And please check out my fic and a nsfw piece of artwork HERE <go! go! go!
Thank you everyone who has helped me and encouraged me through my difficulty finishing this fic. The art has been done for a while, but the actual writing part is haaard! Special thanks to @sincerelydayyy for the proof-reading and kind words. I can’t thank you enough!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“Imperials forces have entered the base! Imperial forces have entered—“
The transmission cuts out and Jyn curses under her breath; the chill air is like fire in her lungs as she runs. She drags her blaster from its holster on her thigh but doesn’t slow down as she rounds the next corner of Echo Base’s frozen corridors.
They’re almost out a time.
pairing: Bodhi/Cassian/Jyn
It’s done! Finally, after a long wait and much angst I have a final chapter I’m mostly happy with :)
first proper installment in the History Of The Hero au, a loz links meet au by myself and @grim-demise
Character key, since this is the first proper post:
Link: BOTW, age 24
Mercy: HW, age 32
Mage: ALBW/LA, age 26
Sailor: WW/PH, age 22
Wolf: TP, age 35
Mask: OOT/MM, age 24
References for all of them are in the process of being made, as well as more fics (including how they all came together!) but in the meantime, I do believe this can be enjoyed regardless
Hope you enjoy, and feel free to ask questions if you have any!
----
Lon Lon Ranch is a very peaceful place.
They had arrived in the early hours of the morning, exhausted and dirty from the road. Malon and her family welcomed them in with kindness and care, and they have been doing everything they can to help out around the place in repayment.
Presently, Malon has Mask aiding in washing all their linens and clothes. They've made a mess of quite a bit, between the six of them. All those muddy boots and grubby tunics, pushing cross-spacetime dirt through everything. Wolf, Mage, and Sailor are out in the ranch proper, tending to the animals - Wolf has lots of experience with it, and is guiding the other two in the husbandry of horses, pigs, and cuccos - while Mercy and Link stay in the kitchen preparing food for everyone. Mercy is sitting at the dining table, cutting vegetable after vegetable after vegetable to prepare for the roasted feast Link has planned.
While chopping, Mercy thinks about Mask. Watching that boy run about like a puppy, following Malon's every order and request, pulling her chair out to sit at the table for breakfast - he's absolutely smitten. Him and Wolf have been sharing looks all week, little smirks and fond glances and teasings of 'look how cute and sappy your great great great great grandparents are'. Walking through the ranch gates, seeing the way Malon tenderly held his face, only to then pinch his ear and chastise him for running off on some adventure without even telling her; Mercy immediately understood why Mask feels at home here. Why he eventually makes his home here, with Malon.
Wolf shared with him that particular nugget of knowledge on a starlit night keeping watch together - that he is the descendant of the Hero of Time, who marries a humble farm girl and settles into a life of domesticity. Since then, as well as their conversations around the topic of love and crushes - a conversation which had Mask curling in with embarrassment at her mention - Mercy has thought about the type of woman Malon would be. And after meeting her, he can understand why he loves her - she's strong and passionate and kind. Qualities he loves in his own partner.
He's glad to know that his kid gets a happy ending.
Mercy is three quarters of the way through the carrots when Sailor comes running into the kitchen. At some point during the hot day, he decided to take his shirt off (jacket already down for a wash and repair), scars and tattoos on full display. The largest of them is a sleeve, spiralling sea leviathan curling around his entire right arm and toothy maw open just over his pec. He glances around the room with a look of urgency, before landing on Mercy at the table.
“Oh good! We need a dad. Right now.”
…Okay.
Mercy sighs and stands up, stretching his stiff legs. He moves the already chopped carrots over to Link’s counter and grabs his cane from against the door.
"What's the problem?" He asks, following Sailor back outside.
“Something’s up with Mage, but she won’t tell us what - keeps denying anything’s wrong. Being a stubborn little shit about it.” Sailor explains, grumbling the last part out under his breath. “You’re the most authoritative out of all of us, and seem to know how she ticks. If anyone is gonna convince her to take it easy it’d be you.”
Mercy hasn’t known Mage for an awfully long time yet - this journey has only been about six chaotic weeks so far - but there are some things he has picked up. Incredibly smart, insightful, slow to trust but desperate to in the same breath. Snarky and blunt and valuing of the truth. But most of all - a chronic overworker. That girl loves pushing her limits, spending long nights pouring over texts and longer days pouring over the group and their habits and limits and wellbeing. Keeping an eye. A lot of himself is in there, hidden just under the shell, but without the comfort of retirement to soothe it against the weight of the world. They’ve become pretty good at catching each other on their own bad habits, when it gets too much.
Sailor leads him to the large stables. He can immediately hear an argument inside.
“A will wrestle you tae the ground, don’t think a won’t, Mage. I’m twice your weight.” Wolf threatens.
“For fuck’s sake, I told you I’m fine!” Mercy and Sailor walk in, and Mage notices immediately. “Oh, fucking hell - what’s all this, huh? Called the fucking dad on me?”
Mage is leaning against one of the pens, arms crossed and shoulders raised defensively, ears pinned all the way back. Wolf is standing in front of her, frowning disapprovingly with his hands on his hips. It seems they’ve been going in circles for quite a while.
“That’s exactly what I did. If you wanna throw a tantrum like a toddler and refuse to tell us what’s wrong, then I just have to go and get the guy who actually has a toddler. I’m a genius, I know.” Sailor states, also crossing his arms in triumph. Mage just glares.
“I’m not ‘throwing a tantrum’, I just wish you’d all stop fuckin’ botherin’ me! I’m completely…” She pauses, and all three of them watch her face as her eyes flutter and breath catches, before the loudest sneeze Mercy’s ever heard rips out of her. And then another, and another. “...fine.” She sniffs.
Right then.
Mercy sighs. He takes a few steps forward, urging Wolf to back up out of her personal space with his left hand.
“Mage. You’re not ill?”
“No!”
“Okay, then you can come in and help me and Link with the food. Get these guys out of your hair, yeah?”
Mage glares at him for a second, trying to figure out what the catch is, but he stands strong. After a moment, she sighs and rights herself, loosening her arms just a smidge. Progress. They begin heading back into the house - when he looks over his shoulder back at the other two, Sailor is giving him a thumbs up. He huffs a laugh.
Once they reach the house, Mercy beelines to the kitchen cupboards and retrieves a glass while Mage stands just through the doorway.
“What can I help with?”
Link looks up from the oven, giving Mage a confused look. Mercy interrupts before he can question anything.
“You’re going to drink a glass of water in the lounge first. You’ve been out in the sun all day, you’re no doubt getting dehydrated. It’ll be good to sit down for a minute.”
“Why not sit at the kitchen table?” Mage questions.
“Because the lounge is comfier.”
She follows him into the lounge without protest. Mercy hands her the glass once she’s sat on a sofa, sitting down on the other end himself and waiting patiently. Mage takes a careful few sips, before realising how thirsty she no doubt is, and gulping down the rest. He waits a few moments more before he begins.
“So. What’s going on?”
She groans.
“I knew this was some sort of intervention. Getting me a glass of water an’ shit - I know how this works, asshole.”
He shrugs. “It worked, didn’t it? You were getting overwhelmed back in the stables, and didn’t like how they were pestering you. I’m not pestering you; I’m asking.”
Mage groans again, throwing her head back onto the sofa, but doesn’t say anything, so he continues.
“Have you been overusing your magic? Sneezing isn’t one of your symptoms, last time you mentioned it.”
“No, I haven’t. I’d be coughing if I had.” She says it calmly - tired of the anger of it all, most likely.
“Are you coming down with something, then?” He scoots a bit closer. “Let me check for fever, please?”
She grumbles something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like ‘stupid fucking parental instincts’, but moves her head forward to let him check for fever. Nothing. Hmm.
“See, I’m completely healthy. Just the sniffles, innit. Only came on in the stables for no fuckin’ reason.”
Came on in the stables…?
“Mage, do you have a hay allergy?”
The fire that ignites upon her face as she shouts “I DO NOT!” catches Mercy completely off guard. It seems he hit the soft spot this entire charade has been protecting, then. Her head is immediately back up off the sofa, shoulders raised once more like a cat raising its hackles. Definitely hit the sensitive spot.
“There’s nothing wrong with having hay fever, you know that right?”
“Ugh, but it’s so stupid!! Why am I allergic to fuckin– plants! The outdoors? It’s inconvenient and it hurts my eyes and I hate it! It shouldn’t exist, and so I have decided it doesn’t. I’m fine.”
Mercy sighs for what feels like the hundredth time today. Okay, they’ve identified the problem. They just need to find a solution.
"Link…" He starts.
"Don't you pull out the legal name on me!"
Yet another sigh. He takes a moment to carefully consider his words.
"I understand the inconvenience of pain. It would be infinitely easier if pretending it doesn't exist makes it so, but the truth is that it just... doesn't. It won't." Mercy looks at his cane leant up against the sofa. "Which means you have to acknowledge it head on. Which sucks, especially at the start, but it's the first step to putting things in place to make it easier."
"I don't think a case of the sniffles is the same as your disability, mate."
Mercy shrugs. "It works well enough as a comparison in this scenario. We're talking accommodations. If I were sitting here saying I'm going to ignore my leg pain to lift hay with Wolf, you'd be the first to tell me I'm being stupid. It goes both ways."
Mage stares at him. She doesn't say anything, but he can see the cogs turning in her head - processing. Or finding a new angle to argue her side - either way, he follows it up with:
"It's perfectly fine to not be able to do everything. That's why we work together."
Mage groans and throws her head back onto the sofa. Slumps fully into the sofa, even, sliding sideways until she's awkwardly smushed up against his thigh.
"I was midway through creating a potion to ease the symptoms when we were all whisked away - it's a massive pain in the ass when I'm gardening. I forgot to bring my trials with me when we moved eras again. This is all my own damn fault." She sniffs. Even indoors, her nose still seems to bother her.
"I'll let you in on a little secret: when I left the house to go to the market the morning we were dumped in Link's time, I got three streets away from home before realising I left my cane by the door."
Mage laughs. "Well that would've fuckin' sucked, not having your cane in Walking: The Quest." Mercy laughs with her.
"Tell me about it." He sobers, slightly. "I also would've struggled to let you all know about my chronic issues without it as a visual cue. So don't feel bad about this whole situation, alright? Advocating for yourself is super embarrassing sometimes. Most of the time, actually."
Mage glares up at him. She's fully embraced laying on top of him at this point, wiggling around until she's more comfortably on his thigh, able to look right up at him.
"Why'd you go and make it serious again? I was just getting over my cringe confession with comedic phrasing."
"Mage... "
It's her turn to sigh.
"Yeah yeah, I know. Guilt does fuck all, yada yada, ask for help, whatever."
"Thank you."
They hold genuine eye contact for all of four seconds before Mage heaves herself up to her feet. And sneezes. Three times.
"Damn, I should not have laid down, man my nose is fucked."
Mercy stands up beside her. "We'll get you that cure of 'allergic to plant cum' soon enough, don't worry. For now, let's actually go help Link with lunch."
WAHOO finally finished a fic for mine and @grim-demise‘s links meet au, will probably put it up later today (bec publishing it immediately after finishing it always leaves me with gripes about the ending so i will proofread it after dinner or somethin)
so glad assignments are over so i can finally fully embrace link brainworms. this one is mage (albw/la link) and mercy (hw link) centric and is mostly a bit of fun
i have like seven wips going rn and most of them are for the hoth au but i am SO BUSY this week so they are just rotating in my brain. mostly Mercy because i Have Favourites all the wips barr one involve him he’s my skrungly <3
anyway heres some misc headcanons/canons? it’s partly MY au i suppose (when @amarynth wakes up in the morning they can retcon any new ones i made up i guess lmao)
Under a cut bec they got long, also some do mention nsfw topics:
- Link is the best at cooking but Wolf can make a Mean soup. Mage would burn water
- Sailor LOVES Link’s slate specifically for photo opportunities. has lots of photos that are silly pictures of Wolf, Mercy’s bedhead, Mask in his mask forms, himself posing all heroically, etc
- Mercy has one of his daughter’s plushes with him on the adventure. it just so happened to be in his bag when he was whisked away suddenly, and he tried to give it back but she would not hear it. and yes he cuddles it every night
- Mercy calls Mask kid all the time (this is in one of the wips) and Mask hasn’t quite come around to potentially calling him dad but. in his heart of hearts he would. could be something shouted or quietly whispered in a dangerous/tender moment but thats a late game adventure thing
- Sailor and Link are rather close due to being similar ages and having a similar passion for exploring their respective lands. favourite funny hobby to pass the time is Link (polyam, horny) telling Sailor (ace) about all his flings and Sailor rating them by completely arbiatary standards like ‘did they take him out to a fish restaurant first’ and ‘what was the first petname they suggested, ranked out of 10′
- modern au Mask and Mage would have gone to the mcr reunion tour together
- Wolf likes to beg for food in wolf form. it doesn’t work on Link anymore but Definitely works on Sailor and Mage. Mercy will tell him to get out of wolf form and use his manners, please. Once teased him with chocolate until he transformed back and snatched it out of his hand
- oh btw Wolf’s clothes don’t go with him when he transforms. someone has to rush and grab his kilt mid battle and lug it around until he’s ready to transform back. he usually goes somewhere private to get dressed but sometimes he has no choice but to be bare ass in front of the Bros for at least a moment lmaoo
- all of Mage’s clothes are enchanted, mostly with either fire resistance and/or temperature control. she has a special thread that she stitches into new garments to make sure she never gets too hot or too cold when travelling
- eventually Mercy gets a magic cane. i havent decided what enchantments they get on it but they make it as overpowered as they possibly can just for shits and giggles
We're still getting all the introductions together right now for a solid sideblog creation (@amarynth my beloved is drawing them all) but i do have some details!!
We're calling it History of the Hero au, and it has six of the links in it, for a more managable cast (composed of links we know the best lol). We've also put our own little spins on them, most notably with ages, genders, and sexuality, but that'll come with proper introduction post! The cast is:
Mask, aka oot/mm link
Mercy, aka hw link
Sailor, aka ww/ph link
Wolf, aka tp link
Mage, aka albw/la link
Link, aka botw link
I'm super excited for it!! It won't be a full on long form story like a lot of the other links meet aus, mostly just one shots and some fun little proposed/discussed ideas to make it more managable, but i hope people like it anyway :3 i'm super attached to what we have planned so far
In fact, i shall give you a little snippet of what i have for a particular conundrum Mask and Mercy find themselves in...
He puts the empty potion bottle into his little belt pouch for later use, and claps Mask on the shoulder.
“Let’s find our way outta here, yeah?”
After a bit of struggle getting the both of them up and on their feet, they come to an arrangement. They have their arms linked, allowing them to lean on each other as much as they need, while still keeping some mobility. Mercy has the fire rod in his hand in case they come across any monsters, and Mask is holding his shield, to defend them both. Mercy knows he could in theory go without his cane or any other supports (he’s done it before) but if they’re travelling for a while it'll only increase the need to rest sooner. Besides, there’s a part of him that wants to keep some form of physical contact with Mask, to make sure he’s safe and close by.
Moving in the direction of Mask’s scattered inventory, the long hallway they found themselves in leads to a second, longer hallway. It intersects theirs like a T, both paths seemingly equal in length and size. Just as likely to lead to danger, or freedom, that means. Instead of the purple of the previous walls, these walls are two different colours - the left path, blue, and the right, red. They look both ways then at each other.
“What’s your favourite colour, Mask?”
“Green.”
“Well mine’s blue, we’re going the blue path.”
The blue path ends with a right turn - but this one has no walls that reach the ceiling and cages them in. Instead, they find themselves on a balcony looking over a maze.
The maze is massive, reaching almost so far either side of them that they cannot see the end of it. The paths are narrow, winding about each other in tight knit rows and spirals, only a few pockets of open space left bare among the labyrinth. Where some of the walls intersect, there are circular platforms of dulled colour underneath - in the very same red and blue that have lined their path.
They head further across the balcony, glancing back to see how far it leads in the direction they've just come from, and spot a door. Two large, heavy looking gold doors, closed and sealed with a huge lock. The boss room.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
“Imperials forces have entered the base! Imperial forces have entered—“
The transmission cuts out and Jyn curses under her breath; the chill air is like fire in her lungs as she runs. She drags her blaster from its holster on her thigh but doesn’t slow down as she rounds the next corner of Echo Base’s frozen corridors.
They’re almost out a time.
Pairing: Cassian/Jyn/Bodhi
The penultimate chapter is up! Not there’s only OT3 ahead :)
