His brothers were gone. They were really gone, and there was no reason to think he would ever see them again. The goddess had only called them together because it was convenient to her plans in the first place. He knew better than to expect a favor from her.
Legend was the goddess’ chosen hero. Her tool. Her weapon. He was used to hardship, and he always carried on, no matter how bleak the circumstances.
But just for tonight, he could maybe put down the hero’s mantle. Just for tonight, he could sit by himself under the starry sky and cry. Alone like a hero ought to. Alone like he had been before brothers with comforting words and warm smiles. Before the Chain.
XXX
“Link!”
Zelda enveloped Legend in a warm hug. Her skirt swirled around them at the sudden motion, and her tiara was knocked slightly askew. Legend gave her a small smile.
“Hi Zelda.”
Zelda’s eyes darted to the empty space behind him.
“Where are your companions?”
“The adventure is over,” Legend answered and tried to ignore the burning feeling in his chest. “So I’m home until the next one.”
Zelda didn’t say that maybe there wouldn’t be a next one. They were both too familiar with the workings of Hylia to truly believe that. Instead, she studied him a little more intently. When they’d been young, they had been the spitting image of each other, but as they grew, so did their differences. They still shared the sharp jawline and fine features, but while Zelda’s hair had remained bright like the morning sun, Legend’s had gotten darker. Zelda’s eyes now held a wisdom beyond her age, and Legend’s held a reservedness. But despite that, there were few people who understood Legend as well as Zelda did. She had been there throughout his adventures. She was one of the few people who knew what Legend had seen. Who knew why Legend was no longer the outgoing and optimistic kid he had once been. One of the few people who didn’t judge him because of it.
“How long will you be staying at the castle?” she asked.
“No more than a few days,” Legend replied.
Zelda’s smile twisted into something bittersweet. She hadn’t expected anything more, but she had hoped.
XXX
Legend bolted upright, heart thundering in his chest. The room was dark around him. Only a sliver of moonlight snaked past the curtains. It lit the edge of a neatly organized table and the adjacent chair. He was home. His adventure with the Chain was over.
Hyrule’s shy voice still echoed in Legend’s ears. Ever since Koholint, his dreams had been unnaturally vivid, and this one had been no exception. It was difficult to tell dream apart from reality sometimes. His hands itched for his ocarina.
Legend set his feet on the cold floor and threw a bathrobe around his shoulders. He walked downstairs with a lit candle in one hand and the magical instrument in the other. The kettle boiled on the stove while he played the Ballad of the Windfish.
“Link?” came a soft voice from the stairs. Ravio had wrapped himself in a bathrobe – one of Legend’s, because Ravio firmly believed he was entitled to take anything in the house. His black hair was messy from sleep, and he hadn’t bothered to throw on his usual bunny-hood. He did carry his bunny plushie, though.
“I had another nightmare,” Legend said, because he never lied to Ravio. Especially not when the other man called him Link. He only did that when he was worried.
“About the Chain?” Ravio asked. He walked the last few steps into the kitchen and began riffling through the cupboards for tea and honey and mugs – two of them.
“Yeah,” Legend said. “I was back the day I said goodbye to Rulie.”
Legend had never been good with emotions. Not as a child in the royal castle, but especially not after his many adventures. Shove down your emotions to save Hyrule a few too many times, and it becomes all you know how to do. He was still learning how to be honest with others – and himself – about his feelings.
The Chain deserved a lot of credit for how far he’d come. Ravio deserved the rest.
When the Chain began falling apart, Legend made sure to have a heart-to-heart with Hyrule. He’d told his brother just how proud he was of him, just how much their shared adventure meant to him. It had been a conversation of great difficulty for Legend, but he’d shouldered through it. He owed Hyrule that much.
He hadn’t managed to find the words to say the same to the rest of his brothers. He wasn’t good with words or emotions. And now it was too late.
Sometimes, Legend wondered if his brothers hated him. He was often difficult to be around, snappy, grumpy, and sarcastic. Those last few weeks before the portal took him home had been especially bad. Legend’s grief at Hyrule’s departure had manifested itself as anger. He was ashamed of how often that anger had resulted in him lashing out at the others.
Ravio poured the tea into their cups and dumped a teaspoon of honey in each – a huge one for himself and a slightly smaller one for Legend. He grabbed the mugs, and they settled down on the couch together.
“Tell me about the dream,” Ravio prompted once Legend was securely positioned with a blanket over his shoulders and a steaming cup in his hands.
And Legend did. He told Ravio about Hyrule’s round face and boyish grin, which made him seem much younger than he really was. He talked about Time’s stern voice which was but a cover for his mischievous nature. He talked about Wind’s restless energy, about Four’s clever hands, about Twilight’s accent. He talked about how the Chain had begun breaking apart when Wild was called home by a portal, about how only Warriors, Twilight, and Sky had been left when Legend himself went home. Ravio had heard it all before, but he listened attentively anyway. He asked the right questions and poured more tea when Legend’s cup was empty. And gradually, as the words came more easily, so did the tears.
“I didn’t even say goodbye,” Legend cried a few hours later, when Ravio had brewed their third pot of tea. Ravio wrapped his arms around him. Legend shivered so terribly in his arms.
“I didn’t even tell them how much they meant to me.”
“Maybe they already knew,” Ravio suggested.
“I was always so mean to them. They hate me, I’m sure of it.”
“Link,” Ravio said and caught Legend’s eyes with his. The merchant’s eyebrows were pitched together in a way that somehow made him look both exasperated, amused, and worried.
“They don’t hate you,” he promised. “You may think you have everyone fooled with that attitude of yours, but you wear your heart on your sleeve. They know how much you love them. Trust me.”
“I wish I’d told them,” Legend whispered.
“I know,” Ravio said. “I know.”
XXX
The years passed lazily by. Legend had a thousand hobbies and odd jobs. He took up embroidering, then abandoned it. He kept a small garden where he grew various herbs. He dried them and sold them to the local apothecary.
He studied. Magic, medicine, language, art. Legend wanted to know everything.
He collected magic items like a crow collects shiny things, and he hid them around the house in an effort to keep them away from Ravio’s grabby hands. He secretly smiled when they appeared in Ravio’s shop the next day anyway.
A decade of living quietly with Ravio later, and Legend could almost convince himself the next adventure wasn’t luring just around the corner. Fifteen years. Then twenty. He was still being left alone by the goddesses. Legend’s heart started hoping, despite his mind’s warnings against such foolishness.
The dreams got better, too. They still seemed real, and he still kept the ocarina within reach on his bed table. The Ballad of the Windfish was pure muscle memory at this point, flowing freely from the instrument whenever he put it to his lips.
But Legend played other songs, too, sometimes accompanied by Ravio’s flute. Their kitchen was stocked with tea and honey for whenever he needed it.
Legend missed his brothers, of course. The oddest things could remind him of them. Autumn leaves falling from their trees reminded him of Wild. A scarf at the market reminded him of Warriors. Ravio’s awful attempt at scrambled eggs reminded him of Hyrule.
Sometimes, he wondered how they were doing. Warriors had been in pretty bad shape last time he saw him. He hoped the captain had gotten help since then. Maybe Time and Malon had kids now. Hyrule might have settled down somewhere. Maybe he had even learnt how to cook.
Legend smiled. It was impossible to know what his brothers were up to these days, but he hoped they were doing well. Legend was certainly happier than he could ever have imagined when he parted ways with them. And if he could turn out alright after everything he’d been through, then there was hope for his brothers, too. For anyone, really.
Life was such a strange thing, Legend thought. It had a way of growing around misery and grief. There was always more left to do and say and feel. There was always more happiness to be found, if one knew where to look for it. And Legend was lucky enough to have had eight brothers to guide him in the right direction. As well as well-meaning thief and excellent friend to share that happiness with.
Outside, the stars blinked like they had that first night after he’d gone home. Legend sipped from the cup of tea in his hands and smiled.
