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Chapter Text

Groups of more than three were uncommon to say the least, even groups of three were rare, but to see a group of eight men come stumbling out of a portal was safe to say one of the strangest things Link had ever seen. The group grumbled and groaned as Link hid out in the bushes, he could feel the sheer level of magic wafting off the individuals of the group, safe to say at least one of them wasn't fully hylian. 

Link had been clearing out a nearby camp when the loud sound had startled them, leading them to find the portal in the middle of a nearby woods clearing. There, the eight men stood, all struggling to stand up. The person link supposed to be the eldest stood up quickly, picking up the smallest of the bunch and putting him over his back. 

“Is everyone alright?” a commanding voice called out, the same person he had assumed to be the eldest was talking now. Goddesses, the yiga were getting creative on their ways of getting around, plus their disguises were getting worse somehow. A fully armored knight stood next, helping a man with a wolf pelt up. The knight glanced around the clearing in confusion. 

“Fine, not my hyrule. Twi?” not his hyrule? 

The one called twi, at least he assumed, stretched out his arms above his head, cracking his neck while he was at it, receiving a flinch from a red tunic man who had gotten up behind them. “Well it's obviously not my hyrule. We were just there.” the man snarked, ok, wild needed to avoid that one at all costs. He seemed even more unfriendly, and with the magic radiating off him, wild was sure he was one of the most dangerous. 

“Not mine!” a brown haired one called out, he wore a green tunic with a brown shirt underneath, leather wristguards were tight around his wrists, he smiled in the one called ‘twi’s direction. “Is it your twilight? You seem awfully silent.”

“I don't recognize it. But it feels familiar. I'm not sure why.” Twilight stated, he was tackled from behind by a little kid who was practically bursting at the seams with energy. “Not mine! Just because we changed hyrules doesn't mean you're out of the bet! Give me my boomerang back!” Twilight attempted to pry the kid off him, when wild finally noticed how the kid had gills on his neck, along with webbed fingers, said fingers had a slight blue tint to them, matching his light blue shirt, and contrasting the orange shorts he had on. 

Another yawned from the floor, he had large wings folded behind him, the wings were unlike any rito he had seen, red and white, the wings were not connected to his arms either, so he obviously wasn't rito. “Not…” he paused to yawn. “Mine.” 

“We can assume it's not fours, since those plants don't grow there.” twilight said, pointing at some swift violets. “And it's none of ours, so it has to be a new one.” he adjusted his pelt. “I can scout ahead, and you all stay-”

“New hyrule, you know the rules.” the eldest said. “We stick together until we find the problem or we find the link of this time.” oh they're looking for me? Well that confirms the yiga question. Wild took out some bananas and climbed up the tree he had been hiding behind, waiting for the right time to drop the bananas on the yiga so he could make sure of their betrayal to the crown before he killed them. 

The opportunity presented itself not too long after, when the group was all chatting about how different his hyrule looked. Whatever that could mean. He threw down the bananas in the center of their group, all of which startled besides the one on the eldest, no. Times back as he had found out from listening in. 

“What the fuck-?”

—-------

Everyone froze, legend bending down to the ground to examine what had dropped in front of them. “Bananas?” he questioned, picking up the fruit with his sword. The group looked around, listening in for some sort of sound. Nothing. “Ok, who thought it would be funny to throw bananas?” legend grouched, he tossed the bananas into the bushes, some animal could feast on it. As far as he was concerned, it was probably poisoned. 

“What the fuck was that?” wind restated. Sky and time hissed out a quiet ‘language’ before twilight snapped his fingers. 

“Guys, it's getting dark, I know someone else is here, so if they could… uh.. Come out? And maybe show us the closest inn? We're kinda lost.” he shouted into the trees. A rustle in the trees was all they heard, but it was a confirmation someone was here. Legend could have sworn he saw a tip of a tail peek out from the trees but he ignored it for the time being. 

“Don't you werewolves love the night or something.” wars teased, he held up a hand, igniting it on fire, some phoenix attribute he had, legend didn't pay much mind to him, wars had always gotten on his nerves after all, mostly since the two were polar opposites, a merman and a phoenix. One a sky creature with fire, one a water creature in the sea. It just never had mixed well. 

Twilight blushed slightly, but ignored war teasing. “You don't have to show yourself, even if you could just somehow lead us in the general direction of a town that would be wonderful.'' Hyrule snickered, and elbowed legend in the ribs, pointing to the bushes where legend had thrown the bananas, now the bananas had been thrown out, thrown towards north of them.

“I think they want us to go that way.” hyrule commented, pointing to the bananas. A small rustle in the bushes was all they had to hear to know the creature agreed with that statement. The group quickly began walking towards the bananas, legend saw a shadow pass through the trees, oh they were 100% being followed. Hyrule turned to his fae form and landed on legends shoulder, not long after, probably a 10-15 minute walk, and before them stood a large stable, decorated in a giant horse head statue at the top. 

“Welcome to the Dueling Peaks stable! Would you care for some bananas?” the stable owner called out to them. Legend rolled his eyes.

“No, seriously, what is this place's problem with bananas? First we get bananas thrown at us in the woods and now they want to know if we want some? Please, we don't want your goddamn bananas.” he crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance of the situation. 

“Oh please don't take offense, it's customary here, have you lot not heard of the yiga?” the stable owner asked, they shook their heads. “Ah! Have you all lived under a rock? The yiga all are a cult that worships the calamity, and were betrayers to the sheikah tribe. I'm shocked you haven't heard of them.” the man explains, only to be met by more confusion. “What, don't tell me you dont know of the calamity.” they shook their heads once again. “Ah well, can't be helped. Are you all travelers from outside hyrule?”

“ You could say that.” sky piped up, he had folded his wings closer to himself, in an attempt to probably not look as intimidating. “Were looking for Link, the hero of hyrule? Were some… distant family, were trying to find him to reconnect.” 

“I didn't know Link had any family left, are you sure you all dont want some bananas?” the man said suspiciously. They shook their heads once again. “Alright, well, our friend the traveler as we call him, arrived just before you, he likes to cook, and as you can smell, he's making some dinner as we speak.” they turned to the cooking pot to see a small form hovering over a pot, with a ladle in hand, a long black cloak was over his head, small horns poked out from the top of it, he had on a blue tunic and tan pants, along with a bow, quiver, and sword all strapped to his back. On his side they saw a small black rectangle glowing light blue. “He's making dinner for us all, if you want to stay here, he can make you all some food as well. No fee for that, traveler is good like that.” the inn owner smiled. 

“Ah yes, enough for 8?” time asked.

“That will be 300 rupees for the night, that’s with the multi room discount.” the inn owner replied. 

“Ah we can share beds, enough for… lets say six?” time said again, four was now carried by twilight, he could turn into his minish form, wind could share with hyrule and him, save themselves a bit of money for their next stay.

“That will be-” the traveler placed down two gold rupees, much to the surprise of the group. He signed something they couldn't see, and the innkeeper nodded with a smile. “Ah thank you traveler. He's just paid for your next two night stays for 8 beds. The traveler is just too kind is he not?” 

“Thank you so much sir, you didn't have to. How could we repay you?” time questioned. The kid had already returned to his soup, ignoring the question. “Go settle down, sit by the fire, enjoy the night while it's still young.” the innkeeper encouraged. 

The group sat at the fire, the traveler continued to stir the soup, a long tail with white scales thumped behind him, gold tinted some of the scales in a light tint around the spikes along the back, all in a light blue color matching his tunic. The end had a small bit of tuft in a pale blond, only to be assumed to be the same color as his hair. The boy, who seemed to be a bit shorter than hyrule, well, not counting the horns. Legend could sense a lot of magic coming off the traveler, hyrule seemed to have noticed as well, as he shifted on legends shoulder. 

“Traveler, I don't know how we can repay you, is there anything you wish for us to do to assist you?” times talking all fancy again, of course he is. The boy shook his head, continuing to add more ingredients to the stew. “You just paid a lot of money for us, we can't even do some little thing?” hyrule piped up from his spot on legends shoulder, his voice had an undertone of bells chiming in the background, confusing to others who may not know  about faes. 

Again the traveler shook his head, clicking something on his slate thing and before long, a piece of salt appeared in his hand in a blue light, he used a knife and scraped off some of the salt crystal into the soup. ‘ No i'm alright. ’ The boy signed once he had put both items back into his slate, which confused the group heavily. ‘ You all needed help obviously, and i have quite a bit of money to spare so it doesn't matter to me.’ he continued. He stopped signing to resort to stirring the pot again. Legend translated for the less fortunate who didn't know sign, being wind, sky and wars who barely knew any. Four woke up as he was translating, groggily looking around at his surroundings. 

“New hyrule?” he slightly slurred his question, rubbing his eyes as the minish stretched after being asleep for so long. Everyone fell silent, before legend slightly tilted his head at the traveler. Four blinked at him before falling silent as well, no way to defend themselves now. 

“So… traveler, what is your name anyways?” twilight invited conversation. Traveler just shook his head.

‘ I don't give out my name, most call me champion.’ he signed to them. Legend noticed his scars on his left hand, such severe scarring that it seemed his hand shook severely, looking damaged by some sort of explosion of some sort. 

“Alright champion, so where's castle town? Were looking for our… relative, and we were hoping you could help us find him?” wars asked him, arm was laid over his knees, the other up and gesturing as he spoke. The champion looked confused.

‘ Castle town is destroyed, why do you want to go there?’ He signed to the group. ‘Also, who looking for? Me help.’ His sign was devolving into basic signs as he continued to cook for them, then again, sign generally wasn't all flaunty using fancy words all the time, generally it was quite basic sentences. Some chose to use filler words to make proper sentences, but some chose not to. It seemed champion was a mix of both, like legend had been during part of one of his adventures. 

“Ah, we're looking for link, do you know where to find him?” The champion considered it for a moment, before going back to focusing on his pot of soup, spooning out portions for the 9 of them along with the innkeepers and the staff, who all grabbed their bowls and continued back to other parts of the inn, allowing the group privacy.

“Oh my goddesses, this is SO good!” wind exclaimed after a moment, “can we keep him? Please? This is the best thing I've ever tasted!” The others were quick to follow in his sentiment, agreeing with winds statements with simple nods and thank yous for the champion. Said champion had slunk away to sit under the nearby tree and look over the split mountain, legend had to admit, the soup was probably the best he had ever had, compared to the garbage they had made recently, including burning water and having an alive meal (cough, hyrule, cough) this was a severe upgrade, “sorry not sorry twilight, but i'm never having your pumpkin soup after this if we can keep him for our mission.” legend snarked out, finishing his second bowl, holding himself back from grabbing a third. 

‘ Glad you all enjoyed it.’  the champion signed, returning to the campfire. He placed his bowl in the wash bin at the inn, washing it quickly before placing the bowl back on the counter to the inn, legend guessing he had rented them for the meal. ‘ Now why do you all need link so bad?’ he signed again, tilting his head to the side, his face remained covered despite all the movement the dragon made. 

“Like we said, he's our relative-” champion cut them off quickly with a clap. 

‘ All his relatives are dead, everyone knows that. So who are you really?’ he rested his hand on the sword hilt he had at his side, as if to remind them he knew how to fight and would if it came to it. 

“Listen it's hard to explain, if you bring us to link, then maybe we could explain to him and you. I promise, or better yet, bring us to Impa, or zelda? Maybe we could talk to either of them about this.” time placed his bowl down on the ground, working on getting his armor off as he spoke.

‘ I can bring you to Kakariko Village, but how do you know them?’ the champion shifted his grip on the hilt, his tail thrashed behind him, swishing behind him violently. 

“It's hard to explain.”

‘ Well I'm not dumb and I'm willing to listen so go on.’ The champion seemed agitated, he released his grip on the hilt to sign before opening his slate, getting more ingredients out as he started to chop up an apple, now sitting back down. 

“It's more of a… thing we can talk to link about…” sky drawled, his gaze shifting back and forth between the champion and the area around them as if looking for a way out of this conversation. 

Champion considered his words for a moment,‘ Well then,imagine im link. So go ahead.’ The boy continued to cut the apples, placing them into the boiling water as he went. Before long he put away his cutting board, replacing it with a bowl. 

“It doesn't really work like that.'' Twilight explained carefully, shifting in his seat, the werewolf was obviously getting antsy to go running around, he had been cooped up in this form for a while, and he still had a lot of energy from legends hyrule. 

‘ Alright then, don't explain. I'll take you to kakariko village then. It will be around a two day walk or so. So be prepared for a long walk.’ the champion sighed slightly, before turning back to mixing water, flour, sugar, and some other spice they didn't know. 

“Thank you, I'm sorry we can't say. It's just… something only link can hear really.” champion seemed to pause for a second, a small gasping sound as if he was laughing sounded out before quickly stopping.

‘ Alright. It's fine.’ 

“So! What are you making?”

‘ It's a secret only a link can know.’ champion replied, before letting out the same breathy laugh from before, as if it was a secret joke no one except him would ever understand.

—-------

On the first day, things went downhill quickly. They had set up camp for the night, all agreeing on having twilight as first watch, wind as second, and time as third. Champion had looked confused but shrugged them off nonetheless. Champion claimed he wanted to go check the nearby area for monsters, and left without another word. 

That's when it went downhill. See, unfortunately, this area isn't as safe as they had thought it would be, before long, a loud clunking and mechanical noise sounded throughout the area, along with sounds of beeping that slowly got louder. Suddenly, a large creature with eight legs appeared out of the forest, the beeping increased until it locked onto fours chest. Four, who was in shock, stood there in confusion, narrowly avoiding getting blasted, if it wasn't for the champion returning and shoving him out of the way, the beam missing both by half an inch. 

‘ Guardians. Just run.’ and run they did, quickly avoiding the rest of the beams and running into the nearby forest, once they stopped, the group paused, champion held his elbows in his hands, panicked breathing escaping the boy. 

“What the fuck was that thing?” sky panted out, looking stressed about the monster-like thing that had attacked them.

Champion shrugged jerkily, ‘ it's a guardian like i said. They were once sheikah tech, before they were corrupted by ganon. Once that happened, they turned on hyrule and have turned into killing machines, only intending on killing us and not the monsters like they were supposed to.’ he sighed. ‘ They’re  the worst, it's why I avoid hyrule field, it's littered by them.’  he shuddered. ‘ Moving on…’

The problems continued when Champion froze suddenly, his tail even going still as he put his arm out in front of them, wind walking into his arm, making a noise of surprise before seeing wilds sudden lack of movement. His tail not moving was a sure sign of something bad in front of them, as far as they could tell, Champion's tail never stopped moving, even as he slept. 

“What's up Champion?” time placed a hand on his shoulder, receiving a violent flinch away from the boy, time quickly retracted his hand in response. 

‘ B o k o b l i n camp up ahead, eighteen b o k o b l i n s,’ his ear twitched from under his hood. ‘ eight red, five blue, four black and two silver, along with two red m o b l i n s, twenty total. Most I've seen at a camp before.’ Champion shifted his grip on his bow, turning towards the group, yet still keeping his eyes to the floor. ‘ I can snipe most, but i need some people on the ground just in case, only attack if they blow the horn.’

“Champ, we can just do a full on attack, they shouldn't be too difficult.” twilight interjected, champion flinched at the nickname, but ignored it moving forward.

 “Its most logical.” Wars considered, he put his fist to his chin in thought, “we have Champion lower the numbers and we rush in to focus and kill the others. Allow Champion to get more good shots on them, i assume your extremely confident with a bow?” Champion nodded. “Alright, then it's decided. No objections?”No on objected to wars strategy, well. Technically it was wilds, but no one argued with the group strategist, he was the best with plans, and if he said it was a good plan, then they had to trust him. “Alright wild, go on ahead, and get ready to start to take them down, we will be right behind you alright?” 

Champion nodded and took off, running quickly towards the supposed camp, his footsteps, nor his gear, was making any noise, he was silent. It was almost eerie how quiet he was. Wars motioned for the rest of the group to follow them, the amount of noise that even a single one of them made was a hundred percent louder then champion was, even four was significantly louder then him in his minish form. It was almost as if he didnt exist in their plane of hearing. The group quickly hid in the bushes around the camp, before as to wilds exact prediction, there were eight red bokoblins, five blue, four black, and two silver. Along with two moblins, champion was sitting in a tree, glaring down at them as they made a lot of noise, he drew his bow and quickly shot the red bokoblin first, right through the eye, the moblin along with three others that sat next to it dissolved into a black liquid before disappearing overall. Champions shots were right on target, shooting three other bokoblins in the head, before finally one of the silver ones noticed, blowing a horn loudly as it alerted the rest of the camp of the deaths of some of their allies. Champion motioned for them to go forward, in which most did, hyrule remaining back to provide extra support. 

It didn't take long to see how immensely different it was from the rest of their hyrules monsters, the monsters were somehow more difficult then the black blooded monsters they had to deal with all the time, Champion had been right, their blood was black here, and champion only spared an extra glance at the white ones twice, his arrow now shone with a electric glow, two prongs lending out of the arrow, Champ shot an arrow into the eye of the white one, which howled in pain as electricity wracked through its body, forcing it to drop its weapon. 

Champion jumped down from the tree he was in, running quickly and grabbing the weapon, he slashed at the white bokoblin, blocking a blow from another black bokoblin whos club was headed directly at his head, the impressive part is that champion didn't even look over at the bokoblin when he was going to shield, continuing to fight the white bokoblin, which was taken down quickly after.

Wind cried out as one of the moblins started to attack him, getting champions attention. The champion rushed over, slamming his sword into the back of the moblin, who turned towards him, its large club clashing against Champion's sword. The black bokoblin followed the champion to the new area of the fight, raising its club again to strike the champion. 

“Look out!” wind cried out, noticing the black bokoblin behind him, the champion raised his shield only a second too late, the club slamming onto his left arm, the champion let out a gasp of pain before switching sword arms and slashing the club in half. He grunted slightly at the strain as he clashed his sword against the moblins own club, before long, legend slashed at the back of the moblin, finally taking it down. The camp was finished soon after, the group panting of the strain as they struggled to catch their breath. 

“Shit, that was…” sky panted, “somehow more difficult than the other black blooded monsters.” he collapsed against a tree, the master sword dropping next to him as he took a big sip from his canteen. 

‘ That was weird.’ wild signs, ‘ usually they don't come in camps that big. Is that the black blooded ones you have been fighting? They seemed a little different than usual. Not much more difficult to say, but just… different style of fighting.’ Champion signed, the signs were a lot more broken with his injured shoulder. He shifted his shoulder stiffly, his sword dissolving into the slate. ‘ Everyone, ok?’

“We're all fine, just some scratches, you're the one we're worried about, you literally got slammed in the shoulder by that thing.” wars said, turning to hyrule, “can you…”

“On it.” Hyrule finished up healing a cut on twilight's cheek, before heading over to where Champion stood, looking confused. ‘ What? I'm fine?’

Oh goddesses what was going on? How was this child, who had been confirmed to be 16 years old physically, just acting like nothing was wrong, like his shoulder which hung limply by his side was just fine and normal. Time sighed and pinched his nose.

“Champ,” champion froze, “your shoulder is dislocated at best, at least let us set it before we continue to move.” Time reached his hand out in front of him, offering it to the champion to hold whilst hyrule set his shoulder. Champ ignored said hand, and bent his arm to be at a 90 degree angle. Protests filled the air, yet he ignored it. He leaned it against the ground, pressing harshly down with a sickening pop, the champion winced, before flexing his arm, checking if it was in working condition, before giving a thumbs up to the group. 

“Dude…” 

Hyrule spluttered in shock while he watched, reaching over to champion with a petrified expression on his face. “Im sorry what the actual f-”

Hylia what is going on in this hyrule?

—------------------

To say this new hyrule was huge would be an understatement, the hyrule was at least three times the size of twilight hyrule, and a hundred times more empty then even hyrules own hyrule. The world was so full of life, but not hylian life, animals, plants, critters of all kinds. They all coated the place, bugs and never seen before animals were a commonality during the two day journey, hyrule couldn't contain his excitement whilst he looked around, flitting around the area, looking at every single animal and plant he could, asking champion all the time whether it was safe to eat or not, most of the time champion responded with a simple ‘ if cooked right.’ and that was about it. Hyrule still was a little annoyed with the champion with his stupid act of relocating his shoulder, the champion assured them he was fine, yet hyrule doubted that. 

Quickly they reached the village, it was small. No more than 50 occupants at maximum, and the champion said that was on a ‘good day’. They reached impas residence to only be greeted by a young shy girl at the door, who quickly said a couple words to champion before he asked them to wait outside. 

“Why do we have to wait outside? It's raining for dins sake.”  legend complained, hyrule could share his sentiment, he hated getting his wings wet, and being out in the open was just asking for his wings to get soaking if he even tried to transform. Quickly, they were let inside, to be met by a very old woman, the same girl as before, and champion was picking at his nails in the corner. He didn't seem very interested in what was happening, and seemed to be paying no mind to their words, not until link was mentioned.

“So I have been informed you are here to find a link?” the old woman, Impa, had said. Sky nodded at the older woman, bowing his head slightly in a sign of respect, his wings were lowered to the ground to show he meant no harm. 

“Yes lady impa, we are looking for Link in our quest from the godde-” he glanced over to the champion who busied himself in his slate. “From Hylia herself,” he finished. “Im sorry, i would prefer if link himself was here for me to explain- do you know his whereabouts right no-”

“Link!” a voice came from behind them as the doors burst open, rain fell to the floor as a woman with short blond hair, a blue shirt and glasses on her forehead ran in. behind her was a small child who wore red glasses and a tan sheikah garment. All the chain turned to face them, both because of the intrusion, and also by hearing their shared name as well. What they didn't expect was the duo to stare directly at the champion, whose head had also perked up at the use of the name. 

“Alright, so. We heard that you were back and we need you to help test out this new device purah has been working on since you defeated ganon. Would you mind coming with us?” The woman looked excited, her eyes lighting up as she clenched her hands into fists and kept them next to her chest. The kid beside her pushed her glasses up. 

“Ahem, sorry impa. This is just a major breakthrough and we cannot wait, sorry for interrupting this meeting.” the kid, assumingly purah said. Champion put his slate down, his tail swished against the floor as he walked forward slightly. 

‘ It's not going to end up with me half my size again is it?’ Champion, no… link, signed out. He looked as if he would rather do anything else than follow the two girls. ‘ Sorry impa I have to follow them, you know Z E L D A and P U R A H.’ he finger spelled the last two names, leaving them all in shock. Zelda smiled sweetly at the chain, grabbing Link's arm and dragging him out of the house, purah in tow.

“As you can see, you had your link right there the entire time.” she laughs, “he's a bit shy so apologies for his previous behavior. He isn't much of a fan of meeting new people despite him knowing everyone in the nation. I'm assuming he did the banana test on you?” Impa ran her hand along the rim of her hat.

“No, some figure in the woods did, I guess he saw? We didn't even hear them, it was weird.” wars explained. Hyrule smacked himself in the face, it was so obvious. Link was following them in the woods, he was always with them since they entered his hyrule. 

“It seems your fae folk have figured it out.” Impa replied with a cheeky smile. “That was in fact our very own link that was following you about, he's been with you all since the beginning. Incredible it took the heroes from the past that long to figure it out.”

“How did you?” Sky asked, hyrule already knew the answer. “Its because champion- I mean link knew the entire time right? He must have recognized us?”

“Yes, that is right, paya can you let them know that they have to return soon? I must speak with him before the others do. I'm sure these eight have much to do and explain to our friend link.'' Impa closed her eyes. “Now off you pop, the inn is booked for you all, now go rest, and link will speak with you all in the morning. Goodnight young heroes of the past.”

—-------------

Link didnt like having attention on him, so when he asked purah and zelda to bust him out, he wasn't expecting them to scream his name, so much for not telling these strangers who he was… oh well. The group seemed nice enough. As of the past few days he had finally learned the names of them all. Starting with the eldest, time, next was sky, he was like the mother hen of the group. When Wild got a slight cut, he instantly was at his side checking if he was alright. Next was twilight, he was the one with the wolf pelt. His markings on his head reminded him suspiciously like dusk but he shoved that feeling off to the side. Next was wars, or warriors. He was the one with the blue scarf who was messing with twilight. Then legend, who was rude a lot of the time, yet he was also  very caring if he was caught alone with you. He had fussed over hyrule having a nightmare when they were all sleeping, helping him fall asleep and telling hyrule if he told anyone that legend would kill him. But link digressed. Hyrule himself was a fae, that much was obvious, he was really nice and seemed to be the healer of the group. Four was quiet, the one who was passed out when they first met. He sometimes would talk to himself but wild didn't mind, he talked to the champion's spirits when he could. Wind was the youngest, he was the one with the gills and the webbed fingers. Even wind didn't know what he was, he just said he's some sort of sea creature, non related to mermaids, which caused legend to choke on his food when wind glared at him.

The group was a bit much at times but he could deal, he wasn't a fan of crowds, but if he laid low, made the food, and slept in the tree as he always would, then he would be fine, no problems in his eyes. It was fine, he would be fine. They explained what their mission was the next morning, sent by the goddesses to track down the cause of the black blooded monsters which confused link by a lot, ‘ monsters blood is usually black.’ he had said, the group exchanged looks before time spoke up, which he seemed to do a lot, almost as if he was the spokesperson for them.

“They have always been black blooded?” he questioned them, link nodded, “that's… concerning. Is there a reason they are?” link nodded before signing back to them. " We assume it's from the calamity infecting them for so long, but were not sure, I didn't even know they were supposed to have red blood until now.’

“What color was it before the calamity?”   link didn't even remember back when the calamity struck anyways so how was he supposed to know what color their blood used to be? He probably didn't pay much attention since his attention was on zelda. 

‘ Not sure. I don't remember. It's been a very long time.’ link shrugged.

“How long? And what even is the calamity?” sky spoke up, his feathers ruffling.

‘ Calamity is when calamity ganon struck, creating hoards of monsters, and attacking hyrule. He was the reason most of my hyrule is in ruins.’ no, its because you failed at your one job you fucking dumba-

“ Oh.” sky breathed out. “So how long…?” his voice trailed off.

‘ A long time.’ he managed to sign through the shake of his hands. Curse his stupid burns. 

“Is there a reason you keep your hood up?” this time it was twilight asking the question, link winced, despite no one being able to see it. He nodded his head yes but didnt elaborate further. ‘ Anything else or can I get back to making you all breakfast.’ they all replied with a quick set of ‘no’ and returned to organizing their items. How inconvenient to not have a slate, he couldn't hold himself back from thinking those thoughts.

He stared at the symbol on warriors' chestplate curiously, as if by force dragging itself through his body, his mind was forced back into one of his blasted memories, it wasn't the worst one by far… yet not the best. 

“Backs to the wall eyes on me.” the captain commanded, the new recruits all nodded, all the others were at least 15, link stood at a whopping 6 years old, half the age of the rest of them, and half the height of them. The twenty odd so recruits had been approved yesterday after going through a series of tests. Not him though, he was deemed worthy by one thing, he was able to beat one of the highest ranking soldiers in a one on one combat, all forced upon him by his father. 

‘Oh why have you kept his talent from us for so long?’ ‘why didn't he join sooner’ they say, but link was 6, barely even that, his birthday only had been days ago, yet here he was, standing on the castle training grounds with all the elder kids. Link could hear the snickers from around him as the others  laughed at his age, whether it be pity or out of shock, they were laughing at him. 

“What's so funny Julian?” the captain called out, julian straightened up quickly, stopping his laughter.

“Sorry sir, it won't happen again.”

“Damn straight it won't. You're out. Pack your bags and leave, unless you want to challenge Link here for your spot since you think it's so funny to laugh?” the captain raised an eyebrow at him.

“You know what? Maybe I will! I challenge link- i challenge you to a duel!”

When Link came out of his memory he could feel eyes on him, he flipped the pancakes over in the pan, still golden brown. This had been a shorter one thankfully. “Link? Are you alright? You spaced out for a while.” twilight was holding his back, crouching next to him. 

Link flinched away from twilight's hold, shaking the man off him. ‘ Sorry I was spacing out. Breakfast is ready.’ 

But link wasn't hungry, the memory seemed to have taken all hunger that once was in him, straight out as fast as the memory came on. 

—-------------------

Wild. Hero of the wild. That's what the sword had named him. Wild was forever grateful it wasnt something like: Hero of Failure, or hero of sleep. That would have pissed him off. Wild was fitting, seeing how his mannerisms were that of a wolf that taught him, which to be fair, wasn't inaccurate. He was in fact taught by a wolf so who could blame him if he was a little strange. Sure he received strange looks and heard whispering behind his back, but he didn't particularly care about all that. Humans and others didn't really matter to him in his mission, or rather their opinion doesn't matter. Of course their lives did, but opinions on how he dressed or talked was irrelevant to his quest to save zelda, so who cared if they spoke ill of him, he would just walk away and act none the wiser. 

Wild was nothing but cautious around them. So be it his past reincarnation, or so they say. Wild trusted people to a certain level, enough he could be around them but sleeping five feet away? Nope. Wild stuck to the tree that was more around 10-15 feet away then deal with being so close to others while he slept. He made that mistake once, never again. 

They had left Kakariko village days ago at this point, the group calling themselves the ‘chain’ since all their names were link, hilarious. He thought without humor. Wild couldn't bring himself to speak even once he knew them at least a little more, his instinct from even before his death stayed with him, he struggled to find more then one or two words around those who he was even comfortable with. Purah and Robbie couldn't even get more than three words out of him on a good day, the only one he was able to speak to in small sentences happened to be Prince Sidon himself, his loving boyfriend. Goddesses he didn't want to have to leave him behind. 

According to Sky, all of them had needed to leave behind some sort of loved one, one such as sky’s own Zelda, his girlfriend. Time had laughed off the group when they asked about his relationship status, unclear to them as to if he was actually married or dating someone. Wild was sure the golden ring on his finger was meant to be a symbol of his status as a married man, but what was wild to know? He was barely a year and a half, as far as he was concerned, only waking from his death about a year and five months before, almost to date. 

“So, where should we visit before we leave? Besides picking wild over here up, i dont think theres anything else we should be worried regarding the black blooded monsters.” thats right, he had told them about the black bloodedness of the monsters in his hyrule. The others had been surprised, and terrified when they had seen their first moblin camp. 

"We can visit zora's domain but it will take around two weeks or so to get there.’ link- no, wild signs. The group looked at him in shock, wild shrugged before considering his options again. ‘I'm not sure where you all would need to go? If your willing, i can go collect supplies from areas i need it from, while you all wait here.’ 

“I don't want you to risk yourself while theres black blooded monsters- i mean, well…” twilight tried, before backing out of his statement just as quickly as he started. “I'll come with you?” he tried again. Wild shook his head.

‘With the way I'm traveling, that's impossible.’ Wild pulled out his slate before motioning to the different blue symbols on the map. ‘ Ill be back later, I'm grabbing some materials from my hyrule before we're forced to leave. Wait here.’ they were very close to a shrine anyway so he could run here quickly after all the needed materials are collected. He clicked a shrine near the lynel in Zora's domain, he couldn't leave the domain with the threat of the lynel with electric arrows as such a big threat. 

Oh whatever, it was a good chance to see Sidon as well. 

—----------------------------

“ Im sorry, what on earth just happened?” sky blanched, he stared at the location wild had just disappeared from, his wings fluttering in anxiety. “Did he just-”

“Yes, he did in fact just disappear into blue light, now can you stop freaking out already? Its giving me a headache.” legend rubbed his temples, a glare shone across his face, directed at sky himself. How did he manage to do that? What was wrong with that new kid? It was obviously not magic, it didn't follow the same magical signature that wild himself gave off. 

“ That was strange.” four put a finger on chin, considering his ideas on what had happened. “Hyrule, any ideas?” The minish looked around the group for the fae. “Hyrule?” 

Hyrule was missing.

Chapter Text

In all fairness, Hyrule didnt mean to teleport with wild, he had been napping on his shoulder while they walked, inside his hood was very comfortable. He hadnt even been awake before a splitting pain filled his body as if his body was being dissolved, before being reformed quickly after. Hyrule choked out a yell in pain, before a quiet yelp of fear sounded out next to him. He sat still, scrubbing at his eyes as he waited for his vision to return and for his head to stop spinning. Minutes later, Hyrule turned twords wild, whos hood was down off his head, his eyes staired back at him in panic as hyrule gazed upon the newest member. 

Wilds face was well, wildly scarred up. Scars trailed up and down his face, criscrossing in patterns that he couldnt recognize. His ear was half blown off, the rest scarred to oblivion. His eye held a pale blue center instead of black as the normal was seen as. The eyes flicked around the area, avoiding hyrules eyes like the plague. The scars extended down his neck, extending down past his shirt as far as he could assume. Two opal earrings hung down from his ears, glittering in the sun. 

“Hyrule?” a voice rasped out, an accent similar to that of zeldas was discernible through the voice obviously abused from years of misuse along with the injurys straining against his neck. “Wha-” his voice quickly gave out on him, wilds hand was on hyrules shoulder, a look of concern on his face. ‘ Why are you here? No. how are you here?’ Hyrule shook off his shock at wilds momentary ability to speak.

“Wild- where are we? How…” Hyrule looked about, he saw they were now ontop of a mountain, a sound of a waterfall sounded from nearby, the all to familiar roar of a Lynel sounded from infront of them. Wilds exasperated expression was replaced by one of exhaustion. 

‘ Why did you grab onto me?’ 

“Im sorry! I was resting on your shoulder in my fae form, and i kinda…” hyrule scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, “fell… asleep.”

Wild snorted out a laugh, setting up a fireplace that held a small pot over it. ‘ Tea?’

“Oh… sure? What are you here for?” hyrule questioned, confused as to why they were there. ‘ Clearing out a lynel, and gathering some electric arrows before we leave. I can tell hylia is getting antsy to make us leave. Yet she hasnt yet, i wonder why.’ wild considered the options, pouring water into the pot, taking out some willow bark and a red flower. 

Hyrule was taken aback by wilds signs, “Sorry what? You can hear hylia?” 

‘ Yes, can you not?’ wild tilted his head to the side. ‘ She spoke to me through my adventure.’ he put the two items in a small near see through bag, placing it in the boiling water. He glared down at his left arm, which shook thoroughly. Hyrule noted it was the same arm that had been dislocated a couple days before,  ‘ Apologies, my arm is quite shaky today. If my signs are unclear let me know.’ hyrule shook his head in amazement, eyes wide as he staired at the dragon. 

“What happened to it? I mean, besides what happened the other day.” wild shifted his gaze away from hyrule, shaking his head slightly. Ah so thats a no go topic. Got it. “Sorry, i can.. Heal things, part of being a fae i guess. Could i take a look?”

‘ Its an old injury. Cant be helped.’ wild signed out, ‘ same as’ he motioned to his face, ‘ this one.’ hyrule winced again but said nothing in response, he didnt really have a way to help here, if it was old there was no shot at healing it, he had tried, many times. Legend had been very disappointed that it didnt work, his chronic pain that stretched through his legs on a daily basis, no matter how many pain suppressing rings, his legs constantly were in pain, some days worse then others, some days were near fine. Legend claimed it was from the fact that transforming back and forth between merman and human from his curse was painful. Perhaps this was similar to that, a constant pain waining and growing in pain depending on mood, how much they had to eat, or how much they slept, etc. 

Hyrule pushed that away from his mind whilst he focused on the fire infront of him, the crackling of the fire along with the sound of the water boiling as the willowbark and red flower seeped into it, the sound of quiet hums as wild returned to work, preparing for a fight as far as hyrule could tell, the willow bark and whatever flower it was, it was presumably for some sort of pain relief, he had seen wars and legend make it before. Wild was stirring the tea slightly, for an even spred of the ingredients in the tea. He quickly used a ladle and scooped the tea into two cups, he obviously didnt have all the needed materials to make it properly, otherwise he would have used a teapot, that was besides the point though. Hyrule took it happily and blew on the steaming cup of tea, taking a careful sip. 

Wild looked at him curiously, tilting his head to the side as if to ask how did he like it, hyrule smiled, nodding at wild. “Its very good, what is that flower in it? I know its willow bark but i dont recognize the other one.” he offered another gentle smile, if hyrule could get wild more comfortable atleast with him, maybe wild would be more willing to talk with them, or even sleep outside of the trees. Whatever it was, hyrule was interested in learning about him. 

“Warm Saffina.” wilds voice came through, “similar to willow bark.” his voice scratched against his throat, obviously uncomfortable using it, but with his good hand being used to hold his tea, and his bad hands signing worse for wear, he  resorted to his limited usage of his voice. 

“Does it hurt?”

“Hm?”

“To talk, does it hurt?” hyrule questioned, his eyes flickered to wilds hand, still shaking slightly, the hand twitched as if he wanted to sign, yet aborted the motion.

“Yes.” he replied, he took a sip of the tea once again, his tail flicked haphazardly. Hyrule nodded slightly, he knew he couldnt help, but still, he continued to think of all salves and magic he could that could lessen the pain, even if just by a little similarly to legends rings. “Used to it.” the dragon managed out, it seemed as if his limited usage of his voice was coming to an end, seeing how quiet it was reaching, as if it wasnt already quiet enough.

“Im sorry wild. It seems really rough…”  wild nodded. Nothing else was said, a comfortable silence befalling the two as they drank their tea. Hyrule was seriously impressed by how good the tea tasted. When legend or  wars made it, it wasnt particularly good. It was always either overdone, or severely under done, never this incredible. He could feel the warmth seep through his body as he waited with wild for whenever he was ready to go. 

Not long after, the both had finished their tea and wild stood, he poured the rest of the tea into bottles, before they disappeared into his slate. Hyrule was still confused about how the hell it worked, but he shoved that thought aside, wild tried to explain it to them but it still was just as confusing. Wild offered his hand out, helping hyrule to his feet. 

“So were gonna go fight the lynel now?” hyrule asked, his heart sank slightly at the thought.

‘ No? Ill handle it. You can just stay off to the side.’ wild signed out, his hands less shaky. ‘ I do it all the time so please dont worry.’ 

“Its a lynel. ” hyrule stated, he blanched at wild, who looked at him as if it was normal. “I mean we both should go into the dungeon, i can help with puzzles.”

‘ What puzzles? And what dungeon?’ wilds brows furrowed as much as it could, seeing as half of his eyebrow was scarred up. ‘ The lynel is just on the top of this mountain.’ 

Top of the mountain? That was a boss enemy. One that only showed in the end of dungeons, if it was anything like the ones he had, then it would be extremely scary, and dangerous. The two climbed up the mountain, hyrule wondered how wild was able to do this with such ease, as if nothing was happening. Hyrule had to transform halfway through, sitting on wilds shoulder, who simply shrugged and let him stay on his shoulder.

When they reached the lynel area, he was shocked to say the least. The lynel was double the size of his own lynels, if not triple. The creature was muscular beyond belief, bloodied scars ran rampant across his body as if he had been a victim of a particularly annoyed attacker, which he could only assume to be Wild at somepoint during his adventure. Wild sighed at the sight of the lynel, putting hyrule down on a rock before taking out a sharp looking sword, one rampant with decay in some spots, the gold handle was worn down, yet wild looked comfortable with the grip. He pulled out a black and purple sheild, along with a golden bow and some what hyrule could only imagine to be bomb arrows. 

Wild whistled at the beast, which turned from its prowling to stare at wild, its two eyes glaring down at wild, the red mane flowing in the wind, the boss monster knocked an arrow at him, wild simply raised a shield in defense, blocking the arrow quickly and using the momentary loss on the lynels part to run at him, sword dragging on the fround behind him as he ducked below a swing from the lynel, running below the monster, dragging his sword through the underbelly of the horrid creature. Hyrule withheld a gasp as the monster collapsed, before seeing wild slashing at the monsters side, dragging his sword up the side and up through the chest of the monster. The lynel roared, swiping dangerously at wild, who backflipped back, before rushing in and at impossible speed, swung at the lynel. 

“Are you sure your ok?!” hyrule called out, his nerves on an all time high. Wild backed up once again, sparing a glance back at hyrule before turning back to his fight, only a second to late, the lynel shot its bow at the young dragon, who realized a second to late, he couldnt move in time, the shock arrow hitting his sword arm. “Wild!” he cried out.

“Fine.” he said through gritted teeth, picking his sword back up after ripping out the arrow with little concern for the pain. He held his sword gingerly, raising it back in another stance as he pulled his sheild up infront of him, the lynel charged at him, hyrules panic rose ten fold, he held his hands at the ready, preparing to heal him at the ready. But of course it wasnt needed.

Of.. course it wasnt. Wild blocked and parried the attack, the lynel fell back, allowing wild to shoot a bomb arrow at the monster before him, causing the creature to fall to its knees momentarily, wild took that opportunity, shot it quickly in the eye, before climbing on its fucking back. He slashed wildly at the back of the lynel, which bucked in an attempt to stop the onslaught of the attacks. Wild eventually lost grip on the lynel, and jumped off, quickly after, the creature ran twords him once again, this time, wild backflipped over the swipe, being missed by just barely an inch. Wild shot another bomb arrow once again and the boss reared back before falling to its knees and dissolving in a black substance. Quickly wild grabbed some of the guts from the floor, much to the dismay of hyrule, along with grabbing the weapons off the floor. 

Wild looked back at hyrule in curiosity, ‘ are you alright? You didnt get hurt right?’ hyrule staired at him in shock. 

“Am i ok? I should be asking you that, i mean- it hit you with that arrow…” hyrule hopped off the rock in his full form, walking over to his fellow chain member. “Can i look at the wound?” wilds gaze shifted away, obviously uncomfortable, but still nodded and offered his arm to hyrule. Hyrule looked over the injury before deciding it was alright to heal, using his magic felt the both with a warm sensation, as if sitting besides a fire, food cooking while some sort of music played in the background. Everyone had a different feel when healed, winds felt like the wind on his face and the sea by his side, time felt like a warm embrace with pie cooking in the background, and so on. Wilds was just as comforting as the others felt to him, the idea of such a calm feeling from such a wild kid was a little strange to him, but he pushed it aside. 

“Is that better?” wild examined the now non existent wound in awe, he smiled brightly at hyrule with a sort of lopsided smile. ‘ Much better. Now lets go, i still need to get more arrows and mushrooms.’

—-------------

“Hylia above- how many mushrooms do you have?!” hyrule cries out, staring at wilds slate, the number 652 was displayed next to the hylian shroom symbol, along with countless of other types of mushrooms with similarly large numbers next to it. 

‘ I collected alot during my journey, since i beat ganon ive been collecting even more so i can help out people who are struggling.’ wild shrugged. 

“Oh so that was over a couple years right?” hyrule guessed, “i mean how many years has it been since you killed ganon?” wild flinched slightly.

“Two months.” wild spoke out, looking at hyrule with his usual curiosity. “Why? You longer?” he spoke in broken hylian.

Two… months?

“Wild… its been years since most of our journeys.. It been two since mine… i think mine was actually the most recent out of all of us. We all had… time to recover. I mean, time has had atleast ten years!” hyrule raked a hand through his hand, wilds face goes blank, as if he didnt know how to react to this information, which to be fair, was probably how he felt. 

‘ Lets go to Zoras domain. I want to say goodbye to S I D O N.’ 

—---------------

“What do you mean no one knows where hyrule is, did he seriously go exploring in this giant hyrule?” time sighed out, wars clapped him on the back in a comforting manor. They all had been victim to this sort of panic at some point with hyrule, the boy constantly splitting off from the group to explore. Last time it happened, hyrule managed to get in a collapsing cave, in which only four could save him in his minish form. To say hyrule was in trouble with the group was an understatement, this time would be no different. Wandering off in a new hyrule was a big no go, going against the small set of rules they held as a group.

“It means exactly that, what the fuck do you think we mean.” legend sighed out, glaring at the spot wild had been before he himself disappeared. “Maybe he went with wild.”

“Yeah right. wild said none of us could follow him the he was going.” wars grumbled, taking off his chainmail and overshirt to rinse out the blood. “Anyone need their clothes cleaned? Mine got a lot of blood on it during the fight.” the group handed off articles of their clothes to wars, who had just grabbed the small amount of soap they had at the time. “Ill be back later. Have fun discussing this shit.” 

—---------------------------

“So whos sidon?” hyrule asked, he sat on champions shoulder, the soft sound of bells in his voice sounded out. “Was he a companion on your journey?” wild shook his head. ‘ Didnt have any companions, well. None that could speak. I had a wolf called D U S K with me. But he couldnt talk so it doesnt count.’ Champion explained, they walked up to the entrance of a beautiful area, long pathways connected each tower and floor. The green and blue floors and walls glistening with water, what looked like zora were walking around, talking laughing. 

“Link!” a tall pink zora bounded over, his smile incredibly big. The zora picked wild up and hugged him, wild melted into his touch, hugging the tall zora back. “How have you been, are you injured? Its been weeks!” the zora put him down, kneeling next to him, holding his hands gently. “Who is that behind you?”

“Rulie. Family.” he said quietly, sidon laughed heartily, a grin spreading across his face. 

“Good one link! Who is he really?” sidons smile dropped slightly, but he maintained a slight smile to comfort him. “Who really is this little one?” 

“Fairy friend, met days ago.” wild smiled at sidon, whos smile grew once again. Wild held the hand of the zora, who met hyrules eyes, hyrule quickly changed back into his human form, standing next to wild. 

“Your… Sidon right?” hyrule brushed off his tunic, giving a warm smile to hyrule. 

“Yes! My name is sidon, Prince of zoras domain.” he extended a hand to hyrule, who took it gratefully, sidons firm grip spooked hyrule, feeling as if his hand was being crushed. “Welcome to zoras domain.” hyrule nodded shakily, gulping down his anxiety, thankfully, the zora seemed to sense his anxiety, giving him a clap on the back before turning back to wild. “link, are your scars bothering you? I can get one of the royal healers to tend to them if you wish?” link nodded slightly, signing something along the lines of ‘ ill find them ’ before he kissed the zoras cheek and left. 

“Are you two…” hyrule started once link left. 

“We started dating a little over 7 months ago. He got to our home, and we just clicked! I proposed a month ago, sadly we havent been able to work out our wedding arrangements yet since he had to take care of all of hyrule. Hes just so incredible isnt he?” sidon gushed over him, giving the biggest smile over to where link had just left. “You know, if he called you family, and you just met, you must be someone really special to him. He doesnt call just anyone family.” the whistle around sidons throat swung back and forth. 

“Does he… have any family left?” hyrule asked softly.

“No. you dont know? They all died, with almost everyone else, in the calamity.” 

—---------

It wasnt long before the two returned, almost two days later. Hyrule looked frazled, but amazed at the same time. Wild was supporting the fae carefully, hyrule looked unharmed, as well as wild. The two wore now clean clothes, no blood or tears in sight, wilds hood remained up, but slightly lower, the two seemed more relaxed, as if their two day break from the group had caused wonders. 

“Where have you been?” time demanded. Hyrule practically bounded over to legend, grabbing the elder in a tight hug. 

“It was incredible! I got to see zoras domain, and wild fought a whole lynel by himself! Oh! And we got to collect alot of mushrooms, and you should have seen it! I mean wild was incredible! Ive never seen anything like it!” hyrule exclaimed, his eyes wide as he excitedly talked about their mini adventure. He let go of legend, who had stiffened up uncomfortably when hyrule had grabbed him. “Oh! And wild makes the best tea ive ever had! And the best stew.” the usual calm demenor of their healer was gone, now replaced by a excited child, one often seen when people would see him as when he would go off on his own. 

“Sorry, a lynel. By himself? Like, black blooded and all?” Legend said skeptically. 

“Yeah! We were talking! And he said that he took out that lynel all the time! Says the zora cant take it out themselves since the electric arrows would kill them, so he takes it out once or twice a month for them!” hyrule exclaimed. Time staired at wild, who now seemed very interested in his nails, he picked at the skin around his nails, already damaged by countless times of doing it. His sharp nails scratching at the skin enough to cause blood to rise to the top of his skin. 

“Why do you have to take it out so often? Shouldnt it be a one and done?”

‘ Blood moon. It revives monsters once a month. Including lynels, hinoxes, moldugas, E T C.” wild explains, he glances up at the sky. ‘ Last one was a week ago or so, so their gonna be fine for around a month. Also, portal incoming.’

“Sorry what?” sky asked, looking where wild pointed, and sure enough, a portal apeared moments later, the dark black and purple glow all to familiar to the chain. “And how did you?” 

‘ Hylia is getting impatient, we need to go before she drags us through.’ wild signs, he grabbed at his slate, looking through it to make sure everything was fine. ‘ Everythings ready, so i am ready to go when everyone else is.’ 

“Alright, we can talk about it later, but we tend to go in pairs, legend, hyrule, since your usually a pair, and wild seems comfortable with hyrule, wild will be going with you both. Otherwise same pairs as usual. Four, wait until everyone is through before coming through, you know the deal.” time explains, he grabbed twilights hand and walked through the portal, following them was warriors and wind. Following them would be wild, hyrule and legend. The three quickly grasped each other hands and headed through the portal. It was near instantaneous, the familiar feeling of his body being ripped apart before put together again going through wilds body, he stumbled through to the other side, regaining his balance and helping the others stand up, before turning around and catching four, who was completely unconscious in his arms. Wild set four down on the ground, the portal disappearing quickly after the group settled. 

“Alright! First portal wild, how you feeling?” twilight pat him on the back, wild shrugged.

‘ Its nothing, feels like when i teleport. So im used to it.’ the werewolf stretched, yawning loudly. 

“Whos hyrule is it? It aint mine.” twilight said, turning to time. 

“Not mine.” chorused through the group, no one claimed it as their own, quickly leading to them turning to four, who still was sleeping. ‘ Is it-’

“ Not sure, it could be fours, but thers always a high chance that were in between links, should just be a simple task and then were done. On to the next hyrule.” wars explained, he looked at twilight and time. “Both of you, scout around the area to see if any towns are nearby, sky, check from above. Traveler and legend you stay behind with four. Me and wind can scavenge around to see if any food is nearby.”

‘ And me?’ wild signed, his head tired to the side. Wars considered him for a moment. 

“You can.. Wait here.” wars sighed. “Im not sure what you can do yet, so wait with legend hyrule and four ok?” wild shook his head. ‘ Ill look around for somewhere to spend the night.’ 

“Wild, i know you wanna help, but it better if we keep our werepeople on the feild to search on foot for a good spot, their really quick and plus, they can stick together easily.” wars explained, wild shook his head once again, motioning that he was ‘quick on his feet.’ 

“If you can keep up with us, sure, you can come with.” twilight joked, time elbowed him, already pulling out his mask of the wolves. Wild nodded seriously, his tail flicking wildly, as he readied himself to run. Twilight shrugged and grasped onto his shadow crystal, a grey wolf stood before them, the same patterns that twilight had tattooed on his forehead. Wild tilted his head in recognition, but shook it off quickly. Time put on his mask, before transforming into a golden wolf, larger then twilight by quite a bit. The two motioned south of where they were, wild nodded before jumping up to hold onto a tree branch, motioning to the north, time nodded, before running off, twilight going west and sky heading east of the landing spot. Goddess how they hoped it wouldnt be long before they found a safe spot.

—--------

Time returned before long, releasing his mask magic, he returned to his human form, the usually open eye blinking rapidly before he adjusted to his surroundings again. Four was up by this point, confirming it wasnt his hyrule. The others were sorting through some of the stuff that wind and wars had grabbed for them. Sky returned next, his wings all out of sort from the quote “severe winds! It was insane up there!’ before he promptly took a nap, reporting similarly to time, being that there were monster camps surrounding them on his side. 

Twilight was next, transforming back he looked about for wild, who was nowhere to be found. He also claimed  the same as the others, nothing but camps and monsters on his end. So that left wild to come back, knowing how it went for the others, he was probably met with nothing but camps, and black blooded ones at that. It wasnt for half an hour later that wild came back, covered in black blood, even from beneath his hood, and his usually hidden face, he smiled wildly. 

‘ All clear!’ wild signed in delight, ‘ theres even a town up ahead that probably has an inn. It seems huge.’ the group froze momentarily. 

“Sorry, what? Did you just clear out all the monsters?” twilight asked, he sat next to time on the floor, relaxing from all the running around he had to do.

Wild cocked his head to the side. ‘ Yeah? Sorry it took so much longer then you all. the camps had some monsters i didnt know so i had to improvise.  Some looked similar, but had different attack patterns then im used to. Is that what its always like?’ Oh, they didnt explain what it fully meant to just look for towns. Of course wild assumed that he had to clear out the camps, no one told him otherwise. 

“Wild, we dont need you to clear all the camps, just look for a town.” wars explained. 

‘ Thats a hallucination mushroom by the way. You should go wash your hands.’ wild glanced at the mushroom in wars hands. ‘ Called a C o n o c y b e f i l a r i s. If you ate that you would be seeing shit for hours. Its around twelve hours of delusions last time i checked.’ he ignored wars explanation, ‘ for ritos its deadly, im not sure if avians and ritos are to similar so keep it far from sky.’ wars raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing, wind gaped at the dragon, his eyes wide from excitement. 

“Oh wow! Thats so cool! Whats this?!” he held up a orange and red mushroom. Wild looked at it for about a second before laughing, his laugh raspy and strained. 

‘Their completely safe, Hylian shroom, do you not have them in your hyrule? Their very common in mine.’ wind winced. 

“My hyrule is flooded so we dont have much land to explore. Mostly open ocean!” 

‘ Oh. but anyways, drop that red shroom, dangerous. Lets get moving already, its gonna get dark quick and if the rest of the woods was like my section, then were gonna be screwed if we dont start moving fast. The monsters may leave camp on patrol. Follow me.’

Chapter Text

The town was around a hour walk from where they were, wild was practically bouncing off the walls, going off into the woods constantly before returning quickly, usually putting some sort of flower in a jar, or some sort of shroom in his slate. Twilight had on multiple occasions had to stop hyrule from bounding off with him, Twilight himself had to grab wild on countless occasions from in the woods, to say Twilight was tired was an understatement. On the other hand, wild seemed to still be bursting with energy, even if he seemed to walk at least double the amount everyone else had walked. Time looked exhausted just watching the two of them. 

Soon after, the town came into view, it didn't seem like a big town, unlike wilds description he had given them of a ‘giant town,’ it seemed more like a small town that could easily be missed if you weren't looking hard enough. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the small town glancing over at wild, who seemed apprehensive now that they were all at the town. 

“So here it is? I thought you said it was a big town, this place is tiny as hell! I don't even think there's gonna be more than one room at a goddess damn inn here.” legend groaned, glaring at wild, who didn't seem to notice. “I mean come on-”

“Enough. Legend, back off. Wild, is this the town?” he nodded. “Alright, that's alright, it's better than nothing. Can you show us where you saw the inn?” wild froze up, before pointing to a building up ahead, reading… well, it read something. The text was foreign, all the chain was squinting at it in confusion. “And you know what that says?” time tried, wild glanced at him in curiosity.

‘ Yes? Of course, it says lyre inn and tavern. Can you not read that?’ The same symbols were on every building, both small and large. Wild read them out easily, translating the words and symbols that shone on every building. He lead them over to the inn, but did not open the doors, a seeming apprehension to the idea of speaking to the new place, loud sounds came from inside, sounds no one could miss, which was only amplified in twilights ears, and probably wilds ears based on how he could simply hear how many moblins and bokoblins there were, and what type  they were just based on footsteps and such alone. The loud noises were even a bit much for Twilight himself, after which he flattened his ears against his head, noticing only later that wild had done the same a lot earlier. His tail had even stopped moving, which twilight noted that it was something that happened when he got stressed. 

“Awlright you lot. What will i have for yous today?” the owner drawled, he had a mug of beer sitting beside him, along with three empty cups next to him. Drunk as a skunk. Wonderful. 

“How many rooms do yall have?” twilight nodded at the drunk man. The inn owner looked at a list before counting sloppily. 

“Three rooms. Yous can fit three in each room.” the man took a large sip of his drink, “sixt’e a nigh’. Think yous can pay it?” wild held out a gold rupee, which the man took with a greedy look. “Alrig’ good enough for two days for those rooms. Here's the keys, now get outta my sight.” twilight took the keys from his hands, before they left the room to head to their own rooms. 

“Alright, wind wars and sky, yall are together tonigh’. four, your with legend and hyrule, like usual. And me time- and wild can bunk together. ‘Less you want to bunk with legend and hyrule.” twilight explained the room general room charting they had, it was how they kept it for months at this point. Wild shrugged, before walking to room 107, unlocking it quickly, and disappearing inside the room without a further noise. Time gazed a questioning look towards the kid but didn't say much else. It was only around seven at this point, so going to bed was out of the question, at least for wild. As long as they had known him (which wasn't very long) he went to bed the latest out of all of them, sometimes he wouldnt at all. 

“I'll go get us settled in our room, give me your stuff time? I'll set the room up with wild. You can go get a drink or something with sky and wars. I'll join you ina bit.” time nodded, giving over the stuff he needed put in the room. Twilight cast a worried look at the room before he followed wild into the room.

“Hey wild? You good?” twilight asked, wild was sitting on the side of the room, his cape was spread out behind him, his hood down, wild wasn't facing him, in fact he was sorting through his inventory, taking out jars and putting them on the table he kneeled next to, the jars seemed to contain a small bit of the ground along with a flower or some kind of herb. He used his slate to do… something… before continuing to write down something in his slate, wild was obviously ignoring him, focused on the task of whatever he was doing in front of him rather than twilight. 

“Wild?” twilight tried again, with the lack of response, he started to unpack the stuff time had given him. Which wasn't too much to be fair, it was his armor and his sword. Time kept a small knife on him at all times just in case. Along with that was his masks. The dozens of masks that sat in his bag took up most of the space for food or anything else of the sort to help them out, but as a assisted shapeshifter, he needed all those just so he could use his abilities, whether it be becoming a goron, or even being a wolf like how he used it earlier. Twilight put the bag of masks down next to one of the two beds. Since there was three of them, twilight was probably going to have to transform to make space, there was probably space on wilds bed if needed, wild looked to be around five foot at the maximum. Plus he was skinny as hell, no way he would take up much space at all on the bed. 

“Do you know what type of flower this is?” a small voice asked out, an accent similar to Flora (as she had been deemed) with a harsh rasp to it, each word sounded like it was forced out. Twilight turned to face wild, who was holding up a small jar with a bomb flower in it, twilight flinched at the sight, remembering what time had shown the result of when he used it once. 

“its a flower you should probably get rid of.” twilight responded nonchalantly, wild wasn't facing him but he could practically feel a glare coming off the kid. “It's dangerous.”

“I have bomb arrows. I can't imagine it's more dangerous.” wild responded, his tail whipped back and forth before he looked back at Twilight once more. “So what's it called? You never answered.” Twilight huffed out a laugh at the kids' annoyance.

“Their bomb flowers, time has them in his era, now that i think of it, wind, legend and four may have them as well, but i'm not sure…” twilight said thoughtfully. “Keep it bottled up, but make sure it doesn't go near anything hot, they explode in high temperatures. Maybe it's better to toss it-” wild wrote down what he said and labeled the bottle with a quick string and paper, he put it on his slate and continued to search through the bottles for ones he couldn't decipher. The bottle disappeared quickly after, all blue strands gone before he could fully figure out what they were. 

“This?” he pointed at a small purple rose with a pink spiral sticking out of it. Twilight looked at the mystery flower, before shaking his head in confusion. Wild, who wasn't looking at him once again asked what it was. 

“Sorry i forgot you weren't looking, uh- i'm not sure what that is to be honest.” twilight said sheepishly. Wild shrugged before writing down something on the paper, and putting it into his slate similarly to the bomb flower. “What is it that your doing anyways?”

“Flora likes to learn, so it could be entertaining for her.”

“You and flora are pretty close then? I mean you're doing all this bottling and such for her.” Twilight said, wild pushed his long hair out of his face, grasping at the hair tie that held the base of his hair together. He tried pulling it out of his knotted hair, struggling to even get it an inch down. “Ah, want me to help?” twilight offered, to his surprise, wild nodded at him, his head looking at the floor. 

Twilight pulled out a hairbrush he always kept on him, not particularly for him, but for the little kids in his village. (along with some of the other members of the chain, but that was a more rare occasion.) gently, he undid the hair tie that held wilds hair together with a little difficulty of course. He sectioned out a piece of the messy hair, slowly making his way through the messy hair. Twilight went to grab another small part of his hair, accidentally brushing against his left ear, or, what remained of it. Twilight bit his tongue to hold back a gasp, the ear was nearly in half it was so damaged, wild didn't seem to notice how twilight had touched his ear, probably because of some sort of nerve damage, his mind supplied. The poor kid, 16 years old, and here he was, his ear practically blown off, and possibly more damage to his face, goddesses twilight cursed hylia for choosing such young heroes. 

“Hey wild, i finished all the back, could you turn around so i can get the front two bits?'' Twilight said quietly, in all honesty, he did in fact finish the back, and did need to get the front, but in a more selfish sense, he wanted to see the damage on his face, he wanted to know what hylia had put the dragon through. Wild considered it for a moment, his hand reached up to trace over his face, before he eventually nodded. 

“Just… dont… just dont judge.” he stammered, twilight still had to get used to his voice, it was still a shock he had been talking the last couple minutes. Wild scooted around, head down as he offered his front half of his hair to the elder. Twilight gently took one of the strands in his hands, combing through the long strands. Twilight finished the front two quickly, he had noticed wild occasionally messing with them when he was stressed, so them being not as knotty was not strange to twilight. He gently reached a hand out, lifting wilds chin slightly. The younger flinched away, before allowing twilight to continue. He tilted his head up for twilight, allowing him to finally have a full view of his face. 

Scarring covered the left half, his eye had a pale pupil, not black like the other slitted pupil. His eyebrow was scarred over for the most part, leaving only half left. Twilight attempted to not make a face at the younger's scars, obviously failing, seeing the grimacing face made by the younger. 

‘ Its ok, don't pretend to not be disturbed by them. Most are.’ Wild had resorted back to sign now, his left hand, scarred as it was, along with his dislocation of his shoulder, was shaking a bit, it always did. ‘ You can ask a question, i can see it in your eyes that you want to.’ twilight swallowed his anxiety, before nodding.

“Your eye, can you… see well out of it?” twilight finally managed out, continuing to brush at wilds bangs while the younger considered his word. 

“No, I cannot. This one's fake, sheikah tech. It helps me focus on one enemy at a time.'' Wild gave an awkward smile towards twilight, who returned it before wild looked back down at the jars he was working on. Only three were left, a silent princess, and two other flowers he didn't know of. Wild inspected both of the jars as twilight finished up on his hair, before long putting labels on the jars and putting them away. 

“There ya go, i put it in a little braid for ya, used to do it  for the littl’ ‘nes in mah village.” his accent came out heavy but he didn't particularly care, wild had just as severe, if not more severe accent as him. 

“Thank you.”

“Ya know, why don’ you show your face more? Or talk more? No one will judge ya here.” twilight questioned, wild just shrugged, ‘ im not sure. Most people had bad reactions when i was on my quest, called me names, stuff like that… and it hurts to speak a lot.’ 

“I swear on hylia that I will make sure no one ever had a bad reaction to it like that again.”

“...thanks.”

—---------------------

Drinking with the elders of the group that night was interesting, sky drinking was always entertaining, and his severe lack of tolerance with alcohol was ridiculously low. Whilst wars could handle five or six drinks and only then get drunk, sky would be incredibly drunk after one or two, depending on what type of drink. It wasn't often that the group got to hang out at bars, seeing as they usually had to fight against hylia's random portals and dealing with the need to be sober for monster attacks. 

Though, this time they had wild, who confirmed they had a while before hylia would send for them again. The group marveled in the dragon's connection to hylia herself, the idea of him being able to talk to her so easily was envied in the group, to be honest, twilight himself envied it. The idea of being able to talk to hylia when needed seemed incredible, being able to even hear her sounded cool as hell, plus it seemed like it would be useful when it came to adventuring. Wild confirmed it wasn't as cool as it sounded, how the goddess got annoyed which got a large gasp out of tipsy sky. Time sighed as he heard about it, confiding in twilight that he would rather die than be forced to hear the goddess. Twilight nodded at his mentor, but ignored him for the most part. 

Wars had to stop Wind throughout the night from buying himself drinks, Wind had even tried getting Wild involved, begging him to get him alcohol, in which Wild admitted he was underage, and in fact was unable to  drink as well. Four rolled his eyes in annoyance, being one of the people who were able to drink, (at least in his hyrule since drinking age was eighteen, not twenty one like the rest of theirs, well, minus wind. His was a free for all apparently.) Four claimed that on some days he was a fan, some days he would rather die than drink. But even when he would drink, he would only have one or two drinks maximum. He then went on to continue the conversation he had been having with himself, something about which type of alcohol tasted the worst, in which beer was in the lead for worst, with wine in second place. 

Hyrule sat on wilds shoulder, whose hood was back on his head. Legend, who also was of drinking age, had a glass of wine in front of him, majorly untouched besides when hyrule asked to try it, before he immediately regretted it. Wild offered him a glass of milk to clear his taste buds, which he gladly took. 

“Ey, wild. Want to steal some of Twilight's drink? Dont think hes gonna notice.” Wind said, he had obviously meant to whisper but failed miserably at it. Wild took a sip of the tea he had pulled out of his slate minutes ago, before shaking his head at wind. 

‘ I’ll make you a mock tail if you leave me alone.’ Wild bribed, ‘ I’ll toss in a small bit of my cooking alcohol if you don’t tell the adults.’ Ah there was his mischievous streak. 

“ Oh my Hylia! yes. Do you have vodka?” Wind asked, wild produced a small bottle of vodka from his slate, twilight raised an eyebrow at him as time choked on his drink.

“Wild put that away.” Wild shrugged, putting it back in the slate, twilight didn’t miss how he poured a shot for the mock tail earlier. 

He took out a juice from his slate, one labeled in his Hyrule with another form of Hyrulian under it reading ‘palm fruit juice.’ Twilight watched in mild interest whilst wild poured with a practiced hand in a certain amount of the juice, before repeating for something labeled "juiced volt fruit,” and “hydro melon.’ Wild put a sprinkle of salt around the edge of the glass, stirred the juices together, and once he was sure time wasn’t looking, he snuck the shot in as well for wind, who gleefully took the drink and ran back over to wars to bother him. 

‘ Wonder how long it will take him to realize this was water.’ Wild looked amused at his little trick on the younger. ‘ I ran out of vodka when I made the vodka sauce the other night. Plus this is not even good vodka, it’s cooking vodka.’ Twilight barked out a laugh at wilds amusement. Hyrule giggled a bell sounding laugh from wilds shoulder whilst legend snorted. 

“Winds drank more alcohol than all of us combined, it won’t take long.” Legend said, sipping his wine carefully. “Want a sip wild?” It was almost as if he wanted to spite wind. 

‘ Oh no I don’t like alcohol.’ Wild signed, putting all his ingredients away.

“You seemed to know how to make that drink well, and got that shot perfectly.” Twilight mused, wild sighed at him in annoyance.

‘ You bartend for the Gerudo for one week and this is what Happens, sorry that I was broke.’ Wild signed in exasperation. ‘ They all loved their royal pursuits, which is what I made wind.’ 

“So it’s a Gerudo drink, surprising they don’t have spice in there. All their foods spicy.” Time had joined in with them, sitting in the chair next to twilight. Wild waved at him slightly.

‘ It wasn’t vodka I swear. Ran out a bit ago.’ Wild signed quickly, Time nodded. 

“Figured. Did you take out spice from it?”

‘ I’ve made it with Gerudo spice before, yes. But I don’t think wind would have liked it.’ Wild explained, he sipped his tea casually. ‘ Do you have a drink you want me to make? If I have the ingredients I can make it. Trust me, I’ve seen it all.’ Time laughed at him, before shaking his head.

“Nah, I’m good with my drink. Maybe another time. Legend, you like the wine? Wars said it was bad in his opinion.” Time took a sip of his beer.

“ Well he’s wrong. I just don’t drink wine like a heathen, unlike some people.” He cast a glare at wars who flared back before continuing to talk with wind and sky. Legend adjusted his tunic carefully. “He probably only knows the ‘royal’ wine doesn’t he.” Hyrule snickered slightly before looking at legend with a bemused expression. “Shut it.”

Twilight idly wondered what their inside joke that they seemed to have was, but dismissed the thought, turning to his own drink, untouched for the most part. 

“Not up to drink tonight pup?” Time said from his side, twilight shrugs, taking a sip of the whisky he had ordered. 

“Just savoring it. Got distracted by the youngers.” He chuckled at hyrules glare towards him. Wild finished his tea quickly after, pouring some more for himself out of a small jar in his slate. “Think the food here is any good?” 

—

It in fact wasn’t good. Twenty rupees for a crappy soup and some steak. Just wild and twilight meals alone cost more then it took for wild to make their food everyday, which cost nothing unless he was using bought ingredients which was rare. Twilight pushed it away from himself in disgust, giving it to Time who himself looked as if he would rather eat a rat than the food in front of him. Wild on the other hand had apparently enjoyed his soup, which confused the hell out of twilight since he had tasted it earlier and it tasted burnt. 

‘ Better than my cooking failures.’ Wild took another spoonful, showing a purple and green mess that was displayed on his slate. ‘ I doubt anyone would ever willingly eat it, besides me of course. If they did I’d pay them a hundred rupees.’ wind perked up at the last bit, eyes glittering at the prospect of money. 

“I'll eat it!” wind volunteered, reaching his hands out for the food. Wild looked at him in mild concern before pulling out a horrific looking dish, one that had a purple and green attribute to it. The pile of food on the plate looked horrible, something not even Twilight would want as wolfie, and he loved all sorts of table scraps. 

‘Your going to throw up i guarantee. If you can eat half the plate i'll give you the rupees ok?’ wind took the plate with disgust but still nodded, time looked at wild skeptically.

“Is it even safe for him to eat this?” wild shrugged, using a fork and taking a bit of the purple stuff on the plate.

‘ I mean it's safe enough, just tastes horrible.’ he let out a raspy laugh, putting the fork down and sipping his tea to wash away the taste. ‘ Wind be careful not to eat too much, i'll let you know when you got half of it ok?’ wind nodded and grasped his fork excitedly.

“You made it! So I bet it's not that bad. Nothing as bad as what hyrule makes.” wind took a bite of the food before making a face of disgust. “What's in this?!” wind gasped out, dropping his fork promptly.

‘ Told you.’ wild signs, taking another sip of his tea nonchalantly. ‘ I believe it was from when i was first trying to make different recipes, for some reason when i mixed  some mushrooms and spices, and i believe some meat, i don't know what happened to be honest.’ he shrugged. 

“A hundred rupees… right?” wind gulped nervously, looking disgusted. Wild held up a silver rupee. Wind's eyes glowed in a greedy way, staring at the rupee in excitement.

‘One hundred rupees.’ he confirmed. Realistically, twilight knew it was pocket change for the draconic teen, and was purely for entertainment purposes. But wind didn't have to know that. Wind continued to eat the food, at some point it became less about the money and more about his pride, he looked sick, most of the group was watching in amusement, most laughing at the faces that wind was making. By the time wind had finished the half he was green in the face and looking as if he was ready to throw up. Wind held out a hand for the silver rupee which wild handed to him through giggles. 

“Was it worth it wind?” time said, he reminded twilight of a tired dad after one of their kids did something dumb. (which objectively is what was happening, wind was doing some dumb stuff.) wind nodded which made him look even more sick, he ran out of the room, looking as if he was on the verge of throwing up. In Fact he probably was going out to throw up right then.

‘ I said he wouldn't be able to stomach it.’ wild signs, ‘ i lived off those early in my journey when i was still learning to cook. That and some meat skewers.’ legend blinked at him, twilight wandered how he was  still alive.

“And you thought it was good?” legend said, just looking at the food had been enough for him. 

‘The only thing i had to go off was baked apples, i didn't remember anything else so.’ he shrugged, ‘ it was good as far as i could tell. At the time.’ 

“Weird.” 

‘ Weird indeed.’

—-----

Chapter Text

It had been around two weeks since their final (hopefully, the chain was getting to be quite a lot of people by this point) member joined them. The newest member, wild, seemed to get on with everyone quite quickly, even legend surprisingly, who usually was rude towards the new members. Then again he’s rude to everyone , Green supplies. 

Four was a little different then the other members, despite his name seemingly having no meaning unlike twilight who had traveled to the twilight, resulting in his curse to turn into a wolf, or time who literally manipulated time with an ocarina. Fours name had no meaning to the other members of the chain, and the colors meant to keep it that way. The minish transformation he had been gifted was revealed near instantly, wolfie finding him the one time he had transformed. From then on the colors had been very open with their ability to transform into a minish, considering it a good thing rather than a curse like many others considered theirs. 

Well to be fair, most of them were cursed. Vio mentioned in the back of their mind space, when not the one in control the rest of the colors hung out in his mind, chatting all too loudly and often distracting whoever was in charge at the moment. It had resulted in many awkward moments throughout the chain, four was found to talk to ‘himself’ often, even if he was in reality talking to their brothers. The night at the bar they had was probably the worst, but it had been a while since then. Now, the colors had been arguing about food and drinks and which one was ‘best’ even though all of them had very different tastes from one another. 

For example,Red loved coconut milk and water when they had visited Winds era, whilst Green and Vio despised it, unfortunately, when they were combined, all four could taste what the body was tasting, forcing them all to drink the coconut water that Red loved so much. On the other hand, Vio loved to drink tea, something hated by Blue. Blue loved coffee, which Vio disliked, and Green could go for anything most of the time, too anxious to speak up and state that he actually liked apple cider when they could get it. 

The four of their control over the body was a constant battle, more often than not, Green won when they had been fighting over control, Green being able to mediate the situation between more often than not, Blue and Vio. Red usually hung more to the back, but did take control when needed. 

Green sighed outwardly, alerting wild who stood next to him. The dragon looked at him questioningly, Green just shook his head, whoops. 

‘ You ok four?’ Green nodded, the usually talkative smith now quiet as a mouse. How he longed to be in the Minish village, or was that just Red thinking- Green thought, inwardly glaring at the Red brother of his. ‘ Oh you're just quiet today? That’s fine.’ Wild signed once again before falling back into silence? What do you call it when they're already silent? Vio asked from his spot in their mind space, Blue glared at him, as usual telling him it didn’t matter anyways. 

I want to split. Red stated in the back of his head, Green cast a look at him, letting Vio take the reins of the body as he spoke to red. 

Why, can't stand hearing us right now? Blue teased, Red shook his head solemnly. 

I wanna be able to talk to them separately, like I know Vio likes talking to wild since he’s more quiet and allows Vio to talk, I like talking to Hyrule, Blue liked legend and Green likes twilight the most. Red Argued , mentally crossing his arms. Vio sighed, rubbing their temples, gaining a worried look from legend who was standing on the other side of him. 

“Migraine.” Vio said before legend asked anything, legend nodded and walked away without saying anything, they had told the chain they often got headaches, which was true, four consciousness in one head was prone to cause a headache once ina while. 

You know we can’t red, it's too risky. Green said softly, whispering in the back of their minds. 

I just wish- 

“I’ll be back.” Four announced, Green shoved Vio out of control and forced control back. “Just need a minute. Got a migraine.” Time cast him a concerned look before nodding, letting the four colors go. Green took their body away from the group, still sticking within yelling range. He ripped out the four sword and held it to the sky, moments later separating the four colors from one another, the ripping sensation of their body separating was something they never could get used to, the pain spreading before stopping completely.

“What was that for.” Vio said blankly, staring at his own hands momentarily before looking at his brothers. 

“I need just one minute separated, you're driving me crazy.” Green rubbed his temples in annoyance, Blue glared at him.

“Warn us next time.” Blue grouched, gripping his own handle of the four swords tightly. “I mean seriously Green.” 

“Can’t we rejoin the group like this.” Red said quietly, the others looked at him, each set of eyes holding a different emotion. Blue stared at him annoyed, Green held a neutral expression as he often did, Vio on the other hand watched him carefully, eyes calculating some sort of statistic or something of the sort. 

“I don’t think-“ Vio started, only to get Blues hand to his mouth, cutting him off.

“Sure if you explain to the group.” Blue snarked. “But you have to explain every single thing and if they're mad, or think we’re weird, you take the fall. Would you be able to even do that?” He cackled, reds face fell, looking down at the floor. 

“I-“ Red managed out, tears already filling his eyes. “I just don’t-“ he sniffed, “I don’t want to have to lie anymore. I don’t like lying.” He rubbed his face Violently, tears falling from his eyes quickly. 

“And you think any of us do?!” Blue yelled at him, Vio looked at him carefully, before glancing back in the direction they had come from. “I mean honestly what I wouldn’t give to be separated at all times but for Hylia's sake will you give it a rest?” Green now turned to face the woods, the other two not noticing their brothers' sudden worry. 

“Guys-?” Green started.

“I just don’t want to lie! its not fair that we’re hiding this from them!” Red Sobbed, Blue punched the bridge of his nose, an annoyed expression commonly associated with the Blue brother crossed over his face. 

“Guys.” Vio tried, he rubbed his temples as an oncoming headache hit full force. “Quiet down-“

“Shut it Vio.” Blue snapped at the purple brother, who gave a dirty look at him. 

“Blue if you will just listen.” Green said, grabbing Blues shoulder and forcing him to turn towards him. 

“ What.” Blue snarled at him, reminding Vio an awful lot of legend. 

“ Someone’s here.” He said quietly, the other brothers looked in the direction of where Green was pointing, there stood wild with a startled expression on his face, watching the four of them. 

‘ Sorry I was just looking for some mushrooms-‘ wild attempted to sign, looking at the four of them with shock. 

“How long.” Blue snapped, wild looked even more surprised. 

‘ I don’t know, maybe a minute? Green and purple? saw me. So…’ wild held a bunch of mushrooms in his hands, looking rather frazzled at their friends' sudden split. 

“Vio.” Vio corrected stiffly. Wild nodded in apology to them. 

‘ So like what happened- are you cursed? Did someone do this to you?’ Wild signed, the mushrooms slowly being stored in his slate as he signed. 

“No, this is from our adventure. It’s why we don’t let anyone touch the four sword.” Vio responds, unsheathing his sword and showing it to wild, who inspected it carefully. 

“Interesting.” Wild said, “mind if I-“ Vio handed his sword to wild, with it being split it had no risk of splitting him into four pieces. Wild swung the sword carefully, testing the weight before handing it back to Vio. 

“Well? your not gonna tell anyone right?” Blue challenged,Red shuffled behind him nervously, his tears had stopped for the most part. 

“Not planning on it.” Wild glanced down at his nails, picking the dirt from under it. “We all have our secrets.” 

“And yours is you can actually talk.” Vio supplied. Wild shrugged. 

“Can sometimes. Hurts to talk much.” He leaned down, picking a flower from the ground. Allowing his hood to fall away from his face. “Scars from before my adventure, damaged vocal chords.'' Wild had been more willing to show his face to them after one particularly rough fight, one where he had taken a hit for wind, leaving a nasty gash across his forehead. Talking on the other hand hadn't been something mentioned, all of them assuming he was unable to due to said scarring. 

“So your not… weirded out by this.”Red piped up, wild laughed out a raspy laugh. 

“Trust me, I’ve seen weirder.” He pulled out two orbs, one Blue and one yellow. The two glowed delightfully, lighting up his face warmly. “These in particular are some of the strangest, their like the souls of my dead friends.” He placed them back in the slate, giving a saddened look. 

“Ah, sorry for your loss.”

“Don’t remember them so it’s fine.” He sighed, “you ever lose someone close to you?”

“Yes.” Vio answered quickly, the other colors rolled their eyes at him, “ahem, why ask?” 

Wild considered his words for a moment before speaking once more, “do you ever think it’s better to forget them? Or are you happy you remember them?” 

“Some days I’m happy I met him, some days I wish I never met him.” Vio shrugged off Red's hand, giving a pained look at his brother. “Do you remember what they looked like?” wild nodded slightly. “What were they like? As far as you can remember?”

“It’s fine really- I was just curious—“ wild startled, glancing nervously around at the group. “I’ve been asking some people around my Hyrule as well, my fi- my friends brother is still alive, I asked if it was better remembering her. He says it hurts all the same.” 

“How bad is your memory loss?” Vio asked curiously. “I’m finally able to talk on my own and I’m using this chance. So?” the other colors rolled their eyes at him, classic Vio always trying to learn more. 

“All of it. When I woke up from my de- my long sleep, it was all whipped clean. Nothing left, not even my name.” Wild attempted to cover out his mistake, the group not pointing it out of respect for wild. Vio nodded thoughtfully, a dark gaze falling over him. 

“When you… remember stuff, is it caused by certain things? like say I held up an item from your past, would it trigger a memory?” Wild made a so-so gesture , Vio nodded again, pulling out his small notebook he often took notes in. “Don’t mind me, I’m trying to work out more mental… conditions for our time, maybe could help some people.” Vio flipped through countless pages filled with notes. “Is there any other cases of this happening in your era?” Wild shook his head. “Alright, and have you had s memory mid battle before?” Another shake indicating no. “Did instincts remain? such as how to walk, talk, read?” 

“I’m fluent in over thirteen languages, and I didn’t learn any of them in the past couple years if that answers that. I could walk to an extent, wobbly but enough that I didn’t fall off to many cliffs.” Wild cringed at his own memory, “and I can read yes, thirteen languages like I preViously stated.” 

“What languages?” Vio scribbled furiously, the rest of the colors shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do. 

“Hylian, ancient hylian. Gerudo, ancient gerudo. Zora, ancient zora, goron, ancient goron. Shieken, ancient shieken, and another unnamed one used in texts over ten thousand years old.” Wild counted his fingers carefully, making sure he didn’t miss any. “According to flora I’m very good at learning written and spoken languages. A lot of the time I would translate between flora and any others she spoke to if they didn’t understand one another.” 

“Did you remember basic necessities? basic fighting skills?” Vio asked incredulously, writing as fast as he could. Wild nodded yes to both questions. “Fascinating,” Vio closed the book. “I’ve never heard of a case like this.” Wild shrugged. 

“ Vio are you done?” Blue said impatiently, he ripped the pocket watch out of Vios pocket, showing him the time. “We should have been back ten minutes ago. So let’s get back into four, and get back to the group.” 

“Or, we don’t go back to being four.” Red argued back, Blue punched the bridge of his nose, exasperation coating his face as he unsheathed Red's sword, forcing it into his hands. He took out his own sword, Green following suit. Vio stared at them, looking to Red before lifting his own sword to meet theirs. A bright light and ripping pain of being torn apart and shoved back together all too familiar to them filled their bodies before once again, four stood before wild, shoving his sword into his sheath. 

“Not a word.” Blue hissed out, grabbing wilds wrist and dragging him along with them, the dragon stumbling after them. Not long after, they had caught up with the group, who looked at wild in an annoyed manner. 

“You convinced him to explore, didn't you.” Warriors accused, wild put on a face of mock betrayal, as if offended by the accusation. 

“No, we were just talking.” Four clarified, Green had taken charge once again, adjusting his headband. “Discovered wild can understand a lot of languages, the usual.” 

“He can?” sky said incredulously, “how many?” Wild held up ten fingers, before putting all down and putting another three up. “Thirteen?!”

–

“Hey, thanks for not telling everyone.” four said, green was leading the body at the time, the others were silent in his head. “Most people we know in our era freaked out when it first happened.” he could still recall how his neighbor mrs. baker, who ironically was married to the carpenter, had thrown some of the spare wood at him, screaming how he was a demon. He shuddered at the memory. Wild gave him a half shoulder shrug, going back to poking at the fire.

“Something similar happened when i first put my hood down around my era.” he watched the fire with a far off gaze, “i was kicked out of the first stable i found, thought i was a monster.” four nodded intently, motioning for him to continue. “Their not wrong, no one else in my era is… like me? Like not hylian or Zora.” he motioned as if to say and so on. “They got confused when they saw my horns and such the first time, the scars were not much help either.” he laughed humorlessly. “I remember that i didn't understand what they meant, and kept returning, i knew the words and their meanings, but a monster?” he chuckled, “i may know the words, but i was like a newborn ya know?” four nodded.

“When we first split, the four of us couldn't control our own bodies, we had to relearn how to walk, fighting was weird at first, being separate and all.” he sighed, vio was in control, holding a sharpening stone and his sword. “Our own father refused to talk to us for a while. We saved him but…” he gestured around, looking for words, “he wasn’t a fan of having four sons instead of one. That’s for certain.” 

“You have a father?” Wild asked curiously, Four nodded. 

“He’s a knight, he was already mad we preferred blacksmithing, but now being four of us? four times more to disappoint him. I think he was most disappointed in me, I did stuff in our adventure I’m not proud of per say.” Wild tilted his head to the side. “This is vio speaking.” He clarified. He made an ‘oh’ with his mouth before nodding. 

“What did you do?” He heard a loud snore from sky echoing from behind him. 

“Betrayed them, it was fake but… I nearly killed green. Had to join Shadow, or kinda dark link in a sort I guess. Vaati was like our… ganon for it, he was…” he shuddered. “Terrible to say the least.” 

“Your stupid boyfriend froze me.” Blue forced his way to control, vios internal gasp was head through the group's heads. “Blue, by the way.” Wild raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. 

‘ Hes. Not. My. Boyfriend.’ Vio stated in their head, blue cackled. “Keep telling yourself that vio.” Wild looked confused but didn’t question it. “Vio claims that shadow isn’t his boyfriend when he clearly was. ”

‘ Yeah, was.’ Vio said in annoyance. ‘ Past tense idiot.’ 

“Hey I’m not the idiot who left us for him!” Blue was well aware that wild could hear him arguing with himself, or rather the others, but didn’t pay any mind to him. 

“Alright that’s enough,” green shoved red back to their mind, controlling the body once more. “Don’t mind blue. Being frozen was really the best he ever was.” 

‘ Hey!’