Premise: reader is a “hero” in the same way Ravio is a hero, making them disconnected from the reincarnations, but intertwined with their purpose. Though it’s a well-known horror that this “hero” has a malice infused arm, it’s only during a cyclical round of Blood Moon risings that The Chain realizes what all that entails.
Warnings: limb loss and regrowth (Time), minor description of malice infection (Twilight)
Extra: was written platonically but you can read it however you want + my first time writing ‘x reader’ so I’m getting some practice in :p
• The first time the Blood Moon rose into the sky was the first time Sky hasn’t been able to catch any second of sleep on the entire journey
• And that’s not just because everyone needs to be on watch for revived and powerful monsters
• He assumes it has to do with his defeat of Demise; a curse or ingrained fear that he can’t seem to shake
• Whatever it is, it won’t let him sleep
• Luckily for him, he has you to keep him company
• You seem to have gained a lot of knowledge on demons, particularly in your time of trying to reverse the malice plague on your world
• While you never found a cure, you learned a lot about the nature of malice and its creatures, and so you share that—along with some theories about the monsters you all have fought—with Sky
• At some point you two start exchanging stories about your encounters with demons and start rating them on a scale of 1 to Never-Wanna-See-Again
• (Spoiler Alert: Ghirahim won the highest rating)
• Through your shared rambling, the Moon dulls its shine and, slowly, the terror passes
• And Sky immediately falls asleep (on you) afterwards
• Having spiritually been in Wild’s world before, Twilight is more content with the Blood Moon’s rising than most of the other heroes
• In fact, the only thing that unsettles him throughout the entire ordeal is you
• As far as it appears, you’re part of the monster hivemind, meaning that whenever a monster is resurrected, you know
• Captain immediately has you state whenever a new monster has appeared to strengthen everyone’s ability to keep watch, though Twilight doubts it’ll help
• Really, he fears what it’s doing to you
• He can’t help but focus on how the malice and its surrounding corruption pulses with an eerie light
• It’s practically melded with your flesh, and it makes him wanna gag
• On top of that, you start to sway and mumble things under your breath that he can’t make out
• As soon as the Moon drips its last stain of red, he urges you to bed, making up believable excuses about how you need the most rest out of the entire group
• Once you’ve gone to sleep, Twilight pulls Warriors and Time off to the side to voice his concerns
• And by Hylia, does he have concerns
• Based on the plan of the prior night, you psyched yourself up the entire day to endure exactly as you had before
• Except, when the Moon rose, Captain had a change in plans for you
• He wouldn’t say it aloud—ever—but Twilight’s words of concern had gotten to him, and he felt guilty for ever putting you in that situation
• So, he devised a different plan
• The two of you walked the perimeter of the makeshift campsite, just barely out of the light and into the woods
• Somewhere on the opposite side of the path you two walked at all times was Time and Twilight
• Warriors had thought, maybe, if he put a trained knight and a super-powered beast in a duo patrolling the camp, they’d all be better prepared for an attack
• Somewhere below the confidence in this plan, however, a tiny piece of him faltered, asking if this was actually a good idea
• Much to his dismay, you picked up on his unease, and thus decided that you would recount stories of the Hero of the Otherworld to him
• It was . . . something, to say the least
• For all that you spoke of this hero made him sound like an arrogant and ignorant fool, leaving the Master Sword to rust and allowing your realm to succumb to the malice poisoning that followed with Ganon’s sealing
• No wonder you had little trust for the party of heroes when they first found you
• Yet, he was enraptured with the stories you seemed to fill with life so effortlessly, and before he knew it, a third Blood Moon had come and gone
• He’ll be the last to admit it, but everyone knows the Blood Moons have been making him restless
• It’s not as though he’s alone in this feeling, though it certainly felt like it
• So you sat with him near the fire this night, watching as he stared blankly into the flames
• He’s a young kid, and while he certainly has the Hero’s courage, you knew you spooked him to some degree
• It was as though he was sitting with the right hand man to Ganondorf
• Despite Wind’s blatant lack of comfort, he hadn’t expected you to leave his side so suddenly, and almost immediately he turned to call after you
• Except, you weren’t far at all
• You were standing atop a fallen log, making shadow puppets in light of the fire
• First a rabbit, then a mouse, until the shadows started to take on more complicated forms
• It was almost like a game of guessing between him and you, with you as the constant puppeteer
• Slowly, the shadows started to fade into a purer yellow shade than the bloodied red Wind found himself shuddering beneath
• And as they did, your shadowy hero slayed the demonic dragon
• He couldn’t help but feel bad you were trapped in this cycle of malice in the first place, and now his world was only making it worse
• In fact, he was so certain that, beneath all your layers, you must at least be frustrated with him if not wholly resentful
• On the fifth Moon cycle, however, you proved for that not to be the case
• Wild was on night-watch alone this time around, as he had forced everyone to rest, assuring them he could handle anything that came their way
• You feigned sleep for hours before finally rising again
• The poor hero hadn’t even heard you stir, and only became aware of any sort of presence when he saw the ghastly lit eyes of Majora’s Mask in his peripheral view
• Now, he’s not a coward—far from it, actually—but he won’t lie about how he jumped after a double-take
• In turn, you simply laughed
• The rest of the night you were joined by his side, poking around his collection of chilling relics from Hyrules past while making remarks about any rumors you knew
• It was oddly comforting
• Truly a memory he doesn’t want to forget
• The old man likes to think of himself as being generally attentive and cautious, particularly in moments where danger could be present
• Perhaps that’s why, in your first encounter with him, the Hero of Time pointed his sword straight for your heart
• You like to think that you two have grown past that point, especially with how much trust he places in you
• This lunar cycle you had declared you would be on watch, much to the hesitancy of some of The Chain
• Of course, they wouldn’t stop you, Time especially
• All he requested was for a right to join you, and you obliged
• Now, how you lost an arm in the midst of a Wizrobe attack is beyond him
• Yet, after parting briefly to check out different suspicious noises, you came staggering back to him, your infected arm apparently missing
• Time has seen his fair share of horrors (Termina had plenty) but what he saw next he swear he will never unsee
• Like some demonic curse, malice poured from the severed limb, contorting itself into a vaguely familiar shape before you had some semblance of an arm again
• To his surprise, you were just as shocked as he was
• And while the temporary malice arm was grossly creepy and the magic sensations were far worse, by the next morning, it was like the incident never occurred
• You dubbed it a “blessing from the Demon King”
• Being part Fae, Traveller was barely fazed by your magic, no matter how malicious the others first deemed it
• To him, it was in the same ring as all magic; its user is what makes it good or evil
• This, for you, has been both a shocking take on your current situation, and an eye-opening experience
• As such, it’s lead to the two of you trying to understand the whole malice infection better, particularly during the Blood Moons
• On one odd occurrence, beginning with an injured Warriors and a Time carrying him back to camp, you proved to be a capable ally for Hyrule
• When he was busy fretting over how bloodied Captain was, wondering if he’ll even survive, you placed a simple, reassuring hand on his shoulder
• Now, he’s had times with Vet where their magic will connect and almost super-charge what they can usually achieve, but there was something different to the feeling when it was your infected arm that came to rest on him
• All of a sudden, his worries weren’t just put to rest, but shunned completely; Hyrule had no further thoughts than to heal Warriors best he could, and it was done within minutes
• As far as the two of you have figured out, it seems like whatever magic resides in malice can, when coming into contact with other forms of magic, act as what Legend calls “A Piece of Power”
• No matter the name, it’s super cool
• With all the monsters rising with even more power than before, he knew weapons were bound to break
• But by this point, almost everyone had something that needed to be fixed
• The poor smith has never been more grateful that you rely on your own strength and wit to fight for yourself
• You, by reflection, are glad that Four doesn’t seem to mind your pestering questions about what it’s like back home
• While he’s forging, he talks to you about tiny cities and the folks who live in them: the Picori
• Apparently they’re the reason you can find trinkets in the grass, though you have doubts, arguing them against the only other hero sitting around at camp
• You two must have argued about so many different topics in such a short amount of time that there felt like there was nothing else to say
• Then Smithy asked you for an Ice Rod
• He forgot that you weren’t sitting right next to him, and were instead across the other side of camp
• Still, he would’ve thought you’d simply steal it and walk it over to him
• Instead, the rod plopped into his lap, having travelled via malice possession
• Four’s never screamed so loud in his life
• At least every living thing surrounding you two now knows that your arm can possess inanimate objects
• Far as Legend cared, it seemed like these Blood Moons would never end
• And while you were having fun figuring out all that you could do with your malice infected arm, he was getting tired of the constant roaring of distant monsters and unease of his fellow heroes
• He’d been through worse, and with such a lack of fear, his main concerns were about those around him
• So he kept an eye on everyone, never missing a single detail
• Including when you wandered off, and a Grey Fox returned, minutes later, in your stead
• Legend had a sudden sneaking suspicion that, maybe, you had just learned your lesson on playing with evil magic
• And his suspicions were practically confirmed when the mysterious fox came to him, pawing at him for something
• Then it clicked for him (finally)
• You two had been discussing transformational magic all day today
• In your realm, it was as simple as putting on a mask, while for him, it could be dangerously sporadic—mushroom powder here, Lorule there
• He recalls, now, mentioning his only way of transforming back and staying in his typical form being with the Moon Pearl; that was most likely what you wanted
• It didn’t go without teasing, but eventually he let you touch it, finally reverting back to your original, still malice-corrupted self
• Of course, much like his transformation, you weren’t free from lingering remnants, such as pinned back fox ears that stayed subtly hidden beneath your hair
• Legend could tease all he wanted, and trust that the Vet did, but he understood the embarrassment, so as the moon settled down once more, he swore he wouldn’t tell a single soul
• Not unless you tell them about what he transforms into
