About the Sword of Koholint Island. you know, the level two sword? I like to call it Dream Weaver. the dream world equivalent to the maser sword. the thing is, once someone draws it, it's theirs till death. and i like to imagine traveler with the other links getting ambushed, his sword gets sent flying and he's about to be struck down but then *flash!* a most familiar sword appears in his hands.....a sword that while it saves his life...brings back memories he finds too painful. and suddenly he's telling the gang about Marin, the island, and what he feels is his greatest crime... just to feel less....hurt inside.
does that sound like a thing? like a cool idea?
I'm so sorry it took me so long to respond to this! You caught me right at the beginning of one of my busiest college semesters yet lol
I love your idea, here's a short fic about it to make up for the wait!
(tw: panic attack)
"Can I get some help over here?!" Legend yelped, narrowly ducking under the swing of a darknut's blade. One of the Rancher's monsters, if he recalled correctly. He could hear the young man dramatically sharing the tale of how he had once faced down four of them at once, light from the campfire dancing excitedly in his eyes as he talked about how thrilling it was to hone his swordsmanship against such highly skilled and armored foes.
Legend had decided that the man was a lunatic.
"Give me a second!" Wind responded from a platform above Legend, "I've got a few more bubbles and floormasters to clear out!"
"No problem, take your time," Legend grumbled, bracing his shield against another heavy blow that made his teeth feel like they were going to rattle out of his skull. He sidestepped the next attack, trying to keep all the darknuts in his line of sight. One was still in full armor with a claymore, the other two had lost most of their armor and were wielding broadswords. Legend narrowed his eyes, focusing on the one that looked the most injured. He could probably take it down in another hit or two, as soon as he found an opening.
The darknut, unfortunately, was smart, and was generally keeping it's distance from him. The other sword-wielding darknut recognized Legend's plan and suddenly lunged forward in an attempt to catch him off guard while his focus was elsewhere.
Fine, guess that one was going down first then.
Legend dodged and quickly struck at the opening as hard as he could, causing the darknut to stumble. He pressed the advantage, raining down blows until the darknut finally collapsed and disappeared in a small cloud of inky smoke.
"Vet, look out!"
The other wounded darknut had closed the distance and attempted to use the smokescreen to help it run Legend through. The Vet simply grinned at the predictable strategy. He readied his sword to fell the monster.
Something bit into his shoulder, and the cold, unnatural sensation of a curse spread from the wound. His sword dropped from his grasp.
Right, Wind had mentioned bubbles.
Legend managed to raise his shield just in time, but the angle of the impact still sent him crashing to the ground. He caught a brief glimpse of his tempered sword's orange blade as it spun by him. He scrambled away from the remaining two darknuts and blindly, frantically, felt around for his weapon, praying for the bubble's curse to fade by the time he found it.
One of the Sailor's arrows flew by his head, pinning the bubble to the ground. It's curse lifted from Legend's shoulders.
The darknuts towered over him, their blades raised.
His fingers grazed a hilt, and the Veteran's heart lept.
He snatched up the blade and plunged it into the wounded darknut right as a battle cry sounded from the platform above and the Sailor dropped onto the head of the other darknut, his own sword sliding right into the gap in the monster's armor right by it's neck. Legend rolled out of the way of the darknut he had just slain as Wind jumped off of the remaining darknut, and together the heroes hacked off it's armor before finally taking it down.
They stood there in the now silent room for a moment, catching their breath.
"Well, that sucked," Legend groaned.
Wind had the audacity to giggle in response. "At least we managed to get out relatively unharmed! …You aren't seriously hurt, right?"
"No, just a lot of cuts and bruises, no big deal," Legend responded dryly, "I would like a nap, though."
"Yeah, a nap sounds good," Wind sighed. "Oh, you dropped your weird orange sword by the way, here!"
"Huh?"
Legend turned to find the tempered sword lying in Wind's hands.
"Where did you pull that other sword from anyway? It looked like it just appeared out of thin air!" Wind asked excitedly. "Is it magic?"
"But, I thought I-"
Legend looked down at the sword in his hands.
The very
very
very familiar sword…
Waves crashing on the shore. Seashells and sand between his fingers. Hair as fiery as the setting sun, and a smile just as radiant. A new blade to help him along his journey, the smell of sea salt forever ingrained in the leather handle.
It was a dream.
It was always a dream…
…
…Was this also… a…?
"-et, hey Vet! Link!"
Who was…
"Link, buddy, you gotta breathe, okay?"
Breathe…
His chest hurt.
"In and out, okay?"
He tried to take a breath, and almost immediately choked. He coughed violently, his chest burning.
"Hey, hey, you're okay. Just try again, okay Link?"
He managed one tiny breath. Then another.
Still too fast, way too fast, he wasn't doing it right, his heart was fluttering like a bird in a cage-
"You're doing great, buddy, take your time. Breathe like I do, okay?"
Someone was holding him. Their chest rose and fell against his cheek, slow and steady, an anchored ship riding the choppy waves. He held on as tightly as he could and listened to the rhythm.
In, out. In, out…
Slowly but surely, Link's breathing began to even out. He exhaled slowly, the motion shaky but relieved.
"Hey, buddy, you back with us?"
Oh, the Sailor was holding him.
"Y-yeah," Legend answered hoarsely, "Sorry to make you deal with that-"
"Hey, hey, none of that," Wind interrupted, holding Legend tighter, "We've all gone through stuff like that, you know? I'll always be happy to help you."
Tears began to gather in Legend's eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. "Okay," he said softly, "Thank you, Sailor."
Wind hummed happily. "Are you ready to get out of here, away from… well, whatever sword that is?"
Legend froze, suddenly catching sight of the blade that lay on the ground by their feet.
It was still there. He hadn't hallucinated it. Why was it still there?
He broke away from the hug, instead holding Wind by the shoulders so that he could look the boy directly in the eyes. The bright blue tunic was soft beneath his fingers in spite of the fairly thick layer of dust and grime from the battle that covered it. Body heat seeped through the fabric. Worry and confusion swam in Wind's eyes.
Legend braced himself.
"Sailor… this might sound like a weird question, but… are you real?"
"I- what?"
"Please," Legend begged, "Just… tell me. Are you real?"
Wind placed his hands over Legend's. "I believe I am. Why do you think I might not be?"
The Vet glanced back down at the sword, still lying on the ground next to his usual tempered blade. "That sword… it's from one of my adventures. In that adventure, I met and grew close to a lot of people. But… it was all a dream. None of it was real, not the island, not that sword, not a single person except me."
He looked up at Wind, eyes frantic. "That sword shouldn't exist, but it does! You can see it, I can see it, but it was just a dream! It was only ever a dream! So please, tell me, what does that make you?"
Wind simply stared back at him in shock.
Legend's shoulders slumped.
"Please…"
He bowed his head in defeat, tears beginning to drip down his cheeks.
"Hey, Vet, hold on," Wind said gently. "Don't give up, we don't have proof either way yet."
"Why's that?" Legend croaked.
"Well, you know, I also had an adventure in a dream. Maybe."
Legend's ears flicked in surprise.
"It was the domain of the Ocean King, a kind of whale deity I think."
Legend's head shot up at that, his eyes wide.
"It was a separate place from my own Great Sea, and no time passed while I was there, but you know what? I had a friend there who was able to come with me back to my world, even though he was from the Ocean King's domain. Do you think, maybe, that sword did something similar?"
"I…" Legend trailed off uncertainly, "I don't know. I didn't think that was possible."
Wind thought for a moment. "Oh, do you have some way to check whether you're awake or asleep? And don't say that you stab yourself or something!" he added quickly, "Because I won't allow that!"
Legend nearly laughed in spite of himself. "No, I don't do that, too risky." He removed his hands from Wind's shoulders to dig through his item pouch, eventually coming up with a small, worn ocarina. "I have a song that can wake anything, even a deity."
Wind giggled softly. "I guess I should have expected that from you. Well, go ahead and play it!"
Legend hesitated, staring at the ocarina.
"Sailor, if… if we are sleeping, and this song wakes us up… we might never see each other again. We might never see the others again either." His hands shook. "I-I'm not ready for that."
A soft, encouraging smile shone on the boy's face. "Veteran, do you wanna know something? I don't think either of us are asleep. I believe this whole adventure has been real. I believe the Champion's cooking was real, and I believe the Captain's playful banter with you was real, and I believe Sky's excitement when we asked about his wood carvings was real."
He cupped his hands around Legend's, holding the ocarina with him as if he was making a wish on it.
"I believe the Smithy's annoyance when that like-like almost ate his shield was real, and I believe the Old Man's smile when he saw Miss Malon again was real. I believe the magic that the Traveler used when he refused to give up on our Rancher was real, and I believe that the strength that the Rancher showed when he returned from the brink was real. I believe that all the time I spent with you, and all the time you spent with us, all of it was real, Veteran. I believe that with my whole heart."
Legend let out a shaky breath as he met Wind's earnest gaze.
"Trust me," Wind said, "Play it. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
Slowly, very slowly, the Veteran brought the ocarina to his lips.
"I'm holding you to that promise," he muttered softly, and he began to play.
The Ballad of the Windfish broke the silence of the dungeon, it's notes echoing off the vast stone walls in an utterly beautiful and haunting way. Legend nearly fumbled some of the notes as he felt the song's magic begin to flow, but Wind rested a comforting hand on his leg to steady him.
Trust.
The two heroes closed their eyes as the music washed over them. The notes climbed higher, higher, then…
They stopped.
Silence.
Legend opened his eyes to find Wind smiling back at him.
Nothing had changed.
Legend let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and pulled the boy into an embrace. He buried his face in Wind's shoulder, whispering thanks to the goddesses over and over.
Wind held him just as tightly. "I told you, I told you!" he cheered, bouncing up and down a little in excitement.
The Vet pulled away just enough to give Wind a watery grin. "You did. Thanks, kid. I don't know what I would have done without you."
"Hmm, I'll give you a pass on calling me a kid this one time," Wind teased. "Oh, sword's still there, by the way."
"So it is," Legend hummed. "…I think I'm too exhausted to further consider the implications of that right now, though."
"Me too," Wind agreed as he rose to his feet and offered a hand to Legend, "Want to go find the others and leave this problem for future us?"
Legend looked at the two swords for a moment, then carefully ran his fingers over the Koholint sword as if to confirm it was still real. He sighed and sheathed the tempered sword on his back before picking up the Koholint sword. As soon as the thought of where he would store it crossed his mind, it vanished in his hand. He blinked in surprise, then tried willing it back into existence. It reappeared right back in his hand. He vanished it again, and turned to take Wind's hand.
"Yeah, leaving this for later sounds good."