Hey Illeg
I wanted you to know I ended up back on my... I don't even know what to call it anymore where I reread Smoke and Ashes and have feelings. Lots of long and not very cohesive writing later...
Think of it as a hypothetical where they catch up to Sky and end up at Lon Lon in Time’s era? Idk. I also have been reading MistressofInsanity19's stuff...
Malon wasn’t sure what first drew her attention to the girl. It might have been the yellow tunic, pants, chainmail, and sword. Lady knights weren’t completely unheard of but she hadn’t heard of any in recent years. The girl seemed rather young to be a knight. She couldn’t be much older than some of the boys her husband had brought for a visit and her hair was done up in girlish ribbons. Surely the queen would have wanted this kind of a skill to be celebrated. But what she realized with a start was the divinity and despair radiating from this girl in waves. This was not just a traveling Lady Knight.
“Hello, Hon.” She tried to go slow, like when she first met the boys. All the same, the girl startled and hands went to her sword. She saw the girl’s face and suddenly realized who this girl might be. “Easy, Honey…” She held up her hands to both placate the girl and show she meant no harm. The young Zelda deflated. “So, which Zelda are you?” That brought the girl from frantic despair to wariness.
“How do you know who I am?”
“My husband is out traveling with 8 boys who share his name. That, and you look like you could be a spitting image of the queen when she was young enough that she could shirk responsibilities and come visit us without entourage or disguise. So whose Zelda are you?” And how in Nayru’s grace are you here out of your own era? But that string of questions would have to wait as Zelda’s eyes filled with tears.
“Link said they call me Sun. He’s… they called him Sky.” There was a hesitation in her statement and the past tense had Malon immediately concerned.
“My name’s Malon.” She explained gently. “My husband is the one the boys call Time.” She crouched and took the girl’s hands. “What happened to Sky, Dear?”
Sun explained through tears that she’d received a letter from one of the other boys. A letter that her Sky had left the group. He’d run off after an opponent had revealed things about the boy's story. They’d been true as far as Sky and Sun believed. A curse on the hero’s spirit. And both the princess and the hero blamed themselves terribly for the whole thing. Sky had slipped away, going after the shadow himself to make things right. That had been the last she’d heard from them. Sun had gathered up everything she had left to her from remembering her life as the goddess and threw herself across timelines in search of her Link or the other Links to make things right. Malon listened, but in the meantime, lead Sun back to her cart, and packed up for the day.
“I know him. I know he’ll kill himself trying to fix this and I can’t let him do that again, not when it’s not his fault.”
“It isn’t yours either, Dear.” She stopped Sun’s frantic words. Reborn goddess or not, she was still barely more than a girl. She put an arm around Sun. Sun tucked herself easily into Malon’s side. “I haven’t heard from the boys in a while. Now, you’ve had a long journey so far. For tonight, how about you come with me. I’ll take you home. We’ll see if I have any news of the boys and you’ll be able to rest if nothing else.” She’d write a message to the queen tonight and send it in the morning if there was nothing at home to go off of. But for tonight, the young Skyloftian was worn out and needed food and rest and a safe place to sleep. Sun agreed and Malon lifted the girl up onto the wagons seat. It was much easier than it should have been. If there were any doubts this little one was taking any better care of herself than what she'd told of her beloved...
--
Malon managed to get some fruit and milk into Sun during the ride home. It seemed to help buoy her up. And keeping the girl tucked into her side seemed to provide a simple comfort.
There was a flurry of activity in the house once she’d arrived and put the horses away. There were several young men rushing through the house and from the garden. Whether by luck or divine intervention, the boys were here. But Malon was coming up short of the repeated faces she saw rushing around and when they finally took notice of the two of them…
"Sun." It was Wild who noticed the two of them first. "How..." Wild shook his head. "Good to see you..." He trailed off lamely.
Malon tuned in to the shouts from a spare room.
"Hold pressure on that one for me. I'm almost done with this set..."
"Another potion..."
"Gettin' weaker Captain..."
"Plenty of fairies if..."
Malon swore quietly as she took it in. She didn't have to wield the Triforce to put together who the boys were speaking about, nor to hear that it was bad.
--
Wild had just stepped out to make elixirs. They had red potions and fairies in abundance, especially with Time’s fairy garden patch here... but he found himself facing Time’s wife who had a second person tucked under her arm. Sky’s Zelda. Hylia above this was bad timing. And wasnt that ironic... with everything Sky had told Wild about his Sun...
"I'm too late aren't I?" Sun whispered as she watched everyone's frantic activity. "He's already..."
"No no no..." Wild quickly crossed the living room to grip her shoulders. "He's alive. He's still alive."
"He's dying isnt he?" Sun was sobbing full force now.
"Hey..." Wild quickly moved to steady her. "Hey, wait a second..."
Sun was quickly descending into panic. She could see the rushing of activity and the grim looks weren't the look of a victory. They were the resigned looks of a vigil.
"Sun. Sun. Zelda. Please... I need you to breathe with me, ok?"
"I can't lose him."
"You haven't. But we need to calm down first, ok?" He counted out breaths for her to follow. He felt a sudden rush of sympathy for Four when he'd had to have some sense knocked into him after Twilight’s injury. Sun was trying but not succeeding at following his directions.His hands fluttered, not quite sure what to do. This was Sun. This was Sky’s Zelds. It was so much like when Flora panicked...that when the girl slumped into his shoulder, he sighed and put arms around her. He talked, both to process everything that he'd shoved away for later and to give Sun an anchor to cut through her panic. "We saw it. We saw his fight with Demise. We saw what happened. We saw the toll it took on him. Everyone saw what it took for him to win. Then, we caught up to him. We found him in the midst of taking on the Shadow, fighting that darkness. He was wounded..." and scared. Wild would not soon forget the naked fear in Sky’s eyes as he saw the chain for the first time in weeks. "and... The Shadow took the opportunity to strike him again. He deals in cursed wounds that don't heal quickly." Twilight's wounding had been bad but Sky? By the time they arrived he was almost as Injured as he'd been in the Demise fight. He had so many.
"but we've done this before..." it was shallow. Wild couldn't keep the apprehension nor the fear from his voice. "We rallied Twilight, he fought and held on until the Shadow let go. That's what it'll take for Sky. "
He ran himself so ragged...stretched himself so thin... does he even have the strength to fight?
Wild heard Sky’s heartbreaking words once they'd caught up to him after his strength and resolve finally gave out.
"Maybe then I will have done enough to atone... I'm sorry Zelda. I guess this is one promise I can't keep."
"Can I see him, please?" Sun finally begged after a minute of painful silence.
"Yeah" Wild shook himself and offered an arm like he would with his own Flora. "Come on, I'll take you there." Sun hesitated and Malon set a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll come with you." Sun nodded and let Wild lead the way to a separate room off a hallway.
Their presence cleared the flurry of other Links rushing around the room and hallway and let her see her beloved. Sky was guant, there were dark bags under his eyes and he was so pale he looked almost gray. Those plus his almost unnatural stillness sent a panic through her again. Was he breathing? She held her breath until she was able to see the rise and fall that showed life. Like a sudden burst of thunder, the others recognized her as she took three steps into the small room.
"Sun?!"
"How did you get here?" Similar questions were thrown out in degrees of Incredulity. She crossed the expanse to the bed where her Link lay still and gray. But he's still breathing. He's still alive. It gave her the courage to face the others. The ones who her failure had brought.
"Four wrote to me." She finally spoke. "He said you had some questions Sky wouldn't answer. Well, I'm here as a second source and with all my memories from being Hylia." Her beloved said that the others had trouble with the goddesses. She needed to give them something else to blame rather than her Link. If they had someone else to hate, then they'd be able to put their bitterness for Link aside temporarily right? "What do you want to know?" None of them would look at her suddenly. Not even the scarred Champion. Every inch of her trembled under the weight of so many pairs of eyes turned to her with fury like the demon lord himself. She continued speaking.
"Your enemy said Sky cursed you, but it is only part of the story. Demise set a curse on the Spirit of the Hero and the Blood of the Goddess. A death curse from a dying god. A death curse because Link killed him." The fact they didnt react to this said they somehow knew. "Link wasn't supposed to have to fight him. He was the failsafe. Hylia shed her divinity and was reborn as a Mortal with the intention of reawakening her memories and then being able to use the Triforce and destroy Demise. But I was too late..." She took a deep breath, fighting to keep her voice level. It was almost easy to think of Hylia as separate. She was. But the memory of that chaos. "So Link took up the Triforce, fought the demon lord and his master and ended it. If there's someone you need to focus your anger on, it is not Link. You might as well blame the one who wasn't strong enough to stop Demise in the first place." Her voice cracked. "Blame me. Not him."
"Zel..." an exhausted, broken voice came from behind her, where she'd set herself between her beloved and these others. He was struggling to get up. "What are you..?" Several sets of hands moved to try to help her keep him from getting up.
"Don't strain yourself, Love."
"Please. She isn't a part of this." Sky still strained passed the hands, bargaining with the other heroes. "Give me a little time and we'll both leave. You'll never have to..."
--
Malon heard the words, Sun trying to draw the ire of the heroes to herself rather than her Link. Sky, trembling and injured and weak begging for the others to not harm Sun. And they both seemed to believe this was needed
"You're not leaving for a while, Sky." Her interjection parted the heroes and let her join Sun by the boy. "You're hurt and you're going to rest. No one will harm Sun." The words seemed to sink in and Sky allowed himself to be directed to lay back down and within moments, he'd slid back into unconsciousness. She was left with a stunned gaggle of heroes, a girl who was shaking as bad as her hero had been with the effort of trying to remain brave and put together. She finally shook her head and sent a silent prayer for wisdom and strength and spoke to the whole room.
“Alright. There's no reason to have everyone packed into here when there ain't much to be done here.” She turned to Hyrule and Warriors. “Now, are there any open wounds or any that are actively bleeding?” The two heroes had a quick but silent conference.
“No Ma'am” Warriors finally spoke. “The bandages are holding for the time being and the worst wounds were treated with more mundane methods.” Malon nodded.
“Good. I don't see a reason for there to be more in here than a healer and someone to keep them company. Do you?” She directed her question at the boys and received shaking heads in response. “Then it's settled. Set who is on watch and the rest of you, I could use some help around the farm.” While the boys discussed watches, Malon put an arm around Sun. “Is there anything you need, Hun?”
Sun shook her head. She was trying not to cry again. “Can I please stay with him?” She begged.
Malon’s heart ached for the girl. “Of course you can stay with him.” She assured. “In fact...” With the assurance that Sky’s wounds had been at least sealed and bandaged, Malon scooped up Sun and carefully set her next to Sky on the bed. “I can think of nothing better than having you cuddled up with him.” Sun hesitantly took her beloved's hand, then after a moment, buried her face in an unbandaged shoulder. Malon took a blanket from the foot of the bed and carefully tucked the quilt around the two Skyloftians. The boys had dissipated by the time she finished, leaving her with Hyrule and Wild. She turned to them with half a question before Wild spoke up.
“We'll keep an eye on them.”
--
She assigned the boys to chores to hurry and put the ranch to bed for the night. She took up residence in her kitchen. With Wild on injured watch, it was unlikely the others hadn’t thought about food. Sun's slight frame as Malon had lifted her into the cart and then again onto the bed concerned her. Neither one of them should be that... worn. She started a simple meal. Maybe she'd be able to get at least Sun to eat something substantial. While she worked, the debating and arguing of some of the others caught her ears.
"Why wouldn't he just explain it?" Legend groused. "Why'd we have to trust Four's insane ex-boyfriend to show us all of that. Lolia Beneath, why didn't Four tell us about the letter?"
"Because none of you idiots were functioning like adult Hylians!" Four burst out at the accusations against him. "The way everyone reacted to the news that Shadow gave about Sky..."
"How hard is 'oh by the way, I got the full story?'" Warriors shot back.
"That I got it from Sun and there was so many details that the Shadow had left out? You wouldn't listen to me, Cap. You've never heard me out..." The others were joining in now, pausing in their tasks to join was what quickly becoming a shouting match. Accusations were being thrown around until Malon finally ventured from the kitchen. They all were missing the point and so wrapped up in their own point of view they weren't looking to see anything or anyone else's view. The continued thread seemed to be why hadn't Sky just told them the story. Why would Sun word it like that? Sky and Sun's actions had just seemed to prove the Shadow's words as true. A sharp whistle abruptly stopped the arguments as they all turned to her.
"Boys. Have you ever thought that those two kids fully believe that they are to blame and that they deserve whatever ire they get from y'all?” that shut down several comments as some mouths snapped shut and in contrast several others’ mouths dropped open in shock. "there was nothing to explain because as far as they knew there was nothing to refute." She loved the boys dearly but all of them were being hard-headed and stubborn.
"And I can't believe any of you were foolhardy enough to believe that this Shadow who you've all stated as an enemy would listen to anything it says as having more than just enough truth to make y'all do this." She threw out her arms in an encompassing gesture.
The knock at the door startled everyone. It was too late for any sort of polite visitors and the ranch's neighbors were fairly distant just by nature of the property. Time grabbed his gilded sword and went to the entryway to answer it. The others in the living room strained to listen for some kind of indication of trouble. There was a murmur of conversation and then the eldest stepped back into the room with a cloaked figure at his side. Shortened, greying-blonde hair stuck out from the mask and cowl and covered a red eye.
“Hello, Sheik.” Malon recovered first. “I was going to write a letter but it seems you beat me to it.”
“I had a vision.” Sheik replied shortly. “Things are precarious tonight. What has happened?” The situation with the Chosen Hero and Goddess Reborn was laid out. Sheik took the information in, then nodded once.
“I have something I can do. But I will need assistance.My magic is not as great as it was when I was young. Link?” The address had 6 responses. Sheik's expression flashed a momentary annoyance
“Hero of Time.” Sheik turned to the hero in question, who stood up straighter.
“Yes?”
“I will need your help.”
Time nodded and Sheik turned suddenly to Legend.
“I also sense my magic in you, Descendent-from-a-different-future. Can you use your abilities?” Legend paled briefly.
“I don't have much natural power of my own...” He fidgeted with his rings.
“Can you lend what you do have?” Legend considered, then nodded.
“Good, come.” The three of them stepped down the hall just out of earshot before Sheik turned again.
“One more item of importance. Do you both have a genuine interest in seeing this boy healed?” There was a moment of shock to process the words before Sheik turned to search first Time’s face, then Legend’s.
“Your aid must be freely given to be effective. If you have reservations, it is better if you do not offer your magic. So I ask again. Do you wish to help without reservation or regret?”
There was a painful moment of self-reflecting silence.
“I need to fix this. I'm going to help.” Time answered quietly.
“I don't actually hate the guy and no one deserves to suffer like that...”
“Good. Come.”
the HIGH PITCHED LITTLE SQUEAK I JUST MADE HOLY SHIT
DUDE WHAT
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH JHIODFGENDVJSFONGIODVFSGBNVDSFBGSFDBGS MALON IS BEST MOM!!!!!! SUN IS BEST GF!!!!!! SMACK SOME SENSE INTO THEM LET'S GOOOOOO
thank you, aj, i love it so much, and it's SO GOOD
