What could have been (playing out in front of you) Chapter 8 is out !
Looks like Tumblr's link thingy is broken again augh
I am quickly dropping this chapter on everyone's lap and rushing back to my exams preparations. Hope you enjoy it, it leans more towards the 'sweet' end of 'bittersweet' this time !
@queering-the-chain prompts 17 (Girl), 16 (Boy), and 14 (Help)
Summary:
Wind is forced to borrow Legendâs clothes. It turns out wearing a skirt is fun? Itâs so fun! Swish, swish, swish.
Link and snippet below the cut
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Everyone was glad when they left the swamp. A full week of the clinging muck was more than even Wild and Hyrule could handle.
As soon as they were out, Warriors rushed to open his bag and change clothes, quickly followed by everyone else. Wind opened his own bag, only to promptly remember accidentally dropping his bag on the second day into the swamp. All of his clothes were muddy, slimy, and stinky â no better than what he was already wearing.
âHey, Ledge, can I borrow something until we reach somewhere we can do laundry?â Hyrule asked. Right, he didnât have a change of clothes either.
âSure,â said Legend, whoâd already changed into a green âundertunicâ â dress â identical to his usual. He reached into his bag and pulled out a third identical green undertunic.
âHow many of those do you have?â Wild asked with interest.
âOnly the three, in green.â
âAnd in other colours?â
Legend smirked and didnât elaborate.
âOkay, hoarder,â Warriors shoved him lightly, and they both snickered. âLetâs get a move on.â
âWait!â Wind exclaimed, and then froze as everyone looked at him. He hadnât meant to be that loud. He rallied his courage. âLegend, do you have something I can borrow, too?â Heâd have asked Wild, except Wild was just tall enough that most of his outfits would be uncomfortably big on Wind. Legend, who was shorter, had clothes that would nearly fit Wind perfectly.
Legendâs eyes widened in realisation. âShit, your bag. Yeah, I got something. Hang on.â
He dug around in his bag for a minute, arm disappearing into it much further than the outside dimensions would imply. He finally pulled out a yellow undertunic, similar in cut to his green ones.
Wind happily scrambled to change, but Legend frowned at him when he was done.
âThat much yellow does not work for you,â he proclaimed, nose wrinkled, and then went back to digging in his bag.
Warriors quietly tried to get him to look while they walked, but Legend shooed him off, insisting that it was âimportantâ.
Finally, he pulled out a blue tunic. âHere, that should help break up the yellow some, and youâll probably feel better in your usual blue, even if itâs not the same shade.â
It wasnât the same shade, not even close, but Legend was right; Wind did feel better about wearing blue.
With Wind changed, they got to walking. It was odd, not wearing pants. His legs rubbed against each other.
Legend drifted closer. âSwing your legs around each other, so your steps are more in a line. Helps with chafing.â
He exaggerated his walking to demonstrate what he meant. Wind copied him. It helped. It also made the skirt of the tunic swish and sway around his legs as he walked.
Wind felt⌠pretty⌠with it doing that. He hadn't felt that way before. It was actually sort of nice.
He experimented with different ways of moving his legs and hips, seeing how it affected the skirt.
He was so distracted watching it that he didn't notice when everyone else stopped until Legend tapped him on the shoulder. âHaving fun?â
Wind blushed. âIt's just new,â he said defensively.
Legendâs smirk widened, but he thankfully didn't push. âSure. We haven't found a lake or river yet, so you can keep experimenting with the ânewnessâ of it tomorrow. Anyway, Time asked if you'd help gather sticks for the campfire.â
Wind hurried off, trying to get away from Legendâs smile.
Other Warnings: child abuse, implied/referenced child abandonment, spousal abuse, minor character deaths, implied murder
Summary:
What if Legend was a mermaid from birth? How would that change her- I mean his- I mean their life?
Link and snippet below the cut
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Mama stared out the window at the rain. The house was close enough to the docks that she could see it landing on the churning waves. Lin could see it, too, when Mama lifted her up; she was too short to see out the window otherwise.
Mama looked away from the window for a minute to check on the pie dough in Linâs bowl. It was nearly ready to be rolled out. They were making hand pies for Father.
Lin wasnât sure why they were putting in so much effort. Father would be mad theyâd taken so long no matter how good the pies tasted. Still, Mama said they had to do their best, and Lin wanted so very much to be good for Mama.
---
The boxes and chests crowded her, the darkness near overwhelmed her with terror, and still Lin pressed in deeper to the space under the bed, hands over her ears to block out the yelling.
She wasnât sure what had caused it this time â Father got angry over so many things, after all â but Mama had yelled back for the first time in Linâs memory. Theyâd been shouting at each other for over twenty minutes, now, and Lin just wanted it to stop. It was past suppertime. It was probably past bedtime, too. She was hungry. She was tired. She was scared.
The yelling stopped, the front door slammed, and the house became horrifically silent. Footsteps, almost unbearably loud, walked closer to the bed. Fatherâs shoes became visible. Lin pressed her hands over her mouth in the hopes of quieting her breathing further. She may want to be given supper, but she wanted Father to not know she was hiding under the bed more.
Father grabbed the bag he usually took to work and threw it on the bed. He stomped about the house, throwing things into it. Then, he, too, left the house. The door slammed with finality.
Lin slowly crawled out from her hiding spot and peered around the empty house. She couldnât help the sobs that spilled out of her. Mama was coming back, right? Someone would come for her, wouldnât they?
After a few minutes of crying, Lin took a deep breath and wiped her tears. If no one was going to come back for her, she needed to take care of herself. Sheâd been helping Mama make stew before the argument had started, so sheâd just have to finish it herself. She pulled the step stool she used to help Mama cook over to the stew pot and stirred it. The stew was done, and so she pulled hard on the swing arm that kept it over the fire. It took all of her weight to get it to move, and stopping it was even harder. She yelped slightly when it bumped into her arm and burned her.
Lin sat at the table, alone, with the bowl of stew and ignored how salty it tasted with her tears. When she was done eating, she put the empty bowl near the washing basin. If no one had come back by tomorrow morning, sheâd clean it herself.
She spent a few minutes staring at the large pot of stew, but sheâd never been around when Mama put it away for the evening and so didnât know what to do with it. Eventually, she shrugged, made sure the lid was on, and put herself to bed.
It took her a long time to fall asleep that night.
---
Mama had returned by morning, but Father took a couple of days. He didnât look happy to be back, and Mama didnât seem pleased either. They yelled a lot, mostly at each other but occasionally at Lin.
After a week, Mama started looking ill. She became pale and shaky. It became harder and harder for her to lift things. Lin had to beg her to stay in bed. Father refused to call the doctor, saying that they didnât have enough money.
One day, Mama collapsed while Father was at work, and so Lin ignored her fatherâs orders and went to the doctor herself for help. The doctor helped get Mama in bed, but said that there wasnât anything he could do for her condition.
Father had yelled at Lin afterwards like he never had before, but she knew sheâd made the right choice even if nothing had come of it. The look Father gave Mama scared her.
---
Lin cried through the funeral. It was small, devoid of friends. A few of Fatherâs fellow fishermen were there, but not many. A couple of them apologised to Father. No one apologised to Lin.
A short fic for Joyful June Week 1: Magic. Written for a sprint on the Linked Universe discord and also @lu-community-write-a-thon!
Link from Adventure of Link/Hyule from Linked Universe uses his Fairy spell for the first time
[AO3]
---
Link took a deep breath as he slowly summoned up his magic. The old man had explained the spell in detail and he knew he'd understood it. He was experienced enough with magic by now that he could follow descriptions of how the power that gathered deep in his soul should flow, and he'd encountered enough fairies to recognise the shape and feel they left in the world, which would otherwise be the missing piece. He had even taken a moment to feel out the sensations in the air as he'd scooped up a bottle of the Water of Life to give to the old woman who'd introduced him to this latest teacher. He had everything he needed.
But that didn't make him much more comfortable with casting a spell that would change his very physical nature. The old man had assured him it wouldn't hurt, and there was very little reason for him to lie, but a mistake in the casting of the spell could be disastrous.
Still, Link was used to taking risks. He was used to getting hurt, even hurt badly, and he told himself this was no different. He had a doll to hand in case something went badly wrong - his last one, but if he needed it it was always worth it - and it was time to stop dithering and try this spell.
With another deep breath, he folded his hands on his chest, straightened his back, and with a quick mental flick pulled the magic out of his soul and around himself as if unfurling a blanket.
Despite the old man's assurances, he'd expected pain. Instead, the magic filled him with a glittering warmth. He felt the wings flashing out of his back, felt himself shrinking, but it was as if he was a breeze, air forming a new shape rather than a boy of flesh and bone. It was somehow freeing, bringing a lightness and mobility that he wished could go on forever, dangerous though he knew that probably was.
And then it was over. All in a moment, he was a fairy, hovering in the air where he'd been sitting.
He'd got it right first time.
And that triumph and the lingering feeling of freedom and joy and the knowledge that the sky above was suddenly open to him sent such a frisson of excitement through him he couldn't help spiralling upwards with a delighted cry. The air seemed to sing under his wings and he shed tiny, sparkles like droplets of water as he shot upwards between the leaves of the trees overhead and towards the sun. For a moment he hung, hovering, looking down at the little forest in which he'd sheltered for his experiments. He could feel the magic underlying the land, see it when he looked for it. The gleam of hylian life in the village where the old man and old woman and her daughter lived. The little silver-green pinpricks of birds in the trees. The warm, deep green of the trees themselves.
Link breathed deep, though in this form he didn't need to, letting the magic in the air flow through him with a deeper, truer joy than the sparkling excitement of flight. Now he could understand why fairies chimed and sparkled the way they did, if this was their everyday life.
Soon he would have to land again. He couldn't travel far in this form and, more importantly, couldn't risk forgetting how to change back. But for the time being he savoured the magic, looked out at the sun and the jewelled magic of the land below, and let the excitement and triumph and deeper joy flow through every fragment of his body.
Written for @queering-the-chain's prompt 16, "boy", and transcribed from handwriting during the @lu-community-write-a-thon!
AO3 link pending, let me know if I should post it there too.
Please reblog if you like this fic so more people can read it!
*****
âI have a little brother.â
Wind stared at his letter in shock.
âI have a little brother!â
âHm?â Time leaned over, having overheard him. âI thought you were unaware of your parentsâ whereabouts?â
âIsnât your grandma a little⌠old to adopt another child?â Warriors butted in.
âNo! Itâs Aryll- I mean, uh- Gull!â Wind said, quickly skimming the letter. âHeâs been thinking, and⌠he doesnât think heâs a girl after all.â
âThatâs wonderful news!â Time said.
Warriors ruffled Windâs hair. âI bet youâre even more excited to go back home, huh?â
âYeah! Grandma has a hard time remembering still, but she already helped Gull cut his hair. Tetra is going to show him how to safely wrap his chest to make it look smaller. And Wars? Can we go shopping? He needs better clothes than mine!â
Shadow POV update day! Slightly late because we slept half the day away but it's still technically wednesday for some people
Summary:
Sounded like an inside joke, and reminded him of the princess' earlier mention that the spirits had told her about them being heroes.
It wasn't nearly as bad a name as some of the rest, though, so Shadow could let it go.
Mostly.
He wanted to be in on it so badly.
But the group didn't ask about it, because goddesses forbid Shadow get to hear about anything even remotely interesting.
Link:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The portals dump Legend, alone, in the middle of the Great Sea. His rescuer is not what he seems. Legend is not doing well.
Link and snippet below the cut
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Warriors fell out of a portal and landed in the water with a splash.
Weighed down by his chain mail and many layers, it took him a minute to orient himself and swim upwards. He found that he wasnât too far away from the shore of a large island. Already, he could see a figure standing on the beach â likely one of his brothers stumbling out of their own portal.
Warriors swam closer, and, bit by bit, Time came into focus. Heâd already removed his armour under the hot sun and was building a campfire with the palm trees that lined the sandy beach. He paused in his gathering of materials to wave at Warriors.
Warriors finally made it to shore, exhausted from dragging his heavy clothes. Thank goodness the army had insisted that all new recruits be taught how to swim. As soon as he could, he shucked his tunic and chain mail and left them on the beach.
âHello, Captain. Enjoy your swim?â Time asked with a cheeky smile, arms full of dead palm leaves.
âMy scarf got wet!â Warriors exclaimed, playing up how upset he was over it.
âYes, it is tragic,â Time agreed, face falling back into carefully-constructed neutrality. His eyes laughed at Warriors. âI do believe we are in the Sailorâs world.â
Warriors considered the ocean heâd had to swim through to get here. âProbably. Is there anyone else on the island, or is it just us lucky two?â
âIâm not sure. Perhaps you could search the island while I get a signal fire started?â
âSure.â Warriors dreaded the idea of putting his mail back on, but he didnât mention that. Maybe just his weapons would be enough? It didnât look like a big island. âOh! Do you want to borrow the vetâs fire rod to start it?â
âThat would be appreciated, thank you. Leave it near the fire pit?â Time gestered to the growing pile of flammable palm leaves and branches on the sand.
âSure,â Warriors said. He went back to his dropped items and armour. He elected to forego the armour â if he really got into trouble, Time would come running â and so strapped his weapons into place on top of his undershirt.
Phew, we finally got those monsters out of the server and the sheets! LUWAT staff is now going to spend a few weeks cleaning up after that, and will be back on July first (AWST), for some magical transformations!
The forces of evil are scattering back to their own lairs once more. We hope that this was a productive networking opportunity for monsters, mages, and malicious actors of all kinds!
Please do not forget to submit your words to have your maleficence counted!
Mingling will be going on for one more hour in the LUWAT discord server.
Thank you everyone for coming and participating. Feel free to submit any ideas for future evil plans or feedback on this corporate retreat of evil to the event organizers here.
Our workshop on burning villages has officially begun!
You can contribute to the forces of evil by writing fanfiction, killing Link, writing original fiction, kidnapping the princess, doing homework, blotting out the sun, writing comments (to demoralize the hero), and responding to comments (with an epic villain monologue), as well as any other nefarious deed you can set to paper!
Donât forget to record your evil deeds and report your words via the LUWAT Home Site.
And if you would like to workshop any of your plans for world domination, feel free to head on over to the LUWAT discord server, which will be open for the length of the event.
The forces of darkness have assembled in the LUWAT discord server, where we will be running our motivational seminars on capturing princesses for the next day and a half.
If you donât want to network with your fellow creatures of Darkness, that is acceptable. Many monsters are solitary. All event materials may be accessed here at the retreat home page.
Now sharpen your claws and ready your spells. And donât forget to prepare your outlines!
Hello new recruits, and welcome to onboarding for MalicCorp. We will begin our corporate motivational writing retreat in exactly twenty four hours. (What time is that for me?)
Our lords of darkness encourage you to come mingle around the water cooler in the LUWAT discord server, which will be opening as usual, six hours before the event begins.
And whether you want to network with your fellow villains or not, please get all company pamphlets and logins at the LUWAT home page.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter 11: The End of the World
He is back on four legs, and it feels comfortable, natural. But he is no longer the wolf.
No, now he is Link, Hero of the Twilight, and the people of Hyrule need him.
He runs into the fire.